Half a Year!

Happy Half-Birthday, Serena! We've had a great Christmas, and are enjoying relaxing with family in San Antonio. These are some recent pictures of Serena. She's a lot of fun these days, with lots of laughing, grabbing (everything, including the keyboard at the moment), sitting, and jabbering.

Christmastime

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around our house. Serena's too young to care or know what's going on, but it's still a little more fun to get in the holiday spirit with a little one around. And the Christmas pictures are definitely cuter. We went out to the "holler" on Saturday to pick out and cut down our Christmas tree at a tree farm. It looks great and smells good in our entry room. Serena also posed for a few pre-Christmas pictures.

Cozy

I was trying to think of one word that could describe my life right now and the only word that came to mind was the one that I have decided to title this "piece." I look around the living room and on each of the three mantles is a Christmas themed display, two with a baby Jesus, one with blue balls. The words "BELIEVE" and "JOY" have taken prominence because they go with our color scheme, though you might not notice since our Christmas decorations are decidedly less numerous than when they filled our apartment in Princeton. But the freshly sawn Christmas tree, a "Canaan Fir," adds a seasonal fragrance that marks this place as home.

Growing up in the promised land, I never thought I would call West Virginia home, but that is truly what Amy and I have found here. This is a wonderful place for where we are in our lives right now. While I may be one of the only nestcocks in the entire state, there are not many other places in the U.S. that we could afford to do it. But sitting here with Bishop sleeping on the floor at my feet, my wife lying on the couch behind me and Serena in her crib upstairs, we have indeed found coziness amidst the hills and hollers of West Virginia.

God Bless,
Joshua

A New Cousin!

Serena's not the new kid on the block any more. Her cousin, Ava Elise made her appearance last night in Utah. My sister Elisa's pregnancy may have been significantly shorter than mine, but the labor was significantly longer, so I think I'll stick with my way of doing things :). In any case, Ava is healthy, beautiful, and happy (or sleepy, at least, her mom reports!), and we're so pleased to welcome her to the world!

1st Thanksgiving Joys

You might not think that I am a sentimental person, because in general I am not. I don't cry, ask my wife . . . well, unless I am angry; too much emotional stimulation. But I guess having children changes you a bit. Not that I cried yesterday, but as I held Serena in my arms I realized the true joy of celebrating her first major holiday. Mind you it was fleeting, but for a few seconds I was overwhelmed.

Thanksgiving over the years has lost its allure. As I have increasingly found myself separated from family as my life has followed its course, we have been tyring to find a tradition that fits us. We tried celebrating by ourselves, that was bogus, and without our families close enough, we have taken to enjoying the time with friends. The past two years, Josh Hubert in his Hubertian way has joined our dinner party and even put up with us dragging him around Huntington to meet other friends of ours. We believe this has certainly earned him the title of Uncle Josh.

So on this after thanksgiving day, there is much I am truly thankful for. As we feed Serena her first bits of solid food (rice cereal), and it simply dribbles down her chin onto her outfit, I remember I am thankful for Thanksgiving turkey and teeth. As we sit and watch television while playing shanghai rummy, I remember that I am thankful for good beer and Uncle Josh (representative of the clan we call "friends"). As we sit next to a fire that will not stay lit though Hubert is determined to stay warm, I remember I am thankful for a bed to lay my head on and a family to share it with. Oh, I must not forget, Go Cowboys!

God Bless,
Joshua

Trip to Arizona

Seven days and six different planes - and she was still smiling! Serena's first trip to visit family in Arizona was a great success and we all had a lot of fun. These photos show some of the highlights - she learned to read, lounged in the sunshine in Grandpa's yard, and was duly spoiled by her grandparents (and great-grandparents).

Fall Fun

We've been a little delinquent in our blogging lately - I use the plural pronoun to offset the blame - but I want to assure you we've had a lovely fall in the meantime. Really. Fall is beautiful in West Virginia, so we've filled our days with strolls in the crisp morning air, lunches of simmering soups, afternoons of romping through the freshly raked leaves, and evenings relaxing on the front porch while the sun sets, casting soft light through the glowing trees.

Right. We've done some of that, in between working and diapering and meetings and worship services and grocery shopping and frisbee playing and soccer reffing and yard work and bath time and nap time and.... The days are just packed and the time flies by. Luckily, we've been blessed with the most agreeable baby. Serena puts up with all the chaos, smiling through it all. She seems to have become quite the social baby, happiest in a crowd. The pictures above are some of her fall photos, taken mid-October. We took her to the local pumpkin stand and clicked away!

Time Flies

Everyone told me she would grow up quickly, and they were right. She's really far from grown up still, of course, but her first three months have sure flown by! She smiles and "talks" more everyday, holds her head up really well, and even wears real clothes like sweaters and pants sometimes. I try to keep myself from looking ahead and hoping for the "next thing," like sitting up or eating or crawling, and just enjoy the way she is now. Which is pretty enjoyable.

Jiggling and Juggling
Serena has a vibrating bouncy chair that keeps her pretty happy. At least long enough for dad to fold a load of laundry or for mom to cut up some veggies for dinner.
Tonight it kept her pretty happy during her first premarital counseling session. Scheduling sometimes means our little one ends up in weird places for a baby. She behaved wonderfully though. And the counseling session followed an hour of band practice. Not to mention that Serena and I are still here at the church - until Dad gets done reffing soccer and comes to pick us up.
I'm sure the day will come when she'll no longer tolerate these extended sessions at the church. That day will probably come for me too. For now they're just part of the new juggling act of mom and minister that I'm learning. And tomorrow morning when I wake up and before I come into work a little late, I'll just have the one ball to catch for a little while - and she'll give me the hugest, happiest smile when I change her super-wet nighttime diaper. And it'll be worth it all.

Two Months Already!

It's hard to believe Serena's 2 months old, though she's changed so much already. It's just the three of us now, and back to the real world (such as it is now). I went back to work full time, Joshua is home full-time and began his refereeing work, and our incredibly helpful parents have all retunred home.
Serena's wonderful - smiles now, responds to voices, loves to watch her mobile, and trying her hardest to get full control of that head.
And she's doing a pretty good job of training us as parents. We get up earlier - a whole hour earlier is necessary for me to get to work on time, with a few stops in the routine for cuddling before I have to leave. We only go to the $3 movie theater, and only at less-populated times, and know we probably won't see the whole thing. We take walks everyday and bounce long and often on the exercise ball. We can load the dryer with one hand and pat her back with the other. We tuck bibs and burp cloths into our pockets and set them down in every room, yet never have one when we need it. We tune our ears to slowing of the mobile music and respond accordingly. We smile bigger than we ever have before in hopes of an answering grin and are inordinately pleased when we receive one. We talk to each other through Serena, i.e.: "Tell your Daddy you're tired of watching ESPN and you wonder if the dryer stopped downstairs."
I think she's pleased with our progress, and trusts us enough to stick around.

Amy

Much has happened since our last post, though it is only two weeks later. I am not sure how it has happened, but Amy's maternity leave is now almost completely used up and for the next two weeks she is going back to work part time. That means that Joshua "Nestcock" Sutherlun is currently alone with the little one for 3-4 hours every morning, learning just how much attention such a little person can need. So for the future nestcocks and nesthens out there I am going to recount my morning in as I remember it, sparing only those details that take real thought to recall.

At 8:30 AM, I rolled over to find a screaming baby laying next to me and no mother anywhere in site. When lifting Serena upon my chest did not calm her down, I stood up to change a diaper. After wrapping her all back up and dressing her in a new outfit for the day ahead, I left her on the changing table as I found a new trash bag for the "Diaper Champ." After placing the morning diaper, as well as four others that had been left on the changing table because there was no bag, into 'The Champ,' Mom took her downstairs for the morning feeding before heading to the church. I slipped into the bedroom to separate clothes for the laundry and then into the office to pay bills while there was some silence. Amy placed Serena in the crib and turned the mobile on as she finished getting ready and walked out the front door. When I came back up from spraying every single article of clothing the baby wore during the last week with "Shout," Serena was needing some attention.

She has recently preferred laying limp on our shoulders instead of on here back in our arms so we walked here and there with here grabbing onto my hair (which reminds me, I need a haircut). A little bouncing on the exercise ball and her eyelids were shut enough for me to set her in the vibrating chair. I left here there as I went down to the basement to put the laundry in the dryer. About half way through this process I heard her crying, so I picked her up and carried her down stairs with me to move the clothes. It turns out that when you are holding an 8 1/2 pound baby reaching into the washing machine, you can get quite workout for your love handles. As she sat on my shoulder, hunger seized me so a banana became breakfast and we went upstairs to find another load of laundry.

I tried to leave her in her crib for a few minutes with the mobile on, but when that didn't work I placed her on top of the clothes in the basket and we journeyed back downstairs. But this has never calmed her down yet, though I continue to try so we made a detour before the basement and we bounced on the ball again and then placed her in the vibrating chair as I put the second load in. When I came back up, she was once again crying so we changed a diaper then bounced and after about 15 minutes she was asleep again, so back to the chair once more.

For the next forty-five minutes we listened to "Baby Einstein Lullabys" as I unloaded and reloaded the dryer, cleaned up the living room (sort of), and searched for the remote. We got about 10 minutes into 'The Price is Right' when it she awoke to find out that she had been starved by her father. So screaming ensued as we warmed up the milk and cleaned a nipple. 20 minutes later Serena wouldn't swallow anymore, so we bounced and bounced until hunger once again seized me and we went for the vibrating chair once more. I took the opportunity to finish folding the laundry and then when to fixing a sandwich. Before I could get the mustard open however, she realized I wasn't holding her and was crying again. So I ate lunch on the bouncy ball (it's good for digestion), left her in the swing while I made some peanutbutter bread, and then forced in down my throat.

I left her on my shoulder for a while, put her in the crib and turned the mobile on, and left to put the load in the dryer. After two rewinds of 'rock-a-bye baby' in high pitched mechanical sound, we were restless once more so with a few bounces a diaper discovery was made. Since Serena seems to be happiest naked, I left her on the changing table wiring out a while while I cleaned up the kitchen from lunch. With the diaper back in place, Amy came through the front door and picked her up. I haven't seen her since.

The Nestcock

Serena has now passed a significant milestone and we are amazed we have made it this far with such ease. Not only has she survived a week with just Mom and Dad and survived meeting her psuedo-uncle Josh Hubert, but she has now been eating, sleeping, and pooping on the earth for over a month. At a month old, she can actually focus her eyes on things that might catch her attention (though she quickly glazes over and stares blankly) and she can grab hold of things (though we are not sure if she knows they are there). I realize that to most people she still looks tiny, but she really is growing.
In the last month, I have handled more poop in my life than I could ever have hoped for. I await the day when her bowel movements actually produce something solid instead of running out the back and sides of these superabsorbent diapers. It has also recently occured to me just how much attention a baby requires. But I have officailly held Serena 20,000 times longer than any other child and I have not dropped her or even bruised her to this point. So, here's to another month of relatively mediocre sleep and to the miracle of the 'Diaper Champ'!

Joshua

Serena's enjoying the beuatiful baby blanket her Aunt Elisa (and Uncle Stephen) made her. And she's modeling the whole ruffled outfit Aunt Jodi sent. She can't wait to meet all her aunts and uncles. (well, she hasn't said that in so many words, but we're still developing her sign language skills, so she is sure to express her yearning soon.)

Serena continues with her "firsts." Her first bath was a great success - not a single tear. We think she enjoys being naked. She's wearing her first bonnet - passed on by her cousin Alison. And this is her first Anne Geddes-style photo (which luckily didn't lead to her first rash).

Daddy with Serena - all 5 lbs 11 oz of her

Since we are new at this whole blog thing it will take a while for us to get used to formatting these things. Anyway, here are a few "before baby" photos of our time in the hospital. Maybe one day I will take the time to comment on them.

Having a baby is much more complicated than in years past. There are lists of things a person has to do to prepare for the baby's arrival (the implication being that a baby can scarcely survive with less) - from picking a crib with the right size slats (evidently babies' heads have shrunk since we were born and now easily slip between the slats of old cribs) to choosing an appropriate wipe-warmer. Needless to say, expectant parents must choose which things they will and will not do and purchase. We have chosen to comply with one of the newer trends - creating a blog, to share news and pictures of the baby, of parental distress and confusion, and general updates on our lives and thoughts (aside from the baby even?) So, here it is, if you choose to suth-scribe.