Diagnosis X

I had to take Brianna to the doctor today for her first official appointment that wasn't a "well appointment" (i.e. scheduled visits). For the past few days we had noticed that her skin had taken on a bit of a scaly texture. We were sure it was from rubbing her elbows on the car seat and swing (the two things she is in most of the time) and since the scales seemed to be agitated particularly after car rides and hours in the swing, we seemed to be pretty good diagnosticians. But last night, after her bath, we noticed more patches - on her back, stomach, and legs. I lotioned her up, slathering it on, but Stephen firmly told me that if it hadn't cleared up by this morning, I should take her to the doctor, because no it definitely wasn't ringworm or excema, but it was something, and better safe than sorry. Of course I agreed, because who wants to be the mom that wrote off a skin disease as dry skin?

So, I hauled Brianna off to the doctor today (weighing in at a whopping 12 lbs, 2 oz for all of you who are interested) and she was her usual chipper self, making me feel even more like I should not be there.

Diagnosis: Dry skin.

I walked out of there with about 10 samples of body wash and lotion for people with sensitive skin. That's the good news, because I LOVE free samples! It did make me glad that I've been washing all of her clothes separately in the "free 'n' clear" detergent, because at least that was ruled out. That was one of the first questions the doctor asked me, and she thinks Bri just has particularly sensitive skin right now and that we may be using a lotion with too much perfume or a body wash with too much cleansing agent in it and not enough conditioning. Works for me! Easy fix + happy baby - dry skin = pleased parents.

Segue.

Last night was Brianna's first night in the crib. Now before you start with the wide-eyed, gaping mouth reaction of, "Isn't that baby three months old? And you're JUST NOW putting her in her crib?" ... picture it, people. Imagine that you are breastfeeding. Not supplementing at all, which means when that baby wakes up in the middle of the night, the daddy has no reason to wake up. But you, the mother, are up. Maybe just once a night, but still. It's enough for me to have to wake up, fumble around in the dark to get Bri out of the bassinet, stumble into the living room and turn on some lights. Now imagine me doing that, but having to go upstairs to get her out of the crib first. I am NOT a happy camper when I'm woken up, and going upstairs just seemed like it would add so much hassle. Mind you, I have also been begging Stephen for about a month to move her up there, because she would wake me up talking in her sleep or kicking the sides of the bassinet during a vigorous dream. So I wanted her moved upstairs, but I didn't. You know.

Since she's been sleeping through the night for a solid month (minus three days), we decided to finally take the plunge. Surely this sleeping through the night is not a fluke as we had suspected! So after her bath and last feeding, we took her upstairs and said adios! She looked so little in that big crib! It was so cute. No, I did not EVEN risk waking her up by taking a picture. The monitors were giving out nothing by static, which didn't bother Stephen but it made it kind of hard for me to sleep. They kept making popping sounds and stuff. I only went and checked on her once, thankyouverymuch, and it was because I heard something on the monitor. Turns out she was just talking in her sleep as usual, but she had already moved about 45 degrees and it had only been about 30 minutes! I left her, because I ain't wakin up that baby for nothin! Unfortunately, this morning I didn't hear her at all! Stephen woke me up to tell me that she was crying. Oops. I told you, I like my sleep! I'm just glad he went to work late and heard her! Haha! When I walked up to get her, she was 180 degrees from the way I had laid her down last night. That is an active little girl!

Okay, so I never thought I was going to be this sappy, mushy mom. And I consider myself to be pretty laid-back when it comes to Bri. But I have to be totally honest and tell you... I actually got teary-eyed when I laid her down in that crib. I knew she was going to be fine, but I guess I had kind of gotten used to just getting up and watching her kick around in her sleep, or suck on her tongue, or just watching her when she was sleeping. I think I will miss that, but I kind of doubt I'll go all the way upstairs just to do that. So. I didn't cry, but it was a close one. She just seemed so old all of a sudden!

She got hit on by a 4-month old today at the doctor's office. He probably weighed about 20 pounds - no lie - and was REALLY cute!! His dad moved his car seat to face Brianna's car seat. She just kind of stared at him wide-eyed while he jabbered on and on. He was such a cutie! But Stephen and the boys in our youth group at church have already ordered Brianna - No Dating Until You Are Married. Funny boys.

By the way, Brianna did sleep through the night still in her crib. 8 solid hours which is pretty much the norm for her. She's a big girl.

Cousins

Obviously, Brianna and Claire have met several times. But last week was the first time they kept their eyes open while they were together! We laid them down next to each other and within seconds they were smacking each other in the face. Ah, true friends. Brianna kept going crooked and in some of these pictures it looks like Claire is busting some pretty crazy dance moves. So funny!! Thanks to Jenn for these pictures - mine were taken on the video camera which means I have to learn how to download them....

Double Coupons

Mom and I have been upset with Harris Teeter for the past month for exchanging triple coupons for double coupons up to $1.98. Last month, neither of us did very good. This month, I decided to fight back.

Viva paper towels - Regular price $2.49. I paid $0.79.
Chinet paper plates - Regular price $3.59. I paid $1.59.
Huggies body wash - Regular price $3.17. I paid $1.17.
Degree deodorant - Regular price $4.99. I paid $0.50.
Suave shampoo - Regular price $1.37. I paid $0.75 for two.
Oral B toothbrush - Regular price $2.99. I paid $2 for two.
Baby oil - Regular price $1.99. I paid nothing.
Reach toothbrush - Regular price $3.99. I paid $0.99 for two.
Floss - Regular price $1.59. I paid nothing.
Sure deodorant - Regular price $2.99. I paid $0.49.
Pert Plus shampoo - Regular price $3.27. I paid $0.27.
Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls - Regular price $4.19. I paid nothing.
Cascade - Regular price $3.99. I paid $1.99.

I spent $15 and saved $43. I love it!!

Old Man

Today, I'd like to wish a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my baby daddy. He is the big 2-6 today. Tonight we are celebrating by cooking out hamburgers and french fries with mom and dad. Yum!! I can't wait! It'll be so nice after a grueling day at work. Okay, maybe that is an exaggeration. Yes, I am working this week. Yes, it is temporary. No, it is not full days. It's about 5-hour days which is about all Brianna can handle. And all I can handle with Brianna there. But that's a whole other blog post.

On Sunday, Brianna laughed for the first time. And I mean, straight up giggling. It was so funny!! I did capture it on video, and as soon as Stephen edits it for time I will post the video on here. Also, the video camera doesn't like my computer so I have to do stuff from Stephen's computer and it's just all hassle-full and everything. Then today I was zipping up her diaper bag and she started laughing again. I have no clue what is so funny about a zipper but I did it for at least two minutes with her just laughing every time I did it a certain way. What a crazy girl.

She also had her first nightmare. She was grunting one night while Stephen and I were reading, and then she just started wailing. When he got up to check on her, she was still sleeping and she was just thrashing around and crying. It was so sad!! After a minute of her not waking up, he picked her up to wake her up and rock her back to sleep. He said nightmares are "daddy duty". It was really sad to see her scared but not waking up. I hope those are rare.

Ummm, I think that's all for now. I am STARVING and so ready to go to mom and dad's tonight! Yippee!

Hat Sunday

Today was Hat Sunday at church! Once a year the ladies wear hats - pretty, funny, or just plain weird - to church. It's so funny to see some of the hats people walk in with! This year I actually took my camera but I only took a couple of pictures, unfortunately.

The hat I wore is one of Grandma Loyd's hats. I'm so glad I was able to wear one of her hats this year!!

I wanted so badly to make Brianna wear a hat of some kind. But after I put this on her - I just couldn't do it to her. Even though she still looked happy, I couldn't look at her without laughing.

A rare family picture!

Even Drew got in the spirit of Hat Sunday...

Reader's Digest Version

The past week has been really busy and crazy! So I'll just give you the short version. Sleeping late, Sonic mystery shop, Ladies Group at church, lunch with mom and dad, youth group, company cookout, articles, Kirbys, videos, pictures.... I guess that's about it! Now that you're all caught up...

This afternoon we are going to the Kirbys because Libba, Jorge, and Ruthie are in town! I cannot wait to get pictures of Ruthie, Claire, and Brianna all together for the first time. So sweet!

Monday night Stephen babysat Brianna while I went to Ladies Group at church. I came home to find that Brianna has a new pastime - watching TV! He laid her down in the beanbag chair and put on Veggietales. She kicked and talked to the TV while he videotaped. It was so cute! So this is one of her new hobbies.

Wednesday Brianna and I went to lunch at mom and dad's. We had a great time, as usual. Go here to see pictures of Brianna in the Johnny Jump-Up at their house.



On Thursday, two days shy of Brianna's 3-month birthday, we FINALLY received her Social Security card! She's a real human now!

Being a human is totally exhausting:

Also on Thursday is when we went to see Jenn and Claire!

I finally got to see her with her eyes open and hear her cry! It was such a cute cry. Jenn said she has a cry that will make your ears ring. But I'm used to it, so I definitely don't care!

Some of y'all know that I am always doing surveys and product testing, which I love because I get cash for some of the surveys, and for the product testing I get to keep whatever product I test. Last week I got a bathroom cleaner to test - a full bottle - which technically saves us at least $3-6 by not having to buy bathroom cleaner. Although, if you're going to be technical about it, I never buy cleaner except at triple coupons when it's under $1.... but still!

Then today, we received a box of Kirkland trash bags to test! 200 trash bags for free. Sweet! They cost around $25 at Costco, so obviously we got a great deal by getting them for free. I love it!

Gotta go, it's Brianna's feeding time - I can hear her squeals!

Food and Pictures

Yesterday mom gave me a gigantic tomato. I ate it over three sandwiches and still haven't finished it yet. Then I went to Jenn's last night and she let me try a homemade Reese's cup that a friend of hers made. It was soooo good, and I thought it tasted like the real thing! Then today I was able to swipe some of mom's chicken salad and a croissant from her house. All this to say that I love food, and I really love good food.

Today we had youth drama practice at church. It went really well. Fortunately, Brianna is of the age where she can just sit and watch without fussing much. Cindy watched her the whole time, and she did take about a 20 minute nap during it. If I get a good video of the play tomorrow maybe I will post it up here.

So that I don't get smacked around, I am going to post some updated pictures of Brianna, and Claire, and Brianna and Claire. This should satisfy you people for a while!

Another Day

Last night we tricked Brianna into going to bed early. At about 7:30, I had snapped at Stephen at least twice, yawned so much there were tears coming from my eyes, and I was stumbling everywhere I walked. Time for bed, I presume. So around 8:15 I gave Bri her bath, fed her, and we were in bed somewhere between 9 and 9:30. EXHAUSTED. I think I am more tired now that she naps less during the day because I entertain her so much. It's exhausting to be that happy!! Anyway, that 7 1/2 hours of sleep was pure heaven.

In an effort to conserve gas, I decided to do all my weekly stuff in one trip. I usually do it in two or three trips during the week, mainly because I don't want Brianna to get hungry halfway through or anything. But it's really wasteful to do that.

First, we went to the post office. I had to mail out some Bookmooch books and get some more stamps. So far, so good.

Next stop - Rite Aid. Time to do Rite Aid rebates. Now, for some reason, she loves Rite Aid. She just stares, wide-eyed, at everything and everyone. So this is never a problem.

On to the bank! Easy as pie, because we went through the drive-through. So no one had to hear her wailing. (She doesn't like to be at a dead stop in the car for too long!)

Now it's the stops I'm worried about. I've got to go to two different grocery stores because of the sales they're having this week. Fortunately for me, Brianna fell asleep between the bank and Harris Teeter. Plus we were in and out of there in less than fifteen minutes, so I'm sure that helped some. Food Lion took much longer. I was buying supplies for the UFC party we're having tomorrow night, plus the ingredients for the soup I'm making next Wednesday for mom and dad. Bless her heart, she slept through the whole thing. She was so sound asleep when I opened the car door to get her out, I just wished for a minute that it was feasible to leave your child in the car while it's running. She could have had such a nice, uninterrupted nap. Well, she sleeps everytime she gets in the Baby Bjorn anyway, so, works for me.

I've only gotten one article done today so far. But I have cleaned up downstairs for the fight tomorrow night. Last night Stephen cleaned up the upstairs, because last time we hosted a fight our friend Miguel spent the night. So at least he'll have a place to sleep if he decides to stay over again. We haven't hosted a UFC in probably five months now, so I'm really excited, although I'm pretty sure I'm gonna sleep through the whole thing. I'll try not to!

In a few hours Brianna and I are going to visit the Kirbys - yay! Stephen is working late tonight, so it'll be good to see them AND it will give us all something to do. Not that they need anything to do - taking care of a week old baby is plenty!

That's enough for now, I've got to get cracking on some articles.

BUT - in the near future, look for blogs on the topics of: spoiling your baby, and finding your S.T.O.R.Y. I feel like dad announcing my future blogs, but otherwise I won't remember to write about them.

MLIA

There is this website that I have recently found out about - My Life Is Average. I LOVE this website. Strangely enough, I am also loving the book I'm reading at the moment - Cure For the Common Life. Funny! And ironic. Anyway, I started thinking about all the stuff I do every day that is really average, but... it's my life and I love it.

Today I sang Michelle by the Beatles to Brianna, except I sang, "Bri-bell, ma belle" instead of "Michelle, ma belle". Gotta start them early on the Beatles you know.

I finished a Lifetime movie with Brianna sitting on my lap. She was enthralled with it as much as I was.

I made monkey bread - sooooo good.

Granny came over and was able to see Bri put on a show, complete with talking, smiling, and flailing her arms and legs (one of her new favorite things to do).

I wrote 10 articles in just a couple of hours.

I wrote a letter to a friend I hadn't written in months.

I started a new game with Bri where I lift her into sitting position using only her hands, forcing her to keep her head straight.

I read a couple of chapters in my book while nursing Brianna.

After Stephen came home, we put Bri down for tummy time and we each got on one side, making her turn from side to side to look at both of us.

I attempted to take videos of Bri while she was talking to me, but the camera distracts her too much.

I just sat and watched Brianna as she chewed on her lower lip until spit dribbled down her chin.

Stephen pulled out two stitches from where I had a mole removed a couple of weeks ago. We weren't sure if they were dissolvable or not, but they came out without issue.

So maybe my life is average. But there's absolutely nothing I'd change about it.

Not a Baby

For those who haven't heard, we no longer have a baby in our midst. Nope, she's been replaced by a teenager who doesn't need mommy and daddy to entertain her thankyouverymuch. After the first night that Brianna slept all night she just decided she is too cool for school. I'm very happy that she has realized now she can sleep 6-8 hours without dying of starvation. And actually, she is in an extraordinarily good mood after 6-8 hours of sleep. And so am I! Imagine that!

It was a pretty sudden transformation. All of a sudden, Brianna is pretty much taking care of herself in the entertainment department. Her coos and gurgles are becoming much louder and more frequent. Instead of crying for the last 10 minutes of my morning routine, she plays with her rattle and mirror on her bouncer. This morning she played so hard the rattle flew off its attachment. Batting at thin air doesn't do much good. She sits in her swing and watches herself in the mirror (who is that good looking baby?) and has a strong tendency to talk to herself, whether it's here at home or in the car. I'm not really sure if she's seeing ghosts or what.

We've been proponents of letting Brianna cry if we know nothing is wrong with her. I know some people have issues with this but she has never cried more than 15 minutes. Trust me, she gets PLENTY of playtime with us during the day - we make sure of that! She is one of the happiest babies I know, although I don't know that many babies, admittedly. She just lights up when Stephen and I talk to her. The one thing I don't like is that she gets really frustrated after several minutes of cooing, and not talking. She will stretch her little neck and lips as far out as possible... and no words come. Can you imagine the frustration!? It's really sweet though. We have some videos, but I probably won't post them:

1) because I am clueless about uploading stuff from our video camera
2) the videos are soooo long they would take forever to upload

Also, she has a tendency to be distracted by the camera. She will talk up a storm until you put the camera in her face and then she just stares blankly at this foreign object which has been thrust into her field of vision.

Sunday, we took Brianna to meet her cousin Claire for the first time!! Claire was pretty unimpressed and slept the whole time (who can blame her?) and Brianna didn't do much to impress! We are having another meeting tonight, although I kind of doubt they're going to take to each other until Claire is sleeping less than 20 hours a day. But of course I can't blog without posting some pictures of my beautiful niece! These are several days old now but I can't remember where I set my camera, so I'll post new ones later.











We had a really good weekend for the Fourth, but I will have to talk about that in a separate post - this one is getting too lengthy and I have some work to do!

She's Arrived!

Claire Devon Kirby has arrived! Born at 3:46 am, 7 pounds 9 ounces, 21 3/4 inches long!! She is a LONG baby!! She'll have those long legs of her mommy I guess! I will be going to see them sometime today and I'll post pictures as soon as possible!!

By the way, last night was the first time Brianna has slept all night. 7 1/2 hours! That's good enough for me! Mom said now that Claire is born, Brianna knows she's not the baby anymore and she's got to grow up. That is so cute! I'm sure this won't happen every night but she's certainly been a good sleeper these past few weeks.

Cheese Alert

This might become cheesy - maybe not - but there is your alert just in case.

Right now, Jennifer is at the hospital in the process of having Claire. I am so excited that the day is finally here! I am thrilled that we are all finally going to meet Claire. Brianna will start teaching her how to poop and have gas immediately - the things she's best at.

This morning I was just thinking about what an incredible year this has been, starting in August of 2008 when I found out I was pregnant. I remember Jennifer was over at the house with me, hanging out, just two days before I tested positive. We were talking about the struggles we had had trying to get pregnant and we were both really aggravated. I remember being hopeful that this was actually the month I was going to be pregnant. Two days later, I chugged down a ton of water during church and ran to Dollar General to buy a pregnancy test. After two positive results I just got on my knees, shaking, thanking God. We were more than ecstatic!!

Jenn was the one who went with me to get the blood test confirmation. She was one of the first ones I called when I got the phone call that it was positive. She acted extraordinarily excited for me even though it was me who was pregnant and not her.

Then one day we were having one of our famous lunch dates. We were actually at Sir Pizza instead of our regular hot spot, Chick Fil-A. I remember not wanting to ask her how everything was going because I knew I hated realizing every month that I wasn't pregnant. But then I didn't want to seem like an uncaring sister, either, so I finally just asked, not expecting any good answer. She got this look on her face like she had a secret, leaned forward, and said, "I think I'm pregnant." I remember after that I couldn't stop hopping around Stephen for days, just waiting for Jenn's blood test to come back positive too.

She was one of the first ones to find out that Brianna was going to be a girl. And I remember getting the phone call from her that Claire was going to be a girl. I was at work, but I shrieked anyway. We knew from the very beginning that these girls were going to be best friends.

We have been able to share gross stories, exciting stories, and compare throughout this whole pregnancy. It has been absolutely amazing and I'm so grateful that God gave us the opportunity to have our first babies so close together. Ten weeks apart!! I can only hope that Brianna and Claire are as close as Jenn and I were ... after we were both 18 anyway!!!

Alright Claire, we're all ready for you, so it's time to show your face!! I'll update this later I'm sure!