Paige’s Newborn Photos

It’s good to trade! A photographer friend of mine traded services with me: I photographed her family, and she photographed our family and Paige’s newborn shots. I’m so glad I decided to do it this way. It was really difficult for me to do Meredith’s newborn photos, and this was much less stressful! I was especially grateful because although Paige is a great baby, she was not easy on this day from a photographer’s standpoint! She did not want to sleep, and she was very particular about her positioning. (Not that you can tell from these sweet pictures!)

These were taken at 10 days old. (I haven’t posted them yet because I wanted to make sure all the birth announcements had been sent.)

Photo credit: Jessica Lysse - my sweet friend, Bible study and church member, and old sorority sister!

Paige is 1 month old!

• Wearing size 1 diapers
• Wearing size 0-3 month clothes – she outgrew the last of the newborn clothes a week ago! Not something I’m used to!
• Height and weight – she is not having a 1-month appointment, but at her 2wk5day appointment, she weighed 9 lbs 1 oz and was 22 3/4 in long (98th percentile for length!)

Here is a comparison photo of all 3 kids at 1 month – I still think Meredith and Paige look so much alike!

Paige is still the sweetest baby! She hardly cries. She loves her paci. She has a hard time putting herself to sleep, so I definitely foresee more Ferberizing/CIO/sleep-training in our future. She hates the carseat – I’m starting to think it’s an uncomfortable carseat, because none of our kids have liked it. She has started to love falling asleep in the swing. She also loves the sling that we borrowed from a friend (you can see it in the Indian Wedding Part 1 post) and does not yet like the Bjorn or the Beco that we have – but I think as she gets older, she will.

Her brother and sister adore her, and she just loves to watch them and to have them talk to her!

First time going to church at 2 weeks old:

After her first real bath (rather than sponge bath):

We love you, Paigey!

Indian Wedding–Part 2!

The actual wedding ceremony was supposed to begin at 2:45 on Saturday, but I think it actually started around 3:15. I was told that people joke about “Indian Standard Time” – meaning everything is always late. In fact, every event we went to throughout the week started late – Sejal was always calling Jef to tell us not to come yet because no one was there! (For those who know Jason, this works pretty well with “Rickard Time!”)

Anyway, the first part of the ceremony is called the Baraat. The groom rides a horse into the ceremony area while the groom’s family and friends dance around him! Sejal’s parents had hired some professional dancers to guide us in our moves, and the DJ played loud Indian dance music. It was really fun (and really hot and sweaty), and it definitely had all the hotel guests out of their rooms and watching the scene!

(You can sort of see Jef on the horse in the back!)

I think the Baraat lasted around 30 minutes – not sure – I was juggling a sleeping baby and trying to make sure she didn’t get sunburned!

The ceremony (for most of it, I was way in the back feeding/calming Paige – these are not all my photos):

I think the ceremony lasted an hour and a half? It was longer than I expected! There was a brief waiting period where guests changed clothes (apparently the saris are too hot for the ladies so they changed into some other Indian outfit), and then the cocktail hour. I have no pictures of the cocktail hour, but it was held both outside the reception room and on a patio outdoors, with full bar and heavy hors d’oeuvres.

Then, the gorgeous reception. We sat at the king table with Jef and Sejal, Sejal’s parents, our parents, Sejal’s sister, and Jon and fam.

First dance! (Sejal and Jef had changed clothes too. Sejal was stunningly beautiful all week!)

Mother/son dance – I loved that Jef picked “Unforgettable” by Nat and Natalie Cole for the song – we listened to that song so much growing up!

And those are the majority of my photos! We left a bit early since we had an early flight the next morning and we had to leave the house at 6 am. I am SO glad we went to this wedding. Taking a newborn wasn’t nearly the challenge I thought it could be, and now we have all these wonderful memories and had so much fun with family. Congrats again, Jef and Sejal – wishing you all the happiness in the world!

A Big Fat Indian Wedding–part 1!

I don’t think the Greeks have anything on this Indian wedding! : )

My brother Jef and his new wife Sejal were married in an amazingly beautiful and elaborate ceremony on Saturday. Jason, Paige and I flew into LAX on Wednesday, 8/7, to be there for the wedding and the festivities leading up to it. Just shy of 3 weeks old, and going on a cross-country flight! Sounds crazy (and it felt crazy too) but since we left the big kids with Paw Paw and Kacki, it actually was a little bit of a vacation for us.

Paige was wonderful on the flight – both ways! We think the loud noise from the plane put her to sleep. She barely woke the whole 5 hours.

(I took my nice camera with me, but in between feeding Paige and getting her to sleep, all the festivities, and time with family, I didn’t actually use it!)

We stayed in a house in Dana Point, CA (Orange county, near Laguna Beach) with my parents, Jon, Meghan and Ella, and my Aunt Jill and cousin Katy. We had lots of quality time with family!

On Thursday morning, we took a walk on the San Clemente pier and beach:

Paige loves this sling (below)! She falls asleep in it almost immediately. (So yes, the stroller was empty!)

Thursday evening was the Mehndi ceremony at Sejal’s parents’ (beautiful) house. They had a caterer with Mexican food, drinks, music, and 2 henna artists.

Before the Menhdi – Mom and sons (and son-in-law):

Sejal’s henna tattoos (mehndi) took several hours to complete and was gorgeous! Jef was supposed to feed her and cater to her needs the whole time since her hands were occupied. He did a good job!

The henna is supposed to go on your palms, but Meghan and I opted for the backs of our hands so we could hold our babies a little quicker.

On Friday morning, Jason and I had a brunch date at a local pancake house. We even got to leave Paige behind, and she took her first bottle!

Cousin time! I love that Paige and Ella are so close, both in age and in proximity!

The Sangeet was on Friday night. I still don’t know much about these Indian customs, but I do know that the Sangeet is sort of akin to the rehearsal dinner (except that there is no wedding rehearsal). The setting was breathtaking. It was held on a lawn at the Laguna Cliffs Marriot and overlooked the ocean. There was lots of Indian food and Mediterranean food, a DJ, and dancing.

This is the best picture I have of Jef and Sejal (plus my parents and Sejal’s parents) from the Sangeet:

My dad and Uncle Al – we don’t get to see him (and my Aunt Nancy) very often since they live in Oregon, so it was nice that they could come for the wedding!

Oh AND they hired fire dancers! Crazy!

Okay, I’ve been writing this post for a week (because there is no free time to be had right now!) so I will write another one about the actual wedding later! Stay tuned ; )