Christopher's Baptism

Boom!

We had a great Christmas here. Even though Daniel does not really understand the concept of Santa, he loved all the new toys. Here is a little video of him playing with his Grampie. Daniel loves having all the family around to pay extra attention to him. I love having the family around to help and just to have company.

Christopher is a great baby so far. It is amazing how different he is from Daniel. I knew that they would be different, but I did not realize how different they could be. So far he has spent most of his time eating and sleeping. He seems quite mellow, and only cries when he is hungry. He has dark hair and a darker complexion than Daniel has. He is also much smaller than Daniel was as a newborn, although he has already grown a bunch. He was 7 lbs, 2 oz, when we took him in on Monday. The doctor said that his weight in the hospital must have been incorrect because there is no way that he gained almost a pound in three days. I'll be interested to see what his weight is when we go back on the 4th.

The first couple nights were a bit rough. I'm not sure if it was because Christopher was getting up more or because Matt and I had totally wiped the memories of what it is like to have a newborn from our mind. We still had to muddle through all the middle of the night supplies. Between diapers, wipes, burp cloths, ointment, blankets, and little hats, you really need a lot of stuff at 2 am. Christopher is also a little spitter. One night we each had at least 2 outfits. The last couple nights he slept like a champ. He went down at 11 pm, woke up at 3:30 am, then again around 7 am. I can't really ask for more from the little guy.

Our week continues to include momentous events. Today we purchased a new car to replace the TSX that I totalled a few weeks ago. We decided to get a Toyota Sienna. It is quite the step moving to the minivan, but I must say that the car is quite beautiful. Tomorrow is Christopher's baptism. It will be his second time to church in his short life. I will post more pictures soon.

Christopher Joseph Lee

Christopher Joseph Lee was born on December 18, 2009, at 8:31 pm. He was 6 pounds 5 ounces and 19 inches long. Here are a few pictures of all of us. Daniel seems to be gaining interest in his new brother, but is mostly interested in all the new baby stuff that has appeared in our house.

A Week to Remember

This week is going to be memorable if nothing else. Not many people wreck their car, turn 30, and have a baby in a week. That's right. I wrecked my car on Saturday and turned 30 on Sunday and will be having a baby by Friday. It is looking like the car is totaled. Thankfully Daniel, baby, and I are all fine. No injuries and very minor bruises. My ego might have taken the biggest bruise. I'm thinking that this might be a sign that the Acura TSX is not the right car for a mother of two. I think my next car will be some sort of family friendly vehicle. I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to shop for a car right now, but I'll think about that another day.

Sunday was a much better day than Saturday. Everyone spoiled me for my birthday, and I was able to take it easy and enjoy the day. Matt picked out the sweetest little Willow Tree ornament for me from Daniel. It is a mother holding her little boy exactly the way Daniel likes to be held. Matt also kept the cake making tradition alive and made an excellent birthday cake for me. Daniel really enjoyed watching Matt mix the cake, and he particularly liked the licks!

Ok, so the baby part. No baby yet, but he is going to be here soon! If the baby does not come by Friday, I have an appointment to be induced at 11:30 am on Friday. Things are still going fine, but if I am pregnant much longer I won't have any shoes left that fit. I think I had to put three more pairs in the too small pile this week. That's alright, not too much to complain about since I only started feeling really pregnant in this last month.

House Projects

We've finally started working on our upstairs rooms. Here are a few pictures of the new and improved accommodations.

This is the baby's room. I must confess that I'm totally in love with the paint color.The playroom.
More playroom.

More playroom with the desk that Peggy painted (it used to be lilac) and Daniel's art from Little Builders.

Blizzard

We are in the midst of my first blizzard ever. Since about 6 pm last night, we have gotten about 16 inches of snow. It's still snowing and it is supposed to get much colder and windier. Matt actually had a path cleared for me to get out to go to work today. It took me less time than a normal day because I was the only person who decided to go to work today. When there were only about 20 people in my office at 10 am, I decided to come home since Daniel's daycare was closed. Don't worry, I've already heard it from many people that a woman in my condition should not be driving to work in a blizzard. Here are some pictures of all the snow and of our Christmas tree.

Daniel's hiding at the top of the driveway with the snowblower. Notice the mailbox in the foreground.

The snow is almost as deep as Daniel is tall.There is almost a foot of snow on top of the handrail.

Life of a Toddler

It must be incredibly frusterating to be a toddler. At least that is what I can surmise from my little guy. Daniel had a relatively rough morning with lots of no's and tears. He was very mad that I would not let him play in the sink before swimming, and he was even more mad when he could not take his raisins in the pool with him. Well, I was just assuming that he was in a bad mood or not feeling quite right or some thing like that. But after the last few hours, I'm thinking that he just has some big things going on in his head. Let me explain, in this morning with all the tears and frusteration, Daniel did some big things.

First, he did amazing at swimming lessons. We are transitioning to the next level at swimming. This is a really big deal because Mommy is no longer part of the class. Well, today he did the lessons by himself, and I did not even have to put on a swimsuit. He listened to the teacher and sat on the step and waited his turn. Really quite amazing acomplishments for Daniel.

Then we went to the grocery store where he started telling me things in sentances. Yes, Daniel did insist on wearing his hat and gloves and holding his raisins the whole time we were in the store, but at some point he took one of the gloves off and put it back on. Then he said, "Daniel put on glove by self." I can't wait to see what else he wants to do by himself. This will be another source of frusteration, I fear.

Last thing he did was sleep in his bed for nap. Now I know you all think that he sleeps in the bed every night, but the sleeping in the bed did not last too long. It was maybe a week before he started getting out. He has not slept there for a long time. We try every night, but he just can't seem to fall asleep in the bed. So we have this routine where Daniel tries to sleep in the bed twice, but he gets out and comes to the door (where we have a gate). Eventually, he goes in the crib and is asleep within about 30 seconds. So he sleeps well, and he goes to sleep happy. I can't bring myself to force him to sleep in the bed at this age. Maybe this nap is a sign that he is ready to make the switch. He has been down for over 2 hours and had no problem falling asleep.

I guess Daniel is just a little like me in that change and times of transition make him a little emotionally unstable. He dives right into the next thing, but it always comes with a few little speed bumps he has to get over.