Father's Day, etc.

I got these sunglasses for Aleah and didn't tell Dave - took some pictures and then gave him one in a frame on Father's Day.

Okay, this is getting old...
A pile from Sunday - snuck a mommy one in, since she thwarted my plan of having a "real" mother's day this year. = P

My sweetie's first father's day. Aleah wasn't in the best of moods, having just gotten home from church and all... so we do what we can.

haha
I so wish Aleah was happy on this one (above) because it's a great picture of Dave. So I posted it anyway.


The next 2 pics - I've been trying to finish for a month now, a wall hanging for the nursery. FINALLY got it done last night. It's a little busy and high on the decorations, low on the pics. But oh well, I think it's pretty fun, and turned out okay. You can tell me you love it or you hate it - I'd like to know! The first one - can you find the hidden photographer? haha. Also, I should give credit to my sister for some of the ideas, like painting right on the glass around a picture and doing dots on some of the letters. Okay, I think the rest were my ideas. = ) You can't see it really, but the big blue letters have green dots and the green ribbon under it has blue dots. oh so fun. It was like doing a giant scrapbook page. Okay, enjoy the pics, I think that's all for now. I need to go pick up this house - it's sorta a wreck. Happy Thursday! Oh, sidenote, looking at these pictures I think Aleah has changed a bunch just since last Sunday - she's getting so big and looking more and more grown up all the time. Man, can't she just stay tiny for a little bit??

Still more Aleah...

Hello all - I should have been in bed ages ago so I won't write much, but I wanted to get these pics on here. Life here is going alright. Aleah has been having some eating issues that have been quite frustrating for both of us. She acts hungry and should be hungry, but then sometimes gets really frustrated when trying to eat and won't latch on. Yesterday afternoon we took away the much loved pacifier to see if that would help. Today was a long day. Poor baby just loves that thing and really wants to suck. It's really messed up her sleeping during the day. But on the bright side, she sleeps great at night, so I shouldn't complain too much. Or at all. Anyhoo... in other news, my former roommate in IN, Bethany, and her mom are visiting for awhile. They got here this evening. Um... I can't think of much else noteworthy. Aleah continues to gain weight like a little pigster - she was 10 lbs 7 oz this morning. So it's not like she's starving or anything with her eating issues. Gained about 4 pounds since leaving the hospital. craziness.
This was taken June 8th - same day as the last pictures on the last post. I was trying to capture her chub but there's now about another pound of it on her.
Daddy's girl.

This red shirt was my way of telling Dave we were going to have a baby. wow - here she is, wearing it already. (already? okay, so that feels like 100 years ago)
Going out for a night on the town on Mom's birthday.
This is one of my new favorites. I'm trying, at my sister in law Rhonda's suggestion, to take more pics with no flash and close to a window so there's lots of natural light. The flash makes her eye balls red and her skin pale and washes out. I think it worked great on this picture. (not trying to toot my own horn or anything)


The latest in the "I don't know when to stop posting because they're all so cute" series.


Hanging out on the bed while mom folds laundry. These last 2 are the most recent - taken yesterday I think, or Thursday I should say, since it's Saturday already. Oh, she's lost a bunch of hair recently. So sad. = ( Okay, that's all, good night.

Little Miss Aleah

So, I've had grand notions of faithfully updating my blog and putting pictures on it frequently of Aleah and life around here. Well, Dave was taking care of the picture department on FB (does anyone read this who isn't on FB? Joy? Anyone else? = ) So that unmotivated me somewhat. Plus, life sort of has a way of slapping you upside the head at times, becoming parents probably being one of those times. Yes, life has seemed totally nutty. Talk about a major lifestyle adjustment. Someone told me that having kids was a bigger adjustment than getting married. I think I'd have to agree. I'm sure marriage is a bigger relational adjustment, but Dave and I still had our carefree do whatever we feel like whenever we feel like it lifestyle (mostly - I mean, we were still responsible adults and had jobs and things like that. But if we felt like being gone all day or going out late or what have you, we could do those things). Now it's all about watching the clock and racing home in time for feedings and exhaustion and things of that nature. But she is a total sweetheart and we wouldn't trade her for anything. Dave is happy that she started smiling at him instead of saving them all for good ol' mom. She's sleeping really well - has even been going 6 hours between feedings at night without any problem. And since weight gain isn't even remotely an issue, the doctor told me I could let her go as long as she wants. I can't believe how huge she's getting. Even looking at these pictures there's a big difference between the first ones, taken about a week and a half ago, and the last ones, taken today. She's getting so chunky and losing that newborn look. She has some frustration with eating (although she clearly gets enough) - she'll get mad at times when trying to eat, and she also chokes/coughs/barfs a lot. I suspect from things I've heard/read that she might have a bit of reflux, but don't know for sure. It doesn't usually make her fussy, whatever it is, except when eating or right after she's eaten. Anyway, I guess it's been a little while since there's been new pics on FB and certain people were getting impa... I mean really wanted to see pictures of their new niece, so here ya go! = ) OF course I have to go overboard and post a million and most of them aren't that great. We've had a hard time getting really good pictures of her lately. arg. She'll be looking so adorable and I snap the picture and viola - instant alien. Oh well, some are cute. enjoy.


She loves her swing. At first she didn't like it - she had no head control at all and looked so uncomfortable in it. So we put it away for a while. Now she loves it and it puts her to sleep and keeps her asleep quite well. Hopefully she's not becoming addicted to it. I hate to think that at 12 years old she'll have to sleep in the living room in a swing while listening to Avalon.
Ack - that last feeding between 10:30 - 11:30 is totally killer. I almost think it's worse than getting up at 4 sometimes. Both of us are always so tired.


Nice spit bubbles.

Mom and Dad getting her to crack up. She still has so many smiles. It's great! And it's really hard to get them on camera. (check out the dimples)
And if her eyes look creepy on these pics, it's because I got rid of the red eye with the black marker thingy.


Another smile.

I tried and tried today to get some nice looking pictures for her announcement, but none of them turned out that great. They're cute, but not birth announcement worthy, in my humble opinion. I have a lot of trouble with the flash/lighting and getting pictures to look right. Anyway.... I should get moving. Hope you're all having a cheery day!