The Hall Family: 2012

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

6 MONTHS!

I can't believe this little lady is already a half a year old! She is so different from the sleepy little baby I brought home. She's active, alert, talkative, and into EVERYTHING. She's almost perfected the crawl, but in the meantime, she has no problem rolling, scooting, and army crawling to where she wants to be. I am kind of dreading the walking, considering how much she can get into just by rolling! Her personality shines through more and more every day. One thing we've learned about R is that she is a social butterfly. Wonder where she got that from?! She has huge smiles for everyone and anyone, and just loves being around people. Considering that within minutes of her birth, our hospital room was flooded with people, and that sort of continued ever since we came home, I suppose she has been groomed to love company. She doesn't get cranky often, but when she does, I've noticed that it's on the days that she hasn't left the house. Little lady gets bored and stir crazy, just like her mama!

We have our first big trip as a family of three (or technically 5 since my parents are going) coming up. In three weeks, we will be boarding a plane to London, and then on to Scotland. Part of me is excited to take R on her first plane ride...but most of me is dreading it. I don't know when I became a nervous flyer since I do it all the time, but slowly over the years I've grown more and more nervous on planes. Throw becoming a mom into the mix and now I'm a downright paranoid nutcase! Good thing they serve alcohol on planes! The upside of taking R on her first international trip? She just received her most precious baby passport! I almost died when I opened it and saw the cuteness of her little face in the passport picture. Anyone have travel tips for surviving a flight with a baby? I plan to bribe people's compassion by bringing treats or buying drinks for the lucky people sitting near us, but this flight is LONG, so I may run out of ideas by hour 10!

OK, on to the 6 month stats: At R's 6 month appt, she measured:

Length: 26" Long, 50th Percentile

Head Circ: 16.5", 25th Percentile (def didn't get mama's enormous head!)

Weight: 15 lbs, 4 oz, 25th Percentile (don't let those chubby cheeks fool you-she's still kind of itty bitty!)

Teeth: Workin' on them. No teeth to report just yet, but with the amount of drooling and gnawing, I'd say they'll pop through any time now. Hopefully later rather than sooner, as those chompers will most likely end our nursing relationship!

Food: She's tried rice cereal, baby oatmeal, sweet potatoes (hands down her favorite), bananas, carrots (she hated them!), peas, butternut squash, and applesauce. Oh yeah, and ice cream. Someone let her dive into some Baskin Robbins ice cream cake, where she got a nice little handful of frosting and ice cream which immediately went into her mouth. Sorry baby, but you have to wait 6 more months for your next taste of cake!

Sleep: I think I had posted that my solid sleep through the nighter baby regressed when we stopped swaddling her. But since little lady loves to sleep on her belly with her face IN the covers, and since she could maneuver herself into that position while swaddled, it was clearly no longer an option. I'm happy to report, that she is doing much better on the sleeping front. She still wakes up once our twice a night to nurse, but it's for about 2 minutes and then she's right back to sleep. We plan to make the switch to formula after our trip to Scotland, so I'm hoping that those middle of the night wakes will stop.

Clothes: She is wearing mostly 3-6 month stuff still, although I'm getting ready to start buying in the next size. I had to by my firs set of onsies the other day. She had onsies to last her through 6 months old from my shower. Considering that I feel like I'm constantly buying things for her, the fact that I've never had to buy her onsies until this week was a win.

Pics: Here are some recent pics of my little love!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

What's wrong?! It's just a little frosting!

Hmmm this isn't ice cream cake!

Out of my way, Mom!

Playing Dress Up

Swim Time

Grocery shopping just got 10000000x easier now that she can sit up!

Happy Half Birthday to Me!

All cozy after our nightly walk

Chillin with Merlin

Of course I finally grow into all my cute hats when it's 1000 deg outside!

I told you she loves to sleep face down. How is that even comfortable?!

Monday, August 13, 2012

One and Done?

It didn't take long after Miss R popped out for the questions about baby # 2 to begin. In fact, I think I was asked for the first time in the recovery room while I was holding my hours old baby. The thought of doing all that again was horrifying. I would have sent John down the hall for a vasectomy right then if I could have. Now, the actual childbirth part was a breeze. Probably the easiest part of the whole process. I was very fortunate to have such an easy delivery with no complications and very little pain, plus an easy recovery and an easy baby. None of that played into my decision to announce I was done. I had NO desire to be pregnant again. It's no secret that I didn't exactly LOVE being pregnant. The sickness just really got to me after 5 months of it. Was it worth it? Absolutely. Did I want to do it again? Absolutely Not! As they all say, pregnancy did become a distant memory. I have friends who are pregnant now, and they are asking me about feelings and sensations you get towards the end, and I can honestly barely remember. I remember that I was uncomfortable, but the actual details and feelings of being pregnant are fuzzy. That must be natures way of continuing mankind. You really, really do forget! My reasoning for potentially being a mama of one changed from not wanting to go through pregnancy again to not wanting to have anyone I have to share my love with. I no longer dread the thought of being pregnant, because after all, no matter how long 9 months seems at the time, it really does go by fast. I just couldn't imagine having another baby that I would love as much as sweet little R. I also couldn't imagine having to divide my attention between her and a sibling. I'm an only child, and my mom and I have often discussed whether you feel the same about your 2nd, 3rd, 4th born as you do about your first (something no person would admit most likely). Fast forward 6 months, and my mindset has definitely changed. While I am in no means wanting to add to our family anytime soon, I think that I am ok saying that I would like ONE more. This may seem strange, but part of the reason I'd like one more is because I sort of want a pregnancy do over. Now that I know what to expect, I know that I will enjoy pregnancy so much more the next time around. I know that I won't care one single bit about the gender, because you fall in love with that baby and can't imagine it being anything other than what it is once you have it in your arms. I know that every nauseous sprint to the bathroom (or planter in a restaurant parking lot) is worth it. Every muscle ache, headache, and um, other aches are WORTH it. Every drink you have to turn down, whether it be a 2nd cup of coffee or an iced cold margarita, it's worth it! And, that little baby will be another little creature that you and your hubby created, just like the first one. How could you not LOVE it the same? I grew up with a very small family-all only children all both sides. So that means I have a total of 2 cousins. No biological nieces or nephews for me. I think I'd like to break that trend in my fam and add just one more kiddo to the mix. One more. And not until R is at least 2 or 3. I need to enjoy every little moment with my first girl. And while I rest in the recovery room with baby # 2, my husband will be down the hall recovering from his vasectomy. You'd better believe it.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

2 Years

Two years today was our wedding day. But it was much more than a day. It was an EVENT. Like, a two week long event. So much has happened since that day, and it feels like much more time has passed, but I still vividly remember details of the weeks leading up to our big day. Like the day our fam arrived from Scotland. A big group of them. 8 of them arrived singing wedding songs and dancing and laughing. I can't describe what it's like to have this group of people all in one place at one time. You really just have to experience it yourself. People in Scotland are SO different from people here. I don't laugh with others like I do with them. We had talked about this day since I was a little girl. It would be the only time that many of my family members from overseas would all be in the states at the same time. And they all came. The party started the night they arrived. It felt like summer vacation did when I was a kid. Every day was a party. Swimming, pool volleyball tournaments, bbqs, late night wine drinking. Every. Single. Day/Night. For two weeks! The day before our wedding day, we headed down to San Diego to Paradise Point Resort (our venue!). We caravaned down as a group-girls in set of cars and boys in another. We blasted Megan's wedding play list and snuck a cocktail or two in the car-for the passengers of course ; )

We arrived in SD, and the giant group of us had lunch outside overlooking Mission Bay. Gorgeous. Rehearsal dinner followed. 60 people at the rehearsal. It was like a wedding warm up. All of our best friends and fam in one place. The wedding day came, and it went flawlessly. Weather was amazing, location was amazing, friends and fam were amazing. Yes, this day was about John and I, but really, for us, it was so much more than that. We wanted it to be a day that wasn't just focused on us, but on our friends and fam as well. The friends that without whom J and I would not have met. The fam who supported our relationship (and um, financed the wedding). We wanted this day to be a celebration that our friends would enjoy as much as we did. I think we pulled that off. We shut the place down at 2 am, then headed back to our ocean front suit. The next day was capped off with a brunch with the wedding party and those who stayed at the resort. J and I, my parents, and the Scotland group stayed one more night before heading home to begin our life as Mr and Mrs Hall. I never really spent time daydreaming about my wedding, but when I did think about getting married, I pictured it going exactly like it did. I wanted a venue by the ocean. I wanted a resort of some sort so everyone could stay the weekend. I wanted all my friends and family there. And I wanted the guy up there with me to be loving, funny, handsome, and awesome. I think I nailed it.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

5 Months!

Is it possible that my baby is almost half a year old?! It seems like we just brought her home from the hospital, but in many ways I can't really remember what life was like without her. I even forget what it's like to eat a meal uninterrupted!

At 5 months, my precious girl

-Talks and squeals up a storm

-Has learned how to scream...not in a mad, crying way, but in a "look what I can do" way. Her favorite place to practice this new skill is in a restaurant. I think our dining out days are numbered!

-Can *almost* sit up on her own

-Can *almost* escape from her Rock n Play. I got out of the shower to find her completely turned around in it-like her head where her feet should be. This morning I caught her sitting up and dangling her arms over the side of it like she was trying to escape. Time to start using the buckle!

-Grabs EVERYTHING in sight and tries to eat it.

-Gets really frustrated by her toys. She tries to grab and eat them, and not all of them fit in her mouth, and this angers her greatly

-Loves her exersaucer, but gets angry that the toys are attached to it, and therefore cannot be eaten!

-Loves to pull clumps of fur out of her kitties. Payback for the cat scratch they gave her at 4 weeks old!

-Smiles at EVERY stranger that stops by to pay her a compliment. I have a social butterfly on my hands!

-Had her first solid food! Yay! We tested out rice cereal a couple of times. She loved it the first time, but was not too interested the 2nd time. The first time I used pumped milk to make it, and she gobbled it up. The second time I used formula since that was all I had on hand, and she wanted no part in it. This chick is picky and knows the difference btwn BM and formula. She seriously won't take a bottle unless it has breast milk! Girl knows what she likes!

-Loves water-bath, pool, water bottles (to play with, not drink)-she loves it in all forms!

-LOVES LOVES LOVES her daddy! She saves her biggest smiles for him.

-Stopped sleeping through the night! Yikes! I think she may be teething...

-Looks really close to crawling. She gets in position, and tries really hard. She can drag herself a few inches to get to whatever toy she's trying to reach. Our world is about to change when this chick gets on the move!

Here are some pics and vids of my big girl!

Summer Fun

It's summertime...although you wouldn't know it by looking at me. I'm pale like a vampire. I don't think I've spent more than 5 minutes in the sun all summer thanks to my baby girl. She has to be shaded, and since she is attached to my hip, that means no sunshine for mama.

We have had a great summer so far. My family from Scotland came to visit and spent about three weeks with my parents. We swam, bbq'd, and enjoyed their company.

For the 4th of July, we headed up to my parent's house in Lake Arrowhead to break in my dad's new "Grandpa" boat. He traded in his ski boat for a more baby-friendly pontoon boat. It's amazing! It's so big and roomy compared to his last boat, and is perfect for a little kidlet. My wakeboarding days are behind me, so this new boat is perfect for lounging and cruising the lake. The only downside to being on the lake with a baby was that she had to wear a life vest the entire time we were on the boat. Obviously safety comes first, but the little lady wasn't too thrilled about her newest accessory. We bought the smallest life vest we could find (0-30 lbs), and it was still pretty huge on her. She hated it, but literally the second the boat started moving, she'd go from crying to sleeping. Every time. Without fail. I've been joking that I need to invent a rocker/bassinet that mimics the movements of a boat on water. Parents everywhere would love me and I'd make a small fortune. The movement must have been womb like b/c the kid was instantly knocked out. Lake Arrowhead Village puts on the most incredible fire works show on the 4th. They launch the fireworks from a barge in the middle of the lake, and people can just hop on their boats and enjoy the show. We opted to dock the boat at the village for the show in case Ry didn't take too kindly to the fireworks. Also, it would give her a break from the life vest. The show was amazing-really the best fireworks I've seen, and little Ryleigh did fantastic! She was mesmerized by the fireworks, and the sound didn't seem to phase her. She even fell asleep during the finale-the absolute loudest part of the show!

Here are some pics of our summer so far. Tomorrow marks the beginning of my LAST year in my 20's. EEEEEK! I've just been informed that John is taking me shopping for the day, and Ry is going to hang with grandma, so that means it's time to pump, pump, pump!