The Holidays Are Upon Us!

Well the holidays are just around the corner. We got our pics back from our holidays shoot with Becky of Captured with Care Photography and they were amazing. We ordered our cards through costco and now we have to get our letter together! Its going to be a doozy, as we never got cards or letters out last year due to me being so sick with Abby. Its interesting it has actually brought up a number of emotions in me that I had no idea were inside me about it. Something about that 1 year anniversary of the terribleness that I went through the first trimester with Abby and what I put everyone around me through while I was just trying to survive... I don't know, I can't explain, it; I just never want to go through anything like that ever again! But I'm past it and have my beautiful sweet Abby now. :0)

We got our tree this week. We got a smaller 5' tree and put it on our coffee table. That way its nice and tall like a big tree, but lighter, and easier to manage (not to mention cheaper) and there is room for the presents underneath and all around! Ryan made the mistake of asking Rory what color tree she wanted and she answered Purple. Ryan told her it only came in Green but she was very upset. lol. She was very excited to decorate it too. I didn't even care that not everything made it onto the tree, or that the distribution of kinds of ornaments was not even. I'm just happy she got to be a part of it!

We recently got a new camera (a Sony) and we are loving it. It takes the best automatic shots, and has really awesome "expensive camera" settings to get the shots you want but in a point in shoot (panorama, blurred background settings are two of my favs). Its crazy to think that we got it for around $250 which is like half of what we paid like 7 years ago for a "fancier" bigger camera that doesnt take as good of pictures without messing with tons of settings manually. Technology sure does move quick.

Abby is doing great; I actually got wonderful sleep last night. We went to bed earlier than normal, Abby went to bed later than normal, and I got to sleep in an extra 30 min today becuase Ryan has the girls today. She only woke up at 2:30 and 4:30 (normally its around 1am, 3am and 5am). Its so funny how different she is turning out to be from Rory. My Mom has suddenly been reminded that Abby acts exactly how I did as a baby. Every time something comes up shes like, "Oh yeah... Yup! Thats just how you were!" lol. (Rory was the easiest baby ever; happy to go to anyone, happy doing anything, hardly complained at all about anything, slept through the night no problem even though she was small). Abby wants to be held almost always, but if she is awake she wants to be facing out and able to see everything that is going on. She loves to be entertained and is totally fascinated by the TV (Rory had no interest and even to this day gets restless at about the hour mark of any movie). If I am around and in the room, she rarely goes to anyone else, and she LOVES to nurse. The second I get home from work - even though she is not really hungry and just got a full bottle like an hour before - wants to get some Mommy time in. She also loves rattles and chew toys (Rory never played with them at all), and is drooling up a storm. I think she will probably get her first tooth long before Rory did (at 11 months). Even their poop schedule is totally different. Abby is multiple times a day, normally at the tail end of a feeding. Rory was a crazy huge one only once every few days.

And Rory, while looking just like me is totally different than I was. Apparently I was (yes I know, gasp) very quiet and reserved as a young child, and preferred to play by myself off in a corner. Rory is just a total ham, jumping around like a hooligan singing and dancing. Her vocabulary and speech continues to improve and impress us. She talks about and understands concepts now, not just verbs and nouns. She talks about things she might do or might happen "someday" and tells us that she wants a pink pony when she grows up. I told her one day that she made me "this" happy, and she replied, "me make happIER!" I've begun correcting her when she says "me" and it should be "I". Sometimes she whips out 5+ word sentences and I'm just amazed. When did our little baby girl turn into a little girl?

I'm just totally in love with both of them! Of course that is probably the sleep talking. :0)

Somethings Gotta Give

Ok Ill try to stick to the essentials because once again, I have waited too long between posts. Rory hand foot and mouth disease just after Halloween. Not sure where the heck she got it but gave it to all the other kids at Diane's. Poor things. Luckily Abby did not get it. The same week, she popped her second molar (upper left). She is now wearing 2t (3t in shirts). It is pretty amazing how much talking she is doing. Well I guess I would classify it as conversing more. I told her the other day, "You make me so happy, Rory". She replied back, "You me make happier!". She still insists on her "paci" at bedtime, in the car, and anytime she gets upset. She still drinks a 6 oz bottle of milk first thing in the morning and before brushing teeth to go to bed. She has a Dora the Explorer flashlight that she insists on sleeping with. She loves sleeping in her bunk bed. I gave her her first real haircut (besides bangs).

Abby got her first cold when Aurora got the HM&F. It was mild, and was just a runny nose. She is not sleeping well. Dr. said its totally normal, shes just small and has a small tummy and cant go that long without eating. (at her BEST during the day shes only eating 4 oz a time every 3 hours). She does get a good stretch from 7pm when we put her down to about midnight when she first needs to eat again. Its just unfortunate that we dont get to sleep during that time! We have tried to extend her bedtime but she gets so overtired and its really hard to settle her back down (we learned that from our weeks of "colicky" evenings). Its really just a lot of little things adding up; with Aurora she was going to bed later so the stretch was more in line with our sleep, she dropped the midnight feeding sooner, we didnt have to get up as early since we didnt have as much to do to get out the door for work, and it was easier for one of us to nap if we needed it to catch up. We stopped swaddling her a few weeks ago. Tried her in our bed so I could get to her faster and that was better than before, but then she was getting startled too much so we got out Rory's bat tent and for the last few nights have used that, putting her to sleep on her stomach. That has worked out much better. Last night she was good; midnight feeding, 2:00 pacifier which only tided her over until 2:30 when I had to feed her again, then she was fine until I woke her up at 6 to eat before I pumped. She is in0-3 clothes now. Eyes are a deep dark hazel, but brown in some light. At her 4 month old apt on Wed she was 10 lbs 8 oz, and 23 inches long. After just telling the Dr that Abby was not anywhere close to rolling over and had no intention of it, she busted out two back to stomachs in a row last night. Ryan was way more excited than he normally is about those kinds of things, and I realized after he commented on it that this is the first "milestone" that is tangible proof that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and that we wont be slaves to the sleepless nights, frequent feedings and unending diaper changes forever.

Luckily my milk production has stayed high. I have an insane stock pile of it in the chest freezer. I actually started donating my extra again since my production shows no sign of slowing even after being back at work for over a month. (Last time it was already decreasing significantly by now) I'm so grateful to Abby for being such a good bottle to boob feeder. Because she is being so good to me in that aspect, I am committed to spending the time and effort to continue nursing and pumping to a year. Its helping my weight come down too. I've had like 3 days at 139. It would be awesome if I could get down to 135. I have to say though I have been craving some serious physical activity. But family walks will just have to suffice until I get back some of my time. I just have to make peace with the fact that my body, time and efforts need to be devoted to the family right now.

What a boring post with dumb stats littered throughout. But alas, thats all I have time for at this point in time!