Coming home to Arkansas!

Well we had a good Thanksgiving yesterday! Lily Ann, Luke, and I went to the station to have Thanksgiving dinner with Jacob since he was on duty. I finally got to talk to my grandfather last night and it seems he has taken a turn for the worse. He was diagnosed with Lung Cancer last year and it has actually gone away for the second time. Three weeks ago he fell in his carport and broke 3 ribs puncturing his lung. He has been in the hospital since. He's loosing weight and is now having trouble talking. He keeps asking when will he get to see his first Great-Granddaughter. Dad told him the other day that we would be home in 2 weeks (which was the original plan) but Lily Ann and I are flying out tomorrow. When Emily brought him some Thanksgiving Dinner he said that he needed it to last 2 weeks. Mom, Emily, and Erika said that he is very peaceful and is waiting on Lily Ann. Erika said she had always heard people talk about how some people hold out for certain things and now she understands! I am very excited about coming home and getting to see everyone, I just wish it was under different circumstances. We will be flying out of Tampa and into Little Rock, (since I didn't want to pay $1200 to fly into Ft. Smith from here..LOL) We will be staying until December 30th. Jacob will be driving home on the 9th with Amber! (What a sight that will be!) I'm very nervous about flying with Lily Ann by myself but I know that it will be okay! Please keep my family in your prayers and I look forward to seeing everyone soon!!

What a fussy baby!!

I was so happy this morning when Jacob had to wake me up to wake up Lily Ann to feed her! She usually sleeps from about 930-6am but this morning is was 7am. Jacob was headed to work so I got up to feed her (which she basically slept through the whole feeding). After her bottle she went back down like she always does and I had to wake her at 1145am to feed her again! I think I just should have let her sleep because she has been fussy all morning and wants to be held! I'm so thankful Jacob is home today to help. I have so much to get done before Uncle Luke gets here in the morning! I'm guessing it was a gas bubble because I just heard Jacob do the "Aawwwww She got me!" HAHAHA!!

Lily Ann is now drinking almost 5 ounces every 3 hours during the day with rice cereal in the bottle to get her to fatten up! I'm very surprised that she took to the rice so well. We had problems with her in the past with spitting up so much but since we have added the rice she hardly every spits up! We are trying to get her on a schedule now since she sleeps so well at night! Lily Ann is not one for naps during the day she usually has about 2-4 "cat naps", which if we are lucky may last 30 minutes but are usually 10-20 minutes, just long enough to get in the shower..LOL!! (I never knew I could shower and get ready so quickly! LOL) The only time she ever really sleeps during the day is if she is in her car seat and we are out running errands! Here's what we do typically during the day:

6am-Wakes for feeding/Diaper change
7am- Goes back to bed
11:30am- wakes up for feeding
12:00pm-Change diaper get dressed for the day(This is usually when we get our errands run for the day) we are lucky if we get a 15 minute nap in!
2:30pm-Feeding/Diaper Change
3:00pm-tummy time on her play mat and sometimes Baby Einstein movie (which she loves!!)
3:45pm-Rock her to sleep for a nap!
4:30pm-up from nap!! HAHAHA!! (Sometimes she will sleep longer but usually not!)
5:30pm Bottle/Diaper Change
6:00pm-Fix dinner/try and get some housework done/She usually will fall asleep for a little bit around this time!
7:45pm-Bath time (which is her favorite!!)
8:30pm-Last bottle
9-9:30pm- Bed time!

We are so lucky that she sleeps through the night! I will take "Cat Naps" during the day over waking up every 2-4 hours in the night! LOL!! If you have any advice on getting her to take longer naps during the day I would appreciate it!!

Cocoa Beach

Jacob, Lily Ann , and I headed to Cocoa Beach on Wednesday morning when Jacob got home from duty. We arrived at Allie and RJ's around 1 pm, just in time for Lily Ann's feeding. Allie's daughter, Aubree, who is almost 4, was out the door as soon as we pulled up. She just loved Lily Ann and Lily Ann loved her! Aubree wanted to do everything for Lily Ann except change her diapers.lol! We put Lily Ann down for a nap in her packnplay and Aubree pulled up her little chair and would stand on it to watch to make sure she was still sleeping! She was such a big help.. Who needs a baby monitor when you have Aubree! Our friends Chris and Cheri came by with their 2 little girls, Jenna who is 2 1/2 years old and Brooke who was 10 days old. I know I'm horrible I didn't get pics of all 4 girls together! We had a great time catching up! Thanks to Allie and RJ for letting us stay! By the time we got home on Thursday evening Lily Ann was completely tired! She was fussy and didn't want to be put down until she went to bed. Jacob and I were the same! Here's some pics that I took!

Proud Aubree holding Lily Ann! Lily Ann was tired from riding in the car for 3 1/2 hours!(Can you tell by her face!! LOL)

Aubree's feet next to Lily Ann's!

Aubree helping Allie feed Lily Ann her breakfast. After Lily Ann peed on Allie!! LOL!!

My favorite pic of the two of them!!

Another Great Weekend!

Well we had another great weekend! On Saturday we had Stephanie's birthday bbq down at Bonny's house! And on Sunday we did what we do every Sunday when the guys are off, went and ate lunch at Buckets, us girls came back to the house and hung out while the guys stayed and watched football! We had everyone over for dinner Sunday, I cooked chili, which was really good because it was actually cold! Well cold down here in 60 degrees!LOL! We are going home to Arkansas in a couple of weeks and then we will really remember what cold is! I took some cute pictures of Lily Ann on Sunday morning! She is so full of smiles when she wakes up in the mornings! We are headed over to Cocoa Beach in the morning to stay with our friends Allie and RJ and their little girl Aubree! My friend Cheri had her second little girl,Brooke, on Nov. 5 so we are going to have a cookout tomorrow so all the girls can play together. (Well at least Jenna and Aubree will be playing, Brooke and Lily Ann will just lay there! LOL) I can't wait to see all of them! I will post pictures as soon as we get back on Thursday!

Lily Ann's first shots!

Well yesterday went better than I thought it would! Lily Ann had her 2 month check up which included her getting her first round of shots! She did really good getting the shots, I had given her Tylenol after we got her weighed which helped out soo much! She had a harder time when the doctor checked her ears than when she actually got the shots!! After the doctor checked her ears I gave her to Jacob and she shot a look at the doctor with the look we always get when she's had enough.. We laughed soo hard!! I had Jacob hold her for the shots because I couldn't stomach it. When she was giving the first shot in her first thigh she let out a little cry, like she does when she's being changed and she doesn't want too. The second shot was basically the same. Jacob picked her up right away and she never cried! I thought I was going to puke, I asked the nurse if something was wrong because she didn't cry like I thought she was going to and she said no it's the Tylenol!! Thank the lord for Tylenol!! The nurse had told us to give her the Tylenol every 4 hours for 12 hours to keep her comfortable. I was thinking, oh no it's going to be a very long day and night, but she did great.. She basically slept all day and all night, until her normal feeding at 6:30 this am and then went back to sleep until 10:30, and woke up smiling and such a happy baby!
We did get some not so good news at the doctor yesterday.. It seems that Lily Ann had only gained 4 ounces since October 6th, which was the last time we were in!! She only weighs 7lbs. 9oz. Last time we were in we were over feeding her and now we were under feeding her.. I was very frustrated yesterday when we found this out! I had tried to up her ounces by 1/2 an ounce but it was making her very gassy and fussy so I bumped it back down! We also thought she was fine because she was eating her 3 ounces every 4 hours and was completely full after each feeding and never cried so I thought she was content, but apparently not! We now have her on 4 ounces every 4 hours and have to mix in rice cereal in her formula to get her to fatten up!! Here we were thinking yeah I bet she weighs over 8 lbs. now but we were wrong.. She is a very petite little girl.. Her pictures make her look soo much bigger than she is.. In all her pictures she looks like she has just the chubbiest cheeks ever and that's not the case!! LOL!! My girlfriend had her baby last week and she weighed more than Lily Ann does now and she's 9 weeks old today!! LOL!! We go back to the doctor in 2 weeks for a check up on her weight and I'm determined to get her to gain as much as I can!!

Our Baby is 2 Months Old!!

I can't believe Lily Ann is 2 months old today!! Time has really flew by! She is growing so fast. She is doing new things everyday.. Her new thing is when she gets excited she lets out this little high pitch scream, it's soo funny!! Jacob and I were laughing last night talking about how when we look at her and talk to her their is someone home in there!! It's not just a deep stare it's like she knows what's going on!! I still have yet to get a good picture of her smiling! Go figure!! She smiles all the time until I get my camera out and then it stops!! I will get a good one soon I just know it!!

I'm stressing out tonight because we go for her 2 month check up tomorrow and she will get her first shots! When I started thinking about it tonight I literally made myself sick. I had to go to the store at 9 pm tonight and get me some Pepto because I thought that I was going to get sick!! LOL!! I know she will be fine I just don't think I will be!! I laughed and told Jacob tonight on the phone that I'm going to wait out in the waiting room and he can take her in!! LOL!! Aahhh.. I don't think I'm going to get any sleep tonight..Poor girl doesn't know what's coming tomorrow!!LOL!! Wish us luck!!

Lily Ann smiles for the first time!!

Wow!! What a very long weekend with Jacob on duty from Friday morning til Monday early afternoon!! I was pooped yesterday when he got off duty!! LOL!! Well exciting news, Lily Ann finally smiled on Friday! I was soo excited and sad because Jacob missed it as he was on duty!! I kept trying to take pictures of her smiling and didn't get any real good ones..We have been willing her to smile for 8 weeks now and finally she did!! I can't believe our baby is going to be 2

months old tomorrow.. Time really does fly!!

I couldn't get the camera to take fast enough for the full smile!!

She was sooo done with me trying to get the picture at this point!! (I think she was trying to tell me something..HAHA!)

Friday we just lounged around the house and Stephanie came by when she got off of work Friday night and hung out for a little while.. Saturday we lounged for the better part of the day and then I decided I really needed some adult interaction, so I had the girls(Stephanie, Kelsey, Kayleen, and Bonny) over Saturday night! We had the best time just sitting around talking and having a couple of cocktails after Lily Ann went to bed.. We are soo lucky that Lily Ann has slept through the night since she was about 3 weeks old.. She has her last bottle at 10pm and doesn't wake until around 6 am now.. On Sunday Bonny, Kayleen, Lily Ann, and myself went out to lunch and then went down to the station to see our husbands.. It took us an hour to get down there as wonderful "season" has begun!! (For those of you not familiar with "season" it's when all the older people from up north make their way down here for winter to escape the cold weather! And let me tell you, talk about stress for 5 months, I have never in my life met so many rude people, horrible drivers, and I had always thought that when walking in a crosswalk people were supposed to stop but down here they speed up, even when I have the baby with me in her stroller.. Needless to say I have had my fare share of arguments in the middle of a parking lot and inside the grocery store..LOL!!) So on Sunday everyone was trying to get to the beach (which there is only one way on and one way off)which is where the station is! We finally got there after an hour of sitting in traffic. Jacob had just sat down to feed Lily Ann when they got a case of a jet ski running circles with no one on it! So needless to say we went down there to see the guys for 5 minutes..LOL! Sunday night we headed down to Stephanie's for dinner and then to Bed Bath &Beyond for some employee shopping!! Overall it was a great weekend! I am very lucky to have such wonderful girlfriends who don't mind hanging out at home with me and the baby!!

Jacob had a Dr.'s apt. today with an Orthopedic about his knee and have decided to do surgery on January 9th. They are going to go in and scope his knee and clean it out! He has had trouble with it every since high school but it has become more of a problem over the past 2 years! We decided to wait until January because we will be going to Arkansas to spend Christmas with our families and wanted to wait until after the holidays!

Lily Ann is finally really fitting into her newborn clothes!!

Once again we were trying to get her to smile and we got this!! HAHAHA!! This picture says it all!! She will let you know when she's had enough and I think she has!!

Family Time!

We have had a great past 2 days just the 3 of us! We enjoy having our family and friends come and visit but it's nice to get back on our routine.. We have had family visiting us every since Lily Ann was 4 days old, with a 10 day break in between. Jacob and I were talking today about how we can't believe she will be 8 weeks tomorrow and how we think she is sooo big and everyone else thinks she is so small! Everyone doesn't believe us when we tell them how old she is.. We always get oh she must be a couple of weeks old.. LOL!! All of the old people around here just love her and love to stop and tell us about how their children were not that small! She even got mistaken for a boy today!! (Don't ask me how, she had on a purple onesie, pink pants, a pink burp cloth that said Lily Ann on it, and she was sitting in a pink and brown car seat!!) HAHAHA!! I have to share this video that I took last night of Lily Ann riding on Amber's (our dog) back.. We were laughing sooo hard and poor Amber was such a good sport!! I also took more pics of her and yes we finally got a little smile out of her!! We have been working really hard on those smiles and I finally caught one yesterday!! Jacob will be on duty all weekend so it will actually be our first weekend just the 2 of us by ourselves! I will let you know how that goes.. Keep your fingers crossed! LOL!!

Halloween!!

We have had a very busy weekend. Jacob's mother (Georgia) is still in town and is leaving tomorrow morning. Friday was Lily Ann's first Halloween and it was so much fun! We looked all over for her a costume but couldn't find one little enough for her. So Friday afternoon we made our "weekly" visit to Target and I found a witches cape and put it on her and it was soo cute, so I went to look for the price tag and it was actually for a dog...HAHAHA!! We were laughing soo hard but went ahead and got it seeing it was only 50 cents.. So, yes for Lily Ann's first Halloween she was dressed in a dog costume..LOL!! We are still laughing about it!!

Friday night we headed down to Bonny and Brian's for their Halloween Party, which was also a blast as always! Jacob dressed up as "The Beer Pong Champ", I was a biker chick (Yes, I pulled my chaps out from the back of the closet..Haven't worn those in a few year..), and Lily Ann was a witch with her dog cape..LOL!! There were some really good costumes!

Saturday was a lazy day.. We all layed around all day and then went out for Jacob's birthday dinner at Ozeki Japanese Steakhouse, which is our fav!!!

Sunday was Jacob's birthday and all he wanted to do was go to the local sports bar with our friends and watch football.. We all went a little after noon ate and then the girls, Lily Ann, and I went to Target for another"Weekly" visit (it should be considered way more than weekly..LOL!) After we got through shopping we went and picked up the guys then headed back to the house to hang out.. This past weekend flew by so quickly but was soo much fun!! But I'm ready to settle back into our normal routine!!