December Nuggets :: Making Merry

Dig does this thing called Hump Day Nuggets: Bits of the season in photos and words.

Although this isn't hump day, I'm going to jump on board.

December seemed to fly by.  Seriously, i don't know where it went.  It came and left in such a fury, that before i knew it i was kissing my boys goodbye and stepping back into the office.  

Last Sunday was hard.  So hard.  I cried rocking my baby to sleep.  I wept tears, as i fed him.  I cried changing his diaper.  I had to tell my husband every last thing to do, even though he knows already.  He just smiled and said, don't worry huni, we'll be fine.  I knew they would, but it felt good to just say it.

Monday came and surprising went well.  A few smiling pictures greeted me throughout the day and kept me going.  

Looking back on December, I'm cracking up at all of these sleeping-on-the-floor shots.  I could start a series with them.

Quick - play dead.

Best buds.

About half way through December is when our sleep patterns really began to take shape and improve.  He would consistently begin to sleep well in the pack & play next to my bed until 1:00-ish (4 hour stretch), then after a feeding, sleep in bed with us the rest of the night.  I never thought I'd co-sleep with my baby, but it turns out that he sleeps so much better snuggled up against mama and, bonus, he smells so good i could just eat him up.  Win-win, i say.

Watching the falling snow.  Little guy loves looking out the window.

Oh, hand knits, stripes & sweet baby cheeks.  You slay me.

too tired to decorate cookies

Our first trip to Vermont.  A rainy December day to pick up sugaring supplies and meet great-grandpa, Poppi.  This typical 2.5 hour drive took about 4 hours, stopping twice each way to feed.  Such fond memories though.  Love my little family.

Liam's uncle Shawn & uncle Matt went to Ireland this summer while i was pregnant and picked him up this sweet shirt.

Friends that turn into family.  Love.

These three.  So much love.

Two Months!

2.5 is so much fun.  More flour please.  

Jason and his friend Jared have been best buds since they were about the age of the babies in their arms.  Liam and little Jacob are about the same age difference apart as Jason & Jared.  Life is so cool.

Uncle love.

Liam's guardians.  :)

First Christmas Eve

Christmas Morning.  Mama's sick as a dog.  True life.

Santa (daddy) brought L a John Deere ATV sit & scoot.  Pretty cute seeing my husband light up bringing it through the door.  No comments were made depicting the age rage :)

Christmas in Vermont.  Mild temperatures.  Mama's cooking.  Late afternoon walk.  Breastfeeding breaks.  Introducing Liam to my childhood.  Sleeping in my room, where i would play house for hours on end.  Sleeping in the room with my very own baby.  Bliss.

This Man, this dog,

This road, this view,

and This boy.  They have my heart.

Reflections.

The end of December began the season of "lizard tongue"  That cute little tongue is out all the time now!

A Quick Outing

Today, we hit up Target and it literally took two tote bags and an hour of planning to get out the door. Since last week, I've been pumping exclusively during the day.  Partly to get ready for my return to work next week and partly because Liam wasn't seeming full after our nursing sessions during the day.  By doing this, my milk supply has gone up (yay!), he is super used to the bottle now and the best part is that he is way more content.  I still nurse him three times in a 24 hour period; at bedtime, his one nighttime wake up and first thing in the morning.  So basically, i wanted to bring my pump on this little outing.  

Holy hell.

Pumping requires a lot of bottle washing and planning.  We had the adapter for the car, so i could plug it in, the pump parts, the empty bottles, the nipples and caps, the pump and one bottle of pumped milk ready to go.  So.much.stuff.

But, i love that i can still give him my breast milk, so all of this is so worth it.

Anyways, we went to the bank first, where the teller decided to take a full hour to open a savings account for Liam.  She thought he was cute.  We thought she was slow and didn't realize we had a newborn, about ready to cry at any given moment.  

I pumped on the road to Target.  We got there, exchanged some diapers and sat down in their cafeteria area to feed Liam.  We ate lunch.  The food sucked, but we laughed at how much a baby alters everything.  In the old days we would have gone out to a nice lunch somewhere, as those two errands would have only taken a few minutes.  Now, it's about convince and time.  This is the phase we're in, and we're enjoying it, as we know it will change as he grows.

Our outing of three stops took 4.5 hours, two diaper changes, and two pumping while driving and trying to be discrete so that every car pulling up beside us at stoplights doesn't see my boobs hanging out, sessions.

Parenting is totally hilarious sometimes.

Good thing our kid is cute.

His first Tree

He said "we'll go next weekend, Huni," as i sat disappointed with my recent cold.  Thanksgiving greeted us with almost 18" of fresh snow, perfect for trekking up to the farm to pick out our tree.  But with a cold that knocked my socks off, along with my little babe, we were in no condition to brave the recent frigid New England temps.

Thankfully, it was a quick cold and left us feeling much better the next weekend.  We finally made it up to the farm around 3:30, as the sun began it's decent.  I felt on top of the world carrying my brand new baby on my chest, finally a family.  Of course, it was still freezing out, so he was a bit shocked from the cold air.  I had him so bundled up in the front pack that all i could see were his little lips, inhaling and exhaling warm breaths.  

We were quick to decide, not wanting to stay outside too long with our month old baby.  After cutting it down, we began to walk back up to the road to hitch a ride on the tractor.  Jumping on the back, Jas told Liam that this was his very first tractor ride, and it wasn't even on daddy's tractor!  

Back home, we cozied up with the wood stove on high.  We brought the tree in, needles covering the living room.  The fresh scent of pine filling our home.  After a long nursing, Liam settled in comfortably on the couch, dozing off as i strung the lights.

And then we danced.  As we always do at night.

He loves looking at the sparkling lights of the tree, during his first christmas season.  I love watching him take in the world around him.  I love listening to my husband talk to him and love him up.

This time, This Christmas, it's everything.