Our First Anniversary

It's officially one year since Timmy and I got married! We have many anniversaries that we like to celebrate--July 24th was our first date, October 28th was when we got engaged, and January 31st, the dead of winter, was when we decided to say "I do". Since the first anniversary is traditionally celebrated with a gift of paper, I thought about all the "paper gifts" I have received from this wonderful man:
1) W-2s and 1099's. Our first year filing taxes as husband and wife! Let's hope it brings a nice big tax return :)
2) A permit filed with KG County of a bunch of house repairs. We are upgrading the electrical service, building an addition, and enclosing the carport into a garage (I use the term "we" very loosely here). Thank goodness I found a husband who wanted to take on all the challenges of living in a house built over fifty years ago. When it's all finished, we will have a sort of dream house, one made into exactly what we wanted, even if we had to paint, spackle, sand, nail, and scrape every surface to get there.
3) A birth certificate for Emily Allison Drinks: the best present Timmy ever gave me.

"Love is what makes two people sit in the middle of a bench when there is plenty of room at both ends"

-author unknown

Here's to the man who chose me to share his bench, life, and love with. To a hundred more years of happiness!

Mommy's Little Helper

We had our snow day on Thursday and we got a good 4 1/2 inches when it was all said and done. The older two went outside for a couple of hours and then returned when they could no longer feel their hands and feet. One cup of hot chocolate later, Garrett was crashed in front of the tv and Caroline wanted to play with the baby. We put Emily in her Bumbo seat and dragged out the basket of toys that she has accumulated since Britton's visit almost a year ago. Caroline stacked cups for Emily, stacked and knocked over blocks, and shook rattles. Emily was mightily impressed for about 15 minutes before her neck got tired and she insisted on laying out on her blanket. "ooooohhhhh, that's a nice tower"
Caroline got back in touch with her preschool side

That thing is looking a little shaky...

She is giving me the "C'mon....really?" look which is the usual response to my baby talk.

"You kill me, you really do! Do the raspberry thing again!"

Enough with the music, toys, and rattles...I need a little down time.

Back to Work Wed, Snow Day Thurs

So my first day back at work was yesterday (Wednesday). This particular time was not chosen at random; first, it's easier to return in the middle of the week instead of trying to make it five days in a row right out of the gate. Second, Wednesday and Thursday are workdays, meaning no students. I met with my science dept. and was able to get planning finished through March. When I left the building yesterday, I was feeling pretty prepared for the students. I noticed that when I was dashing through the ice pellets on the way to my car that it looked like 6 PM at 2:30 PM. The first big snowstorm of the season was on the way, but I had kind of dismissed it (the weathermen get us teachers all excited about snowfall on a regular basis, and then I just wake up to a dusting and no delay). So I wasn't putting much faith into the storm panning out; I figured it would stay rain and just soak us. Well, the snow started pounding us around 4 PM and it piled up pretty fast. I went out to measure it after dinner and we were already at 3 inches. If I had to guess, I would say we're around 4 1/2 inches this morning. So my second day back at work turned into a snow day! And my third day back at work will probably be a snow/ice day too since we're going to drop below freezing tonight.
And the baby is doing very well at daycare. Ms. Tammy loves her and the ladies tell me every day "we're going to spoil that child" (what parent doesn't want to hear that?!) We have gotten a pretty good routine down at night, and it seems that it paid off last night with an-almost EIGHT hour block of sleep!

Routine: Right after dinner, around 6:30 PM, Tim and I give the baby a bath. She gets to relax in the warm water for a while, then it's off to the changing table for a rub down with the lotion (only the pink stuff, she seems to hate the lavendar kind). Then we get in a gown and fresh diaper and head to the living room. At this point, she usually goes in the vibrating chair for a while, then the swing. Around 8 PM she gets fussy and wants to eat. I take her back to the changing table for a new diaper and (this is the most important part) her swaddler (or as Tim calls it "the baby straight jacket"). Once in the swaddler, she calms down enough to get a good feeding and pass out without her flailing arms to distract her. At this point, Tim or I put her in her crib with the vaporizer on and some white noise music (usually the ocean waves CD). And it's light out for (hopefully) 6 to 8 hours! Enjoying some cuddle time on the couch with Daddy. Well....as much as one can cuddle with a straight jacket on.
See the red crease to the sides of her nose and the nonexistent lower lip that has been sucked into her mouth? Both signs of a baby that had a very satisfying nursing session.

Snow pics this AM. Ladder in front of my house was a good gauge of how much snowfall we were getting when I checked the steps every hour.

Drive way this morning. Black rectangle to the left is where Timmy's truck was last night.

Snow is so pretty the first day or so!

Fun with Baby

Emily is at that wonderful age where she smiles every time I walk in the room and still has no say on what she does all day. So after she got home from daycare, I decided to play "photo studio" with her. Now, I can't take credit for the idea behind the pics (basically, position your baby so that she looks like she is doing everyday tasks); Carrie recently sent me an email with pics from a lady abroad who has a very sound sleeper and takes creative pics of her. My photo studio was not nearly as creative, and I lack fun props because I was trying to take as many pictures as I could in the seventeen minutes I was allotted til nap time. Here are the results: "Dog walker is a slightly ironic job title since I am basically immobile"
Just call me "Martina Never-take-a-nap-a"

Guppy in a big pond

Up, up, and away!

Emily's Day

Emily's day started with her first experience with daycare. She spent a few hours this morning getting aquainted with the staff at Four Seasons Daycare. In the four hours she was there, Emily ate twice and slept for two hours. Rough day, as you can see. I picked her up at noon and we headed to Garrett's school to eat lunch with him and Mrs. Miller, English teacher extraordinaire. Then it was back home for a "playdate" with her buddy Ryder and his mommy Melissa. I will let the pictures speak for themselves... Ryder decided to "play it cool" and ignored Emily the whole visit, which is code for "I really dig you".
Emily was like "right back atcha Ryder" with her nap in the swing during their playdate.
I always have a project during my "break" time. I figured my maternity leave would be the best time to paint all the wood trim in my house. This is the job with primer and blue painter's tape. I am a finish coat of semi-gloss away from being finished.
The inside of the linen closet shows you the original wood color of all the trim. It used to look like a hallway in a cave. Now it's bright even when I get up at 3:30 am.

Today was a great day to accomplish all those little things I wanted to wrap up before I went back to work. Getting Emily's hand and footprint was one of those tasks. I bought a kit from Target that included two frames and an ink pad.

Here are the finished products on her wall above the changing table.

Task #2: Get links to hook all the dangly toys to on her play gym and in the car. Found a 24 pack at Target for $4!

Her gym now has enough dangly and musical toys to ensure a raging case of ADD when she gets older.

End of Emily's day--after some play time on the floor, she snuggled with her elephant toy/blankie from Aunt Carrie. In the tradition of Cousin Britton, we have named the elephant "Ellie" and will be carrying her around/spitting food on her/chewing her extremities from this point on. And heeding Carrie's advice, I will be buying two backup Ellies to keep in the top of the closet for future use.

Dear Lord...

after my death (in the very far future) please let me come back to this world as a cat. And not just any cat, Lord. Let me come back to live in a house with a family like Jessica and Timmy. Because, my God, they are fantastic. They give cats free reign of the house, hunting grounds in the basement, and a window from which a cat can watch birds all day. They have a giant warm bed that gets the perfect patch of sunshine every afternoon for cat naps. Please let me be good enough in this life to deserve a cat's life in the afterlife.

Meet Baby Brooklyn

Tim, Emily, and I headed up to Crofton MD to meet the newest addition to the family: our niece Brooklyn. She was born on 1/11/11 (the coolest birthday ever!) and weighed 6 lbs., 11 oz. She was a couple of weeks early because of low amniotic fluid and was delivered by C section because she decided to flip into breech position a week before birth. Mary is getting around great for someone who had major abdominal surgery less than two weeks ago, and John was able to take off 2 1/2 weeks from work to help out. We brought up dinner and dessert for the tired duo. Emily was not a fan of the car ride up (restate that: "she cried and screamed for 60% of the trip") but was relatively sleepy for the ride home. That translates into "We got home at 10:30 PM and Emily decided to be wide awake for the next hour and a half because of her fantastic nap in the car". And who got the pleasure of staying up with her? The one with the milk makers. Go figure. Brooklyn Marie Waldrop

John is now a seasoned veteran at the "swaddle" technique.

Emily spied a swing and had to take a quick cat nap. She's like a squatter in other people's Little Lamb swings.

Brooklyn was a little irritated at being woken up for a feeding.

The cousins. Emily is showing you her favorite "put my thumb between my index and middle finger" fist. She keeps her fist in that position for pretty much the entire day.

Brooklyn: "So what's it like in this family?"

Emily: "They're crazy, but you get used to it"

Mary and Brooklyn

Good Vibrations

Up til now, someone (Emily) has not been a fan of the bouncy/vibrating seat. For a while, she was so little that the vibrations basically shook her down the seat until her feet were dangling off the end. Now that she has a little more meat on her bones, she seems to enjoy hanging out there. I slung her down into the seat, cranked up the vibrations and music with bubbly fish in the entertainment bar, and watched her crack up. I don't know if it was the new vibrating sensation (she usually just hangs out in the Boppy seat or swing) or the music/bubbles, but Emily really had a great time for about 20 minutes today. I don't know what this feeling is, but I like it!
That starfish is staring at me...

This seat rocks...for about 10 more minutes.

See that smile? Vibrating seat + 3 hour nap = happy baby today

Emily: Two Months Old

Hi, today is January 18th and I am officially two months old. I decided to spend the day with an enjoyable visit to the doctor's office. Dr. B rocks, but her nurse was a meanie (she was the shot lady). Here are my stats:
Weight: 11 pounds, 12 oz. Egad! Emily is now in the 75% for weight (at birth she was 20% and at 1 month she was 50%). Is someone sneaking precious metals into my milk?! The girl is a great eater, and it shows.
Length: 22 3/4 inches. Also 75% for length.
Head: 15 inches circumference. About 25% for head which Dr. B says is great.
Shots: She got 2! And a vaccine for rotavirus that is given orally. I had to hold her hands and she screamed horribly and her face turned red and she actually cried real tears! I felt horrible and made grandiose promises while I fed her afterwards ("And you can have a pony, and we'll go to Disney World and play with all the princesses..."). I gave her Tylenol as soon as we got home. She fed again and then snuggled into the swing for a nap.
What's Next? Emily starts daycare at Four Seasons on Monday when I go back to work :( I love the center so that makes it a little easier to leave her. They do baby sign language and yoga (!) but my favorite part is the care givers--they seem genuinely sweet and loving.
Back to the doctor for our 4 month check up on March 18th!

See that scale?! Mom wanted photographic proof for Daddy to show what a chunker I'm becoming!

I'm getting longer every day, too! My footie sleepers are starting to get a little short on me.

Mommy is so proud of her big girl!

Emily's first official "I've Grown" sticker with her stats. We'll be putting this one in her baby book. She didn't seem too anxious to wear it home and show it off.

This is...

what bliss looks like. I am envious of her ability to sleep with such abandon. I wake up with a start if I hear my baby sneeze in the other room. I used to sleep through everything--thunderstorms, loud tv shows, Carrie's snoring, even a hurricane or two. It looks like my daughter inherited that gift.

Say Cheese!

Emily and I had a quiet day ahead of us after the kids went to school (we actually had a late arrival today, but it wasn't posted on the news when I watched at 4 AM so I ended up driving the kids to school at the normal time just to find an empty parking lot. Luckily, their cousins live right down the road and their grandfather watched them all and put them on the bus at the later time, so I didn't have to drive them all the way back). Emily took a great nap from 9 to 11 AM (I ended up waking her because I was afraid it would mean no afternoon nap). When she was woken up, she was a little groggy and basically ate in a fog. Then she magically woke up, enjoyed some floor time and let me dress her up for a photo shoot! Thanks to aunt Carrie for lending us the tutu--the photo shoot was "too too" much fun ;) Happy baby!
Giggle fit

My personal favorite...

Sticking her tongue out! I caught the tail end of her wiley moves!

Snow Day Smiles

Emily didn't know about the forecast of 4-5 inches when I took these pictures, but we both had the same reaction: big goofy smiles. Me, because it's more days that I don't have to take without pay and her because she had just gotten up from her nap and a feeding was on the horizon.