I suck at this...

So I signed up for the 30 day blog challenge with all intentions on blogging everyday...ahem..yea right! This month has been crazy busy for us that I should have known better! So far we have had 2 family birthdays, camping trip, bathroom remodel(still in progress), and we still have 2 more birthdays to go and our Anniversary!! October is my favorite but busiest month of the year!:)

My bday was last Thursday, the 14th and it was awesome. I had a girls night out to "Bottles and Brushes" where we got to sip on wine and learn how to paint a "little black dress." We were all acting silly and it was so much fun. It was the first night that I got together all my mommy friends and a few others and we didnt have a kid in sight! It was a strange but relaxing feeling!lol

Camping was great this past weekend..see my pics on facebook!:) Joanna did great, she is always such a trooper with everything and will go anywhere:)

I have all of Joanna's decorations ready to go for her big 1st birthday now I just have to bake 97 cupcakes plus other appetizers...can I do it by Halloween?? I am going to try!

Please keep me motivated ladies to continue to blog, I really do miss it!

Professional photo shoot!

This past Sunday we had a photo shoot with Tammy Bevins, which was our wedding/everything photographer...we love her! We did Joanna's "12 month pics" a little early, more like 10 1/2 month pics so that we could get them all back in time to make her 1st birthday invitations.:)

She had soooo much fun and is such a ham for the camera. We got some really cool family shots and alot of just her playing in the grass, sitting up, crawling and standing.:) I can't wait to see them all. Here is one that the photographer is teasing me with, just posting one and one only on facebook!! ARGHHH I am soo impatient when it comes to seeing pics!



She is getting so big so fast..where did my little baby go:( ::tear::

Need sleeping advice. ASAP

Ok so the GPM's know my dilemma but for those of you who don't here it goes. For the most part Joanna has been a pretty good sleeper but everything is starting to change. Her normal go to sleep time used to be anywhere from 9-10pm which was fine with us because sometimes by the time I get home with her its after 7pm. 90% of the time she would sleep through the night and there were rare occasions when she would wake up especially when she was teething.

Well let's fast forward to this past two weeks...:(...she is starting to get more cranky at night. She wants to be held, then doesnt. She pitches more fits and every little noise wakes her up. Her new bedtime(and thats fighting it) is 11pm. I am totally exhausted and its starting to wear on my husband too because I am more crabby towards him.

Last night we decided to try the cry it out method around 10ish because she was getting to overly tired point. Well my husband had to do, I couldnt. I stood in the hallway and cried right along with her. At one point I had to walk by and she saw me and she continued to cry harder!! It totally broke my heart and I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown.:( After about 30 mins or so she was still screaming and I told H if he didnt go back in there I was going to get her. He went in there and fed her a bottle and she finally drifted into sleep.

What to do from here?? Should we try it again tonight, maybe a little earlier? UGH I am soooooooo stressed over this and I know its going to cause my H and I to fight.:( Please help.

Let's do a Tasty Tuesday..

So, Joanna is slowly moving into solid type foods, stuff that she can pick up and eat herself. She tastes just about everything we eat. For breakfast she usually eats a stage 3 mixed with oatmeal or a whole Yo baby yogurt and some fruit. For lunch she eats a stage 3 veg or fruit, puffs, some cheese or lunch meat..or tries some of what I am having. For snacks she loves puffs, yogurt melts, yogurt, mum mums and any other small snacks she can get her hands on.
For dinner, we usually give her a veggie and a meat of some sort. She is not a big fan of the stage 3 meats and pasta for some reason..she will eat a couple bites but thats about it. She prefers small cooked pieces of meat instead.
Her new breakfast love:

Don't forget about dessert!! We usually enjoy an all fruit popsicle about every other night, she doesnt eat the whole thing of course but she gets so excited to eat it with me.:)


Her favorite drink so far: Sweet Tea! She loves drinking out of a cup so when I have sweet tea I just let her have a couple sips and she can not quit licking her lips..hilarious!

A little bit about me..

So I have realized that some of my readers may not know me very well because they havent met me in person. I thought I would just try and give you a mental picture of who I am. I am a pretty laid back person but I have my Mom's temper when I have to. I always make the joke that I am a very patient person but the "redneck" can come out in me if you mess with my friends or my family in the wrong way...which leads me to another side of me...I am from the SOUTH..yes from the south, true south. I know what you are thinking now..I live on a farm, have no teeth, uneducated..etc. Well only part of that is true. I am educated, I have my bachelors degree in Art Education and a minor in Art History. I have all my teeth! No cavaties ever!! BUT I do live on a farm, in the backwoods as people like to say. My husband and I have never lived in the "city", so NO I don't know what that's like and I probably never will and thats just fine with us. I can not deny my country accent though...I say words like "Dagum" and "ya'll", "fixing too.." Etc. LOL

We live on family land and our house is 50+years old. It definitely has character and gets on my last nerve sometimes but I can't complain too much because where we live is absolutely beautiful. Not many people can say they can look out their front window and see 12 acres of sunflowers, acres of corn/hay and three horses...awesome.:) We keep our family and friends very close to our hearts and we eat dinner with all of them at least once a week. My inlaws live right next door and my parents live 10 mins away from us, so needless to say Joanna is SPOILED!

On our free time my husband, Joanna and I go out on the boat on the weekends and Joanna is a waterbug. I grew up on a lake so its second nature to us. During the fall we are members of a hunting club, I know that sounds very southern...yes Joanna has her fair share of camo, but its a good family experience for us. My parents and his parents are also members and everyone comes together and stays in cabins..its pretty cool.

As far as my parenting style, for many of you that know me you know that I am "old-fashioned" and what I mean by that is I tend to do things the way my parents did with me and I don't pay much attention to the new age stuff. Joanna has juice contrary to the popular belief that it will cause obsesity, but it was actually recommended by her doctor and I didnt think twice about it. She will enjoy the foods that we enjoy but on a smaller scale of course. She will mind her manners and say "Yes ma'am and No ma'am" or she will get in trouble. I probably will not do the "time out by their age thing" I worked at a daycare and that method never seemed to work. My parents didnt ever really spank me but they would pop me from time to time if I talked back...they put the fear in me!lol..enough said.

I want Joanna to grow up loving her family and loving life as my husband and I did. I want her to love the outdoors and not be afraid to try new things. I was never a "girly girl" but I knew how to be one when I had to and I hope she is the same way. I hope she is strong like my Mom and I are and she doesn't put up with any crap.:)

Well, I don't really know what the purpose of this post was just if you were wondering!:)

This weekend..

This weekend was pretty low key. Friday we had a small cookout at our house with a few friends, it was nice and Joanna was worn out by the time everyone left--my little social butterfly. It was my Mom's bday so Saturday we went over there to celebrate and cook out hamburgers and hot dogs.:) Sunday was very low key, it was the start of hunting season, YES, call me redneck/country girl our family actually gets excited about these things. Its not only hunting season but its the time of year when we all go out and stay at our cabins with our family and friends. So, its not your typical "hunting club" its more like a lodge and a place that we can all hang out, cook and socialize. I will have to post a picture of our cabin and my parents cabin, its actually nicer than you think.
Here is a picture of Joanna in her first camoflauge! She has a dress and two pair of overalls..even some with cute pink bows on it. She is like me..I am a good ol country girl at heart but I know how to be girly too:)

Well day 1 of the diet.:)

Last night when I got home I had sort of a weird fast dinner, strawberries, grapes and a piece of sausage!lol I was not all that hungry. I also had to drink whats called "super dieters tea" because my stomach has been giving me a fit lately and usually that helps....and boy it did! I feel sooo much better!

This morning, I had DD egg white flatbread and coffee with splenda! Got to have a good breakfast, its my thing.:) I also brought my lunch and I am so proud of myself for actually remembering to grab it out the fridge on my way out. I have strawberries, grapes, a few wheat thins, jello, string cheese. Trying to the small portions throughout the day thing:)

We'll see how it goes.:) Trying to stay motivated..I feel better already!LOL

I am putting this out there for everyone to see..

Because maybe that will get my ass in gear! I really need to get my eating habits in order and get myself healthy again. I feel like crap! I feel like ever since I have had Joanna I have aged about 10 years or so. My belly is jiggly, I still need to lose about 20lbs to feel comfortable and I just don't care about myself like I should.

So here is my resolution..I am going back on a low carb diet. I am not doing it cold turkey, I just taking it one step at a time. Instead of getting fast food when I am at work, I am going to TRY and make my lunches the night before.(To save money too.) One good plus for doing the low carb diet too is that it helps with my PCOS and my stomach issues. I find that the less carbs I eat the better my stomach reacts.

I am also going to get better about taking my vitamins and medications. I feel like I am always forgetting, so I have set them front and center in the kitchen so I wont forget. I am on Amitiza(IBS-C)twice a day, I take Align too for my stomach, Metformin(PCOS)twice a day, and my BC. I think I need one of those old lady pill reminder things!

I want to feel like my old self again, weigh less, be in shape and just feel healthy. We'll see how it goes! Let the low carbing begin!..

Here's my plan and whats worked before:
Breakfast:
eggs, sausage,and/or maybe a low carb english muffin

Lunch:
Lunch meat, string cheese, jello, protein bar/south beach bar

Dinner:
Meat and veggies.

NO pasta, breads, rice..etc.

What a week...

Ok so to start off this week, one of my best friends/co worker decided she was going to quit work and go to school part time so this was her last week of work. While I knows its the best thing for her, I am sooo sad to see her leave. She was the only one that had been there just about as long as I had and we always vented to each other.:(
Other than that, Joanna started getting a fever last night AGAIN...with no other symptoms. Fevers totally freak me out especially when I don't know why she is getting them. She hasnt slept in the past 3 days, waking up every hour. :( Even putting her in the bed with us hasnt help...you can tell something is bothering her but we cant figure out what it is. During the day she is fine and so happy! Her stomach is an ongoing struggle, we have tried to pinpoint foods that help her go and foods that might constipate her but we have had no luck...there seems to be no pattern to her stomach..just like mine.:( So she is still on the miralax every day sometimes twice a day and we also do benefiber in her bottles as well. It kills me to still see her strain for the most part when she goes to the bathroom.

To top this whole week off(and its only wednesday) my sister called me and the minute I picked up I could tell something was horribly wrong. She went to her OBGYN regular appt and they found a mass on her right breast. The doctor seemed very concerned and set her up an appt for next Tuesday. She will see a surgeon and find out good/bad news that same day. Not sure about all the details yet but it sounds like they will do a biopsy to see what the mass is and go from there. There have been sooo many people diagnosed with breast cancer lately it is so scary. When I got off the phone with her at work I immediately started to cry. My sister and I are very close and this is the first time that she has ever had to really worry about something like this. I also worry about my Mom, because I know she is worried and stress is the last thing she needs with her MS. I feel so bad for my sister and I wish there was something I could say to not make her worry or to make it all better.:(

Thank goodness my whole family is going to Myrtle Beach this weekend so maybe that will help us all. Please everyone keep my family in your T&P this week! I hope everything turns out very positive.

P.S. I also might meet a fellow GP mama this weekend at the beach..Mrskisses!! :) Cant wait for Tyson and Joanna to meet!

4th of July and Joanna's first boyfriend.

So every 4th of July we have a big party at my parents house which is right on the lake. We invite friends and family, probably around 60 people or so. We started out the day with a slight wardrobe malfunction with her 4th of July bathing suit, the strap totally fell off right when I put it on her and my husband's grandma sewed it back together quick.
Well last year my friends and I were pregnant, but this year we had fun with all of our babies interacting!:) My friend Ashley's son's name is Mason and him and Joanna have "grown up" together(and Ashley and I always say they will get married some day!) hehe Well I thought I would share some pics of Joanna's first 4th of July and her first kiss pics!! I can't wait to show them both these pics when they get in high school.lol


Joanna with Daddy:)

Her wardrobe change for the night:)

Her and her bf Mason..:) lol

We caught them kissing!

I didnt do it~

Father's Day and Joanna's baptism!

Yesterday was a great day all together! We woke up pretty early and celebrated my husband's first Fathers day by watching some cartoons and snuggling with Joanna.:) Then it was time to get Joanna all pretty for her baptism. It seemed like time flew by that morning because I was running around making sure we wouldn't forget anything. We she started out with her pretty dress on, panty hose, and cute little shoes.....well those all didnt last that long!lol We got to the church and once church started she poops!!! So I had to take her out of the church in a hurry to change her diaper...and um let's just say she was not having the panty hose got back on(she is like her mommmy, I hate panty hose too!) Well, I was able to get her shoes back on but once we sat back down in church miss busy body started to take them off and untie the bows on them, so those didnt last long either. Thank goodness it was not too much longer before the actual baptism started..We took her up there and the preacher said a few things(honestly I dont remember much, I know that horrible but I was so nervous and focused on her.lol) Then when he poured the holy water, it was ON then!! Joanna loves water so she started talking and acting like she was swimming, the whole congregation started laughing! The preacher took her into his arms and she looked back at me like "is this ok?" LOL He sprinkled her with water and she was trying to suck it up as if she was drinking it...congregation laughed again!LOL She didnt cry as he walked her down the isle, she just yelled out Mommmmma mooommma!lol

She is a mess!!:) Everyone got a good laugh at how active she was and good she was. So, here is our little ham on her baptism day!



Her squiming about...lol..










Our little family!

My mom:)



Me all hot and sweaty

First pair of Nikes!

I think these are so adorable and so did my Mom!! She couldnt leave the store without buying them.lol She even had her foot measured yesterday it was hilarious. The shoe salesman was like...wait, what..she is only 7 months old!? Wow! She is in a size 4 already!! :)
My husband and I both have big feet...me:9-10 and him: 13, so I think Joanna will have big feet like us.(sucks because you have a hard time finding cute shoes!)

There are many articles about how babies shouldnt be in shoes too early, blah blah..but my Mom was scared that she might get a splinter at their house because they have really old school style hardwood floors. Joanna loves her walker so we will put them on her over there.:) Other than that she is pretty much barefoot in the summer time especially since its so hot!

Just thought I would share these cute shoes..once she starts walking I can already see that he closet will be full of cute shoes, more shoes than I probably own.

My little Water Bug!

This weekend was great! Joanna is definitely turning into a little water bug! Takes after her mom and her dad!;) I grew up on the lake so it was very common for us to be out there in the afternoons on the jetskis/boats and especially on the weekends, so we want to make it a big part of her life as well. Its something fun that the whole family can enjoy.

I can't seem to help myself with the pictures either...I guess its a Mommy thing.

A little update from the past 7 months!LOL

So I just realized that I have no documentation whatsoever of Joanna's doc appts on here!! Soo sad. I love looking back at post just in case I forget something and I can't on here....bad momma! So I did some digging for stats and such, and figured I would do one big post with all of her stats so I would have it on my blog somewhere to look back on! So here it goes...

**Born: October 28th, 2010 at 10:07am :)
9lbs 6ozs and 21 1/2 inches long, full head of dark black hair! (Looks just like Daddy!)

**2 month appt: 15lbs, 25 1/2 inches long (and they were worried about her gaining weight at first, sheesh..) ;)

**almost 4 month appt- 19.2lbs, 28 inches long(growing like a weed!)

** 6 month appt: 24 lbs, 31.5inches long (still growing like a weed, over the 100% and in 2T clothes!!) BUT btw..looking more like her Mommy, at least I think so.hehe

And just for fun..a two 6 month pics...I havent weighed her lately or measured her now that she is 7 months, so we will be back with those stats!LOL

My little baby is getting so big:) ::tear::

What a morning...

Please forgive me if this doesnt make much sense..I am still mad and tired from this morning..

A little bit of background for those of you who don't know. Joanna has had problems pooping since birth even when I was breastfeeding. She will have better days but then it always goes back to straining and big poops that hurt her. We have tried everything, and I am mean EVERYTHING the doc has perscribed and nothing has seemed to help so far. My mom said I was the same way when I was a baby....and growing up I had ulcerative colitis and now I still have IBS...my stomach has never been right. The doc thinks she may grow out of this, man I hope so!! :( Makes me cry everytime she is in pain because I know the feeling.

Well we left at 9:30am this morning on the hunt for baby suppositories..Joanna and I ended up going to all the pharmacies in town and NO ONE had baby suppositories!! By the last pharmacy I was really about to punch someone because Joanna was straining the whole time. So...I get fed up and I call back the doctor office and say "look I can not find a baby suppository in this whole town, something has to happen.." She first says they might can see me in the afternoon...I tell her I am not trying to be rude but do you want my baby to struggle all afternoon like this??? So then she says to bring her right in...

We get there and the doctor perscribes her Miralax, hopefully that will act as a stool softener..but he is still dumbfounded by why she isnt going regularly with all the stuff we have tried. So the nurse comes in and puts in a suppository...this should work.....we wait....Joanna is screaming, crying with her legs locked out straining. I am seriously about to punch someone now......"Its not working!!!!"
So I look and about 10 minutes or so later the whole thing comes back out not dissolved at all!...so we try another one...she is still screaming. The doc comes back in and says I am going to have to go into town and now get an infant enema...the suppositories arent working!!!! So I am like WTF...do I take her into town like this? So I call my sister and thank god she was close and she bought one and brought it by.

So as we finally do an enema a poop the size of a large dill pickle comes out...an adult poop!! You could tell Joanna felt so much better...and so did I.

So after Joanna screaming and crying...me crying and about to punch someone...we finally got the poop out!! It took 4 hours of searching around town and being at the doctor to do it.

My poor baby

I'm back! I'm back!!

Well this is going to be a quick one just to get me back into the swing of things..but I plan on writing in my blog at least every other day..(shhh probably while I am at work.hehe) Its the only free time I get. I know that sounds crazy but its true! When I am at home I am running around 90mph and Joanna is very clingy at night so by the time she goes to bed I go to bed too because God only knows what her sleeping schedule will be like from one night to the next! She totally spoiled me when she was 12 weeks old sleeping from 9:30pm-7:30am on the dot every night and then BAM....something screwed that schedule up! So sleep is hard to come by these days!!
Anyways, I hope to get back into the world of blogging and join all you wonderful ladies!! I am sooooo super jealous of all the fancy blogs and blog giveaways(which I know NOTHING about, but it sounds so cool) but ya'll will just have to deal with my free background and scrapblog header for now;)

Christmas pics so far:)

Here she is zonked out at our family christmas party!


Here she is is one of her many christmas outfits! This one is from mtendere!


Here is one of the three of us..dont pay attention to the camo shirt..lol He was hunting that day;)


And here is one..I just like!:) That I took of her yesterday.


Merry christmas eve everyone! Just pray that I get all my cooking done, take a shower(which is kinda hard these days), and get all the presents wrapped and ready to go before 5pm! WOW!...I better get going!

Its has been waaay too long!

So as you can see its been since August..wow sooo much has happened I dont even know where to start. I will not bore you through 3 months of stuff..just a quick run down..

Pregnancy: To sum it all up baby Joanna was always big in my belly and the doctors were right on target the whole time about her weight and length. My doctor was scared to death to let her go to 40 weeks. I was dialated for like 3 weeks at 2cm and 80% effaced but I never did go into labor. So they thought it was in my best interest that I have a C-section on October 28th, the day after our 2 year wedding anniversary so that was pretty awesome!:) The C-section was not bad at all, we had to be there at 8am and miss Joanna arrived at 10:07am weighing 9lbs, 6ozs and 21 1/2 inches long!! She looked just like her Daddy(look at pics above) It was truly the best day of our lives and we still cant keep our eyes off of her.:)

So...for the past two months we have just been trying to get on a schedule and its going pretty well so far. She has gone from waking up every 2 hours and eating 2-4 ozs, to now sleeping almost 6 hours and eating 6-8ozs throughout the day and night...SHE IS ONE BIG GROWING GIRL!

I still can't get over the fact that she literally did not fit into ANY of her newborn clothes at all and went straight to 0-3month and some 3 months clothes. Now within a matter of almost 2 months she is now in 6-9 month clothes because she is so long! We weighed her 3 days ago and she weighed 14.4lbs and is 25in long! What can we say we didnt expect her to be a little baby by any means.:)

I promise, promise, promise I will keep up with my blog from now on, now that I have a few minutes throughout the day when she is napping, etc.:)

We have one big BABY!!

Well last Wednesday we had an ultrasound to check the location of the placenta to see if it was till covering my cervix. I was so nervous because I knew that if it was still in the same position we were going to go ahead an schedule a C-section.

Well my husband met me for the ultrasound and right when she started to measure Baby Joanna's head, arms and legs we found out that we have a bigger baby then we thought!! She is measuring 4 weeks ahead in her weight and her height! At 31 weeks she weighs 4lbs 9ozs already! The u/s tech said that since we were both big babies and I am 6'0 tall and my husband is 6'4 that it was no surprise to her that this baby would be big:).
Well we went in to see the doctor after the u/s and the doc was shocked! She wants to triple check to see if by a slim chance I might still have GD..so I have to check my blood sugar for the next couple of days until Tuesday..so far it been fine so I dont think there is any chance I have GD. She just can not for the life of her figure out why I am measuring so ahead...I havent gained but 15lbs, my belly is not measuring all that big, I passed my 3 hour test(only failed my 1 hour by one freaking point)....I just want to shake my doc and say..SHE IS JUST A BIG BABY AND SHE IS READY TO COME EARLY! :) So we'll see what she says on Tuesday..the baby is big and healthy with a full head of hair and my placenta is exactly where its supposed to be!!! :) Looks like she will be her in October more than likely!

Progress in the nursery!

Wow! What a day of painting!:) I got her tree in the corner about 80% done and her bunny is almost done too. Now I just have to add a few butterflies around her changing table on the wall to the left. We also hung her name letters today over the crib, they are toooooo cute! I plan on adding a little something to those too before I take a picture of them;). I am so happy everything is starting to come together and the more I move around things the more I think of new ideas, so who knows what it might look like when I am completely done. Mrs.Carroll6-10-07 is making my bumper and crib skirt!! It is going to be soo cute and I am ever so thankful to her for wanting to do that for me.. pics to come of all that as soon as she is done so I can show off her work!
PLEASE feel free to give me some feedback positive and negative because the more people that look at my artwork, the more opinions on things that i can improve on!