Memories, Milestones, and Motherhood: Month 1

I suppose this post should be written...seeing as we're coming up on her 2-month birthday next week TODAY. :)

Annie was born at 12:42AM on Sunday. The next couple days in the hospital were quiet and relaxing. One of my friends came to visit and so did Tucker's great-aunt who lives 20 minutes away, but besides that, we spent our time sleeping and eating and snuggling. We were lucky that one of the chairs pulled out into a bed so Tucker got to stay with us the entire time, too. Late Monday afternoon, we were finally released to go home where the sleeping-eating-snuggling routine continued. The blessing about Tucker working early mornings is that he can be home most of the day with me so we quickly fell into a lazy restful pattern.

My family drove up the next day (actually, the car broke down in Kanab, so they didn't get here til Wednesday...) for the 4th of July weekend and to meet the baby. It was a little crazy having all of them come over to our little apartment, but it was nice to spend time with them and be able to get some good dinner each night. Tucker's parents came up a few days later for a relative's wedding, and we were able to spend the 4th of July with them and the rest of my father-in-law's family.

Even before Annie was born, I knew I didn't want to be a paranoid mom who never leaves the house until the baby is two months old. In fact, the morning after she was born, we took her to the brand-new Walmart Neighborhood Market by our house to fill my prescriptions, and we put her in the stroller for a walk in the sunshine that afternoon. Strangers were nice and didn't try to touch her (except for a 90 yr old lady who patted her back at a community choir concert I went to when she was 2 weeks old), and we made sure visitors washed up before holding her. But I definitely haven't kept her quarantined, and she's never once been sick.

When Annie was 3 weeks old, my Papa died unexpectedly. Luckily, we were able to make it down for the funeral so she got to go on her first plane ride. And she was SO good. Slept the ENTIRE time from right before boarding until the plane's engines shut off after landing. It was wonderful to have a few days at home so that more family could meet her.

Smitten uncles...

And naps with Grandma... :)

From Arizona, we drove to California with Tucker's dad for a week-long family reunion in Newport Beach. Grandma and Grandpa Brown saved up their timeshares so that the whole family could spend a week together. I'd been looking forward to it, but it wasn't quite as relaxing as I'd hoped. I was still healing so I couldn't get in the water at all. I'd looked forward to sitting on the beach and reading while Annie slept, but she needed a bit more attention than that. Once asleep, she has a hard time staying asleep, so it was a constant battle to get her down. It was fun to be around family but also a little overwhelming to not really have our own quiet space. It was really nice to get to sleep a few extra hours each morning while someone else took the baby, though. And all her aunts and uncles and cousins just love her. Can't blame 'em. :) In addition to the beach, we also went to the Pacific Aquarium and spent time shopping, exploring street fairs, and playing lots of games. It was really nice to get one good summer vacation in before school starts again.

Annie celebrated one month of life while we were there, and got more and more alert each day.

During her first month, she...

• Woke up every 2-3 hours to eat, and had a long, fussy stretch every night from midnight to about 4AM. Besides that, she slept great, so we just took lots of naps during the day.
• Hated burping and loved spitting up. A LOT. Still does, but she's gaining good weight.
• 2 week check-up: 7 lbs, 11 oz! Up from 6lbs, 13 oz at birth.
• Went on her first airplane!
• LOVES the shower.
• Visited Arizona and California.
• Went swimming with Dad!
• Smiled and giggled in her sleep.
• Finally figured out how to nurse with Mom sitting up. For the first week, she could only latch if I was laying down and she was laying on top of me.
• Blowouts! Almost every time she pooped no matter what brand of diaper we tried. We even tried going up a size, but it swamped her little body and she STILL pooped out.
• Went to church! We took her back the first week home from the hospital. I know some people can't do that, but I felt fine, and we just walked in a couple minutes late and left a couple minutes early to avoid crowds and didn't let anyone near her.
• Sucked her thumb when her hand and mouth happened to find each other.
• Learned to hold her head up by 3 weeks.
• Slept with Mom in Mom and Dad's bed. No worries, I'm a light sleeper. She's totally safe, and this is what worked best for us.
• Met all 4 grandparents, all aunts and uncles (except Layton in Chile), some great-aunts and uncles, and lots of cousins!

happy after a warm shower with Mom

found that thumb!

first plane ride!

warm AZ evening

snuggled up after swimming with Dad

meeting Auntie Eve

hanging out with cousin Jonah!
(he's 3 months older)

For me? Most days were good days, but we all know new moms are prone to mental break-downs. I definitely had a few of those. :) There were nights during those long middle-of-the-night stretches where she just would. not. sleep. and my exhausted and emotional self couldn't handle it. Tucker's willing to help if I ask, but I always felt bad since he has to get up for work at 3:30. There were nights, though, that she'd be crying, and I'd be frustrated, and he'd wake up and take her from me, and I'd just break down sobbing. And then she'd quiet down and finally sleep. Tucker joked that the best way to get her to stop crying was for me to start crying. Ha. ;) 

For the most part, things have been....not easy, but predictable. We know how to change diapers. We know how to get her dressed. We know how to put her in the car-seat and run errands. None of those things were new or stressful. What is new is just getting used to having this extra person in our family who is totally and completely dependent on us for every single little thing. It's exhausting, and I sometimes have a hard time feeling like this whole thing is as rewarding as people say. I suppose that will come in time though. After all, we do have her for the next couple decades. :) I definitely can say, though, that we love our teeny girl more than anything, and I know for certain that she was supposed to join us at the time she did even if it still throws me off a bit.

And I certainly wouldn't trade her snuggles for anything.

I Spy Paris, Part 1

Well............since I fly to Italy in the morning, I should probably blog about Paris two and half weeks ago, right? Sorry!

Three weeks ago now, I was feeling restless. I was sick of just going to work and getting burned out and then spending the weekend sleeping and doing laundry. I decided that regardless of whether my roommates wanted to come, I was going to Paris.

I started planning and looking at prices for buses, planes, trains, hostels, etc. After a couple days, my roommates realized I was serious and decided that even if they didn't care about seeing Paris, they'd rather come with me. So Friday evening, we found some cheap bus tickets for early the next morning, and booked a super sketchy hotel. Elise made a game-plan of places to see, Lindsey downloaded map apps, and by 6 AM the next morning, we were on the bus that would take us to Paris.

We arrived around 11 AM, and using the maps that our super awesome bus-driver Anton gave us for free, we began our trek around the city.

If I went into detail about how it really was, this post would be way too long. Basically, there was a lot of walking, a lot of metros, a lot of getting lost, a lot of very painful feet and joints, and a lot of really incredible, amazing things. :)

Rainy morning bus ride

I spy.....Paris.

I spy...Victor Hugo's house.
We didn't want to pay the money to go inside, but it was still cool to stop by.
Another one of his houses is a block away from me here in Brussels. 

I spy....a random old manor...

...with a pretty courtyard.

I spy....the Church of St. Paul and St. Louis
This is the church that Marius and Cosette are married in in Les Miserables. :)

I spy...the flying buttresses of Notre Dame.
(The corner shop is called Esmeralda...Victor Hugo popping up yet again.)

Cathedrals are my favorite. I've really had some amazing spiritual experiences in them. Notre Dame was amazing. I was tempted to walk through the aisles singing "God Help The Outcasts." :)

For lunch, I grabbed a tomato and mozzarella panini from a street vendor.
Delicious!!!
Elise just ate the waffles and Nutella she brought in her bag...

I spy with my little eye.......
THE one and only Eiffel Tower.
WAY cooler than the Las Vegas replica.

Lindsey and I paid for tickets to go all the way to the top while Elise sat below.
The view was TOTALLY worth it.

I spy.....Napoleon's Arch of Triumph.
I sat on a bench and had a bit of a melt-down, refusing to walk any more without resting my feet.
Worn out ankles, knees, and hips don't do so well after walking miles of cobblestone.

I spy..... Moulin Rouge.
I promise we didn't go in. :) We just swung by for pictures.

I spy......the Paris Opera House.
Like the one in Phantom of the Opera.
I so wish we could have gone inside!

I spy......really tired girls.
And this is what we looked like taking the metro to our hotel.
And then we walked around lost for an hour and a half until I confiscated the map and found our creepy hotel.

We proved that it is, in fact, possible to see Paris in one day.
But I really don't recommend attempting it. ;)

Fancy Food Friday

Oh, hey look! It's actually Friday this time! Bonus point for me!

I should probably devote my posts to something other than food....like our day-trip to Brugge a couple weekends ago or how I missed the coronation of the 7th king of Belgium because of my ridiculous insomnia problems or how we've booked flights down to Venice and Rome for my last full weekend here or that we're headed to Paris in the morning....

I'll post the stories and pictures later. Promise. 

Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures from our dinner Monday night. We were invited to dine at the house of our boss's colleague Patrizia, who has been volunteering her time to help us with our project. She and her husband are from Italy and are some of the nicest and most well-educated people I've ever met. Being Italian, of course, the "small pasta dinner" they promised was not exactly small.

We started with wine glasses full of apple juice, fizzy water, and regular water (not all at once, obviously). The first course was a delicious spaghetti plate.

Next, Andrea dished each of us a scoop of cold mashed potato, tuna, and caper salad 

as well as a delicious Greek cucumber and garlic salad. 

Once we finished with that (and we were already starting to feel full...), 

they brought out the bread and ratatouille. 

Dessert consisted of a raspberry chocolate cream cheese tort (cake) and a chocolate mousse tort,

and then we finished off the evening sipping mint herbal tea and having pleasant conversation. 

Such a lovely evening with such lovely people.

Besides that amazing meal, I mostly just eat potatoes. 

Except this blasted, muggy, sticky, Europe-doesn't-believe-in-air-conditioning, energy-draining heat has led me to discover something magical. 

We've been sticking everything we possibly can into the itty-bitty 5" x 6" x 12" freezer box in the top of our tiny refrigerator. So one day, I stuck a little cup of peach yogurt in there. A couple hours later, I pulled it out and scooped it onto a warm Belgian waffle dripping with gooey apricot jam. 

YOU GUYS!!!! 

Heaven. 

Absolute perfection. 

And dare I say it, better than Nutella. 

So this is my current obsession/daily, after-work snack. 

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM. :)

Fancy Food Friday

ok. So maybe it's Saturday now. But this was meant for Friday.

I've never been one of those people who sees a need to photograph everything they're eating.

But GUYS!

Food is so yummy!!!

Especially the stuff I've been making and eating lately.

I'm obsessed.

So enjoy and drool and go eat yummy food.

Authentic pomme (apple) scone, hand-made framboise (raspberry) gummies, and sugar-roasted almonds
from the medieval fair

Street waffle.....but they're just as good when you buy them from the store and stick them in the microwave

lunch one day.... toast with tomato/pesto, gouda, and oregano

melted Belgian truffles... Super cheap from the supermarket

This is called a Chocolate Bomb

It's basically a giant chocolate mousse truffle

This has been a frequent meal this week.
Tomatoes and fresh basil and fresh mozzarella
(and please notice the amazing tarts also on the table)

I don't even like tomatoes usually, but I could eat this every day.
YUM.

Gelato.
Framboise, Citron, et Melon
(raspberry, lemon, and the most delicious melon I've ever tasted)

On slow mornings, I make big breakfast.
Hashbrowns with a "yokey" egg and ketchup, toast with amazing apricot jam, and orange juice

I like making pretty food. 

and I like eating pretty food.