A Year In Pictures

2011 - how to create a free slideshow

Please excuse the dumb music, but I didn't want to pay to add it and the website I used was going to make me.

Christmas Survey

I can't believe Daniel has slept long enough for me to actually do a Christmas Survey!

1. Does your family send out Christmas cards?


I've actually be pretty good at it the past few years! This year especially because I made a photo card with our new little family. Plus it doubled as a birth announcement.

2. How soon do you start shopping?

Every year I think I'll do it early. This year I told myself I WOULD start early because of being pregnant. Alas, before I had Daniel I had picked his gifts and ordered 1 measly gift online. I finished all of my shopping yesterday and UPS and FedEx have been at our house almost every day this week!

3. Who do you shop for?

Jacob, Daniel, the parents and siblings.

4. Do you put up a Christmas tree?

Yep! It wouldn't be Christmas without the tree! This year my parents put it up for us!


5. If so, is it fake or real?

Fake


6. Do you like tinsel?

I'm not a fan.


7. Do you use homemade or store bought ornaments?

I use both. The homemade ones are ones that people either made for me or ones that came from craft shows. My mom loves to pick those up for us!


8. Do you put Christmas lights outside your house?

No. I like them, but it's not Jacob's cup of tea and I have no desire to figure out how to do it. It's not one of those things that bothers me enough to care.


9. Do you put lights on the tree?

I made sure that we picked a prelit tree. I have "fond" (ha!) memories of mom trying to string up lights on the tree every year.


10. How about popcorn and cranberries?

Never done that before.


11. Is there a wreath hanging on your door?

I have a jingle bell wreath on the outside of our bedroom door because there's a big window on our front door, so it won't work well there.


12. Do you celebrate Christmas Eve?

It depends on the year. Sometimes we go to Christmas Eve services and other years not so much. I always loved Valley View's, but I remember one year I didn't like it. It didn't feel Christmasey and we only sang 1 or 2 Christmas songs along with regular worship songs. I begged mom and Erica to go to a 2nd service with me that night. We went to a midnight service at another church...and they sang lots of Christmas songs. Haha!




13. Do you hang up your stocking?

Yep...I have a mantel so of course I hang them!


14. Does your family read "Twas the Night Before Christmas?"

No...but maybe that will become a tradition with Daniel. Who knows!


15. What is your favorite Christmas movie?

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Hands down.


16. What is your favorite character from any Christmas movie?

Gotta go with Clark W. Griswold.


17. What is your favorite Christmas song?

Hmm...I have SO many! I'll go with Rudolph sung by Gene Autry as a secular song and O Holy Night as my favorite religious song.


18. What is your favorite Christmas memory?

Oh gosh. There are way too many. I have to say, one that stands out in my mind is the year that the macaroni bowl blew up at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Glass EVERYWHERE!


19. Would you rather give or receive?

I like to give...the problem is I worry that people won't like what I pick so I spend hours debating what to buy. It is nice to receive at times too though. :)


20. Would you rather drink eggnog or cider?

I don't really like either, but I'd drink cider any day over eggnog. Ew!


21. Do you prefer red or green?

Red. Green in general , but red for Christmas.



22. Do you prefer ham or turkey for Christmas dinner?

Ham...but I'm making pot roast because I like that over ham and turkey!


23. Do you prefer a star or angel tree topper?

Star



24. Do you prefer white lights or colored lights?

Love colored!


25. Do you prefer blinking lights or still lights?

Still inside. Outside I like blinking and still. If I had blinking lights on my tree I'd go insane.


26. Were you Naughty or Nice this year?


I'll say nice...but I've had my not so nice moments. Probably deserve a small lump of coal with my other gifts.


27. What do you want for Christmas this year?

A new GPS and a bathroom scale. Yup. I am awesome. Although, I would also like Erica, Jim and Logan to be here!


28. When do you open your gifts?

On Christmas Day. (Or on different days when celebrating at different family's houses). As kids we always got to open 2 or 3 little gifts like a calendar and socks on Christmas Eve. I hope to make that a tradition for Daniel too, but I probably won't start that until at least next year.


29. What's the best gift you've ever gotten?

Um...I really don't know. I've gotten a lot of very nice gifts though.



30. What's the worst gift you've ever gotten?

It's a cross between an old lady giraffe dress from my grandma when I was like 13 or 14 or a hideous hoodie that I couldn't bring myself  to wear.


31. Who gives you the most gifts?

It's a toss-up between our moms I think.


32. Have you ever had a secret Santa?

Yes...I've done them at work in the past.


33. Do you like wrapping gifts?

No. I am a terrible wrapper. Thank God for gift bags!


34. Do you put change in those red buckets?

Sometimes.



35. Do you burn a yule log?

No



36. Can you name all the reindeer?

“You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen; Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen. But do you recall the most famous reindeer of all. Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer…”



37. Do you bake cookies?

This year my hubby baked cookies and I frosted and decorated them. I forgot to tell him where my stash of Christmas cookie cutters are so he only had 2. We have lots of Christmas trees and stars. I ran out of green frosting at the end so I made red, blue and yellow trees too!! I could've mixed the yellow and blue but where's the fun in that?


38. Have you ever seen your mommy kissing Santa Clause?

Haha! No.



39. Have you ever gotten a kiss under the mistletoe?

I don't know that I've ever stood under mistletoe.


40. Do you go caroling?

I've gone with youth groups to nursing homes before.


41. Do you drive around and look at the Christmas lights?

We always did with our family...haven't done it in several years though.


42. Have you ever left Santa cookies?

Heck yeah! And he would always leave us a note thanking us for them. He was quite polite.



43. Have you ever sat on Santa's lap?

Yes!


44. Who do you celebrate Christmas with?

Family


45. Where do you celebrate Christmas?

Usually Cedar Rapids and Villa Grove, but this year we're celebrating at home!


46. Have you ever had a white Christmas?
Quite a few. This year will not be white. It's supposed to be almost 45 degrees.


47. What part of Christmas do you look most forward to?

This year I'm just looking forward to seeing family!


48. Have you ever had your picture taken with Santa?

Yes


49. Does your family always take a picture at Christmas?

Not a family picture really, but I usually take tons of pictures to document the day.


50. Have you ever heard the song "Thank God For Kids" by The Oakridge Boys?

Maybe? What a stupid last question.

Well...MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone. I doubt I'll be blogging tomorrow, so I hope you all enjoy time with your families!

The Star of Mommy's Blog

Once again I have NO idea where to start. My life is a complete blur. How can it be that it's been nearly a month already since Daniel was born?

I took him for his 4 week check up yesterday and he did such a great job. The first time we took him at 5 days old, he was not a happy camper! I couldn't believe it yesterday when they weighed him and announced that he was exactly 10 pounds! Wow! He's also 22 1/4 inches long now too. He's already growing too quickly.

I have days that are easy and other days that are challenging. He still prefers to be held a lot...and most of the time I don't mind. There are other times he just cries and cries and nothing I can do will make him happy. But those moments where he's content to just sit there and stare contently is just about the sweetest thing in the world.

I think he's getting closer to smiling. I did capture this one last week.



And he always smiles in his sleep.



Sleep is also one of those things that differs from day to day still. One night this week we were up for half the night. Then last night he slept great! In fact, he was out for the night at 9:30 instead of 11:00 last night (WOO HOO!) and slept until almost 1:00. I was hoping he'd drift peacefully back to sleep, but instead he projectile puked everywhere. Dang. Fortunately he was back to sleep by 2:00.

He's been a big napper today (hopefully he'll still sleep tonight!), so I've gotten a lot done. 3 loads of laundry, vacuumed (that I did while he was awake and he rather enjoyed it), cleaned the bathroom and even snuck in a cat nap with him.

I cannot believe that Christmas is only 5 days away. I finally did my Christmas shopping on Sunday and I didn't even leave the house. Thank you Amazon and WalMart. Now hopefully everything actually shows up. Fingers crossed! Now all I need to do is get to WalMart to pick up a few stocking stuffers for Jacob.

I'm pretty excited because this is the first year that we will actually be celebrating Christmas in our own home! It'll just be the 3 of us Christmas morning and then Jacob's family will be coming after church. Daniel will get to meet his Aunt Rachel and Uncle Micah and his Great Grandma Beverly too! They were all going to come after lunch, but I volunteered to host Christmas dinner. Going to have a roast, potatoes, rolls and whatever else I can think of. Brenda is going to bring a green bean casserole and the pies! Mmm. This is the first time that I'll have ever hosted anything. :)

Then next Tuesday my parent's and Kendra are coming. I'm excited for them to see Daniel again...he's grown a lot since they saw him last. He was only 4 days old the last time they left to go home.

Anyway...I need to go feed the little guy so I can make supper and hopefully eat supper without him wanting to eat.

I leave you with a few pictures...although most of you have Facebook and have seen them all already!

Time Flies

I cannot believe how fast the days fly by! Daniel and I are starting to get into a bit of a groove. Of course, some days go better than others, but I'm not feeling completely lost or overwhelmed anymore. It's funny how even after caring for other people's babies, how different it is with my own.

The hardest part of my day is actually the night. Usually once the sun goes down, he gets fussy. He cries a lot during the evening and wears me down. If I'm lucky I have him down for the "night" around 10:30, although some nights it's closer to 11:00 or later. For the most part we're down to 2 middle of the night feedings. My biggest problem is getting him to go back to sleep. He'll drift off while nursing, but will almost always poop, which means I have to get up and change his diaper. Diaper changes wake him up completely and all of a sudden it's party time. Last night he and I were up from just before 2:00 until 3:30. Then back up at 5 to eat again. I try to not stimulate him at all in hopes that he'll drift off. Sometimes I get lucky. Other times, not so much. This will eventually end though...we just have to get over the hump! Although, just thinking of him sleeping longer stretches makes me sad at the same time because it means he'll be getting bigger!

I admit too that it's hard to get up at night while Jacob is snoring through it all. I kid you not, he doesn't even flinch when Daniel is crying right next to him! But, I'm the one feeding him and I don't have to get up and go to work, so I understand. This is my job. :)

My life is crazy. There are days I don't do much of anything except care for the munchkin and try to nap. Then there are others where I'm running around trying to get things done before he wakes back up. I swear he can sniff me out. If he knows I'm eating or cooking, he goes off and will wail until I can give him attention. Little stinker!

I love watching Jacob and Daniel interact with each other. Sometimes that is the highlight of my day. I know Jacob was worried about bonding, but I'd say that they're bonding just fine now!

On Sunday, Grandma and Grandpa Elam came for a visit in the afternoon. It was great for me because I was able to go grocery shopping. Jacob was willing to go, but I was dying to get out of the house and have a little "Rachel time". Even though Wal-Mart was a zoo and I almost got hit by a lady who ran a red light...it was nice to get out for a bit. I think as Jacob gets more comfortable with caring for Daniel, I'll be able to do more grocery shopping alone.

And on that note, I have to wrap this up. I feel like this post was all over the place, but my brain isn't functioning very well. Blame those late night feedings/parties!

Confessions of a New Mommy

I thought it would be fun to make a list of my confessions of being a new parent.

* I always thought it was lame when people got induced and didn't wait to go naturally. I also thought getting an epidural was a cop out because my mom had all 3 of us without pain meds. I was wrong on both counts. I had a great induction experience and once my epidural worked I had absolutely no regrets.

*I always thought that breastfeeding would be easy. I LOVE being able to feed my little boy and bond. He drinks like a champ, but I had no clue how painful and messy it could be! Not to mention I have a hungry little boy, so there are times that I feel like I am constantly feeding.

*On the other hand I am proud that I can breastfeed him and know that I am helping him grow. His birth weight was 8 lbs, 4 oz. 5 days after birth his weight was 7 lbs. 11.5 oz. Yesterday at 2 weeks old he weighed in at 8 lbs 6 oz! He even graduated out of his Newborn diapers and is wearing Size 1! Now if only I could get him to stop spitting up!

*I always said my babies would sleep in their own crib from day one. I did attempt it the first night, but by 3:00AM I gave up and he's been in a bouncy seat next to me all night long. He hates his crib, but I'm working on slowly trying to get him to nap in there sometimes, although our longest stretch has been 15 minutes. I don't want him in our room forever, but at the same time I like knowing he's right there next to me and I can hear him breathing.

*We agreed no pacifiers. I almost caved twice. Thankfully Jacob held me back. There are times that Daniel is wailing and it would be nice to "plug it up", but I'm glad that we've stuck to our choice.

*I dread bedtime. I dread it more for me because it's hard to wake up after I've only been asleep for an hour and a half or two hours. Daniel is a little night owl. Once he's up to eat I have a very hard time getting him back to sleep. Sometimes it takes almost an hour and I know he'll be back up to eat again soon.

*At the same time...once I'm actually awake, I enjoy those feedings. Not in a, "Oh yay!!! I'm so happy that I'm awake to feed the little guy again", kind of way, but I want to cherish these moments. My baby is already 2 weeks old. I love those bonding moments. I love when he's finally drifting off to sleep in my arms. He rolls his little eyes all over the place and he ALWAYS smiles involuntarily every time he's falling asleep. It seriously melts my heart.

*Watching Jacob and Daniel bond is seriously just about the cutest thing ever. Daniel loves when daddy sings to him and it makes me love both of them even more than I already do.

*I could sit and watch Daniel all day long. I've memorized all of his little features and mannerisms. I'm learning when he wiggles and fusses that he has a burp trapped in him. I love when he wrinkles up his forehead because he looks like a little old man. He loves to play with his fingers and try to eat them.  He turns his head when he hears one of our voices. And even though he technically can't smile yet...I swear he does sometimes. I can see it in his eyes.

*I can finally be one of those biased mommies and say that I have the cutest baby in the world.

*I would give up anything for my little boy. He means the world to me.

*I love him more than I ever knew that I could love.

Whirlwind

Wow! My life has become a whirlwind. There was a time I'd sit at the computer for hours. Now I'm lucky to sit here for 20 minutes during the day! I'm usually busy nursing and changing the million and one poopy diapers that our kiddo produces each day.

There's no way that I can catch up on everything that has gone on in the past 10 days, but I'll try to recap a little bit.

We spent Thanksgiving Day in the hospital. We watched the parade. Watched football. Then Grandma and Grandpa Thatcher and Aunt Kendra came to visit! They fell in love right away.







Our first family photo. I got a rockin' pink hospital gown.



On Friday we were discharged to go home. We could have stayed until the evening , but we asked to leave as soon as possible. We got to leave around 10:30. Daniel was not thrilled about getting his clothes changed. (He hates to be naked!)



He also was not a fan of his car seat. The car seat was on my lap as they wheeled me down to the car. He screamed from our room, down the hallway, down the elevator, through the lobby and then promptly fell asleep until we got home.

Home sweet home!



Mom, dad and Kendra stayed until Sunday morning. They brought our Christmas gifts and were nice enough to put the tree up so the gifts had a place to go. One week later and my tree is still not decorated and I haven't had the energy to get out any decorations yet.

Mom made Thanksgiving dinner on Friday night. So glad I didn't miss out on turkey and apple pie!





It was great having them visit!



Jacob took off of work through Wednesday so we flew solo on Sunday and Monday. On Monday he went to his first doctor's appointment. Remember how I said he doesn't like to be naked? Well...



Daddy loves his baby boy!



Tuesday Grandma and Grandpa Elam came. They also immediately fell in love!





Grandpa went home that evening and Grandma stayed until Thursday morning. It was nice having an extra set of hands on Wednesday. We ate pizza the night before and I don't think Daniel enjoyed the pepperoni. I won't be eating that again! He cried in pain almost the entire day with the exception of a nap in the middle of the day on my lap.

Thursday I was on my own for the first time and then again on Friday. The days flew by quickly. Yesterday I had to go to the hospital for a lab test and we made our first trip, just the 2 of us. Of course it's only a couple of miles away, but he did great!

Today he was kind enough to take and nap and let Jacob have a bit of quality time that we've been lacking. It felt SO nice to snuggle up with him on the couch. I ended up napping on him while he watched basketball. It was lovely.

I have so much more to write...but Daniel is crying and probably wants to eat AGAIN! This kiddo is like his daddy. Always hungry, and I know he's getting plenty!

I will say that I LOVE being a mommy and I am so completely in love with both of the boys in my life!