Adelaide {2 months old}

Dear Adelaide,

You are two months old, baby girl! Where the first month of your life seemed to whiz by, this second month has crawled along. Every day I find it hard to get the most ordinary things done because my time is spent with you. When you nap, I rush around trying to get the cloth diapers washed, the dishwasher unloaded, the carpet vacuumed. And then you wake up, and we play or take a walk or nurse or just sit together talking and cooing back and forth.


Our days kind of look like this:

Wake up between 8 and 9 a.m. Diaper change first, then if you're in a good mood (which is most days), we lay down on the floor and play with your activity center and try to get in a couple of minutes of tummy time. You don't particularly like tummy time, but I prop you up on a small pillow and try to get you to lift your head to look at me. Yesterday you did a really good job for quite a long time, because I held Eric Carle's Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See? in front of you and you seemed really interested in the bright colors and beautiful animals in the book.


Then when you've had enough of playing, we go to the rocking chair in the living room and get comfy. You nurse, and I burp you over my shoulder often to make sure the least amount of air is trapped as possible. Your tummy still gets really upset with gas, and you still have trouble passing it. Your daddy and I continue to do lots of tummy massages during your diaper changes to help you out. But we can tell you're slowly figuring it out! Even though you constantly swallow air when you're eating, you are starting to toot and poop on your own. This may sound gross, but trust me: any parent who has a baby with gas problems knows the pride I feel when you let one rip on your own! :)


You'll usually fall asleep after nursing, and if I'm lucky I can put you in the swing for you to sleep for an hour and a half or so before waking up again. Sometimes I put you down and you wake right back up and want to be held. If you have a particularly difficult time falling asleep but are showing me that you're tired, I'll put you in the Moby wrap and carry you around. Sometimes we take a walk. You always fall asleep in the Moby, usually within 15 minutes.


When you wake back up, we do a diaper change, and then fill our time with walking around, listening to music and dancing, reading books, sitting outside on the porch if the weather's nice, and lots of talking to each other. A couple hours later, we'll nurse again, you'll nap again, and we repeat until 10:00 p.m. or so. Then we change into pajamas, I'll take you to our bed, and we'll nurse until you fall asleep next to me and your daddy.


Wake up the next morning and do it again! Every other morning, I give you a bath, and in the past week, you've started to play in the water! You'll kick your legs and arch your back at the same time, and the water will splash a lot when you do this. It's so cute! You smile a lot and love for me to pour a cup of water all over your body.


At your two month doctor's appointment, you weighed 12 pounds 5 ounces (in the 88%), and you were 23 and 1/4 inches long (in the 84%). Your head circumference is 16 inches (in the 90%). A very proportional baby! :)


At two months, you are:

• Starting to suck your hand. When I see you do it, I pull your had away from your mouth so hopefully you won't suck your thumb. I do it about 100 times a day. I think I'm going to lose that battle!
• Cooing and squealing, a LOT! You're not really laughing yet, though you do show when you're extremely happy. I think you'll laugh any day now!
• Intently watching everything around you, all the time. I can just see you soaking up your surroundings. I talk to you about everything you see. You focus on people's faces and I'm constantly being told how alert you are. People seem surprised at that, but you've been that way since you were born!
• Sleeping 3-4 hours at a time. Sometimes you'll be sweet and give mommy and daddy 5 hours, but that's rare.
• Holding your head up for a LONG time when held in a sitting position, though still you're pretty wobbly sometimes. You love to sit up on my lap and you'll coo and squeal and smile a bunch. I'll stand you up too, and I can feel your strong legs trying to hold you up!
• Becoming more comfortable being put down for short periods. Sometimes if I need to fix food or take a shower while daddy's at work, I'll put you in your vibrating chair and you'll look around and sit contently for a while. Usually you'll use this time to practice sucking your hand!
• Still making a lot of noise when you nurse. Lots of grunting and smacking your lips. Sometimes you'll take a break and look up at me and grin. I'll talk to you a little and you'll break out in a huge smile. You do this really cute look, kind of looking away and smiling, and it seems like a shy look... it's really adorable!
  

I can't believe how much you've grown and evolved over the first two months of your life. It's amazing the speed at which you're developing! To think that just a couple of months ago you were still in my belly waiting to come out! It seems like so long ago... I can't even quite remember what it felt like to be pregnant. And now, these long days (when you're incredibly fussy and uncomfortable and I have no idea what it will take from one minute to the next to keep you calm) will pass and fade a little, and we'll be on to our next great thing! Which, hopefully, will include lots of laughing and playing and babbling! I am feeling what all mothers must feel: for time to stop so I can enjoy your little self (which seems to be growing oh so fast!!!), but also to speed up so we can experience your personality more and more. We love you so much!

Love,
Moma/Mommy/Mama/Ma/Whatever you want to call me!

Project 31. Day 8.

Have a beauty secret (e.g. hair tip, make up tip)? Share, please!
When I was pregnant and laid down to bed at night, Kevin would rub jojoba oil all over my stretching belly. I still got a few stretch marks on both of my sides near my hips, but I didn't get any on my belly. And I never felt that itchy dryness that women complain about as their belly grows.

If nothing else, it was a wonderful way to bond with my husband, and a way for him to bond with the baby every night. I really enjoyed that time we took for each other despite how busy the day might have been, and will look forward to belly massages next time too!

Project 31. Days 6 and 7.

Day 6. Jaded beauty. Has the world's definition of beauty ever jaded you?
Who hasn't it? In today's world, looks are judged as often as someone's personal qualities and accomplishments. Even just today on Oprah, she was discussing with her guests how even the Academy Awards puts as much emphasis on "who you're wearing" as the craft of the acting profession.

Magazines showcase skinny, skinny women who are airbrushed to look even skinnier. And magically, these women never have breakouts or bad hair days (unless the magazine is Us Weekly). Of course there have been times when I've seen bikini-clad women on those covers and thought "Pshh... I'll never look like that." Never mind that I'm 5'2" and it's physically impossible for my legs to look like they're miles long. It's an uncomfortable moment when those thoughts pass through my mind, but as I get older I am slowly learning that that definition of beauty is NOT the most important one. It's what's inside that counts, as we're told in kindergarten.

Day 7. Write a blog to encourage another beautiful woman.
This one goes out to my sister Rachel! You're gorgeous inside and out. I love you and I know a lot of other people do, too. You're incredibly funny and you have a quick wit. I love hanging out with you because I KNOW I'll be laughing a lot. You're determined, outspoken, and smart. You're growing into a wonderful woman. I still can't believe you just graduated highschool! You're supposed to be the little sister snotface I left at home when I went to college. Now you're old enough to go to college yourself. Ahh! I love you, girlie. *hugs*

[Rachel with Adelaide.]

A spring in my step, the Ergo, and link love.

It has been beyond beautiful here in mid-NC lately. I'm loving it. Today's high is 68, so this morning the babe and I took a nice 30-minute walk. Here she is in an Ergo baby carrier:

(I know you can't see much of it, but that's what you get when I'm home alone with her and Photobooth is hands-free photography!)

You see her cute little jacket? She can finally fit in her 0-3 month clothes, and we broke this bad-boy out for yesterday's walk. It's freakin' adorable! I'm a fan of polka-dots anyhow, but big dots on a little baby? Aww...

Anyhow, about the Ergo. About a month ago, I went to a local babywearing meetup group. It was my first social outing since Adelaide had been born, but I was confident in going because I would be around other mamas. As opposed to going to the grocery store and crossing my fingers that she wouldn't start wailing in the middle of the produce section.

The babywearing group leader hosted it at her house, and there were 4 other mamas there. Let me tell you, it was SO wonderful to be around other women who share the same parenting philosophy as I do! They all babywear, of course, but they also cloth diaper, and at some point during the couple hours, we all had our boobs out to breastfeed! :) I don't know any of the women, but it doesn't matter: just having kids gives an instant starting point for conversation. Adelaide was the youngest there by far (the next oldest being 8.5 months old, and a chunkster!), so she was adored by all.

The group also has a lending library, full of lots of different carriers donated by different local stores. I paid $5 to check out the Ergo for the month, just to try it out. Aside from having trouble snapping the upper-back buckle, I love it! It's MUCH quicker to put on, roomier for Adelaide, and stylish to boot. Kevin and I are planning on getting one with our tax refund. We can't get it now because it's kind of pricey (around $100 or so), but we definitely want one. I'm returning the Ergo to the group Saturday, when the next meeting is.

Do any of you have an Ergo? Want to share thoughts? Any other carriers I should check out?

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And for some link love...

How to do milkmaid braids. I may try this tomorrow!

Kiddie Pen Pal Club... if Adelaide were older, I'd totally sign her up! I had a penpal once when I was a kid, but I can't remember where she was from. I'm thinking somewhere in Asia.

Homemade Granola Recipe. This looks so delicious and wholesome, and easy!

Double Potholder Tutorial, some crafty inspiration for you!

And finally, a wonderful dad blog for you: Adeline's Daddy.

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I hope everyone has a wonderful Thursday, thanks for stopping by!

Kevin's Valentine's gift, and mine.

This was yesterday's event of the day. I dolled up the little doll, ironed a nice piece of blue fabric and laid it out on the floor next to some natural light, cut out lots of letters and speech bubbles, and ta-da! - Kevin/Daddy's Valentine's gift 2011.

I printed each picture at about 3 inches x 5 inches on regular copy paper. I then placed them on a nice green piece of scrapbook paper and glued them down in place, and put them in an 8x10 black frame that we already had.


A wonderful gift that he can take to work that didn't cost a thing. I'm tempted to make another to hang in the house! It's just so darn cute! I especially love the "love" picture! It looks like she's really saying it! :)

And Kevin's gift to me: a whole night of his time. This means SO much to me. He's so busy all the time with a full-time job and then he comes home and has to work all the time on his drum business. I'm lucky if I get an hour every once in a while. Last night was all mine! He bought a board game for me, since I love them so much, and after too much yummy coffee cake, we played it: Battle of the Sexes. It's way harder than you'd think! But it was fun, and we played for an hour before Adelaide got fussy and demanded my attention. We also watched the Bachelor and were so relieved when crazy Michelle got booted off the show.

And word on the streets is he's giving me tonight too! Woohoo!

Happy Heart Day!

The day of love, ahh... So far the extent of Valentine's Day for me has been to wear a red shirt and take this picture. I don't know what tonight holds for the hubs and I, but I do know he's got something up his sleeve. I've got something in the works too, but I don't know if it'll be ready for him by the time he gets home today (an hour an a half from now), so he may have to wait until tomorrow... I'll let you in on the gift after it's been given, because it promises to be awesome. :)

No matter who you're with (or not), have a great night. It's 68-degrees here, the windows are open, and Adelaide is in the process of waking up from a nap in the swing. I feel good. <3

Friday Fill-Ins!

1. Family time is sooooo important! Make it a priority!

2. The best roller coasters are the ones with BIG ups and downs.

3. Trust yourself. You know what's best for YOU.

4. Wish for the best. You might actually get it!

5. Parents love deeper than anyone else.

6. Talk face to face or you might confuse what was said.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to spaghetti and rolls (yum), tomorrow my plans include going to the park for a warm walk (going to be close to 60 degrees!), and Sunday, I want to hang out with the hubs and watch the Grammys!

Pregnancy series finale!

These pictures were taken last Wednesday, when Adelaide turned 6 weeks. Throughout the whole pregnancy, I pictured us out there in between the trees right away. We even had snow and that would have made for a really pretty picture. But, time has passed way quicker than I'd imagined it would. I wanted to be sure to get some "finale" pictures for the whole pregnancy series with her, so I made sure to get us both all dolled up and out there for some pics between the trees. She was a good sport, though it was a little cold. She smile a bunch and was content to be sandwiched in my arms between the trees.


Hmm... I'm thinking bi-yearly shots out there with her to mark her growth? I think that'll be my plan. As long as we're living here, I'll plop her down between those trees and see how much she grows! Ooh, and I can make signs to nail on the trees with the date, her age, and height! Ooh, I love me a project! Now I just need to see if hubs will help and if he likes the idea. What do YOU think?

Prenatal video workout (aka taking care of ME)

So I finally worked out. I've taken a few walks with Adelaide when the weather's been nice, but that's not been very often in the past 7 weeks (she's 7 weeks old today!!!). And of course I do my fair share of bouncing the baby in my arms and swaying and burning those good ole calories by breastfeeding.

But today I finally actually worked out. I have a prenatal workout video that I did, oh, maybe 3 times when I was actually considered in the "prenatal" category.


This is Summer Sander's Prenatal Workout video. It's great for any preggo mama because there are six different workouts: an "express" and a "full-length" workout for each trimester. She has you use resistance bands for any strength and toning, and a lot of different moves to up your heart rate.

I decided today that I'd do the first trimester express section, which is about 35 minutes long. It's got ab work (getting rid of that flab!), lots of arm/shoulder work, leg work, back... it's a good and well-rounded workout. Not too tough, but at least it's something, especially when it's been ages since I've done a proper workout.

Baby was sleeping, so I took care of me. It's easy to run around the house doing laundry, dishes, tidying up, etc. when Adelaide sleeps, but I need to make sure I take a couple of those naps a week to get my body back in shape. The longer I put it off, the longer it will take.

Today I was also able to go through my millions of pants that have camped out on the closet shelf for the past year. Not really millions, but a whole heck of a lot. Only 4 pairs fit. And three of those are maternity. No lie. So that was a real motivator. I don't want to buy a whole new wardrobe to fit this muffin top. So bye-bye muffin top!

Any suggestions for good 20-30 minute workouts that can be done while baby naps?

Happy Weekend to you!

I've come to like using photobooth for quick impromptu shots of the babe and I. Nobody has to hold the camera and you don't have to worry about settings. The monitor stays put and has a flash and everything. I just have to hold the baby and smile. Tonight we danced a lot and daddy joined us for a picture (or two, or three... and maybe some silly videos too) while Adelaide slept.

She's come to like this station on Pandora. When she's fussy, or even when she's not, I'll put it on and bounce and dance with her while she stares at the ceiling fan (that's not even on). Does/did your baby like staring at the ceiling fans? Anyhow, she'll often fall asleep in my arms while listening to some of my favorite music. *smile*

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I'd love it if you'd share your plans. As for us, we're seeing some friends, spending lots of time together, and trying to dash out for a few errands. Does anyone have any recommendations for fun outings with a 6-week old?

Happy Weekend!

Sweet Pea by Amos Lee

"Sweet Pea"

Sweet pea
Apple of my eye
Don't know when and I don't know why
You're the only reason I keep on coming home

Sweet pea
What's all this about
Don't get your way all you do is fuss and pout
You're the only reason I keep on coming home

I like the Rock of Gibraltar
I always seem to falter
And the words just get in the way
Oh I know I'm gonna crumble
I'm trying to stay humble
But I never think before I say

Sweet pea
Keeper of my soul
I know sometimes I'm out of control
You're the only reason I keep on coming
You're the only reason I keep on coming yeah
You're the only reason I keep on coming home

Went to the park!

Sunday was such a nice day that Kevin and I decided to take Adelaide to the park. We're lucky to live only 6 minutes driving distance from a nice local park, full of woodsy trails, a lake, a few playgrounds, baseball fields, and tennis courts. We usually just go and walk the trails, but it won't be too long before we're out swinging with the little lady and playing in the sand! (Can't wait!)

It was about 70 degrees on Sunday (can you believe it???), and I don't think we've ever seen so many people at the park! It was wonderful! Everyone's so tired of the cold weather already that when the sun pops out we jump at the chance to be out in it.


Kevin took the opportunity to wear Adelaide in the Moby. Even though I fed her before we left the house, only a couple minutes into the walk she was super fussy and rooting around (not going to find anything on Kevin!). So we turned around and I fed her again, in the backseat. She didn't really eat, so I'm guessing the unfamiliarity of Kevin wearing her instead of me (which I do nearly every day), a new place, the bright sun, etc., made her need a little comfort. She topped off, we sat in the car for a bit afterwards, and then put her back in the Moby.

We took off on a walk which started paved, but turned to the woods, which I love because it's such a good workout. We took a couple of new turns and realized after 40 minutes or so that we didn't know where we were, and although we could hear people and cars, we didn't know how long it would take for us to come out of the woods, or even where that would be! So we turned around, took a shortcut when we recognized where we were, and made it back to the car. We were out an hour, and baby slept the whole time on papa. :)


I hope it's nice next weekend too, because I want to go again! What a great way to spend time with the family, and get a nice workout too!