Where did February go?

Sorry, I haven't forgotten about the blog. February and March are two of the busiest months in our house. Also, my laptop officially died on me a few weeks ago and I have been using Adam's. Thankfully, I backed up my laptop the week before it died, otherwise I would have lost all of my pictures from Peyton's birth up until now. I have taken a ton of pictures this month, but picture posts will have to wait for awhile until we can afford another laptop.

Earlier this month, Adam & I celebrated our 6th Anniversary and today we celebrate 7 years since our first date. The time has flown by, because it feels like yesterday and that I was meeting Adam for dinner at Cafe Adobe followed by getting drenched before going to see Gavin DeGraw in a private concert.

The kids celebrated Valentine's Day and had fun party at their school. I joined in for the festivities and captured great pictures. I love Valentine's Day, and not just because I'm married, but because it reminds me of all the fun Valentine's parties we had in Elementary School. The inner kid in me wants to decorate shoe boxes and exchange Valentine Cards year round.

Peyton turned 4 months on Valentine's Day. She is growing everyday. I am having to buy new clothes for her all the time, because she is growing so fast. Since her and Taylor were born in different seasons, she won't really be able to wear Taylor's clothes until she about a year old. Next week we take Peyton to her 4 month checkup. I will have all three kids with me, so it should be interesting. I'm not looking forward to her getting four shots.

March is going to be just as crazy. We have my birthday, a trip to Houston for our friends wedding, Taylor's birthday and Adam's birthday. Did I mention my brother-in-law,cousin and great grandmother also have birthdays in March and my parents celebrate their Anniversary.

I always love Leap Year and since we have an extra day of the month next week, how do you plan to spend that day?

Health and picture!

A lot of people make New Years Resolutions to get healthier. I am not really into New Years Resolutions, because I feel like they always fail. So I wrote out my goals this year for myself and Adam and I wrote down our goals as a family.

I've been wanting to get back into the running routine, since I delivered Peyton. For Christmas, I received enough money from so many wonderful family members to finally get the treadmill that I have been wanting. I even scored a great deal on it, thanks to it being the end of the year.

January was the most bizarre month for our family. So the other day, Adam finally had a chance to put it together. He did a great job and had the cutest green-eyed, 4 yr old assistant to help him. I have been running on it every day.

Another goals was to get healthier over all. I love food, but I'm not always smart about what I put into my body. I realized that nutrition plays a huge role in how you feel and decided it was time to make a change. One of my best friends told me about this great Nutritional Cleanse that floods your body with antioxidants, minerals and vitamins and has the perfect balance of nutrition your body craves. I've made it a part of my life and I'm so glad I did.

Before starting on this journey, I was a huge coffee drinker and needed it to get through my days. I was always tired. After incorporating it into my life, I have more energy than I have ever had in my life. I feel fantastic all the time and I'm only tired when I lay down to go to sleep at night. I haven't had a sip of coffee in 12 days and don't crave or need it. My mental clarity is sharper and my skin has cleared up. I haven't taken my Zyrtec in 12 days, which is huge for Texas seasonal allergies. Not to mention that I have lost 9lbs and 26 inches all over.

I made this Grilled Chicken Burrito on a Whole Wheat Tortilla, with black beans, roasted red bell peppers, and fresh spinach leaves, served with 1/2 cup of cottage cheese for lunch the other day. It was so yummy and filling!

Last week, we met Adam up at his office. Mason loved putting on Daddy's earphones and pretending to be just like his Daddy.

Peyton is almost 4 months old. She is getting so big. She is already wearing 6-9 month clothes. I love her baby legs leg-warmers.

Mason adores his littlest sister and the feeling is mutual. 

 Taylor also loves to cuddle with her sister. They are best friends!

 Peyton's 1st time in the Bumbo

 Not loving it anymore, Mama!

Taylor on her way to school one morning!

3 Little Monkeys

Transitional Month

I have a confession...January is my least favorite month of the year! If you have a birthday in this month and it's your favorite, then I apologize in advance but this is such a transitional month. You go from the hype of Christmas to having to put all of your Christmas decor away, send the kids back off to school and deal with winter illnesses. Nothing really exciting happens this month in our family. Maybe that is God's way of telling me to slow down and enjoy, since it's pretty busy the rest of the year.

In the past month, Mason & Taylor have battled colds, Peyton was diagnosed with RSV, our Adam's car broke down on him on his way to work one morning and I had a double ear infection with both of my eardrums ruptured. I had high hopes for this January being different and I am glad it isn't over yet, to give me time to accomplish what I set out to do.

This has been a good week so far, so I will try not to focus on the negative. If there is one thing I have learned is that you can't live in the past or change it, otherwise you will never grow in the future. So here's to focusing on the wonderful things God has in store for me and our family this month and year!

RSV

Our weekend was very blah and consisted of us staying home, watching NFL playoffs and trying to rest due to illnesses. It seems like the same cold has been circling the family for over a month now. I guess that happens with young kids, especially those that are in school.

The main thing that RSV has done is disrupt Peyton's sleep. She had the hardest time sleeping this weekend, which in turns means that I didn't get much sleep either. It seemed that every time she would fall asleep, her cough would wake her up and startle her awake. When she is sick, she is a very light sleeper. Saturday night, I believe she got a total of 3.5 hours of sleep and didn't fall back asleep until 10am Sunday morning.

It is very important when you have RSV to drink plenty of fluids. This can be difficult because of their breathing and drainage. Unfortunately, Peyton has wanted nothing to do with nursing. The last thing I wanted was to end up in the hospital due to dehydration. My worst fears isRS that she would wean herself all together and those fears came true today. The important thing is that she is still getting plenty of fluids, even if it's not from me.

I am not a fan of pumping and to be honest, I don't know anyone that is. I have had friends that exclusively pumped and I give major kuddos to them. I don't have the patience and it's uncomfortable. I was hoping to nurse for a year, but I am not going to stress myself out about this. She is healthy, despite the RSV and that is all that matters.

Peyton at 3 Months

I realize that she is just a week shy of 3 months, but we had an unplanned visit to the doctor yesterday. You can't tell by this picture, but Peyton is one sick little girl.

We did a lot of traveling over the holidays, which involved all five us sharing a room at different times over the last couple of weeks. So when Peyton wasn't sleeping well the last couple of nights, I attributed it to this. It could have also had something to do with the fact that we decided to put Peyton in her room from now on and she is sleeping in her crib. Possibly, it could be that she no longer fits or wants to be swaddled in her miracle blanket. Oh, how I miss the miracle blanket.

Last night, she slept for 4 hours the first stretch and then woke up almost every hour to two hours after that. I had been spoiled by her previous stretches of sleep and it was very hard for my body to adjust. However, her sleep was very restless and she had developed congestion and a nasty wet cough. All of us have been sick over the last month with allergies and colds, so it was inevitable that she would get sick. Since she is so young, I didn't want to take any chances and made an appointment for her to see the doctor.

After discussing her symptoms, and checking her oxygen levels, the doctor decided to test her for RSV. Unfortunately, the test results were positive. She is at the beginning stages of it and I was told to expect it to get worse before it gets better. I have to keep a close on her oxygen levels and breathing and if it gets worse, they will need to admit her to the hospital. I'm praying it doesn't come down to that.

They weighed her at the appointment and she is now 15lbs 1oz. She no longer fits in her 3 to 6 month clothes and is already wearing 6 to 9 months. She is almost done with her last box of Size 2 diapers and will be wearing Size 3 by the end of the week.

We would appreciate your prayers for our little girl. It's hard trying to keep the older kids away and balancing taking care of both needs, while trying not to contaminate or make Peyton even more sick.

Peyton at 2 Months

I realize this is a little late, but Peyton's checkup was the week of Christmas and I didn't have time to blog about it until now.

2 Month Stats:
Weight: 14lbs 6oz (over 100th percentile)
Height: 24 inches (over 100th percentile)

To say that our little girl is thriving is an understatement. Nursing has been going extremely well and she is filling out nicely. We are starting to see some rolls on the arms and legs and I can't get enough of that. This picture was actually taken on her 2 month birthday. By the time Christmas Day rolled around and she wore this onsies again, it was almost too small. She wears 3 to 6 months clothes.

She is a very quiet little girl and even tempered. The only time she is upset is when she is hungry and I'm not getting it to her fast enough or if she has a wet diaper. My theory is her brother and sister are so loud, that she just takes it in and watches. It doesn't take much to make her smile, especially if it's Mason or Taylor. However, the girl can make some serious faces.

At two months, she is sleeping 6 to 8 hours the first stretch at night and then goes back to sleep for another  4 to 5 hours. As long as I'm getting about 4 hours of continuous sleep each stretch, I'm good.

She doesn't go back for another checkup until 4 months.