Christmas and New Years

Josh and Jaela opening Christmas gifts

Well, Jaela has officially made it through her first major holiday season. She made quite a haul at the different family Christmases, even though she really didn't know what was going on around her. A couple times when we were opening presents, Josh would hold her gifts up to her, but she usually just looked around with a blank stare. Next year will be more fun with her. While I cherished this first Christmas with her, I really look forward to future Christmases, where she will be more interested in it, and I can begin some family traditions with her. I think the only thing she really enjoyed about Christmas this year was the lights. She loved just sitting by the tree or the random strand of lights I had hanging on the wall for her to look at. Roth Family Christmas

Our New Year's Eve festivities were not all that fancy. Usually our congregation hosts a New Year's Eve party, but because we have services the following day, they opted out of a party this year. This was fine with us, because then we could keep Jaela home and try to get her to bed at a decent time. Mom and Dad stopped over for a little bit, and we ate a festive New Year's eve meal of Chinese food. After they left, Josh and I just hung around the house and watched some of the Dick Clark special on tv. I must say, I was not very impressed with the music selection this year, probably because I didn't know half of the singers.

Jae wishing everyone a Happy New Year

Oh, and one last thing, we did have some formal 3 month pictures taken this last week. I kept going back and forth on which photographer to go with, and ended up going with the get your photos the same day photographer. The pictures came out cute, and if you are family, expect a package in the mail soon. We liked the pictures, but would have rather had more options to print different sizes and more variety for our money. Oh well, at least she was super happy in these pictures.

Well, I want to close out this entry by saying Happy New Year! I pray that 2012 will bring lots of happiness, laughter and a closer relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ. See you next year!

3 Months!

Jaela-

You are now 3 months old! You are growing up so fast, changing looks and mannerisms each day. At this time, you are now:

-Make eye contact and smile at others

-Giggle and coo

-Sleep 10-11 hours at night

-Roll side to side

-Recognize voices

-Hold onto objects for a few seconds

You love singing songs with mommy and reading books and watching soccer with daddy. You are working at developing your little muscles, as you practice standing on your legs with our help, and trying to sit yourself more upright at time. You are working on hand/eye coordination. You are so adorable, and amazing to us. It is so wonderful to see how much you are growing and developing with each passing day. We pray that the Lord will continue to watch over your growth and will guide and direct us as we care for you and raise you. Thank you Lord for our wonderful blessing!

Back to work and Such

Well, I am officially a working mom now. My 12 week stint as a stay at home mom has ended, and I have returned to my job at the nursing home. I can't believe how fast the time has gone. I honestly thought my first day back was gonna be terrible, because so many people described how emotional they were when they went back to work. I was good-it was hard to say goodbye to my girl, but I didn't cry. I understand that being a good mommy means making sure your child's needs are met. My child needs health insurance, diapers and clothes, so I get those for her by working my job and earning the money to purchase those things. And now that I have tasted a little bit of both worlds, I give props to all the mommies who work outside the home, as well as to the mommies who stay at home with the children. Both ways are important and difficult.But we get through it. I will say, Jaela has been very understanding these last 2 days that I have worked. She woke up right before I had to leave, and gave me a big smile, as if to say "have a good day at work Mommy, I love you." It was the perfect way to start my day.

Actually, one of the hardest parts about going to work this week was being sick. As you may recall from my post earlier this week, Jaela has been sick. Well, I started coughing and such about Tuesday or Wednesday this week. The coughing kept getting worse, especially when I laid down or tried doing things like laughing. On Saturday morning, I decided to be responsible, and go get checked at the doctor's. I thought I just had a bad cold. Come to find out, it was good that I went, because I have bronchitis, that was just a day or so from turning into pneumonia. The doctor put me on some antibiotics and told me to take it easy over the weekend. So, hopefully I will be better on Monday and able to make it through the day without too many coughing fits.

And now to wrap up this session, I want to include some of the holiday pictures I took of Jaela. It was pretty hard to decide which one for the Christmas cards.

Sick!

Our poor baby is sick. :( For the last 3 or 4 weeks, Jaela has been having a little bit of a head cold--stuffy nose, fussy and such. Before Thanksgiving, we took her to the doctor because of some little bumps on her chest. Today, we returned to the doctor, because she started coughing and sounded a little rattly in her chest. The doctor on call listened to her and said that she has a mild case of bronciolitis. It's not too bad, but if we don't treat it now, it could worsen and turn to bronchitis. She now has to take some Albuterol a couple times a day to help loosen her airways.


While in the doctor's office, I mentioned to him how much she spits up. Pretty much, she spits after every meal, and sometimes it's pretty significant. He said that this can be normal baby behavior, or it could also be acid reflux. When we compared her weight to where she was a couple weeks ago, she had only gained 1 ounce. Because of this, he prescribed some Zantac and some thickened feedings. I don't really like the idea of medicating my child so young, but at the same time, I want her to feel better and continue gaining weight. So, for the next 2 weeks, we will be administering and inhaler and some medicine to her. Hopefully, we will have a happy, well baby after all of this. It feels terrible seeing your daughter sick--especially when she gives you the look of "I don't feel good-fix this!" Poor baby. :(

Snow!

Jaela and her Daddy enjoying her first snow

(p.s.-Josh's beard is especially thick d/t No-Shave November)


Jaela got to see her first snowfall of the season this week. The day started out pretty dreary, with some drizzly type rain in the morning. When I came home from the grocery store, the rain was starting to turn into snow as it hit the ground. By the end of the afternoon, we had a nice little ground cover. When Josh came home, we bundled Jaela up to take her outside so she could see the snow. She didn't show too much emotion either way at this point. However, if she's anything like her mom, she will prefer the sunshine and warm weather over the cold snow. :) Nonetheless, I look forward to winters as Jaela becomes old enough to find the "white stuff" fascinating and fun to play in. Despite my personal disdain for cold weather, I look forward to making snowmen and forts with her. Hopefully, she will be on my team in the snowball fights against Josh!

We have also introduced Jaela to decorating the Christmas tree. In the same week, she "helped" decorate Grandpa and Grandma Cooper's tree and our tree. I think she was more interested in looking at lights instead of watching us put decorations on the tree. Josh tried to have Jaela watch Rudolf, the Red-nosed Reindeer with him, but she was not a fan. Maybe next year. I look forward to Christmases to come, as she starts to show excitement for the different holiday traditions and such.