The Christmas Tree

Here are a few cute photo's of Mazie and her daddy putting the star on her 1st Christmas tree!

So exciting and very cute.

Mazie loves her daddy so much!

Love,

Kristin

Happy Thanksgiving

I am thankful for:

* My Husband - He has been my best friend since I've known him. He has gone above and beyond for me and I know he will do the same for our daughter.

* My Family - I love them and know I can always count on them.

* My In laws - They are wonderful people and very caring.

* Loney - I know you haven't received much attention since Mazie has come home, but I still love you very much and appreciate you for being the nicest and most loving dog I have ever known.

* Close Friends - Thank you for supporting us with your positive words and being fun!

* Mazie - I love you!
And most importantly, I am thankful to have Jesus in my heart and knowing he will always be here for me and my family.

Love,

Kristin

Week 3

Work Out Plan:

Monday - Gym for 45 minutes

Tuesday - Gym for 45 minutes

Wednesday - Gym for 45 minutes

Thursday - Gym for 1 hour

Friday - Gym for 1 hour

Saturday - Gym for 1 hour

Sunday - Off

Yes! I have lost 5.5 pounds in 3 weeks.
I have been only eating 1200 calories a day (very hard)
But worth it. I feel good.

It is Thanksgiving!
We are getting ready for friends to come over and eat!
I am thankful for so many things that I will share in a later post.

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

Love,
Kristin

The Messy Diaper

WARNING!

This may be GROSS to some viewers.

And VERY funny to other viewers.

The past 3 days, Mazie has been having the messiest diapers.

Sunday Night

Mazie had a blowout

We had to cut her onsie off

Monday Night

Mazie had another blowout

It got all over my shirt

Tuesday Night

Mazie had a third blowout

It got all over my pants

Now every time she poops, I get kind of scared.

Maybe next time I will wear one of those water proof poncho's

HA!

Love,

Kristin

I had no idea....

Since having Mazie, we have learned so much!

When thinking of having a baby from a girls perspective, you think it would be like playing with a baby doll.

WRONG!

I was never a fan of baby dolls when I was a kid.

I loved stuffed animals and dollhouses.

So before having Mazie, I thought to myself, "how hard can this be, when she cries, you feed her or change her, that's it".

WRONG, AGAIN!

I had no idea babies could be constipated, constantly hungry and despises her hiccups.

It makes my heart hurt when she rubs her belly and screams.

She is to precious to cry and be upset.

I feel so bad sometimes.

I have been reading this book called Baby Wise.

We've heard such great things about this book helping to put her on a feeding schedule and sleep schedule.

I started Mazie on a feeding schedule yesterday.

We are feeding her every 3 hours, 4 oz each. So she is drinking 24 oz a day.

She usually screams her head off an hour before her next feeding.

She is so used to getting it whenever she wanted.

But we have to put her on a schedule so it's easier on us, her babysitter and her tummy.

I really think the reason why she became colicky is because her feedings were so irregular.

Our goal is to have her sleeping the whole night and used to her feeding schedule by Christmas.

Wish us luck!

Love,

Kristin

The Things I Will Miss

I go back to work on December 1st.

After 3 1/2 months of maternity leave, it is finally time to go back to work.

I am excited and sad.

I will miss spending full days with my daughter.

I will miss watching lifetime during the day.

I will miss going to the gym whenever I want.
I will miss watching movies whenever I want.

I will miss taking naps in the afternoon.

I will miss watching the sun rise over the mountains around 10 a.m.

I will miss seeing my husband in the mornings when he gets off shift.

I will miss these things. They are not going anywhere, I will just have to rearrange my schedule.

I also re-opened my Etsy Shop!

I've added new note cards.

New necklaces, bracelets, pocket mirrors, rings and magnets are coming soon.

I am also working on 2 new items to add to my shop. More info to come on those once I finish.

I am very excited.

Also, if any of you are interested in personalized necklaces, bracelets or pocket mirrors with photo's of your kiddos or family, let me know. Now is a good time since Christmas is just around the corner.

Seriously, Christmas has made it's appearance quickly. I have already put up all of our Christmas decorations, even the tree. I really wanted to do this before I go back to work. I also want to get all of my Christmas shopping done by December 1st so I don't have to rush it. I want to spend my weekends with my husband and daughter and enjoy our 1st Christmas together!

 But let's not forget about Thanksgiving!

We will be having a dinner at our house and our good friends will be coming down.

We are so excited!

Love,

Kristin

Mazie Month 2

Here are some fun facts about Mazie on Month 2:

* She loves to stand up.

* She is starting to wear 3 to 6 months already.

* She farts herself awake and cries right after (this makes me laugh every time)

* She is starting to enjoy her binky more.

* She cries in her sleep, do babies have bad dreams?

* She loves to look at herself in the mirror on her swing. She will sit there and just smile and talk to herself. It is the cutest thing.

* She now recognizes mommy and daddy when we are at home and with big crowds.

* She loves to go to the gym with mommy and daddy.

* She likes to sleep in the car.

* She misses her daddy when he goes on shift for 2 days.

* October 26th - She held her own bottle during a nightly feeding.

* October 27th - We took her to the doctor because she had a lump underneath her right nipple.

(You can see it in the top middle photo) It's called a Strawberry Hemangioma

* October 27th - We switched her formula from Similac to Enfamil. She does much better with Enfamil.

* November 1st - She is drinking 20 to 24 oz a day.

* November 3rd - Started to get colic. Not fun.

November 18th - 2 month doctor appointment.

Here are her stats:

Length - 23.5 inches long (86th percentile)
Weight - 12lbs 2.5oz (83rd percentile)
Head Circumference - 40.4 (84th percentile)

She also received the dreaded shots!
DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis)
Comvax (HIB (Haemophius influenza type b) and Hepatitis B)
IPV (inactivated polio)
Prevnar (invasive pneumococcal disease caused by streptococcus pneumaniae)

I don't know if I spelt all of those shots correctly. :)

Mazie,

Mommy and Daddy love you so much.

We love your smile and the way you look at us.

Love,

Kristin

The Many Faces of Mazie

I experience seeing these faces everyday.

She makes me laugh and smile every second.

I love seeing her face everyday!

Love,

Kristin

Week 2

Work Out Plan:

Monday - Gym for 45 minutes

Tuesday - Gym for 45 minutes

Wednesday - No Workout :( Too Busy

Thursday - Gym for 1 hour

Friday - Gym for 1 hour

Saturday - Gym for 1 hour

Sunday - Off

I have been jogging and walking about 2 miles a day at the gym. It feels so good.

I have lost 2 lbs this week.

It is very weird how weight fluctuates during the day.

You can weigh a certain weight in the morning but a different weight by the evening.

I am trying to weigh myself around the same time everyday so I can get an accurate weigh in.

I am also using an application on my phone called myfitnesspal, thanks to a blog I follow PoorPitifulPearl had posted about this site.

It is so awesome!

You can track all of your food and beverage intake for the day.

It will keep track of your calories, fat, sugars, vitamins and so on.

For example: I want to lose at least 1.5 pounds each week.

So my calorie intake per day is 1200.

It is pretty amazing how fast you will eat 1200 calories for just breakfast and lunch.

So it really teaches you how to count calories and watch what you eat.

Give it a try.

I've used it for about 2 weeks now and I already feel good!

Love,

Kristin

A Colicky One

Yes.

It's true.

Mazie has hit the colicky stage of life.

She goes from happy to mad.

And when I say mad, I mean MAD!

But she is in more pain then she is angry.

It is really sad to see her not feeling good.

She will grab at her tummy while she screams in pain.

My friend Beci told me to try rubbing a small amount of Peppermint Oil on the bottom of her feet to get her to start tooting.

So I went to Good Earth and grabbed a little bottle of Peppermint.

I came home, rubbed some on her feet and within minutes she started to toot.

It was pretty funny and my house smells like peppermint.

Little Mazie has also been constipated for the past 2 days.

That made me really worried, so I called her nurse and she told me to try 1 teaspoon of Karo Syrup.

So back to the store we went.

I mixed the Karo Syrup with her bottle and right when I started to feed her, within a minute she starts to poop.

I feel like she was a science project the whole day.

Poor little girl.

She slept so good though. She was pretty backed up.

Her little face and loud cry made me so sad for her.

Thank you KARO!

Love,

Kristin

Week 1

Work Out Plan:

Tuesday - Gym for 45 minutes

Wednesday - Gym for 45 minutes

Thursday - Pilates for 30 minutes

Friday - Pilates for 30 minutes

Saturday - Gym for 45 minutes

I am proud of myself for working out the whole week. It's tough and I am also trying to eat healthier too.

I have ran and walked several miles that I never thought I could do.
YAY! It's hard when I am doing it but once I am done, I am so proud of myself.

Keep it going!

Love,
Kristin

The Birth Story

We woke up at 6 a.m. with anticipation.

Surprisingly I was able to sleep well the night before.

Jeremy, not so much. He was so excited and nervous.

We were going to have a baby in the next 24 hours!

We showed up to American Fork Hospital at 6:45 a.m.

We checked in to Room 1 and that is when it hit me.

Seeing the bed and all of the machines set up for me, wow this is really happening is all I kept thinking.

I was induced around 8 a.m.

I started to feel contractions about 10 minutes later.

Yikes, contractions are no fun.

Every time a contraction hit I would go completely silent and still.

I would close my eyes tight and take deep breathes in and out.

It was very painful.
But I was very surprised I was not screaming in pain,
the contractions were very intense.
After about 2 hours, i received the epidural which actually hurt.
The needle itself did not hurt but when the medicine went into my veins, I could feel burning and my body started to jolt in different ways.

It made me very nervous, but the pain went away within minutes and the contractions went away within 10 minutes.
My mom, husband and I watched episodes of "The Office" while waiting for me to progress.
By 1 p.m. I was dilated to an 8.
By 2 p.m. I felt so much pressure and I told Jeremy to get the nurse because I felt like I needed to push.
Our nurse came in and she checked to see how far I was dilated.
She looked at me and said "I will call the doctor, your ready"!
AHHHH!
I couldn't believe it was happening.
I pushed with the nurses for about 20 minutes, my doctor then showed up and I pushed for another 25 minutes and Mazie was here!
She weighed 9lbs 9oz and was 20.5 inches long.
BIG BABY!

Now here comes the scary part.
Mazie swallowed a lot of amniotic fluid.
There were about 5 nurses in my delivery room and they were working on getting her to breath.
They rushed her to the Nicu.
I didn't even get to hold her.
They showed me her for 2 seconds.
And I'm not even exaggerating. It was really 2 seconds.
Jeremy went with her down to the Nicu.
She had to get a CPAP.
She was down in the Nicu for about 2 1/2 hours.
They brought me down to see her and I just cried.
She had a strange mask over her face that held all the tubes of the CPAP in place to keep her breathing.
We were so worried.
I had such a healthy pregnancy and now she is in the Nicu having trouble breathing.
I just prayed to God that she would fight through this.
My husband took me to my recovery room.
I was in their for about an hour and they told me I can try breastfeeding.
I went back into the Nicu and breastfed her.
After about a half an hour, I was back into my recovery room waiting to hear when Mazie would be released into our room.
The nurses gave her a bath and Jeremy recorded it.
After she was done, they brought her in and she stayed in the room with us the whole time until we were released from the hospital.
She was doing so much better and I praise God for being with her and healing her.

Pushing during the delivery was super easy. I was lucky. I felt no pain, just pressure. I knew when to push. It was great. I thought that would be the hardest part.
Of course I had an episiotomy, what woman doesn't know a days. Right?!

The hardest part was the breastfeeding.
She would latch on fine.
It was me who had the hardest time with it.
It was more painful then the actual contractions.
The pain from her sucking was unbearable and my uterus contracting back into place.
OH MY GOODNESS!
Is this pain a joke?!!!
But I continued to do it because I didn't want to give up.
Thank goodness for my husband. He would help me through it and just hug me while I cried in pain.
It's actually amazing how fast your body gets used to it though. After about a week I was literally walking around the house with Mazie hanging off one boob and not feeling any pain what so ever. Ha!
I haven't been breastfeeding her as much because I'm not producing much for her.
She is now drinking up to 24oz a day and I'm producing about 4oz.

Well that is basically the birth story.
It was an exciting day and experience.
I still look at her and think "Wow, she was growing inside my belly for 9 months"!
She is such a precious little girl.
We thank God everyday!

Nurses are getting ready to put the CPAP in.

Mazie is 6 weeks old

Love,

Kristin