Fun with Cousins

Blakely's cousins Brooke and Harrison love helping out with Blakely and Lexie Kate. They go over every day to help my mother-in-law take care of the babies. They are a wonderful help and Blakely loves spending time with them!

I love it when Pop talks to me!

Blakely and cousin Lexie Kate

"OK buddy, here's the plan."

"Now you watch me and I'll show you what to do."

Such precious girls!!

A Good Night's Sleep

Whoever invented the Swaddle Me is a genius!! Someone gave it to me at one of my baby showers but I couldn't figure out how to use it.  However, Blakely has been very fussy lately and a book I've been reading suggested swaddling fussy babies. So I figured it out and ever since she has been sleeping on average 8-9 hours every night!
It does make me feel a little like I'm confining my daughter to a straight jacket. But hey, who am I to complain if she likes it? Whatever makes her happy!

On another note, she is getting so strong. She needs to slow down the growing just a little bit. :)

The Not So Glamorous Side of Motherhood

Being a mother is amazing! But as every mother knows, it isn't always glamorous. Ok, truth be told it is rarely ever glamorous, but some days just take the cake.
Yesterday was my first official day leaving Blakely with my mother-in-law. For the past 2 months, I have been taking her to work with me and although my mother-in-law has kept her here and there, yesterday I started my new job as a 6th grade teacher so she will now be with her Nana every day. In addition to starting a new job, I also had to make an emergency pediatrician appointment for Blakely because she has been so gassy lately and I can tell she is in pain.
So yesterday, as soon as my work day was over, I rushed to pick her up so we could make it to the appointment in time. My mother-in-law gave her to me and said, "Let me go get her diaper bag." My brain was obviously turned off from all the new information I learned at orientation and I told her not to worry about it because we were going home and wouldn't need it until tomorrow so I just told her to keep it. Now, that would have been fine if we were indeed going home. But we weren't. We had the pediatrician appointment. (At this point, every mother knows where this story is going.)
We get to the appointment and as we're walking in I tell Kevin," Her diaper bag is with your mother. Oh, I hope she doesn't need a diaper change."
Fast forward 2 minutes and we see that she has had an explosion and it is about to come out of her diaper. Luckily, there was a couple in the waiting room with a son about Blakely's age so I asked to borrow a diaper. As the mother was handing me a diaper and some wipes, Blakely decided to throw up all over me, something she had never done before. Seriously, she has never thrown up and rarely ever spits up.
Kevin is dying laughing at this point and goes to get me some paper towels. Of course, not only did she throw up on me but she got it all over herself as well and we have no change of clothes.
Just then the doctor calls us back and as soon as we got in the exam room, she throws up again, only this time it not only gets on my dress but goes down it as well.
All I could do was laugh at the situation and realize that I'm not going to be winning any Mother of the Year Awards any time soon.
I did learn a very important lesson though. Never leave home without the diaper bag, and perhaps put a change of clothes for myself in the trunk for those very unexpected times.

2 Months Old!

 I cannot believe that Blakely is now two months old. Where has the summer gone?? The past two months with her have been amazing and it has been incredible watching her grow.

with Mary Beth

Last Thursday, on her two month birthday, she and I traveled to Greenville, SC so she could meet all my childhood friends. A friend of mine from Richmond, Mary Beth, was wonderful enough to go with us since Kevin couldn't get off work. It was so wonderful seeing all my friends and I loved that they got to finally meet Blakely. On Saturday, they threw me a "Sip and See" baby shower so that church friends could come and meet her. It was awesome seeing everyone and Blakely got a lot of wonderful new clothes and toys.

My wonderful hostesses

with her Pops

After the shower, we traveled to Anderson, SC to meet my grandparents and cousins for lunch. Although two of my grandparents had already met Blakely, my mom's dad got to meet his great-grandchild for the very first time. She slept through most of it, but I'm sure she felt all the love from her great-grandparents. 

We returned home on Monday to a present that Kevin bought Blakely while we were away. I think she still has some growing to do before she can use it, but she will love it once she is a little bigger.

Two Month Highlights

• Blakely has definitely started smiling and cooing a lot. She loves it when her mommy makes up silly songs and sings them to her. 
• She is still a little fussy in the evenings and we've figured out that milk products bother her little tummy. Unfortunately, that means no milk or ice cream for mommy. :(

•  For the past 9 weeks, I have had the wonderful privilege of taking Blakely to work with me. Although it was a little hard at times to get work done, it was very much worth it to have my little girl with me. Starting next week, she will begin staying with my mother-in-law every day as I start a new job. I will miss her, but there's no doubt she will get lots of love from her Nana!

•  She got to go swimming for the first time at 8 weeks old. Our neighbor bought her a bathing suit and Kevin took her swimming in his parent's pool. She was only in the water for about 10 minutes but she had a great time swimming with her daddy!

•  Blakely has now transitioned out of our room to her crib after a little accident occurred last weekend. While we were in Greenville, she slept in her swing, which is where she has slept since we brought her home from the hospital. It is very low to the ground and she has always slept great in it. On Friday night, I was sitting around talking with friends and she was in the next room sound asleep. All of a sudden, I hear a horrible cry and rush into the room where she is sleeping. I see the swing moving but Blakely is not in it. She had managed to push herself out of it using her feet and the swing flipped her backwards. I completely panicked and felt absolutely horrible. About 15 seconds after I picked her up, she was fine and back asleep but it took about 30 minutes for my heart to finally stop pounding. Two of my friends that were there are also mothers and helped reassure me that accidents happen and I can't beat myself up for them.

•  She has started sleeping in longer intervals at night. She goes to bed around 9:30 every night and sleeps anywhere from 4-6 hours before she needs to eat. After I feed her, she immediately goes back to sleep for another 3 hours. I'm hoping she'll start sleeping through the night completely before I start teaching in September.

Happy 2 months old my sweet girl!!!