Friday Five

1. My parents are keeping both Aubrey and Macy tonight...overnight...aren't they brave? In the meantime me and Wes are going to go eat at Moe's and catch the movie The Blind Side...aren't we brave to be wading through the throngs of teenagers going to see New Moon on the same night?

2. Okay I am starting my crafting on Sunday afternoon...I had to wait until I got a chance to go to Hobby Lobby and Micheals, which will be tomorrow, and get some supplies. On the crafting list I have 4 items:
1. My own Moby...someone on my baby board posted a tutorial and I am going to give it a shot.
2. Baby Legs...using a tutorial from Little Birdie Secrets
3. Some tutu's...I have found several tutorials on these and I am pretty amazed at how easy they look..let's hope they are!
4. More felt stories...got a couple of Christmas presents to make.

3. I am going shopping tomorrow morning with mom to begin my Christmas shopping..well I take that back. I actually already bought Macy a Snow White dress up costume, so I guess technically I should say continue my Christmas shopping.

4. Wes is getting our Christmas decorations down from the attic tomorrow afternoon. The tree will be going up the day after Thanksgiving while watching the Iron Bowl. I am not planning on braving Black Friday this year...I'll leave that madness up to others.

5. I think Aubrey has her days and nights confused. She sleeps a lot during the day and then thinks it's party time at night. We are going to try what Colleen suggested to me and take her somewhere really busy and loud for a couple of evenings and see if we can get her schedule sorted out...I keep explaining to her that mommy needs her to sleep during the night because mommy can't stay up all day and all night..it just doesn't work that way :) Ah but she just gives me the "why?" look...I have a feeling she is going to be a "why?" kid :)

Happy Friday all...can you believe Thanksgiving is next week? Where has this year went?

What you talkin bout Willis?

Was what my brother in law Zach said about this picture!

1 Month Old

Where did this month go? Yesterday Aubrey was a month old! She is changing so much every day.
Friday we got her first social smile! Or actually I should say her Nana (my mom) got her first social smile. We were in the waiting room down at Children's Hospital and my mom was talking to her and she just gave her the biggest toothless grin!
We took her to church for the first time today. Of course we had to dress her up and take her picture :)



And to let everyone who hasn't heard yet, her sweat test results for cystic fibrosis were negative! She does not have it! We are so relieved! God really answered all our prayers. She is a carrier of the gene, and actually has the most common mutation of the gene there is. But the only way this will ever affect her is if she marries a man who is also a carrier. Then there children would have a 25% chance of having CF.
We are really starting to get in the groove of things. Wes is back on day shift, we are gearing up for the holidays, and we are enjoying her every moment because I had always heard time flies fast and now I truly believe it!

10 on Tuesday on a Wednesday

1. I have this vast desire to be crafty. I read so many craft blogs and craft websites and I just want to be crafty. Heck I am a stay at home mom...I should be doing something with my free time while Aubrey naps. I just have this desire to be like a Martha Stewart type mom...so I am going to start slow and try out a few things...my first is a continuation of the felt story boards I made Macy last year for Christmas. I am going to do some more stories for her and make a new board for a friend of mines son. So here and there I'll pop in pictures of my craftiness...or at least I hope so :)
2. Speaking of being all Martha Stewartly I have developed a chore chart and schedule. I have decided for my house to run smoothly and not get out of control I have to assign days for certain chores like laundry and dusting. Yeah I am OCD...who knew? :)
3. If you ever are feeling crafty check out some of the blogs on my sidebar...I have quite a few that are awesome!
4. My daughter is a serious noise maker while sleeping. She makes all these whimpers and cries and grunts and movements lol. We say she must be dreaming about that giant bottle chasing her.
5. I have found a new love of clothing for Aubrey...baby legs! Roz gave Aubrey her first pair...here's a picture.

I am now on the hunt to find Aubrey some more of them in all kinds of cute colors!
6. So I have learned that you body isn't exactly the same after giving birth. Things just don't settle the same. So the gym is calling my name after I am cleared for excercise in a couple of weeks.
7. Tonight is Wes' last night of night shift! WHOO HOO! He gets a 4 day weekend and then back on day shift on Monday! So excited!
8. My baby is 4 weeks today and will be a month on Saturday! Um how come time is moving so fast??
9. Have ya'll seen the previews for The Blind Side? It's the story of Michael Oher who was homeless and a family took him in..he played college ball for Ole Miss and went in the first round draft pick...it looks really touching. Comes out November 20 and I really want to see it.
10. Friday is Aubrey's doctor appointment to have her sweat test done to check to see if she has CF. We are praying hard. It's going to be a long day.

Hope everyone is having a good week!

First Bath

It's been a couple of weeks since her first bath but yeah I am just now getting the pictures downloaded onto my computer.
First let me say there will only be two pictures posted because I gave the picture taking duty to Wes and well bless his heart, while he got a bunch, they all pretty much seemed to show too much of her "stuff" for me to post them to my blog or anywhere. So most will be saved for the baby book. I really need to get Wes to practice his picture taking skills...he tries but well...it's like in the hospital...you know the first picture of them that they take on the scale to see how much they weigh? Um yeah Wes got most of the nurses arm in that one...you can't hardly see Aubrey and it cut the number off...lol gotta love em though :) At least he tried! But anyway back to my original thoughts.
Aubrey does love baths though...thank goodness. I really want her to be a water baby. I have big plans to do mommy and me swim classes next summer. This is mainly because my inlaws have a pool and I don't want her to freak out about water. But anyway veering off again. But yes she loves baths...I can't wait till she is old enough to play in the water...we already have some cool bath toys just waiting :)
And now the pictures!

This picture looks like it makes a liar out of me because she was about to start crying but it was because we had just lifted her up to wash her backside...I said she liked baths...however she HATES being cold!

Nice and toasty in her hooded towel :)

Now I just need to learn how to edit photos so I can post one of those little blocker things over the parts that don't need to be shown because I have some cuter shots but yeah can't post them. Heck I just need a good old crash course in photo shop. Don't they make a Photo Shop for Dummies book?

Baby Product Reviews

I've been a mom for almost a month now and I wanted to review some products that I have loved in this first month.

1. Dr. Brown's Bottles
http://www.handi-craft.com/home.html
I love these bottles. They reduce the amount of gas and also they DON'T LEAK!! They are a bit of a pain to wash because they have lots of parts, but I have gotten into a rhythm with it so even that isn't a huge pain anymore :)

2. Fisher Price Precious Planet Bouncer
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001GQ2RVW
Aubrey sleeps in this a lot. Right now she isn't digging her crib too much so in the middle of the night this helps to let mom and dad get some sleep. Plus she really likes the vibration. We don't have the toy bar on it right yet, but hopefully she'll like it once we put in on there.

3. Sleep Sacks
Aubrey hates being swaddled but she also wants things close to her so this was our solution. This way I know she is warm at night and she still has freedom to move her arms and legs.

4. Gripe Water!
http://www.walgreens.com/store/catalog/Stomach-Remedies/Gripe-Water/ID=prod3460643&navCount=1&navAction=push-product?V=G&ec=frgl_555902&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=sku3459486
Seriously I could kiss the inventor of this stuff! Aubrey is a pretty gassy baby and this helps to ease the pain for her and the frustrations she gets with it!

5. Aveeno Calming Baby Wash and Lotion
http://www.amazon.com/Aveeno-Baby-Calming-Comfort-Bath/dp/B000GCJKSU
We use this when we bathe Aubrey at night. It settles her down and she smells so good!

I'll update more products as I go along. So far she doesn't use a whole lot, but I know that'll change soon and hopefully some reviews may be helpful to some :)

A few things going on around the McClanahan household

1. As some of you know we are having to take Aubrey to B'ham Children's Hospital on the 13th of November to have a test run on her to check for cystic fibrosis. Her newborn blood work came back with some abnormalaties for the cystic fibrosis. We found out she is a carrier, which means either me, wes, or both of us are carriers. Now this test will tell us whether she has CF or if she is just a carrier. The doctor at Children's Hospital told me that 90% of the babies they see are just carriers. I like that number. Thoughts and prayers would be appreciated over the next two weeks...we are keeping positive and know it is in God's hands and control.

2. Aubrey is adjusting to life in the outside world very well! She is having more and more wakeful periods during the day. She gets up to eat every 2 and a half to three hours a night. She is smiling in her sleep a lot, and I am patiently waiting for that first social smile :) She really loves her daddy! She doesn't like to be cold. She really enjoys her swing and bouncy seat. She isn't very crazy about lying flat, so hence right now she isn't digging her crib. She loves riding in the car and it is a guaranteed that she will go to sleep while riding!

3. When she went to her 2 week pedi checkup she was up to 7lbs10oz...still 4oz from her birth weight, so we are going in for a weight check on Thursday. Dr. Meadows was happy she is heading up though. She is eating excellently, up to almost 3oz per feeding.

4. Now for a few pictures of course :)