Learning So Much

It was only about 3 weeks ago that Allison learned to crawl, and now she's ALL OVER THE HOUSE! Nothing is off limits, and when it is, she gets HIGHLY upset! She's learned to pull up and will pull up on anything that seems stationary, a couch, dog, leg, anything will do! She's also taking steps to get to things she wants... as long as she's holding on to something! She's starting to get brave and will try to stand up on her own, but the longest she's been able to do that for is only like 3 seconds! She also hasn't figured out how to get down from the standing position without falling and she'll get frustrated if she gets stuck, so I have to come to the rescue! So yeah, she's mastered a lot of things in the past couple of weeks! I can't wait to see what the next weeks have in store for us!

Allison has also been eating more "grown-up" food. She likes chicken as long as it's mixed with something else... I think it's too dry by itself for her to eat. I tried ground turkey yesterday with some peas and she surprised me! She ate all of the peas yet somehow siphoned out the turkey and kept it in her mouth! I tried to give her her bottle and she wouldn't take it, which was a first, and then she opened just wide enough for me to see the turkey! So I got it out and moved on to the bottle (which she took instantly)! I tried the turkey again tonight and pureed it to practically nothing, and mixed it with some sweet potatoes and she ate them all! I guess the texture was something she wasn't used to, so we'll keep trying. She's eating more "raw" fruits, bananas and strawberries, and loves them! She's learning how to chew better and is really good about putting things in her mouth (sometimes not just food)!

Allison has also become a good little sleeper! I'm sure she wears herself out crawling all over the house, but she takes 2 naps a day both about 3 hours long and then sleeps from 9pm-7am! It's been a nice change getting time for myself, but I feel so bored while she's asleep... that is after I do all the house cleaning, dishes and shower. The good/not so good news is that I've returned to baking! I missed making cookies and whatnots, but it's not boding so well for our figures! But it is nice to have time to do what I like! I'm trying to decide what hobby I want to pick up, I'm thinking something useful like sewing, but I need a sewing machine and someone with a lot of patience to show me what to do! And money to buy all those cute fabrics for clothes! So if anyone wants to help out, feel free to let me know! I'm sure my kids will appreciate it in the future!

I tried to upload a video, but my computer is having issues, so once again I put it on my Facebook so feel free to check it out there! You have to check out how curly her hair has gotten! I thought it was just her sleeping on it funny, but not so much! Apparently Daddy is coming through and giving her some of his features!

http://www.facebook.com/holly.b.lindquist

We Now have a 9 Month Old!

I can't believe it! It seems like just yesterday we were in the hospital and I was enjoying all the rest from being on drugs.... I definitely should've appreciated that more! Things have now gotten a lot busier thanks to Allison and her crawling ability! She's all over the house and loves to go straight to the dog's water bowl to play in, and then tip over! It surprises me how strong she is because she's turned the bowl over twice when it was completely full! She also loves to chase after the dogs/cat which they do not appreciate! Ashlyn just lays there while Allison crawls all over her or will get up and move if Allison goes for her paws, but she's a very gentle dog and could care less about Allison. Canela on the other hand is not as calm! Whenever Allison gets too close, Canela will start to show her teeth and on a couple of occasions has even tried to snap at Allison... to which Chris and I beat her and tell her that the baby is ok, but Canela just doesn't want anything to do with Allison! Canela's starting to learn that whenever Allison comes near that she's the one that has to move to a different location, Allison has the run on the house now! Which, believe me, Allison loves!

We went to the doctor yesterday and Allison is looking great! She weighs 19lbs (50%) and is 28"(65%) long! The doctor gave us the ok to start dairy and proteins, so I boiled a chicken yesterday and Allison seemed to really like it! It was pretty dry, so I added lots of broth and sweet potatoes and it went down well. We'll try that for a couple of days and then start on some yogurt and then eventually cheese! Apparently yogurt is a good "starter dairy" because even if she's lactose intolerant, she can still eat yogurt, that way when we go to cheese if she has any problems we'll know what's wrong! I can't believe we are here already, with the "big-people" foods! Soon she'll be eating french fries and cookies and addicted to those, just like Mommy and Daddy!

We also talked to the doctor about the new baby and she was very excited and didn't say anything about their age differences. She said that all babies (no matter how old) regress in whatever stage they're in so if we start weaning Allison off the bottle, she might want to go back on it when new baby comes. No biggie, things are going to be a lot different for all of us, but hopefully Allison will adjust well!

The only new thing going on is that Allison's teeth are growing like crazy! She appears to have a gap between her front 2 teeth, which hopefully will go away, but doubtful without help from an orthodontist! Supposedly it's genetic, but neither Chris nor I had gaps in our teeth, so who knows where she got that from! Allison's also learned to eat Cheerio's by herself... she likes Mommy to feed her, but will do it herself if needbe. She just started the other day, but when she gets better/more consistent, I'll take video to show y'all. Anyway, things are going great for now and I'll report more when I get more info!

We Finally Have a Crawler!

Yes, she did it! She finally crawled across the room! She headed straight to the cords behind the tv and then to the stack of dvds... needless to say, I think we have some childproofing we need to take care of soon! I feel like I'm playing with a dog because I'll sit on the other side of the room and call her and she comes right to me... depending on what toy/object I have in my hands.

We also went to the Dr. the other day and Allison was such a trooper! Chris had to work so wasn't able to come (his first missed appt) so Allison had to stay in her car seat the whole time... with few toys and my phone to entertain her. We were there for a little too long, but Allison was great! The nurse came in to check the baby's heart rate and after 5 mins couldn't find it, so she went and got the ultrasound machine. The Dr. came in around 10 mins later and tried to find the baby outwardly and couldn't, so he had to do it internally. He then left and came back another 10 mins later and found the baby instantly. He said the baby would be too hard to see but he showed me and I saw my baby moving all around (apparently he was upset that they kept poking him trying to find him) and then we heard the heartbeat and everything was fine. I was a little "backed-up" so that was what was giving them so many problems.

By the time we got done with that Allison was about done. The Dr. stayed and talked to me about what to expect in the coming months and asked if I had any questions, to which I just had one. He said that my next appt was in a month with a midwife (nothing abnormal) and then at the 20 week I would see the high-risk Dr. to get the anatomy ultrasound (I guess they do a more thorough job or have better equipment). I asked about the delivery and if I would be able to go full-term and he said yes, but they'll probably get the baby around 39 weeks.... So we're going to have a Christmas baby!!!

We then had to sit with a nurse for about 15 mins while she scheduled my upcoming appts. and that's when Allison decided she was done. I had to get her out and hold her for a minute, but then we left and she went right back in the car seat. She slept on the way home and was extremely happy to be home and able to move/crawl around.

So that's about it for now. Here's the video of Allison crawling! We've already started moving furniture around in order to protect the valuables, cords, and whatnots she can get to!

Allison crawling around! 

My Daughter is a Genius!

I know I'm a little biased, but I can't help it! I just know that she's a genius... or at least pretty smart! She  has a toy gumball machine, and she has figured out how to push the button to get a ball out (with a little help) and then puts the ball right back in the hole and gets another ball out! The toy is made for +6 months, but I don't think she's supposed to be putting them back now... although, I have no one to compare her to, so to me, she's a genius! 

Since I see how smart she is and how much she's learning every day, I'm really starting to do sign language with her now! I'm sure she'll start picking it up soon... I just have to remember to do it! I'm good at remembering "all done" and "hungry/eat" but I need to be better at "more, please, and thank you." Since she's so good at clapping, I'm sure she'll pick up "more" soon...hopefully! 

Allison's starting to crawl now... like move more than 3 little steps, and is getting more and more frustrated with things that she can't get to. She's learning how to pull up and with a little bit of help, can stand up by herself. She's still learning her feet/knees, but she is definitely figuring them out! She is also taking a couple of steps while leaning against the coffee table! I know I'm going to regret saying this, but I can't wait for her to start walking! It'll be fun to see her more mobile! 

Allison is also starting to get (dare I say) spoiled! If you have something she wants or you take away something she has, you will regret it! She cries screams until she gets it or until she gets something else! She also LOVES to sit up and HATES being on her back, which is fine except for diaper changing time! She fights with me (Chris gave up) every diaper change! I have to bring something to distract her while I quickly change her diaper... fortunately I'm getting really fast at changing them! 

Unfortunately, I'm having issues uploading any videos to the blog right now, but follow the link and you can go to my Facebook page and see just how smart my baby is! Also, we go to the Dr. tomorrow to see Allison's little brother (or sister)! I'll post more about that next week! 

http://www.facebook.com/holly.b.lindquist

VBS

This year I really wanted to be a part of VBS (Vacation Bible School) at my church, mostly to get out of the house, but also because I love working with kids and so I thought this would be perfect. They were only doing it for 3 days from 9-12, so I thought it would be a good time to put Allison in the nursery since I would be right down the hall from her just in case she needed me (she had never been in the nursery before). So we looked forward to it all last week and Sunday I kept telling her that she was going to meet new friends and play with new toys, not that she knew what was going on, but I was hoping she wouldn't be too upset when I left her then next morning.

So Monday morning she wakes up at 6:30 and I get her her breakfast and start getting us ready for VBS! Now, Allison normally will go back to sleep around 7:30-8, so I was trying to keep her awake, which was NOT an easy task, and then put her in the car. I was also trying to keep her awake in the car so that she would sleep for the workers. Well, it worked! We got to church, signed in and went to her class. We were a little early, so I got to stay with her for a little while while she tried out some new toys. By this time she had forgotten how sleepy she was, and was enjoying playing. Some of the workers came in and I told them all about her and what schedule she normally keeps and then I was off. I tried not to look back, but it was hard! Good thing was that there were no tears coming from the room, so I knew she was still happy. I went to my classroom and met with the other teachers and kids and we started our day. Our class travelled to different "stations," and we passed by Allison's room each time, so it was great to peep in and catch a glimpse of her sleeping or rocking with a worker (I could relax and know that she was fine).

Once the parents came and picked up their kids I was off to go and see how Allison's day was. I arrived and she didn't notice me at first. She was still playing with the new toys. I talked to Mrs. Elaine (her new favorite person) and she told me how perfect Allison was! She didn't stick to her schedule because she was too excited, but enjoyed everything... swinging, strolling in the buggy, playing in the bouncers, and found a new toy Leo the Lion (whom she apparently beat to death)... she likes to make noises now! They said she was the only one they didn't have any problems with and was very easy-going! Well, I was VERY excited to hear this and was excited for day 2 of VBS!

Day 2 we were also very excited and was much more at ease to leave Allison with Mrs. Elaine. Allison had a little fussy time, but nothing her pacifier couldn't fix. She did just as good day 2, and stuck to her schedule this time. They also told me that Allison was standing on the outside of an exer-saucer and walked around the entire thing! She said that Allison kept tripping over her feet, but was determined and made it all the way around! I tried this at home and stood her up next to the coffee table and Allison did the Tin-Man lean, but never moved her feet! I guess there wasn't anything too exciting for her there.

Day 3 we were a little sad because it was the last day, we got there a little early and got to play and I talked to Mrs. Elaine while waiting for another worker to get there (there has to be 2 teacher per 1 kid). It was great because she told me how smart Allison is and how she figured out how to work all of the toys, she agreed with me that Allison is going to be a walker before learning how to crawl, and told me all about the safety precautions that the church has to protect the kids. It really put me at ease, and now I'm looking forward to Sunday so she can go back to the nursery and I can enjoy church without distractions!

So we had a great week! I loved being with my kids (3-6 year olds), and met some great women. It made me realize a little more that I think kids are where my passion is and I might start looking into working in the church (definitely on Sunday's, but maybe for Mother's Day Out too). I also feel like it made me a little better of a mom because I was so excited to see Allison and snuggled and played with her more when we got home.

Guess what, We have an 8 month old!

I thought that I would finally update my blog with things about Allison as well as her future baby brother/sister (see previous post). Allison is 8 months old and she is getting so big! She's had 6 teeth that have been trying to come in for the past 2 months but will not break through the gum! I feel so bad, most days she seems ok, but lately she has been chewing on anything she can get her hands on! Which, hopefully, means that they will be making their appearance soon! I know that as soon as they come in she wont look like my little baby anymore! She's going to be my big baby/little girl!

Allison is eating very well! She doesn't seem to be gaining a lot of weight (no round tummy or anything) but she is obviously getting bigger! I measured her yesterday and she's about 28" long.... I guess she's going to be tall like her mommy! I'm guessing that she weighs about 19-21 pounds, but our scale is inaccurate so who knows! We go back to the Dr. on July 2, so we'll get official measurements then! She has grown out of her 6 months pjs and is starting to get a little tall for her 9 months! I'm off to the consignment shops this week to see if I can find her anything good and cheap! The good news is that all of her dresses fit perfectly so she only needs sleeping clothes! I feel bad putting her in a onesie to sleep in because our house varies between hot and cool!

Anywho... We took Allison to the pool last week and she LOVES it! We've been back 3 times since and she still can't get enough! We are going to buy a baby pool to keep in the back yard/garage for when it's rainy and  for a change of scenery! I'm not sure how thrilled I am with her being in chlorine a lot! I promise, I will take video when we get it! Sorry I've been bad about posting lately, but I've been quite sick for the past several weeks!

Allison still hasn't quite figured out the crawling thing, she gets up on all fours like she's about to, but can only seem to push herself backwards... she did go sideways the other day to get to a toy, I guess that's a little better! She still is rolling all over the place and moves mostly toward the cat... she loves Ling for some reason! She will stand for a long time (10 mins) if I put her there, can't do it by herself yet, and the other day she took 3 steps toward the coffee table! I'm hoping that we'll skip the crawling stage and go straight for walking! I feel like that might be easier on me, but we'll see! Allison seems to be very content with sitting and playing with one toy for long periods of time (like 30+ mins)! I know that will come in handy later in life, so I'm not too concerned with her being behind the rest of her friends!

Until next time....

Allison has learned to clap, but only does it when she sings! 

For My Blog Followers Only

So I'm writing this I think mostly for myself, but I'd thought I'd share with y'all since it was a big part of my life.

About 3 months ago I wasn't feeling so well and I had this nagging thought that I didn't think could be real. My mom took me to the store and we bought... a pregnancy test! I immediately came home and went to the bathroom and had to tell my mom that I was pregnant! I started to get a little freaked out since Allison was only 5 months and it was a little soon, but then I was also super excited because they would be really good friends when they got older (or so I hoped). My mom and I went shopping to find Allison a "Big Sister" t-shirt (which was impossible to find in her size!) and we came home and put it on her to show Chris. He was like, "Oh, that's a nice shirt." And didn't seem to get super excited/scared like I was! We finally kept talking it out and turns out he was extremely happy, but really scared from the financial aspect of it!

Well of course that night I couldn't sleep at all. I kept thinking about what people would think or how I'm going to arrange the nursery or having to buy a new car (because it's a tight squeeze with just the one car seat)! So I woke up early that morning and just stared at Allison through the video monitor thinking about how much her life was going to change. So that night Chris and I were planning on going on a date night since my mom was there to babysit so we went to dinner and got to really talk about everything. It put me at ease by saying that everything was going to be fine and would work out and that we were both really excited because we do want a big family and who cares what anyone says!

2 nights later (Monday night) I was getting ready for bed and went to the bathroom and noticed a little speck of blood on the paper. I, of course, started to be concerned and read every article I could about blood and pregnancy and how only 60% of the time ends up in miscarriage. So of course, I couldn't sleep that night either and woke up really early to go to the bathroom to see if anything had changed. Well it had. It was like I had just started my period so I was freaking out. I knew I didn't need to go to the emergency room because I wasn't that far along and there was nothing they could do. So I called the after-hours nurse and she told me that I would have to come in later that day for some blood tests. So I got myself and Allison ready and we went to get blood drawn. It was the worst 24 hours because I knew what the results were going to say, but I still needed to hear it from the nurse so that I could stop thinking outrageous thoughts about still being pregnant. The next day (Wednesday) I had to get out of the house to distract myself so Allison and I went shopping. We were about to go home and I finally got the call. The nurse said that the results said that I had indeed had a miscarriage and that I needed to come back in a couple of days to get more blood drawn until no more HgC hormones were detectible. So I went back to get more blood drawn on Thursday and got the call on Friday that there were no more HgC hormones detected.

That week and the one following were two of the hardest I've ever dealt with. I kept telling myself that there was no reason for me to be upset since I was only pregnant for 3 days, but in the first 24 hours everything changed! I turned to food, like I normally do, and Allison! She was my little rock! We spent many hours cuddling and napping together. I ended up gaining 7 pounds (which isn't as bad as I thought) but learning that I really wanted a baby! I wanted Allison to be a big sister and have a best friend growing up! I woke up one morning and everything was back to normal. I told myself to get my life back to normal and it was. I loved my husband and baby more than I ever had and enjoyed spending every minute with them!

Well one month later I had that same nagging feeling. I was getting sick (nauseous) every day and feeling more exhausted each day. We went to the grocery store and I picked up another test and came home and it was positive! It was the weirdest feeling, I wasn't super excited but like, "Well yeah of course I'm pregnant." Chris seemed to feel the same way. I called the doctor the next morning and I had to come back in for labs to see how far along I was. So, I did that and the next day got the results that everything was looking good but that they wanted me to come back to make sure the levels were going up. So I went back later that week and got more blood drawn and the next day found out that everything was looking great! I went back the next week for more tests and then finally, 2 weeks later, got to have an ultrasound and see my baby! I was dated at only 6 weeks pregnant, but we did get to see our "smaller than a grain of rice baby" or "embryo" as they called it!

I am now 9 weeks pregnant and our official due date is Jan 1, 2013 (yep, 2 days before my birthday... boo)! We go back to the doctor on June 20 which will put us at our 12 week mark and that's probably when I'll go "public" with it... meaning Facebook! It has been really hard not to post anything, especially since I've been extremely sick this time, but soon enough I'll be able to talk all about it! So, please try to keep it private, feel free to text, message, or call... but no posting!

Thanks y'all!