Nine Months Holy Cow!

 Our sweet baby girl is not much of a baby any more. She's three quarters of the way to being a toddler! Have I mentioned how fast time flies? Every day Addie is more and more fun to be around. We go to swim lessons every Monday morning where Coach Eric has taught Addie how to swim underwater for seven whole seconds! On Tuesdays or Wednesdays we go to storytime at the public library where we sing songs, read books, and play with other babies. We even ran into our former AP, Cassie there one week! Addie loves her LeapFrog Learn & Groove Musical Table because it does so many different things and she gets to feel like a big girl as she stands around it. She's not yet crawling (not that I mind!) but she still gets where she wants to go by scooting on her bottom or pseudo-crawling backward or rolling. It's fun going into her room every morning to see what crazy position she wound up in during the night. She's like her mama and prefers sleeping on her stomach whenever she gets the chance. I still put her to sleep on her back but she flips back and forth through the night. She's eating everything in sight and I'm so glad we did Baby Led Solids (or Baby Led Weaning). I'm not the typical parent; Addie has actually never had a jar of babyfood and has only eaten two pureed foods. She prefers to feed herself (stubborn like her mom) so we give her appropriate sized cooked foods that she can pick up. Her current favorite food is ground beef or roast... THAT she gets from her daddy. She also just learned how to drink from a straw so of course I ran out to Target the next day to get her a straw sippy. We'll be celebrating her birthday before we know it!

"No thanks Mom, I'd rather read." She grabbed this book off the nightstand.

Smile!

Such a happy munchkin!

::smack:: "So, are we almost done here?"

Daddy came in the room.

"I love my bunny SOOO much!!"

"And this is what I think of my bow." She started ripping her bows off at exactly nine months. Oh well, at least I got eight easy months of accessorizing her!

"No more pictures!"

Nursery Wall Letters

I'm the queen of procrastination. No wait, I prefer alliteration, so I'm the princess of procrastination. I found out I was pregnant in Feb 2009. I decided then and there I wanted my baby to have his/her name spelled out in wooden wall letters that matched the decor of the nursery. I hemmed and hawed and even considered spending almost $100 just so somebody could do it for me. On Dec 1, 2010 (a full month after Addison was born...) Zac and I went to Hobby Lobby and bought all seven letters, stencils and acrylic paint so I could begin my masterpiece!


A few months later, I decided I had no intention of painting, so what else could I do? Oooh, how about gluing scrapbook paper onto the letters!? I was brilliant! Surely, nobody else in the world has ever had my idea, right?! Then, I learned there's a technique for my lightbulb moment and it's called decoupage or modge podge. Oooh... ::cue deflated ego here::


My poor daughter has had to look at a naked wall above her crib for almost two months now (she co-slept for her first seven months). I also had a looming deadline of summer coming to an end in two weeks, which is another post entirely. Sigh. It was time I did something.


Materials needed: Alphabet wall letters (mine were wooden), foam brush, modge podge, pencil, scissors/exact-o knife, newspaper, glue gun, staple gun, ribbon

Choose scrapbook paper in coordinating colors. Addie's nursery is green and pink, but since the walls are green I chose pink for the letters.

Turn the scrapbook paper upside down and trace the wooden letters. Don't do what I did and trace them backwards. I guess I should add a giant pink eraser in my list of materials...

Have your letters ready to go!

My materials ready to go. See that blue and yellow thing? I thought that was a straight edge only to find out it's just a fancy pencil. Oops.

Once again, pay attention and don't modge podge the BACK of the wall letter. Jill and Ramona were really getting into it on TV and I got slightly distracted.

After modge podging your letter, put a layer of MP on the back of your scrapbook paper. Line them up and put another layer of MP on top of the scrapbook paper.

Let dry. Notice a letter that's missing? Yep, D. It's lost. I have no idea what happened to it but I had to run to Hobby Lobby the next day and get a replacement D. I guess that's what happens when you sit on a project for nearly a year.

I measured "five planks" for the ribbons that will be attached to the back of the letters.

There are various ways to attach the ribbons to hang the letters. I chose to already make the bows and then attach the ends of the bows onto the letters using a glue gun and then adding a staple from the staple gun for added measure.

I wanted the letters spaced out over the crib so what better place to lay them out than IN the crib?

I pulled the crib out from the wall, and nailed the "I" in the center. I stepped back to make sure I liked the placement and then added letters on either side of the "I" until I was finished.

Half a Year!!

Six months ago  at this time I was sitting in a hospital room with my new family of three. I was a proud mama of seven hours and was in complete bliss. Fast forward to today, and I am still in a state of bliss. I love being a mom to Addison! She's such an easy baby and every day I thank God that He gave me such a perfect tiny human to take care of.

She laughs, sits up completely on her own, babbles dadadada and HIIIIIIII, grabs and shakes her toys, sits at her high chair during meals, "drinks" water from her sippy cups, sleeps in her Rock'n Play from 8 PM-7:30 AM, laughs when she sees Goose, pets the cats and grabs their tails (gently!), and continues to put everything in her mouth.

I have to AW  myself for second: I've made it to my goal of exclusively breastfeeding for six months!! I never thought I'd be here at six months and at first thought this goal was unobtainable. I'm so proud of myself for accomplishing this goal, but I owe it to Addie for being so good at it. I hope to breastfeed for a year or until she weans herself.

She's a GIRL!!

Addie has been sick so I took her to the doctor today. While we were in the waiting room a lady came in with two of her children, a fourth grade son and a two year old daughter. The daughter immediately comes up to Addie and gently touches her foot and smiles. Her mom sees her and admonishes her about touching my baby, but seeing as she wasn't the sick one (the son was) I didn't have a problem with it at all, thus opening ourselves up to conversation. The mom says to her daughter, "Ask her what his name is," and the little girl says, "What's her name?" The mom goes, 'No, sweetie, it's a he," to which I respond with, "Actually, she's a girl." Addie was wearing a brown and tan Zodiac romber from Old Navy, so it wasn't clear that she was a girl. Since she's sick I wasn't going to dress her cute and in bows, so I knew she might get mistaken. The poor mother felt so bad and kept apologizing and every time she saw a girl-themed baby item we had she would say, "Agh, I should have seen ______, I'm so sorry!"


I thought it was funny and didn't care at all. I know Addie is a beautiful baby girl, but honestly, I don't see why people get all upset when their child gets mistaken for the opposite sex. Just a funny story I felt like sharing.

Cloth Wipes

When we first started using cloth diapers, I read about cloth wipes somewhere. I thought, "Ew, who wants to wash poop rags to reuse?" Then I thought about it... d'oh wasn't I doing the same thing with her diapers?? So cloth wipes wouldn't be any different.

When most people change a diaper they put the used wipes inside the soiled diaper and seal it all up to throw away. You can't do that with disposable wipes into a cloth diaper. So in theory, cloth wipes should be easier right?

One of my maternity leave projects was to make cloth wipes. Using this website, I bought fleece on clearance at Hobby Lobby for about $4, and cut the fleece into 4x8 inch rectangles. My wonderful mother was so excited that I was finally interested in sewing and she showed me how to use her sewing machine. I have to say, it's a lot harder than it looks and it kills your back! Even so, I enjoyed learning and can't wait for my next project. Since the material we bought was plain white, I wanted the edges sewn in different colored threads. The seams were to prevent fraying after washing. We were able to get approximately 36 wipes out of the $4 fleece!

Then came my next dilemma. How can a dry wipe clean a baby's bum? There are a couple of options for you to use. One is to buy a spray (which I did just for fun) to spray on either the bum or the wipe. I got the Thirsties spray from Tiny Birds Organic Baby. You can also make your own solution for cheap, and that's actually my plan for at home. The spray is great when you're on the go.

Review: Tiny Birds Organic Baby

My little family went on adventure Saturday in Round Rock. We successfully ate lunch at Pok-E-Jos BBQ and then went on a hunt (not too hard... thanks nav!) to find Tiny Bird Organics Baby. I thought Baby Earth was awesome (see post a few months back) but I absolutely fell in love with Tiny Birds for many reasons. One, there was an entire room floor to ceiling devoted to everything cloth diapers! AIOs, OS, fitteds, prefolds, wipes, wetbags, diaper sprayers, laundry detergent... I could keep going but I think you have the idea. Second, baby legs. Need I say more? Didn't think so.

Third, the toys were amazing. We got Addie a Tiggy Bla Bla knit stuffed animal. We were the only ones in the store probably because of the icky rainy day but also because of how secluded it was. Because of that, we felt fine putting Addie's carseat on the floor while we looked at everything there was to look at! While we were looking at these amazing wooden blocks, Addie was talking nonstop to some stuffed animals. Zac figured out it was the tiger, because when we tried to show her Wink (the winking owl) she couldn't have cared less! Tiggy it was!

(image courtesy tinybirdsorganicbabytoys.com)

I can't wait to go back to Tiny Birds -- actually I think my mom and I will go tomorrow! Tiny Birds Organic Baby
1050 Meadows Drive, Suite 407, Round Rock, TX 78681
Mon-Fri 10am-6pm, Sat 12-6pm (central time) 512-341-0042

Cottonbabies Seconds Sale!!

I live for these sales! I got most of my BumGenius 3.0 OS stash from a seconds sale. Their seconds are still exceptional quality and I can't tell a difference except for slight pilling on the inserts. Well worth saving 30%!

If you friend Cottonbabies on fb you will be in the know about upcoming sales (like tonight's!). I'm super excited that I got five BumGenius 4.0 OS - including two Artist series - for a grand total of $51!!! That also included extra newborn inserts for $1 each. I can't wait for my fluffy mail to arrive!

I'm actually excited to compare the difference between the hook and loop (velcro) of my 3.0s to the snaps that the 4.0s offer. I'll give my detailed review once my package arrives!

Amazon Mom = Amazing

Quick PSA for all you moms out there. Amazon Mom is a totally free membership that offers free two-day shipping, 30% diapers and exclusive discounts and coupons via email. It's basically like Amazon Prime (which I have and LOVE) but there are limitations on what you can buy.

Sign up here now!

Shop til you drop.. SUCCESS!!

Addie and I spent literally the entire day shopping... and it was awesome!! Amanda, a fabulous friend from college is expecting a baby girl in March and wanted some advice and tips for baby items. I was all in. First off, I love shopping, especially if I'm not buying. Second, it's shopping for BABY stuff. How do you say no to that!? Here's a time line of our day...

We started off the day by meeting at Steak 'n Shake. Amanda was running late which was actually perfect because A had been sleeping at home when it was time to leave so I knew she would be hungry when she woke up. As we waited I changed her and fed her in the backseat. Amanda got there just as I was finishing burping her.

We went to my favorite store Baby Earth and just like the last time I took A, she screamed while we were there. Dangit, and I wanted to use the Ergo. Oh well, Amanda got her adorable Dwell Studio Sparrow bedding. (I must admit, I'm a little jealous. It's beautiful!!)

We thought A needed a nap so we chose to go to Buy Buy Baby and hope she would fall asleep. She did. (YES!!) Once we got close, we realized we were starving so we wanted to eat at Carinos. I was nervous taking A into a restaurant for fear that she would fuss and cry so I fed her in the car before we walked in, which was perfect because preggo had to pee. New diaper, newly fed. Let's roll! A was mostly awake while we were eating but slowly started to drift off about the time we were finishing up.

We drove across the street to Buy Buy Baby where we spent close to an hour in the baby abyss. If you haven't been there before, it's owned by Bed, Bath & Beyond and has everything from Graco ($) to Bugaboo ($$$$). Amanda wanted to buy the UppaBaby Vista but couldn't decide on a color. I just smiled. A slept the entire time!

When we left we both decided we NEEDED Starbucks so we got our drinks and off we went back to Baby Earth so Amanda could buy her Chicco Keyfit30 in Miro carseat. A finally woke up so I changed her (twice) and fed her again before it was time for us to go home.

All in all, we had a wonderful day. I was anxious to take her out but she was an angel. Now I have the confidence to do it again!!

La Leche League

After my sad blog post the other day regarding nursing, one of my friends invited me to a La Leche League meeting that's on the first Thursday of every month just minutes from my home. I was stoked to go and immediately told her SURE!!! when asked. I actually wanted to go back in November, but at the time I was exactly one week post partum, and it was just too soon. Had I known that I could (should) go during pregnancy, I would have gone months ago!

It was empowering being around such strong mothers with the same views as myself. After introducing ourselves we played the ABCs of Breastfeeding. Sitting in a circle we went around thinking of a benefit of breastfeeding for each letter of the alphabet. Liza (friend who invited me) had B for bonding. I chose C for calming both for mommy and baby. Other C's could be convenience, cost-effective. It was fun! Then we did a Q&A. I borrowed a book from their library to help me when I go back to work, Nursing Mother, Working Mother. Then I got to show off A's BumGenius 3.0s AND my new Ergo.

It was quite a struggle for the first three weeks of A's life. (Possible TMI) My boobs HURT like they'd never hurt before. They would get so engorged that I'd get in the hot shower to relieve them. I used heating pads multiple times a day. I was constantly applying Lanolin to my poor, sore, cracking nipples. I used gel packs stuck on to my boobs to soothe them. When A would latch on, I would SCREAM in pain. I didn't scream or make hardly any noise in childbirth yet breastfeeding made me scream. Something wasn't right. Why was something that is so "natural" this hard? Why was I choosing to be in so much pain? Quick answer = For A. I knew breast milk is best. I knew I could fight through it. I knew the pain couldn't last forever. And you know what? I was right!!!

Now breastfeeding is a wonderful time for A and I to bond. She's a pro at it and knows exactly what to do. I'm starting to feel like an old pro, too. She's actually so efficient now that she finishes before I'm ready for her to be done. I'm like, "Aw, done already?" :)

If you're a new mommy struggling these first few weeks, know that it will probably get better! Don't give up unless you know you can't give it any more. If anybody wants to go to a LLL meeting, the next one is Thursday, Feb 3.

This is hard.

Today is just one of those days. I thought yesterday was one of those days, too. So now I guess it's two of those days. Not fair. These aren't supposed to be consecutive.

So, now I sit here finally able to take a break because Little Miss just went down for a nap. Wait, she's opening her eyes. Not fair little one.. it's been FIVE minutes! I'll just type quieter... and slower...

I do appreciate how well she sleeps at night, especially since her daddy is wonderful and gets up with her on the occasion that she does wakes up. I got to sleep until 9 AM today and it was fabulous. The best part of the mornings are when I go over to Addie and tell her good morning. I get the most precious smile in the world from my daughter. That makes the hard stuff seem not so hard.

Sometimes nursing her is a challenge. Like last night I sat on the couch from 6:00 until 9:30 nursing her on and off. My butt was numb by the time I could finally put her down to sleep. I was crying, cursing, and miserable. Then she fell asleep and I saw her angelic face sleeping so peacefully. That makes the hard stuff seem not so hard.

Little Miss hates tummy time. I don't understand quite why because she's so strong and she could hold her head up so easily but once I put her on her tummy time mat, she hates it after only one minute! I try to soothe her before picking her up but she just screams. I keep telling myself each day will get a little better and we can't give up. When I finally pick her up she stops crying immediately. It's because she knows she's safe in Mommy's arms. That makes the hard stuff seem not so hard.

Baby smiles. Coos. Giggles. Kicking. Wrapping her tiny fingers around one of my fingers. Bathtime. Big blue eyes. Seeing her ducky. Peek-a-boo. Singing songs. This makes the hard stuff seem not so hard.

Cloth Diapers

We finally started exclusively using our cloth diapers and so far have had zero blowouts or other icky things. Washing them is a piece of cake for all you nay-sayers out there. ;) For all the people that said we wouldn't make it one day I have this to say to you, "Nayner nayner nay nay!!" Honestly though, I love the softness of the cloth and if I was a baby, I'd prefer the fluffy cloth to the scratchy paper sposies have to offer.

ERGO

Today my ERGO baby carrier came in the mail! So excited about this purchase because this ERGO retails for $135 and I got it on BabySteals a few days ago for $65 (I think.. it was sixty-something). Yes, that's flipping half off!! I want to be a crunchy mom and I think I'm off to a decent start: CD, EBF, BW/APish. Or, for my non-bumpy friends, Cloth Diapering, Exclusive Breast Fed, Babywearing/Attachment Parentingish mommy.

Two Months!

Addie is already two months old. It's hard to believe that just two months ago, we welcomed our beautiful baby girl into the world. So much has changed in that short time. My insecurities of being a mother have slowly started to disappear as I feel more confident as each day passes. Addie is now not only smiling nonstop, but she has started to laugh, too! Most days she is still nursing wonderfully, but the past few days have been difficult.

One Month!

The first month of Addie's life has already passed! It went by incredibly fast. It's so fun to see her personality emerge, and she just started smiling this week. Addie's one month coincided with her Daddy's birthday (November 28). The entire family was here during her photo shoot. We're using this bunny as a prop to show how big she gets each month. A lot of people have wondered where we got her adorable onesies from. Guess what!? Those are just stickers found here on Etsy for about $10! Stick them on a plain onesie and this is what you get!

Wordle of Fun!

After reading a fellow Nestie's blog, I came across a website called Wordle where you can type random words into an editor and it comes up with a personalized blurb for you. I used words that were significant to describing our baby girl. It literally took five minutes, and most of that time was spent choosing the right colors for the nursery! I'm thinking about printing this off and either buying a canvas and attempting to recreate the wordle on my own, or taking it to a printing place to do for me. I'd love to have this to hang in the nursery!

P.S. Click on the pic to make it bigger!

Uppababy Vista

On Saturday, I dragged Zac to Round Rock in a quest to find the beloved Baby Earth boutique. Of course, we had to stop at Taco Shack before we could even begin to think about shopping. Twenty minutes later, we were on our way.

I must say, by the first step inside the store, I was hooked. I knew right then and there this was the place I want to register at. At Baby Earth, I won't get made fun of for cloth diapering, or making my own baby food, or NOT wanting a travel system! I can buy organic sheets for my baby and not worry about a matching quilt! For my bottle rack, I can get a plastic "sheet" of grass. Simply put, I'm in freaking heaven.

So, back to the meaning of my post. I had made the executive decision that a BOB jogging stroller was in our baby's best interest. However, I wasn't sure how to approach the price with Zac yet. It's then that I spotted the infamous Bugaboo and Uppababy strollers. I had a plan.

"Oh Zac... look at this stroller and tell me how much you think it would cost. There's the price on the handle, can you see it?" I'm grinning mischievously, thinking, "If he sees the price of THIS, he will totally see how reasonable a BOB is. I'm so smart it kills me."

Yeah... well, that backfired. Yes, his eyes widened upon seeing the price, but then he started playing with it. To make matters worse, the salesperson comes over and starts showing us even MORE incredible features. I can tell by the look in his eyes, my husband is S-O-L-D! He looked at me and said, "Can we take it today?"

My friends, it now looks like we will be cruising around the neighborhood and Target in style. We just have to find one with a price tag we can mutually agree with.

Best part: There's a woman in San Antonio selling her 2007 UBV for $275. IwantIwantIwantIwant!! Road trip! :::bats eyelashes toward Zac:::

It's a Baby!!!

I was getting a lot of comments from my "real life" followers wondering why I had not updated my blog in so long, especially after finding out the best news of our lives. So here it goes: Zac and I are having a baby!

He/she is due October 13 and so far, everything has been perfect according to our doctor and his nurses. We are so blessed to be having such a healthy pregnancy so far, but that doesn't stop me from constantly worrying about the little peanut.

Because I don't have anything extraordinary to blog about, here's a survey (that I totally stole from my friend Laura's blog taken waaaaay back when she first entered her second trimester)!

How far along?: 13 weeks 5 days

Total weight gain: A pound more or less

How big is baby?: Baby A is the size of a lemon... which is rather deceiving. I mean, is it a Costco lemon (HUGE!) or a puny Target lemon? Just sayin'...

Maternity clothes?: Nope. Most of my clothes still fit fine, but I did buy two maternity dresses at Target because they were too cute to pass up.

Stretch marks?: None. *crossing fingers*

Sleep?:I still sleep as much as usual, which yes, includes naps. I love my sleep!

Best moment this week?: On Tuesday we had the NT scan so we got to see our little one! It was amazing because it actually LOOKS like a baby now. Zac was definitely in love and couldn't stop "Wowing."

Movement?: Not yet.

Food cravings?: Nope. During the first trimester, the morning sickness was so bad that I had plenty of adversions, but lately I've felt much better.

Labor signs?: Oh goodness, no way!

Belly button in or out?: In

What I miss: An occasional glass of wine, especially now that it's grilling season.

What I'm looking forward to: The next appointment so we can hopefully find out if we're having a boy or a girl!

Milestone: No more morning sickness!! AND I started the 2nd trimester!