Phases

It is funny how our little ones go through phases. You have the "shoulder slug" stage when they are new borns. All they do is rest on your shoulder, between eating and pooping that is. Then you have the "I want to learn everything I can" stage. This is when they are learning to sit up and crawl etc. Then you have the "I do it myself" stage. Of course this is the stage in life when they realize that most of the stuff that you have been doing for them can be done BY them. This is a very long stage or it was/is for me. Every stage has something wonderful about it and they all have something not so great about it. We are in a new phase now, we are reverting back to the shoulder slug, ok so not really lol. We are going to the "Mommy, hold me" phase. She wants to be attached to my hip at any given moment. Paticularly when I need to get something done lol. I am not sure exactly how this stage came about. Part of me likes it because I miss that baby part so much some days. Part of me hates it because I have gotten very comfortable with the fact that I can have 2 hands to do stuff even if they are diverted on occassion. I know that this phase will be short lived so I am just going to try to enjoy every moment of it, like I have with all of the others.

Tell me, what phase are you going through with your little one? What phase will I have coming up in the near future? If you don't have a little one yet which one do you think you will enjoy the most? or which one do you think you will like the least?

In the beginning

Shawn at Letters to my Daughters has put out a call for bloggers that have been blogging since there babies were little. I kept one over at babababies but have since deleted it. I did make copies though and I thought I would share a few of my favorite posts from that first year. Well, really I did it from Jan. to May 06 before taking my break and restarting over here in Nov. So I will share just a few of my favorites.

Anna was about 5 months in January 2006.

January 7, 2006

Today has been an excellent day. Anna and her Daddy took a nap with me today. They got up and let me sleep for 2 more hours. I think I am human again lol!!! I love watching Chris with Anna. It is so cool knowing that our love created such a beautiful baby.

January 10, 2006

There is nothing more joyful than hearing your baby laugh at you. Even being exhausted it just warms your heart.

This was from the blog written in Anna's voice:

Feb. 14, 2006

I did sleep better last night. I got up at about 1:45am ate a little bit and went back to bed. So Mommy has done the same thing feeding me all day long. I think I could get very comfortable with this arrangement. I have played in the floor and even took a little nap.

To celebrate V-Day my Daddy is taking his two sweethearts to dinner.

June 14, 2006

I am delighted to report that I have 3 teeth coming in. They are not all the way out but almost. I have one more that hasn't popped out yet but it will soon.

I am staying at nursery at church without crying, well without crying to much anyways lol.

I am loving life!!! Being a baby is the coolest!!!

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There are more that go into when she started riding in the grocery cart without her carrier and when she rolled over, when she started making the la sound and so much more. I didn't want to give them all to you lol.

I wish I had talked about nursing and the different moments we had with that both good and bad. I wish I would have been more detailed about some things. I don't think I have ever put anything down that I regretted except for some major type-os and misspelled words lol. If you are a new Mom just starting to blog I would recommend marking all of the milestones. On the babababies site I was using they had a place for all of your milestones and it had the averages of when most babies do them. ie: First Smile, First Laugh, First Word, Crawl, Wave etc...

If you would like to share anything with Shawn please feel free to leave her a comment!

Melissa & Gina Update

Melissa was released from the hospital yesterday morning and is even allowed to drive. Gina has made improvement but is still in the critical period. She is getting antibiotics for the infection so hopefully that will clear up soon. She is still on the ventilater. She still needs our prayers. Melissa is hopping to nurse her and I don't know how that works with a baby in NICU but keep that in your prayers as well. I know that nursing was a bond that I would hope for everyone. I still miss it even though we have been done for a while now. I have heard that nursing can really help babies in NICU so I really do hope they can work that out. Thank you all for your prayers and positive thoughts! Keep them coming if you don't mind!

Prayer Request

A friend of my in-laws had her baby yesterday. She is 6 weeks early and her lungs aren't fully developed. She is also fighting some type of infection that they can't seem to find the cause. Please keep them in your prayers. Melissa was like many women and had a very difficult time getting pregnant. Her and her husband are also adopting a baby from China. They started the process and then found out she was pregnant and decided to continue with the adoption. Gina was born around 5AM and weighs a little more than 5 lbs. They had to take the baby to a different hospital and they don't know when Melissa will be released. Please keep them in your prayers. I can't even imagine the fear Melissa and her husband are facing.

By the way, I am sorry I have been neglecting my blog I didn't even realize it until I came in to do this one lol. I will try to get a lovely post put on when Anna is napping!

My Pregnancy with Anna

I have been reading about others having a hard time with pregnancies and getting pregnant etc. and thought I would share my story! It may be long (that is fair warning ;))

So my hubby and I tried to get pregnant for just over a year. We were preparing to go in for the dreaded tests but before we did my doctor recommended doing the ovulation tests for a few months to make sure I was ovulating. Well it turns out we were ovulating but not when it typically happens so the second month of doing that we were pregnant! I will never forget the day I took the test. It was in the morning before work and I didn't tell hubby I was taking it but the positive sign came up pretty quickly. I was in shock (if you have ever tried to get pregnant for a long time and finally get the positive you know what I am talking about.) I walk out of the bathroom in a daze and tell hubby "umm, I think I need to call the doctor." He is like whats wrong are you ok. I said "yes, I umm just got a positive on a pregnancy test." Well hubby went into shock too. He had told me not to tell him until I was sure and not until a Friday afternoon lol. Well, can you tell I didn't think about all that. So I called the doctor from work and they said come on in and we can check everything out for you. So I went in they did the blood test and I was definitely pregnant! She wanted me to go in for an early u/s to see how far along I was and to make sure everything was ok (due to some spotting). She didn't have an u/s machine so she scheduled me to go to the hospital to have it done. I go in and they won't let hubby go back with me and in fact said they wouldn't do one unless there was a problem. So I tell her about the spotting and she grudgingly does the u/s. She said oh well this shows you as having just a sac so you are having a miscarriage. I was devistated - we called the doctor and she said to come back in and we could do another blood test to see if my hormone levels were going up or down. Well, they were going up but there were a few things that freaked me out in that office so we decided to switch doctors. The new doctor did an u/s and we saw and heard the heartbeat I was in tears!!! The sound of your babies heartbeat is a precious thing. Something that you will never ever forget. So at this point everything is progressing great. I had naseau and food aversions. Smells bothered me so bad and I was in tears every other hour! but you know that is fairly typical lol. I got to feel her move for the first time around 18 weeks. I had a Snicker's ice cream bar and she just started rocking and rolling in there. Another one of those moments you never forget! So, we go in for our u/s at 20 weeks to check out the baby and see if its a boy or girl. She is measuring everything and making sure the anatomy is all right. Well, the little stinker wouldn't spread her legs for us. And she was measuring smaller than she should. So we schedule another u/s for 24 weeks. We go back in and she is still measuring small although she was perfect in every other way. They were a little concerned but not overly. They scheduled another u/s for 26 weeks. After that u/s they determined that I had IUGR. (Inter Uterin Growth Restriction) So here we go off to see the specialist. We had to see them 2 times a week every week! We had a few scares - I had to be put in the hospital twice because Anna was not reactive. The first time I can't remember how far along exactly I was but it was somewhere around 30 weeks. They told me I would have to stay in the hospital until she was born. I was so upset. They ended up seeing enough of an improvement in her after me getting a few bags of IV that they let me go home. (So stay HYDRATED) Anyway, I had to go back to the hospital at 34 weeks they decided to go ahead and deliver her. We called our parents to come for the big event. They did an AMNIO to see if her lungs were ready. There are 2 parts to an AMNIO - one tells you immediately if the lungs are mature and the other takes longer but it is a better reading. So the first one said she wasn't ready - the c-section was cancelled and everything looked good with an u/s so I was released. (Her lungs were ready according to the second part) I had a scheduled c-section at 36.5 weeks and she was only 4 lbs and 5 oz. She was so itty bitty but so absolutely perfect!!! We were sure she would have to go to the NICU but thankfully she didn't. She got all cleaned up and I finally got to my room and they brought her to me. You don't know the feeling of awe until you hold this little being that came from the love you have with your hubby!

16 Years Ago

It is hard to believe that 16 years ago I started dating the man that is now my husband. We were just kids in high school so young and clueless. Apparently not too clueless though cause I feel like being with him is the best choice that I have ever made. We don't always see eye to eye but we manage to work through most of it and we have a very strong relationship for it. About 4 years ago we were on the verge of a divorce because I so desperatly wanted a baby and he didn't. Somehow we managed to hang in there and well you have seen the pics of my daughter she was well worth the wait. And because we waited she is fortunate enough to have a Mommy and Daddy that have a strong and loving relationship. I am very happy we waited because it wouldn't have been as much fun if her Daddy hadn't been as thrilled as I was.

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My philosophy on marriage is that it takes 2 people and a ton of work and if one of you isn't willing to pick up a little of the slack when the other one needs it then you are in trouble. During the days of our trouble neither of us could help carry the other and it was hard on our relationship. Finally, I don't really know what turned it around for us I think I stopped nagging him about a baby and he started feeling less pressure. There is always going to be one of you that needs something extra - so the other partner has to be willing to give that extra. And it can't always be the same person it has to be a give and take relationship. Compromise is huge too so don't forget that part of it.