Thanksgiving Update

Thanksgiving has become the biggest holiday for my family.  It seems like this is the only time of year we can all take time off and get together.  The celebration started on Wednesday for me this year, when my mom and I worked on some sewing projects and then made four pumpkin pies.  They all turned out great - projects and pies.  Thursday was filled with loud family, too much food, and lots of laughs.  Friday was more family, more food, and more laughing.  The rain put a damper on some of our plans, but we had a good time stoking the fire in the wood stove until we had to open the windows and doors just to stay awake.  That heat will suck the life out of you.  Saturday was more family, more food, and more laughing again.  As if we hadn't had enough food already, we consumed an entire ham dinner with all the fixin's.  I spent Sunday at home, recovering from overeating and giving my ears a break from all the chaos.  Entertainment this year ranged from a serious Wii addiction to several rounds of Mad Gab.  The wind on Saturday inspired B to construct a homemade kite, which crashed and broke pretty quickly.  My dad built another one which flew to the end of the 200+ foot string. 

The main event of the weekend wasn't the turkey or the pie, of course it was Laci. 
No surprise there. 

It was so nice to have so many helping hands.  I had to prevent more than one fight over who was going to hold her.  I think she had a hard time adjusting to all the chaos, but she was a champ and did pretty well.  She had better get used to this family sooner or later because we aren't going anywhere, and we certainly aren't going to get any less loud.  She has a special fondness for Cousin B and Cousin Ryan.  She thinks B is probably the funniest thing she's ever seen and proved so by laughing her head off until she got the hiccups.

And Cousin Ryan must be special because she "said" his name. Just ask him, he'll tell you.

It was so fun to spend time with Aunty Jenny and all the rest of the family.  It reminded me of when we were kids and would spend the entire Thanksgiving week with cousins.  I hope Laci has those same special memories when she gets older. 
Here are some highlights I am going to remember:

Vocabulary Vomit

"What time is dinner?"

"We're leaving early, like five a.m."

Naked baby butts - both of them on one baby.

The lame part of the weekend is that even though I took almost 200 pictures, I didn't get even a single one of our new little family.  Too busy talking and eating I suppose. 
Anyhow, it was another great Thanksgiving holiday and
I'm already looking forward to doing it again next year.

It's Not All Sunshine and Roses: The Truth Behind the Blog

I love my life, but it is far from perfect.  I would never want it to be "perfect" even if there was such a thing.  The thing is, if you didn't know me and you read this blog, you might think that I think my life is perfect.  You might think that I never argue with my husband or worry about finances.  Based on this blog, I must spend my days filled with sunshine, playing silly games with the baby, and taking pictures to capture all my bliss.  Wouldn't that be nice?  The truth is, I do argue with my husband, I do worry about money, and I have so many faults I can't keep track.  I spend too much time on Facebook, I'm terrible at keeping in touch with friends, and I'm the worst procrastinator.  I like to focus my stories on those happy times for two reasons.  One, I want to remember them.  When I'm tired and cranky, it is easy for me to forget the simple things that bring me at least a little joy everyday.  Two, I have been trying really hard to be a more positive person - a glass is half full kind of girl.  I have found that the more I focus on the positive, the more things I find to be positive about.  I find it easier to let the little things go...like today, for example.

Today started like any other day.  I began my run in the hamster wheel around 6:45 this morning.  Feed baby, change baby, play with baby, feed baby again, put baby to sleep...lather, rinse, repeat.  I thought I would try to be ambitious today.  Not all days are ambitious.  Some days are meant for being lazy in pajamas all day.  Today was not going to be (another) one of those days.

I start with putting on makeup, mostly so I don't scare the UPS man if we get a package today.  Success!  Laci thinks putting on makeup is very entertaining.  This is when I realize that our bathroom sink is about the most disgusting sink you've ever seen.  I'm talking public restroom disgusting, except maybe worse because Ryan shaved the night before and there are little hairs everywhere.  If I were to drop my toothbrush in the sink at this point, I might consider just getting a new toothbrush.  I get out the cleaning supplies and clean off the counter which is littered with various bottles, potions, and lotions.  Just as I squirt a big glob of cleaner in the bottom of the sink, Laci has decided it must be time for playing, or eating, or her latest thing, which involves playing and eating at the same time (makes for much longer eating times).  After playing, eating, burping, pooping, changing, and more playing, we are ready to attack the bathroom again.  I am in the middle of scrubbing the faucet with a toothbrush (no I don't usually use a toothbrush, but like I said, it was really disgusting), and Laci decides it must be time for sleep.  I finish cleaning anyway so that by the time I have dried off the counter and returned all the bathroom paraphernalia to its proper location, I have a screaming mad baby who just doesn't understand why I didn't pick her up immediately.  Once I pick her up, she promptly falls asleep and takes an hour long nap...as if she was the one who needed a nap.

After all this ambitious cleaning, I decide I have accomplished enough for one day.  I take pride in my little successes because only a couple of months ago, I was convinced I would never be able to set the baby down long enough to clean anything again, EVER.  I plan to spend the rest of my brief baby-free moments browsing the Internet for items I don't need but really want.  That is, until, I open our cupboard.  Ryan has decided to store the butter dish in the cabinet on top of the plates.  At first I thought,"What a great idea."  We have a problem with the cats licking the butter when we leave it on the counter, and I have a problem with cold hard butter from the fridge...it just doesn't spread.  Apparently, the mice thought it was a great idea too because there are fecal remnants of our mice friends all over the cabinet, plates, and bowls.  I am totally grossed out and drag Ryan into the kitchen with me to examine the cupboard.  Yes, he confirms, mouse poop.  When we first moved here we put out all kinds of mouse traps, caught a couple, and haven't had a problem since.  Plus, with three cats around here, why worry about mice?  I don't know what it is about mouse poop that is so disgusting.  I mean, other than the fact that it is poop, it really isn't that bad.  It is small, firm, and doesn't really smell.  I deal with grosser things numerous times a day in Laci's diapers.  BUT, the fact is, mouse poop is grosser than anything Laci could ever produce and now my cabinet is covered in it.  What do I do?  I start pulling everything out of the cupboard.  I mean EVERYTHING.  Plates, bowls, mugs, more plates, even the shelf lining.  I throw away the shelf lining and do my best to disinfect the particle board shelves.  I recut some lining for the shelves and spent the next 45 minutes washing every dish that I pulled out of the cabinet, contaminated or not.  In my mind, it was all contaminated.  Never have I wanted a dishwasher so badly.

The point of me telling this long-winded story was not to bore you, although I may have successfully bored you to death.  If you are still alive and with me, the point is to let you know that I deal with crap in my life everyday - both figuratively and literally.  I struggle with being content with my life and sometimes I have to strain to see the silver lining.  Don't let the sunshine-y facade of my blog blind you - I am a real person with real problems.  I just happen to have some good things going on, and I don't mind sharing them.

Getting Stronger

If I exercised as much as Laci everyday, I'd be getting stronger too. 

But I don't.

So I'm not. 

She still lifts her eyebrows when she's pushing up, so she ends up looking surprised most of the time.

Or, REALLY surprised.

Or, just goofy.

Little Peanut

Just so I can remember how tiny she is, even though she gets bigger everyday.

...three months...

The Stats:

11 lbs 12 oz

23 3/4 inches long

Our little girl is three months old already, and what a GIRL she is.  She's found her voice and she's been oohing and aahhing all week.  She's even laughed a few times, at the lamest and most unexpected things, but who am I to judge what's funny and what's not?  She can whine with the best of them when she thinks she's bored and she's got the high-pitched girly squeal perfected.  She's become very observant of her surroundings and is quite the people watcher...just my kind of girl.  She can be entertained for quite a while with just a ribbon tied to the ceiling fan, which lets me lay in bed for just a little longer in the mornings.  She's still working on her thumb but has also decided that her first and second fingers are just as good for sucking and chewing.  It is so fun to see her change just a little bit everyday.  She's constantly watching the world around her and trying to do new things.  I'm sure at times it is very frustrating to be so helpless.  Sometimes she looks like she just wants to take off running, but (thankfully) we're a long way from that. 

She's beautiful, smart, sweet, and all that we could have asked for. 

I'm just wondering what we ever did without her.

Thankful

Thanksgiving is approaching and I'm so looking forward to it.  I can't wait for the warmth of the wood stove, the smell of good food, and the company of my amazing family.  I try to remember to be thankful for something everyday, but with the holidays nearing, I feel especially grateful for all I have been given in life.

Today, I'm thankful to have him.

He helped me create her.

And he can turn this...

...into this...

...and this.

Today, I am also thankful for my wonderful family.  You know who you are.  We had a fantastic dinner together Saturday night.  I love that we are so honest with one another, that we can talk about any subject, and that the volume of the room is always at least a dull roar.  I wish I had some pictures from the weekend of us, but we were having too good a time to bother with cameras. 

I'm looking forward to doing it again next weekend, and every weekend after that until...forever.

A Persistent Baby

We're still aiming for perfection with this thumb sucking thing. 

She spends most of her time looking at her thumb, putting it in her mouth (or eye, cheek, or ear),

taking it out of her mouth, then putting it back again. 

It makes for a really slobbery mess...that I just love to pieces. 

Last week's quest for the thumb

First we tried the left thumb.

No go.  So we tried for the right thumb.

Oops, hit the eye. 

Try again.

Now the cheek. 

Try again.

Getting closer.

Almost there.

Oops again. We had to start over.

Finally, a successful capture.

After all this practice, this week has been much more successful..

Silly Grammy

My mom will probably hate that I posted this picture of her, but I just had to.  I had to post this picture because this "Silly Grammy" got Laci's first laugh.  Just minutes before getting her first shots, Laci got the giggles, and all because her Grammy is about the silliest grammy ever (I think you can tell how silly she is just from this picture).  Just like her once elusive smile, I haven't been able to get her to laugh like that again, but I'm eagerly waiting its return.  We are so lucky to have you "Grammy".

Catching up with life...

I'm not sure what I've been doing for the past almost two weeks that has prevented me from updating, but I'm sure it was something good.  Probably a spectacular dinner party, or a crafty project, or a charitable event, or more likely, none of the above.  Most likely, it has just been living life that has kept me from documenting life.  I honestly don't know how the time passes so quickly.  I remember being a kid and thinking summer vacation was at least as long as the school year.  It seemed to last forever.  Then, I started to grow up and sure enough, each summer was shorter than the last.  It's really not fair that this happens to us.

One thing that I have been doing is taking lots of pictures.  Not necessarily great quality pictures, but definitely a great quantity of them.  I am really enjoying my new camera and can only hope to master even some of its capabilities.  Maybe I'll take a photography class someday.  One of those things I've always wanted to do, but never have, and don't really know why I haven't.  In the meantime, I will continue to experiment and learn by Trial and Error and more Error.

To begin catching up...

Miss Laci is twelve weeks old today, although not in this picture.  I think I took this one last week.

It has become a tradition for the cousins to visit the great grandmas on Halloween.  First a visit to Granny Lyn and then to Grandma June.  At first I was skeptical:  Laci doesn't eat candy and I certainly don't need to, they don't make costumes small enough for a little peanut, and the meeting time was 6:30 pm.  This is right about the time that Laci decides she has had enough of being a happy baby and turns into a complaining, whiny baby until she goes to bed.  But who was I to deprive my little one of her first Halloween, and to deprive the great grandmas from seeing their newest great granddaughter?  You can see the results of the evening below, sandwiched between the prettiest Snow White and the cutest Elephant ever. 

I call this costume the "sweaty ball of fury."  This bundle of joy we call our daughter had screamed and cried for so long she was soaked in sweat and wouldn't even open her eyes.  I don't want you to get the false impression that she just doesn't like her picture taken.  No, she kept up this act for the duration of the evening.  Ahhhh, memories :)