I am SO in love with this baby girl... for the rest of my life, "the girls" will include this perfect baby and myself... and maybe someday a perfect little sister. :-D
Monday, June 23, 2014
Sunday, June 22, 2014
Oh My...
Oh My... life is different these days.
Hubby and I are preparing to go out of town for a few weeks, and the amount of STUFF we have to bring has nearly quadrupled since having Tracey Ann.
I have an entire suitcase (a small one, but still...) filled with her outfits. I don't expect that she will NEED that many outfits... but many of them she is likely to have outgrown by the time we get home... so if we don't bring them with us, she won't wear them during this brief window when she can.
Add the clothes to the bouncy seat, the door-frame jumper, the pack-n-play, the diapers, the cloth diapers, the stroller, the jogger, the video monitor, the toys, the car seat, the floor mat, the hats, the headbands, the night light, the breast pump, the high chair... and more. I'll have to check my list to find out what I'm forgetting.
Here it goes... road tripping with a baby -- not a newborn... we've done that... but now she's a baby. An active, chattery, loves-to-moves, will-not-want-to-be-in-her-car-seat-all-day baby.
Lord, please help us, protect us, be with us as we travel, and give us -- all of us, especially Tracey Ann, peace.
Hubby and I are preparing to go out of town for a few weeks, and the amount of STUFF we have to bring has nearly quadrupled since having Tracey Ann.
I have an entire suitcase (a small one, but still...) filled with her outfits. I don't expect that she will NEED that many outfits... but many of them she is likely to have outgrown by the time we get home... so if we don't bring them with us, she won't wear them during this brief window when she can.
Add the clothes to the bouncy seat, the door-frame jumper, the pack-n-play, the diapers, the cloth diapers, the stroller, the jogger, the video monitor, the toys, the car seat, the floor mat, the hats, the headbands, the night light, the breast pump, the high chair... and more. I'll have to check my list to find out what I'm forgetting.
Here it goes... road tripping with a baby -- not a newborn... we've done that... but now she's a baby. An active, chattery, loves-to-moves, will-not-want-to-be-in-her-car-seat-all-day baby.
Lord, please help us, protect us, be with us as we travel, and give us -- all of us, especially Tracey Ann, peace.
Saturday, June 21, 2014
The Outfits - 1
Oh, the outfits. I LOVE Tracey Ann's outfits.
When she was a newborn, she wore sleepers all the time. Some days she would wear the same sleeper all day, and all night.
Now, I get SO excited to get her dressed in the morning. Then, sometimes I end up hoping there is a reason to change her clothes mid-way through the day. Then, I put her in a sleeper for bedtime. I LOVE her outfits, and I have to work hard to keep track of which ones she currently fits in, and which ones she is about to grow out of, and which one she will be growing into next.
I blink and she has grown out of adorable outfits, so I have to make sure she wears them as much as possible before she grows out of them.
Here are some of my favorite outfits that she fits in at the moment:
I love this little daisy romper. The picture was taken in May, but it still fits... just without the undershirt.
The first outfit that Daddy bought for her... and its purple and green -- my favorite color combination.
Grandma makes me SMILE -- well, both grandmas make her smile.
She has already outgrown this adorable sleeper... her little legs are too long.
Shirt and jeans, hand-me-downs from an older girl at our church.
Colorado "Grown Locally" onesie
I LOVE this purple romper from Michigan family
Another picture of this adorable outfit
Another cute sleeper
A beautiful dress made by Great Aunt Mary from Great Uncle Dan and Great Aunt Mary
... and I couldn't choose which picture was the cutest in this outfit... Hi Great Uncle Dan!
... so I'm posting a few of them...Tracey Ann loved to get her fingers stuck in the loose weave of the dress and then play with the fabric.
... and sometimes taking pictures means the baby falls over in the process...
Stop growing, Tracey Ann!!!! Your outfits are too cute... but we want you to be a healthy baby, so keep growing if you must... I'll just keep changing your outfit multiple times a day. :-D
When she was a newborn, she wore sleepers all the time. Some days she would wear the same sleeper all day, and all night.
Now, I get SO excited to get her dressed in the morning. Then, sometimes I end up hoping there is a reason to change her clothes mid-way through the day. Then, I put her in a sleeper for bedtime. I LOVE her outfits, and I have to work hard to keep track of which ones she currently fits in, and which ones she is about to grow out of, and which one she will be growing into next.
I blink and she has grown out of adorable outfits, so I have to make sure she wears them as much as possible before she grows out of them.
Here are some of my favorite outfits that she fits in at the moment:
I love this little daisy romper. The picture was taken in May, but it still fits... just without the undershirt.
The first outfit that Daddy bought for her... and its purple and green -- my favorite color combination.
Grandma makes me SMILE -- well, both grandmas make her smile.
She has already outgrown this adorable sleeper... her little legs are too long.
Shirt and jeans, hand-me-downs from an older girl at our church.
Colorado "Grown Locally" onesie
I LOVE this purple romper from Michigan family
Another picture of this adorable outfit
Another cute sleeper
A beautiful dress made by Great Aunt Mary from Great Uncle Dan and Great Aunt Mary
... and I couldn't choose which picture was the cutest in this outfit... Hi Great Uncle Dan!
... so I'm posting a few of them...Tracey Ann loved to get her fingers stuck in the loose weave of the dress and then play with the fabric.
... and sometimes taking pictures means the baby falls over in the process...
Stop growing, Tracey Ann!!!! Your outfits are too cute... but we want you to be a healthy baby, so keep growing if you must... I'll just keep changing your outfit multiple times a day. :-D
Friday, June 20, 2014
Thursday, June 19, 2014
Tracey Ann - Post Delivery
In the hours immediately following Tracey Ann's birth, there is so much I want to remember.
When my parents were FINALLY invited in (it took some time for my body to be repaired), they knew they had a healthy grandchild, but they didn't know if it was a boy or a girl yet. Although they had been at the hospital for hours -- since around 4:00pm, they had not seen me at all since I left the house that morning.
Chris and I had made the decision very early on, that, as much as we love our parents, they would not be invited in the room during labor and delivery. They were welcomed to be at the hospital, but the intensity of labor and delivery was reserved to just the two of us -- and the hospital staff. Also, we knew that I was hoping and planning to give birth naturally, and that would be hard for my parents to see -- the amount of pain I was in, and I only wanted people around me telling me how well I was doing, and telling me I was doing great... not telling me that I was in too much pain, and to give up. Were were very happy with our decision to reserve labor and delivery for just the two of us.
When my parents came into the room, I was holding Tracey Ann, and Chris called his parents on facetime. They both heard the news at the same time...
I said that I wanted to introduce them to their new granddaughter, Tracey Ann Miller.
The next hour was a blur... everyone asking questions about how everything went and what we knew about Tracey Ann thus far. The truth is, we hardly knew anything. She hadn't even been weighed yet. Our birth plan asked that she come right onto my chest after birth and be given the opportunity to nurse indefinitely.
They probably weighed and measured her about 45 minutes after she was born. That was also when they took her little footprints, and when Hubby and my parents held her for the first time.
In addition to nursing, measurements, and holding our new baby, the next hour included calling Chris' siblings, facetime with my cousin, calling my childhood best friend, and calling my honorary aunt and uncle. Chris and I had drafted an email that he would send out to our close friends and family the next day -- before the news went on facebook, but there were a very few special people that we called that first night she was born.
Calling Chris' siblings was a given and they had been kept informed through the grapevine that day as we went to the hospital, and when I started pushing. My cousin had kept in touch with my parents that day and she couldn't wait to hear the news.
The other two calls that we made, were not planned, and surprised me that, in those first hours of Tracey Ann's life, that these were the people we called. Of all of my friends throughout the years, I had to call my childhood best friend, Abbie. Abbie and I talk once or twice a year, and we see each other every few years, and we always pick up exactly where we left off. We know each other so well as adults because we understand where each other came from. She lives in New York, and it was around 9:00 MST when I called. Upon hearing our exciting news, the first thing she said was, "Oh my gosh, Brooke Sanden gave her daughter a middle name?!?!" Only my dear friend, Abbie Rockwood would know me so well to say this. She remembers the years and years I hated that I didn't have a middle name... and then the decision in high school when I thought it was kind of cool, and maybe I'd not give my daughter a middle name, too.
I also called my honorary aunt and uncle, Uncle Bill and Aunt Ginger. These are the first people my parents called when I was born. Of course, I was born a little after midnight, so my parents woke up Aunt Ginger and Uncle Bill around 2:00am. Apparently I woke them up with this call too, but it was more like 11:00pm... they said they had just turned out the lights.
These were such a special few hours right after Tracey Ann was born. So much joy, so much excitement. Sweet Tracey Ann just kept nursing, and looking around at this beautiful new world she had entered. She was so alert even from birth.
My parents left the hospital around 9:30pm... but the night's excitement was far from over.
When my parents were FINALLY invited in (it took some time for my body to be repaired), they knew they had a healthy grandchild, but they didn't know if it was a boy or a girl yet. Although they had been at the hospital for hours -- since around 4:00pm, they had not seen me at all since I left the house that morning.
Chris and I had made the decision very early on, that, as much as we love our parents, they would not be invited in the room during labor and delivery. They were welcomed to be at the hospital, but the intensity of labor and delivery was reserved to just the two of us -- and the hospital staff. Also, we knew that I was hoping and planning to give birth naturally, and that would be hard for my parents to see -- the amount of pain I was in, and I only wanted people around me telling me how well I was doing, and telling me I was doing great... not telling me that I was in too much pain, and to give up. Were were very happy with our decision to reserve labor and delivery for just the two of us.
When my parents came into the room, I was holding Tracey Ann, and Chris called his parents on facetime. They both heard the news at the same time...
I said that I wanted to introduce them to their new granddaughter, Tracey Ann Miller.
The next hour was a blur... everyone asking questions about how everything went and what we knew about Tracey Ann thus far. The truth is, we hardly knew anything. She hadn't even been weighed yet. Our birth plan asked that she come right onto my chest after birth and be given the opportunity to nurse indefinitely.
They probably weighed and measured her about 45 minutes after she was born. That was also when they took her little footprints, and when Hubby and my parents held her for the first time.
In addition to nursing, measurements, and holding our new baby, the next hour included calling Chris' siblings, facetime with my cousin, calling my childhood best friend, and calling my honorary aunt and uncle. Chris and I had drafted an email that he would send out to our close friends and family the next day -- before the news went on facebook, but there were a very few special people that we called that first night she was born.
Calling Chris' siblings was a given and they had been kept informed through the grapevine that day as we went to the hospital, and when I started pushing. My cousin had kept in touch with my parents that day and she couldn't wait to hear the news.
The other two calls that we made, were not planned, and surprised me that, in those first hours of Tracey Ann's life, that these were the people we called. Of all of my friends throughout the years, I had to call my childhood best friend, Abbie. Abbie and I talk once or twice a year, and we see each other every few years, and we always pick up exactly where we left off. We know each other so well as adults because we understand where each other came from. She lives in New York, and it was around 9:00 MST when I called. Upon hearing our exciting news, the first thing she said was, "Oh my gosh, Brooke Sanden gave her daughter a middle name?!?!" Only my dear friend, Abbie Rockwood would know me so well to say this. She remembers the years and years I hated that I didn't have a middle name... and then the decision in high school when I thought it was kind of cool, and maybe I'd not give my daughter a middle name, too.
I also called my honorary aunt and uncle, Uncle Bill and Aunt Ginger. These are the first people my parents called when I was born. Of course, I was born a little after midnight, so my parents woke up Aunt Ginger and Uncle Bill around 2:00am. Apparently I woke them up with this call too, but it was more like 11:00pm... they said they had just turned out the lights.
These were such a special few hours right after Tracey Ann was born. So much joy, so much excitement. Sweet Tracey Ann just kept nursing, and looking around at this beautiful new world she had entered. She was so alert even from birth.
My parents left the hospital around 9:30pm... but the night's excitement was far from over.
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Where We Stand -- Perfect
This is a "where we stand"/"for what its worth" post...
I think our baby girl is absolutely perfect. Yes, Hubby and I will be working on molding her character and shaping her behaviors for the rest of our lives, but Tracey Ann is absolutely perfect.
I look at this beautiful baby, and her little cheeks are so kissable, her little features are so perfect for her body... everything is so tiny, and everything grows together.
Her ears, her nose, her little lips, her toes, her fingernails, her wispy little hair... she is perfectly and beautiful made by the Lord, and there is nothing I would ever change about her.
That is why, we will not be piercing her ears or painting her nails as a baby. I don't want to do anything to her little body. It is absolutely perfect the way it is.
I have no doubt that she, in time, will express a desire to paint her finger- and toenails, and get her ears pierced, and we will address to those options at the time... but that will be when SHE inquires about each.
I am all about dressing up my baby girl -- I love putting her in frilly dresses, silky bloomers, and flowerly headbands... I have no problem imposing my ideas of little girl fashion on my baby girl while she is this small, before she can object. But those are clothes and outfits.
As her Mama, I do not need to doll up her body with womanly fashion statements of adulthood -- or at the very least, preschool.
Nail polish will come, when she requests it. For crying out loud, I have a hard enough time trimming her little nails, I have no desire to try to paint them -- plus, her tiny little nails are perfect. No need for paint.
Ear piercing will come, when she requests it, or the age of ten... whichever is last. I had my ears pierced at the age of ten, and it felt like a right of passage... and there were plenty of years of stick-on, and clip-on earrings in the years before then. Her tiny little ears are perfect, and I will not be doing anything to them.
The great thing is that I'm Tracey Ann's Mama, and I get to make this call about how and when nail polish and earrings come onto her body. Other Moms get to make their own decision about their baby girls.
I think our baby girl is absolutely perfect. Yes, Hubby and I will be working on molding her character and shaping her behaviors for the rest of our lives, but Tracey Ann is absolutely perfect.
I look at this beautiful baby, and her little cheeks are so kissable, her little features are so perfect for her body... everything is so tiny, and everything grows together.
Her ears, her nose, her little lips, her toes, her fingernails, her wispy little hair... she is perfectly and beautiful made by the Lord, and there is nothing I would ever change about her.
That is why, we will not be piercing her ears or painting her nails as a baby. I don't want to do anything to her little body. It is absolutely perfect the way it is.
I have no doubt that she, in time, will express a desire to paint her finger- and toenails, and get her ears pierced, and we will address to those options at the time... but that will be when SHE inquires about each.
I am all about dressing up my baby girl -- I love putting her in frilly dresses, silky bloomers, and flowerly headbands... I have no problem imposing my ideas of little girl fashion on my baby girl while she is this small, before she can object. But those are clothes and outfits.
As her Mama, I do not need to doll up her body with womanly fashion statements of adulthood -- or at the very least, preschool.
Nail polish will come, when she requests it. For crying out loud, I have a hard enough time trimming her little nails, I have no desire to try to paint them -- plus, her tiny little nails are perfect. No need for paint.
Ear piercing will come, when she requests it, or the age of ten... whichever is last. I had my ears pierced at the age of ten, and it felt like a right of passage... and there were plenty of years of stick-on, and clip-on earrings in the years before then. Her tiny little ears are perfect, and I will not be doing anything to them.
The great thing is that I'm Tracey Ann's Mama, and I get to make this call about how and when nail polish and earrings come onto her body. Other Moms get to make their own decision about their baby girls.
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Treasuring the Present: This One Week
Today, I am treasuring the present -- this ONE week of the summer.
The past two weeks both Chris and I have been working. We have been juggling which one of us is with Tracey Ann 12 hours a day, and we've pretty much been passing ships.
Starting next week, Hubby and I will be traveling, visiting family for nearly five weeks.
When we return in August, both Hubby and I will be working again and trying to figure out baby-sitting arrangements.
This is the ONE WEEK of the summer when I am HOME ALL DAY -- my dream come true. Staying home, focusing on Tracey Ann, taking care of our home.
... Here is one of my new favorite pictures of Tracey Ann and me...
I don't want to focus on all the chores I need to do this week to prepare for us to leave town, and prepare the house for a house-sitter... I just want to treasure the present.
This is the week when I can catch up on laundry, stock our freezer, spend quality, focused time with Tracey Ann, search online for some nursery ideas, try to organize my desk for the first time since Tracey Ann was born, mail off some presents, get out for some jogs, support Hubby in his new administrative jobs, and try to establish a daily routine with Tracey Ann.
This week is my Holy Grail!
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