tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66065332260357624462024-02-07T07:26:37.077-05:00LIFE IN A HOLDING PATTERNA view into the life of a pilot's wife and my attempt to live in a healthy and happy way.Brittneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12064316561225211468noreply@blogger.comBlogger668125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606533226035762446.post-72008567839163983662014-08-16T14:55:00.001-04:002014-08-16T14:55:37.116-04:00Catching UpI had the rare desire to blog this morning while Allie is still sleeping (I was actually up before her!). I think this is the longest break I've taken from blogging at over two months since my last post. I honestly don't know if I'm going to continue or not, but here's an update on life lately.<br />
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I ended up getting a new job promotion at work! It's close to what I've been doing, but more technical, and with people I already love working with. The only hitch is that my old job hasn't been filled yet, and even when it has been filled, I'll be training the new people taking over (they are hiring two people to replace me) so it's probably going to be a long transition from the old job to the new. Even so, I am happy how it worked out and it's great to feel like I'm growing and learning new things at work.<br />
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In pilot wife life/news, Greg and I decided to buy a house in Houston since it seems that he'll be based there for the foreseeable future. We still plan to stay in Charlotte, but figured it was worth the investment to own property in Houston rather than for him to continue renting. It's something we've discussed for a long time and now that his pay is good, things are relatively stable, and (fingers crossed) it doesn't seem like much will change for a while, we thought it was time. We bought a small ranch style house with a garage (Greg is super excited about that since his car is about 200 degrees sitting in the hot Houston sun). I actually haven't been out to see the new house, but Greg just "moved in" a couple weeks ago and is still settling his stuff in. This doesn't change how we do anything, because Greg still comes home to Charlotte on his days off, but for the 8ish nights a month he spends there, he now has place that feels more like home. I hope that it will help him to feel a little less crappy about being a commuter pilot.<br />
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In case you are wondering, things are good with our marriage. Things have been super busy, especially with the house purchase, which required a couple extra days/nights in Houston and away from home, but over all, things with us are good. We could use more date nights and are probably due for a trip away alone together, but I think in general we are happy and things are good. <br />
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We haven't decided if we are having another child or not and it's something I think about and struggle with constantly. I've actually sort of let me brain take a break from thinking about it in the last couple weeks because I just feel like I can't make a decision. I kind of don't think there's a "wrong" answer. Either way I could see a happy life and/or challenges if we do or don't have another baby. We'll see.<br />
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Allie just turned 18 months old. She is so much fun and so so cute!<br />
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She says mama, dada, Clyde, airplane (sounds like may main), car, moon, mouse, cat, woof, moo, milk, grapes, banana (nana), Bob (my dad), truck, cup, cracker, Parker (friend at school), cookie, bread, fish, bird, blueberry, turtle (curkle), candle, potty, duck, butterfly, fries, cloud, sky, ball, ice, no... the list goes on. It's getting a lot easier to communicate.<br />
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Allie loves looking at pictures. She will go over to the wall and bang on it til you lift her up to see pictures of people and point to everyone and tell her who they are. <br />
She is good at kicking a ball soccer style (she didn't get that from me, I suck at soccer!).<br />
She loves rocking horses and those ride-on spring things at playgrounds.<br />
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She's very into stickers but can't stop peeling them and re-sticking them. I made the mistake of introducing reusable stickers and regular stickers around the same time, and I think that's where the confusion lies.<br />
She loves to climb on things, like the couches and our ottoman. She's kind of a daredevil and will try to stand on things too, which freaks me out.<br />
She's obsessed with airplanes, and if you are outside with her, she's constantly point at the sky and say "may main" pointing at airplanes or even at the sky if she hears a plane but can't see it behind clouds. We've taken her to the airport lookout a couple times and she loves it.<br />
She still loves water. She completed Toddler One swim lessons and won the Starfish award in her class. We're signed up for Toddler Two swim this fall. Anytime you ask if she wants to go to the pool, she always nods yes. She also loves the beach and is fearless- she'll run to the water and would dive in if you let her.<br />
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She loves animals, especially cats. We showed her the show Too Cute on Animal Planet (it's on Netflix too), and she will excitedly watch for a couple minutes before losing interest (she's not really into TV). She pretty much loves any animal though. We took her to the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia when my in-laws were visiting and she LOVED it. Loved the penguins, the flamingos, the elephants, the gorillas... you name it. Future vet maybe?<br />
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I feel like Allie has a super sweet nature to her. Knock on wood, but I'm not aware of any incidents of her hitting, biting, or doing anything to another kid at daycare, even though she's been the victim of a bite. A lot of teachers, including the floaters comment on her sweet nature and one has even said she's her favorite kid :) I hope that continues. She does tend to be fussy sometimes, I think when she's tired or hungry. She definitely breaks into a wail if she wants something NOW and you aren't getting it fast enough, like every single night when I walk into the house and try to get dinner on her tray! <br />
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She naps once a day from 12-2pm and usually goes to bed between 7:30-8pm and sleeps til about 6-6:45am. She rarely wakes up at night unless she's teething or something. I consider her a great sleeper, and I know I'm lucky.<br />
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I love spending time with my baby, but that downtime after she goes to bed at night is my me-time. I've been cleaning out my closet, watching Orange is the New Black, cleaning, talking to Greg when he's away, giving myself pedicures, etc... I'm usually too tired to do anything too crazy, but I look forward to those two hours I have in the evening each day.<br />
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I'm still mostly doing stroller walks as my workout. I probably walk with Allie and Clyde about 4 times a week, which isn't too bad. As usual, I'd love to get more running in, but it's just not happening as much as I'd like. I sometimes think about racing again, but still can't commit to a training schedule. It is what it is.<br />
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That about sums it up for now!Brittneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12064316561225211468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606533226035762446.post-30286903125882032332014-06-05T21:05:00.000-04:002014-06-05T21:05:13.120-04:00Munchkin Meals at almost 16 MonthsEvery month I say I'm going to jump in with a <a href="http://www.ahealthysliceoflife.com/category/food/munchkin-meals-food/">Munchkin Meals</a> post and every month I forget and don't do it, so this month I have made it a point to try and take pictures of some of Allie's meals so I could be ready to write this post.<br />
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Allie is a pretty good eater. At least I think she is. I would say she's sort of average. She could be a little more adventurous, but I'm happy that she eats as many things as she does and glad that a lot of those things are fairly healthy things.<br />
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Allie is still allergic to cow's milk and eggs, but we have a "challenge" coming up with our allergist to pursue further testing on this, so we'll see what happens after that. In the meantime, I'm lucky that she's not picky about alternate milks, she'll drink coconut, almond, soy, hemp, oat... pretty much whatever I've tried and I prefer to mix it up since each have different pros and cons.<br />
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We are nearing the end of our nursing journey. Allie has tapered way down with the duration of her sessions and I think we may be done with her night time one, and will only nurse in the morning for a couple minutes before scooting off my lap. I'm thrilled with how long we've done it, and actually feel good about this gradual let go. I don't think I could have done what a lot of people do and pick and end date, so I'm glad we've just kind of rolled with it as long as she had an interest and gradually let it go. Honestly I think my milk supply is pretty close to dried up now so we are really nearing the end.<br />
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As far as what Allie eats, here's a glimpse:<br />
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<b>Breakfast</b><br />
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Almost every day Allie eats baby oatmeal for breakfast. I would actually be fine with breaking her out of this rut, but she seems to love it and since it's a healthy option that I can customize and mix up so many different ways, I've just been rolling with it. What I usually do is mix either unsweetened apple sauce or mashed banana with coconut/almond or some form of non-cow's milk, and heat it, then mix in nut butter and the baby oatmeal. While I'm prepping her oatmeal, Allie eats fruit, usually blueberries, strawberries, or banana, but sometimes something else. <br />
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After breakfast on weekdays, Allie goes to daycare and ours actually has a cafeteria and a menu for the kids, so each week we get a copy of what they will get for a morning snack, lunch, and afternoon snack. I look it over and sometimes I have to provide something else for Allie on days when they are having something with milk in it that she can't have, like mac and cheese or pizza. It's not a big deal, I just send sunbutter/jelly sandwich or maybe a turkey and hummus sandwich, or coconut milk yogurt on days when the kids are being served regular yogurt as the snack.<br />
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Morning Snack<br />
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Allie's snack at daycare could be anything from yogurt, to dried cereal, to french toast. I usually give her some type of morning snack on weekends as well. I've had great success with smoothies lately when we're home together, so I'll keep doing that since she gets a serving of spinach in when I do that. I like the combo of almond milk, banana, spinach, almond butter, chia seeds, coconut milk yogurt, and maybe blueberries or peaches (whatever I have).<br />
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<b>Lunch</b><br />
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As mentioned, nutbutter (sunbutter when she goes to daycare since it's a nut free facility) and jelly sandwiches are a favorite. Allie LOVES hummus, and will eat it on multi-grain crackers, bread, or straight out of a bowl with her fingers or a spoon. Allie will eat most types of fruit, and usually likes peas, squash, corn, carrots and sweet potato. I usually just try to feed her a protein, a carb/grain, and fruit/veg. She likes deli turkey, so I'll get the Applegate Farms or Boar's Head for her, and she usually likes rotissie chicken, so that's sometimes a lunch option too, although, dinner more often. She is hit or miss with pasta. I find that she likes the Target Giada DeLaurentis tomato basil sauce (it's so good), but won't usually eat pasta with any other type of sauce. I usually try sneak some cooked zuchinni in with her pasta and she will usually eat it.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDO7c9eV-Q5achnZN6a-jugD3yy-qhcTxlpwFjAC04eTSiYe59HkoEvHYwKGXfIFcty8Sjv5VPcnW3Y06bQeE3IM2oNb8JDFNosAeNg-uVzNH1EtfO1Yy08uoXRPSPoXrjas62LZfbD7U/s1600/IMG_3651.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDO7c9eV-Q5achnZN6a-jugD3yy-qhcTxlpwFjAC04eTSiYe59HkoEvHYwKGXfIFcty8Sjv5VPcnW3Y06bQeE3IM2oNb8JDFNosAeNg-uVzNH1EtfO1Yy08uoXRPSPoXrjas62LZfbD7U/s1600/IMG_3651.JPG" height="320" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Daycare picnic lunch of turkey sandwich, pears, and potato wedges.</td></tr>
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<b>Afternoon snack</b><br />
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Similar to the morning snack options, sometimes a pouch if we're out somewhere.<br />
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<b>Dinner</b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Peas grown in my mom's garden and a grilled hummus sandwich on whole grain bread.</td></tr>
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For dinner I feed Allie similar things to lunch. I rotate through the same kinds of things mentioned in the lunch post. Proteins like hummus, chicken, turkey. Another thing I've had success with is the Morning Star "fake" chicken patties. I sometimes use those as a quick protein. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDUVcIisijEuv25TSVJYSQTuJptKHrsaggbFZp7oScdQcsPaUQ6vUuKkK4Sw_TlMnIxSyxXbvJGXI7q_w9YqMBHhO7OmXmAsfw4qioy3QnwRetsmE6ltagLWsVVHVljBxCHbNTNMEXY1c/s1600/IMG_3846.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDUVcIisijEuv25TSVJYSQTuJptKHrsaggbFZp7oScdQcsPaUQ6vUuKkK4Sw_TlMnIxSyxXbvJGXI7q_w9YqMBHhO7OmXmAsfw4qioy3QnwRetsmE6ltagLWsVVHVljBxCHbNTNMEXY1c/s1600/IMG_3846.JPG" height="320" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Handful of puffs (started with while waiting for me to get food on the tray), peas, diced chicken (she also had unpictured hummus and crackers).</td></tr>
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Allie LOVES bread and will eat regular slices of whole grain bread, toast, or pizza crust. She also loves tortillas, so sometimes I'll do a tortilla wrap with hummus and turkey too. I sometimes do roasted sweet potatoes and those are hit or miss (!? come on kid, sweet potato is awesome!!). I wish I could get Allie into more types of beans as a protein option, but she usually won't touch them. I did once get her to eat a little refried bean on tortilla, but it's a rare thing. She also has zero interest in red meat or fish. I've successfully fed her pork a handful of times, but recently, no dice.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2NA_PA_CvJCT15k7q2uZDBMiVd3ESJucJmD3_V2uK4WyrzFSnUhap1hXJu1vm-FDkUSI3_c6_u9MK8QiI6wGT8s6RQbsuAJT1r7AAICZ5XGI65_2vRCEEqhU0zvrilGoe3Gn6BUQQbzs/s1600/IMG_3716.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2NA_PA_CvJCT15k7q2uZDBMiVd3ESJucJmD3_V2uK4WyrzFSnUhap1hXJu1vm-FDkUSI3_c6_u9MK8QiI6wGT8s6RQbsuAJT1r7AAICZ5XGI65_2vRCEEqhU0zvrilGoe3Gn6BUQQbzs/s1600/IMG_3716.JPG" height="320" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Strawberries, sweet potato, PB and J bites...</td></tr>
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<b>Dessert/treats</b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJpuSoRIjW0NJ8DIi_9C37Z3AI8UfdO4nrCb-CM0ud7HUZNmkZmbijUfCQJ5MO0TgR0jD2-EEKD-1S9td-HJbjCQC2r9HrbWwTfe2zSYPR1JLvsZhqdZkuab5mwC4MIynnGEmeyXUxdGs/s1600/IMG_3813.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJpuSoRIjW0NJ8DIi_9C37Z3AI8UfdO4nrCb-CM0ud7HUZNmkZmbijUfCQJ5MO0TgR0jD2-EEKD-1S9td-HJbjCQC2r9HrbWwTfe2zSYPR1JLvsZhqdZkuab5mwC4MIynnGEmeyXUxdGs/s1600/IMG_3813.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eating a coconut milk ice cream cone- messy!</td></tr>
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Allie likes coconut milk ice cream, so we'll do that occasionally. She also likes cookies and knows where they are in the pantry and will sometimes go to that area and point to them. I'll give her one or two and usually at least part of one gets fed to Clyde. She also likes Cool Whip, and recently I found an alternative that looks slightly less chemical-laden (called TruWhip), so I sometimes will give her some with some berries as a treat. I also found that she likes munching a big graham cracker when in the stroller, which helps keep her distracted when we go for walks. Otherwise it can be a battle to keep her contained now that she's so into walking.<br />
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Despite all the good the good eating Allie does, she's about 3rd percentile for weight, which sometimes worries me. I try to sneak healthy fat in where I can, like drizzling olive oil on veggies, adding nut butter to oatmeal, toast, smoothies, etc... but she is still pretty much a peanut. If you guys have ideas of things to try, I'm all ears. I know we're missing out on a big source of potential fat by her not being able to eat milk products and eggs. <br />
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Anyway, it was fun sharing!<br />
<br />Brittneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12064316561225211468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606533226035762446.post-8358149113524481512014-04-27T12:07:00.002-04:002014-04-27T12:07:37.337-04:00Stitch FixSorry about the heaviness of my last post. I think it came across a little whiny. The last thing I want anyone to think is that I don't appreciate what I have. It's like I said, it's all worth it, even if I feel a bit stalled in my career, because I love living in Charlotte, my friends, my daughter, my husband, our house... We have a good life here and overall I'm very happy with where we are, it's just that I wish that my career was progressing a little more and if I had to do it over, I'd make some different decisions about my career along the way, but overall, life is good.<br />
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ANYWAY! Totally shifting gears here, I recently hopped on the <a href="http://www.stitchfix.com/">Stitch Fix</a> bandwagon. I had been thinking about it for a while and decided to give it a try since I never have time to shop for clothing for myself now and even when I do have the chance, I usually end up shopping for Allie instead. I thought it would be fun to see what someone else picked out for me.<br />
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If you're not familiar with Stitch Fix, it's an online service that allows you to customize preferences and styles and have a stylist pick clothing and accessories for you. You also give them all your sizes and you can tell them if there's anything specific you want or don't want each time. They ship you a box of items and you try them on and decide what you like and don't like and send back the items you don't wish to keep in a prepaid envelope. For the items you keep, you can apply the $20 styling fee towards them, and you just go online to your account and check out.<br />
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In my first box, I received a pair of pants, two shirts, a blazer, and a purse. The items come with a styling card, which is awesome. It gives you ideas of ways to wear each item included.<br />
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The first item I tried on were the pants. They were coral colored and slightly cropped. I liked the material a lot, very soft, and the color is similar to one of my favorite pairs of shorts.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl1DNJWmliouB_FfeL8yj92mQhXoEYoGvooG607Mejem9boSKVPb-lNfZvBeYFM7vNpcLQXiOajZ3VJqFopvdJkFPQwKAqqYRg6Z8pXy4KT37lSAQMRIadY0XCUXjMbSnsgnPHOMgEDkI/s1600/IMG_3665.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl1DNJWmliouB_FfeL8yj92mQhXoEYoGvooG607Mejem9boSKVPb-lNfZvBeYFM7vNpcLQXiOajZ3VJqFopvdJkFPQwKAqqYRg6Z8pXy4KT37lSAQMRIadY0XCUXjMbSnsgnPHOMgEDkI/s1600/IMG_3665.JPG" height="320" width="239" /></a></div>
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I was not a fan of the fit or the price though. Cropped pants are tricky for me since I'm only 5'3". I feel like I either need long pants or capris that are more cropped than this or it looks like I'm wearing pants that are too short. Also, I felt like they tapered in an unflattering way, since I'm kind of pear shaped... And they were the most expensive item at $128 (I almost never spend that much on a single clothing item). These were returned.<br />
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The second item I tried, you can see in the above picture. It's a t-shirt with stripes on the front, a blue and white print on the back, and a floral pocket. I am a sucker for any fun shirt, because I feel like they are so versatile and can be worn with jeans, shorts, etc... <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTinNjdatdbREBVy3U5MmOJvAlRLWlYUqA8y42qlaUx1ifZZcROv3MpW6eBLstVfiCf6p-xmacfjTsHx_cHPeY-iDFlHLIRyJExdkL1qFC7L3aNd_D8TYCt1tCn30ySI7M9y6UDf91_DY/s1600/IMG_3654.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTinNjdatdbREBVy3U5MmOJvAlRLWlYUqA8y42qlaUx1ifZZcROv3MpW6eBLstVfiCf6p-xmacfjTsHx_cHPeY-iDFlHLIRyJExdkL1qFC7L3aNd_D8TYCt1tCn30ySI7M9y6UDf91_DY/s1600/IMG_3654.JPG" height="320" width="239" /></a></div>
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I liked it with jeans or shorts.</div>
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The top was a little more than I usually spend on a t-shirt at $44, but it's so much more fun and interesting than most of my t-shirts, that I decided to keep it.</div>
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The third item was a coral plaid shirt. At first glance, I thought I would be returning it because I actually have a plaid shirt that is sort of similar from Ralph Lauren.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oh, hi Clyde!</td></tr>
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I tried it anyway on though.</div>
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Cute with shorts... and with jeans.</div>
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What actually sold me though, was the style card. The material is sort of dressy, and the style card suggested pairing it with a pencil shirt for work, something I couldn't do with my cotton shirt from RL.</div>
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I decided I loved the feel, the fit, the pattern, and the versatility of the coral plaid shirt and kept it. It was also in the $48, which isn't bad.</div>
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The next item was a striped blazer. I liked the idea of a striped blazer, but the biggest problem with this item for me was the material. It was too soft and not structured enough. It looked like I'd have to iron it to get it to hold it's shape. It was too casual for work and I didn't think I'd use it outside of work either, so it didn't really work for me. I didn't love it, and it was $72, so I sent this one back.</div>
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It actually looks better in pictures than I feel like it did in person, but I stand by my decision.</div>
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The last item was a crossbody purse/bag. I have actually been curious about these for a while, so it was not a bad thing that they sent me one to try. </div>
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The two things I liked least about this were that it has gold hardware (I prefer silver) and snakeskin texture. And I'm at this weird point where I'm not that into bags/purses because I usually just use my standby black purse, which is on the small side, or the diaper bag. I think if I weren't a mom and were more purses right now, I could have found this more fun and playful, but I didn't feel like it was entirely practical for my needs right now. A smaller version a crossbody bag could be fun to replace my boring black purse though. The price was $52, which I thought was pretty reasonable (non-leather), but I just didn't love it.</div>
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So in the end, I kept the two tops and sent the rest back. </div>
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I think Stitch Fix did pretty good for my first try though! Everything they sent fit well and all were items I feel like I wouldn't easily find shopping myself, which is pretty cool! I actually already scheduled my second fix for a few weeks from now. We have a family trip to Hilton Head coming up and I asked for some fun vacation pieces for the trip! Can't wait to see what I get!</div>
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Oh, and here's my referral <a href="https://www.stitchfix.com/referral/3161703">link</a> if you want to try it!</div>
Brittneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12064316561225211468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606533226035762446.post-52748599368107583712014-04-09T20:57:00.001-04:002014-04-09T20:57:24.367-04:00On SacrificeMy friend Victoria did a <a href="http://www.runningpeanut.com/2014/03/completely-mediocre.html">post</a> recently that I could have written (well except that I'm not an attorney). I have said her exact words over and over throughout the last year since having Allie, I feel mediocre at everything. As much as I'd like to think I have figured out balance in my life, I have to admit that never truly feel like I am giving 100% to any part of my life anymore, which is incredibly frustrating. It's the age old debate about whether a woman can have it all, and in my experience, the answer is kind of no. Even though I do pretty much have everything I could ask for, I feel like all the tanks are sort of half full because I can't dedicate my full energy or time to any one area. If I am excelling at one thing, it might be at the expense of something else. I feel that constantly. Certain areas are definitely lacking because sacrifices were made.<br />
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In my mid 20's, while living in the DC area, I got hired at a place where it seemed that there were unlimited possibilities in which direction I could go with my career and only six months after I started, I was promoted, so this reinforced to me the notion that I would love working at this place and would have plenty of growth opportunity. Then my husband's career took a nose dive (no aviation pun intended) and we decided to relocate to Charlotte. I actually fought the move for the very reason that I knew it would probably hurt my career and any growth opportunity I had hoped for, but in the end I caved and agreed to it, feeling that it was a sacrifice I would have to make for US, and our future family. I dreamed of our future kids, being closer distance to my parents, getting out of the DC traffic and "rat race" and decided it was worth the sacrifice when I weighed it all.<br />
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When I got to Charlotte, I did a lot to try to position myself to move up, but with few opportunities and a hiring freeze, I kind of had to just coast where I was, I didn't really have a choice for a while. I got focused on having a baby and cultivating my life outside of work, and things just kind of stayed as they were with my career and I found a way to be okay with that. Now I've been in my current job seven years, the longest I've been in any job, and while I like it, I am thinking long term and know that I'd like to do something else in my life and don't see myself retiring in this same job- the thought of that bothers the ambitious 20 something girl I used to be. I want to feel like I'm utilizing more of myself and learning new things, and not just stagnant. <br />
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Recently, out of nowhere, an opportunity came up at work for a job I have been interested in for a while. I spent over a week reworking my resume to apply before the job closed, talked to people about the job, and all the sudden it was something I really wanted, which is something I didn't see coming since I've been more focused on my growing family more than work for the past couple years. The resume re-working paid off. I got an interview. The interview was something I did NOT adequately prepare for though, and found myself fumbling through it. I did not get the job and I really have to stop myself from slapping myself upside the head, because I really think I could have gotten the job if my interview had gone better. I can't blame my family, or Allie, or anyone but myself, but at the same time, I know if I didn't have so much going on, I think I would have been able to focus better on preparing for the interview. I also think I would have been more focused on career in general.<br />
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It's stuff like this that makes you question what you are doing. Like, should I bother working if I'm not even doing what I really am capable of, but don't have the energy/time to put towards getting promoted since I'm so busy with my family and don't have time for further schooling/learning, etc..? If I'm not getting further with my career anyway, should I just be staying home with my daughter? It's hard to know. I know that I do feel like I was right when I thought I should go back to work because I would need the "break" I get when I go to work, since I am the only parent with my daughter for days at a time because of my husband being away. Even though it makes life busy, I feel like it's good for Allie and I to have that time apart. Allie is already so dependent on me, since I'm the parent that's there every day, that if we spent even more time together with no other people around, I feel like she'd freak out when she was left with anyone. So in that respect, I know daycare is good for her, to get used to other caregivers and have interaction with other kids. And likewise, I need the adult interaction and different challenges I get at work. But back to my point. I just feel like if I don't feel like I'm really excelling at my career, it makes all this feel like a little bit of a waste, which sucks.<br />
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The other day though, I was talking to someone about what happened with this job. It's been said to me many times lately in conversations about it, that I could get promoted if I were willing to move. I know that's true. And actually, I know Greg would move if it's what I really wanted, because we're not in the place we were in 8 years ago when we felt like we needed to move mainly for financial reasons. There are a couple places we could move where he could commute as easily from or we could even move to Houston if an opportunity came up for me there, but when I weigh everything I'd have to sacrifice FOR my career, I realize it's not worth it to me. Even though I sacrificed my career to be in Charlotte, have a family, live somewhere with a lower cost of living, be near my parents... these things are all more important to me than a promotion. I imagine moving for a job and starting over making friends, being far away from my parents, missing Charlotte and the life I created here, and I know it wouldn't be worth it if I were in a different job if I were unhappy with the rest of my life outside of work, which is a definite possibility if we moved. So basically it's worth it for me to be here, where I am now in life, but it doesn't mean that I don't ache when I don't get a promotion and think that if I hadn't had to make certain sacrifices, I could be further along in my career.<br />
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Also, read <a href="http://www.mamamia.com.au/parenting/best-years-life-just-arent/">this</a>. I feel like this reinforces why it's worth it.Brittneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12064316561225211468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606533226035762446.post-27592402350565444242014-03-22T11:08:00.002-04:002014-03-22T11:08:26.809-04:00Allie is One!Ok, I'm finally getting this post up after major procrastination. Allie turned ONE <strike>a couple weeks ago</strike> over a month ago. I waited to do the update so I could get stats from her one year appointment, and also because she didn't have her official birthday party until a couple weeks after, we were travelling for a week, and, let's face it, because I'm SLOW.<br />
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The actual day of Allie's birthday was spent alone with me, snowed in. Daddy was flying and work and school were cancelled due to the storm.<br />
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We actually had a great day together, with lots of play time inside and of course her checking out the white stuff outside! I did a photo shoot of Allie in her birthday outfit, complete with rubber duck props...<br />
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I made her some banana muffins and frosted one for her and put a candle in it while FaceTiming with my parents so they could participate in the action.<br />
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I gave Allie a toy fridge to play with, which was good timing since it was good to have a new toy while snowed in.<br />
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Allie started walking a couple weeks before turning one, and was only up to about 10-15 independent steps at a time by her actual birthday. She was still doing a combination of crawling and walking, and still is, but lately she's walking more than 50% of the time. She's a master at getting up and down stairs and loves climbing on to and off of her Pottery Barn chair all the time.<br />
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Also right around the one year mark, Allie finally started purposefully saying "mama" which was great. She still says "da" more than any other word, and uses this to refer to Clyde, ducks, Dad, and when pointing to things. We're pretty sure she's said Clyde a bunch of times, and also appears to be trying to say "quack quack quack" since we say that around her many duck toys and books all the time.<br />
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At one year, Allie weighed in at a whopping 17 lbs 4 oz., putting her in the 3-5th percentile for weight! I'd be nervous if her growth hadn't followed that pattern all along and if she wasn't a good eater, but she actually eats well and the pediatrician isn't worried, she's just small. Also, she isn't as small when compared to the world growth chart as much as the US one. For length, she's 28 inches, so 10-25th for height. Still rocking the big head at 46 cm (75th percentile). Allie is still in size 3 diapers, and mostly 12M clothes, but still fits snuggly into some of her 9M clothes too. I have recently become obsessed with shoes for Allie and can't stop buying them. She has three pairs of "real" shoes that are all size 3, but I have also bought ahead in sizes 4-5 if I find a good deal.<br />
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Allie is still pretty obsessed with ducks. My mom did a total rubber duck themed party for Allie, and it was a huge hit.<br />
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Like I said, she's a good eater most of the time, but definitely has her favorites. Those include rotisserie chicken, blueberries, bananas, sweet potatoes, cantaloupe, peas, pears, baby oatmeal (i mix applesauce and nut butter in), grapes (a recent addition), Applegate farms deli turkey, toast, PB &J, Goldfish, and hummus on crackers (another new addition). She doesn't like watermelon, strawberries, green beans, broccoli, chicken nuggets, and some of the other random things we've tried feeding her. Pasta with sauce is hit or miss. Sometimes she loves it, sometimes not. We still have lots to explore, but I admit, I fall back on her favorites a lot because most of them are easy to get on the table in 5 minutes, which is essential when we walk in the door on a weeknight. She's also drinking a combination of milks- almond, coconut, soy, and hemp, and also some Pediasure. She also gets one bottle of breast milk a day- usually about 4oz (yes, I am still pumping at work). Our pediatrician told us to aim for 16oz a day total of some kind of milk. <br />
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This stage is kind of neat because she's starting to seem like a big girl, but at the same time the baby part of her is still recognizable. I am still breastfeeding twice a day, in the morning and at night, and I love those moments of her snuggled against me when I still feel like she's a little baby. But it's definitely fun to see her walking everywhere and exploring like a big girl too. It's been a whirlwind year! I can't even tell you how much I love this girl...<br />
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<br />Brittneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12064316561225211468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606533226035762446.post-82139390826484738752014-02-12T20:56:00.002-05:002014-02-12T20:56:39.140-05:00Thoughts on the First YearGreetings from the epicenter of snowacalypse 2014! We have received quite the dump of snow here in Charlotte today and I have no idea when I'll be leaving my house again. Good thing I have 8 years worth of food in my pantry for occasions like this. It kind of worked out good for me to be home today, because I got to spend the last day of my baby's first year with her. I pretty much savored all her smiles, cuddles, and snuggles today.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No need to change out of pajamas! SNOW DAY! <br />And yes, she's wearing boys pajamas because they have <u>planes</u> on them!</td></tr>
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Allie will be a YEAR OLD tomorrow! Unbelievable... I've done little but catalog the first year of my baby's life on the blog for almost the last year. It makes sense since she's basically become my whole world and almost nothing in my life is the same as it used to be before she arrived. Still, this used to be a blog about me, so I thought I should maybe catch up on some of what's gone on for me this year. The lack of posts are pretty pathetic and I've thought more than once about stopping blogging altogether. I still read other blogs a lot (pretty much all I do when pumping), but when I try to wrap my head around writing a post, editing pictures, and using precious time to blog, something else usually wins out. Still, I like having the outlet here if and when I want it. <br />
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My first year as a mother has been so crazy. I have never loved another human being like I love Allie. It reminds me of the symbiotic relationship between E.T. and Elliot. I feel like I hurt when she hurts. If she is happy, I am happy. Her smile makes me instantly smile. As probably any mother will attest to, it's hard to describe this love. It's actually scary, because it's the kind of love you really fear losing and you know that you would suffer extreme pain if anything were to happen to this creature you are completely absorbed with. It makes me feel like I can't breathe to even think about it.<br />
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Changing your identity to a mother means it's not about you anymore. I always knew that and I thought I was prepared for it, but it has still been a huge change. Before I had Allie, I had so much free time to watch trashy TV, to go to trendy restaurants, to tie up my running shoes and hit the pavement, to clean my house, to snuggle my dog, to go to Target without a second thought, to blog... Now all of those things are difficult to do, and require thought and planning. They are all "big events" to me now and after thirty some odd years of doing whatever I want whenever I feel like it, it's been weird to give up all that freedom. Still, I know my life has so much more meaning now and part of me thrives on life being so busy.<br />
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At some point I did get the hang of planning better around Allie's sleep, which helps me to feel like I have a better handle on everything else in my life (except the blog- ha!). I guess when she became slightly more predictable sleeping at night and during naps I was able to snap out of it and tackle my long long list of things to do, which includes stuff like reading and watching TV, but also a lot of cleaning, laundry, and washing bottles. It's really taken me all year to get a good balance though and I still wouldn't say I've completely figured it out. In an ideal world I would have a lot more time to run, blog, watch Parenthood, organize my closet, and go out more. I do some of these things sometimes, but most of them I do with no regularity at all. I haven't run since Thanksgiving, which is ridiculous, I know. It's just THAT hard for me to find the time to do it and it's so much less of a priority now. I fit things in when I have an hour to spare, if it happens to be what I feel like doing in the hour that I have, or they fall by the wayside and I use the hour to fold Allie's laundry and shower (more often than not). It's just reality.<br />
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Another thing I haven't talked about, but I do want to share for the sake of others that might be experiencing it, is that having a baby has been hard on my marriage. A lot of people talk about how seeing their husband become a father makes their heart explode with love for him, and I do agree, it's an awesome thing and pretty overwhelming to feel your love grow when you add a person the two of you made. Still, after that initial swell of pride and fuzzy feelings of love, came a lot of stress for us. I've always said that any person you choose to marry has flaws and you are deciding whether you can live with those flaws or not. I successfully lived with my husband's flaws for eleven years before we had Allie. We went through furlough, miscarriages, and many other stressful events, and I thought having a baby would be the least of our troubles, more like a dream come true, but babies bring a lot of stress. You lack sleep, your life is totally different, you are responsible for another human being, and you feel like there are so many decisions to be made. We were not always on the same page, and maybe my husband being a pilot exacerbated that because we weren't able to commiserate daily on how to handle things, a lot of it gets differed to me, which makes things weird when he is home and is trying to jump in and be involved. His aforementioned flaws that used to be cute and quirky (I married the slowest person alive), became serious annoyances when things were stressful. It's not just him either, I'm no picnic either. I have a short temper, and when I'm stressed out, I'm basically just cranky. We are kind of polar opposites and while I like to think we usually complement each other, it can be hard when taking care of a baby and things need to be agreed upon. I like things scheduled and he likes to fly by the seat of his pants and throw schedules out the window. That drives me nuts when it comes to Allie because I feel like babies NEED to keep on a schedule, but Greg doesn't, and doesn't get why I'm so rigid about naps, feedings, and bedtime. I was also really consumed by motherhood and still am. At times I really have to force myself to think about being a wife and put effort into cultivating that relationship. It's been a huge adjustment. Around six months in, we decided to do some marriage counseling and I don't know if it was the counseling or just both of us committing to working on things, but things did improve and I think we both have a better handle on it now. Still, this has easily been the hardest year for our marriage. I love my husband and our little family though. I think we're going to survive being parents, but it's taken a lot of getting used to!<br />
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What else? Well I'm definitely a helicopter mom. It's funny because with a lot of things in life I am a fairly laid back person, but with my fragile baby, I am like a roll of bubble wrap, constantly hovering around her scared she will fall. And she does fall, a lot, which sort of negates the whole mission of being a helicopter mom! As I said before, I also found out that I like things very scheduled when it comes to Allie. As soon as I pick her up from daycare I read her full report on when she napped, ate, pooped, etc... I want to know it all. I'm quite the control freak!<br />
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If you had to ask me what one of my favorite things about the first year has been, I would say breastfeeding. We've made it to year and I have LOVED it. The thought of stopping makes me cry, and honestly, I thought when we got to a year, I'd be well on my way to weaning, but I can't even bring myself to stop pumping this week because I also just like knowing she's having my milk when she is away from me. I feel like it connects us. I just can't even describe the overwhelming love I feel for my daughter when I am feeding her and she is snuggled up against me. I love sniffing her hair, stroking her cheek, and squeezing her foot. It's beyond special to me and I am not sure when I will wean her, but basically I have no plan to just yet, which isn't something I would have expected. I know I am very, very lucky to have had such a good experience, but just so you know, breastfeeding hasn't always been easy for me. I have had many days and weeks when I thought my supply was dipping and I was sweating over whether I could pump enough to keep up with demand. It's hard when you have a certain number of ounces you have to have for daycare and you realize you might come up short. I ate lactation cookies, took fenugreek, drank mother's milk tea, doubled my water intake, have eaten too many bowls of oatmeal to count, and ate like a pig to keep up with the demand. I had nights when I couldn't get my boobs to let down and had to feed Allie a bottle of pumped milk. I've dipped into my freezer stash so much that many times I was down to only 2-3 bags of frozen milk and I thought that would be it. I've also declined to do things that I knew would be too difficult because of breastfeeding or pumping. If I had to do it over, I think I would, but part of me wonders if I should have introduced formula at some point and had it there as an option. It would probably have been a lot less stressful. After a while, I had gone so long without introducing formula, that it seemed like it would be more stressful to try to get her to take it than to just keep on feeding her breast milk, whatever I had to do to keep making it. Also, when we found out Allie had the milk allergy that confirmed it for me that I would breastfeed as long as I could since she could only have certain formula without milk proteins anyway. I am glad for that reason we didn't give her formula, because she would have been allergic to most kinds. Anyway, we've gotten through it and it's been totally worth it. That's just been my experience, I totally respect a mother's choice and ability to do what they have to do to feed her child.<br />
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I still am happy with my choice to go back to work, most days. I miss Allie all the time, but I like having work in my life as well. I feel like Allie is doing well at daycare. I like that she has that social interaction and that they keep her on a schedule, and I feel like she enjoys it. I don't know if any mother is ever 100% sure of the decision to work or stay home, but I feel pretty good about where we are. It is definitely a lot to work and be a mom though.<br />
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I've enjoyed watching Allie grow and it's amazing how far she's come in a year, from the tiny baby that could barely move on her own, to one that is almost walking on her own now (10 steps is probably her record!). I can't wait to see how this next year goes! Hopefully I'll be posting more of a formal one year update on Allie next!Brittneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12064316561225211468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606533226035762446.post-1947011120675304062013-12-30T21:04:00.000-05:002013-12-30T21:04:33.154-05:00Holidays 2013Since I haven't really been blogging much aside from monthly updates on Allie, I thought I would back up a little and give the overview of my holidays this year. Obviously this was an important Christmas, since it was Allie's first! As per usual, Christmas was celebrated multiple times because of family schedules. Normally my brother picks a weekend in between Thanksgiving and Christmas to come visit, and this year, we actually picked the weekend before Thanksgiving to do sort of an early Christmas get together (Confused yet? Yeah, me too). <br />
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Our visit was fun as usual, but two little ones in the mix made for a different visit than past years. Much more planning around naps, and less time out exploring and doing other kinds of activities. We did a bunch of lunches out, scheduled around naps, and had all our dinners and breakfasts in.<br />
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My mom had the idea to have the girls do a cooking class at <a href="http://thelibertycharlotte.com/">The Liberty</a>, so we did do that, while the guys watched the babies. It was pretty awesome to be out enjoying food, wine, and good company.<br />
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<br />The theme of the cooking class was Thanksgiving and everything was delicious!<br />
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Most of the weekend revolved around Allie and my niece. They were pretty cute interacting. At one point they were sharing Puffs! We all can't wait to see what their relationship is like as they grow up. They are exactly a year and a half apart in age, so we all think they could be close!<br />
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One of the highlights of the weekend was when my friend Lindsay took pictures of us. She got some great shots of everyone, including the first in this post, plus this one of the girls...<br />
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A bunch of good ones of my little family...</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgls6ZF05inHYSUIyHhTcF4EaaHko7SxB1TXrjj4PkNOznzL_-Tq9kk6ZXsU_Bha_rigZk_33PaYLAce1nJ9dauVkQnaFxU7TfY2OBWAEj_7lvrEFWOmA043XUaWzK3Qjloo3mgBGDZtXY/s1600/20131123-DSC_0225.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgls6ZF05inHYSUIyHhTcF4EaaHko7SxB1TXrjj4PkNOznzL_-Tq9kk6ZXsU_Bha_rigZk_33PaYLAce1nJ9dauVkQnaFxU7TfY2OBWAEj_7lvrEFWOmA043XUaWzK3Qjloo3mgBGDZtXY/s400/20131123-DSC_0225.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our Christmas card picture!<br /></td></tr>
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Also some cute ones of Allie and I...<br />
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I love that Lindsay got so many cute shots of everyone!<br />
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Next up was Thanksgiving, which I spent in Hilton Head, as usual. Last year I didn't run the Turkey Trot because I was pregnant, but this year I decided to do it, even though my running could be described as pathetic at best this past year.<br />
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I actually surprised myself and pulled out a time of slightly over 28 minutes, which isn't too far off of my PR for a 5K (a little over 27 min). I think I tend to run 5Ks when I'm really not trained to do any other distance, so my PR is not great. Anyway, I was glad to keep the tradition alive, but I can't say that it was one of my better races. I've resigned to the fact that I'm just not in a place where I have time to dedicate to my once beloved hobby. I hope eventually I'll get back to it.<br />
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The rest of the Thanksgiving weekend in Hilton Head was spent doing the usual walks, shopping, and eating.<br />
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I thought Allie would be into some of the Thanksgiving foods, but most of them were not a hit. She did have fun though.<br />
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Fast forward to Christmas. In early December, I met Kelly at the mall for pictures with Santa!<br />
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This is a picture of a picture, but Allie did okay. They took four pictures, and the first three were complete deer in headlights. This was the fourth shot, which most resembled a smile. She melted down and started to cry in the fifth shot!<br />
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We actually did a second attempt the following weekend with less professional pictures and a smaller setting. She did much better, but I still kind of like the first picture better.<br />
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Greg was off from Saturday, December 21st til Monday, December 23rd. I took the 23rd and 24th off to watch Allie since daycare was closed, so we ended doing our family of three Christmas on the morning of the 23rd. <br />
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This year we set up our tree in our "formal" living room instead of the family room, because it's an area less traveled by Allie and since we have a play yard set up for her in the living room where the tree normally goes. It worked out pretty well having it there, although I probably did kind of miss seeing the tree from the kitchen and other parts of the house since the family room is more centrally located.<br />
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Allie wore a Christmas themed outfit for the occasion.<br />
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Then settled in to opening presents. We didn't time things very well, as she had already been up a couple hours before we started. She did well during the stocking opening portion though, and really loved the rubber ducks she found in there (she's very into ducks right now).<br />
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We ended up taking a break and putting her down for her morning nap and then resuming things later.<br />
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Clyde enjoyed his presents too.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That rubber chicken was a hit with both kids. Allie keeps trying to steal it.<br /><br /></td></tr>
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The lamb in this picture of us was a big hit. It tells nursery rhymes and was sent to Allie by my in-laws.<br />
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Allie is pretty fascinated with it... It was a low-key, but nice Christmas for our little family. Greg was gone on Christmas Day, but my parents were here and we got to do the whole thing again.<br />
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Ok, I think this is officially the longest holiday recap ever. Anyway, I think Allie enjoyed her first holiday season. I'm sure every year it'll get more and more exciting as she starts to understand what's going on. Even so, it was fun to watch her experience it and it definitely made the holidays more special for me and my family having her here with us this year.Brittneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12064316561225211468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606533226035762446.post-37383937487425035542013-12-29T10:19:00.001-05:002013-12-29T10:19:54.348-05:00Ten and a Half Months!Merry Christmas (belated)! I hope to get a Christmas post up at some point, but since we all know I can't get it together enough to even get a monthly Allie update up on time, we'll see if that actually happens. Allie is napping right now, so I'm going to try and get this update out.<br />
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Allie is <strike>ten</strike> ten and a half months old! Wow, I can't believe she's almost a year old, so weird. I'm really late with this update and I honestly can't remember what's happened before ten months and in the last two weeks, so I'll just update you on where we're at right now.<br />
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First off, the ten month photo shoot was a complete disaster, because little-miss-can't-sit-still would not cooperate.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Why yes, the sticker is stuck to my leg in this photo!</td></tr>
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Right after I wrote my nine month update, Allie started babbling with her bababa, dadada, and all that, so it was nice to not have to worry about that being an issue, since I was kind of concerned she wasn't doing that yet when I wrote the nine month update. It seems like with a lot of her developmental milestones, all I have to do is express concern about it and she goes ahead and does it. I will admit she has said "dada" a lot, but I am not ready to call that her first world since Greg is typically no where in the vicinity when she is saying it, it just seems to be general babble. Still, Greg likes to give me crap about how he won the "dada" vs. "mama" first word battle. I actually wouldn't mind if she did look right at him and call him dada. That would be so cute :) Allie is very into Clyde now too, so it wouldn't surprise me if her "da" is really directed at Clyde, trying to say "dog" (which was my first word!). She also really likes rubber ducks, so it could be "duck".<br />
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I feel like Allie is getting super close to walking. She easily stands and can move while holding on to things. She's also super fast in her walker and is getting good at turning around and moving in multiple directions. I think she'll be walking by the time she's a year old if not sooner. She also stands without holding on to things a lot now, so she's definitely testing the waters. I think she'll be walking by a year if not sooner.<br />
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As of nine months Allie still had no teeth! This surprised me, because she's been pretty much on target with most milestones, and this was definitely late. About a week and a half ago one of her daycare teachers pointed at her mouth and said "I think she's teething now", because she was doing something funny with her mouth. Sure enough, I felt around in her mouth and felt a sharp edge poking through on one of her lower middle teeth, so it's finally happening now. She's doing ok with it. The other day my parents were watching her while I was at work and she completely lost it for about three hours, and I ended up leaving work early to rescue them. I stopped at Walgreens on my way home and bought every teething product they had. I think half of it was that she just wanted me to hold and comfort her and no one else would do. Poor kiddo. Tylenol, chilled pacifiers, and teething tablets seem to be the most helpful out of everything we've tried.<br />
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Like I said, sleep has been a little bit disrupted lately due to teething. She was pretty consistently sleeping through the night right before the first tooth poked through, but then got thrown off. I have had some nights where I've gone in if she seems particularly upset and others where I've let her cry and settle herself back to sleep when it seems like she would. I feel like I can never really decide what to do. I want to be consistent, but don't want her to suffer alone if she needs comforting. We started putting Allie to bed a little earlier, because it seemed like putting her to bed later didn't help much with making her sleep later, so she might as well go to bed earlier and get the sleep on the front end. Typically she goes down by about 7:15pm, then can be up anywhere from like 5:15-7am. Most mornings she's up more in the 5:30am range, which kind of sucks. She usually takes two naps- one in the morning around 10am- that can be 1/2 hour to 1 1/2 hours, then an afternoon nap around 2ish that is about the same length. Daycare tells me she's not one of the better nappers, and I agree.</div>
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Feeding is going well. She eats three meals a day. A typical day of feeding looks like this:</div>
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6:30am: Nurse.</div>
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8:15am: oatmeal cereal mixed with applesauce or mashed banana, sometimes a handful of sliced blueberries (her favorite food by a landslide)</div>
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10am: Bottle or nurse</div>
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12pm: A level two baby food or pouch if she's at daycare or out, maybe chunks of sweet potato and banana and/or whole grain cracker with some almond butter if she's home.</div>
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1:30pm: Bottle or nurse</div>
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Some kind of afternoon snack maybe (cheerios, diced fruit, etc).</div>
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4pm: Bottle or nurse</div>
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5:45pm: Dinner of rotisserie chicken, butternut squash chunks, coconut milk yogurt.</div>
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7pm: Nurse.</div>
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She sometimes does have a middle of the night nurse session, and once in a while she'll have a 5:15am and 7:15am nurse session if she wakes up really early and doesn't eat much at the first session and I want to top her off before daycare. </div>
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We met with the allergist and confirmed Allie has a milk and egg allergy. She can have milk or eggs cooked in stuff like baked goods, but other than that, it's a no go for now. We have a bottle of Benedryl and an epi pen for her just in case, but I think she'll grow out of it, but it's still less than ideal. I think we're going to end up doing a combination of different milks- hemp, almond, soy, coconut, when she hits a year. We'll probably see what she likes and use different ones for home and daycare since she can't have nut milk there.</div>
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Allie can now clap, wave, hug, and understands more of what we're saying, as far as we can tell. Everyone says she has a lot of personality and she constantly cracks us up!</div>
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I keep saying every day she's starting to look and act more like a little girl all the time, and less like a baby. The daycare teachers told me she's been kissing one of the boys! Whoa, slow down little girl!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLSPLS1sbpHXMFriSSaSVgxo5hJLVREsiFHpJi-sSeKIb6BsnzH4ZdoZzgiODGMQkM__LQGVyIthl2oY6STM8J2oXrO1-NhoCL6D432QAcMcYlCsF9bSL5_ysmkshdMyIyiCI8DHrI7Pg/s1600/IMG_3011.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLSPLS1sbpHXMFriSSaSVgxo5hJLVREsiFHpJi-sSeKIb6BsnzH4ZdoZzgiODGMQkM__LQGVyIthl2oY6STM8J2oXrO1-NhoCL6D432QAcMcYlCsF9bSL5_ysmkshdMyIyiCI8DHrI7Pg/s320/IMG_3011.PNG" width="213" /></a></div>
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Likes: BLUEBERRIES, butternut squash, my phone, bells, Clyde, rubber ducks, me, my mom, waving, clapping, cuddling, practicing walking.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR29RqMDB89rreZfX9PxpkBMop0HUAoSvJ-7lq6DKISQ4yNQ5jQN3RQwZnQSaJo7Ugi0taURBQWvu5vIf15jSavdZQII5kEI6Ff72lu80NU16eIBLBG2T2GadhT581bQ8dL9dfrY2dyc0/s1600/DSC_3446.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR29RqMDB89rreZfX9PxpkBMop0HUAoSvJ-7lq6DKISQ4yNQ5jQN3RQwZnQSaJo7Ugi0taURBQWvu5vIf15jSavdZQII5kEI6Ff72lu80NU16eIBLBG2T2GadhT581bQ8dL9dfrY2dyc0/s320/DSC_3446.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Dislikes: Being strapped into pretty much anything (stroller, carseat, etc...), being confined in her play yard, crib, or Pack N Play, being changed, not being able to see me if I have to run to the bathroom or upstairs for a minute.</div>
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She's usually in 9M clothes now, and still in size 3 diapers. I don't see that changing anytime soon. I have no idea about her weight or height. I probably won't find out til her year check up. I would guess maybe 17 lbs, but I usually guess wrong.</div>
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Anyway, life is pretty good. It's super hectic, and she's getting more fun, but also more challenging as she grows. As usual, there's a lot more I would like to say and blog about, but finding the time is nearly impossible. I'm exhausted, but happy.</div>
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Brittneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12064316561225211468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606533226035762446.post-45766146451305832602013-12-06T21:27:00.001-05:002013-12-06T21:29:01.106-05:00Baby Things We Love At (Almost) 10 MonthsI've been meaning to do one of these posts forever. There are so many baby things we like and use all the time. Allie will be 10 months in about a week. Here are some things we love and have used a lot in the past few months:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWMUfYzhLM0W-RPB5u1IgmcQyya5liYf67nhYxsuFfFW0O8sppVLc1pZarAA6wAqerFf7YfU9geoBJM7qbIwPuPGMWBmWe8iwqdP9nDNR8uRyX8ZpB2qedsy-st0UDUL3tFUxDLm06P3I/s1600/nuk.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWMUfYzhLM0W-RPB5u1IgmcQyya5liYf67nhYxsuFfFW0O8sppVLc1pZarAA6wAqerFf7YfU9geoBJM7qbIwPuPGMWBmWe8iwqdP9nDNR8uRyX8ZpB2qedsy-st0UDUL3tFUxDLm06P3I/s1600/nuk.png" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/NUK-Active-Silicone-Learning-10-Ounce/dp/B004MWJP62/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1386378459&sr=8-2&keywords=nuk+sippy+cups">Nuk sippy cup</a></div>
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We've had the most success with this sippy cup. We have about 4 different kinds and Allie does best with a soft spout on these Nuk ones. I feel like these a good transition from her bottles in terms of shape and size too (we use Dr. Browns).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj39k5MiRs0NQeHUQx1l-9S5ZLr9HLJqbM2_OngZ_X8zrlfHKIcam_dqCbK88JRDMT5tA9usFoRp5zviuCmlzeOEVvqSi4n30nA81V4tdSLMxTlkEvq8GMnSjeqAyrAmmPd3c4Fj_uyp6s/s1600/sleepsack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj39k5MiRs0NQeHUQx1l-9S5ZLr9HLJqbM2_OngZ_X8zrlfHKIcam_dqCbK88JRDMT5tA9usFoRp5zviuCmlzeOEVvqSi4n30nA81V4tdSLMxTlkEvq8GMnSjeqAyrAmmPd3c4Fj_uyp6s/s1600/sleepsack.jpg" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/SleepSack-Cotton-Wearable-Blanket-Medium/dp/B00B1M2TUK/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1386378640&sr=8-5&keywords=halo+sleepsack">Halo Sleep Sacks</a></div>
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Ever since we transitioned Allie out of the Merlin's Magic Sleep Suit (which we loved from 3-6 months), we've been using these over a sleeper to keep Allie warm at night. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_HqJSdoYtlW6nO2iRP_57m0BuAHbqv6CltI92gDdrBnKlIoBUOoTGrgo52v0BHbF5bZ3iQ6Pn3kXGphiMlFAmg9dR7KTWaX5NRiujVGu8O-OvwDXg63M8ca_c26y74gF6rxSzjIyBTPw/s1600/12025312_121110064217.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_HqJSdoYtlW6nO2iRP_57m0BuAHbqv6CltI92gDdrBnKlIoBUOoTGrgo52v0BHbF5bZ3iQ6Pn3kXGphiMlFAmg9dR7KTWaX5NRiujVGu8O-OvwDXg63M8ca_c26y74gF6rxSzjIyBTPw/s320/12025312_121110064217.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="fn" itemprop="name"><a href="http://www.target.com/p/b-zany-zoo-wooden-activity-cube/-/A-12025312">B. Zany Zoo Wooden Activity Cube</a></span></div>
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We got Allie this cube at Target on a whim a couple months ago. I had been thinking about getting her one, but was originally thinking I'd look for one on consignment. I actually don't mind that we paid full price though, because this thing is really good quality and Allie plays with it all the time. As soon as she could pull up to standing, it became one of her go to items to pull up on and play with the beads and critters on top. She also likes all the different sides- opening and closing the doors, spinning the letters, etc. I feel like we're still going to get a lot of use out of this when we start teaching her words and letters, etc... It's a great cube.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEintHg9zi9vhm36s7if2srsAxRL3rIJ7c_EoiRfGRWX1YK8gjKtresJcjQkzZU1Cse-54UJgGxxB52Vuupm6n4j5pQIi_mJo7-BjhK87-5xKDfGuKcQW4WTqnsEf_BRxGmuPLmAPNa49_g/s1600/IMG_1853.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEintHg9zi9vhm36s7if2srsAxRL3rIJ7c_EoiRfGRWX1YK8gjKtresJcjQkzZU1Cse-54UJgGxxB52Vuupm6n4j5pQIi_mJo7-BjhK87-5xKDfGuKcQW4WTqnsEf_BRxGmuPLmAPNa49_g/s320/IMG_1853.JPG" width="239" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Wubbanub-Infant-Plush-Toy-Pacifier/dp/B0028IDXDS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386379897&sr=8-1&keywords=wubbanub">Wubbanub</a></div>
We thought our time with the Wubbanub had to come to a close once Allie got into her Advent pacifiers, but after a bunch of bad nights of sleep in which we realized Allie was losing her pacifier in the crib at night and having a hard time finding it so we kept having to go into the nursery to give them to her, I got the idea to put her Wubbanubs in the crib with her so that she could easily find the pacifier attached and it worked great. She was able to find them so much easier than her regular pacifier, and once she got the Wubbanub in her mouth she'd fall back asleep without us having to go in and find a paci for her. Win!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHkmsG-db3Ut9hyTvILidCmLZA_pNl27n4Xr3NQH_vdvSRi3C52h6RSBPClziPbuxXXRKbZeKg2KuZ27_bEv3P8u4yCsvBCcpc9iJDbF-byYqJmXjdoqnGlGAtrVTEs61JjQCPOBDNZ3Q/s1600/410DIZHIVLL__AA160_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHkmsG-db3Ut9hyTvILidCmLZA_pNl27n4Xr3NQH_vdvSRi3C52h6RSBPClziPbuxXXRKbZeKg2KuZ27_bEv3P8u4yCsvBCcpc9iJDbF-byYqJmXjdoqnGlGAtrVTEs61JjQCPOBDNZ3Q/s1600/410DIZHIVLL__AA160_.jpg" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Gerber-Graduates-Strawberry-1-48-Ounce-Canisters/dp/B000FPM22Y/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1386380018&sr=8-5&keywords=puffs">Puffs/Mum Mums</a> or Cheerios</div>
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We're finally at a place where we're fairly comfortable taking Allie with us out to lunch again (for a while she was pretty fussy and unpredictable so it was tough). She's getting good at sitting in a high chair, and these are great for keeping her entertained while we wait for food or eat our food. I also occasionally use them at home if I need a couple minutes to prep food for Allie and she's freaking out waiting for something to get on her tray.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQIVVA9_PKr6Scybgz-y3zh5HpN9MGM7EbvTFIDR5hdMD-EMYbTFJZnWwobUeddqcC6UtVIj40AoP-pbbpqCF7MPaelaKhlXusTBPgdmerqS3U1Z13pf9zuVS-toCCY1Q6mK_m8-7bkgY/s1600/IMG_2911.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQIVVA9_PKr6Scybgz-y3zh5HpN9MGM7EbvTFIDR5hdMD-EMYbTFJZnWwobUeddqcC6UtVIj40AoP-pbbpqCF7MPaelaKhlXusTBPgdmerqS3U1Z13pf9zuVS-toCCY1Q6mK_m8-7bkgY/s320/IMG_2911.JPG" width="239" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Skip-Hop-Cover-Shopping-Double/dp/B009YDCN8G/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1386380542&sr=8-6&keywords=high+chair+cover">High chair cover</a></div>
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Like I said, Allie is getting pretty good at sitting in a high chair, however, a lot of high chairs are missing straps or seem too big for her, and using this cover helps a lot in keeping her secured. We've also used it in a shopping cart a bunch of times.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbyMLBC1Rllozmk9_GiNGJmio6Sbtt3pHnHlGYXSvTUReXe1JZlYO-wt2qhIHZBu_PfTsalrK4KDr_NWiTYFoEsHDYgcDyASgCFtcNpKzAGxUhOikAzQ2BNP0bovbu1jqvB35kOY5yuDo/s1600/51o4u2t37vL__SL160_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-dp,TopRight,12,-18_SH30_OU01_AA160_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbyMLBC1Rllozmk9_GiNGJmio6Sbtt3pHnHlGYXSvTUReXe1JZlYO-wt2qhIHZBu_PfTsalrK4KDr_NWiTYFoEsHDYgcDyASgCFtcNpKzAGxUhOikAzQ2BNP0bovbu1jqvB35kOY5yuDo/s1600/51o4u2t37vL__SL160_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-dp,TopRight,12,-18_SH30_OU01_AA160_.jpg" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Dreams-Lullaby-Betsy-Snyder/dp/030798060X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1386381441&sr=1-1&keywords=sweet+dreams+lullaby">Sweet Dreams Lullaby</a> book.</div>
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My friend Lindsay recommended this book and it's by far my favorite to read to Allie at bedtime. It's not too long or too short, it rhymes, and I feel like the rhythm of the words is perfect for bedtime. Allie also likes reaching out and touching the bunny on each page. It's hard for a book to hold her attention at bedtime but she can usually make it through this one.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguJfV1ubllKyXhy_UruUVI3xXXowp8ZT5q2Twe1Q5ZWrMLWQXO1o-BwX9nfTN6P5u2hsPvfVH_bO6evryOxwBKvK6j7b-I2e1RGMOn1dBX2rgZ_GIFuhsVxut7-6hyphenhyphensrnbHPArWqu02g0/s1600/IMG_2794.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguJfV1ubllKyXhy_UruUVI3xXXowp8ZT5q2Twe1Q5ZWrMLWQXO1o-BwX9nfTN6P5u2hsPvfVH_bO6evryOxwBKvK6j7b-I2e1RGMOn1dBX2rgZ_GIFuhsVxut7-6hyphenhyphensrnbHPArWqu02g0/s320/IMG_2794.PNG" width="213" /></a></div>
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Z<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Zutano-Newborn-Unisex-Baby-Fleece-Bootie/dp/B005270OJS/ref=sr_1_15?s=baby-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1386380862&sr=1-15&keywords=fleece+booties">utano booties</a></div>
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I absolutely LOVE these booties. Allie isn't officially walking yet (she's getting close though!), so it's a little soon for normal harder soled baby shoes, but now that it's colder she can't go barefoot all the time either and socks don't stay on that well. These are great. We have two pairs in gray and pink and they stay on well and go with almost everything. She wears them to daycare a lot and out and about. They are also super cute and everyone comments on how cute they are.</div>
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<a href="http://www.target.com/p/cosco-seaside-friends-infant-walker-whale/-/A-14590976#prodSlot=medium_1_1&term=baby+walker">Baby Walker</a></div>
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I actually don't know if I would recommend this specific walker, but it's the one we have. I was skeptical that Allie would do well in it and that we would have room for it without her crashing into things, even though we have a fairly good sized kitchen/downstairs. It's actually exceeded my expectations. She outgrew the Rock N Play and many other "holding devices" we have for her a couple months ago, and it's a life saver if I just need to pee for a second or need to keep her entertained for a few minutes while I'm cooking or something. She can go both backwards and forwards in it, so she can back up and move in another direction if she gets into a corner or something. I also think it's helping her learn to walk. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioGGLJqg5eT9EePaNFlfHNPXvcqtNnSI0o6VYPU1bMZjYJC-t-a1rnRmXfqxR3CAKWWYGERYWc1fJ-iAtKqflV1kbSQ8beBBwdWcDHBBjyo3d7irMdCgJ33QRSIsEmVuJn1P7lKgQhBmU/s1600/51LjB5ijnpL__SY450_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioGGLJqg5eT9EePaNFlfHNPXvcqtNnSI0o6VYPU1bMZjYJC-t-a1rnRmXfqxR3CAKWWYGERYWc1fJ-iAtKqflV1kbSQ8beBBwdWcDHBBjyo3d7irMdCgJ33QRSIsEmVuJn1P7lKgQhBmU/s320/51LjB5ijnpL__SY450_.jpg" width="278" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Price-Brilliant-Basics-Boppin-Activity/dp/B00428LJ0G/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1386382624&sr=8-3&keywords=sesame+street+pop+up+toy">Pop Up Toy</a></div>
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This isn't the one we have, I have a Sesame Street version I got at a consignment sale. Allie really likes it though, and enjoys pushing, turning, and twisting the little knobs to get each guy to come out, then closing the doors. My two year old niece was just here and enjoyed playing with it too.</div>
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If you have a baby Allie's age or older, what's a must have I should think about for the future? I'm working on ideas for her Christmas and first birthday presents so I'm all ears!</div>
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Brittneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12064316561225211468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606533226035762446.post-52989615794143124342013-11-17T20:34:00.002-05:002013-11-17T20:34:58.420-05:00Nine Months!?Allie is now nine months old! <br />
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All the sudden my little baby is seeming more and more like a little girl every day. This month I feel like she exploded with progress, especially on the motor skills and physical front.<br />
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Even though at the beginning of the month she was already pulling to standing, there is such a difference now.<br />
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She can easily pull to standing and also can get down from standing into a sitting position. She also likes to stand between two things and do a 360, completely turning around, by holding each thing (like ottomans or laundry baskets). She can climb ramps or small stairs (yikes), and crawls fast now.<br />
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We also got her a walker and she's mastered walking all over the kitchen in her walker, which is pretty hilarious to watch. She is extremely active.<br />
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Allie is definitely showing us that she knows what we are saying a lot now. If you ask her to hand you something, she will and likes the game of passing it back and forth. She loves picaboo (has for a long time), loves watching me dance and sing to her, loves being bounced up and down, loves getting raspberries on her cheeks and belly. It's so so cute to watch her laugh at things.<br />
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Allie really had fun doing a lot of fall activities this month. She went to a pumpkin patch for the first time!<br />
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She also had her first Halloween in which she dressed up as a lady bug at both our neighborhood parade and a Halloween party with friends and other babies. <br />
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Allie is still exploring food. We introduced her to several meats this month. Her favorite is chicken, by a landslide, but she's also tried fish, turkey, and pot roast. She's tried new stuff like spaghetti with sauce, hummus, kiwi, graham crackers, muffins, and raspberries. Food is kind of hit or miss for her. Her favorite foods are butternut squash, puffs, pears, and yogurt (coconut milk yogurt). Allie is getting more interested in feeding herself, and with that I'm finding it harder to spoon feed her things she used to like, so that can be frustrating. She's most successful feeding herself butternut squash (cooked, soft chunks), puffs, and Cheerios, but we're trying new things all the time. We still do purees (I still make a lot) too, and sometimes they go over well, sometimes not. It just depends on Allie's mood. <br />
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I don't think I've mentioned it yet, but we found out Allie has a mild milk allergy. We had given her small amounts of yogurt and ice cream and noticed a rash around her mouth, so we took her to the doctor and she recommended Allie have a blood draw to be tested for the milk allergy. This is bad news to me since I LOVE ice cream. We are getting referred to an allergist to further explore this, but for now milk products are out. The good news is we've successfully given Allie coconut and soy yogurt and ice cream. We are really hoping she grows out of this and can have milk and milk products in the future though. I guess we'll know more about what to expect once we see the allergist.<br />
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Allie is super interactive now. She shrieks with delight if you call to her and smile from across the room. Every time I pick her up at daycare she loses her mind with delight, but will completely melt down in the two seconds it takes me to collect her things once she sees me from inside the play area. She laughs and smiles and everyone says she smiles with her eyes. She is a true joy and watching her get excited, smile, and laugh is the best thing ever.<br />
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Sleep is going pretty good. We had a fairly rough daylight savings week, with a couple wake-ups before 5am, but she usually sleeps through the night and is just up really early most mornings. I feel like she's still pretty unpredictable. Some nights she'll sleep all night, sometimes up once a night for a feeding, some nights (like last night), she's up more than once a night if she's really thrown off. Last night I gave up trying to get her back to sleep in the crib (she'd cry as soon as I put her down) at 4am and let her sleep with me. It's rare that happens though.<br />
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Allie got in visits with both sets of grandparents this month. Greg's parents were here at the beginning of October for a long weekend, and Allie went to see my parents at the beginning of November.<br />
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As for her stats, she is in size three diapers, and wearing 6M, 6-9, and 9M clothes. <br />
At her 9 month check up:<br />
Weight: 15.6 lbs (5-10th percentile) TINY!<br />
Length: 27 inches (25-50th percentile)<br />
Head: 44.5 cm (50-75th percentile)<br />
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I'll admit, her weight surprised me. She's always been on the smaller side for weight, but less than 16 lbs at nine months seems so small! I was guessing she was about 17 lbs now based on her eating solids <i>and</i> breast milk. I think maybe because she is so mobile now she is burning a lot of calories. Anyway, her pediatrician is not worried about it at all and showed us that she is totally in the normal range for her growth and for an exclusively breast fed baby. I'm trying not to worry about it. It's not like she looks skinny or anything, she looks like she has a normal amount of baby fat.</div>
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The only other concern we have at all with Allie is that she's not using consonant sounds much like "ma ma, da da, or ba ba". We actually think we're partly to blame because we have let her have the pacifier so much, so the pediatrician said to try not letting her use it as much and try repeating those sounds in front of her a lot and hopefully within the next month she will pick them up. She makes lots of "Eeeeeeee!" and "Arrrhhhhh" noises, but just not a lot of consonant sounds. I am also hoping it's partially that she's so focused on moving with all the crawling and standing she's doing that she doesn't work on talking as much.</div>
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I am feeling good lately. Still tired and never feeling caught up on things, but I feel good overall. I feel like I'm getting the hang of work/life/baby/house/marriage more and more each day which makes me happy. I've even been running some. Usually only about two mile runs about twice a week (with or without the jogging stroller), but it's something. </div>
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I can't believe we're in the home stretch to a year now. Crazy...</div>
Brittneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12064316561225211468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606533226035762446.post-64949704828290543292013-10-17T20:57:00.001-04:002013-10-17T20:57:33.259-04:00Eight MonthsGuess who's eight months old?!<br />
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Crazy huh? When Allie was born, heck when she was conceived, I loved her from the first second, but honestly, my love for her grows bigger and is more overwhelming every day. Look at that smile... It just melts me every day.<br />
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As evidenced by the photo above, Allie is a pro at sitting now and rarely falls over. She can also go from sitting to crawling easily. She has moved from the army crawl to the regular crawl and has been doing this for a week or two now.<br />
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<strike>I haven't seen her pull to standing much </strike>(ok, now she is!), but she does crawl over to me and try to climb on me, which is sort of similar. She'll stand with my assistance for long periods of time and seems to like it. It'll be interesting to see when she does start standing more.</div>
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For the longest time I thought our jumperoo was a huge fail because Allie wouldn't tolerate being in it for long and wasn't jumping in it, but recently it clicked for her and now she's very into that and her doorway jumper. She's pretty hilarious jumping in both.</div>
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Still, I feel like her attention span is pretty limited. I have trouble getting anything done when I'm with her because she doesn't like to play alone and doesn't like being in the jumperoo, Pack N Play, her play yard, or any of her other baby holding things anymore unless you're interacting with her. It's getting tough.</div>
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Feeding it going well. Allie has cereal with fruit in the morning, a jar of baby food at daycare in the middle of the day, and more cereal and/or fruit or vegetable at dinner, so three meals a day most days. She's an enthusiastic eater most of the time and loves being fed. In general she's not eating much baby led style, but I try sometimes- with mushed black beans, cooked apple, etc... She usually just kind of plays with the food on the tray but doesn't actually eat much. We did try puffs recently though and she liked those and understands how to get them into her mouth, so we should probably try more.</div>
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In addition to solids, Allie usually has about five or six feedings of breast milk a day (including one during the night). When she first started daycare, we were sending four 4oz bottles and she'd usually have three of the four. A couple weeks ago I asked the teachers if they would prefer me sending three bigger bottles with 5-6oz of milk instead and they thought that would be fine. I think when you breastfeed you always worry if the baby is getting enough or wonder how much they should have in a bottle when they're away from you. She's doing well with the three bigger bottles so far.</div>
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As mentioned, Allie is still up once a night most nights. I wondered if her increased food/milk intake would change that, but most nights she still seems hungry enough for a full feeding. I know some babies take longer to consistently sleep through the night though, so I try not worry about it. Once a night isn't a huge deal, and honestly I usually prefer that to waking up at 5am if that's the alternative. I definitely over analyze Allie's sleep all the time though. She's still going to bed between 7:30-8pm, and wakes up anywhere from 5:30-7:15am. Occasionally I've actually had to wake her up to get her ready for daycare, but you know those 5:30am wake ups always happen on the weekends when we could sleep in ;) Allie sometimes has nights where she fusses and cries a little a couple times during the night, but I try not to respond or not too quickly until I know she really needs me. Often she'll settle herself back down without my help so that's good. I also started putting a couple pacifiers in the crib (including a wubanub since those are easy to find with the stuffed animal attached) with her because a lot of the time the issue is finding a paci. </div>
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Allie had her first trip to an apple orchard a couple weeks ago. This is a big deal to me as a former New Englander. This year we decided to go to <a href="http://www.skytoporchard.com/">Skytop Orchard</a>, after hearing it's really family friendly. I admittedly wanted cider donuts too, so we made a day trip out of it. It was actually a pretty big fail. The place was absolutely mobbed, with a line of cars waiting to even park when we got there. The lines to pay for apples were insane and we didn't even get any donuts because the line for those was even longer. Allie wasn't happy in the Ergo either, which was my plan for carting her through the orchard. We snapped a bunch of cute pictures, picked our apples, and got out of there as soon as we could.</div>
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Allie also got to see her uncle Mark and my parents again this month when they came for a weekend visit. He had fun making her laugh.</div>
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Allie moved to a new room at daycare and it's going well. The babies are much more rambunctious and mobile in this room so I've already gotten two reports of her bumping her head :(. Poor kiddo. She also got her second cold, which she gave to Greg and I. Not fun. </div>
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I took her to the doctor the other day and we know that she's 16.1 lbs now. Still on the smallish side. She's in size three diapers all the time now and her clothing still varies anywhere from 3M to 6-9 month stuff, so all over the place. I should have more stats next month when she goes for her nine month well visit.</div>
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That about sums it up. I really wish I could tell you that I'm going to be able to blog more, but honestly, it's not looking like I'm going to have more time to any time soon. I already feel like I'm struggling (and failing) to keep up with so many things in life, and this is one hobby that's really taken a major back seat. </div>
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Anyway, I love my girl, and spending as much time with her as I can is my first priority! I promise to try and sneak on here whenever I get the chance though, and I do enjoy the monthly updates to keep track of it all!</div>
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Brittneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12064316561225211468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606533226035762446.post-67606942142479528612013-09-15T21:05:00.001-04:002013-09-15T21:05:34.152-04:00Seven MonthsHey there! Well, we have reached seven months of Allie awesomeness.<br />
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Our kiddo is growing and changing every day. I probably say this every month, but I'm really loving the age she is right now. She's all full of smiles and laughter and it's getting easier to get her to do both. She is also getting to a good place with tolerating being out, so we're starting to worry less about taking her shopping or out to eat, because she's usually pretty good about it as long as we don't leave her strapped in too long. She's a lot of fun.<br />
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Allie has definitely mastered the army crawl now and can get around quite well this way, even though she's not doing a full on regular crawl. She does get up on her hands and knees, but she doesn't usually get mobile that way, she's usually on her forearms when she crawls. In any case, she's definitely moving a lot, so close supervision is key now.<br />
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Allie is also sitting very well now. We still keep a close eye on her though because without warning she'll occasionally fall over, but usually she'll sit for a while without a problem, and she likes to go from sitting to army crawling if she sees something she's after.<br />
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Allie is eating about two "meals" a day now. Daycare feeds her oatmeal cereal with water in the mornings on the days she is there, and then we do some kind of puree in the evening at dinner time. I was open to the idea of Baby Led Weaning, but Allie didn't seem to get it at first. Recently though, I did give her a spear of cucumber with the skin still on and she did pretty well gumming it and getting all but the skin ingested. I think she likes the idea of it, but we also need to work on a food she likes the flavor of, because sometimes she seems turned off by cucumber. We'll have to try some other things. Allie really likes being fed with a spoon though, so in terms of actual food consumption, we've had pretty good success with spoon feeding and purees. I've been making more things for her like butternut squash, yellow squash, peaches, etc... <br />
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Allie has had apples, peaches, pears, avocado, prunes, sweet potato, banana, acorn squash, butternut squash, peas, zucchini, yellow squash, and cucumber. She has liked most things, some more than others. Zucchini was the only big miss so far (she had a funny look on her face, like "WTF"), but I'll try it again. One thing I'm noticing is that she's not too happy if other people eat in front of her and she's not getting fed, so usually we have to feed her something at a meal time if we're eating. I think soon we can try some proteins with her, like beans, meat, cheese, and yogurt but I need to do more research on this. For those of you with babies, when did you introduce those?<br />
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Breastfeeding is still going well. I'm still pumping at work three or four times a day and feed Allie two or three times on weekdays (usually once or twice in the mornings depending on how early she gets up and once at bedtime) and all her milk meals on the weekends (about 6 times a day). I definitely pay a ton of attention to my water intake and consumption of food to make sure I can produce enough milk for Allie, but overall it's going well.<br />
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As for water, Allie also love drinking out of a glass and reaches for mine whenever she sees me drinking. It's funny. She gets a lot of water on her shirt in the process, but loves trying. We've tried some sippy cups and she's got a ways to go with those too. She does best with one that she has that has a spout in the middle and is most like a bottle.<br />
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Sleep. Well, right at about six months we decided it was time to get Allie out of the sleep suit. It actually seemed like her sleep was kind of getting worse because of her being restricted in it, and also she was close to being able to roll over in it, which is one reason you basically HAVE to get them out of it. So finally one night I bit the bullet and put her to sleep in a onesie, sleeper, and a Halo sleep sack, which is the method the sleep suit people suggest you use to transition a baby out of the suit, since they still feel the buffer of the layers of clothing. We only did the onesie layer for about a week and from then on have just put her in a sleeper and the sleep sack, which we're still doing. Overall, the transition went well, probably better than I expected. She immediately was up less than she had been in the suit for the first couple nights. She even started sleeping close to the whole night consistently. The only thing was that for a lot of this month she did this thing where'd she would sleep from about 8pm til about 4-5am, and wake up and I usually had to feed her and then SHE would go back to sleep, but it was too close to my wake time (6am) on week days for me to go back to sleep. This week she had several nights where she made it the whole night through, but she is still kind of hit or miss on wake up time, anywhere from 5am to like 7am, so it's pretty hard to predict. One note- we did have to go up to size 3 diapers at night because she's going so long without waking up and getting changed and leaked through some size 2 nighttime ones a bunch of times. The 3s are working well so far.<br />
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Allie and I went to Hilton Head for labor day weekend, and she did great in the pool and beach again.<br />
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When at the beach we saw tons of little kids that are about a year older than Allie and it made me wonder how she's going to be next summer when we are there. Mind boggling...<br />
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Allie also tried out the swings for the first time recently. SO CUTE!<br />
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Allie has become super interested in Clyde in the past couple weeks. When she sees him she smiles at him and if you play fetch with Clyde in front of her, she laughs hysterically. It's hilarious.<br />
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Stats:<br />
I think Allie is close to 16 lbs according to my scale, but she could be a little less since it's hard to figure out ounces. I feel like she's probably going to chunk up a little more now that she's eating solids more.<br />
She's kind of in between size 2 and 3 diapers. She's still wearing 2s during the day, but 3s at night and I think we're on our last box of 2s because I think we can pretty much put her in 3s all the time now.<br />
Clothes are kind of all over the place. She can be anywhere from a 3M to a 6-9 month depending on the brand. She pretty much fits into anything 6M well though.<br />
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I am doing pretty good. Being a working mom is tough, and I struggle with the same stuff I'm sure all working moms struggle with. There are not enough hours in the day and many week days I feel like I do not have nearly enough time to get everything done. It's hard, but I still think it's the right thing for us.<br />
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Allie is doing great at daycare and moves to the next room/age group this week. I admit, I am a little teary to see her leave her first daycare room. I really felt comfortable with the teachers in there and never worried about her. I'm sure the new room will be great too. It's crazy to see her moving up and growing up so quick.<br />
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I'm going to try to do a day in the life of a working mom post soon, and also should do a 7 month favorite things post since it's been a while since I've done one, and we have a lot of favorite baby things to update you guys on. Both of these have been on my mind for a while, but finding the time to blog about them is... difficult!<br />
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I love this kid more than I can put into words... I'm so lucky to be her mom :)<br />
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<br />Brittneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12064316561225211468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606533226035762446.post-64958283345099282422013-08-24T21:06:00.001-04:002013-08-24T21:06:36.755-04:00A Lovely Summer DayI interrupt my baby posts to bring you something resembling my old blog content. We had a nice day today so I thought I'd share. The weather was in the low 80's in Charlotte and after a leisurely morning involving blueberry pancakes and playing the baby and dog for awhile, we ventured out to check out a place I've been wanting to try for a long time- <a href="http://eatatpinkys.com/">Pinky's Westside Grill</a>.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That is a VW bug on top of the restaurant :)<br /></td></tr>
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We arrived dead in the middle of lunchtime on a Saturday (not that smart) and actually brought Clyde with us too, not knowing if it was dog friendly or not, and figuring if we had to we'd get the food to go and find a park to eat at or something. They have outdoor seating at Pinky's, and while technically, it's not dog friendly, they allowed us to have Clyde outside the fence next to our table. We were also seated in less than five minutes, which was impressive.<div>
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This was one of the better lunches out Allie has had lately. She hardly got fussy at all and was able to stay in her car seat the entire time, which rarely happens these days. Pretty soon we'll probably be able to put her in a high chair, and maybe that will help.</div>
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Pinky's is a burger and hot dog joint, with some other stuff on the menu as well (I was actually tempted to get fish tacos), but what makes them extra exciting is that you can get veggie burgers and veggie dogs there, which is pretty much heaven for Greg, since he leans towards vegetarian much of the time.</div>
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We started with a small order of fried pickles, which was enormous. </div>
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They were hot, salty, and tangy.</div>
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I opted for a cheeseburger, since let's face it, I still haven't lost my cheeseburger cravings since pregnancy. I pretty much got the standard burger with lettuce, tomato, pickles, mayo and ketchup, except with pimento cheese. It was delicious :)</div>
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I also got a side of sweet potato fries, which were good, but we ended up taking at least half home since we were so full from the fried pickles.</div>
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Greg had a veggie hot dog with chili and coleslaw and loved it.</div>
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We got a kick out the fact that when feeding Clyde bites of stuff, he immediately could tell the difference between the meat of my burger and the veggie dog. Smart dog.</div>
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Allie took a little nap on the way home.</div>
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Back at the house, I thought about what to do for the rest of the afternoon and then decided to get out our outdoor blanket and do some playtime with Allie outside in the fresh air.</div>
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It was great to be outside for a while, and nice that it wasn't too hot today. We stayed in the shade and I made sure to lather Allie up with sunscreen. </div>
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The rest of the afternoon and evening was low key. Allie tried acorn squash for the first time and seemed to like it. I think it's funny, because she seemed to like that better than sweet potato, which we tried earlier this week. Apple, prunes, and pears are her favorites so far.</div>
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After dinner we did the usual bedtime routine of a bath, jammies, a book, and one last nurse session for the day before Allie drifted off. She's on her fourth or fifth night sleeping without the sleep suit now and it's going well. She's been sleeping in a Halo sleep sack on her belly and seems to like it.</div>
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The night ended with a batch of chocolate chip cookies I made. These have oatmeal and nutritional yeast in them, which is supposed to be good for lactating mamas. I may have just eaten four...</div>
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Anyway, it was a great day. I'm off to bed at a little after 9pm, because that's what mom's with six month old babies that are tired do. Hope you guys are having a good weekend!</div>
Brittneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12064316561225211468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606533226035762446.post-73946393349363753122013-08-17T21:02:00.001-04:002013-08-17T21:02:33.635-04:00Six Months!Life has been very busy around here lately, and I'm almost a week late on my six month update on Allie! I can't believe it's been half a year since she was born. Wow. <br />
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Allie has become quite the fun baby. She's really in a phase where you can tell she just wants to learn and explore everything and be stimulated constantly. She seems to catch on to things more easily now and I'm amazed at the things we're able to show and teach her. She has learned things like opening her mouth to be fed, using a sippy cup, sitting, pulling on a toy to make it play music... all kinds of things!<br />
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Allie had her six month well visit and we got her new stats:<br />
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14 lbs 3 oz<br />
25 inches long<br />
43 inches head<br />
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She's still in size 2 diapers, and her clothing is anywhere from 3M to 3-6 to 6M, it just kind of depends on the brand.<br />
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She's right on track for her stats curve, even though I hear about other babies that are easily five pounds heavier at her age all the time. She looks perfect to me :)<br />
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Lots of new developments for Allie this month. At six months here are some things Allie can do:<br />
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She can kind of sit, it's getting better every day, even though she's prone to falling over after a while, so you still need to watch her carefully.<br />
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She can scoot around on her belly, not exactly crawling, but close. She can definitely move forward, and even moves in circles. She'll do it if she sees something she wants- like a toy on the other side of her play mat.<br />
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She also likes practicing her standing! </div>
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Allie had some really good times in the pool a couple weeks ago in Hilton Head. I couldn't believe how much she seemed to like it. Water baby!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">She also looks good in her cover up!</td></tr>
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Allie is also into grabbing her feet now, which cracks me up. I've yet to see her do "happy baby" holding both feet at the same time, but often catch her holding one.<br />
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Allie starting taking more of an interest in Clyde recently, and now reaches for him and watches him when he's around, which is funny. I caught her pulling his ear one day, but he didn't seem to mind at all. Good dog :).<br />
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We've also started putting her in her strollers without the car seat finally. We were kind of waiting til she was good enough at sitting to not be slumped over, and she's finally there now. We still haven't done shopping cart seats yet, but probably should be able to in the next few weeks.<br />
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The biggest new development is probably starting solids this month. We got the go ahead to start baby oatmeal cereal and first foods, so we've been doing that. She's had avocado, prunes, pears, banana, applesauce, and peas so far. She is totally her mama's baby and LOVES to eat. I actually notice that she gets kind of mad/fussy if you are eating in front of her and not feeding her something now, so I have to make sure I have her stuff ready to go.<br />
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Feeding solids has been interesting. I have always intended, and still intend, to make Allie a lot of her baby food. The first night though, we went shopping for the oatmeal, and ended up picking up a couple jars of organic baby food, because my husband was excited about them (Mr. Convenience). So jarred pears ended up being one of the first things we fed her, even though I thought it was kind of stupid because it's something I could easily make her, but we were raring to go and it was convenient. I did "make" her pureed peas, but so far, that's the only thing I've actually cooked and fed her, which wasn't what I'd planned, but things have been so busy, it's been hard to make much. I also am interested in doing some of the<a href="http://www.babyledweaning.com/"> baby led weaning</a>, but so far the only thing I've tried with is avocado and banana, and she didn't really seem to get it. She's much more into opening her mouth wide and having me feed her with a spoon at this point, so I'm just kind of rolling with it. All of us are having fun with it.<br />
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Right at the six month mark, Allie got her first cold. It actually wasn't too terrible. She had a slight fever and some congestion, but it could have been worse. Timing wise, it worked out ok because my mom was visiting, and was able to watch her when I had to work, and then Greg came home from a trip and took over, so we could keep her out of daycare. Of course, Greg made fun of my incessant calling to check on Allie and sent me this picture one day to show me how things were going... Very funny.<br />
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It's an interesting time right now, because Allie is still very much a baby, but she's also exploding with progress so it suddenly feels very different. She still has baby meltdowns once in a while though.<br />
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And she still sleeps on me like she did when she was hours old...<br />
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I love this girl to the moon and back, she is my world. Happy six months baby! Can't wait to see how the next six go!<br />
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<br />Brittneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12064316561225211468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606533226035762446.post-78742026061131546442013-07-28T20:35:00.001-04:002013-07-28T20:35:31.813-04:00From Flip Flops to HeelsSo, the time has come. I have ventured back to work. Though initially I was a little peeved about how things worked out with daycare, having to start paying for it a month earlier than we wanted to to guarantee our slot, I now think maybe it was kind of for the best. It allowed Allie and I to transition into it gradually, and I never really had to go through that awful first day that so many people talk about where you drop the baby off, leave for an entire day, and just cry. It really has been baby steps for us, leaving her only a few hours at a time at first and slowly building the time up to a full day. I've really had the chance to get used to the idea.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Allie at daycare for "water day", chillin in the kiddie pool.</td></tr>
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I also have an awesome boss that allowed me to take all this time off and then also agreed to let me start back at work part time for two weeks before going back full time. I did a bunch of half days where I dropped her off at daycare in the morning, then picked her up at lunchtime and still got to spend the afternoon with her, which was really great. <br />
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I think it helped that we're now at five and a half months and that I did get to have so much maternity leave to spend with Allie. I have loved every second of being with her and know I am SO LUCKY that I had the chance to have all this time with her, because most working moms don't get this much maternity leave. It's been so awesome to have this extended time to bond with Allie, watch her grow, play and cuddle every day, and just enjoy the time together. At the same time, I like the idea of her socializing with other babies and people at daycare. I think she's been particularly dependent on me, since Greg is away so much, and I want her to be comfortable with other care givers, so I think daycare can be good for her. I'll admit it again too- I always saw myself going back to work. While I AM torn about it, and know there is a part of me that would love to be with her all day every day, there is another part of me that wants to work to keep that part of my life going. I like the work I do, the people I work with, and work has always been a pretty big part of my identity, so at this point I don't want to completely give that up and I it feels okay that I am back at work at this point. I really can't imagine going back much sooner though, so I'm glad I got to be out this long.<br />
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In case you are wondering, my work doesn't give me any free paid maternity leave- I used a combo of my own sick leave, annual leave, and FMLA (unpaid), which basically meant I got paid every two weeks while out but it was about half of what a normal paycheck for me looks like and I used a lot of sick and annual leave. Using leave was actually fine with me, because I had accrued a ton of leave in my years of working and wanted to use it for this very purpose. I've always kind of hoarded my leave, thinking I might use it for maternity leave some day. I was also lucky that the lack of pay for the days I took unpaid leave also wasn't an issue because Greg makes a ton more than he used to under the new airline contract he just got (excellent timing).<br />
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Breastfeeding/pumping is going well so far. My Ameda pump (which I got free through insurance), came with a handle black travel bag, and I just pack it up with my parts and bottles every day. I have only done a couple full days so far, but on those days I pumped for times, twice in the morning and twice in the afternoon, and got about 15 oz total. I also pump at home before bed at night, so between the work sessions and the night one, I usually get enough for the next day for daycare. If for some reason I don't, I dip into my freezer stash, which is huge (pretty much a whole shelf in our freezer). I've been leaving four 4 oz. Dr. Brown bottles for a full day of daycare, and actually, that's more than enough. Allie usually only ends up eating three of the four at daycare. I think it's because when I have her and breastfeed, she eats close to every two hours, but doesn't usually eat 4 oz- probably more like 3 oz or less since it's more frequent. At daycare they go a little longer, like three hours, between feedings and then she eats more. It's good because that ensures that she finishes the bottle and that they don't have to keep trying to get her to eat. It is sort of annoying that she usually doesn't eat one bottle, but it's good to have more than enough than not enough. I don't want to waste it, so what I've been doing is usually getting home and feeding her the extra bottle, and then breastfeeding her a couple hours later before she goes bed, because I can usually only get two feedings in from the time we get home to before she goes to bed. <br />
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As for how pumping at work is logistically? I am lucky to have a private office, a mini fridge, and a microwave, plus a kitchen with a sink down the hall, which make it all fairly easy. When I'm ready to pump, I just close my door (it is locked from the outside), and pump. It takes me about 10 minutes and I'm getting good at actually working while pumping. What I've been doing is pumping one time, then putting each assembled flange/bottle in a ziplock bag in my fridge. Then I reconnect them to the pump again for the second session. After that one, I disconnect the bottles, put caps on them, and store them, then take the flanges and parts down the hall to the kitchen to wash them (I keep some Seventh Generation soap there). Then I put them in a Medela steam bag with 2 oz water, carry them back to the office and microwave them to sterilize them. I do the same thing for the afternoon sessions. I also bring a cooler bag with an ice pack to transport the pumped milk home in. At home I have a dishwasher and a big Babies R Us bottle/part sterilizer, so I use one or the other on Allie's bottles and my other pump parts. I feel like I'm getting used to it. I have eight 4 oz bottles, and a bunch more of the pump bottles, and an extra set of flanges and parts, so I just kind of keep rotating through everything. Breastfeeding is much easier than dealing with the pump and bottles, but I'm glad that pumping seems to be going well so far so that I can continue to give Allie breast milk. When I'm not working, I pretty much avoid pumping and bottles as much as I can.<br />
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I'm getting used to wearing heels again for the first time in a long time. I was so swollen at the end of pregnancy, I wasn't wearing heels much the last couple months and have barely worn heels at all since having Allie. My normal mom wardrobe has been t-shirts and shorts with flip flops for the past couple months (and jeans and t-shirts before it got hot). I actually sought out some shorter pants so that I can wear flats to work more, because I have gotten so used to not wearing heels! Another consideration is breast pump-friendly attire. I have a couple cute dresses that zip up the back, and haven't worn them to work yet, because I feel like it's going to be a huge pain to unzip and take them half off to pump. I gravitate towards "mom friendly" or well pump-friendly outfits now :) <br />
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Work is going pretty good. I literally had 700 emails in my inbox when I got back, but luckily a lot were stuff from months ago advising of outages that already happened, old news letters, and events that have already passed, so I was able to weed through a delete a lot. I have an awesome back up person and she did a great job of keeping things up to date so the first few days weren't too terribly overwhelming. However, as I've been back longer and people have figured out I am back, the flood gates have sort of opened, and I am definitely pretty busy. My boss has also mentioned some projects he's been waiting on til I got back, so I know I have some big stuff coming up. On one hand it feels like I never left, but on the other, it's weird to be back after so long. There's new faces of new people that have come in since I have been out and changes to some of our systems that I'm getting used to. For the most part, it's the same old thing though, and I've been pleasantly surprised that I haven't forgotten how to do my job and can jump back in. <br />
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I will say that just as I suspected, there are not enough hours in the day with Allie on the days that I work. I get a little time with her in the morning when we're getting ready, but usually not more than about an hour from when she's awake til we leave. When I pick her up after work, she usually smiles when I walk in and as soon as I get her home and out of the car seat, the clock is ticking and I'm cuddling and playing with her for the two to three short hours I have with her before she goes to bed. BUT, the good news is that I appreciate that time all the more. It used to be that after a long day with her I would sometimes be watching the clock waiting for her bedtime because it had been such a long day. Now I feel like I watch the clock because I only have a certain amount of time with her and I don't want it to end. I can tell I am holding her a snuggling her longer and soaking the seconds I can spend with her. Those hours of the day that I do get to spend with her are so special.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Could you die? That lower lip!</td></tr>
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I think being a working mother is working for us so far. As a mother, I don't know that you're ever completely satisfied one way or the other- at home or at work, but this feels right to me for now. I'm getting used to our new normal, and I think Allie is too.Brittneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12064316561225211468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606533226035762446.post-89841996026686562512013-07-13T06:32:00.000-04:002013-07-13T06:32:12.116-04:00Five MonthsAllie is now five months old! Wow. It's hard to believe she's been with us for five months now. In some ways it seems like longer than five months and it some ways it seems like it's flown by. I think all new mom's have that same sense of time going by slow and fast at the same time, it's hard to explain.<br />
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It's been a wild five months with this little girl!<br />
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Allie is still rolling over like a pro. I've actually seen her do a complete 360 roll a couple times, rolling from back to front to back again, but usually she rolls from back to front and stays propped up on her arms for a while. You can tell she wants to crawl and go somewhere, because she often pulls at the blanket or play mat she's laying on, and rapidly kicks her legs and tries to scoot forward. I think we still have a ways to go, but at the same time, with most of the skills she's mastered, one day she's struggling to figure it out, and the next she's doing it, so you never know. We bought a fence for the living room to contain her in case she gets ambitious and starts moving. It is also good for keeping Clyde away from her. Though he isn't a threat, he does love to lick her and we try to keep that to a minimum.<br />
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We have been working on sitting. She's still fairly wobbly, but I prop her up against me or with the Boppy pillow around her to get her used to the idea. She doesn't seem to completely get it yet, but again, hopefully it'll be one of those things she just all the sudden can do.<br />
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Allie is less fussy than she was at four months. Not that she doesn't have the occasional bad day or meltdown, but I feel like we kind of resumed less fussy behavior again, which is a relief. The other day she was awake in the car for about a half hour and was even smiling and cooing without a pacifier, which is rare. She's definitely awake a lot more when I'm out and about with her these days, and that's something I'm still getting used to. I feel like it makes planning outings a lot less predictable, so I find myself bracing for possible meltdowns. Usually she surprises me and does fine while out, even if she's awake. She doesn't like being confined in the car seat too long, so that's usually the biggest issue if she's awake while out for a longer stretch. I try to be conscious of her need to be out and give her time to play, so outings are usually short for this reason.<br />
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Greg's parents were here for a few days recently, and this was their first visit with her since she was three weeks old, so it was fun to see them with her. They are enamored with her like everyone else is. Allie is pretty good about being held by and interacting with others and a few times Greg's dad had her laughing hysterically. One thing I've noticed though, is that after too much stimulation she definitely gets upset. Sometimes she'll be laughing and smiling and then a couple minutes later she'll start crying and I can tell she's had enough and just wants some quiet chill time. I can also tell that I am her go to person for calming her down. Others try, but usually as soon as they hand her to me, she immediately stops crying and is okay. It doesn't surprise me since I'm with her far more than anyone else. I definitely get a certain satisfaction in knowing I am her comfort person.<br />
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Daycare is going well, but we have yet to do a full day. I'm starting work next week, but will only do a bunch of half days at first and will see how it goes. I have been putting off planning out a schedule, but finally talked to my boss and decided on three partial days next week. Probably the week after we'll do at least one full work day before I go back full time, just to make sure I have the flow of dropping her off and picking her up down.<br />
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As far as the emotional side of daycare? I'm doing pretty good with it. Probably better than I expected. I think it's been good for me to sprinkle in some "me" time here at the end before I get into work and motherhood at the same time. While we're getting used to some half days of daycare, I make the most of it- cleaning, grocery shopping, working on her baby book, working out, stuff like that. Still, it's kind of like this quote, "Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body" -Elizabeth Stone. Now, I can't spend anytime away from Allie without a little bit of ache. She's always there in my mind. She's my heart.<br />
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It seems that Allie misses me too. The teachers asked if I could leave a shirt or something to see if it helped her feel more comfortable with bottle feeding, so yesterday I left the fleece jacket I had on. They said she did a lot better than usual with the bottle with my jacket draped around her, and when I went to pick her up, she was sleeping in a crib clutching my jacket tightly like a lovey. It totally melted my heart. She missed me and was comforted by my smell... <br />
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When I'm with her, Allie still usually eats every two to three hours. At daycare I think she's going closer to three hours between feedings, and then eats between 3-4 oz from a bottle. I did switch her to the level two nipples on her bottles and the ladies at daycare are pleased with those (apparently it was taking them like 45 minutes to feed her a bottle with a level one nipple because the flow is so slow). I think she eats less at an individual feeding from me, but I feed her more frequently, so we're kind of figuring out the whole daycare bottle feeding thing. Pumping for bottles seems to be going pretty well, and I haven't felt like I have had any supply issues lately, but I'm also really conscious of drinking tons of water and eating a lot every day to make sure I keep my supply up. I'm interested to see how pumping goes when I go back to work.<br />
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Sleep is still fairly good. Not much has changed. She goes down around 7:30pm and is almost always up once a night to feed (the time varies anywhere from like midnight to 4am), then usually sleeps til 5:30am to 7am. We have some mornings where she is up before 6am and those are a little rough- seems to be a trend lately. I probably need to go to bed earlier, but I kind of enjoy my couple hours after she goes to bed, and rarely go to bed much before 10pm, often later. I really shouldn't complain though, I know this is a lot of sleep for both me and the baby compared to what a lot of people get. It's going to be interesting to see what it's like once I go back to work and she's at daycare for a full day. Allie still sleeps in the Merlin's Magic Sleep Suit, but I've been thinking about trying a night without it to see how it goes. She takes naps without it at daycare in a crib and seems to do okay, and sometimes it seems like the suit is preventing her from sleeping in a position that might be more comfortable and might help her sleep better, so it might be worth it to try it without it. I just have to work myself up to it, like I did switching her from the bassinet to the crib and all the changes we've made. My fear is that she'll sleep worse without it or that I will because I'll be watching the monitor all night to make sure she's okay, and I haven't been willing to deal with that yet. Baby steps!<br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP2CItNk3vQjCjj7agJIKR5ypG-nOlZs3J_jTSiRlfLapyYf4NVtG9KYymMic1sXYp_h43-WQoNquLk00GXPZnBe2QCXfCnKgoQlBsNwspGSX6rvVt5NEye6H4yh2Svqfj-bHYMld1si8/s1600/IMG_2460.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP2CItNk3vQjCjj7agJIKR5ypG-nOlZs3J_jTSiRlfLapyYf4NVtG9KYymMic1sXYp_h43-WQoNquLk00GXPZnBe2QCXfCnKgoQlBsNwspGSX6rvVt5NEye6H4yh2Svqfj-bHYMld1si8/s400/IMG_2460.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Watching the baby monitor with a glass of red wine.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br />
Stats:<br />
Weight- 13lbs 8oz (by my scale)<br />
Still size two diapers, and I don't see us moving to size three for a while still.<br />
Mostly 3-6 clothes, depending on the brand. She can fit in to some 6M stuff, and actually can still wear some of her 3M stuff too though, so there's kind of a wide range right now.<br />
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What else? We aren't starting solids til closer to six months. Our pediatrician said she doesn't think babies digestive systems are completely ready til then, so we're waiting. We're also going to skip rice cereal and may do oatmeal, but we're going to discuss at the six month appointment. Honestly, in my opinion she doesn't seem to be showing much interest in food in the way they describe babies who are ready for it anyway (grabbing for it, etc...). I feel like she's still all about the boob ;) Also, she can't sit on her own yet either, so I'm not in a huge rush. I did buy the Sage Spoonfuls cookbook and containers for when the time comes though. I think I'll probably do a combo of Baby Led Weaning and purees. Allie has tried teeny tiny amounts of two foods though- Breyer's vanilla ice cream and applesauce. Both went over okay. I think she was confused about it more than anything else.<br />
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Allie's likes:<br />
-Repeatedly making the sounds of different letters of the alphabet<br />
-Being talked to in silly voices<br />
-Being tickled<br />
-Being kissed on the cheeks<br />
-Being sung to<br />
-Her <a href="http://www.target.com/p/little-taggies-soothing-blanket-pink-bubbles/-/A-14272097">Taggie blanket</a><br />
-Rolling onto her belly<br />
-The Rock N Play (well, better than any other baby holding device)<br />
-Music<br />
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Allie's dislikes:<br />
-Not being talked to, played with, or looked at enough<br />
-Being held sideways unless she's tired (she prefers upright on the shoulder).<br />
-Too much stimulation<br />
-Being confined in the car seat<br />
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Nicknames: Sweet Cheeks, Little One, Baby Girl, Allie Girl, Little Allie, Little Peach (We called her this more when she was first born).<br />
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I feel like Allie and Greg have bonded a lot more, and that really makes me happy. I think it helps that she's getting bigger and smiling and laughing more, he sees that she can be fun now and she will give him a big smile if he tries to play and interact with her. I hope their bond continues to grow.<br />
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<br />As for me? I was thinking the other day about how when you have a baby, it's like you start life over. You experience life from the beginning again, through a baby. It's neat. You think about how life and everything in it must look for someone experiencing it for the first time- flowers, people, places, holidays, everything. Surreal. For me, I feel like I left a bunch of stuff behind, and while I do sometimes miss it, I'm completely okay with it at the same time. I used to be really social and loved going out to dinner, which is something I pretty much never do now. I'm still in touch with my social side, but it's more in the form of mommy play dates now. Running was one of my big passions prior to pregnancy, and it's just not right now (although I did get in a two mile run while Allie was at daycare the other day). It's mainly due to life with a baby, but also partly due to weather (I hate running in the heat), lack of desire, and lack of motivation. Life has changed. Priorities have changed. My ability to do certain things has changed. I'm happy, but I also look forward to Allie being at an age where we can interact differently- talk more, go more places, do more together. That will be fun. At the same time, I love her at the stage she's in. She's just super cute and cuddly, and it's so easy to love her in this phase.<br />
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<br />Brittneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12064316561225211468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606533226035762446.post-4801504224323520432013-07-04T14:54:00.001-04:002013-07-04T14:54:25.880-04:00As Of LateThis post is coming to you with a baby asleep in the Moby Wrap on me. Allie has never really liked this thing, but this morning I felt the desire to get it out and try it again and she hung out in it while I did laundry, unloaded dishes, and walked around and seemed to do pretty well in it. I think she kind of liked looking at everything I was doing, and then eventually got cozy enough to fall asleep on me when she got tired. <br />
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So, blogging has become really sporadic, I know. I've been busy with life and motherhood, and most of the time there doesn't seem to be a concise blog topic in there, it's just a jumble of my life. Still, I feel the need to update and document anyway, so here I am.<br />
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Last week, Allie and I spent another five days in Hilton Head with my parents. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbum1AnJGeeauYr0K_j1TnqWwmIJgLgQAkHM_ylr233x6VvhcwQCmf5MNLErpVio3l7LKQe3JUuU0V_XPj3KnIbFYoF92ru-YlDwMY_ZKL4R2KZ8N8EutzCLwd9W4GKb34YBcBw9AY-us/s320/IMG_2441.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbum1AnJGeeauYr0K_j1TnqWwmIJgLgQAkHM_ylr233x6VvhcwQCmf5MNLErpVio3l7LKQe3JUuU0V_XPj3KnIbFYoF92ru-YlDwMY_ZKL4R2KZ8N8EutzCLwd9W4GKb34YBcBw9AY-us/s320/IMG_2441.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Out to breakfast.</td></tr>
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Nothing you guys haven't seen before- tons of great meals, walks in the plantation and at the beach, floats in the pool, shopping at the outlets... Oh, there was this epic lobster roll from a farmer's market food truck...<br />
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Allie had her first real dunk in the pool. Til then it had just been toes in, but this time we did the swim diaper and bathing suit and actually put her in the pool. She did great! Unfortunately none of us remembered to bring a camera, or even a phone, so it kind of went undocumented. Fail!<br />
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Allie started daycare this week. That's probably the biggest news around here. She did half days on Monday and Tuesday. We are gradually transitioning her in. It actually went better than I thought it would. I didn't cry and she seemed to do fine. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOc-ltIdJB54tUGG9itcYW42aICRdoQ6fi2jp_ep-gz8ZNPFFUArsSBXsV2GtVttjkEMtYj5nDHOWBx7jnCKK9MbXGRqClFzAW4rWFREdQCk1dqQ1HgvYQ4MPDdi3vqqOZU3YTRqWUIAk/s1600/IMG_2454.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOc-ltIdJB54tUGG9itcYW42aICRdoQ6fi2jp_ep-gz8ZNPFFUArsSBXsV2GtVttjkEMtYj5nDHOWBx7jnCKK9MbXGRqClFzAW4rWFREdQCk1dqQ1HgvYQ4MPDdi3vqqOZU3YTRqWUIAk/s320/IMG_2454.JPG" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Right after I took this picture, two babies tried to steal Allie's toy.</td></tr>
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We are still getting used to daycare. I brought three bottles with about 4 oz. each both days, and she had two each day (she was only there like 4-5 hours). The daycare ladies said I should try switching to level 2 nipples because it was taking her forever to eat from the bottle. I actually wasn't surprised they suggested this, because I have also been wondering if I should do this. I know I'm a little clueless about bottles since she mostly breastfeeds. For a long time I didn't want to switch to level 2s because you want the baby to prefer the breast over the bottle and they might not if the bottle milk flows faster, but now I think we'd be okay to switch to the level 2's so I'm going to get some. <br />
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I think it helped that I went to yoga while Allie was at daycare both days. I actually had a yoga pass to my studio that was expiring this week so I went three days in a row, and it felt great. A couple times I came close to crying when we were winding down and slow sad songs came on and I thought about Allie, but overall, I think it was good for me to be there doing something for myself. I'd love to be able to continue to go with some consistency, but with Greg's schedule all over the place and going back to work soon, I don't see it happening. I think I'll probably just drop in for classes once in a while if I can.<br />
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I talked to my boss recently and will be starting some work the week of 7/15. I haven't come up with a definite plan yet, but he said I could do half days or whatever I wanted, and then I'll go back full time the week of 7/29. I am trying to wrap my head around it. On one hand I think I'm a little excited and ready to be back in my office. I bought some new clothes for work to kind of get myself in the mood. I also had lunch with a co-worker yesterday and kept asking her a million questions about work, so I know I feel like I've missed a lot and do want to get back and catch up on things there. On the other hand, I realize that my unlimited time with Allie is coming to a close, and it's incredibly emotional and sad that I won't get to be with her as much as I want. I think about how week days will go and worry about getting to spend enough time together if we only have a couple hours after I get out of work. She sometimes goes to bed as early as 7pm, which leaves us maybe two hours together at night. I feel like that's not enough. Ugh.<br />
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I've been soaking up the moments with her, even when she's melting down and have been letting her fall asleep on me for naps, even though I know I should be trying to get her to nap in the crib, just because I know I won't have these moments as often anymore in a couple weeks.<br />
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<br />
Well, I really just wanted to check in and say hi. We are having a pretty uneventful 4th of July, which mainly involved a trip to Buy Buy Baby and some ice cream, but I did dress Allie in a red, white, and blue outfit, just to be festive.<br />
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I'll definitely do a 5 month update on Allie since that's coming up in about a week! Yipes!<br />
<br />Brittneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12064316561225211468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606533226035762446.post-2816434175742729662013-06-17T16:11:00.002-04:002013-06-17T16:11:57.683-04:00Four Months<div style="text-align: center;">
Allie turned four months old last week!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ-qD46P5EFgzmgfEgxLIPXoGcWg5b-Kj0mTKn63DO4z8QxqIOXROLYHE9w9d-B1zqFAIa6CfQiBEDC8tGqHxcMEOyJYBvHAI26xswid31HFPyX3a41WKYmclDWuBMa1uKmet7Tw_tFNM/s1600/DSC_3244.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ-qD46P5EFgzmgfEgxLIPXoGcWg5b-Kj0mTKn63DO4z8QxqIOXROLYHE9w9d-B1zqFAIa6CfQiBEDC8tGqHxcMEOyJYBvHAI26xswid31HFPyX3a41WKYmclDWuBMa1uKmet7Tw_tFNM/s400/DSC_3244.JPG" width="267" /></a></div>
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For comparison, here's some pics of month one:<br />
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Month two:<br />
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And month three:<br />
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Obviously I haven't done the greatest job positioning her so that you can see her growth, but you can see how her hair has grown and she's kind of chunking up and looking like a bigger baby now.<br />
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After my last post I feel like a lot changed in the last couple weeks. My once somewhat predictable baby has become a lot less predictable. <br />
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For one, she's had some fussier days. Ever since she started rolling over, she needs more time on the floor to explore this and more stimulation in general. It's getting harder for me to get things done because gone are the days when I could leave her in a swing or Rock N Play for a little while without a huge amount of interaction if I'm doing dishes, cooking, or something else. I constantly have to be singing to her, making faces, or interacting in some way to keep her entertained, and not just from across the room, she wants me up close and personal and has been known to melt down if I go from the kitchen into the pantry and she can't see me for two seconds. It's cool that she wants the interaction, but frankly, it's also kind of exhausting to be "on" all day long. Let's just say I may have eaten a lot more nachos and and frozen burritos for dinners lately, because I can't really cook when she needs me right near her at all times. One day she had a pretty long meltdown and nothing could console her. I was checking baby books and Google for symptoms of teething and ear infections, convinced she was in pain with no way to tell me, but eventually it passed when she finally fell asleep. It must have just been a fussy day. Thankfully most of the time this passes.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">"Angry cry"</td></tr>
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The good news is that on the flip side of the fussies, we are getting some deliriously happy moments like I have never seen before from Allie. She has this huge smile and is even doling out a bunch of laughter lately, which is awesome. It's pretty fun! Here's some video of her laughing. Pay no attention to her silly mom trying to figure out if I actually recorded it or not at the end ;)<br />
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Allie can now roll over AND push herself up on her tummy, which is cool. She used to get her arm pinned under her when she rolled, but now she has figured out how to rock back and forth and free it. She spends tons of time on the floor practicing her moves and I feel like she is dying to crawl once she gets pushed up. She grunts and coos and gets all frustrated, but the minute you swoop in to save her she seems annoyed and if you put her on her back, she just immediately tries to flip to her tummy and do it all again.<br />
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I was lucky that for the longest time I could easily make plans for lunch or to do something in the middle of the day and pretty much know that Allie would sleep peacefully through it. I no longer think this is the case. She had a pretty good cry in the middle of a visit with Greg's sister and family while we were out to lunch one day. We also experimented with a dinner out one night and that didn't go well either. I think maybe the noise is a factor. Before she seemed to be lulled to sleep by a noisy restaurant, now it seems to bother her and makes for quick over stimulation. If we take her out now, we're leaning towards places we can pay upfront and make a quick exit if necessary.<br />
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Like I said, just after writing my last post a bunch of stuff changed. One thing has unfortunately been my breastfeeding. I had kind of a scare one day when it seemed like my milk supply was taking a plunge. I had been noticing that it was taking longer to let down for Allie, which was annoying her at feedings, and then at the end of the day when I went to feed her before bedtime, I had like no milk for her. I even pumped in case it was an issue with Allie not being able to get the milk, but couldn't get anything pumping either, so I ended up defrosting frozen milk and giving her a bottle. I was really upset! The next day I scheduled an appointment with my lactation consultant and also polled my mommy friends to see if they had dealt with anything like that. I followed suggestions that I up my food and water intake and that did seem to help. In meeting with the LC, she also suggested massaging my breasts before and during feeding to encourage let down. I also find that if I smell Allie's baby smell and concentrate on envisioning feeding her it helps. Breastfeeding can be so mental! All of these things seemed to help (like I need an excuse to EAT MORE!) but it's made me worry a lot and I am being really conscious to eat and drink a lot lately. I also am trying to go more like 2 1/2 to 3 hours between feedings instead of 2 so that my supply builds up more between feedings, and I am pumping when Allie finishes a feeding and sometimes a little before til let down starts so that I'm ready to go when she latches and doesn't get frustrated. This is tough though, and I think the stress isn't helping my supply and feeding issues. I hope that it will be okay as long as I really stay on top of everything.<br />
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I also discussed breast feeding/pumping when I go back to work with the LC. My plan is to pump three times a day at work (soon after I get in, lunchtime, and an afternoon session). I also already added a pumping session at night before I go to bed to try and keep my supply up (so far I don't get a whole lot during that one since my supply is much more abundant in the morning). Daycare doesn't require a set amount of milk, but they want me to start with four bottles with about 4 oz each a day and see how that goes. While I usually have no problem feeding her about that much from the breast (I know because the LC has weighed her before and after feedings, so I know she usually eats about 3 1/2 oz) when I'm home with her, I'm a little worried about getting that much milk pumping. Hopefully it'll be enough. I do have a freezer supply. I am actually open to formula if it seems to be necessary, but I'll still try to exclusively breastfeed and bottle feed breast milk if I can. I also ordered more bottles for daycare and bought some extra pump parts so that I can put some in rotation now that they are getting used/washed more.<br />
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We went by daycare recently to meet the teachers in Allie's room and introduce her. It went well. We went over things like feedings, nap time, what to bring, etc... I have some projects like a photo collage and binder I need to put together for her before she starts and I need to bring them a list of immunizations from her pediatrician. I'm getting used to the idea that this is happening. Sigh...<br />
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I waited on writing this post because Allie had her four month check up today. <br />
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New stats: <br />
length- 23 3/4 inches, 25-50th percentile<br />
weight- 12 lbs 12 oz., 25-50th percentile<br />
head- 41/5 cms, 50-75th percentile<br />
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Still rocking the big head ;)<br />
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This appointment was kind of rough. Greg was away, so I took her by myself, and made the decision to leave her car seat in the car and carry her in, since last week the lactation consultant had remarked that she was surprised I was still carrying her in the car seat. I thought, "Hey, I should just carry her in this time!" This was a mistake because she immediately became kind of fussy in the waiting room and I was supposed to fill out some paperwork, which was next to impossible while holding a fidgety, fussy baby. And it took them over a half hour to call us back to the room. Then it took a while in the room for the doctor to come in. By the time the doctor saw her she was already very fussy, crying, and hysterical, even before shots. After she got her shots I fed her in the office to calm her down and then she fell asleep on the way home and for a couple hours after. The shots were actually probably the least painful part of the visit. The long wait was worse.<br />
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At every doctor's visit, I come armed with a list of questions. At this visit I asked about starting solids (will wait til close to six months), cereal (will also wait til about six months and use only oatmeal), sleeping on tummy (is ok now that Allie can roll over and prop herself up), crying it out (we don't need to until after six months and only if she is up a lot and not sleeping, which isn't really an issue), and using the jumperoo (doctor wants me to wait til Allie can sit up better and we're supposed to start working on that).<br />
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Allie met a lot of new people in the past couple weeks. Greg's sister, her husband, and kids came to meet Allie, our friends from Indiana came out, and my friend Michelle also visited. I also brought Allie by the office for the first time in a while and she met a handful of people there too. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Michelle assisting Allie with tummy time.</td></tr>
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Allie seems to be in a "mommy" phase, and seems to want me above others a lot. I'm kind of okay with this because I love that she loves me, but I know it's because I am the one that is here with her 24/7 and she might be closer with Greg if he was here more.<br />
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Greg missed his first Father's Day with us, but we celebrated before hand and had some great days off together before he left.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">Allie and Greg visiting a local children's museum for the first time.</td></tr>
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Greg gave me a couple good breaks while he was home this time and I got to go to a yoga class and even sleep a little extra, which was great. We're still figuring out how to balance things while he's home, but I thought this past week was a pretty successful mix of taking turns and spending time together. <br />
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That about sums up four months with our baby! Love this girl...<br />
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<br />Brittneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12064316561225211468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606533226035762446.post-88908987702387033882013-06-07T08:14:00.001-04:002013-06-07T08:14:16.781-04:00Sixteen WeeksAlternate title Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'!<br />
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Allie turned sixteen weeks on Wednesday. She has been able to roll over from back to front for a while now, but suddenly in the last few days it's ALL SHE WANTS TO DO! From the second she's put on the floor or any flat surface, she immediately starts to roll herself on to her tummy. Suddenly I am all too aware that it's time to child proof everything, and that I need to be very careful where I leave her for a second because she can pretty much flip over wherever. I feel like mobility is coming very soon here. Greg and I will be searching for some fences/gates. I'm a little afraid about what life with a mobile baby is going to be like. I've been lucky enough that in the first months of Allie's life I haven't had many issues taking a shower and getting other tasks done. While I always needed to plan around naps or happy times to get things accomplished, she has usually been able to hang out stationary for long enough for me to do stuff. Now I really have to be aware of her ability to move and in conjunction, she seems way less happy than before about being confined in the swing, the Rock N Play, and other devices that can hold her now because she wants to spend every waking moment practicing her new tricks.<br />
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Allie is still happiest in the mornings. She loves to smile and laugh at me and listens to every word I utter to her. She is very into toys that make noise right now, especially this <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Einstein-Press-Play-Panda/dp/B003P9UX78">musical panda</a>. She also still likes rattles and things that squeak. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lamaze-Play-Freddie-Firefly-Along/dp/B000I2Q0F4">Freddie Firefly</a> is another one of her favs. She also likes <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bright-Starts-Links--Solid-Colors/dp/B001ABZGU2/ref=sr_1_1?s=baby-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1370605579&sr=1-1&keywords=baby+rings">connecting rings</a> and if I hold them in front of her, she'll grab them and examine them. Very cute! You can tell in the last week or two that a lot is really coming together in her head about how to do things with her hands and body. It's exciting to watch! She loves stimulation and I can tell I need to play with her a lot to keep her amused these days.<br />
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Allie is still a good sleeper. Although, as soon as I typed this statement she did have a night when she was up about three times, but those nights are rare. Luckily it seemed to be a fluke, because the next night she was back to normal. Her typical sleep schedule goes something like this:<br />
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Start bedtime routine between 7:30-8:30 (tonight it was actually earlier). She gets a bath about every other night, then changed into a fresh diaper, jammies, read a story, one last feeding, then down to bed in the Merlin's Magic Sleep Suit in the crib. <br />
She either sleeps through the night or is up once for a feeding and diaper change (usually around 3am), but usually goes back down without a problem. <br />
Wake time is anywhere from 6ish to 7:30am. <br />
She has a nap or two at some point in the morning, but morning seems to vary pretty wildly. Sometimes she'll be napping an hour or two after she's up and then have another late morning, sometimes just one nap in the middle of the morning, sometimes it's short, sometimes it's long, there's really no definite pattern there.<br />
She has her longest nap for the day in the middle of the day, which I attribute that to happening when I drag her to lunch or other places with me. This nap can be anywhere from an hour to three or four hours max (that's when I do the drive to/from Hilton Head, because she can usually make it almost the whole way there in the car sleeping). <br />
She has one more short nap late afternoon, and then is up til bedtime.<br />
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I really don't know if this is "normal" compared to other babies her age. I know there's a lot of controversy around whether you should plan around baby's sleep or whether you should do what you want and have them adapt to your schedule. I feel like I do a combination of both. That midday chunk when she naps while we are out is more me taking her to what I want to do, but the rest of the day I just try to be conscious of what she might need in terms of naps and follow her cues if she seems fussy/tired. For instance, if we get home from an outing and she's been asleep in the car seat for two or three hours, I know that she's definitely going to need a good chunk of play time at home out of the car seat and try not to drag her anywhere else. That includes walks in the stroller, because I hate having to put her back in the car seat again if she just got out of one. I feel like this works reasonably well for us. I actually think we both do better overall on days when we do have plans and get out of the house than when we're stuck at home.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Napping on me the other day.</td></tr>
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I don't know if this nap schedule, or lack of one, will change when she goes to daycare and is in one place all day long. I just know that it's worked well for us so far so I hesitate to change anything, even though I'm guessing that most babies do a more evenly spaced nap schedule instead of that big midday nap Allie usually has. I just hope when she does go to daycare that whatever she does for naps there doesn't change our nightly schedule because if it stays like it is now, I should be able to get enough sleep for work. If she decides to be up more at night, it's going to be rough!<br />
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Allie babbles constantly now. She says "ohhhh" over and over in a soft, cute little voice. It pretty much melts my heart. Here's a video of her doing it, and playing with the bird attached to her play mat.<br />
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We just got back from another visit with my parents in Hilton Head. We were down there for about five days but it went by SO FAST! Before I went on maternity leave, I couldn't wait for these visits because I thought it would feel like so much more leisure time to spend there, but they seem to go by just as fast as when I would go for a weekend before I had Allie. I also end up teary and sad every time I leave because I just enjoy the time with my parents so much. I love watching them with Allie, it makes my heart so full. So far we've managed to visit at least once a month if not more, and I hope this continues. Allie seems to love it there and is usually really happy and sleeps well. I am thinking about moving in... just kidding. Sort of.<br />
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Breastfeeding is still going really well. I've heard about babies getting to a stage where they get annoyed if you talk while feeding them, and Allie recently started this. She doesn't really like any major noise that might distract her while eating, including phones ringing, loud TV, dog barking, etc... and will sometimes unlatch and give me a look like "Hey! I'm eating here, do you mind??" It's funny. I would say she eats about 7-8 times a day (including the night feeding if she has one), or about every 2-3 hours. <br />
I was getting worried about her taking bottles because a bunch of times Greg has tried and while she'll eat some, she rarely would finish a bottle. Thankfully, while in Hilton Head this week, my mom successfully fed her some bottles and she either ate most of or finished them so now I'm less worried about it, which is important for daycare. I am pretty sure I have decided to at least try pumping at work and having daycare feed her breast milk to see how it goes. I have a private office and my own mini fridge at work and have always been able to pump pretty quickly, so I feel like it could work for us. I just need to see if pumping, daycare feeding, and the whole equation all work once I go back to work. I really don't have anything against formula but kind of don't know where I would even begin to figure out what kind Allie would eat if we were going to go that route since she hasn't had any yet. I will talk to her pediatrician about it at the next appointment just in case.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Allie laughing at me singing "Don't Worry Be Happy" to her.</td></tr>
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Allie is wearing 3 month and 3-6 month clothing. She's in size two diapers now. I even gave away a bunch of unused, size one diapers because it was obvious she can't squeeze into them anymore.<br />
She has her four month appointment coming up in about two weeks, so we should have more stats on her then.<br />
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I feel like Allie and I get closer every day and I'm more and more in love with her. I can't stop sniffing her, kissing her head, and hugging her. Watching her grow and learn is amazing. The experience of being her mother is truly amazing and surreal. I feel like I'm still figuring out all of the emotions I'm feeling. Everything from that this is how it was always meant to be to what happened to my old life? It's all in there and I kind of feel like I haven't exactly figured out how to feel about it all yet. <br />
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Probably the biggest challenge of all has been for Greg and I getting used to marriage with a baby. It's been tough, but I think we're slowly getting acclimated. I think because we spent over eleven years together and almost seven married years without children, it's been a really big adjustment for us. Greg was never a one of those guys who always wanted kids (he was open to it, but didn't have an overwhelming desire like I did) and I think this is a bigger adjustment for him than me. A lot of my friends have told me their husbands had trouble bonding and adjusting to the baby in the first months and I definitely think that's the case for us too. Especially with him gone a lot. It also didn't help that he was very sick for a few weeks of her life and really avoided holding her during this time in fear of getting her sick. I really hope his bond with Allie will continue to get stronger, because I see the potential of what their bond can be. I think Allie is lucky to have such a smart, interesting father, and I know she's going to learn a lot from him.<br />
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I am below my pre-pregnancy weight now. I still think my body is shaped a lot differently and I have had to retire some of my old clothes and buy new stuff that fits my shape better. I think I'm just lucky, because working out has actually taken a back seat lately, more than in the beginning of life with Allie. I haven't been to a yoga class in weeks, running rarely happens, and even walks are getting difficult because the hot weather (and lots of rainy days too) has arrived in Charlotte and it's hard to find the perfect time to walk with Allie and Clyde now that I can't just walk out the door in the middle of the day because the temps are above 80. I also feel kind of exhausted a lot of the time and it just doesn't seem that appealing to work out. I was talking to my mom about my running the other day and made the point that I love running so much more when I can do it regularly and have broken through that "threshold" of running comfort. Running can kind of suck when all you can do is get in a couple miles once a week or so and you're never really getting over that hurdle of building any kind of endurance or speed. I know I should try to make it a bigger priority, but right now I kind of don't care. Hopefully I'll find the time and desire again. I will say that I think I'm still pretty active. I do still go for a lot of walks, and I am rarely just sitting. That probably helps!<br />
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I will update more after Allie's four month check up!<br />
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<br />Brittneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12064316561225211468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606533226035762446.post-32661724619603484082013-05-28T21:45:00.000-04:002013-05-28T21:47:58.190-04:00Family Trip to AshevilleFor my birthday, mother's day, and our 7th wedding anniversary, Greg wanted to take me to Asheville. He actually suggested doing this trip a few weeks after Allie was born, and I told him he was insane. After three months with our little girl, I am finally comfortable enough to consider traveling with her though.<br />
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A while ago (I think before I started blogging), we went to Asheville and stayed at the <a href="http://www.groveparkinn.com/?_vsrefdom=gpinn-ppc&gclid=CKqfg6iLurcCFStp7Aod7jAAaQ">Grove Park Inn</a>, which is a pretty fancy hotel nestled in the outskirts of Asheville overlooking the city and mountains. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I think this was 2008? Check out my short hair!</td></tr>
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The Grove Park Inn a pretty amazing place. It's also kind of ridiculously expensive to stay there, eat there, or use their spa, hence it being my present for three separate holidays.<br />
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Greg splurged on a room with a view, that was also dog friendly (for a fee) so we could bring Clyde, and included breakfast. He also got me a massage at their fancy spa and watched Allie and Clyde for me so I could have an hour of bliss.<br />
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Our journey started around noon last Wednesday, when we hit the road with a full car of baby, dog, and adult luggage. Yes, we're crazy. It takes a little over two hours to get to Asheville from Charlotte, and I we did end up stopping at a rest area once we got close to Asheville so I could nurse and change Allie, which worked out well.<br />
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On the way I stalked my friend <a href="http://www.peanutbutterrunner.com/">Jen</a>'s blog for ideas of where to go, since I know she frequently visits Asheville and raves about amazing food she has while there. I noticed that <a href="http://frenchbroadchocolates.com/articles/the-lounge">French Broad Chocolate Lounge</a> came up on almost every trip she took there, and she said the carrot cake was a slice of heaven. We immediately bee-lined for the bakery so that I could get my hands on some of that carrot cake :) First we decided to walk around Asheville a little though. When we parked, we noticed it was looking kind of ominous and checked a radar app I have on my phone. It looked like rain was coming, but we ventured out with the stroller and both the baby and dog anyway. We found a dog store and ducked in, thinking we'd maybe wait out the rain there, but after it did little more than sprinkle, we decided to head back outside. This was a mistake. It definitely unloaded, and we were lucky enough to find a closed restaurant with an awning for us to hide under, but were stuck there for about a half hour while we waited out the downpour, which included hail! <br />
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Allie somehow slept through the whole thing (thank god), but Clyde was scared and trembling while huddled on our laps. Finally the storm let up and we ventured back out. We had an early dinner at a place called <a href="http://www.farmburger.net/asheville/">Farm Burger</a>. I had a chicken burger and Greg got the veggie burger and we split some garlic fries. I also fed Allie again in the rest room, which was a single female one, perfect for private nursing. Asheville is probably the one place I could nurse in public without a second glance, but I like our privacy ;)<br />
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After dinner we went back to the bakery and I got a slice of that heavenly carrot cake, plus a piece of chocolate layer cake, to go to have at the hotel later that evening. <br />
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We got checked in, and then decided to just go for drinks at one of the hotel bars since we weren't really hungry after our burgers. They had a menu of centennial martinis since it's the hotel's 100th anniversary, and each included a souvenir glass. Greg and I liked this idea and both ordered martinis.<br />
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I can't remember what was in this, but it was kind of dessert-like and came with a piece of pistachio biscotti.<br />
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Greg's martini was more like a margarita- kind of citrus flavored.<br />
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We enjoyed a great view while drinking our fancy martinis.<br />
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Allie did pretty well, but woke up a little fussy at one point, so here I was rocking her a little to get her back to sleep.<br />
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Both kid and dog did well in the room, which was a relief. The next morning we went to our included breakfast, which was amazing, and which I forgot to get any pictures of. They have a two room buffet with juices, pastries, oatmeal, fruit, cold cuts, an omelet station, and a hot area with eggs, sausage, bacon, potatoes, eggs, french toast, pretty much everything you could possibly eat for breakfast. I had fruit, an omelet, potatoes, grapefruit juice, and coffee and it was delicious.<br />
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After breakfast, I made sure Greg and Allie were all set and then headed off to the spa for my massage. The spa at the Grove Park has a couple pools, both indoor and outdoor and I received a tour of all the facilities, which was I welcome to use that day. Unfortunately, I really didn't have time to do anything but get the massage since Greg had Allie and Clyde, but the massage was really wonderful. I chose lavender scented massage oil, a focus on my neck and shoulders, and some relaxing music. My masseuse was wonderful. <br />
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Once we checked out of the hotel, we headed back into Asheville one more time to get some lunch before heading back to Charlotte. We found a place called <a href="http://www.carmelsofasheville.com/">Carmel's</a> that was dog friendly and sat outside. It was a gorgeous day.<br />
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I had a spinach salad with grilled chicken and pears that was delish.<br />
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Allie slept through lunch.</div>
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We took a quick walk around after eating and then decided it would be wise to hit the road before sooner than later to make sure we didn't spend two hours in the car with a screaming baby.<br />
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It was a quick, but memorable getaway and it's nice to know that we can do this kind of thing with the baby and the dog with a little team work and planning. We had a good time!Brittneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12064316561225211468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606533226035762446.post-31593753111798218962013-05-25T08:50:00.001-04:002013-05-25T08:50:15.616-04:00A CurveI've gotten behind on my weekly Allie updates, but I've been thinking about doing them either every two weeks or once a month instead of weekly anyway. Allie is now about fourteen and a half weeks old. She moved up to size two diapers, can really hold her head up well now, and is quick to smile and laugh. I made the mistake of singing "Don't Worry Be Happy" to her one day when putting her in the car seat and she loves it. Now I have to sing it to her constantly just to see the cute look on her face she gets when her goofball mom is singing it (I also had to look up the lyrics since I only know like two lines). I am that mom. She's a lot of fun.<br />
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We kind of had some scary stuff happen this week. About a week ago Greg and I kind of noticed that Allie's spine appeared to be a little bit curved looking (like a C shaped curve), but we didn't get alarmed right away. I think we weren't sure if it was just the position she seemed to be in when we first noticed or not. He left for a trip, then came home a few days later, and we were giving Allie a bath and when I leaned her forward to wash her back. We both felt like the curve looked pretty prominent and decided it was worth calling our pediatrician to have her take a look. We were able to get in right away and our pediatrician said that she could also see the curve in Allie's spine too and wanted to refer us to a pediatric orthopedic doctor to have him look at it. Cue me crying hysterically the entire way home in the car and basically for the next two-three hours, while I thought of the worst case scenario and our daughter having major structural skeletal issues. I was so worried about Allie. <br />
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I worried that we had caused Allie's spine to be crooked because I hold her on one side too much or set her in the Boppy lounger where she slouches to one side too much. Our pediatrician assured me we had done nothing wrong and if she had a curved spine it was something she was born with, but I wasn't sure and started really blaming myself.<br />
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The next morning, we got up early and headed to see the pediatric orthopedic doctor. The funny thing was that once we got there, I swear that Allie's spine did not look as curved. The doctor couldn't really even see it when he examined her. She had to have an x-ray taken, much to Greg's dismay (he hates x-rays and thinks they cause cancer in the long run), but it was necessary in order to determine whether there was anything structurally wrong with Allie's spine- like vertebrae fused together or anything like that. The good news is that he didn't see anything wrong on Allie's x-ray, he doesn't think she has scoliosis, and thinks she's just a little asymmetrical in growth right now but believes that she will grow to be straighter once she continues to develop more. <br />
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We left the office with a weird mix of emotions over the whole thing. Of course we're thrilled nothing appears to be wrong, after foreseeing braces and physical therapy in Allie's future, but at the same time we still feel like there is a slight curve and are now really paranoid about making it worse. We have put away the Boppy pillow and are now over analyzing all of our baby devices and wondering if they are causing her to slouch and encourage the curve in her spine. The thing is I KNOW that I don't set her in baby holding devices anymore than anyone else. We are out a lot during the day so she's in a car seat sometimes, but at home, I'm holding her a lot, doing tummy time, playing on the floor, or she's alternating between many different "baby holding devices" if I do have to set her down. It's not like she's spending hours in any one place. Still, I can't help but blame myself and wonder if I should have done something different to encourage a straighter spine.<br />
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We have a strategy for helping Allie develop straighter. <br />
One, we will try and have her on the floor more. In the past, this has not been an ideal location because of Clyde being able to get to her. We don't worry about him hurting her, but he sometimes gets in her face and licks her a lot, which can be scary for her. I have realized though that Clyde doesn't usually care that much that Allie is on the floor unless we are on the floor too, so I don't think this is as big of a problem as I once did. Also, we may put a fence around her if we want to have her on the floor for longer stretches to keep Clyde out.<br />
Two, we will try and have her sleep in the crib. It's time, I know. I have been hesitant to put her in it because she sleeps SO WELL in the bassinet, but I have finally accepted it's time. We think the flatter surface of the crib mattress will help her to not slouch to the side. Another bonus of using Merlin's Magic Sleep Suit, is that it basically puts her body into a straight formation. We have actually had her sleep in the crib in the sleep suit two nights this past week and so far it's going pretty good. Her sleep seems about the same as it was in the bassinet. Really it's me more than Allie that has trouble with her not sleeping in our room, but now that we have a couple nights of her sleeping well in the nursery in her crib, I'm getting more comfortable and sleeping better knowing she does okay.<br />
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Three, we'll just try to be conscious of her spine by having her look different ways when she is on the floor, positioning her in different ways, and use baby holding devices that seem to keep her straighter if we have to put her down. <br />
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I am really hoping that she develops normally and we don't notice any further curve. Hopefully, like the doctor suggested, she will grow out of it and become more symmetrical. In any case, this was a scary couple of days and I really feel for anyone experiencing any sort of medical issues with their little ones. I was a complete mess. Hold your babies tight and appreciate their health!<br />
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<br />Brittneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12064316561225211468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606533226035762446.post-88378510987269169232013-05-19T08:47:00.000-04:002013-05-19T08:47:22.429-04:00Reality Sets InSo we've been (or more specifically I) kind of stressed out about our daycare situation. You may recall that back in <a href="http://www.lifeinaholdingpattern.com/2012/09/my-fifteenth-week.html">SEPTEMBER</a> we put down our deposit and got our name on the waiting list at our daycare after visiting a few different ones and deciding this one was the one. They told us to give them a call when Allie was born to check in and that was pretty much it. <br />
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Well, after Allie was born called twice and stopped in once and they were unable to tell us whether we were officially in or not, which had me pretty freaked out. We basically have no back up plan because we didn't know we needed one when we signed up with them. I was never given any impression that it would be a problem when I was only 16 weeks pregnant when we chose them. <br />
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Luckily Greg kind of took control and suggested we stop in together to get a real answer of whether we were in or not so we could start looking into other options if necessary, since I go back to work in July and that's coming up. <br />
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Turns out the way they do their waiting list is to basically match up a baby with a time slot the parents asked for when it opens up. So say you tell them you want June 15th? Well they will get you in then if there is a spot open then, but if one opens up like June 1st and there is someone <i>after you</i> on the waiting list that wanted June 1st, they would actually call them to put them in that spot without even checking with you first to see if you wanted it even though you were before them on the list. Weird right? So I'm glad we went in and figured that out, because they had a spot open July 1st, and even though I don't go back to work til later in July, we decided to take that spot, otherwise we might not have one. <br />
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Reality sets in. My daughter is going to daycare.<br />
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So, Allie can start daycare on July 1st. I'm not sure how we're going to handle that yet. I could go back to work early. Hmm, not sure about that. I would have the leave I would have used those weeks for later if I did that, which would be nice, but that means I'm cutting my maternity leave almost three weeks short. I think what I will probably do is slowly transition Allie into daycare. I can either drop her off half days or whole days, but only part of the week instead of all of it so we can both get used to the idea. I don't think they really care as long as we pay for a full week. <br />
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July 1st is only like 7-8 weeks away. Yikes. Time to start thinking about life when I go back to work. How will it be to be away from Allie all day knowing someone else is holding her, seeing her progress, catching her smiles, watching her sleep, and enjoying her? Ugh. That does kind of kill me. Will I feel like life is more balanced with work and a baby? I don't know yet. <br />
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I do know that I never felt like someone who always wanted to be a stay at home mom. Don't kill me for saying that, because it doesn't mean I didn't really really want to have kids and be a mother. I think it's great for people who have always wanted to stay home with kids, and totally admire that, I just don't know that I am completely cut out to do it the way I feel like some people are. Some people exude that awesome stay at home mom confidence and are naturals with kids, and I don't think I'm one of them. I wanted to be a mom, yes, but not necessarily a mom without a career too. I love being home with Allie more than maybe I thought I would and I think I'm doing a good job with her, but I don't know that I'm a complete natural with babies either. I don't always know what to do with Allie to stimulate her (thanks for teaching me some things Gymboree!). Sometimes I think daycare will be good for her because the people there are professionally trained to handle children, where as I am just figuring it out as I go along. Maybe it's good for her to have that some of the day.<br />
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Part of me feels unfulfilled with our days at home. I kind of hate myself for saying that, because I love being with Allie. I just don't feel like I accomplish much besides loads of laundry, walks, and maybe lunches out with friends. I know that's stupid to say though because the time I am spending with my baby is worth more than gold, and it's not about accomplishing tasks, it's about building a relationship with my baby. Still, I think because I'm older, have been working so long, and am so established in my job and with my co-workers, it feels like it would be too weird to give up the work part of my life. I'm not curing cancer, but I do get a certain satisfaction from my job. I kind of feel like I wouldn't be me anymore if I didn't have that. I am in a good place with my job would miss it if I were not to have that anymore. And it is a lot to be a mom for hours and days in a row without Allie's dad coming home to give me some relief at night and share in the care.<br />
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Still, we have the special mother/daughter bond, and it scares me to interrupt that. Especially with a husband that is away so much, I feel like I'm the only person on the planet that <i>knows</i> my daughter. I filled out the daycare paperwork and there was a lot about Allie and her likes and dislikes. How can I possibly explain every little detail of her personality? I feel like we just have this special sync where I can look at her and can tell what she needs or she can tell me, all with out words. How can I explain that to a daycare caregiver? I know they will probably figure it out like they have with all the other babies, but right now is a special time because only she and I have that.<br />
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Being a mother is weird because on one hand you are overwhelmed by how much the baby NEEDS you, but on the other hand you get sort of a secret satisfaction from the fact that they need YOU. At least I do. I like that she doesn't have that with anyone else, and it scares me that she will bond with daycare people the way we have a bond. I want it to only be with me.<br />
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I also worry that on days that I work I won't feel like I have enough time with her. I'll only have a few hours in the evening after work before she goes to bed and I'll miss most of her day. Ugh.<br />
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I don't know, it's such a confusing mix of emotions. I totally get the debate of staying home vs. working and why it's so hard to know what to do or how to "have it all". I think I'm just trying to figure out what is best for me and my family considering all aspects. <br />
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While my husband's job is going a lot better, his merger is still shaking out, and I still worry about furlough or something happening and me not having a job for us to rely on, even though right now we don't necessarily need my income. I also have good benefits and retirement, which is something to think about, that we'd lose if I wasn't working.<br />
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I think I'm doing the right thing to at least try going back to work and see how life is at work with Allie at daycare. I can't say that I'm sure it's the right decision and that I might change my mind and decide to go back to being home with her, but I think it's worth trying life with me back at work to see if that works for us. <br />
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I also need to start figuring out things like breastfeeding while working. I've frozen a bunch of milk, but I need to start coming up with a game plan on how I'm going to really do pumping and working. Or am I going to start giving her formula too? I don't know yet. I have to figure that out. I've taken for granted that I can just offer a boob anytime. She's never had formula, so if I might want to give her some, I have to introduce it at some point. I actually have to plan for 9-10 hours away from her every day and how she's going to be fed, and I kind of don't know where to begin. Yike.<br />
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I want to do more visits to Hilton Head before going back to work too.<br />
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It's time to think about what I want to do with Allie before life changes to a totally different schedule. Thinking about life after maternity leave is kind of overwhelming. For now I will just snuggle my baby and enjoy my time with her while she's completely available to me.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFENJRez_GMTCrfWhxaMj05xAuF_e0pl0sNck4BAmEMYNanElfkvUDUGTzB6wNhyphenhyphenLMx1TvNAHKbeu6n9knhybD11ONOt7D0i89U8MBsgslnFOUhcoa51DFglrhAlwTXlFB6gD4uGZEn3w/s1600/allie+tummy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFENJRez_GMTCrfWhxaMj05xAuF_e0pl0sNck4BAmEMYNanElfkvUDUGTzB6wNhyphenhyphenLMx1TvNAHKbeu6n9knhybD11ONOt7D0i89U8MBsgslnFOUhcoa51DFglrhAlwTXlFB6gD4uGZEn3w/s400/allie+tummy.jpg" width="323" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Allie rocking tummy time.</td></tr>
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<br />Brittneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12064316561225211468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606533226035762446.post-82931722175626066212013-05-18T14:28:00.000-04:002013-05-18T14:28:05.386-04:00Three Month FavoritesNow that we're three months in I figured I would do a new baby favorites post. Here are some things we've found to be really useful in the past 3 months.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSkc7W4SvV_qhkKf3g_Xga0Bys0CYJaftD6E9NcX-u-iT_VvzLIjQQbUasycJek8YP1gJYEsfmZVepJcDjw-03WeA7HdKJYINQWM0sCIqpeMzCxzpObr4eGgYBNKOrrodblKxg0rxv6l4/s1600/IMG_2080.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSkc7W4SvV_qhkKf3g_Xga0Bys0CYJaftD6E9NcX-u-iT_VvzLIjQQbUasycJek8YP1gJYEsfmZVepJcDjw-03WeA7HdKJYINQWM0sCIqpeMzCxzpObr4eGgYBNKOrrodblKxg0rxv6l4/s320/IMG_2080.JPG" width="239" /></a></div>
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Swaddle Me sleep sacks. We have been using these for a while now and they work great to get Allie to sleep long stretches at night. The only drawback is that they don't work that well in the crib for us, but with the Pack N Play bassinet, they are awesome. I recently bought the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Merlins-Magic-Sleepsuit-months/dp/B0095YY9U4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1368899083&sr=8-1&keywords=merlins+magic+sleepsuit">Merlin's Magic Sleepsuit</a>, after hearing about them on<a href="http://flythefriendlyskies.blogspot.com/2013/05/baby-merlins-magic-sleepsuit.html"> Megan's blog,</a> to try for crib sleeping and she does nap well in it, but I haven't bitten the bullet yet and used it during nighttime in the crib.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilemLGzUeTqNwNM60O35stvIEuMyoo5mMtmt90KmdDytVdZdjk4imlXUa2VifFmOIisVQeKi6dZ2_GCjCBs5P0V93H8vbb_q5iBOL5_QTYaDjoAvIuU8l_CNpaSTt_s84q08yAYZQ7Elg/s1600/img94t.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilemLGzUeTqNwNM60O35stvIEuMyoo5mMtmt90KmdDytVdZdjk4imlXUa2VifFmOIisVQeKi6dZ2_GCjCBs5P0V93H8vbb_q5iBOL5_QTYaDjoAvIuU8l_CNpaSTt_s84q08yAYZQ7Elg/s320/img94t.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.potterybarnkids.com/products/lamb-plush-thumbie-and-rattle/?pkey=e%7Clamb%2Brattle%7C1%7Cbest%7C0%7C1%7C24%7C%7C1&cm_src=PRODUCTSEARCH||NoFacet-_-NoFacet-_-NoMerchRules-_-">Pottery Barn lamb rattle</a>. Allie loves this thing. It's almost a sure way to get her to crack a smile. I use it on the changing table and have started even bringing it with us places because she loves it when you touch her cheek with it and rattle it in front of her.<br />
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Advent 0-6 pacifiers. She really doesn't seem to like any other ones but these, which surprised me since my brother, my niece, and I were all diehard Nuk users. I have at least two with me at all times.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNv64u3lomHY9VV1y9tlbv-dktJngmIHCZLV_o5imWNW8Mn0Xh4khkW5EDBfBt1lH1MYaXTPFtUgTbvBhjFrKgeEelBEGrMrY4X3KOL-2udAqGL3f5ZH3u1PWz4yxEkorMzi6FZHgUi0A/s1600/IMG_2115.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNv64u3lomHY9VV1y9tlbv-dktJngmIHCZLV_o5imWNW8Mn0Xh4khkW5EDBfBt1lH1MYaXTPFtUgTbvBhjFrKgeEelBEGrMrY4X3KOL-2udAqGL3f5ZH3u1PWz4yxEkorMzi6FZHgUi0A/s320/IMG_2115.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Bibs. I recently added some of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Tommee-Tippee-Closer-Feeding-Neutral/dp/B00081H75M">these</a> Tommee Tippee ones to our collection after seeing them in Target. We don't have as many issues with spit up as we used to, but I still usually put a bib on Allie after she eats just in case (hence why she has one on in many pictures). I like these ones though because they have a thick neck rim so spit up doesn't get between her and the bib. I am now that person whose baby has a bib on in every picture. You don't get it til you have a baby and they start spitting up on everything. Necessary!<br />
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Graco strollers. We now have both the Graco <a href="http://www.gracobaby.com/Products/Pages/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductID=1832156#sthash.Lb1eNhli.dpbs">Fast Action Fold Sport Click Connect </a>and the <a href="http://www.gracobaby.com/Products/Pages/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductID=1852634#sthash.D3RyHctY.dpbs">Fast Action Fold Jogger</a>. Which go with our car seat (the Graco Click Connect 40). I had wanted to get the BOB Revolution for my jogging stroller, but as far as I know, it still isn't compatible with my car seat (Click Connect 40 can only be used with other Click Connect 40 products). I am very pleased with this jogging stroller so far though- it's really smooth and it's so easy to click the car seat into. It can also be used without the car seat. I usually keep the jogger at our house in the garage to use for walks or runs from the house and the other stroller in my car for when I need one when I'm out. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhldVmxjG2kp4BEZddaa9w51zjcH2gGGNUPriaobWa2GJ_2D5brrbkHV4WGG582NczRntoSxWMODJXQ2lKkGMf8Oe0ZMjOLpkA7r2JwbKQDlgE9fR6rY1UIicdtJhxVSsJ1NqTNcb2_pPU/s1600/IMG_2145.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhldVmxjG2kp4BEZddaa9w51zjcH2gGGNUPriaobWa2GJ_2D5brrbkHV4WGG582NczRntoSxWMODJXQ2lKkGMf8Oe0ZMjOLpkA7r2JwbKQDlgE9fR6rY1UIicdtJhxVSsJ1NqTNcb2_pPU/s320/IMG_2145.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Baby sunglasses. Nuf said! (These are from the Carter's Outlet).<br />
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Lullaby CDs. We have the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Price-Jim-Brickman-Piano-Lullabies/dp/B008HHRON4/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1368228102&sr=1-1&keywords=jim+brickman+lullabies">Jim Brickman piano lullab</a>ies CD and the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Rockabye-Baby-Lullaby-Renditions-Coldplay/dp/B000GY72J2/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1368228054&sr=1-1&keywords=coldplay+rockabye">Coldplay Rockabye Baby</a> CD. Both are in constant rotation in my car and are great for getting Allie to go to sleep or calming her down if she's fussy in the car. I will say I'm a little sick of both of them right now though because I play them so much!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJEQLEyNTyCxqBenTJt3h2JZbcNd-QsP7uAq3vei2D-yKWwQf7OSNaWhKpS80VGkzShJOWFxw1AJJGgpTLNuiYcEr9d0-IwnfoYaCPS3DlWfWdit4VZpgqo1BgxUZLCBJNJY_Cul3tvgo/s1600/P3334_d_4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJEQLEyNTyCxqBenTJt3h2JZbcNd-QsP7uAq3vei2D-yKWwQf7OSNaWhKpS80VGkzShJOWFxw1AJJGgpTLNuiYcEr9d0-IwnfoYaCPS3DlWfWdit4VZpgqo1BgxUZLCBJNJY_Cul3tvgo/s320/P3334_d_4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.fisher-price.com/en_US/products/47989">Fisher Price Infant to Toddler Rocker</a>. This is a new favorite. Even though we have a swing, a bouncer, a Rock N Play, and seemingly a million different devices that seem similar to this, Allie really seems to like this thing. I actually just took it out of the box and assembled it recently, after it had been sitting in my dining room unopened, because I had debated trying to return it somewhere since we have so many similar devices. I decided I should keep it though because it was a gift from several co-workers. Glad I kept it because she loves the vibration and the animals hanging from the bar above. The turtle plays a song when you pull on it and she loves it! Also, apparently it can be used til she's a toddler as a chair, so hopefully it'll be used for a while.<br />
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Our changing table area. I know a lot of people don't end up using their changing tables, but I ALWAYS use mine. I think it's great and Allie LOVES being on it and looking at her mirror and lanterns. I even take her there to calm her down if she's upset, because it's her happy place. I definitely suggest putting stuff above your changing table for the baby to look at!<br />
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I just took a look at my <a href="http://www.lifeinaholdingpattern.com/2013/03/newborn-hits-and-misses-at-three-weeks.html">newborn list</a> and most of the stuff on there is still really useful to us.<br />
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We definitely use a million burp clothes a day. <br />
Still prefer Pampers (although we usually buy whatever is on sale). <br />
Still use and love the Mustela shampoo.<br />
We use the Aden and Anais blankets more than the heavier blankets now that it's warm out. I always have one draped over my stroller to protect Allie from the sun when we go for walks. The heavy blankets are great for playing on the floor though.<br />
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As for the not useful stuff-<br />
Baby socks became useful once we actually started dressing her in something other than sleepers. Lately she's been in a lot of summery clothing so she's been going barefoot a lot, but we had a phase when she was in lots of onesies, pants, and socks, so they were great for that period of time. They are definitely hard to keep on though! <br />
Still not using the Itzbeen timer. <br />
We occasionally use the swing, but she doesn't love it.<br />
As I mentioned, we eventually did start using the Swaddle Me's and those are great. I have a Miracle Blanket and it's too much work to try and fold all that fabric under her arms and around her, so I prefer the ease of the velcro since I'm usually swaddling her when she's half asleep and trying not to wake her up.<br />
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That's about it for now!<br />
<br />Brittneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12064316561225211468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606533226035762446.post-74987505304021156722013-05-13T07:52:00.002-04:002013-05-13T07:52:59.591-04:00Thoughts on My First Mother's DayYesterday was my first Mother's Day. Greg was away so it didn't involve a fancy breakfast, a big gift, or day spent all together (we are taking a family trip soon and I am getting a spa treatment, so he did give me something, in case you are wondering). In fact it was the opposite- a pretty anti-climactic day consisting of a morning run, watching CBS this morning, a BLT for lunch, a trip to Wal-Mart, and many diapers changed. <br />
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But the enormity of the day didn't escape me. I have wanted to be a mother all my life and here I am, finally living that dream. I snuggled my baby a little more and a little longer yesterday. I played a little longer on the floor with her. I stared at her adorable face a little longer. I smelled her baby head more than I usually do (which who knew was even possible). I talked to her a lot, and told her how much I had wanted her and how much I loved her. I sang stupid songs to her to make her smile even more. I missed her while she was napping in the next room. <br />
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I just really basked in the knowledge that I have a daughter now, something I have wanted for so long. I'm so happy that my struggles in trying to conceive ended with this specific baby. I couldn't imagine loving a baby more. She is amazing. I wish that anyone still struggling will someday have this dream come true and know this happiness, and share with the rest of the mothers out there that know this amazing joy.<br />
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Brittneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12064316561225211468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606533226035762446.post-14588486963837156412013-05-09T08:09:00.001-04:002013-05-09T08:09:43.239-04:00Twelve WeeksWow, I can't believe Allie is already three months old! Well twelve weeks. Greg tells me she won't be three months til 5/13 since she was born on 2/13. Confusing. I'm just going with it being about 3 months now.<br />
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She gets more fun every day and I feel like I'm falling more and more in love with her. I can't get enough of her cute face and sweet disposition. I constantly sit and stare at all her cute little baby parts. She is an awesome baby! I feel really lucky.<br />
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At three months she is:<br />
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-Wearing mostly 0-3 or 3M clothes.<br />
-In size 1 diapers<br />
-About 12 lbs (by my scale- holding her)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWxPRYbheqodpxD1ubmqjd-PK2ykBy4SWF33RXbB5hHE9gdlBVcbl0M40FPHtMpgZqIbg6YKNTIiuhkZWbRWVTWqYsJWYb3RfHGWTOe5smMEx4ix_PIIdDVgKd-KT4TltPjlVso2PsdFs/s1600/DSC_3187.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWxPRYbheqodpxD1ubmqjd-PK2ykBy4SWF33RXbB5hHE9gdlBVcbl0M40FPHtMpgZqIbg6YKNTIiuhkZWbRWVTWqYsJWYb3RfHGWTOe5smMEx4ix_PIIdDVgKd-KT4TltPjlVso2PsdFs/s400/DSC_3187.JPG" width="267" /></a></div>
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She can grasp things pretty well now, like rattles, my hair, her pacifier (she pulls it out of her mouth and holds it).<br />
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Allie slept through the night twice this week! The first night she went down around 9pm, but we watched her flail around some on the monitor so she really went to sleep closer to 9:45pm. She slept til 6:30am. She slept about the same amount the second night. We'll see if this continues I'm pretty amazed! Greg set up our air purifier in the bedroom the night she first slept through, and I think maybe it's because of the "white noise" coming from it. It's different from her usual white noise we use on the baby monitor and I think it's more soothing to her. All I know is that we'll be using that where she is sleeping if this trend continues.<br />
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We're still not doing crib sleeping except for some naps. Naps are still all over the place. I don't notice much of a pattern in terms of when she naps except that she usually takes at least one nap in the morning, then maybe a longish one in the middle of the day, and then probably another one in the afternoon, but she also has a couple others in there that are shorter. They are no where near regular or at certain times though, and the length of them varies wildly. I admit that I'm not doing a great job at enforcing or tracking them. Sometimes Allie falls asleep on me and I make zero attempt to put her in the crib or a more appropriate location, because I just love holding her, watching her, and kissing her while she's sleeping. I also don't plan my day around her potential naps, so when she has long ones it's still usually when I take her out in the middle of the day.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcNh_O_gUHEaMEvXxCroK5bdWjzVHripKzqGP6xlCM448Fd-ecazaFUY-gTzygGGKV2edWDnrEl5vVA_tjt8LmXk0AWXu28GnEt0Ix6feDIIhohIbPylHJeJJ0hoV08RANKvZHhtIYN-M/s1600/IMG_2191.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcNh_O_gUHEaMEvXxCroK5bdWjzVHripKzqGP6xlCM448Fd-ecazaFUY-gTzygGGKV2edWDnrEl5vVA_tjt8LmXk0AWXu28GnEt0Ix6feDIIhohIbPylHJeJJ0hoV08RANKvZHhtIYN-M/s400/IMG_2191.JPG" width="298" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Passed out on the boppy lounger.</td></tr>
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Allie likes: diaper changes, the changing table (she loves being on it, looking around, kicking, smiling, playing with rattles), her play mat, staring at me, listening to me sing and talk to her, staring at other babies, the squeeker on her firefly toy, eating, taking her Vitamin D<br />
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Allie dislikes: having a dirty diaper, being hungry, being under or over stimulated, being in the car seat when she's not sleeping in it.<br />
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Allie is pretty happy these days. She has the occasional angry-cry meltdown, but they are less frequent now and I feel like she rarely cries in general, she mainly cries if she's just really upset and that's what I refer to as the mad/angry cry. It usually kind of comes out of nowhere.<br />
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Gymboree is still going pretty well. She did two classes this week and did pretty good. She fell asleep at the end of the first one and had a meltdown at the end of the second, but overall she seems to like it. I think she mainly likes seeing the other babies. Most of the time I have trouble getting her to look at me because she's staring at the baby next to her.<br />
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We got out the jogging stroller yesterday and decided to take it for a test walk. I have decided that running on flat even pavement is no more jarring (probably less) than walking on the uneven sidewalk, so I think I am going to do some careful, slow running with Allie in the jogging stroller (in her car seat). I know it's a subject of a lot of debate but my gut says that will be ok and I'll be really careful. Heck, I took her into Target with her car seat in a shopping cart the other day and she was bouncing all over the place in their parking lot, so I feel like as long as the pavement is smooth, this should not be a problem.<br />
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I feel like I've gotten the hang of being a mom for the most part. This past week I struggled some with the idea that I am doing it all, in terms of Allie, and it caused me to melt down a little. Greg is gone a lot and the past couple weeks he has had a nasty cold and not wanted to get to close to Allie, so other than being at my parents and having them help me, I haven't had a ton of help or relief in taking care of Allie. She is a fairly easy baby, but still, it's hard to always be "on". It's weird because I want to do it all, but at the same time, it's a lot. We are hoping Greg is better soon so that he can participate more because aside from wanting more help with Allie, I really think they are missing out on bonding. <br />
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Anyway, it's been a great three months, and I look forward to the next three! I love this girl so much!<br />
<br />Brittneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12064316561225211468noreply@blogger.com0