; World of Dennifer: 2010

Thursday, December 30, 2010

2010...a pictorial year in review!

Time certainly flies these days. I can hardly believe tomorrow is the final day of 2010! It was such an awesome & blessed year for the Dennifers...I can't believe it's almost over, but I'm ready for 2011. I loved doing this year in review last year, I think it's a great way to wrap things up. So without further adieu, here are my most favorite moments from 2010:


January:

Ringing in New Years 2010! This was our EIGHTH time ringing in the new year as a couple - looking forward to many many more!

Our fraternity brother & sorority sister's wedding!

And my BFF's baby shower. :)


 February:

Getting my BFP!!! Wooo :)

And the hubbs 29th birthday dinner at Medieval Times - it's also the same night I got my first BFP. :)

March:

Our first wedding anniversary & NY trip!
{cutting the top tier of our wedding cake, which btw was still YUMMY}

{in times square in NY}

April:

Announcing our big news to everyone!

May:


And finding out we were on team pink. :)

And my little {sorority} sister's college graduation party!

June:
 My baby sister's high school graduation!

And my good friend's wedding...

July:

My BFF's bridal shower

August:
My dad finally finishing up & getting his high school diploma - my parents were VERY young when they had my older sister & so neither of them actually finished high school on time. So proud of my dad!

And my BFF's wedding!!

September:

The VA Tech/Boise State Game!

Baby AJ's first baby shower!!

October:

Finishing one of my fave rooms in our house - the nursery!

My 2nd baby shower!!

My 3rd & final baby shower @ my office!!

And of course - *top moment of the year*...the day our little miracle was born!! :)

November:

My baby's first Thanksgiving. :)

December:

And her first Christmas!

Ahh 2010, great awesome year. Filled with lots of ups & downs, but mostly joy. I'm ready for a new year, with my family, friends & loved ones! The hubb's 30th birthday is this coming February & I am planning a BIG surprise shin-dig at a local piano bar. I hope I can pull it off - it's so difficult to surprise him. And of course, our 2nd anniversary - which I always look forward to! We are also planning a big home renovation project (more on that coming soon), our first family vacation & of course my little sweetie's 1st birthday! Thanks to all of you for reading & providing support over the year - I love my blog friends!! Here's wishing you & your families a very happy & safe new year! 'Till next time!

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

I have a 2 month old!

How was everyone's Christmas/Holiday?! Ours was awesome - the hubbs got me a Nikon D3100 Digital SLR camera {sqeeeee} & a Barnes & Noble Nook Color, woo! I LOVE both of them so much, but I am really excited to start figuring out how to take better photos with my new camera & posting my new & improved pics here! :) We have a tradition every year where we have my family (& his mom if she comes up) over for breakfast & exchange gifts among the family. After this year, the hubbs & I definitely decided that we need a new {read: bigger} house ASAP, so we are working on paying off our credit cards & a couple other loans so we will be at a better place to afford a nice size "forever home" in the next few years! I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday & that you got everything you wished for like an awesome electronic or even something for the house, like TV stands for flat screens!

Anywho...this post is really about my very quickly growing little one! Wow, I can't believe how fast time flies once you have a baby. It seems like only yesterday my water broke & I was delivering her. Now, our lives have completely been changed for the better, but it's definitely an adjustment.

Here's our little cutie at 2 months:


She's getting better at these monthly pics. :) Here are her previous pics for comparison's sake...


My little baby is getting so big, right?! She was 8 lbs. 2 oz. at her 2 month well baby appointment.

This month Baby AJ started sleeping less during the day - taking shorter naps. I dunno, it seems like she can't get comfortable or settle down. We tried out her crib for naps for a bit & it was working okay for a couple days & then she just started waking up every time we'd put her down. I have been reading my copy of Baby 411 & her sleeping issues may be related to her acid reflux. She is doing better at night {thank goodness :)}, not the greatest but better than during the day. Right now we are trying to set up a routine, but I think it's too early to really "sleep train" + I want to talk to her pediatrician about her reflux & how that may affect how we transition her to her crib. So, we normally start her routine around 7pm & it basically consists of a small bottle (depends on if she's acting hungry), bath {loves them}, lotion/massage, book & another small bottle or full one if she doesn't have one prior to the bath, then I rock her for a little bit. The rocking is sorta a default because she has to be elevated after eating for about 15-20 minutes due to her reflux. She'll normally be asleep between 7:45pm-8pm & then she'll sleep for 30-45 minutes, then wake up - we are trying to work on this wake up, not sure why she's doing this!! Then, she'll be up again until 10pm or 10:30pm & we try everything to get her to go back to sleep - changing, pacifier, white noise, rocking, etc. but she just won't fall back asleep until around that time unfortunately. Once she does go back to sleep though, shell normally sleep until between 3am-5am & then again until around 8am, which I think is pretty good! When I go back to work, we plan on switching back and forth on the night shift. I figure as long as I get at least 6 hours of sleep on work nights, then I'll be fine. The hubbs & I both telework twice a week, so on the nights prior to our telework days (which are opposite of each other), then the person who will be teleworking will take the middle of night feeding/changing/wake up. Hopefully soon she'll completely sleep through the night & we'll eliminate that middle of the night session.

Speaking of me going back to work - I go back full time on January 10th, which is a short week & a half from now! I cannot believe 12 weeks have already almost flown by. It was nice being home with my baby, but I'm semi-excited to get back to work so that I have some adult time during the day. I love {most of} my co-workers, so it'll be good to hang out with the girls again. I also like what I do for the most part. I am also looking forward to getting my promotion situation ironed out too because we definitely need the money - babies are expensive, lol. And also, it'll help us with saving, paying off the credit cards & possibly us going on vacation sometime next year. My older sister will be watching her until she turns 1 & then we will put her in center-based daycare so that she can be around more kids her age (my sister has a 2.5 year old). I have already started looking into daycare centers because a lot of them in our area fill up like a year in advance! We go to work so early though that I am having a tough time finding a center that will work with our schedules. We could change them, but we both have every other Friday off, which we'd like to keep because we can do some fun family stuff those days. But, we'll see how it goes.

Her gas issues have gotten much better on her new formula - Enfamil Nutramigen. It's expensive, but totally worth it if it helps her. She's able to [TMI alert] poop much easier - she still has blow outs for most diapers. We also give her Mylicon drops before each feeding to help alleviate some of the gas. And it seems to help somewhat. She still has times when she's doubled over pushing to try & poop or get gas out, but it is much less than before, which makes me SO happy. I hated seeing her uncomfortable & in pain.

Developmentally, I think she's on track - there are so many milestones to keep up with, lol...but based on what I read she's a pretty normal 2 {& a half} month old. She is pretty good with her head/neck control - no wobbling really & I don't really support her head when I hold her or when she's sitting on my lap anymore. She's been grabbing onto & holding stuff in her little hands & is following objects from side to side with her eyes. She loves toys that play music, make sounds & have lights - especially her Fisher Price Rainforest play mat/gym:
 

She'll sit under that thing for like 30-45 minutes at a time! She loves the lights most. She can't quite hit any of the hanging toys yet, so we hit them for her & she loves it & I'm sure she'll soon be hitting them too. Speaking of doing things with her hands - she loves those things - she's always moving them around (unfortunately when she's sleeping too) & sucking them. She also kicks her feet a lot, laughs & smiles all the time. She coos, grunts & yells at us sometimes too when we aren't doing something she wants or doing it quick enough! We have one impatient little baby - my hubby says she gets it from me, hahaha.

I think that's all I got on the little munchkin for this month. Babies are so much wonderful, hard work - I have developed a GREAT respect for single parents. I can't imagine not having my wonderful hubby to help me out with her... she is such a lucky little girl to have such a wonderful daddy! And I am so blessed to have them both in my life! 'Till next time!

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Merry Christmas



From the Dennifer family, we want to wish you a very Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays to all! Thanks so much for all your support this year, it has made blogging this year so much fun! Look out for posts on our exciting home projects for next year & my annual recap of this year's big moments!

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Holiday Gift Idea: chocolate covered strawberries tutorial



I made these for my baby shower hosts & they got rave reviews from my girls & I even snuck a couple - yum, yum! But I forgot to post the tutorial right after the shower & then Baby AJ arrived, so it kind of fell by the wayside, so now that it's gift giving time, I thought now might be a good time to post it! These would make an awesome gift for co-workers, friends or neighbors. And the best part is, they are fun & easy to make.

First, gather up your supplies:

  • strawberries
  • Hershey's Kisses
  • gift boxes/tins (got mine from a party supply store)
  • wax paper
  • a bowl (to warm the chocolate in)
  • a plastic spoon (to stir the melted chocolate)
  • a couple cookie sheets
Second - wash off & thoroughly dry the strawberries (I used paper towels to dry the strawberries).


Third, put several pieces of chocolate into your microwave safe bowl & pop it in the microwave for 45 seconds - 1 minute; stir chocolate (it should easily stir/blend). Be careful not to burn the chocolate..it'll ruin it & you will have to make a new batch!


Fourth, take a strawberry & swirl it in the chocolate until it is covered to your liking.


Fifth, place strawberry on wax lined pan or cookie sheet & put in the fridge to set - about 1 hour (I left mine in over night though).



Sixth, line your gift boxes with wax paper, then place your strawberries in the box.



Finally, wrap your gift boxes up with some pretty ribbon, personalize the box as you'd like & present them to your very thankful recipients!

{mine had Halloween colored ribbon since my shower was in October & I also included a Starbucks gift card}

{my friend Mildred enjoying her gift :)}

And that's it! So quick & easy & almost everyone loves chocolate covered strawberries...in fact, I don't think I've ever met anyone who didn't like them! I got so many compliments on these from my friends, so I bet you will too! You can even decorate these a little more using white chocolate swirls, coconut, mini chocolate chips, etc. Have fun & enjoy! 'Till next time.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Baby Amaya NB - 1 month

I am so horrible for just now getting around to posting about my little angel's first month or so. She's just a couple of days away from her two month birthday now, so I figured I better catch up ASAP! I am actually dreading her 2 month well baby appointment - she's gonna be getting like 3-4 shots. :o( It is SO sad when little babies get shots - they look so surprised by the needle going into their thigh & then they scream & scream. I just hope I can calm her down quickly & I am also praying that she doesn't feel all crappy afterward.

Now for the fun stuff that I never shared...her newborn & 1 month pics! We went to the Picture People to get her newborn photos done because we got a nice gift card from a friend as a baby gift. I ended up LOVING the pics & spending waaay more $$ on them than I went in there intending to, lol. Here are some of my favorite shots (she was 12 days old!):

{chewing on her finger}
 {yawning <3}

{kisses for our sweet baby girl}

{outfit change, lol..I heart her face in this pic}

I also decided to do monthly photos with her Picky Sticky onesie stickers showing her age. They are so cute & much cheaper than buying onesies for each month. here she is in her NB & 1 month pics:

{laying down - 0 months}

Then I tried to prop her up on her boppy to get a sitting up pic...yeah at first, that equaled major FAIL:


So we tried once more...

It was the best it was getting, so I decided to leave her alone, lol.

Now for the 1 month pics, which went way better:


Amaya's first couple of weeks were filled with lots of visitors, doctor's appointments, sleepless nights & trips to the hospital for blood draws (to keep an eye on her bilirubin/jaundice levels). She slept the large majority of the day, so we didn't get much awake time with her. Due to her jaundice, she actually slept A LOT & very soundly. She would have slept through the night if we let her, but her pediatrician advised that we feed her a minimum of every 2-3 hours because it helps with jaundice, so we did. And boy, was it difficult to get her to wake up! Now, of course, we have the opposite problem, lol.

Right around 3'ish weeks, she started having MAJOR gas issues. She also started spitting up more than what I consider normal, so we told her doctor, who said that she probably had mild acid reflux. We are still slowly, but surely trying to get her gas & acid reflux issues under control & working on establishing a bedtime routine. At birth, she was 4 lbs. 13 oz. & by her 1 month appointment, she was up to 6 lbs. 4.5 oz.! During the month, she started to smile & practiced strengthening her neck muscles during tummy time.

I'll be better about doing these updates once I get caught up & they'll eventually be more detailed & better outline her milestones, but for now I just want to get a quick update posted. And now I must run because it's almost bedtime for Baby AJ & mama still needs to shower! 'Till next time!