new blog

email me at LindsayB727@yahoo.com for access to the new blog site. I don't care if anyone I know reads it. I am just trying to prevent the random weirdo strangers that have been making comments on it.

The only cat I've ever liked...

So i usually hate cats, the alive ones. However I wanted a costume where I could paint Alyssa's sweet little nose so I decided on a black cat. It was adorable! I made her tail, ears, and collar. She was the cutest little cat ever! We went trick or treating and then to a Halloween party (where Dave and I dressed up as Mario and Luigi). We forgot to take a picture of our costume though but it was a repeat costume so we already have some old pictures. We let Alyssa walk around with her monogrammed halloween basket (thanks caitlin!). She would take the candy and put it in her basket like a pro! We knew she would be better than the average 1 year old at trick or treating because all day long she carries around her easter basket and a beach bucket and fills them with things. If we can't find something, we look in a shoe, bucket, toy chest, etc since she just loves putting things in containers. We found our sim card in her toy bin the other day. So the trick or treating was right up her alley. And if you ask her what a ghost says she'll say "boo" (although it kind of comes out a little more like baa). That was her trick at each door.

She is continuing to get smarter and smarter. We were looking at pictures the other day and i could ask her where Mommy or Daddy were in pictures with multiple people and she would point to us. She is also getting really good at putting puzzle pieces in their correct spot after searching. She is just getting so fun. But she is also starting to find her free will and she is testing us a lot. Time out works wonderfully on her though so far. Usually I just have to threaten a time out and she will listen. The other day I told her not to climb the stairs. She did so I gave her a time out warning. She got down immediately and walked away. A few seconds later I saw her walking back over so i told her she was getting a time out if she went up the stairs again. She lifted her knee up over the stair and looked at me. She in no way let her knee touch the stair though. So she listened, she did not go up the stairs, but the little turd was just messing with me. I guess as long as she listens that well its all i can expect out of a 13 month old. And its so hard not to laugh when she does something like that because she will give me this little smirk and sometimes even give me her little princess wave.

She is getting 2 more teeth of the bottom which are bothering her some but she is handling them pretty well. She will yell out in the middle of the night but she must just roll over and go back to sleep right away because its only like one yell.

All and all we are doing great! I think I am going to start with the new blog next time i post (the private one) so make sure you email me (Lindsayb727@yahoo.com) if you want access to it!

Feeling like Falltime

not too much going on right now. Dave had a 4 day weekend last weekend so we went to a pumpkin patch and hayride. Alyssa had a lot of fun. She kept trying to pick up all of the huge pumpkins and got frustrated she couldn't lift them. There was also a little petting zoo with a few goats that you could feed. Alyssa loved the goat, especially his beard. She tried to tug it, right before she tried to kiss it. Dave freaked out and thought the goat would bite her so she wasn't allowed to play with him too much...and I'm usually the paranoid parent. The next day we went to a place in Wilmington (like 45min-1 hr away) called Monkey Joes. Its an inside play place with a bunch of bounce houses and slides. Alyssa loves it! And Dave and I do too since parents with kids under 4 years old are allowed to "help" (aka play with) their kids. We went back again this past weekend. We are having to be more creative with things to do since its getting chilly out so our normal walks and playing at the park aren't cutting it.

I am about to make Alyssa some new cloth diapers. After using them for a year, I have found things about certain brands I like best and all so I want to make some more. Although I don't know how much longer she will be in diapers. We only go through like 4 a day now. She holds it until she has to go and then goes all at once which is a good sign. It means she is starting to know the feeling of how to hold it in and all. She has gone pee and poop on the toilet (well her potty) a few times. We have to trick her to get her to sit there for a little bit by letting her brush her teeth. My girl has good dental hygiene...she loves to brush her teeth.

I posted new pictures a few days ago...they are in the new 13 month album. It won't let me put a link on the blog so just click on an older album to get to the picasa site and then click on Lindsay's photos and then the 13 month album. Or you can click here http://picasaweb.google.com/lindsayb727/13Months?feat=directlink

sick peanut

To start off so I don't forget to say it, I am going to make Alyssa's blog private soon. With dave starting to be away more I don't want people to figure out when hes home and when hes not. And that will be pretty obvious through pictures and all. If you send me an email at LindsayB727@yahoo.com I can send you the username/password to read the blog and see the pictures. Also if you want any information on Dave/care packages email me at that same address.

Alyssa is now scared to death of the vacuum cleaner. Our entire house is hardwood (well laminate hardwood) flooring. We have one area rug in her playroom that Brody isn't supposed to be on so I don't have to vacuum it all the time. But over time the hair still piles up on it so I took out the vacuum and put it in the playroom and Alyssa freaked out. It wasn't even turned on yet. Then I turned it on and my poor baby was scared to death. I've never seen her scared like that before. I turned it off and let her see it and touch it and she was fine with that as long as I was holding her. She would cry if I put her down in the same room with it. She was also fine helping me vacuum as long as i held her. As long as I was in the room with the vacuum, Alyssa just wanted to snuggle me. Although this may sound mean since she was scared, I loved it. She is SO active that she will only take like a 2 second break to give me a hug and a kiss and then shes off. She never just lays on me for 15 minutes.

My baby girl is running a fever of almost 104 as of yesterday. Poor thing is soo worn out. All she wants to do is lay on my shoulder (which i do love) but I'd obviously rather her feel better. She has a double ear infection and possibly the swine flu. Now don't freak out too much, the swine flu isn't as bad as the media made it out to be. The doctor actually said the symptoms are a little more mild than the flu. He asked if we wanted to test her for it but he said it would not do any good as far as treatment goes. We were already in the ER for a few hours, still had to wait at the pharmacy for her prescription, and it was already 6 pm. She was also sleeping so I didnt want them to have to draw blood and wake her just for us to sit and wait for the results. He said if her fever goes down in a day or two with the antibiotics then the fever was probably just from the ear infections. However since her fever is so high and she has other flu like symptoms, we're afraid our little sweetheart has the piggie flu.

She keeps waking up from her nap every few minutes crying so I'm going to go snuggle my baby and rock her while she sleeps. :) I added new pictures to the 12 month album.

stats and shots

Alyssa had her 1 year appointment friday. i typed 1 month at first and had to backspace...my girl's age is no longer in months :( . She is doing great as always. 21 lbs and 29 inches which puts her in the 50th percentile for both height and weight. I knew she had really slimmed down here the past few months. She looks so tiny to me now. I'm used to a big chubby baby not a tiny one running all over the house. The doctor said I seem to be doing everything right as far as her health is concerned which is always good to hear. The only problem I am having right now is the issue of shots. Up until now, I have gotten Alyssa all of the reccommended shots. The 1 year ones are the controversial ones since they include the MMR. I have bought some books and been doing internet research on vaccine safety but its jsut too much information to process. There are SO many conflicting views and its really hard to make what I feel is the right decision for her. I am going to have Dave do some research as well so I am not responsible for the decision all by myself...its too big to make alone. Could giving her shots cause autism? thats the biggest question. As of now I believe the answer is no. And if it does somehow, I believe there must be a pre-existing condition or family history and somehow the vaccine could aggrevate it. But kids have autism whose parents didnt vaccinate them so the vaccines alone can not be the cause of autism. I also don't think its fair for me not to vaccinate my kid and have them get someone else sick, such as an infant who has not gotten that particular shot yet. Maybe spreading them out is the best option...possibly. That way their little immune systems can deal with one vaccine at a time and not have to be spread so thin taking care of 5 vaccines at once. I want to still be breastfeeding when I give Alyssa her MMR so her immune system is the best it can be. That is where I'm at right now...give her the MMR now (possible one at a time over the next month) before i completly ween her. The weening is going slowly. I started dropping feedings right before she turned 1. I am weening very slowly though since I had a problem with mastitis numerous times so I need to give my body plenty of time to adjust between dropping feedings.

Her birthday party on Saturday was perfect, just what I had in mind. A 1 year old bday party is more for the parents (mom in particular) but it seemed like Alyssa had a lot of fun as well. I made her cake and it turned out pretty well for my first attempt. We had 14 people staying with us over the weekend and that went really well too. All in all, it was a great weekend and thank you to all our families for making the trip to spend the day with Alyssa.

We received the easel off of her wishlist in the mail about a week ago but it did not say who its from. Alyssa would like to send you a thank you note so please let us know if it was you!

well i need to go help Alyssa to sleep somehow...shes been in her crib for almost an hour talking away (which is way better than when she screams the whole time). The past month or 2 she has napped terribly. I keep waiting for her to be old enough to reason with but that may take a while. She has had so much inconsistency all summer (well all her life really) with moving/traveling/Dave leaving over the summer that it messes her napping up. Right when it gets back on track we take a trip again...oh well.

Happy 1st Bday Alyssa Paige!!!!!!

sorry I have been such a bad blogger lately but we have been really busy. We have been traveling a lot and Dave has been working a lot so I haven't had much time for myself to sit down and write/upload pictures. Alyssa is naping now, the house is spotless, laundry done, so I have a few minutes before I go start getting dinner together.

Biggest new right now...its my baby girls first birthday today!!! Theres no way its been a year already...no way! So is all grown up and its happening so fast, too fast. I've always heard people say that they cherish the baby stage more with the second, third, etc child because they know how fast it goes. I surely did cherish it and its a good thing because it is gone! She is walking as her mode of transportation. She took her first steps about a month and a half ago but she was still opting to crawl since it was faster. Well that is no longer the case the past week or so. When she sees something she wants, she sure can pick up the pace, almost to a run now! With crawling, she was fast, but I could hear her little hands smacking the floor and knew she was on the move. With her walking, shes all stealth and I can't hear her running in the opposite direction. I can't take my eye off her for a second.

Last night we went to Chuck-E-Cheese's (since we thought dave was going to have to work tonight...although turns out he doesn't yay!) to celebrate Alyssa's bday. She had a great time and I'm not going to lie, so did Dave and I. There was not a ball pit at this one (it was really small) so we didn't have to worry about her catching 30 different viruses from that nasty thing. I brought hand sanitizer and used it often. We ate pizza although since Alyssa eats so healthy all the time she really doesnt have an interest in junk food. She picked the pinapple and chicken off the pizza and gnawed on the crust then she had some veggies when we got home. Dave tried giving her a bite of his chocolate covered pretzel (which she loves pretzels) but she spit it out. Hopefully she will dig into her cake on Saturday though so she puts on a good show. Her party is this saturday and I am so excited. I am making a fancy cake, getting a bounce house for the kids, and we will be eating some good food...sounds like a great saturday.

Its going to be a crazy weekend to say the very least. We will have 14 people sleeping at our house all weekend. We have 3 bedrooms (only 2 have beds since Alyssa's just has a crib). We will have people in the office/living room/playroom on air matresses. It will be a good time though and there will be 4 little kids to entertain each other, and the adults as well.

I've almost cried like 5 times today thinking about how old my baby is. She is the best thing ever and I can't even remember anymore what my life was like a year ago before I had my little love.

and the parenting part begins

Up until now, parenting has meant feeding, changing, and loving on my baby girl. Well that is no longer true. Alyssa has started throwing little tantrums. And luckily they are just little tantrums that only last a few seconds but still, its very frustrating and embarassing. She was terrible on the plane ride back from MO. She didn't sleep much the night before and didn't nap much during the day of travel but still, I am not trying to excuse her...she was being a little turd and thats all there is to it. Now I need to figure out how I handle these tantrums, we need to now figure out our parenting approach. Time out or is she still too little? Spanking (not hard obviously)? Ignore her and don't give her attention when she does it? A combination of them all? Not sure yet. It was hard on the plane because I did not want to bother the other passengers so I gave in more than I normally would. But maybe she knew she could get away with more in public, everyday I realize how much smarter she is than I give her credit for. Although with the tough parenting part is coming so much fun as well. She continues to show how big of a personality she has. She has this look that she gives people. She frowns her little brow, snarls her lip, and tilts her head down while she looks at you. It makes people laugh and shes figured that out this last week. She is walking around a lot more and really is just a lot of fun. I feel like I hang out with her now, not just watch/take care of her.

Dave was on leave the past 10 days and we spent that time in MD for my cousins wedding and then in MO to visit Dave's family. It went by way too fast and Dave has to go back to work tomorrow morning (and by morning I mean he has to be there by 430 AM!). Alyssa got to play with her cousins Kate and Luke. It was fun to see them hang out since last time they saw each other Alyssa and Luke weren't even sitting by themselves. I took a bunch of pictures in MO and have posted them.

I can not wait for Alyssa's first bday party! I went to the party store today to buy some more stuff. I bought some cake pans and a little picture frame with a pink sharpie for all her guests to sign. Both of our families are going to be there so that will be fun to have everyone together since we always have to travel to separate places to see them. I registered a few little things at a toys r us registry under Alyssa's name since people were asking me for ideas. There isn't much on there since she doesn't really need much. Just any educational toy (preferably not too terribly noisy so it doesnt drive me insane), maybe something to keep her occupied in the car (she hates riding in her new car seat so), or anything else you all think she may like I'm sure she'll appreciate it all!

We have a walker!

Big news this past week is that Alyssa started walking (Saturday to be exact)! She can take a good 10 steps or so before she leaps into your arms. It was pretty funny actually the way she did it. Dave had just been outside working on the lawn and he saw our neighbor, who is a month older than Alyssa. And he told me the little girl was walking now. Well I guess Alyssa didn't want to be shown up so she took a step or 2 towards Dave from the coffee table but slipped on a washcloth (that I had just nicely folded so naturally Alyssa threw the pile, one by one, onto the floor). We were like whoa did she just walk?? So we prompted her to again and sure enough she took like 5 steps to the couch where Dave was sitting. We got all exited and started clapping for her. Now when she walks she takes a few steps, stops to clap for herself, and then walks some more. I guess she is going to be the type where you tell her she can't do it and she will find a way to do it. Hmm wonder where she got that from?

I wasn't working with her on walking at all because I wanted her to wait until dave got back. I wasn't discouraging her by any means but I wasn't pushing it. I am so glad that she waited. And she even did it on a weekend so he wasn't even at work!
But boy am I in trouble now! I thought I was busy before, now the possibilities of what she can get into just grew considerably.

She dances now all the time when she hears music which is too funny. We put on the kids tunes channel on the tv and let her dance.

I have taken a few video of her walking. I haven't gotten anything great on video because she gets all distracted by the camera and just want to grab at it. But she takes quite a few steps in one of them. I will try and post them today sometime. www.youtube.com/dlalewis

Its official...since she toddles around now I guess she's actually considered a toddler!

Safe and Sound

Sunday night Alyssa and I picked up Dave from base! He was gone for almost 6 weeks but is now back safe and was just in time for my birthday the day after. I had Alyssa walk to him (with me holding one hand). We couldn't tell if she actually remembered him or not but she willingly went to him. I was just worried since it was 845 pm (her bedtime) that she would be tired and only want me. This is often a time she won't let other people hold her, so I was really worried since I knew it would hurt Dave's feelings. But she just looked at him for a few seconds and then gave him a big smile. And she soon remembered the game of ripping his patches off his flight suit. He spent the whole next day with us and he put her down for both of her naps and he even spent some alone time with her when I went to get my 1 hour birthday massage :). He's a little rusty on changing a diaper since every one hes put on so far ends up falling off while she crawls around, but thats okay. He can't get over how much more active she is now. When he was making me breakfast on my bday he was like 'babe you have to take her I cant watch her and do this at the same time, she wont stay still'. Welcome to my life the past 6 weeks. It is getting really hard to get anything done while watching her. One second she's right next to you and the next she's in the dishwasher or a cabinet or climbing stairs. He loves that she is more playful now. You don't have to worry about supporting her much, he can hang her upside down, flip her around, etc (within moderation of course). And she loves it all, shes a little monkey.

As far as walking goes, its just a waiting game. She has the physical capability for sure, she just lacks the confidence. She can stand by herself, climb stairs, and walk anywhere as long as one hand is touching something. When she walks holding your hand she doesn't really even use it to help her balance or anything, its just security. So she could be walking today, maybe a month, only she knows at this point.

It is so great to have Dave back, it was a really lonely 6 weeks. Having Alyssa made it less lonely but since she can't talk back there were some days where I never held a face to face conversation. So I joined the gym which has childcare so I could get some 'me' time.

As far as pictures go, I really don't have any to post. While Dave was gone, I took pretty much all of my pictures on my phone so I could send them to him on a daily basis. And I don't think theres a way to get the pictures off my phone to the computer. But I'm sure I'll take lots of us here in the next month since August is going to be super busy. We have a wedding to go to, we are visiting Dave's family in MO, and we are going to take some leave to spend with just the 3 of us.

Not sure if I've already said this but Alyssa's bday party is now Sept 12th! I can't wait, I went and bought some party stuff last week.

DAVE COMES HOME TODAY!!

YAY :)!!!

Pictures are up!

I posted pictures of Alyssa the last few weeks, finally!

Alyssa is growing up too fast. She stands completely on her own for extended periods of time so now I am just waiting for those first steps. She walks all around the house as long as she's holding on to furniture. She's a monkey. She loves to climb. I am her favorite jungle gym, the dishwasher is a close second.

She has a new love for Brody. She is actually starting to play with him, not just annoy him and grab at him. They were playing earlier and she was just belly laughing at him. I wanted to run and get my video camera but she would have followed me so instead I just sat and watched them. She was leaning in letting him lick her face and then she would jsut giggle at him. so cute. Brody is going to enjoy the extra attention for sure since most of his attention was redirected to Alyssa 10 months ago. How crazy is that? My baby is 10 months old. Her birthday party is getting closer and closer and I am so excited for it. She will get her first dessert, birthday cake!

Its getting easier to feed Alyssa since she is eating mostly table food now. Well, healthy table food at least. Still no sweets or fried things. But she gets seasoned chicken and veggies from whatever I cook for dinner and loves to eat chunks of watermelon/cantelope/etc. My veggie garden kind of died while i was in MD but I worked on it yesterday weeding, fertilizing with organic plant food aka chicken poop, and watering...hopefully I salvaged it. I did eat a pepper from my garden with dinner and I think a tomoato may be ready for tonights dinner.

Slacking

Sorry I've been slacking with my weekly updates. We got a new computer (and were waiting on the new one to arrive) so in the interem we were using another computer we couldnt upload pics onto. Now we have the new computer but I am in MD right now and forgot the cord to upload pics. Next week there will be lots of pics, I promise.
Alyssa continues to grow by the minute. I keep thinking she will be walking anyday now, she just needs the confidence. She'll look like shes about to and then she'll drop down and crawl. She never falls over, she just bends her knees and sits. Thats why I think she has the physical capability, she just doesn't know it yet. They say that often good crawlers are late walkers. If this is the case, she wont be walking for a while. Her crawling just keeps getting faster and faster. I don't think I could move that fast on all fours. I also feel like her talking is about to take off. We will be talking to her and she will repeat words that we say. I don't think she knows what shes saying, she's just repeating new sounds/words...but its still funny to hear words come out of her little mouth.
Last week Alyssa was SO sick. Her fever was almost 104. She didn't seem too bothered though and there were no other symptoms. I took her to the doctor and they said probably a virus. She wasn't fussy the whole time until the fever broke actually, and then she was a mess for a few days. And a "mess" for Alyssa means slightly fussy. People still commented on how she was such a happy/good baby, and I was like really? this is her a mess. I guess it finally all just caught up to her and she was exhausted. But shes 100% better now. It is nice to see my little girl feeling well again.
Sleep is the same...great on and off, then not so great on and off. Last night was a not so great night. She didn't get to sleep til 915 because she was crying (I had to pat her butt to sleep) and then woke at 545. I will not get her out of her crib until 7 though. So she cried for almost an hour and then fell back asleep, figures. But since we are in MD, we are sharing a room so I had to just listen to her cry. I finally had to sneak out because I was going crazy. We have a divider up so she can't see me but I think she still knows I'm in the room and not going to get her.
I'll be back in NC soon to upload new Alyssa pictures!

Boob

yep, "Boob"...that was my child's first word. Not so sure I'm too proud of it but she surely said it clear as day. Dave heard it as well. It was right when I was about to feed her so she knew what she was saying. When Alyssa is acting hungry we will say "you want some boobies?", just kidding around. And she has been saying bboo in response. Then the other day she completed the word, and said it a few times. Funny story for the baby book I guess. Hopefully "daddy" will come next...after Boob of course.

Bored...

I waited until today for the post because i knew i would have lots of free time and boredom. I have to stay home from 8 am til 7 pm to wait for the UPS guy to deliver my new computer (its almost 3 now and he's still not here!). They said they couldn't narrow the time down anymore and there has to be someone here to sign for it. I hope it gets here sooner and than later so I don't have to sit around ALL day. And once I get my new computer I can finally upload some pictures. I am using a computer now that we bought but are returning once we get the new one so i don't want to download pictures onto this computer.
So just like i thought, Alyssa is not 28 1/2 inches long. I measured her at home, the same way they do at the doctors office (mark at her head, mark at her foot, move her out of the way and measure between the marks). She is barely 27 3/4. That makes much more sense to me...I knew my girl wasn't tall and skinny. She is however thinning out a little since she is on the move non-stop now. She crawls behind me about as fast as I walk. When I do chores she just follows me around. She'd rather do that than play with her toys. Every day she will do something and I just look at her and think how old she is is getting. We joined a gym and theres a water fountain there she loves. When we walk by it on the way to the nursery she lunges for it and starts her licking.
The past few days she has really been resisting all solid food for some reason, maybe her belly hurts, i don't know. I feel like she is always going through a certain "phase" as far as eating and sleeping goes, both good and bad ones. Which is good since when she is in a difficult phase it makes it easier knowing that it will pass before long. Although time already moves to fast as it is so I try not to even wish the difficult phases away.
As I said last week I'm not going to discuss when Dave will be leaving and for those of you that know when he'll be gone please do not make comments that illude to the fact that hes gone. I appreciate the sympathy but I will jsut have to delete the post if i think it implies anything. Just for ALyssa's and my safety is all. Since the blog is public anyone can read it. It kind of freaked me out because someone left a really innapropriate comment once and it jsut goes to show that random people do read it unfortunately.
So we are starting to think about Alyssa's first birthday party already! We are thinking of Sept 5th since that works out best for Dave's schedule (well the military's schedule rather). Not sure of times and all. I'm pretty sure thats labor day weekend so if anyone wants to come, it gives plenty of travel time for out of towners. I can't beleive she is 9 months already, well 9 1/2 really. She has been here longer than i was pregnant with her now. Wow, that makes me remember how long pregnancy really was. We are starting to entertain the idea of number 2...not yet though, but soon...maybe...

Tall and Thin? Who, Alyssa??

I keep forgetting to post because we just have so much going on right now. Last weekend we had to go to MD last minute for my grandmother's funeral and now we are starting to prepare for Dave's DET (it stands for something meaning training for deployment...Deployment "not sure about the E" Training maybe?) I can not post anything online about when Dave's going because that is not safe for Alyssa and me. Dave and I have not been apart for more than 1 week straight since we met over 5 years ago! Crazy, I know, but true. Alyssa has not been away from him more than a few nights total since she's been born. It is going to be rough for us both and I am just trying to ignore it for now until he leaves and I'll deal with it then. I guess it will be "practice" for deployment...thats what the marine corps tells us as if that makes it any better. I'd rather not have the "practice". Same thing goes for deployment, I won't be discussing Dave on the blog at all, both of us could get in trouble for doing so. If you want any Dave updates you'll have to give me a call or email me at LindsayB727@yahoo.com and I can tell you what I know. We just bought 2 new laptops, one for dave and one for me/alyssa, so we can use the webcams when he's gone. I really want Alyssa to be able to see him as much as possible. I really think she's going to miss him, as much as she's capable of at her age. She gets so excited when we wait at the front door for him everyday when he comes home from work. She smiles bigger when she sees him than any other time. Alright enough about this, its making me think too much about everything...
So now Alyssa's issue is that she is getting stuck standing up. Remember I wrote a month or so ago that she got stuck sitting up, well that only lasted a few days. The standing up thing has lasted almost 2 weeks now. She knows how to sit back down she just doesnt. The second we go in and lay her on her belly, shes out. We've tried letting her stand there and cry to hopefully figure it out but I just feel too bad for my poor baby. If I have to go in and lay her back down, its not a big deal.
Her 9 month stats from her doctor's appt June 10th...19.5 lbs (60th percentile) and 28.5 inches (80th percentile). You're probably thinking I typed the percentiles in there backwards, but I didn't. Tall and thin? yea don't think so. She still gets comments all the time at how chubby she is and about her chunky legs. I do not think they measured her correctly. I measured her at 8 months for her baby book and she was only 27 in. Maybe she really has grown that much, but i dont think so. Maybe I'll measure her again myself. Either way, she's super healthy and the doctor said we are doing everything right. I am going to try and start cutting some breastfeedings out now since she's eating a lot of solids, I just don't know where to start. I feel like if i change her eating schedule I'll have to change her nap schedule. We'll see what I can come up with.
For now just pray for Dave that he'll be safe when he leaves...

Such a Trooper

We went to CA over the weekend to go to our friends', Goot and Michelle, wedding. It was at a beautiful country club and Dave was obsessed with the fact they had mountains there. It was so nice weather wise, mostly just because there was no humidity. I didn't sweat once while I was there...neither did Dave or Alyssa and they are some sweaty people. I was really worried about the time change with Alyssa but she did absolutely perfect. Seriously, perfect. She stayed up until 1 am (east coast time) friday night and 230 am Saturday night. Once we finally got back to the hotel to sleep, she went right down and slept through the night. She also napped great at the hotel during the day. She just adjusted so well. We missed our flight in CA and had to wait in the airport for 12 hours and then catch the red eye home. We spent most of the day in the USO (which is an awesome military resource by the way!) which had a crib for her to nap in. I put her in the moby wrap at 9 pm and she slept all night in it...through security, on the plane, off the plane, layover, on another flight. Each night though she only slept like 8-81/2 hours since when she woke up at 7-8 am in CA it was really like 10-11 to her east coast time...which is crazy late for a baby to sleep in!
And of course at the wedding, she was the little ham she always is and I'm pretty sure Michelle's step dad fell in love with her. It was great because guests at the wedding kept being like 'oh can i hold her' so we were like sure! and it gave us a chance to dance with each other.
We were also able to meet our friend's little boy, Chase, who was born like a month and a half before Alyssa. Alyssa loved him, a little more than he loved her back. She just crawled after him the whole time. He was a little faster though so when she would reach him she would grab him/tackle him. She is just such a rough kid. I was holding Chase and he was gently caressing my necklace, just checking it out. His mom, Jess, was holding Alyssa and she was yanking her earings, bouncing up and down, grabbing, etc. Alyssa also just gets louder by the day. That was everyone's comment over the weekend, how much she just babbles non-stop. There are times, like during the toasts at the wedding, I don't want her to babble so much. But at the same time I don't want to discourage her speech since all she is doing is saying new sounds and all to help her develop. She will respond to shhh somewhat but that child just wants to be heard. And we were also told multiple times that we are going to have our hands full in a few years, nothing we didn't already know. She seems to have a very similar personality that both Dave and I are told we had when we were little. Payback? i guess so.

And she's off!

there is no stopping this child now. She is crawling everywhere and fast. She pulls open drawers and then pulls up on them and tries to empty whats in them. I put her in the playroom and walk away to do something and I look behind me and there she is, just following me. I really need to put up that second baby gate to completely block off that room. Her playroom is completely baby proof and safe and I only leave her in there by herself while i'm in the next room and I can peek in her every minute or so. When shes in there by herself she just destroys the room. Every toy she owns is taken out and scattered around the room. I guess we need to start teaching her how to pickup soon.
We had a great family weekend, with Dave having 4 1/2 days off! He was home half day friday and then he didn't go back to work until this morning. It was wonderful! We went to the beach, the pool, a BBQ, and had our own BBQ/poker night. My dad and his wife Cindi were in town Sat-Sun. We had a very eventful and fun weekend! And this upcoming weekend should be just as fun. Dave only has a 2 day work week this week since we are leaving Friday morning for California for a friends wedding. It will be dave and Alyssa's first trip to CA. We don't know what we are going to do yet about Alyssa staying up at the wedding until 1 am her time. We have a few options so we are just going to go with it, have fun, and deal with the sleep consequences later. We never do that so we are just going to not worry about it and have fun.
Alyssa is starting to respond to little phrases now. She will give kisses if I tell her to, well most of the time. When Dave was putting her to bed the other night I told her to give Daddy kisses. She turned her head and did just that, it was so sweet! She also knows what "no touch" means. If shes going for a cord or cabinet I don't want her to open we say no touch and it really seems like she gets it.
Alright its nap time says the fussy baby grabbing at my legs saying mamamama. I have a few video I will try and post as soon as I can find some free time between packing for the weekend and playing with my sweet girl.

Hold the Dairy

So she has been eating beef and chicken the past week and a half and has loved it. I break it up into tiny pieces and put it on her highchair tray and she feeds herself while Dave and I eat. She also loves plain whole milk organic yogurt and cheeses. If she didn't want to finish her veggies I could put a little yogurt on them and she would eat it up. But...she did not sleep through the night for a week straight so I started thinking of what was different. My first thought was teething, but I still don't see any teeth. Second thought was that her ear infection had come back, but no fever. And then I realized she had been eating all this new food and it might be bothering her. So I decided I would cut out just the dairy to test if thats what was hurting her belly. She hasn't eaten diary the past 2 days and has slept from 845-7 straight the last 2 nights. So I don't think her little belly can tolerate dairy yet. Hopefully shes not lactose intolerant but just needs to be introduced to diary a little slower.
Alyssa is so mobile now. From the belly to crawling to sitting to crawling, etc. However it is posing a problem come naptime. The second I laid her in her bed this afternoon she got to a sitting position and then obviously can't fall asleep that way. She gets frustrated and cries and then forgets she knows how to get back to her belly/back to sleep. It is now 4 pm and I've been trying to get her to lay down since 3 pm. I keep laying her back down and she just pops back up. And when shes sitting, she can see all around her room and it distracts her. I don't know what to do here. Let her scream until she figures it out? Keep going in and laying her back down? I don't know. I was going to post pictures and all while she napped this afternoon but I don't forsee a nap in her future unless I take her out of her crib and rock/walk her to sleep. So either way, I doubt there will be pictures up today, sorry Mom.
I finally figure out the dairy thing and now its the sitting up thing...its always something.
Well she is absolutely screaming her head off to the point where it sounds like shes losing her sweet little voice so I am going to go get my little peanut and let her nap on me....hopefully I'll post pictures tomorrow.

Our first family trip to the beach

On Mother's Day we all went to the beach (well minus Brody since we didn't know where the dog beach was). We got Alyssa all lubed up with lotion and a big brimmed hat. She wore her swim diaper and new bathing suit(size 24 months and it fit!). She liked the sand and seashells a lot however all she wanted to do was eat them both. When we took her down to the water she was a little unsure. She absolutely loves the bathtub and splashing, but thats warm water. The ocean was still pretty chilly so she was a little unsure. After a few minutes she started having fun and smiling. After we were finished playing in the water we sat on a blanket under an umbrella so that new baby skin didn't get too much sun and burn. She wasn't a huge fan of the clean up though. They had an outside shower we washed off in, but it was all cold water, no warm at all. And then we still found more sand in the bath that night that was hiding in all of her roll creases.
Dave cooked us dinner and since it was May 10th, Alyssa's 8th month bday, she was allowed to try some of the chicken (before it was added to the chicken chilli). She liked it a lot. She tried some ground beef last night and really liked that too. I chopped it up really small and put it in a pile on her tray and she fed herself while Dave and I ate. Entertainment and nourishment all in one.
Since she is 8 months now she can start eating chicken, beef, pork, egg yolks, cooked dry beans, and whole milk yogurt and cheeses. Our family and friends should be happy about this because everyone always wants to feed her. Maybe its because shes so chubby, I don't know. As soon as someone picks her up they want to give her a sip or bite of whatever they are eating and I am pretty strict with what I let her eat. I follow the doctor's instructions completely, which I'm sure isn't always necessary, but I'm just trying to do whats best for Alyssa's health and teach her good eating habits. I am trying to feed her organic foods since I don't want her eating all those pesticides. Especailly in little girls, they are now saying all the hormones in meats are causing them to have their periods earlier. We don't need that. I am having a lot of trouble though finding organic foods in Jacksonville. I make her own baby food so there aren't any perservatives, salts, fillers, etc. Since I can't really find much organic, I planted my own vegetable garden for her last night! Hopefully in a month or two we will have all the zuchini, squash, eggplant, tomatoes, cucumber, and peppers the family can eat. Now I just have to keep Brody from peeing on them or eating them himself.
She is now pulling up on stuff easily and is starting to stand by herself for a few seconds. The last 2 weeks she has really been doing new stuff all the time. Its crazy how much can change in just a few weeks in a baby's world.
I think she might be getting those top teeth. its been about 2 months since the bottom ones came in so its about time for the top. She woke up in the middle of the night 2 nights ago crying and she has been doing a weird thing with her tongue. Its like she rubbing her tongue on her top gums. So I assume she is teething but I can't see or feel anything yet.
When I get around to it I am also going to post an album of Alyssa's Baptism from a few weeks ago. I posted a video of Alyssa at the beach at www.youtube.com/dlalewis

My Catholic Girl

Alyssa is now officially a Catholic! We had her baptism on Sunday and it was really nice. There were five babies that were baptized together. It was not part of a church service, which was nice so the focus was just on the babies. And the focus was mostly on Alyssa since she was the only one that made a noise. All of the other babies were just hanging out not talking or moving. My little monkey was as loud as can be. She wasn't fussy at all, just talking away. She was grabbing at the priest's bible, dave's dog tags, etc. She was smiling everytime he came up to her. It was adorable when they were pouring the water on her head, she looked back at him and smiled. There is a really good picture of it. She sure does have a big personality on her now! Alyssa was even the 2nd to youngest baby, so its not like it was all sleeping newborns. But somehow none of the other babies made a peep. I'm going to have a little talker. We also had about half of the total guests even though there were 4 other babies being baptized, so thanks to everyone who came and supported Alyssa! She did very well at her little party afterwards, staying awake and happy until everyone left around 415 when naptime is usually around 245. I sent out thank you notes to everyone who gave alyssa a baptism gift and it just dawned on me I did not write a return address on them. So if for some reason you did not get a card, i may have gotten you're address wrong and now the letter is lost at a post office somewhere...but thank you very much, we did appreciate your gift!
I posted a few pictures but they are just ones my mom emailed me and they are really small and fuzzy in the album. I'll post better ones next week when I get the cd of pictures in the mail.
The rest of the trip was nice. I got to see some of my high school classmates that I hadn't seen in a while.
She is just such a little ham still, maybe she'll be a performer. When we are at the grocery store or in line somewhere she will just pick out a person and stare at them until they notice her. As soon as they look at her she puts on a huge smile and kicks in excitement.
For some non-Alyssa news...Dave finished the rag yesterday! Although he was technically finished with flight school in September when he got his wings, he still had to study in the rag and all so it was still like school. No more studying now which is good for all 3 of us! He will be moving to his new squadron next week so I can finally meet all the wives that I will be around for the next few years. We went out to dinner to celebrate and I made some chocolate and strawberry crepes for dessert!
I am going to post a video when I have time...its of Alyssa playing fetch with Brody. Well she really doesn't throw it as much as just place it in Brody's mouth, but its really cute. She loves her Brody!

Both sets of Grandparents in 1 week=a spoiled rotten girl

This last week Alyssa has been sick. She has been really snotty and has had a cough. Fri-Sun nights she did not sleep through the night. She would wake up screaming as if she was in pain. Once in a while she will still wake in the middle of the night but she will just talk to herself for a minute and fall back asleep....so her waking up screaming was just weird. It took us like an hour to get her comfortable and back to sleep. So I took her to the doctors yesterday and my poor baby has her first ear infection. Its only in one ear and its not a bad one but I still feel bad for her. We got some antibiotic drops so hopefully she will be back to normal again soon. I guess its Dave's turn to be sick next...
This past weekend Alyssa got to spend time with her Nana and Pawpaw (Dave's parents). So now of course she has a few new dresses and the cutest pair of sandals ever! I want a big pair! She was spoiled and held all weekend, but thats what grandparents are for. Dave was also able to get working on cleaning out that garage, which is one of the last things we need to do on the house before we move to the outside. He also cut down some overgrown trees/bushes that were up against the house. This is the never ending project!
This upcoming weekend Alyssa gets to see the other side of the family and be spoiled even more! We are going up to MD to get Alyssa baptized. It will be at 1 pm on Sunday at Our Lady of the Chesapeake so if anyone wants to come, I'm sure Alyssa would love the support! She will be wearing a little white dress that was my moms when she was a baby. With the short notice we didn't have time to make her one but the heirloom thing will be special and also common with christening dresses. I think we are going to fix it up a little to make it more like a christening dress and then make a matching bonnet. She'll look sweet in anything :).
We are now feeling the rush to babyproof. This morning I put Alyssa on the floor sitting up. She got down to her stomach and scooted over to the electrical outlet and was reaching up for it. What is it with kids and electrical outlets? Since we have the wood laminate flooring throughout the entire house she has figured out that she can just slide around. I don't know if she'd be able to get around on carpet, she may be very confused as to why she can't slide.
I can't wait to get some sweet pictures of Alyssa in her christening gown, I'll post them next week!

Little Monkey

First of all, sorry I didn't post last week but I was in rough shape...to say the least. From Wednesday evening to Sunday afternoon I was SO sick. I could not hold any food or water down but I still wanted to breastfeed so Alyssa could get the antibodies to the virus I had in hopes she didn't get sick (which cross your fingers it works, it has so far). I was so dehydrated I had to go to the er on friday and get iv fluids and anti-vomiting meds so I could keep down at least a little water so I made sure my milk supply didn't go away (it did lower a little but I have enough milk to feeds triplets so Alyssa still had plenty) . I have never been that dehydrated, it was miserable. So needless to say, I was not in the mood to download pictures and look at a computer screen since I barely got out of bed until Sunday. Now that I can eat/drink again I'll hopefully be packing on the pounds I lost...7 (but I feel most of that is dehydration). I got down to 104.5 lbs, not good...I felt like such a little weakling, I could barely lift my little girl...

Today I am feeling decent although now Alyssa is getting sick. She has a fever and a runny nose and a raspy cough. This just started today, hopefully it doesn't get too bad!

So more on the little monkey, which is exactly what Alyssa is these days. She squirms and wiggles all over the place now. If Dave and I are sitting on the couch with her she crawls from one lap to the next, from sitting to on her stomach, etc. However when shes on the ground she still doesn't move like that for some reason. I think its because we have hardwood floors and she's afraid it will hurt her if she falls on them, and Dave and I are nice and squishy to crawl on :). She also can do more than she knows. She still hadn't rolled from her back to front (this was like 2 months ago), so i showed her how one time and she's done it ever since. The past few days Dave has been taking care of her and he taught her how to put her blocks into the box they go into. She'll be chewing on one and you tell her to put it in the box and she does. Its so fun to watch her learn! However the days of disipline aren't far away. She does stuff now she knows shes not supposed to and will just look at us and smile. She definitely knows now when she's being a little spoiled thing. I believe kids are waaay smarter than adults give them credit for. I think I'll give her another month or so and then the discipline will start...and I think she is going to give me a run for my money, she's already a sassy little thing. And boy can she turn it on when there are people around, in a good way. She is such a little ham! She is so smiley and now she's started doing a little head tilt along with her smile to ham it up even more.

We were going to finish up the house this weekend however that didn't happen, in fact it looks like a tornado hit it...that's what happens when Daddy plays Mommy for 4 days!

oh and her hair is now long enough for pigtails, exciting day for me!

Almost 7 months old!?!

This is the last week I will be adding pictures to the 6th month album! How is my baby girl already 7 months?? (She will turn 7 months tomorrow, the 10th). I wish she had baby wellness checkups every month so I could get her stats but her next one isn't until 9 months. She is growing like a little weed is all I know! "That baby doesn't miss a meal does she?", "Look at those thighs", "She looks like a cabbage patch baby"...just a few comments I get about my little chubbster. And honestly, what good mother lets their infant miss a meal anyway??
The past two days I have done a class on base for marine wives and Alyssa has been in the nursery from 9-1 and has done wonderfully. I was worried because I did a trial gym membership where I left her in the nursery and she screamed (which she never does) and just hated it. It must have just been the caretakers there or the place that made her uncomfortable because she liked another gym nursery I also did a trial at. She loved playing with the other kids at the nursery, although so much that she didn't get her normal 9 am nap until 1 pm when we left, oh well. I try to keep her naps on a schedule when I can but I also want her to be flexible.
I am excited for Alyssa's first easter. We have a neighborhood easter egg hunt saturday where she will get her picture taken with the easter bunny :). I doubt she'll do much hunting for eggs but it will still be fun to go and meet some neighbors since we still haven't gotten to know many. Hopefully now that its getting nicer out we will see more people out and about to meet. I need to find Alyssa some more playtime buddies.
House update...its SO close! We just have to go back room to room and do some little things. Fix a few patches that we though looked good but after painting we realized we need to fix, change out some switches/faceplates, fill in some nail holes in quarterround, paint the stair railings, and put a fresh coat of white paint on all of the doors in the house. I also have to still decorate most of the rooms in the house and put up/make some new curtains to match. We are on the home stretch...finally! Knowing the slow progress though it still won't be finished for another month. Especially now that its getting nice out, we are at the playground a lot, alyssa loves the swings and just the outdoors in general. And then we are going to start on the outside, but just the normal amount of yard work needs to be done considering none has been done all winter.
I will post pictures of before/after when we can finally take afters!

A few little firsts...

Alyssa can now feed herself! While we eat we always sit Alyssa in her highchair so she can get used to sitting/behaving at the table. Lately we have been putting cheerios or gerber graduate puffs on her tray for her to play with/snack on. While eating breakfast Saturday morning she successfully got the first puff into her mouth all by herself. She has been trying for a little bit now but since they pretty much melt in your mouth, they melt to her drooly hands and stick. Since then she has been putting them in one right after another. Its getting easier since shes starting to be able to pinch them more instead of grasp them in her palm to pick them up. Dave was happy that she did a first while he was home and could see her. But now we really need to be careful about all the other tiny things she can grasp and put into her mouth. Its really going to make us hurry up and finish this house so there aren't loose screws and things she can find. Especially since she will be on the move really soon, she already spins and scoots.
She can also now clap her hands, its the cutest thing! This morning when we were eating breakfast I was trying to get her to and she kind of did. When Dave came home for lunch I told him she almost did so we tried to get her to do it and she did! She was imitating us and clapping her little hands. Even though these are little firsts, feeding herself and clapping her hands, Dave and I get SO excited when she does them!
Alyssa's favorite "toy" right now is a tag. A tag on a stuffed animal, the tag on her playmat, the tag that was attached to her carseat when it was checked for our flight, etc. She doesn't care what kind of tag, she just loves them. I take off the paper tags that come on toys and all since when they are mixed with Alyssa drool, they fall apart. So its the little cloth tags that she plays with. One of my friends told me about a stuffed animal type toy that just had tags hanging off it everywhere. I found a site www.taggies.com and I knew Alyssa would love everything on it. The stuff is pretty expensive though so I went to the fabric store and made her a blanket and stuffed toy with tags (pieces of ribbon) all over it. She really likes them.
I am going to try and post a video of bathtime. We lay her on her back (she is completely supervised and we place her head at the back of the tub so theres barely any water even under her head) and she just kicks away!

Little Chub

We went to the doctors about a week and a half ago and she was 26 inches long (55th percentile) and 16 lbs 8 ounces (75th percentile). So Shes still on the same track as far as percentiles go, the chubby one :). I Love her being a little chubby though, that way I don't have to worry about if shes getting enough to eat. I remember when she was first born I would stress over if she was eating enough. Now we all know Alyssa isn't starving. I've actually dressed her in a few 12 month shirts if i can't find another to match an outfit. I always figure they will be too big but they really aren't.
The second tooth is through and you can actually see both of them when she smiles now. Its such a cute little smile. I wish she'd just keep those 2 for a while, one because its so cute and two I don't want to go through teething again soon.
Last week Alyssa and I took a plane ride to MD to help my mom out. She was great on the plane ride and just slept on me most of the time. She loved having so many people in such a tight space because there were plenty of people for her to smile at. Everyone asks me when we are out if she ever stops smiling. She really doesn't when we are out and about. Shes very easy to take places and is a very social baby.
Her hair is getting so long, especially on top. She had her first real pony tail on St. Patrick's Day with a rubber band and all. Soon it will be long enough for pig tails!

Where did my little baby go?

Alyssa turned 6 months old yesterday! She seems like such a little lady now and not an infant anymore. I was looking at old pictures yesterday and I can't believe how tiny she used to be. She has her 6 month check up tomorrow so I will get her stats which I always love. Although there will be more shots. Good thing she is so good with them or else I would be a mess since I always have to go alone since Dave can never get off work for them. She has actually thinned out a little bit in the past few weeks. I feel like she goes in waves. She plumps up and then thins out as she grows, although her thinning out is still chubby :).
Tooth #2 is on its way. We had another rough night two nights ago. With the first tooth we had a rough night and then like 2-3 days later the tooth poked through. So I guess the second one should be through in just a few days. You can see the tooth when she smiles now but its still hard to see with the camera. I think the pool of drool that surrounds it gives a glare on the camera or something.
Eating is going better. She ate the squash I made last week, but very reluctantly. So I gave in and started her on fruits. She eats about an inch long piece of banana smashed up. Although I trick her and slip in either squash or peas. She will actually swallow whole bites of peas which is a huge improvement. Today she ate about a tablespoon each of peas and bananas. After we get fruits and veggies down, crackers are apparently next. I'll ask the doctor tomorrow about what kind of crackers and all. How is she already old enough to have teeth and eat crackers?!

Teeth!

The past few nights and days Alyssa has not been sleeping well at all. Last night she was up screaming on and off from like 1:30-4:30. She has also been really hard to get to nap. This was really disappointing since she had been doing SO well lately. She was sleeping from like 845-715 (although her wake up time is getting earlier and earlier unfortunately) and napping for 1 1/2 hrs in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. I was afraid it was the peas I had been trying to force her to eat and maybe they were hurting her belly. I also had tomato sauce for the first time since she was 6 weeks old and I figured she still just might not be able to handle it. And then yesterday I think I found the root of our problems....her first tooth!!! I noticed a little white line on her gums yesterday and I got so excited. I don't know why I am so excited for her first tooth, but I really am. I couldn't feel anything yet though until last night right before bed. I could feel just a little something sharp. So I think her bottom left tooth will be showing here in the next day or so. I can also see a faint white line on her bottom right side so I am assuming that tooth is only a few days behind the left.
I am kind of sad I won't be seeing that little baby gummy smile anymore but I also love the baby smile with just the bottom two teeth.
My camera battery is charging right now so I will post more pictures to the month 5 album and maybe a video of her eating. I mashed some sweet potato when Dave and I had them the other night and she didn't like that either. The video of it is really funny. She is just happy as can be smiling looking around and then she sees the spoon coming and clamps her mouth shut! Shes getting a little sassy personality on her. She definately knows what she wants now. So far we have tried avacado, peas, and sweet potatoes. She locks her little mouth shut for all of them. And the more I try to force her the worse it get so we just keep on trying new things. I made some summer squash puree today so I am going to try that when she wakes up. If that doesn't work, we are moving on to fruits since they are sweeter. I wanted to do veggies first but she just won't eat them so maybe I'll get her eating fruits first and then mix some veggies in there. She needs to start eating so she can use those brand new teeth she'll be sporting here soon!

lots of video :)

Since I haven't posted video in a while, I am posting 4 of them on youtube.com/dlalewis. Alyssa is becoming more active now the videos are getting a little more eventful. Although because we have been taking more video, we have been slacking on normal pictures, sorry.
Alyssa has moved on from the bathtub seat to sitting in the tub all by herself during bathtime. She loves to splash and play with her toys. Although with that slippery baby butt plus soap it is a little slippery in there so Dave or I are close by in case she slips (like she did in the video). But for the most part she just reaches for all of her rubber duckies and loves to play and splash around.
She is still going to sleep around 8:45 but for some reason has been wanting to get up at 6:30 instead of 7:15. I know its only 45 minutes, but having that extra sleep for me makes a world of difference the rest of the day. We are going to work on that somehow...
I think I am going to try and start feeding her lunch (some sort of veggie) soon. The only thing I have in the house to try today is avocado and she hated that last time, but I think we may try again. I am going to buy some peas and sweet potatoes to make some baby food in the next week or so. We moved on from rice cereal to oatmeal cereal last night and she seemed to like it. I tried it, and it did have a little sweeter of a taste than the rice. I'll still give her the rice as well, probably mix the two once shes used to the oatmeal.
Nothing else too new...just learning and growing by the day!

pictures

not sure why I can't get the pictures to load on the blog. They are on the internet so just go here...
http://picasaweb.google.com/lindsayb727/Month5#

Losing count of how many weeks exactly...

Now that we are up into the 20's as to how many weeks old Alyssa is, I'll have to stop labeling the posts by weeks and start getting a little more creative...
This past weekend my mom and cousin were in town. Its nice to see family with Alyssa and see how loved this little girl is. She is going to be spoiled rotten soon. Dave and I were able to go out to dinner for Valentine's Day while my mom kept Alyssa. We also went out for a few drinks with some friends afterwards. I had like 2 1/2 drinks all night and Dave probably 3 1/2 and we realized this is the extent of our partying nowadays, which is fine with us. Now that we wake up every morning at 7:15, staying out late and drinking really does not interest me. Plus, I still just miss Alyssa the whole time I'm gone. Maybe thats just because this was only like the 3rd time I've left her. It was nice though to go out with friends and just hang out without having to worry about being home in time for bedtime and all.
Alyssa can now walk as far as she needs to in order to reach something (holding our hands obviously). If we set her on the floor, she will walk to Brody or someone else sqauting on the floor. She is getting chubbier by the day. When I took her to the doctors for her 4 month on the 23rd on January she weighed in at 14 lbs 6 ozs. I took her to the doctors last week, just 3 weeks later, and she now weighs 15 lbs 8 ozs. She gained 1 lb 2 oz in just 3 weeks! And besides like 2 oz of cereal before bed, she is still eating only breastmilk. I can't imagine how much she is going to gain once she gets real/baby food. Oh and she was 24 1/2 inches at both appointments, haha! So no growth in length, only girth :). She has outgrown a lot of her 3-6 month clothes and is into her 6-9 and even some of her 6-12 month jeans. My little peanut isn't so little anymore.
She is actually starting to get more snuggly, which I love. She is just always so curious and alert and wanting to look around that she won't lay her head down on me. But now that she is getting more active, it must be wearing her out because when shes sleepy she'll lay her little head on my shoulder. I wish she was that sleepy all the time so I could jsut snuggle her all day long.

5 months!!

my baby girl turned 5 months yesterday, how crazy! She is getting so big, so fast. She keeps doing new things all the time. She is starting to make a scooting motion when we have tummy time in the morning. Every morning we (well just Alyssa not me :)) have naked tummy time to let her air out and hang out without a diaper. She is also starting to do the superman thing during tummy time, lifting both her legs and arms off the ground at the same time. Also in the last few days she has starting walking when we hold her hands. I was amazed when she started doing it the other night when I was holding her up to stand. She does every other foot like shes supposed to and it looks like she is trying to get somewhere while she does it. She only does like 10 or so steps but its so cute when Dave has her do it towards me!
So I kind of jinxed myself last week saying sleep was going much better. Its not going too bad, but she has her good nights where she sleeps 10-10.5 hours straight and others where she still wakes up. Last night she cried (well more of a whine/complain) on and off for about 1 1/2 hours. She'd fall back asleep then wake up 15 minutes later, whine a few minutes, fall back asleep. She never really got into a real cry. We were trying to do away with the paci in the middle of the night, if we could easily at least. She didn't scream so thats a plus but we eventually gave it to her because Dave and I wanted to get back to sleep. They say do the same thing when they wake in the middle of the night as you do at bedtime and since she no longer gets a paci for bedtime or naps we thought we'd try it in the middle of the night. Not sure if we are going to continue it this way or not. This whole sleep thing has taken a lot of trial and error, so we'll see. From now on if no sleep/napping issues are posted, it means its going well. I feel like whenever I say it out loud I jinx myself!
Sorry no pictures this week. My camera battery died last week right after I uploaded the blog pictures and I could not find my camera charger. I'm sad I missed out on an entire week of taking pictures of my little peanut. I thought I left it at my moms house last weekend but I just found it in a bag we took so the battery is charging as I type.
The house is still in progress, we try to do at least one little thing a night like hang a light fixture or put up a little quarterround. Yesterday during one of Alyssa's naps I cleaned out the office and unpacked a bunch of boxes that had just been sitting around. We'll get there, slowly.
This weekend my mom and cousin are coming down to visit. The trip was planned before we even knew it was Valentine's Day weekend. So my mom is going to watch Alyssa while Dave and I go to dinner. Last Valentine's Day I was pregnant, super sick, and on bed rest so this one should be a little more enjoyable for us. It will be only the 2nd time Dave and I have gone to dinner without Alyssa.
I made a recipe that used avacado the other night so I saved a little and mashed it for Alyssa to try. I think its fair to say she absolutely hated it. She even gagged, and not because it was too thick because I added some breastmilk to it to make it the same consistancy as her rice cereal she scarfs down every night. She made a terrible face and was gagging, I hope shes not going to be a picky eater. Dave and I aren't at all so we'll just keep letting her try it when we have it.

21 weeks

Sleep is no longer a big issue for us. She is doing much better. She sleeps from 8:30/9-7/7:15. So sleeping 10 hours or sometimes a little longer is wonderful. She still does wake up some nights for a paci but since she falls asleep without one now so I guess she needs it less in the middle of the night. Enough on sleep, I don't want to jinx (however you spell that) her! Napping is going just ok. Some days are good, others, not so much.
Dave and I went skiing last weekend in MD. It was Dave's first time and my first time since we met. He did really well, except for when he took me out getting off the ski lift for the first time. It was my first full day away from Alyssa. I fed her in the morning then was home in time to feed her at night but was without her from like 9-7. I missed her but it was great having a day with just Dave.
She will be 5 months in just 5 days, where has the time gone? Everything now goes straight into her mouth and she is really interested in everything Dave and I are eating. I still can't believe how well she sits up and plays. All of my books I read on baby development say babies will sit up unsupported to play at 6-7 months, 5 if they are early. She isn't even 5 months and has been doing it for weeks! I have a little strong girl :).
I am going to start making Alyssa her bows. They cost like 3-5 dollars per bow to buy and are really cheap and fun to make. I made a few with the little ribbon I got, I need to get some more ribbon soon.
House update: kind of at a standstill. We have decided that spending time with Alyssa and each other is most important right now and the house will get done when it gets done. The kitchen is finished enough to cook in and the bedrooms are livable. We really can't wait to finish it but rushing like we were while having a little baby was just too stressful. Its hard for me since I am very organized and our house is far from it but oh well, somethings gotta give and it can't be time with each other.

Big Girl

On Friday we went to Alyssa's 4 month well baby checkup. She weighed in at 14 lbs 6 ounces (75th percentile) and 24 1/2 inches (50th percentile). Her head size was in the 50th percentile as well. So she's a little chubby thing still. She got her 4 month shots and did wonderfully. After the first shot she didn't make a peep and for the second she fussed a little, but only while the medicine was being injected. As soon as the needle was out, she was smiling again. People comment all the time how she is just a happy baby, and she really is. We are continuing to feed her rice cereal before bed and shes eating a pretty good amount now.
She is doing really well sitting up. Since right around 4 months she has been able to sit if her hands are on the floor in front of her but now she can just sit there with nothing aiding her. She can even sit while she plays with toys or pets Brody. Petting/grabbing at Brody's fur is her new favorite thing. Just in the past few days she has gotten a fascination for Brody. If I need to entertain her for a little while I just call Brody over. He lays down right in front of her and just lets her grab at him. He is really really tolerant with her. Occasionally he will try to get up and walk away but if we tell him to stay he will.
And lastly, a big event in Alyssa's life this past week was getting her ears pierced last night! They look so adorable. It makes her pretty little face look even cuter (if possible :)). They pierced them one at a time (but only like 5 seconds apart). For some reason the lady said it was easier that way on babies. I never heard that but if thats the way she felt more comfortable, she was the one doing the piercing. She let out a scream but only cried for maybe 15 seconds. As soon as I could turn her around and talk to her she was fine. They don't seem to be bothering her at all either. They didn't effect her sleep at all last night. I've cleaned them twice already and they don't even seem sore. I guess baby skin does heal really fast. I know some people don't agree with piercing babies ears but heres my reasoning:
1. She is going to want them done eventually. And if for some reason she doesn't (which I've never met a little girl who didn't) then she can just take them out and they will close up. No harm done.
2. She is young enough that she doesn't mess with them. If she were a little older, she'd have the coordination to grab and pull them.
3. She still sleeps on her back, she can't yet roll from her back to stomach. So when she sleeps at night, shes not laying on her ears. I know that when most babies can, they roll to their stomachs to sleep and therefore lay on one side of their head.
4. She had no clue what was going on. There was no anticipation/being nervousness for her before they were done. And she doesn't put on a show and cry longer than it actually hurt, like older kids do.
5. She just looks so darn cute in her little diamonds (fake obviously)! Dave calls them her Bling :)

I am actually going to try and post a few short videos of her on youtube.com/dlalewis sometime today.

Publish Post

weeks 18 & 19

Sleep has been our main issue lately. "They" say once a baby is 14 lbs they should be able to go long enough without eating to sleep through the night. Alyssa is about 14 lbs now. We used to rock her to sleep while she sucked on her paci but shes old enough that she needs to learn to put herself to sleep. I have read/skimmed through 2 books on how to get your child to sleep through the night. We decided to kind of use the "cry it out" method...but modified. We give her a bath, lube her up with lotion before putting her in pjs, semi-swaddle her (both of her arms are free now, its just wrapped around her body...we are in the processing of weaning her from needing to be swaddled), read her a story, and then lay her in bed awake BUT still with a paci. If she doesn't drop her paci she will just lay there and watch her aquarium for a few minutes and drift off to sleep...all by her self. So that is a big improvement. We don't have to rock her/walk around with her for 20 minutes and then slowly try to get her into bed and sneak out without her waking. But she still does need her paci to soothe herself to sleep. If she drops it we let her cry for 5 minutes before going back into the room. We will then sneak in and put the paci back into her mouth and sneak out, trying not to let her see us. It usually doesn't take more than 2 or 3 times and sometimes we don't need to go back in at all. So getting her to sleep is easy now BUT her staying asleep isn't going quite as well. Last night she went to bed at 9 pm and didn't wake up for the day until 7:45 however she woke up at 1 am, 3 am, and 6 am for us to put her paci back in her mouth. We used the same process in the middle of the night and it took about 2-3 times each time. Dave and I are kind of torn as to where to go from here. Should we TRY to wean her off her paci so maybe she won't need it in the middle of the night, which would be a really rough process. She has had an extremely hard suck and desire to suck since the day she was born. Right after delivery the nurse said she looked like she'd be a pacifier baby. Or do we wait it out until she is old enough to find the pacifier and put it back into her mouth herself. We are only awake about 15 minutes each time, which is do-able. If she could just get herself back to sleep when she woke, she would be sleeping about 10 hours each night, which would be amazing. I hate hearing her cry for those 5 minutes (as she is doing at this moment) but I think I am doing the best thing for her trying to teach her how to self soothe.
Nap time we do the same thing. She wakes up after 30 minutes every time though...to the minute...literally. And then sometimes she will go back to sleep after a few crying cycles. When the time comes to pick her up out of her crib at the end of the set nap duration, I hate seeing those little tears and red face. She is so happy to see me though which makes me feel bad.
So sleep is improving but we still have a lot of work to do...
We started feeding her rice cereal last week. Since doing that is when she has been able to go from 9-7 without eating. She is doing okay with it. I'd say half ends up on her shirt and on her face at the end of it, but shes getting better. I'll try to upload a video during tonight or tomorrow.
Alyssa got to see her first snow a few days ago, which got Dave off of work yesterday and not have to go in until 12 today....All for about 2 inches. It was great to have him home so we could work on the house. We tiled/grouted the kitchen and painted the kitchen blue. The appliances are getting delivered Saturday and the countertops in about a week or so.
Alyssa has her 4 month baby wellness appointment this friday and I'm so excited to see her stats and percentiles, but not so much about the shots. I am also going to ask the doctor about piercing her ears. I think we might wait until the sleep situation is under control though, which will hopefully be soon.
She just keeps getting more and more interactive and its so fun to watch her learn. You can really see the wheels turning in that little head of hers as she plays.

sorry...

sorry for not posting this week but Alyssa has decided to essentially stop sleeping this past week. She is awake from like 3-5 am crying/wanting to be awake and then won't nap more than 25 minutes, IF she naps at all. So that doesn't even give me enough time to upload pictures and all. And honestly with the sleep deprivation, I haven't taken too many anyway. I'll try to post some next week...

Video

there are 2 new videos at www.youtube.com/dlalewis
One is Alyssa making a goofy face. She gets excited and straightens her arms out and makes that face. The other is Dave showing off his little 'trick'. She has been strong enough to do this for a few weeks now but Dave just started doing it in front of me because I thought she was too little before.

17 weeks

Our baby girl will be 4 months old on Saturday! She is still doing great and we all had a great Christmas/New years. Sorry it has been a while since I've written but we were out of town for Christmas and then just got internet hooked up at our new house a few days ago. I know some of you (Briana and Mom) have been checking daily for the post.
We went to MD for Christmas where of course Alyssa was spoiled. Dave still has not seen Alyssa roll over because right after she did it for the first time we went out of town and then Dave's parents were in NC with us so she was never layed down to do it again. She was quite fussy today, probably because I actually tried sitting her down and she hasn't been in about 2 weeks. I also think she is getting a cold again. She just got better about a week ago but now she is getting all congested again.
Dave and his Dad installed our cabinets in our new house over the weekend. Its nice to finally be able to put away all of the kitchen boxes that are laying around the house. We are officially living in the new house, we had to be out of the rental at the end of December. The house is in livable condition but we still have so much more work to do. We have already painted the upstairs, tiled both upstairs bathrooms, installed the new bathroom vanities, painted the living room, installed kitchen cabinets, and a few other small things. We still need to finish the upstairs bathrooms (fixtures, etc), put quarterround in the whole house, paint the rest of the downstairs, install the downstairs bathroom vanity and fixtures, paint the downstairs ceilings, change out the outlets and faceplate covers downstairs, landscape, put up a privacy fence, replace all ceiling fans upstairs and down, install kitchen countertops, tile the kitchen, put in all new kitchen appliances, and a few other smaller things. At least now we can see progress. I can't wait until its all finished. We are aiming to have it finished by the end of January, besides the fence and landscaping which we are going to do in the Spring. I can't wait to decorate and get all of our stuff situation. I'm hoping once Alyssa gets a little consistancy as to where we are living she will start sleeping better at night...I hope.
Alyssa is still doing wonderfully. She gets cuter and sweeter everyday. She was watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Saturday morning and was laughing at it. She was definitely watching the tv too, it was funny. Dave is excited to have an excuse to watch Saturday morning cartoons again.
She is kind of capable of sitting up. As you can see from the pictures, she sits quite well in her new bathtub. She was getting frustrated in the infant one where she has to lay down. The entire time we bathed her in it she would just struggle to sit up.
Alyssa's bald spot is growing more and more, poor baby. I looked in her crib the other day and found a bunch of hair where she lays her head at night. oh well, it will grow back. At least the hair on top is still growing longer making it easier and easier for her bows to stay in :). I can't wait until her 4 month doctor's appointment on the 23rd to see her percentiles!