PEYTON FELL OFF THE BED

I win the Bad Mother Award for 2007. My 5 1/2 month old child fell off the bed this morning. Yup. So here's how the story goes. Rob left this morning at 5:30 a.m.ish. When he left he accidentally shut our bedroom door. Well...that put Havick in a tizzy. Havick started barking outside our door at 6:15 a.m. That woke our princess who was sleeping in bed with us. (I know that's not right and I have learned my lesson, but the child likes to eat and her mother likes to sleep so it's worked to this point.) I get up and open the door to let Havick in the bedroom. I then get back in bed on Rob's side and put some pillows all around the bed to barricade the child in. I know she can roll around and scoot so I tried to prepare. Well, we were playing and cooing at each other. Next thing I know I hear a THUD and then a little cry. I fly out of bed (must have fallen asleep) yelling profanities and scoop my little sunshine off the floor. The pillow must have broken her fall because as soon as I picked her up she stopped crying. It wasn't one of those screaming cries either. It was more like "what the hell just happened" cry. Poor thing. I looked her over and over and moved all of her body parts. She was okay. THANK GOD. I am so lucky that she did not hurt herself.

Lesson learned - she will now sleep right next to me and I will always have a hand on her. I now know why my girlfriend said she was going to put her bed on the floor. I thought to myself "why would you do that - just put your kid in his crib." That's what I get.

Wish me luck in transitioning Peyton back to her crib. HA!

5 1/2 months old

Dolled up family photo - we should have put Peyton in a fancy dress.

Mamma's Girl

She loves her highchair. Too cute. She continued to lick and eat the table. We are now sitting up on her own unassisted. And, she's up on all fours rocking back and forth.

Computer time with Daddy.

That guy looks familiar

Is it Grandpa or is it Santa? I think it's MY Grandpa. Sweet - my Grandpa is Santa. Oh...I am going to get everything that I want. Yay! I can't wait until I can actually start asking or things.

5 months old

I'm not going to upload the Christmas photos because you will all recieve those in your cards. Hopefully I can get those out this week.

Back and Busy

Peyton really enjoyed her first flight - as you can see. This was in Fayetteville before we even took off. She was perfect on all of the flights. She even survived our 22 hour layover in Atlanta. Our flights continued to be delayed and then canceled so we had to spend Sunday night in a hotel. Delta was great though. They took care of everything. We even ran into my friend from Ft. Polk and did dinner with her. Small world.

A glimpse into our future. This is our niece Emily. Rob rocked her to sleep - and himself. He has the touch!

It really is impossible to get a photo of three children. Garrett is 7, Emily is 13 months and Peyton is 4 1/2 months old. They all got along really well. Peyton and Emily's outfits were given to them from Grandma. We really tried to get a good shot. This was the best out of the 15 we took.

Like Mommy like Daughter! That's all I have to say!

Here's the party gang. This is Rob's sister and her hubby Scooter. We had a blast. We left Saturday morning at 5 a.m. and flew to Mississippi for a 3 Doors Down concert. That's Rob's favorite band. We partied hard and enjoyed our time. I did miss Peyton, but it was good for Rob and I to get away for a night. WOOHOO!!!

Here is a pic of Rob and the lead singer Brad. The band was so nice. We had floor tickets and were just a few feet from the stage. The concert featured the Music Mafia, Sara Evans and then 3 Doors Down. It was a blast. We are still recovering from the Thanksgiving travel and then the concert trip. My Aunt and Uncle are here now so we've been going and going. We then will have two weekends full of activity and then we head to Florida for Christmas. Then Rob will leave :(

Peyton is just days away from turning 5 months old. Tonight she reached for my cup with water in it so I figured what the heck...let's try a sippy cup. She loved it. She could hold on with both hands and then knew to get the nipple in her mouth. (She's mastered that - Mamma's girl likes to eat.) So we'll keep giving the sippy cup for her to play with.

Peyton's Development:

1. We now reach for Mommy. Only Mommy! She has now officially associated me with comfort. It's really cute and heart warming until you discover that you have to do everything. Rob's really good at putting her to bed, but now she sometimes wants me.

2. She still sleeps with us. It's by default. She starts out in her bed, but then I put her in bed with us to eat. I fall asleep and she falls asleep. Next thing you know it's 7:30 a.m.

3. Rob and I have failed at our sleep patterns with Peyton. She was going to bed at 7 p.m. no questions asked. Not anymore. It's 8:30 right now and Rob is walking her around the house trying to convince her that it's bedtime.

4. She loves her exersaucer and walker. She can stand straight up in those two toys.

5. We're getting a little better at sitting on our own. She still looks like a Weeble Wabble.

6. She turns 5 months old in 3 days. We're going to try green beans. Yummy!!!!!

We made it to Mobile

Happy late Turkey Day!!!! We made it to Mobile, AL with flying colors. Peyton was an angel. She slept on both legs of the flight. She also experienced her first race. We had to run from our first flight to catch our second. Rob and another young guy on our flight took off to hold the plane. Peyton and I brought up the rear. I was trying to avoid shakin baby syndrome. She was in the Bjorn and I was holding her head and speed walking. I discovered two things: 1. That is not easy. 2. I am very out of shape. I was huffing and puffing when we arrived at the flight. Fortunately we made it. Our luggage did not, but it came in on a later flight so we received it that night.

Peyton has been enjoying the quality time with her cousins Garrett and Emily. The three of them are so cute together. Peyton has also been enjoying the mommy time. She likes being able to breastfeed whenever she wants. I hope she'll take a bottle on Monday :)

I will upload photos when we get back on Monday.

Hope everyone counted their blessing this holiday and stuffed their faces!

This is an example of why you don't put items in the crib with babies. My father left Peyton's "church baby" in the crib and Peyton decided to use it as a pillow. Dad realized that he shouldn't have left it in there so he took a picture to document his mistake.

We have officially purchased every item that is available for a baby. The only thing that was originally missing from our collection was a walker. Now we have it. Peyton loves it. She can't really make it go forward, but she accidentally makes it go backwards. She also likes the toys on it. It's pretty funny. I'll take video soon.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr - this is my new winter jumpsuit. Look at the ears on the hoodie.

Waking up to new developments

Things are changing each day with our little Princess. I woke up this morning to a little noise coming from Peyton's bassinet. I let her "chat" for a little bit while I listened to her cooing. Then it got a little louder. I wipe my tired eyes and look over and I see a bit of peach fuzz then two blue eyes looking back at me. Peyton can now lift her head high enough to see over the edge of her bassinet. So...this means that she can now see me lying in bed and knows I'm there. This might be new challenge as well.

We will be packing today for our trip to Mobile. We leave on Wednesday night. I know I know - it's the most traveled day of the year and we're going to be one of the millions of people traveling. We fly out of Fayetteville and into Mobile so hopefully we can avoid major congestion. I just hope we don't get delayed, miss a flight, etc. Fortunately I don't have to worry about bringing enough formula. The boobs are a lot easier to travel with :) I am concerned about bringing enough diapers. Oh this should be fun! We'll keep you posted.

Life is Good

Babies, babies everywhere!

Congrats to all the new moms - Eylin and Rachelle! They both successfully had beautiful babies. Eylin gave birth to Madison Rose and Rachelle gave birth to Casey Jared. Way to go girls!!!!

Congrats to all the mommies to be! I wish you all the best of luck.

I always heard people say that they were in that phase of their life when everyone was having babies. First phase is everyone goes off to college and starts their own lives. Second phase is when you start your career. Third phase is when get serious with someone. Fourth phase is when you get married. (That phased seemed like everyone was getting married.) And, now it sure seems like all of my friends are having babies. I've never bought so many baby gifts. Or, in my case, received so many baby gifts :)

Videos

New videos of Peyton. These are of her first feeding with rice cereal and her new trick in her swing. We'll be putting the activity bar on the swing going forward.

Click here to view them.

Four Months Old

Stylin' and Profilin' - this is Peyton's Fly Girl outfit. Dad said she looked ghetto. I thought it was adorable. It was PHAT.

Well, the instructions said she couldn't use this contraption until 4 months old. So...on her Monthday she got to play in her jumping thing. She really liked it. She didn't jump as much as she twirled. I can tell she's going to be a Princess - she already likes to twirl. The dogs loved it. They liked having her face to face like that.

Oh boy that foot tastes SOOOOOOO good. She just found her feet. It's really funny.

Just had our 4 month appointment and we're doing great. She weighs 15 pounds and 5 ounces and is 26 3/4 inches long. Her head circumference is on the smaller side, but nothing to be worried about. That's probably why her ears look larger than they are. She's healthy! And, she did GREAT with her shots. We both didn't cry as much as the first time. She was a doll baby.

Happy 4 Monthday Peyton

Happy Monthday Peyton. You are now officially 4 months old. I will know tomorrow what your "stats" are :) I will post the details tomorrow.

I just wanted to wish you a happy happy monthday. You are our little princess and you mean so much to us. We love you and have enjoyed every second with you.

Love,

Mommy & Daddy

(Pictures will be posted later - Blogger is having difficulties.)

Learning each and every day

We have learned a new trick that we like to do a lot. We love to do this new trick in public places, in the car, during really quit moments and when I'm not getting enough attention. I know you are all wondering what that new trick is...it's a nice loud squeal that makes Mommy's nerves hit their limit!

Ok, so it's a crazy loud shriek. She loves doing it. I hope this will pass just like the raspberries did.

Other than that we're doing well. Rob was in the field last week, came home for the weekend and leaves again tomorrow. He'll be back Thursday night. Times starting to tick away quickly. He deploys in early January so we have a limited amount of time left before he goes. We're going to video tape him reading some stories to Peyton. I'm going to try and play them often so she remembers his voice and what he looks like. When he returns she'll be about 13 months old. I'm sure she'll be fine. I hope she goes right to him when he gets back.

We go in on Wednesday for Peyton's 4 month appointment. SHOTS - YUCK!!!!!! I am so not looking forward to the shots. Rob won't be able to be there so I'm going to bring Dad. My guess is that she's going to be 26.3 inches long and 16 lbs 8 ounces in weight. That's just a guess. Anybody else care to take a stab?

Happy Halloween

I'm not too sure about this big ass bow on my head. But, I sure do look good.

Check out my ears -they look just like Daddy's.

Happy Halloween! We sat on the front porch and handed out candy. Mommy also showed me off to all of the neighbors. Buuuuuuzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

WAREAGLE!!!!

BBBBBBUUUUUUUUUZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!

Here is a sneak peak at Peyton's Halloween costume. She's a bumble bee. It's too cute!

Our little Auburn Fan! She loves her cheerleading outfit. Our dear friend Amanda sent this to her. WAR EAGLE! Rob likes that she's showing school spirit already.

Weekend Update:

We had an awesome weekend. Like I said before, my Mom, Aunt and step-sister Nikki all arrived on Thursday night. They couldn't get enough of Peyton. She was an absolute doll. She trucked all around town with us and was a delight. She barely napped at all, but wasn't fussy. It was probably all of the attention she was getting. She also got some new clothes. Thanks for those guys! It's getting chilly here so she'll be wearing her new jumpsuits and long sleeved clothes soon.

Peyton Update:

So lately Missy has been getting up at 12:30, 3:30, 5:30 and then for good around 7ish. I haven't really complained because I just grab her and put her into bed with me to feed and then put her back down. Well...Dad was convinced that I was actually waking her up and that she would go back to sleep on her own. I gave this a try last night. We only go up once to eat. The other times she fussed a bit, but settled herself back down. She was an angel. I woke up and was completely rested. We're going to keep trying this and see how it goes. Who knows - she might be up in her crib by this weekend. We'll see about that. Even getting up once a night and walking upstairs might be too much for me.

A few items..

1. My Mother, Step-Sister and Aunt arrive tomorrow night. Don't tell anyone, but it's a surprise that my Aunt is coming. That's my Mom's sister. I sure hope my Mom doesn't read my blog tomorrow. I doubt she will. She's a bit challenged when it comes to technology. I'm really excited to see them. My Step-Sister Nikki and my Aunt Sue have never been to F'ville before. Not sure what we'll do besides stare at Peyton all day :) Last time my Mom saw Peyton she was 1 day old. Boy has she changed since then!

2. Busy busy time at work. I am planning an NPR interview for tomorrow. Should be good. We're going to tour housing and then I will escort the reporter to an interview with a general. Yup, I'm bigtime (but only for tomorrow.)

3. I am attending my CA FRG meeting tomorrow night. I know that I vowed not to get involved again, but I just couldn't resist!

4. I just realized that this blog will make NO SENSE to my non-military friends. Sorry.

5. Our dear friend Dan Herlihy returned from Iraq last night. His wife Michelle reads the blog and comments so you've seen her here before. They are now famous too because they made the front page on their local paper. It was an adorable picture of Michelle, Dan and Micayla saying hi for the first time in 12 months (minus R&R.) Welcome back Dan!!!

6. Why is the world so politically correct? Seriously - why?

7. Peyton is still adorable. She is much more alert and active. And, she's expanding her vocabulary. She likes to be heard and be the center of attention - ALREADY!!!!

Chuckles

I FINALLY figured out how I can upload Peyton's laughing video. My friend Amy Burns sent me a video of her precious Addyson dancing the night away on a great website. After trying to upload my video to this blog and it failing multiple times, I decided to link to that same website titled Dropshots.

So, here's the video:

Peyton's Laughing Video (the fat girl laugh)

Crawling

Peyton crawled today - yup, crawled!!! Dad had her up in the Man Room and she "inch-wormed" off of her play yard. She first went backwards and then forward off of the blanket. How can a 14 week old child crawl? Seriously! Hopefully we can get it on tape.

She also is laughing out loud in a "fat girl" type laugh. It is so funny. We video taped it so I will upload it as soon as I can.

We missed you...

It's been a long time. We have missed all of you and the blog itself. Peyton, Rob and I have been out of town the last week. We had a whirlwind of events and Peyton was an absolute angel. She was so perfect. Here is what our week entailed:

Thursday night - left for my Aunt's house (Rivereagle) in Easton, MD. Peyton did a great job on the way up there. She slept the whole way.

Friday - spent time with my Aunt Karen, Aunt Judi, Uncle Bob, Uncle Don and my Dad. We had a good time.

Saturday - left for DC. Spent the night in a hotel...Peyton's first time in a hotel. She slept very sound in the portable crib.

Sunday - woke up at 4:45 a.m. to attend the Army 10-miler. Rob ran the race and Peyton and I worked the HOOAH tent. Peyton was very content riding along in her Baby Bjorn. Everyone loved her.

Monday - drove out to Annapolis and dropped Peyton off with my two Aunts and my Dad. They took care of her from Monday to Wednesday. I attend the AUSA conference and worked the Picerne booth. Rob drove back to F'ville with my two co-workers.

Wednesday - went back to Rivereagle to see my sunshine.

Thursday - Saturday - hung out with my relatives and had a magnificent time. We did a lot of shopping. Miss Peyton is going to have some cute winter clothes.

Here are some photos of our trip.

Peyton's first tea party. It was thrown by her two Aunts to introduce her to their friends.

Our first tea set. Notice our outfit (and bow.)

This was on our walk. The temperature dropped down to 50 so we had to bundle up. The hat is an addition my my Aunt Karen. Too cute.

Our little fairy princess. Can you tell we had a good time playing dress up. Peyton is going to kill us when she's 16 and doesn't want these pictures shown.

She's channeling her inner bug.

Our SUNSHINE!!!!

Peyton Darling =

Thank you for being so good this past week. Mommy and Daddy had a fun time showing you off to all of Mommy's coworkers and friends. You were unbelievably good. You slept great and you entertained the whole family. You lacked nap time and slept when you could, but you were still in a great mood.

We love you!

Peyton's first photo shoot

I know what you're thinking - BOY Kelly has lost a lot of weight and that guy looks nothing like Rob. LOL. You're right. This was Peyton's fake family. She was involved in her first photo shoot. We had to take some new marketing pictures for work and I volunteered my little one to be the model family. As you can see, she did a really good job smiling on command. I won't tell you how many pictures Scarlett had to take to actually get this one :) She was an angel and just might have a career in advertising.

Dress Up Day

Mommy decided to play dress up today since we're getting ready go visit Glam-Ma (Karen) up at Rivereagle. Mommy's packing all my cute outfits so I'll have plenty of camera ready wardrobe items. This is the first time I've had a headband in my hair. Not sure if I look like Aunt Jemima or if I look like I'm getting ready to put my make up on. I don't think we'll be wearing this in public.

Mommy saved this picture as "G Unit." This is my thug look. I even have a thuggish expression on my face. WHAT UP!!!!!!!!! Bring it on (just ignore my cute PJs that I have on because that ruins the whole tough girl image.) For those of you who do not live in NC it was a little chilly the other morning for our walk so I had to suffer through wearing this skull cap. I can't wait for winter!

Big Girl

Peyton is growing up so fast. She rolled over on Thursday. Dad has her up stairs doing tummy time and she kept rolling from her back to her belly. Then she would fuss some and he'd put her back then she'd roll over again. Finally he let her fuss and she fell asleep on her tummy. She slept for 3 hours on her belly. Then she did it again on Friday. Very exciting except when it comes to night time. Now we want to roll over at night on to our bellies. Normally this would not be a problem, but her bassinet is too small for her to roll over. She then gets frustrated and starts "bitching." I wake up and feed her and then put her back down asleep. I think she actually ended up sleeping with me last night. It was easier. So here comes the BIG question - do I move her up to crib in the nursery? I have a few fears about doing this:

1. What if she rolls onto her tummy and doesn't turn her head and then suffocates?
2. What is she continuous to wake up at night? Then I'm going to have to keep going upstairs to get her which will wake me even more than it does now. Before the rolling over incident she was going to bed at 7 p.m., waking up at 3:30 a.m. to eat and then getting up for good around 7 a.m. This was perfect.

My other option is to move her Pack-n-Play into my room which would give her more space to roll over. If we do this then we have to move "Peyton Central" from our living room. We have a little place set up with her Pack-n-Play - we change her diapers there and we have her clothes down here to make it easier. For those of you who don't know our master bedroom is downstairs and all of our other rooms are upstairs. I know...it's just stairs and I could use the workout. I think that's what I'm going to have to start doing. It's just so much easier that we're all down here. Although we'll probably start using the MAN ROOM soon since she's going to be rolling, crawling, walking, etc.

This was a total ramble, but any advice would be great.

Thanks,

Kel

Once again - we've been outdone

There we were tonight - on a date. Dad watched Peyton (well, he made sure she stayed asleep since I put her down at 6:45 p.m.) Anyway, we are watching the previews before our movie (Rush Hour 3) and there was the preview for The Rock's new movie The Game Plan. Here is the link in case you're interested: http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/gameplan/

So I'm totally enjoying my night and the previews when the little girl from The Game Plan says "I'm your daughter and my names is PEYTON." That's right...the little girl in this new movie is named PEYTON. How does that happen? LOL! All of the air was let out of my balloon. Well, now her name will be more recognized so people won't question why we chose the name. I can say now that she was named after the little girl on The Game Plan instead of Peyton Manning, the world's greatest quarterback!

That's my story for tonight. Rob and I did enjoy our little time away from home. Although, I did fail my first real Mom test. I walked right out of the house without my cell phone. Fortunately Rob brought his so I had to call my Dad to make sure he knew to call Rob's phone and not mine if something happened. I guess that goes to show how comfortable I am with Dad watching our princess. She did just fine. Slept through the whole thing. Now we'll see what times she gets up tonight. Last night she went down at 7:30 and got up at 3 a.m., 5 a.m. and again at 6:30 a.m. I really can't complain. I need to start going to bed with her at 7:30 p.m. HA!

Family Photo

She's so cute...

I was a little confused in this picture...Mommy was standing in front of me, but I was eating. Hmmm. I wasn't sure what to do so I just kept eating. I watched Mommy walk around the living room though.

Just stating the obvious here.

Everyone always said my Daddy was funny looking. I just now realized it. He's so goofy. He'll do anything to make me laugh.


"Hey you guys" (say this in an Italian accent - it makes the picture funnier.)

First day of Grandpa Day Care. I loved it. Grandpa and I hung out and enjoyed our time away from Mommy. She has no clue how much fun we're going to have together. As long as Grandpa keeps those bottles coming.

Peyton's future car

Well, we all know how spoiled Peyton is going to be so her Aunt Rachel sent this picture saying that it was going to be her future car. I don't think her car will be this extravagant, but I don't doubt that she'll have something cute. Everyday when I leave for work I tell her it's because I'm saving for all her toys, college tuition, her first car, etc. She might not understand now - she will when she can buy a pair of gap jeans instead of Wal Mart. LOL!!!!

Life back at work

Here is the sign I put on my door when I'm pumping at work. I thought it would provide some humor for those that feel uncomfortable. Everyone has gotten a real kick out of it. I hear laughs as people walk by. Yes, I know it's hard to believe that I can actually here people laughing over the noise of the pump.

Work has been great. I am happy to be back. I think I was meant to be a Working Mom. I love Peyton with all of my heart, but I know she is in great hands with my Dad. They are thoroughly enjoying their Grandpa-Granddaugther time. Dad even keeps a log of when she sleeps and when she eats. I'm not sure if that's to keep him organized or to answer my questions when I call home :) I think he was meant to be a Manny...he has found his calling. Peyton seems to love it too. She is sleeping better now. She goes down earlier in the night. We're still getting up two to three times, but that's okay. I throw her in bed with us and side feed her. I'm not sure if I even wake up. It's just part of the routine now.

Oh, and I had a GREAT time at my girlfriend's wedding in Nevada last weekend. She was a gorgeous bride (see picture below.) I pumped like a mad woman. I brought home about 80 ounces of milk packed in a cooler in my suitcase. For those of you who don't know - TSA now allows you to take an ulimited amount of breastmilk through security as long as you declare it. Sweet!

Happy 2 month birthday

HAPPY 2 MONTH BIRTHDAY PEYTON!!!!!

Unfortunately, Peyton celebrated her 2 month birthday with a doctor's appointment and shots. Yuck! She was a trooper though. I think I cried more than she did. She whimpered a little with the first shot, cried a little harder with the second one and then screamed bloody murder with the third one. That's when I lost it. LOST IT!!! Total tears streaming down my face. It was funny in hindsight, but not so funny in the moment. She was in so much pain. Poor baby. She was instantly happy once I picked her up and cuddled with her. Then she was able to eat so that always pleases her.

Speaking of eating - she is doing that just fine. She now weighs 13.7 pounds and is 24 3/4 inches long. She's so big! I love it though. The doctor said that she is very alert and strong. She focused on her strength because of her little clavicle bone break. It is all healed now.

That's the latest from Fayetteville. Oh, and, Rob got home last night from the Philippines. He really enjoyed his trip and is excited about the mission. He goes back in January for 7 months.

Hope all is well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, my new toy tastes SO GOOD!!!

Peek-A-Boo I see you! Gracie thought it was pretty cool that Peyton and I were down on the floor. Peyton loves her Bumbo. She sits up like a big girl. All she needs now is a beer.

Life is so tough. Mom thought she was pretty cool moving me from her lap with the Boppy to the ottoman with the Boppy. She actually did trick me for a little bit. I was catching flies with my mouth as you can see.

Grandpa Rocks

So my Dad is the best ever!!! He spent his first night alone with Peyton. I had a hair appointment so I left Dad with minimum directions and he did an amazing job. Peyton was a little hesitant to take the bottle at first, but after a few tries she chugged 5 ounces. I came home and she was passed out on his shoulder with an empty bottle on the table. FABULOUS!!!! She was a little cranky, but what to you expect when she missed her naps today, had a new person feeding her out of a new contraption and Mommy was no where to be found. I'd freak out too!

I am very relieved that things went well and there is hope for our future. The Manny is HIRED and Peyton officially passes for an easy-going baby.

Formal photos

Here's a combination of photos from my pregnancy and formal photos of Peyton. We had the formal photos taken today. We have a real ham on our hands. She was perfect!!!

More pictures of our Princess

So tired! Life is tough for a baby.

Tummy Time! We're not a huge fan of tummy time, but she did let me snap this adorable picture. She's being a little lazy letting her head just relax.

Stylin' and Profiln'

Mom - Seriously...no more photos. That flash is KILLING me!!!