9 weeks!

My baby girl is 9 weeks old today!




We tried out the excersaucer for the first time today and she liked it!


Showing me her silly tongue! She cracks me up! :)


And we put up our Xmas tree, lights, and decorations! I love Christmas!! :)

Random...

* Venily learned how to chew gum without swallowing it! LOL! It's so cute to see her chewing away on it! :)

* Haven will mimic me and stick her tongue out if I do it to her! One of my all-time favorite "baby tricks"! :)

* I went shopping this morning and got a LOT done! And wrapped all of my presents today! And ordered the pics I'm putting in our Xmas cards! Yay! :)

* I just today discovered the "ExerciseTV" channel on demand! It's sooooo awesome, I can't even believe it! There are so many amazing workouts on there, I plan to incorporate at least one a day into my routine! There's 10 min workouts, celebrity trainer workouts, Dallas cheerleader workouts, dance workouts, yoga, pilates, Jillian Michaels workouts, etc., etc.!! Literally hours and hours of different workouts (which is good b/c I get bored with doing the same thing!)!! There's even kid workouts that Venily and I were doing today! :) I don't want to lose any weight, but I would love to get in super-awesome shape and also keep away the self-diagnosed "winter depression" that I tend to get from staying inside and not being active enough when it's cold outside! :)

* I was just watching some thing on TV where people actually think they are vampires.... ummm, yeah, WHERE DO THESE PEOPLE COME FROM, LOL!? Wow...

Haven is 2 months old!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!! We have so much to be thankful for! Haven and Venily had a great Thanksgiving at my in-laws' and then at my grandparents'! Venily came home and said what she was thankful for for about an hour, it was REALLY cute! She said, "I'm thankful for my Mommy... I'm thankful for my Daddy... I'm thankful for Haven... I'm thankful for coloring... I'm thankful for Blue's Clues... I'm thankful for cups... I'm thankful for pillows..." (and on and on and on, LOL!). I'm thankful for such darn cute kids!!! ♥ ♥ ♥



I can't believe that my baby girl is already 2 months old!!!

Here are her 2 month stats:

Weight: (I'll wait until her 2 month well check next week!)

Length:

Clothes size: 3-6m clothes are mostly too short on the arms and legs now so she is wearing a lot of 6-9m stuff now! She is going to be sharing clothes with Venily soon, LOL!

Diaper size: 2 (but we are trying to use up the rest of our size "1-2" diapers)




I just updated for her 8 weeks a couple of days ago, so not much has changed since then! Except that she is still SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!! Yay! She has been going 9 or more hours straight a night every night this whole week! Then she'll eat and go right back to sleep for like another 2 hours! :) She's really not making it any easier to NOT want another baby, LOL!!!


She's been giving me more laughs, but they are always just one short little laugh at a time! I'm REALLY looking forward to all-out giggling! :)

Her favorite things continue to be: baths, her swing, eating, millions of kisses from Mommy (she LOVES me!), looking at toys and in mirrors at her gorgeous baby self, standing up (when I make her sit on my lap, she always fights to stand right back up!), sleeping on her stomach, shopping with Mommy in her front carrier, and any time she's naked!

Her least favorite things are: sitting in poopy diapers (though I can't blame her!), having to burp, and when Mommy washes or puts lotion on her face!



*** I'm crazy and taking Haven shopping tomorrow morning for Black Friday! ***

Family Pics ♥

My fabulous sister-in-law took our family pictures on Sunday! Venily really just wanted to play at the park, so I didn't think we had too many good ones, but we actually got a lot! :)

Yay!

Haven slept 9 straight hours last night!!! I woke her up this morning because I couldn't take it anymore, lol! And she slept 7 straight hours the night before that! She's such a good little sleeper!!

Unfortunately I started this morning! :( I don't know if it's because of the long periods between feeds at night or because I took those pills for a couple of days and then stopped! Last time while exclusively breastfeeding I didn't have to deal with this for like 5 or 6 months! :(

Haven is 8 weeks old!

5 more days and she will be 2 MONTHS old!!! I think once she hits 2 months I will start doing monthly (and maybe 1/2 month) updates!

I LOVE my chunky little Haven!!!!! :)



She is still sleeping great! Still only getting up one time a night, which is fine with me! She is still going one 5-6.5 hour stretch each night and then falls right back asleep until Venily usually wakes her up in the morning! She is such a happy little thing when she wakes up, she's always so excited to see me! It makes me love her even more... if that's possible! :)

She is still nursing great!! We attempted a bottle again a couple more times and she doesn't want anything to do with it! She knows what she likes!! She also absolutely gags at pacifiers still as well!

Her personality continues to show through! I think she will be as sweet and goofy as her big sister! She loves to smile and look at toys! We have toys dangling from everything now, lol! She loves her sister and Mommy and Daddy! She loves baths and would blissfully kick away with her sister for an hour if I let her!

We were looking at pictures of Venily yesterday at the same age Haven is and they could honestly be IDENTICAL TWINS!!! You can't tell them apart! I'm so excited to see if that continues on as they get older...

Her favorite word continues to be "ahgoo". I'm convinced it means "I love my Mommy!". She is a brilliant little baby already, haha! :)

She is also loving standing right now and has been able to do so for longer and longer periods of time now! She has very strong little chunker legs! She also has the grabbiest little hands in the world! When I wear my hair down I know that I will have about 20 baby handfuls less of hair by the end of the day! She grabs at other toys and other stuff too, so now we have to be extra careful about what she has around her! She got a hold of a plastic diaper bag while I was changing her the other day!

She is still spitting up all the time of course (though we haven't had much projectile lately, hopefully I didn't just jinx myself!)! It seems to be especially bad in the evenings! This is also her fussy period (though it's usually really mild) and also the time when she wants to constantly nurse! I don't know if reflux usually gets worse at a certain time of day? I will have to ask her doctor at her next appointment (in 12 days).

After doing more research I've decided to NOT be on the pill while breastfeeding!!! Oh my gosh, I was reading the side affects/warnings for the baby and I couldn't believe my doctor even suggested it! One side affect was increased breast enlargement! Umm... no thanks! Haven's cute little chunky baby boobs are fine, I don't need them even bigger from added hormones!

Oh, and I fixed her cradle cap yesterday by soaking her head in baby oil gel for a couple of hours and then LITERALLY taking about 1 pound of dead skin off the top of her head. LOL! It was so gross but now it looks as perfect as could be!

Looking forward to tomorrow!

I bought my New Moon tickets on Monday for Friday afternoon!!! :) I am not hardcore enough to go to the midnight release tonight, lol, I would rather sleep! I am excited and nervous! It will be the first time I've ever been away from Haven (even though it will only be for a little over 2 hours)! But I think Jason will be able to handle it... I hope! There's a huge part of me that really just wants to bring her with, lol! I didn't leave Venily for the first time until she was over 3 months old!

It started out innocent enough...

Venily bought finger paints a couple of weeks ago and we finally decided to paint (she usually does all of her painting at Grandma's house, lol)...

I told her she could use her fingers or a paintbrush and I was secretly happy she chose the paintbrush...

I went to change Haven and came back to this...

So she continued to paint like this...

Then I went to take care of Haven again and came back to see this, LOL!

She had painted BOTH of her feet! Haha! She's too funny! :)

:)

I LOVE my husband!!!! We were talking about Haven yesterday (I don't even remember what we were saying) and he said, "well she WILL be the middle child...". And that's all I heard! :) I'm like "REALLY?! We're having another?!". And he said "Yeah, I still plan on us adopting one more!". :) I can't wait!! I'm really excited to adopt and if the process proves harder than we anticipate.... I really have hope that I can get Jason to go for 'just one more'! Though he'll still tell you not in a million years...

In my heart I really feel that I was meant to be the mother of 3 girls, but we'll see! Every time I am at the store and see a mom with 3 girls it just warms my heart! Especially when they all look the same (and are all well-behaved, lol)!! Now I just need to find a way to get Jason to let me hold on to all of Haven's baby things.... hmmmm.... Jacki, I think you need to get started on Baby #3 (I'm convinced that if you have another it will be a girl!)! :)

Haven is 7 weeks!!

Haven is still sleeping great!! Every single night she sleeps for a 6-6.5 hour stretch, wakes up the happiest, smiliest little girl in the whole world, I change her and feed her, and she sleeps for 3 more hours! Then I usually change her and feed her again and she sleeps for another 3 hours! If Venily didn't wake up so darn much I'd be able to sleep in every day, but that's not the case!

I'm counting down the days until her next dr appt on Dec. 3rd. I'd REALLY like her to try some reflux medication! She's got tons of reflux symptoms and still absolutely hates laying on her back! It's starting to really bother her in the evenings and she still spits up a ridiculous amount of times during the day! I wish I could get her to burp better because it really helps, but sometimes she just WON'T!!

She has added "cradle cap" to her list of harmless yet annoying newborn problems, but her eczema is definitely on it's way out, so that's good!

She says "agooo" a lot when she's happy and talking to me!! It's my all-time favorite word at the moment! :)

I love that Haven loves baths! It's such a nice change from when Venily was a baby! She was so excited to be in the bath today that she was smiling and kicking her feet all around splashing! Soooo cute!

6 Week Postpartum Dr. Appt

Everything looks great, no problems whatsoever! I didn't think there would be, I feel fantastic, but it's still nice to know! I also got a prescription for a pill that I can take while breastfeeding (though I'm still leery about it). I haven't been on any real birth control since we were married about 3 1/2 years ago, so I'm not looking forward to it at all! :( But it has at least got Jason to stop bringing up the "v" word! :) I'm thinking about getting an IUD in about a year when I'm all done with breastfeeding, but I know I will cry my eyes out while I get it, even though it can easily be taken out!

She never ceases to amaze me! ♥

Venily didn't cry AT ALL for her shot!! She didn't whine, didn't say "oww", nothing!!! HAHA! I've been almost having an anxiety attack about it for months now and she couldn't have cared less! I was so worried b/c I knew this was the first time she'd be really aware of what was going on. She was excited to get a cool crayon band-aid and pick out something out of the treasure chest! I took her out to eat and bought her some cool new stuff because I was so proud of her, lol! :)

No 2 Year Well Check for Venily Today Either!!!

Man, this is getting ridiculous!!! We had to reschedule for December 16th now! She is going to be 3 by the time she gets her 2 year check up if they keep rescheduling me! And this is the 3rd doctor's appointment in a row that we have had canceled (2 for her, 1 for me!). And the lady who called me to reschedule it was really weird about it.... she was like "Sorry we need to reschedule Dr. Welka has.... ummm... ill. She's ill." I told her that Venily still hasn't gotten her flu shot so she fit me in this morning to get that. I don't want the kids to catch anything!!! Venily is excited to get a flu shot. I told her it was just one little poke and then she could have a sucker... this is NOT going to end well!!! :(

Zoo and Bottle

Haven went on her first trip to the zoo on Sunday! She slept the WHOLE time in her carrier! :)

She also drank her first bottle of pumped breast milk today!! AND she ACTUALLY drank it right up! I am so happy! Venily never really got the whole bottle thing. She maybe took a bottle 5 times in her whole first year of life! I don't think Haven is going to have that problem! It will be nice to be able to bring a bottle with when we all go out so I can feed her in the van without us having to pull over! And now I'll definitely be able to see New Moon! If my Mom can't watch her I might make Jason stay at home with the girls, lol! It would be the first time I'd ever been away from Haven! :(

I was supposed to have my 6 week postpartum appointment today but my doctor had to deliver a baby and I had to reschedule it for Friday. We went on a hike instead in the trails at Williams Bay!! I LOVE this weather, I hope it stays this way, I do NOT look forward to winter!!!

Haven is 6 weeks!!

And still doing just amazing!!!

She is a good girl, doesn't give me any trouble!! It's crazy that 6 weeks ago I couldn't imagine how having a new baby would fit into our lives and now I couldn't imagine life without her!!!! I feel like she's always been here! Juggling 2 kids isn't too bad either! With Haven in her front carrier thing I can pretty much do anything I would normally have done!

Haven's rash is looking better! It seems to get really bad in a spot and then start to fade away. It already looks tons better on her forehead and her back. Right now though her cheeks are the worst! :(

Umm, yeah, I started eating dairy again when we went up north! There was just too much stuff without labels that I gave up! So far I haven't seen ANY difference! It isn't too bad though, just a little spitting up every so often. Maybe she will outgrow it after all and won't get as bad as Venily did.

Haven has started "talking" a lot more this last week! I love it!!! ♥ I could listen to her little stories all day long! Especially when they are accompanied by the most heart melting little smiles that I've ever seen...

I think Haven looks more and more like me!! There is just something about her that I can see myself when I look at her. I think it's her eyes. They are still really blue and I'm hoping they stay that way!

I am still managing to be able to squeeze her into mostly 3-6 month clothes, lol! I am going to have to start giving her several outfit changes a day though if I want her to be able to wear all of her different 3-6m outfits! I've already started having her wear some 6m stuff as well!! She is going to catch up to Venily in no time, lol! At least no one can accuse me of not feeding her enough, haha! I'm sad though that I don't think she is going to fit into any of her Christmas outfits! Guess I will have to just buy some more!! :)

I am going to try and give her a bottle sometime soon now that she has hit 6 weeks! I'm really hoping that she'll take one by November 20th so I can go see New Moon when it comes out, lol! Yeah, I'm a dork... Otherwise I might just take her with me because I know she'd be an angel, but I'm sure I'd get a lot of dirty looks. Or maybe not, 13 year old girls are more annoying than most newborns! I might just wait until past opening weekend, like during the following week sometime when not many people are in the theater!

Mini Trip Up North!

Jason had to take a trip up to the middle of the state on Wednesday to do some training and take his CDL test and he knows that I've been disappointed about having to stay home to keep the girls from getting sick (and a new playgroup started up that I had wanted to go to) so he let us come with him!

It was the longest drive that either of the girls had been on (a little over 3 hours) and they did great!! The girls were ABSOLUTE angels the whole way up there and Haven was only a little fussy on the ride home so we had to stop a few times to change her, feed her, and/or burp her, but she was WAY better than I thought she'd be since she hates her carseat!

It was Haven's first time spending the night at a hotel and her first time swimming in a pool!!

She slept great!! I had her in a little travel bed next to me and she slept for 6 hours straight (which she has been doing the last several nights) and then went right back to sleep. Venily, on the other hand, got up at 5:30 and was sooooo excited to go in the pool again that she wouldn't go back to sleep, lol!

Haven loved being in the pool room where it was all warm and steamy and she liked having her feet in the hot tub (it was only warm, not hot at all) but she did not care for being in the cold water of the actual pool, lol. The 2nd day while Jason was gone, I just brought Haven's travel bed down to the pool and she slept while I took Venily swimming!

Xmas shopping!!!

I'm so excited for Christmas!!!! I started my Christmas shopping a few days ago! I like to have it at least 95% done by Dec 1st! It's proving harder this year though, because Venily doesn't miss a thing and she's always with me! :) I'm hoping she will forget though by Christmas! Also, I bought a swing for Haven yesterday for Christmas and ended up putting it all together last night and using it, lol!! She actually likes it, so I'm glad that I did! She doesn't really care for her travel swing and she doesn't like her carseat...

I'm still not eating ANY dairy, but I don't really think there is a significant improvement in Haven's spitting up or anything else. :( The last 2 days she has spit up about 8-9 times. I will still go the full 2 weeks with no dairy and then see if it gets any worse when I start having dairy again! Otherwise I'm hoping we can try reflux medication at her 2 month appointment.... or maybe my kids are just born to be spitter-uppers!

Today was the first time we missed Library Story time since we started going last Spring! :( We just feel that it's too dangerous with so many sicknesses going around and having a new baby! I am distraught about being locked up in my house all winter long! I wish there was another way!

Smiles!!

My silly girl LOVES when I blow in her face! She thinks it's hilarious, just like Venily did when she was a baby! Haha! I've been doing it to her all morning! She also loves playing peek-a-boo! She is such a happy, smiley girl!! ♥