Happy 7 Months Avalynn!

Baby Girl,

Wow - you're 7 months today.  We're officially over the hump of you being an infant baby and are on the other side entering into toddlerhood.  This is when I dig in my heels and say "NO", stay where you are!  Lols.

You my dear wonderful little girl are still not sleeping through the night.  Well, you did one night this past month, thankfully - because I was really sick with a summer cold and needed the rest.  I say it's because I asked your Daddy to wake up with you and you didn't want that!  Haha.  We did CIO (cry it out) with you this month and now I lay you down awake for naps and bedtime, half the time you fuss for a minute or so and then you are quiet and out.  Our lives are so much easier now that you can put yourself to sleep now, although I will admit to missing our rocking sessions occasionally.

You are eating two meals a day now - almost a whole size 2 jar at each feeding.  Some days I feel like you nurse a little and other days I feel like we're back to nursing all the time.  We also started giving you a sippy cup last week with some water.  You love holding onto the handles and chomping on the tip, but don't get that you have to tilt/hold up the cup to get the water unless Daddy or I helps you.  And we've been giving you some puffs and cheerios for you to practice picking up little items.  You pick it up and go to put it in your mouth and then it falls on your belly without you realizing it, it's cute!

You are starting to laugh out loud a lot more.  You love when your Sissy dances towards you - you start squealing and giggling so loud!  It's one of the most beautiful sounds!  Speaking of squealing, you love to make this high pitched squealing noise, reminds me of a bird, you go from that and making razberries especially at dinner when we're all around the table.

Yesterday you really started to crawl forward, you do best on our bed, I think because it's so soft and you don't like the hardwood floors.  You now pull yourself up on your knees when in your crib and are starting to go for the breakables, aka my elephant collection.  You can almost sit yourself back up from laying down and can go from sitting to the crawling position.  Amazing the changes in you, in just the past week.

We had your 6 month check up, you weigh 20lbs(95%^) and are 27 1/2in(90%) long.  We discussed you not sleeping through the night with your Ped and she said you had 4 teeth coming in.  You have cut 2 of them so far.  They weren't the most fun couple nights either.  You were normal all day long and then would be up screaming half the night, needless to say I'm glad we're over that hump.  Although on the other hand, I keep waiting for those other 2 to pop through, just hope you're not in as much pain as you were the first time.

We took you on your first camping trip this past weekend.  You slept horribly there, took us 2 hours each night to get you go to sleep & the 1st night you thought it'd be fun to stay awake for 2 hours after your feeding.  Otherwise you enjoyed being in your pack'n'play outside, playing in the grass, and hanging out at the pool.

I'm sure many more things will be changing in the next month and look forward to each of them. Here's a couple pictures of you from the past couple days.

Love,
Mommy

Wordless Wednesday

 The girls' on our weekend camping trip. 

Wordless Wednesday

Sleepy Baby! 

DIY - Family Established Wall Art Tutorial

Last week as I was blog hopping I happened across a great idea and instructions on making a piece of art of when our family was established.  We're re-doing our dining room and knew that I had to have this up on the wall.  That night after the kids were in bed I sat down and whipped this up in no time at all.  Yesterday, I printed it out from our home printer, spray painted a frame and 10pm last night was hanging it up on the wall.  I'm basically in loooooooove!

Amy from My 3 Monsters guest posted the instructions for this project over at Stephanie's blog Under the Table and Dreaming, here. Amy did all the hard work by finding Leo Reynold's Photostream, here. He has hundreds upon hundreds typography, he lets the public use his images with a couple restrictions, listed here.  To search for the letter I was looking for I would just type in "E" in the search box for his photostream and it would pop up all of the E's.  A more common letter like "I" and "A" I would add Letter before it to get more results.

I opted to chose the Small size (240 x 240) on to my desktop.  Then after I had a couple letters I'd arrange them how I wanted on the desktop to see how they all worked together before copying into my photo program.  After I had the letters and numbers I wanted I uploaded them into Picasa.  Selected all of the images and hit the collage button, I chose the Grid option, which makes the pictures equal size in rows and columns and selected the size I wanted to print it on, for my project that was an 8x10.

Here's my finished project hanging up in my dining room: {the Hubs & me love it SO MUCH!}

Thank you Amy for the great inspiration and idea! I'm linking to these parties. 

Teething Hell

Perhaps it's Mommy brain but I really don't remember Oldest ever really being fussy when she teethed.  Man, what a wake up call this weekend was for Baby Girl.  Wednesday, we had her 6 month check-up and I was talking to the Ped about STTN (sleeping through the night) and how she was prior to vacation but nada, zilch, not happening in the past 1 1/2 months since then!  The Ped said she definitely should be by now and then checked Baby Girl's mouth and "ah-ha" - she has 4 teeth coming in.  The bottom two were to break through any day, the top two are there but she thinks it'll be a month before they pop through.  Instructions, give her a good dose of Motrin before bed to help with sleep.

As the week progressed the nights kept getting worse and worse, Friday night being the absolute worse!  Horrible screaming, minimal sleeping after midnight that night.  I felt so bad that she was in so much pain and there wasn't much I could do for her.  I stayed up with her until 5:30am and then finally gave in and had to wake up the Hubs, which I hated to do since he gets up @ 4am M-F and I like to let him sleep in.  But alas - we had a extended family photo shoot scheduled for 9am and this girl needed some shut eye!

One tooth has popped through completely and I'm praying and hoping the other one is very very soon, it's extremely swollen.  Am happy to report though that definitely got a little more sleep last night than Friday night, but not much more.

Anyways to sum it up - teething for Baby Girl is miserable for her and not so fun for me, hate seeing her in pain.

Wordless Wednesday

Me and the girls' were having fun with some photoshoots this week, these two are my new favorites! 

Monday, Monday

How was your weekend?  I hope well!  The "R" house has come down with some yucky summer cold, started with The Hubs beginning of the week, Oldest started getting it middle of the week, and I got it by the end.  Thankfully, Baby Girl hasn't gotten it yet.  Even though I was feeling under the weather, it was definitely a productive weekend still.  

Did some re-organizing of our two hot spots in the kitchen, can you guess what they are?  The plasticware cupboard and our pantry.  I didn't take Before pics but here are the After's. 

Plasticware - Stacked containers into each other and then the lids are in another pile, this saves a lot of room! Purged the containers that were missing their other half and ones that we just don't use.  

Pantry Closet with Labels of how I organized it all.

We took a break Saturday morning and had a Mommy, Daddy, Little One date to see Despicable Me.  It was so nice to get out and spend some one on one time with Little One! 

Last week my hunt for a 9-10 drawer long dresser to be re-habed for our dining room finally came and for only $20.  So, the Hubs picked it up for me and we disassembled some of our current dining room furniture and I had a primer painting party on Sunday. 

                              

And we ended the weekend with some yummy fresh strawberries picked up at the Market Sunday. 

How was your weekend?  Did you do anything around the house? 

National Breastfeeding Week

So, this post has been on my mind all week and I'm finally sitting down to do it one day away from the end.  Better than never.  Most of all I just wanted to share my experience nursing baby girl and what I've experienced and learned along the way. Yes, what you've heard about it hurting and being difficult is true - but oh so rewarding on the other hand.  Know going in that it's going to be difficult but stick with it.  Give yourself mini goals, make it to 2 weeks, 1 month, etc.  I'm happy to say that I just past 6 months.  My next goal is to get to 9 months, ideally until she's at least 1 year.


Here's what I learned:

• In the beginning, every time you nurse you're uterus will start contracting, they say it's shrinking.  What I can tell you is yes it hurts/burning sensation, but it's normal and it will get better and go away soon! 
• Get the help while in the hospital.  I nursed baby girl within an hour of her birth and she did amazing with her latch.  So, 5 hours later when the lactation consultant came I felt confident and didn't take her up on her help.  After some difficulty, I'd call my nurse in each time to help me. 
• The baby only needs one nostril to breathe.  I'm a large chested woman and I was so freaked out that I'd suffocate her or something, but my nurse assured me that as long as one nostril is free, she'll be fine.  
• Take one day at a time.  I kept reading people who said the first 2 weeks are the hardest to keep with it.  And there'd be good nursing days and bad ones.  I had many meltdowns because I didn't think we'd ever get the hang of it.  
• Get some kind of pump, whether manual or electric.  It saved me in the beginning, I became extremely engorged and I was able to pump out a good supply so that the first month, the Hubs could get up and feed her once during the night.  
• Cluster feedings feel like they are going to be the death of you, especially when you feel like alls your doing is feeding every hour and getting no sleep at night.  Good news - they only last for a few days and then you can get back to your normally scheduled routine. 
• If you have a dip in supply try eating oatmeal, having a beer, fenugreek or mother's milk tea.  Have tried all but the beer (not a fan) and they've all worked! 
• Sometimes you have to eliminate some things from your regular diet as they'll upset the baby.  My first day home I drank 2 big glasses of apple juice, poor baby girl had 8 bowel movements that night, didn't I feel like world's worse mom at that moment! 

Make sure you have a good support system around you.  The Hubs has been my #1 go to, he's been so supportive and helpful through this whole process.  He helped me to overcome my fear of NIP (nursing in public, for all of you acronym loving people).  In the beginning, he'd stand cover holding up a blanket until she was on, and now I'm comfortable feeding her anywhere.  I'm happy to report that I haven't had a negative experience with other people while NIP.  

Things I never expected: 

• My boobs are no longer mine or the Hubs - they are solely baby girls'. 
• Spraying milk, either from her unlatching while feeding or getting dressed.  It's humorous to no end and the Hubs and me definitely have gotten a good chuckle or two during some mishaps. 
• The way that baby girl grabs at me sometimes, we went through a pinching phase for a few months, her hand that was under her, she pinch her way up the backs of my arms - can we say OWIEE!  Happy to say no more pinching for the past month!  Now, I get nice caresses. 
• Hickey's.  Yes - you're reading that right.  Since 2 months she has loved to gnaw on anything and everything, especially your fingers.  She's got quite the hard suck on her - as I'm sporting 3 hickey's on my left shoulder currently, and I didn't have her up there long either! 
• The 1st time your milk shoots in - while in public, the baby starts crying, or during letdown.  No way to really describe the feeling.

Items I needed and couldn't live without: breast pump, nursing pads, lansinoh cream, receiving blankets, small throw pillow (not a fan of the boppy to feed her with, but love it for other things with her), movies dvr'd for those late night feedings, and medula's nipple shield.  

Udder Cover's is offering a free nursing cover if you use promo code: onefree, and just pay S&H. 

Wordless Wednesday

The girls' before going to their Great-Grandpa's 80th Birthday Party.

21 Dozen Ears of Corn + 7 hrs = 36 Bags Fresh Corn

Yesterday, Mom calls me to say she ordered the corn, for us to do today.  This year she decided to up it, 5 more dozen than last year for a grand total of 20.  To top it off they gave us a free dozen (which was enjoyed for dinner) 4 hours and 252 ears of corn later...

Shot of the corn: pre-husked.


Next up, we had two BIG soup pots at a rolling boil, a dozen in each pot cooking for 6 mins.  Put it on a tray, cut off the cob, repeat process. 

The ears all lined up on the counter ready for the pots.

Bagged up and ready for the freezer.

The end result = these lovely 36 bags of corn all ready for the freezer.  7 long hours went into these , my left fingers are hurting from the steaming burning hot cobs and I injured my right thumb nail in the process, but how worth it will be this winter when we're enjoying some yummy fresh corn.

Happy 1/2 Year Birthday Avalynn Grace!

Baby Girl -

How is it that a 1/2 year has passed already?  I'm loving this age you are in - so much, I know I keep saying this each month, but each new thing you do is more fun then the previous.  Unfortunately, for me you haven't slept through the night since our beach vacation a month ago.  Needless to say in the sleep department I'm dragging some of these days.  I keep hoping each night that we'll get back to those 3-4 nights a week of you sleeping all night.

Your are eating solids like a champ.  You absolutely love anything with sweet potatoes in it & all of the orange mixed veggies.  Your Daddy loves the way you eat, you'll take a bite, look around and then turn back towards us with your mouth open until we put another spoonful in.  It's so cute.

As for becoming more mobile - what else can I say but you definitely are never where we lay you down now.  You roll and spin your body all over the place.  You definitely find ways to get yourself into cramped spaces, so far I've found you on the end of the couch and under the tv console a couple times.  In the past week you've started to get up on your hands and knees and rock your body back and forth but you end up just moving backwards.  There's no doubt that you'll be crawling very soon I'm sure.  You are now officially able to sit by yourself for longer periods of time.

You still love putting anything and every toy or whoever is holding you their hand/fingers in your mouth to chomp on.  Your "bite" is definitely getting stronger.  Today, I was checking our your gums and it looks like you'll be getting your bottom two teeth soon, they are looking white and I can see the bumps on your inner gums.  You love blowing razberries like there's no tomorrow, when sitting there, or your fingers in your mouth and you even do it towards the end of your nursing sessions sometimes, it's funny. And you're starting to play with your toys, trying to put balls down the ball slides, taking your animals out of the ark and of course you have to taste each one.  Last week, you finally started to put your feet up in your mouth, it's amazing how much you can bend yourself.

We are loving the wonderful addition you've been to our little family.  You and Emma crack each other up and the other day you were "talking" back to her in a conversation, Lord help us when you do start talking, we already have a non stop talker - never again will there be quiet I'm afraid.

Love you,
Mommy

Sitting up and playing, giving me some smiles this a.m.

You look like such a big girl here. 

Zonked out for nap holding your Sophie.

In bed for the night - sweet dreams baby girl! 

New things in the "R" Household

Last Monday, our prayers got answered and the Hubs got a phone call from the union about a job, to report and start Wednesday.

Pros - A job finally after being laid off for 8 months.  It's supposed to last 4-6 months and by the time, hopefully one of the other couple BIG jobs the union says is coming will be started and he can just transition straight to one of them.

Cons -  3 hour round trip commute.  That is no fun.


But I have the best Hubby and he's sucking it up and doing it for his family.

So, the beginning of the week was spent enjoying our last 2 full days with the Hubs.  We did random house stuff and ran errands that needed done, as we are a one vehicle family, needed to make sure I have what we need here since he'll have the car.

Tuesday we got Miss E's hair cut.  She was way overdue for a good trim, plus we've entered a stage where she's starting to chew on her hair?!  I don't know - but we had enough of that, so got it cut up to her shoulders.

The girls' morning of the Miss E's hair cut.

Before Shot.

After shot.

The end of the week went well, was able to give attention to both girls', get my cleaning schedule back on track and have a cooked meal on the table for when the Hubs came home.  It was nice getting back into a routine.  

Finally back...

Our beach vacation was wonderful!!!  We decided to drive home during the night because of the girls' sleeping and then we were hit with a weekend of 4th of July festivities and this past week just be re-couperating.  Seriously, who'd have thunk you need a vacation after vacation.  I know that in my mind I was looking forward to some relaxing time at the beach, but then once there, there was just SO MUCH I wanted to cram into the week that we were running non-stop from early morning to late at night.  The girls' were amazing, even though their sleep schedules were thrown off including many missed naps.  I can't wait to go back again.

Now that we are all rested up again I'm now starting to feel like I can go back to my day-to-day routine.  We went to the beach 4 days, a whole day at a water park, boardwalk 5 nights, some good photo booth shots, games/rides, outlet shopping, mini golf, frozen custard/shaved ice, celebrated 5 year wedding anniversary, and saw an amazing sunrise on our last day.

Now for just a few pictures, I'll try not to boggle down the post with too many even though I think the girls' are so adorable!

One of the worse days in a LONG time!

Last night I had started our beach vacay re-cap and planned on finishing it early this am after Baby Girl's morning feeding, but as it would have it my body had a different plan.

I should have known today wasn't going to be a great day, as right after her morning feeding, Baby A jerked her head and my ring snagged on her earring ripping it out of her poor ear.  The back was bleeding but otherwise I didn't see a tear.  I felt so horrible, so I promptly took off my rings and put them in the jewelry box, they will have to be on a small sabatical.

Then I started having this severe pain in my left front abdomen.  It just kept getting worse between the pain then started the chills and hot sweats along with nausea and some vomiting.  I called the Dr's office around 8:30 and the soonest they could see me was 10am.  By 9 after I took a quick shower and got myself dressed I told the Hubs he needed to get the girls' ready, we were heading to the ER because I just couldn't handle it anymore.  I really wish that when you are in severe pain, they'd move a little bit faster in the ER.  I mean really - who wants to sit there for 20-30 minutes waiting.  Alls I wanted was for them to check me out and give me something for the pain.

Finally after I was taken to a room the Dr. came in and said he thought it could be a kidney stone and they wanted to do a CT Scan.  Right before I headed up for the scan my main great decreased.  They did find that it was indeed a kidney stone, I had passed it through to my bladder and got some pain meds along with the directions for what to do at home until it officially passed through.  I wouldn't wish any of that pain on anyone.  I truly hope I'm one of those people that has one - ever in their life!  Guess we'll find out what the test lab finds out and if I'm told to change my diet or watch out for certain things.  I can only think of the best.

So, needless to say the day felt like it was shot as we didn't even get home until 1pm.  Had some lunch, napped while the girls' napped and have just had a relaxing evening with the girls' and Hubby.  Now, I'm laying in bed and trying to get some blog posts done.  I have so much to share, two DIY/Craft projects, beach stuff, 4th things, day trips and some hard parenting questions that we all ask ourselves.  It feels good to be back!

Theme-A-Day Blog Journal - Day 20

Today's Prompt - Hardest thing you've ever had to deal with?

Miscarriages - 4 of them to be exact.  One before Little One and 3 after before we were blessed with Baby Girl.  Each of them affected me differently.  They were at all during the 1st trimester but some early, middle, and late part of it.  The last two put me into a deep depression.  I got some help through meds and was at a point where I was okay with Little One being our only child and I feel so very blessed that last Memorial weekend I took that pregnancy test that showed it was positive and now we have Baby Girl.  In these situations no one really knows what you are going through unless they have also.  All people mean well when they say things but many of them are hurtful and just make you angry.  Top thing that bothered me the most was "You have one already, be thankful for her".  I am, but that doesn't take away the want/need to give her a sibling, to complete our family.  For my 24th birthday I got a tattoo on the of my inside right ankle, a pair of simple black angel wings.  They are there to remember my lost babies.  I can honestly say that it really helped in my healing process.  October 15th is National Infant/Pregnancy Loss Day, 7pm you light a candle to remember, and every year I light one for each lost baby.

Happy 4th of July

Hope everyone has a wonderful and safe 4th of July.  Happy celebrating!!!

Happy 5 Year Anniversary

to the best Husband I could ever have.  Honey, I can't believe that we are celebrating 5 years of marriage and almost 10 years together.  It definitely hasn't been an easy road so far, we've had our ups and downs, sometimes feels like more downs than ups.  But all in all we stand beside each other and I feel that at this point we can overcome anything that life throws at us.  I love having my best friend here with me day to day and am more in love with you now than the day we got married.  Thank you for being you, the wonderful husband & friend you are to me and amazing Daddy you are to our daughters'.

Love you!
Me

On VACATION

We are leaving mid Saturday morning a few hours down south to some wonderful toasty beaches.  Can't wait to enjoy some quality family time and watch the girls' firsts' with a lot of stuff.  Will be back after the 4th of July!

Hope you have a great week!

Happy 5 Months Avalynn!

Dear Avalynn,

I really can't believe you are already almost 1/2 a year young!!!  Your personality has really started to come through and shine in the past couple weeks.  This is definitely one of my favorite ages/stages with you!  We had your 4 month check-up when you were approx. 4 1/2 months.  Your weighing in at 17lbs 12ozs and 26 1/2 inches long, you are 95%^ for both categories.  The size of an average 7 month old, although to us you seem small with the perfect amount of baby chub and rolls.

We got the go ahead to start you on cereal, fruits and veggies.  You are doing great eating rice cereal, love sweet potatoes, bananas and applesauce.  You were not a fan of squash.  On the menu next week is to try some green beans.  Whenever we are eating our meals and you are sitting watching us, you start smacking your lips together making noises because you want what we have.  It's so cute and funny!  At dinner Thursday night we put some fresh pears in a mesh feeder and you just went to town.  Also, on Father's Day your Great-Grandma gave you a taste of cheese cake, Mommy wasn't too happy about that! The Dr also said your gums are getting thick and wouldn't be surprised if you don't have some teeth by your next appointment.

Your Dr is very impressed with you hitting all of your milestones, even some 6 month ones already!  You now roll yourself where you want to go around the floor, love standing/bouncing in your exercauser,  you like to sit against mommy or daddy, the couch or your bumbo, but can't do it by yourself yet without support.  You continue to put your hands or ours along with any/all toys in your mouth.  Your favorite toys are your Sophie, rattle soft doll, and your Nuby teether.

You are averaging 2 nights a week sleeping through the night from approximately 8-9pm to 7am.  This past week you did it 3 nights in a row but the past two nights you've woken up at 4 and 5am.  I know it's going to happen soon, at least this is what I keep telling myself! You are doing much better with napping and being put to sleep for night.

On Father's Day we went to the mall and got your ears pierced.  You did great and cried for a couple minutes afterwards, we picked out gold flowers with pink centers for you.  They make you look much more girly.  You also have had 2 playdates this month with Hallie, she's crawling and you can tell that you want to follow but have no clue how to.  And you are liking the pool more and more, getting more comfortable in your raft.  I think we might have another water baby on our hands if you are anything like your sissy then we won't be able to get either of you out of the pool.

You are quite the hair pull-er and your Big Sister is always yelling for us to help her, b/c you get quite the hold on hers.  Most times she thinks it funny.  You light up with the biggest smiles when you first see  her.  I love watching your bond grow.  She loves you so much and showers you with lots of kisses, laughs when you go to chomp on her fingers and is always showing you things, singing to you when you are crying and Mommy & Daddy can't get to you right away.

I look forward to seeing what the next month brings for you!

Love,
Mommy

Theme-A-Day Blog Journal - Day 19

Today's Prompt - What are 20 of your favorite things?

1. Cuddling - Hubs cuddles me every night before we go to sleep and love to cuddle with the girls'. 
2. Date nights.
3. Catching up with friends.
4. Spring, Summer, Fall
5. Planning parties and events.
6. The Beach.
7. Getting pedicures.
8. Getting lost in a good book.
9. Nap times, esp. when both girls' nap at the same time.
10. Blog comments.
11. Text messages.
12. Being with our families.
13. Taking pictures. 
14. Very hot showers.
15. Vacations.
16. Doing something that makes someone smile. 
17. Laughing.
18. Turkey Hill Iced Tea and their Choc Chip Cookie Dough Frozen Yogurt
19. Cooking/Baking
20. Blog Hopping

Theme-A-Day Blog Journal - Day 18

Today's Prompt - What do I collect?

I collect elephants.  Not asian or safari decor ones either.  Figurines, glass, metal, stuffed animals.  It all started back in 2003 when the Hubs and me were on our Senior Week.  There was something about an elephant in Cosmo or something and we made a stuffed elephant animal at a Build-A-Bear type place.  After that it just sort-of stuck.  I try and find one whenever we go on vacation.  Their trunk ends must be up which brings you good luck.  I do not buy and downturned ones.  And if someone buys me one it ends up being donated, although most people know by know about the trunks because I tell them.

The other thing I collect is glassware, like blown glass pieces.  Love the vibrant colors of them.  This is another item I try and buy when on vacation also.  And that pretty much sums up what I like to collect.