Doctor's Visit

My son had his two month check up today with the doctor. He is now a whopping 13lbs and 3oz and measures 24 3/4 inches long. Needless to say, the doctor was happy with his weight gain! The doctor said that he was a healthy and that everything looked and sounded great. Our visit was going great until the nurse came in to do the vaccinations. My little guy went from laughing and smiling to screaming and crying in an instant. I don't think he liked the shots to much. Ouch!!! I felt so bad for him, it hurt me that he was hurting. He is feeling better now and is happy as can be!

Here's my little guy after the doctor's appointment. Aw!!! Doesn't he look cute with his little Garfield band-aide?

On to next subject. The other day I received a letter from a friend to join in on a Children's Book Exchange. Don't worry it is not a chain letter, its just a fun way to build or add to your child's book collection. If you are interested email me at http://daniellerm24@yahoo.com and I will send you the letter. You have the opportunity to receive up to 36 books! I am participating in this for sure!

Haley's Graduation Party

My little cousin Haley graduated from high school this year. Holy crap am I getting old! Her graduation party was today and I went to the party without my little baby. I wish I would have taken him but I can't predict the weather and I just wasn't sure about taking him to a big party just yet... A small gathering yes... but a big party not so sure?? I missed him as did all of my family. I know they are all dying to meet him.

I usually take a ton of pictures at these type of events. However, today I spent time catching up with some of my family members that I have not seen in a long time. On my dad's side of the family there are 13 us of kids (cousins). There are older cousins (which unfortunately, my brother and I are the oldest :( ) and then there are the younger cousins. Fortunately, I was able to get a picture with my cousin Amy (sorry Amy your in the older cousins category), Katie (younger cousin), and of course Haley (the grad and also apart of the younger cousins category). Amy's boyfriend Todd and her nephew Owen (my second cousin) are also in the picture. Was this confusing enough for you or what?



It was so nice to see all of you!

Fat Ticker Friday

The Summer of Me competition is off and running. ChristieO at http://babytealeaves.blogspot.com/
has done an outstanding job of motivating me to get back into shape!

I lost a total of 3 pounds this week. Yay! Me!!!

What I did different:

1. I did not drink any beer this week at all. I love me some beer!!! I really think it made a huge difference.

2. Sunday- I ran 2.5 miles
Monday- I walked 4 miles, eat fresh fruit for breakfast, skipped lunch, and had a sensible dinner.
Tuesday- I walked 3 miles, eat fresh fruit for breakfast, skipped lunch, and had a sensible dinner.
Wednesday- I ran 2.5 miles and follow the same food plan as listed above.
Thursday- I walked 4 miles, eat fresh fruit for breakfast, and fell of the wagon for dinner. I went out to eat with my parents (Mexican YUM!!).

Hopefully, I will be able to keep this up throughout the competition. I am looking forward to getting back into my pre-pregnancy clothes. I will let you now after July 25th the outcome!

More Food and Visiting

The baby and I went out to grandpa and grandma Mueller's today to visit and then to grab a bite to eat. I got to see their new baby alpaca, he is adorable, and their newly finished hardwood floors and paint job they had done throughout their house. Everything look great! Then we went to El Patron for a dinner. The baby and I had a wonderful time.

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things about Danielle I am married to a man that love toys! His most recent purchase was a pair of dirt bikes. Yes, one for me and one for him. I love trying new things so I thought, why not? I got my temp permit last year (per baby) and learned how to ride. Do I ride well? I would like to think so for being a novice rider but every time we watch the video of us riding in PA last summer my husband just laughs... Okay, so maybe I am not the best at dirt biking. I still had fun learning how to ride and really enjoyed tooling around the mountain tops of PA! However, now that I have a son... here are thirteen reasons why I am now afriad to get back on my dirt bike. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. I would never try any of these stunts! 13. I love my son way to much to risk getting hurt.

Wordless Wednesday- The view I wish I could see when I look out my window!

Dinner was a HIT

My grandma from Arizona came over one last time to visit me before her trip home. I wanted to make a nice dinner for her so I decided to make lasagna. Why I chose to make lasagna when its summer time and 80 degrees, I have no idea? Sometimes I just do silly things. At any rate... I tried to take pictures of the whole cooking process so that I could share with all of you , which at first was working for me, but then came the dirty diapers and feedings. Oops, I guess I just didn't think of that when I went to the store to buy the ingredients.

I also tried to follow the recipe as closely as I could. And yes, I said tried because I had to stop in the middle of my cooking to feed the baby a couple of times and lost track of what I did and did not put in the sauce (that could have been a big OOPS). I also forgot to sprinkle the parmesan cheese in between the layers of noodles and sauce. With all of my mistakes being said, dinner was still a HIT!

You can click on this link http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Worlds-Best-Lasagna/Detail.aspx to find the recipe for the World's Best Lasagna. I recommend making this dish when it is not 80 degrees outside :)

The final product. YUM!!!

8 Weeks Old!

Our baby is eight weeks old today. Yay!!! He is growing like a weed and is doing wonderfully. Just recently he has begun to sleep through the entire night without waking up to eat at 3am. He now goes to bed anywhere between 7:30pm and 9:30pm. Depending on the time he falls asleep, he will wake up anytime between 5:30am and 7:30am.

He has his two month check up on Monday June 30th. I am excited to see how much he is weighing these days. The last time he got weighed was on May 13th and he weighed 9lbs 1oz! I am anticipating a clean bill of health that day or I should say I have my fingers crossed that he will be declared a strong, happy, and healthy little baby.

I have decided that this will be the last weekly birthday post. Not that I don't think it is important, its just that I know I will be making daily or weekly posts about our son anyway. So, I will post on the big birthdays (3, 4, 5, 6 months etc...) with (hopefully) lots of exciting news and progress!

I know that I have mention in a previous post that he has found his fingers. Well.... it has been hard to get a picture of him when he does not have his fingers in his mouth. Ha, Ha, Ha....

Games

There are a couple of games that my son likes to play on a daily basis. The first one I will call, The Napping Saga, and the second one I will call, I'm happy till the phone rings.

The way The Napping Saga works is like this: First my son will get a little cranky, rub his eyes, and then whimper a little until I pick him up. Once he has accomplished that goal he is content in my arms. Then his eyes start to roll as I bounce him around the house until my arm feels like it is going to fall off. He falls asleep while making little noises and smiling. Then he is out like a light until I put him down. The minute I put him down he looks like he might take a good nap.... looks are deceiving by the way. He wakes up crying and that's when the game starts over!!! We play this game at least twice a day!

The way I'm happy till the phone rings works is like this: My son is happy cooing and smiling all the whole long day until the phone rings!

This is how our son feels about the phone!

Freak Out Friday

The other day I came across a blog page (http://rappleyefam.blogspot.com/) titled motherhood for dummies. This blog really caught my attention because, as you all know, at this point in my life I can relate to NEW MOMS. Anyway, the other day motherhood for dummies posted about how her daughter was freaking out over a number of different things.... well I got news for you, today was FREAK OUT FRIDAY at the Alberts household!

The day started off normal. The usual smiles and coos when I changed his diaper this morning, tummy time and leg exercises on the baby Einstein mat, and course the feedings. We even made it the bank, BJ's wholesale club, and Giant Eagle with ease. Then we arrived home!!! And the freak outs began!!! My little angel literally cried, screamed, spit, and kicked on and off for about 3 hours. The only thing that seemed to help was laying him down on his stomach. Clearly, he had a belly ache. When he finally had his major diaper blowout of the day he seemed to feel better!

I thought for a minute about taking his picture so that you all could see his, if you don't give me what I want right now or I am going to scream face, but I just couldn't. I was so sad that he was hurting. He is feeling much better now and is sleeping peacefully. I really hope that this will be the one and only FREAK OUT FRIDAY post but I would be kidding myself if I thought that this wasn't going to happen again! Oh, the joys of being a mom!!!

Fat Ticker Friday

The Summer of Me competition starts Monday June 23rd. I have already begun my work out program (which consist of running since I can't really do anything else) in preparation for winning the competition!!! I have lost 3 maybe 4 pounds in the last two weeks. GAME ON!!!

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things about Danielle 13 THINGS I LOVE ABOUT MY BABY! 1. The way he looks at me. 2. His beautiful smile. 3. His big blue eyes. 4. They way he crinkles his eyebrows and flares his nostrils when passing gas. 5. The way he smells. 6. His crooked little toe. 7. The way he holds onto my finger. 8. His kisses (he gives the best baby kisses). 9. His hands (he has my hands by the way!) 10. His hairy little ears (he has dad's ears!). 11. All the little coos and noises he makes. 12. I love everything thing about him!!! 13. But most of all, I love the joy he has brought to my life!!!

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Wordless Wednesday

Lunch with Great Grandma

Today the baby and I took great grandma to lunch. She has been here (from Arizona) for almost two weeks and we have not gotten to spend all that much time together. We also thought that she was leaving on Thursday but to our surprise she has decided to stay another week. Yay! We will get to visit with her again.

We went to Applebees for lunch (it was delicious) and had a very nice visit until I started to cramp up. I worked out this morning and needless to say the one push up I tried to do did not agree with my body so our visit was cut a little short.

I did however manage to get a picture of the baby with great grandma. Aren't they cute!!!

This ones for you Aunt Lynda

A couple of weeks ago my Aunt Lynda and her mom came out to visit me and our little baby. They wanted to come and see him before he started getting to big. Since they were coming from the other side of town they thought they would stop to get me lunch. In my opinion, I gave very clear directions on how to get here. However, my Aunt Lynda would definitely disagree with me.

Anyway, the first time she called she said, "I think I missed the exit, I am on 306". I explained to her that she was only one exit away from me and that 306 was a good street to be on if she was planning to pick up lunch. She told me that she saw a McDonald's and I said, "perfect I would like a salad". I told her all she had to do to get to my house from there was to go back one exit from the way that she came. This is when the driving saga begins!!! She calls me back again and now is nowhere near were she was before. So I proceeded to instruct her on how to get back to the highway so that she could find my house. Mean while she is swearing up and down to me that there are no signs on the highway that say Lost Nation Road. At this point I am laughing so hard that I could swear my incision from the c-section was about to bust open.

They eventually made it to my house. We had a very nice visit and I appreciated them picking up lunch for me. You might ask why I am just now making this post. Well I couldn't help myself when I saw the four street signs from the highway that all say Lost Nation Road!!!

SEE!!! lol....


Street Sign #1


Street Sign #2


Street Sign #3


Street Sign #4


My Aunt Lynda and the baby!!!

7 Weeks Old

Our little baby is seven weeks old today. Happy birthday baby boy! It is still so hard to believe that my husband and I created this little person who is beautiful. Our little boy is so strong, smart, and loving already. He is able to hold his head up, he recognizes Mommy and Daddy, he can follow objects with his eyes, he vocalizes his wants, and he can even recognize his grandparents (and there's a lot of those).

When I was younger I hated getting up in the morning. I would cry when someone would wake me up, whether it be for school, work, or some extracurricular activity. Now it is a joy to wake up because I get to see my son's precious little face looking at me. He is so happy in the morning. He smiles, coos, and it almost seems like he screams I LOVE YOU! He is the same way in the evening when its time to get ready for bed. I couldn't think of a better way to end our long days.

We love you baby! We will always love you!

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the dads!!! We had a great day today. Grandma and Grandpa Alberts came over to celebrate our first father's day. We grilled hamburgers and hot dogs and of course ate way to much. The weather was perfect. We couldn't have asked for a better day to celebrate. My only complaint for the day would be that I didn't get to see my own father but hopefully we will visit with him next week. Plus I know that he is just dying to see our little guy anyway.


Grandma and Grandpa Alberts!


Our first photo together as a family!!!

Lazy Day

Today was a lazy day for both me and my son. Unfortunately, I can not say the same thing for my husband. He drove out to my parents house today to pick up an air condition and heating unit (thanks dad!). We hope to have both of the units installed successfully. I say this because the unit is six feet tall, which is not compatible with our basement. We live in an old farm house from the 1920's and our basement has five foot tall ceilings (which by the way I am to tall for... I am 5'10!!! Did I tell you that I love doing laundry lol...) Any how, we unloaded the units when my husband returned from my parents and then he had to load my truck with his band equipment for his show. Yes another show!!! I thought his very last show was last Friday but low and behold one of the bars that he has played at for some time now called with a cancellation and of course my husband's band filled in!

So here I am at 12:29a.m. on Sunday morning feeling the need to tell you about my lazy day!

I woke up this morning and actually got to go for a run (watch out all you summer of me competitors). It was my first run since having our baby and it felt great. After that, I sat on the deck with our son and got some reading done! I started reading Twilight by Stephenie Meyer pre-baby and needless to say I never finished reading the book. While I tried to catch up on my reading, I caught a couple of rays which was well over do!

I made dinner for my husband and I, which was delicious. I make the best panini style sandwiches with coleslaw and fries!!! We managed to squeeze in the movie Lars and The Real Girl before he left for his show. After he left, me and our little guy walked down to the neighbors. We visited for while and then walked home! It was so nice to just lounge around today!!! And it was also nice spending time with our son. He talked to me all day and I loved it!

The Madness Is Over!

Today was the last day of basketball camp. Yay! Now I can spend time with our child! I have absolutely no plans this weekend, which I am very happy about. Our son has had a very full week and so have I. In a way this was good preparation for both of us. We will both have some adjusting to do when I go back to work. I am very lucky and thankful to have the summer off. I couldn't imagine having to go back to work after six weeks, especially since we will be sending our son to daycare once I do go back to work.

Summer of Me Competition

I am finally in the weight loss competition with my sister-in-law Janeen and some of her friends. Christie at http://babytealeaves.blogspot.com has been kind enough to do the leg work to get this competition started. Now all I have to do is find the time to actually start working out. I think it goes with out saying that working out is easier said than done when you have a six week old baby at home to take care of. But I am going to give it a go anyway. I have lost 46 pounds of the baby weight that I gained so far and my goal is to loose 30 more pounds. Not all 30 pounds is baby weight... I only have 14 more of that to loose. However, I changed jobs two years ago and when I changed jobs I packed on the pounds, that is where the additional 16 pounds is coming from! Regardless, I need to fit into my work clothes by August 17.I couldn't think of a better way to get motivated. The competition starts on June 23rd, which is good because I can't REALLY workout until then anyway, and it ends July 25th. Wish me luck! And sorry to say this Janeen, but go ME!

6 Weeks Old!

Our baby is six weeks old today! I swear he is growing by the minute. He wanted to thank all the grandmas for babysitting this week! Yesterday he spent a good part of the day with Grandma Mueller, Friday he spent the evening Grandma Dresp, and today he spent the day with Grandma Alberts. He is so lucky to have three grandmas that love him so much! We couldn't thank you all enough. We love you.
He also wanted me to tell his two older cousins, that he finally got to meet today, that he can't wait until he is big enough to play with them!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

This weekend was to busy for my own liking. Ironically, it was my fault that is was so busy. Friday I had a coaches meeting at the school district that I work for so I packed up our little baby and off we went. He slept through the entire meeting and I even held a mini practice with my girls basketball team after the meeting in preparation for our shootout on Sunday. When we got home from the meeting and practice I tried to straighten up the house a bit because my mom and grandma from Arizona were coming over for dinner and to babysit so that I could attend my husband's show at Hooples downtown. While I spent most of the afternoon feeding and changing diapers, in the 90 degree weather with no air condition, I found the time to make dinner (chicken paprikash, it was delicious!!!). My mom was running a little late so that cut my time in half to actually get ready to go out, like I didn't sweat enough that day. When my mom and grandma finally arrived, I gave my grandma the tour of the house and then served dinner. I jumped in the shower at the last minute and could you believe it... my FAT GIRL skirt didn't fit me and I had to put the only pair of jeans that fit me on, thank god for the FAT GIRL jeans! YAY! Just when I thought I would be able to visit with my mom and grandma before my ride came, my mom decided to take the baby for a walk. I showed my mom how to use the stroller properly and then just took outside anyway. Just when I was about to sit down and talk with my grandma, my ride showed up and yes he was on time. Luckily he is a pretty cool guy because he didn't mind hanging out on the front porch for a couple of minutes. My mom came back from walking the baby and decided that it would be nice to sit on the front porch, which my husband has torn up because he plans on staining it in the near future. So I put the chairs back on the front porch, put the bug net over our baby's car seat to keep him safe from any critters, ran inside to make sure I was not forgetting anything, and finally made it out the door to my husband's show. And yes its still FRIDAY!

I had a nice time at the show and it was nice to be in a social setting. And as usual, I had good company!

My husband singing at his show!

Saturday was actually a lazy day. It was the first time since our baby has been born that dad, baby, and I just laid around the house, watched movies, and enjoyed each others company. We loved every minute of it and it really put things in perspective for us. ONCE AGAIN OUR BABY IS MOST IMPORTANT ABOVE ALL!

Sunday was dad's first day with the baby all by his self for eight whole hours! I took my team to a basketball shootout at Baldwin Wallace College and was gone for pretty much the whole day. Three weeks ago if you would have asked me if I could be a stay at home mom, I would have said no way. However, after a long day and being away from my baby for eight hours I had a change of heart quicker than you could blink your eyes. I now think I could be a stay at home mom. When I got home from the shootout I started to cry.... I missed my baby so much! I thought to myself..... oh my god, how am I going to go back to work? But I know it has to be done.

Then there was today. Triple Threat camp started at the school district that I work for and off I went again with out our little baby. It was so hard to leave after the long weekend that we had and knowing that I will be gone every day for the rest of the week. I guess this is a good preparation for me for when I go back to work. But know that the week hasn't even really begun and I already miss our precious little baby. How could I not, look at him!

The Update!

I swear all we did today was sweat. Other than that we did manage to get our walking done in between rain showers. And of course there was still time for tummy time, changing lots of poppy diapers, and a little screaming today as well. I have decided to put an end to breastfeeding..... I know it's probably not the best thing to do but I will be very busy the next couple of weeks with my basketball team and I am not the one to cart around a pump and express milk in between games, practices etc.... I have already been supplementing with formula the whole time anyway so hopefully the drying up process won't be all that bad. I did however do some surfing on the web and from the sounds of it, it's really not an easy process. I will let you know how it goes. As for our little guy, he seems to like the new formula (similac sensitive)and hopefully it won't be a painful process for him as well.

Yesterday our son and I had so much fun. We went to Rite Aid to pick up a prescription, Target so that I could get a summer shirt that fits me, and blockbuster to get a chic flick! I have yet to watch the movie because he likes to keep me on my toes but that's okay because I thoroughly enjoy the time we spend together.

Mommy where are we and why and I am locked in this seat? We are at Target son and someday soon you will love coming to this store (especially if you go with daddy... I'm sure he will buy you what ever you want!)

5 Weeks Old

Our son is 5 weeks old today! My how the time is going by so fast. We have had a busy couple of days. Saturday we went of our usual walk, and took a bath! Grandma Dresp came over Saturday evening so that my husband and I could get our for a bit with one of his friends. We had a great time for the couple of hours that we got out and it was especially nice being really close to home! In the past we would just talk about work, friends, family etc.... but Saturday all we talked about was our little baby and all the things we want to do with him. It's funny how life changes in the blink of an eye. The things we thought were important before aren't really all that important anymore. The most important thing is taking care of our son the best that we can! Sunday we just relaxed. Monday I took our son to the school district that I work for and did some visiting. Grandpa Mueller was very excited to see us! Today we went to the doctors for my postpartum check up. The doctor said everything looks great and that I am healing well from the cesarean section. The doctor told me that I am allowed to lightly jog but for some reason I am still not allowed to mow the grass, which I was disappointed to hear. That might sound funny to hear someone say that, but I actually enjoy that kind of physical work!

Our son has begun to sleep through the night! He went down at 9:00p.m. last night and woke up to eat at 5:00a.m. He is also talking and smiling more these days. The best is when he wakes up in the morning... it's almost like he saying "Good morning MOMMY, I love you!"

Happy birthday baby!