31 days.

Our little Audra is one month old.

What? How? When?

And have we really not slept in a month?

(No, no we have not.)

This month has flown by. In some ways. And in other ways...well, it seems like she's been with us forever.

In a mere 31 days, I've gone from having never met her to an inability to imagine life without her. Without her sweet smell, which I breathe in during those late night snuggles. Her soft dark hair, which curls like crazy after a bath. Her wide, dark eyes, which stare intently at me through every feeding. Her tiny hands, which constantly search for a part of me to grasp.

My sweet baby girl. I couldn't love her more.

Sleep, eat, repeat.

I'd love to write something interesting and/or entertaining, but we aren't doing anything but sitting around the house looking at each other right now.

Good thing the view is pretty cute.

Dusting.

Santa brought Calvin a sled for Christmas. He undoubtedly assumed that Minnesota would provide the snow.

Because, you know. It's Minnesota. In the dead of winter. We haven't had a brown Christmas in years.

Nope.

Super brown. The brownest, really. Way to go, Minnesota winter.

Luckily the state (kind of) redeemed itself by providing .0001 inches of snow about a week and a half later.

Not nearly enough for an experienced sledder, of course, but even a dusting of snow is still snow to a two-year-old. So off they went with the sled: Dad, G-Pop, and my tiny bundled man.

Turns out, .0001 inches is plenty.

People we love...

...who love our kids!











So thankful for the friends and family (many not pictured) who've helped fill our home, stomachs, and daughter's closet these last few weeks! We love you!

Gifted.

Is there anything better than the look of wonder filling your child's face on Christmas morning?

I think not.

Except maybe finding out your husband unexpectedly has the day off, and your last Christmas as a family of three can actually take place on Christmas day.

Truly the greatest gift I could have received this year.

Although the joy on Calvin's face all day long...

Well, that was pretty wonderful, too.

Reading 'Twas the Night Before Christmas with Dad.


And the Bible story of Jesus' birth with Mom.


Christmas morning at home.










Christmas day at Grandma and Grandpa's.

Playing catch up.

I have so much catching up to do. Christmas, our families meeting Audra, a bunch of random cute pictures of my kids...but, yeah. I'm tired. So instead I'm going to ramble at you for a bit. Sound good?

Thanks.

1. C-sections are weird. Last time I showed up to the hospital prepared for a day's worth of labor pain and vaginal trauma and heaven only knows what else. This time I showed up, put on a gown, got an IV, had a shot in my back, and let a doctor take a baby out of me. It took less than two hours. WEIRD. Although, if I'm being really honest, I kind of preferred it. Pushing a baby out is hard work and I'm lazy.

Well — not so lazy that I'd elect to have a c-section for no reason, but it certainly wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

2. Remember my baby naming diatribe? And my whole "it must be easy to say and spell" thing? Well, that one's come back to bite me in the rear. I had NO IDEA people wouldn't know how to pronounce Audra. I'm not really sure how else you would pronounce it (Really, I don't know. Please enlighten me if you can think of an alternate pronunciation), but I kid you not - I've had like 15 people ask me how to say it. And a handful more ask how to spell it. And a random rude guy on Facebook tell a friend of mine who posted a congratulatory message on her wall that I am only thinking of myself in giving my daughter a "unique" name like that.

I replied that I would be happy to name the next one Mike after him, and he liked my comment. At least he has a sense of humor. I guess.

3. Just to be clear, there won't be a next one. This factory is closed for business.

I think.

Pretty sure.

Almost positive.

4. I order diapers through the Subscribe and Save program from Amazon Mom because of the 20% discount. Since Calvin was a massive beast and never fit into newborn diapers, I just went ahead and set up a recurring order of size 1s. Of which I've received two boxes of 270 diapers. Of which I've used none because Audra is a peanut. So far we've used up all the newborn diapers from the hospital, as well as the two new boxes I sent Nate out to purchase. This smallness is so new to me. As is the amount of poop this child generates.

5. Other things that are new to me this time around: not cleaning a penis during diaper changes. Pink clothing. Newborn-sized pink clothing. Nursing 24 hours a day because my child has an insatiable appetite. A two-week-old who sleeps 9p-7a and only gets up 2x to eat in between (I fear this is too good to be true, but we've had like five days in a row of this schedule and I am loving it). Washing a tiny head of dark hair. Feeling totally relaxed about having a new baby.

6. Seriously, baby number two is way easier than baby number one. Not only because Calvin came out shrieking and demanding things and Audra is content to sit and snuggle (or eat) for hours, but because I am just way more comfortable in my role as a mom. Even though having two kids is a lot more work, the work is not quite as stressful. I'm glad. I was kind of worried.

7. In the interest of full disclosure, it probably helps that Calvin is going to school full-time and Nate's been off work for the last two weeks. I may be singing a different tune come next weekend when Nate's working and I'm home alone with a rowdy two-year-old and a needy three-week-old.

And now, since you've been so good about about letting me ramble, I will reward you with a few pictures of my sweet-as-pie daughter. She's really cute. Or as Cal would say "She's super cute and super tiny!"