Clovers for Collins

When I first found out I was pregnant, I went to babycenter.com daily to check the status of what was going on with my pregnancy, as well as finding out what was normal and not normal, since I had no clue.  I found the community section on the website, and joined the board for the moms of May 2011 babies.  This was a great place to go and talk to other people going exactly through what I was going through, and it provided a group of people to talk to outside of work and home, since we had decided not to spill the beans until I was out of my first trimester.  


There were thousands of people and so many posts everyday that it was hard to keep up.  One day I saw a post for the start of a spinoff group of moms that were sarcastic.  I of course signed up immediately.  We became a close knit group of ladies, and eventually the group moved to Facebook.  We went from talking about our pregnancies to one by one, to welcoming our babies into the world.  


Of the 27 women in the group, one of the ladies was not able to bring her son home with her.  He had a disease called ACD, which a rare lung disease that strikes newborns.  It has no cure and is always fatal.  There was no way of knowing that he had this disease, and the night we all found out, we hugged our babies tight and prayed for strength and comfort for this fellow May mama.  


One of the services that was provided to family in their loss was a photo session of her dear son by a group called "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep" (NILMDTS).  This group brings in a photographer to hospitals to do a photo session for families to have a keepsake of of their babies that have gone to be with the Lord.  She has told us many times how she treasures these photos and how great it is to have something so beautiful to remember him by.


With all that being said, our group decided, that in celebration of his life, we would do a fundraiser in which for a $5 donation, people could purchase a 4 leaf clover (her symbol for Collins) of their choice that was handcrafted by a member of our group.  The fundraiser is called Clovers for Collins and all proceeds will be donated to NILMDTS in Collins' name.  We have started a Facebook page, which you can access by clicking the button on the right hand side of my blog.  Please take a look and consider donating to this great organization.  I know that they have done a great service for my friends' family, and hopefully they can continue their work in the future for more families.

Nine Months Old!

What a crazy month this has been, while Aubrey was just starting to get mobile last month, she has now become very good at it, a little too good actually because we are constantly chasing her down and getting her out of things (including the dust bunny collection behind the couch).  Our house is now in the best shape that it has ever been.  Yes, we have to sweep and steam the floors every week, but it’s worth it.  We have also installed baby gates at the top of the stairs, and will be installing them at the bottom of that stairs this weekend, thanks to daddy’s “lessons” on how to climb the stairs last week. 

Between the crawling and the standing up everywhere, Baby Girl can get pretty much everywhere that she needs to go and absolutely everywhere that she shouldn’t be going.  It is unreal how fast she has picked up crawling, and it’s a great feeling knowing that sometimes she’s barreling toward me.  Now I just have to remember to wear sweatpants with drawstrings, so I don’t get pantsed when she pulls up on me.

This month has been very busy also with the onslaught of tax season, which came with an additional 10 hour a week requirement at work.  I am working out the kinks of the new schedule, and I think we are finally getting adjusted.  While I am enjoying the adult time at work, I sure do miss getting to hang out with my sweet girl as much.  It has also been a challenge to work out a new schedule in regards to working out and getting the house in order, hopefully that will come with this next month.  This month has also been bittersweet, as I made the decision to stop breastfeeding.  It was becoming too stressful to meet all my requirements at work as well as Aubrey’s nutritional requirements, so we switched to formula.  It hasn’t been terrible, but I must admit I miss it.  Hopefully one of these days when Aubrey has a brother or sister, I can make it the full year.  I am very proud of my 8 months though!

We had Aubrey’s well check today, and she’s still a little peanut, weighing in at 16 pounds even and 28.5 inches long.  She definitely has the Barbeauld genes in that regard, because the kid can put it away!  I honestly have no idea where all the food goes.  Our doctor says she’s doing great and wants us to work on getting Aubrey to sleep 8 hours at night.  While the prospect sounds nice, I’m not going to push it until Aubrey is a year.  Yes we have gotten a couple of full nights of sleep, but they are always followed by a week of bad sleep, so I have just decided not to get too comfortable with any type of sleep routine.  I have found just taking it one day at a time works the best for all of us.

Eight Months Old!

I just can’t believe I am writing this post.  This first year is going so fast, and we are really enjoying every minute of it.  Aubrey continues to amaze us every day and we have been so blessed to have such a great kid.  Here are a few snapshots from Aubrey's first Christmas.

Aubrey got some wonderful gifts, including a rocking horse that was handcrafted by her Papaw. 

It is a beautiful family heirloom, and we look forward to being able to enjoy it for years to come.  It was great to see all of the family together including all of the new additions that we have gotten this year.  Next year should be really fun when they are all mobile!

Speaking of mobility, she is still army crawling, but getting on her knees more and more.  She is big on exploring, and we often have to move her back to her play mat when she gets out of sight and into things.  

Another big change this month is sitting on from crawling and pulling up on anything and everything, the dog food was her first temptation, now she just does it to do it.  We have since lowered the crib mattress to avoid that temptation for now.

Our eight month pictures went a little bit better than last month, although she is definitely harder to keep in one place these days!  She loves her new boots that were made by my friend Amanda!

Seven Months Old!

I’m a little more timely on this post!  Now that we are getting into a routine and adjusting to our new normal, I am able to have a little time where I’m not running around like crazy.  It has been a weekend of runny noses and sneezing at this house, and I hope all of that is over soon. 

Now, onto the important things, such as my little baby being seven months old already!  She becomes more and more of a little personality every day, she is so bubbly and friendly, although she still has a touch of separation anxiety, she really has been doing well with people other than Mama and Daddy.   

Trying some green beans

She definitely loves her grandparents, and this past weekend, she had her first over-night stay at Nana and Papaw’s (my parents) house, while Joey and I went to a cooking class.  She did great, and Papaw was already spoiling her by letting her stay up late.  I have to admit, it was nice being able to get a full night sleep and even sleep in a little.  It was much needed!    

Another big development this month has been increased mobility.  She had been doing a slow, hesitant belly scootch for the last week, but that has now developed into a full on, no fear army crawl, and boy is she fast.  Now baby proofing is definitely on the agenda, as Joey and I just haven’t thought about it.  I guess we are in denial that our little baby is growing up so fast.

Helping with the Christmas Wrapping

Due to her new skills, taking her pictures this month was a bit of a chore, I thought I would share the good and the bad, so you could see exactly what we were dealing with.  Hopefully I can get some better pictures Christmas morning!

Taggie Blanket Tutorial

I have gotten a crafty bug since I had Aubrey, and one thing that I have tackled is making a tag blanket in order to give Aubrey a way to satisfy her new obsession with tags.  Since I know a lot of other mamas out there with babies around the same age, I thought I would share how I made this fun little toy.  The best part is this little project only cost $5 to make!  I made this blanket for a gift exchange at Aubrey's daycare.

To start, you need thread, pins, two types of fabric (I used just some extra fabric I had around the house and some minky fabric I got at the craft store), and a roll of ribbon.   

Cut the ribbon into 5 inch strips, I made 18 strips for this blanket, but you may need more or less depending on the size of the blanket that you want to make.

After all of your strips are cut, place the "good" sides of the fabric toward each other.  Fold your ribbon strips in half and pin them in between the two pieces of fabric.  Repeat until you pin the desired number of tags.

Once you have you pinning complete, sew the two pieces of fabric together, about 1/2 and inch to an inch from the edges.  Sew three edges completely, and leave a 5 inch space in the middle of the fourth edge.  This way, you can turn the blanket inside out and all of the tags will be sticking out.

To finish out the blanket and close up the hole, sew a seam around the edges of the blanket,  half an inch from the edges.  

Then your blanket will be complete!  I just kind of winged it when creating this, so please add suggestions of ways to make the blanket easier to make.

Happy Sewing!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

We are in the midst of the holiday season, and it has been so much fun this year seeing Christmas through Aubrey’s eyes, and getting to share our traditions with her.  We have gotten the house all decorated and I have already gotten to start baking for several of the Christmas parties that we are attending.  Thanks to Pinterest, I have been trying several new recipes and all have been pretty tasty. 

Here’s a look at how our household is getting into the Christmas spirit!

The tree in the living room, our "fancy" tree.

 Our new stockings

 The tree in the basement, the "family" tree.

 UT Christmas trees, made for me by a dear friend

Here is another great idea that I found on Pinterest.  We pinned ribbon onto our cabinets, and I spray painted clothes pins gold to attach the Christmas cards onto the ribbon.  It was so easy and such a great way to display our cards from family and friends.


Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!

Six Months Old!

I’m a little late in my posting, as you can see.  Going back to work has really cut into my blogging time, but more on that later.   Aubrey turned 6 months old a couple of weeks ago, on my 28^th birthday to be exact, so we decided to have the whole family over for a little party.  Aubrey got some new outfits and got to model the bunny slippers that Daddy got her when he was out of town. 

In a flurry of last week, I only managed to get one good picture of Aubrey in her 6 month onesie, so here is that…

As far as development goes, Aubrey is doing great.  She is able to get down and get into crawling position, but the more she tries to move forward, the more she scoots back, so we often have to rescue her from corners when she backs herself in a little too far.  She has also started saying bye and da, which is cute.  She also really enjoys bath time now and is even sitting up in her big girl tub!

When she had her six month doctor visit, she weighed in at 13 pounds, 13 ounces (10^th percentile) and is now 26 ¼ inches tall (75^th percentile).  She seems to be growing up ok, but not as much out as she used to be.  We have now added breakfast, and she seems lately to want to be eating all the time, so I’m thinking she’s going to start catching up here soon.  The doctor asked if she had been pulling up, and as soon as I said no and the doctor left the room, the little stinker started pulling up!  She was a champ with her shots, which was good, and I did ok as well. 

This month also marks my original goal of 6 months of breastfeeding!  Yay!  It has been a very rewarding six months, and since it’s going so well, I’m going to extend my goal to a year.  Pumping at work has not been as bad as expected, so we are going to just keep going as long as possible.  The biggest help in reaching this goal was the support of Joey and our families, and I am so grateful that they are there for me and understand how important breastfeeding has become to me and Aubrey. 

Hopefully, I will have time over the next couple of days to get in a couple of more entries, as so much has been going on!  Stay tuned!