Socks

Since it is now finally cold enough I have been making sure Madie has socks on! We now have this game going. I put her in the car seat in the car, and start driving a few minutes later i hear this grunting. It is Madie pulling off her socks! She pulls them off, and just throws them somewhere in the car. She'll toss them to the side, she tosses them into the trunk. Lately, she has been sticking them in her mouth as well. It's like her little game. The one thing she has control over. Well, sort of since when we stop I always put them back on her! Yesterday, I gave up. I had taken them off and on so many times. I just gave up. She was getting her picture taken with Santa and the lady asked me if she has socks! Of course they were in the diaper bag! So I put them on for the picture and while she was put back in her stroller for the walk back to the car she took them off and chucked them out of the stroller. My husband fortunately found them. She has lost socks in parking lots, Target, Walmart. I have tried all kinds of socks. None work. Ironically enough, Mike always reminds me I would wear flip flops year round if the weather would permit. I guess lie mother like daughter!

The parent I am is different from the parent I thought I would be

The parent I am is different from the parent I thought I would be, is this normal?
When I was pregnant I began developing the idea of how I would raise my child, well I already had an idea so really I began perfecting and fine tuning my parenting style. I’d imagine how I would behave, set up, or solve problems for my baby, like starting solids or sleeping arrangements. I thought that I would co-sleep with Cameron for at least a year; I even got my husband on board. Then, I was presented with the situation and Cameron didn’t like it! So we compromised and he slept in his crib in our room. But now here I am again presented with a situation of wanting Cameron to sleep through the night, and having him in our room is a hindrance to that. (Can you believe that I actually thought that Cameron would just magically learn to sleep through the night on his own? Why you ask? Because when I was pregnant I imagined it so! How foolish was I.) So any way, what did I do, I gave Cameron his own room. It turns out it was a great move for the whole family. My husband and I are happier with the return of OUR bedroom where we don’t have to whisper or tiptoe around the room, and I like that Cameron has his own space to grow into. I am really surprised how happy I was to get Cameron into his own room.

But now here I am thinking of all the ways I wanted to do things and it’s so different from the perfect little family image I had imagined from before he was born. I realize I can’t plan how I want our family to grow and behave and we will just grow together and figure it out as we go. We are still a perfect little family; just my parenting image will need to adjust as the situation presents its self.

Puddles on the Floor

I remember how hard it was to take a shower with a newborn. Minutes after I set my daughter in her bouncy seat, she would scream hysterically. So I would frantically jump in the shower- there was no time to wait for the hot water to kick in. I’d lather up fast, most of the time skipping the hair wash- all while trying to sing every nursery rhyme I knew to try to calm her down. I would even shower with the door open so she could see me (which rarely made a difference). This always led to puddles on the floor as water sprouted in all directions. I’d turn the water off and jump out of the shower wet (adding to the puddles) and grab Reagan to calm her down- and of course Reagan would get soaking wet since I was soaking wet—ah what a disaster! 4, 5, 6 months go by and showers are my best friend! Reagan would sit in her play set- very content while I casually showered. I was confident she couldn’t get anywhere fast and I was able to ensure she couldn’t get into trouble during those 15 minutes. The days of short showers were history for us—or so I thought.
Fast forward to crawling!!!!!!!! OMG- I feel like we are back to the newborn stage! My shower this morning went something like this. I set Reagan in her play set (as usual) and did my area glance to ensure she could not get herself into trouble. 1 minute into my shower, Reagan was across the room, determined to grab the electrical cords (of course she goes for the electrical cords- since, of course, I procrastinated on baby proofing). I jumped out of the shower- soap and shampoo everywhere! Puddles of water follow me as I reposition her in back in her play set. Back in the shower I go and back to the electrical cords she goes. AHHH! I jump out again (one leg shaved) - more puddles in the bathroom. We went through this a few times until I gave up and decided to just rinse off and try to shave my legs another time. Just as I finish rinsing off, Reagan crawled into the puddles in the bathroom and laid flat into to the water (laughing hysterically—I guess that’s better than crying hysterically). We were both soaking wet, AGAIN. This all was way too familiar!!!

The Return on Aunt Flow

Well, after 38 weeks of pregnancy and and 10 months of breastfeeding my period has returned! Let me say that I DID NOT miss it one bit! Wow, what a shock it was to start getting cramps and then have to deal with the period for four days. I stopped breastfeeding 2 weeks ago, so I hear that this is about the right timeframe to have your period return.

I guess these are the only few days where my breasts are mine. Funny, I know, but think about it. During most of my pregnancy my breasts were growing, and often times sore. After the birth of my daughter, my breasts were there for one purpose and one purpose only- to nourish my daughter. Now, my husband is expecting them to be 'his' again, but for now, they are still mine...

Thank you!

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I’d like to express how thankful I am to have joined such a wonderful group of women/moms and a huge thanks to Holly for starting this group and managing a social calendar for 100+ people. When I first joined, I was really nervous. I consider myself an introvert and meeting new people isn’t always the most comfortable thing for me. But I really wanted to give my daughter the best childhood I could. And that involved developing friendships and social skills early in her development.
I never imagined that, out of this group, I would also develop some wonderful friendships of my own. My husband has met a few of my friends in the group and their husbands and, every time, he comments on what a wonderful group of friends both Reagan and I have. And even better, he gets along great with many of the dads.
When Reagan was born, Brad and I were worried that we did not have friends with kids. Knowing we may grow apart from some friends because our lives were going to change so much, we realized it was important that we venture out into the “family world”. Holly, you have given us the platform to meet such wonderful families and I can’t thank you enough for that. I know you started this group to meet friends yourself, but in doing that, you’ve allowed 100 other mom’s to make their own friendships. That is seriously such a wonderful, priceless gift- and a lifetime gift I might add.
It’s my hope that our friendships continue through the years as our kids grow. Having friends to share experiences with, joys with, heartbreaks with etc., is priceless. For those of you I have gotten to know well, thank you for being such a wonderful part of Reagan’s first year in this world and my first year as a mom (some of you have saved me a few times ..lol). For those I haven’t had a chance to meet or get to know yet- I’m very much looking forward to it.

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!

What an experience!

So today Madison and I decided to do grocery shopping for this weekend and for Thanksgiving! Knowing how crazy things are going to be this weekend, we thought we would do it early. Usually, we go with Mike, but he was still at work. So I figured how hard could it be. To do this by myself. She was napped, fed and nine months old! Well, I always put my high chair cover thing in the shopping cart, and with Madison's round stomach the straps to hold her in would not fit. So I left her unstrapped. We get in and set out for our first mission a turkey. We find the turkey and continue on with our list. Madison at this age is so curious. She does not just want to sit in the cart she wants to turn around and look and she what is going in the cart, and what is going on behind us! I am a big coupons shopper and the whole time Madison is trying to shred my coupons and my list. i keep telling her, " No, mommy needs to shop with the list!" Anyways, we make it through the market! I hand the lady my rewards card, and then that was the last time I remembered seeing my keys! I always carry my purse, but lately it is just one more thing to take down the stairs. So I have been putting it all in the diaper bag. So I have the diaper bag, 4 bags of groceries and a turkey in my cart. Suddenly, I realize I don't have my keys. I got back and ask the lady who checked me out if I had left them there. No. Okay I figure they must be in my cart. So I get outside to my car and start searching the cart. Not in the cart, I scour the diaper bag. Not in there. Look in all of my bags. Nope. By this time I am panicking. What happened to my keys1 My poor daughter at this point is still in the cart smiling at strangers as they passed by. Probably thinking please take me home my mom is loony! Two complete strangers came up to me and asked me what was wrong. I now feel like a complete moron! Who looses there keys? Finally, call Mike. I need help here! At the very least he can take Madie home and I can go and retrace my steps. So he comes to the rescue, and goes inside the damn grocery store and appears tow minutes later holding my keys! Where they were I don't know! He said some lady was holding them? I hope to God she was bringing them to me! But I will never know! So form now on I am bringing my purse. I don't seem to function well with out it!