Oh yeah, Christmas....

Yes, there was Christmas day in the recent haze of days.

Since Lee and I didn't really do gifts, other than the camera and the baby and all, it ended up being a pretty sparse gift year.

Donald was sweet and got me a necklace holder for the dresser. He gave Lee some long sleeved shirts, a hoodie, and some pj pants for his new Dad uniform.

My mom and Tony and us didn't do gifts this year. Their gift to me was letting me sleep while they took a night shift here and there (OMG it was awesome!) and they baby sat so Lee and I could go on a date. How long were we gone?

And hour and a half.

We tried.

Lee's family still wanted to do gifts. So over to their house we went.

By the way, everyone out there who is about to have a baby or will have one by Christmas next year, when you show up somewhere with a baby - you are chopped liver. It's all "Oh hi, glad you are here, good to see you! GIVE ME THE BABY!" and then you don't see the baby for hours.

Unless it cries, then it magically appears before you.

I snapped a few photos of people opening gifts:
Kelly - loves to fish - got some tackle:Laura and Justin flew in from Seattle. I gave her a chunky necklace from Anthropologie (not pictured) and Lee got Justin some beer glasses...
Kelly gave their dad a book and a homemade bookmark:
And Kelly gave Lee some beer mugs:I was given some books and other odds and ends. Lee's mother received gifts as well but I didn't get any photos of her opening them.

I also didn't get any "family" photos. Drats.

My grandmother couldn't help herself and sent gifts with my mom when they passed through Palestine on the way here. Boy was I excited to see about 8 or so of these!

Mason jars! And not just any Mason jars - ones with Dogwoods and Palestine on them. Palestine has a pretty exciting trail of Dogwoods that attracts many visitors every year, and of course a cute little festival to go with it. These have the dogwoods on one side and the 1986 Dogwood Trails info on the other.

I grew up drinking out of mason jars and up until now, I only had one in the house. Anytime I went to have a glass of {sweet} tea, I was hunting this one jar down.
My grandmother found a set of them in an antique store in town and grabbed them for me!

So now I made room for them next to Lee's new array of beer glasses (that he special orders from Dogfish Head). Woohoo!

It's the little things, huh?

Thankful...

Wait, it's not Thanksgiving, the Thankfulness-season is over right?

I mean tomorrow you pack away all the shiny Christmas decor (except the outside lights that didn't get put up this year... AGAIN), your house goes back to every day boring, and the holidays are O-V-E-R.

So you don't have to be Thankful anymore, right? And New Years Resolutions are kinda of old news too - who actually follows through?

So, I am going to break the trend here today. I am thankful as all get out this morning.

Maybe it's the extra sleep that Logan let me get last night (he did so good!)

Maybe it's the coffee and the Oh's.

Maybe it's the 4 day weekend with my hubby...

But man I am a happy chick this morning.

I am thankful for my healthy, squirmy, silly, handsome baby boy.

I am thankful for my healthy (he did great at his physical!), funny, handsome, supportive, sort of patient husband.
I am thankful for my family and friends.

I am thankful that Preston is being a super tough little man. I seriously can't wait to meet him, maybe only second in line to his own parents. Read updates here: Pineapples N Pickles

I am inspired by this blog: Reagan's Blob
Which also makes me thankful.

I know it's easy to step into selfish mode.
*whine* I am tired all the time!
*whine* I don't know why he is crying!
*whine* I don't get to cook dinner anymore!
*Whine**whine**WHINE**WHINE*

So if there is a resolution to be made, and kept, it will be to be less selfish. Lee and I are selfish folks. We like our time alone together. We like our wine and good food. We don't do anything that we don't want to do. Pretty much ever.

But now, with Logan, you can't be selfish anymore.

So what you don't get 10 hours of sleep anymore? (right?)

I read this book last night (at like 2am) about how you need to enjoy the first few months of new baby because when you look up and he is 1 year old, destroying the house, terrorizing the dogs - you won't even remember the stupid crying you did at 3am when all you wanted to do was freaking sleep in your own bed -you will be chasing this kid around while he squeals and discovers things.

And life will rock.

This post was random. Maybe I need more coffee?

One month already

Tomorrow Logan will be 4 weeks old. It has gone by fast in some ways, and slooooow in others (like - sleep...)

I can't believe how much he has already changed. For one, he is FINALLY outgrowing Newborn sized clothes. Size 0-3 still are big but he is starting to fill them out.
When Mom and Tony were here - Tony put Logan on his knee, bounce him up and down, and would sing:

Ride the little pony into town
Ride the little pony don't fall down!


He loved it!

I am not so good at it. I need practice.
Also - don't ride the pony right after a bottle... you know?

The days all run together, truth be told. My favorite days are when Lee is home too. I am glad Logan was born in the Holiday season because I got more of those weekdays with Lee.

He isn't the best sleeper, but we have figured out some tricks and I am finally sleeping in 3 hour stretches, awake about and hour and a half in the middle of the night (around 2 or 3). Sometimes he sleeps great in his bassinet, but others I am on the guest bed with him in the crook of my arm. From what I have read, they aren't spoiled or develop habits until after 4 months, so if this is what it takes to get sleep from time to time - then that is what I will do!

Things are getting easier, and we can't wait until that first smile and giggle.

Logan's House & Paranoid Parents

When you decide to have a baby, you think about how cute it will be and how much you will love it, etc etc.

Then you start gathering all the "stuff."

Crib, dresser, changing station, etc.

OK -cool, now we have a nursery. Cute!

Then the showers start and the STUFF starts pouring in. Swings, bouncy chairs, toys, clothes, etc.

Ok - cool, put it all away in the cute nursery.

Then - the baby comes.

And the STUFF explodes into the house. The reality is that you don't want to isolate yourself in just that one room. Feeding, changing, shh'ing to sleep - all in the same room makes you feel very left out and alone.

This is my living room now:Swing (a.k.a LIFESAVER), random baby mess on the coffee table (toys, drops, Advil and coffee for mommy). Bobby lounger (another lifesaver, he loves that thing).

Burb cloths everywhere, bassinet in front of the wine cabinet (my how things change huh?) Dogs sleeping..

The kitchen has even been impacted:
Bottles, bottle warmer, bottle drying rack.. Now, this is after my night routine, where I make the bottles before I go to bed (for the first time around 11:30pm) so that all I do it get up at 2:30 and 5:30 and throw a bottle in the warmer. I haven't quite cleaned up my night mess.

For the record, pumping and bottle feeding is... challenging. But I know it's worth it.
At least I found a use for the wasted space behind my sink... great place for the drying rack!

Also - when you decide to have a baby - you know there will be some level of worry. There is nothing in the world that prepares you for this kind of worry.

Every book and online publication talks about SIDS. They all try to ease your fears and tell you that as long as you don't have huge fluffy blankets and he sleeps on his back - you are probably fine.

Ask us how many times we have either poked this poor baby in the middle of his super still nap, or how fast I whipped out of bed and checked on him last night when I woke up to find he had slept an hour longer than normal.

On top of that, we were told by the 5pm news that crib bumpers are a no-no. They are bad when the baby starts moving around the crib b/c of suffocation, but also before that because they trap carbon dioxide in the crib and less fresh air gets in.

So now...No bumper. That super cute bumper with the trains on it..

Added benefit is that I can see him pretty easily from the doorway -
(that blanket is tucked very snugly around his lower body, and he is swaddled beneath that...)
Today is his first time in the big crib since a few days after we brought him home. I am trying to transition him back into that room. It's a little cooler back there but since he is gaining weight I wanted to give it a shot during the day. He so far has taken his entire nap back there this morning!

That bassinet may get put away soon..
Am I ready for that?

Not really. He is growing fast! While I long for a good nights sleep, I still can't believe how fast he is growing. He looks way less newborn and way more like a little boy!

First Real Bath

Until the umbilicle cord falls off, you can only sponge bathe the baby. Since Logan's fell off 2 days ago, we were able to give him his bath today, submerged in warm water!
At first he was a little freaked out, but then he calmed down. I am sure he will grow to love bath time. We have toys already in the closet ready for him to play with!
Lee is just glad we have a used for our bath tub, other than bathing dogs (which we also did this morning). I am telling you, that tub will help us sell this house. But that's another story.

Brace Yourselves

Awhile back I posted about Lola's favorite toy in the whole world, Froggie.

Warning: The photo below is graphic in nature and you may want to make sure no children are around before you view it...

Froggie is no longer with us.
The story from Lola and Teddy is that a pack of wild dogs, much like those on A Christmas Story, ran in the house and killed him.
I came home from dinner to find him... no longer whole..


Froggie's lower half is still around, but I couldn't take seeing his head laying around and disposed of it.
Lola, at this point, seems a little unfazed.
She is such a little trooper...

Little Monster

We are in the middle of a growth spurt. And in the beginning you don't know what it is.

Why is he fussy?
Gas?
What's going on?
Why isn't he SLEEPING?

Finally you figure out he is hungry (and gassy) and you feed him more and he starts sleeping again.

We finally got it right and he slept in 3 hour stretches last night, it was awesome! I am watching him because I think I may need to increase his intake a little more than the 1/2 ounce I already did. He seems to still go after that bottle even when it's done.

I thought since he was being a little monster I would take a picture of him in his monster towel:
Babies are cute so that you forget about the non-fun things :)