Oh, dear.

It's been a crazy few days/weeks. I feel like I could literally break down at any minute. I can't seem to get a handle on things...it's frustrating and exhausting and I don't care for it. I just don't care for it at all. I want things to be easy and laid back again. I liked that much better.

My weekdays are a blur. I do the same things 5 days a week in the same order at the same times. I can no longer distinguish one day from another. I get up, get ready for work, pack my things for work, wake up Jayna, pack her things for the day, get her ready to go, feed her, drop her off, go to work, pick her up, go home, tend to dogs, wash bottles, deal with milk, make bottles for the next day, defrost dinner, do laundry/clean something, play with Jayna, feed Jayna, eat dinner that Chris cooks because if he doesn't cook it we won't get to eat, play with Jayna more, bathe Jayna, read to Jayna, feed Jayna, put Jayna to bed, take a shower, tend to bills/other stuff, pump some milk, go to bed. I do that Monday through Friday in that order. Ick.

And right now, I have added to that mess all the things that I WANT to do for the holidays, including but not limited to, shopping, wrapping presents, baking, crafting and just getting the chance to sit down and talk to my husband. It seems that even when we go to dinner, we're rushing because we know that the later we stay out, the less sleep we'll get because Jayna will still get up at the same time. I just need to breathe. In and out. And very deeply. (okay perverts, take your minds out of the gutter...)

Last Thursday, on Jayna's 16 week mark, I received a phone call at work from Summer. My heart jumped into my throat...I immediately thought something was wrong. Summer said, "I know why your kid has been a maniac...it's not because of her ears. It's because she has a tooth coming in!!!" Yes, my not-even-4-month-old kid has a tooth!! What the hell?!? It's her bottom front tooth on the right. I was poking around in her mouth on Monday and the bottom front left one is coming through also. Craziness.

She is now having some trouble eating. She tries to use her tongue to shield her teeth (I'm assuming because they are still a little sore) and then she can't properly latch to me or a bottle nipple. I'm sure once they're through a little more and not so sensitive, she'll catch on to eating with teeth and things will be fine. I can't believe that she has teeth!! She's growing up so very quickly.

Jayna can also almost sit up on her own. She's still wobbly and falls over after about 20 seconds, but I can tell that she really wants to just do it by herself. I bought her a bumbo seat that should be here any day now, so we'll see how she does with that. I'm positive that she'll love it!

Last night Jayna and I went to a Christmas ornament exchange at Laura's house. Jayna got to see Layla and Sam and play with some of Layla's toys. I put Jayna in Layla's exersaucer and she LOVED it!!! Layla also loved to look at Jayna and would touch her so gently. It was so cute!! I hope they become friends when they're older. Thanks for letting us play, Layla and Laura!!

Jayna is very interested in the dogs now. She loves to watch them play and will even stop eating when she hears them playing behind her. She likes to touch them and she likes it when they kiss her or sniff her and tickle her with their whiskers. She just smiles and laughs at them. And they love her as well. Moe lies on the floor next to her almost every night now. He likes to keep watch to make sure she's okay. I'm even okay with walking away from her on the floor now...but only for a few seconds to put something in the sink or go fetch some toys for her to play with.

I can not promise that I will be able to post more before Christmas, so I will wish everyone Happy Holidays now. And a few pics to go...these are from the photo shoot for our Christmas card (except for the one of Jayna by herself...I just love that pic and wanted to post it).

My sweet baby girl...growing up so fast.

My wonderful husband and amazingly well-behaved funny dogs.

Awww...how cute. He can still lift my big butt.

The chaos that is my family (Chris smiling for the picture, Ollie stalking a bird, Moe looking at this tennis ball that I threw out of the picture, Jayna looking at Moe and blowing spit bubbles and me pissed off and fake smiling because I know that the picture looks like chaos...)

And finally a good picture...except for Jayna's giant hat.
Have a great holiday, everyone!!