Happy 7 weeks pumpkin!

Our munchkin is 7 weeks old today! I cannot believe how quickly time goes. She is growing everyday is and becoming more fun and alert. She does this cute thing in the mornings where she stands up on my stomach and tries to talk and smile. I love being home with her and watching her grow! Enjoy the pics

Grace's first Christmas

What an awesome gift we had this year on Christmas!! Grace is just amazing and we love her so much. She slept through all of the present opening, but it made me excited for the years to come when she can participate and get excited about all her gifts. Here are a few highlights from the holidays:
We spent four days at my mom's house in Dallas with my brothers and sister. Kyle and Nathan hadn't met Grace yet, so it was really special for them to see her. Kyle ADORES her and held her and oohed and ahhhed over her all weekend. It took Nate until Sunday night before he held her. Babies aren't his thing. When he found out I was pregnant he said, "Cool. Have her call me when she's three." So the fact that he held her was a big step. He even teared up! It was precious. She just laid there looking up at him and melted her Uncle Nathan's heart!



Aunt Amber and Mom took turns each night getting up with Grace and giving her a bottle! It was amazing! Four nights of uninterrupted sleep was the best present ever! Here is Auntie Amber holding Grace (and I should point out, wearing Grace's bow).

Dad and Yvonne came over Sunday night and took us out to eat. Here is Grace with her Pappy.

We spent Christmas Eve over at Nana and Papa's with Dan's grandparents. Christmas morning was a little rough because Grace didn't sleep well and I was sick with a sinus infection. Dan and I were exhausted, but we made it to Nana and Papa's to open presents about 2. She was a sweetheart and slept the rest of the day. Nana and Papa watched her Christmas night so I could sleep and try to get better and Dan and I could open our Christmas gifts to each other. It was a nice break, but Dan went and got her early the next morning and we spent the day hanging out in the basement watching movies. Wonderful.

Our first road trip

Danny and I took Grace to my mom's the weekend before Christmas. A six hour trip seemed a bit daunting with a 5 week old and only two days after my mastitis cleared up, but we decided to introduce Grace to her new family. She was absolutely amazing, with only one major blowout, one pee-pee fountain on daddy in the front seat, and one small temper tantrum right before we got to mom's house. Two really funny things happened on the way there. We stopped to eat at Subway in Sweetwater and Dan set Grace in the front seat to change her (this is when the pee-pee fountain occurred and she soaked the front seat and her daddy.) He set her back in the carseat and brought her in, we ate, and got back on the road. I was sitting in the back seat with her and I leaned up against the window to take a nap and when I woke up and looked over, I couldn't see Grace. Seriously. I was still half asleep and for a minute I thought Dan had somehow gotten her out of the carseat whilst continuing to do 70 down highway 20. All I could see was her blanket and when I reached over, completely freaked out mind you, I found her sunk down in the bottom of the carseat totally covered by the blanket. Yes, we win parents of the year award for forgetting to buckle our child back in the carseat. What's hilarious is that she didn't even whimper and just laid there sunk down in the seat.

Around Abilene she looked up at me with big eyes and exploded in her diaper. And then did it again, again, and again. We had to pull over on the side of the road to change her. It got all over her onesie, completely out the side and her back, and in her carseat. Of course the wind was blowing and it was freezing, but we decided to get out and dan would take off her diaper and just let it fall to the ground. Problem one solved. The next problem was getting her onesie off, which was covered in poo, over her head without getting it all over her. Somehow we got it off without getting it everywhere, but we still had to give her a wet wipe bath. Problem two sort-of solved. Then we had to figure out what to do with this massive diaper and the 50 wipes we used. I was determined not to be one of those people who leaves dirty diapers on the side of the road (or any public place for that matter), but I did not have my handy trash bags with me and there was no way Dan and I could stand the smell of it in the car with us. Add to this a screaming child and Dan made the decision to put it in a cup he found in the car and leave it on the side of the road. But instead of just placing by the car and driving off, he decided to throw it across the road and when he did the diaper and the 50 wipes went flying thru the air and all over the service road. We laughed so hard and then made a quick break for it.
All in all, it was not as bad as we anticipated, and on the drive home Grace slept the entire way with only one quick break for a bottle. She is such a good baby, even when her parents have no idea what they are doing!!

Not for the weak

Sunday morning about 5 I discovered I had mastitis. To spare those of you who aren't nursing mothers the gory details, it is an inflammation and infection of your milk ducts. Good times. Especially when the doctor tells you that the best cure for it is antibiotics and more frequent nursing on the infected side. What we didn't know, (we being Dan, my mother-in-law, and myself) is that you can run a very high fever while you have mastitis and feel like you have the flu. Refer to the aforementioned remedy to start feeling sorry for me if you don't already. Luckily Beth came over because I spent most of the day with a fever over 102, and alternated between nursing for an hour and an hour of sleep. Somewhere around 6 my fever hit 104.5 and I became delerious. Dan and Beth had to carry me to the bathtub where I proceeded to faint, roll my eyes in the back of my head, and then babble about Grace crying (which she wasn't) and needing to wrap my Christmas presents (which I do). I don't remember any of it, which was freaky, because I woke up and was eating a popsicle and Dan and Beth were crying and later told me they thought I might die. Just a typical Sunday at the Sinclair household.
Well I am feeling much better today and have come to believe that mastitis could be used as a means to put prisoners to death. You know, electric chair, lethal injection, death by thousands of needles shooting through your mammaries... let's think about it.
I will spare you any pictures, except for Nana rocking Grace. Sweet girl, she did so good even though mama was sick!

Mom and Dad go on a date

Well, we did it. Last Monday, we left Grace with Nana and Papa and went to dinner. Alone. Sans bambino. Who knew that a two hour break would be so difficult? I cried when Beth took her and nearly changed my mind, but I was all dressed up and I knew Dan desperately needed a break. I know I did too, but watching her leave was a bit traumatizing. When we got in the car, I dried up my tears and vowed to spend the next two hours being the best wife I could be. Dan was so cute and said, "One rule. We have to at least make it past the appetizer before we talk about her. Okay, two rules. We have to at least get our meal before you get too emotional and we leave to go get her." I am proud to say not only did we make it past the appetizer, but all the way thru dinner, the check and back in the car before the name "Grace" even left our lips. I even suggested we go get coffee at Daybreak, which we did, and even though we ended up taking it to go, it was a successful evening and a much needed break.
One of the things Dan and I talked about was how easy it could be to let marriage take a back seat to kids and 18 years later wake up next to a roommate instead of the love of your life. How sad. We prayed for protection for our marriage and that our love for Grace would never exceed our love for one another. We think the next best gift to sharing Christ with her is living out the love God gave us for each other in our marriage in front of her everyday. I thank God for my baby girl and my amazing husband who loves us both more than we probably know.

happy 5 weeks grace!

Okay, so maybe a four week update would make more sense, but mom's got her hands full these days! Grace is an awesome baby, we are so blessed. She has become much more alert and doesn't just sleep all day anymore. On Saturday she smiled at me for the first time, and not just a "I have gas" smile either. It was amazing!! She is holding her head up better and better every day and her weight check on Thursday was 8 lbs. 13 oz. Gaining a little over an ounce a day! We love her so much and as sad as I am to know she will never be this small again, it is so exciting to watch her grow and become more interactive. Here are some of her latest pics. We love you pumpkin!

bath time

Grace's fisrt bath was lovingly given to her by her grandma's. I needed to take pictures, Dan was filming, and we thought it would be a fun memory for them. It was horrible. I cried for half of it, she screamed thru all of it, and the grandmas didn't have much fun either. But things have gotten so much easier since her belly button fell off (I know that isn't the correct medical term) and we can lay her in her big girl bathtub.

We have figured out how hot to keep the water and even how to keep her from screaming while I wash her back. I am the official washer and Dan's job is to keep a continuous flow of water trickling down her head so she stays warm and distracted. She screams like a banshee as soon as we pull her out (and I still cry when she does that) but Dan puts her in my arms and we wrap her up tight and rock with her until she chills out.


It is one of my favorite moments with her, when she calms down and is wide awake looking up at us while we warm her up. She is just too cute!!
(I took this one last night- she was being so funny! oh, and a shout out to mimi for the hooded bath towel- she loves it!)

What I didn't know...

After only three weeks, I have come to realize how little I actually knew about being a mommy. All the things I didn't know are completely overwhelming and wonderful all at the same time. Things like how deep I love her after knowing her such a short time. What an amazing daddy Dan was from the beginning. That her smiles may only be gas, but they can melt my heart! How little I would get done everyday because all I want to do is stare at her and hold her. How hard it is to get out of bed at three every morning to feed her. How sad it is to watch her legs get too long for her newborn pj's. That keeping her on a schedule really does matter! How lonely it can get during the day when I'm home by myself. How long it takes to get her ready and get out of the house (and seriously, is she going to wait until I have changed her into a new outfit to explode in her diaper everytime?) The 5 "S's" really do work! (swaddle, side, swing, sshhhhh, and sucking- thank you Dr. Karp, last night was so much better!) That watching Danny love her would make me fall more in love with him. How hard it is to come up with conversation that doesn't revolve around her feedings, diaper changes, and sleep schedule. That the rest of the world moves on while your world stops and revolves solely around your baby.
I am not going to lie, being a mommy is the most difficult thing I have ever done. I have had two pretty big meltdowns (and I am sorry to Jenifer, as she has been visiting or called during both of them) but everyone was right, it is the most rewarding thing I have ever done. Here's to learning more...