Third Time's the Charm

The jogging stroller I ordered last week came yesterday so I opened up the box right away and put it together. However, the instructions said to not use with children under 6 months of age. Well, I wanted to take AnnaBeth for a walk today while Kent ran and her regular stroller won't go on the canal bank so we decided to see if we could completely disregard the suggestion in the instructions. Turns out, we can. The harness is pretty big on her but it doesn't double karate chop her in the neck and she's not able to slide down and strangle in the straps while she's strapped in. We did add two blankets to help prevent any sliding side to side and she was good to go. She fell asleep in it before I even got out of the house and didn't wake up until Kent caught up with us on his way back during his run. At that point, he walked with us (and since he has a bigger stride, his brisk walking is super brisk for me) the rest of the way home. And on the way back home, AnnaBeth experienced a little karma. A bird flew by and pooped and it landed on the stroller by her leg. And then she moved her leg and got some of the poop on her. Daddy told her that's what she gets for pooping on him two nights in a row. Sorry to give you another post about poop....hopefully that's the last (for awhile at least)!

Gravity Defying Poop

Yes, I'm doing another poop post. AnnaBeth had ANOTHER blow-out last night. This time she was sitting completely upright in Daddy's lap when she bore down and let her poop fly. Well, fly it did. Right up out the top of her diaper and up her belly. And of course she was wearing a white onsie. Getting her cleaned was obviously a two person chore again and getting her onsie off without getting poop on her head was slightly challenging. The whole time we were trying to clean her up, she had this look of total satisfaction and a tad of pride which we found amusing given the mess she made. So once again the three of us hopped in the shower to scrub her squeaky clean. She seems to enjoy the shower though. She just kind of hangs out and looks around, taking it all in. And I'm quite thankful for the one Billy Mays product I've purchased...Oxi-Clean! Before we bathed her, I rinsed her onsie in hot water, sprayed it with the Spray N' Wash Resolve stuff, put Oxi-Clean on the stains and let it soak in hot water. By the time we were all done, I checked the onsie and all of the stains were gone! I think that should be part of the commercial, poop on a onsie instead of wine on a white curtain :)

Blow-outs, Baths, and Bags

So I forgot to mention in my post yesterday that on Sunday, AnnaBeth graduated to the baby tub and had her first real bath. She kind of fussed at first but then seemed generally ok with it. Today she graduated to the shower with Mommy and Daddy. I was feeding her this evening and her some major gurgling/splurting sounds but didn't feel anything in my lap (which is VERY typical when she poops herself) so I thought maybe it was my hungry belly. When I stood up to take her to her room to check her pants, my hand felt damp. When I laid her down to unwrap her from her blanket, there was poop all over the blanket and the side of her onsie and her leg. Lemme just say I wasn't quite sure how to go about cleaning it all up. Thankfully Kent was home so I had an extra pair of hands to assist me. During clean up we decided that it would probably be best to just bathe her in the shower so that's what we did. She didn't fuss at all but that's probably because Daddy was holding her and being held generally makes her as happy as a clam. And it must have been pretty calming for her because she didn't even fuss when I put her jammies on (which she always does when clothes go on or off).

Now that you are all thoroughly grossed out by the poop post, I'll move onto something much more pleasant. Last week Jen (one of my cyber friends) posted on her blog about her mom's latest creation. It was a kid-sized tote bag! I absolutely loved it so I went to her website, Cutsie Tootsie Designs, and ordered one! The lighting in AnnaBeth's room makes the bag look a neon green but it's really a sage green. And the best part is the free personalization that comes with the purchase of a bag. It's the perfect size to carry a couple of books and some toys and when AnnaBeth is older, she'll be able to tote it around herself. She's got a lot of neat handmade items on her site but this is by far my favorite :)

Oh So Big!

AnnaBeth is quickly growing and doing new things each day. In fact, she does so much that Daddy calls her an advanced model. She's able to focus on our faces, lift her head when on her tummy (and sometimes even turns her head when it's lifted), can stand for a short period of time before her legs give out, coos and makes other little sounds, can hold her head up when she's sitting up in our laps, brings her hands together (usually when she's sleeping), has started tracking things like her mobile and us when we pull away after kissing her, and smiles. Sometimes she smiles in response to ours and sometimes she smiles in response to what I'm saying to her but usually her smiles are spontaneous. And of course, she's still difficult a majority of the time when it comes to burping during feedings. She stands and/or arches her back and it's nearly impossible to get a burp out of her when she does this. My only guess for the reason behind this is she has extra air in her belly and it hurts to be hunched over while having her back patted or rubbed. She is also over 9 pounds now (according to our scale when I weigh us) and she's getting really close to moving out of newborn diapers into size 1. She's doing a lot better with the evening fussiness which is probably due to the fact that we now have an evening routine.

"How in the world does this seat belt work?"Perfecting the clutch technique "I could SO get used to driving this thing..."Showing off how cool she is by revving her imaginary dirt bikeStrengthening her legsand also her neck (as you can see, she's put on enough weight to sport the double chin)Step one: lift head Step two: turn head and smile for the camera

Four

The number of years we have been married and the number of weeks since AnnaBeth entered the world. Normally I will count AnnaBeth's months on the 19th of every month but this time, I'm doing it based on the actual number of weeks since it happens to fall on our anniversary.

It has been an amazing (and fast) four years! Time has just flown by and it's hard to believe how quickly we suddenly find ourselves at our 4th anniversary. I am very blessed to be married to such a wonderful husband. He is so caring and accepting of me and my ways. I'm not always the best person and don't always respond to things in a Godly way but yet he loves me despite my faults. Sometimes I wonder how he can still continue to love me with the attitude that I sometimes (which can be more often than not at times) have and end up taking it out on him (whether its directly or indirectly). I know that makes him wonder if I still love him and when he expresses that to me, its quite humbling and makes me stop and think about my actions and tone in which I say things. I wish I could be pleasant all the time but I'm not. I try to correct myself when I realize that I'm doing something wrong but it's not always very easy. It helps me to have him tell me how I'm acting because it instantly makes me analyze myself and work to correct the behavior. I know it's not easy for him to say those things but sometimes that's the only way for me to see what I'm doing.

I don't tell him enough how amazing he is and how lucky I am to be his wife. He makes me a better person and we make a pretty good team (at least I think so). I also hardly ever tell him how proud I am of his work. He's an amazing fabricator and I love to see him complete a project. Each project seems to be better than the one before it and his skills improve with every one he completes. And so far, he's been a pretty awesome dad to AnnaBeth. He was fantastic with helping me birth her. He thought he would get to stay up by my head and watch/let the nurses do everything but he and one nurse helped me through the whole thing. Him being so involved actually helped me out a lot. He was a great coach and gave me the motivation and strength I needed. I enjoy seeing the delight in his face when AnnaBeth coos or when she makes cute faces at the end of her crying sessions. I can't wait to see the things he will teach her as she grows.

So to sum it up, I have a wonderful, kind, caring and extremely loving husband and I can only hope to be better at telling and showing him just how much he means to me.

Easter

AnnaBeth had a very busy Easter weekend. On Saturday, she finally got to meet her Nanu, Papa Bob, and cousin Johnny. She also got to meet the Clark family. Her Aunt Geli made her a stuffed bear with the help of Mrs. Clark and she also got a yellow bunny from Grammy and Grampy.

Nanu and JohnnyNanu and Papa BobShe loves her Aunt Geli!!Snuggle time with GrammyWe spent Sunday afternoon with the Porter family and AnnaBeth finally got to meet her cousin Jacob. As soon as we arrived, Papa snatched her up and here she is looking at him. Emma, Hailey and Jacob love each other so much that they can't help but give each other hugs!Papa gave AnnaBeth some lunch and she fell asleep on his chest. I'm not sure who likes it more, her or Papa :)Hailey waiting for her Uncle Kent and Tia YaYa to come back with Cadbury eggs.Our Easter family photoThe dress finally became too much for AnnaBeth so we changed her into something more comfortable and she passed out in Daddy's lap after she ate again.

Emma and Hailey got tired of their dresses too and were much happier once they were in regular clothes. They had a blast playing legos with Jacob!

The weekend was super busy and full of travel but we felt very blessed to have had the opportunity to spend it with our wonderful families!

It's My Turn

Hey everyone, it's me AnnaBeth. Mommy is tired so I'm going to post on the blog today. I've had a pretty exciting day so far (but the most exciting part will be when Daddy gets home from work). First of all, it's my Grammy Austin's birthday today. Daddy took a picture of me on his phone to send to her because honestly, a picture of me is pretty much the best birthday present ever (other than me in person of course). This morning after my breakfast, I spent some time hanging out in my boppy pillow. Mommy forgot to put the camera on the macro setting so that's why I'm a little fuzzy. Here I'm thinking "ooh, what is that thing??"Getting a little tired of Mommy taking so many pictures of me. I know I'm cute and all, but jeez, give it a rest already!This is probably one of the cutest faces I've made in my short 22 days of life. When Mommy started to take off my jammies this morning, she noticed that my umbilical cord stump was gone. She found it stuck to the front of her shirt. She plucked it off and set it on my dresser while she changed and dressed me. Well, with hand cleansing being so important after she or Daddy changes my pants, she forgot about my stump. That is, until a few minutes ago after she changed me again. You see, she left the room with me and came back to see my Tabby the Turtle on the floor. And when she put Tabby back where she belongs, she noticed my stump was missing. She knows that my kitty Rufus is the culprit but she doesn't know what he did with it. She hasn't been able to find it so she wonders if he may have possibly eaten it.After I took a morning nap, Mommy and I went to Desert Breeze Park to celebrate Oliver being alive for 1000 days. We hung out with Hillary, Heidi and little Noah by the splash area. I had my lunch here and was starting to get a little fussy, hence my "what you talkin' bout Willis" look. During my lunch, my unborn friend Carter's mommy told Mommy that my friend (and his cousin) Jude was born today!I finally got cranky enough that Mommy decided we needed to go home. I was super thrilled! All of the sounds, sights, sunshine and wind blowing got to be a tad too much for me.After we got home I spent a little bit of time playing on the floor. Here I'm practicing my dirt bike riding skills. I need to get the handle bar grip and clutch motion figured out before I hop on one of those things.Not only will I be awesome at vrooming like Daddy and Uncle Wayne, I'm also going to be a pretty good boxer. As you can see, I've already got a pretty mean right hook.

Pictures weren't quite enough for Mommy so she took some video of me playing as well. I was a little camera shy at first but then I forgot it was even there. Mommy stopped it before I started to fuss.It wasn't long before I started to space out. Mommy knows that this means I'm about ready to nap. So before I had a meltdown, Mommy picked me up and snuggled me close. And it wasn't long before I drifted off to sleep.