Christmas Portraits

We had the girls Christmas portraits made last week. We were VERY pleased with how well they turned out. Both girls did good at the session. This has been the easiest session thus far.

7 Months Old

Aaryn is 7 months old today. Happy 7 months, baby. We LOVE you!!!

Milestones

Aaryn has reached so many milestones in such a short period of time. She can now roll over both ways, sit unassisted, "army" crawl (all over the house), and even pull up on things to stand herself up. I'm going to work on getting pictures of this today to put on the blog. She is growing up so so fast and it's making me a little sad. I am so proud of her though.

Dear Sleep,

It's been a while since I've seen you. Thank you for visiting my baby and me. Make yourself comfortable and stay a while, because when you are here, everyone feels better.

Love Your Biggest Fan,
Shalonda

LOL! Aaryn has slept through the night for FOUR days in a row. We both feel so much better now. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this keeps up.

Thank You, God!

Turn from evil and do good; then you will dwell in the land forever. For the LORD loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones. They will be protected forever.

Psalm 37:27-28

My husband's job is about an hour away from where we live. He usually gets off work between 1 and 2am. Monday morning around 2:15 am, I was awakened from a terrible feeling that something was wrong. My husband wasn't home yet, so I called him on his cell phone. He told me that he had fell asleep at the wheel and had run the car into a guardrail on the highway. He walked away from the accident without a single scratch. Thank God! Things could have been much worse and I could be without a husband; my girls without a father. This confirms the power of God, prayer, and faithfulness.

Thanksgiving (Late)

Man...I've really slacked in keeping this blog updated. It seems that the days are getting shorter and shorter. Both girls have been sick over the past few weeks, but hopefully, that bug has left our home for good. Between taking care of the girls, working, and the Thanksgiving holiday, I've had very little time to spend on the computer.

Thanksgiving was great! If I could rewind time, I think I'd go back to this past Thursday and do Thanksgiving again. Thanksgiving really makes me reflect on all the things that I am thankful for. Here are my top 5:

1. My family. My family means the world to me. I am blessed to have such a wonderful husband and two beautiful daughters. I'm thankful too for the rest of my family who are always there when we need them.

2. My friends. Though they are few, I am thankful for those who have been true friends to me and my family.

3. My job. I know I gripe and complain and don't look forward to going to work everyday, but I am thankful to have a decent job. It's not hard work and it allows me to help take care of our family and give my girls a good life.

4. My health. I am relatively healthy and I am very thankful for that.

5. My upbringing. I am thankful for person that I have become. My mom raised my brother and me as a single mom. She taught me to be kind, honest, and obedient. From her, I've learned how to be a good mother to my children.

There other things that I am thankful for, but there are too many to list. We should all be thankful for people and the things in our lives everyday...not just on Thanksgiving.

Since my husband and I have been together, we've had Thanksgiving dinner twice (with both families). We had dinner with my husband's family at 1pm. We all get together at his grandmother's house and everyone brings a dish to make up the meal. This year, we were responsible for the deviled eggs and drinks. Everything was good. I had to force myself not to go back for seconds because we still had another dinner to attend.

We had dinner with my family (at my aunt's house) around 4pm. We were responsible for the mac and cheese and a dessert. I found a great recipe for pumpkin cheescake and it turned out really delicious. The mac and cheese was good, but it could have been better. I really stuffed myself. I think I gained at least 10lbs, but Thanksgiving only comes once a year. I can always work on losing the weight tomorrow...or next week...or at the beginning of the year. Ha!

6 Months and 1 Day ago...

I gave birth to my sweet baby girl, Aaryn! The time is passing by much too quickly. My baby is growing up before my eyes. I googled development milestones for 6-month olds and found this list:

Begins to speak single (hard) consonants, like "dada" (sorry mom!). NOT YET
Rolls over both ways (front to back and back to front). YEP!
The baby will begin to look for a toy dropped out of sight. YEP!
Has no head lag when pulled to a sitting position. YEP!
Begins to "tripod" (sits with one hand on the ground for support) and soon will begin to sit without support. YEP! (can sit for a short period without support)
Continues to grasp and mouth objects, but now can transfer small objects from one hand to another. YEP!
Six-month-old babies begin to rake at small objects but cannot pick them up yet because their finger coordination is not yet precise enough. I don't know. Too scared to give her small objects
Shows displeasure with loss of a toy. YEP!
Is able to recognize each parent and may even begin to show some stranger anxiety. YEP! (she prefers Mommy)
Makes attempts to feed himself or herself. YEP!
Smiles, laughs, squeals and begins to imitate sounds. YEP!
Can be content in a playpen for a while playing with one or two toys. YEP!
Can bear weight on his or her legs when held in a standing position (no, it will not make him or her bowlegged). YEP!

She's even scooting and turning to navigate towards objects. I predict she'll be crawling pretty soon.

As far as her growth rate, she has more than doubled her birthweight and she's grown at least 5 inches since birth.

I'm glad that she's reaching all of these milestones, but sad too. My little baby isn't so little anymore (sigh). They grow up waaaaay too fast.

Our Day Yesterday

Awful, Awful, Awful! In an earlier post, I mentioned that both of the girls had colds and that they were getting better. Well, Aaryn got better. Cadence's cough came back and refused to go away. So after almost two weeks of a persistent cough, I called the doctor's office to make an appointment. They told me to have her there by 5:00 and she could see the doctor. Perfect. So I got off work at 4:00 and headed to the daycare to get the girls. When I get there, Cadence's teacher tells me that she's been complaining about not feeling well and that she had a temperature of 99.6. I inform her that she has a doctor's appointment at 5:00, so hopefully we'll get to the bottom of this.

We get to the doctor's office around 4:40. I know that it is packed because there are no parking spaces. I see someone leaving, so I park in their spot, unload the girls and head in. I was right. It is slam packed! We sign in and sit and wait, and wait, and wait. Cadence is getting hungry and Aaryn is sleepy and becoming very fussy at this point. We finally get to see the doctor. He runs down a list of questions about her symptoms, which I patiently answer. He then examines her and tell me that she has pneumonia on her right side. My heart dropped. I felt so terrible that I had let it get that bad. He also said that since it had been going on for so long, as a precaution, he wanted me to take her to the hospital to get a chest x-ray to make sure it hadn't gotten down further in her chest. Why didn't I just take her to the doctor when she first started coughing or even after it lasted for a week? Why!? He expressed to me that it didn't sound too bad, but just wanted to be sure then faxed a perscription for antibiotics to the pharmacy.

It was 6:15, we were hungry, and I was tired (I hadn't even been home yet), but decided to head on to the hospital right then instead of putting it off until the morning. We were all getting very hungry at this point so we went through McDonald's drive-thru, then headed to the hospital. I manage to scarf my food down on the way while Cadence worked on her fries.

When we get to the hospital, we have to check-in through the emergency room because Outpatient Services closed at 5. Cadence starts on her chicken nuggets and I hand Aaryn a bottle while I'm filling out all of the forms. We get checked in and the x-ray technician (who was AWESOME) comes to do her x-rays. Cadence does great with following directions when getting her x-rays so we're in and out.

By now it is 7:00, so I figure that the perscription should be filled by now, so we head to the pharmacy. I find out that they never received the fax from the doctor's office. Disappointed, I call the office, but guess what....THEY'RE CLOSED. Ugghhhhh! We go home without her medicine and she's still coughing. After all of that, I still felt like nothing was accomplished. Yes, I know what the problem is now, but what good is knowing when I don't have the medicine she needs to get better?

To summarize today, Cadence stayed with my mother while I came on to work and John went to school. I called the doctor's office as soon as they opened and told them that I needed them to resend the prescription to the pharmacy. After
several back and forth phone calls, my mother was finally able to get the medicine.

I learned a few valuable lessons from this experience.

1.) NEVER wait over a week for a cough to go away. A persistent cough could be the sign of a more serious condition, which it clearly says on the back of every bottle of cough syrup out there.

2.) Just because your kid is jumping around and acting like their normal selves almost 100% of the time doesn't mean that they're not sick and they don't just say that they're sick to get attention..well not all of the time.

3.) Always ask for a hard copy of the perscription especially if it's closing time for the doctor's office. Fax machines aren't always reliable.

4.) Grandparents are Godsends. I'm convinced God made grandparents so that the parents don't lose their minds. NEVER take them for granted. Thank you mama for all you do. I love you!!

Halloween

Halloween this year was a blast. The girl's school had a Hallelujah Party on Friday with food, games, hayrides, face painting, and of course candy. It was lots of fun and Cadence had a really good time playing with all of her friends. On Saturday, my mom and I took the girls, dressed as Ariel and Flounder, out to a couple of church sponsored trunk-or-treats and a few friend's houses. Cadence really racked up on candy (mostly from my best friends house). I got lots of compliments on their costumes. Here are a few pictures that I managed to get of them.

My little Ariel

My sweet Flounder

The stash

It's been a while...

...since I've posted anything. This has been a BUSY month for us. With visitors at the house for 3 weeks and family get-togethers, its been hard to find time to sit down at the computer long enough to do anything. Here's what's been going on (not really much).

Aaryn is now rolling over both ways all the time. Not only that, but she's scooting too...backwards. Where did my little baby go? I'm not ready for her to be so mobile yet. At the rate she's going, she'll be crawling soon. She's able to get up on her knees, but doesn't know what to do after that to get moving. I love watching her play on her mat and in her play pen.

Both girls have had colds this week. Cadence has been coughing with chest congestion and a runny nose. Aaryn has been a little congested, coughing and sneezing. It really bothers them when they're trying to sleep, so I've been up in the middle of the night with one at least one of them every night. They've both been taking medicine for a few days and seem to be getting better now, so we'll all be able to rest better now.

Well, that's all for now. Aaryn is crying for me, so I better go get her. Until next time...

Rollin', Rollin', Rollin.....

She finally did it! After weeks of trying, Aaryn finally figured out how to roll over (back to tummy). She didn't know what to do with her arms at first, but now she's rolling over like a pro. She's rolled over from tummy to back a couple of times, but I think it was by accident. Check out the video below.

5 Months Old

Aaryn turned 5 months old yesterday! Where has the time gone. It seems like just yesterday when I was hugely pregnant, miserable, and convinced that my baby would NEVER come. Now she's here and she's growing before my eyes. It's bittersweet seeing her grow up. On one hand I'm excited about seeing her accomplish milestones, but on the other I want her to stay my little, sweet, innocent baby forever. Oh well, I guess that's life. Happy 5 months Aaryn!!

Welcome Back, Grandpa!

My father-in-law, who now lives in Oregon, came back to visit with us and to meet his new granddaughter. He'll be here for three weeks, which will give us lots of time to catch up. The last time my husband saw his dad was 2.5 years ago when he went to Oregon for a week and a half with our daughter Cadence, who was only a year old at the time. Of course, she doesn't remember him. He flew in on Saturday and so far seems to be enjoying being with us and the girls. We're doing everything possible to make him feel comfortable during his stay.

It's taken Cadence a little time to warm up to him, but she's coming around. We were telling her all week about his coming and she was getting really excited about it. Right before we left the house to head to the airport to get him, she was standing outside when she saw a plane in the sky. She looked up and started yelling at the plane, "Grandpa, come down! I'm down here!" So cute. She even told us that she was going to give her Grandpa a BIG hug when she saw him. Well, when she saw him, she changed her mind and decided that she wanted her daddy instead. She's a little shy at times, which I guess she gets from me. It's now day 4 and I'm glad to say that she has become a little more comfortable with him. Aaryn loves anybody who will hold her, so no problems there.

As pleased as we were when we found out that he was coming back for a while, we got another surprise that we would've never expected. His wife will be coming to visit during the last week that he's here. This will be the first time we meet her. From everything I've heard about her, she's a wonderful woman, and I can't wait for her to get here.

"Smarty Pants"

I'm always looking for opportunities to brag on my girls, but what parent doesn't. I've always got a recent picture in my wallet and a story to tell. Today I'm going to brag on my 3-year old, Cadence. I call her my "smarty pants" and here's why. She is so smart and mature for her age. It's easy for me to forget that she is only 3 because she knows sooo much and speaks like a much older child.

She just started 3K last month at the daycare/school that she's been attending since she was 8 months old. The school that she goes to is great. They have the best teachers around here. They begin teaching their students very early (potty training, counting, ABC's, vocabulary, etc.). It's great how much those children learn at such a young age. It's a Christian school, so they also teach them bible stories, prayers, scriptures, and of course songs. It is expensive, but it is well worth every penny. I wouldn't settle for anything less for my girls.

Well anyway, in the month that she has been in 3k, she's able to count to 30, mastered her ABC's, able to recognize and write some letters and numbers, and recite Corinthians 13. She knows that there are 7 days in the week (and can recite them), and she knows all 12 months of the year. There's more. She knows "The Pledge of Allegiance"and "The Pledge to the Christian Flag". She knows so much that I'm sure I am forgetting something.

Just the other day, she was talking to her dad and me(and I forget how this came up) about Joseph. She was telling us the story of how Joseph had a coat of colors and how his brothers sold him, put blood on his coat and gave it to their daddy, and how Joseph became a king and forgave his brothers.

I could brag on my Cadence all day, but this will do for now. I love my little "smarty pants"!

Interesting Diapers

Since starting Aaryn on solids, I've noticed some really interesting and colorful diapers here lately. There wasn't a noticeable difference when we were on the avocado, but the squash, well that's another story. My husband and I are just in awe at how the diaper "solids" looks identical to the purees I've been making. It looked as if someone put one of the puree cubes in the diaper to let it thaw there. The green beans diapers are even more interesting and colorful. I don't remember Cadence's diapers really changing after starting solids. I'm assuming that it's because she ate only store bought baby food. It doesn't take very much to excite us these days, as you can see.

Our Champion Eater

My intentions were to wait until Aaryn was closer to 6 months old before introducing solids. Well those intentions went out the window when she started showing interest in my food. I decided very early in my pregnancy that I would attempt to make everything that my baby ate in my own kitchen. I bought a baby cookbook with lots of baby food recipes and researched baby food making extensively. I got some mixed reviews about it. In the end, I decided to give it a try and see if I could make it work for us.

I have two motivations for preparing my baby's food. The first is that it is a healthier choice. It doesn't have all of the additives that commercial baby foods have. The second reason is cost. I am saving us money by taking a little time to prepare her food.

So far, I've prepared butternut squash, green beans, and carrots. When preparing costs, I found that 5 ozs of Gerber squash would cost me $1.12. I bought a 3 lb butternut squash for $5.45, which after cooked and pureed made 38 ozs. What cost me $0.14 per oz and a little over an hour of my time would have cost me $0.22 per oz at the grocery store. That really adds up. I really saved big with the green beans and carrots. A 1 lb bag of frozen green beans and carrots cost $1.38 each. I was able to make 22 ozs of carrots and 20 ozs of green beans from these bags. Like the squash, Gerber green beans and carrots are $1.12 for 5 ozs. These purees took less than 20 minutes to prepare.

Along with the health benefits and cost savings, I get the satisfaction of knowing that I prepared that for her and she likes it.

We started with avocado this past Monday. It requires no special preparation aside from scraping it from the shell and mashing with a fork. We mixed it with a little rice cereal (which she doesn't seem to like plain). She LOVED it. She got the hang of eating from the spoon very quickly. She's always been a champ at eating. She never had any problem nursing and never had a problem switching from breast to bottle.

We did avocado for 3 days before moving on to butternut squash (3 days), and now green beans. She eats about 2 ozs once a day. We are both enjoying it. Her sister also likes to feed her. It makes her feel like a big girl.

Where to Begin?

The truth is I've never thought about starting a blog. So why now? Well, the initial motivation stemmed from a discussion on the mommy board that I am honored to be a part of. Several of the AMAZING women on there have blogs that I follow and enjoy reading from time to time. After having a discussion about blogging, I got to thinking that it would be a good idea for several reasons. Through this blog, I will be able to keep our family updated about the major and not-so-major happenings in our lives, even the ones 3,000 miles away. My girls will have something to look back at, and even contribute to, when they're older. I haven't been the greatest at keeping my girls baby books updated. Actually, I haven't touched Cadence's in a loooong time, and I have yet to begin one for Aaryn (shame on me). Hopefully, I'll be able to stick with blogging so that some of the most precious moments in our lives are documented somewhere. Life is hectic. It's not easy working outside of the home full-time, taking care of two small children, taking care of my home, and being a wife all at the same time, but I manage. So this blog is dedicated to the stories of our lives with our beautiful children. I guarantee you'll be thoroughly entertained. The stories I have will make you laugh, some will make you wonder, and others may make you cry. Whatever your thoughts and feelings, we hope you'll embark on this journey called "life" with us. Happy Reading!!