I love being a Mom!

I do, really, really do love being a mom! I just can't help it. Its the best job to have. Now I know it doesn't pay you actual money, but it pays in love and affection. Today I put Madison in her crib so I could go take a shower. I took the monitor into the bathroom with me so I can hear her. The whole time I was taking my shower she was yelling & screeching. Just having a good old time in her crib. It was so cute to be able to hear her. She made me laugh.

I get to stay home and watch this little girl grow up. I get to be here for all of her firsts. I get to teach her things as she grows. I get to be here everyday to hear her laugh and chatter, to see her smile and to comfort her when she cries.

Home Sweet Home

Well, We made it home on Sunday. Got to spend a very short amount of time with my husband since he left Monday to go to work. Its really hard to go from having so much help and companionship to none again. At least it seems that Madison has kicked her cold. Now if the weather would cooperate, so I could get a decent nights sleep, that would be great.

I'm having some issues with my back the last few days. Its been super sore like I worked out. I guess it could be all the stuff I've done in the last few days getting settled at home again. I'm going to take it easy for the next few days and see what happens.

Trip!

Wow! Its been a while since I posted. Time is flying by so fast. Well, Dan went fishing for the week, so I loaded up the baby and both dogs to head to my mom's for the week. Everyone behaved on the way in at least. It has definitely not been a smooth ride since we arrived though.

Come to find out pretty quickly that my Bailey (15 month old Yellow Lab) is skiddish! He's perfectly fine at home, but here he's afraid of everything. He's afraid for the grill (at home he sniffs and licks up all the grease around the grill!) He's afraid of the umbrella (a table umbrella). He's afraid of the ceiling fan (he's fine with that one at home), He's afraid of the basement (both dogs are crated in the basement at home at night). He's afraid of my mom walking/running on the treadmill (I do the samething at home and he's fine with it). I just don't get it. Where did this come from?

Madison has not been sleeping well. We started her on cereal the day we got here, so I don't know if its the cereal or if she just isn't use to her Memaw's house. It could even be her cold. Yes, my baby has her first baby cold. Every night seems to get better, but she's been waking up like 5 or 6 times a night. All I have to do is get up and rub her belly and talk to her, to let her know I'm there and she quiets down and falls back asleep.

If I knew for sure it was just her surroundings, I might have already packed us all up and gone home because I need some sleep! On the plus side, I have help every night, so even if I deal with a crabby baby and obnixious dogs I get a break when everyone gets home from work. 

Ventures into baby food making!

Oh, so much fun! I don't know why more women don't make their baby's food. There are so many great things about it.

1. Its cheaper than buying premade baby food.
2. You know what is in the food your baby is eating.
3. Isn't it just so much better to know that your child will be eating something that you made?
4. You can make it ahead of time and freeze it, so you don't have to scramble to make it later.

I'm sure there is so much more, but I can't think of them right now.

I decided that since I get to stay home with my daughter I should make her food. Since its going to save us some money in the long run, my husband was behind me on this. We already had a food processor, so we didn't need much. I had him go out to pick up some baby food containers. I know that ice cube trays would work, but with the stuff we have in our freezer (Deer meat, some times a deer head, thanks to hubby's hunting and wanting to mount stuff) I didn't feel safe putting my daughter's food in an ice cube tray even with plastic wrap over it, since hubby likes to put stuff on top of the ice cube trays. So I wanted the covered trays that you use for baby food. Well, he comes home with 2 other options, not bad ones, just others.

So we went to the apple orchard/pumpkin farm yesterday. We got a couple of acorn squash, a pumpkin and some apples. My MIL had brought us some butternut squash after she heard I was going to make Madison baby food. So we had lots to make.

Its all fairly easy to do. We put both squash & the pumpkin in the oven to cook. Then you just puree it, put it in containers and freeze! The apples we didn't have to cook. We just peeled, cored & pureed with a tiny bit of water, put in containers and froze. The apples actually got done yesterday. We don't have enough containers to puree and freeze all at the same time, so I'm doing this in shifts. So I put all the apple cubes into a plastic bag and labeled them. Then cleaned everything and pureed the pumpkin today. The pumpkin is currently in the freezer. I think I can do both squashes tomorrow and we will be done! Woohoo! I don't think I will need to make more food for a few weeks.

I'm very proud of myself. My baby will be eating such good, yummy, fruits and veggies that I made for her.

Its just not fair!

I don't understand the world sometimes. I have a friend who has been TTC for almost a year now. She and her husband are one of the most loving, caring & devouted couples that I know. I don't know anyone that deserves to have a child more than them. Yet, here they are having a hard time. Then there are other people in the world who are having kids that don't take care of them because they are too busy being drug addicts, alcoholics, or just plain selfish people. These are the people who if they just get looked at a certain way end up with a new baby on the way. Its just not right or fair! It really kills me to know how unfair life truly is. I cross my fingers and toes and everything else I possibly can each month in hopes that it helps my friend. I think good thoughts and yes I pray for her. Now, if she were reading this she would know how much I wanted her to get what she has always wanted because she knows I do not pray often. 

I know that she is happy for me and she was there for me when I was pregnant. I always felt bad about leaning on her because she was having a rough go of it, but I know that if I didn't lean on her, she would have killed me for that! Ok, maybe not killed. Its her ability to help others when she is having a rough time, that seals it for me in my mind that she will be a great mother, plus the long journey they are having to get there, will make her enjoy it all the more. The day she finds out she is pregnant will be a day full of such joy and a bottle of champagne will be popped in my house to toast to the end of her journey to getting pregnant and her journey into motherhood beginning. I am positive this day will come for her.

Doctor's appt

Yesterday we took Madison for her 4 month check-up. We got to see how well our little one is growing. She is up to 13 lbs 8 1/2 oz and 25 inches tall! Woohoo! She got her 4 month shots too. 4 total shots - 1 oral and 3 needle sticks. She did good with the oral vaccine. I wanted to give Madison a "snack" bottle during her needle sticks, however, the nurse did not give me a chance to even though I told her thats what I wanted to do. She just went quick and when I said something to her I got a "well, it won't matter until you pick her up," from her. I just really wanted to smack her. It took me about 15 mins to calm Madison down enough to even accept the bottle. She ate about an ounce and then seemed pretty happy. Dan took her to put her pants back on her while I cleaned up our stuff.

She ended up with a fever last night. It was a 100.6 degrees for axillary. My poor baby. I gave her a second dose of tylenol (she received the first around 2pm when she started being fussy because her legs were hurting). I can't even tell you how many times I checked on her last night because of the fever. She was also up and down so many times. I just wanted to take her pain for her. She woke up this morning a happy little baby with no fever.

I'm a weeping mess!

Why is it that since becoming a mom I've become a weeping mess?! I just don't understand it. The first couple of weeks I would have blamed it on the hormones, but they should have leveled out by now. I watched a video of a little boy running to his dad, that had been gone for a while (military) and it made me cry. Even some commercials have me crying. My little girl's first laugh yesterday made me cry! I'm sitting here typing and I'm crying. I'm not sad. I'm not depressed! So what is the deal?! Have I been bitten by the crying bug? Has some monster invaded my body and its evil goal is to rid me of every tear I could possibly make?

It's hard to do the right things for your baby

Nowadays there are so many "rules" on what to do and not to do with an infant.

You should not let your baby sleep with a blanket.
You shouldn't use bumpers in the baby's crib.
You shouldn't use baby powder.
Baby should sleep on its back.

There are a million other things that I cannot even think of at this moment. Its not like our children come with instruction manuals. I feel like everyday I'm reading or being told that I should do this with my child or I shouldn't do that with my child. How do you know what to believe anymore? How did our generation survive?  I slept with a blanket on my tummy, my crib had bumpers and my mom used baby powder! How do you decide what is right for your child or your family? Most of my decisions so far have been helped with talking to my daughter's pediatrician and discussing with my husband.

Another part to this is why do other woman feel like it is their business to tell you, you are wrong in what you decide for your family? Some women get grief for formula feeding while others get it for breastfeeding in public. Your baby needs to be fed some way or another and both of these are good ways to feed them.  I wish I had the "balls" to feed her in public, but I didn't. I know there will be somethings other women do that I won't agree with, but its not my business or place to tell anyone else how to raise their children. If its a matter of safety, such as a baby not being strapped into a carseat with a car in motion, damn straight I'm going to say something!

Funny how fast things change

So a year ago, the news of my being pregnant was just starting to sink in and today I was awoken by the sounds of my little girl cooing away in her crib. Our 2nd bedroom was a guest room a year ago, and now the 2nd bedroom is Madison's room and the guest bed is in the loft. A year ago, I had 2 dogs and a husband, now I have a husband, 2 dogs and an almost 4 month old baby!

I know this change took a year, but the truth is it feels like it happened over night. My mom keeps saying "just wait, you'll blink your eye and she'll be 16. Then you'll blink again and she'll be getting married. One more blink and she'll be having kids of her own." I hope this isn't true. I want to enjoy as much of this time as possible! Maybe it will be different because I'm staying home with her and my mom had to work. I can pray that it slows down, but the truth is it feels like I just brought her home yesterday and today she's sitting with support, sleeping at night and getting ready to start foods.

How does this happen? Why does the time have to go so fast?! I thought high school and college went by fast, but it seems like time is going even faster now that I have my little girl!

Thinking about the day that changed my life.

It was Oct 6, 2009 somewhere around 3pm that my life changed for the better. I had been sick with flu like symptoms for a week. The morning of Oct 6th I called the doctor's office to get in to see them. They had an appt for 2:55pm (I still have it written down). Since I am a woman of child bearing age, they had me do the peeing in a cup thing. Now, my husband and I had just started to not prevent anything from happening, so I thought nothing of it. Well, within minutes the doctor walked in and said "well, we know why you are so nauseous and tired." I said, "You haven't even given me an exam." My wonderful doctor replied, "I don't need to because you are PREGNANT!" I was so shocked and happy. I hadn't expected this to happen so soon. It was the best news I could have gotten that day or any day! It was the best day of my life at that point. Even better than my wedding day (which had only been just over 3 months earlier). I loved my daughter (though I wouldn't have any idea that she would be a girl for months) from that very moment. I never imagined that, that love would grow exponentially as she grew.

Introduction

Hi! I'm Sandi and am 31 years old. I married my best friend, Dan on March 21, 2009 after 6 years of dating. We have 2 dogs. Maggie, a 3 year old black Labrador who we got in 2007 and Bailey a 14 month old yellow Labrador who we got in 2009. Last, but definitely not least we have our beautiful baby girl, Madison Elizabeth, who was born June 16, 2010 at 10:23 pm weighing in at 7 lb 1/2 oz and 20 inches long. As the blog is titled Baby Makes 5!

I have been blessed to be able to stay home and watch our daughter grow. I get to see the interactions of her and our 2 dogs on a daily basis. Plus get to see all of her firsts!

This blog will cover all ends of my life. The happy times, the struggles and even the gross things that babies  and dogs do. Its mostly for me to get out everything that I've been thinking and feeling but don't feel able to do when face to face with someone. Hopefully, you all will be supportive and get entertainment from it!