Merry Christmas from Us!

Dec's New Toy

I've been out of town since Sunday. Patrick sent me this today. :)

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8 Month Checkup

Declan had his 8 month well-child checkup today at 8.5 months.

He weighs 19.5 lbs (50%) and 29.5 in (90%). He still has a big head (95%)! Hehehe.
When he was a teeny tiny, he was a little chunk, but now he is tall and skinny.

He is eating 3 meals a day + 24-30 oz of formula a day. We are integrating more and more people food every day, such as cheese quesadillas, eggs, chicken, ground turkey. 

He is CONSTANTLY on the move. Crawling everywhere and pulling up on everything. He is my little wild man! I have a feeling he will be walking before we even know it!

Sleep is not going so well right now. He is difficult to put down because he has started getting separation anxiety. He cries as soon as we walk out of the room. :( When we hold him, he wants to get down and crawl around. When he wakes up in the middle of the night, he cries until he gets a bottle. Our pediatrician told us to let. him. cry. So we are gonna try that!

He still loves his baths. We have not really had a "bedtime ritual" up to this point, so we are going to start working on that. My plan is to have a bath at 7, followed by a bottle, brushing his teeth (5+3 more coming in!!!!), reading a book, and putting him in his bed.

He is becoming more and more verbal everyday. He says "ma ma ma ma ma" when he is upset or really tired.  He has also started "copying" a certain noise he does.

And the best thing ever - he's giving kisses! Melts. My. Heart. He opens his mouth really wide and leans in to your face. It is the most precious thing EVER!

Baby Declan,

 You are the most amazing little man. You have such a cute personality, and I can definitely see that you are going to give me a run for my money. Please forgive me for letting you cry in your crib. Know that it is hard for me, but I know that it is best for you and our family. I love you so so much, and I am always here for you! I can't wait to see how you continue to change in the next 3 months. Your next appointment at the doctor will be your 1 year appointment. I can't even believe it!! 

I love you to the moon and back!

Momma

Thankful

It's 6:30 in the morning, and I'm up feeding my son a bottle. With this, comes a lot of time to think.
Today, I can only think about for what I am so thankful.

Last year I was so thankful to be pregnant. This year I am infinitely more thankful to be blessed with my little Declan. His fiery personality, and all. It's amazing how I continue to love him more and more every day.

I am always thankful for Patrick, but this year more than usual. He truly carries half the load (and a lot of times, more) in taking care of Decs. Being parents has changed both of us. Mostly in a good way. But we are still working on getting to know the new us. There have certainly been ups and downs, but I continue to love him unconditionally. I always say this, but I can't imagine this life without him.

I am also thankful for my supportive friends and family. Without them, we never could have done this, and Declan would still be a twinkle in my eye.

So, for what are you thankful?

I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!

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An Update

It makes me sad that it has been so long since my last post. When I first started this ole' bloggy, it was with the intention of documenting our life, not only for my friends far away, but also as a way for us to look back from the future. And now I'm disappointed that I have been unable to keep it up. Life just gets in the way sometimes, ya know?

That being said, a lot has happened since my last post.

My child turns 8 months old in 5 days. 8 months old! I can't even believe it. He has turned in to the sweetest little man - with quite the temper, of course - and I just love him to pieces! 

He now has 3 teeth, all on the bottom. I keep worrying, "what if he doesn't have any teeth on top?" My mom tells me I worry about the weirdest things. Hehehehe.

Declan started officially crawling in Disney World. Oh wait, you didn't know we went to Disney World? Ooops! I had a research project to present in Orlando in October, so we decided to make a family trip out of it. See?

And here is my little peanut crawling around at home:

Don't worry, he didn't have a stroke. That's just a new face he's doing these days.

I just returned from a 24 hour trip to North Carolina. No pictures of that, as I was busy interviewing and touring the hospitals. That's right...I'm interviewing for residency. It's crazy stressful, but crazy fun. I have 9 interviews scheduled from now until January. All over the country. From Colorado to North Carolina. Pray for me.

And here's my little pumpkin, with a pumpkin:

And what does a 7 month old do when surrounded by a pile of leaves?

Well, he eats them of course.

Declan was a dinosaur for Halloween. The most precious, green with irridescent scales, dinosaur in the world. Mommy didn't take any pictures. She's still trying to convince Daddy to dress him up again and take some pictures. So hopefully you will see some soon! ;)

So that's all I've got for now. Hopefully you will hear from me again sooner than later!

SUYL - Show Us Your Pets

It's been a while since I've done a Show Us Your Life with Kelly, so I decided I would participate today, since she is asking about pets.

We have 2 chihuahuas in our family - Gidget and Riley aka "Willey"

Gidget is 7 years old, and she weighs 4 lbs. She is my teeny tiny, and I love her. I have had her since my Junior year of college. She used to go everywhere with me - sorority chapter meetings, fraternity parties, road trips. Now that we have our family, shes a lot more stationary. She sleeps curled up next to me every night. All I say is "let's go nigh night," and she trots back to the bedroom with me. She is a little sassy and feisty. She eventually warms up to people, but it takes work on their part. She's the best guard dog - she barks when a leaf falls in the front yard. Speaking of leaves, Gidget once got knocked to the ground by a falling leaf. True story.









Willey is our 5 year old sweet boy. We lived on a street named Willey when we got him, so we named him Riley, but called him Willey. He is probably one of the coolest chihuahuas you've ever met. He loves people, fetches balls, plays with children. People constantly ask us to breed him, but I just don't want to! He tells us when he's hungry, when he has to go outside, and when he has a stomach ache (which he often does).










Neither of the pups are crazy about Declan. They tolerate him, but stay as far away as possible. Most the time...







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Teefies

You can't see them here, but Declan has two tiny baby teeth on the bottom!! I can't believe he is growing so fast!



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The Delta Fair and a Celebration

Every year, the Delta Fair comes to the Agricenter. I thought this would be something fun for the three of us to do, especially since it has cooled off so much outside.

It was not exactly what I expected, but it was still nice to spend some time with my boys doing something new.

 {Declan dressed up for the occasion}

 {Me and the boy}

 {Declan meets a goat}

 {This man tried to guess Patrick + Declan's weight. He guessed 160. Really?!?!}

 {So we won a stuffed snake}

 {And then we had ProntoPups}

 {And you can't go to a fair without having Fried Oreos}

{They look better than they tasted}

We also tried to attend the circus they were having. Declan was not having all of those loud noises, so we had to leave. We did meet the "tiniest woman in the world." I don't know why, but we were expecting an optical illusion, and not a real woman. She was real, and it was sad how she was on display.

{Overall, I think he had a great time!}

After the fair, we went to Swanky's for Susan's birthday, and a celebration for Heather, who just finished her first round of tests in medical school.

 {Declan hanging out with Jason and Aaron}

{Our sweet (and crazy) Susie Q - the birthday girl}

Not bad for a random Wednesday afternoon!

A blessed weekend

In college at Mississippi State, I was fortunate to have a large group of friends that I met through my sorority. We were very close for our entire 4 years at State, and spent a lot of time together.

{This was us in 2006, our senior year}

Every year, our group still gets together for a summer trip, monthly dinner parties, and a Christmas party. Because of my crazy schedule, I rarely get to join them.

Labor Day weekend, I was able to travel down to Destin to play with these girls.
Unfortunately, Tropical Storm Lee had the same idea, so we spent most of our time snuggling on a pallet in the condo, but it was still good quality time.

 {Looking at the windy, gloomy beach}

 {Wishing we were out on the beach}

Don't worry, the weather was not so bad that we weren't able to go out at all. We went to the outlet mall on Saturday, and had a lot of fun spent way too much money. By the time we got home it was time to start getting ready for dinner.  

{Alison and Lindsey before heading out for the night on Saturday night}

 {Linds and me - while it may appear that I got some sun, don't be fooled, I had a glass of wine}

We went to Mitchells  Fish Market for dinner. I had the Chesapeake Raw Oysters, Lobster Bisque, and Seafood Americana. It was delicious!

 {All the girls at dinner}

After dinner, we went out to Baytowne for a little while. However, these old ladies were home by 12:30.

{The girls in Baytowne}

Unfortunately, we had to leave on Sunday due to the bad weather. Despite the tropical storm, we really had a great time!

I feel truly blessed to have these girls in my life! 

Goodbye Facebook!

I have officially deactivated my Facebook account. With residency interviews looming, I would rather programs not be able to use Facebook to get a "picture" of me before I visit. Be assured, I will be back after March 15, match day!
See y'all on the flip-side!

Belly Laughs

Declan has been giggling for quite a while, but he finally had his first belly laugh yesterday. I was on the phone, and he was laying in front of me. Everytime I would speak, he would start cracking up. Once I got off the phone, I got the tail end of his laughing spree on video. Please excuse the horrible videography - I have to hide the phone from him or he becomes so distracted!

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Bad momma

Yesterday was a rough day.
I had just gotten off my 30 hr shift, and I went to pick Declan up from Patricks parents. When we got home, I had just finished feeding him, and we were sitting on the couch. Declan was laying on the couch.

I turned my head for one second, and heard a loud thud. I looked over in a panic, already realizing what had just happened. Declan rolled off the couch, onto our hardwood floors.

I immediately scooped him up, and tried to console him. He cried for about 5 minutes, and then wanted to go to sleep. I put him in his carseat and drove him to LeBonheur.

By the time we got there, he was resting comfortably, and I was a wreck. The initial assessment by the nurses was that he was fine, but they were going to let the doctors take a look at him.

We were taken to a room, and Patrick met us there soon after. Declan perked up really quickly, and was having a good old time.

We saw the resident first. I immediately recognized him, as I'm currently on my rotation at LeBonheur. He was great, and expressed no concern. The attending ED physician came in and saw him, and said we didn't need any imaging, as he appeared perfectly fine and there is always a risk to any imaging. What a relief!

By the time we were discharged, Declan was worn out!




I should say that I feel so guilty about this experience. I know that it can happen to anyone, but it doesn't make it any easier to see your baby in fear and pain. I will never forget the look on his face when I looked over and saw him on the floor!

One of the points that the physician made was that you should always be prepared a month ahead. If you think your babe is going to roll in the next month, be more careful leaving him on elevated places. If you think that he will crawl soon, don't leave anything dangerous on the floor.

So I hope this advice helps prevent some of my mommy friends from having a similar experience!

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My little room

This is where I've spent 3 nights in the last week:


Yes, it looks like a prison. Yes, it's the med student call room. And yes, it is creepy - it used to be a patient room before the new LeBonheur was built.

I have worked every day since last Monday, and 3 of those days have been 30 hr shifts.

To say that I am tired is an
understatement. I have developed a twitch in my left eye. My face looks like I'm a hormonal 16 year old with all of the cute zits that have appeared. And I've gained 3 lbs because I don't have time to work out, and hospital food is not healthy! This is not an easy life!

And worse of all, I miss my sweet boy sooo much!! I did get a chance to take a nap with him the other day:



That is quite possibly my favorite thing to do. He is just such a joy in my life, and thinking about his sweet face keeps me going!

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Obsessed with "Pinning"

I have a problem.

I. LOVE. PINNING.

Of course, I'm referring to Pinterest.

It is an amazing website, where you "pin" ideas to online "bulletin boards." You can pin decorating ideas, recipes, photographs you love, quotes, outfits, products...the list goes on and on.

For example, when I was decorating Declan's nursery, I would bookmark random pages so that I would remember different ideas. Now, on Pinterest, I could just "pin" images to a "Declan's nursery" bulletin board. It's super user friendly, and easy to figure out.

Some of my wonderful finds so far:

{I love everything about this room}

{Gourmet s'mores bar - ummm...yes, please!}

{Strawberry-lime margarita Jello shots - hello, lover!}

{I am doing this. Grandma + Declan = precious}

Have you tried Pinterest? If not, you totally should!

Declan figures out his new toy

This weekend we bought Declan a baby activity center. I think he loves it already! He really enjoys being able to look around the room and be a little more "independent."

Here's a little video of the little man trying to figure out his new toy:

P.S. Please excuse the drool hanging from his mouth - we are teething! :)

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We have hair!

When I was pregnant, I had wicked heartburn. I swore my baby was going to have a head full of hair. Much to our surprise (or not, if you look at our baby pictures), the kid was completely bald when he was born!!

Tonight when I was giving him a bath, I noticed he is starting to grow a little more!

It's looking like he's gonna be a little brown hair, blue-eyed boy!



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4 Years Ago

4 Years Ago

{I married my best friend.}


3 Years Ago
{We celebrated 1 year by going on a picnic.}


2 Years Ago
{We celebrated 2 years by going out to dinner.}


1 Year Ago
{We celebrated 3 years by spending the weekend at the casinos.}


And 6 Weeks Later
{We heard the most beautiful sound ever - a tiny heartbeat!}


And 8 Months Later
{We met our precious baby boy!}



Patrick,
I am so glad that I met you 13 years ago. I am so glad we both knew, at such a young age, that someday we would be married and have many beautiful children. I am so glad that we are fulfilling all of our dreams together. I can't imagine being on this journey with anyone else but you. You are the most amazing husband and father, and I am thankful for you every day!
Happy 4th Anniversary, babe!
-Alicia