Happy New Years Eve! We are just hours away from welcoming in the new year and I couldn't be more ready to take on 2014. So many (more) changes for my little family, and a lot of new adventures ahead. Today has been a busy one, we put in our 30 day notice for our Texas home, reserved the u-haul, purchased plane tickets, and more! Ava bug and I leave for Washington in just two weeks! Everything has gone by so incredibly fast, I can't believe I'm finally going back to my home state after three long years. We're in the process of getting everything set up with the new house, looks like the move in date will be a few days after we arrive in Washington. I am so nervous about flying without Justin, and Justin driving with Cooper without us. We have never done anything like this apart, and I don't like that we won't be seeing him for a few days. All in all it's what's best for our family, so I'm trying to just get on board, and be optimistic. We start packing today, (Which won't be hard) Once we got the call about the compassion reassignment, we stopped unpacking, and just kind of let everything we didn't need stay in boxes. The kitchen is the only thing we are really going to have do to work on, which is fine with me. I'm a little nervous about being in my second week of courses while all of this moving is going down. I did it while we drove from GA, to TX. but that was a much shorter time to be without internet, and in our new home. I'm not requesting a break, so hopefully things will go just fine.

I wanted to do a fun little " Look at 2013" video (classic Leilani style), so take a look at my past year and all the wonderful moments the Howland family experienced:

2013 was one heck of a year, and I have high hopes that 2014 will be nothing short of amazing for the Howland clan. I hope everyone is spending tonight with the people that care about most in this world. I know I will be. We bought party favors, 2014 tiara's and even fireworks to bring in the new year. The best part about this year? I get my midnight kiss. Make sure to stay safe and warm! and once again, Happy New Year all!

♥- Leilani

Teething

Last night was the first night I truly heard Princess A cry. Since she's been born I can count on ONE hand the amount of times she's ever had an "episode" It started around 830 p.m. she'd gotten fussy the night before, I just assumed she was going to fight her sleep again. Oh no! She was crying, LOUD. sucking her hands a lot more than usual, a lot of drool as well. I look in her mouth and her poor little gums were swollen. I gave her the recommended amount of Tylenol, and just held her close, rocked her, consoled her. It took about 15 minutes for the medicine to kick in (I assume) that's when her tears and cries came to an end. I felt so awful. Whenever Ava cries, I cry.  I have come to terms with it. I will never be that mother that is strong enough to watch her babies get shots without tears, to watch her babies fall down without tears, to watch her babies go through teething without tears. It hurts me to see her hurting so badly. I know this is just the start of our teething days. Ava hasn't cut a tooth at all. It could be awhile before we see a little tooth emerge. I'm not a fan of giving her medicine on a regular basis, so we are going to try:

• teething tablets 
• Teething rings
• rubbing our fingers against her swollen gums

She seems to be fine during the day, that makes me super happy. We were able to take a shopping trip today and stock up on winter clothes for baby girl. She was just her normal, happy self. On a side note, I finally got a poop out of my baby love! Sounds weird, right? Being excited about poop? haha. Well apparently breastfed babies slow down the poop between 6-12 weeks. They can go a couple days without a bowel movement, due to the fact that breast milk doesn't present a lot of waste. While that is a good thing, it freaks me out! This is the second time Ava has gone 24 hours without poop, (she's usually a 3-4 times a day pooper) I get alarmed when her "norm" changes. Ironically she's going to have a lot of changes occur over the next year. I guess I should calm down and get used to it (probably not going to happen) Well, i'm off to snuggle my baby love! Happy Sunday folks!

Right before my eyes

This week has been a week to remember. Ava does something new daily. Since reading the book I posted about the other day, Justin and I have been utilizing all types of tools for helping baby grow. I read something interesting about bonding with your child. Every time we talk to them, every time we hold them close, we are gaining their trust. I never thought about it like that before. Any routine offers up a chance to get to know your baby better. Rather than putting our daughter in her swing, bouncer, etc. We have opted to challenge ourselves even more. We aren't going to use any type of baby friendly seat (with exception to the bumbo) I baby wear quite often and now Justin will too. We want to gain all of our sweet girl's trust. On another note, today I am a mother to a 12 week old. Due to my type A personality, I decided to jump on the ball and pick out the first home made foods we will be making Ava in the next one to two months.

 

Can I just say, I LOVE THIS BOOK ALREADY. The recipes are easy and there are a lot of foods I wouldn't have even thought to give Ava. My main reason for seeking out a baby puree book was to get a variety. I don't want to feed princess A the same stuff all the time. I think we are going to try a few of these out prior to making them for Ava. Anyhow I've off for now! A good friend of mine had surgery this week, so we are off to see how she's doing! Make your Friday fabulous people!