From April to December... Family Pics!

From April 2015...

 

To December 2015!

All pictures were taken by the amazing Joe Walsh (Senior) - We're lucky to have an amazing photographer in the family!

Thanskgiving 2015

This year's Thanksgiving marked a combination of old and new traditions.  Syd's first Thanksgiving! First Thanksgiving on our new house!

Despite the weather, my dad and I embarked on our 11th or 12th annual Turkey Trot.  Most years we try to do a sanctioned race course, but this year we created our own trot in the neighborhood.  We made it ~2 miles before Joe had to pick Syd up because it was raining, and then managed to complete another mile with the pups.  Yay for Syd's first Trot!

Syd did her best to represent the holiday - Gobble til you Wobble!

I'm so thankful for this little family of mine!

It's been an amazing year... and I am filled with gratitude.  More on that in another post!

Koala Time

When Joe and I found out that we would not be able to move back home before Sydney was born, the thing that most disappointed me was not getting her nursery ready. Ironically, now that we are at home, she barely goes in her nursery anyway except for diaper changes. TMI? Well, we're trying to change that, but it's a process.

I've had the vision for her room since early summer. For the main koala theme, I ordered a wall decal from Etsy many months ago. Now that we are back home, we are finally putting her nursery together. This means it's koala time!!! Who knew that the adorable wall decals on Etsy were so much work? It took three people (thanks D!) and three hours... but the final result is awesome. I love it, and i hope Sydney does too!

But wait... there's more!!! Joe and I also selected these adorable Koala prints from Etsy that have the lyrics to "You are My Sunshine." We may or may not have sang this song to her many times a day while she incubated.

Lastly, I made a little koala mobile with leftover koalas from the baby shower.  (Thanks Angie, Lauren, Amy & Brie!)

Six Week SydFix

Today is Syd's 6 week birthday, and time is flying!  Here are some pics from the past few weeks documenting our little skittle. As you can see, we've had many "exciting" adventures from playing dress up, to hanging out at Starbucks, to spending time in her swing and on top of her dad, to just generally being adorable. 

It's settled, I'm keeping her!

One Month with Sydney

Today celebrates one month with Sydney outside the womb.  In the past month, we have lived in the AirBnB condo, at Joe's parents' house, and finally back at our new-to-us house.  She's already getting used to the traveling + taking on lots of projects lifestyle.  Happy one month birthday, Syd!

It's hard to believe I'm a mom! Joe is a dad! We are keeping this little Sydney bean alive and well - with some help, of course - and she's turning into a little person. She melts our hearts every day, and I can't imagine loving something more than I love her.

In honor of her first month, here are some highlights of her time with us thus far:

1. After about ~40 hours of labor (!!!), 3 trips to the hospital, and almost 3 hours of pushing, Sydney made her way into the world kicking and screaming.  I was prepared for the NICU nurses to take her away for ~10 minutes when she was born as they were worried she might swallow meconium with her first breath.  I'm not exactly sure why, but the screaming/crying meant she was safe for immediate skin to skin. I'll never forget the feeling of pulling up my gown and placing this squirmy, screaming ball of baby on my chest. Talk about a life changing moment!

2. Syd almost got kicked when she was born! We had a student nurse shadowing the L&D. She was responsible for holding up my left leg when Syd was born.  She basically lost it when she saw Syd come out and dropped my leg inches away from Syd! It took the student nurse a while to recover, and only after the nurse and doctor kept yelling "Leg! Leg! Leg!" at her.  Injury avoided - keep it up, Syd!

3. Syd had dark hair when she was born. I guess I always envisioned a red-headed or blonde baby, so this was a shock to me.  Her hair is definitely getting lighter and redder each day, but I still have no idea how she will ultimately look.

4. I found some pictures of Joe when he was a newborn, and Syd definitely takes after him. She even has the same one-eyed skeptical expression. So cute.

5. Syd is a crier. I'm not really sure how to sugarcoat that..  We expected her to eat/sleep/poop... but we were unprepared for the crying.  Generally we are clueless about what to do when she cries except feed her.  In our defense, she actually got kicked out of the hospital nursery because she wouldn't stop crying. So, if even the professionals couldn't figure it out, we feel a little better about our inabilities.

6. We finally did figure out a kind of pacifier she likes (MAM brand) and this has helped immensely. Unfortunately, we only figured this out about 4 days ago. Fortunately, better late than never!

7.  I can't believe I've sustained this little bean entirely on breast milk! (In fact, I've completely sustained her since she was a tiny egg yolk.) Nature is crazy.  We've done really well with breastfeeding, save for the first 3 weeks of a lot of pain on my end. I did see a lactation consultant at Austin's Special Addition (highly recommend this), and she mainly confirmed things were going well and Syd and I were a good match.

8. Thank goodness Syd is a sound sleeper as we've had contractors at the house every day. As I write this blog, I there are three guys walking around with huge ladders and tools.  She is a trooper! She actually makes the most adorable jerking movements when she hears loud noises and looks like a kitten.  I'm happy to report that we are nearly finished with her nursery, and the biggest thing we have left is putting up her koala mural.  It's really starting to feel like home, and Syd (and all her stuff) is an integral part.

9. Speaking of Syd's stuff... we are totally the parents who said we wouldn't buy a bunch of baby stuff, and now we throw money at anything that might calm her down or make her happy.  Thus, her stuff has overtaken our house. She seriously has a new baby item in every room.

10.  Syd has so many nicknames! Some favorites: Squid, Squiddles, Syd-Monster, Skittle

11. Some of her favorite things: boobs, Daddy's shoulder, Bob Marley's "Three Little Birds" on repeat, sleeping on Grandma/people, riding in the car, walking the neighborhood in her sling, Jane the Virgin (our current Netflix binge), flappy elephant ears on her tummy time mat, her Baby Einstein toy

 
12. Syd does not acknowledge Sam and June. They are a little interested in her, but mainly they check her out when she is crying or screaming and then look at us like "what did you bring home guys? why did you do this to us?"

13. Thanks go my mom's stellar couponing, we haven't bought diapers yet! We look like we are stocking up for a daycare. It's awesome. Extra shout out to my mom who stayed with us for a few days while I tried to unpack.  Having her on Syd duty was such a help!

14. Speaking of unpacking, I found a bunch of books from my childhood and loved reading "Where the Sidewalk Ends" to Syd. Looking forward to reading more to her.

15.  I'm looking forward to so many exciting things in month two! Thanksgiving, finishing her nursery, taking her on more walks, tummy time, more expressions and hopefully her first real (i.e. not passing gas) smile!

It's been an amazing month. We love you Squidders!

Sydney is here!

Hello world. Meet Sydney Marion, born earlier this week and weighing in at ~8lbs.  Mom and Dad are the prototype cliche's and could not be more in love.

Sydney got her name about 6 months ago.  Joe & I were browsing through baby names in search of something meaningful and unique.  When we happened across Sydney, we both instantly liked it.  Then the more we thought about it, the more we realized how significant the name was for us.

Back in late 2013, Joe was deciding whether or not he would take a VSP (volunteer separation package) at his work.  In addition to being afforded a great opportunity to do something new and leave with a nice payout, Joe was also nearly guaranteed a new job in Sydney, Australia via an old coworker.  At the time, I was not feeling particularly great about work and was ready to make a drastic change.  We decided to go for it - Joe would quit his job, and we'd start making headway towards getting to Sydney.

Long story short, things didn't work out as planned.  Timing on the new job for Joe didn't work, I decided I wanted to stay at my job for the time being, and even though we both wanted to move to a new city, really our lives felt like we were on hold as we plotted what we wanted to do next.  Fast forward to our trip to Italy, we decided to try for a kid, and shortly thereafter things started falling into place to re-start our lives in Austin with our little girl.

Thus... we chose to name our girl Sydney because we didn't end up going to Sydney, and instead Sydney came to us.  It represents our shared dream in a new life, and honestly couldn't be a more perfect fit.  We chose her middle name in honor of my grandmother (on my mom's side), as she was one of my favorite people in the world and instrumental in making so many of my dreams come true.

Welcome to the world, Sydney! Our hearts are so full.