March 28 - Mmmm! Sweet Potatoes at 5 Months Old!!

Lainey seemed to feel a little better today, which was nice, because she is 5 months old today!! She slept well last night and woke up this morning to eat around 5:15 (normal time during the week) and then not again until almost 8:00!! Wow!! So we got up and went downstairs and spent some time watching cartoons. After Lainey went down for her morning nap, mommy got the kitchen cleaned up and got some lunch together. In the afternoon I did some more work around the house and just spent some time with little Lainey bug.

By the time we got to evening Lainey was happy and Daddy decided we would go have an early dinner out somewhere for fun. So we went to one of our favorite Italian places and it was DELICIOUS! Alaina ended up falling asleep about 10 minutes in and slept until we were carrying her out. We stopped at Wal Mart on the way home to pick up a few things INCLUDING a pink swing to hang in our backyard for Lainey to have this summer! Yae! Anyway, when we got home it was time for dinner and it was time to sample our new food, sweet potatoes!! Now, with the carrots we just made faces. The sweet potatoes we just expelled all together. We even got really good at hiding it in our cheek and then spewing it as mommy went to get another spoon full of food. Anyway, this is what you get. A sweet potato monster who got a bath!!

See it under my chin mom!?!

Ha ha ha! I spit it out!!

Sorry Lord...I don't like sweet potatoes...

All Clean!!

March 27 - Bad News Ears...

Here we go again! I guess the crankiness had a source and the source was a double ear infection. We went to the Dr. this afternoon at 3:30 and they confirmed that Lainey has ear infection again, and this time, it is in both ears. So, here is our good friend Mr. Amoxicillin. We started it tonight, but, obviously it is going to take some time for it to work. We spent most of the evening cuddling and reading books and Lainey and I went to bed early! Maybe Saturday will be better!

March 26 - Cranky

Lainey was kind of cranky tonight. It all started this morning when she woke up and was not in the greatest of moods. We thought maybe she was still hungry so I fed her again and she went right to sleep and I was off to work. Well, when I went to pick her up from daycare she was crying and they said she had not had a good afternoon and they were not sure what was wrong. I decided we needed to make a Dr. Appointment as the past two times this has happened, it has been an ear infection. Appointments is tomorrow at 3:30. So tonight we had a "mommy" night and we spent most of the evening in our jammies hanging out together. This is when we were hanging out on the couch on our boppy after we ate. Overall it was a lazy at home evening with the family, which sometimes, those are the best. :o)

March 25 - A Lonely Little Daffodil...

So today when I got home from work I noticed something "bright" in my drab, dead, brown garden. One lonely little daffodil decided to make an early appearance. Poor thing! I hope it survives this cooler weather! It is beautiful and reminds me that spring is not too far off and it won't be long until everything is green and new again! Hooray! Thank you Lord for new life!
Tonight, Alaina and I went to visit dad at bowling so he could "show off his baby" to all of his bowling friends. Lainey was very good, as usual, and got a LOT of attention, especially from some of the wives of the guys on Teddy's team. We left around 7:45 to go home so Lainey could eat her cereal and carrots (they are growing on her! We don't cry when we eat them now...) and get ready for bed. Daddy was sad that by the time he got home Lainey was FAST asleep in her bed. See you in the morning Daddy! Goodnight!

March 24 - Jump Jump Jump!!!

Yae! We can touch the floor now! Mommy had to do some work around the house this evening so Lainey played in her jumper. As you can see, there are plenty of things to entertain her! :o) We haven't quite got the "jumping" down but we do bounce around a little on our tippy tip toes!! She had a lot of fun making the "piano" play music and spinning the frog. It was a fun night!!

March 23 - Mmmmm - Carrots

Tonight we tried our first baby food. The cereal has been going really well and it was time to introduce something new. The book said to start with "orange" food. Now, I don't do everything the baby book tells me too, but, when you are a first time parent and standing there in the baby food aisle looking at the 8 zillion jars of different brands, stages, etc... You want someone to tell you what to buy!!! So, it said start with orange so I bought carrots, sweet potatoes and squash. Apparently you start with the veggies, orange veggies and Carrots are the most bland of the orange. So, tonight we tried some carrots... They weren't a huge hit, but, perhaps carrots are an acquired taste? ;o) See for yourself and sorry the quality may not be that high. I recorded the experience so these are still frames from that!!

March 22 - A Long Weekend Over

Today was another busy day and by the time we got back to Nebraska, Alaina was very tired. She fell asleep in the swing holding her puppy that she had been playing with.
This morning we went to church again with Grammy and Papaw. Uncle Chad and Aunt Ashley were there too! (Daddy was still at his bowling tournament) Grammy was really excited to have her whole family there for the first time in...well, a long time. Probably years. After church we went back to Grammy and Papaw's house and had lunch and Aunt Ashley had to pack to go back to school. Papaw and Marcus were taking her back. Grammy stayed behind with Lainey and me. After lunch Lainey was getting tired so we laid down on the couch so Lainey could nurse and we both fell asleep! We had a nice nap and Grammy managed to get some of the work around the house done that she had been wanting to do! Daddy didn't get to Grammy's house until after 5:00!! We didn't get on the road until about 5:30 so we were late getting back to Nebraska. We basically unloaded our car, did a couple loads of laundry and got ready everything we needed for the week. Time to start all over again!

March 21 - A VERY BUSY DAY!!!

Teddy was up and out of the house by 6:45 this morning to drive to Ames and meet his friend Darrin to drive to the bowling tournament. Alaina had woken up to eat so we got to say goodbye to Daddy before he left. Then we went back to sleep for a little bit but we had to get up and moving to get ready to go to my friend Jen's house by 11:00. We ate a little lunch with my friends and talked but I had to leave by 12:15 to meet my parents so we could all drive to the family reunion on my Dad's side. We made it there by about 12:45 and had some lunch and lots of conversation. Everyone got to meet Alaina, and, as usual, she was a hit. ;o) Ha ha! She got lots and lots of attention and was very good. Then it was off to Jory and Michelle's house for Aiden's birthday party by 4:00. If you read my aunt Michelle's blog then you are going to see some similar pictures on my blog because these were taken on my dad's camera.
Calyn was soooo excited to see Alaina. She immediately wanted to hold her and Michelle told her she had to be sitting down so what does she do? Runs and kicks her dad out of the rocking chair, grabs a pillow off the couch and jumps up in the chair and pats her arm like "I'm ready for that baby!" What a cute picture! :o)
We had so much fun at Aiden's birthday party but by the time I loaded the little lady up in the car to take Aunt GG home, she was worn out... I felt sorry for Aunt GG because Alaina screamed all the way to town. That is what happens when you just cat nap all day little lady! After dropping Aunt GG off and getting her in the house I managed to get her a little calmed down before we headed back out of town to pick up Duncan. Thankfully, by the time we got out of town a ways, she had finally given in and dropped off to sleep. Poor little Lainey! We picked up our Duncan dog who had been at his other grandparents all day playing with their dog and went home. Alaina had some cereal and it was time for bed!! For BOTH of us!!

March 20 - Back in Town for the Weekend!!

Sadly, after I packed my camera, I could not find it when we got home Friday night. (Little did I know that Teddy hid it from me!!! {Accidentally}) So I am using a photo from last night because Alaina is REALLY enjoying her rice cereal and when we finally got home on Friday night she acted like she was STARVING. You can ask my mom and dad. She was "Whaa-ing" between bites because I couldn't shovel it in to her mouth fast enough. She sure loves it!Tonight when we got back we met Teddy's parents and went to dinner because they wanted to spend some time with Alaina and Teddy will be out of town the rest of the weekend at the Bowling Tournament. We had a good time and I was able to give Teddy's mom Alaina's St Patrick's pictures and a 4-leaf clover I made for her and my mom from Alaina's foot and handprints. It was so cute. I had to make myself one too of course. I wish I could say I had pictures of that like I did for the Valentine footprint-butterflies, but, my hands were too covered in green paint, and my entire baby, to mess with the camera. Although, I do wish, I had a picture of the lovely smeared green handprint on my left hoo-ha. That was really precious. I was sad to wash it off. ;o) Ha ha ha! Anyway, after having dinner with Teddy's parents, we went back to my parents because a VERY anxious aunt Ashley was waiting to see Miss Alaina! We really just fed Alaina, she got held a little bit, and then we went to bed!!

March 19 - Packin Up!!

Duncan is BORED because pretty much all we did tonight was get ready to leave to go home tomorrow. Teddy and I are both going to get off work early so we can be back in good time for the BUSY weekend ahead of us. We had to get all of Alaina's things packed which, if you have kids, you know takes A LOT of time and organization. Now that she is eating cereal you have to think about all that, the diapers, the clothes, the bottles and pump...the list goes on and on. Then I have to turn around and pack myself! Whew! Lot's of work, but, we got it all done! :o) We are ready for our big weekend!! Are you Duncan??

March 18 - A Stupid Mommy with Good Intentions...

So, today was an ok day. Work went by pretty quickly and then I was out the door to get Alaina. She was in a great mood when I got there because she ate FOUR bottles again today. Time to start the cereal twice a day! Since she was so happy, I decided we would just run straight to Toys R Us and Babies R Us. We needed to pick up a birthday present for Mr. Aiden Hunderdosse! ;o) And, we needed a few more things too. At Babies R Us I picked up a baby food organizer. Basically, a glorified lazy susan for baby food, but, I think it will help with the organizing! We also got some cereal to take to daycare and a few other small items including, some cool new teething rings. I don't think the teeth are quite here yet but she likes to chew on the coolness of the teething ring anyway and we only have a couple. So, I got one that looks like keys and one that had Winnie the Pooh characters on it. So, by this time, Alaina is getting sleepy and I decide to head out. So we get home and I start to unpack our purchases. I put Alaina's name on her cereal and grab some bibs out of the drawer to put in the diaper bag for day care. Take out the baby food organizer and put it together and then I get to the teething rings. I took the little tags off of them and opened them up and decided I better clean them before giving them to my baby to put in her mouth. *Note: This is the mommy with good intentions part. The stupid mommy part is coming. So, I decide the best way to clean them is to SANITIZE them. Seems like a great idea. So I plop them in the microwave sanitizer and set the time and walk away. I know that you know what happened by now. I am in the future now also! So I open up the sanitizer and it is a gel-melted-ooey-gooey MESS in my sanitizer. APPARENTLY, teething rings should not be warmed up a.k.a. "cooked." Only, Frozen. Yeah, that's right. That train only goes one way down the track people. Ugh. RUINED RUINED RUINED brand new teething rings. Of course, Teddy is mad, although Mr. Enginerd wasn't jumping in STOPPING me from throwing them in the sanitizer! Ugh! So yeah...it isn't like it was expensive. It was maybe $10.00 in teething rings. And they can be replaced, but, now I know. You live and you learn, right? Especially as a first time parent. Next time I know to READ THE PACKAGING before just tossing it in the sanitizer. So, here are the keys...
You can see the huge plastic bubble on the blue key where the plastic bubbled up and let the gel spew out. All the keys are stuck together now. And, the gel was all over the place. That was FUN to clean up. Thankfully, we know it melts when it gets hot so when it started getting hard, I just stuck it BACK in the microwave. So...couldn't let Lainey chew on those! In the trash they went. Another day, another lesson learned. Thank you life! :o)

March 17- **Irish Eyes are Smiling**

HAPPY ST. PATTY'S DAY EVERYONE!! ENJOY!!

March 16 - B-E-A-UTIFUL Day!!!

What a BEAUTIFUL day it was today! I couldn't hardly make myself stay at work! When I got off at 3:30 it was time to RUSH out the door and go get Alaina. We went home and spent a little time outside letting the piggy toes run free! Here are some pictures on our "goodbye bench." When Daddy got home we decided to take a trip to the outdoor mall and walk around a little bit. Mommy wanted to go to Archiver's - he he he. Archivers made me mad though, apparently, they decided not to carry Cricut stuff anymore. Jerks. They have some new fan-dangled machine called a "silhouette" or something like that. Ugh. So, eBay here I come! I did get some fun paper and "stuff" for some pages for Alaina. Then we walked around a little bit and came home. Duncan was ready for some action so we took a short walk through the neighborhood and then came home to have dinner. Alaina ate her cereal and now she is in bed and I am catching up on some much needed blogging! :o) What a wonderful evening!

March 15 - *I can hear the Cricut{s} sing!!!*

Ahhhhh!! It is BEAUTIFUL!!! I am so excited to use it that it is just driving me crazy, but, too many dishes to do, laundry to sort, wash, dry and fold and bottles to make!! Maybe tomorrow night! *I hope!* Today was a busy day around the house. I had to finish working this morning, which, I hated, but it was only a little over an hour today to finish and I got the rest of my day with the family. Alaina was very happy this morning. I got some great pics of her for St. Patrick's day, but, sorry! You have to wait until Tuesday!! :o)
This afternoon we went out and I got my cricut!!! When we got home we decided to grill out since the weather was pretty nice and I have been dying for something grilled for weeks now! A sure sign of warm weather to come is smelling the grills!! So we threw on some steaks with some potatoes and mushrooms. Oh! It was so delicious! Then it was time to clean up and give Alaina her cereal. Then I at least got to take it out of the box and put the little blade in and plug it in and turn it on! Anyway, after unpacking the box, Sam decided it looked like a fun place to take a nap! Sadly, he takes up the whole box!

March 14 - Did I mention I HATE crowds?!?

The day started off well. Alaina slept in a little more than usual. She got up early and ate a little but she went back to sleep and didn't want to get up until 8:30 which was really nice. So we came downstairs and let Daddy sleep a little longer. We watched some cartoons and played and then she wanted to eat and fell asleep. So, mom signs back on to work. Ugh. I really really dislike my job at this point in time. They have people doing things that are not part of our job and therefore, putting more work on those of us that are doing our job. And they just don't seem to get that they have way too much work for us to do to be doing things like that. If I hear someone say "Do more with less" or "I will look into it" one more time I am going to just lose my mind! Ugh, so anyway. I worked for like, three hours. Basically, until Alaina was hungry and I needed to stop and feed her. So after that Teddy decides we need to go do some more TV research. He wants to go to NFM and I am not at all looking forward to it. IT IS SATURDAY at NFM. Not the place you want to be. Once again, I hate crowds. People are rude and I just don't like dealing with them if I don't have to. But, we went. It was a beautiful day and a chance to get out of the house. So off we went with Alaina in tow. We got there, and there was NO WHERE to park. People were parking across the street!! The phrase "I told you so" immediately popped in to my mind, but, I refrained. We did somehow manage to find a spot not across the street. So we go in and they don't even have the TV that Teddy wants. They only had a smaller one and a bigger one. So Teddy decides we need to go check Sams Club. WHAT?!? The only place worse than Nebraska Furniture Mart on a Saturday is SAMS CLUB and of course the ghetto Wal-Mart. I tried, without success to talk him out of this. He was set on going. Oh my goodness. You want to talk about a CROWD of RUDE people. Oh my word. I don't even know how we found a parking spot. It must have taken 20 minutes. So we make it inside and, they don't have the right TV either. *Sigh and Shake my Head* BUT, Teddy wants to buy some bulk Gatorade, you know, since we are already there. So we get the Gatorade and I got some ink for my printer and a book for Alaina... Just getting around the store takes like 40 minutes. Then we get to the checkouts and every line is like five people deep. This took FOREVER and we still don't have a TV. By this time, Alaina is done with the whole shopping trip. She is ready for snack and a nap. So we went home and Teddy decides he is going back to Best Buy. I am out on this one dude. So he went alone, and of course, comes home with a TV, from Best Buy, where we were last night. Ugh. But hey, we checks ALL of our options. :oP
Anyway, Alaina likes the new TV, see?

March 13 - *I <3 Old Navy!!*

Yeah yeah...I know. The last thing she needed was more clothes. But, these are for SUMMER! ;o) Old Navy and Gap had a friends and family weekend this weekend. My daycare handed out the coupons {previously pictured} for 30% off your ENTIRE purchase and it can be used for the whole weekend. I knew I didn't want to deal with Old Navy on a Saturday. I HATE crowds!! So we went tonight to check it out. I bought Alaina two outfits for this summer. The one on the left is adorable because it has the matching hat. I loved the little plaid shorts too. Then I saw the other outfit with the tank top and hot pink plaid shorts. And are those not the tiniest and cutest little flip flops you ever did see?!?! Oh my gosh! They make my heart melt! So anyway. My trip to Old Navy was the highlight of my day. We also went to Best Buy tonight. Daddy wanted to look at TV's. We got our bonus's at work this week and he has been dead set on getting a new TV for our bedroom. While there, I bought Alaina Pinocchio since it was released from the vault this week. I have been collecting the Disney DVD's for years so she already has most of them but this is one we did not have. So Teddy found a TV he liked but he wanted to look at the mecha of all stores, Nebraska Furniture Mart, before making a decision. So, we came home. Alaina ate her cereal and played for a little bit and then fell sound asleep. So, at 9:45, I logged in to work. Yeah...I know. LAME-O!! Believe me, I didn't want to do it. But I would rather work late at night and be able to spend time with Alaina during the day than take that time away from her. So, I logged on and didn't log off until midnight when I was practically propping my eyes open with toothpicks. I was very relieved that when I went to bed, Alaina did not wake up for a little "snack" and I was able to just go to sleep! Unfortunately, I did not get finished with my work, so...I will have to try and finish tomorrow. I love the guilt of a working mother...

March 12 - Busy Night!

Where did you go mom? There you are!!

Blah...is this work week over yet? Today drug on forever. After work I went to pick up Alaina. Thankfully, she was in a good mood because we needed to stop at the grocery store. Mommy had to make food for food day at work on Friday, Daddy needed stamps and milk and Mommy also needed to get some medicine filled. So off we went. When we get there, I discover that Daddy had taken the stroller out of the back of the car, so, Alaina just rode in her carrier in the cart. She didn't seem to mind... ;o) We dropped off my prescription and set out to get what we needed. Alaina had some admirers along the way. Teddy jokes that maybe we shouldn't have any more kids because we hit the genetic "cute" jackpot with this one. Why tempt fate? Ha ha. He isn't being serious but it is funny how she gets attention, and lots of it, wherever we go.
Anyway, we finished our shopping and checked out, making sure not to forget Daddy's stamps and then stopped back by the pharmacy to pick up Mommy's prescription and set off towards home. Daddy got home not too long after we did and he spent a little time with Alaina before he had to leave to sub for bowling. *Sigh* I hate when he subs on Thursday nights. After Daddy left Alaina decided to take a nap so that gave me enough time to make all of my veggie pizza that I needed to take to work tomorrow. I was worried when I was going to fit that in but it all worked out! After that was done Alaina was waking up so I got her changed and we ate our cereal for the night. She CHOWED it down again. She is really liking this cereal thing and she is doing really well so I definitely think we will start introducing baby food here in the next few weeks. Won't that be exciting!?! I know Alaina will be happy. After our cereal we played for a little bit on her jungle mat. She wants to roll from her back to front so badly but she just can't quite do it yet. She can, however, get her head completely turned around to find you, as seen above. Ha ha! No matter where you are in the room, she will find you! We also took a picture with our mommy!! :O)

March 11 - COUPONS

My daycare is trying to break my bank! They keep giving me coupons for kids clothing! Just this week I got the 30% coupon to be used at either Baby Gap or Old Navy and then I got the coupon for the brand new Carter's store they are opening out at Village Pointe Mall. So...guess what Mommy is doing this weekend?? ;o) Ha ha ha! Lainey is agreeing with me right now that we need a Mommy/Daughter shopping trip! Especially since Mommy found out today that she is getting a nice bonus from work on Friday. How can money you don't have already burn a hole in your pocket?? ;o)
For those of you scrapbookers out there, I am also FINALLY getting my Cricut Machine. I keep talking and talking about it and now I am going to do it! Spend some money on me! Woo hoo! I am soooooo excited. Think I am going to get any housework done this weekend?? I think not! ;o)

March 10 - The House is Clean... What to do?? PLAY!!

Tonight was pretty easy. The guy that came to interview Teddy was only here for about 20 minutes. While Daddy was busy, Lainey and I played on her jungle mat as Sam looked on. Alaina was playing with a teething ring that I had placed in the fridge. She actually stayed on her stomach for awhile instead of immediately rolling over! She really is a good, happy baby. We are very blessed!
There are my big beautiful eyes! I could look at them all day! Pretty Girl! We have continued with the cereal and tonight she scarfed it down! The little bug was STARVING! (Or so she thought...) After her cereal she played some more with daddy while mommy did dishes and made up bottles for daycare. Now it is time to turn in for the night! Goodnight!

March 9 - One of the only two things you can be sure of...TAXES

Yep...that is right! Tax time! We got our taxes done tonight. Thankfully, things went well! :o) I attribute that to the fact that "we got people." He he he! It is funny how many people ask us why we pay someone to do our taxes. Honestly, there are multiple reasons.
#1 If something goes wrong, someone else has to deal with it for me
#2 I like not having to buy a program and get updates for it every year to make sure I am not claiming something I should not be
#3 The advice. We have been going to the same tax lady since we got married and she is amazing. She gives us advice on how to get the most out of our money and what we should be doing to save on the taxes, what kind of accounts we can open for Alaina's college, etc. Does a computer program give you that?? ;o) I think I will keep "my people." He he he!
The highlight of the whole thing was all the attention Alaina got. I didn't think the receptionist was ever going to go back to her desk. She sat with us until our tax lady came to get us and I think she would have gladly watched Alaina the whole time had we allowed her to! She said her grandkids lived out of state and she missed them so much. I told her there were a couple grandmothers in Iowa who missed little miss Lainey a lot of the time as well! (Right Grammy NiNi??) Alaina ended up falling asleep near the end after a short spurt of crankiness. Overall she was very good, I have no complaints. Teddy and I picked up Chinese for dinner on the way home and we spent the evening getting the house cleaned up. A man is coming to our house tomorrow night to interview Teddy about one of his friends that is trying to get a job with the government. Apparently they take these things quite seriously?? Ha ha... So anyway...we had to get everything all picked up. Yae...
I guess that is about all for tonight. I hope everyone had a nice start to the work week!

March 8 - Alaina's Favorite Activity - BATH TIME!!!

Bath time! Alaina's favorite thing! No matter how crabby she is she always calms down with a bath! Especially when we get to use our hippo washcloth! I tried to keep this rated G with the strategically placed hippo ears... ;o)

Today Alaina and I went to church with Grammy and Papaw while Daddy went to a bowling tournament with his grandpa. Grammy couldn't wait to show off Lainey at church! All she has had up to this point is pictures! Alaina was pretty good, except, papaw was tickling her and making her talk and was trying to get her in to trouble! Ornery Papaw!!

After church we went to have lunch at Great Aunt GG's. That was a lot of fun! Then off to get packed up and go get Daddy and back home to Nebraska. When we got home we had to do laundry and get ready for the week ahead which includes a bath for baby!

March 7 - Baby Shower

So today we threw a baby shower for my friend Erin that is due the end of this month. It was kind of fun because she is the first of my friends to have a BOY!! The shower turned out to be a lot of fun and Erin let us know she got lots of compliments from those who attended!! :o)
After the shower, Teddy and I went out to dinner with his parents, sister, sister's boyfriend, two of their friends and Chad. Last week was Teddy's birthday on Wednesday, Amanda (his sister's) birthday was on Thursday and her boyfriend BJ's birthday was today so we all went out to celebrate. Mmmmm - steak! Alaina got to stay at home with Grammy and Papaw and she did pretty well but was ready for her mommy to come home! (Mommy was ready to come home to her too!)

March 6 - Shots and Cereal

Today was Alaina's 4-month well child check-up. She was 12 pounds 4 oz! The Dr. said she looks great and is doing fabulous. She is right on target and maybe even slightly ahead in her development. AND we get to start Rice Cereal! Hooray! Along with all the good stuff, we had to get shots... Sad! She did well though. She mostly stuck her lip out in protest but there was a little bit of crying on the second shot. You can see one of her band aids above and there is another on the other leg. Thankfully, the legs are chubby, so, less pain!

So after the Dr's appointment we drove back home. We got back in good time and had dinner with Grandpa and Grandma. Uncle Chad came out too. After Mommy had dinner we decided to try the rice cereal for the first time. Here are some of the results...

Not sure about this...

Might be ok...

Ok...it's kind of good!

I liked it!! :o)

Then I fell asleep with my papaw!

And tried on a hat from my Grammy! Do you like it??