Precious Princess

Peyton has several adorable dresses and really nowhere to wear them to so we decided to start taking some pictures of her in them. We had to cut the session short as she was getting tired. Here are a couple of them and you can find more pictures here. We are also planning to do a Christmas photo session soon so stay tuned for those!

Let Christmas Begin

Since Thanksgiving has officially come and gone it is now time to start the Christmas season! Yesterday we continued a family tradition that I grew up and John and I have implemented of reading the Christmas story and setting up the nativity scene before setting up any other Christmas decorations. Peyton was very, very interested in the story and sat in her bouncer glued to John as he was reading. It was pretty funny!

Following the Christmas story, we then started to put up our tree which was an adventure to say the least. Last year we bought a pre-lit tree. Well, the middle section tree lights did not work which is now the second of three sections to go out. I got frustrated and John and my mom ended up going to her house to find some lights and after much 

annoyance we got lights on the tree and got it decorated. We will have to buy a new tree for next year but given our negative experience with pre-lit trees  think we will be going old school which might work out the best because I am sure Peyton would like multi-colored lights and a fun kid tree in a couple of years. Once we lit the tree Peyton was very impressed and looked briefly in wonder. Since then she has continued to look over in that direction. One of my 

favorite things this year was putting her ornament on the tree. Every year we buy an ornament that represents that past year. We have one for our first Christmas, places we were at Christmas that year, one for our wedding, our first house and for this year we had one for Peyton's first Christmas. Such a nice addition! We finished up the indoor decor last night as well and I truly love our house at Christmas. 

Today we put some lights outside. We scaled back from what we did last year but we added some candy canes that I picked up in Spring yesterday during a shopping trip with my mom and Ashley. I have yet to show Peyton those lights and when she wakes up we will venture outside. You can check out more pictures of Christmas decor here.

Shopping Cart Cover

Uncle Ron gave us a gift card to redeem on a gift website where there are several items you can choose from in a certain price range. We had a lot of the stuff but one of the items you could choose from was a shopping cart cover. We still have a couple more months until we can use it but we are pretty excited that we were able to get one as a gift and it is pretty fun and brightly colored which I am sure Peyton will love! Thanks Uncle Ron!

Black Friday

For the first time ever I ventured out on Black Friday. Maybe it is the economic crisis or maybe I getting more careful with my money or maybe it is because we are a family of three now but there were some deals that I didn't want to pass up and when you are waking up early morning to feed a baby why not just stay up and go shopping?

Because I needed to make sure Peyton still made her 6:00 AM feeding (since we have other outings planned for the day) I actually ended up waking her up at 3:00 AM to feed. After that I made my way to Macy's to pick up a gift for John (since John might read this blog I can not elaborate on what I actually purchased) and saved a bundle! It was regular $130, on sale for $74.99 with a $25 mail in rebate! Macy's wasn't too bad, I got there art 4:30 AM and they opened at 5:00 AM and I was around the 40th person in line. Most people were there for jewelery so since John isn't a fan of diamond tennis bracelets there wasn't too much fighting! Following Macy's I headed over to Babies R'Us. they also opened at 5:00 AM but I figured they wouldn't be as popular as other places. They had a Baby Einstein Activity Jumper that was $30 off. That was on my list of things for Peyton so it worked out great. When I arrived, there were only three left and the person behind me also picked one up so I made it just in time. My final stop was Home Depot for more goodies for John considering his Christmas list read, "Everything at Home Depot." I made it there 15 minutes before opening and had about 30 people ahead of me. I didn't get him everything like he asked for but I think he will be pretty happy!

I didn't go too crazy on my first Black Friday but it was fun and felt great to get some good deals. Maybe someday in the far distant future I will head out to the crazy stores like Wal Mart, Target and Fry's (all of which look liked a mad house today).

Now I will be getting some sleep and then heading to Spring to look at all the cute stores with my mom and Ashley.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I love Thanksgiving! It ranks as one of my favorite holidays (Christmas is still number 1). Even though I am not American I have come to love this holiday and truly look forward to it every year and was excited about sharing it with my daughter for the first time. I love starting the day off with the Macy's day parade, followed with great time with family, great food (I love stuffing, green bean casserole and pumpkin pie) and kicking off the holiday season. I also love that we have a whole day that is devoted to reflecting on your blessings and being thankful. As I reflect, I am in awe of how blessed we are. 

Here are some of the things that I am thankful for this year:

1. This year I have been blessed to become a mom, something that I have always wanted to do in life and how blessed are we to have our precious healthy  little girl. Doesn't see look adorable in her little Thanksgiving outfit...thanks to the Sherman's for their gift! And as always you can find more pictures of Peyton by clicking on the links in the picture section or you can click here.
2. I am thankful for my husband and my marriage.
3. I am also thankful that my family now lives in the same state as me! This is the first time in I believe 5 years that I have seen my family on Thanksgiving.

Also, when we were going around the table verbalizing what we are thankful for, my mom's words really touched me. She mentioned that she was thankful that we were born in North America and live in a country where we have the freedom to worship, freedom to gather, freedom to live without the fear of terrorist attacks and are blessed to have a meal like we do. So many people in the world do not have enough to eat and here we are with so much. 

So, a recap on the day. We had people over to our house for our first time hosting Thanksgiving. This gave me a reason to have some fun in being creative in setting the table which is so much fun!

We had John's brothers (Shawn and Ron), John's mom (Martha), my mom, and my sister Ashley in attendance (my 

other sister, Shannon was visiting my dad so my family was really complete...maybe next year). We had tons of food with all of the Thanksgiving staples and I am happy to report that it was all edible. I wasn't too nervous about preparing the meal but it is always a relief when everything goes well. We ended the meal with with birthday cake as we were not only celebrating Thanksgiving but Martha's 60th Birthday. What a great day! I got a cake made by the Cake Lady Bakery in Friendswood. If you ever need a special cake for any occasion, I highly recommend them. It was reasonably priced, delicious and really nicely decorated! 

We finished the evening off with some Trivial Pursuit which is an Acord tradition but this year we made sure to purchase the more updated version which allowed us to have more involvement and actually not feel like an idiot. Peyton however was getting pretty bored and was not really into the whole game as you can see....

Finally we wrapped things up and watched the Texas vs A&M Game and a wonderful Texas win! A great day and a great first Thanksgiving for Peyton. Tomorrow we start the Christmas holiday season and will start with introducing Peyton to a family tradition of reading the Christmas story and setting up the manager first before all other decorations. I am so excited for Peyton's first holiday season and the many memories that we will be making!

RSV Update

Yesterday we had a follow up visit with the pediatrician from our ER visit and were told that Peyton is looking really good and is getting better. Her chest sounded great and she seemed to be breathing well so apparently the worst should be behind us.

Since I got good news at the doctor yesterday I decided to go ahead and still go into work today for a 2009 planning meeting from 9-11 AM. I really didn't have to go in but I thought a meeting titled, "2009 planning," would be pretty important and I should be there. It also gave me the chance to test out what the morning routine would be when I go back to work and it went REALLY well. The morning started at 5:00 AM with me getting up and getting ready minus getting dressed in case of a spit up or vomit (it is all about preparing for the unexpected). I woke Peyton up at 6:00 AM to eat and get her dressed and then we had some play time and left the house right around 7:00 AM. Since we were just going to Grandma's instead of daycare we got there pretty early which allowed me to drive the route to the daycare and see how long it takes me etc. It takes about 7 minutes and is a pretty straight forward route. I got to work on time and everything was going well. Then about 10:00 AM I get a text message from my mom, "Everything is fine but call me when you have a second." Well, in my opinion everything couldn't have been too fine for my mom to send me a text so I called her and when she tried to feed Peyton her bottle at 9:00 AM she started to choke and started an intense coughing fit that lasted 20 minutes with Peyton turning red, having problems breathing, my mom close to tears and about to call 911. After her coughing attack she was so exhausted that she ended up sleeping for two hours. My mom did not want to attempt another bottle feeding and I didn't want her to as well so I made sure that I was home for her next feeding. Since then she has been doing fine although tonight she seems to be trying to cough up something her throat and can't really get it out which is frustrating for both of us. 

So, we making progress on fighting this thing but we are not out of the woods yet so please continue to pray for healing.

In other news, Peyton got to see her Uncle Shawn for the first time last night which was exciting. He gave her some cool pink Converse sneakers which will be adorable when she can start walking and fit in them. We are preparing for Thanksgiving at our house (our first time hosting) on Thursday. I am pretty excited about Thanksgiving, it ranks up there as one of my favorites. 

Peyton looking at the fan at Grandma's house

Feeling a tiny bit better...

After staying up with Peyton for much of the night, letting her sleep in her swing to drain her nose, more nasal suctioning and lots of caffeine (for the parents not Peyton)...Peyton is feeling a little bit better. Her eyes are a little brighter and her nose doesn't sound so stuffed up. Also, we have only had a couple of intense coughing fits. Praise God! Please continue to pray that we continue to get better!

Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV)

Peyton has Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), how do I know you may ask. Well, my three hour long visit to the ER educated me on the many things young infants can contract and RSV with minor bronchiolitis (man, I am almost a doctor) is what Peyton has decided to let live in her little body. It doesn't look that bad in the picture so you can't blame her for letting it in and we haven't had the stranger talk yet.

So, to update everyone on what lead us to the ER. Today Peyton was pretty much miserable. In case you were doubting my conclusion, here is a pretty sad picture of her pre-ER visit and no, I don't make her wipe her own nose. 

She had a pretty intense vomiting session late this afternoon which resulted in lots of nasty yellow mucus to be deposited down into my shirt and down my chest with me patting her back and telling her, "what a good girl, get all those nasty mucus bugs out," of course I was thinking about those nasty cartoon mucus characters on those Mucinex commercials. Well, following that episode she was doing relatively well until this evening when she started having intense coughing fits that left her red and gasping for air. She also was sounding like she was choking in the process. That pretty much freaked me out and I decided to call the after hours nurse line. They advised me that it could be pretty serious (they were thinking whooping cough) and that I should bring her into the ER. While packing everything up and making a bottle, John yells for back up because she has vomitted again. We finally make it out and after making it through registration we made it to the pediatric ER and saw the doctor. He said it could be a couple of things and after examining her wanted to get a chest x-ray to check for pneumonia amd a nasal swab for RSV. We got both things done with only tears on the nasal swab and the tests came back positive for RSV. Initially he told us that if it was RSV that she would be admitted for over night observation but when he came back he said that he oxygen levels were 100% and although eating less she is still eating some and the only thing the would do overnight is run an IV and monitor her oxygen so he was comfortable with her going home with us monitoring her. However if we were too tired she could stay overnight. There was no way I was going to let her stay alone in a hospital rather than home in her comfy bed etc so we decided to bring her home and make sure to monitor her breathing (make sure she doesn't turn blue or stop breathing for 30 seconds...no, I am not freaked out at all) for the next 24 hours with a follow up at the pediatrician on Monday. The bad thing about this is that it can linger for up to two weeks. She won't be feeling this bad but can have some lingering symptoms for awhile :(

So, I am camping out in Peyton's room right now on the 2:30 AM to 5:30 AM shift while John is sleeping. I have the humidifier going, the swing in here in case I need reinforcements and my laptop and of course, plenty of snacks and extra clothing in case of messes. Peyton is finally resting in her bed with me listening closely and trying to stay awake. 

With all that said, we need some serious prayer! Please pray for Peyton and that she will fight this off and be healthy. Also, please pray over this next 24 hours or so and that John and I have the strength to go without sleep and watch over Peyton and monitor for any breathing issues and also comfort her. Finally, that Peyton knows that her parents love her and are here for her and she feels safe and at peace in our arms.

Stoops Pooped on Leech

Oklahoma 65 

Texas Tech 21

In a small, very small, tiny, almost non measurable way, I almost feel sorry for Tech and briefly wanted them to win for my sister Ashley. But, it was not enough and I am happy with the outcome. For one night only (well, I guess next week too)...Boomer Sooner (ugh, that makes me cringe)! I really hope that my cheering will be worth it with Texas advancing to the Big 12 Championship and beyond...

For more information on why the title of this entry is funny (or at least why John and I find it funny) please read the previous post from October titled "Poop on Stoops."

Highly Recommended Baby Gear

I have been meaning to write up a post of the baby gear that I can't live without for my friends who recently had babies or are planning on starting their family soon. 

1. Fisher Price Rain forest Bouncer: as you could probably tell from any of Peyton's pictures. She loves this thing! It has proven to be incredibly helpful in keeping her upright to help control her reflux and it goes with us everywhere. The bar is removable so they don't always have to look at it but lately she has started showing interest and loves it! 
2. Skip Hop Dash Deluxe Diaper Bag and Accessories: I did a bunch of searching for a diaper bag that was manly enough for John to carry and this diaper bag is worth the money! It fits everything I need and I love that it is a messenger bag because it is easier to carry and you don't have to worry about it falling off your shoulder when you are bending over the stroller or in the car. What is also great about this is the stroller straps which allows you to not have to always carry it and saves room in the basket underneath and finally it has tons of other pieces that match and also have great features. I have the bottle bags, pacifier bag and a smaller changing kit bag. A great buy!
3. Sleep Positioner: This has allowed me to go to sleep peacefully knowing that Peyton is secure on her back and won't roll over, also it helps with her reflux and also with drainage with her cold. All around a great product and it helps her feel more secure when sleeping with the arms on either side!
4. Graco Pack n' Play: There are many brands and I am sure they are all great. Mostly I just recommend having some sort of sleeping contraption for your infant in your room for those early weeks especially if you have a c-section. It was so nice to have Peyton a couple steps away for those first six weeks. I was able to learn how she sleeps so I know now when to get up and what sounds mean on the monitor and it was easier for my recovery. Also, it proved to be very helpful during the hurricane evacuation and we will be using it when we go up to Canada.
5. Boppy Pillow and Nursing Cover: Breast feeding can be tricky and the Boppy pillow helps so much in those early weeks and still now to help position your baby and not wear your arm out trying to hold them up. It was also really helpful in not putting too much pressure on my incision. Also, if you are planning to breast feed and are planning to leave the house ever, a nursing cover helps out a bunch and allows you to nurse pretty much anywhere with privacy.
6. Miscellaneous items that are helpful and I find myself using daily are Gerber Pre-fold cloth diapers as burp rags, receiving blankets, and Soothies pacifiers (like the one you get in the hospital) and of course diapers (I prefer Huggies over Pampers)

Finally, if you have any other questions or want my opinion on anything else baby gear related let me know. I did a good amount of research before buying pretty much everything and so far have been very pleased with all of our purchases.

Snot, Snot and More Snot

My poor poor little girl. I feel so incredibly horrible for infecting her with this horrible cold and am on a mission to hunt down the person or thing that gave it to me. Well, I am not hunting down where I transmitted this bacteria but I do feel horrible for Peyton. 

Wednesday morning I noticed some congestion so we started with a cool mist humidifier right away. My mom actually went to the store for us and brought home a pretty cute little friend for Peyton's room...an ELEPHANT! I don't know how well the humidifier is working considering she is miserable but I am sure she would be worse without it. I feel a difference in my breathing just by rocking her in her room. So, end of day Wednesday, I was thinking that we were doing pretty good with this cold business. 

Thursday rolls on in with some nice vomiting to start the morning off right. I was walking her back to her bed at 3:00 AM and was patting her back when I heard a forceful cough and felt liquid on my leg. Nice! So, we cleaned everyone up and put everyone back to bed. Later that morning I called the pediatrician to make sure that we were doing everything right in fighting our first cold and were told that the only other thing to do would be nasal aspiration with the aspirating bulb and some nasal saline drops before each feeding and before bed. We called daddy to advice him on what his mission was on his way home and he successful arrived with the goods. Once again our first time parents nativity got the better of us as we thought this wouldn't be too bad of an experience and I held Peyton up and John sprayed the stuff and suctioned out the nose and Peyton screamed. She cried real tears (the first time I have ever seen them), turn red and screamed. After it was done she just looked at me with eyes that cried, "how could you do this to me?" Well, I gently told her it was for her own good and she ate her pain away and with a considerably less stuffy nose. And she did have two more vomiting sessions all after doctor office hours of course which meant I anxiously waited until the morning to address my concerns. 

A note on that: the best baby book I have found is Dr. Sears, "The Baby Book," it is so helpful, complete and really addresses everything you need during the first two years. It is a great reference and I have used it many times! They also have a website that has much of the information there. Also, if you have ever watched the new TV show, The Doctors, the pediatrician on there is the authors son.

Friday comes with a sense of hope that I would walk in and my precious little girl will be snot free and happy. I peer into the crib and do get a smile (which I look forward to every morning) but sadly see that I still have a snot filled and coughing baby. We suction out the nose (more crying), eat and daddy (who is home today) takes Peyton from mommy so she can have a shower and get really dressed (not mommy sweat pants dressed) for the first time this week. As I walked off I hear, "cough, cough, oh no." Peyton vomited again and all over daddy this time. We clean everyone up and I notice during this process that the vomit is a little more sticky than normal. I decide to call the pediatrician's office to advise them of our newest symptom and make sure we are all doing well since it is about to be the weekend where questions like this could cost you some serious cash with the after hours nurse line and the ER. Well, I was again reassured that we are doing everything we can and the vomiting is attributed to her trying to cough up mucus (hence the stickiness). After that call I decided that I needed to get away and made a trip to the mall. I had been home all week with me being and Peyton being sick and I needed to have some time away so I could be here for her all weekend. She was asleep so daddy took her and I went shopping for a little bit. The rest of the day and night went well, still no fever and just lots of snot to sneeze out and suction out.

Today (Saturday) is still a snotty, coughing day and she looks miserable. She did sleep way too long last night (around 8 hours) which probably means she is losing her appetite. She did eat a little bit this morning before it was interrupted by an intense coughing fit that I was almost certain would end up in vomit, but it didn't. Anyways, she is sleeping now and I am praying that she will get better soon because nothing this small and helpless should have be sick :(

Here are are couple of pictures pre-sickness that remind me of how cute and happy she once was...she is still cute, just not so happy.

Quarantine the whole house

I spoke too soon. I am not doing any better...worse and this morning my precious little girl has some congestion, a slight cough and some runny eyes and she does not seem very interested in anything and especially not her virus carrying mother. Overall she is still pretty happy and in good spirits so hopefully this will not get too bad. I do sense that I am getting a look from her that screams, "how could you do this to me?" but other than that she is still giving me an occasional smile. I am planning on a day of some serious naps for all in hopes of fighting it off. Grandma is going to come over for a second so I can head out and get a vaporizer for Peyton's room to help loosen the congestion and help her breath which I am hoping will help her pass some of the nastiness.

Only person who isn't sick yet is daddy...and the dog...so I guess the study/guest room is the safest place in our house. Poor daddy is going to have a sick baby and mommy when he comes home. Nobody call and tell him...he might not come home :)

You always need your mom

You are never too old to need your mom. Yesterday I was very blessed that my mom lives less than a mile away and agreed to take care of her sick daughter and watch her grand daughter. After Monday night I knew that I would really be in no shape to watch Peyton on Tuesday and even more than that didn't want to pass anything on to her and if I could I really wanted to limit exposure. I know that many moms out there don't have a luxury of having a sick day and because of that I know how blessed I am to have my mom so close by and that she would be willing to put her day on hold to take care of us. I headed over there around 8:00 AM and crawled into her bed. On a side note, what is it about your parents bed that always makes you feel better? I can understand why that is growing up...because they always had a nicer bed but now that I am a grown up I have a pretty nice bed/mattress yet when you are sick there is nothing like crawling into your parents bed. Anyways, I immediately went to sleep and my mom watched Peyton. I only had to get up when the little one got hungry but pretty much I slept all day and didn't go home until 8:00 PM when John got home from bible study. I feel so much better and am not 100 % but getting there. So, thank you mom for taking care of your little girl and her little girl! 

While there Peyton seemed to have some sleeping issues. She loves grandma so much that she refuses to sleep

anywhere but on grandma. I am sure some of this has to do with her nap issues but the past few days she has been napping great in her bed (and today has had two naps in her bed already) so I am not sure what the story is. Well, in an effort to make a comfortable bed for Peyton my mom made up the bench in her hall way. She didn't want her to roll off so she put some chairs on the side and then she thought there might be a draft so she put a sheet above her and then realized she made a little tent. So, Peyton was camping out at grandma's house!

Quarantine

Starting early this morning I started experiencing a sore throat and cough. This morning it only got worse. We had already planned on John having a "daddy and Peyton day" since he doesn't get to spend a whole lot of time with her now that he is working. The plan was for me to be here to feed and help if needed but for the most part John to take care of Peyton all day. I am glad I was able to plan my sickness around it! Poor John had to take care of Peyton, and his sick wife and he did an amazing job. I retreated to our bedroom and was placed in quarantine. The only contact I had with Peyton was to feed her and the only contact with John was when I was brought lunch and dinner. Then tonight John has made up the pull out couch in the study to continue to limit exposure. After a day of sleeping and resting in bed, I thought I was doing better until I started feeling warm and took my temperature and it was 101.9! I decided to call my mom and see if she would agree to take care of Peyton tomorrow so I can limit my interaction with her. She graciously agreed and we will be heading over there tomorrow morning where I will be resting in her bed and she will be taking care of Peyton for me. If I am not feeling any better I will be calling the doctor to make sure it isn't anything too serious. Also, since I am breast feeding there is not many medications I can take and I would like to limit what I do take so Peyton doesn't get any of it. So, I did find out that I could take some cough syrup and then I took a Tylenol for my fever.  I am so blessed to have an amazing husband who takes such good care of me and a wonderful mother nearby who is such a great servant. 

I don't like my bed

Peyton has become spoiled. It is very hard to resist her adorable little self snuggling up close to you and falling asleep in your arms or on your chest and I guess doing that every once in awhile wouldn't be too bad but the other day I realized that in two days she had not had a nap in her crib. She was either falling asleep in the car, her bouncer or on me. I could see where this was heading so the other day I made an effort to put her in her bed for her nap. We rocked in the glidder and she was nodding off so I put her in her bed and as expected, five minutes later I started to hear some protests. I walked in, patted her back to sleep and left. As you expect, five minutes later, more protests. We did this cycle for the whole hour long nap. She doesn't have any problems at night, just for naps. Since that day I have been trying to be very diligent in having her not nap on people and put her in her bed. We have had some more crying fits but we have been having a little more success and last night we were at my mom's and she napped on my mom's bed for a hour and then right now she is in her bed sleeping. I need to be more diligent in making sure she breaks this habit (and I don't fall for her adorable little pout) because no day care is going want to or can hold her when she sleeps. 

A Day at the Office

Yesterday Peyton and I made our way downtown to my office for lunch. It was kind of weird heading down there after being away for ten weeks and to go back with a baby instead of being pregnant. We had a great time though seeing everyone and catching up. I work with some great people that I truly enjoy being around. I miss them! Peyton was well behaved (just a little fussy) considering she kept waking up from a nap then trying to go back to sleep but couldn't with all the excitement. I can't believe that in four weeks I will back there full time. I am sure these last few weeks will go by way too fast. 

Congrats Mom and Dad!

Today is my parent's 27th wedding anniversary! I am so proud of them and so blessed to have an example of a strong God centered marriage to mirror. Congratulations mom and dad and thank you for all your hard work and creating a legacy that values marriage for your children and now grandchildren to see!

Cleaning out shop

As most men joke...a woman's closet is like a department store but yet we have nothing to wear. Normally I would disagree (with the department store comment, we really don't have anything to wear) but after my adventure last night, it seemed like my closet was like a Macy's.

Some background information....it has been increasingly difficult to find something to wear each morning. My maternity clothes are huge and besides one pair of jeans, my pre-pregnancy pants and most shirts are too small. On a side note....although I am losing weight, things have shifted around all over, it makes me wonder if I can afford another child because redoing your wardrobe is expensive and annoying. Anyways, so, like most women, I go in, try something on and if doesn't work, throw it on the floor which has resulted in mass chaos in the closet. I decided that instead of just picking things up, I should go through and organize my closet and pack up the maternity clothes (good riddance) and get rid of some items. Before everyone starts telling me that it is too early to determine what your post pregnancy size will be and I should be patient, you need to understand what was hiding in there. I had clothes that didn't fit before pregnancy, clothes that I had since my freshman year of college that haven't been touched in years and clothes that I can't believe I would buy (or wear...silly youth). Why do we as women always think that we should keep things for that "what if" day? When and why would I need a white mini skirt that I had in high school...seriously? 

So, last night John and Peyton sat on the bed playing while I pulled everything out and

sorted it and Peyton got a little lost in the clothes (see the picture and play find Peyton). She had a funny look of absolute wonder on her face throughout this process. After four hours of work, frustration and almost tears (who wants to part with their skinny Citizen jeans...Megan, you can feel my pain), it is all clean and we will not have to ever buy another hanger again (I won't say how many we have left because it is embarrassing). My sister, Shannon, is coming to pick through what she wants and then I am going to try and sell some to a store since I have a good amount of designer jeans and the rest will be donated.

I now have a very clean (and bare) closet which only means....ladies you know what that means...time to go shopping!

What Groceries?

In an effort to spend money more wisely I have been cutting coupons and really trying to watch how we spend money at the grocery store. So, on Sunday we ventured out as a family to get some groceries for the week. We have a set amount for each half of the month and so I had a budget. I managed to get a whole bunch of groceries for under my budget and saved $17 by using coupons. Why is this story blog worthy you may ask...well, on the way home John dropped me and Peyton off at my mom's to visit and he headed home to do some work and unload the groceries. Later that night my mom brought me home, we got Peyton to sleep and we were in bed and I asked John (why I asked this I have no idea), "so, you got the groceries put away?" John looked at me with utter confusion and said, "what groceries?" Well, the groceries that I worked so hard to get were in the car. So, we had to throw away a pretty good amount and John is going without milk because I refuse to go back to the store until next weeks grocery shopping trip. Silly daddy....

Rainy Day...Sleepy Day

Today was a nasty day. We tried to go for a walk before the rain hit but it was way too windy and I didn't think it was a good idea for Peyton to be venturing out so we made it to the stop sign and turned around. The rest of the morning was spent cuddling and napping while listening to the rain! Napping is one of my favorite things to do with Peyton since she loves to sleep on my chest! We then had some great play time in the bouncer, on the activity mat and had a very successful tummy time. She is making so many new sounds and is getting more and more vocal which is a blast to listen to. We also worked on reaching for and hitting various objects. She can't do it on her own yet but she is very intrigued when I help her and she hears the object make noise. We finished the afternoon off with a mini photo session and are now waiting for daddy to come home.

Also, I scored a set of Baby Einstein DVDs!!!! A good friend was given a set of the DVDs and since she already had some she offered them away on her blog to the first person to contact her. I must have just read her post shortly after she posted because I was the first person! I can not wait to see how Peyton reacts to new characters and music and honestly I have had way too much Beethoven for awhile. 

An update on my running progress...I went for a 1.6 mile run on Saturday and it went well. While on my run I did realize that my goal of doing a half marathon in February although possible it is a little overwhelming right now so instead I am thinking about doing a 5k (3.2 miles) on Thanksgiving and then after that looking for a 10k and move on up from that. I haven't registered yet as I want to see if I can get my three runs in this week. We will see...

Pee Wee Ville

Today was Peyton's first time at Pee Wee Ville (our church nursery) and we all survived! I say we all because it is more like, mommy survived! I decided last night that it was about time that I allowed a stranger to take care of Peyton considering that in January she will be heading to day care. You would think this would have been a relatively easy event for me since I have been serving in Pee Wee Ville for  2 1/2 years and knew how great the people are but that was not the case. It is kind of funny, when I was serving before becoming a mom I never truly understood the complexity of the look of fear in a parent's eye when they dropped off their child. I knew that it must be hard but it never hit me the amount of trust that the parent was putting into me to watch their precious child. I am sure that this morning I had the look of fear in my eyes and whenever I do go back to serving in Pee Wee Ville this experience gives me new compassion and a heart for serving these parents. 

So, this morning we made all the preparations to leave a little earlier for church and made it to the 8:30 AM service. We headed into Pee Wee Ville Lane and went to registration and got to show Peyton off to all the staff that have been so supportive of John and I and have been such a big part of our serving there. We got our tag and headed over to the infant area to check her in. They put a name tag on her and we put all of her stuff she would need in a little basket (we only left a pacifier but you are supposed to leave her food etc so they don't give her anything she isn't supposed to have) and then with great hesitation and feeling sick to my stomach, I handed her over to the caregiver. Since Peyton had eaten before we left and then had a car ride she was pretty much out (and it was during her morning sleep time) so I told them that if they put her in a swing she would probably sleep the entire time. We headed over to church and I tried very hard to pay attention and then as soon as it was over we hurried back over and looked in the window to see what was going on and sure enough there was our little pink bundle passed out in the swing. We picked her up and they said that she woke up for a minute, looked around to see where she was and then went back to sleep. Overall it went very well and we will be heading back next week.

Haak Winery

To make sure that we have consistent dates with each other we have decided that each month we will allocate a certain amount of money and that we would do a 60/40 spilt so one person will have 60% of the amount to plan a date and the other would have 40% and then the next month it would switch. 

This month I had the 60% so I started trying to find something fun and different to do. I did some research and found this winery in Santa Fe which is about 20-30 minutes away. So, on Friday we arranged for Peyton to visit Grandma and we headed out for a tour and tasting (after a gourmet lunch at Whataburger). It was pretty neat to see how the wine is made and hear the history of how the Haak's got into making wine. I also enjoyed tasting five different wines and we ended up purchasing a white and a red. It was something different and actually ended up being cheaper that budgeted which means more money for John to plan with or another date! I think we will for sure make another trip out to the winery but probably during one of their events. They have various weekend concerts, dinners and other events that they put on which sound like a blast. 

I would recommend it to anyone in the area as it is something fun and different to do. You can check out their website for more information.

Next date....at my request...the new James Bond movie!!

2 Month Checkup

Yes, Peyton is two months old! Where has the time gone? Today she had her two month checkup and here are some of the highlights of our visit:

1. Peyton is continuing to grow! She is an impressive 10 pounds 14 ounces! She is making up ground on the average and currently with her weight she is in the 33 percentile but the pediatrician is pretty confident that at this rate she will be in the 50% or higher at four months! She has already gained 4 pounds 7 ounces since birth and 5 pounds since she was discharged from the hospital!
2. She is a tall, tall girl and her height is 23 3/4 inches which puts her in the 83 percentile. She has grown 4 3/4 inches since birth!
3. As for some of the issues/concerns that I had on her reflux symptoms. Since she is growing and thriving the doctor's opinion is that she might be getting too much food. I have noticed that when I have exclusively pumped milk not after a feeding that there is a lot more thick milk than watery milk. Well, she is getting lots of the good stuff and consequently her body is not digesting it well enough. His suggestion was to continue with keeping her upright for 20-30 minutes after feedings and to start stretching her feedings to 4 hours! I am so excited about getting another hour between feedings! It really takes away from your day when you have to feed her for about 30 minutes, hold her upright for 30 minutes and then in 2 hours do it again. I am sure she will fight extending her feedings so we will start with baby steps (gradually adding 15 minute longer intervals) to see how she does. The only negative is that this makes feedings unpredictable again until we get on a routine. 
4. As for her bowel movements and the lack of seedy diapers. Since they have not found anything and she is thriving it is no longer a reason to be concerned. It could be attributed to the high fat content of my milk or something else but since she is doing well and there is no blood or mucus we shouldn't be concerned. Either way I am still planning on keeping dairy out of my diet as it as helped with her being so gassy and it also helped clear up her face. Maybe after awhile I will test it with a glass of milk and see how she does.
5. Her sleepiness is normal and not a reason to be concerned. Also, her incredible growth could be attributed to how much she sleeps because apparently the growth hormone is more active during sleep. At this rate she is going to be abnormally tall!
6. She had four vaccinations today. One that she had to take orally and three in her legs. She made a nasty face at the oral one but took it really well and then screamed when they gave her the vaccinations in her legs. She immediately stopped crying as soon as I picked her up so it went better than I expected. I made my mom go with me in case I couldn't handle her being so upset but Peyton was a champ. 

The rest of today will be spent keeping Peyton comfortable and monitoring her for a fever or any other adverse reactions. She is currently napping. Please pray for her and that she handles her vaccinations well and that I can comfort her if she does get fussy.

Learning about Canada

So that Peyton is fully prepared for her adventure to Canada at Christmas we have made sure to begin our eduction on Canada and what to expect. 

We have started by reading several books that Grandpa and Grandma Hill purchased for her. The reading materials include, "Canada in Colours," "ABC of Canada," and "Canada 123." Yes, we spell color with a 'u' in Canada and I made sure to explain that difference to Peyton so she won't fail her first spelling test in school. I also had to explain what a tuque is (in America more commonly known as a beanie). The books are pretty interesting and have very vivid colors which help keep her interested.  

We have also made sure to introduce the "moose" to her. Most kids have cute teddy bears but Peyton has two moose teddy bears....also known as moosen (for you Brian Regan fans)! Well, the other day when she was in her bouncer, I sat in front of her with one of the moose (his name is Murphy) and began talking to her in a silly Canadian accent. Considering I don't have the slightest Canadian accent it was pretty funny and Peyton thought so too. She was smiling constantly and was very entertained with the story of how, "Murphy the Moose lives in Canada in the snow, don't you know, and drinks coffee and eats Tim Hortons."  I have done this little act several other times since then and every single time she is so amused which makes me confident that she will handle the funny accent on our adventure up north.

Fun times teaching her about Canada...

Goodbye Molly

Today we said goodbye to the best dog ever, Molly. She had been in our lives for 12 years or so and was an amazing dog and friend. We will miss you!

Tech and the Magical Receivers

Last night was the Texas versus Texas Tech game which is a big rivalry anyways and even more so in our house because Aunt Ashley is a Tech alumni. We started the evening off with much confidence. We knew it would be a hard game but we were ready to cheer on our Longhorns and Peyton even made a sign...

Well, then the game started and it seemed that whenever Tech's quarterback would toss the ball in the air, magically a receiver was always there to catch it. It was ridiculous! Pretty much the game was getting bad and we were not holding it together which prompted Peyton to express her frustration with the Horns....

We reassured her that Texas was a second half team and she was able to enjoy the game and sat in her bouncer glued to the television and cheering on her team. It was pretty cute when she would make noises and move her hands around.

We did start to make an impressive comeback and be up by one point with two minutes left but Tech played some great football and pulled out another touchdown (and we missed an interception opportunity) and they ended up with the win and we had to watch their fans rush their field three times. At that time Peyton decided to deal with her emotions by eating and going to sleep. Overall, it was great family night of watching football and it was fun to see Peyton so intrigued for so long. 

The Baby Diet

No Peyton is not on a diet, she is at that one time in your life when rolls are encouraged and celebrated, but I am on a diet. After having Peyton I was pleased to see the weight on the scale getting smaller and smaller and I have lost 26 pounds already mostly by just watching what I eat and walking with Peyton. Although great and a good start I have now realized that the remaining 12 or so (it would actually 16 to get my pre-pregnancy weight but honestly I liked how I looked with a couple more pounds) will take a little more effort. I know I need to be running more but honestly when you have to do something it is not nearly as much fun as before when you did it for fun...yes, I used to run for fun. Now that it is a must to lose weight it is so much harder to go and napping/cuddling with Peyton normally wins. However, although cardio is a huge chunk of the weight lose puzzle I have realized that Peyton has helped out in more ways than she knows, here are my observations:

1. Who needs a gym when kneeling down to pick up something with a 10 pound baby in your arms is like doing squats anyways
2. Swaying side to side while standing is a sure way to help calm Peyton and does wonders for your obliques 
3. It is easy to watch what you have to eat when you have to restrict your diet (no dairy, green peppers, onions, chocolate, caffeine) 
4. When attending functions (like a baby shower that we attended today or the Halloween block party yesterday) it is easy to not be tempted by the snacks because you normally have about a minute to eat anyways which forces you to carefully choose the few snacks you would like and forget about going back for seconds. Also, cake is normally served at the end of the party when your baby is most likely to want to go home and eat which is their way of making sure you are not tempted to stay and have unhealthy cake. 
5. Breakfast, lunch and even dinner are determined by when the baby is content enough to be alone in her bouncer or napping which means you eat infrequently and quickly (I am not sure how the quickly helps with weight loss but infrequent does help)
6. Walking to and from the car with a ten pound baby in a car seat in one hand and a heavy diaper bag on your shoulder works your arm muscles like you wouldn't believe. Also, having to lift the car seat over and into the basket of the cart works some serious shoulder and back muscles
7. Since grocery shopping and Peyton sitting in the basket don't mix (unless you have no intentions of purchasing anything at the store because there is no room) she is normally in her front baby carrier. Once again, carrying ten pounds in front of you and bending to get groceries is bound to work some muscle group

I am sure I could find more and more examples on how Peyton has assisted her mommy in losing all of the weight that helped bring her into this world but honestly I need to get running. So, please pray for me that I would find the joy in running that I once had so I can be healthy and take care of my body. Running was such a great time for reflection and quiet time with the Lord and not only do I need it to get in shape physically but also spiritually. So, my goal this week is to run....