Life as a Cleveland: March 2011

Newborn Pics Bo Allison

We are lucky enough to have two amazing photographers that we know and love.

Jessica Cleveland (our awesome sister-in-law) &

Rachel Saarela (she did our wedding, reception, pregnancy and now Bo's newborn pics)

I tried to pick some of my favorites from both of them

Which was VERY difficult to do.

Here are SOME of my favorites from Jessica

Here are SOME of my favorites from Rachel

Before and After

I couldn't choose they are all too cute!

Thank you Jessica and Rachel, both of you are amazing at what you do, and we love you both.

I can't believe that it has been 2 months already since we held our baby girl in our arms for the first time.
I fall in love with her more everyday and am loving watching her grow and start to develop a routine.
Last night she slept through the night I actually had to wake her up to feed her, so I could go to work.

They were all too cute I couldn't pick the best one.
I love all of her cute faces!

She is practicing her facial expressions and smiling at everyone.
Still hard to get good pics of her smiling though.
It's as if she doesn't like the camera. LOL

Some of her favorite things so far are:

1. Her pacifier - don't leave home without it!

2. Music - don't ever let it turn off screamming will instill

3. Daddy - she already has daddy wrapped around her finger

4. Mommy - she does not seem to like me leaving her during the day

5. Pistol - it is going to be so fun when she can actually throw the ball for him

6. Milk - she has not enjoyed the length of time it takes grandma to warm it up

7. Grandma- however she sure does like her grandma

8. Clean diapers - you better change her or you might not have eardrums by the end of the day

8. Moving objects - she loves to follow them with her eyes

9. Sitting - anyones lap were she can look out is her favorite

10. Observing - if something is going on she wants to know about it and absorb all of it

Back to work and 8 week pics

Yesterday I went to work to suprise the students at their St. Patty's day party, and also give me a chance to get back into work mode.

Bo dressed for the occation

Happy St. Patty's day to you!

This morning I got up with Bo and we did our morning routine, then I had to start to get ready for the day instead of just going back to cuddling with my baby girl.

I kissed my baby girl good-bye and headed to work. It was hard to leave, but I knew she was in good hands with my mom.

Grandma Theis is already teaching me how to use the mouse for the computer.

Work went suprisingly really good. It was nice to get back into the swing of things, and nice to catch up with all of the students and staff.

I was really suprised though how things that use to come naturally to me at work where things I needed to think about first, I wasn't prepared for that part.

It is also going to take me awhile to get caught up on all the changes with the students.

In due time... it will all come back to me.

Besides that it was much easier then I thought it was going to be, but I was VERY ready to come home and see my baby girl.

Now on to her 8 week pics:

Smiling for daddy

Bo is getting so big.
I can't believe how quickly she has surpassed her monkey

Just to cute not to share

Tomorrow Bo is going to go with grandma to her first funeral, hope the weather is good for them.

(Andrew you will be missed)

Flip Camera

We got a new flip camera so my mom can video tape more of Bo's firsts when we are at work.

We started playing with it this weekend, so we could show her how to use it.

I can't believe how much easier it is to use then using my phone all the time.

Enjoy!

She loves to kick

She loves to stand, but you can't tell by this video!

Hopes!

For our second baptism class, we were asked to write our hopes for Bo and her futurein a letter.
So, we did and I wanted to share it.

Bo we hope you always feels safe and secure in the fact that you are not alone, you will always have your parents and the Lord to guide you. We hope to give you stong morals to know right from wrong and to always lend a helping hand. We hope you become strong and independent to have the confidence that the decisions you will make in life won't have to be second guessed. We hope you are able to laugh and smile a lot. To be able to laugh at yourself, we think this is key. Everyone knows laughter is the best medicine. We hope you are able to spread your wings and fly, but always know you are able to come back to the nest. With this being written most importantlly we want you to know, not just hope that your parents and the Lord love you.

Beautiful Baby Bo everything is going to be alright!

We love you Dad and Mom

Grady Man

I was told I need to post more pictures, so this entry is full of them

We headed to Ames this weekend to celebrate Grady's first birthday.

We had to first head to Uncle Mike and Aunt Christine's to see their new home, and show off our adorable baby girl.

Josh, Matt, Christine, Mike, and Jamie

Avery loved their dog, too cute.

Want a treat?

After a great visit with the Porth's we headed over to Mitch and Jess's

Avery playing the piano, while Maddox just sits back and enjoys the tunes

I love my aunt Jess, I tried to tell her just how much.
(I was a little loud about it too)

For dinner we headed for some mexican while the bigger kids went to the hotel pool to play.

After dinner we headed back to Jess and Mitch's and had some much needed adult time.

Sat. night Bo got to spend her first night away from home in a hotel.

(She did great by the way, ate when we got back, and then slept until 6:00am)

Sunday morning we headed back to celebrate Grady Man's birthday.

Happy Birthday to Me?

...and presents too?

My aunt Stevi and Uncle Chad are awesome

Dad likes to sleep when he holds me just like uncle Jamie, but I like to look at my cousin Van

I just love this picture (Chad and his adorable baby boy)

Uncle Mitch loves me, and I love him too.

Alexis (aunt Jess's niece) did a great job of holding me

All of Jess and Mitch's nieces and nephews celebrating Grady's 1st birthday
Avery Claire, Avery Jo, Alexis, Bo, Maddox, Grady, and Van

We were also finally able to get all of the Cleveland cousin's together, so we had to get a photo...or two

Avery(1y10m), Bo(1 1/2m), Maddox (2y9m), Grady(1y), Van(5 1/2m)

I think they were done with pics....

We loved spending time with the Cleveland family, and we especially loved seeing all of the cousins together.

It's going to be fun watching all of them get to know each other.

Hives

I started breaking out in hives right after Josh and I got married. I have yet to officially figure out what causes them.

However, I have some guesses... STRESS, scented detergents, heat/sweat, and tight clothing.

Besides the fact that I look disgusting they really don't bother me, except when it is on my hands and feet because that is when it actually itches.

I have been looking up hives for awhile, and today I came across a diagnosis for myself.

Dermatographia

Now to determine if I want to go to the doctor again, for them to just tell me to take Antihistamines when I break out.

6 Weeks

I had my six week follow up appointment today, and I am happy to report that everything checked out fine.
I have also lost 40lbs. Only 10 more to go to be pre-baby weight.

However, I am sad to report that my six week appointment means I only have two more weeks before I go back to work.

Check out my hair-do, I'm trying to look just like daddy.

6 weeks with my monkey
Look I am taller then my monkey now!

In this video, Bo looks like she is trying to pedal a bike.

Then at the very end you can see Pistol trying to share his ball with her.

I also thought I would share some of the more challenging things about our adorable baby girl.

1. She HATES when she is wet or dirty.

I mean HATES if she is not changed RIGHT away she will start screaming and I mean SCREAMING.

However on a good note, as soon as she is clean, the screaming stops immediately.

2. When she gets REALLY tired, she can't fall asleep.

There are five musts that you have/do to get her to fall asleep

1. Swaddle

2. Bounce

3. Pacifier

4. Music

5. Closeness

It makes me really sad because she cries the whole time.

However, all she really wants is her mommy (which makes me very happy).

3. She does not enjoy getting her clothes changed, I really think she just hates being cold.
Again this doesn't last long, but it makes me so sad to hear her cry.

4. She does not like when her music turns off or she looses her pacifier if she has not fallen completly asleep. This too, causes crying, but if you catch it early it is easily rendered.

On a better note there are a lot of wonderful things too:

1. She has started to get on a sleeping and eating routine

2. Her neck is super strong and she can lift it up by herself during tummy time

3. She smiles at Daddy when he comes home from work

4. She sleeps for 4-5 hours at a time at night, then she eats and goes right back to sleep 90% of the time.

5. She loves her music and her pacifier.

6. She is able to follow objects with her eyes, and sometimes even follows you with her head too.

7. She has started to hit and kick her toys that are hanging above her.

Finally!

My cousin Lisa has been trying to meet Bo since the day she was born.
Between sickness and snow, it just had not happened.
However, yesterday everyone was healthy and the snow kept itself to a minimum, so Lisa along with my aunt Kathy, and Lisa's two boys (Ethan and Cody) finally got to meet Bo.

Bubbles for Lisa

Great Aunt Kathy

HI Ethan!

Grandparents

Bo is so lucky to have grandparents that love her and want to spend time with her.

This week Josh's parents were in town to watch Avery for the week, so we got to spent some time with them too.

Bo wanted to get clean before her Grandparents came to visit. I finally grapped the camara,
so I could take pictures of how much she loves bath time...