babies | baby | Uncategorized

Cradle Cap

By on February 11, 2013
Hoodies and hats are excellent at hiding yucky cradle cap. And they’re so cute!

Graham has had a terrible case of cradle cap since December. It’s just in one spot on his crown – but it’s pretty gross and scaly.  The week of Christmas we decided to try and break Graham of sleeping in his swaddle blanket. His cradle cap was pretty bad that week and he started scratching at it in the middle of the night. He woke us up crying – he had scratched it until it was bleeding! Poor little guy! (There’s nothing more scary than waking up in the middle of the night to your baby wailing and blood coming from his head.) After that episode, he went right back into the swaddle and is still in it now at 5 months.

He only scratches with his right hand, so sometimes I let him have his left hand free.
(This was on a day I had a hard time getting him to nap.
Hence the toy, the 2 pacifiers and the fact that he’s in our bed and not his crib.)

We’ve tried all the home remedies (olive oil, baby oil, fine tooth comb, soft bristle brush, toothbrush, head and shoulders shampoo, etc.) and finally got permission from our doctor to use some cortisone cream on it. But he STILL scratches it until it bleeds if we don’t keep a sock or glove on his right hand. (He usually has his left hand in his mouth so it’s always his right hand that’s doing the scratching.) Everyone keeps asking us if the glove is a tribute to Michael Jackson. Ha!

Trying on my new hat for the summer and…wearing a sock on my hand.

I’m scared to use too much cortisone since it’s a steroid. It just freaks me out to use a steroid so close to his brain!

We started using coconut oil on his head about 2 weeks ago. That’s really helped clear up the cradle cap. But he still scratches! Maybe it’s more of a comfort thing now? I’m going to talk to his doctor again about this at his 6 month appointment. We’re all so tired of cradle cap!

This photo has nothing to do with cradle cap.
It just cracks me up because it looks like Graham’s picking his nose! 🙂

 

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baby | family | Uncategorized

Graham’s First Christmas

By on February 7, 2013
Yeah yeah yeah – it’s February and I’m posting about Christmas.
But I just LOVE all the pics we took during the Christmas season!
Our Christmas card!
And on the back of the Christmas card – Graham’s birth announcement!
Great way to save some $ on stamps, right?
I took Graham to Bass Pro Shop to meet Santa. You get a free 5×7 pic with Santa at Bass Pro. But since I’m a first time mommy, I ended up buying a photo package anyway. It saved me the extra step of ordering the Grandparents a copy. And this may be the only pic of Graham and Santa for the next few years where he’s not crying.

 

Riding the carousel with mommy!

 

Two reindeer!

 

Sad Santa! This pic cracks me up!

 

My baby’s gotta huge head.
Picking out a tree!

 

Sweet smile.

 

Mommy and Graham

 

Wee!

 

Our little family.

 

Presents!

 

Josh’s side of the family. Lol!
Awesome bib made by an awesome friend!

 

Fistpump, Christmas, Presents!

 

Where’d Graham go?

 

I love my present from Santa!

 

Wrapping paper is fun.

 

New stockings!
Whew! Christmas is exhausting!

 

What a wonderful Christmas!

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babies | baby | family | Uncategorized

Graham is 4 Months!

By on January 30, 2013

Oh baby Graham – you’re growing up so fast! I can’t believe it’s been 4 months. (Really almost 5 now!) I feel like you just got here, but I can’t imagine my life without you.

 
You’re smiling and giggling all the time. Which is so much fun since you slept so much the first few months of your life. Everyone at church always joked that you were the perfect baby. You slept all the time and never cried.
 
You’re still an awesome sleeper at night – last night you slept for 13 hours!! You usually do 11 hours. You go to bed at 9 and wake up around 8. However, you are NOT a good napper anymore. I’m lucky if you sleep for 2 hours total during the day. But I’ll take a full nights sleep over naps. 🙂

 
You’re still pretty skinny to me, but you’re starting to get some cute chubby thighs. Here are your stats from your 4 month doctors appointment on Jan 9th:
 
Weight: 14lbs 13.5oz (33%)
Length: 25in (72%)
Head Circumference: 17in (88%)
Wow – you’ve got a big old head! 🙂
 
Your doctor was a little worried at your appointment about your head control. She thinks if you don’t start holding up your head better within the next month, you might need some physical therapy. But you’ve got such a big head! I think you’ll be just fine.

 
I can tell you love me SO MUCH! I’m so happy I decided to stay home with you. (And very blessed to be financially able to stay home.)

 
You’ve started to find your voice this month. Now you really can CRY!! No more perfect sleepy baby – when you get upset nowadays, you let us know. You still don’t scream, thank goodness. But I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before you learn how to do that. 🙂

 
You’re wearing size 2 diapers and size 3-6 month clothes. It was so sad packing away your 0-3 month clothes. Maybe you’ll have a baby brother one day who will wear them!

 
You love your daddy! He’s so good at making you laugh. This past weekend mommy had lots of plans with her girlfriends so you and daddy got to spend a bunch of one-on-one time with each other. Daddy finally understands how hard it it is to keep you entertained these days!

 
My sweet Graham-a-lam! You’re so awesome. I love you so much!
 

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Uncategorized

Back to Blogging

By on January 25, 2013

When I started blogging I knew that one day I wanted to be a mommy blogger. And do those cute month posts for my baby. And document our life so I could always remember those sweet baby days…

Yeah….obviously THAT didn’t happen! Blogging def took a back burner once Graham arrived.

He came so early. Then we had a week in the NICU. Then we had breastfeeding issues. Then I was dreading going back to work. Then I quit my job. Then I went back to work part-time. Then I struggled with some postpartum depression…

Now I FINALLY feel a little bit better. My life has settled down. Graham and I have gotten into the swing of things. We have somewhat of a schedule each day.

So I hope…no – I promise myself I will be a better blogger. I want to document this time of my life. Graham is so adorable right now and does something cute and new every day. I don’t want to forget this stuff!

 

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food | husband | Italy | Travel | Uncategorized | vacation

Viva Italia Day 11 and 12 – Venice

By on December 21, 2012

11/1

On the train ride to Venice, we sat next to some people from Little Rock, AR. They were complaining the whole time about their nannies! Rich people problems…

More Coke Light!

We were a little confused about how to get a ticket for the water bus when we got off the train in Venice. But we figured it out. It really is crazy to take a boat everywhere instead of a car! After we checked into the hotel, we walked around and found a place for lunch. I had pizza with huge chunks of parm cheese and arugula. (PS – Italians call arugula rocket. I should totally call it that from now on!) Josh got his spaghetti carbanara…again!

 

Our hotel was amazing – seriously. You could take a boat right up to the front door. So luxurious! I didn’t take any pics of the outside, so please click the link below and check it out. Beautiful!

Duodo Palace Hotel

 

11/2

 We had a short walking tour schedule for the next morning. We saw the Doge’s Palace and St. Mark’s Cathedral. They were having mass, but we still got to go in. After that, we went to a fancy little local restaurant where we tried some traditional Venetian seafood dishes. We had an appetizer of salted fish – it had shrimp and sardines – the sardines were actually really good! Then Josh had salted cod with polenta. His dish was sooo yummy! Cooked perfectly and then pureed until the fish was creamy. I had rolled sea bass with tomatoes, capers, and arugula. It had a really tasty sauce on it too. For dessert, Josh and I shared a bowl of warm chocolate soup with gelato. Mmmm!

After that, we walked around and explored for a long time. Josh finally bought his Italia jacket that he was looking for the entire trip. I bought some tiny black and gold Murano glass earrings.

For dinner, we went back to the pizza place we had eaten at the day we arrived in Venice. (It was the most affordable place we could find.) Since it was our last night – we went all out! We got a bottle of merlot and later on, got a ½ bottle of the “vino della cassa.” (The house wine.) I had a capresse salad (mozzarella, tomatoes, and lettuce – not basil like I wanted – boo) and tortellini with ham and mushrooms. Josh had spaghetti “amatriciana” (spicy sauce). And after all of that? We also got a pizza with spicy salami. Hey – it was our last night after all!

After that, we got some gelato and watched people riding in the gondolas. Neither of us really had a desire to ride in one, so we skipped out on that. But it was fun to watch other people ride!

11/3
To get to the Venice airport, we splurged and rented a private water taxi to take us back to land where we caught a regular car taxi. We thought it would be an easy way to end the trip instead of trying to figure out the water buses and rail way. And since we didn’t ride a gondola, we figured it would be fun. I felt like a rich person when the taxi floated right up to the front door of our hotel and we stepped in. It had rich mahogany interior (Anchorman anyone?) and blue velvet cushioned seats. Very fancy! It was so much fun riding through Venice in such a fancy boat!

So to sum up our Italy vacation…

IT WAS AMAZING!

Everything went smoothly, surprisingly. Josh and I handled all of the uncertainties well – and we didn’t argue much, only a few times when we were trying to agree on where to eat. Ha! Our motto for the trip: “We’ll figure it out!” Any time we got stressed about what we needed to do (how to catch the water bus, how to get to the hotel from the rail station, directions to the meet up locations, etc.) we would just say, “We’ll figure it out!” And we did! I’m such a planner and a control freak, I was very proud of myself!

The food was amazing, the history was amazing, the wine was amazing – everything was even better than we expected. I’m so happy that we were able to take such an wonderful trip!

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