Welcome to my journal

Wow!  What a wonderful weekend we had!!  I'll start off by saying I have to be the luckiest woman in the world when it comes to my man!  Not only is he gorgeous and sexy, but he's the most considerate too!!!  I should also add that he's a cooker AND a cleaner!!!!!  So the best birthday weekend ever started off with Mr Hubby bringing my new car home from work ( he gets to drive it some, after all he does pay for it!) with newly tinted windows!  Which is so funny, cause after me and Aubree met him for lunch friday, I called a place in bristol and had an appoitment to drop it off on monday, when I told Scott, he told me to cancel it and tell them we would call back later.  So I did, and thought nothing of it.  Sooo, when Scott got home friday, he told me to come outside with him, I figured he wanted me to clean my trash out of his car cause I am SO horrible about cleaning out a vehicle, so I figure he was making a point so I'd be better with the new one.  I even said "you want me to get my trash out of your car huh??  I was going to but Aubree was fussing and we ran straight in so I could feed her" which was not only a good excuse, but the truth too.  SO, he actually says "yes" so I follow him out and we stop at the porch steps, my new car is parked in the driveway and Scott stops and says "Happy Birthday."  I'm thinking, uh, I already know about the car so whats he thinking??  So, I'm like "what?" and then I notice, the windows!!!  And I can't believe I didn't notice immediately cause they sure are tinted!!  So the car that already looked awesome, looks even more so.  (And I will get pictures posted pronto).  He had taken it that day and gotten it done!!  AND, as if that wasn't enough, we still had a day planned for saturday, my actual birthday, which I knew nothing about.  I was just to get up saturday and get ready.  We left the house around 10am, and drove for quite a bit.  Ended up having a WONDERFUL picnic at Grandfather mountain, so much awesome food, then we rode on the Blue Ridge Parkway for a bit, then ended up in Blowing Rock NC, which is one of my favorite places, we were going to Canyons for dinner.  Which coincidentally, is where we "got" Aubree if you know what I mean.  October 8 last year, Scott and I headed to Blowing Rock for the day, ended up staying the night, and viola!  Needless to say, I love the place even more now.  We walked around downtown for a bit, let Bailey play on the playground, went to Tijuana Fats for some nachos.  When we got to Canyons, it was super packed so we decided to head on back and stopped in Boone NC I wanted Backyard Burger, which was just as good as a 4 course meal, AND we got to set outside.  After that it took about an hour to get home.  It was a wonderful day and I got to spend it with my 3 favorite people!!  I still can't get over how lucky I am and want to pinch myself all the time.  I have two wonderful daughters, and a man that no other could ever rival.  SOmetimes it makes me sad to know I only have about 20-30 or so more years with this man (God willing). 

Aubree continues to amaze me daily and is changing so quickly its alarming!  Last week or so I started mouthing the word "Oh" to her, greatly exagerating my facial expressions while saying it.  She's picked up on it and it's the cutest thing!  She's also started "talking" more and is constantly blessing us with her chatters and singing.  She's also laughing out loud now and it's the cutes thing ever!!  She greets every morning with a huge smile on her face and is the happiest baby I've ever seen.  She seldom cries, and if she does it's for mere seconds, and stops soon as she finds out she's not alone.  I've never been around a baby with such a cheerful disposition, and anyone who spends time with her immediately considers having children!  Everyone constantly tells us what a good baby we have and I fully agree!  Breast feeding is still going wonderfully and I'm 100% comfortable doing it wherever little miss gets hungry, we simply pop under a blanket and go!  Although, at 24 inches long, I don't know how easy it will be when she gets longer!  I plan to stop at 12 months.  She has been super super drooly the past couple of weeks.  So bad we have to keep a bib on her.  I'm hoping she isnt teething already!  I can definetely wait awhile on the teeth.  Not just because of breast feeding, but the pain and fussiness that goes with it.  We've gotten a really good schedule down and she keeps to it as long as we're home.  We wake up around 630-7 am, then it's off to school with big sis, so she goes back to sleep in the car around 8am.  Usually wakes back up when we get back home around 845am.  Stays up for about an hour and a half to 2 hours, then down for a 2-3 hour nap.  Back up for a bit, then back to sleep around 230ish, for another hour or so.  She normally stays awake off and on until bedtime, which is between 9-10 pm.  She is still getting up some nights at 2-230am, then again at 4isha, then up at 6-630sih.  Friday night she skipped the 2am feeding, and went straight through to 415am.  I don't mind the night wakings and feedings at all actually, and will miss them even when she goes through the night.  Luckily, I'm not one that has ever required lots of sleep, so if I can get 6 hours a night, even if it's broken sleep, I'm good.  We let daddy sleep in the other room sometimes so he can get interrupted sleep some. 

Bailey has her 10th birthday coming up the 27th!!  Hard to believe my other baby is that big!!  I love the age gap between them though!  We're starting her celebration early, this friday actually.  I'm picking her and her friend Britton, up early from school at noon, then we're heading to Gatlinburg TN, where we'll be staying in a nice cabin (www.mountaintopresorts) on Douglas Lake for the weekend.  We're goign to Dollywoods Splash Country on friday afternoon and all day saturday as well.  Scott and I will probably switch off days and one of us keep Aubree at the cabin.  Not sure how well a 2 and a half month old would do at a water park.  We have a pool in our backyard, and her toes have yet to touch the water!  I believe it's to cool for one that small, and while she LOVES taking baths, I dont' want to put her in cold water since she has no idea why.  They do have a heated kids area I believe so we're going to check on renting a cabana for the day and may do that.  I could take a blanket and lay out for her to nap.  Dont want her in the water though unless it's where I can set down and hold her.  No point in getting in those germs this early!   If theres a warm childrens area where I can set and hold her and splash her feet and legs she'd probably enjoy that, so we'll see!!  I'm as excited as Bailey, I love water slides and haven't gotten to play in the water in a while!!!! 

I cannot figure out where the time is going!  Aubree is already 10 weeks old and my other baby is getting ready to turn 10 years old!  Speaking of old...it's making me feel that way!  We have had a hectic last few weeks it seems.  This past weekend Aubree had her first trip to Fun Expedtion which is a HUGE place in Johnson City for kids to play.  You buy a pass by the hour.  There are TONS of games, putt putt, indoor batting cages, bowling, play ground, indoor go karts and outdoor go karts, rock climbing, and laser tag.  You could literally spend days at this place and not do it all.  Daddy likes it pretty well too!  It was so nice having a long weekend too.  We had company literally every day and got lots of use out of the pool which is great since it's almost time to close it.  Saturday we had our good friends Kip and Leah come down, they brought their 2 year old.  Hes adorable but definetely 2!  Sunday my brother in law and his wife and kids came, they are 5 and 8.  Faith is the 8 year old and her and Bailey are such good buddies.  They all had a great time and ended up sleeping over which really thrilled the kids.  Gave them some play time on monday too.  That side of our family (my husbands) lives about an hour away so we don't get to spend as much time with them which stinks.  We'd like to do better and are really going to try!! 

Bailey is really liking 5th grade and especially her teacher, he's her favorite by far!  I'm so glad, it's such a relief to send her off knowing she likes it.  It's an awful feeling knowing your child is miserable all day.  I have actually worked the past two days cause we had a girl with a dog crisis, I've brought Miss Aubree with me and her little bouncy chair with the toy bar on it.  She has been the BEST baby in the world!  Not a peep out of her!  She wakes up stretching, kicks on her toys a bit, then back to napping.  I have an office with a door so even feeding her is a breeze!!  I'm hoping to leave early today, I'm hoping the reason I need to it to get a new car.  My BMW is just WAY to small.  Not only is the car small, you have to put the front seat WAY up for the car seat base just to fit, then Bailey hardly has any room back there, then the trunk is SO small, only her stroller will fit.  It's an awesome car, and really fun to drive, but just not practical.  Soooo, I really want a Toyota Camry.  I test drove one the other day and fell in love.  The back seat is HUGE!  Plenty of room for her car seat and 2 more kids, and the trunk would hold 3 of her strollers!!  My poor husband though.  He's always the money man and the make a deal man, and he does NOT enjoy it.  He's been a really good sport this time though.  I'm such a lucky girl to have him!  This will be the 2nd car for me in like 3 months or so so he's being a really patient man!  I guess it helps that I can say he was right about the BMW, didn't really think I would be happy with it.  But we both really love the Camry, and he really loves the Camrys reputation.  Our next vehicle purchase is going to have to be a mini van.  The only way I'll have one is if it's our "extra" vehicle and something we mainly use to travel in.  We took his parents to the beach and it was awesome, the space and being able to move around!  We each had our own row!  Speaking of vacation, we're going on a mini one next week.  Taking Bailey and her friend to Gatlinburg, getttng a cabin, and taking the girls to the big water park there, Dollys Splash Country.  I'm excited too, I love water slides!  I guess Scott may have to stay at the cabin with Aubree, may do 2 days to give us each a day to play.  I may try taking her and see how that goes.  THey have big cabanas you can rent for the day, and the water is heated and she LOVES water, she could at least stick her pigs in.  Bailey has a birthday coming up so this will be part of her gift.  She's still working on her party.  Just wants something at home and a sleep over--EEK, dont know how we'll do with all those extra germs in the house with a baby, we are SO paranoid!! 

SHe ended up having no reactions to her shots thank God.  I was worried for a few days but it's been over a week now so she should be good. 

I'm a lucky lucky woman and life is SO wonderful, it's great to be me!!!

Aubree

We celebrated your 2 month birthday in the worst way possible--with shots!  Mommy tried having Lidocaine on your legs to help numb, unfortunately it wasn't on long enough to really do anything and you felt all 4 sticks.  You cried and cried til you were purple and I would have given anything for it to have been me and not you.  Soon as they were over though, you were a champ and quieted down and took a nap.  You were a bit fussy about 2 hours later, I guess your little legs were hurting, after about an hour though you calmed down and now, 2 days later, you seem no worse for wear.  The immunizations always make me a more nervous wreck because I was allergic to my shots and they never gave me another set because of my reaction.  Thankfully Bailey had no reaction to any of hers so I was hoping you wouldn't either, and you didnt!!  So you're good to go for another 2 months yet.  Your next set is on October 29.

In other 2 month check up news....your weight is now 11 pounds 14 ounces, and you are 24 inches long!!  That's a whole 3 inches longer in 2 months!!  You were in the 95 percentile for length, and 55 percentile for weight.  You are still a total booby baby, they did give you vitamins containing flouride now and Dr Makres said in 2 months we can start you on solids!  That seems so amazing, I had no idea that you could give them baby food that early.  I think we'll start off simple, maybe with just cereal in your milk to get you used to it.   My plan is to make your baby food from organic veggies, we'll see how that goes. 

You continue to grow and change on a daily basis!  You coo and talk and squeal to your mobile, begging those animals to come down and play.  You've discovered that your right arm is indeed attached to your body and sometimes you get lucky and it lands in your mouth, other times you are content sucking on your wrist, or whatever part you capture.  You still absolutely love taking a bath, and after getting all you creases and crevices clean, we let you kick around in there and I know you're already a front runner for the swim team.  You almost move your legs and arms in harmony, and love when they splash.  Some baths you must be really thirsty, cause that tongue is in and out constantly trying to catch a drop.

My little baby is growing to quickly into a little girl and I'm trying to slow time down and enjoy every second.  I truly feel I've finally found my place in life, I was made to be your mom, and conceited or not, I'm proud of how well I do it. 

To me, there is truly nothing better in life than my children.

Love

Mommy

Cripes!!  Barely 10'o clock and everyone is in bed and asleep!  Why am I not partaking in the rest fest??  Hhmmm, good question, everyone knows you're supposed to snag every second of baby sleeping sleep that you can.   Right now my mind is going in a hundred directions, makes for rough sleeping!  We've rented our house out for the race this weekend and every time I try to shut my eyes I think of one more thing that needs to be done.  "spotlessly" cleaning a house is nearly impossible with a 2 month old at home.  There's so much that when she is asleep I find myself running around trying to do so much, that nothing ends up getting finished.  Anyone that thinks staying home with a child, any age, is easy is nuts.  I think my thing is, I know I can do better and get more done, I'd just rather spend my time with her, blowing raspberries, talking silly, singing, reading to her, all of this to me is a million times more important.  I've found that if I put a blanket down and lay down beside her, and hold the book over us and read in silly voices, she loves it! That's about the only way she can really look too, is up.  Won't be long though, she'll be reading the book to me.  Yesterday she laughed out loud, a good meaningful laugh at me being silly, not an accidnental something that resembled a laugh.  Tonight, she was lying on Baileys bed and Bailey was talking to her and she was cracking up.  I love watching the two of them together.  Bailey loves her so much and is such a tremendous help with her.  Shes got diapering down pat, and loves putting her pjs on her.  With her head pretty much under control now, Bailey can pick her up and carry her around.  She is truly changing more every day. 

Yesterday at my moms, we were watching a home video of the family at the beach.  It's weird, it was in 1999, and we stayed at a hotel that is 3 buildings down from where we stayed this year, so in the video, everything recorded on the beach, you can see the condos w were in this year.  Who would have ever thought back then, that in 8 years, we would be back with another child in tow!!  In the video Bailey was 20 months old, and running and playing on the beach.  She was a bit scared of the ocean at that age, and this year, you couldn't get her out of it.  My mom and dad were with us then too, just like this year.  It was awesome seeing them with her and knowing they will be the same way with Aubree.  You couldn't ask for better grandparents.  My dad is amazing with them.  He is so patient, and constantly telling a story teaching them something.   We were at Pizza Inn monday night and he was taking Bailey around the restaurant telling her a story about every old picture they have in there.  They are of all the buildings in town when he was growing up.  It's amazing how much he knows about history here in our town, and loves talking about it.  He's constantly talking about Charleston and the battleships, and wanting to take Bailey on some educational trip.  He is the grandfather I would have loved to have growing up.  Never tires from laying in the floor playing Barbie either.  And quite a few times he's been made up to look like quite the young lady.  It's funny, her grandfather (step) on Scotts side, is the playful, teasing one, so they really balance eachother out.  He loves teasing her and they pick and play.  I've never seen her act like that around anyone else, and she is one that LOVES roughhousing and wrestling so he's a perfect fit too!  We are so lucky with our family being so close and good to us.  I hope we all make it to the beach next summer, Aubree will be ready for some sand slinging then!!  

I've recently began reading the book by Dr. Weissbluth called "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child".  I'm finding myself quite amazed by what I'm learing about the benefit of sleep, and also amazed at how obviously ignorant I've always been when it comes to this topic.  For example, "Sleep begets sleep."  Now that in itself to me makes no sense, seems if you slept alot during the day, you'd sleep less at night.  Evidently not so.  If you are well rested, and getting the right amount of sleep, you sleep better.  Also, the fact that staying up later doesnt necessarily mean sleeping longer.  Usually quite the opposite, you normally wake up earlier, or at the same time, just feel worse.  In his book, Dr. Weissbluth suggest waiting until your child is 4 months old to start trying to structure and schedule their sleep.  He says that until that age, mentally they aren't really ready, although we all know of kids that their parents swear sleep through the night at mere weeks old, my first daughter was one of them.  By 4 weeks, she would normally sleep from about 10 or 11 pm, until 7am.  Aubree, I'm lucky if she goes 11pm to 2am, she is up often, but not for a long period, usually nurses, literally in her sleep.  Even though she is technically to young to start trying to develop a good routine, I have started using things from the book.  For example, he feels babies should normally stay up for about 2 hour increments, and after 2 hours, or before if they start showing signs of sleepiness, start getting them ready for a nap.  With his method, you can use any means you desire, rocking, nursing, bouncy seat, swing, where I've noticed with other methods I've heard about, they say to let them soothe theirselves to sleep so they don't rely on any method of getting to sleep.  Dr. Weissbluth feels the actual act of sleeping and getting the rest they need is more important than what it takes to get them there.  In the past couple of weeks, I've noticed Aubree stayng up more and more, hardly sleeping at all in the early evening, and staying up straight from around 8pm to midnight.  she's not been fussy or crying, just alert and up.  A really happy baby.  I was starting to think she was just one of those babies that just doesnt require alot of sleep.  In the book, it says that babies who are like this, at some point will probably have what I call a crashing point, when they are so tired from being up all the time, they become a fussy baby, which would baffle me when that point came had I not read this book, I would think she was sick, or just a fussy baby.  So, for the last 3 days, I have started going by his suggestion, and right around the 2 hour mark, making sure she gets a nap, and making sure she stays asleep, at least for an hour like he suggests.  Call it a fluke, but it does seem to be working.  She has her 2 hour nap in the morning, then an early evening/afternoon one, and is ready to go to sleep again around 9pm or 10pm.  Eventually, when she's ready, I want to move her "bedtime" up to about 7pm or 8pm.  I don't really expect her to sleep through a whole night anytime soon though, as I know breast fed babies are more apt to wake once of twice through the night sometimes until 6-9 months of age.  I also know sleeping with her is not discouraged in this book which is very important to me as it really does make breast feeding easier.  She has slept in her bassinet a couple nights and it was so much easier having her beside me and just rolling over to feed her, instead of having to really wake us both up.  When we sleep together the moment she starts fussing a little, I lay on my side, pop her on a boob, and she eats for about 5 -10 minutes and is right back out, she is never really fully awake.  I don't think she even opens her eyes!  Last night we tried letting Scott feed her a bottle when she woke up so I could maybe get some extra sleep.  I left him an ouce and a half bottle out, since normally she eats fast and is right back out when I breast feed her.  Didn't work, she went through that bottle, and since she was fully awake she wanted to eat more, so he ended up waking me and I laid her down with me and fed her.  She did sleep for a really long stretch before she ate though, probably almost 5 hours, which is a record for her.  I'm wondering if it was since she slept beside her daddy and not me.  I have read that a baby can literally smell breakfast lunch or dinner on mom and don't sleep as well beside her.  I'll test this theory again and see though.  I will say I do love sleeping with her though, a bad habit to start or not!! 

It just came a HUGE storm here!  Start of race week so it figures.  We rented our house out this year and have tenants coming in thursday to sunday.  I'm hoping the weather holds out as they were looking forward to using the pool.  It's been 95 and up a couple days last week and this week supposed to be 90ish all week.  The pool is the warmest it's ever been, I just can't seem to find time to enjoy it.  I've taken Bailey and her friends out a couple times and parked Aubree in the shade in her big Jeep stroller with a fan, that seems to put her right to sleep every time.  We're having Scotts brother and family over Labor Day weekend so at least it'll get one more good use out of it!!