Three Months In

Dearest Baby Bleu,

Yesterday you turned 3 months old! We went to a golf course down the road from our house and took some pictures of you in the dress you will wear this coming Sunday for your baby dedication. It is part of the Mother's Day ceremony at church. It is such a sweet day to think of dedicating you to the Lord, and will certainly be my favorite Mother's Day yet :) You are so beautiful!

Macy Bleu, you truly are one of the sweetest, most smiley babies I have ever seen. I was really worried, when you were first born. You cried every, single time you were awake, which wasn't often, but still...my goodness it wasn't fun! But now? Now, you are all smiles all of the time! You smile at everyone! With Jadon, we had to work for his smiles. With you, all you have to do is show our teeth and you quickly flash your huge, gummy grin...always with your tongue sticking out :) It is the cutest thing! You bring a smile to everyone's face, including strangers.

You're such a content little baby. Mommy went to get a haircut last week, and you were awake the entire 1 1/2 hours we were there, but you didn't cry once. You sat on my lap and smiled at everyone who said hello to you. Of course they all said you were the most beautiful baby! When we went to Books-a-Million afterwards, TWO separate ladies stopped me to say how beautiful you were. I'm sure you would have smiled at them, but you were sweetly sleeping in Mommy's arms, by that time. Which reminds me...you are SOOO easy to put to sleep...well, at least for Mommy ;)

You most certainly are a Mommy's girl, and prefer being in my arms to anyone else's. Poor Daddy does his best to give me a break here and there, but you really just like being held by Mommy. It's funny because you are friendly and smiley with everyone...you just like to look at them from Mommy's arms most of the time. I can't say that I mind, mostly I feel bad for your baby brother who does crave time with me by himself. We're doing our best to accomodate both of your needs ;)

So this month you did some new things: you went to the pool, though you didn't get in...you slept in the shade beside Mommy. You do quite well sitting contently in your car seat. Here you are outside at Gramma's on Sunday, while Jadon and Grandpa washed the cars.

You have fully discovered the yumminess of your hands ;)

They are the sweetest, softest, most adorable baby hands ever!

As are those sweet, chubby little toesy woesies of yours ;)

And even cuter with a touch of bubbles from your big brother. Ha!

He really never leaves your feet alone, and drives Mommy crazy!

You've also been spending lots of time on your playmat lately. It's so funny because you're supposed to be rolling more from your belly to your back, but EVERYTIME you are placed on your back, you roll over onto your tummy within 30 seconds! Then you usually fuss because you don't really like being on your tummy too much. Of course, when you're laying on the floor, Jadon likes to be right there beside you. He's always afraid he's going to miss something ;)


I have to apologize to you, Belle. The other day, while Daddy was trying to take a picture of us, we totally missed the fact that Jadon was trying to eat your fingers :( Daddy was snapping away, while Mommy was doing her best to get a smile out of both of you, all the while Jadon was biting the heck out of your chubby little fingers...TWICE! I'm not sure if I saw your fingers in his mouth or heard you scream first, but it made Mommy feel aweful :(

Thankfully, God makes babies with lots of chubby goodness, surrounding flexible bones. At first, there were pretty deep toddler-sized teeth marks in your first two fingers, but they disappeared before Mommy was able to nurse you to sleep, just three minutes later. Sorry again...and so isn't your ornery big brother.

Just before said incident occurred (slight look of terror on your face has begun, Mommy is oblivious, while Jadon is all smiles):

He really does love you, Belle. Don't let him fool ya!

You are more enjoyable with each passing day, Macy Bleu. Your smiles light up the faces of everyone around you and the sound of your tiny, soft coos are music to our ears. You are so loved, my sweet baby girl. I can't imagine a better way to have spent the last three months than getting to know you, love you, hold you, smell you, and care for you each day. I thank you God for you, my sweet little princess!

All of my love...all of my life,

Mommy

Forever

Little Miss Giggles

I'm sure I posted recently that Macy had her first giggle...can't remember the exact date now. Good thing I blog this stuff to keep track of it! Anyway, I was finally able to catch her on video yesterday. Just before I got the camera, she let out a big, full-belly giggle, but the ones in the clip still make me smile :)

What Have We Been Doing???

I suppose if you have two babies under the age of two, and you add a few extra outings and/or home projects to the mix, you have to let something go. That something for me has been blogging. I like blogging. Okay, I really like blogging...pretty much LOVE it, and when I fall behind or go nearly a week without posting, I just don't feel like myself. So here's hoping I can get back in the swing of things here!

Just look at this little girl! She's growing like a weed, isn't she? How cute is that little skirt? Thank you to our friend Beka for this adorable ensemble :) When she brought it over to our house, the week Macy was born, I thought, "Oh this will never fit!" It's a size 3-6 months and the waist on the skirt looked HUGE! Good thing I tried it on when I did. It may not fit her by the time she's 4 months :/

"What are you trying to say, Mommy?"

On Saturday, we met up with the Setzer family (Trevor, Maria, and baby Olivia) for a picnic at Market Common. What an AWESOME lunch they packed for us! I mean, seriously...DELICIOUS! Trevor made us the best variety of healthy wraps (i.e. salmon/spinach, turkey/avocado, homemade hummus) along with some nutritious side items (i.e. homemade guacamole, fresh fruit, and homemade peanut butter/chocolate organic krispie rice treats). Yummy!

Can you believe that they even packed a PB&J sandwich for Jadon made with multi-grain bread, all natural peanut butter and organic strawberry jam? How thoughtful was that? Thank you for everything, Maria and Trevor! It was so nice to get out and enjoy the sunshine with great company :) Here are our beautiful little ladies, born just 8 days apart:
On Monday, while Jamie and I sorted through Jadon's winter clothes, packing them away with the hope that we will have another baby boy who will one day wear them, Jadon entertained Macy.

“You see that mobile? It used to be {READ: still is} mine.”

"Wait a minute! Where's your shirt?"

Honestly, Jadon has become such an awesome big brother! No more hitting (fingers crossed) in a LONG time. More about that on his blog later. Back to Macy Bleu...She's a mover and shaker lately! If she's left in her swing, she scoots herself down several inches:

When she does tummy time now, she can lift her entire upper body off the floor. She's going to be rolling from belly to back soon, no doubt, and she's still rolling from back to belly. Sucha big girl!

Here is a quick video of our little Chunka Munka wearing her newborn-size pants for the very last time :( Check out that round, little tummy! I seriously want to squeeze her and blow raspberries on those chubby rolls 24/7!

Bleubelle, you are one sweet little baby girl! What a blessing it is to wake up next to your smiley little face every morning! Seriously, you flash that gummy grin at me, dimple and all, EVERY SINGLE morning, as soon as you open your eyes :) And today, Mommy got you to giggle for the first time! No video just yet, but I won't stop until we have it :) How in the world did we live without you in our lives for so long??? I love you so much, Miss Bleu!

He Likes Her...Hey Macy!

Either she just ate a huge turkey dinner or she IS the turkey dinner!

Our little Butterball :)

Muffin top turned cake top.

So long, 0-3 month size clothing!

Oh, don't cry Belle. We love you, chunka munka!

"Here, Macy Doo, look at my jiminy cricket. Don't cry, sisser."

Your big brother sure does love you.

Wherever you are...

there he is also :)

One of his favorite things is to teach you the colors of his cars and the shapes in his shape sorter. Even from across the room, he'll say things like, "Hey, Macy! Purple van." He LOVES having you as part of his audience, and he's a wonderful teacher :)

We're all adjusting quite well around here.

It's been a wonderful 10 weeks, Bleu :)

Our Little Keester Bunny

Happy Keester!

One Lucky Little Girl

Warning!

The following pictures may cause both women and men to want to procreate with the hope that, they too, can have a baby that is this ridiculously CA-UUTE!

Silly

Happy
Bubbles
DimpleB-E-A-U-TIFUL!
In addition to being the most adorable baby in the world today, you also started holding a rattle :)

And you think it's fun :)

Happy 9 weeks, Macy Bleu!

Bleu Turns Two (Months)

Dearest Bleubelle,

It has been two months, since you came into this world and our lives. I know all parents say it, , but it's so true---I cannot imagine a day that I didn't have you! How could there have been a me without you? Although I write and talk a lot about the struggles of motherhood, especially in these early days with you nursing, I feel as though my life began (again), when you were born.

Because of you and only you, I am able to appreciate and experience the smallest joys in life all over again, like the tiny bubbles that you have surrounding your sweet, little mouth everyday now :) I must have taken 15 pics of you tonight, and you had bubbles in all of them! :) If I thought you were beautiful when you were born, I think you are a million times more today! Just look at you!

It is also because of you that I am able to experience watching Jadon learn what it means to be a big brother. What an experience! I'm sorry (just as I'm sure he is) that he hit you in the tummy the other night, while you were quietly watching your mobile :/ Your daddy and I do our best to protect you, while we teach him what "easy" really means. I assure you that he loves you more and more each day. In fact, he's started holding your hand everytime we're in the car. He always kisses you good-bye, when he goes places with Daddy, Gramma or Grandpa, and when he goes to bed at night. You're also one of the first people to hear "good norning" each day :)



When you're not in the room, he asks where you are..."Sisser?" He's pretty obsessed with your hair accessories too, especially the bows. My goodness! He LOVES your bows! He's pretty fond of your new flower headbands too. Clearly he can see just how pretty you are :) I'll just be honest, Macy Bleu, and tell you that Mommy generally has at least one five minute breakdown each day still, when I need to hand you over to Daddy. You see, at this point, you are what they call a "Mommy's girl." You really don't like to be held more than a few minutes by other people. You're starting to like to observe other peoples' faces, but Mommy is definitely your favorite. Jadon went through this stage too, and some worried he would be one of "those" kids. Obviously that didn't happen. He's a pretty out-going kid, so I'm not worried about you being overly shy around other people either.

I can't blame you for wanting to be around me. I've kind of made it easy for you. At this point, two months in, you've slept right next to me on the couch every night...and for most of your naps too. It's what works for us right now, and although it can be difficult, I look at your beautiful, little face next to my chest at least once a day and know that I will one day wish I could go back to this place in my life.

I already look at you and think about what we will be doing this time next year, the year after that, in five years, etc. I can't wait to hear your first giggle! I try to get it out of you on a daily basis...we're almost there! For now, you give us tons and tons of smiles :)

You're a happy, little baby, Bleu. Even though you prefer Mommy, you are known to give a gummy grin to Daddy, Jadon, Gramma and Grandpa too. Oh yeah, and let's not forget Puppy! Thanks to Puppy, you were motivated to roll over from back to belly at just 7 weeks and 5 days old! One of a few "firsts" you experienced this month.



You also took your first road trip this month. We went with Gramma and Grandpa to Charleston last week, and you did GREAT! Obviously you cried, when you needed fed and your diaper changed, but overall, you slept...typical Macy, I tell ya ;) Here you are in the car on the ride down and sitting in your carseat on the table at the Charleston Cafe:
There weren't a lot of other firsts or milestones to mark this month. One thing's for sure, you are growing like a weed! Your newborn clothes (up to 8lbs.) no longer look right on you. The pants now look like capris, and the onesies barely snap around your (size 2!!!) diaper. On our scales, you weigh a little over 11lbs...not sure how long you are, but you go back to the doctor (for shots!) in a few weeks, so we'll find out then.
I know, I know, it doesn't sound like a fun thing to experience. Believe me, Mommy would much rather be at home giving you a bath...hands down, your FAVORITE place to be :) You LOVE getting a bath, and other than being at Mommy's chest, it is the place you are most relaxed. You don't even cry, when Mommy wraps you in your towel any more.

Macy, I am so very thankful that God gave me a daughter. When I found out you were not a boy, that Jadon would not have a younger brother to play soccer with in a few years, I was a bit...hmmm...maybe a bit sad for Jadon. Also, being a girl, having a sister and having worked with so many teenage girls in my life, I worried about having a daughter. Girls are much more dramatic than boys. We are emotional. We need more attention. Most of us like to shop for clothes and wear make-up. It seems we cost a bit more to maintain. We like boys, which can lead to trouble sometimes :/

It's not that I don't worry about those things with you still; I simply accept that some of them are God's unique design for women (i.e. to be more nurturing, therefore more emotionally-driven than men). The rest, I know is up to the way your daddy and I choose to raise you (i.e. how much emphasis you place on things like boys, clothes and make-up). Clearly raising you, as a girl, will be no harder than raising Jadon...just different. Now that you are here and we're beginning to know you so much better, I'm actually very excited to help guide you in making decisions in life, raising you to be the girl God intends for you to be. I couldn't be more thankful or more proud to be chosen to the the Mommy of such a beautiful princess :)

And, can I just say, I'm still very thankful that you like to sleep so much? You actually give Mommy more rest than any new parent would ever need...and lots of extra time to stare in awe of what an amazing creation God made in the baby girl who is Macy Bleu :)


All of my love...all of my life,

Mommy