We are BACK!

Hello!!!! Thought I was gone for good, huh? So did I! But I've been thinking about it, and I really want to keep updating this blog. Life has been pretty crazy and I have lots of updates for y'all!! I just spent the past 45 min going over the last 5 months in pictures and have come up with our most favorite moments to blog about. I may not go into a lot of detail about some pictures, but each one was picked out to mark the special memory of Parker's first 6 months.

October highlights (2 months old Oct.25): Meeting Jamie, Great Grandmothers, and Kate.


At the beginning of October, Parker, Matt and I drove to my parents lake house to see my parents, my sister and her little ones (my niece and nephew). They all loved Parker to pieces and we all had a blast.


This is Parker meeting her Aunt Jamie and cousins H and E for the first time!! I can't believe Parker was that
little!!













At the end of October, Parker and I drove down for my nephew's baptism and for Parker to meet her Great Grandmother's and Miss Kate. Matt has a childhood friend, Jay, and he and his wife had a little girl 6 weeks before we had Parker. So that weekend we got to meet lots of family and had a great time.














This is Parker and Kate. I love these 2 pictures because it describes the weekend perfectly! Parker was pretty fussy and Kate had no idea who she was or why she kept making those noises! The one of them sleeping together is just a cute picture and they are such sweet little girls!! Oh, and Parker had a milestone while at Kate's! She slept through the night for the first time! Little did I know that it would be a loooooooong time before that happened again and stuck!



This is Parker with her Great Grandmothers! She is the 6th Great Grand baby!!












And so concludes the highlights for October! It was a busy month of traveling but we met lots of family and continued to learn what this whole parenting thing is about! More to come, don't worry!! I'll post November highlights later tonight:) Parker just woke up from her nap and needs some attention!

D-Daddy!!!

This past weekend my mom and dad came up to see Parker. All the grand babies call my dad D-daddy. He got to see Parker in the hospital, but had to leave and did not get to hold her. So this visit was very special to us! He talked and sang to her and she smiled so big, I tried getting pictures but I just managed to get the sweet little half smiles. She loves her D-Daddy.

smiling!

Parker has reached the wonderful milestone of smiling in reaction to people! She is 6 weeks old and started smiling at Matt and me about a week or so ago. It is so amazing to see this little baby smile so big. Her eyes just sparkle and she grins so, so, so, so big. It's such a heart melting feeling and makes me so happy. The other night she was getting fussy and Matt picked her up and she could not decide to smile or pout. It was so cute, she would stick that big ole lip out and look like she was about to cry out and then Matt would start talking to her and she would smile. Silly little baby!

One month check up

We went to the DR last Monday for Miss Parker's one month appointment. I had been having a lot of trouble with Parker spitting up a lot the prior week, so I was very anxious to get in and talk with the DR. The week before her appointment she started to spit up a lot. I know that babies spit up, but she was spitting up after every meal and it was between 4 and 5 tablespoons. It just seemed more than what I thought was normal for spit up. We had finally introduced bottles to Parker, so that daddy can feed her and I can go run errands. She took to it wonderfully and that definitely took a burden off when we would be out and about with her. (Still keeping in mind that it is flue season and she is still so small, our outings have been limited to uncrowded places.)Last Friday, I needed to run to wall mart and that is not a place we are taking her yet because it is always so crowded. Matt stayed home with Parker and fed her a bottle while I was out, she threw up the entire bottle instantly. So then my concerns got even greater. We went to lunch with friends the next day, and I had to give her a bottle at lunch... same thing, instantly the entire thing came right back up. I was in tears (again) and still had to wait the weekend to talk to the DR.
Finally, Monday morning comes and I tell him all about the spitting up and his main concerns when it comes to babies spitting up as much as she was are if they are gaining weight and if they are in pain. She weighed in at 9lb 6oz (up 2 lbs since birth!!) and she is not a fussy baby. So, he was not concerned at all. He suggested that I try and eliminate dairy from my diet for a few days and see if that makes a difference.
It has been a week with no dairy and sure enough, the spit up is much better. She still has her moments of spitting up 3 and 4 tablespoons at a time, but now it's not after every feeding and not 3 and 4 times in between them. So good news for her, bad news for me! He also noticed some eczema between her eyes and said that could be a pre-courser for allergies. Who didn't see that one coming?! Matt is the king of all allergies!! Her eczema is getting worse, so I called the DR and now she is getting a good dose of Cetaphil daily and he will check it at her 2 month check up.
The DR said that she is growing wonderfully and is very alert and right on target for her development. He said that we are doing the right things as far a scheduling and feeding and he easied some (not all) of my worries of parenting. He said I'll always be worried, that's part of parenting. haha We have been so blessed to have such a wonderful baby and we are still in awe of her. I love her so much and love every minute of our time together!