Let's see...

I can't believe how hectic it has been since July and the summer class followed almost immediately by the normal college school year beginning.

With some bit of routine back in my life I finally rememebered that I had started a blog!  Oh....Em.....Gee....When was the last time I saw this thing?!?  That long ago huh?  Yah, that seems about right.  Well, Alyssa is now 9--yes NINE months old and wow hasn't she gotten big??

She has gotten into everything within reach and that means we have almost less than no time between "GOOD MORNING" and "Sweet Dreams".  I have fallen in love with her each and every morning.  She is such a sweet and loving baby.  She gives 'hugs' which is actually gently touching her forehead to yours briefly.  She gives kissies by opening her mouth and leaning forward to your puckered lips.  She smiles at you when you coming into her room after naptime and has taught Momma how to change a diaper while she kneels.  (Oh yes, that is a new and common practice this week....*sigh*)

She is my world and somedays that world feels pretty narrow, then I realize how awful I feel about that feeling and it is hard.  Facing motherhood hasn't been all smiles.  Even the easiest of days with my daughter can feel smothering.  That rips me apart every time I think about it.  Thankfully, I have the most amazing man supporting me.  He has a full time job, does online schooling, and still finds time between house upkeep and time with our daughter to be my shoulder, my date, my love.

Alyssa loves spending time with her Papa.  She crawls all over him, chews on his watch, and slobbers all over him as she gives kissies to him.  They always have such fun talking with each other and Alyssa always enjoys her bedtime storytime with Papa!  He is involved in almost every part of her life and never backs down from the adventure.

We are excited for all the firsts coming up!  Halloween and the trick-or-treating (for Unicef), Thanksgiving and then Christmas!  Of course the event of our year will be her FIRST BIRTHDAY!!  ...and yes, I have already begun planning...well 'window' planning I suppose.  Looking at cakes, getting ideas for presents, and lettign family and friends know that it will be on her birthday (a Thursday) and we hope they can make it but understand if they can't.

She has been eating off of the adult plates for the last month or so without allowing us even a spoonful of baby food past her lips.  She won't take mush foods unless it is mashed potatoes right now.  Oh well...  She certainly enjoys eating what Momma and Papa eat!  Such a big girl!!  I can't wait to share pictures with everyone from her 9 month picture session!

Snuggles for Independence!

Our 4th of July celebrations were held at my family's lake cabin.  The fireworks were amazing, in fact the best at our cabin in many years.  My husband is a bit of a pyro and so he set up a wonderful show for everyone.  Alyssa wanted to sleep at her normal time of course but I couldn't have her back in the bunkhouse when everyone was down by the lake watching loud explosives.  So I wrapped her up really well (it wasn't cold but it certainly was a bug filled night), and we went down to the deck.  We joined my family for the show and Alyssa loved the colors.  She couldn't tear her eyes away from the fountains at the end of the docks.  She looked in awe of the sparks, then Papa set off one of those screaming whistle type fireworks and the lip came out.

I love the slow motion lip!  You all know it...the lip sticks out, the eyes narrow in a glare then suddenly widen with wetness glistening in them and then the lip disappears behind the chin as she starts to cry out loud.  The facial transformation is too adorable to not feel bad and want to laugh at the same time.

Other than the whistling ones, she was great!  She watched the fireworks intently and as she got too sleepy, she wanted nothing more than to snuggle with her Momma and hide from the loud noises that wouldn't let her drift off completely.  She stared at the sky as the colors burst above her and fell asleep regardless of the booms.  She did wake up and cry once for the only other whistler in our set but went directly back to sleep.  What a Goose!

I absolutely cry for chances at real snuggles initiated by her and last night I FINALLY got a completely baby initiated and desired snuggle!!!  I've waited for over a year for that...I dreamt of it from my pregnancy and wanted to stay down on the lakeside all night to keep them coming!

I hope everyone else's 4th of July was as awesome as mine!

We begin the 1/2!

Alyssa is now 1/2 years old.....SIX MONTHS?!?!  No freaking way!  I swear I was sitting on those beloved witch hazel pads a mere couple weeks ago!  Okay, so it was about 5 months ago (yah...ask me about recovery! hahaha)

We have had so many things happen in the last month!  Alyssa is right on track for development by all the paces set  via internet research.  She has two (TWO) teeth and of course these came literally 2 days apart from eachother.  Wow was that fun!  I was ready to cry with her after her second day of just being plain testy when she didn't have a bottle in her mouth.  All I can say from that experience is that Teething Tablets are my most beloved possession during teething!

Beyond the teething development we have been rolling and moving and spinning and propping ourselves up on tummy time.  She wants so badly to make her way across the floor to whatever catches her eye and that sure does frustrate her quickly!  She is getting very close.  It is endlessly amusing to watch her put her head down, pull her feet forward and then try to jump forward a bit.  Of course she MIGHT make it an inch further that way but hey, we're trying...  This last week we achieved one span of time sitting not supported by anyone but her very own arms.  Documented by a quick scramble for the cell phone camera means that I don't have a picture online for my readers but I promise to catch it with the real camera as soon as she wants to prove to us again that she CAN sit.  Ah the whims of my baby girl!

We had a fun time yesterday working with L.O.V. Photographer, Kala Stroh for 6 month pictures and as soon as I get them I'll throw a few favorites up here to oogle.  I can hardly wait because we had an adorable photo-op for the postcard of 4th of July and I truly hope it turned out!

Working on foods still.  She mostly wants to play with the spoon and drink her bottles so we never get as far as I wanted to with the meal but hey, progress only requires forward movement, not leaps...

Clearly I'm not keeping up with this blog as well as I'd hoped or intended when it began but I hope to improve as my fall semester will begin in August.  Right now I am in a fairly intense summer session (4-5weeks to do what normally would be done in 16 weeks...yes pity me).  So I will be posting a few pictures soon and then hopefully my posts will increase as the year stretches on.

5 Months and New Experiences

Our little girl is growing by leaps and bounds and I seriously swear that I just wrote my last post to this only a few days ago but a month has somehow passed in that time...

I can hardly believe how much has changed in the last month with Alyssa.  She is so close to sitting all by herself.  She smiles and talks and loves anything that plays music.  She tries so hard to control her bottles when they leave her mouth but as soon as she is being fed she forgets the importance of holding it  (we'll keep working on it).  She rolls over every time she is on the floor or in her crib.  She even decided to sleep on her tummy a few times (meaning we weren't given a choice because she kept rolling over after getting her nuk back).  She has pretty good control over grabbing.  She loves playing with rattles, bell toys, and her elephant blankie.  We have been having loads of fun in the jumping play station here and there.  She loves being outside in nice weather in the shade but still prefers being held up to look around instead of sitting around out there.

And on Alyssa's 5 month 'birthday' we decided to give her a new experience.  Carrots were on the menu last night!  She was unsure about them at first but just look at the picture I snapped at the end.  "Can I lick the bowl, Papa??"

My Digital Camera's Story....

Four months ago you would have been shocked at what was happening...NOT THAT PART!!!

Yes, only four short months ago my husband and I were frantically running into Walmart to purchase a brand new digital camera!  (Did you not expect this type of story?  It gets better!)  I was waddling because I was 5 days past my due date and Alyssa was just hanging out as content as could be.  After threatening her that morning for the hundredth time in the last five days that I was going to send the doctor in after her, we grabbed all the bags, tossed them in the car, fed the dogs and cats extra early and then tested the camera.

We are clearly last minute...and of course what better time for a camera to go wrong when you are about to have your very first baby born?  So with less than half an hour before we should have been at the hospital we decided that we would rather be late to our induction than to not have a camera for this event.  At 6:30am we hoped that it would be a super fast trip and maybe only end up 5-10minutes late.  Go ahead, laugh your common sense heart out at me because I know you all realize what I was too sleepy to think of that morning.

6:30am at Walmart looking for a digital camera on December 30th....Customer service representatives were nowhere to be found, the cameras were obviously locked up and it was December 30th.  So many of the models that we liked were out of stock from those last minute Christmas gifts.  Finally we tracked down an associate with keys, selected a very nice digital camera and I ran to grab a box of poptarts and we hit the road to make record time across town to the hospital that was only blocks from our house in the first place.  Looking back, it is a very good thing that we were on our way for an induction instead of running to the car in labor...

Now, over 1,000 pictures later, my little baby is FOUR MONTHS OLD!  Can I curl up on the couch and bawl while I watch her napping in her bouncer??

Time Flies, not always from fun...

There were so many things happening this month.  Time has truly escaped me.  I went back to work in March but only really began picking up shifts this month.  We had some travel for some family medical issues and honestly the whole month so far has been crazy busy.

I don't believe this is normal but I am more exhausted these last few days than any of my pregnancy or the weeks after where Alyssa was keeping us up all hours of the night for feedings.  She sleeps through the night, her papa has been taking many morning feedings so that I could try to get some rest and still I am dragging at any time of day.  I even went to bed before 10pm one night--this has not happened since junior high!

The issues between my parents are far from resolved and I still get overwhelmed by it but it is improving.  The winding road will keep stretching out ahead of us and someday we will see where it leads.  I would love to have powers to see where life takes us at the same time as I wouldn't wish it upon my worst enemy.  To know what happens without any ability to change it or appreciate the surprise could be a curse worse than any punishment given by the Greek and Roman gods.

Alyssa, despite my desperate wish to keep her small, has continued to grow.  Can you believe that at less than 4 months she is already in 6-9month clothing?!?!  It hurts to even say that but I am a proud Momma who loves to dress up her beautiful little daughter.  I promise to post lots of recent pictures soon!!  Maybe even some pictures of a messy little girl enjoying a bowl of cereal!  I could never have imagined how honest people are when they say that kids grow up so fast.  There is NOTHING to show anyone how fast time can fly other than their very own baby growing faster than what should be possible.

Join us again soon for some exploits of cereal feeding!

I love junk mail!

Never leave junk mail unopened!  It is really only a few extra seconds a day to open that random piece of mail and sometimes you may just be surprised what they sent you...

Today there was a letter from our local paper.  We cancelled our subscription over a year ago and they have sent us umpteen letters asking us to renew our subscription.  If I hadn't opened the letter today because I completely assumed that this was the same letter we have received before, I would not have gotten the FREE DOLLAR!  Yup, they sent me one whole dollar as a gift.  Of course they would like me to participate in a short, one page survey but the dollar is 'mine to keep'.

Like I said, NEVER leave junk mail unopened!!

Naptime!

Naptime in my house, it runs approximately 9am-10:30am.  I love naptime!  My dogs, cats and baby all snuggle down to snooze.  So the real question is WHY AM I AWAKE?!?  My baby might sleep through the night now but I still frequently wake up in the middle of the night.  Sometimes it is to use the bathroom, other times it may be due to a noise in the house, and on occassion, it is just to lie there listening to her breathing over the monitor.

I don't nap during naptime.  I have only tried a handful of times and each time there was an incredibly shortened nap.  So what do I do during naptime?  I catch my breath, work on our business, get bottles prepared, and attempt to shower and put myself together.  Today, I am blogging.  I am exhausted today and I am stupidly sitting here on my blog complaining about it.  Wanna know why?  Well I'm going to tell you anyways.  I was laying on the couch next to my baby in her bouncer.  She was fighting her nap so I began bouncing for her.  She slept, I stopped the bouncing, she woke up.  Okay, rinse and repeat!

I love naptime....someday I might get to participate in it, right?

A Long Road

If you all remember a post from a little while back titled "My Week", you will remember that I received news of my mom having moved out of the family house.  It took much less time than I thought it might, and to be honest I wasn't sure it would happen at all, but Mom and Dad are back in the same house and working together to make this better!

I am thrilled to be able to watch my parents being happy together and for the first time that I can recall, living and sharing the same life instead of two lives being lived in one house.

Easter was a horrifying thought this year for me as I was being haunted with thoughts of choosing where to go.  Mere days before Easter, my mom told my papa to come home.  They are working so hard to get to a place where they are equal partners in their marriage.  Papa is making sure that there is nothing in the way of time with Mom.  He is helping around the house, sharing the bills responsibility, and spending quality family time with the kids as well.  Mom is making certain to try harder to not keep quiet when she is hurting or upset over something.  She has voiced complaints and he has listened, truly listened.

I just wanted to thank you all for the thoughts during that tough time for my family.  If you don't mind, I'd truly appreciate continued support for my parents, siblings and us.  I am very hopeful that everything will progress towards the better situation that we currently see on the horizon.

Movies

I know everyone has different tastes, preferences and some just plain don't watch 'em.  So bear in mind as I tell you that anyone, and I mean ANYONE who has an inch of open mind, should watch the movie that my friend Dave brought over to distract me.

Look back at "My Week" and you will see why he was aiming to distract me.  Tuesday after I found out my parents had seperated, Dave came over with a movie titled Man From Earth.  My buddy knew just what would work for me and I will remember it forever.  This movie was so incredibly intriguing.  I became so absorbed in the theories that it provided an immediate escape from the stress of the day before.

Now, I'll be honest, anyone who cannot tolerate alternate religious ideas or different interpretations of the Bible, will not care for this movie.  Anyone who is a biblical literalist will likely wish to burn this dvd straight from the player.  But, I loved it!  It did not offend me in any way and if you are able to discuss religion and science with anyone in either extremes or middle ground areas, you will likely enjoy the new take that it brings.  I could hardly believe that the time the movie actually takes had elapsed at the end.  It went so far beyond any other movie I have watched that I could hardly pull away.

I would like you to watch this movie.  Enjoy it as much as I did or at least enjoy yelling at it if that is your preference...!  Either way it is worth the time.  It is available via Netflix or probably available on Blockbuster.  I purchased it through Barnes & Noble and it is also on Best Buy's site.

Chewable Jewelry

Yes, I said "chewable jewelry".  Momma now sports a gnawable necklace and has a matching bracelet.

This cool new idea comes to us from a family dentist who went looking for a teether for her own baby.  Instead of finding a suitable teether on the market, she ended up making these and the rest of us should all thank her!

I saw this item being reviewed on one of the blogs I follow and was intrigued.  I was actually thrilled to find something so perfect for the on-the-go family.  Alyssa is just beginning to really chomp down on things but she is so young that she hasn't got the ability to hold something in her mouth herself yet.  What better way to help her feel better than holding those big bulky teethers in her mouth that barely fit?  Hmmmm....How about finding something that actually fits in her little mouth to chew away on??  Yah, this is where these Chewable Jewels come in to play.

I bought my combo set and waited for its arrival.  I was pretty excited when the envelope came.  I ripped into the package and pulled out the necklace.  Of course timing was awful and I had to go to work right then or risk being late.  When I got home that night I hugged my daughter (it was my first day back to work so I really really missed her!) and then we washed the new accessories.  As we sat down to snuggle she was chomping away on her nuk so I pulled a switch and gave her the rectangular necklace.  At first she pulled a face and stuck out her tongue pushing the necklace with it.  I was a bit disappointed but I wasn't giving up after one face!  The second time she bit down on it she didn't reject it.  She started to chew lightly on it and then of course she switched to using it like a pacifier.

So she hasn't quite gotten the hang of continual chewing...oh well!  We have a teether that she can nom away on that fits her mouth!  The bracelet was the next test and it fits her mouth even better than the necklace.  I think that it will work even better when she is beginning to hold things for herself

And in case you were wondering....They don't look half bad!! 

3 Months!!

When did a few blinks allow THREE MONTHS to pass?!?  It shouldn't be allowed to pass so quickly!

My little girl!  8lbs 4.8oz, 20" long and her big head...and all of her has just kept growing!

She is now over 15 1/2lbs, over 24" and her head is still big.  She keeps getting more adorable!

Watching her learn and grow is the most amazing thing I have ever experienced.  To see you baby smile on purpose after so many days and nights of reflexive smiles only brings tears of excitement.  Having her prefering Momma to whoever is holding her at the family function makes your heart silently soar.  Seeing her discover that kicking makes the bouncer bounce and watching the joy on her face is probably more fun than she has bouncing.  She sleeps through the night and Momma has gotten her ability to sleep through the night again finally!

Three months are not near as long as they used to be and that excites me as well as terrifies me.  I want every moment I can have to snuggle my baby girl.  I want to enjoy the time where she still can't move without me.  I also look forward to helping her learn crawling and then walking.  I want to see new tricks that she discovers like holding toys (and my most desired--controlling her own nuk!).

Her three month pictures were taken by a very talented friend who has just recently started up her photography business.  All the pictures in my brag post before this one were taken by Kala S.  You should all check out her Facebook Fan Page!  L.O.V. Photography stands for Language of Vision and I couldn't be prouder of her!

I would like to brag for a moment!

Here are some of those pictures that I promised you! These fabulous pictures were taken by a friend who, as you can see, has amazing amounts of talent. Enjoy!

My baby girl loves her time with Papa! She and he share storytime right before bed nearly every night. With how much she talks during the books you would think she was the one telling the stories!

 

 

Momma gets playtime too!  And in case you were worried for my welfare with this position....We escaped without a need for a new outfit or shower!

We have a horse-addicted GodMother for our girl.  The cute horse blanket she is currently saddled on was a gift she got at the hospital the day after she was born.  She loves how soft it is and Papa loves giving her horsey rides that don't risk her breaking his back yet...

And I will leave you with one final picture:

My Week...

I realize that I haven't been on lately and really, its been a rough week.

I currently feel like a tiny little girl who has no control over anything.  This week my family has suffered a blow to the core.  My mom is staying at a friend's house and says she needs to 'find herself'.  My papa is devestated.  He is lost, hurt, confused, cautious and terrified.  He didn't do anything.  Mom isn't seeing someone else.  They have led seperate lives with only us kids as the common denominator for many years now.  This has been both of their faults for not trying hard enough or working hard enough on their relationship.

I am 23.  I have my husband and baby girl.  I have my own house in a different town.  I can 'escape' this for a few minutes a day and just dive into my life.  It may not last long but I have that option.  I do have two younger siblings however.  They are both still in school and live at home.  How incredibly hard this has been on me, I can't imagine how much worse it must be to actually SEE it.  I've heard the hurt in voices but they have watched the tears.

I may feel like a little girl in this situation, but my mother-instincts are on full alert watching for the slightest provocation to protect my siblings.  It has been very civil so far because this is a difficult situation but one without a very obvious blame game.  IF it turns into less than civil and it begins to affect them, I will step in.  Right now, I'm there for everyone.  My mom, my papa, my sister, my brother, my grandma....they all talk to me (well, my brother doesn't talk about it but that is him).  I am an ear for all of them.  It is a burden that I carry and have done so my whole life.  It may not be fair, it certainly is not easy sometimes, but I thank God for my husband.  He has been so silently supportive to me.  He lets me break down, he holds me and loves me and without him, I honestly have no idea how I would be handling this.  We are strong together and no matter the outcome in my family, life goes on and we will go on together.

Next week we have a heart surgery for his father.  We will be with at the hospital to support his mom and to be there for his father.  I am looking forward to having some great news of how well the surgery went and something wonderful to be able to dwell on.

With the health problems of his dad, the health issues my mom has (gal bladder surgery scheduled for later this April), massive sinus colds and sore throats hitting all of us (Chris, myself and finally my poor little Alyssa) and then my parents' new situation...I have been in a pretty dark place.  Thank God for the candles that light my life everyday!

Pictures to come...

I just wanted to jump on quickly and let everyone know that today we had 3 month pictures taken by a very talented friend who offered to come over to our house for them.  I can hardly wait for her to get them to me although it will be a few days because she is a (supermom) mother of 3 boys and in school for photography (I believe photo-journalism).

As soon as I get them and am done oogling them I will pick a few and show off Alyssa!

(Oh, if you are counting, yes Alyssa turns 3 months next Tuesday.  We took them a week early because of schedules.  Is that against the rules?  haha)

Blog Giveaways

I've noticed some drama over commercialized blogging lately.  Well, I make no money off of this blog right now.  If I did, THAT WOULD BE COOL!  I desperately want to replace my part-time retail income so that I can spend those hours that I exchange for pay at home with my baby girl.  I would love nothing more than to spend my days with Alyssa and not have to feel guilty over money.

As I am very new to the blogging world I don't know much about commercializing a blog but I sure do love the giveaways that seem to come with those blogs!  I am always on the lookout for good deals and fabulous products.  The newest giveaway I have discovered is on one of the blogs I follow.  The Deegan Daily is hosting a giveaway for a custom product.  Really, you need to look at both this blogger and the designer of the products.  They are both amazing women and very talented.  Take a look at the etsy shop of ShortyRed Designs and see just how awesome of a designer you'd be winning custom products from if you enter this giveaway!

Okay, you have your missions.  Now.....GO!

Happy Sunday ladies and gents!

There isn't much today except that I found the yummiest energy/snack bar EVER yesterday!  I urge you all to try them and before you get all worried about the cost of something you have never tried and aren't sure you will like....The products on the store have a 180day satisfaction guarantee.  Simply return what you didn't use (so likely 8 bars of the 9) and get a full refund.  I <3 these bars though!  You can find them at CK Shoppe in my favorite stores links.  They are called Chocolate Nut Rolls and are AMAZING!

Now I do feel like I must inform you, CK Shoppe is my husband's and my Amway business.  If you have family or you best friend that already sell Amway products, please support them.  As much as we would love your business, we do not want to 'steal' customers and certainly do not want to cause any problems between family and friends.

Periodically I will be posting about things that I have found and tried through our Amway business so feel free to ask me about products or else see who in your family may use/sell them also.  I am always trying new products and have already tried quite a few so if you begin browsing the site and have questions, comments, or concerns about anything, shoot me an e-mail.  Just address it to Katie or mention my blog (or you may get a response from Chris instead).  I will also post any un-advertised sales that we will personally be running from time to time for my readers/followers and respond via e-mail with whatever instructions are listed at the time.

For now, mommyhood calls!  Have a wonderful Sunday everyone!!

Addictions...

We all have our own...admit it!  I go through phases.  Right now?  Blogging...  When I was pregnant?  You couldn't pry me away from The Bump.  Facebook, oh yah, its even on my phone...  Beyond my computer?  My only addiction is really taking pictures of and snuggling my little girl.  When I pick up a book I read through it in a matter of hours (well, now it takes a couple days but hey, those pictures won't take themselves!).  Now don't try to pretend you are innocent of it all... Even my wonderful husband who makes fun of all my computer addictions has his own.

He has found a site that provides him days of amusement.  Maybe you are nerd enough to have seen this one as well?  Stumble Upon.....The site that when you click "Stumble" it will randomly select a featured site for you to play on.  You can narrow the stumbling to games, jokes, news, etc.  You customize what you want to pop up and there you go.  Who needs google anyhow?

Somedays we sit on the couch together each with our own laptops.  If I look over at his screen, inevitably he is bouncing between school assignments, bank statements, and some game he "stumbled" across.  I find it hilarious that he ever made fun of my 'bumping'.  At least that was an exchange of information....Okay, really it was a drama that I couldn't tear my eyes away from.  Truly the draw of any soap opera and TB is 24/7 people!

So what are your addictions?  What website can you hardly go a day without checking?  An hour?  Do you incessantly hit refresh?

Kozy Kids Diapers

I had to update everyone now that we have been using them for a few days now.  I really like these diapers!  She was pooping like crazy yesterday (3 dirty diapers compared to 1 in a day normally).  I was super impressed by how that brand held up to the mess.  Normally on days where she has more than 2 dirty diapers we usually have at least one of them being a blowout in Pampers.  I thought this was just normal and that I'd have to live with it.  So far I am thrilled with the limited outfits change required!

Well, off to work....Everyone have a wonderful day!!

Remember that Swing?

Proof that naps are a wonderful thing!!

My happy, rested baby wishes you all a wonderful afternoon!

The Mighty Swing

I bow to the great and mighty swing!

Fischer Price

Starting Monday, March 8th, Alyssa began sleeping through the night.  I will forever be thrilled with the ease and success that this happened with.  I still wake up in the middle of the night, habit I suppose...This really isn't a problem though because I am pretty good at falling back asleep.  What actually is so hard about this new schedule she has is that naps are essentially non-existant.  No, seriously!  She fights naps SO HARD!  This past week and half her naps have consisted of less than 20 minutes each.  This has made for a rather cranky afternoon little lady.

Yesterday, after about a month of bouncer preference we brought the swing back out.  A miracle happened....a nap, and not just a nap!  A blissful whole HOUR-long nap!!!  Momma had a happy, rested baby girl again.  Of course this caused some panic for me; she slept during the day...surely one hour wouldn't mess up her STTN right??

Our bedtime routine began about a half hour late last night.  9:30pm Papa had a pj-dressed girl in his arm in the glider with a storybook.  She doesn't fall asleep from books but likes to 'discuss' them sometimes.  She lays down in her crib awake with her seahorse and nuk and was asleep by 10pm.  Surely she won't stay asleep tonight.  Momma--bite your tongue!!  7:55am!!!!!!!!!!

We now have STTN and a naptime that gives me a chance to do laundry or shower, or blog (whatever needs to be done first clearly).

Can I get a HALLELUJAH?!

Pink Elephants

I feel I should make a small post just to explain the title of my blog.  When we found out we were expecting a little girl the pink started rolling in (not the least of which from my own shopping bags--oops)!  Well, as I started putting clothes away I noticed that all my favorite outfits had an elephant on them and the most adorable Carter's pj's EVER were just waiting to keep my baby warm.  My husband was teasing me about the elephant obsession I was quickly developing.  It seemed that everything I was picking up off the shelves had an elephant on it somewhere.  Alyssa even has a stuffed keepsake elephant that we bought her and had personalized for her, and yes, it is pink!

I must admit that I do not have her dressed in elephants every single day, or even most days.  I simply refuse to choose her favorite animal for her so she is not going to be overwhelmed with elephants of any color but for now, I will continue to adore our pink elephants.

Because I'm now a Mommy Blogger....

You all deserve to meet the little girl that will be the main focus of most of the upcoming posts.

This Monkey-watching girl is Alyssa.  My sweet and adorable (you don't have to tell me but I always welcome compliments on my baby) little girl who was born on December 30th, 2009.  She was born 8lbs 4oz and 20" long.  For those who don't want to do the math, she is 2 1/2 months old.  She sleeps through the night starting about a week and a half ago (you may hate and envy me now) and is generally a happy baby.  Her smiles are coming more regularly and I had to share my treasure snapshots with you!  She loves talking and laughing at that monkey on her bouncer...he gets more smiles than Papa and I combined!  Yes I am very jealous of a plastic monkey chime.

Where to Start.....

Oh yah, diapers!  Did everyone know that babies use them?  Who knew that someone so cute would sit in their own messes until the diaper rash makes them scream?

I just want everyone to know now that I don't let my little girl sit in a wet diaper for hours on end...and yet she still gets diaper rash and her whimpers make me want to sob for her.

So back to the diapers themselves.  Alyssa is 2 1/2 months old and we have spent an INSANE amount of money on disposable diapers.  Honestly I rarely consider the monetary savings of cloth mostly because we have enough laundry as is!  (And I ABHOR laundry!!!!)  So we have tried most brands of disposables out there.  Huggies and Pampers (in various styles) have sent me off to find a less expensive but still good brand to work with.  We have a package of Luvs based on my mom's recommendation and have yet to break into it.  The only reason we haven't gotten to the Luvs yet is because we just got a package via UPS yesterday.  DIAPERS--->Holy Bulk Shopping!!

We decided to try diapers from a brand that none of you have heard of...Kozy Kids.  It is only available via independent business owners who have partnered with Amway Global (ask around, you probably know some of these people--if not, ask me and I will hook you up).  This means you have to buy it online or through these people specifically.  We are in day 2 of Kozy Kids and I must say I was nervous to try a brand that was so unknown.  I mean really!  If they were good, wouldn't everyone be screaming the brand from every blog and mommy coffee house from here to the South Pole??  Well people, I'm here to start the screaming!

Alyssa got diaper rash two days ago in her Pampers and no matter the amount of Desitin used to avoid the pain of a wet or dirty diaper it got worse.  I never knew a diaper rash could get so dry that it would crack and if you have never seen a tinsy bit of blood on your sweet baby's bum, it will tear holes in your heart and you will be changing their diaper every half hour (wet or not) in hopes of helping them feel better!  When the diapers came yesterday I was a bit anxious over my sweet daughter's rash and how these diapers would handle the wet and her skin contact.  She didn't notice a difference in diapers (I don't blame her, it isn't often that we notice differences in toliets either...).  I, however, noticed that this diaper seems pretty much on par with the Pampers that I had been working with for over a month.  My original plan was to put her back in Pampers overnight for fear of having to wash bedding at 3am.  The plan changed when Papa put her to bed.  She slept from 9:30pm to 7:15am, uninteruppted and woke happily talking to her Fischer Price Seahorse.  The diaper was full-wet but her bum was comfortable or she would have been crying (trust me).  We will continue testing these diapers over the next few weeks and will let you know if we have any setbacks but it looks like we can all start shouting from our blogs on this one!

The Beginning

Okay world...
First, everyone please forgive my first foray into the blogging world! I will TRY to keep things under control and not drive everyone else to crazytown. I have read blogs since late in my pregnancy when my addiction (The Bump) was sending me to blogs for background stories on all my favorite Bumpies. I have found some amazing women through TB and more through blogs. Hopefully my attempts at blogging won't be a total flop. So here we go!