It has been on my rather long “to do” list to find a good Chiropractor out here to get little Noelle an adjustment.  Her joints seem prone to making little popping noises and we figure that it’ll just be a good thing for her overall health.  Steve found a lawn mower for a terrific deal on Craigslist and he and John went to pick it up.  Unfortunately while helping to lift it off of the back of the truck he did something really bad to his back.  The poor guy looks like he is about 90 years old tottering around bent over and in obvious discomfort.  I have a call in to a couple of local Chiropractors and hope to hear back from them first thing in the morning.   Steve and Noelle are not the only ones in need of attention, I too need a good adjustment…Or several good adjustments.   Something happened to my left hip during the process of labor/delivery.  It feels like a nerve got pinched and sometimes I have a difficult time standing up and walking the pain is so severe.  It had started to get better on it’s own but I lifted some pretty heavy boxes today and the pain came back in full force.  Hopefully tomorrow we can all get taken care of.  I am a little bit nervous because I’ve never been to a Chiropractor before! 

Our baby is growing so fast.  It is amazing to me how much bigger she is than when she was first born and yet, how very tiny she still is.  I think she is fast becoming the town celebrity.  Apparently word has gotten around that we are now moved in and that Noelle is here safe and sound.  Had a guy down the street that we have never met before ask Jessi if Noelle was three weeks old now or four?  It is surprising how accurate the grapevine is out here.  I have a hard time keeping track of how old my best friends babies are much less some family I’ve never met!

Our to do list of projects/repairs/home improvement type stuff keeps getting longer the more we work on it.  We finally bought blinds for the house and actually got a couple of them up so we don’t have to worry about our neighbors seeing in at night.   Still have about 15 or so to go.  This house has a TON of windows! Didn’t realize it until I had to buy blinds for all of them.  John got the lawn mowed today and it looks really good now that the grass isn’t thigh high.  Steve is going to work on putting up ceiling fans/lights and the rest of the blinds as soon as his back gets better.  In the mean time we are encouraging him to stay down as much as possible since it’s rather painful just to watch the poor man toddle around.  Jessi and I have two more paint projects left.  Finish painting the upstairs living room and paint another bedroom. 

Tomorrow I plan on going to buy fresh produce and milk/eggs/butter/cheese from the local Amish community.  Found a couple of farms on Saturday that have both raw cows milk and goats milk.  It is such a delight to be able to have access to fresh farm produce/dairy products at such amazing prices!  Thrills my tightwad health conscious little brain to no end.  Now I just need to find a source for hormone/antibiotic free meat out here.  Am really thankful for this chest freezer ready to go so that if I find a great deal I can stock up.  Am hoping to make cultured butter milk, yogurt, soft cheeses and butter from the milk.  I’ll take it one step at a time but am really looking forward to learning how to make all these things. 

<yawn>  I need to head to bed.  Noelle is hanging out with Daddy and her Uncle John watching a movie.  She slept a ton today so I’m thinking she’ll probably want to wake up and start her day around three AM.  I’d better sleep while I can!

Am stealing a few minutes away from the multiple tasks that I should be working on.  My time and internet access are *very* limited right now so I better type fast! lol

- Internet access out here has been a joke.  Our air card that we brought for backup has developed a very cranky disposition and refused to work as it should making even shipping off of it very difficult.  Much less supporting a household of internet addicts.  We have a couple of other internet options in the works but because we live in a “rural” area it’s going to take about 10 to 15 days to get them up and running.  In the meantime we steal what handful of minutes we can to check e-mails etc.

- Turns out our new back yard is a snake pit.  Only slight exaggeration on my part.  John caught a four foot long racer and had Steve out there trying to herd up FOUR more.    All of us have seen snakes since we’ve been here.  Thus far they have only been of the harmless, non poisonous type just a whole lot of them.  John killed the one he caught yesterday so now I have a four foot long snake skin “curing” in the sun on our patio.   To those of you who know me and my deathly fear of snakes you know that this has NOT been a good discovery at all.  Right now I’m terrified to go walking in my own back yard, or venture more than a couple of feet past the back door.   We are hoping when we purchase a lawn mower and get the back yard mowed it’ll be a less friendly place for them than the current tall grass.

-  Snakes are not the only  bothersome things in abundance here.   We have a plague of ticks.  Just walking from the house to the truck on concrete I got one.  Jessi weeding the flower bed has gotten seven and Steve and John a handful more.  We are going to have to resort to some sort of chemical spray or something just to kill them off enough to be able to go outside.  I keep inspecting little Noelle in fear that one is going to get on her even though I haven’t had her outside very much.

- Jessi and I stayed up until three thirty AM this morning painting the downstairs living room a nice sage/smoky/green color.  Although we are probably more than a little crazy to do it at this time I wanted to get it done before the rest of our furniture arrives from NM so we don’t have to move it twice.  I am in *love* with this color.  It’s just gorgeous.  Of course, compared to the hideous canary yellow that was there before ANYTHING would be an improvement.  We finished painting the guest bedroom downstairs as well.  We also picked out paint colors for the upstairs living room/dining room and one of the guest bedrooms.  Not sure when we are going to have the time to paint them though.

- Our garage/shop fiasco continues.  In spite of the Mayor’s assurances that we had nothing to worry about and that the zoning committee was appointed by him and would do what he asked, and the various other things our request for a “variance” was denied.  As far a we are concerned the town is financially liable for everything that has been done until this point.  We had the plans approved by the building inspector, he came out and inspected the footings and signed off on them…We have done nothing wrong.  Steve got a copy of the actual code today and found a really bad mistake in how the code we are in violation of is written.  Although they *meant* for it to say “All out buildings must be built in the back yard blah blah blah” what it ACTUALLY says is that “All out buildings must be build in the front yard as defined by the beginning of the property line at the front of the house all the way to the first corner of the front of the house.”  Meaning, every single out building in this town that is BEHIND the houses is technically in violation of the code as it is written.  Steve is going to meet with the Mayor and the towns lawyers tomorrow.  Please pray that the town will do the right thing and either reimburse us for the thousands of dollars we are out of pocket thus far on this project or allow us to finish the building. 

- The “U Pack” moving truck just got here a little while ago so it’s time for me to go help unload and start the nightmare of trying to get this house even semi organized.  Will try to post some pictures when we get decent internet again.  Noelle is just as cute as ever.  We are calling her our “Porta Baby” cuz she’s proving to be so very portable.  She goes everywhere we go and hangs out in the most unusual places while we work.  Last night for example she was left hanging out on a pillow in the middle of the living room floor while we painted, and later I found her tucked into the corner of the couch like a little puppy while Steve was working.   When John is holding her she can be found viewing the world from a second story deck rail or jiggling down the road while he takes her for a walk.  Her days and nights are still rather mixed up from the road trip but seem to be slowly improving.

Welp.  We left NM only a DAY behind schedule.    Could have been worse I suppose. Needless to say we were very glad when we finally, finally got everything packed and were able to start on the drive to TN.

The plan was to stay with a good friend of ours on Friday night.  Only, we didn’t leave on Friday.   He being the super flexible and nice guy that he is changed his plans to accommodate our tardiness and extended the invitation to Saturday night.  I have just got to say,  Mr. John Black is one of the most wonderful hosts we have ever had the pleasure of staying with.  He graciously gave up his bedroom for Steve, Noelle and myself.  Can’t tell you how wonderful that glider rocker looked after a day of sitting and nursing on the floor with the wall for support since all our couches/chairs were packed!   John also held Noelle so we could enjoy sitting down and actually eating supper with two hands free.  Speaking of supper, it was delicious and prepared from scratch for us…at 11:00 o’clock at night no less! 

John and Noelle

Saturday was not only our last day in New Mexico but it was also our 2 year Anniversary!  Needless to say the only “special” thing we’ve done in honor of it this year is have a baby and move.     Since I wasn’t allowed to do very much with the packing of the moving truck it allowed me some time to contemplate our two years of marriage.  So much has happened so fast it’s all starting to turn into one big blur in my memory.  One thing is crystal clear though.  Through all the trials, craziness, grief, heartache, joy and blessings that have come and gone through our marriage Steve has been my protector, lover and most of all my best friend.  We laugh, talk, work, play and pray through life together.  I am still humbled and amazed at the miracle God did in our lives to enable us to get married in spite of the many obstacles.  The past three weeks I have really enjoyed seeing Steve in action as a Daddy.  Noelle is already crazy about him and turns her head to try to find him whenever she hears his voice. 

It’s been a very long day on the road.  Neither of us got a whole lot of sleep last night due to a very wide awake Noelle.  She’s sleeping GREAT on the road which is wonderful, but it seems she plans on making up for it at night when we stop.  I’m off to catch some sleep. 

Today is our last day here in dry New Mexico.  We are leaving tomorrow to drive to our new home in Centerville, TN.  The past few days have been crazy and hectic trying to get the business and ourselves packed along with the usual day in and day out tasks that still need to be done.

Noelle is doing MUCH better.  I figure that I had either eaten something that caused her problems or she had a stomach bug.  Regardless I’m glad to have her eating normally again and back to her usual happy self!   Please pray for us as we travel though.  Not just for safety but that Noelle will be content.  The couple of times we have taken her out in her car seat for short trips around town she’s ended up crying her heart out after a while.  She doesn’t like pacifiers so this could be a reeeeeaallly long couple of days on the road if she decides to scream most of the time.  Her Mommy will probably end up crying right along with her if she ends up inconsolable in the car seat.

I figure I’ll probably be too busy to post her 3 week old pictures next week from TN so here are a few from today. 

Asleep in Daddy’s arms

Slowly waking up…

Still kinda drowsy but awake.  She got a really bad rash on her face yesterday that you can still see on her cheek.  We think one of us got something on our shirts while cleaning/packing that made her break out when she slept with her face against it.  It’s a lot better today and should be gone by tomorrow!

Soooo…My sweet, perfect little one has discovered her lungs and vocal cords.  Although I am quite happy that she now knows how to employ these very useful parts of her anatomy her insistence on exercising them frequently is wearing us all out.  We are on day two (Or is it three?  I’ve lost track..) of dealing with an officially very cranky baby.  My poor brain is fried trying to think of and fix all the possible things that could be causing her distress.   One part of me is going with the “All babies fuss and cry and maybe she’s just making up lost time” theory while the other part is stressing out over what could be making my previously super easy going baby so fussy and high maintenance. 

Yesterday she scared me to death by throwing up (not spitting up like a normal baby…But violently vomiting) every.single.little.bit of milk she put in her mouth.  After about five or six lost feedings I was starting to really worry about her getting dehydrated.  After 24 hours of trying various things we finally cut her feedings back to once an hour/10 minutes only and so far she’s kept everything down today.  I’m going to try to increase her nursing time tomorrow and see how it goes. 

I seem to be entering a new level of sleep deprivation.  I am so very lucky to have no shortage of help with Noelle.  Steve is working from home now and does more than his fair share of baby duty and we also have John and Jessi available to help out as well.  Technically I have enough baby “free” time to be getting sufficient sleep but I’m not able to!   Absolutely exhausted, yet unable to sleep more than an hour or so at a time.  I am really hoping this is hormone based and in a few days/weeks I’ll be back to my normal sleep loving self again.  

We saw the midwife today for our last checkup before we move.  Noelle is still gaining weight really well, especially for a breast fed baby.  So that was good news and confirmed what I already thought.  The wee one isn’t going to be tiny for much longer at this rate!  I figure she lost some ground with all the throwing up but she apparently had been gaining so well up to that point it didn’t do her any real harm.

We are going to be super busy over the next few days.  Our official move date is Friday of this week.  We start packing up the truck tomorrow.  Thankfully *most* of the difficult stuff was packed up and moved with our first trip out there weeks ago.  There is still a mind boggling (well, mind boggling for this sleep deprived person anyway) amount left to do though.    Thankfully we have several days with which to do it so it shouldn’t be too bad.

Well…I’m off to try to sleep again.  Noelle finally stopped screaming so hopefully she’s catching some sleep too.  Poor Steve will probably take care of her until three AM (With the exception of feedings which I’m starting to be able to do while half asleep) or so in hopes that I can catch up on some sleep. He is such a wonderful guy. 

Hanging out in the extra Office chair while Daddy works.

Sleeping while Miss Jessi tries to work.

Sleeping on Daddy’s chest while he plays Hi-Lo with Rook cards

And I used to think it was difficult getting Steve and I to make a good picture.    Add a squinting, face making 1 week old to the scene and it’s almost impossible.  Almost impossible but definitely a lot of fun.    We did what we do best.  Gaze at our little one and enjoy every moment. 
 
It was my first day back into “real” clothes since her birth.  I managed to squeeze into my largest pair of pre pregnancy blue jeans.  They sure were snug but it felt GOOD to wear something without elastic in the waist!

Got lucky and caught a smile. 

As you can see we have to keep her little hands covered.  She scratches her little face so badly if we don’t. Anybody know at what age they out grow that???

I’m glad she seems to be Ok with her car seat.  She’ll be spending a whole lot of time in it in a couple of weeks!

Sometimes she looks soooo serious. 

I have had several people ask me about our Water Birth.  Here is a picture of the tub as it was being filled.  Steve had a tarp spread under it to protect the carpet.  The sides were firm enough that I could lean my full weight against them, but soft and comfortable too.  The liner, pool and various parts to make it work efficiently  were provided by my midwife.

Noelle is one week old.  Everything still feels vaguely surreal.  Hard to believe that I am really a Mom!    Those early AM feedings and diaper changes help the reality of it all to sink it though. Noelle has proven to be such a sweet and easy baby thus far.  She already knows how to smile although I’m not sure if it’s fully in her control yet or not.  Sometimes she smiles sweetly in her sleep or occasionally a big grin will erupt while we are talking to her. 

Steve and I are learning to live life relatively sleep deprived all the time.  I am SO thankful she’s not a fussy/colicky baby because I feel like we get little enough sleep as it is without her needing to be rocked and walked all the time.  She is definitely a “snuggle” baby and loves to be held or close to someone. 

The midwife came by today.  She said that in the medical model they want babies to have regained their birth weight by the time they are two weeks old.  Noelle had dropped down to 7 lbs after her birth but weighed in today at 7 lbs 12 oz! She said it is quite the accomplishment.  Of course, she doesn’t know how serious this kid is about her food.  I’ve been working towards her eating every three to four hours and sometimes she makes it…Especially at night.  Occasionally though at two and a half hours she’ll think she’s just going to DIE if she doesn’t get something to eat NOW.  Her kind, loving and sensitive parents can’t help but burst out laughing at her oh so pathetic facial expressions when she’s “begging” for food.  It’s all the funnier since her little face is SOoooo chubby.  It doesn’t help her “I’m going to die of starvation if I don’t get something to eat within the next second” case. 

We love our little baby so much.  She’s just amazing.  I wonder if it just gets better from here?  Seems hard to believe it can get any better than this. Speaking of amazing…Steve is just wonderful.  I know I’ve said this before but it’s been brought home to me more than ever before and I just have to mention it again.  He gets up and changes her diaper in the middle of the night without complaint.  He spends at least as much time doing the drudge work of “Baby care” as I do and on many days a lot more than me.  He shows his love for us in so many little ways.  From helping me off the bed in the middle of the night (Still having something of a hard time getting around) while over half asleep to holding her for hours so that I can grab naps/showers/eating time etc.  She loves her Daddy so much already.

Having such a tiny and fascinating little creature around makes taking and posting pictures just irresistible!

We can’t figure out where in the world she got her head of darkish hair from.  Sure is soft and kissable.

Uncle John pitches in and does baby holding duty when he isn’t busy.  He can’t get over how very TINY she is!

Jenny came by yesterday to weigh her again and make sure we are all doing well.  Noelle wasn’t very happy about the whole process…

Jenny consoling the distraught little thing.

Ahhh…Life is much better now.   Nothing like some clothes to help regain your composure.

Going to work Daddy.  Steve is SO very, very good with her.  It is so wonderful for me to witness what a great Dad he is.  She loves being with him and hearing him talk but sleeping on his chest is definitely her favorite!