Thanksgiving Weekend & More Friends and Family

We had a busy Thanksgiving holiday weekend!  Brent, Abby, Lacey and I traveled up to Lima to spend Thanksgiving with Brent's family.  This was our first overnight trip with a newborn.  Needless to say, our car was packed to the gills with dog necessities and baby paraphernalia.  Dog crate, pack 'n' play, Abby's bag, Lacey's bag, Mommy and Daddy's bag, breast pump stuff, vibrating/bouncy seat (that ended up staying in the car all weekend), diaper bag...  I had the dilemma of trying to think about how many diapers and burp clothes I needed for our time away.  How many did I actually use in a day?  Whatever my answer was, I added just a few more just in case!   

Grandpa Big Dowg

Dennis (Grandpa Big Dowg) has met Abby before, but I failed to capture the first moment.  The gown Abby is wearing above was a gift from Aunt Nancy and Uncle Jim Mittelkamp.  We love those gowns!  It allows Abby to remain somewhat asleep while changing her at night.  Hopefully soon, she'll start sleeping through the night...before she outgrows the gowns! 


Yakeroo

While at Yak's house, Abby created a really nice present in her diaper that decided to spill out onto her belly.  That's what happens when you comebine tummy time and "loaded" gas!   Eew! (Who is Yak and why does she have such a strange name?  Yak is a very close family friend.  And her name?  Well, she has the gift of gab and the name has stuck so much that she often doesn't respond when someone calls her by her real name!)  
 

Uncle Kevin - he's met Abby several times, but this is their first photo together.

  Several minutes after this photo, Abby was fast asleep in Kevin's arms.  He's got the touch!




Pete got to meet and hold Abby before Di did...we were all surprised by that event!  Di was so anxious to snatch Abby from Pete's arms that Abby got rustled in the process.  So there were extraneous photos of them trying to console Abby while also smiling for the camera.   Let me tell you, they weren't pretty photos!  The best result is a photo of Abby appearing to be smothered.  (Who are these smothering people you might ask?  Pete and Di are parents of my good friend Stephanie Bisher.)

No child was really smothered in the taking of this photo. 

Morning Coos

Greetings from Vietnam

On my parents' latest trip to Vietnam, they picked up an authentic Vietnamese T-shirt for Abby.  The size on the shirt reads "00", so I didn't know how to translate that.  The shirt looked like a 0-3 month size, so I knew I had to put it on her soon.  I put it on this morning and it fit!  My conclusion: 00 = 0-3 months.  Take a peek at the bottom photo!  We have a smile! 

 

Apple Dumplings

Last weekend I participated for the first time in the tradition of making the Mittelkamp family apple dumplings.  It is quite a production.   The extravaganza began with a bushel of apples, 20 pounds of flour, 20 pounds of sugar, 7 pounds of brown sugar and a wholelotta butter!  (Thanks Megan - I stole your stats for this blog post) 

Luckily, we didn't have to hand peel and slice the apples.  Sue and Megan have an apple machine that peels and slices the apple with a turn of a handle.  That was fun to do!  The day produced 56 dumplings, 4 crisps and 2 pies.  There were even some apples left over to make some applesauce. 

Brent and I have enjoyed our first dumpling of the season.  It was delish.  Brent likes to warm his up in the microwave and then pour milk over it. 

 

Natalie had fun helping out by rolling out some dough too. 

The new cousins had fun "laying around" together. 

Abby meets more friends

Abby has been busy this past week.  Along the way, she's been meeting new friends!

Great Uncle Tom Mittelkamp



And his wife, Great Aunt Janice



Andrea (old college roommate)

Crystal (co-worker)

Missy (former co-worker)

Emily (former co-worker and soon-to-be fellow SLP!)

The group...I enjoy these ladies so much!





First Bottle

Brent gave Abby her first bottle this afternoon.  It was freshly pumped this morning and ready to be consumed.  Abby was a champ and drank about 2.5 ounces.  Of course, Brent was a champ as well.  I love how Abby is looking straight into her Dad's eyes. 

One Month!

Abby is now one month old!

One Month Pictures Take 1:

Take 2:

Take 3:

Take 4:

She was one unhappy camper.  At this point we gave up and said we'd try again in the morning when we know she'll be in a good mood.  We can't help but chuckle at these photos though! 

The next morning...  what a difference a good night's sleep makes! 



My favorite!

**Thanks to Aunt Gin for the month stickers you'll be seeing each month!**

**Thanks to Jen and Audrey Bueter for the leg warmers...next time I'll have to add a coordinating bow on her head that you also gave with the leg warmers.** 

What do these things have in common?

• brand new credit card
• paper clip
• candy wrapper
• magnetic "lid" to a flash drive
• picture of Natalie
• tissues
• note paper

Give up?

These are all things Lacey has pulled off the coffee table in the last 4 weeks and chewed to sometimes unrecognizable states.  Major ugh.  She has NEVER done this before.  Do you notice a coincidence of how long this has been happening and the age of Abby?  Yep.  I think we have some more jealousy issues that we initially thought. 

However, lesson for us?  Don't leave anything on the coffee table that you want to see again in one piece. 

4 weeks

Abby is now 4 weeks old!  (We'll call her a month old in a few days on 11/12/11...so until then, she's 4 weeks old.)

This particular outfit came from the hand-me-down box I received from Catherine Fox the day I went into labor.  In the box was a hand written note from her saying that the clothes were nicely folded, but then her near-2-year-old son wanted to "help"...and in the end I was sent a box of wadded up clothes.  Thanks Coss! 

**In future postings, I'll do my best to give a "shout out" to the gift giver should an item happen to make it in a picture on the blog.  We are very grateful for all the gifts and generosity of family and friends.**

New this week?
Abby is more demanding in her feeding.  We were on a pretty regular 3-hour feeding regimine, but in the past week she's been wanting to eat 2 hours, sometimes only 1.5 hours after she last ate.  This is typical for breastfed babies as I'm reading that this is part of a growth spurt and is nature's way of ensuring that my body is producing enough milk supply to meet her growth needs.  As soon as this subsides, I'll get another dose of it at 6 weeks and 3 months.  Yea?! 




Abby is tracking things with her eyes more from farther away.  She can also turn her head to find the source of a sound (such as my noise making block I'm shaking in the picture above).  Lacey was tracking the sound source too. 

Abby is tolerating her diaper changes outfit changes more.  The first couple weeks we were met with a lot of crying as she didn't like to be naked and cold. We also learned to distract her with turning on the mobile (Thanks Marti and Sam Zickefoose!) as it's at her eye sight level and within range. 

Davis Grandparents

So to my embarrassment, I have failed to post ANY pictures of Abby with her Davis grandparents.  What kind of daughter am I?!  Yikes! 

I mean, they were there at the hospital waiting for Abby's arrival and held Abby in their arms when she was only moments old.  They stayed at our house and took care of Lacey while we were still in the hospital.  They vacuumed and dusted while we were in the hospital and we got to come home to a clean house.  Seriously, how lucky were Brent and I?

How could I have forgotten to blog about their generosity, helpfulness and overall pride as their only child (me) gave birth to their first granddaughter? 

 

 



I love this one!

Mom stayed with us while Dad drove back to KC.  I'm so glad she stayed with us to help out.  She was EXTREMELY helpful.  You have no idea.  Okay, maybe for those who have had babies and had their mother stay with them may have an inkling of an idea.  She meal planned, she grocery shopped, she cooked, she cleaned up after us, she did laundry, she changed our sheets and towels, she dusted (again!) and vacuumed (again!).  I wish we could hire her full time.  Our dining room table has never seen so many consecutive meals! 

Tears were shed as we dropped her off at the airport to go back to KC.   I was so overwhelmed when she left, I thought there was no way I could keep up with a newborn baby, keep up with the laundry, keep up with the house cleaning and keep up with meal planning (and cooking...and cleaning up...).  I'm positive my excessive tears were hormonal, but the emotion and sentiment behind the tears were heartfelt.  She was fabulous and I don't want to know what our house would have looked like, what our nutritional value in our meals would have been and what my mental state would have been had she not stayed to help out.  At the airport, my mom shared some advice.  "Screw the housework and Domino's delivers".  Wise words.  THANK YOU SO MUCH MOM!  WE LOVE YOU!

Thanks Mom and Dad for being wonderful parents and fantastic grandparents!