My Christmas Tree is still up

I am a looser.

Cruisin

The Cruise was great but I kissed the ground when I got back…so excited to see my little one who’s changed
a lot in a week. It was a strange sensation to hold her again and feel her weight in my arms. The
anticipation was unreal and that first time I scopped her up under her arms and lifted her to my
chest it felt as if it had been a millennium.

We settled back in to life and are getting used to our nanny- still working on some of the
house rules and training and such but it’s going well.  She’s very good with her
(and does our laundry!!!).

Saturday we finally set up our tree and some decorations- the house looks and smells like Christmas. This
Saturday we’re getting her holiday photos taken at our house. Hmmm, which of the 3 red dresses that I’ve
received as gifts for her should we use? Someone also gave me red shoes- never would have thought of that.
They’re like little Dorothy slippers from the Wizard of Oz.

operation de-fatification…update

I’ve lost another 10 pounds since the beginning of operation de-fatification two months ago. I still have about 15 to go to be back in prime shape. The running and weights is going pretty well. I leave for my cruise in two weeks and while I certainly will be no J-lo in a bikini yet I am on my way and am feeling pretty good. We’re weaning Elena now so by the time we leave I won’t be nursing anymore. I will miss that so much but I think Elena will be happier and it will save me the pumping time and I can focus more on dieting without worrying about getting enough nutrients for her.

Roar

I tried some new hairstyle yesterday- inspired by

my husband’s cousins who stayed with us (they

are 13 and 17 year old girls). It went bad- really

bad. I ended up looking like the cowardly lion

in the wizard of oz for some part of the day. They said

“it is really easy to do” – just wet your hair at night, put it in

a bun and scrunch it the next morning with some gel. Right, Right.

Speaking of lions did you know there may be a lion loose in the neighborhood next to me?

pea-biscuit

My husband emailed me this picture he took of Elena today. Our little pea- biscuit (she pees a lot).

pig roast

Last weekend we went to the Dean’s annual pig roast with all of our friends. Here is a family shot.

booboo

Elena wriggled her way out of the boppy and blanket and pushed herself off the couch Friday after work. I had just come home and put down my gazillion bags (gym bag, diaper bag, computer bag, breast pump case, purse and infant carrier)… I put her down on the couch in her usual spot. She was fussy and hungry- it was about 6:15. I went to get a drink from the kitchen in preparation to nurse her when I heard a thump and then, silence. It was awful. I ran around the couch to find Elena face down on the rug. She had arched her back and slid down to the egde of the couch, had likely touched her tip toes to the ground when she fell off and  landed in a push up position, face first. She did not hit her head and her reflexes were perfect; her instincts taught her to put her hands up in front of her face. Seeing her silent and without seeing her face was terrible and when I picked her up she was crying without making a noise or breathing. She finally let it out as I held her to my chest. I kissed her soft hair behind her ears and held her little body so tight to my chest as she shivered. I said, “Lord, please let her be ok” as I patted her down looking for a welt or bruise or blood but I found nothing. She was fine. She calmed down and I nursed her as her tears kept coming and her whimpering subsided after a few minutes. That was a scary feeling, hearing the thud and then nothing! Now I know she can move herself and is beginning to roll.  One boo boo down, hundreds to go. The rest of the weekend has been so great, I’m just so thankful she is ok and I am enjoying every minute. She is 3 months old today.

poop

The past 3 or 4 weekends have been a blur. We’ve been bouncing Elena around to different babysitters (she still has no spot in daycare after a waitlist since January)- so it’s been hectic. I’ve not had the time to nurse her at lunch so that combined with her crazy demand for milk has caused some major nursing issues in the evenings and weekends. Since last Friday she would only take a bottle and would screme when I nursed her. We pulled the trick on her by switching from bottle to breast quickly. This led to many sleepless nights and 2-3 feedeings per night, Like she was a newborn again). By Wednesday she was back to regualr nursings but her demand is still so much higher than the amount of milk I can produce so we’re up two times in the night.  Since we’ve supplemented with formula she’ll sometimes get stopped up and we spend most of the weekend waiting for the blowout poop. This has kept us a bit home bound because when she does finally poop it shoots up her chest and back and we have to hose her down. This has been our lives the past 3 weekends. In between the fussiness has been some wonderful times as we see her smiling more, following us around the room with her eyes and exploring the world around her. She is developing so fast and its so exciting to witness that it makes the huge changes in our lives not such a big deal after all. We’re having fun, and waiting around for the big poops, when they come it actually is really exciting, as strage as it sounds!

8 weeks

Dave, Elena and I visited our friends Kate and Dan at the hospital Saturday to see their new baby boy! Elena was checking out her future boyfriend! We snapped a cool family pic too. The second shot is Elena in her pretty green sweater on the couch- ready to go out.

Whew!

I work at a company that generously let me bring my 5 week old baby girl to work for a week or so. This along with family babysitting has allowed me to extend the time with Elena before she heads to daycare- by October she’ll be strong enough to handle the transition and hopefully will remain healthy through the colder months.  Above is a pic of Elena in the pink bouncer in my office- one of the many stations I put her while working. I think she is really smiling although it could be a poop. All is all she was a great baby. I had some really tough moments but enjoyed the extra time with my sweet.