Orion at Two Months

Today I took Orion to his two month check up.  I am definitely not as obsessed this time around with percentiles, but here's an interesting tidbit: even after the 3 ounces he lost on the scale by going pee pee all over the wall, trashcan and floor (they weigh babies without diapers to get an accurate measure - oops!), he was still in the 65th percentile for weight.  He's just the perfect size.

As far as babies go, Orion is really very mellow during the daytime and really very tricky late at night.  During the day he still sleeps the vast majority of the time, and my Haagen Dazs milk can satisfy him for a good three or four hour stretch.  If I feed him right before a social activity, we can sometimes show up, have fun, and leave without anybody knowing there was a baby sleeping in that carseat we carry around.  At night though, it is a different story.  Generally we spend an hour or two between 11pm and 1am trying to help him settle.  He doesn't scream like he's in terrible pain, but he does cry a lot.  The crying will let up a little when we put him in a new position, but after a minute or two it's back to the drawing board.  It can be extremely exhausting. 

So, the news in mommy land is that this week I am working myself off of dairy to see if his late night discomfort is a byproduct of my dairy intake.  I say "working myself off of" instead of "quitting" because I tried to quit today, and slipped up at least five times because stopping dairy is IMPOSSIBLE if you are not used to thinking about it.  My goal is to be dairy free by the end of the week, but I'm being gentle with myself.

But I still haven't figured this out: if you don't eat dairy, what DO you eat?

Christmas Eve

For those of you who have been long-time Prietissimo readers, there are a few things you might see every year around the holidays.  One of our favorite Christmas traditions has been spending Christmas Eve at the Austin home and enjoying our annual Mary and Joseph dinner.  

For some reason this year seemed extra special to me.  Maybe it was having both grandmas with us, or maybe it was our unannounced carolers, or maybe it was the fact that we had a boy baby to hold this year.  At a Mary and Joseph dinner, it is special to have a boy baby to hold.

Dinner was amazing, as usual.  Pita bread, cheeses to knock your socks off, pomegranates, olives, grapes, salmon and my white fish baked with lemon, clementines, dolmas, roasted nuts, and an incredible beet salad.  I ate, and ate, and ate and felt perfectly well because it was simple and wholesome.

The meal trailed off into conversation around the table with clementines, and kiddos on the couch with Tutu for story time.

And then it was time for Gifts that Cannot be Wrapped.  Some shared poems, or music, and then there was a knock at the door.  It was our friends the Molnar family with all of their kids and Grandma, stopping by as a surprise to gift us with their carols at the door.  They came into the entryway and we joined them singing Christmas songs, and those few minutes were one of the highlights of Christmas for me.  We sang loudly, and with all of the harmonizing, with all of the looking into smiling, loving faces and enjoying beautiful lyrics I'll be darned if that feeling wasn't what Christmas is all about.  My heart was fit to burst.

The Molnar family stayed a while, and joined us for our reenactment of the nativity.  Gigi was Mary for about one minute, and Orion was a perfectly well-behaved baby Jesus.  But my favorite costume would have to have been Ben Austin rocking the shepherd get up.

One thing about being young and transient is that we are never sure where we will be year to year at the holiday season, but I hope that wherever we are, we will always find a way to have a Mary and Joseph dinner and share gifts that cannot be wrapped.  In the busiest season of the year, it has been our favorite way to anchor our festivities to the spirit and simplicity of Christmas.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Wishing you joy, love, happiness, prosperity, good humor, wisdom, great food and the peace of the Savior this season!  There is no better time of year to be reminded of what goodness, power and potential can come from a very simple and humble place in this world.  Whether 2012 brought kindness or challenges to you and your family, we hope very bright things for you in 2013!

Christmas Time

The other day Gigi was rummaging under the Christmas tree, looking through the beautifully wrapped presents.  Feeling her desire to peek I told her, "Gigi, if you can't wait until Christmas Day to open your presents, I am going to have to take them away".  She looked at me and said matter-of-factly, "Just like the Grinch did!"

Yes, the Grinch.  

I've definitely had some grinchy moments during the weeks before Christmas - the result of trying to do too much without taking the circumstances of my life into consideration - but I think that Christmas 2012 will have some real highlights that don't include my grinchiness.  

Here are a few things I hope to remember:

This year we chose a real tree for our home.  My mom offered to subsidize a real living breathing tree if we would retire our 3-foot artificial tree this season.  It was the perfect year to have the fragrant gorgeous tree in our home - Gigi is 2 and a half, and loved decorating and smelling the branches, and baby Orion is too small to cause mayhem.

We picked out our tree, and Gigi wanted to pay for it with her Chinese yuan bills that were remnants of my time living in China.  After Marcos paid with American currency the cashier humored Gigi and took her money.  It was a good first transaction.

Gigi also finished up her ballet class.  We were hoping to have her enrolled again in the spring, but Miss Camielle is expecting a baby and will sadly not be teaching dance anymore.  I need to look into options at our local Y and community rec center...

One of our new favorite activities in the weeks leading up to Christmas this year was making treats for our local Firefighters.  Gigi, Livy and Emerson loved unwrapping the candies.  One on the tray, one in the mouth, one on the tray, one in the mouth...

And then we packaged up our treats and took them over to the fire station.  The firefighters were endlessly kind, and took the kiddos for a tour of the station, and let them climb the engines.  

We've also hosted a number of get-togethers.  My feeling this year has been: whytheheck did I just put up all of these Christmas decorations if we're not going to have anyone over to enjoy them!  So we did a hot cocoa party with our home teachers and their families, and on Sunday we did a soup party with 15 people in our small house.  Just goes to show that people don't mind being a little close to each other, or even using paper and plasticware once our plates and cutlery run out.

The Grandmas had ample opportunity to love on Orion...

And on the beautiful days, we took advantage of the fine weather and took Gigi outside to play.  This day was particularly fun.  We took Gigi out for pizza and then went to the park.  Marcos scored some truly beautiful photos with the new camera.

And of course there was cookie-making.  We decided on Torie's Cherry Chocolate-Chunk cookies, and they did not disappoint.  One evening we went caroling to a few of our favorite neighbors and took them bags of our cookies.  It was a very nice way to interact with our neighbors, and Giovanna did not want to go home when we were finished.  She would have happily caroled all night.     

And that was just a snapshot of the weeks gearing up to Christmas Eve.  Next up: our Mary and Joseph Dinner and a great Christmas Day!

A New Camera at Christmas

A long time ago we decided that when baby number two came along, we would take the plunge and invest in a D-SLR (those big fancy cameras), just so that our second born would not grow up and realize that only five photos exist of his entire childhood.  We figured that if I had a nice camera to play with, I might actually take as many photos of the second child as I have of our first.  

So after almost a year of saving, and months of keeping our eyes open, Black Friday rolled around and Marcos found a ridiculously great deal for a Canon EOS Rebel T3i camera, backpack and lenses, and we took a deep breath and committed to what we hope will become years of successful ventures in the land of photography.  

We've pulled out the new camera as much as possible this holiday season, and it is already a beloved member of our family.  A few days ago we had very warm weather, and we took Gigi to the park where Marcos captured these few images above.

Aren't you excited for the quality of photography in this blog to bump up a few notches?  I sure am.

Six Weeks Old

I have always wondered how parents of colicky babies stay sane, and now it looks like we'll have an opportunity to find out.  I have always equated colic with the end of the world for a parent, but the shooting this past week in Newtown, CT has reminded me what the end of the world for a parent really looks like.  I have had to distance myself from the news to protect my tender heart, but I am grieving for these mothers and fathers.  I would much rather have a screaming baby with an upset tummy than silence where there should be voices.  

How so very heartbreaking.  I can't even imagine.

In happy news, Orion is starting to smile.  For the past week he has been making more eye contact and responding to our facial expressions.  I didn't think he could get any more beautiful, but his smile really is the icing on the cake.  We are so grateful for these two healthy children in our lives.