Sunset: Texas Style

Around dusk, I looked out the window and noticed that the light just looked….pink. When I stepped outside, it immediately became apparent why.

I ran inside to grab my camera because the sunset was just too spectacular not to capture.

It’s important to note that these pictures have not been “doctored” at all. These are the images as they appeared straight out of my camera. The colors were just that magnificent!

Sometimes the beauty of this world is just overwhelming. It’s times like these when I’m especially grateful for cameras and the ability to freeze a moment in time.

 

A Baby in a Hat

When we went to Seattle last year for our “babymoon“, we stopped at a little stand at the market that was selling hand-knitted baby hats. If I love one thing, it’s babies in knitted hats! In fact, putting my own baby in a knitted hat is quite possibly why I had a baby to begin with.

Okay, that’s not true at all. But I do love me some babies in hats!

So when we saw this little stand, I insisted that we buy a hat for our then unborn baby who, we had just discovered weeks prior, was a girl.

When we got home with it, I anxiously showed it to my mom and anyone else who would look. I was so excited to take newborn pictures of our girl in it. My mom just laughed and said the kid would probably be two before the hat fit her. And I mentally disagreed, thinking mom was just wrong.

Turns out she wasn’t wrong. Don’t you hate that?!

We’re running out of days that are even cool, much less cold, so I figured I should try the hat on her again. It’s still much too big, but not nearly as big as it was when she was a newborn and not too big for a little photo shoot!

My bright eyed girl!

"Um Ma, this hat is a little too big!"

Maybe it will fit perfectly next year?

Annabel Says…

We actually celebrated on Sunday night. Weeknights are just so hectic between getting home, getting dinner ready, eating, cleaning up, getting Annabel in bed, showering, washing bottles, and getting lunches made that we figured that trying to cook a nice dinner on top of all that would be damn near impossible.

So Sunday it was.

We’re not huge into Valentine’s Day around here. Nathan usually grills up some steaks and I make chocolate covered strawberries.

Why yes that IS boxed mac and cheese! We discovered at the last minute that our sweet potatoes had gone bad, so we classed it up with mac and cheese!

Sometimes there are flowers and chocolate, sometimes some small gifts, but definitely nothing extravagant in these here parts.

But as with every holiday this year, things were a little bit different with a baby on the scene. I told Nathan that he’s Annabel’s valentine until she has her own someday (in like 30 years), so he needed to set the bar high. I want her to learn at a young age how she deserves to be treated by a future partner. And sometimes that includes being pampered!

I think her first Valentine’s Day was a success. She got a sweet card, a teddy bear, and roses.

She loved the teddy bear! I guess she takes after me.

From our house to yours, Happy Valentine’s Day!

When She Was Sick

She had a runny nose and was starting to get a cough. She woke up at 3am on a Thursday from coughing so hard. She had already been up a couple of times, so I nudged Nathan to see if he would just bring her to me. I couldn’t get up again. Just as he was handing her to me, she threw up all over the sheets. A lot. I almost screamed out of shock.

“Will you stay home with her?” I asked. I had no sick time from using it all during maternity leave.

“Yes. Of course.” He said without hesitation.

And so he did. And he called me several times to check in throughout the day, update me of her status. He took her temperature and questioned if he should take her to the doctor. But no fever, so I said there probably wasn’t much they could do.

Thursday evening the fever came, so Friday he stayed home with her again, but this time took her to the doctor. Ear infection. Possible RSV or cold.

He had her prescription filled for antibiotics and gave her the first dose. He went out and bought a humidifier and plugged it in. He continued to monitor her temperature and gave her Tylenol to keep it down. He bought saline solution and suctioned her nose to help her breathe better. He pored over the huge baby book we have from the American Academy of Pediatrics with a look of concern on his face. He googled baby ear infection and remedies. He held her close. He worried about her once she was in bed and peeked in to check on her.

He nursed her back to health…with the aid of the antibiotics that he gave to her twice a day for ten days, while laughing as she gulped it down every time.

One day I want to tell Annabel just how much her daddy loves her, but something tells me I won’t need to do that. I’m pretty sure she’ll know it simply through his actions. I knew he would be a good dad, but actually seeing him in action is so awesome. She’s a lucky girl.

Lucky indeed.

That Time I Fed Her Yogurt

Annabel got her first ear infection about two weeks ago. She had some other stuff going on and wasn’t fussy at all, so we never suspected an ear infection. But that’s what she had, so we were given antibiotics. The doctor also said to feel free to give her some yogurt to keep her tummy happy and replenish all of the good bacteria that was going to be killed along with the bad bacteria.

When we went to the grocery store, I planned to buy some “baby” yogurt for her. Mostly because I didn’t know if there was anything special about it or if she could have regular yogurt. As it turns out, it’s just plain old yogurt, but with some added fruit puree and added sugar. In yogurt marketed specifically for babies! No thank you! So I just bought some actual plain yogurt for her.

If you’ve ever tasted plain yogurt, you know it’s pretty tart and kind of gross. So I figured I’d add a little bit of breast milk to it to make it thinner, sweeter and more like what she’s used to eating. She wasn’t super hungry, so I didn’t expect her to eat much. She made funny faces, but babies do that with all new food, especially when it’s their first time eating solids.

"What are you feeding me?!?"

I marked it as a success.

Until I tasted the stuff. It tasted like vomit, pure and simple. Ew. I’m sorry, Annabel!

So I decided I’d just hold off on the yogurt until after I’ve introduced some fruits to her and can mix those in too. But I don’t want to do fruits until after I’ve done vegetables because I don’t want her to refuse the vegetables once she’s had the sugary goodness of the fruits. And I don’t really want to do vegetables until at least six months. So it will be awhile before she has yogurt again. But next time, I promise it won’t taste like vomit.

And until then, she’ll be doing this: