6 Months Old

Happy Half Birthday to my sweet Daisy girl!!!

I didn't do a lick of editing to Daisy's eyes in this picture below and that's what makes me love it so much. They are actually reflecting me, the sky and our neighborhood behind me. Plus the color is amazing! They still haven't fully settled but, at this point her eyes are a brownish, hazel color. So beautiful! Love her little doll face.






{In case you are wondering I edited these pictures intentionally to be lighter, softer and brighter. No, they are not overexposed, I just happen to really like the artsy fartsy look of pictures edited light and soft at this point in my life.} lol

October 1, 2010 my little Daisy girl is 6 months old.
Seriously the last 6 months were by no means easy but they flew by nonetheless.
How is it that I have a child who is ever so rapidly working her way towards her first birthday??? I still can't believe it some days!
Daisy facts:
loves squash and sweet potatoes most but, will eat anything quite eagerly
has also nibbled on Ritz crackers and some cheerios
Can sit up very well on her own now though she still teeters after a while
Still hates rolling. She has rolled both ways several times and then never again.
Still does not like tummy time for more than a few minutes.
Loves to be held in a standing position so she can bounce and jump.
Really likes going on walks around the block a lot.
Especially enjoys bath time...unless she's tired and then it's no fun
Naps every 2-3 hours for about 30-40 minutes on average
The past couple of weeks she has been napping less but, napping longer
She is so inconsistent when it comes to sleep.
She has an extremely short attention span now.
Wasn't always like that but, has become very easily bored and needs a lot of attention.
Wants to be held a lot more.
Loves to brush her hands through my hair and across my face
Is fascinated by tongues and wants to yank on them
Is so gassy. Seriously, she farts a lot! (sorry Daisy)
Eats solids twice a day. Once in the morning and once right before bed.
Tends to go to sleep between 8-9 PM every night.
Does not want to be rocked to sleep much anymore...occasionally.
Has two bottom teeth that are over half way in now.
Always has boogers in her nose. I think she might have allergies. Poor boo boo.
Her favorite TV show hands down is the Backyardigans..I'm going crazy.
Her favorite toy lately has been a plastic Coke bottle because she knows it's ours.
Loves her Daddy so much. I think more than me because if he's in the room she tunes me out.
Is trying SO hard to crawl but she gets very frustrated.
Can crawl on her back by doing the frog and gets around pretty good.
Still does not sleep through the night.
I still nurse her at around 4 AM every morning and then she sleeps until 7ish
She sleeps in her swing after the 4 AM feeding...it's the only thing that works.
She has only bit me once while nursing so far. Ouch!
Lays in bed with us for about 30 minutes in the morning.
We love it!
I'm not positive but, am pretty sure she weighs over 16 pounds now
Wears size 6-9 month clothes
Wears size 2-3 diapers (Swaddlers are the best in my opinion)
I still haven't left her in the church nursery yet. Soon.
She no longer seems to have stranger anxiety.
She has not had a hysterical melt down in over 2 months!
Is always making noise..she is soooo noisy but, it's cute.
Loves being outside in the fresh air and seeing new scenery.

Daisy, we love you so much sweet baby girl. You have really opened our eyes to what it means to give and love and serve. You are a beautiful, healthy baby and we are so thankful that God carved you out of time for us to enjoy and cherish. Thank you for your laughs and smiles and for changing our lives forever for the better. - mommy and daddy

I could go on far too long so I will stop now. I guess it's time for me to start thinking about first birthday party ideas...hmmmm:-)

The Family Juggle

I had a blast doing an outdoor photo session with my little gal (thankfully I had our nanny's assistance) for her half birthday (6 months in case you are wondering what that is). Daisy was loving the outdoor air and sunshine and was only to happy to cooperate and since she is able to sit up now I am finally able to try out so many new ideas on her. Poor child. She is my little guinea pig but, at this point I swear she doesn't mind! I will be posting oodles more pictures from this session on her BD Friday stay tuned...though I will admit I didn't edit a single other picture in this style. Just thought this looked kinda neat and nostalgic, perfect for a sneak peak.

To close out this post I have a fun question for all you moms and wives out there: How do you and your hubby juggle the daily childcare duties? Who does what? Have you found that a routine works best with each person knowing what is expected of them or are things handled more spontaneously depending on the day? What does your hubby do to help you that you really appreciate? I'd love to hear your thoughts! My hubs and I had a good heart to heart about our thoughts on this tonight and it was good for both of us! I know that a perfect and 100% "fair" balance is not realistic and is probably a harmful expectation in a marriage. Every family has to figure out what works best for them and every married couple has to communicate and work regularly together to juggle the family responsibilities. They key is doing this in such a way that there is no resentment or frustration building up in one direction or the other. I appreciate that my hubby is always so helpful about getting chores done around the house I can always count on him doing things without grumbling. He is very helpful and even asks for to do lists so that he can help around the house....I think he learned to enjoy checking things off from me. We are special like that. I appreciate that my hubby has made tons of dinners for us since our daughter was born because I am too fried at the end of the day to make anything. Just tonight he grilled up some hot dogs outside in the rain! What a guy. Your turn......:-)

Being a Mama is...

A never ending adventure, a blast, challenging, exciting, a crack up, scary, stressful, exhausting, out of this world amazing, life changing, love awakening, a roller coaster, an adjustment, overwhelming at times, captivating, emotional, a right of passage, a tough job, not for everyone, worth it all, sacrificing, blissful, dirty, learning balance, liberating, eye opening, a gift from God and hands down the best thing in the world


This little girl here makes my heart soar. I love how she turns her head the second she hears my voice (or Joey's) in a room. I love how she reaches up for me now to pick her up. I love that she likes to sleep with us for an extra hour in our beds in the morning and she strokes my hair and face as she is falling to sleep. I love that if she gets tired enough she will still fall asleep in my arms quite contentedly. I love that she loves her Daddy so much and to be honest she will completely ignore me if he is in the room. lol. I love that Daisy is chunky and has so many awesome baby rolls. I may not get a great night sleep with this little munchkin but, she is worth it. I love being a Mama!

And in other weird and random news: I think I might have something along the lines of hand dermatitis. Ever heard of it or had it? I don't have it severe perse but my finger tips are bubbling, and splitting a bit and if my hands are in the water for more than a few minutes tops I get a weird irritating rash like pattern in the center of my palm that burns. While giving Daisy a bath tonight my hands began to bother me so much that I cut the bath short and began researching online what I can do about this...still have no solution as of yet. Guess I will need to go see a dermatologist with all of my free time. (sarcasm). Evidently for some people water can actually irritate their skin and I seem to now be one of those people. Fabulous. Hope my hands remember how much they liked water just one short month ago and get over this quickly!

Smiley

I love this picture (above). Daisy was trying prunes for the first time. I was hoping it would help clear her clogged bowels after all the veggies stopped her up for so many weeks. Well, she did not like the prunes at all and of course I can't blame her. Somehow in spite of the fact that she spit more out that swallowed and gagged more than necessary, I still managed to get this huge grin out of her and if you look closely you can almost see her two bottom teeth poking through. they have come through more since this picture but, she never has her mouth open long enough for me to show them off:). Daisy can be a pretty serious baby at times but, when she gets comfortable she is so silly and smiley! I love it! Currently her favorite jar foods are squash and sweet potatoes. She devours them. What was your baby's favorite food?

Daisy will be six months old on Friday and I'm trying to think of a creative photo shoot to do with her so wish me luck! I'm running out of baskets to stick her in these days! haha.

Book Your Christmas Card Session

Christmas Card Mini Session

It may seem early but, before you know it it'll be time to mail those fun Christmas cards to all of your family and friends! I know how much I enjoy getting and giving them. Book your session ASAP as the time slots will fill quickly. I will do my best to accommodate as many of you as possible. The session dates are October 16th and 30th and times are listed on the flier above. If you'd like to book a session or if you have any questions please send me an e-mail by clicking on the contact link at the top of the page. I'm located in Wake County, NC. Book today, it's going to be fun!

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

I finally found the time to get back into the weekly scavenger hunt! Life's been so crazy the past few weeks. I'm sure you all can relate. Summer seems to be like that. Nice to be back in the mix with you all:).

The rules are simple:

1. Anyone can participate.
2. You're encouraged to take five new photos this week for the challenge.
3. If you get stumped, you may use one photo from your archive
   
4. Link up here on Sunday, hosted by Ashley Sisk (or Tuesday at the latest) - you can use the button above.
5. Have fun!

1. Miniature - In case you are wondering what is mini in this pic...my dog, Dakota, is a miniature Dachshund. lol

2. Water Droplet (s)
3. Bedhead
4. Colorful
5. Eyes - After seeing this picture I want a macro lens now more than ever!
Next weeks challenges:

1. Golden
2. Smell
3. Fruit
4. Simple
5. Sports

Just Us

It's just us today. The hubs is out of town at a fishing tournament. We hope he wins!

Fortunately Daisy did not have a repeat of the previous two days. Thank you Jesus and also thank you to everyone who has and is praying for Daisy and for all the supportive comments! You are all wonderful and greatly appreciated! It's been interesting having my almost 6 month old back in my room. She is in her pack and play at the foot of our bed so we can hear her if anything happens during the night. We have a humidifier that sounds like a jet turbine engine and a CD player with lullabies all going on at the same time. Every now and then the humidifier makes a noise that sounds very much like a loud baby rattle being shaken in our room. Oh the joys of being a parent!! haha. I also stopped swaddling Daisy this week. She seems to be so set on getting out of it and I was spending more time re-swaddling her in the middle of the night than was worth. The problem is that when she isn't swaddled she sleeps even worse because she is used to it but, I've decided that it is time regardless and she really didn't sleep any differently the past two nights surprisingly. Daisy will be 6 months old this upcoming Friday!!! Can't believe it!!

Well, gotta get going...the baby has an attention span of t-minus 5 seconds....

Thanks again everyone for the prayers and suggestions!

Episode #2

We've now had a second episode with Daisy and this mysterious choking breathing problem. We went to Wall-Mart tonight to buy some groceries and Daisy was 100% fine other than being tired. When we were done we put her in her car seat and I sat in the front while Joey loaded the groceries. Daisy was fine and was playing with a plastic bottle in the back. Joey got in and turned on the car, backed up and all of a sudden out of no where I heard that same heart stopping noise that is so distinct and awful coming out of Daisy's mouth in the back seat. My heart stopped or rather I should say, began pounding a million miles a minute, my body went into full panic mode, I flew my car door open, (yes, there was a car behind us but they understood I'm sure), threw Daisy's car door open and struggled with my shaking hands to unbuckle her straps (it took far longer than it should have because I was so upset) and pulled Daisy out and began smacking her back again. She had the same tear soaked face, snot everywhere, bright red/pink face and a look of terror in her eyes. Oh my gosh, I'm sorry to be so dramatic and descriptive but, it's just the most awful feeling in the world as a parent to see your child in that state. Same as last time as soon as it began it was over and Daisy began crying, coughing, burped and had lots of phlegm in her throat after wards. I held her while I paced around the parking lot for a while. Joey was right by my side the entire time for the record I just happened to be on the side of the car that was closest to her so I got to her faster but, he saw and heard everything. These episodes seem to really tire Daisy out as she always seems so exhausted after. The difference between this episode and the last was that Joey was there to witness it. I no longer felt crazy like I was exaggerating to people or making something up. I now have a witness and that feels SO good. We called the pediatrician since we were debating on going to the ER. The ped. said to buy a humidifier, saline drops and to keep her with us for a while at night so we can hear her better. She said it sounds like it is most likely severe reflux which is extremely unusual for a baby Daisy's age and for a baby eating solids. Daisy has been throwing up more since eating solids than she did before eating them and that is also unusual. It is also possible that a food allergy is to blame though that is by no means factual at this point. All we can do is wait and pray and on that note...I'm asking for your prayers. Truly, we welcome your prayers for Daisy as I believe more than anything that prayer is powerful and that God hears our cries and He will take care of Daisy. I feel in my heart that this will pass and hope that it is in fact a reflux issue which they should be able to prescribe something for and she will out grown it soon. I just want to make sure my baby is okay and at this point I won't be able to sleep much or let her out of my sight until I know she is past this. Oh how it hurts my heart. :-(

Katy Perry and Sesame Street

Have you all seen the video circulating with Katy Perry singing a song with Elmo on Sesame Street? It's receiving wide spread media attention because Sesame street decided to pull the video after a lot of parents complained that Katy Perry was not dressed appropriately enough to be on the show. I've scoped out some of the reader comments on various news networks and was rather surprised by what I read to be honest. There were points on both sides as there always is but it seemed that there were more people furious that Sesame Street could be so stupid as many put it. What are your thoughts on this subject? I am open to hearing what you have to say even if your opinion is different than mine so share away:). To be truthful I am glad the video was pulled and if my daughter was old enough to watch Sesame Street and be interested, I'd probably be one of the parents who complained. Yes, I know what you are thinking, I'm one of those people. I realize that Katy's cleavage bearing top would hardly phase most people in the overexposed world we now live in but, I will stand firm on the fact that I don't need my little ones eyes being bombarded by that kind of stuff especially since I wouldn't want her dressing like that ever anyways! . I'm old fashioned, I'm conservative, I'm boring, I'm blah. Yes, all of these might be true by today's standards but, I so badly want my child to be a child and not to act like she is 16 when she is 4. Hot Topic right:). lol. Thoughts? For or against, share away.

Awful Scare

My little girl scared me to death today. I had just gotten off of work (4PM) and had laid Daisy down in her crib for her nap. I always lay her down awake and spin her mobile so she can start relaxing. She usually falls asleep quite peacefully on her own though I do come in a couple more times to rewind the mobile and give her pacifier back. I usually sit in my office which is wall to wall with her room so I can literally hear every peep and sniffle that she makes without her seeing me and wanting me to pick her up.

I was sitting in my office chair and all of a sudden I hear Daisy make an off the wall, bizarre, heart stopping, choke noise. It almost sounded like a cough so I almost ignored it until she made another noise just like it and I know my daughters noises frontwards and backwards and that was a noise of danger. I felt my body go cold and I jumped out of my chair in a panic and went racing into her room. Daisy had scooted herself (on her back) into one of the corners of her crib and for the life of me I cannot figure out what happened. Maybe when she scooted her clothes had gotten caught tightly around her neck from her pulling them up by scooting back or maybe she bent her head weird in the corner of the crib but, I kid you not she was purple, not breathing, had snot running out of her nose, pus in her eyes and had tears gushing, but no crying. I grabbed her out of the crib so fast while borderline screaming, "Oh God, Oh God, Oh God," Smacked her back as hard as I could...I really didn't know what else to try in that moment of panic. Truthfully, it all unfolded much more quickly than it felt all thanks to God. She began breathing and crying immediately after though she was still struggling with snot in her throat and her eyes seemed a bit glazed over.

I have never in my life felt the terror and horror that I felt in those few short moments. Thoughts of losing my child, thoughts of not having enough time to call 911, thoughts of feeling utterly helpless, thoughts of everything you can imagine flashed through my mind and what bothered me most is that I am not sure for the life of me what caused her to struggle to breathe. She had no toys or things in her crib to play with or choke on. That freaks me out big time because I don't want it to happen again but, how can I prevent something when I do not know the cause? This is one of those situations where I will have to trust the Lord to take care of my precious baby and hope and pray that this was just a bizarre fluke thing.

I continued to shake for a good 10 minutes after everything was over. I felt sick, nauseous, dizzy, weak...just downright awful. I'm sure you all have had a similar situation with your kiddos. It's got to be the worst feeling in the world! All I can say is thank you Jesus that Daisy is okay, thank you Jesus that I heard her when I did and that I was able to get her breathing again. THank you Jesus!

Real as the Air I Breathe

Our Lord my God how awesome you are! In all this Earth nothing speaks more lovingly and clearly than your voice. You shown endless mercy and forgiveness in spite of my selfishness and sin. You walk beside me when I am joyful and when I am grieving and you bring comfort to my soul with perfect words that only you could utter. You wrap my weary body in your everlasting arms. I weep because I am so full of gratitude that a mess like me could be welcomed into your family! How can I express to this world how much you mean to me? How can I show them how real you are when they are so distracted by all the other voices? You were not just a good man who walked the Earth 2 thousand years ago. You are the son of God, you came to fulfill a prophesy and someday you will come again. Oh yes, you will come again in glory and might and my eyes are open and my soul is longing for that day. I wait with great anticipation. To fall at your feet to see hearts healed forever by your touch, to see the lame walk, the dead rise, the blind see, the deaf hear the broken whole again. My God my God how good you are. Let your voice be the one I hear and let your words direct me through this broken land. -Amen Hope you all feel a big Heavenly hug today. Jesus is as real as the air you and I breathe and whether you know him or not he stands at the door of our hearts and waits, gently knocks and welcomes us into His loving arms. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

A beautiful worship song by Jeremy Riddle

This is my song to You
A melody of thanks for You
An expression of wonder
At Your beauty and Your splendor

No other cry have I
Than to know You more and lift You high
Oh, God of infinite glory
Above all You are worthy

What can I bring to You
Simply a song of love
And boundless, gratitude
My whole life, for You

You've rescued me from death
Given me Your kingdom
And blessed me with Your love
Countless mercies from above

This is my song to You
A melody of thanks for You
An expression of wonder
At Your beauty and Your splendor

No other cry have I
Than to know You more and lift You high
Oh, God of infinite glory
Above all You are worthy

What can I bring to You
Simply a song of love
And boundless, gratitude
My whole life, for You

You've rescued me from death
Given me Your kingdom
And blessed me with Your love
Countless mercies from above

Had I riches, I would bring them
Had I kingdoms, I would lose them
Had I the world, too small a gift
Would it be for You (2x)

What can I bring to You
Simply a song of love
And boundless, gratitude
My whole life, for You

Four Pack Dedication Day

this banner above was designed by Todd, Sam's Dad and was shown on the projector at church while the babies were being dedicated.
above: the first ever all family four pack picture: left to right: Brian, Lindsay and Lila Hege, Evan, Jen and Raelyn Chaisson, US, Todd, Lindsey and Sam Davis. The whole Gang!
Daisy is already hungry for the word!! She was eating it up:).
My baby is my favorite present ever!
Crack up!
Above: She looks as if she'd like to say< " Is this one for me?"
The Martinez FAm.
Great Grandpa Bailey and Daisy having a stare down:)
Jess and her BF Noah
Me and my sissy Jessie Poo - Love her:)!
Grandma Martinez and miss Daisy
The Martinez/Bailey gang
awesome neighbors, Raechel, Annie, Travis and Erin. So great that you guys made it!


This past Sunday 9/19/2010 Daisy, along with the 3 other babies of the four pack, were dedicated at our church. Dedications are special in that they allow us as parents to publicly stand before our church with our children and ask them to pray for our families that we would raise our children in the faith and for wisdom to do a good job. It's a day of dedicating our little ones to the Lord's care and guidance. It's special! I thought I would be more nervous or frazzled at the coming of such a big event but, I surprised myself and overall the day went so well. We were so blessed that our neighbors and family members that live here could come and support us and Daisy at church! Joey was nervous on stage as he prayed for our family which to me was really cute and Daisy was past her nap time so she was squirming all over the place and trying to crawl out of my arms while she slobbered all over my hair and shirt. The moments we will never forget! :). After church all of the four pack families met up at the Pastor's home (he is Grandpa to Lila) and we had a wonderful potluck style lunch. It was a big celebration with over 50 people in attendance. The house was bursting at the seams! Awesome! We ate outside with our family and had an absolute blast as Daisy opened her first presents ever!! She LOVED the wrapping paper and could have easily torn it or eaten it to pieces but, we took it away before she could do so:). She was blessed with some really special gifts and we are just so thankful to everyone who made this day special for all of us! More importantly than that, thank you Jesus for our precious Daisy. She is the most priceless gift we have been given and every day with her we grow and learn more about God's love. What a miracle a child is!

"Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it."
Proverbs 22:6

She Sits

We've been working with Daisy to strengthen her back and neck muscles in any way that we can since she hates being on her tummy. We've concluded that she is most likely never going to like being on her tummy and might just bypass crawling and go straight for pulling up and walking. lol. We sit her in the bumbo and in her exersaucer a lot and that has done the trick. The past couple of weeks we've been sitting her up and assisting her minimally and to our surprise she was doing pretty good on her own. She still is not 100% for the record. She teeters and falls over after about a minute or two. I'm quite certain she will be good to go in about a week or so. It's so neat to see how happy she is to be sitting up on her own and off of her back. Now she sometimes welcomes being put on her back to rest since sitting up tires her out at this point. Soooooo cute to see her sitting!! My baby is almost 6 months (two weeks to go) and already sitting!!! Wowie. I'm so proud of my big girl!!!

I was talking with a friend today and I was reminded that I never followed up on Daisy's stranger anxiety issue on the blog. I would say that from birth to 3.5 - 4 months Daisy had a really difficult time being left alone with anyone but me. It was so hard on me because she could cry for hours on end until I returned which made me never want to go anywhere. I scoured the internet to see what people suggested and asked all of my friends but none of them had really ever experienced the same situation and I will say that I think it can be hard for people to relate to something when they have not experienced the same thing. I blamed myself and felt like I had done something wrong by being home every day with her or spending too much time with her (:!&&#) blah blah blah but, I can confidently say now that it just is what it is. Daisy had stranger anxiety..I don't care what any person or book said, I just know and as she got older and understood better who was around she grew to be more comfortable in other people's company. It's wonderful! It is soooooo emotionally draining to leave a child that has separation anxiety when it is a real thing lemme tell you. To all you moms who have experienced this my heart and compassion goes out to you because it is not fun and you aren't alone...I've been there. It's so easy to second guess ourselves as parents, to compare ourselves etc. but, we all know our kids best and we need to trust our instincts! All that being said, it is soooooo nice to see that Daisy has naturally worked through this on her own without my stress or help. God is so faithful because I was praying about this for a long time and he took care of it! Thank you Jesus. It's so nice to be able to go out and leave Daisy with Joey or a family member and know that she is no longer wigging out the entire time. What a load lifted lemme tell yah! Have any of you ever experienced a similar situation as a parent?

"And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19

Fun

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This is a hodgepodge wrap up of the pictures left over from Lindsey's visit. She took some pictures of me so that I could use them on my photography blog and website and she was even kind enough to edit them for me. Saved me the hassle and it was really fun to see how the pictures turned out after she worked on them. She is quite a talented photographer if I do say so and I would also like to give a shout out because today is her 27th birthday!!!! HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY LINDSEY!!! You are such a blessing to me. Wish I lived near you so we could celebrate today:).

Today was Daisy's dedication day at church along with the rest of the babies of the four pack. I have lots of fun pictures to post of all the festivities! Needless to say I think we are all exhausted so it's time for a quick nap.....