Springtime/Easter Photo Shoot =)

I know I'm a little early for Easter pics, but I wanted to make sure I got our Easter cards out on time this year.  I have a great and talented friend who is starting up her photography business and she is absolutely wonderful!  Take a look at these pics of my sweet angel...

You can also view my friend's website at www.capturingsweetmemories.blogspot.com

15 month check-up

Whenever I take Eden in for her routine check-ups I feel like I'm going to a job interview or something.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE her pediatrician...it's just that she is very "milestone" oriented and asks me tons of questions on new things Eden is doing or not doing based on her age.  I know this is a good thing that her doctor is so thorough, but it makes me nervous.  I feel like I have to prep for her appts ahead of time and have all the "right" answers.  I know this is ridiculous and she is just trying to make sure Eden is developing as she should.  But all babies are different and develop at their own pace.  I hate feeling like I have a checklist of things she should/shouldn't be doing.

Fortunately, she says that Eden is developing wonderfully and is exactly where she should be for her age.  I of course think she is "advanced" for her age.  hahaha  (but what parent doesn't)  :)  I am really amazed at how much she knows and understands at only 15 months!  She pretty much understands everything I ask her to do, as far as simple commands.  For instance, "go get XX", "bring XX here", "give mama hugs/kisses", etc.  She knows what most of her things are called and will quickly bring them to me if I ask.  She can pick out about 10 different pictures of things I ask, like baby, flower, angel, car, etc.  She was given a very cool birthday gift I call her "learning apple".  It has all sorts of pictures and sounds on it for her to learn with and this is one of her favorite toys.  She still loves books and will bring several to me to read to her.  If I'm on the floor with her, she plops herself down in my lap with a book as if to say "It's story time mama"!  Another cool thing she can do is point to everything on her face (eyes, nose, ears, etc) when you ask where they are. 

As far as verbally, she says a few things you can really understand like Mama, Dada, doggie, thank you.  She is trying to say a lot more, but it's not quite understandable just yet.  I guess the important thing is, is that she is trying.  Her pediatrician says that by 18 months her vocabulary should double!  Wow!  I'm excited to see what these next words are gonna be.  She also suggested teaching her some simple sign language terms as they will learn twice as many of these as they do verbalizing.  We will see how that goes these next few months.

Other than that, she is the joy of my life!  Spunky as ever, but so loving and playful.  :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

My New Venture

This is something I've been wanting to get going for a very long time!  Thanks to a loving and supportive husband, here goes...

www.jamiecakes-az.blogspot.com

Wordless Wednesday

Monkey Love

I think it’s absolutely adorable when a child has a favorite toy or stuffed animal and carries it around with them everywhere.  It’s like having their very first BFF.  We’ve been wondering which one of Eden’s vast number of toys would be the lucky “chosen one”.  (and she has A LOT to choose from)  She has so many baby dolls and stuffed animals that she could probably open up her own toy store.  Just off the top of my head I know she has a stuffed elephant, giraffe, lion, and even a polar bear!  She probably has as many animals as Noah had on his ark!  LOL

Well, at her 1^st birthday party the long search was over.  We pulled out of a very large gift bag with her new BFF (Bobby) and it was love at first site!  As soon as she laid eyes on him, she threw her little arms around him and hugged him tight, as if it was a long lost friend.  Now what kind of animal is Bobby you ask?  A MONKEY!  But he’s not just any ole monkey.  He’s a huge stuffed monkey with an abnormally large bobble head dressed in a purple jogging suit!  Gotta love it!  How did we come up with the name Bobby?  Well he already came with a name, printed on his behind!  Just like those teenage girls you see wearing sweatpants with logos on their backside, yup that’s Bobby!

So now where Eden goes, Bobby BETTER go too or she will let me know about it!  When I get her up in the morning, I better pick up Bobby too.  I learned this quickly when I got her out of the crib one morning and she threw a fit and kept pointing to her crib.  I knew she couldn’t possibly want to go back to sleep but I didn’t know for the life of me what she wanted.  So we walked over to her crib and as we leaned in she reached her little arm just far enough to grab Bobby by the ear and pull him to safety in her arms.  And the look she gave me, like how dare I forget him.  Whew!  I’ve never forgotten Bobby after that!  J

I shouldn’t be surprised that our little darling chose Bobby as her BFF.  It goes with her personality perfectly!  We even call her our little monkey.  J  Nope, no baby dolls and tea parties for our little girl.  She’s our… swing from the trees, yell at the top of her lungs, banana eating little “monkey”! 

And we wouldn’t have it any other way!

This too shall pass...

I've been telling myself that all week long just to get through each day.  This past week has been the week from H**L!!!  My poor little baby has been really sick since early Tuesday morning with high fever (101.3), diarrhea, no appetite and pure fussiness!  I took her to urgent care Wednesday and was told she had an ear infection.  They gave her antibiotics and sent us on our way.  Her fever subsided but then Friday she broke out with a rash over her entire body.  I immediately took her back to urgent care and was told she had an allergic reaction to the antibiotics, so they prescribed a different one.  They also said it might not be an ear infection after all but something viral.  Ok, that doesn't tell me a whole lot!  But the thing that concerned me most was the loss of appetite.  Let me tell you, Eden is a great eater (3 meals a day, a couple snacks and a couple bottles).  So when she goes from that to refusing EVERYTHING, I am worried!  The only thing she would take is milk in a bottle, which I supplemented with a little rice cereal to give her some kind of sustenance.  But I was worried about dehydration and what the heck could be causing this.  So this morning I took her to her regular doctor (thank goodness they have Saturday hours).  He confirmed that the rash is most likely viral and will go away in a few days.  It probably wasn't an allergic reaction to the antibiotics, but we will have to watch that just in case.  He also didn't see any signs of an ear infection, which makes me so mad that they misdiagnosed her at urgent care.  She took a 2 hour power nap this afternoon and actually ate dinner for the first time all week.  So hopefully we are on the end of the craziness.  I'm hoping for a good night sleep and a happy baby in the morning.  :) 

Happy New Year!

This year our family starts a new, exciting, and scary chapter in our lives.  My dear husband accepted a great job opportunity with a large aerospace company.  This position will open up many opportunities for him and will afford our family with the financial security we have dreamed of.  What's the catch?  Well, the job requires him to work in Afghanistan for 1 year!  Yes...Afghanistan...1 year.  This was not a decision we took lightly by any means but we are confident in the decision we made.  He gets a 1 month vacation about half way through which breaks up that long year.  We already miss him so so much and can't wait to have him home in a few months.  I am so proud of him and the sacrifice that he his making for our family.  I am truly a blessed wife. 

The transition at home has been a little rough.  Basically, I'm a "single mom" for the next year.  Let me tell you, I have a new found respect for single moms!  I thought it was a lot of work when my husband was here, but missing that extra pair of hands sure has made it a lot harder.  It took a couple weeks to get into a new routine and we are doing fine now.  It's still exhausting and I'm so done by the end of the night that I'm in bed right after Eden.  (Hence the lack of posts this past month.)  =)  I just tell myself to suck it up and be grateful that I have a comfy bed to sleep in because my sweet husband's living conditions are not so grand!

As far as Eden and her Daddy...thank goodness for technology!  We set up our S.kype accounts and she sees Daddy every night on the computer.  I was worried that she wouldn't understand or be afraid that Daddy was on the computer, but she loves it.  She smiles and waves at him as soon as we get on.  Even if I'm just checking my emails, she runs over and says "DaDa?"  We also recorded some videos of him telling her good morning and good night and singing some of her favorite songs.  She loves to watch them over and over.  There's also some great recordable storybooks that he recorded in his own voice before he left.  She listens to it every night.  We wanted to make sure that even though he is so far away that he will not be forgotten by her.

So wish us all luck in 2012 and please send a prayer out for Danny's safe and quick return home.  :)

Christmas Stationery card from Shutterfly

Very Merry Moments Christmas Card

Seasons greetings with personalized Christmas cards from Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Fall Festivities

A little late, but here are some pics from Halloween and our visit to the pumpkin patch...

Happy 1st Birthday Eden!!!

We were blessed with Eden when she was just 36 hours old and she has blessed our lives this past year in so many wonderful ways.  Since she was already a day and a half old when she was placed with us, we unfortunately weren't able to experience her birth.  I get sad sometimes thinking we weren't there to hear her first cry or see her beautiful eyes open for the very first time.  But on her birthday, we heard her cries of joy as she played with all the kids and saw the excitement in her eyes as everyone sang her Happy Birthday.  We may not have been able to witness her day of birth, but we will be there for her at every birthday for the rest of our lives. 

Happy Birthday little one, Mommy and Daddy love you more than words can say!

Here are some pics from her party...

These are her 1 year pictures we went and took at the mall...

 And of course I had to get her last "monthly sticker" picture...

Has anyone else lost their "Followers" list? Help!

My list of Followers has seem to disappeared.  My Dashboard still shows them, but when I select it, the page is blank.  They have also disappeared from my blog page.  Any suggestions?

11 Months Old!

It's so hard to believe that in less than a month our little girl will be turning 1-YEAR-OLD!  These last 11 months have been the most amazing, challenging, rewarding and exhausting time of our lives (and we wouldn't trade one second of it for anything)!  Eden has brought so much joy to our little family.  It's hard to imagine what our lives were like before her.  Well, I do have vague memories of more sleep and free time.  =)  But honestly that is nothing compared to what Eden has given us.

She has progressed developmentally in leaps and bounds.  She is now completely mobile and is running walking everywhere her little legs will take her and as fast as they will take her.  It took her a bit to find the "brakes", so she had a few run ins with the wall.  I think she just gets so excited when she realizes she is walking and wants to go as fast as she can, but then can't stop until the wall stops her.  Poor baby had a few bumps and bruises already (I'm sure not the last). 

Eden has definitely found her voice and is not afraid to share it with everyone.  She loves to scream at the top of her lungs just for the heck of it, and smiles proudly afterwards.  It's so loud I'm sure the neighbors can hear it!  I don't really mind it at home, but not so fun at the grocery store with everyone looking at me like I pinched her or something.  I think we have also reached the "testing mommy/tantrum" phase (which we are trying to nip in the bud right away).  When I tell her "no" or move her away from something she is not supposed to have she will throw herself back or plop on the floor not wanting to move.  If it's something she really wanted, she will follow that with an angry scream.  This is definitely not fun for Mommy.  I know I have to correct this behavior but it's not fun being the bad guy.  Fortunately, we have been able to quickly re-direct her to something else so the tantrum doesn't escalate.  I always said I wasn't going to be one of "those" Moms you see at the store with a tantrum throwing child.  Ha!  Easier said than done!  I'll keep you all updated on that.  =)

Then there is the sweet side of Eden who loves to give kisses and carry her doll around the house with her.  She will even hold up her doll so you can give it kisses.  So cute!  (Daddy taught her that.) 

The last and most sad exciting development is our new bedtime routine.  We used to have to rock her to sleep in the arms before she would go to sleep in her crib.  If we didn't or if we tried to put her down just half asleep, she would scream bloody murder until we came and got her and rocked her again.  Don't get me wrong, I love cuddling with her and seeing her little eyes get heavy until they closed for the night, but some nights it was a 45 min ordeal with her fussing and squirming.  Well just last week after about 45 min of rocking, I decided just to put her in her crib because honestly I was frustrated.  I gave her her blankie and doll, kissed her and told her goodnight...and she just went to sleep...no fussing/crying/anything!  I couldn't believe it.  I checked on her several times afterwards and she was sound asleep, curled up with her blankie.  We have done the same thing with her since and no problems!  I think she was just getting too big and couldn't find a comfy spot in the arms to fall asleep in.  It makes me sad because this is yet another sign that she is a big girl now and not a little baby anymore.  On the other hand, I must admit that bedtime is so much less stressful.  We still have our little routine of bottle, story time, etc.  But then it's to the crib!  =)

Anyways, enough of me yakking (I just had so many updates).  Here are some pics...

Happy 10 months baby girl!

I'm a little late with this post, because we had been out of town and I've been trying to play catch-up with everything.  We went to Illinois to celebrate my Grandmother's 90th birthday.  This was Eden's 2nd flight to Illinois and she did so good.  The last time she flew she was only 6 weeks old, so the experience was VERY different!  She is so active, we were concerned about her sitting in the lap for 3 1/2 hours without flipping out.  We timed the flight just right so that she would at least take her morning nap on the plane and brought tons of things to keep her occupied.  So luckily, we didn't have any "freak-outs".  :)

All of my family loved seeing her and was amazed at how big she had gotten since our visit last December.  Everyone wanted to hold her and Eden graciously went to them, but then quickly changed her mind and wanted Mommy back.  :)  I think being passed around so much left her a little shell shocked because ever since we have been home, she has been SUPER clingy with me!  Her Dad affectionately calls her a "Category 5 Cling-On"  (category 5 being the highest level of clinginess)  LOL.  I have to admit I secretly love the clinginess.  I love that she wants her Momma so much!

Eden is still keeping us busy chasing after her pretty much all day!  She is doing good pulling herself up on things and walking along them.  "Things" being anything in her reach...the couch, cabinets, mommy & daddy.  Apparently, she stood up on her own and took a few steps the other day!  Unfortunately I missed it because I was at work, but her Dad got to see it and filled me in.  She does good walking back and forth to us a few steps, so I'm sure she will be all on her own in that department shortly.  Yikes!!!

Eden's demeanor and personality are just the best.  It comes out more and more everyday.  A few words to describe it the best would be...Curious & Playful with a dash of Stubbornness mixed in.  (I can see her and her Dad bumping heads in a few years because they both can be very stubborn.  LOL  Her new thing is to "scare" us.  She will yell as if to startle us and wait for our reaction.  Of course we act all surprised and make funny faces.  This just cracks her up and will go on and on until she gets bored of our faces.  :)

I could go on and on, but I'm sure you want to see some pics so here goes...

I just love this last one with my 90 year old Grandmother...Priceless!!!

"Exciting Updates"

I almost forgot that I promised you all some exciting updates, so here goes!  :) 

1.  I'm no longer a "part-time" Mommy!  I returned to work when Eden was 3 months old and have felt like such a part-time Mom ever since.  The bulk of my day was spent at work and by the time I picked her up from Grandma's and got home, I only had 2-3 hours of "quality" time with my little pumpkin.  And that was spent feeding her dinner, bathing her, etc.  We really only had a small amount of play time.  By the time she had her last bottle of the night and a quick story, it was lights out!  Even though she is with my Mom during the day, I felt that she needed to be with ME...her Mommy.  I know what it is like to be raised by a FT working Mom and I didn't want that for Eden.  Unfortunately, my Mom had no choice but to work when I grew up and she did the very best she could.  So I spent a lot of time with my Grandmothers when I was little.  Even though they were great, I would've much rather had that time with my own Mother.  So, long story short, my employer has agreed to let me work part time and I will be starting my new schedule next month!  I'm so excited and grateful for this opportunity to be able to spend more time with my baby.  I had been worried about the finances of it all, but we will do just fine.  So we have to cut back a little bit.  It's worth it just to be able to have this time with her in her early years.  I have all kinds of cool activities planned for us, I can't wait!

2.  Eden took her 1st steps!!!  She has been practicing for the past month or so by holding onto the couch and walking along it.  She also uses the handles on a toy pony we got her to walk around the whole house.  But she finally got the courage to take a few unassisted steps!  It's hard to believe that just a few months ago she was this helpless little newborn and now she is completely mobile! 

3.  I've started planning Eden's 1st birthday party already.  :)  We decided on a ladybug theme because we have always called her our little "lovebug".  It's going to be huge!  I know she probably won't remember her first birthday party, but I don't care.  I have waited many years to throw a birthday party for my own child and I want it to be fabulous.  :)  Besides, she will have pictures and video to remember the day and see how much fun she had.  LOL

9 month pics...

Exciting updates coming, in the meantime enjoy these pictures of our big girl!  9 months old (hard to believe)!



Happy 8 month (and 1 week) Birthday Eden! :)

I know I'm horribly late in posting these pics, but I JUST caught Eden!  LOL  Seriously though, since hitting about 7 1/2 months, she took off crawling and hasn't stopped since!  It was like all of a sudden one morning she said "I'm gonna crawl today!"  (and she did)  She was a little wobbly the first couple days, but perfected her technique quickly and that's ALL she wants to do.  About the only time she wants to be held anymore is to eat and maybe a quick story before bedtime.  Otherwise, she's got places to go and people to see!  :)  We started "chasing" her and her "chasing" us.  She will squeal and crawl even faster to get away or to catch us.   It's super cute!  She has also learned to give kisses and wave bye-bye.  I'm amazed at how much and how fast she is learning new things.  The best part is to experience all of her "firsts" through her eyes, truly amazing.

Father's Day

It was my hubby's turn to bask in the joy of this momentous holiday that has passed him by so many years before now.  It warms my heart to see him with Eden day to day, but even more so this past Father's Day weekend.  When we were struggling with my infertility, I often felt guilty that I wasn't able to provide him with the family we both wanted so much.  He would tell me, "Honey, I married you for YOU, not for your uterus!"  LOL  (He has a way with words. ) :)  So it was so so nice to see him as he celebrated his very first Father's Day.  I wanted to make it extra special, so I went all out!  I made him his favorite banana cinnamon pancakes for breakfast, surprised him with a day at the spa for a massage and ended the weekend with a nice dinner.  He works so hard that I thought he needed some pampering.  :) 

Here's a few photos of the proud papa...