Things Learned as a New Mom

Ok, so the past seven months have been incredibly informative for me. First off, I learned that the worse you want to do something the more likely it is that something is going to go wrong. Along with the usual raining while camping (of course it rained, we went camping:) , Emily was running a fever most of the weekend and not feeling well. Whether she had a bug or is considering getting teeth, who knows, but the fact is she was a fussy baby and not her usual happy giggly self.

Lesson #1: Learn to be flexible...and always pack the infant tylenol!

Lesson #2: When posing a 7 month old near a bunch of flowers, know which ones are edible in order to get a picture without a screaming baby.

No, I havent given her solid food but thought if she broke part of the dandelion off and ingested it, it wouldn't hurt her.

Lesson #3: Seven year old little boys will spend an hour seriously trying to catch a fish using a stick, string, and a safety pin, with grass seeds for the fly.

That's how big the one that got away was. That was Saturday. It had grown another foot by yesterday.

Lesson #4: Although I love tent camping, having a trailer for a baby is nice.

Lesson #5: It takes twice as long to clean everything up as it did to pack and get it dirty.

Lesson #6: Seven month old babies like to roll and not be held all the time and will be happy once the camera is put away

I snuck the camera back out for this grin

Lesson #7: It is possible to go for three days with only a couple hours of sleep (see above comments about baby not feeling well.

Lesson #8: If you pack lots of extra clothes, you won't need them, however if you only pack what you think you will need, you will run out of clothes quickly.

Lesson #9: Long car rides equal extremely dirty and smelly diapers after you pass the exit and get gas so you have to continue to smell it for a while and allow it to leak all over the car seat.

And Lesson #10: Did I mention that even if everyone is feeling great when you leave the house to pack the infant tylenol--and adult tylenol for when the crying baby leaves you with a headache!

Click .below if you want to see all the pictures. we took a lot hoping to get a good one.
http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=595625016/a=5355026_5355026/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Three years

Can anyone else out there believe that it has been three years since Neal and I got married?! Time flies...and especially this last year. So just to look back to three years ago....

How Much Is That Doggy In The Window?

How much is that doggy in the window?

The one with the waggly tail?

How much is that doggy in the window?

The one who was barking and fell?

Need I say more? Yes, I did get her out of her stuck spot, again:)

A Fun New Game

I've always wondered why this wall was there instead of just making the living room a little bigger. now I know....

White Shorts

There's just something about white shorts. Emily only has one pair of them, she's worn them exactly two times. Occassionally we have diaper leaks, but usually just a little damp, not with poopy everywhere. And then there are the times when she has on white shorts. The first time she wore them the mess was all over her, the bed, the mattress pad (those things actually work to keep the mattress clean) her blanket, her toy rabbit, literally EVERYTHING that was anywhere near her. Ok, so yesterday I put them on her again. I was in the other room she was "napping" in her playpen. Well, she woke up and I could hear her laughing. THis went on for quite a while until I finished what I was doing and she was still laughing when I picked her up and yes, once again she had managed to make a huge mess. And evidently she thought it was funny! So Spray N Wash is great, however I have had to spray, wash and spray and wash again when it is on white. Why doesnt she ever do that when she's wearing yellow that it wouldnt really be noticeable on?

Ok, speaking of diapers both the babies (yes, I babysit on Thursdays) are sound asleep so I think I'll get diapers out of the drier and throw another load in the wash. Naptime is great for laundry:)

Happy Mother's Day

Ok, so we couldnt decide what to do for our mothers for mother's day so we took Emily and got her picture made. I really liked Olan MIlls but just didnt have the time to drive over there so we went to walmart. The pics got back yesterday so I scanned them for all of you to enjoy. The first picture I got the package of and the other ones I got on two sheets with three pics in a collage kind of thing, but not the real expensive ones, the cheap ones. She was just so darn cute I wanted more than just the one pose:) Anyway, since I'm sure you are reading this Mom, happy Mother's day, we'll bring your picture when we see you!

Baby Dedication

Playing outside the other day wore her out!

Yesterday was Emily's baby dedication. It was great to have our friends join us for the day, and they were kind enough to take a few pictures, however I didnt even think about taking a zoom lens so they are a little far away, but not a problem. I have to admit I was a little worried she would burst into tears and pooch her lip out whenever Kenny (the pastor) took her, but she did good. She nearly swiped the microphone from his shirt but settled on grabbing onto his shirt collar. And I actually got to hear the entire sermon...she fell asleep with her daddy holding her and slept the entire service. She hasnt done that in a long time so it was nice. I took a couple pictures before we left of her all dressed up.

Too Cute

Emily LOVES her swing. She thinks that we should go out every time I touch her jacket, even though we didnt need a jacket today.

Yes, I think she was going to try to eat the grass, but without teeth, she never got any broke off:) Adorable isn't she?

Ok, so maybe I'm biased, but isnt this about the cutest thing you've ever seen? After a rainy start today, we had an absolutely beautiful afternoon today so Emily and I went outside and took the camera with us and thought we'd share.

Warm fuzzies

I like coupons. And while normally I dont have very many except for baby stuff, I signed up for lots of freebies and coupons while pregnant, and i definitely use them. So the other day I was standing in the baby aisle at walmart digging through my baby coupons while alady was staring at the similac formula. She looked like one of those people that are really trying and was frustrated by the price of formula. Anyway, even though I dont use formula I get lots of coupons and I had 5 or 6 $5 off similac coupons so i asked this lady if she would like them. She was so excited I thought she was going to hug me. Anyway I got that warm fuzzy feeling even though all Id done was give up something I was going to end up throwing away anyway.

The little boy I'mwatching is asleep and Emily almost is so I think Ill use the opportunity to grab a bite to eat:)

Solid food? Nope, not yet!

For all of you skeptics out there...did you know that pediatricians actually say it is best for the baby if you wait until they are 12 MONTHS old before introducing foods other than breastmilk or formula? Yep, one year. However, they say that if baby just never seems to be able to get enough to eat then it is ok to introduce food sooner but the chances of developing allergies, including hay fever, seasonal allergies, etc decreases the longer you solely breastfeed? And when you do introduce foods, variety isn't that important, you want to feed them just enough so that they aren't feeling hungry all the time, but you still want them to primarily eat breastmilk? So my decision to have not started solid foods (except for a taste of icing, a taste of ice cream, and a taste of pie) is very much supported by my doctor, and she told me don't rush it. If she is not acting hungry constantly, then just breastfeeding is fine. So, until she starts acting like she is really hungry, I'm going to do what I and my doctor think is best and at this time that is just giving her breastmilk.

She was a good baby at the doctor visit. The stethoscope must've been cold because it made her cry, and of course she cried when she got her shots, but she was all better as soon as I picked her up. And she was good while we ran into Babies R Us (needed another diaper pail for downstairs for her cloth diapers since we finally got that approved for daycare) and Walmart. Then she took a nap while I mowed the yard, and she's napping again while I'm debating dinner. Some sort of cheesy chicken taco bake sounds good, although I would have to totally make it up, I've done that before:) Too bad I don't have cream of cheddar soup.... Anyway Emily is now 25 inches long, and 15 lbs. 6 oz which are both right around the 40th percentile. head circumference is in the 80th percentile.

And final thoughts...some of you may have noticed I vanished from facebook. I was simply spending too much time on there trying to figure it out and just being nosy more than anything, so I deactivated my account. I still have emial and will continue to post occasionally on here, I just didnt want to devote the time to facebook that it was starting to take up.