beanski

baby shower

We made our first big trip this weekend up to my mom & dad's for Renee's baby shower (Couple's BBQ) and had a GREAT time. Apparently Rainy Lake has the same effect on my baby as it does on her mama...utter relaxation. She was SO good...in the car, at the party, even during the middle of the night. I keep threatening my mom that I'm going to move in...the funny thing is that I don't think she'd mind!! If her daddy wouldn't miss his girls and we wouldn't miss him so much, I probably would...at least until I have to report back to reality (i.e., work). The shower was SO NICE and it was wonderful to see everyone. My parents have such a great group of friends - they are so much fun to be around and mix right in with the people my age. I think everyone had a good time - I know we did!! A GINORMOUS thanks goes out to my mom, my sisters, my aunts (Vicki and Pat) and my ladies (Lindsey and Tara) for all of the planning and organizing and cooking...we are so lucky to have friends and family like you!

I posted a load of pictures in the gallery from the weekend - I wasn't too selective about which ones to post because let's be honest, I don't have time!

Here are a few of my favs from the weekend...
Griffin

Charlie

Renee

big day for mom

We're heading up to International Falls today when Ski gets out of work as my sisters (and Lindsey but she's pretty much a sister) are throwing Renee a Baby Shower. It's Renee's first big, long car ride. I hope she handles it well. Her mother is SO EXCITED to get out of the house. Other than a few trips to Target and to see the Harry Potter movie, I've been here in this house all day every day for almost a month.

Big day for mom:

Getting out of the house for more than one hour at a time.

I am wearing real jeans today. Jeans with an actual zipper and an actual button and they don't hurt my incision. AND they are pre-pregnancy and not some jeans that I went out and bought new today. Shirts don't fit because the hooters have grown two cups sizes. I'll settle for a bigger rack but not for a bigger butt.

I had my first glass of wine last night. And it was GOOOOOD.

Some pictures of my little Sugar Plum...She looks so innocent.

Thumb-sucking

Pony-tail already? I love the hair...

due date

My baby is due today. Oh, the irony...

I promise new pictures soon. We are going north this weekend on our first adventure and I need to get organized and clean the house. I've been neglecting everything since the Harry Potter book came. I finished it yesterday so now I'm ready to get something done - pictures and chores. The final installment of Harry Potter did not disappoint. I'm now on to harassing my husband to hurry up so I can talk about it...

I'm a bad, bad blogger these days.

harry potter

Well, the big day is finally here. The day we have been anticipating for over five years. The final installment of the Harry Potter series is in my mortal clutches. We sat and admired it when it came this morning. Ski and I have spent hours and hours talking about theories and conspiracies and have lived in Harry Potter's universe for a very long time. I have read the series no fewer than a half dozen times all the way through, the most recent attempt being thwarted by the early arrival of my daughter as I was about half way through book six when she arrived and have read no more than 10 pages since. I hope to get through The Deathly Hallows before someone ruins it for me. Until then, I'm cutting myself off from reality...no TV, no internet, and I'm going to be very selective about whose phone calls I answer. Extreme I know, but when you're THIS excited to finally find out how one of my favorite stories of all time is going in the end, you can't risk some idiot at Yahoo! news posting a headline spoiler about whether Harry Potter died or not. For the record, I don't think Harry will die. We shall see soon enough though. I can't believe this day is really here.

it ain't easy being this cute

We visited our pediatrician this morning and when she commented on how big her eyes are and how long her eyelashes are, I realized that I hadn't captured her beautiful baby blues on my blog. By the way, she's up to 6 pounds 4 ounces. Her mommy was SO PROUD.

Renee's baby blues in all their glory...doesn't it seem like she's saying, "Mom, it ain't easy being this cute"? I just LOVE her.

rama and papa

Last week, Papa (i.e., my dad) drove Rama (i.e., my mom) down here to spend the week with us and help us out around the house. My dad has been guessing "girl" for the past three grandkids because he had three sisters and then three daughters and while he loves his grandsons A LOT, he has been talking about having a little girl for a long time. He finally got one. He has been so cute with her...telling me over and over how beautiful she is and calling every few days to ask what she's up to....which is something because I can count the number of times my dad has called me on the phone in the last five years on one hand.

Here is Renee and her Papa:

Where do I start with my mom? She spent the week here cooking and cleaning and doing laundry. She even ignored my extremely crabby and frustrated spells. We spent hours and hours taking pictures of the baby and managed to get some good shots. I didn't give up because of her encouragement. I get frustrated when things don't go my way these days and she was so patient. She didn't even think I was crazy when I cried every 15 minutes for no apparent reason. I guess she knows all about the baby blues after having three kids and reassured me that it would get better. It was SO NICE to spend some time with her and to watch her with her "dolly." My baby is one lucky little girl to have grandparents like you.

A sneak peek from the photo shoots my mom and I did with Renee. More to come when my baby figures out how to go more than 2 hours between feedings. 45 minutes at a time to blog just isn't cutting it.


For some ultra cute pictures of my baby and to meet Renee's new boyfriend Max, check out Kim's blog. She took some really great pictures of Renee. Thanks Kim!!

a photo and a short update

I can't believe we're already on Day 13...the days go by so fast that Ski is home from work and we're making dinner before I even have a chance to blink. My mom has been here too and that has been such a GREAT help. I have taken some cute pictures of Renee in the last few days and have three blog posts "started" so maybe by the weekend I'll get a chance to post them. Plus, my friend Kim is coming over today and is going to try to get some pictures of Renee too. She's a lot better with the camera than me so I'm excited to see what she comes up with and to hopefully learn something in the process. I'm also excited about finally meeting Kim's little guy Max who is eight weeks older than Renee. We'll see if it's love at first sight...

Here is my beauty queen with the earrings from Daddy. I love the smirk.

little one

Daddy calls Renee 'little one' every time he picks her up. It makes my heart hurt. He has been so wonderful with her. On Tuesday while I was in the hospital he went home to shower and feed the cats and it took him a while to get back. He called in the meantime and said he had to go pay some bills and was going to pick up lunch for us. When he came back, he handed me a tiny box. In it were the most beautiful diamond earrings. I just looked at him with tears in my eyes and he said, "It's the least I could do. Thanks for giving up 10 months of your life to give me the most beautiful baby girl in the world. Someday you can leave them to her and tell her that I bought them for you when she was born." I can't even type it without crying. What did I do to get so lucky?

I also posted all of the pictures from our hospital stay in the gallery. It's amazing how much she's changed in one week. Below are some one week pictures. Happy one week birthday, princess. We are so glad you made it here safe and sound.

operation fatten up

We are home. It felt so good to get here and to see Simon and Sasha. They sniffed at Renee like she was an alien when we carried her in and have been pacing around since. I guess I don't blame them. Renee is too small for her carseat so we called all over town trying to find a carseat for 'under 5 pounds' and apparently they don't make preemie carseats. Is this finally our multi-million dollar idea? Market research to find out how many babies are born early will be required. She needs to fatten up before we can start galavanting around town. I'm not broken-hearted about this.

We spent all of Tuesday/Wednesday in what we're calling 'Operation Fatten Up.' She 'passed' the jaundice test as far as the level she had to have to avoid the lamps and get to go home but we aren't out of the woods yet. In order to be successful they told us we have to feed her 1-1.5 ounces every 3 hours. That might not seem like a lot but when you have a baby who thinks it is too tiring to even open her eyes, getting her to eat that much is a challenge. Our first night at home was last night and I didn't sleep for a single minute. By the time I nurse (30 minutes), pump (20 minutes) and feed her using the cup (30 minutes), I only have an hour to unwind before we need to start trying to wake her up again. I've said it before and I'll say it again: It's a good thing she is so damn cute.

Some pictures of her on her first day at home. I have more coming from the other camera but I haven't figured out how to get stuff off of that one yet. Baby steps...

an extra day of rest

We got up this morning all ready to go, Ski started packing things up and organizing and I started worrying. The doctor came in and checked me out, wrote me some prescriptions for pain killers (thank God) and we fed the little sweetie. The pediatrician came in about an hour later and while the baby and I are getting better and better at nursing, she is showing some preliminary signs of jaundice. So they want to keep her (and by extension us) another day. I think Ski was ready to get the heck out of here but I feel sort of relieved that I have another day to rest up and prepare myself for going home.

Renee is the sweetest little thing. I don't know if it's just because she's a preemie but all of the nurses gush over her every time the see her. My nurse came in last night and I was talking about and her she said, "Oh, you're Renee's mom...we all just love her. She's so cute." Maybe they say that to everyone but I feel better about my obsession as I could just sit and stare at her all day long. I don't even dread getting up in the middle of the night to feed her (yet) because I can't wait to see what she looks like and if she's changed since the last time I saw her. This mom thing is going to be quite a ride...

Pictures are coming, I promise...