Binky Bootcamp...aka taking the pacifier away from BR

We did it, its our fault, and we take full (okay part) responsibility why she has this addiction.  As I was laying in bed the other night (husband and both dogs snoring up a storm...aargh), I was thinking that maybe we probably need to not let her sleep with the paci anymore (envisions daughter graduating high school with pacifier in mouth).  Now to be fair we don't give it to her all the time or even to shut her up (like some parents I have seen...ahem).  We just give it to her at night and during her naps.  Before Bella was born I always said I wouldn't be that parent that has a 4 year old thats still sucking away on their paci (I apologize now if whoever is reading this has one of those).  So, when she was born Todd and I agreed NO PACIFIER's!!  We went with it for awhile, I believe it was at her 1 month checkup that the doctor asked if she sucked on a paci and of course we said no.  Well, she then told us that it helps some babies sooth...blah, blah, blah, blah, and oh blah.  So, we decided to see how she reacted to it and well, she loved it, thinking back on it now, it was a bad move on our part.  We should of stayed strong!  Fast forward 8 months to August 2011, we now have agreed to get rid of it all together.  So, I decided to start with nights (since thats when she's most tired). Todd came in as I was giving her a night time bottle and I said I'm not giving her the pacifier tonight, he said...at all, and I said yep, good luck he responds.  I thought cold turkey should work, she's exhausted, it will be fine.  As soon as I laid her down, she knew exactly what was missing....her drug!  I came downstairs and said we'll wait for 10 minutes and if she doesn't stop crying by then, then I'll go back up and give it to her.  She didn't, in fact when I went in to give her back her drug (I guess I'm considered her drug dealer, ha) she was sweating and crying (like withdraw symptoms).  I felt bad but decided that every night we'll just make it longer and longer till we go give it to her.  I hope tonight is a bit easier on us both...stay tuned!!

The Great Work Debate

To work or not to work that is the question.  Financially we are blessed right now that we do not need dual income to make ends meet, we just have to stick to a budget (my husband will appreciate that line).  I've been debating going back to work since the second I knew I was pregnant, way back when we were still living in Hungary.  I have to admit I absolutely love working but I also absolutely love our daughter.  As a normal person I have a pretty overactive imagination but as a mother its 10X worse.  For example, I had a job interview the other day and Todd was out of town for AF stuff so of course we needed a babysitter.  We've interviewed this lady and both felt pretty comfortable that she would take pretty good care of Bella.  So, this was the 1st time since moving here that we left her with anyone.  I'm sure you can imagine what was all going through my head as I pulled out of our drive way....kid nap, neglect, torture, starvation, and abuse.  So me with my crazy imagination drove around the neighborhood 3 times to make sure her car was still there....and it was.  When I think of leaving Bella at a daycare all day or with a stranger I get major anxiety which usually ends in me crying and Todd looking at me like I just escaped from the looney bin.  Not only that I think of all the things I could possibly miss (all of her 1st's), and that just crushes me.  I love spending my days with her but then I also think that it would do me good to work.  I've thought about working part time but then basically my pay check would be going toward child care, which to me is kind of pointless.  Todd is in no way pressuring me to work, just being ultra supportive and wants me to do what I feel comfortable doing (I'm a lucky girl).  So, I continue debating this issue and weigh the pro's and cons constantly...until I come to a resolution, I'm going to go love on my baby girl!

Busy Month of July

We've had an extremely busy July...traveling, a wonderful wedding, more traveling, even more traveling, moving, again more traveling, and finally we arrive in Missouri...what the!  Its not a surprise that all of us are exhausted and seem to be getting sick.  Lets start at the beginning...we drove to Pittsburgh/Dubois to see our 2 wonderful friends get married, spent some time with our other wonderful friends, and then flew to Phoenix to see my husband's family for a few days (extra bonus seeing our friends again, yay), then flew to Kansas City, to see our new home, then drove back to Dayton, OH...to watch our things get packed up just so we could drive back to Missouri...yowsa!  But, now that we feel a little settled (still haven't gotten our stuff yet...that will happen this Friday, thankfully) all of the travel and stress is finally catching up to all of us.  Little Bean (aka, BR, aka Bella Rose) has a major cough right now, so we're making a trip to her new Doctor tomorrow...don't get me started on the whole tri-care prime transfer to tri-care prime remote...ugh!!!!  So, hopefully she'll feel better soon...Todd C. has some strange cough/headache thing going on....I only have been sneezing...I think due to allergies here.  But, if this is all we get from all of our traveling, I'm totally fine with that.  So, right now I can breathe a little easier until Friday, when the stress of moving returns to us watching the movers all day with an active 8 month old who recently has discovered climbing upstairs, but boy is she cute when she goes up them!

7 Months....already

Its hard for me to believe that she's already 7 months old...it still feels like yesterday when I held her for the very 1st time and thought...wow I'm in charge of another human being's life.  God really knew what he was was doing when he gave her to us...she's patient yet has an attitude, she sleeps through the night but wakes up at 0730 every morning regardless of the time she goes to bed, she only cries when she's extremely tired or extremely hungry, she smiles all the time even if she has a fever and she can't breathe through her nose, she always knows where to touch you when your having a not so good day...we are 100% blessed!  Todd and I often wonder what we did to deserve her.  I truly wish time wouldn't go by so quickly, because I know before we know it she'll be graduating high school.  But, for now I'm going to hold her as much as I can cause I know one day she won't want me to!  We love you Bella, you've blessed us in more ways than you'll ever know!

for a split second I thought we had a newborn again....

So our little bundle of joy is ill...sadly.  You would never know by day that she is congested but by night you definitely can tell.  We've called our pediatrician 3 times about it and all we can really do is giver her saline drops and a decongestant.  She's so miserable...which means we're both very miserable.  But, I have to hand it to her, she's a trooper.  She doesn't have a fever, she is still eating, and still acts normal during the day.  Last night was really rough, we put her to bed at her normal time like we do every night and she slept till about 10:30ish and then she was coughing, sneezing, oh the sounds coming from her poor little nose...made us both so helpless and sad.  So, out goes my husband to any open pharmacy to find something to help her.  I however stayed at home, rocked her back to sleep and then the googling started and the pediatrician calling...etc.  I have to say sometimes I love our pediatrician and well sometimes I hate our pediatrician.  But, I know they would do the same that we've been doing if we did bring her in...it just sucks, I hate seeing her so miserable and not being to sleep good (cause she's a great sleeper).  So, daddy comes back, we give her a little more decongestant and we put her back to sleep....3 hours later, same thing, for a split second I thought we had a newborn again.  At 4 in the morning we were commenting on how we didn't miss this part about having a baby.  So, for now our little bundle of joy is in her swing sleeping somewhat soundly (as much as you can when you nose is stuffed up) and I just hope and pray she gets over this really soon...heck I'll take her sickness for 2 months if it means she can sleep again...through the night.

She's a trooper though, we took her out to a bark for life event, thinking its nice out and maybe the fresh air would help and she smiled and slept the whole time!!

almost 5 months.....wow

Its so hard for us to believe that Bella is almost 5 months.  I never thought 4 months ago that we would be sleeping through night....ever again!  I have to say the last 5 months have been wonderful.  She makes me a better person through and through, and I cannot believe that she is mine!  We are truly blessed with such a happy beautiful baby girl!  We love you so much my dear!

4 months....time goes by so fast!

Its hard for me to believe that Bella is already 4 months old.  It seems just like yesterday that we were bringing her home, scared out of our minds, thinking...okay now we're in charge of another human being...what do we do now?  Its been a wonderful 4 months, she is worth all the sleepless nights, all the spit up rags we wash, all the nights that I miss one of my shows I use to watch, and definitely all the weekends that we use to go out.  We love her more than words can express and cannot believe that this time last year we were pregnant and didn't even know it.

We are very truly blessed....our sweet girl Bella we love you SO much!!