Adorable Video!

Hailey has discovered herself! I layed her on her playmat directly under the mirror (the pink hanging flower looking thing) and she was so amused and happy just looking at herself! Laughing, cooing...it was so cute!

Hailey's 4 Month Check-Up

Hailey's check up went really good. In the pedi's words "She's perfect." She was really impressed with her smiling and communication, head control and overall growth. She is now 12lbs 13oz and 23.75 inches long! No word on starting solids but I am okay with that. I don't want to start her on solids until around 6 months anyway. She also got 4 vaccines and blood work done. The blood work is to check and see if her anemia is better. Cross your fingers that it is. I would hate for her to go back to those shots 3x a week or worse, a blood transfusion.

The pedi didn't mention anything about the apnea monitor. I didn't bring it up either. I am sure at her next appointment in February, it's going to go away. I have to admit it has become our security blanket and I am happy to have it but I am trying to prepare myself to be without it! It's not easy.

Here are some pics from today. Nana & Papa came along to this appointment and Hailey was in such a cute mood. She's only wearing her bib & diaper in this picture because she is examined without her clothes on! She looks so cute!!

She conked out after the vaccines, poor baby.

The Wiesman Family Photo Shoot

I have a confession to make! Those family photos I posted awhile ago which were all taken by Jennifer Bagwell were not just of the three of us. The Wiesman siblings all got together to take photos as a gift to Randy's parents for Christmas. I had lied to Barbara and said we just had some of the three of us and posted it that way on here so the surprise wouldn't be ruined!

For those of you who do not know, Randy has 2 brothers and 2 sisters. There is a total of 9 grandchildren. 4 out of the 5 siblings are married with a grand total of 18 immediate family members. This does not include Bill & Barbara! We are not done having kids and there's still Jeff (the youngest) who hasn't been hitched with kids yet!

Here are just a few of the photos taken that day. All courtesy of Jennifer Bagwell Photography.

All of us
Gotta have at least one funny picture!!

Ryan & Christine

Andy & Zach

The Mitchell Family

Shonna, Jeff, Ryan, Randy & Christa

Jeff

The Callow/Fritz Family

Shonna & Preston

Jeremy & Jessica

Amanda, Cody, Casey & Sierra

The girls

Sierra

All of the grandkids

The Grandkids again

Christa & Kenny

Hailey's 1st Christmas

Hailey's first Christmas was a success!! She got a lot of loot from the family and she was a very happy girl! Which is not bad considering she only had a morning nap!

Started out the morning seeing what Santa brought her. Then Grannie, Mark, Nana, Papa and Uncle Adam came over for breakfast and presents. Hailey actually went down for her nap right before presents started and slept through the whole thing!

The afternoon was spent at Grandma & Grandpa Wiesman's house. We saw all the Aunts, Uncles & cousins from Randy's side. She slept through present opening again!!

We ate dinner over at Grannie's house where Cousin Emily, Grannie M & Papa were here from out of town. She was awake for that present session but Daddy was feeding her while Mommy opened her presents!! Tried to put her down for a nap but the excitement was too much to miss!

Dessert back at Grandma Wiesman's where we ended the night. She went down at 8:30pm. She had a big day today! Next year will be a new experience for her! Christmas will keep getting better and better!! Can't wait!

And now for some pictures! I have to admit, I am one of those mom's that end up taking pictures of only her own kid. I wish I was better at snapping more pictures! I actually forgot the camera at Grandma Wiesman's so all the pictures from at home and at her house! We did take a picture of the three of us but I look like I have a black eye in them for some reason!! So those are not going to be posted!! So here they are.... starting with, of course, the sign pictures!!

And now for the morning pictures....

Grannie & Hailey Christmas morning

Let's get to those presents!!

Nana, Papa, Hailey

All Those presents for me??

Aren't I pretty in my Christmas dress??

Unwrapping all those presents wore me out

Uncle Ryan is funny....looking!

Yes, I really am that adorable!!

I Pink Puffy Heart Video Monitors

I always thought video monitors were so cool but it wasn't that important for me to have one. I didn't register for one because I felt weird asking for something that cost so much. After all, it's just a luxury not a necessity.

My Mom gave us one and today is the first day we hooked it up. This thing is amazing!! It has night vision too so I can see her clearly as she sleeps in her crib anytime. Why didn't I make Randy hook this up sooner? I am going to be completely addicted to this thing!

Thanks Mom! =)

I added a Poll!

If you look to the right at the top of my blog, you will see a poll!

Check an answer....

That is all....


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Adorable Video!

I am on a role tonight with these blog posts! Aren't you guys lucky!! ;)

Here is a video I captured when Hailey was playing on her play mat. She was staring at a princess doll in total awe and "talking" to her. Shortly before I got the camera, she was gurgling too! I could tell she so amused by herself making that noise! I wish I would have gotten it on camera! But this video is cute too!

I cannot believe Blogger finally let me upload a video!! Hallelujah!

Hailey is 4 months old!

I cannot believe Hailey is 4 months old! It doesn't feel like 4 months ago when she decided to pop into our world 7 weeks early!

Hailey is experiencing her first cold. It's actually not to bad and I think it's starting to get better. I tried to get some happy photos of her today but she's not feeling 100%. My poor baby!

Christmas is almost here! Hailey loves to look at Christmas lights! They always catch her attention. She is also really enjoying the swing and absolutely LOVES her play mat. She's such a happy baby on that mat!

She has her 4 month appointment a week from Tuesday. I am hoping she is growing and progressing normally! I plan to appeal the Early Intervention denial and am currently working on that.

I am back at work (Boo!) and Hailey spends two days a week with her Nana & Papa (my dad & stepmother, Diane) and one day a week with Grandma Wiesman. On the weekends it's daddy time and she's with me the other 2 weekdays. I work weekends now! Yipee. But it prevents us from having to put her in daycare. She seems to be handling this new transition well!

I had to make fun of myself for these silly sign pictures!! haha

I wanted to show a great example of how much Hailey has grown! The first picture below was taken shortly after Hailey came home. She is 1 month old and probably weighs around 7-8 pounds. This was the first time she experienced the swing. The second picture was taken today and she is roughly around 12 pounds! Such a growing girl!

One month old


4 months old


And another adorable picture of Hailey where in the midst of chomping on her hand, she has found her thumb!!

Mini Photo Shoot #4

I don't know if you noticed, but I do these once a month. I use the pictures in the side of my blog to show her changes from month to month. I also have a cute little scrapbook that was made for me for each month that I add these pics to.

Sometimes it's hard to get a smile on camera. Once I put out the camera she just stares at the camera!

Mommy & Me

Because I couldn't resist....(notice the burp rag? Ha! Always have one of those handy!)

Couldn't Agree More

Oh the Pacifier

The pacifier. If you knew me well, you would know I had absolutely no plans of using one. At all. I won't go into full detail why because I don't want to offend any avid users out there. And on a side note, it is NOT a binkie, it's a pacifier. Soothie will work too since that's the brand we use.

I tweaked my plan when Hailey was in the NICU. I saw there was one in her isolette. I asked the nurse why it was in there and that I preferred for it not to be. I was told it was because they needed to teach her to suck and strengthen her ability without giving her food. The suck, swallow, breath coordination doesn't develop until around 35 weeks gestation. She was born at 33 weeks so more than likely she didn't have that technique. Well we all know now she didn't and had trouble with it which is what kept her in the NICU for so long. So I let that slide. It was for her own good.

Babies use sucking to soothe themselves. In their early weeks, this is all they know. I didn't get to breast feed Hailey. You hear about lots of moms saying their breast feed babies ate every 1-2 hours in the beginning. There are other reasons why but one of them is that they use sucking to soothe. When they are given the breast, sucking soothes them whether they are hungry or not. And sometimes they want breast when they are not hungry, they just want to suck to soothe.

Think of Hailey's early weeks. She was pushed from her comfortable womb 7 weeks early, had sticky leads stuck on her, a horrible experience with an IV, constant pokes on the foot for blood tests, tube stuck down through her nose and down her throat, left alone for most of day, horrible butt rash, different ladies handling her with different feel, touch, warmth...I could go on. Heart-wrenching isn't? Yea, I try not to think about it.

Then comes home after 4 weeks of this environment to a completely new one at 1 month old. Now she needs to adjust to this and to us. Sticky leads are still there, refluxing like crazy, more shots, more butt rash. *sigh*

She's been through more crap compared to what an average full term baby goes through so it's no wonder she's in need of soothing. She sucks to soothe. That's how she calms herself. There are other ways to calm and soothe her but sucking is a big one.

As you have seen in recent video, she sucks on her hands too. A pacifier I can take away, her hands or thumb I cannot. If that's what soothes her, then why should not soothe her in the way in which she wants? So I can prove a point? What point? Because I was so dead-set on not using one? I will not do that just to save face. I admit it, I judged people for using them and now I use them myself! I proved myself wrong.

Although, this is not used as a plug or a way to get her to shut up. It's used for its purpose. To soothe. Also, research has shown babies who fall asleep with a pacifier have a lower risk of dying from SIDS. Hailey does not fall asleep with the pacifier, however, I just wanted to point out positive research for pacifiers.

So there you have it. I hate pacifiers. Hailey uses one. I depend on it way more than I ever thought I would. But I am over it and I have come to peace with it.

The End.

Christmas fun at Grandma Wiesman's!

I like this Santa!
I am too cute!

This Santa is much bigger than me! But my cheeks are certainly bigger!

First Day Back at Work

So it went okay. Work is drama (joys of being in HR). People just cannot behave themselves and welcome me back into a drama-free workplace! *sigh* Good thing I love most of the people I work with!

Of course it's only been one day so I don't feel like I haven't seen Hailey for a long time. She was a sleepy girl so she didn't give Grandma Wiesman too much trouble!

I won't have another day off until Wednesday of next week. Another *sigh*

We have GIGGLES!!!!

I can't believe we got this on video! The camera happened to be right there when she started! I got a small giggle last night but these are way bigger!

The file was too big to upload to Blogger or Photobucket so I had to go through YouTube. Here's the link:

Hailey's Giggle Video