Addie is 5 Months!

How is my baby already five months old!? Time slow the frack down. Please! Addie has started sitting! She hates tummy time still so I thought she's be behind on her milestones but she surprised us this past weekend during our bluebonnet photo session. Addie is a babbler and a pterodactyl (I spelled that right the first time, woot!) and when she laughs it makes my day.

Her legwarmers are Agoo Leggings and I got them from one of those daily deal websites a few months ago. I don't remember which one, but it was 1 Fuzzibunz OS and 2 pairs of Agoo leggings for $25. I bought two sets. Love them!

Sleep Success

As I'm blogging, Addie is next to me in her Rock 'n Play putting herself to sleep. Our day was way off schedule, so I knew bedtime would be an adventure. We slept in today until 11:00 AM before heading out to brunch at Z'tejas around 11:30. She took a nap from about 2-3 PM and then again from about 6-7:15 PM. My little giraffe usually naps twice a day if we're lucky for about 30 min - 1 hour tops. After her last nursing she was still wide awake so I put her in the RnP next to me as I blogged in the dark. It took about 25 minutes, but I'm about 98% certain she's asleep. She talked to herself for most of the time, but slowly drifted off, needing her paci only once.

I must say, I missed her falling asleep while nursing. I am glad that we've transitioned her from sleeping in the swing (since day 5) to now sleeping in the RnP. It's safer and I don't have to get out of bed on the rare occasion that she should awake. If you don't have one, get one. Trust me.

Working + Mommyhood ≠ Blogger of the Year

I'm slowly figuring how to do be a mommy who works. Slowly. Begrudgingly. But I'm figuring it out.

But, be a mommy who works AND blogs? Nope, it's not happening. I had such high hopes for blogging this year and I already feel like a failure!

Spring break began two weeks ago and I had a taste of what it would be like to be a stay at home mom. It was like maternity leave all over again and I loved it. That made going back to work a bajillion times harder when Monday came around. Once again, it's Sunday night and I'm fighting back tears knowing I have to leave my teeny giraffe once again. Speaking of giraffe, I learned this weekend that the plural of giraffe is in fact, giraffe. Strange? I think so. Also, do YOU know what sound a giraffe makes? Does giraffe make a sound? Why yes, yes they do but only as a scared newborn. After that, they have no reason or need to make noise so they choose not to.

Random pointless entry tonight, but at least I wrote something!

H2O Whoa!!

Addie took her first sip of water from a real cup tonight. She's growing up too fast. Video to follow!

Yael Naim

I've been obsessed with Yael Naim since the first MacBook Air commercial debuted in late 2007/early 2008. You know the song...

"I'm a new soul
I came to this strange world
Hoping I could learn a bit bout how to give and take.
But since I came here,
Felt the joy and the fear
Finding myself making every possible mistake"

I was in a rough spot during early 2008 and I would listen to her entire album, but particularly this song alone in my room screaming out the lyrics into my pillow. It's very therapeutic and comes highly recommended by me. Seriously though, even if you don't know who she is, go to Pandora and get the Yael Naim station. You will be forever in a good mood. Scouts honor.

Shot Success

Addie had her four month round of vaccines yesterday. She was such a trooper, just smiling and shrieking for our pediatrician. When it came time for the two shots in her thigh, her face turned bright red and she started screaming. Fortunately, it only lasted a minute this time. By the time I sat her down to nurse her, she had already stopped crying! I fed her for maybe five minutes and she was all smiles. All afternoon and into the night I kept waiting for her to go ballistic but she was so happy! Then... 8:20 at night came. Her Tylenol had just about worn off, but it wasn't time for an additional dose and she went crazy. She was screaming so hard; I had never heard screams like this. I have no idea how mamas are able to watch and listen to their baby scream like Addie did, but every day. My heart goes out to all of you. It's heartbreaking seeing your child in pain and knowing you can't make it go away.

On the topic of vaccines... of all of the research I did before Addie was born, vaccines were just something I felt were right and so I did zero, zip, zilch research on them. Looking back, I feel like that was so ignorant, and I wished I would have read up on at least SOMETHING regarding them. If you chose to not vaccinate your children, or chose to do a delayed schedule, may I ask why?

I am definitely an attachment parent type, and this has been bugging me for the past few days. I am feeling so much guilt about Addie's shots because I feel like I'm the one that caused her to go through that pain. I knew it was going to happen, I'm the one who took her to the doctor and held her down as the shot pierced her thigh. If normally, I'm so protective and try so hard to make sure she's safe and pain-free, why would I allow myself to let her experience pain? OR... am I just WAY over thinking it?

Rump•a•rooz® Doll Diapers

Rump•a•rooz® Doll Diapers
These are THE cutest thing I've ever seen. I hope Addie plays with dolls as much as I did when I was a young girl. My mom would buy me premie sposies to put on my dolls and I remember how much I loved diaper changes. I want to get Addie some doll diapers so bad, even though I know she is a long way from playing with them. I won't go overboard I promise. Maybe just one or two. They're just $4!!

Babywearing

I just found Austin's babywearing group on Yahoo Groups! I love wearing Addie in the Ergo and as of yesterday, our Zolowear ring sling. We bought the ring sling in November from Baby Earth and Addie HATED it. Every time I would give it another chance, she would cry until I took her out. So I gave it one more try on Saturday and imagine my surprise when she was all smiles the whole time! I tried to do the kangaroo hold so she could see out, but I think it needs a little more work before I master it. I messed with it a few times at home before going out. It's so easy to pop her in the sling and much lighter and more convenient than bringing her carseat in. We took her to Schlotzsky's and Bed, Bath, and Beyond and she didn't fuss once. The gift-wrapper at BB&B thought Addie was so precious she was practically begging me to leave Addie up front while we shopped. Um, I appreciate the thought, but no thanks? Silly people.

(Please excuse the crappy iPhone picture... also, this pic was my first attempt at just having her IN the sling, so I hadn't yet fixed it to wear her correctly. I honestly didn't think she'd last more than a few seconds so I made Zac snap the pic asap!!)

La Leche League Round Two!

On Thursday night I attended my second ever LLL meeting. I walked in with two questions, but left with so much more knowledge than I thought I could get. I've only been doing the "mom thing" for four months now, but I've researched and experienced so much with breastfeeding than I ignorantly thought I knew everything there was to know.

Uh... no. This week's meeting was about how your birth experiences could affect breastfeeding. It seemed like it would be a waste of my time, but I'm so glad I was there. For my next baby, I'll do even MORE research regarding vaccinations, the newborn screener, the eye drops, the bath, suctioning... I mean, there's so much I just assumed EVERYBODY did, but I learned that it's okay, and might actually be BETTER for you to not bathe your newborn immediately. When I thought about it and looked back on my birth experience, I can honestly say Addie wasn't that bloody or dirty having just popped out of me. I could totally see how she would have been fine without bathing. As it was, I missed out on the first two hours of her life.

I love these meetings so much, and I really want to be an advocate for breastfeeding because I truly believe it is the best choice for your baby. So many moms don't have the support system to begin or continue breastfeeding and they struggle so much before ultimately throwing in the towel. I want to be the cheerleader telling them they CAN do it (bearing no medical reasons why they shouldn't or the fact that they just don't want to. Hey, it IS their choice...) and help them every step of the way. After my first LLL meeting in January, I left with such a great feeling thinking I could really help people. I'd love to become a lactation consultant, so I started looking into the certification tonight. It's much more intensive than I thought it was, and I don't know if I have the time or means to obtain it. However, I do want to become more active in LLL, so next month (first Thursday in April) I'll ask the leaders for some suggestions as to how I can become more involved.

Can't wait!!