The Most Beautiful Tree Ever

Tree cutting day!

A few comparisons from our past years as tree cutters:

*We used to get a $5 permit and go hike around in the snowy Mt Hood National Forest to find the perfect tree. Then two years ago, at the exact spot where we usually go, a family got lost and stuck in the snow and spent several days in their car. We decided to learn from their mistake and hit up a local tree farm instead. Then last year there was the chance of giving birth at any time, so again the tree farm was a good option. And now the birthing is over but we have the baby...so yeah, tree farm.

*I was considering posting a photo of Daphne and I at this time last year cutting down our tree, but I just remembered I won an award for Most Unattractive 9-Months Pregnant Person. Therefore there will be no photo. Daphne enjoyed herself way more this year, anyways.














*Last year we took 7 pictures while at the tree farm. Today we took 64.

*Daphne has amazing tree picking skills, while David wanted the questionable trees. We need her.
































*We used to be pretty quick settling on a tree. Especially if it was freezing cold or raining. This year it wasn't really very cold out, plus it was so fun wandering around letting Daph grab every single tree we walked by. (As we walked she had one hand sticking out of the Ergo, fingers wide open, making tree grabbing super easy.) We were there for 2 hours.



















*We used to be 2 and that was cool. But we happen to be way cuter as 3.

Mmmm, Turkey

Daphne is a huge fan of Thanksgiving.



















She's like, "turkey? I want turkey!"




















But she is unfortunately getting to the point where she can protest the outfits I put on her.



















She wore her 49ers outfit for her dad, which I am not sure that she loves.



















"Mom, please get this thing off my head."



















Surgery recovery update:
She's doing great during the day. Night time is a completely different story. Last night she woke up every single hour. The night before it was every other hour, with a few hours in between of just wanting to be held. The night before that was every three hours. Why is it getting worse??? That seems opposite of what it should be. Right now I feel like she needs us during the night, just for some comfort, but I'm a little concerned about how her parents are going to continue on this path of severe sleep deprivation. It's not good, people, it's not good.

#5

Oh house, how I love thee.

Daphne is happy to be home. She about had a baby heart attack when she saw the dogs. Every time I would bring her into the house she would grunt and angle her body toward whichever door was closest. OK, I can take a hint.

But now it's dark so she's watching G.I. Joe with her dad. And drinking milk! She's only had 8 oz in the past 37 hours, so it's nice when she asks to eat.



















Our big hurdle for the next couple of days will be giving her the medications. They taste gross, plus they hurt, so she's a big screamer when medication time rolls around. It was nice when I had a nurse at my beck and call to come give them to her. Anyone a nurse who wants to come live here for a week? I will make you farm fresh scrambled eggs every day. Probably for all three meals because we have lots of eggs.

#4

Daphne being watched over by Pumpkin Bear and the newest addition to our family, Christmas Bear.













Out for a stroll.





























"Look at me! I had some milk and it was yummy!"



















The milk euphoria did not last long.



















She napped for about an hour and a half in my arms once we got back from our walk. She's still sleepy, but so much better than she has been. She could have had meds an hour and a half ago, but hasn't seemed to need them. She's eaten twice today. Can we please go home now?????!!!

#3

Morning has come. We were definitely ready for it. Strange things start to happen when you've been stuck in a tiny room for 16 1/2 hours without stepping foot outside.














The night was a little better than we thought it would be. Last night around 7 I decided to see if she would be OK in her bed. Amazingly she rolled over and went right to sleep! An hour later the CNA came to take her blood pressure, which Daphne hates, so she woke up screaming. Seriously, do you really have to wake a sleeping baby for blood pressure??? Really?

Usually our family motto is "hugs not drugs," but in this case we're more like, "are there any drugs available? Can we please have them?" Once we gave her something and snuggled for awhile, she would be ready to lay back in her bed, where she would sleep until someone else came in and/or her drugs were wearing off.

But this morning a tiny bit of Daphne is starting to shine through. She'll try to talk or she'll wrinkle up her nose. But mostly she's just moaning and looking miserable. She needs to start eating and her pain needs to get a little more under control so we can go home. Hopefully later on today.

And by the way, can everyone who comes in here please just check her chart to see that she's a girl? I can't really put a flower on her head here, so I need ya'll to help me out. No more "him," please.

#2

Daphne is out and we're settling into our marvelous hotel accommodations for the night.

The doctor said she had quite a bit of fluid built up in her ears, so he ended up putting tubes in. Maybe now that she'll have perfect hearing she'll start saying "mama" instead of "wawa." =)

I knew this wouldn't be a fun surgery to recover from, but I think it's a little worse than I imagined. She's on oxygen from having a bit of trouble breathing. She has arm splints on to keep her from touching her face. I can tell she wants to eat but her throat is too sore from the oxygen tube and obviously the roof of her mouth hurts. Her pulse oximeter keeps going off because of high heart rate; she's pretty upset which is keeping her heart rate up.


























We're going to need about 37 cups of coffee to make it through the night, I'm thinking. And I miss my cheerful little girl who was wiggling around the waiting room this morning.

Poor baby girl.

#1

Daphne's surgery started around 10:30 and will take about 3 hours.

Here she is waiting with Pumpkin Bear earlier this morning. Poor baby, she has no idea. She just liked playing around in this cool bed.




















I was thankful that her nurse asked if Daphne would fuss when being handed over to a stranger. I said yes, so she was given some yummy drugs to make her nice and relaxed. We walked her back to the OR, and when the anesthesiologist took her, Daphne barely put up a fight. Of course it could have been weakness from lack of food. You never know.

Back to waiting...

Busy Bee

Now that Daphne is crawling I've had many people mention that the 'easy' part is over. "Your life will never be the same," they tell me.

Well, here's what I have to say about it: I am SO HAPPY Daphne can move around on her own. Celebrations! Joy! Happiness!

I think Daphne was born to run. Lying on the floor alone while other people/animals got to go wherever they wanted? Not fair.

In the past months it has been very rare that I could set Daphne on the floor and have her entertain herself happily for a few minutes. She is the Whining Queen, and being left in one spot to have fun on her own was apparently torturous. Now that she can move around she is about a million times happier. Maybe even a trillion times happier. This morning I took a shower and blow-dried my hair all while she scooted happily around the living room. That's like half an hour, people. Previously unheard of. (Accidental moving did nothing for her. You know, rolling a few times and ending up somewhere random. Not good enough.)

A few fun things for her to entertain herself with now that she has a bit of independence:

The hallway mirror,



















book time,













and mom's beautification tools.



















The kitchen is also a wonderful playground for her. Licking the oven, gnawing on drawer pulls, head-butting the refrigerator; it's all good. This would be why I mix up all my own cleaning products. I had no idea that oven licking or chewing on drawer pulls would be an issue, so I figure using cleaning agents with poison control's phone number on them would not be a good idea. Gotta love harnessing the cleaning power of vinegar and baking soda.

I whip out the camera to take her picture and she turns on the turbo boosters to come flying at me saying, "I will move so fast your pictures will be blurry and my face will look weird."



















Or you won't see her face at all as she concentrates on her next destination.

It's Hard to Tell

Yummy raspberry treat or scene from a horror movie?













She is a woman of mystery.

Pre-Op

David was reading Daphne a farm animal book while we were waiting for her appointment to start. I kept hearing him say things like, "what does the pig say? 'Please don't eat me when I'm grown!'" and I would say "the book really says that?" Of course I knew he was writing his own story when the duck said "beat the Beavers."




















We found out we don't have to be at the hospital on Monday until 8AM! If Daphne was the youngest patient in for surgery we would have to be there at 6, which is just way too early to be driving across town. Plus her doctor says we will probably only have to spend one night in the hospital. Happy.



















Her doctor drew a picture of what he was going to do in her mouth. Eww. That's all I can say. Eww. He also talked about the arm splints little ones usually wear that keeps them from being able to put their hands in their mouths while they heal. Like the neck cone for a dog, but for babies. Again, eww. But he said if we keep a constant eye on Daphne to make sure she's not putting anything near her mouth she doesn't have to wear the splints.

Well, I figure Daphne is going to be really, really mad at us for a few days while she wonders why we made her go through this horrible experience. But it will be worth it when we don't have to use Haberman's anymore or worry about food getting stuck in her brain.

Conversation

While stepping out onto the back patio

Mama: Daphne, would you like to see Lola?

Daphne: Wawa!


Later on, while playing on the living room floor

Mama: Daphne, say 'mama!'

Daphne: Wawa!


Even later still, getting ready for bed

Mama: Daphne, are you ready for your milk?

Daphne: Wawa!


Hmmm.

Bring on the Cheer

Most years I strongly dislike Christmas showing up before Thanksgiving, because Thanksgiving needs its turn to be the center of attention. Starbucks getting out the Christmas cups on November first? Irritating!

This year I decided to just roll with the punches. Christmas comes but once a year, so I might as well enjoy every ounce of it. I still will keep my tradition of not getting out Christmas decor at home until December first, giving Thanksgiving a bit of time to settle. It just seems right.

I heard that the giant Christmas tree was coming into downtown Portland today at noon, so we went down to the Starbucks at Pioneer Square to watch. Santa was there, Dickens Carolers, a cool marching band. So festive, and so very fun.

Daphne had such a great time. You can see the joy on her face.













Oh wait, she just needed her mom!













And a flying Christmas Tree.













We even listened to Christmas music on the drive home. (Jars of Clay; super great Christmas CD, if you wanted to know.)

So yeah, bring on the cheer. Who cares if it's just mid-November.

On Holiday

Daphne loves the beach. She loves the beach. We love the beach, too, which is why we decided to stay an extra night. I mean, why not? It is the beach, after all.

She is the happiest here that I think I have ever seen her. It's probably the fact that she has her two favorite people around her at all times. No one off trying to clean the house or leaving to go to work.

We are all right here, hanging out, enjoying the beach.

We Are...

...Enjoying Daphne first trip to the beach!

Story Time with Dad

Baby Bear Gets a History Lesson

'Twas a beautiful fall morning when Baby Bear woke up. She decided to start her day by trying something new: playing the piano. And what do you know, she's a natural! Look at that form! Look at that concentration!



















Once her dad got home from court, she was ready to go explore Fort Vancouver, which is a beautiful place to visit in the fall. And Christmas. And the summer. Probably any time of the year, actually.

Baby Bear took a moment to ponder the historical significance of Fort Vancouver.

"People lived here once!" She thought to herself. "That is amazing."














Then she enjoyed sitting in the leaves, basking in the admiration of joggers on a nearby path.















"Oh my," she said, "I am so cute. It's so nice of these people to notice."

She wished she could scale this large wall, but alas, the large wall was there to protect the old fort, and it would be too hard for a baby bear to climb.



















Instead, she snuggled in with her dad to trick her parents into thinking she was taking a mini nap (her eyes were actually closed to avoid the brilliant sunlight).




















And she let her mom smother her cheeks with kisses (which is totally embarrassing when you're in public).



















The End.