Life Is Good

I’m sitting here at the computer listening to my beautiful daughter kick and play in her bouncy seat behind me.  The sun is out and it actually feels warm for a change.  And most importantly, I am not at work; the weekend has started.  Life is good!

I started back to work on Monday.  It’s been nice to be in the “adult” world for a change, but boy do I miss by baby during the day.  She doesn’t seem to care that someone else is taking care of her, which of course bothers me on the one hand, but also makes me glad that she’s not a problem child on the other.  I had been worried about how she would do on her first day, but all was fine.  Michala had decided last week that she wasn’t going to take a bottle.  Now mind you, this child was solely bottle fed for at least 4 weeks of her short life… and now that I really needed her to take a bottle, she wasn’t going to do it?  Of course!  But she ended up fighting the first one on Monday, figured out she wasn’t going to eat without it, and then all was fine.  Thank goodness… like she was really going to let herself starve… Have you seen a picture of my daughter lately?  She’s certainly not one to let anything get between her and food :)

I think I’ll enjoy my job more once I get in the swing of things.  Training for a new position is never that entertaining.  Plus I currently don’t have a permanent desk, so I can’t really get settled in yet.  Oh well, I’ll get there. 

Tim’s work is going well.  His company had to cut back on hours so that no one gets laid off, so now Tim gets every other Friday off.  He’s really looking forward to hanging out with Michala on his days off.  It’ll make for good daddy/daughter time. 

Michala has really started to smile.  I must say that being a parent is so much more rewarding and fun when your kids start being interactive.  Your baby’s smile can melt all the day’s frustrations and anxieties away like nothing else.

Here are some new pics of the most beautiful baby in the world.  Hope you enjoy!

Here’s a vide of Michala’s newest habit.  It’s really funny to watch when she gets going…

Randomness

First off, I accepted a job at SuperValu in my old department.  My first official day back is February 2nd.  I’m excited to start this new venture, but am sad about having to leave Michala.  I know she’ll be fine, but it’s not the same…  I’m sure we’ll all adjust after a few weeks.  We are very thankful that God has provided for us financially!

Michala has been changing so much over the last few weeks.  Her face is very expressive and she’s beginning to take in her surroundings.  Every once in awhile she even smiles at me :)

Here’s a video of her playing in her bouncy seat.  It’s kind of long and isn’t earth-shatteringly entertaining, but we thought it was cute. 

Thank you all for your love and prayers.  We hope to see everyone soon!

Liz

2 Months!

That’s right, Michala turned 8 weeks old yesterday.  Time has really flown by.  I am so thankful that I’ve had this extra time at home to spend with her and watch her grow.  Here are some cute pictures that we’ve taken since our last post. 

This is Michala’s first experience with her Bumbo chair.  She wasn’t quite able to hold her head up yet…

 

This is one of the many snow storms we got after New Years.

Thanks to Great Grandma Bunnie for the beautiful afghan she made.  Michala sleeps with it every night!

Michala checking out her dad doing the dishes… She’s holding her head up a bit more these days but it’s still pretty floppy.

This was taken today at lunch with friend Laurel.

Here’s a short video of Michala staring at the ceiling fan.  It’s really nothing all that exciting, but at least you can see her in action…

Life has been good in the Grissom house over the last few weeks.  Michala and I have both been sick and are finally getting back into the swing of things.  Tim has been great about taking care of us :)

Sorry it’s been so long since the last post.  The time just hasn’t been available… I’ll try to be better :)

P.S. New pictures have also been uploaded to Snapfish.

Liz

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas this past week.  My parents and brother came to visit from Vegas and we had a good time just hanging around together. 

Michala is 6 weeks old today… I can’t believe it!  She is growing so fast and gets more entertaining every day.  She’s starting to smile and make cute baby sounds.  Hopefully she’ll discover her hands soon so that she stops hitting herself in the head…though it is funny to watch.  She still pretty much just eats, sleeps, and poops but she is starting to be awake more and take in her surroundings.  She loves to look at anything with lights with the ceiling fan being her favorite. 

We are finally getting into a routine and that’s allowing us to get some sleep at night.  Some nights are still a struggle when Michala wants to stay up for 2 hours eating and hanging out, but we’re getting there. 

I had a job interview for a position in my old department at SuperValu last week.  It went well (I think)  so we’ll see what happens with that.  The earliest I’ll probably hear anything will be the middle of January.  It’s certainly not the ideal situation since I’ll have to have someone else watch Michala, but we’ll make it work out if we have to.  God has provided for us every step of the way and I doubt He’ll stop now :)

We love you all and hope that you have a wonderful New Year!  I can’t wait to see what’s in store for us…

Below are some pictures from our weekend with family.  Oh, and I created a “group room” on Snapfish so that you can see all our pictures (the link is at the top of this page).  You do have to have a snapfish account to log in and see everything.  You can also upload your own pictures if you want. 

4 Weeks!

That’s right, our little girl is now over one month old.  The time has flown by!  She is getting longer and certainly has more fat rolls and chubby cheeks than she used to. 

Michala caught a cold and had a stuffy nose and cough for a little over a week which resulted in her making lots of funny noises.  Thankfully, she never ran a fever and seems to be feeling much better.  I too was sick last week.  I ran a fever for a few days and felt like a train wreck.  The doctor finally decided I might have mastitis and gave me antibiotics.  I am feeling much better…

These videos are Michala with a cold.  Hilarious!

Michala has now had 3 physical therapy sessions for her “feeding difficulties ".”  While she’s not nursing completely unhindered, she is doing much better.  I have been able to use a shield to get her to latch on correctly so at least I’m not tied to a pump all the time.  We will just have to keep practicing… 

Christmas is on Thursday.  My brother is driving up on Wednesday from Vegas and my parents are flying in on Friday night.  We’ll celebrate together on Saturday, but Tim and I will also go to Christmas Eve service at church.

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas!  Thanks for being such a blessing to us! 

Liz, Tim, & Michala

Life

There’s not much going on in the Grissom house these days.  Everything revolves around Michala, of course!, and not much else gets done.  She does nothing but eat, sleep, poop, and cry and yet those simple tasks seem to take up my entire day.  Our sweet baby wants to be held most of the time, so I am having to learn to accomplish things one handed which can be entertaining at best.

Michala had another checkup yesterday.  She is officially 8 lb 7 oz and 22 inches long.  So she’s packed on just over a pound and is starting to get chubby cheeks and a little “Buda belly.”  I’ll have her porked up in no time!

Thanks to Kathy Bettger for making Michala this beautiful quilt.  You can tell how much she likes it.

Benny & Sully are adjusting to their lower statures on the Grissom totem pole; though not happily sometimes.  Poor Benny hasn’t been on a walk since before the baby was born.  He probably thinks his life is over…  You can always tell when Sully wants attention because he’ll follow you around making sure to always be under your feet making sure that you trip at least once before you finally bend down to pick him up and pet him.  Who knew that cats can be so needy?

Tim’s office Christmas party was last night and became my first outing without Michala (thanks to Jim and Carolyn for babysitting).  The theme was Vegas night so we got to gamble and eat food all night.  We then got to bid on prizes with our winnings.  Thankfully Tim was able to buy an extra day off.  Thanks to all the co-workers who chipped in “money” when the bidding war got totally out of hand.  It was entertaining, but seriously, 5000 “dollars” for a day off?  I’m just thankful that I get to have him at home an extra day!

Thanksgiving! (amongst other things)

Sorry for the delay in getting this updated.  I had plans to get things going this week, but Michala had other plans for me. 

Michala’s first week was fun, but really stressful.  Nursing has been a little challenging.  Tim and I went in to visit the lactation consultants at the hospital every day to see if we could makes things go more easily.  They were always able to get her latched on right away (but of course it didn’t work that way at home!).  Then the night before Thanksgiving, she completely forgot how to latch on.  Michala cried off and on for 5 hours because she was hungry and I was crying because she was so upset.  I’ve never heard a baby cry herself horse before.  It was horrible.  We were finally able to get her to take a bottle after I had pumped.  Again we went into the lactation office (yes, on Thanksgiving morning) and they figured out that she uses her tongue backwards.  Not sure how that happens, but what it means is that she pushes things out of her mouth instead of sucking it in thus not allowing her to latch on correctly.  So I’ve been pumping and then giving her bottles.  While that’s inconvenient for me (I feel like a dairy cow), it’s been great for allowing others (mainly Tim) to feed her and help me out. 

This week has been TONS better than last week.  Michala and I are finally getting into some sort of routine and I get to at least count on a shower every day…  Some days are better than others, but overall things are going well. 

We were finally able to get an appointment with a physical therapist yesterday to help work her jaw & tongue muscles and teach her to use them correctly.  We have a bunch of exercises to do with her several times a day now and hopefully she’ll get back to breastfeeding soon. 

We are enjoying our baby.  She’s a great source of entertainment.  She’s constantly making funny faces and noises.  Who knew that so much noise could come out of something so small.

Michala still has her nights and days mixed up, but everyday gets a little better.  She’s usually only getting me up twice a night now.  However, I’m also having to wake up every 2 or 3 hours to pump so that I can stay ahead of her and that usually translates to me waking up every hour or so.  It’s great when she eats, gets changed, and then goes right back to sleep, but that doesn’t always happen.  Sometimes she takes an hour or so to get back to sleep which is no fun.  During the day I try to wake her every two hours or so so that she isn’t just sleeping for the entire day…which she would gladly do.  Tim helps me out at night when I need him, but for the most part I try to just let him sleep.  I get to sleep in a bit most mornings after he goes to work.  

My parents came to town to help with Michala the day she was born.  They were a great help and took good care of us.  I don’t know how people adjust to having a baby all by themselves…  I’d forget to eat if someone didn’t remind me.

Below are some pictures of our Thanksgiving together.  My brother, Brian, got to come visit for a few days and these are the pictures that he took of the day.  Mom cooked an awesome meal and I didn’t have to help clean up any of it; how awesome is that!  I think Thanksgiving should go that way every year :)

 

 

 

Here is a video of our sweet baby.  I’ll try to be better at updating the blog on a more regular basis…