Talia 3 months old!

Talia is now officially 3 months old. She's 10 lbs. 13 Oz's and a ball of energy. Her new tricks are she is pushing her self backwards. I wish I had it on tape to show you but I'll try to explain it to you anyways. While she's on her back she put her feet on the ground and lifts her bum and pushes back. I guess you could call it back scooting! It's cute but I do need to be careful with where I leave her. When we try to lay her down she tries to sit up on her own. (I actually did get this on tape and you can watch her try at the bottom of this post.) She smiles all the time, kicks like crazy, gets really excited when she hasn't seen you for a while. So Jason mostly benefits from the excited kicking and smiling. She's super interactive, she's always following you with her eyes and is now starting to "talk". She's a lot of fun and we love her to pieces!

She has the cutest smile! (Amelia- Does this remind you of anyone? Kara's smile?)

Talia in her cute little outfit. We had to keep her shoes on to keep her leg warmers stay on her legs. Her legs are just to skinny!

Love this outfit!

All dressed up to go to Jason's cousins wedding


Tummy time... she was tired!

 

Christmas!!!!!

This year we had Christmas with the Pizzey's. On Christmas Eve we hang out with the Pizzey extended family. We eat hoagies (not sure if that's how it's spelled but it like make your own sandwich buns), drink slush, and eat lots of dessert foods. Then we play games, read and act out the Nativity. Exchange a "cousin draw" gift and a gift from our Nana Pizzey. It's lots of fun!

Once the Pizzey extended family leaves for the night, we open up our one gift from my mom, which always ends up being PJ's every year! Usually we match somehow, then we play games with just our family. This year everyone from my family was home, so there was 12 of us plus 2 dogs. Christmas morning we wake up open stockings and the rest of gifts. Then we have a massive breakfast which consists of pancakes with berries and whipped cream on top, and some egg omelet thing, chocolate milk and orange juice! SOOO YUMMY! Jason was also to good to me this year. He doesn't mind not being surprised but he knows I love to be surprised so he makes an effort to hide my presents. It's not really about the gifts we get but just his thoughtfulness impresses me. He's the best husband and I need to tell him that more often!

My parents got us a vitamix blender. If you don't know what that is, it's an amazing blender that can make ice cream, soups... well basically anything! Also we were lucky enough to find the treadmill Jason wanted at Costco a week before Christmas. We've been really spoiled/ blessed this Christmas.

Christmas Day afternoon my moms side, the Johnsons come over. We open a few gifts, mostly for the little kids (which this year since we had Talia, we were opening gifts for her). After we have a massive turkey dinner and dessert. Then we play games for the rest of the night.

The next few days we hung out at my parents and since my parents moved into there dream house in May we were able to enjoy all there toys. Mostly the boys played pool, we watched movies in there theatre room, went on a walk, and enjoyed the hot tub.

It was a lot fun and nice to stay over for a few nights. Although I must say it is a lot harder travelling with a baby. It's nice to be home so she can get back on schedule and sleep in her own crib... and NOT in our room! It was a lot of fun and glad that everyone was home for Christmas. We look forward to spending Christmas next year with the Lows. All 8 kids, 5 spouses, and 6 grand kids will be home. That makes 21 people under one roof! CRAZY!!!!

Jason and Talia on our walk! What a great photo!

Nana and Grandpa Pizzey with Talia and Avery!

Talia in her Christmas PJ's and wearing her new head band! Cute!

Christmas Morning. So pretty out at my parents! So many trees with frost. I love snow at Christmas.


The boys in there Christmas PJ's

R to L: Dave, Jason, Dad, Blake, and Jordan

The girls in there PJ's

R to L: Paige, Taren, Mom, Breanne, and Me

Our little family!

Acting out the Nativity. Jason and I were Mary and Joseph... and yes Talia was baby Jesus. She was being a pretty fussy baby Jesus. I think she might have been over tired and it was just to loud for her.

Merry Christmas!!!!

Can't believe Christmas Eve is tomorrow! Crazy how fast time flies. With all our shopping done, some of our Christmas baking done, and Jason off work, last night we were able to relax and enjoy Christmas as a family. Jason made some slush, I made some carmel popcorn, Jason and Talia watched BYU win there bowl game, and I shovelled the walks. Some may think how is that relaxing? Well if it's not -30 out and the wind isn't bad I actually enjoy the snow and the cold. So I enjoyed being outside in the snow and thinking about Christmas! And tomorrow we'll get to enjoy even more Christmas baking from my mom! We've been blessed with 2 great families and can't wait to spend the holidays with one of them!



Talia being all serious while I try and get some baking done!

Jason and Talia watching BYU football! Talia's already a big fan! Not sure if I'll be able to get into it but I'm OK with them being big fans! I Love this photo, my two most favorite people. I just love them!

Talia and I trying to get some baking done. This is the wrap Amelia and I made... well copied (it was cheaper this way). Anyways Talia loves it! It's great because when she's wanting some attention and I need to get stuff done, she gets put in the wrap. This way she can see what's going on and I have both my hands free!
Oh I just love Christmas Holidays! Now that Jason's off it really feels like Christmas. Now we can hang out as a family!
Merry Christmas!!!!!!

Happy and Healthy Talia

I just love my Doctor. She's a new doctor but she really does reassure me with my concerns. She's not at all concerned about Talia. She told me I answer all her questions well and she has no concerns about her feeding. She doesn't think top ups are necessary at this point. As long as Talia is growing (and she for sure is height wise, she's just over 24 inches long) and she is gaining weight then we're fine. She says Talia is alert and very responsive so we're happy! Also Talia gained 3 Oz's in the last few days. So she's now 10 lbs. 9 Oz's! Talia is in the 25% for weight, and you know she may choose to eat more one day and less the next. So we are happy and healthy for now! We just have a tall skinny girl and I'm sure one day she will get chubby!

 

Update on our Family!

I know I've posted before about how tiny Talia is... well she's dropped off in weight even farther. So babies I think up to 3 months are supposed to gain 6 to 8 Oz's a week. She was gaining about 7 Oz's every 2 weeks. Which we were OK with because she was still gaining. Anyways I went to weigh her again (2 weeks ago she was 10 lbs 3 Oz's) in hopes that she was over 11 lbs. We were WAY off.. she's only 10 lbs 6 Oz's! That silly girl! So that's 3 Oz's in 2 weeks. She's gone from the 35% to the 10-15% in 2 weeks! We're not super concerned but this is for sure something to keep an eye on.

It's weird but as a mom you feel slightly responsible for her not growing. I always feel like I have to tell people (even if they don't ask) "It's not me, NO I'm not dieting, YES I have plenty of milk, YES I feed her as much as she wants and some, NO shes not starving and is very content between feeds and YES she has a good latch". I guess it's silly of me to take it personally but I feel responsible and just want her to be happy and healthy! Also we've had no progress with the bottle, so I guess if this weight thing comes down to top ups we might have to use a little tube and a syringe and put it in the side of her mouth while she's breast feeding. But I don't know if it's a volume thing (don't think so because she's content) or if it's even a calorie thing, or an increase metabolic demand (hope not).

So our plan is to wait another week, weigh her and see where she's at. If she does better (weight wise) we'll settle down but if we're still doing poor on the weight gain I'm hoping to get in to see my favorite pediatrician that I worked with at the Stollery Hospital. I hope it's just genetics and I hope there's not something wrong with her. We'll keep you posted!

Talia loves to stand and we introduced another toy! She's so cute in it. It's weird to see a 10lb 6oz baby in it, but she's always been good at holding her head up and she loves to stand so this was perfect!


One exciting piece of news is WE'RE DONE CHRISTMAS SHOPPING!!!! I love Christmas but I truly hate shopping around Christmas time. The only times I can go without getting in a mood is during the day usually 10am to 1pm while people are at work and before kids get out for school. Although if you go shopping in the evening on a day when it's -40 C, then the mall is not busy at all. I actually enjoyed that day shopping with Jason! Most people are probably at home keeping warm. I'm glad Jason will shop with me because he helps keep me sane. It's the only way I stay sane. Anyways we got all our shopping done before the mad rush, now I don't need to think of shopping and enjoy the Christmas season.
We got our decorations up early this year and had Christmas music playing since November 30! It's been nice and It really does get you into the Christmas mood. Maybe I get more into it because Jason just loves Christmas. He truly gets into the Christmas season. He doesn't mind the shopping (which is nice because he really helps with it), He loves the music, loves giving things to people or helping them out, and loves Christmas baking. He actually helps out a lot with the baking. Although I found out I can't eat chocolate. It makes Talia pretty cranky! Maybe this is a good thing... Anyways It's a fun time of the year and we're so excited to have Talia around. She's SO alert and interactive now. She's smiling so much, following us with her eyes and she's beginning to "talk" so much! It's SO cute. She's also a big drooler now! Funny! We'll have to catch these moments on tape so I can post them, she's just so cute! It'll be a fun Christmas with her!

Christmas Bake Exchange!!!

Annual Christmas Bake Exchange: Hosted by Taren Hirsche

Peanut Butter Hershey Cookies

Usually I mess up baking but these year it worked out!

12 dozen cookies and not one burned!

Every year my sister Taren hosts a bake exchange party. We all bake one Christmas dessert and make enough for every person there and in return we get one for every person! This year Taren went all out. She had appetizers, games and party favors! On top of all the Christmas fun, we had to wear PJ's! Thanks Taren for being a great host and for helping the spread of Christmas goodies!
Top row: Jenny and Milo, Christa and Parley, Melanie, Amelia, Taren, Julie and Breanne
Bottom row: Stefanie and Lucy, Me and Talia, Kay and Bennett, and Leah

Left to Right: Bennett (Sept. 16), Talia (Sept. 28), Parley (Aug. 2), Lucy (Aug. 16), Milo (Oct. 6).

Milo and Talia chilling on the kids chair together! Only a week apart!

Baby Blessing

Finally we had Talia's baby blessing on Dec. 6!

It was postponed from last month because of the H1N1 outbreak. A couple of our family members were sick so we decided to wait and unfortunately this past weekend was the weekend of the big snowstorm and Jason's parents got stuck in Lethbridge so they were unable to make it. We decided not to postpone it again because Talia would have been over 3 months old and that would be getting to late! We're sad the Lows couldn't make it but we did have a good day. Jason told me Talia was awake and moving around the whole blessing but I couldn't tell so it went well.

We didn't get many pictures but these pictures were taken before church in her blessing dress. So cute!!!

So sad there's a shadow because I think she looks so cute in this photo! This is the dress I wore when I was blessed as a baby! I just love it!

Taren (on left) and Me (on right) 1986

We're all wearing the same dress for our baby blessing!

I'm grateful for a husband that is a worthy Priesthood holder so he can give our baby's a blessing!

Our skinny little girl!

My tall skinny girl! I think this picture really shows how skinny and long she is. She's almost my height!!!!

I realize I forgot to post pictures of Talia's room since she's been born. Back in September I posted photos of what her room looked like before we knew she was a girl... since then we've added some pink and made it feel like a girly room! Now it's perfect and seems to suit Talia. I wouldn't want a full pink room, well maybe if we were going to stay here and if that was always going to be her room, but since we plan to have another baby sometime this way we'll be able to pull the pink dots off or keep them depending if we have a boy or girl next!

My sister Breanne got this wonderful canvas with Talia's name on it! Love it!!!!

Finally an organized closet!!!!

My little girl is 2 months old!

So Talia is 2 months and 3 days old and she got her 2 month immunizations today and weighed her in. She is now:

10 lbs. 3 Oz's (35%)

23 3/4 inches long (95%)

She's less than 3rd percentile for height to weight ratio

A lot of people have told me oh my baby was that weight at 2 months so don't worry. The only thing is she started at 8lbs and most of those babies started at a lower weight. She's only gained 2 lbs. 3 Oz's since birth, (which you're supposed to gain about 6 to 8 Oz's a week, so 1.5 to 2lbs a month). We're not concerned, it's just she's a pretty skinny and tall. Looking at Jason's family this could strictly be genetics but we also think she's got a bit of reflux issues. I think she'll grow out of it and she'll begin to plump up. Either way if she's a skinny baby or plump baby we just love her. She's pretty darn cute the way she is!

She handled immunizations well. She of course pooped right before the immunization so we changed her, then she got the immunization, she screamed and screamed and screamed, then I fed her and she settled right away. I give a lot of needles to babies as a nurse and It never phased me giving a baby a needle and when the babies cried I never really felt bad. In my mind I was just helping them. Anyways it was sad seeing her so sad, but we got over it!

So we've been working on putting her down at night with not rocking her to bed and she's done very well! I'm impressed with how habits can be broken in such a short time. The other day I put her in her crib while I showered and she fell asleep with her arm up! She must have been stretching and her arm just stayed up. If anyone knows Talia she loves to stretch and keep her arms up (hence why Jason calls her Touchdown Talia).

She's so cute! We just love her and her little personality. She's smiling so much. She's had a few moments of inconsolable crying. Those moments are pretty random and they almost make me laugh because it's just not like her and weird to see her cry like that. After those moments she's pretty delicate. It seems as though she could break out crying with any startle. We just cuddle during these times. She's now starting to get a bit fussy or squirmy when she's tried, she loves to stand or stretch out almost 100% of the time when she's awake, she'll cuddle (once settled a little) when she's tired. She smiles with her eyes a lot and has a little grin on her face, then after a bit of talking she'll give us a real big smile. She loves been talked to. She spits up a lot and usually gets it on me, not Jason for some reason. She'll have a good puke once and awhile due to reflux but we try to feed her an hour after or so, so we don't miss a feeding. She's pretty funny though, she loves to sit facing forward watching what's going on, whether it be a computer screen, TV, or me cooking. Well that's Talia,. I'm sure I could think of more but this is getting long! Till next time!

Our little Princess

I love having my baby girl!!! Didn't think this would happen but she's brought out a more girly side of me. Growing up as "tom-boy", playing tons of sports, and not wearing pink, never did I once think I would call my little girl a princess, but I LOVE calling her Princess!

Talia has sure added a new dimension to our family and we couldn't be more grateful for her. She's developing her own little personality and she is so sweet. She's a great baby. She sleeps at least 5 1/2 to 7 hours at night in between feedings and she rarely cries. Even when she's hungry she just makes the saddest face, but doesn't cry much. When she wakes up in the morning she loves to stretch with both her arms up in the air, and Jason will call her 'Touchdown Talia'. She gives us lots of smiles now, especially when she wakes up and gets a diaper change. She seems to be growing in length so we think that is where she's getting her weight because she is very long and very thin! (Hopefully she gets more chunky soon!) We just love her SO much. Here are 7 things for the 7 weeks she's been with us that we love about her:

1.) Her big smiles
2.) How she loves to cuddle
3.) How her pinkie finger is curved just like mine
4.) How she curls her toes up like her Dad
5.) The way she loves to stand and hold her head up
6.) The cute sounds she makes
7.) How she fits perfectly into our family

When Talia was just over 3 weeks old we had a friend (Leah Karch) take photos of our little family. We're really happy with how they turned out. We know we're bias but we just think Talia's the cutest little girl.