Blueberry Girl

No, I'm not talking about Violet from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. 

I'm talking about my sweet baby.  Yesterday afternoon I made a new blend of baby food with mangos (she loves them) and blueberries (a new food). I was pouring it into freezer containers while she was eating lunch (my mom was feeding her), so I thought that maybe she would like a few bites of fruit with her lunchtime veggie. So I spooned just a tiny bit into a bowl for her to try.  She LOVED it! YUM.

After eating, my mom got her out of her high chair and gave her to me so I could feed her a bottle.  In that short amount of time I looked at her and her face and neck were covered in red splotchy welts.  Then it started in on her chest and arms.  It freaked me out but I knew it had to be a reaction to the blueberries because I've heard that even though it is recommended to give a food 3 days for a reaction before starting a new food, that food reactions are usually immediate. I was on the phone with the doctor's office as soon as I could retrieve the number from my phone and they wanted to see her.  Thankfully she didn't have any problems breathing, so the doctor said that is the "good" reaction to have.  Needless to say, she will not be trying any sort of berries for a while.  The doctor said I could try a little amount after 12 months but I'm not sure I want to try that soon.  Thankfully most kids grow out of berry allergies, but I'll tell you that it was a bit of a scary situation.  It's not something that you ever fathom seeing on your child!  This is one of the main reasons that I am always present when we try a new food and I never send an untried food to the sitter.  You just never know. We don't have food allergies in our family and I would have never guessed that she would have a reaction to a blueberry.  I am so thankful that it was only a couple bites and not a full portion and that it was homemade so that I know it wasn't a reaction to the additives or preservatives in jarred stuff!  I'm also thankful that the splotches went away quickly and she was back to her normal self while we were in the doctor's office.

Kids...you never know when your afternoon trips to Panera, Hobby Lobby and Kroger are going to be nixed and you'll just end up at the doctor's office!

Free 5K

Saturday I did something crazy! I ran my first 5K post pardum without having trained for it, in 100+ heat index. Some might call it dumb. But whatever.  I needed something to jump start my fitness level and I'm competitive and love races, so why not. (At least I used to love races back when I never batted an eye at a lousy 3 miles.) Folks, between the extra 30 lbs, the heat, and the "I haven't gone running for a couple months" it was a pretty hard race!  I didn't want to sign up in the first place, but we got a flyer at work for a FREE 5K and I sent it on to my girlfriends which then made me be accountable.  Billie, more than half way through her pregnancy, was more than willing to run it so what excuse did I have?? So, two days before the race I signed up. 

I've never run in a race that wasn't some sort of charity fundraiser so I didn't know what to expect.  It was being hosted by 3 men, and the race was actually on one of their properties.  We pulled up and there were a ton of people. (It hadn't been advertised on the running website so we didn't know how much it would spread through word of mouth. But Hello, FREE spread.) There were local police directing the parking lots. The individual who owns this land, seems to own about half of this town (kinda a joke but maybe not? His name is everywhere) but I'd never been to his property. Um, it was beautiful.  It looked like a park and was pristine. (Even during the race there were people cleaning up the used water cups so everything stayed looking nice.)   He has a whole paved running path around his property (think acres and acres of horse farms - except no horses because he's in the railroad industry).  We picked up our numbers and saw that it was chipped timing! Really? Chipped timing for a free race? Half of the charity races we pay for in town don't have chips! We went to line up to race and the horn was a train horn. So cute but it scared me half to death. 

Me (& my not cute bump), Billie (& her cute little bump) and Courtney

(I just noticed the guy in the background with his shirt off. Does he really have a tramp stamp on his back?)

Courtney stayed with us for about the first mile.  After that I needed a walk so she ran ahead and Billie stayed back with me. I'm pretty sure I've only ever walked once while in an actual race and that was during my first 10K a couple years ago.  I just do not allow myself to walk, but I couldn't help it on Saturday.  The race had two water stations and even a port-a-potty (with RJ's logo on it- of course). We joked that everything on his property had his business logo on it. And at the drink table when we picked up our cold bottled water during the race? Yep. RJ's logo on the water! So funny. Anyway, the heat and humidity and lack of training really caught up to me and instead of pushing I took walking breaks.  Thankfully Billie was ok with that. It ended up that they had one ambulance on site for emergencies and had to call in 3 others. I've never seen that before...but then I've never raced in these conditions. It kind of jolted me when I saw an athletic guy on the side of the trail being helped by the EMTs with an oxygen mask on. Scary.  I think everyone was ok after the race though.

We got to the end of the race and crossed the finish line running! Yay us! There were buckets of gatorade and water waiting and they had enticed us before the race with iced towels but by the time we finished they were out of towels. Bummer. I guess that's what happens when you have a free race. How do you gauge how many will show up?  Oh and I guess that's also what you get for being slow. We looked at the race clock at mile 2 and made a joke that two years ago we had finished a 5K in less time than it took us to get to mile 2.  

RJ had a catering company grilling up lunch for people and also My Old Kentucky Home was there making homemade ice cream. The ice cream HIT the spot after being so overheated. Oh my. I think that was the best vanilla ice cream I've ever had! All of it was, get this, FREE!

Oh, and for the winners of each age category they gave away free running shoes and everyone with a bib number on got 50% off running shoes and there was an actual company set up selling running gear! I didn't buy any but wow. That's pretty good.

I got a serious blister on the back of my ankle because my shoes are still new-ish since I bought them post Adalyn and have only run a total of 5 times post Adalyn. My shoe got bloody which means that I'm hard core right? No pain no gain and all of that stuff?  Thankfully I wear flip flops to work because I'm still rocking the blister, although now that I ran Saturday I don't want to wait too long to go running again.  Gotta keep the momentum up! I know from the past that each run gets easier and easier. Now it's just on my shoulders to make the time to get those runs in!

Reunited and It Feels So Good...

Adalyn got a Sophie the Giraffe for Christmas.  In the beginning she just sucked and nursed on Sophie and then later it became her favorite chew toy (other than her fingers). She wouldn't even play with other teething toys, let alone chew on them. She loved Sophie.  The problem? Dakota loved Sophie too.  I can't blame him. Sophie looks, smells and sounds like a dog toy. How's he supposed to know the difference, other than us yelling at him any time he would come close to the most expensive chew toy ever!!

For anyone not familiar with Sophie, she's a teether that is soft rubber and squeaks. She was originally made in 1961 in Paris and is still made the same way as she was back then. Every single baby that I know has a Sophie and every single mother swears by it.

On very rare occasions that Dakota acquired Sophie he would play with her and bury her in his blanket and just lay his head on her until I could somehow manage to get her back.  There would never be teeth marks and he just loved on Sophie. Then I'd have to scold Coda, disinfect Sophie and then we would agree to guard Sophie better.

Well two weeks ago Dakota went missing and after Jonathan went looking for him he was flaming mad and had a disfigured Sophie in his hand. Sophie was missing both ears and also her little horns (are those things horns?).  Poor Sophie. Well, we finally got around to buying a new Sophie this weekend. Oh.My.Goodness. When we got to the display in the store, Adalyn lunged right for the box with Sophie in it. As Jonathan was carrying the box to the register she wanted it oh so bad. It was precious.  Just like a long lost friend.

When we got home, she was so excited to play with Sophie so I grabbed a few pictures.

Yes, the money spent on this toy was worth it by the look of that smile!

 Dakota wanted the new Sophie so so bad and Adalyn knew it and kept waiving it and throwing it at him. It was quite funny. But Jonathan has vowed that if Dakota chews another Sophie that he's going to go away for good. (I don't believe him though.) Look at poor Coda...

 Happy girl talking to her new Sophie!

Reunited and it feels so good! Poor thing has 4 upper teeth coming in at the same time! Two are cut and two are still in the process, so hopefully having Sophie will help soothe those gums!
(Yes, I really just wrote an entire post on a teething toy...I am quite aware. My how priorities change...)

Swim Lessons with Daddy

Tuesday night I had an evening meeting for work so Jonathan got to be the parent in "parent and me swim class" and I got to be the parent in the bleachers taking stealth pictures with my phone.  Jonathan was so brave! I was nervous that he wouldn't want to do it since all of the other parents in the class are women. But for his little girl he'll brave being the only daddy in the water! Here are some really blurry pictures from her swim class.

 In this part of the class, the instructor gives each child a rubber ducky and the parent throws it out ahead in the water and the baby has to swim for it. She loves this part of the class and it's so cute to see how determined she is on swimming to that ducky.

 Look at that good form! Adalyn too! :)

I think Jonathan started a new trend. At our class on Thursday two of the normal daddies that sit on the bleachers were in the pool with their babies.  We only have two more swim classes! I can't believe this month has flown by so quickly!!

In other news, my child is using a sippy cup! She's finally figured it out. She would prefer for us to hold it but if we give her the cup and step away she can drink out of it herself! Never mind that half the time after a few drinks she decides that it's a great teething toy!

We've got two more teeth in and two more that are so close to coming through.

First Sleep Over

This past weekend we took a day off work to spend a long weekend with my parents.  Jonathan golf's with my dad in a golf scramble each summer and it happened to fall on the same weekend as our anniversary. (I was not aware of this when he paid, although I wouldn't have wanted him to miss it.) After our trip to the Zoo on Friday, my mom and I decided to take Adalyn to my aunt's pool on Saturday while the guys golfed the day away. Adalyn loved the pool and her cousins played so nicely with her. It was sweet.

 I think the swimming lessons have had a great impact. She just kept kicking her little legs and was so happy to splash the day away! I finally had to call naptime because I'm pretty sure she would have just fallen asleep in her float if I would have let her! She's going to be a little fish!!

 Having fun with Grandma Nan!

 Saturday night Jonathan planned an overnight anniversary date, so Adalyn spent her first night away from both of us. (I was gone overnight at my work retreat a couple months ago, but this was a first for both of us to be gone.) Papa and Grandma did great and said that Adalyn was of course perfect. They took her to church with them Sunday morning so I'm sure my mom showed her off to all her friends!  Jonathan and I did not take one picture of us on our date! My, how priorities change... 

It was our 5th anniversary so we both tried to do a spin on the traditional 5th anniversary gift of wood.  I got Jonathan a 5 Wood (golf club) because his broke a couple summers ago and he's really missed it. I think he was excited to try it out at the scramble.  Jonathan gave me a wrapped metallic family picture from one of Adalyn's 6 month pictures that Jes took. The wrap is on wood so somehow we both stayed in the wood category!  Jonathan also got me a fun rubber white watch with bling so that was a fun little extra:)

 Sunday afternoon before we got on the road back to Lexington, we took a few pictures. Adalyn was so ready for her nap that she fell asleep in her car seat before we even pulled the car out of the driveway! Can you tell how sleepy she looks in these pictures? But yet, she didn't fuss. Such a good baby!

 Can you tell that I got a bit too much sun at the pool on Saturday? It was my first extended time in the sun this summer and I got a bit lobster-ish! I was careful to put Adalyn's sunscreen on all day but didn't put any on myself! Oh well, I needed a little color and now the red is all gone so I'm good.

We had a great time with my parents as we always do, but it's always so hard to leave!! Good thing Adalyn gets to see Gram again next week for some babysitting!

The Toledo Zoo

So it's been many years since I lived in Toledo and in that time the Zoo got a new slogan, but I can't get the old slogan slash jingle out of my head every time I talk about the zoo. So here it goes... pretend I'm singing it to you... The Toledo Zoooo - It comes ali-ive for youuu! I spent many a summer day at the zoo growing up.  It didn't hurt that we only lived about a mile away from the zoo and always had a membership. I remember walking to the zoo and then knowing that after we were done looking at the animals that we still had to walk back home. Ha! The things we remember from our youth.  I also have vivid memories of when the Panda Bears were loaned to us from China - that was an exciting summer and I totally had a shirt with the pandas on it. If you were a kid in the 80's in Toledo you did too. I'm sure. And I also always loved the koalas and wanted to hold one. And at least 3 of my birthday parties growing up were at the zoo.  My mom pointed out to me the area that my birthday parties took place as we walked past them on Friday. (I always got to pick out what animal I wanted on the cake.)

On Friday we decided to take Adalyn on her first trip (of many) to the Zoo! Thanks to my parents yearly membership it was a nice inexpensive day for us:) - Well, unless you count how much the food and drinks were!

 Mom always gets a picture of the grandkids in front of this polar bear. Adalyn's first of many pictures!

 A real polar bear up close and personal eating some ice cubes on a swimming break!

 Waiting in line for Adalyn's first train ride! We rode through Africa! (Oops! Adalyn's bow is so big that it is right in front of mom's face!)

 Some of the animals on the African safari train ride. They have special giraffes that have funny spots.

Sweet baby! She had this sweet watermelon bubble outfit on (that I got at a consignment sale!) and she got soo much attention and so many compliments. I guess northerners aren't used to the way that southerners get dolled up for a play day! (HA! I'm actually referring to us as southerners??!) {And really it wasn't like she was in a dress... it was a bubble outfit!}

  This stone elephant has been at the zoo for forever. We have many pictures of me on this elephant growing up. (They even have soft ground around it since everyone sits on it.) Little known fact... The elephant's trunk broke earlier this year and my uncle's stone company fixed it and it looks good as new. No one would ever know that it had surgery!

 Three generations! (My mom used to come to this zoo as a child also.) Adalyn looks like she was posing!

And this chimp was posing too! It was too funny. He was showing off!

We had a great time at the zoo and even though the temperatures were high, it was very pleasant. We missed seeing the 3 week old baby elephant and I was so sad. I guess that means we'll have to go back soon!  I'm sure this will be the first of many trips for Adalyn to the Toledo Zoo...It comes alive for you! (I'm ignoring the updated "I love my zoo" jingle...and taking it back to the 80's.)

Patience and Trust

Are two things that are hard for me. I'm impatient and I think with today's modern conveniences and internet at my fingertips, patience is even harder for me.  I think it's always hard to hand over the reins of my life and trust God to lead the way. I mean, I want to do that but I get so caught up in worrying about something going wrong that I always tend to take back over. Good thing God dishes out grace!

The last couple weeks have been difficult in that Adalyn's "Nona" {childcare provider} gave us her 2 weeks' notice because she wanted to start a new venture. It pretty much rocked my world. We all loved Nona and didn't have any plans to not have her help us raise our child until preschool (or I become a stay-at-home mom...whichever is first). I was just sick about it. Jonathan is such a wonderful husband and took over the childcare provider search because he knew I was too emotionally invested to be doing the search and weeding through the possibilities. We wanted in-home care and we needed it to be somewhere on our side of town. Well, for two weeks nothing turned up. I started calling daycares and all of the good ones had LONG waiting lists.  Some daycares never even returned my emails or calls. We did find one daycare that I absolutely loved. I wanted to sign up that day but Jonathan reminded me that an extra $35 per week from what we were paying would put a serious strain on our budget. $140 per month makes a big difference! We finally got to a week ago Friday and Adalyn needed to start somewhere the following Tuesday. So I was ready to sign on the bottom line for the daycare and just make the money situation "work".

Friday afternoon I was off work and Jonathan emailed me a craig's list ad. I told him to go ahead and contact her to ask her location and price and availability. Needless to say, Friday evening we had 2 interviews with in-home providers. We loved both of them! They were both on our side of town and the one Jonathan had found Friday afternoon? Yeah, she lives in our neighborhood. .7 miles from our house to be exact. Why can't I learn to trust God? It's not in our time, it's His.  He's never late. He's always right on time. You'd think that I would have learned that in the past with Jonathan's job, our house sale, our infertility, and our pregnancy scare just to name a few lessons. But I obviously still need to be reminded.

Oh yeah, and our new childcare provider? Instead of spending $35 per week more than what we were paying before, we are saving $40 per week from what we were paying! Wow a cost savings of $160 per month. God provides.  Last Tuesday was Adalyn's first day in her new environment and we had a glowing review. It was interesting hearing a [pretty much] complete stranger who has never cared for Adalyn before tell us that she is the easiest baby she's ever had. {Yep} That she loves to talk. {Yep} That she has no interest in crawling even when they put her toys out of her reach. {Yep} And that she is all around content and happy. {Yep} So she pretty much already has Adalyn figured out and so far we are great with the new care and ecstatic with our .7 mile commute!

Five Years Ago Today...

Five years ago today I married my best friend. It's hard to believe that 5 years have flown by so quickly, but single life feels like a lifetime ago.  I guess that's how these things go. The past few years I've written about our anniversary here and here. And Jonathan wrote a blog last year here. 

(My reception shoes!)

It's hard to not repeat my words from my previous posts. Jonathan, I love you much and am so thankful for your leadership and guidence in our marriage.  I'm so blessed by you and am so lucky to be married to you.  You're an amazing husband and daddy!  It's amazing how many things have changed since last year's blog post! And I can't wait to see what the changes will be on our next anniversary! 143

8 Months

Adalyn turned 8 months on Saturday! She is just the sweetest thing and now holds us tight like a hug and gives us big open-mouth wet kisses. I L.O.V.E. it!! She says da-da all the time. She is constantly trying to talk to us. And we love it when she says something loud and then whispers it. It's adorable! I have this feeling that she may take after my brother and be talking in full sentences before she is crawling. (Just kidding, Aaron... kinda) haha! She hasn't been too interested in crawling. She's just happy sitting or lying on the floor where ever you put her, although she does roll over more frequently. 

She is still in size 6-12 month clothes and they are no longer "big" on her. And her 6-9 month sleepers are starting to get snug in the legs since she's so long! She wore a dress last Sunday that I just HAD to have her in one last time, but it was a 3-6 month and a little short. I get really attached to some of those clothes and can't bear to pack them away! We are still in size 3 diapers. And I haven't put shoes on her feet since her dedication so I couldn't even say what size they are! It's summertime in Kentucky! Who needs shoes?

Adalyn is continuing to be a good eater. We have a large menu of {homemade} fruits and veggies that Adalyn inhales. She has finally come around to eating her green beans but still isn't sure about cauliflower and gags over avocados. She likes any type of fruit and especially loves apples, pears and fresh bananas. We're going to try mangos this week! She tried some puffs for the first time this week and wasn't so sure about it once it was in her mouth. But she is intrigued. It's precious watching her hold it and try to get it to her mouth! She is still figuring out the sippy cup thing. Thankfully Billie suggested the Nuk sippy cup because it is soft compared to other cups. Adalyn really likes chewing on it but still can't figure out how to tip the thing to get the apple juice out. But when mommy helps she does great!

Here are our pictures from this week.  Now that she is active it's getting harder and harder to get a good picture in her normal monthly poses! Can you tell?

I love those chubby legs! (Her onesie is still a 3-6 month.)

Smiling at her daddy. So sweet.

Not willing to just lay still...she has to be doing something!

Trying to find her bow to pull it off since mommy wouldn't let her play with her sticker.

In the middle of pulling her bow off. That stinker! :)

I think she was ready to be done with her photo shoot:)

Big Stuff

Jonathan was feeding Adalyn the other day and she took on over with the bottle. Where has my baby gone?

Is there anything cuter than a baby in just a diaper?!  :)

We have Visual

Adalyn was extra smiley last week one night so I got the camera out. She was talking up a storm and I took a picture mid-word (she was saying da-da) and I actually captured a picture of her bottom teeth. They've been in for a while but it's hard to get them in a picture! She's cutting another (at least one) couple teeth on the top right now. Poor thing.

There were lots of smiles! 

 And some carpet "swimming". She can't figure out how to leave her knees on the floor to crawl so she just kicks and kicks them in the air. So cute.

 This looks like some sort of yoga pose:)

Sweet baby!!

Swim Lessons

Adalyn started swim lessons on Tuesday. They are twice a week for the month of July and she loves them! It's a "parent and me" class so I hold her and she kicks and splashes. It's pretty cute. The instructor kept saying that she never sees kids as young as Adalyn so splashy and excited about being in the water. So that's a great thing!!  Bad news is that the class is indoors in a warm water pool. Not fun when it's blazing hot outside and you'd rather be in a nice cool pool. oh well. Jonathan tried to get some pictures with our big lens on the camera and the lifeguard on duty told him he was not allowed to take pictures. BOO YMCA!! But he got his phone out and took a couple {very grainy} pictures anyway. He's such a dare devil:)