This is great.

If you are Mom...or a mama-to-be in your belly or heart... or if you are one of those people who pass judgement on others....check this out! Funny!

17 months old!

Well folks, another month has passed and my little one is 17 months old!! Eeeek!

She's been up to things like peeing hearts as shown below. Talent, I tell ya.

While changing her diaper she peed! And when I picked her up this is what I saw! A perfect heart. Too funny.

Our little girl is quite busy! She is constantly on the go and learning about the world around her. Still a peanut. Not sure about weight and height (we have an appt next month and Im guessing she weighs 19 lbs) but she is in 12-18 month (a lot of times size 12th pants and 18 mth shirts!) clothes, size 3 shoes and will be going into size 4 diapers next week maybe. Lots of little chompers! She is starting to grow some hair! Still rebels against the headband but thankfully I've been able to put a little clip in! And she doesn't take them out because I don't think she realizes its there! Yes! :) 

She jabbers away all the time, but only a handful of clear words. Our favorite is "Abby!" She loves my parent's dog. Her name is Abby and Sam gets so excited when she is around her! And she walks around yelling at the dog "Abby! Abby!" It's too freakin cute. 

Food hasn't changed much. She is obsessed with those melts, fruit, peas, beans, greek yogurt, cheese, pasta and muffins! haha She still isn't a fan of meat. Still on the soy milk as well.

And sleep that hasn't changed much either. It's still a work in progress. I bought her these pajamas the other day...

She absolutely LOVES being outside!!! She is happiest outside and walking around checking everything out! Although, she does love downtime too and is still a big fan of Barney and Sesame Street.

We just love her to pieces. She is getting so big and I wish it would slow down a bit. 

Oh, and she's also learned to flush the toilet. Good times.

I'll leave you with a few photos....

Sweet 16

Samantha turned 16 months old today!! Yeah, I can't believe it either.

I am so in love with this beautiful little thing. She is our everything.

And she's into EVERYTHING! She is walking everywhere. It's pretty stinking cute.

At her last appointment a few weeks ago she weighed in at 18lbs 3oz and was 28 inches long. Size 3 diapers, size 3 shoes, mostly 12 month shorts/pants/skirts and 18 month tops.

Her hair is slowly coming in. Unfortunately she still isn't a fan of headbands and her hair is still too thin for a clip.

She's got a mouthful of teeth!! Those molars are showin' up to the party...and it's not so fun! Her sleep has been disrupted some. She still does about half the night in her crib and the rest with us. Don't be judgey :) She takes a good morning nap but afternoon naps don't always happen.

She's still on soy milk, loves fruit and greek yogurt! Still hates meat. We also watch Barney and Sesame Street quite a bit! She LOVES doggies! Originally when you would ask her what the doggie says she would say "Woof woof." But somehow along the way ( I think because I did it once) when you ask her now what a doggie says she sticks out her tongue and pants (sp?)  like a dog does!! LOL

My girl loves being outside! She loves swings and swimming! We've been swimming everyday it seems! She loves to dance and clap and shout hooray. Especially during the intro song to Barney! She really likes when I dance with her to it :) She blows lots of kisses and it's freakin' adorable!!

We went to Boston a few weeks ago for her final checkup on her hemangioma surgery. The doc said it looks great and that we don't have to go back! The scar itself looks great! He said in the future she can come back and have the scar made smaller or if we want to bring her back in a few years, but we won't do that. If in the future SHE wants to have that done, then we will, but we will not put her through surgery again.

Life is pretty sweet with our Peanut Princess. She is generally a very happy and smiley girl. Although, we still battle some stranger anxiety from time to time! But we are hoping that passes as she gets older.

We are loving Summertime with our baby girl!

The 4th and Things!

Little Diva

My girl LOVES vanilla Greek yogurt

It has been a busy week/weekend here! Filled with celebrating America's birthday, pool fun, BBQ's, my Mom's birthday and a very special Baptism on Sunday!! After what seemed like WEEKS of rain, we are finally getting some sunny and very HOT days. Samantha is great!! So much is new with her that I will save it for her 16 month birthday post next week.

She had a few 4th of July outfits so I had to spread them out over the last few days :)

Her Poppy (my FIL) throwing her in the air! She loves it!

I made Red, White and Blueberry pancakes for breakfast on the 4th

Me.

After Samantha was born, things were busy. Between the early arrival, the NICU stay, my recovery, the months and MONTHS of colic, things were absolutely nuts here. If you remember, about a month before she was born I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. I have a family history of diabetes and my brother has had Type 1 and has been insulin dependent since he was 6 years old. So it was no surprise to me that I would get it. Well, I did what they told me for that month. Watched what I ate and pricked my finger testing my sugar all throughout the day. It was no fun, but I was going to do what I had to do to (try) and keep me and my baby safe. I had been told that when you have the baby the gestational diabetes just goes away. And with all the craziness that occurred with Sam's birth, I didn't even think about the gestational diabetes after she was born. It became all about her and we wouldn't have had it any other way! She was my #1 priority! I also, throughout my fertility treatments I was a a thyroid med to stabilize my thyroid. Well also when Sam was born, I didn't even think about it. I ran out of pills and just never refilled them. BAD IDEA.

Fast forward, 15 months and I have been feeling like total crap. I mean really crappy. I knew it was a combination of a few things. It HAD to be my thyroid as I just stopped my meds without talking to the doctor. And it had to be my weight. I have been gaining weight at a rapid pace. Here and there I would try really hard to lose weight. Would exercise and eat right, but could only seem to lose 3 lbs and then would lose track and would gain back even more. It was a frustrating cycle. There was also a little voice in the back of my head telling me that I might have diabetes. I am very short..5'0 and right now I weigh a few pounds less than I did a week before Sam came. I mean, that is really bad. I am so short and there is not much space on me for all this extra weight. So I knew, with all these factors combined was why I have been feeling so sluggish and exhausted and just not well. I was also losing my hair and having joint pain. Which I found out are thyroid symptoms too.

So, I finally went to the doctor this week. I had to. I need to feel well again and I NEED to be well for my daughter. They did a full panel blood work up on me. The results were that I have hypothyroidism and I am pre-diabetic. Kinda scary. But this all explains so much. Combined with not enough exercise and not eating great, I now know the thyroid issues are playing a part in my weigh and all my other symptoms. For those of you who don't know what hypothyroidism is, it's when your thyroid is not functioning properly or "enough." Which can cause all kinds of problems. My doctor vowed to get me feeling better. So I am back on thyroid medication and I am hoping to feel a difference in a week or two. She also put me on Metformin to help with the high blood sugar. This I was weary about because I had tried it about 5 years ago when I had started fertility treatments. My ob back then wanted to try that with me first to see if it helped me ovulate, etc. All I remember was spending my days in the bathroom :( It did not sit well with me. So my doc is started me out slow with it.

Now that I have the meds, I need to really buckle down with diet and exercise. I'm supposed to go for repeat bloodwork in a month and see a dietician. I'm also getting  an u/s of my thyroid done in September.

How did I get here you ask? I just lost track of ME. My girl is my life. But I just swept myself to the side. I know I need to take care of myself though! I want to be around and be healthy for Samantha too! I also do not want to try for a second child in my current state. It would not be healthy for me or a baby. I'm thinking about going Gluten Free. But I'm not sure yet. I might just ease into things first, as I hear it's very expensive and demanding and I'm not sure that's the diet plan I can handle right now. I did see this guy on The Chew the other day. He was pre-diabetic once and wrote a book called "VB6." Where basically you go vegan all day until 6pm. And I guess it works! Looks interesting.

So hopefully this summer I will see some major changes in my health!!! I just don't feel like "me." And I need ME back :)

15 Months!

Samantha turned 15 months old yesterday!!! She is just super fun right now. Her little personality is started to shine through and it's adorable! She loves to jabber on and on and she is getting better at this walking thing!!! She loves dogs and Barney is her favorite right now. Barney used to make me cringe, but what my daughter loves..I love! Ha! She is loving the big pool this Summer so far! Which is so much fun to watch. She likes to ride around in the inflatable boat or splash around! If I hold her on her belly to "swim" she kicks her little legs!! Her menu hasn't changed much, but we are working on it! She loves fruit, green veggies,  yogurt, toast, waffles, pasta and eggs! And of course all the snacks like the melts and puffs. Still can't get her to eat meat though. She also loves baby goldfish. Which is so freakin cute because if we are shopping in the store and she sees the package of goldfish on the shelf she points and says "fish" with a smile! And of courseeeee it goes right in the cart because momma is a sucker :) Sleep hasn't changed much either. She takes a good morning nap everyday but the afternoon one is hit or miss. Usually if she takes an afternoon nap, it's a short one in the car. And she's still sleeping half the the night in her crib and the rest with us. I know, I know. But this is working (sort of) for us right now!!! ;)  She has about ten teeth. We are heading back to the doc next week for a check up and will get her height and weight then. We also have to head back to Boston for a check up in two weeks. She's still in a size 3 diaper and size 3 shoe! Wearing mostly 12-18 month clothes! But sometimes in shirts she needs a bigger size. I swear they make some baby tshirts so small that once you wash and dry them they no longer fit! She is loving saying and waving "Bye" or "Hi." She also blows kisses! I am sure I am forgetting a whole bunch of things!

We had professional photos taken of her (for the first time!) and they came out great. We did a mini session with this photographer we knew. And we were not disappointed! Again, I apologize to any of you who are friends with me on Instagram or FB!! I have been posting them everywhere!

Taken on her 15 month birthday! Minnie and Minnie dress courtesy of her  Auntie LaLa (there were cute Minnie shoes too! But still a little big!) :)

Below are old photos that my mom took of me! They were for a photography class she was taking at the time. I love old photos!

Photo dump!

So sorry friends. I know I have been a total slacker with this blog. I take partial blame and then the rest goes to Facebook and Instagram for existing. Sometimes it  seems so much easier and faster to update through those sites!  My apologies! This past month was super busy. Samantha started walking!!! She hasn't mastered it yet and still crawls around a lot. But everyday she takes more and more steps! She tends to do a "Step,step,step,step,step,run,run,run" routine :) It's the cutest thing. Things are going good. Everything seems so busy lately and most weeks are a blur! Although, I haven't been feeling so great. No, not pregnant. I think it's my thyroid. I am such a bad patient and I'm pretty mad at myself for not taking good care of ME! After Sam was born, I just sort of stopped taking my thyroid med and going to the doc. NOT GOOD. And lately, I really have been feeling like crap and I'm 99 percent sure it has to do with being off my thyroid meds for so long. So I am making an appt this week!!!

Samantha had her first professional photo shoot this past week! It was so exciting and I cannot wait to get all the pictures back! Will definitely share once we receive them all! She is going to be 15 months old next Saturday!!! I can't believe it! I feel like after they turn a year old it goes even QUICKER!!!

Here are a few photos of our girl!!

I have an obsessions with baby swimwear!

First time in the pool this summer! 

Memorial Day!

Sam and her BFF Kaya!

Her new love...BARNEY!

Look at me!! I'm a big girl!

"Does this bow make my butt look big?"

At her friend Amelia's 1st Birthday party!