Month Three

According to the charts, you aren’t an infant anymore.  You’re a baby.  And that’s how you’ll stay the rest of your life. These medical charts measure your weight and height, and reached milestones. And just as I suspected, you’re perfect in every way; not too big, not too small, and a legitimate genius.  

      Every new mom is told how beautiful/smart/cute their new baby is, but you better get used to it Bird, because you’ll be hearing it for the rest of your life.  Month three has been a whirlwind of changes.  You smile not because it’s a mimicked emotion anymore, but because you want to smile. Add your laugh on top of that, and you completely melt your momma’s heart every time. You know and love your family better than anyone else, but your best friend is definitely the lady at Benedicts; you just can’t resist her big pink sweater.

      I’ve never put you on a schedule; I waited for you do that all on your own.  Wake up at 7:30am, nap a 9:00 for an hour(ish), up for the afternoon until 3:00, sleep, maybe (maybe) another catnap around 5:00, and then out for the night at 9:00. This goes like clockwork and round and round it goes.  You know your hands all too well, and it’s a rarity they aren’t in your mouth. But now you’ve discovered grabbing your shirt and shoving that in there as well.  And when the shirt wasn’t enough, you found your toes…and you also discovered that they too fit in your mouth. Tummy time is unnecessary, for you’ve been holding your head up since day one.  But now you can full support your body weight and then some. You sleep on your side just like daddy, and you cross your legs right over left just like me. You only wake up twice at night (two and five am). You sleep with us every night, right in the middle. Daddy sleeps so close to the edge and I’m up constantly checking on you. I want you with me always; the bassinet across the room is just too far.  Everyone says I’m in for trouble…and I’m sure they’re right, which is why we’re working on napping in the crib. You love the freedom. I still check on you constantly.

      It’s been three months, yet I feel like I’ve never lived without you.  I can’t get enough of you, but more so, neither can your dad.  Christmas time is more magical than ever. We share with you the music, the smells, tastes, and love of the season. You have no sense of the celebrations, but you love the lights on the tree.  You’ve mainly worn red and green this entire month because I feel like you need to be festive. Always.  You’re still so young, but it’s the dreams of Christmases to come that excite your dad and me more than anything.

      Tragedy struck this month in a small town, much like ours, in Connecticut. I want you to know that I’ve never hugged you tighter, loved you harder, or stared at you longer than ever before.  You have the world in your hands and every open road at your feet.  We live in a world of doubt, but put your trust in God and you’ll always be sure of your intentions. I promise to do everything in my power to lead you down the path the Lord has intended for you.  I love you my Bird. 

·      

                  It’s more than just hair or eye colors that make up your genetics…your love for sports was passed down on both sides.  You will sit and watch football and basketball forever. You love the fast motions and the commentator’s voice.

        It was a cold December morning, and we decided to stay in bed all day. I love taking naps with you, and you sleep so much better when you’re being cuddled.
   

               For the first month, mornings were a hard time for you.  You would get mad if  we stayed in bed too long. That’s when we discovered your amusement in windows. Now, our mornings are my favorite time. It’s constant smiles, giggles, and squirming all morning.

 

It Is Upon Us

Oh the weather outside is frightful

but the fire is so delightful

and since we've no place to go

  

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

The Fairest Of Them All

Once upon a time there was a Princess named Lilly.  The Princess and her family ruled the Kingdom of Clarkland.

This princess had a magical power.  Whenever she smiled, she instantly made everyone in the Kingdom smile too. 

But one morning, Princess Lilly woke up without her smile.  The whole town was sad.  If the Princess didn't smile, no one would smile ever again.

The townsfolk tried everything to make her laugh. Princess Lilly tried and tried, but she could only make silly faces. 

They began to wonder if she would ever smile again.

The Princess was so sad she cried some more, making the whole town even more sad.

Until Queen Momma kissed her on the cheek and told her “No matter how happy or sad you may be, you will always make me smile.”  

 

And that made the Princess smile.

The end. 

Month Two

You can fit your entire fist in your mouth...it scares me a little bit.

Nana was holding you one night while you were sleeping.  "I want to take you and run away to an island, where I will rock you and sing to you forever." She said.  It melted my heart to visibly see the strongest bond between you two. 

You wore a Dallas Cowboys onsie for Thanksgiving.  

Auntie shared the chocolate frosting off her cupcake with you. You loved it. 

We went to the "Witches Festival" Halloween celebration. I thought you would love the sights and colors. Instead, you slept through the whole thing.

Your love for windows and the boys increases every day, but the bathroom has lost its appeal.  

You enjoy the winter; you like cold weather and watching the fire. 

You can't keep the pacifier in your mouth, but you like to help me hold it for you. 

Driving Miss Lilly

I'm still just as smitten by this little one as I was the day we brought her home.  She soaks up this world faster than a submerged sponge.  Her eyes are always on alert, using her toes, her tongue and everything in between as feelers to learn her new world.  

We've felt the wind on our face duh, we live in Wyoming, the sand on our toes, it's more of a dirt consistency and we've danced the night away at the best of concerts mom, dad and aunty don't really count but they try their best. 

We've cheered for football games, laughed at silly faces, made silly faces in return, baked almost every recipe involving pumpkin, watched Nana play tennis, helped Grandpa build a chicken coop, pooped on Aunty, did a couple modeling shoots, spent some time with cousin Ryan, and can sometimes take a nap alone.  

Oh, and drove a pink car.

November has been productive. 

Just A Few

Just a few things I’ve come to realize…

1.     The sacrifices I thought I made to have a child no longer seem like sacrifices.

2.     I respect my body.

3.     I respect my parents and love them in a completely new way.

4.     I find my baby’s pain feels much worse than my own.

5.     I believe once again in the things I believed in as a child.

6.     I’m constantly thinking of someones all day instead of somethings.

7.     Every day is a surprise.

8.     I look at my baby in the mirror instead of myself.

9.     I have become a morning person.

10.  My love has become limitless, as if a superhuman power.

11.  I don’t mind going to bed a 9pm on a Friday night.

12.  I realized that those 15 pounds I can’t seem to get rid of are totally worth having.

13.  I’ve discovered an inner strength I never thought I had.

14.  Where I was once afraid, I am now fearless. And where I was once fearless, I’m now afraid.

15.  Showering is a luxury.

16.  I’ve realized the love you can have for a complete stranger.

17.  The support I get from my family.

18.  Watching my husband become a father and feeling my love for him grow.

19.  If I didn’t believe in love at first sight before, I do now.

20.  I can have the most wonderful conversation using only vowel sounds.

Just a few things I don’t want to forget…

1.     My first word when I saw you was “baby”.

2.     How my mom had to tell me to touch you when they placed you on me. I was just in awe.

3.     Your daddy never left your side at the hospital.

4.     I found out your weight and length via facebook.

5.     You spent the first three weeks constantly in my arms.

6.     You learned to smile at four weeks.

7.     You like to sleep on your side.

8.     If you’re not sleeping, you have to be moving.

9.     Your favorite room is the bathroom. You love the shower curtain, the wall, and running water.

10.  You love the dancing flower to entertaining you during diaper changes. 

Birds Eye View

Every baby wears a Halloween costume, right? Wrong…mom didn’t dress me up. Some lame excuse like I was sleeping and she didn’t want to wake me up. I guess my dress was pretty cute though (not as cute as the Dallas Cowboys cheerleader I was supposed to be).  Halloween would have been a bit more interesting if I hadn’t of fallen asleep so early. I try so hard to stay awake and hang out but sometimes I just can’t help myself. I think I need more of a social life. 

Anyway, I’m six weeks or something and I’m pretty good at being a baby, or so I hear. I do all the regulars like eat, sleep and poop, but what I’m best at is making those big people smile.  I’m a pretty funny kid; I’m not going to lie.

So, I do this really cool “witching hour” thing, where I cry for a couple hours straight in the evening.  At first I did it because I hated watching the evening news (boring), but now I do it because it’s funny watching the bigs try all these ridiculous things to make me stop.  Bouncing on the bed is by far my favorite.  Once they even put me in this swing thing to try and fool me.  Nice try guys- like I can’t tell the difference between your arms and a hard plastic chair.  Jeeze.  Really though, it’s all my mom’s fault…she holds me all the time so when they put me down, I do what I gotta do to get what I want.  But for the past week or so I figured I’d cut them a break. So I cut back on the crying and just chill with them on the couch. It’s not so bad.

Rumor has it that most babies cry during the night; not I. I’ll stick to doing my thing around dusk and let the bigs sleep during no light time. If it works for them, it works for me.  I also hear that this eating thing can have its fair share of challenges too. But I just love that stuff too much to have any problems…except the gas thing. Not so cool. You know what is cool though? Showers. Showers are definitely cool.  Sure, baths were fun at first but showers…oh man. Now that’s something I could do all day.  Know what else I could do all day? Cuddle.

What else about me? I’m kind of bald on top, but they tell me I have long red hair in the back. I hear my daddy tell my momma how pretty she is, but I’m pretty sure he likes the short, chubby, bald type best. I am also very strong. I could hold my head up from the beginning and my grip is something fierce.  And word on the street is I’m a pretty good pooper.

So life on the outside isn’t so bad. I mean, I have a family that thinks I’m pretty swell, a 24 hour buffet, and all the attention a kid could ask for.  I’m digging this baby thing. 

Oh, and I make the best faces you ever did see.

Trial and Error

So, I sat down to write a blog about something funny, entertaining, or informative that has happened recently in my life.  But then I realized that all of my funny, entertaining, or informative stories are about the baby. And trust me, I love talking and sharing pictures of Lilly, but my biggest fear is becoming one of those moms who ONLY posts funny, entertaining, or informative stories about their children. It’s annoying and frankly no one cares.  But guess what? I’m a stay-at-home mom and that’s all I have to talk about. She’s all I want to talk about anyway.   

So here’s my funny, entertaining, and/or informative story.

 

(Disclaimer: the following is not guaranteed to be any of the above mentioned, but please keep reading)

Becoming a new mom is filled with the unknown and the unpredictable.  The unknown and unpredictable didn’t necessarily evolve around parenting skills, or the lack thereof, because maternal instincts kicked in pretty strong for me, but more so it consisted of the common sense things most moms learn from books….that I didn’t happen to read.

Lesson one: Car Seat Catastrophe

Three months before my due date I had Brent install the car seat…”just in case”, I said.  I wanted to be prepared for anything, and we were.  I retook my infant CPR class, read every instruction manual to every bouncer, swing, and crib.  I practiced changing diapers and using the suction bulb on my poor dogs.  I was going to be the world’s best mom…if only I knew how to get her out of the car.

 Four days old, and my mom and I took Lilly to Wal-Mart with us.  Diaper back was fully stocked and her tummy was full, nothing could go wrong.  We pull into the parking lot, get out of the car, and I proceed to walk to the store…yup, without my child. Luckily, mom was already attempting to unload her car seat and hadn’t noticed my abandonment.   Turns out, neither my mom nor I knew how exactly to remove the car seat from the base. I think I pushed every button and pulled every strap trying to get her out of the car. Doesn’t sound too bad, right? As I call my husband to have him tell me step by step how to do it I notice the lady with a daughter, two year old twins, and an infant who happened to be parked next to us watching the entire ordeal, oh and the person stopped behind us thinking they were waiting for our parking space.  I’m sure child protection services were on speed dial as they watched in disgust.  No worries folks, we go her out. Though she might have been better off staying in the car, since I put her upside down in the shopping cart.  Mom of the year, folks.

Lesson two:  Clean Up on Isle 4

Just ‘cause your boobs stop leaking for a day, doesn't mean you’re safe to leave your house without nursing pads.  The cute ladies at my local grocery story have been pretty involved in my pregnancy since the beginning.  From the moment they knew we were pregnant, they offered every kind of advice from birth plans, parenting advice, and yes, even how different our sex life will be.  So, when I waltzed proudly around Benedicts with my baby in tote, it took a good 20 minutes for one of my trusted ladies to take me hand in hand to the baby isle.  She grabbed a box of nursing pads from the top shelf and started telling me all about “milk let-down” and “leaking”.  I listened intently pretending she was teaching me something I didn't already know.  And when she opened the box and handed me two pads right there in the middle of the store, it was only then I noticed my increasingly milk covered shirt. Nursing pads: don’t leave home without ‘em!

Lesson three:  Belly button rings don’t hide stretch marks. 

I didn’t get stretch marks until my last month of pregnancy, but now I don’t have my ginormous belly to disguise them.  My body did an incredible job at returning to its pre-pregnancy state and I have to say I lucked out; I could wear my regular jeans two days after delivery. I was feeling pretty good about myself, big boobs and a flat(ish) tummy…heck yes! Standing in front of the mirror in the buff was a different story. I was feeling a little down about the zebra on my stomach.  My solution? Since my belly button ring was cute before, it will most definitely make me feel sexy now! Wrong-o.  Stretch marks with a glitzed out navel doesn’t exactly scream “mommy dearest”.  I’ll embrace the cocoa butter and hope for bikini season next year.

 

I’ve been doing the mom thing for a month now, and I’m loving every second of it.  She smiles almost as much as she poops, and she brings as much joy as McDonalds did during pregnancy. 

Flew the Coop

Normal: nor-mal

Adjective/Noun-

  Conforming to a standard. Usual, typical, or expected. The usual, average, or typical state or condition.

…Since when has anything we’ve done been normal?

I think the most unusual, atypical, and unexpected thing about this whole ordeal is actually how “normal” it really was. 

Lilly “the Bird” Anne Clark landed safely at 1:21pm on September 14, 2012.  Weighing in at 7lb 15oz and 20in long.  A far cry from the 12 pound albatross we were originally expecting.  Delivery went just about as perfect as the pregnancy. Though, next time I think I’ll skip the contractions and just get to the cute baby part.  But I survived a whole 9 centimeters before hunting down the anesthesiologist and getting an epidural.  Within 4 hours of induction, out she pops, does the whole crying thing- so do I (and the rest of the family), Daddy cuts the cord, and within those five minutes my whole world was changed by the most amazing little bird ever.

Usual would be coming home to a calm and quiet house, greeting the unknown with open arms.  Typical would be a crying baby and scared parents with no one but Google to solve their problems.  Expected would be repetitive diaper changes, sleepless nights, and the feeling that failure might be around every corner.

But normal is just not our style.

We came home to our entire family; greeting us with open arms, leaving the unknown to worry about later. And with full construction on our house complete with saw, drills, and hammers, “calm and quiet” was somewhere between Timbuktu and B.F.E.  Google was saved for recipe suggestions and window installation instructions, and all my questions, concerns, and inquiries were directed to my personal live-in nurses; who just happen to be my mom, mother-in-law, and grandmother.  The only thing around every corner was someone ready to help out with the diaper changes and swing shifts to insure the chance failure was as slim as our chance as “calm and quiet”.

So now I’m home alone and I keep waiting for the fear to set in, for the unknown to catch up, and the anxiety to get the best of me.  But it hasn’t and it won’t.  Not because of anything I’ve done, but because of the support system I have at my beckon call. I have a husband who has taken on an extra role of perfect daddy all the while stays in his armor as Prince Charming. The men who became Grandpas who are more than willing to change diapers and wipe away tears. And the two young ladies who completed the circle of life and became Grandmas - they seem to have all the right answers at all the right times. They have all been here to help with whatever we need, right when we need it. I am so blessed. They have given me the strength and encouragement to be the best mom that they have always taught me to be. I love you all!   Thank you. 

It's Still What Fun Is

Pop hates nothing more than large crowds and motion sickness, my mom doesn't do well with heights and roller coasters, I'm extremely pregnant, and Brent wasn't too ecstatic about riding everything solo. So, of course a trip to Lagoon sounded like a totally awesome idea. I share the love of everything that is Lagoon with Brent, but my participation level was at a minimum this year.  (Apparently it's highly frowned upon to even contemplate riding  "Wicked" the roller coaster in my current condition.) So, here we are, a family of 4 defunct amusement park participants wondering around "sight seeing".  All until my mom decided she thought the Tilt-a-Whirl looked fun and Pop found the Slurpee vendor.  After a couple of dare-devil acts from my mom, the Ferris Wheel was the only thing I allowed on my list, so it was our next logical choice in the ride line-up.  

We all know my moms love for heights and it only seemed fitting that the Ferris Wheel break down while we are dead center on the top.  Just under an hour later, a mental break down or two, and my pop announcing to the mechanics down below that I'm in labor, we unloaded and away we went to the rest of our adventures.  Brent's one and only request of the evening was to ride the Catapult. Anyone remember my catapult adventure a few years back? Let me remind you of my death defying experience... read it here.

Well, party pooper Pop hadn't shown any interest in anything except the food vendors. But I kept noticing his special interest in the Catapult.  He spent half the day while Mom and Brent were on rides analyzing how it worked and what it did.  So, as Brent is getting ready to buy his ticket, Pop pipes up and announces he's going to participate in the 3.5 G-force, 200 foot ball of death.  Oy-vey.  The only rational thing I could tell Brent was to please make sure Pop keeps conscience throughout the entire ride.  They both had a blast, as expected, and Pop even let out a hoot and a holler at the top of the ride. Proof is on the video posted on Facebook.  Those men.  

I am so proud of Mom and Pop for a. letting us drag them to Lagoon in the first place and B. participating in the things I thought the left in the their younger years.  I seriously have the coolest 'rents. 

Augtember.

For a more detailed assessment of the current happenings, check out my Facebook...which I also fail to update regularly because sitting home catching up on Law and Order reruns keeps me too busy to do much else. Heh...heh... 

Since my last sporadic appearance, Rendezvous has come and gone and Lilly is still nesting, quite comfortably apparently.  So, I'm sitting here curled up to the best of my ability on my comfy chair hoping for my water to break at any moment.  Hoping is how I spend most of my days...hoping and bouncing away on my exercise ball. It can only help, right? Right. Bring on the Castor oil. Not.

Bird is still measuring 2 weeks ahead of schedule. Trust me, I'm in no hurry for her to get here if she's not done cooking, so we'll continue to wait.  But on the flip side, if she thinks it's funny to weigh eight and a half pounds at 37 weeks, she's got another thing coming. 

We had a rather eventful August.

 A baby shower, a fire, a birthday, and a trip to Lagoon. 

My best friend Sadie and my Momma certainly know how to throw a shin-dig.  They threw me a rocking baby shower complete with family, friends, and food...and perhaps the most promiscuous pregnant belly cake ever.  It was all perfect. All until the Jordanelle State Park decided to catch on fire. It made for an eventful closure to the evening watching the bomber planes drop in to fight the fire. All's well that ends well. 

 

My beautiful Momma celebrated her second anniversary of her 32nd birthday in August, and we did a lot of relaxing, a lot of eating, and a lot of laughing. Much like our usual visits, but it was a special day anyway.  I hope she had a good day.  

If anyone ever tells you that a trip to Lagoon, on an August day, 8 months pregnant is a good idea....they're totally right.  Although, I might be the only person encouraging such activities because everyone thought I was crazy.  I'm not sure when the day went from casual to pure insanity, but it was absolutely hysterical.  


September has brought a lot of walking, bike rides, and bumpy car rides.  All in hopes to convince Lilly to vacate her current residence and make her appearance.  I'm having fun nesting in the real world; making hair bows, sewing, and baking yummy goodness like a good house wife does. Reality is, a lot of my days barley consist of makeup and/or a bra.