Santa Baby

As you can tell, we have been busy!  First, I've decided that Mary Rose demands a lot of attention compared to other babies.  I know her desire to see everything and be social is reassuring of her normal development, it is tiring.  She is not happy playing with a toy while I eat lunch and refuses to miss anything while taking a nap.  So, she hardly lets me get things done and gets over-tired.  Most of her naps are 30 minutes and I have to force her to sleep.  This goes with her struggle at bedtime and attempts to nurse to sleep (including when she wakes up 3-4 times a night).  This week, she is learning to cry to sleep more, as I wait 30 minutes to feed her if it has not been long.  Hopefully, she will learn to fall asleep on her own soon.  Her interaction can be fun; she has little games where she kicks her feet towards my mouth to be kissed, loves belly kisses and laughs when her daddy holds her upside-down.  She takes forever to nurse when there are people around, because she is interested in whatever she can see and hear.
She was the star of 3 households for the holidays.  We drove to my grandma's for Thanksgiving, then flew to MN and Houston for Christmas and New Year's Eve.  She was given so much that Brian and I only gave her a book.  She has had a lot of 'firsts,' starting at the Trapp Family Lodge before Christmas, where she swam and was pulled in a sled while Brian & I snow-shoed.  She had her first taste of water from a cup and Jello at Christmas dinner (off a silver spoon, no less).  She was so excited for the jello that she was shaking as my dad brought it to her mouth.  That has led us to start foods (besides rice cereal).  She had help walking on grass and bricks in Houston and loved being outside. 
Back to starting foods - I made sweet potatoes at Christmas and gave her some on two days (the second time, she had too much food and milk and had her first projectile vomit!)  Then we tried peas, which may not have been pureed enough, as she had a week of bad diarrhea.  Her stomach is so sensitive, it is hard for it to get back to calm.  Her tummy is still a bit off, though carrots seem to do well (not sure about oatmeal, no bananas.)  I am hoping she can give me time to make more foods for her.
I don't know how working moms do it every day.  Work days are stressful trying to get us all out the door with all our stuff and the baby fed.  We always have easy dinners (often by Brian) when I get home 10 hours later, and there is the constant change out of bottles and soiled clothing, toting milk, cleaning pump parts.  3 days last week was enough, especially when I need to do household tasks.

What else?  I am trying to make it to the gym 1-2 times a week, which is hard (sometimes just to park in Hanover).  Brian is doing a tennis camp this month.  We had a wonderful date night, just the two of us last weekend, which was strange!  We went out to eat when one of our moms are in town, but they were always rushed, so this was the first relaxing time and first time we were gone for a bedtime.
The holiday travel went better this year than last - I was wary when our first flight was pushed back twice, but we left 3 hours late.  It was my second Christmas at home, in MN, so it was different.  Brian and my sister went to a Mozart Latin midnight mass.  We had family friends over for Christmas dinner and Mary Rose was the star (she loves the attention.)  We met up with my cousin and Brian's friends in Texas, and most of Brian's extended family met the baby.  When we got home, Brian realized that he had hardly held Mary Rose in a week, as there were so many aunts and grandparents wanting to spend time with Mary Rose.

We had been slammed by snow (not as much as my parents) and have made up for not shoveling much last year.  The icicles are longer than the windows and the piles on the side of the driveway are not holing any more snow!  We also got some COLD weather this week, it was -26 when I got to work on Monday.