Crawling, baby food, and teething.

Time has gotten away from me and Alice is now 7 MONTHS OLD! She's getting so big. She has recently started (somewhat) crawling and just last week, she called me "Mama" and my husband "Dada"!  I can't believe how fast time is going.

Alice is LOVING getting to try new foods. She loves just about everything except peas and bananas. She's got two bottom teeth in and is working on those pesky top ones now. We recently got her a amber teething necklace, which seems to be helping a bit. She still occasionally needs some meds, but not as often.

I'm so happy that the warm weather is just around the corner, cause we definitely need to get out and enjoy some sunshine. I can't wait to take her swimming and all that fun stuff. We are going to try to sign her up for swim lessons this summer. They have one type of class in which they teach the babies how to float and swim to safety if they fall in a pool or whatever, and I thought that was really cool. It's called Infant Swim Self Rescue.

On another topic, my job recently cut hours....like, drastically. I work as a housekeeper at a local hospital, and since I had Alice, I went to an on-call status. This was ok because I was still getting about 26-30 hours a week and got the hours I needed. Now, they have chopped all on call (per diem) hours to ZERO. Yep. So I have no income coming in. I knew this was coming, but didn't know it would be completely nothing. I went in and tried to hand in my resignation so I could work somewhere else. My boss asked me to stay. I caved and figured, "Well, if hours do come up, I can get them." So far, I've gotten nothing.

Now, 2 months ago, when I first heard that hours were going to be cut, I started planning on opening my own cleaning business. Then the rumors became more definite. Then I started working on getting it opened. Two weeks ago I got my papers in the mail saying my business was officially registered as an LLC in the state of NH. The next day, all hours were cut.

I feel like this is a sign. I don't usually base things upon "signs", but this seems to be working out more and more each day. I have hit bumps along the way, and then things just...work out. At one point, I was like, "I've used every bit of money that I saved for this, and I still need things." Then randomly, on my last paycheck, I got a bonus from when I worked full-time last year. Today I am in the process of getting my small business insurance and getting bonded. After that, I'm all set to work.

Anyway, wanted to update on everything going on. Go here to see a great video of Alice that I took the other day (she says, "Hi, Mama" in it!). And here are some pics from the past couple months...

Alice doing her best Wilford Brimley impression.

Yeah, so I had 3 months of pics to share. At least I didn't post them all. :)

~Mrs. C.

4 Months Old...

Whew...time has been going by FAST! Alice will be 4 months old next Thursday! We are getting prepared to start feeding her cereal and oatmeal... She is getting so big!

She totally cracks me up. She's got such a great personality and smiles so much. She's been sleeping through the night for just about 2 weeks now. She goes to bed around 8:30 and wakes up around 6:30-7 a.m. It's great, but sucks for me...I don't get home from work until midnight or later and getting to bed right off is sometimes difficult. Tonight, I worked late and here it is, 1:30 a.m., and I'm writing a blog entry.

I'm very excited for the holidays this year. Having Alice has made me enjoy the season like I did when I was younger. I'm looking forward to creating new family traditions and involving her in the old ones. Her face completely lit up when she saw the Christmas tree the first time. She didn't know what to think!

Anyway, since it is so late, I'm going to keep this short, but I wanted to update since I haven't done so in quite a while.

Here are some recent pictures.

 

 Happy Holidays!!

~Mrs. C.

Mind Your P's and Q's.

Sometimes I wish people would just shut their mouths. Yes, this is another rant.

I love that everyone and their mother is trying to give me advice on pregnancy. That's not the bad part really. It's the part when people start comparing my pregnancy to theirs, or telling me how I should feel or look at this point in my pregnancy. Every pregnancy is different and just because I don't have the same symptoms as you did or don't look how you did, doesn't mean diddly squat. Just shut your mouth and leave well enough alone.

Now that that's said, I've decided to start putting my weekly (or semi-weekly photos) here. Here's week 5 1/2. Yes, I know it's mostly bloat, but as I've told other people, I'm bloated because of the baby so therefore, it's my baby bump.

5 1/2 Weeks.

I went to my first doctor appointment on Tuesday and it went well. They just told me my due date (August 25th) and then took about 6 vials of blood. My next appointment is on January 19th and then the one after that we get to hear the heartbeat. :)

We bought some stuff for the baby this week. A bunch of onesies and a couple toys and books as well. It's so fun shopping for the baby. :)

Anyway, I should probably go get dinner ready...Will update you soon!

Mrs. C.

Excuse Me While I Ralph.

Ah, yes. The nausea has begun. Luckily, this week hasn't been so bad, but this past weekend sucked as far as how I felt. Drank a bunch of ginger ale and had some ginger chews and I felt much better. Have had a few cramps the past few days but nothing big.

My hubby, Mike, and I are going to our first appointment next Tuesday. I can't wait. :) I just want to know everything is going ok. It's still weird to think there's a baby growing inside me. I don't feel much different.

I haven't taken anymore tests where as the last one was fairly dark. I just wanted that dark definite line.

A lot of people have told us they think we are going to have a girl. Although, I've had a few tell me they think it's going to be a boy. We decided that we are going to find out though when we can.

Not much else on the baby front right now, but I will definitely update you on Tuesday! :)

Mrs. C.

4 Weeks Today!!

Don't have much time to write tonight since I have to work on my finals but I wanted to post an updated pic. I'm a month along now!!!  :)

 

Mrs. C.

"Tell Them What They've Won!"..

...A whopping pile of uncertainty and a side of impatience! Why thank you!

Ok so here's the deal. The past 3 days I've been super nauseous and getting cramps. I don't usually get cramps until the day my period is due and I still have about 5 days until I'm supposed to start. And I never get nauseous during my cycle. So I decided to take a test last night. There was a VERY faint line. So faint that I couldn't tell if it was actually there. So therefore, not quite sure if it is a faint positive or just an evap line. I took another test this morning since they say it's more potent first thing. And that faint line was there again. If I still get the line throughout the week then I will go to my doctors for a blood test.

Other than that, not much going on. I am going crazy with all the school work this week. Can't wait until finals are over. I probably won't be writing too much this week due to that, but if I get any news I will definitely update and share. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. :)

Mrs. C.

I'm NOT Stressed Out!!!

Ok, so according to some people, I seem to be stressing too much lately. I'm NOT stressed. I'm frustrated with my job and people who tick me off. Ok, maybe a little stressed cause I have school finals this week, but seriously people...I'm NOT stressed out!

Now that I've gotten that out of the way. I've had a few symptoms today but I think it is just stuff that normally happens in my cycle. Had some cramps which was weird but perhaps implantation??  :)  Trying to not be too hopeful.

Ever feel like there are some people you should have just not opened your mouth and said something to? That's me all the time! I tell myself that I need to be more private and not tell people stuff (so I start writing an online blog about trying to make a baby), but I always tell people stuff. It's like I can't help myself. I'm really good at keeping other people's secrets, but mine? Noooo. They must be advertised...loudly.

Anyway, I get to start testing in two days...can't say I will actually wait til then to take a test. Ah, who knows? I might actually make it til then......I doubt it. :)


Mrs. C.

Sometimes, Mother Nature is a B****.

That was my first thought waking up this morning. Mother Nature can be a bitch sometimes. She's going to make all of us women trying to have a baby wait to know. I mean I could understand a day or 2 of waiting....but 2 weeks! Really?!

Ok, now that I've gotten that out of my system. No symptoms for me yet, too early for that. Thought I had some yesterday but it was just me getting over my cold.

I took a test last night just because I wanted to torture myself with the negative it produced. I knew it was too early but I just couldn't help myself. It was just sitting there on the shelf staring at me. So I said "Oh, fine, stop begging me" and I took it, then immediately after the results showed I threw it in the trash and grumbled as I walked out.

So my finals for school are due the day after my period's due. Talk about distractions, huh? So today I have to actually do school work. I'm not happy about that. I am happy about the fact I will have 2 weeks off after my finals. I can actually come home from work and do whatever I want! Woot!

On a more serious note, it would be really awesome if I could get a BFP (big fat positive) before I go to my families places for the holidays. I would love to be able to share that. Guess we will just have to wait and see.

Mrs. C.

And so it begins....

I wanted to have a place to share my thoughts and feelings while my husband and I were going through this crazy journey of trying to have a baby.

It's exciting and nerve-wracking all in one. We started trying at the beginning of November 2011. So not very long at this point. But I've already started into my second cycle at this point because it didn't happen the first one. I have 9 days until I can take a pregnancy test. It seems like such a long time to wait.

My hubby and I have both had colds this week so who knows if I have had symptoms at all. I haven't taken any meds for my cold though and it has made it much harder to get over. I just didn't want to risk it if I was pregnant.

I bought the book "What To Expect When You're Expecting" and it is a really great resource. It gives all kinds of information when you are trying to conceive. I also bought the pregnancy journal that goes with it, but I can't really use it until I am actually pregnant.

I went for my preconception appointment with my OB/GYN and she said everything is good to go for us, so I'm hoping that means maybe it will happen this cycle. But I am trying to not get my hopes up. I know sometimes it can take awhile for couples to have a baby. Of course, other times it happens quite quickly. I'm hoping we are one of those couples. :)

Well, I will update you soon.

~Mrs. C.