Where did the time go?

I can't believe how quickly life passes you by. I never intended to stop blogging. I just became...well, busy. I want to jump back on the horse again. Josh wants me to as well. He loves that I'm keeping a "journal" of our life. So, I thought now is better than ever to start back again. Now, being the eve of Hadley's first birthday.

Where did the time go...

Hadley 7 months

Disclaimer. This has been ready to be posted since MARCH 27TH!!! I wrote it on my phone, it "post" and it never went up! Then I deleted half of it on accident while on the computer (saved funny from phone). Anyways--it's finally here!!

You are seven months our sweet girl! I still cannot believe it! Someone asked me how old you were and I had to think for a second. Seven months? That doesn't seem right! You are growing way too fast!

Height/Weight

You are about 21lbs and 24 inches long. 

Diapers

Size 3! We still love Pampers Swaddlers

Clothes

You are definitely wearing all 9 month clothing. We have two 6 month outfits that fit put the pants are a little short. I think they fit because the shirt is loose and doesn't snap at the bottom. :) Anything we've been buying you for summer has been 12 months. I'd rather it be big so you can wear it longer! You wear size 2 in shoes, but they're still a little big. I love your tiny feet!

Feeding

You have been doing great with food and are so funny. You hate anything that is cold. If we don't let it sit for a few inured before feeding you, you'll either spit it out (rare occasion anymore) or make a face like it's the worst thing you've ever tried. But by bite 3 or 4, you're good to go. You love prunes and apples. Your favorite vegetable is carrots followed by sweet potatoes (which we try not to give you much of). Recently you've tried pumpkin and really like that! You still are not too fond of greens and they sometimes make your tummy upset. You did enjoy a spinach and berry mix packet of food the other day! We are so happy you're enjoying fruits and veggies and hope it continues. You're eating stage one of all foods. I honestly have no idea when we should go to stage two, but we'll figure it out! We've tried a Nuk sippy cup a few times from Miss Keri but it didn't work too well. She did tell me that just because it worked well for her kids doesn't mean it will work for you. All kiddos are different. So I bought some Playtex sippy cups to try next. 

Sleep

Your sleep is so inconsistent. Some nights you wake up three times, others twice, and sometimes you sleep through. I blame a lot of it on me. Dr. B said that I need to let you cry a little more and not pick you up each time. So hard to do with that sweet face! But we did it Monday and it worked! Hopefully that will help the both of us!

*Update (since this is late to post): Thursday, April 3 we tried a new routine. I now put you down to bed when you're awake. The first few nights were rough. We let you cry 15 minutes (not hard cry), then I would go in and tell you it was okay, rub your tummy, and settle you down. I would not pick you up. Then I would leave. You'd get very upset then. But within 2-3 minutes you would settle and go to sleep. Since then, you've slept entirely through the night. Last night (Sunday) you actually went down for both naps and for bed and fussed less than one minute!!! SOOOO proud of you!!

Other Events

You has the croup again!! We caught it early but it was still the middle of the night and we still has to go to the ER. Hopefully we are done with this. It's so weird to me. You'll be totally fine during the day and then it happens at night. Both times we were at Glammy and Peepop when it happened. Dr. B. said that if it happens again we will look into allergy testing. His motto is, "two times it's a coincidence; three times a problem". Hoping it's just a coincidence but if not I hope we can get some answers. 

You are sitting up like a pro! You love to reach for things and trying to look at everything. Sometimes you'll even tip over because you try to bend and look around something in order to see something else. I wish I had a picture of it. It's too cute!

You're in a big girl car seat! You love to look out the window and are usually pretty quiet. The hardest part is sleeping. I feel so bad for your little head wobbling all over. I did buy you a head rest yesterday that will hopefully fix the problem. I know so many kids sleep like that but I worry about restricting your airway. #firsttimemom

You love books! We read at least three stories before bedtime each night, unless you're really exhausted then we are lucky to get through one. Your favorites are Friends For Calico, I Love You So, and Ten Little Ladybugs. We usually read these every night with some others mixed in. I think I can recite Friends For Calico in my sleep...forwards and backwards! Daddy and I both hope you continue to love reading and listening to stories!

When you were at the hospital the first time, they gave you an electric toy guitar. You're obsessed! Hopefully this will mean you are musically inclined like me and daddy. We are so excited I teach you piano, percussion, and violin one day. Hopefully you will enjoy at least one of them or pave your own path with a new instrument!

So rolling over is still not your thing. We will push you half way and then you will do the rest but you're not doing it alone. You still have no desire to either even when we tempt you with a cell phone, high is your favorite thing to get your hands on! 

"Selfie"

You are the sweetest thing! You love to give us hugs and sometimes will give kisses. You are so happy most of the time but when you get mad, watch out! You have a short fuse and temper. I'm sure a lot of it is the fact that you can't really communicate with us. That is definitely a challenge! 

Knock on wood, you do not touch any head bands or hats on your head. However the sun glasses don't last too long. I hope this continues and that I didn't just jinx myself!! 

You love your brothers and know their names. About 95% of the time Wembley is into some kind of trouble. As soon as we say his name, you look up at the cabinets because you know he likes to jump up there. You also love to watch them chase each other through the house. You will scream and get super excited!

Every time I take your weekly and monthly picture I have to be prepared because the blocks do not stay up any more!

We rarely go out to eat but when we do you are so good most of the time. As long as you have a few toys, you are pretty content with people watching. I try to bring food along with us and feed you right before our meal comes out. There has only been one occasion where you just were not thrilled. But we solved that problem by watching Sesame Street Alphabet about 20 times.

You dog, Violet, pictured below, sings a few songs with your name in them. There is one in particular you love! It spells out your name and you get super excited. We sing it to you all the time and you just grin ear to ear!

When Aunt KK was a baby, Glammy used to put her in a laundry basket and fill it with toys. She loved it! I recently started doing this with you. It's so great you're contained in a small area full of fun! You think it's okay. You don't like being in there for a long time (10 minutes maybe), but at least I can get a quick shower or throw my hair up and put some makeup on!

Your daddy posted this picture on FB the other day along with his comment:

It totally made me smile. It just sums you up so well. You are our sunshine! We look forward to seeing you each morning and miss you after you go to bed every night. We love each new stage of life and, while we are sad to see some go, we are excited for the future! We love you princess!

I'm the kind of girl who...

Joining with Holly today for this great yearly linkup!

I'm the kind of girl who...

loves sleeping to the sound of a rain shower

loves looking at the ocean but hates the sand

is always up for a good cup of {decaf} coffee

wants to be really good at one thing but just seems okay at a few things

hates how her legs look but thankful to have legs

needs to sleep in once in a while

loves late night cuddles with her baby girl

gets excited about planning their future Disney trip with her husband (even though it's not for another 3 or 4 years)

wants to be remembered for doing something great

is always planning

loves a surprise {but can't know anything about it}

cries easily

thanks God for her family every day

Hadley's first trip to the ER

This weekend was quite the unexpected adventure.

Saturday night Hadley and I went to stay with my parents since Josh was working late. I was wanting to stay home but he kept telling me I needed to get out of the house and have a little break. So we packed up our things and headed that way.

Hadley had been to the pediatrician a few weeks ago for a cough. She has a little bit of bronchitis but nothing serious. She finally was getting rid of the cough this past week and was doing better than ever.

My dad had been craving the salad bar at their local restaurant, so we went their for dinner. Hadley did such a great job while we ate and was in good spirits. When we got back to their house, I fed her and put her down around 7:30. She went to bed fairly well. Around 10:30 pm, just as I was going to be, she woke up. I normally give her a minute to see if she's half asleep or really waking up. However this time when she woke up, she didn't sound normal.

I went in to the back room where she was sleeping and noticed her breathing sounded different. Then she started to cough. I called my mom in, who is a nurse, to listen to her. She sounded as though she had a barking cough. My mom said she had the croup. I was very surprised. She was totally fine the entire day. Later, I found out that croup usually comes at night out of the clear blue. That's still totally crazy to me!

We turned the steam shower on, sat in the bathroom for a few short minutes, then took her outside in the cold. It wasn't helping her breathing. It was actually getting worse. My mom suggested we take her to the Children's Hospital, which is about 40 minutes from where they lived. As I was changing, very very quickly, back into my clothes, my mom told me she didn't think we had time to drive to Children's and that we needed to go to a closer hospital about 15 minutes away. So we threw all of our things in the car and carefully sped to the hospital.

We arrived at the hospital and waited about 10 (long) minutes before we went back. We thought we would go in, get her a breathing treatment, then be on our way back. I was hoping to get to bed before 2am! But I was so wrong.

When they were examining H, they found that her heart rate was very high. The lowest it got was in the 190s but staying in the mid 200s. While this wasn't crazy high at the time for a baby, the hospital we were at doesn't specialize in kids and it really scared them. So they sent Hadley and I by ambulance  to Childrens. I wasn't really scared all that much until they said they wanted to transfer us. I also didn't know what a baby heart rate should be until we were being transferred as well. 

Yes, she's on a stretcher. And yes I took a picture.

We made it to Childrens safely..and long story short...we were there a long time!

They gave H a steroid shot to help with the croup and so far it's helped a lot! However, her heart rate continued to be all over the place. At one point in was about 310. At that point, they decided to keep her over night to observe her. She did well over night with her HR only going in the 190s at the highest.

We got about three hours of sleep Saturday night at the hospital and even though we went to bed around 8pm Sunday, I was up with Hadley every 2 hours. The steroid made it difficult for her to sleep and she was much hungrier than normal.

The doctors still are not sure what was causing the elevated heart rate. It could have been from the croup. It could be a health condition that rarely effects her. We will know more this week when we visit the cardiologist on Thursday. He met with us Sunday morning and explained what he saw and told us since she didn't have the EKG on while she had her big episode (but there was a doctor in the room and three nurses ran in), it was hard for them to pinpoint it right then.

Overall, it was a stressful evening but we tried to stay as calm as possible. We didn't want to make a huge ordeal out of it and really tried to handle it in the best way we could. Josh and I have really tried to find ourselves as parents lately. It's hard. I'm so thankful my mom was there since she is a nurse and that she and my dad were able to drive us. But when we got to the hospital (that she works at), she stepped back. She stayed out of the room so we could handle it in our own way. It was hard because I wanted her opinion. But she said she was the Glammy and we needed to learn on our own (she would never let anything happen to Hadley). 

The hardest part about the whole experience was watching Hadley. She was so scared at times but so brave. We were in tears when they gave her the IV in her hand. It was heartbreaking to watch her cry. I asked for emla cream (a topical numbing cream) but they said there wasn't enough time. She was so good and when they were done she stopped cry completely and started her happy screams. I prayed over her all night and I hope she forgot all of the difficult parts she went through. For feeling so poorly she was very happy and all of the nurses and doctors were very impressed by her. 

We are so thankful our sweet girl is okay. Thank you for all the prayers!!

Our chunky monkey :)

Note to all parents: if you child has to go to the hospital tell them you want emla cream right away if there has to be an IV. It takes about an hour to set in but totally worth it!!

Update on life

Busy is an understatement of what our life has been lately. Now that life has begun in full swing, it is crazy! I can't even describe it. My mind is constantly going a mile a minute and over all I'm just tired!

I wanted to do an update to what is going on in our lives since this blog is to document our life.

• Josh has to turn his thesis in in three weeks! I am so excited and so proud of him. We are both ready for this journey to be over. After he turns it in, he will have to defend it, and then he will graduate in May! This all means that he doesn't get home until 7:30-8:00 pm every night. He also works on it every Sunday. We eat dinner then collapse and do it all over the next day. We pray that a new degree will lead to a new job. Then he will start on his doctorate this fall! And so it begins again...
  
  
• Hadley is growing daily! I will post her 5 month update next week right after she turns 5 months! I cannot believe how fast time is flying. While I want her to stay this age, I'm so excited to be with her this summer and really watch her take everything in!
  
  
• I'm back at work and learning how to balance being a working mom. It's crazy! I'm so glad we prep as much as we can on the weekends but honestly it's still hard. I bring work home every night and try to go in on Saturday mornings. But I still don't feel caught up. I'm sure by the time summer rolls around I'll feel like I've got my act together again. Until then, I have a lot of work to do and just not enough time in the day to do it all.
  
  
• Our home is back on the market. We will not be taking it off until we sell it. We have no idea where we are going to move but we are ready.
  
  
• Oliver and Wembley are doing great! Wembley is still such a little sh*t and was locked in Hadley's room for three hours earlier this week...while she was sleeping. Of course I panic because I don't want him to hurt her, but luckily he is scared to death of her so would never jump in the crib. I finally went in her room to adjust her heating vent and he comes out meowing like crazy; almost yelling at me. Oh that cat! Oliver is still having a hard time adjusting to not being the main baby. We still give him so much attention and he's snuggled in our bed each night. But he gets upset when I hold Hadley and can't have him on my lap as well. But do worries, he totally tries to join us.
  
  
• Meal planning is still going very well! I need to get back on the ball and share on my Tasty Tuesdays. We were thrown a curve ball a few weeks ago. Josh has had a lot of stomach problems for over a year and I've been telling him that he needs to see the doctor because my instinct has always been a gluten problem. While he has not been tested yet, he has taken gluten out of his diet almost completely. Already he has done so much better. He hasn't been sick and feels better overall. This has changed how we eat. We've talked about how gluten free is a lifestyle change and, whether or not he has a gluten allergy or not, we know that it is a healthier choice.
  
  
• I haven't shared on here yet, and don't want to say a lot about it, but I'm still not recovered from my delivery with Hadley. I have an appointment with a surgeon on Friday so any prayers you could send my way would be very much appreciated. I'm hoping everything will heal on its own and surgery is not needed but whatever happens is for a reason.

Five on Friday!

{one}

Today I'm celebrating five years of marriage with this guy. It's been a crazy five years full of amazing times and crazy times, but I have to say that this year has been the best. I've loved watching Josh become such a loving daddy to Miss Hadley. Best way to spend five years together.

{two}

The first week back to school is an exhausting one! I might know every day we have off from now until May. I also may know that there are 86 school days left per the countdown in the cafeteria. So excited to spend the summer with my girl!

{three}

This year I decided to order a May Designs Planner. I've used Erin Condren in the past, which I love, but they're so big and bulky, not to mention pricey. I can't do that right now with everything that comes with a baby. So, I decided to give May Books a whirl. I love it so far! They're very affordable (no more than you would pay for a nice one at Target), super light weight, smaller, thinner, and still give you plenty of room to write in it. My favorite part? You can pick out your own design and monogram it!

{four}

My parents got Hadley this book for Christmas. It's the cutest thing ever! We read it every night. I cannot wait until she actually understands it!

{five}

Who says science isn't fun? This is a picture from a laser light show the kids had at school today. It was pretty neat! There were just in awe at what lasers could do. I even learned a lot too (I don't teach science)!

January 1, 2014

2013 was a wonderful year! 

2014 has a lot to live up to.

I'm not big on making resolutions. I don't want to say I'm going to do something then fail. I wanted 2013 to be the year of family and I want to continue that into 2014. But I also want to add more balance. Being a new mom, and a working mom at that one, requires a lot of balance.

In 2014 I want to be the best mom, wife, daughter, friend, and teacher that I can be.

I need to prioritize and use my time wisely.

I hope most days will be filled with smiles while few days may have tears.

But it's a process. And in 2014 I just want to do the best I can.

As long as I have these two...