Look at this girl...

...she cracks me up.

Shoes by Kat

Blanket by Monica

Bear from Grandma Pam, swing from Ainsley

Presents!

Cleo opened presents from Mommy, Daddy and Grandma Chris. She got a Horsey Girl growth chart, a beautiful music box and some adorable clothes. As for Cal and I, we found Cleo under our tree!

Cleo's First Christmas Morning

Cleo awoke, realizing it was her first Christmas morning. Imagine the joy she felt knowing that under the tree were presents just for her!




She got all dressed up for the occasion, then wanted to eat something before opening presents.



"Hurry up, Cleo," her daddy exclaimed, too excited to wait for her to eat.
"Hold on, daddy," she said.

Cleo's First Christmas Eve

Posted by: Cal

On Christmas Eve Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Margaret came over as we munched on tapas, ate way too much candy, and opened presents. We went to bed early in anticipation of Cleo's first Christmas morning!

Grown up time.

Today Cal let me out of the house for a few hours to finally do my Christmas shopping. While out, my friend Lauren dropped a gift by the house and met me at Verite for some coffee. I have to say, it was both nice and terrifying to be away from Cleo for a few hours.

Hello Christmas, hello the last of my twenties.

Yesterday we celebrated Christmas early with Grandma and Grandpa Ledbetter. We had a special holiday outfit for Cleo that even included butt ruffles! So cute! We were dually celebrating my 29th birthday.

Grandma Pam's here!

Posted by: Cal

My mom arrived yesterday by plane from the Tri-Cities. She could barely contain her excitement as she called me three times on my way to the airport to see if I was there yet.
When she (finally) got to our apartment, she was able to hold her granddaughter Cleo.




Then the next day she bought her like five trillion pink outfits.

(Plus she's sitting here this morning in the Seattle snow as we plan to do nothing all day and she learns how to make a blog.)

Another random day

Today I bought Cleo her first Christmas present, but I'm not telling what it is...

We woke up to snow this morning, and of course, like everything else, Dan didn't care whether it had snowed or not.





Stacia gave Cleo her first bath this evening, she obviously loved it.




She's just like her daddy: hates everything except films, music, food, and sleeping.

Big day out

Posted by: Cal

This morning Stacia, Cleo, and I loaded into the car to take some canned food down to SIFF Cinema to donate to a local food bank. After a brief stop by the store to pick up the necessities (egg nog and whiskey) we went to pick up a Christmas tree. Wanting Cleo's first Christmas to be one to remember, I demanded we get a big tree. I mean a BIG tree. This thing is 10 feet tall with the angel on top.





Then we fell asleep.




Later that night Cleo lost her thingy and gained a belly button!!!

Tummy Time

Cleo had some tummy time this afternoon to build strength and to keep her head in the beautiful shape that it is. Dan assisted with the proceedings. Note the adorable blanket made special for Cleo by Great Grandma Krause.

The best part of waking up...

When I wake up in the morning, I get to look at this sweet face next to me. I'm not interested in permanent co-sleeping, but I found that right now, in order to get sleep myself, I need Cleo next to me at night. This way, when I wake up once or twice each hour I can quickly confirm that she is still breathing, then fall back asleep. I'm sure it won't be long before I'm ready to move her to the bassinet. At least that's what I keep telling myself.

Today Cleo and I have an action packed agenda. We will be walking to the Sip and Ship to select Christmas cards and then we need to go to the grocery store for milk. This will by my most physically challenging day to date. I think I may end up driving to the grocery store instead of walking. We'll have to see how it goes. Also, will try to get awake pictures of Cleo to go with all the sleepy ones I seem to be getting.

First ladies day out!

Today we made our first ventures out into the land of the living since coming home from the hospital. I have been very lucky to join the company of a group of women who have all recently become mothers, or are in progress. The group refers to itself as "Park Day" because we started meeting for lunch on Thursdays in different parks during the summer. I affectionately refer to it as "Mom Cult" because I find it interesting that so many of my peers are breeding all at the same time. It feels mildly like we all drank something, which fortunately just made us fertile vs. poisoning us to death.

So today Cleo and I joined up with the Mom Cult mommies. There were 6 babies less than one year old in the same room. There was lots of spit up and boob talk. It felt good to get out of the house. Plus, Cleo looks adorable in her car seat (thanks Ainsley!) so I've shared a pic with you here.

Yesterday we celebrated Cleo's one-week birthday with some bubbly. She didn't like it as much as milk but I'm sure it will grow on her. This week has gone by so quickly - it's hard to keep track of all the small things I see in her each day. She liked her binky for day three and four, and now seems to despise it. She still thinks her fingers are tasty, and is a champ at self soothing! She had her first diaper blow-out that necessitated a full wardrobe change. She had her first sponge bath, followed up by her first time peeing on the couch (oops - lesson learned by mommy on this one).

And she LOVES her daddy!

Thank You! And update!

I'm online! OK - I've been online a bit before this, but haven't felt up to the task of blog update.

First, I want to thank everyone who kept an eye on the birth proceedings. Cal read me your comments between contractions and I can't express how good it was to hear your words of encouragement and to enjoy your speculations about Cleo's dimensions. It helped brighten the mood and keep us focused on the end goal - meeting our sweet baby girl!

As for Cleo, she's gorgeous, wonderful and she smells way better than Dan. She has a precious smile and shiny newborn blue eyes. As you've already seen in pictures, she looks just like her daddy. On occasion, she wrinkles her forehead and in those moments I can see a bit of myself. She's very calm and loves to cuddle, but can sleep on her own. As I understand it, this makes me very lucky, and much cleaner/well fed than many new mothers. She thinks her fingers are delicious and finds them frequently to calm herself. She lost a bit more weight at first than the pediatrician likes, but is on her way back to fighting weight. We have a dr. appointment this afternoon to confirm that all is well.

Firsts: She shed her first tears today. Wow, I don't think I was prepared for that. It was cute, sad and sweet all at the same time. I took a picture, but it is nsf-blog after review. Instead I've given you a very sweet sleeping photo taken just now as she naps beside me on the couch.

Grandma Chris is still with us and has been a great help and support. We can't thank her enough!

As for me, I feel pretty good - certainly much better than I expected. Really, I'm just tired. I'm really looking forward to full recovery so I'll have the strength to shop. Cal and I are very excited to indulge our desire for frilly girl clothes for Cleo.

For those of you who will continue to read the blog, I'll do my best to have regular updates of our favorite lady!

Thanks again to everyone!

Much Love!
-Stacia

Photos galore

Here are some new photos of Cleo: Cleo with Grandma Chris, Cleo in her bassinet, Cleo staring out the window, Cleo with Mommy, etc.

Cleo at home

First of all, Cleo does not have red hair.
I know the photos from yesterday were deceiving, but she has dark brown hair.
Also, Grandma Chris, Stacia's mom came today.
This morning Dana dropped by with Ainsley and brought cupcakes and coffee. Thanks Dana!

Cleo's first complete day

Also, we're going home!!!

Update seis: the morning edition

Posted by: Cal

We tried to sleep all night, couldn't really. I think I got into a zone, but I don't know about Stacia. Cleo slept in Mom's bed with her, and at one o'clock Cleo woke up with a diaper full of complete and utter grossness. After Stacia desecrated numerous washcloths while cleaning Cleo's bum. She then tried to give her something to eat, and she took it, finally. So now Cleo knows how to do that, so we're another step closer to leaving the hospital.
We listened to Devandra Banhart on loop last night and now forever that CD will = baby's first night. We woke early to be moved to a post-pardom (sp?) room where Stacia is now napping.
The pediatrician came in this morning and granted Cleo a clean bill of health. Not only is she healthy in the not-sick way, but her pallet is in tact, her legs and arms are in working order, her head will fuse fine, and she also has no birth marks and impeccable skin.
(I really hoped for one trait of mine to be passed down, my impenetrable immune system. Yay!)
I then left briefly to get coffee and walk idiot-face around the block.
Our wonderful neighbor Emily is watching Dan today so he doesn't howl all day long like yesterday.
Dan smelled my clothes and knew something suspicious was up. He searched the house for the new baby and was totally confused when it was just me...
He's in for a big surprise!
Now I'll go back to the book I'm reading (No Country For Old Men) and quietly wait for Stacia and Cleo to wake up, or maybe I'll go get something to eat.
Thanks again to everyone who wished Baby Cleo into the world via the blog, text messages, and calls.
And sorry to the few people I was short with on the phone (Stacia was having minute-long breaks between contractions at the time), but I appreciate the calls and we can't wait to see you all.
Thanks again Emily for watching ass-face, and also to the great nurses Trish and Anita, and the nurse-in-training Chelsea (you'll be a great nurse, you were the best help!). And of course thanks to our awesome midwife Maggie, we couldn't have done it without you.
Grandma Chris, we'll see you tomorrow.
Grandma Pam, we'll see you soon.

P.S. Later this afternoon I hope to get some more cute baby shots on the blog (hopefully no crying or closed eyes). So stay tuned.

more photos

Cleo pooped on our midwife Maggie's shirt.