My Baby Girl

My Baby Girl

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

3 Months Old



Another month has flown by and Lainey is now officially 3 months old! She started the year off with a bang by sleeping through the night for the first time on New Years. I woke up about a million times checking on her. The month of January's sleeping pattern was 7-8 hours typically every night. On occasion she slept 9-10 hours but I think that really only happened two times.


Lots of people are commenting that she looks like me. Her original Dr's appointment was Jan 3rd but that was the day of vicious cold temperatures so it ended up getting rescheduled for later in the week. Our healthy girl at 2 months 10 days weighed in at 11 lbs 11 oz and 23 3/4" long. She was in 50th percentile weight, 84th height, 7th percentile on head circumference. That last one made me laugh because Rhett has this thing about thinking all babies heads are big. Poor baby had to get 3 shots in her legs. I thought maybe nursing her while the shots were given would be helpful so we tried that. She of course still cried but I do think it could've been worse. Her face got beet red and no sound for about 5 seconds and then the tears came. That was honestly the first time I have seen her cry like that. That evening she was fussy and didn't sleep well but the next day she was back to her happy self. Rhett commented that he didn't like hearing her cry it was making his stomach hurt. He just loves her so much. We had many sad days with the passing of our sweet Dakota. Staying busy with Lainey helped a lot. Lots of smiles, coos, & gahs now.

 

 
We can both really get her smiling when talking in funny high pitched ridiculous voices. I call Rhett's his elmo voice. She just loves it. Our cousin Codie made Lainey a crochet crown that is sooo cute. Planning to use it when she gets her 4 month pictures taken at Creative Bent. Speaking of.....picked up the maternity/newborn book and it turned out absolutely amazing. I had no doubts it would be perfect. Thank you so much Anna!!!! We love you. Lainey loves playing under her jungle gym and anything with music. She grasps toys now in her tiny little hands and enjoys shoving her fist in her mouth 24/7. We started using the bumbo seat and it works well when I am working in kitchen. The inevitable came and I had to go back to work. It is unbelievable how fast the time flew by. I did not want to leave my sweet baby at all. The first week went just fine. Lainey enjoyed visitors all week and I know my Mom enjoyed the time with her. I even got a visit on my Saturday 12 hour shift day. The hardest thing was when I came home and she had done something new without me. Booooo I wanted to cry. My Mom videotaped it so that really helped. While laying on the changing pad nakey she used her feet and pushed her body the length of the pad till her head was touching wall. Three nights ago we had an exciting moment......our little bug rolled over. I put her on tummy went to the fridge for a drink turned around boom she was on her back. I started screaming with excitement. Rhett was sitting right there and he missed it too. I just could not believe it!!!  She has not done it since because duh Mom is paying really close attention now. Today I weighed Ms. Lainey and she is 13 lbs 2 oz and 25" long. She will soon outgrow all her 0-3 months and they will get put away. When I go work out with Darla she goes along and just hangs out on the floor playing. (of course Darla has to pick her up occasionally and play too) We are so blessed to have this happy, healthy, sweet girl in our lives now. Bring on Month 4!


 
Month 1                 Month 3
 



 
 
 
 

Friday, January 17, 2014

*Dakota*



When Ammo was about 2 we decided to buy a female puppy with plans to breed them eventually. We found an ad in the paper and left our house in the evening to drive to the Amish community of Arcola. It is around a 3 hour drive so when we arrived it was pretty late. We were so excited about getting another puppy we didn't even care about the time. I remember Ammo looked so sad so when we drove through a fast food place for supper he got a cheeseburger too. The poor guy was probably thinking what in the heck is this annoying little puppy doing going home with us. We  I named her Precious. That she was!! She was so sweet. She would come in the bathroom and cry to get in the shower with me. At this point in time I was in college attending SWIC and going to clinicals at St. Anthony's in South County. One afternoon Rhett called me in a panic looking for Precious asking if I had her with me. Why in the world would I have her I said I'm on my way home from work. It ended up our little puppy (only couple months old) had gotten run over at the farm. She was gone and it was a very sad day. Exactly 1 week after Precious was gone I saw a sign on the side of the road outside of Baldwin for lab puppies.
 

We soon had a new puppy and her name was Dakota Precious. She was a little scraggly looking but still cute and we were so sad it didn't even matter. I don't exactly remember the process of picking her out from the litter. She was a sweet girl but a little high strung. We lived in a trailer on South Prairie so we didn't have a lot of space. She would run at full speed through the living room make a pass on the couch and then turn to make a full circle. Repeat over and over and over. Dakota would sleep above my head on my pillow every night. Eventually she moved to my feet but spent quite a long time at the head of the bed. She would also crawl under our bed and tore the underneath of the mattress to shreds. One day I came home and our really nice Ralph Lauren goose down comforter/pillows were ripped to pieces. When Ammo was a puppy he liked to tear up Nintendo wiring and slippers. To each their own. My grandma was able to salvage the comforter and we still use it occasionally now. We did not plan for puppies right away but when Dakota was almost one it happened anyway. I guess Ammo just couldn't resist her. Ha!! In August 2005 she had the cutest litter of 10 puppies chocolate & yellow 5 males 5 females. Rhett & I just loved them and they were all thoroughly spoiled to pieces. Selling them was sad but once they were all gone it was nice to get back to our routine of just 2 dogs. Somehow the following year in the Spring she ended up getting bred from another dog that was not ours......We never really could figure out when who and where but on Easter morning she had a litter of 7 mutt puppies. Every single one was black and they were as cute as could be. I think we sold each puppy for different amounts- some $25, $50, a few for free. One was a brendle and he was the last to go. This was while I was going through the radiation therapy program in college. One of our cancer patients and her daughter each ended up taking a puppy. It was so nice to know the pups were going to good homes. Through the years Dakota had many more puppies equaling to a grand total of 59. We sold some to family & friends and many to strangers. Lots of happy families!! The 5th litter we decided to keep a puppy and that is how Drake became a part of our family. After having the puppies her personality really mellowed out and she was no longer so hyper. What a great doggy mommy she was. We never lost a single puppy under our watch.



Dakota would always cross her front legs when laying on the floor. Just prim and proper like a little lady. She loved stealing the pumpkins off the porch in the Fall. It didn't matter how big she always managed to drag them into the yard. She also loved dragging the food bowl into the yard spilling a trail of dog food everywhere. For some reason when we first got her I insisted on calling her Ms. Dakota. For the longest time that was what I called her. She loved playing with all toys especially water bottles. I think Drake & Ammo do miss her. Dakota & Drake played so well and always stayed in the basement together when we are not at home. Before Lainey our dogs were our kids. Through the years they have been spoiled, loved, and well taken care of. She really was my first baby girl. I know a lot of people say once you have children your dog becomes just a dog but I truly don't believe that. Yes they don't get as much attention on a daily basis but that doesn't mean they are loved any less.


Its been 1 week since our sweet Dakota went to heaven. The hardest part is when I realize that I don't have a shadow following me everywhere I go. When its time to go to sleep and she is no longer at my feet. No one waking me up throughout the night to go out to potty. The silence of no scratching at the door throughout the day. When I pull in the driveway and their only 2 dogs instead of 3 to greet me. It is definitely the little things that hurt the most. Putting our 9 1/2 year old puppy to sleep was one of the hardest things to do and my heart is still broken. I know it was the right thing because she was suffering. We buried her next to our pine trees and it is visible right outside the window of Lainey's room. We can always keep a good watch over her. My friend Darla told me to imagine that up in heaven a little girl or boy was just waiting on her. I would like to believe that right now as I type she is someone elses shadow, playing, running, eating pig ears, and being a happy dog again.

 
 
 

Thursday, January 16, 2014

2 Months old update!


It's a new year and this household now contains a 2 month old. Whoa!!! Can we please rewind the clock and slow everything down. In less than a week I go back to work too. Not looking forward to it  at all. My only comfort is knowing that Ms. Lainey will be thoroughly looked after and loved by her Grandma while I'm not at home. I was blessed to have a stay at home mother and am so happy she will be caring for my child now. The month of December was pretty exciting. Lots of snow meant many days of being cooped up in the house snuggling with my baby girl. We went through a bout of stubborn diaper rash. I finally figured out that Lainey's little bum and tomato based foods don't agree with each other. I learned how to use the breast pump and began building up a stock for when I return to work. Her sleeping pattern at night changed to 4-6 hour range. Such a happy happy girl in the morning and loves playing under her jungle gym. She just kicks her legs like crazy making the music play. Allie gave us a musical turtle for Christmas and it is very entertaining as well. At around 7 1/2 weeks I decided to make the switch to cloth diapers. After a month of using them everything is going well. We are being green but let's face it the real reason I switched is bc they are sooooo cute. Ha! I don't even mind the extra laundry either. Huge thank you to Devon for selling me her whole cloth diaper collection. I have since bought a few new ones too ( not that we needed them bc we already had around 40). At 7 weeks Lainey had her first bottle from Rhett while I was at kettle bell class. He said that she did just fine with it.

 

 


We had a great Christmas Holliday with lots of family time. She pretty much just slept through the festivities. I imagine next year will be a different tune by then Ms. Lainey bug will be walking and getting into EVERYTHING! At the Simpson Christmas party Rhett & I were Joseph/Mary and Lainey was baby Jesus for the annual play. That sure was fun!!!! People often comment how long Lainey's fingers are. She holds her head up well when placed on tummy and loves standing while Rhett & I hold onto her. The mobile in the crib and musical stuffed animals entertain her quite well. I think the changing pad is probably one of her favorite places to be. Another new thing during month 2 is the lip pucker when upset and fussing. I call it her fake cry bc it honestly is. But it is soooo sweet. It's so hard to believe that we created this tiny human and she is just perfect to us in every way possible. What a journey it has been so far.