Dear Ains [9 weeks!]

Well, little one. You are now 9 weeks old. That's 2 whole months and two whole days! You've grown quickly and days have passed before our eyes, but to think that you are 2 months is a bit nutty and unfathomable to me! If only our moments together could slow a bit and the world bustle around.


This week you hit your 2 month birthday which meant you had another doctor's appointment. It was scheduled for Tuesday morning so your Papa took you while I was off teaching. You weighed in at a whomping 13 lbs. 4 oz.! And measured 22 and 3/4 of an inch long! You're growing!! Surprise! Surprise! :) There's no need for the scale to tell me that as I can definitely tell in the middle of the night because I now have to sit up to move you about. Momma's arms aren't that strong to be able to lift you while I lay. At this appointment you also had to get some shots. Three to be exact. Your Papa said that while he was captivated by your beauty and watching your face suddenly it turned sour and you began to cry wail! He didn't realize the nurse was already giving your shots until she was on the second one! Two in one thigh, one in the other and then you nuzzled close for comfort! Your tears dried and your shrill calmed after just a couple minutes, but through the process you broke your Papa's heart! [I guess that's a benefit of being a working mom!] We were also able to conclude that you've never truly been in pain before because we've never heard that cry before!


The rest of Tuesday, you were just a mopier version of you. You didn't really cry, but rather as we cuddled you, you would moan softly. It was so sad and so cute at the same time! For the evening you were our achy, lil' girl! Thankfully with morning came your regular demeanor!


In other news this week, you experienced your first trick-or-treat. We didn't take you trick-or-treating as it would've been obvious that the candy was for us, but we did put on your Halloween outfit--not costume-- and head to John and Amber's as they passed out candy. Tomorrow we'll be dressing you up in your costume and heading to Grandpa and Grandmomma-cita's with your cousins to pass out candy to trick-or-treaters. Next year though, we'll take you door to door to a couple houses to get you some Tootsie Rolls to gnaw on! :)

Lastly, I think I tell you this every week, but I love seeing your personality more and more. Your smiles in the morning, especially, and your various facial expressions throughout the day. You are so beautiful to me little one and it's my desire to do all that I can to nurture you into a beautiful young lady, inside and out!


Love you, lil' pumpkin!

Dear Ainsley [Week 7]

Dear Ains,

What a week it has been! On Wednesday, I went back to work for the first time. It was difficult, as I expected it would be, but it actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I teared up kissing you goodbye, missed you like crazy, and thought of you continually, but thankfully you were home with Papa so you were only a text away. You were in good hands and I was quite thankful! You ended up sleeping most of the day away and this, baby girl, I was not thankful for. When bedtime came you went to sleep but when you had your usual wake up instead of going right back to sleep like you’ve done all prior nights, you decided it was time to stay up and hang out for a good hour. I tried to tell myself that it was because you missed me and wanted to spend extra time with your momma, but in reality this was just to get my mind off the lack of sleep I was going to get that night. The next two days you spent with your Grandma Massie and had great days—and consequently nights—then too!

Wednesday night I decided to try out your cloth diapers! I was afraid they were a little big, but with the gifted disposable diaper stash running low, I figured I better start using cloth while I still had time to “take a break” with disposables! They seemed to fit fine but I was a little apprehensive as I took you to church in them. Typically on Wednesday nights as soon as I arrive you are handed off to someone—Grandmomma-cita, Grandma Cow, or even a sweet couple that sits behind us—this time I warned, “So I’m trying out the new diapering system tonight for the first time, I’m not responsible for blow outs!” :) Grandma Cow took you anyways! And there wasn’t a single blowout, so that was definitely a good thing [especially since I forgot to take a sack to put your dirty diaper in after I would’ve changed you. Hey it was my first night cloth diapering, give me a break!] We put you in your cloth diapers in the evenings during the week—we decided it’d be best to give your Grandma a couple days to adjust to having you before having to use the cloth diaps—and had you in them all day long this weekend! Let me say, so far, so good! You have the cutest tush in town! :)

Your cutie-batootie!
The giraffe diap is one of my favs!
And the cow print!
:)

In other news in Ainsley-world this week, you received your first hickey! Now in most cases I would not be smiling about this, and remember that when you are a teenager—hickies = trashy—it was pretty funny on you for two reasons: 1.) You’re 7 weeks old. 2.) You gave it to yourself! You see, so far, you haven’t really sucked your thumb. Even when you are hungry, you haven’t sucked your thumb but instead choose to suck your index finger or your wrist. Well this time at Grandma’s you must have decided your wrist would taste better because when I got you home I realized you had a big ol’ hickey on your wrist!! Such a silly girl!

You had your first major spit up!
Thankfully it was on Papa! ;)

This weekend we had a great time just being our lil’ family. Your papa even commented, “You know so many people act as if you lose your ‘life’ they have a baby, I feel like we gained life!” I couldn’t agree more! We are so lucky to have you in our life and to have new life because of you!

7 weeks old

Much love!

Goal Update!

Over the past couple weeks I've finished up and started a couple goals. So here's an update.

Accomplished Goals:
8. Try 4 new foods [or foods that I “don’t think I like”].
     Food #1: Canteloupe I'm not a big melon person--watermelon is the only type I like! Way back in July when we had some delicious chicken salad sandwiches, we also had some canteloupe. Now I've had canteloupe before, but I've been picking it out of fruit salad for years and passing it to my mom or Chris to eat for me. so I tried it that day. The verdict? I don't not like canteloupe, but I don't enjoy it. It's just sorta of bland. If I had to eat it, I would but I'll still be that girl who picks around it in the fruit salad!
    Food #2: Mahi Mahi "I don't like seafood." Well that's also what I would say if you asked me. I mean I like tuna from a can on certain occasions in tuna casserole, but that's about it. The fishy taste/smell is too much for me! Well at Ruby Tuesdays a couple months ago, Chris ordered an entree with a couple different meats on it. One of which was Mahi Mahi. It was alright...for the first bite and an half... until I thought about the fact that I was eating fish. :S
    Food #3: Salmon Same background as food #2, but this time we were over at some friends on Saturday evening and Micah grilled salmon and chicken. I choose chicken, which was delish, but ate a piece--note: not just a bite!-- of salmon. It was pretty good. It wasn't fishy but I did think it was a bit dry, although if it weren't dry it'd be full of fishy juices, so I'll take a bit of dryness!
    Food #4: Hummus Chris likes it and I even bought ingredients to make some in the very near future, but for Sunday's lunch we had some store bought Roasted Red Pepper Hommus [not a mispelling, that's what the label says!]. I ate a bit with some crackers. It wasn't bad, but the texture combined with a lack of strong flavor wasn't my cup of tea! I think it would be better on a pita with other fixins' to make a sandwich!
    Overall for all four foods, my conclusion is that I don't not like them, I just don't particularly like them! Not my foods of choice, but edible nonetheless! :)

42. Give Mister a goodnight kiss every night [that we’re in the same location] for 101 days.
Each night that Mister and I have been in the same location for the past 101 days, we have shared a kiss before drifting into sleep. It wasn't always accompanied with "G'night!" although oftentimes it was. The motivation behind this goal was the popular signs/phrase "Always Kiss Me Goodnight" that I've seen around Hobby Lobby and the internet! Such a tough goal to accomplish!

53. Memorize the books of the New Testament, in order.
     I've had a good general feel for the order of the New Testament and it would only take a minute to find the book I was looking for, but to ramble them off, not so much. I mean the Gospels? Check! Acts, Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians? Check! Then "Go Eat Peaches & Cream". Galatians, Ephesians, Phillipians, Colossians. Check! But then came trouble! Timothy? Thessalonians? Who knows! Then one of the leaders mentioned that the next three sets of books where the T books in order from longest to shortest in terms of the length of the names. 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Timothy, and Titus. Then I remember: PHJ [Kind of like Ph. D.] Philemon, Hebrews, & James. Then remember your PJs--Peters and Johns and then I was good for the last two: Jude & Revelation. You see, ask me to remember something by straight memory and I've up a creek without a paddle, but if I can come up with sentence or silly phrase, I was golden! How else do you think I made it through 3 years of Spanish and ended up with the Boca Grande award in the end! :)


In-Progress  Goals:
5. Drink no pop for 6 months.
     I'm 9 days in for this goal. I was going to start on October 1st but then went to a Birthday party and pop was all that was sitting out. Oh well, a day later than planned. I've gone a year or so before without drinking pop, but the biggest thing for me to "getting going" with this goal is simply remembering to not drink pop!

28. Complete honeymoon photo album.
     I havethe album [for 2.5 years] and the pics [for 2.5 weeks]. Now they just need to colide and be done!

34. Invite friends—outside of Girls Group—into our home 6 times over the course of 3 months.
     We've done this twice, but since the three month mark will expire the end of October, I think we'll be starting over again! Unless you count people swinging by to meet Ains, but I think that's cheating a bit and I've already bent one goal thanks to her so I'll plan on starting over with this one!

45. Read 43 books from BBC Top 100 books.
     2 Books: Jane Eyre & The Twits! I need to get booking! [ha! I wasn't planning on a pun, but there's one nonetheless! :)]

52. Pray every night with Chris before bed for 30 days.
     After tonight, it'll be 9 days as we've been praying together each night since October 2nd. We're hoping to develop a bedtime routine with Ainsley that consists of feeding--well for the lil' one--then bath time, prayer/snuggle time, and sleep! I'm not keeping my fingers crossed on the routine, but we'll continue with the prayer!

54. Memorize the books of the Old Testament in order.
     I've got 27 of the 39 books of the Old Testament down thanks to Chris and similar nuemonics as I used for remembering the order of the New Testament. Not too much longer and creative ways and I'll have all 39 books down!

86. Complete paperwork for Century Farm Recognition.
     This one is for my Grandma Cow--any guesses why I grew up calling her Grandma Cow?! :) I have the print of for it, and will just need to do a little "interviewing" to know how to answer all the questions they ask! I just need to get busy!

There you have it! An update on all those goals! Until next time, friends!

P.S. Part of the reason for this post, in addition to one of my goals being to blog about each of my goals, another reason for this post is because my mom recently asked me if I was working on any of my goals. After an "Uhh... yeah... let me think" she quickly replied, "I'll take that as a no!" So I needed to check and see what I was actually working on!

Dear Ainsley [Week 6]

Lil' Miss Ains--

Well baby girl, today was the end of the final full week that I will get to spend with you. I can't even begin to express the emotions going around in my mind and heart as I prepare to venture back to teaching on Wednesday. I'll get 3 days with you over Thanksgiving break which is 45 days away and then the already much anticipated Christmas break 74 days away--but who's counting! This past week you've seemed to be a bit more clingy that other times. Although a small part of me was mildly frustrated because I wasn't able to get much anything done, I appreciated all the snuggle time that we shared! I love you and all our time, baby girl. It's going to be greatly missed and the weekends are going to be treasured and anticipated even more!!

Smiles: This week you have been on the verge of smiling. You've smiled several times but it's not really "intentional" yet even though we like to pretend it is. Regardless my heart smiles every time your little lips curl up! I look forward to when you smile because of what's going on around you and not "just because" of gas! :)

Gas: Speaking of smiling, early this week you had me laughing so hard! While laying on the couch next to me--fully clothed--when you blasted a loud putt-putt [you'll learn that's what they are called when you are around Grandmomma-cita!] Anyways, in addition to your Papa and I still laughing at your untimely gas, this time was even more comical for me. You see your Papa was sitting on the floor in front of the couch and when you blasted, he literally covered his head and ducked! You would've thought that there was a real explosion going off the way he took cover! [P.S. You have man-gas now, and not just juicy, explosive gas. I blame your dad all the time for your gas, you take after him!]

Voice: You are not only loud coming out that end, you can be quite loud with your mouth! More and more you make noise. Many times I think you are making the noise for the sake of hearing yourself "talk". Just to listen you sound like you are in distress, but your face is quite content! I tried videoing it this week, but it sounded more like torture so I deleted it. I got a kick out of it, but I doubt many others would!

Sleeping: From the day we brought you home, I've been pleased with your sleeping habits. I mean you aren't sleeping 10 hours straight a night, but it's been a doable 3 hours from the beginning and now has lengthened to 5-6 hour chunks. I can handle this! Thanks for being such a great baby! I'll appreciate it even more in the coming days when I have to teach for 8 hours based on however much sleep you allow me to get! :)

Well baby girl, I need to sign off! Your papa is doing his best to console you, but you need your momma right now! I think you're hitting another growth spurt as much as you need me lately!

6 weeks old

Love you muchly!
-Your Momma

Clean that room!

We have a room in our house that is absolutely disastrous! Don't believe me? Well that's because if you were to come to our house that room's door would be shut! :) We refer to it as the office but in reality it has been a catch all. Yes, there's a desk with office supplies and printers on it, so I guess it's an office, but it's also a library, a craft room, a game room, and about any other room you can think of.

Anyways, today Mister and I began working on the pigpen room. We're no where near complete--don't you hate how it has to get messier before it's better :S--but if you happen to have a room like this in your home--not that you would--I highly suggest begin going through it!

Why?

You never know what you'll find.

Exhibit A: A 3-Prong Frog Spear

Seriously?!
At least this one's Chris'!

Exhibit B: Teeth Molds from when I busted a tooth on a kernal of popcorn

Why they gave these to me is beyond me!

Exhibit C: My Hair... that I cut to donate... over 2 years ago.

It'll be in the mail this week!

Like I said, you just never know. :)

Dear Ainsley [5 weeks]

Dear Ainsley,

This week you hit your one month birthday! Hurray! It's funny how life can change in one month, and I was telling your papa last night that I almost can't imagine what life was like without you! It's crazy how that works. This coming week is my last full week at home with you until Christmas break... I'll be making a countdown asap I assume! I'm very grateful that when I do go back to school, you'll be spending your days with your Papa Bear and with your Grandma Massie [both of whom are very excited to having Ainsley days!]. I think the hardest part is going to be missing you. Seems obvious, eh? Well it's not just missing you, it's the idea of missing out on you. Missing out on your "firsts". Missing out on what you are doing day in and day out that right now, and for the last 5 weeks, my only job was to be a student of you, so I missed very little! It's that fear that others are going to know you better than I know you. I'm not looking forward to those feelings, but many moms before me have successfully dealt with it, so I'm sure I will to!

One thing you've been doing much more this week is blowing spit bubbles--and the occasional milk bubbles! I'm not sure if you know what you are doing or if it's something that is just "naturally" happen uncontrollable to you, but it excites me! Seems silly, I'm sure. But every time you do it, you remind me of an article I read that challenged me. Overall, the article, and the website as a whole, talks about the importance of avoiding "growing up" as we age. [Note: This means staying childlike not childish!] So I'm going to encourage your bubble blowing and one day, when you discover how to blow bubbles in your cup of milk using a straw, we'll likely make a bit of a mess blowing milk bubbles. P.S. Chocolate milk bubbles are so much greater than regular milk! ;)

Another fun thing that you are doing more and more is when you morph into taradactle mode. [This is an example of somthing that I think is kind of odd, but I just reassure myself it's normal. I really hope you are breathing fine and such!] We've told others about this, but you commonly only share this special talent with us, so I figured the world should getting to hear your made skills as well.

Sometimes I taradactle you back thinking it may be a special form of communication that we can share. Okay, I don't really think that, but I do do it!

Lastly this week on a more serious note, today you were dedicated and because I'm a day late in writing this, it counts for your 5 week letter! This morning along with another sweet baby girl and two lil' handsome boys, you were dedicated to God infront of the congregation of Lima Baptist Temple. When the opportunity arose, I knew I wanted to participate and if I were completely honest, it was more out of selfish reasons than for you. I don't think that having you dedicated makes you any better than another baby nor do I believe that God sees you and loves you any differently. The reason I wanted you to be dedicated because I knew they would ask your dad and me to make a promise. To promise to be a Christ-like example, to pray for you, to tell you about God, and to let you know that God loves you. Now am I those things/have I done them in the last 5 weeks? Yes, but likely not as much as I should and could. I wanted to make that commitment in front of the congregation to God and to you.

In addition to the specialness of having you dedicated this morning, there were a couple other "special" moments/things that happened today. When we told Grandmomma-cita that you were going to be dedicated, she dug up the outfit that I wore when I was baptized as a wee one. She of course said that you didn't need to wear it, but was offering it for you. It was purchased by Grandma Great--that'd be your Great-great Grandma Monfort--and I'm pretty sure she did a little embellishing for it by putting some ribbons along the bottom and sleeves. We had several options of what you could wear for your dedication, especially since we went to the Carter's outlet mall yesterday, but this morning when we were dressing you, I knew that if my outfit fit, that's what I wanted you to wear. Did it really matter? Of course not, but it reminds me of my friend's concept of a thousand little strings: by itself it might not be/mean too much, but with a thousand of those little things/strings, we've got a pretty strong bond. That's something I want for us more than anything else!

On your Dedication Day
in Mama's baptism outfit

After the church service, Grandmomma & Grandpa Clum, Grandma & Grandpa Massie, Great Grandma Cow, Uncle Jake, Aunt Joie, Sondra & Stuart, Aunt Sara, Uncle Scott & Aunt Jane, and Aunt Jess, Micah & Silas, came over to our house for a luncheon. I [and your papa] put a lot of thought and time into the lunch in your honor and even last night as we were doing all the finishing touches, I was having a conversation in my mind.

"She's not even going to know what's going on... but I will. And I will know I tried to make it special!"

I don't know what your birthdays, Christmases and other celebrations will look like, but I want you to know one thing: I will do what I can to make it special for you. Oftentimes how special something is isn't based on the gift or what can be observed, but rather the thought and the heart behind it. I hope you remember that as you going through life and have your own special moments and make others' moments special.

A year ago yesterday, your Great-Grandpa Clum passed away. Now he and Grandma have a tradition of giving the great-grandchildren a piggy bank. Well today, when Aunt Sara brought it for you she also told me that when Grandma would go out and get the bank, he would always empty out his pocket and whatever change was in there, he'd put in the piggy bank to start it off. Even though you didn't get the privelege of meeting your Great-Grandpa, Aunt Sara started your bank off with some money that was in Grandpa's drawer. Does it really matter that those coins belonged to him or does it make them more valuable? Not really, but there's a special bond or string that you now have.

Five months ago yesterday, your Great-Grandpa Cow Sidey passed away. He collected coins like silver dollars and such. Today, Grandma gave you a card to celebrate your dedication, and lo and behold a silver dollar was afixed inside. Now does it really matter that there was a silver dollar that belonged to him in there or does it make it worth anything more? Not really, but there's a special bond or string that you now have.

Ainsley-girl, you are so very loved. It was quite obvious by those who came to celebrate your Dedication today. Will you remember them being there or how it played out? Of course not, but know that each person here today wanted you to feel special today because they think know that you are special.

5 weeks [and 1 day]
You are getting so big!

Much love, Baby girl!
Your Lucky Mama

Goal #16

#16: Lose all my baby weight prior to getting pregnant a second time.

Note: Just because this goal is accomplished that does NOT mean Goal #25 is accomplished. That my friends is completely impossible until after Oct. 11. ;)

So I did it. Not that I am not glad, but in reality I didn't do much to accomplish this goal, it just sort of happened! Thank you breastfeeding. Sorry others who are still working on this goal. I'm not exactly sure how much I gained with Ainsley. The weight gain started pretty slow but then about month 7 or 8 it shot up much more than I was expecting! On my due date [4.5 days before Ains was born], my jaw dropped as my total weight gain at that point was 36.7 lbs. and nearly kissing 200 lbs! I didn't feel that big. I didn't think to weigh myself before going in to the hospital, even though I would've had plenty of time as Chris enjoyed his breakfast and I sat and tapped my foot. The majority of my weight came off within the first week and for about the last 2 weeks, I've just been waiting in these last 5 lbs. [Aren't we always waiting on those last 5 that take forever?!] Technically I was down to my true pre-pregnancy weight within 2 weeks of Ainsley's birth, but for this goal I decided I had to be to my pre-I-found-out-I-was-pregnant weight to count. That's what I get for losing ten pounds in December when I didn't know I was preggo!

Since there isn't much else to say about the goal, I figured this is as good as time as ever to talk about my post-pregnancy body. [Don't worry, it'll remain completely PG.]

Pregnancy does some amazing things to a lady's body, and of course it's miraculously fascinating how our sweet baby girl was once simply a fertilized cell in me. She was the size of a seasame seed when I found out about her! And the size of a lentil when we spilled the beans to our immediate family--I don't know that I've ever blogged about how I went about doing that. Perhaps I will. :)

Anyways, through out my pregancy I was shocked as I didn't have any stretch marks--believe me, I have them, but not on my stomach from the baby. Then along came August 13th, 2 weeks before my due date. This was the day I was really thinking hoping our lil' one would come and as I was rushhing around to head to a shower, I noticed my first pregnancy stretch mark. Only about an inch, but there it was. Bummed that I was getting a stretch mark on that day, and not a baby, I was just hoping I'd just have one. A couple more sprouted up over the next 2 weeks, but still not as many as I expected. Oddly [to me at least] I'm pretty sure I left the hospital with more stretch marks than when I was admitted. Perhaps that's what 3 hours of pushing will do to you.

Another oddity was that I had read about linea nigra thanks to countless weekly pregnancy email updates, but I never noticed that dark line on my stomach. This too showed up after Ainsley's arrival. Weird.

Probably the most fascinating post-pregnancy body related thing has been breastfeeding. Now that it isn't highly uncomfortable, I repeatedly amazed how Ainsley and my body's are intune with supply and demand and how my body is producing everything her lil' body needs to not only survive, but to thrive! There's a lot that I don't know/understand about how it all works [like does it taste different depending on what I eat? Seriously that thought crosses my mind every day], but luckily our bodies seem to know what they are doing and it's mind-boggling!

So all in all, I have been amazed at the female body throughout and now after pregnancy, like most other things with my pregnancy it hasn't been as I expected, but it's all working out anyways. I'm glad to be back to my pre-pregnancy weight and now just need to work on the pre-pregnancy body stomach!