The past 8 months...

I thought I better post something before a whole year of not blogging sneaks up on me!
Jaeda will be 2 this summer and I can't believe how fast time has gone! Let’s just do a fast recap of what this year has been like so far: Last time I posted she was starting to run... and now there is not a single thing she can't get into. If she can't reach it, she finds a stool to climb to accommodate being small. She continues to love dancing, and she sings, repeats EVERY word you say (so be careful) and she is the most active little girl I know! She is always doing something and really loves learning. Her favorite things to learn about are zoo and farm animals.
She is addicted to the ipad--- which I didn’t even know she could use until one day she turned it on, unlocked the screen and got into her Elmo game. She can navigate around the screen and into her favorite programs like she’s been doing it for years! She repeats letters and their sounds and likes to count to 3...although she likes the numbers 2 and 3 the best... enough to skip 1 and repeat 2,3,3,2,2,2,3! :) We have some work to do hah.
Jaeda has been going to Day Care part time since October so Mommy could work and get out of the house. The down side is that we have had a sick little girl most of the winter! I can't even count the doctors visits -there have been so many. She is scheduled to get ear tubes at the end of this month due to multiple ear infections this year. We had our yearly visit to the Nephrology Specialist in Des Moines to check on her kidney/ bladder reflux and it is still mildly there---so we have been referred to an Iowa City Specialist to talk about our options.
All of the bad things have come with a million good things! And she is generally a healthy little independent girl!
Many Changes are upon our family! First, we had our house on the market for a little under a year and have decided to take it off the market and do some renovations to make it perfect for us! We are a 5 minute walk from the playground, the pool and central park/ down town, plus only a block from the river(which we can see from our sun room and deck. We have begun to appreciate what we do have in this house that has become our home instead of seeing the negatives.
Second, Jaeda is going to be a Big Sister in August! We are excited and anxious at the same time! Jaeda is very motherly and will be a great sister! I know I have forgotten many things about having a little baby (sleepless nights, stocking up on breast milk, pumping and freezing it- trying to warm it on shopping trips, being on their schedule,...so its all coming back to me!!!!!)
Last, Mommy has decided to stay home with the kiddos, I took 4 months off when Jaeda was born, and want to be home with this baby too. So I will be a stay at home mom and try to find some things to keep me sane (especially in the winter) but, hopefully it will help keep my kids healthy!

That is enough for an update.... I will try to continue to post--especially with baby news/ updates!

The first year is upon us

I haven't posted in nearly 6 months! Time goes by so fast. Jaeda is turning 1 on Friday and I can't believe it. The first year is filled with so many wonderful memories. I think of all the firsts: the first time she rolled over or cooed, when she said 'mama' and 'dada', when she started crawling....backwards!, when she reached for me, when she started saying real words, when she started pulling her self up and carefully walking from toy to toy (not letting go), when she started to walk steadily and now trying to run, when we rolled the ball to her and it actually came back to us!, and most of all- her kisses! I won't take those kisses for granted, because before I know it, she will be a teenager! She is already, we'll say, Miss independent.

Luckily I will soon forget all of the sleepless nights, painful cries, doctor visits, blow-out diapers and all of the things I have already forgot! :D If we didn't forget, we would never have more kids.

My daughter is my pride and joy. She is perfect.

Daycare and the tooth fairy!

Our little punkin' survived daycare and so did mom and dad. She went two days this week. Daddy dropped her off at 7:40 am on her first day (just enough time to play with her before he had to go work.) I had never been so excited to get home from work and get her in my arms. When I walked in to the room, she was being held and was content, but looked like she hadn't slept in a week! The first day involved very little sleep, but I wasn't surprised. She is used to a dark room with a sound machine and no other moving children! However, she ate very well- even her sweet peas. :)
The second day went better for sleep. Longer naps, but not so well in the eating department. When I picked her up one of the ladies handed me an accident report!!! Every horrible thing was going through my head as I unfolded that paper. "Uh- why did I take her to daycare? I'm such a bad mom! What was I thinking?!" Then she says "She was sitting on the floor and tipped over. She hit a little toy, there isn't even a mark." Whew! No big deal...I didn't know I would get a memo for every bump and bruise, but it makes me feel much more at ease.

Then she was home with daddy on Wednesday and she wasn't in the mood to sleep. Daddy had to resort to bouncing and patting her to sleep like the old days. But overall, a fun day for Daddy and Jaed to spend together. I was lucky enough to have a snow day on Thursday and got to play with baby Jaed all day!! This is when I discovered the sharp whiteness peeking through the gums of my baby girl. I was ecstatic! Almost crying I be live with excitement over her first tooth! I can't imagine what she thought of me. Ha ha.

This little tiny thing poking out sure explained a lot! Like the difficulty with eating and sleeping the last couple of days. After some teethers and tylenol she was feeling much better.

More to come later... the munchkin has woken from her nap.

Happy Baby- Happy Parents

I can't explain how happy she is! She is never fussy- unless she is tired! She is like a different baby. Mommy and Daddy are happy to have this little bundle of joy that can actually enjoy the world in which she lives. We took her off of the prevacid for her acid reflux, and she has been doing so well. She is now down to one medication that keeps the UTI's from coming back- and that's it! Yay! We see the nephrology specialist in a couple weeks- hopefully that will help us see the light at the end of the tunnel.


Milestones: She is going to crawl any day! She has been scooting backwards for awhile now. She pushes up on her hands and knees and sometimes stands on just her hands and feet! How cute!

She has decided that she likes to roll to her stomach during nap time, but gets mad and can't or won't roll back over to lay on her back! Needless to say, she is learning to love sleeping on her tummy. :)

She still has the most adorable smile I have ever seen- and she gets more cuddly every day!

She started eating food and so far loves sweet potatoes and bananas! I can't imagine having to eat the same food for a whole week- but I guess it's better than 6 months worth of milk!

So happy to be a mommy!

First Christmas and "whats that? DayCare?"

The holiday season was filled with joy and laughter! Jaeda loved trying to open her gifts. We had to devote an entire room to her toys already!!!

I have really enjoyed my time off work to spend with my baby girl. She has been feeling great and so happy! We continue to work on the napping- the holiday traveling did not help the situation! She is typically napping 3 times a day now and waking up once at night. We are now working to make the schedule much more time sensitive because she will be starting daycare in early January!

We are very excited but scared for this adventure called daycare! I have always planned on her going to daycare, but then she arrived- and I was sobbing in the hospital saying " I DON'T WANT HER TO GO TO DAYCARE!" Tears of hormones rolled down my face that day! I was lucky to be a stay at home mom for the first 4 months! And we thankfully had my mom and mother inlaw to watch her in our home the last couple of months. But now is the time. I want her to grow and prosper! I want her to grow into a beautiful little girl without seperation anxiety (which she is already getting!) I want her to meet and play with other kids her age and learn what it means to share- even if means sharing little Tommy's cold. I want her to be in an environment where she can be educated and learn all there is to know about letters, numbers and colors! What a wonderful place it will be for her to explore!

The most wonderful gift... the happy side to the first 6 months.

As I was thinking about what to post next, I realized that although my baby Jaeda has had a rough first months to say the least, she has had equally as many wonderful milestones along the way. Jaeda was brought into this world on June 18th 2009. She was 6 lbs 12 oz. And she came out hungry! Unfortunately they made the poor girl wait a couple hours before she got the first nibble.

Her first check up the next week was, we will say, "normal." Everything about this child from hiccuping to sneezing is "normal." In fact I couldn't get a question in while this doctor would say a laundry list of things that were "normal" for a baby to go through! Needless to say we didn't stay with that doctor! On July 4th we put the munchkin in the stroller and walked down for the parade. She fell asleep half way through and even slept through the fire trucks!

On July 14th we took her to the doctor to have her belly button checked. We are avid golf players, but were worried to see one on our daugther's tummy! That's how big her belly button was protruding. However, no worries!, its NORMAL! Just a herniated belly button that she has since then out grown.

On July 24th she slept for 5 hours in a row! I was in heaven... if only it lasted!

She has attended fun showers, birthday parties, and family outings! She got to go to the pool on August 6th with her 'cousin' Bailey! Loves the water!!! The zoo was also a fun adventure! She was baptized in a beautiful park in August. (That perfect experience is whole other story!)

Since she was 2 months old she wanted to sit up all the time. She just wanted to see the world! She was already standing with help at the start of September and now she stands while hanging onto things!

When she was 3 months she rolled from her tummy to her back once...and it has never happened again!!! She rolled from her back to her tummy at the start of 5 months and rolls all day long!

She has lots of fuzzy hair growing in... we still can't tell what color it is- it depends on the light. :)

She loves giving big sloppy kisses, bath time, and playing with toys! She has the cutest smile and reaches for mommy and daddy. I could stare at her perfect little face all day long!

So there are my random thoughts of the last 6 months. The biggest joys in my life have come from the smallest gift, my baby Jaeda.

Nap time

We are starting to get our baby girl on a nap schedule! We can finally lay her down awake and with just a little crying, if any, she is fast asleep. Her naps are typically around an hour long. She is up for 1.5 hours and then back down for another nap! Finally, for my sanity, I can get some things done around the house!

Things I will write about:
Starting solid foods!
She starts Day Care in January- scared mommy and daddy!