Thursday, October 21, 2010

What Leslie's Doing

Since Leslie will be 9 months old in less than two weeks I thought I should document the things she's doing before she gets much older.  It's hard to believe that in just a few months she'll be a year old.  Gosh, next time I turn around she'll be in kindergarten.

Skills:  She's not crawling.  She sits up great.  She'll put both hands and arms out in front of her as far as she can get them, but she hasn't learned to lift her torso off the floor yet, so she's still immobile.  She does wind up on her tummy a lot, which I don't get, because she doesn't like it.  She will put some weight on her legs if you stand her up, but she's not really interested in staying in that position. She still likes to lie on her back and grab her feet up by her face.

Sleep:  She's been in a weird pattern lately where she doesn't go to bed for the night until 11:00, 12:00, or even 1:00.  Then she'll sleep til maybe 5:30 or 6:30a.m., and she'll usually go back to sleep right after she nurses.  Then she'll sleep another two to four hours.  She's been taking an evening nap around 5:00 or 6:00 p.m. and sleeping until about 8:30 or 9:00.  Most of the time she does better if I just lay her in her bed instead of trying to rock her.  Her first nap of the day is pretty consistently two hours, and she'll let me rock her with that one.  I miss rocking her to sleep, although I don't miss all the crying that used to go along with it.

Food:  Breast milk.  She eats baby food, but she's not at a point where she'll eat a whole jar in one sitting.  It usually takes three to four days to finish a jar.  I don't think she's anywhere near ready to be weaned.  She seems to like most every baby food she's offered, and carrots are probably her favorite.  She likes pears, mangoes, mixed veggies, and apple sauce, too.  Mashed potatoes don't sit well with her, though.  She has started eating the Gerber Graduates puffed cereal.  When I first introduced them about two weeks ago, she had a hard time getting the little pieces into her mouth, and they gagged her sometimes because they were just a little bit too big.  But now she can almost always get them to her mouth and she doesn't gag anymore.  She really likes them. Mommy gave her a tiny bite of brownie the other day, and she loved it.  She searched for every crumb that fell on her shirt and she was looking for more!  That's my girl.

What she likes to do: She likes Mama to carry her around and hold her.  She's going through a clingy stage where she cries if I put her down, and she screams if I leave the room.  If both Mommy and Daddy are around it's not so bad.  But during the day it's hard to put her down and get anything done.  When both Mommy and Daddy are home, she likes to sit on our bed with us and play.  She loves other kids, especially little ones.  They call her the Social Butterfly at the church nursery.  She really likes to make eye contact with other people and smile at them.  She likes to watch our kitties and "pet" them.  She likes to ride in the stroller.  She likes to look at colorful pictures on the computer.  She likes to watch a wildlife video on the computer.  She pays attention to shows like Dora the Explorer more than I thought an eight-month old would.

What makes her laugh: She laughs when Mommy makes exaggerated faces and exclamations at her.  She likes Peek-a-boo.  She likes to look in mirrors, by herself and with Mommy.

Favorite toys: She likes the real TV remote control, the real phone, the real camera, and cords and plugs.  She has toy substitutes, but she knows the difference and wants the real things!  She likes board books.  Anything can be a toy to her.  She likes paper, boxes, cloths, anything she can handle.  Of her real toys, she likes her toy cell phone, her Sophie teething toy, and her plastic keys the best.

What she's wearing:  She's easing into her 6-12 month sizes, but a lot of it is still big on her.  She can still wear some of her 3-6 months things.  Some brands come in 6-9 month size, and she can wear them pretty true to size.  Mommy has bought her some super cute fall/winter things.  She looks really pretty in orange, and I don't say that only because we're in Tennessee!  She still won't wear socks for any length of time, but they do manage to stay on for half an hour sometimes.

What she says:  Ma -ma, Mom-mom, ah-dah, dada, apple-up, um-gak, nee, bah, random stuff I couldn't begin to spell 

Quirks:  She's got a temper.  She still has no teeth.  She scratches her head a lot.  She doesn't like anyone to hold onto her arms.  When she gets excited she stretches and straightens out her arms and legs. When she's happy or excited she makes a growling noise.  She's like her Mom - she doesn't want to practice new things that she's not good at.  She'd just rather not do them at all if she can't do them well.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Date Night was a success!

So Erik and I went out for our first "just because" Date Night since The Little Angel's arrival.  The only other times we've been out were for his birthday and our anniversary.  I took said Angel to the parents' house for safe keeping.  When I left she was all about the grandparents and paid me no attention.  I kissed her good-bye and you would have thought I was invisible.  Kinda hurts a Mommy's feelings!

We went to Movies on the Square, which was free.  They were showing "North by Northwest", which neither of us had seen. (Aren't 1950's/1960's movies funny?) We were going to eat at Tomato Head first, but Erik didn't get home from work soon enough.  So the parents Mom agreed to stay up with The Angel even later than planned so we could eat after the movie.  I was dreading how bad of a mood the baby would be in so late at night without a nap.

The movie was good, partly because it was free.  Also, I love sitting on Market Square with a chill in the air!  The food was good; Tomato Head is always awesome.  But it was really awesome because the gift card I used took care of the entire bill!  I thought it was only a $10 card, but it was a $50 one!

Then we picked up The Angel around 12:00 a.m.  I envisioned being up most of the night/morning with her, but I was pleasantly surprised.  She slept all the way home, and she was happy to be with us when we got back.  She doesn't get a lot of time with both of her parents together, so I think she relishes it when she does get it.  We all three played on Mommy and Daddy's bed for about an hour, and she was in such a good mood.  She was just laughing and rolling around, giving Daddy Baby Punches in the Face (SOOO not painful), and rolling back over to Mommy with sweet little grins.  Then when she was ready to go to bed, she didn't cry or fuss.  She nursed a little, got drowsy, and went to sleep without a peep.  The cherry on top was that she slept for more than 10 hours.

I think we all needed a change of scenery, and it was so refreshing to come back together at the end of the long day.  And I told Erik we need to do that more often if she's going to sleep for 10 hours afterward!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

A Walk in the Park





Leslie's first trip to the park was a bust.  She chose today to take a 3 hour nap, so it was 3:30 p.m. when we arrived at Victor Ashe Park.  This was the exact time all students in the Knox County school system also arrived, or so it seemed.  People were parking in the grass and on the street outside the park, even though there were plenty of spaces in the parking lot.  There had to be more than a hundred kids and parents there.  Some were wearing soccer uniforms, some were wearing cross-country uniforms.  There were several event tents set up ON the walking trail.  There were no baby swings available.  Then that creepy ice cream van with the annoying music drove up and parked for a while.  You know, the one that plays the songs and then there's an annoying "HELLO!"  This ice cream van also plays "Silent Night".  It's October.  Anyway, the nail in the coffin was the light rain that started to fall.  So we walked with the stroller for a few minutes and then climbed back in the car and drove away from that chaos.

Miss Leslie would have enjoyed kid-watching at the park, but the kids were bigger than she likes.  Chewing her straps seemed to be her favorite part of our trip.  Oh, well.  We'll try again another day!

More Q & A

More Q & A

Question: Are you sorry you quit your job now that Erik will probably be losing his?

Short answer: Nope.

Long answer: We made the best decision we could with the information we had at the time. Had we known that Erik's time with Bechtel was much more limited than we thought, we would have probably made a different decision. However, in general I believe women were designed to be wives and mothers and be home. So this would be my eventual goal, even if it were delayed by Erik's situation. On the other hand, I would never judge any woman for working outside the home. Everyone has a different familial situation, and some are called to work outside the home. Sometimes it's best for the family for the mother to work, either instead of or in addition to the husband. But in my case, I feel so much more comfortable and at ease being a SAHM. I feel confident saying I'm a much better Mom than I am a transportation planner. I had no idea I'd feel this comfortable!  We "lost" 40% of our total income when I quit my job, but I feel more blessed now than I did when we had it.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Q & A

Question #1: Are you still breastfeeding?

Answer: Yes

Question #2 (the one you really wanna ask): How long are you going to breastfeed?

Answer: First, that's probably none of your business. But second, I'll humor you.... I don't know. My goal right now is at least her first year.

(Person asking question makes a funny face)

My baby, my decision. I'm choosing to do what I think is best for my baby for as long as I feel it necessary. You can criticize me for numerous things, and I'm sure some of them have to do with raising a child, but not for this. I have just as much respect for any mother who formula-feeds for any reason as I wish people had for mothers who breastfeed. And if we breastfeed longer than one year, that's also my decision. I promise I won't let her go to kindergarten without weaning her. K? :-)

You can stop making the funny face now.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

The Reason


So here's the reason for the way I look at life now. This person changed my life on Wednesday, February 3, 2010 at 9:26 a.m. She has brought me so much joy, and she has also changed what I thought was important. I think most of my posts will be about my thoughts on motherhood, her growth and changes, her behavior, our life as a family of three, and what God has in store for us with her in our lives.

I can add "blogger" to my resume!

Ok, I've decided to enter the world of blogging, mainly because I'm too wordy for Facebook. And I have a lot to say. It's my therapy, my best way of communicating. I hope you enjoy reading my posts.