A Few of My Favorite Things

Closer to my goal

2011-03-08T11:49:00.005-06:00

OK I'm still a long way away from my 5K goal, but as I've said, I just need to improve my distance a little at a time. Today I did just that! I ran 1.47 miles! It's kind of a disappointment to be sooo close to 1.5 but that just means I need to work a little harder next time.

I would really like to buy a reliable pedometer that would accurately measure my distance as I'm out running. I think that if I knew today that I was .03 miles away from my halfway point that I would have kept going. I bought a new iPod last week and have heard that there's some good apps that could help me but I'm having issues with my iTunes account so I'm waiting to get them resolved before I can look in to it a little more.

On to the fun topic... my little 2 year old! Autie is talking up a storm these days. Unfortunately I only understand about half of what she says. The sad part is that I can see her frustration when I don't understand her! We just do a lot of repeating around our house. She is so much fun to be around. She is a bright, funny, curious, precious, kind-hearted and sassy little girl and I'm so lucky to have her in my life.

We started regularly going to Sunday School at the church down the street from us and
Autie and I are both getting a lot out of it! She seems to really enjoy the class and teacher and a couple of weeks ago she came home singing a song that I didn't recognize. She was very persistent in singing this and repeated it over and over for a long time! She would dance around marching and then would yell what sounded like "Ahhh-saa!" The next Sunday I went to the teacher and asked what they sang each week and she said that we were welcome to peek in on their worship time when they do all of their singing. My mom snuck in and I'm positive that she found which song Autumn was singing! So cute!

Untitled from LaNell German on Vimeo.

Happenings

2011-02-28T13:02:00.004-06:00

Over the last couple of weeks, I seem to have hit a plateau in my running. As I posted a couple of weeks ago, my personal best was about 1.3 miles and I was proud! But if I am going to run that 5k in November, I need to keep going a little further. It just wasn't happening though! I have still kept my 3-5 times a week plan but just couldn't get back up to that 1.3 mile mark. Today I was determined to beat it and set out for my run. I just ran until my spring was gone and I felt that each step was a burden on my body. I got home and clocked it and found that I beat my best with 1.44 miles! Go me!

This weekend a very exciting thing happened in my family! My sister Kate gave birth to her first daughter, Drew Frances. I was allowed in the delivery room and actually got to see little Drew enter the world and I must say that it was the most incredible thing I've ever witnessed. It seems that when I was giving birth to Autumn I was on a different planet because I didn't watch and I guess I wasn't in the frame of mind to really pay attention. But I am so thankful to Kate and Ron for allowing me to be a part of that wonderful moment. I am constantly amazed at how strong, amazing, and resillient women's bodies are. Not only do we create a life, but we grow one in our body for 40 weeks and then to top it off, we make food for the baby! Miraculous for sure. So help me to welcome my new neice who was born February 25th at 11:01pm. She was 7lb 1oz and was 20 inches long.

I am so in love with her already and can't wait to see her grow in to the beautiful amazing person that she is destined to be!

A New Goal

2011-01-25T13:27:00.003-06:00

These last couple of months, I've managed to make some time for me, which is definitely hard to do as a new mom. In this "me-time", I have discovered something that has never even remotely interested me in the past... Jogging! I began this journey last July in the dead heat of summer. I started out with a walk. What began as a tool to help me finally shed the baby-weight became not only something to do, but something to look forward to and to be proud of!

When I started, I walked. Period. I walked almost every single morning. My neighborhood route was 2 miles and I felt great! I started to see the weight come off. After a few pounds, I started to think, hmmm, maybe I can jog to the end of that block. And I did! It was challenging but seemed to be fun! I liked to get home and look online to see how far I ran. And although it was only about .25 miles in the beginnning, it was a start! Over the last few months, I've seen my distance get farther and farther. A couple of weeks ago I hit a mile! I was so proud. I had never run a full mile in my entire life. All this has made me want to keep going and push myself. And I've set a goal that I need to record somewhere so I cannot back out. So here it is...

I will run a 5K this year! RUN! The race I'm reaching for is the Susan G Komen Race for the cure in November. It's totally doable!

I still have a long way to go to reach my goal, but every day is one more step to achieving this goal. Today, I ran 1.31 miles. Hopefully I'll be able to use this blog as a way to keep myself in check.

Not only has this exercise given me a little of my figure back, it's given me something to really look forward to. It's just a little something to recapture a little of "me" which is so hard to do when my whole life has centered around my precious little angel for the last 2 years!

Autumn's first hair cut!

2011-01-23T15:47:00.008-06:00

We went to get Autie's first haircut today! We were a little aprehensive because she barely lets me comb it, but decided to give it a try anyways. We went to one of those kids haircut places and the first thing that she wanted to to is to get in one of the cars that are the salon chairs.

Once she got up in it, surprisingly it was really easy for Amy, her hairdresser, to do her job! They had a movie playing for Autumn to watch and of course there were all of the buttons in the Barbie Jeep that she was sitting in. They wet her hair and saved the first cut curl in a little baggie for us to keep. She sat patiently while the rest of the haircut took place and even let Amy blow-dry it!

She then got a treat when they painted her fingernails. It was a real day of beauty!

I almost started to cry during the whole process, but Jeremy snapped me back to reality when he started laughing at me. The other moms in the salon understood, though!

We left with a beautiful little bob, baby pink fingernails, a commermorative certificate, and a little curly lock of hair. It was a great trip, one that I will never forget!

My almost-updated kitchen!

2010-08-31T17:16:00.000-05:00

Jeremy and I bought new countertops for the kitchen about a month ago and have been anxiously awaiting the install. There were a couple of delays, but we were finally going to get them and started our demolition this week. Jeremy ripped out the majority of the counters last weekend but left the sink in as long as possible so we wouldn't be inconvenienced all that much. Jeremy also decided to stain the existing cabinets for an updated look so he started doing that this last weekend as well! Although he only got 3 pieces of the bottom cabinets done, I just know that the results will be stunning when they're all done!

Last night, Jeremy and I took out the sink and dreaded the next couple of hours without a sink or dishwasher in the kitchen, but knew that the pain would be worth it.

Our installer showed up today and began putting in the countertops and I was immediately in love. I am SO glad that Jeremy began staining the existing counters because I have to admit, the beautiful new counters do not look good with our existing cabinets at all. However, the stained ones are absolutely beautiful against the counters that we chose. After seeing everything go in, I was so glad that we decided to get this done. It really adds a lot to our little kitchen!

About half-way through, the guy doing the installing called me over to show me the worst possible thing... a big crack in the sink!! I don't know if you know the story behind my sink, but it was a really big deal for me. I knew the type of sink that I wanted and set out on the Internet to make it a reality. I located a little store in Northern CA that stocked it and placed my order. Mind you, this was back in July that all of this was done, so this dream sink has been sitting in the box that it was shipped in in the middle of my garage since it was delivered by FedEx. I called the store in CA and was promptly reminded of their 7 day return policy and also of the fact that I should have opened the box when I received it! I told the guy that I realize that I should have, but the truth is that I just opened it and it's cracked! He told me that he would have to "see what he could do" and would call me back. Really, though, how the heck was I going to take the 50lb sink out of the box to check it? I would have never gotten it back in :) He did call me back, and after reminding me once again of their 7 day return policy and what I should have done, he said that as long as I was willing to pay for the shipping charges, that he'd ship me another one, even though, as he had to throw in, most companies wouldn't do that.

While I am grateful for his cooperation and willingness to bend, the fact remains that I have half of a kitchen, and it's not the half that you'd want if given the choice. We are going out of town over the Labor Day weekend which will soften this blow a bit, but I guess we'll be eating out and washing Autumn's sippy cups in the bathroom sink (that just doesn't even sound sanitary, does it??) until the new one is here and installed. I'm guessing that will be about a week.

Below are the pictures of the kitchen as it looks at this time. I actually like that Jeremy's only done some of the staining becuase I'm able to see what it would have looked like if he had decided against it. You can also see the lovely hole where my sink will someday reside.

I've decided that the red walls no longer go with our new design, so that will be the next to go. Poor Jeremy is going to be busy for the next couple of months... When he's done with that I'm sure I'll have thought of something else to add to my "honey-do" list.

Our little mommy

2010-08-23T21:49:00.006-05:00

I want to let you know what this little stinker is up to! First off, I never thought that any toy that we could ever purchase would ever live up to Bubby. As you know, Bubby goes with us everywhere! Last Friday, we went to the pool at the Y with Erin and her son Hutson, daughter Bailey, niece Rian, and nephew Griffin. Griffin is only 9 months old and quite a chunk, so we brought along our little umbrella stroller to haul him around in. When we were leaving the pool, Autie decided that she needed to be the one pushing Griffin in the stroller. She pushed him out of the pool, all through the Y, and out to our car in the parking lot. She actually got mad at me when I took her away from the stroller to put her in the car.

On Saturday, I went to Toys R Us and checked out what they had for baby strollers and found a mini version of the umbrella stroller we have. I brought it home and Autumn has been inseprable with the thing since. The only time she would walk away from it would be if Bubby got left behind. We actually had to fashion a way for her to be able to bring Bubby with us, since he is too good to ride in the stroller and she couldn't figure out how to carry him and push the stroller at the same time.

I took these pictures today on the way home from Erin's. We usually just ride over in the stroller, with me pushing of course... Today, Autie had to push her own stroller to Erin's, both ways. When we got home, she had to finish the walk by taking a couple laps around our yard/cul de sac. Her little face was so red from all that walking I had to put an end to it and get the girl some water. She is so strong-headed, I wonder where she gets that from...

I will say that Bubby has not been replaced by any means, but that may only be because the stroller doesn't fit nicely in her crib at night.

Playground Daredevil

2010-04-21T18:39:00.000-05:00

Today, Autie and I went to the park, as we've been doing for months. On a normal day, I follow her as she climbs up the stairs of the playscape, crawl/walk around the little circle at the top, and then she sits on my lap as we go down one of the three slides. Today, I went up the stairs with her, and she went straight to the swirly slide and tried to hurl herself down head-first. I panicked and grabbed her little feet at the last second. She screamed at me as I pulled her back up, and put her on my lap to go down the slide. I realized that her screams were her way of showing her ever-growing independent streak. So, at the bottom of the slide, I decided to let her try a solo flight. I watched in amazement as my little one go up the stairs all by herself and run to the slide and go down, once again head-first! Luckily I had my camera and was able to catch one of the many runs.

Autumn at the Playground from Karen Wallace on Vimeo.

I swear, we were there for an hour and it was the same thing over and over. I guess that I knew this day was coming. She is growing up so fast and I am realizing that she is gaining more confidence and independence every single day (much to my dismay!).

Walking!

2010-03-26T21:16:00.000-05:00

So, after many long-awaited months, Autumn is walking. Walking!! I am so excited about this, but mostly for purely selfish reasons. I have always said that I would never worry about my daughter's milestones. Children accomplish things at different times and at their own pace. I *know* this in my head. And up until this point, Autumn as either been on track or early in doing things. Let's just say, I've been a very proud mommy. But this walking thing, well, it's for the birds.

Autumn took her first steps a long time ago. She first started standing by herself before her first birthday and I have been saying since then, "oh, it's just a matter of days before she walks!". Well, it wasn't! And I've been patient. I've watched her learn new things, and say new words, and accomplish new skills in the past 3+ months. But walking has been what I've really been waiting for.

I have many friends who have babies just a couple of months younger than Autumn and I've been so excited to learn that each of them have been walking and believe me, I'm SO proud of those little ones. But what happens in my head is the worrying about why Autumn hasn't bothered to do it herself. And I've kept telling myself what I've been saying all along... the proverbial "any day now".

Unfortunately, at 15 months, when you have a daughter that's just as happy to crawl for what you think will be the rest of her life, you begin to become a bit concerned. I even got a comment the other day from a well-meaning friend who, when asking how old Autumn was, with my response of 15 months, she said "well she's walking obviously". And I had to respond while gritting my teeth, that no, she wasn't.

But today, my friends, at just shy of 16 months, Autumn is walking. I picked her up from our babysitter's house and we were on our way home. Lately, I've been letting her "walk" home, and she just holds on to the basket of the stroller and follows along. But today, she saw something that she wanted across my neighbor's yard, and the little stinker just took off.

I'm so proud of Autumn and I'm more than delighted that she finally decided to take this next step. I realize that she's completely perfect in every way, but I'm still a new mom. I think it's my job to worry. So now that she's taken this step, I'll move on to worrying about the next thing. Friends? Boys? College? Who knows what's next!

I'll end this post with a video that I took as soon as we got home. Isn't she the most precious thing you've ever seen? I may be partial, but I sure think so!

Autumn is officially walking! from Karen Wallace on Vimeo.

Why Dolly Has Been Gaining Weight

2010-03-11T21:47:00.000-06:00

Why Dolly is gaining weight from Karen Wallace on Vimeo.

A Year in Pictures

2009-12-06T11:19:00.000-06:00

December

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Happy Birthday, Beautiful Girl! You have made this past year unforgettable. We love you so much!
Mommy and Daddy

Disturbed

2009-12-04T16:21:00.002-06:00

Maybe I'm just completely naive, but I'm seriously outraged right now. I have a YouTube account, and every once in a while I'll post videos that I want to share with my friends and family. For example, if I take a video of your kid and my kid together, rather than emailing the huge file, I'll just post it to this account so you can see how cute it is! I don't use the account very often, but seriously don't think twice when I do.

I posted a couple of new videos today to share with friends and family (separate post about that one) and then went back to look at how much my little girl has grown in the past year. When you have a video uploaded to YouTube, you can see if people have rated it, if someone's commented on it, or you can also see how many times your video has been viewed. I don't think of my videos as hot topics and so the majority of them have about 10 views, and I know that they're the ones I've sent out to my friends to see. You can imagine my surprise when I noticed that 2 of my videos had over 150 views (no ratings or comments, just views). Do you want to know what these videos contained? They were of my daughter having fun in the bath with her friend. These are BABIES, people. Little cute BABIES and there was nothing on this video other than 2 little BABIES from the chest up, sitting in the tub splashing eachother and having a fun, rated G time in the bath. What I want to know is who the hell has been looking at my BABY playing in the bathtub??

Needless to say, these videos have been deleted from my YouTube account. I have created a new, private account on another website that I won't be publicly announcing, for my friends and family. Period. If you fall in to one of these categories, I'll gladly share this new place to watch my daughter grow. But to all you pervs out there who have repeatedly watched my precious bathtime videos, you're sick and need to stay away from me and my family.

A Month of Firsts

2009-11-29T23:19:00.008-06:00

It's amazing to me that November is almost over. This last month has been a month full of firsts! To recap, I've decided to list them here!

First Trick-or Treating trip!

Talk about time flying... it seems like just yesterday, I was parading my little pumpkin down the street with her cousins and having a great time. Amber, Mark, and the girls came down to celebrate with us, and we took Parker and Autumn out to Trick-or-Treat. We walked around the neighborhood and discovered that I really have some cool neighbors! A lot of the houses that we visited were just parties set up for the kids with treats and even a bouncy-house. Autumn had a runny nose so we didn't stay out too long, but I really enjoyed it.

First Real Cold!

Right before Halloween, Autumn's nose started running. I took her temperature multiple times and thankfully it was never above 99.1 degrees. I called the doctor anyways and was just told to stock up on nasal mist and Baby Tylenol and to ride it out. I was also told that it could last up to 2 weeks. I shrugged that off, never thinking it would actually last 2 weeks and followed doctor's orders. I discovered a product called Boogie Wipes which I fell in love with and stocked up on as well! Luckily, I have a rediculous amount of money left in my flex spending account! (Side note, any good ideas on how to spend it in the next 31 days??) A week in to it, I got sick so the second week was extra awful. However, on day 14 when I was feeling better and my little one was not, I called the doctor again. They told me to bring her in and we discovered our next first...

First Ear Infection!

The doctor told me that when you're snotty as long as Autumn was snotty, it all backs up in the head and inevitably gets infected. I have to admit that Autumn was really a trooper through the whole thing and ended up looking forward to her bubblegum-flavored antibiotics.

First Ride in the Big Girl Car Seat!

Jeremy and I decided to buy the big-girl car seat a little early so Autumn's trip to Mansfield would be extra comfy! Jeremy bought a new truck a couple of weeks ago with a huge backseat, so he picked up the car seat last Wednesday and installed it! The first time we sat her in it, she was really excited to see all of her surroundings! While she still fits in the infant car seat and it's actually still in my car, I know that she really appreciated our little gift. The regularly under 3 hour drive ended up taking 5 1/2 due to holiday traffic and she really held up well!

First Thanksgiving!

Autumn has been eating real food lately so on Thanksgiving, we just let her try everything! We set a little scoop of each dish in front of her on her high chair and watched her go to town. She truly enjoyed the turkey above everything else, and it seems that the majority of the sides (stuffing, sweet potato casserole, jello, etc) ended up on her rather than in her belly! I really think that it's best to tell the story in pictures, though! I'm not sure that any captions are needed...
Thankfully, she cleaned up nicely (the high chair literally needed a hosing down), and the tryptophan kicked in nicely which led to a good nights sleep!

Our biggest first yet (birthday!) is coming up a week from today! While I'm still a little in shock that this milestone is approaching, I am so glad to have spent the last year with one of the silliest, funniest, most pleasant people I know. My love for this little girl grows exponentially each day and I've been so blessed to be able to share these days with her.

The Best Costume Ever!

2009-10-25T21:46:00.001-05:00

Chandler Smile

2009-10-25T10:04:00.008-05:00

You've all probably seen the hilarious episode of Friends where we discover Chandler's inability to smile normal when a camera is stuck in front of him.

I think that Autumn has figured out what she's supposed to do once I stick the camera in front of her face and what's funny is she has discovered her own "Chandler Smile". Here's some of the latest evidence of her new talent...

Is it totally wrong to laugh so hard at pictures of my daughter? Oh my goodness these could keep me rolling for hours.

This next weekend is Halloween! People keep asking me what Autumn is going to be for Halloween and my standard response has been "Uh, hello, have you met me?" I found the most precious pumpkin outfit at Gymboree and yesterday we did a photoshoot in my front yard with about 50 pumpkins of various shapes, colors and sizes. I can't wait to see the results! Once again, it's so awesome to have such an amazing photographer as a sister. Thank goodness Kate's talent for Photoshop is just as strong as her talent for taking the pictures! She may be working overtime on this batch of photos with the new look that Autumn has developed!

Two of my Very Favorite Things

2009-10-11T09:50:00.001-05:00

With each new accomplishment...

2009-09-30T22:49:00.000-05:00

...comes a little extra attention on my part! We're both learning, you see!

Specifically, last week Autumn started pulling up on things. The first couple of days were slow going, but she has officially become a master. She can pull up on just about anything now and she gets a huge smile of accomplishment each time she gets to a standing position.

The only problem that we've found is that she has not mastered the art of sitting back down once she's standing. This means that I need to be near her pretty much at all times, which is tiring! I am also learning that, while I want to capture all of these new things on video, I neeed to suffer the consequences when I do! Here's our latest example:

I want to add that the end of this video when you hear me say "oh sh.." you can just imagine what came out of my mouth next. What came out of Autumn was expected, she cried until I could distract her enough to make her realize that she wasn't hurt. She was fine! No bumps or bruises this time around. The kid needs to learn to sit down!

My new job this week is to show her each time she stands that she can drop to her bottom quite easily. Wish me luck.

Big Girl

2009-09-27T22:25:00.009-05:00

This past week has been FULL of new accomplishments for my little girl. Not only is she dancing to every song she hears, waving to strangers, and getting to a sitting position by herself, but as of Tuesday, she can pull up to a standing position! All of which means that my days chasing and entertaining her are now officially nonstop. I am more and more amazed by her every day, and could go on for paragraphs about how much fun she is. So rather than bore you with every detail of each accomplishment, I'll just post my favorite pictures from our latest photoshoot that took place this afternoon. Thanks again, Aunt Kate!

Temper

2009-09-17T22:08:00.002-05:00

I think that Autumn had her very first temper tantrum yesterday. She had eaten dinner, and I was giving her a bottle, and when it was done, she started screaming and full-on crying (red face and all). I picked her up out of her high chair and tried to distract her to take her mind off of the situation and she just got even more mad! She started flailing her arms around which was hitting my face, so I took her little arms and just gently pinned them to her side, which of course made her even more mad. I ended up just putting her in the baby jail and walking away for a minute. About 20 seconds later, she was fine, happy, and playing with her toys. Wow! I'm not sure that a temper tantrum at 9 months is a good sign, but I guess we're all learning in this process.

In happier news, Autumn is learning new things daily and it's a joy to watch her! She can stand up while holding on to things, but she can't quite get her balance, so I think walking is a ways off - thankfully! She is trying to wave and beat on things, but she's not all that coordinated, just like me, so she just flails her arms around and doesn't actually accomplish much. She is also saying da da da da da when she's really happy and playing and in the last 2 days has started saying ma ma ma ma ma only when she's terribly upset. I'm not quite sure that's fair, but oh well. Even though she's screaming when she does it, it's still wonderful to hear her say it! She's also dancing and singing along with the radio! She bobs her head to music and just makes noise with her voice whenever music is on. It's hilarious. We were in TJ Maxx today and she started dancing when she heard the music and she was totally cracking me up. She just gets this huge smile on her face like it's the best thing she's ever heard, no matter the song.

She now has 3 teeth. She has the 2 on the bottom center and then one little odd one on the top that I think came in out of order. It looks like it's the canine tooth, but it could be the one right between that one and the front tooth. I lovingly call it her snaggle tooth!

With all of these things going on, I guess a temper tantrum every once in a while is to be expected. I just hope that in the future (not including her teenage years, because I know they'll probably be daily at that point) that they are few and far between!

My Happy Place

2009-09-08T21:52:00.007-05:00

This last weekend we made an impromptu trip to Leakey for a much-needed getaway. I was literally bitching to Elizabeth on Thursday afternoon that I didn't have any plans for the Labor Day weekend and she said "Let's go to Leakey tomorrow" and I said OK! Jeremy wasn't hard to convince either. I guess we both needed a little time away from the house.

We packed up the car (you'd be surprised how much crap a Jetta can hold) and headed out Friday afternoon. We didn't go overboard with food like we normally do and packed the car with a couple of t-shirts, some shorts, some swimsuits, flip-flops, 3 chihuahuas, a whole lot of champers, and Autumn's entire room*. We got to Leakey at about 6pm and just relaxed!

The relaxing continued the entire weekend and the weather was incredible. It was not too hot and there was a nice breeze that even brought in a couple of sprinkle showers. Unfortunately that meant the Frio was even more frio than normal, so we didn't spend a lot of time in the river. We did, however, sit on the porch, gossip, take long walks with the girls, sleep in, and have a wonderful chill long weekend. Just what the doctor ordered!

As usual, we took a whole bunch of pictures which I've put on my Picasa album. It's far easier to just have them as a link you can go to and take a peek than to actually post them here! See, my laziness continues... We also got some video of the girls that we are going to cherish forever. The first 2 below are of Autumn and Felicia playing outside. Autumn loves the swing and Felicia loves to get in to everything so this set up was ideal.

The second was just a couple minutes after Felicia got tired of pushing Autie in the swing. She decided to run back to check on the situation and things got a little out of hand. Unfortunately I was sitting about 6 feet to the right of where I should have been sitting to caputure this moment properly, but you get the gist.

And finally, we took a lot of video of the girls in the bathtub together. Of the ones I took, this one's my favorite. Felicia splashes the crap outta Autumn, but Autumn just seems to take it all in stride. While she may not be able to splash her back now, I'm sure that it will come in the future.

We had so much fun and remembered what it's like to be without cell phones, tvs, internet, and civilization once again. Pure bliss if you ask me. While it's nice to come back to it, it sure is wonderful to be without every once in a while!

*Unfortunately I've learned that it's virtually impossible to travel light with a baby! The trouble of getting things to where you're going far outweighs the convenience of having things with you!

I have become the person I always bitched about...

2009-09-03T21:30:00.000-05:00

Here's what store managers need to realize: when you have a 20 pound baby in a cart that you've left in the car seat because cart germs freak you out, and you've failed to park near a cart return, a dilemma arises. You only have 2 options. Do you leave your baby in the car that you've had to turn on because it's 207 degrees in the shade in a lovely Texas summer to walk 5 cars away to be the good person and return the cart? Or do become "that guy" and leave the cart by the car? Folks, I've become "that guy". And what's worse is I don't feel all that bad about it.

HEB, for example, has wonderul "people with baby" parking. But what is the point of having that baby parking if there's no cart return right next to it to put your baby in? And do you want to know who the worse store offender is? Babies R Us in Austin! No kidding. In the parking lot, there are about 3 cart return areas. Where are they? At the back of the parking lot! It doesn't make a whole lot of sense, now does it?

So next time you see a lone cart in the middle of the parking lot, please don't cuss the person that did it. Just think that there's a good chance that there's acutally logical explaination for it.

9 Month Doctor Appointment!

2009-09-01T20:38:00.001-05:00

The last couple of weeks have absolutely flown by. Autumn keeps me constantly occupied and by the end of the night, I sit and think... Hmm, I really should update my blog. And as we all know, that never happened.

This past week has been challenging to say the least. Autumn is officially teething (again). The last time the 2 bottom teeth came in, we never even knew that it was happening. She didn't even give us reason to think that they were on their way and one day, they just appeared! This round, however, I think she's making up for it. Since Autumn is such a good baby normally, fussiness in this household is so frustrating! I haven't been able to keep her happy for long periods of time, she's wanted constant attention, and for the last couple of days has run a low fever. A couple of days ago, I saw the first hint of a new tooth (the little tooth to the left of one of her 2 front teeth) and thought the end was near. There was no luck in that department, as even after the tooth was cut, the symptoms continued. I feel so helpless sometimes since I know she doesn't understand why her mouth hurts. I've just tried to keep her a little closer and cuddle a little more these days.

I had it in my mind that her 9 month appointment was this Thursday for some reason, and planned my week around it. I couldn't remember the time of the appointment, so I called the Pediatritian's office this morning to check. They couldn't find Autumn's name on Thursday, and just started to look for her this week. The woman on the end of the line informed me that the appointment was today! Thankfully my boss is very understanding and we headed off to the doctor's office!

When we arrived, Autumn charmed everyone with her smiles and personality as usual! We got her new stats when we got in to our exam room! Autumn now weighs 20 pounds 15 ounces (a long way away from her original 6lb 7oz!) which puts her in the 85th percentile. She's 27 3/4 inches long and is in the 65th percentile for height. The shocking number is that her head circumference is 45.8cm which puts her in the 90th percentile (it's got to be all those brains in there)! My interpretation of these numbers supports what I see, that I have a little butterball :)

I was asked the normal questions about Autumn's development. I happily reported the things about her that I love the most. She laughs constantly, she plays peek-a-boo, she crawls (kind-of), she's very curious, she says "da da" (but no ma ma, dang-it), she repeats noises that you make, she's trying to pull up on everything but can't quite make it yet, and she changes every single day. I also happily reported that she loves to sing, and even though she may not be on key yet, the doctor informed me that singing was a very advanced still for a 9 month old.

We went through our feeding schedule and I learned about what's to come. Basically, she's no longer needs "baby" food and she can eat almost anything. I'm very excited to introduce her to some of the things that I love most! I can't help but wonder what her favorite foods will be and what she's going to refuse to eat (anyone want to introduce Autumn to seafood for me?).

We talked about teeth and I told her about all of the recent fussiness. She asked me if she could look in her mouth and I warned her that Autumn wasn't going to like that very much! While I literally pinned her arms to her side and her head to my chest, the doctor was able to take a peek. She told me that not only was the one tooth coming in, but she saw the front two teeth that should be making their appearance shortly! I can't even imagine what Autumn is going to look like with all of these teeth!

At the end of the appointment, she was cheerfully playing with me and lying on the table when the mean nurse stuck 2 huge needles in her chubby little thighs. This ain't my first rodeo and I've been very proud of how Autumn has handled shots in the past. With all of her changes, has come one very big one. SHE DOESN'T LIKE SHOTS. Autumn cried a cry that I have never heard before. I'm not sure that she's ever heard the screams that came out of her perfect little lips. I was so shocked by these noises that I had to show her to the nurses to make sure she wasn't having some sort of allergic reaction to the shots. They just pouted their lips and said "awww, her little face is so red!".

I took my little one home and just cuddled with her a little bit extra tonight because she just plain needed it. That's one thing in the world that's never going to change. She need me and I need her. Forever. And while I have no idea what kind of woman she's going to be, I know that I will always need her and I will always be there for her.

Everyone tells you that when you have a baby, the love that you immediately feel for that little one is indescribable. What they didn't tell me is that this indescribable love grows exponentially every single day. I absolutely adore this new-found love and have no idea how my heart is going to hold all of this love, but I can't wait to find out!

Getaway

2009-07-20T19:57:00.007-05:00

Last weekend, Jeremy and I went to a conference for his company in South Padre! It was quite intimidating, since even though children were invited, we chose to leave Autumn with my mom at home. This was the first time that we both left Autumn alone overnight without either of us. Big steps, people!!

We flew out on Thursday morning and anyone that knows me knows how I hate to fly. I took 1/2 of one of my xanax pills in preparation, and when we got to the airport, Jeremy and I decided to sit down and have a beer. Our plane was delayed, and as one beer turned in to two, I started to feel light-headed! About 45 minutes before our new scheduled departure, we headed to the gate where all of Jeremy's co-workers were already waiting. Since they all knew who Jeremy was, they were all very welcoming to me and introduced themselves. We got on the plane and for the hour that we were on the plane, I felt great! It was a very uneventful flight in my opinion!

We arrived in Harlingen, picked up our rental car, drove the 45 minutes to the island, and checked in to the Sheraton. Jeremy headed straight to meetings, and I headed straight to my first nap in months! When I woke up, Jeremy and I headed to dinner and drove around the island looking for the perfect spot. We settled on a little place on the bay and the whole time I was thinking, hey, even if it's a seafood restaurant, there has to be a chicken breast on the menu! We took our seats at a wonderful table on the patio just in time to begin watching the sun set! We got our menus and I was shocked to find that there was nothing but seafood on the menu! Our waitress was terribly understanding, so she took our picture on the patio and went in search of a new restaunt. Our picture turned out great, don't you think?

We settled on a lovely little joint called, and I'm totally not joking about this, the Big Donkey. The food was wonderful despite the name.

That evening, we took a nice walk on the beach and headed to a mixer that the convention was throwing. All evening, people kept coming up to us and chatting with us as if we'd known eachother for years, which I found a little odd. Jeremy had to remind me that those were all of the nice people that I had met in the airport earlier that day. The rest of the weekend I was horribly embarassed because they all knew who I was but I had no idea who everyone else was because I couldn't introduce myself again without looking like a big idiot!

The rest of the weekend I totally laid low and enjoyed my alone time with my husband. One of the days, we stayed in bed and watched 3 movies back-to-back on HBO, ordered room service, and went to bed early. We got up early the next morning and took a walk on the beach to watch the sun rise and it was such a treat!

It was terribly relaxing and definitely different from my everyday life. Overall, though, I missed my little peanut and was really excited to go home on Sunday! I was so excited that I decided to take the flight au-natural so I wouldn't be sleepy when I saw Autumn. Unfortunately for me, it was the most turbulent-filled flight of my life and I told Jeremy that the next time I decided to take a flight without my meds to tell me no.

When we got home, I walked in the door and Autumn was on my mom's lap. She looked up at me, and after a couple of seconds, she squealed and smiled a huge perfect smile. It was as if she was saying "well there you are!". It was wonderful. Honestly, I think that it was the best part of my trip!

Autumn Leaf

2009-07-11T10:12:00.004-05:00

When I announced our decision to name our daughter to my mom, she said "What? You're going to name her Autumn Leaf??" I corrected her with a laugh and ever since, the name has kind-of stuck.

This last week, when Tenley was watching Autumn, they went to hang out on a blanket in the front yard (which is one of Autumn's favorite things to do these days). Autumn discovered how fun leaves were when she found one and picked it up. It somehow ended up on her head and when she couldn't find it, she went looking for another and decided to make a lunch out of it. Tenley tried to take it away from her and she screamed!

She is such a silly little girl. And now she is living up to her nick name!

She loves her mirror friend!

2009-07-07T21:42:00.000-05:00

Recap

2009-07-06T20:58:00.012-05:00

It seems to get harder and harder to post something regularly on this. Autumn is getting much more active and wants more of my attention, which I really don't mind one bit! The only downfall is that I just have to give a recap of our events, rather than documenting them as they happen!

First of all, last Wednesday, I got all of my hair cut off. Now I have really never had long hair, but pregancy was kind to my hair! It was thicker and less stringy and I let it get longer than it had been in a long time. Unfortunately, when my pregnancy ended, so did the good hair days. It has been falling out in clumps and it's a wonder that I still have any hair left at all. I saw an episode of Law & Order SVU and decided that my hair needed to look like Detective Benson's. I ran in to a friend at a get together who does hair and I begged her to take me in and fix it all. When it was all said and done, Jan said that she cut off about 4 inches. I have never felt better and I think my hair shows it! I wanted to take a picture of it, so I just made it a lot cuter by adding Autumn to it. Now if I'd only fix it once in a while...

On July 4, we celebrated by having a block party in our front yard. It was incredibly hot, but luckily we have a lot of shade. As we all know, Autumn absolutely loves being outside. We put a quilt down in the grass and Autumn just played until she passed out. Everyone kept commenting on how they couldn't believe how good she was! She didn't make a peep the whole time and was perfectly content the entire time. We didn't take many pictures, but I did get a couple of her nap.

Today, we began our swim lessons! I knew that Autumn would love being in the water from our time in the Frio River. As I expected, she loved every second of it. She didn't even cry when we dunked her little head under water (unlike her classmate!). This lesson, we learned to blow bubbles in the water: We learned how to make Autumn comfortable on her back while being pulled through the water (and I sang her favorite song, thanks to Tenley, to keep her interested and calm)

She even learned how to pull herself out of the water! They swear that she can do it, but I know that we have got some practicing to do. Right now, she can grab on to the side...

But inevitably, she ends up face first with the concrete poolside in her mouth.

We have 7 more classes and we're looking forward to all of them! If anything, I get to spend extra time with my little girl and watch her learn more about the world around her!

So much to catch up on

2009-06-28T13:59:00.002-05:00

Okay, this is why I try and post every week. I'm sitting here thinking that there is way to much that I need to cover that happened over the last 2 weeks! I guess I'll just have to hit the highlights...

On Monday, Jun 15 I heard Tenley scream for me while I was in the shower... She felt Autumn's very first tooth! She and I had been watching out for one for what seems like the longest time, and we finally caught a glimpse of it! The little sucker broke through the gums with no screaming or crying on Autumn's part, which made me so proud! As of today, there are 2 visible teeth in Autumn's mouth and she's learning to bite, which seems to amuse her. She will bite anything you put in her mouth... spoons, toys, fingers (ouch!) and it looks like she's practicing chewing when I feed her. It's absolutely amazing to me to watch her figure things like that out. She's brilliant!

From Jun 16-19, I had my first extended time away from Autumn. I went to New York City for a work trip, and Jeremy's mom, sister, and neices came to watch Autumn. Sharon went with me and we had a blast. We shopped, ate great food, saw the sights, and even met Ken Seely. It was a very short trip, but I know now that I'm very lucky to have a wonderful team of people to keep Autumn safe and entertained while mommy goes off to make a living!

Autumn is doing great eating solid foods. She loves fruit, and scarfs down any kind that I put in front of her. Vegetables aren't so easy, but she tolerates most. We had a horrible experience with peas the other day, though. I really believed that after the pea posting a couple of weeks ago, that we wouldn't have problems with them, but after a week straight of various fruit, she would have nothing to do with them! It was quite a funny sight to witness, even at the expense of being called a child abuser for what I put Autumn through in that feeding session!

Kate took some new adorable pictures of Autumn last Sunday. While there are way too many to post here, I've created a link to my Picasa album where the best are saved. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I am so incredibly lucky to have such a talented photographer as a sister! Thanks Aunt Kate for taking the new pictures of Autumn!

This last week, I began seriously working out and watching what I eat for the first time since before my pregnancy. While my body is protesting, I really feel great. My goal is to not feel like a huge whale when Jeremy and I go to South Padre in 3 weeks. Remembering that trip has been my motivation and it seems to be working! Thanks to Kate, I have a copy of the P90X program which is totally been kicking my butt! It's amazing though that after a workout, while I can barely lift my arms, I feel really great. I worked out 5 times this last week and even though it's a very strenuous program, I know that I can do it. It's time to put a little "me" time back in my daily routine, as it's been lacking since Autumn's arrival!

Finally, I signed Autumn up for swim lessons! It's a 4 week program which meets twice a week. We start on July 6 and I am so excited! While we don't readily have access to a pool, I want Autumn to be comfortable when we do get to go swimming. After our time in Leakey, I have a feeling that she's going to love it.

ANTM Cycle 29

2009-06-12T20:10:00.001-05:00

Today's lunchtime reminded me of an episode of America's Next Top Model. Smile with your eyes, Autumn! Watch out, Tyra. Here we come.

The Great Pea Experiment '09 (In Autumn's words)

2009-06-11T20:24:00.000-05:00

Hmmm, what was this stuff that you just put in my mouth?

I'm not sure how I feel about these. You mean I'm supposed to eat this yucky stuff?

I'm not sure I trust you on this. I'll just do this myself. I've seen you do this before. Let's see, you just take a hold of this plastic thingy...

And then I think I'm supposed to move it towards my mouth... Wait, why isn't this working?

Oh, I get it. Turn it around! OK, let's try this thing again!

OK, move the plastic thingy towards my mouth and...

OK I'm new at this, so give me a break. A little to the left and... SUCCESS!

I've got this eating thing down, guys! You see, I'm a big girl now!

Now, who is going to clean these peas off of my forehead?

Autumn at 6 Months

2009-06-09T21:32:00.003-05:00

Today was Autumn's 6 month appointment! I have been looking forward to this one since we were told that she would officially begin real foods afterwards!

The appointment started out like every other with her measurements. As anyone who has seen any picture of Autumn can attest to, it's obvious that she has gained some weight! She is now 18lbs 3oz (88th percentile). She is 26 inches long (55th percentile) and has a head circumference of 44 1/2cm (90th percentile). Basically all this means is that she's chubby, not tall, and has a big ol' noggin, all of which we already knew! The good news that came out of all of this is that her head shape has finally normalized, which means we do not have to see the cranial specialist to get a baby helmet (which was suggested at the 4 month appointment)!

Autumn is a very healthy baby and is developmentally perfect! The doctor loved getting a couple of Autumn's famous smiles and was very proud of her sitting up skills! She took great time describing how to introduce new foods into our little one's routines and I am really excited about the whole thing!

The first stop on the way home from the doctor's was to Barnes & Noble where I bought a couple of baby cookbooks! While I know the convenience of prepared baby foods is really enticing, I'd really like to make the majority of Autumn's food. While I may rethink this in the future, for now, I don't see any problem with steaming, pureeing, and freezing fresh fruits and veggies! We also stopped at HEB to buy my first round of baby food and headed home to get started.

Autumn's first vegetable experience was peas, much to Jeremy's dismay. Autumn started out not seeming to care about her new food, but a couple of bites in, we saw the first funny face. She looked like she just wasn't sure of her new food. We kept trying bites and after a couple more, she started getting shivers immediately after she swollowed! After making sure she was ok, I decided it was like she was getting the heebie jeebies when swollowing peas. I have to try peas one more day, but I'm not quite sure that she's a fan.

Saturday Fun

2009-06-06T23:09:00.008-05:00

Today, the guys headed to Gruene early to celebrate a friend's birthday, so Autumn and I had some fun time to burn! We all know how she absolutley loves being outside, which has been great until we've started hitting 95 degrees during the day! We had a nice breeze early this afternoon, so I decided to put Autumn's new sitting up skills to the test. We walked down to one of the three playgrounds in my neighborhood and I put her in a toddler swing and she absolutely loved it!

Right after we took this video, she started trying to eat the handles on the side. It was at that point that I decided that it was time to go home. I don't know that dirty kid germs and rust are supposed to be included in her diet right now. It reminds me of the time Jenn Monty took her daughter Ryleigh to Wal-Mart and she found her licking the cart handle... These things will happen and I know that is what will build immunities in that precious little body. It's still just a little gross to witness it, though.

Later in the day, Jessica brought Autumn's boyfriend Graham over to for our very first official play date (well, the kids kinda layed there while the mommies drank a couple of mimosas - I could get used to these play dates!). Aren't they cute together?

I can't decide if Graham, who is about 3 months younger than Autumn, is super long or if Autumn is super short. They're the same length! I swear that my little one may appear extra chubby in this photo, but it's like taking a photo of me standing next to Kate Moss... I learned a long time ago not to stand next to skinny people in photos. During the visit, Autumn showed me that she is her mommy's girl. I swear, she decided that this was going to be her new toy all on her own.

Today my little girl turns 6 months old. She has been such a blessing and I love her more than words could ever describe. I don't remember what my life was like before her, and quite honestly, I don't need to. She is exhausting, but it is the best type of exhaustion imaginable. I melt when I see her face every morning and I ache when I have to put her to bed at night knowing that I don't get to see it for the next few hours. Thank you, my Autumn Leigh, for bringing such joy to our lives. Your daddy and I can't wait to see what amazing things you will accomplish in your lifetime!

In her own words

2009-06-02T17:55:00.002-05:00

Tenley asked Autumn to tell her about her vacation and here was her response!

Back to Reality

2009-06-01T10:03:00.017-05:00

Autumn and I just returned from 10 days in my self-proclaimed "Happy Place". My friend, Elizabeth, has a house just north of Leakey, TX, which is about a 3 hour drive from our house. This house is by no means luxurious, but it is one of my favorite places in the world. There are no TVs, no computers, no cell phones among other things. While I could sit here and make a long list of things that I had to do without, I'd much rather focus on the wonderful aspects of this wonderful vacation.

The majority of the time at this house is spent sitting on a screened-in porch doing a whole lot of nothing. There's a beat-up old boom box that gets one radio station (thank goodness it's a good one!). We have board games (Trivial Pursuit, Yahtzee, Monopoly). We have books. But most of all, we have nature, pure and simple. This past week, I stared at the most majestic axis deer I've ever seen just hanging out across the lawn from us. I fed the hummingbirds. We watched the other birds and squirrels playing in the yard. We watched a gazillion jack rabbits. Elizabeth even saw a real live fox!

There is one small downside to all of this nature... bugs! Anyone who knows me knows that I have a flip out reaction when I encounter bugs. I don't know what it is, but I can't handle it. It's funny, though, when you're faced with a scorpion near a baby, how the protection gene kicks in. We ran in to 4 scorpions this last week, and while Jeremy took care of the first, Elizabeth and I had no problem at all eliminating the other three. Autumn and I both have bug bites galore, but it's a small price to pay for a relaxing week in the middle of nowhere.

One of the best things about this house is that it is located on 7 acres of the most beautiful land in Texas that you've ever seen. Runing right through the back yard is their very own private part of the Frio River. We've been going to this house for much of my adult life and this year was very different concerning my time at the river. Usually we get up, pack a cooler and walk down to the river and lay out on rafts all darned day. So you can imagine, this year was a little different! It rained the first couple of days that we were there, but once it cleared up, we took Felicia (Elizabeth's 18 month old daughter who I've talked a lot about on this blog) and Autumn down to play in the water. I was surprised to find that our little ones are bonafide river rats in the making! Autumn wasn't sure what to think of it at first, but once she got used to the water (because it's COLD!), she loved it. She smiled and laughed, and kicked her feet in the water. Most of all, she just loved sitting in the river and taking in the new scenery.

When you want a change of scenery, you can drive to Kerrville or to Fredericksburg, which we did twice. In Kerrville, we went to the James Avery store to load up on charms for the girls' bracelets. We decided to get charms that were meaningful for each trip to Leakey. This year, Autumn got a jackrabbit, some sunglasses, and half of a best friends heart which we engraved with the other one's initials and date on the back. We also took Autumn to her first Kerrville Folk Festival and saw Bruce Robison. We all had a wonderful time!

I even got a hippie henna tattoo.

In Fredericksburg, we ate at our favorite restaurant, Auslanders, and shopped till we dropped! I'm glad that Autumn seemed to love Fredericksburg as much as I do!

Here are some things that I learned this last week:
-I have got to buy a video camera. Period.
-Watch out for nature and children and always have benadryl on hand just in case.
-Sunscreen and babies who rub their eyes is not the best idea.
-It's always better to over-pack than under-pack with a baby.
-It's absolutely necessary to get away from it all for your sanity once in a while.

There are a couple things that changed with my baby while we were gone. She can sit up by herself (if only for a couple of seconds, but she can do it!).

She began eating solids.

She laughed A LOT. She smiled A LOT.

She slept A LOT.

I think she grew about a foot. And finally, her personality has grown by leaps and bounds in the last week and I am so glad that she is turning in to the happiest baby that I know!

I decided to come back a day early from our trip. While that may sound nuts, I need a day to unpack, do laundry, and generally just bring myself back in to the real world. I had such a wonderful time, but I am glad to be back home.

Mansfield again

2009-05-17T21:57:00.004-05:00

Jeremy and I drove back up to Mansfield this weekend to enjoy another Rangers game and let Granny Randy play with Autumn for a night. The game was so much fun and Autumn had a great time with the family!

I learned last night that I am a VERY lucky woman. I married a legend in Mansfield! During one summer break, while Jeremy was in college, he worked at the local video store. He doesn't have any good stories about this time, but I have a feeling that he is leaving something out. On one of the brick pillars outside of the video store, to this day there is some very interesting grafitti.

There is a heart out there somewhere that is eternally broken because the love of her life has found another. While Jeremy claims that the love was one-sided, the mystery woman should be comforted in knowing that she found the most permanent ink there is.

Like Her Daddy

2009-05-14T20:26:00.000-05:00

Everyone's keeps talking about how much Autumn looks exactly like Jeremy and I've finally captured the resemblance on film. The likeness is amazing!!

Independence

2009-05-12T21:15:00.002-05:00

The biggest topic around here these days is the one thing I forgot to mention in my last post. I swear, I'm losing my mind these days and lack of sleep could have something to do with that.

Saturday night, I put Autumn to sleep at night in her big girl crib for the first time. I know this sounds crazy, but I have been dreading this day for a long time. I really loved having her next to me while I slept, but she has been getting bigger by the day and was starting to outgrow her co-sleeper. I would wake up and her legs would be hanging out of the bed! As you can tell, I've been putting this day off for a long time. I have to admit, I was a mess. I prepared for this by buying a video monitor (which I swore to myself I would never need!) and setting it up next to her sound monitor in her bed and my room. After the long week that we had, she zonked out quickly in her crib. When I went to bed, I went in to check on her and of course, she was fine. Throughout the night, I probably woke up every 45 minutes to check on her remotely. In the morning, at 8am, I woke up to my monitor beeping because the base had been turned off. I assumed that Jeremy went in to get her and so I tried to go back to sleep. However, the monitor kept beeping. I couldn't figure out why Jeremy wouldn't just come in to the room to turn off the monitor so I could keep sleeping, so I headed to Autumn's room to ask him why! Well, I found that my little stinker had crawled up in to the corner and had turned the monitor off herself. I could just imagine her saying "Mama, don't listen to me anymore!".

Tonight is the fourth night in a row that she's going to be alone in her room for the night. I completely understand that it is important for her to be in her room at night but it is hard for me to comprehend. I have always been one to imagine the worst, which is what I'm doing in this situation. What if there is a fire in the house and I can't get to her? What if someone breaks in to the house and gets her first? Although in reality, I know that these things are unlikely to actually happen, in my mind, these are the things that could. And to be completely honest, I do not want to live one second on this earth without my little girl. And I will do anything, and I mean anything to protect her. My way of protecting her up until 4 days ago was keeping her beside me, even when I sleep. It's just going to take a while to get used to, but I'm sure she'll appreciate this when she's older and I'm not still stuffing her in that tiny co-sleeper!

I did not know how much I would love her. It's completely impossible to quantify it. I just know that the world is a better place with her in it and I'm lucky to be her mommy. And every morning when I get to go in and pick her up, I am the one who gets to see that big smile, like she's saying "well, there you are"! And that moment every day may just make all of this worry worth the trouble.

The last week

2009-05-11T22:15:00.002-05:00

Autumn and I have had a busy last couple of days! We've been going and going and my little one has been a trooper through it all.

Last Thursday, we drove to Bryan and had a sleepover with our Auntie Elizabeth and Autumn's best friend, Felicia! Although we didn't get any pictures this time (we'll be hanging out for over a week together in Leakey two weeks from now and I am certain that we'll get plenty of pictures there!), Elizabeth and I got the kiddos to bed on time and had a blast gossiping, eating, and drinking margaritas! I stopped off at Must Be Heaven for some to-go slices of pie and we ended up giving up the margaritas for them. I told Elizabeth that it's sad that I don't have a problem admitting that I'd much rather have pie than booze these days!

On Friday, my cousin Kendra, who is an amazing ballerina, was performing in a dance concert at A&M and after a wonderful dinner out with the family, we headed to campus to check it out. The concert started at 730 so I figured that Autumn would just sleep through the entire thing, but boy was I wrong. She was really interested in the dancers and stayed awake the whole time. As soon as we got in the car, though, she was out like a light until we had to wake her up to put her in some pjs to go to bed.

Saturday, we headed home to get ready for the Brew-B-Que, which is where the Chihuahua races were being held. For those of you who don't know, Dolly is a Chihuahua race veteran so we knew what we were getting in to! We headed down to Waterloo Park and Dolly showed all the other dogs how it was done. We won our first heat and then unfortunately lost in the finals. But Dolly was a champ and remains one of the fastest Chihuahuas in the west! After the races, we set up camp and were joined by a bunch of friends and were able to relax and enjoy the rest of the day. Autumn and her boyfriend Graham got to hang out most of the day, and I think I've raised a little flirt (or a potential cougar... she likes 'em young, haha). They were laying side by side on our blanket and Autumn kept grabbing the poor little man. It sure was super cute, though!

Eventually, they ended up holding hands...

...and then napping together.

Yesterday, I celebrated my very first *real* Mother's Day with my 2 favorite people (and 3 favorite dogs!). It was a very relaxing day that included grilling some chicken kebabs and taking a luxuriously long bubble bath with a book that I've been reading for quite a while. I don't get a lot of time these days to sit down and read and so it was wonderful! I also received some beautiful earrings in Autumn's birthstone (blue topaz) that I will cherish forever.

Happy Mother's Day to all of my wonderful friends and family. I hope that yours was as wonderful as mine :)

User Error.

2009-05-09T21:32:00.000-05:00

I will keep this posting short with just a short video of my precious. This was taken last Wednesday with my digital camera, and unfortunately I turned the camera sideways to get the whole shot. I learned the hard way, though, that when you turn the camera sideways, you cannot turn it back the right way when you transfer it to the computer. However, this is such an adorable video that I cannot bring myself to delete it. Tenley and I tried to recreate the moment, but Autumn would not cooperate. The bottom line is that I'm stuck with a video that you'll have to turn your head to enjoy! It's really the sound that's important with this one anyways!

There's more than one way to honk a horn!

2009-05-04T17:34:00.001-05:00

Last weekend I was fortunate enough to see Fleetwood Mac in concert. It was truly amazing and I loved every second of it. I left Autumn for the first time overnight and I think I did ok :) It was really a fun time and I'm so glad that I went. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures because we were told that they were confiscating cameras at the door so I left mine at the hotel. I was so disappointed to see almost everyone in the arena had brought in their cameras and were taking pictures the whole time. I cried when Stevie sang Landslide and Lindsey sang Never Going Back Again immediately after. That was hands down my favorite part of the concert!

Autumn is getting so big, I just can't believe it. She will be 5 months on Wednesday and is such a joy. She's talkative, very smiley, and very curious. She's mastered the art of rolling over and is now working on sitting up unassisted. Tenley put her in the jeep today for the first time without any belly support and she held herself up wonderfully! The funniest thing happened while she was in the jeep, though... Take a look for yourself.

She is getting chubbier by the second and I love every single roll. Take a look at these thighs. I wish my chubby thighs were this cute!

This weekend there are some Chihuahua Races in Austin that we will be attending. For those of you who don't know, Dolly is a Chihuahua Race veteran. We have the experience necessary to give the competitors a run for their money. Wish us luck!

Baby Exercise!

2009-04-28T18:32:00.000-05:00

Best Friends

2009-04-24T17:36:00.003-05:00

Ever since we brought Abby home over a year ago, Dolly has pretended not to like her. All Abby wants is to be loved so she is always trying to cuddle with her or play with her and Dolly wants none of it. I think that a baby in the house has completely changed the dynamic and Dolly is now reaching out for love...

A Weekend Away

2009-04-20T18:08:00.001-05:00

Jeremy's company was nice enough to give us their tickets for the Rangers game last Saturday night so we headed north once again!

Road trips these days are so much different than they used to be. I have always been an over-packer because I am a firm believer that you never know what mood you're going to be in, and my mood determines my outfit for the day! So I always back multiple outfits whenever we go out of town. My over-packing has flowed over to my packing for Autumn as well. Her moods may not determine her outfits, but her spitting up/drooling/pooping does. Some days, we go through 4! Since Autumn's things are much more important than mine, I was determined to not overpack this time. On Saturday morning I dressed comfortably but nicely to wear both in the car and to the ball game. I packed one additional outfit for our return trip home and that was it! I was so proud. For Autumn, though, we packed the clothes, diapers, wipes, bottles, extra milk, toys, bath, bottle warmer, stroller, blanket, car seat and everything else I could throw in the car before we left. As you can imagine, all of this crap leaves no room for our dogs, so they got to stay home, much to their dismay.

We headed off with our packed car and got all the way to Waco before we hit a horrible traffic jam and we were literally stopped on I35. It was right about the time that Autumn needed to eat, so luckily we were stopped next to an exit, so we got off the highway so we could stop and get her ready. I took her out of her seat and discovered the biggest diaper explosion possible. It was awful. I laid the blanket on my lap before taking her pants off and I'm so glad that I did because I was wearing white pants! Unfortunately, it was all over her shirt, pants, and herself, so cleaning it up was a challenge in the backseat of my car. Jeremy got one of the multiple outfits that I brough to change her in to and I managed to get it on and get her back in to her seat.

We made a stop in Burleson to check in on Autumn's boyfriend, William. He is getting so big! He's now 7 weeks old and as cute as can be. We stayed and chatted with Joan and Wes for a while and it was great to catch up! Before we left, we had to get their picture together again to show them when they're older...

Aren't they precious together? Although Jeremy and I think that William's hand is a little too close to Autumn's leg. Getting fresh at 7 weeks... just like his daddy! Yep, nothing but mischief in those eyes. We'd better keep our eye on that one.

By the time we got to Jeremy's parent's house, I had poop, spitup and drool all over my shirt, so we stopped at Target so I could get another shirt. So much for light packing...

Saturday night, we had tickets to the Rangers game and Autumn got to stay with her Granny Randy. We had such a great time at the game (even though the Rangers lost) and it was also nice to have a night to be babyless again!

We drove home on Sunday and the bluebonnets on 35W were so beautiful. Jeremy pulled over on the side of the road so we could take the obligatory child in the bluebonnets shot. Since Autumn isn't sitting up on her own yet, we just left her in the car seat, but we still got some great shots just the same.

Feeling good about myself... kind-of

2009-04-14T18:16:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow is going to be a FABULOUS day! For those of you who I haven't told, I'm locking my ass in at the Crossings for the majority of the day for some much needed R&R. My mom will be coming up to watch Autumn and Kate and I have signed up for facials and massages! We start at 10am and should be done about 3pm. Between our treatments, there are fabulous grounds at the spa, at which you can eat, or swim, or hike (not likely), or just plain relax. I cannot wait! We booked these thanks to Spa Week, which in my opinion is the best idea out there. There are a bunch of spas in Austin that, for one week only, offer a number of treatments for $50 each. A steal if you ask me!

So this morning, I got on the scale, as I normally do and am really starting to feel good about myself again. Before I got pregnant, I had put on some pounds, but apparently my body was an efficient machine during pregnancy and I gained less than 15 lbs throughout the whole thing. With the help of breastfeeding, I've been able to continue to shed some weight, and am now fitting in to clothes that I haven't even looked at for about a year and a half! It is truly a great feeling! I am currently about 20lbs lighter than BEFORE I got pregnant. Let me just say, I could look a whole lot better if I actually ate right and exercised, but I am taking this one step at a time.

Because of tomorrow, I'm sitting here dreaming about laying out by the pool and catching some rays and remembered that I need to probably wash my swimsuit since it's brand new. I got a steal on a new Michael Kors swimsuit on eBay and it's been waiting for me to break it out. I went to go put it in the wash and decided to try it on. I had these visions of it fitting great and covering me in all the right spots... well my hopes were just shattered. Swimsuits are evil and they can bring even the most confident person down. I'm having flashbacks of being 8 years old screaming "I'm fat! Fat as a COW!" That's it. It's time to buy a Wholesomewear version. I'm off to eat some Easter candy...

4 Months & Growing!

2009-04-12T18:00:00.016-05:00

Wow, 4 months. I can't believe I'm already typing this! In fact, we've been having so much fun with our little "big girl" that I haven't posted an entry for 2 weeks! And we've had some big things happen in the last 2 weeks. I do have a good excuse, though. I have been having issues with my laptop lately and last week it completely crapped out. Knowing close to nothing about computer maintenance, I just figured my computer was a gonner and was figuring out how I was going to buy a new one. As a last resort, I asked Kate's husband, Ron, to look at it. With a couple hours of hard work, he was able to find 12 viruses and get rid of them all. Yikes! No worries, though, I now have an anti-virus program doing for me what I should have been doing all along. It's amazing how well my computer is running now! I am guessing this is what it should have been like all along :)

The biggest news is that Autumn is officially rolling over (and over, and over, and over). This happened on March 31. I had her on the floor on her play gym and I was working. She was trying so hard to roll herself over and making lots of noise doing so. After about an hour of trying, she finally flipped over. I was so proud! She rolled over one more time before Jeremy came home and then Hailey came over to see for herself. Once Hailey and I got down on the floor with her, she became a pro! The funny thing was that we made her do it so many times, she wore herself out. She would get half-way there and find her thumb and stop completely. I tried to get the first day of rolling over so many times, and the below video was my best attempt. Now, though, she's rolling over without any delays. It has quickly become her favorite hobby and she tries it whenever we lay her down (as a side note, I am finally getting some real use out of the sleep positioner!).

I believe that this burst in activity has also led to helping her sleep through the night. For about a week now, we have been putting her down to sleep at about 8 and she is sleeping through the night! She has been waking up anywhere between 730 and 8am and there are no complaints from me! The flipside to that is that she completely wears herself out and tends to get fussier than normal, especially at bedtime.

Last weekend, Aunt Kate gave us another photoshoot for Autumn. I am absolutely in love with the results. My sister is truly an amazing photographer and I'm so lucky to have her! The idea began with a really cute hat that my mom bought for Autumn:

The above picture was taken in my living room and I knew that Kate could do a much better job... And boy did she ever deliver!

Kate also mentioned that she had some fake fur and the wheels started turning in my head. I realized that we didn't have any naked baby on fur pictures so I asked Kate if she'd take a couple of those... I am absolutely certain that we'll be able to embarrass Autumn with this one in the future. Just wait till she starts dating!

Oh, I just can't get enough of this smile...
At the end of the photoshoot, my little girl was so pooped! I was holding her in my arms and stroking her cheek, and Kate snapped this shot. I literally teared up when I saw it. I think it's such a beautiful picture!
Autumn turned 4 months exactly last Monday. We celebrated by taking Autumn to her 4 month doctor's appointment on Tuesday, haha. She weighed in at 14lb 8oz and is now 24 1/2 inches long, both in the 52nd percentile. Our pediatritian was very impressed with her chubby rolls and her big ol' smiles. She was also impressed with her rolling over and said that she's advanced developmentally (I wouldn't expect anything less!). We also discussed starting solids at 6 months which I am secretly really excited for! I keep going by all of the fun baby foods at HEB and wanting to buy them. I actually put some in my basket a couple weeks ago because they were on sale, but put them back when I realized how silly I was being. 2 weeks before our next appointment, I get to start her on cereal and oatmeal. That week just happens to be the week that we are all going to be in Leakey for our annual vacation so that is one more thing that I get to look forward to! I'm glad because I'll be able to devote more time to it, instead of hurrying through the motions while trying to get work done. Unfortunately we had to get 4 more shots which was no fun at all.

On the work front, my friend Tenley is now coming over 3 times a week to help me with Autumn while I work. I absolutely love having her here, as I know that she loves Autumn almost as much as I do. She plays with her, sings to her, takes her on walks and reads to her (among other things!), all of which I would be doing if I didn't have that pesky work thing to deal with!

And finally, we drove to Bryan to celebrate Easter with my family today! We had a wonderful time and stuffed our faces. Autumn got passed around to many people and was completely pooped when we got home. The drive was filled with bluebonnets which inspired me to change the header for this blog. It also made me realize that I need to figure out a way to get Autumn in a field to snap the obligatory Texas Bluebonnet and Child picture. Since she's not actually sitting up yet by herself, we may have to do a little photoshopping fun. I'm not sure I want to go lay her out in a field of weeds...

By the way, thanks Auntie E for our new bunny slippers! They're really warm and they are adorable!

Not sure it gets much better than this

2009-03-30T17:38:00.003-05:00

Autumn started truly laughing today, which I fortunately was able to prop up the camera and catch this afternoon.

Believe you me, we need a couple of laughs around here... we just found out that the hail storm destroyed our one year old roof and it needs to be completely replaced. Apparently it ruined every roof on our street. Oh joy!

Out and About part 2 (sans baby)

2009-03-29T21:36:00.007-05:00

Jeremy and I were able to have some time to ourselves like we did before we had a baby! My mom dropped in for the weekend to let us have a little adult fun! On Saturday, we drove down to Gruene Hall for the day for some mexican food (yummm... Adobe Verde) and fine Texas music. A lot of people love Gruene for the shopping, but I'm not sure that type of shopping is for me. I have enough crap in my house and I think all of that stuff is overpriced anyways. So after the food, we walked over to Gruene Hall for the free afternoon concert and some Shiner Bock. I had not heard of the people playing (Gary Claxton, Erik Hokkanen & Friends), but we were up for anything. It was old classic country and we had a blast. There was this gal on the steel guitar who was badass and then a guitar/fiddle player that was just amazing. I turned on my camera when he started a version of the Orange Blossom Special and got a bit of the song which I'll post here for your enjoyment :) He really brought the house down!

It was really nice to enjoy some adult beverages and get away for a couple of hours to remind me what we used to do on weekends, although Autumn was a good part of our conversation while we were gone.

Speaking of my little genius, she is learning more and more every day! She's started to sing (well, when I sing to her she sings back at me). While she may not yet be on key, I'm convinced that she'll be the winner of the 25th season of American Idol. She loves music and I've started to sit her in my lap while I play the piano and she seems to really respond to it.

She really loves being outside and we've been going on daily walks. We had been using our "mall stroller" but it's kind of a rough ride on our sidewalks. I found a great deal on a 3-wheel stroller that I've had my eye on, so I bought it last week. It's pretty nice for what I paid for it, and Autumn likes it too! She looks so tiny in it right now!

She has also started to grab things and try to put them in her mouth. She concentrates so hard when she's reaching for her toys (or my hair, or my shirt...) and when she gets it, you can see the look of relief. Then the wheels start turning when she's trying to figure out what to do with it once she's got it. It's the most amazing thing to watch her figure things out and learn. I'm so proud of my little girl!

The thumb-sucking has been mastered with both thumbs now, but she still loves her pacifier. I'm glad that she's learned to soothe herself when the paci is not readily available and that should make the transition to her big girl bed and out of our bedroom all that much easier (on her; definitely not on me)! Wouldn't you want this to be the first thing you saw when you woke up every morning??

Or if I'm really lucky, I'll wake up first and get to see this face...

What the hail?

2009-03-26T17:48:00.006-05:00

Last night, we had a horrible hail storm hit our neighborhood! I have seen hail a couple of times in my life, but nothing ever like this. It was terrifying. There was golfball-sized hail hitting the windows and the side of our house and the sounds that those ice pellets made were just awful! The whole thing lasted about 15 minutes, and when it was over, Jeremy and I looked outside to survey the damage. Here is the view of our backyard afterwards.

Last weekend, Jeremy spent hours planting new plants and making our yard beautiful. Unfortunately, they were all damaged by the storm. Beforehand, this little garden was full of beautiful red flowers in an attempt to attract hummingbirds...

Ironically, right after the storm, Jeremy saw our first hummingbird visitor at the feeders that made it through the storm!!

And here is the view out our front door. It looks like it snowed! You can see the steam coming off of our street...

Jeremy's truck was in the shop, which we were thankful for until we got the call today that they had moved it from the nice safe bay to their open lot right before the storm came in. That makes a lot of sense, right? There are a couple dings in his hood, and as you can imagine, he's not too pleased with their customer service!

We did have one casualty as a result of the hail. One little white-winged dove was in the wrong place at the wrong time and didn't make it through the storm. Poor little guy! Jeremy gave him a funeral and he's now in his final resting place. RIP little dove!

Jeremy and Autumn went for a walk around our neighborhood tonight and apparently our street got the worst of the storm. There's tree leaves and limbs all over the yards on our street that are going to be a blast to clean up. Thank goodness I have a husband that likes to work outside!

Out and About

2009-03-22T18:03:00.006-05:00

Since I work from home, it's absolutely necessary that I leave the house on the weekends. Unfortunately, I'm not very creative when it comes to going places, so most times leaving the house means going shopping. While I enjoy shopping as much as the next gal, I absolutely cannot afford to do it 2 full days a week! It's also difficult to come up with places to take a 3 1/2 month old as well. Once Autumn gets a little older, I know that a lot of options will open up, but for now, taking her out of the house is a full production!

When Jeremy and I first started dating we liked to go fishing. Those days, I was trying to impress him, so I'd even bait my own hook! (Those days are long gone since I know he'll do it for me, ha ha). He once took me to this little park north of Leander on the North San Gabirel River called Camp Tejas. They have a great little walking trail that's about just less than a mile and then it opens up at the river where there's lots of space to fish and just lay out a blanket and enjoy the sun. Before I got pregnant, we started to get healthy and would take the jeep and the dogs up there and get in a little exercise while enjoying the outdoors. We stopped going when I was pregnant and kind of just forgot about our little retreat.

Well our Autumn is an outside girl!! So yesterday, we decided to take Autumn up to Camp Tejas so we could all enjoy this beautiful weather that we've been having. So we packed a water/bottle cooler (our cooler these days is so different than the pre-Autumn days!), a blanket, some diapers, our little kangaroo pouch, and Dolly and Abby (Sunny can't go on long walks because of her hips) in the Jetta and hit the road! Jeremy was disappointed that I wouldn't let Autumn ride in the Jeep just yet, but that is not something that I am ready for. Once we got there, we loaded Autumn in the kangaroo pouch and I loaded up a backpack with our necessities and we hit the trail. We had a great little walk down to the river and laid out our blanket, which our dogs quickly jumped on, and sat to rest a little. Unfortunately, once we sat down, Autumn got fussy. I tried to feed her a little, but she wasn't having any of that, so we had to pack up and head on back to the car. While we didn't get to stay as long as I wanted, we did have a nice day out. I got some cute pictures too!

On the way back, we found out why Autumn was fussy... She was pooped! Luckily, her daddy didn't care that she wanted a little nap while he walked. If only we were all so lucky! Unfortunately they don't make these kangaroo carriers in adult size...

As a side note, I'm open to any and all suggestions of things to do and places to go with Autumn :)

Mommy's big girl!

2009-03-19T18:34:00.003-05:00

Once again, I feel as if I'm slacking in the blog posting department. Having 3 full-time jobs (a day job, being a mom, and housework) is really starting to take its toll on me. Unfortunately when I'm feeling extra overwhelmed, as I was last week, the one that is neglected turns out to be my housework. While I'm not too worried about my work wardrobe, Jeremy actually has to wear real clothes every day. So this week has been laundry-city! You would think the answer to my problem would be to have Jeremy pop in a load of laundry here and there, but I've learned my lesson. I don't want my whites to become pinks again. I've done what feels like 100 loads. I seriously need to win the lotto so I can hire someone do to my chores.

So, a lot has happened since I last posted here! Two weekends ago, we went to Mansfield for Autumn's baptism. On the way, we stopped to meet another of Autumn's boyfriend. We stopped at Joan and Wes' house in Burleson on the way to cuddle with William, who was born on March 1. He is super cute and I can't wait to watch him grow up! Aren't they a cute couple?
Autumn's baptism was Sunday morning in Mansfield. She was a perfect baby. They had a big screen at the front of the church so they were filming it while it was happening and we were told that they were focused on Autumn during the baptism and she was making cute faces and keeping everyone entertained. Already a little ham! I can't wait to see the video! Autumn wore her great-grandmother's dress (my grandmother) which is 84 years old. Here's a picture that Aunt Kate took in the dress.
Here is a picture of us with Jeremy's parents. Don't we clean up nice? Although for some reason I look bigger than everyone else in this picture...

Yesterday, I officially gave in to the fact that Autumn's 0-3 month clothes aren't really fitting very well anymore. So I put her in her first 3-6 month outfit! My little girl is getting so big and I can't do anything to stop it. We also bought size 2 diapers this weekend and, while they're just a tiny bit big, my guess is that she'll be in them next week after the size 1s that we have left are gone.

These last 2 weeks have been full of new behavior as well. Autumn has learned to blow spit bubbles (I'm so proud!) and if you blow a raspberry at her, she'll copy you and blow one back. She also gives you a really big smile! It's just about the cutest thing I've ever seen. The following video was taken yesterday morning.

The second big accomplishment is that after weeks of eating her fists, she's finally found her thumb. And it's a great thumb! Here is a question for ya... Autumn is a right-handed thumb-sucker. Does that mean that she'll be right-handed? I searched for an answer on the internet but the answers were conflicting. The first picture was taken last Sunday, the first time she found it.

It took a couple of days, but today she officially became a pro...These last two weeks have been very busy at work, so I'm officially looking to hire someone a couple days a week to help me out in the house. This week, Jeremy's mom has been on spring break, so she was here Sunday through Wednesday morning to help me with Autumn during the day while I worked. I was able to get so much done and today it's been back to flying solo, which has really given me incentive to finding someone. Wish me luck!

Autumn and her new boyfriend, Graham

2009-03-06T18:17:00.001-06:00

We took Autumn on her first date with her new boyfriend, Graham, last night. Aunt Kate took a picture to commemorate the occasion.She may be a little bigger than him now, but I know that not too long from now, he's gonna grow! Once again, I cannot believe how lucky I am to have so many close friends that are having babies. The question was asked last night whether or not they were going to like eachother and my answer is, without a doubt, yes! I am confident that these two are going to cause plenty of trouble together and I just can't wait :)

Sleep, Sleep, Glorious Sleep

2009-03-05T17:31:00.003-06:00

Since I have updated the Internet on the status of my daughter's sleep, I feel obligated to type out the latest...

So last Thursday night, it happened. The night that we've all been waiting for! We put Autumn down at 9pm and she slept the entire night and woke me up at 6am. Let me tell you, that little one was hungry! But she lived and I was so proud of her for sleeping through the night! Unfortunately the good times didn't last long. The next 2 nights she went back to her old ways of waking up at 3am to have me rock her back to sleep. Sunday night, though, she surprised us all and slept through the night again! The last couple of nights she has been restless throughout the night, but was able to be settled with a pacifier. So technically she is not sleeping through the night, but I'm ok with it! I'm not having to get up, I just roll over and stick the pacifier in her mouth and she will go back to sleep until about 530, when feeding is necessary! I think we're doing pretty good if I do say so myself and I am proud!

This week has marked a noticeable difference in her personality. She has been extra smiley and very talkative. It's just amazing how alert she is! She also obviously likes and dislikes things as well. Right now, she can be as smiley as ever and as soon as I hold up the camera, we get a frown-y face! What a little stinker. As far as things she likes, I bought her a play gym and she will smile at the hanging-down toys and talk to them as well. She's kicking them with her feet and will bat at the toys to the best of her abilities! I feel that her grabbing things is just around the corner. This weekend is Autumn's baptism, so that will be exciting! She's ready, but I'm still working on me. I haven't bought a dress for myself in a while, so finding one for this occasion has been especially trying. It's difficult to find something that makes me feel pretty and actually fits as well. I have one that I found from Banana Republic that is on a delivery truck on its way to me and I'm seriously crossing my fingers that it's going to fit. I'm not sure what I'm going to do if it doesn't! Autumn's dress, however, is my grandmother's. It's 84 years old and still in really good shape I must say! I tried it on her the other day and she looks like an angel. Well, if I'm being honest, she would look like an angel in anything, but this dress is really special :)

Here are some pics from this week. Her cheeks are getting bigger every day! I think she's smuggling something in them :)

Populating Texas!

2009-03-03T20:21:00.000-06:00

Wow, it's really easy to get out of the habit of writing on your blog! This is the longest stretch of time that I've gone since I started this thing and I feel like I have so much to catch up on.

Last week, Autumn and I both got colds. I know there's really no way to cure a cold, but there sure are medicines to make you feel better! Unfortunately, Autumn can't take any because she's too little and I can't take the good ones because I'm breastfeeding. So we both had to suffer through. We're fine now, but that was no fun!

I have a wonderful announcement! In the past 2 weeks, 3 of my friends have delivered healthy baby boys! Noah Monroe was born on Feb 18: Next came Graham Robert on Feb 26: And finally, we have William Wesley on March 1:
I would like to congratulate all of my friends on their new additions and wish them the best :) I have personally cuddled with the first two and will get to love on William this weekend! I can't believe that all of my friends just had boys. I do, however, love that there will be no shortage of playmates for my little one because all of these kiddos are going to be the same age!

Speaking of Autumn's running buddies, Felicia came up to Austin last weekend to see her best friend, Autumn! Elizabeth and I needed a day off of work, so we took last Friday to take a road trip to Fredericksburg and Luckenbach. We started off the day at our favorite restaurant, Auslanders, for a German Snack and some sausage and sauerkraut potato skins! I swear, I cannot get enough of those things. The only downside to the day was that it ended up being really hot! I had Autumn dressed in some jeans and a Polo shirt, but ended up having to buy her a little cotton bubble outfit because she was burning up. I did learn that old ladies LOVE to give their unsolicited opinion about how you are raising your child and the general consensus of the day was that I was a horrible mother for taking my teeny baby out of the house and in to that hot weather. I cannot tell you how many times I heard "How old is that baby?" with an accompanying dirty look. By the 20th time I was asked that, I decided that I needed to either tell them that I had just given birth in the car and needed some crap at their stores or that she was actually 7 and had a rare disorder that she would never get any bigger than she was. What I really wanted to say was that I had been cooped up in the house for the last 3 months and needed to be FREEEEEEEEEE! but I just answered their questions and went on my way. I guess the suggestions of what I should and should not be doing will never go away. It was just my first time to experience it and I'm not a fan.

Elizabeth and I also decided that we suck as photographers. We took about 15 pics of the entire day and they are all stinky. So we called in the professional! On Sunday, Kate came over and took some pictures of the two girls. Elizabeth and I bought them some coordinating outfits (they're really gonna hate us when they get older) and we had a little photoshoot. The funny thing is that Felicia wanted nothing to do with Autumn this time, so every time we'd try and put Autumn in Felicia's lap, she would push her away. I think that Kate was able to get a couple of good ones, though.
It's official, our children are adorable.

Sleeping through the night update

2009-02-18T18:05:00.002-06:00

When Autumn's doctor and I were discussing the way to get her on the path to sleeping through the night, I made the comment that everything up to this point has been so easy with her that I knew that this was going to be our downfall. The doctor responded that Autumn may surprise me and leave the difficult days until adolescence. Well, after a week of diligently practicing what my doctor suggested, Autumn has proven to amaze me once more!! I was really skeptical about the whole plan, but I kept an open mind about it. I mean, if you're used to getting food at 3am and suddenly it's cut off, wouldn't you be pissed? I especially expected push back on this new plan from the little one who really enjoys her milk (see previous post with her now current weight of 11lbs!).

We started the plan last Thursday night and have worked on it every night since. The first 3 nights, we put Autumn down at 9pm after a bath, some books and some milk and she woke up at 3am. I waited the appropriate time (2, 4, and then 6 minutes of her crying), then picked her up and she was easily rocked back to sleep in my arms. Sunday and Monday nights proved to be a bit more challenging, as she woke up at 2am both nights, but the 8 and 10 minutes of crying were brutal. I felt like such a horrible mother! She was screaming for me and I had to just lay there and listen. I watched that clock like a hawk and as soon as the time was up, I jumped up and got my baby. Last night, I was shocked to wake up at 3am and see her peacefully sleeping away! I even had to check to make sure that she was breathing because she was so still! I went back to sleep and she woke up at about 4:15 am and I was able to rock her back to sleep once again. 7 whole hours of sleep! That may not be officially sleeping throught the night, but I know we're at least on the right track!

On a lighter note, a funny thing happened this morning. Kate was over helping me with Autumn and so she changed her diaper and put some little pants on her and then fed her. About 30 minutes later, after the bottle was empty, Kate picked Autumn back up to head to the kitchen and we noticed that something was not quite right with her pants... See for yourself!

How she managed to do that (without noticing!), we will never know. I think Aunt Kate needs to practice putting on baby clothes a little more...

Because I'm too tired to type anything...

2009-02-16T21:46:00.007-06:00

I shall make you smile!!

I also wanted to share this video... We got this Jeep for Autumn when I was about 5 months pregnant and Jeremy has been dying to break it out ever since. It may be a little premature, but Autumn had her very first Jeep ride today!

And then, so did Sunny...

Particularly Rough Day for Autumn

2009-02-12T16:50:00.004-06:00

This morning, we went to the Pediatritian for Autumn's 2 month appointment and boy was I surprised when they put her little chunky monkey self on the scale and it read 11 pounds even! My mom and I had another side bet on the weight and goodness gracious I was off. My bet was under 10 1/4 pounds and hers was over. I guess you can't win 'em all! She is now 22 1/2 inches long which puts her in the 50th percentile for both height and weight. Perfection :)

We also discussed how to get on the path to sleeping 10-12 hours every night, which seems like a zillion years away from where we are right now. Autumn has slept 6 hours straight a total of 3 times, and they were not in a row. She usually sleeps 3-4 hours at a time now. But I have the prescription from the doctor of how to work towards that long stretch of sleep. Tonight I'm supposed to ignore her when she first wakes up in the middle of the night and let her get to a full-on cry. After 2 minutes of that crying, I'm allowed to pick her up and comfort her, but not to feed her (unless I can't take it anymore and I give in). From what I'm being told, her mid-night feed is not necessary and is just for comfort at this stage. We'll see how this goes tonight, but I don't have high hopes.

The one ray of sunshine during the appointment was when we were discussing what Autumn can do. They asked if she is smiling (definitely yes!), following objects with her eyes (check!), responding to sounds (have you seen her impression of the movie Teen Wolf??). She's right on target developmentally in all of those areas. I mentioned that when I hold her up in a standing position, she pushes back with her legs and will stand there with support and the doctor said "really?". So she tried it, and sure enough, my little one performed! And the doctor's response was "Wow, that's early!". Yep, folks, I've got a prodigy on my hands!

The worst part of the whole appointment was at the end when she received 4 shots. There were 2 in each thigh and she screamed as expected. She did amazingly good afterwards, though. I guess that short memory span really helps out in certain situations. I think I did pretty good during the torture. While she was laying on the table, I just leaned over her and did not watch the huge needles being plunged into my daughter again and again. I just tried to comfort her and tell her it was all going to be okay.

After Autumn's 3pm feeding today, she started crying a horrible screaming cry and I suspect it's due to the 4 shots that she received this morning! I'm sure the baby Tylenol that she received this morning has officially worn off. I have a feeling that the sleep regimen is not going to go as planned tonight. She doesn't feel good and I know it. I don't think I'm going to be able to hear her scream for 2 full minutes! Oh well, we can really start trying tomorrow!

Family Photo Shoot!

2009-02-08T19:36:00.005-06:00

Today we went to Kate's for our very first real family photo shoot! We had a great time and got some great pics. Thank you, Kate! You are so incredibly talented :)

Tomorrow is Autumn's 2 month pediatritian appointment where she will get her first big round of immunizations. I mentioned previously that I may need to be sedated for it and I still feel the same. The one good thing that is going to come out of all of this is that we will no longer be under house arrest. Autumn will be able to officially venture out in to the world! YIPPEE!!!

Autumn, Week 8

2009-02-06T23:18:00.006-06:00

This has been another week of milestones for my little prodigy! I was finally able to witness Autumn rolling over! On Tuesday, after our bathtime, we went to have some important tummy time and as soon as I put Autumn on her tummy, she flipped over. I really saw it this time! I ran to get the video camera to make sure that it was documented this time. As soon as I turned on the camera she did it again (twice) and then I ran out of tape. Go figure. I took my extra blank tapes to Bryan last weekend, and I'm not sure where they are now, so we didn't get any more footage. It's not as if I can take the videos off of the camera yet, since I still don't have the right software, haha! Someday I hope to get it and I will keep my promise of posting the videos here.

I also discovered the greatest baby clothing invention known to man. Babylegs! They're basically just big legwarmers resurrected straight from my childhood. But what a great idea for babies! They serve the purpose of keeping the legs warm, but there is no elastic on Autumn's tummy to irritate her. And there are no pants that have to be removed during diaper changes! They're awesome, hands down. I'm done with pants, I must have these in every color. Not to mention, they are absolutely PRECIOUS! You be the judge, these are the Rainbow Brite version :)

Autumn has been extra smiley all week and this morning was no exception. After learning that her favorite song is Bicycle Race by Queen (no joke, I watched the kid smile and laugh throughout the whole song!), I hooked up my newly purchased webcam. Here is my first attempt. I was on the phone with my mom as I was playing with it, so hers is the voice in the background. Look how strong my little girl's neck is! And try not to smile with all of those smiles and coos that Autumn throws out! I have to apologize both for the poor quality of the video and for the way I look. I don't get dressed up a lot these days!

Tomorrow is the baby shower for Jessica and baby Gonzo! She's almost 38 weeks, so he could come any day now! I know this sounds crazy, but I'm ready for another tiny baby (not necessarily to have in my home, but one to hold and love on)! Autumn is getting to be such a big girl! The next thing you know, I'll be posting about her first steps or her first day of school. OK, that may be stretching it a little, but she's not getting any younger!

On Sunday, we'll be taking our first official family pictures! Stay tuned for the results...

Busy weekend in Aggieland!

2009-02-02T20:47:00.000-06:00

We had a wonderful time in Bryan/College Station last weekend. Autumn and I headed east because I was going to attend a shower for my pregnant friend, Joan. We started our trip on Friday and made a pit stop in the grand ol' town of Caldwell to see Sarah, Dave, and Emilee Jenkins. Emilee is now 9 months old and absolutely gorgeous! She was crawling all over the place and all smiles. We wore her out, but snapped a picture of the two girls on our way out.

We then headed to Granny Nell's house, where Autumn was smothered with kisses. Needless to say, she didn't mind one bit!

On Saturday afternoon, I went to Joan's shower. Joan looks amazing for being 34 weeks pregnant and I had a great time! Unfortunately I didn't take my camera, d'oh! After the shower, we headed over to GiGi's house for more kisses! I did take my camera for that one, though and got a sweet picture of the two!

Saturday night was one that Autumn had been waiting for for a long time. It was finally time to meet her future running buddy, Felicia! Elizabeth and I are convinced that we're going to have our hands full with these two. They'll be spending every summer together for the rest of their lives as far as we're concerned (whether they like it or not, haha). We joked that Autumn will be saying "do I have to spend time with Felicia again?" and Felicia will be saying the same about Autumn. These days, though, we can make them like each other! We sat Autumn in Felicia's lap and started snapping. Although we didn't get a great picture of the two girls, we did record the meeting and we will cherish these pics forever!

Before we headed home on Sunday, Autumn got a visit from Joan, Wes, and William Zurovec. William is going to be another of Autumn's boyfriends when he arrives!

I feel so blessed that we have so many friends that have children that are relatively the same age. Autumn will have no shortage of friends to play with, that's for sure!

Big News!

2009-01-27T18:06:00.001-06:00

After lunchtime today, I took Autumn upstairs to have her bath. After a wonderful time in the bath, we went and got dressed as usual. I put her down on her tummy time blanket face down as always and realized that I forgot her pacifier, which is a necessity during tummy time. I knew that there was a spare in our bedroom, which is right across the hall, so I ran over to pick it up. When I came back in the room, I was shocked to see my little girl on her back!! I recently read that she should start rolling over to one side soon, but I did not believe it. I rolled her back over and went to pick up the video camera because I want proof of this day. So I got back to the room, set up the video camera, and waited. Unfortunately, Autumn did not want to oblige and I have about 10 minutes of uneventful video of her on her tummy (which by the way I still have no way to get off of the camera, but I'm still working on that issue).

This event makes me sad because it is 100% proof that she's growing up. These next couple of days/months/years are going to be filled with milestones, all of which I will document here (hopefully!). I know that this is a big one, but is definitely the first of many. I just can't believe that I missed it.

After I turned off the camera, I read Autumn the only "cry" book that I have, which is called Someday. It's all about a mom and a little girl and talks about the things that the little girl will do in her lifetime and at the end it says something like that she will look back and remember her mommy when she's gone. I didn't get more than about 4 pages in the book before I just started bawling. I cried the rest of the book and made Autumn promise that she's never going to get any bigger. She promised, I swear.

Autumn, 7 weeks

2009-01-25T19:59:00.009-06:00

We are still working on our smiles. Some days she smiles the whole day, and others, not at all! I really can't wait until she's all smiles, which I hear could be right around the corner. I'm still working on getting the precious videos off of the camera, and I soon as do, I'll post them as proof!

Yesterday, we had some people over for a couple of hours. Autumn got to spend some quality time with her Granny Randy, PaPa Edwin, and Uncle Max, which she absolutely loved! Sam and Jessica also came over, since this could be one of the last weekends that they have without their new addition! I'm personally ready for baby Gonzo to be born. Autumn and her new boyfriend got to spend some quality time together, and I know she already has a crush on him! I got a cute picture of the two of them... Autumn thought he was really comfy to lay on. See for yourself!

Last night we hit a huge milestone... Autumn and I both slept for 6 hours straight! I made the comment to Jeremy that this was the longest stretch of time that I have slept since I got pregnant. I am hoping that this wasn't a fluke. We'll see what happens tonight!

And finally, we had another photoshoot with Aunt Kate today. We got some precious shots that I am going to love forever! There are many more than this, and I'll post some more later. I'm saving the best as a surprise!

Nap Time

2009-01-23T20:42:00.002-06:00

Since Autumn likes to take naps, a lot of my pictures are of her sleeping. Lucky for her, she rarely has to nap alone. Here are a couple of my favorites...

With Aunt Kate and her cousin, Saffron

With her sisters, Abby and Sunny

With her Daddy With her sister, Dolly

Don't you wish you were as lucky as this little one to have so many naptime friends?

Autumn at 6 Weeks

2009-01-20T17:25:00.005-06:00

I am finding it hard to believe that my little girl is already 6 weeks old. She is still such a tiny little girl, but she is growing every day! We have found a couple of 0-3 month-sized outfits that don't completely swallow her, which is really exciting. I was getting a little tired of seeing the same shirt and pant combos day after day! I cleaned out her drawer and pulled out the clothes that absolutely don't fit her anymore to make room for the new additions (not that I've bought any more clothes, we're just starting to rotate the right sized ones in!). Another thing relating to her size is that she officially does not fit in the Pampers size N diapers anymore! Unfortunately, she doesn't fit in the next size up, which are the 1s, so thanks to my friend Angela, I was redirected to the Huggies size N, which fit! It's sad to say that I've really come to rely on the indicator line on the diaper which tells me if she's wet or not, and thankfully both brands have them. I swear, diapers these days are really good at not letting you know when the baby is wet, so as a new mom, seeing that little line is reassuring.

Another development is that Autumn has begun to realize that her hands work! I see her batting at the things that we've been hanging over her head, she just doesn't quite know how to grab them yet. I'm sure we'll get there soon! She has learned to grab on to me, which I absolutely love. I will have her on my lap while I'm working and she grabs on to my collar and it's just the most precious thing I've ever seen. It's almost as if she is telling me that she's willing to take a nap as long as she knows that I'm not going to put her down! I am sure that these are not the beginning signs of separation anxiety, it is only that she loves her mommy and would rather be in my arms than in her swing or her cradle!
And finally, we officially have smiles. Real, pure smiles! I even captured it on the video camera today, and as soon as Hailey lends me the software to actually get the videos on to the computer, I will post it here. It's a wonderful sight and it will melt any heart!

On a final note, I am looking for a gadget to view my Picasa photos with. I added one... Let me know what you think (or if you can suggest a better one)!

My sister, the Photoshop genius

2009-01-17T19:23:00.003-06:00

Pediatritian Appointment: 5 weeks

2009-01-15T18:38:00.001-06:00

This week has been one of many challenges! I started back to work on Monday, which was inevitable. Kate came over on Monday morning to help me with Autumn and I am so thankful that she did! About 2pm, I ran upstairs to get something, and on my way back down I rolled my foot and went down like a ton of bricks! While I was in pain and couldn't stand right away, I thought I'd live, so I just limped over to my desk and began working again. My foot started to swell and the pain started to get worse, so Kate and I thought it was a good idea to go to the doctor to get it checked out. One doctor's appointment and one x-ray later, and it was confirmed that the foot was not broken, but he advised that I keep off of it and to use crutches whenever possible. My question is, how do you use crutches with a newborn?? So basically I have just been limping around the house for the last couple of days. And my mom came down to help us out as well. It's a lot better now, but the side of my foot is an odd shade of black! YUCK.

Autumn had just been growing like a little weed these days. I have been anxious to take her to the doctor to find out how much she weighs now, and yesterday was the day I had been waiting for. While my mom was here, she was trying to tell me that Autumn was at least 10 pounds, and I thought that was a little excessive. We decided to make a side bet about her weight! My guess was that she was between 7 3/4 and 8 3/4 pounds. My mom's guess was between 8 3/4 and 9 3/4 pounds and the prize was a Starbucks drink after the appointment. My mom was trying to cheat by feeding her extra milk, but I was still confident. When we arrived at the appointment, they took her to the scale, and she was 8 pounds, 11 1/2 ounces, which meant that I won by 1/2 ounce! She is now 20 3/4 inches long. That puts her in the 40th percentile for both her height and weight. The doctor was very pleased at her size and I was praised for my breastfeeding abilities. We had a good chat with the doctor, and Autumn had to get a shot, which she screamed through. I don't blame her one bit, though. The needle had to be as long as her little thigh is wide and I was convinced that it was going to come out the other side. The next doctor's appointment is her 2 month, and she will be getting 4 shots and something up her nose. I just may need a sedative for that one...

I can't believe that my little girl is almost 6 weeks old. She is really starting to take in her surroundings and is more and more alert each day. She is holding her head up with less bobbling and making more and more noises each day. I think she's going to be a talker when she grows up! It breaks my heart to look back at her teeny tiny baby pictures and realize that she's just going to keep getting bigger! I wish she could stay this little forever...

They don't grow up fast enough!

2009-01-04T12:08:00.006-06:00

I know that is an odd title for a posting from a new mom, but I have a reason... Never in a million years did I ever think that I would have a small baby. My whole pregnancy, Jeremy's mom told me that he was a 10 pound baby and I was convinced that Autumn would be big as well. When she was born weighing 6 pounds and 7 ounces, we had to go out and buy clothes that would fit her because in that full closet that I had ready, not one thing would fit her! The 0-3 months-sized clothes were enormous and so we went and bought a couple of shirts that were newborn sized (that are supposed to fit up to 8 pounds). I was convinced that she would wear them for a week or two, and then we would be able to dive in to the clothes that we already had. Well, here we are 4 weeks later, and the newborn clothes are just now fitting her perfectly! So it's going to be a little bit before we get to all of those precious 0-3 months clothes that we already have.

The same goes for diapers. I was ready with size 1 diapers waiting for my new baby, which are for 8-14 pound babies. Needless to say, we had to purchase some size N diapers, which are for 7-10 pounders. I had a stockpile which I was going through and had decided that we were going to go up to the size 1s when I went through them. Yesterday was the day! My little girl was going to be out of her Ns and in to her 1s, and I was convinced that the timing was right. While I was out of the house, daddy put her first size 1 on and when I returned, mentioned that he thought it was a little big. When it was time for the next changing, it was my turn. The diaper was so big, it went half-way up her chest! We powered through the night with the huge diapers, but needless to say, I made a trip to Target today to buy some more sized N diapers.

Sharon and I went to Walmart the other day and saw a teensy baby. It had to be fresh out of the belly. After I got over my shock at seeing a brand new baby in the most germ-infested place in the entire world, it made me realize just how much my little one has grown in the last 4 weeks. And although she is a whole lot bigger than she was, she is still my little bird. I told myself today to just enjoy these little days, as I know I'm not going to get nearly enough of them.

First Milestone?

2009-01-02T19:19:00.002-06:00

Tomorrow Autumn turns 4 weeks old! I cannot believe how fast she is growing. Her little personality is just popping up everywhere and I am still loving every second of it!

Today, I am convinced that she smiled her first real smile and that it was not gas, as everyone keeps telling me that these are. She had just finished her breakfast and had given me a very productive burp. I had her on her back and was talking to her and making funny faces like I do every day. All of a sudden, there was the first ounce of recognition in her eyes and she looked right at me and smiled! At first, I thought it was just a coincidence, but then she did it again! I couldn't get her to do it a third time, but I know that this had to be the real thing.

According to the mommy articles I can't get enough of, it's normal for a baby to start smiling at 4 to 6 weeks, and Autumn has been ahead of the curve from the get go (except for in the weight department, which we are seriously working on). When she was 3 weeks old, I received an article in my email that said that by the end of 3 weeks, she should be able to lift her head during tummy time and turn it to the side. Well, we started tummy time the first week she was home, and she was able to lift and turn her head at the end of 2 weeks! It just proves that we are raising a little superstar!

A Very Merry Christmas Photo Shoot

2008-12-25T19:27:00.000-06:00

Having a new baby at Christmas was really fun. On Christmas Eve, Jeremy, Autumn and I celebrated our little family Christmas at home where we exchanged our gifts. Autumn really raked it in! Here is a pic of her with all of the loot:
While we still have a couple of weeks before we can go out in to the world, we did get to go over to Aunt Kate and Uncle Ron's for a wonderful dinner of turkey and dressing on Christmas Day. I must say, having a sister that is a photographer is definitely a plus! Here are some of our favorites from our Christmas Day Photo Shoot.

Thank you Jennifer Montgomery for the Canadian baby hat!

Jeremy and I dressed up purty so we thought we'd get a picture of us as well.

Family Pictures

2008-12-22T21:17:00.006-06:00

This past weekend, Auntie Elizabeth came to see little Autumn and to visit. On Friday night, she was gracious enough to offer her babysitting services so Jeremy and I could have our first night out since Autumn was born. I put on makeup for the first time in a while and decided that it would be best to take our first round of family portraits! Here are the results, and I think that they turned out pretty good :)

2 Week Pediatritian Appointment

2008-12-18T12:44:00.008-06:00

Today was Autumn's 2 week checkup (even though she is technically only 1 week and 4 days old). I am very pleased to announce that Autumn has officially surpassed her birth weight! She is now 6lb 8 oz (5th percentile) and 19 1/2 inches long (40th percentile). While all this percentile business is completely confusing to me, I'm told that this basically means that she is tall and skinny. I told Autumn to enjoy this time when she is tall and skinny, because the odds in this department are seriously stacked against her, my poor little dear.

The doctor is so pleased with Autumn's growth that she told me that I no longer have to wake her up in the middle of the night to feed her every 4 hours! This is a huge relief to me. Last night, I named myself the worst mother in the world because the 1am alarm that attempted to wake me up to feed my daughter didn't wake me up! I woke up at 3:30am to Autumn's hunger cries and felt so horrible about it. While I'm certain she won't sleep through the night, a longer-than-4-hour stretch of sleep tonight will be welcome.

The final thing to note about our appointment this morning was the 2 week newborn screening that Autumn was subjected to. I have been warned what was going to happen and that it would more than likely be completely traumatizing for me, but I really thought I could handle it. While my little naked daughter was held down on the examining table, she was pricked in the heel with a needle and squeezed until 5 little circles of blood were filled. She was lying there very peacefully and sucking on her pacifier and minding her own business and when the needle stuck her, I saw her eyes widen and she let out the most pitiful scream. I could practically her her saying "What the hell did you just do to me??"! Well, it turns out that I am not as strong as I thought I was, because I started bawling and didn't stop until about 5 minutes after the test was complete.

OK, enough of the small talk... it's picture time! Here is Autumn on Tuesday with her now famous after-bath hair...

Autumn with her friend, Abby...

Yesterday, Autumn got a visit from my Godmother, Jan, her Aunt Kate, and her Granny Nell.

And finally, here is my sweet little girl after her traumatic doctor's appointment today. She loves her lamb swing and the new pants that her Auntie E got her!

Photo Shoot #2

2008-12-15T21:29:00.006-06:00

Aunt Kate came over to visit today and below are some of the pictures from Autumn's second ever photo shoot. I'm pretty sure that 2 things are now confirmed:

1) I have the most beautiful baby in the world, and

2) My sister Kate is the most talented photographer in the world!

1 Week Old

2008-12-13T11:07:00.006-06:00

Autumn Leigh, you are one week old today! You are the most amazing little girl and I have no idea what I did without you. We are both learning lots and I love every second of it. I love to watch you eat, sleep, and explore the world around you. I cannot believe that you are little pieces of your daddy and me and that you lived inside of my belly for 9 months! I am having so much fun being your mommy and I am so blessed to have you. Watching you grow is something that I am absolutely looking forward to, although I wish you could stay this little forever. Your Daddy and I love you with all of our hearts, our little precious!

Follow-Up Pediatritian Appointment

2008-12-11T12:55:00.003-06:00

I am so proud of my little girl. We went to the Pediatritian today and were pleased to find that she has gained 4 ounces since yesterday. My mom made the comment that if she keeps up this trend, she will weigh about 50lbs when she's a year old! I'm sure it will all even out over time, but we're pleased to now see that she's a healthy eater, just like mommy and daddy.

Everything is going really well here at home. My mom is leaving today, and Jeremy's parents are coming to stay over the weekend to cuddle with their new grandbaby and help out around the house.

Ironically, with all of the clothes in her closet, not one thing fits. My mom and I went to Babies R Us to buy some clothes for her the other day. We bought a couple of preemie outfits, but unfortunately they're too short for her. Thankfully, we did pick up some newborn long-sleeved onesies and I do have one pair of pants from Gymboree (sized up to 7lbs) that I never in a million years imagined that she'd wear. It's so funny. I honestly imagined that with Jeremy's mom telling me for the last 9 months that Jeremy was a 10lb baby, that Autumn would be a big baby too. With a million things that she'll eventually be able to wear, all we have right now are 2 white long-sleeved onesies and a pair of reversible pants. Needless to say, there's a lot of laundry being done in this household right now. Hopefully Jeremy's mom and I will be able to get away and go to the store this weekend to pick up a couple more things for her to wear.

Autumn is such a laid back little baby. She is still eating really well and is really a pleasure to have around. She's not fussy and is starting to open her eyes a little more each day. It's so fun to see her checking out her surroundings. It is also so incredibly amazing to realize that this is the little person who was inside my belly for the last 9 months. I love her so much and absolutely cannot imagine my life without her.

First Doctor Appointment

2008-12-10T18:35:00.000-06:00

I forgot to tell the story about leaving the hospital! On Monday morning, I was MORE than ready to go home. I got close to no sleep while there. There were constantly people in and out of the room, and just not being at my own home in my own bed did not help. We were waiting around to see the pediatritian before we could get released, and a woman came in the room. She explained to me that she was the Marketing Director for the hospital and explained to me that they had a film crew on site and were making a commercial for the hospital. They were looking for a new mom and baby to interview and I happened to be the lucky candidate. They were also willing to compensate me for my time. After I explained that I had not slept for 3 days and was really not in the mood for an on-camera interview, she told me that they had a hair and makeup artist on standby. I told her that I would think about it and she gave me her contact info. In all honesty, there was no way in hell that I would have given an interview after what I had just been through, but it was still nice to be asked. I wanted to go home so bad and the thought of staying at the hospital to have my hair and makeup done was not appealing. I kept the paper with her info and plan on putting it in Autumn's baby book to commemerate her first commercial. She is destined for stardom, it is a sign! As I was being wheeled out of the hospital, I did see the camera crew and in no way felt guilty for turning them down.

Autumn's very first doctor appointment was today! When she left the hospital on Monday, she was down to 6lb 1oz and today she was 5lb 11oz. We're going in the wrong direction!! The other number to note was that she measured 19 inches. It is important to remember that at birth, she was 20 1/2 inches long. After measuring her twice, the nurse decided that she shrunk because her head is no longer pointy :) Everything else looked good. She is perfectly healthy, but the doctor was just concerned about her weight. She has lost 11% of her body weight, so now it's time to start packing on the pounds. I was advised to see a lactation consultant, and made the appointment for the LC to come over to my house later that afternoon. I also was advised that we have to come back to the doctor's tomorrow and that Autumn has to gain one whole ounce. Autumn is also not allowed to go anywhere in public for the next 8 weeks because we're right in the middle of flu season.

The appointment with the LC was very helpful. She showed me what I was doing wrong, and gave me a couple of different feeding positions to try. I feel really confident after our appointment and am ready to go full force with the breast feeding. Our prescription is to feed every 2-3 hours and then to supplement with 1-2oz of pumped breast milk.

A funny side note is that while the LC was here, I explained to her that I requested to see one multiple times while I was still in the hospital. While the nurses were helpful, I did want someone with actual expertise. The nurses kept telling me that if she showed up, they would tell her that I wanted to see her. Well, as luck would have it, the staffed Lactation Consultant never showed up while I was there, and I just figured that it was because I was there over the weekend. She smiled after I told her the story, and then proceeded to tell me that she was the LC that is on staff at the hospital. While I was tempted to ask for a discount because I should have seen her for free at the hospital rather than for $120 at my house, I held back. Oh well, the appointment at the hospital would not have been as helpful as the one at my house in my own element. I realize this, I just feel a little jipped because I didn't get the benefit of a free LC that was one of the reasons that I chose our hospital.

Very First Photo Shoot

2008-12-10T13:08:00.001-06:00

Aunt Kate came over yesterday to do Autumn's very first photo shoot. I think that she is an exceptional model!

Big Surprise :)

2008-12-09T12:45:00.003-06:00

So I haven't posted in a while for a very good reason. We were surprised last Saturday with the arrival of our new little girl! My original intentions for last weekend was to update the blog with my 37 week doctor appointment and what had been going on that last week after Thanksgiving. I got up Saturday morning and was shocked when my plans changed after my doctor suggested I head up to the hospital because there was a possibility that I was in labor!

Autumn Leigh Wallace was born December 6, 2008 at 8:17pm. I was 37weeks and 4 days along. She weighed 6lb 7.5oz and was 20 1/2 inches long. We are truly blessed.

We are all home and doing well. While this is a learning time, it's the most fun I've ever had. I am so in love with this little girl and can't wait to see her grow up.

Thanksgiving: No baby (yet)!

2008-11-28T16:28:00.006-06:00

I got to enjoy every last calorie at yesterday's Thanksgiving feast in Mansfield! Jeremy and I left Austin on Wednesday to face 4 1/2 hours of a normally 3 hour drive due to heavy traffic all the way up I-35. Yesterday consisted of eating, eating, and more eating. Autumn and I enjoyed every second of it. We're finally back home and I'm about to go work on the nursery some more. According to my d-day countdown calendar, Autumn's official due date is only 25 days away. And those days are going by at the speed of light :)

Here is a picture of the very full Wallace and Konchalski Families! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Dr Appt Update: 36 weeks

2008-11-25T17:14:00.002-06:00

I went to my 36 week appointment today, which marks the first of my weekly appointments from here on out. I was nervous about this one for a couple of reasons...
1) My weight last time was a shock to me and I really haven't changed any eating habits. I feel bigger and clunkier by the day, so I wasn't ready to have that confirmed by seeing another 4 lbs on my ass.
2) When you Google what happens during your 36 week prenatal appointment, the main subject that is returned is the Group B Strep Test. That was not something that I was necessarily looking forward to!
3) I know that realistically I could go in to labor any day now. This week contains the most eating-focused holiday of the year, which I absolutely love! Jeremy and I have planned to go to Mansfield and I was so afraid that the doctor was going to tell me that I couldn't (or shouldn't) go!

As I mentioned earlier, my nerves were a little out of whack when I arrived! I got on the scale and was pleasantly surprised to find that I've only gained 1 lb in the last 2 weeks. The doctor said that all of the weight gain tends to balance itself out overall. And I've really been the only one concerned about it up to this point (well, me and my mother that is- haha). Overall I have gained 14 lbs since the start of my pregnancy!

The nurse then took my blood pressure, which caused some concern because it was really high this time (it was something like 148/86). This sent me into visions of rushing to the hospital for an emergency delivery (making my upcoming turkey dinner farther and farther away). The nurse left the room, and the doctor came in about a minute later to retest. The second time was completely normal (around 127/80-something), thank goodness!

We then discussed my Thanksgiving trip, and my nerves have been officially settled. While she agreed that it is definitely possible that I could go in to labor while I was away from home, it was not probable. She told me to make sure that we stopped the car every hour so I could get up and walk around, and just know where the closest hospitals are just in case! She also put me at ease by checking my cervix, and she told me that I am less than a finger dialated, which basically means that I'm not.

And finally, the GBS test that I was dreading took about 5 seconds and while it was not comfortable, it was not half as bad as I thought it was going to be!

Here is an update to the nursery that I promised! On Sunday, Sam and Jeremy moved in all of the furniture! I bought a rug from Target and then went in to start setting things up. While I did not get everything done, I did make a little progress. My favorite part was when I set up the noise-maker. I bought one that has a projector on the top with changeable picture disks. It plays the normal noise-maker sounds (ocean, rain and heartbeat), but also has a couple of lullabies as well. The projector puts the rotating pictures on the ceiling that theoretically give a baby something to look at while lying in bed. It is just about the cutest thing I have ever seen! I actually sat in the dark and watched it for a while and listened to the music because it is so precious! I hope Autumn loves it as much as I do! I still have a lot to do in the room, but we're officially off to a good start.

Since I just took at belly picture a couple of days ago, I'm going to save this post to only post nursery pics. Enjoy!

Here is the view from the hallway. Here is a better view of the left side of the room. Jeremy's mom had some letters painted to match the room (that spell Autumn) and I think they will look precious over the changing table.

This is the right side of the room. The quilt that matches the bedding will hang above the crib. Once I get all of the gift bags out of the crib, I'll focus on putting in my beautiful hand-made bedding! Finally, here is the back of the room where the closet is still a work-in-progress. I keep finding more clothes and unfortunately I'm out of hangers.

I can't wait to put a baby in this room!

Fashionista

2008-11-23T09:02:00.005-06:00

Yesterday, Jeremy gave me the green light that Autumn's closet was mine! I have been collecting clothes for her this entire pregnancy. What can I say, I've always loved clothes and shopping and since it's no fun to shop for maternity clothes, I've redirected my efforts towards our new little girl. What's funny, though, is I really didn't know what I had bought up until this point because all of these clothes had to be stored in bags in my laundry room or in empty drawers where they were out of the way. Needless to say, when all was said and done, and the closet was finally put together, I was a little surprised! Have a look for yourself...

That's a lot of baby clothes!! Jeremy actually asked if we were just going to throw things away once they got poop or pee or spit-up on them... I am very proud because everything is sorted by size and type (short-sleeved onesies, long-sleeved onesies, jumpers, dresses, pants, etc). I also bought the little green baskets yesterday at World Market for a great price and have stuffed one with socks, one with hats, and one with cotton pants. The fourth larger one will be for the changing table to put all of the lotions and wipes and stuff in. This nesting bug has changed me. I have never been this organized in my life... thanks Pregnancy! I still have lots to do, but I am happy with my first day of moving in to the nursery. Today, Jeremy and Sam will be moving in the furniture so it's really going to start taking shape. I'll post more pics once we've got things in place.

I've been hesitant to keep up the weekly belly shots, as it gets bigger every single day! The books say she's gaining a half an ounce a day. I have a little over 4 weeks left of this pregnancy and I just don't see how it's possible for her to get any bigger! I did take a picture of it this morning in my pjs to share. Here is the belly at 35 weeks and 5 days. Enjoy!

Up, up, and away!

2008-11-18T20:46:00.001-06:00

I have one very clear memory from when I was little. My cousins and I were out at my grandparent's house in "the country" (aka Kurten, TX), where a person could see every star in the sky. The night was perfect and there must have been a meteor shower, because my cousins and I laid in the back of my grandfather's truck and counted shooting stars. I remember that night being magical and I loved every second of it! When I got home, I told my mom that when I grew up, I wanted to be an astronomer. She promptly told me that I could not be an astronomer, as they didn't make any money! So much for nurturing your children's dreams! Needless to say, my life did not lead me on a course to become the next great astronomer. To this day, I still love looking at the stars. I am lucky to live in an area where, although the stars aren't the brightest, I can still get a pretty good view from my back yard.

So you can only imagine that on Monday morning when I heard on the local news that the space shuttle was going to be visible in the night sky, I decided that I had to see it! When Jeremy got home, we went scouting for a good location in our neighborhood to watch the shuttle. We found a local park, but decided that we wanted to share the moment with our 3 daughters. We went home to put leashes on the girls, who were extremely excited, even though they had no idea what was going on. We went back out to the park and stared at the southwest sky until we saw it! Honestly, it may not sound like a big deal, but this was truly an amazing sight. I had wondered how I was going to know what I was looking at, but as soon as we saw it, it was obvious. It looked like a really bright and really fast star traveling through the night sky. It was only visible for about 2 minutes, but it had to be the coolest thing ever. How amazing is it to know that there are actually people being rocketed through space in a relatively tiny little craft?

I think I would have made a great astronomer, mom. Although I know that where I am in life is exactly where I need to be!

The Best Husband in the World!

2008-11-17T18:06:00.000-06:00

This past weekend, I drove to College Station for my friend Trelle's wedding reception and ended up staying Saturday night to hang out with Elizabeth and Felicia! Elizabeth has been very helpful in letting me know what I'm actually going to need once Autumn gets here, and the realization that she is going to be here sooner than later is really starting to set in. We ate a great steak dinner at Fish Daddy's (thanks Ryan!) and then went shopping at Toys R Us, Target, and TJ Maxx and I'm really starting to feel more comfortable with what I've actually got. When we got back to their house, I played with Felicia and kept her up past her bedtime, partly because I may not get to see her again before Autumn is born. Elizabeth also went through Felicia's things and I got some great hand-me downs that are really going to come in handy :)

I drove home early Sunday morning and when I got here, I was shocked to see what Jeremy had gotten done in the nursery! All of the baseboards are down, the paint has been touched up, and he had already started the closet. He worked so hard the rest of the day and now the closet is almost done! The whole room looks amazing and I can't wait until we are able to move furniture in. I also can't wait because all of my shower gifts and recent baby purchases are sitting on my office floor and my anti-clutter nesting bug doesn't like that all too much, haha.

Here is what you see when you first walk in to the room.

Here are my lovely baseboards!

Here is the closet in progress! There will be a clothes bar across the top and also one under the left shelf. I can't wait to hang up all of the little clothes I've accumulated over the last 8 months :) I am planning on putting some sort of basket on the bottom shelves to put Autumn's toys in. We put them low so when she's a little older she'll be able to get in to the baskets herself.

Tomorrow I will be 35 weeks along and there is a big knot in my stomach. I can't believe that the end of this pregnancy is nearing! While I will be gratetful not to be pregnant anymore, there is a lot of anxiousness that comes along with actually facing labor and then, on top of that, having a new baby. There's really no turning back now :)

Dr Appt Update: 34 weeks

2008-11-14T20:03:00.000-06:00

What a wonderful weekend last weekend was! On Saturday, I rang in my 31st birthday in style with some beautiful roses from Jeremy, a visit from my friend, Char, and a fun evening at the Walburg Restaurant! We jammed to Loreli und Schatzi (who have been dubbed the female Smothers Brothers, haha) and ate everything in site! Here are pics of the Walburg gang:

On Sunday, my wonderful friends threw Autumn a baby shower and it shows once again how truly blessed I am! I received tons of baby items, and all will be extremely useful once she gets here. The highlight of the shower, though, was that I was given my nursery bedding that was made especially for Autumn. My mother in-law made a beautiful quilt that will hang on the wall and my friend Elizabeth's sister, Gretchen, made the bumper pads. I teared up when I saw them both, as they are so incredibly perfect! I can't wait until I'm able to actually set up the nursery!!I forgot to take my camera to the shower and I am so bummed. There are some that were snapping shots, but I wasn't really paying attention who that was. So whoever you are, share the pictures, please! I did take some pictures of the aftermath once I got home and have shared a couple of them here.

Yesterday, I went to my 34 week doctor appointment! It all started out normally with them asking me to get on the scale. I was absolutely shocked to learn that I have gained 4 pounds in 2 weeks!!!! Then they took my bp, which was a little high, but I told them that it was purely because I was not yet over the shock of my weight :) And then they asked me to pee in the cup, which unfortunately I am all too used to. Side note: my doctor's doesn't have her own office right now because she is getting a brand new one at the Cedar Park Hospital. She currently operates out of a local Urgent Care Clinic. I don't want to complain, but I really hate the hand soap in the bathroom!!! I'm sure it is some generic anti-bac concoction, but it just smells awful! That is the main reason I can't wait for her office construction to be done, haha. Anyways, back to the original subject. I think that they need to change the way that they do things. When a pregnant woman first comes in to the office, she needs to pee in the cup. Then, she can have her BP taken, and finally, she needs to have her weight recorded. Doesn't that make sense?

When my doctor came in the office, we talked about the normal stuff... She asked about aches and pains and the Braxton-Hicks contractions that I've been having, all of which are completely normal at this point. She measured by belly (which is still on track) and we heard her heartbeat. The highlight was when she rolled out the ultrasound machine! Unfortunately, at 34 weeks, it's harder to see details of the baby due to the cramped quarters, but I at least got to take a peek at my little precious. Her arms were in front of her face, so I didn't see anything there, but we did see an ear! I also saw a knee, a couple of bones, lots of ribs, and her strong beating heart. The best part, though, was that I now know what parts of her body have been poking me! At this point, she is in the head-down position with her back facing my left side. Her little butt is what has been up in my ribs under my left boob, and her little legs and arms are pointed to the right side of my body.

And finally, here's the belly (and my work-gear pjs) at 34 weeks and 3 days! Enjoy :)

Big Ol' Belly Shots - 33 weeks

2008-11-06T18:05:00.000-06:00

Well my day has started out to be a good one so far! I just checked the blogs I follow and found out that I am the lucky winner of the Mommy2Be Austin Blog October giveaway! Check out my score: http://www.mypreciousarrival.com/Cupcakes.html

As most of you know, I am very blessed to have a photographer in the family! My sister Kate is the most talented photographer I know, and luckily, I get to use her for free :) She has really chronicled my adult life... She took our engagement pics, my bridal pics, our wedding pics, and most recently, by maternity pics. Here are a couple of pictures from last night!

I think that Kate did a wonderful job and I'm really pleased with the way things turned out. It's really hard for me to look at these pictures and realize that it's actually me in them :) That is one big ol' belly!

This week, the tiredness has really started to set in. I have been going to bed earlier these days and still, by the middle of the afternoon, I'm already ready for a nap. I know that Autumn is doing a lot of growing these days, so I guess she's just sucking the energy right out of me!

This weekend, I have a couple of fun things to look forward to... On Saturday, I turn 31 (YIKES) and my friend Char is coming in from CA to visit. We are planning a little trip out to the Walburg German Restaurant for some good food and some fun in the biergarten (my friends are lucky they have a designated driver in the group). If you're ever in the area, I highly recommend this little hole in the wall. It's kind of a hike to get there, but so worth it once you do! On Sunday, my wonderful friends are hosting a baby shower for me! The whole weekend is going to be a blast and I can't wait for it all to start :)

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T17:48:00.003-05:00

Happy Halloween from the Wallace Girls!

I have a feeling that next year, my dogs are going to be so excited that I have a real baby to play dress up with!

Dr Appt Update: 32 weeks

2008-10-29T18:35:00.000-05:00

I just got home from my 32 week doctor appointment and everything is still looking good! I've gained 1 lb since my last appt (which is a shocker considering all of the Halloween candy I've consumed this week). My belly is measuring right on schedule for being as far along as I am, and the doctor says that Autumn weighs about 3 1/2 lbs now! At this point, she will gain approx. 1/2 lb each week, which is absolutely mind-blowing to me! I got to hear her little strong heartbeat again. I just can't get enough of that sound.

Here is the obligatory belly shot from today...

This weekend should be fun! Kate will be taking professional belly pics of me on Friday, so that should be interesting! I hope they turn out good and I hope that I don't look like a beached whale, which is how I feel most days.

Here's a picture of my great CL purchase yesterday. I can't wait to see it in my nursery! It's currently being stored in the hallway next to the half-bath. It looks like I have a ladies lounge downstairs... It's just like being in the bathroom at Nordstroms! The cushions are extra smooshy and the glider is extra glide-y, so I think that the chair will definitely serve its purpose.

Yay for Craigs List!

2008-10-28T16:22:00.002-05:00

Let me just say, I have had some great luck with Craigs List lately! A couple of weeks ago, I was able to find a high-quality crib for a low-quality price. When Felicia was visiting, we assembled the crib so she could sleep in it and I'm very happy with the result. The crib is beautiful and I think it's going to look great in the nursery.

I have been wanting a glider that looks like a real chair for a while now, but have not been able to find one in my price range (aka CHEAP). I've been keeping my eye on Craigs List, but really haven't seen anything that was going to work. This morning, I saw a posting for a glider that caught my eye so I emailed the lady who posted the ad. I went over to her house this afternoon to take a look at what she had and took all of my swatches and a paint sample. I sat in the chair and it's so comfy! So I paid for the chair and when Jeremy gets off work, we'll be going back over to pick it up. I think it's going to be perfect in the nursery!

I think that CL can be hit or miss. But I swear, I have had the best luck! Both of the purchases I've made over the last couple of months have been great deals coming from really great places. The furniture has been in excellent condition, and the people that I've dealt with have been fabulous as well! I think that says a little about the community that I live in :)

31 weeks!!

2008-10-22T17:45:00.000-05:00

This past weekend, Elizabeth and Felicia came to stay with us! We had way too much fun eating, shopping and playing with Felicia (who is a little ball of fire!). She is now 11 months old and is such a good baby! She loved our high ceilings which made her voice echo so she just yelled out because it was so much fun! When she yelled, the dogs barked because they aren't used to hearing a baby yell yet. But Felicia just thought they were talking to her so she'd throw back her own little version of a bark which was precious. While I loved every minute of it, I now know why God does not just give you an 11 month old off the bat. It was a lot of work, but I can't wait until I have one of my own to spoil rotten!

This week marks week 31 of my pregnancy! I cannot believe how fast these last few weeks have flown by! I have a feeling, though, that time is about to come to a virtual stand-still because the closer I get, the more anxious I get and the more I want her here! I feel Autumn constantly now which is absolutely wonderful (except when she gets right up under my ribs). I took a picture of my 31 week belly today and am just shocked at how big it looks from the other side of the camera! When I bought the shirt I'm wearing in this picture, I swear I thought it would be slimming because of the diagonal stripes. I think I'm waaaaay past anything slimming these days. I am really just looking for things that cover the belly so the bottom doesn't stick out. Believe me, I do not want to be like Rachel on Friends when she was sporting half-shirts towards the end of her pregnancy!

The nursery is coming along wonderfully! Jeremy has finished putting in the floors and the new ceiling fan. I will take a picture very soon to show the progress. Currently he is working on the baseboards. Once those are finished, I think we'll be able to start moving in furniture!!

Theoretically, we have 9 more weeks to go! Right now, according to the pregnancy websites and books that I've been reading, I need to be studying up on knowing when labor begins (yikes) and birth plans (double yikes). I'm still not planning on taking any birthing classes. I've seen enough episodes of a Baby Story that I think I know what to expect! Those words may very well come back to bite me square in the ass...

Dr Appt Update: 30 weeks

2008-10-15T16:51:00.000-05:00

I had my 30 week doctor appointment yesterday! I have gained 1 pound and my belly has grown 1 inch since my last appointment. I am now seeing the doctor every 2 weeks and the appointments are short, sweet, and predictable... get on the scale, pee in a cup, measure the belly, listen to the heartbeat, and I'll see you in 2 weeks! Autumn is measuring perfectly and everything is right on track for my Dec 23 due date.

Here's my belly at 30 weeks and 1 day.

I cannot believe we're so close! 10 weeks may sound like a long time, but it's really not. Especially when my remaining weekends are filling up with things to do. These last 2 months or so have really flown by, and I imagine the next 2 will fly by as well. My only complaints are the achy joints and the heartburn. I hear it's not going to get any better, so I will have to tough it out.

For some more exciting news, yesterday was our 2 year wedding anniversary! We had planned on going out to dinner, but I had a tummy ache so that has been postponed to this weekend. I did get a thoughtful card and some beautiful flowers from my wonderful husband! I did cry a little, but I suspect that had something to do with my raging hormones :) I bought the same cakes that we had on our wedding day (the lady who made them distributes her cakes to Whole Foods) and after dining on a romantic dinner of Subway Sandwiches, we indulged in dessert. These last 2 years have really flown by. The next year is going to bring so much change, but we are completely looking forward to it. I feel so blessed to be in a happy, healthy marriage to a man that I am still head over heels in love with.

Wedding fun!

2008-10-13T17:23:00.000-05:00

My oldest sister Kate got married yesterday! The wedding was so incredibly beautiful. It was perfect! Kate was a beautiful bride. Congratulations Ron and Kate!!

They are off on their way to Guanajuato, Mexico for a week of R&R. While I'm so happy for them, I can't help but be a little jealous! This also has made me realize that it's probably going to be a long time before I get to take another real vacation. Oh well, Autumn will be worth it for sure!

nesting...

2008-10-07T19:34:00.000-05:00

Long ago, when I was first pregnant, I read about a phenomenon called nesting. Pregnancy Weekly.com says the following about it:

"Around the fifth month of pregnancy, the "nesting" instinct can set in. This is an uncontrollable urge to clean one's house brought on by a desire to prepare a nest for the new baby, to tie up loose ends of old projects and to organize your world."

I may have thought during either of the two times in the last 4 months that I was nesting when I tore apart my house to participate in 2 separate garage sales. The thought definitely crossed my mind.

After last night, however, I am pretty positive that I have got the nesting bug. While making dinner, I came across an expired box of food in my pantry. No big deal, I just threw it away. I walked away, and could not stop thinking about that expired box of food in my pantry!! I went back and 2 huge garbage bags later, I actually felt that I had accomplished something productive. It's not that everything that was disposed of was expired, either. I just did not think that we needed these things anymore. My pantry was just too cluttered. It was at 10pm when I was filling another bag from our refrigerator that I realized that I was obsessed.

I feel a little better this morning, but I'm still thinking about it. Just a couple of minutes ago, I went to the pantry and a smile came across my face when I saw the work that I had done. Throwing things out truly is a cleansing process. I wonder how long this feeling will last...

Nursery!

2008-10-05T22:34:00.000-05:00

Today, I made up up for being lazy yesterday! Sunday was a day of work for sure. Jeremy and I worked on the turning my ex-office into the soon-to-be nursery. Here is a good representation of what we started with!

We started with clearing out the room (which was a task in itself) and then Jeremy ripped up all of the baseboards. We painted the walls, and while that might not sound like much, it took the majority of the day. The color is beautiful and it really brightens up the room.

There is still a lot of work to be done, but I really feel like we got a great start. Jeremy painted my belly with Autumn's face so she could watch what we were doing. I thought she had a good view and ended up liking what she saw...

This week we're planning on finishing the trim putting in the new floors, so I'll keep the progress updated!

for Autumn

2008-10-04T16:26:00.001-05:00

I am currently 28 weeks and 5 days pregnant. It has been a looooong journey! I do not think of myself as a good pregnant woman. I am not going to miss most things about being pregnant! What I do love, however, is being able to just be with Autumn 24 hours a day. I love being able to feel her move and know that she is ours. I cannot wait to meet her. I cannot wait to see what she looks like and to get to know her personality.

Right now, we are being lazy on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. There are a million things that I should be doing, but we're just going to take it easy today.

Here is my belly at 28 weeks and 5 days!

Well here goes nothing!

2008-10-03T20:26:00.000-05:00

My very first post on my very first blog! How exciting!

This blog is dedicated to our first daughter, Autumn Leigh Wallace. She is due December 23, 2008. This whole pregnancy has been such a whirlwind process and there has been so much that I've already forgotten. These days are precious, and not only do I want to remember them, but I would love for Autumn to be able to know what I've gone through to bring her in to this world.

We had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday at which my doctor told me that my glucose screening came back with high blood sugar levels and that she recommended a more intense 3 hour test. The only thing that was going through my mind the horror of not being able to eat sweets for the next 3 months!

Yesterday, I headed to the hospital as early as possible to get the process started. Since I knew I had to fast for this thing, I wanted to get there as soon as possible. I arrived at the hospital at about 730am. It took about 45 minutes to get me registered into the hospital's system and another 15 to get back to see the lab tech. I first had to go give a blood sample so they could do a fasting glucose level and then had to wait for those results to come back. At 9, I was finally able to drink the dreaded "orange drink"! They then they took my blood at 930, 10, 11, and 12 to test the glucose levels. I was so hungry, since the last time I had eaten was 9pm the night before! Believe me, these days, I'm more hungry than I've ever been so this was a true test of patience. One of the worst parts of the whole thing was that where I had to wait was out in the main lobby next to the cafeteria where everyone passed with their breakfast and lunches :( The waiting was honestly not that bad though (besides the hunger). I took magazines and chatted with people at the hospital.

After the 12:00 draw, I had to go upstairs to the maternity ward to get a shot of Rhogam. The nurses were so incredibly nice. I told them what I had just done and they gave me some juice and crackers to tide me over until I could leave! I was then given a tour of the maternity ward and birthing rooms. I was also able to talk to the nurse and ask her questions about the birthing process that I was wondering about.

2 good things actually came out of my miserable morning, though. First off, after speaking with everyone that I came in contact with, I am 100% confident that this is the hospital that I am supposed to give birth at. The staff is wonderful, welcoming, friendly, and accommodating. The second thing (and the thing that is a little bit intimidating) is that I am now pre-registered. This means that if I were to go in to labor, I can run to the hospital and not worry about having to fill out any paperwork. All I have to do is yell my name as I'm running to the maternity ward.

Today, I got a voice mail from my doctor saying that my test results came back fine. This process has once again reminded me of how blessed I have been to have had such a healthy pregnancy. I may bitch about aches and pains, but I think I've got it pretty easy compared to others that I know.