Christmas!

Christmas vacation is over and it was lovely (Chris and I both felt like we could have easily sat around for a few more days though). We had a great time in Winter Park staying in a lodge with about 30 of our relatives. Reilly got plenty of attention to say the least! She did a great job with everything although nighttime sleep was a little challenging. Too bad that is the most important one! There were lots of chances for naps and when we weren't napping we were eating food, playing games or both. Here are some picture highlights:

Girls photo! Calee, Nicole, Lori, Jane (Melissa's mom), Melissa and Reilly

Photo shoot with Auntie Calee

Christmas morning

Relaxing by the fire

Cousin Zoe's hat

Reilly got lots of sweet bows for Christmas. The nicest thing about them is they cover up the bald spot in the back!

As we look back on this very full year we are not sure where the time has gone! Tomorrow we say goodbye to 2010 and welcome the new year (I am not expecting to make it to midnight though. Sleep is too precious anyway). We are excited to see all the great things God has in store for us! Cheers!

We've got a four month old!

Reilly "sitting" in her buzzy chair.

Time with family in Iowa.

Reilly lounging on her boppy.

Tummy time with Sophie the giraffe.

Reilly's new favorite toy is her saucer!

Turning four months included getting more shots and starting solid food! The shots went pretty much the same as last time. A couple hours after her shots she wouldn't stop screaming so we gave her some Tylenol. She was much happier after that but too exhausted to stay awake any longer. We were definitely fine with her going to bed! At the appointment we learned that Reilly is already 26 inches long, which puts her in the 96th percentile. It looks like we might have a tennis player on our hands! She weighed 13 pounds, 7 ounces, and that is average. She just looks skinny because she is so long. The pediatrician always comments on how strong Reilly is and she loves being in the exam room because she gets to watch herself in the mirror the whole time.

Solid food has been fun for all of us. We started her on some oatmeal cereal at night and she is enjoying the new adventure. She wasn't quite sure what to think about the spoon but she is getting better each time. I am hopeful that it will help her sleep a little longer during the night but, so far, we haven't seen a change. It is possible that she wakes up just because she is in the rhythm of waking up at night, so we will be doing some experiments (anyone with advice?) to try and figure it all out. It does feel like once we figure one thing out, something else changes! It keeps it very interesting to say the least.

We had a great trip to IA and Reilly was exceptional! It was a long 9 hours in the car (one way), and we could tell she was frustrated with her car seat, but she did really well. It made the trip so much easier and enjoyable for us. My family was more than happy to hold her, burp her and change her diaper and I never fought them for it. It was so nice to be with my family and catch up on life face to face! We also had a special guest over thanksgiving, and it was so great to spend time with him as well. We ate a lot of food and played a lot a games. It was too short though, and got me even more excited for Christmas vacation.

My grandma and her new husband Dick made it out here as planned and we had a great weekend with them. It included a lot of really good food and dominoes! To my shame I realized after they left that we didn't get any pictures! We have been pretty bad about getting pictures taken lately, so it might have to be my New Year's resolution.

Another resolution of mine is to try to eat less cold cereal. This is going to be very difficult because I LOVE me some Special K and red berries. We are going to try to eat hot grains M-F, so we'll see how that goes. It will be a nice healthy way to start our day, so I hope it sticks. It might balance out though, because I have been making a lot of desserts at night! Blueberry Buckle and Upside Down Cranberry Cake have been two of the favorites. Tis the season!

Sophie the giraffe!

Fall is here to stay!

Yay for fall and sweatshirts and raking leaves. Although I am loving this fall weather, it sure makes our house freezing! Why don't we turn up the heat? We'd rather stick it out, that's why. It's on a little...but Reilly and I are always bundled up just the same! I have been in the fall spirit though, with roasting my own pumpkin for bread, and munching on the seeds all day long!

It's been awhile since our last post, so I'll try to catch you up on all that has happened!

We had a Bradley class reunion! We all took a 12 week class together to prepare us for childbirth, and here we all are as parents! We were missing one couple and baby, but we'll see them soon because we already have another get to together planned (not to mention all the moms trying to get together every other week). All of these babies were born within a few weeks of each other, so hopefully they will all be good friends!

I love that they are all looking at the camera. So sweet!

Reilly's Nana was here to visit! We had a good time just hanging out, playing cards, and enjoying sweet Reilly. She had just started cooing a lot, so it was perfect timing for my mom to be here.

Pumpkin carving party.

We've come a long way since her first picture with Raggedy Ann. Raggedy Ann might have received a stink eye the first time.

If you look at other posts with bath pictures, you can really see how much she's grown. She always holds her head up now, is cooing a LOT and knows how to respond to your smile with a smile! She has gone back to only sleeping around 6 hours at night before needing to eat again. She's just a hungry kid. I appreciated those weeks of sleep though, and can't wait for them to come back. We also graduated a snap on the diapers this week. That's a big deal.

Reilly and I spent the morning learning how to can tomatoes. It was very nice of our friend Rachel to show us how! The goal is to also make all of the baby food from scratch, so I am hoping to acquire a food processor somehow. I am planning on doing all the pureed fruits and veggies, as well as the rice and oat cereal. Wish me luck! I am also keeping myself busy making homemade bread, and really whatever else I can think of. I wonder if I could home make Velveeta because that would be super delicious.

Our next adventure will be this Thanksgiving as we drive to IA to be with the family! Hopefully we won't have to stop too many times, but we'll just do what we need to. It will be great going back home for a couple of days and I am sure Reilly will get to meet so many great people! A couple days before we leave for IA my grandma will be in town, so we will also get to catch up with her and her new husband!

I guess that's it.

Peace to you and yours.

Vaccinations: Check

We had family shot day this week, with Reilly getting multiple vaccinations and Chris and I getting the flu shot. Babies can't get the flu shot, so Chris and I got it for her so hopefully we won't get sick. If you think you have the flu, let us know and we'll stay away! The shots took only seconds but Reilly was screaming up to high heaven. Poor kid. The nurse said that most babies fall asleep soon after because they kind of shut down after the shock of it all, and that's exactly what Reilly did. She woke up once we got home, so I nursed her and we put her back to bed. When she woke up a couple hours later, she was in so much pain! She would nurse for 30 seconds or so, then take a moment to cry because her legs were so sore. Luckily we had bought pain reliever for her, and we wasted no time in giving it to her. It definitely helped, but we could still tell she was in pain. It's hard seeing your baby hurting and knowing there is nothing else you can do for them. By the evening though, she was back to her normal cute self.

Reilly also is a champ sleeper right now, and we are enjoying it while it lasts. I was reading that sleep habits change when there are changes for the baby like solid food and things, so we are thankful for what we have right now! She slept from 10:45 last night to 7 this morning, and we're thinking that is pretty good! She has been sleeping about 7 hours a night for the past two weeks or so, and our pediatrician told us that 5 hours is average for this age. Since Reilly is gaining weight well ( she was 11 lbs 7 oz at her check up this week) it is fine to let her sleep as long as she wants at night! It's awesome! I still don't let her sleep past three hours during the day though, because I don't want her thinking its night, and she'll need the calories to get through the night later. I do think our sleeping success has so much to do with us sticking to the Babywise plan. It is a book we read while still pregnant and we knew we wanted to give it a shot. It doesn't work for everyone but it worked for us! Now since she knows the different between night and day, and she is gaining weight fine, we don't follow the Babywise schedule to the letter, but we still do the same general idea.

We also have had a slight struggle with nursing, but Reilly had a breakthrough this week and it was like everything clicked in her head. Things are so much easier now and I just hope it will continue! I'll spare all the details for the boys that are reading, but if any girl wants to know the saga, let me know! Reilly is doing splendidly, and we can't help but be so proud of her!

I have been back to work now for two weeks, and everything is going fine. Last Monday I "sprung a leak" TWICE, and it was all very messy but funny! It maybe would not have been so funny if I had been helping a customer, so thankfully no one was in the branch at the time. All the girls at work are very sympathetic to my plight. :) Monday and Tuesday are very long days for me and I am so thankful when I make it to Wednesday!

Chris is staying busy at work as we are getting closer to the busy Christmas season. There are lots of things churches need to buy to stay current with the festivities! We both feel like time is flying though, and it will be Christmas before we know it. That's great though because we get to see both our families over the Holidays.

My mom will be flying in tomorrow and staying until Wednesday, so Reilly will be getting some good Nana time. I couldn't get her to come out and visit me until Reilly came along, but it has been nice seeing more of her. :)

Until next time.

Hanging out in her chair

Drying off after bath time

Naked baby before bath time!

Walking around with mom in the Mobywrap Auntie Laura made for us!

Chillin' with dad on the porch

Two Months Almost Gone!

I am in my last week of maternity leave and I'm sad to have to leave my baby! Luckily she gets to go play with her Gramps and Grammy, and I'm sure she'll have a great time. I am also used to getting a nap everyday, so I'm not sure how I will cope with working a full day without one! It will be good to get out of the house though, to have adult interaction and a conversation where the person actually talks back. I'm blessed to only have to work 20 hours to still get all the benefits, so that's what I'm doing and not a minute more!

This last week and a half Chris and I have been busy looking for a new car. Our '93 Toyota has finally had enough and is ready to retire. If anyone sees a good deal on a small SUV, let us know! It's very time consuming looking for a nice used car, and you just hope people are being honest with you. We're hoping to have enough stamina to find a car without going to a dealership...but we're getting close.


We are proud to report that we had an awesome trip to Arizona, and Reilly did such a great job on the plane. It was so great to get to see my grandma get married! We made history since a great granddaughter got to attend a great grandmother's wedding. We even got to sleep in and relax at the resort on Sunday before flying home.

Reilly has graduated into her bigger diapers now! We have one size cloth diapers that "grow with the baby" and she's finally into the smallest size. It's nice because we have double the amount of these diapers than we did of the extra smalls, so that means less washing. A couple weeks ago I decided to change out all the elastic bands in the diapers, and they definitely took longer than I expected! I got them done just in time because her extra small diapers were starting to spring leaks. All in all, cloth diapering is going well! We are using cloth wipes too, and saving a lot of money. It's not that much extra work, and to us it's definitely worth it. The average baby goes through 3000 diapers before being potty trained and that gets expensive! And, if we're lucky, our diaper investment will last through more than one child.


Well, tonight I'm subjecting our small group to an experiment of bruschetta with homemade artisan bread, so I had better get that rolling! Cheers!

This last weekend we went to the Butterfly Pavilion!

I just thought this picture was funny.

Reilly on the plane to AZ.

Almost Four Weeks!

It's crazy how fast the time is flying! Reilly has survived us being her parents for four weeks now and it's looking like we're all going to be okay. She really is a great baby (although I have nothing to compare her to, I've read horror stories!) and we're figuring out the tricks that really work to get her sleeping. Most of the time now, we just lay her in her crib and she falls asleep on her own! I'm one proud mama. It's so nice watching your baby peacefully sleeping and then taking a nap yourself. We're hoping that within two more weeks she'll be sleeping through the night. She only has one feeding in the middle of the night right now, so that should be a good start.

I'm so thankful that we have a washer and dryer at our house because we have been doing laundry six days a week! When spit up happens, it gets on everything. She does a good job with it coming out the other end as well. With baby stuff strewn all over the house it's easier to throw it in the laundry than try to figure out what happened to it!

I'm also thankful that my whole family (minus Uncle Josh) was able to come out and meet Reilly, and my mom actually made a second trip out this week. It was very nice having her here to help (I was actually not feeling well for a couple days and it was so nice not having to do everything myself!) The rest of the family will get to see her again when we fly to AZ for my grandma's wedding. Hopefully we won't be THOSE people on the plane, but what can we do about it? We have places to be! If anyone has airplane advice, that would be great! Cheers!