This is been quite an interesting week.  We’ve been dealing with some personal family issues that have kept Hubby and I both pretty bummed out.  It’s not something I want to discuss, but I’ve finally come to terms with some stuff we’ll have to deal with financially in the future. 

I’ve also been bummed out because 1 person I went to school with and 1 person I grew up with passed away this week.  They were both my age, and both died of health problems.  It reminds me while most of you probably consider me pretty young, I do have to pay attention to my own health.  I can’t sit back and say “oh I’ll deal with it when I get older.”  It’s caused me to worry even more about Hubby’s weight and his health.

Of course when I’m bummed I just have to look at Elliana, and she puts a smile on my face.  She’s hit some milestones this week.  She 18 1/2 weeks now, and she started picking things up if I put them on the tray on her swing.  She also made it through 2/3 of a bowl of cereal yesterday without spitting it out, so that made me very happy. 

This morning she tried to take the phone from me when I was talking to my Nana.  She “talks” to her every morning on the phone, and it was too cute like she was saying “My turn Mommy!”.  I held it up to her ear, and she started oohing and aahing before Nana even said anything to her.  She’s growing up so fast, and as happy as it makes me, it makes me feel a little sad, too.

Now I have to take her for her 4 month shots tomorrow.  You’d think I wouldn’t be nervous over shots at this stage, but I still am.  She didn’t have any problems with her last set, so I hope she does ok with these. 

Wow. I can’t believe the weekend is almost over already. Last week and this weekend have really flown by. At least I can say it has been a pretty good weekend.

First of all, we got snow! Yay! But then again, what state didn’t get snow this week? Oh yeah that’s right. Hawaii is the only state to not have any this week. We ended up with about 3 1/2-4″ of the good fluffy stuff, so now I’ve gotten my snow fix for the year, and Spring can arrive at any minute. Seriously, Spring, please show up soon!

We took Elliana to my Nana’s this morning so we could get out and play for a bit before it all melted away. We did manage to build a snowman, but he had an unfortunate and untimely death. When we built him he ended up leaning to one side, and with the sun shining directly on him he fell over within an hour.

I did manage to get some photos of Elliana in the snow. I didn’t want to keep her outside for long, so I bundled her up in her little snow bunny outfit, and we ran her outside real quick. Unfortunately she’s been rather sleepy all day (I think because of the teething), so she slept through all the pics! Plus Hubby totally sucks (and admits it openly) at using a camera, so we only got one half way decent one out of about 10. Either my eyes were closed or something funky was going on in all the rest. I still have to edit the one decent one, so I’ll share it when I’m done.

As I was looking through the pics something else struck me. It’s seriously time for me to start using anti aging products on a daily basis. I’m starting to look rough, man! If I don’t do something soon I’m going to end up with a big mess of a face on my hands, and we don’t want that now do we?

Anywho, forget me for a minute. Back to the good stuff! Once we picked Elliana up from my Nana’s she was wide awake and ready party, so I took advantage of it. I got some new pics to add to her baby book, and I can’t believe how much she’s already changed again. That’s when it hit me that today she is 16 weeks old. Seriously? 4 months already? As I sit here comparing photos of her from just 2 months ago with photos of her now I can’t even believe it’s the same baby! What do you think?

Gripe Water is my new best friend!  I had heard so many stories about this natural remedy that I’d been afraid to try it, but I finally decided to break down and buy some.  Boy what a difference it has made!  Elliana slept in her pack ‘n play for the third night in a row, and we didn’t have a crying battle with colic before, during, or after!  She slept all night, and she’s bright eyed and awake playing with floor gym right now. 

I had read a few good stories from Mom’s dealing with colic, but I’d also read a lot of stories from Mom’s who said it was a waste of money because it didn’t work for them.  I considered the fact that all my friends seem to think Mylicon is the best thing since sliced bread, but it hasn’t really worked for us.  It might stop her crying for a minute or two while she’s sucking the medicine out of the dropper, but otherwise it hasn’t seemed to really help much.   I finally decided it couldn’t hurt to try Gripe Water, and if it didn’t work it wasn’t really that much money down the drain.  We started with Baby’s Bliss Gripe Water since it’s the only one Ingles carries, and the difference in her colic was like night and day after the first dose! 

Now that we’re getting somewhere in this nighttime battle maybe we can start to improve on our morning time routine.  Elliana is normally so tired that I have a hard time keeping her awake before 11am which leads to another late night, but thanks to the Gripe Water she’s asleep earlier meaning she’s awake earlier, too.  Maybe we can establish a normal schedule now! 

I know what our schedule today is.  I’m going to let her play for a little longer while I finish up some work, then we’re going to have some Mommy/Daughter time before a nap for both of us.  After our nap we’re heading outside to enjoy this awesome weather.  It’s supposed to be almost 70 today!  We went for a walk yesterday, and she loved checking out all the new sights and sounds, so we’ll do that again today.  The best fat burner I’ve found is getting off my butt and moving, so that’s exactly what we’re going to do. I put her in her Snugli, and we walk up and down my Grandparent’s long driveway. Then we visit Nana for awhile! I might even walk her down to the pasture today to introduce her to cows. I can’t wait to see her little eyes widen when she discovers them.

Today is going to be a good day!   

I’ve decided to stop worrying about trying to find fat burners that are safe to use while breastfeeding. If this stomach virus keeps up I’ll drop the baby weight without them!  My Dad was complaining about it a few days ago, and then Hubby picked it up.  I came down with it last night. 

I was hoping Elliana wouldn’t pick it up, but we weren’t so lucky.  She’s really put the diaper genie to the test!  I called the doc this morning just to make sure I’m doing everything right.  I’m watching closely to make sure she’s not getting dehydrated, and all seems well.  She may have diarrhea, but she’s also increased her food intake.  She’s ate every hour this morning.  I just hope she gets it out of her little system soon.