An Unfortunate First....

Today A is 5 months.....I have nothing really to show for that because she is under the weather. It seem that in honor of her 5 month she's gotten a cold....her first. Matt started coming down with one the end of last week and he's stayed away from A, but I guess it wasn't enough. She's not bad....just a little bit of a snotty, runny nose. Hopefully it clears up soon....and she was sleeping so well the past few nights. Last night was crap again.

Oh well...it had to happen some time.

A Whole Lot of Something....

There's a whole lot of little things....the littlest of which is...we have a MOUSE in our HOUSE! I was sitting on the couch with Ave this morning when this furry little critter decided to walk out of the bathroom and into the living room: EEK!

Now before you think..."wow, she's really calm about this". I am SO NOT CALM! I HATE mice, but not as much as I HATE RATS! See, Matt tore the wall down between the cellar hallway and the bathroom[see picture] (our cellar is a cellar in the deepest, dankest sense). I had been wondering whether any critters would decide to enter the upstairs via that opening, but none had...until today.

I immediately called Matt...he told me to "let the dogs back in and put a few traps out"...ummm....the mouse hasn't touched a trap and the dogs are oblivious. I told him he needs to rebuild the wall on the cellar side TONIGHT! My house is trashed, but I refuse to share it with a mouse!

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The bathroom is c o m i n g a l o n g s l o w l y. . . . Unfortunately there is no way for me to speed the process up. Last Wednesday we made a trip to Lowe.s specifically to return the shower door and get a new one. On Saturday I'm looking at the receipt and think to myself "Why does it say 48" door?" I get home and check...the Lowe.s guy loaded the WRONG door into the cart (and it was 9:15 at night and we didn't think to check). Back the door has to go (just a reminder....Lo.wes is 45 minutes away, one way, from our house).

Well here's some pictures of what has gotten done in the bathroom. We're still no where near me being able to start working in there, but it's coming along.

Ok, here's the layout of the vanity and the shower....at the end of the shower, closest to you, will be a full wall, then the toilet. Unfortunately while doing all these things for layout and spacing we found out that the walls are not square (Surprise! No.) So Matt spent most of yesterday sanding down the 100 year old studs to try and square the wall.

We pulled the toilet out yesterday, can I just say that was disgusting. The floor under it is rotted out and I don't think it was ever installed correctly to begin with. We are re-using the toilet, but it will certainly be getting thoroughly scourged before it goes back in the NEW bathroom. AND, Matt discovered why it wobbled...they failed to attach the toilet to the actually floor on the one side.

The other thing that Matt did get done yesterday was the boxes installed for the electric...the electric was run prior to sheet rocking, but not hooked up. He's hoping that this week one evening he can run all the wires and "plug" them in...hopefully we'll have lights soon!

I somehow don't think this bathroom is going to get done with the only 4 Sundays left before A's christening :-( I guess as long as it's livable by then...oh well. My uncle will just have to deal (he's the one staying here).

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Other things...

Daylight Savings time is working out well for us with Ave's sleeping. She goes down at 8 (was 7 before) and wakes up in the morning at 7:30. Now, before you get all excited...she is still waking up at 12:30am and 4:30am...I can NOT figure out the 12:30 thing. I've tried not giving her a bottle and just soothing back to sleep, but she genuinely wants a bottle and takes 4oz. At least she is going right back to sleep though after her bottles...rather than wanting to play.

We tried the rice cereal again the other day and she actually was eating it. She wasn't doing the pushing the food out with her tongue thing as much and was opening her mouth up for more. Matt got in on the action and fed her for the first time too. We don't have a high chair yet (no room until the bathroom is done and the swing is gone), so we use the exer-saucer as her feeding station.

Tell me that isn't a self-satisfied grin :-)

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I'm still plugging along at my mom's quilt...I have two weeks left. I have all of the star blocks done, but I still need to stitch all of the photo blocks (and finish printing the photo blocks). Here's my goal and time frame: This week...all blocks need to be finished (I'm going to ask MIL to take A for a couple of hours on Thursday); next week the quilt needs to get stitched together. It's not an impossible time frame....hopefully I can manage it.

I'm still waiting on my brother to mail me pictures. I asked him a month ago where his baby album was..."In my closet at home". I looked...it's not there. I finally caved and asked my mother where it was and she said "he has it", so she called him and asked about it. Then I had to call his wife and ask her...she said she'd have them to me this week. I'm praying she does.

I've emailed a couple of times, but I don't want to be a PITA, but if I don't get the pictures by this weekend...there will only be little kid pictures of my brother in the quilt...no baby pictures.

I'd love to show you pictures of what I've got done, but I have absolutely no CLEAN place to lay the blocks out to take a picture...you'll have to wait until next week (I'm planning on finishing the quilt at my MIL's)

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Anyways...I think that brings you all up to speed on some of the things going on :-) I hope everyone is doing well and deep in preparations for St. Patrick's Day!

I H-A-T-E vaccines!

The afternoon/evening was ok: A went to bed a bit earlier than normal (7pm)...she slept fitfully, but not waking up the entire time I was awake. I dreamfed her at 10:30 before I went to bed, but she woke up at midnight anyways. Then it began....every 45 minutes...and I started to notice that she was feeling really warm to me.

I lowered the heat in her room, waited an hour and took her temp: 101.9*...lovely. I look at our paperwork from the doctor's office. Call if they have a fever over 101.5*. I didn't call because I knew the first thing they would ask is whether I had given her tylenol yet and I hadn't. So I gave her the tylenol and waited another hour...100.5*, much better...so I didn't call. Poor kid kept waking up and waking up...I actually fell asleep on the floor of her room...first time ever (I was tired!).

Finally early morning, I can't remember if it was 4:30 or 5:30...she settled down and slept a couple of hours...got back up at 7:30 with her gave her a bit more of a bottle and she went back down for a little bit...I woke up at 8:30 to hear playing in her room...happy as a clam.

I hope that last night was the extent of the vaccines repercussions....

4 Month Well-Baby Visit

Today we had Avelyn's 4 month visit, here's those stats:

She's growing well and the doctor had no concerns. Last time he had found a slight heart murmur and said he wanted to watch it, he wasn't sure if it would be serious or not. This time he didn't think it was serious at all and sounded like it was closing up on it's own: Yay!

She had shots again today...boy she doesn't like them. Matt didn't go with me last time, he did today and I thought HE was going to lose it when she got her shots. I hate it and have to control myself from crying when she's hysterical, but him...he started coughing, I think he was seriously getting choked up.

Other things: I've tried to start working with A at self-soothing at night. On Saturday night we started a firm routine (bath, if needed, books, bottle, prayers, down). I stay in the room with her until she's asleep, but I don't pick her up. I basically put her in the crib awake...she kicks around a bit looks at her sound/light machine on the ceiling, and slowly goes out. It takes about 5-10 minutes until she's asleep.

Every night that I've done this she's slept from 7:30/8:00 until midnight, then down until 4:30/5:00 and out again until 7:00am. Definitely better....I just need to figure out how to get rid of the midnight wake up...it doesn't help me to fall asleep for only an hour, before she wakes up...I might try adding in a dream feeding again.

The other interesting thing is our doctor doesn't see any point in starting solids (even rice cereal) until 6months. I don't feel so strongly either way about starting the solids, so we'll just wait and see. Other than that...he's pleased with how she's growing and says everything looks good.

Now hopefully her sleep routine doesn't get screwed up by her shots...

Interesting....

Matt's grandparents have been away for the past month...yesterday they stopped by the store to pick up a catering order (the massive amounts of cookies I baked on Friday) for my MIL. They brought home a couple of things for us that they had found/gotten: A broken bottle cork with a reindeer on top, a metal heart-shaped cork, and 3 little books.

The books are what I want to talk about. I seriously want to ask Grammy if they were given to me as something funny to read or legitimate guides/advice. May I present to you:

Exhibit A - Date 1952

First off, I looked up what Farex is...according to wikipedia it's flour mixed with vitamins. The book is basically a how-to on introducing foods, along with recipes for baby which incorporate Farex. I think it would be the modern day equivalent of rice cereal.

I haven't read the whole thing cover to cover, I'll admit it, but I did flip through the booklet. The recipes are 'Simple, appetizing Farex recipes for the family'...such things as Farex Meat Loaf, Farex Fruit Flan, Farex Apple Brown Betty, and let us not miss out on Farex Jelly Sponge.

I didn't think this book was too weird, until I saw this (click on them to read them):

If you read through it, the one thing that jumped out at me was the adding SUGAR to everything or the extensive uses of jams, jellies, and juices....all of which contain SUGAR! Hmmm....

Sugar is becoming more well known to be a major cause of obesity (at least I think I read that somewhere). I think I may have discovered the cause of increased obesity in the US...FAREX's Guide to Weaning. The baby boomer parents created an entire GENERATION of SUGAR ADDICTS!

Read over what the suggested things are for weaning...cow's milk, marmalade, jam and bread, honey...Makes me wonder what people will think about our parenting in 60 years.

Exhibit B - No Date
It's basically an advertisement for Dinneford's Magnesia...the pamphlet suggests that it be given to both mother and baby to help with keeping the bowels gently open.

There are two things on this front page that caught my eye:

Under "during pregnancy": "You will win the approval of your doctor if you take an occasional tablespoonful or so of Dinneford's Pure Fluid Magnesia to keep the system gently regular"

(I'm all about pleasing my doctor and winning their approval!)

and under "After Baby is Born": "and you try to settle down to the routine of nursing, not forgetting your home duties as well...."

(Of course, let me pop out a kid and get right back to the house work!)

Ummmmm...........Wow! just WOW!

On the back of the pamphlet it has suggested treatments for which Dinneford's works wonders: Your child is teething....give'em Dinneford's; An infectious disease? "It is wise to keep the bowels gently open with Dinneford's"; Hiccups? Dinneford's! This stuff is magic! I wonder why it's not around anymore ;-)

Exhibit C
The last page of this little beauty is what REALLY caught my eye, "Suggested Articles Required at the Time of the Confinement for Mother and Baby." .....ummm :-|

I know this is a sign of the times, but really? Confinement? Thankfully gone are the days of confinement and laboring alone in a room for days strapped to a bed.

I still want to ask Matt's grandma why she got these for me (I'm assuming at a garage sale), but I have no idea how to do that without seeming rude. If it was for a good laugh...awesome! But if she bought them in ernest and seriously I consider taking their advice....wow!

I thought you would all get a good kick out of reading these.

4 Months Old

We're a 1/3 of the way to One! I honestly couldn't tell you where the past 4 months have gone...it feels like it was just recently that we were wondering if we'd ever be blessed with children. Avelyn you are the BIGGEST source of joy (worry and stress...but all worth it) in our life. We can't imagine how we ever existed before you were born; you are our sunshine and our life. We love you more than we ever thought it was possible to love someone.

This past month...
*You sat in a high chair during dinner for the first time (at Grandma and Grandpa's)
*You rolled over from your belly to your back, and from back to your belly
*You grab at your feet and put them in your mouth (more so when you don't have a diaper on)
*You had your first taste of rice cereal
*You LOVE sleeping on your side (and this is how I always find you)
*You still haven't slept through the night more than twice
*You love playing with your toys, it doesn't matter if it's your exersaucer, your exercise mat, or your stuffed animals
*You love putting EVERYTHING in your mouth: Toys, fingers, hands, anything
*You can stand on your own, just holding on to someone's fingers
*You some how manage to move yourself ALL OVER your crib...you're never in the position that I left you in
*You take anywhere from 4-8ozs at a time
*Sometimes you think the middle of the night is the perfect play time and can't figure out why mommy sits in the rocking chair half-asleep watching you
*You are such a happy baby
*You've started giving the sweetest hugs and hold on tight to mommy and daddy
*You're starting to associate your name with you
*You'll play by yourself on your exercise mat for 45 minutes at a time
*You're still having a bit of a mommy-obsession, but you're getting better at going to other people
*You're ticklish on your feet, sides, and tummy
*You love your bath time and kick your feet with such ferocity (I can't wait until the bathroom is done, so you stop soaking the kitchen!)
*You have one of the biggest and best smiles in the world
*You're officially wearing 3-6 months clothing
*You're almost as big as your cousin C, and she's 3 months older than you (your feet are the same size)
*I actually have to start brushing your hair in the morning, otherwise it gets all knotty
*You've started grabbing at EVERYTHING and pulling on it as hard as you can (especially hair)
*You can also scream like it's nobody's business...especially when you want something NOW!
*You're very interested in whatever it is that Mommy and Daddy are eating
*There is no better sound in the world than that of your talking and laughter

You have changed so much in this past month, it's astounding! Mommy and Daddy love you so very, very much!



Here's the pictures!

Another BIG first for AVELYN!

(I'm a post whore today...my apologies :-)

Well last night I took A up to bed, and had her on her tummy while I folded diapers. I left the room (she was on the floor) to get something and came back and she was on her back...I did a double take and thought to myself, "I did have her on her tummy, didn't I?". I figured it was fluke so I rolled her back over and watched.

She rolled from her belly to tummy 4 times in a row (twice on camera). Here it is :-)

People who say they sleep like a baby usually don't have one. ~Leo J. Burke

Sleep? Sleep?! I know not what you speak of, please tell me what is this "sleep"?

That's been our house the past two nights. Monday night [into Tuesday] A decided to do what she usually does from 4-6 (waking up every 45 minutes) from midnight until 6. I had just gone to bed 30 minutes before she started. I think I got a total of 2 hours sleep.

Last night, I got more sleep, but it was another rough one. I put A down at 8:15, I went to sleep at 9:30, I heard her at 11:30, went in dreamfed her, and she was down until 3. I was thinking...OK, this is good, we're at least getting back to the other schedule. *ERH!* Nope. I put her back down at 3:15, she was ok until 4am...then she wanted to PLAY. Still OK, figure it's the 4 month wakefuls, I leave her in her crib and let her laugh and talk and play.

Then the crying starts. I go back in to sooth her and she is SOAKING WET all over her chest. I change her pajamas (I figured she'd spit up), got her to go back to sleep and put her back down. This lasted another 20 minutes. She's crying again, she's soaked again. I change her a 3rd time, and feel her bed...the sheets are soaked. At this point the kid is going to be sleeping on a quilt in her crib.

I've soothed her to sleep, she's taken 2 more oz...I'm standing next to the crib, and she starts gagging...I sit her upright and SPEW! all over me, the dresser, the floor, the pile of now REALLY dirty sheets and clothes: Projectile vomit. Fortunately I didn't get any on her. I put her down in the crib, she's back asleep now, and proceed to clean what I can in her room...it's 5am. She fortunately slept until 7:15.

At that point I brought her into bed with me and we slept (after another bottle) until 10:30. I must say, I really enjoy the fact that I don't have to get up and go to work at 7am when she's had a night like that....God Bless ALL of you who do do that.

It wouldn't even have been a bad night, except for the changing clothes and sheets repeatedly. I hope she starts doing better soon.

Does ANYONE have ANY advice on dealing with the 4 month-wakefuls (I try to stimulate her as little as possible to get her to go back to sleep)? Or any ideas on how long it usually lasts? I know that her laughing/playing was definitely what they talk about, but could the sleeping on and off (45 minute intervals) in the early morning be part of it too?

New Things for Avelyn (updated)

I'm not sure if we're going through a phase or what, but I'm pooped! It seems like every night for the past week (we had a few REALLY good nights of crib sleep) from 3-7am, I don't sleep. I put A back in her crib at 3:30 (she's been waking up at 2:30) after a bottle, but then she fusses a bit (while asleep) on and off for a couple of hours, then finally goes to sleep around 4:30, only to wake at 6:15 laughing and talking, at which point I've been doing another bottle and bringing her into bed with me, so that I can get a few more hours.

I have my own sleep issues. I've never been one to lay down and BAM! I'm out...it takes me a bit to fall asleep, knowing that I'm going to be woken up in a few hours, makes it even harder for me to fall asleep, and on top of that I'm not getting enough physical exercise, so my body isn't as tired and ready for sleep as it should be (in spite of not getting much sleep).

A has started doing this new thing...it's actually really annoying and scared the crap out of me the first time. On Sunday night, at 2:30...I keep hearing a THUD over the monitor, then suddenly I hear the crib rattling (the drop side). I go running in there...A has completely moved herself! I put her in laying lengthwise in the crib, she's rotated herself 90* and is kicking the side of the crib. She's done this the past few nights and I think she's waking herself up. I tried putting her closer to the other side, so that when she moves, she's not too close to the side she's kicking (she only rotates in a clockwise direction).

Now throughout the early morning, not only does A fuss, but she moves in the crib so that she can kick the side: YAY!

The second new thing (besides moving around her bed) is a direct result of the night time lack of sleep. I think part of A's waking is that she's hungry (as noted by the 4-6oz she takes at 3am and again a few hours later). Today I introduced a bit of rice cereal.

At first she was making faces at me (I was spoon feeding it), but tthen she started to enjoy it...she didn't get very much and it was more or less for me to see if she would take it by spoon and whether she would actually eat it. I want to add a tiny bit of it to her bottle at night, to see if that helps the sleeping thing.

Of course most anything you read says no "solids" until 6 months, but I've also read a lot of stuff with people doing rice cereal at 3-4 months in a bottle at bed time. I figure it's worth a shot...particularly if she isn't adverse to it. We'll see how it goes tonight.

The other thing is about school: We've planned on homeschooling since before we were married, but I keep hearing "Montessori" popping up in a lot of places. I've been looking into it and found this website, which has a section specifically for Montessori learning in a home school environment. I think there is actually a Montessori school in the next town over, about 40 minutes away.

They actually have a whole section on their website about Montessori learning in the first year, which is quite interesting. What I like about it, is that it's not an education as much as it is learning. I love learning! It provides babies, kids, etc with a cause and effect way of seeking out new things and developing their own interests and knowledge...whether it's researching a topic that interests you or learning how to use a toilet.

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Well we did a bottle (2oz) of rice cereal at 6 last night. I could already tell she was sleepy. Usually she just naps in the swing in the evening, while I get dinner ready, but last night I decided to see if she'd go down in the crib. She did: From 7-10pm, woke up then, gave her another 2oz bottle with rice cereal and 3oz of formula, and she was down until 4am (woohoo!).

We even managed to avoid the kicking the sides of the crib; I put her in the opposite way, so if she was kicking it was the side against the wall, and didn't make any noise.

Then she pulled her usual of waking up at 6:15, fussing and laughing. I brought her in our bed, but she was not interested in cuddling, so I put her back in her crib for 30 minutes, until she wasn't laughing, then gave her a bottle and brought her in bed with me until 8:45.

I ended up taking a benadryl to help me go to sleep...it worked. Was it a perfect night? No, but it was certainly better.

"Baby Gate" Olympics (and other sundry)

In our house we do not have baby gates as the world knows them, we have old expandable metal window screens. We've only ever needed gates to keep our dogs out of the dining room and the upstairs.

These gates have always been the bane of my existence. I'm a klutz, and as such, I have issues with "jumping" these hurdles. As you can see in Exhibit A (picture to the left): These are not especially high screens (maybe 2' high). If you notice in the background of Exhibit A, there is a white drying rack.

This morning I tried to step OVER the screen, tripped, and landed on the [now broken] drying rack. If this were the first time this had happened I would not be posting, but as I've tripped no less than 1,000 times on these screens, and broken no less than 4 screens, over the past few years, I am. This morning took the cake though...I managed to trip over the screen, scrape my calf, and land on, and break, the drying rack.

Avelyn was watching the entire thing, and burst out laughing.

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Matt's been working on the bathroom as much as he can. He's gotten all the walls tore down to the studs. He's hoping to get the ceiling done this week, so that on Sunday and next week he can run the electric...so the following weekend he, FIL, and BIL can hang sheet rock! WOOHOO!!!


We also went to Low.es today to look at the rest of the stuff we need for the bathroom. Surprisingly we don't need to special order anything for the shower....they carry it all in stock. So we're going back on Sunday (since we have a coupon) to get the rest of what we need. We did get the lights for above the shower and bath, as well as the sink top. It's progress, but we're getting there.


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I'm trying to find something to wear for A's Christening: I'm not having much luck. One) because I'm a cheapskate and I don't want to spend more than $20 on something, two) because there's just not much out there.

I finally began to cave and was willing to spend more money, but then what I found, I can't find a matching top for. I called CWC and asked them, but the top is unavailable. Can someone explain to me how clothing stores can show outfits, but not SELL all the pieces to the outfit?! I did find a top on landsend.com, that would possibly go, but then I'm paying for shipping etc and not knowing whether it's going to match! How frustrating!

Then I got the most recent Vera Bradley catalog and in there is the cutest white dress with colorful butterflies on it with a navy cardigan, but do you think THAT is for sale? Nope.

I looked at jcrew; I looked at Ann Taylor; I looked at Talbots: NIENTE! NADA! ZILCH! ZIP!

ZZzzzzzzzz.......

That was us this afternoon. A went down for a nap at 12:30pm (first time she'd been asleep since we got up at 8:45am)...and slowly mommy and daddy followed suit. When suddenly there was a yell, and mommy jumped off of the couch to find someone wanting a bottle....at 3:45.

I think I only slept for a little over an hour, but Ave did a good nap. She's sleeping a bit better at night, but she's still waking up...I'm thinking she's waking herself up in her bassinet. Her hands hit the sides and her feet and head are almost touch the ends. I think tonight we may just move her to the crib....hopefully that solves the dilemma....because 5 or 6 (even 3) hours of straight sleep would be bliss :-)

The other day when we went shopping T.arget had Dr. Seuss books on sale (2 for 10). I love Dr. Seuss books...they're long enough that it takes a bit to read, entertaining enough to keep A interested, and all around everyone is happy. Matt took this picture this afternoon. (please ignore my silly face). Obviously reading is a family-affair in our house; there's a reason why we don't have TV.

I grew up with my mom reading books to us....she was ALWAYS reading something. Matt's parents I don't think ever read them books. To my mom it was a must for us to read together. Obviously we're going to continue with that. I think it makes a HUGE difference in a person's life if they grow up reading books, especially ones beyond their age and if they read them out loud. We love BOOKS! (and sleep:-)

Feeling better...

Yesterday was blah! I felt better all day, but by 6pm the exhaustion was catching up with me and Ave was fussy and quite frankly I was beginning to lose it (to the point that I was seriously considering putting her in her crib and just leaving her for a bit, because I was getting edgy).

I called Matt and asked him when he was going to be home because I was on the verge of a breakdown. He came home about 5 minutes later and it was better. It seriously just helps me to have him here...even if she won't go to him, there's someone else here.

We went up to bed at 9...she went down pretty easily, I turned out the late at 9:30 and she started. I swear the kid has photo-sensitive skin...she knows when I turn the light off in my room, even with her door shut! I went in and gave her George, she went back to sleep, I went back to bed, she started again, I went back in gave her the last oz in her bottle and she went back to sleep.

She fussed again at 10:30, but went right back to sleep and STAYED asleep until 3:30. Gave her a bottle, put her back down and she was out until 6:45, at which point I brought her back in bed with me until 8:45. So it was a better night, not the best, but better.

BARF!

Yea, that was me...last night. I have no idea why, but it was not a good night. Yesterday my sister, A, and I went shopping and out to lunch (pizzeria uno). I had some things to return at sears and wanted to pick up cardstock to make A's christening invitations. Felt fine all day....we put A down to sleep at 8, and she stayed down.

I turned off my light at 10:30, at 12 I hear her crying, I go in give her her pacifier (George) and she goes back to sleep, at 1:15 I wake up and keeping swallowing...feeling nauseaus from post-nasal drip (?), go to the bathroom and feel like I'm going to throw up, but then don't, but then I did for a 1/2 hour, I try to go back to sleep, my stomach is hurting, my throat is raw from throwing up....I hear Miss A again at 3:00. I get up, AGAIN, and give her a bottle, she goes back out...then she keeps waking up on and off until 5:30...at that point Matt get's up to go to work (he's slept through ALL OF THIS!), I get her and bring her in bed with me (it's now 6:30)...she's only interested in sleeping until 7:45, then we're up. I don't even know how much sleep I got last night, all I know is that this was the 2nd night in a row that she's not sleeping well (this was THE WORST night since she was born).

Right now, I'm exhausted, my head and neck hurt from throwing up, and I've tried laying on the couch while she naps, but it isn't happening. I've had a REALLY hard time over the past week falling asleep and staying asleep...I don't know what that's about (the only thing I can think of is lack of physical exertion). My stomach feels better, but I just want to curl up in a hole and sleep :-(

3 MONTHS (13 weeks + 1 day)

THREE MONTHS?! THREE MONTHS! SERIOUSLY HOW HAS IT ALREADY BEEN THREE MONTHS?!

Last night lying in bed, I realized something...One year ago (Jan 31) we had our IUI, it was my first day "pregnant" with Avelyn. Wow! I was blown away by that thought. A year ago we'd pretty much given up hope, had received the paperwork to start the adoption process, we'd already discredited the IUI..."knowing" it hadn't worked. And, now here we are a year later....I have a 3 month old swinging in my kitchen, taking a nap.

Here's her stats:
Weight: (correction) right around 13 1/2lbs
Length: just under 25"

Yesterday was also the first time we've taken A out in the snow (it was sunny and 30*) and to meet the chickens. The snow didn't phase her, but the chickens....oh my the chickens. She just starred and starred at them...I think what they were and the sounds were completely enthralling for her. Here are more pictures!

We spent quite a bit of time putzing around with pictures today, in honor of 3 months (about 3 hours on and off, with about 4 or 5 outfit changes). Some of them I even have A in my christening gown.

I was christened at 2 months old and A will certainly not fit into my gown at 5 months (when she's christened) so I just had to take some pictures of her in it. I'm actually thinking of having MIL take the train from my wedding dress to make A's christening gown. I know other people do this, and honestly, the train is the only part of my dress I'm attached to. The rest of it will probably be for dress up....so why not turn it into an heirloom...I'm sure A isn't going to want to wear my dress when she gets married.

Ok, a couple of new things she's doing: Drooling like a faucet, blowing raspberries, sitting upright in her bumbo for 10+ minutes at a time, sitting up in my lap with little to no support, eating (and gagging on) her hands, talking up a storm, and down-right giggling at things.

I've been holding off on doing one of these, but I think I can manage now...a side by side comparison of me at 13 weeks and A at 13 weeks. I definitely think she's the cuter of the two of us.


And here's the link to SOME of the pictures I took of her today (there were 347 total).

First Play Date!

Yesterday Avelyn and I had our first play date with my best friend from high school and her daughter (who's 6 weeks).

Friend and I haven't really been friends since shortly after graduating 10 years ago...she became a vastly different person than she was in high school (not a party-er to a HUGE party-er...I never did), but is now somewhat becoming like she used to be.

It was fun...and I was blown away by the fact that 1) there were TWO babies in my house and 2) how HUGE A is compared to Lillian. I know babies grow, but to see her side by side with another little one it was shocking!

I had cleaned the house furiously all week leading up to it (the house hadn't really been cleaned at all this month...it needed it) and baked a quiche for lunch. The babies were awesome they pretty much slept or ate the entire time, allowing us to rehash our delivery stories (friend's delivery was 20 hours). It felt almost normal...except there was thought in the back of my head "Please don't ask why it took us 3 years to get pregnant" - she didn't.

Here's the slideshow of pictures from the play date.

12 Weeks!

It's kind of sad, that after this, her 12th week, we'll start saying her age in months :-( It's going WAAAAY too fast! People keep asking if we're ready for the next one...um YES!

I mentioned in last weeks post that Avelyn has done two new things: Pulling "George" out of her mouth and putting him back in and moving her spoon from one hand to another (which hasn't happened again since). The one thing that she did start doing toward the end of the week is reach and grabbing at toys...namely those on her gym-mat-thingy or ones we're holding. It doesn't happen all the time, but she does do it on occasion. And, speaking of her exercise mat, she's also figured out if she kicks it that it makes noise. Oh, and her favorite thing is when I read "Red Fish, Blue Fish"....loves that book!

This past week, while we didn't have many new developments it was a week of fun toys! Grandma picked up a cash register for A, too keep at the store. Targ.et had it clearance, it was regularly $30 (which is WAY too much for the thing), but Grandma got it for $7.00...definitely a more acceptable price.

The other BIG buy was a splurge on the Baby Einstein "Around the World" Discovery Center at $90. I did NOT want to spend that much on an exersaucer, but it really was the most entertaining one out there and I figure if we break that out to a per child cost, it isn't that bad. A is definitely a little small for the exersaucer, but she LOVES the lion puppet that's on there and all the other noises that the thing makes.

The other thing that we're dealing with is A's obsession with me: That's right at 11/12 weeks she is having stranger issues and mommy attachment. I won't lie, it's wonderful to know that I am the ONLY one who can calm her down (for the past 2 1/2 weeks) but it gets exhausting to never have your arms to yourself. She screams bloody murder until she get's me.

Last night however, Matt and I went to see Sherlock Holmes (good movie) and Matt's sister came and stayed with her (knowing that she could very well scream the entire time). Yesterday seemed to be better though...she let Matt hold her for over an hour yesterday afternoon and actually didn't scream the entire time we were out. Hopefully we're turning a new leaf.

Here's the link to her 12 week pictures and a video of her on her exercise mat.



Oh, and on the DL: Someone has STTN TWICE this past week (1o:30p - 6:30a). I hope just didn't jinx it!

11 weeks and New Developments!

We've had 2 new and exciting developments in the White House.

Avelyn's been pulling her pacifier, "George", out of her mouth and dropping him, for the past 2 weeks or so...well on Thursday she decided to take him out of her mouth and put him back in, repeatedly. The best was when she took him out of her mouth, was holding him, and didn't realize she was holding him, then started crying because she wanted George back.

Yesterday my sister was over and we were playing with Avelyn and gave her a plastic spoon to hold. I looked away for a SECOND, and my sister goes, "She just changed hands while holding the spoon!". Sure enough the spoon had been in her left hand and she had switched it to the right!

On Sunday night we headed up to my parents house to have dinner with them and some friends: It was really great to get together with everyone. Avelyn even got to meet another little friend, Sebastian, who is 17 months. He was so much fun! (Here's the pictures)

(Here's the pictures)


Avelyn's 11 week pictures!


Oh, and yesterday I crocheted a hat for A: It's the first thing I've crocheted since 2000.

“Faith makes all things possible.... love makes all things easy.”

I got my new glasses last night: WOOHOO! They're definitely taking some getting used to. Not only are they a stronger prescription, but there is also something with an astigmatism in my right eye that makes adjusting to them harder. (excuse the picture...I haven't brushed my hair today).

We also had A's ophthalmologist appt yesterday: Clean bill of health. The doctor didn't see any cause for concern with her pupils/irises. Most likely she will grow out of it.

She's been doing better. Yesterday was bearable and she was acting a bit more like herself. She was on her more regular sleep schedule last night and so far today she seems to be more like herself. Someone had suggested that it was a growth spurt, and then someone on the bump.com boards said their son went through the same thing at 8-10 weeks and chalked it up to a growth spurt and the vaccines. We're thinking it's a mix of a growth spurt, the vaccines, and an upset tummy. I'm beyond glad that she's getting back to her normal self.

We had a meeting this morning with the Child Health Plus people...A's application is submitted and they didn't see any issues with her getting the insurance. Hopefully it will all be through and submitted before her next Well Baby visit in March. I even got the application in the mail for Matt and I for Healthy NY...hopefully that goes through smoothly.

While my ILs are in Egypt my MIL let me borrow her cricut. It's a pretty cool thing, but I'm rather disappointed with it's limitations. I thought for sure that I should be able to cut text out of an overlay and just place it over another piece of paper, but you can't...you have to have the individual letters cutout and glue them to your paper. Oh well. I think I may try and use it for A's Christening invitations. The cartridges are certainly not cheap though for the different fonts and such.

This is what I made for A's room though. I've wanted something like this for a while. It isn't quite this color (I wasn't using the flash), but I'm pleased with how it came out :-) I'm waiting on one thing from Willow Creek Signs and then her room will be DONE!

This just in: Matt was in a car accident. He's fine. Today is the day he does the route, with another guy. The other guy was driving...he has issues, a lot of issues...most of which have been resolved for the past year or so. Matt was putting things into the computer and BAM! I'm not sure of all that happend, but from the sounds of it, the other guy fell asleep while driving and jerked the van off the road.

It's not even funny how many issues there are now because of this: The first being that the van is undriveable and they still have the entire day's worth of deliveries to make. If Matt makes it home before 10 tonight I'll be surprised. The other big issue is getting the van repaired; this isn't a minivan it's a 16' refrigerated van. On top of all this my parents insurance for the trucks/business is going to go through the roof because of this.

The guy told my dad in December that he was going to be moving out of the area in June, but I think my dad might just be firing him before then...he's pretty pissed. There's absolutely no excuse for this guy to not come to work well rested: He lives alone, his girlfriend is in another town, and he has no other responsibilities outside of work. At least Matt is ok (albeit very pissed off).

My daughter has been body-snatched!

My normally happy, easy going, smiley, sleeping, goes to anyone baby has been kidnapped. In place of her I have a baby that wants only mommy and SCREAMS until I'm holding her.

I'm at a loss...the past 2 days have been horrible, worse than when she was days/weeks old.

Last week she had her vaccines (Monday) and she was sleepy all week, but still happy...just wasn't eating as much as normal...Sunday night she slept 8 hours straight.

Monday it started...when she gets upset no one can console her, once I have her, she's ok and goes to sleep pretty quickly.....Tuesday night she wouldn't stay asleep unless I held her....otherwise she just screamed and screamed.

All day yesterday she was beyond anything I've ever seen. I held her the entire day, except for a few breaks when she was asleep and I could put her down, but never for more than 35-40 minutes. Daddy tried to console her...SCREAMED. Oma (my mom) tried.....SCREAMED. It did not matter she who or what they were offering...she screamed.

She slept last night (on me - because I was exhausted). Matt got up with her at 5... she took a bottle from him, and then SCREAMED and would not calm down and go back to sleep. Again I ended up holding her and within minutes she was out. She hasn't done that in almost 2 weeks (sleep on me).

Tell me she's too young to be showing this kind of preference. Or what we can do...because Mommy's going a bit batty. I'm praying that today is LOTS better and that she just hasn't felt well.

10 weeks

Yesterday A was 10 weeks...how are we already in the double digits. I actually got really sad thinking that this is the last time she'll hit double digits for anything until she's 10 years old...then I realized...DUH! 10 months :-) and that made me feel better.

Three different things this week:

MIL bought a bumbo thingy (it's a knock off) for A...and she LOVES it! We set her in it for a few minutes at the store and she just loves looking around at everything. She's actually getting to the point now that she doesn't like laying down, because she wants to see what's going on. The only thing she doesn't like about it is the having to bend at the waist thing...doesn't like that.

She's become fascinated with staring at her hands...she just looks at them all intent and cross-eyed...too funny.

Sleep...not only are we back on our old sleep schedule (down at 10pm, up at 3:30, then down 4:00-7am)...but she did one better last night. Down at 8:30pm and out until 5:00am. HOLY MOLY! She's also slept the past 2 nights in her room (with a heater)...she's in the bassinet, but she's sleeping in a different room from us. It's hard..I don't like it, but I know she's sleeping better because it's warmer in there. Eventually we'll have to move her to the crib, but for right now...I think it's too big for her and she feels lost in it.

I think that's all for 10 weeks :-(

(psst...this is my new favorite picture of A...she's looking so grown up)