You're leaving the baby behind...right?!

Last Friday I came home from work to find a sweet little card from my husband with an anniversary surprise: We were headed to Portland (our favorite city) for our 2 year wedding anniversary! An over night trip....by ourselves...without Vienna........ Would I go for it?! He wasn't sure, poor guy. He'd been planning and coordinating the details with my mom for a month and a half, to make sure I'd be comfortable with our little get-a-way. My first reaction was "WOOHOO! FUN!" and then I asked if we could just look for a hotel in Olympia that we could stay at for the night. Like the sweetheart he is, agreed and said I could start looking. But I decided against it. It was ONLY an hour or so away, my mom was going to stay AT our house so Vienna would have all her goods...*sigh* I needed to be strong.

So for all of last week, I talked myself into be really excited. I was looking forward to Saturday ALL week...of course a little piece of me didn't want to leave Vienna behind, but I know that Taylor and I both needed some time to ourselves. All I kept talking about all week was how I was looking forward to sleeping ALL night! :-) haha Taylor kept making fun of me as that isn't necessarily what he had in mind- LOL

My mom arrived yesterday, we gave her the loooooong list of instructions of how to care for a baby overnight (as if she had never had children before) gave our Miss a kiss and headed to Ptown.

Nana & Vienna sleepover!

Headed to Portland!

Secret: Taylor didn't want to leave Vienna behind...he said "When we get back, she'll be walking!" She really has been growing up so fast lately! Rolling over, sitting up, standing, sleeping in her own room....ugh!

I called the hotel earlier in the week and asked to add the romance package to our room. Champagne and chocolates...yummm!

At the hotel lounge picking up our complimentary beer/wine!

When we walked into the lounge to redeem our complimentary beverages, there was a giant group of gals there all dolled up with a bachelorette. In honor of celebrating OUR anniversary and reminiscing about our special day, I suggested we order her a shot. The bartender took it over to her, told her it was from us and she was SO excited! LOL It was cute. When Taylor went to redeem his last coupon for a beer the bartender upgraded the size for free! Woot for Taylor!

Arriving at the Rogue- our favorite (more pics babe?!)

Taster Tray: Juniper PA, Mocha Porter, Chocolate Stout and Irish Lager

Tryin' the Mocha Porter



Sexy!

Chocolate Stout...Yum!



Taylor's new van!



Taylor's pizza and my halibut and chips! So delicious!

Bacon Maple Ale: Taylor wanted to try it but because there are real bits of bacon in it, they can't have it on tap- so he bought a bottle to bring home- sounds disgusting! I loved the pink bottle!

Love Birds

Getting ready to face time with Vienna

I'm so thankful to have facetime! How did parents ever go without it?! I feel so fortunate to have the technologies we have today...We were able to say good night to our sweet face-to-face! Amazing! Unfortunately once we were done, I had a bit of a melt-down and just wanted to go home. Taylor convinced me to stay..but it was tough! Who knew it'd be so difficult to be away from our Sweetums?!

Missing Vienna and PO'd Taylor was taking a picture of me CRYING! HAHA

We rented 21 Jump Street but I fell asleep probably 20 minutes into it. It was absolutely amazing to get such SOUND sleep! It was just what the doctor ordered for this Mama.
     Side note/confession: I was sooooo lazy and sleeping soooooo good that when I woke up in the middle of the night, I couldn't sleep on my side or stomach because of some extreme engorgement: I didn't even care. I just slept on my back and didn't pump (except once when we got to the hotel). Boy oh boy did I regret that at 8am! Just call me Dolly...but Dolly in tears! I found relief after pumping 15 ounces! Ouchie!!

Check-out was at 1pm, but we decided we wanted to be HOME by 1pm so I could feed Vienna instead of Nana giving her a breast milk bottle. We hit up breakfast at the hotel which was a buffet style. We (Taylor) took some of EVERYTHING! It was "free" so why the heck not?! We both had pretty good stomach aches from all the junk we ate over our 24 hour vacation- but what's vacation without junk food!?



Forget continental breakfasts! Bring on the buffet/cafeteria style breakfast of champions!

We were really impressed with the breakfast- for how cheap the room was, we really scored on the amenities!

Our first overnighter without Vienna was so fabulous! We had such a nice time being husband and wife instead of mommy and daddy. We both are in love with being mommy and daddy, but we were reminded of roles as husband and wife and the importance of maintaining those roles.

A big thanks to Nana for taking care of Vienna! We are so grateful!

Happy Anniversary (tomorrow) to my sweet husband! I love you more and more each day and am so thankful you chose ME to be your wife. Thank you for the much needed R&R and for our sweet baby girl. We truly have it all!!!

Friday, August 13th, 2010



Lesson Learned

Remember this beautiful piece of furniture Vienna's Daddy made her?

Well, thanks to Mommy, she only sleeps in the crib during nap time. At night, she slept in her bassinet in our bedroom, RIGHT next to me so I could over-stress about every sound and movement. Sounds fabulous right?! Each time Taylor would insist on having her sleep in her room, I would protest that it was going to be too much work and I would sleep even worse. Come to find out, I was...yes, I hate to say it, WRONG!

Last weekend we had Vienna sleep in her nursery overnight, for the first time. I moved the bassinet into her room right next to the crib, as I thought she might need to slowly work into sleeping in her room. Her sleep patterns stayed the same, so I felt this was a great transition. Finally ONE for mom. :-)

I came home from work yesterday to find the bassinet in the garage. I knew, it was time. Time for our big girl to sleep IN her crib, IN her room, all the time, even night time. I know many parents who had their little ones in their cribs the first night, week or month home from the hospital. I just couldn't do it! I wanted to, but just didn't feel strong enough. Until last night. I put on my big girl panties and at bed time, I laid her in the beautiful crib....

How did it go??

To my surprise, I slept FABULOUSlY and Miss Vienna only woke up ONCE after sleeping 5 hours straight before needing to eat. (She usually only goes 3 hours) She slept fabulously as well! Sure, every night won't be like last night, but I felt like a giant success this morning!

So, my lesson learned? Babies are fine in their nurseries!!! It seems so silly and simple, but I needed to learn this lesson. I can still go in and check on her as much as possible, and although the monitor still shares the sounds of her movements, my brain is able to turn off and actually catch some zzz's without having her movement sounds RIGHT next to me. My brain knows to wake up when she vocalizes a sound instead of rolling around.

I'm almost embarrass to post this, but I feel so proud to have finally accomplished this, I HAD to share! (Even if I sound like a pansie mommy!)

Watch out Baby J #2! Mommy is learning...kind of quick! ;-)

USA takes GOLD!

If there was an event in the Olympics for rolling over to grab for books and toys, Vienna would take GOLD for certain! She's been rolling over intermittently for a while now, but as of last night, she no longer HATES tummy time and rolls over to her belly as often as possible. Not only to grab for toys, but to scratch whatever surface is beneath her...listening and feeling the textile below.

Can you believe she is 5 months? I sure can't. But I can say that this has been a fun month! Although it's bittersweet that she's becoming more and more independent, it's so much fun to watch her advance and grow.

Some highlights of 4-5 months:

She really started JUMPING in her jumperoo: She can't get enough of her jumperoo! She stands in it, spins around, grabs for ALL of the toys....unlike last month where she just sucked on the front of it and could barely touch the ground!
Laughing outloud- yes she's laughed before, but not like this. Taylor was poking her with some sort of tool, in her belly, and she could not help but to giggle and giggle each time he did it. Toward the end of her 4th month, if either of us ran with Alli in the yard and Alli chased and/or barked, Vienna would laugh from the pit of her stomach. SOOO precious! Taylor and I took turns holding her and running with the dog, just to experience her laughing.
      *Isn't it incredible that babies have a sense of humor? I'm so in awe of this innate characteristic!

Coughing- she has discovered how to cough and get a ton of attention from her Daddy. Each time she coughs Daddy always says ,"OHHHH, are YOU okaaay??" very concerned like. It's so sweet!

Vienna took her first dip in the pool. She was NOT a fan. I think we decided she's not a fan of the pool water because although it's a heated pool at Grams', her bathtub water is super warm so she's been a little spoiled. Cold water just ain't her cup of tea. One of the pool days, with Kylee and Melissa, Vienna slept. Yes, she slept while I was walking her around the pool. Perhaps a coping mechanism since she really wasn't enjoying the whole "swim" time situation.

She found her tootsies! She cannot get enough of sucking on her cute little toes! Daddy has to hold off on pedicures for a bit now!

Began pulling herself up from sitting to standing, while holding onto Daddy's fingers

Participated in her first 8K walk/race with her Daddy!

Daddy and Vienna walked the 8K and Mommy ran her first half marathon

Vienna Loves:

chewing anything and everything!
sucking on mom's shoulder
drinking water from our glasses and her sippy cup
grabbing for and holding anything we have
talking, talking and talking
laughing
smiling
meeting new people: she gets so excited to meet new people and kicks her legs like crazy!
reaching for everything
showers and baths
sitting in her bumbo seat

Really, what doesn't she love?! She is such a happy baby. We are truly so blessed to have such a sweet little angel enriching our lives. Although I still remember what life was like without her, I can't imagine not having her to love and adore each day. Miss V is our everything!

 

Vienna is 4 Months!

Me oh my! Our baby girl is, as her Daddy says, 1/3 of a year old! She is growing up so fast and has become so full of personality! We are enjoying every moment with her, even the trying ones.

Here's a brief update on our little Miss:

Her 4 month well-check stats:

Weight: 13.6lbs   50th Percentile
Height: 25in        80th Percentile
Head:40.5 cm      35th Percentile

She is still long, lean and thriving according to her Dr!

We are planning to get her ears pierced soon, which we were given the okay to do. Taylor has wanted to do it for some time, but I insisted on asking Dr. first. She said as long we go to a place that does a lot of babies, we'll be fine. I used to really want to get them done, but lately I've had a bit of a change of heart. I guess it's just a conversation we parents must have once again.

Such a wiggle bottom!

After talking about when to introduce solids, recapping Vienna's milestones and Vienna getting her physical exam, Dr. placed her on her belly. I had warned Dr that Vienna is not a very big fan of tummy time- so she was interested in seeing how she acted. Of course, she didn't fuss at ALL! Always on her best behavior around other people! (my mom always said that was best anyway- as our behavior was a direct reflection on our parents). The best part of her tummy time was when Dr was observing the way she moved, and said "Look at this!!! Are you seeing this?! Her movements are incredible! She is tucking her feet under and pushing against my hands!  This is what I see in 6 month olds! She's going to crawl soon!" WHAT?!?! I'm not ready for her to crawl yet! But it was so fun to hear that despite her dislike of tummy time, her tummy activities are advanced!

Tweety Bird Band-Aid: This girl is a super star at getting shots, but beware of the feverish, whimpery fussy, sleepy baby to follow- My poor girl

I always love going to Vienna's Dr.- I love the confirmation that we're not doing anything noticeably wrong as parents. As new parents, we're constantly wondering if Vienna is where she should be, if we're reading enough to her, if we talk to her enough, if we put her on her tummy enough, if she has enough expressions, etc., so to hear a "professional" confirm she's where she needs to be, is so motivating and resassuring.

Our little Pumpkin has become quite the character the past month or so. She:
-chats to/with us all the time
-laughs on purpose
-is full of smiles that melt our hearts
-has a pretty great routine which helps in predicting what's to come
-has begun to really enjoy her jumperoo
-loves her bouncy seat and activity mat
-grabs for everything, especially anything in our hands
-puts EVERYTHING in her mouth
-drools uncontrolablly- soiling multiple bibs per day,
-poos only every few days, but they are EXPLOSIONS
-rolls from her tummy to her back
-rolls from her back to her side but not quite all the way to her tummy
-attempts to sit-up on a regular basis
-doesn't yet sleep through the night, but hopefully will soon!

My goodness- Who knew we could make such a beautiful "thing". She is our pride and joy- she's my first thought when I wake and all I dream about through the night. (Yes, some of the dreams include dropping her or accidentally laying her close to the edge of the bed etc! LOL)




Sleeping on Mommy ALL day after her shots

I'm so looking forward to everything to come, but I do wish I could preserve all of her innocence and littleness a bit longer. I had to put all of her NB and 0-3 month clothes away today. It made me a little excited to have another baby- just to have that smallness back!! But this age is incredibly fun and rewarding. I just hope and pray every day that she knows how much we love her and that we'd do absolutely anything for her.

Thank you Miss Vienna, for blessing and enriching our lives. We love you!!



Vienna on immunizations

Bowling for Labor

Came across this pic tonight: We went bowling hoping to induce labor since the week before our due date I thought I was in labor but wasn't. Bowling didn't jump start labor and we passed our "due date". I guess the Dr. didn't realize her "due date" was Feb 24th instead of Feb 20th. :-)

Bowling was still fun even though Vienna waited a few more days to join us.

Yes, I kind of miss being pregnant. I remember being so excited to meet this little person growing in my belly...can you believe she's actually here?!

Memorial Day Weekend

What a fabulous long weekend! We spent lots of time with family and friends. Can't wait for summer to hurry up and arrive!

Friday was a beautiful day. I've felt bad for not helping Taylor out in the yard, so attempted to get some weeding done while little Miss took a nap

Yes, I was wearing THAT. haha! The boots help me feel safe from spiders and other bugs I hate!

Cutest baby on the block!

 Friday also marked Vienna's 13th week with us! I can't believe it.

 She loves her bumbo seat- We rarely have to put a towel in it anymore to keep her upright. She has excellent control of her head these days. It's amazing how much they change- and you don't even really notice until it dawns on you that you no longer need to hold their head, etc.

 This past week has been very challenging. Our sweet little Angel has been going through some trying times...we aren't sure what they are but she hasn't been the happy Vienna we're so accustomed to! Maybe she's growing and it's painful, maybe it's gas pains, maybe she's bored with us, maybe she's starting to teethe, maybe maybe maybe....all we know is our "tricks" aren't working as well. :-) But the past few days have been a bit better. She's slowing getting back to our happy little lady.



Saturday was a full day. Taylor's brother and girlfriend Tina stopped by to visit with us (yeah right, more like to see Vienna!). The weather was so nice, Taylor and Parker played frisbee while Tina and I enjoyed some rays. Vienna was a tad fussy, but eventually napped the visit away. Once PK and Tina left, we finished getting ready for the Chase family to come over for a BBQ!

Love these onsies given to us by cousin Kyle and Alyssa! So BBQ'y

Love us some Tony, Melissa and Miss Kylee!

Beautiful Miss Kylee! Tony and Melissa sure know how to make em'!

Proud Mommies!

We always have so much fun with the Chase family. We feel so blessed to have a couple to share this new experience of parenthood, with. Love love love them!

Sunday, I met a gal off of Craigslist to trade $30 for a jumperoo for Vienna! She seems to really love it!

She seems to love it! She's already jumping in it and playing with the toys!

Playin' in her jumperoo!

We've really wanted to get her an exersaucer. Friday we stopped into to Babies R Us to take a gander, but they are all SOOO expensive! Taylor had his heart set on one, but I stood my ground that we weren't paying $100+ for an item we could find used for much, much less. Saturday morning, I was looking on Craigslist for garage sales, and found this one. She was asking $40, I offered $25, she said she'd let it go for $30! I love it's not stationary, but instead a jumper too. V really seems to enjoy it. I'm sure she'll love it more once she's a bit bigger, but it works for now too.

Saturday afternoon Vienna and I went to visit Nana. We spent the afternoon with her, saw Auntie Kaila and Uncle Thomas- and just enjoyed a quiet day.

Today, Taylor met up with a friend he hadn't seen since before we pregnant with Vienna. They had a boys day while Vienna and I stayed home and relaxed. She slept SOOO much- I'm guessing growth spurt. I feel like I'm always saying that these days!

Then this evening we had an unexpected guest stop by: Great-Grams! She stopped by at the perfect time as Vienna had just woke up from her 2hr 45 min nap. (I was lucky enough to get her baby book updated while she napped)

Back to work tomorrow. Bummer!

Life of a baby

Oh to be a sweet little baby again! It's too bad we can't remember the good ol' days when life was soooo rough....

 The days when you would smile in the mirror instead of criticising EVERYTHING about your flawless self.



The days where someone else dresses you all cute, and you don't care either way!

 Chillin' in the kitchen without having to cook or clean yourself



 Having perfect feet without the pain of being on them all day

 Laughing just because

Bathing with your parents wasn't weird- in fact it was nice having someone else worry about keeping you clean

Airplane rides with Daddy were AWESOME and possible

Napping whenever you're tired

Hanging with Mom was awesome just about ALL the time

When doing something on your own was praised and recognized

When it was okay to have your age documented, not to mention WEEKLY

When frowning was CUTE

When zip up pjs were the best

When others helped relieve gas pains

Ahh, the life of a baby- it sure is rough being so beautiful!!