Friday, January 29, 2010

Goofy Girl

Autumn's latest thing she's doing lately is putting her chin down to smile. Cracks me up! HAHA. She's getting better sleeping at night. It's still not the 11 hours she was sleeping before I got the flu. But she's slowing improving.

I ordered a new camera today. I'm super excited! I can't wait to take nicer pictures of Autumn! I've always been interested in photography, but I feel limited with my compact camera. I'm gonna go stir crazy until it comes!


Autumn's goofy smile.


Not a great one, but still her goofy smile.


Such a happy girl!

Monday, January 25, 2010

Monday Monday

I've got the case of the Monday's... So just enjoy some pictures of Autumn!

Not the best picture (a toy got in the way) but I love Autumn's expression.


An amazing hat made by my friend Erin. Adorable and keeps her head warm!


How Autumn fell asleep on my dad (right now) :-)


Such a goofy girl!

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Doctor, Doctor!

Autumn had her 4 month check up today. I've mentioned before about how I'm not a fan of all the shots she's scheduled to get at one time. So I came up with a schedule about how I wanted her shots done. I was nervous about showing it to her pediatrician because she's very strong-willed. However, Autumn's pediatrician really surprised me... She really looked at my schedule and explained to me what's good about it and what she wasn't a fan about with it. She mentioned how it might be good in some states, but where we live she didn't recommend it. So I listened with an open mind because I did get this schedule from a book... We both ended up working on our own schedule together. I was very surprised because I thought for sure it was going to be "her way" and no other way. But she really took the time to listen to my concerns and worked with me so that I was comfortable with the decision we made. So Autumn is getting no more than 2 shots at a time. I'm 100% ok with that! I'm also requesting the nurse Autumn had today everytime because she was SUPER fast and I was holding and comforting Autumn quicker than I can change her diaper :-) I'm very happy that I stood up for myself and what I believed in. It's something I don't do very often, but I'm glad I did!

On a better note... Autumn is now 14 lbs 15 oz (80th percentile) and 25 1/2 inches long (90th percentile). Her pediatrician was very impressed that Autumn is pulling herself away from me to sit up by herself. She's a lot more stable when she grabs toys and her head is a beautiful round shape. Tee hee. We also think that she's going to stick with blue eyes. The pediatrician told me that with my hazel eyes, Autumn would start changing by now if she was going to be hazel or brown. They're still such a strong blue, so I'm hopeful they'll stay that way :-) The pediatrician is always impressed with Autumn and how she's ahead of schedule development wise. She's so close to rolling other. I will sit there and encourage, but then think "What am I thinking? She'll be all over the place once she rolls over!" Haha. Autumn's growing up so fast :-)


Such a happy girl!


Autumn exhausted while mommy was doing hair :-)


Such a big girl sitting all by herself!

Monday, January 18, 2010

Remembering

I was just going through some of my previous blogs from when I was pregnant. I noticed one of them I talked about how I thought Autumn was going to be shy because she would stop moving whenever someone would touch my belly. So far my theory has proven to be right. She still acts so shy. Nuzzling her head in my shoulder when I'm holding her or turning her head to the side when she smiles at someone. So stinkin' cute!

I think my milk supply is almost back to normal now. I don't have to pump anymore and I don't have to drink malted milk anymore (even though it's yummy). That was definitely a big struggle of patience for me. It's hard to sit and watch your child screaming because you can't provide for her like you did before you were sick. I remember how my dad wouldn't let me do things when I was a teenager because he was watching out for me. I didn't understand, but I do now! It's amazing how things flash back from when you were a kid and now you see the other side of the situation :-)

Autumn goes in for her 4 month check up on Wednesday. I can't believe she's 4 months old already (tomorrow). My how time flies!!! I'm going into this appointment a little nervous.... I don't like the idea of getting so many vaccine shots at each appointment. I never did. At her last appointment, I asked her pediatrician about doing an "alternative schedule" with less shots and her response was "There is no alternative schedule!" Well, I wasn't happy with that answer because I knew there was one, I just didn't know what it was. So I did some research and found "The Vaccine Book" by Dr. Sears and it's an amazing book. He goes through each vaccine and describes what it is, how it's made, the ingredients in them, why parents choose to vaccinate, why they don't and his opinion on the vaccine. I would recommend this book to anyone who has questions about whether they want to vaccine or not. Amazing! So this coming appointment, I'm going in with my schedule and telling her that this is how I want it done and if she doesn't like it, I'm leaving. Wish me luck!

Enjoy a picture from Autumn when she was so little. I can't believe she used to be this little!!!

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Squealer

Autumn new thing lately is squealing when she's happy. It is so cute and just makes me laugh to tears. I wish I could post the video on here, but I don't have Windows, so I'm working on it ;-)

The struggle with my milk supply looks like it's turning around for the better. I'm still pumping after every feeding. But lately I noticed that Autumn will stay latched on longer even though there's nothing left. This afternoon she was on for 30 min on one side and 20 min on the other. So I think she's starting to understand that she can help stimulate more milk production. Such a smart girl! I hope this turns around quickly.

Enjoy some pictures of my happy girl!

Holding her head up with no problems now!


All smiles :-D

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Yuck and Coo

It's been a few years, but the intestinal flu has hit again. This was a very random and very powerful flu. I started, it carried to Jordan in the afternoon, my dad in the evening and my mom late at night. Ugh! It was no fun and definitely knocks you out!!! The worst part was that I couldn't play with Autumn very well. I wasn't worried about getting her sick too much because she's getting anti-bodies from my breast milk, but I was too weak to play with her. And to top it all off, my milk supply got depleted and I've been struggling for the past 2 days to get it back up. Autumn gets extremely mad when I try to nurse her because the milk flow isn't fast enough. Then I get stressed out and my milk doesn't letdown... I spent almost the whole day crying (on Tuesday) with Autumn because she wouldn't nurse and I couldn't letdown fast enough. I'm currently nursing Autumn every 2 hours and pumping until 2 minutes after the last drop to help stimulate more milk production. I've also started drinking malted milk 3 times a day. I hope it helps :-(

Other than that, Autumn's been very chatty. She's recently discovered that she can make that noise that comes out of her mouth. It's so cute! We were watching American Idol the other night and if she liked someone, she would start cooing at the TV. Such a cute little girl. She's getting so close to rolling over from her tummy to her back. She's almost done it a couple of times, but her arm gets in the way. My days of not worrying about Autumn on the floor are almost over!


Autumn playing Rock Band with daddy (New Years Day).


Autumn relaxing with mommy.


Cuddling with Grandma.


I'm ready for my close up!


She loves the musical cow daddy got her for Christmas!

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Happy New Year!

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted and it's been driving me crazy. I ended up selling my desktop to my sister so that I could buy my own laptop (a month or so ago), but other, more important things kept getting in the way of getting a laptop. So I've been using other people's laptops and lucky have been able to post pictures online, but it's not the same like having your own. So now I can update regularly and keep adding pictures of my beautiful baby girl (who's growing up so fast).

This year has been life changing for Jordan and myself. January 15th, 2009 is when we found out our lives would never be the same. However, we couldn't have been more blessed and in awe with Autumn arriving and being in our lives. We can't imagine a world without her and are so blessed to have a happy, healthy, and beautiful little girl. I still sit and stare at her and can't believe that she's here. My heart still melts everytime she smiles and breaks whenever she cries. I never imagined a love like this before and it's the greatest feeling in the world. It's really changed my relationship with Jordan for the better. I love him more and care about him like crazy! He's so supportive and understanding now. He's definitely becoming more patient (as am I) and the love he has for Autumn is just amazing! He keeps talking about how he can't wait for Autumn to come running up to him with her arms wide open!!! He's going to be a great daddy :-)

Christmas was amazing this year. I promised myself I wouldn't go overboard with Autumn and I did. LOL. I just kept buying one thing here and there. Haha. We decided that in the years following we're only gonna buy our kids 3 gifts each. The reasoning is because Jesus only received 3 gifts from the Wisemen. We want to encourage our kids to give rather than receiving. I want them to get excited (like I do) to give others a gift that they picked out or made themselves. Christmas can be such a selfish time for a lot of people and I don't want our kids to go down that path. I'm also going to start a tradition of opening one gift Christmas eve, from myself, and that gift will be pjs that you wear that night. One of my friends did that with her family and I thought it was such a neat idea. That's another thing I've been thinking about... Santa. Not sure what I want to do about that. I don't remember believing in Santa, but my parents said that I did. Do I want to encourage it or just let the kids decide whether or not they want to? Such choices!

I don't want to make this post too long. So please enjoy some pictures that I've been neglecting for a while :-)



Autumn in her Christmas outfit that I love so much
(and spent too much money on).


Her new Exer-saucer she got from Grandma Baldwin for Christmas.


She's really great at holding up her head now!


Her snow suit that's way too big. LOL


I love my baby girl <3