Survey 2008

I wish I filled this out last year because my answers would be, oh-so-different. I read this last year on Sundry's blog but didn't think I had many readers or much to say. I wish I would've filled it out for Tylee's sake but here goes...

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before? Gave birth.
2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I guess my resolution was to do whatever I could do that was the best for my unborn child. I did that. This year my resolutions are to exclusively breast feed Tylee until she is 1 year old and then lose the rest of my baby weight.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Um, not really, just ME!
4. Did anyone close to you die? Fortunately, no.
5. What countries did you visit? None
6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008? Reach my goal weight on WW
7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? June 15th: Tylee's due date and June 25th: Tylee's birthday
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Giving birth to a healthy baby girl
9. What was your biggest failure? Letting my weight backslide after giving birth rather than continuing on WW
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Just a C-section
11. What was the best thing you bought? My new camera
12. Whose behavior merited celebration? My sister. She graduated from college after getting married and having 3 children, 6 and under. Congrats Linds.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? I probably shouldn't post the name on the blog because I know they read. However, I am disappointed in someone in Tylee's life and they know who they are. I'd rather me and Tj be disappointed rather than let her get old enough to know him/her and then them disappoint her. No one in our control is going to do that to her.
14. Where did most of your money go? To savings so I could have a good maternity leave
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Giving birth
16. What song will always remind you of 2008? I opened ITunes are our top played songs were: That's The Way by the Eli Yound Band, Find Out Who Your Friends Are by Tracy Lawrence, If I Had A Million Dollars by Barenaked Ladies, and The Way I Live by Baby Boy De Prince. Quite the Selection!
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:a) happier or sadder?b) thinner or fatter?c) richer or poorer? Happier, Fatter, Richer
18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Spent more alone time with Tj pre-baby
19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
20. How did you spend Christmas? With Tj and Tylee on Christmas morning, at Nanny and Poppy's Christmas afternoon, then with my Mom, Dad, and Tj's Mom on subsequent days. It was great!
21. Did you fall in love in 2008? With a little girl
22. What was your favorite TV program? In general, The Food Network. It is our TV from dusk to dawn on every Saturday and Sunday.
23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? Um. Hate? No. Too strong of word.
24. What was the best book you read? The Twilight Series.
25. What was your greatest musical discovery? Red Dirt Music
26. What did you want and get? A healthy baby.
27. What did you want and not get? Carat diamond earrings.
28. What was your favorite film of this year? I don't know if I watched one single movie...
29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I didn't do anything because I was fat and pregnant. I turned 25.
30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? I know this sounds cheesy and untruthful but I would guess anyone having their 1st child would agree, there is nothing in this world more satisfying than having your 1st baby.
31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008? Somewhat "Motherly" because of Maternity clothes and the first few months after giving birth but I am getting back in the swing of things.
32. What kept you sane? TJ
33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Embarrassingly...I guess the most mentioned celebs were probably Brad and Angelina, Jessica Simpson and Tony Romo, Jennifer Aniston and John Mayer, Heath Ledger's death, Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montanna, and Britney
34. What political issue stirred you the most? The presidential election
35. Who did you miss? Brecca, Braylee, and Brax
36. Who was the best new person you met? Tylee
37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008. Having a child is the BEST thing that you will ever do in your entire life. The love that you feel for a child will never compare to any love that you have had in your entire life.
38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. I might come back and fill this in but I have no idea at the moment.

Christmas Recap

Whew! It's been a busy few days and we aren't even done! Christmas morning was spent at home with just Tj, Tylee, and I. I was so excited for Tylee's 1st Christmas but I was trying not to set myself up for disapointment. I was hoping I would get that special tingly feeling inside but was figuring it would just be another day. Everything turned out better than I could've imagined. It was the perfect 1st Christmas. We didn't get Tylee much because we have 6 different Christmas' to go to and she is already not hurting for anything. We had a couple gifts for her to open on Christmas morning but she would've rather played with the sacks and paper. I couldn't hardly keep her away from the bows and bright colored wrapping paper. I was suprised by how much she cared about the gifts.

After our Christmas at home, it was off to Nanny and Poppy's for their Christmas. We ate, opened presents, and played games. It was fun. Friday was Christmas at my Mom's house. More eating, more present opening, and more game playing. Back to Chanute on Saturday for my Dad's Christmas. Papa Randy got Tylee the big diaper pin for her nursery that she was wanting. I can't wait to get it hung up. Her nursery is almost complete! Grandma Katy was put in the hospital last week so her Christmas got post-poned until next Saturday but since everyone was in town, we all got together at my cousins house. It was good to see everyone.

So! 4 down, 2 to go. I was pretty specific about the gifts that I wanted for Tylee so we made it through Christmas without a ton of toys. She got a lot of books and outfits, a couple of toys and a few stuffed animals. Here are a few pictures of Christmas 2008. I'm thinking of making a photobook on Shutterfly with of all of our Christmas pictures. I have a ton! We are saving her dress for Christmas at the Finley's. I can't wait to see her in it!

Letter to Tylee

Tylee,

Happy 6 month birthday little girl! I can undoubtedly say that these past 6 months have been the best 6 months of my life. Not only have you stolen my heart, I have loved watching you grow and change more and more everyday. Watching you learn intrigues me. I went from worrying about you not reaching for toys to watching you learn how to use both hands to pick up something that you can't grab with your fingers. (FYI: It was Dutchy's ball so as soon as you got it, I had to take it away before you put it in your mouth! You worked so hard to get it too!)

So, let's see. A recap of 2008:

Gas was $4.00 a gallon the whole summer that you were born. Mommy had so many big plans for us on maternity leave but most of them were ruined because it cost $80 to go anywhere. It was okay though because I sat at home marveling over you for 12 weeks. You were good company.

Mommy and Daddy's favorite song when you were born was Chicken Fried by the Zac Brown Band. Daddy and Uncle Curtie liked "Too Late" but Mommy hated that song. You spent many nights in my belly riding around in Daddy's truck listening to that song. We watch a lot of reality TV shows. Well, maybe I should say that we used to watch a lot of reality TV shows but now you consume most of our time. We record them on the DVR and watch them after you've gone to bed. I almost hate to admit this on the blog but we watch The Hills, Dirty Jobs, The Real World, Survivor, Mythbusters, The Girls Next Door...the list goes on. (That is one for every night. Ha!) You can probably google any or all of those and find out what I'm talking about because I can guarantee that none of them will probably be on air whenever you are old enough to care about this letter. Mommy watches Greys Anatomy and Desperate Housewives too and Daddy watches a lot of shows about cars and racing on the Speed channel but I'm sure those won't be around when you are big either.

Barack Obama was nominated as the first African American president when you were 4 months old. Even in 2008, lots of people still have have reservations about this. I hope that you grow up in a world where there is no more prejudicism.

The economy is in a recession. To be honest, I don't really pay attention to that stuff but I do notice that everything is more expensive. When you are bigger, I'm sure people will talk about the recession of 2008 but other than mentioning it, I don't have much else to say about it.

The big gift this year for Christmas in the Nintendo Wii. I'm sure by the time you are old enough to appreciate this letter, you will have one...and the next best thing. Technology is a huge part of life these days, as I'm sure will be when you are older as well. Digital Cameras, Ipods, Digital photo frames, Digital video cameras, laptops, GPS units, and navigation are all the norm. When Mommy was little we had film cameras that you dropped off at Wal-mart and then had to wait a week to see your picture, tapes and tape players, picture frames, tapes for your video camera, big computers, and maps. I can only imagine when you are big. An Ipod is going to seem "so old-school and funny."

Mommy's main hobby right now is you. One of these days I'll get back to my pre-Tylee hobbies but you are my entire life right now. I enjoy making you photobooks on the internet as well as your paper scrapbook. I love taking photos of you as well. Those kinda go hand-in-hand. I also like cooking and kitchen gadgets. I probably like to cook because I have neat kitchen gadgets but whatever works. I collect Fiestaware and LeCrueset pots and pans. The perfect gift for me this Christmas would be a new Le Creuset pot. I bet you and I both are surprised by that in 15 years.

When I met your Daddy he was into his racecar, then his little green truck (which will be yours one day if you want it...) but now he is on a hunting kick. He is trying to get a bird dog trained before Dice, his 10 year old bird dog, is gone. He has been buying guns, raising birds, and going on hunting trips. The perfect gift for him this Christmas would be a new Benelli. That isn't what he is getting but that is what he asked for. Maybe when you are older and have a job we can split a gift for Daddy and get him what he really wants. Haha. Another hobby of Daddy's right now is cooking. His pride and joy is his Traeger Grill. He cooks dinner for us on the grill 3 or 4 days a week. No complaints there!

We also have another child, your puppy Dutch. He is a 10 year old Boston Terrier. Daddy had him for 5 years before he met Mommy but it was love at first sight for me and Dutchy. We've said 1,000 times since you were born that we wish we could start all over with Dutch so that you would know him before he dies. He is still very healthy and we hope he is around long enough so that you'll remember him.

Well, that is about it for your 6 month birthday. I'm sure not much will change in the world by your 1st birthday but you sure will. You'll for sure be crawling around and probably walking. I can't wait. So far I don't have any regrets about our decisions in raising you. I feel as if I've cuddled you enough, loved you enough, held you enough, and gave you plenty of kisses. I don't miss the newborn teeny-tiny baby stage even though you were a really good baby. I think that I'm going to miss this stage though. You babble all day saying dadadada and gagagaga. You make raspberries with your spit and giggle. You smile when someone new walks into the room and are starting to cry when they leave. No teeth yet but you sure are a slobberbox!

Until June...

-Mommy

Happy 6 months, Tylee!

6 Month Milestones:

• Rolling over, repeatedly
• Sitting Up
• Toes to Mouth
• Sitting to laying/rolling
• Stopped Swaddling
• 1st HIGH fever
• Sippy Cup
• 1st Cheeto (ha!)

Christmas Morning

Christmas Eve

Christmas PJ's

We got on our Christmas Pj's and then went to look at Christmas lights. When Daddy was a little boy he used to go look at lights on Christmas Eve and would always catch Santa on this one roof in town. We tried to go there first so that we could see Santa before you fell asleep. Sure enough, Santa was on the roof waving to all the cars driving by.

Then we came home and sprinkled the reindeer food out in the yard so that Santa would come.

We sat out milk and cookies and put Tylee to bed. Let's hope santa comes!

I'm sorry, again

Thank you again, Miss Tylee, for sleeping from 9pm until 7am when I woke you up to feed you so I could leave for work. The only thing that I've done differently the past two nights is cover you up with another blanket. I'm sorry if you were cold before and that is why you were waking up. :-S

Merry Christmas!

I Take It All Back

I am sorry for all the bad things I said about you yesterday Tylee. You are my beautiful, wonderful, smiley daughter again. Thank you for sleeping from 8pm when I put you in bed until 6:30 this morning when I woke you up to feed you.

Thanks Kinz!

We love it!

Sleeping Arrangements - Night 1

I have a confession to make: my wonderful, beautiful, smiley daughter that has been sleeping through the night since she was 4 weeks old, has stopped sleeping through the night and therefore loses her status as my wonderful, beautiful, smiley daughter. Ha. I'm just kidding. She has been waking up to nurse every 3 hours on the dot for about 10 days now. It is easier to just grab her, feed her, and rewrap her than it is to lay there and listen to her cry for 20 minutes...and then grab her, feed her, and rewrap her. I don't know how to get her back to sleep without picking her up and either rocking her or feeding her. I don't want to rock her because 1)I don't want to go down that road and 2)the rocking chair is in the other room and I'd really rather not get out of bed.

After she fell asleep on the floor Saturday without any coaxing, swaddling, cuddling, or swooning, I realized that yes, she can fall back asleep on her own if I were to just make her. At 6 months of age, babies physically don't need to eat during the night. I would feel bad and feel as if I was starving my poor child but since she slept all night for 5 months in a row, I KNOW she does not need fed.

So, cold turkey it is. We put her in her bed last night around 8pm with a full belly and wrapped up tight. Sure enough, she starts crying around 9:30. I wasn't going to pick her up and it wasn't anywhere close to time to eat. I don't know what's up. I kept filling my head full of "worst-case-scenarios" as I lay there and listened to her cry. Maybe she pulled the quilt down off the side of the crib and it is suffocating her. Nope. I didn't tie all the bumper strings and maybe she has one of those in her mouth. Nope. Just crying! Every time I went and checked on her she had her binky in her hand, rolling from side to side and sobbing. I'm not the worst parent ever, I picked her up a couple of times and calmed her down but we've gotta teach her to go to sleep on her own. Finally, at 11:30, I went back in, reswaddled her, turned off the TV with the nursery rhymes playing, gave her the binky and shut the door. I was plum out of sympathy. I didn't hear a peep from her until 6am. When my alarm went off and I went in to check on her, she was unswaddled and sound asleep.

I read that it should take no more than a week to create new habits so hopefully by the time I come back to work after Christmas, I'll have sleep-filled nights again. Note to self: Do not swaddle your next child. At some point, the blankets become to small and those little arms become to strong.

Santa Baby

Crawfish Boil

A friend of ours wanted to have this catering company from Lousiana come up and cook some crawfish but needed a place to host the party. I HATE that crap but Tj was more than happy to have them over. They bring the paper towels, trash cans, EVERYTHING...so I couldn't complain much. I can't imagine these things being alive one minute and then sucking their brains out 10 minutes later. It honestly makes me cringe just thinking about it.AliveCooking DeadPlate

Sleeping Beauty

I left Tylee at home with TJ today while I ran to Wal-mart. They called and TJ said that Tylee wanted to know where her brush was. I told him where it was but then got to wondering why they would need the brush. Apparently she had had a pretty bad blowout and needed a bath. This was his 1st time giving her a bath and it was a poopy one! I can only imagine but I was so proud of him! When I got home, she was laying on the floor drinking her juice. I started some laundry (wonder why?!) and then realized it was awful quiet in the living room. I walked in to find this... This was the 1st time that Tylee has EVER fallen asleep on her own like this. I lay her down (swaddled) in her bed alone but never just randomly. I think we might start trying to introduce some new sleeping habits.

Nieces

I know this is Tylee's blog but sometimes I post stuff about my nieces. This is just too cute. I can't resist.

Cough

Tylee woke Tj and I both up last night coughing. I felt so bad for her but I didn't know what to do. It kept scaring me cause I thought she was going to choke on all that flem. Yet I didn't really want to wake her all the way up and sit up with her. I called the doctor this morning because it sounds like it is coming from her lungs. That is my self-diagnosis. :-) It is rough and raspy anyways. The doctor gave her an antibiotic and if she isn't better by Monday, I need to bring her in. I don't really know what I expected the doctor to say (other than prescribing something) but now I don't really want to give her the antibiotic without being seen. Ugh...stupid cold and flu season.

Big Girl

I took Tylee to Tj's Mom's house in her pajamas yesterday. She still isn't feeling that great and I didn't want to wake her up getting her dressed. I sent clothes and told them to have her ready at 4:30 cause I had a hair appointment to get too. She called me around 4:00 and said Tylee's jeans didn't fit. I just bought those jeans! They are 6-9 month jeans from The Childrens Place and are skin tight almost overnight. They wouldn't even button. Ha. So this morning I got in the tub of clothes, skipped right over the 12 month summer clothes and went to the 12-18 month winter clothes. THEY FIT. Those were supposed to be for next winter! The grey outfit below is a 12 month, the blue shirt in the previous post is a 12 month with 12-18 month brown pants.

Sitting Pretty

Tylee has been sitting up by herself for a couple weeks now. We started out with the Boppy around her but I am brave enough now to let her sit while I scoot back and take pictures. She can sit for along time without falling over unless she gets extra excited.

I didn't ever think a baby could be too smiley to get cute pictures. I was wrong. Apparently I was pretty funny this morning.

Braylee's Birthday Party

Tylee had so much fun at Braylee's birthday party. She couldn't harldy contain herself.

My First Cheeto

I have no idea if this was okay or not but Aunt Lindsey said it was. Three kids under 6 probably qualifies her to know whether or not Tylee can have a Cheeto.

Dr.'s Report

Tylee just has a cold. The doctor told me everything that everyone else told me: Rotate Tylenol and Motrin, Vick's on her feet, prop her up to sleep, and saline drops in her nose. It gives me peace of mind knowing that her lungs were clear and her ears looked fine. I have a busy weekend planned and didn't want to end up in the ER on Saturday night. She gave me some signs to watch for for RSV and Pneumonia since the cold and flu season is in high gear. I got some useful info and am glad I took the time to take her.

After the appointment, we had to run to Wal-mart and I got the sick little girl a treat...her very first sippy cup! I read to start early because there is a big learning curve but she is a pro already! Did I expect anything less?

The Name Game

Tj and I thought long and hard before picking out a name for Tylee. We went through every single scenario of what mean kids could call her and how people would shorten it. My picks were Timmen and Jillian. Tj said no cause it would end up being Tim or Jill. I don't know what his girl names were...he really thought she was a boy. I guess Tylee must've been one of them. :-) In the room at the hospital my mom or someone said, "So what's her name!?" I remember looking at Tj and shrugging my shoulders and being like, "I don't care." (I was really doped up!) He said, "Tylee, I guess?" I agreed...I really didn't care. Note to self: have names picked out before have an epi, get put under for a C-section, and come out on drugs.

So far, so good on the name with only a few people calling her Ty every once in awhile. I'm quick to correct them, "It's Tylee." Brecca calls her Ty-girl and I have a hard time correcting a 6 year old. The only things I keep running in to are people thinking we say "Kylee" or "Tyler".

I just called the doctor.

Nurse: What's the name?

Me: Tylee
Nurse: Tylee is the last name?

Me: No, first

Nurse: Okay, what's the last name?

Me: Trollope

Nurse: And the first name?
Me: Tylee

Nurse: Kylie Trollope?

Me: No, Tylee with a T

Nurse: Okay, hang on.

Nurse: Okay, I asked and since his temperature was so high last night, we need to see him. Can you bring Tyler in at 11:15?

Me: It's Tylee. She's a girl. But yes, 11:15 is great.

Ugggh!

Crisis

I'm in the middle of a crisis and I'm taking time out to blog about it. Ha. Actually, the munchkin is in bed and I'm killing time before I need to wake her back up and take her temperature. I'll spare you the details but apparently between 7:30am when I dropped off my smiley pie and 5:00pm when I picked her up, she came down with something. She had a fever when I picked her up so I ran to Wal-mart to get a thermometer. I have a rectal thermometer but hadn't ever taken it that way so I wanted to get an ear thermometer. I got Tylee all loaded back up in the car and, damn the luck, the ear thermometer wouldn't work. Thank goodness for Lindsey and the internet. :-) Lesson learned. Her temperature at 6:30 after having Tylenol was 101.3 degrees. I changed her diaper at 7:15 and checked it again and it was 102.1 degrees. At 8:25 it was 101.8 degrees. At that point, I nursed her and put her to bed.

I called 5 or 6 different people and they all told me different things. I have a cousin who is an ER nurse in Chanute and a friend that is an ER nurse in Parsons. They said totally different things. :-) So at this point, I'm watching her temperature, nursing her more to stay hydrated, and checking for wet diapers. That is a combination of all the info that I got tonight. We'll see what the doctor says in the morning.

Oh, and Tylee is acting just fine. Not overly happy, not overly fussy...just sleepy and whiny. That was my deciding factor to not go to the ER.

On the Go

Tylee was rolling all over the living room floor the other night and I looked over at Tj and said, "What are we going to do? This sucks!" We can only leave her in her Jumparoo for so long! So I started sitting her up in her Boppy and once I realized that she could sit without toppling over, I started leaving her sitting in the middle of the floor while I cooked dinner. This way, she was entertained and contained. However, we have now figured out how to lean over to get a toy, get onto our belly, and roll. Roll. Roll. Roll. She can do all this without making a peep so I don't realize that she is on the move. Until I go to check on her and she is missing! She starts crying in these pictures...but only because she couldn't get the toy/binky. Temper, Temper! And while we were waiting for her to make her move, I got a couple other cute pictures.