11 Months

 My beautiful baby girls is 11 months! Actually, since this post is again late, she is only two weeks way from being ONE. How is that even possible? My mom said something to me the other day and it was so true. My grandma keeps saying "I just can't believe it has been a year." My mom responded to her " it has gone fast, but in some ways it seems like she has always been here." It is very true. I look at pictures of her as a newborn and barely recognize her. I see pictures of her at 4 months old and am so amazing at how much she has changed. But in a lot of ways, it is hard to imagine life before her. Maybe it is because we waited so long for her. Or maybe it is because she just "fits." You just want help but love her. I am sure Brian and both our parents can agree, they knew that they would love her and be amazed by her, but they never thought they would love her  THIS much! 

   Little missy is trying really hard to walk these days. She can walk pretty well with just one hand for support, but the moment you let her go she falls. She can't even stand without support. She has taking a liking to walking along furniture and she is pretty good at it. It is fun to watch her get more confidence and try riskier things. She won't walk alone, but will reach for you and just kind of go before you are even ready sometimes. 

   Since summer has finally decided to show up, we have been spending a TON of time at the beach. Basically, everyday it is sunny, we are at the beach. She loves the water! She goes right in without a problem. I usually carry her and walk out a in the deep end and we both splash! She also really enjoys the splash pad. The problem with the splash pad is the water is ICE cold and since she can't walk along both her and mom get wet. I can only tolerate so much cold water before I am back to the beach. 

 Speaking of beach, my family rented a cabin at this place we went to as kids called EDGEWILD resort. It is about 30 minutes north of Brained in Fifty Lakes, MN. I knew she probably couldn't last the whole week, Brian could not get off work, and I had some birthday parties to plan. So the original plan was to head up there from Saturday to Tuesday. We loaded all our shit (it was amazing the amount of stuff we brought) into two cars along with a baby and a dog and made the 3 hour trek up north. It was an EPIC FAIL! She did okay on the car ride. We tried to go around nap time and my mom kindly road with me to keep her entertained. We arrived about 4:30pm and got situated. The plan was to have her sleep in the pack and play.  That is where the epic fail came into place. I will be the first to admit that our baby is spoiled. She doesn't go to daycare and doesn't spend too much time at our parents house. She slept in our arms until 6 months of age and now sleeps almost exclusively in her crib. At times at our parent's houses she will sleep in her pack and play but it is only for naps. We put her down at her normal bedtime and although it took her a little longer to fall asleep, she seemed to be doing okay. Come 12:30-1am and she is wide awake. She has not woken up in the middle of the night for about 3 months now. Not only was she awake, she was awake for 2 hours! When she did finally go back to sleep, she was really restless. She is at a tough age where she wants to be on the move. We can't just put a blanket down and get her to stay. Add that to a smaller cabin, 5 adults, and 2 dogs....it was just a little too much. I felt really bad as I was really looking forward to spending time with my family and I know they were looking forward to spending time with us. I am hoping next year she will be at a better age and we can stay for more than 16 hours or so! 

The spoiled baby in her crib!

   A week or so ago we took Paityn to the Como Zoo. They have really made the place nice! It is a perfect size for really little kids. She loved it and we had a great day! 

The Big Hairy Question

  Now that Paityn is 10 months old, I often get the question, "will you have more." My response is often, "If it happens it happens, but I doubt it." Now this little precious girls was worth every ounce of pain, every tear. She is our world, our joy, and being her parents is the most amazing thing. Would I love to have more? Yes, is it likely, no and let me tell you why. 

  When people do IVF, the average egg retrieval is 8-15 eggs. I had 10, which is a good number. However, my problem arose with the fertilization. As far as all the test are concerned, I am "normal" and so is Brian. Therefore our fertility is considered "unexplained." However, when we had our IVF only 2 egg of the 10 fertilized and only one of those eggs started to grow. With most people who do IVF," On average, about 70% of mature eggs will be fertilized by "normal" sperm." That certainly didn't happen with us. Also, most infertility clinics like to do a 5 day transfer to find the "best" embryos. For us, we did a 2 day transfer. There reasoning, since we won't be picking the best (because there was only one), the best place for the embryo is the mom. 

  The chance of us conceiving on our own, although not impossible, is VERY not likely. Once I explain all of this, I often get asked, "would you do IVF again or adopt?" Although I would love to say adoption is on the radar for us, it is not. It is expensive, and often disappointing. My heart is not in it and I just couldn't go through all that. Brian is not into doing IVF again. He says Paityn was worth every penny, but now that we have one, it is just too expensive to do it again. I do agree with him. Although, I have often said if he was game for it, I would do it again in a second...and then I start thinking. 

   I would go through all the drugs, procedure, and pregnancy again in a heartbeat. The problem arises when I start to think about Paityn. I feel like there had to be a reason she was the only one - she is truly a miracle. With having only one embryo we didn't have to worry about freezing the extra embryos. We didn't have to worry about what we would do if there were extras and paying for the storage. If we did IVF again, although we got pregnant on the first try, we would do the 3 try insurance try again. The reasoning, if we were to get pregnant and miscarry, all that money (about $16,000) would just be lost.  Would I love Paityn to have a sibling? Yes, I think she would love it, but I know if she does not we can give her a happy life.

  Paityn is a beautiful, wonderful daughter and I do feel complete with her in our life. I am thankful I was able to carry her, I am thankful I get to be her mother, and I am thankful she makes our family complete. Instead of spending money always wanting more, we are going to love and cherish the heck out of our little miracle. We will spend money that would otherwise be used on another child,  toward fun family vacations, education, sports, and many other things she may need or want. Will she be spoiled? Probably (but I am adamant she will not be spoiled rotten), but most of all she will get all our love. 

  We are so thankful for this beautiful little girl. I don't think she will ever know how much she is loved.

  

10 Months

 This little cutie is 10 months old! These monthly pictures are getting  harder and harder to do! The reason being...someone doesn't care to sit still!  She is on the move all the time. If she is not scooting forward, she is waving her arms, pulling her bow, etc. I can't believe I will be taking only 2 more monthly pictures! :(

    Paityn has been on the go this month. She has gotten pretty good at army crawling. She can get to point A to point B without too much effort. What she has really gotten good at is the butt scoot. It is really something to see! Paityn has not learned how to get from sitting to laying so if she wanted to get around she had to learn to scoot. She scoots everywhere and she is quick too! She is a very determined child and if she is trying to get somewhere and there are objects in her way she just grabs and throws them! It is actually pretty hilarious! I think her most favorite things to do these days are get the puppy and kitty. If she sees them, she gets a huge smile on her face and instantly starts scooting towards them. They are both pretty good with her. The cat stays out of the ways most of the time. Paityn has gotten a handful of her a few times and she just meows and  runs away. The dog tolerates her pretty well. Paityn is usually pretty rough and grabs her fur. She does not understand the word "gentle" yet. Zoe does get sick of her at times because Paityn is relentless, but she just goes upstairs. 

     I talked about going to the Zoo in the last blog and it was a blast. The weather couldn't have been any nicer and all of the kids seemed to really enjoy it. I think the best party was the baby farm animals. They actually let you get right in with the animals and touch them. Paityn seemed to really like it. She did pretty well considering she didn't get much of a morning nap. We were there for about 3.5hrs. Here are a few pics:

  We have been enjoying what little beautiful weather we have had. Paityn seems to really enjoy being outside. We go outside as much as possible. A few weeks ago Brian came home with a present for the "little lady." Here I was thinking it was an outfit or something...nope, he got her a sandbox. Paityn seems to enjoy it. She is pretty fascinated with the texture. She does try to eat it every once in awhile, but it is not a constant battle. 

 I have so many cute summer outfits to get on her, but the weather has just not been cooperating. I have a ton of dresses, cute onsie outfits, and shorts. Here are few more pictures from the day when it was 90!

   It is hard to tell in the above picture, but Paityn's front right tooth is coming in. It is quite i bit further down now, but still not all the way. Just yesterday I noticed her left front tooth looks like it will be breaking through within the next week or so. She has been eating more "people" food these days. I know some babies will eat everything in site, she is a bit more picky. She eats bananas, cheese, toast, loves green beans, pears, but she doesn't eat a ton of them. I have given her carrots, but she doesn't seem too interested. I am a little worried because I want her to start eating more adult food, but I guess it will just come with time. She has recently decided that she is not longer interested in eating hear baby food vegetables. She refuses to take them from a spoon. I don't know what it was, but she just downright refuses. I have resorted to getting these organic squeeze pouches (see pic).

For some reason she will take almost anything if you squirt it into her mouth instead of trying to spoon it. These pouches include the vegetables, but are sweeter. They are organic which is also good. The downfall you ask?, they are expensive. The combinations are a bit odd too: green bean, pear, and greek yogurt is one - broccoli apple is another, etc. We have also given her the applesauce squeeze pouch and manage to spoon some vegetables in while she opens her mouth....we have to be tricky.

  One other fun thing that happened this month, and unfortunately I don't have a picture to go with it. Paityn finally got to meet her Great-Grandpa. My grandpa lives in Aberdeen, SD and is 86 years old. He is doing really well for his age, but the 6 hour trip to MN is a bit much. My grandpa came up to see my cousin's graduation from St. Cloud. He was really excited to meet her and it was really cute to see. It was fun for me too. I got to see my dad's brother's family that I haven't seen in many years. It was great for me to see them and fun that they all got the chance to see her. There are some pictures on my dad's phone I will have to get a hold of, they are precious.

  Lastly, we had a little bit of difficult news this month. My dad found a mole that was suspicious and the biopsy came back as positive for melanoma. It was caught early, but the unknown was really scary. My dad at one point said "I just want to see Paityn go to kindergarten." Thinking of my dad not being here for both Paityn and I was so difficult and heartbreaking. He had surgery on May 15th. They were able to remove the mole and a large area of tissue on his ankle (he had to have some skin grafting). They also removed a lymph node. When my dad saw the oncologist he learned that the cancer was really aggressive and had he even waited a month longer the outcome could have been different, but the node was clear. At this point no additional treatment is needed. He will see an oncologist every 6 months for 5 years and a dermatologist every 6 months too. I can't tell you how relieved we all were to hear the news. 

  Here are a few more pictures I got of the 10 month "photo shoot."

 

9 Months

  Oh my, I am so behind. I am surprised, I thought it would be 10 months before I got to this 9 month post. I can't believe my beautiful little baby (can I still call her that?) is now 9 months old. We had her 9 month appointment and we got away shot free! The nurse practitioner said she looks great. She weight a whooping 21.2lbs (90-95 percentile) and is 28 inches long (75-90 percentile). She is still able to wear some 12 month clothes, but since she has such a belly - she is mostly in 18 months clothes. Just for perspective, my friend's daughter is 18 months and weighs 23lbs! Paityn eats well, but it doesn't seem like she eats THAT much. I think she will lose a lot of it when she starts to crawl.

  Still no crawling around the Hime household, but Paityn can now get on her hands and knees and rock. She has some some army crawling if she really wants something (TV remote, computer, phone, etc). She is able to scoot herself forward when she is sitting up. Again, she does it more when she wants something, but she can get around. She also turns herself in a circle while sitting. It is so cute! Those two upper teeth from the last post are fully in now. As most people say, she looks like a vampire (seems fitting since I have such a love for Twilight :) ) It looks like her upper middle teeth have come down some and her bottom incisors are close, but no imminent teeth about to pop up. 

    Paityn has also master the art of picking up small pieces of food. Okay, lets be realistic, puffs and yogurt bites. She has gotten really good at chewing and she loves her puffs. She has also done pretty well with cheerios. I have been trying to introduce some finger foods for her to try, but she has no interest. We have tried cooked carrots and sweet potato, both of which she loves pureed, but it must be a texture thing. She has tried to get some food off my plate and has done well with bread. She liked ham too. I have some steamed green beans I am going to try next. I keep telling her she can't have pureed foods forever!

  Paityn has started to say "ma ma" and "mom." It is so cute. I know she doesn't know what it means, but it melts my heart to hear it! 

   We went outside today and it was AMAZING. Paityn, Zoe, and I took a long walk and enjoyed the sunshine. Tomorrow, my friend Maija, her girls, and Paityn and I, are going to go to the zoo. The weather is supposed to be beautiful so I am really looking forward to it! 

  We have taken the jogging stroller out once. I look forward to taking it out more, but the weather has been so crappy. It is hard, but was so fun to have her with me! She, of course, fell asleep! It is such a nice stroller!


                                 ......and she is done with the hair bow

                                                     Look at the difference!

8 Months

Okay, I know I am a little behind. The more active she gets, the harder it is to blog (and maybe the lazier I get...who knows). Little Miss Paityn turned 8 months on March 12th. It is just so incredible to watch her grow. She learns so many new things everyday! Paityn loves to roll around on the ground. In fact, that is her mode of transportation. She rolls EVERYWHERE. Paityn rolls, pushes up on her hands, spins herself in a circle and then continues to roll. I can tell she sometimes get really frustrated when she can't get to something, but she really hasn't shown much effort to crawl. It seems she has trouble getting her knees up and then her hands in front. I can tell she can get a little frustrated when she wants to get from sitting to laying and vice versa. She hasn't quite figured out how to get from down to up and up to down. The times she has, it has been more of a face plant on accident. She is getting there though.

  One of big milestones happened about 1.5-2 weeks ago. We stopped feeding Paityn at night (she finally seemed to be more awake wanting to play and than actually hungry) and since then she has started to sleep through the night. We were able to push back her bedtime about and hour and that seemed to help a lot. She is not consistent yet, but she sleeps through the night more nights than not. When she she doesn't sleep through the night it is usually because she has a stuffy nose and can't quite get herself back to sleep or she is just awake and would like to play. On those nights she is usually up for an average of an hour, but there is no feeding and just persistent reassurance and she goes back to sleep. I am not going to lie, it has been SO nice to have her sleeping through the night! I miss seeing her, but getting solid sleep is AMAZING. I still wake up often because my body is used to it, but it is getting better and pretty soon I hope to sleep as sound as she does. Her naps are still kind of all over the place, but she is happy when she is awake, so she must be getting plenty of sleep. She usually take a nap in the morning that is anywhere from 20 mins to about and hour and then a 1hr to 1hr 15 min nap in the afternoon.

  Another big milestone we just discovered this week. The little lady is getting some more teeth. Just two days ago I noticed that her upper lateral incisors were just about to erupt. Today I notice the left incisor had broken through the gum and it looks like the right lateral incisor will break through any day. She is going to have a little off smile missing those upper front teeth, but you can start to see the outline of them so it may not be too long. You can also see that the bottom lateral incisors are close to the surface, but it could be awhile before they come through the gum.



    Paityn has done pretty well with teething so far. She is a little fussy, which I can't blame her for and she chews on everything. She chews on her toys, fingers, etc. She always has to be chewing on something. Amazingly enough though there is not a ton of drool. A little tylenol goes a long way for her.

 I  have really enjoyed the nicer weather. I had been bugging Brian about wanted to get a jogging stroller off of Craigslist. I am hoping to run a 1/2 marathon at the end of August and would love to have her help me train (plus would give me more freedom - instead of having to wait for Brian to get home). Brian kept telling me I couldn't get one off craiglist because he was worried about the crazies. Well, last weekend I was working and when I came home I found a brand new jogging stroller waiting for me. It was not just any jogging stroller, but the granddaddy of jogging strollers - The b.o.b.! I have not actually jogged yet because it is a little cool, but we have taking several short walks and Paityn, I and Zoe love it!!!! I really look forward to bringing her to the park and beach soon too!

  It is so true what people say about the favorite toy of kids to be the simple ones. Paityn LOVES those linking beads in the above picture - super simple. She also LOVES strings (like on a sweatshirt) and zippers. There has been several times I have watched in her crib reach over, find where her bumper is tied, untie and play with the strings. I am super excited because for Easter the "Easter bunny" got her a doll that has buttons, strings, zippers, buckles, etc. Lately she has been enjoying all that the diaper box has to offer :)

  I

 

  I just can't get over what a joy she is. I know she is just wrapped around our little finger. She is just a sweet, happy baby. She is just the light of our lives and I thank God for her! She is such a miracle to us and life without her would just not be complete!

Poor Baby!




At the doctor - weighing in at 19lbs 12oz!


 It was bound to happen sometime. I am actually surprised she stayed healthy this long. I thought her first sickness would have been a cold or ear infection, but the poor baby got some sort of GI bug (tummy trouble). Last week, Paityn just decided that she didnt' want to eat any of her solid food. She was taking a bottle, but she flat out refused to eat any solids. In addition, she started to have some diarrhea. She was also kind of grabbing at her right ear. I was not sure if she had an ear infection, if it was just a phase, or if she was teething. I had to take her in to get her second flu shot so I thought I would just get her checked out.

   We went to the doctor on Wednesday 2/20. Partners in Pediatrics does such a great job. She wen to ready care which is just a walk in type of clinic. The doctor she saw was actually the doctor who saw her in the hospital - Dr. Cantor. I loved him, but he is at the Calhoon office and just happened to be at the Brooklyn Park office that day. He said he remembered us (I am sure he didn't, he see so many people/kids in a day - I would be amazed if he did) and said he couldn't believe Paityn had gotten so big. She was a trooper with the shot and her ears were clear. I thought we were in the clear, but the next several days it was a fight to get her to eat and she had severe diarrhea. She went about 6-8 times a day and every time it was a full outfit change. Her poor butt got so red and sore and you could just tell she didn't feel right. She still smiled and would laugh occasionally, but she just wasn't herself. One morning, when I was at work, she even vomited. Poor Brian had to call me at work because he was so worried about her. I did call once I got home and they said that kids can get GI troubles that last anywhere from 5-14 days. I was told to make sure she was just having wet diapers (they worry about dehydration) and eating her bottle.

  The last few days this little lady seems to be feeling better. Diarrhea is minimal, her butt is healed, and today she ate like a trooper! Today, it seemed like her appetite was back. She was actually interested in solid food and ate really well! I hope she is almost back to feeling 100%. It is so hard to see your child not feel good, and even worse not being able to have her communicate what is wrong. We gave her lots of love and snuggles and just wanted her to know we cared and were there for her!



Starting to feel better!



7 months

   This little doll is 7 months old! It is so hard to believe. Brian just said to me the other night "it really does go fast, doesn't it." For some reason 7 months sounds so old to me. Perhaps it is because she is no longer an infant, she is a growing baby who is rolling like crazy, eating baby food 3 times a day, and is overall becoming her own little person with her little personality shinning through more and more everyday! We have decided that she looks like Brian in most everything, however, she does have my face structure. For awhile there I was wondering if they got the eggs mixed up :) I am pretty sure her eyes are going to stay blue. Right now they are a dark blue with some brown hues mixed in. My mom says they are like my great grandmother's eyes. They do look a lot like Brian's eyes too, but his are a lighter blue.

  She has not tried to crawl or even army crawl for that matter, but she is still on the go. She rolls to get places. I often set her down in the middle of the floor and leave for a few minutes to go do something and I come back to find her clear on the other side. I have laid toys out all around her and I have watched her figure out how to roll and shift to get to the toy. She just loves to roll and jump in the jumperoo. She has learned how to turn herself in the exersaucer and jumperoo and can entertain herself for 45 minutes or better. I often put her in the exersaucer while I run and she just has a grand old time in there!

  She is eating 3 times a day now. For breakfast and dinner she has 2 heaping tablespoons of oatmeal and 1/2 a container of fruit. For lunch she has a container of vegetables. She drinks about 20-25oz a day of formula. She has liked most food we have introduced. Some of her favorites are sweet potatoes, green beans, and carrots. She has also tried apples, pears, peaches, squash, avocado - all which she seems to like. Peas were an epic fail, but that is the only thing she has actually gagged when given to her!

  On my birthday we took our first family adventure to Underwater World at the Mall of America. She LOVED it! We had so much fun watching her take everything in - looking at all the colors! We took her out of the stroller and held her - her head was on a swivel!

 

   We have had a small milestone with sleeping. No, she is not sleeping through the night, but she has broke the need for her swaddle. I swear I thought it would NEVER end. She now sleeps in a sleep sack with her arms out and she does wonderful. She has been doing VERY good at putting herself to sleep! She sleeps with her elephant and rolls all over in her sleep. She seems to like sleeping on her right side the best. Her naps are still all over the place. The other day she took 3 - 30 minute naps. Today she took a 1.75 hour morning nap and a half hour afternoon nap. Sometimes she just downright refuses to sleep. I sent the picture to Brian the other day when I was checking on her with the video monitor.

So glad the swaddle is gone!

  Paityn has also started to stand while holding onto items. She is not very steady, but she can stand independently while holding onto something sturdy for a few minutes. She is no where near walking - maybe by her first birthday. My mom said didn't walk until I was about 14 months!

 

   In addition to eating food, standing, and sleeping without the swaddle the little lady got her first teeth. She got both bottom middle teeth within a few days of each other. I didn't really notice any extra fussiness with the teething, but these are just the begining. We give her a mesh feeder with an ice cube in it which I think helps. She also likes to chew on her toys! She puts EVERYTHING in her mouth!



Look at those teeth!



   Here are some more 7 month pictures: