TGFMF=Thank God For Mommy Friends!!!!!!!!

Ok, so I HAVE to write a blog about how awesome all my Momma friends are, since I blogged about all Aubrey's tummy troubles and her formula I have had several, people reach out to me with advice and support...Something that I don't know what I would have done with out.  Also I have had a few GREAT Mommas start to coupon clip, and deal search for me.  This has been SOOOOOOOO HELPFUL!  A special thanks to Jenn B, Grace M, and Jessica O for getting coupons for me and looking for the steals!

I will start with her formula, last night Jenn text me about her formula being at Vintage Baby for 7.99 a can...Regular price is 25.99.  They had 6 unexpired unopened cans there...So I jumped on it.  If you do the math, that is 155.94 dollars worth of formula for a total of 47.94!!! That is 108 dollars SAVINGS!  YES!!!!!!!!!!! I don't think I could thank her enough for letting me know about them there because Vintage Baby is the LAST place i would EVER look for formula at.

I really think this formula is not going to be such a big of a deal as I thought it was to have because at my doctors office they said just to ask for free samples every time I go there, AND when all this supply runs out, I have several coupons already that can be combined together for super savings. I really love COUPONs!!!!!!!

My dear friend Jessica O let me in on a little secret of Amazon Moms to save 30% off diapers and free2-day shipping...PLUS there are usually coupons in the Babytalk and Parenting magazines for an additional 10 dollars or 20% off...I got 80 dollars worth of diapers for Tyler and Aubrey for $30 dollars!!! Let me tell you, saving 50 dollars on diapers is a GREAT feeling!

The only problem with Amazon, is that it is super addicting.  I shop A LOT for things for the kids, good deals, but it does add up, lol but it is so convenient not having to leave the house and not have to pay for shipping!

Got this Zebra back pack today from Amazon, after arguing with my husband if Zebra is too girley for Tyler...I obviously won and Tyler LOVES it! He carrys all his cars and books and if hes lucky some fruit snacks in there :-)  We are expecting 4 more packages today...It feels like Christmas! LOL

Anyways Aubrey is doing great now, and she is starting to sleep for longer periods of time, still between 3 to 4 hours witch is not ideal, but a HUGE improvement since being put on this formula, I can't wait until she sleeps the whole night!!! I do have to ask, how long did you have your baby sleep in the same room as you?  Please comment and let me know.  With Tyler I only had him in with me for the first month and had him in his own crib after, BUT we were on the same floor, with Aubrey since she has had all these problems with her tummy AND her room is on a different floor I want her to be with us longer, but I don't want it to be a thing where she would suffer from separation issues when I DO end up having her sleep in her own room.  Feel free to give me your opinions on this issue! I still am amazed by how different 2 babies from the same parents can be!! 

Aubrey at 6 weeks and 3 days, she is getting so big!

He is such a great big brother!

Well that's all for now! Happy hump day!!!!!!

Happy Baby=Happy Momma!

6 weeks old. Sleeping peacefully with no tummy ache!!

Ok so I might be jumping the gun, but I am so excited right now,  as most of you all know (because I make everything very public)  Aubrey has been suffering with horrible tummy issues since she was about 2 or 3 weeks old.  At first I thought it was colic, then reflux, then I just had no idea (and I still really don't have any idea) but we FINALLY got something figured out for it.  She is now still on medicine and we switched her formula to Similac Alimentum, shes only been on it for about 24 hours now and I can already tell a HUGE difference. I am knocking on wood tho because I hope it keeps up. lol but I am so happy.  The formula is super expensive, almost 30 dollars for a 16 oz can, when what we were used to is 19.99 for a 24 oz can...so I am sure we will really feel it but right now IT IS WORTH EVERY PENNY! If anyone ever gets any Similac coupons please feel free to send them my way! Email me at AnneTheresa@aol.com please! :) Thank you to everyone for all the support, emails, comments, and advice!! It really has kept me strong through this whole experience when I thought there was no end to the nightmare! I really appreciate it!

Ok on to other news, a couple posts ago I said something about going to a waterpark, and I am so excited because we booked a night at Grand Harbor Resort and Waterpark for April 9th!  It is going to be a blast, and Tyler really deserves it considering this huge change his life has gone through and putting up with a super fussy baby for the last month!  He is such a good boy!  

He actually picked this outfit out himself, not a bad job!!!! :)

Anyways I gotta run, but I just wanted to share the news about Aubrey.  I honestly feel like I had a huge weight lifted off my chest!!! Have a great weekend everyone!!!!!

Optimistic

I have always considered myself to be somewhat optimistic. I always try to see the bright things in life, some times are harder than others but I always try to think of the glass being "half full"

Lately with Aubrey's tummy troubles, it has made me start to think there is no light to the dark tunnel...I feel so helpless and confused.  I took her to the Dr last week for some medicine for her reflux and if just does not seem to be working, it is a little better, but she is still in a lot of pain after she eats and spits up always and just has gas like it is going out of style.  I just feel so bad for her when she wails and cries because there is only so much I physically can do for her...I find myself asking so many questions and not being able to answer any of them. Is it really just colic or is it really reflux? Should I switch her formula again?  Should I stick it out and see if time is the only thing that will help? I just have no idea about anything anymore.  I am going to call the Dr. on Thursday (one week on the medican and day 9 on gentle formula) and see what I should do next.  I really am praying that she will get better and soon because I really don't know how much I can take feeling like a horrible Mommy for not being able to help my brand new baby :(

Now I will try to be Optimistic...I really am truly blessed for having 2 beautiful babies. I have a wonderful husband who loves me, a great home, and awesome friends and family...  There are so many people who have it so much worse off than I do and I need to start counting my blessings more.  I need to realize that this is what I have always dreamed of having in my life and a few road blocks are not going to stop me from living a happy and healthy life. 

Ok with that all being said, I am feeling better.blogging really is a stress reliever for me. I will keep everyone posted on poor Aubs. Please take a minute to say a prayer for her. Thank you!

Reflux Baby

My sleeping Angel

In my last blog at the end I had mentioned that I thought Aubrey had colic, then I did a little more research and it turned out she had a lot of symptoms of reflux.  She spits up a lot, has a lot of gas, gets the hiccups all the time and cries A LOT like she is in immense pain.  I am so exhausted from all of this. She would not let me put her down EVER and the only way I could get any sleep at all at night is get her to fall asleep on my chest while I sit in the recliner.  Not comfortable at all (and a no no, but when you are desperate for sleep you will do anything). So I took her to the Chiropractor on Monday, no help, changed her formula twice and today I finally took her into the DR. The doc prescribed her some medicine for reflux and so far so good.  She is sleeping in her crib on her own as we speak...I am PRAYING that this is all she needed because let me tell you it has been a rough month. Living off 2-3 hours of sleep is taking a toll on me, I am so forgetful, super sensitive, and sometimes bitchy (I know hard to believe right? lol)  I even cried watching a cat food commercial the other day. lol

Other than the reflux Aubrey is getting so big already, she has started to coo and try to mimic my facial expressions and I think she likes when I talk to her now (in my squeaky voice lol)  She is 5 weeks old today, I can't believe it! Time has just been flying by! but its good because that means Spring is almost here, the last couple days have actually felt like spring and we were lucky enough to go for a walk the other day.

Tyler loves to push his sister but halfway through the walk he decided we had to go home to get his Cozy Coupe

I kept the blanket on her so the wind didn't hit her because we know what happens when they swallow air...belly aches and hiccups=no fun at all.

Happy St. Paddy's day

Our first family picture dressed in a theme :) So exciting :) 

Bath time :) shes getting chunky she weighed 10 lbs 13 oz today at the doctor :)

Look at her pretty blue eyes :)

Anyways, Big brother Tyler has been a crazy little boy as usual, hes getting so talkative I can't even believe it.  And his personality is coming out more everyday. The other day Lady Gaga was on the tv with some weird feather hat that looked like a mo-hawk and he looked at me with such a serious face and said "that's weeeeeeeeeeeiiiird Mommy"  it was so funny! He cracks me up. He is starting to be more gentle with Aubrey and not wanting to bop her on the head so much witch is good for all of us (including mommy for stress reasons lol)  Chad and I decided that in a couple weeks (pending on Aubrey's tummy issues) we would have Maga babysit Aubrey and take him to one of those indoor water parks.  I think it would be super fun and I just want Tyler to know that he is still so very special to us and we love him so much :) Plus it will be a little reward for being so good with his baby sister, (and a fun little pretend vacation for us lol) Anyways that's all for now, have a great St. Patrick's day everyone!

Tyler and Aubrey

Tyler

Aubrey

Tyler

Aubrey

Tyler

Aubrey

So I thought that Tyler and Aubrey looked a lot alike, but then I was looking at old pictures of Tyler and there are some that are just scary how much they look like each other! It is kind of fun to compare babies, I defiantly think Aubrey's cheeks are chunkier and Tyler's eyes are a lighter blue, but for the most part they really do look like the same baby!  Some of my pictures I have to do a double take to see what baby it is...It makes me excited to see what Aubrey is going to look like in a couple months to see if she continues to look like her big brother. :)

he loves her so much, and loves to help but about two minutes after this picture was taking he bopped her on the head and had to go into time out.  he was better after that tho

So Chad went back to work on Tuesday and so far it has defiantly been a challenge without the extra help...the first night he went back I felt guilty because I had to rush through Tyler's night time routine because Aubrey was in her crib screaming, but last night it went a lot better, I was able to give him a bath read him a couple stories, do our night time dance and tuck him in without her waking up upset.  I think It is just going to be hard for the first 3-6 months while she is so little and fussy.  They both need so much attention that I feel myself trying so hard to give them both all of it they deserve...it defiantly makes the day/night go by faster!

Tyler likes to put his hat on me, notice little baby Aubrey's head in the picture as well lol.

bed time stories, it will be nice when Aubrey is old enough to sit with us and we can all read together!

lunch time

So far I am getting the hang of everything but it has been pretty hard...I was so spoiled with Tyler sleeping 12 hours a night, that having a newborn was such a wake up call!  I am afraid she has the dreaded Colic...I don't think it is a bad case of it but according to all the parental magazines, books, websites if your baby cries three hours at a time, at least three times a week, for at least three weeks in a row then your baby has it, and unfortunately she fits the bill.  I did however get a book on how to help "turn off" the crying switch with colic and the tricks in the book have seem to be working, it just is very exhausting living off of 2-3 hours of sleep at night considering I can't nap during the day because I still have to care for Tyler, some nights are better than others, so I hope it gets better, thats what I am praying for anyways but until then I can't wait for the weekend so Chad can take a few turns with her at night.  Now that he is back to work its going to be even harder since he has to work a lot of 12 hour days.  She is a great baby during the day tho, so I am not sure how severe her Colic is.  Who knows but they say that it only lasts until about 3 months so I have about 8 more weeks of it.  Thank God Tyler sleeps through her crying!!! I always tell her she is lucky she is so cute because I defiantly am handling the no sleep thing better than I ever thought!  Hopefully I am wrong and it is NOT colic, and gets better, everyone please cross your fingers for me :)  

Anyways that is what has been going on, I love my 2 babies more than ever.  Like I said in my last blog, I can't wait for spring! I have been doing research on double strollers because I think I am defiantly going to need one! If anyone has one they would like to sell, or has any suggestions/recommendations on one please shoot them my way! Have a great day!!!!!

3 weeks post partum already!

So Aubrey is already 3 weeks old! I can't believe how fast time has flown! She is sleeping better at night but still gets up about every 3 hours to eat, I am trying to get her to stay up longer during the day so she sleeps longer at night and with this sleepy baby its hard to do!  

This is the biggest I have seen her eyes open so far! Her hair is in a little mo-hawk lol...when Tyler was this age he lost all his black hair and was bald for a while until he grew in blonde hair so we will see how Aubrey's hair turns out...I hope she keeps it, but if not, bald babies are cute too! :)

Such a cutie baby! I love little bows.  I really can't wait for spring because I have so many cute dresses and flowers for her head to put her in!!!!!!  We have been going a little stir crazy lately so we took the kids to Southpark Mall play area to run and play.  Tyler loves it there, it is perfect for when it is still cold out just for some play time!  I do get a little angry when people dump their older kids off and go shop.  They tend to run around and rough house and trample the smaller kids...ugh what can you do though. Ty loves to ride on all the rides too, here are some pictures of that.

This was his favorite! So cute :)

He is such a cutie!

He has really been into sirens lately and LOVES cop cars and fire trucks...He is such a boy and I love it! I  have been needing to get him some rain boots so we can go stomp through the puddles in spring time.  Hes gonna love that!

 We had a little bit of a scare the other day with Tyler, I was sitting on the couch and we were playing around, he was hanging between my legs and we were just laughing and playing and I tried to pull him up with both of his arms and it must of been at a weird angle because all the sudden he started crying and told me his arm hurts...so I tried to get him to raise it over his head and he couldn't I knew right away that he pulled his arm out of socket so I called the Dr right away and we went in right away and the Dr just twisted it right back into place...the whole ordeal lasted about 30 minutes between it happening and going into the Dr and getting it fixed...That is one major plus about living 2 minutes from the Dr...anyways, the moral of this story is to be very careful with tiny arms. They are more fragile than we all think! My mom told me the same exact thing happened to me when she was helping me up the stairs when I was Tyler's age!  I felt so horrible, but things happen...I am just glad it was so easy to fix!!!!  I love my little man so much! I hope Aubrey isn't as accident prone as he is! I blame it on him being a little boy! lol

Anyways, that is what has been going on here, I am defiantly ready for spring, this weather has been making me feel a little down, It could also be what they call the "Baby Blues" but I would rather blame the weather, haha.  Chad goes back to work on Tuesday so we will see how things work with him out of the house...I am hoping that I can get into a daily routine fairly easy.  It is defiantly going to be a challenge but I am up for it! Its Friday so I think we are going to go rent a movie tonight and maybe Chad and I will even have our first glass of wine!!!! We will see but have a great weekend everyone!