Meemaw's 80th Birthday

We went up to Dallas this weekend for Justin's grandmother's (Meemaw's) 80th birthday celebration!  We had fun, ate waaaay too much cake, and even had a "mini date" while my parents watched Ari so Justin and I could go to the mall and play cards in the food court.  :)

Ari is really acting like she's remembering grandparents and people from time to time when she sees them.  She starts singing every time she sees PaPa Joe and laughs everytime she sees her Uncle Jerd and I think James is starting to scare her.  She was fascinated with my dad's oxygen machine, though (which we are calling his life support) and kept trying to eat the little cord.  We finally gave her a stethoscope and that seemed to satisfy her.

On Sunday we went to church with Justin's parents (which is about 18 hours away by car, or 55 minutes, I never can remember which) and Justin sang a sort of impromptu (decided to do it the day before) duet with his father.  It was really neat and I'm glad we got to go.  I loved the sermon the preacher gave and will be blogging about it later.  On the other hand, I am never leaving Ari in that child care ever again.  (Always trust your gut, mamas!)

I think Ari might be starting to get the concept of waving.  She'll hold her hand up but she doesn't quite move it yet so we'll see if it develops into something or if it's just a coincedence.  She does move her hands a lot.  :)

Well, that's it!  I think we're all starting to feel a bit better (except for the hacking, uncontrollable, sleep depriving cough) so it looks like it might be business as usual for us from now on! Back to play groups! :)

Birthdays, Birthdays, Birthdays!

Jacob's Birthday

Jacob, a little friend of ours, turned 3 years old on the 8th. His birthday party was on the fifth in south Houston, and we went. It was so much fun! We got to see a lot of friends who have moved to Dallas and Jacob's little sister, who is just a couple of days older than Ariana! She had a great time, we learned about trees and grass and to stay away from little boys who like to throw sticks up in the air. ;) It was a Superman party, so Jacob was Superman and he ran around that park like he owned the place and could fly. It was a lot of fun and Ariana got some in some quality learning while she was awake. ;)

Ariana Turns 3 Months!

Ariana turned 3 months old on April 1st! We can't believe how fast time has flown. She's already getting so very big. She can roll over (from front to back, at least) and holds her head up like a pro. She loves being in her Moby (a word which has become a verb in our family; "Ari, you wanna get Mobied up?") and facing out. She's technically not supposed to do that until she's 6 months old, but she gets upset if she can't see the world! Her favorite game is talking and it's the cutest thing in the whole world. To listen to her tell a story, you KNOW she really believes she's communicating something with you, it's amazing and hilarious all at the same time. Justin and I will just sit and talk to her for the longest time, she never gets tired of it. Unless, of course, she actually gets tired.

We're all pretty good at understanding each other now. Justin and I can distinguish her cries and can tell if she's too hot, too cold, too hungry, too wet, too tired. It's a great feeling to actually be able to understand what she wants instead of holding her, screaming and helpless. Her screaming. Us helpless. Most of the time, at least.

I really never imagined I would love being a mommy this much. I'm looking forward to the future but I've never found myself dreaming about it, like, "Oh, once she can call me Mommy, that will be great," or, "Once she can play with other kids, that will be great." I have really been able to just take each day as it comes and enjoy the moments I'm having with her now. Like this moment, for instance. She's just gotten done eating and, as I'm typing, we are having the most delightful conversation about "Arguububs" and "Thulgads" and I'm not really finding myself wishing anything about her were any different than it is at this exact moment.

Easter Sunday

We visited Dallas for Easter Sunday and it was a lot of fun. Me, Justin, Ari, Ashley, James, and both my parents all went to Bent Tree for the service. Ari slept in the nursery the whole time. In the photos above you can see a pretty blue silk Easter dress my sister bought for her - isn't it gorgeous? I'm glad I got pictures of her in it while she could still FIT in it (that child is growing like a horse!) We all enjoyed the little break and I know family really enjoyed having everyone together on Easter Sunday. We went and hung out with Justin's family after the service and had an Easter lunch. He got to spend some time with his brother and Ari had a great time in the bassinet that my in laws made for her. Then, on the way home, we blew a tire about an hour out of Dallas - at 8:30! It was dark, we were in the middle of nowhere and I was a bit terrified. Justin tried to change the tire and in his manliness actually BROKE the tire wrench! (Yes, BROKE, as in, IN HALF.) So we had to wait for a tow truck to come and fix the tire. We finally got back into Houston around 2:30 in the morning and poor Justin had to wake up and go to work in the morning! It was an exhausting trip and, though it was good, we are NEVER leaving Dallas that late again!

Granny B's 80th Birthday

The weekend we visited Dallas for Easter was also the week after my grandmother's (father's mother's) 80th birthday. The whole extended family (minus one who was just two weeks from her due date!) showed up in Hugo, Oklahoma to enjoy the festivities. My grandfather, who has been in and out of good health for a while now, was doing great. He was lucid and back to his funny, joking self. It was great to see him and my grandmother. There are SO many kids on that side of the family! It's really amazing, trips to the farm look more like summer camp than a family get together. ;) Ari was just one face in a crowd here, there were tons of little babies and kids running around. I'm so glad it's that way again, that's the way I remember trips to the farm and I'm glad that kids are able to enjoy it's magical wonders again. ;) I'm looking forward to Ari getting to be friends with all her little cousins and playing with them like me and Ashley did with all our cousins growing up. Anyway, the party was great and I know that my grandmother enjoyed being able to see everyone and have everyone there and to meet her new (not newest!) greatgrandbaby. (Yes, there was a baby younger than Ari there!) I'm really looking forward to our next trip to the farm - Thanksgiving will probably be the next time we get to see the WHOLE family there, and I'm really excited about it!

We've Moved!
Okay, for those of you who aren't aware (or who don't have to abide by this rule) the state of Texas doesn't like three people living in a one bedroom apartment, so we have moved! Just across the parking lot, so our new apartment number is 635 for those of you who have our previous address. Email me if you need the full number! We LOVE our new apartment! Once we got everything in Justin stood in the living room and looked around and said, "This isn't an apartment. It's a house on stilts." It's so huge - it's actually larger than my parent's first HOUSE. Especially being a stay at home mom I love having enough space to breathe, and the staff is great. Hopefully we'll be able to get a house in the next fifty-seven years or so ;) but for now, this place is perfect.

New Job!
I (Amber) now sell BilJac dog food!...part time, just a few hours on the weekend, so Justin can have a fun Daddy-Daughter date with his favorite little girl. The job is fairly easy for me in the sense that I fully believe BilJac is the best dog food on the market, so it's not hard for me to try to sell it. BilJac is the best for EVERY dog unless they have some serious problem like kidney failure, so I like explaining to people WHY it's the best and WHY they should be feeding it to their dogs! It's nice to get out of the house but I always miss my baby girl by the time I get home. Justin, however, loves the time alone with her.

I think that's all for this update, thanks for keeping up with us and if you're reading this - call us if you're in Houston! We'd love to hang out. If we know you. If we don't know you, don't call. That would...well, that would just be weird.

Happy Birthday!

It's Justin's first birthday as a father today! He's 26. We're not sure how much we can really celebrate, given we are broke and have a 4 week old child ;), but I'm hoping we can find some way to make it special for him. Happy Birthday Justin!

Our little goth baby has some red speckles to go with her purple tongue now, courtesy of baby acne. More importantly, though, she's starting to smile! It's not very frequent, but the last two mornings that she has woken, she's grinned when I picked her up. I've seen lots of babies smile in my day, but I have never had my heart so completely taken from me with such a simple gesture. All the frustration and lack of sleep in the world is gone in a moment when she flashes that toothless grin!

We are slowly but surely falling into a routine and schedule, especially at night. We get her ready for bed and then read her a story before laying her down around 9:00. It takes her a while to fall asleep, she just kind of squirms for a while, but she's getting better and more used to going to bed at that hour. For a while, she would want to eat until around 11:00, but now that she's a bit older she can go longer and is more satisfied after each feeding, so it's becoming easier to let her be independent for longer periods of time.

She is getting much better about staring at things! The mobile above her swing is finally interesting; I caught her staring at it for a long time yesterday! It has a concave mirror and stuffed birds around it, which she finds almost as fascinating at her own hands. ;)

Well, it's time to do what cleaning I can while Ariana is napping! :)

Ariana's Onemonthaday

Well, our baby girl is one month old tomorrow if you go by weeks...one month old on Friday if you go by months. ;) She was born four weeks ago tomorrow, and she's already changed so much! She can watch you with her eyes now, and she does, relentlessly. One of her favorite games is staring at things. ;) At her last appointment, which was yesterday, she weighed in at 9 pounds 4 ounces, which keeps her perfectly "status quo." When she was born, she was in the 95th percentile on height and then 50th percentile on weight. She is still in the 95th percentile on height and the 50th percentile on weight! She seems to be keeping her balance very well.

Right now she's a little goth baby! She was diagnosed with thrush at her last appointment, which is just a minor yeast infection that's very common with newborns, and the medicine stains her mouth a very deep purple. So my four week old little girl looks like she's got dark purple lipstick on! She looks like she's been sucking on a marker.

She loves talking, too. Her favorite words so far are "Oouf" and "Boop." Her eyes have turned into a pretty slate blue color and she still has more hair than both of her parents. ;)

Justin is loving his new semester. His major iTeach assignments (the program he has to complete to become a certified teacher) are almost done! Only two more to go and life will be getting a lot easier for him. There was a bit of excitement at his school this past week when a student was caught with a gun. He said half the kids didn't show up the next day, despite the hallways teeming with police officers.

His teaching style is rapidly evolving to be very effective. I, for one, am incredibly proud of him. His iTeach instructor bragged on him and how much improvement he's made over the last semester, even finishing her comments by saying that he's on his way to becoming an exemplary Spanish teacher in his district.

Not much has changed with me. I'm still sick off and on but I think it's getting better. I'm really enjoying taking everything one day at a time. My favorite part of the day is when she's just eaten and isn't fussy, and we sit on the couch and read. My favorite is "Thumpity Thump Gets Dressed," a book my great-grandmother gave me when I was four. My mom brought a bunch of my old books down and I'm really enjoying reading them to Ariana and I can tell she enjoys the time too, though she has no idea what a book is. ;)

She's getting along well with the dogs. They know they aren't allowed to go near her. Once I even laid her on the floor and stepped just out of site, but close enough that I could get to her in a split second, and just watched. Toby and Talsi wouldn't go anywhere near her. In fact, once I was sitting on the floor holding her when Justin called Toby. I was in his way, so Toby went up to me and just laid down until I moved - he wasn't about to go around me when I was holding Ariana. Toby and Talsi are both doing very well with her and I have no doubt that they will be excellent playmates when she is older.

Let's see, a quick review of favorites and least favorites before I go:
Favorite place: Mommy or Daddy's lap
Favorite sound: Daddy singing in a low voice
Least favorite flavor: Mylicon drops
Favorite thing to stare at: Faces and mini-blinds
Favorite body part to eat: Left pointer finger
Favorite place to nap: Lying on Mom or Dad
Least favorite activity: Bath time

And at the rate she's going, my next blog will be talking about how she can hold her head up for a whole minute! :)

New Year, New Life

Our daughter was born today.

Around 9:30 I started having contractions and called my midwife an hour later. She was at my apartment around 10:45. I progressed rapidly; so quickly, in fact, that Justin barely had time to call one person to tell them I was in labor. He was really great the whole time, helping me through contractions and reminding me that, no matter how strongly I insisted, I was not going to die. ;)

After 30 minutes of pushing, Ariana was born in our bathtub at 3:49 pm. I'll never forget that moment. All of a sudden everyone just started moving around, no one was concentrating on me anymore. I didn't even know what was going on and I asked what was happening. Justin almost whispered, "That's our baby's head..."

The midwife had to suction her fully, which took a couple of minutes. Before I went into labor I promised myself I wouldn't ask if she was okay. ("If she's not okay, they'll tell me, I'm not going to ask!") All I could say, though, was, "Is she okay?" The midwife had the suction in her mouth and couldn't answer. Finally she turned to me, dropped the suction and said, "She'd better be okay, she's BITING me!" ;)

It took a couple of minutes for them to fully suction her, then with one last push Justin caught her and put her on my chest. She was slimy and gray and had a ridge on the top of her head that made her look like a gorilla and I swear to you she was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life. She stayed on my chest for several minutes before they wrapped her up and gave her to Justin so everyone could get cleaned up. I fed her for the first time - she figured it out really fast! - and then, after a checkup confirming a good heartbeat, good lung function, a weight of 7 pounds 9 ounces and a length of 21 inches, Justin and I dressed our newborn baby and went to relax on the couch.

The midwife and assistant left around 6:00. I was in the living room with Justin holding Ariana when I realized how incredibly grateful I was that we were able to do a home birth. Not only did my baby never have to be separated from her mother or father for more than a few seconds at a time, but here I was, with a 2 hour old healthy child, sitting comfortably in my living room. I am so grateful.