Happy Halloween!

October has been a busy month for us! Well for me anyway. We finally got the internet at our new house and I have been able to work on my schooling again. I have until the end of January to finish and it's definately a chore with little miss Adalyn. We are such lucky parents because she's such a good baby. I get a few hours in during the day and stay up later at night to get some more work done. Scott is currently on mids so he works from 11pm to 7am. We havent gotten to see him much because he sleeps all day but we are so proud of his accomplishments! This month's milestones for Adalyn include: ROLLING OVER!! and over :-), pushing the musical buttons on her own, attempting to crawl, she can get her socks off like it's nobody's business and she found her feet! Sitting up here we come! Everyone has told me since she holds on to her feet she'll soon be sitting up on her own. I have learned, however, Adalyn does what Adalyn wants to do when Adalyn wants to do it! She is definately little miss independent. Next weekend she will be sporting a super cute cow costume for trick-or-treating. We will make sure to take plenty of pictures for everyone! Thank you to Grandma Soni for the baby's first halloween card. She tried to eat it all evening after we read it to her! The following weekend we ventured down to the lake of the ozarks outlet mall and went shopping. Mommy weight still isnt gone so shopping for myself is a bit of a downer, but I do love to shop for our little girl! She got a few new outfits and in size 9 and 12 months no less! She is growing like a weed. By christmas time she'll probably be in 12 or 18 month clothes! We can't wait to come home for the Holidays and look forward to seeing everyone. Countdown to good food and family: 1 MONTH!

OFF THE CHARTS!

Little miss Adalyn had her 4 month well baby check-up today. She weighs 17lbs 3oz and is 25 1/4inches long!! She is in the 95% for her height and 90% for weight. HELLO SUPERMODEL! We sure have a tall one on our hands. I have resorted to buying clothes by the weight recommendations and not the months. We went to the Carter's outlet the other day and she's now in 9 MONTH clothes. By christmas time I'll probabyl end up buying 12 MONTH stuff!! Today she started to master the art of rolling over. Thats a lot of weight to move all by yourself and she gets her face stuck on the blanket, but she is mastering it one tug at a time. I got so excited when I saw her almost all the way over that it scared her and she stopped. SILLY MOMMY! The nurse almost died when I told her she sleeps for 12 hours at night. We sure are some lucky parents! Adalyn goes down around 7:30-8ish and wakes around the same time. I dont know how she sleeps through all the noise. Here in Windsor at our new house they are installing a new water main and its going right through our front yard. The street we live on is SR 52 which connects Sedalia and Clinton so traffic is pretty heavy even at night. Semis are a 24hr occurance. Now they have this giant metal thing in the road right outside the house to cover a hole and everyone has to drive over it. It sounds like they are about to drive right through the house! It's a good thing I taught her to sleep through sound from day one. The doctor could still hear her heart murmur and continues to say its not a big deal. We go back to cardiology in KC the 1st of December to check our her hypoplasia again. Hopefully this time we'll get cleared and no furthur action will have to take place. Prayers for that please! We are looking forward to the pumpkin patch this weekend and adalyn's first pumpkin carving :) Pictures will be posted soon after. Thanks for stopping by! Remember, babies aren't fat they're just healthy!

"Oh Say Can You See..."

Daddy finally got his stripe! Congratulations to my amazing husband who is now SSgt Marchbank. We are so very proud of him and he worked harder than any other person in the Air Force to get this recent promotion. Scott invited Adalyn and I to attend the promotion ceremony last week. I really wanted to go and he said it was alright to bring Adalyn. The ceremony was at 3:30pm and he told us to arrive early to make sure we got a seat. We got to the club around 3:10 and there were already people claiming their spots. After adalyns morning nap I kept her up thinking she'd fall asleep in the car on the way and take her afternoon nap while the ceremony was going on. BOY was I wrong. She woke up on the way into the club and I tried to rock her back asleep in the carseat. That wasn't working so I let her sit on my lap. In the recent weeks she has learned she has a voice and loves to use that voice. Adalyn was doing so well until the singing of the National Anthem which is when she decided she would be the one to sing everyone the National Anthem. Needless to say we had to vacate the ballroom and watch the ceremony from afar. She talked the ENTIRE time the ceremony was going on. I would sneak over to watch through the glass door and the second she saw all the men and women in uniform, jabber jaws kicked back in! At one point she was "talking" and laughing so loud we had to actually go outside. We did however get to see daddy accept his award and get his picture taken with the General... through a glass door of course. Someone out in the lobby told me "You can't be mad at her for being happy!" Ain't that the truth. We have the most happy baby in the world and she continues to be such a blessing in our lives. We miss you all and cant wait to see you!

Battle of the B's

Bottle vs. Boob... really it's the only dilema I found myself caught in in the days leading up to Adalyn's arrival. Ultimately I chose to nurse because it was the healthiest option for the both mommy and baby. Nursing leads to faster weight loss and causes mom to watch what she puts in her body. Nursing is by no means the easiest thing I've ever done, but it does get easier as time goes on. The first few weeks I thought I was going to die if I had to keep pulling my boob out every hour on the hour. Not to mention the nipple guard I had to use was the most inconvenient part of it all. Washing it every hour and making sure it didn't leave my side on top of everything else us new moms have to deal with was exhausting. After a month and a half Adalyn didn't need the guard anymore and that was a glorious day. That was the day I got over the "hump". I believe with every mom there is a "hump" and once you get over that "hump" nursing can be one of the most beautiful experiences. If someone would have told me that two months ago I probably would have slapped them right across the face without even thinking. I never believed I would find myself saying this but I coudln't imagine doing it any other way. Don't be scared to give her some formula now and then. A lot of moms will supplement with a formula bottle or two to give themselves a break. I did this in the first two months with Adalyn and she took it very well. We used the wide nipple bottles and the transition was flawless. Now that we are on a schedule I try and give her as little formula as possible, but still take it with us on outings. Make sure to take it one day at a time and relish in the time you two have together. Support from friends and family is very important right now. Knowing that you aren't alone is a huge help. Join a group or talk about it with moms who are in the same boat as you. Even though it won't help you while you're feeding it sure helps to get it off your chest and know that you're not alone!! You can do it, I know you can!

LIONS, TIGERS, AND BEARS OH MY!

Our first trip to the zoo was SO much fun... for MOM! LOL. I have always loved the zoo and animals just make me all warm and fuzzy inside. Last Saturday was Adalyn's first trip to the zoo and to no surprise she slept most of the time. She did wake up to eat and saw a little bit of a sea lion show. The only animal she really got to see was a lion. The lions den had an indoor cooling room and all the lions were laying against the glass trying to beat the heat. Scott rolled Adalyn's stroller right up to the glass about the same time, one of the lions decided to sit up. Her gigantic head was right in adalyn's face! She wasn't too sure about that scary cat but didnt seem to mind it. Saturday was also the grand opeing of the polar bear exhibit and I got to see the new polar bear Nakita. He was three years old and so cute. Polar bears and dolphins are two of my favorite animals. Scott put in to take the whole month of December off so I'm hoping we'll be able to take Adalyn to Christmas at the Zoo in Indy and she'll be old enough to actually see all the animals and stay awake for it too!

2 Month Well

Adalyn had her first well-baby appointment yesturday and man did I cry. Only two months old and she weighs a whopping 12lbs 12oz!! She measured 23.25 inches and is perfectly healthy. Her heart murmur is still around and we go to KC again on the 18th for another echo of her heart to check out the aortic arch hypoplasia. She was given six vaccines via three shots and I bawled like a baby. The lab tech who administered the shots was very quick about them and it was done in less than a few seconds. The initial scream didnt come until shot two when she realized what was going on, and thats when I lost it. Poor baby slept all afternoon and well into the evening. She is doing great about sleeping through the night. I put her down around somewhere between 8 and 10 at night and she does really well at falling asleep in her crib. She gets up shortly before her daddy at 5am in the mornings and allows mommy to get a good amount of sleep. We couldnt ask for a more perfect little angel!! Miss and love you all!

BUBBLE HEAD

Bath time is now fun time! The first two weeks we were home Adalyn HATED bath time... Due mostly to the fact that she couldnt get in the water and was probably freezing her little toosh off. The hospital forgot to take her umbilical cord clamp off so we had to wait until her two week appointment to get it removed. Since the clamp was removed and the rest of the cord fell off, bath time has been much more fun for mommy and baby. She loves giving mommy a bath right along with her. The past few days she has discovered she can kick the water to kingdom come and thinks its funny to boot. However, she still gets a little angry when we wash her hair. Even more so when mommy and daddy give her mohawks! Every time I go to the store I venture to the baby section. Before Adalyn arrived I never realized how many bath toys they have available to kids. I can't wait until mommy and adalyn can really play in the tub!

Diaper Update

Apparently the price of a burnt bottom is two packs of diapers. Who knew?! To me there's no amount of apologies or coupons or money that can make up for the pain I felt as Adalyn cried when I changed her diaper. I took her to the doctor for her check-up to her breathing appointment and the doctor gave us some burn cream for her little bottom. It's been almost a week and the cream has done wonders! We received a letter in the mail today from Pampers apologizing and two coupons for free diapers. Since the dry max incident we have switched her to pampers baby dry which contains none of the chemicals the dry max diapers are made with. This has helped tremendously and lets pray it stays that way!

Weigh-In Wednesday

2lbs DOWN!! WHoo hoo!! Although this fluctuates from day to day when I stepped on the scale this morning I weighed in at 123lbs. Chinese and dairy queen didnt help my cause last night, but when the husband asks I can't resist! Today has consisted of grilled cheese and chicken noodle soup along with water and my daily vitamin. Sadly I won't be doing much exercising today due to the intermittent pains i'm experiencing in my stomach. Light house work keeps my metabolism up. Vaccuming and laundry are work outs in themselves if you ask me! One thing i'm struggling with is the caffeine and coke!! After not being able to drink much of it the past nine months I feel like I need to indulge now. Goal for next week: NO COKE! lose two more pounds and run at least three out of the next seven days.

WORK FROM HOME

Working from home is possible if you put your mind to it! There are many different options for stay-at-home moms to earn a living staying at home! I am currently going to school online studying Medical Transcription and Medical Transcription Editing. Career Step is a wonderful online certification program helping those who wish to pursue careers in the medical field. A few more months and i'll be working from home and not have to miss a thing in my daughter's life. Visit their website http://www.careerstep.com/ to learn more!

Stay-at-home careers:

• Medical Transcription and Editing
• Professional Blogger
• Telemarketer
• Coding Auditor
• Web Designer
• Many More

Visit http://www.homejobsformoms.biz/ to read more about successful stay-at-home mom jobs! Do you have a successful stay at home job? If so, please share!

60 Calorie Craving

My new favorite snack is 60 calories and sugar free!! Yes I said it, sugar free! JELL-O's Ducle de leche tastes SO good I can't believe it has no sugar and only contains 60 calories. Now when I want to indulge at snack time and those Swiss Cakes are staring me down, all I have to do is go to the fridge and grab a de leche... MmMmMmmm snack time!

Chunky Monkey

I know they grow fast but holy ham!! Little chunk weighs 11lbs already!! Adalyn and mommy went to the doctor this morning because of some aweful noises she was making when trying to breathe. I know all babies make strange noises because they breathe out of their nose, but these became increasingly loud and started to scare this first time mom. Thankfully all is good in the world of Adalyn! We were sent to radiology and had two chest x-rays taken. After returning to pediatrics the doctor said her lungs looked great and we have nothing to worry about. As a first time mom if you feel something may be wrong its better to be safe than sorry. It's better to learn now so you know how to handle number two! The doctor gave us some zantac for acid reflux and congestion, and we go back Friday for a check-up. Adalyn wasn't so sure about that crazy tube mom put in her mouth, but she took her first dose of medicine like a champ!

BYE BYE BABY WEIGHT

Now that I can walk straight again it's time to lose that baby weight! After nine months of indulging in Sonic's desert menu I gained a total of 55lbs. Seven weeks later I still have 25lbs to lose! Every Wednesday I'm going to weigh-in and discuss my meal and excersize plans for that week. I hope blogging about the plan helps me stick to the plan. Since i'm nursing I can't exactly go on a diet. Nursing mothers need an extra 500 calories a day in order to produce enough milk to feed baby. I can however watch my diet and add more physical activity to my day-to-day routine. This evening the husband made grilled salmon and steamed white rice with sliced peaches! YUM! Replacing my usual cherry coke with water helped make this dinner one my body can be proud of. Let's see how many weeks it takes to get my body back!

It's a Girl!

Turns out the doctors were right! Adalyn Grace Marchbank was born on June 8th, 2010 at 7:04pm. She weighed 8lbs 1oz and had a head full of the most gorgeous hair i'd ever seen. My moms only job besides holding my leg was to yell "it's a girl!" as she came into the world. I was scared to death my new baby boy would be wearing pink onsies and giant hairbows. Luckily that 97% sure its a girl ultrasound was 100% correct after all.

It has been seven weeks since Adalyn graced us with her presence and we couldn't be more proud parents. While the past seven weeks have been the best seven weeks they have also sent me on a rollercoaster ride of emotion. I don't know what I would have done without the love and support from my amazing husband. Post pardum is one area I didn't plan for because I was sure I had this whole mom thing handled. Boy was I wrong! As much as I love rollercoasters I am definately glad to be off that ride. Now it's time to enjoy the rest of the amusement park with the best husband and daughter a person could have. Here we go...