Birthday weekend

I had a great weekend ringing in my 24th birthday at the lake house. Thank you to everyone who sent me birthday wishes, I am very blessed to have so many great family and friends! I picked up my friend Jenny after she got off from work, and we drove up with our friend Kali after grabbing a bite to eat in Portland. My parents had set out a cake and balloons for when we arrived, which was really sweet :) We got there pretty late, around 10:30, so I immediately put Payton to bed (in the pack and play I set up all by myself, thank you very much!) and we stayed up chatting and drinking wine for a couple hours. We went to bed way too late, but a mother never rests... Payton and I were up at 5:00 am for some breakfast!

The weather on Saturday started out pretty grey and foggy, but it was ok because we just wanted to laze around anyway. We sat out on the porch in the morning, chatting, drinking coffee, reading magazines... and then somehow it turned into the afternoon! My parents came out to see Payton and take us out in the boat. Payton was so cute, she kept touching my dad's mustache, she was fascinated with it! It was nice to have my parents there to hang out with Payton for a little bit, so I could be with my friends for a while without having to worry about her.

Checking out that facial hair!

Kali, me, and Jenny in the boat. We met in the ultrasound program 5 years ago and have been good friends ever since!

I tried sweet potatoes this weekend and LOVED them!

Yep, mom still makes me do tummy time :)

That night, my dad pre-made us a fire (all we had to do was light it; thanks dad!) and so we hung out by the fire for a while. Kali had to leave Saturday night to go home, so after she left Jenny and I stayed out a little while longer, but we were exhausted... a whole day of doing nothing really wore us out! :)

Kali, Jenny (and her pup Daisy!) hanging out by the fire

I was messing around with the settings on my camera (which I rarely do; I'm a point and shoot kind of girl!), and took this picture of the house. For some reason I think it looks SO cool!

The sun rising Sunday morning... so pretty

Jenny and I took our time cleaning up the house, and left the lake a little after 11:00am. We hit up a Starbucks and then hit the road. It was a great weekend!

Mother and daughter :)



Back to the real world... Payton had her one month follow up with her dermatologist this morning. It was a very positive appointment! He continues to be really pleased with her progress, and her blood pressure looks great. She weighed 17 pounds 12 ounces, so her dose was adjusted up to account for her weight gain. He also said that instead of giving her the medicine three times a day, that we can give it to her only twice a day, which will be nice. She will stay at this dose for the next two months, and then at her next appointment we will talk about starting to lower her dose. Very exciting!

Although the doctor appointment itself was all good news, before the appointment was quite dramatic... some guy in the waiting room tried to pick a fight with Kyle! He was this guy who was trying to register his daughter for an appointment (OHSU does all of their registering over the phone), and he was angry that they were asking him for his social security number. After repeatedly yelling at them that he doesn't give his social security number over the phone, he eventually hung up on them and angrily stormed out of the office, dropping the F-word on his way out. Kyle asked him to please watch his language, but he ignored him. Well, he came back into the office (still angry) and when they still couldn't help him, he started to cuss them out, and Kyle asked him again to please watch his language. He freaked out on Kyle, yelling and swearing at him, and as he walked outside he yelled at him to put down his daughter so he could fight him. Can you believe that?? Kyle got up, told him "sir, I'm just asking you to be appropriate" and shut the office door behind him! I'm so glad he kept his calm, but that guy really scared me. I was proud of Kyle for saying something though, it is unbelievably inappropriate to be yelling those things, much less in a pediatrician's office with a bunch of kids and babies in the waiting room. I'm glad Payton has such a good daddy to look up to :)

We're taking Payton to get pictures done on Friday... she will officially be six months old. Amazing! I'm also going shopping this weekend with my mom-in law Sue and future sister-in-law Lindsey... she's taking us shopping for our birthdays (Lindsey's is next Sunday, she's turning 21!) so I'm excited to shop! Usually my shopping consists of buying clothes for Payton, not myself, so I'm really looking forward to it :)

Hope everyone has a great week, and I'll post Payton's pictures as soon as I can!

Three day weekend

WOW it was a hot one this weekend! Thank GOODNESS for air conditioning :) We didn't really take Payton outside at all, it was too miserable. I'm a pretty big wuss when it comes to the heat, but what can I say? I grew up in the pacific northwest, and I'm used to the weather being gray and cloudy :) I think it's perfect when the weather is in the 70's and sunny, but lately it's either been way too hot or way too cold!

Friday morning we decided to go to Multnomah Falls, which is about 35 miles east of Portland. I've meant to visit there since I moved here, but hadn't gotten around to it yet. It's a really popular tourist destination, and is this beautiful 700 foot waterfall. There is a hike too, it is ALL switchbacks uphill. We went a little ways, but not the complete 6 miles; I was in flip flops, not really that prepared :) It was the perfect day for a family outing though!



We strapped Payton in the baby carrier and off we went! She was great the whole time, she was so fascinated she didn't make a peep! She loved staring at the waterfall and all the trees, and people watching too.

Hi mommy :)

Hall family

I couldn't stop staring!

I saw mom and dad drinking out of this bottle, so I really wanted to also

Friday night, my sister and her friend Kendel came into town from Spokane. They were going to go to Eugene to check out the University of Oregon, but somehow got detoured into a weekend of shopping :) While they hit the town on Saturday, I actually had a bridal shower to go to. My good friend Pearl is getting married next month!

Myself and the beautiful bride-to-be. It was really fun to see so many old friends from college; we're so spread out now, but when we're together it's like we're back in Klamath Falls. I didn't go out downtown with the girls though... a lot has changed since those good old Klamath days! Had to get home to be with my baby :)

Yesterday I did a little shopping with the girls, but they had to head home and we pretty much spent the rest of the day relaxing. It was really great to see Chelsea, I don't get to see her nearly enough... And of course I forgot to get a picture of us! Next time for sure :)

Payton is growing so much. She can sit up by herself for a second, but doesn't stay there for very long if one of us isn't supporting her. She recently discovered her toes (see below) and will gum anything and everything she can get her hands on. She's reaching for everything, and still prefers standing over tummy time. She's drooling buckets, the front of her shirt is always wet. We're expecting that first tooth any day now! She starts day care in about two weeks, which I think will be really weird at first but I will actually get to see her more during the day, which I'm selfishly excited about. She's making lots of crazy noises lately, really discovering her voice. Lots of squeals, screams, yelling, babbling, grunting, giggling... she's even imitating me and Kyle a little bit, which is really cute. We'll make a funny noise with our mouth and you can watch her try to do it too. She can tell when one of us has left the room, and let's us know if she's not happy about it :) She's slowly starting to outgrow some of her 6 month clothes, which means we get to start breaking into a new wardrobe!

Have these always been here??

Payton had a follow-up appointment with the eye doctor today. They decided to dilate her eyes again to see if the astigmatism was improving... she wasn't a big a fan of the eye drops today, but got over it in about 2 seconds. After waiting about half an hour for them to kick in, we got back in the exam room to see the doctor. Good news: the astigmatism has improved! He said her hemangioma looks great, and the internal one is putting less pressure on her eye. We were very glad to hear that the medicine is working, not only externally but internally as well. He said to keep up with the propranolol, and hopefully it will improve even more. Poor Payton though, if it's not one thing I swear it's another. This kid can't seem to get a break sometimes! He mentioned again how farsighted she is, but I asked him if that was a big deal because I thought all babies were born farsighted. He told me that most babies are a +1.5 to a +2 on the farsighted scale... Payton is about a +5.5 :( Poor thing! He had Kyle and I look through some lenses to simulate what Payton sees, and it was super blurry, really hard to make out anything. Basically, right now her eyesight is like 20/80. He said we'll check her again in three months, but if it doesn't improve drastically by her first birthday, she will need to get glasses. Or, if we notice that one or both of her eyes crosses, we need to let them know because he said in that case they would want to start her with glasses immediately. He said it's hard to predict if she will always need glasses, but we want to make sure her eyes aren't crossing when she's trying to focus because that could ultimately result in a lazy eye. We're trying to be positive, and hoping that it just improves on it's own... and if she ends up needing baby glasses, then she'll be the cutest baby on the block with them! :)

I just wish I could take away all of her struggles and problems and have them myself. It's hard because so many of my friends have babies, and I wish I was more carefree about parenthood like they are. I just worry about her so much, because I love her more than anything and don't want her to be affected by any of this. She deserves the best, not all these medicines, baby glasses and endless doctor visits. Everytime we go to OHSU though, I see someone who reminds me that our situation could be much much worse, and it helps keep my mind in check. In the long run, Payton's problems are very minor compared to some. My first trip to Doernbecher I was waiting in line at the pharmacy for Payton's prescription; we were about to give her the first dose of propranolol. This little girl, probably no more than three or so, walked up with her mom. You could tell she was a little cancer patient, she didn't have any hair and had a cute hat on her head to cover it up. She smiled at me and hid her face shyly behind her mom's knees; she was so sweet. I think there's a reason kids are so resilient! :)

Let's just say being a first time parent has not exactly played out like I thought it would... is it emotional? Yes. Exhausting? Yes. Difficult? Yes. The most rewarding thing I have ever done? YES!
Coming home to this sweet face every night is worth every second!

Next weekend I'm going out to the lake house with some girlfriends to celebrate my birthday (the big 2-4!) I'm really looking forward to having some girl time, and I'm sure Payton is too! :) Kyle is heading to Bend for his friend Tom's bachelor party... ready for another beautiful summer weekend! Fall will be here before we know it...

Family weekend

We had a big weekend full of family and friends in the harbor! We don't get to go up there enough, so when we do we try to pack in as many people in our day as we can :) I have Friday's off this month (which is very nice!), and so we headed up to Gig Harbor in the morning after touring and visiting Wee Care (more on that later). It was an uneventful car ride, Payton is awesome with road trips by now! Friday night we were visited by my cousin Carissa and her husband Chris. They hadn't seen Payton in 3 months, so she had definitely grown a lot since then! It was a pretty low key night with pizza and conversation. We miss those guys!

Saturday we were visited by the Book family. Payton did great... must be hard to be the center of attention everywhere you go! :) She slept a lot this weekend, but she saw a lot of faces and it was a lot of activity. Certainly more than she's used to with just me and Kyle! She was very smiley with everyone, and when she got cranky we just put her down for a nap and she went down without a peep. It is SO much fun to get her from her crib, she gives you the hugest grin and starts kicking and squealing in excitement! We would all fight over who got to get her when she woke up :)

I took my camera one time, couldn't pass up a perfect photo op!

My Great Aunt Tanya helping me stand. I do not like to sit!

I do like to smile though :)

Great grandma feeding me lunch. It's really funny to watch Payton with a bottle, I need to get it on video sometime. As soon as she sees it she reaches for it and opens her mouth up really wide, and grabs it and actually guides it to her own mouth! I have a feeling she'll be holding it on her own before we know it.

I was really aware of the dogs this time, and they were pretty curious about me too.

With Grandma after my bath

Kyle, crazy guy that he is, drove down to Vancouver and back on Saturday night to go to a concert that he was really excited about... I told him he could just stay in Portland, but he didn't want to miss any family stuff. He had a blast, they saw the Scorpions! Didn't get home until about 2am though, so he was definitely tired... on Sunday morning my bestest friend Elena and her hubby Dan dropped by to say hello. We chatted and laughed over pancakes and coffee. Anytime I'm with Elena it's like old times. We made a pact when we were in high school that we would at least be engaged by the year 2010 (we both got married in 2008), so we always laugh about that! We planned a Portland trip at the end of September for lots of girl time and shopping, and I can't wait!

Sunday we got to visit with the Casebolt family, some of whom hadn't seen Payton since she was one month old!

Hanging with Great Grandpa!

Daddy likes to goof around and do stuff that makes mom nervous :)

Three days flew by way too fast, and before we knew it, it was time to head home again. Thank you to everyone who came out to visit Payton!

Grandma and Grandpa C <3

In other news, Payton has officially been on the propranolol for two months now. Time for another comparison!

Before we started treatment...

After one month...

... and two months! It looks really flat, and is a much lighter red. We're definitely pleased!

The one on the back of her head before...

This one has definitely changed a lot! It's a LOT smaller and flat, and also a much lighter color. She has a couple follow up appointments coming up, as always I'll keep you posted!

Like I mentioned before, Kyle and I took Payton to Wee Care Friday morning to take a tour and check it out. It was a great opportunity for us to meet her "teachers", and for them to get to know us as well. We were really impressed, it is definitely a well organized machine! It's very secure, you can't even get into the building without a badge or typing in a password, and once there I have to check her in on a computer and start to fill out a little sheet with anything she's already eaten or medicine she's had that morning. They record everytime she eats, has a dirty diaper, or does anything exciting, and I get a copy of that when I pick her up. There's a big play area, with a side area that has a changing table and a kitchen. There's also another area with a couple rows of cribs, so Payton will get her own crib to nap in. I got a huge packet of stuff to fill out, they want to know as much about her as they can before she starts to help ease her transition. Her main teacher's name is Cheryl, and the other teacher that we met was named Christine. They were both really nice! When we were visiting there were only three babies for the two of them, but there are three more babies starting later this month, and we're planning to start Payton September 1st. It will be fun to watch her interact with other babies, although I'm not looking forward to the sickness (they call it the Wee Care cold) that I'm sure is coming... oh well, building immunities right? :)

I'm really excited because my sister is visiting us next weekend from Spokane! Her and a friend are coming to check out the University of Oregon's masters program for teaching. She's only gotten to see Payton a handful of times, so we're definitely looking forward to seeing her! Just got to get through the rest of this work week, to the time that I live for... the weekend :)

Hello again!

Our little family had quite a busy weekend! I had planned to go to my friend's bachelorette party Saturday night, so Kyle decided to take Payton down to Albany to visit the family at the Sweet Home Jamboree. I went last year (and blogged about it of course!), it's a whole weekend of concerts, mostly country artists... oh the new things I've enjoyed since meeting Kyle! :) Kyle's cousin was visiting from Idaho and he doesn't get to see her very often, so he didn't want to miss the chance. Although I was glad he got to go, I was pretty sad because I have never voluntarily spent that much time away from my baby, except to go to work... just one day and I missed her so much! I don't have babyfree freetime very much though, so I decided to go shopping for a dress for a wedding we're going to that's coming up. Kyle is a groomsmen, so I wanted something a little nicer that would match him, plus none of my dresses fit me the way they used to anymore :) It was quite a challenge! Still haven't found anything I'm particularly fond of... good thing I still have another month to look!

After my shopping excursion I came back to the house, got ready and headed out to the party! It was for my co-worker Denise, who is getting married in just a couple weeks... we're unfortunately not able to go because it's in southern California, but I still wanted to celebrate with her! It was really fun, we went to a lounge called Shenanigans on the waterfront. After having some drinks and a little dinner, we spent the rest of the night dancing!



From left: Bri, Ally, bride Denise, Kerri, and me... thanks Kerri for letting me steal your picture!

Payton has been doing really well lately, although she's been a little crabby these last couple days... we think she's teething. I gave her some teething tablets tonight and they definitely helped. Poor baby :( No teeth yet though! We also haven't been letting her have her binky as much. We started to realize that we were using it too much like a crutch, every time she started to sound unhappy we just popped it in her mouth. Plus she started waking up at night wanting it... at 2am... then 3am... then 3:30am... you get the picture! We don't mind at all giving it to her when she needs it, but we also want her to be able to soothe herself to a certain degree. Plus, instead of just "muting" her, we try to see if there's something she needs, or if she just needs her diaper changed, or is bored, etc. The last couple days we've barely used it at all, and last night she fell asleep without it and slept for 9 hours straight! Very nice :)

We're heading up to Gig Harbor this weekend! We're coming up Friday afternoon, and will be there until Sunday. We hope we get to see lots of family, Payton is growing up so fast. She's been rolling over a couple times a day lately, and is even getting better at standing. We got a cute video of it below!



Dinner time has gone pretty smoothly the last couple nights, I've been putting in a little prune juice with her rice cereal (trying to head off any constipation) and she seems to like it much better. We're going to slowly introduce other foods, we can't wait to see all of her reactions! :)

My mommy took this picture when we were out and about running errands. Don't I look cute with a hoodie?!

New milestones

We decided to start Payton on rice cereal tonight! She loved it, can't you tell?! :) Actually she didn't seem too fond of it, and kept looking at us like she couldn't believe we were trying to feed her this stuff. I'm not sure a lot of it actually went down her throat, most of it ended up on her chin! We will try again tomorrow night though!


First solid food experience...

I was going to blog about the rest of my weekend, but it's way past my bedtime, so I think I will update another time! Soon I promise :) Have a good week!