Happy Halloween and Happy Birthday to Laura!

Well a lot of fun things are happening today.  Laura turned a whopping 24!  So we went to have a little birthday breakfast this morning without the little ones!  It was great! 

Happy Birthday Laura!

Gram watched Lola (thanks Gram!) so I went to pick her up afterwards then we headed to Wal-mart!  Lola kept falling asleep here and there, so we finally came back home so she could nap in peace.  That’s where I am now!

When she wakes back up, we can eat lunch, then adventure back out- it’s just gorgeous outside.  Wish I were at the lake!  Clay is having a Clay day until we meet up to get ready for a fun night of Halloween activities.  We are taking Lola out to Trunk-or-Treat in Forney and she is going to be a monster!  I’ll post pictures this weekend!

Last but not least, Lola has been in the band 5 1/2 weeks now, and her head has finally made that transition to looking better, to looking great!  I really can’t believe the difference in the past 2 days.  So Monday we will find out if it’s just on for a week longer or 2.  Doesn’t look like it will make it 2 more weeks, unless they don’t really shave it on Monday, which it may not need it.  It’s pretty loose.  I think it’s looser because her head really seems to be taking on a whole new shape.  But of course she still looks like cute ol’ Lola.  I just love that girl.  Big surprise, ay?  Oh and I am going to ask CT if they think 1 or 2 more weeks… they should know on Monday- THEN I am going to ask them if she wasn’t out growing it, how many more weeks would they think?  I hope the numbers are really close… but at this point I think a 2nd band is not worth considering, unless her head regresses back, which supposedly there is less than a 1% chance of that.  But she is real young still- so makes me nervous!

Okay well I guess I will wash some bottles! lol-

Happy Halloween!

Trotting for a greater cause…

Clay and I are starting a new family tradition now that we are a cute little family of 3!  On Thanksgiving we will participate in the Turkey Trot.  Even Lola gets to be in on all the fun!

Here is where you can come in…

The Dallas YMCA is trying to raise $50,000 (So far they have only raised a couple thousand!)  for the 42nd Annual Capital One Bank Dallas YMCA Turkey Trot to support 3 vital YMCA Programs, LIVESTRONG at the YMCA (A program of the YMCA and the Lance Armstrong Foundation), YMCA Urban Swim Initiative and Membership Assistance for those with disabilities.

My personal goal is to try and raise just $500 for this cause.  Clay and I paid $50 to run and for those who aren’t trotting on Thanksgiving can still help out this great cause which is all here locally!  It doesn’t matter if you can give $5 or $500, but please take a minute to fill out the side bar and give today! Also, you can visit my website given to me through the Turkey Trot. The donation goes directly to them- so this isn’t a genius scam to steal all your money and besides if it was- I would have said the goal was much higher!! Haha- I tried to choose a goal that was realistic, so I am hoping to meet it by Thanksgiving!

A big thanks to those who give in advance.  :) 

Natalie

Sorry, one more.

I was just sitting here looking at all the pictures of Lola when I thought she was sooo big and thinking about how smallll she was! 

I love these two pictures together- because it shows a journey…

New baby, swollen, exhausted, running on pure adrenaline, can we say breast milk?,  thick head of hair, mexican looking, careful…

 

Now a 6 month old, no longer swollen, energetic, running on Lola’s adrenaline, can we say NO breast milk!, thin head of hair, kebby look alike, and carefree…

I was looking at so many pictures when I remember thinking at the time how BIG Lola was… now I can’t believe she was ever that small.  Lola has been such an amazing little pill in my life.  Over all, I can sit back and be at peace.  And that is priceless.  Want me to do a MasterCard Campaign?  LOL 

Really though, I’ll just keep having to have children to remember what an incredible feeling this is… although  I am sure it will never fade, except when the aliens take your children from about the age of 13 to 17.  But don’t worry, my mom swears they always return your kids.  Turns out, they took Nick a little later in life, but they brought him back too.  :)   (My bub doesn’t read this!  LOL)

I better go to sleep early while I can!  And quit blogging. 

Balancing Work and Lola

Well, no crap… guess what happened to me tonight.  Clay did everything- what do I mean?  Well Little Miss Lola wouldn’t nap today.  The total nap time from morning till night was a whole 1 hour!  60 minutes… and it took me two hours to just get her to sleep for 60 minutes.  She is much more like her daddy because I need my sleep.  Lola doesn’t however.  But thankfully she sleeps pretty good at  night.  But because she didn’t sleep much, I was going crazy.  I was trying to work, which I desperately needed to do: #1- I need money people.  #2- I have deadlines and just because my dad is my boss, doesn’t mean I can ignore them… In fact, he stays on top of what I have done and what I have not done.  So I only got 1 hour of work in, so I called Clay and asked him not to work out so he could take care of Lola and allow me to work… unfortunately he still got home late, because of work, but the minute he walked in- he ran the show.  He played with her a lot, then fed her dinner, fixed me dinner, then bathed her, then played with her a lot more, then fed her a bottle, while listening to blues and rocking her- out she went!  FINALLY!  He laid her in our bed since she sleeps so much better in there so we could enjoy the rest of the night baby free!  No offense Lola- we love you.  And she went to bed at 9:10 p.m. instead of after 10:30 p.m.  But honestly- I would rather a couple of good naps and her go to bed later- but it was nice tonight!  THANKS CLAYTON!  He is becoming a pro and I was able to work for 2 straight interrupted hours! So I got 3 hours in today and tomorrow Lola is off to Nonna’s so hopefully I can finish this up and get a couple of meetings in tomorrow.  I normally like to work 2 LONG days and just work 2 short days, but lately I have worked a lot of medium days and that isn’t as fun, not that any of it is… lol :)  BUT I am thankful that I am working and have a way to help out the family.  And Clay should be glad I am working or else I would probably want a sibling for Lola.  Looks like I will be working for a long time once Clay reads this part.  Hahaha.  Oh Clayyyyyyyy. 

Second, I am so determined to work out now.  It’s really hard because I have to do something that Lola can be a part off, so Laura and I are going to be accountability partners and work out partners.  It will be easier, since we both have the hassle of babies with us.  We will work out outside most of the time.  I need to look for a “baby and me” work out DVD or something of the sort! LOL I am definitely back to pre-pregnancy weight and for the most part size, but just need to tone up and honestly, I would really like to loose 10-15 lbs.

Okay so I wasn’t planning on posting pictures so soon, but I have some cute ones of Lola trying a new baby food this morning that she really enjoyed. 

And I have some cute ones of Aubrey and a surprise reptile, but I’ll pass those on to her momma’ so she can post them on her blog and surprise you with the cute pictures.  I’ll let her do the honors, because they are really so stinkin’ cute…

okay I just saw Laura’s blog and she already posted the pictures of Aubrey, so I’ll share mine too…

 

Aubrey: “Mom, why are you letting me play with a snapper?”

 

Aubrey Thinking: Snappers don’t scare me.  I’ll sit her all day.

“Lola, you dare me to pet the snapper? I’ll do it!”  

 

I just thought the way the contrast looked on this picture was cool.  Laura, you like?

 

Laura and Aubrey

 

Well Lola is officially 6 months!

I am a Proud Momma’  and Wife tonight.

My 6 Month Old…

Seriously, is Lola really one day shy of 6 months??

Lola is a mess.  She is starting to get into everything and she can’t even crawl yet!  (Laughing.)  She is going to be a lot like me!  When we go shopping, she reaches out to touch everything as we walk down the aisles.  I can’t get frustrated, because I love that she is like me!  Curious as heck.  Yea, Yea, Yea… curiosity killed the cat, but…

Satisfaction brought him back!

Lola will be 6 months old tomorrow.  She’s been here half a year and that fact just doesn’t seem to be true.  I think I can imagine how fast she will be grow up, based off 6 months seeming like 6 weeks, but I would rather not think about her grown yet.  Literally, I just enjoy every day, every week, and every month of her life.  She’s such an amazing little girl already.  I look forward to seeing what she has to offer the world.  As I am typing, she’s in her walker, and she’s walked over to me and is playing with the zipper on my jacket… and soon enough it will be in her mouth.  Looks like 3 teeth will be appearing soon.  Swollen gums, long naps, and fussy.  They are about to make their big debut.  She may look a little funny if she gets more teeth so soon!

Okay DOC Band update.  This weekend she wore it off and on, which I wasn’t a fan off, but it just seemed too small and to be bothering her, which it NEVER does… so this morning we went in to see Julie at CT and turns out Lola had a HUGE growth spurt this past week and need an adjustment BAD!  Although she is rapidly growing out of this band, it still fits which is good news.  Julie told us we would get two more weeks out of the band, and we would push hard for a third week.  So pray for great results in the next 2-3 weeks, so we can feel really happy about the results.  I don’t want to be done with this band and feel like I should do a second.  The second bands cost the same as the first and just isn’t an option.  All in all, I am really proud of myself for researching this, caring so much, and addressing the problem.  And I am super proud of Lola for being so good about it all and so good at CT every week.  AND… (lol) I am glad Clay got on board.  I know it was a hard decision and looking back, I think we all agree it was the right one.  I’ll get Clay to thank me one of these days for pushing him towards the band.  :) I probably won’t post more pictures until we are done with treatment!  Suspense…

Sunday was a  great day!  I had a work meeting to go to, but afterwards Nonna took Lola so Clay got to hang out with Ford and have a football day and I hung out with Laura.  We got our pedicures, went out to the outlet mall to hit up Old Navy, and then had breakfast for dinner.  It was so nice and well needed and deserved might I add, for the both of us.  I cam back home refreshed!

Earlier in the week, Laura and I finally managed to get together to take some pictures of the girls… didn’t come out as fantastic as we would have liked, but I have a feeling it may never.  But nonetheless, our girls are still the cutest and we love them.  Here’s a couple of pictures… I haven’t had tons of time to go  through them all and here are some more pictures of Lola I have taken over the weekend. 

Looks like Aubrey just told Lola a joke, and Lola cracked up.  I love this picture.

This picture below is funny… Aubrey is holding on for dear life to the moving swing and Lola is left by her lonesome self sitting in her Bumboo in the background.  What great moms are we?? LOL

I wanted the classic bath picture in the sink and here it is.  :)

She loves seeing birds!!

Oh and by the way- Lola had a real hair cut today by me!  The band just creates a lot of uneven spots and I just trimmed everything up and cut her bangs so they wouldn’t hang in her eyes and hopefully they will style easier now!  I need to post pictures of the new do- all though it may not be noticeable to anyone else!  :)

Anyways, have a good week!

Natalie 

Just comparing…

I can’t help but take pictures and compare all the time.  I know she has made good progress- and I just want to see it and compare!  So I’ll share some more pictures- this is what I do… I wonder if I would be so adamant on comparing if this treatment was free!! Haha- I guess I wanna’ make sure all that money is working out for us!  And of course I want to make sure Lola has a pretty little round head! :)

Before:

4 Weeks in DOC Band:

Before:

4 Weeks in DOC Band:

Before:

 

4 Weeks in DOC Band:

 

What do you all think??

Amazing-

One of my very favorite things about babies in general is seeing them start having preferences in life.  When Lola was first born, it seemed her only preference was to sleep and eat and preferably not be swaddled or have her feet covered.  Then she starting developing more likes and dislikes and it didn’t take long.  Most of them were very cute even the sleeping on her back with her hands up by her head, but little did I realize it was causing such a problem.  Once she got her band I didn’t worry about her being on her back so much, yet hoped she would develop a liking for tummy time.  I never dreamed I could get her to sleep any other way then on her back, yet once again those natural preferences kicked in…

 

This was her signature sleeping position since birth and she LOVED it.  Never once did I see her sleep any other way!

 

This was about 4 weeks ago when she kept twisting her body on her side and wouldn’t lay any other way.  It was quite amusing and Clay and I would go stare at her in her crib.  We thought it was pretty adorable and amazing seeing her prefer a new sleeping position. 

 

And this is now.  It’s hard to get her to not lay on her stomach, especially if she’s in her crib, but if she’s somewhere else, it’s still very rare to see her sleeping on her back.  I think it looks scary to see her sleeping on her stomach, especially with the helmet on her because it looks heavy (which it isn’t!) and looks like it could interfere with her moving her head (which it doesn’t!).  But this is her preference now… amazing! 

 

With the DOC Band coming off in roughly 4 weeks, it’s pretty good she is moving and rolling so much!  If she was sleeping straight on her back and head then I would be really worried with regression.  I am still a little worried, but hopefully this will help keep her head good and round!  Maybe she’ll be crawling in 4 weeks?  That would put her crawling at almost 7 months.  Yes, she stills loves to walk, but she is showing more interest in crawling and rolling all across the den now… :)  I just love her!  Lola is brilliant!

Happy Babies

An quick afternoon trip to the park…

 

What do they always see?  Angels?  God?  Bugs?

Best Buds for Life- unless Lola keeps pulling Aubrey’s hair… Lola says sorry Aubrey!

Lola makes Aubrey look so blonde and Aubrey makes Lola look so dark! lol

Lola’s hair is blowing in the wind!!  How cute!

  Aubrey crawled everywhere, but don’t let her fool you- she’s a great little walker too!

Aubrey looks like a Toddler now!  No more baby!!

 Thanks for reading the blog!