All in the Family

Well last weekend was a big family weekend as Erin, Luke, Rylie and Jack came from Dallas to meet Pace for the first time. We spent a lot of time out in Clinton with my family and all the cousins got to spend some quality time together. It was a lot of fun, very loud, and always exciting with two infants and two VERY helpful older cousins! We had a great time as Landrum loves her cousins!

Caving In

So I have been very determined that I did not want to start Landrum on rice cereal until around 6 months. I don't want her to grow up so fast, and I know that she is getting every bit of nutrient she needs by nursing. Breastmilk is so amazingly efficient in providing for infants needs that they can technically go their entire first year just nursing.. I was not going to be that hardcore, but I really wanted to wait until 6 months to start anything. That would be in compliance with what the American Pediatric people say anyway... so all that said, we started rice cereal this week and no she is not 6 months yet! I know - I caved. She is 4 1/2 months and I am trying rice cereal for one week. Why you ask? Because I am so tired! She was doing GREAT about sleeping through the night - 9pm-5am at least... but suddenly it all came to a crashing halt! She was getting up 3-4 times a night.. not always to eat but sometimes she was hungry. I have just started working three mornings a week and it is extra hard to be out the door at 7:45 when you have been up 3-4 times during the night! So at many peoples suggestion, including our pediatrician, we are giving rice cereal a try. So the first night was Saturday night. Did it work you ask? absolutely not! She was still up during the night and ate at 4 a.m. So I am going to stick with it for a week and see what it does -if it doesn't help with the sleeping we are going to put the spoons, bowls and cereal away for another month or so. If it does start helping, great. She does seem to really like it though - which is helpful. We don't really have to force it down her throat. I think the only real problem is we don't get it in her mouth fast enough. She gets this from her father. When Jared was a baby his parents could not feed him fast enough so they had to get what is called an infant feeder which is basically a big syringe so they could shoot the food in his mouth... i don't think we will have to go that far with baby girl! Here are a few shots from her first experience with 'solid' food.

Crying it Out

So we are in that phase - crying it out. It is absolutely horrid and I can't stand it. Friday night we let her cry it out - she started at 3:22 and went solid until 4:45 and then was silent for 15 minutes.. we sighed in relief.. until 5 a.m. when she cranked up again. She is not really crying as much as just yelling. It is very difficult and I really prayed asking the Lord to just let her sleep.. and last night He answered! She slept straight 10 to 5. Thank you! And of course - it was an ideal to get back into that routine since today was my first real day at work. I was very pleased. Of course I still woke up several times during the night just because I am used to that.

On another note - Landrum did much better today at MMO than she did last week, yeah! Another answered prayer.

I've Got the Fever

Olympic Fever - I love the Olympics.. I was totally into that cheesy countdown to 8/8/08 - looking forward to the opening ceremonies, wanting to have some sort of party, surprised when I would find out that people actually had other plans on Friday night the 8th. I, along with my parents who were equally eager to catch every moment of spectacular-ness sat captivated for 3+ hours as we watched the amazing show China put on - and then my favorite part - when every nation walks in -it is all so exciting.. so.. well so 'Olympic'. And somehow, I don't know how really, all the great stuff is coming on during primetime - how fortunate for us! And if I happen to fall asleep (as I seem to easily these days) I can watch the recap in the morning.. so great! What a great two weeks this will be!

On another note - I am going back to work tomorrow.. well sort of. I am going to start working at Mothers Morning Out at our church two days a week and doing Bible Study Childcare one other day.. so in all I will be at 'work' three mornings a week and Landrum will go to her own class. We start tomorrow and I am a little nervous about how this is all going to work out. I mean timing feedings just right so hopefully she won't get hungry while she is there since she hates bottles (I am sending one with her don't worry), and me being apart from her for three hours - three days a week. I hope she does not try anything new while she is away from me!

Welcome Pace Walker!

Jayme's sister Bethany and her husband David welcomed their firstborn, a son, on Friday morning at 10 a.m. A healthy 9lb boy, William "Pace" Walker. He is an absolutely beautiful baby and we are so excited for this addition to our family! Her parents now have 4 grandchildren and we have three neices and nephews! We are so blessed to extend our family! Welcome Pace!

We Survived The Neshoba County Fair!

Neshoba County Fair 2008

Well, we successfully survived 9 of the summer's hottest days at the Neshoba County Fair last week. For those of you readers who are unfamiliar with this phenomenon, check out the link to the right. It was hot, crowded, dusty, and oh so much fun! We really had such a great time sitting on the porch, visiting friends, eating delicious food, and playing games. Landrum did great and thinks she likes the fair! In fact, she has had a hard time adjusting back to our normal life at home! There was so much for her to look at and take in while she was at the fair, she couldn't get enough of it. When the temperatures crept over the 100 mark we stuck her bumbo in a bucket of cold water so she could relax! We had a good week, but now I feel like I need another vacation to recover from the Fair!

Cooling Off!

Relaxing with daddy

My favorite spot - right in front of the fan!