The Cartels Didn't Get Me, But the Mosquitos Did...

So we returned from our Mexican wedding adventure last night and I came home with some unwanted souvenirs - About 10 HUGE mosquito bites!!! Other than that, we had a wonderful time at Karen's wedding. The resort was very nice and the view was incredible. If it weren't for the fact that people are dying left and right, I would go back to Riviera Maya very soon! Of course, we spent most of our time talking about and looking at pictures and videos of Abby so I am not sure we are going to want to go anywhere without her for awhile.

I know it has been a while since I blogged and lots of exciting things have happened. I've just been so busy with things, that I simply haven't had much time to gather my thoughts. So be prepared - this could be a long one!

Abby's Birthday Party was a Huge Success - I hope to post pics soon but in the meantime, a short summary will have to do. First of all, we moved the party up a couple of weeks in order to make sure it happened before my mom's surgery. While the invitations were incorrect, they were still pretty cute. We had about 25 people and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Her cake from Society Bakery was absolutely adorable but I do not recommend substantial use of dark blue icing for anything child-related. She looked like a smurf when she was finished with the cake! She got tons of great presents and seemed to really enjoy herself.

Abby is Walking - Yep. She's been close for a while but finally took the plunge a couple of weeks ago and has been on the go ever since. She kinda alternates between crawling and walking but she can walk 20 or 30 feet now without falling down although she looks like drunk while doing so.

Abby Starts School on Friday - It will be her first day and I think she will love it. She will be attending Park Cities Baptist Church preschool. I met her teacher last week and everyone in the place was very nice and sweet. I think she will love it although I hope she doesn't try to kiss(bite) or hug (tackle) the other kids. She is one of the youngest in her class so I think it will be OK. I am looking forward to a long night of labeling tomorrow night! I will give everyone an update after her first day.

After we pick her up on Friday, we will head to Houston for the weekend to visit Mom. Thanks for everyone's thoughts and prayers and keep them up this week as the surgery is scheduled for tomorrow.

Finally Some Pics...

Nothing like eating a stick at the pumpkin patch...

Touchdown Cowboys!! (Something we don't see very often these days)

So Sorry...

As I seem to be doing a lot lately, I am here to apologize. Usually I blog at least twice a week but last week I skipped it altogether. Its not because I didn't have much to say, its because I didn't have anything positive to say. Last week was altogether horrible and it started on Sunday when I had to come to work for 4 hours to prepare for my deposition. Monday and Tuesday were spent going through said deposition which was nothing short of torture. Wednesday was terrible and it just kept going from there. It was one of those weeks where it was hard to get out of bed in the morning. So far, today isn't much better. I feel like I am at one of those crossroads in life where I simply feel lost.

I am so thankful for all the good things in my life, but these days it just seems like there is so much more of the bad. Guess I need to figure things out and hope that things get better soon!

Anniversary Weekend...

What a great weekend! JB and I took a road trip to Houston for the weekend where we stayed in a great hotel, had a great dinner, watched the Rangers clinch the AL West in our room and watched the Cowboys beat the Texans at Reliant Stadium. Overall, it was a fabulous time. The only thing that would have made it better...if Abs had been there.

Yep, I have hit that point where I get a well deserved break and all I do is miss my Abby! We talked about her lots and even looked at pics. We are pathetic, I know.

Weekend Update...

So I haven't had much happy news to report lately. To sum it up, Abby has been sick, I have been sick and JB has been sick so our house has become sick bay for the last 5 days. Then we all got a disease called "Footballitis" which is caused by all of your teams being LOSERS! Now that everyone is back to work, we are all a little better and slowly getting back to normal, plus TV shows start back up this week and as a self-professed TV addict, I am pumped.

Had a 3 day weekend which worked out very well since JB got to leave the office early on Friday. We ventured up to the Allen Premium Outlets and did a little shopping (read: I spent a fortune at the Carter's Outlet because they had so much cute stuff). Then we just watched football for the rest of the weekend and ran a few errands here and there. We finally put Abby's swing up and bought a baby gate in a feeble attempt to keep her corralled in one room after the infamous bloody bathtub incident last week where she busted her face on the faucet and we had major tears for an hour (yes, I win for being the worst mom ever). Looking forward to a good week including celebrating our 4th wedding anniversary on Thursday.

You know you're a mom when...

You dig 3 month old cheerios out of the bottom of your Louis Vuitton handbag!!!

Rollercoaster Weekend...

So with five days off, I was really looking forward to a nice, relaxing weekend with lots of football. Well, I got that...until Monday. Thursday and Friday were lots of fun. Abs and I went toy shopping at Once Upon a Child and Babies R Us to see if we could find some items that weren't for infants. Got lots of good deals and spent the rest of the day playing at home. On Friday, we were a little housebound since we had the plumber and the cleaning lady coming by so we watched some DVR and played around the house. Saturday was family day. We stuck Abby in the stroller and walked up to the shopping center at Preston and Forest to have breakfast at Corner Bakery and to grab some "frames" (the code word for "Christi wants to go check out all of the Halloween decorations they have out"). After our purchases (including a couple of Halloween items of course), we decided to check out Gymboree. Having never set foot in the place, we had no idea what to expect. Apparently, they have classes for different age groups so we decided to attend a free class. I think the lady at the front desk who signed us up for the 6-10 month old class severely underestimated my child. She ran circles around the other babies in there although she acted like she had a lot of fun. She's not the most social baby at this point as her social interaction usually only consists of hair pulling and pushing the other babies down if they are sitting up, but we're working on it. Saturday night, we had dinner with JB's family at Trulucks in uptown and then went home to enjoy some Mad Men episodes. On Sunday, we did our weekly grocery store trip and then headed to Nick and Kelly to watch Tech's disappointing performance against SMU.

On Monday, we ran some errands and then attempted to put Abby's swing up out front. In the midst of that, JB doubled over in pain and we ended up spending the rest of the afternoon in the emergency room where they thought he had a kidney issue and sent us to a specialist. On Tuesday, we went to the specialist who recommended that he do some more testing at the hospital which we did that afternoon. Of course, the results are inconclusive. All we know is that it is not appendix, gall bladder or kidney related and that all of his blood work is perfect. So on Tuesday, we will start all over with another internist because he is still in pain. Until Monday, the weekend was perfect. After that, not so much. Here's hoping for a nice weekend this weekend!

Long Gone...

Yep, my long locks are long gone and I LOVE it! Short and easy. I was a little hesitant when I saw the hair hit the floor at the salon but I am thrilled with the results and so excited to have taken the plunge. Now I just have to finish adding to the makeup collection and I will be in good shape. New clothes, new hair and new makeup = happy mommy!

Mommy Makeover or Early Midlife Crisis...

Not sure which one I am going through but it is definitely one of them. I feel old. Like real old. I also feel like life is finally getting back to normal after the Abby invasion. In light of all this, I've decided that it's about time for me to make time for me. I have done a little clothes shopping for some new outfits. I've done a little makeup shopping to revamp that collection (although I have much more to go) and on Saturday, I will embark on a new hair journey as I am going to try a different stylist and basically give them the green light to make me over. It's not that I don't love my current stylist because I do. It's just that I think we are stuck in a rut of the same old thing over and over and over so why not try something new. It's just hair. It grows back and you can always fix bad color. I know this for a fact considering I accidentally dyed my hair bright purple as a teenager and had to have it bleached white and then re-dyed to my natural color. We shall see how it turns out but I am excited.

Seperation Anxiety...

OK, now I get it. Ever since Abby was born I have heard repeatedly about separation anxiety. I never really got it until the past week or so. For the first 9 months of her life, I could walk out of the room or the house or wherever and she could have cared less. The past week, I can't even go to a different part of the room when we are at home without her crying and following me trying to get me to pick her up. I will never forget when a friend of hours told us that having a 9 month old was the hardest time for him because the baby was so dependent on the parents. Now I understand exactly what he was talking about because Abby wants me to either hold her, be right next to her or watch her when she does anything. While we have made great progress in her independence, I feel like we have taken a step backwards with this "have to be with Mommy all the time" phase. Luckily, at this point, she is still OK when I drop her off at either grandma's house. I hope we never see that and I hope this phase is over with soon!

Insurance Rant...

$500 a month for Abby and I to have health insurance is freakin' ridiculous!!! Thank you Mr. Obama and your (not so) brilliant health care plan that caused my rates to increase just so you can cover a bunch of people who sit on their butts and collect welfare checks. I really appreciate that one and plan to show my appreciation at election time.

OK, I'm done ranting.

A Bittersweet Symphony...

For those of you who don't know it, this little tune by Oasis is one of my all time favorites. The music is incredible and the lyrics really ring true. One of the lines is about trying to make ends meet and ends with the words "Your a slave to the money, then you die". While I am not trying to wax poetic here, I think that is absolutely true. You work hard in school so you can get into a good college so you can make good grades so you can get a good job. Well, guess what, I did all the aforementioned things in order to make sure I made lots of money and that simply didn't happen for me and in a way, I am really glad it didn't. While my job is certainly tough and stressful, it certainly isn't as bad being a slave at a big firm would be. And while I don't make nearly as much money as those guys do, I have decided that that is OK. Although I strongly contend that I deserve to make quite a bit more than I currently do, I also believe that this job may have been the better path for me. Until recently, being an amazing attorney was near the top of my priority list. Since Abby was born, the most important thing to me is being an amazing mom and an amazing wife. I thought I could be amazing at everything, but at this point, I am pretty sure I can't so I have chosen to pick wife and mom over attorney and to my own surprise, I am totally OK with that.

At this point in my life, I would love to take less of a raise when the time comes for one and work 3-4 days a week just to get a little extra time in with Abs. Hopefully, that will happen sooner than later because the only thing I want to be a "slave" to is my family. After we get through this rough patch in the real estate world, I am ready to scale the career back because I miss my princess too much. The money will come on its own even if I don't become the best real estate attorney in town but I can't be an amazing mom if I devote all my energy to my job.

What is the deal with Paper Products...

So Abby latest obsession is with paper products. While she has long had an affinity for magazine pages and sheets of paper, her taste in objects to eat has now turned an obsession with all paper products - paper, paper towels, napkins, toilet paper, etc. Last night, we had dinner at Friday's with Web and she started to eat one of the napkins. I took it away from her and she screamed bloody murder in the middle of the restaurant. IT'S JUST PAPER!!! Get over it. Then this morning she was playing in her room and I went to brush my teeth. When I came back, she had found a paper towel and was eating that. I don't get it and I just really hope that we make a swift exit out of this phase.

No More Heathen...

While still a complete pill, Abby is no longer a heathen thanks to her baptism yesterday! After weeks of planning and tons of work to get ready for 30 people at my house, yesterday was wonderful. We had lots of friends and family who attended. We are so blessed to have those people in our lives. Abby did pretty well at the church service minus a few minor outbursts. She was great during the actual baptism and looked like a little angel in her Strausburg dress. Of course, the ceremony didn't go off without a hitch. Long after the baptism, the preacher (who was a guest preacher) was in the middle of his sermon when the fire alarm went off! They couldn't find the source of the alarm but decided to go ahead and evacuate right after he finished. We rushed back to the house and got ready for the party. The food was great and we hardly had any leftovers (except for dessert but I suppose those leftovers are OK). Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time and the house looked beautiful if I do say so myself. All our hard work definitely paid off. I will post pics as soon as I have a chance.

Slooooow Week...

Why is it when you are looking forward to something, it makes the week go by so incredibly slow??? That is my week this week. I have a million things to do to get ready for Abby's baptism and I am here at work where I can't get anything done. I hope Thursday goes by a little quicker. It also doesn't help that it is just one of those slow weeks. I think that lots of people go on vacation between July 15th and August 15th so everything kinda stops for a month.

At home, we have been busy with the preparations and busy trying to keep up with Abby. Now that she is fully mobile and can move in and out of every room in the house, we have to keep a watchful eye at all times. Yesterday morning, I caught her trying to eat a dead roach. Then on Sunday, we lost her for a minute and she was in the front room where she had knocked over a floor lamp. Gotta stay on my toes these days!

In With the New...

So yesterday was the first day I have ever left Abby with someone other than family. A scary proposition at first, but it worked out great. One of the VPs at our company has a daughter who is an honors student at UT (I was willing to forgive the UT thing). She is home for the summer and has tons of babysitting experience along with a current job at Adventure Kids Playcare where babysitting is literally her full time job. Since Byron and Gail are out of town, she volunteered to help us out for a couple of days this week. Yesterday, she and Abby had a very successful day with good napping and good behavior. She has her again tomorrow so I hope all goes well then too.

In the meantime, I am in the middle of planning the big brunch to celebrate Abby's baptism next weekend. I have to admit that I love planning parties like this from the invitations to the dessert so I am very excited. My only problem is that I need an unlimited budget, which I am sure JB won't let me have! I think I can control myself but I have so many ideas that I want to incorporate. Once I get my final number, I will be able to get so much more done. I am pretty sure that the weekend will be consumed by party planning which is totally OK with me!

Milestones...

Crawling - Check
Drinking from a sippy cup on her own - Check
Solid foods - Check
Cruising - Check
First tooth - Check

If you are thinking what I am thinking, that is a whole bunch of "Checks" in the past couple of weeks. Its like she hit 7 months and decided to wake up and turn into a toddler. On one hand, I am so proud to have such a smart little girl, but on the other hand, it makes me sad that she is growing up so fast. Plus, its totally stressing me out that she constantly seems like she is ready to fall down and bash her head in on something. The biggest problem is that she is so dang fast. I put her down in the middle of the room and within seconds she is on the fireplace or walking along the coffee table. I think she has some Harry Potter magic skills!

A New Exercise Plan...

So I have decided to get on a new exercise plan. It called the "Chasing Abby" method where I chase my now fully mobile child around the house trying to keep her from getting into EVERYTHING!!! It started last night when she finally crawled for the first time. While I was very proud, I am also now terrified since I haven't babyproofed a thing! Of course it doesn't help that the weekend that she decides to start crawling is the same weekend that JB is gone for 4 days. Plus, I am pretty sure there are some teeth poking through as well so that's not helping either. Oh, the days of my little goldfish who just laid in the same spot when I put her down are gone. Now I have trouble finding her when I turn my head for two seconds!

Weekend Update...

Well, the airplane ride was not as bad as I expected but the pain in the butt of trying to get on the plane was actually worse. I personally think that the fact that I cannot travel with a kid under two years old without having to wait in line at the ticket counter is insane. We probably waited 20 minutes just to get our boarding passes! After that, things weren't too bad. Security was not easy, but not too hard. Boarding was no problem. We had the row to ourselves since most people are smart enough to leave the seat between two giants holding a baby empty. Abs had a bottle at takeoff and played the rest of the way. She wiggled a bunch but nothing we couldn't handle. Friday night, we had burgers with the family and then crashed early. On Saturday, we woke up to a wonderful breakfast prepared by my father-in-law and then relaxed most of the day including a dip in the pool. Of course, once again, Abby loved swimming! Our biggest achievement, however, was our first word - "Da Da". I think JB and I both almost fell out of our chairs when she said it since she hasn't exactly been a wordsmith yet. She said it to me but that's totally irrelevant. That night, we had steaks at the house to celebrate Grandma Berger's 89th birthday along with a wonderful chocolate cake. On Sunday, we did just about the same and then headed to Grandma Butler's for a while in the afternoon before she took us to the airport. Heading home was much easier than getting there. No lines at the ticket counter and no lines at security. We waited a while at the gate and then boarded and sat on the first row of the plane. Once again, we had a bottle on take off and played with cups and napkins in between. As we were about to land, the flight attendants commented on how wonderful Abby. They said she was the best baby they had on a flight in days and they even called her "Charming". Of course, I am pretty sure they thought she was charming since she took over their job of greeting everyone on the plane with a big smile! Overall, I would say the trip was a success. This weekend we are driving to the ranch on Saturday and then heading back home on Sunday for Father's Day. Hope that trips goes even better than this one did!

Our First Plane Ride...

Today we will embark on a new journey - airplane travel. Needless to say, I am dreading it. This is going to be a challenge even if Abby is a perfect angel the whole time but if she is in one of her screaming moods, it will be a nightmare. Let's hope its the former rather than the latter.

In other news, we hit a milestone last night! Abby pulled herself up from her belly to a standing position. Of course we still haven't mastered crawling so I am not totally panicking about babyproofing just yet. We will leave that for next week!

Just Had to Share...

I am sure most of you have already seen these on Facebook or through email, but I just had to share these gorgeous pics of Abs. Not that I am biased or anything, but I think she is adorable! The pics turned out well, but they were not so much fun to take since it was about 96 degrees with 96% humidity when we took them on Sunday night. We bought this package at an auction and I think this photographer is great. She was very easy to work with and really tries to avoid most of the posed pics. While they were mostly intended to be pics of Abby, we did want to get a couple of family shots. If the sneak peek is any preview of how those turned out, we won't be ordering any. As usual, my non-photogenic nature came out and I look like a hobbit in one of them!

On another note, we are heading to Midland tomorrow to visit the grandma's and I am starting to get a little stressed about the sheer volume of junk that I need to keep Abby happy for two days. Of course, I'm not looking forward to the plane ride either. Luckily, the flight is only one hour and the Midland airport is easy to get in and out of. Hopefully, she won't scream the entire hour but we'll see!

Morning of the Living Dead...

That's the best way to describe my morning. I am completely exhausted thanks to Abs' midnight wake up call last night. I did everything I could to get her to go back to sleep in her crib but it just wasn't happening so we ended up in the chair for the rest of the night where she wiggled most of the night and kept me from getting much sleep. About 40 ounces of iced tea later, I seem to be functioning OK but I feel a crash coming on tonight. Here's hoping for a good night's sleep for both of us!

Time for Another Recap...

OK, so I am a slacker. Haven't blogged in a week but with the holiday weekend, everything has been a little chaotic so it's time for another one of my recaps.

Friday - Errands, Errands, Errands. That's the simplest way to describe our Friday. We started out the morning headed to Dillard's to look for some new shirts for JB as most of his have holes in them at this point. So after buying his shirts and noticing the baby Polo items were 40% off, we grabbed a couple of dresses for Abby. While we were checking out, I got an email from the photographer who we were scheduled to do pictures with that afternoon saying that she had been in an accident and was on a crutch for a week so we had to reschedule for this weekend. After Dillard's, we headed to Babies R Us to grab a few odds and ends. Then we decided to stop at the ATT store to grab my new phone since our company was about to change their cell phone policy. Got an Iphone (my b-day present from JB) and then headed home to relax the rest of the afternoon. That evening, we had dinner at Manny's with Walter and Gloria since they were in town for a visit.

Saturday - JB had a tennis match first thing so Abby and I hung out at home most of the morning. When JB got back, we grabbed some lunch and then spent the rest of the day at home. That night, JB and I went to see Iron Man 2 at the new Gold Class Cinema that our company designed. It was a great (but expensive) movie-going experience.

Sunday - Sunday, we tried a new breakfast place and then went to Academy and Barnes and Noble to grab a few little items. After we got home, Byron and Gail came over for a swim. Abby seems to be a water baby because she absolutely loved being in the pool. We even got her a float that she can motor around in. We got some great pics that I hope to post as soon as I remember to do that when I am at home. After the pool, we all got cleaned up and JB and I went on another date. This time, we hit Grand Spa for a massage and then dinner at Baileys. The massage was wonderful and I can honestly say that I really needed it.

Monday - Monday we made pancakes for breakfast (of course I forgot that we were out of syrup so they were plain pancakes). Later on, we went to lunch with our friends Misty and Coyse Allen who were in town from Dumas to visit Coyse's parents in Garland. We ate a Pappasito's where Abby behaved terribly! I was so embarrassed and I am sure Misty and Coyse thought we had a crazy, misbehaving heathen. She wasn't fussy, but she screamed constantly and tried to grab everything she could find. She wouldn't stay in her high chair or in her carrier. It was a bad lunch experience followed by a bad rest of the day as her behavior didn't get any better. We made dinner that night and watched Edge of Darkness with Mel Gibson (definite thumbs down).

Since then, it has been back to our regular day-to-day with lots of work.

12:45, Really...

That was the time I woke up to Abby screaming her head off in her crib. I have no idea what the problem was but she was not a happy camper. Despite all of my efforts to get her to go back to sleep in her crib, we ended up spending the rest of the night in the chair in her room (read: Mommy is very tired and a little grumpy today). All of my attempts to blame teething for so many previous problems have failed because she is still a toothless wonder so I guess I won't blame this episode on teething either. So here's hoping for a good night's sleep tonight!

How did I get here...

How did a come to a point in my life where I am very concerned about how much and what kind of poop Abby has? I guess it's just part of being a mom. She had to switch formulas for a couple of days until she was back to "regular" for 24 hours. It seems as though we are there so it is back to the good stuff! Other than "Poop Watch 2010", not much else to report. Looking forward to a productive, but relaxing weekend.

Pediatrician's Office, Part Deux...

Well, this morning my mom called me at the office a little before 10am to inform me that my child had the worst diaper she had ever seen. Not only did Abby have to take a bath afterwards, but so did my mom. So I called the pediatrician to see what to do since this problem has now been going on for 10 days. Their answer, of course, was to bring her in and let them check her out. So off we went only to discover that she is well hydrated and seemingly fine. They are thinking that she either has a lingering virus (see previous post) or she has gotten some sort of bacteria. Only instructions were to switch her formula to another soy version with more fiber until she gets over this thing. Oh, and we have to take samples to the lab to be tested. That part doesn't sound so great but I guess its just part of mommyhood!

The Sick Ward...

That's what we can call our house this weekend. To summarize:

Thursday - Abby lethargic all day, puking at night
Friday - Abby better, Christi puking all day and night
Saturday - Byron puking all day, Abby pukes on the way home from Travis' graduation
Sunday - Jonathan puking all day, Mom feeling crummy but no puke
Monday - Marili puking

Thanks to our 6 month appointment last week, we managed to pick up a highly contagious 24-hour stomach bug that has been running rampant around the family. It's the first time Abby has been sick in her life so I am very thankful to have made it 6 months but it stinks that we were all infected. We did manage to sneak in Travis' graduation from TWU as a nurse practitioner and his party afterwards, but other than that, we were homebound the whole weekend.

Too Much to Say, Too Little Time to Say It...

I keep trying to make time to blog over the past few days, but it is just not happening as we have been super busy. So I've decided to do a recap of what I would have said, had I actually had time to blog over the past few days...

Friday - So I took Friday off to spend the day with Abby but a little research led us to create a plan for Friday morning. My "relaxing day" started out with us sitting in the parking lot at Babies R Us waiting for the store to open so I could be sure that we got this great deal on a Britax Marathon car seat. There were 5 moms there with me so I didn't feel like too much of a stalker although I did wonder when I turned into this crazed bargain hunter! I guess its just part of being a mom and coming to the realization that babies cost money so we need to try to save it anywhere we can. In this case, I got $100 off the carseat that I had wanted thanks to a big sale and a coupon. After our little journey, we headed back home and watched a movie and caught up on Bones. JB finally got home around 6 and then we went to dinner at Fireside.

Saturday - The morning didn't start off too well since JB's ankle looked like it had been run over by an 18 wheeler. On Thursday, JB played in his first doubles league tennis match and pretty much destroyed his ankle trying to get to a shot. It was all black and blue and swollen big time. So I sent him off to the urgent care clinic to have some x-rays and make sure that it wasn't broken. He was the first one there so he was home within an hour with the news that there were no breaks, only possible ligament damage. He is getting around much better now, but it still looks pretty bad.

Then Saturday afternoon, he went to run an "errand" (read: went to go buy my mother's day present). Even though he was in pain, he hobbled himself around Northpark and came home with a fantastic gift. The shopping pretty much did him in so actually wrapping my gift was out of the question meaning that I got to open my gift a day early. I must say that my husband really spoils me and I am very lucky. He also listens well considering I have told him for years about how bad I wanted one of these. So what was the gift? A Louis Vuitton handbag!!! Yep, a REAL one. I love it so much and I am so excited to have a bag that will always be in style.

Sunday - Mother's Day was nice and quiet. I didn't even get out of my pj's until 5 pm when we got ready to go to dinner at Javier's that night. Upon arrival at the restaurant (where there are many separate rooms) we walked into the large room and there were a bunch of kids in there to my relief since Abby's restaurant behavior has not been good as of late. Of course, we didn't actually get to sit in that room. Nope, they took us into "the quiet room" where there were no other kids. So, of course, Abby threw a little fit although we were able to get her to take a bottle and doze off by the time our dinners arrived.

Monday - What can I say, it was Monday. Although, we did have a nice birthday/mother's day dinner with Byron and Gail at Celebration where Abby was on her game and entertaining everyone with her "lively" personality.

Tuesday - Tuesday was exciting as we went for Abby's 6 month checkup at Dr. Burns office. Her official weigh in was 18 lbs, 28 inches long (90th and 95th percentiles respectively). After the weigh in, Dr. Burns (who we totally love) came in and tried to examine Abby. Well, she was not into that at all. She screamed bloody murder with full tears every time she came near her so we did the examination while she was on Mommy's lap. Dr. Burns was very happy with her progress and said she was "growing beautifully". She also gave us the green light to start solid foods. JB was so excited. When it was time for her last bottle at 8pm, we loaded her up in the high chair and started her on apples. She absolutely loved it! She made a little mess but not too bad. Then she took the spoon from JB's hand and started feeding herself. It kinda worked but most of the food ended up all over her. So now its apples until Monday when we will have to decide what food to introduce her to next.

Whew - that was a long post but we had lots to cover...

Worst Mom Ever...

Yep, that's me. Worst mom ever! So this week has been a little crazy. It started out on a very sour note. On Monday morning, I arrived at my mom's house to drop off Abby only to find out that I had apparently forgotten to tell them that they had her on Monday so Mom was still at the ranch and Marili had morning plans. So after this little discovery, I did the only thing I could do - headed to work with Abs in tow. She spent most of the morning in my lap and was actually pretty well behaved so I got work done. Then she had a bottle around 10:45 and started to get a little fussy. I assumed this was because she had not had her morning nap. Turned out, I was right. After some rocking, I finally got her to go to sleep in my arms. Since I was reviewing a lease, I was able to read with her on me and she was able to sleep for about 30 minutes. Then, in a stupid attempt to get some revisions done, I set her carrier in the chair next to me (I mean within 2 feet) and then placed her in it. She slept for maybe 15 minutes and then woke up ready to play. I gave her a toy and turned back to my revisions. Then, I heard a crash...

Down went Abby and the carrier landed on top of her. I turned to find her on the floor face down. As soon as I scooped her up, she started screaming at the top of her lungs and I assumed something was wrong. So I quickly calmed her down and then called the doctor to see what I needed to do. The nurse I spoke to was quite reassuring. She told me not to worry because this happens all the time whether it is a baby falling out of a car seat or off of a bed or some other surface. She said that since she had no apparent bruises, I should simply watch her and see if she behaves normally. Plus, I needed to make sure she didn't sleep for longer than 3 hours without me checking on her and waking her up. I thought I should probably head to the doctore anyways but by the time I got her in the car, the office was closed for lunch. So I rushed her home and called JB who also panicked and came straight home. We sat there and watched her for two hours until it seemed like she was fine. JB stayed home with her and I headed back to the office since I had to be off 1/2 day on Tuesday and all day Friday. She's apparently perfectly fine with no bruises, goose eggs or any other injuries and she has been behaving normally ever since. Of course I'm not fine at all and I feel like the worst mom ever because of what happened!

Friday...

It's Friday. The best day of the work week. So why on earth does it always seem like time stops on Friday afternoons. Hurry up and get this day over with. I am ready to go home and see JB and Abs. Nothing planned for the weekend which is always nice so maybe I will get a little extra rest.

Abby has recently developed a new spitting habit that she's seems to find very entertaining. I also think its quite funny and cute until I am holding her and she actually spits on me. It's like have a very tiny camel at home...

Happy Thoughts...

I'm at least trying to think happy thoughts today even though these past couple of weeks have been really stressful so here goes. Happy thoughts for the day:

1. Abby seems to be getting happier and developing more of a personality every day. We have recently started this copycat thing that she seems to like where she makes a sound and I repeat her. That is, of course, until she starts squealing which I can't exactly mimic.
2. I have worked out 2 of the last 3 days so some might call that the beginning of a "routine".
3. It's "Pre-Friday" as Tim on Good Day says. Pre-Fridays are as close to Fridays as you can get so that's a positive right?
4. I only have to work 4 days next week.
5. I am a lucky girl to have a great husband and adorable baby!

Wishing everyone else happy thoughts as well!

The sky is falling (part deux)...

You know those days where you feel like the sky is falling and everything around you is crumbling? Well, today is one of those days for me so I'm just simply not in the mood for blogging. Sorry to disappoint!

Stranger Danger...

Not much too exciting to report these past couple of days although I have noticed that Abby is in the middle of some stranger danger phase where people she doesn't know scare her. I think it is funny but I always feel so terrible for the people who she screams at after the compliment her on her behavior!!!

Other than that, another 3 day weekend coming up and I am really looking forward to this one although I am sad that JB won't be home with us. We are headed to Harker Heights on Saturday for cousin Ben's 30th birthday party. Hopefully, I will come up with a costume in the next 48 hours! I also really hope Abby doesn't scream her head off the entire party. Recently, she seems to have nailed down the most inappropriate times to scream and then screams during those times so I guess we will see. This party ought to be interesting in light of the aforementioned stranger danger.

Abby and the Tortilla...

Yes, I titled this post Abby and the Tortilla and there is actually a good reason behind it. First of all, as many of you know by going out to dinner or lunch with all of us, our child is normally very well behaved and minds her own business in her carrier anytime we are out to eat. This weekend, that all went out the window. I am assuming she is simply getting ready to roam so being strapped into the carrier no longer suits her. Of course, she's not sitting up on her own for too long so I worry that she's not quite ready for the high chair so we are sort of in between right now. Well, on Saturday, the three of us headed to El Fenix for brunch where she was quiet most of the time until we were almost done eating. That's when she lost it and starting fussing and would not quit. We tried to give her a toy, give her the pacifier, and adjust her position but nothing worked. She just wouldn't stop fussing. So JB did what any good dad would do...he gave her a tortilla. Of course, I panicked thinking that she would immediately attempt to eat it. She didn't but she did something else entirely - she cuddled with the tortilla and went to sleep. I even have pictures but I can't add them here because they were taken with an iphone (they apparently don't have an app for that).

It was the strangest thing I have ever seen. She stayed asleep for almost an hour with a death grip on that thing.

All of this leads me to a major conclusion - This baby is definitely a Red Raider at heart!

Please let this week be over...

Only a few more hours until I can kiss this dreadful week goodbye!!!

Not too much to report today. Abby and I are both suffering from terrible allergies and her 5 am wake up call this morning didn't really help. On a positive note, she is sitting up on her own this week. Makes me think crawling is right around the corner. I am hoping that's not the case since I love holding her so much but if it is, I guess I'll live.

Here's hoping for a better week next week...

Just one of those days...

I will simply be blunt - the last 24 hours have stunk - ROYALLY STUNK!!! Between having to pay the tax bill, issues with the bank and Abby up at 3:40 this morning, it has not been a great day. So, in light of having nothing but negativity to report, I am posting pics of Abs instead of writing about how terrible I feel right now.

Whales, really???

So this morning, Abby got up around her usual time of 6:30 and then I went in and slept in the chair with her until about 7:30 or so. After we woke up, I put her in her crib to go get dressed and make her bottle to feed her before we left the house. When I got back she had moved to the other end of the crib, rolled over onto her belly and turned on her sleep sheep to make the whale sounds play. I was gone like 2 minutes and she accomplished quite a lot and seemed to be sitting back and relaxing! However, why the whale sounds? Why not just turn on the mobile or her glowing seahorse so she could get a little music going. So to sum it all up, I have a kid who loves to be naked and/or barefoot and enjoys the soothing sounds of whales??? That can only mean one thing - tree-hugging hippie...Crap!!!

TGIF...

Don't know why, but this week seems like it flew by. I am looking forward to a relaxing weekend with not much planned although a little shopping might be in order (but not too much since we just got our OUTRAGEOUS tax bill - Thanks Obama!). Abby seems to prefer nightgowns to footed pjs these days so I probably need to grab a couple more since she only has a couple that actually fit. Plus, we need formula and everything Babies R Us sells that helps with teething because I am pretty sure we are there. JB desperately needs shirts so I bet we make a stop at Dillards as well. Other than that, not much planned which is always nice. Of course on Sunday, we will have to sing Happy Birthday to Abs since she will turn 5 months old! I simply can't believe she's already 5 months. I swear I was just in the hospital having her!

Almost doesn't count...

OK, so my psychic powers are only half accurate which I suppose means that I am not really psychic at all - just a little bit lucky. After my bold prediction of a few sleepless nights in a row, it turns out that I only had one sleepless night and that was Tuesday night. Tuesday night Abby went to bed around 9:45 or so and then woke up around 11:45 and then every 30 minutes thereafter until about 2 or 2:30 (read: I was practically sleepwalking by 2AM so I have no clue what time the last wake up call actually occurred). I finally caved in and went and "slept" in the chair with her for the rest of the night, however, I didn't get much sleep since she wiggled the entire time. I guess she is just getting too big to sleep in the chair with me.

So last night I, of course, expected a repeat performance but was pleasently suprised that Abby actually slept from 9:30-5:30 straight and then we cuddled in the chair until about 7:15. Both of us woke up smiling after that!

My Psychic Powers...

Glad to know my psychic powers are still intact after having Abby. As I boldly predicted last Thursday, Monday sucked!!! After a great weekend at home with JB and Abby, Monday rolled around and hit with a thud. But let's reminisce about the weekend instead of focusing on the big downer yesterday.

On Thursday night, JB, Abby and I headed to Fireside Pies, one of our favorite haunts to enjoy some pizza. We then headed to Blockbuster to pick up a collection for the weekend. We rented the following: 1. Inglorious Basterds, 2. Men Who Stare at Goats and 3. Sherlock Holmes. I would rate them 1. didn't watch, 2. totally pointless and 3. spent two hours of my life attempting to decipher Robert Downey Jr.'s "British" accent. Not exactly a successful movie renting weekend. On Friday morning, I headed to the dentist, then to the dealership to have my radio fixed and then to have a pedicure with my mom (last time I had one was the day before Abby was due so it wasn't exactly the most comfortable pedi I have ever had). Friday night, we went to Manny's with the Bergers and Grandma Butler. Saturday, we ran some errands and had dinner on the patio at Celebration but the highlight was my 2 hour nap with Abby.

On Sunday, we woke up early for 8:30 service and I spent the first hour of the morning cursing my father-in-law for wanting to go to the early service. Not because we weren't up, but because trying to get us all ready to go and get her fed at 7:45 presented quite the challenge. Of course, it all worked out in the end and we followed up church with a lovely brunch at Byron and Gail's. Then we headed to my parents for an early dinner where I ventured into the world of turnip greens. Had never made these before and they apparently turned out OK. I wouldn't know. Since they looked like seaweed after boiling for an hour, I wouldn't touch them with a 10 ft pole but JB and Dad said they were good.

Abby did pretty well all weekend and slept like a charm most of the time. Of course 4 good nights in a row can only mean one thing - we are about to have a real bad streak of sleepless nights. Of course this morning, I had to go in and wake her up at 7:30 so I could feed her at 7:45. Not sure what's up with that, but I'll take it!! Hope everyone else enjoyed their weekend as much as we did!

Three Day Weekends...

In adult terms, there aren't many words that are much sweeter to hear than those. For me, I feel like a million bucks today since not only do I have a 3 day weekend ahead of me, but I also got to sleep 7 straight hours last night. I haven't been able to do that in a couple of weeks and it felt so great! Of course, I have a feeling that my mood on Monday won't be so pleasant. But a nice, relaxing weekend would sure go a long way to make Monday a little better so that is what I am hoping for.

Happy Easter to everyone!

Roly Poly...

So two of the past three nights Abby has woken up in the middle of the night screaming. Because her normal waking routine includes the lecture series she presents to the animals on her mobile, this of course, scares me half to death and I leap out of bed and go tearing into her room to see what's going on. Well, the screaming has been caused by the same thing both times. She's rolled over onto her belly. While I understand that this is one of those "milestones" that we are supposed to get so excited about, it is really screwing up our sleeping and we would prefer that she perform this amazing feat during waking hours. In my zombie state in the middle of the night, its not so cute, but eventually, it does become a little funny. By the sound of it, you would think someone was beating her but in reality, all she has to do is roll herself back over. I know she is capable of rolling from her tummy to her back because she starting doing that when she was just 16 days old! She's not fooling me into thinking that she's stuck but apparently, she is fooling herself. I really think the screaming is a result of her ridiculous startle reflex and she just freaks out when she wakes up to realize she is in an unusual position. Either way, I hereby request that she stop...IMMEDIATELY!!!

On another note, I did want to blog about the moms group that I joined last week. It is called Preston Hollow Early Childhood PTA or PHECPTA (although on paper the abbreviated version isn't really so abbreviated). It is a group of moms in our neighborhood with kids under 5 and they have monthly meetings and do lots of activities with the kids. I went to my first meeting last Monday night and I really enjoyed it. While I know that most of my discussions at this time concern Abby, it is nice to know there are others out there whose lives revolve around their kids as well and it is nice to be able to go to these meetings and talk about those issues without other people seeming annoyed that you won't shut up about your kid. Everyone was very nice and I hope to make some new friends out of the group and be able to get good ideas from the other moms (plus, they have spa nights and we all know I don't pass up a spa opportunity very often)...

Slacker City, but I do have an excuse...

It might not be a very good one, but I at least have one - ALLERGIES!!! Not just mine, but Abby's as well. We have both been sniffling, sneezing, coughing and whatever other symptoms the Nyquil commercials spell out since Friday. To make matters worse, JB went camping on Saturday so Abby and I were left sulking in our allergy-filled state for 24 hours by ourselves. It wasn't too much fun and I didn't get much rest since the little one wasn't feeling well so we are just now both recovering. Hence, the reason for my slacking off on the blog.



So to recap, we are still not sleeping well as Abby has reverted back to old bad habits by waking up at 5:30 or so and not going to bed any earlier, JB went camping with Nick at Eagle Mountain Lake and yesterday, I was slammed at work. Ran out of time today, so I will have to elaborate tomorrow!!! Sorry Folks!

RETREAT! RETREAT!

We are somehow moving backwards in the Abby sleeping department and I think it is making me so exhausted that I can't even think straight!

Exhibit A - Sleep patterns since Friday -

Friday - 10:30 -6:45, late bottle
Saturday - 9:30 - 6:30, No late bottle
Sunday - 10-6, No late bottle
Monday - 9-3:45, No late bottle
Tuesday - 9-3:15, No late bottle
Wednesday - 9-5, Late bottle

What is going on here? I had an 8 hours sleeper 90% of the time for the past two months!!! Where is that kid? I was hoping on Tuesday that her Monday night issue was related to her vaccines but that doesn't appear to be the case. She might have some allergies this week but that is nothing unusual. Don't think she is sick. She is napping fairly well like usual so I have no comprehension of why she is not sleeping a full night anymore. Anyone have any ideas?

If this doesn't stop soon, I will be back in the BS (read: Britney Spears pre-conservatorship)state of mind. It doesn't help that I am slammed at work either...

On hiatus...

Well, I was on hiatus yesterday as I took Abby to the doctor for her 4 month checkup and then headed to the dermatologist myself so I have been a little behind on posting these past few days so this will be a long one.

Weekend - We had a very relaxed weekend and it was fantastic. Friday night we cooked dinner and watched 2012. Saturday we ran a few errands and then JB and I went on a date to the Stars game (in a shocking turn of events, they actually won). Saturday night we had dinner with my family. On Sunday, we were very lazy and didn't do much at all. These are usually my favorite kind of weekends!

Abby Checkup - Excellent report for Abs! She is 15 lbs, 10 oz and 27 inches long putting her in the 90th percentile in weight (although she is still very skinny) and off the charts in height. Dr. Burns was very happy with her social interaction and her smiling and she said Abby has "unbelievable muscle tone". She also said it was time to lower her mattress in her crib because she was likely to launch herself out of it pretty soon. Of course, we also had to do vaccinations which are never fun. There's nothing like being forced to hold your child down while some stranger puts a needle in her leg - TWICE!! Abby was a trooper and only cried right when the needles went in and then was calm the rest of the time. The only problem is that these vaccines cause Abby to not sleep well the next night so I got to see her at 3:45 this morning. I am hoping this is temporary because I am absolutely exhausted today!

Speaking of Needles - I had my own needle experience yesterday and I have to say that I would have taken Abby's shots ten times over rather than gone through this one time. Went to the dermatologist and I had a suspicious spot under my eye. So they needed to biopsy the spot just to be sure there was nothing to worry about. Biopsy = big needle. I am usually not too bad when it comes to needles but its a whole different ballgame when the needle is coming at your eye and you are supposed to keep your eye open. It was not pleasant to say the least!

The rest of the day - The rest of the day yesterday was pretty quiet and although I enjoyed being at home with Abby, I am not so sure I could be at home full time. I had my errands done by 11am and then went home and watched DVR for most of the afternoon. Not very productive. I also have a feeling that staying home more would exponentially increase the size of my butt!!

Don't Worry, Be Happy...

So in light of Abby's recent milestones concerning her bottle and her booty scooting, I've been thinking about other milestones. I think like many new moms, I worry when I see that other kids her age are doing more things than she is. This morning (when I was up at 5 am for absolutely no reason), I was thinking about her current state. Most of the books say that 4 month olds should be giggling quite a lot. While Abby definitely giggles (sometimes even howls when being entertained by her new BFF Betsy), she doesn't do it very often. Does that mean I have an unhappy baby on my hands? She smiles lots and lots but it usually takes her Daddy's tummy "raspberries" to make her really get going and sometimes, even that doesn't work. Every single book, website and blog about babies tells you that all babies are different and will hit milestones at a different pace. But is happiness really a milestone? I don't think it is, so I now I am concerned that Abby is unhappy. Not sure how to fix it either.

Please don't do that...

So I have (somewhat) come to terms with the fact that Abby is growing up very quickly, however, 2 milestones within a 24 hour period is almost too much for me to take. Last night she kept wiggling on JB so he put her down on the floor on her playmat and she started scooting! Moved about 10 inches but also managed almost turn herself in a complete circle. She tried to push up a couple of times but wasn't too successful. As sad as that was, this morning was worse...

I fixed Abby a bottle while she was still in her crib and went in there to feed her in the big chair in her room. We sat down and I started feeding her as usual. Then she actually took the bottle away from me and started feeding herself. She's attempted this many times before but never been able to hold it on her own and actually get the milk out. Not this time. She pulled it out when she didn't want it and put it back when she wanted it. Ugh...So depressing.

Monday, Monday...

Oh how I hate you! Let me count the ways (plus an extra one today in light of "springing forward"). The good news is that we had a great weekend to counteract the Monday blues.

The Bralley clan (Ben, Shannon and Betsy) came in for a couple of nights and we had a great time. It is always fun to hang out with them because we are all kind of kindred spirits and we always have a good time even if we just hang out at the house. I think this time was even more special since Besty and Abby got to interact a little more. We have a great video from Saturday when Betsy was playing peek a boo with Abby and Abby was laughing her butt off. It was hilarious! Shannon and I think the girls will be great friends when they get a little older so we can't wait to watch them grow up together. I hope to post the video (if Shannon can teach me how) and some pics tonight.

On Saturday, we all went out to lunch with Web and I had my first margarita since pre-pregnancy. I must admit, I missed those! It tasted great! Then us girls headed home for an afternoon nap and some Twilight while the boys went to Bass Pro Shop. Can't say I'm too sad I missed out on that one. Years of shopping for guns and hunting equipment with my Dad has made me avoid those places like the plague if I can help it. Saturday night we headed over to Byron and Gail's for some tenderloin. It was delicious.

On Sunday, we put the girls in their matching outfits courtesy of Shannon and her incredible sewing talents and then headed to the Arboretum for a gorgeous morning. The flowers were fantastic and I always love being out by the lake. We took lots of pictures of the girls and strolling around until lunch time. I think Betsy had the best workout of us all as she ran through the grass over and over and seemed to love it. The one time we put Abby down on a bench, she yanked a few flowers out of the ground. I'm thinking she's probably not going to be a good gardener! Last night we enjoyed dinner at Maggiano's with the Bralley's and Shannon's friend Meghan and her boyfriend.

Overall, the weekend was great and we loved having the Bralleys stay with us. The only bad part was that Abby threw 2 huge fits at home and one at Maggiano's which is very unlike her. One on Saturday and one on Sunday and then she didn't sleep well Saturday or Sunday night. Daylight Savings Time probably didn't help things. Shannon thinks that she might be teething and as much as I was hoping to avoid that for awhile, I think she might be right. She drools like a St. Bernard and tries to eat her fist or fingers constantly. I guess we will see at her appointment next week.

Happy Birthday Abby!

Today, Abby is 4 months old! I can't believe that its been 4 months since we were at the hospital and I was more out of it than Britney Spears (pre-conservatorship of course). Every time I look back at those pics it makes me happy and sad. Happy that the days of sleeping in the recliner are over but sad that my baby is growing so quickly. With her, you blink and you'll miss her grow an inch. I am very blessed to have such a precious baby and wonderful husband. Now if she will just stay little and innocent forever, that would be great. Hope that's not too much to ask.

Of course, 4 months also means more dreaded vaccinations - Yuck!

Lies, Lies, Lies yeah...

I don't know about anyone else but for me it has become very frustrating to figure out how many adults in this world are complete liars and cheats. I love my job when I get to work with good tenants and clients but sometimes, I hate my job. I usually hate my job when it relates to lawsuits because I cringe at the idea of stepping into a courtroom or facing deposition. I hate it and it terrifies me - many people who watched me go through law school already know this as I have always been very vocal about it. I thought I was choosing a profession (real estate transactional work) that wouldn't require me to EVER be in a courtroom or deal with litigation but boy was I wrong on that one. We get sued all the time and most of the time we have done absolutely nothing wrong. The sad truth is that people all around us are willing to lie and cheat to get a big payday for absolutely nothing.

The best example of this was a lawsuit against our architectural firm about 12 years ago. A guy sued us as the architect of a certain well-known shopping center for injury he received while in the parking lot of that shopping center. Know what "injury" he alleged in the suit was? He said that he walked into a lightpole and banged his head. That's right, he walked into a lightpole that was 10ft tall and claimed that we shouldn't have put the lightpole there because there was a chance someone would walk into it. Our insurance company settled with him for $25,000. $25,000 because some idiot didn't watch where he was going and ran into a pole. I see this type of crap everyday (including today) and it makes me sad that Abby has to grow up in a world like this.

OK, done ranting for now...

Not too much to report today since I have a massive headache and I feel sick to my stomach. Very tired (not sure why) and its been a busy day at the office. Last night Abby decided that she wanted to sleep, but didn't want to sleep in her bed which makes for a cranky mommy today. She would fall asleep on us or with us in our room but when it came time to go to her bed, she simply wasn't having it. Normally, she doesn't make a peep but last night it took 3 strikes before she was out. Of course she slept in a little after that so that was kinda good.

Looking forward to this weekend when Ben and Shannon come in for a visit!

A Spring Clean and a Spring Cleanse...

The Spring Clean -
Sorry for the delay in the latest post. It's been a crazy few days. On Friday, I was slammed trying to get a lease that I have been working on for 2+ months out for execution and I was so beat by the time I got home, I didn't have a chance to post.

Then there was Saturday. Saturday was horrible and great at the same time. Now that March has arrived in full force and the frigid temperatures have left the building (for the most part), that can only mean one thing - time for Spring cleaning. Plus, we finally got new furniture for the front room so we really wanted the house to be clean. Marili came over about 10am to help us do a really thorough cleaning in the house. Of course, I felt so guilty that she was there on a Saturday (we paid her very well though) that I helped her as much as I could so she could get home as soon as possible. Bad idea...

You know how people claim they are allergic to cleaning? That is actually true in my case. I am allergic to bleach so cleaning the bathrooms and the window sills with bleach was probably not the smartest thing I have ever done. I sneezed and sniffled for hours but plowed through. I even cleaned the oven although I did not come out unscathed. When Marili kept telling me not to touch the oven cleaner, I tried my best to follow her instructions, but I apparently got a little on my elbow. Tried to wash it off when I noticed it but that didn't work and I ended up with a lovely burn on my skin. Yes, I get that it has to be potent to work well, but does it really have to be so toxic that simply touching it burns a few layers off your skin? After all this trauma, I've decided that serious cleaning and I might need to part ways for a while.

Marili left about 2:30 and JB went off to his tennis lesson around the same time. So it was just me and Abby. That usually means only one thing on the weekends - Nap Time!! We slept in our room for about an hour until JB got home and it was great. Napping with Abby is so nice. Even though I can't roll over or change positions out of fear that I will launch her into the hallway, it's just so peaceful (unless she snores in my ear which has been known to happen a time or two). After JB got home, we all got ready for our night out.

The Spring Cleanse -
This night out was very different than our usual nights out. We left Abby at Byron and Gail's overnight and headed to dinner at the Old Warsaw and a stay at Hotel Zaza in Uptown. While it was hard to leave her for 18 hours, I will be the first to admit that I really needed this break. As I have said before, being a mom is fantastic, but I kinda think a little time for yourself makes you an even better mom when it is all said and done. I got to take a long shower, enjoy a nice dinner, stay up a little late and sleep in until 9:30. Then Sunday morning (after we called to check on Abby and I realized I was only 4 hours away from getting to hold my baby), I had breakfast in bed, took a 45 minute jacuzzi bath and then had a hour long massage. The massage was fantasic. I always feel so rejuvenated since they "release all the toxins". For me, it doesn't get much better than this as far a relaxation goes and JB knows it. I am a very lucky girl to have such a sweet husband who drags me out of the house and treats me to something like this!!!

After our massage, we headed to Byron and Gail's to pick Abby up. They happily reported that she slept all night in her Pack N Play and woke up happy as a clam at 6:15 like she usually does. We are so lucky to have all 4 grandparents close by and willing to hang out with Abs when we need a night out.

After that, it was off to the grocery store, then home for homemade pizza and the Oscars. This morning rolled around and it was back to reality, although it felt like a better reality after a little spring clean and a little spring cleanse...

The Sock Monster...

In the olden days (read: life before Abby) the phrase "Sock Monster" meant that little creature that lives in my dryer and eats one sock per load to ensure that I cannot pair up every sock I have washed in that particular load and have to throw away the lone sock that remains. That's what "Sock Monster" used to mean to me. Now, "Sock Monster" means my little Abby!

While I chalked up her initial disdain for socks to typical baby behavior and an inability to get her socks big enough for those boats she calls feet, I have decided that she might actually have a severe sock phobia. I don't know what socks ever did to her, but they clearly caused severe enough damage for her to never want to wear them again. Before, she would allow me to put them on and then try to be sneaky and get them off as fast a possible under her blanket hoping I wouldn't notice. But yesterday, she crossed the line. After I put her in her nightgown, I reached over and grabbed the biggest pair of socks she had. That was when all hell broke loose!!! The mere sight of socks made my smiley baby start screaming. I persisted. I not only got them on her feet, I also unfolded them an made them into knee-highs thinking there was no way she was going to get those all the way off during the night. Wrong again.

When I went to get her at 6:30 this morning, I found said socks neatly laid in the corner of her crib, far far away from her. She might as well have folded them too!!! She could have thrown them out of her crib or had them in disarray throught the crib, but no, not Abby - She had them both right next to each other in an organized manner. It was as if she was trying to politely give me a message like "Mommy, while I really appreciate your efforts to keep my feet warm at all times, I must admit that I hate socks and you should really stop wasting your time trying to get me to keep them on. They are coming off one way or another whether you like it or not."

I got the message...

Victory is Mine...

She slept from 10:30-6:30 and I feel like a million bucks! Didn't do anything different - gave her last bottle including rice cereal at 9 or so and then we all cuddled in our bed until JB put her down about 10:30. Not a peep from the time he laid her down until I heard her talking to the animals on her mobile after JB's alarm went off at 6:30. I presume her friendship with the aformentioned animals is new because they have only recently begun these conversations. Before now, I think she may have been creeped out by them occaisionally circling over her head like a bunch of buzzards while she slept. As evidenced by their 15 minute discussion this morning, I believe she has accepted them as her new friends.

Last night, we had our second consecutive night of waking up at 4am. On Monday morning, I was convinced that the early wake up call was my fault for not waking Abby up for her last bottle at 10pm after she went to sleep around 8pm. This morning, I know it wasn't the lack of bottle that caused the problem because last night, I did get her up at 9 to have that last one and she still got up at 4am. We did our typical attempt to sleep in the recliner routine which worked until she grew so much. Now she just wiggles the entire time because she is so long, she can't get comfortable. Abby wiggles = mommy's dark circles under her eyes. While certainly not the end of the world, it wasn't a pleasant experience and it is definitely one I am hoping to avoid tonight.

While I trust God's decision making capabilites, did He take a break when He was designing lifetime sleeping habits for us girls? Menopausal women have insomnia while new moms are exhausted. Shouldn't He have just switched those two?

Something tells me I'm into Something Good...

Like I said, that's when things changed. I went back to work and got a break from the 24/7 baby routine. Abby was a much happier baby those last couple of weeks I was home and at around 9 weeks, she started sleeping between 5-7 hours a night. My brilliant plan to only work part time my first month back was not so brilliant. I ended up working overtime most of the time because I was so busy. Of course, working did make me appreciate the time I had with her so much more. It also forced us to get into a routine at night and in the mornings.

While we still have our ups and downs, we have things a little more under control. She sleeps through the night most of the time and seems to be a happy camper more often than not. Not much more you can ask for in a 3 month old. Our current issues, however, are getting nap time straightened out and figuring out a way to be able to put her down at night when we need to cook or do stuff around the house. She shows flashes of brilliance (not that I am biased or anything). For example, yesterday, we played her an Abby Cadabby video on JB's iphone about using words and Abby (the one sans the purple hair) watched the first run through very intently and then when Abby (purple haired version) said it was time to do the interactive part, our Abby tried to sing with her. It was so cute!!! Of course about 5 minutes after that, she tried to eat her own toes so maybe she's not exactly Einstein at this point.

She's growing like a weed and that double-edged sword is a big part of my reason for starting this blog. I love my sleep now but also I miss those night of cuddling with my (relatively) tiny baby all night (even if sleeping in that recliner may have destroyed my back permanently). She amazes me everyday with something new and I think I finally understand why being a mom is so great. It is by far the hardest thing I have ever done but its also the best.

Now that everyone is up to date with my life and how I got to where I am, I will start my regular blog about juggling Abby, JB and the stressful occupation I have chosen (I am sure time for myself will come back into the mix - eventually). That's my life these days - Deals & Diapers!

Just Shoot Me...

So when someone tells you that nothing can prepare you for being a mom, LISTEN TO THEM!!! They aren't being overdramatic. They are telling you the truth. No matter how many friends of yours who have kids try to explain what life will be like after the baby is born or how many times you have watched someone close to you go through it, nothing can possibly prepare you for the heaven and hell that you are about to endure.

The rest of our hospital stay had its ups and downs including breastfeeding troubles, a fainting spell, a serious case of jaundice and of course the joys of having a new baby. Nothing we couldn't handle. But then you have to go home. Although many of my friends had previously told me how ready they were to get home, I have to admit I felt the opposite. You mean there is no cooking or cleaning to do and I have someone who will take good care of Abby for a six hour stretch every night so I can sleep??? Umm, where do I sign up for that now? It was great but I knew trouble loomed ahead when that gravy train ended.

After checking in for the induction Tuesday morning at 7:30, we finally got to check out on Saturday night around 6pm so we packed up camp and they wheeled me down to the car. Upon arrival to the parking garage, we began unloading the cart and the time came to put Abby in the car seat for the first time. While we followed orders from all of those baby books and installed the car seat ahead of time, no one ever told me that I should actually figure out how to adjust the straps. It took us almost 15 minutes to figure out how to get her to fit in that stupid seat - Parental failure #1.

Once we got home and my parents left, I realized that we were alone. There was no nurse to take her away for six hours when I wanted to sleep, no one there to do the dishes or make food. That is the part no one prepares you for. While my mom was a HUGE help (along with Marili later that week), I was still completely overwhelmed and sad. I couldn't even muster up the courage and energy to call many of my friends back because I didn't want to admit that, at the time, having a baby wasn't the greatest thing ever and I thought I had ruined my life. I really sank into this dark place that wasn't quite post partum depression, but certainly seemed like more than just the baby blues. It was hard. Much harder than I thought it would be. The lack of sleep was starting to get to me. The lack of adult interaction was starting to get to me. The lack of any life at all outside of the house was really starting to get to me. And then, I thought I hit the breaking point.

When Abby was 4 weeks old, JB's cousing JD was getting married in Salado, Texas. JB was in the wedding. As much as I love JD, I really didn't want to take Abby out of town at all and certainly not to hotel where her 2AM cries could wake up everyone in the building. It made me very nervous. Come to find out, I had good reason to be that nervous. Our first night there, we attended the end of the rehearsal dinner and then headed to the hotel. The boys were heading out to a bar to celebrate JD's last night of bachelorhood and I stayed with Abby for a couple of hours while JB went out. No problem there. The problem came when she wouldn't sleep - ANYWHERE!!! Not in the Pack N Play we drug from home or in her carrier or even on the bed with us. That night I slept for about 2 hours total and I was absolutely exhausted in the morning. JB had to go out with the boys again to get ready for the wedding and I simply couldn't keep my eyes open. Luckily, Byron and Gail were just a room over and were able to watch her for awhile so I could squeeze in a couple more hours of sleep. That whole day was horrible. I felt guilty for waking up everyone in the hotel, guilty for dumping her on Byron and Gail and guilty for getting so frustrated with an innocent little baby. Like I said, it was my breaking point (or so I thought).

When we got home from the trip, it was time to take Abby to her 1 month appointment. Upon arrival, they had us get her down to just her diaper and then weigh her. She wasn't gaining weight. So now, on top of my failure to have a natural childbirth, failure to keep my sanity over the wedding weekend, I could add failure to properly breastfeed my child. That was the true breaking point. After a couple more weeks of exclusive breastfeeding with some suggested changes to our routine, we went back for another weight check. Still not gaining enough so it was time to start supplementing with formula. We started with one bottle a day and kept going up by a bottle every week until she was on mostly formula and 1-2 breastfeedings per day. That was when things finally got better.

More to come...

Abby's Story...

Our nerves were high the entire day before the induction. Karen was in town so she and I had lunch. JB was home sick with food poisoning from Blue Mesa. My mom went shopping to pass the time because she was so anxious - I think she may have purchased some regrettable Cole Haan’s. Monday night we made sure we had packed everything and were ready to go. Sleep wasn’t easy but we managed to sneak a few hours in especially since JB was still in recovery mode.

We woke up early on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 thinking "today is the day our baby will be born." Boy were we wrong…

The morning started innocently enough. After waking up at the crack of dawn, JB drove me to the hospital with much anticipation. We arrived around 7:30 AM and checked in up front. They then took us back to what would be our labor and delivery room aka torture room #1. I changed into my gown (which my butt, of course, hung out of) and laid down to get strapped into all of the monitors. Once I was hooked up, I met my labor nurse, Tiffany, who proceeded to tell me that I was actually already in labor. While at first I was quite skeptical about her ability to help me push out a baby considering her blonde hair and petite nature (read: She looked like a middle school cheerleader), she ended up being absolutely fantastic! After Tiffany got me set up, another nurse came into the room to put my IV in. We shall refer to her as Wicked Witch #1. It wasn’t that she was rude or anything, it was that she missed – twice. As in, poked me with that (huge) needle for the IV on two separate occasions and then proceeded to figure out that “those veins won’t work”. Yep, this was a rough start to what would turn out to be an even rougher 24 hours. After she couldn’t find another vein to use, she had to bring in the actual anesthesiologist who got me hooked up quickly. At that point, my only concern was how much this little anesthesiologist extra visit was going to cost me but in the middle of that thought, the IV was finally in and I realized there was no turning back. The Pitocin was on and off we went.

For those of you who haven’t experienced induction, they start you off pretty light and increase the amount running through your veins in intervals. Early in the day, Tiffany told me she had never seen anyone go past a 32 and that most people started good labor around 24. Dr. Monti came in about 10:30 and broke my water and then Melissa, our doula, showed up to start helping. Well, hours passed and I kept having lots of contractions but no pain. Things were moving slowly. Had lots of visitors – my parents and JB’s parents and Erin. Byron was so sweet and brought me the new Bon Jovi album that had just come out that day. He said that he wanted me to have something that was actually about me, not the baby. You mean someone actually remembered I was involved in this whole process?? It was a truly touching gesture. We put it on the speaker and listened to the whole album. We all talked and told stories and Dr. Monti and Tiffany would come and check on me throughout the day. Finally, around 4pm, Dr. Monti came to check the progress again. At that point, I was in so much pain from the checking (no pain from the contractions) that I requested the epidural. That made things so much better – for a while. At about 7pm, Dr. Monti checked again and I still wasn’t progressing so she said we might have to do a c-section. I remember crying a lot because the C-section wasn’t what I wanted so we kept upping the Pitocin until we started making progress. I remember starting to severely shake about that time. It was the worst part. Dad tried to keep me entertained by donning a surgical mask and hat and taking pictures. While it was quite funny, it only distracted me short term. One of my favorite memories is hearing about all of our friends vigorously checking Facebook to get updates. Apparently, it was like waiting for election results and watching the electoral states pop up on the screen. How much is she dilated? Is she pushing yet? Any news at all? I’ve never had anyone so concerned about my cervix!

Remember that statement Tiffany told me about a 32? Yeah, I had to go to a 42 before I was ready to push. At about 10pm, Dr. Monti checked me again and said I was finally ready and that we would start pushing in about 30 minutes. The alarm sounded and everyone rushed back in to cheer me on one last time. Byron called Gail to come back up (she had gone home because she wasn’t feeling well earlier) and all the parents gathered in the waiting room eagerly awaiting the arrival of their first grandchild.

Finally, it was time, and JB and I were convinced Abby would be born just before midnight on 11.10.09 but we were wrong again. I pushed for 2.5 hours and it was excruciating as the epidural had worn off and they refused to give me another one (bastards!). We didn’t seem to make any progress with the pushing and eventually, our dear, sweet Abby decided that it was time for that stubborn gene to crop up. She turned the wrong way and Dr. Monti couldn’t get her back. JB came through like a champ. He was great and I never even got irritated with him for a second. After trying and trying, Dr. Monti called another OB in to help her turn Abby (again, cue “how much is this going to cost me?”), but all of their combined efforts were to no avail. They could see that she had a full head of hair (seemingly encouraging at the time) but we were never able to make enough progress. At the end of the 2.5 hours, Dr. Monti said it was time for a c-section. JB rushed off with Melissa to change clothes and get ready for the surgery. At that point, I had so much medicine in my system and had the shakes so bad, I didn’t know what exactly was going on but I knew I was nervous and ready to get her out.

So at 1 am on November 11, 2009, they wheeled me into the OR and started cutting. I gave JB my glasses so I couldn’t really see much but I sure knew when they took the knife to me. You know how I knew that? Because I could feel it. Yep, I was the chick on the table going “Umm…am I supposed to feel that? If not, please give me more drugs because it kinda hurts.”

While the pain medication was worthless for the actual physical pain and I still felt everything, the effect it had on my brain was so strong that I didn’t really know what was going on. Apparently, she was born at 2:04 am. I don’t remember much after but I do remember hearing Abby cry for the first time and this overwhelming sense of relief washed over me. They called Jonathan over to the table where they were cleaning her up so he could look at her for the first time. They measured and weighed and cleaned for a while and then he finally brought her to see me. She was beautiful and looked like a little cherub and he was crying. I expected her to look somewhat like an alien but this was surprisingly not the case…at all. She was chubby cheeked and squishy and the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

After they finished putting me back together, I got wheeled back to recovery and got to hold her on the ride there and feed her for the first time when we go to the room. All the grandparents were there and all got to hold their new grandbaby. Gail was sick so they all donned masks just in case, but each grandparent got to hold her for a few minutes before the headed home for some much needed rest. At about 5 am, we finally got taken to our room where we would stay for the rest of the week. I remember this poor nurse coming in and giving us this speech about how things worked in the wing but I was so sleepy, I couldn’t keep my eyes open to take in anything they said. I just signed some consent form and then finally got to go to bed for a little while as they took Abby to the nursery for 3 hours. When I woke up at 8 am, I was officially a mom and the adventure began!

The Game Changer...

The next day was March 1st – our anniversary. It was a Sunday morning and for some unknown reason, I woke up at 7 am and thought I needed to take a pregnancy test. Short of my crazy intuition, there was absolutely no reason for me to think I was pregnant. I mean no symptoms at all. But in this case, I followed my intuition and did it anyways. To my complete shock, the dumb test was not as clear as I had hoped. Basically, the regular, horizontal, placebo line was loud and clear, but the vertical line needed to make a plus sign was lighter than Michael Jackson (too soon for the MJ jokes???). WTF was this? Aren’t these things called Clearblue Easy for a reason? They are supposed to be easy, meaning idiot-proof! Not so much in my case. I ran in and woke JB up and his basic response was that “it kinda looks like a plus sign”. Very helpful. We are talking about a huge life moment here and all I get is a weak little inkling that my whole life may be about to change?

Thank you Proctor & Gamble or whatever megagiant corporation produces these ridiculous products. I understand if my Tide might not whiten my clothes as much as promised or if my Pantene shampoo doesn’t truly produce any extra volume as the bottle states, but dear Lord, could you at least take the time to make a pee on a stick product that doesn’t make a girl tip toe on the thin line of pregnant or not? That moment in time (after two minutes of excruciating waiting are up) is game-changer so maybe we should throw a little extra R&D money into that product instead of coming up with another way to add flavor to my toothpaste.

Desperate times call for desperate measures (and better technology). So after two not so Clearblue Easy tests with maybe or maybe not results, JB and I left for CVS. Apparently, they make digital pregnancy tests. Clearly, this is a product that should not be purchased based upon the cheapest price unless you are in the mood to go through the aforementioned, painstaking process of guessing whether or not you are pregnant. So we made our (expensive) purchase and headed back home. This time I took the test and left the room. We sat in silence in the living room waiting for the recommended two minutes. There was no plus line required, no instructions necessary – this time it was either “Pregnant” or “Not Pregnant” in digital lettering. JB didn’t make it to the two minute mark before he rushed into the bathroom to read the results. About 10 seconds later he came out and said “It’s a boy”. To this day, I have no idea why he said that. I just knew he was going to say “just kidding” at some point but those words never came out and finally I responded with “Are you sure?” He was sure and so was the test. Clear as day, it said “Pregnant”. So there we sat, stunned.

It took a few weeks (and Dr. Monti’s confirmation) to get used to the idea, but we were pregnant and it was time to prepare. Although it would likely make for an excellent blog post, I don’t have too much to say about being pregnant because I was very lucky and had it pretty easy. I never puked, never had any complications, actually lost weight for the first four months and only had one tiny scare around six months. A little back pain, a lot of heartburn and a total inability to efficiently roll over in bed after 8 months were the crux of my issues. The shopping, the excitement and the anticipation were indescribable and made up for every negative occurrence. To sum it up, I actually loved being pregnant! But then we got to the very end and things changed a little. While the anticipation was killing me, I was very set on letting her come on her own so I was not really into induction. Of course that was until 38 weeks when Dr. Monti informed me that her femur bone was off the charts in length and she guessed that she was at least 8 lbs with two weeks to go. OK, 8 lbs didn’t sound bad. I knew I could handle that and wanted to give her a chance to show up on her own schedule, but Dr. Monti wanted to go ahead and schedule the induction for a couple days after her due date just in case. I struggled with the decision on induction because I knew there were increased risks so those last couples of weeks of pregnancy were not so much fun. We tried everything to get her to make her grand entrance but nothing worked. There was a full moon the week before she was due and I even laid outside under it one night hoping direct exposure might be more effective and speed things up. A few checkups, two weeks and one due date later, still no baby.

More to come…

It was the Best of Times and The Worst of Times...

So I figure an important part of this journey would be to start with a brief description of the beginning of my new life. Anyone who reads this has probably heard the stories before, but just in case some poor schmuck wanders onto my blog accidentally, here's the short version.

I have been "legally" married to my husband, Jonathan ("JB"), since the Fall of 2006 although I can easily say that my heart belonged to him the day we met in 1997. I was only 15, but I called my best friend at the time and told her that I was going to marry him. I just knew it. Don't know why or how, but I just did.

Since said revelation concerning my love life, I have graduated from college, graduated from law school, got my MBA, passed the bar and gotten married. Getting married was one of the best days of my life not only because I got to make it legal with JB, the love of my life, but also because of my stirring rendition of "Jesse's Girl" in front of everyone I know...on the stage...with a 12 piece band (I was actually somewhat sober, I swear).

It has now been 3.5 years since I got married and found out I passed the aforementioned torture test (the bar exam, not the wedding) and since then I have been practicing as a commercial real estate attorney specializing in mixed use and shopping center development working at my father's development company here in Dallas. Yes, I work for Daddy. No, I am not a moron who couldn't get a job anywhere else. I, like most of my friends, am a victim of the beginning of the end of the good economy of the early 2000's. When I graduated from law school, jobs were hard to come by for those of us who chose to have a life during law school (read: those crazy people who studied 24/7 and graduated at the top of our class had no trouble getting those big firm, slave labor jobs with amazing support from the university while the rest of us were left to fend for ourselves looking for work in small to medium boutique firms or government offices). So when Dad offered, I accepted and it has proved to be better and worse than I ever imagined.

After we were married in the Fall of 2006, we bought a shack in a ritzy 'hood and lived happily ever after until the clock starting ticking about 2 years ago. The interesting thing about this clock is that it wasn't mine; it was JB's. He saw 30 approaching fast and decided that he wanted to become a dad before then. The only issue was convincing me that I was ready. Eventually, he wore me down and in the Winter of 2008, we decided it was time to start trying for a baby. Long story short, 4 months of trying, two filets, one lobster tail and a bottle of champagne later, we accomplished our goal. After years of going to nice restaurants and really living it up on Valentine's Day, we decided to save a little cash, stay home and cook a good dinner in our pj's and just relax. Like I said, two filets, one lobster tail and a bottle of champagne later, and this whole adventure started. That was the most expensive Valentine's Day dinner EVER!!!

A couple of weeks later, we went and had more filets and lobster (do you see a pattern here?) to celebrate the 12th anniversary of our first date. This dinner is one of our little traditions. Plus, we had a great coupon for that restaurant! That was the last night of life as I knew it...

More to come later!