Merry Christmas!

ROADTRIP!!

Carly had her first road trip last night!! and did GREAT! Dave came home from work yesterday afternoon and was in a wonderful mood. He was done going into the office for the entire year (NOTE: not working, just going to the office). His celebratory mood had him eager to get on the road to Carly's Grandma and Papa in Georgia. He was also slightly concerned about the weather forecast for Friday (threatening of snow always causes NC and SC roads to come to a complete stop). So at 5:30 Dave fed Carly a bottle, I pumped a new bottle for our big trip, and we were off a few minutes after 6:00. After a stop by the gas station and dropping off a DVD we were on the interstate, where traffic proceeded to CRAWL... Once we started moving Carly was asleep and we decided to drive until she woke up for a feeding. When we got to Anderson we had to stop, there wasn't another big exit until we were well in Georgia. So through a drive thru we went, and she continued to sleep. As we approached the Georgia welcome center Dave asked if we should stop and wake her up for a feeding or try to push through the trip. Not wanting to wake up a sleeping baby I told him to push through. On the outskirts of Atlanta she started to stir, but didn't wake up until we were in her Grandma and Papa's house. At this point she was starving and drank her 3.5oz bottle before nursing for 30 minutes.

The 3.5 hours of sleep in the car not only resulted in a hungry baby but a very awake baby. Dave and I settled in to the notion that she (meaning us too) would be awake for the remainder of the night. Luckily she played for about 2 hours with her Aunt Julia and was out like a light! She then slept for 3.5 hours before waking up for a quick feed and going back to sleep for another 3 hours. While I missed a long sleep period from the previous two nights, I am very glad we were not up playing for the entire night due to her sleeping in the car.

Today we seem to be back on a semi-normal schedule (or as normal as you can have with an 8 week old), so hopefully tonight will be unfussy and restful for all!

Where's Carly?

Just another day...

Today was a big day for Carly! She started her day by sleeping through the entire night! We put her down last night just after midnight and she didn't call for our attention until 7:20!! This was HUGE news for me, I actually woke up before she did; therefore, felt very rested today. I'm not thinking tonight will have a repeat performance.

Carly's extra long sleep period really helped her out today! She was an angel when we met Dave and a co-worker out for lunch today (napping the whole time). Then when we came home from lunch and a quick errand to Babies R Us, she worked really hard on her tummy time mat. She has begun using her arms to push her shoulders off of the ground when she lifts her head. She's been working on it a lot when on Dave's chest, but has now begun to do this motion to get a better view of the Lego train or Christmas tree.

After her version of a push up she had some play time with the toys that hang above her tummy time mat. She is definitely developing her concept of cause and effect. This idea humors me because in school we spend many, many hours teaching the kids about cause and effect. Their version of cause and effect involves reading passages, drawing conclusions, and then finding cause and effect relationships with those conclusions. Carly's cause and effect work involves her hitting her toys above her head with her hand and them making a noise and mommy and daddy applauding or making a celebratory comment.

I Have Found My Balance!!

It is funny how quickly life changes. During Carly's 10pm feeding I began thinking about how quickly my life has changed over the past 8 weeks and how I have found my balance. Thinking back, Dave and I left the doctor 8 weeks ago today knowing that Carly would be coming soon and soon enough that they wanted to see me back on Wednesday (if she hadn't come). Back then (because it was sooo long ago) I was a high strung, perfectionist teacher. My life revolved around the students in my classroom and really had since the day I really decided to pursue a career in education. I chose USC because it could offer a 5 year Masters program. I worked at an afterschool and summer program at a local elementary school for over 5 years. I attended workshops in the summer months, got to school at 6:30 (if not earlier) each morning, and only left school before 5 if I had some place I HAD to be... I always brought work home (even over the summer months and long vacations). I checked my school e-mail at least once an hour each evening, just in case a parent sent a message or another teacher e-mailed out a GREAT idea. I graded and planned so much in the evening that Dave bought me a laptop during our first year of marriage so that I could at least sit downstairs with him in the evening.

Throughout my entire pregnancy Dave reminded me that I needed to find balance. That he and Carly would have to come first and school would need to start taking a distant third. I knew deep down this was true, but didn't know how I would ever be able to achieve such balance. During one of the staff meetings I missed due to a doctor's appointment my principal even spoke of how the staff as a whole needed to find balance... (This idea was trying to reach me!)

Well, I'm not working at the moment but I have found balance. I pray that this balance will stay with me as I cherish all of the small moments now with Carly and Dave. Last week I needed to get out of the house early for a hair cut and I just laid in bed listening to Carly breath as she slept on my chest. I knew good and well I could have moved her to the bassinet or over to Dave's chest, but I also knew those were moments I would never be able to get back if I rushed them away. So I just laid there and finally at the last second possible got up to leave. This weekend the three of us ran errands and visited Santa. Eight weeks ago I would have said that I didn't do anything this past weekend because nothing was "monumental;" however, my perception as changed. I did do stuff this weekend, I ran Christmas errands with Dave and Carly, got to see Santa, and even had a pretzel from our favorite pretzel shop along the way. And then tonight before Carly's last feeding a simple game of peek-a-boo entertained Carly, Dave, and I for many minutes. Dave was trying to calm her down from an I'm hungry and tired fussy spell and just began playing to see what would happen (and probably because he was tired of her crying in his ear). This simple act turned into Dave going to get his camera and us all playing together as a family. We not only played peek-a-boo, but we also watched her track the butterfly on the blanket we were using and giggle when I made the butterfly fly around her. Unfortunately, I believe that had something like this happened earlier this school year then I would have been staring at the clock thinking about how much I still needed to accomplish at 9:50 pm, not completely mesmerized by how much fun my daughter was having with her parents.


I truly believe that a nine month sabbatical is truly what the doctor ordered.

Visit to Santa

I have the distinct memory of Sharon telling me that Carly wouldn't visit Santa with all the sick little boys and girls out there. Well, Carly arrived and as soon as the Santa set up shop in Birkdale, all I heard was we "HAVE" to get Carly to see Santa for her first Christmas.

So we went...



With the rest of the photos here

Girls' Night Out

Carly got all dressed up and participated in her first "Girls' Night Out" yesterday. She and I went off to our first cookie exchange (where we were rebels and took fudge instead of cookies). I visited with old friends and met some new, while Carly showed off her good behavior with all of the new friends she met. Unfortunately, when dinner was served Carly got hungry too. (The lasagna must have smelled yummy to her too!) I had taken a bottle with us in hopes to be able to stay through one feeding; however, Carly was too tired after showing off her developing neck muscles to be interested in a bottle. She doesn't get bottles regularly, just about 1 every other day. And a result doesn't like using them when she is tired. So home we came, leaving our fudge and empty tin for one of Dave's co-workers and the party's hostess to deliver to him at work today.

All Dressed up with Daddy!