Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Letter to Emma

Dear Emma,

You are nearly 5 months old and I can not believe it! Time is flying and you are growing so fast. Maybe a little too fast! The clothes we bought you for Christmas are already too small and there were some outfits that you only wore once or twice and now they are ready to be packed away. You are now wearing some clothes in size 3-6 month, size 6 month, and just a few in size 6-9 month.
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On February 5, 2012 you were blessed by your Grandpa Craig at our home ward. February 5th was also your 4 month Birthday and also Super Bowl Sunday. You were so beautiful in your white dress. Grandpa's words were perfect and I will never forget them. You were awake, but did not make a peep the whole time. I was so proud of you. Bishop Jensen, your Daddy, your Uncle Casey, and Grandpa Anthony were also in the circle with you. Everyone went to Chuck-A-Rama after to celebrate.
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We took a trip to the doctor on February 8th. You are growing and developing right on track. You had to have more shots. You received a total of five vaccines. You were poked a total of three times, two in the left leg and one in the right leg. You also received a vaccine by mouth. It was like a little drink in a dropper. You did very well with the vaccine by mouth. You didn't try and spit it out or fight the nurse at all. I felt so bad that you were getting shots and had no idea. You did not know what was coming. As soon as the first shot entered your leg you got the saddest look on your face. Then the tears came. And the cries. It was definitely your "hurt" cry. I held you close as soon as I could and the cries stopped, but the whimpers started. You poor little thing! You were hurt, but didn't know why. You got over it quickly and forgot all about it. You did very well after your shots too, just a low-grade fever. It seemed like they did not affect you much at all.
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Just a few pics of you with your bright pink band-aides. Your big sister was a bit jealous of your band-aides and wanted one for herself, but when I told her she would have to have a shot to get a band-aide, she quickly changed her mind.

The doctor also weighed you and took all of your measurements. As of February 8th, you weighed 14.77 pounds, which put you in the 74 percentile for weight. You measured 26.38 inches, which put you in the 98 percentile for length. I have a feeling that you will be tall. You may even pass your big sister up! You head circumference measured 15.9 inches, which put you in the 35 percentile.

My biggest concern at your checkup, was your spitting problem and acid reflux. You had already tried 4 different formulas, but were still spitting up with all of them. You tried formula for sensitive tummies, ones with added rice starch for thickness (let me just say that these make the spit up an even bigger mess),soy, and just the regular ones too. Your spitting problem is not affecting your weight by any means, but I am worried it is uncomfortable and painful for you. Not to mention, it is really making the laundry pile stack a little taller! We decided to try a different formula that is more broken down and easier on your tummy. It was called Alementum and it stunk. Literally. It smelled like mashed potatoes and dog food and you HATED it. It was like I was forcing you to eat. The few days that you were on it you were the grumpiest I have ever seen you. Way too much crying for my liking. We went back to what you had tried before, but I still don't think it was right for you. I finally put you on the Enfamil that your big sister was on and you love it. Of course you are still spitting a little bit, but it's not as bad. Since the Alementum didn't go as planned, I had the doctor call in some medicine for you. They called in some Prevacid, but we have yet to try it because they are out of stock! I have a good feeling that once we start that you will feel much better. You will soon be trying out some year 1 solids and that will probably help too. The doctor also noticed a flat spot on the back of your head on the right side. The doctor suggested a helmet to help round it out, but was not too concerned. Over the past couple weeks it has started to round out and I think we will for-go the helmet.

Just a few facts about you:
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You have been sleeping propped up on your back during the night, but you like to nap on your side, either on the couch or on Mommy's bed. You like blankets around your face and I like that they help hold your binky in your mouth. You definitely like to be snuggled and fall asleep faster that way. As soon as I lay you on your side and put the blankets around your face, you are out! Sometimes you prefer Mommy to hold you and rock you to sleep. You are getting better staying asleep after being laid down after I have put you to sleep. You have always done well with self-soothing and putting yourself to sleep. Since you were 6-7 weeks old you have slept through the night. You would go to bed between 11 and 12 and sleep until about 8 am. You have been off of your game a bit lately going to bed at the same time, but waking up between 4-5 am wanting to eat then refusing to go back to sleep. I finally get you back to sleep a couple of hours later for you to sleep for a couple of hours. We are going to try an earlier bedtime and a stricter schedule. I think adding some solid foods will help too. I think it may be time to move you to your own room too. It always brings some anxiety and worry to me, but I know it's for the best. You have never been the best napper, but are getting better. You have about 2 really good naps each day. Usually you are ready for a nap about an hour after you eat. Your routine consists of eat, play, sleep, eat, play sleep.
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You think you need to hold your own bottle. Right now you are drinking 5-5 1/2 ounce bottles every 3 hours.
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You LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to sit up. This was the first time we put you in your saucer. You loved it, but didn't really know what to do. You love to sit in your bumbo too. You just like to see what it going on. You hold objects really well now. Your coordination is improving everyday and everything is making its way to your mouth. You love to play with toys and chew on everything. I love to watch you discover and learn. You blabber and talk constantly. It is the cutest thing ever!
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You were blessed with pretty blue eyes like your sister.
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I am so happy that you joined our family. You have brought me so much joy and my heart is overflowing with love for you. You have an extra large smile and are constantly flashing it to everyone. I love our special bond. You are definitely a Momma's girl. I am looking forward to watching you grow and develop.

Love, Mommy

Friday, February 3, 2012

Christmas Catch Up

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I am behind on my blogging ... Big surprise, right? Well, I want to do better. I need to do better. I would like to start by sharing our Christmas festivities this past December. As Haylee gets older, Christmas becomes more and more special and more traditions are created. Here is our Christmas story...

It began with a car ride over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house. Literally. We headed up to Bear Lake for the weekend to celebrate Christmas with my family. We enjoyed a fancy Christmas dinner at a cozy Bed and Breakfast. We headed back to the cabin and celebrated as if it were Christmas morning. Everyone got into their pajamas and we started the fire and played Christmas music. We sat around the tree and exchanged gifts. I loved watching Haylee open her presents. She was so excited and it was contagious for what was to come on Christmas Day.
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I sure love visiting Bear Lake and sharing time with my parents. I really hate leaving. I always get sad on the drive home that we don't live closer.
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Our next festivity was the annual Grandma Nell Christmas party with Richard's family. The party was a huge success. Richard's sister and I decided to cater a bit more to the children this time around. Our macaroni and cheese and chicken nuggets with dipping sauces were a huge hit with all of the kids!
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The kids enjoyed a coloring table and they colored sheets to compete in a coloring contest.
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There was a lady that was swarmed by children the entire night making anything possible out of balloons. Haylee got a flower and a bracelet!
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All of the kids adore "Aunt Ti Ti"
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Jeni and Kristy

The next week was "Christmas week". It was the final week to prepare for the big day. Haylee and I spent spent two straight days baking. We turned on the Christmas tunes and got to work! We made a double batch of oatmeal, cranberry, white chocolate chip cookies, a batch of snickerdoodles, and a batch of peanut butter cookies with chocolate kisses in the center. Haylee's favorite part was adding the kisses to the cookies. It was a new tradition to include Haylee on the baking this year. She loved helping and being a part of one of my favorite things about the holidays.
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Next was the annual Reynolds Christmas party. It's my favorite party at Christmas. The food is the best part! And seeing my family of course! My Aunt Janet makes these homemade rolls with homemade jam that are to die for! I could seriously eat them for dessert and be satisfied. And don't forget about my Grandma's slush and sugar cookies! She brought me a zip lock bag so I could take some of her cookies home and of course I left without them. I was so upset! I tried a new recipe this year for jell-o. I made a strawberry jell-o with a pretzel crust and a whip cream/cream cheese center. It turned out so good!
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We held our annual Christmas program with all of the kiddos. The kids use hand puppets to share the story of Jesus' birth and we sing Christmas carols.
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My awesome Grandma. She is 83 years young and can out shop me anyday of the week!

Christmas Eve
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We headed to Rich's parent's house for Christmas Eve dinner and our gift exchange.
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Grandma gave Haylee a new drawing pad. She has been drawing a lot lately and loves to draw spiders, circles, and rainbows.

Everyone headed outside to leave some food for Santa's reindeer.
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Santa made an early stop and dropped off the kids' Christmas pajamas. Santa left them waiting on the fireplace while the kids were outside. While the kids opened their jammies, the reindeer had their snack.
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We returned home to put the kids to bed so we could get started on the final Christmas morning preperations, but not until we got cookies and milk set out for the man in red. I am almost certain that Haylee was thinking about Santa coming to our house all night to bring presents and eat the cookies and drink the milk she left for him. The first thing she said when she woke up Christmas morning was, "Did Santa eat the cookies? Lets go see."

I stayed up way too late (until 4 am to be exact) Christmas Eve - wrapping, stuffing stockings, assembling toys, and even moving furniture. I wanted everything to be perfect because I knew it would all be worth it. And it was.

Christmas Day 2011
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Christmas morning was pure magic. It was so special. Once the entire house was awake and Emma had downed her morning bottle, we made our way downstairs together. It is always exciting to see what Santa left and what he did to make it feel extra special - candles burning, Christmas music playing, and furniture moved to accomidate extra large gifts and present opening around the tree. Haylee was a bit overwhelmed at first and was not sure what to do first. Of course that did not last long. She went to her new doll stroller and bike first. Then she wanted to open presents. Well, she wanted to open ALL of the presents. We made a deal and let her open Emma's presents as well as hers. It was too much fun! Haylee was really excited to see the cookies mostly gone and the milk drank that she left for Santa.
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Daddy's gift: a microphone. I think we are regreting this one...
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Santa brought Haylee a "Puter". (AKA a computer, an Innotab to be exact)
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After we exchanged all of our gifts and the orange rolls were baked and iced, we left our stockings and headed to Grandma's.
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We enjoyed breakfast at Grandma Vicki's (and my delicious orange rolls, of course) and exchanged more gifts. Grandma Vicki was naughty and gave Haylee a Baby Alive Doll. Fortunately, Haylee is still unaware that the doll will pee when given a bottle of water. Thank goodness! I really do not need any more diapers to change! Later, we traveled down to Grandma Angel's to have lunch and visit with extended family. Grandpa Bob was so cute and had gift bags for the older grandkids and gifts for all of the little kids too. He got polar bear stuffed animals for all of the girls. The store ran out, so Emma got a lion! He did it all himself! I was so proud of him!

By the end of the day, we were all exhausted. Haylee was excited to get home and play with all of her new treasures. Richard and I were just ready to crash and relax because the next day would start a new week full of Christmas cleanup. Our house really looked as if Christmas exploded and threw up all over our living room! Although it sounded better to just stay in bed for a week to recover instead.

We spend so much time preparing for Christmas and then it is gone in a flash. Christmas really was good to us this year. We were so lucky to spend time together with family and friends. Before we know it, Christmas will be here again and we will do it all over once again!
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