Like Father, Like Daughter

I woke up Saturday morning and noticed that Osei and Palesa were in almost identical positions as they slept.  Of course I had to take a picture.

Just some more cute Palesa Pictures

Palesa meets her Great-Grandpa!

Thursday night my grandpa, Dave McCusker arrived in Colorado for a visit.  He lives in Pittsburgh and will be 86 years old on December 10th.  We loved seeing him hold his great-granddaughter.  And Palesa enjoyed looking at the new face!

Leaky Diapers

On Thursday, Palesa, Osei and I went to visit Treehouse Learning (my mom's Early Childhood Education Center in Lafayette, Colorado).  Osei and I are still figuring out the cloth diaper system, and we're learning by fire... It just occurred to us that when we overstuff the diapers (logically in order to make them MORE absorbent), they are more likely to leak.  We learned this lesson dramatically yesterday when we arrived at Treehouse Learning and I discovered that not only had Palesa's diaper leaked all over her pants and onesie, but I was also covered in baby poop from carrying her in from the car.

So, we changed her on a conference table, dressed Palesa in the spare outfit we keep in the diaper bag, and got cleaned up.  Less than an hour later, we left Treehouse to visit an old friend of mine (since Elementary school).  Julia has a 17 month old daughter, Zena, and is expecting her second daughter in the next few weeks.

We arrived at Julia's house and discovered blowout #2.  Another pair of pants and onesie too dirty to keep wearing.  Luckily, Julia has a closet full of baby clothes, and generously lent us an adorable little outfit. 

Zena is very excited to be a big sister and really enjoyed getting to meet Palesa, and we enjoyed our visit with Julia.

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.