Trials and Tribulations

Things have been so crazy lately, it's hard to make time to blog. Mike and I have had so much to think about these past few months and it feels like there are so many directions our life could go. For those of you who don't know, after we had Emily, Mike decided to take a few semesters off from school so that I could focus on graduating and getting a job. If I didn't get the job I have now we were seriously considering moving up north for Mike to finish up school and for me to hopefully find a job in the O'Fallon, Illinois area. Since I got a good job with the state we decided to stay in Oklahoma. Now we are facing some obstacles. My job is so stressful and time consuming sometimes I barely even get to see Emily. I love how rewarding my job is but at what point is too much? Mike and I have been discussing joining the military, quitting and moving up north, staying in Oklahoma and me getting a new job, or just staying how we are and have Mike go back to school and decide later. Every time we are faced with these tough decisions I am constantly wondering what the right choice is. My year with DHS is this march so I am hoping on staying with DHS until then and then maybe getting another job with the state that isn't so stressful and time consuming because I would like to actually come home and not be exhausted, or completely stressed out. It's so hard to leave work at work when your work is Child Welfare.

Anyway that's just a little bit about what has been going on in our lives recently. Now for an update on Emily:

Emily is 14 months old... almost 15 months. Our little girl is growing up soo fast. She's so incredibly smart and she surprises us every day. Here is a run down on some of the new things;

* 2 teeth: that's right... emily now has 2 bottom teeth!

* table food: With her two new teeth she hardly eats pureed food anymore... she eats what we eat now, which helps us eat healthy too!

* words words words: emily talks and talks! She has learned so many new words: she says thank you, eat, drink, hi, yeah (we can't get her to say yes or no!), uh oh, puppy.

*Mommy, Daddy, Emily: if you ask her "where's mommy/daddy?" she'll point to either me or mike and if you ask her 'where's emily?" she will point to herself!

*body parts: emily knows and points to her toes, belly button, nose, eyes, lips, teeth and ears when prompted.

*avid reader: our little girl still loves books which isn't anything new... she's always loved to read but she now has favorite books that she loves for us to read to her over and over and she is constantly bringing us books to read to her.

*running/climbing: emily is into everything.... and she has learned to run and climbs over, under and on top of anything she can.

*lets get dressed: emily knows what "getting dressed" is and she will bring me or mike clothes or an outfit from her room that she wants to put on.

I know I'm forgetting stuff... but these are some of the big new things that emily is doing.

There will be a birthday post soon... I know some people have asked me about that and I'm sorry it's taken me three months to get it posted!

Home Sweet Home

This is a post that I have been putting off since we moved in this past April... but better late than never!
Mike and I decided to find a place in the Paseo District of NW OKC. We both loved the area and the houses. We knew we'd probably pay more for rent, but to me the switch is well worth it. We are so close to everything as far as shopping and dining, the houses have so much more character, and it's super close to my new job. Also, there are four parks in walking distance to our house as well as the downtown Paseo area so there is always something to do. Our new place is quite a bit smaller than our last apartment.... probably even half of the size, but we both know that we won't be living in this house for more than two years, and quite frankly.... the bigger space we have the more we tend to fill it up with things that we don't need. Therefore, downgrading to our new place was super refreshing because it allowed us to get rid of things that we never even used.

Btw: Emily appears in multiple shots.. lol

So without further adieu... On to the picture tour:

Emily's Room

Kitchen:






One of the main selling points for this place was the kitchen... I love all the cute details and character the owner put into it!!

Living Room:

Eventually (hopefully here soon) we will be replacing our sectional with something that works better with the colors of the walls!

Bathroom:

Me and Mike's room:

My favorite part of our room is the french doors leading to Emily's room... :)

Our little reading nook ... and Emily in her diaper lol.

Well.. I believe that's it for this post! Stay tuned for Emily's first bday pictures :)

To remove or not?

So, here I am at almost 2:00am on a Thursday morning... when I really should be asleep... wide awake, in pain and contemplating the inevitable. Before I gave birth to EOR, I never once had a digestive issue, this included my pregnancy. I never once even had heartburn before. After EOR was here... it was awful. I started waking up at night with an awful pain in my chest/abdominal region that could last for hours. I saw doctors who told me that it was just indigestion and was told that nothing could be done since I was nursing. Come to find out, it wasn't indigestion... In February, and after countless attacks... I found out that I have pregnancy induced gallstones. No one ever told me that could happen. Since February I have been trying different methods to ease the symptoms to no avail. I have been working out since EOR was born, and although cardio three-four times a week has helped some... it definitely doesn't keep the attacks at bay. I've tried limiting my diet too. According to research I have done, it helps if you cut out breads, meat and dairy from your diet. This veggie only diet only lasted for a few days... lol... I was miserable and if I was miserable already from the pain, then it didn't really seem worth it. I've also nixed certain foods from my diet. I no longer eat gassy foods like broccoli (my favorite veggie), beans etc. This has been the roughest 11 months for me... because if you know me at all... you know how much I LOVE food. I hate not knowing when I am going to have an attack... or what foods may trigger it... because seriously I can go weeks without an attack and then.. BOOM... I can have an attack every night for a week... and they can last from 15 minutes to 5+ hours.
I know that I probably need to have my gallbladder removed.... and I have had laparoscopies before... I am just scared about the statistics. According to a lot of information that I have read, cholycystectomy surgery is only 60% effective in removing the painful symptoms. Those odds aren't good enough for me. I don't want to be in that 40%.... but I'm starting to think that maybe I should just go for it. And everyone, from family members to coworkers are telling me that I need to have the surgery... However, since my gallbladder isn't technically "diseased" I don't know if the surgery will be beneficial.

I just need some more advice on this issue. Anyone had this problem?

Oh my... no more bottle or binky?

Dun Dun Dunn!!! The end is near... and by that I mean for Emily's binky and bottle of course... ;)

I didn't want Emily to even have a binky while I was pregnant. However, my daughters endless need to suck as a newborn and my clueless-ness as a first time mother definitely won out. Everything I read while I was pregnant said that "a baby is hungry when they try and eat their fingers." Well, I took this literally and nursed her every time she sucked on her hands. I didn't even realize that she could just be wanting to suck on something until my RN pointed out that there is no way that she wanted to nurse every thirty minutes. So, we popped a pacifier in her mouth and she's been hooked ever since.

I want to have Emily off of the binky when she turns one... I just don't know how doable that is. She doesn't really use it that much during the day unless it's nap time or bedtime.

Anyway, I heard something the other day that I never even thought of. Apparently if you remove the binky and bottle when the farmers almanac says to then the transition should be pretty smooth...

According to the farmers almanac these dates are the best days to wean whether it be from a bottle, pacifier or anything else:

June: 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd
July: 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th
August: 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th

We shall see ... maybe I can wean her from the pacifier on her birthday...?

I am a little more hesitant about the bottle though.. I tried putting formula in her sippy cup the other day and the flow was too fast for her.. so I don't know when she will be able to drink exclusively from her cups.

It makes me sad though to even think about this step.. I know she's turning one and with that comes a lot of changes, it just makes her seem less like a baby and more like a toddler to nix the bottle and the sippy cup too. :(

Don't get me wrong.. I am so excited to see her grow up and experience new things with her... I just seriously think that the baby stage should be a lot longer than a year... So many changes in such a short amount of time; sometimes I forget how small she was or what she really looked like 11 months ago.

Time sure does fly...

Anyway, that's all I got for now. Forgive my my scatterbrained thoughts... And for my fellow mommy friends, how do you plan on weaning your little ones? Or how did you wean successfully?

The Countdown is on

The countdown is on!!! Emily will officially be a toddler in 1 month and 3 days. This year has gone by way too fast. :(But I am loving every minute of it. I have been planning her birthday party for a while now... like for months.

I decided on her birthday theme after seeing how adorable she was in her Halloween costume... I just hope that everything works out and I am able to accomplish it all. I want her birthday parties to be unique and memorable. I know that she is not going to remember her first... but who cares... that's what Nikon is for.

Anyway, here are a few ideas I have for her birthday:

I really like these ideas for snacks at the party... and they are lady bug themed which makes them even better.

The one with the tomatoes is my favorite!

I am soo torn between an awesomely cute cake and cupcakes (made by yours truly)... I want to have cupcakes for all of the guests because I know not everyone likes the same cake flavor. However, I love the idea of having a cute two tiered lady bug carefully crafted by my awesome coworker who is an amazing cake decorator.

I definitely want a tutu for my little lady bug... I just can't decided who I want to make it!

I love love love this idea!!!! I am going to hang up pictures from her first year so that everyone can see what a gorgeous little lady EOR has turned out to be.

This looks super easy and cute... I want this...

I really want to use this as inspiration for the centerpieces... I love this idea and I love love love flowers.

Another problem I have run into is the party local. I really really want to have her party at our new place.. I want EOR to have her party where she feels the most comfortable. But I know that our new place is on the small side so I don't want our guests to feel cramped. :(

Those are just a few of the million ideas I have bouncing around in my head right now.... more updates soon :)

Go MAVS!!!

The End Has No End

I feel like everytime I blog I am constantly saying how "I really should write more often." It's been so long. I hope things are starting to calm down a little so I can update more often. With that being said, here is a recap of things I have neglected to blog about:



1. New Car: So I was in love with Jasper, my 2001 Chevy Blazer. He was nice and spatious, warn in and most importantly .. paid off! However, everything must come to an end and Jasper really had seen better days (R.I.P. Jasper, you will be missed!). I ended up trading him in for a 2010 Nissan Versa and I love it. I'm still working on a name.. it's between Chane Wassonasong, Percy, or Mike's favorite, Pagoda. My soon to be named new car is wonderful.. and I loooove love love not having to climb in the back just to buckle Miss EOR in her carseat!



2a. EOR: Speaking of Miss EOR, she is a walking machine now! She's even getting brave enough to start running. It's so cute. She's also starting pushing or moving things out of the way. Needless to say, babyproofing is a never ending task! Emily is doing great. She is eating three meals a day (fruit for breakfast with cereal or oatmeal, a veggie for lunch, and a lovely meat and vegetable puree for dinner), with snacks throughout the day and 5 or so bottles a day. We are trying to introduce the sippy cup more and more... Poor Miss EOR isn't quite getting the hang of it just yet. She usually just carries it around the house and bangs it on things. Emily started Dancing and talking too! As far as talking though, it's just non-stop gibberish now... but it's still super cute.




2b. EOR Continued: Emily got her first ever ear infection this month. It was definitely a sad day :( However, Miss EOR was a trooper, Mommy, not so much. I was so incredibly worried about her and the fever that accompanied the infection. My sister's daughter Katherine was around Emily's age when she started seizing from a high fever that accompanied her ear infection. Katherine is alright now, but it was one of the most scariest things I have ever seen.



2c. EOR Continued: New Foods- We have been a little bit more adventurous with Miss EOR lately. This friday she ate mashed potatoes for the first time and she loved it. Also, she has been snacking on pineapple and bananas in her fruit strainer, as well as little pieces of wheat toast and white sticky rice. I am so scared when it comes to introducing new foods because she still doesn't have any teeth and because of my food allergies.



3. The New Home: I am still working on getting the new place all decorated etc. I am trying to incorporate some of the ideas I have seen on pinterest, but it's taking me a bit longer than expected. For instance, I really want to do a picture wall in our living room. I would show my inspiration.. however, the photo uploader is being ridiculous and posting all of my pictures at the beginning of my post without letting me move it. ugh. I can't wait to show off my completed new little nest. :)



4. JOB: This is probably the biggest contributer to my Blog Neglect. I definitely have my big girl job with loads of responsibilities. It's very stressful and demanding... but at the end of the day the pros definitely outweigh the cons.



5. Emily's Birthday: I am currently planning Emily's birthday. I can't belive she will be 1 in less than 2 months. The theme for her fiesta is going to be lady bugs :) and I am currently working on some wonderful things for her decor .. so stay tuned for pics! I'm thinking the party is going to be at either our new place or maybe my sister's house... depending on who all we invite. I am realistic .. so I know EOR is going to want to take a nap at some point so I want to have the party someplace where I know she is comfortable sleeping while Mom decorates :)

I think that's all I got right now.. but let's keep our fingers crossed that there will be more exciting updates soon :)

I think a change will do you good...

It's been almost a month since my last post and so much has changed in such a short amount of time. Our little family moved! I am so excited about our new place. We are living in Edgemere Park, right outside of the Paseo District. I love this neighborhood. The homes are gorgeous and full of character, there are so many parks ( 4 alone are in walking distance), and the area has so many trees. Here is a snapshot of some gorgeous trees on one of park adventures.

We still haven't finished the decorating process... I never realized how difficult it would be to pack, move, and redecorate with a little one who wants to explore and get into EVERYTHING. Since we still have some more work to do on the new place I wont post too much about it now but here is a little bit of our new place:

I love the character of our new place! And I love stain glass windows!!

A little view of our kitchen!!

This picture shows what I love the most about our new place! We have french doors separating our room from Emily's. :) It's so nice to have her right there.

Emily is doing so well in the new place, and she is now walking everywhere! It's so sweet to see her walking and I love how much personality our little lady has. She is such an explorer. I love it.

What's in a Word

Emily said her first word today! We were so surprised and really proud!!!
We were in the kitchen and I had just got done feeding Emily her lunch. Mike asked me a question and I didn't quite hear him so I said "What?"
Low and behold Miss Emily mimicked me and said "What?" too just like I had. It was so cute. I definitely wasn't expecting that at all... especially since she just started saying "Mama."

Funny where life takes you..

I am so bad at keeping up with this blog. So much has happened since December, and I never seem to have the time to update anything. Therefore, I am just going to make a few lists of "new" things in our life.

Emily:

• Scooting/Crawing: She started "army" crawling at the very end of December and now she is fully mobile and really fast!
• Baby Food: At 6 months we started her out on baby food... she loooves to eat! We always heard to start with veggies and then progress to fruits later. My only problem with that method is thinking about what would happen once she's already gotten use to the veggies and we introduce fruits.... she wouldn't want to eat the veggies anymore. Because of this, Mike and I decided to start her out with one new veggie for a full 5 days, then one new fruit for a full 5 days after that.. and so on and so forth. Luckily, Emily loves any and all food we feed her and she hasn't produced any food allergies yet.... let's hope she doesn't get my awful food allergies!
• Finger Foods: We started giving Emily a few snacks as well... this is a really new thing for us, and of course, Emily loves it. I was really hesitant at first because she only has one tooth that is halfway grown in; it's one of her canines, and I was so afraid that she wouldn't be able to handle anything other than baby food... but she just "gums" the food to death.
• Coasting/ Standing: I feel like Emily is growing up way too fast. She started pulling herself up to a standing position last month, and ever since she has been coasting on everything... and even attempting to crawl over any obstacle that's in her path. For instance, the other day she attempted to crawl over a basket full of clean laundry (that I was using as a make-shift baby gate) to get to the other side... she's too smart for her own good. Just recently she has started standing by herself for a few seconds at a time.
• Dada/Mama: Emily said Dada for the 1st time in early January and has been saying it ever since. She FINALLY said Mama about a week and a half ago and is just now repeating it over and over... I love it each time and I can't wait to hear it again.

Me and Mike:

• New job: I started my career this month! I am still so excited about it. I am working for DHS as a Child Welfare Specialist, and I know it's going to be the hardest job I'll ever do; however, it's worth it. With this job I am speaking for those who can't speak for themselves.
• We are moving!!! Yay. I am so excited about this move. Driving to and from the Juvenile Court Building on Classen everyday is going to be awful for me... especially since I am awful on the highways... so we decided to look for a place in the Paseo. We searched for 2 months before we found our house and I love it. I am so glad that we didn't settle for less when we had the chance.
• Anniversary: Today Mike and I have been together for 6 years. I can't even believe it's been that long.

That's pretty much all I can think of right now.. I am just so excited for the future and what it has in store. And I am glad that everything is starting to fall right into place. It's amazing to think of all of the gifts God has given us, because just a few months ago, we weren't sure if we'd even be able to stay in Oklahoma past April. Good things definitely come to those who wait!