Merry Christmas!

I miss you Dad

Today has been a hard day. I was feeding Vree and listening to some Christmas music when the song "The Chrismas Song" by Nat King Cole came on. For some reason this made me think of my Dad. I guess the idea that my dad would never meet my baby girl had been pushed out of my head but all the sudden it came flooding in, all at once. My dad will never hold her, never coo at her, never say he is a proud Grandpa of a new baby girl. He will just be "mom's dad who died before I was born". She won't learn funny things from him like how to tie a noose (ok so I really don't want her to learn that but my dad taught Jordan for some weird reason!). She won't color with him or learn things about cars from him. She won't be excited to visit him and be spoiled by him. I am thankful for the grandparents she has.

He would have liked her alot. I know he would have loved her but he would have really liked her too. She kinda reminds me of him, she's always has a shi# eating grin on her face, like she has something really funny to say. And when she is looking and concentrating on something, she does this thing with her mouth that he used to do. He would have liked her. I miss him. Merry Christmas Dad.

Merry Christmas!

Hey all, I know it's been awhile since I lasted posted but I have been VERY busy with work. There have been few weeks when I haven't worked overtime. Things here are doing well. Avery has become a pro at eating food, she cleans off the spoon and really likes apples. She has also been working hard to sit up. She can do it for about 2 minutes without help but then she falls over. And ever since she learned she could sit up, she doesn't care much for laying on the floor and playing!

We finally got picture of her with Santa. We were very happy that she smiled for the pictures. I was afraid she was going to be afraid of him but she didn't seem phased.

I'm pretty sad we aren't going back to MN or SD for Christmas but we just couldn't work it out. I'm hoping that we can visit some time in January or February.

Hope your Christmas is fantastic!

Swaddle no more!

We decided on Monday that enough was enough! We started swaddling her from birth, the hospital teaches you. We never stopped, or actually, we didn't know HOW to stop. She slept so nice wrapped up tight...why would we risk ruining her 12 hours of sleep per night!? Even her pediatrician said "if it's not broken, don't fix it" and gave us the ok to swaddle her till she was good at rolling (she could suffocate herself is she rolled over swaddled).

Well, the last time my mom was here she babysat so we could go on a date. She could NOT swaddle Avy as tight as we can, heck, no one can! Also, it's impossible for her to fall asleep away from home, she would startle herself awake because she couldn't control the reflexes and wasn't used her her hands being free. And I was tired of fighting with her at night, getting her into the swaddle. So on Monday we decided to stop swaddling her, cold turkey. Night one was alittle rough. She was asleep when I put her down so that wasn't too bad. She did wake up a few times for a couple minutes crying. But at about 12:30am she started screaming bloody murder and did so for about 25 minutes! I knew she was ok, but it was so hard to not go and get her. She has done progressively better with each passing night. She still wakes up, cries for 1-3 minutes and falls back to sleep. All in all, it seems to be successful so far!

Baby firsts!

She went to her 4 month doctor appointment on Monday. She is a tank! Weighing in at 16lbs 8oz and is 26 inches long...so at least her weight and height are both in the 95th percentile. She got her second set of immunizations and cried just as hard as the first time:-( I, however, did not cry this time because I knew what to expect! But seriously, do they need to shove a 1 1/2 inch needle ALL the way into her leg?! Well during the appointment we were given the ok to give her food which was pretty exciting! We started off with cereal and she is ok with it one day and the next she wants nothing to do with it. We gave her some squash on Saturday and today and she seems to like it! I made my own sweet potatoes and squash, it's way cheaper than buying it and it's SO easy!

She also rolled over for the first time today! It was so exciting! The first video I took I produced an ear piercing screech because I was so excited, so I am NOT posting that one. I took video of the second one. She did cry but it was because she farted right as she rolled so I think it scared her...I laughed because she farted, not because she cried!!

Bits and Pieces

Halloween was pretty uneventful, I didn't even dress Avery up...it's too hot here and the only costumes that really fit were bunting bags. I just got her a cute little halloween outfit.



She is still very close to rolling over but hasn't done it yet. She throws her legs over and rocks back and forth and you can tell she really WANTS to roll! She even gets mad because she can't! She has rolled on softer surfaces like the couch and the bed but that's because there was a bit of an advantage with us sitting and creating a slant.

She has started giggling which just cracks me up! I love it:-) She sounds like she really wants to laugh really hard she just can't figure out how. She is also grasping at toys and pulling at things. She likes bringing everything to her mouth. She likes to play with her feet too, seems like she is finding her body parts.


We are trying to figure out a time to head to MN and SD for the holidays but all the tickets are so much! We might just decide to come back in January when tickets are less money and the airports are less congested! All the H1N1 cases are freaking me out so being in a full airport sounds like a giant petri dish of disease!

I am almost an aunt again:-) Mandi is due any day now and is very sick of being pregnant (I remember that well!). I'm very excited to meet my new nephew and to learn his name:-)

Lastly, I decided to get a tattoo! I was going to get Avery's name but decided that was too "obvious". I did some research and figured out that each month of the year has a birth flower along with a birthstone. July's birth flower is a water lily, which is pretty much a lotus flower, and since July's birthstone is a ruby I got a red lotus flower. That sucker hurt! I can't have many more kids! LOL!

Back to work

So today ends my first week back to work. It was an ok week, not great, not terrible, just ok. Monday was the hardest. Shawn took Avy to the sitter and I just about cried when he walked out the door. Someone else was going to care for my child ALL day. I didn't like it at all but I guess that's the reality of a two income family. Unless of course we want to foreclose and have our cars repossessed! ;-) Avy is only spending about 6 hours at the sitter's each day, which makes me feel alittle better. I just don't want her to be raised by someone else! And I'm hoping that most weeks she'll only be there for four days, thank goodness for a flexible schedule. There will of course be weeks when she will be there for more than 6 hours and for 5 days of the week but I'm hoping those days are far and few between. And next weeks she will only be there for 3 days because my mom is going to be here and will watch her on Monday and Thursday! YAY!

Avy seems to like the sitter, she is never upset when I pick her up and she eats well. She does however seem to be pretty tired. The lady watches one other little boy who is 2 and her own son who is 11 months. So the noise levels in that home are alittle higher than here! I think it's hard for her to nap, she'll get used to it though. She has been a little stinker when it comes to napping anyway, she will usually only nap 2-3 times per day for, at the most, 35 minutes. I long for the days when she napped for a solid 3 hours! Her napping, or lack of napping, has made for a crabby baby girl! I hope she goes back to napping somewhat longer but who knows!