One month with Tess

The day after Christmas marked one month with Tessa. We took her into a Kaiser clinic to have her weighed, and she tipped the scales at 9 lbs, 5 oz. Who does she resemble?  Even though she's filled out a lot since birth, I still have a hard time answering that question. Some days it's McKinley, other expressions it's Piper, and sometimes she looks exactly like one of Benji's baby pictures I have in a photo album.  I think she's just pretty darn cute and has the most perfectly-shaped, round head. She often has her mouth slightly open with her tongue sticking out. She still screams bloody murder every time I change her diaper, and loves her baths. Her sisters adore her, especially Piper.  Her wake time stretches are getting longer in between feedings, but still falls asleep while nursing.  She has some mongolian spots on her booty, and recently broke out with baby acne on her face.  Oh, and she still occasionally goes cross-eyed.

Santa's Christmas Elf.

Tessa meets Momma's CrossFit friends: Lauren, Natalie & Abby.

~One month photo shoot~

Wearing Momma's old baby outfit and bonnet.  McKinley and Piper wore the same outfit for their one-month pictures.

Christmas Recap

Best. Christmas. Ever.
Not to take anything away from the Christmases we've spent with our extended families, but this Christmas was something special.  Just the five of us...with our new baby girl, in our new house. We continued our tradition of eating fast-food cheeseburgers and fries on Christmas Eve, but had homemade, buttermilk, blueberry pancakes on Christmas morning.  Since we were totally spoiled by our families, we did three rounds of opening presents to spread out the pandemonium. We skipped nap time to decorate and eat Christmas cookies, then painted the girls' fingernails bright red.  After a fried-salmon dinner, we played with the girls' new toys and read their books. Overall, a relaxing and memorable holiday.  And even though we didn't have snow, we had each other.

Opening presents from Gramma & Grampa C.

The girls picked out their dresses to wear on Christmas Day.

Frosting sugar cookies.

Thank you Gramma & Grampa for our snowman sweaters!

Tessa's First Christmas.

Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls

Today we took a trip to one of our favorite, local destinations: Multnomah Falls. We had breakfast at the lodge's amazing, all-you-can-eat, brunch, and afterwards we hiked a little over a half mile up the Multnomah Falls trail. It was so nice to get out of the house and get some fresh air as a family.

Five

Our first 2 weeks as a family of five included many firsts.  First Thanksgiving together. Decorating for our first Christmas together.  First snowfall.  First bath.  First family photo shoot.  The first 2 weeks also  captured precious moments with Gramma & Grampa (Thank you for everything.  We miss you!).