You asked…

Well. I was hoping for more than three questions, but that's okay :) If anyone else thinks of something, go ahead and leave it in a comment and I'll answer it next time!

Allison asked, "How long did it take the 'I feel bad for not blogging regularly' guilt to go away while you were on hiatus? ;)"

It never went away! To be honest, I probably thought about how I should be blogging every single day. But once I missed a month, then two months, then three months, etc., it just kept getting harder and harder to do a post because of how BIG that post would need to be! When Dallas had her first birthday, I thought -- this is it. NOW I need to really blog again. But I didn't. Then when we started thinking about having another baby, I thought that I really should be blogging again before I got pregnant. Then I found out I was pregnant...then we found out we were having a boy...then there was the whole pregnancy to blog about...and Dallas's second birthday party...then Bradley was actually born...

That was what did it. I knew I'd regret it forever if I didn't at least start blogging again and write out his birth story. It's only fair to him, since I documented every single week and took tons of pictures when I was pregnant with Dallas. Now that I've started back, I don't want to get into the non-blogging slump again...hence this post :)

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Amanda asked, "What's the hardest/best part about being a mother of two?"

Wow, this could be a really long answer. The best part is that I've got TWO KIDS to love. And that is really wonderful. It's also amazing to see their reactions every day when Dustin comes home from work. They both love their daddy so much. It's also great having two kids to share with our families -- more to go around for all the grandparents :)

I'll be honest, though -- so far having two kids has been tough. Dallas really did not do well the first few weeks after we had Bradley. At times I would look at her and really feel like she was a different child -- like I didn't even know her any more because her disposition had changed so much. Thankfully, she has pretty much gotten over most of that, but we're definitely going through a trying age. She is still a really good little girl, and I am thankful for how well behaved she is about 90% of the time, but man can that kid flip a switch and go crazy in a split second. It catches Dustin and me off guard every.single.time. since most of the time it comes out of nowhere. She’ll go from calm to kicking, screaming and thrashing about in a matter of seconds, and it seems like nothing we do can stop her. It’s really fun when that happens out in public – like in Target or the parking lot of Al’s Pizza! I know a lot of it is because she's not getting as much attention as she used to and because as she's getting older she wants to be more independent, but there's not much I can do about that when it's just me, Dallas and Bradley alone together during the day. Dividing my time between the children is really a struggle -- especially since Dallas does get the short end of the stick pretty much all of the time.

It’s also hard because my two babies have been so very different that sometimes it’s almost like being a first time mom all over again. I am so blessed to have had two good babies, but Bradley could not be more opposite from what Dallas was as an infant. We had to work HARD to get Dallas to smile and laugh, but Bradley smiles at anything and everything! Dallas liked to have her own personal time and would pretty much beg (as much as a baby can beg) to be put in her swing when she was over stimulated. Bradley would love to be held all the time. The biggest challenge, though, has been that where Dallas was pretty much born sleeping through the night and pretty much made up her own little daytime schedule, making life fairly predictable, Bradley is all over the place. One night he'll sleep 4-5 hour stretches all night and have no problems sleeping in his bed, and then next night he'll wake up every single hour. There were about 4 nights last week where he slept in his swing the whole night, and that was the ONLY way he'd sleep. And last night, for example, I put him in bed around 8:30pm and he slept like a rock till 12:30am. After that, he woke up at 4:30, 6:30, and 8:30am. Each time, he takes 30-45 minutes to eat plus a diaper change, so we're up for nearly an hour every time he wakes up. To say that I am a walking zombie the majority of the time is an understatement. We are trying to get Bradley on a Babywise schedule, but until that happens and he is sleeping a little better through the night, I pretty much dread bedtime because I never know what to expect.

When Dallas was a baby and up until Bradley was born, Dustin and I pretty much cared for her equally when we were together (apart from my nursing her, of course). Now, when Dustin is home, he's pretty much on Dallas duty and I take care of Bradley. This makes me miss Dallas so much, but for now it's the best we can do. I still try to rock her for a few seconds (literally...seconds) a few times a week before she goes to bed, but pretty much the only real close time we have together is whatever I can sneak in during the day while Bradley naps. I miss the days of tucking her in to bed and laying next to her and smelling her hair while we say her prayers. Again, I hope to be able to do more with her once we've got Bradley on a better schedule.

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Nikki asked, "How does being a stay-at-home mom compare with being a working mom?"

Being a SAHM is the BEST. I absolutely love knowing this time that I don't have to go back to work. When I had Dallas, I was hoping to never have to go back to work, but obviously that didn't work out for a while, and the uncertainty those first few months really put a damper on the time we had together in the beginning.

I remember writing at one time about feeling panicked every moment I didn't spend with her over the weekends and on days off because I knew our time together was limited. It was awful. I am so thankful that I don't even have to think about that this time. I didn't enjoy Dallas's first Thanksgiving and Christmas as much as I wish I would have because of the work issue. I'm glad that I won't have the same feelings about Bradley's first holiday season. I am also so relieved not to have to be getting up every day to go to work while also dealing with Bradley's non-sleeping issues. I can't imagine how hard that would be.

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And there you have it, folks. My first “ask me anything” post is done. And I guess it’s good that more of you didn’t show me love by commenting since just those three questions made for such a long post! In the next couple of weeks, I’m going to try to do a recap of Dallas’s 1st and 2nd birthday parties and post some pictures from our family vacation this past summer. I’m also going to really try to just keep up to date with posting what is CURRENTLY happening with us, so here’s an up front apology for how in-cohesive the layout of my blog posts may be from here on out.

Last but not least, here’s a picture of our sweet boy. I call this one “CRAZY EYES.”

Until next time! :)

Why I haven't blogged again yet...

I seem to have forgotten how to write a post that doesn't contain pictures, and since I am blogging from my phone and don't know how to add pictures through my blogger app, I have a great excuse not to blog at all. Stupid and sad, but true. I'll figure it out someday, but until then, I need your help!! Thus, I am going to do one of those "ask me a question" posts and let you guys supply the material for my next few blogs. So...what do you want to know? Any specific questions about things that happened during my blogging hiatus...now is the time to ask!

Also, since I seem to have lost many many many readers since I went over a year without posting, I think you should all post on your blogs and tell people to come back to mine :) Okee dokee? Thanks!

Okay, so now, ask me anything!

A baby story… (part 2)

As I said, I was pretty disappointed when the nurse checked me and said that I wasn't dilated at all. I knew that something was going on with my body even if the nurses couldn't really tell at this point. A few minutes after she checked me, I commented to Dustin that I felt kind of...wet (sorry if that's TMI, but you are reading a birth story). I mentioned it also to the nurse, and she said that it was just from the gel she'd used. I was not so sure, but I let it go and got right back to trying not to think about how awful I felt. A few minutes later, my nurse came back in and said that my urine showed that I was dehydrated, so I was going to be getting a few bags of IV fluid to help hydrate me and hopefully stop the contractions. I'm sure the nurse thought they were still false labor since they were so inconsistent.

The IV fluids seemed to do little except make me cold and need to visit the restroom over and over again...after which one trip I asked the nurse to please change the pads on my bed because the bed felt damp. I have no idea why I didn't think to ask the nurse more about WHY my bed was so wet, and I don't know why it didn't cross any of our minds that perhaps my water had broken... It sure would have saved us a LOT of waiting time.

Around 10pm, the nurse came back in with yet another bag of fluid and said that this one included some medicine including phenergan and was specifically for the purpose of making me relax and stopping the contractions. As she hooked this bag up, Dustin left to get something to eat since he'd skipped dinner to come straight to the hospital with me when he got home. This IV bag knocked me out fast...like SUPER fast. The nurse plugged it in (or whatever they do) and told me to "just go with it." I started to ask what she meant by that, but before she could finish telling me to relax, I was pretty much passed out. I'm sure it would've been amusing to watch.

I was out of it for about an hour, and when I woke up, I realized two things -- I had to pee REALLY BAD, and I was still having contractions. Dustin was of course back by this time, and when the nurse came back to the room again, she said that the anesthesiologist would be in soon to talk to me. I was like, "The anesthesiologist? So we're having a baby?!" She said, "Oh yeah! We're shooting for midnight. Your doctor is on her way here!"

This announcement triggered a wide range of emotion for me -- excitement that I wouldn't be pregnant any more and we'd have our baby, shock that it was actually happening, and SHEER PANIC because I knew what was coming. Suddenly the only things I could think about were how much it was all going to hurt, how Dallas was going to be affected, and how I was SO tired and after the baby got here I'd probably NEVER BE ABLE TO SLEEP AGAIN... a fear that proved to be surprisingly accurate for a while :/. I decided that all I really wanted to do was go back home, get in my own bed to sleep and wake up the next day and just be home with Dallas.

As the many different people began filtering through my room in preparation for the surgery, Dustin called our families. Dustin's mom went to our house to stay with Dallas, and my parents came up to the hospital. My mom and dad were each allowed to come into my room for a few minutes and talk to me. I was glad to see them, but honestly I can say that those two hours between the time the nurse told me we were doing the c-section till the time the baby actually got here were two of the longest, scariest and most difficult hours I have ever experienced. I'm sure a lot of it had to do with how tired I was, but I was completely terrified about what was about to happen.

Eventually I was wheeled back to the OR, and Dustin was left in the hallway to wait. He has since told me that he felt like he was waiting for forever, but I think it was really only about 30 minutes. Thankfully since I was in natural labor this time (as opposed to being induced with Dallas) my contractions during the time when the anesthesiologist was doing his thing weren't nearly as bad, which means the needles weren't as painful as I'd been expecting. I started feeling numb almost immediately, but then I started shaking from the drugs, the adrenaline rush and because it was fa.ree.zing in that OR. I felt like I'd been on that table for hours by the time I heard someone say that my doctor had come in the room, but thankfully everyone -- especially the anesthesiologist and his assistant -- was so nice and I could tell they were trying hard to make me feel relaxed and as comfortable as possible. At some point Dustin was allowed to come into the room. I don't really remember when.

During my c-section with Dallas, I don't remember feeling a thing. I was pretty much just falling asleep the whole time. This time, I felt a LOT. I know it's because last time I had an epidural meant for regular delivery and adapted for the c-section, and this time I was anesthetized from the beginning for surgery. It didn't really hurt a first, but I was definitely in a lot of pain by the time it was all over...almost like the drugs had worn off before the surgery was over. Not fun.

I knew the exact moment the doctor started pulling the baby out. I guess that sounds gross, but it's also really cool. The anesthesiologist's assistant was even able to get some pictures of the head, then shoulders then whole baby as he came out. Don't worry, I'm not going to post those :) At one point, I heard my doctor ask where all the amniotic fluid was. I wasn't sure if she was talking to me or the nurses or if she was just asking rhetorically, but I didn't answer. I didn't think about it again until few days later, and at my two week checkup, I told her about the whole feeling wet during triage thing and asked if she thought my water had broken. She said it definitely had and that she'd looked into it immediately after the surgery was over. It makes me feel a lot better to know that I truly was in labor when I came in to the hospital.

So, at 1:03am on September 1st, our baby boy came into the world...

Bradley James
6 lbs. 11oz. 19 inches long

Yes, his name is Bradley James. Dustin, Dallas and I kept his name a secret until he was born. He came out blowing bubbles. It was adorable, and that will always be my first memory of seeing him. I was so happy to not feel like I was about to fall asleep when Dustin was able to hold him so we could see him for the first time. I remember thinking that his skin was so smooth and pretty and that his nose was perfect and looks just like Dallas's. His eyes are blue but very dark -- much more so than mine and Dallas's -- which makes me think that they may eventually turn brown like Dustin's. He has about as much hair as Dallas did, but it's very dark brown -- again like Dustin's. He's beautiful and very, very sweet.

Unlike my delivery with Dallas where I had to wait over two hours in recovery before I was able to hold Dallas, I was able to go to the room where I'd be for the rest of our stay as soon as the surgery was over and hold Bradley immediately. I was SO happy about that. My parents were still waiting at the hospital, so they were able to come in and see us right away, too, and as soon as I was able to get a good picture, I updated facebook with the news that Bradley had arrived...because you know how important having an up-to-date facebook page is :)

That first night (really, the whole time we were in the hospital), Dustin and I missed Dallas terribly, but it was so wonderful to be holding our new little baby. I am so thankful that the Lord decided to bless us yet again with such a precious gift. And I am so thankful that he was born healthy and had no residual issues from my being on so much medication during the pregnancy.

Dallas was able to come up to the hospital the next morning to meet her "baby brudder." She was by no means a huge fan of his for the first few weeks, but she has slowly warmed up to him and now truly seems to enjoy having him around. She calls him "brudder" most of the time since that's what Dustin and I called him before he was born even though I now use his name the majority if the time. She is such a sweet big sister and loves to help me do things for Bradley. Every time I change his diaper she runs and gets her stool so she can get a diaper out of the drawer for me. When we give him baths, she stands on a chair at the kitchen counter and uses a little cup to pour water on his belly and feet to help keep him warm. If he fusses, cries or even just makes a funny noise, she'll yell, "It's okay, brudder!" as loud as she can to calm him down. She gives him his pacifier, covers him with blankets and will put toys in his lap whenever he's sitting in his swing or bouncy seat. I am so proud of her for being so sweet with him. She makes me and Dustin smile and laugh every single day.

I am so blessed to have such a beautiful, precious family.

A baby story... (part 1)

One of the many reasons that I've always loved blogging is that it's pretty much like a journal of my life. I can go back and read what I was thinking about or going through at any given point. I know that's nothing new...I'm sure that's why a good number of people blog. I especially love being able to read back over the posts from when I was pregnant with Dallas. It is so special to me to relive those memories, and I am excited that one day, she too will be able to read those posts and see all of the pictures of me while I was carrying her. It may be many, many, many years before she appreciates any of it, but that's okay. It is my hope that some day she will be able to read through all of it and that it will make her feel so special to know how much Dustin and I loved her and how excited we were for her to be a part of our family before she was even born.

I very much regret not blogging during this pregnancy. That's one of those things that people always talk about -- how the 2nd child (and any subsequent kids) don't get nearly the attention that the first one did. Before I had this baby, I think I kind of had the thought in my mind that once you had one baby, the birth of any other babies wasn't as special. Now that I have two children, though, I know very well that (for me at least) that is not true in the slightest. The truth is that once you have a child, you're just busy. And when you're busy, you have to decide what is the most important to you. As I said in my last post, for me, spending time with Dallas along with all of the other things that come with being a stay at home wife and mom just became way more important than spending time writing a blog. I do wish I'd made time for a few "this is what I'm going through" posts here and there during the pregnancy, but...I didn't. Thankfully I've told my pregnancy story a bunch of times, and it's still fresh enough in my mind that I'll be able to at least write about the big stuff...the important things that this baby may someday want to know. So, here it is -- our (2nd) baby story.

(I want to add -- I was planning to put a lot of pictures in this post to go along with what I write, but since I'm doing this from my phone, that would be way too difficult. I don't want to keep putting off publishing this, so all the pics will just have to wait till another time :)

All my life I've said that I want two children. Then I met Dustin, who said that he wanted four, and when we got married, we agreed to compromise at three. There are three kids in my family -- me being the middle child -- and I've always liked the spacing between me and my sister (2 years) and brother (4 years). After having Dallas, I think Dustin and I both knew that we wouldn't wait too long to have a second child. Not too long after Dallas's first birthday (September 18, 2010) we started talking once again about having another baby. It was like Dallas all over again since it was also September when we'd first started trying to get pregnant with her. By the first of this year, even without taking a pregnancy test I was pretty much convinced that I was pregnant since I had found out that I was pregnant with Dallas also at the beginning of January. On January 6th, I took the test...knowing that it was really early to get an accurate result. Sure enough, though, it said that baby #2 was on the way!

When I found out I was pregnant with Dallas, Dustin was standing right next to me, so he saw the lines on the stick at the exact same time that I did. This time, I was impatient and took a test while he was at work. I guess I could've kept it to myself for a while and thought up some cute and creative way to tell him that he was going to be a daddy again, but instead, I called him at work, told him that Dallas and I had had a rough morning, and asked if I could stop by his office for a few minutes on my way out to my parents' house just to help us cheer up a bit. When we got to his office, he came out to the parking lot to say a quick hello. I actually had to fake and few tears to get him into the car for just a second, and then I told him -- we didn't really have a rough morning. We're actually having another baby! He was very excited to say the least, and since we weren't going to share our news immediately with everyone we knew, I'm sure it was difficult for him to go back to work and pretend like nothing had happened. I know it was hard for me to act normal!

We had my family (parents, brother and sister -- that almost NEVER happens) over for dinner about a week after we found out, and although we had planned to wait a little bit longer to share our secret, we went ahead and told them that night that Dallas was going to be a big sister. Actually, when Dustin prayed for the food, he said something like "...and please bless this new little life that's growing inside of Angela." After the AMEN, they were all excited and asked if we were serious :) We told Dustin's family about a week after that when we went to visit them and celebrate Christmas. Dustin told them that we had one extra present for them...but it wouldn't arrive for about 9 months.

Morning sickness started early with this baby, so of course from the very beginning everyone was just sure that we were having a boy. Sure enough, on April 20th, the doctor confirmed that Dallas would indeed be getting a baby brother for her birthday. Yes, my due date was September 16th-- just two days before Dallas would turn two.

Just like my pregnancy with Dallas, this pregnancy was difficult. Thankfully I had no issues with preeclampsia, and it was a huge blessing not to be working, but I started having terrible back and rib pains early on, and it was determined that my gall bladder was to blame. After several (very expensive) sonograms, my doctor proclaimed my gall bladder to be low functioning, full of sludge (sounds gross, huh?) and gave me a prescription for Loritab. After a few weeks, I was switched to Percocet and took that for the last 2 1/2 months of the pregnancy to help manage the pain. My doctor has since said that my gall bladder will need to be removed before I have any more children, and even though that won't be happening for several years, we've met our insurance deductible for this year, so the surgery will definitely happen some time before the new year. It's scary, but it's also exciting to think that if/when we have more kids (because yes, it is now an IF after all of this drama) I won't have to deal with this issue again!

Since the problems that I had during delivery with Dallas, we knew from the very beginning that this baby would be born via c-section. My doctor scheduled the surgery for September 9th -- one week before our baby boy was due. I, of course, was hoping that he would come earlier than that. Again, since I was having a scheduled c-section and because of my gall bladder issues, my doctor said that if I had any symptoms of early labor or regular contractions, she would go ahead and take him. I'd been having Braxton Hicks contractions since 19 weeks, but somewhere around 36 weeks they became real! Unfortunately, the real contractions did nothing for my uncooperative body, and my 37 week appointment came and went.

The Tuesday night of my 37th week, my contractions became noticeably stronger. I still didn't think I was really in labor...nevertheless I downloaded a contraction timer app and started to keep track. Irregular. 11 minutes. 15 minutes. 8 minutes. 30 minutes. 2 minutes. It was quite frustrating. I was so uncomfortable...I ended up just taking a bath and going to bed early. I figured the contractions would either wake me up and we'd go to the hospital, or I'd wake up in the morning and go to the pool with my friends as I'd been planning.

Wednesday morning, I woke up as I normally did... to the sound of Dallas playing in her bed. One thing was different though -- I was still feeling some pretty strong contractions. Up to that point, my BH contractions had occurred mostly in the afternoon, evening, and night times. I started timing them again, and even though they were still very irregular, I went ahead and called my doctor. As is usual, a nurse from the office called me back, and explained what was going on -- strong, very uncomfortable and yes even painful contractions and, by this point, quite a bit of low pressure -- as if the baby was pushing down. The nurse agreed that I was most likely in early labor and told me to keep track if my contractions. If they continued or got worse, she wanted me to go on to the hospital. She said that since I was scheduled for a c-section they didn't want me to labor at home for too long and risk having me dilate too far or the baby enter the birth canal or anything like that.

By this time, I'd called my mom to come over to keep Dallas...just in case. After a few more hours of contractions (still very irregular!) I called Dustin and told him that when he got home from work I wanted to go to the hospital to be checked out.

Honestly, I didn't think I was in labor. I never went into labor with Dallas, and even when given pitocin in the hospital I never progressed, so I really didn't think it would happen on it's own this time, but I was so very uncomfortable and so ready to NOT be pregnant any more that we went anyway...just in case.

After I told Dustin I wanted to go to the hospital, he went ahead and left work. When he got home, we packed our hospital bags (I'd only had the baby's bag and about half of my stuff packed before then) and took off. It was extremely difficult to say goodbye to Dallas because 1) I didn't want to upset her by making a big deal out of the fact that Dustin and I were leaving her, and 2) I didn't know whether to say, "I'll see you in a little while," or "I'll see you tomorrow after I have this baby oh and by the way your world is about to be seriously turned upside down." It was upsetting to say the least.

By the time we got to the hospital, checked in and got all set up in a triage room for monitoring it was about 6pm. The nurse hooked up monitors for both my contractions and the baby's heartbeat. It was apparent from the beginning that although I was having contractions, they were still pretty far apart and not coming at regular intervals. After a while the nurse checked to see if I was dilating at all, but just as my doctor told me at my appointment a few days before -- I was not dilated at all. Of course, I immediately started feeling pretty dumb for having come in to the hospital, and from then on I was just waiting for them to send us on home. It was very disappointing to hear that even with all of the contractions and even with all the low pressure I'd been feeling that I was still not actually progressing towards labor.

I was surprised when the nurse never even said anything about us going home after she checked me. At one point I think I asked if it looked like we'd be going home, and she said she didn't know and it would depend on what my doctor said when she called to give her a report. I was glad that we still had a chance, although I still really didn't think anything was going to happen that night.

To be continued in part 2...

Yep. It's me!

Well, would you look at me...writing a blog post. Hard to believe that I'm back on the blogging wagon after all this time, but thankfully, I'm doing it! I didn't intentionally stop writing, but well, life happened (I actually really hate that expression) and suddenly spending time with Dallas became way more important than the ol' blogosphere. And then the longer I waited to post, the more difficult it got till it was just going to be way too overwhelming, and here we are more than a year later.

Just so you know, Dallas did age past 10 months old. I'm sure some of you were worried that that's why I stopped blogging. Rest assured, though, that in the time since we last spoke, Dallas turned one, learned to walk, has grown a whole lot of hair, learned to talk A LOT, learned to pee pee in the potty, (whenever she wants to...) became a big sister, and then turned TWO! Hard to believe she's that old now, but it's true.

Oh, and did you catch the BIG SISTER part? Yep. About four weeks ago we added another child to our family! That's sort of the reason I decided that I absolutely needed to start writing again. It's just not fair to deprive the world (any longer) of as many cute stories and pictures of my children as I can possibly squeeze onto the internet.

So...here we go again. Back to chronicling all the crazy things that happen around here. Maybe never as regularly as I might like, but I'm gonna do my best not to let another year slip by :)

Next up -- baby's birth story...

Squint.

Can you find the commonality in these pictures?

(the fog on the lens was thanks to the wonderful Florida humidity…we actually breathe WATER here.)

(this one’s my favorite)

Trying to get a good picture of the two of us…

FINALLY!! We can see her eyes!

What a booger I have…

A game of cat and baby

It all started with Dallas…sitting in the corner…minding her own business…

 

She has just started this thing where every time I try to take her picture she squints her eyes.  Little goober.

 

Pulling things out of her bag…

 

Baggie sits watching, unnoticed…

 

Dallas says, “Hey, what are you doing in here?”

Baggie says, “Bet you can’t catch me!”

 

Run, kitty!  Run!

 

Dallas gets just close enough to touch Baggie’s fur, and Baggie takes off again!

 

Baggie turns to make sure Dallas is still coming…

 

Dallas caught her!  She actually landed her hand on Baggie’s paw so she couldn’t run away again! 

 

Eventually Baggie escaped to the kitchen…

 

Quick pause for another squinty-eyed picture

 

“Let me pet you, Baggie!”

 

Baggie makes a smart move and runs under the dining room table.

 

“Why does she run from me, Mommy?”

 

Dallas can’t quite figure out how to get under the table. 

 

She crawls under the chair and gets stuck. 

 

Mommy helps her get free, and she’s off to find the kitty again!

 

Finally, Baggie got tired of running and hid. 

I’m still not sure where she is :)

9 months have FLOWN by

I seriously need a pause button for my life right now. Can anyone else relate? I hate doing these posts so late, and try as I might, I just can’t seem to find time to blog during the day. Pretty much my only free time is when Dallas is napping, and I have oodles of other activities that need to be done during that time, and blogging falls low on the list of priorities. Maybe some day I’ll be able to blog regularly again, but for now I think I need to stop beating myself up over it.

I cannot believe that Dallas is already 9 months old. I remember when she was born saying something about how it’ll be neat when she is older than how long I’ve known she existed. I didn’t think that time would come, but that time is now. It’s incredible. There is no way on earth that Dallas could ever be classified as an infant any more. She is a full blown BABY. I don’t think that I ever knew there was a difference before, but since she is now feeding herself regularly, says a few words, and can crawl faster than Baggie would like, it’s hard to deny that she’s really growing up….WAY too fast. Without further ado, let’s move on to what’s new with Dallas this month. I’m a week late, and I’m just going to include everything up until today.

This month, Dallas…

• weighed 18 lbs. 8 oz. and was 28.75 inches long at her 9 month doctor’s appointment. She is in the 50th percentile for her weight and the 90th percentile for her height.
• wears 6-9 month and 9-12 month clothes and has a few 12 month shirts that fit her.
• has shoes in both sizes 2 and 3 that fit her. It just depends on the type of shoe.
• wears size 3 diapers. I have decided that Luvs are my favorite diapers because they almost never leak, they’re WHITE so they don’t show through her clothes when she wears something light colored, and they're CHEAP.
• is still sleeping really well. She’s normally in bed by 7:30pm and will sleep until about 7-7:15am when Dustin wakes up for work.
• eats three meals every day, and feeds herself at least one thing at every meal. She’ll normally eat half of a banana and a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast, but the rest of her food really varies according to what I have cooked for her.
• eats a lot of new things this month, including peaches (HATES – either pureed or whole), Mandarin oranges, whole green beans (would never eat them pureed), chick peas, bread, crackers, mashed potatoes, and jello.
  

• nurses 4-5 times a day.
• has 5 teeth – two on top, and three on the bottom. I miss her gummy smile, but I must say that she is awfully cute with her little snaggle-tooth grin. And for the record (because I know some people will want to know), yes, she has bitten me, and yes it hurt. I dread the next time it’ll happen. I don’t think she does it on purpose, so of course I can’t be mad at her for it.
• takes two naps every day. For her morning nap, she’ll usually go down around 9am and will only sleep for about an hour. Her afternoon nap always varies a little depending on our schedule, but on days that we’re home she’ll normally go down around 1pm and sleep for about two hours. Every once in a while she’ll surprise me and sleep longer, and that’s always a bonus.

• sleeps pretty much exclusively on her stomach and still LOVES her Jaguar toy. I’m going to say it again to all you other new mommies out there – if you’re having trouble getting your baby to sleep, GIVE HIM/HER A SLEEP TOY. It has worked WONDERS for Dallas. She really, really loves her Jaguar, and she 100% knows that when I give her the Jaguar, it’s time to go to sleep. It’s like magic. Seriously.
• is now taking baths in the big bath tub, and really enjoys it. She has so much room now to play with all of her toys, and she likes to crawl around in the bathtub. It’s super cute.
  

• will wave when we say “hi” or “bye-bye.”
• LOVES, LOVES, LOVES Baggie, and thankfully, Baggie is pretty tolerant of Dallas. Dallas has managed to pull Baggie’s tail a couple of times and has even grabbed handfuls of her fur, but so far Baggie has not retaliated. She’s a good kitty :)
  

• claps on command when we say, “Dallas, clap!” or when we say, “Yay!” She’ll also clap whenever we get onto her for something. {Example scenario: Dallas crawls towards Baggie’s food. We say, “No, Dallas!” Dallas stops, considers crawling closer to the food, and eventually decides to obey. She’ll sit down, turn and look at us, and clap as if to say, “Yay for me! I’m a good girl!” This cracks us up every. single. time. Even better is as soon as she’s done clapping, she’ll turn and head straight for Baggie’s food again, and we’ll do the whole thing over and over.}
  

• has mastered “Mama” and “Dada” and is now trying to say other words. I talked to her doctor about this because I know it’s a little early for her to really be talking, but the doctor was happy to say that it is quite possible. She said that they really don’t expect most babies to know the difference between “Mama” and “Dada” until they’re a year old, but if she’s got those two down, she may just be an early talker. So far, the only word we’re sure of is “Nie-nie” for night night. Dallas actually TELLS me when she’s ready for her naps. It’s a wonderful thing. Other words we’re hearing are “Bee-bee” (we’ve heard this one several times when she looks at herself in the mirror), “Ba” (we’re thinking maybe “Baggie”?) and “Geee” (again, maybe “Baggie”). Her favorite word of all is, “bookum.” She says this all. the. time. She also says a few variations of this word, like “hockum.” Not sure what the meaning of this word is. :) She makes a lot of other noises, too. Just yesterday she learned how to make a snorting sound….like a pig. So weird.
• is learning baby sign language. We’ve only been working on it for about a week and a half, but Dallas already recognizes the sign for “milk.” She’s done it a couple times, but she hasn’t quite figured out that she can do it to tell me that that’s what she wants. Of course, milk means nurse to Dallas…not that she wants a sippy cup. It’s my goal for Dallas to eventually know the signs for milk, eat, more, and drink.
  

• crawls everywhere and is pulling up on pretty much everything. It is amazing how much this has changed my life. She can get from one room to another in a second without my even knowing she was on the move. I love to watch her crawl. It’s hilarious and cute.
  

• never sits in her swing any more. We finally put it up a couple of weeks ago.
• still loves her exersaucer, and I am SOOOOO GLAD because it’s about the only place I can put her when I absolutely have to get something done while she’s awake.
  

• went to the zoo for the first time on Memorial Day. It was very hot and that was hard on her, but I think she enjoyed looking at some of the animals.
• is showing signs of separation anxiety, making it hard to leave her anywhere....like the nursery at church. We dealt with this a while back while I was working, but it had gotten a lot better in the last few months. I hope it will be a short phase again.
  
• watches Sesame Street every morning and loves Elmo’s World.
  

• has eaten 2 and 1/2 pieces of Baggie’s food and a bloody band aide (this happened on our way home from the doctor’s office after she had her toe pricked and got a shot).
  

• has learned to chase us when we crawl away from her. We’re trying to teach her to play hide-n-seek.
• left Florida for the first time a few weeks ago to visit her great-Nana in Georgia.
• got her first real boo-boo this month. She fell when she was standing by the side of the couch, and she scratched her face. I think it was waaaaay more traumatizing for me than it was for her.
  

Last but not least, we had our first real family photo shoot a few weeks ago. There were so many good pictures, that I seriously could post like 100 more pictures, but I won’t…. Here are just a few of my favorites…

(Photos taken by Sarah Orgunov of Moments by Sarah)