The last couple weeks

Sitting in the bumbo - I think she was 8 weeks here.
Hello! I'm 2 months old today! Aren't I charming and adorable?
Okay, so this is a more accurate representation of how I spent my 2 month birthday - cranky and refusing to sleep.
Hey! Look what I found. Notice on all the thumb sucking pics, it's always the left thumb and she pulls on her right ear.

Not the best picture, but here's us, hanging out.
This was yesterday. She was done freaking out after taking a bath and was looking pretty cute. She loves baths, just hates getting out and freezing.

Also last night - we tried out the pool for the first time. She liked it at first but was also getting hungry and tired so the fun didn't last long. We'll have to try again when she's more rested and full. But it was fun anyway.

This picture was actually taken after the next one. She was DONE. = )
Hanging out in the big red crab, courtesy of our friend miss Jan, who's boy used it last summer. She wasn't too sure what to think. It also has a big yellow "roof" to keep the sun away - too cute.
These were taken this afternoon (technology these days!) - more sucking of the thumb and pulling of the ear. Pardon all the junk in the background. I need to pay closer attention to that. oops.
She was excessively smiley for awhile. And a little cross eyed. = L

Okay, so why is it always the right eye that crosses? something else to obsess about. Is that normal?

Oh the things I should be doing...

... if I were a responsible person that is. But hey, we have left overs to eat for supper so everything else can wait, right? I never cease to be amazed at how stinkin long it takes to get anything done! Esp. if anything involves leaving the house! With small child. I had a stop to make today and a couple more that I sort of wanted to do if there was time. Left the house and traffic was terrible - took over a half hour just to get there! Then by the time you walk around, etc., she's getting fussy and what have you and till you get in the car, you're ready to not be in the heat anymore, so you just come home. So you've spent hours accomplishing one tiny little thing and you're all hot and sweaty and cranky. Then till you get the baby fed and sleeping, so much more time has gone that you think, why bother, I might as well blog. That's more fun than trying to accomplish things anyway. haha. So what shall I bore you with? Little missy has been doing pretty well. She still has some odd eating issues but I think they're getting a lot better and her choking has been less frequent, so that's really nice. Sometime in the last couple weeks, she started sleeping about 10 hours at night. Now I'm waking her up to eat after about 10 hours so I'm not sure how long she'd actually go. This past week I was able to be home most mornings (unlike the week before) and I realized that she'll usually sleep about 10 hours, eat, then go right back to bed and sleep another 2 or 3. I guess she likes to get most of her sleeping done during the night and morning. After that, who knows what she'll do - maybe another long nap, maybe just cat naps the rest of the day. But the 10 hours is really nice.

My friend Anna who I went to Grace College with was here visiting for a week and left yesterday morning. We had a really good time reconnecting, relaxing, cooking, swimming, shopping and sightseeing, and watching movies. We had it down to a science by the end of the visit. = ) She was so much help and now my sorry place is looking pretty shabby with her gone.

Probably most of you have read the comments on FB, but just in case, on Friday Anna and I went to my favorite thrift store to snoop around. We got some great deals on kid's books - I had never thought to look for them there. And she's a school teacher so she's always looking for things like that. Anyway, that's beside the point. So we were checking out and my diaper bag with my wallet and cell phone and all sorts of things, was hanging over the cart handle. I went out to start the car while she paid and Aleah stayed with her. Like a total idiot, I just grabbed the keys out of the diaper bag and left it hanging there. Then I started the car and decided to just pull up to the store and pick them up. So Anna of course grabs the car seat out of the cart and has her hands full with that, I open the door for her, and we drive off. When we got home, we realized that the diaper bag was still hanging on the cart! Or more likely, it was long gone. Yeah, a thrift store - NOT the place to leave your diaper bag. HELLO! I called the store right away and they looked and said it wasn't there. Anna drove back to the store to double check, look around the parking lot, and ask all the cashiers if it was turned it. I tried to feed baby and cancel credit cards at the same time. Anna came back and had no luck. I was just getting ready to call the police when I got a message from Dave saying that someone had called him and that she had my diaper bag. He tried to explain where we live because it really wasn't that far, but she said it sounded confusing and she would rather just bring the bag to LSU where he was (which was way out of the way). Okay. so she brought the bag. When Dave brought it home, I looked through it and everything was there except an envelope that had Aleah's cash and gift cards. I think they got around 50 bucks total. Thankfully, I had a 100 card that I almost put in there and decided to wait. The lady said that she found the bag in the parking lot. So someone had already gotten to it. She said she sat in the parking lot with it on top of her car for a half hour to see if anyone would come and no one did. Not sure why she didn't just return it to the store, but I'm SOOOOO glad she got it to Dave!

Also if you've been on FB, you know the shock and trauma that can ensue from looking out your kitchen window and seeing 5 boys who are WAY too old to be doing such things, skinny dipping in your pool! And riding their bikes in the pool. It was so odd. Dave called the apartment people and the security officer came and saw them to the gate. Not sure if he actually caught them red handed or not. The whole thing was so bizarre but it made me really sad to think of how little parental guidance these kids must have.

Enough excitement for one week? hmmm... well, I think that's about all I have to tell you. So I'll post some pictures and then be gone.

The roughest day of my whole (short, 8 week) life! (A post by guest writer, Aleah)

Well, I don't even know where to begin to tell you about the traumatic day I had yesterday. I was going to write all about it yesterday but was just too traumatized and had to fall asleep. It started the night before (actually, it started a long time ago, but anyway, I'll try not to make this a huge long post like my mom usually does). I had been gagging and choking a lot while eating, which is sort of normal for me, but it was more. And my parents thought my breathing was odd - it would be raspy, then really shallow. So they were sort of freaking out. The next day my mom called her friend and that friend said to take me to see the doctor right away. So mom called and got me in yesterday morning. It was hot yesterday, really hot and yucky. So we went to the doctor. I of course fell asleep on the way there, but woke up as soon as they weighed me (I weigh 12/3 now for anyone who wants to know that. = ). We waited awhile and then the doctor came in and talked to mom and poked and prodded all over me. I didn't like it one bit. I was tired and it wasn't fun. So what was I to do but scream and scream. After mom tried to talk to the doctor some more, but she could barely hear him. oh well, I did manage to stop freaking out after a little while. Now about my uneven fat rolls on my thighs (I can't believe I'm discussing these things so openly), it maybe seemed silly for my mom to obsess about them so much, but it turns out she maybe had good reason to. One of my smart aunties told her that it might be worth mentioning since that can be a sign of something wrong with the hips in young babies. Well, we think the doctor had noticed before mom even mentioned it to him. And indeed, this can on occasion be a sign of hip dislocation in young babies and it's important to catch it young. The doctor didn't think this was true in my case, but he said he always errors on the side of caution and gets it checked out. So he told mom that I should have my hips ultrasounded (my grammar will improve as I grow up, I'm only 8 weeks, K?) just to be sure. Funny how no one asked what I wanted. They're my hips after all. But nope, they just went on making their little plans without consulting me. Cause really, all I wanted was milk and sleep. arg! As far as all my eating, choking, spitting up, breathing issues, the doctor told mom that he thinks it might be poor suck/swallow coordination combined with reflux. He wanted to put me on meds (Zantac) for reflux and he also ordered ANOTHER even worse test - a swallow test - so they could watch something going down me and make sure everything was working right. As far as the meds, mom's not sure what to do because she doesn't think I actually have the acid burning related to serious reflux because I'm usually really comfortable after I eat, I just don't like to latch and eat well a lot of the time. So not sure the meds would help and don't feel like putting drugs in such a little me unless it's really necessary. = ( Mom also talked to another lactation consultant recently but she wasn't terribly helpful. She thought most of my problem was related to colic and gas. Mom went off dairy to see if that will help. But mom suspects that's not the whole problem since I'm often happy other than while nursing (I Do have cranky times, but often I'm happy and then just get frustrated when it's time to eat). Sorry, this is getting long. So anyway, back to this terrible awful day, we left my doctor's office and mom was really hungry and wanted to get something to eat before all my yucky tests that wouldn't start right away anyway. But you know what they said about me? That I was not allowed to eat until after the test. Come on people! This is just not cool! I have precious little in life right now and you take away my milk and then what do I have left? Well, I'll tell you - one awesome set of lungs. oh boy. looking back I feel just a little bad but in the moment, well, I'll have time to learn self-control later. For now, people just need to be a little more sensitive to my needs. So anyway, mom thought maybe she could quick drive through a drive through, and maybe in that time I would fall asleep (evil grin), and then we could go to the hospital for my tests. Did I mention it was really hot? Well, it was, and the car was even hotter. And it takes awhile for me to cool off in that back seat facing away from the air vents. So I screamed and screamed. Mom drove way too far to this drive through but I was screaming so much and she realized it would be better to get me to the hospital right away so she turned around and left without even getting any food. poor mom. I eventually did fall asleep on the way to the hospital and that lasted right until our first stop - outpatient registration. Now I'm awake, hungry, tired and not impressed with life. I continued to scream intermittently as mom did the paperwork. Then we waited and screamed and complained some more when I felt like it. You would think people would catch on and just let me eat already. But nope, they were all just ruthless. Then a lady came and got us for my first test. Mom thought it was sort of funny - all the many times she saw me through ultrasound and now it's that same little me only I'm the one getting ultrasounded this time. I managed to pull it together a bit for this test - the lady was really nice and I smiled at her a bit then cried then smiled. She checked both my hips, then took the pictures to the doctor and he said they look just fine. Hooray! I just have asymmetrical gluet folds for the fun of it! (I believe that's what the official order stated.) Well then they took me to yet another waiting room. I was beginning to wonder if I was ever going to eat again. I was pretty patient while waiting. Then I went into a big room with all sorts of fancy machines - I guess it was big x ray machines. It took awhile to get this moving and I wasn't happy about that wait. Then the doctor came in and they laid me down on the table and I had to drink some nasty barium type drink - it was mostly sugar water. But you know what? At this point, I was not picky. I sucked that stuff back like there was no tomorrow. So while I was drinking, they were taking pictures and mom could watch on the screen and see the stuff going down. That part was pretty cool for her. And they took lots of pictures and moved me from my back to my right side and to my left side. Pretty soon they were done so I had to stop drinking. Okay, that was it. I had officially had it. So I screamed and screamed to let them know how impressed I was not. Eventually when they were done talking and such, I got to go with mom to a room and she was able to feed me. I was still pretty jazzed up from everything so it wasn't the most calm experience but I did get some food in me (finally, after over 4.5 hours which is quite a bit longer than I prefer to go!) I fell fast asleep. Mom staggered to the cafeteria to get some food. She had been without food and water for way too long and was starting to feel loopie. Then we drove home. Wow, I have never had a day like that one. AND, you would think after such a long, hard day, that my parents would keep me at home and do nothing but pamper me all night, but nooooooooooooo... get a load of THIS:
That's right, they dress me up like a little calf and take me out on the town. Okay, now that you think we're all nuts (and we are!), let me explain. Mom had seen on facebook something about free food at Chik Fil A. Well, we all LUUUV Chik Fil A! Mom did some investigating and discovered that the free food was because of "Cow Appreciation Day" and in order to get free food, you have to arrive at the place dressed head to tow like a COW! Mom mentioned it to Dad in passing, but she was pretty tired from our long day at the hospital and didn't really feel like going out. But Dad heard FREE FOOD and the rest is history. Mom really suspects he must have been Mennonite in a prior life. Anyway, Mom and Dad spent all this time getting these RIDICULOUS looking costumes together in order to get this free food. I was so embarrassed. But I'm not exactly in any position to protest yet. I'm just glad they didn't take me to the Chik Fil A at the mall. That would have been too much. They decided instead to go to a free standing Chik Fil A. They wondered all the way there if there would be other cows there and really hoped there would be. But would you believe it - apparently all the other cows in Baton Rouge eat their din din a lot earlier! There was not one single cow in the place except us 3. Mom said (repeatedly) various things along the lines of never feeling so utterly ridiculous in her life and does she really have to go in and oh that the rapture would occur (okay, maybe she didn't go quite that far, but for real...). And then there was walking to and from our car. I can only imagine what our neighbors thought of us. We'll forever be "those cows who live 3 apartments down..." Anyway, everyone thought I made a pretty cute little calf. And that's the story of my long, traumatic day. Oh, I should mention that the swallow test looked good as well. I hear rumors of having to do another swallow test with a speech therapist. I wonder how hungry I'll have to be for that one! Makes me shudder. Anyway, it appears I'm just as long winded as my mom and I'm sorry for that. Hope everyone is having a good weekend.

a bit of cuteness for your saturday.... (or whenever you happen to check my blog)

June 27

Why firstborns are so smart - their parents have time for things like this when they're 6 weeks old. = P (wait Aleah, you're looking at the wrong page)
Playing with dad and staring at mom


Skypin it up with far away auntie and cousins
July 4th - we came home from Dave's work party and she was so smily and happy laying on the floor.
oh WOW!! that's crazy (she seems to be saying)
She would usually grin really big as she turned her head away, so I got a couple of these shots.

Here's my asymmetrical gluteal folds (more on that next post)
"Hello, I'm 8 weeks old today (July 9th). I know my tummy looks like I just ate a whole pizza, and my face looks like I just drank a whole 2 liter, but neither are true."

A random assortment of thoughts...

I guess I've mostly been posting pictures lately so I thought I'd shoot for some words. Although I did get some good pictures of the bubbly tonight that would be fun to post. Anyhoo, I guess I feel as though I don't have much to say lately because my life consists mostly of hanging out and taking care of small child. Nothing earth shattering. I could go on and on about random facts about her but I'm scared that will bore you to tears. But that's all I have to talk about. No wait, here's something - I stole something from walmart the other day. = ( It's true. Sigh. Those dang hormones make you do all sorts of funny things. Um, when do I have to stop using that as an excuse for every odd action? Hopefully not anytime soon. Anyway, it really had nothing to do with that. It's like this. I took Aleah to walmart, actually, it was Dave's birthday, and was buying all sorts of things. The problem is that her car seat takes up most of the cart. So I was putting things all around it. It was a boiling hot day, cranky baby who wouldn't sleep in walmart, etc. Just the logistics of doing anything become so much more complicated when you are lugging around a baby who is gaining a fat roll a day, plus a heavy car seat. ANYWAY, we get out to the boiling hot car, and I realize that a can of peaches was under her car seat out of sight when I went through the check out. RATS! never paid for it. What to do - didn't want to lug her and myself back in the store, so I saw one of the guys pushing carts and asked if he'd be willing to take it back to the store for me. I told him what happened and he said - ah, I'd just keep it! Don't worry about it. Rats again. I wasn't going to stand there arguing with him so I threw it in the car and figured I we could decide what to do with it later. arg. It's still sitting in the car from 3 weeks ago. = ( That's my story. I was thinking that giving them to a homeless person might cancel out the evil of the situation...

We're sitting at home listening to the boom of fireworks and wishing we were watching them. We were going to go, but again, small child had a way of rearranging plans. It was a busy day with church in the morning and a get together with Dave's work people in the evening. And a screaming baby part of the evening who is now happily laying in bed not quite sleeping but would greatly prefer that to fireworks I think.

Here's the latest on Aleah - this will probably be really boring to most of you so feel free to skip. We haven't had her weighed for a couple weeks, but we both think she looks like she gained about 5 pounds in the last couple days. okay, not quite, but she's getting huge. Okay, here's something weird. Her one thigh is considerably bigger than the other - like one whole fat roll bigger. I even took a picture tonight to document it. Is this normal? It seems so odd to me and I keep obsessing over it and wondering how she'll buy pants and if she'll lean to one side when she starts walking. Poor kid - I think she needs some siblings just so I don't have time to freak out and obsess over her every abnormality. Her feedings have been going better for the most part, but in the evenings, she'll still often have a feeding where she just cries and acts hungry but won't eat, even though it's been a long time since she last ate. Tonight she did that so I just stopped trying and she slept a little bit, then ate a whole bunch. It's a mystery. We took her pacifier away for a week and she did better but then started having some trouble again. I don't know how much was related to that, so now she has the pacifier mostly to fall asleep (and stay asleep). She has trouble staying asleep during the day and can go forever without taking a good nap, which is frustrating. But she consistently sleeps great at night. I even got 7 hours last night! whoo hoo. And it's so interesting to me that she will nearly always lay right down in her bed and put herself to sleep, without the pacifier, if it's night time or early morning. I'm glad because that means I'm not getting up all night to stick the thing back in. During the day - that's another story. One more thing - we have matching birth marks. Right over the left knee, exactly the same place and shape - isn't that a bit strange? Okay, that's the end of Aleah news.

Ummmmmmm... I thought I had more to say... This morning in church, Aleah had a huge poop explosion up the back. The church meets in a gym so there's no nursery in there. I took her back to the locker rooms where there's a couch, but the room was dark and I couldn't find the light anywhere. It was great fun. I stuck my head out and got Dave's attention and he came and helped me. That's the end of my boring story.

Well, I'm tired and Juniorette is sleeping so maybe I should too. I'll try to post pictures soon.