Seven months

January 14, 2015

Dear child of mine,

Life with you just keeps getting better. You're seven months of wonderfulness, and we are having so much fun getting to know you. You have had a big month filled with holiday events and schedule-wrecking festivities. You also got your first colds, one requiring a trip to the doctor on your seven month birthday, so I know that you weigh 18.5 pounds.

Speaking of illness, you threw up at 4 am on Christmas. LaLa and I got you cleaned up, laid you down in your crib, and then you threw up again. I've decided that the excitement of holidays leads you to some sort of existential crisis and you try to sabotage them because you didn't sleep at all over Thanksgiving, threw up for Christmas, and then screamed your head off on New Years Eve. In spite of all that, you had a good time opening presents and playing at home with PJ, LaLa, and KitKat on Christmas. And you were adorably disgruntled at your aunt KitKat's wedding on January 3 after being kept away from momma most of the day. You have so many people who love you and have taken good care of you through the holidays, and you loved having Daddy home so much. However, I'm beginning to suspect that you thrive on routine.

Thankfully, we are through the major holidays now, so you're settling back into your routine and happy to be home. You've tried several new foods this month, and you love pears and zucchini. You're rocking back and forth on your hands and knees but still prefer to roll everywhere you need to go. When sick, you just want to be cuddled and held, so we watched Pocahontas together on Monday. You can turn the pages of your Big and Small book at the right time, and you're starting to try to turn the pages of other books. You wear mostly 9 month clothes, but some 6-9 month and some 12 month stuff fits.

Basically, you're a joy. And I love being your momma. You fill me with pride when you sit or stand in my lap at church, and I love how your face lights up when I come to get you up from a nap. I'm trying to balance my desire to protect you from any harm or discomfort and my ardent hope that you will experience life to the fullest. Parenthood has turned my life upside down, but I'm so blessed that I get to learn how to mother you. Daddy and I pray for you continually, and we love you beyond measure. You're my precious sugar booger, stinker, baby girl.

All the love,

Momma

P.S. Maybe next month you can leave your sticker on the onesie long enough for me to get a picture, ok? Stickers are not for eating.

Meeting Santa

The six-month post is in the works, but for now, here's something to tide you over. 

The little lady was up past her bedtime, but she seemed to enjoy staring at Santa and trying to figure him out. There were no tears, only wonderment. And, no, she didn't need socks or shoes because it is ridiculously warm where we live.

I'll be back before the actual day, but Merry Christmas! Consider this your Christmas card with seasons greetings and joy from us to you.

Six months

December 12, 2014

Dear child of mine,

Your daddy informed me last night that we are halfway through with having a baby because you will officially be a toddler in six more months. I refuse to accept that because you need to be my baby for much longer than the conventional year. You're six months old, and the last month has included some huge milestones.

You started consistently eating solid foods: rice cereal, bananas, avocados, and sweet potatoes. You travelled to West Texas and North Texas for events and holidays. You started pushing up and rocking on your knees like you can't wait to crawl, and you can sit up as long as your hands are supporting you. Oh, and you relearned how to sleep, which makes us all very happy.

You like to talk, which sometimes consists of shrieks of joy and/or consternation, but we like your earnest quiet babbles the best. You can say "ma-ma" but since you're sleeping better, I don't hear it as often. You love to explore people's faces with your deliciously chubby hands and have given me a few scratches in your enthusiasm. Everything you do is done with exuberance and joy that makes me excited to see how passionately you will love people and be zealous for God.

Part of relearning to sleep included putting you on a predictable schedule, so our days are much more routine now. You usually wake up between 7 and 7:30, eat, play, and then take your first nap around 9. After you wake up, we play some more and do some housework until you act sleepy again, usually between 12 and 1. Most naps are about an hour long, but sometimes you sleep for up to 2.5 hours. In the afternoons, we run an errand or two or just hang out at home and finish up mundane house stuff until Daddy gets home. If we're home, you take a third nap between 4 and 5. And then it's dinner time with solid food at 6, bath time, and bedtime by 7. You wake up once or twice to eat most nights, but last night you slept 12 hours solid.

If we get you off your schedule, you let us know about it. Once you miss a nap, all bets are off for the rest of the day and night. Oh, my darling girl, I wish I could take a picture of how much I love you because even thousands of words can't do it justice. You are a delight to be around most of the time, and you're starting to give intentional snuggles and reach your arms toward us. Feeding you gets me lots of uninterrupted cuddles because you love to eat, and it will be bittersweet when you're weaned. Stillness is rare, and it seems like you are either on the go or asleep. Your little arms are constantly reaching, and my prayer is that you will always be seeking good things. When you try to eat the DVD player or fling yourself off the changing table, my reactions sometimes scare you, but it's just because I don't want you to get hurt. You've already helped God teach me all sorts of good lessons, and I'm already trying to apologize to you when I overreact because that's a good habit, and I can see lots of parenting mistakes in my future.

You are my sunshine, sweet girl. Keep growing and learning and be gracious to your imperfect parents, ok?

So much love,

Momma

Thanksgiving week

We're settling back into life at home with a busy week and recuperating from all our travels last week with sleep training and salads for dinner. Our Thanksgiving this year was wonderful and, like every other holiday since June, completely different from past years. Because I have a baby now, and that changes everything. No, really, it's cliche for a reason.

The little miss did great on our long drive to west Texas. We left Tuesday at morning nap time, so she slept for a while, we made a few stops to change diapers and feed her, and she slept some more. Husband and I listened to Son by Lois Lowry, and it was pretty good. It definitely made the time in the car easier. There were lots of gracious family members who prepared food and lodgings for us, and we promised the baby we wouldn't get near a car on Wednesday or Thursday, so that's what we did.

She has a turkey on her bottom because that really amps up the holiday cuteness quota.

Deceptively not-sleepy face at the breakfast table

Don't let her face fool you. She gobbled up that rice cereal.

However, our sweet baby decided her not-so-great sleep should be infinitely worse while traveling. She woke up every 2 hours most nights and I ended up feeding her 4-5 times with Husband rocking her in between. We dreamt of sleep training in the few spurts of sleep we got. It was made bearable by all the awesome relatives more than happy to love on our girl while we napped and tried to "sleep in" after passing her off in the morning. We also fed her rice cereal for the first times in hopes that a full tummy would help her sleep. No such luck, but she definitely charmed large audiences with her eating skills.

Back to the fun parts of our trip: we had a delicious meal on Thursday, got lots of visiting time, and took lots of pictures. On Friday, we drove to see Husband's grandma and his aunt stopped by to visit as well. We were fed well again and treated to lots of good conversation and doting on our precious girl. I'm so grateful we could see them both and the little miss could see Grandma Claudia's house and classroom at the high school and spend some time with her and her great aunt (or to be technically correct according to Husband, her grand aunt).

On the drive back to my aunt and uncle's, baby girl had the nastiest blowout. I discovered it by feel since we were driving in semidarkness and used up all the wipes when we stopped at a gas station. She definitely kept us on our toes while on the road.

We had breakfast Saturday with my extended family and then headed to my parents' house to break up our travels home. We went to early service with my parents and sister on Sunday morning, had brunch, and then headed home.

Life is indescribably different with a baby, but the sweet moments abound, and it means the world to me when I can hold her in my arms. Even if she just pooped all over everything after not letting me get a wink of sleep. That's love, my friends, and I'm so thankful that God has blessed me with an incredible Husband and partner in this parenthood thing and a beautiful, awe-inspiring little girl.

I hope your Thanksgiving adventures involved more rest and just as much love and gratitude as mine.

Five on Friday

It's been a while since I did a random culmination Friday post, so here goes.

1. I love the library and apparently my little lady does too. She hangs out in the stroller while I browse, and she seems to intuit that she needs to keep her coos to a minimum, so she just smiles up at me. Trips to the library also mean that this momma is getting back to her prolific reading habits, which is good news.

2. We went shopping yesterday and used some birthday money to get new jeans for me. We also picked up this brand of diapers for our upcoming Thanksgiving trip. Has anyone used them before? Are they great? I hope so because our preferred brand was out of stock.

3. Thanksgiving is coming! And my Husband will be off school all week. Which is extra needed/appreciated because he is conducting the music for his school's musical this week. We miss Daddy at home and he misses seeing our baby when she's awake.

4. We're planning to travel for part of Thanksgiving week and I'm semi-dreading the long hours in the car with an increasingly alert baby. We have one of these mobiles (that we got in our Citrus Lane box) to distract her, and I'm hoping that will make the parts of the trip when she's awake a bit more enjoyable.

5. I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving food, but since moving out of my parents' house, I also appreciate the holidays because I don't have to cook. That's even more of a gift this year since our post-baby lifestyle means 95% of our meals are prepped and eaten at home. Hooray for dirtying someone else's dishes for a few days!

Have an awesome weekend, and I'll see you back here next week or the week after.

I'm linking up with these great bloggers today:

Five months

November 13, 2014

Dear child of mine,

You've been in my arms for five whole months now, and I think it's sinking in that I'm really a mom. I had a similar experience my junior year in high school when I realized I was actually in high school, that magical time of life depicted by Saved by the Bell and Boy Meets World. I'm glad it hasn't taken quite as long to realize that my dream of being a mom is an actuality, not just some distant, not-yet-attainable state of being. Oh, and the best part is that I get to be your mom.You're beautiful and generally happy, and your laugh is adorable. I cannot capture in this letter how many people have told us you're beautiful (as they should tell all mothers to be polite) and then emphasized that they really mean it because you really are gorgeous.
Beyond that, you seem to have a great sense of humor and be extremely intelligent. Your favorite things to laugh at include people pretending to eat your hands, Momma getting really close to your face while making weird noises, and sneaking up on me while in Daddy's arms. You sometimes gasp-laugh, which involves taking in entirely too much air and then squeak-squealing. Your intelligence shines through when you look in the direction of people's voices and always stop what you are doing when the theme song of Gilmore Girls comes on and wait for me to sing to you.
We're figuring out a nap/sleep schedule, but you still like to eat every 4 hours or so, which seems to work for you, but is kind of getting old for me in the middle of the night. You usually take 3 naps during the day (one a couple of hours after you wake up, one around 2 or 3, and then one around 5) and go to bed between 7 and 8 after Daddy gives you a bath. You wear mostly 6-9 month clothes, with some 6 month and some 9 month stuff thrown in the mix.
You, my dear, are a travelling dream. We flew again on our own, and you were a delight to be with on the plane. You are developing a tendency to flirt with people every chance you get, and you did demand to stand in my lap and make eyes at the man sitting behind us on the flight home, but we'll talk about that when you're older. I think our trip wore you out because you've been great about napping since we got home.
Your family and friends adore you, and Rose recently pointed out that you have the best nose and ears. You're pretty much the best all around, and Momma and Daddy love you. We're trying to model to you how much we need Jesus, and how much he loves us all. Remember that we're not perfect, but we are trying every day to live in his grace and give you our best.

Keep smiling, my wonderful girl,
Momma

Shingles and a Wedding Shower

My "post twice a week" goal went out the window last week when I started feeling crummy and then was diagnosed with shingles. No, I am not in the typical age demographic of shingles sufferers, and those commercials did not prepare me for the pain and itchiness that I am enduring.
Apparently, shingles affects people with weakened immune systems, which could be the result of, say, not getting more than three concurrent hours of sleep in the past five months. Consider yourself informed, and we'll move on from there. This weekend was my sister's bridal shower at the church where we grew up, and she was richly blessed with lots of people there to support her and lots of wonderful presents.
Baby girl and I were able to fly in for the weekend, shingles and all, and we had some good quality family time and rest time (for me). It kind of made the whole "my little sister is getting married" thing seem imminent. Thankfully we love her fiancee (fiance? where do the accents go?) and it's fun celebrating two such great people embarking on a great adventure.

The happy couple was pretty excited about their her mixer. It's a beautiful teal color.

Our mom is gorgeous. Hooray for good genes, right?

Me, baby, and my sister. Spit up stains on my dress courtesy of the little one.

I'd say a few people care about them.