I can't believe how quickly time seems to be flying by. My baby girl is already over 15 months old and my husband and I are talking about having baby #2. All of that seems so crazy to me! The past few months have been busy and we seem to have lots going on right now.
Steve and I have been discussing the timing of having baby #2. Ultimately we would love to get pregnant on our own without the help of a fertility doctor, but we are also pretty realistic in the fact that this will probably not happen. So baby #2 is going to cost us some money, money that we have a limited supply of since I am not working. But before we have another baby, I want a bigger house. I love our little house, but that's the problem, it's little. We have three bedrooms, so that would be fine for a second baby, but currently this bedroom is full of stuff: my scrapbooking and craft stuff, extra toys we have for our older nieces and nephews, and just stuff. In order to use this room for a baby, I need to find a place for all of this stuff to go. It can go in the attic, but then it basically become unusable. I can put it downstairs, but we already have so much stuff in our living room and the tip out that it really won't fit there. Plus, this is stuff that I don't want to leave out where little fingers can touch and play with it.
Another problem we have is that our living room is too small for all of Grace's toys. Some of them have spilled out into the dining room now. And we can't take down the dining room table and stuff to make that room a play room because then we would have no real place to eat. Our kitchen isn't an eat in kitchen and sitting on bar stools at the counter doesn't really work as a viable option. Basically - we need more space!! and storage.
We have decided that it makes the most sense to put our current house on the market and purchase a new house that is bigger and allows our family to grow. Once we have the new house, then we can make decisions about when to see our RE to use our frozen embryos. That is of course, if we don't somehow manage to miraculously get pregnant all on our own. Which is certainly something we are going to try to do. It might happen, for the first time in my life I have been having regular periods. That's something I never thought would happen, so that's one positive.
Our life the past few weeks has been consumed with packing up all of our clutter and organizing our rooms to maximize their size and appeal to buyers. We've also been working on some projects in the house like replacing our broken mirror in the upstairs bathroom and painting scuffed places on our walls. I still need to work on painting all of our trim and the upstairs bedroom doors. When Steve comes home on his next set of days off we are going to work on our basement and he will hopefully get a few outdoor projects completed (as long as the snow and cold weather don't get in the way). Our goal is to be on the market for March 1.
Until then I have been browsing homes online and looking forward to finally house hunting. We are also planning to meet with a builder next week to see what our options are for possibly building a house. I don't think building is the way we will go, but Steve wants to check it out and I figure it can't hurt to look at all of our options. I'm sure the next few months are going to be eventful as we try to sell our house and buy a new one with a toddler. But I'm excited about the possibilities and finding our forever home, especially because once we have a home, we can work on the plan for having another baby and that is even more exciting to me.
February 7, 2014
January 7, 2014
20 things about 2013
I saw this neat questionnaire on another blog last year and thought this would be really fun to do for 2012. Check out my post here. Then I thought, why not do try to do this questionnaire every year, so here it is. 20 things about 2013 and I know it's a few days into the New Year, but I am just starting to get back into this blogging thing.
1. What did you do in 2013 that you have never done before? I joined a playgroup for my daughter. I was tired of sitting around the house and tired of waiting for other friends to have the time to hang out or the desire to hang out, so I decided to go out and look for people who had kids the same age as G and the play group looked like the most fun.
2. Did you keep your New Year's Resolutions and will you make more for next year? I didn't make any resolutions this year and normally I do not make resolutions because I think they are silly and most people don't keep them. However, I am resolving to try to blog more this year and also to get healthy (but I sort of decide to try to do that all year long when the fancy hits me).
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? My sister in law had a baby girl on October 10. Her due date was the exact same day as mine was with G. G finally has a girl cousin and they are almost exactly 1 year apart.
4. Did anyone close to you die? We have been very lucky this year and have not lost anyone close to us. I am very thankful for years like this when we have not suffered any losses.
5. What places have you visited? This year has been pretty boring for us. With a small baby there hasn't been much time or money for a vacation. The most interesting place G and I visited was Steve when he was working in West Virginia. We did find some fun places to hang out when he was sleeping during the day.
6. What would you like to have in 2014 that you lacked in 2013? More space. I love our house, but I find that we are quickly outgrowing the space and eventually are going to need more room.
7. What date from 2013 will remain etched in your memory and why? I cannot think of a date that jumps out at me. Honestly, a lot of 2013 was a blur from sleepless nights and crazy baby schedule. It's been a hectic year, but a good one.
8. What was your biggest achievement this year? Nursing my daughter for one full year, then finally getting her weaned.
9. Did you suffer illness or injury? No illness or injury for me this year - ha ha ha .. this tells you how bad my mom brain is. I totally had surgery in 2013, had my gallbladder removed in May. you know, nothing big, just a major surgery and a miserable baby who couldn't nurse for over 24 hours. Luckily the surgery was fairly easy and recovery occurred pretty quickly.
10. What was the best thing you bought? The best thing I bought this year was a gun safe for my husband. I feel so much safer knowing that G and future children cannot get to them and hurt themselves or anyone else.
11. Where did most of your money go? Most of our money went towards our baby and baby stuff - diapers, wipes, food.
12. What song will always remind you of 2013? I'm really not sure. I don't often associate songs to certain years. Usually songs remind me of people, places and events. Next year I may change this question to read "what songs will you remember most from this year, or what songs did you like the most this year".
13. What do you wish you would have done more of? I wish I could have blogged more. I guess the lack of blogging is a testament to how good the year was because I generally do not feel the need to write unless I am sad or things aren't going well. But I need to work on writing even when times are good.
14. What do you wish you would have done less of? I wish I would have spent less time on my phone and more time with my daughter. I find myself getting absorbed in my phone sometimes and it makes me feel like I am not giving my daughter enough attention.
15. What was your favorite TV program? It's a toss up between Scandal and the Blacklist. I love both of these shows, among others, but these two have been the best so far because they are unlike anything else on tv right now.
16. What was the best book you read this year? The best book series I read was the Divergent series by Veronica Roth.
17. What was your favorite film of the year? I haven't had a lot of time to watch movies because of G, but I did make time to go to the movies to see the second Hunger Games movie, Catching Fire. I have loved the book series and the movies are proving to be excellent as well.
18. What did you do on your birthday and how old were you? This year I turned 31 and it was a pretty low key affair. I honestly do not remember what we did for my birthday. Let me think ... hmmm ... oh yeah. Steve and my mom and my nephew took me out for dinner at Texas Roadhouse. G came with us too of course. I had a drink, my first since way before I got pregnant with G. and I got a little buzz - such a light weight.
19. What national/world event stirred you the most? Hmmm ... national/world event? yikes, let's try to think of something that I can even remember. I know that sounds horrible, but when you have a new baby and are totally and completely wrapped up in that life, it's hard to pay attention to what's going on in the outside world. And yeah, still coming up totally and completely blank. Sorry.
20. Who was the best new person you met? The best new person I met was actually a group of people, the moms in G's play group. We are all different and have such different backgrounds, but they are some pretty cool women and I am enjoying getting to know them and their kids.
July 19, 2013
Infertility ... from the other side
The infertility clinic that I used has started an infertility support group. When I first saw the posting for it, I was a little jealous that this hadn't been available when we were first doing our treatments. Then I saw that it was open to everyone, not just people currently undergoing fertility treatments, but "survivors" as well. And then it hit me ... I'm a survivor! ... Sort of.
After many long years of trying to have a baby, I have finally achieved that dream. I suppose that my story could be seen as a something hopeful and a success story for other parents to learn from. But I am not sure that anyone currently experiencing infertility will be interested in hearing it. When I was going through treatments I can remember being equal parts happy and jealous of other infertility gals who were pregnant. I was happy for them, but I didn't want to hear all about it or use them as an example of success and that "it could happen for me". I just don't work that way. It's not that I wasn't hopeful or anything like that, I just couldn't let myself truly believe that it would happen to me. I had built up my defenses and other people's success stories just didn't work that way for me.
And now, here I am. The one with the success story. And I would love to shout it from the mountain tops and share my journey with anyone who wants to listen. But I remember what it was like to be in the trenches of infertility, to be afraid to hope, but terrified not to try. So instead I will keep posting my story here and hope that it helps someone who is looking for hope and gets skipped over by the woman who isn't ready to hear the details of someone else's success story yet.
Plus, my journey isn't over yet. I know that I want another baby, someday. My husband and I have two frozen embryos that we have all of our hopes pinned on at this point. Our current plan is to try naturally, on our own for 6 months to a year and if we don't succeed, then we will pursue a frozen embryo transfer. I know that we are lucky to have these embryos and a "back up" plan if trying on our own doesn't work, but I'm still scared about starting down that road again. I don't look for to the emotional and hormonal pitfalls that await us. Maybe the second time around won't be so bad, especially because we know pretty much what to expect. But I still worry what we will do if we are not successful on our own and our frozen embryo transfer doesn't work either. Then we will be back at square one, a place I hope we never see again.
So yes, I had a baby, and I guess that makes me a survivor. But I know my journey is far from over. However, if this is the only baby we have, I will forever be grateful for an amazing pregnancy and an amazing daughter. She is perfect and the answer to so many of our prayers. I might be sad that we never have another baby, but I can be happy and grateful for the child we do have.
After many long years of trying to have a baby, I have finally achieved that dream. I suppose that my story could be seen as a something hopeful and a success story for other parents to learn from. But I am not sure that anyone currently experiencing infertility will be interested in hearing it. When I was going through treatments I can remember being equal parts happy and jealous of other infertility gals who were pregnant. I was happy for them, but I didn't want to hear all about it or use them as an example of success and that "it could happen for me". I just don't work that way. It's not that I wasn't hopeful or anything like that, I just couldn't let myself truly believe that it would happen to me. I had built up my defenses and other people's success stories just didn't work that way for me.
And now, here I am. The one with the success story. And I would love to shout it from the mountain tops and share my journey with anyone who wants to listen. But I remember what it was like to be in the trenches of infertility, to be afraid to hope, but terrified not to try. So instead I will keep posting my story here and hope that it helps someone who is looking for hope and gets skipped over by the woman who isn't ready to hear the details of someone else's success story yet.
Plus, my journey isn't over yet. I know that I want another baby, someday. My husband and I have two frozen embryos that we have all of our hopes pinned on at this point. Our current plan is to try naturally, on our own for 6 months to a year and if we don't succeed, then we will pursue a frozen embryo transfer. I know that we are lucky to have these embryos and a "back up" plan if trying on our own doesn't work, but I'm still scared about starting down that road again. I don't look for to the emotional and hormonal pitfalls that await us. Maybe the second time around won't be so bad, especially because we know pretty much what to expect. But I still worry what we will do if we are not successful on our own and our frozen embryo transfer doesn't work either. Then we will be back at square one, a place I hope we never see again.
So yes, I had a baby, and I guess that makes me a survivor. But I know my journey is far from over. However, if this is the only baby we have, I will forever be grateful for an amazing pregnancy and an amazing daughter. She is perfect and the answer to so many of our prayers. I might be sad that we never have another baby, but I can be happy and grateful for the child we do have.
June 29, 2013
Marriage stumbling blocks
I always knew that having a baby would change my relationship with my husband. Unfortunately, I only ever looked at the positive changes and really didn't think about any of the negative changes that we would experience. I love my husband, with all of my heart and soul. But I love my baby more. I know that probably sounds horrible, but it's true. Ok, maybe I don't love her more, because the love I feel for her is completely different than the love I feel for him. The love I have for my daughter will never go away, even on days when I don't like her very much, I will always love her. There is nothing she can do to stop me from loving her. It's impossible for that to happen once you have carried another human being inside your body, she's a part of me and I have loved her from the moment they took my egg and his sperm and gave her back to me a few days later.
I love my husband too. But it's not the same as the love for a child. The love of a husband is something that can be lost or broken. It's something that suffers from sleepless nights and long absences and hurt feelings. It is something that has to be constantly fed and taken care of or it gets lost. While I don't doubt that my husband loves me or that I love him, I feel like we are starting on the road that might eventually lead us to not love one another anymore. And I know you are probably thinking, "then get off your butt and do something about it", and I want to, but I am just so tired! Tiredness is the constant name of the game these days. I would love to make an effort, get dressed up, get out and do something with my man, but I'm too tired. And so is he. He spends two weeks on the road and when he's home for the week, he doesn't want to go out, he wants to be home with our daughter and spend as much quality time as he can with her.
And maybe that's part of the problem too. I love his relationship with her. I think our daughter is the luckiest person in the world because she has his love and attention and I know how wonderful that is from him. But that's just the problem, I'm a little jealous (and seriously, just a little jealous). I always thought he would have the problem with us having a baby and be jealous of the time I would have to spend with her that would take away from all of the time and attention I focused on him, but apparently it has worked the other way around. I just wish he would spend a little bit of love and attention on me too instead of making me feel like an after thought. Here's what I mean: He will walk in the door from work and he immediately looks at her, kisses her, talks to her and loves on her. Once he's done, he will come over and kiss me and say hi, then back to her. It's almost impossible to have a conversation with him which is the one thing I am craving after being with our baby constantly for 2 weeks. And that wouldn't bother me at all, if he would spend a little attention on me once she is in bed or down for a nap. But that doesn't happen.
I guess the problem is not so much that I feel jealous of the time he spends with our daughter, but I feel lost and unimportant in the eyes of my husband. As my best friend so aptly said, "when my husband walks in the door and the baby wants his attention, I become the woman who is the nanny, cook, maid and mistress, not the mama, not the wife, and more importantly - not me". And as many men do, I don't think my husband even realizes that he is making me feel this way. There seems to be confusion between what I need/want from him versus stuff that just needs to be done. So if he completes something off "the list of things that need done" otherwise known as the "honey do list" (which my husband absolutely hates calling it), he feels like I should be happy and that he has completed this amazing feat. Meanwhile, all I want from him is a foot rub and a little adult conversation at the end of the day.
But it's not all his fault either. I know that I have to do some stuff too. I feel like all I have to talk about these days is our daughter. I mean how many times does he want to hear about her poop schedule or how she slept, or didn't sleep in our case? I get that I have suddenly become this boring, child brained person who is constantly tired and withholds sex because I am just too tired to try. I need to make an effort. I need to get out of my nursing tank and yoga pants and pretty myself up for my man. I need to talk to him about this and make sure that we are making a date night at least once every 6 weeks. I need to get myself in a better frame of mind and put some effort back into this relationship too.
Marriage is hard work yo! But in the end, I know that my husband loves me and would do anything to make me happy (within reason anyways). I think it's time for a major heart to heart with him. Good thing we are planning to go out this afternoon for some shopping and lunch while my mom watches the baby. Hopefully we can help each other figure out exactly what it is we need and can get our marriage back on track again. Like I said before, I always knew our marriage would be different after having a baby and in so many ways it's better, but there is always a down side that requires work to get through it.
I love my husband too. But it's not the same as the love for a child. The love of a husband is something that can be lost or broken. It's something that suffers from sleepless nights and long absences and hurt feelings. It is something that has to be constantly fed and taken care of or it gets lost. While I don't doubt that my husband loves me or that I love him, I feel like we are starting on the road that might eventually lead us to not love one another anymore. And I know you are probably thinking, "then get off your butt and do something about it", and I want to, but I am just so tired! Tiredness is the constant name of the game these days. I would love to make an effort, get dressed up, get out and do something with my man, but I'm too tired. And so is he. He spends two weeks on the road and when he's home for the week, he doesn't want to go out, he wants to be home with our daughter and spend as much quality time as he can with her.
And maybe that's part of the problem too. I love his relationship with her. I think our daughter is the luckiest person in the world because she has his love and attention and I know how wonderful that is from him. But that's just the problem, I'm a little jealous (and seriously, just a little jealous). I always thought he would have the problem with us having a baby and be jealous of the time I would have to spend with her that would take away from all of the time and attention I focused on him, but apparently it has worked the other way around. I just wish he would spend a little bit of love and attention on me too instead of making me feel like an after thought. Here's what I mean: He will walk in the door from work and he immediately looks at her, kisses her, talks to her and loves on her. Once he's done, he will come over and kiss me and say hi, then back to her. It's almost impossible to have a conversation with him which is the one thing I am craving after being with our baby constantly for 2 weeks. And that wouldn't bother me at all, if he would spend a little attention on me once she is in bed or down for a nap. But that doesn't happen.
I guess the problem is not so much that I feel jealous of the time he spends with our daughter, but I feel lost and unimportant in the eyes of my husband. As my best friend so aptly said, "when my husband walks in the door and the baby wants his attention, I become the woman who is the nanny, cook, maid and mistress, not the mama, not the wife, and more importantly - not me". And as many men do, I don't think my husband even realizes that he is making me feel this way. There seems to be confusion between what I need/want from him versus stuff that just needs to be done. So if he completes something off "the list of things that need done" otherwise known as the "honey do list" (which my husband absolutely hates calling it), he feels like I should be happy and that he has completed this amazing feat. Meanwhile, all I want from him is a foot rub and a little adult conversation at the end of the day.
But it's not all his fault either. I know that I have to do some stuff too. I feel like all I have to talk about these days is our daughter. I mean how many times does he want to hear about her poop schedule or how she slept, or didn't sleep in our case? I get that I have suddenly become this boring, child brained person who is constantly tired and withholds sex because I am just too tired to try. I need to make an effort. I need to get out of my nursing tank and yoga pants and pretty myself up for my man. I need to talk to him about this and make sure that we are making a date night at least once every 6 weeks. I need to get myself in a better frame of mind and put some effort back into this relationship too.
Marriage is hard work yo! But in the end, I know that my husband loves me and would do anything to make me happy (within reason anyways). I think it's time for a major heart to heart with him. Good thing we are planning to go out this afternoon for some shopping and lunch while my mom watches the baby. Hopefully we can help each other figure out exactly what it is we need and can get our marriage back on track again. Like I said before, I always knew our marriage would be different after having a baby and in so many ways it's better, but there is always a down side that requires work to get through it.
June 16, 2013
Frustration
Let me preface this blog post by saying that I love my daughter. She is the best thing that has ever happened to me and I do not, will not, and could not wish her away. Having said that ... let me say .. mommy needs a vacation!!!
I write this post after a horrible horrible night. Grace went to bed last night at 9 pm, I nursed her, she was happy and went to sleep in her crib. She then proceeded to wake up at 10 pm, 11:20 pm (I nursed her here) and again at 12 pm. During this time I was able to put her back to sleep in her crib. After the midnight wake up, she would not sleep in her crib. So I brought her into our bedroom and put her in the rock n play (which we keep set up for emergency nights like this when I can't get her to sleep in the crib and Steve is home and in bed for the night). So .. she's in the rock n play and wakes up at 1 am, 2 am and 2:50 am. At this point I am ready to cry because every time she wakes up it takes 15-20 minutes to get her back to sleep, put her down, and then try to get myself back to sleep. At 3 am she was done. She wouldn't go down in the crib, she wouldn't go down in the rock n play, she only wanted to sleep in mommy's arms. Which I don't totally mind, but I am exhausted from all of our up and down and I really don't want to put her in bed with us because Steve is there and he's being a bed hog. I try to nurse her, which works until it doesn't and she's awake again. Finally at 4:15 am I gave her gas drops and Tylenol (she was definitely feeling a little warm) and nursed her again. and amazingly - she went to sleep!! in her crib!! and slept until 7:20 am. I have no clue how much sleep I really got, but I know it wasn't enough.
I hate nights like this! And they seem to happen a little more often lately. It's super frustrating and overwhelming for me. Especially because I just don't know what to do for her. She gets upset and cries and when I try to hold her she keeps trying to throw herself backwards. How do other mom's cope with this? or do I have the only child in the world who is like this? I want the baby back that used to sleep 8-10 hours a night! I'm not sure why that changed, but I can tell you when it changed. It started at 4 months when she started to teeth. She hasn't slept a full nigh since then.
I love being a mom and I love my peanut, but there are days (and nights) when I wish I could take a break. I know this is pretty normal, but I never thought I would be saying it out loud. I guess I was naïve enough to think that I would be different from my other mom friends who complained about their kids and wishing they could take a vacation. I thought since I wanted a baby so badly and my perspective on motherhood and appreciation for how difficult it was to get pregnant would make me different. HAHAHAH ... guess the joke is on me!! When I was pregnant I refused to complain, out loud to anyone other than my husband. I just felt like I had wanted to get pregnant so badly and when I finally was pregnant I didn't have to right to complain about this thing that I had wanted so badly. Don't get me wrong, I had a really great pregnancy and generally felt really good, but my feet hurt, and my back hurt and have gestational diabetes and taking insulin kinda sucked, but I sucked it up and tried my hardest not to complain.
well ... I am not going to keep this frustration to myself. I know that I have to let it out and I need to find support from other moms. Because if I don't, I'll have a major meltdown and cry at 4 o'clock in the morning like I did last night. But it was either cry or vent my frustration at her, and I could never do that, so I picked crying. It made me feel better and definitely helped release some of the stress I was feeling. But I feel like that's a short term solution, not something I can do all the time when I am frustrated. I think I need to do something for myself, like get out and exercise or something like that. Something that is a stress reliever and a break from baby type of thing.
Anyone have any suggestions? How did you cope with being a new mom and the frustration that sometimes comes with it?
Being a mom has been the biggest challenge I have ever faced. And I am ready for that challenge, but sometimes we all need a little help and encouragement when we hit a bump in the road.
I write this post after a horrible horrible night. Grace went to bed last night at 9 pm, I nursed her, she was happy and went to sleep in her crib. She then proceeded to wake up at 10 pm, 11:20 pm (I nursed her here) and again at 12 pm. During this time I was able to put her back to sleep in her crib. After the midnight wake up, she would not sleep in her crib. So I brought her into our bedroom and put her in the rock n play (which we keep set up for emergency nights like this when I can't get her to sleep in the crib and Steve is home and in bed for the night). So .. she's in the rock n play and wakes up at 1 am, 2 am and 2:50 am. At this point I am ready to cry because every time she wakes up it takes 15-20 minutes to get her back to sleep, put her down, and then try to get myself back to sleep. At 3 am she was done. She wouldn't go down in the crib, she wouldn't go down in the rock n play, she only wanted to sleep in mommy's arms. Which I don't totally mind, but I am exhausted from all of our up and down and I really don't want to put her in bed with us because Steve is there and he's being a bed hog. I try to nurse her, which works until it doesn't and she's awake again. Finally at 4:15 am I gave her gas drops and Tylenol (she was definitely feeling a little warm) and nursed her again. and amazingly - she went to sleep!! in her crib!! and slept until 7:20 am. I have no clue how much sleep I really got, but I know it wasn't enough.
I hate nights like this! And they seem to happen a little more often lately. It's super frustrating and overwhelming for me. Especially because I just don't know what to do for her. She gets upset and cries and when I try to hold her she keeps trying to throw herself backwards. How do other mom's cope with this? or do I have the only child in the world who is like this? I want the baby back that used to sleep 8-10 hours a night! I'm not sure why that changed, but I can tell you when it changed. It started at 4 months when she started to teeth. She hasn't slept a full nigh since then.
I love being a mom and I love my peanut, but there are days (and nights) when I wish I could take a break. I know this is pretty normal, but I never thought I would be saying it out loud. I guess I was naïve enough to think that I would be different from my other mom friends who complained about their kids and wishing they could take a vacation. I thought since I wanted a baby so badly and my perspective on motherhood and appreciation for how difficult it was to get pregnant would make me different. HAHAHAH ... guess the joke is on me!! When I was pregnant I refused to complain, out loud to anyone other than my husband. I just felt like I had wanted to get pregnant so badly and when I finally was pregnant I didn't have to right to complain about this thing that I had wanted so badly. Don't get me wrong, I had a really great pregnancy and generally felt really good, but my feet hurt, and my back hurt and have gestational diabetes and taking insulin kinda sucked, but I sucked it up and tried my hardest not to complain.
well ... I am not going to keep this frustration to myself. I know that I have to let it out and I need to find support from other moms. Because if I don't, I'll have a major meltdown and cry at 4 o'clock in the morning like I did last night. But it was either cry or vent my frustration at her, and I could never do that, so I picked crying. It made me feel better and definitely helped release some of the stress I was feeling. But I feel like that's a short term solution, not something I can do all the time when I am frustrated. I think I need to do something for myself, like get out and exercise or something like that. Something that is a stress reliever and a break from baby type of thing.
Anyone have any suggestions? How did you cope with being a new mom and the frustration that sometimes comes with it?
Being a mom has been the biggest challenge I have ever faced. And I am ready for that challenge, but sometimes we all need a little help and encouragement when we hit a bump in the road.
8 months old
It is so hard to believe that Grace is 8 months old already. In just a few short months she will be 1!! I can't believe how quickly my baby is growing up! and she isn't my little baby anymore either. She has become so active and mobile and is growing so fast. I love all of the things she is doing and learning, but I already miss my little baby (although I don't miss the rough, sleepless first couple of months).
Grace is doing so many fun things now. She's starting to get such a little personality and she's beginning to become aware of and interact with the world around her. She has been crawling (or at least her version of crawling) since about 7 months and has been pulling herself up and standing for a few weeks now. I swear she is ready to start walking any day now. Although she is still pretty unsteady on her feet and hasn't started creeping along the furniture yet. I suspect that she will probably be an early walker though. (this was written a few days before she turned 8 months, and the night before she turned 8 months she walked along the furniture for the first time).
One of the funny things she does is make this really cute snooty face. She wrinkles up her nose, squinches her eyes closed, and puckers her lips up and then does this really quick fast breathing in and out through her nose. Its the cutest thing ever, but the hardest thing to catch on camera. I did however get it on our video camera which makes me very excited (along with her funny crawl). I try really hard to catch a lot of the things she is doing before she moves onto the next thing, which happens so quickly sometimes.
Another favorite thing Grace likes to do is shake her head back and forth. This originally started a few months ago when she was teething. She would hold the teething ring in her hands and rub her mouth back and forth across it. Once she realized she didn't need to use the teething ring to do this, she started shaking her head all the time. It was super sweet and every time she did it we would say "no, no, no". Then all of a sudden she stopped doing it - right about the time she started making her snooty face. Well .. the "no no no headshake" is back again. I love watching her learn new skills and seeing them come back after being away for a little bit.
Grace is starting to eat some finger foods. Mostly we've started her on puffs to start practicing picking things up and getting used to having something more solid in her mouth. I think this month in addition to adding meat based baby food into her diet, we will start adding some other finger foods as well. I am thinking maybe really cooked carrots that she can mash in her mouth and stuff like that. Honestly I have no clue what I am doing with this feeding stuff, but I know she can't be on baby food forever and she wants so badly to feed herself. Mealtime has become quite an adventure for us because she likes to grab the spoon I am feeding her with or tries to knock the food off the spoon and play with it on the tray of the highchair. I've sometimes resorted to giving her her own spoon to play with while she eats. So the more stuff she can start eating on her own I think the better.
Grace is very affectionate with us. She lucks to hug and snuggle and give us kisses. Usually her kisses are more like licks on the face, but I will take it. I love this little girl so much and she is so sweet and loving. She's also very bullheaded and determined already. We definitely have to do things on "Grace's schedule" and not the schedule I want her to do. I can fight with her for 20 minutes to nurse and finally give up, put her down to play and 5 minutes later she's crawling into my lap looking to nurse. It can be super frustrating at times, but I am trying to just go with the flow and let her lead me a little.
And finally I will wrap up this super long post with the last fun thing Grace has started to do which is dance. She loves music, especially the music on commercials and at the beginning of tv shows. When a few certain commercials come on (the ones on Sprout and the HUB for seat pets, flashlight friends, and stuffy animals) she will stop what she's doing and swivel around towards the tv and stare! She becomes glued to the TV until the commercial is over, it's super cute to see. And when the music comes on she will stand where she is and bounce her body up and down and if she's sitting she will bounce her head and upper body. I really need to catch it on video asap.
So .. here's a picture of our big girl ... can't believe she's going to be 1 in just a few months!!!
Grace is doing so many fun things now. She's starting to get such a little personality and she's beginning to become aware of and interact with the world around her. She has been crawling (or at least her version of crawling) since about 7 months and has been pulling herself up and standing for a few weeks now. I swear she is ready to start walking any day now. Although she is still pretty unsteady on her feet and hasn't started creeping along the furniture yet. I suspect that she will probably be an early walker though. (this was written a few days before she turned 8 months, and the night before she turned 8 months she walked along the furniture for the first time).
One of the funny things she does is make this really cute snooty face. She wrinkles up her nose, squinches her eyes closed, and puckers her lips up and then does this really quick fast breathing in and out through her nose. Its the cutest thing ever, but the hardest thing to catch on camera. I did however get it on our video camera which makes me very excited (along with her funny crawl). I try really hard to catch a lot of the things she is doing before she moves onto the next thing, which happens so quickly sometimes.
Another favorite thing Grace likes to do is shake her head back and forth. This originally started a few months ago when she was teething. She would hold the teething ring in her hands and rub her mouth back and forth across it. Once she realized she didn't need to use the teething ring to do this, she started shaking her head all the time. It was super sweet and every time she did it we would say "no, no, no". Then all of a sudden she stopped doing it - right about the time she started making her snooty face. Well .. the "no no no headshake" is back again. I love watching her learn new skills and seeing them come back after being away for a little bit.
Grace is starting to eat some finger foods. Mostly we've started her on puffs to start practicing picking things up and getting used to having something more solid in her mouth. I think this month in addition to adding meat based baby food into her diet, we will start adding some other finger foods as well. I am thinking maybe really cooked carrots that she can mash in her mouth and stuff like that. Honestly I have no clue what I am doing with this feeding stuff, but I know she can't be on baby food forever and she wants so badly to feed herself. Mealtime has become quite an adventure for us because she likes to grab the spoon I am feeding her with or tries to knock the food off the spoon and play with it on the tray of the highchair. I've sometimes resorted to giving her her own spoon to play with while she eats. So the more stuff she can start eating on her own I think the better.
Grace is very affectionate with us. She lucks to hug and snuggle and give us kisses. Usually her kisses are more like licks on the face, but I will take it. I love this little girl so much and she is so sweet and loving. She's also very bullheaded and determined already. We definitely have to do things on "Grace's schedule" and not the schedule I want her to do. I can fight with her for 20 minutes to nurse and finally give up, put her down to play and 5 minutes later she's crawling into my lap looking to nurse. It can be super frustrating at times, but I am trying to just go with the flow and let her lead me a little.
And finally I will wrap up this super long post with the last fun thing Grace has started to do which is dance. She loves music, especially the music on commercials and at the beginning of tv shows. When a few certain commercials come on (the ones on Sprout and the HUB for seat pets, flashlight friends, and stuffy animals) she will stop what she's doing and swivel around towards the tv and stare! She becomes glued to the TV until the commercial is over, it's super cute to see. And when the music comes on she will stand where she is and bounce her body up and down and if she's sitting she will bounce her head and upper body. I really need to catch it on video asap.
So .. here's a picture of our big girl ... can't believe she's going to be 1 in just a few months!!!
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