5 months old

Sorry I haven’t had a chance to blog lately. I wanted to do this last week, but Patrick had to go to Seattle on a business trip and I was a single mommy all week. We are really glad to have him home, especially after he missed his flight and almost didn’t get to come home on Friday.  Samantha turned 5 months old the day after her daddy’s 26th birthday, and is getting to be such a big girl. She is still just rolling from her belly to her back, but she is getting great with her head control, babbles and makes razzies all of the time, and seems to laugh more and more. Today we gave her a formula bottle for the very first time. I have been trying to exclusively breast feed until she turned 6 months old, but lately my supply has dropped, and when I had a stomach virus a few months ago she drank most of my freezer stash. We went through the last bottles from my stash yesterday, and today were forced into giving her a bottle of formula, or I was going to have to nurse her in the middle of IHOP which is something I wasn’t willing to do. I will continue to nurse for the most part when we are at home, and as long as she is satisfied I will do so for as long as I can. Some breast milk is better than none, and once she hits the 6 month mark I will re-evaluate what we want to do.

Yesterday was my sister Mandie’s wedding!!! She was a beautiful bride, and I am so happy that she married a man that treats her well and is so perfect for her. I am so excited that she is about to experience this step in her life, and hope that they continue to grow in their relationship!! This also means that I have a new niece and a nephew. Dale has 2 children, Amanda is 16, and David is 13. Add them to the crew, and the impending arrival of my youngest sisters baby due in December and my parents will have 7 grandchildren, 4 of them added just this year. Hopefully we will all get together soon, so that our family can bond even more. :)

Today we met my parents and all of my nephews for lunch at IHOP. My mom went out to the car to get Jakob’s sippy cup and tripped over a concrete barrier, and hurt her arm. Patrick and I took Sam, Brandon, & Jakob to our house, while Daddy took mom and Brady to the ER to get it checked out. She is still really sore and bruised up pretty badly, but thankfully nothing was broken. I hope that she learns from this and slows down a little.

 

Well I guess that’s all for now, I will try and update when I can.

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Dear God,

Thank you for everything you do for us. Thank you for taking care of my family. Thank you for letting Mandie meet Dale and for letting them have a wonderful wedding day. Thank you for letting my mom be ok after her fall. Thank you for being with me and helping me understand that everything will be ok, and that I need to let you be in control. Thank you for letting Patrick have a safe trip, and for taking care of him even when things went wrong. Thank you so much for everything you do for us.

AMEN

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Sam rolled over!

Ok, so she rolled over last week for the first time and I missed it because I left the room to pay bills, but she finally did it again today!!! I was letting her have some tummy time, and went to the other room to grab my camera, and gave Patrick strict instructions to not let her roll over before I got back. lol. I came back in the living room, and she did it! Then I got video of her doing it again only this time she rolled to the left instead of right! She hasn’t rolled from her back to tummy yet, but I think that is mainly because she hates being on her tummy, and has no desire to do that on purpose. lol. Hope you all had a great 4th, and enjoy the video! :)

Samantha’s first belly laughs!

4 month check up

Monday we took Samantha for her 4 month check up. At 4 months one week and four days old Samantha’s stats were: 15lbs 15 1/2oz (92%), 24 1/2 inches long (73%), and 42cm head circumference (96%). Her pediatrician said that she was absolutely perfect and very healthy. She was glad that I was still exclusively breast feeding, but I did get some recommendations for formula just in case we need to supplement soon. We talked about reintroducing solids in a few weeks since Sam didn’t do well with them the first night we tried them,  but the pedi said that we didn’t necessarily have to do anything until she is 6 months old. Other than that it was just your typical check up. She got 3 more shots and the oral rotavirus vaccine, and only cried for a minute or two. Patrick and I were so glad that she wasn’t too upset for too long. She didn’t have any strange reactions, just a little cranky in the afternoon. 

The one milestone she hadn’t hit was rolling over, but yesterday while Patrick was watching her and I was paying bills online in the other room, she rolled from her tummy to her back!! I was so happy and excited that she finally did it, but cried because I missed it. I was really glad that Patrick got to see it, because he might not get to see some of her other milestones, but I was upset that even though I am with her all the time I still missed it. We must have practiced a hundred times, at least 6 the day that she finally rolled over on her own, but of course the first time she does it I’m in the next room. lol

I took her back to the doctor today because she has had a runny nose for a few days, and the stuffiness is making it difficult for her to sleep through the night like her usual self. The doctor took some blood and checked Sam over, and said that it just looks like a little cold, just too keep an eye on her and she should be better in a few days. I was so glad that it wasn’t anything serious, but still glad that I took her to see the doctor, just in case. Dr. Meadows also gave me some helpful tips on how to make her more comfortable too. I put a small pillow underneath her mattress to help slant her bed so that the drainage won’t pool in the back of her throat, and have been using saline drops to make it easier to suck out the yucky stuff in her nose.  Her doctor said to call if I had any questions, or if I didn’t think it was getting any better and she would see her asap. :) I love our pediatrician!

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Dear God,

Thank you so much for everything that you do for us. Thank you for giving us such a healthy sweet baby girl. Thank you for giving her such a great doctor that doesn’t make me feel like I am silly for being concerned. Thank you for everything you do for us!

AMEN

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Little fishy

I promised pictures of Sam swimming and I am here to deliver. We went for the first time last Friday 6/18, Patrick took off from work so that he could see her in the pool for the first time. We got in the water took some pictures, she fussed a little, and then she started to like it. We tried her in a cute little inner tube my mom bought her, but she didn’t like that we weren’t holding her. We started walking her around the pool and got out an umbrella to keep her from getting too much sun. Patrick went and did some of the slides with my nephews to keep them entertained and by the time he came back Samantha had fallen asleep. She was so cute and must have really enjoyed the water because usually she won’t fall asleep unless we are rocking her or she is riding in the car. lol.

I took her back to Spring Valley Beach this week, just me, her, mom, and Jakob and we had another great time. This time she was asleep when we got in the pool, but woke up shortly after and talked and laughed the whole time. I would hold her for a little while and play, and then Granna would hold her and I would play with Jakob.

Here are a few pics from our first trip:

 

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Dear God,

Thank you so much for everything you do for us. Thank you for letting us have such a great time swimming and for keeping everyone safe. Thank you for letting Patrick take the day to spend time with us and for letting him see Sam in the pool for her first time. Thank you for everything you have blessed us with.

AMEN

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I’ve been a bad blogger

Sorry I haven’t blogged in a while but I have been super busy playing with Sam and a lot of other stuff has been going on too. I won’t get into it too extensively, but my younger sister Jessica has been at her old tricks again and is now staying in a halfway house “trying” to get her act together. My parents are taking care of her son Jakob for a little while until Jessica is ready to have him with her, so while it has been hard on my parents (raising a 19 month old isn’t easy) I know it is the best thing for him right now. Again, I won’t go into deep detail but if you could keep our family in your thoughts and prayers I would greatly appreciate it.

Last week Sam turned 4 months old. I can hardly believe how big she is getting already. We are going to her checkup on Monday so I will make a new entry to update everyone on her stats then. I am not looking forward to her next round of shots, but hopefully she will do as well this time as she did at her 2 month checkup and then we can start dreading the 6 month ones. lol. For her 4 month birthday we bought her an exersaucer and a high chair. She LOVES her exersaucer, but hates the high chair. She tried her first bites of cereal this week, but after a couple of rough nights we have decided that her tummy just isn’t ready for solids yet, and have returned to strictly breast milk for the time being. I am so in love with our little girl and we are having so much fun together. She loves playing airplane and tomorrow we are taking her for her very first swim! Pictures will be posted soon, I promise. :)

As for me, I started back on my weight watchers on June 1st. As of Tuesday I have lost 11.2lbs with another 10 to go to be at my pre-pregnancy weight and another 37 to go after that to get to my ultimate goal. It has been pretty easy to stick with for the most part because I get extra points for exclusively breast feeding, but by the end of my first week my supply had dropped and I had to add a few calories to keep it up. I hope with some extra pumping sessions, more water, and oatmeal every morning that I will be able to continue to breast feed for as long as I wish. I have really started enjoying the time I have with Sam while nursing, and would hate for my diet to sabotage that.

Father’s day is on Sunday, and I am really looking forward to it. I was going to get Patrick a weed wacker but his parents got him one so I ended up finding him a video game that he wants and I got him a shirt that says “Sammie’s Daddy”. :) I’ll post a picture of that too once I give it to him.

Oh, Sam’s new favorite thing to do is scream and shriek. She is fine, she just likes to hear herself. lol

Well I guess that is all for now. Here are some pictures of Sam from her 4 month birthday!

 

  

 

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Dear God,

Thank you for everything that you do for us. Thank you for giving me such an amazing daughter and husband. Thank you for giving Patrick and me such wonderful parents and for letting them come by so often. Thank you for watching over my parents as they are taking on the responsibility of watching over my sisters child. Please help Jessica to come to the realization that she needs to stop being selfish and that she needs to start taking better care of her child and stop taking advantage of those who love her. Please continue to watch over my friends who are having difficulties starting their own families, please give them strength, hope, and eventually the children that they desire. Please continue to be with my aunt who lost her father this week. Thank you for blessing my family so much. Thank you for Patrick’s job, for our home, for the love that we share with each other. Please continue to work through us and show us Christ’s love.

AMEN

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Samantha’s Baptism!!!

Sunday we had Samantha baptized at our new church. I feel so blessed that we had the chance to commit ourselves to raising Samantha in the church and to teach her about God’s love. We were also very blessed to have all of our immediate family attend along with a few family friends. I have a few pictures but will post more when I get some from my mom. I also have embedded a video of the baptism so if you want to check it out you can!

View Full Album

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Dear God,

Thank you for everything you do for us. Thank you for giving us a healthy, happy, beautiful baby girl and for giving us this chance to dedicate her life to you. Thank you for giving us such a wonderful church that supports us in raising our child in your ways. Thank you for our wonderful and supportive families who came to be a part of Sam’s special day, and for such wonderful parents who were her sponsors. Thank you for our friends that were able to make it, and for the friends that couldn’t be there but were present in spirit. Thank you so much for all that you do for us, and please continue to bless us in everything we do.

AMEN

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3 months old!!!

          

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Dear God,

Thank you so much for everything you do for us! Thank you for giving us our beautiful, sweet, precious daughter Samantha and for making her so healthy and happy. Thank you for letting us know the love of parents, the perfect love that you have for us! Please continue to watch over us and take care of our perfect little princess.

AMEN

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Oh the joys of motherhood..

So today we went and spent some time with Samantha's great-grandparents, and had a great time. We also got to see some of Patrick's cousins who live in Texas but are moving to MD soon for a new job, and they had their precious 3 year old little boy and gorgeous 4 month old daughter with them!

This is what this post is really about though. I had the grossest funniest thing happen today. We went out to eat with the cousins and Patrick's grandmother and brother for mother's day. We sat down, I was feeding Sam a bottle, because I just can't nurse in public, and we all ordered our food and were enjoying catching up. When all of the sudden I felt something warm in my lap. Sam had filled her diaper up so full and so fast that it was overflowing and she peed ALL OVER ME! I took her to the bathroom and got her cleaned up, and changed. I sent Patrick out to the car to get my spare clothes. Only problem was that I had taken my spare pants in at home to wash, and didn't have any in the car. At least I had an extra t-shirt, but I spent the rest of lunch with wet pants, looking like I had peed myself. I dried out eventually, but I was so grossed out. When I got to the bathroom with Sam all I could do was look at the mirror and laugh, she is a little trickster! Luckily we had a good afternoon, after the fact, and got to spend some quality time with Patrick's Granddad and Grandma Rosie too.

Just thought I would share one of the many joys of motherhood with you all. BTW my little piece of advice for anyone with kids, always have a spare change of clothes with you, you never know when the blowout diaper of a lifetime will happen, or how far away from home you will be.




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Dear God,
Thank you for everything that you do for us. Thank you for giving us such a wonderful family and giving us the chance to spend time with them. Thank you for giving me a sense of humor to be able to deal with the grossest of incidents with my sweet baby girl. Thank you for continuing to watch over Patrick's grandparents while they are dealing with the aftermath of the tornadoes that destroyed their property, and thank you again for keeping them safe from harm. Thank you for all that you do. Please let us have a wonderful first mother's day, and continue to remind me how blessed I am to have such a wonderful daughter and husband.
AMEN
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Videos of my sweet girl

Just thought I would share a couple of videos of Samantha and how she acts on a regular basis. I took these today and can’t wait to post more! Hope you enjoy!

 

Not much to report

Nothing too exciting going on here. Patrick and I are getting the hang of this parenting thing, and Samantha is growing up so fast. We are having so much fun with her. She laughs and smiles all the time now, all you have to do is smile at her first or make a new noise and she is putty in your hands. She enjoys snuggling on the couch with me throughout most of the day, and the only time she cries now is when she is wet, hungry, or when we put her down. lol.

Patrick and I did go on our first date night, since Samantha was born, on Friday. We really needed some time for just us, and went to dinner and a movie, while my mom watched the baby. She had a good time with her Granna, who played dress up and held her the whole time. Patrick and I had a good time out on our date, and mom texted me pictures of Sam so that I could see for myself that she was doing fine while we were away.

We are continuing to pray for Patrick’s family. All of his relatives who live in Albertville were struck by a tornado a couple of weeks ago. His grandmother had a tree fall on her house which caused some roof damage, his uncle had some trees fall on his house which knocked some of the house off of its foundation along with roof damage and damage to the cars in the driveway, and his grandfather and step-grandmothers house was hit by trees and the roof was completely ripped off.  Thankfully no one was injured, and all of the houses will be able to be repaired. We are just praying for things to get fixed quickly and that his family will heal emotionally from this disaster.

Other than all of that, we are just looking forward to Samantha’s baptism on the 23rd. We can’t wait to have our family and some friends join us in committing our daughters life to Christ. Right now it looks as if we will have about 30 people attending which is so overwhelmingly amazing! I’ll keep you updated!

We had some pictures taken of Sam with her 3 handsome cousins this past weekend, so my mother could have some professional pictures of all 4 grandkids together. Hope you enjoy!

 

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Dear God,

Thank you so much for everything you do for us. Thank you for taking care of our family, and for watching over us all, no matter the circumstances. Thank you for giving Patrick and me the opportunity to go out and be a couple again and reminding us of how much we love each other. Thank you for letting Sam have a good time with my mom, and for letting my mom enjoy herself too. Please continue to watch over us and take care of us and our families.

AMEN

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2 months old!

Samantha turned 2 months old on Saturday and is getting to be so big. She is smiling more and more, and giggles when I play this little piggy with her toes. She loves to look at lights and her favorite place to sit (other than in our arms) is her bathtub in the kitchen sink. Go figure. Today we had her 2 month check up. She weighs 11lbs 13 oz (75th percentile), is 22 1/2 inches long(50th percentile), and her head is 41cm in circumference(90th percentile). Her pediatrician says that Sam is perfect, and seems to be doing great. She was glad that I am still breast feeding, and said that she hopes that I can continue to do so even if I am pumping about half of the time. The worst part of our visit was that Samantha had to have 3 shots today, all for vaccinations against viruses and such, and while I know they are necessary it was so difficult to watch the nurse hurt my baby girl, and then to watch her cry. Samantha handled it as well as could be expected, and cried for about 10 minutes after the shots in her thighs. I teared up, but tried not to cry so that she wouldn't be even more upset. I gave her, her first dose of tylenol and by the time we got in the car she was fast asleep. I hope that she continues to do well, but she will definitely get some extra TLC, including some leg massages and some warm compresses on her thighs for the next day or two. Luckily we don't have to go back for more shots until she is 4 months old, so next month she will get a little break.I can't believe how big she is getting already, and while I'm excited for everything that is coming up, I am going to miss how tiny she is right now.




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Dear God,
Thank you for everything that you do for us. Thank you for giving us such a healthy baby girl, and for letting us love her so much. Please give me the ability to take care of her, especially while she isn't feeling well, and let me have the patience I will need to listen to her cry when there is nothing more that I can do for her. Please help her to feel better soon, and thank you so much for giving us these vaccines that will help protect her from horrible and life threatening illnesses. Thank you for letting Patrick be able to come to the doctor with us, and for letting him come home early to help me take care of our daughter. Please watch over my nephew Jakob tomorrow when he gets tubes put in his ears and help him to heal quickly. Thank you so much for everything that you do.
AMEN
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Happy Easter

Just had to post a couple of pictures from Easter Sunday. Hope you all enjoy, it's time for bed!



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Dear God,
Thank you so much for everything that you do for us. Thank you for sending your one and only Son to die for us so that we may have eternal life. Thank you for giving us such wonderful families, and for letting us spend Sam's first Easter together. Thank you for making it possible for us to get back to church this week so that we could worship you, and give you praise for all that you have done for us, and all that you continue to do for us. Thank you again for everything that you have blessed us with.
AMEN
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Just trying to get the hang of things...

Sorry I haven't posted in a little while, but I am still just trying to get the hang of things these days. Everything is going so much better already at 7 weeks compared to the first few that I am looking forward to the next 7 even more. Nothing much going on here other than the day to day just trying to survive til Patrick gets home mantra. Samantha is growing like a weed, and is eating almost 4oz of pumped milk at a time, and God only knows what she is eating when I can nurse her. I have been switching back and forth from nursing to pumping, since my sweet little angel has the bite of a devil piranha, and since that seems to be the only real issue with breastfeeding I am trying to stick with it for as long as physically possible. I know there is nothing wrong with formula, but I just want to be able to do this for Sam so badly I am trying to do everything I can to at least get her the breast milk, even if it is coming from a bottle. Patrick bought me a new pump, which has made things a lot easier, and so far it has been amazing! I'm really hoping to be able to stick with it for at least the first 6 months of her life, but some days it really is one day at a time.

We took Samantha out of town for the first time to MiMi and Granddads house. We had a nice dinner with them and Patrick's brother and sister in law for her birthday. They absolutely loved having Sam there, and I know that they will be very good parents when they decide to have children of their own. We took Sam for her first public outing last Monday. She was almost 6 weeks old, and Patrick and I were dying to get out of the house with her. We took her to Walmart for a quick grocery run, and she did great right up until check out, she does not like to be still, but that was ok and I just took her to the car while Patrick finished up and paid. Last weekend we went out of town to go see Patrick's granddad for his 86th birthday and went out to lunch. We had a lot of running around to do that day and after we saw Great-Granddad and his wife we saw Mamo, and then went to the farm for my parents 27th anniversary dinner. It was a long day, but letting Samantha meet the rest of her family meant the world to me. On Monday I went for my postpartum check up and everything looks great. My bp is back to my perfect 110/70, and I now know I have about 18lbs to lose to back at my pre-pregnancy weight. After discussing birth control with my doctor I decided to go on the mini pill, Patrick and I want another baby some day, but our plan is to wait for about 3 years to plan the next one so that we can give Sam some undivided attention for a while, and to let us figure out this whole parenting thing before adding another child to the mix. After my appointment Sam, my mother in law and I went to the mall and had Samantha's picture made with the Easter Bunny! She was so darn cute, and didn't wake up for the entire ordeal. Hopefully she will cooperate just as easily when I take her for pictures with Santa this year. lol. We also found her Easter dress on the shopping trip, and I cannot wait until Sunday for her to wear it. We also got our professional pictures back and printed off birth announcements finally!



Yesterday Sam and I went on our first solo shopping trip. We picked up her announcements, and went to Target to buy a travel swing and a bumbo chair. She did so good the entire time we were out, but was tired when we got home so we had a rough afternoon. At least she wasn't screaming while I was trying to shop, that would have made us both miserable.

All in all, I think that things are going well. Always trying to improve things, and make sure that Samantha is happy, but then again I think that is what I will be doing the rest of my life, so I guess I need to get used to it. lol



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Dear God,
Thank you for everything that you do for us. Thank you for giving us such a beautiful and healthy baby girl. Thank you for letting things get better and better each and every day so that we can enjoy our time together. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to stay at home and take care of my sweet baby girl, and for giving Patrick a good job that allows me to do so. Thank you for always watching over us, and for letting me have a good checkup. Please help us to continue to stay healthy, and to reach all of our goals in the upcoming months to become even healthier. Please watch over my friends and family, as some of them are having a rough time right now. Please comfort them in knowing that you are there for them, even in the darkest of days. Please continue to show me your plan, and let me know that you are in control of everything. Thank you for everything you do for us.
AMEN
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