We're Alive!

Well the Bowling household was struck by the crud last week and we all survived...okay maybe I am being a bit dramatic but I am just glad it is this week and not last!
It started out not this past weekend but the last and Miss P was having a time with her new teeth she decided she needed at 4 months.  So she was up a couple times at night just hurting. Then come Sunday I believe and she was so very stuffy.  She could barely breathe at night even with the humidifier.  She was so congested that she was spitting up a whole lot since she couldn't eat like she wanted.  So the doctor told us to make sure she slept elevated so it would help her to be less congested.  So the next few days were filled with these items:

I had the one from the hospital and it was amazing compared to ones you can buy...you must take one when you are in the hospital!

These helped out so very much.  Paige hated getting them but they work!!

Works in seconds for those mean teeth!

 We finally were able to see her doctor on Tuesday (they try to fix small problems over the phone since the flu is so bad).  She said she was congested horribly...duh I could have told you that! Anyways, they put her on an antibiotic and she started feeling better the next day...and sleeping again!  We had nights we were slept only an hour (not all at one time).  After about 5 nights like that, she finally slept 10 hours!

Then I decided it was my turn to get sick!  I wasn't as congested as Paige was but my throat hurt so bad and my ears!  Then I felt even worse for Paige because I was just hoping her throat and ears didn't hurt that bad...poor baby!  So then I wasn't sleeping well because I couldn't breath.  Since my ears hurt so bad and I didn't want Paige to get sick again...I called my doctor. I never go to the doctor for a cold!  She looked at my throat and thought I either had Mono or strep...oh joy!! Thankfully I didn't have either and I was put on an antibiotic (the same one Paige has).  I was feeling better the next morning!

Wes was keeping his distance I think.  He had a sore throat but that was about it...hopefully he will stay healthy, especially since we got Gerri and my mom sick too! Sorry guys!

So that was our week last week and really our weekend!  Not much else to share really..sad I know!  I am just glad we made it until Paige was 4 1/2 months old before she had her first cold!  Hopefully it will be a long time before round two comes!

WILW

 

How is it already Wednesday?? And really..how is it possibly January 16th?  Wasn't it just Christmas like yesterday?  I swear time can slow down a little bit OK??

I'm Loving...that so many people are donating to Eric's family.  I don't think I have ever spoken about him on here but he is a guy in his early 30s that has been battling cancer for 11+ years.  He had 2 stem cell transplants and finally in remission but his body took a beating.  His body has been through so much because of his weakened immune system and been in and out of ICU since his transplant like 3 years ago.  He is extremely strong and keeps battling and surviving.  However this last episode he has had really took all he had.  He is now with Hospice House and all his close friends, family and amazing wife Cheyanne and with him for his final days.  His mother in law started this fundraiser last year and as of last week they have raised like $6,000...but they are so close to $10,000 now.  Eric is loved my so many and it is awesome that everyone is helping them out...I mean can you imagine the medical bills for 11 years??  All my thoughts and prayers have been with him and his family this week!

I'm Loving... my DVR (on a much lighter note!).  I am so busy lately that I never get to watch my shows when they come on.  I use my nightly pumping session (when Wes is asleep so I have the remote finally) to catch up on some shows.  I have SO many shows taped I don't know if I will catch up! haha

I'm Loving... that it is time for birthdays!  My wallet may not like it but oh well! My Dad's birthday is Friday, Wes's is the 23rd (and he is turning 30!), brother in law is Feb 7 and finally mine on the 9th!!  Even though we don't really do anything for anyones birthday, I just love having a day that is special for you only! :)

I'm Loving... Hylands teething gel!  Little Miss P decided on her 4 month birthday to have not one but TWO teeth appear.  They are some sharp little things too..poor baby.  No wonder she was fussy last week!  They are barely poking out...wonder how long before they are totally in??  

 

I'm Loving... that I forgot I had a gift card to Kohl's.  I got two of them for Christmas and spent the first one.  I really need some new black pants and blue jeans and I was cleaning out my purse Paige's diaper bag this morning and found the other one.  Made my morning :)  Can I just tell you how much I love Kohl's? I am still shocked my little hometown has one now!

I'm Loving...that Sweet Tea's had their HUGE end of season sale this week and I went yesterday for Paige and Audrey.  They each got two new outfits and I only spent $30!  I wanted to buy for next season but they didn't have anything I liked in 12 or 18 month.  Just had 6-9 month and then 3 years and older.  So she got something for this year.

Ive been eyeing this dress FOREVER

so cute...love rompers!

Audrey's new dress

Audrey's new romper

Paige has her eyes on the new spring clothes and really wants this dress by the way...

I'm Loving... my hubby and sweet girl of course.  She is growing so fast!!  It is hard to believe how fast really...she is "talking" so much...

Here are a few pictures of Miss P..couldn't do a whole post without her could I??

her cape!

how she likes to eat now...

passed out from playing so hard

our view of her lately!

My future tiger grad haha

 Hope you have a great Wednesday and don't forget to look at everyone else Wednesday over on Jamie's blog :)

This Weekend

As usual, this weekend flew by!  I swear it only lasted a couple hours, not a couple of days!!  Here is a recap of our great little weekend:

 

This weekend, I left work a little early (only like 30 minutes by the time I finished everything) since I had to work longer on Thursday.  I rushed home to see Miss P!  We hung out for a little while until Wes came home.  We did our normal Friday night thing...got take out and watched TV! 

 

This weekend, I bought Paige a humidifier in hopes that would help her sleep better...she had been waking up with a stuffy nose lately.   She slept 10 straight hours on Friday night.

 

This weekend, Paige and I had our play date with Heather and Audrey.  This time was at our house.  We cleaned the house and made taco soup before they got there.  When they arrived, we took a few pictures of course and let them hang out.  Then it was lunch time and we loaded up the girls and went to Sweet Tea's and Kohl's.  We had to hurry home because someone had a nasty diaper for her mama...not saying which child ;)  Then we just hung out at the house and did what we always do....photo shoots!! Here are some of my favorites!

Love Paige's reaction to Heather dancing!

In the dresses JoJo made them

Nap time

 

My favorite from the day!

hehe

holding hands!  We didn't even get them to do this pose...all on their own :)

   Not only are Heather and I lucky to have such sweet babies...we are so lucky they are only 2 weeks apart! So much fun :)

 

This weekend, I was rooting for Miss South Carolina.  She is from Laurens (right down the road from us) and is a Clemson student!  Cant get much better than that...plus she is gorgeous!  I told Wes I wanted to watch it and he didn't complain one time.  I had to put Paige to sleep once the pageant started so I figured I would just watch from 930 on.  Well, little did I know Wes was watching and was taking notes! (I wouldn't dare let him know that I wrote this on here...good thing he doesn't read it!).  I came back and he told me who the top 15 or however was.  He told me his top picks, who were the hottest and who were his least favorites.  I loved that he was taking notes...anyone who knows Wes would probably not believe me at all!  Then what tops it off, I was texting Jodi and they were watching with Dad.  So Dad and Wes were comparing notes and said the talent was a waste of time and that they needed a wet t-shirt contest.  Typical!

 I was kinda surprised she didn't win...nothing against Miss New York though!

 

This weekend, the three of us went to our farm and shot targets.  Wes got a new gun not too long ago and wanted me to try it out.  I am not any good but really like shooting targets.  I was better than I thought!  Yes Paige went with us but the two of them sat in the car while I shot the gun so it wouldn't be too loud.  Then we road around the farm thinking about where we would love to one day build. We just rode around in the country for a while (Paige needed a nap) and just enjoyed the wonderful spring weather we had!

 

This weekend, we just hung out around the house Sunday afternoon and evening...we had a few visitors, took Paige's 3 months pictures and just watched Miss P play on the floor..she so wants to crawl it is crazy!!!

 

We had another GREAT  weekend and I can not wait for another one in a few days :)

4 MONTHS!!

Dear Miss Paige,
 I can not believe that you turned 4 months old on Sunday. How is that even possible? Aren't you supposed to still be a newborn?? You have been so much fun this month..I am of course absolutely loving every single second I am with you!

You haven't had your 4 month check up yet, you will go on Feb 1.  So I will not get your official stats until then but your Daddy and I weighed you yesterday and you are around 13 pounds and 9 ounces (give or take an ounce or two).  You seem to be averaging about a pound and a half a month.   Not sure how long you are though..sorry baby girl!  I am actually glad I have two more weeks before your check-up...I hate those shots!!

You are still wearing mostly 3 month clothes but you are starting to fit in some 6 months too.  UNREAL!  You have some super cute 6 months clothes..so it will be lots of fun dressing you :)  You could probably still wear size 1 diapers but we ran out and have a lot of size 2 so we decided to try them out.  Still haven't had to buy diapers or wipes since you were born!! 

You just started eating 6 ounces.  I wrote that in your 3 month update but we had to cut back to 5.5 right after I wrote it.  So as of about a week ago you are eating 6 ounces every 3-4 hours.  Since you sleep late we have to feed you more often to make sure you are getting all your bottles in for the day.  I would say that is a good problem to have! You have started losing your hair too!  You used to have so much dark hair (which I figured would fall out).  This past month you have lost almost all of it.  Every morning I have to clean off your sheets because you lost so much at night...still a beauty though :)

We had an interesting month of sleeping to say the least.  We got rid of the Nap Nanny and you did not like sleeping on your back AT ALL.  We used the wedge and that helped a lot but you slid off it too bad.  So that lasted about two weeks and then we went without.  I blogged about this already but we had to do the cry it out method to get you to sleep.  It was tough on you and me!! It only took a couple nights and you were sleeping 10-12 hours a night...on your back!  Well that was until last week.  You just started waking up a whole lot during the night.  Not really sure why.  I would rock you back to sleep and you would sleep awhile and wake up again.  I had to stop that!  Back to the cry it out.  You slept from 930-1030 and woke up crying.  I went to check on you..you were fine.  I rocked you and you slept about 15 minutes and cried again.  I let you cry and you did a few minutes and woke up again.  You cried a little while and finally asleep for good at 1030 until 730 this morning.  You were fine...I think you just wanted me or your Daddy to come cuddle with you.

You still take several naps during the day.  You are usually awake for most of the morning.  Really it depends on when you wake up.  If you wake up before 7, you usually eat and nap for about 30 minutes before school.  If you wake up after 7 you don't usually nap ALL morning..maybe a small one.  You typically sleep an hour or more in the early afternoon and then a small nap around 530 or 6.  We cant complain because you are usually one happy baby!!

You had a HUGE milestone this month...you had your first day of school.  Wes laughs at me because I call it school and not day care.  In my eyes it isn't day care because this is set up more like school and only half a day.  You go to your Daddy's church from 830-12 every day.  I was so sad to take you there but I love it.  Mrs. Linda is so wonderful with you.  There are 3 other baby girls and one boy in your class.  There are always two teachers and sometimes three in there with you guys.  What a great set up.  They teach you bible verses and sing songs with you too.  We are lucky to be able to have this set up for you.  Then I rush to pick you up to see how school went.  The two of us spend my lunch break together (best part of my work day) but you are usually napping!  Then Gerri comes over to stay with you in the afternoon...unless it is Wednesday because you BB comes sometimes!  It will never be easy for me to know that I am not staying home with you but it helps to know you are loved by Mrs Linda, Gerri, BB and Mimi..whoever is keeping you that day.  (makes me fill a slight bit LESS guilty).

Now the fun updates.  You are such a happy baby.  You are so much fun lately...I am loving it!  You are smiling all the time and starting to laugh too.  I still can just watch you ALL day long...you make my day sweet girl! You have figured out how to roll over from your tummy to your back and then your back to tummy...yay Miss P!  We will lay you down and within seconds, you are 5 feet from where you started.  Last night you were trying your hardest to get your knees up and crawl.  You scooted a little...your daddy said you were moving millimeter by millimeter :)  Your favorite things are your hands.  You found your thumb and loving sucking on that..or really anything you can fit in your both.  A couple days ago you realized you had feet.  You think that is the coolest thing ever...we even found your big toe in your mouth last night!

We can lay you on the play mat and you will be content for ever now.  You laid there for over an hour and half last night.  You were just a "talking" and playing.  Daddy had to tell you multiple times to quiet down..but I loved it!  We talk with each other a lot too.  We probably sound crazy but who cares right?!  Your other favorites are still your Nap Nanny for you short day naps, the bumboo seat and exersaucer.  Anything where you are sitting up! Who needs to lay down right??

You are still a big stretcher!  It is the cutest thing too!  Every time you lay down on your changing table you just stretch and stretch.  I hope that doesn't change....we love it!  You are loving your Daddy more and more too.  It took you awhile for some reason..I think it is because he has more to do with you now because you are more active.  You will stare at him for ever!  You have also started crying when I come home from work until I pick you up.  You were so happy with Gerri and Mimi and didn't realize I was home for a few minutes. You finally saw me and started crying.  Hate to admit it but I LOVED it.  I love that you know I'm your Mama and you missed me :)

You had a few firsts this month: A big one too...your first Christmas!! It was wonderful too.  First New Years!  First Clemson Bowl win, first time at church, noticing feet, sucking thumb, sleeping flat, first humidifier, sitting up (with help of course) and first time rolling over.

I still can not believe you are 4 months old.  What did I do before you??  My life is so much better because your Daddy and I get to share it with you.  You are so special to us and we cant wait to see what and how you change this month!  You get to help your Mama and Daddy turn 30 years old...scary!  Happy 4 months Miss P.  Love you more than you know!

This Weekend..

This weekend, I left work a little early on Friday and spend some time with Miss P. (I had to work on Saturday)  We just hung around the house until Daddy got off of work.  We must have been lazy Friday night because I honestly do not remember what we did!

 

This weekend, I had to work at a Girl Scout Cookie Rally.  I really didn't have to do too much since I have some awesome volunteers running the programs, but I just had to be there.  Since I didn't have a "job" at the event, I took Paige.  She of course started getting tired once the girls got there.  She took a nap with about 30 K5-1st graders running around..then when they went to their sessions and it was super quiet, Paige woke up...makes sense huh?

 

This weekend, the three of us headed to our friend's house for a huge Christmas Tree burn. They work a lot with Young Life and have this event each year. I believe there were like 200+ trees! Here are some pictures from that night...Since it was pretty chilly we tried out a new jacket thing for Miss P...reminded us of the kid on Christmas Story.

 

Paige loved it!

 

This pictures are hard to see how big it really was!  It was a ton of trees :)

 

This weekend, we went to church for the first time in forever.  Even though Paige went to the nursery at church, I had to dress her up in her Sunday best!

 

This weekend, Miss P was rolling around like crazy!! The minute we laid her down somewhere she was gone in a heartbeat!  She loves rolling over :)

 

This weekend,  Paige and I had a movie day on Sunday.  Wes was there for part of it.  We watched the new Planet of the Apes (Wes picked that one but it was much better than I though), Campaign with Will Ferrell and What to Expect When Expecting.  I loved it and could relate to one of the mom's so much.  It was funny because it brought back so many memories, some that which I want to forget!  I could relate to this mama the best:

And since I seemed to be so uncomfortable the whole pregnancy and Heather didn't seem to have that issue (for the most part) I thought about her when I saw this character:

Ok..the quote isn't why I thought of Heather but this was the only picture I found!

This weekend, was wonderful but since I had to work, it went by WAY too fast!! Let's hope the hours that I am at work goes by as fast as my time off goes!