Cousin Camp 2011

Rita Ann started a new tradition this year called Cousin Camp, so fun!!  Cousin Camp 2011 took place on July 12-13.  Every summer Ava & Gavin come from AZ for a week or so and stay with Todd & RA, so we will get to have annual cousin camps to look forward to. In this inaugural year, our activities included:

• Lots of holding and singing to and taking care of Baby Daniel.  Ava was such a good little caretaker singing lots of songs, helping me change diapers, making sure I never forgot to give him his gas drops, making sure he had blankets and wasn't ever cold, etc.  She was interested in how I nursed him and I must've referred to Daniel latching on b/c at one point he was fussing when I was feeding him, Ava asked if he became "unhatched."  LOL, love it!  Gavin was so sweet with Daniel, too, and did his fair share of holding and singing.  He was always most interested in whether or not Daniel should have his pacifier.  :)  Because of all of the love Baby Daniel got, we didn't get through all of the activities Grandma had planned, but we had a great time with the ones we fit in!
• We built a "campfire" in the living room, invited the bear family to join us, "roasted" marshmellows for smores, told ghost stories, and sang campfire songs.
• We jumped on the trampoline and played on the swing set.
• Ava & Gavin put on a puppet show for Daniel, RA, and I (seriously hilarious the stuff they come up with)
• Ava & I went and got our nails done
• Got to visit with great grandpa Russell, great uncle Ronnie, and GG Jim & GG Sandra. 

It was sad to leave after all of that fun, especially because we won't see the kids again for awhile.  We're going to have to be better about skyping so the cousins can keep in good touch!  Good thing Grandma's not too far away so we can see her and Grandpa soon!

A few pictures from camp:

Ava & Gavin greeting Daniel when we got to the ville:

Pajama Party:

(side note, these pj's of his are my FAVES! Little penguins on them and shirt says Just Chillin)

Snuggling with Grandma:

Baby A is a......

BOY!!!!!!

This picture is taken in the soon-to-be nursery.  When all of their guests came over for the housewarming party on Saturday and got the tour of the house, they got to find out the gender of the baby when they came to this room.  Fun idea!  

We are thrilled that Daniel and Baby A will be so close in age - just 7 months apart.  They are going to best buds!  And even more importantly, all is looking healthy and normal with Baby A and he's big enough now (she is 20 weeks along) that Sarah is feeling him kicking around in there - Patrick even felt him too.  I think that's the best thing about being pregnant - feeling that little life inside there and just daydreaming and imagining any and everything about them.  Such a miracle!  I'm so happy for S&P that they are getting to experience these joys!!  So amazing!

  

Exciting Day

Today (in just a few short hours) we get to find out if Baby Altenhofen is a baby boy or baby girl!!  So excited I can't hardly stand it.  Cody thinks girl, I am going with boy. 

Sarah and Patrick found out yesterday morning at 9:00 and I thought surely between then and now I could get the news out of her.  She's the worst with secrets, so I was pretty confident that I could break her down. Plus, being the older sister, I have always been able to get her to give in (i.e., as little girls our bedrooms were right next to each other and at bedtime if I thought of something to tell her I'd yell for her to come to my room, but she would say no, that I should come to her room.  And we'd go back and forth a few times until I would say in a really taunting way that I guess she'll never know what I wanted to tell her.  That suspense always got her out of bed and kept me tucked snugly in my own.)  But this time, there was nothing I could threaten that would get her to tell me.  She wanted to borrow a dress, so I said not unless you tell me the gender.  She wanted to borrow a fan, not unless you tell me the gender I said.  (of course she can still borrow the dress and fan)  Yesterday she even stopped answering my text messages and phone calls!!  Well, this is the first time in my entire life that I couldn't get my sister to do what I wanted.  I have to say I'm a bit disappointed in myself.  Just kidding.  :)

S&P have something planned to reveal the baby's gender to all of the immediate family at 1:00 today.  Then later this afternoon, they are having the actual gender reveal/housewarming party that was extended to other friends and family.  They moved into their house in Prairie Village the first of April and since then have done some renovations, repainted, and gotten new living room and dining room furniture.  So it's time for everyone to come see the house! 

I don't think I've mentioned this yet, but Baby A is scheduled to arrive Dec 13th!!

Texas bound

We are about to attempt Daniel's first major road trip...we are headed down to Kilgore, TX for Cody's cousin's wedding. Daniel has been to Beatrice (3 hr), the ville (1.5 hr), and the Ozarks (3 hr) so far, but our gps says this is an almost 10 hr drive - and that's without stopping to feed him. The plan is to feed him the very last thing before we take off and then hopefully just stop halfway and then he'll be a starvin Marvin by the time we get to our hotel. But he's had 5 hr stretches on a number of occasions, so we're hoping he'll have some repeat performances today. He's usually awesome in the car (once we get moving - until then he hates being strapped into the seat) but yesterday he and I were doing a bunch of errands and he cried in the car the entire time. We'll see!!

Charity, you've got your work cut out for you

First hair appointment in WAY too long - too embarrassed to say just how long, but my roots give me away. I had vowed not to let the baby get in the way of keeping myself put together: Daniel 1, Momma 0.  Will do better going forward :)

A new record!

I am writing this at 3:30 a.m. from my phone because I am so excited! Daniel just had his longest feeding stretch yet, fed him at 9p and then he didn't wake up til just after 3a...6 hours!!! Yay buddy!!! Maybe this is just a fluke, but if we are getting to the point of only waking up once during the night, I will be so excited. We'll see...

Favorite things about being a mom

• This might sound a bit selfish to say, but there is something so satisfying and beautiful about being the only one who can calm him and make him happy when he's hungry.  It's seriously like a magic trick... his cries, even screams, immediately shut off once he's brought to the breast.  It's not even like he whimpers and winds down from crying so hard.  Nope, he's just immediately at ease and it makes me feel so good to be able to provide him that comfort.
• I love to see his little tiny hands gripping my finger and I love listening to all his noises and watching all the faces he makes.
• Daniel has this really sweet routine when he's done eating.  He pulls his head back away from me as far as he can (his neck is really strong) and has his eyebrows raised, and then he just let's go and totally relaxes and plops his head onto the boob and just nuzzles in and rests there.  
• I could stare at him all day long (sometimes do) and just trace the features of his face with my fingers and admire this little person we created.  Sometimes I look at Cody holding him and see how tiny his little body looks when he's curled up like a frog on Cody's chest and am just in awe that we made him.  How amazing.  Holy hormones, I'm tearing up just typing this.
• Marveling at the way God created women's bodies and what He enabled us to do. 
• Being able to take a 12 week maternity leave.  I'm currently half way through my leave, time is flying, but I'm so so happy to still have 6 weeks left.  I feel like I'm really getting to know him and his habits a lot better at this point, so I'm so thankful I can savor our time together for a little while yet. 
• Sleeping together...ok, I know some people would be aghast knowing he sleeps in our bed sometimes.  It's not very often...usually he's in his bassinet by the side of our bed...but sometimes he's a little fussy going back to sleep after his 4 a.m. feeding and it really seems to calm him to have him close to my body - hearing my heartbeat and feeling my body warmth.  I think it makes Cody nervous to have him in the bed, and before I did it myself I always thought it sounded so dangerous, but even in my sleep I'm very aware that he's there and I've never been nervous to roll over on him or anything like that.  More than anything, it just seems like he needs it sometimes for comfort and I love the extra bonding and physical contact with him.  Not to mention it's much easier to nurse. 
• Going for our morning walks
• Running errands and having people smile at us the way they do when they see sweet little babies.  And I think to myself, man - it's still surreal that I have a baby, that this is our child that people are smiling at so lovingly. 
• The instant bond you have with other mothers.
• Lots more, but Daniel is starting to get hungry so I better sign off for now....

Here's a pic I love, Daniel playing with Grandma: