Christmas Break!

Hope every one has a wonderful holiday. We are heading to Virginia to see both D and my families and pick up the new addition! I don't know how much posting will be done between now and the New Year, just a warning! Be back in 2011...let's hope it is just as exciting as this year was (orrr maybe not so exciting)!



xo,
H

Ladies Night...

was EVERY night this past week!

D was out of town so Grace, Molly, and I were left to fend for ourselves all week long. Things went really well baby-wise, but I will say that I have a new appreciation for single moms...you are just constantly going 24/7 without a break. I probably averaged 5 or 6 hours of interrupted sleep a night, and not because G didn't sleep well, but because I needed a couple hours after she went down and before she woke up to prep for the following day and have a little "me" time. Me time includes getting bottles ready for daycare, chugging coffee, pumping, getting my work gear ready, packing gym clothes, and making sure the dog was fed and went out once or twice, and trying to remember to brush my teeth.

All in all, the week was a super success. I have had time with just me and the girls while D has been gone in the past, but this was the first time I felt like I rocked it. I turned into that mom. I was able to work full-time, spend mornings and evenings and all day long over the weekend lovin' on my baby. I turned up the domestic goddess heat by trying 2 new recipes, made it to the gym 5 out of 7 days, I baked holiday cookies for the staff at Grace's daycare, and put together little gift bags for her two "teachers". I'm bragging right now and guess what? I don't care. This is my blog where I can brag if I wanna brag! ;) This past week was exactly what I needed in the "new mom confidence" department. Being a mother, wife, and woman with a career is tough, but this week was a nice little reminder that I CAN do it all, even if it takes awhile to get it down. Don't get me wrong- I'm anxiously awaiting my hubby's return right now, vegging on the couch with an excessively large glass of wine, I'm just sayin' it was nice to find out it can be done solo. One day D will probably have to deploy and we will have a lot longer to fend for ourselves, but for now we'll consider this a small victory.

We had several photo shoots this week...ha! Here are some of the bests:

I'm raising my glass of wine to mommies everywhere tonight!

xo,

H

Family News

Let me start by stating what I thought would be obvious:

No. I am not pregnant. And frankly, I'm offended so many people asked!

Now that we have that cleared up, onto the real news. We are expanding our family...just with another furry member. Are we crazy? Maybe. But I couldn't say no to my poor husband who is dying for some more testostorone in this house and like a 3rd grader, announced that"all I want for Christmas is another dog. I don't want anything else!" Awkward.

So, let me introduce you to the newcomer, "Major":

We will be getting Major from the same breeder that we used for Molly and will be picking him up a few days after Christmas on our way back to Louisiana from Virginia. Yes. We will be driving 20+ hours with a 3 month old, a dog, and a 6 week old puppy. I will admit, I'm still on the fence about this decision, but the baby has been so easy going and D has promised that he will take care of him. I'll change baby diapers over picking up dog poo any day.

Our first puppy, Molly, is really a part of our little family. We got her a little over a year ago on our first drive from Virginia to Louisiana, just days after we got married and moved our lives to Fort Polk for D's career. I vividly remember holding her tight as we pulled onto post for the first time and realizing that we really had left all of our friends and family behind. It was just the "three" of us. She was my buddy while D worked and I job searched and she was there with me when I found out I was pregnant. Ha! We are those people who are way to into their dog and talk about it like it is a person. I'm sure its obnoxious. I hope this little pup is just as big a part of our family and I will admit that I'm excited for some pictures of my little roly-poly baby with a wiggly pup!

Because I'm such a proud pup mommy, here are some baby Molly pics. I can hear you all squealing over the cuteness from here. ;)

Wish us luck...

xo,

H

Latest/Shortest T-Day Recap Ever.

For our first major holiday as a new little family, we decided to stay home and have some of our relatives who live close by over to celebrate. Because we just recently came back from Virginia and are planning to return for D's Christmas leave, going again for an extended weekend wasn't really an option. Lucky for us D's brother and his wife, as well as his cousin's hubby and their little family are both stationed at Fort Hood, in Texas, and were able to make the drive here!

No houses were burnt down, no adults or children were poisoned, and all in all it was a successful couple of days. D and I did however learn that we are the a horrible team when it comes to the game "Cranium" and I shouldn't be allowed to bowl in public...

Anyways! Here are a few pictures D's cousin snapped of Gracie. They are my latest faves:

On the photo topic- this weekend's little family photo shoot went really well! I haven't seen anything yet, but the location where we met the photographer was full of cute little downtown buildings that I think will serve as interesting backdrops for our pics. Molly (our pup) behaved like a champ and although G was not pleased with the chilly weather, poor babe, she held up pretty well. I can't wait to see how they turned out. Also- stay tuned for some big news in regards to our family...all I can say for now is that 2010 has been an exciting year for us! :)

xo,

H

Christmas came early!

Or maybe it was a late anniversary gift? I don't know what we're counting it as, but D came home with this little beauty on Friday:

We've already taken a ton of pictures and been so impressed with how much better the quality is, especially because we are literally just pointing and shooting. Yay for easiness! I'll have to post some later this week. Speaking of this week, we have quite the exciting event coming up...our first Battalion Ball on Thursday evening! The last formal dress up event I've been to would probably be D's "Mil Ball" back in his senior year of college. Momma's got a new dress (that we can all pray doesn't get effed up while being altered) and is excited to get out for a little Mommy/Daddy date night. More to come on this topic.

Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend and here's to a great start to the week!

xo,
H

Jumping on the bandwagon

Now that we are officially a family of three, plus dog, we are jumping on the family photo/holiday card bandwagon!

This Sunday D, Grace, myself...and wait for it- our dog, Molly, will all be getting some pictures taken in downtown Leesville, LA. D said that we "had" to include the puppy or else it wouldn't really be our whole family. Cute, however I'm very interested to see how she reacts to the whole ordeal. She may end up having to wait it out in the car! I'm already anticipating how excited you all will be to see the backdrop of our pictures. ;) I know I joke about how we live in the middle of nowhere all the time, and now you'll get a first hand look. If you weren't thinking about the potential for us ending up on awkwardfamilyphotos.com before, I'm sure you are now. Between the dog, a 2 month old, and downtown nowheresville USA, it could be really disasterous!

A little taste of the magic that is Awkwardfamilyphotos.com

Hahaha....and please go check out the site if you need a laugh or some awkwardness added to your day. I almost peed myself for like 2 hours, I meannnn, wayyy too long yesterday checking it out. ;)


xo,
H

BFFs

Some of you have asked how our furbaby and daughter get along. Take a look for yourselves. :)

Note the ball in the picture...and a little bit of fur in the hall...

A little closer...

Playing close by

And it's love.

BFFs for life.

xo,

H

2 Months

Not so sure about the new rocker. ;)

2 Month Stats-

Weight: 11 pounds, 7 ounces...65th percentile

Height: 23 inches...65th percentile

Food: 5 ounces every 2-3.5 hours during the day. Right now we are split almost 50-50 between formula and breastmilk. Baby girl loves both! I hadn't breastfed since Grace was a month, but decided to try last week to see if she remembered how. Random, I know. It went pretty well the first go round, but later she was not having it. Still on bottles 100% of the time!

Sleep: Almost sleeping through the night! We only wake up once these days, and sometimes not even until 5am. Gracie is a great sleeper and "puts herself to sleep" around 7pm. We literally can not wake her up once she goes down- although we are trying to establish more of a bedtime "routine", i.e. bath, pjs, books/last feeding, and in bed with her nighttime music. I am hoping we can get her to bed closer to 8:30pm and have her sleeping until 6am...that would be perfect with our school/work schedule. Grace is still sleeping in the her bassinet in our room, but we have decided that after we come back from Christmas in Virginia, it will be big girl crib time. Really we have no choice, as she is quickly out growing her little bassinet!

Life at 2 months: Life gets easier every day. We have really settled into a routine now that I'm back at work and Grace has adjusted wonderfully. Having a two month old is loads of fun- seriously! There is more "talking"- some cooing- which will just melt you, and lots of smiles. I love picking G up from daycare because as soon as she hears me coming to grab her, she breaks into some of those smiles...again, melt. We are waiting to hear giggles. I can't wait for some baby belly laughs. Speaking of bellies, this little girl has gotten better at tummy time! She doesn't love it, but is certainly getting stronger. Grace got her first set of shots this month and handled them like a champ. After a delayed reaction howl, she decided to smile and "talk" the rest of the time we spent at the doctors. She's a tough cookie. :)

We're well on our way to 3 months now, and are looking forward to our first Christmas as a family of three!

xo,

H

1 Month...

I meant to post this last month and never finished writing, so I wanted to make sure I still capture everything while I can still remember:

1 month! Fussing or pooping...your guess is as good as mine.

One Month Stats-

Weight: ~8.5 lbs...this is an estimate. At our 2 week follow-up appointment Ms. G was only weighing 7lbs, 3oz., still not back to her birth weight. We then began supplementing with formula and saw a quick increase in her weight gain. She was definitely going through a grow spurt around 3 weeks and when my mom her weighed at home at about 5 weeks she was closer to 9.5! Grow baby, grow! :)

Height: ~21.5...another estimate. At her 2 week follow-up they measured her wayyy under her birth height...and although she had a pretty long head after making her grand entrance, we know she didn't shrink as much as they said! Check back for more accurate measurements at 2 months.

Eating: At about 4 weeks I really stopped breastfeeding and turned exclusively to pumping and formula supplementing. Grace takes about 3-4 oz. at a month old and most of her feedings are still breast milk. I'd like to keep pumping through winter to try and keep her as healthy as possible. Really my goal right now is 3 months. Scheduling life around pumping has been fine these days, but we will see what happens once I have to go back to work.

Sleeping: We are currently waking up twice a night for feedings. Once around 1am and a second time at about 4 or 5. Grace takes her last bottle around 10pm- if I can get her up before I go to bed and then lasts about 4 hours. We've noticed that her night feedings are starting to get further apart...let's hope that keeps up!

Life at 1 month: (Written about 6 weeks ago...) I can't believe my little lady will be one month old tomorrow...I also can't believe I'll be heading back to work in 3 weeks. Time is flying, although some days seem to drag. One of those days occurred Monday, when baby girl decided she wanted to fuss every time I put her down and slept a grand total of 30 minutes during the day. Luckily, she made up for it yesterday and seems to be back to her happy little self now. Growth spurt maybe?

Grace really is such a sweet baby. On a typical morning she wakes up happy and the first thing she does is STRETCH! She puts her arms straight above her head and kicks her legs out as far as she can get them. Next we diaper change...this is usually a struggle because after stretching it out, G likes to scrunch her long legs up as close to her as possible. I've also learned that it's not just little boys that pee on you during diaper changes. Yes, Grace has gotten both D and I multiple times...and it's kind of hilarious. Never did I expect pee and poop and boogers and spit up to become something that I don't think twice about. We joke about number 2 a lot more than the normal household and Grace lets out some of the most disgusting old man farts (and "sharts") that I've ever seen come from a baby. She will probably be embarrassed I shared this one day. After diaper changes comes food time. Usually not quick enough for my chunkaroo. This is usually the time she gives me one of my favorite Grace faces: "the T-rex". She brings her arms up close and has her hands close to her chest, scrunches her nose, and chomps vigorously. I will try to get a picture or video of this. Once we've eaten, it's time to play! Morning is our family's favorite Grace time of the day. After breakfast little G likes to look around with wide eyes, give us some of the gummiest smiles, and try to "talk". She will work herself up to making a sound and then finally get something out. A loud "LAAA" is her fave as of late. It looks exhausting, like she is trying so hard! After awhile she starts to get frustrated and gets fussy, so we will move on to new playtime activities. "Tummy time" is not Grace's strong point. She ends up with a face full of carpet or blanket and often times gets upset...she is strong though! When we put her on our chests on her stomach she will push up with her little arms, lift her head and look around. She has some strong legs as well...the way she moves those things around, I have a feeling she might be an early crawler.

Life with our Gracie girl is wonderful. We couldn't have wished for a better baby than Grace. She is very loved by both her daddy and I, her grandparents, and every other friend or family member that meets her. Sometimes it is crazy to think that she is my daughter. I have a child. Ahh, it's still funny to write too!

I love you Gracie baby and can't wait to see what new things next month will bring!

xo,
H aka Momma ;)

Back from the blogging dead.

For real.

I have 3 or 4 draft posts that I had started weeks ago and I'm revving up to get them on here finally. I was reading another blog I follow this morning and her post on her breastfeeding experiences really made me think about all of the things I've had go on myself that I'd like to share.


So without further ado, get ready to be entertained (or bored, either one) by all of the posts I plan to get out this week! And since I can't leave you hanging...

xo,

H