Misc Pictures and Commentary



It is time for another edition of my random picture and comments. Lets get this party started.

This was before her cheeks began to seperate a bit from the rest of her face. She was probably too small for the seat thingy but I enjoyed wedging her and seeing if she could squirm out.



I am often amazed at how mothers can sleep without dropping the baby. I get freaked out whenever I see Emily doze with Sloane. After Emily goes to sleep tonight, I am going to glue velcro to all of her clothes.

Get a harness or something!
  



Seriously, is she ever awake with Sloane? Can you bond during REM cycle? I can only imagine how freaked out she would have been if she woke up and saw me standing over her taking pictures while she slept.....awkward.



Sloane practically lives in a Mohawk. I like to think she is smiling because daddy is holding her. In actuality, she probably is just pooping.

 

Sloane's first bath, I already miss having her this small. When she was crying I could fit her inside a desk drawer...it was perfect. Now she doesnt fit.





Seth has felt a little neglected lately so he hangs out with the one "person" who smells worse than he does.



2 generations of heart throbs.....I am going to have a breakdown when she starts dating (Sloane not Emily, though neither would cause happiness in my heart).

Sloane...90% head, 100% cute.

 

Family....isn't it about....Facebook?



What's that? You want a car? You got it.



  



It looks adorable until you realize he is ever so slowly trying to inch his way underneath her to get closer to me. Sloane would have continued sleeping through it if I hadn't noticed.

 

I had to add this one...my sweetie!

 

Farewell Tess!

No, Tess didn't die.  We gave her away.

Yes, I feel incredibly guilty about it.

I used to be so irritated when I would hear that someone had given their pet away.  I would think, "Why did you even get the pet in the first place if you couldn't commit long-term to it???"  I truly do feel like pets are members of the family and they shouldn't be bought or given away on a whim.  I understand that circumstances come up where you just can't have your pet anymore.  For instance, you develop an allergy or you are forced to move somewhere where pets aren't allowed.  But for the most part, I used to think, "Buck up!  You brought this pet into your home.  It's like a child.  You can't just get rid of it!"

And I still feel that way!  Which is why I feel so guilty for giving Tess away. 

But two dogs, a toddler, and a new baby...it was about to become too much for me.  Sloane hadn't even arrived yet and I was beyond stressed with the responsibility of all these creatures running around at my feet.  I realized around the start of the 2013 year that I was constantly yelling at the dogs.  Together, Molly and Tess were just crazy!  I would feed them both in the morning and then try to usher them out the door to go potty and I'd get one out but the other would be sniffing around the kitchen for a scrap or two and I would be yelling to get outside and the other dog would come running back in.  All the while, Seth would be asking for milk or for me to turn on the TV and then I'd get frustrated with him too. 

So, pretty much, the simplest of tasks was just becoming an all out yell-fest.  I hated it.  I didn't want Seth to hear so much yelling, I didn't want Sloane to be around it either.  And I didn't like being the one yelling! 

One night in October we had a major fiasco with Molly.  We had just put Seth to bed and Clint was doing the dishes and I heard the tell-tale sound of heaving from Molly.  It's her little warning that she is going to puke.  I madly searched for her and found her 1/2 way up the stairs.  I didn't want her puking on our carpet so I quickly grabbed her and turned to get down the stairs and at least get her to the tile before she threw up.  Unfortunately, being pregnant, I was already clumsy and Molly weighs at least 30 pounds so I lost my balance and fell down the stairs and fell on my ankle.  The pain!  So bad!  I thought I had broken my ankle and we rushed to the doctor where it was determined that it was a very severe sprain.  It took more than 4 weeks before I could walk on it again.  We thought seriously about giving Molly away that night.

Another night we were getting ready to leave for my parent's house and we heard Tess randomly gagging.  It sounded like she was coughing up a hair ball.  But we discovered that the little spaz-oid had puked not once, not twice, but THREE times on our carpet.  In the hall, on the stairs, and at the bottom of the stairs.  And what's worse, it smelled like poop.  So clearly, she had eaten poop outside and decided it just wasn't sitting well in her tummy (duh!) and chose to expel it into our new carpet.  As Clint and I madly scrubbed the floor and tried to keep Seth away from it, we thought seriously about giving Tess away.

We finally realized that we just didn't have the time and energy to devote to the dogs like we had before Seth was born.  We weren't giving them the attention they deserved.  So we put out feelers to see if anyone was interested in having Molly or Tess.  Clint's sister told us she wanted to take Tess for a little trial run to see if her little boy would like her. 

The rest seems a little surreal.  She came over to get Tess, we put her kennel in Char's car and explained some things about Tess' routine, and then she was gone.  I didn't really even say goodbye to her.  I think I was expecting the trial period to not go very well and that Char would bring her back.  But she didn't.  

I'm not going to lie.  It was instantly less stressful in the house.  Molly seemed a little upset at first that her little friend was no longer around.  But she got over it.  And she is much calmer now.  It was also nice not to hear Tess' incessant howling each morning from her kennel.  But it suddenly hit me a few days ago that Tess is no longer my dog.  We had her for 7 years and now she's suddenly not mine.  And while the house is less stressful, I'm starting to feel sad that she's gone.  I'm glad she is somewhere safe, with someone we know and trust.  But I miss her.   

So, farewell Tessy!  It was a hard decision to make but hopefully you are having fun with Aunt Char!  We miss having you follow us around the house, your snoring, your stinky bum (not really) and your big goobery eyes!  But we'll come visit you sometime!

 It is amazing how quickly the time seems to go...Sloane is almost 7 weeks old and I'm already back to work again.  Sloane is such a mellow baby.  It's a totally different experience from what we had with Seth.  He wasn't a colicky baby but he did seem to cry a lot throughout the day.  He just never wanted to sit still.  He didn't like to sit in his swing or bouncer for very long periods of time.  He didn't take long naps. He just wanted to go go go!  But Sloane will sometimes just lay in her bassinet or crib and look around and grunt.  She doesn't really cry much at all and she's easily soothed.  She will sit in my lap and just look around at things. 

So that's the upside. 

The DOWNside compared to Seth is that she wakes up a lot in the night.  And I guess when I compare Sloane to other babies, her waking in the night is VERY normal.  But compared to Seth, she is a little devil child.  Seth was sleeping 6 hours a night by 2 weeks old.  By the time he was 9 months old, I could only count on one hand how many times he had woken up in the middle of the night.  Sloane wakes up consistently between midnight and 1 am and between 3 and 4 am, then again at 6 am.  And then she wants to sleep in and won't really wake up until 10 am.  I don't think I've gotten more than a 4 hour stretch of sleep since her birth. She's my little night owl! 

So these two kiddos are very different.   But I'm loving this little girl so much...even while having very sleepless nights.  Here are a few random pictures of Sloane since her birth. 

Her first pair of "shoes." I'll make a shoe lover out of her...just you watch!

Taking a bottle for the first time.

Mornings at the Cunningham house

Sleepy Sloane.  I still have difficulty waking her from a nap sometimes.

She was particularly alert one Sunday morning when I took this picture.  She really has the cutest eyes when she is fully awake.

You can see she is definitely getting some super chubby cheeks in this picture. 

I love this picture for a few reasons.  1) I love her face.  She looks really suspicious of me. 2) That belly is HUGE!!!  She has a gut like a middle-aged man! 

One month old today. 
I seriously have SO much fun putting outfits on her.  It's all about the bows.  Her outfit is cute but once I put that bow on her...BAM!  She became adorable!

Some Sloane/Daddy cuddle time in the evening

This is a fun picture.  I caught a shot of Sloane in one of the rare moments that she cried out loud.  It must have been the onesie she was wearing.  She is super content in BYU blue.

Cunninghams: Revenge of the Birth Canal

The biggest events in life cannot be fully understood without personal experience. No matter how much you discuss the topic, imagine the topic or google the topic you are never truly prepared for the event when it happens.

This is especially true with childbirth. My experiences with Seth and Sloane's births were completely different but in memorable ways. With Seth I felt like my head was in a cloud and I was always 2 steps behind. That lasted......well...I will let you when it finally stops. During that first childbirth I ended up ignoring Emily's request for breathing help and instead decided to just do the breathing and pushing myself....it made sense at the time. When the doctor prodded me to the south end of the bed I became scarred for life. On top of the weird doctor making a Mohawk out of Seth's hair, I had NO idea how rough doctors are with babies.

That rough experience (as rough as witnessing the delivery can be compared to actually pushing the baby out) gave me a fantastic starting point for what to expect for Sloane. While I still screwed up the breathing, I was able to watch the entire process without freaking out. It was honestly one of the most amazing things I have ever been a part of....but only because I had a reference point.

I know Emily felt much more relaxed about this delivery as well. While last time we were trying to avoid panic the entire time, this time we were both answering work emails up until the actual delivery time. Don't believe me? Here is the proof.




Emily was either doing work emails OR shopping for her post-baby clothes.


After Sloane was freed from her little prison, the nurse roughly cleaned her off and did all the weird post-birth stuff that apparently is required in order for the child to later lead a normal, productive life in society. We were not thrilled with her apparent attempt to scrub a layer of skin off of Sloane but Emily's epidural prevented her from inflicting any physical harm on the nurse.

What do you mean I can't go back in?

After the newborn version of the NFL combine was completed (random tests/measurements), Emily got to finally hold Sloane and see what had been kicking her ribs for the last few months. Here is a link for those that have no idea what the NFL combine is - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NFL_combine.



Either she is kissing Sloane or she has fallen asleep while holding her.

I originally had some serious hesitations about having a girl until I met her. She was perfect..... until I changed the fricking tar diaper again. Girls have so many more places to hide poop, it is ridiculous. It is like they have built in smuggler's hatches. I need to invest in a spray bottle for diaper changes. Luckily for Sloane she looked really cute swaddled up so I could forgive the diaper issues.



Our little Conehead.


Once we knew that Sloane was healthy, we started eyeing the clock. Prior to our visit, "we" had set a goal of getting out of the hospital after only 24 hours. In truth Emily had set the goal and I was too afraid of her super-human-hormonal-pregnant-woman strength to disagree.

To help us prepare, we tricked my sister into taking Tess. We figure we would trade one loud little package for another.

Here is an assortment of pictures with my commentary. For the 1 of you who read this blog, enjoy.

When she was pressed against the Utah Logo, she felt truly loved.

 

My favorite part of this picture is that Seth is in mismatched pajamas.
That is the ultimate proof that Emily was exhausted.



Sloane and Aunt Char. I think Char was seeing if Sloane had enough hair to color it.



Her cheeks have chubbified since then. My little chub-a-lub.



This screams "hug me!" and
"I have given up, I have no control over my own life."

My mom introducing Sloane to Seth for the first time. I was the cameraman, that is why Seth looks so weird.

I just want to point out that Sloane has more hair on the top of her head than my dad does.

I think Lisa startled Sloane so Sloane played dead.

She looks exactly like Seth did at that age...well...from the waist up.



Seth looks like an Angel, but only because his face is so ridiculously white.
Emily already posted this picture but she wasn't kidding when she said that I hated this pose.
I don't trust Seth with anything sharp, why would I want him holding my 4 day old child?
I think I had to leave the room for part of this photo shoot to avoid freaking out.



Sloane, Seth and my shoe bonding.

Sloane's first bath. I wanted no part in this so I left after the picture.