Blessings

The other day I was having a conversation with my sister-in-law, I don't know how the topic came up, but I said the most heartless thing about miscarriages. I'm fortunate enough to not know that type of pain or hurt. It's something I don't understand and can't possibly imagine. Today as I was reading this post and this post from Casey Leigh, I felt a tug on my heart strings. Knowing the closeness and excitement I felt for my baby before I even knew her gender, I couldn't imagine losing her. Then or Now or Ever. It's something I always worried about and still do. Its something I hope I have the blessing to never, ever go through.

Its because of those posts that I realized I take what I have for granted. I have been blessed with an ideal (for me) pregnancy that lacked morning sickness, pre-eclampsia, diabetes, and heartburn (for the most part). I have been blessed with an ideal (for me) labor that was very quick, not as painful as I thought, all natural, and complication free. I have been blessed with a beautiful daughter who never ceases to amaze me with her curiosity, good manners, beauty, and happiness.

I have been guilty of getting frustrated, angry, and short-tempered with my baby. Those first few months were a hard adjustment for me. I have been guilty of letting her play by herself and ignoring her so I can do something I want to do. I'm not a perfect mother, but I love my baby unconditionally. I love that when she smiles her whole face lights up. I love the way she wiggles her whole body when she gets excited. I love that she follows the cats around the house. I love her giggles and squeals of happiness. I love when she climbs up my leg crying for me to hold her. I love the way she sleeps. I love every single thing about her; the amazing and the annoying. I never knew how much I could love somebody until she came along.

I've been blessed with an amazing life partner. I don't tell him enough, but he's truly amazing. From the moment I met him he has kept me safe, been well-mannered, and made me feel like the only person in the world who matters to him. He has worked his butt off serving our Country and providing for our family. I'm so incredibly proud of him for starting college. Life as new parents hasn't exactly been a breeze and has taken its toll on our relationship, but he's been so patient, understanding, helpful, and loving. He's still my rock and I love him more than I know how to express.

Photo by Stephanie Marie Photography

Even though I've questioned whether leaving the military was a good move, even though we don't have our own home, and even though we still haven't found a job, I know that God has big plans for us that are greater than we could imagine. Through all of this we're still able to provide the food and other thing that we need and pay our bills. The best part for me is that we all get to be together. No more deployments, ever. My husband will be here to watch our daughter grow up and be here for every birthday, anniversary, and holiday. That is truly a great blessing. No matter what we go through or how hard any day gets, I'm going to try to remember how blessed I am and that as long as I have faith, I will continue to be blessed.

Photo by Stephanie Marie Photography

Aubrey: 7 Months (30 Weeks)

Weight: Roughly 19 pounds.

Height: About 27 inches.

Health: Well, you were sick for a few weeks with Acute Viral Bronchitis (so the doctors said without doing any tests), but with some Children's Tylenol to help break the fever you got better in days!
We're still postponing vaccines, but you're so close to being able to tell us in some way if you don't feel good that the time for trying out vaccines is coming up quickly. We actually got kicked out of a pediatric office because you are a "threat" to the other children. Vaccines are given to  help prevent an illness, right? We all know that a small, weakened or dead portion of the illness is injected into your body, therefore exposing you to the virus. By common logic, any vaccinated child should already be immune to any disease my child may or may not have. So, my baby is not a "threat" to anyone else, everyone else (who has been exposed to many, many illnesses and now carries them in their body) is a threat to my baby. Get it right. Sorry, rant over!

Swinging with daddy

Diet: You eat three meals a day (when we eat) with some apple juice and Gerber puffs. You still drink momma's milk whenever you need a nap, its bedtime, or you need comforted. You're starting to actually get the hang of drinking from a sippy cup, it adorable.

Clothes: I couldn't even begin to tell you what size you wear, but it is definitely not 6-9 months! I would guess somewhere around 9-12 months, but we have to go off the weight on the tags or just eyeball the right size/length if the weight isn't listed. You're in the 90th percentile for height and about the 75th percentile for weight, so its really a hit or miss on clothes.

Diapers: Size 4, moving up in the world! Pampers Swaddlers only goes up to a size 3, so we switched to Pampers Cruisers, but you're always leaking out of those! We just got small pack of Huggies to try.

Baby Gear: There's so many things! We got you a ball pit, which is pretty cool. A "poppity" dinosaur that you love, an elephant that blows balls out of it's nose, a roller-type of seat, and got you a bigger car seat! {click pictures for links}

Likes: Pocoyo. What's new? I've got you interested in a new show called Doc McStuffins! Leaves, the smallest little speck on the carpet, cats, laser pointers, plastic bottles, any type of cord, my jewelry, etc.

Milestones: You've mastered sitting up unassisted and rolling over. You just learned how to crawl, although you do it sideways and in a way that kind of looks like those creepy monster/ghost/human things that crawl on ceilings in scary movies...but its cute because you're an adorable chunky baby! And you're so close to pulling yourself up to stand and standing unassisted. We're just waiting on those teeth!

Aubrey: 6 Months (26 Weeks)

Weight: About 17lbs

Sleep: You are definitely our kid and love your sleep! If only we had the courage and patience to work on laying you down alone to sleep.

Diet: Breast milk. You love to eat when we're eating so we take advantage of that time and give you baby food. Although we are very forgetful and usually don't have any on hand when we need it most, like when we're eating at a restaurant. We started using Gerber food, but my mom got us a Baby Bullet that I love! The only problem is that you won't eat what I make you. After making my own banana puree (and trying it) I'd like to know what Gerber actually puts in their baby "food." Its way too uniform in color and texture to be only bananas and water like they claim, not to mention its much sweeter than it should be!

Clothes: You're growing so fast!! I have a love/hate relationship with it. You're wearing 6-9 months and 9-12  months. We met a 10 month old girl at Applebee's today and you were the same size as her! I really wish they made half sizes in baby shoes, but that would be almost pointless.

Diapers: No more Pampers Swaddlers! We're moving on to Pampers Cruisers.

Baby Gear: There are so many cool toys! We've recently discovered these:

Fisher Price Brilliant Basics™ Musical Activity Walker™

This is really cool because the legs come off for sitting babies. Leapfrog Learning Table

We said we would never own one, but what a life saver!

Likes: Anything that lights up, makes noises, and can be tossed around. Or simple things like running water, boxes, furry cats, and childproof pill bottles. Oh, and Pocoyo.

Milestones: Sitting up unassisted, shaking objects, scooting backwards, sitting in a high chair.

Difficulties: Getting you to eat real baby food! But seriously, we couldn't have asked for a better baby.


Postpartum: Whoever said breastfeeding makes you lose a lot of weight was just lucky, because I've been about 20 pounds over my pre-pregnancy weight for months! I desperately need to work out especially because of all the holiday deliciousness.

Aubrey: 5 Months (22 Weeks)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Sleep: We're talking about starting sleep training after we move. You have no idea what's coming! I swear you have a little internal alarm that tells you to get up every morning at seven. You don't nap as often or as long as you used to, which is fine by me because then you're tired at night!

Diet: Mostly breast milk, some formula, and you're really wanting food to keep you happy. We're happy to oblige! Oh, and those Vitamin D drops...yeah, they're disgusting and stinky!!

Clothes: We very recently made the switch to 3-6 months sized clothes ans a lot of them are already too small! The cute outfit I bought you for Thanksgiving is a tight squeeze and your head barely fits through the head hole in the shirt. So we've been trying to buy warmer clothes in 6-9 months so you hopefully fit in them longer.

Diapers: We had to move you up a size in diapers due to many "blow outs" that shouldn't have happened. We bought this whole big box of size 3 diapers and they seem like they're not much bigger than the size 2 ones. Weird.

Crying: You don't really cry as much as you did earlier. Don't get me wrong, you still cry, but now you sort of make grunting noises when you're getting upset first. Exploring the different noises you can make I guess!

Likes: Paper, magazines, napkins. Pretty much anything that crinkles and can go in your mouth! You like watching football with daddy.

"Gimme that camera!"

Milestones:  You're really getting the hang of your hands. You've been transferring toys from one hand to the other for a while now, but your much better at getting them in your mouth instead of hitting yourself in the face. You can roll over now!! Instead of rolling all the way over (you can do it), you like to lay on your side. You're lifting your upper body up during tummy time, but can't hold it for very long. Maybe you'll be crawling soon? Last but not least, you can sit up unassisted for short periods of time and lean forward to play.

Difficulties: There aren't really any difficulties. You've been a lot more independent lately; its nice to start getting some time to get things done!

Postpartum: I thought I may have postpartum depression, sometimes I still think I might, but it may not be depression so much as it is stress. There's been a lot of stressful changes lately. I'm itching to get back in shape! I'm so bad about working out at home (like I have time) so the gym is definitely a better choice for me. However, you have to be 6 months old before I can utilize the childcare. So unless we can get someone to watch you, I don't go to the gym. I feel like I've been starting to come out of this rut of 'baby, baby, baby' and get back to some form of normality. I find time to do my nails, start craft projects, clean, cook, shave my legs!

 I LOVE YOU!

Aubrey: 4 Months (17 Weeks)

Weight: 15lbs 2oz

Height: 25.5" (90th percentile!) My goodness you're tall!

Health: Still postponing vaccines. You have a bit of a cough, but the doc said its nothing to worry about. Also, we learned that a lot of breastfed babies are Vitamin D deficient, so we now have a prescription for Vitamin D drops! Aaaaand, you may need an ultrasound done soon to make sure your spinal cord formed properly. The doctor noticed a dimple by your tailbone and just wants to be sure everything is fine. I think you're fine. I have the same dimple, so I think it's just a genetic quirk.

Sleep: Every morning you wake me up at 7:30am. We've been trying to set you down more while napping. Its been difficult on all of us, but there have been several times you've stayed asleep or fallen asleep on your own. Those times are awesome!

Diet: We started giving you some frozen smoothies a few weeks ago, but they seemed to upset your stomach even though you loved it! I just realized a few days ago, it was 'toddler' food, which explains a lot. So, we got some Gerber 1st foods for you to try. So far you're still mostly breast milk fed, so you've only tried the banana food, but you liked it! We also bought a small can of formula to try so I won't have to pump before you get babysat, but you despised it! I don't blame you, it was nasty! Very bitter, sour, and chalky. Your Grandma Chelton tried giving you coconut milk one time, which you took (probably because its sweet).
Update 10/30: You do take formula, but you prefer breast milk. Although its been nice when we're out so I don't have to worry about flashing people anymore. And by the way, in case anyone is interested, I've learned that to introduce baby food the correct way is to mix 1 teaspoon of baby food with 4-5 teaspoons of formula or breast milk. Then gradually replace 1 teaspoon of milk with 1 teaspoon of food. Oops!

Daddy feeding you bananas

Clothes: Many of your 0-3 months clothes are getting way too small, and as the weather gradually cools down I've been enjoying putting tights on you. Ahhh, I love having a girl!

Let me just say, I love this headband!

Diapers: We've put a halt on cloth diapering until further notice. Although I love the money we save, I just don't have the time or energy right now to keep up with it. Especially with you growing so quickly! But you've been fine in your Pampers Swaddlers; no diaper rash, no irritation, and gradually moving into a size 3 might I add! You little chunker! :)

Baby Gear: I've figured out how to use my Karma Baby sling! I can hip carry you since you are much better about holding yourself up! We've been using our stroller more now that we moved and you actually fell asleep facing forward in it. It has a 5-point harness, you're still a bit too small, but you weren't falling out of it haha We've also had you sitting in this bouncer with toys all around it, although I'm not sure what its actually called. An activity center?

Crying: Uhhhmmm, yeah...you scream. A LOT! It's very annoying. We're trying to teach you not to scream when you cry by giving you a stern 'no.' You only scream when you're really upset, like you want to nurse but we give you the pacifier to hold you off.

Likes: You still love Pocoyo, but we've been trying to introduce new shows, like Wonder Pets (which you like even though its the most annoying show ever)! And you love having something to chew on, whether its your hands or a toy.

Milestones: Sleeping without being held for some naps, enjoying tummy time, almost laughing again, and almost rolling over! :) You're getting to be so much more fun now!

Difficulties: Definitely teething. It seems you cry for no reason; its frustrating and saddening. I wish we could communicate better, but since we just started teaching you sign language it may be a while! 

Postpartum: Zack & I have gym memberships now, which is awesome! They even have a free childcare center, but you have to be at least 6 months to be taken there. Booooo!! So I get to go about every 3 days while your Grandma Chelton watches you. It's nice to get an hour to spend time with just Zack. Although I feel horrible leaving you with my mom because its not her job to watch you, its mine, and I don't like relying on her. It makes me feel irresponsible. So basically I can't actually get back in shape until the New Year; I guess that can be my "New Year's Resolution..." maybe. I'm not really into that kind of thing.

            

Family Pictures

I just want to take a moment and share some beautiful photos of our family by an amazing photographer, Stephanie, here in Yuma. She's a Marine wife from Michigan who runs her own business, Stephanie Marie Photography. I had seen so many of my friends getting adorable family pictures done by her.
She took Aubrey's newborn pictures and was so incredibly patient through the diaper changes, feedings, and fussiness. Aubrey was not very cooperative to say the least! But Stephanie never made us feel like we were being an inconvenience or taking up too much of her time. When we got the pictures back they were better than I had imagined! She even included a few free gifts for us which was so sweet! Here's some of Aubrey's newborn pictures:

There are so many more that are too cute not to share, but they don't have her logo on them and I would hate to see someone passing off her fantastic work as their own. One little freebie she gave us was a custom Facebook Timeline cover.

On her Facebook page she did a raffle for a mini family session. I rule at raffles so of course I won! ;) Just kidding, it was totally random & I was just a lucky winner.

So, I cashed in our mini session last weekend and let me just say, I am astonished once again at the quality and beauty of her photos (and our family of course)! I'm so sad that we found an amazing photographer in Yuma and we're moving out of the city. I guess we'll just have to make some trips back to visit and get more pictures done! You can never have too many pictures to show off and hang in your home! :) That being said, here are some of the wonderful family pictures she took of us:

Thank you so so much, Stephanie! We love our pictures and can't wait to frame them in our new house!