Ugh, Allergies

Emelia and I are having a crappy day thanks to our allergies!  Both of us are all stuffy, sneezing like crazy, and miserable.  Even after our medicine we are still having issues.  This is one of the down sides of summer. And unfortunately my daughter had to inherit from me the one thing I prayed she didn't. 

She is currently napping in her crib, which is wonderful!  It is still a bit of a battle getting her to nap there, but it's getting a little better I think (hope)!!  I set the date for July 1st to move to her crib at all times so we'll see if we do that.  That is this Friday already.  I don't know if I'm ready, but part of me is.  It's not like she wakes up in the night a hundred times!

The past couple of days have gone better than the end of last week and the weekend.  She has been less crabby, usually only when she's hungry or tired instead of all the time like it was on Saturday.  She's back to sleeping at night, too.  I'm not sure what was going on, but I'm glad it didn't last.

We have today and tomorrow off and we're just being bums for the most part.  I'm scared to go outside where the pollen counts are definitely higher than in our house.  We are going to pick up her pictures at JC Penny's later this afternoon.  I can't wait to see them, she was so good and cute! :)

Well, she's been asleep for 15 minutes and I am going to zip downstairs quick and start her laundry, which has gotten put off and forgotten the past few days.  Hopefully she gets a good nap in! :)

Shopping

Apparently, and scary enough, the key to Emelia's good mood includes a dose of shopping every once in a while! :)

I needed a few things this weekend, including bags to store my breast milk in, and didn't go yesterday because of Emelia's TERRIBLE mood.  So we went today.

Before shopping, we went to church.  Emelia is growing to not like church as much as she used to.  She gets stir crazy and doesn't like sitting for so long!  She still is pretty good compared to many of the other babies there.

When we got home, we were all a little tired and crabby.  Emelia was up at 2 am last night again and the only way to get her back to sleep was for me to lay with her snuggled right into my chest.  It was like she was scared I would leave.  John and I think she maybe had a nightmare?

So Emelia and I took a nap then afterwards decided to go do our errand running.  John offered to come with, so the three off us hopped in the car.  It was actually quite nice.  The weather was decent and John and I enjoyed chatting in the car.  We shopped at a few stores and ate at a restaraunt together.  Emelia sat in the high chair the whole time and did great!  She wasn't sure what to think of the tapioca pudding, though!!

John insisted on buying Emelia a doll.  She has recently taken an interest in dolls and we had discussed her having one.  This was something he wanted to do today.  We found a cute one at Target and she just loves it!

Emelia playing with her first doll!

Pretty interested in this "baby" :)

So I have come to realize that Emelia just needs a little retail therapy once in a while!  Her mood after we got home was wonderful!  She has been smiley and playful.  She even played in the living room with daddy while I did some puttering around in the kitchen!  Who would have thought!? :)

She's all tucked into bed now and I am on my way there shortly as well!  Let's hope the little "Monster" sleeps better tonight!

What a week!

Emelia has been testing me this week for sure!  It has been a long one!

Every day seems like a fight with her lately.  She has been so crabby at home.  Especially on days she had been at daycare.  The biggest issue we're having at the moment is that she will NOT take naps!  Part of the issue I believe is that we are trying to do naps in her crib.  I don't know if it has to do with her being a little scared or intimidated in her room or if she just knows it's bringing her one step closer to not being in ours. 

She was also up super early this morning screaming and crying.  It was 3:30!  Nothing I did helped her and I felt so bad for her.  It was obvious she was hurting somewhere, but of course I couldn't figure it out because she can't talk.  I think that's the hardest part of this whole situation!  I tried tylenol, diaper change, leg exercises (for gas), oragel (for teeth)!  Nothing helped and she was so tired!  We cuddled, rocked, swayed.... Poor little baby!

It doesn't help things that her nose is so stuffy and runny.  When she went to bed last night, she was clear as a bell thanks to Benadryl, but when she woke up she was so stuffed!

Drool is picking up, also, and I think the issue at hand is TEETHING!  Ugh, it's awful!  But, they say they can have cold signs and symptoms when they are teething.  It's hard to say, but I feel so bad for her.

Today we stayed home and vegged out and cuddled.  We took a nice long nap, too, which she fought to the bitter end, but we both needed it!  She woke up nice and happy afterwards, thankfully!  She's eating now, with daddy, and not doing so well so I suppose it's Mommy to the rescue!  It's getting close to her bedtime, too.

Hopefully the next post is a bit happier!! :)

Bad Mommy

Today I feel rotten.

My day at work was a little hectic... nothing too crazy but just enough to test my patience and wear me thin.  Emelia, as usual, hardly napped at daycare at all making for a crabby baby.  Of course she was hungry when we got home so I tried to get her to nap.  YEAH RIGHT!

I knew the longer she went before falling asleep, the worse it was going to get to GET her to sleep.

And I was right!

She finally got mad enough to want to eat again and most likely take a nap... she had the tired cry and was rubbing her eyes.  She got just about asleep when she lost interest in eating, which is fine, so I laid her down while silently praying to God to let her sleep.

Yeah, well, wishful thinking.  She immediately started screaming bloody murder.  I walked out of her room, which sometimes is all it takes for her to quit fussing and roll over to sleep.  Not today.  She screamed and screamed.  Meanwhile, there sits my husband, who is always saying "Just lay her down and walk away, she'll fall asleep, she does for me."  (I'm so tired of people telling me "she does for me").

She continued to scream at the top of her lungs and I couldn't take it anymore.  I snapped!  I got up from the couch, went outside, and sat in my car.  Eventually, John came out to see what the heck I was doing and he just didn't understand that I couldn't take it anymore.

When I finally came in, he had her in the living room and she immediately started screaming when she saw me.  I lost it, started bawling myself....

Ugh, she WAS asleep, screaming now.... that was a short ass nap :(

This is one hell of a day that will never end.  And do I ever feel like a bad mommy today for being so short and impatient with everyone.  Emelia deserves better, I know that, but I am just at my wit's end and spread so damn thin I feel like I'm not even me.

I suppose this is all part of it, but I am hating these kinds of days and it's these kinds of days that make having more kids out of the question.  The hardest part is getting John to understand that.  He is currently going somewhere to do something... all by himself.  Something I haven't done in a very, very long time.

I suppose I've complained enough and Emelia has not fallen back asleep so I best get off of here.  Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for us all.

Swimming

Today Emelia and I went swimming at a pool for her very first time!  It was her cousin Isabella's second birthday party!  We had so much fun!  At first, Emelia didn't know what to think!  The first thing we experienced was the strong chlorine smell (we were at an indoor pool).  Then there were kids everywhere and water all over!  Emelia's eyes were so BIG!  We went in the kiddie pool first, which was warmer water, and she was ok with that.  First we stood in the water, then she sat in it and watched some of the other kids go down the slide.  After that, we went in the bigger pool, which had even cooler water yet!  I wasn't sure how Emelia would do!  She seemed to start to freak out a little bit, and cling to me as tight as possible, but after she got used to the water temperature, she enjoyed it!  I bounced her and splashed with her and "swished" her through the water.  She did NOT like getting water splashed on her face, but I don't blame her one bit!  At one point, she found a toy shaped like a squid and she loved that.  She kept hanging onto it for the longest time!

After we swam for a long time, it was time to eat, so we sat outside.  Emelia got to have turkey and peaches while the rest of us enjoyed sandwiches, fruit, salads, and cupcakes!

All in all, we had a great day!  I was so happy Emelia didn't get scared out of her mind at the pool!  I am even more excited for the rest of the summer now! :)

Here are a couple pictures from the day!

Swimming with Mommy!  See the bright orange?  That's the squid toy!

After a full day and a full belly, Emelia fell asleep in her stroller watching the other kids!  So cute! :)

It was a wonderful day and as always, I LOVE showing Emelia so many new and exciting things!  She just soaks it all up!  Tomorrow we are going to go to another birthday party for one of her daycare friends!  Grandma Carol is meeting me at work with Emelia, which is perfect, because her friend lives in the same town I work in!  I'm excited!

Tomorrow is also John's first Father's Day!  Emelia and I both got him a card and Emelia got him a gift certificate to Gander Mountain and a special book about daddys for her and John to share together.  I am excited for him to spend the morning with Emelia.  Grandma Carol isn't coming until noon or so!

So now that's it is way late and I have to work in the morning, I'm signing off of here for some much needed sleep!!  Wish I could sleep in the car like Emelia gets to! Hee hee!!!

Summer Has Arrived

Today Emelia got to wear her swim suit and play in a pool!!

 

 

 

First time swimming!!

We filled the pool with warm water for her first time swimming.  She loved it and really enjoyed being outside.  She sat up on her own the whole time!  And when she figured out how to splash, John and I both got a little bit of a bath!! :)

While Emelia enjoyed splashing and chasing her floating ducks around her pool, John and I enjoyed ourselves spraying the dogs and cat with water!  And of course playing in the water with Emelia, also!!

The smile on her face was a nice change for me!  Earlier in the day, we went shopping, and man oh man was Emelia CRABBY!  I was about pulling my hair out!  Thankfully she's taking a much needed NAP now, because holy smokes!

Saturday we are going swimming at a pool park!  It's Emelia's 2nd cousins 2nd birthday party!  I was supposed to work that day but thankfully got the day off!  I am so super excited to take Emelia swimming!  I hope she enjoys it as much as I think she will!  If nothing else, she will enjoy watching all the other kids running around!  My mom is coming, too, so she can always watch the baby a little for me so I can go down some of the water slides with my brother.

Summer has arrived and there are so many fun things to do!  I can't wait to share them all with Emelia!  I was thinking the other day that it will be sad to get through all of these "firsts"..... but then I thought that next year will all be a new set of firsts because she will be able to walk and run and maybe even sputter a few words!  I look forward to every single day to come!!!

Ouch!

I decided to add this to the blog so someday Emelia can read about this and get a good laugh.

Yesterday when we got home from work/daycare, we hadn't been in the house 10 minutes when John comes up to the patio door saying in a panicked voice "Honey!  I need you!"  I turned around and looked at him and I see bood running down his right arm.  He comes in and I tell him to run it under cold water.  I put Emelia down and went to take a peek.  There was so much blood, dried and fresh, I couldn't tell what was going on.  Eventually I was able to see John had cut his hand near the pointer finger where the finger meets the palm.  Here's how it happened:

John was planting sweet corn with a small planter and his lawn mower.  The arm of the planter had apparentlhy gotten slightly caught up in the barbed wire fence and John was attempting to get it freed.  He was pulling on the planter arm with his left hand and didn't realize his right hand was holding onto the fence.  When the plater arm finally got free it pulled on the fence therefore pulling the fence through a small part of his right hand.

I immediately thought he better go in and have stitches.  At the time I looked at it, it looked fairly deep and meaty and there was a lot of blood.  The cut itself is maybe 2 inches long.  But then it started to clot and I thought, 'hmmm, maybe it's not as deep as I thought.'  I still wanted him to go in. 

We got to the clinic, who was great enough to squeeze us in and save us an ER trip to La Crosse, and the doctor finally came in and said he was gonig to stitch it.  While we were waiting for the nurse to clean it off, John was talking to her and telling her about what happened.  I come to find out that he didn't come into the house right away after it happened!!!  He continued to plant the stupid corn with his hand gushing blood all over the lawn mower and him!  No WONDER it had started to clot!  It had been bleeding a while already!  That STINKER of a husband!!

So in the end, John ended up with 4 stitches and no work for four days.  Of course he's being a "man" about it and milking out this injury for all it's worth.  He wanted me to put his socks on for him today!!  Typical!

The neat part is that since I'm a nurse, I get to take the stitches out myself!  I am super excited.  I've done it before, but not THAT often, and those are the kinds of things that are the most fun!

And that was our day.  We didn't get home until 7pm and we were all so tired!  Emelia had only slept 3 hours all day since she had woken up at 4am!  We went to bed early, to say the least!

Pancake!

Today Emelia had a pancake for breakfast with John and I.  I made a small one for her, blended it up with a sliver of butter and sugar free syrup.  I think she liked it for the most part.  Of course I couldn't get ALL the "chunks" blended out and I think that's what she wasn't too keen on.  Emelia spit out about half of every bite, but we eventually were able to get her to eat the whole thing.  I'm glad she seemed to like it enough to eat it!

Of course, after she played some she was ready for some warm momma's milk and a nice nap, which is what she's doing now.  We are working on transitioning her to her crib now and today is "Phase 1".... naps will be in the crib.  My goal date for her being in her crib all the time is July 1st.  We shall see how this works out.  It's nice today because it's really rainy here so it's dark and gloomy... perfect sleeping weather.  She is in her crib now, I closed the blinds and fed her with the light off.  She still hasn't moved from the spot I laid her down! :)  I'm hoping she switches over ok.  Her sleeping habits have never been that bad, except she's never been a big napper.  When she was a newborn, she slept fairly decent through the night, waking only three times to eat.  BUT, I co-slept with her for the first month and a half.  She would NOT sleep in her cradle!  Then we discovered the swaddle, which she had hated at first, and it went a LOT better then.  She only would wake up once in the night to eat!  By two months, she was sleeping through the night regularly! :)

And so starts "Phase 1"!  All cuddled in with her special blanket from Grama Pat!

So HOPEFULLY she does ok in her crib.  It's got to be more comfortable than her pack n' play!  I decided to use the pack n' play between cradle and crib because I wanted her to get used to the open-ness of the bed.  I think that was hard for her at first after being all snuggled into her cradle.  Around the time we moved to the pack n' play, we also ditched the swaddle.  She tosses and turns a lot in her sleep now (which both John and I do) and eventually ends up on her tummy with her butt up in the air! :)

Lastly to share, Emelia's second tooth popped through yesterday!  She now is working on getting the two bottom middle teeth to come in the rest of the way!  She is going to have the cutest smile when she has a couple teeth!  She is so precious and handling teething rather well considering!  I'm proud of my little girl!

Another shopping trip is planned this afternoon, since the weather is yucky!  We are getting my brother Quinton to come along!  I can't wait!

Picnic in the Park

Today John, Emelia, and I had our first family picnic in the park!  We went to a local state park along the Mississippi River.  It was a beautiful day!  John and I cooked hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill and Emelia had turkey and squash baby food (which are her two favorites!).  We went by the water and watched everything, including a group of canoes, going by.  Emelia also got to see fishing boats coming in or going out.  Some people even had their dogs with, which she loved!  There were other kids around, as well, and Emelia was just excited as ever!  After we got done eating and had everything cleaned up and put back in the car, we went for a short walk through the woods on one of the trails.  It was really neat and really fun!  The best part of the WHOLE day was the fact that it was all John's idea, so it was a very special outing for all of us! :)  Here are a couple pictures from the fun-filled day!

Emelia and I

Emelia and her Daddy having FUN!!

Today was definitely one of the days I will never forget as a first time mommy!  It's so fun taking Emelia out like this and showing her the world and all it has to offer! :)

Parades, Food, & Fun in the Sun!

Life is so busy, its been tough finding time to blog! I am laying in bed on my phone right now. I can't sleep & have been thinking about updating on here all day!

To start, Emelia & I did get to a park as I mentioned in an earlier blog. She really enjoyed it! Her favorite was swinging. We also went down a slide together, which got a little giggle out of her. We walked along the Winona lake looking at ducks, bikers, kids, rollerbladers! There was so much to see & Emelia really enjoyed it! So much so that she fell asleep immediately once we were back to the car! We were at the park again today. We went on a few more slides, swings, & a bouncy horse! Emelia enjoyed it all! I will post pictures soon.

Her first parade was 2 weeks ago. We went to the Broiler Days parade. Every year, Aunt Suzie has a big feast for the parade. Emelia wasn't sure what to think. She got a little scared when the high school band marched through the yard (they do every year) & especially scared when a semi truck honked its horn. The rest she dealt with fine, just watched all the activity & took it all in! It was so fun, but exhausting for all of us!

As the weather has improved we have gone outside a lot more! Emelia enjoys the outdoors so much! My parents bought her a swing for their swingset & she loved it! She enjoys seeing their goats & chickens & cats, too!

Our adventure with food continues! She has good days & bad days. She always does good at daycare, no surprise there, and usually does well at home. If she's too moody or tired at home, its a battle! Her favorites so far include squash, green beans, turkey, bananas, & pears mixed with raspberries. She hated beef, peas, & carrots. We regularly have her eat oatmeal instead of the rice. She likes it better & its less constipating. It's definitely going better & its fun! I'm always curious what her reaction will be to something new! Tonight she had vegetable turkey dinner. The first bite didn't go so well, but the ones after did & she ate the whole jar! :)

Lastly, she continues to get stronger physically, too. Emelia rarely sits still, always squirming around trying to move or grab things. She can sit unsupported a long time, only toppling over when she's bored or loses interest. She's not crawling yet, but she can get her hinder up in the air. Every time she wakes up from sleeping now she's on her tummy with her butt up in the air. It's cute! Rolling is her mode of transport around the house, she's a pro! And she doesn't mind tummy time anymore now that its so easy for her to roll back & forth! I love watching her! She will roll all the way across the room to get something. It might take her half an hour, but she sure doesn't give up! The looks of pride when she accomplishes something are adorable!

I'm loving mommy-hood! I posted on Facebook that "I feel like every day is a dream with my happy & perfect little family. The best part is that when I wake up, the dream doesn't end!" :)

Tooth!

Emelia's first tooth poked through this past week, Thursday to be exact!  I can just barely feel the tip of it, but it's obviously coming in! We have been waiting for a long time for her teeth to start popping through! She's handled it pretty well. There were a few really grumpy days over the past few weeks, but now that the tooth has come through, Emelia seems happier than ever! It's exciting for me, too! Just another hurdle we've gotten through, which makes me as a mommy pretty damn proud! :)

We brushed her tooth, Haa Haa!, for the very first time tonight, too! She actually did pretty good with it, didn't really fuss at all! The toothbrush is so tiny and cute!

This tooth business has helped me realize something, though! My baby is growing up & being less of a baby & more of a kid! It's gone so fast but its been fun! I wouldn't trade a single day for anything!!