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.