Another Update, 5 minutes after the previous one!

I'm going to update you on our darling now!

Vada is 10.5 months old now! She has 8 teeth, she waves, claps, army crawls, pulls herself to standing, just tons of stuff. She is such an amazing kid!

She loves to eat bananas, and she thinks using her sippy cup to drink water is possibly the coolest thing in the world. She's getting far too big for this apartment!

I'll leave you with a few pictures, she's getting so big!

Long time, no update.

So, I haven't updated in a loooong time. Life has been crazy.

In January, we put an offer in on an AMAZING house. It's a three bedroom, in a great neighborhood, kept up beautifully, has original woodwork, basically everything we wanted. Our offer was accepted (yay!) and we were on our way to becoming homeowners. We were so excited to get out of this tiny apartment and give our daughter a HOUSE.

On February 13th, Chris was admitted into the hospital. He went because his head was hurting so bad he couldn't think straight and was vomiting. We were originally told that it was meningitis. On the 14th, his speech degraded so much that he wasn't making any sense. Things just got worse from there. We found out a few days later that it was a very deadly form of encephalitis (a brain infection). He started improving, but had major problems, like zero energy, memory loss, confusion, and word searching. We weren't sure if he'd ever work again. Obviously, we withdrew our offer on our dream house.

Chris eventually came home on the 26th of February. He had a PICC line in (a tube going from his arm directly to his heart, for the purpose of administering medications) that I needed to use to give him IV medication three times a day. He had a bit over two weeks of this, his last day on the IV was my 25th birthday. Chris spent a few more weeks at home recovering, and we found out that he was getting so much better. He went back to work, and as of right now, he is doing GREAT. He still has some problems remembering things, but he writes things down and he's doing just fine. He is off all medications, no evidence of seizures!

That brings us to where we are now. We put another offer in on the dream house when Chris went back to work. When he was in the hospital, I missed one payment on his student loan. That missed payment tanked his credit so low that we weren't approved for a loan anymore. Thankfully, I made a tearful call to the loan company (with the help of Vada, who I made cry for the dramatics), they took the claim off of his credit report.

SO. We are hopefully closing on our house a week from tomorrow. After a really crappy year so far, something good will happen (we hope!). We deserve this. Vada deserves this.

This whole year has really proven to me how much I love my husband. I can't believe I did all that I did and didn't break. I am so proud of him and myself for being so tough. Bad things happen, but when they do, it really shows you who you are and who is there for you. My mom stepped up in a big way to make sure I had the help I needed. She watched Vada every day for me so that I could spend time alone with Chris. I am so lucky to have such an amazing and giving mother.

Haven't been updating.

Sorry for the lack of updates.

Chris has a form of encephalitis and is in the hospital. Our blog was linked in our friends and so I thought I'd put this up.

I'll probably update more once he gets home. For now, we're just trying to get through each day.

New Business!

Hey everyone! So I've decided to start an online business! (this is Cindy, by the way :D)

I'm going to be hand dyeing flat diapers and selling them in an etsy shop called Pretty Baby Bottoms! I'll be getting my first shipment of diapers in today and I'm going to start dyeing them while V sleeps. I'm so excited! Also in my shop I'm selling allspice anklets (and necklaces down the line here). Allspice anklets are GREAT for teething babies. V wears one all the time and she cut her first tooth on Sunday without any of us noticing any change in her mood. She was her normal happy self!

Allspice contains tannin which tightens up gums and helps teeth pop through faster. It also relieves irritability and sleeplessness related to teething. I've noticed a huge difference in V and how she acts during the day when she wears allspice. I'm so happy with it! It also reduces drooling, which is WONDERFUL in the winter when babies get those horrible dribble rashes on their faces.

I'm selling two kinds of anklets, a beaded kind and a classic unbeaded kind. I'm so excited about this! I'll be sure to post more when I put the diapers up!

As for V and what she's been up to, she's been playing TONS. She's becoming more and more comfortable with strangers, which is a huge help during the holidays when she's being passed around from family member to family member. She got to meet her Great Aunt Marlene and her Great Uncle Larry on Sunday (along with some of her cousins), and that was so wonderful! We also spent Thanksgiving with my Aunt Lois and Uncle Dan and my cousins Kelly and her husband and kids and Danielle, my other cousin. We all had such a great time, I am so thankful that we have family here.

Before Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday, we went to a city about 2 hours away to see friends of ours that moved to Nashville right before we moved to where we are now. She is expecting their first child (a girl! Yay!) in April and they've never met V, so it was a long overdue visit. It was so nice to see friends from back home! I'm getting so excited to meet their new little one, I want to spoil that little girl like crazy! I've already got a huge list of stuff to knit her and things I want to make. Good thing she won't be here for a few more months, I've got a lot to do!

With that, I'll let you all go. I'm going to be up to my elbows in dye pretty soon!

Here is just a cute pic I took of V's hand. It's amazing how tiny it is! xoxo

More videos!

I have a screaming child right now, so here are the new videos, enjoy!

Hey everyone!

So it's a super rainy and icky day here, so Vada and I are cooped up in the apartment trying to stay entertained. We've played in the jumper, played with toys in the Bumbo, napped, ate, ate some more, and then ate again.

On the topic of eating, I think that Vada is going through a growth spurt. She's been getting up at night a bit more and when she eats, SHE EATS! I'm hoping that it'll end soon, it gets pretty exhausting! The pediatrician said she's ready for solids, but I'm not ready yet, haha! She'll get her first solid (avocado) when we're home visiting next month so that everyone can see her reaction (not on video, in real life!).

Vada has gotten a new toy recently, it's a Vulli Sophie the Giraffe Teether. She loves this thing!

It's the best toy for teething, we love it here!

I guess that's it for now, I'm going to try to write in here more often (like, 3-4 times a week). Look forward to more pictures and information on our growing girl!

No excuses...

Ok, so I have no excuse for not updating. Well...maybe a little excuse, like a 16lb one. Haha! Vada has been so busy lately learning about what's around her. She's discovered that when we put her in her jumper, she can JUMP. It's basically the most amazing thing ever, haha!

As for milestones, she's been very interested in making eye contact, flailing her arms around, and grabbing (and chewing) on her feet. I'm pretty sure her favorite time of the day is when we have "Naked Baby Time" at 6:45pm. That's when Chris takes her in the bedroom and they play on the bed while she's totally naked (this child LOVES having her diaper off, the more nude the better!). She spends the next 15 minutes laughing at her daddy's silly antics and trying to shove her feet in her mouth. I usually let the two of them have this time to themselves, it's nice for them to have a special time together. At 7 she gets in the tub, then we tag team the getting ready for bed routine and she's usually out for the night by 8.

She's been really amazing at sleeping lately! She wakes up once or twice a night now, which is a huuuuge difference from the 4-6 times she was getting up. I feel so refreshed! I think it's really helping her mood, too. She seems to be easier to deal with during the day, and she's getting a lot better at taking naps, though she isn't taking them in her crib. That's partly (ok...mostly) my fault, she falls asleep in my arms and I can't tear myself away from her to put her in her crib. I just want to hold her and snuggle her. She's totally over cuddling while she's awake, so I take it where I can get it!

In sad news, someone stole Chris' bike over the weekend. We've learned a valuable (and expensive!) lesson on locking everything up. We're hopeful that we'll be able to replace it after the new year, it's a huge bummer to have it gone.

With that, I'll leave you with the last video I made, which I should have posted, but forgot. It's Vada's 17 and 18 week video. I've got her 19 and 20 week video in the makings right now, I've just been so busy with my holiday knitting that I haven't had a chance to put it together, but I will have it soon!

I love you all and hope you're all well. XOXO