baby's first christmas

My surgery went well last Wednesday. It took me a while to wake up and I heard the recovery team joke that I was a new mom and must be catching up on sleep. (I also woke up briefly in the OR to hear them say 'she's 33? she doesn't look 33.') Once I really woke up I puked a lot, and steadily felt better from then on. By the next day I felt pretty alright, just sore. So we went on an 8-hour road trip to New Jersey. I really wanted Annabel to meet her family while she was little and new.

We were there for a few days (an extra day due to snowstorm) and in that brief time she changed so much! She really started smiling and even laughing. When Gabe came home last night she looked at him, brightened up and gave him a bunch of grins. I'm pretty sure that made his day. It's hard to catch on camera, but here's a snapshot of a laugh:

She also is holding her head up like a champ, and now turning her head while holding it up. We found she really enjoys being around people - she didn't seem to get too overwhelmed. The pictures we took are here, and looking back I'm sad I didn't get more pictures of her with different family members. I'm going to blame this laziness on the pain meds.

We came back home to find 3-4" of snow on the ground - NC had a surprise white Christmas. Now it's getting up into the 60's this weekend. That is much nicer weather for a stroller walk.

I had another gall bladder attack two days ago, which is quite surprising seeing as how I no longer have a gall bladder. Hopefully it's just some post-surgery pain that does not recur. I'm trying to rest again and not try to do so much, which is hard. Today Annabel was Miss Fussypants all day long so rest was not had. Perhaps it was her unique way of celebrating being 5 weeks old. 5 weeks old! I really need to take more pictures before she grows up!