Happy Birthday Mom

For the past 4 years, December 28th has always been a particularly difficult day for me...it's my Mother's birthday. I never really know what to do with myself. I talk quietly to my Mother and will sing Happy Birthday to her several times throughout the day. I usually feel pretty lonely and somewhat empty. Today, I still feel all of these things; however, as you might imagine, I don't feel quite so low because I have Sydney with me.

Greg mentioned to me the other day about a book (I think it was a book he was talking abou) any ways, the "book" was about answering the question, "If you could spend one more day with a loved one whom has passed, what would you do"? So, I've been thinking about that today and this is what I have come up with...

I would want to spend one last day with my Mother. She would wake up at my house and wake me up by singing a song she used to sing to me when I was little:

"It's time to wake up,
it's time to wake up,
it's time to wake up in the morning!"

As I opened my eyes she would give me that unforgettable smile of hers and she would embrace me. I would then introduce her to her granddaughter and watch her hold and interact with Sydney. I would then ask my Mom what she wanted to do with the remainder of our time together and that's what we would do. As long as we were together and able to hug and hold hands and watch her kiss my daughter, that's really all I would want. No long drawn out conversations of "why". Really the only question I would have for her is to know if she is finally at peace. I really couldn't tell you how I would want to end our day, because I wouldn't want it to end! That would be so difficult to say goodbye to her again!

So Mom, if you can hear me, "Happy Birthday!" I love you so much and miss you more than I could even put into words. Now that I am a Mommy, I feel the pain of not having you in my life at such a deeper level. Sydney and I would have loved to have spent your special day with you today...I hope you heard us singing to you...

Who Knew?

Who knew how incredibly funny a nasal suction (buggy getter) could be? I mean if you think about it, the whole concept of it is pretty disgusting and quite traumatizing to many babies...but not my baby...

She had me in tears this morning. I was using the buggy getter and she started giggling. And not just once, but every time! I even had to call daddy and let me listen in. All three of us ended up laughing together! She is so funny!

Later in the day, we went to the grocery store. Once again, I had her in the baby Bjorn. She was getting to a point where she was done shopping so I was trying to keep her occupied by making speed boat noises which she was mimicking. She was really getting in to it and had drool everywhere, but she was smiling at the same time. I found myself laughing, not really paying attention to how silly we must of looked. When I finally did look around, I noticed several people watching us and smiling...I felt so lucky to be with Sydney!

Christmas Pictures

Merry Christmas to everyone! I don't know about all of you but Christmas was exhausting for me!! Sorry if I haven't called you yet, it's just been so busy. We had a very nice Christmas and felt so blessed to be spending it with Sydney. Below are some pictures to kind of give you a documentary of how we spent our holiday.

This was the day before Christmas Eve. Little Sydney in our rocking chair at 4.5 months old:

This next picture was taken Christmas Eve late morning. Greg took Zoey to work so Sydney, Ziggy and I went for a long walk using the new stroller. For the first time ever, Sydney relaxed in a stroller and fell asleep:

This next picture is from Christmas Eve. Aunt Peggy, Uncle Mike & Eric stopped over: (Notice the cute dress she has on that was cut off of our family Christmas cards!)

The last of these pictures are from Christmas morning:

After opening all of those presents, Daddy and Sydney needed a rest!! We then went to our friends Tom & Jamie's for the rest of Christmas Day!

Daddy and Sydney needed another rest!!

Sydney with her first dolly!

At the end of the night, we said a prayer and thanked God for our beautiful family and all of our blessings! It was the best Christmas ever!

My Little Buddy

Another busy day today! We went to Jamie's house and the kids exchanged Christmas gifts...Sydney's first Christmas gift. We then got pictures of Addison and Sydney together. They still don't really acknowledge each other yet. It's going to be so neat watching them grow up together.

Sydney doesn't take her long naps anymore. She now only takes 2 or 3 one hour naps a day. It doesn't help that I still have a terrible cough and end up waking her up all of the time. Greg and I are still struggling with our colds. Sydney just has a little cough, her cold didn't seem to progress thank God!

I am finally feeling more confident in being a mommy...it took awhile! As a result of feeling more confident, I now have more fun with Sydney and thoroughly enjoy everyday. She's my little buddy!

Our Funny Girl

Everyday with Sydney just brings me more joy. I love to walk around with her in her baby Bjorn. For the most part, she is such a happy baby and will frequently smile or talk to people as they pass by us. Today we went to the mall to finish some shopping and I could hear a children's choir so we decided to go check it out. I had Sydney in the baby Bjorn with her cute little Poo hat on. We walked up to the the choir as they sang and I held Sydney's hands in mine and we danced to the music. It didn't take long for Sydney to become the hit of the show. She was smiling from cheek to cheek and kicking her legs as the kids sang. Everyone around us was looking at Sydney and smiling...she brought holiday cheer to many, including me!

Moving on to a completely different topic, I am having a blast feeding Sydney her oatmeal cereal. I actually get a workout when we do it because I am constantly jumping up and down and making funny faces at Sydney so she opens her mouth and laughs! She opens her mouth and giggles as I put a spoon full of food in her mouth. She then holds her mouth open for a moment and gags. I then began jumping around again making funny faces and she then closes her mouth and swallows. It's very comical! Speaking of funny...Sydney is really starting to interact with us more. She has the cutest giggle! It's so cute that Greg and I will do almost anything to try and make her laugh. Man I love our little girl!!

Crazy Week at the Wade Residnece

Long week at the Wade residence!!

I came down with a terrible head cold early in the week and was so worried that I was going to give it to Sydney! As of today, I don't think I have.

I am always giving Greg kudos for helping out, but today, I am going to give myself Kudos...
I have felt so crappy all week, especially this weekend, but I was still able to keep up with Sydney and stay positive and playful with her, and I was still able to keep up with the laundry, house chores, grocery shopping, cooking, etc. Basically, I was super mom! I need to remember to recognize those things and give myself credit more often instead of focusing on all of the things that didn't get done! Today, I am feeling better and will be finishing up my Christmas shopping so as it all gets to everyone on time!

Sydney had her 4 month checkup on Friday. She is 26 inches tall (97th %), 15.5 pounds (90th %), and her head is a little on the small side due to its flattening on the back. I still do not understand why it is flat on the back because really the only time she is on her back is at bedtime. So, the doctor said its time to stop wrapping her and let her sleep freely so if she feels like rolling over she can (scary). He also said we should stop rocking her to sleep and that she needs to learn how to fall asleep on her own. I see many sleepless nights in our future. We decided not to implement all of this until next weekend since I have been so sick and need sleep right now. I don't know if I necessarily agree with the doctor on the whole wrapping thing...I have done a lot of research and there are proponents for both stances on wrapping...but, I do know that she needs to start sleeping in different positions so her head will round out some. I put her to sleep with her head to the side but she never keeps it there!

On a lighter note, the doctor said it was time to introduce solids...so we started with oatmeal cereal on Friday! She did really well...




The doctor said it may take a couple days before she learns to swallow...not our little one...she ate it up after a few gags and funny faces!!! In a couple weeks we will be introducing fruits and veggies. I am actually going to buy a food processor and make a lot of it on my own...anyone else out there try this? Any suggestions?

Unfortunately, since this was a 4 month checkup, Sydney also had to get some shots. She did pretty good, and daddy and I did pretty good. She did not take any naps that day and was a little cranky. They next day (yesterday) while mommy was feeling rotten, Sydney also felt icky and was running a fever...her first fever! I assumed it was due to her shots. I didn't panic...and handled it well. I just fed her more often to keep fluids coming in and cuddled with her and let her sleep on my chest. By bedtime, her fever was pretty much gone and she was sleepy.

After daddy finished up with his projects yesterday, he took over with Sydney so I could work on my own head cold for a couple hours. Daddy took over early evening until bedtime. With in that short period of time, Sydney peed on him twice, almost pooped on him once, and barfed on him a couple times...it was very eventful...

This would be the 2nd time she peed on him today...

This would be the poop that almost landed on daddy!!

That's it for now, I can't wait to see what's in store for us this week...

Our Big Saturday Night

Daddy and Sydney were being silly last night with her Luvy and BeBe Pod chair. She didn't even mind that she had something on her head!
Yesterday was a cold and rainy day. Sydney didn't even get out of her P.J.'s!!! We finally had to turn our heater on last night as her room was freezing! It got in the 40's (warm for you Minnesotans).

Greg and I had a good laugh last night. I put Sydney to bed around 8pm. While many of our friends were out for the night, Greg and I sat in and bowled on the Wii gaming system that we borrowed from friend. We truly have changed! By the way...I kicked Greg's butt!!

My Holiday Picture Nightmare

What started out to be a fun day ended up taking a very disappointing turn!!! I was finally able to get an appointment made for our first family holiday portrait for today. This was no easy task since Greg works all of the time and Jordan always has soccer. So, after getting everyone ready and working Sydney's feedings and naps around the appointment time, we finally arrived for our appointment. The first shots were to be of all of us and Sydney in her new Christmas dress. Sydney did awesome and smiled the whole time. The second round of shots were for her three month pictures. I changed her into another outfit and again, she smiled the whole time. We then went to go see Santa while the photographer was getting the pictures ready for us to view. We got cute pictures with Santa and then headed back to Sears for the picture preview. This is where things got bad...I didn't like ANY of the pictures she took. They were about as good as what I would have done. It really sucked and I wanted to cry. I really tried to like them but seriously, they were not done professionally. Only 1 had Sydney smiling which is ridiculous because she was seriously smiling the whole time...even the photographer said she was...so how did she not get it on film!!! Second, I had Sydney in her new dress which the photographer didn't even get on film. I mean come on, any professional photographer would know to get the damn dress in the photo and not just the babies head. And don't even get me started on the 3 month old shots of Sydney alone. They were so bad, I could of done it myself! So, I had a real problem...every other photo place was booked till Christmas and I needed the photo asap so I could get the cards done. So, I ended up having to pick a holiday picture that I did not like...I am pissed! When I told them I was not happy with any of the pictures, the photographer acted shocked. I will be taking her somewhere else to get the 3 month shots done. So, when you get our Holiday Christmas cards just know, I hate the picture too!!

Below are some pictures Greg and I took when we went to go see Santa...

Maybe I should become a photographer...I couldn't be any worse than the ones at Sears!!!

I did call and complain when I got home. They have someone from Human Resources calling me on Monday.

Sydney and I had to run errands today so she was in and out of the Baby Bjorn all afternoon. Its funny how many people approach us and talk to us. They always smile and comment on Sydney's beautiful eyes and her adorable smile. I love to show off my little one!

Along with completing errands, we also tried out our new jogging stroller (got a killer deal at Big Lots)! Mommy got an awesome run in while Sydney kicked back and enjoyed the view. Finally, a stroller she likes (at least for now). She really worked me too...towards the end of our run, I was tired and started walking. Well that was not acceptable to her, she began fussing. So I ran and she stopped fussing...stinker wasn't going to let me get off easy!!! Good news is that I am back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I tried on all of my pre-pregnancy jeans today and was pleasantly surprised when they all fit! Now I need to tone back up...that's the hard part.

Well, time for our evening routine of bath, food and rocking...

Sydney Updates

I've realized a spend a lot of time talking about sleep on my journal...this is because I am so sleep deprived!! I am going to try to stop doing that because it takes the focus away from all of the wonderful and beautiful experiences that I share with Sydney each day...

Sydney has the most beautiful blue eyes still. When I look down at her as I am feeding her and she catches my eyes, she stares at me with those big blue eyes and it just mesmerizes me. As this happens, I can actually feel joy spreading through my body..."this is my daughter!" It's very emotional for me.

And that smile of hers...I have the honor of seeing it from morning 'til night! She has even begun to giggle which makes the experience even that much more beautiful for us. I find myself doing the most goofiest things, at home and in public, just to see that smile. Talk about instant gratification!!!

Her favorite toy right now is "Luvy", a tag blankie that Laura & Jamie gave us. She goes nuts with this blankie and it actually calms her in the car. Speaking of, the car is not her favorite thing to do!!! Ear plugs would be nice! She also does not like her car seat, which is part of her stroller; therefore, walks in the stroller have not been an option for a few weeks. Thankfully, she does like the Baby Bjorn, so we are able to go for walks in it. All of our errands are also completed with the Baby Bjorn.

Sydney is a very active baby. She needs to be in constant motion and is not content with just sitting around. She always wants to be sitting or standing (with some assistance of course). She will tolerate tummy time as long as she has something to do! We still struggle some with nap time...she fights sleep. I have found that after some fussing in her swing, she will oftentimes fall asleep in it and then I take her out and hold her for the remainder of her nap. I have changed her bedtime so she now takes a shorter afternoon nap and then I start her bedtime routine earlier. It sucks for Greg because he doesn't get to see her anymore when he gets home from work; however, this new time gives me an hour or so of "me" time before going off to bed!

That's it for tonight ( I wrote this during my "me" time)! I am off to bed and hopefully, will only be up once throughout the night!

Best Daddy Award

Oofta, rough night last night! Little Sydney wasn't having anything to do with sleeping. I am not sure what was going on but she was awake from 11:30-4:30am this morning. Daddy finally brought her into bed with us and she slept soundly on her belly on Daddy's chest. This seems to be the only way we can get her to sleep soundly. She is such an active baby when she is awake and when she is asleep. The only way we can get her to sleep for long periods of time is if she is on her belly on our chest. I wish we could put her to sleep on her belly at nights...this would eliminate the whole swaddling thing which she gets out of in record speed anyways!!! Her Daddy is a champ. He has so much more patients with her at night than I do!! He stuck in there with her all night...I would feed her and he would attempt to get her back to sleep. He is literally going on maybe 3 hours of sleep today and he works 12 hours!!! I really could not do this parenting thing without him!!

We put up the Christmas tree yesterday...let me clarify that a little...Mommy put up the Christmas tree yesterday while Daddy worked on an electronics project and while Sydney slept in her swing. Oh well, at least we were all in the same room! I can't wait until she gets a little older and can help with the tree and we can start some fun traditions!! So much to look forward to...

Our Silly Girl

Last night Greg and I were giving Sydney her bath and ended up crying we were laughing so hard...Greg started squirting her with a little bath toy and she thought it was the funniest thing and was giggling and and kicking with her feet. By the time we were done with bath, the kitchen counter/sink was a wet mess!!! It was so precious! She is getting to be so funny...she blows bubbles, she fake coughs, she does a little motor boat sound with her lips, she talks and squeals, and that cheek to cheek smile is the most beautiful thing ever! What did we ever do for for a good laugh before Sydney?

Today is Christmas tree day...even Daddy is going to help!

Happy Late Thanksgiving!!!

Surfs Up!! Sydney's new tummy time toy from GUP (Great Uncle Paul)

Thanksgiving morning with my little pink bow and Daddy.

Grandpap, Daddy, Pap and Sydney!!

Mommy and Sydney

GUP and Sydney

"What you lookin at"!!!

Great Aunt Peggy, Aunt Susan, Nana & Sydney

Aunt Susan and Sydney at nap time

This was such a special Thanksgiving for us because we had so much to be grateful for. Our little Sydney has been such a precious gift and we treasure everyday with her. We were so thankful to have so much family to be with this Thanksgiving. Uncle Rich came to Arizona last week and Aunt Susan came to Arizona just before the holiday to meet Sydney. And then Uncle Paul came from Calif. to spend Thanksgiving weekend. And of course, Nana, Pap, Grandpap, Peggy, Mike, Brian and Annie and MaryAnn were also a part of our Thanksgiving weekend! We are so blessed to be surrounded by so many loving and caring people. Thank you to you all for making our lives so much richer!!!

My Little "Jabberbox"

Sydney reached another milestone yesterday...she rolled over from her back to her tummy!! Daddy was home to see and we were both very proud. Now that is all she wants to do! She rolls over and then cries because she cannot roll back onto her back!

She is talking all of the time now. I took her to the mall today and had her in the baby Bjorn. She talked to everyone and everything that she saw. She brought a smile to everyone who passed us! This morning when we were playing on the floor, she just kept talking and talking as she looked up at me...I cried! I just feel so blessed to have her and so proud to be her Mommy!

Well, I am about ready to just throw in the towel on the whole bottle feeding thing. We have tried EVERYTHING!! I have tried having Greg, his mother & his sister feed her...no luck! I have been out of the room and away from the house, no luck. It breaks my heart to hear her cry when other people are trying to feed her. We have tried every bottle on the market. I have even tried warming the nipple. We may just have to chalk this up to another lesson learned...start the bottle earlier (although, I will not be having any more kids so this is a lesson I will pass on to other moms!!!). So what does this mean for me...well, she eats every two hours so I need to be available to her every two hours which makes things a little more difficult since getting from place to place takes so long here in the valley. I guess we will just play it day by day!

Updates

Sydney is growing, growing, growing!!! Soon it will be time for all new gear (more money!!). She has discovered her voice and will now carry "conversations" with people and things around her. Her aunt Susan surprised us and flew in from Minnesota on Friday (I cannot remember if I wrote about that yet or not)! Aunt Susan and Nana have been keeping an eye on Sydney while Daddy and Mommy prepare our house. We have someone coming to look at it for a second time today (send positive thoughts our way please). This afternoon we will be heading to Nana and Paps to visit with more family. We put a different computer upstairs so I haven't been able to get pictures on my blog. I will hopefully get some pictures up by the end of the week.

Along with discovering her voice, Sydney has also learned how to grab for toys and hold them. Of course, everything now goes into her mouth, including Mommy's fingers, hands, arms...! And most enjoyable, she frequently lets us know she is happy by smiling cheek to cheek and moving her whole body. It's a beautiful thing!!

I am very excited for this week. My uncle Paul, (my Mother's brother) is driving over from Calif. for Thanksgiving. So for Sydney's first thanksgiving, we will have a house full of family, just has it should be!

Long Overdue Updates

I actually started this post on November 5th!!! Life just gets away from me and with limited time, blogging isn't high on the priority list!!


November 5th:
Busy, busy, busy as usual! Last Thursday, I took Sydney to our store and we spent the day helping daddy at work. On Friday, we had to again prepare the house for another open house. On Sat. my in-laws arrived in Arizona for the winter. We are very excited to have Nana and Pap here. Sydney only has one set of Grandparents and I want her be able to have a close bond with them. It has brought me much joy to watch her interact with them.

Today was a "first" for us...Mommy's first time leaving Sydney with someone other than Daddy! Nana came over to babysit for a short time while Mommy went to the grocery store. It felt strange leaving her but I felt comfortable leaving her with Nana since Nana is so good with her other grandchildren. I actually got to go through the store and get everything I needed instead of rushing and forgetting half my of the items on my list! And, even more exciting, when I got home, Nana held Sydney while I was able to actually chop veggies and make a salad for lunch. Healthy lunches like this are not an option when it's just me and Sydney!!


November 13th:
Sydney is 3 months old today!!! It seems so much longer than that to me! Let's see, what has happened since the 5th? Sydney's sleeping patterns changed again...we got so spoiled when she was sleeping 7-8 hours at a time. She is now, for some reason, waking 2 times a night. I think it might be because on Friday-Sunday she didn't get her long naps in because we were so busy with open houses and visiting with family at Nana and Pap's house. She did get her naps in yesterday and consequently slept much better last night. We will see how tonight goes.


As far as her day sleeping, I was successfully able to put her down in her pak-n-play for a few days but she went back to her old pattern of wanting to be held for naps. I really don't mind doing this anymore because I enjoy the downtime and watching her sleep.

Lastly, Sydney is becoming quite the chatter box and has the cutest high pitch screech! She has also began copying certain things I do which had Nana in tears on Saturday! She continues to grow and amaze me everyday! I will try to get 3 month pictures taken soon!


I will try to be more consistent with my entries, but I can't promise!!

TRICK OR TREAT

More Pictures!!

She does not like tummy time!

After a long day of shopping!

One more attempt at tummy time!

A visit to our new house!

Syndey & Mocha

Look at that face!!

A Beautiful Thing

Daddy was home yesterday and helped mommy out a lot!! Mommy was able to get herself pulled together from the previous day of hell!! Sydney still is not taking a bottle, not sure what happened there. Up until this point, she had been using one certain bottle. We will keep trying.

Moving on to more important stuff...I never knew a smile could be so wonderful! Sydney's smile just opens my heart in a way I have never experienced. Sometimes I will be caught up in the moment of something unimportant when Sydney will catch my eye and as I look at her, she gives me this toothless smile from ear to ear and my whole world just stops and I feel this rush of joy run through me!! It's so beautiful and such a reminder of what a beautiful gift she is. I love her so much!

Last night she slept for 8.5 hours in her crib!!! I haven't felt this rested in months!!

I have to go, I can hear her striking up a conversation with her mobile, I don't want to miss the latest gossip!!

Day From Hell

Have you ever had one of those days you wish you could just redo or just plain erase? Yesterday was that day for me!

As I mentioned a couple days ago, Greg was out of town with Jordan for a college tour so Sydney and I were alone. Our morning started as usual, everything seemed fine...I pumped some breast milk so Sydney and I could go to our Tempe store so I could get some things done for Greg. I needed the bottle because I knew we would be gone for more than 2 hours (Sydney still eats about every two hours). I got us both ready and in the car and started the car and pulled out of the garage and Sydney started to have a melt down. So, I pulled back into the garage and tried to feed her the bottle. Everything went downhill from there! She refused the bottle (which she had also done earlier in the week). To make a VERY long story short, after butting heads with each other for 2 hours, she never did take her bottle or any other bottle for that matter. And, I couldn't breast feed her because I had just pumped and didn't have any milk left for her to eat!!! I tried 5 different nipples...all of which she refused! During all of the crying and screaming and trying different bottles, 2 wine glasses fell from the cabinet and shattered all over the counter tops and the floor, cutting my foot. Imagine this if you can, Sydney in her pink chair on the table screaming at the top of her lungs (choking and coughing due to the intensity) wine glasses shattering to the floor, me trying to wipe them up and cutting my foot and now getting blood all over the floor, Sydney still screaming, me pouring the breast milk from bottle to bottle praying she would latch on, which she never did, Ziggy howling because of Sydney's crying, Zoey barking because Ziggy is howling, and finally, Mommy crying!!! I felt like such a failure!

The day never did turn around for us...it was the worst day so far.

Early evening, Jamie called me and I was able to vent. She really helped me out mentally, thank you Jamie!!! I just have so many mixed emotions in regards to breastfeeding. It's something I am not going to give up but it is so hard for someone with my personality and lifestyle. I am not a stay home type of gal and I am not a breast feed in public gal. Sydney wants to be fed every two hours which doesn't leave time for us to be out and about since it takes so much time to get from one place to another. Not being able to get out is really taking a toll on my emotional being. So, today we are going to work on the whole bottle thing again. Greg is home so he will be the one to offer her some different types of nipples and see if we can figure this out!! Wish us luck!

Sleeping Update!

I understand if some of you are tired of me talking so much about sleeping, but let me remind those of you have have already been through the newborn thing....Sleep is essential to whether we have a good day or bad day at the Wade residence.

Good news...today will be a fantastic day!! The new swaddle wrap I found yesterday worked well last night! Sydney went to bed at 9pm and didn't wake until 4am! After eating and rocking, she then slept until 7:30am. Thank you God! Due to lack of sleep, my brain was fried yesterday and I could barely carry a conversation!! Greg and I were talking last night about Jordan having to write college essays and I couldn't even remember what my Master's thesis was about! I spent a whole semester researching and writing it and I couldn't even remember what it was about due to lack of sleep!! Oofta!

Today and tomorrow, Sydney and I are on our own. Greg and Jordan left early this morning to go visit Santa Barbara college. The soccer coach has expressed much interest in Jordan playing for his team. We will see what they have to offer him financially. Another college we are working closely with right now is Brown! They are very interested in him and have offered a nice monetary opportunity. We are waiting to get more information from the soccer coach. Keep you fingers crossed!

Below are a couple pictures of Sydney and her BFF Addison. Addison is 9 days younger than Sydney. This gives you a good idea on how big Sydney is...

More Updates

The transition to the crib and P.J.'s went awesome!!!! It was so easy!!

YAW RIGHT!!!!

We were up every two hours last night. Seriously, Sydney's legs were making a bicycling motion all night long!!! We thought at some point she would tire herself out and sleep soundly...wishful thinking. That girl burned a lot of calories last night! Needless to say, Daddy and Mommy are very tired today!! At 3am, Greg finally reswaddled her and she slept until 5am at which time Mommy finally gave up and brought her into bed with us and she slept on my chest (big no-no I know!!). So, today I am off to buy a larger swaddle that will help her transition better into her big girl P.J.'s. Wish us luck!!!!

Updates

I am so sorry to those of you whom I have not gotten back to. Life with Sydney is still unpredictable...which can be very trying for someone like me who is a planner!! Please know I am doing my best and will try to get to everyone soon!

Sydney is just soooo smart. Every time I take her to stroller strides, all of the moms are just amazed by how alert she is to her surroundings. She has learned to pull forward to lean herself up, which means she now has to be buckled in to everything. She is also talking up a storm now, especially to her mobile in her bedroom. She also is doing this thing were she sucks in her bottom lip and smiles...once again, very cute!

Yesterday we tried something new with her nap (thanks for the suggestion Jessica W.)! I have a pak-n-play downstairs with a changing table. For her afternoon nap, I placed her on her tummy with a blanket under her tilting her some for her nap. It worked!!! She slept for 2 hours and she was right down by me so I could constantly check her to make sure she was breathing well. I actually got to do a workout while she slept. Up until yesterday, the only way she would take this long of a nap was to sleep on her tummy on my chest. Hopefully this continues to work.

We will be making the big switch to P.J.'s (instead of the swaddling) and crib tonight. She is just way to long to be in her bassinet another night and she has totally outgrown her swaddler! We will let you know how that works out. I wonder if I will get any sleep tonight!

By the way, I forgot to let you all know. During her doctors appointment last week she weighed in at 13 pounds and 24 1/2 inches tall!! She is in the 97th percentile for both!!

New Discoveries

Sydney had her 2 month immunization shots yesterday. It was awful!! She slept most of the day and we had another 7 straight hours of sleep last night. Today, she was a whole different little girl. She has been talking up a storm all day long. It's so amazing to hear your child's voice. She has a different expression for each sound...it's soooo cute!

Along with all of the talking, she continues to recognize how amazing her hand is! She stares at it and then puts it in her mouth and then stares at it again. After awhile of staring and licking her hand, she gets very excited and will then try to stick her whole fist in her mouth. Once she realizes it will not fit, she screams at her hand! She has also starting blinking her eyes a lot today. Everything she does is sooo cute and just amazes me. I know, I know, I probably need to get out more!! I did go hiking tonight before it got too dark. As I was reaching the top of the mountain, I saw a beautiful sunset over the mountains. I wish I could have shared it with you all.

Season of Change

It's finally cooled off here and the weather has been amazing...Arizona fall has arrived! When I think of fall, I think of change. And when I think of change, I think of how much my life has changed this last year...the last couple months in particular. This morning, as Sydney is sleeping in her swing, I got to thinking of all the things that have/or are currently changing, for me.

1. I have always been a worrier, that will not change; however, I have noticed a change in the things that I tend to worry about. I am not as concerned about "me" anymore. Several times now I have gone without a shower, have stayed in my PJ's all day, have gone to the store in a hat and sweats, etc. Along with all of this, I have not kept up with the current trends in clothing and I have totally let my hair go. All of these things just don't matter enough to me right now to waste energy worrying about them. Instead, I now worry about things like...is Sydney getting enough to eat, am I eating the right things for her nutrition, am I being a good Mommy, and am I doing anything wrong, etc. I worry about how many hours of sleep I am going to get tonight and what are the important tasks that need to be done today while she sleeps. I worry about my husband and all of the additional responsibilities he has had to take on while I stay home and care for Sydney. The list goes on and on but the theme is...I have become a much less selfish person. I seem to be worrying more about the people I love. I think that is a good thing in this situation.

2. Something else that has changed in my life...well, in the past, I always needed an event to look forward to just so I could get through all of the uneventful, boring, work days. Whether it be a trip to Mexico, a trip to Minnesota or a concert, I would put all of my focus on the event just so I had something to look forward to. Now, the things I look forward to all revolve around Sydney...her first smile, her first giggle, walks in the park, weekends when Greg has off work and we can do things has a family, our first trip to Minnesota when I can introduce our daughter to all of our family and friends. So many things to look forward to with our daughter. It's almost like life has just begun!

So, bring on the fall...change is good!

More Pictures

Sydney and I had quite a day yesterday. This coming Friday will be Greg & I's 5 year wedding anniversary (however, we started seeing each other in 1996)!! This last year has definitely been our best year so far!! To remember this, Sydney and I decided to get Daddy a very special gift...we got our picture taken together and framed it nicely for Daddy. We couldn't wait until Friday to give it to him because we were so excited, so we gave it to him this morning. Daddy was very happy and said it was the best gift ever!! The first picture is the one we went with and framed.

Now for the "quite a day" part...Sydney would not smile during our photo session. In fact, she had a total melt down! The rest of the day was downhill from there! It was definitely one of the longest days of my life! She fought sleep all day so she was very cranky! I finally got her down around 9pm last night. She did come around by sleeping until 4:45am! She went back to sleep after eating until 7am!

Yesterday, I bought her a mobile for her crib. I am going to slowly start making the transition from her bassinet to the crib because she is getting too big for the bassinet. She LOVES the mobile. There is lots of color and movement and calming music. She is completely mesmerized by it when I lay her in her crib. Hopefully that will last!

Lastly, this morning Lil Sydney was no longer a bobble head. She was holding her head up all on her own and turning it quickly from side to side as if she just discovered a new talent. It was very cute! Now, she is taking a quick cat nap in her swing (that's how I am able to get this post done)!