Thursday, May 27, 2010

Welcome to the sick house

It's been a doozy of a week so far. First Batman was sick. Then Brynna was (still is) sick (and on her 7 month birthday! Yikes!). Now I'm sick. Sickety, sick, sick, sick!

It's just a bad head cold, nothing more. But WOW! No one ever tells you how difficult it will be to take care of your child while you are sick. Seriously, all I wanted to do all day yesterday was curl up in a ball and cry, my head hurt so bad. And all B wanted to do was play and scream (in happiness) and stand... Needless to say, yesterday I was NOT a great mom... probably not even a good mom. She spent a lot of time on the floor playing by herself :(

Batman was nice enough to come straight home, grab Little Miss and head off to Great Grandma's for a couple hours.

Oh blessed sleep! It's amazing what an hour of solid, uninterrupted sleep will do for a cold and head ache (and a little ibuprofen too!).

And how it's possible, I don't know, but I missed my girl while they were away. Like- had to smother her with kisses and hugs when they got home- missed her (which probably wasn't the best idea seeing as, well I'm sick- the spread of germs and all).

I missed Batman too, but my girl... it's just different. I have a feeling I have a problem.

We were supposed to go visit Batman's brother and his family this weekend. I hope I feel well enough to go by tomorrow. I miss seeing them and I know they miss seeing us (especially Little Miss- she's their only cousin, you know). I'm feeling tons better today, so keep your fingers crossed that tomorrow is even better!

Bummer deal, this sick business.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Following the crowd

Alright, I've seen it going around so I'm going to jump on the band wagon and do it too-

99 Things About Me (Everything that I have accomplished is in bold)

1. Started your own blog
- Uh... duh!

2. Slept under the stars

3. Played in a band

4. Visited Hawaii

5. Watched a meteor shower

6. Given more than you can afford to charity

7. Been to Disney World
- want to go BACK!

8. Climbed a mountain


9. Held a praying mantis

10. Sang a solo

11. Bungee jumped- probably will never do this. I'm a scaredy cat

12. Visited Paris

13. Watched a lightning storm

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch

15. Adopted a child

16. Had food poisoning

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty

18. Grown your own vegetables- they died though

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France

20. Slept on an overnight train

21. Had a pillow fight

22. Hitch-hiked

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill- haha too many times

24. Built a snow fort


25. Held a lamb

26. Gone skinny dipping


27. Run a Marathon

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

29. Seen a total eclipse

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset

31. Hit a home run

32. Been on a cruise

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors

35. Seen an Amish community

36. Taught yourself a new language

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. Gone rock climbing

40. Seen Michelangelo’s David

41. Sung karaoke

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant

44. Visited Africa

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight

46. Been transported in an ambulance

47. Had your portrait painted

48. Gone deep sea fishing

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling

52. Kissed in the rain

53. Played in the mud

54. Gone to a drive-in theater

55. Been in a movie- do home movies count? Haha!

56. Visited the Great Wall of China

57. Started a business

58. Taken a martial arts class

59. Visited Russia

60. Served at a soup kitchen

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies

62. Gone whale watching

63. Got flowers for no reason

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
- all 3!

65. Gone sky diving

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

67. Bounced a check- Oops!

68. Flown in a helicopter

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy


70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial

71. Eaten Caviar- No way!! Hate anything from water!

72. Pieced a quilt

73. Stood in Times Square

74. Toured the Everglades

75. Been fired from a job

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London

77. Broken a bone


78. Been a passenger on a motorcycle

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person

80. Published a book

81. Visited the Vatican

82. Bought a brand new car

83. Walked in Jerusalem

84. Had your picture in the newspaper

85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve

86. Visited the White House

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating

88. Had chickenpox- twice! Yikes!

89. Saved someone’s life

90. Sat on a jury

91. Met someone famous- does Lisa Loeb count?

92. Joined a book club

93. Got a tattoo

94. Had a baby

95. Seen the Alamo in person

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

97. Been involved in a law suit- someone bashed in our mailbox... wasn't that nice?

98. Owned a cell phone- who hasn't?

99. Been stung by a bee Youch!

Friday, May 21, 2010

7 months!

I think I say this every new month, but seriously, where has the time gone? It seems like I was just posting Brynna's 6 month stats and pics last week!

Here she is at 7 months:









We have been fortunate that Brynna hasn't been sick a day in her life...until this morning. She woke up with a congested, sniffly, runny (YUCK) nose. At least it's just a little cold :)

She talks more and more, with long strings of syllables- mostly its mamama or dadadada, but I've heard nanana, gagagaga, babababa among others. She loves blowing raspberries and is fascinated by her tongue.
No teeth yet, but lots of drool (more than normal I would say).

She LOVES to stand and has pulled herself up to a couple things just this week. I foresee it happening more and more in the coming weeks.

She loves to sit and play with toys and reaches for certain ones that she "likes."

She has figured out that she can get to her hands and knees from a sitting position, but once there will rock a couple times, plop down to her tummy and then roll right over. Ha! It's the funniest thing to watch because you can almost see the wheels turning in her head. She does NOT like being on her tummy still.

She also scoots a little when sitting and playing, but I think at this point it's still on accident and not purposeful. I don't think she really realizes that she has moved a few feet to reach the toys out of reach LOL! I'm sure crawling is just around the corner!

She still fits into all her 6 month clothes and is in a couple 6-9 month things. The saddest part is most of her 6 month clothes are dresses and stuff for warmer weather, but since it has been unseasonably cold here for the last couple months, she wears basically the same 5 or 6 outfits. I just hope we get some warm weather before she outgrows everything!

She is still nursing 6-8 times a day, including once or twice at night. We are still only doing 2 solid food meals a day- breakfast and dinner- but will probably add lunch sometime this month or next (doctor's orders). She is still trying new foods, but now does some of the 2nd food mixes as well (last night she had an apple/. butternut squash mix). We make most of our own food still, but usually the first try of something is out of a jar (less waste if she ends up being allergic). She has found a few favorites too including rice with apples or pears, peas and carrots. She DOES NOT like overripe bananas though. I've tried a few times with bananas on the verge of becoming banana bread and she will have NONE of it. She clamps her mouth down after the first bite and won't open it again unless I get he something else.

We are still going strong with our cloth diapers and have found that our favorites are still the BG OS we originally bought. I don't really care for the snaps on other brand. I much prefer Velcro- We get a better fit and NO leaks! She has gone from just the infant inserts to the bigger, more absorbent regular inserts too.

She gets more and more of a personality everyday! We are loving EVERY minute!!

That's all I can think of for now :)

Happy 7 months Princess! We love you!

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Why I sometimes hate face.bo.ok

So yesterday I got a friend request on FB from an ex-boyfriend from college... the one I dated for like a year and a half... the pot smoker who I thought broke my heart, but really just did me a huge favor... the neanderthal that was sleeping with someone else within a week (for the record- we never slept together... thank GOD! Would that have been a big mistake... OH YES!)... the same girl he knocked up and married (and is STILL married to- wonder of wonders)...

As I quickly clicked "ignore," I reminisced a little. Life would be COMPLETELY different if I had made different choices back then. Thankfully, I made the right choices and ended up exactly where I was supposed to- with Batman. It's weird how one little friend request came make you think.

And then I got to thinking more... Why in the HELL would he even a) try to find me on FB and b) think it was a good idea to be my "friend"? I guess he's still living in his delusional world of make believe.

And then I wondered how many people look for people from their past. It just doesn't occur to me to look up people like exes or friends that have gone by the wayside (like friends you "break up with" not friends you just lose touch with).

Any thoughts anyone? 'Cause I'm all out of them?

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Just as I suspected

it was a fluke.

She did sleep for the first stretch 6 hours, which is her norm these days. We put her down between 7-8 (the last couple nights she has been asleep BEFORE 7! Oy! I think she must be growing!) and I usually don't hear her until about 1 or 2. Then she will usually sleep until about 6 or 7 depending on the day and who is up.

My only worry is that Batman started his job out at the base today and is up at 5. I'm hoping this doesn't wake up little miss!

We still only get 30-40 min naps out of her during the day. Her first one is usually 2 hours after she wakes up and the second is somewhere around 1-2, whenever I see her getting tired. There are days where I WISH her naps were nice and long. I could get so much more DONE! (Ha! like I would though... I'd probably end up blogging) ;-)

What's your sleep schedule like?

Monday, May 17, 2010

11 hours

straight...
That's what Brynna slept last night.

The best we've gotten to date is 8 hours. It was almost heaven. I say "almost" because this mom kept waking up, waiting to hear her. Waiting to get up and feed her. Feeling her boobs on FIRE because it was 11 HOURS since the last time they were "used."

I wonder what we did right yesterday...

It's probably a fluke and I probably just jinxed myself by even mentioning it.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Isn't this fun?

Brynna has discovered two new favorite toys these days.

My chin- apparently it's the best chew toy around. Thankfully, there are no teeth yet because once that happens- YOUCH!! I can only imagine how painful it would be to be bitten. She bites down hard! And believe me, I don't encourage this behavior! Batman thinks it's hilarious since she doesn't do it to him (what, with his poky, stubbly chin and all).

&

My hair- this brings hours of fun, didn't you know? It's getting to the point where I may throw in the towel on growing it out. Ugh! If I don't wear it back in a pony, she thinks it's fair game- no matter how many times I tell her "No Brynna, we don't play with mommy's hair." By the end of the day it's usually a rat's nest and covered in slobber, sometimes puke and just plain gross. Any BTDT have any suggestions on getting her to LEAVE IT ALONE?! I'm desperate!

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

A little project

We made photo books for my mom and Batman's mom for mother's day. This is the one I did for my mom. What do you think?

Click here to view this photo book larger

Monday, May 10, 2010

Happy Mother's Day

Okay, so I'm a day late and a dollar short, but I do hope everyone of my mommy and mommy-to-be friends had a happy Mother's Day.

And for my friends still waiting to become mommies, I hope yesterday treated you kind. I know how hard it is to watch that day come and go AGAIN without being a mom. My heart goes out to you!

Batman's gift to me was letting me get Brynna's ears pierced! Hooray! I've been wanting to do it for a while and he was always dragging his feet, but her finally gave in. She looks SO cute. However, when they were done she SOBBED. And not just her little squawk that she does when she gets her shots, but full out, hiccup-inducing sobbing. I felt like a terrible mom! And even almost started crying myself- it was so sad.
She got over it after a few minutes though and is adorable :)
Here are a few shots we took of the whole thing:

Getting ready-


Ear #1-


Ear #2-


Very sad girl and her daddy-


Ah! Much happier-

Thursday, May 6, 2010

An experiment

We've been struggling, Batman and I, with our communication since he got home from AMS. For some reason, this time around when he came home it's like all hell broke loose in our home with regards to MIScommunicating and it's really been taking a toll. It's certainly not to the point where anything too major is happening, but it has been enough for both of us to notice. We haven't been in the same book, let alone the same page, about most things we've been dealing with lately. And we've realized something has to give.
Fortunately, it's not our marriage.
We've decided to turn off the TV. We really don't watch a whole lot of TV to begin with as far as spending hours and hours in front of it, but we found we were more concerned with what shows we missed, what was on hulu, what we had on netflix, what new video game was out, etc than we were about talking to each other and spending QUALITY time together. It was almost as if, as soon as Brynna went down for the night, we would figure out anything other than having a conversation.
So the month of May we are turning it all off. No netflix. No hulu. No video games. No movies. No TV. Period. We are already communicating MUCH more and spending real time together and it's only been 6 days! It's amazing how much time you can sink into one electronic device and not even realize it.
And besides, what kind of example are we as parents if we don't allow B to watch TV, but do it more than we should ourselves?
So wish us luck. I know this is exactly what we need. It's nice having my husband be a priority rather than a big black box in my living room (or in our case in the study- since most of the time we play catch up and watch things online) And who knows? We may never turn the damn thing on again?

okay who am I kidding? I'm addicted to certain shows so I know we will watch them, but it's not a priority anymore. If we watch them someday, good. If not, it's not the end of the world.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

A Special Day

Happy Birthday to my one and only, the love of my life, the father of my child, my best friend!

Love you Batman!! You make my life better just by being in it!

T

PS- tell your mom I said thanks for not selling you to the circus ;-)