Momma and her new sling

Well I convinced Adam to get us a ring sling for Ms. Bella. We went and picked it up from Tiffany yesterday and I have been wearing Bella today after her morning nap. Well low and behold after about 15 minutes in it she decides to go all cranky and screaming baby on me. I, at the time, was in the middle of washing her bottles. So after hurrying through them I took her back to the bedroom, pulled her out of the sling only to find that a wet diaper was not the problem. My little monster was hungry again. So instead of whipping it out and feeding her in the room I decided I would try to get her in a cradle position in the sling and nurse her that way. IT WORKED! Yes, I am able to catch up on some things on the computer and nurse my daughter at the same time without doing a one-handed typo job. I'm gonna post pics later of Bella in her new sling once DH gets home to take them.

Crawling and Swimming

So first off, swimming, but not really. Since we determined the baby bathtub doesn't work for our daughter and the shower does, that's normally what she gets, a shower. But she's been really grimey lately and I wanted to make sure I get all those hard to reach spots. That's next to impossible when you're holding her one handed in the shower. So the next best thing to a little tub is a big tub. She did great, splashed around, floated a while, and then screamed her head off when we actually started washing her. After we rinsed her and let her float again she was fine. But then it was time to get out and the screaming started again. Following bath time we had a little bit of tummy time in the play yard and well...see for yourself her attempts at crawling. She has the leg strength and determination, just no upper body. I can't believe she attempting to do this at two months...

Whose the prettiest sling of all?

Well yesterday we had another baby wearing class and I got the much needed assistance for Ms. Bella and her Moby. I wasn't getting it tight enough to keep her from arching out of it. Unfortunately she's tall enough now to stand up and arch out anyway so I can turn her around for awhile to get her calm, but once she's overstimulated I have to turn her back to me. We walked around Lowe's for an hour or so and in the end she fell asleep for the last half hour. It was awesome not pushing the stroller or carrying the diaper bag or carseat. HOWEVER, the Moby is defintely not the most efficient for traveling with her to the store. With that in mind I am trying to convince (more so telling him that I will get one) Adam to let me get a sling from the sling lady (aka Tiffany Speck, RN) http://www.babysosmart.com/ ,who also happens to run her own sling business. Now the next hardest choice is which one to buy. SO, any suggestions are welcomed. I have to keep in mind that there will be another child, 50/50 shot it's another girl. So do I buy the sling I like or one that could be gender neutral? Does it matter what gender you stick in it as long as mommy likes it? Right now I'm leaning towards Lashley...

Forrest / Azor

Tiffany / Sabrina

Lashley / Hannah

2 Month Check Up

Waiting on the doctor, always waiting...

The shots are in...

and the screams begin.

So today was Bella's two month well child check up and her immunizations. The good news is she's healthy and growing well. She's now up to 12 pounds 3 ounces and 23 .25 inches long. The bad news is they had to give her three shots and an oral dose of her vaccines. It was terrible for my little girl. She was happy, the doctor came in and she was a good girl for him. He left the room and all hell broke loose. All she wanted to do was scream. It was nap time and she was fighting it, but I was able to get her calm, just in time for the nurse to walk in. The nurse brought her tray of pain with her. She was able to get another nurse to help her so it would take as long to give the shots. The pictures show just how cruel it is to do this to children.

On another note I have to start putting her on some sort of schedule to help get her accustomed to sleeping alone or at all. Luckily (don't know if it's the shots or not) she's asleep right now and has been napping for about an hour. So the next week is probably going to be hell for us. One step forward, two steps back. So wish us luck into the endeavor us scheduling a baby.

A Sunday Full of New Photos

So mom "needed" more photos of all her grandbabies so... we spent a few hours trying to get them to cooperate. Several hundred snaps later we have narrowed down the field to a few good choices. Now the pics aren't great, because I am not a professional, just a hobbyist. But the pics were good enough for my mom, and I figured I'd share.

Who's that baby in the mirror?

Today Bella was having fun time and found herself in the mirror on her play mat. It was too cute. She was kicking away, swinging her arms, then she turned and saw herself. Suddenly her limbs quit moving and she focused, then she continued with the flailing and would turn from time to time to make sure the baby was still there. She was too adorable!!

Following fun time we turned over for some tummy time and that did not go over well AT ALL. She fussed, groaned, rooted around, drooled everywhere. This little tantrum went on for over five minutes and she then gave up the big fight. She passed out all adorable with her hiney in the air and snoozed for an hour before Aunt Erika showed up to play with her. Shortly after her arrival, Bella decided she was hungry again. Ah, the joys of raising a healthy piggy.

We Found A Toy!

Going to see Grandma at work

Bella has always loved starring up at the ceiling, especially at her five legged ceiling monster. So yesterday I purchased a play mat with all the bells and whistles she'll ever need. After playing a while she discovered herself in the mirror, but seemed uninterested in herself. She did enjoy the sun, which plays 4 different melodies. She isn't quite coordinated to grab at the toys (or so I thought) and doesn't have the strength to pull it for the sound. But she loves kicking at a couple of the dangling toys. I added to it a monkey teether that Erica got her and she can't help but glare at him. It was too cute. After a while she gets pissy. So I gave her a break. After Daddy was finished in the garage we showed him her new toy and he watched her play. We started to discuss something and when we turned back to pull the sun, for more music, she had a tight grasp on the ring and wouldn't let go. So whether it was pure dumb luck or a coordinated effort I'll never know, but I was able to snap a few pics of her playing with it.

Her 5 legged ceiling monster

I FINALLY got some pictures printed for my family and am able to send out the thank you cards (only two months late). We had a good day I must say, that was until the night came and my little girl again refused to sleep on her own. So at midnight she crawled in to bed, snuggled up to her favorite toy (mommy's boob) and drifted off. I still don't understand why it is she acts like she's asleep after eating (at all hours of the night) but the moment we try to move her she's wide awake. Does this kid ever really sleep anymore? Oh well, another day, another adventure.

5 Year Recognition and a busy Tuesday.

Well I accomplished a lot today. For starters I finally mailed off our state return and got postage for my thank you letters (from the baby shower, yeah I'm behind) so that when I get my pics tomorrow I can mail them all out. I also got my hearing test done for my part time job and was able to take Bella for her weekly weigh in and chat with my girls in my BF support group. I met a lady that I had seen there before but we got to know each other a little bit better. Her daughter, Aspen, is one week younger than Bella. Currently her hubby is out of work and she has to go back to her job within the next couple of weeks. Luckily she works really close to the house and lives near me. So, should her hubby get a job and they need a sitter quickly, I'm available. So that would be cool if Bella had a playmate & I had some extra income. It was really cool getting to know the girls in the group. It was funny, me & Melissa have only talked a few times but she was the first to mention I cut all my hair off. Her little boy is just so cute and very flirty. Anyways, following BF group I managed to get to the post office then stopped by the health department on the way home to get Bella's birth certificate. Finally I arrived home just in the nick of time to get myself ready for the Team Member Banquet being held tonight.

Five years in the making. I can't believe it myself. I started off in Finance as a Staff Accountant in 2004, left in February of 2008 to persue other avenues of business oportunity, but stayed on part time as an on-call usher. It was a nice evening. Grandmama kept Bella for us and she was apparently quite the little piggy. Prior to taking her over there I fed her two ounces of BM in the car to get her settled because she was really hungry. Then Grandmama gave her three more ounces of BM and another ounce from another bottle all within a two hour time span. She then ate four ounces of formula. So in a matter of four hours she ate ten ounces. When we got her home she was hungry again so she ate the remaining two ounces of BM and suckled for a half hour before passing out. My hope is that she goes to sleep tonight so I can get some rest. But back to MY evening. We show up at the hotel and sign in at 6pm (when the banquet is to start). They handed me my "plaque", or as I'd like to call it the Wal-Mart special (a picture frame w/ a certificate in it). No worries, I understand there are a ton of 5 & 10 year team members here, and not enough time to hand them out on stage.

Ahhh the foot pain... Now, I haven't worn heals since I worked in Feb 08. We proceed to stand until after 7pm when they finally open the banquet hall. Apparently the hour preceding the ceremonies was a "reception" full of free booze and ungodly appetizers. The only food I recognized was the shrimp, which was pretty good. The remainder looked like poo on a cracker. I did have myself a fuzzy navel, since for some reason Jack was no where to be found at any of the four free bars. Wow, my first drink since April of 2008. So after standing, in heels, I decided to find a place to plop my hiney. Shortly after they opened the ball room and we found our seats. Shortly after that they brought on the food and it was GOOD! We started off with a salad, yummy, followed by dinner rolls and the entree. The entree consisted of grilled chicken, beef tenderloin with a demi glaze, cheesy potatoes and undercooked green beans. They also provided us with red and white wines to which I had a fourth of a glass of wine. They topped the food fest off with an awesome triple layer fudge chocolate cake, I so could have eaten the whole cake. Shortly after that Adam & I had to make ourselves scarce as my body was calling out to my baby. I didn't think ahead as to how long I'd be away from her and the last time I was able to feed her. So by the time I got home I was hurting pretty bad. But don't worry folks, I tested the milk before I fed her and the alcohol was no where to be found. So here I am laying down my thoughts all the while Bella is laying in her bassinet, starring at the five legged ceiling monster and talking. 10:50pm and she won't sleep. Whatever will I do?

Today's Measurement's = 11 pounds 11.1 ounces

A new do, A new day

Well I finally got my "Mommy Do" today. I swear there was 20 pounds of hair on my head, but I have the thinnest hair. It feels awesome. The lady "foofied" it up and I doubt I'll ever be able to make it look that cute, but I'll try. All this took place after Arabella decided to revert to her 3 am bed time again. She slept next to me all night and just wanted to eat and eat and eat. So after awaking around 10:45am she was apparently refreshed and wanted to talk to mommy and daddy. Adam tried to capture a smile on camera, but we only got some grins and open mouthed shots. Still she's too cute and you can't hate her for staying up late every night (morning) once you talk to her.

We were also able to get all 4 grandkids together at the same time today. Number 5 is on the way. That's right, but before you jump the gun, no it's not me. Erica is preggo with her second baby. She just found out this weekend so she still has to see the doctor, but Brooklyn is excited. She's gonna be a big sister and if you ask her she's going to have little brother/sister. She's sooo funny.

Speaking of funny, baby's will say the darndest things. Demi (in b&w) approached me as I was nursing Bella. I had my new nursing cover on but was peaking through the neck hole to watch her when Demi decided she needed to see what Bella was doing under there. Before I could stop her she pulled the hole open so she could see down in there. She then exclaimed "What is she doing?" I proceeded to tell her she was eating. Demi said, "No she's not", all while giggling. I said yes, she's eating her milk. To which she responded "NO, milk doesn't come from people, it comes from cow's and refrigerators. You have to pour it in a glass." Ahhh, innocent children. If only it were all as easy as pouring milk into a glass.

Running and The Bumbo

Yesterday I put Bella in this cute outfit Erika got her. It has a zip up hoodie and little pants. I thought it was too cute. Adam comes home from work and goes to give her a kiss and proceeds to ask her if she's going jogging. I thought, what a dork. Apparently her headband looks like a sweatband now. Either way the funniest/saddest thing of all is that she is 1 month, 2 weeks, and 6 days old, but she's wearing a 3 month outfit. She's outgrown many of her little cute outfits and I've been having to move her into the 3 month group. It's awesome because I was fearful I wouldn't produce enough milk to sustain her, but here I am feeding a healthy growing little piggy. The LC is still ecstatic about Bella's progress and the little amount of formula I supplement with. She's lucky if she gets a couple ounces of formula a day, the rest is all breast milk. I am so thankful to all my December Mamas for their advice and help (and the LC) to get me through all the difficult times. Even now I'm still struggling on a daily basis. Yes, she can latch, yes she can suck, but sometimes it's the amount of time she spends at the breast, either constantly wanting to eat or use me as a human pacifier. Now that her illness is going away she isn't eating constantly, but now I'm faced with the beginning of her teething phase. Yes, she's not reached the two month mark yet, but her drooling has increased and now she's "chomping" at the boob. Let me tell you a girl with her latch and writhing around with my nipple in her mouth are not a good combo. All my research states that with increased drooling and "chomping" this is truly the beginning of teething, although it will be months before she actually cuts a tooth. Yay for the day she has teeth...and me in her mouth.

Today we tried Bella's Bumbo seat for the first time. She's still a bit bobble-headed for it but she loves sitting up. She is pretty strong for her age, so perhaps this will help with her muscle strength.

Sitting up like a big girl

Going to the fist instead of raising it