Keep the updating ball rolling

Nothing new or exciting has happened since I last wrote. I'm realizing though that some time down the line these "boring. everyday, blah" posts will be the ones that spark the happy feelings that I have everyday. I've been taking some of my free time to read other mommy blogs. Particularly other mommies from my june jitterbugs board. I love reading about what their JB is doing and checking out all their latest pictures. And sometimes I even take a few spare minutes and flip back a few pages in my blog to reminisce about the things of the past.

Today I had Alexa's 4 month pictures taken. I say that as if I've had 1 month, 2 month, or even 3 month photos taken, which is definitely not the case. I feel sort of terrible about having only had them taken at six weeks. And I feel even more terrible that they're still sitting in the JcPenny's envelope that they came in. I digress. The pictures were scheduled for 11:20am. I went out shopping all day yesterday looking for the perfect outfits. I even bought her first pair of shoes from Babies R Us. I spent at least two hours making bows to match her outfits and sewing fuchsia bows onto her Halloween costume. All of this done in vain. When I got to the portrait studio I had to wait for the woman in from of me to finish up her session. When her session finally ended the photographer came up to me trying to get some info about the kind of pictures I wanted taken. I told her I was trying to keep up with her milestone photos but was a month behind and that i also wanted to do some Halloween photos. I started to tell her I had a couple of outfits to change her into. Sh smirked and said she was only allowed three changes. Whatever! Alexa had other plans anyways as she only let me have enough happy time to take pictures in the one outfit and then she attempted to let us take pictures of her in her bear costume drinking her bottle. Boooo Alexa! What she did allow me to do plenty of times was change her poopy diaper. We all laughed at her as she'd squeeze her little arms tightly against her body and pull her legs together as she pushed. I changed her after I thought she was done the first time. But again she had other plans. Another interruption for another poopy diaper. I finally left there with one amazing close up shot and a few other really good ones. Not what I'd call a success but she.'s so stinkin adorable that I couldn't possibly call it a failure!

How nostalgic!

Yesterday, October 9th, we went to Linvilla Orchards. Last year on October 11th we went there to go apple picking. As we were apple picking I was praying that there was a little baby growing inside of me. I remember looking at every woman with a baby and being so overwhelmed with jealousy. I wished I still had my girls growing inside of me. And I wished I'd have another chance at being pregnant. The future was so uncertain. That night I came home and at 8 dpo I took a dollar store pregnancy test. I took it in the bathroom and kept getting up from the couch to check on it. I hid it in my drawer of my bedroom dresser. Burt must've thought I was crazy or something getting up every minute or so. And finally after about 15 minutes (well past the ten minute wait time) I saw a very very very faint line. If I twisted it and held it at just the right angle, something was there. I had a glimmer of excitement. I don't know how I went to sleep that night, but somehow I did. The next morning was Monday and the kids had off of school for Colombus Day. I hurried up and we headed out to Walmart to buy more pregnancy tests. Low and behold when I tested I saw another faint line, but this one was definitely there. I was so scared and happy. The emotions were crazy! And today when I reflect back on that day the only thing I wish to be different was I wish I knew the outcome. I wish I knew that everything was going to be okay. I wish I could've been less worried. But I'd go through it all over again. Every ounce of worry was worth it to be holding my almost 4 month old baby girl, walking around with her wearing the very first thing I bought when I knew I was pregnant, and listening to the 30 or so people stop us just to take a look at her or to tell me how adorable she was. Yesterday will go do in the books as one of the most fulfilling days of my life as a mommy. I felt like my life had come full circle in many ways. Only God knew that one year from then I would have my miracle. Which I guess is my lesson of the day. Trust in God. He knows what's best. The day was beautiful. It was sunny and warm and yet there was a crisp breeze that reminded us that it was fall. Abby and Nathan got their faces painted. They played in the park. We fed the animals. They made their way through the haybale maze. And we even took a hayride to the witches house and finished off the day with apple cider and roasted marshmellows. And at the end of the day I tucked my three adorable kids into bed and passed out!

15 weeks already!

I really don't feel like posting here right now but I figured a quick check in would be good. As I type Alexa is asleep in her crib. I'm starting to focus on getting her into a good bed time routine. I read in a baby magazine yesterday that by 4 months babies need to start on some sort of routine because the way they go to sleep now will be the way they need to go to sleep every night. I cringe at the thought of having to rock her to sleep every night for the next year because I grew her acustom to falling asleep in the swing. She went through a bit of a fussy period tonight and then I finally got her calm and almost asleep. I decided that would be a good time to lay her in the crib to drift off to sleep on her own. Oh yea and she's NOT swaddled. First time actually. I think I may leave her unswaddled tonight and see how it goes. She's still not sleeping through the night which is quite frustrating sometimes, but all I have to do to get her to fall back asleep is to give her a bottle. It could be worse. Tonight I tried feeding her carrots for the first time. She had four days in a row of applesauce and now we're moving on to a veggie! She seemed to like it, but it was a little hard to tell because she was just overall cranky at the time. I only got a few bites in before she called it quits with a crying fest. Tomorrow will be night two and we'll see if she gives off happier vibes. Today Alexa got lots of compliments at Abby and Nate's school. Who am I kidding? She gets lots of compliments everywhere she goes. But today she looked especially cute and everyone noticed. She wore her orange and black batty for Daddy onesie and a pair of black flare pants. She also wore an orange headband with the batty for daddy bow I made for her. A-d-o-r-a-b-l-e! I need to schedule a photo shoot at JcPenny's really soon. I feel like she's growing so fast that I just can't keep up with it. She seems to be stirring now in her crib. I wonder if she's getting hungry. She seems to be trying to eat like every 2-3 hours. And eating 6 ozs at that! The little piglet! Today I actually gave her 3 ozs of water just to hold her over. She's insatiable! Another thing to talk to the doctor about. I'm excited to see her in the morning. She's always so pleasant. As for the older two. I'm excited to have a good weekend with them. It's supposed to be beautiful this weekend. Sunny and cool, just how I like it. I'd love to take a trip to Linvilla Orchards. We'll see if money will allow. We have lots of fall traditions at Linvilla Orchards. One of the things that I really hope to pass onto my children is a sense of how important family traditions are. I've worked really hard at making some wonderful traditions for our family. Some of my favorites are trips to Linvilla Orchards, decorating the kitchen/dining room the night before their birthday so they can wake up to the room being decorated, a trip to Rita's Water ice on the first day of school, Sprinkling reindeer food and glitter on the lawn for Santa's reindeer on X-mas Eve and many more. I'd love to be eighty years old watching my great grandchildren following these same traditions. Could I be so lucky? I love being a mom.

I wish I'd write more

I've said it since first finding out I was pregnant. I don't want to forget a thing about this baby. I wish I could write everyday. I think she's learning something new everyday and I feel like I'll forget it all. I think back to when Abby and Nate were babies and I can't remember at what age they started to do anything. I should go back and read through their baby books I suppose but even that isn't as thorough as I'd like it. Today Alexa tried out her exersaucer for the first time. We got it as a hand me down from Uncle Bobby and it's just the cutest pinkest thing! Alexa seemed to like it. She stared at all the tosy for a bit and proceeded to chew up the seat. She's like a little puppy now. She chews on everything. I think she's going to teethe early. Today she was sucking away on my kuckle. Felt kind weird but she loved it! And she's constantly chewing and sucking on her own hands. Half the time she'd prefer to suck on her hands instead of her binky. Today was a day for a lot of firsts actually. Tonight we tried feeding her baby food for the first time. She's 14 weeks and five days old and she ate applesauce. Quite the piggy she is. She's been wanting a bottle more and more frequently. I'm actually concerned that she's eating way too much formula everyday. I swear she might have eaten like 38 or 40 oz today. After listening to her cry for a bottle only 2 hours after having eaten five ounces I figured I'd give it a whirl. We started out by trying to give her rice cereal for the 2nd time now. She did exactly what she did the first time which is cry and never swollow one drop. That's when I decided we'd try something a little more tastey. Cindy had given me a few odds and ends things from the "guess the price" game we played at my baby shower and applesauce was one of them. Boy did she love it! After charging up the video camera a bit I finally taped her making this "mmmmm" sound after every bite. She was in baby heaven!! She's growing everyday. She's becoming more and more of a baby and less and less of a helpless baby blob. On Saturday she grabbed her bottle as I was feeding her and tried to hold it with her fists closed. On Sunday she held onto it with her hands open and tried to pull it out of her mouth every time she needed a breather. Today she actually supported the weight of the bottle for a few seconds. She'll be holding it any day. I'm always so excited for her to learn something new but in the back of my mind I know that whatever she learns is one less thing she needs me for. Sometimes it makes me sad. One day she'll scream and cry when I try to cuddle her close and hold her bottle to feed her. And I'll think "Man, do I miss those days when all she did was lay there and stare into my eyes as I fed her!" And I'll be sad. Please don't grow up to quickly Alexa. In other off topic news, we got a new pet today. Abby decided that with her b-day money she wanted to buy a hanster. She used her $48 and bought herself a cute little cage, a big bag of bedding, and hanster food. Oh yea, and the hamster. It's a chinese dwarf hamster and it's so stinkin' cute!

3 months--I'm not sure if I'm happy or sad

Today is one day past Alexa's 3 month birthday. Oops! Story of my life, a day late and a dollar short! Oh well! I took her three month pictures today on the recliner. Her gerber 0-3 month onesie is now quite snug! I still remember the one month pictures like it was yesterday. So today I figured I'd take some time to compile a list of facts about our Lexa Lynn.

Here goes it!
~~She looks like a balding old man. No hair on top but plenty in the back.
~~Her eyes are still blue and her hair looks to be a light brown.
~~The toe next to her pinky toe is crooked on both feet.
~~She still doesn't fit into her 0-3 month sandals from Children's Place.
~~She had an explosive poopy event two days ago where I was shot in the stomach with diarrhea.
~~She is in size one Pampers but next case I'll be buying size 2.
~~She has outgrown her o-3 month one piece outfits. She's too long!
~~She wore her first pair of jeans yesterday on her 3 month birthday.
~~Everyone says how adorable she is and asks about her hair bows everyday.
~~Her legs never stop kicking.
~~She holds her arms in fists very close to her body and stretches out her legs when she's trying to poop.
~~She now enjoys her mobile and will watch it until it goes into sleep mode at which time she starts crying.
~~Still loves to be swaddled
~~She wakes up every night around 3 or 4 am.
~~She has long "conversations" with me. We go back and forth "talking" to each other as she stares into my eyes.
~~She loves morning time and is most happy then.
~~She likes for me to sing The Wheels on the Bus and move her legs, arms, and feet around.
~~She will be getting her ears pierced tomorrow.
~~She's still drinking Nutramigen.
~~She's eating every three hours now so I must bump up her ounces.
~~She loves bathtime and has begun splashing away.
~~She loves to cuddle. When I'm holding her at night on her back she will curl her body up so that her face is nestled into my shirt.
~~She will stop crying immediately in the car if Abby knocks on her car seat. Weird! I know!

September 11th, 2010

So today I woke up and completely forgot it was 9/11. I didn't remember until I signed onto facebook and saw all the tributes to it. Ever since then I've had a bit of a melancholy feeling. I can't help but to think back to that September day. I remember it like it was yesterday. My life was so different then. No kids, still living at home, working at the sev. It's weird. Every year I've tried to teach the kids the importance of that day. At such a young age it's been hard but every year they seem to grasp the concept a little better. It's so important to teach them and let them remember every year for as long as we remember we can help to protect ourselves. I showed them a tribute that someone posted on facebook and then we spent some time watching news footage on you tube of that morning. We watched the 2nd plane crash into the south tower. I showed them pictures of men and women jumping from the towers. I showed them the wreckage left in the Pennsylvania crash and told them about the heroes that thwarted that plane's course. I told them about the Pentagon. This year they were truley interested. It made me feel good as a mom to know that I'm passing on that piece of history that I lived through. And for the rest of the day I will remember. I took some time to post a thank you message to my friend Daniela's husband Keith who fought in the war and who now suffers badly from post traumatic stress disorder. If everyone remembers they'll never win.

A Day in the Life of Alexa @ 11 weeks

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