Happy Birthday Amelia

Happy birthday to you! Today you are you! Today you are one year old. Your birthday party is on Saturday, and I promise to post another blog after that... so for now I will give the highlights of your first year:

You first smiled at me when you were 6 weeks old.

You first rolled over when you were 4 months old.

You first sat up by yourself when you were 6 months old.

You first said mama and meant it at 6 months old.

You finally crawled at 8 months old and I haven't blogged in a while because of it.

You first said dada and meant it when you were 8 months old.

You went to your first OSU football game when you were 10 months old. Pistol Pete makes you cry right now, but I think you'll grow to love him.

You started saying baby at 11 months old.

You still don't have any teeth, but you have the cutest blonde curls and the most beautiful blue eyes.

Happy Birthday Amelia!

Miss July

I was thinking about the amount of money Americans spend on clothes. Amelia has a few dresses that are more expensive than any of my dresses. I wanted Amelia to have a really cute outfit to wear for the 4th of July, so I searched on Etsy. I saw some really cute things.... and I ripped them off! I am going to tell you how to make it, too.

Here's what you need:


I got all of this at Hobby Lobby for about $50. These supplies made two outfits, and there was enough tulle left over for a third tutu. There was also plenty of ribbon left and I bought about twice as many iron on crystals as what I needed.

For the tutu:

I took two little girls stretchy headbands and cut them at the seam to make one long strip. Then I used my serger to sew the two strips together into one big loop with two seams. I used three colors of tulle (it comes on a spool). Decide how long you want your tutu to be and double it. This measurement will be the length you'll want your tulle strips. Cut the tulle into strips of your decided length. I just kept cutting until I ran out. After cutting the tulle into strips, I used a rotary cutter and cut each strip in half lengthwise, but you don't have to do that. You be the judge of how wide the strips should be.

Once all of the tulle strips are cut, start tying them on. Loop the ends through the holes in the headband/ waistband and tie them in a knot. Repeat this step alternating your colors until your tutu has reached the desired fullness. Once I had finished tying on all my tulle, I made a big ribbon bow and fixed it to the waistband, but this is optional, of course.

So easy, right?

For the onesie:

I bought ready-to-wear white onesies and one pre-made iron on decal of USA. I also bought loose iron-on crystals. I applied the USA decal to one of the onesies, following the instructions on the package. For the "Miss July" onesie, I wrote the words on the top using a water-soluble fabric marking pen. This pen washes out. Then I ironed on the loose crystals according to package directions, using the pen markings as a guide.

Voila!! Two 4th of July outfits!!


P.S. These outfits sell for $45 on etsy.com. I made two for less than that.... technically I spent more, but I had a LOT of materials left over.

June 5, 2011

Today our family participated in the Baby Dedication Ceremony at our church. Amelia is almost seven months old, and she babbled and chattered through almost the entire service. We are very lucky to have so many wonderful friends at FBC Chandler, and we were lucky to have our parents and Z's grandparents with us this morning. After church, everyone came back to our house for lunch. I always enjoy hosting get togethers and feeding people. If you are ever hungry near Chandler, stop on by! I feel that it is my calling in life to host and feed people. I know that sounds corny, but it's true. It makes me very happy.

Adventures in Breastfeeding

Amelia is now 4 1/2 months old, and until yesterday, she had never had anything but breast milk. Yesterday, she tried rice cereal for the first time. As a working, nursing mom, I have faced some breastfeeding challenges, and I would like to share a little of what I have learned.
1. The baby is now out of my body, but I still have to closely watch what I eat. Of course we all know that nursing moms shouldn't drink alcohol. Easy peasy. What I have learned about this is that every baby body is different. Different foods have different affects on babies. For instance, when I have milk, yogurt, or ice cream, Amelia gets an upset tummy and she spits up profusely. When I have a diet coke, Amelia gets painful gas.

2. To be successful, you can't embarrass easily. I have accidentally flashed my dad, my father-in-law, and probably a couple friends. It just comes with the territory. You can cover baby with a blanket, but sometimes baby pulls that blanket off! My mother-in-law found me a neat little nursing apron. It has an adjustable neck strap and a flexible, but stiff band on the front. This makes baby visible to me and my goods hidden from the world.

3. Ask for help. Let other people know what you need. I have to travel quite a bit with my job. Last week, I drove to Miami on Tuesday and Enid on Wednesday. When I need to pump, I need to pump. I have had to ask my colleagues to help me find a private place. Many have given up their offices for 20 minutes at a time to help me out. Others have found alternative rooms for me to use.

4. Be resourceful. On long car trips, it is sometimes impossible to find a comfy chair or a room with a door. I have a great breast pump with a car-adapter and a battery pack. I have pumped in my car before. The nursing apron mentioned in #2 has been useful when pumping as well. On more than one occasion, I have even pulled my car to the side of the road, got all hooked up, turned on the breast pump, and driven on down the road while pumping. Then I pull over again to undo everything!

5. Drink plenty of water. Nuff said.

6. Cuddle that baby whenever possible. Skin to skin contact is so good for milk production. When I have to go to work, being away from Amelia can be a little hard on me. Breast pumps don't extract the milk like my baby can. I cuddle and nurse her whenever I can at home, at the mall, in restaurants......wherever we are!

I am by no means an expert. I hope that this blog post may help other new moms who are dealing with working and pumping. It can be a challenge, but it is so worth it!

4 months.....

Amelia went in for her 4-month check up today. She weighs 12 pounds, 10 ounces and is 23 inches long. Yes, she is a shorty! She also had to get two shots and it was sad. She's been asleep for two hours now, poor little thing! I took advantage of her extra long nap to organize her clothing for Spring. Man oh man, does she have a lot of clothes! We have been blessed to receive hand-downs from Amelia's older cousins. They are enough ahead of her that they will not miss the clothes, but close enough that the clothes are still in style. Thanks Lacey, Cami, and Lily!!

Here are the clothes that no longer fit Miss Amelia:

These are still hanging around:



And these I can't wait to put on her!

Developmentally, she's right on track. She smiles when I talk to her and she "talks" all the time. I swear she was even singing along with the car radio on Saturday night! She is not rolling over yet, but I can tell she is seriously thinking about it. She loves her grab ball and her stuffed lamb doll. She also loves to shake her little rattle. It is so much fun to see her play, learn, and grow!

Civic-Minded

I want to use this post to brag on someone else's baby today. He is the son of my co-worker and he is the most civic-minded six year old I know. His name is Kyler. Kyler asked his mom if he could be a part of Relay For Life this year,and she obliged. He set a goal to raise $2,000! Whoa buddy, that's a lot of money for a six-year-old to raise!! He is still quite short of his goal, and planning a garage sale on April 2nd at the Agri-Civic Center in Chandler aka the Lincoln County Fairgrounds. I am planning to donate items to this cause. If you, like me, have some clutter to get rid of and HATE doing garage sales, consider donating to Kyler's Relay For Life team. You can contact me here, or via Facebook if you have some stuff to donate. OR maybe you don't have enough stuff. Maybe you could come on down and check it out.

I cannot pass up an opportunity to share a picture of my beautiful daughter:

Labels

A Facebook "friend" of mine posted this as her status: "If I have curves, I'm fat. If I wear makeup, I'm fake. If I like to get dressed up, I'm a hoochie. If I say what I think, I'm a b----. If I cry sometimes, I'm a drama queen. If I have guy friends, I'm a slut. If I stand up for myself, I'm mouthy. Seems like you can't do anything now a days without being labeled.. So what, go ahead and label me, see if i give a ----! Repost this if your proud of who you are!" I asked her if she really believed this and she said yes. I do all of these things, and I never think that others have that kind of opinion of me. So, that begs the question: do others label us, or do we label ourselves? If this woman truly believes that others think of her this way, does that put out a signal that causes others to react in that way? As women, we tend to be down on ourselves. That kind of attitude gives other people permission to do the same. I challenge you to lift someone up today. Give out words of encouragement or a nice compliment. You never know how far it can go.

RSV.... No fun.

This month, Amelia had her first fever. It started on a Saturday, then went up on Sunday. Poor little thing! On Monday, we took her to see her pediatrician who did a test and guess what: RSV. We got to bring her home and I took off work for a week to nurse her back to health. I am so thankful she was not admitted to the hospital. RSV is a virus that affects the respiratory system and the top part of the lungs in an otherwise healthy infant. In a preemie or a baby with other health problems, it can also affect the bottom part of the lungs, which is really bad. Amelia was otherwise healthy, so she just had a fever, congestion/runny nose, and a bad cough. I had to give her an oral steroid and a vaporized breathing treatment. After a week she was feeling better, so I called her doc again to make her she was no longer contagious, then we went to visit Ava. They had a great time playing on all of Ava's fun toys!

P.S. My little chunky now weighs over 11 pounds!

February 2011 Snow

We got quite a bit of snow here in Chandler, OK. The Lincoln County Courthouse was closed Tuesday and Wednesday, then open Thursday, but closed at 1:00 pm on Friday. Easy week for me! Luckily, Z has been home this week to chauffeur Amelia and me around. We might not be so lucky for round 2 of this winter weather next week. Zach is working hard shoveling the snow so that when he does have to go back to work, I'll be able to pull my car out of the garage. Here are some pics of today's clean-up.

The view from our front door........


My new boots........


Shoveling............


More Shoveling.......


Stopping to pose.......


Stopping to play......

Pressing on...

I am just finishing up my second week of work. Every morning is a new challenge. Amelia and I are working on getting a routine down. We have pretty much got the bedtime routine, but those nighttime feedings are killing me! If Baby A could only understand how much easier it would be on both of us for her to wake up at the same times every night. She gets a bath every night around 9:00 and is usually in bed between 9:00 pm and 10:00 pm. That's wonderful because that means I can go to bed too :) Then she wakes up to nurse anywhere between midnight and 3:00 am. That's quite a difference. What time she wakes up for her first feeding determines how late she'll let me sleep in the morning. Ideally, I get up at 5:30, get ready for work, eat my breakfast and then feed her at 6:30 and we're out the door by 7:30. If she wakes up at 3, this works out. If she wakes up earlier, then I'm up at 4:00 or 4:30 with no chance of going back to bed. That makes for a long day. Do any of my more experienced mom friends have any advice for consistency?

Almost over....

On Tuesday, my little Amelia will be 8 weeks old. I can't believe it has gone by so fast. This is my last day of maternity leave and I am really sad about it. I feel like I am just getting the hang of this and now we're going to change it up again. Amelia still seems too little to be away from me all day long. I know that her babysitter will be wonderful with her because I have had this conversation many times:

"Oh, you have to go back to work? Who is going to keep your baby?"
"Stephanie Goodman."
"She'll be fine. Stephanie is the best."

Those conversations make me feel better about the whole thing, but I am still sad that I cannot be the one who Amelia spends her days with.

To top all of this off, Zach is starting a new job on the 17th. It's a great opportunity and we are really excited about it, but it will require a LOT of traveling. Overnight traveling.... which means, Amelia and I will be on our own for weeks at a time. I know that we will miss him soo much while he is away, but this new job will open a lot of doors for our little family.

I know you've probably already seen them of Facebook, but here are a few shots of our first Christmas as a family: