First Year

I can hardly believe that the first year has come and gone so quickly. My little baby girl, the girl that I carried for 38 weeks, delivered with relative ease and who cried for the first four months is now a happy little walker who brings joy to every second of my life.

There were times in those first few weeks that I thought "why did we have a baby? what were we thinking?" These thoughts then turned to thoughts of "why is she crying all the time? what can I do to help here?" This went on for FOUR months. Then, as I've mentioned before, the doctor suggested I stop taking my prenatal vitamin since I was breast feeding and, kazaam! No more crying. She was then a happy baby girl.

It was so fun to watch her lift her head, learn to roll over in one direction and then another. Then, to get up on all fours and rock back and forth wanting to move, but not knowing how. So quickly, at almost 7 months old, she started crawling. As the weeks went on she got faster and faster. Boy, was that a life changer! She became verbal, she laughed at things and cooed constantly. I began enjoying her more and more every day.

It's not that I didn't enjoy her for the first few months, it was just a lot of sitting around for me, which was a huge transition from my hectic career that I had just left. Now, I never get to sit still! She has been walking since a little before her year birthday and she never stops. I follow her around and watch as she discovers new things around the house every day.

I love every moment of this new life of mine. I love watching her as she learns to walk. She looks like a drunken soldier most of the time (or the bride of frankenstein) and it makes me laugh. I love to hear her try to repeat words that I say. Dog is aga. Cat is ca. Duck is duh. I understand her little language and it is our special language for this short time.

I even love when she misbehaves. I am so fascinated with her mental development. I know I should be mad when I tell her not to throw her food on the floor and, instead of listening to me she looks me dead in the eye and drops the food once again. She is testing me and, instead of getting frustrated I laugh. I know, not the best form of discipline but I can't help it! i just love watching how she thinks things through!

So, the first year was a learning experience for all of us and I am so excited to see what this next year brings!

Growing Up

It seems so crazy that Brett will be 10 months old on Sunday. Time flies. I realized a couple of things this week. It is interesting that each phase that the baby goes through seems so amazing, yet then it is (sometimes) trumped by the next phase. There are so many good and bads with each phase.

For example, my husband and I were ready to move Brett out of the co-sleeper (and our bed) and into her crib. Believe it or not, she's been sleeping in her crib since the night of her 2-month birthday! It was nice to have the bed back and I was able to sleep so much better without hearing every breath that she took. So, when Brett got sick this week while my husband was out of town, and she woke up in the middle of the night (something she rarely does) I brought her in to bed with me to sleep. It was so awesome having her in bed with me- snuggling next to me! I wanted her to sleep with me the next night but knew I had to put her in her crib. I've let her take her morning nap in my bed the last two mornings. It's been quite cold (for California) and I climbed back in bed to snuggle with her as she napped.

I know that I've talked about her tantrums (and other moms have talked about their baby's tantrums) so that is definitely a downfall of the current age, but there are some really cool things, too. It was awesome to see a couple weeks ago that Brett started clapping her hands. Then, it got better when she clapped her hands when we sing "If you're happy and you know it!" Awesome! Today I taught her the stomp your feet part, and she got it! Another thing, I have been trying to teach her that when she gets to a stair (we only have two in our house) that she needs to turn herself around and back down it. Today she did it! I was so proud. I was clapping and kissing her and I told her to give me a high-five and she did! It was awesome!

This is sappy, but as I went to brush my teeth tonight I saw that her little toothbrush was sitting next to mine. She has two teeth that are only about 1/4 of the way in but I brush her teeth in the morning after I brush mine. I just thought to myself that she is going to be a little girl before I know it!

It's actually been, in a way, a good thing that she got sick this week. I stayed home for two days (something I never do) and that gave me the opportunity to play with her more one-on-one and read and interact. I really appreciated the past couple of days and I am really enjoying this phase of her life. I feel so blessed to be able to stay home with her and have these experiences!

Travel Debacle

Last weekend we went away for three days to visit my in-laws. You would think a short trip like this would be easy, right?

For the 100+ degree weather I decided to pack easy things: 2 onesies, 2 outfits (shirt and shorts) and 2 pajamas. As usual, I had a long sleeve onesie, a short sleeve onesie and a pair of pajamas in my diaper bag for 'just in case' moments. So, I'm prepared, right???

Day 1- Drive 6 hours - when arriving we realized Brett had pooped and it was all over the car seat. Washed car seat cover and changed Brett into a onesie

Day 2- Realized that one of the onesies that I brought was the wrong size- too small, put on an outfit and it was too small! Second outfit fit fine. Put Brett in pajamas for bedtime

Day 3- Dressed Brett in the backup onesie from my diaper bag and drove to Vegas, went in Circus, Circus (it was a madhouse). We left to head home- a little over 4 hours of driving ahead of us. Brett falls asleep and we drive 2 hours to Barstow. We get to In-N-Out and my husband takes Brett out of her car seat while I was doing something (don't remember what). All of the sudden we look down and my husbands shirt is COVERED in POOP! He hands her to me to change her - now I have poop on me! I know that all I have left in my diaper bag is a long-sleeved onesie and pajamas- both way too warm for the weather. However, I have to dress her in something, so I choose the long-sleeved onesie. I look at the tag and it is a 3-month size! Too small! URGH. So, the pajamas it is. We put her in them but roll up the feet portion so that her feet don't get too hot. Ok, 2 hours to go. We get to the Orange area (only 30 miles to go) and I smell poop again. We pull off the road and stop at a gas station. Sure enough, she pooped again! AND, it leaked out of her diapers! So, we took her out of the pajamas and she rode the rest of the way home in her diaper!

Well, I learned my lesson here. I will always check the sizes of the things that I pack and I will double-check the items in my diaper bag to make sure that the sizes are correct.

Lastly, on this trip we brought with us our last pack of Pampers Swaddlers Size 2-3 diapers. I swore by the Pampers Sensitive when Brett was tiny but I was disappointed in the 'holding power' of these diapers. I have been using the Kirkland brand from Costco and have been quite happy with their ability to hold in the yucky stuff.