Thanks for all the comments. :) I feel better about the hair cut. I took a shower last night and it was a breeze to wash it and it was dry in no time. That said, when I looked it after the shower I hated it. Then I slept on it and woke up to a poofy mess. Then in the afternoon I put a little product in it and poof! It was awesome again. I think the key here is going to be putting a little something in it to give it some oomf. I don't know if you picked up on it, but I had a teeny bit of hair cutters remorse. I think the worst of it has passed though and I am excited to see what else I can do with my do. What other looks I can achieve. Now if can complete this make over by losing another 10-15 pounds. :P

I will note though that I make an effort to get dressed every single day. It's part of our routine. Said routine:

6:00AM - I wake up and pump. Read while watching the morning news. Then I make bottles, eat breakfast and get Morella's morning medicine ready.

7:00AM - If Morella isn't already up (she usually is at 6.30 but will amuse herself for a half and hour before getting up). I go and wake her and Tim up. Give her medicine, watch Daddy get ready for the day, see him off and head back to bed to eat breakfast, read some books, or listen to a few songs.

8:00 - 10:00AM - We both nap. I get up at 10:00-10:30 depending on how tired I am.

10:30-12:00 - Pumping time again, except this time I surf the internet. I make a bottle, freeze milk, wash bottles, get Morella's midday medicine ready. Drink some decaf. Brush my hair. Take a shower if I need one. Wash the dishes and clean off the counter. Catch up on any internet.

12:00PM - Turn on the bedroom light, start talking out loud about what I am going to wear. Sometimes I will hop into bed and just stare at her for a good 5 minutes before waking her up. I LOVE when she first opens here eyes, focuses on me and smiles. Then I flip her to face me (still on tummy) so that she can get a good 10-15 minutes of tummy time without crying while I get dressed and yammer on. Then she gets medicine, a new diaper and gets dressed for the day. She eats lunch, then I eat lunch.

1:00 - 2 or 3 - We walk around get odds and ends chores done around the house. Included is lots of bathroom mirror time, brushing her hair, another diaper change, check the mail, listen to music, etc. I will also leave the house and run errands or visit Hilary during this time.

2.30 or 3:00 - Her second nap of the day. It lasts only 30 minutes. While she naps, I pump.

3:00-5:00 - Voyager. Afternoon bottle after eating, I end up walking her around, or rocking her in the chair with some books and toys and I sort of zone out and watch TV (with subtitles).

5:30 - Tim is home and we gear up and get ready for the evening walk.

6:00 - 7:00 - Walk Pluto while Tim wears Morella. This walk coincides with her 30 minute late afternoon nap. So she sort of sleeps most of the way through it.

7:00 - Early evening medicine. Dinner bottle, and then dinner for us. She sits in the kitchen or is held and watches as we make dinner or talk to each other.

7:30 - Pump. She is either in the high chair in the kitchen or in the exersaucer next to me.

8:00-9:00 - Dance time and/or walk around...usually it's both. And on bath days, this is when she gets a bath.

9:00 - Jammy and sposie (disposable diaper) time. After getting changed we sit in the glider and she gets last bottle. She usually only drinks part of it and is usually asleep by 9.15...but I rock her a bit more. How can I resist?

9:30 - Bedtime medicine and then bed.

10:30-11:00 or 11:30 Last pump of the night. I surf the net. Work on a letter. Sometimes take a shower. Wash bottles and pumping gear for the night and morning.

Repeat.

The Good

Morella laughed today! I mean a full out giggle and then repeated it a few times! I had witnesses to hear it...I was driving over to Babies R Us to look for tights that would fit her (no such luck, but did find a pair that fit better than the other ones). And her cousin Caleb was in the back seat with her and ... he made her giggle several times! I couldn't believe it. I called Tim so he could hear it, but of course she got all phone shy and wouldn't giggle any more. :P

We haven't been able to get her to do that ourselves. But her first laugh! It was awesome and made us laugh too. I want to hear more of it.

The Bad

She has been a little extra refluxy the past day or two...and the reason why is:

The Ugly

She is teething. I can't freaking believe it! I noticed that she started gnawing on her knuckles yesterday to the point where they become red and slightly swollen. It didn't occur to me that this is what might be happening until I saw her do it later and get frustrated. SO I found a soft teething toy (why are all the other teething toys I have so hard?!) and she went to town. She is drooly (which makes reflux worse), she will chew your finger or wrist or anything that gets near her mouth, and not suck...she is biting and gnawing. I felt her gums and she has a swollen spot where the the front left tooth would be. She has been extra fussy..and sigh. We looked it up and it can start to happen now. I mean she is going to be four months on Sunday, and lets not forget the 12 days overdue part. Anyway so the resources say that teething can start early based on when the parents started. I called Tim's Mom and she said Tim didn't get his first tooth until he was about one. Whew! Then I called my Mom and she said we all started around 4 months and apologized. :(

GAH! It's MY fault that she is starting this early. I was really hoping that we would catch a break between reflux starting to get better and this. Better yet why couldn't she be an average of our teething experiences and start at like 7 or 8 months?

Other news:

My Mom had surgery on one eye to remove cataracts. She has to keep the eye patch on for a month! I am xbox live conferencing with them tomorrow at one so she can see Morella and my new hair cut.

I am going to be sending some frozen milk home with the grandparents when they visit on Friday to stockpile for Morella's summer vacation with them at the end of July. We are planning on going to Baton Rouge and visit some friends. I realize it will be hotter than the devil's kitchen then, but I have never been to the south and it's the only time we can really do it. Regardless, I am still looking forward to this. Anyway. I am running out of room in our freezer to store milk. We only have a small one, but it works great. If Morella gets off this thickener...actually even if she doesn't I *think* she can drink straight up milk from a sippy cup without it being thickened because sucking a bottle is alot harder than drinking from a cup (at least that is what the speech pathologist had told us before...I'll get more information next week if she fails the test). Regardless.

Average of 30 ounces a day, times 8 days = 240 ounces. Currently I am storing the milk in 6 ounces portions. I can fit 10 six ounce bags into a freezer baggy (double storage protection and ease of organizing in freezer). So that means they are going to need four of the bags, which is going to fill a cooler. I guess later on I can always add another bag for extra insurance. That will give me another month or two that I can store milk.

How am I doing?

I am doing pretty good. Things got a TON better once I started writing down her sleep times in addition to her eating times and I realized that she has a schedule/routine. Once you know that, you know when you are going to get a break and it's so much easier to read her and figure out what she wants. She has also gotten over her case of the mommies and is going to both of us equally. I am starting to feel like I am getting a teeny bit more control of my life everyday. Though I am in another down phase in the hating/living with it pumping cycle.

We had her Easter Pictures taken this past Sunday. I got her a dress, her first! It was just the perfect opportunity to really take a baby portrait. The prints are ready and we are going to pass them out at Easter, while she wears the dress of course. ;) In the meantime, I still need to ask if it's okay if I post one of the pictures that we didn't use, but we love her expression in the it from the photographer for your Friday photo.

It feels like time is starting to fly and I am not sure what it's being filled up with. I think in addition to the new couch and stove, that we are also going to buy a stroller. But until then, Tim is happy to wear Morella for the walks. He says it gives him an extra workout.

I almost feel like I should apologize for the baby-centric turn that my blog has taken the past few months. Almost. I then shake my head and remember that I have wanted this for a LONG time. I looked forward to days when I could talk about rocking a sweet baby to sleep, making her giggle uncontrollably, you know -- witnessing her firsts. Now I get to do it and I am not going to feel bad for it one bit. Yes, this has turned into a Mommy blog...but that is just where I am right now. Eventually, I am sure it will shift...but for the moment, I will savor this phase as long as I can.