Mangos Were a Hit!

This evening Shelbi got to try some mangos, and there were a huge hit. She made her typical yuck/I-don't-know-about-that/what-in-the-world-is-in-my-mouth drama look that she gives when she tastes something. After she decided that she liked them, she REALLY liked them. Heck, I couldn't feed her fast enough! LOL She ate an entire Stage 2 container of mangos, and then she had about 3/4 of a Stage 2 container of fruit medley. After dinner, she was quite an energenic and happy baby, and we hung out for a while before bed. Daddy took her up to put her to bed, but she was not having it. She cried (not her I'm-tired-and-falling-asleep cry) for a few minutes, so it was Mommy to the rescue. It was actually really very nice, as I picked her up and sat in the rocking chair, and she put her head on my right shoulder and was asleep in about 2 minutes. That really made my day, as she doesn't really do that all to often.
This morning I had an 11:15am appointment with Dr. Readence for another PAP (yes, I know, what an exciting day). I took Shelbi with me, and she was pretty good. She got a little bit restless when I was waiting for the doctor to come in, so I got her out for a few minutes, until he arrived. After Doctor Readence came in for me, I put her back in her carseat, and she just stared at him with this look that I cannot even describe. She did not even move except to watch him walk around the room. It was nice that he remembered us and asked how she was doing and if she was still on her heart medications. I kept asking her if she was having a flashback...LOL. She really seemed intrigued or terrified or something of him. After the drive through PAP exam, we headed to Karen's office and went to the yummy Pizza Grille for lunch. I had my 1/2 sicilian salad and I actually got a small spinish and artichoke pizza on wheat, as I'm in dire need of exercise and eating better.
Well, my head is POUNDING (probably because I did not have any caffine today, as I'm trying to drink water, water, water), so I'm going to close for now. I will say this before ending, however, Shelbi is changing so much every single day. She becomes more active, more entertained, more entertaining, and her personality is growing and growing and growing. She is sitting up like a fool, and doens't want to lay down much anymore. I love you beautiful and smart peanut!

Mother's Day and First Sickness (Outside of the Hospital)

Well, let me start this off by saying that I had the most wonderful first Mother's Day that I ever could have wished for! I got up Mother's Day morning to the most beautiful baby girl in the whole wide world, smiling away in her crib, talking to her stuffed animals. (Okay, she was probably talking to her ceiling fan, but you get the point!) We came downstairs and she had a breakfast of blueberry pear (I think) mixed with some new cereal (Daddy was still upstairs at this point). She ate an entire Stage 2 container of that, and then proceeded to nurse quite a bit. In the mist of her eating her breakfast, Scott gave her a couple of little bites of his Lemon Merange yogurt to try. She was fine through all of that, and she was hanging out with her Dad and Aunt Karen while I finished getting ready for church. I waltzed back into the Family Room and sat down on the couch with Scott and Shelbi. All of a sudden, he said "Shelbi, are you okay?" and right after those words escaped his mouth, she violently threw up. Now, Shelbi does throw up quite a bit, but this was MAJOR. She threw up once, then again, and the second time it was projectile AND came out her nose as well. She threw up one final time, and I ran out to the kitchen to get some paper towels while Karen was doing her best to hold what she could in her cupped hands. Scott kept telling Shelbi that she was okay, and that helped her from getting upset and freaking out. I started to "panic think," and for a brief second that I was going to be spending my first Mother's Day in the ER. After she got all of that out of her system, she was back to her old self again...wiggling around and smiling like the cute little ham that she is. I had a onesie made for Mammi for Mother's Day, and luckily, Shelbi had a sweater on on top of the onesie, or it would have been too soaked to wear to church. She had completely soaked the sweater, her onesie for Mammi was wet quite a bit on the top half, and the onesie underneath that one was also soaked. I ran upstairs to find her another onesie for under the cute Mammi one, Scott put the Mammi one in the dryer and then ran upstairs and dried it with the hair dryer, and Aunt Karen got her changed. We were playing a fun and exciting game of Beat the Clock, as I was making an attempt to stop to see Non before church. We hustled and bustled, but we were able to get it done.
Non was very happy with her picture frame gifts. Shelbi got her a framed copy of the picture of the two of them, and I got her a picture frame with two pictures from Shelbi's 3 months photo shoot and 2 pictures from her 6 month photo shoot. After a brief stay at Pap's house (and some unwanted harassment from Pap Sr.), we headed out the door and on our way to church.

The service at church was very nice and it focused on mothers and women in general. Mammi made it a point to say that the Anthem that the choir was singing was supposed to be a good one. I was expecting and waiting for a nice upbeat song, or for them to break out in a dance. To my surprise, it was a slow, contemporary song, with a slide show showing on the wall behind the choir. The slides consisted of what looked like a theatre reinaction of some biblical times with Mary and Jesus. At the end of the song, there was a slide that had none other than ME AND SHELBI! I couldn't believe my eyes! It was a slide of 2 older generation mother's, an older mother-daughter duo, and the picture of me holding Shelbi at the March for Babies! It was so neat and brought tears to my eyes. It turns out that Chuck had emailed my Mom about it, and she sent him the picture. When Shelbi gets fussy at church, I have a tendency to just get up and leave the sanctuary, and that's why she was telling me the story about the anthem...she didn't want me to miss it. Following a nice march up the isle at church to receive a cute pin, we headed out to the parking lot in the normal fashion...me carrying the diaper bag, and Aunt Megan carrying Shelbi.
Oh, here I go jumping around. When Shelbi and I first got into church, I asked Mammi to take off Shelbi's sweater, and she saw the onesie. She really liked it, and said that it made her happy. The front of the onesie said "I <3>

We told my Mom that we had reservations for lunch at the Italian Oven, so we headed on our merry little ways. Throughout the car ride to the mall, Megan, Dad, and I played some nice phone games, trying to make sure that we had everything in order, as Tim and Dad were meeting us there to surprise Mom. We arrived at the mall a little early, so we convinced Mom to do a lap around the mall first, while we waited for our table that was already ready (we didn't want to go in and have them seat us in the table for 6 plus Shelbi when she thought there was only 4 plus Shelbi). Upon our arrival back to the Italian Oven, Mom finally spotted Tim patiently (well, as patient as he could be) waiting outside of the restaurant. She got a very big smile on her face, and said "Ohhhhh! My Baby!" She was very happy to have all of her children and her hubby there to celebrate Mother's Day (even though she kept saying nonsense statements such as "Who talked you into coming home from school?" and "You should be home relaxing for your first Mother's Day!" and "You shouldn't have come all this way home!"). Shelbi got her Mammi a try picture frame with 5 pictures from her 6 month shoot, and Megan, Tim, and I got her the Wii Fit, as she is very difficult to buy for.

Sorry that this got so long, but I wanted to make sure that I had every little detail, as I know as time goes on, the exactness of the memories seem to fade. Before leaving in the morning, Shelbi presented me with a beautiful charm bracelet from Kay Jewelers with a beautiful silver heart charm. It's going to be engraved with her name, and as the years fly by, I will add more charms to the bracelet. I also received the Boyd's Best Dressed series giraffe, a card, and a very cute picture frame for a picture of the two of us. The most surprising and most cherished gift I received was a card. A simple card, from my mother to me, meant and will always mean the world to me. Thanks so very much for the picture frame as well, but the card was the best Mom! I love you, and so does your "Bi!"

Seeing Non and Meeting Pap

Today was a busy but fun day. I woke up this morning to a very smiley beautiful girl chatting away to her stuffed animals that are at the top of her crib. We had a lot planned for the day, so we headed downstairs for the daily routine of diaper change, breakfast, and nursing. After all of the hustle and bustle of the morning, we headed out to meet Steph and Josie at the mall to do a little bit of shopping. We then headed to Shippensburg to pick up our pictures, after stopping off at the Carlisle Kohl's and snatching up some awesome deals on clothes for the girls. Most of the items that I got are for her for next year, but I could not pass up on the 80% discounted prices on Carter's! During our trip to Kohl's, my Little Miss Drama Queen decided that she did NOT want to be in her stroller. She started to cry, so I got her out for a bit. She was then as happy as, um, I don't really like the "happy as a clam" saying because do we REALLY know that clams are happy creatures. Okay, I'll take that back. I just looked up online why and how the saying came into use, and the derivation is more likely to have come from the full phrase of "as happy as a clam at high water." Clams must be dug for during low tide, so I guess the clam is pretty happy during high tide. Anyway, I digress...She was quite happy, looking all around, trying to pull on my necklace, trying to pull on the clothes that we were looking at, as long as I held her. (Note to self, start taking the carrier with you in the car, and then you can put her in that when she want to be held.) I tried to put her down a couple of times, but she just started to cry, and I prefer to not have strangers stare at me and my unhappy child, so I picked her back up for a bit. A little while later, she became restless and decided she was hungry, so with the help from wonderful Aunt Steph, I nursed her (discretely) while walking around the toy department of Kohl's. Shelbi was then gracious enough to allow me to put her back in her stroller, but only if I acted like a goober. She was smiling and content if I was singing, or moving my head around like an, um, I don't even know anything to compare it to. Following my bought with whip flash, I remembered the SHHHHH technique. For some unknown but must appreciated reason, she enjoys the SHHHHH sound and it soothes her, so we, as parents, do what we have to do. After our running around of the morning and afternoon was completed, we headed over to 929 Susan Circle to see Non and Pap, as they arrived home from Florida yesterday. Non had seen Shelbi once while she was in the NICU, but that was it and Pap had not seen her in person, as they headed down to Florida in the beginning of October. Non rushed out to the Xterra (well, as much rushing as an 80ish-year-old legally blind woman can rush) to meet us. Shelbi got extremely excited when she saw Non and started squealing like she does when she gets excited. We went in the house, and Non asked to hold her for a bit, and she was playing and talking and laughing with her. Shelbi wasn't quite sure what to think of Pap, but, well, none of us really do. She was quite the little ham for Non, Pap, Aunt Donna, Sara, Camilla, Zac, and Caleb. She very much enjoyed being the center of attention and having everyone make such a fuss over her. The kids really liked seeing her as well, and eventually Pap (my Dad) came home from work and basked in the glory of his grand-daughter for a bit as well. Even though the weather was icky and rainy, it was a very nice, enjoyable day, spent mostly with friends and family. I will close for now, as she is napping in her car seat on the counter, and I'm going to try to grab a bite to eat before getting her up and ready for bed.

March of Dimes

Well, it's been a while since my last post. Time just seems to fly by anymore, and I find myself running out of time in the day to get everything done that I want to get done as Shelbi gets bigger and bigger and more and more active. I just put her to bed about 5 minutes ago, and she is either already asleep, or she is entertaining herself by watching the ceiling fan and listening to her heartbeat dog. She goes to bed very easily most nights, and I know that we are very lucky for that. Hopefully, for Steph's benefit and sanity, Josie will get on the easy-to-go-to-bed-and-sleep-through-the-night train. The last two nights, she has had Steph up about every hour, and I'm sure that is extremely difficult.

Anyway, yesterday was the March of Dimes March for Babies. It was rainy and a little chilly, but it was a good time. Our awesome team consisted of Shelbi, me, Daddy, Mammi, Aunt Megan, Aunt Steph, Josie, Nana Jan, and Aunt Karen. We also hooked up with Amy from our iVillage board. She lives in York, and she had her daughter, Brooke, 4 1/2 early. We took the shorter route due to the rain (and worries about Mammi's foot), but it was a nice outing. Our team, Shelbi Strollers, raised over $1,700.00! Following the walk, they had a nice Subway lunch ready for us, along with activities for the kids and goody cups to go. When we were waiting for the walk to begin, Shannon, one of Shelbi's NICU nurses, came over and said hello, and got to see Shelbi looking GREAT!

Shelbi has been practicing sitting on her own, and she's doing pretty well. Before too long, she will have it down pat. She's also trying all kinds of different baby foods. She still has cereal with apple juice for breakfast, and then she nurses as well. Then, for dinner, she has some sort of fruit (normally, due to the fact that she does NOT like the veggies) mixed with a little bit of cereal. We got her a doorway jumper a couple of weeks ago, but she's not too sure if she likes it or not. We'll see what happens.

Well, I know that there is a lot more that I want to write, but of course I cannot remember at the current moment, so I will close for now.

Blessed

First of all, I just want to start off by saying that I am so incredibly blessed to have such an amazing daughter. My life is so much more meaningful now that she is in it. There are so many times that I just stare at her and I am still in such awe of her. Sometimes it feels so surreal, and I think, "am I really a mother? Is this beautiful being in front of me, the one that depends on me for most everything right now, the one who's laugh can break even the worst of moments, the one who I would do anything and everything for really my daughter? She is the most precious thing (not that she is a "thing," but I cannot seem to find another word at this moment), and again, I am so blessed. She has brought me so much joy, and I know that there is so much more to come. I know that there will be bad and bumpy times along the way, but that's okay. She has brought me to a place with my Mother where I never thought I would be. She makes her "Mammi" smile and be silly at times, and she has brought out a side of her that I haven't ever seen before, and I love it. She is wonderful, and Shelbi and I are both so blessed to have her in our lives. I know that she is going to be a "Mammi's girl!" Also, if it wasn't for Shelbi, I never would have met Steph and Josie, and they are so special to me and Shelbi. I have never had such a good friend as I do in Steph. We haven't even known each other for a full year yet, but I feel as though we have known each other for ever. She is a true friend, and am so blessed to have her in our lives. I can honestly say that I have a true friend who is not in the friendship for herself or around only when she wants something or when it's convenient, which has been the case with some others along the way. I know that when I need a friend, she is there, and the same goes for her.

Shelbi slept until about 8:30 this morning. I went into her room to get her up when I heard her moving all around and saw that her eyes were open, as she is very content and happy in the morning. I was greeted with her beautiful smile and her excitement kicking. Most mornings when I pick her up, she lays her head on my shoulder for a few seconds to cuddle, and I love that so very much. We came downstairs, did the diaper change thing, and headed to the kitchen for her yummy breakfast consisting of rice cereal made with apple juice. She really seemed to like that. She chowed down on that while I snuck in a bite of my peaches and cream oatmeal when I was able to. She nursed for a while afterwords, and drifted back off to sleep for a few moments until I took her off of my breast. We headed upstairs and she hung out in her activity chair while I got dressed and ready to go. We play a game of hide and seek while I'm getting dressed and brushing my teeth and darting in and out of the closet and the bathroom. She jumps and then gets excited and laughs when I pop out of the room and say peek-a-boo. She also LOVES the ceiling fan, so she's able to entertain herself for a minute or two so I can get turbo dressed (that's dressed EXTREMELY quickly). We then took our time getting her ready, as she likes to play while we do so. We play "Where's Shelbi" when we put her shirt on, and "put your left arm in, put your right arm in" and so on and so forth. We headed to Michael's, as they are having a good sale on scrapbooking supplies, and, well, since I'm addicted to scrapbooking, I had to go. We met our BFF's there, and Steph was a little stressed, but I had a good time. We ended up running to the mall to enjoy a yummy lunch of boardwalk fries and Subway subs. Shelbi and I didn't really feel like heading home just yet after our trip to the mall, so we stopped and hung out with Mammi for a bit. She just went to bed around 9:00pm, and she did so without a peep. She's such a good baby, and again, I am so blessed to have her. She hung out with Dad a bit this evening while I made some chili, and let me just say it was rather, um, interesting. I did not have any tomato sauce, so I used tomato puree (which, by the way, is absolutely, 100% disgusting by itself). I also did not have any chili seasoning mix, so I created my own. I used chili powder (and a lot of it), garlic salt, some chopped onions, oregano, salt, pepper, Red Robbin seasoning, flour, and, last but NOT least, RICE CEREAL. Yes, I'm serious. I put Gerber rice cereal in our chili. Don't ask me why because I'm not really sure, but it worked and it was good!

"I have been blessed

And I feel like I've found my way

I thank God for all I've been given

At the end of every day

I have been blessed

With so much more than I deserve

To be here with the ones that love me

To love them so much it hurts

I have been blessed"

6 Month Wellness Visit

Today was Shelbi's 6 month wellness visit at the pediatrician. Wow! It's extremely hard to believe that she is almost six and a half month old. I know that time has always gone pretty quickly, but it has tripled in speed since she came home from the hospital. Anyway, I digress. Shelbi had a nice, full belly on our ride to Camp Hill to Dr. Shrift's office. She had a nice breakfast consisting of some rice cereal with sweet potatoes followed by approximately 20 minutes of boob juice. I have found that it's a lot easier if she is wearing a one piece outfit when we have trips to the doctor. They are a lot quicker and easier to get on and off, as she needs to be stripped down to only her diaper for her check ups. She had on a cute Carter's footless outfit with a cute collar and ruffles on it that Mammi had gotten for her. It's pink with little strawberries all over it, and she looks so adorable in it (well, she looks so adorable in just about everything...I know...I'm bias)! Mammi met us at the doctor's office, and we actually both got there at the same exact time. She was 12 pounds 13 ounces, and she really seemed to enjoy sitting in the scale seat. She looked so cute in it too. Her head circumference was 40 inches and 3 cm, and she was 25 1/2 inches long. Dr. Shrift goes by her actual age and NOT her adjusted age (which I prefer by the way), as some of the other doctor's would still have her on the adjusted age curve. She is only in the 3rd to 5th percentile with her weight, but she is in the 65th percentile with her length. She's going to be a tall one! Gee, I wonder where she gets that from? The land of the giants on the Branyan/Flannery side. He was not concerned with her weight, and he actually said that we could stop with putting the Neosure formula in with her bottles. Yay for $15 extra dollars a month and no yucky formula for her! The only thing that I did not agree with was that Dr. Shrift thinks that I should nurse Shelbi first thing in the morning, and then wait until later in the morning/afternoon to feed her cereal, but I'm sticking to the routine that we are on. She eats the cereal (normally with a fruit or vegetable) and then she still nurses. If she didn't nurse at all in the morning, I would try it his way, but I think she is doing just fine the way things are. She now does not have to go back until she is 9 months, and she is done with some of the vaccinations. It seems as though she is getting worse with each set of shots, but I don't blame her, as I'm NOT a fan of needles at all either. She was as happy as an ant at a crumb fest when he first came in. Probably because her Mammi and I are a little silly AND she was only wearing a diaper. She likes to be naked. Dr. Shrift took her to give her a once over, and she was smiling and bouncy. He put her feet up on the table and she bounced around a bit, and he asked her if she was dancing, and she let out a nice, long, loud scream. She was extremely ticked off. I don't know if she was scared or cold or what, but it was actually kind of entertaining. I know it's not nice to get enjoyment out of Shelbi's sadness, but she's just so animated and dramatic already, that I have to laugh. I'm sure it won't be as amusing when she's a bit older, but I'll take advantage of it while I can. He finished checking her out and gave her back to me, and she seemed to simmer down a bit. Then, came the fun part (I know that sarcasm can't be sensed in a blog, but that was sarcasm). The nurse or medical assistant or whatever her title is, came in with the three shots and the oral vaccination. She drank the oral vaccination like a pro! The nurse said she thinks that may be the fastest anyone ever took it before. That's rather amusing because the last time she had it, she cried and kept turning her head and acted like it was horrible. Then the lady got her ready for the shots, and I covered her eyes. I don't want her to see me and associate me with the pain and discomfort, and boy was she discomforted. She let out a nice hurt cry while the lady gave her two shots in one leg and one in the other. Then, she rubbed the spots for a minute, put the band aids on, and finally I could pick her up. She continued to cry for a bit, but it was more of a mad cry. That was the excitement for the day. I did stop at CVS on the way to lunch with Mammi and Aunt Megan so that I could pick up some hydrocortizone. Dr. Shrift said to use that 3 times a day on the rashes on her face, and hopefully that will clear it up (at least for a while, as it will probably keep coming back). Hopefully, this "baby" eczema will NOT transform itself into the adult eczema that Aunt Megan and Mammi suffer from. Aunt Megan and I walked around the mall for a few minutes, and I found a cute pink, summer outfit (with a giraffe on it) for Shelbi as well. We headed home shortly after that, and Shelbi was fussy and clingy off and on all night. She went to bed around 8:30 with no problems whatsoever, as she was exhausted. Hopefully she will be feeling better tomorrow!

Happy Easter

Today was Shelbi's very first Easter, and it was a lovely day! She woke up so happy this morning, and the Easter Bunny had made a stop here at 2 Goldcrest Place. When we came downstairs, she saw her Easter presents (consisting on some super-cute outfits and some giraffe stuffed animals) and actually played with her one "learning" giraffe. She then ate a scrumdiliumptious breakfast consisting of cereal mixed with prunes and breast milk. Daddy fed her while I jumped in the shower to get ready for church. Daddy also got her dressed in her beautiful dress all by himself! Shelbi and I headed to church, and we got to see Mammi, Uncle Tim, Uncle Nelson, and Aunt Megan. Mammi had a really, REALLY nice book for her (the second in the series), and a couple of other goodies. Shelbi also got to see some of her buddies. Erin, Corry Stone's daughter who was born 2 days before Shelbi, was there, and Shelbi really seems to like to look at other babies. Corry said at one point that there's no denying that she's my daughter...she looks just like me! I LOVE it when people say that to me. I'm sure that she will not like it if it continues, but it makes me feel good. Angie Miller's aunt and cousin were there too with her new baby, and her aunt told her that Shelbi was my daughter, and she responded that she knew that because she looked just like me. Someone else said that she looked like me too, but I cannot remember who. After church, we headed home, and we had a nice afternoon lunch/dinner with Daddy, Pap, Karen, and Karen's mom and dad. Pap got me and Shelbi a gift to share. It was a Cadbury bunny that makes noise, and it has a Cadbury egg in it's mouth. That was for me, while the animal was for her. He also got her a gift card, which we are going to use towards a walker for her. I know that some "professionals" do not like walkers as they say that it keeps the babies from walking longer, but I think that she will really like it AND it's a car! LOL Other than that, we just hung out around the house, had some DQ for dessert and watched Daddy and Ted play Mariocart, which was pretty entertaining. We did get to talk to Nick too, and Savannah actually went and picked him up and made Easter dinner for the two of them and two of her friends. I was really happy that he didn't have to be by himself on Easter. He had gotten a tattoo last week (the Marine bulldog), and he said that he is ready to get another one. I asked him what he was going to get, as he was keeping it a secret, but he told me that he is getting some kind of tree or flower or something, and on the branches is going to be his Mom's name and his Dad's name. Shhhh....it's a secret, but I think that is a really neat idea. We'll see if and when he actually gets it. Tomorrow is Shelbi's 6 month pediatric appointment, so we have another lovely round of shots! Hopefully she will do well and it will go quickly for her, as I HATE seeing her get so upset!