Smiling Through the Rain

My dear sweet blog followers have come through for me once again.  I ask for one poor soul to sign up as a follower and I get 5!!!  Which is WAY better than one!  I'm going to try to kick it up a notch and post about some really awesome things (this will be a change).  Any suggestions? I wanted to update on my little nipple biter:  we've had no more incidents since that one dreadful morning.  However, the explosive pooping has continued.  We've had at least one blowout a day for 5 days straight.  I'm saying it has to be related to teething. I'm ready to invent some type of duct tape to seal the diaper off to prevent leakage. We're ready for things to firm back up around here, for the sake of our washer, carpet, and noses!

Dear 100th Follower, I know you're out there.  Just dying to take the plunge and become a follower of my blog.  I've been holding steady at 99 followers for what seems like forever (after falling to 98 for a while), and there is nothing I'd like better than to hit that 100 mark.  Honestly, I can't believe that even 10 people read the crap I write and I feel like I may have one of the most boring blogs around.  But nonetheless,  you know you want to be part of this.  To feel included.  It's quite an exclusive group.  :)  So, just do it.  Click on the follow this blog button.  Because followers make me happy! Sincerely, Amber

This morning started off (key words) perfectly.  Paisley started to stir around 7 a.m. so I crept in her room to get her.  On days we're off work, I like to take her back to my bed to sneak in some cuddle time and more sleep.  She immediately snuggled in, nursed for a while, and then fell quickly back to sleep.  I love nothing in this world more than I love the feel of her soft, warm, tiny body next to me.  I love her sweet breathing, and the way she always has a hand on me as if for security. We sleep until 9:30 which was awesome considering we had went to bed at 11:00.  I am a person who adores sleep.  And until I had her, I never really missed out on a good night's sleep.  Anyways, I woke up feeling really happy that she'd slept so long and thought I'd nurse her again before we got up just to extend our sweet family time.  Everything was still going along perfectly, until something I feared for a long time happened.  I knew ...

Paisley just gets busier and busier all the time.  I know it seems a little excessive to have a 7-month-old enrolled in baby gym once a week and swim class twice a week, but I actually feel like she needs even more than that going on.  This child is ACTIVE !   She loves to go running around, whether it be to the zoo, Wal-mart, or around the block.  Outdoors are her favorite and she's pretty much always content as long as we're outside. She decided that getting one tooth this week wasn't good enough, so she decided to welcome the one next door as well.  Which she seems to be handling teething great so far!  In fact, she's slept anywhere from 8-10 hours straight at night for the past week.    Hmmm... Ignore my idiotic expression here- point is to show you how adorable her swimsuit is! She loves riding around on the board Water time with daddy Mendy and her adorable twin girls, Renna and Reagan.  It is so great seeing them...

You're gonna want to sit down for this story... We had quite the eventful day at the vet clinic on Thursday.  I'm pretty much positive that I can't possibly describe the event in its full craziness.  Nevertheless... We had just returned from lunch and Aaron, Paisley and I were out in the front of the clinic planting some shrubs to add "curb appeal" as Aaron calls it.  Next thing we know, a young black boy (maybe 15 years old)- let's call him "Target"- runs up to us from across the busy street we're on yelling that someone is trying to kill him and he needs to call 911.  He runs into our clinic with us close behind him.  At this point, we're wondering what this kid is talking about and not taking it very seriously.  However, we're smart enough to go inside with him.  One of our employees calls 911 and Target asks to call his mom.  In the meantime, we spot the Suspect across the street searching for the boy.  So it'...

Paisley has had a runny nose for the past 3 days and I was convinced that we were dealing with our first sickness.  I realize that we are super lucky to make it this far without being sick at all, but I still didn't want her to feel bad.  She's been a little cranky and very attached to me this week. Her naps are limited again and it's tough to get her to go to sleep. It's concerned me at points that she's getting really spoiled (how could that have happened?). But tonight I found the reason for the changes:  she cut her first tooth!   It's on the bottom right side and it's as sharp as a shark tooth.  So, maybe they really can get a snotty nose before cutting teeth...  Hmmm...  And now I feel like her mood hasn't been that bad at all considering she's had a sharp object pushing its way through her sweet little gums.  Now, my nipples are kinda cringing at the thought of teeth.  And my baby is still happily nursing throughout th...

Paisley showing off her new bikini Me and my  sweet girl!!! Hanging out with our friends, Renna and Reagan, in the pool Showing off our natural swimming skills Playing ball in the pool We started swim classes last night and it was SO much fun!  It's going to be on Tuesday and Thursday evenings for 4 weeks at the YMCA.  Our best friends, Mendy and Adam, are taking their twin girls too so it's even more fun!!!  I was afraid the cooler temperature of the water might make her mad, but she was super excited the whole class.  She is excited for the next class already, and looks stunning in her bikini!  I'm thinking she might be the next Michael Phelps (minus the whole pot-smoking ordeal)...

Thank you ladies so much for helping me get my head on straight and remember that there is a GREAT use for my unused breastmilk!  I looked up the closest mommy's milk donation center to us and it's in North Texas.  So, I will call them tomorrow morning and hope that they want my milk.  It was just so disappointing to me to look at the deep-freeze full of perfectly good milk that I know in my heart my baby will never need/want.  She's still nursing as much as she wants and I still have overage.  They require at least 100 ounces to be donated over the course of a year, and I have well over 1,000 already.  So I'm hopeful that I can help out some babies that need it!  And don't think I don't appreciate having too much milk.  I realize supply is a HUGE problem for many women and I'm super thankful I've had enough to give.  Which makes it all the more frustrating when you have to waste any of that "liquid gold". Since you all helped me solve tha...

At our last pediatric visit, our doctor suggested that we add in meat baby foods, yogurt and whole milk to Paisley's diet to try to increase her calorie intake since she's built like a supermodel (tall and skinny).  I felt like that was a great idea, and I certainly don't want my baby to be hungry! I really thought she'd hate the meat, but she LOVES it.  All of it- turkey, beef and chicken.  I think they all smell like roadkill and they're all terrible colors that stain EVERYTHING.  But, she gobbles them up.  Like an entire jar in a sitting.  And then she'll top it off with some yogurt.  She eats like her mama, which is crazy! But, what I'm noticing recently is that she doesn't want to nurse as much.  She started cutting back several weeks ago which is probably why her weight gain stalled out.  It seems to bore her now, except in the evenings when she goes on a nursing marathon.  :) And our pediatrician isn't too concerned wit...

Paisley has celebrated her 1/2 birthday already (in Vegas) and went for her shots today.  It was great as always to see all of my former co-workers and I love our pediatrician.  She got to play with lots of new people, but then we had to get 5 shots.  :( She screamed about it for hours several minutes and then fell quickly asleep.  She's still napping now, so I'm hoping she'll wake up in a great mood and forget all about it!  The little peanut is only weighing 14 pounds, 4 ounces which is between 10-25%, but she's 26.75" long which is 75%.  Our pediatrician isn't too concerned about her weight since I'm petite and she's SOOO active.  And by SOOO active, I mean she wears me out by the end of the day.  She still goes to the baby gym to "exercise", and our instructor says she's a " multi-tasker ."  Good description. So, her doctor wants us to start giving her whole milk, yogurt and meat baby food now to try to pack on som...