Only Alyssa

As I sit here in the family room, I smirk because I'm realizing how the pile of toys in here has gotten bigger and bigger. It has spread consistently during the last couple of months. And now my mind wanders to how little free time I have now compared to my pre-mommy days and how very much work this little skallywag is. I changed two explosive dipes this morning within ten minutes of each other. I had to chase her around and scoop her up umpteen times today because she was crawling to places where babies shouldn't be. I waited twenty minutes to start filling my tummy at Panera tonight because I had to feed my hungry baby first. She's getting heavy. It's hard to mix and heat a bottle of formula while I'm holding her in one arm and she's perfecting her Cirque du Soleil moves and trying to dive headlong into the kitchen counter.

But I do it.
And some days it is really, really exhausting and I find myself thinking that I would give my right arm to have an entire day to myself where I could do whatever I wanted and just be....free.

But if that ever actually happened, I think I would miss her fiercely after about the first hour. I wouldn't know what to do with myself. (Okay, I'd probably get a massage and a pedicure, but after that......) In fact, if she naps for more than an hour and a half or so, I sometimes have to hold myself back from barging into her room and waking her up....just because I miss her.

She is a ton of work. But then she wiggles and squeals at me when I get her out of her crib in the morning, and she shakes her little head and smiles from ear to ear while I feed her breakfast, and she crawls to me when she falls down and reaches her arms out til I pick her up, and she laughs and dances and her eyes sparkle. And she splashes in the bathtub and squeezes her rubber duckies and hums while I wash her hair. And she practices standing up and can do it for about seven seconds before she lands on her little tuckus. And she says, "Ahd-n" and "Mmm" and "DaDaDaDa". And my favorite time of the day: feeding her her bedtime bottle. She curls her hand around my finger and gazes up at me and I kiss her forehead more times than I can count. And I take in the sweet smell that is only Alyssa. And I hold her. I hold my girl so tight. And I thank God for that moment and I thank God for this girl.

My Girl

"I've got sunshine on a cloudy day.
When it's cold outside, I've got the month of May.
I guess you'd say - what can make me feel this way?
My girl!! My girl!! My girl!!
Talkin' bout my girl!"

I love her soooooooooooooooooooooooo much!!!!!! More every day, if that's even possible.
She's at a really fun stage. 8-1/2 months old. She's a speed crawler now and, as of the last week or so, she pulls herself up on the furniture (and on our legs if we're wearing pants!). She is just AMAZING. I am so in awe of this little person. She barely even seems like a baby anymore! She is extremely interactive, playful and energetic. The only downside: She's a human Hoover. She picks up anything and everything off the floor and thinks it's food! The other day she coughed up a huge piece of carpeting! Not good! So I have to vacuum often and we have to watch her like a hawk! But she is just SO much fun.

We finally babyproofed her bedroom today. Well, it was pretty much babyproofed before, but tonight we made it so that she can be in there playing by herself and be perfectly safe. And we got a see-thru baby gate for her doorway. Sometimes I need to do laundry or other stuff upstairs and I'm not sure what to do with her, so this way she can hopefully play in her room unsupervised for a little while at a time while I'm getting stuff done upstairs.

I look at this little peanut now and just still cannot believe God gave her to me. What in the WORLD did I do to deserve such an awesome baby girl????? She's mine. Forever! It blows my mind. And it still blows my mind that for awhile there I thought I didn't want a child. My life has been turned upside down and inside out since Alyssa Belle was born - in a very, very good way. Having a baby really does change everything. Yes, it IS tiring wiping up spitup and changing poopy diapers and giving her baths and getting her dressed and getting all her baby gear in the car every time we go somewhere and making bottles and keeping her entertained and drying her tears.......but I would not trade it for ANYTHING in the world. God willed this little girl into being and He gave her to me to love so much it hurts, and to take care of and to bring with me wherever I go and to hug and cuddle and kiss and squeeze. Her happiness and comfort is my highest goal. Always.

It sucks 80% of the time???

No WAY!

....I've been thinking about that woman who was on "Oprah" a few years ago who said, "Having a baby sucks 80 percent of the time." True, there are many difficult, challenging parts of being a mom but I think the great parts FAR outnumber those!!

There are SO many things I love about being a mommy. I can't narrow it down to one thing, so I'll list my favorites!

• I love lifting her high in the air and spinning her around. It always makes her screech and laugh and kick her little legs and that is SOOO cute! I also love to put music on and dance with her.


• I love picking out really adorable clothes for her. (Oh my poor, poor pocketbook!)


• I love watching her play with her daddy!- I love watching her grow and change and do new things. Seems like she does something new almost every day!


• I love snuggling with her and just hugging her like crazy.


• I love feeding her Gerber food. She opens her mouth so wide when she sees that spoon comin' - my dad says she reminds him of a baby bird (so he calls her "Bird Head")!


• It tickles me when we're out somewhere and somebody says, "Oh she's so beautiful...." and stuff like that!

It sucks 80 percent of the time? WHAT was that mommy smokin'?!?!?

Jump, Jump, Jump Around!

You should SEE her in her Jumperoo now. She REALLY goes to town! Tonight I moved it right into the middle of the living room so she could be right by hubby and me while we were eating dinner and she was happy as a clam. Gosh, it is SO cute to see her jump in that thing!!

Today I had my annual gynee checkup and I was kinda nervous cuz I knew it would be a long process and didn't know if Liss would be a good bub. Well - during the 30-minute drive to the doctor's office, the hour wait once we got there, the ten minute checkup, AND the stop at Target on the way home - she was perfect. I was so proud of her! She was quite a hit today, too. Everybody in the waiting room was like, "She's so cute! How old is she...?" and she was giving them really big smiles. And then a couple of the cashiers at Target were all "Oh, she is so beautiful..." I love it when people fuss over her. Lol!

Okay, now without further ado, I'm gonna post a couple recent pictures.

(There now, Andrea, I updated my blog. Happy now? HeeHee! *smooch*)

Green Spit

Now that she's eating Gerber vegetables, her spitup comes in a rainbow of colors - lol! When she eats carrots, it's orange. Now that she's on peas, it's green. Kinda cracks me up!
She is getting SO big and SO smart!! She loves to play and interact with us. Yesterday I got the Jumperoo box out of the garage, assembled it and let her try it out. It was so cute. She doesn't quite grasp the whole "if-I-bonk-my-piggies-on-the-floor-this-thing'll-really-go" concept but she did enjoy wiggling around in it and loves the lights and music.
Last night after she ate her bedtime meal and fell asleep in my arms, she was so impossibly cute that I had to just hold her and stare at her for a long time. When she sleeps, she looks like a little porcelain doll sometimes. And when I stare at her, I still cannot believe she belongs to me. Last night Scotty was playing with her and she was so excited that she was just squealing and screeching again. He got her attention and she looked at him and he said, "I love you" and I noticed tears in his eyes. I'll have that one in my memory back for a long, long time.
I love being a mommy.

Lissy's 16-week Doctor Checkup

She weighs exactly 14 pounds (my guess was right on the money) and is almost 24 inches long!!

She had her four shots and the second oral dose of the rotavirus vaccine. The doctor said that vaccine is a Godsend and has already made her life easier.

Aaaand - the doctor asked if she opens her mouth when she sees the spoon coming (when we feed her rice cereal) and I told her yes, she does. She said that developmentally, Liss is ready for Gerber baby food! She'll be on veggies for the next month and then gradually we can introduce fruit. Doc also said that Alyssa seems exceptionally smart for her age and told me she doesn't say that to every mom. Liss started bawling literally the moment she saw the tray with the syringes on it, and the doctor said, "I honestly think she knows she's getting shots. She is one SMART baby." Yep, that's my girl!

So photogenic

She has found her squeal

This kid loves to screech and squeal now! Right now I find it absolutely adorable but I'm sure that in a few months I won't feel quite the same - lol!
Also, she is getting to be an old pro at eating from a spoon. I've been giving her rice cereal about once a day and she just loves it.
I truly cannot believe that I found out I was pregnant almost exactly one year ago. What a year it was!! WHAT was life like before we had this little angel?!?! She is the light of my life!!