Whew!

I finally have some time to write. I mean, I've actually had time, but I've been playing the new computer game Carl got me for Christmas instead of blogging. Flo on the Go. Sequel to Diner Dash, only it takes place on a variety of sea vessels . . . cruise line, submarine, and everything in between. So close to beating it. Since K's down for a nap, I decided to write today and not play my new obsession. I will beat it by the end of the week, though. I'm very likely going to get on right after I wrap this blog up. Those that know me best know that I cannot stop playing a new game until I beat it completely. And, with Carl being a big computer nerd himself and my new computer crashing and having to be sent back one week after I got it, I don't get to play games very often. Even when K's sleeping.

So, onto more exciting news. The part people actually want to read. Of course I mean the kid. She's growing and growing more everyday. Literally. I think she's in the midst of a growth spurt because she's been eating more and trying to get into our adult food more. So far, she eats Cream of Rice cereal, potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash, green beans, bananas, and has recently been introduced to peaches, blueberries, and carrots. I haven't found anything she refuses to eat, although she is not much of a fan of sweet potatoes. I am going to introduce her to peas sometime pretty soon. She still nurses four times a day and is doing great with that. Her six month appointment was on December 18, and she weighed 15 lbs. 5 oz. and measured 27 in. in length. She's tall! She's in the 87th percentile for length, but only in the 45th for weight. That's okay. She's gaining, so they weren't worried about it. Her next appointment is with the endocrinologist on January 20. We're already praying it will be a good appointment. I'm sure it will be. After watching K refuse to take her medicine and us having to force it down literally, we decided to adjust the time she takes it. Instead of taking it at 6:15, she now takes it right at 8:00. I am toying with the idea of nursing her right after and putting her to bed right after that. It would make her bedtime 8:30 instead of 9. Last night we tried it and were successful. However, I didn't exactly plan to attempt. K missed her nap because we took our niece, Ally, to see The Princess and the Frog yesterday. She was grumpy and fussy all afternoon, leading me to believe she can never miss another nap. It ended up being Carl and Ally watching the movie, while I walked around the theater trying to calm her down. The people in the theater probably hated me. Oh well. So anyway, Ally loved the movie and Carl told me it was seriously a cute one. I was glad we left K with her grandma Christmas Day when we went to see Sherlock Holmes, which TOTALLY ROCKED by the way. I just love Robert Downey, Jr! That was one that I didn't want to miss. I did feel guilty, though, that we left our only child elsewhere, while we took in a movie. I remember making the comment to Carl that families are supposed to spend the holidays together, yet we were leaving a third of our family. It was only for a little bit, though. K got tons and tons of presents. The kid really raked it in! Amongst them were an Exersaucer, giant pink teddy bear, many clothes, and many other toys. We actually had to get her toybox out of the closet in order to have a place to put all of her toys. (She didn't have very many before.) It was so much fun watching her open presents and play with the wrapping paper. She actually assisted with the openings of a few presents. I opened most of them and looked at her with a giant smile, saying "Look what you got, Keely!" I have to say that Christmas is so much more fun when you have a little one to share it with. I've been sharing Christmas with the nieces and nephews for a long time now, but sharing it with my own daughter was even more fun. I promise to post pics of the event soon. My camera went kaput, and I cannot get any of the pics off of it. Sucks, but fortunately I uploaded them to Walmart.com and ordered a CD with all 600 pics that were on the camera. We then got a new, much cooler camera. It's an Olympus. Big thanks for the cash we used to buy it goes out to my Momo. So, we'll be using that camera from here on out. I said I would post pics, and I will when I get the CD from Walmart in 7-10 days from the day before yesterday. It only cost me $2.50!

On a much sadder note, although people will likely think me silly for saying so, our dog Cyrano ran away a week ago last Friday. I miss him. He was my best friend for a long time. I don't think I would have gotten through Carl's 80s Combat tour days without him. I just hope he's out there making some other family happy. He's good at that. We checked the pound, posted multiple MISSING DOG ads, checked the papers, made flyers. No go. We also gave up Apostrophe, our beloved cat, who was having bladder issues. We'd taken him to the vet to get the problem fixed, but it was temporary. We knew that the vet would tell us he can do the same thing as before, which he made sure to say was temporary, or we could put him through surgery. We couldn't afford either (or decided the temporary fix was not smart considering it only lasted one month). He seemed to get a lot better for a while, but then he started leaking urine all over the place, which included on K's blanket. We took him to the pound. I told Carl that he owes me two new animals now, and he agreed to get me one. Then, I told him I didn't want any new animals. I just wanted my old ones back. We'll see what happens. I am not totally giving up on Cyrie yet.

Well, all, check back for pics sometime this week. I have them, promise! I will post them, promise! I hope everyone had a happy Christmas and enjoyed all of the crazy snow!

Today

Keely got her second tooth sometime this afternoon. When I picked her up from Aunt Pete's, she had been crying. She looked pretty cute with a tear-stained face. Is that horrible for me to say? Keely looks cute all the time. Really, she does. Ask anyone. So, I decided it's okay for me to think she looked cute with a tear-stained face. And, I am not changing my mind. Anyway, we had our family pictures scheduled for tonight, and I was pretty worried that K wouldn't do so well. She cried in the car on the way home and fell immediately asleep after I nursed her. Then, I had to wake her up after like 5 minutes because we needed to get ready for the pics. She didn't do what I thought she'd do. She didn't utter a sound on the way to our appointment. She stayed awake, too. She didn't utter a sound when we changed her clothes and put her in a very frilly, too-big dress. Or when we put on tights for the first time. She smiled and laughed during our photo session. She didn't cry even once, despite my ESP plea for her to stop doing so well so we wouldn't have such a hard time choosing and end up spending a ton of money. We spent a ton of money. But, we got good pics. I was planning on getting one good shot of our family and that's it. I wanted the $9.95 package. K didn't let that happen. Instead, we walked away with a bigger package, having spend 8 times that amount. Whatever, though, it was worth it. We are getting K's 6 month pics made by CT Photography on Friday, when she'll actually be 6 months old. For those of you out there that don't know, CT Photography stands for Carrie Tungate Photography, and she's affordable and great. If anyone is interested in getting some freelance photos made of their little ones, you should consider her. Plus, she's got a brand new camera! So, I walk away from my experience in the studio thinking that it's okay we spent more than intended. We're getting great Christmas photos, and we'll get great 6 month pics on Friday. Congrats on the new tooth, Keely Star. You're getting so big, and we couldn't be more proud of you. Way to go, kid!

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.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

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.

Another Month Gone

Consider this my follow-up to the previous post from October 1. I promised pics and more updates, and I am following through . . . just a little later than planned. Well, those that know me best know I am late for almost everything.

Our little girl is taking a nap right now . . . going on 2 1/4 hours. Yay! She never sleeps this well for me in the afternoons. Of course, Carl and I tend to run around like crazy on the weekends, which doesn't account for much of a long nap time for Keely. After talking to Carrie, I found that Keely takes a 3 hour nap for her everyday. I was like, "What?!" So, Carl and I decided to experiment. And, we're calling it a success, because as I said, she's already been down for over two hours and isn't stirring yet. I guess nap time is something we're going to implement into our routine as well.

Updates: 1) She's sleeping through the night!!! Yay! This is perhaps the update that excites us the most. She doesn't have it completely down every time, but for the most part, she does sleep through the night. 2) She's in her own room. We moved her into her own room a week ago yesterday. She is so easy. She just goes with whatever change we make. This change was easy for her. When we put her in her crib that first night, she LOVED it. She was so cute, kicking her feet up in the air and smiling at her mobile. We left her alone, and she drifted off to sleep without making a sound. And, she's done the same thing pretty much every night since. 3) That little tooth has really come in! She lets us see it now. She hasn't bitten me yet, which I am very happy about. I was so nervous that teeth would make nursing so hard, but it hasn't. Here's hoping it stays that way!

I don't really have any more updates yet. Keely goes to Dr. Stripling for shots on October 15 (Thursday) and then back to Dr. Varma to have her thyroid levels checked again on October 22. I'm a little anxious for the second appointment because reassurance that everything's the way it should be is a definite plus. I anticipate that nothing's changed, but you never know for sure until that lab work comes back.

Tomorrow marks the fourth month of Keely's entrance into our lives. In a lot of ways it seems crazy that four months has come and gone, but in other ways, it seems hard to remember life before her grand entrance. At this moment in time, I can honestly say that I feel fulfilled. I feel this incredible appreciation for life, this divine closeness to the God who creates mountains and waterfalls. I attribute a lot of those feelings to Keely. She makes me see things in ways I'd never seen them before, to the extent that many things that used to be important now appear so petty and meaningless. Because when all is said and done, I still have a husband who loves me and a little girl who lights up my world, all provided by a God who loves unconditionally, whom I strive to mirror, realizing that I may be so far off, but at least I'm making progress. It is my sincerest hope that Keely will grow up realizing who this God is and what He has done for this world.

Enjoy the pics and God bless!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Quick Updates

So, I have next to no time since I have a pile of papers to grade tonight before I have to submit report card grades tomorrow afternoon. I did want to drop in for a quick update on my sweet little pumpkin princess, though. Yes, I said pumpkin princess. Sometimes she's my pumpkin and sometimes she's my princess, and tonight I felt like combining the two.

We have a first tooth, ladies and gentlemen! Mama and Daddy can't believe their baby is so big already when she's still only 3 and a half months old. Yes, it's a tooth. You can feel it and see it sometimes when her little tongue isn't wagging around covering it up. It goes on record that our little girl got her first tooth on September 30. I'll have to write in her baby book. I think I need to start a journal of daily happenings in the world of Keely Star. I think I just might.

Due to Keely's apparent lack of appetite when Carrie tried to give her the 10:30 and 1:30 bottles, we adjusted her feeding schedule this week. It's working out well. Along with the change, I decided to stop feeding her in the early AM hours. She's still waking up, but she usually goes back to sleep once I give her plug to her. This was a big change to make, but I am amazed at how well she's done with it. I'm beginning to think I have the easiest, most laid back daughter in the world. I love her more and more each day. I am so proud to be her mama! I just can't get over it!

This post comes with two promises: 1) I will post more pics very soon, but I don't have time at the moment. 2) I will offer more insight into our busy, busy lives when I post pics. Until then, wish me happy grading, and I wish you all a happy evening.