Three [and a half] months

Jane is 3 months and some odd weeks old now and I feel like I'm finally getting the hang of it and feeling a bit more settled in to my new life.

Being a parent is so much harder than I ever could have imagined. It is literally a 24 hour job. And the worrying, holy cow, I don't think there is a second that goes by that I don't worry about this sweet little girl. I do a lot of praying for peace these days in my attempt not to become a crazy, overprotective parent.

Jane is a healthy, thriving little girl. She is packing on the pounds (up to almost 14lbs., which means this little chunk has nearly doubled in weight since birth!) She has found her feet and her hands and can often be found holding her feet, even when she sleeps. She loves looking a herself in the mirror and coos all the time. I just love her sweet little voice. She's holding her head up really well and can sit up for a while when propped up by pillows. It is SO much fun watching her learn and grow. She is soaking up the world around her like a little sponge and it is just so cool.

Jane was born with a port wine stain birthmark on her left cheek, chin, and neck. Port wine stains often change in texture and deepen in color with age, so we met with a pediatric dermatologist and decided to treat it. We started her laster treatments yesterday in Birmingham and our sweet little girl was such a trooper. Mom and Dad took it much harder than she did, hah. Every month for the next 7-10 months we'll be doing the laser treatment. The birthmark turns dark purple after the treatment for 1-2 weeks. I wasn't planning on talking much about her birthmark or our decision to treat it, but since the treatment is a visible process I figured it would be better to fill everyone in. :-)

And now for some pictures!

Our little chunk! 

Kevin's mom stopped by to meet Jane!

Aunt Tammy getting good snuggles from Libby and Jane.

We stopped by the brewery on our way out of Birmingham.

California Dreamin'

Jane, my mom, and I recently went to California for a fabulous 10 day trip.

Unfortunately Daddy-O had to sit this trip out. After all, someone's gotta earn the moolah, right?

I was more than a bit nervous about traveling with the Little One and actually almost cancelled the whole trip two days before we were set to leave. Jane had one of her bad days, like REALLY bad, like so bad she screamed from 9am-9pm (no joke) kind of days. I knew once we got to California it would be fine, but I was just really scared about the flight. I didn't want to be the passenger with the screaming infant. But after a lot of prayer from a lot of people I decided to go. I'm so glad I did. Jane was amazing on the plane. She was super happy the whole flight. And I was the proud Mamma who got to prove everyone on the flight wrong.

When we walked up to the gate you could see the fear in everyone's eyes. I could almost hear the passengers saying, "Don't stop here, don't stop here!" I know I've said that before, especially before my long overseas flights. So we board the plane, we're in a bulk head seat with room for three. My mom was busy taking pictures of me and sweet Jane to document her first trip and from behind, my mom heard a man say, "Oh s***." (Rude, right?) He was the one sitting next to us and he was less than pleased to be on a flight with a baby, let alone in the same row. He was the main one I was determined to prove wrong and I'm so glad we did!

Anyways, enough about the flight.

Normally when we go to California we ALWAYS squeeze in a trip to San Francisco - one of my absolute favorite places on Earth - or do some wine tasting in Napa or drive down the coast to Carmel and Monterey, but this trip was different. This trip was all about family. Basically all of my mom's family lives in northern California in the Sacramento area. My grandparents, my aunt and uncles (my mom has 1 sister and 3 brothers), my cousins and their kids, my great aunts and great uncles, and so on and so on.

In addition to introducing Jane to the famiglia it was Weezie's (Grandma Louise, my mom's mom) 75th birthday. That made the trip even more worth it. I absolutely loved the time to spend with my amazing family. I'm so blessed to have all of them in my life!

I could go on an on about all the details of the trip, but instead I'll leave you with some pictures and videos.

Ready to go!

Knocked out...finally.

Discovering Baby Einstein with Weezie.

Me, Kara & Jane

Uncle Noah and Jane

At Noah's house

Mariah and Jane

4 generations

Grandpa Ben & Jane

Jane's first trip to a museum!

Visiting Mariah at her job at the museum. (We're a proud family! Can you tell?)

Paul & Jane

Trying to roll over!

Saying Goodbye

To those not part of the Auburn family they were just trees. But to those who bleed orange and blue the trees were part of the family.

Some of my first (and favorite) memories of Auburn after moving here in 1996 were of rolling the trees. And, at every life milestone I wanted a picture of me at the trees...high school graduation, college graduation, getting engaged, getting married, having a baby. Don't ask me why, I just thought it was important to have my old friends in the pictures.

So today I'm sad.

I'm sad that my little girl won't be able to roll the oaks after watching an Auburn game with her Daddy.

I'm sad that she won't be able to take pictures with the trees at her big milestones.

I'm sad that this is the end of a beautiful tradition that was uniquely Auburn.

I walked downtown with my sweet Jane to say goodbye to the oaks that have called the corner home since forever.

Downtown was quiet. Eerily quiet. It was incredibly depressing. I got there just after both trunks had been cut down. All I could think was, "Damn, this sucks."

Now the trees are gone.

Life will continue.

New traditions will be made.

But, every time I take Jane to Toomer's corner I'll have to remind her that once upon a time two beautiful oaks stood there and we used to cover them with toilet paper. She'll think it is strange and I have no doubts that she will whine about having to hear stories from her dorky parents. But, I will tell her anyways and I'm sure I will still take hundreds of pictures of her at my favorite corner.

Anatomy of a Photo Shoot

Okay moms and dads, I'm sure you can relate. Getting that "perfect" picture of your little one is not an easy task. [I know they are all perfect, but I'm talking about the ones where they look angelic and have that sweet little baby smile] I rarely snap the photo quick enough. So even though the pictures are far from "perfect," they end up being some of my favorites. From Jane's expressions to her crazy and sometimes inappropriate gestures they make me laugh over and over.

In this latest photo shoot I was trying to get a smiling picture of Jane on her 12 week birthday. I took over 26 and my silly girl was done. She'd had enough. The last picture says it all...hah.

Two Months

Better late than never, right?

Last Monday sweet Jane had her 2 month well baby check up and got her first round of immunizations. 4 shots and one oral vaccine. Poor thing.

Jane is doing great growth wise. She is already 23 inches long and weighs 10 pounds 11 ounces.

I'm still mourning the loss of dairy in my diet, but Jane is like a whole new baby without it. Seriously, the difference is crazy.

We didn't make it to church for Jane's first Easter. I was told something was dairy-free at a restaurant on Saturday, but apparently it was cooked with butter...errr. So sweet Jane had a rough night and morning. There was going to be no going any where that required her to not be screaming. It is just so, so frustrating.

Despite the dairy, we did have a great Easter weekend. Jim's aunt, uncle and cousin from Memphis were in town. It was so great to see them. On Saturday we took Jane to the lake house for the first time. It was a beautiful day, boats were out and even a few brave souls wake boarding...brrr. On Sunday my sister and Dustin came to town and we had a lovely afternoon and enjoyed a tasty meal that my mom cooked.

In other news, my last day working for Auburn University was Friday. I decided I needed to take time to focus on raising my little girl and focus on my jewelry business. If you would have told me a year ago that in a year I would have a baby and be a stay-at-home mom I would have laughed at you and told you you're crazy. But, life is just funny like that. :-)

In about a week and a half we're headed to California so Jane can meet the rest of my family. Poor Jim has to stay here and work so it will just be me, Jane and my mom. I'm a little nervous about flying with Jane. It is about a 5 hour flight and I really don't want to be that person. You know, the one with a baby that screams the whole flight...oh well. I'm so excited to see my family and for all of them to meet our sweet baby girl!

Here are some snap shots and a video from the past month:

Hanging out in the mamaRoo. Best thing in the entire world.

She thinks it is funny that she just tinkled everywhere
while I was changing her. hah.

Bath time!

Aunt Laura came to visit and Libby had to get in on the snuggles too!