We Love Her

4 weeks old yesterday! I just can't believe that our little girl is already one month old. She is so much more alert now and she chats up a storm when she is awake. We are continuing to learn what Daisy likes and doesn't like and what her different cries mean. Aside from being gassy or hungry, Daisy is a really happy, content baby. She loves her naps, eating, being burped a lot, being held, talking and looking at herself in her mirror and we think she is going to love baths eventually because she loves her wash cloth bath. We are planning on giving her a "real" baby tub bath any day now. We also think that Daisy is going to be a fast learner because she is very sharp with her responses and reflexes. She follows voices and makes eye contact so well now and she squirms so much, I'm sure she will be rolling in no time!

My mom has been here since Tuesday and I am loving her company and the extra arms during the day. She has been spoiling me with yummy meals, house cleaning, helping with Dakota and giving my arms a break from holding Daisy and covering an early morning shift which is heavenly! I think I'm going to have to hire a full time nanny (with my magic money) because I am loving this way too much!! I hope to have lots of pictures to post after this week:).

The weather in NC is absolutely gorgeous right now. It's not too hot and not too cold. Just perfect Spring weather. We went for a walk around Bass Lake Trail yesterday and it was gorgeous out. Daisy slept the entire time in the Bjorn carrier while we walked and Dakota even played in the water much to mine and my mom's surprise. Love living here!

Daisy Talking

Daisy has started chatting a lot these days. At first I didn't realize that she was talking and even thought she was fussing initially but, since I figured it out I can't get enough of listening to her:). She also loves looking at herself and talking to herself in the mirror when she is getting her diaper changed. I just knew that having a mirror on the dresser would be a good idea:).

Four Pack

I can't believe that all four of us gals have had our babies and that we are no longer pregnant but, parents now! The bottom picture was taken on my first outing alone with Daisy (aside from a doctor's appointment). I met up with Lindsay and her baby girl Lila (closest to front), Jennifer and her baby girl Raelyn and Lindsey and her baby boy Sam and we ate at Five Guys and chatted for a while. I know it trips people out when all 4 of us meet up in public because very rarely do you see four infant babies all together at one time. Some people have asked if the kids are twins or triplets because they have needed an explanation for the quantity evidently but, we just tell them nope, we just all happened to have our first children around the same time. lol. The top picture was taken this past Sunday April 25th which was our first time getting out to church since having Daisy. She did really well overall. She got through a good 30 plus minutes of the sermon and then started fussing a little so I had to take her out but, she did great the entire rest of the morning. It is such a blessing to have these other mamas in my life. Not only did we get to weather the ups and downs of pregnancy together but, now we get to bounce parenting tips and sleeping techniques off of each other. It's such a treat! I can definitely see these 4 kiddos growing to be very good friends in the years to follow:-)

Catch Up

This picture isn't flattering or in focus but, every time I see it I laugh at both Joey and Daisy's facial reactions. I figured I should post it if I got such a kick out of it:). Below is a picture of Daisy getting her first bath when she was a few days old. Yes, I am a tad behind on this post:).
The video is kind of boring I suppose if you don't get much out of watching a baby sleep but, I thought it was cute to watch Daisy in dream mode. She was about one week old in all of these pictures/videos. ug**videos wouldn't upload. I will try again later. Almost 4 weeks old now! I have some new pictures and videos that I will post asap!

True Dodger Blue Baby

Shaking her fist for her home team:)


Joey's boss, Kristie spoiled Daisy with a little Dodger onesie this week and it is sooo cute! Thank you!!! I think I was more excited than Daisy but, she will be too in 10 years when she is a die hard Dodger fan like her mama. The Dodgers have had their share of lousy years but, I'm no fair weather fan. I stick by the boys in blue and even though I now hail from NC, my favorite Baseball team will always be the Los Angeles Dodgers:).

In regards to the hand mittens that Daisy appears to be wearing 24/7, I do take them off as often as I can but, Daisy is very rough with her face. The last few times I took the mits off Daisy gouged herself in the eye a dozen times (and cried) pulled a big chunk of her own hair nearly out (and cried) and decorated her face with lots of puffy, red scratches. I'm hoping she will calm her hands down a little and then I will set them free for good:)

Some of you have asked how Dakota is handling this transition. Uh, so so I guess. We tend to keep her outside if the weather is nice during the day so she isn't getting into Daisy's things or making the day more stressful than it needs to be. She is very curious about Daisy of course but, we don't allow her to be near Daisy too much because she licks her face and head obsessively and sometimes a little too rough. I can tell that Dakota is having attention withdrawals and may be a bit puppy depressed even though we still try to give her as much attention as before. Dakota is just a diva doggie and is use to being the center of the universe. Now she is slightly off center in the universe but, still she is one spoiled pup:). I can't leave any of Daisy's blankets, pacifiers, toys, clothes etc. anywhere on the floor or Dakota will chew them into pieces. It's the Dachshund in her I guess. She's coming around though! I will get some pictures of her on here again really soon:).

Nothing new with Daisy and sleep..there is none. That sums it up:). I know a lot of people go through this with their new babies so I'm just riding it out as best as I can with so little energy and trying to enjoy the roses along the way. I look forward to the day that I post on here..."Daisy is sleeping 10 hours a night now!" Okay, well maybe that will never happen but, 7 hours would be nice someday:).

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Just to Give Y'all Something to Look At :-)

Hanging out with my Princess
This is what Daisy looks like quite often these days but I can usually calm her down thankfully
I think the headband is a bit too big for Daisy's tiny head but it was worth a try:)
These pics were intended for yesterday as they are actually Daisy's 3 week old pictures but, I didn't get them uploaded in time. We have been having some fussy days with Daisy the past few days but, I know it is largely due to her being gassy so we are beginning the process of trial and error to figure out what we can do to help her. We are trying soy formula instead of regular (I still supplement a little) and we just bought some gas drops tonight. We also are trying to burp Daisy much more often and she seems to like that a lot. Regardless of Daisy's fussiness and her trouble sleeping at night I truly adore this little girl and I marvel at how much she changes each day! She is vibrant and beautiful and every inch of her reminds me of the great and miraculous God I live for. What an artist He is! Thank you Jesus for our little Daisy:-)

Joey was a doll and did his first big/ solo grocery shopping trip today for me since we've been home with Daisy. I have to say that it was like Christmas when he came home. He got all the things on my little list and so many other yummy goodies that I never allow myself to buy. lol Now I know what guys feel like when we ladies stock up our empty cupboards for them. It's exciting!! I think Joey has just set himself up for misery though, because now that I've seen what a great job he can do, I think I will just send him out all the time from now on. Did I mention that Joey loathes grocery shopping?? hahaha

3 Weeks Today

Daisy's chord fell off one day after her two week mark. I didn't think it would stay on that long, but I also didn't know that there would still be a good sized scab left behind and that kind of freaked me out because it started to bleed today and was getting all over her clothes. I called the pediatrician and she said that I should just continue to apply alcohol to the scab and keep it dry and it should come off in a week or so. Ironically, it came off today so now Daisy officially has a little iny belly button:). It is quite cute!

I got a 101 fever on Monday. It was probably higher at some point but, when I finally got around to checking it late Monday night that's what it was. I woke up Monday morning and I was freezing. I was wearing sweat pants, socks, a long shirt, a fleece jacket and keeping a down blanket bundled up on me and still my teeth were chattering. I just figured at that point that I was weird and my blood was circulating poorly or something but, by mid day I had a splitting head ache and my body felt like it had been beat on with a mallet. I couldn't even get up off the couch and lifting Daisy was such a challenge because my arms felt like rubber. By late evening I was in the worst shape I have been in in a long time and I knew something was definitely wrong. I couldn't even take care of Daisy at all at that point. I fell into bed with all my clothes on and was still freezing under all of our blankets and Joey kindly took over the 2 AM feeding with Daisy so I could lay like a coma patient in bed. My fever broke around 6 AM and I felt much better overall after that. A friend mentioned that I might have Mastitis and as it turns out, she is right. I went to my doctor yesterday and they prescribed me an antibiotic because it has been 5 days and it is not going away on it's own. Hopefully it will resolve the issue! Oh, the things our bodies go through for these little people:).

Daisy is exactly 3 weeks old today. It almost makes me sad how fast she is growing and how quickly this wee little baby phase ends. I know that every phase with Daisy will bring new delights and joys as she reaches new milestones but, still (sigh) it goes so fast! A lady in my doctor's parking lot stopped her car as I was loading Daisy into her car seat and she wisely said, "Enjoy this time honey. She'll be 18 and leaving for college before you know it." So true!

Daisy still thinks that the day starts at 4 AM each morning. Ug. It's so tough but, thank God she usually falls asleep for a nap around 7 AM and sleeps until about 10 or so and I am able to catch up on what I am missing each morning sort of. I have noticed that we are getting one almost 5 hour stretch out of her now though so yeah, even more progress!!!

I love our baby girl more and more with each passing day if that is even possible. Joey and I can't get enough of her grunts, her facial expressions, smiles, burps, sneezes etc. Daisy is such a doll! I think I am seeing more of Joey in her these days but, then again she seems to change her look daily so tomorrow could be a different story:).

My mama comes out to visit us next Tuesday!! I am soooooooooo looking forward to her visit and I know Daisy is too:) YEAH!!!

Family Visits

The awesome CD player
Joey holding up the card that says, Daisy Love. We both love seeing her name written out:).

This Sunday Daisy enjoyed lots of fun visitors. GG (great Grandma) PK (Great Grandpa) and Aunt Kathy, Wes and Diana and our neighbors John and Raechel, came by and brought presents for little Miss Daisy. I had Joey open them since he did so little of the gift opening over the past several months. Daisy was blessed with some ADORABLE outfits, some lullaby music and a super cute pink and white CD player which is exactly what we needed to play her music at night. Daisy did great while we had company and I was one proud mama.

The Latest

I know that everyone loves baby pictures...including myself and fortunately since I love taking pictures I think you will be seeing lots and lots of Daisy on this blog:).

Last night (our Friday night date night) Joey and I dared to venture out with Daisy to try and get a date night / birthday outing make up night. Daisy was an angel and blessed us with 3 solid hours of peace and a great time. We went to Target and I got a couple birthday presents (yeah:), to Lowe's, Payless Shoes and then we ate outside at Five Guys and had the most wonderful time soaking up the evening together! Thank you Daisy for spoiling us:). I was telling Joey on the drive home that as lame as it sounds after a few hours of not holding Daisy even if she has been with me the entire time I am itching to hold her and have her close to me. I just LOVE her so much and love talking to her and smelling her baby smell. Mmmmm...It's wonderful, (exhausting) but, wonderful being a mommy!

Still continuing to work on the whole days and nights sleeping thing with Daisy and I do sense that every day a little more progress is made. It seems that Daisy gets in bed mode between 8:30 and 9 PM and generally she will sleep 2 to 3 hours before waking up around 11 give or take to eat (which takes about an hour each time) and then I go to bed and she continues to have 2 to 3 hour sleep spurts throughout the night. I usually have to get up with her around 1:30-3 AM again between 4-5 AM and then Daisy is usually up for the morning around 6-7:30 AM but, I have been able to get her to take one last little nap on the couch with me until around 8 AM or so which has been so helpful. Boy those early morning feedings are rough but, somehow I'm getting by on the little amounts of broken sleep and somehow I'm getting through my days even when her naps are super short. All praise to Jesus!

We have had a couple really great days with Daisy today and yesterday. She wasn't fussy at all and really was a little doll baby. I don't know if they were just lucky days or if Daisy is just figuring things out and getting more relaxed but, it was nice to have an easy baby for a change:0. She still HATES diaper changes and is only okay with them if she is well fed beforehand. lol. She does have pretty bad diaper rash though so I really can't blame her for hating the experience:(. We are also learning the different cries that Daisy has and it does seem that often her crying is a result of her being in pain and we think it is from gas so we have been working on that with her too.

Well, Daisy is trying to konk out on the couch next to me so I think I'm going to try and join her. Hope you are all having a blessed weekend! xoxo

Joey Takes 1st Place

Joey entered a fishing tournament with his Granddad a weekend back. The weather was amazing for fishing and Joey and his Granddad had a rocking day on the lake from the sound of it. They both caught a ton of fish and together they placed first out of over 24 anglers!! Joey kept telling me when he got home that it was one of the funnest fishing days he had ever had. I'm so proud of them and so happy that they had a good time! Join with me in congratulating Joey and his Granddad on their success:).

Two Weeks and Growing

I just had to put a picture of me eating sushi after waiting nearly 10 months for it:). Daisy wanted some too! :)

Daisy's Stats Today: 21" long 7 pounds 11 ounces

Daisy is doing great! She is gaining weight, getting longer and continues to eat like a champ. She does have very mild jaundice, but the pediatrician said it should go away on its own in the next week or so and was not concerned about it. I had to temporarily supplement some formula into Daisy's diet this past week because she was so hungry. It upset me initially because it was not expected but, I have peace about it now thankfully and it might only be temporary. Wow, I typed all of that with one hand because Daisy was asleep in my left. I have them both now for a minute, woohoo!!

We are still working to get Daisy's days and nights on track and I think we are making baby steps of progress. Last night she woke up every 2 to 2.5 hours to eat and was pretty good about going back to sleep after wards which is a first for us. Two weeks of no sleep at night and horrible naps during the day was really wearing me ragged. It's all trial and error with a new baby because what works for one baby may very well not work for another. In spite of the exhaustion, I absolutely love being Daisy's mommy!! I love listening to her talk when she is awake, love watching her facial expressions when she is asleep, love comforting her when she is frustrated or hungry and just love getting to know my daughter and what makes her tick. I love looking at her fragile body and soaking up the fact that God wove her together in my womb and she is perfectly made by Him! She is a miracle that I get to enjoy everyday!

Joey has been so helpful with diaper changes (he probably does more than I do), he loves burping Daisy and hearing her loud belches:) What a guy right:). He was excited to go for a walk with me and Daisy on his lunch break yesterday and wanted to push the stroller. I think he takes a lot of pride in pushing his daughter around in her stroller and it is so cute to watch him. He has been preparing bottles for me, keeping our house tidy so that I stay sane and all the while working long days and getting very little sleep at night. He's a great Daddy and I want to make sure to give him credit where credit is due:-)

I am 27 now! Only 3 years to 30. Where did the time go? Yesterday was a rough day because Daisy only took 2 twenty minute naps all day and I was running on 3 hours of sleep from the night before so I was not a happy camper but, God is so gracious to sustain us new mamas and somehow I made it through. The truth is, I got the best birthday present in the whole world this year; a happy, healthy baby girl and I couldn't ask for more! Thank you Daisy for blessing my life with your presence!! xoxo

My Faves

I had every intention of doing an awesome newborn photo shoot with Daisy long before she was born. Since she has been born I have struggled to remember to even comb my hair let alone pull out a camera to capture cute memories. Shame on me eh. I'm bummed because I know I have passed the time frame that photographers generally do newborn photo shoots but, if I have a good energy day maybe I will still go for it...or I should say, if Daisy has a good day of solid sleep then maybe I will go for it:). These are my favorite pictures that I snapped over Daisy's first week home with us. I'm still trying to get a picture that shows how dark and gray her eyes are. We are really curious what color her eyes will end up being but, we are guessing either hazel like mine or brown like Joey. We shall see:). Joey's sister kindly snapped a few pictures of the 3 of us while she visited this week. Daisy fussed the entire time and I would have posted the rest of the series of pictures to crack you up but, that would have been a lot of pictures:).


Daisy went close to 3 nights without sleeping this week and as a result I had my first day of, "mom's are entitled to at least 3 million unexplained breakdowns" yesterday. My goal all day yesterday was to nap when Daisy napped but, she never napped more than 20 minutes and as soon as my head hit the pillow or the floor:) she was crying (loud) and my window of opportunity was gone. Daisy has been so fussy the past week or so and generally it is because she is hungry again and again and AGAIN. She LOVES to eat and has a huge appetite. Right now she is drinking a bottle that has the amount of milk that is suggested for most one month olds and I wouldn't be surprised if she wants more when it's gone. I'm going to have a cute chunky baby on my hands here pretty soon! lol. Anyways, her fussiness is also making sleep an impossibility at night and Friday night was horrible. I have tried so many different things that people have suggested but, nothing is working with Daisy. She fights sleep tooth and nail and then when she gets past her exhaustion point it seems she cannot return from that cranky place. So, last night I decided to try out a swaddling blanket that even has a couple velcro pieces to keep the baby from squirming out. Sounds awful but, I do think babies enjoy the security of being swaddled after months of being in the close quarters of the womb. I have loosely swaddled Daisy up to this point but, she never seemed to like having her arms pinned down and would scream in anger at me to release her. That being said I was quite nervous about trying out the baby straight jacket last night. Much to my surprise around 8:20 last night Daisy conked out in my arms while I was eating sushi...(yes, my first sushi dinner in almost 10 months!!!!) takeout. I seized the opportunity to swaddle her while she was TKO'd and she slept her first solid 4 hours in her bed without needing to be fed, adjusted, recovered, comforted etc. I slept while she slept and it was HEAVENLY!!! I fed her each time she woke up and then re-swaddled her which she didn't like when she was awake but, it does seem that we will get more solid sleep and so will Daisy when she is more securely swaddled. I will keep you posted on that.