Ten Months Old.

Holy moly!
Here I am, writing about my TEN MONTH OLD and I swear it feels like I just gave you all our nine month update. Seriously, where in the heck is time going??

Age: ten months, two weeks. 

Weight: 14 lbs and 12 oz. 

Height:  25 and 1/4 inches.

Favorite food: anything that Mommy and Daddy has.

Loves: being at the beach and playing in the waves, Mommy and Daddy's cell phones, and reaching for everything.

Dislikes: the sun in her face, being left alone, and baby food.

Remember how I said teething was a nightmare? Remember how I said I hope that we have teeth when ten months rolls around? Well, Avalyn has TWO teeth!! They both came in at the same time; literally within a week of each other. So I am very happy to say that we have had a good three weeks of the happiest baby I have ever been around. 

Unfortunately, teething did not spare us any time. I am pretty sure she is going to have a couple of more teeth popping up here with in the next month. I at least hope so because my poor pumpkin belly is slowly easing back into her miserable state; she is not wanting to eat solids, only wants to drink her bottles, she is not wanting to nap, she is being extra clingy (not that I mind!), etc.

 On top of that I think she is getting ready to go through another growth spurt.

We have gone from 6 ounces of formula to 7-8 ounces of formula and some days I feel like even that is not enough to fill her belly. The other day Ava drank 14 ounces within THREE hours of each other. I was completely in shock. She has been sucking her bottles down so quickly that it just blows my mind. And then she demands more! I don't know what it is about growth spurts, but they always seem to catch me completely off guard. I really hope that this is a sign that she may want to start eating solid foods again. 

Around the end of month eight she started having issues eating baby food. She was doing really well with it and we even had a routine established, but one day she just decided she wanted nothing to do with it. So, instead of trying to fight her to eat we just stopped bothering and just focused on making sure she was getting plenty to eat via her bottles. I feel like a bad parent for not offering the food to her anymore, but I feel like why waste it if I know she is not even going to eat it? We have had a few moments when I was able to get her to eat it a few times, but a part of me just knows it won't last. I hope this is normal. 

Brian and I did take her to see another Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor to express our concerns with her being tongue tied as well as having an upper lip tie. The two of us have a feeling that the ties could be a reason why she is not eating. The doctor asked if she were gaining weight; which she is. We then continued to tell him of our concerns with her tongue being so tied that it may be preventing her food and milk from being swallowed; when she eats, it comes right back out and when she drinks, half of it ends up pooling in her neck (perhaps this is why she is going through 7-8 ounces so quickly and demanding more?!?!). 

The doctor did agree with us that this issue should have been fixed months ago when she was first seen at three months down in Florida. He told us that he does not like to wait to see if there are issues because if it is done then we have no issues to look forward to. Umm, hello?! THAT MAKES SENSE, right?? So not only am I frustrated that all of this could have been fixed forever ago, but I am even more frustrated when we are told that the odds of our insurance covering the surgery to snip her ties are slim to none. All I want is for her to not have to worry about speech issues or even teeth problems because of being tongue tied. I am tongue tied and was told that the tie is causing my gums to recede and is the cause of all of the excessive tooth problems I have. 

So we are playing the waiting game.

We should know within 10-15 business days if the surgery will be covered. If we are denied the doctor is going to start the referral process of being seen by other specialists to see if the surgery would be needed and blah, blah, blah. Honestly I am already wanting to rip my hair out because I know I am going to be in for a ride; we already are with trying to get Ava's physical therapy set up! 

I know I keep saying the word "surgery" as well. It is a scary word and I don't like it, but it is surgery because the procedure of clipping the tongue and lip ties are done in the operating room and little miss would be under anesthesia. The thought of her having to "go under" scares me to death and makes me seriously question myself as a parent. Would I be making the right decision to have this whole procedure done???

For now we will just have to wait and see what the insurance approves. 

I hate waiting.

That is all the news I have in regards of doctor's visits. We are still in the process of making an appointment to have Ava's heel prick done to check on her Anemia. She has been taking iron supplements (especially since she doesn't want to eat) for almost a month now and I really hope that there has been an improvement. I am not sure what the next step would be if there were none. 

Her eye appointment had to be rescheduled and is now in September.  I nearly had a melt down because of that one. Back in April she was seen by an eye doctor in town and he did clear her of any signs of R.O.P (Retinopathy of Prematurity) but he was not a pediatrics eye doctor so he suggested her to be seen by a doctor who was. Needless to say the only pediatrics doctor in the area is an hour and a half away and is nearly impossible to get into. The whole situation was a mess and now I am not going to worry about it until September rolls around. 

And as I mentioned earlier, we are still in the process of setting up the physical therapy. 

I am starting to become very overwhelmed and stressed because of all of the appointments and my driving issues. Brian's training is starting to really pick up as he begins the process of training for his deployment in February that it is proving to be nearly impossible for him to be able to take Ava to her appointments. 

I am really trying to work on the anxiety so I can be a better parent for Avalyn.

All of that aside, Avalyn is hitting milestones one after the other!

She has gone from Army crawling in circles and scooting herself around to crawling backwards and trying to pull herself up. Literally within a week she has done this! She finally figured out how to get up on her knees and started rocking; she is going to be crawling VERY soon. 

What a bitter sweet moment it will be when she does become mobile! 

She is learning to "talk" more and her Babynese is gaining a bigger vocabulary and her noises are getting stranger and stranger. She has thankfully ditched that crazy, excited cough and replaced it with this blowing raspberries sound...you know, the sound that flings spit everywhere...

Every day I am amazed with her progress.

Truly amazed.

She is curious about everything, wants to touch everything, wants to put everything in her mouth, and it is just a wonderful thing to experience. Some days I could just sit and watch her all day. 

We have had several play dates with other babies and Avalyn loves being with her friends. I am so thankful for the play dates because I truly believe that they help Ava with her development. I feel that her seeing other babies crawling and playing gives her the determination to be doing the same. 

Well, what exciting new adventures have we had this month, you ask?

We took a weekend trip down to Myrtle Beach!

                         

Avalyn got to see her cousins, aunt, and her grandma for the first time since Christmas!

                         

                                             

Ava rode her first ferris wheel; the Sky Wheel. She was completely unaware that she was up in the air and had no problems at all. The aerial view of Myrtle Beach at night is a sight to see!

We congratulated Brian on his promotion to Corporal. 

We were not able to watch the promotion ceremony so we made a sign and greeted Daddy at the door when he came home from work. 

And we celebrated Brian's first Father's Day!!

We went out to the beach and hunted for shark's teeth and other beach goodies. It is one of my favorite things to do as a family. I think Brian enjoyed his first Father's Day. This year it was extra special not only because it is his first, but because he will miss his second. Next year Brian will be deployed so I had to make this year beyond exceptional. 

I treated him to pancakes (I think this is our traditional breakfast for Mom/Dad days) and surprised him with a gift from a boutique I found on Facebook. I had a dog tag and matching necklace customized for him and Avalyn; the dog tag is for him to keep with him (even while deployed) that says, "There's this girl who stole my heart, she calls me Daddy" and the necklace for Ava is a little heart that says, "My Daddy, My Hero". 

So I think it is safe to say that this month has been a wonderful one despite the stress of all of the doctor's visits. 

I have had several wonderful opportunities come my way and one of them was being able to talk about preterm labor on one of the blogs that I follow. If you are interested, please take a look at the Mommy Pages! I really love their newest feature called The Mommy Diaries; which was where our story was featured. Here it is!

I am also going to be working with another blog as well, so I will make sure to keep you updated in regards to that because I am very excited about it. :)

Basically this month has flown by and the next is going to come and go just as quickly!

Before I know it my ten month old will be an eleven month old and am I seriously not ready for it. She is growing up so fast that I just wish time would stop for a few so I can keep her a little forever and ever. 

Soon our baby girl will be a year old! 

The countdown has begun.

OH! Please tell me you all got to get out during our Summer Solstice to check out the "Super Moon"!!

Super Moon, June 23, 2013

I got to see it!!

I waited what seemed like forever for the clouds to clear out so I could sneak a peek! I was outside, in the dark, in the middle of my drive way at 10 o'clock at night, snapping pictures of the moon. I am pretty sure our neighbors think I am crazy. 

Personally I did not think it looked any bigger than usual, but it was definitely brighter.

Getting Crafty With DailyCraft TV!

During this holiday weekend, I was given the opportunity to review one of Daily Craft TV's scrapbooking videos.
Daily Craft TV is a website dedicated to giving you fun instructional videos related to various hobbies. Such hobbies include crochet, knitting, sewing, and my personal favorite, scrapbooking!!
In my spare time (what?! spare time?? what is this???) or more so when I HAVE spare time, I really enjoy scrapbooking and have been working on a scrapbook of Avalyn's first year.
Since Ava was born I knew that I wanted to try to document all of her monthly milestones and fun firsts in the form of a scrapbook so that she could have something to look back at once she is older. I can't wait for her to be able to really see how much she has over come since the moment she came into this world.
I bet you are wondering, "Why scrapbook when you have everything here in your  blog?"
My answer is simply this, I love being able to physically share things with my friends and family. I love sitting somewhere with my loved ones and reminiscing and I think that one of the best ways of doing so is by sharing photos and the stories that accompany them! And I want to use my scrapbooks for that reason.
So you can only imagine how excited I was when I was contacted by DailyCraft TV and asked to review one of their scrapbooking videos!
I had a difficult time trying to decide which video to review because they all sounded like so much fun! But the video that really caught my attention was the "Scrapbooking with Surprise Supplies Class".  It was not an easy decision considering I wanted to try out everything, but the reason I did go with the surprise supplies class is because of the opportunity to find and use supplies I already have on hand...in my kitchen!
That is right!
You can scrapbook using things such as doilies and cupcake liners!
How awesome is that?!
You have the option of following along using the designated supplies kit for the video or using what you already have on hand. I opted to just follow along and use items that I already had here; so my end result looks much different than the layout used in the video. But after you obtain the supplies needed; whether it be through ordering the kit or by scavenging your kitchen for the supplies, you will be ready to follow along!
The video was just over an hour long and I had to break it up into segments throughout the weekend due to having a very cranky and teething child who wanted nothing but Mommy's full attention. But that did not pose a problem at all whatsoever because I had the ability to pause the video and come back to it as many times as I needed to! I really loved having this option!
This particular video came with instructions for two different layouts and I made my own layout using the techniques from the first layout. (I was really excited to learn that there were two layout options!) I worked mainly from the first layout because I had most of the supplies for it already on hand.
In the video, our instructor, Annette Hardy goes through all of the various supplies and techniques used to create a beautiful layout for our scrapbook. As she was going through the supplies kit, I became very intrigued by a product called, "spray mist". I was not very familiar with this product and had to make an impromptu trip to my local craft store to see if I could get my hands on this product.
Fortunately I was able to find the Tattered Angels brand in the color, "Cork". I found this particular color to be very suitable for the theme of my page. I was very excited to put this shimmer mist to good use and I really enjoyed how Annette walked me through how to use the mist properly and how not to "freak out" when I was using it on my doilies (she was not kidding when she said those things will curl up!).
As the video progresses, you learn how to create a nice layout using different prints of paper. I was very envious of the Amy Tangerine scrapbook paper that Annette was using from the kit! I fell in love with the yellow chevron print that she used! If you all know me, you will know that I am OBSESSED with chevron! Annette does a wonderful job explaining how to cut our paper and how to put them together to form a layout that just flows really nicely.
The one thing that I really loved in this video is the unique things you can do with a doily! I never would have guessed that I could make an adorable little flower made from a doily. I am not going to lie, I did have to work on this flower for a few minutes to get it to resemble a flower; I think I had a difficult time with this because my doily was much smaller than what was used in the video. But in the end I was really happy with how it looked.


Here is my finished page (I was only able to get half of the layout finished):

I went with a "Beach Day" theme in honor of Avalyn's first day at the beach! I used paper from a paper kit that I had received at Christmas time. My doilies were much smaller than the ones used in the video, but I still think they turned out quite nicely! I love that spray mist on them! It reminds me of the sand on the beach. 

Isn't this such an awesome idea?! I never would have thought that you could create such adorable embellishments using household items. The sea shell was used in place of a button because I thought it fit the theme perfectly; plus it is a shell that Avalyn's grandma found so it holds a little bit of sentimental value. :)

I really wish I would have had some cupcake liners on hand because in the second layout Annette shows us how to create lovely flowers using the liners. I will definitely be using this technique in the future!

Overall I was very impressed with the techniques shown and how well the video itself was put together. The instructor was very knowledgeable and I definitely learned how much fun scrapbooking can be when you have someone to guide you further into the world of paper crafts. 

I look forward to checking out some of the other videos available for scrapbooking and am also very interested in checking out the crochet and sewing videos as well! 

If you have a soft spot for crafting, I would most definitely recommend Daily Craft TV! 

Visit Daily Craft Tv now for online crafting classes! 

P.S. This was my very first review so please let me know how I did! :)