Follow the Fath's

My sweet, sweet girl

2012-09-18T14:02:00.001-05:00

So, it's been awhile since I posted. Nearly a full year. I think I needed some time to step back and enjoy where we are. Who we've become. I'm sure I'll regret not writing things down but, we've spent some wonderful moments together since last November. First of all - my sweet, sweet girl is BIG.

She talks, she laughs, she sasses, she loves. Man, does she love. This girl, this girl loves her pups (Cha-ee and Minn-ah), her Momma and Dada, her 'guys' (aunts, friends, everyone really), her babies (I had no idea that girls loved babies so young!). I suspect my dad is her favorite person in the world. She loves to sing, and dance, and twirl, and jump. She is fearless. She is the sweetest thing I have met. Bathtime is her new favorite part of the week.

She is opinionated and stubborn. She demands that you read to her and that she turns the pages. She hates bananas. Heaven forbid you offer her a banana.

Little Miss loves shoes. Tries to dress herself and is happy to pull around her little wagon. She answers to Lulu, Audra, Monkey, and Baby. She calls herself baby. She will conquer any playground put in front of her. She loves to buckle things - the carseat, the shopping cart straps, the stroller or high chair. She is excellent at peek a boo.

She gets excited when we turn onto the street of her daycare provider and yells 'Icky!" for Vicky. She loves the boys and daycare and carefully watches the babies. She will carry any purse she sees. She's inquisitive. Want's to know 'where'd they go?' about her pups, her toys, everything and everyone she sees.

This Momma? This Momma feels like the luckiest person on the planet each and every day. I adore her (can you tell?).

This post? This post doesn't even begin to do her justice. But, we'll try our hardest because she deserves nothing but the best I can give her.

It's been awhile...

2012-09-18T13:26:00.001-05:00

Hope you're well.

We sure are.

More soon.

Soo big!

2011-11-28T12:23:00.000-06:00

I can't believe that a) November is almost over b) my baby is 8 months old c) Christmas will be here any minute.

I have lots of obligatory pictures to post but, for those that haven't heard - Audra is on the move. I got a video of her about 2 weeks ago. The army crawl is still pretty much the same. I think it's because she can't get any traction on our floor and that she's always had really strong arms.

She also has an excellent pivot point with her belly and can turn fairly quickly. Last night, I put her on the floor while I picked up her room a bit. I turned around and found this.

While I'm talking about her being on the move, might as well show you this - no one is safe in our house. Poor Minnie needed a haircut so badly that she couldn't see the small child sneaking up on her.

I'm the terrible mother that didn't take a picture of my baby in her pretty dress on Thanksgiving. Instead, I took a picture when she passed out in her Exersaucer. Dan and I were trying to finish getting ready to head to his aunt's house and I found girlfriend like this.

Another abnormal napping spot on Thanksgiving.

I love that the older that she gets the more her personality is shining through. I think this picture gives us a good glimpse of the future. I call this picture 'blatant refusal to do what Mommy wants because I know I Daddy won't make me do anything I don't want to.'

My mom and sisters came to visit after Thanksgiving and Audra put up with a lot of shopping.

She's so inquisitive right now. As long as she has something to do, she's happy.

We also met Santa over the weekend. I love that she's more confused as to why some strange man with a long white beard is holding her than upset about it.

Sorry this is so picture heavy and discombobulated!

Jamie

Thirty days of thankful - Day 2

2011-11-02T13:48:00.000-05:00

I'm thankful for co-workers that understand me. Yesterday was a tough day and they let me vent and understood what was bugging me.

Thirty days of thankful - Day 1

2011-11-01T13:42:00.007-05:00

I'm thankful for my sweet little girl. - she means everything to me.

Oops

2011-10-19T13:22:00.002-05:00

I'm a terrible blogger/mom. It's been almost 5 months since my last post.

Oops, hope you'll forgive me.

Maybe you'll forgive me if I give you this : Audra's 6 month pictures. The password is cute (because she is).

(3rd?) Cousins

2011-05-31T12:21:00.000-05:00

We went to a party for my uncle and a wedding in Cedar Rapids last weekend and got to stay with Mike and Kirsten and their daughter Lila! It was so much fun to watch Lila and imagine Audra being her age in two years and getting to spend so much time with them! Thanks again Eddins family for letting us crash at your house! Hope to see you again soon!

Two months old!

2011-05-31T10:41:00.002-05:00

Dear Audra,
You are 2 months old (and 4 days) and I can't imagine my life without you. At the doctor's last week you weighed 10 pounds, 4 ounces and were 22.5 inches long. Your height has Mommy confused. When you were born, they told me you were 21 and 3/4 inches long. At 2 weeks you were 20 inches long and now you are 22 1/2. I'm going to say you've gained 2 1/2 inches in the past 2 months because I can tell you're getting longer very quickly. Your 0-3 month sleepers are getting tight in the feet but you're nowhere near filling them out. The doctor's office said your height puts you in the 58 percentile for your age and weight is 38%. Your head is 38 cm at 33 percentile which is silly because you can't wear any hats :) They're all way too big. I suggest your head grows soon because I bought you cute sun hats for the summer! You're still nursing most of the time and at Mommy and Me last week they said you take 3 1/3 ounces in 40ish minutes.

Daddy puts you to bed most nights with a bottle of formula. Lately, his favorite song to sing to you is "Hush Little Baby" and when you cry he just sings louder. It makes Mommy's heart melt to see him rock you in your room.

This month we thought you might have reflux and tried to put you on meds for about 2 weeks. Mommy decided they weren't really helping so we took you off of them and now you're just taking gas drops. Most days we do really well until about 6 when your tummy starts to hurt and we need to work those bubbles out.

Right now you love to be snuggled (you're sleeping on my lap as I type this). You also love to bounce when being held, the sound of water and the bathroom fan, watching your mobile in the crib. You smile and talk more and more each day. You've giggled a few times in your sleep and I can't wait to hear you do it again.

Mommy starts her new job one month from tomorrow so I'm trying to savor this last month with you. I've loved being home with you each day and will miss you enormously when I have to leave. I love you my sweet baby girl.

Love always,
Mommy

Love her

2011-05-31T10:22:00.000-05:00

Katie thinks she looks like me!

2011-05-26T09:02:00.000-05:00

Finally someone does! Although, maybe this is why...

Love her (Audra and Kage).

It's been awhile...

2011-05-26T08:21:00.000-05:00

April

Checking out the crib

Baby burrito

First week home

First doctor's visit

Minnie makes sure that we're good parents

First bath

Hold me

Meeting Titus

Napping with Dad

Give me another bath and I will fight you

Our week at Grandma and Grandpa's - borrowing a swing

Whoosh, Dad is back from his business trip. Let's nap.

One month! With Sammy

One month with Katie's afghan

May

Disregard the terrible face, I love my gym and my chucks. Also, my aunties are awesome.

After the March for Dimes

Baptized!

Getting so big

Hanging out in my crib, watching the circles

Saw Moose (Molly) run at the state track meet. Now, I'm exhausted.

Mom needs to take more pictures...

Audra's two months tomorrow! She smiles, coos, and accidentally rolls from front to back. We'll be back tomorrow with an official 2 month post. Promise. Now, we need to get ready for her two month doctor appointment...

2011-04-09T05:14:00.000-05:00

You're gonna miss this

You're gonna want this back

You're gonna wish these days

Hadn't gone by so fast

These are some good times

So take a good look around

You may not know it now

But you're gonna miss this

And into March...

2011-03-12T10:27:00.001-06:00

Be sure to read the February post first!

Here's March in a nutshell (or so far)!

Shamrock shakes are back. I love them.

SBG already takes after her mama. Here's approximately 1/16th of the laundry I did for her. And yes, I only washed the stuff that was up to 3 months in size.

My mom came for the girls state basketball game, AHS, my alma mater, made it to the finals and won! Go Knights! We also went to dinner with her, Mary and Jeff for Danny's birthday. Sorry there's no pictures for this update but there is fabulous news. Remember how I said I broke my camera? As a joint gift for Danny's, mine, and SBG's birthday (all which will take place within a 5 week period) my parents bought us a super nice DSLR camera. We are beyond lucky - and promise to take lots of pictures to share with you all! Instead of pictures from this, how about one of the first pics with the new camera?

Titus James was baptized and Jon and Christina asked Danny and I to be Godparents. Danny took his role as Godfather seriously by making sure the day was well documented.

And finally, on a SBG note, we have 19 days until our due date. We're very excited, Danny calls almost everyday and asks if she's decided to come or not yet :) I finally packed a hospital bag and we've installed the carseat bases in both of our cars. Come as soon as you're ready Little One! Mom and Dad can't wait to meet you (and to share your name with everyone)!

Oops...what happened to February?

2011-03-12T10:10:00.000-06:00

I laughed the other day when Erica made fun of me for not writing in a month - I didn't think she was right - turns our it's been 5 weeks. Sorry friends :)

A lot has happened in the past month. I skimmed through my cell phone pics to jog my memory and I'll give you the highlights.

February 5th -

My aunt and sisters hosted a shower for SBG and I.

It was fun and wonderful and we are truly blessed (I should also note that Danny's aunts Krissy and Dawn hosted a shower for his sister and I in January. This was the beginning of our families going above and beyond to support us and this sweet little baby. Unfortunately, I broke our camera and have no pictures of the day. Sadness.) Also, the balloons in the above pictures are still alive in my house. :)

My mom and sisters ended up staying at our house that weekend and it was nice to spend some time with them! Plus, it was the beginning of being able to see them 3 weekends in a row!

Sunday, February 6th:

Danny and I celebrated the Super Bowl at home (I was exhausted) and then went to our favorite Mexican restaurant for dinner. Danny ordered a fried banana! :)

February 9-13:

I went to Davenport for work.

February 10-23:

Danny's sister was in the hospital in Ames. We got to watch Titus 4 nights and I spent time at the hospital with Chrissy, Rie and the baby (and sometimes Jon). Danny immensely enjoyed having Titus. We called it our "baby with training wheels" period. In case you don't understand why Danny loves newborns...

He also was a great help with night feedings and changing diapers. Even if he somehow managed to never change a stinky one. Apparently the only poopy diapers he will change are his daughters. He has no idea how strictly I will hold him to this.

February 25th:

We had out maternity pictures taken by our friends Sarah and Chris at Lucky Soda Photography. You can check them out here. Dan and I love the shoe ones!

February 26th:

Erica, MB and Katie threw our 3rd shower for SBG. Again, super fun and it was wonderful to see all my friends from different parts of my life in one setting. They are too generous and all excited to meet SBG soon! There are many babysitters in this group as well as SBGs future friend, Sylvie. :)

That evening, Danny's mom side of the family had a couples shower for us. Delicious food and lots of fun! SBG is super spoiled already (as are her parents by our generous families and friends).

We ate a lot of cupcakes this day...and it was wonderful!

February 27th:

With the help of my Mom, sisters, and Danny and Dad putting together shelves, we finished the nursery. I'd post pictures but it deserves it's own post.

Well - there's February. I'll post a March update separately (and the nursery photos) soon!!

Thankful on Thursday

2011-02-03T10:30:00.000-06:00

After my Monday post on all of the things that have gone "wrong" this pregnancy, I've felt a bit guilty. I've been working to readjust my thinking that things have been different rather than wrong. Yes, it took us awhile to get pregnant, and to maintain a viable pregnancy, but to our knowledge, there is nothing wrong with this pregnancy. Our sweet little girl is happy and healthy and growing inside and will hopefully (much to her Aunt Ali's dismay) stay there for another month.

As silly as it seems, I realized today that I've moved past the worrying phase of my pregnancy. It's all finally starting to sink in that in no more than 9 weeks (docs won't let me go past a week overdue) we will have a baby in our house. Daniel and I will be responsible for a life other than our own. While this is scary for me, I am terribly excited. She's all that I can think about these days. I wonder now how much hair she'll have when she's born. Between my heartburn and the amount of hair Danny and I were both born with I'm thinking she'll have to visit Aunt Christina for a haircut fairly early in life. I hope she gets my curls and Danny's carefree spirit. I have so many hopes and dreams for her that I cannot wait to meet this little one and to help her grow. To learn about her is what I'm looking most forward to.

Like I said, I'm excited and I'm terrified. I've been around babies and newborns and if others can do it, so can we. I'm also overwhelmed (in a good way) by the amount of support we have from our family and friends. Already, people are offering to babysit. I have a feeling some of them will be coming up with excuses for us to leave her with them.

I know this post is a bit rambling but today, I am so very thankful. I'm thankful I've been trusted with the task of bringing up this little girl....even if she does like to kick my ribs.

Fighting words

2011-01-31T07:42:00.000-06:00

"This isn't really that bad."

We had Class 5 of our birthing class series last night (it should've been the last class but we're making up Class 4 tonight). Dan got to wear the empathy belly. As he walked back to his seat he told me that it wasn't that bad. Yeah dude, you were "pregnant" for 35 minutes and spent the majority of it sitting in a chair. :)

Ailments

2011-01-31T05:56:00.000-06:00

Jim and Rie stopped by last night to drop off our crib, more on that later because it deserves a better quality of pictures than I can take with my phone, and Rie asked if I've been documenting my ailments throughout this pregnancy. Honestly, not really. Mostly because I don't want to remember them that well. I know that everyone says once the baby is here you'll get a little bit of Momnesia and start to forget any issues you had in pregnancy. Perhaps this is nature's way of telling you to continue to procreate. :) However, I thought that I would take minute to roughly outline how I've physically felt throughout the past 32 weeks. I'm on another upswing so I might as well take advantage of it!

7/26 - Found out we were expecting
7/28 - Progesterone levels low, start taking supplements
8/5 - Nausea sets in, start taking B6 and Unisom
9/1 - Nausea gets worse, B6 and Unisom isn't cutting it and afraid to leave the house
9/15 - Doc appointment (12 weeks), ask for prescription for nausea. Around this time I also discovered what heartburn was and took nearly 10 Tums/day. Fail 1 hour glucose test.
9/21 - Pass 3 hour glucose test.
9/27 - Swallowing pills becomes difficult, switch to chewy prenatal vitamins
10/9 - After trying multiple brands and forms of prenatals, decide its something about the taste that upsets my stomach. Start taking multiple Flinestones vitamins.
9/16-11/9 - Nausea comes and goes, even with medication. Meds made me drowsy and gave me migraines.
11/10 - Doc appointment (20 weeks). Ask doc for new nausea medication to help with drowsiness. This one works wonders
11/10-11/29 - Besides heartburn feel pretty good. Start taking Zantac, continue with new nausea med.
11/30 - Deathly cold of 2010 hits. Feel like I was hit by a bus. Go through 4 boxes of Kleenex in less than 4 days.
12/20 - Nausea seems to be mostly gone. Regularly taking Zantac
12/27 - Mysterious rash forms on my belly. Use lotion like crazy. Hope it's excema.
12/30 - Rash is getting worse and spreading. Call doc. Get prescription for prednisone. They think it's just a bad case of excema. Also, fail 1 hr glucose test.
12/31 - Pass 3 hour glucose test!
1/3 - Rash has gotten much, much worse on prednisone. Up entire night because I was in so much pain.
1/4 - Call the doc's office as soon as they open. Get referral to dermatologist. Might be PUPPS or allergic reaction to steroid. Stop taking prednisone.
1/10 - Go to dermatologist, rash has improved since I stopped taking prednisone but still purple and blotchy across legs, arms, back and belly. Derm takes a skin biopsy.
1/13 - Biopsy back. Could either be PUPPS or an allergic reaction to steroid says the lab.
1/17 - Have stitches removed from biopsy. Derm guesses it was excema, then an allergic reaction to prednisone since most of rash is now gone. But, if it comes back it's probably PUPPS. :)
1/20 - Doc appointment (30 weeks). Ask for a Zantac prescription because the heartburn is so bad!
1/22 - Hit with the great cold of January 2011. Spend the weekend in bed. Thinking it's time to buy stock in Puffs.
1/26 - Cold isn't getting better and has spread to a terrible cough. Call doc. Discover I have bronchitis and tonsilitis. Feel like a 4 year old because they prescribe me amoxicillin (the pink, bubblegum flavored kind)
1/31 - Feeling 20 times better than I did last week although the cold and cough are hanging on for fun. And to make me so I still sound like an elfman.

Disclaimer: Prior to 1/20, I make no guarantees that my dates are correct. For many of these I pulled out my calendar and my box of prescription meds. ;)

Honestly, I haven't felt well the majority of this pregnancy. Dan has been wonderful and has taken fabulous care of me. Even on the days he thinks I'm just milking it. However, Momnesia must be starting to kick in a little bit because right now I am so excited to meet our daughter that I don't really care what ailments I run into. Her birthday can't come fast enough!

Good advice

2011-01-17T16:27:00.001-06:00

One of the things that I've feared most about becoming a parent is the unsolicited advice. I'm fairly certain that somewhere on my ever expanding belly is a sign that says, "please give me advice about how to raise my child, especially if you don't know me or my family." That being said, it hasn't been nearly as bad as I expected it to be.

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind advice. Especially the helpful kind like - don't forget to take chapstick to the hospital because the air is really dry. The kind of advice that bothers me typically ends with a connotation that if I don't follow their advice exactly I will ruin my child. Example - the woman in one of our classes who all but said "you're a terrible parent if you decide to supplement with formula or choose not to breastfeed all together."

Last night, I got the best advice I've had during pregnancy. During birthing class, the instructor told us (in reference to whether or not to receive pain medication during delivery) that we should have a plan but don't expect it to be in stone. We've never done this (labor, delivery, parenting, etc.) before and until we are in the situation we won't know what works best for our family.

I've been stressing out lately about whether we're making the right decisions: nursing vs. formula, traditional vaccination schedule vs. delayed vaccinations, cribs vs. co-sleeping, cloth vs. disposable diapers, medicated vs. unmedicated birth, pacifiers vs. no pacifiers, etc., etc. I'm fairly certain the list could go on for pages and pages. Dan and I have made decisions as to what we think will work best for our family and last night really cemented that for right now we are making the right choice. Right now we're making choices based on what we think will be best for the three of us and someday we may eat those decisions because there's a different way that comes along and works better for our family. That's ok too. And it's ok if we're doing things differently than what people think we should be doing because what works for some might not work for us.

**So I just re-read this post...hopefully you all know that this is not directed at anyone in particular and that if your opinions are different than mine I completely respect your decision and do not think that either of us is right, just that different choices work better for different families.**

A long awaited update

2011-01-07T18:10:00.000-06:00

How far along: 28 weeks, 1 day
Total weight gain/loss: I stopped paying attention
Maternity clothes: heck yes
Stretch marks: ugh, more on this soon
Sleep: not so much. Three nights this week I've been up for 3+ hours in the middle of the night
Best moment this week: Dan brought home some of her furniture!
Movement: I'm starting to figure out her schedule and look forward to the parts of the day when she wiggles around
Food cravings: bananas (normally I dislike bananas because of the texture but Little Miss really likes them!)
Food aversions: depends on the day.
Gender: Sweet baby girl!
Belly Button in or out: In.
What I miss: Sleeping regular hours
What I am looking forward to: our 2nd childbirth class is on Sunday. It may sound weird but I find them relaxing!
Milestones: We made it to third trimester this week and now have doctor appointments every 2 weeks instead of 4!

Pregnancy update

2010-12-11T18:13:00.000-06:00

How far along: 24 weeks, 2 days
Total weight gain/loss: +8 total, 3 overall
Maternity clothes: heck yes
Stretch marks: sadly, they're starting
Sleep: I slept like a baby this week, but maybe that's because the doc told me to take tylenol pm
Best moment this week: Dan brought home some of her furniture!
Movement: She's getting really strong! New favorite game - put something on the belly while she's moving and see if she'll kick it off. what can I say, I'm easily amused.
Food cravings: loving swiss cake rolls :)
Food aversions: none!
Gender: Sweet baby girl!
Belly Button in or out: In.
What I miss: Sleeping regular hours
What I am looking forward to: Christmas with our families - I can't wait to see everyone!
Milestones: We hit viability this week! Woohoo!

The case of the switching Saturns

2010-11-22T10:45:00.000-06:00

Last week was stressful. Tuesday was a normal day, I worked from home and noticed that we were out of dog food. Dan was getting off at 4:30 that day so he offered to pick some up on his way home. He called me when he left the bank. About 20 minutes later I got another phone call. I assumed he was calling to say he was on his way home but it went like this instead -

Dan - "We have a little problem here."

Jamie - thinks that the store is out of our brand of dog food. "Ok, what's going on?"

Dan - "I got in an accident."

Jamie - "You've got to be kidding me."

I'm pretty sure you can guess where the rest of this conversation went. No, no one was hurt. No, no one was issued a ticket. Yes, it was probably our fault but the insurance companies can battle that out. I looked at it a little bit that night but the next morning got the full effect of what really happened.

Wednesday we dropped it off at collision center and waited.

Thursday the insurance company said they'd like to total it out. We decided that while we weren't planning on getting a different vehicle, the Saturn (or sad-turd as referred to in our house) wasn't really going to be a safe place to put our baby, even if we had it fixed. Looked at cars that night.

Friday, Danny asked for the afternoon off so we could continue our search. We drove (well, Danny did) countless vehicles. Dan set his heart on a few that we fortunately decided that were not going to be appropriate for our growing family. We ended the night thinking we had probably found our next car but wanted to sleep on it and do a little more research. Then we had a great dinner with Jim and Rie.

Saturday found us the proud owners of a new car.

Yes, it's another Saturn. No, I have not driven it yet but Danny seems to love it. It has plenty of room inside for a carseat and the pups. Danny is actually impressed that he has plenty of leg room without pushing the seat all the way back. We're looking forward to taking lots more family road trips in this car since we took our first one this weekend! More on that later!

Ultrasound pictures

2010-11-11T10:41:00.000-06:00

Sorry to overwhelm with so many posts in 24 hours but, I wanted to share our ultrasound pictures before I forgot!

Kicks

2010-11-11T09:17:00.000-06:00

I've been feeling Putty (aka Sweet Baby Girl) move around for about a week and a half now. It started if I would try to listen to her with the doppler. She apparently doesn't like to be poked or prodded because one night she kicked it and swam off (disclaimer: I try not to listen to her more than once a week and only for a minute or so. My mom is uber worried about that :P). Since that night, I can feel her every once and awhile and it's been very sporadic.

This morning however, she's been going nuts! I think I've felt her more this morning (granted I've been awake since 5:30) than I have in an entire day before. Danny has the day off so I keep making him feel my belly (at first he thought I was nuts). Just a minute ago though, he felt her and got this big grin on his face. I'm glad she's finally making herself known to her daddy. :)

Putty update

2010-11-10T16:15:00.001-06:00

How far along: 19 weeks, 6 days (they pushed me back a week!)
Total weight gain/loss: gained 1 pound this month - still down 1 overall
Maternity clothes: heck yes
Stretch marks: sadly, they're starting
Sleep: ummm...not so much
Best moment this week: Seeing our daughter at the ultrasound this morning!
Movement: Sporadically
Food cravings: More like I get stuck on a food - I ate burritos 5 days in a row this week
Food aversions: Still happens all the time.
Gender: Sweet baby girl!
Belly Button in or out: In.
What I miss: Sleeping regular hours
What I am looking forward to: Feeling her move more often. Being able to use the gender specific pronoun when we talk about her!
Milestones: I was sent back a week because she's measuring small (but looks perfect) so I get to relive the halfway point tomorrow!

I changed my mind

2010-11-03T10:51:00.002-05:00

I'm taking the easy way out if Putty is a girl - just found bedding from Target that I love.

Seriously obsessed. :)