Jason is fired as my co-blogger....

Maryanne - I SWEAR it's not my fault it took so long to get this post up here! I put him in charge of it, but he keeps forgetting!

Moving on...

Michaela Meets Her Reidy Grandparents

That should've been the real title of this post, which is LOOOONG overdue. Maryanne and Jim were here during the last week of August, soaking up all the Michaela they could for an 8-day visit. Like most of our guests over the past two years, they got in bright and early on the morning jet, after a 4-hour layover in Anchorage. I think we forget to ask, though... did Jim wake everyone with his snoring this year, too?? (Sorry, Jim, I couldn't resist!)

Maryanne (aka Mimi) scoops a sleeping Michaela out of my hands at 8 in the morning! You can tell she was mostly still asleep by the fact that she's curled in that little ball. It still cracks us up when she does that!

Jim (aka Papa) FINALLY gets his turn. I think he had to actually pry the baby out of Maryanne's hands!

We did our best to enjoy a week of decent Kodiak weather while managing my continuing c-section recovery and a finicky baby's schedule. Luckily, by the time they got here, I was about 5 weeks post-op, so I was up and about much better than when my parents were here. If you remember my post a few weeks back about fishing with the baby, that happened when Maryanne and Jim were here.

Besides that, we did some easy hiking, drove to the top of Pillar Mountain for the view of downtown Kodiak, went down to the harbor on Near Island to see "the very famous boat" (Cornelia Marie of Deadliest Catch fame... a little kid walked by and asked his dad if they could see the very famous boat), and they went halibut fishing (with Jason... I stayed home with Michaela) in an absolute downpour. Though there was no fresh halibut to grace the table, we pulled some out of the freezer and Maryanne made us a FANTASTIC dinner one night. Fortunately, I have the cookbook she got the recipe from, so I can try to recreate it at a later date... it was one of the best ways I've eaten halibut yet!

Mmmmm....yummy!

We spent most of their week here relaxing around the house, though, with Mimi and Papa (I guess we'll stick with that since it's what Regan's already calling you guys!) getting plenty of time to cuddle and play with Michaela - which was the only reason for their visit anyway! Jason and I have quickly realized that nothing is about us at all anymore... but we're ok with that.

Everyone but me (behind the camera) at the top of Pillar Mountain. I think we made Maryanne nervous with how little clothes Michaela was wearing. She was plenty dressed to us - she's a Kodiak girl afterall!

And now here we are, over a month later since they left, with only 6 short weeks until we get to see everyone again! We're already looking forward to our visit to the east coast - and basically reintroducing Michaela to everyone. She changes so much every day, that it'll be exciting all over again to see everyone "meet" her again!

My apologies to Maryanne and Jim that it took so long to get this post up, and that it's not very detailed! We had a great visit with you guys, though, and we can't wait to see you in November!!

And Jason's fired.

Sometimes I hate him.

Or maybe I'm just jealous. If I tried to do this, I wouldn't be able to actually fall asleep, or Michaela would decide she didn't want to. But, no, they've been like this for at least a half hour, maybe more....




Don't tell him I told you, but I think he would've put her to bed instead of sharing a nap like this, but he had to fly the last two nights and only saw her for about a half hour in the mornings (not counting the 4am feeding), so he needed his daddy time.


Plus, by doing this with her, I was able to do some stuff I wanted to and haven't been able to since he's been gone the last two nights.



But I'm still jealous.

Back to your regularly scheduled program....

And we're back to baby stuff.


Mom/Mary requested some video of Michaela. We've taken some lately, but nothing really worth sharing. And then within the last couple days, she took on a new activity, so we have something worth sharing now.


Right before I sat down to write this blog, Jason called me upstairs, where we watched our daughter struggling and getting frustrated as she attempted to roll over from her back to her tummy. She obviously hasn't gotten the memo that you're supposed to go the other way first (tummy to back) because she is bound and determined to roll over. Unfortunately, all she managed to do tonight was spin herself around so that her head turned toward the foot of the crib and her feet were at the head. I tried to get some video of that in the night mode of our point and shoot camera, but the battery died right after I turned in on, so you'll have to settle for the stuff I took earlier with the Flip.


We'll get to that...


In other major news, she's 8 weeks old today (HOW did that happen?!?!) and has now gone to three half days of daycare. I only cried the first day, and I managed to stop the periodic crying most of the way through lunch with Jason. Before that first day, there were days I would get so frustrated with her when I couldn't seem to get her to stop crying no matter what I did, and I thought I couldn't wait til I could get a break! Now, after three half days, and my return to work looming in the very near (MONDAY!) future, all I can think is, "HOW am I going to be away from her all day!?! I'm going to miss everything!!" Luckily, I'll get to go to the CDC (Child Development Center) once a day to nurse her, so we'll have a little time during the day, but it's definitely not going to be the same! She'll thrive there, though, with lots of one-on-one time since there are soon to be only two babies in the infant room. That makes me happy - if she has to be in daycare, at least she's getting the same time I'd be giving her!


Michaela recently had her 8 week well-baby check a little early, too. She had it right around 6 weeks because we had paper work to fill out for the CDC. I've been concerned about how much she spits up, and wondered if she was keeping enough food down. I didn't need to worry at all! At 6 weeks, she was 10lbs, 14oz and 22.5 inches long, which was a full two+ pounds more than her birth weight, and a full inch longer than her birth height! And today, we took the infant insert out of her carseat! This girl is growing like a weed!


So that's the big stuff in baby news. I still need to put together a blog about the Reidy grandparents meeting their second grand child. But, we're having a big party at the house tomorrow night - our wetting down to celebrate our promotions this summer - so I have to get through that first, and then I'll get back to the blog.


Meanwhile, in non-baby news, I have a "job" coming up that I have a lot of work to do for as well. A friend of mine, who owns a souvenir-type shop here in town has asked if I would sell some of my Kodiak photography on consignment in her shop. So I now need to go through two years of pictures and find the ones I think would sell the best! I'm pretty flattered that she asked me to provide her shop with something that she thinks it's been missing... but I'm also nervous that no one will like them and buy them! So, wish me luck on that front!


Finally, what everyone has read this whole blog to get to... the video from earlier tonight that I talked about a million paragraphs ago. Here's Michaela getting a little exercise and trying valiantly to roll over!

Sometimes it's not about the baby

I would love to offer up a picture-filled and witty post about the latest and greatest adventures in the life of Michaela.

But, last night Jason and I had a combined total of sleep less than what is recommended for a normal adult, so my wit and patience for uploading pictures are a little limited.

Instead, I'll just share a little piece of Kodiak beauty. This is what I saw out the front window about an hour ago... and I promptly ran outside to catch it with the camera, leaving Jason inside with a screaming baby. Heh.

Anyway, this is the product of a sunset just 20-ish minutes before moonrise (plus a 500mm zoom lens and a little cropping/zooming on the computer). Enjoy!