You can keep 'em, but the limit is one....

Hopefully everyone gets that... just in case, though, it's a reference to the bag limit for how many fish you're allowed to keep. In this case, I'm referring to a very special kind of catch....

As I walked up from the Buskin this afternoon, with a baby in my arms, a couple guys walking down to the river asked if you could catch those down there... I told 'em yes, but the limit is one!

I've told my mom for MONTHS, that I'd head out fishing at some point this summer, even if it meant I had to bring the baby with me. Mom didn't believe me, so we took pictures so I could prove it. That first picture is Michaela showing off her Sox pride right before we put her back in her carseat and headed out for the screaming ride home.

Here's the rest of the proof...

Having a quick snack before heading down to the river. YAY for bottles so Daddy can get in on the feeding, and I don't have to find a private spot to feed her when we're out and about!

Here I am... all dressed up in my waders, and ready to head down to the river. Of course, she started crying right after Maryanne took this picture.



But, she stopped as soon as we started walking down the path, and then fell asleep, allowing me to get to business!



You'll note in this picture that, not only am I fishing, but I actually have a fish on my line (note the bent tip on my pole). Sadly, this cast only resulted in a pink (hooked legally in the mouth, but still a pink), but Michaela was pretty happy with her first fish.



I don't recommend fishing while wearing a baby unless you have someone to help you get the fish off the hook. Truth be told, I usually make Jason do this anyway, but at least I had a good reason today.

And here we are, showing off my stinky pink! We were trying to decide whether the baby would have increased our bag limit of silvers by two since she was helping me out. You don't have to have a license if you're under 14 (I think 14), so I'm wondering if I could've claimed an extra two fish on her behalf. It turned out not to be an issue since she had a melt-down and we had to leave before any of us caught any silvers anyway, but I'll have to do the research for the next time.

Finally, I have to share this picture because 1) she's too cute for words in it and 2) that's a doll she's smiling at (thanks Mr. and Mrs. A!!), so it's not all fishing and boy stuff for her! She likes the girl stuff, too!

That's the latest from here. Jim and Maryanne got in on Saturday and will be here until Sunday morning. I'll share the rest of the grandparents-meet-Michaela stuff later in the week... I just had to get this up here today.

So, yes, Mom, it IS possible to bring the baby fishing with us!!!

Four weeks already!

Truth be told, she'll be five weeks tomorrow. But we're slow. And sleep-deprived. Yesterday, I thought about blogging, but then I decided to take a nap instead. I should be doing that right now since Michaela is sleeping for the first time all day today right now (It's 5:45 pm and she's been asleep since about 4. I'm pretty sure babies are supposed to sleep between the hours of 9 and 4... she didn't get the memo.). But, I feel so bad that it's been over two weeks since we updated the blog that I'm doing this instead. See how much you mean to me?

Let's see... what's happened since the 2nd? We've done about a bazillion loads of baby laundry, but Jason ran out of socks one day because we forgot our own. We've gone through more diapers than I ever thought humanly possible and she's showing no signs of letting up on the VERY regular pooping. We've started to get back into our Kodiak hikes - slowly at first while I continue to heal, but we're going further and at a better pace now with only one major "feed me now" melt-down so far. We've learned not to leave a naked baby on the changing table for too long or it can result in a bigger mess. And, Michaela got to meet her Waitt grandparents and aunt.

In the midst of all that, she took her first bottle (YAY! No worries that she'd starve at daycare), let us know very firmly that she's not interested in a pacifier, slept "through the night" (5 hrs) on more than a couple occasions, and grew like a weed! Jason and I are trying to settle into some kind of a routine (not a schedule, just a routine), and I've tried to avoid going crazy by getting out of the house as much as possible. I'm pretty sure that full-on sleep deprivation is in effect, but we're managing to function and find our way through our new life as a family of three. It is truly amazing to me that such a small person can change your life so much and can fill your heart with so much love. She can also fill your heart with frustration as she cries unconsolably for the third night in a row for no apparent reason, but we've decided we're definitely going to keep her. She made us fall in love and there's just no going back now. *grin*

Moving onto the good stuff... pictures!

Hiking out at Spruce Cape. I LOVE my Sleepy Wrap. Jason prefers the Baby Bjorn, but I like the cuddly feeling I get from the wrap instead.

Grandma meets Michaela! Grandma is lucky that Michaela was out of bed for her... just remember that, Grandma.

I think Grandpa had to pry Michaela out of Grandma's hands. He had to continue to do that for the rest of his visit....

Heather doesn't seem very excited to be meeting her niece (*snicker*, *snort*). Heather liked holding Michaela the best when she was like this. Like a good aunt, she was quick to hand her back when the screaming started. She also continously offered to change a diaper, but never did....Smart lady.


Family portrait at Ft. Abercrombie. Next time, maybe we'll show Michaela's face.



I did not lay my baby like this to sleep, I swear. She started on my chest and slid into my lap and then slowly kept moving her head off my lap until she ended up like this. She slept like this quite comfortably for a half hour or so. Silly kid.

This is more like it! Isn't she cute!!?!

First bottle!!! Daddy's now in on the feeding game! We started her a day after she hit 4 weeks just in case she resisted it at all. I wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to get used to it since she'll get bottles during the day while she's at daycare. She's now had 4 or 5 feedings this way with no complaints at all! YAY!!!

She really WILL sleep anywhere....

Here's the wider shot of that one... I'm guessing she started higher on Jason's chest, too adn slid her way down. Again, silly kid.

And, finally, a story.... Jason is going to hate me for this one. Oh well!
Today, I scheduled a hair appointment since Jason was home during the day. I waited WAY too long to schedule it, so I was stuck with the 2:45 appointment. Jason had to leave the house no later than 3:30 to head into work for his duty night. I figured I'd be close to getting done by the time he had to go, so, if I wasn't home, he could always just drop the baby off with me on his way out to work. Well, that's what he did, but it wasn't pretty! Apparently he didn't get the text I sent him, telling him he'd had to drop her off because the hairdresser was running behind. So he did some stuff between 2:30 and 3-ish, at which time he determined Michaela was hungry so he'd give her a bottle real quick. That was his first mistake. So, when he brought her into the salon, looking a little worse for the wear, I said "Rough afternoon?" and he said something along these lines:

"Yes. She was really fussy the whole time. I gave her a bottle, which she spit up half of. On me. Then she was in the bouncy chair and had a major diaper blow out. So I had to clean that up. My other flight suit is just on the floor in the living room. I really have to go now. Oh, and she's not wearing pants. Just a onesie. Ok, bye."

Something tells me he's really looking forward to my doctor's appointment next week when he'll get to fly solo again (though Maryanne and Jim will be here, so it won't really be solo). At least we all had a good laugh at the salon!

And now I need to run because she's starting to wake up and I have left-over pizza in the oven that I was hoping to eat before she needed to again! We'll do our best to not wait so long between updates anymore!!

Where is the time going??

I can't believe it's been over a week already since Jason last updated the blog! I guess when you're barely sleeping and your days are defined by when the baby last ate, time can get away from you!

Ok, it's not totally true that our days are only defined by when Michaela last ate, but that is definitely a planning factor when we have ventured out. We try to fit everything into the three hours between the last diaper/feeding so that we don't have to worry about finding a place to do that away from home. Eventually I'm sure we'll (I'll) become pros at it, but for now it's much easier to limit the challenges!

We did make it out a couple times this week, though, as we tried to make the best of the limited sunshine we've been seeing around here. (The last really GOOD weather we had was actually the day Michaela was born... figures we spent it in a birthing suite at the hospital!) We went for a couple (short) walks, drove to Miller Point at Ft. Abercrombie and snapped some pictures of Michaela enjoying the sunshine, went to Coast Guard Day at the base, and went to the doctor for Michaela's two-week check up. In between all that, we tried to sleep, learned the value of Mylicon, single-handedly filled the Kodiak landfill the rest of the way with diapers, and changed clothes (ours and hers) about a million times due to Michaela's "sensitive" digestive system.

So the big news was from the doctor's visit. Amazingly, Michaela has not only regained the weight she lost at the hospital, but she's far surpassed what the doctor would've expected to see. When we left the hospital on the 19th, she was down to 8 lbs, 4 oz or so. At her one-week appointment, she was already back to 8lbs, 12 oz (just an ounce and a half short of her birth weight). At her two-week appointment, which is when the doctors want to see babies back to their birth weight, she was up to 9 lbs, 6 oz!!!! Not only is she way past her birth weight, but she gained 10 ounces in 9 days!!! Now you see why our days revolve around when she last ate! She also grew a bit, and was just shy of 22 inches. I'm a little skeptical of that measurement, though, just because it's hard to measure a squirming baby. But she's pretty much outgrown the newborn size clothes, and is even pushing the limits of some 0-3 stuff. Unbelievable!

Since I'm kidding myself if I think anyone wants to actually read anything about what's going on, I'll just skip ahead to the pictures now!

What's not to like about baby feet? *sigh*

This is from our day out at Ft. Abercrombie. I was trying to get a good picture to use for birth announcements. Of course, after walking around for a while with Michaela in the Sleepy Wrap, she was, in fact, sleepy, so we couldn't get any with her eyes open!

Helping Daddy study for his final exam for his latest grad school class. Gotta love that smooshy face!

Playing (sort of... ok, not at all... just laying) on her playmat. Fred is such a big help....


Fred on guard over the swing. It's too bad he can't keep her head from falling over uncomfortably like that.

And, finally, we snapped this beauty tonight. The "aww, cute" version of the story would be that she found her thumb and was happily sucking on it, keeping me from having to feed her right away after her bath (you'd think we were killing her the way she screamed after her bath tonight). I'll let you figure out the not-so-"awww, cute" version of the story. Sadly, we tried to capture a second picture somewhat like this one later, but she moved and we weren't able to continue the series. Yes, we're probably going to scar our child for life. But it's too funny. In fact, I just laughed all over again when I looked at this picture. Yep, she'll be lucky to make it to toddler-hood without having to see a shrink. (For the record, I'm proof-reading and laughed AGAIN when I looked at this picture...)

And because it wouldn't be right to end on that.... here's one last one. I just love how she'll curl up into a little ball like this. The funny thing is that she'll end up sliding down my front all the way into my lap, too, curling into a smaller ball as she falls. I guess they really do like to feel like they're in the womb for a little bit longer once they're on the outside!

So that's the latest from here. We're doing well... just trying to figure all this new parent-hood stuff out. Jason heads back to work for the first time tomorrow night, so I'll be on my own over night. As much as I like the fact that he'll be home during the day for one last day, I'm NOT looking forward to the night-time changings to go along with the feedings (Jason's been getting up to change and bring Michaela to me in bed, and I just have to worry about her eating). I guess I might as well get used to it sooner than later, though.... there will be a lot of nights on my own for the next year! Thankfully, my friend Abbie, who also just had a baby about a week after Michaela was born, invited me over for dinner, so we'll make the trip out to the base to hang out with friends for a while so we won't be on our own all night. Wish me luck, though... Yikes!

Next update will probably be sometime when Mom, Dad and Heather are here... I can't wait for Michaela to get to meet more of the family! That's it for now!