Baby's 1st Christmas

Well, the shenanigans have mostly subsided and we are spent. It was a wonderful Christmas for us - we have visited someone almost every night for the past 10 days! As usual, Chephren has been amazing. He even had his first sleep over at 'Grammy and Grampy's' on the 27th while we entertained great friends from out of town. It was super fun and my parents did a fabulous job with Chephren (as usual!). I don't know what I would do without them! We were absolutely spoiled ROTTEN this year, I am still in a state of shock actually. Chephren is seriously the luckiest baby alive and we, his parents seem to be continuously reaping in the benefits as well. Honestly, we just feel so blessed each and every day. Chephren's latest tricks include laughing out loud, having long 'conversations', playing with his toys, reading his favorite book (thanks Auntie Crystal!), eating cereal and get this, sleeping for 6 hours at a stretch. His mom is in HEAVEN as a result of the last one! Each day gets better and better. Well, enough bragging for now, I am trying to get some work done (finally)! Lots of love and seasons greetings from the Hasse's :)

6 week check-up

Chephren has successfully passed his 6 week check-up and has been deemed healthy as a horse! He is almost 12 pounds already and in the 75th percentile for height and weight. He can't get enough to eat these days and our doc even suggested that we try offering him a little bit of cereal. Given that he won't sleep more than 2 hours at a stretch (even after cluster feeding him all evening long), we are seriously considering the prospect! In other news we are looking forward to our first Christmas as a new family. We are used to taking off to the mountains over the holidays but this year we will be sticking around home. It will be a bit strange I think, but it won't be long until we can hit the hills with the little guy in tow. We are looking very much forward to seeing family and catching up with old friends. We are debating a trip in January/February, and we'll keep you posted as these plans develop. Trent is super busy with work and travelling out of town quite a bit. I am still trying to get onto some sort of predictable routine around here so that I can start to get things done. Chephren is a joy to have around but predictable he is not! Otherwise he is a very, very happy little boy. As you can see from the latest picture, we are lucky to be showered with huge grins and giggles all day long!

The first month

Well, a month has passed since the Hasse's became a threesome. Chephren is an absolute gem and I am pretty sure that he gets cuter everyday! He has started smiling at me... even when I change his pants so that is aweseome! He is even starting to like his baths. Trent and I are finding our new lifestyle very, very busy. His new job is taking him out of town starting next week and I have decided to pick up some contracting work with AB Ed. I hope that this decision turns out to be a manageable one. Calling all grandparents! Lord knows he has enough of them!

Last weekend my mom threw Chephren a 'Welcome to the World' party. It was a great success and a lot of fun. Not surprisingly, Chephren slept for the entire party (only to keep me up most of the night afterwards - little turkey!) Thank you to all who attended and for the many, many generous gifts. As you can see from the picture, Chephren is a stylish little dude!

Finally took a few pics

Hey,

Not much to update since I just did so yesterday, but today is the best day yet and I have even found some time to do a mini 'photo-shoot' with Chephren. He sure is happy today. We are well on our way to having a bit of a schedule going with him and he seems to be enjoying this. We are too as it makes our lives that much easier to plan for. Anyway, just wanted to post my favorite picture from the session - he will shoot me for this when he is older I am certain. But for now, I can post whatever pics I want, no matter how goofy he looks! Gotta love being a mom!

The first 2 weeks

WOW! I can't believe that 2 weeks has flown by already... what a blur of emotions. This has by far been one of the most challenging and yet rewarding times in my life. We have had difficulties surrounding feeding and sleeping, but both of these are finally starting to settle down. The feeding challenges were so significant that I have actually decided to formula feed, something that I never imagined doing in my wildest dreams. To be honest, it is a decision that I still don't feel 100% about, but Chephren seems to be thriving and it is hard to argue with such a content baby! One thing I have quickly learned about parenting is that I need to check all of my assumptions at the door, because you never know what life with a baby is going to throw at you! I just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone who has shown us their love and support over the past two weeks (and actually the past 9 months)! We feel so blessed as a family and we can't tell you how overjoyed we feel to have such special people in our lives.

On to other news, Trent took a new job with a new company which is surprise, surprise, NOT located in Nisku! Turns out 'Nisku for life' was a big fat lie... and the small town of Nisku will be mourning its mayor.

He's finally HERE!

Baby Chephren Dax, born November 3, 2008. 8 lbs. 4 oz. by C-section.

We are home now and loving every minute of it, despite the sleep deprivation. Stay tuned and when I have some more 'mommy energy', I'll tell you all about it!

One of us is 30...

Trent's 30th birthday came and went last Saturday and we combined the event with the annual pumpkin carving contest. It wasn't quite the same as some 'key players' were missing, but it was great that some of us were able to get together nonetheless. Trent's pumpkin was a prime example of what a 'career man' he has become lately (see picture). What a devoted employee! Amie put us all to shame as she 'freestyled' her way to this year's coolest-looking pumpkin. It is quite obvious that Amie definitely got all of the pumpkin-carving skills in the Dowell-Chomik family (sorry Rickshaw)! My parents also played and did quite well considering that they finished carving in under 5 minutes flat!

As for me, well, I have only 4 sleeps left as a pregnant lady. I am looking forward to meeting the newest Hasse on Monday (and also looking forward to the day when I can once again touch my toes!)

2 more weeks...

Maybe it is the fact that I have too much time on my hands, or maybe it is the fact that having a baby seems to be a subject of interest for A LOT of people, but I have decided to start a blog. This will be a way for us to keep our loved ones informed about what is new in our lives and is a little bit more personal than facebook (I think). We are looking forward to the arrival of our little one on November 3rd, (although mom wishes that it would come much, much before then... like, NOW!). Anyway, hope you enjoy following along on our upcoming journey...