Wednesday, December 19, 2007

long needed update

It's been too long since I've updated! Life has been busy with going back to work and the Christmas season, but the transition was made much easier thanks to our pastor's wife and another part time teacher at school who have been showing lots of love to Xavier on the days when Mommy was at school.

Today Xavier got geared up in his Cardinals clothes to go see his St. Louis native friends, Amy and Samuel.

X and Sam were good boys and slept through most of lunch...okay, Sam slept through lunch and X was wide-eyed most of the time and even managed to stick his hand in his mommy's guacamole...oops.

This evening, we celebrated our little family's Christmas before we travel to St. Louis at the end of the week. We had lots and lots of presents to open from great-grandparents, grandma Hill, great aunts, etc. Xavier is a little spoiled! Thank you!!
This is what Xavier gave his daddy:

And he gave his mommy a Starbucks gift card!!! I've been craving peppermint mochas big time, but I haven't given in (new baby=frugal parents) so I was very excited! I managed to open my present from Xavier before he did this the rest of the time...

Matt got me an external hard drive which I was VERY excited about as well because I don't have any of my photos backed up yet!

We are looking forward to seeing many of you soon!!!

Sunday, December 2, 2007

Month two

Dear Xavier,

The last month has flown by, little buddy. It’s like you went from being this helpless little baby to being a “real person” as your daddy says. He’s looking forward to you becoming even more “real,” i.e. able to go fishing and play catch. Your daddy has also been known to read a book about development to figure out how advanced you are. But don’t get too far ahead of yourself. We are already blown away just by a simple smile on your face.

When do you smile the most? Simple answer—whenever you are on your changing table! We are not quite sure where this obsession with the changing table came from but have a hunch that it has something to do with having a clean bum. You could be screaming your head off but if we put you on that changing table, you are suddenly smiling, kicking your legs, waving your arms, and talking away. In fact, your parents (remember, we are novices at this!) have been known to carry your changing table pad downstairs and put it on the couch to prolong that happy state. You pretty much hated your rainforest activity mat until I had the genius idea of simply putting that changing table pad under there. Most kids have a security blanket—you have a security changing table pad. Hopefully it won’t have to go to preschool with you in a few years.

You have surprised us by being a social butterfly. In the past couple of weeks, you’ve attended a cross country banquet, football banquet, and a couple of basketball games. You seem to enjoy being passed around from mother to mother and basking in the attention of the high school students. Maybe hanging out with high school students is the reason why you already like to talk on the phone. You’ve been babbling away to Grandma Mueller on the cell phone a few times a week (usually when you’re lying on the changing table).

You have already outgrown much of your 0-3 month clothes and are wearing primarily 3-6 months. (This provides a nice excuse for Grandma Hill to buy you more clothes). Also growing at an alarming rate is your hair! I thought you were born with a full head of hair but it seems to keep multiplying. So, I have only given you…ummm….*four* haircuts so far. The first one was when you were about 6 weeks old and I was just going to get rid of that mullet (sorry, Uncle Jon). But the very next day, I trimmed the rest…and then again a few days later to “even” things out. After three haircuts, I promised your Uncle Nate he would be the next one to cut it at Christmas time…but I might have broken my promise. At least I haven’t started styling it with gel…yet.

Tomorrow morning, I have to leave you to go back to work for the first time. I cried most of the day today (so you cried most of the day today). I know you are going to be fine and that you might not even notice that I left, but I’m going to be thinking about you all day, kid. And that will be true the rest of your life. No matter how far apart we are, you will always be in my heart.

Love,
Mommy

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Moving on to a new stage together


Xavier and I attended a baby shower for Amy and her baby Samuel on Sunday. Xavier looked like such a big boy in comparison to Samuel--literally almost twice his size!! It's hard to believe that we are both mommies now! We've known each other so long and been through so many stages together since the age of three--hanging out at football games and faculty parties when our dads were both teaching at Lutheran North, going to grade school and high school together, running track, lifting weights in college, being roommates after college, getting engaged and married within 6 months of each other, moving to Colorado, coaching together, experiencing pregnancy and now motherhood together! Here's a few pictures from along the way:

Playing at a piano recital together in junior high. Notice that Amy is at least half a foot taller than me!

4x400 relay team our sophomore year

high school graduation

coaching at the regional meet a couple of years ago

Monday, November 26, 2007

Fun with hats...


Apparently he liked the first one a little better!! :)

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Thanksgiving


We had a nice Thanksgiving with Matt's mom visiting. She was so surprised at how much bigger Xavier had gotten since her visit in October. I went all out with the cooking again and we will have leftovers for a while. On Friday, Matt's mom and I hit the stores while Xavier and Dad hung out together.

Monday, November 19, 2007

Being a mother is teaching me...

that I can't be perfect.

I’ve always been a perfectionist. It’s part of who I am. And yet, I think I might finally be ready to hang up at least some of that part of me. Tonight was our cross country banquet and I couldn’t find any of the little weights to attach the balloons to, so I tied them to some old spikes I had in my closet instead. (Yes, I put old shoes on the tables we were going to eat at!) We only had about half of the room to work with because they had already set up for grandparents’ day so it all looked pretty stupid…but I didn’t care. I’ve always wanted to be the best teacher, the best coach, the best wife, the best cook, the best fill-in-the-blank and trying to do it all quite honestly has driven me crazy in the past. And somehow it seems that the most important areas are the ones that get sacrificed. But I’m not willing to do that anymore. I don’t want to sacrifice the happiness of my husband and son to have the perfect banquet. I don’t want to cook the perfect Thanksgiving dinner and not have time to give thanks. I want to enjoy these moments instead of having to make them perfect!

Long Needed Update!

My cousin Rebekah told me today that everyone was going to think my kid was dumb because I left the last post up for so long without updating! So...I wanted to clarify that I do think little X is quite bright for his age of almost 7 weeks and I didn't mean to question his intelligence. He figures things out quickly, such as *if I cry, Mama will get off the computer and come pick me up.* See, he is a smart one! Tonight was our end of the season cross country banquet and yesterday I had a lot of work to get ready for it, so I think Xavier was ready to have his mommy back full time. He came to the banquet with Matt and of course didn't cry at all (he never seems to in public!) and wowed everyone with this smile. I love this kid...

Thursday, November 8, 2007

I thought he was going to be smart?


A few days ago, Xavier was laying on a blanket on the floor as I ate my breakfast. When he started screaming, I assumed that he had dropped his pacifier again. But as I got closer, I saw something similar to this picture. X had a fistful of his own hair and was pulling it hard enough to make himself cry...and somehow not realizing that he was the inflictor of the pain. I even had to untangle his fingers to get him to stop crying! It turns out he did the same thing again later that day with Matt. I managed to catch this picture this morning and he stopped short of pulling and settled for grabbing and rubbing his hair. I guess if you had nice soft hair like his, you would want to rub it too...

How come...


...he sleeps when we want him to be awake and is wide awake when we want to sleep?

It's a little big, Mom...


So this hoodie is a little big on him...but isn't he cute? I peeked in during my run and could only see a little pacifier going up and down inside the hood.



Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Taking Notice




Xavier has recently become much more aware of everything around him. He loves to stare at our faces, the Indian batik hanging above the couch, Daddy's glasses, the ceiling fan and lights... Sometimes it's hard to tell exactly what he is looking at. He also enjoys having conversations with us and babbling about what he is seeing :)

Sunday, November 4, 2007

I'll admit it...

I was a little disappointed when I found out we were having a boy because I thought a girl would be a lot more fun to dress up. But I changed my mind when I dressed Xavier for church last night. Here's our little man...

Friday, November 2, 2007

Happy Birthday, Rebekah!


Month One

Dear Xavier,

It’s hard to believe that you have been with us for a month already. Then again, it’s hard to remember our life without you. It’s been a learning experience everyday, probably even more for us than for you. I learned that as hard as I tried to pick out a name that couldn’t be shortened to one syllable, your daddy would start calling you X shortly after you were born and the high school students added Baby X, Little X, even Dr. X? Well, I had good intentions…

I thought for a while that you might be “Super Baby”…especially when you rolled over the day you came home from the hospital. Of course, that may have been assisted by the big pillow you were laying on during one of the many photo shoots you had to endure the first weeks of your life. You might as well get used to that, X. Just ask your daddy. He’s learned just to smile for the camera and get it over with. I thought you were Super Baby again when you folded your hands when you were five days old on your first Sunday. I’m sorry I didn’t take you to church that day, but I’m glad you remembered to pray anyway. Of course, I didn’t think you were quite as super when you spit up all over the both of us in church the next week.

You went to a football game and a bunch of cross country practices in your first few weeks. Approximately 73% of your clothing has a football on it, but that doesn’t mean you can’t run cross country in high school, Xavier. Your mama doesn’t want you getting hurt playing football. So we’ve been practicing your running form when you’re laying on the floor and you’ve been on a few runs with Mommy in the running stroller already. In fact, yesterday, you cried the entire time I was walking until I finally broke into a run. Thanks for getting me going! Daddy and Grandma Hill will get used to the idea of you running cross country eventually…

Your grandparents love you almost as much as your parents. Grandma Mueller spent the first couple weeks of your life with you making sure your mama didn’t mess things up too badly. You must have thought I was crazy when I cried the entire day she left, but I think you might have too. And remember, Grandma told us that a little crying makes you stronger. Your grandpa calls me everyday just to make sure that I’m taking good care of you and yesterday he told me that he thinks you get a little cuter every day. And Grandma Hill has been waiting for you (and buying presents for you) ever since your mama and daddy got married!

Someone asked me a week or so after you were born—“Did you ever think you could love something so much?” And I’ve continued to ask myself that question, because my love for you multiplies with every day…every time I nurse you, every time you curl up on my chest for a nap, every time you stare at us with those big eyes, every time you flail your arms around…

You’ve grown so much already—weighing in at 9 pounds, 10 ounces today. I can’t wait to see you grow up, to see the plans that God has for you. But don’t grow up too fast. And don’t ever forget that no matter how big you are, you’ll always be my little boy.

Love,
Mommy