I'm Loving It

When I first began Spring Break I was a bit worried. What could I possibly do that many days in a row with Jewell? It had been quite a while since my last break. I have come to learn that I love being with her all day, every day. Don't get me wrong, I am sure I will soon need a break. For now, I am going to enjoy her little smiles and her smallness. Of course, now I won't be content until summer break! All I want is Jewell to myself :)

Today had some good points and some tough ones. I really need Jewell to learn to nap in her crib. All she does at day care is nap in the swing. Because she naps in the swing, she doesn't nap for very long. So my mission this week is to teach her to nap in a crib. Let's just say she wasn't too happy. She did eventually all asleep though! I've done this for the last 2 days of break, and things have been much happier in the evenings for our family.

Here are some pictures of today's events.

Typical pose..tongue sticking out, and leaning to the left.

Tongue out again...

Smiles :)

"Attempting" to roll...

I got the jumper out again...she wasn't very into it.

"Don't worry Mom...I found a toy to suck on!"

Yep...no jumping...just sucking on toys :)

A Blast of a Day

What a blast of a day for the two of us...

We got distracted...

We ate the keys...

We continued to eat the keys...

We toppled over...

We posed...

We practiced sitting up...

We sat up really well for about 15 seconds....with the help of a boppy...

We played with Daisy...

We played with the mirror...

And, we fell asleep after eating... :)

Sweater Dresses and Green Beans

It's official! Jewell can FINALLY fit in the adorable sweater dress her Aunt Jessica bought for her. I dressed her up before church and snapped a few pictures before heading out the door.




Of course, we had to get a picture of her doing her favorite activity...sticking her tongue out!



This afternoon I attempted to feed Jewell green beans again. The first time she had green beans she hated them! But today, she ate them up really fast! I was so excited.


After lunch we decided to visit a new church plant by our house, Palmetto Baptist Church. We really enjoyed it and we're very excited to see what the Lord will do there.

After we got home from the afternoon service I helped Jewell practice sitting up. Matt thought it was funny, so he captured the moment.


Today was all that it possibly could be. It was so nice not to feel the stress of getting all the household tasks done before the work week began. I believe I'm getting more and more excited about summer break.

Springly Saturday

What a wonderful Spring day! I believe it was a splendid start to my Spring Break. Jewell woke up at 7:30 this morning :). It was such a treat to get some extra sleep. I made breakfast in bed, with lots of coffee of course, and then headed out to a friends baby shower. We had such a beautiful morning.

After the shower, I went shopping with my good friend Heather. We hit Kohl's and Marshall's in about an hour and a half. It was so nice to catch up with a friend. I typically don't go do too many socializing things on Saturday's now because it's my only day to catch up on life since I work. But, it's Spring Break! I have all week.

I came home around 2:00. Jewell was napping in the swing at that time. Once she woke up, I decided she needed some prunes for lunch.

"Not these again."

"Oh good, Dad is taking pictures."

"Mom look! It's pretty outside!"

"I guess these aren't THAT bad."

After we enjoyed our prunes adventure, we introduced the sippy cup! She loved holding it. In fact, she didn't want to let it go!

I just love this smile!

Late this afternoon we took a stroll in the park as a family. We tried to put Jewell in the normal stroller. As you can see, she's a bit too small for it still.




Matt enjoyed taking pictures of Spring blooming as well.


We had such a wonderful Spring day together as a family. I can't wait to see what Spring Break brings the rest of this week.

Baby Wonders

I've been thinking about this topic for quite a long time now. Or at least a couple of months. Jewell is now 6 months old. She just had her check up and it went splendidly. Her doctor had absolutely no worries with her development. I however, was not relieved after leaving the office.

My concerns:
Jewell doesn't roll over. She has only rolled over twice actually. And it's been a long time since. She doesn't like tummy time. People that see her keep telling me to give her MORE tummy time so she does become more active. She cries the entire time. I still make her do it every day, but it's extremely hard for me to watch. The doctor said to be grateful that she doesn't move yet, yet I'm still worried.
Jewell also doesn't really sit up. She only does it in the bumbo and it's not for very long. She screams when I try to practice with her. It makes me so sad.
I know I shouldn't compare, but it's really hard when you walk into day care each day and you see kids that were born on the same day or after her rolling around and giggling. Many have told me that every baby develops differently, I know that, but most of those people then tell me how early their kids did things, which is hard.

I'm not really asking for advice, mainly just kind of putting out my fears and worries. I think about it and pray about it all the time. I love my baby so much. I know there is nothing to worry about, but it still makes me wonder...

A few of her favorite things...

Despite being sick off and on for the past several weeks, Jewell has developed a taste for a few things.

Solid Foods: Squash and pears are her absolute favorite. I was extremely surprised by the squash. Seeing that it's the only tub of baby food that she eats completely, it's a keeper. We've only tried squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, prunes, pears, bananas, applesauce, peaches, and cereal. Tomorrow we are going to introduce green vegetables. Jewell does not like peaches though. Maybe they are too sweet for her.

Play time: Jewell has a favorite toy of entertainment. It's a mirror that plays music. She likes to sing with it every afternoon. It's so funny. As for tummy time...well, it's definitely not at the top of the list.

Books: The Foot Book, I'm basically doomed. It's the only book she really likes so far and I have to read it over and over again...she's only 6 months old!

Small Toy: Now that Jewell is 6 months she is grabbing toys and playing with them. Her favorite seems to be the keys by Baby Einstein. Here are a few pictures from today. They are a bit out of focus, and I'm sure my husband will be appalled that I posted them looking like this. Maybe he'll buy me a camera that makes sense now! :)

Take 2

The first thing I did this morning was run to work to get my plans ready. It's so hard to be out when you're a teacher. Some say that we have the best jobs because we can earn up to 15 days of sick time and get tons of breaks. However, it's probably one of the most stressful jobs around. Being out puts you way behind, and I'm out of sick days. I have to be there for 4 weeks to earn 1 sick day. Fortunately we are team teaching this year so my kids will only be behind on SS and Science.

After I got home I called Jewell's doctor and set up an appointment. It looks like she has her second ear infection. He's also concerned that she may have the beginning stages of bronchitis. Poor Jewell! She is supposed to take Amoxicillin for ten days. Thank you Publix for providing free medicine. What a great blessing.

No pictures, Jewell looks too sick to want a picture.

The Weekend--Good and Bad

Our weekend started out wonderfully. Matt and I watched a movie Friday night and made great plans for Saturday together. I was so excited about what we hoped to accomplish.

The first thing we did on Saturday was take Jewell to get her 6 month pictures done. She had a cough, but it seemed to be controlled. She was congested too, although I figured it was from allergies hitting her. Despite not feeling well, we were able to get several cute pictures of her.






That afternoon we ran to Home Depot and bought a ton of shrubs and flowers. We have never actually done anything to our flower beds, and I got the urge to plant! So far the beds look great. I plan to mulch them over Spring Break and post pictures once it's all set. We are thrilled with how our yard looks now just by adding a few flowers.

That evening was all about Jewell, she just didn't seem to be feeling well. I had been giving her Tylenol about every 4 hours since I detected a slight fever. She fell asleep after her last bottle like normal, but coughed quite a bit after. Actually, she basically coughed all night. She woke at 2:30 and I could tell she was really in pain. So I gave her more Tylenol and her pacifier. It seemed to soothe her so I went back to sleep.

Sunday morning came and we decided I would stay home from church with her. I'm the only mom who has a baby in the infant nursery that sends her child to day care so I didn't want to spread germs the kids aren't exposed to often. Jewell continued to cough and she had a fever just over 101 around 10:45. So I gave her more Tylenol.

That afternoon we had Matt's sister and her boyfriend over for lunch. Jewell was more fussy than usual, but I figured it was because she wasn't feeling well. After they left she really wasn't acting normal and her cheeks were very red and hot. I took her temperature again (about 4 hours after her last dose of Tylenol) and it was 102.1. By this point she was extremely miserable. I felt just horrible for her. I called the doctor and they told me to bring her in first thing tomorrow morning.

This weekend didn't turn out as hoped. I'm glad we got some good pictures, planted a garden, and had fun with family. But I'm extremely sad to see Jewell so sick. We'll see what the doctor says tomorrow.

Missing Dad Again

Dear Matt,
We are so excited you are coming home tonight. Even though it's going to be the very early hours of the morning. Jewell will be so excited to see you when she wakes up.

This morning went much smoother than yesterday. I actually made it to work on time. I was sad to drop Jewell off in the lobby at her daycare again though. She didn't seem to be mind, but I thought of it all day.

Jewell napped a little better in daycare today. She didn't sleep in a crib though. I'm afraid we really need to work on that this weekend. Mrs. Ohler said she was able to get Jewell to eat almost all her cereal with pears. She wasn't too into the sweet potatoes at lunch though. I guess she hadn't napped enough.

This afternoon we enjoyed playing in the bumbo, looking in the mirror, vacuuming (she was in her carrier), and reading time. I put her in the Daddy's Little Sweetheart outfit that you bought her before she was born. I couldn't believe she fit it in already.



Jewell ate half a tub of sweet potatoes for dinner. As you can see, she really enjoyed them! I didn't let her play with the spoon until the end. Don't worry! I made sure she had a good feeding before she had fun with the food :).



We are so excited you are coming home. We have missed you so much. I'm sure you will enjoy taking pictures of our little one tomorrow.



Love,
Your two girls

We Miss You Dad

Dear Matt,

Today started out as a mad rush to daycare. I got a little behind since I'm not used to taking Jewell in the mornings. When I got to daycare I realized that no one else in her baby room was there. Not even the teachers :(. I had to leave her in the lobby with the early workers. This made me extremely sad. I hated leaving her there so early (7:15) without her teacher or friends.

Despite being the first baby there, Jewell had a pretty good day. She ate almost all of her cereal and bananas for breakfast. She also ate half a tub of carrots for lunch. However, I wonder if she actually got the carrots in her mouth, seeing that they were all over her clothes when I picked her up :). Jewell didn't nap well at daycare today. Her teacher tried to get her to sleep in the crib, but she barely did. For some reason Jewell insists on only napping in the swing.

After I picked her up we ran to see Grandma at work. I left Jewell with her friend for about an hour so I could run to Bethany Smith's senior violin recital. It was great! I can't believe our favorite babysitter can play the violin so well.

After the recital we went home. By this point she was very fussy. I managed to get her to eat a few bites of cereal with pears. That didn't last long though because she really wanted her bottle. She ate 7 ounces and was in bed by 7. I hesitated putting her down because all she wanted to do was talk. She continued to talk for 10 minutes after I put her down even. But no cries, so I was happy.

We miss you so much Matt. Jewell is going to be sad to not have her Daddy in the morning. I believe she already knows how special mornings with Daddy are. We will be praying that the Lord gives you wisdom at your shoot tomorrow. We will pray that the rain holds off so you can come home tomorrow, even if it's after midnight. We love you so much!

With Love,

Your two girls :)

6 Months

I can't believe my little Jewell is already 6 months old. It seems like just yesterday that she was born. Here are the stats from today's doctor visit.

Height: 25 and 1/4 inches
Weight: 14 lbs 11 oz
Head: 42 cm

The doctor encouraged us to begin feeding Jewell solids 3 times a day. We just worked up to 2 feedings yesterday! I asked him when I should start this, and he said today. He also wants us to practice drinking from an open topped cup. I was concerned about this, but apparently it's a good way to get kids to learn how to drink without sucking.

We finished the visit with several more shots. They gave me a choice for the flu shot and I said yes. After last weeks sickness I decided I wanted the flu to stay as far away as possible. Jewell did surprisingly well this evening, despite the shots. I think it helped that I let her nap when we got home :).

This evening we had our first dinner feeding for solids. I decided to just do cereal with pears. Pears are new and I like to introduce fruits with cereal. She really seemed to like the pears too! I was so excited. But the best part, was the milestone we accomplished. While feeding her, she grabbed the spoon and put it in her mouth. She's NEVER even attempted to touch the spoon. I was thrilled to death. She kept grabbing in and putting in her mouth and moving it around. I was so proud.

Tagged

My friend Jessica tagged me for this game...
Rules:
1. open your first photo folder
2. scroll to the 10th picture
3. post the photo and the story behind it
4. tag friends

The picture I found was from the summer of 2005. I was working at a camp called the Wilds. I was a waitress that year. We didn't have air conditioning in the dining hall that year either! So, we didn't do much to ourselves. I believe this is spirit week, but I'm not sure what the theme of the day was. Most of us are wearing green. Looking back now, I realize why my husband hates my hair pulled up. Oh well. That's the way he fell for me (this exact summer) so I guess it will just have to do :).

I tag Krystina, Sara, and Katy.

Play Time

Jewell is beginning to feel so much better. I walked into daycare this afternoon and she got a huge smile on her face and laughed really loud :). It made me so happy. So we stayed and laughed together for about 10 more minutes. We had a blast together.

When we got home this afternoon we had sweet potatoes again. She enjoyed them, but was very full from her morning cereal with bananas, so we didn't push it.

After our meal I decided she needed to practice sitting in the bumbo seat again. She did a fabulous job! Jewell isn't a huge fan of sitting yet, she usually just leans to the left and complains until I pick her up. Today, she sat up straight and played with toys! Well, she actually was more fascinated with them since they were bright lights and a mirror. We danced together in front of the mirror, which she truly enjoyed. After the dancing died down we read books together.




Daddy came home and the 3 of us ventured outside for a nice evening walk. When we got home Jewell was still in a fun mood. So Matt put her on top of his shoulders. I love this picture!