Week in Review

Since Jake loves superheros so much, a friend of ours gave Hollon a girl superman onesie. Jake picked it out for her to wear one day and wanted me to take their picture when he put on his superman pajamas. First Hollon was asleep and then Jake went to bed before Hollon got up from her nap. So when she woke up, I put her in his bed to take their picture. She thought it was lots of fun to take pictures while brother was sleeping.

On Tuesday, she turned 6 weeks old

Sweet little smile. 

 It only took 1500 takes to get 1 decent picture. Evidence below.

Starting to smile, but eyes closed

Wasn't quite ready

This is not going well

Just getting worse

Photo shoot done

 She was dressed in her winter clothes because brother had a football game that night. I hate this crazy weather that is hot when hour & then freezing the next. So I had 4 different outfits for her for the game & she ended up wearing 2 of them. She was wearing a summer outfit to start with, because she was in the moby wrap & she gets so hot in it. But she started crying halfway through the game so I had to take her out and walk around and hold her. So she had wardrobe change #2 into warmer clothes.

Speaking of the game, the team won their 2nd game! We are now 2-2. We have 3 games left & need to win 2 of them to make it to the playoffs. Rob & I both agree we think it would be neat to make it to the playoffs, but we want to loose in the first round. Football has been fun, but we are about ready to call it a season. 

I snapped this picture because it is one of my favorite poses she does. As soon as she gets her arm out of the swaddle, she stretches her neck back and puts her arm under her chin. And she makes her stretching noise while doing it.

On Thursday, Jake's class had their first Kindergarten field trip. They went to Baker's Farm and I volunteered to be a chaperon.  

Jake in front of the cotton field

Listening to the farmer tell them about picking cotton

Petting the animals

Mrs. Rmeily's Kindergarten Class

Jake & me on the hayride

Jake finding the perfect pumpkin to pick

Found it!

 A big thank you to Chuck (my father-in-law) for coming back from Chattanooga early to keep Hollon so I could go on the field trip with Jake.

You can't really see it in this photo, but Hollon as taking a little catnap in the pack-n-play and she was giggling in her sleep.

I had some friends that were going to be in Birmingham on Saturday, so my best friend Stephanie came up a day early and spent Friday night with me so she could meet Hollon. She was worried that it would be too burdensome her spending the night since we have a newborn. I almost started crying when she tried to back out. I promised her that her company was needed. I've missed having a girlfriend to just hang out with and talk to in person. Sometimes it is hard being a stay at home mom & a work from home mom. You get the advantages of both, like I get to spend all day with my child and bring home a paycheck. But you also get the cons of both. I'm at home all day with an infant, and any spare second I have has to be spent on work. So I don't have time to do play dates or fun activities with friends. Jake's football schedule keeps him & Robbie gone 3 nights during the week, so it has just been a little lonely. So I've been very excited about her visit and refused to let her back out.    

Stephanie meeting Hollon

 Saturday morning, our friend Hayley stopped by to meet Hollon as well. 

 I went shopping with them Saturday morning and had lunch with them before heading back home. It was so so so so nice to just get out of the house for a little while and hang out with friends. 

I had to get back home Saturday to not only feed Hollon, but we were having some of the families that coach/play football with Rob & Jake over to the house. By the end of the evening, there were 11 kids (10 of them boys) running around playing. It was a madhouse. A very loud madhouse. Jake was in heaven. Poor Hollon wasn't. I give her credit, she did better than I thought she would. She is sensitive to loud noises and doesn't like a lot of commotion. Our house was full of both for several hours. She didn't cry too much, but her body was tense all evening. And for that fact, mine was too. Having 10 rambunctious boys running around our house dragging out things made my OCD heart skip several beats throughout the evening. But Hollon & I both survived and everyone seemed to have a great time.

Saturday night, it looked like a tornado had hit Jake's room, the bonus room, the kitchen & our floors. I snapped a picture of Jake's room Sunday. This is what his room looked like, and he had already picked up half of it. So imagine twice the amount of toys on the floor.

Sunday afternoon, my friend Julie stopped by to bring us dinner and meet Hollon. Hollon was so good for most of Julie's visit. Julie & I were so busy talking, I didn't even think to snap a picture. At the end of the visit, Hollon was getting fussy, so of course that is when I remembered. I felt bad getting a picture of Julie walking out the door holding my crying baby. So as my niece says, I'll just have to remember it in my heart.

It was such a good weekend filled with great times with great friends.

Hollon Elizabeth - 6 Weeks

Highlights: That precious smile! You will see about 1,000 awkward pictures posted on this blog of me trying to take the picture quick enough to get that cute little smile. I feel like she kind of knows who Rob, Jake & I are and we can usually get a little smile from her. Unless of course she is in a bad mood, and then nobody is getting a smile. Another highlight - those chubby cheeks! She is also starting to grab things.

Low Points: Those fingernails. Man they grow fast and are so hard to cut. Also, it is great that she is starting the grab things & use her hands. But usually it is to either pull my hair or grab her pacifier out of her mouth (and she can't figure out how to put it back in, so it just upsets her).

Sleep: Still not on any kind of sleep schedule during the day. Still getting up once a night to eat. I can't complain about her sleep. I've been pleased so far. She has to be swaddled to get a good long nap. So far, she is not sleeping with a sound machine or anything. We do keep the fan running in her room, so there is that noise, but that is about it. Sometimes I'll play a lullaby CD (yes, I'm from 1999 and still play CDs). 

Eat: Almost always goes 3 hours between feedings during the day. Sometimes only lasts 2.5 hours, sometimes stretches it out to 4 hours. She is still spitting up some, but it seems to be a little better. Some days are better than others. At night she is going about 4-5 hours between feedings.

My friend Stephanie reminded me of this nursery rhyme that she said applied to her little girl. It fits Hollon perfectly too! There was a little girl, and she had a little curl. Right in the middle of her forehead. When she was good, she was very, very good, but when she was bad, she was horrid. Not so much the curl in the middle of the forehead part, but the part about when she was good she was very good. When Hollon is in a good mood, she is so good. She is laid back, she is cuddly, she smiles, she sleeps. Things are wonderful. But when she is in a bad mood, it is pretty horrid. She screams, she is inconsolable. Thankfully the good moods outweigh the bad moods. 

Week in Review

Recap of last week, when this week is almost over.

Sunday night (9/28), Hollon slept in her bed at night for the first time. She has slept in it for naps, but never at night. I fed her around 11:00, swaddled her and put her down. She did great. She got up for her middle of the night feeding, and then went back to sleep. She has slept in it every night since and done great. And I've managed to go in there to check on her only 10 times a night. 

Sweet girl sleeping while mom works

 Trying to take a good picture of her smiling is like trying to find a unicorn.

Sorry for the poor quality, I'm horrible at taking pictures with my iPhone

 On Tuesday night, we had a great & tragic moment.

The great moment was she infant giggled. (I don't know if it is a real giggle or some infant reflex, but I love it.) It was during her middle of the night feeding. I had fed her, changed her diaper and re-swaddled her. I was rocking her a few minutes before putting her back down in her crib. She was looking up at me, dozing in & out of sleep when she smiled & let out the sweetest softest little giggle. It was so pure & innocent. I remember when Jake would do it as a baby, and it was one of my very favorite things. It is the sweetest sound and melts my heart every time.

And the moment was ruin by something tragic. I stepped on & was stung by a scorpion.

While I was walking from our room to Hollon's room for that middle of the night feeding, in our foyer, I stepped on something that stuck in my foot. I knew it wasn't big enough to be a toy Jake left on the floor, so I figured it was a tac or needle. I brushed off the bottom of my foot & kept walking to Hollon's room. I have my sweet giggle moment, and then as I was walking back to my room, I turn on the foyer light to see what I stepped on. I figured it was a tac or something and I wanted to get it up before someone else stepped on it. I keep looking for something shinny on the floor & don't see anything. And then I see it. I flat scorpion lying on our floor. WHAT THE WHAT?!?! I nudge it with a piece of paper to see if it is still alive. It doesn't move, so I figure it is dead. I didn't want to throw it away because I wanted Robbie to see it in the morning. So I put a paper plate over it. I figured that way if I died, hopefully he would put 2 & 2 together.
Dead wife + paper plate over dead scorpion = cause of wife's death.
Of course the next morning, when I get up, Rob has already thrown away the plate & scorpion. He acts like it is no big deal & asked me why I didn't just throw it away last night? Um, because I stepped on a scorpion and it stung me. And I wanted him to see it and be as disgusted as I was. (He wasn't.) I questioned him at length on why was there a scorpion in our house. I've contemplated selling the house or having it fumigated. (He turned down both.) The horrible thing is the scorpion was the same color as our hardwoods. It blended in perfectly. (I know because I examined it at length that night contemplating if I would die from its sting.) So I now refuse to walk around barefoot in our house. Ugh.

On Wednesday, Hollon had her 1 month checkup at the doctor. (Post & same pictures below)

Thursday, Jake had a football game, and they won their first game! YEA! Way to go Pelham Panthers! 

I completely stole this off another mom's facebook page.
I'm not sure why they are holding up #2??

On Friday, Rob rode down to Auburn with his parents while I went to Prattville to my parents. I was giong over to the Auburn game on Saturday, but wasn't ready to leave Hollon for 2 nights. (I really wasn't ready to leave her for 1 night, but if I took her to Auburn, we'd have to waste a ticket on getting her into the game. Which is ridiculous a 5 week old has to have a ticket to get in to a football game!) LSU is the only big game I'm going in for all year, so my options were limited. Thankfully I knew we were leaving H in great hands.

So Saturday night (10/5) at 5.5 weeks, was Hollon's first night away from me. 

Friday night, we took Hollon to the nursing home my grandmother's in, so she could meet Hollon.

Hollon meeting Maw-Maw

She even dozed off to sleep for a few minutes

Me, Hollon, Maw-Maw (my dad's mom), Jake & Gran (my dad)
Please excuse my horrid look. I didn't realize we were going anywhere Friday night.

In typical Hollon fashion, she was a doll the first 10 minutes. And then she started screaming, so we quickly made our exit. She screamed until we were halfway home.

Saturday, I said good-bye to the kids & headed over to Auburn. I can't believe I didn't take one single picture of Robbie & I. (Go figure, I take the picture above with unwashed hair & hardly any make up on, but don't take a picture looking like a normal human being.)

I did take a picture of the grill the guys used to cook the food though!

Hollon's 1 Month Checkup

Last week, Hollon had her 1 month check up.

Weight: 10 lbs 10 ounces

Height: 21 inches

She is a healthy growing girl. I made sure to time her feedings, so she ate right before the appointment. She was fine during the first half, but after the nurse left, H decided that she didn't like being naked (even though she was wrapped in a blanket) and she was hungry (even though she had just ate 30 minutes prior). These 2 things combined = 1 very mad little girl. Which started her scream cry which takes forever to calm her down from. When her pediatrician came in to do her part of the appointment, she had to do it all with H screaming in her ear. And I had to ask all my questions with her screaming. It makes it really hard to hear the answers when someone is screaming in your ear. Then came the shots. With that coming, I knew there was no point in trying to calm Hollon down. I just held her & continued to talk to her. First, they pricked her heel so they could take some blood. The nurse was trying to get a drop of blood in each of the 5 circles on a piece of paper. Hollon was so mad, she was kicking her legs. There was blood all over the sheet of paper, and none in the little circles. So they had to keep trying, which just made her madder. Then they had to give her a shot in her leg. Funny thing is, after they gave her the shot, Hollon stopped crying. She just looked at me like "what was that?". And then she started screaming some more. Once it was all over, I went ahead & fed Hollon to comfort her. She calmed down pretty quickly after that.When we left, she was a happy smiling baby. I felt like as we were leaving, everyone was watching us, knowing we were the people in the room with the baby that screamed for 30 minutes solid.

I was looking back over Jake's doctor's appointments, trying to remember the questions I asked his pediatrician. I didn't write them in the blog, so I don't remember them, so I figured I'd write Hollon's down for my memory's sake. 

My Question: In the 1 month infant's guide, it states they should be drinking 2-3 ounces of milk per feeding. I know Hollon is getting way more than that from me. What should I do?

Pediatrician's Answer: 2-3 ounces is the minimum, 4-5 ounces is really the average. 7-8 ounces would be too much. Hollon is probably getting 4-5 ounces, which is perfectly fine.

My Question: Jake was a chunky monkey baby for his first 2 years. His pediatrician assured me he was healthy and it was not a concern. I fear that Hollon will be the same. Is there anything I should be worried about or cautious of? 

[Note: My worries about Jake's weight came certain comments people would make. I had no problem with people telling me they loved his rolls or how cute his chunky little legs were. But it was the people (usually strangers) that would make comments like "Oh my God, he is HUGE!" or "What in the world are you feeding that baby?". I took it personal and it made me paranoid about his weight. Like I was doing something wrong. How would you like it if someone told you "Oh my God, you are huge!" or "What in the world did you eat today?"? You probably wouldn't like it, so don't say it about my kid. I'm trying to prepare myself for those same type of strangers to make those same type of comments about Hollon.]

Pediatrician's Answer: She is not overly concerned about a breastfed baby's weight the first year. She said large breastfed babies tend to even out their weight after a year old. [Note: with Jake, it was more like after 2 years old. But he did loose that baby fat and now is completely average size.] Hollon's weight is just fine.

My Question: Hollon is still spitting up some after feedings. Should I worry?

Pediatrician's Answer: Considering her weight, no. She is obviously getting the food she needs to grow & be healthy. Her spitting up could be because she is taking on too much food, and that is her way to get rid of some of it. We shouldn't worry unless she is spitting up a cup after 3 or more feedings a day. As long as it is just a tablespoon amount here & there and it is not upsetting Hollon, we are fine. 

My Question: Any suggestions on what to do with baby girl's dandruff?

Pediatrician's Answer: Before bed, rub some olive oil on the top of the scalp. In the morning wash it off and wash her hair with dandruff shampoo. Do this 2-3 times a week.

[Note: I feel funny leaving olive oil on my child's head overnight. My BF Stephanie gave me the suggestion to try putting warm olive oil on her head and then washing it off. So I think I'll try that first.] 

Before our doctor's appointment:

I try so hard to catch her smile, but just catch this odd look

2014 Football Season - Week 4

Due to some last minute change of plans, we decided to go to Auburn for the weekend. It was homecoming, so we knew it would be a smaller tailgate and an easier one to take the kids to. We headed down to Auburn Friday after work.

Mimi holding Hollon

In her Auburn outfit Mimi & Granddad bought her

Game Day! Hollon did well sleeping in the RV. Jake was super excited to show her everything about the RV & tailgate.

Hollon, Granddad & Jake

Jake and Daddy played some football

Granddad & Jake went for a walk early Saturday morning. They stopped by the bookstore and Jake found a stuffed Aubie that he really wanted to buy for Hollon.

Hollon & her new toy

Game day outfit

Excuse the bad complexion and double chin, but look at that precious smile!

Brother & Sister first tailgate together

Hollon & Daddy

Our family

Me, Rob, Hollon, Jake, Mimi & Granddad

Mimi & Hollon

3rd generation tailgaters
Owen, Jake & Henry

Jake got a super fun surprise right before the game. 3 members of his football team & 2 of the dads who are coaches with Rob came to the tailgate & game.

Cade, Joseph, Jake, Joshua & Jonathan

Pelham Panthers at the Auburn game

Jake got to sit with his friends during the game

While brother was sitting with his friends, sister sat with mom & dad

Hollon's first Auburn football game - 1 month old
She slept throughout the entire game

The boys were leaving at halftime, so even though Hollon was still asleep and could have made it through more of the game, we met up with all of them outside the stadium. We all hung out and finished watching the game at the RV.

That night we headed back to Birmingham

2 very tired kiddos

It was a successful 1st trip to Auburn with the 2 kids!

A look back through the last 6 years of our Auburn pictures:

The Bush's (Mimi & Granddad)

Our family

The Vaughan & Bush Kids