9 mo Well Baby

Ahh where does the time go!? My little princess is 9 months old (back on April 8th that is) and she had her 9 mo visit to the doc on Monday. She weighs 18 lbs and 3 oz (34%) and is 27 3/4 in long (51%). She is just too cute for her own good

• She is crawling like crazy and she is FAST
• She loves to pull herself up on anything and everything!
• She loves to play with her toys
• She still sleeps with her mobile on at night and she is still using her binkie
• She is on stage 3 foods now - just started those about 2 weeks ago
• She likes yogurt melts from gerber. We have also tried puffs but she doesn't let them dissolve long enough so she ends up swallowing them and it's a bit hard for her
• She still loves the puppy and kitty
• She opens her mouth to give you kisses (she has been doing this for a while now)

I think that's about all. She is just our world and I couldn't love her any more!

Things have been crazy other wise. Ben is working hard at his new job. I've been busy at work also! I'm traveling a lot in May (1st and last week) and then I have surgery May 13th for my other problems I am having. I'm just praying this works. I really want to have more children and this would be pretty devastating if it didn't work. :( So I just keep on praying!!

We are having Easter dinner at our house on Sunday and I'm excited to have everyone over. My parents are coming, my sister and brother in law and possibly his son, Ben's mom and her boyfriend and  then Ben's grandpa probably as well. I'm going to be making a big feast and can't wait to have everyone there for baby's first Easter!

Car Accident

So on Tuesday (3/22) I got in to an accident as I was leaving work. It was not my fault though but so scary. I was leaving work and there a side road that runs from our parking deck and it takes you out on to a main road (S Main St). Just after the road merges with the main road there is a business (United Disability Services). Well someone who had never been in the area was trying to turn in to that business and ran right in to me and then I went in to a light pool. I was so scared. Thank god that baby was not in the car and I had my seatbelt on. The other guy was ok too. I had no idea what was going on. My air bag deployed so I saw smoke after that went off and I thought my car was on fire! So i jumped out. Luckily I wasn't seriously hurt either. I did go to the ER after to get checked out. My hand was bothering me and still is. And I am having some back pain and some pain in my hips. I have a huge bruise on my knee. And ever since the accident I have been getting a lot of headaches and dizziness/lightheadedness. Of course Ben was out of town 4 1/2 hours away :( He doesn't want to leave again. Just really scary. We are not sure about our car - we have talked to the body shop and they are already estimating the damage at around $12,000. At that rate I doubt they will fix it, they will probably total it out. I'm not sure that I will be ok with that. I would rather they would fix it. I love that car :*( I've been in some pain ever since the accident. I do have an appointment with my doctor on Monday. We will see what they say. I have a rental for now - it's a 2010 Dodge Journey. It has to go back though because there is no atenna so we barely get any stations. We tried to get something today but they said everything was out pretty much until Monday. So probably after my appointment I will head there to try and get something else.

Baby is doing very well though! We had another swim lesson today and Ben got in the water with us today too since I haven't been doing well with holding the baby. I get a lot of pressure in my back if I am holding her for any longer than a minute. She is enjoying every minute of her lessons though! She is eating stage 2 foods right now. She is still mostly army crawling. She gets up on her knees every once in a while but she doesn't stay there. She is standing quite a bit and can stand for a while against something if she is holding on. She also pulled herself up for the first time on Weds. We lowered her crib this week since we know she can pull herself up now. I'm not sure how she is liking being that low but I don't think she really notices it all that much.

In other health news for me, I am having some issues with my female parts. I have been through a few procedures and they have been unsuccessful so far. It's a long story but basically I have to have a surgery some time in april to try and remove some scar tissue. At this point they are not sure if I will be able to have more kids. I'm pretty devestated over that and hoping that this surgery goes well and they can get things better enough for me to have another one. We don't want Tricia to be an only child.

I think that's all for my updates for right now!

Baby Food and Some Updates

A few weeks ago I decided to try making my own baby food. I went to the store and bought some fresh green beans, carrots, pears, peaches and apples.

I messed the peaches up but the rest turned out fairly well! I put them in my ice cube trays, froze them, and popped them in to a freezer bag. Here is what I got:

Pears - cost $2.82, 14 servings, .20 per serving
Apples - cost $2.44, 9 servings, .27 per serving
Grean beans - cost $2.99, 12 servings, .25 per serving
Carrots - cost $1.19, 14 servings, .09 per serving

Maybe its just a bad time of the year to be doing this but I thought the cost would be more in teh range of what I got for the carrots. Not sure what happened. But I was happy to do it. Not sure if I will be doing anymore batches though. Baby is on to second foods now and that involves mixing a lot of foods and stuff. It seems like someone always has the Gerber two pack tubs on sale for $1. So I might just go with those.

Baby is doing very well though! Getting so big. She is in 6- 9 month clothing right now. Mostly for length than anything. She has the tiniest feet I've ever seen though. I feel like they haven't grown at all since she was 3 mo old! They are so little, compared to other babies around her age. I got some sandals that are so cute that are 6-12 mo and she can't even close to fit in them!

We start swim lessons at the YMCA on Saturday. It's every Sat for 7 weeks from 9-9:30 am. I'm ready to see her in her two cute little bathing suits. I will have to be sure to come back and post some pics of it. There is a girl here at work that is signed up with her son too so I'm excited to have someone in the class with me. A little nervous though because one I don't want to be in a bathing suit but two the class is for up to 36 months. I know there are 4 other people in the class besides us two so I'm hoping they are babies still like our little ones. I can't imagine a 3 year old doing the same things as an 8 month old. We will just have to see!

Ben's new job is going ok. It's really hard having him out of town all week. The weekends are nice to spend together but I still feel like I get no break most of the time. He is always running around and leaving the house to do something so then I have the baby still. I feel like screaming at him that weekends are supposed to be my break from doing it all week. Oh well. I love her to pieces but we all need a break once in a while.

My job is going ok. I was hoping for a promotion but didn't get one. Although PLENTY of other people did. Including 3 people in my department. I guess it had to do with who was going to make the least "noise" about not getting theirs and they said because I got one last year. Well last year was just to bring me where I should be, not because of a promotion. So I asked if they would give me my title change since they say my salary is in the range already and I'm really doing the job already. It's been a couple weeks and they still haven't told me. I'm not happy about it at all. I want to bug my boss more about it but I don't want to make her mad. I will probably wait until next week and ask again. i just don't know what's so hard about it- I'm just asking for a title change that fits my job anyways!

I also found out I am going to have to get another surgery. Apparently I have some scar tissue from when I had my D&C after my delivery for retained product. I've read that its common but it scares me to think maybe it will come back? Maybe I won't be able to have more kids? I'm pretty nervous about it. Plus I have to go under again and I really am just over having surgeries. I'm praying that this is the last one and that everything will be ok after this.

One last thing  -we got a new TV with our tax returns. I love it! And we are also waiting on our new sectional for the living room - found out today it won't be delivered until March 14th :( I'm not happy at all about it! We were told February. I will have to put pics of the new stuff up too soon!

6 mo Well Baby Visit

So yesterday was Tricia's 6 month appointment. She did well and they say she looks great. She is growing  like she should and doing everything she should at 6 months. I told him I started her on solids and he said that was fine. She has done ok on pretty much everything except bananas I believe. it was either the bananas or the carrots. Oh well, we will come back to those later. I still ahve some other foods to get her though. Mostly doing well on that.

She is still kind of sick. The doc still says he doens't see anythign that would indicate she needed antibiotics. So until then we just suction her nose out good and I am running a vick plug in at night. I need to get the humidifier out as well.

Ben started his new job yesterday. I miss him a ton. And it's rough being home alone already. It just sucks. But hopefully some good will come out of it.

I go back to work tomorrow after my leave from Grandma Evans passing away on 1/9. I was off last Weds, Thurs, Fri for the services. Weds was the calling hours and Fri was the funeral. I was really sad - I miss her a lot already. RIP Grandma Evans - you will be forever missed. <3

Christmas and New Years

Time has flown so fast! It seems like I was just in here yesterday writing. Well the baby still is coughing and sneezing. I've given up! The doc said it's allergies, the allergist said it's a cold. So she goes back on the 17th for her 6 month check up and so we will talk about it then again. It doesn't seem to bother her at all - never problems iwth her ears or a fever. So unless it gets to that point I'm just watching her and seeing what happens.

We have had a few milestones since the last writeup.

First Christmas - Such a fun time! She got so many gifts and so did we!!! It was crazy. My mom got me a dyson - I LOVE IT! She spoils us so bad. So needed for the baby though. We did have to travel around a lot for Christmas though but it was worth it to see everyone. Christmas Eve we went to Ben's aunt and uncles, this his grandparents, then his other grandpa's for the rest of the night. His mom and aunt/uncle/cousin were there as well. It was a good time. Christmas Day my family came over to our house and I cooked breakfast than we opened gifts. So many amazing gifts from everyone. We are truly blessed :) Baby did amazing with all the traveling and people holding her. I will come abck and post pics soon!

First New Years - Was wonderful. Baby went to sleep around 10 and then we just hung out with the family at Ben's grandpas. Right after the ball dropped we left - that's way too late for us to stay up now LOL!

First Solids - We have started to introduce solid foods. We only do it about once a day, but we are moving through the foods to make sure she is ok with everything. So far we have done green beans, peas, and carrots. They all seem to be doing good for now! Her first one was on Christmas Day though - so that was a fun milestone :)

We now also have a crazy rolling baby. She rolls everywhere and it's just crazy. But overall she is doing so wonderful! Can't wait to see her stats when we go to the doc on the 17th.

Ben is starting his new job on the 17th also. It's with my BIL - he will be doing drywall. I'm happy for him - he has been not happy for a while now at his job and is ready for a change. This should be good for him. Just a huge change and he has a lot to learn.

Well I think that's all that's new in our world right now. Ready for 2011 and all the fun we are hoping it brings with our little bug!

Sick baby

So last week the baby started to get sick. It was a lot of sneezing and coughing. This happened about a month ago and when we took her in the doc basically said unless she has a fever, pulling at her ears like they are bothering her or she is eating different then to just let it pass. There isn't much they can do for a baby who's that little. Well after a week of her being like this, I finally took her to the doc on Tuesday. After examining her closely they believe she has allergies. I just can't imagine how she has allergies at 5 1/2 months!!! So we now have a machine that is a nebulizer inhaler. It's got the little mask that you have to try and hold up to her mouth. She does ok with it but she moves around a lot so I am constantly moving the mask around with her face. I know she would freak if I tried to use the straps to put it on her so I will just do that for now. They also referred her to an allergist to see if he can give her anything for the congestion in her nose. I'm hoping so!! I have to call them today because they gave Dec. 30 as the first appt available for her but I just can't imagine going two more weeks with her like this. Hopefully the inhaler helps with the coughing. The hardest part is she is too little for the allergy test so it will be awhile before we know what she is allergic too. I just hope we can find something for her soon. Ben has a lot of allergies (environmental) so she definitely takes after him in that department!

I still can't believe Christmas is next weekend!! I'm pretty much done with shopping - just need to finish Ben's mom and then give his uncle some money for his grandpa's gift. I do have some wrapping to do and I'm making picture frames for Ben's Aunt/Uncle and Grandparents so I need to finish putting those together this weekend and wrap them. But I feel good about being pretty much done with everything!

Next week is going to be a quiet week at work! It always is because our field people aren't really doing too much work. Hopefully i find some things to keep me busy because it's going to be such a long week if not. It will be nice though - I only have to work Tues-Thurs! And same for the following week because of New Years! I love this time of year! I do need to post some pics of our Christmas Tree and I need to also come back and post our family pics (which turned out GREAT).

Pics Only!

Sorry they are out of order but here are some newer pics...

 Baptism Sept 2010

 See she doesn't like Ohio State....

 She loves her Michigan Stuff though :)

Our Thanksgiving Turkey!

This is me and Ben's cousin - our babies are only 10 days apart

Family Pics this weekend

Well this week at work went by pretty fast. I had a lot of things to get done. Last night we went to dinner with Ben's mom and her new boyfriend. Ben's great aunt and her grandson came also. It was a good time. Me and Ben also got went to look at TVs and furniture. I think we might be getting both when tax time comes. We will see. For sure we are getting a TV and furniture is a possibility too. Depends on how much we get back from taxes and how much my bonus is. Not counting on much for my bonus because we didn't do well as a company this year. But I'm very excited about getting a new TV, our old big screen is a projection TV and it was handed down to us from Ben's parents. So it's quite a few years old and the picture  quality has to gone.

Our family pictures are tomorrow and I'm very excited! I can't wait to see what amazing things she does with our  family. She did wonderful with my maternity pics so I"m sure she will do great with these as well.

My bug stayed at my sister's last night so I've just been cleaning up around the house and getting ready. I think I migt be doing some scrapbooking with my sister today. I'm excited! I got some pics printed last night (almost 100 of them for a great deal!). So hopefully we get some time to do them.

I can't believe Christmas is only a few weeks away! My how the time has flown. I will probably do a post with some pics next just to update everyone (if anyone even reads this...)

Another update 11/28

First off we took baby to her 4 month check up (even though she's closer to 5 months if you go by weeks), and she is looking just wonderful the doc said! Her appt was on 11/18 and she was 13 lbs 1 oz, 24 in long. Head circumfrence was 16 in. She is around the 30th percentile for all 3 measurements. So she is doing wonderful! She is a very happy baby now, she loves to smile all the time. The only time she really cries still is when she is hungry or tired. We have had some of the fighting sleep at night but not too bad. And she loves her toys and TV now. She loves all the bright colors I think. She is our world though and we just love her to pieces!

Thanksgiving was kind of crazy this year! Lots of running around. Ben got up and made his apple pies - one for his family and one for mine. Then we stopped up at his Aunt Cathie's house for a few mins then his Grandma and Grandpa Boyd's. Carmie, Timmy, Ronnie, Chrissy and baby Johannah were all there also. It was nice to see them all on Thanksgiving and we got some pictures too. Then we went to Uncle Don and Aunt Bev's house for dinner #1. It was very good! Ben's grandpa, aunt and uncle, mom, cousin Bleu and his girlfriend Keri, me Ben and the baby were all there. Then around 4 we headed to my family's house. We had dinner over there as well so we ate a ton!! We stayed until around 8 then we headed home. I got up around 3:30 am on Friday and went shopping with my mom. I've only been out 1 other time for black friday and that was 2 years ago. I forgot how crazy it coudl be! The checkout line for Target wrapped ALL the way around the store. And Best Buy was a little better but still a pretty long line. It was a lot of fun though and I got my shopping finsihed for the baby. Now it's time to do everyone else. Hopefulyl that will get done this Friday when we get paid. So I will probabyl just go out and get it all done enxt weekend.

And I can't be more excited our family pics are next Sunday! I can't wait - the photographer is amazing and I can't wait to see what she captures. We just found a place to take them this (Univ of Akron Student Union and Quaker Square) so we will see what happens. Maybe it will be slightly warm and we can do some outside ones too. I'm excited to get a few of the baby too but most of them will be family group pics. Just hoping the baby cooperates. I want to gets lots of pics taken- we have 2 hours booked so I'm ready to take some pics!

Updates

So the baby is doing well! She is 4 months today - I just can't believe it. I don't even remember (or want to) life without her! She is doing soo good. She has just started this week with TONS of talking and gibbering. She loves her Tigger! She chews on it all the time. She is doing pretty well at sleeping through the night - she usually goes to bed around 10 pm and gets up between 5 and 6. Besides that, she is starting to grab things, especially her bottle. She is sleeping in her crib now, we started that about 2 weeks ago. She actually seems to like it a lot.

We went to Boo at the Zoo this past Sunday with my parents and my sister and brother-in-law. It was a lot of fun! We just put the baby in a onesies that said my first halloween. But this coming SUnday is trick or treat in our neighborhood so we are going to dress her in a real costume - she is going to be Tigger. I can't wait! Lots of pictures will be taken :)

Not much else going on just working and working. Ben is doing a lot of the same. Not too much time for anything else! But that's ok - loving every minute of it. 

Update

Time for an update. Our little bug is doing pretty good! Things have just been so crazy lately. We had to switch her to the liquid formula since there was a recall on the powdered. That didn't sit well with her so we had to switch her back. So she was a bit fussy this wekeend! But other than that she is doing great. i dont think I posted about it but her 2 month check up was on Sept 16th. She was doing good - she weighed 10 lbs 2 oz, 21 3/4 in long. They said she looked good and everything was fine. They gave her 3 shots - it was heartbreaking. I hate seeing her cry like that :( But 5 mins later she was just fine.

Not much else going on - just working and trying to keep up with everything. My house work has been lacking lately and it's driving me nuts but I have no choice. There's just simply not enough time in the day for it all. Don't get me wrong, it's still clean I just don't get to deep clean like I used to.

We did just buy a new car on Sunday though! We traded in Ben's car for an '06 Honda Pilot. It's a green/blue/gray color and I love it. We need something 4wd anyways because we live on such a steep hill. Plus we need to be able to get around with the baby now. And it has plenty of room which I love! It can fit 8 people :) Probably not comfortably but it can! I'm pretty excited about it and now I just have to get used to driving it.

I lost two good friends yesterday. Well I thought they were good friends - now I'm thinking not so much. Oh well. I guess if they want to act as childish as they did yesterday then I don't need them in my life. Of course, I was upset about someting and they turned it around on me and made everything my fault and brought up so much shit. It was just childish and I'm over it. Oh well. We are better off without the drama.

Baby Pictures - Finally!

After her bath!

I love duckies!!
8 wks

8 wks

Sad face 8 wks

First trip to church

The next 3 are her 1 month professional pics we had taken...she might end up being a red head (the gma she is named after was a red head...)

Update and My Birthday!

So baby is doing alright right now. We took her to the ER on Sunday because she was SCREAMING almost all day Saturday and most of Sunday because she couldn't poop :( I just couldn't take it anymore and needed a peace of mind that it was nothing more serious. So we took her and she is ok. They recommended giving her apple juice and we also switched her formula back to the Similac fussiness and gas one, we had moved her to soy but they said that makes the stool hard. She just hasn't been herself the last few days though so that's sad to see. She is getting big though- she was 9.9 lbs when we were there on Sunday. Perfect for 9 weeks lol! She has outgrown most of her newborn stuff, she still kind of fits in it though. So she is mostly in that stuff still. I need to wash her 0-3 clothes. I don't know if I have a lot of those though - more of it is 3-6 months. I guess I just need to looks through it all again and see what we have! Sis smiling a lot more! She likes to look at things now so we have her bug that plays music on her car seat. We also are going to start putting her in her crib more when she is home so she can see her mobile. She is still sleeping in her bouncer or her boppy. Mostly in her bouncer at night by the bed right now - we need to start moving her to her crib though. I need to get the monitors set up though before we do that. We will still put her in the boppy in the crib to keep her upright so she doesn't have acid reflux problems.

Her baptism is on Sunday! We can't wait. Our friends Melanie and Brian, Kyle and Liz, my parents, my sister and her husband, Ben's mom and grandpa are who we know for sure will be there right now. There may be a few more but we aren't for sure yet. We are going to go out to breakfast afterwards as well.

My goddaughters 3rd birthday party is Sunday at 1 pm. I can't believe she is 3 already! So that is about all our plans for the weekend. Friday and Saturday I'm going to try to get her scrapbook done but we will see if I can. As long as I get some of it done I will be happy. I'm through her birth right now but I still have to do all the pictures from the hospital.

My birthday was this past Saturday. It was kind of a rough day though because like I said the baby was screaming and upset most of the day. I did go to lunch with my mom though at Swensons and then we went shopping at a few places and got the baby a dress for her baptism on Sunday. My mom got me a gift card to Wasabi (where we went for dinner Sat night), gift card to Kmart, and gift card to Archivers to get scrapbooking stuff. My sister got me a wall plugin from Yankee Candle and cash to go to another scrapbook store near my house. I'm very excited! I want to do a really good job on her scrapbook so I want to be sure I can get as much stuff as possible. Then Saturday night we left the baby at my parents and we went out to dinner wiht my sister and her husband, Melanie, Brian, Liz and Kyle. It was a pretty good time. No one was too happy about their bills though - it adds up so quick and they charged us the gratuity fee! After dinner me, Ben, Amy and Matt went to Muskateers for some drinks. It was a good time - we all got pretty drunk! I tried to count it but I'm not sure I got them all...I had at least 3 drinks and 9 shots at the bar alone. I did have 2 drinks at dinner too. So I was pretty wasted but it was a really good time. Except my camera got broken :*( Hopefully I can get kodak to fix it without it costing me anything. We got home around 2 am. I didn't get to sleep much though because my mom had to be at work at 6 am and so I had to get up with the baby. So I was pretty cranky on Sunday but I wasn't sick at all!

Again, you will need to see my facebook for all my pictures. I just takes too long to upload them on here...I might do a few in a minute though!

I think that's all for now! More updates after her baptism Sunday :)

Just some things I want to remember...

- Carter's newborn onesies were the smallest ones we could find for Tricia, she is just now growing out of them after 6 weeks.

- She was on the regular similiac and then we moved her recently to the orange label for fussiness and gas. I am starting to think though that she might be ok on the regular but she does have some tummy issues so I guess we will stick with the regualr. I do put mylicon drops in a few of her bottles because it seem to help her also

- She likes her baths! She is not happy when she is out of the tub and cold though.

- She only had a small diaper rash a week after she came home but it cleared right up with destin!

- She likes to be warm. She will wake up in the middle of the night whimpering because her legs are uncovered because she likes to kick her legs ALOT. So at night we are putting her in body suits so she stays warm.

- She is eating anywhere from 4-5 ounces now. She started wanting 5 right around her 6 week birthday but now she isn't really eating that at every feeding. Maybe only two or three a day. Some feedings right now she will barely eat 2-3 ounces. But sometimes then she will wake up an hour later wanting more. Crazy little girl for sure!!

- She has a rash or baby acne on her skin that just developed over the last few days. I thought it might be heat rash but it could be either. It seems to have spread down her face to her neck and chest a bit so I'm just not sure though!!

- I still haven't done anything on her scrapbook. I lost some of my pictures that I took weekly of my belly so I'm not happy at all and want to cry about that so I am almost too depressed to print the pics because I don't have them all like i should. But I'm hoping to do some work on it over Labor Day weekend. I'm going to get the pics printed here soon hopefully.

- I go back to work on Tuesday. I have so many emotions it's not even funny right now. I want to stay home with her so bad because I just think she needs me and I know her. And i know how she is and what to do with her and how to make her feel better. I'm just so worried. But financially we can't afford that. I don't know what we can even afford even if I do go back!! I'm just a huge stress ball right now...