Aslynn at a month

It's so hard to believe that Aslynn is already a month old. Where did the time go? I honestly feel like I was just lying in the hospital bed waiting for my 4th epidural. At one month she weighs 8lbs 8 oz and is 21 3/4 inches long. Thats up from 7lbs 1oz and 19 1/2 inches at two weeks and 6lbs 3 oz and 19 1/2 inches at birth. Shes growing fast!

Brayden just loves his sister. He slightly can say sister which more comes out sounding like "ister" but hey! He rubs on her head and is the first in the room when she cries. It's sweet.



Me on the other hand......this is a good day after juggling two under 2. I actually had a day of beautification that day! Aunt NiNi was nice enough to treat me to some color to bring back her "Bubbies". I love my hair!


And after Aunt NiNi's eventful morning that day she and Craig both needed some Aslynn therapy. Monica just took it in the form of taking pictures of my little miss.

So here is to her first "photo shoot" per se.

Baby feet are the best!

She was actually half asleep in this picture..lol.

I can only imgaine

God blessed me with two wonderful children that I am able to love on and kiss on everyday. And everyday I do just that. I couldn't imagine first of all the heartache of dealing with infertility issues but mostly I can't imagine getting pregnant and then losing that miracle.

Being a mommy and hearing these stories of mothers and fathers who have lost their baby breaks my heart to know end. And I end up saying "I can't even being to imagine the hurt".

I can't put into words my exact feelings. I can't tell you how many times that when I love on Aslynn or Brayden I have said a prayer for these families that have angel babies. I don't pray that they move on or get pregnant again. I pray that one day through all of this hurt and sorrow that they can find closure. I know they will never forget their baby and the time shared with s/he.

The past few days my thoughts have been surrounded by these families and their losses and how God is taking care of their little ones while they can't. All they can do is grieve and remember and wait for the day when they get to hold their angel again.

I just can't imagine...

Great gear for the man in your life

I am always looking online for great gifts to give people since the holidays are right around the corner. I found Luminox watches which are a definite plus for a manly man. If you think the prices might be a little steep for you, just think about how much he spent om those diamonds that you have on your finger. I think he'd be stoked to open a gift and have one of these watches.

Happy Shopping!

Can I be the bigger person??

Yup, sure can be.

Will I today or this week even?

Nope.

Who knows what I will be but I have the ability to and I think it will come down to that.


My children have a maternal Grandmother, Aunt and Uncle that love them the world around, they have paternal Grandparents and an Uncle and Aunt that love them as well. But what they don't have is a maternal Grandfather.

Physically they have one but not emotionally.

I'm tired of it.

Aslynn is a month old and he has seen her once. She was fresh out of the oven. Brayden hasn't seen him since ooooooooo can't even remember when. But it has been this year.

I'm tired of him being too busy with his companion(that's what we'll call her) to see his blood. He'd much rather spend time with her family than us or Monica.

Pardon me but WTF did we do to get the shun from our own father???

If not me and my sister then what did my innocent children do to deserve this treatment.

At church last night our Pastor preached something on Wednesday night that struck home and I couldn't help but to cry and pray for Aslynn and Brayden and my father. I think I prayed more for my dad than my own children.

I want my children to know Mike. The man who helped bring me into this world who after my mother left raised me with help from Monica.

I'm done with trying to cover up my feelings about this whole situation and him and his companion. I don't like her. I don't like who he has turned into since being with her. In return for him being happy his daughters hearts were broken. It's gotten even worse since Grandma J died.

I'm done. When he wants to see his grandchildren he can stop acting childish and return emails and phone calls instead of ignore them.

At 3:30 AM I thought I was losing my mind

I was up after feeding Aslynn finally reading everyone's blogs when I hear this crackle. So as bright as my screen is I moved the laptop to see if there was something there. I didn't see anything. I hear it again and shine the area again with my laptop and lo and behold there was Hammy. Hammy is our little brown and white Teddy Bear hamster. He had somehow managed to survive the trip off our dresser onto the floor AND not get eaten by the dogs. Lucky animal! I know exactly how he got out therefore I'm not worried about it happening again...I left the cage open after feeding him.

Part of me thinks it would have been better to be losing my mind!

I still cant get over it

 

I still can't believe that Tater is walking. It is so cute and he'll just come running to you. Ugh it makes my heart melt. And what is even cuter is when he has on his sandles. It makes him look so grown.

Completely random post I know :)

Lovin' me some Oopsie Dazie

Over at Simple the girls are giving away 2 clips/hair band/bows of YOUR choosing from Oopsie Dazie. These are absolutely adorable and not to mention that the fabrics are oh so cute! Right now since Aslynn doesn't have long hair I'm sticking to bows and its a must to be adorable 100% of the time!

So go on over to Simple and check it out!

My new toy :)

Brad bought me a new vacuum yesterday. Mine bit the dust literally and well wouldn't suck up crap. So we had some errands to run in town any ways so we added a stop to Wal Mart. My only demand was a pet hair remover vacuum because Sophie sheds, BAD, and my beige carpet was kinda black from her.


Isn't it pretty? So light weight compared to the 8 year old brick I was pushing and actually it somewhat moves forward on its own.
So after Brad put it all together he told me to give it a whirl. I vacuumed that area right behind the vacuum in the above picture. Its not even 10ftx3ft and I sucked up the below picture. EWWWWWW.

I had even vacuumed the day before and I knew then that my old one still worked. I guess just not that well.

Needless to say the carpet in there looks FABULOUS!

Not completely girly :)

Yesterday Brad and I went fishing.

Yup...FISHING. I mean I hooked my own line with a CRICKET and even waded in hip high water to catch these fish. I used to fish a lot when dad had the boat, which was ages ago, and I enjoyed it..not so much then as now but hey I was little.

The last time I went fishing, it was catfishing and that was down at the country and that was 4 years ago I'm sure. Before that time though, umm I believe mom and dad were still married. And thats been atleast 10 years ago.

Ten on Thursday

1) I'm sad because all 4 of my USB ports on my laptop are in the process of going kaput and well it saddens me because I can't webcam with momma. I was able to for a little bit today and she was able to see Brayden walk but then thpt.

2) Did you know a little boy could expel lime green waste? Now I have honestly seen all colors of the rainbow come from his butt. WTH did he eat to cause that is what I am still trying to figure out.

3)Right now, as of this second, I have come to terms with the possibility that Aslynn might have a hearing issue. Ask me how I feel about it at another time and I can't honestly say that the answer will be the same.

4)As strange as this is I am actually looking forward to getting back to work. Where ever that place may be. I wish that I could work for Curt again and be able to bring my children to work after Brad goes back to work but I know that isn't a possibility right now and I don't think it ever will be. But I will also miss spending time with my snugglebugs.

5)I have my 6 week post partum check-up on August 4th. That is just a few weeks away and I don't want it to be. I don't simply because that will also mean that Little Miss will be 6 weeks old. :( I don't want this to fly by like the pregnancy did.

6)I can't wait to take a bubble bath and go swimming.

7)Someone I know that is pregnant is risking losing her daughter and the child she is pregnant with if she keeps up the crap she is doing. Why do people like that get pregnant while my sister is having a hell of a time?

8)I can't even begin to tell you how many times I have watched Over the Hedge today. WAAAAAY to many times.

9)As of Tuesday I am down 24lbs, which actually puts me past my pre-preggo weight. Now only 6lbs 3 oz of that was actually baby so that means that all of that was BLOAT. LoL. Because Lord knows that I haven't done jack squat aside from chasing a Tater to lose the actual fat part.

10)I found the cutest website with some of the cutest baby things for sale. Baby Star honestly has some adorable things. And the girl things are feminine. And the products that they make are better for the environment, and no this isn't a sponsored post...but hey if someone from Baby Star sees this :) *wink wink* Who am I kidding. Does anyone read this thing???

Gone by all too fast

Aslynn had her two week check-up with Dr. Carter yesterday and he said that she looked wonderful and as long as she is eating well he's happy. She weighs in right now at a whopping whole 7 pounds 1 ounce. "So big" as Grandma would say :)

She also had her re-evaluation of her hearing. She failed the initial test done in the hospital and Dr. Murphree wanted to see her back in two weeks. Well she failed the second test as well. From what I gathered by watching the computer during the test, it is her right ear the he is concerned about. Her left ear did okay but I don't think it passed either but it still did better than her right.

So we go back again on the 16th to have it tested yet again.

I know that everything happens for a reason but right now I am having a hard time coping with the fact that this happened to my daughter. I know that nothing is set in stone yet but I still have to sit on the fact that she could possibly not hear. I just keep catching myself asking the question "why?". That infamous question.

In my eyes and heart she is perfect. There is no hearing flaw or anything. But it still worries me that she may never fully be able to enjoy music and movies and the complete conversation. Then I find myself questioning if she will be able to talk properly down the road.

Why did my daughter get chosen? Is this His plan in making her unique? I mean seriously if it is His plan then he could have atleast given me a little bit of warning so that I could better prepare myself for this.

Rub a dub dub Aslynn is in the tub

Aslynn got her first "big girl" bath on the 5th. Her umbilical cord fell off on the 3rd but with the festivities of the 4th it didn't happen then. Hers took about a week. Brayden's took two weeks so I was a little surprised when hers just fell right on off.

Bathing her was so different. Right now I am used to the massive Tater who doesn't much like to sit still so I end up wrestling a 21lb chunk for a bath myself. But bathing Aslynn was like holding air. I had to be so gentle and that required some serious focus lol.

4th of July fun

Brayden wanted to scope out what Hannah was eating. By the time the night was over he had had two baths. He managed to dump a bowl of ice cream all over him and Toni as well as dump her Mt Dew all over him later that night.

This is how Little Miss spent her first holiday. She was quite content just sleeping away in Amy's arms. Here is when she ventured outside while everyone else was in the pool.

Brad's cousin Zach just absolutely adores Brayden and he had the best time just playing with him in the pool.

Who would have thought??

I wonder what woman actually stopped to think about what positivity a woman's menstrual cycle could bring. It definitely wasn't me. I never stopped to think, "Hey, maybe Aunt Flo could save someone's life." Everyone knows that Stem Cell Research is the big, hot topic now a days. The controversy lies at where to collect stem cells from and it seems that one company has turned those hellish menstrual days into something that may one day save your very life. Who would have thought it. It is almost scary to think that one day, a scientist thought, "hey let's see what is going on in my menstrual secretion. Boom, a new research idea was born. I am leaving my opinion out of this and just sharing with you a new method of continuing medical research.

But you know, there are people that plant their left over placentas, so why not search in menstrual fluids for something that might save a life?

Taking Control: Future Therapies for a Host of Serious Diseases May Be Found in Women's Menstrual Blood

July 07, 2008: 01:28 PM EST


OLDSMAR, Fla., July 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- With today’s hectic lifestyle, where most women are juggling careers, family, relationships, and a host of activities, the idea of possibly facing a serious illness in the future is not something that readily comes to mind -- especially when a woman is in the prime of her life. But what most women don’t know, is that the key to treating a number of possibly life-threatening diseases that she, a parent, a sibling or even her children may face in later years, such as osteoporosis, heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, may be found within her own body -- in vital stem cells, which can now be harvested from her own menstrual blood.

Now, thanks to the revolutionary research and technology of C’elle, a service dedicated to providing women with a safe and easy method of collecting and preserving stem cells found in her menstrual fluid each month, even the busiest woman can take control of her future, right in the privacy of her own home. With C’elle’s non-invasive collection process, menstrual cells are processed and cryo-preserved (stored at a very low temperature) for potential cellular therapies that may be used in the future. These self-renewing cells one day may even be used for sports medicine or cosmeceutical treatments, such as anti-aging therapies.

"C’elle enables and empowers a woman to take control of her future health, and possibly of those genetically closest to her, in a fast, painless and stress free way," said Michelle Kay, Marketing and Sales Manager for C’elle. "We live in exciting times, as science and technology are discovering how extremely valuable menstrual blood stem cells really are, and the enormous treatment potential they represent for future therapies. C’elle’s ongoing research is supporting these promising findings."

For more information about C’elle, please call 1-877-892-3553 or visit www.celle.com.



If you are curious about this new research, check out this CNNMoney article. See what I can find when I scour the internet?? What will technology come up with next?? There is absolutely no telling. I guess that's why they leave us to be amazed when they make a new discovery.

two weeks

Aslynn is two weeks old and after a rather quick 24 hour refresher course, I remembered what it was like to have a newborn who was solely dependent on you.

I find myself just staring at her. Again I'm in awe of what I took part in creating. I know most families are partial to their children and their dashing good looks but she is beautiful. She has this head full of hair that in just the right light its red but its also brown and blond. She has the most dainty little fingers and hands. She loves to snuggle and when she isn't being snuggled she would much rather love to be wrapped up tightly.

I was in awe of Brayden when I had him but not so much as I am with Aslynn. I think it is because she is a girl, the little girl I wanted the first time, and after spending the past year raising a rambunctious toddler it is nice to have a baby who is laid back .

That feeling of awe is something that I wish everyone could experience with their own child. That feeling is the feeling that I pray that someone gets to experience.



I've got pictures from the 4th and her first "real" bath since she was born that I will post later.

Revelation? Epiphany?

This past year has been rough on Brad and I. Not only physically but emotionally. 7 months into the year and so far Brad has missed 6 weeks of work and at least 4 more. Factor in my getting laid off at 7 months pregnant in April, being denied unemployment( appealing that choice and never hearing a word since nor any money), and giving birth to Aslynn.

Growing up my family was Catholic and both my sister and I were baptized in the Catholic church and went through communion. Eventually we became "Christmas and Easter" Catholics. We never became involved in the church. At times I found myself questioning the Bible and God himself. I actually was still questioning him up until a few weeks ago.

One of the pros about moving to Hazel Green has been that Brad and I have become involved in Church. It is so different from the rigid structure of the Catholic Church. It is laid back, you don't have to dress up in your Sunday best. You come as you.

I've said all this to say that I've found my peace with God. I trust him. I know he has things under control whether its happening the way we want it to or not. I still catch myself every now and then asking "why?" about certain things but I don't question it a sense of peace.

I've found God and I love it and honestly it has helped me through all of this. I may be broke and sometimes wondering "what are we going to do?" but inside in my heart I know that it is going to be ok.