friends pictures

American Idol has always been a fun excuse for us to get together. Since it's started up again, I think Hazel and Aashini will be seeing much more of each other! Only time will tell who their favorites are.


Right before we left for Thailand, Hannah came over to play. :) We all went for a really long walk, and then let our girls play on the super cool gym-thingie that Nana bought.


Kari and I with our babies.


And then in Thailand, Hazel got to see some bigger kids. This little boy is almost 4, I think. He was really sweet with Hazel, always talking to her and rubbing her feet.


This is his sister. She was sweet too, but I think at this point, Hazel had had enough of the camera flash!

collage happy

I love making collages! We're back from Thailand, and I've got lots of pics to post of Hazel. But I'm a little behind a few things, so I decided some collages fit the bill.

First, Hazel is getting strong on her tummy. Don't get me wrong, as the first collage shows, she still is not a fan of tummy time, but she's so darn cute even when she's screaming her head off! She can now roll over onto her back! So tummy time is working.


Since there is no February 30th, she technically didn't turn 3 months old. So it literally snuck up on us! She's no longer a newborn, which shows in her clothes, her strength, her attitudes, and in so many other ways. Here's a collage of some really cute pics of her from the last month.

She is such a fun baby!!

camera shy

I haven't posted any pics in awhile. I have a problem - Hazel is a bit camera shy! She laughs and plays and coos, and then I pull out the camera and she freezes! So here are some pics I took of her playing - I had to take SO many to even get these few good ones!




Something new she's doing now is as soon as she sees James or me, she grins her sweet gummy grin real big. It melts my heart! She doesn't seem like a newborn anymore - she's not colicky, she can entertain herself, she 'talks', I can eat whatever I want again and it doesn't bother her...it's so strange how she grew up seemingly overnight!

I also wanted to thank all of you who gave such great advice on napping. I still can't say what worked and what didn't work, because it's always still a mixture of things, but she's taking naps now! It's great! It did come at a price though - no more sleeping through the night. But I'm okay with waking up once or twice for a short time so I can have some moments of peace during the day.

first words?

Well obviously not really, unless ehhah and uhmheh are words. But they sure are cute, and you can tell she thinks she's really saying hello!

first night away

Like so many wise people have told us, the most important lesson we can teach Hazel is that her parents love each other. So even though she is only 2 months old, when we were offered an opportunity to attend an overnight marriage retreat, we jumped at the chance. Okay, "we" is a bit off. James jumped at the chance, and I had to be dragged away from my precious baby, kicking and screaming.

A wonderful coworker, who is the oldest of 6 girls, volunteered to spend 24+ hours with Hazel. Yes, she is quite a brave one to offer to stay overnight with a newborn! About two days before the marriage retreat, I had decided we weren't going to do this, that it was just too much trouble for this poor lady to watch Hazel all by herself. What if she couldn't swaddle her just so? What if there wasn't enough milk in the freezer? What if Hazel pooped all over her? But luckily, James convinced me to re-change my mind, and off we went. We also had two other wonderful ladies volunteer to help the last 12 hours of the retreat, so we were responsibility-free for 36 hours.

That night was horrible for me! I am not exaggerating when I say I slept about 4 hours that night. I was so worried about Hazel! It was pretty ridiculous, too. Sometime around 1 or 2 in the morning, I woke up my sleeping husband in a panic. "What if Laura covered Hazel's face with a blanket?!" I practically screeched. Yes, feel free to laugh, I am laughing typing this. I mean, who would ever cover a baby's face with a blanket? Let alone the super responsible oldest sister of 6 kids! But at that point, I could not be reassured. To calm my tears (yes, I was crying over this!), James finally grabbed his phone and said he was going to call Laura to make sure she didn't cover Hazel's face with a blanket. I started crying harder and told him not to, because Laura would surely think we were crazy. Even through my tears I knew that of course no one would be that stupid.

I was dying to see Hazel all night. I would picture her face and longed to rock her. I just knew she hadn't slept well, and poor Laura was cursing the day she agreed to watch Hazel. Finally it was 8am, and so we called Laura. Turns out, Hazel only woke up once during the night, and of course everyone was fine. No one had been pooped on, no one's head had been covered with a blanket. Just as everyone had tried to tell me, I had nothing to worry about.

I still think it may have been a bit too early for my fragile new mother heart to stay away from my baby, but at least now the next time around won't be near as bad! And the retreat? Soooo worth it!

Hazel-less at a romantic Valentine's dinner.

playing with daddy

My mom jokes that James didn't just have a daughter, he also had a playmate.


Before she was born, he saw there was a free Sesame Street download on iTunes. He downloaded it, probably picturing himself doing something just like this. It doesn't matter that she has no clue what's going on - she's getting some quality time in with Daddy.


Here they are, watching the Super Bowl live. That's one way to see the positive side to the early mornings! She wasn't too happy though - guess she was a Patriots fan.


This is my favorite! They're flying!


The look on her face cracks me up! She looks so into it.

hickory dickory dock

My best friend Sarah's little boy used to be fascinated by the ceiling fan. Hazel has a fascination too, but not with the fan - at least not yet. She coos, smiles, and does a little half-laugh at it. She stares so hard at it that it's near impossible to nurse her in the living room because she just can't turn her head away from it. If I ever need her to entertain herself for a few minutes, I sit her in her chair facing it. Just what is it that holds so much fascination?

sleep questions

We're having a few sleep issues, and I'd love some advice, tips, and input.

Some of you will be sickened to hear this, but pretty much from day 1 Hazel has slept through the night. Usually she'll wake up once between 3-6am, but that's always for less than an hour and then goes back to sleep until at least 7am. So in that way, we are extremely lucky. I am so grateful for her night time sleeping, and it makes all the uncertainties throughout the day that much easier to deal with because I'm well-rested.

The problem we are having is that she doesn't nap. I mean, literally, not even a 10 minute nap. That is unless we hold her. She'll cry, rub at her eyes, and fall asleep in our arms, but as soon as we lay her in her crib, she wakes up and screams. We've tried the 10 minute cry it out method, we've tried checking her diaper and feeding her method. She will sleep for a long nap if I take her out in the sling, so that is helpful for when I run errands. But am I creating a bad habit? Those of you with children, did any of yours not nap? Did they begin to nap? Did you have any tricks? I know some babies just don't nap, but I can tell not only is she tired but she's incredibly cranky throughout the day without a nap, and I end up having to hold her pretty much her entire awake time because otherwise she fusses.

Also, what time did you put your babies to bed? Hazel usually begins winding down about 6:30pm, and ends up in bed around 7pm after her bedtime ritual. This seems awfully early to me, but we've tried keeping her up later and she's a beast. I'd love for her to sit with us for dinner and then we put her down, but we end up rushing through dinner because she's screaming the whole time.

So - any advice is appreciated because we are newbies! We love hearing from other parents, and the hope is we'll even pick up a tip or two that makes a difference.

2 months!

In January, Hazel had a few firsts and milestones! She started smiling, cooing, grasping, and holding her head steady! She also had several special moments, including her first time to church, first trip, and becoming an American citizen.

Hazel gained 1 lb, 7 oz. She's now 10 lbs, 12 oz, which means she's finally grown larger than her daddy's birth weight, but hasn't quite reached her Uncle Stephen's birth weight of 11 lbs, 9 oz. He was a chunk, and Nana was a champ!!

2007 in pictures

This is continued from the other blog. These are my top 5 favorite pictures from 2007, mainly because they sum up my 2007. Well...no picture can fully depict morning sickness and aching joints. But fortunately, 2007 was more to me than just pregnancy. Otherwise, that would have been 9 long months of waiting!


5. This is just a fun picture from Thailand, that I think is a great picture of us, one of the last before Hazel's life was created. And I love the flower and fruit design which really made the picture.


4. This picture was from Paris, and I chose it over the one of us smooching in front of the Eiffel Tower because I think this shot captures our time in Paris perfectly. Every day, we rolled out onto the streets of Paris in a big group, slightly chaotic and ready for action. And of course, most of my favorite people in the world are in the picture (or taking it :).


3. This picture isn't spectacular, but it's from my favorite day in Venice. James and I rode bikes all over the island of Lido, stopping to step in the Mediterranean, take pictures, and explore. And we found this great restaurant tucked out of the way that had my favorite meal of the trip - a seafood lasagna. Mmm, my mouth is watering with the memory!


2. This picture of James is awesome. It was taken moments after Hazel arrived, and he ran out to yell to our awaiting friends (and really, anyone who crossed his path), "I'm a dad!" Andrea captured it perfectly. Thanks for that, Andrea!


1. I absolutely love how happy and clueless we look! I can still remember perfectly what I felt when at that moment, we first were able to hold our baby. Our family of 2 grew to 3, and besides my wedding day, I have never been more happy.

hazel's first trip!

First passport at 5 weeks old, first international trip at 7 weeks old! She slept pretty much the whole flight (not that it was a long one...a little over 2 hours).

Here's the little traveler all bundled up, ready to face the cold weather in Kathmandu, Nepal.

And then every time we ventured out, she promptly fell asleep! Here we are shopping in their very hippie-ish market.

We met these shopkeepers through an American friend. The younger one, had us sit and drink tea with them as we shopped. The older man just smiled and laughed the whole time, and Hazel slept some more.

So the last day, when we realized she wasn't going to stay awake outside, we each took a picture with her in the hotel room to prove she was actually in Nepal.
Something really funny to us is how common it is for complete strangers to come up to us, squeeze on her face, and ask to hold her. Sometimes, people will just walk up, squeeze her cheeks, and walk off! It's the funniest thing. It's been mainly Asians - Indians love babies. (I guess they'd have to - there are a billion of them! :) And some Japanese grandmas on the flight with us could not get enough of her. They kept covering her head with the blanket, told me she was hungry, giggled over her, kept asking to peek at her through the sling, and oohed and ahhed. It was so sweet.

leaving for a bit

We're headed to Nepal for a week. I realized before she's 6 months old, she'll have been in 3 different countries. She's a much cooler baby than I was, that's for sure! Since Mimi and Nana will have to wait awhile to get their daily Hazel fixes, I'll post some recent pics of her that I like.

And please remember us as we are going there to get Hazel's visa to return to India. We'd love for it to go as smoothly as possible!

thank goodness for the happy sauce

We stubbornly fought the official term. Oh no, not our precious baby. Sometime around the first of the year, though, we finally let down our pride and realized that yes, Hazel has colic.

My name is Emily and I have a colicky baby.


But then...oh but then we found out about Colicaid. Literally upon the first usage, we saw a transformation.

She became a completely different baby - cooing, smiling, and not crying for no reason. James calls it the Happy Sauce.

She plays with us now, and we melt. I love having a happy, gas pain-free baby girl!

gardens

We had a fun day yesterday! Nana wanted to see these beautiful gardens we have here that are filled with historic buildings, and I always love going for walks through parks. We remembered there is this really nice restaurant next to the gardens that you sit outside. They even have these tent areas to eat in, not to mention how tasty their food is. I am beginning to think Middle Eastern food is my favorite. And of course the big pillows you sit on made it the perfect place to take a baby!



After lunch we walked through the gardens for about an hour. We discovered that Hazel LOVES looking outward. It was a big 'duh!' moment for us. She was so happy all day. What a great little girl!!