My Journey through Life, Marriage, and Motherhood

Circle of Life.

2012-01-03T23:44:00.014-06:00

Well, I have got to say, I am not too sorry to see 2011 go.

My poor family has been through quite a bit in the last several months. In the beginning of November (I'm pretty sure it was the 2nd), my Grandpa got so weak that he couldn't stay at home by himself anymore. It must have been so hard for him, but he called up my mom and finally took her up on the offer to come stay with her. So for a few weeks, she and my dad took care of him.

We hosted Thanksgiving at our house, in the basement, so Grandma and Grandpa could just come in the basement door in their wheel chairs and not have to get up the stairs somehow. It worked out pretty nicely. I am so glad we were all able to be together as a family for Thanksgiving. However, shortly after lunch, Grandpa didn't feel well and he slept in the guest room for the rest of the day. I liked him being there though. I just hope it wasn't too hard on him.

Pretty quickly, it was getting to the point that mom physically wasn't able to help him. One day Grandpa said to mom that he better go to the hospital, which is HUGE. Things would have to be really bad for him to suggest the hospital. So they went. He stayed there for about a week and then moved to the nursing home where he would be able to receive better care from people trained to help.

Meanwhile, the day before Thanksgiving, Mom found a lump in her breast. On December 1st, I accompanied her to Jennie Ed for an ultrasound to get it checked out. They thought that cyst looked fine. The other one, though, the one that she had checked out in February at Mercy and they said was totally fine and would never turn to cancer? Yeah that one... they thought that one looked suspicious. They were worried. They did a biopsy right then of the "cyst" that wasn't really a cyst and another biopsy of a lymph node. A whole agonizing day later, Dr. G called. She didn't have the official results yet, but they were worried and she was pretty sure it was cancer. This was a horrible weekend for all of us. Monday we got word: Moderately Differential Infiltrated Ductal Carcinoma. My mom has breast cancer.

In the nursing home, Grandpa continued to grow weaker. He quit eating, quit drinking. Mom was told by an aide that she'd be surprised if Grandpa made it to Sunday (Dec 11th), the same day that mom was scheduled to go out to Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Zion, Illinois(a suburb of Chicago). Why an aide thinks she is in ANY position to give information like that is beyond me. Very frustrating. After much, much, MUCH deliberating, and after a hospice nurse gave mom some very profound advice, she finally decided to go ahead and go to CTCA on the 11th. Saturday night, we all went to the nursing home and visited Grandpa. He was barely alert, but looked around at us when we talked and when I said "I love you, Grandpa," he said, "I love you, too." Then he said the same thing to mom when she told him she loves him. Those were the last words we ever heard him speak. Mom was sure this was her last goodbye with her dad.

During the week that mom and dad were in Illinois, I went to visit Grandpa almost every day. The aids said that he wasn't responding to anyone or anything anymore. Whatever. He totally responded to me. When I talked to him, he moved his arms around and reached his hand out. He acted like he wanted to say something but couldn't. Then Nate said something to him and got nothing. I talked to him again, and he moved his hand around again. I felt pretty special right then.

Once when I went in, I talked to him for a minute and didn't get a response. Then I started to give him some news from mom, and he responded a lot. Shifting his shoulders and moving his arms, reaching out his hand. Then he seemed to pull at his blanket. I asked, "Are you too hot?" obviously not expecting an answer. I swear, I SWEAR I saw him shake his head ever so slightly. I told Grandma about it, and she said that earlier that day, she asked him if he wanted his mouth wiped with the wet sponge, and she said she saw him nod. While I was thrilled that it seemed like he could understand and hear what we were saying, I was also a little heart broken that he could hear and understand, but couldn't say anything back. I hope he wasn't upset or frustrated about that.

The news I told Grandpa about Mom that seemed to excite him so much is this... Mom's cancer hasn't spread. She has Stage 2 cancer and it is in both the "cyst" that Mercy said was fine and also 2 lymph nodes. It hadn't spread anywhere else. Thank God. Thank GOD. Her doctor said she was curable. Not treatable, mind you. Curable! However, she does still have to go through 4 rounds of chemo, surgery, and then radiation. She was able to get through her first round of chemo on her birthday while out in Chicago (happy birthday to her!) before she came home.

I picked them up from the airport and we went straight to the nursing home. Grandpa held on for her. He hadn't had anything to eat or drink in a week or so. This was rough. Again, the aides said that Grandpa wasn't responding. When mom got in there and talked to him, he definitely knew she was there. He responded by moving his shoulders, his arms, his hands. She told him the news again and I know he heard her and was so happy.

I stayed with mom the next several nights to help her in any way I could. She had to get a shot the day after getting chemo to make her bones stay strong. Apparently this shot makes a person feel like they have a bad case of the flu for 3-4 days. Mom was so miserable. She felt horrible. We bunked out together downstairs and she pretty much slept for the first two days while I updated friends and family on what was going on. And I watched TV. A lot of TV. I didn't want to leave her side.

On December 18th, I rolled over on our makeshift bed on the floor, and mom told me that Grandpa had passed away. Dad had come down earlier after a phone call from the nursing home and told mom. Apparently I slept through it. Obviously, it wasn't a surprise. I wasn't shocked. It was actually a blessing that he lasted as long as he did. So why did it still feel like I was being punched in the gut? I cried, just a little. Dad went to the nursing home to be with Grandma and Grandpa. I asked mom what she wanted me to do, and she wanted me to stay there with her. I was a little relieved about that.

By this time, mom was feeling not great by any means, but better than before. She was able to get up and out of the house and make funeral plans, even if she did have to force herself. We went to the funeral home to make plans and Mom and I went to a meeting at Grandpa's church to talk to the pastor who would officiate at the funeral. He asked a lot of questions about Grandpa and what he was like growing up and throughout life. It was nice talking about him. Getting to tell someone what an amazing man my Grandpa was.

Mom looked gorgeous and healthy at the visitation and funeral, even though I'm sure she didn't feel it. The visitation was December 21st and the funeral... my grandpa's funeral was December 22nd. That is so hard to type out. The funeral was beautiful, if a funeral can be beautiful. The pastor did a great job of telling everybody how wonderful this man was. Like they didn't already know. Everyone loved him. They still love him.

One small blessing is that mom still had her own hair for the funeral. Several days after Christmas, mom's hair started shedding a little more than usual. Quickly, it started coming out by the handful. On December 31st, mom and I went for a spa day. She decided it was time to cut her hair off. I told her several times to try not to let it bother her. To think of it as, "Screw you, cancer, you can't get to me." Obviously, this is easier said than done. I could not even follow my own advice. Not even close. We both cried big ol' fat tears when she was sitting in the chair waiting for the stylist to come back with the right size clippers. I did still have plenty of "screw you, cancer" thoughts, though. Then we both got a pedicure and manicure. Not what most people have in mind for a girls day out, but we had fun.

Today mom and I went to the wig shop and picked up her new hair. She really likes her new bangs! Tomorrow I will drop mom and dad off at the airport so she can head to Chicago for her second round of chemo.

So 2011... I'm not all that sorry to say that I won't miss you. I hope and pray that 2012 will be a year of joy and hope and healing and recovery and LIFE.

Also? I'm pregnant. :) So come on 2012... let's see where you take us. Please be nice.

She'll still need me... right?!

2011-11-23T09:44:00.004-06:00

After I read Elizabeth a story, she turned and hugged me and patted me on the back. What a nice cuddle, I thought. And then...

E: "When I grow up, I'm not even going to need a mommy anymore."

That sound you heard? Was my heart shattering all across the floor.

Me: "But I'm a grown up and I still need my mommy. Do you think you'll still need your mommy when you are grown up?"

E: "No. Because I'll grow up and be a big kid and I won't be a little kid anymore."

Like I need reminders. She's getting big so fast.

Another potty training update :)

2011-10-30T16:19:00.001-05:00

So last week was Lizzie's first time in big girl undies. No big deal. AHH!!!

She actually could have been switched over from pull ups to underwear a few weeks ago, but we hadn't made it to the store yet to buy them. Mommy fail.

She hasn't had an accident during the day since before October 1st. Seriously, overnight it just seemed to click with her. We have been working on it this whole summer, and she has done decent. But as of October 1st... she gets it. She tells me every single time she has to go. When we are eating out at a restaurant, or shopping for groceries, in dance class... she never goes in her pants! Even during her nap time she knocks on the door when she has to go. It is pretty awesome.

She is still in pull ups at night and has only had a couple incidents where she is wet in the mornings. I am pretty freakin excited and so proud of my big girl!

Introducing Binky Giraffey

2011-10-28T00:34:00.007-05:00

This is going to be a long, boring post about something that nobody else will probably ever care about but that I want to remember forever. So here goes. I am a little embarrassed to actually say this out loud (or... type it out), but Elizabeth has STILL been using her binky. Her binky has always been her "lovey." She never had a stuffed animal or blanket that she brought with her everywhere. She just wanted her binkys. However many she could fit in her teeny hands. However, for a very, very long time, she has only had them at night and nap time. And I have been terrified, dreading the day when it is time to take away her binkys. Which is why she's 3 years old and still had them.

Transitioning to an only bed time binky was actually super easy. One day I asked if she wanted to leave her binky in her crib after her nap, and she just turned and tossed it back in the crib. From that day on, she only had it when she was sleeping.

Lately though, she's been more dependent on her binkys. She'll go get them from her room and bring them out to the rest of the house. I'll tell her that binkys are for bed time, so she tells me she's sleepy and she'll lay down wherever she's at to go to bed.

My baby girl with her binky. I am so going to miss her binky face.

About a week ago I started talking to her about sending her binkys to a new baby who needs them and about going to the store to get a stuffed animal that we can name Binky. That way she can still have a Binky to sleep with. (Got this idea from my cousin who still sleeps with a big horse named Pacifier. :) She said to this idea, "I want to get a giraffe." Okay then.

The other day we were at the store and came across this big display of pillow pets. She said, "Look at all those animals named Binky!!" There were several giraffes in the mix, so I grabbed one and she just cuddled with it. Looks like we found our Binky! Wasn't exactly what I had in mind, but it'll do.

I wasn't exactly sure when this whole Binky switch was going to happen, but tonight the issue was kind of forced. A tear was discovered in the one binky that we found, the pink one that seems to be her favorite these days. The other two, "green and yellow binky" and "butterfly binky," were no where to be found. I asked Lizzie if she wanted to sleep with her new Binky giraffe tonight so we could send her binkys to a new baby, and she grinned and ran to the kitchen to get the giraffe off the table.

This picture shows all her beloved binkys: pink binky, green and yellow binky, and butterfly binky. Also, she is sleeping on her rocking chair like a little weirdo.

I started reading stories while we had this giant giraffe sitting with us. Only one time did she say that she wanted her binkys, and I just reminded her she had her Binky giraffe to sleep with instead. She seemed fine with that. At one point she told me the giraffe's name is Binky Giraffey.

Lizzie with Mr. Binky Giraffey

She actually did really good. Well.... other than not being at all tired and getting up constantly. She kept standing at her door saying she wanted her mommy and I lost track of the number of times I went in there to lay her back down, but she never again mentioned wanting her binkys.

She finally settled down on the floor (her new favorite spot to sleep) and fell asleep. One time I watched on the video monitor as she sat up and looked around like she was searching for her binkys. My heart broke just a little right then and I instantly regretted this whole thing. Then she laid back down on Binky Giraffey and fell right back to sleep. Maybe this won't be as hard as I thought it was going to be...

So very proud of my big girl.

Big Girl Bed!

2011-10-01T22:35:00.001-05:00

Switching from a crib to a big girl bed is something I had been worried about for quite some time. Ever since shortly after Elizabeth's 1st birthday, when she FINALLY became a decent sleeper, and FINALLY started sleeping through the night consistently, I have been in the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality.

Elizabeth goes to bed around 9:00 PM and stays in bed until around 9:00 AM. It. is. awesome. So of course, the not knowing what will happen when she is released from the confines of her crib is super scary. Would we never sleep again?!

Finally, at only a couple weeks away from turning three years old, we converted her crib into a big girl toddler bed last night.

First night actually went great. SO great. I am very cautiously optimistic about this whole big girl bed thing. Time will tell!

Get out of here bug! ... no wait, come back...

2011-09-09T10:10:00.005-05:00

E: "Mommy, please get rid of this bug!"

I wave my arms around at the fly

Me: "Okay, he should be gone."

The stupid bug flies back around and I wave my arms around again.

E: giggles

Me: "There, he should be gone now."

E: starts crying "I miss him! I miss that bug!"

Me: .....seriously??? "I'm sure he'll be back, honey."

E: whimpers "I miss him."

The stupid bug flies around us again.

Me: "See, he's back. Happy?"

E: "Yeah!" smiles all huge "I like bugs. Mommy, do you like bugs?"

Me: "I like cheerios! Here, eat your cheerios."

E: "Mommy, do you like bugs?"

Me: sigh "Yep.... so much."

Ugh

See the little black speck on the table in front of her? That's her ~~stupid~~ bug.

Potty training updates

2011-08-17T10:19:00.000-05:00

Toddlers have this weird way with habits. Do something one way, just one time, and you should pretty much count on doing it the same way for the foreseeable future.

Elizabeth's toilet is behind our loveseat in the living room.

How, might you ask, did the toilet make its way to behind the loveseat?

Every time she needed to go, she would run behind the loveseat, grunt a little, and come out a little stinkier. Any time we caught her running back there, we would try to get her to go to the toilet. Sometimes she would, sometimes she wouldn't.

SO. Her dad came up with the bright idea of putting her little toilet behind the love seat one evening when she was caught running back there. That way she can get used to going in the toilet while still going behind the loveseat where apparently she feels comfortable. Great idea, right?! Except now there is a toilet behind my loveseat. Every time I move it back to the restroom, she will drag it right back out and carry it behind the loveseat.

I'm sure this will be a hilarious story to one day tell her future boyfriend. But for now, I can't wait until she can go in the restroom like normal people.

Soon Enough

2011-06-17T10:36:00.007-05:00

Elizabeth is now 2 years, 8 months, and 2 days old. She has officially been a "big girl" for some time now. She learns new things every day and amazes me with some of the things she says. She is so very stubborn and challanges me daily. (So far, I usually win, even if not at first.) She's very independant and will rarely ask for my help for anything. She knows what she wants, even if her mind changes three seconds later (hey, its her perogative). She is crazy smart (at least in my opinion). She counts to 39, learned her ABC's around her 2nd birthday, and can sing songs with me by the 2nd or 3rd time she hears them.

She's growing up. So very fast.

However, at night time, when it is time for her bedtime routine, she turns the light off and shuts the door, tells me to say "muahaha" while she makes her way across the dark room to turn the sound machine and lamp on, and then she goes to her crib for her binkys. She sticks one in her mouth and holds on to the other, and comes over to me to climb up in my lap.

This is when she is still my baby. When she just curls up in my arms with a binky in her mouth. I realize that at over 2.5 years old, she is probably a little too old for her binkys. I don't think either of us are ready for her to part with them quite yet though.

Soon enough she won't have them any more. Soon enough she won't want to cuddle up on my lap for books and stories and songs and giggles before bedtime. Soon enough she won't be my baby, in the literal sense of the word. She'll go from a little girl to a grown woman entirely way too fast. But for right now, she is still small. And I will enjoy these binky faced cuddles while I can.

A trip to the doctor

2011-04-11T16:41:00.008-05:00

Yesterday when my little girl woke up, Nate brought her into our bed for some cuddles. She felt a little warm to me and I asked it she felt yucky. She said, "No, I feel fine." (She's so cute.) So I figured she was warm because she just woke up.

So then she was in her high chair and about to eat some cheerios when she started crying and saying she felt sad. Then she puked all up in her cheerios. I got baby cleaning duty and Nate tackled her high chair. When I took her jammies off, her skin felt HOT. I took her temp and it was 101 degrees. OF COURSE it was a Sunday yesterday. That's just how she rolls.

I gave her motrin and tylenol yesterday to keep her fever down. At one point it got up to 103 degress. She told me her throat hurt and that there was a frog in it. I wasn't even sure she knew what a throat was, but when I asked her to show me, she opened her mouth and said "ahhhh!"

So today we went to see her doctor. She looked oh-so-sick as she ran around the waiting room like a crazy person. Playing games, laughing, running some more. Then the nurse called her back and she got weighed like a big girl. 29.5 lbs!

There have been a couple people in our lives that have had strep lately, so the nurse wanted to do a strep test. Lizzie did not care for it, to put it mildly. Luckily Nate was able to break away from work to come help us at the doctor appointment. (He only drove 85-90 mph following a black SUV for about 1/3 of the way from Elkhorn. That black SUV ended up being a K-9 unit police SUV. Oops.) BUT he made it. So he held Lizzie's head still and I held her arms down while the mean nurse (who is actually super nice) stuck a giant Q tip down my daughter's throat.

Lizzie sobbed and sobbed and puked and sobbed some more. She kept coughing and throwing up phlem. It was pretty gross. To distract her from her sobbing, I started telling stories about a beautiful little girl named Lizzie and all of her wild adventures. She got pretty into the stories and would turn and repeat stuff I said to Nate. It was pretty cute. The whole time she was holding kleenex up to her mouth in case she started coughing again.

The nurse poked her head back in the room and said she was glad we did the strep test, because it had already come back positive. Well... crap. Poor kid.

So I finally get her in a good mood with these stories and then Dr. B comes in. Lizzie immediatly started sobbing and jumped in my lap and put a death grip on my neck. That kid was glued to me. After a lot of coaxing on our part and sobbing and coughing on her's, we finally got her to show Dr. B her pretty eyes. Then we tried to get her to show him her teeth and she freaked and turned around again. FINALLY we got her to say "ahhh" (while still crying) long enough for him to get a quick glance in her mouth.

Then since she was such a good girl (ha), the nurse gave her a Dora and Boots sticker that she really, really wanted on her tummy.

While Lizzie and I strolled the aisles at Walgreens waiting for her prescription to be ready, she said, "Mommy, Dr. B fun!"

I was shocked and said, "You had fun at Dr. B's?"

Lizzie: "Yeah!" *starts sobbing hysterically* Yeah, sure you did, kid.

( My "baby" will be two and a half in 4 days!)

"I LOVE (fill in the blank)!"

2011-03-25T19:20:00.001-05:00

Elizabeth is such a little punk lately. A cute punk, but a punk nonetheless. When we tell her to do something or not do something, like, "Don't hit mommy," for example, she'll say, "I LOVE hitting mommy!

Me: "Lizzie, don't lay your face on the toilet."
Liz: "I LOVE laying my face on the toilet!"

Nate: "Don't poke the caterpiller, Elizabeth."
Liz: "I LOVE poking the caterpiller!"

You get the idea. Punk.

First Dance Class

2011-01-19T11:23:00.008-06:00

A friend told me about a toddler dance class at one of the local dance studios in town so I immediately signed Lizzie up. (By "immediately," I mean that I called two days before it started to make sure there were still openings...)

So off we go to dance class. On the way, there was a song on the radio about when your babies grow up and leave the house. I got misty eyed thinking about my baby leaving me one day and because this is my little girl's very first dance class and I don't want her to grow up too fast but I am so excited to see her grow up and learn new things and become a contributing member of society... but right now she is my little girl and we are on our way to her very first dance class. (By the way, how exactly did she get old enough to go to a dance class??)

Then she ruined the whole day for me.

The dance class itself was actually pretty fun. Lizzie was super cute doing all of the little dance moves. She shook her wiggles out and jumped and marched and chasséd and skipped with the best of 'em. Well, she tried at skipping. And chasséing. We sang and danced to "If You Are Happy and You Know It" and a song about going in a villiage. She rang a bell up high and down low and in a circle. And then she refused to go through the tunnel even though she has a tunnel at home and goes in it all. the. time. But whatever.

After the class though, my daughter became... I'd rather not say possessed, but I am lacking a better word. Okay... naughty. Super naughty. Extremely, super naughty. She freaked out. She decided that right then and there, in front of 25 other moms and kids, that she wanted to prove that I am a terrible mom and that she is a big jerk. Kidding. Kind of.

I was so humiliated. She wouldn't let me put her boots or her coat on. She screamed and tried running away and then would go all limp noodle on me when I caught her. She even tried hitting me in my face! What the what?? If it wasn't 3° outside, I would have just picked her up and walked outside. But no. I wanted her to be warm.

There are seven more dance classes. I'm not so sure that we'll make it to the next one.

She is soooo lucky she is cute.

Why do I stall?

2011-01-17T23:18:00.001-06:00

Nate goes to bed earlier than I do almost every night. All of a sudden I think that I must watch this show that has been on my DVR for four months tonight. Or finish a sewing project, or a scrapbook page, etc...

After the show is over, I shut all the lights off and get ready for bed, brush my teeth, wash my face. I walk into the office to shut my computer off... but I might as well check my email real quick before I go to bed. Oh there's a good sale at that store, maybe we'll have to check that out tomorrow... and pictures are only 7 cents at that website right now! I'll just select the pictures I want to print real quick... Okay, back to email. Well. That email is annoying. I definitely don't know what to do about that one... I should probably stare into space for 5 minutes while I think about what to do about it. Nope, nothing. I suppose that email can wait until tomorrow. Finally I shut the computer down.

I turn around to shut off the lamp over my puzzle table, and think, wouldn't it be nice if I could get just one puzzle piece before I go to bed? Eleven puzzle pieces later, I shut the lamp off. Then I think I spot a piece I've been looking for! Lamp goes back on. Yep, it's the one! Five pieces later, lamp goes back off.

Then I go crawl into bed, hoping I don't wake Nate up so he can say, "What time is it? Wow, you aren't going to get much sleep tonight."

Thanks for that.

Happy Baby

2011-01-15T17:02:00.003-06:00

This is pretty much an update to this post.

My kid is emotional. She has always, even as a little baby, flipped emotions in a matter of a second. It has always been a source of amusement in our family, how she can go from laughing to crying or crying to laughing in 2 seconds flat.

It is hilarious how she can compose herself when she is a "sad baby."

Lately she has been throwing these little tantrums where she screams and cries and carries on. When this happens, I tell her, "Go to your room and find a happy face." She will usually run back to her room and look in the mirror by her crib.

The first time I said this to her, I showed her where to go to find her happy face. The second time I told her this, she took off down the hall. I snuck back to her room and saw her making faces at herself in the mirror. She spotted me pretty quick and started laughing. Now when I tell her this, she runs down the hall and runs back a moment later with a huge smile, saying, "Mommy, baby happy now!"

Also, she'll sometimes cross her arms and scrunch up her face and say, "Baby so mad." This is a far cuter way to express those feelings, girlfriend. It is even cuter when she pretends to be mad and can't hold back her smile!

"Baby do it!"

2010-12-19T12:31:00.002-06:00

What happened to my little baby girl who still needed her mom for stuff?!

(First, I still call Elizabeth my baby and so she still calls herself Baby. She doesn't know yet that she is a big girl, and not a baby anymore in the literal sense of the word. However, she will be my baby forever and I will not start calling her my big girl for as long as I can get away with it!)

Elizabeth has turned into Little Miss Independent lately. She thinks she doesn't need her mom for anything anymore! If I turn a light on, I hear, "Baby do it!" and she will go turn the light off and turn it back on. If I shut a door, I hear, "Baby do it!" and she will go open the door and shut it again. If I turn her sound machine on, open her monkey tent, stack her books, get a blanket or Henry the Monkey out of her crib, (etc, etc, etc) I hear, "Baby do it!" and she will undo and redo whatever it was that Mommy had actually managed to do quite well the first time, thankyouverymuch. You get the idea.

I can't even feed her anymore. She eats all by herself. (She does really awesome feeding herself with her forks and spoons, by the way.) At least she still needs me to actually prepare her food!

However, my super independent, wonderful, amazing daughter is still my baby at bedtime. After we read a few books, she turns around and lays her head on my shoulder and I hold her just like I did when she was a tiny newborn (only now her feet go to my knees instead of the bottom of my ribcage) and we sing a song about cuddle time and say our prayers and I wish that she would stay my baby forever. In those few minutes, she isn't fighting with me over who puts her socks on or who pushes the chair in. She is just my sweet little precious baby who still wants to cuddle with her mommy.

'Evermind!

2010-12-12T12:28:00.006-06:00

Playing in Mommy's room

Lizzie: Up, up, up bed!

Me: Can I have a kiss first?

Lizzie: No, evermind! *walks away*

Daddy and Lizzie playing downstairs

Lizzie: Daddy get tunnel!

Nate: Do you want to go upstairs and play in the tunnel?

Lizzie: Evermind! *walks away*

Elizabeth...uh... grunting

Me: Lizzie, do you want to sit on the potty chair??"

Lizzie: No, evermind! *runs away to go grunt somewhere else*

Yay baby!!!

2010-12-12T12:28:00.005-06:00

For the last week or two, Elizabeth has been sitting on the toilet and reading books and magazines... and doing nothing else. It was super cute and I took pictures and all, but it was more like play time than potty time. I found that she stays put better when she sits on the regular toilet with the toddler seat than for her to sit on her little toilet because she just gets up and wonders around.

Well... today, Elizabeth pooped in the big girl toilet twice. TWICE! Yeah, no big deal. Whatever. (AHHHH!!!!! TWICE!!)

We were playing in the living room and then she said "Baby toot!" So I took her in to the bathroom and set her on the toilet and asked if she could toot again. She did. (hehe) "Baby toot again!" giggled Lizzie. I asked her again if she could toot again. So she tried and all of a sudden... plop! She looked startled and reached out and said, "Carry you??" (Which is what she says when she wants us to pick her up. I believe it came from when we say, "Do you want to walk or do you want me to carry you?") I showed her the poop in the toilet and I started freaking out and clapping and praising and we jumped up and down. Yay baby!!! Then later in the day, she did all of this again! Yay baby!!!

I wanted to post a picture of this momentous occassion. However, I decided that when she is older, I still want her to like me. So instead I'll post this picture. Here she is sitting on the toilet shortly after her first job and saying "Ta Da!" What a big girl!!

Sad baby!

2010-11-18T16:57:00.000-06:00

When Elizabeth gets told no or she gets pulled out of something that she wants to be in, and pretty much whenever she doesn't get her way, sometimes she'll start crying and run over to me saying, "Baby sad!"

When she does this, we'll say, "Are you a happy baby?" and she'll make this funny face like she's pursing her lips and sucking air in while she composes herself. It is so funny! Then all of a sudden she's a smiling happy baby with wet cheeks. =)

Also, sometimes whens he is in a grumpy mood or upset about something, she will run back in to the room all of a sudden, with a huge smile on her face, saying "Baby HAPPY!" Yay! ♥

Slappy Slappy Blue Ball

2010-11-02T18:02:00.000-05:00

Whenever Daddy walks in the door after work, Lizzie starts saying, "Slappy slappy blue ball, Daddy!!" over and over again. Which pretty much means she wants to go downstairs to play. Slappy slappy blue ball is a game Lizzie and her daddy made up and play downstairs where they slap my big, blue yoga ball. Weirdos!

She will also start looking for her shoes and wanting to go outside as soon as her daddy walks in the door. She loves going outside. LOVES IT. Even when it is cold and I am out there shivering, she does not care. She just wants to be outside!

Today when Nate walked in, Lizzie started yelling, "Daddy! Slappy slappy blue ball! Walk outside! Shoes! Jacket! Daddy!" Whoa baby! He didn't know which way to turn! They are outside playing right now. =)

Things I want to remember

2010-09-30T22:25:00.007-05:00

This is just a list of things I want to remember... hence the title of the post. :)

Elizabeth loves eating what she calls "foffles" and "namas" (waffles and bananas, duh) for breakfast.
Instead of saying something like, "Gimme!" like I hear from most toddlers, Lizzie says, "Reeeach!" if she wants something.
She is pretty much copying everything we say. It doesn't always sound the same, but she tries!
After a visit to Colorado, Elizabeth has learned to say everyone's names out there. Kourtny is "Kokey," Faith is "Fate," Olivia is "Livie," David is "Dabie," and Kristal sounds different every time she says it.
She calls Pooh and Piglet "Pooh and Piggy."
***She can kinda sorta count to ten!!! It goes like this... "One, two, three, two, FIVE!!! Six, eight, nine, TEN!!!!" It counts!
She knows what a bunch of animals say when we ask her. So far she knows cat, dog, horse, cow, sheep, monkey, owl, and pig (kinda).
She calls Molly "Money" and will say "no, no doggy!" if Molly is doing something naughty.
When I was teaching Lizzie how to count to 3, I would say, "1...2...3... Mommy!!" and she would say, "...2....3" real quietly, and then say, "MOMMY!!!!" I can't type it as cute as she says it. :) Then she started saying, "...2....3.... GABBA GABBA!!" Hmpf.
When trying to convince Elizabeth to come back to her room for a diaper change, I held out my hand to her and started marching down the hall while saying, "March, march, march..." It has actually worked a few times! And now she can be found kinda stomping around and saying "Mon, mon, mon..."
Elizabeth says "wower" for "flower." I tried to get her to say the "f" sound. I said, "Lizzie, say ffffffflower!" So she says, "Ffffffff... wower!"

The results are in!

2010-09-26T11:52:00.000-05:00

Elizabeth's EEG results came back NORMAL!!!!!

We took her to Children's Hospital on Tuesday for her EEG. We were advised to keep her up late and get her up early. I thought maybe a half hour or so would due the trick. But THEN the nurse said to keep her up until midnight and get her up at 6:00! What the what? Also, NO NAP! Crazy people.

So my poor over tired baby girl had to endure these really nice ladies coloring on her head and putting "stickers" all over the place. She actually did way better than I thought she would, but she still cried a lot. =( They brought out a little DVD player and stuck in Finding Nemo, so that distracted her sometimes. After they were done putting the little electrodes all over my defenseless little baby, they wrapped gauze all around her head. It was so sad to see my precious baby like that!

Then they shut the lights off and I cuddled up next to her. They needed her to sleep for at least 10 minutes for the test to get accurate readings. After just a couple of minutes, she was out. She was still doing the little gasps that she does after she cries a lot, but she was sleeping!

So Friday morning Nate called the doctor to see if the results were in yet for the EEG or for the stool sample that we took in last week. (By the way, yuck). Then later in the afternoon, when we still hadn't gotten a call, I called again. Yes, we are those parents. I did not want to wait all weekend for these results when they were mostly likely sitting on his desk.

The nurse started talking about how the call slip is in his pile of people to call "and the results for the EEG are here and they came back normal but the stool sample hasn't come back yet, hopefully we'll get it-"
I interupted her to say, "Wait, WHAT? The EEG came back normal??"
Nurse: "Yes it did, but the stool sample results will hopefully be back tomorrow..."

Obviously she cared deeply for those poop results (which also came back normal, by the way.)

Well, it has finally happened...

2010-09-16T14:45:00.001-05:00

Nate has finally written something in the baby book! (Well, the notebook I keep on the counter to write down cute things that Lizzie does.)

Just so you know, "baball" = football

Okay, so here is what the proud daddy wrote in her baby book:

"Elizabeth said FOOTBALL ON! Daddy is so very proud. I was watching a game and had it paused and she pointed to the TV and said 'baball on.'"

And then Nate proceded to tell everyone he knows about his daughter wanting to watch football. Weirdos.

Our Trip to Colorado

2010-09-15T22:39:00.000-05:00

We got back from another exciting, fun filled vacation to visit our family in Colorado! The pictures pretty much explain everything we did and how much fun we had. :)

Elizabeth being all cute on the drive out there. You know, the 9 hour drive that she only slept 20 minutes of.

Lizzie loving playing in the water at this pretty garden place.

Playing in the water again.

Elizabeth and "Campa" getting some quality snuggle time.

Elizabeth at the ranch, wearing the cutest little riding helmet, while wearing Kourt's John Deere shirt (which we accidnetly stole... sorry Kourt!) and playing on Kourt's phone.

Tradional family photo at the Budweiser Factory

Elizabeth playing a beautiful ballad. (Good thing this is just a picture and not a video.)

Helping Aunt Kristal in the yard

She loved collecting pine cones! She even brought some home with her.

Chilling in the comfy chair and watching some Yo Gabba Gabba. Life is good. :) Also, her legs are so dang cute.

Where'd the baby go?!

My little girl on the way home. Where she stayed awake for the whole 9 hour drive.

Second trip to the ER... :(

2010-09-13T23:57:00.004-05:00

We have been pretty blessed with Elizabeth's health. She has gotten a runny nose a few times (which most of the time I believe was from teething) and that is pretty much it. She gave us a pretty big scare when she was 10 weeks old, but other than that, she's been pretty healthy. Well now the punk has me scared.

A couple of days ago (Sept 11th), Elizabeth slept in pretty late, which is unlike her. When she finally woke up, I got her out of bed and she ended up falling back to sleep in my arms in her rocking chair. We sat there and cuddled and rocked for a very long time. She is so precious. She started to wake up so I took her to the living room so I could get her sippy cup, and she fell back to sleep in my arms again. So we sat on the couch and cuddled. Finally around 11:15 she woke up.

I asked her if she wanted her sippy or a cracker and she said, "Eat." So I got her a cracker and sat back down on the couch with her. She was sitting on my lap facing me and was holding her cracker. All of a sudden, she got super pale and super sweaty, and her eyes went blank. They never rolled back into her head or anything, they just stared right through me. I freaked. I started yelling her name and trying to get her to focus on me. I set her on the couch and kneeled right in front of her trying to get her to focus. Finally, finally she did. It seemed like forever but in reality was probably 10 seconds.

So of course this happens on a Saturday morning and of course her daddy left to go to Iowa City for a football game a few hours earlier. Lizzie's heart was racing and she seemed pretty out of it. Really lethargic. I called my mom and asked her to come over and then called Lizzie's doctor's office, which went to an answering service. They took down all of the information about what had happened and said a nurse would call me back.

While we waited for the nurse to call back, I held Elizabeth and she drank some water and ate a couple graham crackers. She still seemed sooo out of it.

FORTY minutes later, the nurse called and said she called back really quick since the notes said that Elizabeth was unresponsive. (I would hate to know how long it would have been had she not called back so quickly!) I again explained what had happened and she put me on hold to call the doctor on call. When she came back, she said that the doctor thought it sounded like she might have had a seizure.

A what now?

I decided to take Lizzie to the ER. The nurse had told us to go to Children's Hospital so I sat in the back with Liz and mom chauffeured us to Omaha. They did blood tests and an EKG, which came back normal, and they said they wanted her to get an EEG, which had to be scheduled later.

So this morning we went to Dr. B and got Lizzie checked out by her own doc. "Dr. B nice," says Lizzie. His nurse got her EEG scheduled for the first available appointment... September 21st! Now we wait.

Back from Vegas!

2010-08-30T21:17:00.000-05:00

We had such a great time in Las Vegas for our anniversary get away! I am surprised I survived a whole week being away from my baby! But if there is one place that has the power to distract, it is Vegas. Our days were packed with all kinds of fun stuff (which Nate didn't care for. His idea of a vacation is to nap all day. Yawn.)

We went to 5 different shows while we were there! My favorite was Blue Man Group! That show was incredible. I don't even know how to describe it. And they are so funny without even saying a word. Once when they went running into the crowd, one of the blue men came right up to me, about 2 feet away, and just stared at me. (We were in the front row of the second section, or the non-poncho section, way on the side) I was afraid to look at him! Nate nudged me and made me look at him. It was really weird!

My second favorite show, and Nate's favorite, was Defending the Caveman. Hilarious. I would definitely recommend this show to anyone in a relationship. You will relate! We even bought t-shirts. :)

We also went to Legends in Concert (with Donna Summers, Jay Leno, Elton John, Elvis, and Michael Jackson impersonators). That show was pretty good too. The Michael impersonator was spot on! And then there was the Tournament of Kings show and the Free Beer Improv Show, which was funny sometimes. The people IN the show were good, but they encourage audience participation, and that got pretty dumb.

Other than the shows, we spent our time walking, eating, walking, playing roulette, walking, swimming, walking, eating... did I mention walking? It was so fun just going into all these places and exploring. Roulette was fun until the night before we left when we lost $160 right off the bat. That part sucked. At one point we made a $40 bet on red at Bally's and lost. Then we walked across the street to Bellagio and made an $80 on black and WON!! (I hadn't even realized the dealer had spun the dang ball yet when it landed on black.
Nate had to say to me, "It landed on 33.... 33 is black.... we bet on black... Jenni, we won!"
Me: *blank stare* "...wait, we won?" Oh dear. :) That was exciting.

And here are a fraction of all the pictures I took in Vegas...

The cutest little luggage ever!

Reading a book to daddy before we left.

Cuddling with Mommy. I was able to put her to bed before we left for the air port. So sweet and so sad! I bet you can't even tell that I was crying. :(

We stayed at Bally's. I really, really liked it there. This is the people mover to get to the strip faster. I LOVED this thing except when it wasn't working! And I didn't care for the people who just stood on the people mover. Duh.

Nate and I waiting for a shuttle at Bellagio (I think). The views from the shuttle between Bellagio and Monte Carlo is AMAZING. Especially at night.

The view of the Eiffel Tower from our hotel room.

Part of our gigantic room. I really did love staying at Bally's and I would definitely stay there again.

The fancy bathroom part of the hotel room.

The only picture I was allowed to take of Blue Man Group was this poster. :( But the show was awesome!

My favorite part of Vegas. :)

I could see the Bellagio fountains from our hotel room!!!!!!

Nate and I in our room getting ready to go swimming.

An artist on Fremont Street in the middle of creating our painting! I want to say his name is Michael Fletcher? Not sure about that...

Sold... to us! I love our Vegas souvenir.

Nate and I in some random hallway we found in one of the hotels... I don't even remember where. All I remember is we laughed a lot.

Kissy Monster

2010-08-15T16:29:00.002-05:00

Elizabeth gives kisses now!! REAL kisses! It is the sweetest, cutest, most wonderful thing in the whole world. She kisses our cheeks and blows kisses. She kisses her favorite stuffed animals and toys and kisses us with her favorite stuffed animals and toys. When she kicked me and I said, "Elizabeth Renee, you do not kick your mommy!" all stern like, she kissed both of my lets to get out of trouble. It worked! Stinker.

When she falls down and bumps her head or bangs a knee, I ask her if she wants mommy to kiss it. Then she runs over and lowers her head or lifts her knee (or whatever body part got hurt) and puts her hands on both sides of my head to lead me to her owie. She is soo cute! And then we "shake it off." She wiggles her little self to shake all of the hurt off. Sometimes I can't stand how cute she is.

Little Booger

2010-08-05T15:43:00.000-05:00

Whenever Lizzie spills some of her water or milk, she goes to find a towel to wipe it up. Well, a towel or something else that is even a little absorbent. A shirt, a sock, a diaper, etc.

She will also wipe her own nose and mouth with a kleenex. Today she dribbled a little when she was taking a drink of water from her sippy cup, so she ran over to the couch where she had left her kleenex from earlier and wiped her face off. The winter will hopefully be easier if she can wipe her own nose!

Also, sometimes when the little booger's nose is running (or maybe just itches?) she grabs my hand and wipes or rubs her nose of my finger. Ew... She's so cute. :)

A post from Gammie :)

2010-07-21T20:50:00.000-05:00

My mom, Lizzie's Gammie (or "Gigi" as Lizzie calls her), wrote the following story down for us while she was watching the squid one night...

Today Lizzie did something that I thought was so cute and so smart. She had her shoes on and was trying to get her daddy's shoes on over her shoes. I had just washed my hands and they were still damp. I went to help steady her while she was trying to get the shoes on. I took hold of her arm and she stopped with the shoes and kind of fussed, looked at her arm, and clumped over, wearing one of daddy's shoes, to the towel drawer. Then she grabbed a towel and dried her arm off! It was hilarious.

We booked a trip!

2010-07-17T19:20:00.003-05:00

Our third/eighth anniversary is coming up on the 21st and we have been going back and forth for months trying to decide how to celebrate. We have been trying to decide between a hotel room for a night at the local Embassy Suites to a 7 day Easten Caribbean Cruise on the amazing new Norwegian Epic ship and everything in between.

We decided on a Vegas trip! We are going in August so it won't be over our actual anniversary, but will still be amazing! We finally got everything booked and finalized today! I am super excited and already wondering how I am going to be away from my gorgeous little girl for so long. Eep!

I can't believe it has been 8 years since Nate and I started dating. We have definitely had our ups and downs, but we get through it together. I am one lucky girl. I love my husband!

Well...

2010-07-10T18:41:00.002-05:00

Looks like I didn't keep up with the "Picture a Day" thing for very long! I believe I have a picture for every single day, I just didn't keep up with the posts! Maybe one of these days... :)

Life continues to be a little crazy around here with a toddler! While she was a little slow to start saying words (in English), she has more than made up for it. She talks a lot.

She is constantly talking about "mama an' daddy,"
she says GeGe for Gammie Dianne,
says Bee for binky and book,
says hi, bye bye, ball, dee (for drink),
happy, hat, shoe, Gabba (like I need to explain this one to other moms :),
says something that sounds like goo gir for good girl,
eee for eat, says UP when she wants up,
and a word that sounds a lot like UP when she wants help with something (like putting on her shoes, which she does by herself except for the buckles, or if she stepped on tape or something),
she says hawk and eye but not together yet - we are working on it! (Go Hawkeyes!),
she says bebe for baby and points to herself - I think I must have called her my baby a few times!
When I ask "Who is my favorite baby in the whole world?!?" she says, "MEEEE!" hehehe
She says Nana and Papa for Grandma Judy and Grandpa Rob,
says ball and ball-ball for football,
Etc etc etc. She is saying so many words lately I stopped trying to keep my list updated!

She will also point to some body parts when we ask her where they are. So far we have tummy, head, nose, baby feet, ears, teeth, knees, shoulders, bunnies, tongue, and eyes. She can also point to these things on a stuffed animal or doll. So cute!

Something that Lizzie has done for a while is a little thing that we like to call "Pound Dog." She fist bumps us with the sweetest, cutest little fist ever! Until recently, when we would try to give her a high five, she would push our fingers shut and hold her little fist out. So cute! Now she high fives with gusto.

She also does this super adorable thing where she likes to hold our hand (well, our finger) and lead us around. It is the sweetet thing ever. She has the cutest little hands! She also started doing this thing where she'll fall down or step up on something, and then will reach out for our hand and say "Up!" (help) so we can help her up or down. It is so cute because they are things that she so obviously doesn't need help with, but seeing her reaching out for her mommy's hand is one of the greatest feelings ever. <3

Also in the last few months, much to my excitement, Lizzie has been getting more and more affectionate. It - is - AWESOME. She gives eskimo kisses, which are amazing. And she will just run up and hug our legs. More recently she will just reach her little arms out to give us a hug. And she'll say "awwww" or "mmmm" while patting our backs during the hug. I love her so stinking much.

So to summarize, Lizzie is still really super duper amazing and sweet and wonderful, beautiful, ornery, a little weird, and still the best daughter in the whole world.

May 14th, 2010 - Day 15

2010-05-14T16:43:00.000-05:00

Here are several pictures of Elizabeth drinking out of my water bottle, which is almost as big as she is!

This face kills me. She is so cute!

This face also kills me, but for a different reason. =)

I love her smile. ♥

May 13th, 2010 - Day 14

2010-05-13T22:37:00.001-05:00

Here is my little girl wearing her daddy's shoes while sporting her super cool new monkey jammies. Right after this picture was taken, she folded AND put away that whole hamper of clothes! (A mom can dream, right?)

This is a picture of my sweet little girl sleeping like a weirdo. =)

I loooooove my video monitor!

May 12th, 2010 - Day 13

2010-05-12T23:27:00.000-05:00

So I guess today wasn't a very good picture taking day for us. So here is today's picture. :)

This is Lizzie standing in front of the tv probably watching Nick Jr. but I can't really tell what it is. There is also a kitty on her shirt. When we would say, "Where is the kitty?" she would look down at her shirt and sometimes would say, "kitty!" So smart. :)

May 11th, 2010 - Day 12

2010-05-11T12:25:00.001-05:00

I don't remember if I posted about it or not, but a couple months ago, Lizzie managed to get out of her crib. I was watching her on the monitor as Nate was on his way to go get her out. All of a sudden, she was gone! Nate opened her door right then and said, "whoa!" I was already scrambling out of bed and saying "Is she out?? Is she out??" When he opened the door, apparently she was standing beside her crib. What a punk!

I have been worried about this happening ever since the day she turned 9 months old and learned to pull herself up. The front of this crib seems sooo low, even though it is on the lowest setting. (We very recently discovered that it has been recalled for other reasons, so we'll be getting it replaced soon anyway.)

So this is a picture of our solution for her escaping! We turned the crib around so the higher, back side of the crib is facing out and the really low, front side is facing the wall. And then we put parts of her baby jail on each side to keep her from getting out there. So far it has kept her contained!

This was Lizzie this morning when we went in to get her. She plays this binky throwing game with us, where basically we fetch the binkys she throws out of the crib. We just laugh and laugh and laugh... She is pretty fun. ♥

May 10th, 2010 - Day 11

2010-05-10T23:17:00.000-05:00

Today was a rainy, stay-in-our-jammies kind of day. Here is my darling Elizabeth eating a graham cracker while in her jammies. Please note that the shoes over were her idea.

May 9th, 2010 - Day 10

2010-05-09T23:21:00.001-05:00

It's is Mother's Day!!

The day started with Lizzie sleeping in until ten. TEN! It was awesome. Then we tried to get her to color me a pretty picture for my Mother's Day gift, but she mostly just hoarded the crayons and occasionally tried to eat them.

For supper, mom, dad, Joey, Michael, Grandma Connie and Grandpa Norm came over. Nate grilled hamburgers and hot dogs and sweet corn. Yummm... It is so nice spending time with family.

Even though Lizzie was still being a bit of a punk because of her teeth, I had a great day with my girl and my family. And now some pictures... =)

Nate thinks it is funny to put his socks on Lizzie. :) That is her masterpiece sitting in front of her. Nate turned it into my Mother's Day card from both of them.

"Nummy!"

I tried to get a decent picture of Lizzie and I today, but she wasn't very cooperative.

Lizzie and her Great-Grandpa Norm having a chat.

Lizzie playing with her Great-Grandma Connie. I'm not sure who enjoyed the toys more!

Poor kid hardly has a thing to play with.

I ♥ her

May 8th, 2010 - Day 9

2010-05-08T23:16:00.000-05:00

Today when Lizzie woke up, Nate brought her in to our bed to play. Her little "Hi" is the sweetest sound in the whole world. She was being so adorable and so sweet. I love her so much.

Oh, and she also woke up with the snotty nose that she usually gets while teething. I thought we had gotten away with not getting it with this tooth, but no such luck.

In this picture, Lizzie is being super cute while wearing no pants and one sock.

May 7th, 2010 - Day 8

2010-05-07T23:03:00.000-05:00

Today Nate and I got to go on a date while Gammie watched Lizard! (We went to Spaghetti Works and to see "Date Night" which was really quite funny!)

Lizzie is still feeling pretty crummy. :( She does okay after getting motrin or tylenol. And for the last few days she has been clinging like a monkey when she gets put down for her nap. Then she cries for anywhere from 30 seconds to a few minutes. I don't know why. :(

In this picture, Elizabeth looks so little just lounging on the couch. =)

May 6th, 2010 - Day 7

2010-05-06T21:58:00.001-05:00

I've lasted for a week so far! =)

Today we went to get Lizzie's picture taken at Photos by Jacqueline from that prize that she won through that dumb newspaper contest. She wasn't very cooperative! Poor baby still wasn't feeling the greatest. Of course, all of the pictures are cute because they are of Lizzie, but I've just seen better from her! She did get one super duper precious picture that mom and I both ordered an enlargement of. Can't wait to get it back!

Also! Today mom was holding Lizzie on the couch and I was walking towards the kitchen and Lizzie waved at me and then said, "mama!" I turned around and said, "mama!" back to her and she said it again!! Freakin finally! ♥♥♥ It was music to this mama's ears!!

In this picture, Lizzie and Molly are having a heart to heart.

May 5th, 2010 - Day 6

2010-05-05T23:47:00.001-05:00

Today Lizzie wasn't feeling all better. :( But at least she didn't throw up again other than a little spit up with her bottles. She coughs and chokes on her milk. Poor girl!

And some big news! I got the smallest of glimpses inside Lizzie's mouth and I saw that a MOLAR has started to poke through! On the bottom ont he right side. Crazy! She never lets me get a good look at her mouth so I had no idea a molar was even close to coming through. What a tough girl! =)

This is a picture of a GIANT BABY!!! AHHH!!! hehehehe....

May 4th, 2010 - Day 5

2010-05-04T23:10:00.001-05:00

Today Lizzie got sick. :( Grandma Judy baby sat today and had to clean up her puke twice. After Lizzie threw up for the third time in her crib, Nate and I came home from the office. Poor girl had a 103 degree temp. I hope she is feeling all better by tomorrow. I love her so much.

This is Lizzie lounging on the floor. She feels so yucky. =(

Snuggling with mommy on the couch

I love her. ♥

May 3rd, 2010 - Day 4

2010-05-03T16:30:00.001-05:00

In this picture, Elizabeth is chatting away on the phone. She is so cute.

Today Lizzie fell asleep on me while I was reading to her before her nap. It was the cutest, sweetest cuddle in the world. In fact, I am pretty sure this snuggle tied with all of her other snuggles with me. Holding your sleeping baby is the most special, wonderful time ever. While I'm holding her I just think about how little she is and who she'll grow up to be and what she will decide to do with her life and it drives me a little crazy that she isn't going to stay my little baby forever. So today my daughter gave me a magical moment that I will hold onto in my heart and treasure forever.

I am pretty sure she was just making up for the fact that she pooped in the bath tub for the first time EVER this morning.

May 2nd, 2010 - Day 3

2010-05-02T22:49:00.001-05:00

Today we all hung out at home all day. We went downstairs and Lizzie enjoyed playing on the stairs. Probably because she knows that stairs are dangerous! It was so cute though, so I had to grab my camera... =)

Peaking around the corner at daddy

After I told her she couldn't stand up on the stairs, she sat down and looked sad and precious.

In this picture, Elizabeth is dancing to Famer Tad on her little barnyard magnet thing on the fridge. I LOVE that she is working those shoulders again! She is the best dancer in the whole world. ♥

May 1st, 2010 - Day 2

2010-05-01T22:31:00.000-05:00

Today Lizzie, mom, and I went to visit Grandma Connie at Hillcrest in Bellevue. Elizabeth had a blast running around there. She would take off running down a hall way as fast as she could, especially if someone was following her. If we hid, she would usually turn around and come back.

I think she is getting over her fear of strangers though! Or at least starting to. I think this because she smiled and waved to almost everyone who walked past instead of running to me. She watched as a group of people walked by and then just started following them down the hall. She also ran into ao room where two ladies were laying in bed and went behind the curtain and everything! They seemed to love her though. She gave them her most beautiful smiles!

In this picture, Lizzie is using her ring toys as bracelets. She actually has 2 on each arm. I love her. ♥

April 30, 2010 - Day 1

2010-04-30T23:34:00.003-05:00

So I have decided to try to post a picture of Lizzie every day. I doubt I'll stick with it for a year or anything, but hopefully I last longer than a week or two! I couldn't decide if I wanted to make a new blog for these daily posts or to just keep them here. As you can see, I decided to post them here and just keep everything together. Plus I couldn't think of cute name for a new blog that hadn't already been taken. So here goes!

Today Lizzie had her 18 month checkup. (18 MONTHS!) She weighs 24 lbs and is approximately 31" long. She was pretty dang squirmy when the nurse tried to get her height measurement though. They laid her on the same table that they lay her on when she she gets her shots. She freaked out even though she didn't get any shots! Such a punk. :)

On the way to the appointment, I would say "Dr. B" or "potty" (not sure why) and she would burst into these wonderful little giggles every time. That girl cracks me up.

In this photo, Lizzie is reading a book to her daddy while they snuggle on the couch. ♥

Fearless

2010-04-21T20:59:00.001-05:00

My daughter is fearless. She doesn't really seem to be afraid of very many things. When she was still tiny, she was scared of loud noise like dogs barking. She would cry or fuss if someone would cough loudly. But now she laughs. Or pretends to cough herself.

The vacuum sends her into a fit of giggles. She squeals and is fascinated by it. She will go down a dark hallway and into her dark room (I'm talking pitch black here) and find her toys or books and start playing with them. We go down there and turn lights on for her, but she was totally fine without them. One time we heard banging and found her in the bathtub, behind the curtain, in the dark, pulling shampoo bottles off the shelf and dropping them in the tub.

I kinda figured this was a toddler thing. A "lights or no lights, I'm gonna play" type of thing. But a colleague of my husband's told him about her son and how he is a wuss and afraid of everything. She doesn't need to worry about her son diving head first down the stairs or climbing into the fire pit.

My sweet little baby girl is one. Well, more specifically one and a half! (She turned 18 months old 6 days ago!!) She is practically fearless. I know this could change next month or next week or in two minutes. But for right now, I am terrified. And so very proud.

A Day in the Life of Lizzie

2010-02-04T16:14:00.018-06:00

Being a toddler these days is hard work. (Oh my gosh, that is the first time I've called her a toddler. She's so stinkin big!) There is lots of play time and sleeping, more play time, eating, more sleeping, more eating, even more play time... It's exhausting! This is a glimpse into the life of my little toddler (tear!) around 15.5 months old.

Lately my little ~~monster~~ sweetie wakes up around 7:30. Her dad and I take turns with the morning shift, which in Nate's case is from whenever she wakes up to whenever he has to go to work (or around 9:00 usually). After Lizzie finishes her bottle, she plays in her "baby jail" for a while and watches Nick Jr. She giggles along with Jack's Big Music Show the most and dances along usually whenever there is music on (which is often).

After playing for about an hour, I make her breakfast, which is usually something like rice cereal mixed with apple sauce or a banana and a waffle, etc. If I'm feeding her the cereal, I usually won't put her in the high chair. She'll run around and play and come back for bites, or I guess depending on how hungry she is, she'll stand right in front of me as I'm shoveling bites in.

Then we have more play time! Play time consists of hiding binkys in whatever toy has a little hole in it, standing on whatever toy that she can stand on, climbing on anything and everything, dancing in front of the fridge along with her barnyard animals, reading, reading, reading, books, reading, etc, etc, etc. Right now she is loving pillows. She'll roll all around the pillows we put on the floor for her. She'll run and jump into them and today she was banging her head into the pillow and laughing so hard. Hi-lar-ious. And right now she is LOVING running around the moving boxes we have stacked up in the kitchen (oh yeah, we're moving! That is a whole different post..) We'll chase each other around the boxes as I peek around and say "peek a boo!" and she laughs and laughs and laughs. Her laugh is my super favoritest sound in the world, by the way.

This is a video of Lizzie running around the boxes AND dancing in front of the fridge.

These pictures are examples of Lizzie climbing on stuff.

As I said in the previous post, her naps have been a little weird lately. She is still taking two naps per day, but now the first one is at 11:00 ish instead of 9:30 and the second one is around 4:00 instead of 2:30. She usually does really good going down for naps, but sometimes she'll stand up and cry and I have to go in and break her heart (breaking her heart consists of going in, hugging her, telling her I love her and that it is time for nap, and then leaving) before she'll lay down and go to sleep. And one time, yesterday actually, breaking her heart didn't work. There's only so much I can stand. She got out of her second nap yesterday.

After nap #1, we eat lunch. I really need to find some new things to feed my girl for lunch. Right now she definitely gets her fill of Gerber toddler meals. She also gets turkey hot dogs every once in a while and loves spaghetti. She has whatever fruits and veggies we have at the moment. Today she had peas and blueberries with her lunch. Peaches are always a favorite with her. She loves most of her fruits and vegetables. She scarfs them. It is so funny watching her and also worries me a little because she clearly isn't chewing (or gumming) her food at all.

Elizabeth after lunch.

After lunch, we have more play time. During play time, I also put her to work. Yes, I know she is only one year old, but she has chores. She "helps" me with the laundry by taking all the clothes (dirty or clean) out of a hamper or basket and then putting them back in the hamper or basket. She likes to "help" with the dishes by climbing onto the dish washer. And actually, she's pretty good at putting stuff away. For example, right now her clean clothes are folded and perched on the arm of the love seat outside of her room, waiting to be put away. A little bit ago, she grabbed a couple balls of rolled up socks and ran around with them for a bit. Then she went back over to the love seat and put them back! Then one ornery ball of socks fell off a couple times, but my little persistant baby girl kept picking them up and putting them back until they stayed there. She'll also put her blocks back in the canvas bag if we do the first couple, and she has been very good about putting my keys away in her toy box.

After Lizzie saw me sorting some of her old clothes in different boxes, she found this box and pulled some clothes out of her hamper. Then she was pulling the box around the house.

Then we pretty much repeat the nap-meal-play part of the schedule with her second nap, supper, and play time. If it is a bath day, I will give her a bath usually in the afternoon. She loves her baths. Loves them. At long as I don't try to clean her. She gets irritated at that part. Actually, she doesn't mind the hair scrubbing and body washing, she just really doesn't like the hair rinsing. She won't tilt her head back yet so water gets in her eyes no matter how hard I try to prevent it. She would probably stay in the tub for hours if I let her. I usually have to heat the water up a couple times and end up taking her out before she's ready. She isn't happy about that part either.

Getting her clean on.

After supper, we have more play time until its time to get ready for bed. First thing on her bedtime routine check list is a bottle. Not sure when we'll break her of the bottle, but probably won't be in the immediate future. Then she gets her diaper changed and gets changed into her PJs. Then one of us will go brush her four teeth. This is so fun! She takes her binky out and opens her mouth real wide. Then we try to brush while she just tries to suck the tooth paste off of the little finger brush. So cute!

Then we make sure we have at least 2 binkies. One for her mouth and the other(s) for her to hold on to. Just recently I have been able to say, "Go find your binkies!" and she will! Then either Nate or I will go read to her, always ending with the "I Love You, Sleepyhead" book. "I Love You, Sleepyhead" is supposed to be the winding down, calming book, where all the animal mommies are telling their animal babies goodnight. It is really a cute book. Well Lizzie thinks it is hilarious to "boop" the animals. She leans forward and bonks her head on the pictures and of course we have to say "boop!" every single time, even if we are in the middle of a sentence. And if she leans town and holds her head on the picture, we say "booooooooop" until she lifts her head up. It is awesome and fun is definitely had by all. She laughs soooo hard (and as I mentioned earlier, her laugh is the best sound EVER). Unfortunately, this usually results in Lizzie getting the hiccups so the poor kid has to go to bed with hiccups!

After storytime, she turns around and lays her head on my shoulder while we have cuddle and prayer time. In addition to our prayer every night, I always say the "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, may angels watch me through the night, and wake me in the morning light" prayer. The last week or so, when I say the "pray the Lord my soul to keep" part, she giggles. I don't know why, but it is so freakin cute and she has me giggling for the rest of the prayer.

Then I lay her down as I tell her to sleep good and have sweet dreams and that I love her so, so much. I leave the room and she usually just rolls over and goes to sleep.

She is so amazing.

Fifteen Months!

2010-01-22T20:00:00.002-06:00

Elizabeth turned 15 months old last Friday and had her check up today. I hate hate HATE when she has to get shots! But these were the last ones until she's FIVE!!! Not counting the annual flu shot and the Hep A shot whenever we decide to do that. But other than that... FIVE!

She is such a big girl now because she was weighed fully clothed on the big girl scale! She weighed around 22 lbs - which is about the 35th percentile!! That is a huge improvement from being under the 3rd percentile not so very long ago! I am so proud of her for gaining some chub. And she was about 30.5" long. She's grown a little over 10" in 15 months. What a good girl! =)

Doc said everything looks good. She's not really talking yet (well, using real words anyway - she "talks" a ton) but he's not concerned. Said we'll see how she's doing at 18 months. At her 12 month check up, she sat on my lap and let him look her over without so much as a fuss. Today however, she wasn't as easy going. She cried and squirmed and tried to get down and run away. Little punk.

As far as everything else that's going on with my little Lizard, she's doing wonderful. She finally got her two front teeth. One came in on New Year's Eve and the other came in a week or so later. I have the exact dates in her baby book. So now she has four teeth! And oh boy does she grind those teeth. Wow. Funny thing though is that it drives her daddy way more crazy than it does her mom. hahahahaha....

She is still doing really good with putting herself to sleep. Naptimes are getting a little weird. I think she's transitioning to one nap a day instead of two. But then the last few days she's taken two naps (although not as long as usual) so I don't know what she's doing. She is also sleeping in a little later (Thank You God!), waking up anywhere from 7:30 - 8:45 am! Sooooo much better than 6:30!!

Oooh!

2009-12-23T11:09:00.000-06:00

For a while now, every time Lizzie falls down or drops something, etc, I say, "Uh oh!" The other day she dropped her binky on the floor, so I said, "Uh oh!" to her and she says, "Oooh!" I thought it was coincidence. It was sooo cute! But since then she's said it several more times. Then last night one of the little funny looking things on Ni Hao, Kai-lan said, "uh oh!" at some point and Lizzie looked at the tv and said, "oooh!" hahaha So cute!!

Its no "mama" or anything, but its the closest thing to a first word that we've got!

Last Day

2009-12-16T17:43:00.003-06:00

Well, breast feeding my baby girl is officially over. Done. Finished. Ancient history. Okay, not all that ancient yet, since our last day was today. But still. It seems so final.

Yesterday was actually supposed to be our last day. But she was grumpy. Very, very grumpy. She cried and fussed and cried some more. I had to coax her into drinking instead of it being easy, comfortable, and cuddly. I decided I didn't want our last day to be like that. So we made today our last day. She still wasn't as happy and playful as she usually is, but she wasn't crying either. It was still cuddly though. Maybe she was sad it was our last day.

I probably could have gone on for a while longer. I certainly didn't mind that she was getting immunities from my milk in this crazy flu season or the ridiculously precious cuddle time every morning. But she seemed to be kind of over it. We have been having to give her a bottle after the morning feeding because she wasn't getting enough. It was like she was just getting a pre-breakfast bottle snack. But who knows. That's the thing about breastfeeding - its hard to know how much they are actually drinking.

So, I breast fed my daughter for 14 months and 1 day. I am sooo proud of us. And sooo not crying right now... =(

Lovey = Binkys?

2009-12-13T16:15:00.005-06:00

Elizabeth has never really latched onto any traditional type of lovey. She doesn't have any stuffed animal she carries around or a blanket that she's particularly attached to. She does, however, LOVE her binkys. She'll have one in her mouth and be carrying anywhere from 1-3 binkys around with her. She'll switch them out too. She'll pop one out and stick a different one in. We call this "The Binky Exchange." Some binkys are more for just carrying around though. The Nuk 6+ months binks make her gag, so she still uses the 0+ months ones to suck on, then just carries the other ones around. Same with her Hawkeye binkys her dad got for her when I was pregnant. When we put her to bed, we make sure to have at least 2 binkys ready, one for her mouth, and one to hang on to. The whole time we are reading her bedtime stories, she is switching the binkys back and forth.

This was taken shortly after Liz started walking. Its a little hard to see, but here she is with a bink in her mouth and one in her right hand.

Lizzie's 1st ride in her big girl car seat holding on to her Hawkeye binky

Another shot of Lizzie with her loves

Trying to get Christmas pictures taken with the binks. I had to bribe her with puffs and then sneakily hide the binkys.

By the way, even though it might look like it from these pictures, she doesn't always have a binky in her mouth! She IS capable of playing perfectly happy without any binkys. And she also loves putting the binks in a cup and carrying the cup around. I am dreading the day that we have to take these things away from her.

Updates

2009-12-13T15:38:00.009-06:00

Elizabeth has been doing AWESOME at the whole putting herself to sleep thing. It just amazes me! Now when we lay her down in the crib, she won't even make a peep. She'll turn over onto her tummy and go to sleep! Okay, about 95% of the time she does this. There are a few exceptions where she'll stand up and fuss before she lays down and goes to sleep. But that is so rare. I am so proud of my baby girl!!

This morning Elizabeth came up to me with a binky in her mouth and one in her hand. She climbed into my lap and just cuddled, so I knew it must be nap time. I took her to our rocking chair to read her a couple stories, but she just stayed laying on my shoulder instead of turning around to look at the books. It was sooo wonderful. She is the best cuddler in the whole world. The only time she'll cuddle for more than 2.5 seconds at a time is right before bed/nap time and right after she wakes up. Normally she is a girl on the go. She's got things to do, doggy water dishes to explore. So when she is in the cuddly mood, I take advantage. My baby girl and I sit and snuggle until eventually, she'll get down and start playing with her toys.

I don't think I ever did an official post when Lizzie started walking, sooo...

ELIZABETH IS WALKING!!! =D

Okay, she's been walking for a while, I just feel bad that I haven't written about it yet. :) She started taking several steps around her birthday, and right after that started walking half way across rooms. Then she would drop to her hands and knees and crawl because that was faster. By 12.5 months, she was walking more than she was crawling. She'd crawl a little bit then stand up and off she went. And now she's practically running. It is SO CUTE seeing this tiny little short person walking around like a "growed up." She's getting so stinking big!

OH, and she still only has two teeth. FOURTEEN MONTHS old and still only has the two bottom teeth! I'm pretty sure there are more teeth in there! She fools us often and we think she's teething only for no teeth to ever appear. However... we are cautiously optimistic this time! ;) I just checked her gums the other day and thought I saw some white there, but then later I couldn't see it, so I thought she'd gotten me again! Trickster. But last night when Nate was brushing her 2 teeth, he got a good look at her gums. He saw white! I tried to see but she wouldn't let me, so she got her teeth brushed again! HA. White! Definitely! So we'll see how long it takes for those little stinkers to actually poke through. Hopefully not too long! Fingers crossed...

Sleep success!!!

2009-11-07T18:39:00.011-06:00

Well, we did it... we let her cry it out. Almost 2 weeks ago, she started putting herself to sleep. At first, she was NOT thrilled. In fact, she was pretty pissed off.

I got the book "Sleeping Through the Night" by Jodi Mindell and read it in one afternoon. That very night, we put our new knowledge to use. The book said to expect crying for about 45 minutes the first night, or up to 2 hours for stubborn kids. We were expecting the full two hours.

It was decided that Nate would be the one to break her heart, I mean, put her to bed on the first night. We did her bedtime routine and then Nate took her in the bedroom for story/cuddle time. Then he put her in the crib, said good night, I love you, etc.... and left.

After the initial look of shock, she cried. And cried. And cried. I cried right along with her. The first night, we checked on her a total of three times (every five-six minutes). I went first, then Nate, then me again. After 22 minutes, she laid down! Within three minutes of laying down, she was sleeping! She fell asleep in almost HALF the time the book said it would take! (I LOVE my video monitor, by the way. Really don't know how we functioned without it.)

The book said to expect around an hour of crying the second night. It said something about how the kid is thinking, "Okay, last night was a fluke. Tonight I really mean it." Or something along those lines. I thought that was funny and pretty scary sounding. So we prepared ourselves for lots and lots of crying. It was decided again that Nate would put her to bed. I just wasn't prepared to do it yet. After story time, he put in her the crib, said good night, I love you, etc, and left.... my precious little baby girl, who I am sooo very proud of, cried for less than a minute before laying down. She squirmed around a little and then fell asleep! We were SOOO impressed with our daughter.

Since then, she cries for around 10 seconds or less when she goes to bed. And Nate doesn't have to do it all by himself anymore. I de-wussed myself on the fourth night and managed to put her to bed. My heart was breaking as I was reading the last book and I was trying, pretty unsuccessfully, to hold back tears. After a day or two, when she caught on, it was especially heart breaking reading to her before a nap or bedtime. She'd cry every time a story would end, and then be okay when I picked up another book. And she'd whimper throughout the last book that we always read before we put her down. She is so dang smart. She doesn't really do this anymore, thankfully. She does reach for more books though.

We started doing this "sleep training" at nap times about a week ago. It was really hard on all involved at first. She didn't care for it. But we got through it and now for the most part, she goes down for naps pretty good.

Before we "trained" her, putting her to bed, for naps and at bedtime, was sometimes an hour long (or more) ordeal. And then sometimes it didn't take very long. After the bedtime routine, and the story/cuddle time, we'd have to pace the floor or sit in the rocking chair until she fell asleep. Then slowly, oh-so-carefully put her in the crib, silently pleading with her to not wake up when we lay her down. The pleading rarely worked. Sometimes she'd stay asleep, but a lot of times she'd wake up the first couple times we would lay her down. She'd wake up enough to realize that she was in her crib and then would start crying, stand up, reach for us... we'd start over. Rocking... pacing... taking shifts, waiting for her to fall asleep. Etc etc etc.

For a while, she slept through the night. She didn't sleep in like her mother would like her to, but she slept until around 7:30. But recently, she had been waking up a lot in the middle of the night. Usually Nate or I would just have to go in there and pick her up and she'd be out within seconds. And then we repeat the pleading to not wake up when we lay her down again. And sometimes she wouldn't go back to sleep until she ate again. It was like she wanted to go back to sleep but just didn't know how to do it by herself.

Now, however, is a different story. Now my wondeful little baby girl sleeps through the night. Yep. You read that right. She sleeps through the night!! Anywhere from 9-11 hours straight, without waking up!! Well, without needing us to put her back to sleep anyway. She will sometimes wake up, maybe sit or stand up, maybe even cry or fuss for a minute, but she puts herself back to sleep. She'll find her binky and lay back down. Its incredible. We haven't had to go in there to put her back to sleep since before Day 1 of this new sleeping situation. (By the way, this book says that if the baby has night wakings, you can put the baby back to sleep as you normally would, so pacing, rocking, etc. They don't need to keep crying it out all night.) But, we haven't had to!

Putting our daughter to bed is no longer such a chore. We don't fight over who's turn it is. It is actully really nice to have that special cuddle time while we read books before she goes to bed. I don't cry (as much) when we put her down. She still cries for the 10 seconds or less, but I'll take it. Of course there are times that she will even cry for a minute or so, and we realize that there will probably be setbacks from time to time for various reasons. That's okay. Because right now, our baby girl is sleeping!

The light at the end of the tunnel

2009-10-27T18:13:00.001-05:00

My days of breastfeeding are almost over. I am down to nursing twice per day - in the morning and before bedtime. I have very mixed emotions about this! On the one hand, I am very much looking forward to being done with breastfeeding. I am very excited to have my body back to myself for a while. I won't have to think about how everything I put into my body is going to effect my daughter. I can enjoy a beer or two without worrying about pumping and dumping or waiting so many hours before nursing. I can quit wearing these super sexy nursing bras!! On the other hand... I think I'm going to miss breastfeeding!

I have been looking forward to being done with breastfeeding for a while now. About a year, give or take. I do enjoy the special bonding time with my daughter, I love that she's getting the health benefits from it, it was super easy to prepare her meals in the middle of the night or when we were out and about (although sometimes it was a little difficult finding a place to nurse. Didn't so much enjoy nursing while perched on a gross toilet seat covered with toilet paper and trying to not let her touch anything. Ew.) And even though we had LOTS of trouble in the beginning with latch issues and not getting enough milk sometimes, I was also blessed to not have to deal with chapped or cracked anything, even though I usually forgot to apply the Lanolin cream, and I never had to deal with engorgement or mastitis. Its not like I dispised breastfeeding. Obviously not or I wouldn't have lasted as long as I have.

My goal always was to go a year. When she was around 9 months old, I considered weaning. I just wanted to be done. But I was so close to my goal. I had already made it 75% of the way, so I decided to keep going. Now here we are, past a year! I realized the other day that I made it to my goal! It kind of shocked me. I am so glad I continued.

I did have a freezer full of expressed breast milk. Well, around 65-70 oz anyway. But since I have only been nursing twice per day, we've gone through the freezer milk pretty fast. Even when mixing it with whole milk. I am down to only 2 bags left. This is really depressing to me! After these two bags, the only breast milk she'll get is twice a day from me. And that's not lasting much longer either.

Its really weird to me that after this whole year of wanting and waiting to be done, I'm going to miss it.

My new favorite thing

2009-10-22T21:39:00.003-05:00

When I say "good girl!" or "whoo hoo!" or anything like that, Elizabeth will start clapping! She'll stop whatever she's doing and drop whatever is in her little baby hands and smile real big and clap. I LOVE IT.

It is REALLY fun watching Iowa games with her. She'll be playing in her little Iowa cheerleading outfit, or whichever Iowa outfit she's wearing that week, and minding her own business. Then when there is a good play and we start cheering, she gets all excited and crawls over and starts clapping with us. Hilarious.

I just didn't want to ever forget this. Oh man I love this little girl.

Its Party Time!

2009-10-20T17:59:00.000-05:00

Here are some pictures from Elizabeth's 1st Birthday Party!

The invitation I made for the partay.

The drawing that my 16 year old cousin gave to Lizzie. Girl's got some talent!!! I may or may not have cried when I first saw it.

This balloon shows the design on all the stuff at her party- "Hugs and Stitches."

Playing on the rocking chair from her grandparents.

"I like presents!!"

The cake. They put "Happy 1st Birthday Girl" on it. We scraped off "girl" because that's just stupid.

Elizabeth's cake - Before

"Happy Birthday 1st Elizabeth" Grrrr....

Mmmm... frosting.

I think she likes it!

"HEY! Who took my cake?!"

Elizabeth's Cake - After

Hanging out with Uncle Mitoe

Hugs for mommy!

"ooh, something shiny!"

Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil.

Just some stuff

2009-10-16T22:57:00.001-05:00

Elizabeth got her second tooth on September 21st!

In mid to late September she started standing on her own for 20-30 seconds at a time. We were ridiculously impressed. Now she can stand all day long like its nothing.

FIRST STEP! - October 7th, 2009 - She takes one step at a time and then falls down. So cute!

TWO STEPS! - October 9th, 2009 - Now she takes two steps before falling or sitting down.

Yesterday she took 5 steps in a row!

Elizabeth turned one year old yesterday!!!

Lizzie clicks her tongue! If we do it first, she'll smile really big and take her binky out (if she has it in) and click her tongue back at us. Sometimes she'll smack her lips. I love this.

Birthday Girl

2009-10-15T21:43:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday, baby girl!

Happy 1st Birthday, Elizabeth!

2009-10-15T20:53:00.001-05:00

Dear Elizabeth,
Today you are one! I can’t believe we survived this first year with you! You, my dear girl, are quite the handful! =) I am amazed at how fast the past year has flown by. It feels like yesterday that I held you in my arms for the first time. You were so tiny and adorable and awesome. You depended on me to take care of your little baby needs. And now you’re trying to climb into the trash can. Even though you still need your mommy, you are very independent.

I don’t think I can accurately put into words how much I love you. I didn’t know my heart could be so full! I feel so lucky and blessed that I get to be your mommy. I get to hang out with the coolest person ever, every single day. I get to watch you learn new things, reach milestones, explore. (And explore you do! You don’t know how many times you’ve made my heart skip a beat or two, or how many times my heart falls to my knees. You fail to see any danger in anything you do. This worries me. A lot.)

You are such an amazing person. You are so funny. You are weird and ornery and adorable. I have never in my life seen anything more beautiful than you. Your smile instantly makes me happy. Your cries break my heart. (Not so much your fake cries that you have learned recently. Those are kind of funny. But your scared or hurt cries are gut wrenching). I watch you every day as you play, dance, climb on anything and everything that you can, and I am amazed at how smart you are and how fast you are learning and growing.

You made me a mommy one year ago today and it has been one heck of a year. You scared me more than I have ever been scared. You made me laugh more than I have ever laughed and cry more than I have ever cried. You made me love more than I have ever loved.

You are my world. You are my heart. I love you with every fiber of my being.

Happy 1st Birthday, Elizabeth!

Always and Forever,
Mommy

Just a few cute things

2009-09-25T17:39:00.004-05:00

Sometimes when she crawls around, she'll pick up everything in her path and throw it behind her. She'll just crawl around in her baby jail throwing things around. Quite a destructive little lady!

She likes carrying things around when she crawls. A spoon, butt paste, paper, my camera, a phone, sometimes a toy, but that's rare.

When we come up behind her when she's crawling and say, "I'm gonna get you!" she'll giggle and crawl faster. But instead of just glancing behind her while still on the move, she'll completely turn around and sit down to look behind her. Then squeal and take off again. Its really quite easy to catch her!

What she's up to at 11 months

2009-09-18T11:12:00.003-05:00

Elizabeth is quite the busy little girl. She's got places to go and toys (and non-toys) to play with!

She's still only got the one tooth, but tooth number two looks like its going to pop out any minute. Hopefully she'll have at least two teeth to chew up her birthday cake in a month!

My little girl is still pretty dang little. I weighed her yesterday and she was 16 lbs. At 11 months old, she still isn't quite double her birth weight (8 lbs 3 oz)! She is also approximately 27.5".

But my little girl sure can eat! She eats pretty much anything we give her. She still eats the fruit and veggie purees I make for her. And she'll eat little finger foods like peas, cut up spaghetti noodles, carrots, bread, crackers, bananas, etc. And she loves her puffs and mum mums! I am really enjoying this champion eater thing she's doing, but I'm not holding my breath for it to go on forever. The only time she wouldn't eat something was about a month ago, and it lasted a week or so, but she would spit out bananas. There was no fooling her - whether it was plain bananas, mixed with cereal, or snuck in between bites of something else, she'd spit them out. Now she eats them just fine. Weirdo. =)

She is doing awesome for her naps. For the most part. She has been taking hour and a half to two hour naps, sometimes longer! For her first nap anyway. Her second nap is anywhere from 30-90 minutes. Somehow her bedtime got to be pretty late again. So we're working on pulling that back to 8:30-ish. So far we've gotten it to 9:15-9:30, which exceptions of late nights still. But it seems like she always wakes up at or around 7:30 no matter what time she goes to bed. Except for the last couple mornings, its been 6:30, and that is too stinkin early. Hopefully that doesn't continue. Sometimes in the middle of the night, she'll wake up and stand up and cry. One of us will go in there and pick her up and she falls right back to sleep. Not sure why she does this? This has lasted for a while now, but hopefully it stops soon too.

We are still chugging away at that whole nursing thing. I'm starting to get a little nervous because she has that ornery little tooth. I'm still planning on weaning around a year, which means I probably need to start pretty soon. I nurse her usually 6 times per day. When she wakes up, before her first nap, before lunch, mid afternoon, after second nap, and before bed. And I have been getting up in the middle of the night to pump (so even when my daughter does sleep through the night, I CAN'T!) Well I sort of accidently quit doing that whole middle of the night pumping. Just not hearing the alarm on my phone (I usually have it on vibrate and put it under my pillow - it usually wakes me up way better than the loud alarm. Weird.) because it fell off the bed, or I left it on my night stand, etc. and then just not setting the alarm. So I'm trying to decide whether I should just go with it and quit getting up in the middle of the night or if I should start up again. I really like sleep though...

Let's see, what else... she plays catch! I passed a ball to her and said, "Throw the ball to mommy, Lizzie!" and she did! She doesn't have great aim yet, but that's okay. We have so much fun just passing the ball back and forth.

She is finally getting the hang of sippy cups! I have been giving her one every once in a while for a few months, and she mostly chewed on it or banged it on things. She finally realized it has yummy, delicious water in it! She also sucked from a straw once a few weeks ago. We were SO impressed, but she won't do it again! Little punk. She also drinks from water fountains. It is the cutest thing and pretty much a 2 person job. One person has to hold her and her arms down so she doesn't touch anything. The other person pushes the button on the fountain and makes sure her mouth doesn't touch anything. And Elizabeth just laps up that water like a little puppy. Actually, she kind of looks like a Lizard while drinking!

Oh, our little monkey one day decided to just climb into her high chair. Just went right on up. We just looked at her, and then at each other, and then really fast at her again, as we rushed over to her. Nate put his hands behind her in case she fell (she did not!) and I grabbed my camera. =) We have to keep the tray on it now or she'll just want to climb up and play.

What a big girl!

11 Months Old!

2009-09-15T18:43:00.001-05:00

In one month, my little baby girl is going to be one year old. ONE YEAR OLD. I can't believe how fast this year has gone by! Her picture was particularly hard to take this month. She wanted to play, dang it. She kept trying to leap from the chair, she destroyed the sign (as you can probably see), and she kept scooting down so she was laying down on the chair, then would try to shimmy her way to the floor. I finally got this picture, mid scoot, I believe.

Me and my baby, who almost isn't a baby anymore.

Look what I made!

2009-09-02T11:27:00.002-05:00

For the most part, my poor sewing machine sits in a cabinet in the basement, all lonely and dusty. But since Lizzie was born, it has gotten pulled out and dusted off a few times! Before our trip to Vegas, I made a breast feeding cover using this tutorial.

This is the breastfeeding cover being put to use in a bathroom in Caeser's Palace. This was quite possibly the fanciest bathroom I have ever been in. The breast feeding cover did not, however, stop the cleaning lady from pulling the top of the cover out, looking in, and saying, "ooh, she's eating!" Umm.... yes. I didn't know what to say to that. She was a really nice lady and complimented Lizzie several times when we first came in, so I didn't mind too much. =) It was just really weird!

Next I made crib rail covers so Lizzie doesn't make a giant chew toy out of her crib. I used this tutorial for tips, but pretty much did it on my own. The side rails were interesting, since its all curvy (the far rail shows the curvy). Those took the most time by far. But it was fun and I think they turned out pretty decent.

The crib rail covers took a while since it took Lizzie soooo long to get a tooth. I just lacked the motivation! But once that tooth came in, I got the motivation I needed and finished the project... finally. Nate is happy to be able to get the sewing machine off of the kitchen table and back to the dusty cabinet in the basement. :)

We have a tooth!!

2009-08-31T23:15:00.004-05:00

At 10.5 months old, Elizabeth finally cut her first tooth today! I tried to take pictures of this momentous occasion. It didn't go the best, but you get the idea.

I looked up symptoms of teething to see which ones she had. The ones that fit her are: runny nose, a bit of a tempurature, extra drool, a bit of a diaper rash, and ear pulling. She's also been trying even harder to eat everything, whether its a toy, a baby gate, nail clippers, etc., she doesn't care. Not sure if that is due to her teething though...

Guh!

2009-08-25T10:54:00.001-05:00

Elizabeth has said mama, dada, baba, mum mum, etc, but lately she has been stuck on "guh." It is so cute. I have been wanting to get a video of Elizabeth saying "guh" for a while, and I finally got the camera out. She would be saying "guh, guh" like her life depended on it... until I had the camera on and aimed at her, then she would just sit and look at me. Little punk! =) So I finally got this video after chasing her around the house, and I think she was just like, "Fine, mom! I'll do it! Now leave me alone!" =)

She's in the double digits!

2009-08-15T13:49:00.005-05:00

Wow - 10 months old!! When did this happen?! By the way, getting her monthly picture was a whole lot easier when she was just a few months old. Before she was mobile and wanting to eat or destroy EVERYTHING. Now it's an incredible challenge to try to make her sit for longer than 0.7 seconds while I try to put the sign beside her, while also distracting her from said sign so she doesn't destroy it before a single picture is taken. Trying to make her sit for longer than the 0.7 seconds I mentioned doesn't even include the actual picture taking, just sign placement. Its an incredible feat, let me just say that!

Here she is trying to make a run for it. No worries, Daddy stopped her!

Daddy thought this would be a great idea. She figured us out right away. We are not nearly sneaky enough for this little girl.

10 months old and still no teeth! I love her little gummy smile. =) Although you can't see the sign, you better believe she is still reaching for it. Little stinker!

Updates

2009-08-13T22:49:00.006-05:00

It hit me recently that I need to start seriously planning Elizabeth's 1 year birthday party. Huh? How can that be?? She will be 10 months old on Saturday - in 2 days! It is so weird to me that she is getting so old. She's like this big girl now instead of my tiny baby.

I was recording something of her the other day on the video camera and the tape ran out. It rewound to the beginning and I pressed play. Up pops little 8 week old Elizabeth. How is that the same child who is practically climbing up the walls now?? How did that little baby on the camcorder grow up so fast? I was watching the tape as my mom and I were trying to get her to laugh on film, just mesmerized by how little and different she was then, when big girl Lizzie pops up in front of me and says, "Uhh!" As in, "Pay attention to me, woman!" How is this the same child??

This girl is everywhere now. She is the world's fastest crawler. She gets into EVERYTHING. She climbs up anything that is taller than she is (which is pretty much everything because she's pretty short). Her favorite things to play with are non-toy items. She bops along to music. She STILL doesn't have any teeth! I'm afraid that five are going to come in at once. And I think that changing her diaper really should be considered for an Olympic sport.

As far as the sleeping situation goes, she is doing better (this week anyway). She goes back and forth. Some nights she'll sleep all night (like last night - 10 hours straight!) and some nights she'll wake up in the middle of the night and won't go back to sleep for 2 hours. And getting her to go to sleep is quite a chore sometimes. Especially for naps. We still have to rock/pace/hold her until she falls asleep. I long for the day when we can give her a kiss and put her in the crib where she falls asleep on her own. I really hope this day is in the very near future.

I took some tips from a few different baby sleep books and those have helped tremendously. Her bedtime routine before included nursing to sleep (or drowsy and then pacing or rocking until asleep.) But we wanted to get away from that. We don't want her to think she needs to eat in order to fall asleep. So now she eats out in the living room, then gets her diaper changed, put into jammies, then story time, then pace/rock to sleep. I do think it has gotten better, with some exceptions here and there.

I am still breastfeeding and am still planning on weaning around a year. My goal was always to go to a year and I am proud of myself for making it this far. It is hard work! Not that I don't love it. I am just looking forward to having my body to myself again! But I am sure I will miss it like crazy once she is done. That's how I roll.

Elizabeth is still eating the purees I make for her. She has done great with everything she's given (except recently she spits out her bananas). She is a champion eater so far, but I know that won't last. So we are enjoying it for now! With as much food as that girl eats, I don't understand how she is so little!

Speaking of which, she had her 9 month doctor appointment on July 28th. She weighed 15 lbs 10 oz, which is in the 6th-ish percentile and was 26.5" long, which is in the 20-25th percentile. Her doctor said she is doing great! Everyone was happy that she didn't have to get shots at this appointment. Not looking forward to her 1 year checkup...

One last cute thing: She is still using 0+ month pacifiers. When we stuck a 6+ month one in her mouth, she looked perplexed and spun it around like it didn't feel right. Now she just spits it out. What a weird kid. =)

Happy Anniversary, honey!

2009-07-21T22:33:00.001-05:00

Today is our 2 year wedding anniversary, and our 7 year anniversary of when we started dating. It's hard to believe it has been that long. It doesn't seem like its been 2 years since our wedding, and it certainly doesn't seem like it has been 7 since we started dating! Happy anniversary, baby!

We are planning on staying in a cabin next month for our anniversary get-away. I'm excited for that but am extremely nervous about being away from Lizzie for 2-3 days. Hopefully I can handle it!

Her 1st freckle!

2009-07-18T17:38:00.000-05:00

Today I spotted the cutest little tiny baby freckle on my little girl. It is her very first freckle! Isn't it just the cutest little freckle you've ever seen??

She's on the move!

2009-07-16T13:06:00.004-05:00

As of July 10, my little girl was still army crawling wherever she needed to go. Sure, she could only go sideways and backwards, but she made it work. Then on July 11th, she took a couple little crawly steps. Exciting, right?! Within days, my little baby girl who isn't so much a little baby anymore is an expert crawler.

Here is a video of her the other day crawling to me. Pardon my appearance, I had just woken up.

Also, Elizabeth has learned to pull herself up into a standing position! I thought it was amazing when she started sitting up from laying down earlier this month. She has turned into a big girl right before my eyes this past week. Here is a video of the second time Lizzie pulled herself up. She looks so proud of herself! The beginning shows her pulling up - the rest of the video is of her trying to get the camera and then trying to eat a bird.

9 Months old!

2009-07-15T23:14:00.000-05:00

How the heck is my little, tiny, itty-bitty, newborn baby 9 months old already?? Here are some pictures from her photo shoot. =)

30 Day Shred

2009-07-07T22:50:00.000-05:00

Well, I have started the 30 Day Shred over this month. I started it a couple months ago only to get to Day 9 and have to quit because of the surgery. But I got the go ahead from my doctor to start exercising again (although I'm still not allowed to ride a bike). In the 9 days I was able to complete the first time around, I lost 3 lbs. So here we go again! I am on Day #5 today. I won't be posting any measurements like some other brave women out there, but I will try to update for any pounds lost.

Happy Independence Day!

2009-07-04T22:30:00.000-05:00

Reality Show Idea

2009-07-02T20:27:00.001-05:00

I have a fantastic idea for a new reality show. There are shows that teach dogs to behave, shows that teach parents how to control their kids, some where people lose weight, switch spouses, and compete in singing and dancing competitions. There are shows where people eat bugs for money, compete for modeling gigs, and follow teenagers around while they lounge on a beach. I think its time for a reality show that can teach babies to sleep all night.

Seriously. Experts can go into a house and teach the baby to sleep through the night and teach the parents how to get the baby to sleep through the night. How great would this be?! They could use no-cry solutions, cry it out, Ferber, etc, depending on what the parents prefer or what the particular baby responds to better. They could call it, "So You Think You Can't Sleep" or "America's Next Top Sleeper." I, for one, would watch this show religiously.

And also, I volunteer to be featured on the first episode.

Shopping for... a helmet?

2009-06-26T15:08:00.005-05:00

This is probably a total "you had to be there" thing, but its something I want to remember forever, so I thought I'd write about it here. :)

Today, Nate, Lizzie, and I went out and had a fantastic lunch together, and on the way home, passed by a cycle shop. We were almost home when Nate thought we should turn around and take a look at this shop since I am in the market for a new bike.

So we turned around and went the mile and a half back to the cycle shop. He said he is going to run in to make sure its worth getting Lizzie out of the car and lugging her in. Several minutes later, he gets in the car looking all sheepish and tells me to drive.

What happened inside is this:

Nate poked his head inside the door and saw that the cycle shop was in fact a motorcycle shop, and not at all a bicycle shop. As he is shutting the door, the salesman asks, "What are you looking for today?"

Nate, so as to not look like a complete fool by simply saying, "Just didn't know if this was a motorcycle or bicycle shop," and then quickly leaving, stepped in, looked around, and said, "Uh... helmets."

So the salesman goes over all of the helmets with him, telling him which ones had blue tooth capabilities, which ones had two speakers as opposed to one, etc. (by the way, helmets have blue tooth and speakers??) Then he asked, "Is this for a dirt bike or a road bike?"

Nate: "... Road."

Salesman: "What are you riding?"

So at this point, I thought Nate should have just said, "A motorcycle." I think that would have been hilarious. But since Nate wasn't sure of any actual names of any motorcycles, he said, "Um..nothing yet."

After the salesman talks a little more about the helmets, probably wondering why the heck someone would shop for helmets before actually owning a motorcycle, Nate said, "Well, my wife is in the car, I better get going! Its nice to know you guys are here!"

As I am driving away from the motorcycle store, he is telling me this story, and I am literally crying and shaking from laughing so hard and considering pulling over. I asked him if he was going to buy a pretty helmet first so he could get a motorcycle to match.

So, needless to say, bicycle shopping today was a big FAIL!

Happy Father's Day!

2009-06-21T22:06:00.001-05:00

Somewhat less scrawny

2009-06-16T22:43:00.004-05:00

I took Lizzie in for her weight check today and she's up to 14 lbs 11 oz. So now she's in the 5th percentile instead of below the 3rd percentile. Her doctor was very pleased! He said this is excellent and that she's back on the charts!

8 Months Old!

2009-06-15T22:17:00.002-05:00

My baby girl is 8 months old today! She is learning so many new things. And she's really starting to get around. She army crawls all over the place. She pushes up on her knees, but isn't actually crawling yet. She is also sitting pretty well unassisted, although I still don't trust her. So either I am sitting behind her or have pillows stacked around her for when she flops backwards. Oh, and also, she's the cutest baby ever. This week: baby proofing.

"Look mom! My sock!"

She got ahold of the paper and destroyed it! But she looked so innocent doing it. =)

Nap time

2009-06-14T16:37:00.003-05:00

Right now Lizzie is FINALLY down for her afternoon nap. The little brat just kept giggling and giggling! When I was feeding her before her nap, I decided I would pretend that I was going to eat her foot. She thought I was hilarious! She laughed so much that she got the hiccups. So then every time she hiccuped, I said, "Hiccup!" and she would laugh harder. I'm so mean. I'm not sure how much she got to drink since she was laughing so much. Oops. (Watching her nurse and giggle at the same time is soooo cute, by the way.) So after all of our fun, she just didn't want to go to bed. So THEN the little monster just played in her crib for a while until she was ready for naptime. Then we cuddled until she fell asleep.

I love that little girl so much.

Messy Face!

2009-06-12T21:50:00.001-05:00

I realize other people might not care to see pictures of my baby with food smeared all over her face, but I do. =) Elizabeth has been eating solids for almost 3 months now. She started off with rice cereal, and then moved on to bananas, apple sauce, peas, sweat potatoes, avacados, prunes, green beans, and carrots. She is WONDERFUL with everything so far. There hasn't been any thing that she won't eat. I am very relieved about this! I know it probably won't last, but for now, I am so glad I don't have a picky eater! And now, here are a few food smear pictures.

The girl hates sleep!

2009-06-10T12:12:00.006-05:00

Which really stinks, because her father and I LOVE sleep. Every once in a while, she'll tease us with sleeping all night, or at least a really large portion of the night. Then it is right back to getting up multiple times per night. I don't know what happened! She was doing SO WELL.

Last night was horrible. I hadn't fallen asleep yet when she woke up. Got her back down and I got to lay down for 15 minutes before she woke up again. This continued until 3:30ish. After waking up once more around 6:00, she slept in until around 8:00.

There were days not too long ago that she was regularly sleeping 8-10 hours straight at night. Now we're lucky if we get three hours. I know this could all change by next week. Or hell, by tonight. Or it might not ever change. *gulp*

Although she has gotten a little better since she's figured out how to roll around in her sleep. Sleeping on her side or tummy (I'm not too fond of this...) has been helping a lot. And her naps have improved greatly. She consistantly got 30-45 minute naps before, and now has been getting at least an hour and fifteen minutes for her late morning nap. Often times more. Woot!

So turns out my daughter is a long time member of the "Sleep is for Wussies" club. Here's to hoping I can get ahold of her membership card and tear it to shreds. =)

Here's my angel sleeping peacefully a few months ago. Now I wouldn't dare go into her room while she's sleeping to snap a picture!

Apparently I'm special

2009-06-03T17:30:00.002-05:00

I had my two week surgery follow up appointment today. After asking a bunch of questions, I asked my doctor, "So is this very common?"

He said, "Not really... I see it once maybe every five years. And I deliver 300-400 babies per year."

WHAT? Once every five years and it had to happen to me?? Out of 1500-2000 deliveries, it was mine??

He said, "You always wanted to be special, right?"

Okay fine, but maybe in a little less painful way!

Good thing Elizabeth is so cute. ;)

Fixin' what Lizzie Broke

2009-05-27T13:18:00.006-05:00

So I guess its not totally normal to still be in a whole lot of pain six months after having a baby. Nate made an appointment for me with my OB last month since I kept putting off calling him. I just figured it would get better. I just pushed a bowling ball out of there for goodness sakes, of course its going to hurt for a while, right? I suppose it is a good thing Nate called, because my doctor said that I needed surgery.

When I delivered, I had 2nd degree tears and needed stitches. Well, apparently my body decided it didn't want to heal correctly. I had what is called a fistula, which I had never heard of before now.

So on May 21st, I went in for surgery. They put me completely under for it. I was really nervous about that part, but also glad for it because it didn't sound like something I wanted to be awake for. The last thing I remember was the nurses putting my arms straight out at my sides. Next thing I know, I'm awake and the nurse told me the surgery was over.

I was pretty groggy for a long time. Then I was nauseous and ended up throwing up twice at the hospital and once at home. Not pleasant! Especially after having surgery where I did! Coughing, laughing, and blinking too hard hurt quite a bit. Okay, maybe not the blinking part.

I didn't get to go home until 7:30 or so. I walked in the front door and saw my beautiful baby girl playing on the floor with her Grandma Judy. Lizzie just looked up at me and smiled so big! I missed her so much! And I swear she looked older since the last time I had seen her around 1:00 PM. Then she started fussing because she wanted me. I sat on the couch and just held her and she hugged and cuddled with me for the longest time. This was my favorite part of the day.

Since the 21st, I've been in a good amount of pain. I don't like the pain pills because they make me feel "whooshy." Pretty much light headed and nauseaus off and on. But if I don't take the pain pills, I can barely walk. So yeah.

Family Nap Time

2009-05-25T15:14:00.004-05:00

This Memorial Day we hung out at home and spent time together as a family. Nate made me breakfast and went all out: pancakes, eggs, turkey bacon, hash browns, toast, and Simply Orange orange juice. Delicious! When we got Lizzie down for her nap, we laid down for one too. Twenty minutes later, Lizzie was awake and ready to play.

So we brought her into bed with us. She lay between us, playing with my ear rings, pulling my hair, trying to pry my eye balls from their sockets. I got her back by hugging her and tickling and kissing and cuddling her. Nate slept. Overall, it was a really great family nap time. =)

Goodbye Apie!

2009-05-22T16:56:00.006-05:00

Apie, by the way, is the nickname that Grandma Dianne gave to Elizabeth's apnea monitor. ;)

Today someone from Children's Home Health came and picked up the apnea monitor! At her last check up, her doctor said she could be done with it! So I'm glad for a couple of reasons: its easier getting her ready for bed, she's more comfortable at night without the band around her chest, no more worrying about false (or real!) alarms, etc.

But I'm also nervous! I liked having that extra protection, the extra monitoring, just in case something were to ever happen. Even though nothing did since her first "episode." Except for one false alarm, according to the doctor, that scared the crap out of us. Also an alarm went off because something got disconnected. But running in there thinking your daughter isn't breathing to find out something with the wires was off - augh! Such a relief but I think my heart skipped a few beats!

And both of those alarms were within a couple weeks of being done with the apnea monitor. We realized that one of the wires attached to her chest band got stretched somehow, so that is probably what caused the alarms.

So it is bittersweet saying goodbye to Apie. It was really nice having you here, but I'm not totally sad to see you go.

And hey, we'll always have the AngelCare!

Before I was a Mom

2009-05-18T17:27:00.001-05:00

This sounds about right.

Before I was a Mom,
I never tripped over toys
or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or
not my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of
my mind and my thoughts.
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held down a screaming child
so doctors could do tests
or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night
watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held a sleeping baby
just because I didn't want to put her down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces
when I couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small
could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom,
I didn't know the feeling of having
my heart outside my body.
I didn't know how special it could feel
to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small
could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night
every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth,
the joy,
the love,
the heartache,
the wonderment
or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much,
before I was a Mom.

-Author Unknown

7 Months old!

2009-05-15T11:07:00.000-05:00

My shrimp of a daughter

2009-05-12T16:30:00.001-05:00

We went to Elizabeth's check up today. She weighs a whopping 13 lbs 4 oz. Apparently that is less than the 3rd percentile. 97% of babies her age are bigger than her. She is 26" long though. We are going back in a month for a weight check. So for now we are trying to get some more chub on her legs!

My First Mother's Day

2009-05-10T22:15:00.002-05:00

I love being a mom. I'm sure it helps that my daughter is the coolest person I've ever met. =)

(Due to the finger on the flash and the off-center-ness of the picture, I'm pretty sure my husband hasn't grasped the concept of a good picture yet. I'm working on it!)

Box Picture

2009-05-01T17:19:00.004-05:00

Every time I see this picture, I have to smile. This was taken February 2, 2008 and I got my BFP on February 13th (my b-day!). When this picture was taken, I was already pregnant and just didn't know it yet. I had no idea my life was about to change so drastically. No idea how my life was about to completely turn upside down. No idea just how much I would love my new upside down, crazy life.

Its funny how a picture of me and my husband being dorks and sitting in big boxes would become so significant and important to me!

My Furbabies

2009-04-26T19:44:00.002-05:00

I'm thinking that my two furbabies are getting jealous of all the attention that the human baby is getting! So here is a post dedicated solely to my furbabies, Molly and Dugan.

We got Molly when I was 3 days away from turning 10 years old. Someone had dumped her when she was pregnant. The vet said she was approximately two years old at the time, which would put her at around 16 years old now. She is the best cuddler and the most friendly dog in the world. Here is her pretty face:

Dugan is one of the 6 puppies that Molly delivered on March 25, 1995. Dugan turned 14 this year! Obviously, we kept him. =) He actually had the most white on him out of all of the puppies. Here is his handsome face:

Here are both of my puppies snuggling with me on the couch. This was just a few weeks before my wedding, when I was all tan and thin and had long hair. And I didn't even appreciate it! *sigh*

This about sums up their personalities: Dugan had taken Molly's Christmas present and chewed on it constantly. He had a blue one just like her pink one and he wanted nothing to do with it. And Molly is just being a spaz, as usual.

Lizzie's Cute Things

2009-04-21T19:20:00.000-05:00

~My very favorite thing lately is that Elizabeth hugs my neck. It is the best feeling in the whole world.
~She'll also grab the face of whoever is holding her and put her face against it. She will sometimes shut her eyes as if she is overwhelmed by the love she has for that person (G-ma Dianne's theory!). Sometimes she also does this with toys. =)
~When I'm holding her in one arm, she reaches back and grabs the hair on the back of my head, especially if it is in a pony tail. Which effectively pulls a nice chunk of hair out of the pony tail.
~She pretty much grabs anything and everything that is within her reach. Toys, plates, noses, lips, ears, etc. Nothing is off limits!
~Elizabeth apparently thinks its hilarious when we laugh. She did this with her daddy first. She and Nate, or me, or whoever will sit there and just laugh at each other! Its awesome.
~When she sees her binky, she opens her mouth super wide for us to stick it in. Smart girl. :)
~She held her own bottle all by herself the other day! (She doesn't get too many bottles, so not sure when she actually started this.)
~Elizabeth loves her jumperoo even more lately. She is really able to jump her buns off now! So cute! And she can actually touch the floor now without the photo album underneath. She was no where close to touching the floor a month ago! She's getting so big!
~While in the jumperoo, she likes to jump up and grab the bird hanging from the leaf above her. One time she grabbed it and just yelled at it. Poor bird!
~Just yesterday I noticed her babbling for the first time. She said, "Babababababa...." I think that means, "I love mommy!" =)
~However, she has been "talking" for a while now. Cutest thing ever. Nate sent me a text from Lizzie once that said, "Arr agg mm yar yar." I think that also means, "I love mommy!" =)
~Current nicknames: Nate calls her SquidWorm and Squiddy. I call her things like Sweetie Pie or Lovey Lumps. And one that only I have earned the right to call her: Fat Head, of course said with total love and affection!

Happy 1/2 Birthday, Baby Girl!

2009-04-15T22:46:00.002-05:00

I can't believe she is 6 months old already! Half of a year has gone by in the blink of an eye. Or maybe its been one really long foggy haze. Either way, its gone by fast and my sweet little girl is getting so big!

POTW Winner!

2009-03-23T14:40:00.001-05:00

Elizabeth's Saint Patrick's Day picture won the Picture of the Week contest! Woot! Here is the winning photo:

And here are some of her outtakes. We had a lot of fun!

5 Months Old!

2009-03-16T22:18:00.001-05:00

These 5 months have both flown by and dragged on. I'm not sure exactly how that works! I suppose it has something to do with a lack of sleep. =)

Well, Elizabeth is cuter than ever. She just gets more amazing by the day. I am so dang lucky to be her mom because I get to spend so much time with her. She's doing this thing now when I nurse her and I'm not paying close enough attention to her. She'll pull off and look up at me and make different sounds. When I look down at her and smile she gets this HUGE smile and then turns and clamps down again. Ten seconds later she does it again. I adore this.

And she started cereal today! I can't believe she's old enough to be eating cereal. She did pretty good. I think we're going to have a lot of fun with this eating solids thing!

So Nate was up with Lizzie this morning while I got a little more sleep. They came in to wake me up and Nate informed me that they named her butt. Her butt is now called "Smelly My." As in, "Smelly My butt, moms!" (We often put words in Lizzie's mouth and when Nate is talking for her, "she" calls me Moms. Not quite sure why yet!) I think they have too much fun together. =)

Here are some pictures from Elizabeth's 5 month birthday yesterday:

Jumpin Around

2009-03-14T18:35:00.001-05:00

I ordered the Fisher Price Rainforest Jumperoo for Elizabeth and she is SOO cute in it! She loves talking (and sometimes growling) to the monkey. I had to put a photo album under her feet since she's still to short to reach the floor. After a few days of trying it out, she finally started jumping! I think I'm enjoying it more than she is.

Sleep update...

2009-03-02T10:15:00.000-06:00

Last night did not go better. In fact, I'm pretty sure it was worse. Longest stretch of sleep was 1.75 hours.

Sleeping through the night = FAIL

2009-03-01T19:07:00.000-06:00

Tonight is night #4 of Elizabeth's new schedule. After reading most of "The No Cry Sleep Solution" and skimming through "Heathy Sleep Habits, Happy Child," we are trying to fix Lizzie's sleep schedule.

The 1st night SUCKED. Or at least the first part of it did. She thought she was taking a nap when we put her to bed at 7:45, so she woke up about 40 minutes later. It took us 3 hours to get her to go back to sleep! She's used to her 11:30-12:00 bedtime. There were several times where she had fallen asleep, but as soon as we lay her down in the crib- wide eyes. So Nate and I spent those 3 hours in Lizzie's room, in the dark, taking turns rocking her.

The 2nd night she did so good! She went to bed at 8:45 (we figured before 8:00 was too early still). She fussed about 45 minutes later and Nate rocked her back to sleep before she woke up fully. Then she woke up every few hours to nurse, with the longest stretch being 4.5 hours!

Now the 3rd night, last night, was worse than the first. We are thinking that she had a stomach ache or teething pains causing her to wake up a lot. She woke up soooo many times. We have been keeping track of when she's sleeping and I couldn't keep up. All I wrote was, "Woke up several hundred times after 12:00." I fed her and put her down in the crib at 7:00 am. I went back to bed and was woken up later by Lizzie crying again. I looked at the clock and it was 7:09. She slept for 9 whole freakin minutes.

I hope tonight goes better...

We have a foot eater!

2009-02-22T16:34:00.002-06:00

Well, ELizabeth's "bend" is doing a lot better. Still not totally repaired, but doing better than it was! She is letting us bend her legs or even sit her down on our laps a lot more. Yay!

And the girl has definitely found her feet! Even when she's not getting her diaper changed, she's now pulling them up and chewing on them! So cute!

A few mornings ago, I heard this strange banging sound coming from the monitor. Nate went in to check it out. The noise was her kicking this dog toy that hangs on the bottom of her crib. She has scooted all the way down to the bottom of the crib! She did it twice that morning and several times since. She thought she was sooo funny!

4 months, 1 week

Shrimpy

2009-02-20T16:24:00.001-06:00

Apparently I have a little shrimp for a daughter. I weighed myself and then weighed myself with her, and the difference was only 11 lbs. I got the same answer several times. Then I got 11.6 lbs several times. I know its not the most accurate way to weigh, but she's somewhere around there.

So why isn't she gaining weight?? She weighed almost 12 lbs a month ago. She's gaining inches though. She's approx 24" long. So she's tall and skinny!

She's also doing this thing where she won't sit or bend her legs. She'll just be stick straight. Nate says that her bend is broken. And she's been spitting up a lot more lately. Not large amounts, but more frequently. She also looks like she's always chewing on something in her mouth. So all this on top of a little extra fussiness makes me wonder if her reflux is getting worse.

So good thing her appointment is on Feb 23rd. Oh, oops, no its not. Stupid me called and changed it to March 6th because I didn't want to be alone when she got her shots. That was before I realized how much she weighs and before the extra spit up and broken bend. I tried to get her appointment back but no such luck. So we're going to keep calling and hope for a cancellation. Otherwise we have to wait almost 2 more weeks. =(

4 months, 5 days

Four months old... wow

2009-02-15T16:12:00.003-06:00

Today my precious, gorgeous daughter turned 4 months old! It occurred to me the other day that she is no longer a newborn. Hasn't been for a while. She is getting so big! Or at least so old. She's actually still pretty tiny.

My birthday was 2 days ago. Which is also the one year anniversary of when I found out that I was expecting. What a difference a year makes! Its so hard to believe it was only a year ago, though. And now I have this beautiful baby girl sleeping in the next room. Wow.

My birthday was also the first time that Elizabeth spent the night somewhere. She went to stay with my parents for the night. Nate had some convincing to do in order for me to agree to this! I missed her sooo much!

And just a quick cute little milestone: Lizzie is starting to find her feet! In the last few days, mostly during diaper changes, she'll hold on to a foot and try to suck on it. Sooo cute! She is starting the "put everything in my mouth" phase. Oh joy. =)

4 months! (17 1/2 weeks)