The hubbs BIG 3-0!

Well, it's all over...and I must say, the hubbs had an awesome last two birthday weekends! Yep, I said TWO. We celebrated both weekends with friends & family. Last weekend, I took him out for dinner & threw him the surprise party & this weekend, I threw something small for friends that couldn't make it last weekend & for family. It was so much fun. And he was actually surprised, woot!

So last weekend, we started our evening out at the Westin, which was sooo nice! I loved it & so did the hubbs! He was so surprised & excited when I told him that we were leaving the baby with my sister & checking into a hotel for the night.

@ the hotel

After we got settled in, we headed over to Rosa Mexicana & had some yummy Mexican & shared a whole pitcher of sangria - yum!

I gave him a $100 gift card for a deep tissue massage at dinner, which he loved. I'm actually kinda jealous even though I bought it for him, lol. I need a massage so bad. I kept saying that I get a pre-natal massage when I was pregnant, then the babe came, so yeah that never happened. I NEED one very soon though - I know my muscles are all tense! I digress. So anywho, after dinner, I told him that I wanted to take him to this bar I really liked, so we walked over - little did he know, a bunch of our friends (including his cousin/best man who came up from 3.5 hours away!) were waiting for us. We walked into the bar & the lady asked if we had reservations or if we were walk-ins. The hubbs started to say walk-in, but I quickly said reservation (I told him I made reservations b/c the bar gets packed). The hostess almost gave it away, but I settled my tab with them, then we walked in & most of our friends were there waiting!! It was awesome, he was sooo surprised. Too bad I didn't get a picture of his face when he walked in! Here are a couple from the bar though:

Confetti!

Since this was our first baby-free night since AJ was born the night was still young, we decided to head over to another bar/restaurant with some friends after several hours at bar #1. :) This bar had a mechanical bull & everything. After a few hours there though, I was exhausted. I'm talking 'bout to fall asleep in my food sleepy, so I said goodbye to everyone & D walked me back to our hotel room around 1am. I then passed out, but told him that he should go back out & hang out some more - so, they all went to yet another bar! I didn't even hear him come in, but he said he came in at like 3am or something like that! Then we slept in without waking up in the middle of the night. It was glorious, but I missed my baby badly by the time morning came around, so after we checked out, we made a quick pit stop for some hot Krispy Kreme Donuts.

::cue hallelujah music::

There's only one Krispy Kreme in the area & my sister lives by it, so we just had to stop. :) It was delish! Then we picked up my boo, who was sooo happy to see here mama & daddy. And I survived for a whole night without her. I missed her like crazy, but we enjoyed our night out together!

Then, just this afternoon, we had some friends & family over that couldn't make it out last weekend to round out the big 3-0 celebration!

Baskin Robbins ice cream cake = ahhh-mazing

My dad came to today's get together & brought AJ's high chair that we have been waiting on - I can't wait for the hubbs to out it together, although my munchkin isn't on solids yet. As soon as my dad came in, he said hi to everyone & made a beeline for "his baby". She loves how silly her grandpa is!

 

 

She's such a ham for the camera now, hahaha. Isn't she getting big!? And keeping her mama busy, which is my usual excuse for my lack of regular blogging, but I really am gonna get back on the wagon. And now that spring is in the air, I'll be doing more DIY projects, including a desk refinish/makeover, a spring/summer wreath (my DIY initial wreath from last year kinda fell apart because of last summer's heat wave) & a few small projects around the house. We also have a couple major projects that we plan to tackle - our goal is to get all of our projects in this house done ASAP so we can buy a bigger, "forever" home in the next few years. Our little family is quickly growing too big for our 2 bedroom townhouse. Oh & I have gotten started on my 12 weeks to better photography project, I just need to write up a post for the first lesson. And of course, I'll continue to update on all things little munchkin' - I love that baby sooooo much, she's our whole world. :) PS - my baby buying obsession has NOT ended, I think I'm going to start weekly or monthly what I'd like to buy for my AJ this week/month series. Anyways, stay tuned & thanks for sticking around thru my blog slacking period. 'Till next time!

Checking in...

Sorry guys! I have clearly been slacking on my 12 weeks to better photography project, but I am promising myself to start it this week & take some pics to prove what I learned! It's just life is sooo hectic with the little one. I barely get a moment to myself at home because she doesn't take very long naps & by the time she goes down at night, I am utterly EXHAUSTED! And work has also been crazy - ever since getting my promotion, I have taken on a lot more contracts to administer and award. But, I think things at work are going to finally start slowing down - I got a bunch of stuff done at work that I needed to finish up over the last week or so.

The hubbs & I discussed our plans for the house this year & I think the two major things we are going to focus on this year are: 1) getting the interior {re}painted & 2) getting new {energy efficient} windows installed for the whole house. We are not sure how much #2 will cost us, so we'll see about that, but those are the 2 major things. We also planned to re-do our kitchen {get granite, change light fixtures, get new drapes, paint cabinets), but with the baby here, I'm not sure we'll have time to do that this year. Maybe we'll do it in small steps, but not all at once like we had originally planned. I also want to get new furniture for the living room, but I think that'll probably have to wait too. I love modern decor, so I'm always looking through design magazines & websites for inspiration. I'd love to re-furnish my entire house, but I don't think the hubbs is gonna go for that this year, lol.

Anywho, I just wanted to check in with you guys & let y'all know that I'm still alive, lol. I promise that once the spring is here, I'll be doing more projects, which means I'll be updating {with non-baby stuff} more often. 'Till next time!

Our baby girl is 3 months old!!

She's actually 3 & a half months, 4 months on the 14th of this month, but you know - I'm late as usual. I never knew how much having a child could cause you to be late with literally E-V-E-R-Y-THING! Who knew such a teeny human being would consume so much of my & the hubbs' time?! Now that I'm back at work & not around her all the time, it makes me want to spend all my extra time with my boo. :) I love that baby! I'm sitting here blogging, watching the Superbowl, getting our 2010 tax docs together & watching her sleep on the monitor - ps: I lurve our video monitor...well well weeeeeeeeeell worth the money. Speaking of the Super Bowl...as evidence of how much our lives have changed, normally I'd be at a SB party at a friend's house {or throwing one myself}, but this year I'm hanging out in my PJ's & watching on my couch alone. I let the hubbs out tonight to go watch the game - it's more important to him than to me, so I said I'd stay home. And I'm going to HH with co-workers after work on Thursday anyways, woo.

Anywho, my baby is growing right up. :( I can't believe how much she's changed over the last month & a half. Here's my little lady @ 3 months - WARNING: lots 'o pics (she was just hamming it up for the camera, so her mama kept snapping):

Here are 0-2 months for comparison:

{3 month outtakes :o)}

{end cuteness overload, lol}

Agggh, isn't she getting SO big?! OMG, looking at the earlier pics makes me a little sad - she cannot be growing up this fast! And 4 months is right around the corner. At her 2 month well baby appointment, she was 8 lbs. 2 oz. & this month, I stepped on the scale with her & she was right around 10 lbs. (at a little past 3 months). She's drinking about 4 oz. of formula at each feeding, which is normally every 3 hours or so, sometimes longer. I guess milk does do a body good, huh?! Hahaha, okay -enough corny jokes, now on to my updates.

In the early part of Amaya's 3rd month, I think I finally accepted the fact that she had colic. She would cry & cry & cryyyyyyyyyyy for 2-3 hours (on & off) starting between 4:30pm - 5:30pm & she wouldn't calm down for almost anything. I was close to a breaking point. I didn't know what to do - there's not much you can do, but I read up about it & tried basically anything I could do. The thing is with colic - you really just kinda have to let it run it's course. I kept reading that around 3 or 4 months it just subsides & goes away completely eventually. I was desperate though, especially having to go back to work - I had NO clue how I would survive the 2+ hours of crying & waking up at 5am on the days I go into the office. Then, when I tell you something miraculous happened right around 3 months exactly - I am not lying! She still cried around bedtime, but it quickly got to shorter intervals & now there's normally never any crying unless she's just overtired & cranky. This month I read Tracy Hogg's Secret's of the Baby Whisperer & tried implementing EASY {Eat, Activity, Sleep, You Time}, which I also think helped with her late afternoon./early evening crying episodes. Also, the whole waking up 30 minutes after falling asleep thing has pretty much gotten better, sometimes she'll start stirring & we just go in, pat her & give her her paci & she falls back asleep. I try to put her to sleep without her paci, but sometimes she just wants to suck! I figure I'll try weaning her off of it later, but for now it calms her down, so it's staying put, lol. So now she generally goes down between 6:30pm - 7:30pm, wakes up anywhere between 1am - 3am for a bottle/diaper change {& sometimes a poop, lol}, then goes back down until between 7am - 8am. We are pretty used to it & love the long stretch right up front. Of course, I can't wait till she consistently sleeps through the night (she's actually done it TWICE so far), but for now, I am happy with her progress & I actually kinda enjoy our middle of night snuggles. And, in the biggest sleep news, she's fully been moved to her crib!!!! Squeeeeeee. No more Rock & Play in our room, woot! She sleeps in her crib now for all naps (unless she's out while napping) & for bedtime. I'm so proud of my little girl! :)

She actually got her first cold this past month, which was so sad & pitiful, but she was sleeping sooo much & I took that opportunity to move her to her crib because she wanted to sleep so much & didn't really care where she slept. The first 2 nights, I slept on the floor in her room right next to her, but I got uncomfortable & moved to my bed on night 3. Our video monitor is always on though & plugged up to the charger at night right on my bedside table . I turn up the volume pretty high so I can hear everything & it's worked out pretty well. The sad thing about babies with colds - you can't really do anything for them except do the snot sucker thingy & give them saline drops. Poor thing was so congested & miserable, but it passed completely after about a week. Luckily, she got her first cold the week before I went back to work, so she was pretty much over it by the Monday when I went back.

Being a working mama has been good for me, I like getting my adult time in the office & enjoy what I do for the most part. I also have a great schedule that allows me to see her more than I would if I worked a traditional 5-day work week. I telework 2 times a week & have a regular day off every other Friday, so my schedule allows me to spend more time with her on those days. And I cherish my evening/weekend/holiday time soo much more now. She loves being out & about, so I try to take her somewhere - even if it's just to run errands - every day on the weekends. I think she likes the change of scenery. This past weekend we went to the mall by ourselves & she did so good hanging out with her mama. We went to Express because I had a gift card to spend & she came in the dressing room with me while I tried on clothes (she loved looking in the mirror), then we had some QT in the sitting area where she had a bottle, then we were back on our way - stopping by different stores. We picked up a little gift & Valentines cards for daddy at Hallmark, then I grabbed a smoothie & by then, she was passed out! And speaking of V-Day, one of my good friends/co-worker has agreed to come by & watch the babe while the hubbs & I go out to dinner {& possibly a movie, but probably not}. I plan to have the baby asleep before I leave & hopefully she'll stay that way until we get back home. :)

Developmentally, she's made lots of strides this month. She talks to us & coos & giggles ALL the time & has pretty much mastered her head control. She even rolled over from tummy to back for the first time about 2 weeks ago during tummy time!! She still doesn't do it every time she does tummy time, but she has done it several times now.  She also recognizes people she sees a lot & our voices. Like every time I talk if someone has her, she'll turn her had toward her mama. :) She loves to grab & put toys to her mouth now too. It's so fun seeing her explore with her hands & mouth. Speaking of her hands - she loves to suck those things - all the time! So, at most times, her little fists are slobbery & I have to wipe them hundreds of times throughout the day. Slobber - ah slobber, she does it a lot - loves to blow bubbles & let it drip down to her bib, which she always has on nowadays, lol. She also loves kicking her feet, especially during bath time, so she can splash her mama & daddy! Favorite toy is still her play may, but this little lion chew/crinkle/rattle toy is quickly coming in at second. She loves crinkling his tummy & making the noise. I think we are going to take out her Exersaucer Santa brought her at some point soon.

She's still in 0-3 months clothing & some of it is even still a bit big on her, so I'm thinking she has a good 'nother month in them, which is fine by me since I don't really want to buy anymore winter clothes & she has plenty in 0-3 sizes. Oh & speaking of clothes, I need to do a whole seperate post on all the cute spring stuff I bought for my little lady...LOVE baby clothes!

And last, but not least, we got her ears pierced this past month. She screamed for about 30 seconds, but quickly got over it & they don't seem to bother her one bit. We have 3 more weeks of cleaning them 2-3x a day & then we can change 'em out.

With that, I think that's it for this month, I hope I didn't miss anything! I need to make her 4 month well baby appointment for a few weeks from now. I can't believe how quickly time is flying, but I'm looking forward to the spring/summer so we can get outdoors more. 'Till next time!