Andi Pandi

Hello....er...(shuffles feet)....sorry I haven't been here in um, three weeks....it's not you, it's me.

I have been up at mom and dad's house for the holidays and while they do have the internet up here and I have not lost feeling in my fingers, I just haven't had much to say.  ("WHAT!!  You have a new baby that you owe us pictures of!")  Okay.  You're right.

Only one problem..I don't have any software to fix the pictures with and if I upload them at the size they are at right now? It will take a lifetime for them to load etc. 

So I promise promise promise that I will do it after January 7th when I get home.

Promise.

If you can't wait? Email me and I will send the enormous pics to you!

Okay...that said: I will attempt to make this an actual entry of some sort. (bullets of course, because I am too lazy to try to string together a coherent train of thoughts)

• Christmas was just lovely.  Our whole family was together and the weather was beautiful, which is unheard of in this part of the country.
• I got a new video camera that records to these cool little tiny dvd's, so eventually, if i try really hard, i will learn how to put video up here! eeep!
• Little Sophie is doing great.  She is growing like a weed.  At seven weeks now, she is already out of all of her 0-3 month old clothes.  She is super long and is getting even better at the neck control thing...although she still looks like a bobble head most of the time.  Mommy Milestone: I can now call out to her in the night and say "mommy's here" and she will stop crying long enough for me to get to her room! yay!
• Baby Blues Update: still here, but getting better.  I am trying to take it all one day at a time and smile with my little girl...but occasionally the blues get to me. 
• Boobie Update: Nursing is going much better.  A course of antibiotics and some pain meds and everything seems to be running smoothly now. 
• Fat Bootie Update: I am now down to a size 12.  I have lost 30 lbs since I delivered.  I am going to start dieting in January and try to get the last 20 or so pounds off...THEN maybe the blues will start to fade a little more too--right now i look like a deflated balloon!

At the tender age of three weeks, my darling little girl has a favorite song, and while it is not annoying now? I have a feeling this could be the end of my sanity.  One can only listen to A-Weem-A-Wep over and over so many times, right?  Her daddy dances around with her and sings The Lion Sleeps Tonight as if we are willing her to actually obey and fall asleep.  Not so much.

This is her squashy burp face.  We have to work her to death to get one teeeeensy little burp out and I am the worst at it.  Her daddy? The Burp-Meister.

Sophie got to meet her Grandpa last week: The Original Nap King.  This is one of the rare pictures that at least one of them is awake in.

Remember the pics I promised like a year ago?  Of the amazing afghan Bethiclaus made us?  It is amazing.  It is shown above, it matches our nursery perfectly and I am guarding it with my life from the little dog who somehow thinks it is hers...

OOOh, the lion sleeps on Bethiclaus's blankie!  Who knew that this was the cure?

Everyone is happy!

Sorry Sorrry Sorrryyy... No pics today because i am doing this one handedly and nursing simultaneously.  (edit: yay! pics at the end!)

I hate to be another trite mommy-blogger, but lets just talk for a second about the Miracle that is Breastfeeding, shall we?

I'll be nice and start with the pros:

• I am losing alot of weight, and that's good because I look like a deflated balloon-animal: the cow.
• I think it helps me connect with my little girl, which is also good because she gets passed around alot and I know that at least every couple hours I can demand that it is "my turn" with her.

Okay that sums it up.  The Cons?

• It hurts.  and it is really hard to get mad because you know it is like "the best thing ever" and "so good for your kid" and "going to make her a genius" and "if only Hitler had been breast-fed..."  But gah!  that whole "let down response thingy"  that SUCKS.  The books all cleverly describe it as "pins and needles"...I can see that, as long as it is the amniocentesis size needle that they are talking about and the pain they are refering to is that size needle being jammed in your boob over and over and over again.
• My child bites.  Enough said there?
• Latching?  Damn near impossible.  Still after three weeks using the shield thingy they gave me in the hospital.  Not sure if she will EVER learn to just nurse from the boob.  So she is starving and trying to latch on and sort of randomly banging her face into my chest...

I guess that is enough bitching.  (for now).  Am sorry that there are no pics this time...Any advice on the whole nursing thing?  I could use the encouragement right now. (edit: don't you dare tell me to "hang in there"...)

Okay, in a freak moment of generocity, my little girl fell asleep long enough to let me put these up!  wooohoooo little Sophie!

It is *very* cold here right now...think "teens" with windchills. eeep!