Just Not Sure

Have you ever had one of those days when you just can't decide whether you will be happy or sad...well that's how I'm feeling this morning :o) As you can tell by my face I'm just not so sure...Hope everyone has a good day. I get to spend the upcoming weekend with daddy cause mommy has to work with Auntie Coco at the horse show...it should be fun!

Blame it on Mommy!!

OK - so I have been bugging mommy for a long time now to update my page. I am growing up so fast! I am definitely not a baby anymore! I am crawling all over the place, and I can pull myself up on everything too! This does however mean that I fall down a little more often...but it's ok. I am pretty tough! Mommy has to tell me NO sometimes now. I am starting to learn what it means, but sometimes I like to test her (hehehe). Sometimes when she tells me no I sit and yell for about 3 seconds and then I am fine. And sometimes I like to play games with mommy and see how long it takes to get her to just give in and laugh at me!! When she tells me no and I give her a little eyebrow raise and my cute little giggle...and she pretty much gives in every time! So since mommy hasn't updated my page in a (VERY) long time. I convinced her to put up a bunch of pictures...so here you go!!

I LOVE this piano...especially now that I can stand and play with all of the fun things on the back side of it!

I like to stand at the window now and look outside to see daddy coming up the driveway!

Here is me with my sippy cup. I am just learning how to use this. I really like to chew on it cause it feels good on my teeth (which still haven't come in yet!) Mommy bought me one with a straw yesterday and I am MUCH better at that one - cause I don't have to tip it up to get anything!
Daddy says that I found all of the things that he doesn't want me to get into the first day I was crawling...mommy thinks I will still find some more things!!

I LOVE dog water!!! YAY

Cowgirl Carleigh

Well, as a kid...I get kind of bored with things pretty easily. But man do I love my jumper! It is just like riding a horse. It even sounds like a horse! Sometimes mommy makes the horse noises too and that makes me laugh pretty hard. Here is a video of me jumping for you. I have become a master jumper!

Here are some more pictures of me eating. Forget that chicken stuff...bring on the vegetables. I LOVE my peas!!! I love them SO much that mommy can't get them to my mouth fast enough. So I think that I have to help her. I try to tell her that I can just do it by myself but she doesn't believe me. So I try to just show her. I just grab the spoon right from her hand and put it in my mouth...but what is on the spoon doesn't all make it to my mouth. This time when we were eating peas it went in my hair, and on my face, and on my hands, and on my tray. Then I thought that since it was on my tray I might as well play with it!! Green peas are REALLY fun to play with on a blue tray. You can swoosh them all around, and they are really slippery, and they make a really big mess for mommy to clean up! Well...the dogs help too!!!

Mommy keeps telling me that in a few more weeks I get to meet the last of my uncles...Uncle Ben!! I am very excited for that. And I get to see my cousin Jacob again. Maybe he will like me a little more this time and want to play with me now that I am bigger!

Well sorry it took so long for mommy to post this...I will try to keep on her case to post more often!!!

Lots of Love!!

CJ

Chicken & Gravy...WHAT

So my GI doctor told mommy that she can start giving me meats and veggies. So mommy went shopping today and got me some chicken & gravy, turkey & gravy & beef & gravy. I thought that maybe I would try the chicken first...sounds like it would be good right?!

Well when mommy smelled it and made that awful face I was already prepared for something pretty bad...but holy cow!! This was really bad! Here is a video of my trying to eat my chicken...

Here are some more pictures of my new favorite toy...my baby grand piano! I LOVE to play songs for mommy and daddy, and flip my music pages.

Well Uncle Micky comes in on Friday night for the 4th of July party. I am SO excited to see him again!! Can't wait to see everyone this weekend (Just wish Auntie Erin, Uncle Ben & Jake could come too) :o)

Lots of Love - CJ

I'm a Sailor - I Sail!

So last night, Mommy skipped out of work a little early and met Daddy, Gramma JoJo and I down at the small boat harbor. We got to take the boat out for my first boat ride! It was so much fun. The weather was beautiful. Daddy bought me a little infant life vest...even smaller than the one he bought when Jacob was home a couple of summers ago! It was so comfortable I slept the first couple of hours I was wearing it!
Here is a picture of me and mommy after I woke up.
And here is a picture of me on Gramma JoJo's lap.

I had lots of fun when daddy was driving back. It was kind of bumpy. I held onto mommy REALLY tight. Mommy was kind of freaking out a little bit, but I was laughing really hard and smiling a lot and thought it was SO fun!

Tomorrow morning mommy, daddy and I are going to meet with the ladies at Color Your World. Mommy tells me that they might be my new daycare. Mommy is really sad about it - but I think that it might be fun to have lots of people to play with during the day when she has to go to work! Mommy and daddy say that they are going to go in there and "examine" every square inch of the place to make sure that it is suitable for me - and that they approve of it. I am sure that I will just smile at everyone to make sure that they will love me enough to smile back!

Well lots of love! - CJ

Growing Little Girl

Yesterday was SUCH a fun day! Mommy's friend Erika came to visit us all the way from ALASKA!!!!! Can you believe it?! It was so much fun. We got to go shopping ALL day long. We even went out to lunch - and when we were eating lunch, I saw Kelly and baby Molly. I got so tired from all of the shopping that we did that I even fell asleep playing with my toy! See...I am holding onto my fish...
Here is a picture of me playing in the grass with mommy the other night. I am starting to try to crawl a little bit so mommy tries to get me to do it all the time. But i get really frustrated with her so I just roll to my back when I get mad haha. Here I am being cute...

And here are a couple of pictures of me playing in my jumper. Boy is this toy fun! I don't quite get the point of it...that I have to bounce in it and jump up and down. But man...I have a lot of fun in it! It whinnies and makes galloping noises like a horse and I like to copy it and scream and squeal really loud (and drive mommy nuts!).

Well this weekend is fathers day so I am pretty excited to spend the weekend with my daddy and grandpas. It is pretty fun to have them around I have decided!

Lots of Love - CJ

Here is a better picture of baby Bristol. Isn't she beautiful!!! She sure does look like mommy :o)

Welcome Baby Bristol

I have a new baby GIRL to play with!!!! Mommy got a picture message at 3:38am this morning ... it was baby Bristol!!!

Bristol Isabella Sprague

6 lb 2 oz

(The picture is kinda blurry...sorry!!!)

...isn't she beautiful! We are SO excited...and cannot wait to meet her! Mommy is really sad that she can't go to the hospital to see her but we will have to go to the house and meet her next week. Mommy can't wait to talk to Heather and hear how everything went...she heard that she didn't have ANY drugs...WOW!

Well we are very blessed to have another beautiful healthy baby in our lives. We love you Kody, Heather, Carter & baby Bristol!!!!!


Love - CJ

Teeth

Mommy thinks that I MUST have teeth coming soon. I am chewing on EVERYTHING. I like to grab onto anything I can and chew on it. I am also drooling like crazy. Mommy hasn't been able to feel anything yet but they have to be on their way!

So I have gotten to go camping the past 2 weekends in a row!!! I had SO much fun. First we went camping with Uncle Cody, Gramma Nanci, Uncle Gary and lots of other people. I got to sleep in Uncle Gary's new camper - that was pretty fun. Then last weekend we went to Allegany State Park with Uncle Eric and Aunt Corie. Gramma JoJo, Auntie Alice and Uncle Dave stopped by too! It was SO much fun. I got to hang out by the fire ALL day. And I got to yell and scream as much as I wanted (it is my new favorite thing to do - with a smile on my face of course!).

Gramma JoJo has taken over watching me on Tuesday nights so that mommy can go to her weight watchers meetings. She also offered to make dinner for mommy and daddy every Tuesday too! Mommy is very excited and grateful for this because she really doesn't feel like cooking when she gets home from weight watchers! Last night Gramma JoJo made shrimp pasta yummm She also had french bread, which she shared with me!!! Here are some pictures of me gnawing on a piece of french bread. I LOVED it...I thought it was really fun to put this in my mouth.

Fooooood

So I have decided that I am REALLY liking this eating from a spoon thing! The doctor told mommy at my 4 month visit that she can start feeding me fruits. Boy do I love fruit! Not so sure about the peaches...but I have liked everything else so far. I am also eating cereal from a spoon too. I am doing REALLY good. One of my new things though is to do the "motorboat" with my lips. I especially like to do this when mommy is feeding me - because she laughs really hard at me when I cover her with food! The more she laughs, the more I do it!!!

Sometimes I get some food on my face though. I get really excited when I get to eat from a spoon so I just want to keep going and I don't give mommy enough time to clean off my face. This is what I look like when I do that!!

So this weekend is my FIRST camping trip!! I am going to stay in Uncle Gary's camper...and I am pretty excited. Mommy and daddy keep telling me how much fun I am going to have - I just can't wait!

Well I am really missing my cousin Jacob, Auntie Erin and Uncle Micky :o( It was really fun having them here for a while...even though Jacob wasn't too sure about me - I still loved watching him play!

Lots of Love - hope to talk to you next week...I really have to get on mommy about updating this more often :o)

Sunshine!!

So it is 85 degrees here today...can you believe it!! It was SO nice not to have to get all bundled up to come home today. Mommy snuck out of work a couple hours early today and came to get me!! I was pretty excited...but I don't think I was quite as excited as mommy.


Then we came home and there are MORE chickens in my basement!! 21 new baby chickens came today - these ones are MUCH smaller than the ones that we already have. So daddy moved the older ones outside to their coop and put the new ones in the brooder box. They are REALLY cute. 10 of them are yellow and 11 are black and white and yellow. I stared at them for a little bit - they were making noises at me!


Well Erin and Jake come to visit us in 4 days!!! YAY

Here is a picture of me playing in my exersaucer...it's pretty fun - I have a lot of things to look at and grab!!

Cereal!!!

So mommy and daddy decided that I was showing ALL the signs that I was ready to start trying some cereal. I can...

• Sit while supported
• Follow mommy and daddy all over the room with my eyes
• Hold my head up really good
• Grasp things with my hand
• Roll over
• Push my chest off the floor with my arms

And there are many more...I am so smart we can't list ALL of my accomplishments here!


I have been getting cereal in my bottles for a while now. My reflux hasn't been bothering me (thanks to my medicine) but I still spit up A LOT! So mommy tried to feed me some cereal from the spoon instead of a bottle and guess what...

it was REALLY good! OK I admit I still kind of make a mess...but I am doing so good! I like to open my mouth when mommy brings the spoon closer. Sometimes she can't get it to me fast enough and I pull my bib or my cloth up and stick that in my mouth instead cause I am just so excited!

Well I am REALLY looking forward to meet my Auntie Erin and Cousin Jacob...but I am really sad that I won't be able to meet Uncle Ben :o( I can't wait till Tuesday!! YAY

Love, CJ

P.S. Auntie Er I will try my best to stay awake for you...but I'm not making any promises!

Happy Easter

( Look at my face...my friend Maverick thought I would really like some of his blueberries!)

OK - so mommy can admit...it has been a long time since she has posted anything! (I'm really sorry for that everyone) I just seem to take up all of mommy's time! Here are some good pictures for you though - thanks to Aunt C!

So what has happened since mommy posted last.....I have been talking up a storm lately - no one seems to understand me, but I do LOVE to talk! Especially to my favorite dog - on my play mat. I LOVE the songs that he sings...and I even love when mommy sings those songs to me!

Mommy and Daddy got me a new car last night ;o) I knew I had them wrapped around my little pinkie but WOW hehe
Also last night - I sucked on my thumb for the first time!!! I think maybe I am working on a couple teeth, because I have been drooling A LOT...and sticking EVERYTHING in my mouth. Well last night I found my thumb and I sucked and sucked and sucked but nothing came out! Another one of my favorite things to do is lick everything. I am figuring out different textures and tastes all the time with this crazy tongue - I just can't keep it in my mouth!
Well this weekend for Easter we are going to Gramma Jojo's for the afternoon, and then Mommy is cooking dinner. Great Gramm bought me a very pretty Easter dress! I am so excited to wear it :o) I also overheard mommy and Aunt C talking about planning an annual Easter Egg Hunt! WOW I can't wait till I am big enough to walk and look for Easter eggs!!!

Happy Easter everyone :o)

Lots of Love
CJ

Carleigh's GI Appt

OK so everyone keeps asking us how Carleigh's appointment with the GI specialist went last week so I figured I would put it up here. Sorry for no pictures but we are driving in the car on the way home from seeing Uncle Mickey!
So the specialist confirmed what we have thought all along - Carleigh does have acid reflux. He said that there are a bunch more tests that we could do but he doesn't see the need at this point...she has reflux. She was on Zantac and Prilosec, so his plan was to try and increase the dose of the Prilosec and discontinue the Zantac. Well we tried that this weekend, and Uncle Mickey can tell you too...it didn't work too well! The doctor said that it may be bad enough that she may just need both meds...and we are starting to think that is the case. About 12 hours after stopping the Zantac she was acting "refluxy" again. So we started it back up again and I will call the doctor tomorrow and see what the next step should be.
He said that this usually lasts about a year and that she will probably have to be on the meds that long. But we will just play it by ear.
We will update with some pictures from this weekend soon!

Do I Look Silly?

Ok...be honest with me...do I look silly in this hat?! Mommy tells me that it is VERY cute but I'm just not too sure.

I have been yelling at mommy to update my page for the past week...but she hasn't listened to me. Something about being busy with work, and taking care of me...I don't know what she's talking about...I am easy to take care of!

Mommy and I have had to give daddy some lessons on how to dress me in the morning. We have decided that it is just useless and have resorted to having outfits ready on my changing table for daddy...he just has no sense of style! Yesterday he took a pair of pants off of a hanger with a matching shirt...but then he put me in a sweater that didn't even go with the outfit! Oh man...he has a lot to learn hehe But it's ok...I still love him a lot.

I have been telling everyone lots of stories lately. I don't think that they understand me though...but I will keep trying I guess :o)

I have been having SO much fun at Auntie Coco's when mommy and daddy are at work.

Maverick is my BEST friend! He likes me a lot I think, cause he is ALWAYS hugging me, and kissing me, and bringing me my bottle, and rocking me - he is pretty fun to look at so I am ok with it.

This week I am going to see another doctor! I keep telling mommy and daddy that I feel much better and we don't have to go...but that are taking me anyways. THEN after my doctor's appointment Thursday (as long as there is no snow) we get to go visit Uncle Micky!! I am SOOO excited I can't wait to meet another Uncle!! First Uncle Cody...now Uncle Micky - I am just waiting to meet Uncle Ben!! I told mommy that we HAVE to stop at Cabela's on the way down so I can get some more camo binkies...they are the ONLY ones I like.

Love You All!!!

CJ

Who is this Baby?

I LOVE my Prilosec!! It is helping me so much that daddy thought mommy went and traded the real Carleigh in when he was gone! Smiling and "talking" are pretty much my 2 favorite things to do now! And mommy got me a new toy...my play mat which is the coolest thing EVER. There are all kinds of things for me to stare at, and I just kick my legs and move my arms all over the place and smile and laugh when I am on that thing...it is pretty fun! The purple kitty is my favorite part. I also like being on the floor cause the dogs get to come over and give me kisses. They give me kisses on my big cheeks and I laugh at them - they are silly dogs. Me and mommy are VERY happy to have daddy home...we missed him a lot. He keeps telling me about my cousin Jacob, Auntie Erin and Uncle Ben...I don't really know what he is talking about but I smile anyways!

Love you all!!

CJ

Smiles!!

See - mommy wasn't lying...I DO smile!! And I even giggle almost too. It is nice that my reflux isn't bothering me 24 hours a day now...only about 2-3! I have decided that it is really fun to smile and play the kissy game with mommy. Mommy has been home with me all weekend and it is SO nice! I even got to go shopping for dresses with her yesterday!!
Well I have a very big day tomorrow. Tomorrow morning mommy and daddy can't feed me for FOUR hours!! I don't know how I will survive. I have to have my upper GI done tomorrow to test my reflux. THEN mommy and I have to drive daddy to the airport. We are very very very sad that we cannot go to San Diego with him. It is going to be a long hard week without daddy here :o(

Out of the House

So all of this mommy back to work stuff is exhausting for a little baby like me! Daddy dropped me off at Auntie Cocos this morning cause mommy had to work AGAIN! This is the second day she had to spend away from me. I made Auntie Coco tell mommy that I am doing wonderfully and I am a perfect angel so that mommy stops worrying about me.
Gramma Nanci only had to work until 3 today, so after work she came and got me from Auntie C's house. She squeezes me a lot...I think that she likes to see me! We went up to her house and guess who I got to see - Auntie Summer! Tell me this isn't a busy day!! Auntie Summer has been gone the last couple weeks so when mommy told me I was going to get to see her today I was very excited.
And just to make mommy miss me even more and want to be with me more, I am starting to smile more and more. Mommy missed a bunch of smiles today while she was at work. But she gets to spend the WHOLE day with me tomorrow. I don't know who is more excited, me or mommy!!

First Day with Auntie Courtney

So today mommy had to go back to work. She was VERY VERY sad about it. Last night she just cried and cried with me. Thank god daddy wasn't home cause he probably would have teased her! Daddy dropped me off at Auntie CoCo's this morning. I got to spend the whole day there. I think Maverick loves me very much because he kept watching me all day. Auntie Corie came over to visit too!

I think that maybe mommy was annoying Auntie CoCo today. She kept texting her and sending her emails. Maybe she will get better over the next couple weeks - but I don't know about that! Mommy was SO excited to see me when she got home today! I am starting to smile for real a little bit now too...so I gave mommy the BIGGEST smile yet tonight and she started to cry again!!! I think it made her really happy and sad both at the same time cause she was laughing and crying all at once.

Here are some pictures of my first day at Auntie CoCo's I am kind of making silly faces- mommy says I get to go back there again in the morning...

...you asked for it

Ok - so I do understand that I have been absolutely terrible at updating the Carleigh page. Maybe Carleigh will have to take over the page for me. However, unfortunatley we have not had a very happy baby lately. Although I have to admit she has been a little better the last couple days.

So Carleigh has acid reflux. We have tried EVERY single food available and none of them have helped her. So the Dr started her on Zantac about 2 weeks ago now. And of course that did not help either. Just this past Weds we went back to the doctor and we are now trying Prilosec AND Zantac together. She seems a little better but gets cranky when the meds start to wear off at night. So I think we still have some work to do.

Carleigh has to go for an upper GI scan on March 2nd (Mommy is TERRIFIED). They will feed her a dye and do a scan to see what is causing the reflux and how she is refluxing etc. This will make sure that it isn't anything developmentally wrong etc. Then we have an appointment with the GI specialist on March 25th (the earliest we could get) maybe I should become a GI specialist!!

So Carleigh has gotten pretty big over the past couple weeks. She is finally fitting into her clothes!! And they are absolutely adorable. Last Weds at the Dr she was 10 lbs 9 oz!!!

So there is a VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY sad day coming up way too soon. Tuesday Mommy has to go back to work :o( Needless to say I am VERY upset about this. My OB probably thinks that I am crazy. She asked me about work when I went in for my follow up and I started sobbing uncontrolably in her office. Then I think I may have had a mini panac attack...right after I left my chest got all tight, I could hardly breathe and I could not stop crying!! So no...if you couldn't tell I REALLY don't want to go back to work.

Well here are some pictures of Carleigh - and since you are all asking...you get to see the crabby baby that we have been dealing with lately!!

This is pretty much the only time she hasn't been crying lately - when she is sleeping!

Even More Visitors!!

We just love having visitors. Even though I was kind of a cranky baby this morning. Now that I am on my new formula I stay awake much longer, and am much more alert - it's pretty fun. But that means that I get pretty tired too and I have to take naps otherwise I get cranky...which was the issue this morning!! You would think that because I am awake so long during the day that I would sleep well at night...not quite yet!!

Here is a picture of me and daddy today...

In the Market

So we are in the market for a valentine! Carleigh and Mommy took a trip to mommy's work today for a visit, and we had a lot of offers for valentines for Carleigh...but she is a princess...we must be picky!!! We visited with everyone and had lunch with Alice - it was wonderful!


And of course we had to stop up and see Gramma Jojo since we were there. I think she had a lot of fun showing the princess off to everyone!


Tomorrow we have even more visitors coming to the house! YAY


And we got some VERY good news today too...more friends for Carleigh!!! YAY

Very Bad Mommy

Ok - so I do realize that it has now been over a week since I have posted....very bad mommy!!! We have been pretty busy though - and believe it or not this little girl makes mommy very exhausted!! But we're back haha

SO Monday Carleigh Jeanne had a visit from the Hayes girls! It was very fun! The girls were so excited to hold her - and Amy brought dinner for mom & dad YUM! Mommy and daddy almost had their first night out without Carleigh Monday. Gramma Nanci came over on her snowmobile and we got all dressed up and gramma was watching Carleigh - we were gunna go for a ride, and then out to dinner. Well we didnt make it too far!! Her sled broke :o( I feel SOOO bad!!

It has been pretty nice - daddy hasn't had to do too much plowing lately so Carleigh and daddy have gotten to take a few naps!! Today is going to be one of those days too I think!

Lazy Day

Well today we had a lazy day at home....actually, I have just realized that I didn't even get out of my pajamas all day!!! It was quite enjoyable though. And of course we took some more pictures of Carleigh...she got dressed at least. All of a sudden the past two days I look at this baby and she just looks HUGE! I feel like she has doubled in size already haha. Well maybe that was an exaggeration, but it's close! It is so amazing how much she has changed already. She stays awake for much longer intervals, and when she is awake she is just looking around, and moving her arms and legs all over. It is just astonishing - life in general. That this little girl has so much to learn and she is learning more and more everyday it is just so cool! We had some mommy and me time today hanging out in her nursery. She got to lay in her crib while I cleaned up and put some stuff away, then we sat in her pink rocking chair for a while and she just stared at me. I could just sit there with her forever!

Well tomorrow I have a doctors appointment at 9:15am, and Carleigh has an appointment at 1:30pm...lovely scheduling huh?! And it looks like we will be getting 6-12" of snow so daddy will be in the plow truck! Not too sure how we're gunna make this work but I'm sure everything will be fine!

More Visitors!

Wow, we have been very busy with visitors lately! We had even more today! I guess that since Uncle Cody couldn't be here, all of the boys had to come to make sure that everything was ok. So they came up on the sleds tonight for dinner and some Carleigh time. Sorry for such a quick post, but I am pretty tired, and I have had a couple glasses of wine, so I am getting a headache haha - time for bed!

All Dressed Up

So sorry not to post yesterday, but we were VERY busy. We had visitors ALL day!! It all started with Gramma JoJo at 10:30 am and didn't stop until 10:00 pm!! But we do have some pretty cute pictures today to make up for it! We had to have a bath yesterday morning before all the visitors came...we can't hand over a stinky baby!! Carleigh has some beautiful curls when her hair is wet! I LOVE it!!

Then we got a package from my girlfriend from high school - and it was definately "heelarious" (the name of the company!) Carleigh Jeanne got her first pair of high heels!!! So of course we had to try them on!

Then Dee, Cindy and Kerrin came to visit for a bit...then Aunt Candy and Aunt Becky...then Kevin and Stephanie (who brought some delicious Butterwoods cheesecake)...then Mark and Jen who brough Pasquales pizza and wings for dinner!!!!!

It was a very fun - and busy day so we are a little tired today. But I believe we are still expecting some more visitors today! It's tiring being a baby! (And a new mom!!)