House Update

New framing - check!!



New windows - check!!



Insulation - check!!



Hardwood floors and sheetrock - check!!


Cabinets - check!!



Homemade tomatoes growing in the backyard - check!!



And on a totally non-related note, this is my new favorite indulgence. Dangerous when you're trying to lose post-pregnancy weight, but oh so delightful...

5 Weeks Old

This has become a baby blog like I warned you. Yep - a baby blog. Guess what? We just had a baby! Yep - a baby. And our lives for the time being are filled with baby and figuring out how to parent our baby, resulting in a baby blog. With that being said, here's a proud mama and her precious baby:


And the perfectly imperfect pink polka dot letters this proud mama painted for her sweet baby's room:


And this too-cute-for-words, happy, smiley baby on her 5 week old birthday:

SMILE for the camera!!!!

1 Month Old

So here's our adorable little 1 month old munchkin in a 3 month old dress. I keep telling myself that her clothes are shrinking in the washing machine which is why she can wear sizes that are seemingly WAY larger than her actual age. She now weighs 10 lbs., 4.5 oz. and is very LONG. She's going to be tall like her giant parents (enter sarcasm) I'm sure.

I took her on my first solo outing today. Let me just start by saying that babies + their car seats are very, very heavy. So heavy that I think by the end of the summer I might look like this from carrying B around everywhere:


Ah one can only hope, right? But really - in all seriousness it was good to get out of the house and gave me a boost on my first full day "home alone" to prove that I CAN do this stay at home mom thing.

Happy 1 month birthday, B. We love you!!

This crazy cat...

...is too cool for school!

So...

...let's jump right in and talk about post partum. In the grand scheme of things, I think I've been relatively cool and had what I would consider only 2 breakdowns since delivering our baby. The first one was a few nights after we got home from the hospital and I totally over-did it. Nevermind that I just had major abdominal surgery, I was up and about taking care of our kid and had things to do around the house that day. This somehow made me realize that I still desperately need time with K. I need his affection, his companionship, I need him to talk to me and ask me if I'm doing okay, I need "us," and I apparently needed to tell him this through a fit of tears after I'd gone to bed that night.

My 2nd breakdown [which is kind of ongoing but not really] revolved / revolves around 2 things: 1) The departure of Mimi and Pop and 2) Our new house.

In regards to Mimi and Pop - both my parents came up to the Big D for B's birthday. My Dad stayed a few days after she was born, but let's face it - he wasn't too excited about sleeping on a blow up air mattress for an extended period of time, sitting around the house taking care of a screaming baby all day, talking about milk and boobs and poop, plus his garden needed tending to. So he left and my Mom stayed for a couple weeks. She brought me water and Ritz crackers with pb during the middle of the night, rocked B to sleep when I'd been up with her for 2 hours already, did laundry for us, cooked us dinner, ran errands for us. It is a desire of my heart to be as good a mom to B as she is to me. Needless to say when my Dad came back to pick up my Ma and they both went back home, I was one very sad and distraught daughter.

In regards to our house, I've been having "I don't want to move" feelings. This doesn't really mean that I don't want to move, but instead means that I will miss our old house, that I am sad to leave the first place that K and I ever lived in together, that I will miss our bathroom that K tore down to the studs the week we got married, that I will miss the comfort of being here. The reality is that it's too small and we have too much stuff so we don't have much of a choice, but I'm still sad about it. Mostly sad because I think this is what will happen. This picture was taken 3 days ago and is 2 houses down from us:


To offset the aforementioned breakdowns, I've been trying to focus on the positive. K has taken off work and been home with me all week which has been amazing, Mimi and Pop are only a car ride away, and even if they do bulldoze our house and replace it with a giant McMansion we'll still have a pretty stellar new living space. The best part about it all is that we'll finally be able to use K's coffee table from Pier One which has been hiding in a cardboard box in the corner of our dining room since it's purchase date of 1/9/06 [as noted on the "hold" tag that is still taped to the top]. Yes - 4 years later.


And to top it all off - check out that hair!!

3 Weeks Old

It's safe to say that B is growing like a little weed. She had her 2 week appointment last week and the doc reported the following stats:

-Weight: 9 lbs, 2.5 oz - 97th percentile
-Head circumference: 38 cm - 97th percentile
-Length: 22 1/2 inches long - off the charts

Clearly there are not many 2 week old babies that weigh in the "nines." And she was 20 1/2 inches when she was born. Did she really grow 2 inches in 2 weeks? All I know is that I don't have to wake her up at night any more every 3 hours to eat which I'm praising Jesus for. She was nearly impossible to wake up, and equally as impossible to get back down after being stripped to her skivvies and bombarded with cold paper towels. We had many late night parties during her 2 hour marathon feeding sessions, which typically included girl talk with Mimi, rocking, a dose of Gripe Water to help with potential gas, more rocking, swaying, and more rocking. This girl is a trickster too. Just when you think she's asleep you lay her down in her crib only for her eyes to pop wide open. Except for in this case. She's o-u-t.


Abby has been an amazing big sister so far. We brought home a blanket from the hospital before B's grand homecoming to give the dog time to get used to a new scent and prepare for our expanding pack. She slept with it for a while until our maid washed it with our cleaning rags. She'll sometimes give B kisses and is occasionally curious, but is pretty disinterested most of the time and minds her own business. I think she'd rather be sleeping or playing with her tennis ball or duck toys...


I think B in the swing is just about the cutest thing ever. I could watch her in it and smile / laugh all afternoon. She's so tiny and it's so big!! Her poor little head drops to a 90 degree angle to the right or left when she can't stay awake any longer. She's focusing more on things and stared at the mobile above the swing for a while when we put her in it earlier this week. What a doll!

Time flies...

...when you have a newborn. Our days and nights are becoming seriously blurred together, and I have no idea what day it is today. I DO know that we celebrated our 3 year anniversary this week. We'll be the first to admit that our 1st year of marriage was rather challenging, but we've come a long way and God has worked wonders with His love and grace in our hearts and through our marriage. Oh how things have changed!

Then:


Now:


Mimi and Pop babysat B while we went to Prego Pasta House for dinner to celebrate - an annual tradition. Another annual tradition:

Wearing my wedding shoes every anniversary - my "something blue." Love these fancy kicks!!


And speaking of shoes, my crafty friend Erin is at it again. She and her precious family stopped by for a visit this week bearing this wonderful gift:



And yes - she MADE these!!! Love her creativity as always. She is so talented and I admire her ability to express her inner spirit through her craftiness.

As far as B goes, this is my new favorite pic. Imagine we're in Colorado in the winter time instead of in the 100 degree Texas heat:

2 Weeks Old