Love Expecting

Chapter 14: Phoenix's First Christmas

It's December now, one month since Phoenix was born. Things have eased up on the baby routine, since we got used to it over time. Phoenix has also gotten better with sleep, too. We are not as exhausted each morning from caring for her at night. She is sleeping longer & not waking up as often in the middle of the night. Plus, we have a setup for when I leave in the morning for work to reduce my anxiety of leaving them alone. Caitlin calls Ari in case she needs help, and I think that Phoenix is finally comprehending the idea that "Daddy leaves and doesn't come back until that night." But from what I have heard, she did get upset the first few times that happened. It is kinda sweet and kinda sad at the same time, since she misses her daddy that much.

We haven't allowed too many people to touch the baby recently, considering it is the start of cold and flu season. We always have a bottle of hand sanitizer on us when we do allow someone to touch her. So far we haven't had any issues with Phoenix, but diapers are still a task both of us dread. Sometimes I wonder how something so small can make that much of a stink. I always end up doing the ones at night, while she does the ones during the day. Weekends are an alternating "diaper duty", though sometimes we end up doing "rock, paper, scissor" for who ends up changing her.

As for now, Christmas is coming up, and we decided to get a family photo for the home. Plus, I'm sure both our parents will love to have a photo of us with Phoenix. Aside from a formal photo, we already got a picture of Phoenix with Santa in the mall while we were shopping. Her face as priceless when she looked up at him and seems to say with her expression "Who is this fuzzy guy?", though I am glad she did not cry. As for the formal photo, there was a small photo shop in the mall, too. We made an appointment, and just had to wait for the day the photo will be taken. In the meantime, we wandered around the mall until it was time for the photo. It was mostly visiting different shops for clothes and nik-naks. We found all kinds of little things to decorate the apartment with, along with a few new outfits for all of us. This took all of an hour to do and we came back soon enough to get our photo taken.They turned out well, so our families will love them when they receive them for Christmas. We have been getting different gifts for both sides of the family. Even though my family usually alternates who gets gifts for who, I went off-tradition and got something for just about everyone, aside from the photo.

Speaking of Christmas, we started decorating our tree a few days after the start of December. We alternate what kind of tree we use each year, between a synthetic 4 foot tree and a real tree from a tree lot. We did also do some additional decorations, though we didn't go overboard since I never like doing more than is necessary for decorating (unless it is Halloween, of course). We hung a few lights, had some garland and tinsel up, and a few other miscellaneous decorations around. The cat is less enthused about all the Holly-Jolly-ness of it all, but I am just glad he isn't trying to destroy anything.

In the weeks leading up to Christmas,, we discovered that Phoenix is displaying more and more emotion and traits. She seems to enjoy looking around

wherever we go: the stranger-looking the object, the more interested she gets. Though if that object is too close to her, she gets scared or upset. She also appears to like Shadow, but he is less-happy about that. As a matter of fact, she really likes anything fluffy and soft whether it is the cat, a fuzzy blanket, or even a fluffy pair of socks.

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We have reached Christmas morning, and everyone seems to be happy. Except for Shadow, who is not enjoying the sweater I got him for Christmas. He just continues to look at me with this "Why did you put this on me?" face. Even though Phoenix doesn't fully understand what exactly is happening, she is excited from the happy atmosphere. When she was given a present, she hit it like a drum and babbled in a happy way. Phoenix became even happier when the gift was opened. She received several stuffed animals and a few other toys, as well as some new onesies and clothes. When my wife and I exchanged gifts, we really loved what we got each other.

"What do we have here?" I say as I look over the small box in my hands. "Open it up and find out. Me and Phoenix figured you could use one of these after this past month." my wife replies with our child in her lap. I rip off the wrapping to uncover a new coffee mug that says "I am not spoiled, my wife just loves me", which is pretty funny. "Okay, now open mine for you." She tears the paper to reveal a new dress and a leather purse. "Oh, honey! I love it!" she cries as she cuddles the gifts, now that I'm holding Phoenix. "I knew you would." I simply say with a smile on my face.

As for gifts and dinner at my family's celebration, that went over relatively well. The family loved the photo we gave each member, as well as the individual gifts. My mother was pleased to get a new set of pajamas for lounging around in, and my father liked the camo jacket he received. We already sent out the gifts for Caitlin's parents: matching Nascar t-shirts, which I am sure they appreciated. While we were there, everyone tried to dote on Phoenix. Even though she did like the attention, we still had people use hand sanitizer before touching her. Some called it "excessive", we called it "being cautious." While we couldn't fully stick around for dinner (since we were having dinner as a family for ourselves), we still brought a pan of Mac & cheese and a platter of sugar cookies for everyone else to enjoy.

Back home, I prepared our own "feast" of sorts. I managed to get my hands on a lamb crown roast at the food church we go to every so often, so we had that for the entree. Pureed butternut squash was present, as well as homemade mashed potatoes, though Phoenix still had to stick with her milk bottle. The three of us sat at the table, cups (and bottle) in hand, and gave a toast. A toast to this Christmas, the coming year, and the rest of our lives together as a family, even if we grow in the coming years.