It has been several months since I blogged.  With an eight month old, life can be crazy.  You read correctly.  My Elizabeth is eight months old!  Boy has time flown.  She is growing so fast I can’t keep up with all of her milestones.  She had her first hair cut on September 5th, 2009 at seven months old.  She is laughing and babbling so much.  She is so close to crawling.  She can now get up into the position but just doesn’t know how to take off yet.  I say she weighs at least 16 or 17 lbs by now.  She goes back to the doctor next month so we will get the exact poundage there.  She is eating 5 5 oz bottles daily with a morning snack of cereal and fruit and evening dinner of veggies.  She is sleeping 11-12 hours a night.  Everyone else says that she sleeps so well because she is a good baby which is true but if I hadn’t let her learn to put herself to sleep, we would be in a much more sleepless state right now.  With me working, not getting any sleep is not an option.  That week of letting her cry it out at about 4 or 5 months was the hardest yet best thing I have ever done.  She has consistently slept more and more hours as she has gotten older.  That is great for mommy and daddy also, I’m not going to lie!  She loves playing with all of her toys and especially playing in her exesaucer.  We got some great video of her playing in it this past weekend.  Check out my facebook page for that.

With all the good that I have in my life, I have been having a rough go of it.  I really don’t know how to describe what I have been going through.  I’m just tired.  I’m tired of the daily grind with no break.  I’m tired of having to budget every last cent, but who doesn’t these days?  I just feel alone.  I have Stephen don’t get me wrong, but someone else I can truly go to and just vent all of my frustrations, I don’t have that.  All of my good friends are married, some with kids, but all with lives of their own.  My mom is very ill.  I can talk wit h her but she is too sick to be able to be there for me when I need her.  It takes every ounce of strength she has to take care of herself and she doesn’t have much left for me.  I’m not complaining, I just miss my mom.  I miss the girl dates, movie dates, and dinner dates.  I don’t hear from some of my family anymore since Libby has been born.  Everyone came to the hospital when she was born and then many don’t even call to even ask about her anymore.  I don’t understand what I have done to make them go away, but I wish they came around more.  My mom’s family has been great.  They love Libby to death.  They see her as much as they can and I take Libby to my grandparent’s at least once a month.  It is good to have family interested in my life and who call to find out and don’t hold it against me because I can’t call right now because I have to take care of my daughter.  Work is going good, I’m just in need of a break.  Besides the weekends, I have not had a period of more than two days off from work in over 6 months since I went back to work.  I have a week long vacation the week of my birthday, which is October 19th so I am looking very forward to that.  I have started working 4 10 hour shifts and off on fridays.  It has been great to spend an extra day with Libby.  I have been enjoying it so very much.  I hope I can continue to do it and it works out for all involved, including me, stephen, libby and my work.  Please pray for me as I am going through this tiring time.  I’m doing my best to work my way through it and count my blessings in the process.

Sorry for such a long post.  On a lighter note, I planted some fall mums and tulips this weekend to get in the fall spirit.  I also put all of my fall decorations out.  I love this time of year.  The crispness in the air, football (roll tide!), and my birthday!  Stephen and I are trying to get out as much as we can with Libby to enjoy this beautiful weather.  I’ve also got about 50% of my Christmas shopping done.  I’m so proud of myself.  I want my little girl to have a good first Christmas.  I also have other plans for my bonus at work so the shopping needs to be done before I get that next month.

Again sorry for the long post, but I needed to blog.  I will update you all next month after Libby’s 9 month appt with Dr. Meredith.

We can now begin stage 2 baby foods.  He said that we could also start feeding her veggies/fruits twice a day.  We will also continue to feed her the cereal in the morning as well.  She is growing very well and we are all happy with her progression.

The best news though we got today.  Libby had her final hip ultrasound this morning.  The looseness that was in her hip joints is totally gone.  We do not have to double diaper her anymore.  She has been double diapered for 4 months, so Stephen and I are very relieved that we don’t have to do it anymore.  I’m sure she feels like a new girl!

Well this is all for now.  We have a busy weekend ahead of us with a baby shower and a wedding, so time to go get rested up.

Libby is six months old as of August 4th, 2009.  She is eating 5 oz per feeding every 3 hours.  She is eating oatmeal cereal in the mornings and beginner baby food in the evening.  She has liked everything so far EXCEPT green beans!  She does not like them at all yet.  She is sleeping between 11-12 hours at night.  She sleeps from 8:00 pm-6:30 am during the weekdays because I have to get her up to take her to Mimi and Papa’s.  On the weekends she sleeps from 8:00 pm-7:30 am.  She is such a wonderful baby with a great personality.  She is so happy all the time.  The only time she fusses is when she is hungry or sleepy.  She is beginning to cut teeth now, her first tooth broke through last night.  She is growing up so fast!  She has her six month check up with Dr. Meredith on Thursday 8/20/09.  We will have definite weight and length then.  We think she is between 15-16 lbs.  We were supposed to have our checkup last week but Dr. Meredith had to leave early, so we had to reschedule:(  I love being her mother and cherish every moment with her.

Stephen is back in school so the Carmichael’s get back in school mode:  work and rest all week and play on the weekends.  I like to take Libby right home on the weeknights so I can spend time with her before she goes to bed since I have been away from her all day.  Stephen is in his third semester of graduate school and has a 3.5 GPA.  I’m so proud of him especially doing that well with all of the other responsiblity he has on him already.  One year to go and we will be celebrating!

On a personal note I am on a quest trying to lose weight.  I am still having some problems with my blood pressure since Libby’s birth so my ob doctor is giving me two months to lose weight and reduce my salt.  Do you know  how hard it is to reduce salt?  I feel sorry for anyone having to be on a renal date, mainly my mom.  I am proud that I have lost all of my baby weight and 5 lbs beyond that.  I have a goal to lose another 15-20 lbs.  I have been walking in my neighborhood with some neighbors 3 nights a week.  It is really making a difference.  I already have more energy and endurance.  My neighborhood has some large hills so that is helping a lot.  Please pray that I don’t have to go on blood pressure meds for my 27th birthday in October.

Well that is the main updates for right now.  Got a busy week ahead with a baby shower and wedding to go to as well as getting through the rest of the work week.   I will update again after Libby’s appt and hopefully last hip ultrasound.

A few weeks ago, we started baby food.  We’ve been through the veggies and now we are on to fruits.  So far, she’s liked everything we’ve given her, but I think Green Beans are going to take a little longer, because she doesn’t seem to like them as well as the others she’s had.  This week is bananas, and I don’t know what we’ll move to next.

Still double-diapering her and Kelly and I are both hopeful that that will end after her next appointment, which falls in a couple of weeks.

School continues for me.  Just finished the summer sessions and, while I’m not really thrilled with the final grade I got in advanced auditing (my own fault), I still pulled a B in that class and an A in Info Systems, so my GPA is still higher as a result.  Taking 2 classes this fall and then I become a true candidate for the masters (currently I’m a probationary student due to a less-than-stellar cumulative GPA).

Now that classes are out I get to do some cleanup work around the house.  Pressure wash, paint the concrete on the porch, and probably paint the back gutters white again (the previous owner let them become a nice shade of moldy gray).  Next major project is the back deck, which is going to require a LOT of work.  That will probably take the next year to complete, as our budget doesn’t allow for a lot of spending right now.

On a tech note, I will be moving the pictures off Flickr and onto another hosting service that isn’t blocked here at the office…probably Picasa from Google.  I aim to have that completed before I go on a rafting trip this weekend.

On the school front, I have officially started graduate school and its going good, but there’s quite a bit of work.  We’ve had all of 4 classes and we have our mid-term on Wednesday.  Needless to say, I’m living in textbooks and notes from here until mid-August.  All I can say is I need as much prayer as possible, as I have to maintain at least a 3.0 in order to stay enrolled and with all of the house stuff and the baby, that’s a tall order.

Here is the list of repairs (for those who may be curious how much damage the house actually received):

• 6-9 full sheets of drywall
• all carpet and padding in the living room and down the hallway
• 1 4ft dormer with window
• entire roof of house
• 60 ft length of gutter
• 1 new couch (sorry Granny…the couch didn’t survive)

On top of this, Kelly and I are now going to shop for new insurance coverage, as we have had it with Allstate.  It took WAY too long to get the repairs approved, they have fought us on just about everything, and they have treated this claim as more of a nuisance claim ever since this whol debacle started, AND I start grad school on Wednesday.  Kinda funny, Christopher finishes tomorrow and I start the day after…

Anyway, will eventually get around to posting pictures of the repair work and more pictures of Elizabeth, because you just can’t post enough pictures of our little angel…:)

In our front yard, we HAD a large oak tree that sat about 10 or so feet from the house.  A strong downburst hit right over our neighborhood and, as a result, toppled said oak tree onto our house!  I will post pictures of the damage later this evening, but here is a description of the damage:

• 4 holes punched into the roof by branch stumps.
• 1 dormer completely flattened
• top roof gable crushed in several places by tree branches
• front gutter ruined by tree trunk
• 3-4 rafters broken by tree, one of which came through the ceiling in the living room, opening a large swath of the ceiling and drowning the living room with water
• 1 couch ruined by water and drywall damage
• carpet ruined in living room (which had to be cut out to get the water soaked up before it ruined the subfloor)

With all of this damage, Kelly and I are not living at home and are staying with my parents.  This has been slightly stressful, but we’re all making it.  Hopefully after we get the construction estimate today, we’ll be able to get the repairs started soon and our lives can get back to normal.

It has definitely been an adjustment in my day.  Before Libby I would get up for work around 6:00 am and leave my house by 7:10 am to get to work by 7:45 am.  Now I am getting up at 5 am and feeding Libby, getting ready, and getting out of the house by 6:45 am to drop Libby off before I go to work.  I’m still getting used to having to go to bed much earlier and getting up an hour early but I will adjust. 

Thank you to everyone for your encouragement on facebook.  It really helped me.  Just continue to pray we do well in this transition and hope that financially I won’t have to work once Stephen is out of grad school next year.

On my front I went and saw my ob/gyn two weeks ago and my incision is healing well.  I am getting back to my old self with my increased energy level and it feels good.  I think I had to recover more quickly because we were at the Ronald McDonald House the first week of my recovery.  I have to go back in two more weeks for my 6 week check up.  I am no longer breastfeeding libby.  She never would latch on and I was having to constantly pump.  She was stressed and I was stressed so it just wasn’t worth it.  I wanted to enjoy my daughter while I was still off on maternity leave.  I also think that the separation from being in the NICU for 8 days had something to do with why the breastfeeding did not work.  I do  not feel like I’m a failure because I’m not breastfeeding.  I said I would try it and if it didn’t work, it didn’t work.  Now I will just be glad when I can get her out more besides going to dr’s visits and seeing family.  We are going to take her to church for the first time on March 15 and she will be dedicated on March 29th.  We are excited.  I go back to work early April, so I’m just trying to enjoy every minute that I can with her right now.  My in-laws will be keeping her for us, so I know that she will be in good hands.

On Libby’s front she has been eating great and growing like a weed!  We went to the Pediatrician’s office today for her one month checkup.  She weighs 6 lbs 11 ozs and is 19 inches long.  That may not be very big to most of you, but considering she weighed 5 lbs 6 ozs  and 18 1/4 inches long, the doctor and her mom and dad are very pleased with her growth.  The only problem we have had since switching over to formula, is excessive gas!  Bless her heart.  Sometimes she hurts so bad that she will just scream.  Mylicon before feedings has helped and we talked it over with the doctor today and we are going to switch her to Similac Sensitive formula.  It is specially designed to be easier to digest, therefore helping with her gas and fussiness.  It may take a week to work but she took the first bottle earlier just fine.  We also saw the hematologist last wednesday and whatever was causing her low platelets and anemia has resolved itself.  All numbers were within normal range.  Considering how low her platelets were in the hospital, that was such a blessing.  We have a wonderful God for looking over our daughter!  They think that I may have passed an antibody to her in utero that may have caused it.  Dr. Meredith will just continue to monitor CBC’s every few months and if we ever need Dr. Bhakta again, we will go see him.  Her next Pediatrician appt  is April 10th and then we will start immunizations. On the family front, Uncle Christopher and Aunt Lauren came to visit Libby for a couple of days and left yesterday.  For those that don’t know, Christopher is Stephen’s brother.  They loved Libby and Libby loved meeting them.  We will get to see them again when Uncle Christopher graduates from Auburn vet school.  We are so proud of him!  Then he is off to Purdue for one year or 4 years for internship and residency.  We are proud for him, but sad we won’t get to see them as much.  We will miss them!

Well that is all for now.  Like I said it has been a while since I updated everyone so thanks for bearing with me.  Oh, by the way, I love you Stephen.  I know I haven’t mentioned you much in this post but I love you and you are the best daddy.  You have been such a help and a trooper on the lack of sleep since you went back to work.  I love you baby!

Libby is thriving.  She’s now eating almost 3 oz at each feeding, and she’s filling out nicely.  She’s still “dainty and delicate” (as I like to describe her), but she’s right at 6 lbs now.  She’s had her first bath and, amazingly enough, she’s not a huge fan of water yet.  Being so small, she gets cold really quickly and we have to constantly pour warm water on her to keep her calm.  Once dry, however, she just cuddles next to you and life goes on.  Speaking of cuddling, I must confess…we have the most cuddly little bundle on earth, I’m convinced of it.  After eating, she’ll just bunch up next to you and fall asleep wherever you have her.  i like having her on my chest laying down on the bed…comfortable for both, but it lets me kiss her on the head and not wake her up or jostle her too much.  Yeah, she’s got me wrapped around her little fingers, but they’re so cute, its hard not to be.

Kelly is doing really well and her incision has more or less healed completely.  With time issues and the constant hassle of having to pump every 2 hours, she has decided to stop pumping and slowly switch Libby over to formula.  That way, when Kelly goes back to work, it will be much easier to feed the baby and it frees Kelly up considerably. 

Today’s a little bit more challenging then the past couple of weeks, though, as I have finally returned to work (much to the joy of my co-workers).  This leaves Kelly at home alone with the baby for longer than 2 hrs at a time (if I ran errands, etc.).  Mom’s on standby to help out as needed, but I’m 110% confident Kelly will make it just fine, I am thankful that Mom’s available to help out. 

On the nursery front, we got the wall hangings and the mobile installed on the wall and crib, respectively, and now my attention will turn to getting the letters of her name hung.  I’m still on the fence, if I should install a shelf to place the letters on, or install eye-hooks on the letters and hang them on the wall.  Decisions, decisions.  Beyond that, I definitely need to get more pictures and frames put on the wall.  The baby’s already here and I feel like the room’s still relatively barren.  Dad’s bookshelf/storage monstrosity will take up a good amount of wall space around the window, but there’s still so much empty space that I really feel needs SOMETHING decorative on it.  I’ll leave most of it to Kelly, I’ll just be the manual labor that hangs or installs whatever. 

More to come…:)