4 months

Well here we are... Kayla has already passed the 4 month old mark & swifting approaching the 5 month mark now.  Oh my gosh, time is moving at lightening speed these days, no doubt.

She got her 4 month shots & she did much better this last time compared to the first round.  I held her this time & she did cry, but only briefly.  Fred was able to go with me too, thankfully.  Poor little thing though... I just feel so bad for her having to go thru all of that.  This time it seemed that it took a little longer for the sore-ness in her legs to pass.  Her temp was a little elevated, so a swift dose of tylenol & the temp subsided & she was all better.

Nurse Shirley came to visit yesterday & Kayla weighed a whoppin' 15lbs 1oz and was measured at 24 and almost 1/2 inches long.  When we got her shots a few weeks ago she weighed 14lbs 3oz... so she's growing at warp speed I swear.  Nurse Shirley said Kayla's doing great & we got an excellant review!  A few minor child proofing issues to take care of in the house but well... we have a little while before she's going to be crawling just yet.  I do know that those child proof locks for the cabinets doors are already absolutely driving me nutts.  I can't tell you how many times I've smashed my damn fingers in the doors trying to get in or out of them.  I'm not quite sure how long I can last without jumping over the edge & un-installing all of them, ugh.  Those are a total nightmere.  I can understand having them on certain cabinets but every single one... seems a little extreme to me.

I think when Kayla poops these days... its like 10 tons all at once.  Let's just say it doesn't all fit in the diaper & if you lay her down to change her... well it all comes out the back, up her back & well even all the way up to her hair in some cases.  The other night I had it everywhere & ended up just scooping her up in a towel taking her to the sink & giving her a bath.  That's about all I could do at the time.

All in all though... I could never ask for a better baby.  Not only is she the most precious thing in the entire world, but she's just a good baby all around.  I hear horror stories of other moms at this stage & their kids aren't sleeping all night, they are very fussy, etc. but not Kayla.  The only time she gets upset is if she's dirty, sleepy or hungry... otherwise she's happy go lucky all the time & full of smiles.

I've fully over come my seperation anxiety with her sleeping in her crib now.  She's doing so well in there & the monitors work great & I can hear every peep she makes, so that's comforting for me.  There are times which I wish she could still fit in the bassinet though, ha ha.

Mother's Day is coming up & I'm so excited about my first real Mother's Day!  I'm a real mom now.  After all these years & practically raising everyone else children... I can officially celebrate this holiday & I can hardly wait.  I still love all the other children whom I will always claim as my own, but there's something different about giving birth to your own child & having that connection & bond.  I look forward to what Mother's Day will bring this year!

Hopefully it won't be another 20 days before I post again this time.

Spicy Pretzels

I've never been a true fan of pretzels... but let me tell you... these are addicting.  A girl I work with named Gwynne found this recipe on allrecipes.com & brought them to work one day & well I've been hooked ever since.

So here's the recipe so everyone else can get addicted too!

Ingredients

1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon lemon pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic salt
1 (1 ounce) package dry Ranch-style dressing mix
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 (15 ounce) package mini pretzels

Directions

In a small bowl, mix together cayenne pepper, lemon pepper, garlic salt, ranch-style dressing mix and vegetable oil.

Place pretzels in a large, sealable plastic bag. Pour in mixture from bowl. Shake well. Allow pretzels to marinate in the mixture approximately 2 hours before serving. Shake occasionally to maintain coating.

I actually let mine set for 10 hours, shaking occasionally & this let everything completely bond to the pretzels better in my opinion.

Hope everyone else gets addicted like I am.  I just made my second batch this week!

Terminix to the rescue

The other night we were headed to bed & guess what we caught running down our hallway?  A SCORPION!

So the next day I called Terminix to come to the rescue.  I can't have these creatures moving in to our house with little Kayla soon to be crawling around, yikes!  Let alone the fact that I don't want to share my home with them.

Needless to say, I'm comfortable that we won't be seeing these horrible things running around again anytime soon.  Along with any other spiders or any other creepy crawlys, whew relief.

Thanks Terminix for saving the day!

Black Heels to Tractor Wheels

I've been reading the Pioneer Woman's blog for a long time now & was keeping up with every blog she posted titled Black Heels to Tractor Wheels... but now it's a book!  Ugh... I've gotta have it. I need to own it immediately so I can catch up on all the blogs that I missed towards the end. When things got busy last year, I quit reading a lot of the blogs that I used to keep up with, so I've totally missed out.

My aunt went out & bought this book & now that's all she talks about.  She couldn't believe that I had been reading all her blogs online all this time & hadn't shared with her too.  She is one of the few people left in the world who has nothing to do with a computer & doesn't even care to.  Me personally... I'm so thankful for technology.  It allows me to keep in contact with family & friends much easier than before we had email, facebook, blogs, etc.

I keep hoping that I will come home one day from work & this book will be laying on the counter as a surprise for me.  This is the perfect book for me & hubby to read together in the evenings.  I miss the days when hubby & I would lay in bed at night & he would read to me... to me it's kinda sexy.  Now if only we could get back to doing that again, that would be ideal.

Mark my word, in the next few weeks I will own this book!  Even if I have to go out & buy it myself (smile).

Bumbo Chair to the rescue

I'm here to tell ya... this has been a life saver!  Seriously.  Kayla loves to sit up now... I mean absolutely loves it.  She would rather be sitting up then anything right now.  The vibrating bouncy seat works perfect when she's on the tired side & is ready for a little naptime, but other than that... she wants to be sitting upright.

Funny thing, my BFF Kat told me about this chair on Sunday morning/afternoon & when we were at Wal-Mart later that afternoon we bought one.  She immediately loved it & I knew from that moment this was going to be a life saver for me.  Don't get me wrong, there are days that I would love nothing more than to just sit & hold her all day long... but those are the days I don't get anything else done except sit... and hold her... and watch tv.  But I can't hold her all the time, I have things I need to get done around the house too.

I was so happy to show off Bumbo chair to my parents Monday morning when I dropped her off & when I walked in the door, what do I see?  A pink Bumbo chair sitting in their living room!  My sister-n-law had given my parents one the day before (yep, Sunday) when they were at their house eating lunch.  Go figure right?  Only thing is... the pink chair had a little tray that attached to the front which the one we bought did not have.  Needless to say I ordered a tray for ours on Walmart.com last night & it should be shipping in a few days.  It's the perfect height for her to sit in her chair & I put her little stuffed toys on the tray & she has a blast.

So I would like to share this information with everyone, because I totally believe that everyone with a little one needs one of these chairs!  They are kinda expensive... I think we paid $38.00 for ours, but it is totally worth it in my opinion.  They are soft cushy but solid plastic kinda.  Hard to explain, but seem very durable.  She'll probably be able to hang out in it for several months.

Just check her out in her Bumbo chair... she looks so laid back & relaxed... so cute.

She's also sporting one of her new outfits too.  It comes with a jacket but of course I had already taken that off her when we got home from grandma & grandpa's house earlier.  Don't worry though, I did however get several pictures of her with the whole outfit on.  I have so many pics it's hard to chose what to post.

I'm finding out that all her pants are just way to long.  Hopefully this is not an early sign of her taking after me in the height category.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  If she does end up being on the short side, I will just have to hem all her jeans/pants just like my mom had to do with me I guess, no big deal.  In my eyes, Kayla is absolutely perfect just the way she is.

She's growing so fast & I can't stand it.  She's officically sleeping in her crib in her own bedroom now, going on 2 nights.  The new monitors work perfect compared to the other POS we had before.  Spent a little more money on them, but it's worth it to have good monitors.  I'm doing ok with the withdrawals of having her sleeping right next to me in the bedroom.  I have to admit the first night I lost a little sleep, but I'm sure with each night this will get easier for me.  The bassinet still sits right next to my bed though... I will eventually merge it to the guest bedroom out of the way, but for now... I think it's ok where it is.

Welcome home honey

I was so excited with the return of my hubby from his long trip to Montana again.  Almost 8 days he was away... ugh.  A few days is one thing, but a week... that takes a toll.

In one way I'm jealous of his trips away, but then I think about leaving Kayla & well... that's just not an option yet.  Un-thinkable even.  Leave my baby?  Oh hell no.  There's no way that I could emotionally do it right now.  Eventually I'm sure that feeling might pass, who knows.  I can't imagine being without her for days on end.

I feel like a little kid when my honey calls to say he's started on the road home.  From that moment I count down the hours leading up until his arrival.  I can't help it.  I've missed him & I'm more than ready for him to be home.  He arrived home late last Tuesday night & sadly by the time he arrived I was only a few hours away from having to wake up & start my work day, so we didn't get to spend much time together before both our heads hit the pillow & passed smooth out.

From the time he arrived home from Montana, we haven't gotten to spend much time together & that's really been hard on me.  He left again a few days later to head west & didn't return home until late Saturday night.  Now he's fixing to head west again, ugh.

I married a cattleman & well there are certain times of years it's a little more busy then others... although I'm starting to think this is never ending.  It was one thing before we had a baby, but now with him being away for long periods of time... well it's a little stressful for me to do it all by myself.

With so much happening for us all within a year's time... we have a lot to work on together.  Life is not perfect & well, with any relationship it takes two people working together to make it a success.  Having a family is just hard work.  We're new at marriage & raising a child & somedays its more of a challenge then others.  That's just the honest truth.  Even though it's tough sometimes, it's so worth it.  Especially when you wake up to the most beautiful little girl in the world smiling at you... your heart melts & it makes the whole day start off with a ray of sunshine.  I tend to forget anything bad or negative that happened the day before when I see that precious smile.

Well I'm off to finish cooking dinner... nothing beats home made tacos in my opinion.