More Christmas Pictures

Rhowan's First Christmas

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and holiday with your families. We had a busy two days for Christmas Eve and Christmas. We always knew once we started a family of our own that splitting the time amongst our families would be even harder than it already was, but never anticipated how hard it truly was. It was really tough on us this year...we hate feeling like we are on a time schedule and don't get to spend as much time at each house as we'd like...however TJ kept reminding me that it's not about the hours, but the quality of time that we have with our families. So, we did the best we could and are continuing to try and set new traditions for the upcoming years as Rhowan gets bigger and as we continue to grow as a family.
I'd like to thank both our parents for spoiling Rhowan for her first Christmas and to all our extended families for all that they did for Rhowan and continue to do for her and us as our first holiday season together. We are so truly blessed and couldn't thank each of you enough for all that you have given and shared with her and us.
To my husband, thank you for your patience with me this crazy holiday season. You were my rock and kept reminding me that we are blessed with our new princess and with each other so nothing else mattered as long as we had each other. Thank you for putting up with me during this stressful time of year. You really showed me what family is all about this year.
Like I said we had a busy two days...Christmas morning we tried to get to my parents early, however with a baby it's no longer on our time or our wishes, but Rhowans of course, so we didn't get there until about 9am. TJ surprised me that morning, after pinky promising that we weren't exchanging, with a gift under the tree from daddy and Rhowan. I was stunned to open it and get my first "real" coach purse! Then inside was the most beautiful watch. Thank you for my gift and my beautiful card babe, you have really given me so much this year with our beautiful baby girl and showed me so much love with our new family.
After we had a short time at home to share our 1st Christmas together as a family, we headed to my parents for Rhowan to see her Oma and Papa and shortly after my sister, Nathan and Anthony came to begin the Christmas fun. In the afternoon we headed over to TJ's parents, so that Rhowan can see her grandma and grandpa and get spoiled all over again! :) Then off to TJ's grandparents, so Rhowan could get spoiled by her Gigi and Papa and all the rest of the family! We had a very busy and fun filled day.
We hope you all had as amazing as a Christmas as we did. We are very much looking forward to the new year and what 2010 has to bring us. We wish you all the best, be safe and Happy New Year!

Love,

The Bruces

Monday, December 21, 2009

2 month check up

Can you believe it, our little princess is already two months old! We went to her 2 month dr visit on Friday, which was a 2 hour shin dig...Friday before the holiday and lots of babies coming out crying from their vaccinations! Anyway, it was a day I was nervous for with it being her first set of shots. She got two shots, one in each leg, then one vaccine orally. As I was anticipating leaving the room and having daddy handle it, I decided to stay in and hold her hand. Well, the first shot went in and nothing...no reaction at all! So then the second shot came and she turned bright red for a minute, cried, then that was it...she was over it! Wow, that was it?! That's what I've been stressing for the past few days?!

She did come down with a fever after, which tylenol every four hours helped and was terribly fussy until about 2 am, but as expected. So now we have to do it all over again in two months for her four month check up. :(

The dr said she looks and sounds great. She was very impressed with how alert Rhowan is and how much she is smiling and cooing already. She said her coloring was great and she is holding her head up well. She is now 10 lbs and 9 oz, she is 24 1/4 inches long (she's already had a few growth spurts)! She is in the 95% for her height and 50% in her weight, so she said she will be tall and lean! (Taking after her daddy, thank goodness!) :)

I had my list of questions, or else I forget, and the dr was very helpful and patient with them all.

So all is looking good and she is doing fabulous.

We can't wait to spend our first Christmas with her. We took her to the Grove and had her pictures taken with Santa. She did so good, she smiled and tried looking for his boobs to eat, but realized there wasn't anything there, so she went back to smiling for us at the camera! :)

A Day at the Grove

Family Pictures

So we took our first family photos at El Dorado Park and just as I thought I had timed it all so perfectly, Rhowan was NOT having it that day! :) We went to church that afternoon and she was a perfect little angel. Then when it came time to go to the park she got super fussy. I thought I was ahead of the game, brought pumped breast milk with me for her daddy to feed her just in case and had two changes of clothes for her to do different pictures and we were set. Not so much, she had something else in mind...she would not take the bottle so we stopped so I could nurse her, thank God for those nursing aprons! Then she would only stop fussing with the pacifier in her mouth or sleeping! Therefore, our family pictures are all of her with a pacifier or sleeping...oh well, it is what it is! You can never time these things perfectly. Luckily, it was a friend of ours who were taking the pictures for us and she was so patient with her. I guess we'll give it another shot for our next photshoot as she continues to grow so fast!

Rhowan's First Christmas Parade

It's been a tradition of my family to go to the Belmont Shore Christmas Parade since I was a little girl. Then in high school we were in the parade every year and ever since then I have secretly missed it. I love this time of year and anything to bring in the Christmas spirit I am all in! So this year was no exception, I was really looking forward to going...but it wasn't as good as I remember. Not to mention it was freezing cold, but don't worry, I had Rhowan dressed for the snow! (She was even sweating! I had her in 3-4 layers of clothes) I held her the entire time in the baby Bjorn and she slept through the entire parade! :)

I am so excited to share this season as our first Christmas as a family. I know Rhowan is still so little and has no idea what is going on around her, as she gets older it will be even more fun, but I just love this time of year. I have been waiting for these moments to be a mom and a parent myself, so we could start our own family traditions from what each of us were brought up with. I can not wait to share that with our little family of three. I am trying to capture as many of those moments I can and treasure them as I know it goes by so fast. I can't believe how fast she is already growing.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Thanksgiving Celebrations

We did an early Thanksgiving with TJ's family as our previous post talks about and then celebrated Thanksgiving day with my family in Apple Valley. It was also my sister's 30th Birthday, so we celebrated her BIG 30 on Saturday with our closest friends, whom we call our 2nd family, and friends. It was our first big night out away from our princess. And yes, I was very nervous, but she was in good hands. She actually did really well and took the bottle while the Debelak Family all pitched in to watch her! She has just started taking a bottle of breast milk every few days to get her used to me going back to work, so that has been my biggest concern with leaving her. We still have a lot of kinks to work out as for pumping and getting her really used to taking the bottle, she would prefer the boob, but I have to work. :(
It was so nice having TJ home all week, he was off from baseball, we got to spend a lot of QT (quality time) together with our little family of three. Sunday we finished our weekend off by going to church, having our family pictures taken in the park (Rhowan didn't cooperate as well as I'd hoped for, but you can't ever predict or time those things perfectly, so we'll see how they turn out!) and then going to see his grandparents, Rhowan's Gigi and Papa to spend some time together since we didn't see them this year on Thanksgiving.
We hope you all had as wonderful weekends as we did. We are looking forward to this holiday season with our new bundle of joy. Keep checking as I continue to be obsessed with my camera and will continue to post pics! :)

love to you all,
The Bruce Dugout! :)

What Are You Thankful For?...

First and foremost, Happy Thanksgiving to all our family and friends. Wow, what a year it's been and holidays are already here. We had Thanksgiving dinner at TJ's parents on Sunday with his immediate family (minus Kate since she is at school) and that was really nice. We had a really nice dinner, very intimate and nice to share one of Rhowan's first Thanksgiving with the family. We all went around the table sharing what we were thankful for, that was Uncle Brian's idea, which I do have to say, was a great idea! And wow, it was so nice to go around and share our blessings and how happy we all were to have Rhowan as a part of the family this year among other things. When it came to TJ's turn, he spoke as he held our beautiful little daughter, and boy did he surprise me with what he had to say. It was so heartfelt and compassionate and just brought me to tears. Thank you hunny and don't be mad that I am sharing that! :) So it brings me to say this:
I am thankful for the year that God has given me and had me strive through. Yes, it was one of the hardest years I have had in my 27 years, however, if I didn't go through the things I did I wouldn't be as thankful for what I have today. We all take things so for granted, but not this year, it won't be possible, I know how it feels to lose things and people you love out of your life and am so happy to have the family of three I do today. Rhowan was our blessing this year for many reasons: She brought a love in our lives (her daddy and mine) that I never experienced or knew existed and has made our marriage so much stronger, dependable and loving than what it ever was. I hope that didn't come out wrong, but when you bring a child into your marriage it can be really hard and trying, which I am sure it will be in the years ahead, but the love we share today for each other and for our daughter has brought us closer in our own relationship with each other and I couldn't be more thankful.
To my husband, we just celebrated three years of marriage and a year of hardship, laughter, love and blessings. It is for you that I am thankful for this year. The strides you have made as a husband, friend, father and coach. You have learned to balance one of the busiest schedules I know all while supporting us, being a full time daddy and husband and working two jobs. I never say thank you enough and I just want you to know that us having our beautiful daughter and starting our family has been one of the best things that has ever happened to me. With all we've been through we wouldn't have the marriage and wouldn't be learning to be the parents we want to be without it. I love you and thank you for being the man you are today.
Happy Thanksgiving to all our family and friends. I know we are all spread out during the holidays but our thoughts are with you all and we love you all.

Rhowan's Photo Shoot, 4 weeks old

Our little girl is growing so fast...

Hello Everyone,

Rhowan was one month old yesterday and will be five weeks old already on Tuesday. I can't believe where the time goes. I am already not wanting to go back to work. It's so funny how being a mom changes you. You have all these great ideas and ambitions before the baby is here on how you think it will be and how you see things going and then when your little one arrives, that all changes! I know, I know, so many of you are saying, "I told you so..." right now. Well I've always been that girl that has to learn it on her own! :)

Rhowan is getting so big. She is just so aware and alert of things around her. She will follow you with her eyes and wakes up full of smiles. At her 2 am feedings when I'm barely keeping my eyes open, she is all smiles...how can you be upset of losing sleep at a precious face like that?!
She had a photo shoot last Friday with a friend of mine who brought props and all her stuff here to do pictures of Rhowan. Let me just brag for a moment and say we have the cutest little girl around. Oh my goodness, they turned out adorable. My friend took some really great shots, she had amazing ideas of back drops, etc. and photo shopped them all for me to order prints on line. I am so happy with the outcome. I wanted to order prints for all the family as Christmas presents, but I am not sure if I can wait that long to give them out because I am just so in love with them. We are going to do family pictures next weekend, so I am looking forward to that.

We used one of the shots for her announcements, which came in the mail yesterday, once again I know, I am very late on those! I really loved the backdrop we used, a leopard print, well those were the last shots we took after about 2 hours of pictures and a few feedings in between, so needless to say Rhowan was DONE! She was ready for a nap! Well I bribed her with her plug (i.e. pacifier) for a few more smiles. So the picture we have on the announcement her lips are all red and perked out from me grabbing her plug out just in time for the picture. Well...daddy says she looks like a porn star and the family says those pictures are "Whoa, provocative and she won't appreciate them when she is older." :(
Well yes, she is naked, but she is 4 weeks old in the picture, everyone does naked pictures and I never thought anything of it, but how precious my princess looked in them. So that's the picture I chose and now I am second guessing even sending them out! :( I was really bummed to get that reaction and just don't know what I am going to do, after spending so much money on them!
Anyway, all the pictures turned out adorable and I will post some (non provocative) ones later! :)
Until then...toodles.

Rhowan's Big Outing...

We traveled up north for TJ's best friend's wedding. The car ride wasn't too bad beside having to pull over a few times for feedings and changings. Let me just say, you all were right, traveling with a newborn is a LOT of work! However, it was well worth it. The wedding was beautiful and we had a good time. As Rhowan's grandpa would say, she was the best kid there! Of course she was, she was passed out in her stroller the entire reception! :)

Rhowan's First Bath

Two Week Doctor Appointment

Hello everyone,

Today Rhowan is two weeks old. I can't believe how fast time flies. She had a doctor appointment today for her two week check up. She is now weighing in at 8 lbs., 3 oz., which puts her at the 50th percentile. She is 21 inches long, which puts her at 75th percentile and her head circumference is also in the 75th percentile. Doctor said all looks good, she is gaining just fine, I was a little worried about it because it's so hard to tell if they are getting enough food when only breastfeeding...there is no way of measuring how much they are getting. She is still like clock work during the day, ready to eat every 2 hours. However, each night it depends. I think I jinxed myself earlier. She was doing so well at night and now she has good nights and not so great nights. I think its mostly because she wants to sleep on her tummy and can't because of SIDS and she has been real gassy at night as well. The Dr said to burp her for 30 min at night after feeding her and prop her at a 30 degree angle to help with that, so we'll see how that works. Other than that all is going well. She is getting a little bit of baby acne, which TJ is NOT so happy about! LOL. And no mom, I am not picking at her face! :) LOL.
Anyway, all the love and support we have been given has been unbelievable. We are seeing how blessed we truly are to join our friends in parent hood and have Rhowan's grandparents both so close by!
I will continue to keep you all updated and post pictures. Thank you to everyone who has called, written, came by to meet our princess, brought us meals, checked in with us, offered their time and help and to both sets of grandparents: Grandma and Grandpa and Oma and Papa for offering to come help me during the days so I can sleep!!! :) I am trying to take advantage of that, but you all know how I am...I like to think I can do it all! :)
Until next time, take care and thank you again for all the continuous love and support.

Love,

Heather, TJ & Rhowan

Happy Halloween Love Bug!