check out my back dated post..."3 months" below

hi my name is mandy...

...and i have the "itis."

MASTITIS that is.

and it's NO fun.

i thought i was coming down w/the flu, so i guess i'm thankful it's not that and i'm not contagious, but it sucks. it feels like someone punched me in my boob, made a knot, and bruised it. oh, and the body aches/headache are like none i've ever felt before. then there's the 101 degree fever that makes you think you have the flu, until you look down and realize your boob is red, and possibly swollen on one side. fun, right?!

i thought the body aches were over after i recovered from pregnancy and labor, so this one hit me by surprise.

BUT, i LOVE her and am feeling mostly better just 36 hours after coming down w/the "itis."

isn't she cute?!?

3 months

She's 3 months now and here are

some of Ruby Belle's favorite things...

my mommy

(in my "snow suit")

my daddy

my playmat

my hands in my mouth

making faces

and smiling!

a first!!!

she rolled over!!! 4 days before her 3 month birthday (i don't really think it's called a birthday, but whatever) she rolled over!!! i didn't see it the first time. we were in Branson for a Christmas celebration and my in-laws were watching her while Justin and I shopped when she first decided to show off her skills. but she decided to give it one more whirl the next day for Justin and I. it's not a daily thing yet, but twice is good enough for me to celebrate and document!!

and she's laughing now, too! Justin is really good at getting her to laugh! it's SOOOOO cute!! i just love my little girl!

more pictures

monkey legs

bath time

12 weeks old and all smiles

practicing sitting up

my time at home, sweet, home and everything else

it's been a while. i know. i've been a little busy! and kinda lazy! so, a recap of the last month or so.
2 months old and lovin' life!!

Ruby Belle is officially sleeping through the night (from 10 or 11 to 7am!!!), smiling lots and i really think there has been a laugh or 2 recently! she's not rolling over and still hates tummy time, but she's really great at the "airplane-type" tummy time and she holds her head up well! she loves to "talk" to us and loves to smile!! and it melts my heart like nothing else in the world!!

we headed to Branson to visit my in-laws for a weekend in November. justin's aunt, uncle and (pregnant) cousin, Bonnie and her husband, Brad, came to town to visit so we went up there to meet them and to stay w/his parents. it was really a good weekend. we haven't seen Bonnie and Brad since their wedding 2 years ago and now they are pregnant with their first baby...a girl!!! we can't wait until sweet Ruby Belle has a new little cousin!

Smiling at her Grandparent Smith's

Ruby Belle and Grandpa

Then, Ruby Belle and I went down to spend 10 days in Shreveport visiting my parents and family and celebrating Thanksgiving. it was GREAT! i really miss home and really, really wish i could move back...but that won't be happening in the near future. (a girl can dream, though, right?!) i just want to be back close to my family. it's beautiful here in NW Ark, but family is family, and home is home (and much warmer than here!)

anyway, while i was home my mom's friends threw Ruby Belle and I a "Sip 'n See." it was a true southern celebration! (see smocked dress my sweet daughter wore!! Thanks, Mom!!) while i wasn't looking/hoping for presents, i got a lot of great stuff (see really cool canvas painting below....Thanks Stephanie!!), including many monogrammed items, gold bracelets, pewter cups, and, of course, another smocked dress!! It was mostly "my mom's friends," but all ladies I have grown up around and it was so good to see them all! and SO nice that they all wanted to come see Ruby Belle! Ruby Belle was good for the "sip 'n see," but she had just gotten her 2 month shots a few days before. those made her really tired so she didn't eat much for a few days and was really making up for it the day of the "sip 'n see"...which makes for a somewhat fussy baby! All in all, it was a great time!

(Gotta love smocked dresses!)

Justin came down to Shreveport just in time to celebrate Thanksgiving with us. we had a great time at my grandparents house. All of my cousins were there which doesn't happen often! it was SO good to see them all! and my Memaw and Papaw really loved seeing Ruby Belle for the first time! Memaw lit up brighter than i've seen in 5 years when she held Ruby Belle!!! (her first girl great-granddaughter) it was wonderful!

RB w/her great grandparents
RB & memaw (great grandmother)

While we were in Shreveport i also ran 2 5K races and did much better than i anticipated. we also got to spend a few nights with my brother and his girlfriend, Stephanie and some of their friends. it's always great to spend time with them!

me and RB at her first 5K run

after returning home, i had to go to a class for work for 2 days, so my in-laws came down to babysit for us. boy, am i not ready to go back to work!!! those 2 days were hard!

Trying to talk :)

and Ruby Belle is now officially spoiled again! after spending 10 days w/my family and then having my in-laws here for 2 days, she's missing the attention she got for 12 days!!! and boy does that make my "mommy job" a lot harder...but SO worth every minute, especially since i know that i'll be missing these days with her after the new year when i return to work.

feed, play, sleep and more

FEED

PLAY

SLEEP

yep, that's what we're aiming for.

it's going well so far, but i'm a little OCD. and my husband is NOT. so, it's been a little bit of a trying time for us, but we're getting it down (although we may need marital counseling by baby #2! ha! - NOT knocking marriage counseling - we could all probably use it at one time or another!) back to baby, i've been trying to really stick to the concepts taught in Baby Wise. i didn't really start trying too hard though until about 6 weeks (due to the reflux problem). i will definitely start day one with baby #2. the crying it out wasn't fun, but wasn't so bad...really once we committed it got better quickly. the "feed, play, sleep" concept has it's challenges, but i believe it will work eventually. and she's not the best napper in the world yet, but she is pretty easy to put down most nights and almost most naps, thanks to Baby Wise. much better than the first 6 weeks where she would hardly fall asleep anywhere but in someone's arms! you read so many things about "how to parent" that it can be SO confusing. i think it was harder on me (trying to decide HOW to parent...can you or can't you spoil a newborn, should i let her "cry it out," what does a schedule look like?" etc.) than her! i just couldn't commit to any "way to parent." now, i've learned that i need to be a little more relaxed, go w/something, give it a try and if it doesn't work, try something else. the blog site http://www.babywisemom.blogspot.com/ has been a huge help! i'm pretty convinced that Baby Wise is the way to go, but again, all babies are different!! and i'm NO model Baby Wise mom. actually i just got another book, Happy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, so we'll see what that teaches me and how more confused i become!

i'll keep everyone posted!

here are just a few more pictures...

we didn't go all out for Halloween...we're just not "all out for anything" kind of people. so, here's Ruby Belle in her Halloween outfit that my mom bought her.
Halloween is also Justin's birthday, so i let him choose what we should do. we ended up going down to the square in town and checked out all the fun costumes and festivities...one day we'll be participating i'm sure! my mom was also in town so we went out to dinner afterwards. she recently had surgery for a detached retina so she came up to visit to pass some time. she had to keep her head down for 3 weeks!!! UGH!!! so i (mostly Ruby Belle) helped keep her entertained for a few of those days! we'll be headed to Branson soon to visit the in-laws, Justin's Aunt Mary Lea and Uncle Craig, and cousins Bonnie and Brad. Then i'm off to Shreveport for a "Sip N' See" then will be spending the week of Thanksgiving down there. Justin will be coming down mid-week to join us. Then after a week off, we're back to Branson for the "Smith family Christmas." then i'm gonna need a vacation!

Ruby Belle is doing well. she's a good baby now that we have her reflux under control. but she IS a baby, so this happens on occasion...

and preferably this :)

7.5 weeks

reflux or not???

Ruby Belle has been spitting up A LOT. and is VERY fussy after eating...for like hours sometimes! :) i've ignored it for a month...thinking she's just a newborn and is figuring it all out and her digestive system is new. i was trying to convince myself she didn't have reflux and/or was colicky. well, i got VERY tired of listening to her scream, whine, kick, spit up, etc. and look miserable and finally made a doctor's appointment (why i didn't talk to him about this in the 3 appointments we've already had...who knows?!) so, we just got back and we think she has reflux. so, we started her on Zantac today and i'm praying it works!! not that i want my kiddo to have reflux, but i want answers and something to make her feel better! (and i am desperately hoping she isn't colicky!) this face is too cute to listen to her scream and cry any longer!

she's mad t me for letting her suffer through 1 month of reflux

now she's happy! :)

visit from Grandma and Grandpa Smith

well, for the last month (since the day Ruby Belle was born to be exact) Justin's parent's have been staying in a condo near us. it's been really nice to have them around to errands for us, bring us dinners, go with me to dr's appointments or to baby sit so justin and/or i can get out! here are a few pictures from their visit!! they are super excited grandparents! but, they are back home now, so we're officially on our own ... until my mom comes to visit at the end of the month!!


mommy, daddy, and Ruby Belle at about one month


Grandpa singing to Ruby Belle


Grandma feeding Ruby Belle


"I'm 1 month old today!!!"

1 month doctor's appointment

Ruby Belle had her one month doctor's visit last week. she's doing well!

weight: 8lbs 2oz
height: just shy of 21 inches
both right in the middle of the averages for 1 month olds.
of course, she pooped on the scale and then peed all over the exam table in order for us to get these measurements!

Ruby Belle in true fashion! happens every time we go!



Ruby Belle with the doc

just pics... 1-2 weeks old

Ruby Belle's nursery

so, here are some more recent pics of the nursery. i must say it was "in working order," but not totally complete when we came home from the hospital. still needs a few things here and there...they are just put on hold until i get the hang of this mommy-thing! :)

the last 72 hrs...(or something like that)

so, i had my 38 (38.5 week) appt on Tues. was finally showing some progress and was dialated to a 1 and was 75% effaced!! the doc said that "i know it doesn't sound like much, but that's great progress!...your water could break tomorrow, but when i see you next week then we can talk about setting a date to induce you." well, good news, and then the ok news. i really didn't want to be induced, but the idea was sounding better and better. so, i went home, excited, but also telling myself that maybe i would only be a few days late...and if it came to it that induction wouldn't be that bad.

well, that night my husband, being the night owl that he is, decided to head to bed very early (around 8:30-9pm) so i tried along with him (i usually go to be around 9 or 9:30, but since i've not been working i've gotten out of the habit. thought it would be a good idea to try to get back in the habit because once Ruby Belle was here i knew i'd be getting up at the crack of dawn again)...(this is the foreshadowing :) )

well, at 2:15 i got up to go to the restroom (for the millionth time) and my water broke. i was in denial at first, but then realized that i couldn't ignore the steadily flowing stream!! so, off we went to the hospital!!!

from there, labor set in. and boy did it. well, i was still only dialated to a 1 a few hours after my water broke so they started pitocin. THAT brought on more contraction pain than i could handle. (moms, you know what i'm talking about) so i started off w/just some pain meds through my IV, but then they cranked the pitocin up more and i quickly changed my mind and gave in to the epidural!!! and that was the BEST decision i'd ever made!!! i thought i'd try to go epidural free, but i quickly realized i could: a) hate life and go through the next few hours feeling like i was going to puke, pass out,
or b) enjoy labor and life and be able to see and talk to people

i will never go w/o an epidural again!

so then labor progressed rather quickly. i was dialated to a 6 after 1.5 hrs, then to a 8 after another hour then to a 9 at another hour. and from there...we welcomed Ruby Belle into the world at 3:05pm, 7lbs 8oz, 18.5in. and just PERFECT!! see for yourself...




Our Family!!! :)

proud daddy!! (and a GREAT daddy at that!!)


a proud new grandma!!! (we're definitely going to have to find a name for Ruby Belle to call her though...it's NOT going to be grandma!)



so, we got to come home thursday - 24 hrs after she was born. from there...it's been interesting! SO good to be home, but kinda scared me now that i have a little one to take care of!! i was terrified the first night, and each night is getting a smidgen better...but just a smidge. :) mommyhood worries have definitely set in!...along w/the "when do i get to sleep?" so, i'm off for a nap, but will post more soon!!

38 weeks

ok, so nothing much new...just a new pic. can you see the difference?! ha! i think my belly grows an inch a day these days.

37.5 weeks

i had my 37 week appt Tuesday...and nothing. yep, nothing. come on ruby, we need a little action here! so, as the doctor said, my water could break in the next 5 minutes, so we never know. but on the other side of the spectrum, it could be 3 weeks! yuck! guess she needs a little more time in the oven...
everything else looked good so patience is all I need! :)

pregnancy pics

a few pics i had made...may be cheesy, but i had fun doing it. (the quality looks terrible b/c i took a picture of a picture!)