To My Husband

Tomorrow we will celebrate our 7 year anniversary. It has been one heck of a ride. Not smooth, although not overly rough. Mostly enjoyable, although not always. It's been exactly as it should be. Marriage is not easy. These days nothing really is. But, people tend to believe marriage is easy because you love each other. They see it in black and white, and seldom see the grey. These seven years have brought many lessons. We are not the same people we were when we got married. We're better. We're wiser. And, we continually learn from each other so that we continue to get better. Continue to get wiser. I love you, Carl! Thanks for being the greatest husband. Thanks for helping create the greatest daughter. We will have many adventures in our lifetime. But being married to you and raising our daughter is my greatest.

Our Girl's 5!

Months that is. As of yesterday. Crazy how much time has gone by since Carl and I set out on this venture of transforming into Mama and Daddy. Yet in many ways, it seems like Keely should be this old. 5 months feels fast but right. She's grown so much over the past month. I would be willing to bet that she weighs 15 pounds. And, she's gotten tall. Her 3-6 month pajamas are close to not fitting, not because they are too tight but because they are almost too short. She's got chubby cheeks and thighs, but that is about all that's chubby. She gets prettier and prettier everyday. I could just stare at her all the time, if I had nothing else to do that is. I tell my little girl all the time that mamas need to get paid for loving their babies so that I wouldn't have to work anymore. Not that I dislike my job. I love what I do. I just miss her all the time. Being away from her is hard. But, I rest assured knowing that she is in great hands at Carrie's.

I am posting a new Smile Box, which has a ton of pics. You may notice that not all of them are of our sweet girl. I threw in some of Evan and Eleni's son, Jackson, who was a pirate for Halloween, and of course, I had to throw in some of the nieces and nephews, because they continue to make me smile every time I see them. Keely loves her cousins, and they are so cute with her! We finally decided to buy a Bumbo for Keely, and she loves it. We feed her and let her play with her toys in it. She's close to figuring out how to sit up on her own, which is funny because I don't think she rolls over completely yet. Would've thought that would come first. She can hold her own bottle for a few seconds, and she loves to hold things. She still loves to cuddle with her frog, like she has since she was less than a month old. She laughs and smiles constantly. She inherited my loudness, which can be good and bad at the same time. I think it's funny, but Carl gets frustrated when he's trying to talk on the phone or watch TV and she's just talking away. Carl and I feel so blessed to have such a sweet daughter. We thank God for her everyday and pray that he continually blesses her as she grows. She'll always be our shining Star.

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I have such a great baby!

It's true, and I am not just saying that. All mothers think their babies rock, and I am no different. I really, really think Keely is just the greatest! I couldn't ask for a better or easier baby. Last night, we made yet another adjustment to our little girl's schedule. The reasons leading up to this decision? Well, for starters, I have to feed her every morning at 7 AM because that is the last time I can feed her before I leave for work. The past few days when I would get her up to feed her, she would only eat for about 8 minutes. For some babies, that's as long as they need. Take Ella, for instance. She nursed for a solid 6 minutes and was completely done. I can't remember how old she was when she started doing that, but I am pretty sure she was only a couple of months older or less than Keely is now. Keely typically nurses for about 20 minutes. I also noticed that when I would feed her cereal at 7 PM, she would not nurse for more than a few minutes afterwards. I really didn't know what to do. As it was, I only nursed her or she got a bottle 5 times a day, and she ate cereal 2 times. When she wouldn't nurse, I was so confused. So, after thinking about it for pretty much the entire week, we decided to change her schedule for about the 5th time. I compromised her post-cereal 7 PM feeding and her 10:40 PM feeding into one 9:00 PM feeding. Then, I put her in her crib and hoped she wouldn't wake up in the middle of the night wanting to eat. She didn't! As a matter of fact, she was out within 5 minutes. She didn't even stir until 6:30 this morning! She did want to eat then, but I held her off until 7. She didn't even really cry! What a great baby! I just love her so much! She is so easy, too, because she goes right along with any changes we make. She rarely fusses about them. I am pretty sure our next child won't be so easy, but maybe he or she will. At any rate, we're going to wait a little while before we find out.