Tia Anna's Visit

My sister Anna made the trek between the 'villes last weekend- her first time since I've been married & moved in to our home! It was her Fall Break and she came with her buddy Caiti to visit over the weekend. It was great to have extra hands to hold the little Munchkin- she definitely enjoys being HELD. And I got to show Anna my house, my park, my city & even my church on Sunday. We watched House MD, and a new show, Lie to Me (pretty cool- I watched another episode today), oh yes and CSI all together as a "movie." Anna & Caiti about died when they saw we were going to watch it on our laptop, lol. THAT's why we all had to fit on our couch. And we did just fine. I also took the girls down Bardstown Rd, with Éowyn in her Ergo Carrier, on a mission to find cool birthday gifts for the skads of b-days in October... we were largely successful... then Ryan drove us all to SteinMart where they were having a HUGE sale. We picked the right day, that's for sure! Anyway, I wasn't totally back to my old self, but they were very understanding and didn't mind letting me take frequent rest breaks. Anna even cleaned my entire kitchen while I took a nap. Now THAT was a good present!! :)

I'll miss those girlies and hope they come visit again soon!

Sadness in the Szrama Household

Don't let her chubby cheeks and placid expression fool you: she has not had a happy day. :( After a night of labored-sounding breathing, I called the pediatrician and he said to bring her in. My suspicions of acid reflux were confirmed-- which is at least good in that we have ideas in how to help her. Her crying during eating at times is inconsolable, which is soooooo sad and breaks my mommy-heart. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, acid reflux in an infant is essentially baby heartburn-- food mixed with stomach acid creeps back up the esophagus instead of staying in the stomach where it should. After having experienced heartburn myself in pregnancy, I wouldn't wish it on anyone, much less my tiny new daughter! Babies with acid reflux tend to spit up a lot, crane their necks trying to escape the mounting acid in their throats, prefer being upright or face-down to being prone (on their backs) and worst of all, cry during feeding. To have her wanting to eat, and pulling off and sobbing her little eyes out with me holding her in my arms is so WRONG. She should be happiest eating, right? Especially cuddled in her mother's embrace, right? So sad. We should get some medicine into her this evening, which hopefully will help. We were already keeping her upright, burping her often, and giving her lots of tummy-time, all of which are good for reflux-y babies. Reflux can be problematic not just because it causes pain but because the regurgitated gunk tends to pool in the sinus cavities, causing congestion (why she was having trouble breathing last night) and potentially hosting bacteria-- especially at this time of the year (cold season!).

Those of you who pitched in to get us the Ergo carrier, THANK YOU! I've got her sleeping in it right now; she loves it, and I love it because she loves it. :) My arms would wear out if it weren't for this thing! Anyway, here's to hoping the prevacid does its work and that she outgrows this soon. Poor baby.

P.S. Despite the reflux, our little porker is still packin' on the chub: 9 lbs 14 oz this afternoon!

Dedication

Yesterday (Sunday October 11th), our church did something it had never done before; what is usually called a "Baby Dedication." In churches where baptism is done with infants, most of the ceremony actually is about the parents, and the community of faith upholding them in their role as parents. It's the parents who take vows to bring the child up in the nurture & admonition of the Lord, as part of the community of faith. This is done before the congregation, which also takes responsibility to teach the child according to Scripture, and to hold the parents accountable to bringing them up as they should. Since I am not a paedobaptist, I believe this is a misunderstanding of the sacrement of baptism, BUT I still really find the idea of publicly placing your child in the arms of Christ & His church to be appealing and helpful. Credobaptist churches (churches who only baptise confessing believers) have come up with a ritual that fills that gap-- not a sacrement, but certainly helpful and good. That is baby dedication.

At Immanuel, we've never done this before, but I kept meaning to ask about it, knowing that it would be helpful to me as a mother... a reminder that I'm not just raising my child for my own sake, or even for her sake, but for the sake of the Kingdom. My prayer is that my daughter will grow up to become a Daughter of the King, a willing and capable servant of His Bride, the Church. I'll need help to do that! I want the whole church to take ownership in my daughter's spiritual upbringing-- praying for her salvation, and then for her godliness; praying for Ryan & I as parents!! I also need to remember that she isn't just "my" child. She was given to Ryan & I to steward, treasure and guard... but she is God's creation; His to do as He likes with her. The day will come when we have to give her up, one way or another, and I want to train myself to say "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the Name of the Lord."

So, last Sunday our pastor for preaching, Ryan Fullerton, called us to the front of the church, along with two other families & their little ones, and introduced us to the congregation, and then prayed for us. One of the things he said that will stick with me is that our children will go somewhere that I can never go: the future. They will be the messangers of the Gospel, Lord willing, to the next generation.

"He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments; and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God." (Psalm 78:5-8)

"Great is the Lord , and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts." (Psalm 145:3-4)

Ryan, Me & Éowyn; Mark, Libbie & Simeon; and Fernanda with Matias

(these pictures aren't very good, but my sister took some better ones, which she has promised to email me)

Please pray for us! :)
--Christina

Meeting Grace Elizabeth

You may remember my friends Natasha & Ashley, who were due around the same time that I was. Well, we've all had our little girls, and we're planning to re-shoot the Charlie's Angels poses... once all the babies can hold their heads up... :)

Ashley's daughter Harper came a week before Éowyn, and Natasha's Grace was just born last Thursday; almost 2 weeks after Éowyn. We went to meet her and see her parents (Samuel & Natasha), along with my sister Anna & Caiti, her Clemson buddy-- they were visiting us over the weekend!

Halfway there...

We wanted to take pictures of us UN-PREGNANT & with our girlies... but this is what happens when you try to get two infants to pose for a photo shoot... Oh well, they're still cute. :)

Éowyn was hungry by the end, so we made a quick exit to get her home and happy. I love how alert she is in the pictures, though-- you can see her beautiful blue eyes for once on film! And I was surprised at how much she's grown! You can really tell when you compare her to Grace, who was 8 lbs 6 oz at birth, so not much smaller than Éowyn ... and look how "huge" Enna looks now!

In Mommy's Outfit

Among the baby clothes my mom saved of mine, there were these blue booties & this shirt I got in the hospital (St. Joseph West Mesa Hospital, Family Birthing Center). I've dressed Enna in them a couple of times, but it occured to me to take a picture of her in them this morning:

I love the blue booties, also received in the hospital. I call them her "elf shoes." You can see them better in this picture. They're hand-knitted, by someone's grandma who decided to knit one for every baby in that hospital, 24 years ago. Thank you, whoever you are!

From I will be a healer, and love all things that grow

p.s. She may have picked her favorite blanket. This pink one was knit by Grandma Presley's friend, and Éowyn seems to like catching her fingers in the holes. It's really soft, and not real heavy, so I wrap her in it a lot when we're around the house, and because it's so soft & she can stick her fingers through it, the little princess doesn't fight having her arms swaddled in it. :)

Rockin' Out on Wednesday

This is the WONDERFUL glider I found at a consignment sale, which is my nursing chair... and also a great spot (throne?) for Éowyn to chill while I'm tidying up the room or getting dressed. Note the Furman purple she is wearing today. :)

We had a great time going around the park on a walk today. It's the first time I've ventured out alone since she was born, and it was a success! I even lifted the stroller to get on & off our porch(es), and didn't hurt myself! lol it's the small things that make me happy. My friend Libbie joined me on one walk, with her 3 kiddos, and that was really nice.

As I was walking by one Somali home, I felt really burdened to go and talk to them. This house is a multi-generational family home, full of wives & babies. I used to help teach English to the matriarch, "Judy." She & the young women (her daughters and daughters-in-law) are always so welcoming to me, and invite me to come in. Usually I can't because I'm on my way somewhere... today I had been meditating on Psalm 117, which is a prayer for all the nations to come and worship God, not just Israel. The Spirit brought that text to mind as I wheeled Éowyn by the house. Well, I decided I'd better not go today; it is full of babies, and little kids are germ-carriers... and Éowyn is so little. I resolved to go later on. God had other plans. As I waited for my friend Libbie, who should come out and sit on her front porch than Judy herself, with one of her little grandsons!? Clearly, I was supposed to go over there. So I hauled the stroller up there and Judy & one of her daughters-in-law invited me in. Knowing Libbie would understand, I took 'em up on it, and spent a good half hour getting to know these sweet women who do not know our Sweet Savior. They offered me fruit punch & cookies and conversation, and I offered them... my baby. :) They were all so excited that she's a girl and wanted to hold her. She was a perfect baby and slept through the whole thing, lol. Anyway, I was really thankful that God so clearly gave me that opportunity. If you think of it, please pray for them and for me as I seek to befriend them with the Gospel in mind.

"Praise the LORD, all nations! Extol Him, all peoples! For great is His steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the LORD!" Ps. 117

Her First Moe Monday!

Ryan's been BEGGING me to let him go to Moe's again, especially to show off his new baby daughter. One of his oldest friends is Scott, who was a buddy from good ol' North Bullet High, and he frequents the Moe's across the river in Indiana. I still can't stomach the thought of Moe's; after eating there so often during my "morning sickness" months, the very thought of its fare turns my stomach. Literally. So, Ryan very kindly packed up dinner for me, and we went to eat with Scott. It was really fun to talk to him and hear about NBH days... and he was very admiring of our treasure, so of course I enjoyed that.

Baby Love

St. James Ct. Art Fair 2009

Today (Sunday) was Éowyn's first visit to church!!! I was concerned about germ exposure, so she stayed in my Hugamonkey sling the entire time... except for when I was nursing her or changing her diaper. She did pretty well, although we did have some trouble settling her down during the preaching. Thankfully, she takes a paci really well and seemed to sleep fine in the sling. :)

Sunday afternoon, we headed a few blocks over for the annual St. James Court Art Fair. We try to go every year; it's like a free museum! Artists from all over come and sell their wares, from paintings to photos to cool clothes to fractal art to stonework to bonsai trees, and so much more! We also enjoy the fair fare, making a beeline for the fudge (I'd experienced the glory of pumpkin pie fudge last year), and the funnel cakes for Ryan. We got a big fresh-squeezed lemonade to wash it all down, then headed to Central Park so I could rest and we could eat. Éowyn even got in on the al fresco dining, and had her dinner too.





p.s. videos to come soon!

Saturday; a day of firsts

Much to our sadness, the last of our family left today-- my mom & dad headed back to Greenville. My Mom had been here, helping me and being a joy for the past 2 weeks. Oh man, am I gonna miss her. Ok... stop thinking about that so I don't cry. Anyway, that meant that today was our first day alone as a new family unit of THREE. Yikes! We sure enjoyed our time together, though.



Today (Saturday) was a GLORIOUS fall day, so we took Éowyn for her first walk; one lap around Shelby Park (in our neighborhood). She loved her stroller, sleeping as soon as we got going, lol. It was so nice for me to get outside again... though one lap around was as much as I could take. I'm not quite ready to take up running again just yet...


And then, that evening, Éowyn's first (non-medical) outing was a family visit to the shrine of St. Arbucks:

We all enjoyed our lattes... (mine was free b/c I got a birthday drink coupon!) The barista said that we had the "best behaved baby EVER." We agreed. :)

We also introduced her to NCIS...

Gettin' Bigger!

I had a visit with the lactation consultant at our hospital today. Dad drove Mom & I across the bridge, and it was like last week all over again. Except not 3 am. And a lot less painful. Anyway, our little girl is porkin' out like nobody's business-- she now weighs in at 8 lbs 14 oz! The lactation consultant said that she's been gaining weight this week at double the healthy minimum rate! She gave me some pointers on holding & getting her latched on, and said not to worry at ALL about whether she's getting enough nutrition (not that I was worried about that per se)! Way to go Bradley Diet!!!

We also got to stop by the L & D wing and the recovery rooms-- quite a different perspective for me! I dropped off some thank-you notes for the nurses who'd served us (they were each & every one WONDERFUL!), and we got to say hi to some of the wonderful women who helped bring Eowyn safely into the world. They were part of God's answer to our prayers for a safe & healthy delivery! Heheh the technician who set up our room for delivery (Paquita) remembered Ryan as the dad who asked lots of questions. :) Everyone was exclaiming over how cute Eowyn is and how good she looks in headbands. I think Judy (L & D nurse... super helpful) was most proud of her, since she helped bring her into the world!

Today Eowyn's been a little fussier--several times she seemed just to want to be held. Either her tummy was bothering her & being upright felt better, or she just wanted Mommy's touch & full attention. Either way, it made me feel loved.

I love you, sweetheart. ...please sleep better tonight, ok?

Can you believe she's a WEEK old today!??

Photos Galore!

For all of you who were clamoring for more pictures of our petite princesse, I'm taking a page from Amy's book and trying to get (at least) one picture uploaded of her each day. So far the hard part is not uploading all 1000 we've taken of her (not exaggerating-- but I am including all her grandparents' pictures in that count)... :) The pictures will be uploaded daily to my photography site. Enjoy!

Mommy & Me

I finally have uploaded both pictures & photo editing software to this laptop... so now I'm having fun! :)

Photo taken on Tuesday, Sept. 29th. Éowyn was 4 days old.

6 days old

She had a long wakeful period today; not so usual for her right now. =D I love her big blue eyes and her round cheeks, and I think it's so cute when she brings her fists up to her face like she's thinking. She melts my heart every time I look at her.