goodbye 2011

It really is hard to believe that in 1.5 hours 2011 will be coming to a close.  Last year at this time I was 26 weeks pregnant, my anxiety was sky high, and I was anxious to meet my little girl.  This year my anxiety is still sky high but I have a beautiful almost 9 month old daughter to show for it.  Tomorrow I will gethave to say that my baby was born last year!!!  Last year.  That's crazy.  Maybe I'm just overanalyzing it all, but it's crazy to think that tomorrow it will no longer be Samantha's birth year.  It kind of means my baby isn't a baby anymore, haha.  Good grief, just wait until her first birthday and I'm balling like a baby!!

Tonight we went to a party at my cousins house and we lasted until about 9:45.  Samantha did really well but was suddenly just ready to crash.  We're home now, Samantha is sleeping, and Chris and I are anxiously awaiting the ball dropping and the beginning of 2012.

2011 was an amazing year and 2012 will have a hard time living up to it, but I'm sure it's going to be awesome anyhow!!  I can't wait to see what is in store for our little family.

lets get organized!

As we wrap up Samantha's first Christmas season it's pretty evident that we have a ton of toys and nowhere to put them.  Today, I set out to change that.  We are currently in the process of doing over our basement which will eventually have a little play area for Samantha so I had to keep that in mind.  After talking it over with Chris we decided to get storage bins for the play area and a toy chest for upstairs.  I ended up selecting a Circo storage set which just so happened to be on sale at Target.  Score!!

This was part way through my organizing and there are even more toys in there now!!  Her larger toys are all in the family room until the basement is ready for them.  As of now, the basement is still pretty unusable.  We bought the house with a finished basement but have never really made much of it.  Now that we have Samantha, it's super important to make it into a usable space.  A few weeks ago Chris painted the walls in the colors I chose.  All the walls are a medium shade of gray and there is a slight bump out on the ceiling that is a slightly darker gray.  Samantha's play area has a wall that we painted with chalkboard paint which I am really super excited about.  For Christmas, my Aunt Pam gave Samantha a set of foam alphabet letters so that the floor will be padded and then we will get a gate to close it off.  It's going to be super nice.

The other half of the basement will house a big screen tv and wrap around couch.  At some point I'm hoping to get a pool table or air hockey table for the area that divides the two spaces.  All in all, once it's finished it's going to be an awesome media/game/play room.  I can't wait!!

Merry Christmas!

Sorry this is a day late!  I was fully intending on posting yesterday but the day got away with me and I just never got around to it.  We slept in a little bit and got up around 8:30.  Must take advantage of these days while we can!!  We were all still exhausted from our hospital stay so it was nice to not have to rush around.  Once downstairs we checked out our stockings.  My favorite gift that Samantha got in her stocking was this absolutely adorable froggie hat!!

She looks SO cute in it!!!  We then moved onto our gifts.  Our tree was absolutely packed and there was a ton to open.  I'm not going to list each and every gift because that would just take too long, haha!!  Some favorites were as follows:

Chris: tons of work shirts, a daddy & me frame with a picture of him and Samantha, a drill

Me: video baby monitor, iPad keyboard, family calendar, ornaments, and Beco carrier (it hasn't come yet but I know it's coming, lol)

Samantha: two cell phones, tea set, piano, play home, ball dropper, tons of books and clothes

Seriously though, Samantha loves absolutely everything she got.  There isn't a single toy she doesn't want to play with.  We had such a wonderful Christmas and I am just so thankful that we got to spend it at home and not in the hospital.

many firsts!

So you know how you have that picture perfect idea of how your holidays will go and then it just gets torn to shreds?  Well, that's us this Christmas!!  All three of us have been battling colds for the past week or so and in the past 3-4 days Samantha developed a pretty bad cough.  Thursday, I went to the doctor and found out I have a sinus infection and I went on antibiotics.  Then that night as we went to bed, Samantha started making some funny noises while she was breathing.  I put my hand on her chest and could tell she was struggling.  Chris set up the shower in the guest bathroom for us and Samantha and I sat in the steam for quite a while until her breathing got more regular.  Even still, it was pretty rapid.  In the morning though she sounded better.  We decided to run errands and then put Samantha down for her afternoon nap.  Once she woke up I could immediately tell that she was burning up.  I took her temperature which was 101.3.  She normally is in the 97 range so this was very high for her and she has never had a fever before.  I put in a call to the pediatrician and they called back and said we needed to take her to the emergency room.

We quickly headed out to the emergency room and after talking to my cousin, headed to one a little farther away from home since it was likely that we'd be seen faster there.  We ended up only waiting in the waiting room for about 10-15 minutes so that was nice.  By the time we were taken back, Samantha's fever had climbed to about 102.9.  We got into a room and waited for the physicians assistant to see us.  He did a quick initial assessment and said she looked good but they were going to do an x-ray as well.  I got to go back with Samantha for the x-ray which she was not a fan of.  We then waited and waited for the PA to come back.  During this time they gave Samantha her first ever dose of tylenol.  Finally the PA came back and revealed to us that Samantha has pneumonia.  I couldn't believe it.  He then said they were going to put in a call to a pediatrician to decide what to do.  A bit later he came back and said that Samantha needed to be admitted to the hospital.  Unfortunately the center we were at was just an outpatient facility so Samantha and I had to be transferred by ambulance to another hospital.  Coincidentally we were brought to the one Samantha was born at!!  It's right down the street from our house so that was nice.  While I waited for the transport Chris headed home to pack a bag for me.  Before he left, however, the put an IV in Samantha's arm.  Unfortunately the first stick didn't take and they had to do it again and she was none too happy about that.  Poor baby girl.  She looked so little on the stretcher but she did so good.  The ambulance ride was pretty fun and once we got to the next hospital we got situated in a room in the pediatrics ward.

I went over everything with our nurse and we got Samantha somewhat settled and then Chris showed up.  While he was there to hold Samantha, I attempted to eat a bit and I also pumped since Samantha wasn't eating very well.  I forgot how nice the hospital grade pumps are, lol.  After I was settled Chris headed home.  Thankfully, there was a bed in the room for me and they allowed me to sign a consent form so we could co sleep like we do at home.  It was a long rough night however.  We got no sleep at all.  Samantha was up constantly fussing and the nurse was coming every so often to check vitals.  Plus since she was squirming so much her IV kept beeping.  Around 2:00am Samantha got another round of antibiotics.  At 4:30 we were checked again and then when the nurse came at 6:00 there was a problem.  Samantha had thrown up so I called the nurse to help me and when she came in she started looking worried about her IV.  Well somehow her IV got moved and it was in her arm rather than in her vein.  So for at least an hour the IV had been pushing fluids into her arm rather than the vein.  Poor baby girl.  Her arm was SOOOO swollen and puffy and just hard as a rock.  It was awful.  So, you guessed it, she needed a third IV.  Before we got the IV we gave her another dose of tylenol and right after she threw up a ton.  Somehow though, the vomit was all white (the tylenol was pink) so both the nurse and I were convinced it somehow stayed down.  Crazy!

We ended up getting the 3rd IV in her hand and then she went to sleep for a while since she was just wiped.  At that point, Chris showed up so I could relax a little.  I attempted to nap but the nurse was in and out again.  I was also kind of nervous because Samantha had a wet diaper before we left for the ER around 5:30 pm, then she didn't pee again until around 11:00 pm and that one was hardly damp.  So by 6 or 7am I was concerned that she hadn't gone to the bathroom.  The decided to flush her system and then she rapidly had three wet diapers...one of which was full of poop.  (That one was RIGHT after Chris walked in so he got to change her, haha!)  The doctor came in and said we could be discharged today!  We were so excited.  So now Samantha is on a zpac for the next 5 days and we'll go in to see our pediatrician on Tuesday.  I am so excited that Samantha will get to spend her first Christmas at home.  I hope she has a speedy recovery.

the countdown begins

The countdown is on!  With only 4 days until Christmas there is still SO much I have left to do.  I have wrapped all but two of DH's gifts, but Samantha's gifts are a while different story.  I have not wrapped a single one.  I've got great plans for her Santa gifts (am I allowed to post that?  I hope no kids are reading!!) which I can't wait to do.  I'm going to wrap them all in plain brown paper and today I got a clear stamp set to stamp her name onto handmade gift tags.  I'm pretty excited for my project.  Then we can keep it consistent every year.  I have a whole array of wrapping paper for the other gifts which I'm equally excited about...almost!  No matter what though, I am super super excited for our very first Christmas with Samantha.  I can already tell how magical it is going to be and just how much Samantha is going to enjoy it.

reindeer butts

Miss Samantha is wearing her first ever pair of Christmas pajamas today!!  They are SO cute!!

Earlier today I had to take one of our foster cats to an adoption fair and while Chloe was trying to get adopted, Samantha and I ran to Target and picked up some rainbow garland for our tree.  This evening while Samantha jumped in her jumperoo, I decorated the tree.  I still have a little bit to go but it looks so pretty so far.

Christmas has always been my favorite holiday and I can tell it is going to be a million times better this year having Samantha around!!

ornaments

This morning we had a playgroup to make homemade ornaments!  It was so much fun and thankfully, Samantha pretty much cooperated.  I only had to do the handprint 3 times and the footprint we got on the first try!  I think they turned out great and I can't wait to hang them on our tree.

We're back!

Sorry I seemingly dropped off the face of the planet lately.  We are finally back in Virginia.  We've actually been here since Saturday but it's been go go go since then.  Samantha and I got up at 6:30 Saturday morning to be out the door by 7:00.  We got to the airport by 8:00 and my flight left at 9:15.  Thankfully there were 80ish empty seats so I got to bring Samantha's carseat on the plane with me.  The plane was pretty bumpy so I was about ready to have a panic attack, but thankfully we made it.  We landed around 11:45 and I already had my bags and was out the door before Chris got there!!  They were super speedy and efficient that day, I guess.  We got home and Chris dropped me off so I could hop in the shower and while I was showering, he went to McDonald's to get me some lunch.  I ate super fast and pumped at the same time and then headed to Tim and Nicole's to babysit.  I got there around 2:15 and babysat until a little after 10pm.  Ben was on fire, lol.  Tim and Nicole told me he's becoming a little terror and I half believed them, but WOW, he really is a little terror.  And he blames Luke for everything.  I had fun though.

Yesterday I was planning on going to church at 8am but when my alarm went off at 6:30 I just couldn't bring myself to get up.  I was wiped and Samantha was still sleeping so with being gone for 10 days and her schedule all out of whack, I decided we both should just sleep so we did.  We got up around 8:15 and just hung out.  At 11:15 we left to take Chloe to the vet.  Oh yeah, Chloe is back.  If you don't remember, Chloe was a little kitten we fostered last summer.  She got adopted by one of Chris's coworkers but unfortunately, he recently found out he has cancer and can't keep her.  So she's back with us.  I took her to the vet and she got all caught up on vaccines and then I took her to the pet fair.  She was pretty nervous and hissy but what do you expect?  She generated a little interest but no apps on her yet.  Hopefully she won't take long to get adopted out.  She's only a little over a year old so I'm hoping she's not super hard to adopt.  After the pet fair we raced home to drop off Chloe and then we went to our playgroup Christmas party.  It was really nice, but we didn't end up staying the whole time since we were all really tired.

This morning we had a Little Hands music class through playgroup.  It was fun, but I don't think something I'm interested in signing up for.  It didn't seem very structured and I don't know, I just didn't love it.  Plus it's $225.  That is A LOT of money.  So um, sorry Samantha, no music classes for you.

Then tonight, the mail came and we got a package from our friends Lindsay and Ethan!!!  

Samantha was super excited for her box.


Trying to open it.


Cummon Samantha.


You can do it!


It's a box!


An ornament!


Baby's First Christmas!!  SOOOO cute.


And a LUSH gift for me!  Looooooooooove!


Thank you SO much Lindsay!!!  Now I need to pick the perfect picture to put in her ornament.  :-)

we are here!

Sorry we've seemingly disappeared!!  Samantha and I flew to Chicago on Wednesday to spend some time with my dad and the rest of my family.  We have been busy busy and hardly had a chance to stop and sit at the computer, let alone post an entry!  We spent Wednesday with my dad and then at my friends house with her family before she left Thursday for her honeymoon.  (They got married back in June but are taking their honeymoon now.)  Thursday was basically a lazy day.  Friday we went downtown with my Aunt Pam and met up with my younger brother Brad and his girlfriend, Katie.  Yesterday we had our church Christmas program featuring me as Mary and Samantha as baby Jesus!!  We did pretty good if I do say so myself.  Today we had church and then an "open house" at my aunt's which, unfortunately, only one person showed up to, lol!!  Oh well.

I will do my very best to post some more for the remainder of our trip.  (We are here until Saturday)  I have been taking tons of pictures as well so I will try to get some of those up too.

Samantha's first Christmas gift

Today our playgroup had a Secret Santa playdate for the tummy timers.  We were both super excited to participate.  Last week while we were at Target we picked up a rattle ball as our gift.  Samantha has one that is one of her favorite toys so I thought it would be perfect.  Unfortunately, Samantha saw the ball and was quite upset that it wasn't hers to play with!!!  Oh well.  She quickly forgot it once she remembered all the toys she already has.

Here is Miss Samantha with her gift.  She got a new book all about colors!  This was the perfect gift since I am always looking to expand our rather tiny book collection.  Samantha definitely seemed to enjoy reading it and I loved all of the colors and pictures it included.  So fun!

Thank you so much to Lindsay for hosting today and to Katelyn and Dillon for our new book!!

hello...summer?

As we get closer and closer to December I keep on waiting for the weather to cool down.  Well, it's not happening.  Today it was 71 degrees out!  At church during the children's sermon, about seasons, the woman giving it asked what season it was.  One of the little boys enthusiastically answered "summer"!  The lady said "no, it's not summer, it's fall".  Though it certainly does feel like summer out.

We had a slew of 6 month clothes that I thought Samantha wouldn't get to wear since at nearly 8 months, she is just fitting into her 6 month things.  We bought 6 month summer clothes!  So today, I put on this gorgeous plaid dress I received at my baby shower and paired it with some bake shop baby legs and we were good to go.  She looked adorable, and I was thrilled that we finally got to use the dress.

Wednesday, Samantha and I head to Chicago to visit with my family.  Forecasted temperatures are mostly in the 30's, sometimes dropping into the 20's.  So Samantha will get to experience a nice true winter after all.  I'm hoping while we are there she might even get to experience her first snow fall!!  How fun would that be?

it's officially Christmastime...

...and I couldn't be more excited!!  My black "Friday" kicked off around 8:30 pm on Thursday when my cousin picked me up and we headed to Walmart for some shopping.  I scored the two XBOX 360 games I wanted (barely), a Fisher Price grand piano for Samantha, as well as gifts for two of my sisters-in-law.  Minus a few cuts and scrapes after getting shoved to the ground trying to get my games, I made out well and had a good time.

During actual Black Friday Samantha and I decided to brave the mall.  I ended up walking the whole thing but only buying a pair of pajamas for Samantha.  One tradition I've heard of through the years, although not something we did growing up, is getting a new pair of pjs on Christmas Eve.  I thought this sounded fun and decided it was something I'd like to do with our kids.  So, I set out to find the perfect pair of pajamas for Sam. I wanted to get her a 2 piece set which is hard when your kid is only fitting into 6 month clothes.  I ended up getting her this pair from Gymboree.  They are size 6-12 months so I'm sure they'll be big, but that's okay.  They are adorable and I love them.  I was also planning on taking Samantha to have her picture taken with Santa but he was on his lunch break.  I tried my hardest to keep Samantha awake for the 45 minutes until he returned but we only lasted about 20 minutes before it was becoming apparent she had had enough.  So we left and I'll likely venture back to the mall on Monday to try again.  We then went to Target where I knocked out gifts for a few people in Chris's family, a few for Chris, and a few for Samantha.  Then once we got home, I placed a huge order on Amazon to complete the shopping for my side of the family as well as one more member of Chris' family.  I just have a few things left to buy for Sam, a ton for Chris, and three people for Chris's side of the family.  I'm feeling okay right now!

Today since Chris had the day off we decided to do some things around the house.  Chris blew all the leaves out of the yard and into a huge pile in the driveway.  I then plopped Sam in the heap and needless to say, she wasn't amused!!  Hopefully next year she'll enjoy it more.  Inside I hung a wreath on our front door and together we set up the Christmas tree.  We have one set of lights on so far and will add the rest hopefully tomorrow.  Then we can set out to add all of our ornaments.  I'm super excited.  I tested each strand of lights before I put them on and I added each set without them being plugged in.  Once I finished, Chris got Samantha and they stood by the tree as I plugged it in.  Once it lit up, Samantha just looked up and down in awe and confusion.  It was so cute to watch her little face as she saw her very first ever Christmas tree.  We then sat her down and she stayed there for a while just looking up at the tree and reaching for the branches.

I can't wait to see how Samantha reacts to all of the other new things Christmas has to offer!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!  This morning Samantha and I went out for her first Turkey Trot.  It was a gorgeous morning and we participated in the 2K fun run/walk with another mom from playgroup.  Samantha enjoyed being in her stroller and watching all of the other grown ups, babies, and dogs.   I think the announcer said this was the largest race in Northern Virginia!  There were 3700+ in the 5K alone then all of the walkers in the fun run.  So it was jam packed.  We had a blast though and definitely plan on doing it again next year.

This afternoon we head over to my cousins house for some food and company with family!!

We hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving as well!

meet the sippy cup

We first started giving Samantha a sippy cup at 4 months on the dot.  She is now 7.5 months and still has no idea what she's doing!!  Sam was pretty much on bottles for the first 10 weeks of her life and since then we haven't looked back.  Chris has tried several times while I've been away but she's never taken more than an ounce so this whole 'drink from a piece of plastic' thing is all new to her.

We've been giving her the sippy cup here and there but nothing really ever came of it.  However, tonight I think we finally made some progress.  Samantha was sitting in her high chair and I gave her a cup of water while I prepared her sweet potatoes.  When I came over I noticed her shirt was a little wet.  I watched her suck on the top and her eyes got wide with shock as the cold water went into her mouth.  Now most of it ended up on her shirt but at least she's figuring how to get it out!!  I'm hoping if we keep on practicing she'll be drinking like a champ in no time.  She is growing up way too fast, but boy she looks adorable with her cup!!

hi dad!

In the past few months, the vast majority of my immediate family have gotten iPhones.  I have one along with my dad, aunt, and even my 80 something year old grandma has one!!  Since my family is all back in Illinois and Chris and I live in Virginia, facetime has become a somewhat frequent occurrence.  They all love seeing Samantha and how much she's grown, and we of course love seeing them as well.  Tonight, we got to facetime with my dad, Samantha's grandpa (or babu as he wants to be called - we'll see if that sticks).  It's always great to see them and although Samantha doesn't really understand it, I know she loves looking at the phone and giving a big gummy grin to whoever is checking her out.

Christmas Cards

So sorry for the lapse in posting!!  Today, Chris and I went to Picture People to have our Christmas portraits done.  I was a little worried at first because Samantha absolutely refused to take a nap this morning so I wasn't too hopeful.  However, Samantha was happy as a clam and we got some awesome shots!!  After Picture People we headed to Staples where I picked out stationary for our letter and got markers to address them.  So now I just need to write the letter and we are good to go.  Hopefully the stamps we ordered will get here soon and I can have the cards out ASAP.  I was aiming for the day after Thanksgiving, however, since Chris ordered the stamps online rather than getting them at the post office, I'm doubtful that they will be here in time.  Hopefully before my trip to Chicago!!  On that note, here are a few favorite shots from today.

Sam's first day in "court"

Today Chris, Samantha, and I traveled into Washington DC to visit American University.  Chris's younger sister Margaret is here with Quinnipiac University's Mock Trial team.  Since DC is less than an hour from our house, there was no question about whether or not we would be there to watch.  I've never seen a mock trial competition, but Chris and I watch a lot of court TV shows so I was pretty excited.  We ended up staying for the whole trial and thankfully Samantha was pretty well behaved.  Margaret was a prosecutor for the defense and she did a great job.  In the end, the defended was found not guilty of murder, however he was found guilty of manslaughter and driving under the influence.  So I guess they did their job okay.  I had a really good time and I would definitely love to see her compete again.

nom nom nom

Over my two years of nannying the twins, I went through a LOT of jars of baby food!!  Of course the food was purchased by their parents, however, I at one point picked up a few jars myself for them and I was shocked at the price.  Diapers.com has their organic baby food priced between $11.49 and $16.79.  That's a whopping $1.39 per jar.  There are also several brands of all organic pouches which also average well over $1 each.  When you figure your baby should be getting 2-3 servings of solids per day, these expenses add up fast!  I then thought back to my sleepless nights when Samantha was a newborn and I was left half awake to watch infomercials all through the night.  There was one infomercial that played just about every single night...The Baby Bullet.  They must know that all those new mommies and daddies have nothing to watch so they will lure us in with their yummy baby food and how quickly and easily you can prepare meals for your little one.  Sure enough, I got sucked in.

I did some research and found out that I could pick up a Baby Bullet machine at my local Target store.  The price was greatly reduced which was a plus, and I didn't have to pay shipping and handling.  I got my Baby Bullet for $59.99.  I'm not sure if prices have changed, but the Baby Bullet is currently listed for $99.95 plus $19.95 shipping and processing.  That's half price!!  I do notice, however, that now on the Baby Bullet site it does come with a few more pieces than what I purchased, however, I don't think those were options when I bought mine.  My set came with a power base, batch bowl, short bowl, two blades, batch tray, storage cups, storage tray, and spatula.  It also included a user manual/cookbook as well as a pocket nutritionist which is great for bringing to the store for quick information.  Now on the website, you get an additional short cup as well as two stay fresh resealable lids which I'm assuming are so you can store food in the short cups.  You can now also get a free Turbo Steamer (just pay $9.95 S&P) as well as a Magic Bullet set ($19.95 S&P).  That's a grand total of $149.90.  (Wow, glad I stuck with Target!)  The only thing here I think I'd want is the steamer because we don't have one and I spend lots of time boiling all of the food I cook, which unfortunately looses a lot of the nutrients.  I do use the water from boiling to make the puree a little smoother so that helps, but I would much rather have a steamer.

I think my favorite Baby Bullet feature (which I forgot to photograph!) is the date dial on the storage cups.  That white ring up there has all the dates 1-31 listed and you just turn the ring until the correct day is circled. Then you know exactly when you made your food so you are sure to not keep it too long.  It's great when you are super sleep deprived and forgetful.  Which I still am at 7 months in!!!

As you can see from my photos, today I made Samantha sweet potatoes.  I used one potato and filled all six storage cups and still had puree left over.  After the potato boiled, it took me less than 5 minutes to peel, add water, blend, and dispatch.  It is seriously so quick and easy.  I just love the little faces on each of the bowls and cups.  I really enjoy making Samantha's food and I am even starting to look forward to it.  Making my own baby food has been so much more economical than purchasing jars of food and now I know exactly what is going into my baby's little tummy.  It has honestly been one of the best baby related purchases we've made!!

i love this time of year

Samantha and I had such a fun day today!!  Thanks to the good ol' time change Samantha thought 6:00 was the perfect time to wake up.  I tried all the tricks to no avail: the pacifier, nursing, ignoring her!!  She wanted none of it...it was time to get up!  So up we got.  I put her in her jumparoo so I could lay down for a few more minutes and then we played together on the floor.  Thankfully by 8:00 or so, she was ready for a nap.  Once she woke up I fed her and we headed out to the mall.

At the mall, we met up with Nicole, Ben, & Luke.  This is the family I nannied for before I had Samantha.  Ben and Luke were so excited to see us, and we were equally excited to see them!!  We went to Build A Bear to make animals for ourselves.  Ben (of course) decided to make a cat, while Luke and Samantha both made bears.  The twins had such a great time stuffing their animals, giving them baths, and running around wrecking havoc in the store!!  It was so much fun.  In the end, Samantha ended up with this adorably dressed pink bear named Lucy.

After Build A Bear we went to Picture People so I could look at their Christmas cards.  I picked out the ones I want so now we have her portraits on the 19th.  I can't wait!!  We have a beautiful dress for her and I had a custom headband made to match.  She is going to be so cute.  While walking through the mall I purchased our very first family of 3 ornament.  This is something I have always wanted to do, so I made sure to take my time picking and making sure I got something I love.  My only regret is that they say "Mom" and "Dad" rather than "Mommy" and "Daddy".  Once Samantha gets bigger she obviously won't want to call us that so I should take advantage of it while I can.  Next year!!

As I left the mall, I noticed that JC Penny was playing their Christmas music and it made me all giddy inside. I normally really LOVE Christmas, it's my favorite holiday, but I can already tell it's going to be a billion times more fun with a baby.  I can't wait to share this with her each and every year!!!

I wanna be forever lazy

Ever since I was a child, I have always been a huge fan of feetie pajamas.  I would sleep in them every night of the year if I could.  They are just so warm and cozy and comfortable!!  Even at 27, I own several pairs of feeties and I don't plan on stopping any time soon.  As a matter of fact, I was just talking to Chris the other day about how this winter I'm going to miss wearing my feeties.  Then I saw the commercial for Forever Lazy.

Forever Lazy is described as "the one piece, lie around, lounge around, full body lazy wear!"  They've got pockets, a hood, and even a drop seat so you can use the bathroom without taking them off, haha!!  That is a feature I would (almost) never use, haha.  Now if only they made a mommy model that had some zip or snap down panels in the front so I could nurse in bed, haha.  Like a built in nursing bra.  Then, I'd probably consider ordering one and could live comfortably in feeties once again!!

Unfortunately this winter I'll probably have to settle with wearing my feeties during the evening but changing into pants and a nursing tank once we're ready to hop into bed.  Maybe in a year or two once Samantha is done nursing, I'll be able to wear my feeties all night long.  I'm getting excited just thinking about it!!!

it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!

Okay, maybe it's not beginning to look like Christmas, but my wallet is definitely starting to feel the effects of it. Our stash of "fun money" has pretty much dwindled to nothing since I stopped working back in April.  So it has taken a lot of planning and budgeting to plan for Christmas this year.  We have always had a large budget for Christmas (or at least it felt large to me) but this year is definitely going to be different.  We aren't going all out like we usually do.  Between Chris's immediate family - 16 people to buy for!! and my immediate family - a mere 6 people we have A LOT of gifts to get.  Then add on ourselves and Samantha.  Do I need to buy gifts for all our cousins' kids?  What about all of the kids I babysit for regularly?  It's all quite stressful.

Don't forget the dreaded Christmas cards.  For me, it's always been something I've quite enjoyed.  Every year since Chris and I got married this has been a highlight for me.  I've gone and picked out 12 or so boxes of cards at Target, then gotten matching paper for our letter, address labels, and then the stamps.  Then I take hundreds of pictures to find the perfect one for our card (after I've dragged Chris out to pick out our matching outfits), send it off to Target, and then begin the tedious task of stuffing each picture into the little slot in the front of the card.  It's hard work!!  This year, I'm taking the easy(ier) way out and we're going to Picture People to have Samantha's portraits done.  We'll take a family photo or two as well and see what ends up on the cards that they are printing out for us!!  I'm still planning on writing out a letter and getting cute address labels, but at least I won't have to stuff any photos.  Phew!

Let's take a look back on our Christmas cards through the years.

2007 - our first year married

2008 - first Christmas in our townhouse

2009 - first Christmas in our house

2010 - around 20 weeks pregnant with Samantha!!

I can't wait to see what our card looks like this year!!!

it's their birthday!

Today we celebrated all three of our kitties birthdays.  In reality, it's only two of their birthdays but it's just easier to do it all at once.  Penelope turned 3 back on August 3rd and today Wrigley and Cobalt are 4.  It is hard to believe since we got all of them when they were around 8 weeks old, so they have certainly grown a lot.  We got a little ice cream cake and celebrated except Chris and I were the only ones to enjoy the cake.  We left little pieces out for the kitties and they kind of tasted it, but not much and I still think it's too early for Samantha to have dairy.

Overall, I think they had a great birthday.  Time really is flying!!  Before we know it, it's going to be Samantha's first birthday!!!

i want a lefty!

Am I the only person that wonders early on what hand my child is going to write with?  Probably not.  I am so excited to see which hand Samantha will use.  Ever since we put her in her in her jumparoo for the first time at 4 months, Samantha has preferred using only one foot to jump.  Over the past 3 months, she has continued to only jump on her right foot.  I got to thinking, does her choosing her right foot mean something in terms of which hand she is going to write with?  So, I set out to find an answer...or at least an idea of an answer.

I first gave the test to me and my husband.  I balanced on my right foot while my husband balanced on his left.  I am left handed, he is right.  The next day, I asked my friend Megan.  She is right handed, and balanced on her left foot.  So far, so good!  I also blog privately over at livejournal and decided to poll my friends over there.  Out of my 30 some friends, 13 answered my poll.  So not a huge population, but good enough for a general idea.  I first asked them to stand up, balance on one foot, and report back with which foot was on the ground.  Then a few days later I polled them to find out which hand they used to write with.  I decided to wait a few days so that they didn't put any thought into balancing vs. dominant hand.

Last night I had a chance to compile all the results and see how they turned out.  Out of the 16 participants 12 of them balanced on the foot opposite of their preferred writing hand.  That's 75%!!!  Pretty interesting.

Based on her jumping on her right foot, will she also be left handed?  Only time will tell!

What about you?  What foot do you balance on?  What hand do you write with?

7 months!

Today Samantha is 7 months old!!  Where has the time gone?!  These days she is much more interested in eating the sign and playing with Sunny than she is in posing for the camera.  I have a feeling our monthly photos are only going to go downhill from here.  Oh well!  Thanks to Lindsay over at You Are The Roots, I have a much better idea for baby number 2's monthly pictures.

Since last month Samantha has definitely filled out.  She was 13 pounds 4 ounces (I think!) at her 6 month check up.  I don't trust the scale at our house since she weighed 14 pounds when I weighed her the morning of her appointment, so I won't have an accurate weight until her 9 month check up in January.  But she's definitely gained weight.  I think she's gotten taller as well.  She also is starting to get some chunk on her!!  She used to be such a skinny minnie, but now, she's getting some rolls!  It's so cute.

The day before Samantha turned 6 months she started sitting up on her own.  This shocked me since we had just started working on unassisted tripod sitting so I was expecting her to do that for a while and then gradually master completely sitting up.  But nope, she just popped right up and that was that.  There was none of that "I need to surround her with pillows" stage, no falling over, she just got it.  So weird!!  She is doing better with grabbing toys and foods. (Well baby mum mums are the only thing that she feeds to herself, but she's good at it!)  No crawling yet, but she does scoot backwards and when she is sitting up she loves to rock and bounce.  I'm waiting for the day she rocks forward too far and face plants right into the floor.  She gets really into it!!

As for eating, she is still mostly exclusively breast fed.  I do offer solids every once in a while but not very regularly.  Probably this month we will get into some sort of routine.  So far we have tried pears, apples, and sweet potatoes.  She's liked them all, but I think sweet potatoes are her favorite.  Next, I think I'll try squash.  So far, I have been making my own baby food with the Baby Bullet which has been awesome.  Definitely a worth while purchase.

My goals for month 7 include starting to sign regularly with her, introducing more solids and a solids routine, and doing more tummy time and encouraging her to crawl.

happy halloween

I was fully intending to come home and post all about Samantha's first Halloween, but I think this picture says it all.  We're wiped!!!

night cloth: take two

Last week, I decided to take the plunge into night time cloth diapering.  It wasn't a complete success, but it wasn't a disaster either.  I had her in a good.night by Goodmama for about 10 hours which have been said by many to be bullet proof.  For the regular good.night diapers, it's recommended to wash approximately 8 times to achieve the maximum absorbency.  Mine haven't been washed that many times yet and she pees through them rather quickly during the day (yay for having a heavy wetter!) so I haven't tried them at night yet.  However, the owner at Goodmama diapers is currently holding a send your own fabric (SYOF) thing where users can submit fabrics for approval and if they are accepted, people can sign up to have these custom diapers created.  Well, one of the mom's on the board decided to try a new style of diaper, a good.night with a no pill fleece outer.  The outer she chose was a dark blue with airplanes on it.  So with Chris's aviation background, I just HAD to sign up.  Our diaper arrived a little over a week ago a few days after one mom on the board had already gotten and tried hers.  She only washed it 1 time before using it and said she had no leaks at all!!  Amazing, so I washed mine once and on the butt it went.

Then we woke up!!!  Unfortunately Samantha's diaper leaked, though thankfully it wasn't too bad.  There was just a slightly damp spot about the size of a piece of notebook paper on the bed.  When I took off the diaper it was wet, but due to the fleece soaker, her bottom was completely dry!!  I liked this since I'd hate for Samantha to have to sleep feeling wet all night long.  I used a PUL cover and from what I can tell, the pee wicked through the legs and on to her pajamas and the bed.  Apparently this problem isn't uncommon.  I posted on my Goodmama facebook board and a general consensus was that we should be using a wool cover.  Wool is said to be antimicrobial, breathable, and of course, cute!  Yesterday I went to our local cloth diaper store, Abby's Lane, to pick up a pair of wool longies.  I chose a cute Ooga pair that has little feeties so that Samantha's feet won't get too cold.  I think she likes them, and I'm excited to use them.  They came pre-lanolized so we are good to go.  Just need to slap them on over a diaper and put her to bed.  This is super helpful to be because I have NO idea at all how to wash/lanolize my wool.  Guess it's time to learn!

So tonight, we will attempt a second night in cloth.  I can only hope it goes better than the first!!

let the festivities begin!

It has been so much fun this year celebrating all of Samantha's first holidays.  So I was especially excited for today to begin our Halloween festivities!  We started off this afternoon with our playgroup's Halloween party.  There were 57 people scheduled to show up PLUS all their babies!!  I'm pretty sure all of the 57 parents showed up so it was a full house.  But we had a blast with everyone.  There was delicious food and delicious deserts.  I just LOVED the confused looks on many of the babies' faces wondering what the heck was going on.  I tried to get pictures, but the problem with photographing babies is none of them want to look at the camera, let alone all at the same time.  Here is me and Samantha with our friends Megan and Caleb.  And Amy - I know you read here...for some reason all the ones with all three of us came out blurry.  :-(  So I hope one of the ones your husband got came out nice!!!

After the playgroup party we headed to my cousin's house for our second Halloween party.  This was an adult only party so we didn't stay too long since we didn't have a sitter for Samantha.  But we did bring her in her kitty costume so she fit in.  My cousin was dressed as Rainbow Bright and looked so cute!!  Her husband was a hockey player.  Unfortunately by this point Samantha was getting very tired so we only stayed for about an hour.  A highlight of the party though was when one of the guests actually recognized Samantha from her little bit on the news the other day.  How cool is that?!  Here is Samantha and I with my cousin, Vanessa.

By the time we got home, Samantha was WIPED.  She will typically wake up the second you remove her from her car seat but for the first time ever, she didn't even stir.  The poor little thing was just exhausted.

Now we can look forward to Monday when we will be taking her Trick or Treating!!!

she's famous!!!

O.M.G. my baby is famous!!  Tuesday, Chris and I were watching the news and saw the My First Five picture of the day and I jokingly said to Chris that we should submit a picture of Samantha.  I went through all of our pictures -- okay, not all of them, but I went through her Halloween photos and picked my three favorites and then showed them to Chris so that he could have the final pick.  He chose the picture, I submitted it, and that was the last I thought about it.  Well tonight, I decided to check out the Fox website and low and behold, Samantha was chosen for todays picture of the day!!!  I couldn't believe it.  I wish they would have told us so that we could DVR it and have it on the big screen, but oh well.  I am just so excited!!  I seriously wasn't expecting her to get chosen.

My First 5 Video - Samantha: MyFoxDC.com

the week of blowouts!

Since long before Samantha was born, or even conceived, I knew I wanted to cloth diaper.  Soon after our miscarriage I started collecting diapers and have never stopped.  Samantha was born at 6 pounds 12 ounces so a lot of her diapers, including newborns, were still too big on her when we brought her home from the hospital. For the beginning, I used disposables, and we still do use disposables at night until I get brave enough to take the plunge into night time cloth diapering.  We first got Huggies All Natural diapers which gave Samantha a horrible rash.  Even though she was too tiny, I attempted to use some cloth and within a day of her being in cloth, the rash was gone!  Amazing!  We then switched to Pampers which is what we've been using since.  Thankfully she doesn't have much of a reaction to these and they've worked well for us.

Typically, I will only use disposables at night, while babysitting all day, and while traveling.  Well this past week, I got sort of lazy and disposable diapered pretty much every day.  Samantha used to be a once a week pooper but recently has started going more often.  Well guess what, every.single.time this week Samantha has pooped, it's been a blowout.  Ick!!  I can't tell you how many outfits I've changed due to them being covered in poop.  Sometimes, I'd open the diaper to find hardly anything in there, yet it's still up her back!  Yesterday, I finally got her back in cloth and sure enough...she pooped.  But guess what?  It was all safely contained in her cloth diaper.  Thank goodness!  As a matter of fact, in my 6ish months of on/off cloth diapering, I think she's only had one poopy "blow out" and that was because the diaper she was wearing was way too big.  Just a little drop leaked out of one of the legs, but not enough to make a mess or anything.  They are seriously amazing.

So there you have two of the many reasons I LOVE cloth diapering!!!

how do they do it?!

Pre Samantha I worked as a nanny for 4 years.  Then when I was 38 weeks I stopped working and haven't looked back.  Well...sorta.  A few months after Samantha was born I started occasional babysitting.  Currently I regularly babysit for three families.  The V's on Mondays, The B's on Tuesdays, and The {other} B's on Fridays.  My Mondays with the V's just started last week but last week, I didn't go in until around 10:30am since I had to have my initial appointment with my dentist for my broken tooth.

Today was my first day  needing to be there bright and early at 7:00am.  Wow!!  I set my alarm for 5:30, but didn't roll out of bed until 5:43, lol.  Chris travels up that way but a little farther and said I needed to leave by 6:05-6:10 so that was my plan.  I hurried up and got dressed, brushed my teeth and hair, and then got Samantha ready.  She was NOT happy to be getting up so early.  Well Samantha, here is a taste of your own medicine!!  After I was all packed up we got into the car and headed up.  But not before a quick drive thru run at Dunkin Donuts.  Delicious!  Then we got stuck in traffic.  Yeah...that 6:05 depart time probably wasn't the smartest idea.  I ended up not getting to their house until after 7:15.  Thankfully it wasn't too big of a deal, but I still felt bad.

By the time I got there I was completely ready to go back to bed.   I dragged all day long, and I must admit, was somewhat depressed that the two younger kids no longer take an afternoon nap, because boy, that would have been nice!!!  Once I got home from taking the youngest, J, to preschool I tried to relax on the couch with Samantha while T played on the iPad.  Then the phone rang.  "Hi, this is so and so from "insert pediatrician name here" calling to let you know that J's strep test was positive.  Please give us a call back to let us know which pharmacy to send your prescription to and so we can answer any questions you may have."  Perfect.  I quickly called the mom who was in shock and promptly returned the pediatrician's call.  Mom decides to pick up J from school so that I can leave 30 minutes early with Samantha.  Okay, sounds good.  I was frantic and put in a call to our pediatrician just to be on the safe side.  I left a message on the "well baby" line which says they will call back within 3 business days, but thankfully it was under an hour before I heard back.  Luckily, for some reason, strep is uncommon in children under 2 so I shouldn't have too much to worry about.  I'm going to keep an extra close eye on her just in case though since she's been fighting a cold for the past week or so.

All in all, it was an exhausting day!!  I don't know how I managed to get up at 5:30 four days a week, put in a 10 hour work day, and not get home until after 6:00pm.  Today was seriously a struggle.  I give mad props to all you working moms out there.  I don't know how you do it!! 

don't be a sheep!

...this is what happens when you try to be a sheep and make a video like everyone else on the planet.  It backfires!!!

And upon searching you tube for the clip, it turns out there are even more people with similar videos.  So here is the lesson...just because someone else's kid has a million dollar reaction to something, doesn't mean that you need to go home and try to reenact it.  You'll just end up looking stupid.

we need them AGAIN?!

When Samantha was born, one big ticket item we didn't have was a baby swing.  I had opted to go for this newfangled contraption called a mamaroo, or as Chris calls it "the space pod".  Yeah, $200 later and Samantha hates it.  Ever since she was born, she has refused to sit in it for more than 5 minutes.  So much for the cute new "swing" I so desperately wanted.  For now, it's put away in her bedroom in hopes that she might enjoy it at some point or that a future little brother or sister will like it.

During my first visit to Chicago when Samantha was 6 weeks old, we borrowed a traditional swing from my friend Brenna.  Of course, Samantha LOVED it.  Samantha has acid reflux and calming her down was a complete nightmare at the beginning.  Seriously, it was impossible to get her to stop crying.  The second I put her in this swing, she was silent.  So of course, I sent my husband a text saying we just HAD to have one.  It was a miracle.  Chris of course was hesitant and didn't want to spend another $100+ on a swing since we already had the mamaroo.  But I won out and we ordered a swing.  We chose a Fisher Price brand swing that had a mirror on the bottom of the motor because the one we borrowed had a mirror and Samantha seemed to really enjoy looking up at herself.  The swing arrived, I assembled it all by myself, and Samantha was then a happy camper!  Wahoo!

Now here is the problem...I chose a swing that has no option to plug into the wall.  What a mistake!!  The swing runs on 4 D batteries.  Lets remember that at the beginning the swing was one of the only ways to get Samantha calm, and now, the swing is where Samantha naps.  So yeah, we use the swing a lot.  I think we go through a pack of batteries every 2-3 weeks.  D batteries aren't cheap, running at about $10 a pack.  I'm wondering how quickly it will be before we've spent more on batteries than we did on the swing!!  Probably not much longer.  If I had to do it again, I would most definitely pick a swing that has the option to plug in rather than only use batteries.

What are some baby purchases you made that looking back, probably weren't too smart?

a halloween preview!

Happy Monday??

I've needed a crown since September of last year.  I was around 6 weeks pregnant during that cleaning when I was told I had yet another cavity in my back right molar.  Of course, I put it off.  I was going to get it once Samantha was born, but once she got here, it got put off some more.  I mean, honestly, we don't have $750 sitting around to have the procedure done.  I asked about a payment plan and of course, there is only one option.  Their idea of a payment plan is half at the first visit and half at the second visit.  So essentially, you need to pay $750 in one week.  (You go for the second visit one week after the first)  Yeah, that doesn't sound like a very good payment plan to me.  My tooth hasn't hurt, it wasn't broken, and we didn't have money.  So the logical solution was to keep putting it off.

...that is, until Friday rolled around.  I got home from wherever I was and decided to eat a fruit roll up.  A few bites in and I felt a pop and I just knew that the crown was going to be in my immediate future.  Sure enough, I ran my tongue across my teeth and half of my back tooth was missing.  Gross!!  I immediately called my dentist who scheduled me for the first thing this morning after complaining "if only I had called earlier".  Well sorry my tooth only broke 30 seconds before, if I had planned on it breaking this evening I would have called you this morning!!!  I was so nervous going to the dentist and well, it was with good reason.  I had an x-ray done and the break is super close to my nerve.  Soooooo, on Thursday I get the pleasure of going for my very first root canal.  I'm pretty nervous but I hope it goes well.

On a happy note, I ordered a few cloth diapers the other day and they should be in my mailbox by the time I get home.  I guess a good consolation prize!

my poor baby

This is what Chris and I woke up to this morning!  Samantha has been sounding rattley at night for a few evenings now and yesterday I noticed the congestion during the day as well.  A slight runny nose, but nothing too bad.  Then today, I woke up and found her poor little nose just crusted in snot.  She was coughing a lot this morning and sounded terrible but thankfully has sounded better as the day has gone on.  Yesterday, I gave her a eucalyptus bath which she thoroughly enjoyed in hopes that it would help to break up some of her congestion.  Thankfully though, throughout all of this she has been her happy self...most of the time.  The rest of the time she just wants to be held and cuddled which is fine by me.  Now I have to worry about tomorrow though.  On Friday while eating a fruit roll up, a filling along what what I can assume was part of my tooth came out.  So now half of my back molar is just missing.  So tomorrow morning off I will go to the dentist, and then to babysit.  Here lies the problem...Samantha refuses to take a bottle.  I'm pretty sure I remember the dentist telling me that when I got my crown (I've needed it for over a year but I've just been putting it off) that I couldn't breastfeed and would need to pump and dump for a few hours.  So I'm kind of starting to freak out.  I was going to have Chris bring Samantha to me so that I could feed her.  (I have to babysit after the dentist appointment)  But now I'm not so sure.  Ugh, this is just so nerve wracking.  I am so worried that she will get dehydrated and I absolutely hate the fact of leaving my baby...especially when she is sick.  :-(  I miss her already and I haven't even left yet.

on religion

Growing up Lutheran, I didn't have a whole lot of exposure to other religions.  Maybe a little Judaism here and there as my best friend Kim is Jewish and my entire family was always included in the Passover sedar, bar/bat mitzvas, confirmations, etc.  But other than that it was all Lutheran.  Then I found my dream college which ironically was Catholic.  Four months into college, I met Chris and a little over 7 months in we started dating.  After almost four years of dating, we got married...in the Lutheran church.  So now after 8 ½ years of dating and 4 ½ years of marriage I've had plenty of visits to the Catholic church, and a lot of opportunity to notice the differences between them.  Now, I'm not talking about the "big" differences like purgatory (but didn't the Catholics stop believing in that anyways?) and what communion really is, but more differences in the mindset of the people attending.  (Let's note that I'm going to be comparing to the three Catholic churches in Connecticut I've attended, so maybe it's a New England thing)

The first difference I noticed was how they dress.  At home in my Lutheran church, everyone comes dressed in their Sunday best.  All the men in at least a collared shirt and khakis, some even in suit jackets.  The women in dresses or pants/sweaters.  So of course, on my first trip to Connecticut I packed my dress for church on Sunday.  Then when Sunday rolled around and we were getting ready, I noticed everyone was in jeans and t-shirts!!!  What?!  To be honest, it kind of appalled me, I mean we were going to church, not to the mall.  Over the years, I've come to terms that that's just how they do things there.  I've come off my high horse and I wear jeans and a hoodie just to fit in with everyone else.  But it still feels crazy to me.  My mother-in-law actually commented on this most recent trip that I was wearing the same clothes as the rest of them.  I made sure to let her know that it was just so that I didn't look out of place in my dressy clothes!!

Secondly, and what I find most humorous, is time.  To me, it feels like the Catholic church is GO GO GO!  Let me start with the Lutheran church.  We arrive at church 10-15 minutes early so that we can chat in the narthex and then go find our seats, which are unspokenly assigned.  Then the service starts.  A little while in we get to the sermon which typically lasts around 15 minutes, sometimes less sometimes more.  If it's the 1st, 3rd, or 5th Sunday of the month, we have communion.  (I know communion practices vary by congregation, so I'm going based on my home church)  For communion we file up and about 10 people go up at a time per side (there are two) and then we are welcomed to the table, kneel, given the bread and the wine, rise, and file out.  When all is said and done, it's over an hour from when the service started.  We then all wait in line to shake the pastor's hand and say hello and then we chat in the narthex with our friends for a while longer.  You may as well chisel out two hours of your day to go to church.  Now, we have the Catholics!  When we get to church, Chris's mom is sure to park in the "perfect" spot.  I.E. - the one closest to the exit so we can get out as fast as we can.  We get inside and if the service is anywhere before the first reading, we have arrived too early.  The whole family quickly shuffles to an open seat that can accommodate however many people have come together that day.  (Chris is one of seven, there are 12 adult children if you include all the husbands and wives)  Then they get to the homily, which lasts 5 minutes tops.  Short, quick, and to the point.  Then communion, which they do every week.  Everyone goes up single file gets their bread, and from what I can tell no wine?, and then goes back to their seat.  Again - fast and to the point.  Then church is over.  People quickly exit, trying to walk on the side so that they don't have to shake hands with the priest.  They just want to get to their cars as fast as possible.  By the time we've gotten to our car, in the perfect spot by the exit, there is already a line a mile long to get out of the parking lot!!!  Thankfully someone lets us get into line and by the time we're out on the main road I look to the clock and see it is only 11:22 (church was at 10:30).  So not even a full hour since church started and already it's a race to see who can get out the fastest!  I just don't get it!!

So my question is, what's the big rush?

jump around...

jump up jump up and get down!!

Ever since we returned home from Connecticut the jumparoo has just "clicked" for Samantha.  She absolutely LOVES it, and it is too stinkin' cute to watch her play in it.  Thank you to Tim, Nicole, Ben, and Luke for this awesome gift.  :-)

 

 If the video doesn't work, you can also click here to watch it directly on youtube.