Happy Holidays

Things have been SOOOOOO busy since my last post that unfortunately, blogging has been relegated to the bottom of my to-do list. My New Years resolution this year is to blog more. It is a wonderful way to document Hailey's and our lives and often a much needed outlet for me. Even if no one else reads it, it is meaningful to me and I'm going to try to keep it up better. So, I'm putting it out here in print....I resolve to blog at least once a week in the new year. Fingers crossed this is one New Years resolution I can keep!

One of the many things we have done in these last few weeks is get our Christmas pictures taken. Our first attempt at family pictures did not go so well. We went to get them taken at JC Penney and after waiting 2 HOURS from our scheduled appointment time, Hailey was not exactly feeling ready for her close-up. After that fiasco, we decided to have our friend Brittaney come to the house to try again. What a difference!! In our own environment and at a time when Hailey was in a good mood, Brittaney got some fabulous pictures! If you are local and looking for someone who is talented and affordable, check her out. You can see her portfolio on her website here. You might even recognize a few faces! Here are just a few of my many favorites:

Happy Holidays from our family to yours!

Giggle Girl

When I came home from work today, THIS is what I came home to!! I walked in the door and Bryan and Hailey were playing on the floor and this magical sound was coming out of my darling baby girl! I literally dropped the 8 billion things I was carrying and grabbed my camera to capture one of Hailey's first REAL laughs! In my opinion, there is no better sound in the world than a baby's laugh, and if I do say so myself, hers is an exceptionally cute one!

Now excuse me while I spend the next 6 hours trying to get her to do it over and over and over again. :)

(p.s. That sound at the end of the video is Bryan laughing, not Hailey burping =) )

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off To Work I Go...

Well, I officially survived my first day back at work! It was sooooooo hard to leave this beautiful girl this morning, but I did it and I didn't crumble into a giant sobbing mess, hooray! That is not to say I didn't shed a tear or two, but I stopped at that and sucked it up. It helped that Hailey was in the capable hands of her daddy, who promised to send me multiple updates and photos throughout the day! :) A special thanks also goes out to my wonderful co-worker, who also happens to be my good friend, for leaving a framed picture of my adorable pumpkin girl and a thoughtful card on my desk to welcome me back to work. April, you're the best!

Unfortunately, Hailey did not repeat the 6 1/2 HOURS STRAIGHT she slept on Saturday night, instead choosing to sleep 4 hours and then another 2 1/2 and waking up at 5:15 so that I had too much time to get ready for work but not enough time to go back to sleep :( Clearly we need to have a discussion about her poor timing choices. Fortunately, I am used to lack of sleep and was able to perform my job duties without falling asleep while driving and/or working with a student.

Although it is hard to be away from my precious baby, I know I am extremely lucky to have a great job that allows me a flexible schedule in which I only work three days a week. I am grateful that I was able to switch my duty days so that Bryan can watch Hailey while I am at work and that I am usually home before 4pm. All in all, I can't complain (too much) and I know it will get a little bit easier each day. Plus, it's so much fun to see her smiling face when I come home!

The Great Pumpkin

Behold! It's the Great Pumpkin!

Seriously, have you ever seen a cuter pumpkin in your life?!?! I just want to eat her up! Unfortunately, Hailey didn't get to spend much time in her adorable costume because it was hot, hot, hot in there! She was a good sport about it for a little while though. We didn't take her trick-or-treating (no teeth=no candy) and opted instead to stay home and pass out candy. Both she and our other baby, Cookie the ladybug, were a huge hit with the trick-or-treaters!
Hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween! Now off to finish off the remaining Reeses Peanut Butter Cups! :)

Mr Sandman

So I have been composing this post in my mind for several days now and I was all set to brag about how Hailey had miraculously started sleeping 5 straight hours and sleeping the whole night in her crib instead of having to be moved to the swing. Of course, just when I start to get cocky, Hailey has other plans. The last two nights have been pretty rough, I think her reflux is acting up again and making it hard for her to sleep lying down. Luckily, the swing seems to work for her and we've managed to get some sleep. We saw the doctor today for her vaccinations and she said we should up the dose of her reflux medicine since she weighs a whopping 12 POUNDS now!! Hopefully that will help...keep your fingers crossed for us!I cannot believe my baby girl is going to be 10 weeks old tomorrow! The time has gone by sooooo fast and in just 2 weeks I have to go back to work :( Fortunately, Bryan has switched to working Wed, Thurs, and Fri nights and I am hoping to work Mon, Tues, and Wed which would mean Hailey won't have to go to daycare yet. It's going to be so hard to leave her but I feel better knowing that her daddy will be taking care of her.

And now for your viewing pleasure...I have discovered that blowing raspberrys makes this baby smile like crazy! It cracks me up!

Heart-melting

Is there anything more heart-melting than a baby's smile??? Hailey is just starting to smile and I can't get enough! She's super smiley in the morning and although I have never been a morning person, it has become my favorite part of the day.

Our lives are all about sleep these days: Are we going to get any? How much are we going to get? What time will she go to sleep? What time will she wake up? After 3 straight nights of Hailey waking up every hour, I was desperate for advice on how to get her to sleep longer. I was shopping at Target and saw the book The Happiest Baby on the Block. I started swaddling her at night with her arms at her sides (instead of out as we had been doing) and started using a stuffed bear that makes womb sounds when I put her down. She slept for 3 1/2 hours, then every 2 after that! A definite improvement! She loves to be swaddled now and when she gets fussy during the day, the minute I lay her on the blanket to swaddle her, she starts to settle down because she knows what's coming. It's like magic! We've also found that when she won't go back down in her crib, she'll sleep in the swing for 3 hours at a time. I was worried about letting her sleep in the swing because I don't want to develop bad habits, but at this point, she'll at least start the night in her crib and I'll take sleep any way I can get it! And it's all worth it when I look at this face!

Thanks to those of you who participated in my little caption contest. I loved all of your suggestions, they cracked me up! Although they were all great, I said I would pick a winner so...

"Do you ACTUALLY think you're going to put me back in that carseat?!?!"

Courtesy of my cousin Tasha (via email). Quite appropriate since Hailey screams her tiny head off 80% of the time when we put her in her carseat. It's been getting better lately because we've been tucking a blanket around her and it makes her feel like she's swaddled but I'm ready for the day we can just hop in the car and go without all the drama. =)

One Month Down, The Rest Of Our Lives To Go..

I CANNOT believe Hailey has been here for a whole month already!! How the heck did that happen???

Obviously, we have been pretty busy settling in over here so I haven't had much opportunity to blog, but I enjoy doing it and know I will appreciate having this record in the future so I'm trying to get back to it.

Thanks so much to those of you who gave advice on the sleeping situation. The night I posted the last entry, we had decided to try putting Hailey to sleep in her crib. It was definitely the right decision...we could hear her through the monitor when she was ready to eat, but it was much easier to tune out her grunting noises without having her right there in the room. I wish she were sleeping longer periods of time, at this point she's averaging about 2 1/2 hours between feedings, but I know that will come with time.

At one month old Hailey:

• Weighs 9 lbs (3 lb gain in 1 month! What a piglet!)
  
• Has light brown hair and blue eyes.
  
• Is starting to track things with her eyes and head. She really enjoys laying on her activity mat and looking at the stripes and flailing her arms at the dangling toys. (Thanks Mima!)


• Is nursing really well. (Obviously. Did I mention the 3 lb weight gain??)


• LOVES to take a bath.


• Hates to be put in her car seat. She does NOT like to be strapped in and I have to swing her back and forth to settle her down before I can put her in the car. On the plus side, I should have Michelle Obama arms in a matter of weeks.

Since Hailey is now a month old, we decided to try giving her a bottle for the first time today. I have 3 different types of bottles to choose from so I tested each one beforehand to see which nipple had the lowest flow. I have been really paranoid about trying a bottle because I don't want her to prefer the ease of drinking from a bottle over me. I decided to use the Dr. Brown's bottle because the milk just drips out of the nipple instead of coming out in a steady stream. It also has a cool design that eliminates the negative suction pressure that causes air bubbles. It was a little bittersweet to watch Bryan give her the bottle...she ate from it really well and I know Bryan enjoyed the opportunity to feed her, but it was a little sad for me to see her not need me to feed her. However, I am relieved that she will take a bottle because she is going to have to go to daycare in a few months and she'll need to drink from bottles there.

Whew! I think that pretty much catches us up. And now...a little friendly competition. This photo cracks me up, I just love the face she is making. The challenge is to come up with the best/funniest caption you can to fit the picture. I will announce the winner in the next post. Have fun!

Night Owl

I love this little peanut so much, but for someone so tiny she sure makes a ruckus at night!! She snorts and grunts and strains in her sleep about every 15 minutes and then is back to being quietly asleep. I can't tell if there's something wrong, if she can't breathe, if she needs to be in a different position, or if she's just an active sleeper. She doesn't seem to do it when she's asleep in our arms or in the swing during the day, but when she's in her bassinet at night she seems restless or uncomfortable. I've tried propping her slightly to the side and putting her in her bouncer, but neither of those seem to help. It doesn't necessarily appear to bother her, she makes a lot of noise and wiggles a lot but she doesn't cry. However, it's so loud and I'm such a nervous new mom that I can't just ignore it. If any of you blog readers have any advice for me, I will gladly accept it!!

SPECIAL DELIVERY!!!

She's here!!! Hailey has arrived!

Stats: Hailey made her grand debut at 4:36am on Thursday, August 13th. She weighed 6lbs 1oz and was 19 1/2 in long.

Now, if you've been paying attention, you may have noticed that little miss wasn't actually due until August 23rd. Here's how the whole thing went down:

I went to my regularly scheduled doctor's appointment on Wed morning anticipating that he would tell me I wasn't even close to having this kid. At 38 1/2 weeks, she had not dropped and I wasn't feeling any contractions (not even Braxton Hicks). Imagine my surprise when the doctor informed me that I was 3cm dilated and 80% effaced!! During the exam he stripped the membranes a little to help move things along, but he told me it could still end up being a few days and even had me make an office appt for the following week. He told me to go about my business and that I could still go to work the next day, which was scheduled to be my first day back from summer vacation. So...I took his advice and ran some errands, ate dinner, and Bryan and I decided to take the dog for a walk.

When we got home from the walk, I noticed I was feeling a little crampy and, as April so succinctly put it, like I'd had bad Mexican. :) The pain in my back started getting worse so I thought "Hmm, these might be contractions." I decided to see how far apart I was feeling the pains and, holy crap, they were 6 minutes apart! Bryan practically shoved me in the car and off we went to the hospital. My contractions rapidly got stronger and by the time we got there, I was in a pretty good amount of pain. When we got to the maternity triage, the worst nurse in the universe barely glanced at us and informed us there were no triage beds so we were just going to have to wait. The nurse was really rude and didn't even ask me anything about my contractions, whether my water had broken (it had not), how long I had been in labor...nothing. At this point my contractions were 4 minutes apart and REALLY painful and I started to panic that I was going to miss my opportunity for an epidural. We finally got into the triage area and she determined that I was ready to be admitted.

Once I was in my room, we informed my new nurse that I was ready for my epidural NOW!!! It finally came about an hour later, at which point my contractions were 1 to 2 minutes apart and excruciating! I was about to seriously lose it when my knight in shining armor walked in and gave me the good stuff. From then on I was one happy girl. :) My water broke a short while later and the nurse came in and told me it was time to push. An hour and 20 min later my daughter was born! Bryan cut the cord and my mom took pictures of Hailey's first minutes in the world. It was so amazing to finally hold my daughter and look at her beautiful face! It was the happiest moment of my life.

We have been home for a week now and every day I fall more and more in love with her. She is so tiny and perfect, I can't stop staring at her! She is eating really well and is even sleeping in 3 to 4 hour chunks at night. I can't believe that this amazing little person belongs to me! I'm so excited to get to know her. I feel like the happiest mom in the world!

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice

I'm still working on catching up on my blog posts....I think I'm almost there!

A few weeks ago my friends Ashley and Meredith threw me a baby shower here in town. It was so much fun and so beautiful! Ashley worked REALLY hard on the decorations: diaper butterflies, floral centerpieces. diaper cake, and matted photo frame. Meredith lined up a caterer who made an amazing lunch and super yummy desserts. I really enjoyed sharing my excitement for Hailey's arrival, I can't wait until she's here and I get to hold her for the first time!

Everyone who came to the shower was so generous and I had such fun opening all the adorable gifts. Little girls get the cutest stuff!!!

I've also been in full-blown nesting mode this past week. I had another shower in LA for my side of the family (I'm waiting on my mom to send me the pictures) and the minute I got back I turned into a tornado of decorating and organizing! I finally got the futon moved out and the dresser/changing table moved in, I washed all her clothes in the special baby detergent, and I put up her name and pictures on the walls. Now all it needs is a baby!!

Return to the Scene of the Crime

This year marks my 5 year wedding anniversary!! It's surreal to think about all that has happened over the last 5 years. On the one hand, it feels like our wedding was just yesterday, but on the other hand, we have done SO MUCH over the last 5 years! Here are just some of the things our 5 years of marriage has seen:

-moving to Arizona

-my first job as a classroom teacher

-buying our first pet

-buying our first (town)house

-vacations to: Sedona, Mexican Riviera Cruise, Bahamas, Maui, Cancun, Cabo, Grand Cayman, and more!

-Bryan graduating from Grad school

-moving back to Fresno

-buying our second house

-Bryan's first job as a Nurse Anesthetist

-me starting a new job as an itinerant teacher

-starting a family!!

Whew! Those are a lot of milestones to accomplish in 5 years!

To celebrate our 5 years of wedded bliss we decided to return to Santa Barbara, where we got married. We stayed at the BEAUTIFUL Doubletree hotel and were delighted to discover we had been upgraded to a suite when we checked in! Our room was gorgeous and we had the most amazing view! We spent the weekend walking along the beach, window shopping on State Street, eating yummy food, and relaxing by the pool in the fabulous Santa Barbara weather. We had such a great time, we decided we might need to make the trip an anniversary tradition! It was also a great little "last getaway" before our darling daughter makes her grand debut!

The view from our balcony

Beautiful beach

Do these polka dots make me look fat?? :)

Happy Anniversary To Us!!!

Island Getaway

So even though I'm 8 month pregnant, I thought it would be a fabulous idea to drive 4 hours and take a 1 1/2 hour boat ride to go on my annual Catalina trip. And I was right!! I had a fantastic time and I'm so glad I went. The weather was gorgeous the whole week and I got a chance to relax with my friends and "second family." I got to eat at my favorite places, sit outside at my favorite coffee shop, and eat the best ice cream sundaes on earth!

The belly was a big hit with everyone! No one there had seen me in person since I'd started showing except Amy, so it was quite the novelty. Alex loved it so much she told me that I should just be pregnant all the time because it was the best she'd ever seen me look! Hailey even got to patriotic on the 4th of July when she got to "wear" her own glow necklace. =)

I can't describe it, but there's just this feeling of happiness and contentment that washes over me the minute I step off the boat. It's also a special trip for me because I get to spend quality time with my best friends, who I don't get to see very often. I'm hoping that I get to continue this tradition once Hailey comes and make it a special trip for her too.

A Shower of Love

I have gotten WAYYYYYYYYY behind in my posting so I'm going to attempt to catch up in chronological order over the next few days.

A few weeks before school ended, my co-workers threw me a surprise baby shower at our final staff meeting. I was SO SURPRISED! They decorated the whole office and my co-worker Nicki made the most amazing cupcakes. It was so much fun opening all the adorable presents for Hailey and it reminded me how soon I'm going to have a little person to actually use those precious clothes and books!

On June 27th, my mother-in-law threw me another baby shower for Bryan's side of the family and friends. The shower was beautiful and so much fun! Our friend Kim came up with some fun games (melted candybars in a diaper anyone?) and we had a lovely lunch. I got to wear a Mommy To Be sash and Hailey got some of the cutest presents!! It makes me feel so good that everyone is excited for Hailey to come and I am so grateful for the generosity and thoughtfulness of everyone who came.

Because of how spread out our family and friends are, I actually have 2 more showers coming up! Hailey and I are such lucky girls to have so many people who love us!!

And for those of you anxiously awaiting a new belly pic, here is the 33 week belly:

Behold! The Pregopotomus!! :)