Typical Breezy day

Abrie's 'schedule' is quite consistent these days, and has been since only a few weeks old.

She wakes up almost on the dot at 7:30am. Some nights she sleeps through the night (since 12 weeks) and others she is up at around 3:30am for a middle-of-the-night snack. Big sisters get the go-ahead that they can be loud and give their Beeba/Breezer their trademark kisses or, in Faith's case, head rubs. She eats, plays with her barnyards (the barnyard play gym) while I give big sisters their breakfast and then dress them, plays with Momma, and reads books on the deck before heading for a nap by 9am at the latest. 

I have just enough time to quickly take a shower and fix my hair (need to get a seriously short haircut because my hair is falling out at its fastest rate ever due to always being back wet since I have NO time to blow dry and then take the 30,000 minutes required to straighten my obscenely thick hair), clean up, and read the big girls a book or two before Abrie is up by 10am. She eats, and we go out and do our thing for the morning whether it be go for a walk, the playground, library, or a close-by errand that has to be finished. She always falls asleep by 11:30am or so while we're out and about, and I transfer her to her crib when we're back from being outside. I get the big girls their lunches, and Abrie is usually up by 12:15pm or so and ready to eat. 

She eats, and continues with the nap that she started earlier. She naps until 3pm or a little earlier, but if she is not up by 3pm, I do get her up to eat. I would have never done that with Maddie or Faith, but she comes with us on all of their excursions so I always have to make sure she has eaten well. She hangs out by the pool (or wherever we end up going in the afternoon) and naps again at about 4:30pm. 

She is up by 5:15pm at the very latest, eats dinner on my lap with us at the table (although of course she only watches and doesn't eat!), has her nightly bath at about 6pm, and can barely ever make it past 6:30pm. 

A typical Breezy day!!

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I swear breastfeeding poses its challenges whether you are on your first baby or your third. It keeps you on your toes! 

This little woman will REFUSE-- absolutely refuse-- to eat at times. On Thursday she refused two feedings in a row, and it worries me to no end. It's as though I am torturing her, and yet I am only offering her what I always thought was supposed to be a source of comfort. I hope it's somehow connected to her hives, because at least there would be an explanation then to it. Thankfully, she's had a good eating day today!

My baldie

I had an inkling our 3rd little lady would have the least amount of hair out of the three girlies, and I was right!

And, the little hair she does have since birth is becoming even less these days! Her hair seems to be shedding, and you can tell she's going to have Maddie's hair color I think. 

Faith-y had so much hair that I could comb it and style it since the day she was born. Maddie had enough to put in a little clip sometimes, and Abrie has the least amount of hair! It will be some time before I can put enough in a clip;)

I'm loving my little baldie though!

I am apparently chopped liver...

.... but, doting big sissy's? 

Now, THEY are cool.

I just call in my two helpers when ever I want to capture a sweet Beeba show smile on camera! She absolutely adores her big sisters. The second she sees them, she starts smiling her biggest smiles. It's precious.

3 months old

Why is it that these little ladies of ours have to grow up so darn quickly?

Abrie has been rolling since she was 5 weeks old. She rolls all the time, and then smiles. She was on her back in the crib this morning with a huge smile, just waiting for me. She is noticing her hands all the time now and trying so hard to suck on them. She will get up on her knees and rock back and forth when she's on her stomach the way her big sisters did NOT do until they were about 5 months old. Why can't she slow it down just a little bit?!

Baby girl is now 11 lbs and 4 oz as of her doctor's appointment for hives on Tuesday. She may seem so small to everyone that sees her, but to me she look enormous. What happened to my little 6 pound peanut that I remember bringing home from the hospital?! 

It's unreal how in love I am with my Abrielle. My Breeze. My Beeba Show-y. The cliche you hear all the time of "will there be enough love for another baby?" should be totally eradicated. There's SO much room for more love. The question I ask myself all the time instead is, where was she all this time? 

My beautiful 3-month old baby girl: I love you. Plain and simple.

Hoping it's a simple case of allergies?

I would very much like for Abrie's hives to go away now.

I hate seeing my poor baby covered in these darn things every single morning. It is the strangest thing. She started this last Sunday, and they come without fail every morning. They've been splotchy and only on her arms, but lately now they make her entire arm red and inflamed with white little welts. She's also now been getting them on her knees and on the bottom halves of her legs. It's got to be itchy for my poor baby girl; it coves her little knuckles and fingers, and I just want them to go away for once and for all.

I'm trying to not eat clementines (the only food I can think of that I've been eating regularly since getting them at the store last Friday-- although, I've eaten them many times before since having had her) and strawberries (same deal-- I've eaten them regularly since having had her and it never made her break out, but apparently Dan used to have reactions to strawberries when he was little), and hope that this helps? It's so extremely sad seeing her arms- and now legs- covered in these hives and wondering if my milk is making her stomach hurt so badly that she screams and screams and screams. Nursing is supposed to be soothing and comforting to my babies, and yet it seems to be torture lately to my poor little Breeze. I feel so guilty and helpless. 

Sweet sleeper

Abrie slept til 7:30 this morning. She ate last night at 6:30pm, which means she slept 13 hours straight. I missed seeing her at her usual 3am or so middle-of-the-night snack. Not to mention, I was wanting her to wake up so I could alleviate my poor boob pain. It still amazes me how with all three of my little girls, the first night that they sleep the entire night through, I wake up without fail at the time I am used to them waking and hurrying to their room to check on them. Then, instead of sleeping soundly, I lay awake until they finally arise to nurse because of the incredible pain! Irony!

Regardless though, I am so proud of my little sleeper. I'm amazed that being as little as she is, that she does sleep so incredibly well.

Now, if I could just rid her of these horrible hives, I would be happier still!

Experimenting

Abrie's sleeping in a light blanket sleeper tonight as part of my experiment.

She's been having the strangest hives since Sunday morning. They're strange because they only occur in the mornings after feeding her. Shortly after feeding her in the morning, you start to see the hives slowly appearing and becoming raised and blotchy just as Maddie's used to do when she had them for that year+ after the lovely hand, foot, and mouth virus of '06. And, then after I put little Beeba down for her first nap of the morning, she wakes up with them all gone. Weird. I can't figure out what it could be. It's only on her arms, and only on the exposed parts of her arms. So, I don't think it could be any reactions to the laundry detergent since it's not where the clothes touches her body. I change her bed sheet all the time, and I don't think it's any type of allergy to the bed sheet. I started to worry- as much as it makes me want to vomit- that perhaps it could be bed bugs? But, I really don't think so because it's only in the morning that she gets these mysterious hives and then they are gone for the day after she awakes from her first nap. I guess I will see how she awakes tomorrow morning since I put her in long sleeves tonight.

*****

I love my spring baby. I'm so used to winter babies! And, I'm loving the fact that Abrie is outdoors nearly all the time with her big sissys. Of course, both Maddie and Faith have always been outdoors as well even though they were both winter babies. Maddie, of course having been born in Shreveport, it was so much easier to get her outdoors. Faith was more of a challenge in getting her into her snowsuit for the mere 15 minutes or so we could be out at a time, but it was imperative that I get Maddie out for fresh air and all. It's quite easy with Abrie. It doesn't require TOO much effort, besides the typical 'get-three-girls-out-the-door-and-all-in-one-piece' effort. That goes without saying though that there are different things then to worry about with the Breeze. Now I worry about sunburns and not having enough sun hats for my baby instead of keeping Faith out of the 30mph winds and below 30 degree weather for too long. 

But, besides that, Abrie just loves every chance to be outside. I truly think she already loves it. We read stories out on the deck now, and this girl can read 4 or more books in a row. It's great. She sits so quietly kicking her legs while she studies the pictures. We even found some books for her at the library yesterday-- her first borrowed library books!