Festiveness

Well, the holidays are upon us.  I have always  loved this time of year but having a child has multiplied that joy tenfold.  I just love all of her firsts and am looking forward to making her Christmases full of love, magic, and delicious smells, just like mine was.  Our first Thanksgiving in our new house was perfect.  Eric's Mom and step-dad were in town and we had six more friends over as well.  It was a full house but perfect.

We enjoyed our visit and the grandparents got lots of baby snuggles

Now, usually I am a firm believer in allowing Thanksgiving to have it's time to shine.  This year, however, I couldn't contain the Christmas cheer and I decorated before the big day.  In my defense Thanksgiving was really late this year, I had to work the following weekend, and I really wanted to decorate.  I love our new home all decked out and even have TWO Christmas trees (a dream realized), granted the second one is little but still.

Hanging the first ornament

Now when you get married and have kids there is bound to be some merging of family traditions.  The first year that Eric and I were dating I remember him receiving a card at the beginning of December wishing him a Happy St. Nicholas Day with a twenty tucked inside.  What is this?! Another occasion for gifts in December?!  Well, turns out this is a real thing.  On the eve of December 6th kids put out their shoes/stockings and receive gifts in the morning from St. Nicholas.  It originated in Germany, I think, and, according to Wikipedia (ever accurate source, I know), is still widely celebrated in Wisconsin due to the large population of German and Polish descendents.  Ok, I'll bite, we decided to do one small gift in the stocking on December 6th. This isn't too far from the "early Christmas gift" we often were able to talk our parents out of. 

A preview of Christmas morning!

Oh, and Annalise is 5months old!  New accomplishments include increased mobility, improving grasps, everything goes in to the mouth, super smiley and giggly. Unofficial weigh-in is 14.5lbs! Overall, I have decided that we got pretty lucky with such a good, happy baby.  I'm sure we will get payback if we decide she needs a sibling.

We did the obligatory first Santa visit last weekend.  Honestly I'm not sure how to approach the whole Santa thing since my brother and I never really bought in to it (I'm sure due to our parents not encouraging it), so we'll see how things progress over the next couple years.  It was at least fun to dress her up in her Christmas outfit.

Santa is very serious business

Needless to say, we are enjoying this holiday season.  We look forward to my parents coming to visit over Christmas and the New Year (I guess all we needed to do to have visitors over the holidays was have a baby! We should have done this sooner!)  I will be spending my remaining days off leading up to Christmas baking, wrapping, and singing along to Christmas music.

For Which I Give Thanks

On this morning of Thanksgiving I find myself with a rare moment alone, I am savoring it as I know the rushing will soon begin.  I try to be reflective and thankful all year-round, but, Thanksgiving seems to be the time we talk about it.  This has been a pretty amazing year so I don't think I have enough words to describe the depth of gratitude that I feel.  But, I'll try.  So here is what I am thankful for on this Thanksgiving morning.
1. Exersaucers.   They are wonderful, I put the baby in, she entertains herself, is safe, and is building muscle strength.  Triple score!  Plus she loves it, it was the scene of her very first laugh. 

2.  My favorite pair of pajama pants.  They are the perfect kind of soft.  In fact, I plan to wear them on my days off because I know I get to wear them longer!
3.  Coffee
4.  Sweet, sleepy, baby smiles

5.  Baby hats.  Who knows how much longer she'll tolerate them?!

6.  My Job.  I am a special kind of lucky to have a job that is fulfilling, challenging, and rewarding, coupled with amazing co-workers who have become like family. 
7.  My day-care provider.  She takes such good care of my sweet baby girl that I know I can go to work and not have to constantly worry about her.  There are definitely not enough words to profess my gratitude for this!
8.  Successful breastfeeding.  As I've said before, being able to exclusively breastfeed was very important to me.  Well, we fought hard in the beginning but now it's just second nature and part of life.  Pumping while I'm at work does have its challenges and I can see why some women quit at this time.  But, for me, it's a labor of love, knowing that I am nourishing my daughter in the best possible way.  Now that she is getting a little older our nursing sessions are taking on a bit of a humourous quality.  She is more distractiable and will stop nursing to pull my hair/shirt/skin or look away at something that has caught her attention.

Look, Mom, phalanges!

So, when she doesn't latch back on after a bit I put things away and try to burp her.  She then proceeds to fuss or get super antsy and attempt to latch on to my nose/chin/cheek.  Needless to say, it is quite humorous.  I am trying to not reinforce this, but her little face just cracks me up!
9.  Dark chocolate covered pretzel crisps.  Have you seen the regular flat pretzel crisps?  They are delicious on their own, but now they have created a new kind of evil by dipping them in dark chocolate.  I ate a SAMs club bag by myself in a week.  I haven't purchased a second bag, but I am super grateful for that first bag, it was delicious.  Thank goodness for those extra breastfeeding calories!
10.  My in-laws.  I love every single one of them and feel pretty lucky to have them in my life as well as the super great family Annalise gets to have.
11.  My new identity as a Mom.  It takes awhile to adjust, and we will continue to adjust and grow as parents.  You have to make room in your perceived view of yourself for this ginormous new role as Mom.  It's pretty overwhelming at first, but now I often get a catch in my throat looking at that sweet face and think "How did I get so lucky to be your Mommy?".  It's pretty amazing, that's for sure.

12. My amazing family, although spread coast to coast we manage to make it work.  I can't wait to squeeze my nephews when we finally get a visit in a few months.  Thanks for being awesome. 
13.  I've said it before and I'll say it again.  My awesome husband and partner.  Thanks for being so hard-working, loving, dependable, and such a fantastic Dad.  I love you, thank you for filling my life with music and loving me without end. 

Well, I could go on, and on but, alas, my quiet moment has ended.  I now must dive in to the Thanksgiving preparations between playing with my sweet girl.  I hope your life is filled with love and gratitude on this Day of Thanksgiving. 

Lots of Catch Up

What a busy couple of months!  Sorry for the lack of posts, but, well, you know, baby, work, etc., etc.  So lets start with the busy month of September.  The whole month we had a string of visitors, it was really quite a lovely way to wrap up my maternity leave.  We started with a visit from my Grandpa Frank.  He brought lots of books to read and gave lots of snuggles and kisses.

Another generation to love Scuppers

Then the rain started.  It started to deluge on our airport drop off and didn't stop for what seemed like a month.  It was called a 100-year flood and caused devastation to our community and beloved mountain towns such as Estes Park.  At one point, ALL the roads seemed like they were closed.  And of course this happened on the same day I was to pick up our next visitor, our dear friend, Ashleigh.  With some miraculous timing and expert navigation from my husband over the phone, I managed to slip by some back roads about 30min before they flooded and took "the long way" managing to get there on time.  Once I had obtained her we kind of did a head scratch of "now what do we do"? Since, literally, every way back north was closed.  So, we got dinner and then, as everything else had gone miraculously that day for us, it seemed fit that the interstate then, too, opened once we were ready to hit the road again.  Since we couldn't' get up to the mountains for any touristy things we just stuck around town and enjoyed catching up.  It was truly delightful to have her here. 

Next up in our visitor line-up were Eric's Dad and step-mom.  We had a great visit.  Now that we are homeowners, it is really very handy to have fathers that are comfortale with home-improvement projects.  We seem to get something new fixed with each visit, even if we didn't realize we needed it!  This time it was some new light fixtures in the kitchen.  Good-bye ugly fluorescent light!

Hello energy-efficient, much more attractive light!

Dad's are also great for reminding us to check smoke-detectors, furnace filters, and dryer vents.  Thanks guys!  It has also  been so wonderful to watch our parents fall in love with Annalise, she is such a lucky little girl to have so many amazing people in her life to love her unconditionally (as are we!)

As September drew to a close, so did my maternity leave.  I had mixed emotions about returning to work.  I knew that I really did miss my job but, as any working mother knows, it is REALLY HARD to leave your child.  Luckily my Mom anticipated this and came back out to help with the transition.  It was SO WONDERFUL, and I can't thank her enough.  We had such a great time with her and I knew that Annalise would now be fine spending my work days in the care of someone other than myself.

In between work days we found some time for fun as well.  Eric and I spent our first night away for the Great American Beer Festival.  Eric re-took a portion of the Level 2 Certified Cicerone exam that afternoon then we celebrated appropriately knowing that he did well.  We got the official word that he passed last week!

I just love the fall and was really looking forward to starting the holiday season with a trip to the pumpkin patch.  It was a beautiful day.

Annalise also celebrated 3 months while Mom was here

As mom's visit drew to a close it was time to start at the babysitters.  The first half day was a little rough, which gave me some anxiety, but I knew that is HAD to work.  Luckily my sweet girl transitioned beautifully after that.  I am just so very thankful that it is working out so well.  She eats, naps, and plays, without any difficulty and her sitter is just wonderful.

Next up, Annalise's first holiday!  Well, besides the day she was born of course.  I really love all the fall/winter holidays but now my love of this time of year has been even more escalated by sharing them with my daughter. 

It was so much fun to be in a family neighborhood on Halloween, we went through 2 giant bags of candy, Annalise has so much fun in store for her! 

And now the 4-month picture

At her check-up she was 13lbs 1.5ozs and 24.5 inches, following the 50th percentile  curve perfectly.  She is perfect all around!  She babbles, laughs (the most beautiful sound in the world, second to her first cries), even shrieks, has discovered how to roll over and now refuses to stay on her back (much to my dismay at bedtime), is starting to put everything in her mouth, and improves her coordination daily.

In this month of giving thanks I must say that my heart is just so very full of love and gratitude.  I have a perfect daughter that makes my heart swell every day, a lovely home that I can't believe is ours, a hard-working and loving husband who is just an amazing dad, a job I love, and an extended family that round out my life to make it the richest imaginable.  There really aren't words to describe how very blessed I feel.  I am definitely thankful.

Two Months! Including Some Notes to Self

Here we are at two months old already!  I feel a weird combination of "my how fast it has gone" and also that her birth seems like a lifetime ago.  Considering how much we have been through in these two months and how much she has changed I suppose that is normal.  At the two month check our baby girl weighed in at 10lbs 11ozs and 22.5 inches, that puts her in the 50th percentile for both height and weight, a jump in the weight category from the 25th at two weeks.  So, needless to say she is eating fine!  The smiles abound and her little language is developing daily as she entertains us with coos, gurgles, and other fun sounds.  Here is a sample of what we've been up to

Playtime!

First concert, Head for The Hills at New West Fest

Found her thumb!

A Baby Ponders

Just chillin' with Dad

And hangin' with Mom

Family cuddle time!

8-24-13, Baby and cat both weigh 10.1 lbs

A full lap

Visiting Dad during his Phish weekend

More playtime, Stella joins in

Ready to root for the home team, bring on football season!

 We are settling in to a routine.  It was a bit of a struggle, I knew that we needed a routine more than anything but needed a little guidance as everything I tried didn't seem to be working.  So I did what I always do when puzzled, found a book to help.  I remembered that my sister-in-law found help in reading "The Secrets of the Baby Whisperer" by Tracy Hogg, so I gave it a whirl.  It definitely helped, I was resistant to some of her suggestions but after a particularly rough bedtime I realized that obviously what I was doing wasn't working, so I dove in to her method.  And, wow, we are all SO much happier as a result and Annalise has taken to our new schedule beautifully.  She is even officially out of our room and in her own nursery.  I think she likes her crib as evidenced by sleeping 6-7 straight hours, I've felt the need to wake her up the past two nights to feed!  And what a difference it makes for Eric and I to actually use our own bathroom at night and turn on the lights without fear of waking the baby.  Naps are even going pretty well, which leaves me some time to get things done (you know, important things, like blogging!).  So, overall, we are on the right track!  With one more month of maternity leave left I know we will all be happier making the transition with more structure.

As the fog of an uncomfortable pregnancy, complicated delivery, and sick newborn have lifted I thought it important to get some thoughts down before "baby amnesia" sets in, so here is my "Note to Self" on my journey into motherhood thus far:

Dear Self,
First, on pregnancy:
1.  A dear friend told me when I was 12 weeks or so and feeling miserable, guilty for feeling miserable, and not at all excited that it is OK to not love being pregnant, you can still love your child.  She then sent me a funny book, "Belly Laughs" by Jenny McCarthy.  And laughing is just what you need.  I also recommend "Lets All Panic About Babies!: How to Endure and Possible Triumph Over the Adorable Tyrant Who Will Ruin Your Body, Destroy Your Life, Liquify Your Brain, and Finally Turn You Into a Worthwhile Human Being"  I'm telling you, I snorted with laughter at times.  A good laugh at how ridiculously fast your body is changing is the best thing to do.
2.  Remember to be kind to yourself, get a massage/facial/pedicure, or whatever makes you feel good, you are growing a human being, it's hard work! 
3.  Enjoy the extra attention, be it strangers opening doors for you, co-workers constantly asking how you are feeling, and all the extra smiles you receive due to your swollen belly.  Even if you are annoyed, all this attention is due to others appreciating all the hard work your body is doing!
4.  Let go of the guilt!  If you are nauseous again ALL THE TIME, just take the bloody Zofran, it's ok! If all that sounds good is plain pasta with butter, go for it, the "pregnancy diet" can wait, especially when just eating anything is a chore.  Remember, milkshakes have protein!
4. Self, try not to worry too much about your delivery, it may go completely wrong again, just like the first time, but, remember the end goal is healthy baby, healthy you, it doesn't matter how that is accomplished.

Now, Self, how about that little bundle of joy?
1. Remember what you read and your close friends clued you in to.  It is OK not to have that stereotypical head-over-heels in love reaction when you meet your baby.  It is ok to, instead, be overtaken with worry for this new little person you are responsible for.  As with any relationship, it takes time.  The overwhelming feelings of love will come, give it time.
2.  Self, now this is important, it is OK to cry! Being a Mom is HARD! And is is OK to let other see you cry, especially your partner, he is probably feeling a lot of the same things you are, you don't have to be strong for everyone.  So cry your eyes out when your Nook isn't charged and you finally have 10 minutes to read, cry when that little precious bundle just won't sleep, sob when your Mom leaves, IT'S OK!!  Pretty soon you'll find that the tears change to tears of absolute love and joy as you sing a lullaby, read a special book, or just have a special moment snuggling with your little family.
3.  Just as it's OK to cry, it's important to laugh, especially at yourself.  When you have been puked, peed, and popped on in the same hour, just laugh, you'll feel better.
4.  Let go of the guilt, AGAIN, I think this will be our mantra for all of motherhood, Self, just keep repeating!
5.  You aren't doing everything wrong, even when you feel like it.  You are doing the best you can!
6.  It gets better, soon you'll be taking pictures like the ones below and laughing the whole time.  Give it at least 6 weeks to let the hormones calm down and your body to heal a bit.  Look forward to the future while cherishing these fleeting baby moments.  Pretty soon we'll be taking first day of school pictures with that little white board!