Friday, December 27, 2013

Pants on my head!

Ever put pants on your child's head?

They might look at you like you've lost your mind.....

Or they might think it's the funniest thing ever....
You might even find yourself singing our favorite song, "pants on the head, pants on the head! Somebody's got pants on their head!" 

So much talent going on over here.

Friday, December 20, 2013

First Time Foods

We've hit the point in time where we make the shift from oatmeal cereal to regular pureed "solid" foods. This is BIG.

From the time I was pregnant, I had decided I was going to make baby food for Adly, for as long as I could stand it. I took the approach of, "if it works and is easy, great. If not, that's ok too." I didn't want too much pressure on myself to make all of it. I don't have strong opinions either way of whether you make your own food or not. For me, it's just something I wanted to try.

I have to say it's waaaaay easier than I ever thought it would be. The hardest part of starting solids for me has been how and when and how much to feed it to Adly. Figuring out a schedule is still a work in process, but I think we're getting it.

For now, we are feeding solids 1-2x a day. In the morning and then in the afternoon. She nurses and then an hour later I give her an ounce of solids. In the afternoon I give her two ounce of solids. See below to find out what is an "ounce". From what I've heard, once she hits six months is when she will begin to "rely" on the puree as a meal so we will likely be adding in more at that time.

To make your own baby food, all you need is a steamer basket, a big pot, an ice cube tray, quart/gallon size ziploc bags and veggies/fruits of your choosing. So simple!

For Adly's first food, I chose sweet potato. This was mostly because it was what I had already bought from the store. Doctors are now saying you don't have to go by the old standby of "veggies first, then fruit". My doc in particular was also very encouraging of using spices that I normally use so that Adly adapts to our style of eating early on. Therefore, I got a little crazy and even added some cinnamon to the sweet potato puree. Thrilling stuff, I know.

When it comes to loosening up the puree in order to make it easier for them to eat, you can use breast milk, formula or the cooking water. For the sweet potato puree, since I didn't steam it and didn't have any liquid, I chose to use breast milk. However, BM is liquid gold, so anytime I steam foods, I'll be using the cooking water as the liquid.

Once you've created your puree, you can keep it covered in the fridge for up to 3 days. Most veggies/fruits will give you more than 3 days worth, so you'll want to store it in the freezer. For this part, you pour the puree into the freezer tray. Each individual cube is 1 ounce. Isn't that easy? Cover the tray with plastic wrap and freeze. Once frozen, run the back of the tray under hot water to loosen the cubes. Place the cubes into a dated and labeled Ziploc bag. Every night, take out cubes for the next day's meals and place in a covered tupperware for serving. They unthaw overnight and are ready to eat!

Adly seemed to really enjoy the sweet potato. Unfortunately, my phone decided it was full the moment we began recording her first eating experience. Technology!! But I did capture some of it.


Pureed Sweet Potato:
1-2 medium organic sweet potatoes
Baking sheet
Food processor
Breast milk/formula/water

Using a fork, poke a bunch of holes into the potato. Place on a baking sheet and roast at 400 degrees for 45-60 minutes, until soft. Pull out of the oven and let cool. Once cooled, cut open and spoon out the sweet potato into the food processor or blender. Add in your liquid (can be breast milk, formula, or water), little by little and blend. Keep adding liquid until the puree has reached a consistency you feel your baby can handle. (I went by the consistency of the oatmeal cereal we've been feeding). Add in a dash of cinnamon, if you feel a little crazy and then serve to baby. Don't forget the bib!

All ready to eat
Before: excited baby!
After: happy baby!

Saturday, December 14, 2013

DIY Xmas Photo Shoot

I absolutely love to DIY just about anything and love the process of finding out how to create things on my own. However, I'm really not that good at it. I have a short attention span and no patience, so I like to complete projects quickly, usually skipping over important details. Clearly, I don't naturally possess the tools to be a good crafter/DIYer.

This holiday season, I excitedly set out to do a little Christmas photo shoot for Adly via some photography "how to's" I found on Pinterest. Per usual, I didn't pay much attention to detail and just wanted to get it done so I could see the final results. The goal was to have Adam there to help out, but alas, he wasn't around on the day, during the hours I just had to have it done. I'll admit, I have a problem.

Per the tutorial, I used a white sheet we already have here at home and laid it out on top of the bed. I then strung white xmas lights all around our headboard. I had picked up some cute little Christmas decorations to use a props that I found in the trusty Target $1 section (yet, why is it every time I enter that store I cannot leave with spending less than $50!?!).

I put Adly in a red headband and a pair of white bloomers. I would've loved to have had her in some cute baby leg warmers, but again...the patience. The headband and bloomers were items that I had at home.

Anyways, once the background and my model were set up, I started shooting. Here's another place where I didn't/wouldn't take the time to follow instructions. I'm not a photographer, but I have a fancy camera. That doesn't mean you'll still take great pictures. The lighting was terrible in all of the pictures, so all of them required editing. Next time, I'd make sure we are in a well-lit area and maybe, just maybe, I'll actually read up on how to use my fancy camera properly beforehand.

Thankfully, because there must be other impatient, wannabe photographers out there, there are fantastic photo editing websites. My favorite has become Pic Monkey. It's like a user friendly version of photoshop for dummies, and it's free! Because of this website, my impromptu, un-thought-out photo shoot was saved.

I attempted to make this a "how to" post...but clearly it's become more of a "what not to do". Either way, even if you only own an iPhone, I suggest trying out taking pictures of your little one. Why not? You really can't go wrong, now that you've read all the ways you can!













Happy Holidays!! From our crazy family to yours....

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

5 Months

I'm 5 months today!!

-Big Girl Food! At four and a half months on the day after Thanksgiving, we introduced Adly to oatmeal cereal. She loved it and has since thoroughly enjoyed anytime she gets to eat "real people food". She knows the chair she eats in, knows her bibs, knows her spoon and ladybug bowl. It's so cute to see her acknowledge when it's time to eat. She does this by excitedly kicking and holding out her hands ready to eat. Miss independent also likes to try to grab the spoon and do it herself.



-Spit Up. This month has also brought on the spit up. For most of her short life, Adly hasn't been much of a spitter-upper. I think the combination of adding cereals and sitting up more has attributed to this. I'm not looking forward to the colorful pukies that will be coming once we start incorporating real foods.

-Roll Over, Roll Over. Also over Thanksgiving weekend, Adly began rolling over from her back to her tummy. She's now an expert at it and does almost every time she is placed on her back. The problem is, once she gets to her tummy, she doesn't know what to do with herself. Her inability to move just yet brings on the frustration and tears pretty quickly. But, we're getting there.
Happiness before the frustrations.

-Reach Out. Adly has also started to reach out her arms when she sees mom or dad coming, asking to be picked up. The only problem with this unbelievably cute act is that I can never say no to it. This has brought on a bit of the clingy-ness again. But that's ok for now.

-Back to Work. This is my last month at home with Adly. I'm looking at it with the most optimism I can. I know I'm unbelievably lucky for getting to stay home as long as I have. Therefore, I'm trying to soak in every last second while I can and enjoy our mommy and Adly time to the fullest.

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Lazy Sunday

Sometimes you just need a day to forget the dishes, the laundry, and life in general. So as the frigid air and first snow blew in today, we holed ourselves up inside where it was all warm and toasty and had ourselves a girls day. 

 Love my buggy boo. 


  Hi mom! Just reading my book while you make my cereal!


 It's snowing!


 Mom! Do you see that white stuff!?!


Thursday, December 5, 2013

Touchy Face

Adly's latest discovery has been the realization that those things that flail all around her regularly can be controlled to actually move and touch things. And when she touches those things, she can feel them. How cool is that?!

She started out by grabbing things I'd dangle over her. Even this simple act is neat to watch, as she slowly brings her hands up together and touches the object each time. You can see the gears turning in her head as she makes contact with her hands, that what she is feeling is what she is somehow touching.

Then she began touching my face. As usual, I had to fight back tears the first few times she did it. She was standing on my lap the first time it happened, face to face with me. The look on her face of pure curiosity as she brought up her hands and slowly touched my chin was priceless. Then her hands slowly traveled to my cheek. Then to my nose. And to my mouth. 

Now she loves investigating different faces of all different people, but of course I'm still the favorite. At least that's what I tell myself. The photo below was taken by our cousin Emily randomly on a Saturday evening. It's a display of her beautiful curiosity that is now captured forever. And it's moments like these that make me want time to slow down, wishing I could remember every second of this journey.

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Santa Baby

This weekend we packed up the car and headed to my hometown in Michigan to kick off the holidays.

As I've gotten older and moved away from my home state, Thanksgiving has become our big family holiday. Over the years, we've melded together a sort of holiday tradition that includes bowling with any cousins, aunts and uncles, and friends that are free. After a few games we then head to our aunt Julie and uncle Kevin's house. There we fill up again on leftovers and stay up late playing card games, ping pong, and having lots of laughs. It's one of my most favorite days of the year.
 
Unfortunately, this year was different for a few reasons. For one obvious reason, I now have a baby. But we also recently had a bout of breast cancer strike our family, more specifically, my aunt Julie. She underwent a double mastectomy the day before Thanksgiving in an effort to eliminate all of the cancer. This definitely put a damper on our usual holiday cheer. Not only is aunt Julie awesome, but she's also known as the best singer, clapper, and cooker in our family. (Just kidding of course. She's really not that great at any of those things...though you CAN hear her claps from miles away). Thankfully the surgery went well and she spent the remainder of the weekend being spoiled by her loving husband, kids, family, and hundreds of friends on Facebook. I can't even begin to count the love, prayers, and shout outs she has received in the last week, and that in itself explains why this Thanksgiving was just different.

Despite some of the sadness of the holidays and obvious family members missing from our celebrations, we did have one event that we were very much looking forward to. And that was introducing Adly to santa. So Sunday morning, we dressed her up in her cutie patootie leopard dress and red bow and headed off to the mall. Adam and I fully expected Adly to have a meltdown, crying her eyes out at this strange man with a big white beard holding her. We would giggle and tell the people to keep snapping pics to get the best screaming picture. It would be classic.




But despite our predictions, Adly ended up loving santa. In fact, her favorite part of him was his beard,  which thankfully was real, as she got a good hold of it and gave her best yank. We had decided to go to the local mall in my hometown to avoid the long lines and crowds at malls in Chicago, and I'm so glad we did. The santa was so kind and the elves working the station took their time and let us take multiple pictures to get the best one.

Here's a few shots of our sweet pea's first intro to the jolly, fat man who will stock her tree and stockings full of goodies for many Christmas's to come.


Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Sensitivity

As a new parent, you are forever riding a learning curve. I feel like I can't seem to catch up when it comes to knowing what to do when it comes to baby. On top of that, so often I find myself smacking my forehead for not thinking when it comes to concerns about our daughter. It's almost as though when you're in the moment you're far too mind-clouded to think properly. It's only once you step back and listen to someone else that you have that "ah-hah" moment and suddenly it all makes sense.

For the last month or so, I've noticed little red dots on the back of Adly's chunky little thighs. I had also noticed redness around her leggy cracks. I was convinced it was dry skin, so I began putting Aquaphor on it. This is a thick, petroleum jelly type of lotion for very dry skin. It seemed to work somewhat, but after a month the dots and redness were still there.


We finally had our 4 month appointment this week and from that I discovered some information I thought would be helpful to pass along for other little ones. Turns out, it was not only really dry skin, but also extremely sensitive skin. My poor babes has been living with dry, irritated skin for months now and I've only been doing multiple things to exacerbate her symptoms even more.

Per our pedi's recommendations, we switched a number of things and within a few days, I've already noticed a huge difference. Here's what I learned:

-Use a humidifier. Seems simple right? This is how mucked up your mind can get. I have a humidifier. I registered for it and a kind friend purchased it for us. It's been plugged in and filled with water (until it evaporated) for over a month now. I used it once, but in my mind I got concerned that it would be too damp in there and therefore give her a cold. Seriously. Looking back...really Kelly? Really? So I never turned it on again. According to the doc, they need the moisture in the air. Not a ton, but at least some, especially during these cold winter months.  We will now be turning it on every night to help get some moisture in the air.

-If it smells good, don't use it. At one of our showers, we received some very yummy smelling, organic, "all natural" body wash for babies. It looks all fancy and I thought for sure it must be good for Adly. I mean, its organic and all natural! Turns out, if it smells good, it has smelly chemicals in it, which for very sensitive skinned babies, means irritation. Instead, you want non-smelly, sensitive skin wash. And when it comes to amounts, only a dab will do you. We have now switched to this Cetaphil Cleanser.

-Keep bath time short and cool. Adly looooves bath time. She kicks, splashes and is always very content during this time. We love it as a way to wind down for bedtime. Unfortunately, after 10 minutes in the bath, the natural oils in her little body are all but sucked out by the water and left to leave her with itchy, dry skin. Additionally, the water should not be too warm. Another, "duh" moment....

-If you can pump it, it's filled with water. For Adly, because of her sensitive skin, regular lotions just weren't cutting it. In addition to the daily applications of Aquaphor, I was also regularly rubbing her down with fancy scented organic lotions we also received. Once again with the smells. Another factor our doc pointed out was that lotions in pump bottles have to be more liquid-like in order to come out through the pump. Therefore their water content is quite high, which is never going to help with really dry skin. Ah-haaahhhh...... We have now switched to this Cetaphil Cream that is in a jar and far more thick than regular lotion.

-No dryer sheets. I'm not sure if this is common knowledge, but I had no idea you shouldn't be using dryer sheets when drying infant clothing. We made sure to purchase the purest, "free" detergents, but for whatever reason I never considered the dyer sheets. Turns out, of course those have lots of irritants as well and should not be used.

So there you have it. Torture by smelly body washes, smelly lotions, long baths, and irritating dryer sheets. If you have a newbie and notice their skin is getting dry and irritated, maybe try out some of these things. Hopefully your moment of clarity will come faster than mine did.

Thankfully, despite all of these things, she still seems like a normal, healthy and happy baby. Must be doing some things right!

Cute baby picture alert!

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Regression.

Right now, we're in the midst of what is commonly known as the "4 month sleep regression phase". Yes. Regression. That is NEVER a good word when you are a parent. Nothing like climbing to the top of mount parenthood, sticking your "I'm an awesome Mom!" flag into the peak, only to have the wind immediately send you tumbling back down. 

Thankfully, this phase has not yet affected Adly at night. Yet. (Because as I sit here, feeling so bad for all my mommy friends who are up at night right now, I know that will likely be me in a week). 

But her sleep has regressed during the day for naps. I swear...control freaks have no business being parents. I spent day after day attempting to form some sort of napping schedule, mostly for my own sanity. We had some semblance of a schedule down around month three and I was feeling fantastic. But alas, that elation was short lived. In the last week, our napping schedule has all been thrown out the window. Suddenly, you know who decided she didn't want to nap anymore. She told me this by throwing tantrums anytime it came time to lay down for sleepy time during the day.

Let me tell you, a day with an infant that doesn't nap is VERY LONG. Not only because you never get a break, but a newborn who doesn't nap has a knack for becoming VERY CRANKY. And we all know how fun cranky babies are.

In order to get to the bottom of what the hell happened to my routine and scheduled life, I turned to my faithful group of mommy friends. This was via text message as I was bawling my eyes out trying to tune out the sounds of her wails from the nursery, 20 minutes in. Turns out, everyone was feeling the pain and exhausted. It was then that I learned of this sleep regression period. It happens to nearly everyone around four months.

I say nearly because there will always be that one parent and baby that says, "Oh, my little one is still sleeping fantastically! We're on schedule and I'm tra-la-la-ing all the way through the night! I feel so bad for you!" (They'll get theirs one day).

Anyways, some information that came from a mommy friend that helped me through this period is from Mannly Mama and The Sleep Lady. Both of these posts helped me to feel SO much better about what we are going through. There truly is something amazing about the feeling of, "I'm not alone in this hell." Turns out the little ones are learning and discovering so much during the day that it's hard from them to shut their brains off and take a nappy. They are more mobile now and love trying out the new skills they're learning every day. They are also changing from their newborn sleeping patterns into those of adults, and thats a heavy change for an itty bitty. So all of these things take some time for the little ones to figure out. That translates to mommies everywhere being thrown into a frenzy of, "where did I go wrong!" Only, we didn't go wrong anywhere. Growing takes a lot of work and sometimes, that growth is going to throw everything we worked so hard for out the window. But someday, somehow, it will all come back to them. And all will be right with the world again....that is, until the next change comes our way a few weeks later.


I've got big shoes to fill!

Monday, November 18, 2013

twinkie toes

To a baby, it can appear that there is nothing more tasty than a set of toes and feet. It seems as though our munchkin has recently entered into this stage. She looooves her feet.

The progression of her foot into her mouth happened in a few stages.

At first it was like, "Oooh! What are these things I can grab onto that are always flailing around me?! I like to try to catch them."

Then it became like,  "Hmm...can I....oh why, yes, I can. I'm going to take these here things and shove them in my mouth. Mmmm.....interesting."

Now it's like, "Give me those things! I want them in my mouth now! Yes....hmphmhm...I love sucking my toes!!"

Either way, she seems to thoroughly enjoy getting them into her pie hole and then sucking the life out of them. And for whatever reason, as an adult, I think it's the cutest darn thing in the world. This has been by far one of my favorite discoveries she has made.




Thursday, November 14, 2013

4 Months


Adly's 3rd month was an exciting one, with many changes, most of which were noticeable even on a day-to-day basis. It never ceases to amaze me how much babies grow and change during this time. Here's life with Adly as she enters into her 4th month of life:

-She is "talking" non-stop these days. The weekend she turned 4 months, she began making a loud, singing type of noise. She now does this as her regular way of communication and it is beyond cute.

-She also recently discovered her feet. Her favorite thing is to lay on her back while "chatting" away, grabbing at her toes and feet. She investigates them when there's socks on them and sticks them in her mouth whether there's socks on them or not. Who knew feet could invoke such awe and wonder!?

-Teething. We've officially entered the stage of, "maybe she's teething?" that will likely last for the next year. While no teeth have come through her gums, the child gnaws on anything in site. Her favorites are hands, fingers, Sophie the Giraffe, burp cloths, her O-Ball Rattle....basically anything within reach.

-This stage has also brought on the drool. When Adly was born, I received tons of bibs. I almost packed them away to bring out once she began eating solids because I just couldn't foresee any use for them until then. Now I get it. She constantly drools like a dog that has a meaty steak dangling in front of it. These bibs seem to help keep some of it off of her clothes.

-Adly loves to imitate anyone who is in front of her now. Her favorites are mouth movements, especially using her tongue to blow bubbles and making fart noises.

Please note the drool. 

-She's working hard at sitting up and loves to be assisted in doing so. When we try laying her down anymore, she grunts as she attempts to sit up on her own. I think once she got a taste of seeing the world around her in a new way, she didn't want to give it up. Laying down is soooo last month!

-While my little Rover daughter rolled over multiple times in a 24 hour span in her 3rd month, her desire to perform such tricks now changes with the weather. She still can't stand tummy time and her latest protest to it has been to just lay there and shove her fist in her mouth. Someday, you stubborn child, you.

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

I have nipples Greg....

You guys. I have something to admit.

This one time, up north, I had to milk my boobs. With my own hands. 

And it was the worst experience.

I know, I know. Some people swear by hand expressing. I, myself, however prefer to rely solely on the modern technology of electric pumps. While I have felt like a cow at times, you've never really felt like a cow until it's 4am, and you're in a bathroom, sitting on the toilet seat squeezing the crap out of your boobs with your hands in an attempt to get some relief (I was sitting on the toilet because my legs got tired). Producing milk by only the power of your own two hands is not an easy task!

When we went up north, I packed everything. Or so I thought. When we got there, I realized I had everything but this little, tiny part to my pump called a flange. I never knew that without this little flange you can't pump. Once I discovered this, I thought maybe I'd still be ok. Maybe I wouldn't even need to pump after all? That thought lasted until the first morning when I woke up with Pamela Anderson sized boobies and a soaking wet shirt. Sigh.

Of course, my child could've relieved this quickly. But I'd jump in front of a semi before I would ever wake a sleeping baby, so I knew I had to figure something else out. I tried the pump just for giggles and of course, it still wouldn't work. They hurt so bad I knew I just had to get the milk out as soon as possible.

While I sat in desperation, this came to mind....

Milking Teats on Make A Gif

"That's it!" I thought. I can "milk" my boobs... just like I think you would a cow (or a cat) and sure enough, it actually worked! Within 45 minutes I had relief from the pain and a whole bottle of milk. I then patted myself on the back and immediately went to get a bag of ice to ease the tendonitis that was quickly appearing in my hands from all the hard work.

While I hope to never have to do it again, at least I know there are options out there. And now, whenever I get frustrated at having to set aside 15 minutes and pump, I bring myself back to that rock bottom moment of sitting on a toilet seat, in the dark, milking my own "teats".

Friday, November 8, 2013

Comfort in Numbers

The funny thing about living in a big city is that life tends to happen at a slower pace. Daily life of course is much more fast paced than in a smaller city, but life changing events tend to happen later in life around here. What that means to me is that when I found myself engaged at 29, only a handful of my closest friends had been there, done that. Seven months later I was married and while we were still somewhat the odd men out, it was no big deal. It was really no different than dating or being engaged.

Then I was pregnant. 

Suddenly, I was really the odd man out. I knew one friend in the suburbs who had just had a baby and then there was my friend Laura in the city who had just found out she was also pregnant. But beyond that, I was the only one in our crowd of friends from Chicago who was going through this life changing experience. While I didn't quite realize it at the time, it's a lonely time. Even just being pregnant immediately changes your lifestyle--if you're any bit social. 

But being pregnant is one thing. Once the baby comes, you're really in a world of your own. And let me tell you, it can be a very scary world. Well, at least for someone who thrives on having control in their daily life. 

Thankfully, Laura went through her pregnancy and birth only one month prior to me. Immediately following delivery and as I entered into the jungle that is parenthood, I can't tell you how many times I turned to Laura for guidance. It was comforting to know someone out there understood exactly what was happening with me and my baby on a daily basis. Even if neither of us knew the answer (which happened often), at least we knew we weren't totally crazy.  

About 6 weeks into my journey as a mom, Laura set up a mommy/baby day at the park with two of her friends who had recently become mom's as well. We all met for the first time on a Wednesday and have been doing so regularly ever since. Over the last few months, our group has increased to even more mommies, all with babies the same age as mine. Our weekly playdates at the park have also grown to trying out music classes with the little ones, meeting for coffee, and countless group texts about baby poop, sleep, eating habits....you name it, we've texted about it. 

I now find myself greatly looking forward to this time together, if nothing else because it provides a real sense of commradorie. Together we can commiserate over the hardships of having a newborn, be reassured that what's happening is perfectly normal, and mark new growths as they come. We talk about what's coming up next for the babies and celebrate their individual milestones together. It's short and sweet, usually only an hour or two based on how the babes have been sleeping, but it's just enough to help me walk away feeling great about all the craziness we're going through. The best part is, no one blinks an eye if your little one is screaming their head off, you have poop on your shirt, or you forgot a diaper or boob pads (there's always plenty to share!).

I am so grateful for the outlet this small group of mommy friends has given me. The hour or so a week we spend together gives us a free outlet to talk about the happenings of our little ones that others just wouldn't understand. It allows us to lament the struggles and be proud of the progress we all make, inch by inch. And together, for a small amount of time each week, we all find comfort in numbers.

Our first mommy meet up with Laura at the park in August. They're so little!

Music class time! Their enthusiasm is hardly contained. 

Sunday, November 3, 2013

flower girl

This weekend, Adly got to walk down the aisle for the first time with her daddy. Oh, that makes me tear up even typing it.

Adly's aunt Nora (or, aunt Nowy as I'm convinced Adly will call her) got married! We were so honored to have her ask Adly to be the flower girl for her big day. Of course, she's not able to walk just yet, so her daddy who was also in the wedding carried her down the aisle.

The wedding was beautiful, the bride was stunning, and Adly was as cute as could be. I was so anxious all day about getting her to nap properly, because as we've learned the last few months, a sleepy baby makes for a very, very cranky baby. Thanks to the help of my dad and Anita, she was well rested when she arrived at the venue and was all ready for her moment in the spotlight. Between eating the tulle and the flower on her dress, Adly sure knew how to deliver the all important flower girl cuteness.

Here's our sweet little flower girl.

Love.
Watching aunt Nora put on her finishing touches. 
A thumb and a burp cloth. What every classy lady needs. 
Ready for showtime!

Thursday, October 31, 2013

roll over, roll over....

Rolling over is a big milestone for little itty bitty's, and yesterday, mine finally accomplished such a feat!! I can't explain how happy I was. It's so exciting to see your little one achieve something that to their little body must seem so hard.

As with all milestones, there is no specific time any one baby might roll over. Some babies have the ability to roll over right from the start. Such as I, who was so angry my first night at home, apparently I rolled myself over in a fit of rage. So fitting. While my offspring appears to have the same tenacity, those thunder thighs clearly require a lot of strength to move. Therefore, it hasn't been much of a shock to me that rolling over has seemed to be of little interest to her.

As we were pushing our way through tummy time bootcamp I started to notice she was beginning to kick her legs over as if to roll herself over. So I took that opportunity to start showing her the world of rolling from tummy to back. She appeared to just enjoy the ability to suddenly be returned to her backside and would immediately start sucking her fist, unamused, amid my cheers.

Then last night, I put her on her tummy and as I was paying no attention whatsoever SHE ROLLED OVER. What the...!?!? Why is it that any time your not being a good parent (ie, staring at the TV, wrapped up in a Nicholas Sparks book on your phone, clipping your toenails...) something huge happens!? So of course, I put her back on her tummy and made her do it again. I just couldn't believe she actually did it without my help. And wouldn't you know, she did it again. And again.

When I frantically got out my phone to video it for her daddy on the FOURTH time, my phone decided it was too full. (Thanks to the OtterBox case, I still have a phone today). Minutes later, Adam walked in from work and of course at that point, Adly decided she'd had enough of her new trick and threw a fit. Such is life.

Today was a new day, and thus time to see if it was a fluke or if my little puppy daughter really had learned a new trick. And sure enough, she has.

Ignore the soccer mom cheers from the sidelines. 

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Reading

These days, technology is all around us. Children are introduced to it from the start of their young lives both intentionally and unintentionally. But sometimes, in some cases, I think that technology can be a more of a hinderance than a help. I recently read an article about children learning how to read soley by reading books on iPads. I shuddered at the thought. We just can't get rid of books all together. To quote my favorite movie of all time, Elf, "But the children LOVE the books!"

We use many forms of technology in the classroom, including iPads. And I am all for it as a compliment to instruction, because technology is the way of the future and our children need to know how to best utilize it. But to learn how to read?! To me, there is nothing that compares to the power of a real, in your hands, feeling of turning the pages of a book. Especially when you are trying to introduce the magic of reading to a young child.

And what magic it truly is, that the simplest of books can invoke awe, wonder, and excitement in even the littlest ones.






Sunday, October 27, 2013

Whooo-Whooo!

Halloween.

A time when everyone gets to be someone they're not. For most girls, it's a time when they get to be the slutty pirate they've always dreamt of. For most boys, it's a time to live out that comic book fantasy of being able to fly and destroy people with lasers.

I greatly dislike halloween. I know, it's terrible. It has always been such a pain for me to come up with a costume. Don't get me wrong, I lived for it as a kid and in college I slutted it up with the best of them. But as I've gotten older, dressing up has just become a drag. To help myself deal with this awful holiday, I've begun coming up with costumes that allow me to attempt to get away with 'dressing up' but not really dressing up. Last year, I threw on a red turtleneck and some red lipstick. Viola! I was the Target lady. The year before, I borrowed my husband's Brett Favre jersey and went as a Packer football player. All this just to fit in with Halloween aficionado's everywhere and not have to be questioned all night, "Why didn't you, like, dress up!?"

Now I have a child. Uuugggghhhh.

That's right. I guess I have to start enjoying halloween on some level. At first I balked at the idea of getting a costume for Adly. I mean, she's 3 months old. She could give two shits about what she's wearing unless it's uncomfortable. More than likely, the whole time she's wearing the thing she's going to be pissed as hell at me. But I caved anyways. And boy, did I ever cave.

I found the cutest darn Halloween costume ever. (Of course, it's from a chain so there will be millions of other kiddo's in it whose parents will be convinced their child is the cutest ever). But who cares. She's my cutie.

Here's the cutest little owlet there ever was. Oh and that brown thing holding her? That's the tree she lives in. See what I mean? Easiest costume possible.


I'm gonna fly away, mommy!


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