A very Merry Christmas

Christmas was so fun this year with a little one. I realized very quickly that it's not all about me anymore... it's all about her.
We spent lots of time with family and had a great holiday.
Here are a few highlights from our day.

Auntie Kelly got Kalyn a really cute outfit with a matching hat. I loved it, she didn't really have an opinion one or another...


What she did have an opinion about was rice cereal. She didn't really care for it. I think she prefers the boob. I had decided that once she could hold her head steady we would start her on rice cereal... not from a bottle, from a spoon. So with the help of her new Bumbo chair yesterday was the day. I'm pretty sure more of it ended up on her bib than in her mouth, but it was very entertaining for the adults to watch. She'll get the hang of it, and until she does we'll have some great photos...

Buster and Princess must have been bad kitties this year cause Santa didn't bring them anything... but they did have a great time playing with the boxes from other peoples gifts...

Marlee and Kalyn wore their matching outfits and looked oh so cute. I'm pretty sure that these are the two most beautiful girls in the world. I'm so grateful for the love that Marlee has for Kalyn, and I know that they will be the best of friends...

Of course there were lots of gifts to open and a ton of food to eat, but the best part was being able to spend time with our families. I realized that we don't do enough of it and I think I'm going to make it my New Years resolution to get together more often.

I hope that you all had a very Merry Christmas... we wish you a very happy 2010!!

Things I've learned

I've been thinking alot about all the things that people don't tell you when you're pregnant about pregnancy, child birth and being a new mommy. For those of you who care, these are the things that I had to learn all by myself.
* WARNING * Some of this stuff is a little graphic... proceed with caution.

1. Pregnancy causes hair to grow everywhere... from about my 20th week on, my first question at every Dr. appt was... "are you sure the hair on my belly will go away after the baby is born?" No one tells you that since your hormones are all the jacked up, hair pops up in all kinds of strange places. (btw - if you're wondering, it's pretty much all gone now)

2. The first 2-3 weeks of breastfeeding is excruciating... I remember sitting in bed, feeding the baby and bawling the entire time she ate. It was a great feeling knowing that what I was doing was great for my daughter, but that didn't make it any less painful.

3. After 2-3 weeks of breastfeeding, the pain will go away... that my friends is when you realize that your nipples are permanently hard. Gross huh? I wonder if they will go back to normal? (There are a lot of other things I could tell you about breastfeeding and leaking, but I'm not going to get into it, I'm sure that all of you who have done it, have your own stories to tell)

4. Your own childs poop doesn't smell as bad to you as it does the rest of the world.

5. The first time you leave the house with the baby and no one else, is really scary. My first trip was to Meijer... What if she gets hungry while were at the grocery store... where will I feed her? What if she poops? What if she wont stop crying? What if she wants to be held and I have a cart to push? What if, what if, what if? You'll get through it, I did... mostly because she slept the entire time.

6. After 9 months of peeing non-stop, you're going to be super excited about only having to go every couple hours... until you realize that every couple of hours is still too often.... it burns... BAD. They give you all kinds of things to help the pain and ease the discomfort, but nothing really helps. And it doesn't just last a couple days... it lasts weeks.

7. Being peed on by a girl is possible.


8. When you leave the hospital, they give you 3 days worth of stool softeners, buy more. Believe you, me, you wont want to be pushing anything out of body for a couple weeks afterwords.

9. Don't open the diaper until you know whats in it... it might be a bad one that ends up on the onesie, the pants, the socks, grandpas couch, your hand and eventually in the kitchen sink! Eww... always evaluate the situation first.

10. The people that tell you that you'll forget the pain of childbirth once you hold your baby in your arms are either lying or had an epidural... It's been 2 months and I remember every second of how it felt pushing her out. Don't get me wrong, the end result is worth it, but it doesn't make what I went through any less painful.

11. ... and this one is the most important. Being a mommy is the best job in the whole wide world. If I would have known how incredibly amazing it is, I would have started a long time ago. (Good thing I didn't, I'd probably have 5 by now)

I'm sure there are lots of things that I wanted to put on here, but I've forgotten them... It's 12:41 and time to get my butt in bed.
Oh but first, here are the Christmas pictures we had done last week of Marlee (my niece) and Kalyn... I just love these girls.