Worry wart

I have been a "worry wart" my whole life, and it SUCKS. I worried about my parents all of the time when I was younger. Of course it only got worse after my father passed away. So naturally I am a complete freak when it comes to my daughter, every little thing worries me. It doesn't help that she has had some minor problems since she was born, first she had problems with milk/soy formula (this made me feel HORRIBLE for giving up breastfeeding so quickly, wont happen again.) so she didnt gain weight properly and I felt like a terrible mom. She was only 10lbs at 3 months because she was throwing up none stop. She was put on nutramigen which did wonders but was very expensive and sometimes a hassle to find, she was also diagnosed with acid reflux and had to take medication once a day. These things are very minor but for a first time mom/worry wart they were really hard to deal with. At 9 months I was able to switch her back to regular enfamil lipil which made me think it would be easier to transition to milk, wrong! She had a reaction to the milk and had gotten horrible diaper rash for the first time ever. She remained on formula until about a week ago and she was able to transition to milk with no problems. Like I said these things are VERY common and not something I normally fuss about, I know there are babies and families with so many more issues then us so I hate complaining. I feel like something has always been "wrong", we haven't gone a month without something coming up, her getting sick, having a reaction to something. Recently B started screaming in her sleep and thrashing around horribly. My first thought was night terrors, so I googled it and read that children aren't capable of night terrors or nightmares until after 18 months. But B is showing definite signs so what should I think? I think the worst, of course! I start worrying about seizures. I watched a couple videos of children (much older children) having night terrors and B's is 10x worse then any video I saw, and she's years younger. I hate sitting here thinking "what if" so I made an appointment with her pediatrician at 3 and I'm anxious to see what she has to say! I want these to be solved, it is the worst thing in the world seeing your baby like that. This morning she had a pretty bad spout of screaming and thrashing that lasted 3 hours, I read that when a child is having a night terror to not restrain them and basically just wait it out, so that's what I did and it was horrible. I think I cried just as much as her.

I'm sorry if this post is just all over the place lol I have a lot on my mind, not to mention I'm pregnant and sleep deprived. So I'm probably not making a whole lot of sense.

Pictures

It's hard for me to grasp the concept of my little girl growing up so quickly. She learns things at an unbelievable rate and never seizes to amaze me. Shes been walking since 9 1/2 months and just recently mastered running. She signs "more" and on occasion "dad." It seems like she learns a new word everyday and her pediatrician said she talks much more then average babies her age. I guess I cant refer to her as a baby anymore since technically she is a toddler.

I've been trying to find more things around my house to do a good review on but haven't had much luck. I might post something about the stroller we have, since its been so good to us. Well I hear my baby, ahem, toddler calling for me!

Changes

I'm going to start doing some reviews on here for baby/kid items. I'm not very good at just keeping up with a regular 'ol blog because my life isnt all that interesting and I dont have a lot to write about! So, this seems like a good option for me. I'm going to start out with B's carseat which I have lots of varying thoughts on. Here it goes:

Evenflo Titan

(B in her car seat at about 8 months, rear facing)

We bought this when B was about 5 months. I wanted something affordable and safe and this seemed to be the best option. Installation was very very easy! I did have to move the straps up one notch but that was simple. It installs in our 2005 ford escape very securely. We had a little trouble getting it level but a simple rolled towel solved that fast. B's head never flops over when she's sleeping which was a huge concern of mine. We never used the cup holder/snack holder mainly because it just took up to much room and with the seat installed in the middle its hard for anyone to sit on either side with the holders installed so we just left them off. The first few months the car seat was wonderful we had no problems, but once B started growing at an insane rate we ran into a few bumps. The straps seem to tighten on their own and every once in awhile one side will be MUCH tighter then the other, I have to yank on the strap really hard to get it equal with the other side. Not to mention they constantly twist. I also wanted to keep B rear facing until at least 2 and with this seat its really hard. At 12 months she was 30inches and just under 23lbs so she's not a huge child but I have troubles getting her in and out. Also, we had to move the seat from the middle to the passenger side because of a gap in my seat, the car seat falls down into, this was no big deal until we realized how far the front passenger seat had to be pushed up. Normally no one sits in that seat but on long car rides we take my vehicle so whoever sits there is in for some squished legs. B started to hate car rides and it was really difficult for her to fall asleep. The straps of the seat started cutting into her neck so I bought some fuzzy things to wrap on them and that solved the problem. Since I had a hard time putting her in and out rear facing I decided to try her forward facing and again the seat was very easy to install securely. I had no problems..and even though its not reclined her head still doesn't flop when she sleeps. This has helped with some of the problems and its much easier to get her in and out of forward facing not to mention whoever is in the passenger seat doesn't have to eat the dashboard. I also cant imagine putting a child that is anywhere near 47in and/or 50lbs in this thing! B looks as if she's already outgrowing it and shes half that size. It doesn't seem like it would fit a bigger child very comfortably. It was only $100 and seems to be very safe, which is what matters the most. I give it 5 stars out of 10.

Framed this picture to put in her nursery, it matchs very well.





Blurry (patrick took it :p) but this is my baby and I at the sweet corn fest and shes knawing on a yummy piece of corn!


At Powell Gardens for the sweet corn fest with best friend "L".


Driving daddys car!


Standing up watching tv.


At the lake, again with best friend L.

I havent blogged in so long! My laptop broke so I was only able to get on the internet via my Ipod which I wasn't able to access my blog from. My mom gave us her old desktop computer for now until we can save up the money for a new one so now I'm able to blog again! So much has happened, B (aka bella) is getting big. She is 10 1/2 months! A couple days before she turned 10 months I took her to the doctor and she weighed 20.14 which I just round up to 21 :p. She started pointing, walking and saying a few words just within a couple weeks. They grow so fast! We've been going on play dates a lot which is fun, she loves it. And I am already planning her first birthday, it may seem a little early but time is flying and I know its gonna be here a lot sooner then I expect.

hats and headbands

I made Bella a cute headband yesterday and put it on her to go to walmart, she hated it. She kept ripping it off and pulling the flower off, which I dont know how she accomplished because I sewed it on there very secure. I guess she's just at that age were she doesn't want anything on her head.

She is eating everything we eat! I haven't given her pureed foods in a couple days. She's eating baked beans in the picture from when we bbq'd and last night she had chicken fingers, tator tots and corn. She also doesn't take a bottle anymore she drinks everything from her sippy.. and I thought weaning would be hard!

She's in the process of pulling that hat off in this picture... she won't leave them on for very long! I made this one too. Its my favorite :) I'm still learning things though. She better get used to it because she's gonna be my hat model lol

I'm really proud of her, she's getting so big and smart! I almost can't believe that she's only 9 months. She's doing things so early, I give her another month or so before she starts walking.

it has been awhile

Isn't she beautiful? I made the hat. I picked up knitting and crocheting, because you know I have so much time during the day to do such things. It's relaxing. I've been slightly stressed recently, I can't seem to figure out how things work in the world. Why certain things happen. It's all confusing. I'm sure I'm going to confuse everyone that reads this too lol. Basically nothing is going right for us, we just can't seem to get a break.

On a brighter note my little baby isn't so little anymore! She is 9 months old and weighs 19.11. The nurse measured her at 29 inches but I don't agree with that. I measured her at 30 ;). Either way, she's picked up her mammas tall genes which is good! She also inhereted her mammas allergies... which is not so good. But a bit of benadryl seemed to do the trick. We're back to co-sleeping because Bella doesn't want to sleep in her crib for some reason. She has become very clingy which makes things pretty difficult during the day. She freaks out if I leave her alone for 5 seconds and she will follow me everywere! She has basically been attached to my hip for the past 2 weeks.

I love my baby! She was kind enough to take pictures with her lovely mamma :)! Now we're sitting here watching VH1 music videos and Bella's dancing like crazy. I think she might be a dancer when she gets older, shes got rhythm. Well I don't have much to blog about these days. Its been pretty boring around our house. I've been a little busy looking for a house to buy because I'm tired of renting! We found one amazing, gorgeous, perfect house but when I went and talked to the realtor she informed me that it was already under contract. I wanted to cry. I got my hopes up with that house! It was perfect for us in every way. Oh well. Back to searching I guess. We did find one that is a fixer-upper which is kind of what we both want but we're not sure how much work it needs exactly so it just depends.

And yes, I have a sunburn in those pictures but you cant really tell! I was in serious pain stretching my arm out like that to take them haha my shoulders have blisters and my face is swollen. I even used sunscreen!