The Regression.

I'm not really quite sure what's going on in little Ady's world. But....for the past almost 2 weeks, her sleeping patterns have taken a huge turn for the worst. I may have a 12 1/2 month old, but I might as well have a 12 day old baby girl. Which, by the way, I do desperately miss. I miss waking up with her. I knew what to do then...feed her. Now...I'm stumped.


It's a good thing I've managed can get by on little sleep. Because, for the past 14 nights I don't think I've slept more than a total of 3 hours consistently. Sleepy mommy. (And I"m willingly taking any Starbucks giftcards you'd like to share :)) But, what's wrong with Ady?

I can't really remember exactly what it was that started these late night screaming escapades. But, they're painful to hear. It's a screaming, ear piercing, heart breaking, cry. She's on whole milk now and Prevacid still. I don't think that's the issue, since she's happy during the day. For the first several nights, she found relief laying in our bed. They would start about 2-3 am and then she'd be up at 6:30 with us. The problem is....Ady sleeps worse in our bed. She is incredibly sensitive to light or sound. If a dog shakes, a cell phone alarm goes off, you roll over heaven forbid, she's up. So, I have not been a fan of her sleeping with us, as much as I love to hold her. I know it's not best, but what else do you do when you have a screaming baby? How can I tell when it's just normal seperation anxiety awakenings and when it's something painfully wrong? I must have missed the chapter in the Parent's Manual :)

Then...she started these screams earlier, around midnight. Which led her back into our bed even earlier. Are you with me here? Ady has been losing roughly 2 hours or more of sleep every night for 2 weeks. That's a lot of sleep. And, nap time is suffering too.


.....my once very good scheduled napper has regressed. Sigh.....She's been getting 40 minute naps again. And she wakes up screaming. I'm at a loss at what's wrong. She is getting a mouth, and I mean and entire mouth full of teeth! Her top two are in, looks like 2 more up there coming, as well as her molars. I've heard those can be painful. Is this what it is? I'm giving her Tylenol off and on. I don't really notice a difference. Anything else I should try?

Last Sunday we pulled into church at our regular time for 8:30 service. Ady had another sleepless night and she had fallen asleep in the car. I figured she must have a bug, and I told Joseph to go on in and get a seat and I'd just drive around a minute and decide what to do with her. I knew she wasn't going to the nursery; knew something wasn't right. I hadn't so much let him out the door, then she opened her eyes and vomited profusely. At first, I was thinking it was spit up, but as I watched her in the rearview mirror, I saw that something was not right. As I'm panickly trying to find a parking spot in church just so I can stop, she continued on. Once I found one, I immediately tried to catch Joseph. I knew there was no way I was going in there with her. Luckily, I reached him and he came out to help me. I'll spare you the details, but it was a 2, really needed it to be a 3, man job to clean up. Poor baby girl. I called the doctor and she just had some nasty tummy bug. Said to come in on Monday if she had another sleepless and screaming night. So...I did just that. Sunday night=no sleep.

Monday the doctor said she was fine. I was getting mixed signals. He said she probably just wanted to sleep in bed with us (even though I told him that past 5 nights prior she screamed even in my bed & that she's been soothing herself to sleep for quite a while), then he said her ears looked fine, but later said she may have pain between her ears. Well, it's Friday and we've yet to have a restful night of sleep. Last night she came in our bed from 2-6. At 6 I carried her into her bed, screaming. She screamed for about 20 minutes and Joseph went in 3 times to give her the paci (If I go in...it's all over. Thank goodness for daddy!). She fell asleep and it wasn't anytime before she was screaming again. Back and forth for almost 2 hours.

Can anyone shed any light on this? I love my little baby girl and I want her happy self back. She is very happy during the day. She laughs, giggles, waves, talks, babbles, loves to walk, etc, etc. But...sleepy time=no happy time. I'm not trying to complain at all. She's worth everything, but I"m wondering if there is something here I'm missing? Is it just teeth? Night terrors? Any mommies out there, I'd love your advice :)

Splish Splash.

Ady has disliked the "big girl" bathtub f-o-r-e-v-e-r. I tried when she was first able to sit up. She didn't like it. I bought a bath mat. Still didn't like it. So...we continued to bathe her in the infant whale tub. She wasn't over the weight limit and she could have stayed in it longer, but...come on she's 12 months old now. :) I started to have a "mini" panic that this child was going to have to bath in this tub until she was 10 years old. :) So....after some facebook friends advice, we decided to jump on in!

She loved mommy in the tub. (Daddy thought it was so funny, so he snapped a picture).
She loved the bubbles :)


The next night I made daddy jump in and this time mommy snapped the picture :)

And....tada....by the third night...she was bathing by herself. NO tears. She, thankfully, got over her fear of the big scary tub. So...Mr. Whale went into the "baby" closet. No tears from this mommy. While I am sad at how quickly she is growing, I am very proud of my little girl for conquering a fear. Bathtime is much more enjoyable and fun now. Now we have lots of more time to splish and splash :)

lADYbug, lADYbug....

Ady's birthday party was a huge success. Thankfully, there was no rain (since it was an outdoor party). The only problem? It was about 100 degree heat index! Thank goodness Joseph's dad had a very large fan that helped cool things off outside. We had fans inside too and it was perfect :) Check out some pictures of the decorations:








I wish I could take the credit for this idea, but sadly I can't! My sorority sister did a party similar to this for her daughter's 1st birthday several years ago. I "copied" (with permission!) the ladybug idea :) I tweaked it a bit and added the "polka dot effect" on the fence using balloons and a paper plate.



Ady was loved, and loved, and oh so loved! Her cake and the cupcakes (from Aunt Heather's sister again!) were perfect.

She was such a little lady she didn't even get messy. I guess she wanted to preserve the sweet little cake :)


I was surprised at how well she did considering ALL the people around her, but no tears! That's my happy girl! Her Tatay smocked her the perfect dress for her party! !


Her Aunt Stella got her a UK chair and it was a hit! (We're just going to add some Tennessee orange bows to it and daddy and mommy will love it too!). :)


She sat there while I opened her gifts. It was so sweet. No surprise, she got the same Disney princess card by 3 people. It was too funny! The day was absolutely perfect. And finally, about 10:30, Ady was partied out. She fell asleep with people still around, no crying at all, right in her Tatay's arms :)


We are so blessed to have so many people who love our little Adybug! :)

Bye, Bye, Baby

I can't believe it's already here. My baby isn't a baby anymore. She's changing with every blink, growing so very fast. I can remember many people saying after her arrival "enjoy it, it goes by so quickly." I didn't believe them. It's not that I thought they were lying, I just couldn't imagine how fast the sleepless nights, the coos that were so sweetly made by Ady, or the sweet days spent just rocking her, would go.

This was one of the last pictures taken of me before Ady arrived. I was growing rather large :)

Our last picture right before "showtime!"

And then, the grand arrival.....

1 Month

2 Months

3 Months

4 Months

5 Months

6 Months

7 Months

8 Months

9 Months

10 Months

11 Months

12 Months

Her birthday was spent (as birthdays should be!), doing exactly what she wanted to do.


We went to McDonald's, Orange Leaf, and went for many rides around in her new car :)



Gramme, Bampe, and Caden came that night to celebrate and brought more gifts!

Ady loved her purse cake made by her "Aunt" Heather's sister.

She was so funny trying to eat it off the tray. Then, she picked the pink up all around the handle of it so sweetly. She even ate the fondant tube of lipstick. Afterall, she was born on 90210 :)



It was a sweet day of memories for Joseph and I. I can remember every little detail of the day she was born. As I kissed her goodnight late that evening, I had tears just pouring down my face. I never could have imagined the joy that she would bring me. The blessing that I never thought I would be able to have. She is growing so fast. I wish I could just bottle up time. My prayer is that this next year I will enjoy the ride and know that this too shall pass, far, far too soon.....

What I Don't Believe

What I don't believe is that in almost 2 weeks, I'll have an official toddler. She's been one in my mind for months. No baby food, walking everywhere, climbing everywhere, and fast, fast, fast! I don't know anyone who is a stay at home mom that has relaxing days just spent on the couch. Once the baby is mobile, there is no stopping (unless of course it's naptime, when mommy can blog...or shower!)

Ady's party has been planned in my mind for months. It's coming up in 2 weeks and we are so looking forward to spending the day celebrating with the people who have invested their time and love into our sweet little girl. :)


What I don't believe, is that I'm a mother. I am having flashbacks of time before Ady was growing in my tummy. My heart, was breaking. Just breaking. It was broken that others got pregnant on the first try. I was broken because I had to have 2 surgeries, was in enormous amounts of pain and still didn't have one to hold. It just wasn't fair. But, God wasn't finished with me yet. Through my painful journey I learned the sweet feeling of surrenduring it all into the arms of Jesus. I learned to be more patient, more loving. And then, on January 16th, after a very painful day spent in Louisville, I found out....He hadn't forgotten me.

I can remember my eyes were just dancing. I bet I had looked at 25 negatives. But the positive...it showed up so much faster. I was in awe, disbelief, and excited all at once. To know that my greatest desire, that my suffering, had not been in vain. The Lord had prevailed and He had a plan for little Ady. I remember my first OB appointment.

My mom and Joseph were there. When I saw her on the monitor, then saw her heart beating and heard the pitter patter sound; I began to cry. It was so very surreal. Then a few weeks later, we invited our sweet friends and close family to a "revealing party" as we "revealed" that our Ady was in fact, an Ady. I will never forget the look on my mother's face. It was such a sweet moment.

Joseph and I were estatic. We were going to welcome this precious little girl into the world in September.

I had many scares throughout my pregnancy. Falls, blood pressure, etc. I can see now how the Lord had His hand on me and Ady so many times. I may have never shared this with you, but the entire time I was pregnant I loved the song "Safe in His Arms". When I'd play it, Ady would kick, kick, kick!

I remember the morning my water broke. I told Joseph we had to listen to it on the way to the hospital. It was one of our most intimate and precious moments together as a family of 2 just one more time. The morning I woke up, I knew she was going to be born. I just knew it. When my water broke, I screamed and started running through the house so excited. My mom called my Tatay who then turned around from going toward Atlanta to visit my uncle and made it in time to see Ady be born. I remember Joseph freaking out when I called him at work. I remember that I literally hadn't so much hung the phone up, and he was already in the driveway. :)

I was admitted around lunchtime and my blood pressure was extremely high. After an epidural and some medication, it finally regulated. But, at 9:00 that evening I was still making no progress. I was only at 3 cm and my water had broken 12 hours prior. I was having the most mindless and useless contractions. I STIL believe that had my water not broken, Ady would have just come out at my home. Even to the second she was born into this world, the contractions never went to the "top" and there was no, and I mean absolutely no pattern. At 10:10 pm my best friend, Heather, my mom, Joseph, and Tatay were all in the room discussing my "useless" contractions. I remember feeling like I needed to push. How I did, I don't know. I was so numb it didn't make sense. I was so embarassed to tell the nurse because I knew it wasn't time, but I told her. And she said, "good girl." When I asked her what she meant, her intern said "all I feel is head". The nurse then said, "you're a 10!" I said, "Oh my gosh! Like how close are we??" And she replied that Ady was coming right...then! She screamed for someone to call the doctor and in less than 17 minutes I was holding her. The nurse feared that she was going to have to be the one to catch Ady. She came so fast. And she literally flopped out. I will never forget that moment as long as I live. That moment when I saw her, and it was real. When I saw my faith meet my eyes.

When I saw my heartache and burdens that had been laid at the cross, and then my baby? Ah...there is nothing more miraculous. There is nothing sweeter than bringing a baby into the world when you were told you never would be able to. Praise the Lord! They weighed her, and she was perfect.

She has captivated us all since the first second she took a breath into this world.

I can vividly remember the night she was born when it was just Joseph and I. I am, first of all, so beyond thankful to have married such a precious person.

But, I can remember sobbing that night. I was scared to death. I looked at him and told him I didn't have the first clue what to do. He understood; he was right there with me. There is no manual. But, I can say that through this past year, the manual that we have entrusted to raising Ady is the Bible, a lot of prayers, and each other. Our marriage has grown through our struggles and through the birth of our miracle baby.

What I don't believe is that my now almost 12 month old, was once this tiny.

I can't believe that today she's climbing stairs (her new favorite thing to d0.)

Crawling around with her fairy wings on:

Showing us her funny personality:

And being the most precious and perfect baby ever:

As I approach this new chapter in Ady's life, I can't help but look back and reflect on the miraculous entry she had into this world. The painful nights, but then the joyous morning. She will always be my proof that no good thing will He withhold from those who serve and love Him. She wasn't supposed to be here today, but she is. Through a lot of tears, I don't believe that I have this gift. But, I will gladly boast in the power of the Lord and how He carried us through that dark time into the light that we have in our little Ady today! :)