Happy Thanksgiving!

One year ago today

I almost can't believe I am sitting here typing this.  At this time one year ago today my body was working to deliver a gift so amazing that nothing could have prepared me for it.  I remember at this time in the morning, around 7am, my midwife, Charlee, came over to confirm that I was in active labor.  She told me to go for a walk to make things progress more quickly.  So off Tarren and I set around the neighborhood.  We would walk a few paces and I would have a contraction so I would hang from Tarren's shoulders for support.  People would drive by on their way to work and I can only imagine what they were thinking.  Hopefully they had babies of their own so they understood.  Still, how often do you see a laboring woman on the street on your way to work?  I finally decided I had had enough walking so we went home.  Plus, I was getting cold.  We went back and the next several hours are kind of a blur to me.  I went from laboring in bed to the pool in our room to the shower.  Charlee and Tarren were the only people there with me and they took such good care of me while I concentrated on relaxing while my body worked.  Finally around 2pm it was time for a baby to be born.  We worked and we worked and finally at 310pm Liesel Carmen Condict was placed on my chest; all 9lbs 4oz of beautiful, slimy, wiggling baby.  It was such a miracle.  We had no words to express our awe.  Charlee cleaned us up and put us in bed.  She helped us nurse for the first time.  Liesel was a champ!  She checked Liesel out and weighed and measured her.  Everything went just perfectly.  Tarren went and got us dinner from Sonic.  Then our new family, exhausted from a long day, went to sleep in our own bed.  We knew it was the beginning of a grand adventure.

This is how much she has changed in just one year.  

Liesel, we are so blessed by God to have you as our baby girl.  I never could have imagined that I could have so much love for another person as I have for you.  My heart overflows with it.  You are such a gift to us and I love being your Mama.  Happy Birthday, baby!

Flying

Ahh the 80's...who whould have thought Bernie could be so inspirational?

This is hilarious.  The guy in the purple shirt is the best.

My Halloween craft

I actually made this several weeks ago for my friend Sallie.  I wanted to do a post about it so bad but had to wait until I could give it to her so as not to ruin the surprise.  Well, I finally gave it to her on Saturday so here is the big reveal.  I got this t-shirt at the thrift store (Sallie thinks this mean bunny character is really funny so I had to get it for her).  The shirt was too big for her so I decided to turn it into something else.

 It went from this:

To this (complete with zipper):

I already had the pillow insert.  This was my first pillow cover with a zipper and I think it turned out pretty well for the first time.  I will always make them with zippers from now on.  It is easier to do than I thought it would be.

My favorite little pumpkin

Liesel was your basic pumpkin for Halloween but I think she was the cutest pumpkin I've ever seen! She even surprised me and left her hat on all night.  We went trick-or-treating just to say hello to the neighbors.  Liesel can't eat candy after all but she did get into picking candy out of the bowl for Mommy and Daddy to eat later.  Then Mr. Grant Cliburn came by to say hi.  He was a train engineer.  Liesel loves Grant and chases him as he runs away from her.  Liesel, someday Grant will be more interested in girls.

Unaware of the impending Liesel attack

The many faces of Liesel

Liesel's {1st} Homecoming

On Friday night we went up to Stillwater for the walkaround.  It is OSU homecoming tradition to walk around and look at all the fraternity and sorority house decs.  I was in a sorority so I participated in this while I was in school.  When you think about it now it seems like such a waste of time but what would we do without the walkaround every year?  It is so fun!  Tarren graciously even wore a shirt that had some orange stripes on it.  He is not Cowboy fan, mind you, but he did try.  He opted not to wear his Chiefs hat because he did not want anyone to think he was a Nebraska fan.  That would have been a real tragedy.  I forgot my camera so I had to take pictures with my cell phone.  I apologize for that.  I didn't take any pics of the house decs but I did take a picture in front of my sorority house with my little future A Dee Pi.  Isn't she cute?  She looks really interested too.  She did have a good time though.  The walkaround is good for lots of people and dog watching.

Here's one of the family too

{11} Months

11 Months

Liesel, you turned 11 months last week.  As usual I am way behind.
-You finally decided you would let us feed you baby food this last month.  You are eating a lot of other finger foods now but occasionally I still feed you some baby food.  You were only 4 or 5 months behind all the other babies your age!
-You love your protein.  You will eat any piece of meat or cheese we set in front of you.
-You LOVE drinking water out of your sippy cup.  You would walk around with that cup all day if you could.
-You are standing by yourself and taking a few steps.  Some days you walk more than others.  Sometimes you will walk with me holding your hand but usually drop to the ground to crawl.  You still crawl for the most part because that is much faster for you.
-You are talking a lot more the past two weeks or so.  You don't say anything we can understand but still you have a lot to say.  Sometimes you just crawl around talking about stuff.  It's pretty cute.
-You do say Ma Ma and Da Da and you know what those mean.  You can say Bye Bye and that is still about it.  Sometimes you try to say Amen after a prayer.
-You love to play hide and seek with us.  You either hide behind furniture and pop up or cover yourself up with your blankie.
-You do love your blankie.  I wondered if you would ever become attached to something since you didn't take a pacifier.  It is a blanket that your Aunt Randi gave you and you can't go to sleep without it. 
-You are very social and love other people and babies.  Sometimes you love them a little too much when you try to steal the other babies' pacifiers, cups or Cheerios.

We love you baby girl and try to cherish each magic moment we have with you as you change before our very eyes.  Your Mommy

{4th} Anniversary

Tarren and I had our 4th anniversary yesterday and the day came and went without much ado.  We did exchange cards.  Don't worry.  We are going to dinner tonight though.  Thanks to Liesel's Aunt Meggie and Uncle Tyler.  Tarren and I are excited about our date.

We can't believe how fast these 4 years have flown by; especially the last due to our sweet baby girl.  It has been a great year!  I have an amazing, God-loving, faithful husband.  He is such a good leader for our family and a terrific daddy.  I couldn't have picked anyone better.  Good thing God was in charge of that anyway.  I guess He knew what kind of spouse I needed. ;)

{10} Months

10 months

Liesel, you turned 10 months old last week.
-You have been crawling up a storm.  Everyone comments on how fast you are and I definitely know it.  It seems lately you are not happy unless you can get into something you aren't supposed to.
-This also means I am chasing you around and telling you no all the time.  Then you keep your hand on the object you are not supposed to be touching and look me in the eyes and smile a little and just keep on touching it even if I slap your hand and tell you no repeatedly.  What am I going to do with you?
-You are beginning to take a few steps on your own.  The most I have seen is 3 but you are getting braver and braver.  We think this Christmas is going to be so fun with you walking!
-You have been really grouchy lately and not sleeping well (except last night you slept through from 8pm to 730am without waking us up).  I hope this phase will pass soon.  I want my happy baby back.  Maybe it is because you are working on walking.
-I gave up trying to give you baby food.  You just would not let me feed you with a spoon.  I decided it is because you want to feed yourself.  So now I just give you pieces that you can pick up yourself.  You have been doing okay with this but still frustrate me a little because you don't eat that much.  I guess you will eat when you are ready.  You still nurse quite a bit so that must be filling enough.  (You do eat Cheerios like they are going out of style though.  Usually you will eat these any time; even when you have refused everything else.)
-You have 7 teeth now and like to show us by biting us.  You are very sneaky about it too.
-You began pointing at things and touching things with just your pointer finger.  You will stand at the window in the living room and talk and point at things outside.  I think it is so cute!

-And no matter what, even when you had a cranky day, your Daddy and I still lay in bed at night and gush about how cute and precious you are.  You are such a blessing to us and we are SO in love with you!

Collage

{8 & 9} months (a little late, as usual)

8 Months

9 months

I know, I didn't even post anything when Liesel turned 8 months and now I am over a week late for the 9 month post.  At least I was thinking about it.

Liesel since you were 7 months old you have changed quite a bit, my girl.
-As of two days ago you now have 5 teeth.  Two on top and three on bottom. 
-At your 9 month doctor appointment you weighed 22lbs 6oz and you are 29 1/4" long.
-You just just went through a little growth spurt where I can tell your thinking about things changed.  You are really beginning to make noticeable observations that I see you filing away in your brain for later.  It is amazing to watch you learn and know that you just know how to do it.  I have nothing to do with it.  You are amazing!
-You are crawling a lot and pulling up.  In the past couple of weeks you have been letting go and standing by yourself.  You are pretty proud of this and let your daddy and I know with screams and shrieks of delight.
-Speaking of shrieking, it seems you get louder every day.  You have definitely found your voice and demonstrate your abilities often.  Your Wednesday night Bible class teacher says you are all girl.  I will have to agree.
-You love Bible class at church and going to the nursery.  You like to follow around the bigger kids (Grant Cliburn) and try to do whatever they do.  
-You say "da da" and I think you are starting to grasp who you are talking about when you say it.  You can say "ma ma ma ma ma" but will not say it when we ask only when you are mad.
-You love your daddy and get so excited when he comes home from work.  You can't wait for him to pick you up and rescue you from all day with mommy play with you.
-You love to greet people that you see especially children.  I think you are inviting them to play with you.  You started doing this after we went to Tennessee in July and you spent so much time with your cousin Zaine.  You love to play with Zaine.
-Just in the past few weeks will you actually sit in my lap and let me read you a story.  I love that!
-You are sleeping pretty well, sometimes waking once during the night.  I usually nurse you back to sleep.  I secretly love this time with you (as long as you only do it once a night).  It is so peaceful and you aren't fighting me.  You just lay sleepily in my arms and I drink you in, my beautiful girl.  Sigh.
-I think you might walk soon and I'm not ready for it.

I love you!
Your Mommy

More teeth!

I have been waiting for this day it seems forever!  In the past week Liesel has had her top two teeth start to come in.  Yay!  She has slept much better the past two nights and so have mommy and daddy.

My Birthday!

I had a great birthday party yesterday.  Yes, I turned 30!  I know, it's pretty crazy.  Thank you to everyone who came and ate pizza with us.  It was fun.  Here is a picture of everyone taken on my new camera that I got from Tarren and Liesel for my birthday.  You can take panoramic photos.  I think it is a pretty cool feature.

Summertime

Hanging out at the pool with my favorite girl!

Short Leggs and Speed Queen

I saw this on the tire cover of a van the other day.  I think I'd rather be Speed Queen.  What about you?  I don't know.  Leggs with two "g's" is pretty cool.

The Park

Liesel's first time in the swing at the park. She did like it. She just never smiles for the camera.

Liesel's First Camping Trip

So, I know this is a few weeks late but we went camping over Memorial Day weekend.  It was Liesel's first experience spending that much time in the great outdoors and she handled it very well.  She really likes being outside though.  She likes to lay underneath the shade of the pecan tree in our backyard and just stare up into the leaves and branches as they sway in the wind.  Whenever we do that it makes me want to go to sleep.  Maybe she will learn that soon and we can both take a nap.  Anyway, back to camping.  Like I said, Liesel handled it well despite the noisy college age people there who talked until 4am.  Next time we go camping we won't camp on a river on a holiday weekend.  We did have fun though with Tarren's sister's family.  We will definitely go again soon.  Well, maybe in the fall when it is a bit cooler.  Here are some pictures of our adventure.  As you can see, it was pretty tame but we did sleep in tents at least.  Liesel's favorite part was rolling around on the air mattress. 

{7} Months Old

Liesel you have changed SO MUCH this month!  I can't believe all that you have learned to do.

-The biggest thing is you started crawling.  You have been up on your hands and knees for a while now but you finally got it together enough to move forward.  Your motivation was an empty water bottle.  For some reason you really love those.  You first crawled at Great Grandma Condict's house.  You do all your firsts at the Great Grandparent's houses so far.
-You are also sitting up very well and after learning to crawl you figured out how to go from crawling to sitting up pretty quickly.
-Almost as soon as you learned to crawl you started pulling up on furniture.  Now you are obsessed with standing.  You even let go with one hand when you are brave.  Usually you fall but you won't get anywhere if you don't take any chances.  It makes me so proud of you and sad at the same time because I can see how much you are growing up and literally moving out of my arms, my baby.
-Your reflux has improved so much.  I think you might just be growing out of it.  You still spit up on occasion but nothing like in the months before.  YAY!
-You still don't want to eat much solid foods.   You do love your sippy cup even though you can't really get anything out of it by yourself.  You at least sit at the table with us during meal times like a big girl.
-You had your first ear infection and that was not fun for anyone.  Antibiotics made you have a bad diaper rash.  No good at all!
-You are teething and drooling like crazy.  I think those top teeth are trying to come in but I can't see them yet.

I love you, my sweet girl!

{6} Months Old

Liesel, this past week you turned 6 months old.  It was your first half birthday.  Mommy likes to celebrate these too.

-At your 6 month check up you weighed 19.5 lbs and are 28.5 in long.  You are in the 99.7th percentile for your length.  You are tall, baby girl!
-You are sitting up and a little wobbly but improving everyday.
-You have two teeth now on the bottom and I think you are working on some more but I can't see them yet.
-You got your first highchair and you aren't quite sure what to think of it.
-I gave you some mashed up bananas this week and you don't know what to think of those either.  Maybe we will wait a few days and try again.
-You get up on your hands and knees and rock but no crawling yet.  You only scoot backwards so far.  You get up on your feet with your bottom in the air.  It looks like you are doing the Downward Dog yoga pose.  Goofy girl!
-We have been cloth diapering you for a month now and it is going pretty well.  Just a few more loads of diapers a week!  I only wish I had started this sooner.

Keep growing, my Liesel!

Doesn't she look guilty?

Someone got a little tangled up.

Shirt

This is what I did during Liesel's afternoon nap. It's an iron-on that I made on the computer. I already had the shirt. Pretty awesome, huh?

Commenting Troubles

So, I have heard from a couple of people that they are having trouble commenting on my blog.  I am working on solving this problem.  Right now I think there shouldn't be any problems with commenting by people that are Blogger authors.  If you try to leave an anonymous comment it won't let you, however.  Hopefully I will figure this out soon.  A certain 5 1/2 month old I know doesn't allow me much time on the computer though. :)

Garage Sale

I just have to say Erin Cornell is the garage sale Queen in my book.  She organizes a mean sale and I enjoy participating (particularly because all I have to do is show up with my priced stuff).  She sure makes it easy and fun.  We had our annual garage sale on Saturday.  I say it was in honor of Earth Day.  We were recycling our stuff instead of tossing it into a landfill and making some money to boot.  We made a decent amount of cash but the most important thing is that we got rid of the stuff that we didn't need anymore.  I was more for getting rid of the stuff than making lots of moolah.  After the sale it was off to Goodwill because everything that I removed from my home was certainly not coming back in.  I did come home with a couple of things that I didn't have before (like an awesome globe).  Garage sale- Goodbye until next year.  I am sure we will have some more stuff to sell then.

Cloth Diapers

We have officially been cloth diapering Liesel for 2 weeks.  This is something I fully intended on doing but did not start until she was 5 months old.  I know...crazy Erin.  After some trial and error it is pretty easy to do.  I actually like it.  I know we will still use the occasional disposable though for the uncomfortable grandparents and babysitters.  I am mostly doing this to save money.  It is an initial investment but will pay off in the long run.  I also wanted to diaper Liesel in the most healthy way possible and I think this is it.  Here she is in her cloth diaper modeling debut.  She is the cutest model I know!

Teeth

So, last Friday I noticed that Liesel is getting her first tooth!  She has had some tough nights but for the most part (thanks to teething tablets) she is handling it pretty well.  I am sad that my baby girl won't have that cute toothless grin anymore.  She is growing up too fast. :(

{5} Months Old (and 1 week)

 
Okay so I am always behind on these.  Liesel was 5 months old last Monday.  I know none of these are unique to Liesel as a baby but they are to our family.

-She is pushing up on her hands and feet into a full push-up with her bottom in the air.  It is pretty funny except when she pushes over forward, her arms collapse and she face plants.  It only takes a couple of these to make her cry. :(
-She loves it when we make kissy noises at her.  It always makes her smile except when she is really, really tired.
-She likes to practice sitting up but always falls to one side or leans over forward to get her feet.
-She still likes to suck her toes in the bathtub.  I think she really likes that she can suck the water off of them in there.
-She makes new noises on an almost daily basis; discovering what her little mouth can do.
-She has started to lunge and reach for just about anything we are holding; especially cups, food and the TV remote. 
-You can't keep socks or shoes on her anymore.  Good thing it is warm weather time.
-She is sleeping lots better at night with maybe only one wake-up.  Naps are also improving.
-Her reflux is still a little bit of a problem but definitely getting better.  She is still taking medicine for it.
-"Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" is her favorite song and it almost always calms her down when she is sleepy cranky.

What an adventure!

Victory!

My tub plunging efforts finally paid off!  After many attempts on several different occasions I finally conquered (at least for now) the tub drain in our bathroom.  It drains!  After plunging it today I pulled out some white gunk, black gunk and hair (mine I'm sure).  It was really gross but I was determined not to used any toxic chemicals to unplug the drain.  The black gunk is stuff called biofilm (Google it) and I'm not so sure about the white stuff.  Maybe soap residue.  Who knows but the yuckyness is gone for now!

Pictures

So, I am a bad mother and I didn't get Liesel's 3 month pictures taken until she was 4 1/2 months old.  Oh well.  She is cuter now anyway.  We went to Target to have her pictures taken.  I don't think I'll go back there by the way.  She took some good photos and some not so great.  Here are a couple of good ones.

And here is a goofy one. She might not appreciate this one when she grows up. I still think she is cute though. 

 PS - Family, I will send you some of these.  The good ones not the bad ones.

Playtime with Mommy and Daddy

This post is really only pictures.  We like to get down on the floor and play!

{4} Months Old

I don't really have an update like last time I posted like this because 3.5 months wasn't that long ago.  Liesel, you are growing and growing.

-At your 4 month check-up you weighed 17.6 lbs (99th percentile) and were 26.25 in long (98th percentile).  You are a big 4 month old!
-You have rolled over from you tummy to your back once each way.  You are still working on this and it is not a regular occurrence.
-You have started squealing as loudly and high pitched as you can after which you cough because you have strained your voice so much.  Silly girl!
-This week you have been very interested in your feet and tonight in the bath you put your left big toe in your mouth and sucked on it.  What an accomplishment!
-You are starting to make motorboat noises with your mouth and blow spit bubbles.
-At dinner time you sit in your bouncer and talk to mommy and daddy as we eat.  You are the best entertainment I know!
-You have lost your hair in a ring around your head.  It looks like you must wear a sun visor all the time.  It is beginning to grow back but you have a ways to go.  I still think you are beautiful!
-When we sit in the rocking chair with you you start to cry because you think we are going to put you to sleep.  For now you like to be swaddled to nap most of the time and bounced to sleep in our arms or on the exercise ball..  I usually nurse you to sleep at night.  I love nursing my sweet girl.  It is such a precious time for me and I will miss it when you stop.
-You are such a joy to us each day and we love seeing you grow, my Liesel.

Reflux (my nemesis)

Does anyone else out there have a baby with reflux?  I know you are out there.  We need to get together to talk because I feel like unless your baby has it you don't really know what I am talking about when I mention sleepless nights, seemingly endless spit up and refusal to eat.  It can be a nightmare let me tell you.

Tarren and I have had a couple of weeks of especially trying times.  We think Liesel needs a higher dose of her reflux medicine or maybe even a whole different medicine.  The Ped increased the dose on Friday so we will see if that makes a difference.  So far the past two days have been better as far as eating.  She is doing lots better in that department.  The next thing to tackle is sleeping.  I need help with nap time and night time.  I was doing some research on the internet and came across the book "The No-Cry Sleep Solution".  I think I am going to read it.  Has anyone else read it and/or have an opinion on it?  Did it work?  I need some sleep!

Consignment Sales!

So, on Saturday I went to the Pass It On children's consignment sale at a local church.  The group puts it on in the spring and in the fall.  I loved it and will definitely be going back in the fall!  I got Liesel a bunch of spring/summer clothes and the find of all finds was this exersaucer that I got for $10.  After trying out Haylie Cornell's last week (and spitting up on it a lot, sorry Erin) I knew she would like it. I had to clean it up a little but that was no problem.  I just love a good deal! 

3 1/2 Months old

I know this is a little late but I wanted to start doing this so here I go.

I can't believe you are already 3 1/2 months old, my sweet girl.  You are changing every day.

-You weigh around 16 lbs.  You have grown a lot!
-You can hold your head up really well and love to look around at everything
-You are rolling over from your back to your tummy.  Your preferred direction is to your left but you are officially an ambi-roller when you want to be.  When I lay you on your back you automatically roll to your tummy now but you get very frustrated because you can't roll back over.
-You still sleep in Mommy and Daddy's room in your crib which Mommy loves.  She wants you close to her.
-You wake up once a night to be fed (I really can't complain too much about this one)
-You are all smiles all the time (except when you are tired or hungry of course)
-You love to be on the changing table.  This is where you are the most talkative.
-Sometimes you talk so loudly that Daddy and I can't carry on a conversation.
-You are beginning to laugh but we can't predict when it will happen.  I think you laugh when you are tickled on the neck or under the arms.  It is a really cute little giggle and I can't wait for more!
-You are starting to love bath time so we try to make time for it every night whether you need a bath or not.
-You are going to Bible class at church and so far have done really well.  What a big girl!
-You have been to Memaw and Papa's house in Missouri twice and are definitely getting better about being in your car seat.  You still don't really like it though.
-You love to kick your legs and stand up on Mommy's lap and look over my shoulder.
-You still have problems with reflux but it is so much better than when you were 3 weeks old when we discovered it.  You get held upright after you eat for 30 minutes.  You love to be held!

Go Pokes!

Here is a picture of Liesel watching the Cowboys beat the Jayhawks on Saturday.  She loves her Cowboys!  She also loves to chill on the couch with no pants on.  Aww...just like her Daddy.  And look at those beautiful blue eyes!

Blueberry Buckle

 

This the is Blueberry Buckle coffee cake I made on Saturday.  It was really good but I think it is bothering Liesel that I eat blueberries (breast milk).  Just one more thing I can cross off the list of foods I can eat along with cow's milk, raisins (who would have thought?), grapes, strawberries, raw onions and pretty much anything spicy.  This makes me sad because I love spicy things like salsa and jalapenos.

Here is a link to the recipe for the coffee cake: http://www.pickyourown.org/blueberrycc.htm