Merry Christmas

Well we had a wonderful Christmas! Christmas Eve we went to Dh's parents house and then to church and Christmas day Dh's parents came to us. Izzy was very good at church even though it kept her up past her bedtime, she was slap happy by then end but had a great time entertaining the folks behind us.

Last night after Izzy was in bed dh and i were snuggled on the couch under our new gorgeous snowman quilt his mom made us for Christmas, with our fire going.....I said to him..."Life just doesn't get any better than this!" We are just so blessed!!!!

We tried to get some good family pictures but really were not too successful. Here are a few.

Oh and I know of 2 Christmas miracles born yesterday , Liz and Mike welcomed a baby boy and my friends Amy and Michael welcomed a baby girl Lilly Ann. Congrats!

Reflecting

Well I need to start out by wishing the BIGGEST CONGRATS to Mike& Liz. They have been waiting so long to get the call they got yesterday, they have been matched and their future son is due today! I wish them much luck that everything goes well. I hope this is the son they have always been dreaming of. What a Christmas miracle that would be.

Reading Liz's post today totally brought me back to when we got that call! I can't believe it was almost a year ago already. What a whirlwind it was for us and I am so thankful for that. I look at Izzy now and it continues to amaze me how blessed we are with the beautiful healthy child! It is crazy to think that a year ago today we were still waiting to be picked and now we have almost a 1 yr old! Crazy!!!!!

I am so torn about wanting to do it again. There is a small part of me that feels complete with Izzy and we are meant to be a family of 3 but I also know a lot of that is driven by fear. We were SOOOOOOOO lucky with Izzy, the birth parents are amazing, we totally clicked with them and everything went perfectly...can we get that lucky again? Then there is the money part which is so overwhelming and yes I am still just a little bit bitter that we have to spend $30,000+ to have another child! I had a friend say to me on Sat "you totally need to get another one " my answer to her was "well if you had to spend $30,000+ to have another child you would seriously think twice about it!" That shut her up pretty quick, and I know she doens't understand, she can't she has two beautiful biological children and never struggled TTC or riden the emotional rollercoaster of adoption. I also worry, can I handle another one....there are tough days with just Izzy and she is a GREAT baby, can I do it with two?

I was reading all my old posts about before we got matched and then when we got Izzy and it does make me want to do it again. Who knows what will happen. DH and I have agreed that we wouldn't be making that decision until at least Jan, which is right around the corner.....I do feel that if i am goign to do it again i would rather do it sooner than later even though it will be harder at first with two young ones, it will be better in the long run.

Who knows, but I am thinking about Liz and wishing her and Mike the best and remembering the rollercoaster of emotions we had during that time, less than a year ago!!!!!!!!!

Early Christmas

We did Christmas at DH's family yesterday since my sister n law and neice will not be around for X-mas. Izzy was so good. She enjoyed ripping the paper and playing with some of her new toys, she was a bit overwhelmed I think by all the stuff. She got a Dora doll which she liked a lot. She also liked the pull along Xylephone.

It amazes me everyday to see how much Izzy has grown up! She is really starting to have a personality. She is the biggest flirt and likes to do "so cute" to everyone, it is where she tilts her head and smiles real big. It is so funny.

I think I am going to try to get to teh mall this week and have her picture taken with Santa. I hope it isn't too busy, I have heard that the one mall by me has had long lines, hopefully if I go during the middle of the week it won't be so bad. We'll see.

Here are some pictures of Izzy opening her gifts yesterday

Survived trip to NJ

Well Dh, Izzy and I just got back today from a weekend trip to NJ to visit my 93 yr old grandmother and 96 yr old grandfather. My parents also joined us for the trip. It was a relatively stressful trip, flying with Izzy (although she ended up being great on the plane and for 99% of the trip) spending lots of time in my grandparents small apartment, and dealing with the inheriant stress of being around that much family for so long. Overall the trip went really well, Izzy was such a trooper, she was definately out of her routine and sleeping in a pack in play and in the same room with us. The first night she woke up about 2, and it took a long time to get her back to sleep, about till 4:30 when she finally ended up in bed with us. But the second night she slept 11 hrs straight through!!! She was sick teh whole time, she has had this monster cold for over a week and of course the day we leave it starts moving to her chest.....she acts fine, happy etc and doesn't have a fever but is just really congested. I think I am going to insist on teh dr seeing her tomorrow because enough is enough already and she just isn't getting better.

Anyway back to the trip itself, it was so cool to see my Oma(that is what i call my grandma, she is from germany and that is grandma in german) with Izzy. She is also doing amazingly well considering her age, and did a ton of cooking and kept insisting we eat eat eat!!!

I had to post this picture of Izzy i took on the way home of when she finally gave in and fell asleep on daddy, she ended up being so out cold she didn't even wake up when we got off the plane or were walking through the airport, I have NEVER seen her so out. I did give her benedryl before we got on teh plane to help with congestion etc, and it didnt' knock her out right away but I guess once she was out she stayed out.

Sorry to ramble so much, a bit exhausted from the trip. here is the picture, i will try to blog more tomorrow when i am a little more logically flowed.

Pretty Pretty Christmas Dress

Well I finally tried on Izzy's X-mas dress and it fits and she is SOOOOO precious in it!!!! She wouldn't really sit long enough for me to get any good pictures but here she is

Holiday Time!

Hey Katd this is for you. Here are a few pictures of our holiday decorations.

We decorate for X-mas and Hannukah, I am Jewish although not so practicing. We have a 2 sided fire place so one mantel is Hannukah and the other is X-mas. I love being able to decorate for X-mas.

I have to say i was so speechless hanging the stockings this year....to see three hanging there is such a dream come true!!! Last year I can remember saying to Chris, "this might be our last X-mas as just a couple" Sure enough dreams do come true!!!! Izzy's stocking is very special because DH's grandma (who passed away a few months ago) made it years ago , before we were even dating, and had pinned a question mark on it where the name goes............so Dh's mom put Izzy's name on it and it is just so darling!!!!!!!

We have a huge tree, which I seem to always get more excited about putting up than dh(minus the spreading of the branches, I hate that part!) I love all the ornaments, especially all the ones from Chris's childhood, there are several elementary school ornanments on our tree. And of course we had to have a few baby's first X-mas ornaments, my mom bought one, it is Lenox China , it is kinda ugly but oh well.........i bought one that I have to put Izzy's picture in.

Anyway, here are some of our decorations, we still have no lights on the outside, and with teh crappy weather, who knows if we will get to hanging the icicle lights or not.

Oh and as a side note, the picture with the snowman quilt, I actually made it (with a lot of help from my MIL, she is so talented) I made it last year and am very proud of it :)

Happy Holiday's everyone

Daddy's Girl

Izzy sure is a daddy's girl! This morning when he left for work she went crawling after him crying! The crying didn't last but I thought it was so sweet! I am sure it was a major ego boost for DH too! Our girl is just so darn cute, she gets more fun everyday! She is a little charmer that is for sure, not afraid of strangers in fact she will crawl right up to them :) We are in trouble when she is older I think, total flirt!!!

So Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!!!

I just can't believe how much we have to be thankful for. DH and I were talking about how crazy it is that our life has changed so much since last Thanksgiving. Last year we were wishing for a child and this year we have a 10 month old!!!!!!!!

We had a great Thanksgiving, we do it at our house so it is a bit of work, and we still have to finish putting everything away and back together....but it is worth it.

My favorite part of the day was letting Izzy dig into a piece of pumpkin pie and cool whip. She couldn't shove it in fast enough!

Sleep baby Sleep!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay so Izzy has now been on antibiotics since Sat morning, her fever is finally gone today but we are still having sleep problems. I know when she was really sick over the weekend it wasn't her fault she didnt' feel good and woudl only sleep if you were holding her for the most part, probably because it hurt her ear to lay down. So she was up A LOT Friday and Sat and Sunday night 2-3-4 times.

Well last night she was up twice again, only when you went up to her room and sat in teh rocking chair with her, she would lay her head down but then pick it up look at me and smile and want to play. The first time she got up around midnight DH and I tried everything, rocking her, putting her in bed with us but all she did was want to play..........so I figure she couldn't feel that bad if she wanted to play. Well finally after an hour of this we finally decided to let her CIO because we didn't knwo what else to do.............she didnt' have a fever, and wanted to play and DH and I are just totally exhausted after dealing with this since Friday night. So after I don't know how long, probably not more than 15 mins the crying stopped. Until it started again about 4:40 am. I went up tried to give her a bottle which she drank but then did not want to go back to sleep, she wanted to play..........again being exhausted I let her CIO again only this time it was 10 min max of crying. She then slept till 8am this morning but was crabby most of the morning because she was still tired.

I called the Dr office and they said they think the ear is getting better since the fever is gone but if she has another bad night or fever comes back they would want to see her.

Well here I am it is 10:45pm I went to Izzy's room because she was up crying, I made sure she had her binky and blanket, wasn't burning up from fever, settled her down then put her back in teh crib, I didn't talk to her. As soon as I put her down she starts screaming. So now here I am blogging about it because I dont' know what else to do . DH and I are exhausted.

She was such a good sleeper, what happened? I feel silly for taking her to the dr because she is waking up so much at night but up until last week she slept through the night most nights, although the last couple weeks we probably had 3 nights where she would wake up but it was pretty easy to get her back down....nothing like the last few nights. I don't know what else to do. Is it because she doesnt' feel good or is she just wanting the attention she had when she was really sick.

I just wish she could talk and tell me what the problem is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sick Baby

Well we had another milestone over the weekend.........Izzy had her first ear infection. Poor little thing was soooooo sick. She got a really high fever friday night and scared me half to death because she was trembling with the chills and then threw up in the middle of hte night. Thank goodness I had DH's mom stay night with me since DH was out of town. I was convinced it was the stomach flu but sure enough we took her to teh dr Sat morning and it turned out to be an ear infection. DH ended up coming home a day early from his hunting trip which I was so greatful for. Since Izzy didnt feel good she was not sleeping well and was very clingy and just wanted to be held. Which I have to say was kinda nice to have all the cuddle time. Sat night i put her in our bed for about half the night which was kinda nice.......she hasn't slept with us since she was about 2 months old. I can't tell you how full my heart felt when she finally fell asleep and I looked over at her sleeping, hten at DH sleeping and even the cat was in our bed sleeping.

I am exhausted though and am going to try really hard not to get sick myself. Seeing that I have not slept for more than 3-4 hours at a time in 3 days my body is a little worn down and whenever that happens I seem to always get sick. I might see if my mom can come this afternoon just so I can take a nap.

Izzy was doing a lot better yesterday but still was not 100%. I am hoping that today she will be feeling mostly all better. She only got up 3 times last night which was not nearly as bad as previous nights and actually she is still sleeping now........which I think is a first, she has NEVER slept past 8am.

I guess we are lucky that Izzy is almost 10 months old and this is the first time she has ever really been sick. I hope she stays heathly for a while because it is such a terrible feeling to see your baby sick and know you are doing everything you can to make her feel better but she still feels crappy.

On a happy note, I am looking forward to Thanksgiving. We do it at our house with my family and Chris's family. It will be exciting to have Izzy for her first Thanksgiving. She should even be able to eat some turkey and mashed potatoes! And I am sure her grandparents will make sure she has some pie and whipped cream :)

Birth Certificate!!!!!!!!!!

We FINALLY got Izzy's birth certificate in the mail today. What an awesome feeling to see it clear in black and white, she is ours forever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Been a while

Well it has been a little bit I think since I blogged. Things are good. We had a good halloween, since Izzy goes to bed so early we just took her to teh neighboors and then daddy put her to bed while i handed out candy. She looked so cute in her monkey costume, and I might just be able to get her in it next year since I bought it a little big.

Oh she had her 9 month appt and she weighs 20lbs 10oz and is 29" long!!!!!!!! Such a big girl. The doctor was very pleased.

This weekend DH was up north hunting so I had Izzy on Friday night and then Saturday night she went to my parents because I had tickets to see Keith Urban, what a great show but man was it loud......I think I am getting old:) Izzy did good for my folks and other than waking up at 3 am sunday morning she woke up for the day at 6:30..which considering the time change was not bad........well then the afternoon was tough to try to stretch her to her normal early bedtime but we managed to, she only went to bed about 15min early and was so tired she went right to sleep and we didn't hear from her until 5 am......yes she was up and could not get her back to sleep this morning. DH was a trooper and he got up with her and I went back to bed but I think it will be a long day today. I am guess it is because of Daylight savings but who knows? I just hope she gets back on track soon.

This week I leave for my longest business trip since Izzy. I am gong to Baltimore for my dad's company and I leave Wednesday afternoon and don't get home until late Friday night. I am sure I will miss my peanut. Izzy will have a blast though because Thursday and Friday she will be with Grandma, DH's mom and dad. She is even spending the night there since she is watching her both days it is just easier if she keeps her..........so DH gets the night off too!!!

Next week is his big and Final (thank goodness) hunting trip but it is a long one, he will be gone for 4 nights............that is a long time in my opinion but Izzy and I will get through it.

Well her are a few recent pictures

Bedtime Nightmare!

Ok I am feeling like a terrible parent right now. DH is out of town has been since Monday. Izzy was a bear at bedtime last night cried for an hour with me going in every 10 minutes or so. See,now that she can stand up in her bed she will just stand there and cry. So.....tonight i knew she was exhausted because she hardly napped this afternoon. I gave her her evening bottle in her room in the dark after her bath like we do everynight, she was sleepy i put her on my shoulder to rock her and she picks her head up and is smiling at me...............i know right then we are gonna battle.

So i put her to bed say goodnight i love you, and walk out. About 2 minutes later she starts the crying, which escalates to SCREAMING, i tell myself i need to be strong, and let her CIO so i let her go about 5-10 minutes, call DH talk to him for 10 more minutes before i tell him i can't take it anymore and i am going in. I hang up with him and get to outside her door and can her, she is done crying and just light fussing trying to catch her breathe after crying so hard. WHO HOOOH i did it!!! I then make dinner and about 30 min later she is crying again. I go up give her her pacifier pat her butt and walk out and think she is sleeping. I then get in the shower and take a LONG HOT shower, it was great...until i got out and realized she was screaming again. I put a towel on my head and robe and went up stairs. She was awake but not really and crying, so i picked her up and she stopped crying and we sat in the rocking chair. It took her 15 minutes before she was breathing normally....I almost thought I was going to have to take her to the ER, i mean she was sleeping but kept kinda gasping for air. She did settle down and was breathing fine when I put her to bed but talk about freaking me out and making me feel TERRIBLE.

So to all you moms out there, how do you deal with bedtime, when the baby just stands up and crys, and if you go in there she stops and smiles at you. She was clearly WAY to worked up from her half hour crying episode, that I don't know that I can let her do that again........but I need to do something.......what do i do????????????????? Any tips???????? Until her recent aquired skill of pulling up on everything most night she would go to sleep without trouble, maybe once a week we had to go up and settle her down but most night she would just go to sleep.....what changed? Is this normal? What do I do?

Big Girl

Well we made it from up north. The first night was very rough, Izzy just can't sleep in the same room with us, she woke up when we went to bed andt hen wouldn't settle back down because she knew we were there, we finally had to move her to the living room. The next night we put her in the sun room and covered the windows with blankets, that was much better, we all slept better having her out of our room.

She is changing so fast, she is getting to be a very fast crawler and trying to pull herself up on everything. She finally made it to standing in her bed today when i went to get her from her nap...here is her smiling face. I will blog more after she goes to bed for the night.

Tired

I don't know what is wrong with me but I feel like I have not slept in like a month! I have, I go to bed around 10ish every night and get up around 7. Izzy normally sleeps through the night, except Sun and Monday night she woke up once because her gums hurt...I don't see or feel any teeth but i know they are bugging her. Anyway , i wake up every day and don't feel refreshed and just feel tired! I don't know what is wrong with me...I know i don't always sleep great because DH snores terribly but still! I shoudl be able to catch up one of these days right? Maybe it is just hormones from going back on the pill who knows. I hope I snap out of it soon.

Not much new here, Izzy is almost 9 months and I just can't believe it! She is such a big girl, crawling and pulling up on anything she can get her hands on. Eating finger foods like Cheerios and cooked diced carrots. I look at her everyday and am so thankful for her beautiful face.

DH is going up north this weekend and Izzy and I are staying home, i am having enough trouble sleeping i am not going to make it worse up north. I am sure I will be good and ready for him to get home on Sunday. I will be secretly happy when hunting season is over, one more month!

Today is Wednesday so it is Gymboree day. Izzy really likes it and it is nice to go somewhere that she can crawl all over and I dn't have to worry about her getting into something. She also actually went down for an early nap today so she should be good and refreshed for class instead of very tired. It normally falls during her nap time but not today :) The other moms in teh class are nice and it is nice to compare notes on what the kids are doing and tips to get them to eat or listen to a book (i still haven't mastered that, Izzy just wants to eat teh books)

I need to start excerising i have decided i just have such a hard time with finding motivation. I lost a bunch of weight doing weight watchers before Izzy but have since put probably 10lbs back on and am starting to feel very large. I konw i can loose it with just eating better but it is so hard being home all day not to snack or eat the wrong things. Dh joined a weight loss challenge at work to see who among the 5 of them can be the biggest loser by the end of Nov...which means i really need to be good about making good dinners and not having junk (like the halloween candy that is always calling my name) in the house. I am happy DH is wanting to loose the weight he like me lost a bunch but have put some back on. The only problem with this biggest loser challenge is it is $100 a person and winner takes all!!!!!!! $100 seems a little high to me especially since i have been feeling especially broke and sorry for myself that i don't make a whole lot of money......but i guess if it motiviates him that is what is important..and who knows maybe he will suprise me and win...$500 is a lot of money :)

Okay enough rambling, gotta clean up a little before peanut wakes up and it is time for gymboree

Fall Fun

I haven't blogged in a while been busy I guess. I love fall, despite teh 80+ degree weather we have been having, I think starting today the fall weather is finally coming around. We went up North this last weekend and the fall color was about at peak and it was just beautiful!!! I used to love going up north to DH's parents cabin because it was so relaxing. I have to say it is a lot less relaxing now with Izzy since I take care of her (with my mother in laws help) I still like it up there with just one problem........sleeping! It is a 2 bedroom cabin so DH , Izzy and I all share a room and none of us seem to sleep well. The bed dh and i share is very uncomfortable and izzy sleeps in the pack and play but not very well. Poor thing tosses and turns all night and one night woke up at 5:30 and the other 4am. So as much as i like it up there, i don't see us goign back for a while. DH wants to go next weekend.....it is hunting season.....but I think Izzy and I will stay home. We did get Izzy the cutest little hat that is camo and says Daddy's little hunter. Isn't she cute exploring the leaves and wearing her hat!

Well she did great on teh car ride home just over 3 hours. And she was so excited to get home it was hilarious. She offically is crawling! She had done it a little up north but when we got her home she was just so happy to be home she was crawling everywhere. She is also pulling herself up on her toys and us. She hasn't gotten to standing in her crib yet but I am sure it will be anyday now. She is growing up so fast! Her new favorite activity is eating cheerios! She LOVES them and will sit in her high chair and eat them as long as you let her pretty much. She has gotten quite good at picking them up and getting them in her mouth. It is so cute! I am anxious to take her to the doctor at the end of the month to see how big she is. She has really slimmed out a lot the last few weeks movign around do much.

Oh and I can't wait for halloween! I got her the CUTEST costume from old navy, it is a monkey! SO darn cute. Hopefully I can keep her awake long enough to put her in it and take her to teh neighbors house. Trick or treating starts at 6 and that is normally when she goes to bed so we will see how it goes.

Well i have to finish getting ready for work, the babysitter is coming in about 45 minutes and Izzy is still sleeping for her morning nap.

Little pumpkin

How cute is my little pumpkin!!!!!!!! We took Izzy to apple orchard yesteday and had a great day. I love fall!!!

8 months old!!!!!!!!

My big girl is growing up, 8 months old today!!!! She is such a little person now. Still just the two teeth, and still doing the inch worm crawl and not pulling herself up by herself yet but she is getting closer. I am loving this indian summer! Izzy loves to go outside so i don't know what I am gonna do when it is cold out!

Well gotta run, I am going to a friends tonight to help her take care of her two kids, 28 months and 4 months plus her nephew 10 months since her husband is out of town I am going to go over and help her with dinner and bed time, and Izzy will stay home with Daddy. I am sure it will show me how easy i have it with just one!!!

Single Moms

I am giving a huge kudos to all the single moms out there!!! I don't know how you do it! DH has been out of town since yesterday so I am on my own until tomorrow night. I will tell you what, i am exhausted!!!! Dinner, and bathtime and bedtime, and dishes and trash day etc is a whole lot all by myself!!!! One more night of dinner, bathtime, bedtime dh should be home by 7 tomorrow. Thank goodness my darling izzy is a good sleeper at night time anywhere from 11-12 hours , thank god for that. I am also missing dh in the mornings because i have a wonderful husband who gets up with Izzy every morning and gives her her morning bottle and changes her before he goes to work so I stay in bed until he has to leave which sometimes is as late as 7:30!!!

I have enjoyed a little me time in the evening though after izzy went to bed last night, i talked to some friends on teh phone and a indulged in my guilty pleasure...........Grey's Anatomy! I am an addict, yesterday i bougth season 3 on dvd even though i have seen them all. Last night i watched 2 episodes while enjoying a nice glass of red wine (or two :) ) My plans for tonight, after i take out teh trash and eat some dinner is to repeat last night and I think a friend is coming over to join me.

This may sound terrible but there is a part of me that enjoys dh being gone a night or two every once in a while...i can control the tv and go to bed as early as i want :) I am sure i will be more than ready to have him back by tomorrow night!!!

I wouldn't be suprised if you get pregnant

Warning, I am venting here.....

Why is it that people think that my adopted daughter isn't good enough and always say "I bet you will get pregnant in the future" Today my grandmother was telling me one of my cousins was pg with her second and I was saying that is great (i have come a long way, my infertile self was only slightly affected by the pg news instead of majorly hurt like before DD came along) Then my grandma says "I wouldn't be suprised if you get pregnant one day" What is with people!!! i calmly said yeah stanger things have happened but I am not holding my breathe" she then follows up with "You never know" I didn't bother to mention...actually I just went back on the pill so really it is not going to happen so please give up on it, I have!!! I mean I have a daughter, a child....what difference does it make...why do I need to get pg!!!

Maybe I am so senstive about it because I feel like everytime someone says tha,t it minimizes my infertility....like it isn't real or something. Like all those doctors and treatments not working, really just a fluke! Or my favorite "you are just too stressed about it, just relax it will happen" Yes I do have "unexplained infertility" but that doens't mean that just because my RE couldn't find the exact cause for it not happening doesn't mean that it ever will!

I finally feel like I have come to terms with never having a biological child. I don't secretly ache to be pregnant even though like most of us infertiles I would be lying if I didn't fantasize sometimes about getting suprised one month. I am choosing to go back on the pill to make my periods more tolerable, because without it the are HORRIBLE.

Now that I have Izzy I really don't think I want a biological child. I want to adopt again...and will definately adopt again, we might even apply as early as early next year. My family was meant to be built by adoption, that is how it is and how it will stay!!!!

Big Girl

Izzy's two bottom teeth have both poked through now so she has been in a much better mood since about Saturday. She is all over the place these days, rolling or inch worm crawling or army crawling her way into everything! Her new favorite activity is eating rice crispies, she still hasn't managed to figure out really how to pick them up and actually get them in her mouth but she is trying and she loves to eat them when i put them in her mouth. It is so funny to see her "chewing". I have also started giving her some teething cookies and she likes those too.

My mother in law got her these cute bib overalls that are 12 month size, so i had to put her in them yesterday. They are still a little long but how cute and grown up does she look!

Today we are taking her to her second Detroit Tiger game! It will be a little chilly but hopefully she will enjoy it...we took her back at the end of April but she slept the whole time....i don't think that will be the case today.

Oh and how cute is she sleeping, she was so tired last night she hardly had any of her bottle and just wanted to go to sleep. So funny sleeping with her little but in the air!

Teething Sucks!!!!!!!!!!!

Urgh, my poor baby is so bothered i think by her teeth. She was rubbing her eyes during lunch, so after her bottle i try to put her to bed about12:45 or so, she crys and crys and crys. So i get her up give her tylenol let her play till she is super fussy, about 1:15 or so, put her to bed again........she crys and crys and crys so hard she looses her breath! (which just kills me) she has been awake since 10:30 so i know she is tired.........so i take her out again because not even rocking will get her to sleep and she will calm down if i pick her up but then wants to play......so at just before 2 i make her a 4 oz bottle, even though it has only been 2 hours since she ate. She sucks down the whole thing and finally falls asleep!

I swear, I wish she could talk and tell me what she needs, i don't konw if she was really hungry or if the bottle was just soothing for her. Poor kid, i feel so bad when she crys, it makes me want to cry!

It is windy and raining off and on today so i could really go outside. I packed her up to take her to Gymboree today drove all teh way there only to find out the place is out of business!!!!!! Big bummer!!! They have 2 other locations, one is about the same distance but it doesn't have the class she takes on Fridays(and dinkypopsnomore and i like to take the girls on Friday's) and the other location does have classes on fridays but it is a bit more of a drive....but i guess is worth it. I think Izzy really enjoys it and it gives us something different to do.

I just want my happy go lucky baby back.........hopefully she will come back soon!

Long Day

Man I don't know what it was about today but it is 6:00 and I am exhausted. Izzy was a bit crabby today I think her teeth are bothering her. She took a short nap in the morning from about 8:45-9:45 and then I couldn't get her to go down again until 1:30...she was just so fussy today, if i was on the floor playing with her she would reach for me and once i pick her up she wants back down.

Then DH doesn't get home until 6 for the second day in a row, which i know he has a lot of work to do, but by the 6:00 today i have had it!!!! I am going to my best friends house on Sat night for the evening and can't wait for a night off. my golf league is over now so i lost my one night off, so Sat will be great!!! Don't get me wrong, I love Izzy and dh, but having that one night a week off from bathtime and bedtime was so nice!!!

So here i am sitting and blogging (with a beer :) ) while he is upstairs reading her a story or something after I put her to bed, but she wasn't asleep yet. Lets hope tomorrow is a better day, hopefully we will get out of the house either to Gymboree or to the park. I dn't know what i am going to do come winter, i think Izzy really gets sick of being home, and we will really miss gong outside..........I guess we will have to go to the mall or something........cold weather stay away!!!

End of summer

I can't believe summer is almost over, it went by so fast! It is funny though because I certainly don't notice holiday's etc as much as I used to now that i am home everyday and most days are the same.....i guess i just look forward to weekends and holidays because dh is home.

Not much is new with us. Izzy is trying SOOOO hard to crawl, she gets up on all fours, rocks back and fourth, the pulls in her legs, and her arms give out so she falls down, but manages to move forward. She also is rolling all over the place as another means to get where she wants to go. It makes changing her diaper or clothes VERY frustrating!!!

She has started a new trick of screeching at the top of her lungs just cause she can, not because she is upset....it was cute the first couple of times but it gets ear piercing!

She is finally getting a tooth or two in the bottom, one as poked through the gum but is hasn't quite popped up yet.

She is eating like a champ with her fruits and veggies, she loves them......but don't try to give her chicken...........she gags! She opens her mouth, sticks out her tongue and gags! I tried mixing it with greeen beans one of her favorites yesterday but there was no fooling her! I guess I can't blame her the stuff looks disgusting!

Other than that not much new. She has been tired the last few days probably from the teething, yesterday she took 4 hours worth of naps! I am not complaining though!

Oh we moved her to her big girl carseat too, she seems to like it. She could have still used the infant one because ours goes up to 30 lbs, but i thought she would be more comfortable in the convertable one. I still haven't decided if we are goign to buy a second one or try to make due with just hte one, i think we will probalby have to get a second one because it was hard to get in my car so taking it in and out doesn't sound like a great option, plus we drive dh's car a lot on weekends since it is a company car and we don't pay for it.

Well izzy and i are goign to east lansing today to meet a friend for lunch..it will be Izzy's first time to MSU...I think I might have to get her a little spartan something :)

Pictures from our Trip

Well we made it home safe and sound. Here are a few pictures from our Trip. Us with the Judge right after her signed the papers, one of the birthparents and Izzy and my favorite, Izzy riding the bull at the Tower of Americas

Gotcha Day!!!!!!!!!!!

It is official, Izzy is all ours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Court was a breeze, it took about 2 minutes with the judge, he signed the papers and we took a picture and we were done!!!! It feels so good to have it final, we are a forever family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will post the picture when we get home.

Well this adoption story is complete :)

I am looking forward to getting home so we can get Izzy back to normal. We have been dragging the poor kid all over and she is exhausted! She has done really well though. We fly home in the morning. Home here we come :)

Amazing Day

We made it to Texas and Izzy did about as well as we could have hoped for on the plane. She fussed a little but ended up sleeping for about 2 hours on my nap which I never would have believed she would do.

Today we spend the afternoon with the birth family and what a wonderful day. We met for lunch by our hotel and then went downtown and walked around the riverwalk and then went to the tower of america's. They enjoyed spending time with us and Izzy of course! They showered her with lots of kisses and hugs. We got lots of great pictures and will enjoy sharing the story with Izzy when she is older. They both called us mom and dad several times. I felt a little sad for them when we left, I know they will miss her and I hope we can come visit again sometime in the future. They gave us a gift of 3 outfits for her so I will be sure to make sure I send them pictures of Izzy in them. I just look at these two amazing people that love Izzy SOOO much and can't believe they loved her so much that they entrusted her with us and know that we will give her such a good life. Words cannot even explain how much love and admiration I have for them both. We were so blessed with them. I was telling DH how lucky we are that we really truely got the dream birthparents! I am forever greatful for them and wish with all my heart that nothing but good things come their way.

Only one more step in this adoption story, GOTCHA DAY! I can't wait for Monday to make Izzy offically part of our forever family!

We forgot the camera cord for the computer but when I get home I will post pictures.

Rainy Day

Today is such a rainy, windy, chilly, yucky day! It has been raining and gray all morning. My satellite tv doesn't work and Izzy is a little grumpy. I think her gums might be bothering her, because she seems happiest with something to chew on, particularly a frozen damp wash cloth. I don't see or feel any teeth yet, but I guess that doesn't mean she isn't teethy. Poor thing, it has to hurt.

I don't think Izzy and I will be going outside today because it is just so yucky. It is hard to believe it is august when it is rainy, windy and in the 50's!

Well we leave for TX on Friday!!! I am so excited, anxious and a little nervous at the same time. I spoke with the birth mom and birth dad last week and they are just so excited to see our girl! I am sure it will be a little akward for us all but i think it will be just great for everyone. I think it will help them to see in person what a happy healthy little girl she is and how much love we have for her. We are going to spend the day with them on Saturday. We still haven't figured out what we are going to do with them, probably will depend on teh weather. One idea DH and I had was to take them to Sea World because we know the Birth mom likes it...but if it is over 90 degrees then we probably won't do that. Any ideas? Our court date is a week from today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then she will offically be ours forever!!! I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!!!!! What a big day GOTCHA DAY is !!!

My friend Jen has completed the DVD of pictures and video set to music we are going to give the birthparents. I saw it in a semi finished state and it made me cry so I can' imagine how I will feel watching the completed project. I have a feeling it will make the birth family cry too but my hope is that it is a good cry. There were so many pictures and video that I needed three songs. I chose first "Ordinary Miracle" by Sarah McClaughlin it is from the movie Charolette's Web. A beautiful song! Then I chose a song off of her Isabelle CD. It is a song of lullabies that her name was put in. The song I chose was "One in a Million" It is a nice song and it has her name in it. Then the last song is the "My Wish" song I posted about previously. Jen did a really nice job blending it all together. I can't wait to see it. She said all she had to do is print the label, it should be ready today. Going to her house would be worth braving the weather so hopefully she will let me know it is done and maybe I can get it today.

Here is my new favorite picture of the 2 loves of my life

Nursery

Well we FINALLY got around to hanging up some things in Izzy's room, it has only been 6 months. Here are a few pictures of her nursery.

Go Tigers!!

We are going to my uncles to watch the Tiger Game on TV so I thought Izzy should dress for the occasion!

My Wish

Here are the lyrics to the song I am going to use for the DVD

My Wish

I hope the days come easy and the moments pass slow
And each road leads you where you want to go
And if you’re faced with the choice and you have to choose
I hope you choose the one that means the most to you
And if one door opens to another door closed
I hope you keep on walkin’ ‘til you find the window
If it’s cold outside, show the world the warmth of your smile
But more than anything, more than anything

Chorus
My wish for you
Is that this life becomes all that you want it to
Your dreams stay big, your worries stay small
You never need to carry more than you can hold
And while you’re out there gettin’ where you’re gettin’ to
I hope you know somebody loves you
And wants the same things too
Yeah, this is my wish

I hope you never look back but you never forget
All the ones who love you
And the place you left
I hope you always forgive and you never regret
And you help somebody every chance you get
Oh, you find God’s grace in every mistake
And always give more than you take
But more than anything,
yeah more than anything
This is my wish

I hope you know somebody loves you
May all your dreams stay big

Green Beans, Yum Yum!!!

Well, as you can see miss Izzy has been enjoying her veggies for the last couple of weeks. She has eaten Squash, Green Beans, Sweet Potatoes, Peas and Carrots and today tried Applesauce for the first time. I would say Green Beans and Sweet Potatoes appear to be her favorite and she does not seem to be much of a fan of peas...although she will eat them.

I am still kind intimidated by this solid feeding thing....how much do I feed her? When do we go from 2 feedings of solids a day to 3.? When do I start stage 2 foods? When does she get to eat finger foods? Should I start a sippy cup? I guess I am just following her lead, we are up to eating solids once in teh mid morning and once in teh evening before her bath. She is getting better and has been eating more the last few days. We have gone through all stage one veggies and are moving on to fruits. The Ped told me to not introduce a new food any sooner than 3-5 days of being on the old ones. So today we started our first fruit and we will try another one later this week I guess. I guess I will just continue to go with the flow and see what happens.

We also hit another milestone, she finally rolled from her back to her tummy on Friday. She is enjoying her tummy more and more now she used to hate it and now she tolerates it for a while. I also put her in a resturant high chair for the first time last week and she did great, I just bought the floppy seat and used it in the grocery cart at Walmart today. Big Day!!

Only 27 more days until Gotcha Day, I can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!! I am going to put together a DVD of Izzy pictures and video and set it to music for the birthparents, I have a friend that is really good at that kinda stuff. I think I am going to use the Rascal Flatts song "My Wish" If I find the lyrics i will post them. We heard it on teh radio a lot when we were in Texas and it really makes me think of the birth family.

Well that is all for now, gotta get a few more things done while Izzy is sleeping.

Back Home

Well we had a great time up North. Izzy was an angel and had so much fun with Grandma and Grandpa and her cousin Jessie. Now we are back home trying to get her back in some sort of routine.

She is fighting naps today, like she is doing right now. It is very frustrating but i know it is because the last few days between the drive home from up north and swimming yesterday her schedule is all screwed up. She was up at 5:30 this morning, so mommy is a little tired.

Here is a new picture of her new little baby ponytail, so cute!

6 months and 30yrs old

Well Miss Isabelle turned 6 months old today! I just can't believe it! We went for her well child visit today and my little baby is not so little! She weighs 17lbs 11 oz and is 26 3/4"long! She is in the 83 and 85th percentile!!!! What a big girl! We also started veggies at the end of last week, so far she has had squash and green beans...today was the first day for green beans, she seemed to like them a lot. She got 2 shots today so she was a little more tired and cranky than normal and had a slight fever, but was still in a pretty good mood.



Tomorrow is my 30th birthday! We are going up north and dropping Izzy off at Grandma and Grandpa's cabin on the way and we are going to northern michigan wine country for 2 nights and staying at a b&B! I am SOOO excited. The only bummer is i got sick this weekend with a MONSTER sinus infection, and today is my second day on antibiotics, i feel a little better today but I still feel pretty crappy, hopefully tomorow will be better. Today my babysitter came to watch izzy and instead of going to the office like i normally do, I took a nap! I am so looking forward to the wine tasting, and maybe some relaxing on the beach, so I better feel better tomorrow!



Well, gotta finish getting somethings together for the trip and try to get to bed early.

Smiley Girl

I finally got Izzy to smile for the camera, sometimes she is just stares at it instead of smiling.

Have a great day

Finalization Date!!!!

Well, we have our date for finalization, August 27th! We booked our airfare yesterday, we were able to get frequent flyer tickets so that was an added bonus. We are going to go down on Friday the 24th and come back Tuesday morning.

The birth family is VERY excited to see us (well probably mostly Izzy) I am sure it will go fine and I want them to get a chance to see her.....but i would be lying if I didn't say I wasn't a little nervous. I just hope it goes smooth. They are such nice, sweet people I am sure it will be fine. I am glad we are able to give her the opportunity to see her. It will be a little ackward at the beginning and end I am sure. If anyone has been through this and has any tips i would love to hear them!

Other than that, not much new. We took Izzy on her first longer road trip last week, we went to WI to visit all my old friends and co workers and she did GREAT! We drove during the night so she slept the whole way coming and going. She also slept pretty good at our friends house in the pack and play, we only had one night, the first night, she didn't sleep through the night. She woke up about 3:30 am and was confused as to where she was, so we fed her and she went right back to sleep.

She will be 6 mo already next week. I just can't believe it. She is turning into quite a little person, and getting a lot more grabby at things, you can just sit there with her on your lap anymore she trys to squirm or grab at stuff.

I am a little worried about starting fruits and veggies, she eats cereal once a day now, and some days she eats it pretty well and others, not so much. So hopefully she will take to the fruits and veggies since they have more taste. We will see.

Happy Parents

Some days it still shocks me that we are finally parents! I don't know why this still suprises me but it sure is the best feeling in the whole world!

Izzy is doing great, she has found her feet and enjoys playing with them. She also has started talking and giggling a LOT more. It is so darn cute! I took her to teh doc on Thursday because she had this weird bump on her gums, it looks too far over and high to be a tooth but I didn't know what it was, the doctor said it is just a cyst and will go away on its own. She is 16lbs 130z!!!! In the 80th percentile!!!! My girl is just growing up so fast!!!!

We are taking our first long road trip this week, we are going to Wisconsin to visit all my old friends and co-workers. We are also going to get together with the couple and their adopted daughter that we met in Texas that were staying at our hotel. They live in WI also close to my friends so it will be cool to get the girls together again, they are 2 days apart.

I sent our 5 month update and our last post placement report to the agency on Thursday so I will be following up with them this week to make sure they got it and that they get going on filing the paperwork with the courts for our finalization. I am starting to get anxious about it, I just want her to be legally ours forever!!!

Other than that not much new. DH and I sat down yesterday to set a budget and see where our spending is going............HOW DEPRESSING. Now that i only work one day a week, and we have the adoption loan, money sure is tight! I mean in reality i wouldn't change it and go back to working full time and send Izzy to daycare, but it is a little hard to swallow, since I used to make a really good living as a packaging engineer. We will be fine but we definately have to be careful and mindful of our spending, something that really as a couple we have never had to do before...

Here are a few new pictures, one of daddy and Izzy on the 4th and one of me and Izzy from Saturday hanging out in her little baby pool trying to beat the heat!

5 months!

Well Izzy is 5 months already!!!! Wow does time fly! We just had our last post placement visit last night so hopefully we will have the report by the end of the week and can get it to the agency next week and they can get going on getting us a finalization court date. I CAN'T WAIT!!!

Oh and I heard from the birthmom yesterday and actually talked to her on the phone. It has been almost 5 months since i have spoken to her on the phone and it had been almost 2 months since i had gotten an e-mail. They are doing well and love getting the pictures to see how big our girl is getting. We are hoping to visit with them when we go back to TX for the finalization. They are anxious to see her! I am anxious to see them as well. I am sure it will be a little ackward but I think it will be great once we get past the first few minutes.

Miss Izzy is growing so much, she is such a little chubby angel! So happy. It was so nice our social worker said she doesn't think she has seen a prettier baby and she has seen A LOT of babies. Izzy has been sleeping through the night for the last 2 weeks or so which is GREAT! She still takes good naps 3 or 4 a day. We started cereal again about a week ago and she takes it much better now. I can make it normal thickness and she eats it all up!

Well I gotta run, DH and I are going to the Tiger game and Grandma and cousin Jessie are coming over to watch Izzy so i have to go pick up the house a bit before they get here.

Here are some recent pics

Father's Day

Well we had a wonderful fathers day. DH liked his Tommy Bahama shirt. DH's family came over for a BBQ which was very nice. I am so proud and love DH so much, he is a great daddy, I am so happy he can finally celebrate fathers day.

Izzy, DH and I took Izzy swimming at a friends house on Sat, she just loves it. Here is a picture of her and her daddy, it is hard to get the pictures because her little sun hat is so big, it is hard to see her face.

Well, Izzy just went down for a nap and i have to go get ready for work, I have to go to the office this afternoon so Izzy will be goign to my mom's. Hopefully for one of the last times while i am working, my potential babysitter is coming tomorrow so we will she how she does with Izzy.

Have a great day

Babysitter

Well, I interviewed my first babysitter today. I got her name from a friend. I am looking for someone to come over once a week for 4 hours or so, so i can go to my dad's office on a regular schedule. I was taking Izzy to my mom's but she doesn't do well there and it wasn't consistant enough for me. So i met the potential babysitter today. She seems nice, how do you know if she will be good or not? Izzy was sleeping so i couldn't see her interact with her, so I told her to come next tuesday and the 3 of us will hang out and I will see how it goes. I asked her how much she charges and she said $5 or $6 an hour..........that is CHEAP, I would have paid her up to $8. So we will see how next tuesday goes. I am definately a little nervous, but my friend wouldn't have recommended her if she didn't think it would be a good fit. She has babysat before, my only hesitation is it has been awhile since she has been around such a little baby...so we will see.

Also , I took Izzy to Gymboree today with one of my friends and her daughter who is a month younger. It was kinda neat and it was only the two babies. We sang songs, and played with puppets, bubbles (which Izzy really seemed to like) and a parachute. It was cool. I think we are going to go ahead and sign up for the 10 week class. At least it gets us mom's together :) plus the babies seem to have fun. Izzy had to do tummy time which she isn't a big fan of but she did okay. My friends baby is awesome at tummy time, she could hang out there all day it seemed! oh well they are all different right!

I am excited for fathers day, Izzy and I got daddy a Tommy Bahama shirt, i hope he likes it. I really didn't know what to get and I am sure he will be mad I spent so much money but so what, you only have your first fathers day once!!!!!!!!!!!

Well that is it, I guess I tired out Izzy , she has been sleeping since 12:40 and it is now 3:00!!!

Well i am going to enjoy my last few moments before Izzy wakes up.

DH took the camera to use for work, otherwise i would add a recent picture...next time i guess.

Updated Sleep Troubles

Well, I thought I would post and say things have gotten a little better in the sleep department. Izzy is still not sleeping through the night consistently but our bedtime routine and naps seem to be improving.

First for naps she is now sleeping in her crib and not in the swing! And when she goes down for a nap she doesn't fuss!!!!

We moved up her bedtime because the more I read, I thought maybe she is just so overtired that is why she is so cranky at bedtime, so she now goes to bed around 6:30 instead of 8 and it seems to make difference. If she fusses it isn't for as long, and two nights ago, she didn't fuss at all. She is still getting up most nights once at night to eat, but according to most of the reading I do , this is not that uncommon and isnt a problem until after about 6 months I guess. I swear the more you read, the more contridictions you seem to get. She wakes up between 6-6:30 unless she eats late like 4:30 am like last night and then she slept till 7:30. I was never much of a morning person, so this early morning stuff is definately an adjustment but I am making the best of it.

Izzy is also done being swaddled, we were finding it was just making her madder and she was sleeping almost as good without it as she did with it...and now I think she sleeps just as good........although I have to say, I wish I would have known about the "miracle blanket" a few months ago. Were were using the swaddle me type things with velcro, but that miracle blanket seems way better!!!

I also started giving Izzy cereal once a day, she doesn't really seem to eat all that much of it, but I guess my goal is just get her used to the idea, so in a month or 2 she will know what to do. I swear, I am glad books like "what to expect the first year" exisit because sometimes I think I would be lost without it.

Other than that not much new. I was a little bored today, so I decided to take Izzy out for a little bit to visit my grandparents, and of course they were thrilled to see her. The weather was too cold today for a walk but should be better tomorrow :)

Sleep Struggles

I am venting. My darling Izzy is such a happy girl when she is not tired or hungry, and is getting to be so much more fun.........except at bedtime!!!! She has started to become a big time mommy's girl and if DH tries to put her to bed she will SCREAM and SCREAM and SCREAM. Even when I put her to bed, she will be mostly asleep and as soon as the paci falls out, she will cry until you go up and put it back in, this will go on 3 or 4 times EVERY night before she finally goes to sleep for the night (or until she wakes up once in the middle of the night to eat, I think she is growing because she has been an eating machine). We also have still been swaddling her, because she seems to sleep better, but last night it was just too hot so DH got her to sleep last night without it ( i wasn't home, i was at golf league and I guess she cried most of the evening except when the hairdryer was on, poor daddy) she slept till 2 when i fed her , she went right back to sleep until 6:15 this morning.

So i don't know what to do, do we let her cry it out, are we causing more harm by going and putting the binky back in even though she can't quite do it herself yet? How do I get DH more involved in teh evening with the bath and bed process so she gets more comfortable with him doing it? I feel bad for him because he says "she hates me" which she doesn't she is just more used to me because I am with her ALL DAY.

I also am trying to break her of napping in the swing, and trying to get her to sleep in her crib during the day, she will do it she just doesn't seem to sleep as long. I feel like I need to though because when she goes to my mom's once a week or to DH's parents or we go up north there is no swing so she needs to sleep in bed for naps. It is hard though because there have been times where she will sleep for up to 3 hours in her swing.....

Any advice would be great. I guess i need to go to the library and get some books on sleep, i have one but is way to scientific and I don't have the patience to read it.

On a happy note check out this cute picture I took of my happy girl the other day!

4 months!

Izzy is 4 months old! My how time flies! We went to the doc today for her check up and her shots. She is doing great. She is up to 14lbs 10oz and 24 3/4" long! No wonder my back hurts!!!! She had her shots and did really well. She is very sleep today just like last time, so she has been doing a lot of sleeping this afternoon.

Speaking of sleeping Izzy has slept through the night 3 nights this week. We had 2 nights that she got up but only once, so I think we making progress!

We also starting putting her in her execesaucer which she really seems to like since she loves to stand up!

I am very much looking forward to the holiday weekend and having dh around the whole weekend. This is the 3rd week in a row he has travelled so it will be nice to have him around :)

Have a great holiday weekend everyone!

Sweet Sweet Sound!!!!!!

Well, today my I got to see my younger brother who lives in florida, he flew in last night. This is the first time he got to meet Miss Isabelle because the last time he flew to visit was the same day we were flying to Texas to go meet our girl!!!!

So my brother Jared, and my mom and Izzy and I all went out to lunch and walked around the cute little downtown of the town I live in. We then go back to my house and Jared is play with Izzy as I go in the kitchen to make a bottle.........all of a sudden I hear the SWEETEST BEST sound....Izzy is giggling!!!!!!! She has never done that before, she has squealed but never giggled!! I came running to see what he was doing. He was rubbing his nose in her belly and she was loving it. I quick grabbed the video camera and was able to catch it on video. SO CUTE!!!!

DH is out of town tonight, so he is going to be so sad he missed it! But at least I have it all on video!!!!

A baby giggling has to be one of the best sounds on the planet , but it is 100% better when it is your baby doing it!!!!!

BIG DAY!!!!!!!!

Well everyone Izzy slept through the night last night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She was a bear to get to go to sleep but once she was asleep she stayed asleep until 7 am!!! She did make a little noise at 4 but went back to sleep!

Then, this morning she rolled from her tummy to her back 2 times all by herself!!!!!!!!!!!

Some big milestones today!!!!!

We did great up north, she slept really well in her pack and play and even took some decent naps without her swing.

Yippee Mommy is so happy this morning! Lets hope keeps it up!!!!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to allthe new mom's and waiting moms!

I had a GREAT first mothers day! Izzy ended up spending her first overnight at Grandma and Grandpa's on Sat night so I got a full nights sleep and I got to sleep in until 8:30!!! DH and i hung out in the morning and then we went to his parents to get Izzy and have dinner. It was so nice! There were definately a lot of days i thought i would never be a Mom on mothers day, but my dreams and prayers were finally answered this year!

On my Own!

Well, dh left this morning for his annual fishing trip with his best friend. He normally goes for a week but obviously a week as a single parent was not in my plan so he is going for 3 nights. I am still a little sad and know i am going to be exhausted especially if she has another night like last night. I swear this child just doesn't want to keep the game the same ever. Last week wed-sat night she went to bed by 8 and didn't wake up till 3, then woke again at 7. Great! Well ever since she has been waking up around one and again at 4! This is making for a very tired mama. I hope that she goes back to her wed thru sat schedule starting tonight or I am gonna be exhausted by Sat when dh comes home.

I will get a little help, my sister in law is coming to watch Izzy tonight because I have my first golf league night (if we aren't rained out, i am kinda hoping we are because i am very tired today) then tomorrow night my friend/neighbor is coming over to watch greys, so even though Izzy will be in bed it will be another adult to talk to for an hour or so. Then Friday my best friend is coming and she is staying the night so I am most excited about that.

I am also getting kinda excited for my first mothers day! What a dream come true a long time in the making.

Oh speaking of that here is Izzy's first official professional picture taken for her 3 months. The shirt is quite fitting i would say!

Crying like a baby!

I am so pathetic. I have just been crying because I am going to miss Izzy so much when i go on my business trip tonight. DH just left with her to take her to work for a few hours because he had to go in and we didn't have anyone else to watch her. I cried like a baby seeing her go. I have never been away from her for 2 nights and even though I say I want a break, the reality is harder. I am sad. I know she will be fine, but I am really going to miss her.

Man this motherhood sure makes me emotional!!!!!

Oh here is the picture from the baseball game

Urgh!

Warning, doing some venting here....it is 6pm and it has been a very long day! Izzy and i battled most of the day today, she just was so hard to get down for a nap. I just don't get it, last week, mon-thurs she was awesome, 2-3 hour nap in the swing in the morning, 2 hr nap in the swing in the afternoon and sometimes one more for about 45 mins late afternoon. Today, she HATES the swing, if she does fall asleep in it she is awake in a half hour. I was only able to get her to take 1 good nap all day for about 2 hours up in her crib, but of course it was after several trips to put in the pacifier!

I know she is exhausted, and she has a bit of a cold so I am sure she doesn't feel the greatest. I just wish when they were exhausted the would SLEEP instead of turning into little frustrating monsters! I am so tired! Last night she woke up at 1 and and 4 and i got up with her at one, couldn't go back to sleep, then she fussed at 4 but put herself back to sleep until about 5 when dh finally went up there and tried to put int he binky which made her scream, because she was starving so, and of course i am listenign to it all on the monitor, so much for sleeping for me. Then he brings her in bed with me at 6, when she wanted to play not sleep! Urgh, she did take a little nap with me in bed from about 7-8 but man it has been a long day!

My friend MB is coming tonight to let DH and I go to dinner, since we haven't had dinner just the 2 of us in a long time and I am travelling again this week to finish my training with my old company. I leave on Wed and come home late friday night. Part of me is really sad to leave but another part of me is kinda looking forward to the break. (And sleeping through the night for 2 nights in a row!!! )I haven't been away from Izzy other then when she is sleeping since last wednesday since DH was busy working on the house this weekend so I didn't get anytime off, plus i was sick on top of it.

Okay i am done venting. On a positive note, we took Izzy to her first Major League Baseball game yesterday and she did great. She slept inthe Bjorn on me for hte most part and then ate and was happy at the end. The bonus was even the Tigers won!, Dh said he was 35 before he saw a win in person :)

I have a picture of her at the game but haven't downloaded it yet. I will and will post later.

Time to go finish my beer and try to unwind a little without falling asleep :)

3 months!

Well Izzy is 3 months old!!! Crazy huh! I am taking her tomorrow to JC Penny for her first official professional pictures...I hope she does well. We are going at 10:30 in the morning so hopefully it will be okay. It will cut into her morning nap a little but hopefully she won't be too cranky. She has been taking really good morning nap in her swing, like 2+ hours.

We still need to work on the sleeping through the night though. Over the weekend she faked us out making us think she was close going 8 hours, but then she was back to fussing more mon and tues night..but last night was a good night. She went to bed at 8pm, after eating not a lot around7-7:30 woke up at 1:30 starving, I fed her, she went back to bed and woke up at 6, and dh put in the binky once or twice and that streched her to 7:30. Then she went back to sleep around 8:30 in her swing where she is still sleeping.

While she was sleeping her mom was being a kid again. I bought a nintendo Wii yesterday and OMG it is SOOOOO much fun. I had played at a friends a while ago and have wnated one ever since...so we started a fund and we saved enough so i bought it yesterday. I sure got my workout doing boxing this morning, i was literally sweating and I know i will be sore tomorrow...how sad! It is the best video game because you actually have to do the motion to play the different sports, boxing, baseball, bowling, golf and tennis (which seems to be my least skilled sport, i suck at it so far! )

Anyway i just got out of the shower so time to get dressed before Izzy wakes up.

Here is a picture for this past weekend where we had beautiful weather and were able to spend some time outside and Izzy got to sit in the grass for the first time.

It was taken in our favorite room, our sunroom which we can only use when it is nice outside since it is not heated but with all the sliders it is teh best room in teh house!!!

1st Post Placement visit

We had our first post placement visit with our social worker today. All went well of course. She is such a nice lady and has 2 adopted boys with semi-open arrangements so she understands what it is like to be us. We have one more to do but that can't be done until after 5 months according to Texas law. So we set teh date for June 28th. I am supposed to call our agency at the end of May to schedule the finalization court date in Texas. We are almost half way there!!!!

It is such a beautiful day out today! I have been outside doing a little reading, when Izzy will let me of course. It must be close to 70 degrees out and sunny! Right now she is napping in her crib, and she is not allowed to get up for at least another half hour! We have been battling a little for naps during the day. Oh she is crying, gotta go put in the binky..........okay I am back. Daddy is working from home today too since he had to stay home for our meeting with the social worker so that is a nice change of pace also!

Here is a picture I took of her this afternoon before her nap

Smile for the camera

Well I finally got Izzy to smile big for the camera! She has been smiling for awhile now just not for the camera. She is doing pretty well, she is up to 12lbs 15 oz! No wonder she feels heavy! Still not sleeping through the night, about 5 hours is about as long as she goes at a stretch. If we are lucky and she eats between 10 and 11 she will only wake up once about 3.

Well gotta go, we are battling each other trying to go down for a nap.

1st Business Trip

Well, I am leaving on my first business trip today. Just for one night. The company I used to work for is changing all of their systems, so if I don't learn how to use them, I won't be able to do any work for them even when and if i decide i would like to start consulting again.

So i fly out tonight and come home early evening tomorrow. My mother in law is going to watch Izzy tomorrow. I think Daddy is a little nervous about being on his own from 3:00 on but he will do fine! He has done it before!

Then in early may i have the rest of the training which is 2 days , so it will be 2 nights.

It will be so weird to be back at my old company, so much has changed for me since I was last there in November I think.

I am feeling torn because I was asked yesterday to do some work remotely for them and at first I thought, yes thta will be good, extra money and it is pretty flexible work.......but then the other part of me, says....do i really want to spend my spring/summer having to worry about getting work done and taking care of Izzy, this is one of the few times in my life where it is okay that I don't work outside the home............I don't know what to do.

The money would be GREAT and we sure could use teh extra cash when paying off the adoption loan....i don't know. I guess I will go this week and then see how i feel about it.

I am really looking forward to seeing some of my friends while I am there though! I miss them all so much, i lived there for 5 years and then consulted with the company for over a year after I quit. Everyone can't wait to meet Izzy. Later this spring or early summer DH and I will take a trip over there to visit so everyone can meet her.

I will be taking my video ipod with me which has a ton of pictures of Izzy on it so I can show them off.....(and have them close when I miss her :) )

Wish me luck!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! And Happy Passover!I hope everyone had a wonderful week! We had a pretty good week, it started a little rough, but ended well for the most part.

Early this week we went to my aunt and uncles for Izzy's first sedar...well lets just say she is not ready to be out of hte house during her colicky time between about 6 and 8. It was lets just say a disaster...she pretty much screamed the whole time.......but oh well, I warned them.

Then on Tuesday I finally called the doctor because she had just not been eating well for a couple weeks, writhing all around and most bottles only eat 2-2.5 ounces when she can eat 4 , so the doctor prescribed Zantac for reflux, even though she doesn't spit up excessively I guess it can still bother her and one of the signs is she arches her back. So we started the medicine on Tuesday afternoon. Well she HATES the taste of it so getting her to take it is quite tricky. We finally figured out this weekend it works best when mixed with 1 oz of formula. But even though she wasn't getting it all, it seem to make a huge difference! Now it could be coincedence, but Thurs thru Sunday morning were her best days yet, FINALLY smilling a lot more and talking more, and eating SOO much better!

For easter we went to church with DH's family and the back to my mother in laws for brunch. Izzy was very good at Church, she ate just before the service and then pretty much slept. She was also pretty good and Grandma and Grandpa, the only problem was she didn't sleep much with all the excitement...which turned out to make a very unhappy girl last night...but what can you do. We learned our lessons, she can miss one nap but 2, just can't happen and she just does not sleep good away from home...she likes her swing during the day.

The easter grandma/grandpa bunny was very good to her. She got a great swing for outside when she gets a little bigger and she got a tummy time mat. She also got some new dresses.

I can't believe it is April, time is just flying by! Now if only the weather would catch back up!!!!