Jylare Ann Photography

Months and months ago I won a package from Just Spotted. If you are in Orange
County (and especially if you have kids) you should check out their blog.



This particular giveaway was a thrill to win as it included a photoshoot with Jylare Ann Photography- and you all know how I love a good photo session.


Picture taken by B



I knew then that I would have to use it for newborn pictures of the Peanut.



Love this shot and I would never, ever would have thought to take it.



Jylare is as cute as can be and came out to our apartment to photograph the baby in his nursery.


We were not expecting to be in any pictures but I'm glad she got some of us. Those first few weeks just fly by. I can hardly believe it's been a month.



Is there anything more precious than a daddy with his baby?



Peanut was 10 days old here and seems to have grown sooo much since then.



So. Precious. (If I do say so myself)



Oh how I love this little boy.





My little fall elf.



Thank you Jylare Ann! It was a pleasure working with you!

Food Coma

The food coma we had over the weekend is just the beginning of a whole month of food comas ahead.

My baking for the Christmas party in 2 weeks in almost done. I have loads of cookies frozen and a short list of things that need to be made at the last minute.



My mom has reminded me that as full as my hands are this year, next year will be even more... chaotic.



I've been eating pecan pie directly out of the tin.

FYI: Both of the above pies are Pioneer Woman's recipe. I used a mixer to beat the filling for the one on the left. Obviously the filling needs to be hand mixed otherwise you incorporate too much air.


Gingerbread loves the Peanut

With the amount of pie I've had Peanut is probably getting pecan, pumpkin and butter flavored breast milk.



I tried a new recipe that I'll be sharing with you. Did you notice the not-so-secret ingredient?

That's right, bacon. Caramel Pumpkin Bars with bacon!

We have so much to be thankful for.

This week has just flown by in a flurry of activities.

We watched Peanut for possibly hours hoping to catch glimpses of this sweet smile.



Someone made the Peanut pose next to his stuffed animals.



In return the Peanut made sure to pee on both my parents as well as B and I.

Some of us more than others.



There were some naps to be taken and some cuddles to be had.



Oh and story time... we love story time.

I hope you had a fantastic Thanksgiving with lots and lots to be thankful for!

Porn For New Moms

This is the kind of quality reading I've been doing! I received this book from the sweetest lady at one of my showers. I have to admit that when I saw the title I did a double take and looked at her sideways. I would never have expected her to pick up a book with porn in the title. I've known her for years as I went to grade school with her son. We worked together for years when I was a secretary at the parish center and she was the pastor's secretary.

The fact that I got this book from the sweet church lady makes it even better.



"Let's not have sex tonight. Let me just rub your feet while you tell me about the baby's day."



This book sits on my coffee table and everyone who picks it up laughs out loud. It's the perfect gift for a shower or visit to a new mom.



Sweatpants are the only pants that fit. I find that although the pounds are falling off my body it a crazy mushy mass and nothing fits.

I appreciate a man who knows the beauty of yoga pants.



I don't know which part of this one makes me laugh harder.... the thought of B getting rid of his bikes to make room for a jogging stroller or the thought of me jogging, let alone jogging with a stroller!



There was a time when I regularly got 8 hours of sleep. It's really too bad you can't store up that energy and save it for later.



This one is just scary because we really do discuss things like poop consistency.



This is some porn I can support and spread without hesitation.

This is the good stuff.

What day is it?

It seems I never really know what day it is anymore. That's because I'm doing important things like watching my baby sleep and checking to make sure he is still breathing. I'm just kidding, this kid makes constant noise while he sleeps.

When he stops making noise... then I check him. That only happens like once a night. Heh.



This photo makes me laugh because it really shows the difference between moms and dads. When it's cold I get up and grab a baby size blanket to wrap him in.

B takes the full size blanket that was on the back of the couch and wraps it around Peanut several times turning him into a sort of giant football. Love it.



Today I went to my parent's house, handed off the baby and got the best 2 hours of sleep ever. I think it's the first time I've slept that deeply since he was born.

When I got home I turned on the TV and saw Ree doing a throwdown with Bobby Flay! I haven't been on her blog in sooo long I didn't even know she did that episode. I'm always amazed at how things turned out for Ree and what a little blogging led to.

She clearly didn't have award-winning posts like these :) Tomorrow we meet up with some friends for brunch in LA and drop the baby off for a special date at Harry Potter.

What are you up to this weekend?

Counting Fingers

I sat and held my baby for hours yesterday. Hours and hours. I closed my eyes and soaked in his warmth as he snuggled against my chest. I breathed him in and smelled that baby smell. I rubbed my cheek against his soft baby hair. I kissed him, I nuzzled him, I squeezed him.

I watched him sleep and laughed at all the funny faces and noises he makes.

I marveled.



I counted all his fingers and kissed them one by one.



Of all the things I've done in my life, nothing has come close.

This little miracle is my greatest accomplishment.

What do you get when you mix Lemons with Peanuts?

You get a perfectly wonderful visit with a great friend you'd never really met before!

Many of you are already familiar with Sasha and so you know why I jumped at the chance to meet her. When she told me she was coming to town I promised that I would come see her. I wasn't sure if I would be able to shower... or waddle and sit by then but I was determined to meet her if only for a short amount of time.



Let me tell you, Sasha is a ball of energy. Oh my goodness, you have no idea. I mean, I suspected as much but that woman is pure happiness and energy, stuffed into a bottle and shaken vigorously. She is contagious.

She even gave me energy and I had a 10 day old baby. Sasha, I'm sorry if I seemed a bit dazed :)

Don't you just want to squeeze her?

Her family is amazing. Polite and as sweet as can be. You would never know that those kids had been doing an entire weekend of Disney site-seeing because in my experience that usually leads to total meltdowns. Her kids were adorable and so sweetly showed me some of the things they got during their stay.



Adrain and Sasha are just an adorable couple and looked just wonderful with a baby between them .

I would've taken a picture of Adrain holding Peanut but Sasha only gave Peanut up for about 30 seconds and I couldn't whip out my camera that fast!

It was so incredibly lovely to meet LMM and such a fun visit! We'll be friends forever, I just know it.

~~~
P.S. If you'd like to come hold Peanut, you just need to make your way to the Orange County/Los Angeles Area! :P

So very tired

Although I'm not looking at the camera, my eyes accurately describe what it feels like during that first week with a newborn.

During the first 4 days I got approximately 7 hours of sleep. The second night in the hospital and first night at home I didn't sleep at all. At all. In fact, most of one of those nights I was so worried sick that thinking about it makes me cringe even now. There was crying and that belly filling anxiety. All was fixed in the end but the mixture of anxiety, excitement, lack of sleep and raging hormones are an interesting, if not dangerous, mix in that first week.



We were all tired. You run the risk of falling asleep whenever you are still for more than 30 seconds.

I fell asleep while using a breast pump. The suction sound woke me up as my hand started to drop. It's quite startling waking up to your breast being tugged by a machine making an awful noise.



It's hard to get used to that off and on sleep pattern that is required when you have a child. Somehow we've seemed to make it thru to week 3 and have maintained some semblance of sanity.

I can still feel these hormones raging as the emotions flit by throughout the day with no rhyme or reason. I'm not sure if I'm getting used to less sleep or I'm getting a higher quality hour but things seem to be getting easier.

I'm trying to learn to sleep when Peanut sleeps. In those first days him sleeping meant I had the chance to go to the bathroom (which seemed to be a process in itself), waking at every sound or move he made and doing something really exciting like shower. Now it means washing the bottles and nipples and pumping and staring at the ceiling wondering why I'm not asleep.

I'm so glad B & I took the time to really appreciate those late afternoon naps and lazy mornings together. It seems like such a very long time ago.

We're still here...

the Peanut, B & I apologize for our lapse in posting. You'll have to excuse the little Peanut as he hasn't quite grasped the importance of mommy's need to blog.

Children can be so funny about these types of things. They seem to think that eating, pooping and being held in general are so much more important than knowing what's new in the blogosphere.



This week we've had B's parents in from Sacramento, as well as his niece and nephew. The Peanut had lots and lots of attention and loved every minute of it, I'm sure.

This child is awake more than I expected... aren't newborns supposed to sleep a lot? He typically wakes up in the morning and doesn't go back to sleep until the afternoon. He hates his bassinet and wants to be held at night so things are getting interesting around here.



We have lots to talk to you about but this post has taken me an extraordinary amount of time as I haven't mastered one-handed typing.

We'll be back soon!

Look who has the Peanut!

I'll have a post up later but here is a little preview for you...



My mom, Peanut & I had a little outing today and met a very special family. I'd been looking forward to this for so long!

I'm too tired to write now but I will say this... yes, they are all as wonderful as you would expect!

Post-baby belly

Alternative Titles:

~Mushy McMusherson

~Living like Buddha: Channeling His Physical Being

~Wait, when does the second baby come out?

~Dude, is that your uterus or are you just happy to see me?



May I just say that the lovely picture above shows my post-baby belly looking about half the size it did the day after Peanut's birth. I really wish I would have taken a day-after picture but I was too tired to think.

I love this picture because you can tell just by my posture how comfortable I am.

Why am I posting this? Well, you just don't see it very often. I never expected to lose my belly right after the baby but I certainly didn't expect a stomach twice this size. It even felt like I was still pregnant because the uterus was still fairly solid/firm and I was having regular contractions.

On Wednesday I bought one of those post-partum support bands. I pulled it out of the package and thought to myself that it was too big, despite the 2 rows of velcro.

I couldn't get it on.

Fortunately, we're past all that and I can get it securely on with the first velcro row. I sort of squish it and pack it into the wrap.

We won't even get into what the skin looks like. Stretch marks are weird enough when they are stretched out and seriously odd when they aren't.



Of course it's all worth while when you end up with a Peanut of your very own.

My baby belly has continued to deflate daily. Unfortunately, what is left is the oddest mass of skin and certain softness I cannot fully explain. Jello is just too solid to be accurate... I need help with the description. Whatever it is, it hangs over my pants and I can't stop squishing it with my fingers as I sit. Fascinating. Weird, kinda gross, definitely unattractive and fascinating.

Who can describe what a postpartum belly feels like?

A Father & His Son

I looked over and caught this quiet moment in the hustle of the delivery room.



I saw B reach down and take the hand of his little boy.



The Peanut grew quiet and so did B.



I held my breath as I snapped the picture.