A Christmas Weekend Update

What a great Christmas weekend, it seems so long since we left California, yet time has gone so fast here. The most memorable moments has been:
Sleep records
- Of course more sleep is the most important thing we can wish for. A true gift. If you haven't had a baby yourself, you fortunately do not know the significance of this. Lucia broke records sleeping continuously for 8 hours the first night and then 11 hours the following night. We can only guess why this could happen since she was only sleeping 4 hours at most at home:
Here we are sleeping in the basement there's less sounds, less light and much colder than normal. Then two nights ago she woke up again after 4 hours. So whats going on?
My theory now is that she needs more food at night if she is going to sleep through the night, especially since she is only having formula, but there is probably more to it than that.

The bonfire
This tradition requred some more involved work than previous years. Due to some unfortunate winds this fall, one of the big trees had fallen over and been cut to pieces by Dick. Using his lawn mower and trailer we hauled the wood up to the bonfire. This was quite fun. The picture shows my brother racing the little mower around.

The next door neighbors had a party at the same time as we had the bonfire. They live in this house:They had invited over 60 people, and then all of a sudden the fireworks going off in much the same fasion as their house is decorated - over the top:
Washington DC
A day trip to DC was planned and we made the following stops:
The White House, The Washington Monument, The Mall, The Smithsonian Air & Space Museum, and Capitol Hill. Thats a long walk but we hardly felt tired or hungry until the very end as there was so much to see. A great day and I took a great deal of pictures too.

Longwood Gardens
The last day of the year was spent at Longwood Gardens. We nearly froze to death walking from the parking lot to the greenhouse, but had a wonderful time once we got inside.
Longwood Gardens is decent mix of victorian-era estate/greenhouse/Christmas decorations/ 500.ooo lights, and this year gangrene-inducing frost attack. Highly memorable!

And that's it for 2008.

Welcome Bestemor og Bestefar

Pete's parents and brother arrived and we immediately handed over the baby. See the suitcases in the background? We didn't even let them get in the door!

Merry Christmas!

Have a wonderful wonderful holiday!

Curious. Those things keep moving!

Tricky Parenting

So we've learned that Lucia is very very smart, and if she suspects you're trying to do something she is not a fan of, she will protest at the merest hint. Take breastfeeding for example: even putting her on her side to get into a position to even try makes her start crying. Until yesterday, when we just kept doing it over and over and over again to desensitize her. (We're making great progress in that department!).

Or if you put her in a cradling position and try to get her to go to sleep, forget it! She's onto you, man. She wakes right up and cranes her neck to see if she missed anything. However, you could bounce her in a near catatonic state and she'll fall asleep sitting up. She did it the other night while out to eat; I had to eat my dinner left handed as I bounced her. Tonight she fell asleep THREE times and I put her down in the swing so she could get to sleep, and I could get some chores done. Nope. Not having it. As soon as she got in the swing, she was awake and ready to go. Eventually I propped her up on the couch, nearly sitting up, so she could see me and watch me eat dinner (Pete went to the city tonight to see friends). What does she do? Falls right asleep.

Methinks we're going to have to use these kinds of tricks alot when raising Lucia. She's crafty.

Santa Lucia

We went to San Francisco yesterday for the Young Scandinavians Club Santa Lucia celebration. Apparently it is the official kickoff of the Scandinavian Holiday season. I like the countries that don't kick them off the day after Halloween.

Anyway, it took us 90 minutes to get up to the city; 50 minutes of driving and oh, 40 minutes of delays in the form of lack of cash, lack of gas (for the car) and a stop at Day One for a nursing cover so I could pump breastmilk in the car in privacy.

So we finally got there. Pete dropped us off at the door thankfully, then had to park a million miles away and walk in the rain. Ughhh. Little Miss was in her Santa suit. I actually wore makeup and EARRINGS (contain your shock!) and new shoes (which turned out to be a mistake -- OW). We visited with friends and many many babies. It was great to see everyone, and it's universally agreed that Lucia is adorable. Even when she was fussy.

For the celebration, one woman is designated as the Lucia and she wears a crown of candles on her head. All of the women and girls (and men) in the procession wear white robes with rope belts, kinda like in church. They process down the center aisle of the hall or church, singing the Santa Lucia song, and they come up on stage and sing holiday songs. The little kids are the CUTEST. There was glogg yesterday, which is like mulled wine, but we didn't have any.

Pictures to come.

PS She must have been super tired from yesterday cause she's been in her swing since 6 a.m.!

I Got It From Here, Ma

No thanks, I don't need help with my bottle.

Such a Cute Outfit, for a Limited Time

Lucia looked extremely cute yesterday. I took her with me to my breastfeeding support group and people raved over the hat. I informed them that Nina, my mother in law, was available for hire. Hope that's ok Nina! You and Mormor should start a little business. :)

Anyway. Here's how she looked when I took her to the group.



Then I got home and put her in the swing and heard squirt, squirt SQUIIIIRRRRRRRRRRTTTTT. I was pumping milk, so I asked Pete to check her diaper. Little did I know he'd find this:



This must be her lucky outfit, cause I swear everytime she wears this she poops with such ferocity and vigor. It's amazing it hasn't disintegrated from the amount of stain remover we've had to use on it. She's laying in the bathtub in this picture -- that's how bad it was -- proceed directly to the tub. Do not pass go. Just directly into the tub.

Hands Found

Warning: This video is entirely too long and not very exciting, unless you're a grandparent. :)

Lucia found her hands and feet this week, which is pretty funny to watch. She can't get her hands in her mouth enough -- even when we're trying to feed her a bottle. We sat her in the crib the other day for the photo shoot below and she stared at her feet and watched them kick for like, 20 minutes. It was as if she was thinking, wow, look at those things go!

Well Hi There!

My Favorite Outfit

We bought this outfit for her on April 22, the day we found out she was a girl. It's my favorite and I'll be sad when she outgrows it (likely in the next few weeks).

Chubby Cheeks and Blurry Picture...

Our Brave Little Soldier

Lucia received two vaccinations today -- one shot and one in vanilla-flavored liquid. I was a nervous, nervous wreck before the appointment, partly because we had chosen to delay some vaccines a few weeks so she didn't get four at a time, and I anticipated the doctor giving us a hard time. But I was also super nervous because everything I've ever heard was that the babies have a MAJOR meltdown when they get these shots and it's hard for the mom to watch.

So we told Dr. HK about our delayed vaccine schedule and she said absolutely no problem. Phew. Then we went to get the two for today and Lucia didn't even flinch when the needle went in. I held her and she didn't cry at all. It didn't seem to phase her at all. How about that? Our brave little girl.

In other pediatric news, Lucia weighs 10 lbs, 10 oz, or 4.8 kg. She's 22 inches long or 55 cm. She's growing like a little weed!! We weighed her the other day and she was 11 lbs, but she must have had a wet diaper or heavy clothes on.

The great news from the doc is that I can start phasing dairy, coffee in moderate amounts and CHOCOLATE back into my diet. Hallelujah!!! Hooray!!