Woah!

Woah...slow down baby girl. Baby girl is growing so fast - it's crazy. The other day she learned to get down from the couch. She rolls herself over onto her stomach and slides down the couch to a standing position - AMAZING! It's so amazing to see her doing new things every day. She is just learning something new everyday.

So - the question is - how do I stop it. OK - I'm kidding...I love that she's moving along in her life - I can't wait to see what she turns out to be - and I am loving the journey. But - wow - how quick the time flies.

I am getting ready to stop nursing her - well, I don't nurse her that much anymore to begin w/ - and I only get to pump about 4 oz a day - so it's not that big a deal in the scheme of things - but its a big deal to me. I like it - I like that she can get something from me that she can't get anywhere else. I like that she knows me and what I'm for - well - one of the things that I am for.

And yes, it does get frustrating when I can't get more than 2oz at a pumping session - or that sometimes she prefers the bottle to the boob...but all in all it is just a symptom of her growing up. And that makes me sad...and happy...and sad again...

The Zoo

So, we took our darling daughter to the Zoo for the first time today. The Elmwood Zoo to be exact. I had a fantasy of taking her to the big Philadelphia Zoo, but after watching her at the Elmwood Zoo I realized that the big zoo might just be too big...but I still want to go - she hasn't seen giraffes or elephants yet - and she loves when I make the elephant noise - somewhat embarrasing for me...but hey.

That is one thing I never thought I would do - I make weird animal noises in public for my daughter. Sometimes people stare - most of the time I am not embarrased - but sometimes...sometimes it is just plain silly to see a grown woman hooting like an owl. :-)

Anyway - this week was big too because darling daughter officially started crawling this week. She started slow with a weird kind of bent leg in the front crawl - too hard to describe - but moved on to the real right knee left knee crawl. It has changed our world. No more leaving her to play on her own - nope - now everything has to be watched and watched CAREFULLY. At the zoo she got a rock in her mouth - my fault - I just wasn't paying close enough attention. It was scary - but a reminder that I have to get ready for more of that as we move forward.

I have to go take a nap now - because on top of it all - she's teething and hasn't made it through the night in over a week - which of course means that I get to sleep in a chair in her room...what joy! :-)

Sleep

So last night I didn't get much sleep, but my darling husband did. And tonight - I had our baby girl in bed all asleep when she woke up screaming - a habit she has recently gotten into. As this was my third attempt at getting her to sleep - B went in to get her to go back to bed. I'd say about 7 minutes after going in and a bit of crying and stopping and crying some more I see his head pop out of her room with a huge smile on his face...he says she's going to come get you...and lo and behold there is my little girl walking towards me with a huge smile on her face.

Alright - it was cute - but come on. I had just spent an hour getting her down - the third attempt did it and he ruins it all by playing with her at bedtime. I mean come on! I have told him multiple times that when she wakes up at night you have to virtually ignore her - you can't play with her - you have to make it as boring for her as humanly possible - but no - he can't deal. I think that he just wanted to finish his dinner, but come on - I postpone my dinner every night to get her to bed - what the f--k!

Anyway - that's enough of that - he's a good dad and a great husband - but sometimes we are just not on the same page - this is one of them

Yeah!

So, darling daughter slept through the WHOLE night last night. Yep - from 7:30 is or so to 7:00am - and that was w/ a feeding at 6:30am - she ate and slept right through it. My DH said that she was still asleep when they went to leave - so he put her in the carseat and took her to our daycare lady's house in her PJ's.

So -that's the good news!

The bad news - well...not sure I am happy w/ my job right now - things just aren't what I want them to be - so right after I finish this I am going to apply for another job w/in my company - but something that will bring me back to my education roots of public policy...we'll see... wish me luck...

Care Givers

Finding a care giver for your child is so important. We looked at nannies (in home) day care centers, and in-home daycares before settling on Ms. Brandy who takes care of her own 2 children (11 months apart!!!) as well as one other girl on MWF and her 2 children and Reese on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Her girls are almost 3 and almost 4. They are cute and they really seem to like to have my daughter at their home.

But, the best part is Ms. Brandy - she is great. She genuinely seems to enjoy children and she really wants both Brendan and I to feel comfortable with her. She is so great - she sends me pictures at work so that I know that Reese is doing alright and she even took a video of her rolling over this week - something that Brendan had yet to see! Leaving Reese isn't easy, but having someone so great take care of her makes it that much easier!

Muffin Top

I have this thing called muffin top since my daughter was born - it's when your stomach grows over the top of your pants - strongly resembling a muffin top! I am trying to get rid of it - but it is really discouraging. When I stand up, I don't have the muffin top - my stomach actually looks fairly flat, but when I sit down - it just blobs out and over...I hate it!

I know that it's normal to not have your pre-prego body back after 8 weeks, but I must admit that somewhere deep down I thought that I would. I thought that I could do something different that would put me in perfect shape as soon as she came out.

Alas - that is one more thing that I was wrong about.

And it's all my fault. While I was pregnant I was too worried about something happening to my baby so I didn't work out after about 8 weeks. Now I am paying for that - although I guess since she came out healthy and I had a healthy pregnancy that I should be too upset about it - but I think that I was a little obsessive about not working out - I just had a lot of anxiety about having something happen to the pregnancy or the baby - now I am worried that I won't ever get my body back!

So I have gone to the gym the past 3 days and although it hurts it makes me feel like I am doing something to help with the problem...I just hope it helps!!!

Nursery Furniture

So, I've learned a few things along this journey of pregnancy into motherhood and I thought I would share a little bit that I learned about nursery furniture. Just my experiences...

When my husband and I were searching for furnishings for our daughters room we were introduced to the world of baby furniture. New baby furniture is the largest expense that you will incur while decorating a nursery.

Be very careful when choosing your baby furniture. There are safety issues that must be addressed by the manufacturer. Things like - do the drawers have safety latches so that they don't fall out on their own and potentially onto a small child. Is the piece weighted properly so that it won't fall over. Are there built in safety measures - brackets to hold pieces to the wall, etc.

There is also the fun part of choosing furniture pieces - getting your nursery to look just the way you want it to. We went with Natart furniture - and I am ecstatic over the quality. There is obviously a lot of effort that goes into making each of these pieces. We have the Theo crib and six drawer dresser set in Walnut (http://www.natartfurniture.com/en/collections_theo.asp). They are gorgeous. You can find their furniture at quality juvenile furniture stores and at
http://www.natartfurniture.com/.

Tips - while we love the furniture pieces we got from Natart - we didn't want to blow the budget so we bought an unfinished bookshelf and stained it the same color as the crib and dresser. You can't tell that it was not part of the set and we saved ourselves hundreds of dollars. We bought 6 brown wicker baskets with cloth liners and left one shelf empty for books and toys - it looks great! The baskets are great for holding all of those little things that don't have a place to go - nail clippers, bath supplies, rattles, etc.

Also - we are using the dresser as a changing table - this tip is great for those with small rooms and no extra room for a separate changing table. Just be careful that your changing pad is safely secured to the dresser!!

If you don't want to buy new furniture for the nursery - take a look at local auctions - you might be able to find a furniture store going out of business and you can get items at a highly discounted cost. Also sites like Craig's list are great for finding baby stuff, so take a look before you take the plunge on new furniture - you can always re-purpose something that has been used before!

How I became a Mom

So I woke up the other day and realized that I had become a Mom - almost overnight. Well, I guess I had about 9 months of warning - but really the motherhood part came up overnight...or over 2 nights, but whatever - the point is that almost w/o warning I entered a secret society that only half of the population can enter and even within that half there are many that don't.

I don't think that I am special because I am a Mom - rather I think I am special because I was blessed with my daughter. I guess every Mom feels that way - or ought to - but I know I sure do.

So I am starting this blog to discuss Motherhood and all that it entails. I will discuss everything from my daughters daily schedule to helpful things I pick up along the way.

Enjoy my journey - I'm sure it will be a rocky one, but I am looking forward to it!