Winter Wonderland

Wow, what a blizzard! On Wednesday morning at 5:00am, we had no snow. These pictures were taken at 7:00am on Thursday, 26 hours later. Some areas got up to 42" of snow, while we got a mear 22". The airport is closed until noon on Friday and all the North/South and East/West highways are closed from state border to state border. The National Guard and Red Cross are here digging people out of the ditches and bringing them to shelters. There are 4,800 people stranded at the Denver International Airport. One of people not at the airport is son of Rose's friend, Justin. He goes to school in Utah and was stopping in Denver on his way home to Michigan. We are going to board him here and try to find him a new flight home. His luggage is lost so we'll be doing lots of laundry. Hopefully the airport will be somewhat functional by Saturday morning when we fly back to Michigan to celebrate my Birthday and some holiday with a pine tree.

Layla chasing snowflakes

The front door

Cold chair!

Back entrance to the garage

Snow drifts on the street

There is a sidewalk here somewhere...

View from inside the garage

Oh Karma, How I Love Thee...

Today was perhaps the hardest moment I have experienced as a parent. All smiles, Sofia played with the doctor as she was poked and prodded for her 2-month check-up. She weighed in at a whopping 10 pounds, 11 ounces (almost TWICE her original weight!) and was measured at 22 and 1/4 inches (almost 4 inches longer from when she was born). After a few moments and basic questions, she pulled out 3 HUGE needles, looked at me and said, " This is probably going to make her cry."

Duh!

I held my breath and grabbed onto Sofia's little fingers trying to distract her from the impending doom of vaccination needles. I HATE needles, so surely my daughter will too! The nurse wiped her leg down with alcohol...Sofia SCREAMED. "Great." I thought. "She hasn't even been poked yet. This could be bad." Needless to say, after three shots into her cute little thighs, she had cried so hard she had the silent cry going on - you know, contorted, red face with tears but no sound...This really stunk. I felt terrible.

Just after the doctor finished, she looked at me and said, "Now Meghan, have you had your flu shot yet this year?" Oh crap. I HATE NEEDLES! As I tried to talk my way out of getting the shot (to no avail), Sofia oddlly stopped crying. Karma, perhaps?

We have both taken Tylenol.

Sleep is Overrated

It's 10:20 p.m. I'm sitting on our bedroom floor in the dark typing this because Chris is sleeping and Sofia is almost there. We're trying to help her learn how to fall asleep on her own so that she will hopefully begin sleeping through the night very soon. Who knew that parenting had to be so calculated!

Life has continued to fly by since our last post. Chris's best friend came in town for a last-minute quick visit. The boys lived it up downtown at night and even made it to a Broncos game in the 20 degree weather!

We put up our Christmas tree. Decorating the house and tree always feels like such a momentous occasion. I'm not sure if it is because of the feeling of completion after putting everything up or realizing that we are about to spend way more than we can afford in the upcoming weeks on gifts for people. Who knows. Christmastime rocks. This year, I proposed a challenge to Chris. With $20 spending limit, we each have to buy/make the most creative gift possible. Time to get those creative juices flowing!

I took Jack to the vet. He started to act funny when I got pregnant by wizzing right IN FRONT of his cat box. The frequency only increased once Sofia was born. The vet's solution: a psychotropic drug! Yup! We get to send our cat on the trip of his life for 10 days! I'm sure this is going to be interesting to watch. :)

I have been on a serious daycare hunt. So far, dead ends. Please keep your fingers crossed that we find someone soon!

I have started having random thoughts. The most recent: What is the purpose of one's chin? Does it even serve a purpose at all or is it just for looks? Hmm...

Alright, that's it for now. Here are some new pics of Sofia to keep all your appetites wet!

xoxo

Nerdalicious

It's true. I accepted long ago that I am a true Nerd with a captial N. There is nothing wrong with being a nerd. In fact, being a nerd affords one certain advantages in life like having a large collection of button-up collared shirts, packed bookshelves and subscriptions to Consumer Reports. :) Life is good. I have, however, recently reached my pinacle of nerd-dom when I discovered how to put a website hit counter onto our blog. Yes, in my obsession to know if people are actually reading our blog, I actually learned how to insert in the proper HTML coding to put flashy numbers at the bottom left hand side of the webpage. This then tells me how many people "hit" and hopefully read our website. It's pretty cool and yes, nerdalicious.

Something For Everyone

The world of blogger has opened my eyes to the realization that there truly is something for everyone on the web. While hopping from blog to blog last night, I found just about the funniest website I have ever seen. It is called stuffonmycat.com. Yes, you read that right - stuff on my cat.com. This website consists solely of pictures people have sent in with random items put onto their cats. Any person who has ever owned a cat can completely identify with the hilarity of these photos. I mean, seriously, who HASN'T dressed their cat up in something stupid? We will definitely be doing something with Jack to submit...don't you worry! Definitely check it out! I put some of the pictures from the website below for your enjoyment.

In other news, we are getting a surprise, last minute for the weekend from Chris's best friend, Penni. We are SO excited he is coming! I'm sure that the weekend will be full of events to chat about - including another trip to the Broncos game (Chris got free tickets for the two of them!). Anyway, should be a good time.

More soon.

Henry's Been Kidnapped


Can you guess what movie this is?
Ans: American Beauty

I shall call her Mini Me!

Can you tell who's who?










It's a good thing Sofia has Chris's eye and hair color or she really would be identical to her mamma!
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All Is Quiet...

All is quiet in our little household...even Sofia is sleeping! :) We have been so blessed to have had so many visitors over the last 6 weeks that it seemed weird to wake up yesterday morning knowing that no one would be staying with us this week.

We enjoyed a fabulous Thanksgiving week beginning with my sister's quick weekend visit and full week of Chris's parents and sister. Not a moment was spared holding and staring at Sofia, of course! It has become really special to watch our family members get to see our daughter for the first time. It is something I will never be able to forget.

With all the family in town, we took the opportunity to attend a Broncos game - with Sofia in tote of course! Bundled in layers, we strapped her into the baby carrier and took turns during the halves of the game holding her. At just 5 weeks old, Sofia might have been the youngest Broncos fan ever to attend a game! :)

Other highlights of the week included: trips to some great restaurants all over Denver, shopping at the new mall near our house, lunch and shopping at the famed Pearl Street in Boulder, tea for Mary and Lindsey at the Brown Palace Hotel, fabulous Thanksgiving dinner and LOTS of hanging out. It really was a great week.

Now, Sofia and I are getting used to being by ourselves again. We have our routine and somehow the days seem to pass in the blink of an eye. It is weird not talking to any adults all day long, but somehow the cooing, lip-smacking and occasional cry seems to substitute for "big words" just fine. :) I'm totally diggin' this mom thing.

Here are some pictures from the week below. Enjoy!


Go Broncos!


All bundled up and ready to go to the game.


Santa showed up in Boulder!


Sleep, baby, sleep.


Bath time!


Aunt Lindsey and Sofia catching a quick cat nap.


Granmary and her granddaughter. :)


Aw. Grandpa and Grandma Daniel


Holding Mamma's hand


Chris and David preparing Turkey Day Dinner. It was great!


Thanksgiving Day table. The china and silver on the table was passed down to me from my Aunt Miriam. It belonged to her grandmother.


Mmm food! Stacey, Lindsey and I set to dig in for dinner. :)

Happy Turkey Day!

Sofia says Happy Thanksgiving to all of our friends and family on this day. We are very thankfull for all of you and the love that you share. We can't wait to see you all during the Christmas holiday. See you soon.

Our Little Sweetie

Sofia has had many visitors in the last week. Aunt Pickles (aka Kristen, Meg's sister) was here for a short weekend for her first visit with her neice. She left Sunday morning and Grandpa David and Grandma Mary came on Saturday morning. The six of us has a great visit and then Aunt Lindsey came Monday morning. Sofia has loved the the snuggles and kisses from her loving family. Tomorrow she has an orange outfit with a turkey on it that has the writing "Hot Stuff". The orange outfit will be great for cheering on our Denver Broncos on Thanksgiving Night! Hope you all have a great Holiday! Meg takes such great pictures, enjoy!

Day or Night, Night or Day

It is here, and the confusion has set in. The period you all have warned us about and we knew was coming. The sleepless nights and dream-filled days. Sofia is on a 2-3 hour feeding routine and is closer to 2 hours at night. We are working on our schedules and our efforts to pump so I can help with the feeding. Since Meghan doesn't trust me with the camera out while she is pumping or breast feeding, I guess I'll have to post another picture of Sofia. She is feeding really well and growing fast. She is mastering her facial expressions as well. It's funny when she holds her breath and turns red when she is "pushing" a present for mom or dad, either in solid or gas form. Some times she even crosses her eyes. We are even getting a few smiles here and there. Those few seconds are my favorite part of each day.

"...this could still be inside you..."

Hello readers and Sofia lovers. I was sitting in the recliner tonight, holding Sofia, and thinking. Out of nowhere I look at my beautiful wife and said to her, "..this could still be inside of you..." Sofia's due date was Nov. 9th, exactly a week from today. We have been blessed with Sofia's presence for 17 days, and it is amazing to think that all the moving, kicking, growing, and hicuping she has been doing could still be going on inside Meghan. If Meg would have gone a complete full term, we would be without Sofia for another week!
As of Monday, she has grown from 5lbs-15oz to 6lbs-10oz and from 18-3/4" to 19-3/4" in just two weeks! Some of the baby clothes you wonderful people have bought that were too big for her little body, now don't seem too far away. I want to say thank you all so much for the baby items, clothes, cards, and emails over the last 17 days. I knew babies made people smile and bring joy, but I never knew there were so many people in our lives that care as much as you all. For this we are eternally thankful and blessed to have you as friends and family.

Grandparents, Belly Buttons and Cow Parades

Wow! It is hard to believe that it has been 2 weeks already since our blessed bundle of joy arrived! Parenthood has been such an amazing experience thus far. Sofia has made it quite easy and Chris and I have had incredible support from both friends and family. She is only waking up once or twice during the night - a true blessing for Chris and I. She has even reached her first milestone...her umbilical cord fell out and she has a belly button! It is truly the cutest "outie" ever. Needless to say, we are having a GREAT time playing with our new daughter and loving her more each and every minute.

Right after Sofia was born, we were lucky to have my mom come and stay for a week to help out around the house. She was such a treat helping with household stuff as well as changing/burping/feeding Sofia while I was still recuperating and Chris was at work. She even stocked our fridge with dinners for weeks to boot! Moms rock! :)

The day after Mom left, my dad and step-mom arrived to spend the long weekend. It was their first time out to our new place since we moved and so we had a fabulous time with them as well. While they were here, we took a trip to our little Stapleton town center and spent some time with the painted cows on parade. Chris and I have spent weeks making fun of them, but after walking through the parade actually had a good time and saw some pretty good artistic work! Go figure that bovine art could be interesting!

Alright, without further delay here are the much requested photos of Sofia. She is quite the character with lots of different faces despite her incredible ability to sleep! :) Enjoy!







Proud Daddy!

First Family Photo

Hmmm...Shouldn't Sofia be the one sleeping?

Grandma Debbie, Sofia and Me

Papou (Greekn for Grandpa)

Yia Yia (Greek for Grandma)

Cow parade!