Giveaway Winner!

Congrats Karen!  Send me an email and I'll send out your prize!

Thanks to all who participated!  I've been working on a blog for a couple days, but 2 sick kiddos is making it hard lol.

Hey, Check out this AWESOME giveaway!

Laura Winslow Photography is doing a $2600.61 giveaway on her blog to 1 lucky winner!

Be sure to check it out!

3 Months Old!

That's right, Samantha has been with us for a quarter of a year already!

Samantha's Weight: 13 lbs 12 ounces!!!  I weighed her 4 times just to be sure!

Samantha's Height: 24.25 inches


Samantha is growing like crazy and developing so much personality.  She has her favorite toy, a flower rattle with crinkle petals, she plays with it whenever she can.  She loves to giggle and play and still finds Kaitlyn absolutely hysterical.  Her other favorite is her car seat friends, her play bar that lights up on her car seat.  Her eyes just lights up when she sees her friends.  She also loves her baby exerciser, and will sit in it and play so good.

Her hair is still getting lighter, but all there.  Her eyes are bright, alert and a beautiful shade of brown.  She loves to have her hands in her mouth and usually keeps them shoved in there.  She has another cold, it started earlier this week and has been so much worse than her other one.  While she's mostly happy and smiley, she's  also so miserable and congested.

Samantha wants to talk so badly.  She tries so hard and mimics everything we do. She says oh wow oh all the time and daddy keeps trying to get her to say dada, but it just isn't happening.  She laughs so hard at him though.

Samantha is in 3-6 month clothing and has been for a couple weeks now and is quickly growing out of them.  She is just growing so darn fast!  We've been cloth diapering for about a month now and while it was a learning process the first few days, it's going great now.  It's so much easier than I thought it would be and Kaitlyn loves being able to pick out Samantha's diapers every morning and diaper change.

Samantha still spits up a lot, but we're getting used to it being a part of our life with her :)  She also still likes her paci, but not as much and not as often.  Mostly right before falling asleep.

Samantha is a great sleeper.  She does like to sleep with a blanket though, she grabs onto it with both hands and cuddles so tight with it.  We have to watch her constantly to make sure she isn't putting it in front of her face.  She is also on the apnea monitor at night, it has definitely helped Dusty and I sleep so much better.  And we've had no "real" alarms, just false alarms to tell us her leads are off or the battery is dying.

She hates being on her tummy but has gotten so strong on it!  She hasn't rolled over yet, but we have been really encouraging her lol.  She sleeps in our room still, next to us, but not in our bed.  And she LOVES the dark.  She hates sleeping with the light on.

I'm sure I'll think of more to tell you about soon :)

How to ruin a shower...

There I am, enjoying a nice hot shower while Samantha naps peacefully.  When all of a sudden I heard a loud bang, followed by several more.  I stood there, in the shower, wondering if I remembered to lock the front door.  And telling myself it's just the wind knocking the tree branches on the roof of the house.  Just like the scratching I heard last night.  It's nothing.


Then, my mind goes there.  You know, the worst scenarios your brain can think of.  All I can see is a group of men dressed like overweight ninjas (no idea why my mind went to overweight ninjas instead of normal ninjas, but I digress) stealing my baby because I didn't lock the door.  They've been stalking us on behalf of a crazy lady who wants to steal our baby to raise as her own, and just waiting for an opportunity when the wind is gusting and I forget to lock the door to steal her.  I literally shake my head and toss out the far fetched idea.


Then, I heard it again.  And of course, at this point, the out of shape ninjas have vanished from my overactive imagination and this time the big tree in the backyard has fallen, landed on our house, crushed through the roof and Samantha is lying stuck under it.  Had to be what it is.


I brush off that also psycho thought by remembering where she is in her bed in the living room and knowing the tree wouldn't fall like that because of what direction the wind is going.


Then, the dogs start barking.  And of course, it's to alert me to danger Lassie style.  Not at all because they are crazy and probably either terrified of the wind or chasing random cats.  Of course not, that would be too easy.


Although I haven't washed up, brushed my teeth or conditioned my hair, I know I'm going to have to go check it out or go crazy in the shower with sheer panic.  I turn off the shower, dripping wet throw on a towel, contemplate grabbing Dusty's gun just in case the fat ninja theory is true, decide against it because I don't want my delusions to cause rust on the gun, and go check it out.  I had not locked the door, did so, but no fat ninjas to be found, check Samantha who is sleeping in the living room and the tree is still standing in the backyard.  A big branch, however had fallen.  


I run to get back in the shower.  But, it was too late, I was too cold and nothing was going to warm me.


However, I eased my thoughts about ninjas and fallen trees.  And now I'm cleaned up lol.  And don't lie, I know I'm not the only one with crazy delusions that run out of control while I'm in the shower.

Some rants for the week

I know it's only Tuesday, and a bit early in the week for rants, but it looks like it's that kind of week :P

• If your dog is so big that when you are driving and it is sitting on your lap that you have to strain your neck to see out the window, restrain your dog in the car.  You are seriously an accident waiting to happen!
• If it is cool enough outside for you to be standing out of the school at 8 AM with a jacket on and still rubbing your arms, DO NOT send your kid to school in flip flops and a tank top.  NOT cool
• If I make it to the school nearly 30 minutes before school lets out to get a good spot in the pick-up line and then WAIT in the car for those 30 minutes with an infant, do not think for even one second that I am going to let you cut in, when you show up 2 minutes after the bell rings.  You have not paid your dues, go around and get to the end of the line.  I see you do it EVERYDAY and I'm not one of those suckers that's gonna let you in.  This particular car got there as the bell rang, blocked all the traffic behind them and waited for someone to let them in. I get there 30 min early to be this far back, yet they think they should get to bypass all that???  Screw that.  The car behind me let them in.  Grrrrrr.....  

• If you're a smoker, that's totally fine.  It's your life, your lungs, your heart and whatever.  But, it is totally, 100% not even close to acceptable to smoke outside of the 1st graders classroom.  It is a little counterproductive to preach to these kids over and over and over again how bad drugs are to then have one of the moms of a well liked kid to be smoking right outside the classroom while laughing her head off.  Not Cool.
• STOP expecting to get more than you give.  I do not understand how people can put forth such little effort and minimal thought towards someone and then throughly and seriously expect that same person to put forth a ton of effort and thought towards you.  It's pretty darn rude.
• And my last rant of the day, being a mom is not a competition.  At the end of the day, there is no such thing as a better mom, your windows being cleaner than mine does not mean your kids are loved more or better taken care of.  Just as my laundry being done fast or more frequently than yours does not mean my kids are going to grow up to be better than yours.  I am so sick of all the one upmanship that is constantly surrounding moms in everyday life, in the media and just in society in general.

Whew, I feel better lol.  I hope you enjoy your Tuesday!

How about a Giveaway?

Samantha is nearly 3 months old, Valentine's Day is next week, my mom had her final breast cancer surgery, Kaitlyn got the character of the month award at school Friday, I have an amazing husband, incredible friends, love is in the air and I'm feeling generous.

In light of all that, I'm giving away a nursing cover and case perfect for spring!!  I'm going to randomly select a winner on Saturday morning so all entries must be received by Friday at midnight.

To enter:

1. Follow this blog, comment that you are doing so.

Optional Additional Entries

2. Like Simple * Lovely * Baby on FB, comment that you are doing so
3. Share this link with friends, comment that you did :)
4. Visit Simple * Lovely * Baby on etsy and comment what you'r favorite item is
5. Share your can't live without baby item!

Holidays and Milestones with a Rainbow Baby

I remember going shopping for Christmas gifts after Matthew died and passing all the cute little Baby’s 1st Christmas stuff.  Oh, how I wanted to buy one.  Even more, I wanted a baby at home to wear it.  I bought a stocking and a bib and took it to the cemetery.  All of Matthew’s first holidays were spent there.  He never had the chance to wear any of the Halloween costumes I had bought him, not the pumpkin bunting or the pure white tuxedo so he could be prince Charming among his sister Snow White and his cousins dressed as princesses.

When your babies grow into kids and you look back on their baby days, you remember a lot of little snapshots in your brain, many of them are of day to day life and so many of them are of their firsts.  Their first smile, their first step, their first taste of food.  How they reacted to peas and carrots or how they stuck their tongue out when they first figured out how to pull up to stand.  With Matthew, we didn’t get many of those moments.  We had his first bottle, his first trip home, his cooing and his first Labor Day, but none of the big ones.  When I look back, some of my most favorite times with him are when we were just cuddling  and playing on the bed.  I tried so hard to get a smile out of him, I sang, I played, I was silly.  And it never happened.

We have plenty of pictures of Matthew.  Over 600 in the span of his 70 days.  But, not all great.  And really, not close to enough to satisfy me.

Having Samantha here almost makes me miss him more.  It is like a constant reminder of exactly what we missed out on, the holidays, the milestones, the memories, the growth.  All of it.  I can tell you how grateful I am for the time we had together until I’m blue in the face or my fingers bleed from typing it, but it doesn’t change how disappointed and saddened I am that we didn’t have more time.  Saddened that we didn’t get to make more memories, take more pictures or share the joy of more holidays.

When Samantha was a bit smaller, I could hug her tight and remember exactly what it felt like to hug Matthew.  But now that she weighs in a good 3 pounds more than he ever did, I have to go back to relying on my memories.

While nothing can ever take away the hurt of losing him or fill the gaping hole he made when he left, I am absolutely determined not to forget the lessons we learned from his short life.  I don’t want to take any of it for granted, I want to have endless memories of us all cuddling, laughing and playing, I want to enjoy each and every holiday with my family, I want to have quality time with the people that truly love us, I want to be able to purchase a Baby’s 1st bib for every holiday and have a real live baby at home to wear it.

We have been blessed to have Samantha here with us for her first Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s so far.  Next up is Valentine’s Day, and boy does Kaitlyn have a fun day planned for us.  She began planning a couple weeks ago when our Family Fun magazine came in the mail (thanks again Mary!), she picked out all the crafts she wants to do, the appetizers she wants (hello heart shaped hot dogs) and what we can have for dinner.  The only kink in the road is that she has to have her cavity (her first L ) filled that afternoon after school, but we’ll still be home in time to beat Daddy, and to get the appetizers ready and the cupcakes in the oven so we can decorate them while our personal pizza’s cook.  Valentine’s Day is all about love, and what better way to spend it than making memories with the ones you love and celebrating Samantha’s 1st at home with quality time.  While Matthew may not be with us in person, he is always in our hearts and he has a part in every decision we make.  He is forever loved.