One week down...

And about a million to go! I just completed my first whole week back at work full time, and I am so happy it is the weekend! I love my job but I love free time with my family more :) Sometimes the thought of working for the rest of my life and possibly missing out on some big and fun and great moments in Savannah's life just gets me down. I am thankful I have a job that I love and enjoy and can grow and change thru it. Otherwise I would have a terrible time returning to work. Even still, it sure is nice to come home to my sweet girl every night!

Hopefully I can blog better soon. (does anyone realize how long it takes to wash and sanitize all the pump parts, the bottles, and everything each day?) I had no idea how much effort it would take on my part to continue breast feeding when I got back to work. It's all worth it though, so I'm pushing thru.

See everybody next week! Savannah will be 4 whole months old on Friday! I can't believe it! (and down memory lane, can you believe she was ever this tiny??)

TGIF. For Real.

I have a feeling weekends are going to be extra special for me since I've returned to work.  I get all day and night to love on my sweet girl and be with my sweet husband. 

Thanks for my dino shirt Anna and Aaron!

Oh, and we can't forget these two cuties:

Happy weekend! Happy Spring too!

Hard Day

Yesterday I returned to work full time. But it was only a 7 hour day for me.  Since Spring Break is going on this week, we are open from 7:30-6:00 for the kids who need childcare while their parents work, so I am going to be away from my baby girl for 11 hours today and 11 hours tomorrow.  That is the longest we've been apart since she was born! I am sad to leave her, but happy to get back to work and love on other people's kiddos.  The best part is that CC is here to take care of her! I can't think of a better person to love on our baby girl all day while I'm away!

wait a minute, you're going where?

ok, see ya mama, CC's here to play!

Anyway, I'm sure I could use some extra prayers today and tomorrow. I will miss seeing that sweet smile!

Something new!

Savannah is working on her sitting skills! She is getting good fast.

keeping one hand spinning seems to help her sometimes :)

so proud of herself!

Oh my goodness, what are these fun toys?? And they move, too!

Searcy visit

Savannah and I went and stayed the night in Searcy weekend before last, and had a great time! Birc was at a continuing education thing out of town, so it was the perfect time.

She played with [ate] Grandad's arm and thought his armhair was great [and wanted it all for herself, so she pulled it pretty hard!]

took a nap on Grandad,

bounced on the yoga ball with CC [if anyone wants us to visit, you'll need to be sure there's a yoga ball nearby-it is all that soothes her sometimes!]

watched some Elvis with Grandad,

Danced to some Elvis with Grandad,

Walked around the neighborhood and yard with CC

and just had a big ole time in general! She and I can't wait for our next visit!  Hopefully Birc will be with us next time :)

Savannah's 3 month post [Long overdue!]

Savannah turned three months old a few weeks back, and it was also her 13 week birthday.  She is getting so big, people!
At three months, she was still wearing a size one diaper and wearing 0-3 month clothes. She was still eating every 2 to 4 hours, day and night, sneaking a 5-hour stretch in once in a blue moon.  She's still breastfeeding exclusively and has taken some from a bottle when we need her to.  I think she's eating about 4 ounces at each feeding.  She weighed exactly 13 pounds at three months and is over 23 inches long.  Big girl! We didn't have any checkups this time but we did go see Aaron a few days after she turned three months.  I just thought I'd go in and cry to Aaron to see if he had a magic wand he could wave over her so she would stop crying. :) From two to three months was pretty trying, since Savannah still isn't a great sleeper, she cries A LOT, and not a lot soothes her.  She is extremely particular about the way she is held and only wants to be held that way, and if you even try for a second to hold her the other way, screaming is triggered.  At three months, Savannah was still not liking tummy time at all and screamed from the moment I put her on her belly until I pick her up when she spits up because she's screaming so hard.  The whole ordeal only ever lasts maybe 2 minutes.  I have to say, even though I am sad she is getting bigger and growing up, I am happy for her to grow out of colic, be able to roll over, and get big enough to maybe enjoy some rice cereal and sleep a little better. 

All that said, they say that it gets better and better, and that has been the case for us too.  I can't wait to watch her when she's sitting on her own, playing with toys better, and getting more interactive.  I love her more each day and just wish I could make her feel better and be our happy baby all the time!  I've given up all dairy in hopes that it can make her feel a little better.  Aaron said it can sometimes work for colicky babies, so I am up for trying anything. 

Savannah found her hands about 2 weeks before she turned three months old, and has been completely fascinated by them ever since! She is grabbing toys with both hands, sometimes holding one object with both hands, loves to grab and pull my hair (ouch!), and grabs onto my shirt, arms, or anything that is close to her hands.  She has quite the grip!  She is also loving putting her hands together and twisting her fingers around. 

Since I'm feeling rather uninspired and Savannah's three month photo shoot didn't go just great (as you can see in photo 3) , I think I'll just put a few more pictures below and let y'all see her pretty face. I've already used her biggest smiles above!

Happy Anniversary to Anna and Aaron!

On this day 5 years ago,

Wait, no, just kidding!

On this day 5 years ago,

I couldn't be happier that my sister married Aaron! We love him and can't imagine our family without him.  Happy 5th Anniversary guys!


Oh, and since it is also St. Patrick's Day, I'll throw this one in too...

Oh the clothes!

Everybody knows baby girl clothes are fun to buy! My mom and I have especially had a great time with this, and especially at the Rhea Lana consignment sales around Arkansas. You can get the greatest cutest name-brand stuff for really great prices (cause they can only wear them for a short time!) There is one going on right now in my town and one going on in Searcy too. I think I take a picture of Savannah almost every day and the main reason (besides seeing her cuteness) is the outfits :).  Here she is in her first pair of jeans-Ralph Lauren of course! But since they were used, a mere $5 was spent! Love it :)

Sweet Sleeper

Sleeping babies are precious. Even when you're trying to wake them up so you can go to work! Opening the curtains, doing laundry, running the vacuum, kitties meowing, none of that phases this girl when she is getting the rest of her night's sleep from 6 to 9 AM!

Unswaddled, pacifier out, still asleep.

even pulled the blanket out from under her, but nothing!

same song and dance, every morning!

LOVING this weather!

I am having so much fun dressing up Savannah every day! Between her finally fitting into things besides pajamas, and all the cute spring clothes she has, I am loving this wonderful weather each day.  On top of that, I can go with the windows down in the car, walk her around the neighborhood in the stroller, and open the doors and windows when we're home.  Even better, it is daylight savings time! All of this equals a very happy Amy.

Oh, the cuteness! Love her!

Thoughts on Colic

So, I've taken an accidental blogging break, mainly due to the evil colic that is lingering around this house. Savannah is the sweetest and most precious child I have ever known (obviously) and I cannot wait for her to outgrow this colic mess. Blogging has been put on the back burner while I keep my sanity. :) Our sweet families and friends have been keeping us afloat lately because it is just so very exhausting to have a baby crying all the time. We are lucky they are all around to give us breaks and play with Savannah or hold her while she cries.

I never really gave 'colic' a thought before I had a child, and even as I was pregnant I didn't think much about it either. Up until Savannah was almost 6 weeks old, it still hardly crossed my mind. Now I cannot tell you how my heart goes out to other parents and families who have a colicky baby. Savannah has some really sweet and really fun moments, and usually even one or two good days a week, but lots of the other days and hours are filled with my baby girl screaming and crying. I'm talking like over 5 hours a day, people. It is heartbreaking above all else. It means every time we go out in public, I am a nervous wreck worrying she will be the 'screaming child' in the restaurant or store. It means every night is a different story, sometimes she falls asleep nursing, and other nights she can stay up fussing and crying for literally hours. It means she is STILL waking up every 2-3 hours to eat if not more often than that. It means there is no 'schedule' at all for us from one day to the next. It has Birc and us, most nights, looking at each other asking, 'What is wrong with her? Where is she hurting? What can we do to help her? Colic cannot be this bad right?' We know these questions are silly and have no answer but we still keep asking them.

Anyway, I'm not having a pity party here, but I will want to look back and know how far we've come from this when she finally grows out of it. And while I'm at it, I'm wondering if anyone has any tips for us? I, just as of Friday, am eliminating dairy from my diet to see if that helps per Aaron's recommendation. She also doesn't seem to have any major gas or reflux problems that we can tell, so nothing to fix there.

Here's a cute pic of my sweet girl smiling! See? She is sweet and precious too :) and we love her so very much no matter how much she cries. Hopefully I'll catch back up on blogging this week. I still haven't done her Baptism or 3 month blog, and I've got lots of cute new spring outfits to show you as well!

Jimmy Buffett!!

Thursday night, Birc and I went and saw Jimmy Buffett here in Little Rock! It was awesome and we had a great time! Birc has wanted to see Jimmy Buffett in concert for practically his whole life so it was a big check for his bucket list. Little miss Savannah stayed home with my parents and probably gave them a tough time. She is a pretty tough cookie to take care of at times, and any time I leave her, I just want it to be easy for whoever has her! But alas, it is almost never so. Oh well, at least she's super cute :). On another note, Birc and I realized how old we really are. After we got to the concert and the music started, we were in PAIN! It was so very loud we had to tear up napkins and stuff them in our ears. Yep people, we are that cool. Next time we are totally taking earplugs. What's the last concert you've been to? (and did you take earplugs? Haha!)

[Apologies-I'm blogging for the first time from Birc's iphone so this post may turn out crazy cause I can't figure out the pictures and such, but oh we'll. I'll learn.]

Watch out world,

cause I'm too cool for school in my new shades!

Something has happened to my skin mama....

Well? tell me what is causing this craziness!

Come to think of it, my fishies on my seat fabric are darker too...

Whatever it is, I'll just make a cute face so you can snap the pic and take 'em off :)