Talking

It took me a couple of weeks to finally get her to do this while I had the camera out.  It's been about 2 weeks since then and she has moved on and won't "talk" anymore.  But that's okay, she is learning some new tricks and is still pretty cool.

2 Months

Feel free to skip to the pictures below instead of reading about my saga of how hard being a mom is.

For the first couple of weeks after Amelia was born family came and helped out with everything.  It was great.  And Jared had his spring break so he was at home most of the time.  The help we had was amazing and I am forever grateful for family.  I remember sleeping a lot and feeling really zoned out most of the time but there were still great moments spent with family.  Then after 3 weeks everyone left, Jared went back to school and me and Amelia were left at home to hang out together...all.day.long.

During the first couple of weeks my old roommate texted me asking how things were going.  I explained things were going pretty good, I was overwhelmed but alright.   She told me how she wanted to return her baby to the hospital the first few weeks (partly joking, partly serious I'm sure) and I laughed, understanding how she felt but happy I hadn't quite reached that level.  But remember that part where everyone left and it was just me and Amelia?? Yeah,  real life began and I was ready to pack her things and head back to the hospital.

I love Amelia, and continue to love her more everyday but that first week alone was rough.  Of course I'm sure everyone feels this at some point (if not, you have a gift and I applaud you and kind of loath you).  I decided that I just needed to make it to the 6 week mark.  Everything and everyone explained that things change at 6-8 weeks.  So I mentally prepared to make it to 6 weeks and then I would have an angel baby right?

It's been eight weeks (which is just insane) and I definitely don't have an angel baby but I sure have learned a ton in that time and we are having some pretty great days now.  And I know I never would have made it without Jared.  I've never been so thankful for someone in my life then when he would take our daughter and love her when I was tired or frustrated (which happens a lot and pretty fast).  But now she is starting to smile. I think I laughed more in the past week at her funny faces then I have in the past eight weeks combined.  In the end I really did just need to make it to six weeks because now I understand that even though Amelia has some pretty rough days I know that it won't last and she won't be screaming late at night forever.  And I feel I understand more why we are meant to have families together in this life.  They are wonderful but also have taught me, and will continue to teach me, the hardest lessons I have ever learned.

On a funnier note...I kept reading how people give their kids a bath to help put them to sleep.  I tried this but Amelia pretty much hated getting her hair dried.  When I was recently with a bunch of moms I asked in desperation how this works and they all paused and looked a little confused.  Of course they explained that their babies didn't have any hair so it wasn't a problem.  Yeah...six weeks in and I didn't even think about how other babies don't have hair.  I need more sleep.  Eventually someone suggested a blow dryer which makes perfect sense.

At 2 months:

• Weighs 14 pound (which was 2 weeks ago so I'm sure it's more)
• Likes to "coo" when she is really happy
• Loves hitting the toys on her play mat
• Favors her left arm, and turning her head to the left
• Still hate the 5-10 minutes before she goes to sleep and lets us know about it
• Has started to regularly sleep a 6 hour stretch at night (this is the only way I've survived)
• Loves taking a bath, really hates right after the bath, even without drying her hair (so much for calming her down)

How we spend our nights...

Now that we have a child we discovered much of our night is spent just watching Amelia and saying the things we imagine are going through her head as she makes random faces at us. Here is the first real video of our daughter being set free after nap time. Please enjoy!

One month sort of

I'm behind.  Our little lady is five weeks today but still I'm behind so we are going with one month.  I can't believe we made it a month.  It was hard, it is hard but one month is pretty awesome.  So far:

• She slept for five hours one night.  Sadly this has not been repeated.
• She discovered her tongue and tries to lick everything.  She still doesn't really like binkies but does like to lick them when we try.
• She is starting to smile more, we are pretty sure she doesn't do it on purpose.
• We are not quite sure how much she weighs but judging by how chubby her thighs are becoming its a significant amount.
• So far her hair is staying strong and her eyes are still undetermined.
• She loves looking at our picture frames and hates going to sleep, she fights it...almost always.  
• We can't get enough of her crazy faces.  She makes cute ones...sometimes.

S'more

So Amelia survived her parents another week.  And yes...we have taken a TON of photos.  So far this is what we know:

• She likes being held tummy side down
• She loves getting a bath and having her hair combed.  I also love combing her hair
• For the most part she likes car rides
• She gained 12 oz and survived her first shot.  In fact she fell asleep two seconds after the shot and stayed asleep when they pricked her foot for blood
• She had her first walk in the stroller and fell asleep like a champ
• She makes an awesome grumpy face.  Sometimes it has a hint of Elvis in it or an old grumpy grandpa.  We laugh every time. 

I'm sure there is more but I can't think of it. And apparently Amelia doesn't like her mom ignoring her and posting pictures on a blog.  Also...just as a disclaimer any photos where it looks like we might be neglecting our daughter...don't worry she's alive she just likes to snuggle and lounge in the weirdest positions.  

And don't worry...Jared has a billion more pictures on his computer that I still need to access.  Get ready for an overload. 

WEHADABABYITSAGIRL!

We had a kid!!  It's crazy and shocking and awesome and hard in a billion different ways.  I'm just going to post pictures because my brain isn't working and a well thought out blog post is not at the top of my list of things to do.  Mostly I want to sleep...and relax, sitting without thinking is golden.  So, bare minimum:

• Amelia Lucille (Because we like it and Lucille is her Great-Great-Grandma's name)
• Born 03/14 (yeah it's pie day)
• 9 pounds 6 ounces
• 21 1/2 inches long (Jared made sure I didn't miss the 1/2 inch)
• From beginning to end we spent 5 days in the hospital.  She might be a bit stubborn and she had to have a series of antibiotics 
• She has a TON of hair, which freaked me out at first but now I LOVE

THIS IS HAPPENING!

So, this is Jared making his very first guest posting on the wonder that is rowberryness. We are 2 days away from Nicole's due date and I feel it somewhat of my duty to make sure the world gets to see pregnant Nicole because she is awesome, a little fiesty at times, but awesome none the less. Also, I have been taking a few pictures of the baby bump and am sure everyone would enjoy the proof we really are about to have a baby girl.

  The left picture was taken under the threat of my life. Realizing we had no pictures recently to ever prove Nicole is pregnant for the sake of our daughter I tried to sneak this one in on a Sunday morning.      On the right my model was much more cooperative with the camera!








In other news besides the baby bump we recently survived Portland's latest strange behavior...Snowmageddon. Starting on a Thursday afternoon through Sunday we received about 9 inches of snow which is fairly rare here in the Northwest. In a light drizzle the people of Portland are great about just continuing on with life as if nothing is happening but change that to a light flurry of snow and the world is ending. Since nobody owns snow shovels or understands how to drive in the snow it got pretty exciting around here. My school actually canceled my Friday and Monday classes which provided a much needed 4 day weekend to study and sleep. Nicole and I ventured out on Saturday for an epic sale at Jo-Ann's that couldn't be missed (If you don't know me well enough to hear my voice reading this to you please add some sarcasm to the previous statement) and also a stop at Starbucks for hot chocolate. Thanks Dad for providing the gift card to make the hot chocolate possible! Starbucks is an essential to people here so it was a great place to people watch. As shown below we even spotted a lady cross country skiing to get her Starbucks coffee!