where we've been, part one

I know. I know. I didn't mean to be away for two months, I swear. It's just that things kept happening. When I would start to think about catching up, I'd feel so overwhelmed that I wouldn't know where to start. And then, I'd end up even farther behind. Which, if you know me well, you might recognize as an underlying plot theme of my adult life.

But 2013 is going to be a good year for us. One item on my long list of resolutions involves Follow Through. With that in mind, I'm determined to post in this space at least once a week.

I can't just leave a giant two-month hole, though, in our story. And so, dear reader, I'm going to dump a bunch of pictures on you, in a few installments, until we're caught up.

Which brings us to December...

First, we met this guy:

Luckily for us, Mr. Santa is an incredibly sweet and patient man. Maybe next year, M will more excited and less traumatized. Maybe.

Then we flew--on an airplane! two thousand miles!--to Ohio for Christmas. If you're wondering, the smallest member of our party turned out to be a great traveler. She made lots of friends and managed to take naps at all the right times. We traveled with a minimal amount of gear and plenty of optimism. Which was, apparently, enough to get us through to our final destination.

M met her Ohio uncles for the first time.*

She visited with her great-grandparents.*

On Christmas Eve, we dragged M to two different church services. She was a real trouper, sleeping on all the car rides and charming everyone she met in both congregations. She even humored her Mama by staying awake for the candle-lit singing of Silent Night at the end of the second service.

Unfortunately, the late-night escapades took their toll and Christmas morning itself was pretty cranky.

Crankiness didn't keep the little dear from mastering the art of opening presents, though. In fact, she was passionate enough about the process of shredding and eating wrapping paper that no one's camera was fast enough to keep up with her.

Posing for pictures with gifts didn't really work out, either. Maybe next year. Or the year after that.

After breakfast and presents, there was a nice, big Christmas Day nap.

In the evening, we had our fancy dinner. While the finishing touches were put on the meal, M played with her GreatPa while the two of them sat in her great-great-great grandfather's rocking chair.

Of course, Christmas was the main focus of our trip, but Ohio also came through with one of Daddy's holiday wishes: Snow!

As it turns out, snow is cold and wet and babies don't like being plopped down in it. Even for one second. This particular baby didn't cry, but she made it very clear that she was not impressed by the Boxing Day mini-blizzard.

In general, M had a great time, in a house full of people that Absolutely Adore her. She spent her days being held, tickled, and generally entertained. She also mastered crawling and even started pulling herself up on things! All the oohs and ahhs of encouragement probably didn't hurt.

Our trip home was surprisingly smooth. Dad went back to work the next day, and Mama found herself trying to distract a baby who'd grown accustomed to having a half-dozen people around to play with at any given time. Needless to say, there was a bit of a transition period. Then there was that whole three hour time difference...

All mutterings aside, though, I think it's safe to say that Miss M had a doozy of a First Christmas.

*And her dear Auntie Katelyn!

**And her Great-Aunt Glenna!

smiles

Just in time for the two month mark:

Now we'll start looking forward to the giggles.
Happy Two Months, Miss M!

one month

We are celebrating this week. Somehow, it has already been an entire month since M first moved in with us. Maybe it's the general lack of sleep at our house, but it seems like the days have been flying by. On the other hand, it also feels as though Miss M has always been a permanent fixture in our lives.

Of course, she's much smarter than she was a month ago. She's also gotten better at posing for photos. This bodes well for my plan to pimp her out as a Baby Gap model in order to pay for her college tuition.  Oh, and maybe to fund a few trips to the grocery, too...

She has an amazing kissy face, which cracks me up every time I see it, even though she tends to use the face to announce her pressing desire to eat something. I still like to pretend that it means she loves us immensely. Which she does. She just hasn't realized it yet.

She's eating like a proverbial horse, or at least a foal, which has been incredibly challenging and incredibly gratifying at the same time. She's finally starting to gain some serious weight, and of course, we're convinced that it's all brain mass.

We are celebrating with cupcakes, reveling in a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Ohio, and taking the time to appreciate all the ways this little one has already grown.

two weeks

And now, somehow, it's been two weeks. Our days have been blurring together in one long loop of eating, sleeping, contending with dirty diapers, and hosting friendly visitors.

We've made it out of the house a few times.  M has visited my favorite bookstore and our neighborhood library.  She's also logged several hours as a Metro bus passenger and attended her first Memorial Day pancake breakfast at the neighbors' house.  Granted, she's managed to sleep through all of these milestones, but still.

Now that my man is easing his way back into a regular work schedule, M and I are spending a lot of time on our own. As a result, I've had to change a few of my habits.  For instance, I've given up almost every activity that requires the use of two hands. Unfortunately, typing falls into this category, which might help explain my extended absences from the blogosphere.  

I'm also spending an incredible amount of my day sitting on our couch.  While none of this should be surprising to anyone, I'm still having a hard time being so--inert.  It is not my natural state, and I spend significant portions of my day waiting for my partner in crime to get home, so that someone else can sit on the couch and hold a baby.

Having said all that, though, I can't help feeling that being stuck on a couch holding this baby for hours on end may be one of the best things that ever happens to me...

one week

Yes, it's true.  There is a baby at our house.  She arrived quickly and gracefully on a sunshiny morning, the day after Mothers Day.

In spite of her high-pitched wail and general failure to accept responsibility for her own actions, we have decided to keep her.  She makes us smile and laugh and cry.  She makes our world so much bigger and so much smaller at the same time.  Also, we cannot stop looking at her.

And she is already seven days old.  She has a whole week of living under her belt.  It's hard to believe.  She has habits and hiccups and a beautiful name that we hope she'll grow into someday--although for our purposes here, we'll just call her M.

I was going to bake something to celebrate her first week.  Like cupcakes.  But then I remembered that babies can't have cupcakes, which means that I would have to eat her cupcake for her.  That just seemed like too slippery a slope to descend this early in the game.

So we'll probably do something else to mark the occasion.  Like maybe give her a bath.  Or trim her incredibly long fingernails.  Or just sit around on the couch staring at her some more.  Because we've gotten very good at doing that.

Of course, I have lots more to say.  I want to tell you about the day she was born and all of our exciting firsts and what it's like to be at home alone right now with a tiny baby that allegedly belongs to me.  I'll save all of that for another time, though.

Today we're too busy doing nothing.