Lazy Days

The past week or so has been filled with lazy day after lazy day. Well, as lazy a day can be with a 10 month old! We fill our days with lots of playing and eating a little bit of cleaning while the babe naps. These are the days I love. I love being a stay at home mom!! It is the best job in the world....I get to be there for every little development, every fall, every cry, every new word and much more! Yes, that also means I am here for ever diaper and ever cranky moment...but I wouldn't have it any other way! She is the love of my life and I just can't imagine a day without her!

Alan and I were talking recently about just how much time we do spend with Alana. It's kinda of crazy when you look back and think about it. I can only count 3 times, in the almost year she has been alive, that Alan or I haven't been with her. The first time was when Alan and I went to a Pittsburgh Pirates game when she was 3 months old. Second time, Alan and I went to see a movie, and the 3rd time Alan and I went to a Christmas party for his work. Each time was equally hard to leave and I dread the next time we do it! lol Maybe that's weird, but I think being a stay at home mom has made me like this. I want that connection and closeness. Alana has never been put to bed by anyone other than Alan or I...she's never been given a bath by anyone else. I take a lot of pride in that! Not that there is anything at all wrong with getting a baby sitter and enjoying time alone with your significant other. I guess Alan and I are just ok with the time we spend alone being the time she is napping or down for the night. I love taking her everywhere we go...and usually if it's a place she can't go just one of us goes or neither of us goes. I'm not saying I will never have a babysitter or go on a date alone with my husband, but I just don't feel like I need it. I only have a little time left with her as a baby and I want to soak it all up.

Alana has been working on getting teeth since around Christmas and just the other day one has finally made some progress. The point to me telling you this is that Alana has had trouble sleeping recently, because of her teeth pushing through. So I have been up with her several nights trying to comfort her and get her back to sleep. I often find myself savoring every second of the snuggle time. Even though it's 1:00 am and I've been up since 7:30 the previous morning, I don't care. I love every snuggle, every hug and every kiss. I love that she is standing in her crib waiting on me in the middle of the night and stops crying and lays her head on my shoulder as soon as I pick her up. I'm really going to miss those moments. I know I have lots of time left with her, but she is growing so fast and next week she may not like snuggling anymore. So, until she wont let me anymore, I will snuggle her tightly and soak up the best feeling in the whole world!

Snow Everywhere!

Well we did get the big snow! I doubted it all week, but sure enough, it really came. It looks like we're supposed to get another 6-10 inches tomorrow, on top of the already 19 inches we got this weekend. I'm not really sure what to think about all that snow. It really doesn't affect my life too much, considering I mostly stay inside with Alana anyway. It's just been too cold to take a baby out lately. Don't get me wrong, I do take her to the store or to walk at the mall if the temperature ever gets above 30....but it's been a while. Alana loves the cold weather though. She thinks it is really funny when the wind blows in her face...she just giggles and giggles.

Alan and I spent most of Saturday taking turns shoveling the walkway and then Alan shoveled the driveway. Needless to say, we are both sore from all the shoveling! Alana got out and "played" in the snow a little. She loved it! I have a feeling next winter I'm not going to be able to keep her inside as much as I have this winter. She is proving to be just like her Daddy and love to play in the snow. I can't wait until she can walk around in the snow with little snow boots, next year.

Speaking of walking, I have a feeling she will be walking before her Birthday! She is becoming so brave lately...she barely holds on when she pulls herself up and has started trying to stand a little on her own. If you hold her fingers she will move her legs and walk like that. She is also becoming quite the climber. For the past couple weeks Alan and I have noticed that she will try to step on toys in her pack n play to get higher. Then yesterday, I moved her pack n play in the kitchen while i was cooking and she tried to climb our to reach my purse that was hanging on the chair! She made pretty good progress too! It's just amazing how fast she is growing and developing!!

Time's Flying!

It's been about 4 months since I updated last....I've been a slacker! My friend Michelle recently started a blog and it inspired me to be a better blogger! I read a lot of blogs, but I never feel like anyone would want to read what I have to say like I like to read what other people have to say. Everyone else's blogs seem so fluent and much more put together...but oh well, this is me!

My beautiful baby girl is 10 Months old today!!! I cannot believe it. She is going to be 1 before I know it. That makes me want to cry...literally. I'm not sure if i'll be able to make it through her birthday without sobbing. When they are itty bitty and first born you can't wait for them to develop and grow and be able to do things... and don't get me wrong, I still want her to do new things, but I just wish she could do the new things and still want to do the old things!

I want her to want to be cradled like a baby without squirming to be put down...

I want her to still breastfeed ! ( I know maybe this is a weird thing...especially if you've never had a baby or you've never breastfed...but I really miss the closeness and the feeling that I am the only person that can feed her.)

I want her to still sleep in her bassinet by my bed...

I want her to still fit in those little newborn night gowns...

But on the other hand...she does all these new and wonderful things that brighten my day in other ways!

She now crawls like a pro...

She waves...

She giggles...a lot!...

She says "Momma"...

She says "Dada"...

She pulls herself up to anything and everything...

She pets Cooper...

She says "Baby" when she sees a picture of a baby or herself...

She says "All Done" when she is done eating or when she wants you to hurry up and be done changing her diaper!...

She says "Book"...

She loves to be read to...

I really could go on and on and on! These are just a few I could think of that have already brightened my day and it's not even noon!

Alana's really loves all books, but her favorite book is definitely 5 Little Ladybugs.

She loves to look at it by herself and babble and she will bring it over to you and sit on your lap and just wait for you to read it to her! And don't think you're going to get to read it just once...when you are done the first time she opens it back up for you and waits for you to read it again. Sometimes she says something that could be "again", but it may just be a coincidence. We set a new record this weekend with reading it 5 times in a row...and she probably would have gone longer if I wouldn't have distracted her with another toy.

So that is me... My whole world revolves around one little girl! Sorry Alan, but I know I'm number 2 to you too! ;0)

I'm going to try to update at least once a week....but an hopeful to be able to update more, but let's not get ahead of ourselves!

Hopefully I didn't bore everyone to death!!

Holy Cow...it's been 6 Months!

I can't believe my little baby is 6 months old already!! She had her 6 month check up yesterday...she now weighs 20 lbs 5 ounces. She is such a big chubby girl now. She is so very happy almost all the time and laughs and giggles a ton. She is rolling like crazy everywhere and is starting to show signs of crawling soon! I can't wait!! OH OH and she now says ......."MOM"!! How cute is that?? She just babbles away and says mom mom and now she is growling like a lion. She is so crazy. I'm not really sure where she learned the growling, but she thinks it's hilarious. She is just growing way too fast. It makes me miss having a little baby around, she is such a big girl now.

We recently went to a pumpkin farm and she loved it. She liked looking at all the pumpkins and feeling all of them. She wasn't really sure what they were or what she should do with them, but she sure looked cute sitting next to them!

For Halloween we have a ladybug costume (that I bought for her before she was even born) and a lamb costume. We are going to the Zoo on the 17th for their event called Zoo Boo...i'm so excited. I'm hoping it's cool enough for her to wear her costume while we look around at the animals. I'm not sure which costume i'll put on her for the actual Halloween trick or treating...they are both just so cute, I can't decide!!

Speaking of Halloween...can you believe it's October already?? Time is going by so fast....but i am glad that Christmas is coming soon! I can't wait for Alana to get to open all of her presents. We already have an attic full of toys for Christmas...i'm not sure where we're going to put all of them in our house, but she'll have lots to play with !

Almost 2 months!!

Can you believe it?? Alana is almost 2 months old!!! She is getting so big. I took her to the doctor last week to have a rash checked out....which turned out to just be baby acne all over her belly... anyway, they weighed her and she was 11lbs 11 ounces!! That is just crazy....she has gained an ounce or more a day since she's been born! She is def. a pig and loves to eat all the time. So much so that we had to start supplementing with formula just to keep up with her demands. Another reason we had to start supplementing is that I had a little trip to the E.R. 

This was not fun...Alan had to call an ambulance in the middle of the night b/c i was having severe back and chest pain. So after lots of pain medicine and tests they discovered I had gallstones. They sent me home with pain meds and the fear that i could have another attack at any minute. So I immediatly made an appointment with a surgeon they suggested and he of course suggested I have it removed before it caused me anymore trouble. So that I did....on Monday...the 18th... I went in for surgery and had my gallbladder removed. 

It's so weird to think that I am now missing an organ....but I feel much better knowing that I wont ever have one of those horrible attacks again. 

On a better note, Laney is doing fabulous. She sleeps really good at night and most nights she sleeps all night and is very happy when she wakes up. She loves to smile and coo. She smiles constantly and loves to look at the flower pattern on her pack n play. She tries to get them to talk to her and then gets mad when they don't talk back...it's really cute. She loves looking at patterns and loves he paisley diaper bag....she's just like her mommy! 

I really lve being a mom and I know everyone says it, but I really can't remember what it was like before we had her. She really completes everything and even though it's really hard being a mom and still trying to get things done I wouldn't trade it for anything. It is so rewarding! 

She is ohh so close to rolling over....i'll keep you posted!!!

4 weeks

In 2 days Alana will be 4 weeks old...I just can't believe it! It has been quite an experience. I feel like Alan and I have already grown so much as parents. Everyday is a surprise and new challenge. You never know what the day will bring which keeps you on your toes and in a constant state of fear...I must admit! I feel like i'm just constantly waiting for the next cry. Which speaking of crying, she just woke up from her little nap. 

I will try to update again later...hopefully her next nap will be longer!!

Alana's here!

Well she's finally here!! After 41 weeks of pregnancy...and with a little coaxing she finally decided to make her debut on April 1st at 5:50 pm. 

I ended up going into the hospital on March 31st to start my induction process. They placed a catheter in my cervix and filled it with water to put pressure on the cervix and make it dilate. So of course contractions started pretty much right away...they were semi-bearable for a couple hours, but then around 3:00 am they became very painful and eventually at 4 I had to wake Alan up so he could help me through them. I breathed through the contractions...walked around the halls... and sat on a birthing ball until about 8:00 or so when my doctor came in to yank the catheter out and check to see how far dilated I was. I was already 4 centimeters when she took the catheter out so they started some petocin to get the contractions really going. This is when I opted for the epidural! I was really scared to get the epidural, but it honestly wasn't as scary as I had invisioned. He had to put it in twice too becuase the first time he hit something and it didn't take. And of course I was having full blown contractions the whole time he was trying to put it in my back...so that wasn't the most pleasant. But I made it through and was so happy to get some relief and be able to sleep a little now that I was completely numb from the waist down. 

So a couple hours later the doctor came in and was getting ready to break my water, and what do ya know...while she was getting ready my water broke on its own! So I was happy about that...at least my body was doing some of the labor work on it's own!! So after that they uped the petocin and really got things moving. By around 3 or 4 I was 8-9 centimeters and then in just a couple minutes I was 10 and ready to push! So I pushed and pushed and pushed, for about 45 minutes, with really little progress. And every time I would push the baby's heart rate was going dangerously low. So they had me take breaks and only push every other contraction to let her recooperate...but that still didn't work. So they decided it was in the baby's best interest to go ahead with the C-Section. So they wheeled me off to surgery. 

And at 5:50pm we heard her first beautiful cry!! It was amazing for her to finally be in this world and to hear her and then eventually see her. Alan was the first to get to see her and he was able to get her little foot prints on the back of his hands and come show me. And after they got her checked out and cleaned off a little they brought her over for me to see and I got to give her her first little kiss! 

She weighed 9lbs 3 ounces!!! As soon as the doctor pulled her out of my belly she looked over the curtain and said " She never would have fit"!!  So that was kind of a relief to me that I really did do everything that I could to try to deliver her vaginally...but it just wasn't in the cards for us. Maybe next time...that is if there is a next time. I'm still kinda undecided about whether I really want to go through the first couple weeks with a newborn again...let alone with a toddler and a newborn. So we'll see what happens when the time comes. 

So that's it...we are starting to settle in at home, finally, after 2 weeks of life with a newborn. It is the hardest thing i've ever done and probably the scariest too. But this morning at 6:00 am she gave Alan and I her first big smile! She's been smiling in her sleep and a little when she's awake but this was def. the first big smile that we know for sure was directed at us because she was happy! So it is also the most rewarding thing i've ever done!

I can't wait to see what the next couple weeks bring. Wish us luck!!