Updates and New Things

I'm really not good at this blogging thing....I need to try to be better, but anyway....here's what's new with us.

1. I am starting a new job Monday 4/18. I've known it was time to move on for a while now, but I HATE change; however, I decided to take a job as a PA for an Allergy & Asthma practice in Frisco. Its a wonderful office and the staff is great and I think its going to be a great change! I'm still working 4 1/2 days a week but the pay and benefits are a lot better! It was hard to decided to leave my current office and I'm going to miss my patients sooooo much, but its time to move on.

2. My baby girl turned 1 last week! WHAT? How is that possible? This last year really did fly by. It was a fun, crazy year and I'm enjoying every stage so much. Morgan is so fun right now and just learning new things everyday!

3. My grandfather is battling lung cancer and its been a rough few months for he and my grandmother. Pray for peace and strength for them and for God's healing hands on my grandfather.

4. Tomorrow (Friday) Morgan is spending the night with my parents. This will be the 1st time she spends the night away from us. I'm excited for a fun night of dinner and a movie with Josh and sleeping past 6:30am on Saturday. Morgan and my parents will have lots of fun, I'm sure!

This and That

So, life is a little crazy this week, but its improving day by day.

My grandfather (Sammy Morgan) was diagnosed with small-cell lung cancer just after Christmas. He started Chemo last week and seemed to be doing quite well. That is, until Sunday evening, when he was rushed to the ER for some breathing issues and turns out he has pneumonia and a critically low sodium level. His cancer has caused a condition called SIADH which causes low sodium levels. Sodium is critical for normal body functioning and too little can lead to seizures, coma, brain damage or worse. He is still in ICU but his level is improving every day. He is a pretty tough guy and I know he can pull through this! Please keep him in your prayers!

So...with him in the hospital, my grandmother is by his side, meaning Morgan is without her nanny, so...luckily my dad can watch her. She's been with Pappa J all week and he's been great with her! I'm very lucky to have family around, I know!!

Changing gears....

EVERYONE is sick! I do family practice so I always see my fair share of sick visits every day; however, lately that is ALL is see! Flu, Strep, Bronchitis, Tummy Bugs, Sinus Infections and more Flu, Strep, etc!! Wash your hands people! You don't want this stuff!

Lastly, my baby girl is getting so big! She took her first steps last week and she's still only taking 2-3 at a time, but she's getting there. We'll have a walker before we know it! Yesterday morning, I told her she looked so much older. Her hair is growing and she's just starting to look less like a baby every day! She says DaDa, MaMa, Mom, Bye-Bye and Pow (I know that's a weird one, but that's what we say when she gives us a high-five and it just kind of stuck). She does patty cake all by herself and she has the most precious little wave you've ever seen. She brings us so much joy!!!!!!

The Colony Long's 1st Annual Christmas Party

Josh's aunt and uncle and their kids live just around the corner from us; which we LOVE! Marc and Tiff are more than our family, they are some of our very closest friends! We see them pretty often, but we decided we needed to have our own little Christmas party last week so the kiddos could play and exchange gifts. We went over to their house and had Marc's famous tacos and spent the evening watching the kids. Cade loves Morgan so much and he is so good with her and Landry loves to help take care of her! We are so blessed to have them so close!! It was a very fun new tradition!

12 Days of Christmas--Post #2

We're still counting the days till Christmas and here is what Meems and Pop have given Morgan for "The 12 days of Christmas" days 3-8. (they are a little out of order...but I hate uploading pics on blogger. If any of you know an easier way to get them in order, please let me know!)

Day 7--Bath Toys

Day 8

Day 8---A new bow! Isn't it cute?! Great for Spring!

Day 3--A new Christmas bow

Day 4--Christmas socks

Day5--A new phone

Day 6--A sippy cup

So cute!

ONLY 4 more days to go!

Blanket or No Blanket????

I have a question for all you moms out there. When your kiddos were little (around Morgan's age----8 months)...did you cover them with a blanket in the winter??? I always put Morgan in warm PJ's and socks and we keep the house warm, but I don't usually put a blanket in there because she's such a crazy sleeper I thought she'd just get out from under it anyway. But, I want to be sure she's warm.

So, what did you do?

12 days of Christmas-Post #1

For several years now Josh's parents have done "The 12 days of Christmas" with their grandkids. Well, this is Morgan's first Christmas, so its the first time she has gotten to experience 12 days! Meems and Pop (Josh's parents) sent a big box of presents (each small things) labeled Day 1, Day 2, etc.... (And can you believe they also get them several other presents for Christmas day?...they spoil her, but hey, that's what grandparents do)

It started Monday 12/13 and here are the 1st 2 days so far!

Day 1: A new Christmas Ornament!

Day 2

Day 2...A book with my picture in it! So cute!
Its called--If You Were Santa

MORE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS COMING SOON!!!

The crazy things people say

Saturday we took Morgan to see Santa at Stonebriar mall. We had to wait in line about 40 minutes and of course, we were right behind Miss Chatty Cathy with her two kiddos. One was about 5 yrs old and the other was 10 months (I know because she told me practically her whole life story).

Anyway, I don't know how we started talking to begin with, but once we did, she looked at Morgan (who was sitting sweetly in her stroller minding her own business and eating Cheerios) and said "I was just thinking earlier when I saw ya'll that she looks really spoiled and I was thinking my son will one day have to deal with high-maintenance girls like her".

Ummm.....is that supposed to be a compliment? How should I take that. I really didn't know what to say, but you could tell that she didn't think she said anything wrong and that she thought she was being nice. I guess because her outfit was cute and she had a bow on that makes her high maintenance. I wasn't sure if I should smile or punch her in the face.

Fast forward to later Saturday night when we went to dinner at Snuffers.

Morgan loves going to restaurants so she was playing and flirting with strangers, as usual, when a guy who works there came over to tell us that he thought Morgan was very cute. He asked how old she was and then proceeded to say, "Well, you have about 3 more years before you say, I'm about done with you kid". WHAT??? Your done with your kid after 3-4 yrs? Do people never think before they speak?

The whole thing just made us laugh! People crack me up!

Money down the drain...literally!

So our toilet in the master bath has been "Out of Order" for the past 3 weeks. It just had no pressure and would not actually flush. We have a "handy-man" that we use for a lot of things and we called him to come fix it (he's much cheaper than a plumber), but he was really busy so he just came today.

Well, did you know that tree/plant roots can grow into your plumbing system?? I had no idea. Then again, I know very little about how things work, etc. Apparently, some roots were in our system that he had to get out and now, presto...it works again! Thanks, that will be $65.

So, money down the drain! But hey, at least it works again.

Playing catch-up and recomittment to start blogging again!

Ok, so as most of you can obviously see, I've fallen off the blogging bandwagon for a while. Don't worry, I still spent plenty of time reading all my friend's blogs, I just slacked off on mine! Well, I promise to restart, starting now!

Ok, to catch up:
Morgan is 8 months old today! WOW...how time flies! She's been sick since Sat night with a terrible runny nose, congestion and cough. Then she really stopped eating/drinking much at all and sure enough..she has her 1st ear infection. So, that means her 1st time on antibiotics. I consider us lucky that this is the 1st time, but I was hoping to postpone that even longer, but oh well. Anyhow...I'm sure she'll be better soon! (then we can both get some sleep around here again)

Morgan is crawling everywhere! At first it was army crawling; now its regular crawling with return to army crawling when she needs to get somewhere fast! Man, when your children can follow you around you suddenly cherish the days when they couldn't. (not that I don't want her to crawl, I'm very excited she is, its just that it makes for much crazier days and for saying the word "No" like a million times!)

Here's a few new pics!
More posts soon!

Don't cry over spilled milk

Whoever made up that old adage obviously didn't pump breastmilk 5 times a day! I had a bottle of breastmilk (6 oz) in the fridge that I needed to put in a bag to freeze and as I went to get it out of the fridge I wasn't paying attention I guess and somehow I knocked it over, it flew off the shelf in the fridge and onto the wood floor in the kitchen. As it hit the floor, the plastic lid bust open and out spilled 6oz of my hard earned liquid gold!! I was like...."Nooooooooooooooooooo, I worked hard for that." Oh well. So I'm down to only 7 extra bags in the freezer, but hey, we are still doing good for now. 4 months and still only breastmilk. Hope to keep it up!

Can't resist the owl!

I was in the sorority Chi Omega when I was in college! I LOVED it and have so many wonderful memories and friends from that time! The owl was our "mascot" and anytime I see anything with an owl for Morgan I have to get it!! I found this adorable onesie at a little shop in downtown Grapevine. Soooo cute! She also has some adorable owl PJ's from Gap that I bought for this winter (if any of my fellow Chi-O sisters are interested here is a link to buy them http://www.gap.com/browse/product.do?cid=12845&vid=1&pid=764363 )!!

I took these pictures of her this morning while singing "Chi Omega Yours Forever" to her!! (I think its her new favorite song!!)

4 months!

4 months old! I can't believe its already been another month! Morgan is our little princess and continues to make us smile all the time. Her smile and laugh are infectious and when she smiles her whole face lights up!!! She's really playing with toys now and getting such a personality! Unfortunately, she's very impatient...one of my worst character traits to inherit! But all in all, she is just plain wonderful!!! We tried rice cereal last night and she wasn't a big fan, but we'll keep trying!

Her 4 month stats:
Weight: 14lbs 12oz---------75th-90th percentile
Height: 24.3 inches---------75th percentile

At least somone likes my singing!

Yep, that's right...I have one major fan....MORGAN! I think we could say she's the president of my singing fan club! She loves for me to sing to her. I have sang songs to her since the day she was born. We sing while she takes a bath, we sing while we play, we sing all the time. We sing baby songs, church songs, silly mommy-made-this-up songs. Lately, she has gotten into throwing fits occasionally, especially when she is done riding in her car seat, but the one thing that makes her stop and start smiling again is me singing to her. Let's just say I have never been told I sing well, but now poor Josh has to hear me sing off key all day long! I actually sang the entire way from church to home today, just to keep her happy...O the things we do! It doesn't work when Josh sings to her, just mommy!

I have to admit though, it makes me happy that I make her happy!

Bows....they are just our thing!

So you all know very well by now that my daughter wears a bow pretty much all the time. No, I don't put them on her when we are just at home or when she is with my grandmother during the day while I'm at work, but if we are going somewhere....she wears a bow. There are 2 reasons for this...#1 I LIKE THEM & I THINK THEY ARE CUTE! #2 People will know she is a girl.

The one day I didn't have a bow on her someone told me she looks like a boy because she is so big. Ugh, did you not notice the hot pink polka dot outfit she was wearing?

I get annoyed by so many people telling me that she doesn't need to wear a bow. Yesterday the lady taking her pics said "I just don't get the whole bow thing". At church, the lady in the nursery takes her bow off and puts it in the diaper bag as soon as I drop her off. She says "bows are my pet peeve".....Well, you taking her bow off is my pet peeve. Anyway, I like them. We have LOTS of them. And she is going to keep wearing them! They are fun and I think she looks precious!

More 3 month pics!

So here are the pics of Morgan we had taken this weekend. Just a little fun at the local Picture People Studio. I was bummed that she wouldn't give us her big cheesy full-face smile for these pictues. I was acting like a crazy idiot, singing and making silly noises and she just wouldn't do it. As soon as the camera was off, she was back to her smiley self---of course! But....they are still great pics of her!

3 months!

Morgan turned 3 months last Wednesday! WOW.....I can't believe how big she looks in these pictures! She is doing really great. Right now she is starting to really like sitting in her Bumbo and playing in her Baby Einstein exersaucer. She is sleeping from 8:30pm to 6:30am!!

She loves to hear herself make noises and smiles at pretty much anything!! She also LOVES to sing!! We sing all kinds of silly songs and she loves it!!! She's been occasionally laughing out loud for several weeks now, but she saves those laughs up and only lets them out when something is really funny!!

I love watching her explore, study things and play! She is starting to actually reach for toys now! So fun!!

Morgan is 2 months old!

Morgan was 2 months old on Sunday!!! I can't believe how much she is changing. She is all smiles right now which is so fun! She's awake so much more and we're really getting into a routine now.

Her happiest time is on the changing table! She will smile and coo and talk every single time you lay her on it! She is still sleeping about 8 hrs straight at night and I think we are going to move her from the pack and play to her bed in her room this weekend (we'll see if I can really do it...I'm a little nervous, but she's just the next room away)!!

Here are her 2 month stats:

Weight: 12lbs 6oz ---90th percentile (breast milk agrees with her...she's my chunky monkey!)
Height: 22.5 inches-----75th percentile
Head: 15inches-----40-50th percentile

This weekend is mine and Josh's 6 yr anniversary, so Uncle Marc and Aunt Tiff are going to watch Morgan while we have dinner! (My parent's are sharing her with Marc and Tiff since they get to see her all the time and have kept her several times while we run errands!)

Of for the love of Pumping....

So, first of all, I'm sitting at work waiting on my next patient and just finished pumping for the 3rd time at work today! Yep...I'm pumping 3 times a day at work, so I try to pump around each time Morgan should be taking a bottle. Its going well, but man, this is a chore! I mean, what girl doesn't love being connected to a milking apparatus that many times per day! When I sit there pumping I think "Man, I'm glad no one sees how ridiculous this looks!"

It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to clean all the pieces to the pump each time, but its really a hassle. I have to load up the pumping bag in the morning, all the pieces, bottles, etc, pump 3 times, load it all back up before leaving work, sterilize the pieces at night and repeat!

I love breastfeeding and I love that its going well! I really want to breastfeed for as long as possible and I am really very thankful that I have a job that can accommodate pumping, but it definitely takes determination! I just pray that my supply stays up enough for us to continue!

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

Ok so I never realized there were so few hours in the day until I became a mommy! I mean, hello...I just can't accomplish all I'd like to in a day. (I know you're probably thinking, "then how do you have time to blog"...well I'm at work and eating my lunch right now and doing paperwork too) I know I'm talking mostly to moms since most people who read this are moms too, but seriously! I'd love another 2 hrs a day so I can get a few things done and still sleep. Right now I get about 6 hrs of sleep a night, not uninterrupted sleep but still 6 hrs cumulative and after 6 weeks its starting to catch up with me!

I could just let Josh give her a bottle at night and me go to bed early but she already has 3 bottles when I'm at work and I want to nurse her too, so sleep is the sacrifice I make.

I love being a mommy and I love Morgan so much! I just wish I had a little more time to do all the small things that life requires, but its all a work in progress! The 3 of us are learning together and Josh has been really great too!

And...I appreciate my mom sooo much!!! She has been so great! We have bonded in a whole new way since I became a mommy and we've always been very close! She has come over anytime I need her to, gone to the store for anything I need, helped me figure out what to do, let me get some sleep, and loved Morgan sooo much! There has only been 1 day of Morgan's life that she hasn't seen her Nana (at that day we took Morgan to Oklahoma to see Josh's family)! Thanks Mom, you are amazing!

Oh, and a little update on Miss Morgan, she is doing better (I think)...still congested in the nose, mainly in the morning and otherwise no other health issues and still no fevers yea!!!

I'll post pics of her church dedication soon!

3 more days

I have only 3 more days until I have to go back to work. Its hard for me to even type that without getting teary. I have been very blessed to have a paid 6 weeks off, but that means Monday its all over. Wow, these 6 weeks has flown by!!

My days have been faster than any days I've ever known. They've been full of breast feedings, diaper changes, baby baths, being peed/pooped/spit up on, cuddling with Morgan, singing to Morgan, doing TONS of laundry, rocking Morgan, kissing Morgan, sleepless nights, happy tears, tired tears, sending Josh on endless trips to Babies R Us or Target, just simply staring at Morgan and thinking "How did I ever deserve this precious gift from God?" and realizing that I have never loved someone the way I love her!!!!!

These have been the best 6 weeks of my life! I am so blessed to have this little girl and I'm sooo going to miss being here to see her every minute of the day. However, I am also very blessed that my granny and mom will be the ones keeping her; that makes me feel comforted for sure!!

I LOVE my job..don't get me wrong. I spent lots of years and lots of money (that I'm still paying back) to have the career I have today, but next week will still be hard.

Please pray for me! Pray that I won't cry too much and make my patients think I'm crazy! Pray that Morgan will do great! Pray that I'll be able to get enough sleep to function during the day too!