Oh what a night!!!

So I had a fun night last night (well technically this morning but no need to split hairs). Harper woke up at 2 am to be fed, so I fed her and while I was doing that she pooped, so I finished feeding her then laid her on changing table to change her. THAT'S when I noticed poop all over my shirt!! This has been happening a lot because newborn diapers are too small and size 1's are still too big. I have been putting her in size 1's anyway so every now and then she poops out the side, anyway....... I took off my shirt and threw it on the floor then proceeded to change her diaper and put new pajamas on her. Then I grab a new shirt out of my dresser and put it on. At this point she is wide awake so I pick her up and start heading to our bed where I will attempt to get her back to sleep and all of a sudden she burps and throws up all over me!!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? Luckily it was projectile so it only gets on me and the floor so I don't have to change her pajamas again. I wake Josh up and pass her to him so I can change AGAIN!! Harper, in the meantime, is just laying in Josh's arms smiling away!! I get changed again, then take her from him so I can nurse her since she just puked up everything she ate. Finally at 3 am she has a full belly, clean diaper and is sleeping peacefully in bassinet, I on the other hand am looking at all the dirty laundry on the floor that just accrued in an hours time......oh the life of a Mom!!!

Harper 6 weeks

Harper had a 6 week checkup on Wednesday (basically her 4 week checkup but it was 2 weeks late cause her doc was booked!) Pax went too for a re-check from his ear infection and I was alone since Josh had to work. Well we get there and the nurse informs me Harper is getting shots!! I was not at all prepared for this, I thought they had to wait until they were 2 months, but she said nope, 6 weeks or older and since we were there might as well do it so we don't have to come back and pay co-pay again. Sure that makes sense and is all fine and dandy but HELLO I need to mentally prepare myself for shots for at least a day, instead I had 10 min. I was also worried how Pax would handle it, he is very overprotective of his sissy so I didn't know what he would do when he saw a nurse jabbing his sister and making her cry. So I kept talking to him about it and telling him it was very important to sit still and let the nurse do her job and that sissy was going to cry a lot but she will be ok and the shots are good for her. His eyes were big as saucers when the nurses came in and he sat so still and was so quiet while they injected her. I am so glad he did good cause I was crying and I don't know what I would have done if he got upset, we would be one big crying mess :) Harper did really well though, she was done crying before they even got the band-aids on, however she was very cranky the rest of the day and would cry hard whenever someone touched her leg or moved her. The doctor said that she has thrush in her mouth so she is on antibiotics and I am praying she doesn't pass it on to me through nursing because I heard it can be quite painful.

Nursing is still going very well and she only gets a bottle if I am gone or we are out and about in public, AND we have not had to supplement with formula at all!!!! I am so happy about this and happy about all the money it is saving us from not using formula, I do miss having help with feedings in the middle of the night. With Pax, Josh and I would just take turns with feedings but obviously he can't help me this time around (I don't think he is complaining one bit though).

Harper is so much more alert now and doesn't sleep as much, she has a morning nap then is pretty much awake most of the day, then has an evening nap and is awake after that until about 9 or 10 when I nurse her and put her to bed. She is really good when she is awake and usually just looks around so I don't mind that she is sleeping less. Her nights still vary, we have our good nights and bad nights. She is really following objects and people now, and smiling more too! Here is her 6 week stats:

weight=8lbs 14oz (she was 6lbs 40z at one week check)

height= 21 inches (20 at one week checkup)

So she is growing, growing, growing!! Here are some pics from this week. She loves laying on the playmat that Auntie Amber brought up for her, she really looks at all the toys and especially the mirror that hangs above her head, she already loves to look at herself...such a girl!

tummy time!

she is only wearin her onesie due to an explosion she had all over her clothes :)

love her big eyes, hope they stay blue!!

look at those chunky legs!

Helping Haiti

Today I went to the civic center in town to help package food to send to earthquake victims in Haiti. I have been watching the news coverage and have been praying for all the victims there, so when I heard that Numana (a local charity organization) needed volunteers to come package food up to send there, I jumped at the chance! I fed Harper, threw her stroller in the trunk, and drove down to help out. I thought I would go to the civic center and there would be a few tables set up and a scattering of people helping....boy was I wrong!! There were so many people that showed up to help out, that when I first got there I had to wait in line for a table to open up to work at! How wonderful is it that there were TOO MANY volunteers and they were letting people work for an hour then making them take a break so another group could come in and get a chance to work. I was also surprised at the amount of young kids helping out. At my table there were 5 little kids and they were having so much fun and were so excited to help out, how amazing is that? We packed bags full of food and packed 36 bags per box, and in 3 hours time they had already packed up 100,000 boxes!!! The atmosphere there was so upbeat and fun too, every time a box got packed up everyone at the table would start cheering really loud so all afternoon you just kept hearing whoops and hollers from all the tables around you and you knew another box had been finished and was ready to be sent! It truly shows God's work to see a community like this come together and work hard to help so many people. Who knew a small town in Kansas could help out so much?

Brooke and Lauren, 2 of the little girls I met and worked with, they had been there all day and loved it!! They were having so much fun.

This is my table hard at work, Harper is in the stroller and slept pretty much the whole time even though it was so loud.

She helped out a lot!! :)

The room was PACKED with people!!

they had a big screen that showed images of the devastation in Haiti, it reminded us why we were all there doing what we were doing.

She finally woke up right before we had to leave.

Keep praying for all the people who are hurting, hungry, and homeless and don't forget to donate your time or money, they truly need all the help we can give them!!

Park and Playdate!

On Wednesday Pax stayed home with Harper and I because his daycare lady had the flu. I was pretty excited cause I knew it was going to be nice out (FINALLY) and knew we could get out of the house and go do something. I called my friend Lesley, who is a SAHM, to see if her and her little girl Ella wanted to get together and we agreed a trip to the "duck park" was a great idea. After Pax's nap I got the kiddos ready and off we went for Harper's first trip to the park, actually it was her first trip outside ever (well of course she's been outside, but not for an extended period of time). Ella and Pax were SO excited to see the ducks and to be outside in the fresh air, they were so cute standing together and throwing bread in the (frozen) water.

And they're off!!

Ella sharing her bread with Pax.

Hey kids!!

Aren't they just the cutest ever!!! They WILL be getting married one day!

This is a fountain that froze, I thought it looked so cool!

Can you tell how excited she was to be outside?

Her hats are still pretty big, but I couldn't resist putting one on her anyway!! I love it!

I know, it's pretty much the cutest thing ever right?

So after the park we went back to Ella's house to play for the rest of the afternoon. Lesley and I love getting together so we can have grown up talk, but most of the times the kids spend the whole playdate fighting over toys! But this afternoon they did GREAT! Of course there were a few scuffles but for the most part they played very nicely and Lesley and I were able to chat. Ella LOVES babies so she was in heaven seeing and holding Harper. She just kept coming up to her and hugging and kissing her then would scurry off to play some more. We let her hold her and she sat so still the whole time and was singing to her!!! It was the cutest thing ever, and Harper laid there and didn't cry at all, I think she really liked it. Ella is going to be a great big sister!! We ended up staying for dinner and pretty much all evening too! It was so nice of Les and her husband to let Pax and I hang out for so long, it gets pretty lonely at home when Josh works late nights. I am so lucky to have great friends here, it has made our transition here so much easier.

Ella giving Harper kisses.

This was the only smile I could get from her, she was too busy singing to Harper :)

Harper is 1 month old!!

Harper was 4 weeks old on Tuesday, and I was going to do this post then, but we didn't have internet all day Tues or Wed (yes I was going crazy). I can't believe it's already been a month or that I go back to work in a week and a half! Don't get me wrong, I am ready for some adult interaction, but I am not ready to leave my baby yet. Here is what Harper is doing at 1 month of age:

-she sleeps for 3-4 hours between feedings at night. I try to nurse her at 10 pm then she is up around 2 am then not again till 5 or 6 so technically I only nurse her once in the middle of the night which is great!!


-she is awake for longer periods of time now, sometimes she is content to just lay/sit and look around but sometimes she is high maintenence and wants to be held.

-she lifts her head up really well, it makes her look like a little turtle.

-she smiles at us

-she will take a pacifier (sometimes).

Ok so she's not doing much right now, but I know that will all change very soon, and honestly I can't wait. I love the baby cuddle stage, but I am ready for her to start interacting with us more. I know that there are so many fun times ahead as she continues to change and grow. Here are some (ok A LOT) of pics that I took of her today at 4 weeks of age, we had a little photo shoot!! Hey what else is there to do when you are on day 5 of being stuck inside all day?
















She was starting to be over the whole photo shoot :)



I will post her one month stats after we go to the doctor on the 20th. I am so eager to see how much she weighs. I think her cheeks are really starting to fill out and she FEELS a lot heavier so I am excited to find out her weight. She is in size 1 diapers finally and some of her 0-3 month clothing is fitting and the newborn outfits are getting tight...so hopefully that means she is puttin on some lbs!!!!

It was a very good day!

Tuesdays are Josh's ONLY full day off, and this Tuesday I was SO ready for him to have a day off. I had been home all weekend (alone) with a sick toddler and a baby, needless to say I was ready for an extra pair of hands and a little bit of a break. We laid around the house all morning and just relaxed. Pax laid down to take a nap on the couch after lunch but never actually fell asleep, after laying there for an hour I asked him if he was ever gonna fall asleep, he said "nope" I said why not, he said "cause I don't wanna" and smiled real big (turd). So I let him get up and we decided to make brownies (Josh was shoveling the snow covered driveway). There is nothing better than baking on a cold winter day!!

"are they done yet Mom"

After the brownies came out of the oven, we packed the kiddos up and headed over to Andover to go to Dillon's marketplace (LOVE IT) to buy crab legs for dinner. Josh and I could spend hours in there, they have an OLIVE BAR....hello heaven!!! We picked up some sushi, cheese stuffed olives, fresh mozzerella, stuff for bruschetta, and of course the king crab legs. Once home, Josh poured me a glass of wine and started working on dinner, THIS is why I love his days off!

this is what Harper was doing .....

Paxton was eating yogurt....

I was drinking this....

and Josh was doing all the work :)

yummy!!

Pax eating crab for first time....gotta dip it in butter first of course!

I cleaned up the kitchen, and Josh got Pax ready for bed. Josh called me into Pax's room and I thought it was so I could say prayers with him and kiss him goodnight, but this is what I found...

Pax was sitting ON Josh reading books!!!

All in all, it was a great day. I cherish those days as a family since we don't have very many. I am a single mother most days/nights of the week and I never take our time together for granted.

A New Year..

So it's a New Year and with that comes the ol' resolutions, ya know the ones you make but never actually stick to for more than a month? Well THIS year I am convinced I will stick to them! Before I put what they are in writing (thus making them REAL) I will go over how 2009 was a great year for so many reasons:

1. I learned that I am a strong person when we uprooted our family and moved to El Dorado last February, leaving behind my sisters and my Dad and the town I love so much! I had lived in Manhattan my entire life and I was ok with never leaving, and then the opportunity to buy a bar here in El Dorado came up and I knew that it was a smart business decision for Josh and his partners so I said we could move. I knew leaving my sisters was going to be the hardest thing ever for me, they had watched Pax everyday since he was 8 weeks old and they had been my best friends my whole life. The day came to leave, and the tears would not stop coming, I cried the entire way to El Dorado and for many days after that. But slowly it got easier, I made friends at work and slowly got used to life here in "el dog". I still miss my sisters and wish we were still only a 5 min drive away, but through facebook, texting and our blogs, we still are as close as ever.

2. I had my baby girl!! I was completely shocked when all 6 home pregnancy tests came back positive last March. I mean we had just moved to a new town, the bar had just opened and Josh was super busy with that, we were still living with his parents while we tried to sell our house in Manhattan, and I had just started a new job....a baby was NOT part of that plan!! But ready or not, it was going to happen. We eventually sold our house, bought our own here and got settled in and the thought of a new baby wasn't so scary anymore. And now she is here and I can't remember what life was like without her. She may not have been planned, but she is loved so much and I am grateful she is in our lives.

3. Our business is doing great, I have great friends that I have met here, we joined a wonderful church and love going there every Sunday, my in-laws are 5 blocks away and have been a tremendous help to me on days when I just need a break, I have a home I love and look forward to the MANY projects we will do in the future, my husband is still my best friend and this past year definately brought us closer, and of course last but not least I have 2 healthy kids whom I love so much.

Ok so what do I want to accomplish THIS year?

1. Lose the last of the baby weight...duh you have to have the oh so original weight loss new years resolution right? I can't wait to get back to the Y and get my friend Jamie, who is a personal trainer, to get my butt in shape!! Before I found out I was prego with Harper I had been working out a lot and was doing group training with some friends. I was in the best shape I had been in for a long time and was below my pre-pregnancy weight for the first time since Pax was born. Well of course all that changed when I got pregnant again, but at least I know I have it in me to do it again.

2. Continue going to church and teaching Pax about God and faith. I didn't realize how important church was until we started going regularly and now I look forward to going every Sunday. There is nothing like looking over and seeing your 2 year old bowing his head and praying (and then yelling AMEN so loud everyone in the church starts laughing).

3. Try to be more patient with Paxton.

4. Look into nursing school, the thought of going back to school scares the bageezus out of me, but I think it will pay off in so many ways in the long run.

5. Be a better wife, mother, sister, daughter and friend to everyone.

So there ya have it, that's what I want to accomplish in the next year. Here are some pics I took of the kiddos yesterday, our first pics of 2010, but certainly not the last!! :)

SMILING!!



ok she is over it :)