Tired

G has been so tired today. She fell asleep on me while I was watching
a movie. I look tired, too, but Chris says I don't have those bags
under my eyes in real life.

Conversational Ability: Stunted

I've noticed recently that my ability to make intelligent conversation seems to be broken. I think it comes down to this: I don't want to be the type of person who can only talk about my baby. I make a strong effort to not bring the baby up in conversation. I mean, she does almost nothing. The highlight of my observance of her activity is when she smiles or tracks me with her eyes (which she now does regularly). On the other hand she's almost all I think about, so if I'm supposed to start the conversation and I don't want to talk about her, I'm stumped. The result is I've been a pretty poor conversationalist recently.

I went to a lunch a couple of days ago and the wife of a coworker was sitting next to me and she must think my brain is mush. It was the first time I had been out on my own with the baby and I was sitting with a large group of people in a noisy restaurant. I was just so dazed by everything and this woman asked me zillions of questions about myself and I was just able to answer her questions and it was only after I left that I realized I hadn't asked her a single thing or really held up my end of the conversation at all. Unfortunate because she seems like such a nice person. Of course she has a couple of young kids of her own so maybe she recognized the condition.

All this is by way of an apology if you call me up or visit and I seem dazed. I'm sure I'll snap out of it after awhile.

Mommy's cupcake

Thank you Auntie Carrie!

Amelia's hat

Here's evidence that I've still been knitting.  Brandy told me Amelia needed a cute hat so I went right out and got the yarn, picked the pattern, and here's the result!  Very cute little girl showing off my Odessa hat.

Backhoe Baby

When Geneva was born Brandy came down to visit us in the hospital the next day.  She told Amelia that she was coming down to visit the new baby and asked if Amelia would like to give the baby a present.  Amelia said yes, and ran into her room to scour her toys (mostly vehicles) for the perfect gift.  She came back out with a backhoe.  Here's Geneva enjoying this adorable and heartfelt gift.  Hehe...

Grandma Cece

This picture is from when she was 3 weeks old.  

There once was a plumber named T

So, just in case all the amazing pictures of my lovely child aren't enough, I thought I'd post a little on what I've been up to.

Stay at home momming: I'm kind of liking it. It's amazing how fast you can get used to doing nothing. Not that that's all that accurate - to avoid going crazy I try to get out of the house for walking or errands every day. I knit. I watch movies. I sleep. I feed the child. When I had not done this before I was not sure what I would do with all my time in the day. I'm still not totally sure what I do with all the time but I have some ideas of where it goes. The main thing I wasn't counting on was how long it takes to feed the baby. She eats 8-10 times a day and it takes about 30 minutes each time. I can kind of one-hand iPhone surf while she's eating, or watch a movie, but not much else. That time just really adds up.

Feeding the baby: A lot of people ask me how breast feeding is going and I'm never sure what level of detail to respond with. Do I say "Fine"? Or do I say "Well, I've weaned her off the nipple shields and her latch is getting more confident although there's still occasional problems at night when my milk supply is high..." I mean, that second one just seems like too much detail for most people. Probably "Fine" is what most people want to hear. But what if it wasn't going fine? I can't think of any breast feeding problems I'd be having that I would want to talk about with the average person. I guess it's good that it's going fine then. I seem to be one of those lucky few women who isn't finding breastfeeding to be a massive challenge. Maybe I was just very well prepped ahead of time - everyone told me it would be really hard and when it was only mildly difficult I felt quite lucky.

Recovering: I feel mostly recovered from the c-section. My suture only hurts occasionally and my stamina for walking and standing is increasing.

Plumbing: It was so fun this past weekend having Chris around and able to devote all his time to anything he felt like doing. We did a ton of chores and cleaning and stuff - it felt good just to get it all done. He pointed out that the drain in the bathroom was going really slowly and I volunteered to futz with it. He gave me instructions and I spent a rather nasty half hour pulling apart the trap and cleaning things out. When I reassembled it it appeared to be fixed. Yeah girl power!

Kelly teaches Geneva the terrorist fist pump

Fighting for lap space

Claws win for now.

The best part of bath time

is when it's over!!

First documented smile

She's so cute when she's sleeping that I just can't resist taking lots
of pictures.

To do list

Big yawn

Little angel

Healthy baby

We went in for the 2 week pediatrician's appointment today and G is 8 lbs, 14 ounces, meaning she's officially over her birth weight. Yay! Also, they measured her at 22 1/4 inches, meaning she's in the 97th percentile for height. Guess those tall genes from both sides aren't going to waste!

My first day alone with her was a bit of bait and switch - she's been such a sleepy baby but then yesterday I think she was having some stomach troubles because she was grumpy and fussy all day long. Not that I really have room to complain - some people have babies that are always like this, but I could wish she'd eased me into it a little more. Today she was back to very sleepy baby, so that's been nice.

Anyway, she's needing food now so I better go. I'll keep posting photos though...

Hiding from the paparazzi

Dottie and Daddy

Photos of the baby are especially easy to post because I can take the picture by phone and then e-mail it to the blog.  I'm not big on typing long messages on that tiny keyboard though... 

Since I'm on the computer now: all is going well here.  We're sleeping more than we expected.  Geneva is getting the hang of breast feeding although the sheild-less latch can still be frustrating so I'm not 100% on that one.  My mom left today which is sad because I'll miss her help and company.  Chris goes back to work on Monday so we're plotting ways that I'll keep myself busy and get out of the house so I don't get too much cabin fever or SAD-like problems.  Haven't come up with a lot yet except going on lots of walks with the baby. 

Oh, and she's still the cutest thing ever. 

Mommy feet, baby feet

Geneva and Gram

Kitty love

Our cats are determined to help us remember that we still have other fur babies in addition to the new pink one. Marie climbed up on my lap and decided to lay like this while I was surfing the internet today. I swear I didn't torture her to get her into this crazy pike position. Isaac took a different strategy... sometime before we got home on Friday he ate about half of a small green foam golfball cat toy. We didn't really think much of it until yesterday he started refusing food. Now, if you don't know our cat, I must explain that this cat's whole entire reason for being is to eat. He never ever ever misses a meal. We had to put him on an automatic feeder so that he wouldn't just eat all the time and get to be the size of a blimp. Anyway, today he ralfed up a big ol' hunk of green foam ball but still refused food so we took him to the vet. The vet thinks he's going to be fine but we didn't really need that excitement right now.

Oh, and in other news, Chris defended today and passed! So he's almost graduated! Woo hoo!!!

Grandpa Dave with Geneva

Grandma Cece with Geneva