Happy FIRST Birthday, Rossleigh!!!!

Oh my goodness!! I honestly can't believe it's been a YEAR since my beautiful baby was born. While I knew that becoming a mother was going to be an amazing, life-changing experience, I never dreamed that this little girl of mine would bring this much JOY to my life and every life she touches.  

Her life started out pretty scary for all of us, and part of me actually worried that being poked, prodded, stuck, and cut open might affect what her personality would be like.  I thought she might be a fussy baby or not feel like she had much to smile about.  It sounds silly to me now, but it was something I was legitimately concerned about.  Silly mama!!  I don't think you could find a happier child.

Look at how much she's changed!!  

The first time she smiled, it changed our lives and she's been smiling ever since.  I have honestly never seen a baby that is SO HAPPY!!  The child is always smiling or giggling and even has her laugh out loud moments!!!  Sure, when she's tired or hungry, she's a little sassy, but the majority of the time, she just oozes sweetness.  

I'm babbling, but just wanted to say that she is a BLESSING and an absolute GIFT from God.  We can't wait until her party on Saturday!  

Happy Rossleigh's Birthday!!!

A Mover and a Shaker!

Rossleigh is ALL OVER THE PLACE!!!  This child went from sitting one week to crawling the next!!  There was no gradual scooting period or anything.  On top of it, while she knew HOW to, she never even rolled over much either.  Big time culture shock for all of us!  LOL

See the video below for her in action.  She starts out playing with some fabric scraps then decides she wants something on the OTHER side of Bean.  No matter!  She just crawls over him!!  LOL  

P.S. - notice how stoic Bean is in the beginning of the video.  Statue!!  :)

Marcy's birthday party

Mom/Nana decided that since last year was full of worry and doubt for our family (Megan's transplant, my pregnancy, and Rossleigh's heart surgery), this year would be the year of the party!!
So, we celebrated Marcy's birthday (my sister) a couple of weeks early with a princess party.   My mom made the cake and cupcakes (isn't it adorable?) and Megan did all the killer decorations!  
During the party, Jakey was suddenly fascinated with Rossleigh.   He kept holding up his little arms to Rossleigh as if he wanted to hold her or hug her.   I let him hug her, but that didn't seem good enough - he really wanted to hold her!   I sat him on a chair and then put her on his lap.   Too cute!   :)

Sick family & Birthdays!

Miss Rossleigh has been sick with her upper respiratory infection, but is getting over it, I suspect.   No more fevers, thank goodness!   Thanks be to God!  As I'm sure you mamas out there know, it's such a helpless feeling when your baby is sick. :(

In addition to Rossleigh, I have a sinus infection.   I rarely get these because with my asthma, infections usually like to settle in my chest and hang out for a bit.   I think I caught this one before that happened, thankfully!  

Ironically, I'm on antibiotics for a measly sinus infection while Rossleigh just has to "wait it out"  with her upper respiratory infection.   No sense!

Today would have also been my dad's birthday, so while I've had a moment or two of sadness today (he passed away 8 years ago), I've also experienced happiness because Rossleigh is 12 weeks today!!  :)  I think Daddy would have liked that if he was still here - his youngest grandchild experiencing a "birthday" of sorts on his birthday.  :)

Prayers please that everyone is well in time to enjoy Rossleigh's first Christmas!!

Baby Laughter & Body Tricks

Rossleigh has this rocker chair that we call "the mouse chair".  Why?  Because it is a baby chair with a picture of a mouse princess on it.  Anyway, the mouse chair pretty much stays in my office so that she can hang out with me while I am working on stuff from time to time.  She doesn't sit in it often, so she usually is not a huge fan and when she does sit in it, it doesn't last long.  Today, however, she was rocking out in the mouse chair!  THEN, when I pulled the little flower on the toy bar for the music to play, her face lit up in a smile and she would coo!!  She did it every time!!  Watch the video to see what I mean.  :)

I think I mentioned yesterday or the day before that Rossleigh breastfed for the first time and that my friend, Nicole came over.  So while she was here, she was trying to teach me about the art of hand expression.  I just couldn't master it (it truly is an art, and one that can only be appreciated if you need to know how to do it).  So I have been trying unsuccessfully ever since, but failing miserably.  What's worse is that I haven't been able to get Rossleigh to breastfeed anymore since that day - until today.  I watched YouTube videos per Nicole's suggestion and FINALLY mastered it - on one breast anyway! When you can do this, you can literally spray milk from your breast across the room.  It truly is a sight to be seen...or not. 

FUNNY STORY - So I was so excited, I ran downstairs to show Lance my new trick!!  I went to express the milk...and accidentally sprayed him in the eye!!  Needless to say, he was not amused.  Nope, not one teeny tiny bit.  I apologized and tried to comfort him by letting him know that he should really be thanking me.  After all, breast milk does have healing qualities.  What if he had an oncoming eye infection he was unaware of?  I probably just healed it!!  He smiled, but still wasn't too impressed with my new trick.  I'm pumped though (no pun intended).  :)

Photo Shoot

Agnieszka (one of Rossleigh's Godmothers) came over yesterday afternoon to spend some time with Miss Rossleigh.  She happens to be a wonderful photographer, so I asked her if she would mind bringing her camera over to take some family pictures of us, as well as some studio-type pictures of Rossleigh.  Boy, did we get some GREAT shots!!  She ended up taking 367 photos, so these below are just the tip of the iceberg!  :)

Here are just a few of the family shots:

And here are some of Rossleigh:

Which are your favorites?  I'll be posting more here and there over the next few days, but just wanted to show a sample of the poses Agnieszka captured!  How lucky are we to have her in our lives??  :)  

We love Ciocia Aga (Polish for Aunt Agnieszka)!!!  <3

Looking back...

Sometimes it's hard to believe that Rossleigh is just 9 1/2 weeks old.  When I look back at everything that she's been through in her short little life, it just doesn't even seem real.  It feels like it was almost like a dream?  Fortunately (and unfortunately), I have pictures to remind me of how far she has come...

September 26th, 2012 (just shortly before noon) - Happiest day of my life!!  :)

First time I got to see her - about 10:00pm
the day she was born. It was a LONG day!

First family photo - taken the morning of her surgery (5 days old)

Post-surgery in PICU/recovery.  Swollen, but rockin' the bow!  ;)

Post-surgery...Love the expression on her face!

Happy little bean pod!

Daddy getting to REALLY hold her for the first time after surgery.
  

First time for Nana, Pops, and Gigi to get to hold Rossleigh.  Such happy, happy grandparents!

First time to be able to wear CLOTHES!!!  ;)

Sweet, smiley girl

No tubes or wires!  Last night in the hospital.  Praise the Lord!

Finally at home in my own bed!!  :)

All about hands and trees

In the last week or so, Rossleigh has discovered her hands and let me tell you - she is ALL about her hands!!  When she's sleeping, they're in her face (and she's started pulling her hair to prevent her from falling asleep)!  When she's eating, she tries to put them in her mouth, making it a little difficult to fit that bottle in there too.  Fortunately, she's not about putting them down in her diaper yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if that's not too far down the road.  Ha ha!!

I did a little photo shoot today of her in her crib, getting ready to take her nap.  I know I'm biased, but I just think this whole "hands phase" is the cutest thing!!  :)

The other thing that Rossleigh is really into right now is Christmas trees.  She just stares in amazement at the lights and the shiny ornaments.  And if you tap the tree so everything moves a tad, just forget it!  She goes into a trance!!  LOL

A couple of nights ago, Lance was going to keep his eyes/ears out for Rossleigh so I could be downstairs cooking dinner.  I came up to let him know how much longer things would be and found this sight:

Apparently, she had been fussy and when he walked past the "Heritage" themed tree we have upstairs, she seemed in awe of it and stopped crying.  He tried sitting her in her rocker/bouncer and it was all the entertainment she needed.  He calls her the "Christmas Tree Inspector".  Hmmm...we may have to leave a tree up year round!!  LOL

Many faces

How precious is this girl!!

Monkey girl

She wasn't very smiley for the picture, but she's normally in a REALLY good mood after waking up.