John Deer Socks

Well, for starters, I know that the video I tried posting yesterday didn't work. I tried another one today, but I keep getting error messages, so I guess I'm not going to be posting any video clips anytime soon... oh well. Here are some pictures from today. The first one is our sleepy little girl before our trip to Wal-Mart. Of course, she woke up and was cranky as soon as we got in the car! But she was finally back asleep and happy when we were ready to leave the store! By the way, we finally found a nice walmart out here... there is a super walmart in Glen Burnie, which is like 15 minutes away, but it is nice like the stores back home - not like the super ghetto walmart in Bowie (which, by the way, is not a super walmart, just a super ghetto walmart). Anyway, Isabelle somehow managed to throw up down her side and arm, so I had to change her and we put on her John Deer socks from Uncle Adam...

This is how she felt about it!! Nick said she was acting like Uncle Adam too!! haha!!
Here is a little happier picture sporting the socks later in the day. :) They really are cute! I think they would go better with jeans though... Next time! Just wait until she fits into the little camo shoes from Adam and Mandy! Oh - pictures will be taken! They are so cute!! :)
Oh, I had to wash all her 3-6 month clothing today because she's starting to fit into some of it and is getting too long for most of her 0-3 month stuff. We have a doctors appointment on Thursday so we'll know how big she really is, but I weighed myself with and without her on our scale yesterday and, as best I can tell, she's around 14 pounds!!! That's twice her birth weight in two months!!!!! Holy crap!

So, I bought another utility shelf thingy for our laundry room this week and I have been doing some major cleaning in the basement today getting the shelf up and getting things organized. We are actually going to have some free closet space now instead of all of our basement closets being filled with totes! It's amazing! I didn't get a chance to finish it today though... Tomorrow I will finish it up and will be much less stressed about the messy basement! Tonight, I'm going to bed! Adios!

brrrrrrr

It is freezing out there!!! I know it's nothing like Michigan weather, but it's still freezing! It's 16 degrees out right now and supposed to be down to 7 tonight! I am already freezing my hiney off just sitting in my chair! Looks like I'll have to get another blanket out tonight!

Well, I went and officially signed up for daycare today... Kind of scary, but at least that's done! What a weight off my shoulders! I think all the things I HAD to do while on maternity leave are now done. I still have a bunch of things I want to do, like find an eye doctor and a dentist and go get checkups and new glasses (Elwood chewed mine up again like a week after I found out I was pregnant and since you aren't supposed to get new glasses while you are pregnant, I had to wait and wear the chewed up ones).

Here are some pictures and a little video clip (it's of her sleeping, so it's not exactly exciting, but I wanted to see how it worked)... Nick got me a video camera for Christmas too, so someday I will figure out how to get the videos off of it and post some more exciting ones, but this one is just from my camera.

This is a super cute picture from today. She was Miss Smiley Face until I got the camera out, then she stopped smiling... then she would start again and I would take a picture and she would quit... I think the light of the flash disturbs her so she quits smiling when she sees that light... but that's just my thoughts on it. Anyway, she was all smiley and happy and then about 2 seconds later, she was having a complete meltdown and it lasted about 20 minutes. I was trying to make dinner before that happened (which is why she was in her chair in the kitchen to begin with) and then Nick was late getting home from work, so, I didn't get dinner made (again). I was trying to make some meatloaf and I only got as far as getting the egg and burger mixed together... ugh. But I guess I won't have to mix the egg in when I finish it tomorrow! Ha!
Look at those baby blues!!! She has the prettiest blue/grey eyes right now! I think they are going to turn green/hazel like mine and Nick's because when you look at them just right, you can see a tint of a brown/green color. But who knows?? They could stay blue like Grandpa Lumsden's and Uncle Adam's!! They could also be brown like Grandpa Hietikko's and Uncle Jeremy's... I guess we'll just have to wait and see!

This is a cute picture after bath time in her cute little lamb towel from Grandma and Grandpa Hietikko. Gotta love it! Well, that's it for me. I'm off to bed on this cold night! I hope everyone is doing well and staying warm!

better get crackin'

So, I thought I should probably get cracking and post some new pictures... Amy has only had little Kaylen home for a few short days and has already posted more pictures of that little girl that I have in my 8 weeks!! So, I thought I should post a few more while she's sleeping!

Here is a cute picture of Belle at "play time". I put her down to play on her little play gym thingy which she usually likes, but she was down there for about 2 minutes before she fell sound alseep! I let her sleep there for about 30 minutes and the dogs didn't even bother her. They actually like it when I put her on the floor - they think it's their time for me! As soon as she's out of my hands, they sneak right in and are on my lap before you know what happened! It's kind of cute and kind of annoying, but I really can't blame them. The poor little guys are so cooped up and bored now. They only get to go out in the backyard and once in a while to the park or daycare, but for the most part they are just in the house. They have way too much energy to burn and nowhere to burn it!

Mommy's little lady. The dogs dropped a bone down between the end table and the couch and were driving me crazy trying to get it (digging at the couch and trying to step on the table and whatnot) so I had to sit Isabelle down in the chair for a second to get it and she just sat there and crossed her little legs, like a little lady and just watched TV. It was so cute! :) Oh yeah - her feet are so long and skinny and I have a hell of a time trying to get socks on her that fit... Although I have to say, now that she's put on some weight it is easier because her ankles aren't so skinny. When she was first born, her feet were so long and her ankles were so skinny that if I found some socks that were long enough in the feet, they were too big on her ankles so they fell off, and if I found some that were tight enough on the ankles, they were way too short on the feet and fell off... still have that problem, but it's a little better now! :)

Finally sleeping... She's been having some fussy nights and we've been having a hard time getting her to fall asleep, so this is a picture of her finally sleeping (on a pillow on my lap, but sleeping none the less!)

Well, that's all that's new around here. I have been slowly getting things done around the house and getting things cleaned up and put away. Tonight I have to undecorate the tree and get it out on the curb for the recycling guy tomorrow, but then our house will finally be less cluttered and I'll be able to stand it a little more! It's so crazy how much my attitude on cleanliness has changed since Belle came along... Before, a messy house didn't bother me until it was REALLY messy and leaving the clothes in the basket for a week or two didn't bother me at all. Now, I can't stand for the house to be messy. I vacuum a ton and do the dishes at least once a day and when I can't get to the laundry for a day or two, it makes me crazy... It's so weird. Nick likes it though - he gets to do much less cleaning now!

Okay, my final rant for the day... Daycare. What the hell man?? I am going to have to pay more for daycare than half my family makes in a year!!! It's so ridiculous. I called on over 50 daycares around here (I used up all the names that the county had for our area...) and of all those daycares, only 6 had openings for infants. 4 of those five were daycare centers, which automatically charge more because they (generally) run them out of a center that they have to pay rent, utilities, etc for and have more people that they have to pay - essentially, higher overhead, thus, higher cost. Anyway, we really liked the first home daycare that we went to, but the lady lived about 10-15 minutes from our house, in the opposite direction of both of our works and her hours were only 7am - 4:30pm which we could make work, but it would be REALLY tough. The other home daycare was really pretty crappy. I wasn't really comfortable with this lady and her entire daycare was run out of a garage, converted to a room, which would have been find had the room been an open space, but she had this one little room broken up into 4 different "areas" so all of a sudden, the only open floor areas are only about 4'x4'... Certainly not enough area for the older kids to play on and a baby to play on the floor or something... Needless to say, I axed that one right away. Next was a daycare center, run out of a lady's house. I was in love with it the minute I stepped in. The location was great, the price was good and her daycare was super roomy with separate rooms for infants to sleep in and stuff. I just loved it... Then we found out that she takes 14 holidays per year (which you have to pay for) and 2 weeks of vacation a year (which you have to pay for) and on top of that, if the schools are closed, she closes (which is like every week out here... swear to god they close schools when there is snow in the forecast - it doesn't actually have to snow, in fact, most times it doesn't... they also close schools half the time when it rains because they are afraid it might turn to ice)... anyway, the amount of time she had off (minus the holidays that Nick and I get) was more time than the two of us get off, so we'd either have to split our vacation/sick days just to cover all those days, or we'd have to take time off without pay just to watch the baby... and that's only the SCHEDULED days closed... ugh. Or we'd have to find someone else to watch her on those days and pay double... So, that crossed that one off... The next center was really nice - huge backyard for the kids to play in and stuff, but it was just too far away. Finally, I went to the last two centers, which are both located within a little strip mall type thing. They both have separate rooms for infants where they have up to 6 infants and each baby has their own crib and they have enough little play gyms or jumpers or whatever kind of toys for each baby to be using one. Plus, because the babies are on the floor for all of their playtime, they make everyone take off their shoes and put on these little booty things before they can go in the room. I thought that was pretty sweet. Both of these places are located close to home and both are very expensive. One is $20 more per week than the other, but I liked them both equally, so we are going to end up going to the little bit cheaper one. The good thing about these places - the only days they are closed are major holidays, so that's good. :) So, I finally have daycare taken care of!!! Thank goodness! That's a big relief for me, but now the stress about how we are going to pay for it begins... ugh. It's a never ending stressful job being a mom! :)

Well, I'm going to get my tree taken down now... I'll work on getting more pictures posted. :) Gotta keep up with the Starkey's!!! ;)

Congrats!!!

Congratulations to Amy and Nate on the birth of Miss Kaylen Elizabeth Starkey!!! She was born at 6:13pm (Central time, 7:13, our time) 8lbs 4oz, 22 inches. Baby is doing great! :)

frustrating day

So, today was not one of my proudest days, but I'm not perfect, so I'm letting you all know that... I was so tired this morning and completely exhausted and frustrated and mad at the baby when she was crying... I always feel guilty when I'm mad at her... :( poor baby all she knows how to do is cry when she needs something and all she wanted was a clean diaper and some food, but all I wanted to do was sleep... but I got up and got through it and got her cleaned up and fed and she was alseep like 20 minutes later, but lucky for me, I have a wonderful husband and he took a half day so I could sleep this afternoon and now we are all happy again. :)

Other news from today - we went to visit another daycare today. I was really not impressed with this place. The room that the kids stay in is a converted garage, which is fine, but then the room is sort of sectioned off into a TV area, a computer area and a play/learning area, all of which are super tiny. There was only about a 4'x4' floor area open around the TV and not much room around the tables in the play/learning area for the kids to actually play. There definitely wasn't enough room anywhere in there for a baby to be laid on the floor or anything while the other kids play. Needless to say, I am not going to send my baby there if I don't have to. I immediately called to get more numbers of daycare centers when I got home and will go to visit another one tomorrow and will call on the rest as well. I'll keep you posted!

Anyway, here are some pictures of Miss Isabelle from this weekend. This is my favorite outfit and it finally fits. :) The pants are a bit big still, but at least they'll fit for a while!


I love this one. :) She's so cute and so big!!! I had to post this one to compare it to her picture from Thanksgiving so you can all see just how big she is getting!! It's amazing how fast they grow in just 6 short weeks! I know you can't see the whole swing in the Thanksgiving picture, but you can see where her head is on the dotted part of the swing then and now and where her feet where then and now... it's amazing!!!




Look at this face!!! She looks like she's terrified of something!!! This picture just cracks me up! :)

holidays

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year! We were fortunate enough to be able to spend Christmas with family this year. My dad and Orveen came out to visit with Belle. They arrived on Christmas Eve and were able to stay all the way through New Year's Eve. It was fantastic having them here! The week before, my mom, Harold and brother were out here visiting our ever popular Isabelle. Their stay was a bit shorter, but it was still nice to have them here! Now we are on our own again until Howard and Gloria head back out after the presidential inaugeration. Can't wait! :)

As you can tell, Belle is growing like a weed! Here little cheeks are so pudgy and adorable!!! You just can't help but kiss them all the time! It's hard to believe she is already 6 weeks old!

Here are a bunch of photos from the past couple weeks for you to look at. You can see how much she's grown in just these few pictures and they only cover about a 10 day span!! Crazy! Amy - I can't wait for little Kaylen to get here so you can enjoy motherhood as much as I am!!Cute little purple outfit from Grandma Lumsden.


And another one with a cute little face... Oh - and I just noticed - looks like she is giving me "the bird" in this one!!! Haha!!

Elwood trying to get some attention from Grandma Hietikko while she holds Isabelle.

Snuggling up with Grandpa Hietikko. She got so spoiled these past two weeks with everyone holding her, we are now having a really hard time getting her to sleep in her bed. We did, however, start our bedtime routine last night and she slept in her crib until it was time for us to go to bed, then she slept in her bassinet in our room. And get this - at 6 weeks old, she basically slept through the night!!! She went into her bassinet at midnight when we went to bed and she didn't wake up until 6:30 this morning!!! amazing! :) Let's hope it's a trend! I just put her down in there, so we'll see how it goes...

Cute picture from Christmas. This one is my favorite with that little smirk on her face!

She looks so sad in this one... :(

Christmas eve all dressed up in her Christmas jammies and hat and bib - waiting for Santa to come! :)

Earlier in the day on Christmas eve... NOT a happy camper...

Sleeping with Uncle Jeremy.

Snuggling with Grandpa Brunk... Starting to see a trend here??? She is a little snuggle bug!!!

Here is my little "Nakey Baby" :)

Sleeping with Grandma Flint.
This is us after Nick's Christmas party for work. Grandma and Grandpa babysat for us so we could go. It was a bit nerve racking to leave her already at 4 weeks, but I think I did pretty good... I only called home twice and only teared up a couple times at the party (because I knew she was crying at home). Anyway, that's all for now... I'll probably be back with another slew of pictures in a couple weeks... That's about all the time I have for posting stuff!!!

Happy New Year to all! :)

Where does the time go???

So, I've been meaning to update this for a while, but little Belle has a spidey-sense and knows when I'm getting ready to do something and takes that opportunity to wake up and start screaming her head off. So, finally, here are some new pics. I can't believe it, but Isabelle is already one month old!! I don't know where the time goes... She is growing like a weed and changing so much. It's just amazing to watch her everyday and see the new little things she does. She has started cooing a little - at least I'm calling it cooing. She doesn't do it much, but every now and again she makes a sweet little "ahhh" or "oohh". It's so sweet. And she has the sweetest little smile. I know it's probably just gas really, but it just melts my heart when she smiles at me. I am so not looking forward to going back to work and missing out on these little moments... :(

Anyway, Isabelle had her one month checkup today and she is now 10lbs 10 oz!!! She's turning into a little chunky baby. I love it! :) She's so cute, but she is getting super heavy!! Oh yeah, she's also 22.5 inches now. So that means she has grown 1.5 inches and 2 lbs 10 oz in just 2 short weeks!!! I can't believe it! Obviously, she is still eating like a champ! She had to get a shot in her little leg too. She had big old crocodile tears and it about broke my heart. Next time is going to be so much worse because she has to get 4 shots!!! What are they thinking?!?! 4 shots for one little baby??? It's going to kill me!!

Well, other news, Grandma Flint, Grandpa Brunk and Uncle J came to visit last week. They got to have some alone time with Belle while Nick and I went to his company's Christmas party. It was very nice to have them visit! Belle got lots of loving in with all of them (and the dogs did too). Grandma and Grandpa Hietikko will be arriving either Christmas eve or Christmas day for their visit. Anyway, I think that's about it for now. I have lots of other things to try to get done before Isabelle wakes back up! Enjoy these pictures!
She looks like she's ready to go out into a blizzard but really, she just had a bath. Her little fingers and toes get so cold after her bath so I always have her bundled right up afterward until she warms up. :)
This is a picture in her pretty Christmas dress and shoes after our family pictures. I was trying to get some good pictures to send out Christmas cards and this is one of my favorites. (The other favorite is on the Christmas cards - which I just put in the mail today, so you should all get them a few days after Christmas. :) I'm always so timely.)
Another adorable picture in her beautiful dress. :)
Isabelle sporting her "Little Lumsden" onesie probably for the last time. She is too long for all her newborn stuff and is starting to outgrow her 0-3 month Gerber clothing. The 3 month Carter's clothing fits now and is still a little long, which means we might actually get a few more weeks out of it! I sure hope so because the 6 month stuff just looks so big that I can't imagine her in it!!
Family snapshot after the Christmas party. Next to food, the finger is her favorite thing. It keeps her from fussing and she would rather have a finger than a pacifier anytime!
Grandma Flint and Isabelle.
Grandpa Brunk and Isabelle.
Uncle J and Isabelle. They both had the same look on their faces just seconds before this picture was taken. It was priceless! :)

Well, that's it for now. I will try to get some more pictures posted after Christmas sometime! I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and a safe New Year! :)