Could it be

Decisions

2010-05-02T21:13:00.002-04:00

God Parents and Guardians. Do these have to be one in the same?

To me a God Parent is one who provides guidance in the child's life, who is there for them when they need advice, help...anything really.
The guardian is that person whom you have chosen to care for and raise your child in your absence.

The problem I'm having, is that I think many people believe that God Parent means that they are also guardian. So do I explain it all when I ask them? Like, You will be the God Parent but so and so will be the one in the will? Or the one to take the kids if something happens to us?

Ugh, the whole issue is just weird and awkward for me. I need advice myself!

Either way I need to get my rear in gear and get this all sorted out and get my kids in church! I want this for them and I need to just bit the bullet and do it!

Sami-isms

2010-04-29T14:22:00.002-04:00

After hitting the water button on the refrigerator...
S: "Uuugh, look!"
M: "What happened? Did you press the water button?"
S: "Yeah, it surprised me! It surprised water all over my arm!"

Upon seeing her new kitchen set for the first time.
S: "Look at that Mama! It's Fabulous!"

Playing with the flashlight
S: "Hey, hey, come back here you! Come back!" (Talking to the actual light shining out of the flashlight as she shined it all over the room)

Talking to her sister.
S: "It's ok little fella. Ok, ok, come on, come on, you can do it. Don't be scared little fella. Ok, little fella, you're ok."

After going potty..
S: "Ugh! I can't do it Mama!" (Trying to pull up her pants)
M: "Do you need help?"
S: "Yeah, ok. But don't look Mama! Don't look at my poopy!!!"
After helping her with her pants and leaving the room, she comes running out...
S: "Wanna see it Mama!?? Wanna see my poops? Are you very excited Mama?? Come look!"

Upon trying to help her do ANYTHING!
S: "No, I do it allll my seeelllf!"

When we get to a store parking lot.
S: "What's this house Mama?" (If we're at Lowes she tells me it's a castle)
S: "I do a BIG Girl waalllk!" (Meaning she does not want to go in the cart.)

When she can't reach something..
S: "Please Mommy, can you get it? My arms are too little for that."

And best of all...her bed time prayer:
"Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. May angels watch me through the night, and wake me in the morning feeling like P-Ditty."

2010-04-28T19:46:00.000-04:00

“I want to win the Get It Together Kit & a seat to Love Affair Workshop. GO read the details and register! http://www.loveaffairworkshop.com”

Deception

2010-04-26T21:09:00.003-04:00

About a month ago I started selling all Jilli's baby stuff on craigslist. Things like, her swing and infant gym, exersaucer, boppy seat, a whole bunch of stuff. I didn't list everything at once. I listed the bigger things first and one person was emailing me on just about everything. The first time I met her to drop off the things she bought she mentioned that it was for her sister, "she needs all the help she can get." It was a little hard getting rid of the baby stuff and knowing that it no longer had a place in our home. It was all well used by Sami, my niece Oli (for a few weeks) and then Jilli. Each piece had memories of when they were tiny and left imprints on my heart, but still it had to go. It was all in very good shape and I wasn't looking to make a ton of money on it so I sold it really cheap hoping it would go to someone in need and they would be please with what great deal they got. I felt that all come together when she mentioned that she was buying it for her sister who needed help.
I listed a few more things and the same woman emailed me wanting them again and bargaining for a little bit lower price. I didn't mind, I mean after all, it was going to someone who needed it and again I felt good giving it, I even threw in a TON of stuff for her new "niece" and asked for nothing in return. Again, I felt great and was happy it was going to someone who needed it.
Yesterday, I get an email from the same lady again. She had been interested in or travel system, we had talked about it a few times and she had said she would think about it, no problem. So she asked if it was still available. I replied and told her it was.
Today, I get an email from her saying that she is opening a children's consignment shop in August and was wondering if I wanted to consign it to her and I would get 60% of what she sells it for and anything else I wanted to sell she would do 50/50.
My jaw literally dropped when I read this! I felt almost heart broken. Here I thought all this stuff was going to someone in need and I just kept piling more and more into my car to give her for free because I felt that "her sister" needed it and I was really helping them out. Now it is quite obvious that there was no sister at all and that she was buying it all to start her own business. I feel hurt and deceived.
I think I'll bring the travel system to a local charity and really give it to someone in need so they can enjoy it and be blessed as we were...not deceived.
While I realize that someone will still buy these things in her shop and get a decent deal on them, I just wish she hadn't lied to me, it's not like I asked her who it was for, she went out of her way to tell me it was for "her sister!"

One Year ago

2010-04-24T23:34:00.000-04:00

I looked like this :)

We were blessed with an amazing little girl that not only filled our hearts with joy, but completed our family. She has filled our home and our hearts and we are grateful everyday for her. The year has passed all too quickly and my baby is now entering toddlerhood. On the brink of walking, forming words, and communicating with us. Everyday is an adventure. It is amazing to watch her learn and catch on so quickly. She studies everything and watches and takes it all in, learning and exploring more everyday. Her words right now can only be deciphered by me ;) but they are getting clearer and clearer everyday. (Thank you, Please, Bink, Baba, Mama, Dada, Duckie and quack quack) She now nods her head when you ask her questions, yes or no, and is dancing and climbing and trying everyday to keep up with her big sister and do all that she does. We love you Jilli-Bean, thank you for blessing us with your loving, beautiful, joyful personality, each and everyday.

Time for a Change.

2010-04-22T20:39:00.002-04:00

I've been feeling more and more like I want to come back to this blog. I need to come back to this blog.
Maybe it's the fact that Jillian is turning one and I feel like it's flown by and I've missed so much. I haven't recorded it like it should have been. There is an immense amount of guilt in that. I feel guilty everyday as her mother, knowing that I am not the same Mom to her that I was to Sam. It's difficult. It's hard to forgive yourself and make the most of what is. I keep reminding myself that different, isn't necessarily worse....right? Right? Please tell me I'm right. I need to hear that I'm right!
I'm not able to devote the time with her like I was with Sami. Sami was my whole world. Everything. My only worries and concerns. Jillian has to share all that. But at the same time she benefits from the love and learning she gets from being with her big sister everyday, and learning things far beyond her skill level, much sooner than necessary.

I don't really know what shape this blog will take on for me now. I have no expectations. No "themes" so to speak. I just know that blogging is therapeutic at times and I often have more to write than a facebook status update can contain. So I think I'll be back. Maybe here...maybe someplace new, I haven't decided that yet either, but which ever way I go...it is time for a change.

Balance

2010-01-27T20:45:00.003-05:00

Perhaps the hardest thing for me is finding balance. As a mother, as a wife, as a farmer, as a home owner...just over all. I really, really, really need to get us on a schedule and a routine. The problem is...we're just not routine kind of people. We're very spur of the moment, go with the flow, take things one day at a time kind of people.
Right now...it's just not working. I am also a severe procrastinator and I get in these ruts where it is just debilitating. I constantly feel like I have a million things to do and I am just wasting the day away.
I am struggling with potty training Sami. Jillian is ALL over the place and pulling up, trying to cruise and falling, bumping, banging into everything! I HATE the crawling stage. It was rough with Sami, and I didn't really realize how much I hate it until Jillian started. Oh how I wish my girls were those kids that just go right to walking, lol. Crawling just grosses me out, their little hands all over the floor and then constantly in their mouths. Plus, add the fact that we have a dog, and Ewwww! It's disgusting. Now, the fact that Sami is constantly running to the bathroom, per potty training, and I am going with her and Jilli is trailing behind us, Grrr.

I truly CAN. NOT. WAIT until summer! But that means we have to get through spring, which I also loathe, lol. Mud, rain, dirt..no thanks! I think I need to move somewhere where there is no season change. Winter and Spring just are not for me. I love Summer and Fall though, I could totally take that year round!

Updates

2009-12-11T21:32:00.002-05:00

Life is so crazy with 2! I feel like we don't have a moment of rest in this house. But life is good, we take it all in stride and make the best of every situation...not to say that I haven't completely lost my mind in dealing with these terrible two's, but it is what it is and we seal with it one day at a time and do the best we can.

Jillian is 7 months now. She's crawling all over! She started crawling the night before Thanksgiving. She was in the living room with Ian and I came down to get her and put her to bed and she crawled a few paces over to me. Ian looked up and was like "Did you see that!!!" LOL.
Ever since she's been non stop and is fast now! Really fast! lol. She loves to crawl under everything she can. We have some nesting/side tables that she has claimed as her fort, lol. And she loves to crawl under her high chair and sit. The dog food...oh, the dog food! She thinks it's funny to try and steal the dog food. She will stop when I tell her no, turn around and look at me and smile/laugh then go right back to the dog food!
Jilli is eating solids now, anything and everything she can get her hands on. She still has no teeth so I am cutting everything up into tiny tiny pieces and she gums them away! lol. She loves Cheerios, and has had spaghetti, turkey, sweet potatoes, peas, carrots, chicken, and I think she's even had broccoli. She doesn't really want anything to do with the baby food any more, she wants what ever we are eating and she wants to do it herself!
We have almost completely weaned this month :( I had a pretty severe case of Mastitis and the doctor ordered me to stop nursing her and I could pump if I wanted, but he did not want her to nurse. Luckily it was only on one side, so I could still nurse on the good side. Jilli refused to take a bottle so it was a pretty rough few weeks during the Mastitis. Finally I bought her a Nuk bottle, since she was taking those pacifiers and she took it! I don't know if it was the bottle, or if she was just finally giving in, because now she will take any bottle.
We're still fighting the reflux and spitting up everyday :(

Sami is just growing like crazy, and keeping us on our toes. She fell and broke her leg in October. We still have no idea how it happened. She was standing in the living room at the coffee table and just fell. Dropped to the ground and started screaming that her leg hurt.
The cast is off now and she is healing well.

I'll have to finish this later because Jilli is up....did I mention she still doesn't sleep through the night and is up every 1,2,3 hours! UGH!!!!!!

Let the giggles begin!

2009-09-30T14:56:00.003-04:00

Finally! Jillian is starting to laugh! Sami laughed a lot earlier and a lot more often. I can remember that. A babies laughs are the best thing in this world! Jilli smiles all the time and she's forced a giggle or two out before, but the last few days they are a little easier to get out of her and it brightens my day for sure!
She's really enjoying her one on one time. I try and put the girls down around the same time to nap so that I can get a little break and get the house cleaned up a bit, or feed the farm, or do laundry, dishes...whatever. But lately Jilli has caught on that if Sami is sleeping, she will get ALL the attention! And she's LOVING it! LOL I have to admit, I'm loving it too. Jilli gets a lot of attention all day long, but it's usually unwanted attention from her sister, lol. Or Sami jumps in her face the moment I try and play with her or talk to her. She's Sami's baby!! Apparently Samantha doesn't understand that being mere centimeters from her face is probably not that enjoyable for Jillian, hahaha. I am constantly telling her to back up and give her space. The poor girl needs to breathe!
So anyway, Jilli and I love our Mommy and Me time with just the two of us, but then once Sami's up she gives her the BIGGEST smiles in the whole world, seriously I don't know how she makes her smile that big, but she does it, and only for her sister, who she adores!

Where to start....

2009-09-27T22:09:00.002-04:00

The problem with leaving the blog world is that it truly miss it when I'm gone. Then the days, weeks, months go by and suddenly I feel so far behind that I don't even know how to start a blog post :( So much has happened. So much is changing everyday. There is so much to tell that will likely never be told. No one even comes here anymore. I keep making empty promises that I will be back to update more regularly, but that never happens. So I guess let's just start with today and maybe memories and stories will pop into the mix along the way.

We have been enjoying a great weekend with the family. It seems Ian is gone for work most of the time these days. It's so hard to get caught up and it's sad having him gone. Yesterday we went to one of Scott's track meets and it was GREAT! He's awesome! I can not believe that he is running track now. If someone had told me a year ago that Scott would be running, I would have told them they were nuts! He now runs all the time! And not like a little jog down the road and back...like a 6 mile RUN!! He's really good too. He has changed so much in the last year. Going from a boy to a young man. He did great on his race he came in at 21.01 and it was just over 3 miles. He ran with Varsity yesterday which is a major accomplishment, especially since it was only his 3rd race and he's been moved up. We're so proud of him!

Sami and I are struggling through the terrible 2's. She is very temperamental and just down right naughty at times. The good times are so great, but the bad times are real bad. All in all, I wouldn't change it for the world. I love all the new things she says and does every day. I love how she can help with things and I love how she is learning so much so quickly. She is incredibly smart and so quick to catch on to things. She truly is a sponge taking in everything! I can tell she's going to have another language explosion soon because she is repeating everything we say again. She seems to do this in phases and then reaches a new level in her speech and language abilities.
Sami is a singer. She sings all day every day. She loves music. I can't believe how quick she picks up new songs and will begin singing them over and over again. Lately we've been working on her name. She can spell her first name, and she's learning that we all have the same last name. It's really cute.

Our little Jilli Bean is growing way too fast. It's sad really. I can't slow down the time and it's killing me. I don't want her to grow too fast, but at the same time I can't wait to truly see her personality. I mean, life with Sami at 2 is so hard, but it's so amazing to have conversations with her and be able to communicate. Jilli loves to smile. She adores her sister and thinks that she is the best thing in the world! We song a good morning song every morning when we wake up (Sami really does the singing, I am more like moaning "God why don't you children sleep!") and Jilli smiles so big it must hurt! She doesn't even have her eyes open all the way, but she hears Sami's voice and she is just filled with joy! It's just a true blessing everyday to see the two of them together, I hope and pray everyday that this bond remains strong and they are always so loving and close with each other.
Jillian has just recently started finally sleeping in her crib. She has reflux and has been sleeping in the swing to try and keep her elevated at night. She's starting to get too big for that and seemed way too uncomfortable in it. She was too restricted and couldn't roll or stretch and I think that was waking her. She still doesn't sleep through the night :( But Sami didn't sleep through the night until she was 10-11 months old, so I'm in for the long haul.
Along with the reflux, Jilli was diagnosed with what her GI (Gastro doc) specialist thought was Laryngomalacia. She breathes funny. She has since she was born. She makes a noise when she breaths that sounds like she is grunting a little, or that she needs to cough or clear her throat. So the GI says it's Laryngomalacia, I googled and you tubed and it seems like what she has. The videos and sound bites I've watched and listened to sound just like her. However, she has been to the ENT (Ear, nose and Throat Doc) twice and each time he did a scope and he insists that she does NOT have Laryngomalacia and that the noise is due solely to the reflux and secretions that are coming up and she's gurgling them and that's making the noise.
It sucks either way. I feel like it's more than just the reflux, but it has gotten better since she's been born and both doctors say that it's something she will most likely grow out of either way, reflux and Laryngomalacia. The ENT would be able to see a Laryngomalacia with the scopes that he did and he did not see it. She does have narrow vocal cords though...whatever that means. All I know is that she sometimes breathes funny. She's had overnight oximeter tests to check her O2 levels and everything checks out fine. She's growing fine and she's happy. So for now we will continue with the reflux meds and just continue to monitor her and see how it goes. She will not be going back to ENT unless she gets worse or has some new issue. It doesn't make sense to subject her to the scope again if there is nothing there for them to see.

So that sums up a little of what we've been up to lately.
Sami's still not potty trained. We've stopped it all together mostly, until she seems ready again.
Jilli is still breastfeeding and has started stage 2 foods. She LOVES bananas, and hates cereal of any kind, and formula.

Ok, I need to get to bed now. I hope to be back soon.

How did this happen?

2009-09-11T13:46:00.000-04:00

The one thing I've learned about being a parent, is that time suddenly goes way too fast and no matter what you do there is no way to slow it down. I can not believe how fast the kids are growing, it's sad that these moments go by so quickly. I promise to do my best to hold on to each and every one of them.

2009-07-27T22:31:00.000-04:00

2009-07-27T22:30:00.000-04:00

2009-07-27T22:27:00.000-04:00

Concentration

Cutie

Look at that strength! At 2 months!!

2009-07-27T22:25:00.000-04:00

I had turned my back for one minute, came back and was busy opening the mail when I looked up and found this!

All I wanted to do was scream! But I grabbed the camera instead and captured one of those OMG moments. There were Spagettios EVERYWHERE!! She dumped them on Patches head too. Poor dog. I was freaking out trying to get patch to sit still, I was so afraid that she was going to go to the carpet and roll all over and there would be spagettios embedded in the carpet!

Jillian's beatiful eyes

2009-07-27T22:19:00.000-04:00

Me, Sami, and her Nanny at the lake

Sami and Nanny (Ian's Mom)

Scott feeding the seagulls

2009-07-27T22:15:00.000-04:00

Jillian's room. Eventually, I think that we are going to have the girls share a room, so this will be "the girls room"

This is what I get when I try to take a picture of him, lol.

Aww, her love bug!

Ian and Jillian. They are SO cute!

2009-07-27T22:11:00.000-04:00

Happy girl

Sami and Jilli playing with the dollies

Jilli is terrified of Sam, lol

But they love each other SOOO much!

2009-07-27T22:09:00.000-04:00

Sisters

This is her freezing face, lol. She shakes like she is really freezing and tenses up.

This is her Hot face, lol

Chew chew chew, she loves those fingers!

My Girls

2009-06-16T20:48:00.000-04:00

Updates...

2009-06-15T10:21:00.004-04:00

I can't believe that Jillian is almost 2 months old and I haven't been updating this blog :( I keep wanting too, but just never seem to find the time. Especially a time where I have both hands free to be able to type, lol.

Jillian is growing way too fast! It's crazy! I swear she is growing faster than Sami did. She has been smiling and cooing for weeks! I don't remember Sami doing this this early. Jillian will look at you and smile and try and make noises already. She's getting quite good too. I am amazed at her development. She holds her head up very well and when on her belly, with the boppy pillow under her shoulders, she can hold her head at a 90 degree angle and look all around. She tries to laugh, but the noises don't come out yet. It's so amazing to watch her try and make new noises and you can see how proud she is when something comes out, lol.
She LOVES to have her diaper off. She smiles every time I am changing her diaper, as soon as she hears the Velcro undoing the diaper, she lights up, lol. It cracks me up every time, then she tries to laugh too.
She's somewhat more needy, or clingy than Sami was. Samantha always wanted her own space, Jillian wants to cuddle at night or be held. If she's not being held/cuddled, nursing or in her swing, then she's pretty much not happy. Ian and I are not fans of co sleeping, but Jillian seems to have other plans for us. She likes to spoon! LMAO.

She spends most of the day in the swing, which I always feel guilty about, but it's the only place she's happy. I feel bad when Sami and I are playing, or going outside and she just wants to sit in the swing. She's not happy being outside. We try to bring her out in the stroller, but after about 5 minutes she's screaming for her swing! And she doesn't like to be in the wrap, like Sami did, so it makes it difficult.

Jillian does do good in the car though...much better than Sami did..and at the store too, maybe she will be my shopping partner since Sami really isn't a fan, unless lots of snacks are involved, lol.
Samantha is a little too in love with Jilli. She smothers her and it's hard to give Jilli tummy time or just time on the play mat because Sami is all over her! I'm beginning to think that is why Jilli likes the swing so much, lol, she feels safe from Sam in there. Sami was trying to play with Jilli yesterday and fell on Jilli's leg. Jillian screamed the most horrible scream I've ever heard and I cried my eyes out while checking to make sure nothing was broken! Today she has a nice bruise on her leg and my heart is officially broken :(
I'm having a hard time keeping Sami under control when she's playing with Jillian. She gets really excited and carried away. She doesn't realize that she's getting rough.

Now onto Sami...She is getting smarter by the second! She now talks in full sentences, she comes out with some pretty funny expressions and is always making us laugh. This morning Jillian was coughing/gaging and Sami said to her, "Careful, Careful, Careful Jilli. Oh my goodness!" I was laughing so hard, she is always cracking me up with something.
We decided to work on potty training this morning....is it normal for a toddler to pee 5 times with in 30 minutes? OMG! Guess I'll be steam cleaning the house today! By the 6th "accident" (She says "Oh no, accident! Napkin, Napkin!" every time she goes in her pants, lol. She wants a napkin to clean it up.) she got up and ran to the bathroom on her own and sat down on the potty. I rushed in after her and helped/reminded her to take off her panties...and she peed!!!! YAY!!!She's straight into underpants...no pull ups...really this is just practice. She still can't take her pants down by herself, so I'm thinking it might be too early still...I don't know? Do kids need to be able to take their pants off first? I mean, I'll have to help her every time anyway, right? I guess it's just teaching her to tell us when she has to go so we can get her to the potty...is that the way it works?

Anyway, I really need to commit more to this blog, because I do want to capture all these moments of the kids childhood. Facebook is consuming my internet time...and the fact that my internet time has greatly decreased with the new baby and the nice weather. I'll work on it.

2009-06-12T08:46:00.000-04:00

2009-06-12T08:37:00.000-04:00

2 years!

2009-06-02T21:06:00.003-04:00

Samantha,
It's hard to believe that two years ago tonight, I was giving birth to our little princess! This past year you have transformed into a beautiful little girl, full of excitement and opinions. You have learned how to walk, you know all your ABC's and can count to 13, you can sing songs (wheels on the bus, You are my sunshine, Happy Birthday, and row row your boat are some of your favorites) You know your colors and shapes. you've learned how to eat with utensils, and how to let the dog in and out. You help with chores around the house, ie. dishes, sweeping the floors, dusting... Your vocabulary has exploded! You talk in full sentences, your manners are amazing, you always seem to remember the please and Thank you, you say "bless you" when someone sneezes, you say "excuse me" and sorry. You now ask for hugs and kisses and know that it totally melts Mama and Daddy's hearts. You know about 50 Dr. Suess books by memory. You still love your books more than anything and can be found reading most of your days. You have a love for the outdoors that you get from your Daddy. The two of you are happiest outside, no matter what you're doing. You've recently become a big sister and are amazing with your baby sissy! I've never seen such love in your eyes, than that which is there when you look at Jillian and Scott. You are an amazing sister, and an amazing daughter!
We thank God everyday for bringing you into our lives. Happy Birthday Sami Sue! We love you!

2009-05-19T16:13:00.001-04:00

It's hard to believe that we are in the 3rd week of Jillian's life, but at the same time...it feels like she has always been here. I guess it's harder to believe that less than 3 weeks ago I was pregnant! LOL. I can barely remember being pregnant with her, isn't that crazy?
Well these two and a half weeks have been great! Sami is loving her little sister and doing so incredibly well with her. She gets really excited every time she sees her and it's hard to teach her to contain her excitement. She is obsessed with Jillian's fingers and toes. She kisses them constantly and gets mad if she has socks or mittens on, lol.
Jillian is starting to look more like Jillian and less like Sami #2, lol. Some pictures are just identical, it's crazy! It is exciting to see how her looks will be as she grows and if she will continue to look like Sami.
So here is the long over due birth story:
It started on Thursday the 23rd...Ian had been in Jersey the first half of the week and I was instructed to keep her in until he got home on Wednesday night, lol. I had one or two painful contractions on Wednesday in the middle of the night. Thursday morning I started having mild contractions very sporadically that continued throughout the day, I had a moment around lunch time where I could feel my blood pressure drop and I felt really woosie and dizzy, but after lunch and a little rest I was feeling fine.
Friday, Ian decided he better work from home...just in case. I didn't have any contractions that woke me in the night, so I thought, "no way, it's not going to be today" We went downstairs for breakfast, the sun was shining and I was eager to get outside and start walking, hoping it would kick start things. During breakfast I had a few contractions, a bit more painful than Thursdays and a very painful contraction that almost dropped me to the floor. At that point Ian decided to call his parents and have them come over...just in case we had to go into the hospital, they could stay with Sami.
The contractions progressed and were about 10 minutes apart on and off so I called the Dr. They told me to call back when I was 4 minutes apart lasting 60 seconds for 2 hours!!
My parents came to the house. Now I was having painful contractions and had 5 people staring at me all day! LOL It seemed as though when ever I would sit they would stop. We were all getting pretty anxious, I was in pain and wanted to sit, but I got the hint from all the stares that I needed to get this moving, lmao.
Around 6:30- 7:00pm I started getting them very strong and very close...like 2-5 minutes apart. Ian started to get really nervous and insisted that we go to the hospital immediately, so off we went. I had a little break down on the way there because I was really sad to be leaving Sami, I just wanted to hold her one more time :(
We got to the hospital and they were FULL! We literally had to wait in a waiting room for about half an hour. Finally they got us in and we were put in a triage room with another girl who was literally crowning and opted for no pain meds! So she was also screaming! That made us all a little stressed. Ian and I were worried that I might be too far along for an epidural, I was terrified! Finally they checked me and I was 7cm!! Now I was REALLY scared that I wouldn't get the epi. They told us we should have a baby in 4 hours!
The doctor came in and said I could have the epi still but I had to have 2 full bags of IV fluid first so they started pumping it in me fast!
Once we got that in we had the ok to start the epi. I was just as scared this time around as I was with Sami. I HATE needles! HATE them! With Sami the epidural was the easiest part of the whole thing, but I was still very scared this time around. The epidural was painful this time, I literally was screaming, but still...totally worth it!
Once we got the epidural in, my doctor, who was not pleased that I was put in triage, moved me to a real room.
Little did we know that we had ALL night to wait for Jillian to make her arrival!
Soon after getting the epidural and switching rooms, my blood pressure dropped. It was dangerously low and I could see everyone in the room freaking out, the nurse rushed out to get the anesthesiologist back, they both came running back into the room and he gave me a shot of something in the epidural and I came back up. It must be some kind of reaction I have to the epidural because the same thing happened after I got it for Sami. This was the one thing Ian made me promise not to do this time around (The blood pressure drop...not the epidural) as if I had any control over it, lol, and this time around it was even worse.
So after the blood pressure drama, we pretty much just had to sit and wait. What was 4 hours when we first arrived, was all but stopped by the epidural and my body was dilating VERY slowly! We were all anxious to have the Dr. break my water so we could get the show on the road, but he had other plans and was waiting until morning, even though he came in a few times throughout the night anyway.
So bright and early Saturday morning the Dr. struggled with Jillian and broke my water. She was fighting him. The doctor was feeling her head and she was twisting back and forth and trying to scoot back up higher away from him, lol. He literally had to push down from the top of my belly to hold her in place while he broke my water.
At 6:30am we started pushing, Jillian was not very happy about this either, she was kicking me the whole time and moving all around, it was crazy! I was literally laughing the first few pushes because I could feel her kicking me as I pushed. At 6:48 am our little one arrived and forever changed our lives and our hearts. She was amazing! She had yellow hair and looked just like Samantha!
Ian almost missed cutting the cord because he was busy taking loads of pics for me and the doctor almost cut it then turned to ask him at the last minute...Ian actually got a picture of the doctor handing him the scissors, lol.
My father who had waited all night in the hospital waiting room, sleeping on a love seat sofa...was not allowed into L&D to see her :( He was not too happy about that, lol. Ian slept in the delivery room all night and didn't wake up until we told him they were breaking my water...then he asked for some coffee, because he was SO tired! UNBELIEVABLE!!! My mother and I were up all night, over 24 hours at this point and I still had to push this child out of me, and HE was complaining that he was tired!!! OMG!
Ok, that's enough for now...I can't believe it's been 3 weeks! Sami has been great with her, she loves her!!! I mean LOVES her!!! She's so excited every morning to see her. She sings to her and talks to her all day long, gives her huge and kisses and is just infatuated with her. It's amazing to watch.
Now that I have the birth story out of the way I'll try and post more often...when I have a free minute, lmao! I have tons of pictures to share too...I'll work on that.

It's time

2009-04-28T21:06:00.000-04:00

The day started like this...

And ended with this...

Almost there

2009-04-20T20:24:00.003-04:00

39+ weeks!! Yay! The end is near, and I can. not. wait. to meet this little girl!
Last week I gained just under a full pound, this week I lost just over a pound...hmmm, not sure what's up with that, but the doctors don't seem to be concerned. Jillian is still her little wiggle worm self, poking and prodding in all the wrong places, lol.
Samantha and I are both sick this week :( We have some nasty upper respiratory cold, with a nasty cough, a nose like a faucet, sore throat, and sinus pressure...yuck! As if being 39 weeks pregnant wasn't uncomfortable enough now everything is intensified because I am sick and feel like crap and Sami feels like crap and is whinny and clingy. We only had one thing planned for the week, playgroup tomorrow, but I think we're going to skip it and just chill out at home and try and recoup. We both need to get better so Jillian can get here! So instead we will just take it easy and work on disinfecting anything we touch, lol.

Ian is off to New Jersey again so hopefully Jillian will wait until he is closer to home to make her appearance :(
I had a dream last night that I had the baby and it was a boy and he was gorgeous! LOL He had huge chubby cheeks, beautiful blue eyes, and was a baldy..he had a little bit of blonde peach fuzz, but not much. So weird.

If Jillian doesn't come by Saturday, then I will be back to the Dr. on Monday for a non-stress test and an ultrasound, then from there we have a tentative induction date of May 4th.

Only time will tell. Hopefully next time I post, it will be her birth story!

Pics, Video and an update.

2009-04-09T19:45:00.001-04:00

Here are a few more maternity shots that I did this week. I was trying to get Sami's Easter pics done, but failed miserably, so I decided to do some maternity shots instead. Sami refused to look at the camera, so her pics didn't come out too well. When she would look at the camera, she would not smile, then the focus and lighting were all out of wack too, so we gave up on that dream, lol.

This is my favorite picture at the moment. I love this! It is SOOO hard to get a natural looking picture of Scott these days. He's not a very good fake smiler and doesn't particularly like his picture taken to begin with. This is Scott and his Nanny. Just a sweet moment, captured by Ian...not me.

Sami has been working on her numbers lately. It amazes me how eager she is to learn. She can count to 13..she's made it up to 17 but, after 13 the numbers really all sound a like. She will count to 20 if I count with her and she will try and repeat what I say, but 13 she can do on her own. Honestly I think she just has an amazing memory. I don't think she really gets what it means. If you ask her to count something, like how many crayons are there? She will count what's there, say 3 crayons, but then just keep going, even though there are only the 3 crayons. I tried to get a video of her counting today, she's been doing it all week, just running around counting. I love the way she says "Seven" it's soo cute! It took her forever to say seven, not sure why but she would always just skip over it. Anyway, here's the video.

Oh, and as far as the napping is going. We're still hit or miss. She went 4 days refusing to nap and I really thought that was it, she was done. Then on the 5th day she rested, lol. So far this week she's napped twice. So we're up to 50/50 for the week....not too bad!
She has been sleeping GREAT at night too. (I better not be jinxing this!) I pushed her bed time back from 7:30 to 8:00 and she's been sleeping through the night, staying in her room, and this past weekend she slept until after 8:30am!!! She was getting up before 6am the week before. This week she's been sleeping until around 7-7:15. Needless to say I am LOVING it! Finally some rest. Let's hope this new trend continues.

Jillian is still a wiggle worm and moving her way down more and more everyday, getting ready for her grand entrance into the world. I'm gaining about a pound a week right now, which is right on schedule. Upto 19 pounds this week, I gained 28 total with Sam, so I'm a little behind this time around, but I do have a 2 year old that I'm chasing around all day too. The doctor doesn't seem to think that Jillian will be any bigger than Sami was, and he thought that Sam was a pretty good size for me. His guess would be between 6.5 and 7lbs.
Only time will tell, and I can't wait!! I'm so excited to see her little face, and to have my mom here with us for 2 weeks!

2009-04-01T17:00:00.000-04:00

A case of the Mondays

2009-03-30T15:48:00.002-04:00

Sami woke up just before 4am. I brought her back to bed.
4:30, brought her back to bed again
5:00, back again.
5:30, she's back one more time. Ian gets up to get ready for work. We're all up for the day.
6am, downstairs we go.
Samantha proceeds to scream and cry because she wants cookies for breakfast. I tell her no and sit her in her booster seat, give her a banana and pour her some juice.
I start doing the dishes, she finally quiets down and eats the dreaded banana.
She finishes the banana and Ian gets her a bowl of cereal. Cheeri0s with milk, a big deal! lol She just started having cereal with milk in it, up until this weekend it was always dry cereal.
Ian leaves for work...will be back in 2 days.
Sami is engrossed in her cereal, and MILK! lol. No bib...oopps. (oh, we don't use sippy cups at the table anymore either, so the juice is in a regular cup.)
Needless to say she is dripping milk and apple juice all over herself. Oh well. Who cares it's too early.
I am able to run around and get some chores done while she's eating her cereal.
Clean kitchen, swept floors, vacuumed house! It's not even 6:30am maybe this 4am stuff isn't that bad. Yeah, we can do this!
Sami is finally done with the cereal, she's soaking wet and smells like milk. Ok, everything off lets do bath time. I strip her down in the kitchen. Let the dog outside. Naked baby. I of course have to pee, before we can go upstairs, lol. Sami pretends to go potty too on her potty...nothing comes out. Ok, Bath time. Wait...lets wait for Patches so we can let her in before we go upstairs. I'm standing at the front door watching Patch and waiting. Sami is standing behind me at the bottom of the stairs waiting for me. Ok, Patch is done I let her in. As I'm closing the door I hear Sami say "Whoa!"
I turn around to see a huge poop on the floor!! OMG! She just pooped on the floor!
Ok, everybody freeze, don't move! Sami don't touch! Yucky! She backs up still completely amazed by this incredible thing that she just deposited on my floor.
Patches, being the incredible hunting dog, fantastic beagle that she is, does not only not smell the pile of fresh poop under her nose, but doesn't see it either.
I am screaming "No Patches Stop! Don't move!"
But she can't resist. She is on one side of the poo and Sami and I are on the other, so here she comes! And of course she steps right in the poop!!
You. Are. Kidding. Me!
Great! How am I supposed to make it to the kitchen with a dog with one foot covered in poop and keep Sami away from the poop too? I yell for Sami to stay away and drag Patches to the kitchen, rush rush rush to clean her foot and run back to clean up the poop before God forbid Sami start playing with it!
Ahh, I made it. Ok, baths for everyone and disinfect the floors!
It's not even 7am!!!!

ABC's

2009-03-24T22:04:00.000-04:00

35 Weeks

2009-03-24T19:31:00.000-04:00

Gained 2 more pounds this for this weeks appointment. Everything is going good. The baby's heartbeat is perfect, the belly is measuring perfect. The doctor said I have a very compact belly, lol and he doesn't expect this baby to be much different in size than Sami was. He actually felt that Sami was a "good size" for me and maybe Jilli will be a little smaller, but who knows it's all a bunch of guessing really. I have to go this week for more blood work to check again for anemia, all has gone well so far, so Im not at all worried, well...about the results anyway, the needle it self is a different story, lol.
Jillian still continues to move about non-stop. She's enjoying pressing on my hips with all her might and keeping me in a constant uncomfortable state.

I got a couple shots of Sami today. It is really impossible to get pictures of her these days. She either runs the other way when I have the camera, or she insists on sitting on my lap, making it incredibly hard to photograph her. We've been busy just about everyday with playgroup. My hopes of wearing her out during play time so that she will nap, is failing. She's still not napping. I get lucky about once or twice a week and she will sleep, but that's about it. The last 2 days she's been having issues at night too. This kid is an insomniac! Her bed time is 7:30pm, she's usually up in her room "reading" her books for at least an hour! Sometimes more. So anyway, the last 2 nights she's been getting up and crying for me. Sunday night she woke up crying and Ian said "just bring her in here with us." We don't normally do this but it's hard sometimes not to. It's more us than her. We like to cuddle with her, she's just so cute all cuddled up with us in bed. So I bring her in bed with us then I check the clock and realize it was only 12:45!! Ugh, we were in for a long night I thought it was closer to 4 am, lol. Last night, same thing. She's like clock work sometimes...12:45 she's up and crying for me. I'm like "oh, no, not tonight kiddo!" I bring her back to her bed and make her lay down. She starts playing with my heart strings saying "My mommy, my mommy" and holding my hand and rubbing her hand on my face, trying to get me to lay with her. She's sneaky I tell you! So I put on my super nanny face and kiss her good night and off I go back to bed. As soon as I hit the bed she's back up. I lay her back in her bed and stand by the door, repeatedly telling her to get back in bed. Finally, she seems to settle and I creep step by step slowly out of sight. I stand in our room, waiting for the crys....nothing...waiting, waiting....nothing. I slowly get back in bed as to not make a noise, as soon as my butt hits the bed she starts crying!! OMG! Ok, so then it was full on super nanny mode. I go in put her back in bed, no communication. We do this about 5 or 6 times. (note, that during this all Ian offers repeatedly to take over, but I refuse, the Super nanny is ON!! lol. I didn't want you to think that he was just sleeping through all of this, lol. he was my support) So it goes on, eventually she stays in bed, still crying for me, then for Daddy neither of us budge. She eventually gets out of bed and lays by her door and eventually falls back asleep.

Maybe it's her teeth. She should be getting her 2 yr. molars...right? I can't feel anything going on in there, but who knows. I just wish that she could fall asleep easier. It takes me forever to fall asleep too, but with a 2 year old, she can't just lay there and be still which makes it even harder for her to fall asleep. Pray for me that this is all some weird phase and she'll be back to napping and sleeping all night uninterrupted by the time the baby gets here, LMAO! A girl can dream right? Well if she slept she could!

Nap Time

2009-03-16T15:43:00.000-04:00

Seriously!

Tell me again why we bought her a bed. LOL This is where she sleeps. In the door way. She'll bring her blankets and pillow and usually some books and she camps out in the doorway and goes to sleep. Heck, at least she's sleeping! She's been doing this most nights too. Nap times are still hit and miss, but we're working on it and the nicer weather is helping. Today there was no protest to the nap at all. She gladly went upstairs with blankey and 2 new books. We laid in bed and read the stories. She was all smiles and happy Mama was laying with her. I honestly didn't think she was going to sleep so I got up and gave her kisses and said good night. To which she replied "ni-night!" I heard her get up and play for about 2 minutes then silence! And here she is. She got her blankets and pillow and went right to sleep. For naps she pretty much stays here. At night I put her back in her bed, but a couple nights this last week she woke up at like 4 am and went back and laid in the doorway again. It must be really comfy there, lol.

Yesterday she woke up from her nap and Ian and I went upstairs. He sat down in the hall across from her door and was talking to her and she laid right back down and went to sleep...in the doorway! Ian wanted to pick her up and put her in bed but I figured she must be comfortable, let her go.

Then there is the one inside...Jillian. She must be just as uncomfortable these days as I am. She is moving non-stop and it is mostly painful for me since there is very little room left for her to maneuver. I remember Sami moving a lot but it seemed to slow down around this time. Jilli is doing the opposite! She never moved as much as Sami up until most recently. I kid you not it is most of the day, she is poking and prodding and I'm screaming and yelping. I swear my water is going to break at any moment with the way she moves about in there. She's not at all gently. The hiccups are more frequent as well...for her, not me, lol. I don't like them, it's weird and uncomfortable and she gets them for long bouts.
The shortness of breath comes and goes in an instant. Some days are better than others. I feel like I have more energy, but my back is constantly killing me. Yesterday I could barely walk at one point. Sleeping is a joke since there is no position that is comfortable and Jillian chooses to be hosting a dance party in my uterus between the hours of 11pm and 2:30am, during which laying down or sitting are just merely not options for me.
At my appointment a month ago we were certain that she was head down and would most likely stay that way, but with the movements I've been feeling lately, I'm not so sure anymore. I go back on Monday next week so we'll see what they have to say then. I've tried very hard to feel my belly and map out how she's lying, but there is just no use, she moves and flips and rolls and whatever! I just wish she would relax and camp out for the next 6 weeks. She's been freaking me out all I can think about is how little room is left in there and she's flipping and rolling all over and must be getting herself pretty tied up with the umbilical cord.

Well, anyway...I better go get some cleaning done or try and get some rest since break time is almost over and Sami will be up soon, then we're headed back outside to ensure a good nights sleep tonight!

2009-03-16T15:19:00.000-04:00

Riding the Lady bug

Making cookies with Daddy

Sneaking a bite as soon as Daddy stepped away, lol.

St. Patricks Day craft at playgroup. Check out that awesome hat she made!

Real quick

2009-03-11T23:08:00.000-04:00

Everything is going great with the pregnancy. I gained another pound so we're up to 15 pounds total this time around. the baby is doing well, I told the Dr. that I felt like she was really moving down, he said she's still got more to go. Here's a belly shot for this week.

Sami is having issues this week with going to sleep. I've had to resort to putting a gate up at her door because she likes to sneak out of her room and run around upstairs. She refuses to stay in her bed and just will not sit still long enough to fall asleep. I could feel myself getting sucked into laying with her to get her to go down for nap time. That's not a routine I wanted to start since it just will not be possible in a month or two. She's testing me, always and we're having quite a rough week. The whining, and crying and moaning...ugh! Being 2 is rough!!! We've decided that getting back into play groups will help so we've joined a second playgroup and have activities lined up for the rest of the month. It's great for both Sami and I.

Burn the schedule!

2009-02-26T20:34:00.000-05:00

Feeling the burn! Heartburn is crazy this time around! I remember having a little with Sami, but this time around it hurts so bad! I want to rip my esophagus out and throw it in a bucket of ice water! Night time it is the worst, as soon as I lie down, I feel like there are flames in my throat! I guess we'll see if the Old wives tale is true or not and see if this baby has a lot of hair, lol.

Sami's schedule is killing me. She has decided she no longer needs naps! OMG! Are you kidding me? It is impossible to get her to take a nap. I literally have to have her running for a good 2 hours straight in order for her to possibly take a nap. She will sit in her room and play for awhile, but then eventually will open the door and come running out of her room. I've tried laying her back down, I've tried being firm with her, I've even tried laying with her for a bit. She just will not sleep! Now I have to figure out how I'm supposed to shower, and hike out to the barn in the snow to feed the animals. The showering isn't a problem really because she will watch a movie in our room while I shower and I can see her from the shower. But getting out to the barn is another story. The snow is too deep for her to walk through, and I really can't carry her out to the barn and back through the snow, plus with all her snow gear on she tends to fall a lot and I don't want her falling in the barn or near the animals.

So my first thought was, well I'll just get up earlier, go feed the animals, come back and shower before she gets up. The problem with that is that she gets up as soon as the sun does! So the other option is to go out when she goes to bed. Either way it looks like I'll be trekking out there in the dark. There are lights in the barn, but not out where the alpacas actually are. Oh, boy sounds like fun huh? Guess I'll have to figure this out. I only have 2 weeks of help once Jilli is here then I'll have to figure out how to adapt it again to do with a newborn and a 2 year old. Hopefully by then the snow will be gone and Sami can come out with me and I can put the baby in a wrap.
Ahh, the farm life. Such fun. Not sure who signed me up for this...oh wait, yes I do. Thanks Hun I love you!

Can you believe how fast this kid is growing! My God where does the time go?

Sami has some nasty nose business going on this week. She's so stuffed up and has been drooling all over the place because she can't breathe. She looks a little rough in this pic, lol. She loves her backpack and has been wearing it around all week, lol.

The double stroller search

2009-02-22T21:41:00.002-05:00

This is proving exhausting. Ian and I went to the mall this weekend to look at a few double strollers that Target had. I was interested in the Graco DouGlider because it is compatible with our carseat, the color was a decent match with our carseat as well. I was excited to have Ian take it down off the shelf for me so I could get a better look. They had all the double strollers tied to each other! You couldn't take anything down, or try it out! What the heck! What's the point of having a display if you can't try it out?

I can't decide if we should go with a traditional two seat stroller, which seems much more comfortable, or if we should do a sit and stand type. I think Sami is still a bit young for the sit and stand, since it's only a jump seat that they sit on, an she would be facing me and couldn't see where we were going. Not sure it will be too comfortable for her.

Anyone have any opinions or suggestions?

I also like the Graco quatro tour duo, but from what I'm reading in reviews, you're paying for the new look, and no real benefits in features. It looks slimmer, but weighs the same, if not a few pounds more....

I thing the one at target is really the best value...hmmm, decisions decisions....we don't have the $$ to make any immediate decisions anyway, so I guess I'll just keep reading reviews for now, until I can save up the $ or something comes up on craigslist.

30 weeks

2009-02-19T13:30:00.002-05:00

Had our 30 week appointment today. Gained one pound in two weeks...still have 14 more to go to put me at the same weight I was with Sami, and only 10 weeks. We shall see. I can't wait to meet this little one and I'm getting so excited now! My belly measured only 29.5 weeks, but the doctor thinks I'm doing great, I'll be back again in another 2 weeks.

Jillian has finally settled in now...I think. This past week she has flipped head down and is (crossing my fingers) staying that way. YAY! With the exception of a few nights ago, when she decided to wiggle her way back up and was laying sideways and keeping me up all night. She finally figured it out and wiggled her head back down and has been resting comfortably. Her little butt still floats back and forth across my belly as she switches which way she wants to face. I remember Samantha doing that a lot in the end. And of course she tries to pierce my stomach with her little limbs, pressing so hard that I actually feel like I'm bruised from the inside out in some places. She stuck out her foot or knee or something in the front of my belly a while back and I swear you could see it sticking out a good inch and a half to two inches! It only lasted a few seconds and she tucked it back in, but that spot on my belly hurt for days afterward.

I am officially in full on nesting mode. I've gone through all of Sami's old stuff and separated by size. I've washed and folded everything from newborn to 3 months. (Now I just have to figure out where to put it all) I'm a little upset to realize that we have a TON of stuff left over from Sami. I was kind of looking forward to buying a few new things, but really...we have SOOO much! Clothing wise we are all set, for her.
I brought out her car seat and cleaned it all up, ready to go. Even packed a few things in the hospital bag for her to wear! But I can't decide on what she's going to wear home.

I think Ian is getting a little anxious and excited too, he wants to get the bassinet set up this weekend. I have a feeling he's more nervous this time than he was with Sami. I think it's a lot of stress on him because he's traveling and doesn't know where he'll be when he gets "the Call." I think he's worried about missing some of it, or it being too much stress for me, or how I'm going to manage with Sami too when the time comes. But he's really been a great support and I love to see him getting excited about the new baby coming.

10 More weeks! Let the count down begin!

Just some pics

2009-02-17T20:39:00.000-05:00

This is a hat she had for Easter last year and just found and she loves it. She wears it all throughout the day.

The drool!

Taking her baby for a walk.

Belly shot

Lists

2009-02-15T15:17:00.002-05:00

We're getting closer!! Ian and I are both starting to get nervous now. We both feel that this baby is going to come early. Lately I've been thinking about plans in my head for all the what if's. With Ian gone most of the week, I feel like I have to have some kind of plan in place just in case something were to happen in the middle of the night, or even during the day when he's not here. On most days Ian could be anywhere from an hour to 4 hours away, even 6 if he was in the office for a meeting! So I told him that I have devised a plan..or a list of sorts as to who I am going to call and in what order, lol. First is the doctor, or on-call office, then Ian to let him know what the plan was, then my in-laws, cause they are the closest, then my parents. I will have to evaluate whether I can drive myself to the hospital. I'm not so worried about driving as I am about lifting Sami in and out of the Jeep.

I was using my in-laws car seat for Sami because it had a higher weight limit for rear facing, once we took her out of the infant seat. I've since given it back to them and put Sami's new seat in the car and had to move her from the middle so that the babies car seat will fit too. I'm not happy about moving her from the middle seat :( but it will be easier for me through the end of this pregnancy to get her in and out of the car, and it is a necessity for the babies seat to fit in the car. They won't fit side by side so neither can be in the middle :(
I'm all about safety especially when it comes to the car and car seats so this sacrifice is very disheartening for me.

So in our worry that I will be going early (note: there is no medical evidence that I would possibly go early, it's just in my head...and Ian's too, lol) Ian suggests that I should get our bag ready for the hospital...just in case! LMAO. So that's the plan this week and I am realizing the few things that I really need to start getting together. We really have just about everything we need from Sami, but there are a few things that we will need to get. I have to go through what we have for newborn and 0-3 stuff, I know I gave most of the little stuff away to a needy family that we knew when they were having their first girl, so I might be a little short on the newborn stuff, thankfully though there really isn't much that newborns need.
So here's my list...again, for my own reference to help me stay organized, lol.

Double Stroller
Burp Cloths
Baby wash cloths
Nursing pads-lots of them! LOL
Nursing Tank tops (these are the BEST for nursing and I totally relied on them with Sami, so I'd like to get a few more this time around.)
Nursing bra or 2
newborn diapers (I bought a case of size 1's a couple weeks ago since they were on sale at Targ*t)
Some zippered newborn sleepers (Zippers are so much easier than all those snaps!)
New nipples for our bottles. ( I heard that Babies r us will take back bottles that are not BPA free...does anyone know if this is true? Even if they are used? I heard that on another blog...Think I'll have to check that out.)
New breast shield and valves/membranes for the breast pump

K, that's all I can think of for now, I'm sure I'll come up with more, but these are the top on my list for now, as I start getting things together for this new little girly.

How come they don't make baby laundry detergent for HE machines? The regular stuff is supposed to bad for the front loaders and I can't find Dreft or All baby for HE machines, but I want that baby smell! LOL.

I know it's still early, but I want to get as much of the bigger stuff like the car seat, clothes and bassinet ready before I get any bigger and things get even more difficult, lol. Oh, and I need to make dinners this time around and freeze them. Once my two weeks of help are done (a week with my mom and a week with Ian) I know I'm going to need quick stuff that I can just throw in the oven for Sami and I. So if you have any great recipes send them our way!

Watch this baby hang in for 42 weeks now that I'm all nervous about her coming early and preparing. Sami came on her due date so she was exactly 40 weeks. 10 more weeks and we'll know for sure!!

Name, name, names

2009-02-11T21:41:00.002-05:00

So I think that we finally have it. I know things could change once I see the baby, but it was really bothering me that we didn't have a name picked out for this new little one...so here it is....
Jillian Rose
She will have the same middle name as her 1st and 2nd cousins, but it just fits so it's going to stay. I feel relived that we have a name that we agree on and we both think is beautiful. Our little Jilli Bean (my nickname for her, lol) has been very active lately, so much so that I almost started freaking out the other day cause she was actually calm and quiet. I swear in the beginning she didn't jump around as much as I remembered Sami moving, but lately...she's a "little acrobat" as my OB put it.
At this point in the pregnancy I have gained 2 pounds less than where I was at with Sami in the same week. Kind of hard to believe cause I feel like I'm bigger this time around, and I have insatiable hunger all the time. Seriously, I'm always hungry! Ian is a little upset because I never have left overs when we go out to eat now, lol. I used to take a few bites, eat maybe half of a meal and that was it...not these days! Mama wants to eat! And have dessert! Well, no dessert right after dinner, but about 20 minutes or so, I'm dying for some chocolate cookies and a big glass of milk.

Sami has been doing great with her letters. She knows 95% of them by sight She can't seem to get a handle on G and J and W (although she will make a sound that is somewhat like a W, but she can't pronounce "W". She says "Eee" for A, but then will say it correctly after you tell her A. And she says "M" for N.
S and K are her favorite letters. I love that she's learning so fast and I'm so proud of her, but now, where ever we go or where ever we are she spells EVERYTHING! Every sign she sees she yells out the letters! It's so funny, but then when I'm trying to do something on the computer real quick she is climbing all over me screaming "S! S! S! TTT! Kay! B!B!B!B!B!" It's crazy, hahaha. She loves her letters.
Her other big loves these days are Elmo, she L.O.V.E.S. him. and Tigger too. She can be found saying any of these things about a hundred times a day, "Oh, no!" and "Oh, maaaannnn!"(thanks to Swipper) "Peeeezzz" (Please) "Mama, mama, momee, mama, momee!" "Daddy, dada, daddy, daddy!" "Patchie, Patchie" "Bu-Bye! Buu-Byyyeeee"
She obviously says much more through out the day, but not a day goes by that I do not hear these phrases at least 20 times each...seriously.

Her new snack...frozen peas! She used to love veggies, now for some reason she will only eat canned diced carrots. So I read on another blog about someones daughter who loves frozen peas, so I figured why not try it, and she likes them! So there is nothing better than a snack trap full of peas while Mama's making dinner. I feel like a better mom when she's eating them, lol.

There's so much more to share about Sami, but the days just go by too fast, I wish I could blog everyday, cause there's just so much to share, she's growing so fast everyday!

A really blurry belly shot, but it's all I got, so there ya go.

Third Trimester

2009-02-05T22:53:00.002-05:00

So this week marks the start of our third trimester...the final stretch. Last week I had the glucose testing. I passed...yay!! Then I had to get more blood work to test for antibodies for fifths disease. My nephew had it while he was at our house and none of knew until after the week after. So my blood work came back good and all is well. Today started my every 2 weeks appointments...fun, fun. It should be fun dragging Sami along into the office every two weeks for the next 3 months.
I feel huge, more so then I remember feeling with Sami. Even Ian said he thinks there might be twins in there, lol. He wants to get another ultrasound to be sure. So after today's appointment, my weight was good, my urine was good, and the belly measures perfectly on track....I decided to check my Belly Book that I had for when I was pregnant with Sami, and I am actually 2 pounds less than I was with Sami at this point!! CRAZY! I swear I feel bigger, I feel like this baby could come at anytime, lol.
This pregnancy is different. In the beginning she didn't move as much as I remembered Sami moving early on...now, she doesn't stop! She flips all over! I swear Sami was head down from day 1, not this girl. She's usually head up, but flips back and forth through out the day/week. The other night I swear she was doing the river dance on my cervix!! I was actually scared. She woke me up at 3am kicking like crazy on my cervix, I was sure she was going to break my water. I even tried to push her to try and turn her. I could feel the top of her head at the top of my belly. She wouldn't turn, but eventually did stop kicking so that I could get some rest.

Sami and I spent the beginning of the week in CT with my brother and niece and nephew. I'm pretty sure Sami is in love with Cole. Even the week before we went down she was running around the house pointing at his pictures and saying "Cole, Cole, Cole!" Now she loves Ryleigh too. We went to the mall after my doctors appointment and every little girl she saw was Ry. It was so cute. She loves her cousins and had so much fun with them! Today I think she was happy to have her toys back, but I know tomorrow she will be looking for Cole and Ry.

Ok, off to bed for me. Sami's been waking up early the last few days and it's killing me, lol. Mama likes to sleep until 8am...Sami likes to get up at 6am....ugh, doesn't she realize I only have 3 more months to get any sleep at all, lol.

2009-01-27T20:46:00.000-05:00

Let's see if they work this time..here are the pics for the post below.

Guess what...

2009-01-25T22:21:00.001-05:00

Sami is a BIG GIRL!!
Ian and Scott built her a new big girl bed on Saturday. No more crib for my baby. Tonight was night 2 in the bed and she did great. She's a little bit unsure about it at first but she's sound asleep in her new big girl bed.
Last night it took awhile to get her down, but mostly I think it was due to her being over tired. With Bro-Bro and Daddy building her new bed and rearranging her room she skipped her nap, so come bed time, she was over due. I held her in her room until she fell asleep then put her in the bed. She woke up around 1:30 and freaked out a little. I don't think she knew where she was. I sat with her for a bit, but honestly she was WIDE awake!! So I started to move closer and closer to the door. Then I stood outside the door. She came running over, and I let her know I was right there and she was ok. I brought her back to her bed and she sat with her books and the light of her rain forest soother. I went back to bed and could hear her "reading" her books and playing quietly. Eventually...around 3am she fell back asleep until 8 am. At 8 I heard her start talking. She loves to talk in the morning. I went into her room and she was sitting on her bed with a book and just talking away, lol. So cute!
Nap time today was rough. She normally takes a very long time to fall asleep, so I knew nap time would be tough with the new bed. Once I figured out that her biggest problem was the door being shut all the way, she seemed to do ok in her room by herself. Once she knows the door is closed, she knows she can't open it herself and she starts to have like a little panic attack. So I pulled the door over and left it open just a crack and she was ok with that. It took nearly 2 hours!!! for her to fall asleep. She came out of her room only once and we brought her right back into bed. Eventually she did fall asleep, I think she read every single book in her room though, lol.
Tonight we did our normal routine, brush the teeth, then into her room, she hopped in bed and we read a book. Then lights out and her rain forest soother on and she looks through her book for a bit then falls asleep. When I first left the room, she came to the door and I held her hand and she walked back to the bed and climbed in. I kissed her good night again and left the room. She cried for a minute or two then she was fine flipping through her book and then fast asleep with in 3 minutes!

Here's her new big girl bed in her room.

I'm so proud of her making this transition so well. I know it's only been 2 days and things could change at any moment, but so far she is doing SO good! I really expected the worst, which is why I wanted to change her over so soon. I want her to be fully adjusted before the new baby comes. Who knew she would do so well!!

Her proud Bro-Bro

And of course a big cheesy grin!

Belly Shot

2009-01-22T14:08:00.000-05:00

ABC video

2009-01-22T09:22:00.000-05:00

ABC's

2009-01-21T21:26:00.002-05:00

I am amazed with Samantha. We've been working on the ABC's, we sing it all the time, she has her own version that she requests...don't try and sing her the traditional old ABC's...she will protest!
So anyway...back tot the reason I am impressed. The other day she brought me a puzzle piece (the letter O) and was saying "OOOooo, Ooohh, OOO" I was of course proud and excited, but honestly...in the back of my mind I really thought it was just a fluke. So yesterday we started working with flash cards. She's been loving the regular old playing cards that her brother leaves laying around, so I figured I would get her her own set so that she doesn't ruin Scott's real cards.
Today we layed out the ABC cards and I asked her to tell me which letters she knew. She could find and tell me the letters Z, S, O, F, and R. Then when I was making dinner she brought me one of her foam/bath letters that she found and was telling me "Bee, Bee, Beeeee" And it was indeed the letter B! After dinner she went back to the playroom and found 2 letter D's and brought them out to me proudly yelling "Deeeee!"
She was also counting today. I'm not sure why but she refuses to say one. She says "twooo, three." then she just repeats two, three, two, three, lol.

I'm just amazed at how fast she is learning right now and how quickly she picks stuff up. She sings the ABC's all day long, it's quite amusing. Her version goes something like this..."Ahh, Bee, C, E, O, C, T, U, V, G, Z."
Hey it's a start, right? LOL

Time for a change

2009-01-19T17:00:00.000-05:00

So, what do you think of the new look? I've been wanting to change it up for awhile now. I never really liked the header I had, but I am lacking the creativity to make a new one, so I went with something simple. Less is more...right?

We had a fantastic weekend filled with great friends and family and are very thankful for everyone coming to visit us. Sami and I LOVE having everyone here, especially since it's pretty much just the 2 of us all week long, so a crazy weekend is just what we look forward to!

Here are a couple pics of my silly girl.

Mike and his famous nachos! They are SOOO good!! (He wasn't happy about that bowl of olives on the side...we're not olive fans, but Ian and Josh were...it really has more to do with a can opener, but that's a whole other story.)

Sami wanted to go out and play in the snow...I think these boots might be a little big, lol.

Exploding

2009-01-15T16:06:00.003-05:00

Today at the store Sami was labeling everything. It was great. I am just amazed at how fast her speech is developing. I swear everyday is really miraculous! She had fun pointing out the Bananas, apples, crackers, cheese, yogurt, cups and juice.
She's getting so big, but I'm loving every minute and every new first for her.

Speaking...or not

2009-01-14T21:18:00.000-05:00

Sami's speech has been exploding! It's so crazy. At her 18 month check up the doctor made a comment about her speech and made me a little concerned. Honestly, I think I just took it as a defensive mom, she may have meant nothing by it, but none the less, it made me concerned, or at the very least aware.
All she said was, "As far as her speech, try not to talk for her." That was it. End of speech conversation, nothing else was said and that little comment stored it's self right in the front of my brain like one of those annoying tickers constantly flashing in my brain.
It's hard not to just know what she's trying to say, or what she's thinking, especially when we are together 24/7. Ever since her appointment she has been saying more and new words everyday. I'm not sure if she's on the same level as others her age, only because I don't know any other 19 month olds, lol. I think she just wants to say the word right and she doesn't really start using it until she has it pronounced well enough. With the exception of "Blankey" She will not say blankey, she calls it a Ba, or Baba. I think Ba is her default word, anything she can't say seems to be Ba.
Her words as of today
Daddy
Mama
Scott (She's been trying really hard to say Bro Bro as that is what he would like her to call him.)
More
Cracker
Snack
Cheese
Juice
Fork
Cup
Diaper
Baby
Night Night
Bye Bye
Hi
Book
Weee (lol is that a word?)
Help
Patches
Cole
Ry
Tigger
Bear
Frog
Oval
Square
Circle
Chair
Car
Truck
Ball
Ut Oh!
Beep Beep
I guess these are a few of the everyday words she uses. She says more but I can't think of them right now, and most of them are words she will repeat after you say it. All of these are words she says on her own. (sorry for the list, it's really more for my reference.)
She talks non stop, you just don't have a clue what she's saying, but she sure seems to know what she's talking about.
And she knows most animal noises, she loves to do the animal noises, but she won't name the animals, she'll only make their sounds.
she does, dog, kitty, horse, cow, sheep, duck, elephant, monkey, frog, lion, dinosaur, and alpaca, lol.
She seems to only attempt single syllable words..is that normal?
It's hard to understand how she can comprehend everything I'm saying to her, but she can't communicate it back to me.

Ok, so that's it for tonight. Sorry nothing interesting to share, just need to document some stuff I'm thinking of. I hate that I've lost touch with this blog. No one really comes here anymore anyway, but I want to keep it going so I can capture the memories of Sami's childhood...and the new baby, who, by the way, is still UN-NAMED! Ugh.

Eye contact is non existent when I have a camera in my hand.

More teeth, more drool. She's finally starting to get her canine teeth in.

An update and some pics

2009-01-08T21:49:00.001-05:00

So, a pregnancy update. For about a week now, I've been having irregular contractions, shortness of breath, dizziness and heart racing. I've been limited in what I can do without feeling like this and needing to sit down, before I fall over. I never had any of this with Sami, so it's all new to me, and I'm not liking it. I still have a long way to go so this is not looking to be fun. Other than this new development, the pregnancy has been going great with no problems.
Two days ago I got sick. I mean really sick, S I C K sick!! I had some kind of stomach bug that apparently has been going around, but I didn't hear anything about it until after. I seriously wanted to die. I have never been in so much pain. The stomach cramps were unbearable and I spent most of the night in tears. Ian was scared to death that it was something with the baby, even though I tried to reassure him that this was not labor pain. It felt like some one was taking my stomach and wringing it like a wet towel...it was far worse than labor! The next day the pains finally stopped around 7am, and then I was sore and exhausted for the rest of the day. Today I am back at 100% and feel great. It's so weird how your body can do that, but whatever it was I pray that no one I know gets it.
Today I had a doctors appointment. Everything checked out ok, I was a little nervous about the whole contraction thing, but I knew the baby was fine. I have checked her heart rate with our Doppler at home and she's moving around like crazy so I was secure in thinking that all was well. Everything checked out good and I'm as healthy as can be, just need to take it easy and drink lots of water and rest when the contractions come on, the doctors are not concerned, and just want me to relax, so we'll see how the next 4 months go. I think hydration is the key and will help me alot, I just have to be more aware, and keep drinking all day.

Sami and I took a trip to visit Ian at his hotel the other day. We had a great time spending the night with daddy and we got to go swimming, which Sami LOVED and so did I!! The pool was SO warm!! I was LOVING IT!!
It was really great, until Sami decided she was not going to sleep and then ended up in bed with us, and she chooses to sleep horizontally across our heads! So throughout the night we had her feet or face or butt in our faces, so needless to say we didn't get much sleep. Then we all came home the next day and that's when I got deathly ill with the stomach deal...so I'm thinking Ian might not want us to come visit again anytime soon, lol.

Sami has been doing great. She's talking more and more and saying new words everyday. We are actually thinking about starting potty training next week. I think it's too early, but I figure we could try it for a week and see how it goes. If she shows any improvement or commitment by the end of the week then we'll stick with it, but of she protests and just isn't with it then we'll give it up and try again later. I would love for her to get it right away, but I know it's really early and I'm not going to force her into it.
I'll let you know how it goes, we'll be starting Monday or Tuesday, I'm preparing my patients and nerves until then, lol.

Here are a few pics from the hotel:
Sami's beautiful "smile"

Swimming with Daddy

She has NO fear of the water

Sami and Mama

Fun in the snow

2009-01-05T10:57:00.000-05:00

Sami and Ian playing in the snow yesterday. She was laughing and squealing the whole time! LOL

Here's an edit I did on this pic. I thought the wrinkle in the background was very distracting and I love this pic, wish I could have centered it better though, but she really didn't want anything to do with me taking her picture so I was lucky with what I got, this is the only good one out of about 20 shots, lol. She was screaming at me the whole time.

Happy New Year

2008-12-31T12:26:00.000-05:00

I'm hoping to post an update soon :( But for now here are a couple pics. Hope you all have a great New Year!

Update and Christmas

2008-12-26T16:54:00.002-05:00

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope everyone had a great holiday and Santa was good to them...if not, it may be because he was VERY good to me!!

Santa brought me a Nikon D9O!!! I was so freaking excited I had tears in my eyes opening it, I can't wait to really get to use it. I've played around a little, but I feel like I'm starting back at day one, lol. I was so comfortable with the Fuji, knew the in's and out's. Now I feel like I have SOO MUCH more to learn, but I'm ready for the challenge, so wish me luck, and I promise I'll try to share what we get.

UPDATE ON SAMI: So..it was not the Chicken Pox. No sir, no chicken pox at all. It was far worse! Thursday night her rash continued to spread. She slept a total of about 4 hours throughout the night and Ian and I were up all night with her. By Friday morning her whole body was covered in spots and welts and swollen in a few places. Her one eye was swollen half shut and her entire face was one big blotch of red.

I called the doctor back first thing in the morning and they told me to take her to the ER. Ian had already left for work, so I called to tell him we were going to the ER and I lost it and was sobbing on the phone trying to tell him what the doctor had told me. He was about 2 hours away when I called him. I hung up, let Sami finish her breakfast, we got dressed and headed out to the hospital. ( she was acting fine, just itchy and swollen, she looked AWFUL, but was still smiling through it.)

The doctor called the ER to let them know we were on our way. We got in and signed Sami in, and took a seat, 2 minutes later Ian walked through the doors. I don't know how he got there so fast, but I was SOO grateful he did, by this time both of Sami's eyes were swelling and almost shut.

So anyway...long story-short, Sami was admitted and had to stay overnight. Had to have an IV, 3 or 4 rounds of bloodwork, 2 chest xrays, an attempted and failed catheter..horrible!, and they pumped her full of fluids, steroids and benydryl.

Everyone in the hospital came into see her. Mostly nurses, doctors, students, residents, interns, specialists...it was crazy, but they were good to her, just wanted to learn from her, since no one seemed to have any definitive answers.

In the end, she was diagnosed with erythema multiforme, brought on by an allergic reaction to the augmentin that she was taking for the ear infection. I'm not completely convinced that this is indeed what she had, or that the doctors are completely convinced, but it's the best guess and the only thing we have to go on.

Needless to say, she will not ever be having augmentin again! And now she is much, much better.

During our 48 hours at the hospital, Ian and I talked alot about Sami and day care and me working, and we decided that it would be best for all of us if I left work to stay home with her again. The last 2 months she has been sick every week with something new. I know it's not day care's fault and this is what happens when kids are around other kids on a daily basis, and some sickness is good, to build up her immune system, but...with 3 rounds of antibiotics for her first ever ear infection, and then this, we were pretty much done with sending her back.

So once again I am retired, and staying home with my princess and loving every minute of it.

Ok, that's enough for tonight, lol. Again I hope everyone had a great Christmas, I'll have to do another post for more about our Christmas...another day.

But here are a few pics...the one of Ian and the one of Sami were taken with the D9o

I'm not very photogenic...my eyes are always closed, this was the best Ian could get, after 3 tries, lmao!

My handsome Hubby!

The beautiful princess.

Our, not so little anymore, man.

Samantha Claus

2008-12-18T21:13:00.000-05:00

I haven't been able to get a good picture of her yet, but she loves wearing this Santa hat! It's so cute. Her hat from last year is way to small so she's wearing the adult size hat this year, and she thinks she's just so cool with it on, lol. She dances around and I sing "Sami Claus is coming to town" She's in the Christmas spirit, despite her rough month or so.

Sami has been sick for over a month now!! It's down right ridiculous! She started off with a little fever and what seemed mostly like a sinus infection. When we went to the Dr. they said she had an ear infection. So, we get a 10 day supply of antibiotics, that were so awful tasting no child should ever have to endure that for 10 days!
Back to the doctor to re-check the ear..infection still there. This round did however, cure the sinus infection so not all was wasted. So home we go with round 2 of 10 antibiotics...this time it's Amoxicill*n, aka the yummy pink stuff.
Two weeks later it's back to the doctor for her 18 month appt and a re-check of the ears again.
Infection still there....take another antibiotic for another 10 days and we will see you in a month...that was Friday.
Monday night after being on the meds 3.5 days She starts a low grade fever.
Tuesday, still a minor fever, and a little diarrhea. Give her some Motr*n and off to day care.
Wednesday...Velcro baby! 101.7 fever, and climbing. Diarrhea. No interest in eatting. Fussy beyond belief and can not be left alone or put down. I decide to call in and stay home with her to save the day care from a very long exhausting day...not that Sami was going to let me go anywhere with out her on my hip, anyway.
This morning, fever's at 102, but she seems to be acting better, so loaded with Motr*n, off to day care we go.
10am I get a phone call from day care, Sami has had diarrhea twice, but seems to be otherwise acting ok, just a little fussy.
I decide to call the doctor from work to see what else we should be doing for her...leave a message with the nurse.
Call back at 12:30, the doctor wants to see her at 3pm.
Call daycare, she had diarrhea one more time and is now napping.
1:15, pick Sami up from day care. She had one little spot by her eyebrow, but I thought nothing of it.
Drive toward home and stop at the store to waste some time before her appointment, and grab some more Pedialite.
Back in the car I notice another few spots on her neck and cheek...look like some sort of bite.
Get to the doctors and I explain the fever, endless antibiotics, and diarrrhea to the nurse. As the nurse walks out, I lift Sami up, holding her in front of the mirror, I lifted the back of her shirt to find that her whole back was covered in a rash! Lay her down on the table, change her diaper, her whole BODY is covered in a rash!!
The doctor comes in and I'm like she Just broke out in a rash!! I mean like JUST! like she was fine when I picked her up from day care, now she's COVERED!!

2 doctors later, she may or may not have the Chicken Pox! She was vaccinated for the Chicken pox, but apparently she needs 2 doses and they have only given her one. Doctors say that if it is the chicken pox it should not be this bad since she had one dose of the vaccine. They are thinking it may be an allergic reaction to the antibiotics. So no more antibiotics, only tylen*l and Motr*n, and we'll see how she does over the weekend. She goes back on Monday, unless it's worse tomorrow or over the weekend, then we go back immediately.

So for now we sit and wait. She's so uncomfortable, but such a trooper. she wouldn't even move until the motr*n kicked in. It hurt to stand or walk. Some of the spots on her look like big welts and are swollen, the others look like bug bites.
I don't know what else to do for her :( She's been sick for so long now and each week it seems to be something different.

The good news....her ear infection is finally gone.

Christmas tree lighting...

2008-12-11T12:41:00.000-05:00

Name Game

2008-12-05T19:25:00.000-05:00

I know we still have plenty of time, but I don't think this baby is ever going to get a name. I have literally looked at thousands of names and can not find anything that we agree on. Every day Ian and I are texting names back and forth, trying to think about what to name this little girl and we have nothing! We go to bed at night discussing names, we wake up discussing names. This is so hard! Sami's name was so easy for us and came so natural. All the names I want are taken by close family members, or are too over used. We liked Samantha because it was classic and pretty and not overly used.
The names I have today, but are certain to change tomorrow, lol...are
Nora Grace
and
Jessica Mary
I also started liking Victoria the other day too. I had always said no to this one before, but the other day out of no where I decided I liked it. But Ian and I are big on nicknames and neither of us like Vicki or Tori, so Victoria is out :(
Ian likes...
Jennifer
Kelli
and
Keiran
I think I'm having the toughest time cause I want it to just flow right with our last name, so the K and C names give me too much of a kah sound together with the last name and anything that ends in en, an, or in, are also too much with the last name.

I never though this would be so hard. I'm pretty sure I have looked at over 5000, names by now, it's so frustrating. So any and all suggestions are welcome, first and middle names.
Oh, and I'm not a big fan of anything that ends in y or ie, lol. I'm being way too picky!

Here are a few pics from the last few weeks.

Sami and I with Sc00by at the waterpark.

My little belly bump...it's much bigger this week, lol.

Sami girl

Looks like....

2008-11-21T16:18:00.000-05:00

Another GIRL!!! Or so we think. It was a little hard to tell due to her position, but best guess is to plan on a little sister for Sami and Scott.
So far she looks just like Sami did. Even had her little feet crossed just like Sami always did and still does.
Everything is measuring right on track...17 weeks 6 days, and a due date sticking with April 25th. She's very active and was dancing all around during the ultrasound today. So cute. We have no clue on any names yet. Ian says he doesn't have to think about that until around April 15th, lol. Something tells me it's all I will think about until then! We had a boys name on the list but nothing for a girl. I think we were both a little shocked. Ian's face was priceless, I wish I had brought my camera to take his picture. He says he knew it was going to be a girl, but the look on his face said otherwise, lol.

How I feel

2008-11-12T21:01:00.000-05:00

I'm outta here!

Enough!!

Her expressions totally visualize my feelings today! Still fighting this cold. Just miserable and struggling through the day. Why has my beautiful, perfect little girl become this toddler that has turned on me? How can she be so sweet and helpful one moment and then the exact opposite the very next moment? This is such a difficult age and I'm getting more and more scared about bringing a new baby into this trying time with a toddler. Life is so frustrating as a toddler, and as a mother of a toddler, lol. Some how in the past month Sami has become deaf to the tone of my voice...the sound of my voice...anything that comes out of my mouth really. She doesn't listen to me, but not only does she not listen, it's as though I don't even exist. I'm not really here speaking these words. In her world there is no Mama's voice. Louder, more stern, abrupt, softer, quiet, whispers...none of it works. The child totally blocks me out! UGH!!!
This is our real struggle right now. She's growing too fast and wanting to be so independent. Time outs are not working. She'll do her time. She'll apologize and give kisses. Then she'll go right back 5 minutes later and we start all over.
Our nights have been exhausting. We get home, unload (diaper bag, coats, shoes, purse, lunch bag, dog, baby girl) I start dinner and Sami heads off to the playroom. She embraces her toys, all of whom she longingly missed all day, and all seems right with the world. Once dinners ready it's a whole other night. Dinner is a fight. She wants to do it her self, she's frustrated when she can't. She wants to feed the dog. She will throw food on the floor, for no reason, then ask for more. She's refusing to eat any vegetable other than carrots. All meats are questionable, other than chicken or fish. One or two real bites and she's over the whole dinner time deal. She drops her fork, pushes her food onto the floor and then the plate. Oh, how I long for a meal where I don't have to say the words "no!" and "we don't throw food" and "Patches has her own food, that is Sami's food"
From there the night usually proceeds in the same tone dinner left us in. Don't climb the stairs, don't hit the dog, watch where you're going, you can't jump off the couch, don't throw toys...yada yada yada. Then it's bath time....ahhhhhh. For the most part this is always fun time for both of us, with the exception of the occasional out of control splashing and the fact that she believes the bathtub is secretly an amazing water slide, which results in her slipping and sliding all over the place. After the bath it's round 3 and we fight to get her dryed, diapered, lotioned, and dressed. Then we brush the teeth (she's pretty good there, only fight maybe once a week on this, lol) and of course the hair, she can't go to bed with out brushing her hair. We grab the blankey and head to her room. I turn on the waterfall light show, she leans in and kisses me goodnight..........and my heart melts..... and all is forgotten with the day.
Tomorrow we start again, 6:30am.

It's amazing how that one little kiss at the end of the day can remind you of all the amazing, remarkable things she's done throughout the night that I was able to witness and be a part of and share with her. The smiles, the laughs, the amazement in her eyes when she looks to you because she's discovered something new. I'll cherish it all...always.

Late pics

2008-11-10T18:44:00.000-05:00

Better late than never...right? Here are a few pics from Halloween. I couldn't get any good ones of Sami in her costume because she would just not sit still long enough for anything! She was so excited and did so well. She loved going from house to house and being out walking at night...even though she didn't get to eat any of the candy, lol. ( what a mean mommy I am :()

We have an appointment this Friday at the OB. Just a regular pre-natal exam. I felt the baby move last Wednesday for the first time! I think I was around 16-18 weeks when I felt Sami for the first time, this one was just barely 15 weeks!! Crazy. It was so crazy to feel that little flutter again, and I've been feeling it multiple times throughout the day everyday since. The 21st is our big ultrasound!! I'm sure I mentioned that before but I just can't wait!
Sami was sick last week and now I am sick (fever, sore throat, head ache, body aches...the whole nine!) and Ian is getting sick too and the daycare provider is sick as well...UGH! Thank God tomorrow is a bank holiday and I don't have to work because I don't know how I could possibly make it through the day. Pray that this sickness leaves us all tomorrow!!

My poor blog :(

2008-11-04T21:28:00.002-05:00

It's so neglected around here. Things have really gotten away from me and life is just so busy that I don't have a moment to think, let alone blog.
Ian got his promotion at work. So he is now traveling a lot and out of town for 2-3 nights a week. I was going to leave my job, due to daycare arrangements (Ian was picking Sami up most nights and with his new job, he can't always be home to pick her up) But....my job changed my schedule to work around the day care schedule so all is right with the world.

So, I'm working full time, Ian is traveling part time, Sami's in day care...and life goes on. We are still trying to get into some type of routine around here to have some kind of order in our lives, but I don't see it happening any time soon. Hahaha.
We still have our house on the market and are still looking to sell, however there is no longer the stress of "needing" to sell the house now. Obviously, the market is not favorable to sell a home right now so needless to say we haven't had any luck in this market. We shall see what the future months bring.

Sami is doing great, growing like crazy and her personality is just exploding. She is SOOO silly and has such a funny personality. She is talking non-stop, but it's all babble and baby non-sense. She loves to try out new words though and repeat you when she can. Tonight she said "Shadow" it's so awesome to hear her try new words and repeat after us when she asks what something is. She loves her animals and will tell you what sound they make. For Halloween she was an adorable little lion and she would "Roooaaaarrr" when asked what the lion says. She LOVED trick-or-treating and was a real trooper going from house to house with her brother, who was her official "Candy Collector" lol. She has no idea that people we actually giving her candy, as she's never had any before. When we got back to the house and her cousins and brother were digging into their loot, Sami was overjoyed with having her good 'ol snack trap of animal crackers, lol. If only she knew...

The pregnancy is going well so far. I've been feeling fine, but don't really have time to even think about being pregnant, since Sami, work and the farm keep me busy at all hours of the day. We are scheduled for our next ultrasound on the 21st!! I can't wait! Hopefully, Ian will be able to make it, which I'm sure he wouldn't miss it for the world. So we're all excited to see our new little baby on the big screen.

So that's it for now, just crazy, crazy, crazy and busy, busy, busy. No time to think. No time to write. And no projections of anything slowing down anytime soon.

2008-10-19T22:24:00.000-04:00

Pumpkin carving

Sami's Lil' Jack

Scott's Pumpkin

2008-10-19T22:19:00.000-04:00

Looking for the perfect one...

I can't believe how big he is now!! OMG.

2008-10-19T22:16:00.000-04:00

Cider donuts!!!

Mmmmm

She LOVED the animals!

Pumpkin picking

2008-10-19T22:11:00.000-04:00

9 weeks 4 days

2008-09-28T20:58:00.004-04:00

So Wednesday night the spotting returned. Still very light, but I couldn't wait any more. First thing Thursday morning I called and scheduled a sonogram for Friday morning. Friday I woke up to more spotting....much, much more. I was terrified. I thought for sure that it was the end, it was all over. I packed Sami up, got the snacks, cup and toys to keep her busy at the doctors office and off we went. Sitting in the waiting room, surrounded by pregnant women, and a 6 week old new born and new mom, I probably could have lost it, but my little princess kept me too busy to even think about why we were there or what fate was a waiting us, and the smiles and admiration I saw on the other women's faces let me know that I am truly blessed and lucky to have my beautiful little girl and that would pull me through anything.

Finally, they call us in and we get our selves situated in the room and start the show.

Immediately I could see the head of the baby and I sighed my first half-hearted sigh of relief...then the sweet little flicker...another sigh...then the sound, and the measurement....171 bpm...perfect!!! So as we look around and measure the baby I can see the little hands moving and feet kicking and then the smile a mile wide and the tears of relief start coming. I was in complete shock and just out of my mind with happiness. So here's the sneak peak of our little peanut...

So we searched and searched and found nothing...no reason for the bleeding, no explanation, just some amazing little pictures and word that our little peanut is perfect. The baby measures 9 weeks 4 days, which is just about right on from my LMP and due date...on Friday I would have been 10 weeks by my LMP.

The rest of the weekend, I've had nothing. No spotting, no problems. Then Ian left again for LI....and literally minutes after he pulled out of the driveway, it started again! I'm beginning to think I'm losing my mind. Is it emotional spotting? lol...does that exist? What the heck could it be?

It has slowed down again and is very light, and I'm still in no pain or discomfort, so we shall see what the week brings.

Keep us in your prayers.

Day by Day

2008-09-24T14:28:00.003-04:00

Sami's tooth still hasn't broke through, but no more fever so that's good. She's been wanting to eat non-stop, which happened before with her top molars coming in.

I've been feeling ok...had a little bit of light spotting for about 3 days, but no cramping. I had the same thing with Sami, around the same time...weird, I wonder what causes it. Dr.'s said last time that it's probably just some blood vessels rupturing and passing, no big deal. Of course this time it happened on the weekend, and I felt fine, so I wasn't going to spend 12 hours in the ER, then Monday when I was going to call the doctor, it stopped. So I'm just taking it easy, and trying not to stress. Been fine ever since.
I've been trying to use the doppler, but no luck yet, it's still really early. I swear I can hear something though. Either I have a really noisy digestive system, or I can hear the baby moving. I hear real quick distant sounds of a heartbeat swoop by, but nothing that you could be certain of.

I don't go back to the doctor until the 8th, so it will be a long wait until then. On the other hand, I start work on Monday and Sami goes to daycare, so I know it will go by fast.

We are finally out of our contract with our real estate agent (Thank you Laurie!!!) and have moved on to what we hope is a much better agent. Hopefully this new agent will be able to help us, and we are hoping to hear news on where Ian's job will lead him in the next few weeks. So we can start to move forward and figure out where to start our future. Then I'm sure I'll be dying to know what we're having so that we can start planning, planning, planning...for this baby. For now, it's just kind of on the back burner, so to speak. It's just one thing we can't really think about right now. Honestly, I don't think it's even really set in that we are going to be having another little one soon. It still just doesn't feel real. It feels like this is something that we should be more stressed about, but honestly we're just not. Not sure why...maybe it's because there are just too many other things to stress about right now, lol.
So for now...we just keep going with the flow. Taking life day by day, and dealing with whatever it decides to throw at us. One thing at a time.

Announcement!!!

2008-09-21T20:13:00.002-04:00

Sami POOPED on the POTTY!!!! OMG
Big news people!! Big, BIG news!
We're not really potty training, and I think that it has more to do with her amusement with farting, but still! My 15 month old pooped on the potty!!!! lol
She loves her little potty seat, and we have it in the bathroom right across from the real potty. Daddy put her on the potty a couple weeks ago cause she kept going in there when he would go to go to the bathroom..so he took her diaper off and gave her a chance, but nothing. Well, ever since then, every time I go to the bathroom, she comes running in and takes the cover off her potty and sits on it. So tonight I thought, what the heck, I'll give her a try too. Put her on the pot, and I sat down to do my business and told her to go potty and sure enough...she did!

She's been dramatically amused by her own toots lately, so much so that she will push until she turns red, just to hear the most delightful sound of her own gas. Yep, she's quite a lady.
So honestly, I think she was really looking for a good laugh and got more than she bargained for, but I was impressed!

So, there you have it...poop in the potty...my big announcement! LOL

Well, I tried

2008-09-18T11:31:00.002-04:00

I tried to upload a video of Sami dancing to "If you're happy and you know it." But of course blogger won't work. I don't get it...maybe it's me, but the blogger video upload never works! UGH!

So..and update. I am still feeling nauseous, although less so, but it's still there, and now am more fatigued everyday. It stinks being do tired and lethargic on some days.

We finally found a day care for Sami, and as the start date gets closer and closer, I am getting more and more nervous. I love that she will be able to spend her days with other kids and play with them and I know she will learn so much from that interaction, but...I just wish it was under my supervision. I also know that she will benefit from the separation from me and a different routine...but still....no one can love her like me! So throw in the extra pregnancy hormones and there you have it...I'm dreading this!

I know she will be safe and cared for and I have confidence in her day care provider, but it just won't be the same. We got the chance to go yesterday and spend a few hours at daycare so Sam could meet some of the other kids and play for a bit. It was nice, but still a little hard for me to gauge how things work on a daily basis, since the day care provider spent most of the time chatting with me, but her assistant was all about the little ones, so that was nice. I kind of get the feeling that the assistant is the lovey one and she is the rule setter. Anyway, Samantha had fun, and I think she will like it overall.

What else? What else?....well, Ian is going away for 2 weeks for work, but will be home on the weekends :( Normally it would be fine, but this means he will be gone for my first week of work, and Sami's first week of day care :( Hope I make it through the week ok, I'll just have to go to bed at night when Sami goes, lol, cause I know I'm going to be exhausted!

No other word on Ian's job. We are meeting with a new real estate agent on Saturday to hopefully, get this house on track and sold. Hopefully we will hear something soon about Ian's job so we can start figuring out where the heck we're going from here.

The details...

2008-09-08T09:36:00.000-04:00

Ok....So as far as we know I am about 6 or 7 weeks preggers. I am going to the Dr. on Wednesday, and my suspected due date is April 24th. While Ian and I were both pretty much in shock for the first week, we are all very happy and excited to have this new baby joining our lives. There has been so much going on and I am so far behind in the blog world.
Ian and I brought the kids (Scott and Sami) to Niagara falls two weeks ago. We had a great time and the weather was beautiful. The kids were very well behaved and it was just and overall great time...well, except for the second day when Sami got up at 3am....for the day! That was a bit rough especially since we're all in one hotel room. The first night she woke up at around 6am and Ian got up with her and took her out for a walk so Scott and I could sleep. The 3am shift was my turn and we went for a 3 hour walk!!! Fun times! LOL.
I have a ton of pics...I'll have to post later.
While in Canada I got a call for a job offer, and will be going back to work on the 29th. Which means Sami will be going to day care, and I have been doing nothing but searching for a good one ever since. While it is killing me to bring her to day care, I really think that it will be better for both of us. Bringing in some money will help our household, and Sami being with other kids will help her socially too.
So, our house is still for sale...our real estate agent is the worst we've ever had and we're stuck with her until December. We have no news on Ian's job and are in the dark about what is to happen next with his company...guess we'll know more on 11/22, lol. Ian has gone back to school and started classes a few weeks ago. He's determined to get all A's and is pretty much addicted to school, lol. He's doing great!
He had Pneumonia this past week and is still recovering, but feeling much better now. I have been having my own battle with nausea all week. I don't remember feeling this sick with Sami, but I was already working at the time and therefore I was a lot busier. Sometimes I think that it might just be because I'm home and have time to think about it. If I stay moving it's not as bad.

Sami is getting more and more defiant, and proving that she is her own entity. She is determined to do things her way. It has been a bit of a struggle, but for the most part she's still a really good baby. She likes to exercise her voice and her opinion. She still eats non stop and LOVES food! Carrots or bananas are her most favorite things. Veggies are harder to get her to eat...other than carrots and peas, and sweet potatoes. She has yet to turn down any kind of fruit, well except Kiwi, but we haven't tried that one in awhile.
She runs all over the place and LOVES to Dance, Dance, Dance! It is the funniest thing to watch. She also loves to stomp her feet. If you're happy and you know it Stomp your feet!...She loves it, lol. She is trying very hard to jump....also very amusing to watch. She tries with all her might, but can only seem to get one foot off the ground at a time, lol. Too cute.

So there you have it...the short version of what's been going on with us. Everything in life is crazy right now and we are just taking things one day at a time....that's all you really can do. We know everything will work out just fine and we have a lot of loving and supporting family to help us through, so there are no worries on that front.

Here are a few pics of the princess outside the other day. She was having a dance party all on her own. I took a few videos I'll try and get them to upload later, when I have more time...right now it's off to call more day cares!

Cheeeeeessse!

All Done!

Guess What!

2008-09-03T20:09:00.000-04:00

More photos

2008-08-23T19:21:00.000-04:00

Here's a couple from a photo shoot I did with my Godson.

He was SO much more cooperative than Sami, lol. Well, that is...until he picked up on my tricks, lol. Then he was done too. Guess I have to get some better tricks, haha.

This is what Sami looks like at any given time on any given day! ALWAYS with a book in hand, most preferably a Dr. Seuss book. She loves to read! All. The. Time! Seriously we must read about 25-50 books a day it is all day long over and over and over again! She just loves them. Books and being outside are her 2 favorite things right now. She wakes up, asks for breakfast, then demands to go outside or read some books. Too funny. She will literally bring you her shoes or bring you a book and sit on your lap and wait, lol.

Here's her shot from the photo shoot...the only decent one, lol. She wasn't in the mood, but what else is new.

Two things she did tonight...at dinner there was a fly in the kitchen and it landed on the light. She pointed to the fly as she always does and says "Ahe? Ahhye? Ahhh." I said yes it's a Fly, I see it and she starts waving! Not sure if she was actually waving to the fly or was thinking I was saying "Hi" LOL
She's also done this with spider...lol, not that we have spiders in our house, but she just learned Itsy bitsy spider the other day and now any word that you say that starts with the letters Sp, automatically tune her brain to itsy bitsy and she starts doing it and asking you to sing it to her. Tonight when we were at the store she started doing the spider with her hands, so I started singing it to her and she did the motions for Spider, rain, and the sunshine! That's almost the whole song!!!! We just started singing this on Wednesday! I sang it to her twice in the bath tub and she started doing it all on her own! I can't believe how quick she is learning now!

Oh...and the dancing! OMG! She dances and her little feet shuffle and it is so incredibly cute!!! I have to get it on video soon so you all can see. It's so funny.

One more thing, lol. Tonight she came over and asked (more like grunted and whined) to get up on the couch with me. I helped her up, she sat on my lap, and pointed to the TV!
We rarely, if ever, watch TV. Only at night after dinner, when Daddy's home do we ever even turn it on, and tonight she asked for it! I couldn't believe it.
I guess I just can't believe that she is asking for what she wants and her wants are changing so much. She's such a big girl now. No more little baby :(

14 Months

2008-08-09T21:02:00.000-04:00

This beautiful little doll is 14 months! I can't believe it. With every passing day she grows more and more and I am more and more amazed. She is learning so fast and some days I am just blown away at the things she can pick up.
She is walking and wandering every where now. Trying so hard to get her feet to coordinate enough for her to run across the room.
She eats just about everything and anything but still has her good days and bad days. Some days she just knows what she wants. Other days, she is willing to try just about anything.
Her language is gradually increasing. She tries very hard to say new words just about everyday. She really wants to talk, talk, talk. She has also started to try and sing along when I sing her "fun" (Kindermus1k) songs. It sometimes sounds more like yelling or shouting, but it's kind of funny to see her try.
She has started finally giving kisses upon request and loves to give them out. I of course am loving this! She gives kisses every morning when I go in to get her, I pick her up out of the crib and she turns and lays one on me every morning! I feel truly blessed.

I'm So Ready for this!

2008-07-25T22:26:00.002-04:00

I want to switch Sami to these
bumGenius 3.0
Would totally do it if I had this to help me start.
In the begining I admit I was kind of repulsed by the mere thought of it, but now...I am totally wanting and willing to try it out. They are not only the most adorable things going, they are also great for our environment, future, and wallet!

Vote for me!! Please pick me!!!
lol

Photo Shoot

2008-07-25T09:53:00.000-04:00

13 Months

2008-07-24T12:10:00.000-04:00

So...we've fallen behind with all the drama going on in our lives right now.
Our little princess is 13 months!!! OMG

She is growing by leaps and bounds and learning so much everyday. She eats like a pig these days, lol. Not sure if it's the molars that are still working their way in, or if it's just that she's growing so much right now, but she does not stop eating!
I am regretting teaching her to sign because all she does is the sign for eat...all day long! She eats more than me on most days! It really is non stop. Anyone else have this happen with their little ones?

I've been trying to do some new portraits of her, but she refuses to sit still and WILL NOT smile at the camera. She just won't. I don't get it. But it is definitely driving me crazy. She's just too busy for me anymore. She is walking more than crawling these days, yet I wouldn't necessarily say she's a walker yet. It's mostly like a Frankenstein walk and very clumsy looking, lol. She's tried running a few times too, but always ends up tripping and falling.
She is sillier than ever. Loves the water, thinks that the bath tub is a water slide and throws herself down the sides of the tub squealing with glee. Swimming in the pool is a challenge, because she just wants to go go go! It's so hard to hold her, she wants to swim all on her own. Her baby float is out of the question most days...she just wants to do everything herself.

We've been implementing "time outs" for a little while now. She does good with it and sits in her little time out chair. She has even started signing "Sorry" after her time out is up. It's so cute! I think she's starting to learn what time out is all about, but sometimes she just can't stop herself. It has helped a great deal with her touching the dogs dishes. She will not walk right past them and rarely messes with them.

Double K day went well. All the kids were well behaved...and the adults too this year, lol. We had decent weather, although it hasn't stopped raining since!

We are still in the same situation (Ian and I). We are selling the house, and actually in contract right now. It's really sad, since this is our dream house, but we both still a bit excited for whatever may come. You have to keep a positive outlook, so we are going with an open mind and ready to start over, where ever that may be. Ian will be interviewing in a few weeks for a new position so wish us luck that everything works out.

Here's a pick of Scott and his BFF covered in mud from ATV'ing

Options

2008-07-14T21:53:00.000-04:00

Lately this is the word of the day..."options"
We have options...lots of options, but no clue where we're going. Everyday our life direction changes. The past week has been a whirlwind of emotions, ideas, and chaos. We are essentially going in 6 different directions at any one time. Lately, I am just praying for some guidance...from God...from family...from friends....from ANYONE! lol. Honestly, Ian and I are stuck with our heads spinning and not knowing which direction to turn. I thank God for our incredible love and marriage that is stronger than ever through this incredibly tumultuous time in our lives. We truly have to choose the fate of our future, our family's future, and our financial future with in the next 2 weeks and are just lost as to what that might be. It's all just such a roller coaster of emotions and we both feel lost in the mist of everything that may or may not be going on around us.
Quite honestly, we're both about ready to give up, sell everything and start over...from scratch!

Bottom line (lol, Keith) is that there is a 50 - 100% chance we will be moving, a 100% chance I will be going back to work and Sami into day care...as soon as we find out where we're living, lol
There are 3 or 4 different potential moving options, and that is what we are struggling most with.

So all in all....wish us luck in our difficult decisions we will be making in the next few weeks.

Here are a couple pics of where are hearts are right now.

This Week

2008-07-04T09:30:00.000-04:00

So we've been at football camp all week. Those of you who know Scott, know that he is not into sports, but Ian and I convinced him to give football a try. He really liked it, although I don't believe I'll see him running off to join the school team anytime soon...just not his crowd I guess :( But I'm glad he had fun with it.

So with summer in full swing here at the Double K Farm, we have Scott staying with us every other week and then with his mom every other week. We pretty much have his first 3 weeks full with different summer camps. This week was Football at the college...next week I think he's doing running clinic at the college and the following week is Engineering & Technology Boot camp at the Community College. So he'll be a busy boy this summer.
Sami is taking the summer off from Kindermusik and we've found a great playgroup in our area with meetups almost everyday in different areas and different things to do, so she's loving that and I'm loving the financial break from Kindermusik, lol.

We have our 2 new girls here on the farm, Leia, and Keith and Jewl's Isis. I'll have to post some pics. The girls are so cute! Isis loves the lambs and is always with them, more so than the other alpacas, it's kind of funny to see her out in the field with the lambs as she is about 10 times the size of them.

There is just so much going on right now it's hard to find time to breath. Our house is for sale, Ian may lose his job, there are talks about moving to Texas, the kids are growing too fast (Scott will be in High School in September!!!) it just seems like everyday has been a whirlwind for the past month or so.

Anyone still out there?

2008-06-30T18:45:00.000-04:00

So I've kind of been neglecting the blog...just no time in the summer, but I promise there will be a post coming this week...if anyone is still reading, lol.

2008-06-10T14:35:00.000-04:00

Sami had her 1 year well baby checkup today. She weighs 19 pounds 4 ounces and is 29.75 inches tall. She also got two shots which she was very brave for and did really good sitting still, but cried her eyes out! I felt so bad for her, and as if the 2 shots weren't enough we had to get blood work too. She screamed all through the blood work process, but still stayed amazingly still and only moved when she was taking her deep inhale to let out another scream. At one point during the blood drawing she turned her head and looked at me and I'm pretty sure my heart broke right in two :( I felt so bad for her, but she was a trooper. When we got home she ripped the bandage off and it was like nothing happened.

She's not doing too well with the heat we've been having. She seems to have very sensitive skin and has been breaking out in a heat rash on the back of her neck. Today she's started scratching at it so it must be itchy too...poor thing. She loves being in the water so the pool has been a big help, as well as the bath tub, lol.
Here are a few pics from the last few days...

Playing

2008-06-10T13:14:00.000-04:00

1 Year!!!

2008-06-03T16:37:00.003-04:00

I'm not quite sure how we got here so fast, but our little miracle is a year old!!
She is growing and learning so fast right now, everyday there is a new challenge that she meets and discovers and figures out. It is amazing to watch her throughout these milestones.
As we leave babyhood behind and enter a brand new world of toddler hood, I am saddened that she is no longer my baby, but just as excited that she is my toddler.
So here's to my little princess who has brought so much into my world and expanded my heart in ways I never imagined.

May what?

2008-05-22T20:11:00.000-04:00

This is Sami playing outside today!!! It's almost the end of May and she still has to wear her hat outside cause it's been so darn COLD!

On a good note...here's a pretty rainbow we saw today.

Hair

2008-05-20T12:28:00.000-04:00

Sami wore her first set of pig tails today! It was a big hit at K1ndermus1k. Her hair really isn't long enough to justify these pig tails but I just couldn't resist! lol
r

I got a hair cut too...decided to get bangs again. I have mixed feelings about them. Ian just keeps laughing at me and telling me I look like a 6th grader. I think we're both starting to get used to them now though, lol. Not sure if they'll stay or not...

Boo boo booty :(

2008-05-15T20:29:00.002-04:00

Sami has the worst case of diaper rash I have ever seen!!! OMG it's horrible! Her little bum and entire diaper area is so red. She was fine yesterday morning and then I put her down for a nap and about an hour into it Patches snuck into her room and woke her...ugh.
So Sami woke screaming and I went in to get her and she was inconsolable. I thought at first that Patches had startled her and she was scared and that's why she was screaming and crying so bad...then I thought maybe she has a head ache...I know sometimes when I wake up suddenly I get a really bad head ache. I tried everything. She was literally crawling up my body and screaming and I could not calm her down. I brought her into our room and held her on our bed and tried to cuddle with her and hold her. She would climb all over me I would try and give her her space (since she's not a clingy baby to begin with) she would crawl over to me and rest her head on me and try and catch her breath. I could tell she was still tired but just so upset.
I layed down next to her and she climbed on top of me and nestled her face in my neck and finally fell asleep for a bit (about 15 minutes, maybe)
She woke again still upset and crying. I smelled that she needed a diaper and changed her. She was red, but it didn't seem that bad. I cleaned her up and held her some more. She sat on my lap and stared at me totally expressionless for about 20 minutes. My heart ached for her. Something wasn't right. I thought maybe it was her teeth. I kept feeling in her mouth for molars or anything pressing through but there was nothing.
We went downstairs and I gave her some Tylen0l, to help with the teething or headache or whatever it was that was giving her so much pain.
I sat her in the high chair and I started to try and think of what was wrong. she was clenching her legs when I held her and wouldn't sit on my hip when I carried her downstairs. She would curl her legs up and hold them there.
While she was in her high chair eating her snack she burst into tears and started screaming twice, but only for a few seconds. I again thought maybe it was teeth.

After her snack I changed her again and realized what it was. She had peed and her diaper area was so raw that when she peed in her high chair it was burning her.
In just a few minutes it had gone from a little red to raw burning red. I was horrified. I loaded her up with some diaper cream.
Later that night it became redder and was wet all on the surface. I wiped/blotted and dried her and it was wet again..it was RAW skin and very painful.
I put some medicine on her before bed that I had from a rash when she was a newborn and she slept through the night and woke up with a smile.
When I changed her morning diaper I could see she was drying up and healing but now there were blisters. OMG.
This poor girl. She seems much better today and is not in as much pain but it still looks incredibly painful!
It's definitely healing and getting better but if this redness doesn't go down by tomorrow afternoon we will be headed to the Dr.
Thank God she's at least not in any pain anymore! I just don't understand how this happened. She was fine one minute and horrible the next. It's unbelievable how fast this rash came on.

Poor baby booty :(

11 Months

2008-05-12T09:01:00.000-04:00

A little late again...

11 Months already!! It's so crazy, in just one short month my little peanut will be a year old. I find it especially hard when I'm shopping for clothes for her. It's so hard to realize that she is not an infant anymore and we need to move to the toddler section. I find myself always looking at the infant clothes and then getting frustrated because they don't have it in her size...then I realize it's because she's a big girl now :(

So...let's see what's new with Sami...
She is a very smiley baby/toddler, although she is starting to throw her share of temper tantrums which is making me very afraid of the terrible twos, lol. It's very hard for her, she is trying more and more to communicate and she definitely has her own opinions now.
She is learning to sign some things...like more, all done, and milk. However, I think that her sign for more really means Cheeri0s in her mind, lol. She has also started blowing kisses and waving bye-bye. I'm not sure why it has taken her so long to learn to wave, but she is very reluctant to wave to people or blow kisses...she certainly doesn't just give them out to anyone, lol.

She's one the brink of walking. Just in the last week she's really started showing an interest again in it. She's almost there, just needs to work on her confidence.
She's been eating very well lately. Her favorites are still pasta and cheeri0s and bread, but she has recently fallen in love with turkey and peas and beans. She really will eat just about everything and anything, but she does have her favorites.

Oh...and we've started swim class! She is amazing!! She loves the water and is sticking her head under and blowing bubbles in the water and puts her whole face in and she can float with her arm floaties on all by her self!!! Well only for a few seconds but hey that's pretty darn good!

10 Months!!

2008-04-18T11:32:00.000-04:00

It's hard to believe that my little princess that I waited so long for is now 10 months old! We actually have to start making plans for her first birthday party!!! OMG how did it go by so fast? I constantly find myself looking at her and wondering how we got here. How did she get so big? How did it go by so fast? It's amazing. She lights up my world each and everyday, and is a constant reminder of what life is all about.
At 10 months the curiosity that is Samantha Lee continues to flourish. She wants to see everything, do everything and taste everything!!! She's very proud of her 6 teeth and wants to try them out whenever possible. Everything goes to the mouth! I have to watch her like a hawk! These days dog food is her favorite thing...I don't understand, she desperately wants to eat some dog food! I swear I feed her...and some darn good food at that, but still she longs for some kibble. Ian jokes that it would be an excellent source of protein...and we could get a whole 20 pound bag for about six bucks! LOL....we'll stick to cheerios, thank you.

This is the finger she insists on storing in her left nostril. She seems to feel it's the perfect fit and should be there at all times...sometimes I wonder if her finger is cold and she's warming it up in there....maybe I should get her some mittens...for now, we'll just keep pulling it out and telling her it's yucky.

She is testing more and more everyday. Learning my boundaries and pushing it all the time. Meal time is a struggle as she likes to throw food, swat at the spoon, spit and wipe food all over her entire head! It's by far my biggest struggle with her right now.
She is almost completely weaned from breastfeeding now...her choice not mine :( She only nurses when she wakes up at night (which is about to stop...the nursing...and the waking I hope) and first thing in the morning. She loves her bottle, but also loves to spit her formula all over the place and let it run out of her mouth all down the front of her...yet another struggle. She refuses to drink her milk from a sippy cup. Cups are good for juice or water but she will only take one sip of the milk and then throw the cup. I think we're going to work on that this week...getting her on to the cup more than the bottle.

She is very vocal, loves to babble and scream her girly screams and tries to say Doggy, that, and Hi...or hey. She also make a Chewbaca sound that she and her Uncle Keith use to communicate...it's quite amusing.
She has no desire to walk...which is odd because at 8 months all she wanted to do was walk, now she would much rather crawl. She can stand unassisted for as long as she wants but will not take that step. She cruises all along the furniture and window sills and will walk that way, but if you try to take her hands and get her to walk she will drop to her knees or hang there in your hands.
She has no fear, loves to laugh, loves for people to try and scare her or tickle her. She loves any animal she's come in contact with. Chases Patches around and laughs all day. She is loving the warmer weather and likes being outside most of the time.

Where is spring?

2008-03-29T14:51:00.000-04:00

2 days ago it was sunny and 45 degrees. This is what we woke up to yesterday! OMG I thought we were done with this!!!
Ugghhh, I'm so ready for spring. I've had enough snow!!!

Love it!

2008-03-24T15:53:00.000-04:00

I've been looking at a new camera for a couple weeks now. Doing my research and drooling over all the goodies out there. My camera's been giving me focus problems and it's just pretty frustrating sometimes. But then I upload a pic like this, and right from the camera, no editting, I fall in love with my FinePix S9000 all over again.
Look at this face!!!
LOVE

Favorite pic and a giveaway

2008-03-19T20:22:00.001-04:00

I LOVE this picture! I love the way the girls are looking at each other.

The newest most beautiful princess in our lives.
Miss Olivia Rose
She's so beautiful!

There is a giveaway going on over at Simple Reviews

They are giving away a Patapum baby carrier from ATB

I love the baby carriers that I have made and would love a "real" brand name one too.
If you would like to enter for a chance to win one, or many other giveaways check out the ladies over at Simple.

9 months

2008-03-12T16:08:00.000-04:00

2008-03-07T14:58:00.000-05:00

LOOOK!

Hand in Hand

Little Piggies

sick days

2008-03-07T14:53:00.000-05:00

Can we go out today Mama?

The Booger Monster

Still smiling even though she feels so sick

I miss you great outdoors!

9 month check-up

2008-03-06T09:21:00.003-05:00

Sami's been sick so the 9 month photo shoot is on hold until she's feeling better and more up to it. Hopefully this won't last long.

Her check up went well. She's 17 pounds 6 ounces, I thought she'd be more than that, but that's what the scale said. That puts her just under the 50th percentile for weight and her weight chart looks perfect, she is gaining beautifully each time. Some how they screwed up her height on the chart. I swear when the nurse measured her she had 26 and 3/4" which I thought was low since at 6 months she was 26". Then when the doc gave me the chart they had her on there at like 29" or something that put her in the 75th percentile. So basically I don't know where she is with height, I told Ian we'll have to measure her ourselves again.

She did good at the office. No shots this time which was good. She's still sick and you can tell she doesn't feel good. Poor thing. She's all congested and coughing and is a snot machine on overdrive! I've never seen so much snot come out of such a small being. Her fever has finally broke after being 102 for 2 days. Now we are just keeping the Tylen*l going for her comfort. She has no voice left and when she does make a sound it's really raspy.

In good news, she's been sleeping!!! Monday night we woke her up at 11pm to give her more meds and she slept through to 6:30 when she woke up but soothed herself back to sleep until 7:15am. Tuesday night she woke up at 12:30 and was just not feeling well and restless for about an hour. I stayed up with her and rocked her, tried to nurse her, she just wasn't having it. she was sick and couldn't sleep. Poor baby. I finally rocked her and sang to her until she fell asleep and she slept until 9:30am!!!!

Last night she went down at 8:30 and here it is 9:20am and she's still sleeping!!!!! OMG! She woke up a few times coughing, but didn't cry and went right back to sleep. Then woke up around 7 and was talking/playing but didn't even sit up, just layed there and went back to sleep.
I woke up at 2:30am cause I had to pump, my body obviously was confused why it was allowed to sleep so long and my boob was about to explode! It hurt. I thought for sure she would wake up right after I pumped, but no.

So now I'm wondering if she is really sleeping through the night, or if her voice is just so raspy that I can't hear her crying at night. Either way the sleep is nice and she doesn't seem to be any worse off. I just can't believe that she slept through the whole night last night! I am in shock! Maybe it's the sickness, maybe it's a fluke, who knows.....but one thing's for certain....now that I told you all this, it won't happen again, lol.

Wish us luck.

Vacation Pics

2008-03-03T22:13:00.001-05:00

Finally.
Here are some Vacation pics. We had a great time. The kids were great and Ian got to spend some time with his BFF. It was fun, relaxing, and just a great family time.
Sami is sick today, fever, runny nose, cough and drooling like crazy :( I thought maybe it was just her teeth coming in, but she's been clingy and just really down today. I've never seen her like this. I feel so bad for her.
I'll have to work on her 9 month post this week. Have to do some pics too. Until then, here are the vacation pictures.

2008-03-03T22:05:00.000-05:00

Showing off our shoes, lol.

First Carosel ride

2008-03-03T22:01:00.000-05:00

Feeding the ducks with Uncle Franky

My fisherman

Love this pic! He's my Huck Finn.

On the Boardwalk @ Kemah

2008-03-03T21:53:00.000-05:00

We made it...

2008-02-20T08:57:00.003-05:00

Made it to Galveston.
Sami did great on both flights. Even though we planned on being here around 6:30pm last night and due to delays we didn't get in until after 10pm TX time. Ugh, it was a LONG day. The kids did great though.
On the first flight Ian and I were separated. He sat in the first row and Scott, Sami and I sat all the way in the last row, lol. Sami was an angel on the flight and Scott loved sharing her first flight with her and wanted her to sit on his lap to look out the window, even though she didn't quite get the concept, it was cute. She sat quietly and played and just relaxed and sat still.
There was another baby, about a year and a half, that screamed the whole way :( poor thing. Ian kept thinking it was Sami and was coming back to check on her.

The second flight was late at night and she really didn't get any good naps in. She fell asleep just before we got on the second flight and then once we got on the plane there was some security thing and the whole airport was shut down until it was resolved...so again we were delayed. She woke up just before take off and was a little restless for most of the flight. She did good though. As good as an 8 month old who was up at 4am (OMG, why doesn't this child sleep) could do.

Does anyone else have a child with an extreme fear of those public rest room changing tables? Sami SCREAMS and shakes and is just terrified of them :( it's horrible. I had to change her on the plane in the lavoratory(they have a changing station in there, I was shocked by that) and she was so scared, it broke my heart. She was fine the instant I picked her up but while she was laying there she was crying and shaking and just so scared. In the first airport she was so scared on the changing table that she pee'ed all over! She never pees when I'm changing her and she was screaming and spraying everywhere! Oh, what an experience. Then I feel like everyone is staring at me like I'm torturing my baby, just because I'm changing her diaper.

So, anyway. We got in to the condo around 11:30 last night. Sami fell asleep in the car around 10:30 and was up at 5am...for the day! (oh, and she was up at 11:30, and 2am...lol, didn't want you to think she actually slept through the night, lol.) Needless to say, we're not leaving the condo today until after she's had a real morning nap. This girl needs to sleep!

So that's it for now...I'll try to update/record our vacation when I can. I didn't bring my cable for the camera so you'll have to wait until we get home for some pics :( sorry.

Wish us luck

2008-02-17T21:42:00.000-05:00

This is a pic of her with her new Teddy that Daddy bought her for Valentine's day. She actually laid there looking at me with the camera as if to say "ok Mama, take my picture with my bear." It was really cute. As soon as I snapped it she was off again.

How beautiful is this face?
She LOVES her bath time. No more baby tub she is SO happy to be splashing around in the big tub. She loves the water, even when I dump it on her head, rinsing her hair, she just loves it.

She is starting to cut the top teeth. One has made it through and the other is oh-so-close.

This afternoon she fell while standing with one of her toys and now has a big knot on her head :( Poor thing! It broke my heart to see that big purple lump forming. I don't think I was th eonly one since as soon as it happened she was swarmed by me, Ian and Scott, all giving her kisses and rubbing her back. She soaked it up, but seriously it had to hurt. Poor Baby.

She's been standing on her own for a few seconds at a time and she has NO fear! OMG! This child is a dare devil.
We leave Tuesday for Texas, I haven't yet figured out how I'm going to get her to stay in our seat during the flight. I've got a bag full of tricks to bring but she just does not want to sit still these days.