Seuss-tacular

Way back in the time before Amelia (which already feels light years behind me), my peeps threw me the darlingest baby shower in all the land. Truly, it was. The attention to detail was spectacular, the spread delectable, and most importantly, me and Amelia were feeling the love. See for yourself.

some postpartum thoughts

-Wow, food tastes so good. all. the. time.

-Baby hiccups are less annoying with baby on the outside. Now they're quite endearing.

-I am so grateful Amelia is calm. She eats and sleeps well and is not much of a spitter. I have several adorable burp cloths that won't get extensive use, but it's worth not having to do 30 loads of laundry a week.

-I missed you, skinny jeans. Someday I will even be able to button you again.

-How am I going to survive after Kyle's parents leave? My kids are up before 6am these days.

-But not Amelia! Is she supposed to be sleeping this much? Babies are so easy. Well, easy babies are easy.

-New fave article of clothing: spanx!

-Why do Mom Larsen's molasses cookies taste so good? No really. Zero self-restraint when it comes to these. They make a great breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack. Not OR snack. And.

-Look what I made last night! Kjerstin and Mom made the snowflakes. I'm so pleased we got this done before Christmas so Santa can leave lots of goodies for Amelia to share with me. Thanks, Santa! The rest of our stockings can be seen at the end of this post.

-I love church time. I'm not there, of course, but everyone else is and I'm enjoying my three hours of quiet alone time.

-It's so nice to have my body back to myself. I can walk, sleep on my back, put a child on my lap, hug Kyle, hold pee all day, get up unassisted, etc.

-It's Christmastime around here! Usually that means I'm overextending myself through crafts, service projects, treat baking, gift shopping, etc. This year I'm just focusing on loving this baby and the rest of my family. That's been real nice.

-Perhaps I'm still just running on adrenaline and when the sleep deprivation catches up to me I'll feel differently, but at least for now, I really don't mind waking up even at odd hours to the sound of little grunts and puffs and the sight of her little arms stretching all the way to her earlobes, mouth wide open and turning toward the sound of my voice. We love each other, little Minguh and me.

P.S. Here are my favorite photos taken from the hospital. Well, only if by favorite I mean worst pictures of me since the Great Chemical Burn of 2010.

Here I am looking really vexed that I've been relegated to laboring in the ER waiting room.

Here I am looking really vexed that I just had a baby. Or maybe just not fancying the idea of having my picture taken thirty seconds after giving birth.

Here is one of the many reasons that I wanted out of that hospital asap! Supposedly this entree was baked fish, but I took one bite of that white stuff down by the warm, soggy lemon slices and honestly couldn't tell if it was overcooked cauliflower, chewy mashed potatoes, or indeed fish. The only part I ended up eating was the plain piece of kale. Yes, I was that desperate.

Hospital food is a funny thing. Every single meal was kind of gross and disappointing, but I was still so excited every time room service knocked and brought in a tray. Recovering from childbirth plus those nausea-inducing hormones finally gone makes for one hungry Tiff!

Baby Model

Kjerstin and I were about to nakify and play dress-up with Amelia for an afternoon with my ghetto point-and-shoot when our talented friend Polly serendipitously showed up with banana bread, overheard our plans, and offered her services instead.

Amelia's our first child to get a newborn photo shoot and goodness it was a little too much fun to manipulate those moldable limbs and decorate her with all manner of silliness. Polly did an incredible job, and Amelia only pooped on Polly's comforter twice. Success! Sweet, snuggly, scrumptious success. Oh boy do I love this little girl.

I think I look like a creepy brontosaurus in this one.

Kyle's mom crocheted this darling little hat. Yum!

See, we got a little ridiculous at times. This is my bow and it looks way too big even on my head. Good thing Amelia has a sense of humor.

This photo shoot was so much fun! More good news: just recently a friend who is starting a photography business offered to do a sibling photo shoot for us and I am ecstatic for the opportunity to capture on film some of the sweetness that's been going on around here.

Ellie is ever attentive to and enamored with her sister (no really, she's rather obsessed). Erik talks to her in a sugary, high-pitched voice and gets upset if anyone puts their germy lips on her face or touches her without sanitizing first. Charlie asks to hold her for brief intervals and even if she's perfectly content he coos, "It's okay, Ming-uh. Chawie's here."

"Ming-uh" is Charlie's best attempt at pronouncing her name and it's a nick name that has officially stuck! Erik dubbed Charlie "Chuz" and "Chuggy" as a baby and those stuck, too. Yes, we are feeling the love. More pictorial evidence coming soon!

Nice to meet you