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The year of Morgan

The year of Morgan is coming to a close. I have three hours to get this written and uploaded before 2011 strikes. One year ago exactly, Will and I were introduced to the movie 'Paranormal Activity.' This is definitely a movie that goes down in my book as creepy! As for Will, I think he still has nightmares about it. So when I mentioned renting 'Paranormal Activity 2' for tonight, he certainly shot me an icy glare. We settled on a teeny-bopper movie instead...The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. Hmmm...werewolves with 6-packs and vampires with chiseled facial features...I definitely won this round!

Although the Denver weather gods blessed us with 50'ish degree weather on Christmas day, and Morgan didn't receive her first white Christmas, we had a very enjoyable day at home assembling some of her new toys and staring in admiration at the pile of clothes she received from friends and family.

One of my favorite moments of this holiday was attending mass on Christmas Eve and introducing Morgan to the song 'Surprise, Surprise' in which the priest plays a tambourine and gleefully sings 'SURPRISE, SURPRISE, RIGHT BEFORE YOUR EYES, GOD IS A SURPRISE, IT HAPPENED TO THE WISE. SURPRISE, SURPRISE, GOD IS A SURPRISE, OPEN UP YOUR EYES & SEE.' I've laughed about this song for an entire year after initially hearing it from the same priest back in 2009. His enthusiasm for singing it is contagious and the majority of the congregation laughs a bit too in between versus so when I heard the tambourine start up this year, I giggled like a school girl (cue Will rolling his eyes) before belting out the lyrics to Morgan. Let's just say I shouldn't join the church choir anytime soon but I sure had fun letting loose!

Here are some Christmas photos from our family. Happy New Years!!!

I can't get up!

Fleeting images from 'A Christmas Story' crossed my mind as I bundled Morgan up last night for a walk around the Southlands to view lights and the bonfire.

Poor Randy...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW4IZ0Flh3M



Merry Christmas!

Kisses to you, my dear Denver

In case you don't know yet, we're uprooting and moving to Cincinnati next month. I haven't quite made an official announcement yet since Will's still in the process of finalizing things with his new company (GE Aviation) but we've shared the news with family and friends (in person versus a nationwide blurb on Facebook). Sadly enough, our friends are scattered all over the U.S. so it's not possible to share this life-changing news with everyone in person.

I've been out of the loop of blogging since any spare time, usually after Morgan hits the hay, is spent looking for rental property near Will's new office in Evendale, Ohio. It's about a 20 minute commute from downtown Cincinnati. We're also working with our realtor here to set the wheels in motion regarding putting our house on the market. Talk about bittersweet. Although we anticipate a great life in Ohio, Will and I can't quite let go of the fact that we're leaving our first REAL home, our home where Morgan was born, after barely living in it for a year. I feel like we haven't even fully unpacked and worn out our welcome yet. I had so many decorating ideas for this place. Will and I shared many great evenings out back, with a glass of good wine & a crackling fire, discussing how we would build a deck and enjoy a hot tub during the winter months. I know, I know...we'll build many more memories elsewhere that will be even greater but I am not quite ready to let go of these dreams and happy times on Alamo Place. Almost eight years of my life have been spent in Colorado...drifting through jobs and making good friendships at each place...learning how I hated to ski and that maybe, just maybe, I was a snow bunny that congregated around the hot cocoa machine indoors versus sitting atop the mountain....enjoying happy hour while I was single, down in the tech center, after a hard days work...getting my first taste of unemployment and making the best of it by lounging at the pool with Monica...finding Will and falling in love....buying my first fancy car with leather interior and a sunroof (yes, VW was and still is fancy to me)....working downtown and feeling like a big city girl when I could walk around downtown streets without getting lost (thanks to a little help from MapQuest)...mastering the upper cut in turbo kickboxing with Erin and laughing our asses off at the zombie move in Zumba...finding out that working for women bosses may not be my cup of tea in life...planning Girls Night Out with some of the greatest girls I've ever known (I was known as the Evite Nazi)...getting married and becoming a wife....becoming a homeowner....becoming a mama....see, the list goes on! These past eight years have been some of the best of my life.



So with that said, we're trying to enjoy every last moment here even as Christmas quickly approaches. It's easy to get lost in the chaos of moving. Days slip by so quickly. Then before we know it, we'll be saying goodbye. So for now we rejoice in the fact that Morgan will soon be celebrating her very first Christmas.



Morgan was baptized on 12/11/10 at Church of the Risen Christ in Denver. Grandma & Grandpa Jansen were able to make it into town for this special occasion. She was quite content in church and pushed all of our hands away when we each made the sign of the cross on her forehead. Some of the congregation laughed at her defiance!









Morgan is now 27.5" long and weighs 17 lbs, 6 ounces. She has seven teeth and just recently started eating baby food - first peas, then sweet potatoes and this week...disgusting green beans!



She has dry heaved numerous times while trying to swallow this smelly vegetable. Even Gerber can't cutesy up this veggie! My mom got a good laugh knowing Morgan has already inherited my "dinnertime dry heaves". Apparently I made my parents' meal times unbearable with my ever-so-picky taste buds and refusal to eat anything not covered in cheese. Honestly though, I'm having the hardest time grasping the concept of me being a stubborn child!

Thanksgiving in Style

Morgan premiered in one cranky episode after another this Thanksgiving. Yes, we were blessed with a wonderful child but one that endured almost a sleepless night on Thanksgiving Eve...so, our first turkey day at home was one of...well, whines & tears (and I don't mean the good wine either)! :-)

Between sobs, we were able to catch a few nice moments on this special day. She was stylin' in her new Gap onesie.





I wasn't sure this particular day would be the best to introduce her to a turtleneck, but she came out of the neck hole with a partial smile on her face so I count that as a successful moment.

Thanksgiving also marked the night in which we would start a bedtime ritual. After reading the Super Baby chapter on sleepful nights, I was insistent that our baby would have a bedtime hour. No more would she dictate when she wanted to sleep....TONIGHT was the night we took control. The chapter said it would take between 15-60 minutes for a baby to learn to soothe themselves into sweet bliss. After checking every clock in the house to see that it was 5 minutes past 1 a.m., we quickly learned that our baby would not conform to that "chapter". 4 hours and 30 minutes later, Morgan was asleep in her crib. Understandably, it was her first night for this routine but geez! I'm already getting anxiety thinking about tonight's adventure.

Thanksgiving 2010 was laid to rest as was our sanity. However, there is a happy ending to this holiday story. Not knowing the others plan, Will and I both said a silent prayer asking God to bless us with a peaceful nights sleep so that we could be energized for Morgan today. And it worked - Morgan slept in until 9 a.m. without waking up even once during the night. Thank you God for that blessing! For that, yes we are truly thankful.

As for the Super Baby book...well, it was returned to the library this afternoon.

Is that all you've got?

Morgan mastered her first official bowl of rice cereal in that she not only wanted to eat it all BUT she wanted to feed herself by taking control of the spoon.




Needless to say, she had a bath shortly after dinner. She had cereal behind her ears as well as on the back of her head!



Geez guys, is that all you've got?

Teething (Again)!

Morgan is now teething....times THREE! She already has two bottom teeth but now has three more coming in AT THE SAME TIME! Luckily, she's not as cranky as you might assume a baby would be in this particular situation.

At Morgan's five month appointment, she weighed close to 16 pounds and is almost 28" long. Quite the tall baby!

She has learned to put pressure on her legs and stand in her Baby Einstein jumper. Having so many toys within reach can be fun, and overstimulating, all at the same time.



Maybe she passed out from exhaustion or from too much Fraggle Rock? We'll never really know....