4th of July weekend!

We went up to Eden for the 4th of July to stay with Nate's family at their second home. We had so much fun! We went on walks, to the pool, golfed, and just relaxed. We had the most fun though on Saturday at the local 4th of July festival. We watched kids do mutton busting, try to catch a greased pig, and saw a parade. Parker and his friends did the hot dog eating contest and tried to catch fish with their hands in a pond. It was so entertaining! Annie and I took a ride with the girls in this caterpillar train that was pulled by a lawnmower! I love going to all the activities up there. Maybe next year I'll try the greased poll or something! ha ha Tessa had so much fun playing with her cousins all weekend. She just loves them so much and loves to be around them. Can't wait for next year!

Family picture on the 4th

I love Nate's face in this, he looks like a monkey!

Tessa loves her Nana

Cute pictures of Addison and Tessa in their adorable 4th of July outfits! Ashlee was so kind to make them for us. She is so talented, they turned out so cute. Thanks Ash!

This is the caterpillar train, yahoo!

Watching the games and looking at all the animals

All tuckered out

Addison and Tessa in their cute twiner outfits

Mommy and Tessa

Learning to walk

Sweetest little face after a morning walk

Tessa with her Daddy the golfer!

Great News!

Yesterday we were blessed with some great news! Last week we took Tessa to see a cardiologist about her heart murmur her pediatrician had heard at her 9 month appointment. Unfortunately the EKG showed that the right side of her heart was working harder than the left side, and the murmur was louder than a usual innocent heart murmur. The doctor thought Tessa could possibly have a hole in her heart that may or may not require surgery later. So we had to take her in yesterday morning to have an echocardiogram done to see if there were any holes anywhere. Tessa did so good getting the IV and recovering from being drugged. It was kind of funny watching her get loopy but so sad as she became more and more out of it. Of course being the wild child she is she never fell completely asleep. She kept trying to move and talk but was unsuccessful. When they were wheeling her up to the recovery room she kept trying to crawl but her head looked like it weighed 100 lbs! It was so funny! Later that day we got the call from the doctor that everything looked great! There wasn't even a small hole anywhere. I'm so happy and relieved to hear that her heart is perfect! The murmur is an innocent murmur after all and nothing to be worried about. We couldn't be happier and are so thankful! We love our little Tessa so much!

This was a picture when they did the EKG. She loved watching the monitor and was so interested in it.

Summer Fun!

We finally took Tessa to the zoo for the first time. We were so excited since she loves animals so much! The monkeys were her favorite but she loved all of the animals. We had so much fun spending the day together.

Family picture

Tessa at the famous water globe

Checking out the groundhogs at their level

What kid hasn't had a drink from the lion

Checking out the giraffe

Tessa is so lucky to have her best little friend and cousin Addison. Annie and Addison came out to Daybreak to go swimming, we had so much fun. These two get along so well and just love each other so much. This was Addison's first time at the pool!

So cute

I just love this face Tessa is pulling

Trying not to burn by using the giant sun hats

Here is Tessa with a few of her friends. Unfortunately Bentley and Levi were there but didn't make it into the picture.

Kate (5 months), Tayci (17 months), and Tessa (10 months)

9 months

Tessa is growing up so fast! I can't believe all she can do now. At her 9 month appointment she weighed 13.3 lbs and was 26 1/2 inches tall. Making her officially below the charts for weight and 20th percentile for height. We also learned that she has a heart murmur but we'll find out more about it when we go to a cardiologist on the 17th. Hopefully it's ok and not a big deal. She loves to crawl all around, pull herself to a stand, and walk around furniture. She loves to go swimming, on walks, swing, and LOVES animals (especially Nana's dogs and the ducks at the lake). Tessa decided to make a lot of changes in her little life right at nine months. One night she just up and decided not to nurse anymore! She wouldn't take a bottle with breast milk or formula either. We were a little worried what could be wrong but after a week and a half of not drinking any milk she changed her mind and starting taking formula from a bottle, but was done with nursing. I guess she just thought she was too old for nursing. During the week she wasn't drinking milk she taught herself to sleep through the night though!!! Yahoo! From 8 pm to 7 am! It has been so nice to finally get some sleep. Thank you everyone for all your suggestions, many of them helped. Since she's been taking formula she's been putting on a little more weight too. I guess I just made skim milk :). Our little peanut is cute and happy as can be. We just love her so much and she makes everything so much more fun! Here a some pictures of her at 8 and 9 months.

Tessa nuzzled in the flowers at the temple

Playing in her saucer

She loves to ride around in the laundry basket like a ride!

Playing with toys

Playing in the sand

First time swinging!

Making a mess eating cornbread

Bath time

Tired after a long walk

A much needed May update

I haven't posted anything for awhile so here are some things we did in May....

Kim and I decided to have a little fiesta for Cinco de Mayo and it was so much fun! We just hung out, ate Mexican haystacks, and cracked open a pinata.

Our little family

The girls

Tessa looked so cute in her little Mexican dress!

One night we went bowling with Mitch, Janna, Lindsay, and Ryan. Janna and I dominated the game. She killed everyone the first game and I bowled my highest score ever the second game. It was a lot of fun!

Check out that form

Tessa with Mitch and Janna

High score of 160! Are you serious! (Mitch calls me Mom)

We went back to Nebraska in May to visit family and attend my sisters graduation. Congratulations Paige on graduating high school and Nick for graduating college! Tessa took her first plane ride and did great! It was so much fun to see all the cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents. We can't wait to go visit again, hopefully it's sooner than later!

We're off! Tessa on her first airplane

The cousins

Great Grandpa Williams

Great Grandma Williams

Tessa loved having the cat around

Paige's graduation

Grandma Sue taking good care of Tessa

Watching some B-ball with Grandpa

Tessa had so much fun hanging out with family all week! We miss everyone so much!

I realized I never posted Tessa's beautiful 6 month pictures that Bobbie took. I'm so lucky to have such a talented mother-in-law. I just love all of these pictures!

NO SLEEP... NEED HELP!

As I laid in bed last night listening to Tessa scream already for the second time at 3 am, I thought to myself "I need to ask other moms on my blog for help because at this rate Tessa may never sleep through the night"! So to all of you wonderful moms out there that had babies who didn't sleep at night I need your advice. Here is what we've been currently doing for about 3 months consistently. Around 8:00 each night I put her in her pj's and sleep sack, turn on her mobile with soothing music as well as a sound machine with rain. Then we turn out the lights and I nurse her for about 10 minutes. She pulls off and rubs her eyes which is my cue to burp her and put her in bed. She rolls to her side and goes to sleep, she doesn't fall asleep nursing. She usually sleeps for a good 4 hours or so but then the waking up starts! My doctor told me at her age and weight there should be NO problem for her to sleep at least 6 hours straight without eating. So if she wakes up before the 6 hours then I let her cry it out. Sometimes it lasts 10 minutes other times it lasts an hour. I've learned that if I go in and turn her mobile back on and lay her back down on her back (she's usually sitting) she goes back to sleep faster. If it has been 6 hours when she wakes up I do go nurse her and she usually eats a little and then goes back down quietly. Either way though she has been waking up on average 3 times a night. I seriously don't know if she's going to ever sleep through the night. It's so hard not to give in and go nurse her because I know she'll go right back to sleep but I have been staying strong. I only let myself nurse her once during the night. I just feel like I've been trying the "cry it out" for so long and it's not working! She doesn't nurse before her naps and goes down fine but only sleeps for about 45 min. I'm kind of over the nap thing though, I just care about getting some sleep at night!
So please leave me any advice that you think might help. Oh yeah, she also doens't suck a binky. I've been trying to teach her how to but she's just never liked them. I thought a binky would maybe sooth her like nursing does, but no luck so far with that either.

Also if anyone has any good ideas on making traveling easier, let me know. We're going on a plane next week with her! Yikes
Thanks for your help!