High-centered

It's been a busy few weeks.  We've been focusing on finishing the Nursery and are sooooo close to being done.  We just have some paint to touch up and then we can hang pictures.

Putting up the chair rail

A is moving more every day.  She still has no interest in rolling over.  When I lay her on a blanket on the floor she just lays there and chews on her hands, staring at the ceiling.  She still enjoys playing on her play gym and loves to talk to her toys.  Sometimes we do tummy time on a pillow.  When we do she puts her knees up underneath her and pushes forward, rubbing her head on the mat, until she is high-centered on the pillow, lol!

High-centered

Pushing her face across the carpet

When we do tummy time on a blanket with no pillow she still pushes her face across the floor.  She doesn't get high-centered though and can get pretty far like that.  She will occasionally lift her head and look around but she's usually content to push herself.

A falls asleep in the funniest places and positions.  She insists on going to sleep while she sits up.  She also won't hold the pacifier in her mouth on her own, but she wants to suck on it, so we have to hold her up and hold her pacifier in her mouth until she spits it out.

This time she fell asleep leaning forward with me holding her arm; that's how she was comfortable.

Asleep with the bunny around her face.  She likes to tuck it around her face, I'll pull it away and then go do something around the house only to find it tucked up around her face again when I come to check on her.

Asleep in her Bumbo.

A is getting really good at figuring out her hands.  She is very slow and methodical about everything and you can really see her thinking about what she's doing and figuring everything out.  She loves rattles right now and has been getting better at shaking them without hitting herself in the face. :)

Playing with some rattles.

Little A also loves to play in the mirror.  She smiles, giggles, and flirts with herself.  Sometimes we play with toys in the mirror as well, she especially loves the rattle.  One day I was letting her sit up by herself until she would topple over and then I'd catch her.  (About 3 seconds of sitting alone.)  When she'd topple over I would say "Whoa!"  After doing it five or six times she looked at me in the mirror and said "Whoa!" in her little baby voice!  She was very proud of herself too.

Playing in the Mirror

One of the dresses we got for her at Babies R Us

We celebrated Allan's Birthday!  He took care of Little A all day so I could make him a yummy meal.  We had crock-pot bacon wrapped chicken, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and his favorite layered salad.  It turned out really good!

Allan isn't a big cake fan, but he LOVES brownies - particularly his mom's homemade brownies.  So, I made those as well and splurged on his favorite ice cream - Pralines and Cream w/ Caramel.

I got him some things he's been wanting to help with the yard and nursery.  A wheelbarrow, push broom, and miter saw.  He used the miter saw to do the chair rail in the nursery and it turned out great!

I also wrote him the traditional birthday letter in his "Man book"

While Allan was opening his gifts A decided it was a good idea to try a taste of my hair again.  It got stuck in her mouth, lol!

Looks like she's got a little baby mustache :)

Fun outfit from a good friend here.  I think it looks like a scratch and sniff sticker.

A has started chewing on her thumb.  She never sucks on it.  She just sticks it on her back gums and chews.  I think she must be feeling some teeth back there - nothing in the front, only in the back.

A loves to sit up...all the time.  So, we have started putting her in her Bumbo and setting her in front of her play gym.  This way she can reach her toys.  She loves to grab the toys and chew on them.

We decided that A should join us at the table.  We put her in her Bumbo and surrounded her with food (don't worry, we were having left overs so nothing was hot).  She must have thought it smelled good because she started reaching for the food and making her hungry noises with big eyes and a bright red face. She wasn't hungry; she had already eaten.

We decided to take pity on her and let her try a carrot.  She licked it like a lollypop.  She was pretty disgusted at first and made some hilariously contorted faces, but she was interested enough to try again, and eventually seemed to like it .

One of the women in our ward, who Allan also works with, volunteered to watch little A so we can go to the Temple every other week!  She has six children and 19 grandchildren, so she has a lot of experience.  A has really enjoyed spending time with her.  We feel so blessed to be able to attend the Temple together again and are so grateful that A is in such good hands.

We decided to take some family pictures one Sunday.  A was wearing another of her new dresses.  My allergies were really bad that day, and my eyes were really swollen and itchy which is why I am wearing glasses. I actually had to go and get some prescription eye drops because they got so bad.  Whatever I'm allergic to came out in full force this year.

Love this picture of A and her daddy!

I said "Let me get just one more picture" and Little A pulled her dress over her head. I guess she was done, lol!

A has been going through an, "I only want mom" stage.  Its mostly when she's tired. She loves her dad when he gets home from work, but after a few hours she starts winding down for the night and cries unless she's sitting with me.  It makes me feel really good that she loves me so much, but I feel awful for Allan.  He doesn't take it personally though and feels bad that he can't give me more of a break.  Thankfully if I'm not there she's fine and just plays with whomever is watching her.  That has been a huge blessing when we go on dates and to the temple.

This night we tried to have Dad give A her last feeding for the night.  As you can see by her sad, red eyes it didn't go over so well.  We eventually gave in and I fed her.

Cute outfit from K6 and cousin P (I think; it could be from one of AG's friends, I'm starting to forget who gave us what...)

We've been doing a lot of socializing lately as well.  It's been a lot of fun for little A.  She loves new faces and new people.  We went to a friends home for dinner.  Our friend laid a soft blanket on the floor for A to play on.  During dinner A decided that she needed to poop, and it shot out the back without me realizing it.  Thankfully I didn't get any on me, and we had an extra outfit for little A.  My friends blanket wasn't so lucky though.  I laid A down on it so I could get her diapering stuff ready, and when I lifted her onto her changing pad I discovered a nice little present on the blanket. :-/

Love this dress from AG's friend.  Thanks for making our little girl look so good!

Allan and I have a talk every Sunday evening in which we tell each other things that we each did well, or not so well, that week.  We call it a relationship inventory ;)  We enjoy doing it because it helps us communicate our love for one another, and also gives us a place and time to talk about things that may have been frustrating or that we need to work on in some way.  

Last Sunday Allan started talking with little A.  He asked her how he did that week (which is how we always start off our inventory).  She responded with a big smile and a happy squeal!  Apparently she was pleased with his performance as her daddy.  Allan then went on to tell her how he thought he could do better as a father - which included more one-on-one time.  As he talked she continued to happily coo and smile at him.  I snapped a picture of their little inventory.  It was a very sweet moment and a precious memory.  Allan is a great Dad.

Little A is 4 Months Old!

 

At her 4 month appointment she was 11 lbs 14 oz and was 25 in long.  We finally remembered to ask what percentile she's in, and she's in the 15th percentile for weight and the 75th for height!  She is one long, skinny girl!

 

She was really sleepy the day I took these  pictures. We took a break so we could both eat and she fell asleep, so I took a picture of her sleeping. This is her new favorite place to sleep, on the rug in the living room.  She'll sleep here for hours while I work around the house.  A few days before this I cleaned our entire house while she slept here!  She squawked at me a couple times when I was cleaning the living room but never woke up. 

 

She also rolled over for the first time that day, although she did have some help from the pillow that was propping her up.  She still has no interest in rolling over but REALLY wants to sit up.  When she's propped up on a pillow she'll struggle to sit up all the way and eventually slide down the pillow until she rolls over on her belly.  It makes her very unhappy.

Sorry, the picture uploaded upside down.

She got a little constipated from the formula we've been giving her for Sandifer's syndrome.  To help with the constipation we gave her her first taste of Apple Juice.  She loved it :) Since then we've gone back to the regular formula, and she's been doing great with it.  No more Apple Juice for our sweet girl. 

She loves her Bumbo and likes to sit in it in front of the mirror and smile at herself while I do my hair and makeup.  I found my first grey hair!  There is a chunk of my hair on one side of my head that has been a really light brown for the last few years.  I told Allan last year that I was going to go grey there first.  I was right.  That grey hair was right in the middle of the light brown chunk.  I never thought I would care about going grey, but that grey hair proved to me that I was wrong.  I am not ready to be grey, so I pulled it out, lol!

Cute ballerina outfit from K6 and cousin P.  Sorry it uploaded upside down as well...

She looks like a thug in this outfit.  I got her all dressed, looked at her and said "Wow A, you look like you're going to go rob a bank or something."  Then I took her to show Allan and he said "She looks like she's going to rob a bank!"  Haha! Poor little thug baby.

She has really enjoyed putting blankets, burp rags, and her dresses, up over her head lately.  In this picture she was playing with me, putting it over her head and then peeking out and smiling.  So cute!

I sat her in her crib one day and gave her the cow to play with so I could take a quick shower.  When I got out she was holding fast to her cow and staring at the ceiling fan in awe.

A has been very wiggly lately.  She discovered how to push herself backward with her feet.  This time she did it so much that she wiggled right off the play gym and rug onto the hard wood floor.  She wasn't very impressed with it either.

A loves to rock.  We rock and either read stories or sing songs every day.  Whichever one we do she'll sit and listen until she falls asleep.  Lately she has decided she wants to choose what we do.  If I start reading and she wants to sing she'll fuss until I switch (or vice versa).  This day we were singing.  Her favorite songs are Mary's Lullaby and Families Can Be Together Forever.

She's been on a strange "every-other-day"schedule lately.  One day she'll have a lot of energy and will only nap for about 30 minutes at a time, the next day she'll take 2-3 1/2 hour naps and then she'll switch again!  So every-other-day I get a lot done around the house.  I kind of like the schedule, but I'm not expecting it to stay too long.  She always sleeps for 10 hours at night and occasionally will sleep for 12!

This day she was really sleepy.  I put her in her bouncer after she ate so I could eat breakfast and she played quietly until she fell asleep.  She slept until her next feeding!  I exercised, showered, and cleaned the bathrooms before she woke up!

We took Little A on her first trip to the Zoo.  We had so much fun!  We left Friday evening when Allan got home from work and stayed the night in a hotel.  A is a really good traveler, she either sleeps or stares out the window; it gives Allan and I a lot of time to talk.

A and I playing before we got her ready for bed.

We checked into our hotel and then got some dinner and went shopping at Babies R Us.  Because A is so tall all of her church dresses are getting too short, so we went to find some new dresses for her.  We also got her a hat and sunglasses because we realized that we'd forgotten our stroller.  Thankfully I'd brought our moby wrap.

A didn't sleep very well in the hotel.  It's funny that the noise from the other adults in the hotel disturbed the baby's sleep instead of the baby disturbing the adults.  Our room was right by the ice dispenser so whenever someone got ice she would wake right up.  She also woke up to people walking around outside or coming into their rooms late. I don't know if this is because she's a light sleeper or because we were in a new place.  She always sleeps great at home.

The next morning we lathered her up with sunscreen until she glowed, lol.  Sunscreen is very greasy.  We had a good breakfast and then headed to the Zoo. 

A didn't seem to notice her sunglasses or hat.  She loved being in the moby wrap though.

She was pretty tired from her interrupted night sleep so she didn't make it too long before she had to take a nap.

Seeing the Tigers

Conked out with Dad

Seeing the Elephants.

It was a small Zoo but just the right size for little A.  She enjoyed seeing the animals and the people.  We loved seeing the animals too.  The zoo had plenty of shade so we stayed relatively cool.  A didn't seem to mind the heat at all.  We stopped half way through the zoo to feed A and take a little break.  When we had seen all of the animals we went and got ice cream.  A fell asleep.  We saw tigers, lions, bears, elephants, zebras, peacock, a rhinoceros, snakes, monkeys, frogs, an alligator, fish, anteaters, a lot of birds, giraffes, tortoise, and a lot more.  We had a lot of fun.  At the Elephant exhibit one of the workers asked how old A was.  After we told him he said, "Well, let me get your name and number, and if she's the youngest baby at the zoo today you'll win a new Lexus!"  We were thinking that would be a great deal, especially since we are looking for a second car.  Unfortunately she wasn't the youngest baby there, and they weren't giving any cars away, lol!

After the Zoo we went to Olive Garden for a late lunch.  It was delicious!  They have slings to put carseats in at Olive Garden.  A loved being right at the table with us.  She was all tired out from the zoo though so she snuggled in and went right to sleep.  Everyone kept saying how sweet and beautiful she is.  There was a young couple in the booth next to us.  The man was sitting so that he was looking right at little A.  He commented how sweet and beautiful she is and asked how old she was and such.  Later another mother and her infant son came in.  Her son was full of energy and HUGE!  He was the same age as A but at least twice her size!  After they left the man in the booth next to ours came up and said "Your baby is way cuter than that baby!"  LOL!  We had to agree ;)

By the time we finished eating it was almost time for little A to eat, so we made an impromptu stop at Hobby Lobby.  We hadn't planned on buying anything but they just happened to be having a really good sale, and I just happened to need some picture frames for our living room...hehe. 

We had a great time and loved having some extra family time together.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to our great Dad's and Grandads, and all the wonderful men who have helped father us.  Hope your father's day was very special!

Happy Mother's Day

 I have always felt like a mother, and Allan has always celebrated me as a mother on Mother's Day, but this was the first Mother's Day that everyone saw me as a mother.  It felt good.

We have had a busy couple of weeks, but they have been good.  Last week the younger children in the city put on their annual play.  We always try to go, and they are always super cute.  This time so many children were involved that they did two different casts.  We had friends with children in both casts so I ended up going twice.  I love theatre though so it wasn't too big of a sacrifice :)  Both casts were great!  Allan and I went on our first date without A since she was born to see the cast that performed on Saturday evening.  We really enjoyed the time together, and the children were adorable as always.

Outfit that we bought for her, bow from a good friend in AZ

Cute outfit from little A's birthmom's friend.  We love this one!

Little A attended her first baptism that Saturday as well.  Allan was trying to come with us, but he was painting the nursery and ran out of time. She was a little angel at the baptism and just sat on my lap and looked at everything until she fell fast asleep.

Outfit from some good friends in AZ

Our tradition after we go to the plays is to get frozen yogurt.  However, this time our date was interrupted.  We needed to have our last supervisory visit with our caseworker.  She was coming into town that night and asked if we could do it then.  So, the play ended a little after 6, we picked up A and went home.  Our caseworker came about 7 and we began our interview.  There was an adoptive couple in town that needed a place to sign some paperwork, and we arranged to have them over as well that night.  They arrived at 7:15.  We all had a fun chat about adoption, they signed their papers, and we finished the part of our interview we could, and then they left for a placement ceremony that night.  We were bummed that we didn't get to finish our date but happy we could help someone out, and now we have everything done to finalize A's adoption in July!

Cute ballet outfit from K6, bow from a good friend in AZ

 This week we had a fun Un-birthday BBQ with some friends and their children.  Several of us have birthdays in April so we got together and celebrated.  We always love getting together with friends.

Snuggling with A.  She'll snuggle with whatever happens to be near her face.  This time it was my sweater.

We got a chest to put our games in so little A can't get into them when she starts moving around.  A had a ball helping Allan put it together.

Outfit from a good friend in AZ.

Another cute outfit from a friend in AZ.  A is getting really good at posing for the camera.  This time I said, "Where's my baby's smile?", and this is what she gave me.

We celebrated our 5th anniversary!  Poor Allan had several ideas about things to get for me and one by one they fell through until he finally just got me a bag of goodies on his way home from work.  Poor guy.  He is taking us for a fun day in the city in a couple weeks.  He had planned on doing it this weekend, but all the hotels were booked because of college graduations.  I got him a Willow Tree figurine called "New Dad".  For the last five years he has wanted to be a father and now he finally is.  It's a dream come true for us.  The night of our anniversary we went out to eat and then went on a drive together.  A is always quiet in the car so it was good to spend some quiet time together where we could talk and focus on each other a little bit.

Onsie from her birthmom.  It says "Mommies Little Miracle".  She's definitely a miracle for both of us!

Tummy time with Daddy.  She still hates tummy time, but she's getting better at it!

Little A has recently asserted her displeasure at falling asleep.  She'll often only fall asleep as pictured above, lol! Hanging over Allan's arm while he pats her back.  Sometimes we have to hold the pacifier in her mouth as well. Today in Sunday School, she refused to be happy unless she was in this position with Allan holding the pacifier in her mouth. Much to one sister's amusement she managed to completely cover Allan's hand in thick drool while sucking on the pacifier.

Cute outfit from Nana.  I wore these sandals when I was a baby.

A can hold her bottle for almost the whole feeding now!

We did more painting in little A's room.  We thought we were done, but when we took the tape off of the wall it took some paint with it, so now we have some touching up to do.  Hopefully we'll get it done this week so we can get the chair rail up.  I finally got to help a little putting some tape up.  Allan and I had a really fun time working and talking together.  It was much needed.

Yesterday she fell asleep in her bouncer resting her hands on her tummy.  She's such a sweetie pie.

For Mother's Day Allan gave me a whisk for my  Kitchen Aid Handmixer.  I've been wanting one for a while!  I'm excited to use it, and he's excited to eat the food, lol!

Happy Birthmother's Day

Happy Birthmother's Day to all you birthmothers out there.  (Sorry it's a day late...)  I hope you know how loved, honored, and appreciated you are.

The Waiting Room

A week before my Poe passed away I had a really interesting dream.

I had died and was suddenly in a place where there were a lot of people standing in several different lines.  The people at the head of each line would tell you where you were to go, Heaven or Hell.

It came to my turn and the man simply told me to go through a certain door.  I started to ask where I was going but he was already talking with the person behind me.  So I walked toward the door, and as I walked I watched as people each went through their own assigned doors.  All the while I remember thinking, "where am I going, and where do their doors lead to?"

I finally arrived at my door as another person entered ahead of me.  I remember feeling relieved that I wouldn't have to go alone, but the person was going so quickly I soon lost sight of him.  Through the door was a long hallway that I traveled through.  It was lit only dimly, just enough to walk through safely.  After I was down the hallway a bit another person entered through the door, but we were spaced at such a distance from each other that we couldn't speak to each other.

Eventually there was another door at the end of this long hallway.  I went through and entered a beautiful white room.  It was so white that it seemed to glow.  It was set up similar to a family room with cozy white couches and chairs, and pictures of families on the white walls.  Everything was white.  There was an older couple in the room, dressed in white, who were gathering the people together and explaining that as soon as we were all there we would move on.

The person who was behind me in the hallway slipped through the door and the older couple told us all where we would be going.  We would be going to Heaven.  And they described a little of what to expect there.

Soon the doors on the other end of the room opened.  They emitted a bright, white light.  Much brighter and whiter than the room we were in and nothing like I had seen before.  Everyone went through.  But I stayed.  I just couldn't go.  I quietly sat down on a couch that faced the door I'd come through.  After a moment the older woman came up to me and told me that I could go to Heaven now, it was time.  I said, "Please let me stay.  I would like to wait here until my husband comes so we can go together."

She responded that I could wait as long as it took.  She told me that the room I was in was called the waiting room and the pictures on the walls were of families who had waited for each other in the room.

And so, I waited.  Many people came through the door and each time some one entered I always hoped it was Allan, but I was always disappointed.  Two groups gathered in the waiting room and went on to Heaven as I waited, but I couldn't go on without him.  It really wouldn't be Heaven if he wasn't there with me.  We have always shared everything and I needed to share this with him too.

Finally, when I was alone in the waiting room (besides the older couple, they were always there), the door opened and Allan stepped through.  I was so, so happy to see him.  We ran to each other, greeting with hugs and kisses like we always do.  I explained to Allan how I couldn't go on without him and that I'd been waiting there for quite a while.  After a few moments the older couple came to us and told us it was time to go. 

We stepped through the doors to Heaven hand in hand and explored the place together, meeting family and friends who had gone on before us.

I woke up shortly after.

At my Poe's funeral, a week later, my Aunt T said something about how she hoped Poe was waiting for her and they could go on together.  I think he is, Aunt T.  I think he is.