The Barnards

Today Finley had her 4 month check up. Bryan met us there, I think mostly because he knows how much I hate shot appointments!  Finley was super excited to have both of our attention all to her self for a bit.

Finley did much better with her shots this time and the Dr. said everything looked great!

Here are her stats for 4 months:

Weight: 13 lbs 13 oz (54%)

Length: 24.5″ (59%)

Head: 16″ (40%)

We are always saying she is chunkier than Deacon but today I pulled out his 4 month sheet to check out his stas.  Here is how they compare:

Weight: 14 lbs 8 oz (34%)

Length: 25.75″ (69%)

Head: 17″ (69%)

I was surprised that he was actually bigger than she was.  Also, I was surprised that his weight was a lower percentile but then I found out that they have changed how they chart the weight.  Due to fewer babies taking formula they have changed the growth chart to reflect that since breast fed babies usually weight less.

I still feel that she is chunkier than Deacon.  Deacon never had rolls and Finley does, maybe the 1.25 inch difference really makes a big difference.

We are so thankful for 2 healthy babies!  Just don’t tell Deacon I called him a baby

I take lots of pictures on my phone, over 700 in the last couple of months. I usually share those on Twitter and Facebook throughout the day but when our church started the 21 day fast this year I decided to give up Twitter and Facebook on my phone. I have a Bible app on my phone so instead of being on Facebook or Twitter first thing in the morning I read my plans on that app. A much better way to start my day.

So here are some recent pictures from our days.

Finley loves to snuggle with her princess lovey or this baby doll.

Eating breakfast with MawMaw and PawPaw at one of Deacon’s favorite breakfast places…IHOP.

At breakfast Deacon decided to put his engineering skills to work to build a bridge to help him drink his drink.

Yes, Princess is still alive. Deacon is just now getting to the point where he will hold her, but he is still scared of her. And yes, he is sitting in a box. While holding her he lets her go a lot and there is no way I am going to risk a loose hamster in the house. And the #1 rule about holding Princess…we do not get her out of her cage unless daddy is home. I do not touch her! However, no one else seems to remember to feed her so that is my contribution to keeping her alive.

Tuesday it was such a nice day so after school we met Andrea, Reed and Graham at the park. Finley enjoyed her 1st swing time with Deacon. I foresee lots of park time in our future.

Finley had this cute little outfit on the other day and the lady at Wal-Mart checking us out informed me that she was going to be a diva for sure. Oh if she only knew.

Oh how I love this sweet girl…

but boy is she a handful.  The last few weeks have been rough, very rough as a matter of fact.  She has always seemed to be a bit colic but it seems to come and go.  In the beginning it seemed like as long as I would hold her she would calm down quickly, but that hasn’t been the case in the last few weeks.  Lately it has been in full effect and I have felt completely helpless.  A little over a week ago she was the worst she has ever been, she had not had a bowel movement in almost a week and I knew she was in so much pain but nothing seemed to work or even give her a little bit of relief.  Finally after several late nights, I knew we had to do something.  Really the final straw was when Bryan had a midnight conference call and I was sitting in my closet with the door shut holding her while she screamed and cried.  And then he ended up going to bed before her and I that night.

The next day I emailed a friend who had a similar issue with her baby about a year ago and she had told me she took her to see a chiropractor.  I know a lot of people will think that is crazy but when she told me that I sympathized with her and knew that as a mom sometimes you are willing to do anything to help your baby.  So I got in touch with her and that same day I found myself taking my 3 month old baby to a chiropractor (gasp)!

I took her in last Wednesday, Friday and this Monday.  She is a million times better and has BMs every day since Saturday and so much happier!  For the first time ever I was excited about cleaning up and scrubbing clothes from a blowout diaper, her 1st one ever!  She still has her crying spells but nothing like they were before.  I know some people will judge and say, “I would never take my baby to a chiropractor.”  I will say I was skeptical at first but all that she really did was rub her back and belly and showed me a few little tips to help relieve her pain.  There is no actual adjustments like they do on adults.  I know some will still think I’m crazy and that’s okay.  Because there was a point in time when I think I might have been border line crazy!

I am always very hesitant to post anything negative about my kids because I know so many people who would want so badly to have a baby or who has lost a baby and would love more than anything to hold their baby even if it meant that baby cried all day and night.  So with all that I have said, I’m not saying any of it to complain but just to document that this is our life.  Crying nonstop or happy as can be I love this sweet little girl and even on the bad days like yesterday, she still has happy moments. Her smile lights up her whole face is absolutely contagious and makes every second of crying seem so minuscule.

Just like every other woman on the planet, I LOVE Pinterest! I love doing projects and with over 400 pins with most being projects or recipes I have a lot to do.

There a a ton of different bow tutorials that I am trying, my bows look nothing like my friend Ashley’s but I am practicing .

One of my first Pinterest projects was to make something for Finley for baby dedication. I knew I wanted her to wear this pink smocked dress but I wasn’t sure what she was going to wear on her head. I seen this simple little ribbon flower and I knew it would be perfect. I loved the way it turned out and it was so easy.

Materials used:
25 in ribbon or lace
Felt circle
Hot glue gun

I just bought a sheet of felt material and cut out a two inch circle.

Then I start gluing on the ribbon. I glued one end to the edge of the the circle and then continued around the circle.  When I got around to the beginning I shifted up and started gluing the ribbon to the lower layer of ribbon. I continued doing that until I had covered all of the felt. I then trimmed off the excess and glued down the end.

Then I glued a pearl button in the middle.

The final step was hot gluing it onto a lace headband.

I loved the way it turned out. I have also seen this made with lace and they are super cute. I couldn’t find the color of lace I wanted so that is why I used ribbon.

As we were walking out the door to head to dedication I noticed Finley didn’t have her headband on. I yelled, “oh my goodness, where is her bow!” we would have been coming back home for that. Bryan informed me that “God would probably not accept her without a bow.” Yes he thinks I’m crazy .

Saturday night was Finley’s baby dedication at church. This is a special time mostly for the parents to take a stand and confirm that we will raise our child up in a God centered home. There is so much I want to do and give my kids but I know that more than anything teaching then about Jesus is the most important.

This is also a time for the pastors of our church to pray for these children and their parents.  We let Deacon stay in service with us for the dedication and made the last minute decision to let him on stage.  I knew he would probably be better up there than if we left him with my parents.

One of the great highlights of Finley’s dedication was that we had several friends dedicating their children too. Somehow we missed getting the Burns in this picture.

We are so blessed.

My parents came in on Friday to be here for Finley’s dedication.  We were so happy to have them here for this special occasion.

These two crazy boys were so good on stage.  They are both such sweet big brothers.

These two sweet babies are exactly 2 months apart.  Right before this picture Finley tried to claw Graham’s eye out so that is why I am holding her hand down.