Feeling sad

There are times in life when things to change. Sometimes it is simple like a new haircut or maddening like not fitting into your skinny jeans. Sometimes it is a change you bring on yourself and other times it is out of your control. It's the times when you feel it is spinning out of my control that I really start get down.

A big part of my life for the last three years is going through some pretty difficult changes. I am not sure at this point if it is going to make it through. This is weighing heavily on my heart at the moment. This kind of change was not something I ever wanted to see coming. None of us involved did. Yet, here we find ourselves at a pretty major crossroad in our journey.

I am hoping beyond hopes that we can pull through this with little damage. I am not sure that is possible at the moment. Perhaps it needs to burn like a phoenix and rise up from its ashes to become something just as spectacular as what it once was. Time will only tell at this point. I am trying to keep my heart open to being able to move forward.

To my lovely MW friends, I love you all. Let's come together and build on our core values. We have weathered some pretty major storms together. Don't let this be the storm that sinks us.

Another visit from the Tooth Fairy

Ava lost her second baby tooth this week. She was much more confident this time with having it come out. She wiggled it and wiggled as much as she could. I finally had to yank it, though, before bed on Tuesday. It was so loose, I was afraid it would come out in her sleep and she would swallow it.

The tooth fairy ended up bringing $5 in quarters this time since she was slightly unprepared for it to come out that day and couldn't get the gold coins that she had planned to leave.

Ava left the tooth in a glass of water again and awoke to find the water yellow meaning the tooth fairy was wearing a yellow dress when she dove in for the tooth. Ava is now requesting the tooth fairy wear a purple dress. Yeah, I haven't quite figured out how to make the water a nice purple color, so that is why I hadn't left it that color yet. If anyone can clue me in on this, I would greatly appreciate it.

Here is her new smile.

Sticker Love

This is what happens in our house when you stay in one place too long.

So sleepy...zzzzzzz

Oh, man. Violet has not been wanting me to sleep lately. She started teething hard core two weeks ago. I think we are about to see her first tooth at any moment. She hasn't been too unpleasant from it, thank goodness. The teething tablets are amazing little things. That is pretty much under control, but she started rolling from her back to her stomach last week. That means most of her wakeful time is spent rolling all over. It has consumed her.

My amazing little sleeper has turned into a mobile monkey in the middle of the night. She will go to bed anywhere between 6 and 8pm and sleep until anywhere between 3 and 5am to nurse and then goes back to sleep until around 8am. Of course, I do not go to sleep at the same time as her. In fact, I typically stay up pretty late since Daniel works until around midnight. That has not been a good combination lately when she wakes up in the early morning, nurses, and then wants to play for another 2hrs. This has happened the past three nights. I am now running on about 7hrs sleep total in three days. That is usually the minimum I sleep in one. And it isn't like it really upsets me because she is so happy to play. It would be different if she were up screaming all night. It is just creating really, really long days for me.

So, please excuse the dark bags under my eyes and the fact that I can't listen and follow directions from things like my GPS or that I forget to pack enough food for my kids at the park and they want to steal all of yours. I am just thankful I have not misplaced my keys or any one of my kids at this point. Caffeine only goes so far.

For Gabby

I didn't have a chance to post this over the weekend with all the activity going on with Easter. I wanted to share some photos of the balloons we let go in honor of Gabby on what would have been her third birthday Saturday. She is so greatly missed by many. My thoughts have been with Randy, Ben, and Jakey all week. I hope they are finding some comfort in knowing just how much Gabby is loved still.

My 3 year old girl!

Three years ago today, I was off to the hospital to have a scheduled repeat c-section (I have a heart condition :P) with my little Leila. From the moment she arrived, my mother looked in her eyes and said that she would be trouble. Boy, was she right. Leila has been ALL trouble from the start, but it is the best kind of trouble. She is the type of kid that could set your house on fire and give you one glance with a mischievous smirk and all would be fine. You just can't get mad at this kid. Anyone who meets her will tell you the same thing, too. There is just something to her. A little je ne sais quoi.

This also marks the third year of her breastfeeding. I never imagined going this long since Ava self-weaned toward the end of my pregnancy with Leila. I thought she would wean when I was pregnant with Violet. No...she is very much attached to it. I wouldn't even begin to make her wean either. It is the best moments of the day with her when we are still and she nurses. She just loves it so much, and I love our connection. She is only nursing twice a day on average when she wakes up in the morning and after her nap. So, I know she is in the process of weaning, but I can't even predict how long she will go. That's fine. It's what she needs.

I just can't believe she is three already. She isn't my little baby that I wore all tucked into my sling anymore. I am looking forward to all the next year has in store. I think she will start ballet and our home school co-op group. It will be very exciting.

Here are some pics of Leila for you with a couple showing just how goofy she is.

Also, go check out Stephanie at Adventures in Babywearing having a contest on how YOU wear your baby.

Violet at 5 months...and 3 days

Violet came into her 5th month with some pretty major milestones. Over the weekend, of course on our trip, she decides it was the perfect time to start seriously teething. She has two little teeth buds sprouting on the bottom. This has made her a very cranky baby, especially for things like car rides and restaurants. The teething tablets are working in overtime right now.

The other development happened on Monday right at 20 weeks. She finally started to roll over from her back to her stomach. I was wondering how long it would take, especially since she has been going tummy to back since 3 weeks old. So, she is now totally mobile with rolling. No more leaving her unattended on beds despite ours being a king and placing her in the center.

Otherwise, she is becoming quite the little chatterbox. She coos almost constantly, and she LOVES to have as much attention doing it as possible. She also started laughing. Ava's ballet dancing was the funniest thing to her the day she started that because she gave her the biggest belly laughs watching Ava prance around. So cute! Now, she is just a giggle machine. She is also pretty ticklish, especially on her neck, under her armpit, and on the sides of her stomach. She is always a guaranteed laugh.

I also weighed her at our playgroup on Tuesday. She is roughly 16lbs 3oz and around 26" long. She seems to be slowing down in the weight gain just as I predicted she would since Leila did the same thing. She is definitely in the 3-6 month clothes. We will see for how long.

Well, I can believe 5 months have gone by she was born. I keep telling her to slow it down. She won't listen. *sigh*

Here is a picture of me wearing Violet in my new Ergo on the River Walk last weekend in San Antonio.

And it's a no go

So, Violet is 20 weeks old today. Only I can't take my usual monthly pic to write my post since my camera battery is acting up and doesn't want to charge. This would explain why it ran out of juice, despite spending all day in the charger Friday, on the last day of our trip when I had the best opportunity to get some great shots of the girls in Gruene, Texas. *sigh* So, my monthly post for her will be postponed until tomorrow.

A new addiction...

Hi, my name is Sheri, and I am addicted to baby carriers. There I admit it, but I am not sure I am really ready for change. If there was an intervention right now by all of my closest friends, which I highly doubt would happen since they are too and enable me, I would have to turn down any offers for treatment.

We are heading out of town soon to hit Sea World for Madison's school choir performance and to tool around San Antonio. I was getting pretty worried about an all day trek around the park with Violet being worn in my wrap. While I love my wrap, I really need something that distributes her weight evenly on my hips. Anyone who hikes or backpacks knows this well. So, I decided to buy a new Ergo to meet this need.

I am thrilled with it so far. I bought the black one with the green hood. I wore it all over the zoo tonight and felt amazingly better compared to my other carriers. Violet also enjoyed it since she had more range of motion in her arms to do things like grab my face and laugh her butt off. She also took a good long snooze in it with great head support from the hood. It is a great fit, and I think it was well worth the money.


Oh, and the funniest part is that I can wear all three of my kids in it. Not at the same time mind you, but Ava was getting the biggest kick out of being worn like her sisters. I became like a circus ride with them taking turns on my back yesterday.