A visit with Great-Grandma!

Today was a much better day than yesterday! I took Hannah to the doctor's this morning because of her ongoing constipation issues. It turns out everything is fine and she actually is improving! Not to be too graphic, but she had three "poo's" today!! Yay!
We came home from the pediatrician's office around 10:15, so I hurried and fed her a late breakfast (don't worry, she nursed before the appointment!) and got her ready for her morning nap...FAIL.
So, two days in a row she has NOT taken the normal two naps. For an HOUR AND TWENTY minutes I wrestled with her; rocking, singing, swaying, trying to let her cry it out...nothing was working. I was about to the point of banging my head off of the wall. She was clearly exhausted. Her little eyes were red and puffy from crying and she could barely keep them open from fatigue. She cried so hard she was hyperventilating. Ugh. FINALLY around noon, she did fall asleep in her crib for about an hour and a half. She didn't take her afternoon nap, however. So here it is 8:15 and she's tucked in bed and ready for the night. I am, too. Patrick woke us up this morning at 3:30AM wretching and vomiting, so I was up for an hour dealing with that. Hannah was also up early at five minutes to six. She did go back to sleep, but once again, I was up. So, I'm feeling a little sleepy this evening.
On a more positive note, my Dad spent the day with my Grandma and took all of us out to lunch!
We headed over to Vesuvio's (the Italian restaurant my relatives own) and had an amazing lunch! Hannah was really well-behaved and pleasant. Everyone loved her! (of course!) She LOVED to hear my Great Aunt Mary's Italian accent. She smiled and giggled and didn't take her eyes off of her! It was so cute!
After lunch, all of us headed back here for the afternoon. I got some great pictures of the action!
Looking up at Great-Grandma.

And back at Pap.

Great-Grandma was so happy to spend time with Hannah today!

The sun was so bright today (yay!) that the lighting isn't great in this picture, but Hannah's expression was so precious I had to post it!

All she wanted to do was walk with Pap!


...everywhere in the house!

She took a minute to sit with Great-Grandma...

...and then was off and running again!



And just because I'm a little goofy, I took a picture of one of the blueberry muffins I made for dessert. It just looked so pretty that I couldn't resist...haha!

Well, that about sums up our day today! I work tomorrow, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little nervous after what happened on Tuesday. **sigh**
I'm hoping the day goes smoothly and quickly until I get home with Micah and Hannah...and then time can slow down again!
Good night! ;)

...You win some...

...and today I definitely lost..:O(
Yesterday was such a great day, and today was just awful.
For starters, I just wasn't myself. I'm not feeling up to par, so I didn't feel like going to work this morning. I drug myself out of bed and managed to find something comfy to wear and off I went.
I was literally attacked by one of my students at work today. I have a few battle scars to prove it, including a bruise on my left breast, two welts/scratches on my forehead, and a sore scalp from all of the hair he pulled out.
I'm pretty sore and I'm still shook up from all of this, even though it happened almost 12 hours ago. It was nice to finally come home and be able to cry a little. I did well holding in my tears of humiliation. (I don't know why I feel like this, it's just not a good feeling to be attacked by a 20 year old kid.)
Hannah didn't take her afternoon nap today, so Micah and I spent a good part of the evening keeping her occupied and satisfied until bedtime.
Micah volunteered to make dinner since I had such a rotten day, so we had pasta and garlic bread while Hannah played in her walker.
I only took two pictures tonight, so I'll post those. She was chewing on her teething ring and I thought I'd be able to catch her in the act...FAIL. She never chews on the teether, so it was a rare opportunity for a cute picture, but I missed it! Sorry the quality is so poor. It wasn't the best lighting, I didn't have my camera settings right, and I'm just too emotionally distraught at this point to even care, lol.


Micah stopped and grabbed me a Butterfinger (my favorite candy bar!) on the way home because of my rough day, so I think I'm going to go and enjoy it with him. Here's hoping for a much more uneventful tomorrow!

What a GREAT day!

Hannah was literally the most perfect baby today. She slept in until 8:00, and was happy and pleasant for the entire day. We layed in my bed for a few minutes and played, and then ventured downstairs to start breakfast and play. I popped a sermon in the stereo and Hannah scurried around in her walker for a bit while I let Patrick out and fed him. I was able to make breakfast for both of us and tidy up a bit while she played.
After breakfast, we headed back upstairs for a bath. She absolutely loves playing in the tub and it's usually a wrestling match to try and get her out. Today she was enthralled with her washcloth and was not too pleased with me when I took it off of her to get her dried off. Imagine, a sopping wet washcloth in hand as I'm trying to dry her off. Needless to say, I won that one and she settled for her rubber ducky that I promptly dried off for her.
I had to snap a picture of her playing after her bath. I love the way her hair looks after it's been washed! All of the soft curls and "fly-aways" are so precious!


After a bath, I managed to get Hannah down for a nap without nursing her! This works out fine when my Mom or Micah are here with her, but I've never tried it. Micah and I are more than ready for another baby, and with me still breastfeeding, my chances of conceiving are lower. If we continue to be successful with naps, we will now be down to three nursing sessions a day, morning, before her afternoon nap, and right before bed. It's bittersweet for me. I don't want to start weaning her, but I know that if I do get pregnant, I'll have to wean her much faster then. I'd rather do it gradually which is why I'm starting now. I've made it to a year (on the 22nd..:O) ) and that was my long-term goal. I will continue to nurse her before bed until I either get pregnant or she wants to stop. I can't believe we are almost to the end of this part of our mother-daughter relationship. I can't believe how fast the time has gone. I'm so happy we made it this far!
Hannah woke up from her nap (2 1/2 hours later!) in a fantastic mood, so we had a mini photo shoot!
Pardon my un-made bed. I usually make it first thing in the morning, but I slacked off a little and let it go until late afternoon..:O/




Hannah playing with her Scout alphabet fridge toy...

...and as usual, this is where Scout landed two seconds later...

I'm posting a few cute ones from the last few days since I am still in a blogging slump:
She will find the most minuscule crumb of food on her tray to play with!

Fun with Daddy!


Have a GREAT night!

Here's to the start of a new week...

...well, almost. I know Sunday is technically the start of a new week, but I start my weeks on Monday, when Micah returns to work. This morning, Hannah woke up around 8:00 (yay!) and immediately began calling for "Dada". I jokingly begged him to stay home with us today, but I knew he couldn't. Hannah really seems to miss him after a nice, relaxing weekend of having him at home.

Hannah woke up in a fantastic mood this morning, so we spent a good bit of our time playing in bed until we ventured downstairs to start breakfast. I popped in a sermon, and Hannah scurried around in her walker for about an hour while I ate and got her breakfast ready.

As normal, however, our happy morning was cut short by a "poo". Without being too graphic, Hannah has had constipation issues since she was four months old. With the start of rice cereal, our troubles began. Not only was she horribly constipated, she was vomiting LARGE amounts daily. Needless to say, I stopped the rice cereal and we went back to exclusively breastfeeding. The vomiting stopped (thank God!), but the constipation has continued to be an issue for her.

Hannah usually has at least two servings of prunes daily, plus either pear or apple juice, PLUS an ocassional dose of Lactulose (a prescription to aid in relieving constipation). I rarely give her the Lactulose because I would rather find a natural way to solve this problem.

Even with all of the above remedies, she still struggles daily to go. She strains for what seems like forever, and then cries (in pain, I'm guessing). So, like any concerned first time mama, I called the pediatrician for the gazillionth time since this problem started. Thankfully I did schedule an appointment for her on Wednesday.

My only concern is that they will want to do testing. I'm all for finding out if there is a problem (which I am TOTALLY believing and praying that there is not...I layed hands on her little belly this morning and commanded her little digestive system to work the way God intended it to!) but I don't want to put her through a bunch of testing. I am believing God with my whole heart that this is absolutely nothing. It is comforting to me in a way to know that I apparently struggled with this same issue until I was old enough to remember even now. I'm hoping it resolves itself and we can move on to normal "poo-ing".

Once the events of the morning are over, Hannah turns back into the happy baby that I know and love!

I snapped a few pics of her playing this morning after her bath. I love the way her hair looks! All of the little fly-aways and soft baby curls melt my heart! I know she's mine, but really, is she not the most adorable baby?! ;)

I also managed to get Hannah down for a nap without nursing! It's bittersweet to me. She's now down to three sessions a day (if she continues to go down for her first nap without nursing). Micah and I are more than ready for another baby, and I know my chances of conceiving while I'm breastfeeding are much slimmer. Plus, if I do become pregnant, I'm more than likely going to have to wean Hannah, so I'd rather do it gradually while I can. I do tear up a little when I think that one of our nursing sessions together could be our last. I know it's normal and it's part of the "growing up" process, but she still seems so little to me. She will always be my baby, and will always hold a special place in my heart as my firstborn.

I know I've said it before, but I never knew I was capable of loving someone this much. I read once that having a child is like having your heart outside of your body. This is so true and exactly what it feels like. If she's happy, I'm overjoyed. If she's sad, I'm sad and want to fix it and make it better for her. I am just so thankful that God has given me the priveledge of being her Mom. He could have picked anyone, but thankfully, He picked me!

I don't know what my problem is...

...but I just don't have the motivation to blog! I am doing this out of sheer obligation. To who? Not sure, haha. Anyway, there isn't a lot to report from the week anyway, so no one has missed much. Hannah and I are back in the "swing of things" now that there is visible pavement on our road. We've made a few trips out and about and are out of our "snowed in funk". We even had a bit of sunshine today! Imagine that!
Included in our outings this past week was a trip to Toys 'R Us for birthday presents. Toys 'R Us was having a buy one get one sale on Fisher Price toys (I found out about this sale thanks to a post on The Bump)so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to buy. Hannah thought so, too! Here she is reading the Toys 'R Us birthday checklist...upside down! Too cute!



For her birthday, we got her the Fisher-Price Laugh and Learn Learning "house". I love it and can't wait to play with it! (with Hannah of course!)

For the "free" end of the deal, I picked up this adorable choo-choo train. She LOVES it!


She really hasn't put it down!

On Sunday, we had our friends Scott and Kyonna over along with their two adorable daughters, Loralai and Danica. After getting off to a rough start, (I scared Danica which made her cry, which scared Hannah and made her cry) a good time was had by all.
Loralai "helped" Hannah with her sippy cup

and held her hand after dinner.

Hannah watched Danica the whole night. She's not used to seeing babies smaller than she is!



And a few from tonight...just a few of her many toys made it to the living room...


Well, I did it! A week's worth of blogging in one!
Good night! =)

I've fallen behind with my blog...

I have been trying to write at least five posts a week, but this week I haven't written any! It's not that I've been really busy, I just honestly haven't felt like it. I haven't even gotten many pictures of Hannah this week. Hannah has a *barely there* new front tooth on the top, so you can imagine the kind of week we've had. She's been sleeping great at night, but kind of fussy and clingy during the day.
It looks like the other top tooth is going to break through any day. I can't believe she's getting all of these teeth! It still seems like she's so little, but in reality, she's almost a year old! I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again, time has really flown by!
Although I didn't really take many pictures this week, I did sneak a few in the other day. I came home from work to find Grammy and Pappy showing Hannah all of the pictures and things on the wall. She was mesmerized by our clock on the wall, so Pap let her touch it!

I told Hannah to be easy, and Pap told me not to worry! (She's allowed to touch anything she wants in the house when Pap and Gram are here!)



Showing Pap Mommy's Willow Tree figurines...


Unfortunately there wasn't much to report for this past week. We're still kind of snowy up here, so not too many trips out...and when we're home, we have been lounging around. Here's hoping this week finds us somewhat more productive and interesting!
Have a nice night! :O)

Busy Saturday!

Whew! Today was busy! Thank goodness we all had a great night's sleep! I have to say I haven't felt as rested as I did this morning for, well, over a year! From being hugely pregnant and unable to get comfortable, to having a newborn who I watched sleep all night, I think my body had pretty much adjusted to waking up during the night. This wasn't the case last night, and I'm so glad!
So today, with lots of energy and motivation, I got all of my stuff together for taxes. Can I tell you what a pain that was?! Now that I'm considered self-employed, there is sooo much more I have to do! From finding receipts and tallying up bills, I did it all. After I finished, I felt like I was waste-deep in paperwork! I turned my paperwork in to our "tax man" (he's a family friend)only to find out that we are STILL missing a few things. Ugh. Back to the drawing board!!
On top of the taxes, I also did some extensive research on a convertible car seat for Hannah. She's getting so tall that I'm sure her infant car seat needs retired. I've narrowed it down to two options: the Britax Boulevard CS in Riviera:

And the Britax Advocate CS in Kathryn:


Can you guess which one I like better? I LOVE the Advocate, mostly for the pattern. The problem? Babies R Us only carries them online at this point. This wouldn't be a problem, but I have a $100 prepaid debit card from Verizon that I want to use toward her car seat. I don't know how to use that card AND pay the remaining balance with another card. See my dilemma? I've e-mailed Babies R Us to see if this is possible. If I don't hear anything back, we're going with the Boulevard, because I like that pattern, too.
We also had company today! Aunt Cheryl came to visit! She was sweet enough to bring Hannah a Valentine's gift as well! I got a few pictures of the action!
She loves her Aunt!

"Look! Mommy has that camera out again!"

She's the center of attention! ;)

Since I hardly have any pictures of the two of us, I had Micah take a few pictures...

She's definitely Mommy's girl!!

...and just because these are too funny NOT to post...Hannah was eating a few of her 'lil Crunchies at dinner last night and got one stuck on her bottom lip. The funniest part was she didn't know it was stuck there. Micah and I were laughing so hard! She's so cute!






Well, tomorrow is Valentine's Day, and Micah and I are actually going out on a date...alone! This will be our first time out together since June. Sad I know. It's about time! We're heading to Red Lobster, and then car seat shopping! I can't wait!
Goodnight! :)