Davenports in June & July

In an effort to remember these crazy days I'm going to write about the mundane as well as the magical. Hopefully I'll manage quite a few updates, but when the days consist of a crying baby and two very needy dogs and some genuine family time with my awesome family, 6 weeks go by and I've hardly even blinked!

What's going on in our little life right now?
Cosette smiles back and Keith & I both are sure we have heard her utter her first sounds....something like an "Ahh," or perhaps, "Heeyaaaeeee." She also enjoys squirming on her tummy and lifts her head up to 90 degrees. What can I say, we are proud parents. I think she's managing to sprout some more hair as well, although her totally awesome flattened mowak look is still being rocked. She actually fits into some of her 0-3 months clothes now too, and I've had to retire most of her newborn-sized clothing. Now that was sad. But, being a mature and forward-moving adult, I packed them away with only a few sighs and sniffs.

Going to bed each night is an activity full of expectation and hope, quite like Advent season. Who knows when that magical night will be that I wake up, not to some pitiful whimpering that gives us 20 seconds before it turns into a hunger wail, but to my own biological clock that says, "Wake up, Allison! You had a nice, refreshing sleep, and now it's time to get up and embrace the day!" (I feel obligated to state that I'm aware I may never again wake up to such a peaceful alarm, but I'm not secure enough to admit it to myself yet.) Maybe tonight will be the night? Please oh please oh please.

Let's see...what else...
Recent impulsivity (is that a word? impulsiveness?) has led to my over-indulgence in delicious chocolate chip ice cream, as well as, quite ironically, a renewed passion for Pilates. Pilates, by the way, is much more interesting without a 6.5 lb baby in a basketball-sized uterus adding her opinion on Downward Dog and the Saw. Um, okay, what was I talking about? Oh yes, impulsivity or impulsiveness...Right. Yesterday I got fed up with my frumpy fuzz hair and got it chopped right off. Now I feel much more cool, double-entendre implied. Oh, and much more mom-like. Mom-like as in, "Cool shopping mom that has it all together." Right.

One of my friends lovingly advised me that pregnancy and child-birth result in the average mom losing up to 13% of her brain capacity, most of which she can re-acquire in one year. I would like to attest. I think many things are responsible for this brain loss: 1) My baby sucked part of it out while in utero (I mean, really, how else does she get her own brain?), 2) Part of my brain voluntarily evacuated after labor and delivery (the weak cells couldn't hold up, so they left), 3) The human brain doesn't thrive on 6 hours of sleep divided into two or three parts, every night, every week, every month, and finally, 4) Part of my focus is always on Cosette, regardless of who is holding her or where she is or what she's doing. Undivided attention, therefore, is a joke.

Anything else?
Keith & I are in love with Booth & Brennan. Now, you may say, "Wait, aren't they fictional characters from the TV show 'Bones'?" Um, yes, but they rock. We've watched almost every episode from the first 4 seasons. This is what we do when we aren't sleeping, eating, playing with the baby, assisting in an effort to keep the house from voluntarily purging itself, working, etc. etc.

Max Dog & Sadie Catahoula are adjusting to the third (or rather, fifth) member of our family quite well. They enjoy sniffing her and occassionally offering up a lick offering. Sadie Catahoula also enjoys lounging on Cosette's play gym mat and alerting me whenever she is crying. Max Dog enjoys ignoring the baby, eating grass, and licking his paws.

Things we are looking forward to:
* David's wedding on August 21!
* A job modification...one part-time job just doesn't cut it. Please pray for us, as we have no idea how this complication will be worked out.
* Our 24th birthdays!
* Cosette's adjusting to a more scheduled existence, perhaps one that her mom and dad will be able to use to estimate when she'll be hungry, tired, etc.
* Season 5 of Bones coming to Netflix. Just kidding. Or am I?