A new beginning

Per my sister

2011-10-25T13:28:00.007-04:00

Hopefully some pictures will hold her over.

Me and my girls in a box.

Ivy has done her own makeup. Doesn't she look FABULOUS!

Yesterday, Ada had tubes put in her ears. The first picture is when we first put on her gown.

After waiting for the doctor for 45 minutes. That is a thermometer strip on her head.

The "surgery" went ok. It was definitely harder on me than it was her. Randy stayed home with her all day and I think it was rough. She was pretty fussy. But, just as always, when the other parent gets home, she is fine. She slept all night. Hopefully this will help with the infections.

Another side note, she took 7 - 8 steps at one time, several different times on Saturday, but nothing really since then.

This is what fun is!

2011-08-14T09:20:00.003-04:00

Another tooth

2011-06-28T09:07:00.002-04:00

The left bottom #2.

Fun Fun Fun

2011-06-26T08:14:00.002-04:00

Today is just the beginning

2011-06-22T21:25:00.002-04:00

As of tonight, we are the proud owners of a minivan.

Yeah for more room to messy up!!!

mamamamama

2011-06-20T08:11:00.002-04:00

We started saying mama on June 18th. Yeah!!!

It is now fine to resume saying dada.

Just so I don't forget

2011-06-17T08:06:00.002-04:00

Ada's top two front teeth came in simultaneously on 6/15/11.

One day I will get a baby book for Ada and write things in it.

I promise.

More firsts before I forget

2011-06-01T13:15:00.004-04:00

I still need to get a book for Ada that has a tooth chart.

The bottom right tooth came in Saturday, May 21st. The top left is about to poke through as well.

When we went to pick Ada up at school during naptime last week, she was on her tummy. I asked the lady if they laid her down like that, and they said no, she flips herself over. Hmmm, I have never seen her do this.

Well, sure enough, after I put Ivy down, I went to check on Ada, and she was on her belly. Being the paranoid mother that I am, I flipped her over. She must be a good sleeper, because she never woke up and let's just say it wasn't a smooth flipping over either.

I never had to worry about this with Ivy. She was always in the same exact position I left her in, up until about 9 1/2 months old when she started sitting herself up in the crib.

Firsts

2011-05-08T16:08:00.004-04:00

Oh my, before I forget to write it down, b/c at this point, I still don't have a baby book for Ada.

She said dada for the first time on 5/2. Yes, I know, over a week ago.

She now has her first tooth. It is on the bottom left. It has just barely poked through the tiniest little bit.

Ivy wore big girl pan.ties for the first time all night last night. No accidents or anything. We will see what kind of trend this becomes. Hopefully a good one!

6 months old

2011-04-26T19:17:00.007-04:00

20 days ago. But we are just now having our 6 month visit.

So, here are a couple of pictures from this morning. The self portrait of the 3 of us tells the story. Randy says I look a little frazzled. I wonder why?

And our experience with the Easter Bunny. I told Ivy she could get candy from the Easter Bunny's basket, but she had to get close enough to pick out the candy. That was as close as she would get, hence the picture.

And bless that little teenagers heart (this was at Pizza Inn). I don't think he had ever held a baby before. I guess I just wanted a picture, he would figure out how to hold her. And he did good.

The things this kid does

2011-04-17T20:28:00.011-04:00

cracks me up!!

Today we were at a restaurant eating lunch, and they had music playing. SOme of it was 80's music. I had just told my husband how loud it seemed. (I think I am getting old.) And this is what followed:

Ivy: I need to get down mommy (out of the booth)

Me: Why?

Ivy: Because I need to dance.

Me: Well, ok, have at it.

And I tell you, she proceeded to dance her little heart out in the middle of the restaurant without a care in the world.

And today marked the infamous beginning of WHY. Why, why, why. That is all I heard this morning. Never have we had this before. I was dreading it. I was secretly hoping we had missed this stage. But alas, we are not that lucky. I tried to be a good mom and give good reasonable answer. But never fail, she wore me down and I ended several sessions with "Because I said so".

And starting early, with never to be shown up by her sister, Ada had her own first yesterday. She rolled from her back to her stomach. I never did see Ivy doing this, or at least remembering it, so I thought this was huge.

Ada is also sitting up pretty good. I put a bo.ppy kind of thing behind her just in case.

She also decided while she was on her stomach yesterday to skooch (I have NO idea how to spell that word, so I spelled it how it sounded.) her butt up in the air and attempt to propel herself.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot until I looked at the pictures, Ada also put her foot in her mouth for the first time.

We leave you with some pictures of our recent outings.

Mommy and Me exercise time

And this next one is just because there seems to be a theme

Why is it there are two pictures of my backside? Surely, I have a better side.

Starting to talk

2011-04-14T20:14:00.004-04:00

Last night was a rough one. Ada fell asleep early without eating all of her last bottle. She was up again at 10:30 screaming at the top of her lungs. This is so uncharacteristic of her. Normally, once she is down at 7:30, she is down for good, and you never hear a peep out of her. You almost wouldn't know she is in there.

I gave her a little bit of food and she went back to sleep. Again at 1:30, she started screaming again. Not just little yells, full on wailing and sreeching.

So, we gave her gas drops, more food, and she was pretty warm, so to top everything off, I gave her some Mo.trin. After that, she woke up this morning like nothing was wrong.

I give all of the background for the fact that I think it was one of those "baby is going to have some sort of development leap, growth spurt" nights.

Tonight while she was on the changing table, she started to make real word sounds, not just babbling. It sounded very close to dadadada, and boy did she have a lot to talk about. So we may be close to our first words.

Time is flying

2011-03-20T11:38:00.006-04:00

Ivy says some of the craziest things. I need to write them down everyday, b/c everyday she comes up with something new.

The other day I was sitting on the couch feeding Ada and Ivy says, OMG mommy. I said excuse me honey. And again she says OMG mommy. Hmmm. SOmeone around this house must say this too much.

But here is what we have been up to:

Our first trip to gymnastics. We will sign up for this after Randy's hand gets better.

They both have on purple monkey pajamas. Dressing alike is not just for Christmas.

She looks so grown up in this picture. I love the smile and the hair. She was backing up to hide from me.

Both kids smiling. Both kids looking at the camera. All in one picture. JACKPOT!!

Who do you think she learns this from?

2011-01-26T18:53:00.005-05:00

Do you think I should turn her around?

And if you take a picture of the baby, you better be prepared to take one of the big sister. And no, I did not have her pose. It took me a minute to figure out what she was doing (being just like her baby sister).

Rollin, Rollin, Rollin

2011-01-20T18:34:00.002-05:00

Yeah Ada! She rolled over from her tummy to her back for the first time!

Birth Story

2010-12-27T09:42:00.004-05:00

Better late than never. So here goes.

The last time I went to the doctors office was on Sept 29th. I was STILL only 1 cm. So that meant not inducing the next day. We were scheduled to go to the hospital on Tuesday Oct 5th at 5 pm. They would put in a cervadil and hope that by in the morning we were ready.

During that week, I did everything I could think of (and was willing to do) in order to get Ada to come out on her own. Lots of walking, squats, some running, and yes, even a little sex. I did not want to be induced.

It is funny to me that my first came five weeks early. So for this one, we (and I mean I) were given weekly 17p injections to prevent early pregnancy. I started having contractions some where around 28 weeks. They even did the fetal fibronectin test to see if she was coming early.

So at this point, (40 plus weeks), not only has she not come early, but we are looking at forcefully evicting her. Crazy.

So anyways, we get to the hospital on Tuesday afternoon and the process begins. After being checked in and going through all of the questions, the nurse decides to check me. LOw and behold, we are at a 3 - 4. Yeah, no cervadil. We did ask if we could go home, but the answer was a NO. At that point they did go ahead and start anti.biotics. They would change the bag every 4 hours.

To say that no one got any sleep was an understatement. My husband went to waf.fle house at 3 am to get something to eat. I had not been allowed to eat since midnight. Little side note: the waffle house he went to was robbed one week later at the same time of night he was there. Uggh.

I never did think morning would come. The nurse said I could do anything I wanted to until 6 that morning. So, I got up and took a shower and we went to walk the halls. At this point, I am still trying to get this baby to come out on her own.

At six, we were back in the room ready and waiting for the nurse to start things. She finally came in and started hooking me up. The doctor came in about 7 to break my water. That was the oddest feeling. She did not tell me what she was doing, and I first I did not notice the big knitting like stick she was holding. After she broke my water, she mentioned that it had meconium in it and I started to worry. But she kept telling us not to worry and that everything would be fine.

I was still a 3 - 4 after all of this. So I made the decision to go as long as I could before getting the epidural. I think I made it 2 to 2 1/2 hours. It had gotten to where I would lose focus during the contractions. I just did not want labor to stall after I got it and have to go for a c-section. This was my BIGGEST fear. So after 2 plus hours of what I consider OMG contractions, I finally got the epidural about 10:30. By the time he was finished, she checked me again. Still a 3-4. At this point I thought I would cry. I was so upset that the contractions had been that bad (in my opinion) and I had made no progress. I was sure we were headed for the operating room.

Well, then things got crazy. I was having terrible pain under my right hip bone. They kept turning me over and over trying to get the epidural to take on the right side. Nothing was helping. They put the oxygen mask on me. They gave me a "booster" shot of pain meds to try and get the pain to stop. Meanwhile, baby's heart rate is going crazy. Up, down, up down. All over the place. I started to get very nauseous. I just knew I was going to vomit. I felt terrible. They did end up getting me some phenagran through the iv. It immediately made me feel better.

So, the nurse decided after all of this she better check me again to see what was going on down there. Now since the epidural had been put in, it had been about 45 minutes. She checked me and I was at a 9 and things were happening fast.

The nurse told them to call the doctor and get things set up to deliver. After things were getting ready, the nurse wanted to do a trial push to see where we were. This had to be the funniest part. She said when I felt a contraction to push and see what happened. So I did and she said STOP. Baby's head was already crowning.

Because the doctor was not there yet, I was told, in a semi laughing manner, to put my legs down, no laughing, no sneezing, no coughing. She was afraid the baby would come out.

The doctor finally got there, and we were ready. We pushed a little just to get her head out. She had to be suctioned quickly and in depth before she could breathe in any meconium so that she would not get sick. It seemed like forever with them sucking her out. I pushed one more time and she was out. And just like her older sister she did not cry. This has to be the hardest thing in the world. All you want is that cry to make you feel like everything is ok. We waited and waited and waited. They were still trying to suck her out to get all of the meconium out. She finaly cried a little, but not much. Unfortunately, Randy did not get to cut her cord b/c of all of this.

But after a little bit, everything was ok and we were all good.

2 months old

2010-12-07T08:37:00.003-05:00

We go to the doctor today for our first set of shots.

But for now here is a picture.

Pictures

2010-10-29T09:42:00.005-04:00

Here are some updated pictures of the new baby.

For my info - at one day shy of 2 weeks, she weighed 7 15, which included 2 oz of food just before weighing.

Ada Jewel Baker has arrived!

2010-10-11T12:53:00.004-04:00

Born on Wednesday October 6th at 12:33pm
Weighing in at 7 lbs 8 oz and 20.25 inches.
She's got a full head of black hair and she is gorgeous!

Conversations with a 2 year old

2010-09-13T08:17:00.003-04:00

These get better everyday.

These both happened on the way to school aka daycare this morning.

Princess: Look mommy!

Mommy: What is it honey?

Princess: A booger!

Mommy: Wow, where did you get that from? Can you hand it to me please?

Princess: My nose mommy. Here!

At least she didn't eat it. She has been known to tell me about it, and then say "all gone!"

Right now we are potty training. Last night, she refused to poop in the potty. And did not want to poop in her panties, so she insisted on a diaper. Well, I don't want to push the issue, so after asking her a few times to just try pooping on the potty, we put a diaper on. 2 mins later, "ok, I need panties now". Hmmm. She is too smart sometimes.

So, anyways, there was a strange smell coming from the back seat.

Mommy: Princess, did you poop?

Princess: No, I just had gas.

Mommy: Oh ok.

Well, I am glad she admits to it. I would have thought it interesting if she were to have pooped in her much coveted panties she had on.

Eviction Notice has been served

2010-09-11T08:48:00.007-04:00

I am now 37 weeks and more than ready to get this ball out of my stomach! Even my husband is complaining that he is not sleeping. His reason, because I move too much. I go back to the doctor on Tuesday. We may or may not do a growth scan to see how big she is. Our first was already 6lbs 7 oz at 5 weeks early, so I am concerned this one will be big too. We will see what happens. I am secretly (guess its not a secret anymore) hoping to not make it to that dr's appt.

Here are the pictures for 37 weeks.

Potty training is going. She only goes when she wants to or when she decides she wants a "prize" (better known as a gummy bear).

And because you haven't seen the first one in a while. Here she is after just waking up from a nap. She is eating a cookie.

Another comparison

2010-07-18T18:21:00.009-04:00

I have to say, last time I did not look at the two pictures before I put them on here. I was so amazed at how closely they resemble each other, I wanted to do it again. Again, I have not looked at these two yet.

First picture - first baby

Second picture - second baby

Oh yeah, but the way, the peeing in the potty did not last. Only two days. Oh well.

And on the 3rd day...

2010-07-14T08:03:00.004-04:00

Ivy went to the potty!!!

Yesterday was her 3rd day in the 2 yr old room at "school". When I picked her up, she had a star on her paper that said she went to the potty. Well, she has been "going to the potty" for a several weeks now. She never does anything when we get there. But she yells that she has to go potty, and will go into the bathroom, pull her pants down, and take her diaper off. Nothing has ever been produced though.

So, to say I was skeptical about the fact that she had ACTUALLY done something was an understatement. I asked the teacher this morning if she had actually done anything, and she had. Ivy actually went pee in the potty!!! The teacher said the did the hand clap song and got gummy bears. Well, who wouldn't go to the potty for that.

So, the teacher said she was going to try some pull ups today with Ivy and see what happens. Oh my, I would be so excited to get her out of diapers before the new baby comes.

My sweet girl also will tell daddy and I "bless you" when we sneeze. No one else though. Its a work in progress.

Is this any better

2010-07-03T11:44:00.005-04:00

My sister and my mom said they could not make a good comparison, so for them, we have done another one. Is this any better?

First picture - first baby

Second picture - second baby

A comparison

2010-06-28T20:41:00.003-04:00

My sister thinks I am carrying this baby differently than the first. SO, for her, her is a comparison at 26 weeks.

First picture - first baby

Second picture - Second baby

In cased you have missed something...

2010-06-06T11:19:00.007-04:00

... This is what has been going on.

We are currently 23 weeks pregnant with our second girl! Because the first one came at 35 weeks, we are at a high risk to have this one even earlier. So, I am on 17P shots every week since 16 weeks. Some weeks the shots really hurt, other weeks not so much. I have started developing a welp every week where I get the shot. But, I would rather do this than have a baby born earlier than 35 weeks. I was even told to stop running, and nothing strenuous. Oh well. October will be here soon enough.

Being pregnant with a toddler is obviously WAY different than the first time. Even if I had been told I couldn't run, I am not sure I could have anyway. I get so worn out. I seem to cramp and hurt more than the last time too. But apprarently all of this is normal. They tell you that you will feel more of everything with subsequent pregnancies.

The baby is due on my late grandfathers birthday. My grandfather was a twin and his sister is still alive. She will be 90 this year. So, we are naming the new baby after him / her.

But in other news, here are a few pictures of our sweet princess now.

2 conversations that make me wonder

2010-02-07T19:34:00.010-05:00

Within 24 hours, I had two different conversations with two completely different people in two completely settings.

#1 - At a restaurant. You are given the breadsticks, and the waitress asked if we wanted dipping sauces. DH of course says yes. I tell him later that they charge you for those. Well, the sauces never came. We ate our meal, she packed the leftovers into a bag, and brought us our ticket. This is what happened when she came back.

Us: (Pointing out the dipping sauces on the bill) Umm, we never got these, could you take them off please?

Her: You never got them? Hmm. Would you like me to bring them to you now?

Us: (dumbfounded looks in her direction). Umm, no?

#2 - At the gym. I moved from one treadmill to another because it had a fan blowing on it, and it was hot inside the gym. The man beside me looks at me after a few minutes strikes up a conversation. (Nevermind I am running at this point.)

Him: How long are you running?

Me: Just an hour.

Him: Well, that is a lot of calories.

Me: Not really, at the slow pace I am running.

Him: Well, fatter people burn more calories.

Me: (Thinking WTF? You blankety, blank, blank man, what is your problem. Oh I better answer soon...) Yeah.

Where do I find these people?

Anyway, because I know you do not come here to read about stories about me. Here are some pictures of the sweet princess.

This is what happens when I am NOT paying attention.

Yes, that is crayon on her face. I did not realize you could color your skin with crayon. I guess she needed a mustache.

And this is her showing her muscles.

The other day baby girl came into the bathroom dragging something. I could tell she was pulling her hamper, but the last I checked, I had emptied it into the washer.

Random Stuff

2010-02-02T06:28:00.006-05:00

We had our first dentist visit on Jan 28th. It went as well as to be expected. She liked the people. I was very proud of her. The lady dentist poked around in her mouth, and because baby girl was crying, the dentist lady even sung the itsy bitsy spider. Baby girl did not scream, which I was prepared for, she just cried a little. But as soon as the dentist was done, she was all smiles. She said her teeth look fine. She did have one issue though. The skin that connects the top lip to the mouth, connects very far down on baby girls teeth. It is just above the gum line. The dentist said that at some point it is bound to happen, just be ready for it. Baby girl will fall and that skin will split. And because it is in the mouth, it will bleed profusely. Sounds like fun huh? Oh well, at least we are prepared.

It is tax season for me now, and that means working on the weekends. This past weekend, I worked from home because we had some bad weather. My husband tells me it is tough to keep baby girl all day. What do you think?

Like I said, we had some bad weather this weekend. I did have to call my mom and promise her that I would never make her take me out in the snow again. Ughh. Poor parents. We stood on the back porch for about 10 minutes. I brought her inside, and she cried and cried. You would have thought I had taken the baby doll form her. But no, I just wouldn't go back outside with her. Mean mommy.

Fun with Alex

2010-01-16T16:19:00.005-05:00

We went to a birthday party at Chuc E Cheez today.

Some fun pictures.

I can do it MYSELF!

2009-12-31T18:30:00.007-05:00

Baby girl loves to do things herself. Especially putting her shoes on. She can't quite get the socks on, but she can easily do the shoes by herself. Due to this new found independence, I had to put her in a modified figure 4 in order to put her shoes in socks on so we could go to daycare.

So, now we are learning to put our pants on.

Looks good so far.

OMG, I am so proud of myself!!!

Maybe we need a little more practice.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T16:09:00.011-05:00

So, we have decided that from now on, Santa must only buy gifts that have already been put together.

Because I was ready to give up. And this was the only thing I had to put together.

And then after Santa left us a mess, we got it all straightened up and ready for the big morning.

We like to vacuum.

We like to ride in our wagon.

We like to push our baby stroller.

And sometimes we want to be pushed.

It was so neat to see her eyes light up when she saw her presents. You could almost see her thinking where did all this stuff come from?

Oh my, how many times do I have to pull her out of that stroller!!

I really thought he was telling a story when I saw this

2009-12-20T09:42:00.003-05:00

My first Marathon

2009-12-13T07:50:00.008-05:00

This was certainly a week to remember. It started with my sister and husband both having the stomach virus and baby girl being diagnosed with the flu. This was all on Monday, and we were flying out on Thursday with the big race on Sunday. Everyone was back to normal by Thursday evening when we left. On the plane, my mom gets sick. Turns out, she has the stomach virus. (She was also going to running the half marathon.) Later that night my grandmother gets sick. Everybody is barely ok on Friday. Friday night, my husband gets sick. This time he ate something that had shellfish in it and we did not know it. Saturday, everybody is barely ok again, and then Saturday night, my husband gets the stomach virus again.

But he was such a trooper. He still got up and went with us to the race site at 4:45 am. Nevermind he throws up on the way there. He was not going to miss me starting. The race started at 6:00 am. We ran in the dark for about 45 minutes. My mom and I started out together, and eventually I got in to a rhythym and went faster. Well, I stopped to go to the bathroom, and when I cam out, there she was again. So we ran together for a little while longer. THen I left again. I was feeling good, so I just went with it. I ran the first 13 miles at the best pace I have run in 2 1/2 years.

The runners were told that starting at mile 14, there would be gels at every mile. THerefore, I did not worry about taking any with me, because they had the same type I had been using in my training, so I did not think I would need any. Well, I got to mile 14, no gels. They had not gotten them. I got to mile 15, no gels. They were out. At this point in my nutrition plan, it is time to eat something. They do have some chomps. (they are like hard gummies bears) I manage to eat two of these and that is it. About two miles later, I started breaking down. I was getting dizzy and not feeling well. This had happened during my early training runs, but had not happened in a while. So, I did what I do best. I call mommy. I do not give her the extent of my troubles, I just tell her I am having trouble, and I need help. And by help, I mean coke. I need something else in my system besides water, gatorade and gels. I even started to cry because I fel so crummy, but I couldn't not finish because there were so many people that were cheering for me. I could not imagine the possiblity of not finishing, but the way I was feeling, to continue may be dangerous. So, I slowed down dramatically. I a slow walk. I got another gel, and took it down. I know at this point, my mom is coming to bring me a coke. About mile 19, I am feeling a little better, and i start to jog sporatically. My mom (and my dad as it turns out) are looking for me. So, every so often I call to see where she is. SHe has gotten to the aid station at mile 23, so they tell her. I have made it to mile 21 at this point. So, I know now if I keep going, I should meet her at about 22.25 - 22.5. I have a goal. I get there and don't see her. I keep going, they are still coming towards me.

Now one other thing you have to know. My mom has just finished her half marathon (13 miles) which her longest run in the last 2 years has been 5 miles. My dad has hip surgery and has a fake hip. And don't think my husband has just forgotten me, remember he has the stomach virus and just can't stay out of the bathroom. So anyways, I finally get to mile 23 and still have not seen my parents. So, I call them and tell them to go ahead turn around. At this point I feel good, and I am going to finish, and I want them to be there for that. Apparently, they had driven around for 45 minutes, all the roads are blocked to this main street we are running on, and when they parked they were at mile 25. I tell them to go ahead and turn around now. They leave the coke at mile 24. I get it from a volunteer, take a couple of drinks and get rid of it. It was delicious. I finally see the backs of two very familiar people ahead of me. I yell to them and they get very excited. My dad takes pictures of me running towards them. I go past them, and get to where there car is parked. I ask the cop to please tell them the quickest way to get back, because I only have a mile to go, and it took them 45 minutes to get there the first time. It was NOT going to take me 45 minutes to finish, and again, I wanted them there. I called with about .3 miles left to make sure they were there, and they were, so I could go ahead and finish.

YEAH!!! 5 hours and 19 minutes later, not only had I gone 26.2 miles, but I had learned a lot about myself. It is a physical race, but also very mental. Once you get past that mental block, it is very freeing. I learned later, that my dad had walked about 2 miles in the opposite direction looking for me. He said the only thing he knew was I was in trouble and he needed to find his baby girl. It makes me tear up thinking about it now. I also learned that he was mad he and my mom had turned around without seeing me. He had walked that far, he wanted to see me. But that was ok, because I found them. It was so wonderful having everyone there at the finish line. My husband, daughter, mom, dad, granny, sister, brother in law, and 2 nephews. I have never felt so proud to have so much support shown for me. (They all even wore matching t-shirts!)

Our plane did not take off on the way down there until after baby girls bedtime. I was hoping that she would be tired and go to sleep. Before I have ever underestimated my daughters ability to stay up late. Here is an example.

He completes me

2009-10-27T09:41:00.002-04:00

Because I can...

2009-10-22T19:24:00.013-04:00

...wear panties around my neck.

I want to thank my sister who came to watch Ivy while I had jury duty one day. She managed to keep 3 kids 3 and under and they were all still alive when we got home. Although the water in the bathroom was running (and there is no telling how long it had been running), everyone was in one piece, and no one had to go to the hospital. Good job auntie L. She even managed to take some pictures.

Because I am cool like that...

Our first outing to the pumpkin farm.

Updates

2009-09-28T19:00:00.006-04:00

Here are some pictures.

Getting ready to go on her first outing with someone other than a family member (without mommy and daddy too!)

Isn't this what you are supposed to do with a potty?

Baby girl also got in the shower with me this weekend. We don't have a regular bathtub shower, we have a square. So, there is not much room to move around especially when you add her in there. She just sat in the corner while I took a shower. I think she thought it was pretty neat.

It is amazing how much fun a car seat can be when it is not in the car.

A funny little video also.

Our new toy

2009-09-13T09:28:00.004-04:00

We saw this at a yard sale. DH went back later to get it and the woman tells him that if you put batteries in it, El.mo will giggle. Then she warned him, you should just leave the batteries out. Well, that takes all of the fun out of it.

Swimming Lessons or Bath time?

2009-09-05T19:03:00.006-04:00

You decide.

I saw this on another blog and thought it was hilarious. So, we decided to try it. She absolutely loved it!

Baby girl say's "Surely you don't think I did this?"

"I don't know how I got up here, but it sure is cool!!!"

Showing off her new bathing suit.

Things to Remember

2009-08-20T09:05:00.001-04:00

Yesterday (8/19/09) Baby girl said "Thank You" for the first time. I had given her the toothbrush and said thank you to her and she repeated it back to me. She also did it for daddy that afternoon.

Last night, she started "dancing and singing". She was standing in the kitchen and she started swaying back and forth lifting her feet up each time and "singing". Now I have NO idea what song she was sining and it will probably be a while before I do, but it was so cute.

This morning she was sitting in her chair, and leaning forwards and backwards, over and over again. I then realized she was saying Rock, rock, rock, rock. Like we do when we are the rocking chair.

My child is a GENIUS!!!

Well, all of a sudden...

2009-07-19T19:38:00.005-04:00

...She had been taking a couple steps here and there, but then I pick her up from school, and this is what the teacher had caught...

At the end you can see how well she listens!

This one is better. It takes a second to get going (b/c she has to get her ready again!)

Another video

2009-07-12T17:39:00.003-04:00

video Fun

2009-07-12T16:15:00.003-04:00

because my sister said so...

2009-06-29T12:16:00.005-04:00

...My sister, who had her baby June 17th, was unable to come to baby girls birthday party, so she would like some pictures.

And FYI for me - We are now bottle free and on whole milk (with a little bit of strawberry flavoring).

Here you go...

Yard Sales are the best

2009-05-02T10:14:00.005-04:00

These are the kinds of things you find when you go to rich people yard sales.

Happy Easter!

2009-04-13T07:36:00.004-04:00

Yeah, the Easter Bunny came to our house yesterday. He brought baby girl diapers, pajamas, shirts, puffs, yogurt melts, and a book on farm animals. Funny how they always know what she needs.

Here are a couple pictures from when we went to see the Eater Bunny.

I am curious as to how long it will last with her not being scared of them.

DH is off this morning, so he went to get baby girl from her crib. And as I was walking in there, she looked at him and said dah-dee and said it with purpose. Ahhh, melt my heart. Now nevermind, I do this every morning monday through friday. Oh well. Soon enough. We have had a lot of dadadadada and mamamamamama, butnothing with purpose yet and to the correct parent. It was SO sweet.

So many 1st's in one day!

2009-04-04T18:19:00.006-04:00

Here we go with the crawling. And I was beginning to think she never would.

Uh Oh...

2009-04-04T08:54:00.003-04:00

Isn't this what beds are made for?

This is probably nost such a big deal for most people, but for us it is a HUGE deal. This is the first time in her entire life, she has ever been in a different position than on her back in the crib. Last night, she did flip herself onto her belly for the first time ever as well.

I have a feeling we are in for trouble over the next few weeks.

I have never...

2009-04-01T16:30:00.002-04:00

What is this thing?

I know it has been too long!

2009-03-30T07:42:00.002-04:00

I wanted to get this down before I forgot.

We have two more teeth coming in. The top two. Started just before March 20th.

We have now had our first case of pink eye and double ear infection all at one time.
Thursday, march 26th, when I picked her up from daycare, her eye looked suspicous. By middle of the night it was bad. I brought her into our bed, because she would wake up every 30 mins or so, and just yell. Well, she continued to do it in our bed, but at least I could be there to make sure she was ok. Nobody got much sleep that night. So we have been on antibiotics for the ear infection and drops for the eyes. Last night (3-29) she did not want to go to bed. She would scream again when you would lay her down. I don't know if her ears were bothering her or what. So, I went and got her and we snuggled on the couch for a little while and I tried to sleep. After she got restless with that, I decided to take her back to our room, and figured if I was not going to get any sleep, neither was anyone else (DH). That sweet little baby woke up several times to talk to us. She would talk and laugh and try to get someone to interact with her. At this point, I am just completely ignoring her TRYING to get some sleep. It is so hard to not laugh at something cute she does, even though it is the middle of the night, and I am TRYING to get some sleep. But over the last few days, DH has taught her patty cake. Well, of course, since it is so wonderful to clap your hands together, this is what she was doing at 4:30 this morning. I did very good though and did not interact with her, although I really wanted to.

I should have gone and put her back in her bed. But I did not want to get up every 30 mins when she would scream, and go check on her.

She has learned to clap (patty cake). SHe thinks it is so much fun.

When she does something new we get all excited and clap and yell. She gets the biggest smile on her face, like wow, look how good I am. It is so funny.

We are still working on the crawling thing. She will get on all fours, and fall down. She can push herself backwards very good though.

She took her first "crusing" step yesterday (3-29). Although I still think we are far, far away from any walking.

Another Video

2009-02-19T08:06:00.002-05:00

There are two new videos on here now.

Another Video

2009-02-17T18:03:00.004-05:00

Does anyone know why I cannot upload videos like a normal person? These videos are 40 seconds long, max, and they will not upload. I left it uploading for 1 1/2 hours, before I gave up. I am trying a different video now.

Videos

2009-02-16T18:16:00.004-05:00

Update

2009-02-02T19:39:00.005-05:00

Well everything is good here. It is tax season, that is why I am so slow about posting.

Baby girl does have 2 teeth. They showed up on Jan 15th and 20th. We still don't have a picture of them because she sticks her tongue out over them when we pull her gums down. Oh well. Maybe one day.

She is a pro at rolling over from her front to back. She HATES tummy time. We get about 3 - 5 seconds at a time, because she continuously rolls over.

But here are some pictures and a video of her talking.

Typical Conversation

2009-01-04T11:06:00.003-05:00

Apparently we are in the middle of some kind of enormous growth spurt. Baby girl ate twice during the night last night. We tried cry it out, but that was not working. So the second time, I went in to check on her, while DH was still in the bed. She smelled dirty so I changed her. I tried calming her back down, but she was not having any of it. So, DH comes in and I ask him if he will fix her a bottle. This is how the remainder of the conversation went.

DH: It stinks in here (baby's room).

Me: Yes, it does. She pooped. It had black stuff in it and it was play doh like ( i know, TMI).

DH: Well did you change her?

Me Thinking: No, after I checked and inspected the poop, I put the dirty diaper back on her.

Me Actually saying (with a distinctive look that he could no see b/c it was dark): Yes I changed her. Please fix a bottle.

What was he thinking? Maybe he wasn't. It was 4:30 in the morning, and we had already been up at 1 to feed her before. Ugghhh. Still love him anyways.

Christmas 2008 - Baby's First

2008-12-27T08:06:00.010-05:00

Twas the night after Christmas and all through the house all you could hear is Little Ivy screaming with her mouth. Her mommy was sleeping so daddy had to stay awake so little ivy's mommy could sleep late.

We have run the gamut with sicknesses it seems like. We were on amox.icillan, then on day 8, it caused this.

A rash from head to toe. We stopped giving her the medicine, and eventually it went away.

The cold has been very persistent with terrible coughing in the mornings. Two kids in her class at school have RSV. Uggghhhh.

Then Christmas morning, we decided after we drank the bottle, we did not want it anymore, so she threw it up. And before we left to go to my parents, she did it again. Not as much this time, but still. Everything the rest of the day is fine. We get to DH's parents and we feed her a pureed banana. She loved it. She ate all of it. The just as we are getting ready to sit down and eat dinner, it begins again. She vomits EVERYWHERE. Forceful, multiple time vomiting. Who's ready to eat?

So, we eat, and come home. No more puking. Yet. I go shopping the next morning to get stuff for next year. I get home, take Ivy from DH, and she promptly pukes again. And again, and again. Our poor couch.

Our experience with San.ta. We had a plan. (I have not learned yet that when I say this, Ivy lets me know, that we will do things her way, not mine.) We would eat and leave for the mall. She would be happy, and we could get it done. We got to the mall, go to Santa and surprisingly enough, the line was not long at all. Why? Because santa was going to dinner. When would San.ta be back you ask? In an hour and a half. 2 mins past baby girl's willingness to smile for a picture. So this is what we get. (At least she is not screaming.)

Here is the picture we used for our Christmas cards.

Baby girl has learned to grab her toes. I am sure she does things at daycare, and then later do them here. B/c it is just all of a sudden she does something new.

She has learned to yell, "talk", squeal. It is so funny sometimes, b/c we have NOOOO idea what she is trying to tell us. She has also learned to scoot backwards on her backs. She arches her back and pushes. It makes diaper changing time difficult. She will sit up by herself when she wants to. She still falls over some, but is getting much better at it. I don't think she will ever roll from her back to her tummy considering how much she despises tummy time.

Last but not least, if you all don't have one of these, you need to get one. It is a jumper that hangs on the doorway. We also have a jumperoo, but she likes this thing sooo much more. She is getting her toys confused, b/c she tried to jump in her walker the other day. Very funny.

Long Weekend

2008-11-30T13:42:00.011-05:00

We have had the best weekend. Baby girl used to be a little chatter box a couple of months ago. Then she decided she didn't want to talk anymore. But this weekend, she has decided she would join us in conversation. And when I say join, I mean takeover. Completely. She squeals, laughs, jumps, and just talks non-stop. It is wonderful. It ashame we can't spend all of our time with her. I guess it makes us enjoy the long weekends even more.

We went to a larger diaper at night, and so far, it has worked. Thank goodness. Thank you ladies sooooo much!! I would have never thought about that.

We are now eating rice cereal again. We decided to try on Friday night and she took to it. It is much easier now than it was all of the other times. She is definitely ready this time.

I have lots of videos and pictures. So enjoy.

Back to normal, but need help

2008-11-26T08:05:00.003-05:00

Everything is back to normal now. After the stomach virus, we decided we would all get a cold. I felt so bad, I was thinking I wish someone would just take Ivy for a day so that I could sleep. Well, DH did just that. He was wonderful.

But now, we have a problem that we had before hand, it just seems to be getting worse now. It is not that big of a deal, just more annoying than anything. Baby girl uri.nates so much during the night that every morning, she is soaked. Her outfit is wet, the sheet is wet, and 9 out of 10 times, the mattress pad is wet. This is creating an abundance of laundry. I tried 2 diapers at a time. It did not work the second night. The second diaper was a dry as it could be, but everything else was soaked. We have tried hug.gies and pam.pers. Lu.vs seem to be the same as pamp.ers, so I do not think they will be any better than the others.

ANy suggestions? I am open to trying anything at this point.

Also, we have a new camera, and some GREAT (slightly biased) pictures. It takes pictures so much quicker, and I can catch her smiling.

Dr's Advice

2008-11-21T08:13:00.004-05:00

I called the pediatrician yesterday to ask them what to do. Their advice: Do not feed her at night when she wakes up, just give her the pacifier, rock her, anything to soothe her, but do not feed her. This will only get her into a habit of eating at night. (I agree with this, but at 1 in the morning, I just want her to be quiet. I know that sounds harsh, but I am tired too.) Also, they said do not feed any more cereal, she is obviously not ready if she is still pushing it out with her tongue. We should try again in a week or two. And do not increase the amount in her bottles, or feed her more frequently. I thought this woman was CRAZY. I wanted to tell her she could come over and deal with the cranky baby who only cried.

So last night, DH attempted to feed her some cereal. Again, all over her, none in the mouth. Then we rocked her and held her, until about 7 and fed her ht bottle. We did put a new outfit on last night for her to sleep in. It was a fleece outfit instead of just cotton. We have had some chilly nights here the last couple of nights. And by golly, she slept until 2, and then just chatted. I got up, went to the restroom and got ready to go in there, when I came out, she was back asleep. (And no, I was not in there very long at all.) She woke up again at 3, and chatted for a little while, then eventually went back to sleep. She did this again at 4, and this time, she did not stop. I went in there, and scooped her up, changed her diaper, and we went and laid on the couch. When DH got ready to leave at 5:15, we got up and I fed her a little bit. She did not even finish the entire bottle before going back to sleep. And she slept until 6:30.

So overall I would call it success. We will see how she does over the next couple of days. I do think she is teething. We also put some ora.jel on her gums to see if that would help. So, maybe a combo of the ora.jel and the thicker nighttime outfit made a difference. I guess we will see.

Thanks for all you help!

Another long night...

2008-11-20T08:19:00.003-05:00

...So last night we decided to try again with the rice cereal. Now sweet baby princess had a 7 1/2 bottle at 4:40 pm. We tried the cereal at 6:45. Nothing. Everything was being pushed back out onto the shirt. She did however grab the spoon to put it in her mouth and chew on it. So, after 15 mins I gave in, changed her, and gave her the remaining bottle, 7 ozs. We put her to bed about 7:30. At 10:30, she was back up again. Another 5 1/2 oz bottle. At 1:00 she was back up again. This time she only ate 2 ozs. I am afraid at this point her stomach is going to explode from eating so much. I just thought if we could get some rice cereal in her, she wouldn't be so hungry, but she just won't eat it.She got up again at 4, and I just laid her on me, and we slept together for another hour, before she wanted to eat again.

I am not sure if she is beginning to teeth, getting ready for a growth spurt or what. She has diarrhea, she drools, she chews on everything, including the nipple to the bottle (makes me extremely happy I am not breastfeeding at this point).

THe only reason we have not put rice cereal in her bottle is b/c the ped told us not to. Due to the fact that most people do it either to help reflux or help them sleep through the night. Neither of which we were (keyword) having a problem with. I am going to call the peds office today and ask them what they think we should do.

We have decided at this point, to just continue to try feeding her the rice cereal, and maybe soon enough she will get the hang of it.

Here is another picture. The hat was made by volunteers at the hospital that I delievered at. There are also booties to go with it, but we have not tried those on yet.

15 Steps Back

2008-11-19T08:44:00.004-05:00

Baby girl has been sleeping through the night every night since Sept 14th. Now ever since she has gotten sick, I think she has only slept through the night once. She would most of the time wake up because she had pooped EVERYWHERE and did not like it. But who can blame her? Anyways, we have been working on getting her back into a routine where she goes to bed between 7 and 7:30 and gets up anywhere from 5 to 6.

So, now she has gotten a cold. Runny nose, Stuffed up nose, snot bubbles. I am waiting on "the big one". You know the sneeze, that causes the snot bubbles, that causes the coughing, that causes the explosive diarrhea. That to me just sounds like fun to clean up!

So baby girl has finally gotten back to eating normal. She normally eats 5 - 6 ozs in the morning before school and then 3 6 oz bottles at school, and then another bottle before bed. Well, so much for that last night. My little piggy ate 6 ozs before school. Her 3 bottles at school. And her regular 6 oz bottle before bed. So I was thinking woohoo, we are going to get an entire nights sleep. Why must my sweet, sweet daughter prove me wrong? I continue to think she thinks this is a game. She woke up just before midnight. I thought it was her nose. She would not go back to sleep. DH asked if he could fix her a bottle, I said, she can't possibly be hungry, she just ate. So after an hour, he asked again. I said sure, I will prove to you that she is not hungry. He only fixed her 2 ozs, and then went back to bed. She finished that, so I fixed her another 2 ozs. She finished that. At this point, I am dreading the poop that will be coming out after all this food. She was STILL hungry, so I fixed her another 2 ozs. She finished this and drifted off to dreamland (FINALLY!!). I did not think she was ever going to go back to sleep.

So today, she gets 7 oz bottles at daycare. We will see how she does with those. We are still not doing rice cereal. She still pushes it out with her tongue, so I just don't think she is ready yet. Plus, I am waiting for the diarrhea to go away, and make sure it isn't the rice cereal that is causing it. Has anyone else had this problem?

Sick,Sick, Sick

2008-11-17T05:32:00.004-05:00

Last weekend, our household was hit with a stomach virus. We never even knew it was coming. We were playing with baby girl in the floor and stood her up, and projectile vomit came out. Since then we have been dealing with diarrhea. It is terrible. I have never done so much laundry. And no diaper can hold it. We have washed everything multiple times this week. The dr said it could last 10 - 14 days. That to me seems crazy.

We have tried the cereal. The first time she looked at us like we were crazy. The second time was no different. The third time she did open her mouth for the spoon, but she still is pushing it out with her tongue. So we are going to wait a little longer. She watches us eat like a hawk though. DH is convinced she doesn't like the rice cereal and we just need to give her bananas. My opinion is, if she will drink pedia.lyte, she will eat anything. That stuff is beyond disgusting.

Here are a couple of pictures.

Better late than never

2008-10-30T06:55:00.005-04:00

I will write more soon. I figured I better get these pictures up now, seeing as how we are going to try cereal this weekend.

4 Months Old

These are at a lookout somewhere above Asheville, NC about 2 weeks ago.

What?

2008-10-28T13:56:00.003-04:00

Baby girl has been spitting up more often lately. The dr thinks it may be attributable to her constipation, and the formula just not having anywhere to go, but back out. So, anyways, spit up has always come out of her clothes with no problem. I have never sprayed anything. We just throw everything in the washer together with some regular detergent. I am sitting here at work, after being here 6 hours, and I notice the spot that my sweet daughter puked on last week. Yes, I did wash these pants, but apparently, they did not come clean. And even better, it is not just a spot. It is a line where she spit up, and it rolled down my leg.

Very professional huh?

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling

2008-10-20T20:08:00.006-04:00

What I thought was accidental has now become second nature. Now I will never be able to get her to do tummy time.

Feeding time has now become a game to her. She makes it VERY difficult. She is so fascinated with the bottle, she continuously pushes it out and pulls it back in.

4 Months Old

2008-10-20T06:13:00.004-04:00

Every month I still can not believe how time flies. Baby girl has been putting her little hands on the bottle more and more lately. Well, yesterday, she did not seem interested in drinking her juice. So, while she was sitting with daddy, he just put the bottle in her lap to see what she would do. Well, sure enough, she tried to get the bottle. She plays with it now, taking it out of her mouth and putting it back in. I think this has become a new game for us. But here she is holding the bottle.

Last night we were playing in the floor and "teaching" her to rollover. She has been getting up on her side, but that is about it. I rolled her over onto her stomach and she was propping herself up with her hands. Next thing I know she is starting to lean to one side, and over she goes. So we had our "accidental" first rollover from stomach to back. Yeah for baby girl.

She has really started noticing her hands lately. (Hence the bottle episode.) But now, every toy she has in her car seat is now a chew toy it seems. I don't know if she just started doing this, or we just happen to notice. This is where both parents working full time sucks. There is just not much time by the time we get home in the evenings and the time she has a meltdown to eating to sleeping. So it seems the weekends are when we discover she does new things.

Oh well, I guess it will be like this until we when the lott.ery. Makes you appreciate the weekends even more!

Can you tell...

2008-10-12T09:31:00.001-04:00

...Who is the monkey and who is the baby?

1st Laugh

2008-10-06T19:44:00.004-04:00

Ignore the cackle from the mother. I couldn't help but laugh after she laughed. It was so cute.

Our "newest" toy

2008-10-01T17:46:00.007-04:00

One of my clients let me borrow this. I think she is going to like it. At least it allows her to use more of her muscles to sit up than just sitting in the bouncer.

The newest rap.per on the block

Baby girl absolutely loves this thing. She stayed in it this past weekend for about 3 hours off and on. She even fell asleep in it while my mom was carrying her.

Another Video

2008-09-30T06:27:00.003-04:00

It has taken me days to get this thing uploaded. I don't know why. This computer just doesn't like me I guess.

What a wiggle worm!

2008-09-25T17:12:00.008-04:00

So we thought the problem was limited to her sliding off the bottom of the mat. Until I saw this.

Notice the dark spot on the top edge of the blanket. I almost panicked when I saw that this morning. I thought she had had a bloody nose, until further inspection revealed that it was chocolate. Hmmmm. I wonder how that happened? Daddy????

Also, she had a fight with her hands today. Can you tell who won?

Pictures

2008-09-24T07:54:00.007-04:00

I am trying to upload another video, but I can't get it to work. I am not sure whose fault it is either.

Baby Girl turned 3 months old this past Saturday. She is growing up and getting to be so much fun. She is about 10.6 lbs and 21 1/4 inches long.

Bumper Schumper

No more carseat! I am a big girl now.

If we had a faster camera I could get lots of pictures with smiles. But the man inside our camera who chisels out the pictures onto tablets, is a little slow.

But here is proof that she can smile.

And here she is with her monkey.

Here she is in action

2008-09-16T20:14:00.004-04:00

She doesn't talk nearly as much in the bouncer, but watch the legs. You have to ignore the funny voices and commentary. Parents have to do certain things to get their kids to talk.

Funny story...

2008-09-16T08:26:00.004-04:00

...Let me preface this by saying baby girl loves to be on her changing table. She will talk up a storm.

So, the other night, she was on the changing table, and DH started a new game with her while I was in the bathroom. It is called baby hugs. You lean down in her face, put her hands around your face while saying baby hugs. When I come back in the room, DH is gingerly wiping baby girl off, and I look at his face, and there is milk around his lips and rolling down his chin. Hmmm, I thought. That's funny, you weren't feeding her when I left. Then I realized what had happened. During one of the baby hugs, baby girl decided to give some of the last bottle back to daddy. He didn't quite appreciate it like she thought he would.

When you lean down in her face now, she opens her mouth, like she is trying to kiss you back. It is very cute.

We fed her 1 ounce of apple juice last night to stimulate some pooping action. It hasn't worked yet.

While she was on the changing table last night, she started making this weird sound. Kind of like a wheezing, but VERY loud. I asked DH if he thought she was ok, and he said, "She is laughing". Hm. Odd laugh. It is like a reverse laugh where she is sucking in instead of it coming out. She did it for a few minutes though. But only when she is on the changing table.

And, I caught her sucking those fingers again. I can take a pacifier away when I get tired of it, but I can't take those fingers away. I do not want her to get hooked on those things. Oh well, we will cross that bridge when we come to it.

Oh, so many things to talk about...

2008-09-15T11:49:00.003-04:00

...We had four "firsts" this weekend.

On Friday, baby girl stayed awake the entire ride home from school. I don't know if she was excited to see her daddy or what, but she talked and talked and talked. I have a feeling there will be more than one parent-teacher meeting in our future. Oh well. I was the same way, what do you expect.

At our family reunion Saturday, baby girl decided she wanted to suck her two middle fingers. She has always tried for the thumb, but never really got it. She got those two fingers, and sucked hard enough to keep them in for a few minutes.

Last night, she slept the entire night. We laid her down about 9 and she slept until 5:15. Just when I was getting up to exercise, she decides she has had enough.

The other first was my nephew's. He peed in the potty like a big boy this morning all on his own. Yeah!!!

NanaT's birthday was yesterday. Happy Birthday MOM! I love you very much! We all went to brunch as a family, and then my mom, sister and I went bowling. I know it was my mom's day and all but I won 2 out of 3 games. That is certainly an accomplishment, b/c my mom is so good at bowling.

We had a family reunion Saturday and it was nice. There were a lot of people we only see about every five years I guess. My grandmothers brother was here from California and some of his siblings had not seen him in 19 years. Crazy huh?

Has anybody dealt with a constipated baby? We tried the thermometer. It didn't work. It has worked before, but not this time. You can tell she is trying to go, because of her straining, but nothing is coming out. Friday when she went, it was formed and like a thick paste. Since then, nothing. The daycare said try some juice, but I am just not sure about giving her juice, since she eats nothing but formula now. Thanks in advance for the help.

Our newest toy!

2008-09-06T19:59:00.004-04:00

I would have never thought she would go in this thing this early until I saw Farah's son in it. I have to say, she absolutely loved it!!

Today was our first day of all kinds of smiling. It was soooo exciting and much anticipated. I sure hope it continues!

Solutions?

2008-09-04T08:05:00.003-04:00

DO you think child care services would think bad of us if we velcro her to the mattress?

And yes, she is sleeping. I had to wake her up to remove her from this position.

Lots of updates

2008-08-30T12:33:00.010-04:00

This is what happens when you go on vacation and start back to work full-time. I get lazy.

Baby girl had her two month checkup this past Tuesday. She weighed 9 lbs 12 ozs and was 21 inches long. It is scary to think that there are some babies born this size. She got her shots. I didn't cry because they were giving her the shots, I cried because she was screaming bloody murder. I felt so bad for her. She was pitiful. She immediately went to sleep. We were thinking she may sleep for a while. Nope. She was up by the time we got home.

But, over the last three nights, she has developed a pattern. She eats her last bottle about 7:30 - 8, and goes to bed. The first two nights, she slept until 2:30 before eating again, and last night, she slept until 3:30. I hope things will continue this way. I don't mind getting up once a night, twice is just so much harder.

I had a class the other night, and on the way home, I called DH to see how things were going. To my surprise, he was giving baby girl a bath all by himself. (I thought this was something we did together. Apparently, I was wrong.) He went to change her diaper and had poop up past her belly button. And being the good dad that he is, he took pictures. (I am sure she will love these when she gets older.) He said there was no wiping her off, and just opted for the bath instead.

We went to the beach last weekend with DH's family. It was very nice. We rented a house at the Isle of Palms. That beach is just so quiet. There weren't that many people there at all.

And for those of you who come here just for pictures (my sister!!)

Baby girl in the waiting room before anything

Baby girl after being weighed and measured (Still happy)

Baby girl during shots

After the shots (not so happy anymore - but neither was mommy)

Baby girl at the beach (hat by nanaT, suit by nanaB)

This was the sunrise we went to see

And last but not least, the jellyfish. The reason I do not get in the ocean.

2 Months Old

2008-08-20T19:49:00.008-04:00

I can not believe it has been two months already.

The long night of sleep did not last long. Last night, she ate at 8:30, 12:45 and 4:00. DH said she really wasn't hungry at 4, she just wanted her diaper changed.

Oh well. She is sooo sweet in the middle of the night. She eats so good without a problem, and then goes right back to bed.

But here are her two month old pictures. And I know you all don't believe it, but I took the pictures and posted them on the correct day!!!

I think she is saying, come closer, my arm is not long enough to sock you. Quit changing my clothes. I am done with this!

I love this picture. She looks so small in her daddy's arms.

It's party time!

2008-08-19T08:26:00.005-04:00

I took baby girl to the dr's office to be weighed yesterday. She weighed 9 lbs and 9 ozs and is approx 21.5 inches long. For her real age, this is between the 5th and 10th percentiles for both. FOr her adjusted age, the weight is in the 25th percentile.

Mondays at day care must be rough. She took a 3 1/2 hour nap yesterday afternoon, stayed up from 4 - 7:30 playing the hardest she has played yet, and took her bottle at 7:30, slept until 12:30 am. I fed her then, and then she proceeded to sleep from 1:30 am until 6 this morning. Woohooo!!!!

Now you would think, that this was a great nights sleep. Well, those darned monitors started acting up again with what my DH calls eletrical interference. I was about to electrical interfere them out the window last night. DH never even knows what is going on. He slept through the entire thing. I on the other hand would wake up every time. I even tried chaning the channels which is not easy to do at 2:30 in the morning.

Let's hope this is the start of something new and great. DH said he had a talk with baby girl and has asked her to wait until 10:30 to eat and go to bed and then sleep all night. I hope she is a good listener.

So, as I was saying...

2008-08-13T16:25:00.003-04:00

...Sunday night, we got baby girl all ready for daycare (see pictures below). I fed her at 6 am and took her over. I barely made it out of the room before I lost it. For any of you who have yet to venture down this path, but are going to, it is HARD!!! I got out to the car and seriously contemplated going back, picking her up and going back home. Surely work wouldn't notice if I never came back. DH might night when we have no money though. So, I would have to get through this. I called him and cried. My sister called after that. I cried again. One thing that really helped though is that while I have been out of work, my sister got a job where I work. So, it was great to say the least to have her there that morning. I cried again when the girls at work asked me how it went. I cried when I called my mom. Do you get the picture yet?

When I dropped her off she was sleeping. I did not want to wake her up, so I put her in her crib, and left. I felt SOOOOOO bad that she was going to wake up in a strange place to strange people and would have NO idea where mommy and daddy were.

I called after a couple hours to check on her. They had to wake her up to feed her. Which was strange. My first thought was, why can't she do that at night? When I went to pick her up, the lady was attempting to feed her but she was completely knocked out cold. Arms as limp as they could be. So, we went home and she slept, and she slept, and she slept. I woke her again to feed her, and she went right back to sleep. This was becoming strange. She had not been awake to play at all. SO, we took her to the pediatric evening clinic. She wakes up while we are there and the dr is poking at her. He diagnoses her as fine. We get back in the car and she is back asleep. We wake her to feed her again that night. DH comes to bed just after midnight and had to wake her up to feed her earlier. We are really getting concerned at this point. So, we get her out of the crib and move her back into the bassinet in our room. She hasn't been in there in a week or so. You know how I was complaining because she was a noisy sleeper. Not anymore. I had to put my hand on her chest several times to make sure she was breathing.

Day two at daycare. I discuss with them that morning that she was still sleeping a lot. So, DH calls to check on her mid-morning. She did not even wake up while they were changing her diaper and had only eaten 2 oz. Ok, panic sets in. More crying ensues. (You would never guess one person could cry so much.) We took her to the doctor and she again wakes up while the dr is messing with her. Which is good apparently. At this point I would rather hear her scream while we are messing with her than for her to sleep through it. Dr says she must just be changing her sleeping patterns. Her weight (9 lbs 7 ozs) is in the 25th percentile, so she is not malnourished and is getting her daily caloric needs. She did not want to run unnecessary tests on baby girl ( I can kind of understand). Her pulse ox (?) was 100%. We are supposed to take her back Friday and weigh her and make sure it wasn't the start of something.

After we got home, she woke up for the next feeding and stayed up through to the next feeding. About 4 hours. She even went on a car ride and to the grocery store and stayed awake for the entire thing. I guess she was slept out. She has done much better today though. The ladies at daycare say she is spoiled. Who my child?

My FIL also made a good point about being upset at taking her to daycare. If I didn't mind leaving her there, I didn't love her enough. I was expected to be upset and that was ok.

Bottom line, for those of you who have not been down the dropping them off at daycare yet, my thoughts are certainly with you. There is no denying how hard it was and is. I feel resentment that these people are taking care of my child, but at the same time, I sooo want them to be good to her, that she enjoys being there (bu tmore so enjoys having me or DH pick her up!).

Long couple of days...

2008-08-12T19:57:00.008-04:00

I will write about those later, but here are some pics for the time being.

From the race this past weekend (With the shirt my nana t made me)

My first day of school (daycare) was on Monday. These pictures were all fun and games until we got to school the next morning. That is a whole other post in itself.

And last but not least, I think Wiggles uses baby girl's play toys more than she does!

Mish mash of post

2008-08-08T08:58:00.003-04:00

I had my six week appt the other day. Everything was fine. I had lost 27 lbs. with still at least 15 to go. Twenty would put me back at pre-pregnancy weight. I doubt that will ever happen.

I was saying the other day how my nephew loves to help take care of baby girl, well last night he was here, and she kept spitting out her pacifier, he sat there and continuously put it back in for her. It was so funny. He kept telling me over and over, she keeps spitting it out. I finally had to tell him, maybe she just didn't want it anymore. He was so determined that she keep it though.

I am so mad at the insurance company. They paid for the entire birth and everything for baby girl and I. Just the hospital stay and things associated with it for the two of us was about $17K. Now, I wanted to get an IUC (Mire.na) and they will not pay the $700 for it. Is that not crazy? Would they rather pay another $17K? Very irritating.

Have you all seen the commercial for the hoover.round that shows the two older ladies at the grand canyon? They appear to be no more than 10 - 15 feet away from the edge of a giant cliff. There is no way in the world I would walk that close to the edge, let alone drive a scooter over there.

And last but not least, baby girl and I will compete in our first 5K together this weekend. Nana is going to make her a special onesie to celebrate it. We will have to get a family picture for the event. I am hoping by starting her early she will have no problems riding in the stroller for all of our upcoming races. And they she can start to run on her own.

I will post her 7 week old pictures later today or tomorrow.

Baby Girl's new job

2008-08-04T13:52:00.008-04:00

Somebody has to make money around here and support her parents. How much do we think Nana will pay us to model the clothes she makes for us? Hmmmm....

If anyone is curious, my mom does embroidery. Here are two of the outfits she has done for baby girl. And she doesn't just do clothes either. She does everything, including toilet paper.

And I just got the first real real smile!!!!!!!!!! If she had sound, she might have laughed.

6 Weeks already?

2008-08-02T11:03:00.007-04:00

Are you kidding me? Have I really been out of work that long? Sure doesn't seem like it. I have one more full week off, and then I will work part time for a week or two, and then hit it full force again. Already, I dread the thought of tax season and working so much more and missing baby girl. Maybe we can work on those hours so we can do more work at home, and less in the office. Baby girl will have to learn to sleep in a more predictable pattern though if I plan to get any work done at home. And that is still 5 months away, so things are looking up. Who knows.

Baby girl slept in her crib yesterday for 2 hours until sweet daddy decided to come home and "accidentally" slam the back door shut. Of course it woke her up. But he picked her up (he can resist her when he he gets home) and they laid together for a little while, then he put her back in her crib. It didn't last long though, b/c she was hungry. She slept in there last night as well between the first late night feedings, but not after the second one. I think it is a good start. She has lately decided that sleeping is not for her. She takes cat naps during the day for 10 - 20 mins at a time.

I feel like we need to get her in some sort of a routine so that when we take her to daycare, we can say, this is her schedule. But for now, it is, she sleeps when she sleeps, and eats when she is hungry.

Anyways, here are some 6 week pictures.

Cousins

2008-07-31T09:12:00.005-04:00

The other day, my mom and I watched my nephew and baby girl. I could NOT have handled this by myself, so I wrangled in my mom. 2 year olds want to play constantly! Not that that is a bad thing, it is just hard with an infant to watch at the same time.

So anyways, he adores her. He loves helping us take care of her. While someone is feeding her, he will come and hold the end of the bottle to help feed her. He also is waiting for his chance to help suction her nose out. He will bring the bulb syringe to you and point it at baby girl and say use this on her (in so many words).

They also love to stick things in other things. He took the battery cover off of the remote and stuck the end of the bulb syringe into a hole in the back of the remote. And to watch him do this is funny. When he is trying to figure something out, he is so intent on getting it done.

Here are a couple of pictures from the other day. I just love how they look at each other.

Their first father-daughter dance...

2008-07-28T08:11:00.003-04:00

...We thought we would try this thing out and see what happened. She loved being inside of it, especially when it was just laying on the couch. Good thing is that she didn't even cry when he had it on and her in it.

The gas is getting much better. Now she she grunts and snorts. I try to clean her nose out, but she HATES it, to say the least...

She seems to be getting very long. I can't wait until her two month appt to see how long she is.

I will be starting today trying to get her to nap in her crib a little bit. We have not swaddled her since we came home from the hospital. But the crib is so spacious compared to the bassinet, I think I am going to swaddle her to keep her from jumping out. I am not sure how else to keep her from wiggling to places she shouldn't be. I will take a picture, if I have any success with this whatsoever.

Fun times ahead...

Who's having more fun?

2008-07-25T10:58:00.003-04:00

While the mommy's are out, the kids will play. I am not sure who has more fun while babysitting, my nephew or my DH.

I think its the DH.

Happy Due Date!

2008-07-23T10:04:00.002-04:00

Today is baby girl's original due date. WOW! I can not imagine still being pregnant at this time. I am SOOOO glad she is here with us and has been for a while.

We are still having issues with the gas and abdominal pains. For the last two days she has started screaming and looks like she is in so much pain. Last night, she reached a new level of shrilling. It was awful. And this was after we had started feeding her. We have quit giving her breast milk (yes, I am still pumping), but she is solely on soy formula at this point. And we have been giving her gas drops at every feeding. The nurse said we should notice a change in a week. I am hoping it does not take that long. After the week trial period, if she is better, we may reintroduce the breast milk a little at a time. If that is causing the problems, then we will quit. It is not worth watching my child squirm and groan and scream just to give her antibodies. I just can't do it.

The doctor said we may have been feeding her to much as well. So, she is now on a 3 ozs every three hours schedule. It is not too bad at night, b/c I have been able to get her back in the bassinet after a late-night / early morning feeding without her really even waking up.

We were at the big baby store last night, and there was a couple behind us whose baby was one day younger than ours. The woman asked if baby girl was sleeping through the night, and I just said "no (with a look of I wish!). She said, "ours isn't either". Well good. Dare you ask me that if yours was. I don't like people who brag. Although I am sure if my dear sweet princess was sleeping through the night, I would tell anyone who would listen.

Where does the time go?

2008-07-21T09:34:00.007-04:00

Baby girl was one month old yesterday. I can't believe how fast time goes, especially considering she wasn't even supposed to be here yet.

She weighed 7.4 lbs approx and was about 18 1/2 inches long. These weights and lengths were done by mommy and daddy, so they are not exactly accurate, but to the best of our abilities!

I was gone yesterday for the longest I have been away since she was born. About 7 hours. Way to long! When I got home she was sleeping, and all I could think, was wake up, I want to play with you. (of course I was thinking the opposite at 5:30 this morning.) But when she did wake up, we played and played and played. We had so much fun.

Here are her one month pictures. You have to love the double chin!

We put the sleep positioner in the bassinet to prevent her from turning sideways and getting into the blanket. Then she comes up with this.

I am afraid that she will learn to jump out of the crib if we put her in there. THe bad thing about her squirming her way down was that had we not been there to move the blanket down every so often, she would have slid under it. And yes, we do tuck it under her armpits when we lay her down. Oh well, we still love her anyways!

Is this considered thumb sucking?

2008-07-17T10:48:00.002-04:00

It's just so tiring!

3 Weeks plus 2

2008-07-13T13:14:00.008-04:00

You know, a lot goes into the timing of taking pictures of a baby. At this point, it is a guessing game as to which feeding she is going to stay awake after. Sometimes it is in the morning, sometimes the afternoon, and of course, at night. Bottom line is, these weekly pictures were almost taken on time. They were taken a day late, but who will ever know.

This is an outfit her Aunt C bought and mailed to her. She was telling her daddy how much she liked the outfit, but he said it showed too much skin. Guess who won in the end?

This week we had our first real bath. We could not figure out how to do it in the sink, so Mommy just got in the bath tub with baby girl. It went good. She did not cry near as much as we thought she was going to. We also tried to lotion that is supposed to calm them down and help them sleep. Whatever. I was worried that she was going to poop in the tub, but she didn't. She did however pee. Good thing we were on the way out.

I have determined at this point, that we just have a noisy baby. She is just a grunter. Like my mom said, her grunting just seems so loud at night, because there is no other noise. Again this morning I gave up after an hour and a half of the grunting and put her on my chest, and we went to sleep. I try not to do this, but I just want to sleep sometimes. My DH was so sweet on Friday night, that he did all the night time feedings and let me sleep until 5:30. It was wonderful! He is wonderful!

I took this picture yesterday. Such a rough life she leads!

Time flys...

2008-07-09T10:56:00.010-04:00

...I figured I better get up 2 week old pictures before she turned 3 weeks old. We took these pictures on time and I had such good intentions of posting them on time. Oh well. It is the thought that counts at this point.

We are having some sleeping issues around our house. Ever since I posted the picture last week of her sleeping so soundly, things have gone downhill. That very afternoon, this is how I found her.

So, I fixed her and the blanket. I wrapped it tightly around her, so that she could not slide again. Who am I kidding? 5 mins later, she was back in the same sideways position. She apparently kicks and moves her arms enough to turn herself around. So, we put the angled positioner in the bassinet. It was under the mattress to set it at an angle, but now we need the triangles to keep her from moving.

For the last week, I guess, she has had HORRIBLE gas. She grunts and strains to no avail. We started giving her the gas drops, and it helps her poot, but she is still having lots of gas. We are tying a new formula and a new bottle style. She has also started to spit up more when she has breastmilk. It makes me feel bad we can not make her feel any better, b/c she looks like she is so uncomfortable.

We went for her two week check up on Monday (7/7) and she weighed in at a whopping 6 lbs 9 ozs. No weight gain issues her anymore. Now just sleeping issues. But the dr said she looked wonderful and we should not be concerned. But we need to remember she is a baby and don't shake her if we get upset, just lay her down and walk away. Has anyone else been stressed this over and over by different drs? Do we just look the type of people who are going to do this? Baby girl smiles so much while she is sleeping it is hard to imagine anyone hurting a baby. I hate hearing her cry (which is not much (unless she is laying in her bassinet and she doesn't want to). I immediately run to get her and try and comfort her. And immediately she stops crying. She does this for my DH as well. It does feel so good to be able to make her feel better immediately. I keep thinking in the back of my head though, she knows what she is doing. Oh well, I will be a sucker for this one!

Here are some random pictures.

1st reactions are everything...

2008-07-04T13:01:00.008-04:00

...We received this from DH's work the other day.

DH's reaction (which was before mine) "Wow, look at all the baby stuff". My reaction "Wow! Look at all the chocolate!". Who has their priorities in order?

This is what happens to baby girl, when mommy leaves her with daddy for a little while.

She did not like the pacifier. He said she kept spitting it out. Could be a good thing, could be a bad thing. Only time will tell. Thanks to DH's sister and husband for the Kase.y Kahn.e socks.

Her are the two kids playing together.

I just realized how big that outfit looks on her compared to her newborn outfits.

Here are some misc pictures.

She looks so innocent in that picture. And she sleeps like a champ in it, until nightfall. When it starts to get dark or after dark, she is not having one bit of it.

Birth story has been posted

2008-07-01T09:49:00.002-04:00

If you scroll down to june 26th and 27th, that is where they are. Sorry it took so long!

Better late than never!

2008-06-28T13:48:00.005-04:00

Yes, I know we are a day late, but so be it. Here are Baby Girl's one week old pictures. I stole this idea from two other blogs ( I hope they don't mind!).

I should have the birth story and hospital stay up tomorrow.

But for now:

And here are the new shoes daddy bought me to go running with mommy. They're Wee.boks.

The Hospital Stay

2008-06-27T08:06:00.003-04:00

What would begin as uneventful, would turn out not to be so.

We tried to nurse right after she was born, and every so often after that. Babies do not acquire their suck swallow reflex until about 37 weeks gestation. So we were two weeks shy of that. But, we kept trying. And everything a baby does burns calories, especially breastfeeding. Because of this, we gave her some formula. We started the formula 14 hours after birth. She was taking about 15 ml's every three hours. (30 ML's is an ounce). She was weighed at midnite, and her weight had dropped to 5 lbs 10 oz. Not good. Especially since she had been eating formula. The pediatrician came in the next morning, and was obviously concerned about the weight drop. So, we were told she would be weighed again at noon. If she had not gained 1/2 oz, she would need to go to the NICU. Well, when she weighed again, she had dropped another 2 oz. She was now at 5 lbs 8 oz. We were told they would contact the pedi and let us know. Well, they came at 3 pm Saturday to take her to the NICU. This was extremely hard. DH had gone to walk some friends out, and I could not get a hold of him, and these people do not wait. I felt absolutely terrible 1. that she was gone, 2. that I could not get him to tell him to come back.

We are told that we can go down to the NICU at any time, we just can not stay. We opt to go to feeding time, so that we can "feed" her. She has to have a tube put in through her nose down into her stomach to be fed. The tube coming out of the nose has an attachment that hooks on to a "bottle" that high calorie formula is put into, and drains down into her stomach. Walking into the NICU for the first time, simply broke us down. You never realize how much something like that is going to affect you until it happens. It makes me tear up now as I write this. After her first feeding we go back to the room, and sit. We finally come to the conclusion that this is best for her, and that is what is important. They feed them every three hours on a schedule with no deviations. There is no holding, touching, or playing with them. They are only held during feeding time. This helps reduce the number of calories they are burning in order to help them gain weight.

They weigh her again, and it is 5, 9. She has done well with the tube feedings overnight, so they decide to try the bottle feeding once again. At 6 that night, the lactation lady comes to meet with us in there and show us the supplemental nursing system. We weigh her just before this, and she is down again, this time to 5, 6. DH and I decide, no breast feeding attempts until we can get the weight issue under control. I am still pumping and we are giving her everything that comes out, but we are supplementing with formula. She is given strict instructions that she must take no less than 35 ml's a feeding, but we are to offer her 45. Most feedings go well, with her taking between 40 and 45. She is only given 20 - 25 mins to do this. If after that time frame, she is not finished, she has to wait until the next feeding. This may sound mean, but they burn so much energy trying to feed, prolonging the time doesn't help matters.

She does great with her feedings and we are discharged on Monday at a weight of 5, 7.7. As you can tell from the picture posted earlier, she was just as happy as we were to be leaving the hospital.

Birth Story

2008-06-26T08:56:00.004-04:00

I had to go back and read what I wrote last Thursday (the morning before going into labor that evening). Quite entertaining to think of all the plans I had.

So I get home from work that evening, still having mild cramping every 10 - 12 mins apart. No big deal. I eat leftovers from our wonderful dinner the night before about 5:30. It was fish and crab cakes. About 6:30, I started having diarrhea. And lots of it. I decided in between bathroom trips we better go ahead and go get the remaining items needed to pack our bags for the hospital, just in case. I thought the stomach upset had come from the leftovers (yes, still in denial at this point). We get almost to the store, and I am not feeling well again. my parents house is nearby, so we decide to take a detour over there, so I can use the bathroom and feel better. I am starting to feel nauseous at this point as well (yes, I am still blaming it on the leftovers). At my parents, I start to feel a lot of pressure down there. It seems to be more on the pubic bone than anything. I just assume baby girl had moved into a different position.

I decide I better call the nurse and ask her opinion. She suggests coming in to be checked due to the pressure. So, just after 8:00 pm we leave for the hospital. On the way there, at 8:18, I have my first real contraction. OMG!! I could not get comfortable. Little did I know it was only going to get worse. These were NOTHING compared to the mild cramps I had been having the last 24 hours. I start timing contractions, b/c they do not seem that far apart. Well, 3 mins to be exact. We get to the hospital, and you would think a woman in labor, would be rushed off the L & D floor. Whatever! You have to fill out your name, ss #, give them the insurance card. And yes, I did pre-register. One of the ladies made the comment, "you didn't pre-register". She is lucky I was in so much pain. Then another woman found my file. Good thing. So, they call the L & D floor, and tell them I am on my way up.

We get up there, and there are about 10 nurses standing around. Not one, ask to help me. I speak up and tell them I think I am in labor and need to be checked. (Apparently still in denial). I am leaking fluid like a mad woman at this point. The nurse then tells me to clean myself down there, pee a little in the toilet, and then the rest in a cup. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! I politely ask her, did she expect me to get all the fluid off of me before attempting to pee in this little cup? She said no. Good thing. It is now 8:45 pm, and my water had broken, but I am only a fingertip dilated. From all of our labor classes and internet info, I am thinking we are in for a long night. Don't first baby's take 14 - 16 hours? Isn't the longest laboring time between 0 and 3 cm's? I told the nurse I was nauseous feeling and she gives DH two of those little puke trays. Well, I have never puked so much. In between puking, DH has to combine trays to give me something else to puke in. It was all over me, him, and the bed.

At this point I want an epidural STAT! But they say you should wait until at least 5 cm to make sure it doesn't slow or stop labor progression. I had to wait until we could get all the info into the computer. The lady who checked me was warning me not to push even if I felt the urge. They get me into a room, start antibiotics and fluids. She gave me a stad.iol for the pain. What a joke that was. Before you can have an epidural, you have to get one bag of fluids in. By the time we got the epidu.ral, I was already 8 cms. By 12:30 am or so, I was fully dilated and ready to go.

Since we were trying to get the 2nd bag of antibiotics in before delivery, and the fact that I had had an epi.dural, we decided to labor down for a little while and see if baby girl would come down a little further and reduce the number of pushes. I was all for that. At this point, I really didn't care, I was feeling very little. My DH videoed the entire thing, and I am laughing while I am pushing. How do they expect you to push when you can feel anything? Its kind of like, you just pull your legs back, grunt, squeeze, and hope something happens. We started pushing about 2:30 a.m. and baby girl was born at 3:06. It was the oddest feeling when they pulled her out.

Daddy stopped taping for long enough to cut the cord. I was thinking he was going to be squeamish and maybe pass out, but he was a super trooper!

Since this is so long, I will detail our hospital stay next time. It includes a 2 day stint in the NICU.

Finally Home!

2008-06-23T16:09:00.002-04:00

We got to come home today. I am working on the birth story and all that goes along with it. But for now, I will leave you with a picture from our ride home.

Baby Girl is Here!!!!

2008-06-20T20:51:00.002-04:00

Ivy Makayla arrived at 3:06 a.m. on June 20. She weighed in at a whopping 6 lbs 7 oz and 18 inches long. Will post pictures later.

How much longer?

2008-06-19T05:38:00.002-04:00

I certainly hope this weeks pictures work. The weight was 161 lbs and 41 1/4 inches. Yes, I now feel like a huge (insert whatever large object you wish) at this point. Bending over is impossible. Baby girl's behind is in the way of most everything I try to do. It even affects the way I attempt to sleep at night. When I lay on that side, I can feel more pressure on my ribs, b/c I am putting more pressure on her, and it moves her over. Very uncomfortable. I am sure she is thinking the same thing.

We went to dinner last night with my mom and dad and sister and her husband. We talked some about my mom going into labor. I was the first of two. By the time my mom got to the hospital with me, she was already 7 cm, and I was here in 2 hours. And I have always been in a hurry since then. My sister was a different story. My sister took 14 hours. And has been on her own time schedule ever since. Funny how that works. I am hoping for something in between the two. I think the two hours would scare DH a little much. But I also don't want to be in labor in the hospital for 14 hours either. So of course after all the labor talk, I dream about going into labor.

It causes a momentary "Oh Sh**" moment. But let me backup some. I had been having more cramps since about 3 that afternoon. That evening before bed, I told my sweet DH, the gates-o-fluid had seemed to open, and that was just gross. I don't think there is anything I hate more than not being dry down there. I am sure a lot of people are the same way. So anyways, I go to bed, it is a restless night again. On what seemed to be the 5th trip to the bathroom, lots of mucous has made its appearance. This is about 3 this morning. I immediately think, ok, cramps, fluid, mucous, I better get my crap together NOW. I can only HOPE that baby girls thinks this is funny and all a game, b/c we are NOT ready for her to get here quite yet. So, I have now decided that tonight when I get home from work, the preparations begin. Don't ask me how they are going, b/c I will probably say, I haven't done anything yet. Oh well. One day we will pack a bag. It may just be before we are leaving to go to the hospital.

And I have decided if my water for some reason decides to break in public, I am going to think "Woohoo, lets get this show on the road!". If it does happen, ask me later if I was mortified. Probably. But we can all hope can't we?