End of the Year

A visit from Grandma....

 Last Day of Preschool...

Another GREAT TEACHER for Little Man!

Dance Recital

Baby girl is 1!

It was a fast year....crazy fast!  

It was a hard year...REALLY HARD!  

I feel like a champion.  

We made it through.  

I guess I thought I was super mom and did not expect the addition of child #4 to make that much of a difference.  What is one more person????  Hee Hee.  I know better now!

But, she was a gift that I am thankful for EVERYDAY! 

Sweet girl is now 17lbs. 1oz.  She is 28.5" long.  She has been walking for several months.
Her new trick is walking backwards and she is very proud of herself.
She has two teeth on the bottom.
She likes all food.
She goes to bed between 7:30-8 p.m. and wakes around 7:00am.
She takes two naps a day.
She still sleeps in my closet :) 

Her smile is contagious.  Her brown eyes are beautiful!
I still can't stop kissing, smelling, and squeezing her.

She is slowly starting to like others that are out of her comfort zone.  The workers in the church nursery cheered for her when I picked her up last time b/c she went the whole hour without crying!!

Her reflux is under control with meds.  She is my first spitter/puker.  I'm SO GLAD that we got control of the issue.  It was pretty stinky around here.

Here are a few pics from her birthday weekend.

It was hard to get a clear picture.  She was flying around the house with her new grocery cart.

(This was a great Tot-Trade deal!)

We also got her a water table to play in.  She really liked it!

Smiling with her beautiful store bought birthday cake!

(Gasp)

Not even special ordered....just picked up straight from the case.

Her siblings were cheering her on.  

They wanted her to dig right into the cake.

She didn't really trust them :)

I love the expression on her face!

Once she decided to trust them....

 She devoured her first piece of cake!

  It wasn't the birthday I planned....that party was cancelled b/c baby girl had a fever.

It was just Mommy, Daddy, and her 3 siblings.

I bet she thought it was perfect!

Nursing update....for those who care :)

I had to quit by Monday.  Sunday night was our last time.  But, I had a meeting.  So after dinner I tried to nurse her and she was not interested.  I was rejected.  Our last time and I was rejected.

Sadness is not even a strong enough word.

I went to my meeting.  Cried when I told a few women.  Came home and cried.  I was a mess.

I quit too quickly. I wasn't ready. I was so sad and physically uncomfortable. 

The next day I was channeling the "dark side."  I was moping around.  The pain in my chest was a constant reminder of how sad I was.  (Am I being dramatic.....YES.....b/c it was tramatic for me) 

I go to my appointment and the doctor did not have all my vaccinations on hand.  He had to order the one that I was unable to have while nursing.  Sooooo I have another 2 weeks. I was SO HAPPY!

 It's not that I'm not ready to wean her.  I know I will feel very free when it's over. But, I need to take it in baby-steps. We are only nursing at night right now.  I will be done in a week or two and it will be gradual enough that I won't feel so sad and empty. (I hope)  I know...freak mom....oh well!

Today is her 1st birthday!! What a crazy year...but I survived.  More soon!

Catching up....

This last few months....from January really.....have been one illness after another around here.  Coughs, snots, fevers, sore throats.....repeat, repeat, repeat.....

This was the worst late winter/spring that I have experienced.  But (knock on wood) I think we have moved past it.  Lots of cancellations.  Cancelled trip, cancelled play dates, cancelled dates with my hubby, and cancelled holiday dinners.  I'm so tired of sickness!!!!

We did get a trip back to Illinois without sickness.  Sweet Liam was baptized and we were able to be there!!   It was a quick trip, but totally worth it.  I wish we had taken better pics....but these days keeping the troops in line is our first priority.

Tired Travelers....

 

Liam's Day....

Midwest Fun!

We have had some major construction going on in our back yard.  We had a hill dug out so we could have more flat yard to play in.  Little Man LOVED watching the work.  Actually he wanted to be a part of everything and had to practice his self control skills.

Speaking of Little Man....Boys sure get a lot of bruises!

He looks like I have been beating him.  

(I have not....PROMISE!)

He sure plays hard!

Finally......A few days ago we had fun picking strawberries!  I love this season! 

More soon....I have a baby turning one this week!!

Just writing...

I'm struggling today.  Hubby and I opened up our calendars today to plan for the week ahead.  As I was adding his commitments to my calendar, I realized that Baby Girl's 1st birthday is in less than two weeks.  Wow....is that here ALREADY???  Bu,t that is not what knocked the wind out of my sails. 

What kicked me in the gut was in 9 days I have a doctor's appointment to get needed vaccinations for an upcoming missions trip.  I have been putting them off and because of that I won' be getting the full series before I go.  I have been putting them off b/c one of them has not been deemed "safe" while nursing.  So...I held off.  My appointment is in 9 days.  I just realized that in 9 days I need to be done nursing. 

I'm like a zombie today.  I could start crying at any moment. 

For some this may seem so silly.  There will be a few out there that will understand.  Either way, I still feel like I want to puke. 

This is my last baby. 

A month ago I was 100% happy that we were not having any more babies and I was 100% ready to wean from breastfeeding.

Today....I'm sad.