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.