Downtime

Finally, a little downtime after the busy-ness of Christmas!  I hope everyone had a nice one--We did for sure, what with a Christmas baby coming and all...I must correct the spelling of my last post...Jill's little girl is Cali Cate (Cute!!) and they are doing well and home now.  Our Christmas celebrations began on Tuesday when Keller and I went up to Maribeth's (college roommate) and met up with Elise and Mary.  Trav was unable to make it (JuJitsu night) and I learned how hard it is to have a proper visit with friends in the evening (witching hours) with a boy who likes to eat a lot.  It was nice to see everyone nonetheless, but I felt a little like I was tending to a cranky baby most of the time.  On Wednesday I finished up some last minute Christmas shopping (it was hard getting out and about this year for some reason...) and then we went to Trav's parents' for the annual Christmas Eve gathering and did "Christmas" there after everyone left so that was Keller's latest night out yet...Christmas morning, Trav and I were busy finishing up wrapping and whatnot.  We didn't have time to even do our little Christmas here before heading out.  We stopped at my sister-in-law Shannon's to bring our gifts and then headed to my parents.  Upon arriving at my parents and saying my hellos, I realized that someone was missing and while I said hello to Lenny and Chase, I realized that my sister wasn't around.  That's when I was told she was upstairs...and soonafter I arrived, she and Len were off to the hospital to have their baby, three days ahead of the official "due date." 

Keller's New Radio Flyer From Grandma and Grandpa

It was an exciting Christmas for us all as we awaited the updates from the hospital.  I love the above picture because it was taken in the height of gift-opening---Everybody is busy "doing Christmas", even the dogs (hmmm, where's Bo???  up to trouble somewhere I'm sure)!  

Each day since Christmas we've had visitors here too, friends in from out of town and whatnot.  I think we're in the clear now and can resume our regular family life schedule for a few days until New Years...

As for Keller updates, he is at the moment asleep in his crib for a nap...which he never does.  He has been particularly anti-nap lately unless he is being held.  When he does nap it tends to be in the 30-45 minute range, BUT while that it less convenient for us as far as accomplishing anything during the nap, we really can't complain because he's such a great nighttime sleeper with consistent 9-11 hour nights.  I'll do without the naps so long as I get my nighttime sleeps!!  He also giggled for the first time last night...heartmelting!  He's been smiling much more and Trav and I both have our little smiling games with him.  But to hear that little giggle along with the smile was absolutely adorable!  He loves his playmat and hits, grabs, and holds the dangling toys now.  His favorites are Redbird and Mr. Sun.  And he's really into checking things out in mirrors.  He also has been falling asleep with a healthy grasp on my necklace or my hair.  And he's accidentally rolled onto his back a few times during tummy time...I guess that's how rolling starts, right...(that darn heavy head!!)

I am now looking forward to the holidays coming to an end and to getting into our own everyday groove without feeling like I need to do Christmas shopping and whatnot.  I also want to start going to the gym on a regular basis, but I'm so skeptical about leaving Keller in that little daycare room there...but I know I'll feel so much better if I'm exercising.  I know I can go when Trav is home but I like to be home when he's home (mostly;) and I want to have a sense of being able to decide when I feel like exercising rather than being dependent upon Trav's schedule.  We'll work it out...for now I guess I haven't minded the excuses for not being able to go to the gym... Sounds like Trav is done giving BoBo a bath...must go support the wet doggy...oops, too late, oh well, signing off anyhow!

 

A Christmas Baby!!

Yay!  My sister had her baby yesterday!  A little girl named Callie (not sure if I spelled it correctly)...middle name to be determined!  I'm going to visit today...a whirlwind of a Christmas Day for her and Lenny for sure! 

The Christmas Photo

I think I should have held off on sending the Christmas cards until this image was captured.  Poor Keller having to live with a crazy daddy...The faux mustache came in a package of mustaches that my dear husband gave me a few years back for Christmas...such a thoughtful gift that was!  Actually, I think Keller does a good job pulling off the good ol' boy look, or the barber look--

The picture below is the one on the Christmas card that I should have done in color...I'll tell you, that whole Christmas card process was tedious and now I'm not even happy with the product...The plan was to have a Christmas card that could pass as a birth announcement, too...and I wanted it to have a "neutral" look so I could put it into a shadowbox frame with other Keller items.  As it turns out, the card colors are not what I expected and the other Keller-items don't "coordinate" as much as I'd like for them to be suitable for hanging on the wall.  Now I'll have to follow through and use the frame for its original purpose and put our wedding stuff in it...Next year, a one picture card...in color.  Someone remind me!!

And on the Christmas card topic, Keller LOVES looking at all of the colorful babies and kids on the fridge.  He stares and stares so we've been telling him all of his friends and cousins names and whatnot.  Very cute:)  

We finally got a video camera, too.  We had one delivered the day before I went into labor and used it for the hospital, but returned it because when it was delivered, none of the "extras" that were supposed to come with it came...screwy business practices.  Luckily Trav was able to return it for a full refund after extremely poor customer service (very very rarely have I ever seen Travis get his feathers ruffled...)

So the new camera comes with a story, too:)  I am somewhat of a giftcard hoarder...I've been saving them up in anticipation of my year off of school (no more paychecks for me this year:(  Last Christmas, my class had given me $150 in gift cards for Stop and Shop.  When I opened it I was thinking, great...groceries...thanks...but then when in Stop and Shop, I walked past the gift card display and thought that these room parents must have wanted me to be able to pick out my own gift cards, right?!!!  So I saved them.  AND also last Christmas, we received more Stop and Shop cards from Trav's aunt and from my mom (who labels the envelope she puts them in every Christmas, "food stamps")...So the other day, I went into Stop and Shop armed with $250 of giftcards and bought Best Buy giftcards.  On top of that, we had an American Express gift check (a wedding gift, conveniently hoarded for such a purpose!) AND we received a Christmas card with a $50 bill in it from Trav's aunt...I think Travis said that when he bought the camera with all of these gift cards and such, he ended up taking home 13 cents or something...(to be hoarded for our next big purchase, of course)!!  Merry Christmas to us!  Sometimes I have good ideas!!

Christmas with a Dog and Child

So things are definitely a bit different this year as we get ready for Christmas.  I always loved getting all sprawled out on the floor ready to wrap gifts, losing the scissors or the tape at least 10 times during the process.  So what's different?  Well let's see, every time I've planned to start the wrapping, child wakes up, or cranks, or I'm just too tired and go to bed instead.  Well now it being an official "snow day" and all, I take out the wrapping paper (hmmm...I thought I had more festive wrapping paper than that?...I guess my mom never got around to buying us all clearance wrapping paper last year...funny the things you count on that you don't even realize you count on).  That's okay about the wrapping paper, I guess I'm only wrapping the "kid gifts" and really, what do they care what the wrapping paper looks like...The fun part is ripping it off and seeing what's inside, right?  So snow day today, Trav's home early, clearly a great day to do the gift-wrapping.  But where??  This is where the dog comes into play, yes, dog or rather dog-hair, everywhere that I don't want to sit in nor do I want it all over my gifts.  Since when is a broom involved in wrapping presents?  That's new this year.  As is the constantly crying baby today....shhhhh...right now he's asleep in his swing.  I think maybe he's not feeling so well.  He's having a little issue with his "special purpose" today; the doc says to just keep an eye on it...He's been sooooo tired and just not letting himself go to sleep for more than a half an hour or so.  I think now he's down for the count...another good hour would be ideal.  So now I'm supposed to be wrapping those gifts I was talking about...Trav is outside shovelling with the dog, baby is asleep, dog hair is swept, and I've got gifts to wrap in the quiet house by the light of the still crooked and still undecorated Christmas tree.  Yup, things are definitely different this year!

Smiles and Such

Peek-a-Boo!!  Keller has been actually using his hands to grasp things...He officially must be supervised more closely when covered in a blanket.  Luckily we still swaddle him in the kiddopotomus bags at night so he has no access to his hands...I wonder how long he'll be swaddled for.  We have those regular blanket bags too that his arms stick out of, but we're afraid of loosing some of our precious sleep time if his arms are out and he startles himself awake.  When does that startle thing stop??  I have to buy the bigger size swaddle bag next time I'm at BRU.

This is Keller trying to get milk out of his teddy bear's nose.  He was unsuccessful.  Look at those delicious chunky thighs!!  Oh, fat!!!!  (there's the mysterious blue-underlining again...)

This is Keller's 2 month shot with his bear buddies.  There's a little smile for you!  What a difference from his one month shot.

Cutie laughs while playing Up and Down with Daddy!  So much fun!!

Blue Baby Goes Hunting

**(see note)  So this poor little blue boy was dragged to the tree farm today, apparently against his will.  We even forgot the Bjorn so I carried him around.  He was in good spirits all morning, in the car and even as we bundled him in his toasty suit and hiked up the tree farm hill.  Then the cranks started in eventually making way for full-fledged crying.  We did a quick job finding a good little tree .  Hopefully Trav won't be allergic to it like last year (see December 2007 posts).  My theory this year was that if we buy a fresh one it won't have the allergens that a tree cut down a couple of weeks ago and shipped from Canada might have.  We'll see what happens.  

As we were walking through the trees, Trav was expressing that he felt bad about cutting down a tree, which I understand, but I stood up for our action by explaining how we were supporting local business and small farmers, which is true, although in the past I've preferred buying pre-cut because I hated thinking that if they weren't bought they'd just be mulched or worse, end up at the dump.  Poor trees.  Poor little blue baby.  Poor allergic Travis.  Poor me who overthinks EVERYTHING.  

This final picture is Trav's justification for cutting down the tree.  He figured at least he was going out and hunting like his ancient ancestors would have had to do.  He tracked and slaughtered this tree like a pro.  But alas--we have a cute little tree still on the roof of my car.

After the tree cutting, we had a nice visit with my parents and Abby and Shan.  Keller enjoyed being held by his grandma, grandpa, and aunt Abby.  He was mesmerized by the fire...one day he'll have a house with a fireplace, too.    

(**note:  don't know why the top paragraph is underlined...it was blue, too but I fixed that.  Also, I am getting better at the one-handed blog-post typing, just like Amy said I would...please excuse any errors and be glad to be reading and seeing anything at all here!!)

Life is Good

Life is good when your only job is to sit on the couch with your boy on your lap and find ways to make him show off his sweet little smiles!!

2 Months Old!!

This is a picture of Keller in his "Going Home " from the hospital outfit that didn't quite fit him so well and he was mistaken for a girl 2 times on our way to the car.  Poor little boy.  He was about 8 pounds in this picture taking into account his post-birth weight loss.  He still prefers that big ugly hospital bink when he takes a bink at all.

This is Keller 2 months later and 5 pounds heavier practically bursting out of the same "Going Home" outfit, thankfully (he's looking forward to outgrowing all of his yellows and greens)!  He rejected the bink I tried to stick in for the sake of replicating the original photo, but you get the idea!

So yesterday we had our 2 month check-up and the Dr. is quite pleased at the Little Man's growth and progress.  She is not a very punctual doc and so we always spend a lot of time waiting when we go there, so each time she walked by our room she poked her head in to see how we were doing.  Keller was entertained by the new surroundings, the fact that he got to hang out practically naked in just his diaper and blue blanket, and have uninterrupted lap time with mommy.  He's a big fan of the Up and Down game where he pushes himself to standing up (with help from mom or dad) and then down again.  He gets this wonderful expression of satisfaction each time he goes up.  He gets to play this every day with mommy and daddy both.

Mr. Magoo is in the 75 percentile for weight and the 50 percentile for height--22.5 inches and 13 pounds, 7 ounces.  We've been squeezing him into his size 1 diapers which we only have a few left that I insisted on finishing...we do give him the big size 2 at night as we've learned that diapers that are too small tend to leak. I expect to finish the little 1s today...Actually, now that I think of it, they're 1-2 diapers that are supposed to go up to 15 pounds...so I'm not such a bad mommy after all!  

Keller is consistently sleeping for 8 hours and even had a few 9 hour nights in there...knock knock!  Travis and I have been able to read before bed again!  Yay!  Poor Trav has been reading the same book since before Keller...one page at a time it seems...hopefully he'll be able to move onto a new one soon... 

What else can I report on Keller now that he's a big 2 months old...He's smiling more and more, loves watching his daddy and his dog, especially Bo's tail--it's a crack-up!  He's grasping things more including my hair, our shirts, blankets, whatever is in the way.  Of course he has no idea that something is in his hand, but we're moving in the right direction!  So standing, grabbing, smiling, and sitting in the Bumbo seat for small amounts of time seem to be the highlights right now.  I'm still loving being home, able to hang out with him all day, even when it makes me tired or unable to accomplish anything.  We've taken a few quick trips to the store, although trips need to take place within the slim 2 hours between daytime feedings.  Hey, I'll feed him every hour during the day if that means we can sleep at night!!  I'm so glad to have had the choice between going back to work and staying home.  It's a gift to be able to watch all of the details of Keller's growth moment to moment!

Holiday Card Photo Shoot

Here are two of the keepers from this mornings last chance holiday card photo shoot.  There's lots more photo shoot pictures, but they're on the other computer so that's all for now...  Mr. Crank calls...must make him happy!!

Pictures As Promised

Makin' Faces

Conked Out on Grandpa's Lap

after eating too much turkey

(or sucking too many binks;)

Practicing Holding Up His Head

The First Sink-Bath

(is that hand on the right flashing a gang sign?)

Hammin' It Up!

Thank Goodness for Grandma and Her Swiffer getting BoBo's ball out from under the TV!

A Quickie

NO!!  Not that kind, silly!!  I mean a quick post!  It's been a busy few days since the holiday and on top of that, we (Trav) got a new computer thankfully.  I had to give my computer back to school for my leave at the end of October so then Trav and I were sharing his computer, which is oldish and has been getting slower and slower by the minute.  It was getting to the point of taking 20 minutes for me just to get logged onto my email...needless to say all I generally have time-wise is 20 minute blocks so there goes most opportunities to check email and respond, no less download pictures and post a blog.  Soon though.  I am using the new computer now but all the pictures I just downloaded are on the old one (which Trav is using) so look forward to some updated pics soon.  

Today was me and Keller's debut into the real world by ourselves.  While last week we went to Quest for my iron count and then to the health food store to get my Calcium supplements, those were both pretty quick.  Today we went to Macys to swap some sizes and look for a nice shirt or two to accommodate my slightly altered figure for me for the holidays.  No luck.  Looked for a couple Christmas gifts while there, also no luck, then the little man awoke and I knew lunch-time was imminent so we left.  He began to cry.  I had to decide whether to feed him in the parking garage or to make my way to Babies R Us which was our next stop anyway and opted for the latter.  I made good use of the "Mother's Room" there and joined another woman, her husband, and 5 week old.  Exchanged some more items then headed to Linens N Things (which is going out of business) to use an old store credit I've had for awhile.  Of course they didn't have the handfull of things that I actually needed from a place like that, so I settled for new pillowcases to replace the formerly white ones-turned greyish and the green ones from Job Lot which are shaped more like trapezoids than your standard rectangle shape...

How's that for a boring post!  It was exciting for me to get out into the world and I actually had things to talk about with Trav...I find that just being home feeding and tending to the boy doesn't make for interesting dinner conversation...I must add a little spice to my life now.  Tomorrow my spice will be a visit to see Jen and Molly and the Belly...AND I get to stop at the health food store by them and get my favorite Indian cooking sauce that I can't get anywhere around here:)  What an exciting life...I guess I'm living up to my blog title though!  Happy December!