Blissful Weekend Retreat & Road Trip

Well, our road trip to visit Grandma (Tom's mom) in Saguache was a huge success! She gave us gift certificates for a stay at a local B&B and massages last Christmas, and we finally got around to using them! The 3.5 hour drive only took us 4, with one quick stop for Harper and 2-3 stops for Daddy. We stayed at a cozy, beautiful B&B run by Marge's friend, Starr. She spoiled us rotten! Amazing breakfasts, a beautiful room with a feather down king sized bed, fireplace, TV (for the Sox game), wood burning hot tub, a horse in the back yard, and the most relaxing, wonderful massages we've ever had!

It was just what we needed to unwind and rest up. Harper even followed suit by sleeping from 7p-9a on Saturday night, with only 2 feedings during the night! She continued this blissful sleep Sunday & Tuesday nights... we're hoping we're onto something here! Check out the B&B at www.bearmedicinewellnesscenter.com, it is about 30 minutes from Crestone, 45 minutes from Salida or the Great Sand Dunes. Definitely worth a trip down for anyone looking to stay in a small, quiet town and enjoy a relaxing weekend. The drive is beautiful too!

New Friends!

Harper is very lucky to have so many new baby friends!  It seems as though everyone is having babies, which means new friends for Harper!  

Rebecca, Luciano and Lola came over last Saturday.  Lola is 4 days younger than Harper.  They really didn't seem to care about each other, yet, but when they are old enough to play we're sure they'll be the best of friends.

We found out Daddy has to go to China & Tibet for 2 weeks in November, which makes us both so sad.  Not sure what we'll do without him!  But, "Auntie Julie" is going to visit for a few days and then we'll head up to Karen & Sal's for a few days too.  Harper is very lucky to have such supportive friends & family.

Harper is growing more & more every day!  I wake up, get her from the crib and swear she has gained a pound overnight.  She's getting into a little more of a routine with naps, but it's not 100% consistent.  She loves going for walks and rides in the car.  This weekend, we're going to visit Grandma in Saguache.  This will be a test for all of us!  A 3 1/2 hour drive, which will be much longer with feeding, etc. along the way.  But we think we're ready (check back next week to see if we all survived & are still sane)!

Photo Shoot & CU Tailgate

Our friend Heidi hosted a "Mommy's Lunch & Photo shoot" at her house last Thursday and got some really great, cute shots of Harper and her 2 new friends (Lily & John). All 3 babies are less than 6 weeks old! Harper was very photogenic, turning it on for the camera for every shot! Here are some of the photos we got. Heidi is an amazing, talented photographer... if anyone is interested in seeing her work, visit http://www.wholepicture.org/ and http://www.letterproject.com/. We are so appreciative of her for doing this!

A cowgirl in the making!

Last Sunday, we got all dressed up in our CU gear to try to meet up with some friends at the CU tail

gate. We were late (as we usually are these days) and missed everyone, but Harper was a trooper with all the noise & people. She slept through it all!

Things have been going fairly well, but we now call 5pm-10pm the "witching hours"... she may or may not have a meltdown, and it may or may not last 5 hours. It's a little unnerving, not knowing what to do for her. ): We've heard several theories from various people, but we think it's when she doesn't sleep enough during the day and is SO TIRED she just doesn't know what to do. We're working through it... she is not the 'ultimate non-fussy baby' as we orginally thought. Thankfully, she still sleeps fairly well at night and is rather content during the day.

One Month In & Harper's Carbon Footprint...

We made it through the first month! Although we think she is the cutest thing in the world & love her to pieces, we'd be lying if we said it was all smooth sailing. It's not fair really, to ask parents to figure out what to do for their newborn on virtually no sleep. That being said, we have gotten into somewhat of a rhythm (as much as you can after one month), we're getting more sleep and leaving the house as much as we can. I've been packing up Harper, the 2 dogs and the baby jogger and driving to Teller trail head nearly every day to go for a nice long walk. Tom often meets up with us after work. Harper LOVES to be on the move... in the car, on the trail, whatever. We think she'll be an outdoor girl! She's starting to make good eye contact and crack some smiles here and there. She is a pretty content baby overall, but does have her one meltdown a day.

Memere left last Saturday and Mommy had a meltdown on Monday morning when she realized she wasn't coming up from her room for coffee! Yikes! What would I do without Memere?! Who would I talk to?! How was I going to shower!? How was I going to eat?! Reluctantly, after a day of shedding many tears, I sucked it up and we managed to get into a routine and Harper has been nice enough to hang out in her swing or pack & play in the bathroom door so I can take a quick shower. And, she loves hanging out in her Moby wrap and will sleep in it for a couple of hours at a time. This gives me 2 free hands to do essential things like eat, pick up, do laundry, pet our neglected pups and update our baby blog!

Little girl, BIG crib!

We managed to take Mom & Aunt Karen out for haircuts and lunch last week, all with minimal fussing. Harper was a real trooper! That was our longest time out yet. Yesterday, Harper met Lakota! I think we've got a barn brat on our hands, she loved looking around at the horses and seemed intrigued by everything. She sat quietly in her Moby wrap while Lakota had his feet trimmed (well, sort of, he's been so neglected and underworked his hooves haven't grown--that will all change soon!) Last night, we met Sarah & Thaddius for dinner and Harper slept through it all. Aahhhh, our first peaceful dinner out!

Harper's latest trick is to pee right after we take her diaper off, before we have the next one ready. We see this as her way to help the environment. Her message to John McCain, "I'm saving 5-6 diapers a day, what are you doing?!" hee hee

Skunks & Bath Time Fun

Harper turned 2 weeks last Wednesday and we've had quite an eventful week since then! Wed. night, she moved from the pack & play in our room to her own room and crib. She was such a trooper! The good 4-5 hour stretch continued and she did great. I got up around 1am to feed her, and Jake was curled up in the recliner in her room, keeping her company. When that recliner was in my office, it was "Jake's recliner" and he would curl up in it whenever he came to work with me. Since it's been home, he hasn't had any interest in it... he must have known Harper needed a little TLC on her first night alone in her room. (:

Thursday night, just as I was finally crawling into bed, Rudy came into our room absolutely reeking of something foul. The entire house smelled of some kind of rotten, chemical substance. I ran her into the shower & Tom gave her a bath... we didn't have any tomato juice or other 'de-skunking' items, so we used the dog shampoo we had. I searched the house for Jake and couldn't find him. Fearing the worst, I checked the yard. Sure enough, he had broken through the back fence to chase the skunk, cut his nose, got sprayed and smelled even worse than Rudy. UGH!!!  We suspect Rudy was just in the area at the time.  After two baths for Jake and trying to get the smell out of the house, we finally went to bed. The good news is, Harper slept through it all, undisturbed.

We headed up to Aunt Karen & Uncle Sal's yesterday to drop off Memere for the night. It was a pretty successful trip, considering it is 45+ minutes up the mountain. Harper was great!

This weekend, we introduced a bottle with pumped milk and she took it with no trouble. We just have to get better about slowing her down on it, because last night she ate way too fast and was full and uncomfortable all night (poor thing!). But it's great for Daddy to be able to feed her sometimes.

Today we gave Harper her first bath before Suzi & Brad's visit. She really seemed to like it and it kept her calm for the rest of the morning. She is so soft now!

We survived the first 2 weeks!

Harper Loves her Gymini!
Thank you Marc & Kathy!

Harper & Squirt at 2 weeks. She's getting bigger!!!

Harper had her 2 week check up with her pediatrician today & gained a whopping 1lb 1oz! She is now 6lbs 15oz! Dr. Mehl said this was a "record weight gain for Colorado"! ha ha! Her Dr. is amazing and is open to any questions/concerns we have with immunizations, which is nice. He was so personable and open to the silliest of questions. I think he's a keeper. ( : Jake meets Harper! He was such a good boy!

Tom went back to work on Monday... very hard for all of us, but we'll be okay. Harper really misses her Daddy during the day and I really miss having the extra support. But, Memere is still here and has been so amazing... not sure what I'll do when she leaves! Auntie Karen has been amazing... cooking for us & bringing us lots of yummy food. When Memere leaves, she'll be the "fill in Grandma".

We're getting more and more sleep at night with fewer feedings & melt downs. Overall, she is a pretty content baby. We thought she had gas over the weekend, but then realized we might just be missing something. I watched "The Happiest Baby on the Block" and started to use the 5 S's to calm her, and man, so far, they work. She didn't appreciate being swaddled at first, but settled down within seconds and passed out for 5 full hours last night. Aaahhhhhhhh!!!! We'll see if it continues! She's starting to make good eye contact & "smiles" too. We are so in love & have kinks in our necks from looking down at her all the time! Can't take our eyes off of her in fear of missing something!

Thank you all for your phone calls, emails and overall support these past couple of weeks. We're sorry we haven't been better at returning calls/emails & weren't quite ready for loads of visitors just yet. But we're getting there! Every day is better & better as we figure out what this little one needs... and if we don't figure it out, well she lets us know we are WRONG! (;

Having our dr's appt today made me realize I CAN leave the house and be okay! So, we're hoping to have more outings soon... especially since we got the go-ahead to spread out feedings, use a bottle & passifier. No worries about her feeding... she's a tank now!

We got calls from "Auntie Colleen" & "Auntie Julie" in MA who are going to visit in the next few months, which makes us very happy! Grandpa said he is wanting to make a trip out here too. We're so lucky to have amazing family & 'extended family' both in CO, MA & NC!

Welcome Harper Joie!!!

Harper Joie (LaJoie is a family name) Lastick was born on Sept. 3, 2008 at 11:28am. She weighed in at 5lbs 14oz (little peanut!) and was completely healthy. We were amazed at how much we could love someone we had just met! The experience was amazing and looking back, I wouldn't change a thing! We managed to have 100% natural birth, and the delivery itself took only 30 minutes. I couldn't have hoped for anything better. So glad I was "with it" to enjoy the entire experience, even the rotten contractions. (: Tom was a trooper and truly took the place of a doula. I couldn't have hoped for a more supportive husband. He's doing a great job taking care of momma and baby. Just when you think you can't love someone more than you already do, they do something that makes you fall in love with them all over again. I have the greatest husband in the entire world!

Rudy & Harper--lost in her car seat!

We had a pretty good first week... Harper slept fairly well, ate like a champ from the start and was a pretty content baby. A few days in, she let us know how well her lungs worked with a screaming fit at bedtime. I cried with her and tried to soothe her (she couldn't POSSIBLY be hungry AGAIN, could she!?). I found out I needed to make more of an effort to sleep when she did to survive. Tired mama makes for emotional breakdowns! But thankfully, they have been minimal!

Daddy & Harper--2 days old

She gets cuter & cuter every day! We are so in love and enjoying every minute of this! Memere is here for 3 weeks to help out (don't know what we'd do without her) and she is even COOKING! What!? Not the mom I remember... she's really going out of her way to keep us rested and well nourished! Tom has to go back to work on Monday, sad for all of us. But he'll so look forward to coming home to see his little girl!