Being a Mom

Wow, our baby girl is almost three months old. I truly cannot believe so much time has gone by so quickly. I almost get teary eyed writing this as it seems like its going so fast and I am trying to savor every second. I am truly in love with our little girl and I am in love being a mother. Its truly the most special thing to be able to care and love something so dearly. She keeps rewarding me by giving me the cutest smile and small giggle every time I look at her. I can play games with her such as "bouncy baby" where she bounces and bounces off my legs with me helping her but I say over and over bouncy baby and she gets more and more excited. Its so sweet. We also still play Super baby where she is like a little superman. Yes corny but I love it b/c she loves it. We are still working on our schedule although she has done quite well at night. We have gotten 7 hours straight but its on average 5-6 at night so there is a usual 4am feeding although it only lasts truly 10 minutes and she goes right back to sleep for 3-4 hours and then we feed again around 7 and go back to sleep until 9. Usually at the 6 or 7am feeding I put her in bed with me. :) I am reading all sorts of sleeping books to see what I should be doing and for the most part we are doing what they say to do. Although I am a sucker for that pacifer, Allison truly loves her paci.Once I put it in her mouth when she is sleepy its like her eyes start rolling in the back of her head. Allison is not a napper, she is like clock work on a 40 minute nap schedule. She eats, we play, diaper change etc and after an hour with all of that she is ready for a nap. But then she sleeps for only 40 minutes and the rest of the time its me trying to get her back to sleep or we just hangout until the next feeding. Sometimes she wants to eat though 2 1/2 hours and she is truly hungry. SO who knows. ALLISON DID ROLL OVER last week. Only once and has not done it again. But we were doing tummy time (which we need to do more) and she had this burst of energy right when I put her on the mat and just rolled over. She is also smilling so much and cooing all the time. She half way giggles which most would count that as laughing but I am waiting for a full outlandish laugh. She halfway giggles at me and smiles at me so much that I am convinced I am hilarious. Who cares that she is only 2months old. My maternity leave is up this week :( I am truly in denial I still think and I start back to work on wednesday and then I work on Friday. Will is also been traveling the last three weeks and will travel the next two at least so that has been kindof hard. But I have been on maternity leave so we traveled to Wimberley/Austin last weekend and then I went to Houston and Crockett. It kindof broke up the week and mama mel helped me with Allison when she got off work. Allison is going to go to a lady on Wednesday and I pray that it works as good as I think it will. I am so nervous and sad although I think part time will be great and it truly is a great schedule. I just am not used to being away from her at all. I will truly miss her so much. Allisons reflux is still pretty bad, poor girl. you can tell when she is in pain. I got the medicine compounded (makes it in a liquid form) but she hates the taste that she keeps spitting it out. Jenny and Andrea both had their babies this month. They are adorable. I cant wait until we get them altogether. Life is truly so good and special right now. What a wonderful time in Will and I's life. I am truly cherising every moment.

Things to remember:

Maternity leave-traveling a lot with Will and being in Houston

Snuggling with Allison in my arms

Dream feeds (tried it three times, one time it got us to 6am but the other two she still woke up at 3)

Allison rolling over

Allison smiling, cooing, almost laughing completely

reflux still bad

2 1/2-3 hour schedule feed, play, nap, try to nap some more or hangout, play, feed again

dressing Allison in all of her clothes now that they fit

pumping, pumping, and more pumping... Allison not interested in breastfeeding except for in the middle of the night. She def prefers bottles so I have my hands free bra and pump away. I am still making about 3 1/2oz per breast for 10 minutes.

Allison is now drinking 4-5 oz per feeding- she did drink 6oz last week at one feed

Allison is now weighing 12 lbs or so. She has moved to size 2 diapers and is wearing in between 0-3 and 3-6. Her thighs have gotten so chubby as well as her cheeks. SOO CUTE.

9 weeks old- Smiles Smiles and more Smiles

Miss Allison is 9 weeks old. We have yet again been traveling. I came home from Houston on Thursday morning and Will was already home from his audit. It was great being with mom and fred and Allison enjoyed her grandparents. We had Allison's 2 month checkup and her following statistics were:

Heights: 23.5 inches long-92%

Weight: 10 lbs 5 oz- 45%

Head: 15 inches-39%

Statistics from previous appointments:

7/19/2010

Height: 20.75-66%

Weight: 7 lbs 5 oz-24%

Head: 14-38%

7/08/2010

Height: 20-64%

Weight: 6 lbs 12 oz-21%

Head: 13.25-18%

The doctor was soooooooo impressed by Allison and her strength. She said she was almost rolling over and she couldnt believe she was already showing signs of that. She said her head strength was really amazing as well. We ended up switching Allison to Prevacid twice a day (stronger than Zantac) and it has really helped. Feedings are so much better and she is doing great. She mainly only cries when she is hungry or overtired. She is such a good baby although she doesnt like to be alone. She constantly wants someone holding her or she wants to sleep by her mommy and daddy although she just wants to be by someone :) Doctor said we shouldnt let her cry it out until she is 4 months old. She got all her shots- they give her sugar water while giving her two shots at once. She cried for a solid 5 minutes loud but then calmed down and slept for about 2 hours. We thought she would have slept more but it didnt happen. I am happy that she didnt get any fever and didnt seem sore. She did great.

This past week we went to back to houston because Will had another audit in houston. BUT we got to celebrate our 2 year anniversary while Mama Mel babysat Allison all night long. We went to Brennans on the Bayou - nice steakhouse and stayed downtown at the Hilton. We had a lot of fun and it was a perfect 2 year anniversary. The rest of the week we stayed at the Candelwood suites- it was good at first b/c we had a living room, bedroom, kitchen, etc.. but after 3 days we were all ready to leave. WE all shared a double bed one night-will, me, allison, and bailey. Allison has done so well. She has literally traveled most of her life already -haha, she has been to Crockett twice, Houston twice, Longview twice, and Wimberly twice. This past weekend we were back in Wimberly. Allison got in the river for the first time. She had her leopard bikini on and actually did great. She ended up falling asleep in my lap.

IT has been so much fun these past couple of weeks. They say babies "wake up" after the 6th or 7th week and she really has. Its so fun in that she can interact with you more and smile. She has done a half giggle if there is such but its defiitely some type of laugh. She loves it when you make noises with her when you do the bicycle with her legs. She is pretty happy in the morning. She still loves baths and I have just begun reading to her at night. We started with Goodnight Moon. She still loves the car and it puts her to sleep. She has a mirror where she sits that plays songs and she has really started to interact with it. I love being a mother and I am so comfortable with her. It is truly a blessing and I just cant wait to see how she is going to look and act in these next couple of months.. I looked back at just two months ago and she has changed so much. Our routine at night is usually a last feed around 1030-1130 and then she will wake up to eat either at 3 or sleep until 530 or so. Then we will go back to sleep and she will wake me up around 730 to eat and then we try to go back to sleep until about 930. She has slept about 3-4 nights per week where she will sleep for 5-6 hours straight. During the day we are trying to incorporate more tummy time. Although she doesnt really like it, so we do it more on my stomach. She has great head control and loves to kick and jump off my belly. I usually lift her up high when she starts jumping. She smiles a lot when we play like this on the bed.

Things to remember:

Smiling (started around 7 weeks)-- it truly melts your heart when you see your child smile at you and interact with you

Eating- she still eats every 2 1/2-3 hours about 3oz although this past weekend she has been eating around 4oz

Pumping in the car :)

Bicycle- Allison loves this especially when Sherry does it

Lamb-sleeps with the sounds it makes every night. She also sleeps on the inclined sleep positioner in her bassinett, pack n play, and in our bed.

We dont swaddle her at all- she kicks all blankets off -- she is pretty hot natured

Still goes through about 10-12 diapers per day

This week we will be here at home-thank goodness but then next we are traveling back to Houston for Will's audit. Will post more soon.

7 Weeks Old

We have been pretty busy. We have had another trip to Crockett and now Houston. Allison has been doing very well. She has slept 2 nights now for 7 hours straight. Her routine normally is waking up about once per night usually around 3 or 4 and then goes pretty much back to bed. Which is pretty wonderful. When at home, she usually goes to sleep in her bassinett at night but if she is pretty fussy I will put her in bed with us. She has been going through some phases where I at first thought she had colic, but now I know it was acid reflux. Last Friday I called the doctor and told her some of the symptoms, fussiness while feeding, arching her back, screaming in pain etc etc and they called her in some zantac. It actually has helped, poor baby, I feel bad it took me a while to call the doctor so that she could get some relief. Its so strange but I can see some of her behaviors like she did in the womb, such as being very active for an entire day and night and then sleeping a lot the next couple of days. Although its a little different now, she does go through days where she is so awake and then completely drained. She has so far hit all of her milestones, the biggest and most rewarding I will say is when you see her smile. At first she would smile usuallly when she had finished eating but now she will smile (sometimes) when you play with her. She has grown so much and I cant wait to go to the doctor this Friday to see how long she is. I have weighed her and she is 11 lbs 5 oz, but not sure what the doctors scale will say. She has to get her first set of immunizations which I am excited about so I dont feel like she is so vulnerable and I can feel more comfortable getting her out and about. Granted she goes many places now, but I am still careful. Being a mother has truly changed and blessed my life. I cant believe she is ours, I am still in disbelief.
Things to remember:
Zantac medicine
Mylicone Drops (we use these daily, as Allison is quite gassy)
Lamb that makes white noise sound (she sleeps with this for every nap and nighttime)
Head control-- She is getting better and better about holding her head up
She doesnt like socks, blankets on her legs-always kicking them off
Hot natured
Smiling- she has started smiling at things in her enviroment
Loves to look at fans
Her trying to nurse on Will's nose :)

Allisons First Trip to Wimberly

Well last weekend we went to the river with Allison. We loaded up ALL OF OUR STUFF which consisted of pack n' play, pumping bag, milk bag, will's bag, my bag, allison's bag, and 2 other bags filled with all the other baby stuff we might need. John and Emily met us on Thursday around 6pm and we all rode down to Wimberly together. It was a good trip although we had to stop at Whataburger and feed Allison. I actually had to pump in the parking lot- man have things changed... haha, but we made it work. We got to Wimberly around 11pm- fed Allison and tried to get her down. I went to bed around 130 and Allison was up from 3am-6am... Needless to say I was exhausted Friday but excited to be at the river. We got up had coffee and enjoyed the day. I had my first beer in 10 months!! It was weird, I felt like I was doing something wrong. We hung outside for a couple of hours with dad, natalie, wyatt, john, emily, will and I. Sandra and Stan came down and met Allison. We then loaded up and all went to Salt Lick. Allison slept the entire time, she did great!! Then we got home, I took a small nap with Allison and the rest of crew floated the river for what was supposed to be one hour according to dad, but it ended up being 3 hours and they had to paddle/walk the entire time. HAHA, I keep laughing out loud about the scenario, they were so pissed when they got off the river. We ended up just hanging out that night and ate pizza. We got up the next day went to the big house on the hill, had coffee and listened to music. Got in the river that afternoon, and had a bbq that evening. It was perfect weather, and Sherry helped me out so much with Allison. I am forever thankful :) We headed back on Sunday pretty early and are now trying to get back into a routine...

The first weeks at home

We have been very busy, not to mention that we have already made three out of town trips. I know most people are not suprised as people say we never sit still, but at least for now Allison loves car rides so we are able to do it. The first week home was interesting as I was going through so much anxiety. Not sure if it was no sleep, scared that I was doing everything wrong, out of whack hormones, but I will say I was quite anxious. We went to the peditrician on that Thursday the 8th and Allison had gained all her weight back plus three ounces. The first night home was interesting, we ended up bringing the swing into the room and putting her in it as we hadnt gotten any sleep. She slept good in it and I was scared that our baby was going to have to live in that swing for her first year of life. I believe the second night we put her in bed with us on the sleep positioner. It worked for an hour or so.... although the doc said she wanted her to learn to sleep in her bassinett and fall asleep on her own. We are definitely still working on that, but will say the swing has stayed in the living room. Miss Allison is 4 weeks old!! Crazy that this time has already gone by. At this 1 month mark, Allison is definitely not on a schedule, some days she is really active in that she wont go to sleep so mommy thinks she is always hungry. And other days she sleeps during the day and will eat 2 1/2- 3 hours. I will say at night Allison does pretty good. Knock on wood, but it seems like she will go down and sleep the entire 2.5-3 hours and then go back down relatively easy. She has started gazing back at people and she will grab on to your clothes or will's chest hair :) She has so much better head control, she can lift her head up for a couple of minutes if she is on her tummy. She also can control her head for a little while if she is sitting on your lap. She is definitely a grunter, my nickname for her is my little goat, not sure if its gas or just her finding her voice. She makes all sorts of noises lately. She doesnt seem to like being swaddled, so we dont do it at night. Of course I wonder if we should and maybe she could sleep longer. Who knows?!?! She has had 3 nights where she slept 5 hours straight, although I had to wake her to eat. I didnt want to wake her but I knew she wasnt at her 10 pound mark and she isnt supposed to go longer than 6 hours until she is 10 pounds. All the rules!!!! The third week was good in that the second week was hard for me so anything was better. I wasnt as hormonal, not really anxious, got used to Allison, and probably more confident in myself to know what to do if she was upset. The second week Iwas anxious, she was sporadic in eating, I was still getting used to breastfeeding, and we made our first car trip. HOW I did it I dont know, but Allison did well in the car. I cant believe this child is 1 month old and she has made 3 trips, Longview, Crockett, and Wimberly. Go Allison.

Things to Remember:
Gripe Water- we use it often as it seems like Allison gets in pain from gas or what not
Mylicon drops- again gas drops- seems to help
Pumping/Breastfeeding every 2.5-3 hours often 2-2.5 hours
Grunting noises
Sweet smiles after feedings-not on purpose but you can tell she is content
Grabbing onto shirts
Head control, she can lift her head for many minutes especially if she is on your chest. Although she is still our "bobble head" she is gaining much more strength as she can sit on your lap without her head falling over.

And then there were three plus a yorkie :)

OH MY GOSH, I cannot describe the emotions, experience, and life transformation that has happened within the last couple of weeks. Miss Allison Nicole Driskell made her debut on July 4th, 2010. I am so excited she came on the fourth, at first I didnt want her to have that birthday but now I am so glad she does. So the plan was for us to be admitted to the hospital on Monday evening to start the induction process and I would be induced on July 6th, 2010. So on Saturday night we had people over to the house to cook fajitas and go watch fireworks. I even made an apple pie from scratch and went to the grocery store etc. I was having contractions but they were irregular so I didnt think too much about it. We went and watched fireworks with the Brynes and the Vinsons until about 1145 at night. We got home and I just couldnt sleep so I was watching tv until about 145 when I felt a pop in my belly and felt a gush of fluid coming out. It was the strangest feeling ever and I immediately knew that my water had broken. Will was still up celebrating the fourth of July as he wasnt going to celebrate any of the other days so that he felt good for the events we thought were coming up that monday and tuesday. So when my water broke I called out to Will and we called the doctor. Dr. Harms was not on call so we were told to go to labor and delivery. We hopped in the car while grabbing my bag that I had mainly packed but we hadnt packed anything else like the car seat etc. haha, I remember yelling to Will grab the car seat.... I was sooooo scared b/c I thought I had two more days to get ready. We got to the hospital around 230 and were admitted into a labor room. I had already called mom, natalie, and dad and they were on their way. They also had celebrated the night before :) Will called Jim and Sabrina and his parents. I also called Lynne. Once admitted my contractions were irregular and causing Allison's heart beat to go really low. They firgured out that when I was on my back while I was having a contraction it was causing Allison's to be in distress. It was sooo scary as I didnt know what was going on. They immediately put me on oxygen and started the pitocin. They came in an did an epidural, which hurt but was okay. They put in a catheter and had everything ready in case I needed to have a csection since Allison wasnt at first handling all the contractions. I was so scared and just didnt know how I was going to make it through the entire process. I prayed and prayed and was defintely given strength to get through it all. Lynne and Jody got to the hospital around 6am and then mom and natalie got there about 7am. The Driskells got there around 8 and dad and Sherry got there around 1030am. The doctor thought it was going to take me 8 or more hours to get to 10cm but around 930 the nurse realized I was at a 7 and we were going to get ready for delivery. Although they had to come in and put another epidural as the first one didnt take on my left side. I will say contractions hurt like crazy but I have had cramps that bad before. I am just glad the other epidural took before I had to start pushing. I started pushing around 1030 and she was born at 11:08am. WHAT an amazing experience... when she came out they put her immediadetly on my stomach, I remember thinking oh my gosh its really a baby, :) not that I didnt think it would be but it was so serreal I couldnt believe she had actually come from inside me. Will and I both cried as we couldnt believe this experience had just happened. They cleaned her off and handed her to Will and I. We immediately tried nursing and she did wonderful. We then had everyone come in and meet Allison. When I first saw mom and natalie we all started crying as we were all in disbelief that all of this had just happened and little Allison was in our lives. After we introduced Allison to everyone they took her to the nursery to get her vitals and weight. She weighed 6lbs 9oz and was 19inches long. They then took me to our room and I recovered from labor. Will and I still hadnt slept from the night before but with so much going on we just pushed through. Everyone was so tired that mom and natalie left and went to frisco to nap around 4pm. So did dad and sherry. The driskells came back up to the hospital and we all hung out until about 7pm. We had Allison in the room most of the evening but then tried to get some sleep so the nursery would bring her in when it was time to nurse. That evening/morning is when it truly became more real that she was indeed ours. What an experience. We discharged from the hospital on Tuesday July 6th, Will was so ready to leave that he had everything in the car ready to go at like 9 that morning. Of course I had to meet with the lactation consultant again and go over nursing one more time as I was so anxious. This is truly an event in our lives that we will never forget. The first moment you see her is so serreal you think you are dreaming. Birth of a child is truly a miracle. She is a precious little girl and is loved by many already.

I will post later about the last 2 weeks as these are more new experiences for Will and I. :)

Almost Here

Well these last few weeks have flown by, I stopped working this past monday so I have had all week to get things ready and hang out. Last Tuesday June 22nd, we did our NST test and another sonogram. They stated everything looked great with Allison. The doctor didnt seem nearly as worried but still told me to get my 10 kicks per hour in one day. And wouldnt you know baby Allison was pretty active on our appointment day :). But again we went through the next couple of days barely getting our kicks/movements. I was definitely still re-assured when dr.harmes said we were looking good. They think she was about 6lbs 10 oz on Tuesday the 22nd, so by now she maybe be another pound bigger. She was gaining about a pound a week. Me on the other hand stopped gaining weight so far, dont want to rejoice just yet. But I was about the same at the doc, so I am about 20 pounds heavier. Anywho, I cant tell you how excited I am to be able to see and hold Allison. Although I will admit I am completely nervous as I dont know what to expect and I keep thinking bad thoughts like something bad might happen between then. But I am praying and thinking positively just waiting to get to Tuesday. :) I am so excited I just cant believe its almost here. We are being admitted on Monday night so they can begin the induction process. I am only dilated to 1 1/2 at this point but am having many contractions. Each time I go into a contraction I keep thinking maybe I will start having them every five minutes and she will be here sooner. I would love to go into labor now so I can meet her and start this journey. This week has been nice to be off work, I got a lot of errands done and took some stuff back to the baby store. I also got my hair done as well as manicure and pedicure. I have also managed to have naps and go out to eat a lot. :) I cant believe I will get to hold her and meet her in about five days. WOW!!! how exciting.