Sunday, August 29, 2010

Hot Date!

Peyton had her first hot date with her boyfriend Owen last night!  We had such a good time.  It was nice to spend time with another family that is in the exact same place as us.  Peyton usually goes to bed at 6:30pm and Owen usually goes to bed at 8:30pm, but magically Peyton decided to take one extra nap and Owen decided to skip his last nap.  So they both ended up getting sleepy around 7:15pm...which left lots of time for Mommy's and Daddy's to get some adult time in.  Meghan was sweet enough to set up the pack n play in a dark room with a fan for us, and after about 15 mins of waking up and fussing, Peyton was out cold until we took her home!

Owen was amazed by Peyton, he wanted to be near her constantly and kept grabbing hold of her chunky legs and not letting go...it was so funny.  Peyton, on the other hand, didn't know what to think of Mr. Owen.  She was intrigued by him, but didn't want to get too close lol.  If he got too close for too long she would pout that bottom lip out (which is a PRO at already) and start crying until I moved her back some.  Edwin was happy with this reaction...he's hoping it lasts another 30 years or so :) 

Unfortunately I didn't have my camera next to me when they were playing together, but I did get a few pictures.  I promise to get cute "couple shots" next time!

                                               

                          "Hey Peyton, whatcha doin down there?!"

                                           
                                           "Yes I know I'm cute!"


Friday, August 27, 2010

Yummy!

So we started rice cereal last weekend and have been giving Peyton some every evening before bed.  We have to rush to get her bedtime routine done because it's close to 5:30pm by the time I get home with her and she's asleep by 6:15pm or 6:30pm...yes she really goes to bed that early.  We've tried everything to keep her up a little later (late naps, extra naps, etc..) but the child WANTS to go to bed at that time, so why fight it.  She sleeps through the night and wakes up around 6:30am or 7am super happy, so it seems to work for her and us!

Either way, we decided to try something else this evening and went for sweet potatoes...and can I just say, WOW.  She LOVED them!  I'm not sure who ended up with more sweet potato on them...her or me!  The entire time we've been doing solids, she wants to hold her own spoon.  In fact, it's a battle half the time to get the spoon away from her!  After every bite, she likes to gnaw on the spoon because the coating feels good to her tender little gums.  Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures tonight (it's hard to take pics while I'm feeding her by myself)...but I'm sure I'll get some good ones this weekend!  We're doing yummy oatmeal for breakfast and sweet potatoes for dinner....Mmmmm. 

Monday, August 23, 2010

LOVE My Angelcare!

I mentioned this item in my previous post, so I thought I do a little blurb about it....

Peyton started sleeping on her tummy at 8 weeks.  She just didn't like sleeping on her back.  She would break out of swaddles (no matter how tight you wrapped her!) and wake herself up with her hands constantly.  I finally just gave in to the fact that she takes after her Mommy and is a tummy sleeper.  If you have kids, you know they TERRIFY you with the risk of SIDS and promote the "Back to Sleep" campaign religiously.  But the child needed to sleep, and so did we!  So we flipped her over and she slept 6 straight hours the first night and it's been Heaven ever since!  Of course I woke up constantly the first few nights, but we ended up buying this Angelcare Monitor. 

There are several versions of it, but we went with the cheaper ($99) one.  It's the GREATEST thing ever!  There's a pad that goes under the mattress and you adjust the sensitivity and turn the monitor on.  You can use it as just a normal sound monitor or as a movement and sound monitor.  If it doesn't sense any movement for 20 seconds, an alarm sounds.  The super delux version also shakes the bed when the alarm goes off.  This monitor has given me such relief and helps me sleep much better...especially since Peyton only wants to sleep with her head crammed in the corner of the bed. 

So if your little one is a tummy sleeper too, definitely check it out!

Such a Big Girl!

We had 2 big milestones this weekend...Miss Peyton had her first solids (see below) and slept in her crib in her OWN bedroom for the first time!  She naps in there on weekends, but this was her first full night in there!  She did really well for still being a little sick.  She went to bed at her usual time around 6:30pm, I got her up at 10pm for her "dreamfeed" which she slept straight through (like ususal), then she slept until 2:30am.  She started calling out "Mommy, I'm hungry"...ok not really, but that's what I interpret her babbling as meaning.  I fed her in her room and it took a little longer than usual to get her back down.  She usually eats and goes straight back to sleep, but she realized she was in a different room and got all excited and wanted to tell me about it.  It took about 30 mins and she was back to sleep until 6:15am.  She did make some noises and cry out around 5am, but she calmed down with a little patting and "shush-ing".  All in all, a very successful night!

I think we ALL slept better and more soundly.  She didn't have to hear us walking by her bed 100 times getting showers, brushing our teeth, changing, etc... or Matty jumping up and down off the bed 50 times during the night.  We didn't have to worry about not dropping something or bumping in to her pack n play or turning up the TV too loud.  Granted, I did have the video monitor on my nightstand and the Angelcare monitor on Edwin's nightstand! 
Hopefully once Miss Priss starts feeling 100% again, her nights will get even better and we'll get past this constant waking during the night! 

Here's a picture of her during her nap yesterday....note how she sucks on her hand and twirls her "mullet" with her other hand.  ♥ her!

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Rice Cereal Anyone?!

Yesterday we decided to try Peyton on some rice cereal from a bowl!  Her 4 month appointment is in a few days, so we figured why not go ahead and try it out.  She use to have rice cereal in her bedtime bottle for her reflux (which we stopped about a month ago), so we knew she didn't have any allergies to it.  Plus she's hit all the "milestones" they suggest....teething, doubled birth weigh, can sit with little support, paying attention to us when we eat (she LOVES watching us eat). 

When we first stuck the spoon up to her mouth, she shot us a look like "what the heck do you want me to do with that"?!  But by the last few spoonfuls she seemed to actually look forward to it!  Of course, it mostly ended up on her bib, neck, face, hands, etc.... and unfortunately we made the decision to try this AFTER her bath (not my brightest moment).  She also started grabbing the spoon out of Daddy's hand and trying to do it herself.  That didn't go too well, but she liked it!


Here are a few pics I was able to get during the fun...


Thursday, August 19, 2010

I'm Back

Sorry it's been a few days, but we've had a rough time at the Killette household this week.  I finally figured out why the weekend and this week had been so tough on poor Peyton...she has her first ear infection!  She was stuffy and coughing Monday night, but she still slept pretty well.  She coughed all night long in her sleep though.  I noticed some congestion when I took her to Nonnie's on Tuesday, but when I picked her up it had gotten 100 times worse.  It was so pitful.  She had red rings around her eyes and a little red nose and just looked like she felt awful.  Tuesday night was horrible, she would NOT sleep in her bed.  That's not like her at all, so I knew something was really wrong.  I had to "sleep" (and I use the term loosely) propped up in the bed with her on my chest all night long.  When we even tried to lay her down, she would scream.  She had a fever early Wednesday morning and had started folding her ear down and smashing it against her head, so I called the pediatrician.  They wanted to see her and turns out it was an ear infection and she had a fever of 99.9 :(  They told me to watch the fever because they take it very serious if it gets to 100.4.  Thankfully it started going down yesterday. 
I'm so proud of her, she's been such a little trooper.  Even though she feels awful, she has been laughing and smiling and talking constantly...unless the pain got too much to handle.  After 2 doses of antibiotics yesterday, I could already tell a difference.  She slept in her bed last night and only woke up twice.  She still sounds awful when she breathes (a lot like our pug Otis actually) but hopefully she's starting to feel better! 
For those of you that haven't experienced the ear infection yet, I don't envy you when it's your turn!  It makes you feel like a brand new Mommy all over again....zero sleep, not sure what to do, nervous.  Not a good feeling.  Edwin had to work late yet again, so thankfully my wonderful Mom came over and helped me...went to the doctor with me, cooked dinner for me, let me sleep for a few hours, kept me company, etc...

On another note, when they weighed her she's at 13.4lbs!  I can't believe it!  It's hard to believe she was ever 5 lbs 14oz and in preemie clothes!  LOVE that little munchkin :)

Monday, August 16, 2010

Oh What a Night!

Saturday night was a great night all around.  Edwin and I had our 2nd date night since Peyton was born.  We went to see "The Other Guys" which was HILARIOUS!  Granted I'm a huge Will Ferrell fan, but I don't know how anyone could not like this movie.  We went to an earlier showing so we could take our time with dinner and hang out.  We went to Fox and Hound for dinner and drinks and it was so nice to have some real quality time together.  We even made it a point not to talk about Peyton the entire time like we did the previous date (which is really hard to do).  After dinner we went to Total Wine and bought some goodies (can you tell I just stopped breast feeding lol). 

We picked our little princess up from Nonnie and Pa Pa's around 9pm and she was out like a light, slept the entire way home, never woke up from the car seat to the bed and slept until almost 2am.  I calmed her at 2am and she went back to sleep until 4am, ate, then back down until around 7.  It was almost like the "good ole' days".  I really thought she was getting back on track, but she was just tricking me....

Last night (Sunday) was the worst yet.  Now, mind you we're going on week 3 of this mess.  She went to bed, woke up 2 hrs later and ate, we got her up 2 hrs after that to feed her and hopefully "tank her up" for the night...didn't work.  She was up again at 2am and was HUNGRY.  She ate 6 ounces, back down, up at 4am W-I-D-E awake!  She ate another 5 ounces and stayed up until 6am!  Who are you?!  I got her to fall asleep around 5:15am, but once she was in her bed she was awake again.  I let her lay there until 6am and she laughed and talked to herself the entire time.  She fell asleep at 6am and woke again at 7am! 

I had to call the pediatrician today because she's had some constipation issues the past few days and the pear juice they suggested didn't work and made her gassy.  So while I had the nurse on the phone I mentioned this stuff to her too.  So now I'm waiting to hear back because she wanted to talk to the doctor about it.  She seemed to think it was too long for a growth spurt and since she's nearing 4 months may be ready for some solids.  I shouldn't be surprised because she's hit every milestone weeks early (I'm not just bragging, it's true...aka teething at 12 weeks).  So who the heck knows.  I'm hoping the pediatrician will have some answers for me today, especially since Edwin is always out of town working lately and I'm having to fly solo a lot of these fun nights. 

Friday, August 13, 2010

Two Posts in 1 Day!

Wow look at me with 2 posts in 1 day...don't get use to this!  I've had a couple of people ask me about my "birth story" recently, so I thought it would be a good thing to share now that I've started a blog.  I don't know about you, but I love hearing other Mom's birth stories now that I've been through it.  So here's how it all went down.....

                   *Just a warning...I'll try not to make it too graphic*

My original due date was May 4, 2010.  On Saturday May 1st, I was having a lot more Braxton Hicks contractions and just wasn't feeling "right".  That evening I lost a part of my plug (we'll just keep it at that).  Now for those who don't know, losing your plug could mean you'll go into labor in a few hours, days, or weeks.  But since I hadn't been feeling right, I told Edwin "you may want to get ready because I think something's going to happen soon."  Everything was fine Sunday (the 2nd), then about 3am Monday morning I started feeling some light cramping.  It was nothing bad, I was able to sleep right through it.  I woke up to get ready for work around 6:30 and noticed the pains had gotten a little worse, but they were coming at random times.  I figured I'd just rest a little and go in to work a little late...riiiiight.  Around 7am the contractions started coming consistently, but they weren't close enough together or strong enough to go to the hospital.  With every half hour that went by they got closer together and STRONGER.  By about 9:30am I was yelling for Edwin to call the doctor's office because it was time to go....NOW.  It was all I could do to put on some sweat pants and a t shirt in between contractions.  I'm pretty sure I looked like death by that point.  They wanted me to come in, so we grabbed our bags and hit the road. That was the most excruciating car ride of my life! 

I use to ask people "how will I know if I'm in labor"....wow what a dumb question!  So we drove to the doctor's office and I drug myself in, stopping and almost dropping to my knees with each contraction.  I think I terrified every pregnant woman in the waiting room.  I was proud at myself for staying so calm and not screaming at anyone, but it took a lot of restraint on my part.  They made me do all the triage mess (weight, BP, etc...) not realizing I was in active labor.  That did NOT make me happy.  When they finally checked me I was 3 cm and they sent me straight to Rex. 

Once we got to Rex and they wheeled me up, they asked me my pain level 1-10.  I finally got the word "T-E-N" out of my mouth and they bypassed triage and got me straight to a room.  It was about 11:30am by the time I was in my room.  I fought through more contractions for a few hours then my lover finally came - MY EPIDURAL!  That was the most amazing, wonderful, awesome thing ever.  Within 15 mins I couldn't feel anything from the waist down...bliss!  Besides barfing in a plastic beaker a few times, I felt fabulous.  They checked me around 3pm and I was already 7 cm.  I started feeling some serious pressure around 4pm and it gradually got worse to the point where it was painful.  I had some visitors, but close to 5pm I told the nurse I really needed her to check me because I was feeling sooo much pressure.  She told my last visitor to wait outside for a second.  She checked me then stuck her head out the door and said "sorry, you can't come in.  we're having a baby, NOW".  I was already 10cm and ready to push.  I started pushing around 5:10pm and it was actually a fun time (yeah I know how weird that sounds).  My Mom had one leg, Edwin had the other, an episode of The Office was on the flat screen TV in front of me, and my nurse was awesome and hilarious.  We laughed through most of the pushing.  She told me to stop about 5:45pm (easier said than done by the way) and the doctor came in.  I was so happy it was my favorite doctor, Dr. Gunter.  Then Peyton Dawn Killette was born May 3rd at 6:08pm weighing 6lbs 8oz (kinda neat with the 6's and 8's). One day before her actual due date :)

I'll spare everyone the rest of the details, although it doesn't bother me to talk about it at all.  Everyone was right when they said you'll lose all modesty once you have a baby.  The could have invited the entire hospital to watch the birth and I wouldn't have cared at that point!  I'm so glad I was able to have a vaginal delivery, they make for some really entertaining stories :)  So that's how I finally got to meet the most beautiful baby girl on the planet and the love of my life! 

I would love to hear some other birth stories, so Mom's feel free!!!

McYummy!

Just FYI, I tried the new Wild Berry Smoothie at McDonald's today (with my coupon for a FREE one), and it was delicious!  I'm not sure if it's healthy or not, but I "felt" like I was being super healthy :) 

 

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Where is my Child?!

We've been extremely lucky to have a baby that has slept well through the night since about 6 weeks.  Not every night is perfect, but they've all been pretty good.  She put herself on a schedule and decided she likes going to bed at 6pm!  Although I would like more time with her in the evenings, it's nice to be able to spend time with Edwin and get some stuff done around the house.  We had fallen into a pretty nice routine of only waking up once during the night...until about a week ago.  Suddenly my wonderful sleeper decided to start waking up every 3 hours or so, what kind of craziness is that?!  She doesn't fully wake up most of the time, her eyes are closed but she's crying out and wiggling around non stop and rolling onto her back (then realizing she's on her back and can't get back on her tummy...yet).  I found myself asking "who are you and what have you done with my child?".  She has been doing this about every other night since the beginning of last week.  Did I miss something?  Weren't nights supposed to get BETTER as she got older?! 
When we had her 3 month pictures made (which turned out fabulous!) the photographer told me all the babies that week had been messed up sleep wise.  She said it was the full moon.  Ahhh, the full moon!  I just knew that had to be the problem and it would be better by the end of the weekend.  But wait, the full moon isn't until August 24th!  I've also been told it's the good old "4 month sleep regression", even though Peyton is only 3 1/2 months old.  Whatever it is, I'm praying it ends soon.  I miss my long stretches of sleep!  For those of you reading this that have babies that still wake up every 3-4 hours on a regular basis, I'm sorry for my complaining!

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

My First Blog

So I'm new to this whole "blogging thing", but Edwin encouraged me to give it a try since I like to write and love to run my mouth.  He's probably hoping I will get all of my chatter out through the blog so he won't have to listen to it!  So here's a little bit about us....
Edwin and I met in Greenville where we both attended ECU.  We had mutual friends for years, but had never met before...crazy how that works, huh?!  Everything happened pretty fast for us.  We met in February 2005, got engaged in February 2006, and were married June 24, 2006.  But when it's right, it's right!  We moved back to my hometown in April of 2006, bought my Grandma's old house, and moved in with our 2 dogs (Otis and Matty) and a few months later added our cat (Marshmallow) to the mix.  They were the only kids we wanted for the time being, but about 3 years later we were expecting our first child! Our beautiful daughter Peyton was born May 3, 2010.
I never knew I could love someone as much as I love her.  She wasn't part of my "plan" but I couldn't imagine my life without her now.  I always said I wanted to be married for 5 years, get an actual career started, and then think about having a baby!  But God knows what's best for us and the only career I care about is being a Mommy now.  It's amazing how a child can completely change you as a person!  Peyton is the center of our world, and is our constant entertainment.  She's 3 months old now (I can't believe it) and has become such a little person!  She's constantly on the go and constantly cooing, squealing, and laughing.  She's a relatively easy baby, but definitely has her Mama's temper!  She gives us about 15 seconds to give her what she wants/needs before she loses it.  But for the most part she's super happy and super active.  
I'm sure most of my posts will revolve around Peyton, because that's pretty much our life now.  I'm going to do my best to keep this thing updated and officially join the "Wonderful World of Blogging".  Thanks for checking this out!