Plans, Plans, Plans

So little girl I have big plans for you. We are going to do all sorts of things together. I promise to say yes to you when your spirit for adventure takes you places that mommy might be a little worried about.....I know that by saying yes instead of no you will learn self esteem and self-confidence...two things I can't buy you or give you but hopefully can clear the path for you. My first plans are practical...swim classes before Maui. Found a great place that has a warm salt water pool and allows 3 month olds to take classes....another thing I will do for you...lie and say your 3 months so you can take the class before Maui....only 2 weeks early and since you were a week late, practically not a lie :) I don't think you will learn anything but I will learn how to be with a itty bitty (metaphorically at least) baby in the water. Even though I was a lifeguard I have never swam with a infant so it will teach me more than you.

Other plans I have for you are dreams but I believe when you say a dream enough it becomes a reality...so we will travel the world together..Paris, London, China, Egypt...I want to float down the Nile like Cleopatra did and think about a society where a woman was powerful, strong and in charge.

And other plans are simple and ordinary, like building our first snowman together, filling up a piggy bank and baking cookies. So deal with it little miss, I am a planner and your mine, so this is how it goes.....that being said...so far you have not let me be in charge of everything...the best laid plans are wrecked by a little ball of squishy baby. In the end, I love you enough to throw the plans out the window and savor the moment...whatever or wherever it is.

The sweet moments

Being a parent for me has been boiled down to moments in time. Sure there are the please go to sleep, gross that came out of you and I really would like some "me" time moments, but those seem fleeting while the sweet moments seem to linger in my mind. The moments when you look all content and satisfied like there is nothing better than being in your daddy's or mommy's arms. The moments when you coo and chat away about all the exciting things you want to tell me about, when you tangle your little fingers in my hair, because you know that this hair means it is mommy holding you...these break my heart and fill me with happiness.

While I show my joy for having you with sappy moments of teary eyed love your daddy loves to laugh at....I mean with you. Your bath time expression always makes him laugh and he was so excited to get you your mohawk hat from Etsy, which made us both roar with laughter. His laugh has always been one of my favorite things about him...it is so genuine and full of honesty, thank you for bringing more of his laughter to both of us. Now if he can just remember those moments when your fussy and won't go to sleep at night, we will all be happier :)

Punk rock mohawk hat from Supersmallfry on Etsy...to cover our increasingly balding baby's head!

Newborn photos!

Our little passion flower's newborn photos.

Happy Halloween!

Ocoee celebrates her first Halloween at just a month old, so there will be no trick a treating for her. But we had to get photos of her first one ever so we dressed up in her skeleton onesie and also in a tiger outfit our friend let us borrow. Both were so cute. The dogs were very interested in this photo shoot we were doing in the nursery so they got in a few photos as well. Brodie could not decide if licking the baby or the gourd was tastier!

Happy Halloween!

Cheers
J

First snow!

It was our first snow of the year today in the Anchorage Bowl...sneaking in before October is over and giving the trick-a-treaters something to wade through. It was also Ocoee's first experience with snow...not that she noticed much. She cuddled up in the moby wrap, warm against her pops and napped away. Guess that is why we have the pictures to remember it by..since she won't :).

A week of firsts

We had several firsts this week. Yesterday was the first time we went for a walk using the stroller. It started off fine with her snuggling into the car seat that attaches to the stroller really well, she had on her going outside clothes and was all ready...all mom had to do was get the stroller open...ugh really. How many degrees does a person need to open these damn things, cause I have several and it almost didn't happen. I was literally out front of the garage with the owners manual pushing the damn button that says push and nothing was happening. I had to fight the urge to throw the damn thing across the driveway. After about 15 minutes it just opened...obviously I was doing something wrong...grrr. I practiced several times last night with hubby by my side and it worked perfectly. Not sure what was going on other than a chance to entertain my neighbors. I can just hear them, "look at the crazy new mom who can't even open her stroller". Is this what they mean by parenthood being humbling.

After getting the thing open we had a great stroll. It was easy for me to walk at a good pace and Ocoee liked the fresh air. She spent the first 20 minutes just looking around thinking, ok this is new, then she crashed and napped while I got my walk on. Got to fit back into my clothes sometime. I actually talked to my brother today who only weights like 6 pounds more than me! The weight is coming off according to the scale but I am more eager to get to the gym and lift and tone all the squishy bits. Working out gives me energy and that is something I am lacking in spades these days.

Our other first came today when we left the house, drove, and went out in public for the first time all by ourselves. Ocoee has been to the doctor and on walks, hikes and trails but always with daddy in attendance. Today we met my friend Martina for lunch at our local sushi spot, which is a few minutes up the road. It was great because Martina is preggers so we can talk baby, I got to have a mountain view roll for the first time in 11 months, and the place was empty except for us. So no gross germs floating around on my baby. The ladies working even served us free miso soup...pregnant lady and lady with baby scores major brownie points I guess.

Ocoee was wonderful. She woke a few times to look around and then crash again. I was more proud of myself for using the car seat correctly and getting up and out the house successfully. Woohoo! The minor victories are crucial :0

I also just got my new iphone4s so I can now take video of sassy little girl and put it here. She changes so fast I feel I have to record it all. Growing up we had 2 fires and I was the 2nd child so there are very few photos much less videos of me. It is something I miss having, especially once I got pregnant. I want to make sure she has all of the important milestones of her life documented. I love photography and technology so it plays to my passion but I also hope she enjoys looking back on all of these first and special moments.

Cheers
J

Weekend of dates, football and photos

Here are a few snapshots from our weekend. A few of the family before our date night out. We didn't make it through the entire Fiddler of the Roof play, it was 10 by the end of the first act, we had to get home to the sitter but we did enjoy our dinner and partial play :)

The huskers won a great game and Ocoee had on all her husker gear to cheer them on. Don't think she will fit in the husker onesie through the entire season, she is growing so fast.