The Adventures of Miss Aly

Alyssa 9 Months

Miss Aly will be 10 months on Friday. I can't quite imagine where the time has gone, but it has flown by.
Her 9 month stats were:
Height: 27 1/8" 37%
Weight: 16 lbs 9.5oz 14%
Head: 17 1/4" 46%

Alyssa has been making leaps and strides lately...and I don't mean that figuratively. She is crawling, cruising, climbing and trying to walk! I am a really terrible mom and didn't document exactly the first time I saw her crawl. I am really kicking myself for that one, but it was sometime right around her 8 month birthday. She was happy crawling for about a minute and then decided she would be more happy walking, so she has been working on that (cruising around anything she can get a hold of) ever since.

Cute, naked, baby chub - cruising around the bathroom

This one is a climber! She climbs into the shower. She climbs up the tv cabinet. She climbs into boxes and up onto boxes (we have alot of those things hanging around recently). She loves to knock over the fan in her room and climb on top of it. She has no fear! And, I have been impressed at how careful she is with herself. She goes to a lot of effort to make sure she won't get hurt before she starts climbing up or down, in or out. She conquered going up the stairs on July 11th. Her inaugural voyage took her all the way to the top of our staircase on her very first try. She is also getting better at standing all on her own and I can see her little mind building confidence and calculating whether or not she can take a step without holding on to anything. Man, I wish this girl would slow down!

She climbs in baskets...

She climbs in suitcases...

She climbs in the tv cabinet...

She climbs on the dishwasher...
Seriously, this girl climb everywhere!

With Sadie, food was a daily battle. I would beg and plead and try to force food into Sadie and she just wouldn't eat alot. Not a problem with Alyssa. In fact, I have to keep everything off the floor or else she will have it in her mouth pronto. It doesn't much matter whether it is food or not. Her current forays into non-food consumption are mud off the floor, dog food, toilet paper, crayons, leaves/grass, and shoes. However, Alyssa will not eat baby food. She is totally over it. She only wants what we are eating. But she is great at chewing, so that's what we give her.

Eating the toilet paper.

Alyssa has also decided she is willing to take a bottle (she refused until about 7 months). This makes leaving her with babysitters so much easier. And, it means I don't have to breastfeed in public, which is glorious to me.

Mom and Alyssa - July 4, 2012

Alyssa now has 3 teeth, with 2 or 3 more looking like they are ready to cut through. She has both her bottom teeth (which she has had for a while) and now has her top left front tooth. She has the cutest little toothy grin that melts Ryan's heart. She tucks her top lip and pushes out her bottom two teeth. We are still trying to capture it on the camera...

Almost caught her toothy grin on camera...I just missed the grin part :)

Alyssa and Sadie have started really playing together. It is probably my favorite mommy moment so far. They really like to play hide 'n seek together. Sadie hides and Alyssa finds her, when she is found Sadie screams and runs to a new hiding place and Alyssa laughs hysterically and then crawls off to find her again. Sadie and Ryan often play "lions" before bedtime - Sadie tackles Ryan, climbs on top of him a roars. Well, lately, Alyssa loves to get in on the fun. She can totally take Sadie down (I see this maybe not being so cute in the future...) and she can roar too. Alyssa also likes to play keep away, usually when I am trying to dress her or change her diaper. She thinks it is just so funny to crawl away from me. She gets a little ways away, then she turns and waits for me to get close. When she sees I am coming after her she tries to get away again, but she is so excited/laughing too hard that usually her legs go faster than her hands and she ends up face planting it into the floor.

Sisters! Sometimes they love each other, and other times, not so much

Alyssa is also really good at entertaining herself. She loves to crawl into the toy room and explore all the bins and treasures. Sometimes I really wish Sadie was just as good at entertaining herself.

Alyssa's new favorite tricks these days are dancing,waving and clapping. She waves at everybody from a hello from her crib first thing in the morning, to all her admirers when we go on airplanes or at church to a goodbye wave to Sadie when they go to their separate rooms at night. All we have to say is "Aly, say Hi" and she is waving at everyone. She also likes to clap. She will clap for you if she likes what you are doing and she claps for herself when she is proud of something she has done. She claps whenever you say "yea!" and she claps if she likes the music that is playing. She also dances to any music she likes. She wiggles her shoulders and head bangs. She was headbanging last week at church to "Called to Serve."

Alyssa is making a play for "the favorite child of the week" award by starting to sleep through the night. (Yea!!! Super Yea!!!) She slept through the night about half the time last week and I am hoping to increase that number this week.

Alyssa has also started making specific sounds for different people. Her first was "GEE!" for the dog (doggie). Then she started saying "DA!" for daddy and "DEE!" for Sadie. What does she call me, you might ask - the one who cares for her every want, need and desire? Nothing. She has not figured out who I am yet, beyond a cry or an outreached hand. That's love for ya, huh? :)

A daddy's girl! Dad and Alyssa - July 4, 2012

We love our little munch and I still can't believe how fast she is growing. Her first birthday is right around the corner.

A Very Happy Un-Birthday!

6 months until cake smashing day! And 6 months behind us. Where does the time go? This year is flying by way too fast. So, here are the stats as of Alyssa's 6 month check up:
Height: 25"  29% (see I told you she wouldn't stay in the 67th percentile for long)
Weight: 14lbs 6oz 23%
Head: 16.5" 39%

As you saw from the last post Alyssa took up rolling over again right around her 5 month mark. She is now rolling all over the place - across rooms, under beds and tables, everywhere. She sees somewhere she wants to go and then she goes! She often throws her head backwards to try and roll away when she is being held and gets frustrated when we don't let her go.

I am ok with the rolling. It is the crawling I am dreading...and that doesn't seem to be more than a few months away. She can get her knees up underneath herself, she just hasn't figured out how to push up on her arms yet. Let's all hope it takes her awhile to figure that out.

Aly also started sitting up on her own right around 5 months. She is pretty steady now. She has also learned how to tip herself over softly when she wants to lay down and start rolling again.

Alyssa celebrated her 6 month birthday by cutting a new tooth! That's right. She has her first little tooth peeking out. It is her lower front tooth. She has not been her usual happy self for about 2 weeks and I wondered if it was a tooth, but the dr. said she didn't see any signs of teething. I guess she was wrong. I am glad that little tooth poked through and now I can have my happy baby back again.

She also celebrated by starting on fruits and veggies! Yea! She was excited about that. OK, not so excited for the veggies, but she sure does love her fruit. Her first food was carrots. Dislike. Then Sweet Potatoes.She liked those slightly better than carrots. Next Peas. HATE!!! (ha ha) She isn't crazy about bananas, but she will eat them. She likes Applesauce. And she Loves, Loves, Loves strawberries. She hasn't been too thrilled about her cereal lately. She usually loves it, so I am wondering if her appetite is just down from teething or if her taste horizons have expanded beyond that nasty looking cereal :).

Smiles even after carrots

Can you spy Sadie in this photo? She hides when I want to take her picture, but sneaks into all of Alyssa's

Alyssa still plays with her feet pretty often, but her fingers and hands have replaced her feet as her favorite toy. She likes to pull on her fingers, suck on her fingers, and flap her arms really fast like a little bird.

Bath time is still a daily favorite, followed closely by laughing at the antics of her big sister.

Strangers are a new fear of hers. She gets really upset if someone she doesn't know tries to pick her up or gets too close to her face. This is not so great in the process of trying to be able to leave her with babysitters, but we are working on it. She does ok when I leave her at the daycare at gym as long as they leave her in her car seat. If they get her out and try to hold her she goes ballistic.

So yeah. That is what our little bug is up to these days. We love her bunches and bunches. And we might be partial, but we think she is pretty cute.

Here are some more pics.

5 months - sitting

5 months - tummy

6 months - gotta love those cheeks!

6 months

Hello. My Name is Mayhem.

Today is the day we will mark on our calendars as the day Alyssa went into DESTRUCTION MODE.

She is rolling everywhere leaving nothing but mayhem in her wake. Pulling, grabbing, pushing, squeezing, ripping...

The days of immobility are O.V.E.R.

The Kind of Post Only a Mother Could Love

Our little Aly is already a whole 4 months old. Time flies when you are having fun, I guess. And we really are. She is a delight! And she brings so much joy to our family. She is an extremely happy baby and usually only cries when she needs something.

We went to her Dr. appointment the other day, and in the words of the dr. "she is perfect!" weighing in at 13 lbs. (32%) and she is 24 3/4" long (67%). (Yes. You read that right. I have a child that is in the 67th percentile for length. That is crazy! I am sure it won't last long. Sorry girls, you have short genes.) She seems to be right on track or slightly advanced in development. She is holding all of her weight on her legs, is holding her head up steadily, is almost ready to sit unsupported, tracks people and sounds across a room, and a lot of other fun stuff I will talk about later. The dr. says some of the things she is doing is more on a 6 month level.

And, for now, it appears her eyes are going to be blue.

Alyssa has taken on many nicknames, most notably, her dad calls her "munch," as in munchkin, and Sadie calls her "cutes", as in cutie. I call her "sissy," which gets confusing because I call Sadie "sis." And we all call her Aly every once in a while...except for Sadie who will adamantly correct you if she hears you call her Aly. "Her name is Alyssa. NOT aly!!" Sadie got in many an argument with her cousins over the holidays because they all called her baby Aly.

Alyssa's favorite toys are her toes. She LOVES her toes! She especially loves her toes when she is naked. You take her diaper off and her legs shoot up to her face instantly. I guess with all that chub, the diaper makes it hard to reach (he, he). I adore her chubby little legs.
Her thumb is a close second in the things she loves, followed by bath time. She is all smiles while getting ready for a bath. Then she splashes like a maniac the whole time.

Get a load of that leg chub!

Alyssa started sleeping through the night (10-11 hours) at 6 weeks. Hallelujah!!! And then promptly stopped sleeping through the night at 9 weeks. Boo!!! As of now, she goes to bed at around 7pm and sleeps for an hour or two. Really, it is more of an evening nap. Then she's up until about 11pm. She sleeps from 11pm to 4am, eats at 4am and then goes back to sleep (usually) until about 8am. Her night time sleep schedule is just about the only thing I have to complain about. It would be nice to have those hours free in the evening...but it could be worse, so I'm not complaining too loudly.

Alyssa is getting quite chatty these days. She especially loves to talk to Sadie. She is also giggling and laughing up a storm. She will smile and laugh for mom and dad, but Sadie can get her laughing and squealing like crazy.

Here is a short movie in which Alyssa demonstrates her laugh, her chats, her toe/thumb sucking, and her boredom for rolling... alas, these are not the best she can do. She seems to be a bit camera shy.

Alyssa started rolling over right around Christmas time. She can roll both from back to front and front to back. She practiced this little trick like crazy for a week or two. Once she mastered them she was totally over it and hardly rolls over at all any more. She does like to scoot herself around in a circle so she can see what is going on around her.

Alyssa has excellent hand/eye coordination. She reaches and grabs for things she wants. She can pass objects from one hand to the other and then she can pretty accurately get those objects into her mouth. Anything and everything goes into her mouth! Except...a bottle or a pacifier. She is pretty particular about getting all her food and comfort straight from mom. She is pretty easy going for most of the time, but in this one area she is very stubborn. It will be interesting to see if this stubbornness extends to other areas as she grows. We tried giving her rice cereal, as to extend her sleep time at night and as an alternative to breastfeeding so we might be able to leave her with a babysitter a little longer. She took one bite of that stuff and refused to open her mouth again. After me continuing to try to feed it to her she started refusing to even look at me. (ha, ha, silly girl!) So, then I tried to have Ryan feed it to her. She did only slightly better for him. She started holding his hands and helping him to put the food in her mouth. Apparently she is not only stubborn, but independent too! That lasted a minute or two and then she was done!

Sadie is the best big sister. I love seeing the two of them play together. Sadie is also very helpful to me. She is almost always willing to get things like diapers or wipes for me. She is always willing, and wants, to play with Alyssa and get toys for her. I love holding and cuddling with both my girls. As Sadie says, "We are all friends together, mommy and her cute girls."

LOVE THEM KIDS!!!!

What? I have a blog???

Soooooo, remember when I used to blog? That was fun, huh? I also remember a time when I used to sleep, run and go on dates with my hot hubby.

Ah, sometime I will not be sleep deprived and overly hormonal and I will regain my life. Until then... pictures? Will that suffice?

6 days old... first smiles? or just a little gas?

2 months old. Looks like we got a blue-eyed beauty.

first day of preschool. Where did the time go?

Blessing Day! October 16, 2011

Loves to paint!

Pictures taken of both Sadie and Alyssa when they were each about 2 months old. Can you tell who is who?

These two already have so much fun together.

The Fire Drill That Started It All

What could make a trip to the OBGYN even worse than it already is? I mean besides sitting naked on that exam table at 40 weeks pregnant. How about if you throw in a fire alarm?

Yep, that is how Alyssa Brynn Johnson began her journey into this world.

I was sitting naked on an exam table, my feet properly positioned in the stirrups (not the Yee Haw! kind. More the "can you cough for me" kind), and... the fire alarm went off.

Any one would think that might be enough to get this baby into the world quickly. But, I firmly believe that Alyssa has a pretty good sense of humor. She joked around about coming in July. Her teasing got a little more serious in August. And she played a mean practical joke 2 days early. But come, she did not.  Even with that little burst of adrenaline, thanks to the welcoming song of the fire alarm, she still wasn't quite sure she was ready for her grand entrance. And so this short story gets a whole lot longer. 18 hours longer, to be exact.

Let me back up a little bit. I came to my appointment a little bit early on September 19th (my due date) because the Dr. wanted me to take an NST. We discovered I was having contractions about every 7 minutes and that the baby wasn't handling them so well. Her heart rate was not following the pattern they wanted it to and her movement was less than ideal. We were in the exam room discussing the results of my NST when the alarm sounded. So, with eyes politely averted, while I scrambled ungracefully (let's all remember I am 40 weeks pregnant, getting dressed was no easy task) back into my pants, she yelled over the blaring alarm that she wanted me at the hospital as soon as possible.

So we hurried to the hospital and proceeded to wait. And wait. And wait. If the baby's heart was fine and my contractions didn't pick up, they were going to send me home. We got to the hospital around noon and they monitored my contractions and the baby until around 5pm when her heart rate did a funky dip. That dip was the deciding factor.  I was not going home without a baby. So a little after 5PM the Dr. broke my water.

Side note:
Although Ryan will claim he was sorry I was in so much pain once the contractions started, I think he was secretly glad to finally have something to do. He was starting to get really bored of watching Friends. Buuuuut, a little amniotic fluid here, a few untimely gapings of the gown there, I am pretty sure A) Ryan was praying to be back in that uncomfortable chair watching Friends and B) He will never, ever find me attractive ever again.
End Side note.

Sadie's delivery was an emergency C-section and I was hoping to do a VBAC  this time around. I was dead set on going without pain medication for as long as possible. However, the Dr. had requested I get an epidural before I started pushing, just in case I needed another c-section.  I had done a little preparation with hypnobirthing and was trying to incorporate their techniques into my labor. After about 4 hours of contractions and trying to visualize a blooming flower my nurse told me I hadn't dilated at all. So, I decided to screw the blooming flower* and got an epidural**.

*I highly recommend the hypnobirthing techniques. If I had a body that was capable of child birth I totally would be all about it. Sadly, I don't***.

**Are all anesthesiologists just reeeeeaaaaalllyy nice guys? Or, is it just the pain relief blurring my perception? Either way, they persuade me to have a little crush on them. I claim no responsibility. I am drugged.

***I have one almost brand new Hypnobirthing book and CD for sale.

I don't remember much after the epidural. There was some sleeping. There was lots and lots of monitoring. At one point I had like 7 different monitors coming out of my body. The baby started having heart arrhythmia (I don't know how to say that right) sometime in the early morning. The lady in the room next to me came, labored, delivered and left. I called her mean names. At 4AM they checked my cervix and I had fully dilated (Yea!!) except whenever I had a contraction it closed back down to a 7 (Boo!!).

So, at 4:30AM the Dr. and I had a heart to heart. The baby had not descended and was displaying irregular heart patterns, I was having regular contractions but none that were strong enough to progress labor and I had a delivery history with Sadie that pretty nearly matched this delivery so far. So we decided to opt for the C-Section then, before it became an emergency situation.  Around 5AM they wheeled me to the O.R.

So there is lots of talking. And the lights are so bright I can barely keep my eyes open. And I am scared, maybe stressed is a better word for it. And Ryan sits by my side and talks me through it. And the anesthesiologist keeps telling me to put my arms down because I am blocking the flow of the drugs through my IV. (I don't really remember this, but Ryan says it is so). And then there is this huge release of pressure and I know they have taken the baby out... and there is silence... which seems like it lasts forever. With Sadie and with Alyssa I just waited to hear that scream. And then it comes. It is the best sound in the world. It means that my baby is ok. And, it means I am done being pregnant and done with labor. Alyssa Brynn was born on Sept. 20th at 5:32AM after 18 hours of labor and we love her to death!

**WARNING: A few of the following pictures are rather graphic. We are talking blood and guts here. You have been warned.**

In the O.R. To the left is my awesome anesthesiologist. Then there is me. Some women look lovely while in labor, I am not one of them. Then if you dare, you can look to the right where you will see my Drs operating and the red is all of my innards.

She is born! Dr. is just about to cut her umbilical cord

First cries, getting cleaned off, tests, etc.

Meeting mom

Meeting dad. Ryan sent this picture out to our family and told them that she is a nice, calm, happy baby.

H-A-DOUBLE L- DOUBLE U- DOUBLE E-N

I am not sure how or why but the pumpkin carving got procrastinated to Halloween day so we were in crunch time to get them done. (I am not sure why I felt that pumpkins MUST be carved for Halloween, but I did) And, I thought Sadie would think it was so fun.
Basically the following pictures are a big fat lie! (is that an oxymoron?) I had the camera ready for Sadie's first foray into the pumpkin. It was also her last.  Exact  Quote: "Ewwww! It is too yucky! You do it mom. I am going to go watch the care bear movie, OK?"

So, while Sadie was care bearing I furiously carved. **Sigh** Perhaps next year it will be a fun family activity.

Near the end of September Sadie saw a fairy costume and totally wigged out because she wanted it. I stalled on the purchase, and good thing too because between then and now she also wanted to be a number of different princesses, a bumble bee, a pirate, a dinosaur, a kitty and a cowgirl. Lat week we finally settled on a witch ("The Good Kind, OK Mom?") thanks in large part to the witch lawn decorations in our neighborhood. This is my interpretation of a good witch. And of course, she needed a black cat so Alyssa filled the role.

I was on door duty while Ryan took Sadie out. We were prepared for about 100 trick-or-treaters. We got about 15. Ryan took ALOT of candy to work today to add to the communal candy bowl. However, the low number of kids in our neighborhood means Sadie totally scored some loot. Our neighborhood is full of Grandmas who handed out full size candy bars and capri suns, of course they were tied up in cute Halloween bags and tied with ribbon. I guess when you only get 15 kids at your door it is easy to do stuff like that. Is it surprising to anyone that she asked for candy for breakfast?

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

"I am a BIG Sister!"

Sadie loves babies. Even before Alyssa was born Sadie loved babies. So, I wasn't too concerned about how Sadie would adjust to the new arrival, but there was still room for concern. Sadie is used to being the center of attention and having my undivided attention.  But,Sadie is the best big sister ever!

She loves to hold Alyssa and wants to hold her multiple times every day. She is super helpful. She gets diapers, wipes, and burp cloths. She keeps track of where the binky is. And, if Alyssa gets fussy Sadie is the first one to alert me that "she is hungry for milk!"

Sadie does get a little upset when Alyssa cries, especially when we are in the car. But she is getting more patient with it and learning that that is just how babies communicate.

Sadie meeting Alyssa for the first time

Sadie wearing her "Big Sister" t-shirt on day 2 in the hospital. She would run over to the door whenever any doctors or nurses came into the room to inform them that she was the BIG sister and that her baby was Alyssa who "grew up out of mommy's tummy." 

So excited to have mommy and baby sister home from the hospital

Getting to know one another

My beautiful girls

I love my girls and I love that they love each other!