Catching Up.

Madilynn is 10 months old now and it's so fun.  I realize that I'm still in the "honeymoon" phase of the 1st year and I don't want it to end. 

Some good things:

• She learned to crawl and is able to get to things she wants on her own instead of crying for me to get things for her.
• She's sleeping through the night.  This is not new at all, but still very, very nice.
• She knows how to sign for "milk", "more," and "all done."  This makes life SO easy because she's able to communicate her needs to me.  She's beginning to learn "food" and "water."  Once she's mastered those words I'd like to work on "diaper," "gentle," "yes," and "no".  It doesn't take very long fer her to learn new signs if we're consistent with her.
• She's so funny and loves to laugh.  In Madilynn's world, most things are hilarious.  Jordan and I live to make her laugh and her giggles are so precious and pure.
• She's still loving to eat!
• She's gaining weight faster.  She spent 3 months at 16 lbs. but has gained 11oz. in the past 2 weeks.  I love that she's dainty, but gaining weight (for babies) is always good.
• Her 1st word is "Mama" and I'm ecstatic about it.  She used to say "dada" and "mama" all the time to both Jordan and me.  Now she asks for me or will say "mama" when she sees me.  LOVE!

Some not-so-good things:

• Her appetite is growing so fast and I'm finding it hard to keep up with her demands of food.   I find myself running out of ideas for things to feed her.
• She's continuing to cut more teeth.  This is bad for multiple reasons.  It makes her crabby.  It wakes her up at night and she cries in pain.  My nipples have to adjust to each new tooth rubbing on them.  Sometimes she bites while nursing and it is SO painful!  She chews on everything and has chewed off little pieces of whatever and chokes.
• She gets into EVERYTHING!  She pulls things off tables.  She grabs things off shelves at the store.  She stands up but can't get back down and cries about it.

Things are good for me as well.  I've gotten back into sewing and have sewed some dresses and cloth shoes for Madilynn.  I love that I don't have to buy whatever is available at the stores.  I don't always love the colors and patterns and I like that I can pick stuff that I love.

I got to take pictures of the birth of my friend's daughter.  I was there to photograph the birth of her son and I'm so glad she allowed me to do this for her.  I can't describe the feeling of being in that room and being able to witness the miracle of birth.

Garage sale season has (kinda) started and I can't wait to get back out there this year and see what kind of treasures I can find.  Most of Madilynn's clothes are hand me downs or garage sale finds and I love the savings it brings.  She's got more clothes than I do and she's definitely a better dresser than I am.

I've started planning for Madilynn's first birthday party.  It's both exciting and scary.  We plan on having it at our house and the guest list is at about 50 people already.  I'm looking forward to celebrating her birthday with friends and family, but not looking forward to all the work that's going to come with it.

We had a little taste of summer and I'm so looking forward to the rest of the nicer seasons.  In the 2 weeks of warm weather we had picnics and went to the park.  I can't wait for more of those activities coming up.  Not to mention the festivals, farmer's markets, going downtown, and going to the zoo.

So, that's it for now.  Until we meet again...

Food and a Baby

When I was pregnant one of the things I looked forward to the most was cooking for and feeding my daughter.  I knew I wanted to breastfeed her and am blessed that it came so easily to me.  When it was time for her to have purees I was excited to go to the store and buy fruits and veggies and bring them home and cook and mash them for her baby food.  Now that she's older it's fun to give her finger foods and watch her explore the food with her hands and feed herself.

I always liked to cook and bake with my mom.  I really hope that Madilynn wants to do the same with me.  Right now she likes to sit in her high chair when I cook dinner.  I talk to her and tell her what I'm doing.  I let her smell, touch and, if appropriate, taste the ingredients.  Most nights Jordan and I eat dinner at the kitchen table and she eats with us.  It's one of my favorite parts of the day that we can sit as a family and be together.  If I have something on the menu that she can mash in her mouth and eat I put it on her tray so she can examine it.  Most of the time she makes a big mess and I'm learning to relax and let her have fun and not worry so much about her sticky fingers and the food in her hair.

Now that she's a little older, she likes to ride in the shopping cart.  She really enjoys looking around at all the people.  I like to hand her some of the food before I put it in a bag so that she can explore it.  She's just so observant and content to see everything and everyone as we shop.

I love food so much.  I love to cook it.  I love to eat it even more.  I love cooking for other people, especially my friends and family.  It's just so fun to share something I love so much with my daughter.  It makes me so happy to see that she's starting to get interested in it too.  And my girl LOVES to eat.

 Graham Cracker

 Waffle

 Spaghetti

Bagel

9 Months Old

Madilynn turns 9 months old tomorrow.  She's been out in the world a little longer than she's been in my belly.  I can't believe how the time has flown by.  

Here are some things that are new and awesome:

She can wave hello and goodbye.  She waves to Jordan and I all the time.  She's starting to wave to strangers, but it's hit or miss.  She'll even wave if you say "hello" to her without waving at her.  It's really neat.

She has 2 bottom teeth and 2 top teeth.  She's in the process of cutting more on top.  It looks strange.  It also hurts to nurse.  She's bitten me a few times and has drawn blood.  When she nurses her top teeth rub on my nipples when she eats and it's very painful.

She can move from her belly to sitting up.  This is a big deal because when she falls over she can fix herself to sitting instead of crying until I fix her.

She says "mama" and "dada."  She doesn't use the words right, but it's nice to hear.

She loves to eat real food.  If I'm eating something that she can "chew" and mash up in her mouth then I give it to her.  She LOVES food.  Just like her mommy.

She's sleeping through the night and takes a 2.5-3 hour nap a day.  Nice.

She can clap.  She claps when I clap or when I go "Yaaaaaay"

She's on the very of crawling.  She gets up on her knees and can crawl 2-3 "steps" before falling or moving back to sit.

We can have her sit in the shopping cart while I go grocery shopping.  This frees up SO much space in the cart.  She can look around and explore the food before I put it in the cart.

Here are some things that are not so great:

I'm gaining weight.  I was so thin after I gave birth.  I was looking forward to using that head start to maintain my waist line.  However, I was so tired and busy last summer and into the winter that there's just no time or energy.  Maybe one day......*sigh*

Madilynn's about to crawl.  I'm not ready.  I see all my mom friend's babies and they're all crawling and getting into everything.  It's stressful on them.  I'm happy with her sitting and playing with her toys in one place.

My stress and anxiety is still higher than I'd like.  It gets really bad around my period.  Jordan's really good at taking M and letting me have some alone time to de-stress.  It helps that I have mom groups to attend.  They know what I'm going though and it's great to vent to them.

What's new for me:

I've started sewing.  I've made one dress for Madilynn and I'm working on her St. Patrick's Day dress.  They're not perfect, but I have a lot of fun doing it.

The trim on the lower level of the house is almost finished being painted.  I can't wait for it to be done and for me to have my house back.

I'm starting to test recipes for Madilynn's birthday.  It's only 3 months away but I feel like I need to start planning now.  We're having it at our place and I'm doing all the cooking.  There's going to be around 50 people so I need to start practicing now.

Here are some pictures of when we took Madilynn to the city.

We finished painting the trim and crown moulding in the family room and it looks awesome!  Now we have to pick colors for the walls, paint, and hang up some stuff on the walls and it will be done.  I'm still working on filling holes and getting ready to prime and paint the rest of the trim in the house.  I'm hoping it will be done before Madilynn's birthday party.

We worked on baby proofing the house this weekend.  We put on outlet covers, padded the edges of the coffee table, and put up one of 3 baby gates.  The gate is at the top of the stairs.  I often put M to play on the landing there while I do laundry or shower.  I give her a few toys to play with and she's content for the 10 or so minuets that it takes to get things done.  Though she's not fully crawling yet, she has learned to scoot a bit and can get around.  It freaked me out having her by the stairs so we put the gate there.  It's a tall gate but the walk-through door is kinda skinny.  I'm a little scared to walk through it holding the baby cause I have to sort of turn sideways so that we both fit.  It's making we wonder if it's helping more than hurting.  It's a loose loose right now.  I run the risk of her falling if I take the gate down.  And, I feel like I run a huge risk if we both fall while trying to squeeze though the door.  Maybe I'll just get used to it?

Speaking of Madilynn, she's really sick right now.  She's got a bad cough and runny nose.  I don't know if it's a cold or if she's cutting her top teeth.  She had something very similar when she got her bottom teeth so only time will tell.  She's eating a LOT of new foods now.  I make all her baby food at home and it's saving a lot of money and I know what's going into it.  When I eat dinner I give her what I'm having if it's something that she can smash up in her mouth.  I'm excited for when she turns 9 months old cause then she can have meat.  I'm trying to expose her to as many different foods and tastes as possible.  She loves to eat and explore with food.

I actually got out by myself a few times this week.  I went to see a movie with some friends.  On Saturday I went out to dinner and drinks with some moms from group.  It was so nice just to get out and about without the baby.  Jordan likes hanging out with her and watching movies and paying and getting alone time with her too so it's a win-win.

Other than that, things are going well.  Keeping busy.  I want to try to start trying to get more active and maybe loose some of this baby weight.  Actually I was pretty thin after giving birth and have been gaining from holiday eating and general winter laziness.  We shall see how it works out.

 M pushed herself under the sofa at a playdate

 Trying to taste her pack and play

 Loving her ball-pit pack and play

Resolution: Home Project

When I take the time to look around my house, I notice a lot of things I dislike and want to change.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE our house, but we've been here over 2 years and it still looks like we just moved in.

The people that lived here before us had a huge thing for wood trim.  It wouldn't be such a problem except I'm assuming the man of the house did it himself.  He spent huge amounts of money on very nice trim.  However, that's where the niceness wears out.  It's honey oak in color (which I'm finding hard to match with paint colors) and he did a crappy job of installing it.  He obviously didn't have the tools or know how to join the trim properly.  He used decorative pieces of trim to butt the boards against instead of cutting them to fit properly.  This makes the trim look clunky and interrupted.

When we moved in we removed most of the trim and wainscoating.  It was a huge improvement, but I'm still irked by what's still left.  So, I'm painting it white.  I've started in the bedroom to see how it looks and to gauge how hard it is.  So far it's been pretty easy.  I have the primer up and I already see a huge improvement.  Once I see it with paint I'll know if it's something I want to carry out throughout the rest of the house.  I've always loved white trim and it will be a lot easier to match paint for the walls since almost everything goes with white.

I think it will be a good winter project.  Once that is done, I plan on painting the family room and FINALLY getting some pictures and art on the walls.  By the end of spring it should look like a family lives here instead a hodge podge of bare walls and miss match.

Before and after picture soon to follow.

Keeping Busy this Winter

Summer is so full of parties and get togethers, bar-be-ques and vacations.  Normally I use the winter time to relax and take it easy.  It's cold out and I generally like to stay in and hibernate.  In an effort to keep some form of sanity and not die of boredom this winter, I have joined so many activities that I find myself going a bit nutty.

We have swim lessons, breast feeding group, another mommy/baby meetup group, babies and books at the library.  Those are constant every week.  Add on top of that mom's nights out (meeting up with other moms for dinner and drunks or Bunko) and other random play dates and I'm keeping pretty busy.  Grocery shopping, laundry, paying bills, cooking dinner every night, and keeping the house clean(ish) and my plate is getting very full.

But... I've been able to meet so many other great moms.  It's nice to be able to vent, ask advice, and talk about poop, boogers, and sleep schedules with no judgment.  We can show up with no makeup on, hair in ponytails, wearing spit-up perfume.

I thought I might get to relax a little bit before summer, but looks like our dance card is full until spring.

New Years Resolutions

1.  Eat better.  I hardly eat breakfast and eat WAY too much sugar.  My snacking is out of control.  It's effecting my moods and my energy level.  I want to do better.

2.  Stop watching so much TV in front of Madilynn.  There are days when I'm exhausted and my DVR is overflowing and I sit and watch TV all day.  Not literally sit and watch while my daughter gets neglected, but it's on in the background while I get things done around the house or play with Madilynn.

3.  Stop cursing all together.  Or at least in front of Madilynn.

4.  Complete a home project.  Paint the family room.  Tear down the kitchen wall.  Refinish the kitchen floor.  New carpet.  Whatever.  Something needs to get done.

5.  Stick up for my daughter more.  I find myself biting my tongue a lot when it comes to my baby only to get home and beat myself up for not saying anything.  People aren't shy about voicing their opinions or "concerns" about Madilynn or our parenting choices and for the most part it doesn't bother me.  However, there are times when I want to speak up but don't because I think I'll come across as rude.  Madilynn doesn't have a voice yet, so this year I plan on speaking up more and taking less crap.  I also want to stand up and be proud of my parenting decisions (going organic or how long I plan to breastfeed) instead of making excuses or skirting around the real reasons I have for making my choices.

6.  Stop spending so much money on things we don't need.  I buy a lot for Madilynn because I find great deals.  However, because I buy so much, things don't get used (clothes) or she gets too overwhelmed with everything (toys).  She has way more than enough and I need to keep that in mind.

7.  Get better at photography.  I take SO MANY pictures in hopes to get a few great shots.  I want to get better so that I can take less photos, but have more come out great.

8.  Spend more quality one on one time with Jordan.    We do get to spend alone time together, but it's often spent watching TV or just zoning out.  I want to connect more and now that Madilynn is older I don't feel so anxious about leaving her with friends and family.  We got a TON of movie and food gift cards for the holidays and I plan on using them.

9.  Keep a journal.  Not one to vent or fill with negative things, but one that I could share with Madilynn one day.  Or maybe a guided, fill in the blank, memoir/journal that I fill in and pass down to her.

10.  Be better to myself.  I need more time alone.  Time that's not spent running errands while Jordan watches Madilynn at home.  Since Madilynn's been born I've been alone at the house twice.  Each time for only about 30 minuets.  Sometimes Jordan keeps her downstairs while I craft in my room but I can still hear her and he still brings her in or asks me questions.  I need him to leave with the baby more.  I also want to feel more comfortable in my new body.  Pregnancy and childbirth made such significant changes to my body and I'm still coming to terms with it.  I need to accept what has happened and work on changing the things I dislike.