2012 - Happy New Year

First things first, I fully realize that I am a full week behind in writing this post.  I typically write my New Year's post ahead of time and just schedule it to post to my blog as the clock strikes midnight.  I guess by now you've realized that didn't happen.  And since the first step is admitting there is a problem...I acknowledge that I am behind in updating my blog.  I will at least attempt to correct that now.

Here we go...

I am SUPER excited about 2012!!  I feel we, as a family, have a lot of positive things heading our way.  Ever had a feeling, good or bad, that you just couldn't shake?  Well that's the feeling that I have concerning 2012 so I have a lot of anticipation for what's to come. 

Each year I aim above making resolutions and instead set goals for myself.  I have been going to the gym for the last several months but I've set a goal to push myself every time I enter that gym.  I want to get out of that comfort zone, try things I haven't tried before or things that I've been hesitant to try.  I really want to attempt to push my body to it's limits in a hope to expand my endurance levels on certain activities.  I hate running on the treadmill, it makes me paranoid but I've started to do it because I know that without doing it I'll never reach the goal of running a 5k. Sure, I could always go running outside but let's be realistic I HATE cold weather and if I told myself that I was going to go outside and go running in the cold...I'd be LYING!!  And so, I'll learn to like running on a treadmill, at least until spring.  I'll let you in on a secret...I love the feeling of coming home after having a really good workout, it makes me feel as if I've accomplished a lot that day.

My other goal, is to eat better.  As it is we don't eat bad but we could definitely stand to make a few changes.  My biggest challenge is portion control and so I've made it a goal to master my portions.  To increase the amount of fruits and veggies I eat while decreasing some of the junk that I eat.

So those are my personal, health oriented goals.  My final goal is to just work towards becoming a better wife and mother, but that's really an ongoing goal.  Maybe it's being the mother to a 3 year old or maybe it's having more than one kid begging for my attention at once (or maybe it's a bit of both) but I really felt like my mothering skills have faltered in the past several months.  I desperately need to get back on track though, and hopefully feel as if I am on top of it again.

Welcome 2011, Come On In

I am looking forward to all that 2011 holds!  I hope that it is another year filled with joy, fun and happiness.  I know, undoubtedly that it will also be filled with trials and sadness but generally I hope to focus more on the good than the bad.

2010 was a great year!  We set out with 2 goals in mind - buying our first home and getting pregnant - and we accomplished both.  Neither happened in the timeline that we had in mind but it goes to say that everything happens as it should, when it should.

So I've been asked, "What goals do you have for 2011?"  I think having a healthy, happy baby tops that list really.  In fact, it may be the only thing on the list as things stand right now.  I of course want to be a better wife and mother but that is a constant effort, one that I could definitely do better at though. 

We sincerely wish you a Happy New Year and hope you all enjoy a year filled with happiness and bliss.  But we also hope that as the tough times arrive that you will have the strength that you need to conquer them.  Hopefully this time next year, we'll all be able to smile in the face of our adversities and say "Veni, Vidi, Vici!"

Welcome 2010, Come On In...

I am so filled with excitement and anticipation for all that 2010 holds! I know that this year will not be without its trials and obstacles but yet and still I feel that we have so much to look forward to. We have always been so blessed in years past that you almost expect the bottom to fall out, but if one thinks like that then they obviously lack the faith needed to survive the crazy day-to-day happenings in their life.

I try not to plan out my life too much, mostly because in the past I have found that my “plan” never works out how I want it to. So instead I set goals. There aren’t many differences between planning and setting goals but there is one HUGE difference – goals are made with some wiggle room which allows you to change them as needed, plans seem to be slightly more set in stone.

So as for our goals for 2010, they include (drum roll please):

• Buying a house (or at least a condo/townhouse).
• Making baby #2.

There, that's it! There's only 2 but they're two pretty hefty ones if you ask me. Now don't go getting all excited about that second goal, notice that I said "making baby #2" I did not say that we would be having baby #2 this year. See, that's where that goal setting comes in, had you asked me last year I would have said that we would be making AND having baby #2 this year. However, I wanna enjoy having just one for a little while longer.

6 Months Old

Yep, our baby is 6 months old already, time has really flown by! This has without a doubt been the most stressful event of my life but that should really be no surprise. Given it all I will say that this has also been the greatest experience of our lives (I think it's safe for me to speak for Brandon on that too). I am enjoying every moment and have a lot to look forward to. Anyway, as for Yanna's rash she's doing a lot better now. The rash on her body is leaving now and the place on her scalp is healing and the old dead skin has shed to reveal new healthy skin - so we're making a lot of progress. I could definitely tell it was healing over the past several days because it had been itching her really badly to the point that she would awake in the middle of the night crying while moving her head from side-to-side trying to scratch it. She ended up sleeping in bed with us for a couple of nights which meant that I got very little sleep. I'm am happy to announce that last night she did sleep the full night in her crib again, whew!!!

She is 16 pounds now and around 27 inches long. She's not yet rolling over or sitting up completely on her own but it's something we're working on. It's probably at least partially our fault since we haven't been very persistent with tummy time and letting her sit up on her own. Most times we would either have her in our laps, on the floor on her gym on the her back, in her exersaucer, in her jumperoo or in her swing. So now we've been throwing tummy time into the mix and she doesn't mind it as much as she used to. She has rolled over a few times but not enough to really have figured out how to do it. Either that or she just doesn't want to do it. Anyway here are some tummy time pictures as well as some pictures that I took today on her 6 month-day!

Tummy-Time:

Happy Month-day:

Video:

Overdue

I haven't posted anything in about 10 or 11 days so I figure this is way overdue! January is always such a busy month or at least it always seems that way. So that coupled with the fact that our lives have been pretty boring and thus I had nothing to post explains why I haven't posted anything. Y is getting so much personality now and she is such a good baby that I definitely have nothing to complain about. She consistently sleeps until either 8:30 or 9:30 in the morning and when she wakes she is content playing with her feet in her crib for another 10 to 15 minutes. After that I put her in bed with me, she eats and allows me to go back into a light sleep while she feeds. When she's done eating she goes back to playing with her feet and talking, allowing me to get another hour or so of sleep. She will lay there and entertain herself for 45 minutes to an hour and then she'll put herself to sleep. She'll nap for another 45 minutes to an hour and then we get up and go about our day! She really spoils mommy, it's like she knows how much I like to sleep and so she allows me to do it. She is generally happy as long as mommy is around. I don't necessarily have to be the one that's holding her, but she needs to be able to see me or hear me, especially at night. On Wednesday night I came home from school and since we've had so much snow there are spaces in our parking lot that I don't like to park in because they either haven't been plowed that great or because the plower (i doubt that's a word) put all the snow there. So I parked a little farther than I normally would have. Well as I'm walking up the sidewalk I hear a baby crying and I realize it's Y (a mother knows her baby's cry). So I start walking really fast up the stairs to the apartment and unlock the door, as soon as I get inside I say, "hey baby, mommy's home," all crying ceased immediately. I rush in, remove my coat, scarf and gloves, take her in my arms and she begins to smile and play like there was never anything wrong. She did this again tonight when I came home, cried until she heard my voice and then smiled and played as soon as she saw me. I think we can classify her as a momma's girl (for now at least). But as you will see in one of the videos below, she loves her daddy too! She loves eating her rice cereal, her feet (with or without socks), her fingers and the fingers of whoever happens to be holding her at the time. She loves to talk, squeal and just make her presence known in general. Anyway, here are some pictures and some video of her but be sure to pause the music at the bottom so you can hear her. If you can't find the pause button it's at the on the left side of the player under the little thumbnail picture. 143. Enjoy!

Pictures:

Videos:

Here she is attempting to eat her feet and then squealing.

This is her welcoming Daddy home from work.

So Long, Farewell, We Have to Bid Adieu

It's New Year's Eve and so it is only appropriate that I give 2008 a final goodbye. This year has hands down been the most stressful and dramatic year of my ENTIRE life, but it's also been the most joyous year of my life. As some of you know, those who have been reading our blog from the beginning, we started the blog so that we could keep everyone informed about the goings on of our pregnancy. Well believe it or not, it's been almost a full year ago. We discovered we were pregnant on January 2, 2007 and posted our very first post ("How We Discovered We Were Pregnant") on January 5, 2007. Since then you've shared in the scariest moment of our pregnancy ("Just When You Think Life is Getting Boring..."), the saddest day of our pregnancy ("It's Official..."), and the happiest day of our pregnancy - minus the accident - ("It's A..."). I shared my thoughts and my fears with you - I told you how scared I was with the gestational diabetes and the high blood pressure, how horrified I was to wake up and find blood everywhere, my debate about being a stay at home mom, my fears concerning motherhood, my labor, Y's first pictures, my breastfeeding battles, and so much more. And in return I always received positive reinforcement and wonderful advice. Some people may think that I have shared a bit too much. And maybe I have, but honestly I don't think I'd change a thing because this has become my place that I can come when I need assistance or advice or if I just need to vent and cry it out. I sincerely think that being able to blog about my concerns and fears and reading your comments helped me though some of those really tough moments when I was frustrated or tired or scared. But I got through it and we now have a beautiful, healthy and extremely happy baby girl.

To give you an update, I may have been wrong in something I said in my Great Debate post. I said, pretty forcefully, that I didn't want to be a stay at home mom and that nothing could change my mind. I still fully believe that I can be just as great a mom if I worked as I could be if I stay home but as I watch Y everyday I have a stronger desire to stay home with her just to protect her. No one will ever take care of her the way that I can. Even before she was born daycare was never an option for me, I wanted a nanny to come in and watch her while I worked. Now even that doesn't sit well with me. The perfect solution would be if we have family that lived closer, I think I could accept that much easier than any other scenario. I still want a career and the day will probably come when I will feel kind of "trapped" at home, but for now I just have this overwhelming feeling to protect her for as long as I can. Like I said before, holding your baby in your hands for the first time changes a lot of things, a lot more than you could ever imagine - even while you're pregnant.

I am looking forward to 2009! I can't promise you that it will be as exciting a year as 2008 has been but I will definitely keep you posted and up-to-date. Hopefully, we won't have any news of any new additions this year (knocking on wood) but if we do...rest assured that you'll be hearing about it and you can take that journey with us too. I hope you all have a wonderful new year, here's to 2009!