3 Days of Christmas

Renee was born into a VERY large family.  So, in order to see as many people as we can, holidays are always a little hectic.

Our usual tradition is that we have Christmas Eve dinner with my mother's side of the family.  Then on Christmas morning we have breakfast at my Aunt Barbara's house and dinner with my dad's side of the family.  We have lunch with Jeff's family on either Christmas Eve or Day, depending on what side of the Bay each of the dinners are being held that year.

This year though, with Renee in tow, we decided to make things a little bit easier on ourselves and only do 1 family function per day and then visit Jeff's family the day after Christmas.

So, on Christmas Eve we went to my Aunt Lea (my Mom's sister) and Uncle Dave's house in Novato.  Always a loud bunch, my mom's side of the family knows how to have a good time :D  Tons of great food, great people and gazillion presents!!!

Renee got to meet her cousin Erin, who lives in Long Beach, for the first time.

Erin, Me, Loren, Renee & Olivia

She got to play with my mom's dog, Pearl.  Renee LOVES dogs and is very happy when they let her "pet" them.

She got lots of play time with her Grandma Denise (my mom).

My mom thought is was hilarious when she squished Renee's face in her hands, Renee thought it was pretty funny too... I had to get a picture of that silliness!

And she had an absolute blast chasing around her cousin Credence.  Of course there was no way she could keep up with his 3 year old energy and speed, but she tried her hardest!

Credence, Jennifer & Renee

By the time presents were being opened, Renee was exhausted!!  But, to our surprise, she held it together quite well.  There were so many distractions and new things to play with, there was no way she could be upset for long.

Renee and her Daddy playing with some of her new toys.

She even let us put her in this cute box so we could take a picture of our little angel on her first Christmas :D

On Christmas morning, Jeff and I didn't have any exciting plans for her, we knew she would be exhausted and have a million new toys, so we only gave one small gift: a wooden shapes and colors puzzle - which she loved :D

Then we decided to try out one of her gifts from my parents and went on a walk in her brand new stroller.

Kirby, Sophie, Me and Renee.

I had previously borrowed a stroller from a friend when Renee was younger.  It wasn't quite the right fit for us at the time, but after using that for a few months I was able to come up with a list of features I wanted to have for the next stroller we got.  Things like: a single handle bar, easy and compact folding, easy steering and a really good canopy to protect my angel from the elements.  This stroller fits the bill perfectly, and Renee loves it too :D  It started pouring rain about halfway through our walk; Jeff, the dogs and I all got soaked, but Renee was snug as a bug in a rug!

When we were getting ready for our next gathering I put Renee in a very pretty Christmas dress, a hand me down from some friends of ours.

And as pretty as it was, it made me and Jeff uncomfortable just looking at her in it, we're just not fancy-dress-on-baby kind of people I guess.  So, instead she wore a "Baby's 1st Christmas" onesie I got her at Target, much more our style :D

We went to my Aunt Julie (my Dad's sister) and Uncle Mario's house in Petaluma for dinner that night.  And again Renee had a great time playing with the doggies!

Renee getting Christmas kisses from Piccolina.

My Aunt Julie has kept the high chair she used with her children, now in their 30's.  It has been quite well used over the years, Auntie Julies has used it for her grandchildren and now gets to use it for her great nieces and nephews.  She also let Renee play with a Santa Clause Rattle that was over 30 years old.  Renee loved it, but was treating it a little too rough for my comfort, so I eventually took it from her and put it safely back on it's shelf!

Renee got to visit with lots more family:

Great Grandma Ferguson (aka "GG") and Renee

Uncle Jerry and Renee

Renee and cousin Ashley

 And again there were lots of presents for Renee to open; she seemed to enjoy the paper more than the gifts inside though :D

On the day after Christmas we went to Jeff's parents house to visit and open a few more gifts.  Then we all went to lunch at the Hunan House in Dublin.  There's nothing like eating some good Chinese food after all that American holiday fare :D

Jeff's Dad, Earl, calls Renee his little light bulb because she always lights up the room.  I love watching him play with her; he's so big and she's so small and they always have such a great time together.

Grandpa Earl helping Renee drink from a cup.

Happy baby Renee with her Grandpa Earl :D

After lunch, we went to Pleasanton to hang out and have dinner with my brother Sam, my step-mom Lynne and their family.  There were more presents to open and more family to shower her with love and attention, so Renee was a happy camper!  

Pete (a very experienced dad of 4) giving Renee a bottle.

Renee also showed off her new talent.  When someone says, "Uh Oh!!", she puts her hands on her head, it is sooo cute :D

And of course, she had to have lots of doggie play time.  She is becoming our little Elmyra, which is exactly what I was when I was a kid.  Animals ran with fear from all the "love" I wanted to give them :D

Julia, Lacey and Renee.

And that was Renee's first Christmas, and our first together as a family.  A very busy and exhausting 3 days, but filled with great memories.

Look Mom, No Hands!!

Jeff and I just watched Renee pull herself up to standing using the coffee table.  Then she let go and stood there all on her own for like 1 or 2 seconds, looking at us with her big goofy smile before falling back on her butt.  A few minutes later she did it again, and this time stood for a good 4 seconds :D

Of course we missed it with the camera both times, but I'm sure we'll have plenty of opportunities now that she knows she can do it!

The Weeks Leading Up to Christmas

Since I haven't posted in a while, I figured I'd give you a quick catch-up of some of the things we did before Christmas.  I'll do a post about the holidays soon though, I promise :D

The weekend of December 11 & 12:

We originally had no plans for this weekend, then on Thursday we got invited to our friends last minute birthday party for their son Hayden, who was turning 3.  Chris and Katrina (Hayden's parents) rented him one of those giant jumper things, which Renee LOVED!

Of course she had to wait until the "big" kids were tired of it before she got to go in, but I'm pretty sure she enjoyed watching them jump in it just as much as she like being in it herself!

She also got to play with her friend Aubrey, Hayden's little sister, who is just a couple of weeks younger than Renee.

I had Jeff pose with both the girls so we could do a side by side of how big they've gotten since the last time we were all together back in April.

Aubrey, Jeff and Renee - December 11, 2010

Renee, Jeff and Aubrey - April 25, 2010

It's amazing how fast they grow, isn't it!!!  Jeff pretty much looks the same though :D

After Hayden's birthday party, we went to my parents house for dinner.  And then the next morning we met Jeff's mom for breakfast, so Renee got lots of grandparent time that weekend :D

Later that afternoon she showed some interest in her magnetic drawing board and to my surprise she actually figured out how to draw on it, instead of just sucking on the magnet pen like she usually does.  It was really cute!

The weekend of December 18 & 19:

We didn't have too many plans this weekend, so Renee got to spend some time just hanging out with Daddy. She loves to press the buttons on his computer :D

On Saturday we went to Old Sac to have lunch with our friends Marc and Nancy and their sons Koichi and Seiji who were up in our area for the day to get a new puppy.

It was a bit cold and rainy out, but Renee didn't mind!

This picture has no point other than total and utter cuteness...

And here is Marc holding Renee (this was the first time they met) and that's his son Koichi over there on the right, playing video games I think.  

On Sunday we went to Jason and Jodi's house and Renee got to play with her friends Keira and Jackson.  We also did a gift exchange with the kids, so Renee got to practice opening presents before Christmas :D

Other than all the visits with friends and family, the weeks leading up to Christmas were relatively calm (most likely because I didn't make cookies this year!).

Gross

Renee threw a toy in the toilet for the 1st time this morning.

It normally wouldn't have been too big of a deal, except that we are a "If it's yellow, let it mellow.  If it's brown, flush it down."  kind of family.

...I threw the toy away!

Crawling - A Video!!!

Renee is getting better and better at crawling every day.  I love watching her move around and explore new things in the house, which is pretty much everything other than toys or spatulas :D

I especially love the way she crawls, it's more of a scoot/drag than a crawl really, but it does the job and it's super cute!  Here's a video I took of her I took earlier this evening, there's really only good crawling action for the 1st minute, and then she gets distracted by the dogs:

Santa and a Shot

When I was a kid my mom always took me to the mall to get my picture taken with Santa Claus.  I remember really enjoying getting to sit on his lap every year and tell him what I wanted for Christmas, and it's a tradition I want to continue with Renee.

Of course, she has no concept of who Santa Claus is, or even what Christmas is at this point in her life.  But, I know she will enjoy looking back at pictures of herself with Santa from every year of her childhood.

So, I got off early today and took Renee to the mall.  She did not like the fact that I was handing her to a large, hairy, stranger.  And no matter what I or the "elves" did, she would not smile.  It didn't help that Santa wouldn't let her get a good look at his face.  He thought it would make her cry, and so every time she tried to turn around to see who was holding her he would duck his face down behind her back.  This resulted in her just sitting there looking sad and confused!  Oh, well, it's still a cute picture.

And without further ado, here is Renee's very 1st picture with Santa Claus, taken at Arden Fair Mall in Sacramento.

After visiting Santa, we went to Sears to pick up our Christmas photo cards.  I would show you what they look like, but I'm pretty sure everyone that reads this blog is on our mailing list, so you'll just have to wait :D

After window shopping and snacking on some mall food (Hot Dog on a Stick), we got in the car and drove back to Davis to get our flu shots.  I fully expected Renee to cry like she does every other time she has gotten shots, but she just sat there in my arms and looked at the lady like, '"hey, why are you touching my leg lady?".
At this point, a few hours later, it feels like someone punched me in the arm where I got my shot, so I'm sure her leg is sore too, but she's a tough little monkey.  Hopefully she doesn't have too bad of a reaction to the vaccine later tonight!!

Operation: Get Renee to Sleep

I am tired.

I have been tired for 9 months, 1 week and 2 days.  Some days are worse than others of course, but basically, I haven't gotten a good night sleep since Renee was born.  Well, that's not entirely true, she slept 9 hours straight on Sunday, November 21st.  You might think it's strange that I remember the date, but it was so miraculous that I might just make it into a personal holiday.  Most nights though she wakes up every 3 hours and I nurse her back to sleep each time.

Here is a typical night: I put her to bed at 8pm and I go to bed at 9:30pm.  She wakes up at around 11pm, 3am and 6am every night.  It takes me about 20 minutes to nurse her back to sleep each time, and then another 5 to 10 minutes for me to fall asleep after my head hits the pillow.  I stay up after the 6am feeding though.  She usually sleeps for another hour or two after that, and I use that time to get ready in the morning.

If you haven't already done the math, I am getting about 7 hours of sleep in a 9 hour period.  That might not sound too bad, many people do fine on 6 or 7 hours of sleep, 6 or 7 hours of continuous sleep that is.  It's amazing how important that is.  My 7 hours is interrupted twice on a good night, and that's not even counting if one of the dogs has to go to the bathroom, which of course is NEVER at a time when I'm already up.

Everyone's advice: "Just let her cry."  Well I can't do that.  I've tried.  It hurts me.  Physically.  Really, it does.

So, my new plan is to take out one nursing session at a time, and replace it with just holding and rocking her to sleep.  This week (or however long it takes her to get used to it) I'm not nursing her when she wakes up at 11pm.  My hope is that she just won't wake up at that time any more.  If I'm not nursing her, then there's no point, right?  Then, when we (really just me) are ready,  I'll take out the 3am one, and eventually she will just sleep through the night.  That's the plan and I'm sticking to it.

Renee does NOT like this plan!  It has only been two nights so far.  Both times it took me about 20 minutes to get her to go to sleep; holding strong through her screaming, pushing and back arching, all part of her fight to get her face to my boobs.  The whole time telling myself that if I give in and nurse her, then I lose and I will never get a good night sleep, ever again!

Both nights, as soon as I put her down in her bed she woke up and started screaming again.  Another 20 minutes of rocking, singing and shushing later and another try at putting her down and she woke up again!  The second time though her crying was much less intense, and I was too tired to continue the process so I just let her cry it out, which only took about 10 minutes.  I HATE doing that, but I can tolerate it when she's not screaming.  If it's just soft crying and I'm completely exhausted, then and only then, can I handle letting her cry herself to sleep.  Desperate times, desperate measures, or something like that.

So, wish me good luck in my endeavor to get Renee to sleep longer, and in turn, get more sleep myself.  I know my way seems like the hard way of doing it, and maybe not the best, but it's what I'm comfortable with.