The First Year: Seven Months - 1 year

Unfortunately, I was not able to retrieve the pictures from the hard drive, yet. I am so bummed about it. There are some pictures backed up on cd, but not the earlier ones. So, since I am intending to continue this blog, there will not be pictures to complement it for a short while. :(

Let's continue....

Alyssa seemed to have physical milestones later than we thought she would. For example, while other babies I knew were eager to start crawling at 7 months old, Alyssa was content with sitting and playing with her toys or propping herself up on all fours, as if to tease us. Finally, towards the end of Alyssa's 8th month, she did it. She started crawling. She became a new baby. You can see the excitement, her world was redefined. She could now explore the house without the help of us. Our world changed, too. The baby gate became our friend. Not long after crawling, Alyssa started pulling herself up to the side of the furniture. She had a lot of confidence. She was walking with the help of the furniture when she was 10 months...cruising.

By the time Alyssa was 11 months old, 90% of Alyssa's diet was of solid food. She nursed twice a day, but it seemed more for comfort than nutrition, so I weaned her. I gave her formula until she was 1 year. It was strange giving her a bottle, something she didn't care much for. Her transition to a sippy cup was simpler. She also started drinking cow's milk at 1 year old.

Alyssa said simple words, like "va-va" for Velvet, our dog. I believe that was her first word. Velvet was so patient and good with Alyssa. He must have felt like a big brother, as he probably still does now. Alyssa was allowed television. We didn't think it would hurt. Her favorite shows were Blue's Clues, Dora the Explorer, Sesame Street and her number one favorite, Clifford the Big Red Dog. She has a nice collection of Clifford stuffed animals even now. It's amazing how much a person grows and develops in one year. Our reward for being a part of that is seeing character and personality take shape. It's pretty cool.

Lost Pictures!!!!

I am so horrified that the thousands of pictures I had stored on one of our computers has been irretrievable. At first I thought it was the power supply on that computer since it wouldn't start. But when I attempted to get the files directly from the drive with one of Joey's special computer gadgets, the disc heads stopped spinning. Then the drive just wouldn't start up. We have pictures from the beginning of time backed up on that...wait. I think I may have some of those burned on CD somewhere. Looks like I'm on the hunt for those CD's. I'm crossing my fingers I find them. Until then, this blog is temporarily halted (of course, it has been for some time, sorry). Good luck to me!

The First Year: Four - Seven Months

Well, I thought I'd be further along than I have, but that's ok. Looks like Alyssa's first year will be in several posts. I will continue where I left off:

While Alyssa was two to four months old, we were in the process of buying our next house and selling the current one. Lucky for me, Alyssa was not yet mobile, so there were no worries keeping toys in place. The swing, well, that was her favorite thing. As a matter of fact, I believe I showed my house to prospective buyers while she was asleep in it.

Fast asleep in her swing. 4 months old.

By five months old, we had moved into our next house. Alyssa was sitting up already, with no support. All she needed was her toys and a pillow behind her (just in case) and she was set (initially we had tile throughout the entire house, so pillows came in very handy).

Around this time we noticed Alyssa had a favorite color, blue. She always gravitated to her blue toys and other blue things. So, before she could speak, she knew the word blue.

Notice the blue baby key Alyssa holds? It compliments the blue dress and those hazel blue eyes.

Two of a kind.

When Alyssa started solid foods, her digestive issues seemed better. Digestive issues? Well, she had a tendancy to spit up after nursing. At the time, I thought it was pretty normal, but when she started eating baby food, it went away. It was probably a sign of food senstitivites from foods passed from me to her. Alyssa was not a fussy baby, so it was not obvious she had any problems.

Just finished breakfast.

Alyssa continued to nurse and eat more solid foods. It was always fun and exciting to start on new kinds of food...carrots, bananas, peas, squash... her face said it all. Eventually, I actually made most of her baby food. I quickly steamed vegetables, pureed them and froze them in ice cube trays. Each cube size was enough for the particular serving of food. When Alyssa could eat beef and chicken, I did the same. Cooked the meat, pureed and froze them. It worked out very well.

First pigtails - 7 months old

Just chillin'. Notice the red shades.

The First Year: Birth - Three Months

Alyssa was born weighing only 5lbs 13oz. and was 19 ¼ inches long. We had to buy preemie clothes at first. She wore them for about the first month. As an infant, Alyssa did turn out to be a very good eater despite her little size.

The first night home from the hospital, Joey had the pleasure of feeding her.

One of my favorite pictures! A few days old.

We were told many times Alyssa looked like a doll. While at the grocery store one day, a woman actually thought I was carrying a baby doll. Looking back, Alyssa did look like a real-life doll. Maybe it was the hair.

A few weeks old.

Speaking of hair, Alyssa did not lose any after she was born. I heard it was common for babies to lose their baby hair, but Alyssa’s just kept growing and growing. I am sure it kept her head warmer than most other infants. We usually kept a baby cap on as well, but by doing that, we did not realize how curly her hair was. The cap would completely take out the curl, as you can see.

Alyssa had her first Christmas in Sierra Vista. Families from both sides were very excited to see our new addition. Here she is with Grandma Stephany.

7 weeks old.

Now, Alyssa was never really a thumb sucker. There were only a few times Alyssa managed to put her thumb into her mouth. The first time I saw this, I thought it was very sweet, so I had to take this picture.

The first thumb sighting. Two months old.

Alyssa was a very good baby. She smiled a lot, was easy going and just wide-eyed about everything. There was one thing, though, naps were short-lived. I knew it was because she was afraid of missing out on something. Alyssa took 1 - 1 ½ hour naps (short compared to my friends’ children). Oddly enough, I could rock her to sleep by putting her in her swing and running the vacuum. My house was definitely clean.

After a couple of months, we saw a pattern in the evenings. She would fuss due to gas. We felt bad for her. I started to wonder if it was the food I ate (she was breastfed). She may have been a little colicky. So, I started to feed her a teaspoon of rice cereal twice a day. She liked it and it seemed to help her gas. Although Alyssa steadily gained weight, she was small for her size. Her pediatrician figured it was probably normal with her petite genes. Other than that, Alyssa seemed to be right on track.

Curls becoming evident. Almost 3 months old.

3 ½ months old.

Overwhelmed

Well, I am overwhelmed with pictures of Alyssa. I have literally thousands of pictures, thanks to the digital camera. But even before we got our Sony Cybershot, we still managed to take lots of pictures and have them developed the old fashioned way. I figured I would post a blog for each year. It’s not as easy as I thought because there are so many pictures contained in just a month’s time and I am having a hard time picking and choosing what to include. I also need to get permission to use pictures that have other people in them. Just being courteous, I guess. My next post will be a summary of the first year we had Alyssa (you know, up to age one). I am off to scan.

An introduction...sort of...

When my daughter was born, I signed up with a mommy site which enabled me to upload and post pictures of Alyssa. I was very proud and excited to share my experiences with family and friends through pictures and simple captions. Somewhere along the line I stopped updating the site and settled for emailing pictures to everyone. I kept telling myself I would create a website for Alyssa and two years ago I started the design. Well, obviously I never finished the site and forgot about it. Just recently, I realized I could accomplish what I wanted with blogging. I’ve read a few blogs and really enjoyed the way they drew me in like a book. Check out gluten-free girl… wonderful writing. I will say this now; I am not the best writer. My grammar may not always do justice of what I want to say, but you’ll get the right idea.

Wondering why the title of the blog is “My Gluten-free Beauty?” Well, I felt I could enlighten readers with what it’s like to have a child on a restricted diet. And since “gluten-free,” “gluten intolerant,” “gluten sensitive,” and “Celiac” are not well known subjects in the US, I felt incorporating it in this blog would help educate others. In time I will explain what gluten is and how it affects Alyssa. The Beauty part? Alyssa has been told sooooo many times how beautiful she is, I thought it fitting.

Where do I begin? At the beginning I suppose. On November 7th, 2001 my daughter was born. She was blessed with ten fingers and ten toes, a full head of dark brown wavy hair (with blond streaks, might I add), and big hazel blue eyes. We were totally in love and in awe with her. How amazing it is to be part of creating life. It’s a miracle and a mystery.

Adjusting to life as a family of three was difficult at first, but soon we had our routines down. It’s all about routines and schedules with a new addition to the family. Alyssa was a constant joy. Everyday was an adventure, we were always learning something new and in disbelief we had this new being in our midst. It still is amazing, even now.

I plan on doing my initial posts chronicling Alyssa’s life until the present. It will help me organize my thoughts and maybe help me along in my other forgotten mission, scrap booking.