Emskyrooney

And some Christmas photos too!... Little Paul, Big Paul, Socks, Gabby and I had a fantastic first Christmas together! We started on Christmas Eve with appetizers at Paul's parents' house... Where Little Paul was given some Yankees gear: Grandpa Paul and Grammy came to our house for Christmas Day where Santa had left one of his reindeer under the tree: Where he was licked by a dachshund: Santa also left a fancy new t.v. for Grandpa... And the dogs were obsessed with the wrapping paper... On the day after Christmas we had a little downtime in the morning while Little Paul played on his new play mat and Mommy played with her new camera lens... (Daddy really spoiled Mommy with a fancy new lens, a HUGE computer monitor, a beautiful wool coat, and lots of other things!) And then Christmas part two began with the arrival of Nana and Grandpa from Pennsylvania and Uncle Nelson and Uncle Spencer who were meeting Little Paul for the first time... Little Pau...

We're off to my in-laws for Christmas Eve cocktails where we each get to open one present. Of course we've already gotten the best present we could have ever hoped for this year! Tomorrow they'll be here for Christmas Day and then my parents and brothers arrive on Friday.. We like to stretch out the holidays around here! We're wishing you all a very happy holiday season as well!

For the second time in the last 4 days Little Paul slept for almost five hours straight last night!!! It was sooo nice to get more than 2 hours of sleep at one time! Here's hoping he keeps it up! In other news we had a pediatrician appointment yesterday and the little guy gained almost 3 pounds since his last weigh-in at the doctor 4 weeks ago! He's now 8 lbs, 6 oz. He grew 2 inches in length as well. The doctor was surprised at how much he'd grown (and at how big his feet are!) but the way this kid eats I'm not surprised at all! Totally takes after his father when it comes to food- get as much in as quickly as you can and then go back for more!

I'm in the process of getting our holiday cards/birth announcements out... If they go out by mid-January I'll be happy! In the meantime here's a look at an announcement I designed that didn't make the cut!

Looks like we'll definitely be having a white Christmas in these parts! This weekend's storm brought us more than a foot of snow.. It turned to sleety rain this afternoon so we're looking at snow covered with ice to contend with in the morning. Good thing Little Paul and I don't have to go anywhere tomorrow although unfortunately Big Paul has to go to work... Here's the view from our back door as of yesterday afternoon (picture another 6 inches on top of this): And the view out the front: The snow kept Paul pretty busy (and sore!) shoveling all weekend. Fortunately our neighbor, Bob (whose last name is Dylan and thought that WE had a familiar sounding name when we first met him!) came over with his snow blower and did quite a large part of the driveway. Unfortunately he did it at 10 a.m. on Saturday and we got another 8 inches or so of snow after that. I tried to help with the shoveling but have to say that after 9 months of doing nothing very physically exerting ...

And flipping over! Today started out like every other day... Little Paul was awake as usual for a few hours this morning.  He hung out in his bouncy seat while I ate breakfast and then we played on his play mat for a little while.  Around noon however the flipping out began.  Little Paul was hungry so I nursed him on the couch for about an hour.  This was followed by an hour of the following: LP sits in bouncy seat for 5 minutes LP starts screaming LP poops I change diaper LP spits up in my face LP poops I change diaper More spit up Dog barks Dog goes outside Dog comes inside LP is hungry again Nurse him in the office so I can read blogs and feed him at the same time Dog comes in room and starts dragging her rear across the carpet I yell.  Realize that she has pooped too and apparently forgot to wipe LP sits in swing I clean carpet I clean both couches where dog has sat LP cries I consider using baby wipes on the ...

On Wednesday my friend over at the Oh Henry Thomas ! blog posted a photo of her husband and baby in bed asleep, both with their arms up over their heads... Thursday night I came downstairs after a scintillating session with the breastpump (those poor dairy cows- I feel their pain...) and discovered this: It must be a way for daddys bond with their sons... Too cute.  

I finished up the holiday decorating today (although in our house things are never really FINISHED, I'm always moving things around and re-thinking what I've already done.. ) For now though, I'm happy with the way things turned out even though I didn't have the energy to set up my Dicken's Village buildings this year... Here are the highlights: The fireplace. There are twinkly lights in the garland. And yes, I was watching some sort of baby show on TLC. I enjoy comparing my labor and delivery with that of complete strangers... The tree- those larger lights are pinecone shaped lights that I LOVE.... The tree at night... The buffet in our dining room. The dining room window... And the best gift Santa could bring.... Even when he's seriously annoyed....

3:00 a.m.- 4:00 a.m. Little Paul wakes up. I feed him a bottle (neither one of us has the patience for breastfeeding in the middle of the night), change a diaper and try to get both of us back to sleep.... 5:00 a.m. Daddy Paul wakes up for work, showers, takes Socks out while lazy dog Gabby stays in bed. Kisses us goodbye and leaves house by 5:30 a.m. 6:00 a.m. Little Paul wakes up. Breastfeeds in bed. Change diaper and fall asleep holding baby in bed. 8:00 a.m.- 10:30 a.m. More feeding. Another diaper change. I hop in the shower, get dressed, change another diaper, dress the baby, try to get baby to sleep some more, take the dogs out. Consider making breakfast. 11:00 a.m. Make coffee. 11:05 a.m. Little Paul wakes up and wants to eat NOW. Breastfeed on couch. Put baby in bouncy seat to keep him at an angle to try to avoid spitup. Noon Change baby.  Reheat coffee. Toast bagel. Check emails while eating breakfast at lunchtime. Quick wash some dishes and try t...

Paul R. (Daddy), Paul T. (Baby), the doggies and I have all been spending our time getting used to the addition to our family.  It's been quite an adjustment but things are going well!  Paul went back to work this week so my parents came up for a few days to help out as I'm not allowed to drive, vacuum, go up and down the stairs too much, or lift anything heavier than the baby.  Nana and Grandpa left yesterday morning and so today was my first full day on my own with the little guy.  Things went well- I was peed on and spit up on but that's just par for the course!  I'm hoping that over the next couple of weeks we'll get into some sort of routine- right now I feed him and change him and then zone out pretty much until I do it again...  And I promise to get back to blogging more frequently too!  This morning we did a little photo shoot as our dining room gets pretty good light in the mornings.  I can't believe how much he's chang...