My Little Girl

My little girl will be 6 months old this Friday. It seems we just welcomed her into this world at 7 lbs and 7 ounces, she was 20 inches in length. Now my little girl is almost 18 lbs and is 28 inches in length. She is getting so tall, so quickly that we are having to look for the next car seat already. It really comes as no surprise to me, as apparently I got tall very quickly and filled out quickly too.

She will always be my little girl, I will always see that little face with eyes filled with wonder staring back at me. I've cuddled her lots this past week in pure awe and wonderment. I've even shed a few tears while holding her, this time is going by way too quickly.

In celebration of her reaching her half birthday I want to share her birth story. If you are not one for details on labour and delivery then continue reading no further.

The story of Everly's birth...

On the evening of December 27th, Jason and I had decided to go on a date night as we were not sure if we'd be able to get another in any time soon. We'd actually crammed in a few date nights when my due date was approaching, and a this one after it passed. There had been controversy since day one as to what my due date was, either the 21st or the 27th of December.

I had been craving the honey mustard dipping sauce and chicken from Red Robins, I had not had many cravings during the whole pregnancy, but near the end this was one of them and I finally caved and begged for us to go. We actually got seated at the same table where we had lunch together on our first date. During all of dinner I felt a little off. I did not think much of it then, but realize now that it was signs of impending labour. I felt a cramp feeling occasionally during dinner. Jason asked me a few times if I was okay, but I just shrugged it off as some more pain. I'd been in constant pain for awhile because the pregnancy had caused my pelvic bones to separate too much.

We went home that evening and relaxed, we also took a few more tummy photos near the Christmas tree that we had not bothered to take down yet. I sure did not have the energy to do so. Little did we know that those would be the last tummy photos. We settled in for the night. I did not sleep well, I woke up every couple hours, and soon every hour with more cramp pains. Still for whatever reason it was not registering with me to keep track and pay attention to what was going on. Eventually I just surrendered and waddled my way downstairs to curl up on the couch and watch the news. It was then that I started keeping tack of what was going on with an app I had on my ipod. Jason had to work that morning, but was checking in on me.

Soon enough I said that I thought I should call the hospital and see what the thought about what was going on. I had been told that I needed to go to the hospital early so that I could have a few rounds of medication as my strep test had come back positive during a recent doctor's visit. In order to make sure all was well with baby, and that she did not get an infection I needed this medication when in labour. I got told to get my butt down there. Jason contacted his manager and informed work that he would not be able to continue his shift for the day, baby was coming. We packed the car up, and left the house for the last time as a family of two.

Our dreams of becoming a family with a child were about to come true. All the heartache from having a miscarriage at the beginning of the year, was about to be filled with so much joy with the arrival of our daughter at the end of the year. The moments of fear we had several times over during this pregnancy, from moments where we could not feel any movement, or moments when the technicians could not find her lung or a part of her heart, all of this was about to be replaced with the fears that come from being new parents. Fear that we will always have, but its a good fear.

I was nervous, and afraid, but my heart was full of so much excitement for what was to come. Overwhelmed with anticipation to hold my little girl, and to see her face.

The early stages of labour were fine. I was admitted quickly at the hospital, which was odd for a full moon I was told. Apparently babies like to make their entrance into the world around the full moon. I had several nurses check in on me. I started with the doctor who I had seen regularly for my prenatal visits. Her shift was coming to an end, and another doctor who I had also seen on a few occasion came in to see me. We had made lots of calls, and sent several text messages to let people know. Some how though in all of the craziness we still missed some people, our apologies. My Mom said she'd come and join me when she was done work in the afternoon. Thank you to those who gave us gift cards to Tim Horton's, those sure came in handy, especially for lunch when Jason was hungry.

During the time I was waiting, trying to get through the pain of contractions. I went in with an open mind about pain relief. I would try my best to get through it naturally, but I was open to things like laughing gas, and an epidural. I do not have a high pain tolerance, I actually get ill when I am in a lot of pain, or I pass out.

The laughing gas and morphine combo I had was interesting, apparently I became very talkative. I actually had a bit of a panic attack with the laughing gas, I am very claustrophobic so they had to switch the way I was able to inhale the laughing gas from just using a face mask, to this weird tube thing. It gave me something to focus on during each contraction.

By the time my Mom arrived, and a bit after I was feeling everything and it was getting harder to handle, the morphine had warn off, and the laughing gas was not helping. At some point my water broke when I got up from a chair. The doctor came to check me again and by then I was really hurting and decided it was time for an epidural. The anesthesiologist could not have come at a more perfect time. I was able to get an epidural right around 6 or 7 centimeters. After having the epidural I was able to relax much more, because of that, things progressed much more quickly. It was already evening time.

The doctor had checked me earlier, and had been concerned that the baby was turned the wrong direction, that she was posterior. The doctor had me move around several ways, and was eventually sure that the baby had moved to the position that she wanted her in.

At some point it was noted that meconium was present in the amniotic fluids. Around this time, a monitor had been attached to our daughter's head so they could monitor her heart-rate. Her heart rate had been dropping and rising back up for awhile, concern had been expressed that she was either pressing on her umbilical cord of it was wrapped around her some how. Everything started to become a bit of a blur.

My doctor was called back in, and suddenly there were many more nurses in the room. . At one point I was being told a c-section was going to be needed because of my daughter's heart rate not returning to normal and it was continuing to decrease. At some point verbal consent was even asked for as they were still trying to round up the papers for a c-section. Thankfully the doctor checked me again and I was fully dilated, I was told that I needed to push and that the baby needed to come out quickly. After a bit of pushing, a vacuum was used to aid in helping get my daughter delivered quickly. Something that I didn't really want used, but in that moment you do not care, you want your child safe, if it meant the vacuum or a c-section I did not care then. Just get my child here, and safe.

Everything seemed to happen so quickly, within 30 minutes of pushing, our daughter arrived. She entered this world posterior, with the umbilical cord up and over her shoulder and a bit around her neck. This was the reason for her decreasing heart rate. They did not want her to cry for fear she may get more fluids or any meconium in her lungs or system. Thankfully she was not a green baby. The doctor and nurse commented on how I could have had her here in as a little as 15 minutes if she was not facing the wrong direction, good to know for future deliveries if we are blessed with more children.

She was placed on me for what felt like not even a minute before she was quickly taken to the side to be checked. I did not even know that Jason got to cut the umbilical cord with all the frenzy going on around our daughter. Jason told me later that evening. During the delivery I had said that I felt like I was going to be sick several times. After our daughter was taken off me and to the side, I said it once more and turned to my side and was sick, all over my Mom. Sorry Mom.

Jason kept a watchful eye over our little one. He saw the bump on her head from the vacuum, I thankfully never saw this as I would have burst into tears at the sight of it, the photos still make me sad. They put a little white hat on her head, this helped hide it from me. Once again my daughter was placed back into my arms. She was alert and looking right at me. I'll never for get that little moment. It felt like she was piercing through my soul, trying to take everything in, yet it also seemed like she already knew me. It was like her eyes were begging me to love her. Don't worry little girl, you were loved the moment we found out we were expecting you. You are so very much loved.

Everly Anne Janelle Goyette, was here at 9:36pm on December 28, 2012. All 7lbs and 7 ounces, and 20 inches of her. Her cute little squished face from entering this world the wrong way. She was set to do thing her own way from the start.I held her and cried tears of joy.

Her arrival is a defining moment in our lives, we are parents now. We were now a family of 3.

She was checked over by the doctor and a pediatrician. We were told she was perfect. We were told that the swelling around her eye would go down, and that it was normal. We were told her lump and bruising on her head would take awhile to go away, and that it is normal. It was not until later in the evening when I tried nursing her several times that we knew something was just not right. Every time Everly tried to nurse she ended up choking and throwing up. We called the nurses in every time asking for help, begging for help, desperate to know what was going on. Only to be told it was normal.

Everly would not sleep that night unless she was in someones arms, she spent most of that first night curled up in her Daddy's arms so that I could try and get some rest. Jason never left his little girl's side, he was so concerned for her. He showed me then and there the type of father he would be, totally committed to our little girl. She already had him wrapped around her little fingers, all ten perfect little fingers.

If its even possible the next day I fell even more in love with this little girl. She has taken over ever corner of my heart. We went home after 24 hours, looking back I wish we had stayed longer. We were sick of the hospital, we wanted to be home with our daughter. I will always remember the car ride home. How nervous we were to be returning to life outside the hospital, with someone so little that we were responsible for.


Sure she has come into this world with some challenges, reflux and a squinky eye, but she is our perfect and unique little girl. We cannot imagine not having her in our lives, she has made our lives so much more. Everly is a true blessing to us.

Life together continues, and we continue to write new chapters each day in the story of our family of 3. Page by page we will write this adventure...

Everly is learning to crawl...

Well sort of... It looks like Everly is trying to figure out how to crawl. She has been able to push up with her arms when placed on her tummy for awhile now. There have been several occasions where we go to get her from a crib, either after a nap, or her nights sleep, and she is on all fours. Sometimes she looks like she is just trying to do push ups.

She is almost 6 months old, and it seems like she is getting close to having the crawling motion figured out. Everly is extremely stubborn and determined, so it would not surprise us if she does start crawling very soon. One thing is for certain, everything is about to change drastically. She is going to be in everything, and she is going to be moving everywhere. Bring on baby proofing the house!

Busy Saturday and Sun Burns

Today was a busy day. It started off in a bit of a frenzy for getting out the door on time. Last minute we had organized a "munchkin round up" for all of the young families and their children that we know. Many of us know each other through church, or at least have seen photos of each others families on facebook.

I really wish I had taken my camera out of my diaper bag to get photos of the get together. The only photo I got was of Everly chilling on my blanket. Just means we'll have to do another get together soon! It was so nice to see everyone, in total there were 13 children in ages ranging 3 years old to 3 weeks old. Everly also got to meet a very sweet little girl, who is only a few days younger than she is. Next time we'll have to get a photo of those two together for sure.

The park we went to is the one our church normally does the Sunday school picnic at. It has washrooms, a big playground, and a water park. The water park was a huge hit with the older children, especially with it being warm and a bit muggy this morning. In my frazzled rush to get out the door this morning, I forgot to grab the sunscreen for both Everly and myself. Sadly, my little girl got her first sun burn today. Mommy fail. Needless to say, the sunscreen has found a now permanent spot in the diaper bag. I'll probably buy a second to keep in the emergency baby supply kit in the car too. Ended up leaving a little earlier than I wanted to because goober was getting grouchy.

Everly was in a stubborn mood already, and did not get a nap in while at the park. She thankfully napped a little on the way home. She refused to continue her nap once we were home. Of course she did crash when we were only a few minutes away from the location of our next event of the day.

We also went to a bbq this afternoon to celebrate those who have graduated this year from high school and post secondary studies. got to go and play in a pool for the second time ever. We had bought her a life jacket, as we know this summer will be full of water activities, this was the first time we had the chance to try it out on her. She was not happy about floating on her back so we quickly switched her into a pool floaty. Its supposed to be good for infants as young as 6 months, but we think she just barely fits it, and Everly is tall for her age. Everly did enjoy being in the water though, definitely makes us think the future swimming lessons will be worth it this summer.

We had to leave early from this too, yet again our munchkin who did not want to nap was crashing for the day. She is happily in bed sound asleep as I type this. So much to be thankful for today. Nice weather, friends, children, and much much more.

A Sippy Cup Already?

We have been using bottles with Everly since day 1, we have tried a lot of different brands.We have found two that she likes. Our little dear has recently become stubbornly independent. (I have absolutely no idea where she could have possibly gotten that from) She is not a big fan of being held when having a bottle, she has always tried to hold the bottle herself but is still figuring that one out. At the beginning of this month we noticed she was always reaching for our Starbucks cups we fill with water, so one day we did let her try to drink out of one. She was so proud of herself when she did, of course she was soaked all down her front, but she was happy!

Today we had our Friday play group, and I asked about it. A few mentioned that they do know other little ones who were started on sippy cups, or cups with straws early on. Jason and I had talked about it the other day, that maybe we should get her one and just see how she does. So I picked one up today.

Everly was thrilled to have something new, fun, and interesting. She figured out the handle idea right away. Learning to tip it back and drink from will be a whole lesson in itself for her to figure out. I am debating trying her on a straw cup of some sort too. Has anyone else started a sippy cup or straw cup around 6 months or so?

 

Apparently I'm a Terrible Mom

Apparently I'm a terrible Mom.

 I got ultrasounds done while pregnant.

I had an epidural and the vacuum was needed during delivery.

 I let other people hold my newborn without disinfecting their hands.

 I do not breastfeed 100% of the time.

I use formula.

I did not have my baby co sleep.

I did not have my baby sleep in my room for the first six months.

 I did not let my daughter always fall asleep in my arms.

 I do not put my baby in cute little outfits all the time.

I did not have a change of clothing for my little one.

 I did not remember to bring the bottle or the formula when we went out.

I said no to waking my daughter up early from a nap.

I have not vaccinated my daughter.

I haven't lost the baby weight.

I stay in pjs most of the time while home.

I left the house without my hair done, and no makeup on.

I left the house and realized later I had puke down the front of my shirt.

My house looks like it has exploded a lot of the time.

I will be returning to work when my maternity leave is over.

Apparently I'm a terrible Mom. The sense of condemnation I get from other people, especially other Mom's, is so overwhelming. I feel like any choice I make is the wrong choice, and that I always have to defend myself. Before you open your mouth or pass a rude glance to a Mom, stop for a second and think does she really need that from you?

Were you there when she was being told they could not see a fully developed lung and that half of her child's heart appeared to be missing? Do you know how much pain that person can handle before they are sick or pass out? Maybe they just could not deal with the pain any more, and had to change the birth plan they had hopped for. Maybe their child was crashing and the baby had to be removed quickly for their own health and safety. Maybe the new Mom just doesn't care if you disinfect your hands or not before she understand the overwhelming desire to just hold and cuddle a new born, or she is still in a daze from having given birth recently. Have you been there for the multiple exams to make sure the Mom does not have breast cancer? Maybe for whatever reason she is just not able to produce enough milk, and cannot feed on both sides and has to supplement with formula to make sure her child gets enough food each day. Maybe the parents were going crazy from lack of sleep and realized their child also sleeps better in their own room. Maybe they do let their child sleep in their arms as often as they can because that is the only time they get cuddles, but they also know their child needs to learn to sleep on their own. Sleepers are sometimes the easiest thing to put on a baby, maybe that little one has already worked their way through 6 outfits in an hour and everything else is already in the laundry. Baby brain happens and things get forgotten in the frenzy to get out of the house on time. Respect the fact that parents are allowed to say no, do not pressure them and guilt trip them into doing things. Everyone has their own standings and reasons for why to vaccinate and why not to vaccinate, why should they have to defend their own personal decision to you? They are not here to battle with you over choices, they are making choices that they feel are best for their child. You do not know everything that is going on in their family, respect their privacy. Do you have any idea what the day has been like for the Mom, maybe she has not had a chance to get 5 minutes to herself that day, goodness she may have not even had a chance to use the washroom yet! Don't look at a Mom with judging glances because she has puke on her, it happens, most parents have had a moment where some sort of bodily content has exploded all over them from their child. Just walk on by please. Maybe instead of judging them for a messy home you could offer to come over and watch their child for half an hour or so, so that they can have a chance to do some cleaning since they are still trying to figure out this whole organizing the home and keeping a child alive deal. Maybe that Mom does not want to return to work but for whatever the reason has to. It breaks her heart already the thought of having to leave her child for hours each day upon returning to work.

In all honest, bluntness... you can just cram it! Show some support instead, in whatever way you can. Life as a mother is complicated. Your judgement and unkind words are not needed. I am doing the best I can. My child is happy and healthy, above all else those are the most important things to me. I am exactly the Mom my daughter needs me to be.

Wooden Highchair

I have been working on the wooden highchair whenever I had free time. Normally I'd get the chance to when Everly had a nap. It has taken me awhile as I had to sand the whole thing, prime it, and then paint it by hand because there was no spray paint colour I liked. The highchair is now waiting to off gas for a month, and then we will start using it with her.

We did however take the finished high chair with us for some very special 6 month old photos. Photo credit goes to GC Photography.

I am looking forward to having this high chair in our family, and special occasions like first birthdays!

 

Trying to figure some things out

With Everly recently starting solids. Which really is mush, not a solid. I have been looking into where I can buy organic in season vegetables and fruits for great deals. I had several people say to check out TwoEEs so I'm hoping to get there in the next day or two and pick some things up.

I am also trying to find a steaming insert that I can use in a pot, or even a pot sold with one. All I can find is what I am looking for sold in sets. I don't want to spend that much when we just need the one item. I may have to make a trip out to Ikea as I was informed that Ikea sells what I need. Going to keep looking. Other's have recommended buying an electric veggie steamer. I'm waiting to hear back from my older sister about what she uses with her munchkins.

Can someone please put together a manual for all this information it be amazing? This is why I am so thankful for Facebook as there are so many groups who are willing to help you figure things out, and share their ideas. You can even just put a question out there in your status and sure enough others have dealt with similar things before you and can help you out.

Now I am also trying to figure out how many disposable diapers I will need for when we are away two weeks out of the summer and I wont be able to use cloth diapers. Seriously, this has me more stressed out than anything. With cloth diapers I don't have to worry about how many we use in a day because I have my stash of diapers for Everly and I know I can just wash them if we need more!

How many diapers does the average 5/6month old go through in a day? I'm guesstimating 7-10 diapers? So for 8 days I would need at most 80 diapers to get through the week?

Dear sister of mine in the States, more diapers may be arriving on your door! I found a disposable brand I like for Everly, we like the ones from The Honest Company, but they only ship to the States.

That's my rant for the day, my brain feels like its going in circles and its only 10:24am.

Reflecting back to our wedding

June 15th marks our wedding anniversary, this year is our 3rd. We have been together just over 6 years. Jason put a promise ring on my finger on our first anniversary of dating, and an engagement ring on the second anniversary of dating, a wedding ring was put on two months after our third anniversary of dating.

Many things have changed. Jobs, where we live, vehicles. We've had our fair share of ups, such as buying our first home and the arrival of Everly, and downs, going through a miscarriage together and other struggles as a couple. We have fought, and gone for many long walks to think things through. The feeling is still there that was present on our first date, we have that special person in our life that we are meant to be with forever.

On to what our wedding was like...

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We decided to do a "mini destination" wedding. I had wanted to get married on Anvil Island for years, Jason agreed as he liked the idea of keeping the wedding small. I wanted to have the wedding there because it is a place with a lot of meaning to me. I was saved and started my walk as a Christian there, I was also baptized up there a few years later. Jason joined me in volunteering at the summer camp when we started dating. Our wedding was very much a do it yourself style wedding.We rented the camp grounds of Daybreak Point Bible Camp for two days/one night. Everyone arrived at the camp thanks to several trips made by the camp boats the day before the wedding. Some family members even brought their own boat over to the island. We had to pack up and bring everything with us, my sister's truck was loaded full of everything from decorations and flowers, to all of the food for multiple meals.

Everyone was organized into different cabins around the camp to stay for the night, and got settled in. Then it was off to work to prepare everything. My Mom was amazing, and kindly helped prepare all of the meals for the two day adventure, this included the big lunch. Our friend Natalie brought with her all the pieces for the wedding cake and assembled it and iced the whole thing there. It was multi-layered, and had 3 different flavours. I had a slight panic attack about getting all of the decorations done, and the flower bouquets made, and so much more. Thankfully my cousin Cathy was quick thinking and had me make a list of what needed to be done, this list was divided and conquered by all of the family and friends who came up to celebrate with us. We could not have done all of this without them.

Somewhere in all of this the groom and his men managed to get in a game of ball hockey in the gym. A certain groomsmen some how whacked Jason in the eye with his hockey stick, poor Jason ended up with a lovely black eye the night before the wedding. I was not impressed but really we couldn't do anything about it.

By the evening on the Monday we arrived, when we went down to the dock to do the practice for the ceremony we could see the storm clouds rolling in. I really wanted to get married outside, but felt defeated as the guys moved the archway into the chapel once it started raining. My dreams of an outdoor wedding were crushed.

The next morning I woke up super early, still had other preparations on my mind besides getting ready for the ceremony. Ooops, I really should have just focused on getting ready and let others handle things because I ended up being that bride that was late to her wedding. This ended up being a good thing though. The rains finally stopped around 10am, and I made the call to move everything outside again. Sure the arch broke and the guys had to fix it again, but it was what I really wanted. Some how again everyone was pulling together to decorate the dock last minute for the wedding ceremony. The benches were put into a row, the aisle runner and flowers were put out. Everything came together very last minute.

I have fond memories getting ready with my friends, my sisters, and my mom. My sister had driven all the way out from Ontario with her two kids. It was the first time I had met my niece. We played music off a phone the whole morning while getting ready. The guys got into their suits last minute of course, as they did not need as long to get ready.

Soon enough everyone was making their way down to the dock. One of the caretakers for the camp was kind enough to offer me a lift down to the dock so that I could avoid all the mud in my white dress. What better way to make an entrance to your wedding than on a Gator. Jason had been told he had to keep looking down the dock so that he would not see me until the last minute when I started walking down the aisle. Some how we lucked out and all of our bridal party walked down the aisle, and myself with the music to the one song I had picked ending right when I got to the end of the aisle.

I cried walking the whole way down the aisle, up to this point this was one of the happiest moments of my life. I was getting married to the man of my dreams, my best friend, a true gentleman. We were surrounded by friends and family as we exchanged vows. One funny, but also panic filled moment, was when our friend who was performing the wedding ceremony managed to have my wedding band slip off his bible and it bounced along the dock. We were all very thankful we had a long aisle runner, but we'll always remember hearing our friend say "SHOOOOT!". During our premarriage meetings, he had actually talked about how he had once dropped a ring. Guess it was destined to happen. We did a little sand ceremony to represent our two lives joining together and be based on a relationship that is Christ centered. We still have the jar filled with sand sitting in our home as a constant reminder.

One thing we didn't want to do was kiss and say "we now present Mr and Mrs Goyette" and then sign the marriage license, for some reason we always felt this takes away from other weddings we had been to. We signed the license later on the back deck of the dinning hall when we snuck off to get a few minutes on our own as a married couple and to take in the day.

Of course we crammed in photos all around the camp before having lunch with everyone. My Mom and sister, and I'm sure a few others pitched in, had made an incredible roast beef dinner for everyone. The dinning hall had been decorated with white paper lanterns hanging from the beams, the tables were covered in white table cloths that had a paper runner and crayons on them so people could doodle on them. We still have several of the drawings in a little scrap book.

The day went by really quickly but we have many great memories. It was a frenzy taking everything down and packing it all up. This is our one regret from the day, we wish we had some how been able to take more time to do some things, we had originally hoped to do a bbq before everyone left so that they could have one more meal before leaving. Sadly this did not happen. I wish I had not rushed so much in the morning and had taken the time to make sure my dress was done up better. Oh the silly moments, but its our wedding day and  a great two day adventure it was.

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We look forward to many more years together. This weekend we are taking some photos of Everly to actually celebrate her being almost 6 months and as a family of 3. We are going for lunch with friends at one of our favourite restaurants, and we are going to see Les Mis while my sister Tasya comes to baby sit for us. Its a much more laid back anniversary weekend, but we like it that way. So much has changed, and there is still so much more to come.

Getting through her first cold

Everly has seemed a little off in the evenings for the past two nights. I had mentioned in a previous post that I had to rush home from a dinner outing with the ladies from church. Last night she had a bit of a runny nose, still a happy girl, no fever, and was feeding no problem... goodness she tried her first solid foods even. We knew something was off though, when she crashed for bed around 7:30pm.

This morning she woke up with a very stuffy nose, getting a different colour mucous, and has watery eyes. Still no fever thankfully. It seems our little girl has her first cold. Being a new mommy, I am a little worried of course, and I have no idea how Everly is going to handle having a cold either. Thus far she is in high spirits still, she is more grumpy in the evenings and really just wants cuddles. Bring on the comfort nursing moments too.

A humidifier was recommended to use, and saline drops for her poor nose. We don't have either of those, but we'll see how she does if we decide either is needed. We've got one of those nose sucky things to help clear her nose too so that she has an easier time breathing.

For now we keep a watchful eye on her, and I really don't mind all the extra cuddles. Praying her cold disappears quickls, Everly has photos on Saturday morning.

Everly's First Food

Everly has been all about watching what others are eating around her, even trying to get her hands on other people's food. When we go grocery shopping we let her smell the fresh food items. I had wanted to wait til Everly was in her 6th month to start more solid foods with her, but she has been showing signs of wanting to move on from just a liquid intake. We are also hoping that this transition may help with her spitting up, if it does not we are going to be seeing about getting her further checked out.

I've had several conversations recently about baby's first food. I had talked to Everly's doctor before about it, and was told really there is no particular order you have to start with. We are going a little bit of a different route with foods for Everly. We're hoping to work our way through vegetables and things like that first. Anything that falls into the grain/gluten category will be some of the last things she tries. There are a few other things we'll be trying her on that most people don't tend to try.

Her first mushy food she tried today was avocado. It contains valuable nutrients and "good fat" for babies to have.

Jason stopped at the grocery store this afternoon to pick up some avocado, as well as a few other things on the grocery list. Everly happily played in her chair while I mushed the avocado up for her. She seemed thrilled to get to sit at the table and play with her spinning toy.

I only prepared 1/4 of an avocado for her, I had no idea how she was going to react to her first food. Was she going to spit it out? Gag? Love it? I had absolutely no idea what her reaction would be. 

First bite of avocado.

She seemed to like it. She wasn't spitting it out at us, or gagging on it. She just happily let us give her some to try, often lunging at the spoon to get more. Tomorrow we'll try again and probably let her eat in just a diaper so that she can be more hands on with trying her food.

Update on Everly

Had a few people recently ask how Everly is doing these days. I guess it is time for a mini update.

We have noticed a bit of a decrease in her spitting up which has been really nice. Though we still go through a lot of bibs each day. Poor girl is also dealing with teething and drool. All seemed well until the other day when she exploded what seemed like her whole bottle across her room right before I was going to put her down for bed. Ended up having to yell for Jason to come upstairs and help me. I am so thankful for the days he can work from home, it always seems to be perfect timing that he is there. Everything was soaked, the carpet, her bed, the laundry hamper, and her. We had to do a quick clean up and change her pjs, and change her bed. Thankfully she settled right down for the night like nothing had happened. We ended up borrowing the carpet cleaner from church the next day to help clean the carpet more. We might need to invest in one of those, but I am to the point where I want to take out the carpet and instant different flooring (I can dream right?). She sadly did this again last night while I was out for dinner with all of the ladies from my church. Jason ended up calling me and asking me to come home right away, thankfully it was at the end of my meal so I was able to leave quickly. He had gotten most of it cleaned up, I just had to get her settled in for the night again.

We called to get her chiropractor last night and left a message to see if we could get her in the next morning. I was woken by a phone call at 8am, which was amazing because Everly hasn't slept in like that for awhile, and was able to get her in at 8:50am. That took some crazy running around the house and rushing to get out the door. Sure enough her neck and back were out of alignment again, but not by much. We are starting to be able to notice when its gone out, as she has much worse days when its happened. Everly had a lovely long nap after her appointment.

We are extremely thankful that Everly is such a happy, content little one. She rarely complains, but when she does oh you know it. She will go for a good long crying stretch and there is no making her happy. This is a really fun age, she is full of smiles and giggles. She did not go down for a nap right away today, instead I could hear her babbling away as if she was having a conversation with the elephants that are on the mobile attached to her crib. I love hearing her little voice. Still waiting on the highly anticipates "first word", she only makes an "m" sound when she is upset. Every now and then when upset it sounds like she is putting together "maaaa maaaa", so we'll see soon I'm sure if mama will be her first word. We have not heard a "d" sound yet.

She is starting to respond to her name. Which we've realized we need to use her real name more often, as we tend to use nicknames more often when talking to her.

Everly is also trying to be mobile, She will roll over to her stomach or back, and sometimes rolls around the room. She will also roll onto her tummy in the mornings and try to move, but being in a sleep sack does not help her efforts. It seems she can only push herself backwards, she often pushes herself back into things, like the corner of her crib. We are sure she is going to be mobile very soon. When she does become mobile, there won't be much stopping her as she seems to have a very determined personality already.

Love You Forever

I have several childhood memories of the book, "Love You Forever"  by Robert Munsch being read to me. It was a popular bed time book in my house. I also remember just flipping through the book by myself on several occasion to read it and look at the pictures in it.

This book has come to mind several times recently, and oddly enough I don't have this one in my little collection of books to read to Everly (note to self, go pick a copy up!). Everly has returned back to waking early in the morning, she is hungry (we've switched a few things around to try and help her get back to sleeping through the night its slowly getting back to that), but its also the only time I really get good cuddles in with her. Everly is not a major cuddle bug, but she has her moments.

Right now this is our moment we share. The other day I was with her from just before 4am to 7:30am, she did not want to be put down in her crib. So we just sat together in the chair in her room, she eventually fell asleep in my arms again but I was done with trying to get her to settle back into the crib. You can bet I soaked up every little moment of that short time. It amazes me how much she has changed already, if Jason had woken to check on us he would have found me in tears looking at my little girl asleep in my arms.

He did find us today cuddled up together again in the chair in her room, I had been getting her settled in for her afternoon nap. I was exhausted from waking up early again with her this morning, this time around she did settle back into her crib for a few more hours, but the previous mornings had finally caught up to me. Jason debated taking a photo, but he didn't for fear of waking us. Everly and I both had fallen asleep in the chair again. This chair has become our special little cuddle spot.

These little, quiet moments are times I am going to cherish forever.

Lose the Baby Weight

I've never been the skinniest girl, and I sure had my share of the awkward phase. There have been a few things that have recently encouraged me. One friend started his own goal to get back into shape, another sharing the confidence she now has in who she is and that is okay to not meet today's standards.

When I was expecting, I was told I was only allowed to gain a minimum amount. I can understand why the Doctor said that, but really a person's body is going to do what it is going to do while pregnant. However, I was able to stay where they wanted me to be. Now I'm setting a goal to get back to where I was happiest with my weight, I also am setting a goal to be healthier.

I have no idea how long it is going to take me, all I know is I want to be happy. I know where I was at when I was happiest so that is what I am striving to reach. I also want to be able to keep up with my munchkin once she gets to be mobile, I don't want to be that parent who sits on the side and just watches their child running around. I want to run around and play with my kid. I also want to be at a better place by the time we decide to have another child.

Losing weight is hard, it has never been easy for me. Losing weight after a baby, may be even harder for me.  Its going to take a lot of hard work. I am not looking for a quick fix, losing the baby weight will more than likely be a lengthy process.

With writing this I am hoping others will be an encouragement to me. My first goal is to lose 20lbs, praying to do so by fall. If I get their earlier than I'll set a new goal. If anyone else wants to get out and go for a walk, or anything let me know, I'd love to join or have company.

They say good habits take 21 days to set in... bring on the next 21 days!

Sunday Evening

We've had a great weekend as a little family. Jason had been doing a course for work at home, yay perks of doing a job that involves computers, all week he was super busy with that so we were very glad the weekend had finally arrived on Friday. We got Everly signed up for "Parent & Tot" swimming lessons this summer, right now we are probably looking forward to it way more than she is, as she has no idea what is coming. It will be fun to see if her love of water continues with swimming in a big pool. We're looking forward to 20 days of excuses to go to the pool and cool down when July and August come around.

Saturday was a busy day we found ourselves driving around a lot. We fit in a quick visit with my parents, it was my Dad's birthday (but he already had plans for the day), as we want to get lots of visits in before they leave soon to go to Ontario and see my older sister and her munchkins.

Had a "life has gone full circle moment" Saturday afternoon when we went to visit my former teacher and basketball coach from middle school. Why full circle? I used to baby sit his kids, now maybe some day I can call on one of his 3 kids to watch Everly? It was great to catch up, the last time I'd seen the family was after Jason and I had gotten married. It had been a little while.

We wrapped up Saturday evening with a visit to more friends. I got to sneak in some cuddles with a very handsome 2 week old, and help with getting his footprints onto a canvas. Jason and Aaron were figuring out some stuff for camp as there have been some changes recently. The next few weeks are going to be crazy with preparations for Anvil. Everly was great during this busy day, she was content to play, be held, people watch, or sleep in someone's arms. It's nice to know I have such a laid back little girl.

I always look forward to Sundays, especially going to church and seeing all our friends there. However this Sunday morning was a little extra special. We had been waiting for news since Friday, finally early in the morning we heard that our friend's had welcomed their second son into the world. He took his sweet precious time getting here, but he is here now. I am looking forward to some cuddles with him some time soon. Everly is greatly outnumbered by baby boys at church now. Apparently Jason has already planned an arranged marriage for her, I was left out of these arrangements.

We got in a walk as a family this afternoon. We're trying to get outside as much as possible with Everly, she really likes being outdoors. We must have exhausted her because she crashed for bed by 8pm. It was nice to have a quiet evening earlier tonight. Hope everyone has had a great weekend too.