Rise and Shine my Little Angel!

On Thursday, Osei's birthday, Palesa woke up in such a beautiful mood.  We held her and played, and our little girl was all smiles.  One of my favorite things when she first wakes up is to lay her on my chest and we snooze and converse and just hang out until Osei wakes up.  She tends to push off of my belly and scooch up my chest until her beautiful fine hair tickles my chin.  I absolutely love it when her hair tickles my chin!  It is so silky, soft, and perfect!

She is our happy little baby... what a wonderful birthday present for her Daddy!

Palesa does her Party Tricks

On Wednesday, Osei, Palesa and I had dinner with Cyndi and Ron at their house.  The meal was delicious (no surprise there), the conversation wonderful, and all enjoyed getting to know Palesa.  Cyndi was astonished at the developmental progress Palesa had made in a few short weeks!  We put the blanket on the table and propped her up on her belly, and she was happy, smiling, and drooling the entire time.  She held her head and neck up for at least 3 minutes, though none of us bothered to time it as we encouraged her and made funny faces to keep her smiling.  This was especially fun for all of us because she maintained such good eye contact.

Yes, we make her work very hard to hold up her head and neck all by herself, but it is definitely paying off- Palesa is one strong little baby!

Babe in Arms

It is so challenging to take a successful picture while holding Palesa.  I can't get my arm far enough away to take the picture, I can't see her through the screen lens, and the angle is usually funny.  But this one turned out okay!  Palesa is now 6 weeks old.

I remember when she was about 10 days old taking a walk to the Post Office with Osei in Jamaica Plain.  We saw a mother with a 6 week old baby.  I remember looking at Palesa and the little boy, and I could hardly imagine that Palesa would ever be that big and that old.  But I guess as is to be expected, time moves forward, and Palesa hit 6 weeks!

Playing Piano with Grandpa Larry

On Monday, we went to visit Grandpa Larry.  He introduced her to his Baby Grand piano.  (Palesa got a kick out of the "Baby" part of it, but there is nothing small about that piano!)  Grandpa Larry noticed that she responded to the sounds, but didn't really look at the keys and didn't connect where the sound was coming from.  Then again, she's only 6 weeks old- she has plenty of time to figure that out!

Daddy Caught a Good One!

I'm not sure how (or why) Osei thought to wrap and carry Palesa like this, but it certainly stopped her fussing, despite her expression here.

More visits with Grandpa

On Sunday, Grandma Nancy, Grandpa Ralph and Great-Grandpa Dave came up to Windsor (at Suz and Bryan's house) to visit.  Palesa seemed pleased that the Broncos won, and enjoyed being held by her Great-Grandpa and hearing his stories.  He enjoyed watching her look around and make eye contact with her, and took extra delight when she smiled.  

This is what happens when Daddy falls asleep

I could not resit.

A few of the Grownups too...

Everywhere we go, people see us and excalim, "Palesa!!" and then say hello to us.  We figured it was time to take a picture of us parents.  Palesa was making faces, and finally, outright protesting!

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

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.

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.