Cuteness

Dad's hat is a little big, but I look cute in it!

Yummy....keys

Oh wait you are still taking pictures! Let me smile for you.

Beemer

It was a sad day in the Flipp household yesterday. My parents had to put Beemer down. She was 15 or 16 years old and not doing very well at all. She wasn't eating anymore and it was time.

We are going to miss her lots! She was the last dog from the dogs we had growing up. She was a great dog and always so happy! Except when Jager tried to play too much, she put Jager in her place ;)

She will be missed! Love you Beemer!

Weight Watchers

Well I joined weight watchers again. It worked so well for me a few years back I thought why not. So I signed up for it today and I am super excited. Not only have they revamped things, you now can eat all fruit and most vegetables for 0 points. It also takes into account Breastfeeding Mama's! Awesome! My goal is another 10 to 15lbs and I want to be try to keep that off. With the new weight watchers I think I can do that, so we will see!

Wish me luck!

Gabby Sitting

Gabby is getting better at sitting...still not able to sit up by herself, but getting close. The poor thing at the end of the video does a face plant. I was not quick enough.

Ear Infection

Well you have gotten your first real illness. You have had a few colds here and there, but nothing really like this. The past week or so you have been yourself except at night. You have been sleeping well at all, you have a good night here and there, but most of the nights you were up multiple times. And a few nights you wouldn't sleep except on one of us. Every time we put you down in your crib you would wake up crying. Last night was a pretty bad night. You were crying and Daddy and I could have sworn that you were teething. We gave you some tylenol and it helped a bit but you still wouldn't sleep. You played in your crib for a little while at 4am and then fell asleep for about an hour.

What, I have an ear infection?

Today mommy thought it would be a good idea to take you into the doctor. When I came to pick you up at Daycare I thought the doctor was going to think I was crazy. You were laughing and smiling and happy as could be. At the doctor you didn't have a fever and was still giggling and stuff. But when the doctor looked into your ears bingo! Double ear infection. You poor thing, because it was in it's early stage it's only affecting you when you are laying down and she said that it could be worse at night.

So you are on Amoxocillian for 10 days and then you have some numbing drops for your ears to ease the pain while you are sleeping.

Mommy and Daddy are sad that you aren't feeling well, but really glad that we got this figured out and we hope you feel better soon
Love you!

Happy 5 Months!

Dear Gabriella - You are 5 months old today and how big you are getting! 5 months ago you came into this world and you have grown so fast in the past 5 months.

You are showing your personality more and more every day. You are really starting to become your own little person.

* You are rolling over from front to back and back to front. Mom has yet to see the back to front (You apparently only do it for Miss Erika and Miss Virginia).

* You can stand at the couch and you so want to move, but just can't get those legs to be stable underneath you.

* You are scooting when you are on your back and turning in a circle and scooting away from where you are. Dad put you down on the floor for a minute and when he came back you were a full body length away from where he put you.

* We measured you and if we measured right you are 27" long! Getting so big. The pants you have on in this picture are 3 months (They are too short now). So you are all torso! You are wearing 6 to 9 month Onesie's and sleepers and those are getting too small for you.

*You are following your puppy around A LOT more and love reaching out for her whenever she walks by. You like to pet her but it's mostly grabbing hair, so we are trying to teach you how to pet nice.

*You are sleeping in your crib every night now, because you have gotten too big for the swing. We put a rolled up sheet under your sheet crib so that you feel a little more secure. It seems to be working pretty well. You seem to like it.

* We haven't started solids yet, but in a month or two we will be. You have been watching mom and dad eat. You seem to follow the food from the plate to our mouths.

* You love your bouncer more than ever and now you can reach the floor (on your tippy toes) without anything under it. You love being in it while Mom and Dad make breakfast.

You have enlightened my life so much these past 5 months and while sometimes I am a bit sleepy from getting up multiple times with you in a night, night after night, it makes it all worth it when you smile and me or grab at my face. Mommy and Daddy love you and can't wait to see all that you can learn.

Love you Always and Forever
Mom & Dad

Sleeping

I have been helping mommy with her sleep lately. She keeps wanting to wake me up, but I keep trying to tell her I need my sleep and so does she. Mommy bought me a new swaddle blanket it. It's pretty and pink, I like it a lot! It's bigger than my other ones and she can put my feet in it again. I really like being all swaddled up tight. Erika at daycare does the same thing with a blanket there. It helps me sleep so much better. Mom also put something under my crib sheet that makes me feel so much more secure. Since all these things I have slept a lot better than I was after Christmas.

Last night was the best night so far. Mommy gave me a bath. I really love bath time with mom. She makes it so much fun and it really tires me out and I love going to bed all clean. Then she changed me into my favorite Monkey PJ's and then it was food time. I love when I get fed, yummy milk. After that she read me from one of my favorite books."Little Bo in Italy", it is written by Julie Andrews and her daughter Emma. So far we are on Chapter 4 and it's getting interesting. Mommy reads me a little each night.

Then she got my diaper changed and swaddled me up tight as could be. I am her little pink burrito. I don't know what a burrito is, but she tells me that every night. She sang "The Ants go Marching" which is my favorite song. Really only because it's the only one that mommy remembers the words to and she has been singing it to me every night since I was born. I slept for about an hour and then I woke up from a bad dream or something. Mommy came in and rocked me, gave me my pacifier and put me back to sleep. I slept then until they went to bed around 10:30. She did the same thing. I wasn't hungry just wanted some comforting. I let Mommy & Daddy sleep a LONG time. I didn't need to eat until 2:30. Mommy came in and we had our special time without daddy in the middle of the night. I sure like this time. The house is quiet and it's just the two of us. I then slept until 4 when I needed to be comforted again and then I was out until 6:30. Time to get up and start the day!

I am trying really hard to sleep better at night for mom, but it's hard, my mouth doesn't feel right all the time and that makes it hard to sleep and I am still getting used to my crib. My swing was so much smaller and tighter around me and my crib is so big! Probably why I like to be swaddled so much. My goal is to only get up when I need to eat, but I do love to eat!

Gabby Talking Again

Slide Show

Photo album personalized with Smilebox

Baby Steps

Well on Day Two of our new sleeping arrangements we have made some progress. The "nest" (rolled up sheet under her crib) is working really well, I really think that it's keeping her secure in that big crib and I know that when she gets used to sleeping in there we can eventually get rid of that.

But I really don't think that at this time we need to do the CIO. I am going to not jump right away when she cries because the past couple of nights she has been fussing a little but then goes right back to sleep. so I just leave her be for a little while and see if she puts herself back to sleep. Eventually we will have to get rid of the swaddle but I will do that after she gets used to the crib.

The past two nights she has been going to be around 7pm and then she is sleeping until 11 or midnight and waking up hungry and needing her diaper changed. She then goes down 20 to 30 minutes later and is asleep until about 2 or 3 in the morning and then again needs to eat. so I really think that she is going through a growth spurt. She is eating about 16 to 18oz of milk at daycare - I am actually starting to have a bit of problems keeping up with her appetite. Yesterday I pumped 20oz but I had to send 4 of that with her yesterday so then this morning I was short again. I think I am going to have to start putting a pump in at night - especially since she is going to be at 7 instead of later and that I am feeding her an extra session in the middle of the night.

All a learning process - once we get something to work, she will change again and we will have to try something new. Always something :)

Sleeping through the night - oh how I miss thee!

People warned me that having a baby would change my life and I wouldn't get the same amount of sleep I had before....but honestly nothing can prepare you for the lack of sleep that becomes your life after a little one is born. and those out there with more than one child or twins - my hats are off to you!!

Don't get me wrong - I am getting WAY more sleep than I was when she was first born, but I have to say the little stinker spoiled me in October and a little bit in November with her sleeping through the night. Almost all of October she was doing a great job and sleeping in her swing from about 8 or so until 6am. it was so nice!

Nap time at 2 months old

Since she is almost 5 months old and getting a lot bigger I don't feel safe/comfortable having her sleep in her swing all night. she is a little wiggler and I don't want her to hurt herself, not that I really think she could. and just a note when she slept in her swing all night it wasn't moving. So we started moving her to her crib. We are still swaddling her and we had some really good nights where she would sleep from 8 or so until 2 or 3 in the morning and then I would feed her, change her and get her back down and wake her up at 7 to get her ready for the day. I actually didn't mind getting up at 3am, it was late enough in the morning where I could get some good rest from when I went to bed at 10 or 11 and it was early enough where I could get back to sleep after putting her down and get a few more hours before getting up at 6 or 7 to start my day. However this past few weeks haven't been the greatest. I am hoping that it's because of a few things. 1. I think she is teething so that is helping her not sleep the best 2. The holidays were the worst for her routine and since they are now over I am hoping that she will get back into her routine better and thus sleep better at night and 3. She is sick has a bit of a cough and 4. I think she might have started a growth spurt.

This presents challenges. So with the advice of many online friends and friends IRL (In real life) I have done a few things.
1. Created a Nest - No I didn't go out and get a bunch of twigs and branches. I rolled up a sheet, folded it in a U shape and put it under her crib sheet to give her a little "nest" to feel a little more secure in her crib and make her crib not feel so large. They do this in the NICU so I figure it can't hurt. She is still swaddled.

2. I put an open weave blanket (Thanks Sarah!) over her legs to keep her warm but yet feel secure

3. I am not going to rush up there at the first sign of crying like I normally do. This will probably be the hardest on me, but I really have to let her soothe herself. Now if it's 2am or something and she hasn't eaten since I put her down, then I will go in there and feed her and get her back down, but if it's been only a little while then I am going to let her cry for a bit. (5 minutes or so). Not sure if we are going to start that tonight or not. She has been down for 45 minutes so we will see how long she goes before she wakes up....and then I will decide if tonight's the night I want to do it.

4. I have let Daycare know that she can only sleep in her crib. for awhile they were putting her in a bouncer and stuff, so by them doing that I am sure it will help. Luckily she has a pretty consistent nap schedule there so that will help me with keeping a routine here at home at night.

5. Keep her bedtime routine the same (around the same time, between 7 and 8, no later than 9) every night - with the exception of a bath and that will be every other night or every 3 nights. and hopefully that will help her to know that it's going to be the same and she will be safe in her crib.

So that's my plan, I am going to try my hardest to be consistent....wish us luck!