December 27, 2007 (Venily 2 months, 2 weeks, 1 day old)


Got all the Christmas pics up!! I also put all of Venily's videos up here if you are interested:

http://s52.photobucket.com/albums/g30/jennifer_reyer/Venily%20Videos/





Venily's first Christmas has been awesome! We've been really busy the last few days trying to see everyone and going to Chrismas parties. Thank you to everyone who has made this Christmas special for our little baby girl. She really does have some of the best family around! I didn't really get a chance to take a ton of pictures because I was so busy with Venily, but I do have some I'll have to put up later. Venily got so much stuff, I don't even know what to do with it all, lol! Mommy and Daddy got her books, toys, a baby's first Christmas ornament, a frame, and a spoon with her name and birthdate engraved on it (I'm going to get her something with her name on it every birthday and Xmas b/c her name is so unique- I thought that would be cute, I've already gotten her a couple of things!). And her family got her tons more! She has a whole new wardrobe now (and some of the cutest clothes I've ever seen!), TONS and TONS of toys, hair stuff, books, collector's dolls (from her birth year and some that over 60 years old), coin collections (3 different ones actually, from 3 different sides of our families), hat and gloves, ornaments, blankets, money, a floor activity center, a walking/riding toy, an exersaucer, and even her very own star that we get to name after her (it'll be the prettiest named star in the sky!), plus a bunch more! All this for a little girl who'd be happy with a smile and a kiss!! She's so spoiled already, but who can help it? I just look at her and I want to buy her the whole world and every thing she ever wanted, lol.

On Christmas eve we were eating at Subway and a guy came up to us and was looking and talking about Venily and how fast children grow up and it really hit me! :( He was saying how next Xmas she'll be walking and talking! I can't believe it, she's going to be running all over the place and getting in to stuff! LOL! I can't believe how fast she has already grown and how much she has already learned and she's only 2 1/2 months old! Over the past 2 weeks she's learned now how to bat at her toys with her hands, it's so cute! At first I thought she might be doing it on accident, but I can tell now how she uses all of her concentration to steer her hand where she wants it and move it around. The other morning I came into the living room and Jason was taking her hand and hitting a toy with it and then putting it back down and she was bringing it back up and hitting the toy and laughing. It was the CUTEST THING EVER, lol! And the look on Jason's face was EVEN cuter, he was so proud of her!!! I loved it!

Venily is still sleeping awesome during the night! She's still a little difficult to get down at first (it takes me about 5 attempts in 30 minutes). But, once she's asleep, she sleeps for 6-7 hours straight EVERY SINGLE night! It's so great. Then she wakes up and I change her and feed her and she instantly goes back to sleep for another 2-3 hours! I still get tired sometimes because I can't get back to sleep right away, but at least it's not her fault. I just get too many things running through my mind.

Only 5 more days until 2008! I can't wait, it seems like every year just keeps getting better and better!

December 23, 2007 (Venily 2 months, 1 week, 4 days old)

We're so excited for Christmas!!! Merry Christmas EVERYONE!!! Venily just turned 10 weeks old yesterday! She's the best present anyone could ever ask for! She truely is a doll and just the sweetest, prettiest little girl in the world. She's asleep on my lap right now and it's all I can do to not kiss her beautiful lips right now and wake her up, LOL! I'm sure she'll have tons more pictures from Christmas that I can add to her pictures. Mommy has a HUGE picture-taking problem! :)

December 17, 2007 (Venily 2 months, 5 days old)



Guess what?! Venily beat her record, she slept for 7 straight hours last night (her former record was 6 hours)!! Yay! Is that considered sleeping through the night? I'm not sure... she went to bed at 11:00pm and woke up at 6:00am. Then I changed her and fed her and she slept for another 2 1/2 hours, so I got a much needed 9 1/2 hours of sleep! I hope she keeps that up.

We also got her 2 month pictures taken today! She looked really cute in them! She is wearing a little Christmas outfit and smiling!! I'm so proud of her, all of the other babies must be so jealous of her because she is so gorgeous, lol! We don't go to pick them up though until January 9th. I might just get her 3 month pics taken then so we don't have to make 2 trips.

December 14, 2007 (Venily 2 months, 1 day old)

Venily's doctor's appointment yesterday went really well. The doctor says she's very active and looks to be a healthy, healthy girl! She was 23 inches long and 12 pounds, 7 ounces! Her shots went as well as they could. She cried and it was very sad, but she doesn't appear to be in any pain today and isn't running a fevor or anything, so that's great! Luckily Jason was next to her when she got her shots, I don't know if I could have done it without crying. I updated her weight/height chart on the front page! She's getting so big! She has her next well baby visit/ round of shots when she's 4 months.

She'll be 9 weeks old tomorrow! Time is going so fast. She talks more and more everyday! She's talking up a storm right now, lol. Sometimes it sounds like she's actually saying real words like "mom," "dad," ect. Haha, Jason said that she said "Jason" the other day! It's really cute, she's laughing more now too! We weren't going to get her 2 month pictures professionally done, b/c we're tight on money right now and Jason thought I could just do them myself, but I think we might get them anyway. I'm waiting for a call back to schedule an appointment, so hopefully we'll be able to get them done next week sometime.

Venily is also getting more control over her hands now! She puts her knuckles in her mouth all the time. Her grandma taught her that so she'd be just like her Daddy! It's so cute, she uses all of her attention to bring her hand up to her mouth, suck on it a little bit and then alternate hands, lol! Sometimes she tries to get them both in her mouth at the same time, I want to take a video of her doing it next time, it's really cute! She can also hold toys in her hand if you put them in there.

December 13, 2007 (Venily 2 months old)






Venily is 2 months old today, happy birthday baby girl!!!

December 11, 2007 (1 month, 4 weeks old)

So, I've come to find out that people LOOOVVVEEE babies!!! LOL, it's not just me! We can't go anywhere without a dozen people coming up to us asking to see Venily and asking how old she is, what her name is, and telling us how beautiful she is! I thought a lot of people came up to me when I was pregnant (actually, I got a lot more smiles than anything), but WAY more people come up to see Venily now. It's a lot of women, but even some guys too, lol!

Oh, and Venily laughed for me a couple of days ago! She's such a cutie, I love her so much! She's still not taking a bottle, lol, she knows what she likes, and that's Mommy! We've tried a couple more times and she just chews on the end a bit and gags sometimes... same thing with the pacifier... what a dork! We'll keep trying, but we may have to just go straight to a sippy cup. 2 more days until she's 2 months and has her 2 month appointment! I can't wait to see where she is at with her height and weight, but am soooo not looking forward to her shots!

We're done with almost all of our X-mas shopping... I just need to get Jason something still. I bought Venily a bunch of stuff and it's all wrapped up sitting under our tree for me to open again on X-mas, lol. I'm such a dork too!! I can't wait until she gets all excited and she can open her own presents, that will be even more fun! I can't wait until she can write Santa letters, bake cookies with me, help decorate the tree, and all that fun stuff!! I feel so in the Christmas Spirit right now....





everyone!!!!!!!!! :)

December 8, 2007 (Venily 1 month, 3 weeks, 4 days old)



Venily is 8 weeks old! This past week she has been baby talking more and more. Especially in the mornings, she's definitely a little morning girl, which is hard b/c I am SO not, lol! She talks and laughs and smiles like crazy in the mornings. She says "aah, ooh, ooo, glue, mah,...(etc)." Plus all of her animal voices and monster voice. Jason has also gotten her to laugh on two seperate occasions this week, but I missed it both times. :( I've heard her laugh in her sleep before, but I really want to see her do it awake! I think she gets bored of me though because I'm with her all day. As I type this, Jason is trying to teach her how to sit up, lol.

Venily's eczema looks A LOT better now, but it's still on her neck and some on her cheeks. The lotion is working really good though with that, I'm really glad. I can't wait until the winter is over and it's not so dry! I also CAN'T WAIT to be able to go for walks again, staying inside is starting to drive me crazy! Venily keeps asking if she can go to the park, but I have to keep telling her no b/c it's too cold out! :)

We tried to give her a bottle again the other day, but she wouldn't take it! We're going to try again today in a bit, but I think I have to not be in the room. We'll see...

Well, I think Jason might need my help so I'd better go see what they are up to!

December 5, 2007 (1 month, 3 weeks, 1 day old)

The doctor says it's just infant eczema and there is nothing we can really do about it! That's what we figured, but I'm glad we went just to be sure. He says that it might get worse before it gets better, but if it gets too bad, we'd have to see a dermatologist. We just have to keep lotioning her up, so that's what I'm doing! Her forehead is already looking a little better. Also, they weighed her and she was 12 POUNDS!! She's going to be a big girl! Next week she has her 2 month appointment and she'll get weighed and measured again and he'll show us where she is on the growth chart.

December 2, 2007 (Venily 1 month, 2 weeks, 5 days old)

Venily is 7 weeks old! Her sicknesses seem to be getting better. She is still congested, but she is finally sleeping better again at night. She's back to only getting up 1 to a few times a night to eat and then falling right back to sleep, but some nights she is still fussy at first and has a hard time getting to bed. Her rash on her face, neck, scalp, and shoulders is getting worse though! :( And after researching it for a while, I'm pretty sure she has baby eczema. There is no real treatment for it, but I'm going to schedule her an appointment with the doctor tomorrow anyway and see if there is anything he can give her to make it better. I've also found some other things that you can do like give them daily baths, moisturize their skin at least twice a day, only use certain soaps and detergents and stuff like that. I hope that helps! I'm also going to try not drinking milk or dairy products, which is going to be soooo hard for me, but I'm willing to do anything to make her better. It's really common in babies and is hereditary so I'm sure she got it from me! My skin breaks out in a rash over almost anything (and I can only use certain soaps and things on my skin) and I still get it on my arms every winter. My poor baby, I hope she gets better soon!

This last week she also had her first bottle of pumped breast milk! I've read that you need to introduce it at week 6 or she might not take it later on. I didn't think that she was going to like it b/c she won't even take a pacifier (not that I really wanted her to have one anyway). But after a little bit of being confused and not really wanting it, Jason got her to drink the whole thing. It made me so sad, lol, my little baby girl doesn't even need me any more! We're not going to give her a bottle very often, but if we need to be somewhere for a long period of time and it will be hard for me to nurse, then it's good to know that we can still feed her!

Some of Venily's newest favorite things are taking naps with Mommy (she's such a good cuddly baby- I hope she stays that way!) and grabbing on to Mommy's hair with all of her might, lol!

My 6 week postpartum visit last Monday went really well. Everything looks good and I've lost all of the baby weight, plus 2 pounds. I actually didn't want to lose that much and it's going to be hard to gain it back (especially while breastfeeding which burns 500 calories a day), but I won't complain about it! As long as I don't lose any more I will be happy.

Venily is very excited about Christmas. We got our Christmas tree up yesterday and she just LOVES to look at all of the pretty lights!