Our Christmas

Happy Holidays!

Our Wishes for All !!

Looking For:

A loving and patient caregiver to a teething baby. Earplugs a must. Patience required. Lots of hugs, snuggles and otter pops. Only needed for a few weeks, until tooth appearance. Future help, if available, will also be needed. Must bring own kleenex.

They're Coming! They're Coming!

Yesterday was a day like any other, only 4 days before Christmas. Aftyn and I went grocery shopping, I worked on some projects while she slept, nothing out of the ordinary. And later that evening as we had Family Home Evening, Reed wiped Aftyn's runny nose while we pondered if she had a cold, why she was sneezing so much and where it had come from. Off to bed, and around midnight, a cry arose from Aftyn's room, which has not been "the norm" for quite some time. If anything, when Aftyn is awake, she will just start to talk to herself and we will follow up with sticking her binki back in, rolling her back to her sleeping position, the "L", and turning on her white noise.

Reed had only recently gone to bed when her cry arose, and since he had work in the morning, I went to Aftyn's room to stick her binki back in. Several times. None of the times seemed to be doing the trick. She just continued to cry.

Until it hit me after about 30 minutes. Aftyn is teething! Holy cow! I felt inside her mouth, and sure enough, she didn't want me to have anything to do with the top of her gums. We had luckily already prepared for this moment. With teething tablets, Orajel and tylenol, Aftyn was back to slumberland only a short 30 minutes later. As I lay down to finally go back to sleep, I thought, man what a blessing that we were prepared. The end. Or really, just the beginning.

Any tips on how to deal with this snotty sneezy baby that has replaced my own happy child?

Dear Grandma,

Here's what I've been up to:

Giving Mommy kisses!

Guess who I ran into last night?!?

Click on the picture above to see Aftyn's mole on her hand. Her first beauty mark! :)
Don't worry, a doctor is watching it to make sure it's not a bad thing.

What a funny face, huh?

To All of Aftyn's Grandma's Who Live In Texas

There will be pictures tomorrow.

I promise.

In the meantime, let me just share with you Aftyn's newest things!
- lots of tongue movement, which helped when I fed her some graham cracker crumbs a few days ago. She loved them! She was trying to lick her lips tonight when Reed let her full on lick a lot of buttercream frosting off his cookie. Naughty Daddy!!

- no crawling yet! But she still manages to move around a lot, when she needs or wants to.

- She is getting really good at reaching for Eskimo kisses. I have been giving them to her since she was only a few days old, and now she gives them back! Also, she gives lots of open mouth kisses, mostly to me, on my cheeks.

- she seems like she is going through a less fussy, happy more of the time kind of phase. I am enjoying it! She is also a lot more giggly. Very cute.

Until tomorrow!

It Happened on a Friday . . .

She found the yarn all by herself, and decided it would make a nice chew toy

I don't think she likes the flavor - her nose is a little wrinkled

What Aftyn looks like with mohawks - one for each different section of hair

Look at those beautiful baby blues

Reed would have you know, Aftyn said "da-da"

She may not know what it means, but she said it

Reed is a proud papa :)

What We've Been Up To . . . . In Pictures

Aftyn has been looking so cute in pigtails . . . but not so cute in the after effects of pigtails.

This is not the best picture - don't blow it up or you'll see some really scary eyes.
We went and visited some friends a few weekends ago - they are such a fun family and with all those boys always seem to have something happening!







And yes, again, pigtail hair. What can I say, it's a little cute.



What about all of the things we don't have pictures of, you say? Well, here's a quick rundown :



Aftyn is so much fun right now! We can see more and more of her personality everyday!

Almost crawling!

Sat up in her crib on her own this morning.

Started pffbbt-ing with her tongue yesterday, was blowing those with her lips before.

Gone to only 2 naps a day - sleeps good at night, but still wakes up around 4 thinking it's time to eat.

Eats solids 2 times a day, cries when the food is all gone and sometimes totally loses it if the food isn't coming fast enough.

Loves spending time with Daddy in the morning before work.

And so much more!!!

How's the Weather at Your House?

It's a bright and warm 72 degrees over here . . . .

Inside.

I Can't Come Up With A Title. .

This is an interesting concern. Today, I needed to go to Walmart to do my weekly shopping a few days later than normal. So, I got dressed, got Aftyn dressed complete with 2 pig tails and bows, and got our little 2 yr old friend dressed with hair done also. I was feeling pretty good, what with it being 9:30. So, off we went to our local Walmart.
For all who may not know, having 2 kids in a cart is quite the juggling act. I have, in the past, just kept Aftyn in her car seat and put her into the cart with the 2 yr old in the kid seat. It works, but it's hard to get a whole week's worth of groceries into a cart already pretty full with a baby seat.
Today, I decided to try Aftyn sitting in the kid seat with a blanket around her to cushion any possible tippage. We actually had no issues, even with the 2 yr old walking around holding my one hand and me pushing with the other hand. (Boy what a hassle this will be when I have 2 of my own - good thing I get to have some early practice.)
The real issue we had was random people walking up to smile at and talk to Aftyn, especially when I was away from the cart. Talk about making me nervous! Is this common and I never knew? Don't get me wrong, I appreciate all the adults and kids who commented on how cute she was and how smiley - who doesn't like to hear that? I'm just a little uneasy with strangers around my kids . . .

Do I need to make sure Aftyn is looking unkempt and scraggly to ensure my peace of mind? I know there must be other stories like mine, who wants to share?!?

* Aftyn wanted me to add that she taught herself how to blow raspberries last week - and she's been blowing them like crazy ever since. *

6 months old! Can you believe it?