Crying it out.

            It's been a little while since I posted, but I have been in Virginia for Thanksgiving/vacation. I had a wonderful time with my family, and I got to meet my beautiful niece, Camryn! She is SO beautiful. I spent time with two of my best girlfriends, Pam and Melissa. Adam, Connor, and I also got to spend time with our bestfriends, Lauren, Shawn, and their baby girl, Delaney. It was a successful trip if I do say so myself, and Connor was fabulous. He started getting antsy towards the end of the trip, but he's teething and I think the trip was hard on him. He did sooo good on the flights home today though... made me so proud :) I feel like I have so much to talk about. I always have thoughts in my head I want to write about and somehow forget. Connor is getting SO big! He's going to start crawling any day now, I can feel it, but I'm in NO hurry. He's so busy already, I can't imagine how he's going to be when he can move around. AH! I swore I gained 5 lbs over Thanksgiving since I didn't count calories AT ALL when I was in Virginia, butttt I didn't gain anything?! Uhm, talk about exciting. I was prepared to see a scary number when I got home, but it wasn't scary at all. Hallelujah! Anyways... moving on to what I wanted to write about. The "cry it out" method. Connor and I have a routine, and it's fairly easy each night. I notice he gets tired around 7:30/8:00, so I grab him up and cradle him, put a blanket over him and his face, and walk around the house. He's out within 5 minutes. Some nights he fights me, but once he realizes he's going to lose, he surrenders. Tonight he was realllly restless (I think it was because of the traveling), so Adam suggested that I let him "cry it out." I know it is probably good for them, and I read that it helps babies learn how to fall asleep by themselves and then fall back asleep by themselves if they wake up in the middle of the night. Connor doesn't have problems going back to sleep in the middle of the night, but he doesn't like for me to juts lay him down, and selfishly, I don't like doing it either. I enjoy walking/rocking him to sleep. I feel like it's "our time." Is that lame? Maybe, but I like our routine. Tonight, I put him in his crib and he talked to himself for a while, then he realized what was going on and he wasn't havin' it. He screamed and screamed (only for about 5 minutes), and I went in and got him. He was so worked up, there was no way he would fall asleep on his own, and then I rocked him for 5 minutes and he was out like a light. Maybe I'm ruining him... but my way works for now. It's easy for us, and once he's asleep, he's asleep for the night! 10 minutes of rocking beats an hour of crying in my book. What are your nighttime rituals? Does the "cry it out" method work for you? I'm just curious to see how other momma's do it.

Of course I'll post a picture of my little boog:

Busy bees..

  
   We've been busy! Connor and I made it to Virginia, and we are picking "Dada" up tomorrow! The flights weren't too bad. We had a layover in Charlotte, and it interesting. I didn't bring the stroller because silly me assumed that people would be helpful and I could get an electric car at the airport. SIKE. People were incredibly rude. I had to wait 10 minutes and no car came, and I only had about 15 minutes to get from Gate A to Gate E with a 20 lb baby on my hip, a diaper bag, and a rollie suitcase. Uhm, I was sweating like crazy. It was rough, but we made it! The first flight was 2 1/2 hours and Connor basically slept the whole flight. The second flight was about 45 minutes, and Connor was bright eyed and bushy tailed.. and bored. He got super hyper and jumpy. He's SO busy these days, but he's such a happy baby. I will post a bunch of pictures soon. I am in Virginia until the 1st. Anyway, Connor is pulling up constantly, and he says "Hi", "Dada", and "Mama." He's getting SO big! I don't realize the major changes in him since Im with him everyday, but my family went crazy. We went to my sister's house today and played with her and my niece, Camryn who is 3 weeks old! She is soooo cute! I forgot how tiny newborns are! Ahhh! I can't believe Connor is almost 7 months old. Bathtime is probably his and my favorite time of the day. He LOVES bathtime. I never in my life knew that I would love someone this much. He is such a blessing. I am so thankful for him and my amazing husband. Adam is a wonderful dad, and the 2 of them together melts my heart! Well, I will update more soon with pictures :) HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

BABY LEGS! Well.. sorta

 So, I decided to buy "baby legs" aka baby leg warmers. I went straight to babylegs.com, but decided to look around. (Etsy is my weakness). I found a woman who makes them, and they are about $6 a pair. Half the price of baby legs. Anyyyway, here they are! SO CUTE!

Sickies

       Its Tuesday, and Connor and I have been sick for almost a week. We're talkin' uncontrollable snot, coughing to the point of almost barfing, sore throat.. you get it. So GROSS.  We always get sick at the worst times, ever. My mother in law is coming to visit on Thursday,  The USMC Ball is on Saturday, and then on Monday Connor and I are flying to VA to visit my family. I'm really excited. I just wish we were feeling better, right now. Not to mention, my house looks like "hoarders: buried alive." We completely moved the coffee table, and it's become a baby's dream. Absolute disaster for us though. Well, yesterday I ended up taking Connor to the doctor. His snot was green, and I wanted to make sure he didn't have any sort of infection. Well, he has a sinus infection, so his doctor put him on amoxicillin (sp?) and I gave him benadryl last night. Dare I tell you the real reason... I was making sure it made him drowsy for the flight! I don't want him awake the majority of the flights for several reasons. Number 1 reason is so that he isn't fussy and bored and Number 2 reason is that I don't want him touching EVERYTHING. Airplanes are like an incubator of sickness. No thanks. I'm not a neurotic mother when it comes to germs anymore, (I was pretty bad the first few months) but I really don't want him to be sick while we are in VA with my family for Thanksgiving. Johnson's makes a "baby bath" soothing vapor. It helps babies with colds, it says, and it really does. I poured some in his bath water, and it really cleared him up. Cleared me up too. Just an FYI for mommies with sick babies. If you are like me, you will try anything! Despite his sinus infection, he is still his little energetic self. I swear, nothing slows this kid down. At the doctor yesterday, he weighed 19 lbs 13 oz. His weight gaining seems to be slowing down... because he is constantly moving. Oh, and last night he pulled up!! I sat him down on his changing table, and he grabbed the handle and stood up. Which is actually really freakin' scary because that's quite a fall.

That's the changing table.. on the left side of my GIANT belly, under the tree :) But, you can see why it's scary that he pulled up on it. By the way, I cringe looking back at the pregnancy pictures! haha This was 4 days before I had Connor, and I was only 35 weeks pregnant here. Anyway, moving on.. I have been totally slacking on making his baby food lately. It really has been just a rough month. I'm really looking forward to this weekend and the ball with my husband. We need it! I am getting my hair done. Haven't done that since prom, lol. But, I'm goin' all out. We got a room at the resort where the ball is, and my mother in law is watching Connor that night. I'm going to have a REALLY hard time leaving him for an entire night, but I know Adam and I need this. Besides, Kathy raised 4 children, lol, I know she is going to be amazing with Connor, and I know they will have a blast! I have no worries. Anyways, here are some pics from this past week. I swear, Connor is growing every single day!

Family Photos

 If anyone of you live in the Katy, TX area (or anywhere remotely close), "Snapped With Love" Photography is amazing! Melissa is so warm-hearted! She made our family photo shoot so much fun! My husband HATES getting pictures done, but Melissa makes it feel like you are just hangin' out. Check out her amazing work at  www.snappedwithlove.com and here is her work with my family :)

I can't think of a title.

   Thank you all for the love and support over Gus' passing. We are going to miss him so much.

Last week was hectic, heartbreaking and just exhausting. We didn't slow down over the weekend either. Friday night Adam worked late, and Saturday morning I woke up at 5:00 A.M. for family photos! We had to leave the house by 6:30 to get to Katy, TX by 8:00 for our photo shoot. We ended up waking Connor up because he was still sleeping when we left, but he ate and went back to sleep. He woke up at 8:00 so happy and ready for pictures! It was 45 degrees out though, and about 30 minutes in he got a little fussy, BUT we finished and I am SO excited to see the pictures!! Then, Saturday night, Adam and I had to go to an event for Operation Homefront where Adam was in the colorguard. Connor stayed with our neighbor for 8 HOURS. The longest I've ever left him. It was SO hard, but my neighbor constantly kept me updated and sent me pictures of him. She said he did really well, but she can tell he is teething because he'll laugh and then randomly scream. Yup. I am just waiting for a tooth to pop out. Any day now. Sunday, Adam and I steam cleaned more carpet and our couch cushions. Omg... let me just say that we really should do that more often. haha Well, updates on Conbutt. He is so full of himself these days. He blabs and talks and laughs all the time. He goes to town in his walker, walking everywhere! He has started to crawl backwards, but it's more like a scoot. I know it won't be long before he starts crawling tho, which means, it is REALLY time to safety proof this house! Well, it's raining, and Connor's waking up from his nap, so I will update again this week when we get pics back :) Here's an awesome video of Lilly and Connor - (Lilly is chasing a laser)

A Man's Bestfriend..

          3 years ago, Adam and I got our first baby, a beautiful pitbull, Lilly Hill. 2 1/2 years ago, Adam and I added a new addition to our family, a white spotted pitbull, Gus Hill. Lilly has always been this little hell on wheels. Gus, he was a pretty mean puppy, but he was so adorable, and as Gus grew up he became the SWEETEST dog you will ever meet. I mean, he loved Everyone, and he did not discriminate. Old, Young, Male, Female, Black, White, Yellow.. he loved you. Adam and I used to get so annoyed with Gus because he would follow us around like a "puppy dog." Literally. It didn't matter where we went, Gus followed. And at 75 lbs, he still believed he was a lap dog! About 1 1/2 years ago, Gus had his first seizure. It was horrible, and he were in VA visiting friends for the weekend. I took Gus to the vet, but they weren't sure if it was epilepsy or just something he may have eaten. He proceeded to have seizures, and he was in and out of the vet. We finally got his seizures under control in NC to a point. He still had seizures but they weren't terrible, but when we moved to TX, he had a really bad episode about a week after we moved in to our home. The vet here was amazing. She put him on a higher dosage of phenobarbital, and it seemed to help him for a while... But, he continued to have seizures, about 2-3 a week. Last week, Gus had his last seizure and it took his life. He was only 2 1/2, and Adam and I have been a wreck. Adam came in the bedroom that morning and said, "Gus is seizing." I kinda blew it off and figured he would snap out of it shortly because he always did. When I went in there shortly after, I noticed his "ticking." He was laying there tremmering. Adam had left for work, and I knew I couldn't get Gus into the car by myself to take him to the vet. My neighbor, Blane, came to my rescue and helped me get Gus to the vet. They had to use a doggie stretcher once I got to the vet, and the vet gave him valium and pheno. It made him top shaking, but he was so lethargic. Well, I went to get Gus that evening, and he still wasn't walking. I took him back to the vet for the next 2 days and then got him and watched him at night. They had Gus on a lot of meds, but he still couldn't walk. When we got into the beginning of this week, and Gus still wasn't walking or responding to us pinching his toes, we knew it wasn't good. I called the vet and she mentioned possible euthenasia. I was SO upset. I was crying, and called Adam to come home because I knew I couldn't take Gus to the vet. When Adam took Gus, the vet called me and told me that she was pretty sure his brain swelled, and that he had neurological damage. She said they could "try" to help him but it would take weeks, and we would more than likely end up having to make the same decision. So, instead of making Gus suffer Adam and I, with broken hearts, decided it was in Gus' best interest to put him down. He was so miserable and pitiful, and these seizures took his life from him. The seizure he had last week kept him from walking, and it took the happy, loving dog that we loved. Adam said that Gus went so peacefully, and that he just sat there and cried. I was bawling when he got home, and he handed me Gus' paw print that they had imprinted on a heart for us. We are getting Gus' ashes too. Losing a pet is like losing a family member. Our hearts are broken. We loved him so much.