Wednesday, October 29, 2008

October 29, 2008 (Venily is 1 year, 2 weeks, 2 days old)

We have been busy! Venily has been having fun doing fall and Halloween things this last week. We went trick-or-treating on Sunday. She was so tired and just completely relaxed the whole time, lol. I did let her eat some teddy grahams, she thought that was pretty cool, lol! Too bad it was cold and windy. She was all bundled up, so you could hardly even see her costume, lol. We might go again Friday, hopefully it's nicer out! On Saturday Jason and I went to a wedding without her! It was the first time we've been out together without her in a long, long time! We were sad and missed her, but she had a lot of fun with her Grandma, her Aunt, Uncle, and cousin Chase!

We have been fighting some sicknesses here. Venily got a virus a couple of weeks ago and had that ear infection, so she was put on antibiotics, which made her diarrhea worse. The antibiotics killed off all of her good bacteria in her digestive system, so we are working on getting that better. I took her to the walk-in again on Monday for a diaper rash caused by the diarrhea that keeps coming back. They told me she has a temporary sensitivity to lactose because I guess antibiotics kills off the bacteria that break down lactose too and the diarrhea is stopping them from being able to build back up to normal levels!! If it's not one thing, it's another! My gosh! Soooooo..... right now she can't have any fruit or dairy still! And I've stopped drinking milk just in case! I had to stop trying to wean her too which sucks because we were doing really good and now we're back to square one!

Venily has unfortunately learned how to throw a pretty good tantrum when she's tired! HAHA! You should see it! She makes her whole body go limp and screams and screams! I need to start putting her to bed earlier, before she gets too tired!

Her vocabulary is contining to grow and grow!!! She amazes me soooo much!!! She's got to be on 50+ words now, but I've lost count! Some new words she says now are "rock, rock", "knock, knock", "boy", "diaper", "chair", "button", "duck".... I'm always shocked when she'll say a word I haven't heard her say before and she knows exactly what it means! She is getting really good at fetching things for me too, lol, isn't that the real reason for having kids?! HAHA! I say "go get mama a ....(book, duck, baby, dinosaur, etc., etc.)" and she'll run and go get it for me!! She will be such a good helper by the time we have another baby! :)

Other than that, things are going pretty good. Our house is coming along slowly but surely. Everything that we have left we need to rely on other people so it is taking some time. We'll be in there soon though!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

October 21, 2008 (Venily is 1 year, 1 week, 1 day old)

Venily HATES baths!! Hates them, hates them, hates them!!!! It has been getting steadily worse so she bought some cool new bath toys with some of her birthday money, but NO LUCK!!! She was hesitant to get in today, but once she saw her new toys, she was happily playing with them.... until... I poured a little water on her body (NOT her head) and she screamed the whole rest of the time and was standing, clenching onto me, begging me to get her out of there. It is so sad! She just absolutely hates when I pour water over her head and now if she even sees the cup, she starts to freak. I only give her baths like twice a week, lol, but now I don't know what to do!

P.S. I started updating her site. Look at her charts!! HAHA!! 64% for weight (which is pretty good) and she is even MORE off the chart now for height, she is a TALL girl!! Every time I tell someone that she is 1, they say she looks 18m or 2 because of how tall she is! :)

We're looking forward to a fun weekend this weekend, hopefully the weather is nice!


I love this because it's EXACTLY how I feel! :)

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Monday, October 20, 2008

October 20, 2008 (Venily is 1 year, 1 week old)

Venily officially has 6 teeth now!! She popped those 2 top teeth through a couple of days ago. So that makes 4 on top, 2 on the bottom! My little llama needs some more bottoms now!

She is getting really good at saying "all done". I think it's her first two word combo that she says (well, at least two different words).

I am sick, so I haven't gotten much done on this site. I still need to put up pics, write her 1 yr likes and dislikes and fix up the front page.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

October 15, 2008 (Venily is 1 year, 2 days old)

We had a lot of fun on Venily's birthday! We played outside, went to the zoo, went out to eat for dinner, and went to the puppy store!! She loved it- and it was such a nice day out again! I have pictures from her party and her birthday up on myspace. I don't think I'll have enough room to put them all up on here. (I am contemplating getting a new website soon, I'll keep you updated on that). Venily is still a little sick though. And even this morning, she is still sticking her finger in her ear that had the ear infection. She has her 1 year well-check and shots today so I will have the doctor take a look at her ear as well. She will have been on antibiotics a week tomorrow so I hope it is better soon! I am DREADING having her get shots. It will be especially sad this time, because she will know what is going on much more.

I have a list of all Venily's favorite things and such as she turned one year old that I still need to type up and put up on here. I also wrote her a letter. It was very hard to write, let me tell you! :)

I still haven't got Venily's 11 month pics online yet! Hopefully soon. I also need to schedule her 1 year pics very soon and we are going to be getting family pics done as well! I can't wait to not get pictures every month! I think I'll get her 18 month pics, and then every year after that!

October 15, 2008 (con't)

Venily's check-up went really well. The doctor was very impressed with all of the things she can do! Her ear still has pus in it, but it's not red anymore so her ear infection is getting better, though it's still bothering her. Venily's height was 31.5 inches long, her weight was 21 pounds, 12 ounces, and her head circumference was 46.5cm. Her doctor said she looks awesome and that we are doing everything right!!!

She did have to have 3 shots! :( She screamed of course, but as soon as she was done and her Daddy picked her up, she was waving at the nurse again and saying hi to her, lol (with tears all down her face). Then she didn't cry at all after that, I'm hoping it doesn't bother her at all tonight. She got the first half of her flu shot and has to go back in a month to get the other half! Then she has more shots at 15 months.

I am starting to try to break her from nursing, I'd like to be done by the time she's 13 months. It is not going to be easy, but we were able to get her to take a sippy cup of warm whole milk instead of me last night, even though she kept insisting on me. She gave up and drank the milk though, so that gives me hope. We're going to substitute one feeding a day w/ whole milk every 4 days or so and see if that works for us!

This past week she has gone back to taking 2 naps a day!! YES!!! BUT.... she rarely takes them in her crib. Most of the time I have to either hold her or she sleeps on our bed. In either case, I can't get much done. I think it has a lot to do with her ear hurting her so I'm hoping she will go back to taking her naps in her crib when she is all better.

Monday, October 13, 2008

A letter to my daughter:

Dear Venily, my sweet, darling, baby girl,

You are a year old now and I can't believe how fast this year has gone.

I was elated when I found out I was pregnant with you. It's hard to explain, but I needed you. I felt so empty. I wanted a baby girl more than anything in the world and I finally had you. Your Daddy was everything to me, but I still felt like there was something more I was missing out on. Your pregnancy had its ups and downs but I was always so happy. There was life inside of me and I would protect it with my own. But I was scared.... scared something would go wrong, scared to hold the one thing I wanted more than anything and have it taken away from me. My whole world was inside of me and it seemed so fragile.

You were born on a Saturday afternoon, just as I asked you to be! I wasn't even sure I was in labor with you but your Dad raced us to the hospital and I asked the people at the front desk what I should do. "Umm... I think I might be in labor. What should I do?" haha. I had to stop every couple of minutes as I was having contractions, but I still couldn't believe it was really happening. Less than 2 hours later you were here! You were SOOOO perfect. It went so fast. It was almost painless. I couldn't even comprehend it at first. Where were the hours of screaming and eating ice chips and yelling at my husband that I hated him? Where was the gooey, smashed up face, bald-headed, screaming baby? As I held the most perfect little girl in all the world I couldn't understand how I could be so lucky. You were perfect. Just perfect. And you were mine. I couldn't sleep at all the first night. I just stared at you and held you all night long.

We've learned so much this last year. Your Dad learned what a onesie was and how to hold you so that you'd fall right to sleep. I learned how to nurse and change a diaper at the same time! That has come in very handy. And YOU learned how to smile, sit, talk, walk, and get every person who lays eyes on you to fall instantly in love with you. I'm so proud of every little thing you do. Your Dad and I used to fight about who got to push you in the stroller when we'd go grocery shopping and who had to push the grocery cart because we each wanted the "credit" for you. HAHA! You are so cute. You have to wave and say "hi" to every person you see. Everyone adores you!

You know when you have those moments where you stop and say that you want to remember it forever, so you try to take a picture of it with your mind? Remember each and every detail and exactly how it made you feel? You memorize the sights, the smells, the sounds, the overwhelming emotion? Well, there were so many times I wanted to freeze moments in your first year!! I never want to forget!! You did the cutest thing with your lips. They were so precious. We called it being "sghettoey" and only your father and I could truly understand and appreciate what that word meant! :) You'd giggle and laugh at the silliest things. There were entire days when we'd just stick out our tongues at each other and laugh. I remember times when you were so sleepy and I'd hold you in my arms, rocking you, singing some silly made up song about how much I loved you and you'd give me the sweetest kiss after every line I sang and you'd have the cutest little smirk on your face as your eyes were getting more and more tired. I have never felt so loved and my heart would physically hurt knowing how much I loved you back. There were trips to the museum, park, lake, zoo, hiking, and everywhere else we'd go. I wanted you to see everything. You loved new experiences and meeting new people.

The smell of lavender hand sanitizer brings me right back to our duplex, holding my newborn baby who slept ALL of the time as long as we were holding her. You were so content to do anything as long as it was with us. Your Daddy and I would literally be shocked each and every morning at how big you'd grown over night. We would never say that you couldn't do something because the next chance you'd get, you'd prove us wrong. People said that it would go fast, to enjoy it while we could, but we never dreamed it would go THIS fast. That in an instant, you'd go from a tiny, helpless baby to our little girl!

You have grown into the most adorable, gorgeous, smart little girl with the sweetest personality ever! Every month you'd grow, I'd remember thinking "this is my favorite month, please stop growing" and of course, you never listened! But, each month I'd say the same thing again and it would continue to get better and better. You have little conversations with me now. You always want to show me things that you think are cool. You get frustrated when you don't get your way. You pretend you are doing something else when we catch you do something naughty. You dance and sing and try to jump. You love to imitate us. You love to share. You say 35-40 words and your Daddy and I are convinced you're a genius! :) You love your family so much.

You are playing right now on the floor around me and you keep coming up to me to give me a kiss and you keep bringing me books to read you. I just read "Mr. Brown Can Moo Can You" for the 5th time today. You love it.

Thank you for letting me be your Mommy for this last year, it has been the best year of my life. I have taken my job very seriously and have always tried to do my best. I wanted you to have the best possible start and I think I've done a pretty good job! I want you to know that you are loved sooo much. I look forward to watching you grow and change more in this next year. I love you Venily! Happy Birthday love!!!!! XOXOXO
OCTOBER 13, 2008 (VENILY IS 1 YEAR OLD!!!!)

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Happy 1st BIRTHDAY sweet baby girl!!! I love you so much!!!!
Man, I was doing so good with not crying but now I'm ready to lose it again, lol!

Venily's birthday party yesterday was awesome!!! Thank you so much to everyone who came, we couldn't have asked for a nicer day! Venily had so much fun seeing everyone. And I have NEVER seen her eat ANYTHING the way she devoured her cake and ice cream, lol! HAHA, that was too funny! We are so happy so many people helped us celebrate her big day! I will have more to write later... it is hard to write while she is napping on me, lol!


I can't believe my baby girl is a year old already!!!!

Friday, October 10, 2008

October 10, 2008 (Venily is 11 months, 3 weeks, and 6 days old)

CONVERSATION WITH AN ALMOST ONE YEAR OLD:

Venily: "Mom?" (while sitting on my lap, looking up at me)
Mommy: "What?"
Venily: "Mom?"
Mommy: "Yes, hunny...?"
Venily: (huge smile) "HI!"

I love her so much!

Thursday, October 9, 2008

October 9, 2008 (Venily is 11 months, 3 weeks, and 5 days old)

4 days until Venily's 1st birthday!!! 3 until her party!!! I got a lot of RSVPs yesterday for Venily's party, she can't wait!!

Well, we took Venily in yesterday to the walk-in and she has her first ear infection! I figured as much because every time I try to lay her down while she fell asleep, she'd start screaming. She is asleep right now in my arms and it looks like I'll just have to hold her here for an hour or so. She is on antibiotics right now for the first time. I hope she is feeling all better by her party. Even though she is sick, she is still in a fairly good mood (when she has Tylenol or Mortrin). The doctor said that she was the happiest child with an ear infection that she had ever seen! :) The only problem is she won't nap and then she gets crabby because she is so tired. That is why I'm just going to hold her while she sleeps now. Hopefully that will be good enough!

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

October 8, 2008 (Venily is 11 months, 3 weeks, and 4 days old)

5 days until Venily's 1st birthday!!! 4 until her party!!! I am soooo freaking out right now! I have soooo much to do! AND I can't get it done! First of all, Venily is sick and getting her next 2 top teeth in. She had a 101 fever yesterday and her nose won't stop running. I really hope she starts feeling better before her party!

AND.... VENILY GAVE UP HER MORNING NAP!!!!!! I don't even know what to do!! She hasn't taken it in a week! I can not get a single thing done anymore! I'm lucky if I get a shower in before noon. Right now it is 1:36pm and I am still in my pajamas.... I need to come up with a new system and I need it FAST!! It was so nice before. I'd take a shower, get ready for the day and start getting things done during her 1st nap and then I'd clean/organize/fold laundry/do dishes, etc/etc. during her second!

I got Venily's 11 month pics taken yesterday. She wore her Halloween costume, she looked absolutely precious! She is a princess fairy... very, very cute!! She loves wearing it too! We went to JCPenney's and I should get them online within a week. Despite being sick, she was VERY happy and running around like crazy (which made it hard to get pictures, lol). She was so cute too. The photographer gave her a flower to play with and she kept smelling it and making the woman, Jason, and I take turns smelling it too! :)

Venily learned a new animal sound! When you ask her what sound an elephant makes or show her a picture of an elephant, she blows with her lips!! That makes four animal sounds she does! Bears, kitties, sheep, and elephants!!! I'm so proud of her! She LOVES when I sing EIEIO to her and if I stop she always says "more" and I have to keep going! HAHA!

Our basement floor got poured this morning, Jason got all of the radiant heating done last weekend! The drywall in the loft and ceiling is all done and getting primed today. They are probably going to start painting it for real tomorrow. Jason and I need to come up with a color(s) today! Probably tanish, we thought about doing the front wall a different color, but we're not sure. Then on Saturday all of our appliances and furniture (including couches!) are coming (they're been waiting for us for a week). Venily's room is primed, but not yet painted (it's hard to find someone to watch Venily for that long). Our house WOULD be ready for Venily's party except that we do not yet have our septic done. The guy who was supposed to do it weeks ago refuses to call Jason back (the story of our life).

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Sunday, October 05, 2008 6:45 PM

Current mood: loved
Category: Life
ARE YOU A PROUD MOMMY?




Child's name?
Venily Autumn

Age you had your child?
23

Are/were you married?
Yes, we wanted to be married before we started trying!

When did you find out you were pregnant:
February 15th, the day after Valentine's day

Who did you tell first about the pregnancy:
Jason! Then Jacki!

What was the father's reaction?
A little stunned at first, I had just woken him up and it was still pretty early in the morning. But by the end of the day he was calling people and saying "guess what, I'm going to be a dad!" :)

How did you feel about the pregnancy?
I was soooo excited, but so scared too! I didn't believe it was real for a long time.

Date of Conception:
Sometime in January.... I think it was the 20th or 23rd or something like that

Due Date:
October 18th

Was the pregnancy planned:
Sure was! We tried for 6 months!!

Did you find out what you were having?
Yes! I couldn't take the suspense!

What did you hope for?
I wanted a little girl more than anything else in this world!!! And our dream came true! :)

Did the baby move a lot?
Oh yeah, she was a kicker, and I loved it!

Did you take a birthing class?
No, I read a LOT of books and knew everything anyway!

How long did labor last?
not sure, I didn't know if I was really in labor.... less than 2 hours at the hospital though! When I got to the hospital I was already 8 cm!

Did you get an epidural?
Yes, but I definitely think I could have done it w/out it. I'm glad I took it though- I have nothing but positive memories from that day!

How long did you push?
18 minutes, but it felt like less

Was it as bad as you thought it was going to be?
No, I was SHOCKED at how easy it was!

Did you have any complications?
Nope!

Weight of baby?
7lbs 8oz

Length?
20in

ANY HAIR?
yep, dark hair.... totally unexpected!

What was your prepregnancy weight?
126

Be honest...how much weight did you gain while pregnant?
23 pounds

Did you lose it all?
yes, plus 8 pounds (w/out trying!) I've been trying to gain some back while breastfeeding, and it's not working for me!


Was baby early or late?
5 days early

Did you breastfeed? If so, how long?
Yes... so far 11months, 3 weeks!

Who drove you home from the hospital?
Jason

How did you pick the name?
We made it up! Jason liked the name Vena and I wanted something longer

Did you go home or somewhere else when you left the hospital?
home, of course

Where was the baby born?
Aurora in Kenosha


Did you video tape the birth?
Sure did!! Speaking of that, I want to watch it again! :)

Who was in the room with you?
Jason, Jacki, my doctor, Cathy, and another nurse

Who keeps your baby the most?
haha, me, I don't let her out of my sight! :)

Did you have any postpartum depression?
No, I would just get really emotional if I didn't get enough sleep!

Did your baby have colic?
No, she was a very happy baby!

Who does the baby look like most?
Definitely Jason, though I can see myself in her when she smiles

Do you want to have another?
Most definitely

How is your baby's father?
AMAZING! Venily is the luckiest little girl. Her Daddy loves her so much!

Seriously...did you get stretch marks?
No, thank goodness! Just some small ones on my boobs after the fact (they're gone now)

How old is your baby now?
She will be 1 in 8 days!!!!

What has been your favorite thing about being a Mommy?
I love EVERY minute of it!! Especially watching Venily learn new things! She is so smart!


REPOST IT AS :
Are you a proud Mommy

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

October 1, 2008 (Venily is 11 months, 2 weeks, 4 days old)

I can't believe it's October already!!

I haven't been able to write any stories lately because for one, I am busy and Venily likes my undivided attention and for two, any time I start writing something, I start crying!!! My baby is going to be 1 in less than 2 weeks. You can not even imagine how cute she is either! She is so smart and sooooo cute, I've been getting really emotional lately! I'd say about 10 times a day I am actually moved to tears.... she is amazing!..... Okay, I actually just had to take a break b/c I almost started crying again! I should probably see a doctor or something, lol!

We went to an Obama party a couple of days ago in Burlington. It was a lot of fun. There were a lot of kids there, so Venily was just in heaven and there was so much positive energy there. Very exciting! Venily was dancing and clapping and having a great time! Then on Sunday we went to the Bear Den Petting Zoo. Venily had so much fun!! She LOVES animals. She really does. Especially bears and cats. Here's a video of her there. HAHA. You can't hear her say "bear" very well, but you can hear her growl! :) She LOVES to growl!

(For some reason it won't let me paste videos... you'll have to go here if you are interested!
http://s52.photobucket.com/albums/g30/jennifer_reyer/Venily%20Videos/ )

I sent out Venily's birthday party invitations today. *Sigh*. Despite my best efforts, she really is growing up... and I am crying again...haha. All of her friends and family will be there having fun and celebrating her big day and I will be in the bathroom crying hysterically! I am so proud of what a beautiful, intelligent little girl she is becoming though! She literally surprises me each and every day with all of the new things she can do! She has to be up to at least 30 words she can say... "hot" (as she touches the stove), "bug" (she loves bugs), "book" (oh my gosh, she brings me a 1,000 books a day and makes me read them over and over and over again, lol), "bubble" (so much funner to play with now that she can run around after them!), and "cup" are just some of the new words she has added to her list. She can do the motions to "ittsy, bittsy, spider"...I would take a video, but you'd have to watch it on mute b/c I CAN'T sing, haha. She can "jump". LOL, she moves her arms up and down as she goes up on her tippy toes! SOOOO CUTE!!!! And the list goes on and on and on!!!! I am just in awe of her. She is just my whole world (and yes, I am crying agian!)!

We have decided that it will be best to have Venily's party at Grandma and Grandpa Lodarek's house instead of our new house. I am heartbroken about this, but realize that there are more important things! If by some chance we are able to get our new house party-ready in time, we will have a sign up saying to go to our new house.

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I can't wait to celebrate my daughter's first year!!