Fake Cough

10 months in 9 days
Sleep: okIt's been a month since I updated! I think that's the longest yet. Savannah is all over the place now! She chases the cats and the dog. She tries pulling up on everything she can reach. It'll be only a matter of time until she starts walking. She still only says "dada and nana," but I'm sure one day she'll say "mama." She's been doing a lot of little quirky Savannah things lately. Like Rick will make a noise, and she'll copy it, and they'll just make funny noises back and forth. She also has learned the fake coughing trick. She'll fake a cough, because she knows that when she coughs we get concerned. So, she'll cough if we aren't paying attention to her, and then when we look at her, she laughs. What else? Oh yes, we are going to see the orthopedic surgeon on Tuesday morning. This is just a consultation appointment, not the actual surgery. ok, gotta go, crying baby.

Zwiebacks

9 months in 1 week
Sleep: purdy good
Well, Savannah's two little bottom teeth are quite obvious now. She likes to touch them, and she's been playing with her mouth lately. She'll move her fingers up and down over her lips and make funny noises while she does it. She's becoming quite the mobile baby. Lately, it seems she is just all over the place. She's crawling across the floor and pulling up on all the furniture. I'm lucky if she stays still for one minute! She's started eating more solid foods. She eats some of the food that Rick and I eat. She really likes Zwieback toasts and water. We're going to her doctor again in the next week or so, and we will be discussing her surgery with Dr. Tucker. We're hoping to get her surgery done next month. Savannah is still stuck on saying "dada." That's all she says, well, and the occasional "nene," but still no "mama." We've been watching a lot of Sesame Street. We watch it nearly every day. She really likes Elmo and Cookie Monster. Other than that, Rick's working, and I am staying busy with Miss Savannah. Oh, our puppy is nearly 110 lbs.,and he's not even 7 months old yet! He's a great big, lazy baby!

Trick or Treat

8 months, 3 days
Sleep: purdy good
Savannah's teeth are getting even longer and more noticeable now. No more toothless grins, now there are two little bitty nubs of teeth. *sniffles* She's crawling better now, and she's kind of pulling up on things. This teething business has her all fussy during the days. Sometimes it seems like it is impossible to please her. She's been eating more foods. She's eating bread and crackers and chunks of bananas now. She really likes bread. She'll take a bite, chew it a little, and then take another bite. Soon her mouth will be full of food, but she'll keep trying to stuff more in there, until it's all starting to fall out of her mouth. It's a funny thing to watch. In 8 days, we're going to Scare on the Square downtown. I'm so excited! Our first time to go trick-or-treating! YAY! I get candy...I mean Savannah does. hehe. The separation anxiety is really kicking in. If Rick or I leave the room, and she sees us, she will scream...loud. And she won't stop until we come back. So, one of us has to distract her while the other goes out of the room, and then she won't fuss. *sigh* All she says is "Dada." If I say, "say mama," she'll just go, "mmmmmmm, DADA!" One day she'll say mama, one day. Right now, everything is dada...the dog, me, Rick, the computer, Nana, etc.

Two teeth

7 months, 2 weeks, 2 days? Something like that
Sleep: okSavannah is getting two teeth! Her two front teeth are growing in. It makes her quite grumpy, but it will pass....I hope. Other than that, she's doing wonderfully. We just went to Arkansas over the weekend to see my aunt and uncle and cousins. We had a great time, even though it was shorter than we would have liked. Savannah met her two (second) cousins, Conner and Carson. Conner is 3 and Carson is 14 months old. She LOVED them! They were all on the floor at my cousin Thad's house, and she kept laughing at them. It was so cute.Yesterday Savannah was fake sleeping, at least I think she was. We were laying in the bed, and Rick came in the room. I thought she was fast asleep, but Rick said something, and she started laughing in her sleep! And then she rolled over and started squealing in delight. It scared us at first, but then we saw that she was just happy. Then later she fell back asleep, and Rick leaned down to kiss her, and when he did, she started laughing in her sleep again! It was SO funny!She's been babbling a lot lately. She likes to say "ba-ba-ba" and "da-da" the most. She only says "mama" and "nana" sometimes.Savannah is officially going to be a ladybug for Halloween. We got her costume at Cracker Barrel in Arkansas, it is so precious! I'll post pictures soon.

Cardiologist

7 months, 2 days
Sleep: ok
We went to the cardiologist, Dr. Penn Laird, today. He said Savannah definetly has a heart murmur, but he is 98% that it is not a major or minor problem, but more likely extra vibrations of the heart tissue. That was excellent news. He did an EKG and an echocardiogram. He had a hard time with the latter because she was grumpy. However, he ended up getting a good picture of her heart. Anyhow, now all we've got to do is call the surgeon and schedule her an appointment with him.Yesterday Savannah took her diaper off by herself. She was sitting on the bed in our bedroom, and I looked over at her. She was playing with the little strap on her diaper, but I thought nothing of it. I looked over a minute later, and she was sitting there smiling with her diaper wide open (and it was dirty too). Needless to say, I was shocked. So lesson learned, we are now keeping shorts or pants on her. She surprises us all the time with the things she figures out how to do.She's still not crawling very well. She'll scoot around our bed a lot. We got a bed rail for our bed so she won't fall off, and she likes to scoot to it and scratch it and look at us through it. No teeth yet. But the little nubs under her gums are much bigger and closer, so any day now I think! And she tries to chew on EVERYTHING!! She's eating solids (fruits and veggies and cereal) at least two times everyday. She gets mad when I don't shovel food in her mouth fast enough. In fact, today she grabbed the baby food jar and stuck her hand in it. And then when I was feeding her, she kept trying to grab it. Oh, that reminds me. Today at the cardiologist they measured and weighed her. She was 26 1/2" long and 14.1 lbs. So she's grown a little since her pediatric appointment. And my arms can tell! Yay! Asleep at last. Well, I will write more later. Hopefully, I can get back to updating more often like I was. Bye for now.

Mimi comes again

6 months, 4 weeks, um, well, she'll be 7 months old in 6 days
Sleep: ok
Savannah had her 6 month checkup on September 1. She's doing great. She weighed in at 13 lb. 11 oz., and she was 25 1/4" long. Dr. Tucker found a heart murmur which we are going to have checked out by a pediatric cardiologist on the 21st. It's most likely nothing to worry about, but we are just taking precautions, since she is going to have surgery to remove her extra thumb sometime soon. Speaking of her extra thumb, that is her thumb of choice now. She chews and sucks on it so much that it just turns bright red. I guess I'll let her enjoy it while she still can. Mimi came to town on Friday afternoon. Savannah recognized her right away and flashed her a great big smile. And then in church on Sunday, she kept doing her little squealy laugh and tried to talk to Mimi, so we had to go to the nursery. She's making a little progress crawling wise. She's on all fours now, but she doesn't move very far, just a few inches. However, she's learning. She's sitting up very well...with no hands. One day she was supporting herself with her hands, the next day she was using both hands to pick up her toys and swing them all over the place, and she didn't fall over one time. Oh, we were at Mom's the other day, and Savannah was playing on her blanket. I'd scattered a few toys about a foot away from her so she could practice crawling. She tried to crawl a few times, and then I guess she decided that was enough of that, so she grabbed a section of the blanket and pulled on it till she could reach all of her toys. It was so funny. Oh, and she's been eating solids just fine. She's tried a lot of different fruits and veggies, and so far she's only had a problem with carrots. Next month we are starting on meats and stuff. Woohoo! Anyway, I gotta go, going over to Mom's to see Mimi. Later.

Half Birthday

6 months, 4 days
Sleep: ehIt's been a long time, yet again. I apologize. So much has happened since I last updated too. Let's see...I was sick last week for a few days with something. I had a high fever and just felt plain worn out and my whole entire body hurt. At least it wasn't another kidney infection. Anyhow, I'm better now. Savannah turned six months old on Thursday, and Rick bought a cake a candle in the shape of a 6. And so we had a family birthday party for Savannah on her half birthday. She has figured out how to sit without anyone holding her up. And she's been trying to crawl. So far she just sticks her butt in the air and moves it back and forth. She has started to get on all fours, but then she usually just falls flat. She'll scoot around some, but she really wants to crawl. She's just starting to do everything now! Oh, and she moved her little toys from one hand to the other, and she reaches for them and grabs them and flings them all around. What else? She's as loud as ever. Today I have one of those right-in-the-middle headaches from her screaming all day. I don't know where she gets her vocal cords from, but I'm pretty sure it's not me. She's going to lose her voice before she even knows how to talk. Sampson is getting huge! We got his AKC papers in the mail today. We named him Savannah's Guardian Sampson. That was more unique than just plain Sampson, and it's cuter too. He's still a big baby, and he's still teething. Two babies teething...it's ever so much fun. Anything else? Ummm.......hmm...I don't think so. If I think of something else, I'll update again ASAP. Later.

Moved

5 months, 2 weeks, 1 day...I think...again
Sleep: enoughSorry it's been so long, guys and gals. We've moved! We got the house on Courtney Lane and we're moved in....still unpacking, of course, but we're in. We LOVE the house. It's wonderful to not bump into each other all the time. Savannah has her own room...no more sleeping with mommy and daddy. It was kinda hard at first, but now it's easier, and we got baby monitors so that helps a lot. We weighed her the other day and she was 13 pounds with her diaper on. It's amazing how much bigger she seems, going from a 5 lb. baby to a whopping 13 lbs. Most people think she's tiny, but I look at her and think, "Wow, she's huge!" She's almost 6 months old...I can't believe it! Tht means soon she'll be getting her little extra thumb taken off. It's kind sad, Ill miss the little extra thumb, and she probably will too. oh well. Oh and she loves her rice with bananas cereal mixed with strawberry banana juice. Half of it goes in her mouth, the other half dribbles down her chin or ends up on the floor. What else? Sampson is big and clumsy still. He's like 55 lbs. now. He sleeps in Savannah's room, and now he can hardly stand to be away from her. If she's in her bouncy seat, he'll lay right by it. Or if she's in her Exersaucer, he'll lay right by it. And she still thinks he is the funniest thing. Other than that, there's not much to say. Actually, I'm sure there is, I just can't remember it all. So, I'll write more later. Bye.

The 4 month appointment

4 months, 3 weeks? anyhow...she'll be 5 months old in 9 more days!
Sleep: enough
Let's see...we got the contract back from the bank, we got the house inspected, now we are awaiting appraisal and closing, and hoping and praying that nothing goes wrong. What else? My friend Lacy and I took Savannah to her 4 month appointment. Savannah was great! She was 12 lbs. 3 oz. and was 25 1/8 inches long! She got 4 more shots, which made her grumpy for a few days afterwards, but no fever or anything. Also, she's started on cereals. She's already tried rice, oatmeal, and mixed grain cereal, and so far she loves the mixed grain, and she's not too crazy about the oatmeal. Oh, oh! She rolled over from her back to her tummy the other day. She's been rolling over on her side a lot, but the other day, I went and checked her baby bed, and there she was on her tummy. Since then, she turns on her tummy a lot. It's pretty exciting. Our dog, Sampson, is a great big baby. He LOVES Savannah and Savannah thinks he is just the funniest thing in the world. Anything else?? Ummm, no.

Sampson

4 months, 1 week, 3 days...i think that's right
Sleep: don't go there
House: well, we're waiting to hear if we are approved for our loan or not. If so, great, we'll send the contract. If not, keep on looking.We got a puppy, an English mastiff to be exact. We named him Sampson. He's so cute and very well behaved. He likes to lick Savannah, and she thinks that he is the funniest thing in the world (besides her Exersaucer). Savannah scares me sometimes, because she gets so excited that she screams really loud, and sometimes I can't tell if she's mad or happy. Instead of playing with the bugs on her Exersaucer, I turn them and she looks at them, laughs, and screams. Savannah goes to the pediatrician tomorrow for her 4 month checkup. My friend, Lacy, is going with me, because Rick has to work. My poor baby has to get more shots in her little fat thighs. But we can't have her getting hepatitis B or meningitis or anything like that, no siree. Miss Savannah breaks my little heart every time I eat. She looks at my food and cries cause she wants some too. So we went out to eat at Golden Corral the other day, and Rick and I gave her some banana pudding, which she absolutely loved! Hopefully tomorrow the doctor will say that she's ready for cereal. Mmmk, gotta go, I think a mosquito is biting me.

The house on Courtney Lane

4 months, 3 days
Sleep: enough...most of the time, maybe
Saturday, Savannah turned 4 months old. We went to John and Rosanne's house that night and had dinner and played guitar and sang and visited with everyone. We had a wonderful time, and Savannah was excited to see some new surroundings, I'm sure. Before that, we had gone to breakfast with Mom at Mimi's Cafe. That's always good. Then Sunday, we got up and went to work up a contract on a house we looked at on Friday...get this, the house is on Courtney Lane! (my name). Hopefully, it will all work out. It's a foreclosure, and the bank that owns it right now, counter offered, but we should be able to do everything. It's right down the street, literally, and right by an elementary school. It's great. Then after that, we went to Toby and Brenda's house and hung out, and then we went to Dr. Aldrich's (Rick's ex-professor) retirement party. Rick and I sang while all the girls seemed to pass Savannah around. Savannah got grumpy after a while. Orajel helped a little, and Dr. Aldrich gave her a cracker to chew on....which Savannah ended up eating it. Anyway, we got home and went to bed and then yesterday was just a normal day. I like those normal days, they're nice. She rolled over some more today, and I got it on the video camera so that Rick can see, because she hasn't done it since that first time. She did it like 5 times today on the bed, because on her tummy she couldn't see her mobile. I clapped and told her what a good job she'd done, so that hopefully she'll do it again...positive reinforcement. Mom's excited because she's almost done with summer school, which means she'll only have to work 32 hours a week in July writing curriculum, so she'll have most of Thursday and all weekend off. Which translates to more getting to see Savannah. Hmm, can't think of much else to write. More later.

Rolled Over

3 months, 3 weeks (4 months in 5 days)
Sleep: enough, I guess
SAVANNAH ROLLED OVER TODAY!!! She rolled from her tummy to her back. I had her on our bed on her tummy, and she rolled over to me. Then I put her back on her tummy and she did it again. Then I thought, "hey, maybe it's just cause of the softness of the bed," so I moved her to the living room floor on her blanket, and she did it again! Yay! So thennn, I tried to record her doing it on the video camera, but she wouldn't do it. So I turned the camera off, and she did it. *sighs* Anyway, she'll be four months old on Saturday. I can't believe it. Then she'll be able to eat cereals and stuff and she'll get even bigger! She's already huge (at least to me and my little weak arms). She's been trying to talk even more. She says "hi" randomly and she'll have a conversation with me in her baby talk every time she eats. She'll just sit there and babble for like 5 minutes, and I know she wants me to understand what she's saying, because she'll say the same thing over and over again, and then if I don't get it, she'll say it even louder. Then she just gives up. Oh, and when she laughs, it's so cute, cause there's this little noise that goes with it. I just can't describe it. It's so funny though. I guess you have to be there. Anyway, that's my update. See ya'll later.

Granbury

3 months, 2 weeks
Sleep: Sleep...what's that?
Well, we just got back from Granbury, TX on Monday. We went there for Memorial Day weekend just to hang out and relax. We got there on Saturday afternoon and went to the square after checking in our hotel room. We went and ate at The Nutt House. Afterwards we went to the Opera House and saw a musical. Savannah decided she was hungry in the middle of the musical, and so she nursed for a while under her blankie. She was making all kinds of noise. You see, she likes to hum sometimes while she's eating, and she hummed and grunted the whole time. So everyone's up on stage singing and you hear these little "hmmm, hmm, arrggh, errrr, hmm"s through about the whole middle part of the musical. Thne she did a big poopie and you could hear that loud and clear too. Oh well....that's my girl. She is getting huge! My arms are definetly gonna have to get stronger. Anyway, back to the trip. So after the play and stuff, Rick and baby and I went fishing behind our room at the lodge on the boat dock. All I caught was grass. We fished probably till midnight, and all I caught was a measly piece of icky lake grass. So the next day, we tried again. Rick got snagged and pulled out a nasty green/brown plastic lawn chair. And me? More grass. Savannah just watched. She LOVED being outside. Monday we went to the Botanical Gardens in Fort Worth. Savannah loved it. Rick got a frontwards baby carrier and walked around with her in that, and she slept for a good protion of the day. We went in the Japanese Gardens and fed the giant koi. Then we went to the Rose Gardens and took a ton of pictures. Anyhow, we had a wonderful time. Savannah did wonderfully on her first trip. Can you believe she's almost 4 months old??? AHHHH!!!

Baylor and UT Southwestern

12 weeks, 5 days (3 months old on Wednesday!)
Sleep: Some
Sunday, Mimi left to go back to Arkansas. We wished she could've stayed longer, but her time here was quite nice. Friday morning, Rick, Savannah and I went to BUMC to see his former co-workers. Everyone thought Savannah was precious. She was awake the whole time we were there, charming everyone with her smile. She loved the attention. After that we went to Cathy's, another former co-worker, house for a while so she could see Savannah. And then we went to Southwestern to see Dr. Little, John Wentz, and Dr. Aldrich. They all thought Savannah was adorable too. She was asleep the whole time we were over there. And then we went back to Mom's house and hung out with Mimi. Savannah is growing everyday. Mimi said she had grown just in the time she had been there (10 days). And it's probably true. She eats all the time. Mimi says she's glad I'm eating more now, because I was "picky, picky picky" with my food before and didn't eat enough. But that's just not true, I ate a lot. I told her "Mimi, I ran out of room." I do eat a lot more now though. I'm basically hungry all the time, just like when I was pregnant, except maybe more so now. She just drains me dry, ya know? Anyhow, that's okay, because it means she's growing. I'm going to have to get me some more arm muscles, cause she's getting heavy. And with that, I will close for today.

Mimi

11 weeks, 4 days
Sleep: Some
Friday, Savannah met her great-grandma for the very first time. Mimi's here till the 16th. It's pretty cool. Of course, any time we ever go anywhere, Mom has to tell everyone "there's four generations here!" She's my mom *points to Mimi*, I'm her mom *points to me*, and she's her mom *points to Savannah*." Mother's Day was wonderful. I got a beautiful gold necklace from Savannah that has a diamond heart pendant on it that says "I love you" on the back. Her and Rick got me a sweet big card that she even signed herself. LOL. And Rick got me white roses. It was quite exciting having my first mother's day as a mom. There's pictures of the day on the Yahoo album. Savannah was a little cranky yesterday. We think it's because she was just gassy. I need to get some of those Mylicon gas drops. Right now, she's watching TV with her daddy on the couch.

Schedule

10 weeks, 6 days
Sleep: Some
We added more pictures to the Yahoo album. There are now 81 pictures! And more are on their way, I'm sure. Savannah has still been smiling. She's been sleeping more at night, and staying awake a lot more during the day. I discovered she's most awake around 8 or 9 in the morning till around 2-4 in the afternoon most days. Of course, 8 or 9 AM is when I'm trying to catch up on sleep from her eating at night...but she doesn't really care about my schedule. And then when I open my eyes and see her smiling at me, then I wake up. Which reminds me...the other day/night she woke up at 4 AM...not to eat, to play. She was looking at her mobile and laughing, this went on for like an hour and a half, no joke. And of course, Rick and I are up adding to the problem, making her laugh even more. Even when we'd say, "go to sleep Savannah," she'd laugh. *sigh* the life of a parent. She keeps growing steadily. She's starting to outgrow a lot of her 0-3 month clothes, and nearly all of her 0-3 month socks. It kinda makes me sad, but it's great that she's growing so much. Like mom says, " they don't stay small forever." Savannah is going to meet her great-grandma this Friday. Mimi is so excited. Anyway, I thought I would add a new page to the website, so I'm going to go work on that. Later.

Four shots

9 weeks, 5 days
Sleep: Some
Well, we went to the pediatrician on Wednesday last week. We found out Savannah is now 22 ¼” long and weighs 9 pounds! She’s almost doubled her birth weight. She also had to get 4 shots! It was horrible. There were two nurses, and they gave her two shots at a time. AND I had to hold her arms down. That was the worst part. But she only cried for a little bit, cause the second Daddy picked her up, she stopped crying. She didn’t have a bad reaction to the shots, which we were very happy about. They made her a little cranky and she slept a lot, and her thighs swelled a little, but no fever. Besides that, she’s just been smiling tons….I tell you what, there’s nothing more I love waking up to than her looking at me with a big grin. Of course, she decided to try to talk to me and her mobile for like 2 hours. Just squealing and grinning and cooing….which I know is good, but I was SO tired and she was so awake. At least she slept till 4 this morning. Anyhow, I gotta go and get some housework done now.

bloody murder

8 weeks, 2 days
Sleep: Very very little
Savannah is screaming bloody murder. AHHHHHHHH. She's been eating ALL morning, so I'm sure it's because she's still hungry. She only cries when she wants food. And then she looks at me with this "how dare you wait so long" look and I feel like the meanest person ever. I got her a Massaging bouncer yesterday. She's in it now. It massages her back, vibrates, and plays 8 different songs. Rick, the baby, and I all went to the science lab at CCCC yesterday morning. It was so nice seeing everyone again, and they were all really excited to see Miss Savannah. And, of course, Savannah loved all the attention. And then she got hungry and fussy, but hey, what else is new, right? Anyhow, we came home after she tried to suck my arm off and sucked on my shirt. I tell you what, when she wants something, she lets ya know. And I better go now, before she wakes up the neighbors. Later.

Growth spurt

7 weeks, 1 day
Sleep: very little...again

Savannah is definetly having a growth spurt. She eats ALLLLL day. Well, except today she ate all day till 3ish and then didn't eat again till around 7:30. That was nice, gave mom and I time enough to go shopping and eat dinner out. I got her booties to match her bear stuff and the cutest little strawberry outfit that she can't wear until next summer. Now she's asleep with Nana holding her. We watched Baby Einstein today and she laughed at me making a fishy face, and she was completely enthralled with all the black and white and red in the DVD. Her first Easter is only 2 days away. I have a cute lavender Easter dress for her that's actually a premie size, and I'm afraid it won't fit her. Oh, yeah, we weighed her yesterday and she was 7 lbs. 12 oz. That's almost 8 lbs.!! Mom's been going around telling everyone she's 6.5 pounds, so it was a nice surprise. All her clothes are starting to fit much better. And she is just full of smiles. She smiles all the time now, so she must be a happy contented baby. Anyway, more later, out for now.

Exhausted

5 weeks, 6 days
Sleep: very little
The last two nights have just been exhausting. Savannah has been waking up around 2 AM and staying up until 5 or so, eating on and off and making all kinds of noises. However, I think it's all part of a growth spurt. They're supposed to have one around 6 weeks, right? Can you believe she'll be six weeks old tomorrow? *sighs* She's growing up so fast. We went to church tonight, and Savannah was a very good baby. She just kept sniffling, cause she was crying before church, and then every time she'd sniffle, she'd sigh really loud at the end. But it was cute, and I kept laughing quietly. Everyone kept saying how tiny she is, but it's funny, cause to me she looks so big, compared to how small she was when she was born. Anyhow, she's cute as ever and she's "talking" to us more and more. More later.

No Sleep

4 weeks, 5 days
Sleep: a few hours here and there.
Miss Savannah was a hungry baby last night. And today she is refusing to sleep....which is good, since that means that maybe she'll sleep more tonight, but bad, because she's already demanding attention. For example, I was holding her earlier and she was just fine, then mom calls, and she starts crying because she's not getting all the attention...I get off the phone, and she's fine again. Spoiled...Nooooo. Now she's just laying in her bassinet with her eyes almost all the way closed, but still barely open, and her little bottom lip is sticking out. *sighs* Anyhow, more later people

Origins

We created this site so that people can easily get baby updates, view the baby pictures, and hopefully do so with little or no pain. I'm hoping to put a page up with pictures of Savannah's facial expressions, because they are so cute (and maybe I'm slightly prejudiced.) Anyways, everyone enjoy!