Help vote for my baby to become a Gerber Winner!!!!!

Hey everyone so I entered Brielle (my little one) is this Gerber Generation Photo Contest
if you would please help out and vote for her everyday if you can until July 31st
at http://www.gerber.com/photo/#/gallery/
ID/Name is Brielle
City is Houston
Please help her win some prizes and every month is a different winner so if you enter your little one for next months drawing let me know and I will definitely vote for them!!!
Thanks!!!!

So much to do in so little time!!!!!

Sooo... I guess I just need to vent a little. There are so many things going on this month and so little time to do everything. First my little one is about to be 4 months old and needs to go get her shots :( I hate those appointments!.. and I can't even be there for her because I have to take my cosmetology written test to get my license to be a stylist again. I want to get her ears pierced too!...She is growing up so fast I just can't believe it, she's starting to try and hold her bottle and trying to crawl a little. I feel like everything is moving so fast. I'm still looking for a job and I'm starting to get depressed because nobody wants me, or at least they want someone with more experience. I feel like going to college was a waste of time when it is so hard to get your foot in the door when you get out. So my backup plan is to get my cosmetology license again and work in a salon until I can find a job. I need to study this week!  My cousins baby shower is this weekend along with my sisters graduation. Then next weekend is my sisters graduation party and the following weekend is her baby shower. Oh Lord! so much! I promised to help her with decorations and maybe a cake. Also so many birthdays are this month as well....AND on top of it all our lease it up at the end of the month and I'm having to try and find a place to stay because the one we had our hearts set on didn't fall through. Can't wait until this month is over!!!!!!

Why am I the one with Separation Anxiety??!!

Soo... this weekend was great! It was just like old times with the girls, hanging out, shopping, and going downtown, but I couldn't stop thinking about my stinky. This was the first time I left her overnight at her grandmother's house, her father's side, without me coming back in time to put her to sleep and watch her throughout the night. I kept calling to check up on her and let them know what, how and when to do things. I guess I called too much because G-ma got a little offended and told me she knew what she was doing having raised 6 kids and all. lol... I couldn't help it though, the whole time away from her I kept wondering if she was ok, was she getting burped right, was she taking a nap on her stomach or back, were they feeding her the same ounces that I did, were they acting like I did with her??? At least with my parents I can tell them what to do and how to do things because they act like its been forever since they had to watch a baby, well I guess it has been about 18 years now that my little sister is about to graduate high school. Maybe this is what they mean by a child being raised by a village, everyone has different ways of raising kids, and being taken care of by others is just what my lil stinky needs in order to grow up with all the right morals and values. I don't know why I can't have fun without baby girl with me anymore, I don't have the urge to go out to bars or clubs with friends anymore, i just want to be home with my lil stinky all the time. I guess I'm just so used to watching her 24/7 that it feels like a part of me is missing when she's not with me. I thought it was supposed to be the other way around, she is the one that should be freaking out when she goes with other people, not laughing and playing as if she doesn't care one way or the other.

 I told myself that I would be the same person once she got here, but I find myself slowly changing into a lesser version of the crazy, fun, outgoing, up-for-anything person and integrating the mommy, homebody, sweat pants, laundry-doing version of myself. I wish I could find the right balance. I think I've been couped up too long in the house with her that I don't know how to not worry and have a little fun anymore. I guess I have some things to work on huh? lol 

Is it normal to lose hair like this?

Soo.... for the past month or so I have noticed that my hair is falling out more than usual. I know each day we lose a certain amount of  hair but lately there has been a huge amount of hair that seems to be falling out. :/ ahhh!! I hope this is somewhat normal?!.. I'm not sure if it's because I wear my hair up in a ponytail everyday all day, so baby girl won't pull it or have hair all in her face but hopefully it will stop soon. 

Constipation! uh-oh!!!

Soo... in the hospital I had to supplement with formula while breastfeeding (Enfamil), then once I got out had to switch to Similac Advance. When I finally stopped breastfeeding (which was only for 3 weeks, sad, yes I know) she was completely on Similac Advance and did well for a short while. Then out of no where, she started to scream and turn red every time she tried to make a bowel movement, poor baby, I felt so bad for her. So they said I could switch her to Similac Sensitive, she did way better on this one for about a month or so and then she started to get constipated again. The nurse said I could give her Karo Syrup, suppositories, or apple juice. So I went out and bought all of them, I thought it was too soon to introduce apple juice so I waited on that, I didn't feel comfortable sticking something in her poor little booty (especially since they were huge) so I held off on that as well and used the Karo Syrup.  BOY!, did that help! lol.... She had no problem going, but I was giving it to her at least once a day and felt that it wasn't such a good idea if  I had to give it to her all the time. So I decided that since eventually she would have to learn how to drink water and apple juice that I would go that route instead. So every other day I mix about one ounce of apple juice with a little bit of water and feed that to her when she gets her formula. This helps a lot and isn't so bad for her, well at least thats what I think, I could be wrong. 

xoxoxoxox

Has this happened to you? What did you use to help them not be so constipated?

Yay! Milestones are being reached!!

So today I am very proud of my lil stinky, she finally discovered her feet, after trying all week to reach them. Yay! And she is talking up a storm all day everyday. Love it!! I think she is about to start teething though, she looks like she's biting on her pacifier instead of sucking it, lol. 

Sleeping Through The Night

Night after night of waking  up at 2:30 or 4:30 and every time in between has brought me to trying out rice cereal in her bottle. Everyone always throws in their two cents when it comes to raising a child and I always hear contradicting advice, but what advice do I follow???? The doctors say don't give a baby rice cereal until about 4 months and not in a bottle. My parents, in-laws, and grandmothers say go ahead and do it now she can handle it, "we used to do it for you when you were a baby." It seems like every year they change what you should do and when you should do it. First it was put babies to sleep on their stomaches.... then, put babies to sleep on their backs, studies have shown this and that and the other now. I guess every baby is different and you and only you know when and what to do for them. So in taking the wisdom of elders whom have successfully raised healthy babies by putting them to sleep on their stomachs and giving them rice cereal in their bottles at 2 months, I decided to try it out. AND for some reason I guess my child is just difficult, it really didn't help, she still woke up in the middle of the night. lol..... So, I experimented in other ways and found that she will sleep all night if I only let her take short naps during the day and play with her enough to wear her out before putting her to bed. And adding in the rice cereal doesn't hurt either. :)