Pink Beast

  If you've been on my facebook, you might have noticed a new album of Emily in a pink dress. There's a story behind that pink dress. When I was pregnant with Emily I had two pregnancy nightmares.  The first was that I gave birth to a puppy.  The werid part was when everyone tried to get me to breastfeed it.  in my dream the nurse told me I was horrible for not wanting to feed my baby, so I tried.  And it hurt in my dream just like I'm sure it would in real life. 

   The second one was the baby's ( I didn't find out Emily was a girl till she was born so in my dream it was just a baby )  blessing day. My mom and her friend Nonda Nichols were making the blessing dress. I walked into the nursery at church to get the baby dressed and they hand me a pink dress. Not the pretty white one I had in mind, a hot pink, sheer, scratchy tulle, dress.  I start freaking out, they start getting mad at me because I didn't bring a white onezie for the baby to wear underneath it since it's sheer. I actually woke up in a cold sweat. I called my mom told her what happened in my dream and got laughed at. She asked if I really thought they would have such bad taste. 

  So a couple months down the road a few days before Emily's blessing Mama brings over the blessing dress She hands me two boxes. The first had the pink dress, the second had the real blessing dress.  

Blog Survey

   Question 1: What are the 5 thing on your To Do List?

  1. Finish the dishes

  2. Get Emily to sleep through the night

  3. Go over my Primary lesson 

  4. Make brownies

  5. Stop killing off the garden

 

    Question 2: Name 5 Snacks You Love

  1. Chocolate ice cream with lots of nuts

  2. Cheese & crackers

  3. Chips & Salsa

  4. M&M's

  5: Pickles

    Question 3: Name 5 Things You Would Do if you Suddenly Became a Millionaire

  1. Pay off any outstanding debt

  2. Buy 10 acres and build a house

  3. Set up a college fund for Emily

  4. Take Doug back to London and have breakfast at Joe's

  5. Adopt a child from Paraguay

    Question 4: Name 5 Places You Have Lived

  1. Gloucester VA

  2. Pleasant Hill CA

  3. Colorado Springs, Colorado

  4. London, England

  5. Newport News, VA

    Question 5: Name 5 Jobs You Have Had

  1. Waitress at a Good Fortune

  2. Cashier 

  3. Cook at Anna's ( the one at Glenn's )

  4. Wal-mart 

  5. Babysitter

 

    Question 6: 5 Things People Don't Know About Me

  1. I'm a stress baker. I bake at night when I'm stressed

  2. I played Barbie's till I was 16.

  3. I'm scared of open closet's at night

  4. I like reading celebrity gossip rags

  5. I use to write fairy tales   

    

     

A Newborn's Conversation with God

  Someone posted this on www.kaboose.com and I loved it so much I wanted to post it here.   

  

        A newborn's conversation with God



A baby asked God, 'They tell me you are sending me to earth tomorrow, but
how am I going to live there being so small and helpless?' God said, 'Your
angel will be waiting for you and will take care of you.'

The child further inquired, 'But tell me, here in heaven I don't have to do
anything but sing and smile to be happy.' God said, 'Your angel will sing
for you and will also smile for you. And you will feel your angel's love and
be very happy.'

Again the child asked, 'And how am I going to be able to understand when
people talk to me if I don't know the language?' God said, 'Your angel will
tell you the most beautiful and sweet words you will ever hear, and with
much patience and care, your angel will teach you how to speak.'
'And what am I going to do when I want to talk to you?' God said, 'Your
angel will place your hands together and will teach you how to pray.'

'Who will protect me?' God said, 'Your angel will defend you even if it
means risking its life.'

'But I will always be sad because I will not see you anymore.' God said,
'Your angel will always talk to you about Me and will teach you the way to
come back to Me, even though I will always be next to you.'

At that moment there was much peace in Heaven, but voices from Earth could
be heard and the child hurriedly asked, 'God, if I am to leave now, please
tell me my angel's name.'

God said, 'You will simply call her, 'Mom.'

Tummy Time

   Everytime I've tried tummy time with Emily she cries or is only happy if someone is down on the floor with her, even then it only lasts about 2-3 minutes.  When I put her down this evening she was fine. She sucked on her fist ( she can almost get the whole thing in her mouth ) , talked   ( ok babbled) to the dog and pushed herself up and looked at the rattle I put on one corner of the blanket for about 15 minutes.  I know, it's only 15 minutes but that's such huge thing. It shows she can entertain herself, that she's getting strong enough she can push herself up and hold it for a few minutes, and that she hasn't given up on talking with the dog. It also shows that my Emily Grace isn't a newborn anymore.  It's been about 2  and a half months since I've had her.  She's grown so quickly and changed so much! My sister-in-law just had a baby. He's a teeny little thing. When I saw Emily side by side with him it hit me like a ton of bricks that my baby is getting bigger. But it's ok, Emily and I talked and worked it out. I'm going to go to college with her.  Lol. I know I can't, but I'd like to be in denial a little longer. Today tummy time maybe she'll start scooting with purpose next week. 

Favorite Website

   I stumbled across this website www.kaboose.com.  It's a great website for moms or wives. It seems like a fairly new site, since there doesn't seem to be too many members.  There's ideas for dates, crafts with your kids, health and beauty, quizzes and message boards. It's a very uplifting group of women on here, always encouraging. It's great for me since I'm first of my close friends to get married or have a kid.  My friends are wonderful but being married is alot different then dating and having kids is so different then babysitting.  I just love this site so much I thought I'd throw it out there for anyone who hasn't seen it.  

  I'm also starting to look around on www.marthastewart.com It looks like Emily going to be a goldfish for Halloween! 

Family Vacation Part 2- No stroller?

   Day two of our vacation started like most days at home, with Emily Grace waking up around 6am ready to play. I woke up missing our bed. Emily usually ends up sleeping with us still at some point in the middle of the night. Our hotel room has two full size beds. Doug, Emily and I all in a full size bed is crowded. I kept waking up thinking I was going to drop Emily off the side or I would fall off the side.  We ended out around 8am to go to downtown Charleston. Charleston is beautiful. There's all these amazing old buildings and this awesome waterfront park. We just walked around downtown. Doug pointed out all these cool little things he learned while he lived there, like there's these cool spots in the waterfront park where you can hear an echo when you talk in a normal voice but anyone standing in front of you can't hear it.

  Then we went on a carriage ride. It was so fun. Emily was pretty good for it till the end when she started to get a little cranky.  There are a couple different carriage ride compaines, so to keep the carriage traffic from building up in one area too much before you head out on your tour,  the carriage stops at a little booth where a city worker gives you a sign that goes on the carriage of which of three zones you go to. They chose it by lottery balls. So you could go on tours all day long and not see all 3 zones since you don't know which one you'll be on till your tour has started. 

  We had dinner at this place Doug told me about called Bubba's Gump. If you've seen Forest Gump and liked it you'd love this place. There's stuff from the movie all over the place. The food is really good! I only had one problem with it. Emily was in her stroller and they asked us to leave the stoller up front at the hostess stand. It makes since if you have a toddler who could sit in a highchair. But Emily is 2 months old! She can't sit up on her own yet! We tried a highchair and rolled up her blanket to stick around her to try to make it a little safer. I had to keep one hand on her and she still almost wacked her head against the side of it a couple times. When the waitress came by again I asked if we could have her stroller and explained to her that a 2 month old is really too young for that highchair and since there was plenty of room for it by our table without being in the way could we please bring it to the table. She said it was fine and we got it. Why in the world would they think a baby so little could sit up in chair like that? 

  Well Emily's asleep, so I'm following the number one mommy rule and sleeping when she does. 

Family Vacation Part 1- I Almost Broke My Baby!

  We are on our first family vacation! It's actually the 3 day 2 night trip to Charleston S.C we bought for our honeymoon last summer but ended up not taking. But anyway. We left the house around 8:30am and Emily let us know what she thought of us putting her in the car seat, but since it was early she only cried for a minute or two before falling asleep. The trip down here wasn't too bad. We stopped about every two hours to so I could feed Emily. Took a picture of her in front of the N.C. map at a rest area. When we got to Charleston she started crying again, untill we went over this amazing bridge they built since Doug was stationed here. When we got on the bridge she got quiet and was just staring out the window. I guess she like's bridges. We found the hotel, by then the wonder of the bridge wore off and it was time to feed again. 

  Even though it's Sunday we needed to eat a real meal instead of just the junk we packed with us. So Doug found a Sticky Fingers near the hotel. It's this great BBQ chain around here that he went to when he lived here.  The hostess showed us to our table and the waitress went to bring us a highchair that we could set her car seat on. Emily ,thankfully, fell asleep in the car so she wasn't objecting to the "evil" car seat.  The waitress came back the highchair, I went to move the car seat to it when my fingers betrayed me. The car seat slipped from my fingers and headed towards the floor. Doug, the waitress and I grab for the car seat. We all grab a bit of it and get it in the chair.  Emily is still sound asleep. I bent one of my fingernails back while grabbing for the car seat. Doug's pretty calm since Emily's fine. I keep checking her and tell Doug " I almost broke my baby!"  When I calm down I notice my fingernail was hurting and saw I bent a big piece of it backwards. My punishment for dropping Emily. She was fine, she slept through the wonderful tasting potato skins and wings.  Doug and I played a funny Rib-Libs ( Mad Libs ) game that was on the table. Then Emily woke up, relised she was in the "evil" car seat again and let us know of her displeasure so she sat on her Daddy's lap. 

    Once we got back to the hotel I started trying to get her sleep. It's usually my job since I can feed her and Doug can't.  I fed her, rocked her, cuddled, patted and rubbed her back , after an hour I got her to sleep. For FIVE minutes! Then she woke up laying on the bed, grinning, giggling and just generally happy. Doug says just to leave her be for a few minutes. So while he goes and gets ice I just watch her be happy. Ask her if she's comfortable, she smiles, ask her if she's warm enough, she smiles, ask her if she wants to sleep, she laughs at me. Doug comes back lays down next to her, starts tickling her, talking to her and playing peek-a-boo. Everything to help wake her up right? Nope. She starts yawning he says " Are you sleepy? Do you want to go to sleep? " She closes her eyes and falls asleep. And she's been that way for an hour now. Such a daddy's girl! She's asleep, that's all that matters. I'm glad Doug could do it.  Happy Fathers Day Doug.  

Milk Cow and Vaginal Dryness

   I'm breastfeeding Emily.  The whole breast is best thing is true. If you can breastfeed it is the best for your baby. But sometimes it can leave you feeling a bit like a milk cow. Doug loves playing with Emily, cuddling with Emily but he can't feed her. Sure I could pump and give it to her in a bottle. But it feels like I'm feeding her twice. Sitting down pumping and then sitting down with a bottle to feed her? I do pump about once a week so we always have some milk in the freezer just in case and so I can leave her with Doug if I'm going to a R.S. meeting or getting my hair cut or something.

    Anyway.. last night I was feeling so sick. Doug had to take Emily from me quickly once so I could make a bathroom run.  When I'm feeling gross like this I really don't feel like being super cuddly or feeding. ( What if I didn't make it to the bathroom? That'd make Emily happy.. ) Emily tends to get cranky around 6-7pm because she's getting tired and is usaully asleep for the night between 8-9pm.  So she'll eat for a bit, start to fall asleep, wake herself up and just want to be held.  Doug had just gotten home from work and was dead tired, I was feeling sick and Emily is being cranky. Doug's holding Emily and she's just being fussy. Doug asks " Do you want to try feeding her again?"  I was getting cranky so I respond " Sure, I'm just the milk cow anyway. " After her tummy was nice and full, she was happy again. I needed to go get Leann and give her a ride home from work.  Doug offers to stay at home with Emily. I think he knew I needed some time without anyone touching me. 

   Leann and I hadn't seen each other in a little while so we stopped by Rite-Aid so we could hang out a little more and talk. While I'm venting about being sick and stressed out by other things going on right now, we somehow end up in front of condoms and pregnancy tests. We just stop and kinda stare at it. Then Leann goes " What's a ribbed condom?" All of a sudden we're picked up different condom boxes and lubericant bottles reading them off to each other. Talking about if K.Y warming or tingling sounded better. This women walks down the aisle past us and we both shut up and just kinda stare at our shoes waiting for her to go past. She gives us this kinda " What are they doing looking at that!?" Hey I'm married, I'm allowed to I'm thinking. We go back to chatting about this stuff and she comes down the aisle again. I reach towards where the pregnancy tests are, grab a box and read it off loudly.  " Ooo! " grab box randomly " Vaginal dryness kit!" Even stranger look from the woman as she walks off.  Leann and I bust out laughing. 

    I love that I can breastfeed Emily Grace. I'm glad I'm giving her the best start on life. It does get overwhelming at times (like when you feel sick ) so here's the cure for when your breastfeeding and feeling like a milk cow, take a great girlfriend and make strangers uncomfortable in front of the condom aisle. 

Right Foot Sock

  For some reason or another on the outside part Emily Grace's feet by the ankle have been kinda dry and flaky for the past couple days. No problem. When my feet start feeling a little dry I put lotion on nice and thick  then pull on a pair of old thick socks. A couple hours later I have nice soft feet again.  So when I've changed her diaper, I've lotioned up her feet and put on  pair of her baby socks.  The problem is that right foot.  Within minutes the sock will be off. It's not like she's sitting in her little bouncer chair and I'm not there to notice. She'll be sitting on my lap, babbling to me, sleeping, eating etc.. and I'll look at her feet and the sock will be gone! I've found it just sitting next to her, under her, back on the changing table, tucked in her blanket. I even gave up trying to find it once put a different pair of socks on her then later ,getting her ready for bed , found it up the back of her onezie! So maybe Emily doesn't like socks on her right foot. Or maybe all the socks that get lost in the dryer are right foot socks. I just found it on the couch again, so I'm off to change another diaper and put socks on again. Do they make baby garters? 

Her Daddy

 Doug is such a good daddy to Emily Grace.  He came home dead tired from work around 5:30pm. Talked with Emily, did the dishes while I cooked dinner, played with Emily while I finished dinner, and could barely stay awake while I fed her after dinner. He still wanted to spend more time with her though since he hadn't seen her all day. So he lays on the couch with her for an after dinner before bed nap together.  Emily's lucky to have such a good daddy.

I'm confused

 I just got off the phone with my Mom and she claims Emily Grace is not 2 months old. She's 8 weeks old. I guess I got confused and figured there's 4 weeks in a month, 8 weeks old , that's two months. That's what I get for doing basic math before noon. So she's 8 weeks not 2 months. Gah... still getting too big!

11 Months and 2 Months

   Wow. Emily Grace is two months old. How and when did the time go by so fast? Doug and I reached 11 months of marriage yesterday too. Yes if you can do math that means Emily Grace was a honeymoon baby.  But as Mama pointed out that Emily came on her due date and it puts day of conception on July 6 or 7th, so we were married. So when my wonderful Grandmother counts the days she can't say anything. And yes she would count the days because she told me so, also that I should go on birth control for the first month of marriage so no one could say anything. Nevermind that she'd be the only one saying anything. I love her I really do, just sometimes she makes it a little hard. Like when asked on my wedding day if she loves me and she refuses to say anything. 

   Yeah.... anyway back to happier thoughts. Doug and I have had 11 wonderful months of marriage.  I'm lucky I married my best friend. He's a wonderful father to Emily. Emily is two months old today.  She's discovering she can touch things with her hands but is still working on the motor skills to do it a little more gracefully then just waving them around randomly. The road for getting married was rocky and rough for me. I wouldn't change a thing though. If that's how it had to happen to make Doug and I into the people we are so we could be blessed with this amazing child, I wouldn't change a thing

Wanting her Daddy

 All three of us ( Doug, Emily and I ) have had a cold this past weekend and Doug is on the midnight shift.  So yesterday Emily and I went to take a nap with Doug.  When Emily and I woke up , I was just laying there with her sitting up on my tummy leaning against my legs.  Doug was still out cold. Emily looks over at him and sticks her tongue out, her sign of I want your attention.  He's asleep so he doesn't notice of course. She tried again, nothing from him.  She giggles at him, sticks her tongue out again, starts cooing at him, nothing still. She keeps this up for another minute or so and still nothing. Her little mouth turns down, her bottom lip sticks out and starts to cry. I lay her down next to me between Doug and I , trying to calm her down. As soon as I lay her down she turns her head over to look at Doug and wacks his arm with her hand. Now she's 7 weeks old she doesn't have much control over her limbs yet so chances are she didn't mean too but anyway. Doug jumps ups and goes " What is it?! What's wrong?!"  "Nothing " I tell him " Emily just touched you. " He lays down and is out again in less then 10 seconds. Emily looks over at me with this sad look on her face. So I cuddled and played with Emily Grace till a couple hours later when Doug got up. Then he gave her the attention she wanted so much. Of course by then the ceiling fan was much more interesting to her.  

Mother-Daughter Tradition

  One of my mom's and mine's favorite movie is Pride and Prejudice . The A&E version of course it's best one out there. It's also a tradition to be best friends. My mom was best friends with her mom and I'm best friends with mine. Saturday night Emily Grace wasn't feeling good. Doug has a bad cold and I think she's getting it. She's usually pretty easy to put down at night, but was being cranky Saturday, not sleeping for more then 15 mins if I set her down. So around 11pm I took my laptop, Emily Grace, and Pride and Prejudice. The one with Keira Knightley, it was late we needed a short version. I put it in and we laid down to watch it.  She only made it the ball at Mr. Bingley's.  It's ok she's young. The 6 hour one might have been too much for her right now. I think Emily and I are getting the mother-daughter tradition off to a good start.