December weekend 3: so busy!

Last weekend was our busiest yet, with the baby. James is wonderful, sleeping on and off most of the day, and in the evening only being a tad fussy. Of course, he does cry, and showed off his lungs at both my Grandma's and E's family's house, but overall, he's beyond perfect; which is wonderful when you are part of a very busy family!

PART 1: On Saturday my Grandma hosted her annual luminary walk. This is the neatest tradition. The cemetery near her house lights thousands of luminaries on all the grave sites. It is peaceful, beautiful, and so special. The cemetery is close enough to my Grandma's house that walking is possible. Yes, it is freezing, and yes, every year feels colder than the last, but that is part of the fun.

Hot wassail is served before we leave (along will a full cocktail hour of course!) and hot chili is waiting for us when we get back.

I honestly love this tradition so much.

We were a little worried about how James would react on his first luminary walk. It was awfully cold, and he hasn't been happy with the chest pack so far, so Chuck offered to stay back and watch him if need be. Well I was convinced that James would love the walk, as much as his crazy Mama, so I packed his hat, a very warm outfit and his baby bunting hoping he'd be ok. Well he was fantastic! Once he was all snuggled up in his baby bunting and in the chest pack, he went promptly to sleep. I wore my Grandpa's old coat that I wrapped over him, so he was snuggled against my chest.

Once we were back from the cemetery everyone had chili and told jokes. It was fantastic.

My mom, Laura and Melissa visit with Baby James. Laura kept singing to him, all these silly made up songs. It was so cute, because James would doze off instantly.
My cousin Taylor is back home from his first semester at college! It was so good to see him. Chuck and he enjoy the appetizers.
My handsome and most wonderful husband.
Willow is always in the middle of everything during my Grandma's parties. He was generally quite happy, until James started screaming near the end of the party, then he got really really nervous. Poor guy.
First family photo! Sleepy little man.
Ok, is this not the most adorable thing ever? Every time I think about him in his baby bunting I just smile! He was so cute!
Off we go!
After the walk my Grandma serves hot chili to everyone.
For photos of the actual luminary walk, see this post and this post from years past.

PART 2: My Dad's birthday is December 23rd, and this year he requested a brunch out to Dim Sum as his present. E and I were thrilled, there is an amazing dim sum restaurant here in Utah, and we've only been there once. So, on Sunday morning, E, James and I met my sibs and my dad at Golden Dragon for some fantastic dim sum. We ordered tons of stuff as the carts passed, and although most looked scary, everything tasted divine. It was a lot of fun, and might need to be a new birthday tradition for my dad, because everyone adored it.

PART 3: (I told you this weekend was busy!) In addition to my family having an annual cookie day where we all bake cookies, E's family also has an annual cookie day, where we all decorate sugar cookies! Connie, Chelsea and Joe were nice enough to make all the cookies ahead of time, so when we arrived, there were only about six dozen to decorate. As always, we made dirty jokes and laughed and laughed about Joe's Frosty the Snowman on fire cookie. After what seemed like hours of fun, we sat down to a big hot dinner of chicken soup and then made homemade divinity, which is an old fashioned candy E's family makes every year. James, was, again, perfect, until it was about time to leave, when he really showed off his crying skills.

And I ate way too many cookies.

Before and after on the decorating. Look how many cookies we had to decorate! Notice there are six snowmen! I think we decorated about 70 cookies in all.

Joe and Chelsea get most of the credit, since they not only decorated, but also made the cookies.
After dinner James, David and I work on the homemade divinity. This recipe has been in E's family for about a hundred years, and is always made at Christmas time.

Most beautimus baby ever

I don't know where James got his genes, seriously, E and I are fairly good looking (I guess...) but James is beyond adorable. Maybe he got his genes from my dad, who was entered in a baby pageant over 50 years ago because everyone said he was so adorable. Needless to say, my dad won first place.

Today, finally, E and I got out his professional camera stuff (flash, umbrella, all of it), and heated the living room up so that we could get some semi-pro photos of James. I was thinking about how much I love newborn photos and kept trying to get James to curl up in a tight little ball, like all those baby photos you see. Well I missed my opportunity. James is a big boy, not a tiny baby, and didn't want any of it. Every time I tried to curl his legs up under him he stretched them out and kicked them very intently. However, our time was worthwhile, because we caught a couple of gems. Seriously, where'd he get his genes? He is so damn cute!


I just love the color of his eyes...

Who does he look like?

Every new parent hears the question "who does he look like?" when they have a new baby. James, to me, looks like James, a perfect mix of E and I.

That said, he has E's nose. Right down to the little flat plane on the top, they share nose's to the T. And, you could say, he has my hair, however, mine is a touch darker. When I was a baby, I also had a full head of hair, and it was long and black, lots like our little guy's.

When my mom first saw James in the hospital she kept saying "he looks exactly like you as a baby!" I couldn't believe it, until I came home, and dug out the first few photos taken of me 28 years ago. She was right. In our first days of life, James and I looked very very similar. Now that he's almost four weeks old (sob!), James is looking more and more like his Daddy.

I scanned some old photos to prove it.

Here I am, about a week old. Notice the abundance of black hair!
And James at about a week old. We look a lot alike, don't you think?
Photo right after I was born. Taken at the hospital.
Photo of James, at two days old. Very similar indeed. (Even the blankets are a near match, other than the fact that mine was pink and his is blue.)

Bewitching hour

James is a fantastic baby. He really is. After I posted the other day that he only woke up once during the night, he proved me wrong and woke up three times that night, but that said, most nights he's only up once. Which is so so fantastic.

I'm sleeping a little better. Kinda. When James is sleeping, I have a hard time sleeping. Even at night, and I can't seem to fall asleep at all during the day.

And although I'm tired, I am so thankful to have such an easy baby. James usually wakes up around 8:00 or 9:00 in the morning. We do a feeding, have a baby bath, get him dressed, snuggle him and then he takes a little morning nap.

Come afternoon I try to sneak in lunch when he's still asleep, then feed him again and run some errands. He is a joy in the car when we are out and about. He sleeps or just looks around.

However, once I come home, the bewitching hour begins. In fact, the bewitching hour is not just an hour, oh no. More like five hours. He fusses, and eats, and fusses, and cries, and fusses, and poops, and fusses, and gets out all his pent up energy that he's been storing all day. It is stressful, but not horrible. This is what babies do, and I do love spending time when him when he's awake.

Most days E arrives home to find a very alert baby and a very sleepy Mama, and if we're lucky, we can get in a quiet dinner before the fussiness continues.

I'm not typing all of this to complain. James is fantastic, and all babies have fussy spells, or a bewitching hour. I'm typing it to remember, because every day is a little different, and one day this will all be in the past. I want to remember everything.

The other night I was working with James to get all of his energies out. It was almost 9:00 (way too late for a baby!) and he was wide awake. So I placed him in front of the Christmas tree on his tummy, so he could work on his strong neck, back and leg muscles.

He's a sweetie pie.

December weekend 2: Cookie day!

Each December is so fun. Every year, my family and E's family has lots of pre-Christmas family traditions to get us ready for the upcoming holiday. Last weekend we joined E's family for their annual St. Nicholas Day tea, and this weekend my mom hosted my family's annual cooking baking day! Everyone in my family gets together with a cookie recipe or two, and we bake for the entire day. By the end of the afternoon, the kitchen is literally full of cookies! (Remember last year?)

This year was just as fun and full of fantastic recipes. E and I make snickerdoodles, my Grandma made her famous ginger snaps (seriously, best cookies ever!), my mom made lemon rounds, Chuck made an awesome cookie bar, Laura made pretzel rolo cookies and almond sugar cookies and there were even two types of biscotti made by Mike!

James slept in his car seat for most of the afternoon which made is perfect for cookie making. Around four pm, he woke up and then was Mr. Fussy Man for the next four hours. After a feeding and a diaper change he got passed from person to person. Melissa talked to him and showed him the Christmas tree, my Grandma snuggled him, and my mom talked to him and rocked him during dinner so I could eat.

All in all, it was a fantastic pre-Christmas Saturday. And E and I left with dozens of cookies, which we've been munching on quite a bit.

Me (looking quite good, if I do say so myself, being only 2.5 weeks postpartum!), Chuck and my Grandma make cookies.
E, Chuck and Laura. Everyone was quite busy all afternoon.


After James woke up everyone took a turn giving him loves. My mom and he showed off how strong his neck is getting! He's such a big boy!
I adore this photo. It is one of my top ten favorite photos since the little guy was born. Auntie Melissa and James share a kiss.
And part of the group. Laura, Melissa, James, Brian, E and me!
And although this doesn't relate to cookie day, Sunday was a day of true relaxation. After I delivered James, E gave me a wonderful gift, a hour long massage at my favorite local day spa, with the promise that he'll watch the baby for as long as I'm there. I've been so excited to use this, and so thrilled E got me such a nice gift. I decided to go yesterday, and spent about three hours there. My massage was unreal, seriously, it felt so good. Also, it was a super snowy day in Utah yesterday, so after the massage I made myself a cup of hot tea and spent time time in the sauna and steam room. I really needed this "me" time, and I just loved every minute of it. I came home to find a sleeping baby and a happy husband and I was feeling better than I had in months. Just perfect.

James is more and more alert

Over the last few days James has moved from a sleepy newborn to a very alert infant. Also, the last few nights he's been sleeping like a pro (only waking up once!) and is quite awake and alert during the day.

He takes one or two short naps, and the rest of the time is ready to play. This leads to a very tired Mama. But I do adore the little guy.

The other morning I finally went into James's room at 10:30 to wake him up. I found him in bed, awake, just chillin'. I had to grab my camera.
And, sometimes, if I'm lucky, I can put James in his swing for a bit, and he'll hang out without fussing. It is always better if he'll take his binky. Most the time though, he gets this expression on his face like his binky tastes like sauerkraut. It is too funny, but he's much happier and quieter if I can get him to take it.

And a little video I took. He's quite alert, don't you think?

With eyes like the sea after a storm

Remember that awesome quote in Princess Bride, when Buttercup is describing her true love Wesley? "A Farm Boy. Poor. Poor and Perfect. With eyes like the sea after a storm."

I just love that. The sea after a storm. The sea is gray, blue and purple after a storm, exactly the color of James's eyes. I know James's eyes won't stay this color, baby eyes are blueish when they are born and change over the next months to finally land on their final color around six months old.

But for now, James's eyes are the color of the sea. Dark blueish, purplish, grayish. Just like the sea after a storm. They are beautiful.

And two side notes-

One- Today is James two week birthday! He's been here for two of the most amazing weeks of life. We visited the doc today and she said the most wonderful words a doc can say: "he's perfect."

Two- Isn't it funny that the photo I used in this post actually looks a ton like my little man? I guess I knew, in a way, that I had a dark haired man.

December weekend 1: St. Nicholas Day Tea

Each year E's family kicks off the holiday season with high tea on December 6th, St. Nicholas Day. I love this tradition, because not only is high tea one of my favorite things ever, but kicking off the holidays at the beginning of December also counts towards one of my favorite things.

James, was of course, the star of the show, however Chelsea's sticky toffee pudding easily took second place.

Now that I'm two weeks into being a mother (yes! James has been here from almost two weeks!), I'm feeling more energetic, more confident, and more sure of my mothering abilities. And, I'm kind of sleeping at night, which is always a plus. So, now, after two weeks, I feel like I can truly relax and enjoy the season.

Can't wait for all the fun things to come. Happy St. Nicholas Day!

One of my goals of motherhood is to actually get photos of me with the baby. So far I've been doing a really good job. Now I just need to get some photos of E, myself and James together. I'm not sure there has been a family photo yet...
James's first tea. Happy man.
And the table. Doesn't everything look divine?

Few more of my favorite photos

If you're not into lots of photos, you're reading the wrong blog. Now that I have the most adorable model the world has to offer, this blog is going into photo overdrive. Never is my camera far away, and it seems like I'm always reaching for it. I don't ever want to forget how little this guy is. He's adorable.

James in one of his polar bear outfits sleeping in front of the Christmas tree.
In the last few days James has realized he can stretch out, no longer is he in utero, and no longer do I swaddle him during the day. He loves his new found freedom, and sometimes sleeps with an arm or leg extended into the air.
His hands are so small. The other day I was looking at his fingers, and looking at his ring finger on his left hand. I told him there will one day be a ring there, and I hope whoever he finds makes him truly truly happy, as his Daddy has done for me. As you can imagine, this brought on an entire wave of tears. But it's true, one day James will make someone (other than his teary Mother) really happy.
I just love his hands.
Kiss.
After nursing him this morning James was pulling all sorts of faces. He seems to grin a lot when he's in this half sleep state, so I grabbed my camera, and I caught one! Not only did I capture a closed mouth elf grin, but I caught a full-on open mouthed grin! Yea me! And the last one totally crack me up. I rolled him on his back to see if he wanted to smile anymore. He looks a little perturbed that I have my camera out, again.

Looking back: Thanksgiving

I was hoping and wishing three weeks ago that I would be home, with baby on boob, by Thanksgiving. My wish was granted, and I got discharged from the hospital on Thanksgiving morning.

On Thanksgiving, as I mentioned, we went over to E's family's house and had a fantastic dinner. It is amazing how much I was able to eat, now that there is room in my abdomen again. James was angelic, sleeping the entire time and letting E's family pass him around.

Then on Sunday mom Mom hosted a Thanksgiving dinner. It was so fun to have the dinners on separate nights, this is the first time this has happened, and so for the first time ever E and I were able to eat to our heart's content at each meal.

James, again was angelic, until dinner started. Then he started to fuss, and didn't want to be put down. So I held him, while eating, for the first time. Since then, he's decided that he quite likes being held when I'm trying to eat, and has needed to be either bounced or nursed during most meals since.

After dinner and a quick nursing at my mom's, James was again happy to be passed from person to person. My aunt, uncle and cousin had yet to meet him, so they were thrilled to finally get to hold him and kiss him.

Love Thanksgiving. So so much to be thankful for.

James found it wonderful to be held through dinner. I was still able to eat, and miraculously, didn't spill on my little human napkin!
My mom's kitty Ivan is so curious and sweet. He always wants to be in the middle of everything, including meeting the baby.
I wasn't sure if James would arrive before Thanksgiving, and then when he did, I realized he needed a Thanksgiving outfit. I sent my mother-in-law, Connie, on the very important task the day before the holiday. She, luckily, was able to find a little "Thanksgiving Rocks" outfit.
Uncle Mike and Aunt Laura meet the little guy.
As well as my cousin Kendra.