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Changing

I am just amazed at not only how fast my babies are growing up, but how much they are changing each day. Lexi looks like such a little girl some days, other days she still looks like a toddler. But man, I think I could fill a compact flash memory card each day with new pictures and not have too many pictures!

I've officially started Caylee on solid foods, She eats about 1/3rd to 1/2 a jar a day, her favorite thing so far is peas, just like Lexi! Although she had applesauce today and really liked that too. And she loves mashed potatoes, made with rice milk of course. I am really hoping she will outgrow her milk allergy so that I can start having some dairy products again (like a nice milk shake!). Today I had a spoon full of macaroni and cheese, I even gave her a little taste of the cheese, she didn't freak out (yet) I would think if it was going to bother her it would have by now since that was at 6:30ish. She did just wake up a little fussy, but I held her, we gave her some gas drops and she is right back asleep so I don't know if that was from the cheese or just normal gas. A few days ago I gave her a couple bites of mashed potatoes made with milk and she didn't react to them, so I am praying this is the beginning of a really good thing!

We're still waiting to get Lexi's "big girl bed" the twin sized has been ordered and we're waiting for the call that it's in. I can't wait because right now Caylee is in the pack and play (the bassinet was starting to bow). Putting a sleeping baby in a pack and play is a pain, not to mention that when we let Caylee nap in the crib she sleeps so much longer. Maybe it would keep her sleeping the whole night through!

My Baby

My baby is just a few days away from being 6 months old. I can't believe how fast the time has flown by. Almost every day it hits me how big she is! She's wearing 6-9 month clothing (and has been for a month). She rolls and rolls, she pushes up and now she's started pulling her knees up under her. She doesn't have any teeth, and still isn't sleeping through the night. In fact she gets up about 3-4 times a night (between 8pm and 7am). It's really starting to get to me too. Between 3:30 and 4am every night she wakes up screaming with lots of gas, then is normally awake for an hour to an hour and a half. This is only after she wakes up around 12:30 and again at 3:00 to eat. After I get her back to sleep around 5, she normally will wake up again at 6 then sleep until 7 or 8. I have no clue what to do, or what not to do. Lexi was so easy and slept through the night by 5 months.

I thought maybe her being in our bed and nursing laying down was the problem, so we moved her into the pack and play and I sit up to feed her. It helped for the first few nights, but now it's back to her screaming again. I'm planning on asking her doctor at her 6 month appointment, but that's not for another 2 weeks. She also has a bunch of spots of dry skin on her, I think it's eczema, but I'll have them check those out too.

I really like the girls doctor, and their office is nice and put together. They also have these cute netbooks, that they keep all the information on in stead of lots of papers floating around. I think it was the first time I had seen a netbook before, but I just thought they were so cute and was amazed at the technology. The one time Lexi had an ear infection the doctor just sent the prescription right to the pharmacy from her netbook. It was cool.

If anyone has any suggestions on how to make a baby sleep through the night I'd love to hear them.

DQ's Sweet deals!

Dairy Queen has a new value menu! You can mix and match nine menu items, choosing two for $3, three for $4 or four for $5. You have the freedom of choice with more than 20,000 combinations.

Menu items include the famous Dairy Queen® cheeseburger, classic all-beef hot dog, new chicken wrap, yummy French fries, crispy onion rings, fresh salad, beverage and an irresistible sundae or cone made with the signature DQ soft serve with the curl on top.

You can try it for free if you have a blog and you make a deal with them. Here's the info.

Now here's the deal I'm making with them. I'm spreading the word to my 4 readers AND I will let my husband buy a Blizzard while we're there. Maybe I'll let my daughter have her first every blizzard too!

I know, not a very creative deal, but hey, it's a deal and my creativity is maxed out right now!

Weight loss

I am starting to think I will never lose weight. I can't figure it out. well, maybe I can but I don't want to admit it. I've been running 3x's a week for a few months now, seriously running. Saturday I ran 4 miles, Monday 3 and today 2. This Saturday I will run 4.5 miles. Yet I'm not losing any weight. I am also doing exercise videos.

There are only two reasons for not losing weight, I think they both have something to do with my lack of weight loss . My knees are swelling from all the running, they are really holding a lot of water which I'm sure is some of the fat I have lost. The other option (the one I don't like) is that I am just not eating right. It's not that I eat a ton at meal times or eat bad things really, it's more that I like to night snack. I guess we have also had a lot of snack food in the house lately which I'm sure doesn't help.

I have a goal to look nice by the time my cousin gets married (in July) and yet my stomach still is holding onto the pregnancy fat (from Lexi!) I need some ideas on how to motivate me to not snack, anyone have any?

Neighbors

The Bible commands us to love our neighbors but it seems like these days no one even knows their neighbor. We live in a small little apartment community and by small I mean there are 5 apartments. We've lived here since October and I think I could give you the first name of 3 of the 8 other people that we share a small driveway with. One of their names I only know because their significant other left a Valentine's day card in front of their door (which is right next to my door.)

I have to admit, I think that's pretty sad.

I live not too far from Charlotte, there are a lot of subdivisions around here, houses pretty much stacked on top of the house next to it, with little to no yard between them, and I just wonder how many of these people actually KNOW the people who live less than 10 feet from their house. They may know their names, but do they know them? Do they talk with them? Have coffee together? what about picnics?

When we lived in Tennessee we lived in a duplex, we got to know our neighbor quite well, He was a single guy (for most of the time, he got married shortly before we moved here). My husband and him would often talk, we were close enough to trust them with a key to our house when we went out of town, close enough that we'd bring eachother's garbage cans in from the curb. Close enough that when he got married I often found myself over at his apartment, working out with his wife, or sitting on the front porch talking. It was a lot of fun to actually know my neighbor.

It reminded me of when I was little, we knew all our neighbors, I'd go to their house, we'd make food for them when they were sick, they'd buy stuff from me when our school was selling things. For a little while I had a little taste of what it used to be like. Those were the days when no one needed a burglar alarm, their neighbors WERE the burglar alarm. They knew who went in and out of the houses on a regular basis, they watched over each other's houses while one was away.

I actually got a taste of that when we lived in that duplex. I was home one day and heard a lot of banging next door. My husband and I had one car, so when he was at work it was impossible to know if I was home or not. Our neighbor was at work so I found it odd to hear so much noise coming from his apartment. I glanced out the front window and didn't see his car, so I decided to go out our back door and peek around the corner. I honestly thought I was imagining things- I have a tenancy to do that.

So I was honestly shocked when I walked around the corner to his back door and saw strange men loading his guitars and other stuff in their car. So shocked all I did was said "What are you doing?!" Now, I don't honestly recommend confronting people when they are breaking into a house, it wasn't the smartest thing I've done, and honestly about the time my feet hit the inside of my apartment and my door closed a list of about 100 other things that I should have said came to my head. Things like "Oh, you must be fixing the fridge, he told me you'd be stopping by" Anything to make them think I wasn't running back into my apartment to call the cops.

But no, not me, I made it very obvious. I was shaking in my boots while I called peeking out my front window to try to get a better look at the car as it pulled out of the driveway. I called my neighbor and that was one of the most awkward calls I've ever made, it's no fun to tell someone you're close to that you just watched a couple guys carry away a couple thousand of dollars worth of musical equipment. The Police eventually showed up, but even despite my descriptions of their cars and the guys I don't think they ever found the burglars.

Despite the fact that I couldn't stop the men, I know my neighbor was grateful that I was close enough to pay attention to things at his house. I was a good old fashioned burglar alarm.

I tried something new last night. it’s called sleep. I had had enough of Caylee being in my bed and wanting to nurse every 45 minutes to an hour. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about the cosleeping IF it’s working for all individuals involved, mommy, baby and daddy. For the past two months it hasn’t been working for mommy, and Daddy hasn’t really been enjoying it either, for Caylee it was great, it was like sleeping at an all you can eat buffet.

I couldn’t really tell why she was waking up so much, I could tell she wasn’t really hungry every time she wanted to nurse, and I figured it was linked to an excess of gas stirring in her belly. Since she ate all night, we always nursed laying down, I thought maybe that was the problem, so I tried sitting up each time I nursed her last night. Not only did I do that, I put her back in her bassinet after each feeding. She never once laid in our bed last night. And I must say… it was WONDERFUL.

She still woke up 3 times in the 6.5 hours I was up there sleeping, but the sleep I got was actual sleep, it was great.

When she woke up at 6:30 she nursed then went back to sleep, but since my sleep seemed so great I decided to get up. I have been wanting to get up before everyone for weeks now. That uninterrupted time allows me to get a lot done. I read my Bible, spent time in prayer, drank some tea, loaded the dishwasher, folded clothes AND wrote a blog.

I was so proud of my blog, I uploaded pictures and everything. I was on top of things, I was writing my Meet and Greet Monday post at 7:20am!!! I was so excited that I had it done. It has been ages since I participated in a Meet and Greet Monday carnival.

I was very disappointed when I realized today was Thursday. Maybe I’m not as on top of things as I thought I was…..

pantry moth problems?

A while ago I was talking with my friend who had to throw away a bunch of food because moths had gotten in her pantry. If I remember correctly, she actually had to throw away things twice because some eggs stayed behind the first time.

I've had this happen once before and it's extremely frustrating! I saw this thing online, it is called a pantry moth trap. I haven't used them, but I thought I'd share the link with anyone who might be having or have had moth problems. Replacing all your food due to moths is expensive, so these would probably be worth it! I'm not quite sure how moths get in your pantry to begin with, but it's frustrating!

Lots of thoughts

it's 6:42am. I don't mind getting up this early, if the kids are still sleeping and it means I can have some quiet time. Today though, the kids are awake. I'm not too excited about the fact that they woke up at 6am, bright and chipper. But some things are out of my control!

Caylee started rolling over a few days ago, I was amazed because Lexi rolled from her belly to back, but then it was a month or so before she rolled the other way. Caylee rolled from her belly to back one day, and then from her back to belly the next day.

Valentine's Day is coming up. My husband and I aren't doing anything for each other, we decided we spent too much money already that we shouldn't get each other anything. But I was glancing around online at watches. (my hubs has never been much of a watch person, but he mentioned something a month ago about a watch). I came across these Jaeger Lecoultre Reverso watches, a little out of our price range, but they're nice!

I've been looking up car seats lately. Since we have our income tax return we thought it would be a good idea to buy a convertible car seat for when Caylee outgrows her infant car seat. I wanted a safe, comfortable car seat. As I was researching something led me to You Tube to look at videos of car seat crash testing. While doing so I learned several things I was unaware of.

  • Rear-facing is safest for both adults and children, but especially for babies, who would face a greater risk of spinal cord injury in a front-facing carseat during a frontal crash.

  • Rear-facing car seats spread frontal crash forces over the whole area of a baby's back, head and neck; they also prevent the head from snapping relative to the body in a frontal crash.

  • Rear-facing carseats may not be quite as effective in a rear end crash, but severe frontal and frontal offset crashes are far more frequent and far more severe than severe rear end crashes.

  • Rear-facing carseats are NOT a safety risk just because a baby's legs are bent at the knees or because they can touch/kick the vehicle seat.

  • Rear-facing as long as possible is the recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatricians, and can reduce injuries and deaths. Motor Vehicle Crashes are the #1 overall cause of death for children 14 and under.
Other countries, such as Sweden keep their children rear facing until 5 years and 55lbs!

So after watching several videos and doing some research I decided Lexi is getting turned back rear facing. Her Car seat it a convertible car seat that allows the child to be rear facing as far as forward facing, and according to the manual, she still has 2 inches to grow before it's unsafe for her to be rear facing. She might not like it, but I'll feel safer!

It also caused me to choose a convertible car seat that would stay rear facing as long as possible. For me, money is not an issue when it comes to choosing a car seat. I'd rather get a good expensive one that I knew was the best out there than get a cheap car seat that may have just barely passed the safety tests. With that being said I really wanted a Britax, my husband on the other hand wasn't sure a car seat was worth $279.

So I kept looking. Luckily I came across a web site (Albee Baby) that had a very girly pattern of a Britax Marathon for only $179!!! Which just happened to be the top of our price range. if we have a boy we'll figure something out. for now I'm excited to know we're getting a Britax at a very reasonable price! All of the Britax car seats were on sale Albee Baby, so if you're looking for one, check it out, it had free shipping too!

My girls

Caylee rolled over today.

This morning just Caylee and I were awake, I laid her on the floor and turned my back for 3 seconds. As I turned back around I realized I had missed it. Her first roll.

Lucky for me she did it again several times today. And she let both her daddy and me see. :)