(3 months 2 weeks 4 days)

I was asked the following questions and thought I'd post them here:

How many diaper changes are you going through per day on average?
6 - 8 depending.

What size does your little one take now?
Pamper's Size 3. She's been in them since about 2 1/2 months.

Do you use cloth or disposable?
Disposable, but with the "plastic panties" that you're supposed to use with cloth diapers.

Many leaks?
Since the plastic panties. No, but had one MASSIVE one yesterday, plastic panties were NO match. Poor MIL, but she said Reese was the only one dirty, and I mean EVERYWHERE. That was the first leak in a LONG while.

(3 months 2 weeks 3 days)

Thanks for the baby mobile congrats! I love it!!! I commented to my MIL this morning "ya know, I run over the same potholes everyday, but today, the car just seemed to take them so much easier." Reese actually passed OUT in the car on the way to my MIL's and back home... SHE NEVER DOES THAT.

SUBJECT: I love your website!

Hello...my name is Jackie and I think I've become a Kloetzer website addict! : )

I stumbled upon Reese's website late last week, while searching for "selling breastmilk" (my 9 month old refuses to drink from a bottle and isn't "getting" the sippy cup either- it's mom or nothing!). I must admit that I scanned all through your pregnancy journal (I only got around to viewing the every 2 week belly pictures, but what a great idea!) and I've read through the "What's New" now too. I'm just in awe over all of the detail and time that you have put into this site...how do you find the time?!? Your site is awesome!

Now, onto a few snoopy questions... : )

Did you find anything more out about donating your excess breastmilk? I live in northwest Washington and the nearest American bank to me is in San Jose, California...not exactly closeby. There is one closer, in Vancouver, BC, Canada, but I'm not sure how that would work with it being international. I'm also curious about what you found out about donating your cord blood when Reese was born. I couldn't ever seem to find anywhere that took donations- only companies that would bank it for you personally, to save if your family should ever need it. While that sounded like an interesting idea, it was rather pricey.

If you have time and want to answer these questions, I'd love to hear from you! Again, your site is amazing (what a wonderful keepsake for your daughter!)...I'm completely jealous and wish I was so crafty at these things (and that I had the time to do it!). Congratulations on your new vehicle...fun, fun, fun!
Take care!

Jackie
mom of 3 in Washington

(3 montsh 2 weeks 2 days)

Goodness me, I’m exhausted. Reese and I headed out around 11:30 this morning to get some errands taken care of. Then headed over to BJ’s to get them to fix a tire on the Blazer. The service rep was SO nice. He took care of the tire right then and there and come to find out that he has a son that was born on October 5th! Small world! While waiting for the tire to get fixed, I walked through BJ’s and only managed to pick up some extra soap and bubble bath for Reese. I was so proud of myself, because there was a HUGE sale on tons of their winter infant clothes.

After the tire shop, we came home and lounged until around 2:00 when I needed to get Reese up and head out to North Royalton for our adjustments. Poor Reese, she was so tired, she just slept pretty much the entire time… which was fine with me! No more screaming baby please! But I don’t feel so bad, in my playgroup there are at least 6 other mommy’s that have joined the “Car Seat Haters Club.” Reese’s vertebra “moved well”, but Mark was out the door to head to the local hospital to check on a baby boy born yesterday to see if his shoulder was ok because it was a rough birth and no one was sure if it wasn’t dislocated, and I thought Reese had a tough birth. I did joke with Mark that I would pay for his gas to drive to Wadsworth to adjust our next lil’ monkey. His response “Wadsworth isn’t THAT far.”

On the way home Scott called and told me to gather some paperwork because we…

(3 months 2 weeks 1 day)

How I found Reese this morning. LOL Burp cloth down to catch rouge spitup during the night.

My husband is that MAN! Not only did he come home with diapers without me having to ask he also picked up the Cosco Alpha Omega car seat as a surprise for both Reese and I! WOO HOO! It's rockin' too.. I love it and I'm sure Reese will appreciate as Scott says "not having her skeleton compressed."... I like to call it "The human accordion."

http://www.shopping.com/xPC-Cosco_Alpha_Omega

Seems that its hospital recommended because of the headrest support.... don't know how long we will end up using it... The seat goes to 80 lb, but Reese will be out of the length range before the weight since she's a "tall baby."

Poor Reese, she had a rough morning. It took me almost an hour to get to Linda's this morning... and Reese was screaming the ENTIRE time. Yesterday she was crying a ton until she made herself go hoarse for the first time, and I don't think her vocal cords liked the workout today either, but there was nothing I could do. I was stuck in traffic due to the "Artic Clipper" that is moving through and bringing REALLY cold weather and snow. Linda said she went through 1 whole bottle in no time and slept for most of the morning. It didn't really surprise me because Reese didn't sleep but maybe 1 hour yesterday, she was just wired.

She conked out tonight at around 9:00, which was the same time last night... and she's been SUPER at sleeping 100% through the night. If she does rouse a bit, she puts herself right back to sleep until around 7:30AM or later depending on how full the diaper is.

I can't get over how fast she's growing up... and it's only been 3 months 2 weeks and 1 day.

And for another obsure bit of info/thinking....

Ya know how they say that "yawning is contagious." I don't buy it.... I think it's a learned pattern. I actually tested this out with Reese (wayyyy tooo much time staring at my child).... she yawned, so it made me yawn.... about 30 minutes later I was wondering "I wonder if I can make her yawn if I yawn." I yawned about 5 times in a row and nothing happened... she just sat there staring at me and smiling.

Scott watched a documentary on something dealing with yawning a few weeks ago and they said that yawning actually started with the cavemen as a signal that it was time to goto sleep. It wasn't looking at the motion of the mouth, but the eyes.....

I betcha just talking about this has made you yawn atleast once... am I right?

(3 months 2 weeks)

Reese's 15 week photos are posted! Some of the highlights are below, AND, Brian, sorry there are more nekkid baby pics...she's just too cute nekkid not to take photos!

(3 months 2 weeks)

One of the ladies on my message board posed a question about larger babies… and yes, Reese is a “larger baby.” At 3 months she was at least 15lb and 26” tall. What’s the big deal about that? Well…. Our SnugRide car seat’s recommended use is 20 lb and up to 26” tall. I had been noticing that Reese’s shoulders were really close to going over where the straps come into the seat…. I’ll give you 1 guess what our next purchase will be in the next couple of weeks…….

I’m getting over my “stomach virus.” I called our local family doctor, but because I’m still nursing he told me to contact Barbara to see what she said. It was so good to chat with her! She said that there was really nothing that I could take that wouldn’t affect my milk supply or Reese’s bowels. She said that there is a virus going around and that it lasts anywhere from 2 – 3 days. GREAT. I did ask if there was anyway that this would harm Reese and she said “Absolutely not. You’re actually sending her antibodies.” PHEW, good thing… but Barb did finish up by saying … “Scott will probably end up getting it.” Needless to say, Scott wasn’t thrilled in the least.

Scott said one more thing that makes me laugh, so add this to your ongoing list of “Silly Daddy Sayings”:

“Sue, she was completely out… then for some reason, she came back.”

Let me explain what this means. Reese does this thing where she’s limp as a wet noodle when she’s truly asleep, but every now and then during the transfer of Reese upstairs she’ll wake up… and I mean WIDE AWAKE. Then we have to start all over again with the nighttime/sleepy time rituals, that usually include a boob and or the swing.

I apologize for jumping all over the place in this post, but hey, it’s a free thought journal, so I have that right… right?

Scott and I have had some pretty in-depth discussions lately, nothing bad, just more philosophical in genre. The first being immunizations. Let me preface this discussion before I continue. No, we ARE NOT going to stop immunizing. Reese will get ALL shots that are recommended by our pediatrician as well as required by most school systems in the state.

I brought up the fact that Scott and I never really discussed if that was ever and option or not… it was just “understood.” This came up because our chiropractors didn’t and aren’t immunizing their kids, and the more I talked to them about it, the more it had me thinking. “Why are we immunizing, besides the obvious?”

Scott posed the question “We don’t get flu shots, does that make us wrong?” And I really had to think about that…. And we further went on about hypothetical outbreaks and would we be willing to give Reese a smallpox vaccination if it were available to us when 1 in 100 babies die from the immunization itself, and that’s if there was a possible outbreak again from smallpox, and the main reason we don’t have a massive outbreak is because immunizations were given and pretty much eradicated it from our society. It really makes you think about what you would do especially if you lived in tsunami stricken areas where diseases that were once obsolete are now creeping back into their society. Our entire discussion pretty much came down to “we immunize because it’s the ‘normal thing to do’” but people that don’t immunize aren’t wrong either, so what I took from this is that it’s a personal preference and no one is wrong in their decision, but we must keep in mind that breast milk only naturally inoculates babies from MMR and other weird stuff until 6 months, then they are on their own.

And this was a segway to our next topic of religion (which I know is SOOO taboo, but hey, it’s discussed in certain circles) my husband is really into politics and with the tsunami tragedy religion has been brought up in the media. I had started this conversation a few days ago with my office mate. Her husband is Catholic and she is Non-Denominational. She brought up the point that “priests are being convicted of child molestation; no one is really ‘safe’ in Church.” That made me pose the question to Scott of “Why is it that people automatically assume that people that attend church or read the bible are automatically assumed to be ‘good people?’” I said that people that go to church aren’t always necessarily “good people.” Since we’ve recently joined a church in our area this question really made me think about this question. I mean think about it (this is a bit extreme but brings it into context) wife beaters, murderers, and other awful people that I won’t mention in Reese’s post attend church, so the ole’ adage that “they are attending church” when other things are still continuing to go on makes them “good people” doesn’t really ring true. I know that this is probably an un-Christian thing to say, but it’s just the way that I feel.

This can always be posed for people that don’t attend church regularly; they aren’t necessarily “bad people.” I have close friends/family that attend church every Sunday and Wednesday just as I have close friends/family that haven’t attended church in their entire life or recently. I just makes me a bit uncomfortable when people will state “they go to church” and it’s supposed to mean “they are ok” when there are more to people that makes them “good” or “bad” based solely only whether they attend church or not, but it’s been so ingrained in the Christian faith, I suppose that it’s an unconscious impression when someone says “I go to Church” or “I read the bible regularly” especially when there is possibly an alternative motive than wanting to get closer with your particular faith. The discussion was pretty open-ended when my office mate Scott and I were done talking about it, and there is really no right or wrong answer… it was just a discussion that made us think.

Ok, enough with the “heavy thinking portion of this post.”

I’ll finish the post with another little funny thing that Scott noticed and told Reese last night. He looked at me first and said “These size 3 diapers were big for about 1 day…” he then looked at Reese and said “You know, Burt used to get covered up by the stripes, not anymore! Which is really not unusual because LOOK AT THAT MILK BELLY!!” Reese is growing up sooooooo fast…. I’m glad that Scott and I are able to appreciate every second of it….and can you believe I was emailed “When’s a son coming?” the other day?

(3 months 1 week 6 days)

Friday night was a quiet night, which was great! Matt was a doll and picked up Scott in Cleveland and helped him finish out his day. I came home to them chilling playing games and a plate full of homemade chocolate chip cookies!! They were from our Church as a “thank you and welcome.” I was floored, and those cookies were oh so good! It’s such a warm feeling to know that you are part of something greater than yourself.

For the rest of the evening Reese and I just chilled and I took care of her while Scott was out running an errand. Reese was pretty sleepy until Scott got home, and like always, as soon as she sees either one of us that she hasn’t in a while, she’s WIRED. I was exhausted, so I went to bed while Scott stayed up to watch Reese while he played some PS2 with Brian (best friend who moved down to Florida in September).

I woke up with Reese Saturday morning at her normal 7:30AM time and took her downstairs to give Scott a few more minutes of shut-eye before we headed out for the day. We ran a few errands, one of which was heading to Cleveland to pick up his car. Scott was even more excited because we were able to eat at CiCi’s Pizza… I created a monster in New Orleans. I had my first NIP while still sitting at the table and not hunkered down in a public bathroom, and what was great was that NO ONE paid ANY attention… the busboy only came over to see if we were done with any of our plates. I so love nursing, so glad that it all worked out and SO worth it!

Reese did so great going to Cleveland and then back to Canton to do some returns. While we were in Wally-World we came across some FANTASTIC deals and ended up getting a game table top with 5 or 6 different casino games for a little bit of nothing along with some scarecrows for the IL’s. Since we had the stuff in the car we then headed over to Norton to drop off the stuff at the IL’s which killed 2 birds with one stone! Liz Claiborne was having their annual 50% - 70% off their already marked down price, so it was birthday/Christmas shopping for Sue!! I love this annual trip… nothing like trying on clothes that had been $90 at one time…. And less than a 1/10 of the original cost when it’s all said and done. Our lil’ Tank did fantastic in the stores… Scott had to change her twice, but they have a fantastic handicap room that is big enough to change babies. I came out a few times to show MIL/FIL clothes and Scott was on the floor with Reese so she could see herself in the full length mirrors on the store pillars… it was SO CUTE.

After I was pampered, then it was Scott’s turn at IZOD… but it was like pulling teeth… but he did it! And got stuff that wasn’t dark blue or gray. I was even able to find a few pieces that were 75% off their original price… Tom was even impressed. The ladies in the store were very taken to how cute Reese was and how WELL BEHAVED. She was in her car seat / stroller while we were all trying on clothes and didn’t really cry all that much. Had to break down and give her a binky because she was hungry, but took care of that as soon as we got home. It was a great day and Reese did awesome!

Sunday, we got up and went to Church. Reese did better, but Scott did have to take her out and walk with her at the last 15 minutes. If I didn’t express how wonder our Church is, let me just say, it’s the BEST. I’m so excited to have found somewhere that Scott and I can gear up for the upcoming week on a good note. I’m getting a little weepy thinking about Reese’s baptism in March. It seems so far away, yet so close… just another reminder of how fast time has been flying since this little miracle was brought into our lives.

If you didn’t read yesterday’s post… check it out, Reese is developing by leaps and bounds! Scott is sure she’ll be walking by next week and graduated college by the end of the year!

We’ll be heading out to North Royalton tomorrow for our second week of chiropractic adjustments. I hope I’m feeling better… something hit me last night around 8PM and didn’t let up until 8AM this morning. I didn’t get ANY sleep last night and Scott had to call Linda and my boss to let them know that I wouldn’t be able to make it.

That’s about it for the weekend stuff…. I need to go take a nap while Reese is napping. Have a great Monday!

(3 months 1 week 5 days)

Reese finally rolled from her back to her stomach tonight right before dinner!

I should have taken a photo of it, but it didn't look comfortable! She was watching the Baby Playzone™ Kick & Whirl Carnival on her back while Scott was cooking dinner and i was cleaning up the table. I hear her in a little bit of distress... so I got into the living room and there is she is! ROLLED OVER! She was mad because her arm was under her and one leg was on the outer side of the side of the activity gym so she couldn't bend her leg enough to roll back! Poor baby... should have gotten a photo of it, but I was too amazed she rolled from back to stomach and she looked like she wasn't in the most comfortable position!

Scott's first action was to call his mom and tell her!   She had told us that "Scott didn't roll over from back to stomach until 4 1/2 months"... and he