My hubby went overtime on his awesomeness this weekend. He is such a manly man.
First, he diagnosed, shopped for and fixed our broken garage door. It went from not working to working better than before after he fixed a worn-out gear.
Then, he took me and G out for ice cream with friends. It was getting late and Giana needed a place to snooze. He took care of that too –
This man can do it all.
We went out to dinner as a couple for the first time since Giana’s birth. The occasion? Our second wedding anniversary!
A grown-up drink to start the evening.
Some special sushi for Rafa.
A whole lotta rolls for us to share.
This is not very romantic, but I got my man socks. The second anniversary is the cotton anniversary, after all.
Two years down, a lifetime to go! I love you babe.
Our sweet little baby G is three months old today. The time has flown by.
What she likes:
Sucking on her fist and trying to find her thumb:
Lounging like a champ in the bathtub:
Sleeping swaddled with her Sleep Sheep making noise:
Dressing like Papa when we’re getting ready for work and school in the morning:
Smiling like crazy:
What she doesn’t like: Well…nothing. I can’t really think of anything. She really is the best baby ever! Sometimes, when I look at her, I am so overcome with love that tears come to my eyes. If you would have told me three months ago that I would love her even more than I did then, I would not have thought it was possible. Her papa and I are more in love and more amazed by her every day.
Wednesday was the day I have been dreading since the day Giana was born. It was the day I had to go back to work and leave my baby with a stranger for the first time.
Giana? I knew she would be fine. Me? I wasn’t so sure.
How could I leave this face?!
Rafael blocked his calendar so he would have time to console his crazy wife and we loaded up the car and made our trip downtown. I just tried not to think about it too much…and made Rafa be the one to actually hand off our baby. Neither of us had a meltdown.
And I walked out, busying my mind to think about the tasks ahead of me.
It was fun to walk back in to the office. It feels like I was gone for a million years and like I was gone for about five minutes all at the same time. Lots smiles, hugs and compliments for having the cutest baby in the world. It also helped to come back to a great group of people who were so welcoming.
The best surprise at work was a wonderful gift from the love of my life. He gave me a survival kit for my life back at the office. The best parts? 36 anti-depressant packs (Dove dark chocolates), a flower (air freshener), tissues, picture of dog (because he knew I would already have pictures of baby), and a letter that says “Open if Sad.”
After five hours, I had enough and was ready to get back to my little girl. I could hear her crying as I walked down the hall towards her. It was actually perfect, because it meant she stopped as soon as I walked into the room and that made me feel fantastic. Her teacher gave me a good report; we packed up, went home and took a nice long nap together.
Giana had a wonderful first Christmas! Well, I had a wonderful time dressing up and opening gifts for her, so I’m just guessing she thought it was wonderful too.
Other disjointed Christmas thoughts:
Even with the joy of having a new addition, there was a gaping hole with someone missing. It was hard not having grandma there for Christmas. She was always so proud when all her family came to church and filled up the pews. We would go from church to fill up their house. Grandma never seemed to leave the kitchen, but somehow she managed to love on everyone there. Those Christmas memories will always be special to me.
We saw a cool message on a sign, “Mary wrapped the first Christmas gift.” How true. Now that I am a parent, it is even more amazing to me that the Savior of the world humbled himself to the form of a human infant to make his entrance into the world.
“The life of Jesus is bracketed by two impossibilities: ‘a virgin’s womb and an empty tomb.’ Jesus entered our world through a door marked, ‘No Entrance’ and left through a door marked ‘No Exit’.” -Peter Larson
Our big girl went on her first vacation to Wisconsin Dells. She did great!
She hit the two month mark while we were there. We celebrated with her first trip to the pool.
Everything is better with Giana here – even vacations.
Ugly Monkey!
Cute Monkey!
Our little lady has been on the outside for two months now! The fact that she’s here, and ours, still amazes me.
Things Giana likes:
Baths – she loves bathsThings she still likes:
Things she used to dislike but is okay with now:
Contrary to all my motherly instincts, I have been attempting to teach my daughter how to be independent at just eight weeks. I’m back to work in less than four weeks and we both have to get ready for what daycare has in store for us.
Nap time has been in her crib to try to get her used to it, but I have to jump up every couple of minutes to calm her down before she gets too worked up. Calming her down involves patting her, shushing her and popping the paci back into her mouth. I know that no matter how great the daycare workers are, they won’t be able to pick her up with every peep.
It is so hard to think about leaving her with someone else during the day. No matter how good they daycare people are, they are not me.
Giana and I spent some time in Iowa this past week. Seeing her in the place where I grew up got me reflecting on my childhood. We have been getting hospital bills and I have a new appreciation about the expense it will take to raise a child. When I grew up, we certainly weren’t at the top of the tax brackets, and I now realize that my parents must have made a lot of sacrifices to give us kids all the things they did. I do have a notoriously bad memory, but I do remember some things about the richness of my childhood…
