Squeaky Clean Baby!

I firmly maintain that babies do not get dirty.  Though her neck may smell like sour milk sometimes and well, she's not yet 100% potty trained or anything, babies just don't get dirty.  I don't think babies should be bathed very often.  Maybe once a week, maximum.  Or as necessary due to extreme diaper blowouts.  So, when we do bathe her, it is an exciting event in the May household.  We heat up the bathroom nice and steamy, and then I take her with me in the shower and wash her.  Afterwards, we dry her off and make her smile laying on the bathmat of the bathroom floor.  And then we dress her in a cute little outfit and she sleeps. 

Drunken Milk Face

After Palesa nurses, she makes this face of pure milked-out bliss.  She is either completely asleep or incredibly dozy, and her signature drunken milk face makes me laugh every time.

Cute outfit from Grandma!

Osei and I have been very blessed by the generosity of friends and other parents around us who have given us baby clothes.  One good friend (and neighbor) has given us a steady supply of gender-neutral clothes that her twin babies have outgrown.  We just dress Palesa in whatever we see first, and can think of no reason why a newborn shouldn't spend her days in pajamas. 

My mom got us this sweet little outfit, which lasted intact for a few hours before we had to change the shirt (blowout), and remove the pants (too much effort to continue changing diapers for said blowouts), and dress (too much spitup eventually leaves a funky smell). 

Smiling baby!

Palesa woke up laughing and smiling and "telling stories". There is no better way to start a day.

Coffee, and date night, anyone?

On Sunday, Osei and I took Palesa to a church in Denver.  After the service, I held Palesa in my arms rather than put her back in the Moby wrap, because we were headed to the car.  A woman came up to me to admire the Moby wrap.  She said nothing about the adorable baby in my arms, but asked where I'd bought the wrap, and went on about how stylish it was.  And then she exclaimed, "and the great thing about it is that you don't even need a baby to wear in the wrap!  You can just wear it out and about!"  Hmmm, I don't know about that, but I'm glad that we can both agree that the Moby wrap rocks!

Afterwards, we went out to lunch at Noodles and Company.  I'm proud to report that despite eating with chopsticks (while wearing Palesa in the Moby), I didn't drop any food on her head this time!

Later in the afternoon, we met up with a Smithie (and Fairview) friend of mine, Makenna, for coffee.  We enjoyed hearing about her adventures around the globe, and all of the inspiring things she is doing!

Finally, Sunday night Osei and I had our first "adults-only" date while Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Ralph watched Palesa.  It was mostly a dinner date.  Except we drove to Whole Foods to pick up prepared food, which we brought back to my mom's house to all eat together.  We were maybe gone 40 minutes, but it was the first time we've both been away from her!

Our First Football Game!

On Saturday, we all went to the Windsor High School playoff football game.  Suz led the Pep Band, Bryan filled in to play trumpet, Palesa slept pretty much the whole time, Osei encouraged the team to try some passing plays rather than running the option play each time, and my dad and I just watched and cheered.

Windsor beat Frederick 13-0, which means they'll head to the State Championship next.  It was a cool day, but we stayed bundled up in jackets and blankets.  

Jazzercise, running, and cookies, oh my!

Osei thought this outfit looked like a Jazzercise housewife.  I think it is cute.  She is smiling and holding her head up all over the place.

Friday was a great day for all of us. In the morning, Bryan and I went running (!).  This was my second run post-Palesa.  I'm also testing a Nike + Sportwatch with GPS (this one), which tracks my pace, distance, calories burned, and elapsed time.  It is great for tracking my progress for getting back into shape.  I also am excited to do another product test for Nike.  My first run was on Tuesday, and Friday's run was also 3 miles, but my pace was about 1 1/2 minutes per mile faster!  It also helps that I got to run with Bryan, an excellent running partner!

Friday we also went to visit dear friends, Kevin and Becca at their house in Longmont.  They were so excited to finally meet little Palesa!  We really enjoyed our visit, getting to see them again, and the delicious cookies Becca made for us!

One month old... and even more to be thankful for!

Asleep at one month

Asleep at just a few hours old

Wow, a month old already! I am truly amazed at how fast this first month has flown by!  I can still hardly believe that I'm not pregnant anymore (I actually really miss being pregnant, though I still wouldn't trade that for Palesa for anything!)

We had our second Thanksgiving at Suz and Bryan's house with my dad.  Osei and Bryan brined the turkey and did all of the cooking.  In addition to normal stuffing, Osei made some experimental stuffing using the leftover grains from the beer home brew session the other day.  They were almost chocolaty.  Osei also made two more pies- one pure pumpkin, and one pure sweet-potato.  Again, we all preferred the sweet potato.  Palesa spent the day being held and making cute faces.

Pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving

We had two Thanksgivings this year.  The first was at my mom's house, and we enjoyed a pot roast, mashed potatoes, other delicious things I have since forgotten, and of course, pie.  Osei made a plain pumpkin pie, and then got creative and made a pumpkin-sweet potato mix.  Overall, we all seemed to prefer the pie with sweet potato.  We enjoyed the time with family.  Palesa was the centerpiece, and we all took turns holding her.  Also during the evening, we video chatted with Osei's parents.  They were very impressed to see how big Palesa was, and agreed that she is simply growing more precious and adorable by the day.

We have so much to be thankful for!  Having baby Palesa has been the biggest blessing we could imagine, and we are thankful to be able to spend this time in Colorado with family.  We are thankful for how well my mom is doing during chemotherapy, and we are faithful as we continue praying for her complete recovery from breast cancer. 

My two sweethearts

Since Palesa is sleeping in our bed with us, she and I will usually wake up and nurse, and then the three of us will cuddle in bed for a while.  I can't even tell you how many pictures I have of Palesa propped up on Osei's chest.  I love these pictures... my two loves snuggled together.  Osei is actually pretending to sleep in this picture, but Palesa was smiling all over the place.

Elimination Communication... it is not potty training, but she goes in a "potty"

I guess I never imagined I would be one of those kind of mothers.  You know, home birthing, breastfeeding, cloth diapering, co-sleeping kind of mothers.  Well, we are all that and more.  Since Palesa was about 4 days old, we've been casually working on elimination communication.  I'm not an expert on this, but the concept is that by paying attention to the baby's cues as well as timing, you "offer" them an alternative to going to the bathroom in their diaper because no person, adult or infant, truly wants to be sitting in their own waste.

So, after nursing Palesa, we remove her diaper, and I hold her against my chest, butt dangling over some sort of tupperware container.  Every time we have "offered" her a container, she has gone to the bathroom.  I am making my best efforts to do this with her once a day, usually after her afternoon nursing session.

Babies go through a ton of diapers.  For cloth diapering, that means a lot of laundry.  Two days this week, we were out and about and missed the opportunity to do this with her, and she had two big blowouts (which means an outfit change in addition to a diaper change).  So, if we're able to catch her bathroom activities once a day and save one diaper, that really adds up. She's certainly not "potty trained" or anything, but it amazes me to think that even an itty-bitty newborn baby can go to the bathroom in a "toilet."

She keeps us entertained for days!

Last night Palesa was making funny faces and smiling at Grandpa Ralph.  Then, Grandma Nancy held her and moved her side to side while talking to her and seeking to keep eye contact.  Palesa just tracked her eyes back and forth, and maintained eye contact for over 10 minutes.  We were all impressed at her long attention span!

Then Palesa had some excellent tummy-time.  Again, she spent 10 or 15 minutes on her belly, holding up her head and moving it from side to side.  We think she has a wonderfully strong little neck. 

Bathtime

We gave Palesa another bath on Monday morning.  Actually a shower.  Again, at first she is surprised at the water on her, but she does seem to like it.  We liked her funny hairdo after we dried her off!

The Baby Whisperer in Action

 

Osei is the master baby whisperer.  He will swaddle her, and through a complex (and secret) process of movements and sounds, he will calm even a crying baby and woo her to sleep.  One of his key tricks is eye contact.  She'll look at him very intently, but soon go to sleep.  I maintain that he has a fairly easy job.  Palesa rarely cries, and her tears/fussiness is limited to her telling us she is either hungry or needs a dry diaper.  I think the mellowness of her birth experience contributes to the mellowness of her personality, because Palesa is thankfully one happy baby!  

She's also a fairly good sleeper.  During the night, she typically sleeps for stretches of 3-5 hours.  Since we are co-sleeping (even here in Colorado, she is sleeping in our bed with us), I wake up before she is fully awake even, and without hardly disturbing her, I'll just roll her over and nurse her.  Most of the time she falls asleep nursing, so I'll gently lay her down and we'll both sleep for a few more hours.  I can't really claim to be well-rested these days, but I'm getting enough sleep to function and feel good!    

Some people do home brew, and some do home birth

Saturday evening, Uncle Bryan brewed a batch of beer at home.  We enjoyed watching, and smelling the brewing batch.  I think it will take about 6 weeks to be ready.  Palesa slept the whole time.

Hi, Grandpa!

Saturday afternoon, we went to visit Grandpa Benson, who made us lunch, and enjoyed playing with Palesa!  We had a great time with him.  He said he definitely thinks Palesa looks like a "Benson."

Our first photo shoot

Saturday morning, we woke up early to do a photo shoot with In Harmony Studios.  My very talented sister, Susan Horn (aka Auntie Suz), set up Palesa in a precious little photo shoot.  These photos are with my camera, and as cute as they are, they aren't even as good as the ones she took. But still, who can ever get enough of an adorable sleeping baby?

Palesa meets Auntie Suz and goes to school!

Friday morning we went to Denver for a few meetings.  Osei had meetings, and Palesa and I just hung out in the coffee shop.  Then we drove up to Windsor, CO, to meet Auntie Suz.  She was SO excited to finally meet Palesa that she was even waiting outside for us.  Palesa was very excited to see her too.  Auntie Suz is a band director at Windsor High School.

Later that afternoon, we went to pick up Uncle Bryan from school- he is a math teacher at the same school.  I wore Palesa in the Moby wrap, and since I generally don't spend much time these days in high schools, especially carrying a baby, I hoped that no one thought I was a high school student with a baby.  Actually, let's be realistic- what almost 30-year-old wouldn't want to be confused with an 18 year old?  What am I saying?

Anyway, after we visited the Math room, we went to the Band room and I got to meet many of her band students.  Windsor High School marching band and Palesa have a special connection, because the band won the marching band State Competition on the day Palesa was born.  The overwhelming consensus was that Palesa is 'sooooooooo cuuuuuute!"  It was a big day for Palesa.  After all, she was only 3.5 weeks old the first time she went to school!  (We take our education very seriously in this family, and I'll let you know when Palesa selects her instrument)

Then Palesa slept while Auntie Suz wore her in the Moby wrap.  I took a nap.

My afternoon nap routine

We're all amazed at how big Palesa can open her little nap to yawn.  Thursday we took it easy, and Palesa and I took many naps together.  All of the jet-lag combined with inadequate sleep and mamma was feeling a bit under the weather.  But luckily, thanks to Grandma, who was more than willing to hold Palesa, and Daddy, the famed baby-whisperer, I was able to catch up (in theory) on sleep and soon felt much better.

Palesa meets Grandma Nancy!

Grandma Nancy could hardly wait to see Palesa when she picked us up from the airport.  She was excited to see us too.  Ralph immediately noticed the resemblance to Grandma.

My, what good neck control you have, my dear!

 

We had a visit with Auntie Cyndi today.  Cyndi showed us how to do some great little exercises.  She was very impressed at Palesa's good head and neck control, which we will continue to work on.  Palesa also made eye contact and gave Cyndi a big smile (just like she did with my mom yesterday).  Especially in the last week, she has been making much more eye contact and engaging us more than ever before.  Her little smiles are particularly heart-warming though, especially when she shows off her cute little dimple.