1 Year Stats!

Annabelle is 22.12 lbs and 29.75 inches long
At birth she was 9lbs 9 ounces and 20 inches long.

Happy 1st Birthday!

To my beautiful girl on your first birthday,
Mommy and daddy could have never dreamed of having a baby like you.  You are the greatest thing we could have ever asked for in life.  You are sweet, silly, stubborn, funny, lovable, and just have such a great personality.  I don't think we would have had a better baby if we were able to pick each gene/trait that went into you - you are the best of each of us.  You are so full of personality, you just light up my day each and every day.  Daddy smiles at the thought of seeing you even before he gets into the front door, I can see him through the window :)  You try and run away now and hide when you hear him jingle at the door knob.  Its such a fun game for you to see your daddy.  When I pick you up at the sitters you just smile at me and say "hey" as you wave to me.  Sometimes you even whine because you want me to hurry and pick you up so you can hug me.  Then you want to go back to the sitter to give her a bye bye hug.  I adore you and your little face more than you will ever know.  You are pleased with almost everything, except when it comes to riding in the car.  You used to love that so much but momma spoiled you by feeding you as daddy drove.  Now you always want momma to feed you in the car until you fall asleep.  Momma gives in and I nurse you as we go.  Luckily we have tinted windows :)  You are just the light of everyone's life.  You are full of joy and happiness.  It is hard to find the words to describe how much that we love you but I hope that you always know that you are loved and that we would do anything for you.  There are a lot of other people who love you very much as well and would do anything for you.  You are not only special to momma and daddy but to many many people.  You are now a year old, you barely resemble the baby we brought home. You are able to do so many things and you reached so many milestones so quickly. You still don't want to walk and I believe it is because you are so spoiled and stubborn.  You can do it because you can stand on your own and you have tried to take off on a couple of occassions.  You will walk soon enough and then momma will be wishing you were still a crawler.  You love to chase after the cats now even more than you did before.  You are able to imitate momma and daddy when we say different words now.  You are so very precious and worth all the wait in the world.  It is hard to remember what our life was like before you were born.  We thought it was exciting then but we had no idea how much better it would be once you were here.   We love you so much!

--MOMMA!

Memories of a pregnancy and child birth

A year ago today Jason and I were spending our last day as just the two of us.  That night I was going to be induced.  Annabelle was measuring big at 9lbs 9 ounces and at 41 weeks by our last ultrasound.  The doctor said she would be a big baby just not that big. The doctor knew that I really wanted to try and have as natural of a birth as I could.  She knew I was worried about having to have a c-section since I was being induced.  The beginning of my pregnancy had been pretty rough, I was sick for almost 5 months.  Not just morning sick but sick for the entire day.  I lost more weight in my first trimester than I gained in my second.  I was always some shade of green during that time.  We had been trying for a baby for almost two years, I had been diagnosed with PCOS and was told I wouldn't get pregnant without the help of fertility drugs.  I did not ovulate, my period was very irregular.  My doctor had told me to give it three more months, due to my age she didn't want to immediately give me the fertility drugs.  I was feeling pretty down at the end of those three months, I had my appointment for fertility drugs made.  I got really sick at the end of my three months and thought maybe I was pregnant.  I went to the Instant Care, took a blood test and it came back negative, I just had a virus.  I felt really down, I don't really remember that week because of the phenegrin.  On April 15th, one week exactly before my appointment I still hadn't had a period, it had been over 2 months so I just took a hpt.  To my shock it was positive.  I will never again have the feeling I did that night, it was such a mixture of shock, relief, happiness and joy.  I took a few more tests and they were all positive.  The doctor couldn't believe it, they were all really happy as well. 
I complained a little (some people say I complained a lot) about my sickness.  I was so grateful to finally be pregnant I tried to really enjoy it and I did.  I would get sick every so often all the way through my pregnancy but nothing major.  I did swell more than normal but overall I had a wonderful experience.  There was nothing better than feeling that baby moving around inside and letting Jason feel her too.  She really didn't like him, she would kick him very hard in the back sometimes. 
The night I was induced was actually my mom's birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY TODAY MOM).  I had originally been scheduled for induction on 12/9.  The baby would have had the same birthday as mom but my doctor knew my desire to not have a c-section and thought that one extra day may have been all I needed to have her come on her own time.  I had been dilated for about a month or so and had made pretty good progress.  I wouldn't say that I was ready for my pregnancy to be over, but I was ready to meet my baby. We checked in at 7 and they started the pitocin.  It seemed to be a mild dose, never really kicked in very hard on me.  The only thing aside from the sickness that had made me uncomfortable was all the peeing.  I have a high bed and it was a little rough for me to get out of it with my big belly.  I didn't sleep well the last few days of pregnancy and the hospital stay was no different.  The next day I had progressed to 5 cms on the pitocin and felt a little bit of labor pains but nothing major.  The doctor had to break my water (I really really hated the leaking afterwards) and when she felt for the baby's position Annabelle had went back up the birth canal.  She was higher than she had been the week before, how I don't know.  An option at that point was the epidural.  I had went into this without a desire for that epidural, I for one thing was afraid of the needle (it is very large, Jason got freaked out by it in our birth class, haha) and another I didn't want mom to out do me.  She hadn't received any medications with either my sister or I.  I was also afraid of losing feeling in my body.  I was told there was a chance that the epidural would relax me and she possibly could slide down.  I said okay, turns out the epidural was nothing.  BUT the BEST part was the catheder!  I loved that thing, I felt such relieve after I received it.  Turns out I didn't lose feeling, and Annabelle didn't lower back down.  The doctor came in at 3:15 and told me that we could keep going or we could do a c-section.  I cried a little, but like she told me I could push all night and wear myself out and then need an emergency c-section or I could just do one then.  She told me that my mom could go back with Jason and I as well.  That made me feel better about it.  I didn't wanna chance anything so I just agreed to it.  I was also ready to see my baby so less than 15 mins later Annabelle was born.  She weighed exactly 9lbs 9 ounces and was 20 inches long.  My c-section and recovery was an absolutely BREEZE.  I could have walked into the surgery room if I had had too.  I didn't lose all my feeling which I loved.  I did need staples (17), stitches wouldn't work, she was too big so they had to cut me a little more.  I would have been able to leave the hospital that next day if they would have let me.  I felt so good.  Annabelle was such a great breast feeder that a year later we are still going strong.  I had such a wonderful experience and am so grateful for it!

50 & 51 Weeks!

My baby turns 1 next Friday, it makes me so sad!  Before I know it she will be a teenager, they really do grow too fast.  We still aren't walking, hoping to be in th next month or so.  She just doesn't show any interest in it at this poing.  Stubborn like her granny I guess but who would wanna walk when you can get carried all day.  I think the days of being able to hold her are over and have been for some time now.  She is very content playing in the floor, especially if there are books to read.  I love my baby very much. 

Giving Thanks

With Thanksgiving being tomorrow I have decided to write about what I am most thankful for in my life. Anyone that knows me probably already knows the answer to this but I’m going to write it anyway. I am so very thankful for my beautiful baby girl who brings great joy and happiness into my life every single minute. I am thankful for Jason for being the great person and good father that he is. He works hard (but not as hard as he would want people to believe :) to provide a roof over our heads among other things. I am especially grateful for our relationship that is genuine and full of love. I am thankful that I understand that life is not about what you have or do but appreciate the fact that I could if I really wanted. For me life is about spending time with my family and enjoying every second that I have with them as tomorrow is not a promise and anyone can be gone in an instant.

I have great parents who I think may be even better grandparents a great mom who is a wonderful grandmother. My mom is a great person, and I hope that I become more like her. I am thankful for my dad who works hard and would do anything for us; Annabelle has him wrapped tighter around her finger than she has Jason. My mom has taught me a lot of things and have made me who I am. I am thankful for my sister who I have always loved dearly even if I didn’t like her. She is a wonderful aunt and I can’t imagine her being to treat Annabelle any better than she already does. I hope that I am as good of an aunt to her children as she is to mine. I am also thankful for her future husband who treats Annabelle just like his own and treats my sister well. I am especially thankful for the fact my family shares common interests and genuinely enjoys each other’s company. I am thankful for my grandparents who think that Annabelle is the most precious thing and have such concern for her. I am thankful for my aunts, uncles, and cousins. I am thankful that I got to spend 25 years of my life with my great-grandmother. She was one of a kind and ahead of her time. She had high expectations for us all and I hope that I met most of them.
I’m thankful that Annabelle has her daddy’s fun loving and laid back personality. They both have to be the life of the party and in most instances they are. Annabelle has been stealing daddy’s spotlight but he doesn’t seem to mind (too much). I am thankful for our cats and our dog that taught us responsibility and helped prepare us, as corny as it sounds, for being parents.
I am thankful for my job, that although it isn’t the most wonderful or glamorous job in the world it is a job. It pays my bills and allows me to be home to spend time with my family.

I feel very blessed on a daily basis that I have the life that I do. I know that it isn’t fancy but it is very exciting. I never know what the day is going to hold, especially since my child is a wildcat!

49 Weeks!

My big girl is getting so tall and thinning out; she looks like such a little girl now instead of a baby.  Her temper is showing itself more and more.  If she gets mad and try to hand her something to soothe her she just throws it.  It is so funny to think about but I try and not laugh at her when it happens.  That is only fueling the fire since she is at the stage of throwing things anyway.  She loves to drop things over the side of the bed or the couch and making mommy or daddy pick it up.  Last night Kate was barking and Annabelle yelled at her in her sleep!  It was so weird and funny at the same time.  It seems we have a lot of those moments at our house, where things are strange but we laugh our heads off about it at the same time.  It is almost time for Thanksgiving, I am ready for it.  I don't feel like I've had anything good to eat in about two weeks.  I was sick all weekend, just didn't really have an appetite and running a fever.  The last part of last week we made very bad choices for dinner.  One choice was some chinese, when we got it home it smelled just like cat litter and tasted awful.  Needless to say I only had about 2 pieces of that and we threw the rest away.  I am looking forward to seeing all of my family more than the food though.  I had living as far away as I do, it just seems like such a rush everytime we go home to see everyone.  I miss my little cousins and I wish that Annabelle was closer so that they could play more often. She really gets excited when she sees them.  We are only a couple weeks away from her party.  Her invitations look wonderful and I am very proud of the job Jason did on them.  I hope that she gets to play a lot at her party and has a good time.  I hope that we don't get stressed out and can have a good time as well.  Looking forward to all of our family and friends being able to be there and celebrate with us.

Sesame Street

I was never a big fan of Sesame Street, not sure why, it just didn't appeal to me.  Since it is the fortieth anniversary there have been a lot of things online about it.  A blog that I follow recently posted some youtube videos of breast feeding that have appeared on Sesame Street.  They are just so sweet, it almost makes me cry.  I don't know if it is just the fact that I'm a mother or the fact that I'm a breast feeding mother.  These videos just make me smile, I think part of the emotion is knowing that mine and Annabelle's special time together is going to come to a close in the near future.  I am going to miss that time probably more than I've ever missed anything.  I'm not being overly dramatic, the bond that we have is just something that I can not explain. I am very blessed that I have been able to have such a wonderful experience with my little girl.  I am just so thankful for her. 

Here are some of the videos -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4EUE9KBDUU  (there is also a bottle feeding version of this :) the song is just too adorable)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3DWRhfNm4c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFNwbc0X7GI

48 Weeks!

My baby is a year old in four weeks, it is one month until her birthday party.  It makes me so sad to think about, yet on the other hand very excited for the things to come in all of our lives.  Her invitations arrived yesterday, daddy had to do a little retouching to them, nothing noticable.  They are just as adorable as I imagined they were going to be, just as cute as they looked on daddys computer.  In the future though we are going to have to order a bigger size. 
Annabelle is cutting some new teeth and it seems she is having a little bit harder time with them than before.  It doesn't really make her feel that bad just makes her use the bathroom a lot and the pain doesn't allow her to sleep as well as she normally does.  She has been running a fever but we try and keep it contained with Motrin or Tylenol.  She doesn't get medicine very often because momma just doesn't wanna have to give it to her unless absolutely necessary.  Don't get me wrong, I give it to her if she seems to be in serious discomfort but I just don't give it to her to be doing so.  This momma is not much on medicine herself.  So far, knock on wood, we have went 11 months without being sick.  I attribute some of that to breast feeding and the rest to Annie's own good and strong immune system.  I rarely was sick as a child so I hope that continues with her. 
The basement is not completely cleaned, we are still working on it.  It will be done by the party though and then afterward the playroom will be down stairs so that we have to continue to keep it clean.  The entire house should be clean by the first of the month.  Annabelle (and mommy & daddy) is going to have such a fun time at her party!!!  Granny has finished her birthday outfit, I haven't seen it yet but I know that it will be adorable.  My sister says they should be sold on etsy (my favorite website).  Mom might have to look into that in the future but her problem is she wants to give everything away.  I am very lucky to have a crafty mom!

11 Months!

To my beautiful girl on her eleventh month of life,
You have such a great and shining personality, we went shopping a bit today and you talked to at least fifty different people.  If they do not give you attention you start waving at them and saying "hi!" If they gave you attention first you just smiled and didn't say anything.  Your favorite face to make is your excited face, I expect to see that a lot on your birthday and at Christmas.  Over this past month you have have bonded so much with daddy.  You have always loved him but now you are turning into a daddy's girl.  It makes me very happy to see how well you two play together and how much daddy loves you and have much you love daddy.  The past couple of mornings you have woke up and called him Papa - then started calling me momma!  You talk and you even sing - Party in the USA is one of your favorites as is any Lil Wayne song.  It is so sweet and cute to watch you dance.
You still aren't walking on your own, but you will stand by yourself so I do not believe that it isn't going to be much longer.  When we were shopping with Aunt V for her wedding dress she was walking away from us and you wanted to go with her so you just stood up and for just a second I thought that you were going to walk after her.  You enjoyed dress shopping, I think because they were so shiny and pretty.  You just wanted to touch them and go in the dressing room with Aunt V.  You are going to be the most beautiful flower girl.  Your hair is coming in pretty good now, just needs to fill in at the front (it kinda looks like dad's hairline at the moment :).
You had such a fantastic first Halloween, we went to Manchester and you wore your monkey costume.  It was so much fun.  You really enjoyed helping hand out candy and watching all of the other trick or treaters!!We are always having fun these days, you giggle and laugh all the time.  It is still rare for you to cry :)  Everyone comments on how happy and social you are.  Social is not a trait that you received from mom or dad.  We aren't antisocial or anything but we aren't the social butterflies that you are.  We are getting more and more excited for your birthday party.  The invitations are here and we are getting them ready to mail out.  Daddy did a very good job no them, they are adorable :)
You are a very smart little cookie, you know how to get daddy's debit card out of his wallet and go straight for it every time.  You are so observant that you know debit cards get swiped and so you try to swipe daddys in a slot on dadda's computer.  It makes daddy and I laugh and laugh!  You keep us entertained and we wonder sometimes what we ever did with all of our time before you got here.  We must have just been so bored, I guess we wasted a lot of time doing nothing.  We are never ever bored now thats for sure.  You keep us going all the time, I don't even know what its going to be like when you walk.  You make our lives so wonderful and great.  We love you so much!

-MOMMA

47 Weeks!

My baby is learning so many new things.  It is just incredible to watch her mind working.  She loves to shake her head no even though she doesn't really know what she is doing.  We are working on shaking it yes but so far we have only gotten to no.  Her language is still growing and she still isn't walking.  I know that I shouldn't expect her to be walking yet so I'm not really worried about it.  I know she can do it if she really wanted to, she is able to stand but the moment she realizes she isn't holding on to something she just sits down.  She is so adorable.  Her daddy has taught her to give eskimo kisses, she almost takes off the whole side of your face but that is okay.  She gives full blown hugs now that are just so sweet that it made me just about cry the first time she did it.  She will put her little fingers behind your neck and rub on you. I just love that little baby so much.  I can't wait to get her every evening and play just to see what silly things she is going to do. I wish that I have been able to stay home with her and I get sad knowing that her first year is almost over and feel that we have missed out on some things.  The older she gets the more I will miss but I am accepting the fact it will never be a reality.  It really stinks but I need to be thankful for what I have. 

Birthday Party List

*Clean the basement completely
*Clean the rest of the house
*Buy the stuff to make the cake
*Practice making the cake
*Order her a small cake for pictures
*Fix the carpet in the basement
*Buy treats for the treat bags
*Take pictures for birthday invitations
*Make birthday invitation
*Order birthday invitations
*Buy some more decorations
*Get cups, plates, silverware, etc
*Have mom bring up the tables


Oh my I know that it is a lot longer than this, I just can't think right now.  Helps me to write it down and have it one place. 

46 Weeks!

I believe I have the most stubborn baby on the planet.  She can stand alone but chooses not too.  When she does stand she doesn't fall, she just gently bends her knees and sits down on her butt.  I don't know if it is more comforting to know she is able to do it if she wants or if that makes it that much more frustrating.  Annabelle is very good at humming tunes these days as well as dancing along to anything that remotely sounds like music.  She has picked up a lot of words and has the ability to say them.  She can even say two word "sentences", her favorite being "hey kate!"  My child believes that dog is the greatest being on this planet and will never fail to wave both of her arms off at her or to even speak to her through the windows. 
When we ride in the car on long trips she gets very upset if Kate is not in the back looking at her.  She likes to hold onto the divider and pet Kate even if it scares mom mom. 

Annie prefers to call her daddy dad day and I am mom mom.  She can say, Josh, Veronica(yes, I know it is amazing but she can say it), Jake Jake, Seth, Kate, Hey, Hi, Jen, Dave, backpack (yes amazing again), cat and a couple other things.  Annie must be in the mood to talk or she will just look at you like your silly if you ask her to repeat things and she doesn't want too.  The look of "mom, what are you talking about? I can't say that!"  She also will fake cough anytime anyone in a store coughs so I am sure all of Target thought our kid had the swine flu (she is very convicing) and laugh anytime she hears laughter.  All typical for a baby her age :)  She continues to be the happiest child on the planet and mom mom loves nothing more than to hear her laughing and giggling.  It is extremely adorable and makes me smile no matter what.  I rarely have moments where I do not feel well but if I am having a down moment that baby always changes it by just being here. It really is hard to be upset over anything with her around.  I can't honestly even remember the last time I was upset, my new attitude on life has made things very easy for me.  I think it was when my old yellow lab Klesko died or the time I had to take care of Kate alone while Jason was on a work trip, whichever of those came last.  Both happened during my pregnancey, okay I guess I'm completed excluding my short experience with baby blues, but that is for another time and is perfectly normal.

Our precious child is only 43 days away from being a year old.  The new Disney movie The Princess and the Frog comes out on her birthday.  If she is showing any interest in all in tv by then I plan to take her to see it.  As of now she doesn't really care for anything on television except for sports.  I guess that is a good sign but sometimes I'd really enjoy just to sit on the couch holding her while we watching a movie or something. 

Annie & dadday are on their way to becoming inseperable which makes me realize that one day she will be 100% daddy's girl.  If it were not for being a breast feed baby she would probably already be there.  That is just something that dadday can not do for her :) 

The decision is made...

I believe we are going to begin the switch to special big girl milk around Annie's 1st birthday. I have been thinking a lot about this lately and it might be the best choice to make. I am still proud that I will have given my baby the best for a year. My mind may change between now and then especially if it is clear that the time is not right but for now this is what I have decided. It almost breaks my heart but I think it is the best choice.

Vote for Anniebelles!

http://family.go.com/gapcastingcall/entries/thewelches/750254172/


Annabelle W. submitted by thewelches for the Gap Casting Call
Source: family.go.com
Annabelle W. Entry submitted by thewelches for the Gap Casting Call. See if Annabelle W. has what it takes to be the next Gap Model.

Happy Birthday Auntie V!!

Today is my sister's birthday, she is 25!

Happy Birthday, we love you :)

45 Weeks!

Reality is setting in that our little baby is not going to be a little baby much longer. She has six teeth now, saying words and continuing to be little miss wild child. She can say Josh for her uncle Josh, which makes her Aunt Veronica mad still working on other words and on signing. She will look at us like we are silly when we sign to her and then just giggle. She loves to be tickled and will kick her daddy as she now calls him to tickle her. Annabelle has always loved her daddy but it seems as more time has went by she wants to be with him more. She gets so excited when he gets home from work and just wants to play with him and be with daddy. She is very sweet which is miraculous as I'm not a sweet or lovey person. I'm a nice person just not a sweet one :) I guess that is something she takes from her daddy. She is so stubborn that she refuses to walk or even stand by herself for more than a few seconds. I really don't think she will be walking by her first birthday afterall. She was so ahead on everything else but I know all kids are different and they are expected to walk until 12 months so I need not worry. She will do it in her own time just like she has done everything else. One of the best things I have done as a mother, aside from breast feeding, was to not put my baby on a schedule, we let her schedule herself. I think this is why her personality shown so early and one of the reasons why she is such a wonderful child.

In the next few weeks we are looking forward to many different things, Annie's first halloween, her first Thanksgiving and her first birthday. I can't believe she is almost old enough to be celebrating her second Christmas. I feel more like it is her first as she was only 2 weeks old the first time. I know she is going to love seeing the decorations and seeing Christmas lights. After this past weekend when we donated a lot of clothes to the Goodwill do I feel that my house will be clean enough to actually have a party there. I can not believe the amount of clothes that we had and the money we had spent on them. My goal in the future is to never have that much stuff again. It is a total waste to spend money on clothing, we should have been saving that money. Oh well, I guess you live and you learn.

44 Weeks & Our 4th Anniversary!

Oh the things my baby can do. She is still the biggest comedian around, even funnier than her dadda. We are practicing walking with her each day, she is working on it but it just being oversly cautious. She is very precious and we don't want her to hurt herself, even though we clap whenever she falls. I don't know if that is the best thing to do but I don't want her to cry each time she falls. The cute little teeth hellcat has gotten make her look so different. Right now there is a pretty good size gap, sometimes she makes a face which looks just like a squirrel. We have started buying Christmas presents, it is so fun! Found her a lot of summer stuff on clearance to give her when it gets warmer. I think Jason & I have more fun buying stuff for our baby than we would have ever thought. Party planning is going well too, we are buying stuff a little at a time. We need to do an inventory of what we have so that we can go ahead and finish getting supplies. We bought a few things at IKEA last weekend just junky stuff that was cheap to used to decorate with. We got a couple Christmas presents for our friends kids too.
Annie has tried to sign back with me over this week so it isn't going to be long before she is able to do it. All the working with her is going to finally pay off!

Today is our 4th wedding anniversary, we had planned to go to hiking today at Cumberland Falls but due to the rain we decided to hang out at the house. Since mom has been watching the baby this week (our sitter's boys have swine flu) we went out and about by ourselves for awhile. Not the most extravagent of our anniversaries but we still enjoyed it. Anytime I get to spend with Jason and Annie is better than the things we used to do. They are blowing up an exercise ball for me right now so that I can use it and be able to walk in the next few years. Tomorrow night is Big Blue Madness! It will be a wonderful time, we can't wait to see the team with all the hype, I just hope they can live up to it.

Yah!

My sister is engaged! :) I can't wait to plan their household shower and their wedding! It will of course have to wait until I am done planning Annie's 1st birthday party. My sister's ring is beautiful, I must say Josh did a very good job of picking it out. I can't wait to see the ring in person. Annabelle is going to be so pretty as a flower girl!! I hope they have a happy life together :)

This means I must go on a diet and try and lose the rest of the baby weight I gained. I only have a few months so I better get started today!

10 Months!

To my beautiful girl on your tenth month of life,
You are still the best baby in the world :) Right now you and dadda are playing in the floor and you are giggling so loud. You love to laugh, have fun and play with anyone. You are always grabbing people's attention anywhere that we go, sometimes when they start paying attention to you you start to ignore them. We are still working on signing and walking, neither of which you show very much interest in. There have been times where you get so excited that you have let go of momma and tried to take off after something and that something is usually dadda. We try to keep you confined in the living room because you are constantly on the move but now you have found a way to push the baby gate into the kitchen open and you can squeeze through the road block in the hallway. You are not really a talker yet but you are building your vocabulary and have said cat, en (for Jen), pop, pretty and other random things at least one time. You are super silly and make momma and dadda laugh constantly especially at night when we are trying to get you to sleep. You laugh at anything we laugh at which makes it even funnier. We have been letting you try different types of food over the past month since you don't really care for baby food. At the zoo yesterday you had both chocolate and vanilla ice cream, you definitely prefer chocolate but it makes you hyper. When we left the zoo you put on a show when we were eating, there were probably at least 5 napkins in the floor plus your food. I have always known you were a nature/animal lover and you enjoyed your time at the zoo so much. You tried to grab the birds that people were feeding and then your dadda put it on your head. You also enjoyed petting the dwarf goats with dadda and Uncle Scot. You were so happy and smiled pretty much all day long. It made momma so happy to see you having such a great time.
You are learning so many things, watching everything that goes on and entertaining anyone and everyone around. You are so social, one thing about it is with a baby like you we have to learn to talk to strangers because lots of strangers we see talk to you or to us about you. You make our lives so wonderful and interesting, we love you so much!

-MOMMA

43 Weeks!

I do not care for the background of this blog anymore but have been too lazy too change it. Doesn't seem I have had the time at work nor at home. Hellcat is into everything, mostly throwing everything off the ottomon, couch and toy box into the floor. She has developed a new way to eat cheerios or puffs from her high chair, she just licks them from the table part of it. This way she knows they go in her mouth and they don't stick to her hands, ha. We are using cousin Brody's highchair, hopefully it will still be in one piece when we return it lol. I guess you could say we are lazy parents as she doesn't really sit and eat in it a lot. We give her a little table food these days and a little bit more baby food than we used too but as she is still breast feed she mostly just gets milk. I put some whole milk in a sippy and usually she will just carry that around for awhile or throw it under something or turn it upside down and shake it. She really is wild, few people believe that and I would want her no other way :) I thought she would be walking by 10 months but she doesn't seem to have the desire. Why would she through when all she needs to do is put her belly on either the glider foot stool or any of her toys and move across the living room. Seems like she has been cruising on furniture for three months so maybe it won't be too long before she lets go. She still howls at us or growls, especially if you do it to her first. Most of the time though she will just look at you and growl, she does it so much Jason is afraid it is going to bother her vocal cords :) Her front teeth are on their way in, they are big! and there is a little gap, I know they will be pushed together as other teeth come in but its kind of funny to see her grin now. She isn't our little baby anymore.
This weekend we are going to Cincy for Hallzooween at the zoo. I've not decided if we are going to let her wear her costume, it will probably be cool enough. It is such a cute costume, made even cuter by my little Anniebelles. I got some party favors in for silly girl's birthday party and I love them. Etsy is my favorite website ever! :) Her party will be so bittersweet. Hopefully I don't cry the entire day.

Shew!

I realized today that I have turned into one of those moms. One of the moms that I said I would never be like, I was never going to let my baby sleep in my bed or never extend breast feeding. I have done both :) Well maybe not considered an extended breast feeding mother just yet but we are working on it. We are just a little over two months away from being a year. It is the best thing I could do for my baby. I love the time we have together and the bond that we have developed. I'm sure we would have bonded otherwise but not like we have with breast feeding. Only mom mom gets kisses from Annie. Daddy just gets hits!

Seriously, I didn't want her to bed in our bed. For the first few weeks she wasn't but then I realized I didn't need to lose sleep if she slept with me, I could feed her laying down. From that time on she slept through the night or if she woke up she just nursed herself to sleep again. Seriously we have the best baby and are probably the most well rested parents around or at least I get plenty of rest. We are thinking about getting a co sleeper to put beside our bed, as a transition to her crib, if we don't get one for Annie we will get one with our next baby. We will probably need it more then since Annie will probably still be in our bed. We are running out of room as it is and its a king, the cats take up half of it and Annie the other half. There really is nothing better than waking up and seeing her pretty smiling face, when she moves to her room I will miss that.

October - Breast Cancer Awareness Month

FYB Week - October 9th - 16th, 2009 :)

42 Weeks!

Ten more weeks until my baby is 1 year old....so sad. She is currently cutting five teeth, four on the top and one on the bottom side. We went 8 months with no teeth and are now going on seven. She is so adorable with her little snaggletooth grin. The weather around here is wonderful and we are getting to dress Annie so comfortable, I just love it. We have been working on stuff for her birthday for a couple weeks now but we are going to have to step it up, it will be here before we know it. A couple nights ago we were getting out of the car at the mall, Jason said something to her about getting out of the car and she replied "okay" as clear as anything. Probably clearer than momma or dadda. She also has a special work she uses for the cats and for Kate. Yesterday I looked over at Annie and Scottie and they were trading jabs at one another. Only one time have the cats even made a mean sound to Annabelle and when Scottie did it Annie looked at me with such a sad face, her feelings were so hurt. She got over it and then tried to grab her fur some more :)
Annabelle lays in the floor now and gets in a position like she is a cat and growls at Scottie. It is so funny, they love each other so much :) So many things happen so fast, she will be grown before we realize it. I love that little baby so much. She is going to the zoo for the first time next weekend, I can't wait :) We are also going to see the McIntoshes. All of our friends have moved away and we miss them.

41 Weeks!

Annie is getting too smart, she has a personality so much like her daddy's. She is always doing funny things to make people laugh. She is so sociable, so many people stop and talk to her and she will interact back with them. She loves to be the center of attention and have all eyes on her. We have bought a few more things for her birthday party, it will be here before we know it. Her teeth are coming in better each day, it makes her daddy so sad, he says she won't look like a baby anymore once they are in. We have so much fun with her, she has finally gotten to where she enjoys books which is a big relief to me. At least that is something she has gotten from me and not her dad. She is so sweet, so lovable and cuddly. She loves music, likes to dance and even tries to sing along. We laugh so much at her and with her, she giggles so loud so we laugh even more.
We bought her a pair of shoes last weekend at the talking tree store so far she has had them on a couple times. She doesn't really care for them and would prefer to chew on them than to wear them. I hope they enable her to keep her balance so she stands on her own more than she does now. Now it is only for a few seconds and only at certain times. She tries to stand up from crawling in the middle of the floor sometimes but just hasn't mastered it yet.
I can't wait to take her to a pumpkin patch in the new few weeks and go on a hayride. I feel like such a kid again doing fun things with her. She is just the best little thing ever :)

Talking Talking Talking Talk

Annie has been saying hey, dadda and mamma for a little bit now. Yesterday the baby sitter reported that she said En for Jen (the baby sitter), she said bye bye when we left the baby sitters and when we got home she said cat. We will have a talking little girl soon :)

40 Weeks!

Annabelle is getting so big, she is getting three new teeth :) By the end of the month she is going to have at least 5 teeth. She has not complained at all about these new teeth, no fever no nothing. She does have a bad cough which started Saturday but is getting better. She only coughs when she wakes up or gets mad about something. Today it seems to be gone though, I hope so. We got one of those Vicks vaporizers and ran it a couple nights ago but the smell gave me a migraine so I had to turn it off. It was the worse migraine I had had in awhile, I guess the fact Jason was working some on 3rd didn't help things. Its not that I'm afraid to be home alone I just don't sleep as well if he isn't there, I think I worry to much about him driving on the small amount of sleep he has had this week. Hopefully he doesn't have to go back in but we will see. I am looking forward to this weekend so much, I am tired.
Annabelle fell off of the bed for the first time last night, she landed on her feet and then fell to her butt. She thought it was funny, we have a bad habit of clapping for her when she falls so that she doesn't cry. I thought it a smart move at first but now I"m rethinking it. She has been clapping for herself lately, its very cute. During the past month Annie has been very difficult to diaper, she would must rather go around naked than anything else. A couple nights ago my family was up because my sister had surgery yesterday. She didn't wanna put on a diaper so she pushed her little ride/walking thing around in the living for a few mins naked. Dad finally helped me get a diaper on her but she definitely wasn't happy about it. She is still sweet, funny, cute and precious. Everything you could ever ask for in a baby :)
Wouldn't it figure that when I finally buy pants in a bigger size I start to loose weight. No complaints here though, at least it is FINALLY coming off. The doctor told me we could start giving Annabelle whole milk an ounce at a time, so I'm not sure how much past 1 year I will be breast feeding. I hate to give it up if I am still producing the milk and it is still a comfort for her. Since I didn't lose weight breast feeding it is my hope the rest comes off when I stop. If it hasn't come off in a year the doctor is going to try and see if there is something we can do about it. Hopefully I can get some medicine to control my PCOS so that my weight goes down and I can get regular so when we are ready for our second baby we will not have the problems we did the first time.

What a day

Yesterday when I left my work parking lot I heard a noise. My car didn't drive right so I had suspected and I was right that I had a flat. I got on the interstate anyway like a big dummy and went to exit 90, pulled over and yep it was flat. Thankfully it wasn't completely flat, hadn't done damage to the wheel nor had it blown out while I was driving down the interstate. Most of all I was thankful that Annabelle was not with me. I was all ready to change the tire by myself, I was talking to Jason on his work phone, his cell phone was dead and he was getting ready to leave. As luck would have it he had just gotten a work cell phone the night before so while he drove home he was able to call and check on me with it. I was getting everything out of the trunk, had the spare ready to go and was getting ready to jack it up. Thankfully a couple guys came and asked if I needed help and was going to take it off for me. They were unable to get the tire off, which probably turned out for the best. They were afraid to pull on it too hard, they didn't want to break it and I didn't want them to hurt themselves. Jason was on the way so I told them I would be okay and they left, I was in a very public place. Another guy stopped and told me I just needed to kick it a couple times, that didn't work either. Will lived nearby but he wasn't answering, turned out he was on his back from London. Since I wouldn't be going anywhere I had Amy pick me up on the way to the sitters so we just got Annabelle & Seth together and then headed back to my car. Jason got there shortly after, he couldn't get the tire off either no matter how much he pulled or tried to pry it off with a screwdriver. Will arrived not long after that so it was a big nice get together :) Jason eventually found two screws in the tire that I had to have picked up from works parking lot and plugged them. He drove the mazda home while I drove myself and Annabelle home in the Mustang. I never imagined I could fit a car seat in there but she seems to like it. We are gonna drive it until we get at least two new tires.

I am very thankful that those guys tried to help me, thankful that Amy helped me so much and that Will showed up to entertain Annie after Amy & Seth left. Mostly I guess I am thankful that I have a husband who can pretty much fix anything.

I realized yesterday just how much I have changed, although it was an inconvenience I didn't really get upset. Stuff happens you just have to deal with it.

9 Month Stats

Annabelle is 21.154 lbs, basically at 22 and is 28.5 inches long. I really expected her to weigh more than that, at least 25. She was above average and in the upper 80th low 90th percentile for everything, including size of her head. She had her finger pricked for an iron test and didn't even flinch or cry or anything. She just watched the lady prick her finger and try and get blood out. For whatever reason her blood did not flow very well. I have low iron but I continue to take prenatals so hopefully her iron is okay. She is still breast feed with only a little baby food, we will find out her iron levels on Monday if they are low.
Comparing her 9 month stats to mine I was 24.3 lbs and 28 inches long so I was a little heavier and half an inch shorter :)

Annabelle showed off her personality a little bit to the doctor, nurses and everyone else there. She blew raspberries at the doctor as he was listening to her heart, tried to steal the stethescope and then she growled at him. I didn't really know what to do except look at Jason and laugh.

We have no more shots until 15 or 18 months, depending on when we want to do the MMR. We are also putting off the Chicken Pox vaccine until Annie goes to school to see if she can catch it herself. That may seem harsh but I would rather she have a natural immunity.

9 Months!

To my beautiful girl on your ninth month of life,
You remain the best child that anyone could ask for. I am so glad that you are our child and love us the way that you do. You like to give momma lots of kisses, daddy not so much. Daddy is keeping you today and I hear you have been giving him kisses. I don't believe it though! :) You are no longer the night owl you once were, you go to bed around 8 pm now but you are still a late riser. You get angry if we get you up before you are ready which is nearly every morning since you like to sleep until 9 or later. You have decided you no longer want to army crawl but now you crawl the "correct" way. You know the places in the house that you are supposed to be playing in and the ones are you are not allowed in. You always go for the off limit places and turn your head around to see if we are following, when you see that we are you kick it back into army crawl and take off giggling the whole way. You laugh all the time and at everything, just like your daddy. This month you noticed the sky, the wind and the stars. You just starred for a long time trying to figure out clouds. We have had such a good time with you over these past months, you participated in your first sporting event, a 5k walk/run. We pulled you in your wagon, you slept most of the way and still finished first in your age group. Dadda says that is a good start to a successful track career. For the part of the walk you were awake for you enjoyed the dogs and seeing the horses more than anything. You still are a big animal lover and love to wave at Kate and chase the cats. Still not walking, I know its early but you get so close. You want to walk but you grab our hands and make sure that we are holding both of yours before you will go. You get so angry if we only are holding one. You are developing a temper btw, I am not sure where that came from. You can still only really say three words, momma, dadda and hey. It is so fun to watch you answer your cell phone and say "hey." You have such a pleasant personality, you love people and love all the attention people give you. I have so much fun being your momma. We are going for a well baby visit today, you aren't getting any shots though. I am eager to see how much you weigh and how long you are. You are such a good healthy funny little girl. I'm so glad to have you. We love you!

-MOMMA!

39 Weeks!

Another Thursday another week older. My girl is so sweet, she gives me kisses all the time - dadda not so much. His beardy face is too rough for her and when he shaves she still doesn't know what to do so she just gives me all the kisses. I don't mind though :) She is so cuddly and huggly, I can't wait until she just sits and lays with me on the couch or in the bed. Right now she has to be on the move and it is a job just to contain her. I don't know what we will do when she is walking, she is already a handful and a half. We have well baby tomorrow afternoon and I am excited. She gets no shots but has to have blood drawn, she will handle that no problem. She is so big and so smart. She loves animals and people. I am glad she enjoys people cause I'm not really a people person and neither is her dadda. I hope her socializing skills continues for the rest of her life. It is a good trait to have. I enjoy my baby each and everyday, she is so fun. Soon she will not be a baby anymore. Still haven't decided on a theme for her birthday, I want to find what I have pictured in my mind and have been unable to do so. I will have to compromise if I don't find it in the next month or so. No progress on the halloween costume either, we were supposed to look at fabric last time mom was up but didn't get too...we will definitely do that this weekend. Auntie is coming up to hold Annie cause she will not be able to do so for a couple weeks after she has her shoulder surgery. I know that Uncle Josh isn't going to mind because that means he just gets to hold her more :) I am looking forward to the fall and the cooler weather so we can go hiking! and maybe even camping! Can't wait :)

Annie's 1st 5K

Saturday we participated in the Clay County Days 5k race in Manchester. I pulled Annie in the wagon for 3.1 miles. Well I pulled her most of the way for about half a mile mom carried her until she went into a deep sleep and then we layed her down in the wagon for her to sleep. She crossed the finish line sleeping. I finished 79th, Annie was 80th and Granny 81st. Dadda didn't want Annie to be last so granny did. I was pretty proud of our time, it only took us 49 or so mins, Dadda did really good and finished in a little over 22 mins, Auntie V was around 25/27 or so mins and Nana Charlotte was around 42 or so mins. Everyone but mom & I received gold metals for our age group. It was a pretty good time, Annabelle really enjoyed it during the time she was awake. We are looking forward to next years when we will push her in a jogging stroller :) I also heard a rumor that we had traffic backed up for quite a ways and when the guys directing traffic finally let it go right before we got there Auntie V had something to say to him, she is such a good aunt. The only bad thing about the whole event as the horrible blisters I got on my heels, one of which busted and bled through my sock and into my shoe. That's what I get trying to be cheap and reusing shoes I already had instead of buying some new ones.

Tomorrow is the day

The Welches have entered the Clay County Days 5k so by this time tomorrow I hope to be done walking the three miles. Jason and Veronica are going to run while we walk and pull Annie in her wagon. She will enjoy it very much, me I'm not so sure :) As long as I finish I don't really care how long it takes. Jason estimates an hour, we will see. I am betting that I will have to stop to pick up at least one of not both of them and pull them to the finish in the wagon. Jason has been trying to get ready for it by running a few miles each night, Veronica has been hurting so I don't think shes been able to. We will see tomorrow, it should be fun.

38 Weeks!

She is growing up so fast! Next Friday she will be 9 months old, it is sad in many ways how fast she is growing. I think it would be sadder for me if I thought she was our last. Hopefully she isn't and hopefully we will not have the same trouble as we did before. She is the one we are supposed to have :) and I am thankful for her everyday. She makes our lives so fun and entertaining. Annie is very smart, but who doesn't think their kid is smart. She is funny, happy and healthy. I don't know what else we could ask for. She has made friends with all the neighbor kids, she loves the attention they give her. She enjoys watching them play and waving at them and if she could would be right in the middle playing with them. She isn't walking yet, but I don't think she will be much longer, if she doesn't walk before her first birthday I will be surprised. I thought she would crawl sooner than she did too though, she gets lazy I think. She is able to get anywhere she wants either by crawling (on her hands and knees now) or by walking from furniture item to whatever else she can hold on too. If she walks she MUST be holding both of your hands or she will not go forward. She is so good and growing so well. We have her 9 month well baby visit next Friday. Can't wait to see how much she has grown! :)

It finally happened...

Annabelle said momma! She started Saturday and now says it way more than she says dah dah :)

What a face!

I love that beautiful face!!! :)

37 Weeks!

Took forever to get one tooth but no we are working on four!! Annie has been the best baby through her entire 8 1/2 months and teething is no exception. She gets a little fussy and runs a slight temperature but overall she is having no trouble at all. Motrin/Tylenol doesn't seem to really do anything for her, but I don't like to give it to her a lot. She has been so healthy, I am so proud of her. She tries to talk to the cats, so we are in full sign language mode with her. So far she hasn't picked it up. She does however know to wave hello now! She will wave bye but until yesterday had never waved hello. I walked in the sitters and she started waving at me and smiling her big ole smile. She is so precious. The past weekend we had a trip to the lake. I don't like lakes, never have but as I'm older I am okay with them. It was actually a pleasant time. We fished but the only person to catch anything was Jason so of course he rubbed that in our faces. Neither my sister nor myself even got a bite! Our army crawl may finally be turning into the "correct" crawl. She is working on trying to pull herself up from crawling in the middle of the floor without anything to hold on too. A couple days ago she pulled herself up to talk to Scottie and couldn't get down so she fell. She actually slid across the floor and across the peanut butter container she loves to carry around. (its not the same size as a normal pb container, its small and rounder) She cried for a bit but was okay. When I stopped holding her she walked (holding on to the couch) right back to the place she had been. Her hair is coming in more and more and it was blonde this morning. This evening it will probably be brown or reddish. It changes depending on the light and time of day but its finally coming in. She is so sweet and precious. She is so much fun to play with and watch.

36 Weeks!

We have teeth! It only took eight months but they have finally broke the skin and they are SHARP! Fortunately she has not been a biter, I dread that day when she is nursing and she decides to bite me. I may never happen, I have been bf for over 8 months now and my goal is a year. I think we will be able to get to that no problem, if we go past that great and if she decides its not for her anymore that will be great as well. I am leaving it all up to Annabelle, we have never put her on any type of schedule, she has always led the way and she will continue to lead the way. With her teeth coming in "late" it seems she is having a pretty easy time getting them. The old wives tale says that the later they come in the stronger they will be. I hope that is true, neither me nor Jason have great teeth (but we do have a great dentist!).
Keeping up with speed demon is getting to be a job and a half. Always going where she isn't supposed to, pulling herself up everywhere, hitting her head on her daddys watch on the door and leaving a bruise. She is wild.
She had a lot of excitement over the weekend, first we went to Amanda & Chris' wedding, Congratulations, btw and then when we got home Sunday we had company from The McIntoshs and Jeremy. Annabelle abused poor Cooper for hours but he didn't really seem to mind. I could tell he got a little irritated but if he could stand that hair cut he has he can stand anything haha. Scot & Tara have spoiled Annie so that now she thinks she has to run each time we hold her hands to let her walk. She thinks it is so fun! I can't wait until they live close again.

The biggest news of the weekend is that addition of Annabelle's Radio Flyer Wagon. Pap wasn't home Friday night, he was out riding, so he didn't get to see Annabelle. Because he wasn't home I told her to buy her a wagon so saturday we went to the wedding and when we got home there it was in the living room. It is huge, she loves it, it is so funny to watch her riding it. She puts her hands up on the sides and holds on while putting her feet in front of her on the other seat. She can see everything now when we go for walks. BTW Happy Birthday Pap. You are getting old.

35 Weeks!

My baby is a rat, she knows what the word no means and knows when she is doing something she shouldn't. She just looks back at us and smiles. She has such a precious smile. No teeth yet but I can see where they are coming. Hopefully she will keep teething with relatively little discomfort. Annabelle is going to her second wedding of the summer on Saturday. My cousin is getting married in TN and we are looking forward to that. Annie has been standing on the floor holding to the couch playing for the past 15 mins, I am waiting for her to just stop holding on any minute now and just stand on her own. It won't be long before she walks and we think its hard to keep up with her now.

8 Months!

To my beautiful girl on your eighth month of life,
Never did I think that my life would be this great, this wonderful, this fun. I thought I had it pretty good all those years before you were here. Nothing compares to being able to play with you, look at you, teach you, or just to be with you. You are so funny, your sense of humor is just like your dadda's. You are so full of personality. It has been over a month since you learned to crawl, I wait for you anyday now to just take off walking. You pull yourself up and stand with just a little bit of your body (most of the times your belly) up against something. You use a play table to push across the floor as you walk behind it. You can stand on your own for just a few seconds before you fall. You look to us to determine whether your should cry or just crawl around and smile, you choose to smile. You are so big and able to do so much. You love to crawl from the living room into the kitchen and look back at us because you know that you aren't supposed to be doing that. You squeal when you see the cats anywhere and if they happen to be in the floor you crawl to them and pet them. I never imagined our cats would love you the way that they do. You did a lot of fun stuff this past month, you went to a wedding, saw Chandler play baseball a couple times and went to your first water park with granny and pap. You are definitely special because when I was young pap never took me and Aunt V to the water park :) You wave bye bye with force now and raise your hand to point, most of the time with four fingers. I think it means you like something, daddy thinks you just want to touch whatever it is we have. No teeth yet, but I can tell that they are coming. I know I've thought that for awhile but now you can see them in the front, but still not on the top. There is an old wives tale that the longer you take to get your teeth the stronger they will be. I sure hope that is the case with you. You are just too precious for words and believe it or not work days go so fast now since I have you to go home too. You and dadda have started to play wrestle. He pins you, then you crawl on him and pin him, laughing the entire time. A lot of times the two of you end up getting into mischief. Daddy built you a swing so that you can finally swing in the swing granny and pap got you for Easter. It didn't turn out like dad expected but it works and you enjoy swinging. You are lucky, like I was to have a handy dad. I had a handy mom, you didn't really end up with such a handy mom but I try. You are still the friendliest baby around, people come up to you everywhere we are, in the mall, at a restaurant, in Wal-Mart and talk to you. Most of the time you look at them but sometimes you babble back. Almost always you will wave when they turn their backs, haha. Momma is still nursing you, something she didn't expect to be doing for this long but is so glad that she is able too. I love the time we have together, it is something I will never forget. You are still eating the same old baby foods along with your milk, but momma tries to introduce new things. You tried a lemon and granny gave you some cheddar biscuit from Red Lobster. This past weekend pap let you try five different flavors of popscicle. You are most definitely one spoiled little girl and it is only going to get worse. We are so lucky to have you and for you to be ours. You were definitely worth the wait, my sweet and silly girl. You make mommy and daddy better people everyday.

WE LOVE YOU!!!!
-MOMMA

Got Milk?

I think this is pretty funny --

Got Milk?
By Linda Sharp


Ever notice how one word can mean something totally different to different people? Like IDIOT. Some people consider it a word to identify a person of great stupidity. I on the other hand, think of it as a term of endearment for my husband. NUN. Most would tell you it refers to a female member of a religious order. My two year old would tell you it is what's left after she eats all the Goldfish and the box is empty. And then there is NURSE. Defined by Webster's as, "a person trained for the care of the sick or injured". Defined by me as, "the act of allowing one's breasts to stretch to grotesque proportions, on a regular basis, and sticking them in the mouth of an infant whose sole purpose in life is to suck them dry, only to have them fill back up again two hours later, ruining every shirt you possess, until one day the child stops and they swell no more, thus resulting in a rather sad, deflated version of ..." I'm rambling, aren't I? Sorry.

To nurse or not to nurse, that is a question every new mother faces. Unfortunately, while we are making our decision, we are also faced with pamphlets, books, doctors, leagues, groups, and friends trying to push us in one direction or another. There is a ton of propaganda out there for both sides. Personally, I say to heck with everyone else. It is ultimately between you, your boobs and your baby and you should do what feels and works best for you. I chose to nurse mine. A decision I have never regretted, except every night when I get out of the bathtub and stand in front of the mirror, pushing them back up where they used to live near my neck and then watching them fall back down to their new home near my navel... I'm rambling again. I do apologize.

What gets me about nursing though, is OTHER people's reactions. Generationally, my mother didn't understand why I would want to. She bottle fed me and I turned out fine, right? (This is from the same lady whose generation snuck whiskey into baby bottles for teething. Sure, it made the pain go away! A little Jack and Pablum could make rheumatism feel better!) Single friends were visibly curious, then disgusted as they watched let down stains slowly spread across my chest while waiting for the baby to wake up. Even my husband occasionally flinched when I would nurse. Oh wait. That's probably because I would squirt him from across the room with the unoccupied breast. Never mind.

Inevitably, at some point during your nursing . . . many points if you plan on having any semblance of a life . . . you will face the controversy of NURSING IN PUBLIC! There you are, walking calmly through the mall, enjoying being out in the real world, and the tiny bundle in the stroller erupts like Vesuvius. You recognize the cry as one of hunger. Your breasts recognize the cry (yes, your breasts have ears) and immediately begin to flow. I defy anyone to try to tell a hungry infant OR a pair of milk happy orbs, to be patient. So, I would pull out the blanket, cover up the proceedings and sit quietly on a bench. The looks I would receive ranged from understanding smiles (other moms) to curiosity (teenage boys) to downright disapproval (Reverend Falwell. I mean what was I hiding under that flannel cabana? Tinky Winky, I feel your pain.). One person was so intrigued, they sat down next to me and stared. I asked if I could see their ticket. What? Well, surely if you are going to watch the show, you paid admission at the door, didn't you? They quickly departed.

Yes, I suppose it is possible to run around and find a bathroom, fitting room, or rack of clothes to hide in, but I guess I will never understand the "boob phobia" that is out there. Honestly, have those people who think there is something sexual about the nursing breast, ever SEEN one? I can think of nothing farther from a turn-on! (And I am including Reverend Falwell!) And if a person is so offended by it being done, WHY ARE THEY WATCHING?

Whether you follow the bible or subscribe to Darwin, one thing is the same, breasts were put here for this purpose. A woman gives birth and they fill up with milk, thus enabling her to feed her offspring, if this is the method she so chooses. So, if nursing is a choice you make, be tolerant, remember it is a natural, beautiful thing, and that "Beauty IS in the eye of the beholder." But if that person ever sits down next to you in the mall to watch? You have my permission to change it to "MILK is in the eye of the beholder." Ready, aim, fire!

About the author:
Linda Sharp is an internationally recognized humorist who writes regularly on the joyous and frustrating world of parenting. Her work appears across the web and wraps around the globe to appear in publications from Canada to Malaysia to the USA. Linda is also co-creator of the totally irreverent and hysterical website, Sanity Central - A Time Out From Parenting!, located at http://www.sanitycentral.com. With a cartoon cast of experts, Sanity Central is packed with enough humor for a week's worth of laughter time-outs!

While her own life provides endless inspiration for her writing, she welcomes input and feedback from other parents! She may be reached via email at lsharp03@aol.com.


http://www.breastfeeding.com/lighter_side/lighter_side_stories_got_milk.html

AMBER ROSE!

Started her senior year yesterday, it just blows my mind!

34 Weeks!

Pointing with four fingers is Annabelle’s favorite new thing to do. I think it means that she likes you. Or she is trying to sign something to us with her own made up sign. We are still trying to get her to learn to sign; right now it is simple things like mom, dad, eat, more, milk, dog, cat, bird, etc. She loves to say dadddadad and babababaab, d and b sounds seem to be all she can do right now. I practice mamamama but she wants no part of it. She and her daddy have started to wrestle with one another, he will pin her and she will laugh, then she does it to him. She thinks its hilarious, actually there is very little she doesn’t find funny. She has a personality so much like Jason’s that it scares me. I don’t know what to do with two of them, he is enough trouble! She gets better and better at crawling each day. My friend has let us borrow a table for her to play on and she has turned it into a walker. She will push it, straighten up, walk a few steps with it and then push some more. She had moved it from the couch to the front door a couple nights ago. I just hope she doesn’t slide down it and hit her face. Last night she fell on her butt, looked at me to see if she was supposed to cry or not but I knew she was okay so I laughed, then she laughed and she was okay. She also uses that table to help her stand. She will place two or three fingers on it and try to stand on her own.
She is a pretty brave little girl. This past weekend John Chandler was in the Bluegrass Games and at one of the games a guy was dressed in a plastic blow up costume thing. She had starred at him for awhile and when he came up to her she just gave him that, you are stupid look. I do not like mascots but looks like I’m going to have to suck it up because she does.
I believe she is going to be a nature girl. She loves to watch birds, squirrels and butterflies. We took mom to the Arboretum Sunday afternoon – Annabelle of course loves that place, so many pretty flowers to look at. Her daddy carried her around for awhile in her carrier, but then she got tired and we just pushed her around in the stroller. She never made a sound. Thankfully cooler weather is coming (no snakes) and we can go hiking at Red River Gorge.
I have been looking at themes for her birthday party and so far can not find the one that I want. I know the colors I want and I only want one or two plates that even say 1st birthday on them. I plan on buying most of my plates from Party City (much cheaper). December 11, 2009 is going to be a very bittersweet day for momma!

33 Weeks!

Getting closer and closer to a year old. I'm not sure how I feel about that, I am excited for all the things she has yet to do or experience but sad that she is no longer my little baby; that becomes more and more apparent each day. Last night she just looked so long and tall, like her baby fat was disappearing. I guess because she is crawling so much she is going through some calories pretty fast. She was burning as many rolling around though I think. I was going through her clothes last night and she has SOOOOOOOOOOOOO MANY! many of them she has outgrown and I feel sad that I have to put them away. I hope so much that my next baby is also a girl. Annabelle has such pretty clothes that it is such a waste to never use them again. If I do not have another girl maybe my sister will and she will be able to use them.

Speaking of clothes, we have been trying to gather stuff up for a yard sale. Jason and I have too many clothes as well. If I could get back half the money we have spent on money we would be doing well. Since finding out we were pregnant Jason & I have both stopped buying as many clothes or wasting as much money period. I just wish that we would have done that sooner. We have so much stuff that it doesn't fit into our drawers. We have also been folding all the clothes on the couches in the basement. They haven't been completely folded since mom did it when I had my wisdom teeth out. We worked for a few hours today and only got one cushion of clothing done. Its pretty much a disaster in the basement.

Annabelle is babbling more and more each day. She still doesn't have any teeth which is no big deal to me. When she gets the teeth that will be just one more reminder of how big she is getting and that she is growing up. She is loving her daddy more and more these days. Sundays are daddy days and mommy doesn't get hold her that much on Sundays. She will soon be 8 months old and it blows my mind. We visited the Arboretum at UK Sunday afternoon. Annabelle loved it, she loves to watch butterflies, birds, squirrels and just walk around and see everything. She takes it all in and barely makes a sound. This weekend we are going to see John Chandler play in the Bluegrass Games. We are looking foward to that and hope that they win this weekend.

My Little Miss Chatterbox

Last night we went to eat, looked around Michaels and then went to Target. Jason and Annabelle went looking for something in one direction and me and mom went another. We could hear that baby talking from a mile away. She loves to babble and talk. Jason used to call my little cousin Chatty Cathy but looks like he has his own Chatty Cathy now! It is too adorable

32 Weeks!

Annabelle is not a little baby anymore, makes me so sad! She is so sweet, I love her more than anything. She has developed and learned to do so many new things in the past couple weeks that its unbelievable. She grows more and more everyday, she crawls, she babbles, she talks, she wants to walk. She just is the best. She loves to be sung too but I try to read to her as well. Most of the time she doesn't like that. She does love to hear your voice and to be talked too, she also likes to take the books and eat them. We need to get some more of the board ones that allow her to eat on them without ruining them. She is cute and adorable and loves her momma and daddy. There is nothing more precious than her face and her little personality. If anytime she is feeling sad or whiny all you have to do is put her on your shoulders and she will immediately start laughing. I am so thankful to be able to have these memories with her. She has made my life so much better and she teaches me new things on a daily basis. She says daddadadad a lot now, we are working no momma, but I am in no rush. She has already gotten bigger and been able to do things faster than I ever imagined. She loves to play and I love to see the smiles on her face while she does it. She always smiles :) She has now started eating peas. It took a couple tries just like all the books say but she is doing it. She actually enjoys them and will eat the entire container.
She had her first trip to the waterpark last Friday with granny and pap. They met Chandler and Connor and had a good time. I need to post the pictures. She got to go to her first wedding this weekend also. She screamed (the banchee happy scream not the upset screaming) so I had to miss most of the ceremony and keep her occupied with the leaves. She is so stubborn lol. She heard some live music and she LOVES music. Hopefully she will be more musically inclined than either her dad or I. Jason listens to MTV jams so she was trying to dance Tuesday evening. She would lay on her side and kick her leg up in the air. She is so silly! Her great personality gets better and better with each passing day. We love her so!

31 Weeks!

Annie can now say dahdahdahdahdah if she really wants too. Her daddy bought her a backpack that says Little Miss Chatterbox for her to take to "school" - I don't know why he calls the sitters house that but he does. Annabelle has always loved to be on the move but now since she is crawling that love of movement has increased ten fold. She does not like to sit down, she fidgets wanting down until you stand up with her. If you sit her on her butt she can get in the crawl position, sometimes it takes a minute but she will get there. She has started to cry for Jason in the past week and that is something that she has never done, usually it was for me or granny. It seems that if she doesn't think Jason gave her enough attention and walked out of the room she would start to cry for him. Not a big cry cause she doesn't really do that but a little whine. We get asked a lot if she ever cries and the truth is she doesn't. We really feel we are in trouble when we have our second child. She is just so perfect! but that one will be too. She is getting too big, she isn't our little baby anymore. I love to see her learning new things though, everything is new to her and because of her I see everything in an all new way too. We have still been signing to her and we don't expect her to be able to sign back right now but she will have a good start.

She is going to have a new playmate in March. Amy is due March 8th!

Who Knew?

Yesterday I ordered Annie a new carseat - It has shipped! I am so excited for her to get this. If someone would have told me a year ago that I ordering a car seat would have made me this happy I'd never believed it. Just one of the great things that happens when you have a child. You no longer worry or even want much for yourself. It is all about your baby. Now we will be able to leave a car seat in granny's car. I think she is just going to be so much more comfortable in her new seat. I can't wait to take pictures of her sitting in it.

Here is her new seat -

My Girl!

Is getting too big. Sometimes I look at her and how big she is getting and get so sad. This morning she was patting the bed for me to sit and just smiling! I love her little face and her personality. She isn't supposed to be able to do those things!

We started teaching her to sign yesterday, we think she is ready. Jason's friend has a little boy who was over yesterday and can do it very well and he isn't even a year old. He kept signing Annabelle as a monkey, it was funny and cute. Jason just has to see the sign once and he can remember it so he was signing a lot to her last night. I was afraid that he wouldn't really try working with her and signing but he has impressed me in just the half day we were doing it. ASL is something I wish I would have taken more classes in during college. I really enjoyed it.

My Silly Husband

7 Months!

To my beautiful girl on your seventh month of life,
Wow! I can not believe that you are seven months old today. You are able to do so many things. You are a crawler now! Sometimes you don't pull your cute belly all the way off the ground and we can hear it sliding. It is adorable. Everything about you is adorable and sweet. We just went to the beach last week and you loved it! You had so much fun playing in the pool, playing in the ocean and playing in the sand. Daddy is already planning on taking you ever summer because you liked it so well. Daddy is not normally a beach person because his skin burns a little easier than ours does but he is willing to sacrifice for his girl :) I am still lucky enough to be nursing you. I enjoy our special time together. During the past month you have started to hug mommy when I pick you up at the sitters house. Daddy has taught you a new word. You enjoy saying the word "boom." For whatever reason you refuse to say dah again or to even attempt momma. I just know that when I hear the word momma come from your mouth I will melt just like I did the first time you smiled at me. You and daddy have screaming matches now, I think dad enjoys them more than you do. You also think that daddy is the funniest person around and laugh at all of his jokes and his silly faces. Anytime he fakes sneezes you just laugh and laugh. When momma sneezes you just look at me like I'm silly. You still have an absolutely fabulous personality. You smile ALL the time and at EVERYBODY. The only person that you have not smiled at was a waitress at Hooters while we were in Myrtle Beach. You just kept looking at her like she was stupid. This is your normal MO but following the look you usually smile; not this time though. It was pretty funny. Sometimes I can not bare to be away from you and I miss you so much when I am. I love to wake up and see your smiling face and to hear you laugh. There is nothing better! As you are getting older you seem to need your sleep and get a little grumpy (sometimes) with daddy when he wakes you up. You love to sleep actually. How special are we that our baby is the one baby the loves sleeping during the night and now you even nap for us! When you were small you didn't like to nap at all. Mommy has started planning your first ever birthday party. It is early I know but I like to plan - daddy doesn't but he will for you. Daddy makes lots of exceptions for you, his little girl. Daddy is a great daddy and you love him very much. You love to see him walk through the door when he comes home every day after work. We have finally been able to get you to eat a whole thing of baby food at one sitting. You tried a pickle for the first time a couple days ago and you really thought the juice was good. You make the same face each time you taste something new, it is the "this is icky" face but then you continue to eat it and like it.
You don't do raspberries much anymore, now you just hiss. I think you learned that from when I tickled you and I make a funny sound. Your belly is very ticklish by the way. Granny finally agrees with me that you are teething. We thought they would be through the gums last week but that didn't happen. Luckily we have not had a bad time with your teeth. Sometimes you get a fever and you chew on your fingers a lot but you rarely get fussy over it and you haven't had diarrhea or any other symptoms. You are just too good of a baby! Please stay this way. You are growing so fast. You are my sweet and silly girl and I love you more than anything!

WE LOVE YOU!!!!
-MOMMA!

Good News!

My best bud Amy is pregnant! She will be six weeks on Tuesday. I am very very happy for her, her husband and for Seth! He does not know what fun is in store for him when his SISTER gets here. I will have someone to share my knowledge of breast feeding with. Amy helped me so much while I was pregnant with Annabelle and has been such a great friend. She is so knowledgable about pregnancy and childcare. I am lucky to know her and feel like it was fate that brought us together. I know that sounds silly but we have shared similar struggles getting pregnant. She has been there for me since Jason & I began our journey over two years ago. I honestly do not know what I would have done without having her there. I am very grateful for the support she gave me during all of that time. I just hope that I can help her with her pregnancy and breast feeding (like she needs it) and that I have been as good of a friend to her as she has been to me.

Hoping for a very happy and healthy nine months for Amy and baby girl!

--I don't really hope you get morning sickness for months like I did but it is very fun to give you a hard time :)

Love

50% Momma - 50% Dadda -- 100% Perfect!

I love these two more than they will ever know

30 Weeks!

In 2 days my baby will be seven months old. Only five more months and she will be 1. I can't believe it. She is able to do so many things. Jason calls her a ninja because she can roll and be out of site in no time. She rolls over the cats without them even knowing it. She is grinning the entire time. Over the past couple weeks Annabelle & Kate have bonded - Kate has stopped trying to jump on us all the time and now just licks Annies toes. Annabelle is still toothless but it is so cute. I think her little mouth is just so perfect. I hope her teeth do not change the way that she looks very much. I will miss that toothless crooked smile of hers. Her daddy looks at her and always has the same reply. Thank goodness your nose isn't crooked like your moms. He is such a sweetheart lol. He now plays volleyball two nights a week so sometimes Annabelle doesn't get to see him for long on those evenings. She misses him, they are silly together and she loves that. She laughs out loud so loud now. I love to hear them have screaming matches or have Jason fake sneeze. She just cracks up at that like it is the funniest thing in the world. She doesn't think real sneezes are very funny though. She has her daddys personality which is good and bad. She is very laid back which I like and I hope that continues. She was crawling on the bed the other night for a little distance. She may just go straight into walking, she likes to pull herself up on anything she can. She just loves water and hopefully in the near future we will be going swimming. I'd like to take her to a water park and see how she likes going down little slides with her daddy. That may just wait until next summer though. I am very thankful for my little family. I love them both very much.

The Guilt is Back

I have been feeling extremely guilty about being a working mother. After spending an entire week with her I just felt so bad on Sunday about having to go back to work. I know that she LOVES the baby sitters house and that she has a wonderful time there. I just want to be able to take her to do fun things in the summer and hang out with her and just be the one to take care of her. It is wonderful that she is getting to socialize with other children at the sitters but I may have a plan that will allow me to stay home. I have been thinking a lot about this over the past few days and I think it is what gave me a migraine yesterday. I just keep beating myself up for going back after my masters degree. At the time it was what I really wanted and I did very well in graduate school. Having my baby has changed my priorities but if I had not went back I wouldn't have student loan debt and I would be able to stay home with my baby and live comfortably on Jason's salary. I ran my plan by Jason this morning and he is thinking it over. He didn't really have a comment about it this morning. I forget that he too gets sad about leaving her everyday. Being a stay at home mom would be great I think but on the other hand I am a little terrified about it. If given the chance would I really do it? I think about what would happen if Jason wasn't able to work or something happened to him. I wouldn't have any retirement or any social security. The way things are going now in this economy I may not have either of these things if I keep working either though. There are just a lot of things to think about. We are also still contemplating moving closer to our families. That is scary too, Jason has had his job for years now he is good at it and makes good money. Who is to say if he finds another job he likes it or that the salary will be comparable. AGH! I am fortunate to have a husband who loves me and have such an absolute great and wonderful child. I am also fortunate that we have two incomes and I do not want to seem ungrateful.

Diapers

Why is it so hard to find Pampers Swaddlers size 2-3. I looked at two Walmarts in Lexington and one in Myrtle Beach. Still no swaddlers 2-3. We LOVE swaddlers so much, she has almost outgrown them. They do not go past this size and the size ends at 22 lbs. She is cutting it close right now. I dont really care for Huggies at all, none of the types we tried kept anything in. The Pampers cruisers are alright, we like them okay. We were running low so bought some in Myrtle Beach and they didnt have Cruisers or Swaddlers! We got some other type of Pampers and they obsorb like no one's business. If anyone has any coupons for Pampers please send them our way! I have plenty of Huggies coupons if anyone would like those or wants to trade.

JOY

I love my girl....she is the most amazing child you could ask for. AND my best bud is pregnant. I will blog more about that later. Jason told me not to get any ideas but mom wants me to have another soon. Crazy lady! It will be at least 12-18 months before we try again which means it will be about 2 or more years before we have another (fingers crossed for no issues next time) I will never have another child as good as my Annie!

Beach Bums

We are back from seven fabulous nights in Garden City. Annabelle loved the ocean, she loved the sand and she loved the pool. She did such a great job riding in the car for 8 hours. She is just the greatest baby ever, we are so thankful to have one like her. Getting to spend a week with her again without working was wonderful in itself but being able to get a tan while doing it was nice too. I didn’t want to come back to work today, it’s always hard to leave her but especially after we have been together for so long. I always forget that it is hard on daddy too. I don’t mean to be selfish but I just don’t think about him missing her like I miss her. She got to spend quality time with her granny, pap, mother, and aunt veronica while at the beach. She got to fish, pet a shark that Veronica caught, play with different types of seaweed that granny brought to her, look at crabs, watch dolphins (although I don’t think she could see them). She even got a sun tan! You can see the creases in her arms that are still white. She was adorable in her bathing suits and sunglasses. She played in the sand and liked to pick up the wet sand and put it on her legs. All the fun in the sun wore her out and she napped about four times a day, sometimes for as long as three hours. She slept all night and into most of the morning. We were actually able to leave her on the bed asleep by herself. I guess that means it’s getting time to move her into her own bed or at least the bassinet. She crawled for the first time while we were there no one believes it because only Veronica and I saw it. She did, I promise. If there is a remote control, a cell phone or anything electronic she will get to it if it’s by crawling or by rolling. She smiled at all the kids in the pool or on the beach, she smiled at all the adults and everyone thought she was just so cute. The only person she didn’t really care for was the waitress at Hooter’s which was really weird since she smiles at EVERYONE. She is so friendly and loveable. The only bad parts about the trip were that our cousins didn’t get to make it and we had to leave. We are already planning for next summer. Hoping to rent a house with a pool, I think having a pool at this condo has ruined us. We won’t know what to do if we go back and don’t have one. We are planning to get Annie one for our house. She really enjoyed playing in the water. We have a small one for her now but she can’t get her float in it. I want an underground but a very nice above ground will work. I want to be able to stay home with my baby so I don’t think buying a below ground pool is going to speed up that dream. I can not describe how great it felt to take my baby to the ocean and see her reactions. She will never again have that same reaction to it. She was not afraid of anything. Seeing the look on her face during any new experience just makes me so happy. We have other things planned for her this year and I am excited for each of them.

29 weeks!

I have been on vacation this week and have neglected my blog. I will post when I get home and rested. Having a baby at the beach WEARS ME OUT!

28 Weeks!

Annabelle has a new shreek (I think I spelled that right) it is LOUD. We just got back from Chili's with Seth & Amy and she was doing it to get Seth's attention. Annabelle has turned into a little girl that LOVES to play play and play some more. Still not teeth yet but we got lots of drool. Jason has been on second shift this week and we have missed him. The supervisors were having to rotate supervising second shift as they didn't have one or something. Annabelle has been asleep when he gets home and he has been asleep when we get up. We are going to the beach next week and I haven't gotten anything ready. I am excited for Annabelle to see the ocean and play in the pool. Annabelle had been cutting back on the amount of milk she was drinking but I think that has increased again and I am very thankful for that. I have about 200 ounces or more of milk in the freezer and I hope that she is able to drink it. She is eating some more baby food, she has had bananas and likes those pretty well. She is growing and is such a wonderful child. She is even getting some more hair!!! I can't wait for her to get hair to see the color and if it is going to be thick or thin.