First Sick Doc Visit

Luckily Sydney isn't sick, but she has a pretty nasty fungal infection in her diaper area. Nothing a little medicine can't fix! I was starting to think we'd make it a full year without any surprise visits to the docs. Hopefully it will be the last for her first year of life. I can't believe her birthday is only a little over a month away!

Holly Jolly Christmas

It's two days after Christmas and we're still feeling the jollies around the Haines household. We had such a wonderful Christmas. There were LOTS of presents for Sydney and we video taped her opening each one. She actually played with her toys instead of the wrapping. After a fun morning, we attempted going to see the new Sherlock Homes movie, but it was too crowded. We ended up seeing A Christmas Carol instead. A bit of a disappointment but festive nonetheless. Syd was great. It was her first time at the theater. Nursing sure helped a lot. We finished our day having Chinese food at a restaurant and headed home to watch the last showing of A Christmas Story after putting Syd to sleep. She truly seemed to enjoy the day as much as we did.

I can't imagine another Christmas will be as sweet as this one.

Her opening presents:


Taking her first steps without Mommy:


At dinner:



Relaxing before bed:


And finally a successful attempt at Sherlock Homes yesterday:

T'was the Night Before Christmas

My house is glowing with the lights of our tree-our first Christmas tree as a family of three. The smell of ham and sweet potato souffle fills our home and our bellies as we relax to the A Christmas Story marathon. Sydney is asleep in her special Christmas jammies, hopefully with visions of sugar plums dancing in her head.

I'm so excited for morning, to watch her open her presents. Ok, so it will more than likely be ME opening her presents, and her assisting in the shredding of holiday wrapping paper. Either way, tomorrow is for her. The gifts, surprises, and smiles. All for my Sydney.

We are also planning on going to a movie and eating Chinese food, the start of a new family tradition. OUR family tradition. I am bursting with happiness tonight. How will I ever sleep?

Merry Christmas to all,
and to all a good night!

Baking Cookies

Sydney and I baked Christmas cookies today! It was so much fun and I even let Syd taste one sans icing. She loved it of course. Every time we do an activity together I can't help but smile till my teeth hurt. To share a childhood joy of mine, especially when I had so few, makes feel like such a good mom. Baking cookies. Making ornaments. Listening to holiday tunes while dancing around the living room. It's the little things that make the best memories. I know Sydney won't remember her first Christmas, but this one is already becoming best Christmas *I* ever had.

Cutting Teeth

I can't believe Sydney now has five teeth! She went from three to five overnight! She looks very silly with the three on top. Nursing was no problem with the first top tooth, but three of those sharp little suckers causes a bit of discomfort now. As long as Syd refrains from biting me, I think we'll be just fine! The only other side effect we're dealing with is the sleep interruptions from her pain. After the two cut through yesterday, she only woke once last night. I guess a 4am comfort session isn't too bad. It certainly is better than 11:30 and 3am! My poor baby.

Adventures in Crawling

December 10, 2009
I caved in and opened the box to one of Sydney's Christmas presents-her Leapfrog musical table. I hadn't set that thing down for more than two seconds and Syd decided she suddenly knew how to crawl and excitedly moved toward it. She was on the move and I almost burst into tears of joy. But the tears were inevitable when less than ten minutes later, she crawled right into my arms and pulled up for a hug. THAT was amazing.

December 11, 2009
Sydney has been rolling around for a while now to get where she wants to go, but there's something different about crawling. It's almost like she turned into a toddler overnight. I watch her crawl to her toys, pick one out to play with, then move on to another. She has more control on what she wants to do and where she wants to go. It's incredible to watch.

December 12, 2009
It's all over now. I had my back to Sydney for seven seconds vacuuming by the couch, and when I turned around-she had the cord IN HER MOUTH. Can you say "heart attack"? She chased the cord as I quickly wrapped it up, and then moved on to chasing the cat. Beaker has no idea what he's in for. For MONTHS he's been the antagonist, and now he's no longer untouchable. RUN BEAKER. RUN WHILE YOU STILL CAN.

Loving My Sydney

I spent an entire 45 minutes today snuggling with Sydney. She nursed, blew raspberries, and made me smell her feet. There is nothing else I'd rather be doing.

Syd Meets Santa

We went to the Magical Forest tonight so Syd could sit on Santa's lap. It was exciting wondering if she was going to cry or pull his beard. Well, she could care less about Santa. She was more interested in the stuffed reindeer that the photographer had. She smiled at the sound of it's bells. Pictures were taken and that was that. We enjoyed a long stroll through the many, many beautifully lit "trees" and displays. We sipped hot chocolate and took Syd on a fun train ride through the forest. We even took her for a cruise around the carousel, on her very own horse! It was pretty cold out but she hung in there and was so well behaved. I was beyond excited to take Sydney here tonight. To see the glow of the holiday lights in her eyes. To watch her laugh and squirm. She truly enjoyed herself. It was everything I anticipated and so much more!

Eye Gah!

Beaker came into Sydney's view this morning and she screamed, "Eye Gah!". This is baby for "Hi Cat!". I'm so proud!

4am Moonlight

It was 4am when we woke to the cry of our baby girl. It was clear she was not going to fall back to sleep on her own, so Daddy went in for the rescue. He changed her diaper and rocked her softly as her cries grew louder. I hear him say, "Let's go see if mommy wants to give you a snack." They entered our room and the crying ceased. She wanted her mommy, and her mommy's sweet milk. Her eye lids grew heavy as she nursed and I admired the glow of her hair in the moonlight. We laid there belly to belly after her feeding, and I couldn't take my eyes off her sweet face. She's so beautiful. So mine.

Sydney's eyes flew open when Beaker appeared, meowing for attention. She was happy to give it. We spent a good 15 minutes laughing and talking as Jason was trying to sleep next to us. Oops. I couldn't help myself! He gave up and turned over to watch his daughter laugh. I continued to tickle her, and kiss her soft cheeks, and play. It was one of those moments where the rules had to be broken. One of those moments in life where everything seems right and nothing could be better. Elation escalated with every heartbeat. It was PURE. BLISS.