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Monday, December 28, 2009

Bug at 4 Months

Bug turned 4 months old on December 5th but her checkup was not until December 24th. Yes folks, Christmas Eve! It was not too bad because we were not going anywhere or the day but still, it was a bit of a hassle.

So what were Bug's stats you ask? My pretty baby weighed in at 14 lbs and measured 24 inches. That is half her sister's weight and 2/3 her sister's height. Poor BooBoo, her sister is going to be bigger than her soon and she is not even a year old yet. I am very happy about Bug's stats because that means that I am doing my job nursing her and taking care of her.

Little Bug also had to have three shots in her baby legs. It would not have been too much of an ordeal if she had not fallen asleep breastfeeding while waiting for the nurse. When the nurse came in and saw Bug asleep she told me I could just hold Bug during the immunizations. Yeaaaaaaah, that did not go over so well. Bug immediately woke up as the alcohol swab was being rubbed onto her legs. Then she preceded to squirm during the shots and that resulted in a huge knot on her right thigh. I am not looking forward to her 6 month checkup :(

Friday, December 18, 2009

Christmas at the Zoo

Every year the Columbus Zoo hosts a Wildlights at the Zoo event. It involves hundreds of Christmas lights, Santa, and tons of people, namely out of control children. Why did I think that it was a good idea to take both girls in the cold, in the middle of December to the Zoo? Oh, because I thought that it would be nice for our family to spend some time together. Don't get me wrong it was fun but there were so many people and I really cannot handle crowds. Now, about the wonderful lights,

Because of our family membership to the zoo, we were able to get in for free to the Wildlights event. When we finally got into the park I immediately put Bug into her pouch sling so that she would be warm and comfy while we walked around. BooBoo was so excited about all of the lights that it was kind of hard to keep her wrangled. She is very good about staying by our side in public places and this trip was no different after one warning.The lights were so cute, there were lights that looked like fish, frogs, even flamingos! BooBoo liked the penguin lights the best. Bug loved looking at the lights as well, but I think that is because she likes looking at lights in general right now.

We decided that we were only going to stay about an hour because we did not want the girls to get too cold. BooBoo was a little upset when we decided to leave but we stopped to eat after we left so she perked up at being able to have ice cream. J and I want to take the girls again next year but we decided that it will be at the end of November and we will bring some extra warm clothes.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

I am now officially a married woman

That is right! J and I are officially married as of 12/14/ 2009. After trying to plan a wedding for 4 years we decided to just head to the local courthouse and get it over with. I honestly could not be happier. It was the shortest ceremony I have ever been part of (it literally lasted 2-3minutes), and it was nice because it was just the two of us and the judge. I am not a fan of being center stage in front of a large amount of people so the laidback setting was perfect for me.We are hoping to have a small renewal ceremony on our anniversary next December with just a few family and friends.

J and I have been together since October 2004 and we have been engaged since April 2005. So our getting married has been a long time coming. We had originally planned to get married at a little bed and breakfast, outside, in the winter. Then we changed our minds about an outdoor winter wedding. We then set our sights on the 20th Century Theatre in Cincinnati, OH. We both love music and movies so we thought that a movie-themed wedding would be awesome. But we just never managed to save up the money to have our wedding there. Then I believe we discussed Vegas and New York as possible locations for just the two of us to go and get hitched. But none of these were in the cards for us.

I am just glad that we can now call each other husband and wife and it be legit. We have considered ourselves married for so long that now that we are married it feels no different. I will keep you updated on whether or not I feel married finally.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Bug's First Concert

J and I are band geeks, that is all there is to it I have played the flute for 13 years and J has played trumpet for 15. We both love music, even marching band music which is how we met. We met my freshman year of college during band camp because we were both members of the marching band. And yes, we receive a lot of "one time at band camp" jokes. I actually marched while pregnant with BooBoo. Now that we are alumni of our university we like to return for their Christmas and spring concerts. BooBoo has been to many concerts on campus and we were excited to take Bug to her first Christmas concert. It was a great concert with many small groups and the university concert band and choir. The concert band performed a piece that my husband arranged himself. Bug actually seemed to enjoy the music, it was the sitting in the theater seats that she hated. Which is why she and I enjoyed the concert from the back, standing up. The next big concert is not until April so maybe Bug will enjoy that one more, guess we will see.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

I have like 30 posts to add.

So my computer is on it's last leg and the screen is half gone. I have, like, 30 posts from the middle of October until today to add plus pictures. Hopefully I'll get a new computer for Christmas but if not I will still try to update right after the new year. Maybe sooner. :) I have so much to write but it is really hard to do when I have to hold the laptop screen with one hand and type with the other. :( But I have not abandoned my blog. We're just having "technical difficulties".

Thursday, November 12, 2009

BooBoo's love/hate relationship with Chuck E. Cheese

My 3 1/2 year old, BooBoo has a love/hate relationship with Chuck E. Cheese. She loves the atmosphere, the games, the prizes, and the tokens. Everything a normal child loves about the establishment. She hates the ginormous mouse costume and the person in said ginormous mouse costume. Take for example BooBoo and Bug's cousin's birthday party...

My nephew turned 2 on Nov. 5th and my SIL and BIL thought that it would be a brilliant idea to have his birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. The only problem with this is that BooBoo is completely petrified of people in costumes. So there is a point during the birthday celebration where check E. comes out to sing the Happy Birthday song to the birthday child. J actually had to take BooBoo to play games while this happened. Then the idiot mouse had to walk through the restaurant and come up behind BooBoo to say hi to her. Big Mistake. She freaked out for a good 20 minutes. Now she wants to have her party there but only if Chuck E. is not there. Somebody help me. Lol.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Halloween 2009

Halloween was quite a treat this year. For BooBoo it was the first year that she really understood trick-or-treating and for Bug it was her 1st Halloween!

We decided to go to the Columbus Zoo & Aquarium for Boo at the Zoo. BooBoo loves to go look at all of the animals and she loves playing dress up so this was like killing two birds with one stone. In order to get BooBoo a costume she really loved wee hit all major retailers and a few Halloween stores. However, none of these places had what we or BooBoo were looking for. Finally we decided to look at Once Upon a Child b/c we often stop there and get the girls cute, gently used outfits for cheap. After looking through their costumes for almost 45 minutes we hit the jackpot. BooBoo found a sparkly, pink-and-purple princess dress! The little sweetheart could not wait to get home and try her new dress on. And she wore it for almost a week straight! Here are a couple of pictures of her dress and her in it:


Bug was a little harder to find a costume for. Every time we found a costume we thought she would look adorable in, it did not come in her size. Even the bunting costumes would be sold out o her size. Eventually we decided on a glow-in-the-dark skeleton onesie. We paired that with little white pants and socks. Unfortunately she slept the entire time in her sling so this is the only picture we have of her:

I am so looking forward to next Halloween and what costumes we can come up with for the girls. BooBoo will most likely pick her own costume again, but Bug 's costume J and I will have to deicde on ourselves. But that is a battle better saved for later.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

I really need to expand my diaper stash

I have decided that it is time to expand the fluff. Bug is currently being outfitted with a dozen infant prefolds, two Thirsties Duo Wraps, one Thirsties v2.0 diaper cover, and a Bumgenius 3.0 with fleece. Oh, and a Wiggle Worm Bottoms Miami Dolphins cover. Now, while this works well at the moment, I really want to try out some new fluff.

I am always reading the reviews of other moms and this just fuels my need to try what else is out there. Kissaluvs, Fuzzi Bunz, Rumparooz, Goodmamas, Softbums, Smartipants, Bummis, Happy Heinys, more Thirsties products, more Bumgenius products, and even more. The fun colors and prints just seem to call my name. I want to try them all at least once but my budget does not feel the same way. So it is on to giveaways but sadly, I have not won anything yet :( Fingers crossed that I'll win something soon. But if the giveaways do not go in my favor I can wait until Christmas. The in-laws have started a "fluff fund" for Bug because they all love the fact that we are doing something that not only saves money in the long run but also is healthier.

I plan to try as many different cloth diapers on Bug as I can. I want to be able to give my opinion to other moms when they ask me what diapers I like best or how I feel about a certain diaper. While I feel that I will never fully quench my cloth diaper thirst, I hope that my cloth diaper journey will at least expand my knowledge and stash.

Guilty

Yes, you read that right; I'm guilty. But of what? I am guilty of not putting my girls on a regular daily schedule and sticking to it. Now, I know what you're thinking, "Big deal, there are worse things to be guilty of." But everytime I read a parenting magazine or listen to someone else describe their day they always mention how important having your children on a regular schedule is. Now that's not to say I haven't tried, because I have.

I think the reason J and I have so much trouble getting BooBoo to follow a schedule/routine is because when we had her, we were both still full-time college students. I was a Sophomore and J was a Junior. We had classes early in the morning and late at night. We could not even put together a regular schedule for ourselves. Granted, I was out of school for the first five and a half months of BooBoo's life but as soon as we got a routine down it was right back to the chaos of classes. Trying to maintain a routine got pushed to the wayside.

Fast forward three years and here we are today. A new apartment and a new baby sister. I just started back to work two days a week at seven hours each day. J and I have arranged our work schedules so that the girls do not need to be placed in daycare. (Not that I have anything against daycare, because BooBoo was in daycare for a year). It is just nicer to be home with them everyday. Since one of us is home everyday I think it will be easier for BooBoo to fall into a routine. I would love to eventually be one of those moms who can say, "Well, BooBoo gets up at this time and then she does this, and this, and tisand then she goes to bed". I have to sit back and laugh at times because even though BooBoo does not have a routine, she is a remarkable little girl. She has an imagination that could make authors and playwrights jealous. She can also remember everything (well, almost everything) that she hears. So I try not to worry too much about if I am scarring her for life by not having a regular routine.

So, what have I learned in my 3 1/2 years as a parent? I have learned that while research and parenting magazine have good intentions for the development of our children, we have to remember that life will get in the way. There will be days when staying in the house in your pajamas is all that you will do. There will be those overnights at the grandparents (or any family member) where nothing is routine. :) You just have to try to go with the flow and work through these "roadblocks".Oh, and remember to breathe!

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Bug is getting bigger!

Ugh, I have been so bad about updating the blog. But in my defense, I have been getting ready to go back to work and my computer only wants to work about half of the time. So let's get to updating!

Bug had her two month checkup yesterday. She weighed 10lbs exactly and was 22.8 inches long. So she has gained 3lbs since she was born and grown almost 4 inches. She is getting so big and it just amazes me. She finally started smiling for me. She has been smiling for everyone else for weeks now but for mommy it has only been a few days. I think she just likes to torment me :) In other Bug news, she is really enjoying being a cloth diaper baby. We had to use sposies a couple of times because we ran out of cloth while I was doing laundry and the poor thing cried until I put a clean and warm prefold and cover on her. I just wish I would have used cloth with BooBoo.

J and I decided that we want to homeschool the girls. Since Booboo is 3 1/2, we have been working in preschool workbooks. Plus, we go to storytime at the library and she gets to pick out a few new books each week to read at home with mommy. She already loves reading ad I cannot wait until she can read because then she can read to mommy. She is so much fun to be around because she is always recting scenes from books and movies. I really think that she may have a future in theatre since she is already is my little actress.

Monday, September 14, 2009

A Birthday Trip to the Zoo and Frozen Custard

So yesterday (9/13) was the fiance (who will now go by J)'s 25th birthday. BooBoo sang Happy Birthday to daddy as soon as she woke up. It was super cute because normally she is very cranky when she wakes up! We went to the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium with our best friends and their daughter. I felt this was a great way to spend a birthday. I think J just enjoys the way BooBoo's face lights up at the sight of all the animals. She was very excited today because she got to see Dora! Bug spent almost the whole day sleeping in the Peanut Shell and the stroller. Bug definitely enjoys the sling more and slept very peacefully in it.

After the zoo we headed over to Culver's for frozen custard. J got a banana split and a butterburger, BooBoo got a small sundae with Oreo pieces and I got the most amazing pumpkin shake. It was like liquid pumpkin pie and I LOVE pumpkin pie! It was such a nice way to end the day with our friends.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

I want to win 6 new "fluffy" products!!!

So I'll be the first to admit that I've become a little addicted to entering cloth diaper giveaways. But who doesn't love the chance to win free fluff? So I was very excited when I learned that The Cloth Diaper Whisperer is giving readers the chance to win 6 new "fluffy" products being revealed at the ABC show in Vegas. And the best part is that it could not be easier to enter to win. All you need to do is head to The Cloth Diaper Whisperer @ http://www.theclothdiaperwhisperer.com/ and follow the rules of entering their "Vegas Contest". Contest ends September 17 @ 8pm est. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for some free fluffy goodness!

Friday, September 11, 2009

Simply Amazing

Wow. That is all I can say about my girls. They amaze me everyday.

Bug has managed to roll herself to her back 3-4 different times this week during her tummy time. She starts to cry and when I look over she reminds me of a turtle stuck on its back. I cannot believe that she is only a month and can roll onto her back. She also does so well with her neck control that Daddy thinks she's going to be a natural in sports.

BooBoo is always so excited about learning that Daddy and I bought a couple of preschool workbooks to do with her. She can already count to 30 when she sees the numbers written down but we're working on reciting from memory now. We ahve also been learning the alphabet. BooBoo prefers to sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and Hush Little Baby rather than the Alphabet song. She is such a drama queen sometimes and I think that will grow up to be an actress. She may not know her alphabet yet but she can act out scenes from movies by memory.

Now it's time to get back to the girls, BooBoo is trying to wake Bug up from her nap as usual :)

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

No two birth stories are ever alike

I constantly read how every child has a completely unique birth story. However, I did not realize how true this was until my second daughter was born.

With Grace Ann (aka BooBoo), I didn't even realize I was in labor until my water broke. BooBoo put me on bedrest at 6 1/2 months due to contractions that had me already dilating. Then when the doctor finally gave me the ok to get up and get things moving, BooBoo decided to arrive fashionably late.

What I believe set labor in motion was having to stand for 1 1/2 hours in line at Red Lobster b/c no one could give up their seat for the extremely pregnant woman and b/c someone else said that they were us and took our table for 6. Come on, seriously? It amazes me how rude people can be. Anyways...That same weekend the fiance and I took a 2 1/2 hour car ride down to visit my family. When we got back the next evening I was feeling icky but I just assumed it was from the car ride.

At 1am on Monday, March 6, 2006, I woke up with what I thought was a stomachache. I got a glass of water and went back to bed. Then at 2am I awoke with a start b/c of wetness all around me. I actually thought that I had peed the bed before I realized that my water broke (with meconium in it)! So after yelling at the fiance to wake up b/c it was time, we headed to the hospital.
(the best part about this was that I had an appointment set for that morning with my ob/gyn to set an inducement date)

At 10am I was in so much pain that I finally agreed to the epidural that I had not planned on due to my ginormous fear of needles. Finally a few hours later when I was finally dilated 10cm I started to push. For 2 hours I pushed before the ob/gyn decided that BooBoo was not going to budge from her spot in my left hip. So the ob/gyn decided that we were going to have to do an emergency c-section (thank goodness I got the epidural). So at 5:03pm, BooBoo was born weighing 9lbs, 4oz and measuring 20 3/4 in.

Right after the c-section they knocked me out and moved me to the recovery room. I at least got to see BooBoo for a couple of seconds after they had cleaned her up. She was so beautiful that I couldn't help but cry. B/c I was so out of it from the drugs I didn't even get to feed BooBoo in the first hour. Breastfeeding and my recovery were both very painful but thankfully nursing got easier.

With Brynley Eleanor (aka Bug), things were so much easier. The ob/gyn and I scheduled my repeat c-section for 38 weeks. On Wednesday, August 5, 2009, I went in at 5:30am to get prepped for my c-section. At 7:30am I was wheeled into the operating room to receive my spinal and have my baby. I had to hold the nurse's hand while getting the spinal and I felt bad b/c I squeezed it so hard! But she was really nice about it which helped calm me down. After getting my spinal and getting prepped on the table, the fiance was allowed to come into the room. I was completely awake throughout the entire process. When they pulled Bug out and I heard that first cry I automatically started to bawl. When the doctor held her over the curtain and I saw her little face I cried harder. Bug was born at 7:54 am weighing 6lbs 15oz and measuring 19in.

Thankfully this time they did not knock me out after so I had the opportunity to nurse Bug within her first hour of life. I had a much smoother recovery in the hospital with Bug than I did with BooBoo. I was practically dragging the nurse own the hallway on my walks. I am still so glad that I was awake for so much.

So I think the biggest difference between BooBoo and Bug's births was their size. BooBoo was about 2 1/2lbs bigger than Bug which makes Bug seem so tiny all the time. As different as their births were I am just so glad that they were both healthy
.