holiday week!

Well happy Thanksgiving week! We've really enjoyed the snowy days and tasty meals. Here's a recap of our festive adventures:

On Monday night we accomplished one of our new-house goals and set up a guest room! Kimball (bro-in-law), Wendy and little Jack will be here from Boston for Christmas and we hope they'll stay with us now that we have a room to offer! 

office-turned-guest-room

Tuesday was Harper's one-month birthday! I took a few pictures to document the milestone.

That evening we had dinner with friends. I baked a yummy pumpkin pie that turned out pretty good, but I learned that you have to bake it for almost twice as long as it says. Glad I had a trial run before Thanksgiving! 

Harper's official one-month-old pie. She slept through the commemoration.

The controversial blizzard hit us that night and we enjoyed winds, frigid temperatures, snow, and limited visibility. What a party!

Wednesday was one of those days that you secretly want to have, but are maybe a bit embarrassed to admit if you actually do. McKay had a bunch of work to do from home, and got started on it in the morning from his laptop, in bed. I was pretty sleepy after feeding Harper her morning meal (surprise, surprise) so I just stayed in bed with her dozing in and out. As the morning went on, this pattern continued. Pretty soon it was noon and I got up to make us something to eat . . . in bed. By about 5:30pm we had watched the sunrise, and the sunset from bed! Ha!! 

But we weren't complete slobs - we got up and began our day with showers and a trip to the grocery store to stock up for Thanksgiving. We ate li'l smokies and pomegranate on frozen yogurt. 

thanks to this lady for the great snack idea

We watched Elf while I baked the above mentioned pie and tried my hand at this homemade eggnog for the next day (rum not necessary). We went back to bed around 1 am and had a pretty fun few hours in between!

Thanksgiving was delicious. We did some house cleaning in the morning and then headed to Payson so my grandma (recovering from a hip surgery) could meet Harper. After a short visit we were starving and headed up to the feast site - my aunt's house in Provo. We munched on pickles, olives, cheese-stuffed celery, and artichoke dip while we waited for Mr. Turkey to signal the official start of our meal. 

After eating too much we watched some football, snoozed, woke up, ate pie, watched Stranger Than Fiction and then headed home. A five star day.

We had big plans for Black Friday. First, we would go to a local tree farm and pick out our Christmas tree. Then we'd get some Christmas shopping done and take advantage of the hot deals. Well, as we headed out to go get our tree we realized that we would probably need a truck to transport our tree and decided to wait until after the holiday weekend to borrow one. Then, as we called around to stores, all the stuff we had our eyes on was sold out (what did we expect - it was early afternoon!) So we ended up browsing at a few over-crowded stores, and then getting some late lunch. We came home and crashed on the couches with a movie. A tiring and pretty uneventful day! I did end up getting some of our Christmas decorations out - like an old artificial tree that I convinced McKay to let me put up in our room and a tiny 3 foot tree for Harper's room. I could only get the tree about halfway lit before Harper needed me - and it's still only halfway lit.

Yesterday McKay's parents got back from their Thanksgiving in Boston so we spent the day with them - watching the heartbreaking football game, eating pizza and enjoying each other.

Today is another snowy Sunday that I'm enjoying inside with a sleeping baby as Christmas music plays and my rolls rise. A perfect ending to a perfect week.  

lately on Chestnut street

As I write this I'm watching the snow fall outside the windows, listening to Amy Grant's Christmas album, snuggled under a blanket as Harper snoozes on daddy. What a peaceful Sunday afternoon!  

The last couple weekends have been eventful around here. Last Saturday we spontaneously decided to head to the outlets at Park City. We loaded Harper up and hit the road. We enjoyed lunch at a Mexican place and found a cute Christmas dress for our little one. Then that evening I left Harper with Dad and Grandma + Grandpa Thomas for the longest stretch of time yet! I enjoyed an evening with my mom at the BYU Singers + Concert Choir concert. It was great, but I was ready to get home to my baby!

This past weekend we had a day full of errands, shopping, and a wedding reception. Though she slept for much of the time, we realized that Harper has her limits when it comes to being out and about and we reached them yesterday! She was exhausted when we got home, and she made sure we knew it! We got her calm and sleeping and decided to take it easy on the adventures in the future.

Scary mom moment while we were out and about yesterday: I was walking into a store carrying Harper. I was going to put her in her wrap, but because it was windy and cold I just wanted to get inside first. On my way, I somehow tripped and took a spill - while holding my baby! Fortunately, I was able to take all the impact of the fall (which resulted in some road rash on my hand and wrist and holes in my jeans) but it was a scary moment! So glad Harper didn't get hurt.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, here are a few things I am grateful for today:

A garage: no scraping the snow this morning!

Hot water: showers. baths. clean dishes. clean clothes.

Good health: I am so thankful to be healthy. I was so blessed with an easy pregnancy, delivery and recovery. Harper is healthy, McKay is healthy and we are very grateful! I have dear friends who have recently suffered miscarriages, infertility, and other difficult trials. My heart aches for them, and I am humbled.  

White Noise: I have an app on my iPhone that has a bunch of sounds - rain, beach waves, crickets, etc. This has been a lifesaver and is like magic sleeping dust for Harper!

There's so much to be thankful for! Thanks for reading.

chocolate conundrum

For the first few days of her life, Harper went from eating to sleeping without much fuss. As she has become more aware of the world, she has occasional fussy evenings, and the even more rare fussy day.  When she first began to squirm and cry - for no apparent reason - we figured it had to be something in my diet that was making her upset when she breastfed.  Come to find out, both McKay and I were very unhappy babies whenever our moms ate chocolate. So, much to my dismay, I decided to cut out chocolate and see how Harper did. Fortunately this discovery was made after Halloween, so I did get to enjoy my unhealthy share of Reese's candies.  

For over a week I didn't have any chocolate. I watched as McKay and his dad devoured a plate of delicious looking pumpkin chocolate chip muffins a friend had brought by, and passed up brownies from a neighbor. Harper was doing great so I figured it was bye-bye to chocolate for the next year. But then she had a couple of really fussy days and I got thinking that maybe this was just normal baby fussiness. So, this past Wednesday I had some hot cocoa and a halloween remnant as an experiment. The result? Harper was happy as a clam the next day! No fussiness for almost 24 hours from the time I ate the forbidden substance.

I was so excited! With the holidays coming up, I was dreading having to pass up on all the delicious and festive holiday chocolate goodness.

Ever had this stuff?  We call it crack around the Thomas house and there's always an endless supply of it at my in-laws' (with whom we'll be spending a lot of time this Christmas!). 

There's also my mom's famous . . .

and these gems (which stuffed our stockings last year)

Oh yes, and there's chocolate making NIGHT at the Thomases which equals all kinds of delightful barks, and chocolate covered nuts.

Add in some of this and that . . .

and you have a recipe for a very merry - and chocolatey - Christmas!

Well, now I'm having second thoughts. I had a bit more chocolate yesterday than I care to admit, and Harper was not a happy camper - even in the middle of eating she would start crying - making me think that she was uncomfortable, not just being a baby. 

So now I can't tell if its chocolate, normal baby fussiness, or some other unknown culprit that is causing my little one distress.  

Thoughts? 

gratitude

It seems like I'm behind on the gratitude theme for November. Therefore, in addition to throwing in something I'm grateful for in future posts, here's a little taste of some of the things that make me thankful today . . .

ten tiny fingers, ten tiny toes

little white onesies, one button-nose.

bowls of cold cereal, cinnamon rolls,

a home with a heater to keep out the cold.

fun with the hubby, a new tv show

visits from friends bringing cafe rio.

silly short rhymes and grateful blog posts

are some of the things that I love the most!

november

Apparently November is NaBloPoMo (yes, that's real) - National Blog Posting Month. You're supposed to post something everyday for the whole month. Looks like I missed the boat on that one! I haven't been such a great blogger since baby Harper was born, but I want to jump back on track and document our little growing family.

I feel like there's so much to say, and yet when I sit down to write I find myself suffering from bloggers-block. To start with, here are some Harper updates:
At her 2 week appointment, she measured in at 21.5 inches, and 8 lbs, 12 oz! Looks like I'm pumping out pure cream, and she enjoys eating as much as I do!
We're still learning how to sleep longer than an hour or two at night, but she's had two great nights in a row, including a four hour stretch last night!
Harper is a wiggler, and a grunter. She makes all kinds of noises in her sleep - grunting, squeaking, sighing, etc. She's also pretty strong and works out her arms and legs all day - even in her sleep.
She loves sleeping on people - especially dad - and enjoys her bassinet much less!
She sleeps especially well with movies on and music pumping. We're taking advantage of that phase.
She's hot and cold on 1)her pacifier - sometimes it's soothing, and other times it's just a dirty trick. 2)being swaddled. It's either the only thing that calms her down, or it ticks her off!
She loves to be rocked and sung to, and McKay and I get lots of moving and singing practice in each day.

Harper brings us so much joy! It's amazing how much you can love someone who hasn't said a single word to you. A little bundle of responsibility who pees and poops all day - and often at that exact moment in between diapers! Someone who wakes you up several times each night crying. But, boy we sure do love her!

We can't wait to watch her grow up. I've done my fair share of babysitting in my life, and to be honest, I've had doubts about the whole toddler-who-gets-into-everything phase. It can be pretty tiring to chase a little kid around. Everyone always says "don't worry, it's different with your own kids" and now I understand! I can't wait to watch Harper take her first steps and chase her around the house and hear her first words and teach her to read and to interact with this perfect little girl.