...7...8..a tad bit late!

At 7 months, Daley girl was:

-eating bananas, peas, carrots, avocado, sweet potato, green beans and chicken noodle soup
-giving kisses...open mouth
-able to sit on her own
-laughing at people

At 8 months, Daley girl is:

-eating bananas, peas, carrots, avocado, sweet potato, green beans, chicken noodle soup, cottage cheese, turkey, cheerios, bread, strawberries and cantaloupe
-getting read to crawl
-starting to recognize strangers
-playing independently with toys
-going to the nursery at church
-game for any adventure
-loving the sunshine

5, 6, pick up sticks

At 5 months, Daley girl was:

-holding her own bottle
-napping three times
-sleeping at night for 9 or 10 hours
-putting herself to sleep at bed time
-reaching for and grasping toys
-rolling from front to back and back to front
-squealing with glee

At 6 months, Daley girl is:

-eating bananas, peas, carrots and avocado
-starting to reach for people
-constantly trying to sit up
-breathing excitedly when we fix her food
-very into textures
-picking up anything she can
-putting everything in her mouth
-moving all around her crib
-smiling with bright eyes all throughout the day!

I am < 100%

Who knew that seeing the "floor blanket" laid on top of the couch , dirty side down on Daley's toys and boppy, would have the effect that it did.  I am guessing that Tyler didn't know it would have the effect that it did, or he probably wouldn't have put the "floor blanket" there in the first place.  As soon as I saw it, I felt defeated.  You see, because that dirty "floor blanket" was on top of the toys and boppy, that meant that I had more laundry to do. At that moment, having more laundry to do was just enough to push me over the edge.  I quickly scolded Tyler (by the way, if I had to guess, I don't think husbands find scolding from their wives very attractive) and picked up the blanket, loudly unzipped the boppy cover, and stomped downstairs to the washing machine.  Oh, it didn't stop there.  I continued to stomp my way around the house, sweeping loudly, doing the dishes with a few extra clangs of pots and pans hitting each other, wiping the counters off with loud sighs, and walking from room to room with an ugly pitty party going on inside.  Why am I telling you any of this, I am making myself out to look like a wife that is no fun to be around and one that makes mountains out of mole hills.

After about an hour of me stomping around and not making eye contact with Tyler, he came over to me and said "Can I say that I am sorry for putting the blanket on the couch and whatever else I did. What happened?" With tears is my eyes, I looked at him and said, "I can't be 100% all the time." 

Wow, saying that out loud is about as raw honest as it gets.  You know what my loving and gentle husband said in response? "I know."  

He knows that I can't be 100% all of the time.  So if he knows it, and I know it, why was I in tears when I said it? Why is it so hard to admit that we can't do it all? I inherently don't like to ask for help.  This is a character flaw, I know.  So if I admit that I can't be 100% all of the time, that means that I need help. 

How many of you have had Saturday mornings like mine? I bet that most of you are surrounded by people that know you can't be 100% all the time and they love you anyway.  So let's stop trying to fit a mold that we made for ourselves that no one else wants us to fill.  Let's be honest with ourselves that we can probably use one of our daughter's 37 other blankets as a floor blanket for the day, and forget about the extra load of laundry.  I say 'let's' because I believe I am not the only woman that has to admit to herself that she can't be 100%, and I also believe that I am not the only woman that has a husband that knows that his wife can't be 100% all of the time and actually enjoys her more when she isn't trying to be 100%.  

My girl

I have a lot of pictures of my sweet Daley girl.  The only thing missing from them was...me!  Friday, while Papa was working, Daley and I had a little 'momma and me' photo shoot.  It was sure fun to play with Daley as she smiled and giggled her way through each picture.  I will forever love some of these shots and wanted to share them with you.  I am not great at photography or editing, but I say "just go with it!" 

Joy

I recently had an outpatient surgery, nothing major, just something that had to be done to get rid of a cyst that was causing a lot of pain.  This was my first procedure as a mom. Let me tell you how things would have happened if I was not a mom, and then I will tell you how they actually happened.

If I wasn't a mom:
I would have asked Tyler to go to the hospital with me and stay in the waiting room for the 4 hours that I was in pre-op, surgery, and post-op. After waiting, he would then drive me home and take care of me day and night with me only getting off of the couch to move to the bed at night.  If I wanted a blizzard, he would have gotten me a blizzard.  I would have had a few days, painful days, on the couch watching season two of parenthood feeling guilt free.

I am a mom, here is what happened:
I didn't want Tyler and Daley to sit in the waiting room for all of that time, so Tyler and Daley dropped me off and Tyler came back to pick me up when it was over while Daley stayed with my father in law.

Surgery went great, my nurses, doctors, and anesthesiologists were awesome.  They all knew I was breastfeeding and made sure to not give me anything that would bother Daley.  They all asked about my sweet girl, and I gladly told them about her, ending each time with, "She's a lot of fun!"

What would have been a selfish time of recovery was instead a time of taking care of my sweet Daley girl, through the pain.  Tyler was working, and to be honest I had no idea that amount of pain I would be in; had we known, he probably would have taken some time off. People would text and call to see how I was doing.  You know what I wanted to say to them..."I am fine, but please come play with my baby.  Please let her squeal and talk and giggle like we do everyday.  Please love on her...forget about me.  Just make this a good day for Daley."  Thankfully, Daley had some play dates with her grandparents and my friend Jessie came and loved on her for a bit. Tyler would hurry home from work to take care of his girls, and he did a great job!

I am not trying to sound like a hero, because I think any mom I know would have had the same attitude.  It is just crazy to me to think about how different life is as a mom.  I didn't want my pain to take away from Daley's joy.  I pray that that continues to be my outlook as a mom.  I am going to have painful days, painful circumstances, that is life.  Thankfully I have a big God that will be with me through tough times.  I want to rely on God in tough times, and protect my family in prayer when my circumstances may not be ideal.  I want Daley's joy to be fueled by my love for her, to be fueled by Tyler's love for her, to be fueled by Christ's love for her.  I want Daley's joy to be contagious! 

4 months

At 4 months, Daley girl is:
-smiling at anyone that will look
-giggling for mom and dad (the sweetest sound)
-still eating like a champ
-sleeping for 10 hours each night
-loving to stand up with mom and dad's help and talk, talk, talk
-rolling from stomach to back
-a real conversationalist, with an opinion or two of her own
-waking up as happy as can be
-tall and skinny (big surprise)
-very entertaining!

3 months

At 3 months, Daley girl is:
     -smiling a lot
     -telling us lots of stories about her adventures
     -eating like a champ
     -sleeping for 10 hours each night
     -giggling (this momma can't wait for them to be more frequent)
     -loving to sit up with our help
     -as cute as can be!

Stop to smell the diapers

Have you experienced those days of slight panic as your try and fit your baby into too small newborn diapers because somehow it might mean that she will stop growing up?  Well than you are crazy, because I have never felt that way...I am just writing this post of how I would imagine your panic as your baby grows up.  

I use the word panic in is least serious sense.  It isn't a fearful panic, but simply the realization that your (not my baby) is growing up and you really can't do anything to stop it.  You can only fool yourself into thinking that she still fits into newborns.  Her thighs are getting plumper, her belly is becoming rounder, and her cheeks are taking up more room on her beautiful little face.  She is grabbing toys, playing, interacting, kicking like she has been doing some squats in the weight room, and smiling as if the paparazzi is just around each corner.  She. is. growing. up. Your baby, not mine.

Then, after you can't justify using another newborn diaper, you go up to size ones.  You think to yourself, this is great, she just moved up to ones, I have cases of ones, obviously she will be a size one for a long time, if not indefinitely.  You forget the panic of moving out of newborns and fool yourself into thinking that you will have a size one baby and the world is your oyster.  

When you see me I see you returning a case of size one diapers because your baby moved into size two diapers before you could use all of the size ones, I won't mention how fast time goes and that your baby is growing up.  Don't worry, I'm sure she will be in size twos forever.  

And now, in all seriousness, I am thankful that my little girl is growing up.  She is healthy.  She is happy.  She loves to eat. She loves to smile.  She is loved by all that meet her.  She is a child of God.  She is a blessing! I will cherish each stage, each size of diaper, because they don't stop growing.  

A Mother's Intuition

When I was pregnant with Daley I heard a lot of advice on raising a little girl.  One piece of advice that was repeated time and time again was "trust your mother's intuition."  What every person failed to mention when they gave that advice is that you will most likely doubt your mother's intuition until you see the fruits of your labor...and sometimes those fruits will come in that instant, days later, weeks later, or even months later.  Instead, they simply said "trust your mother's intuition."

Case in point: bedtime.  Daley girl is a champion sleeper.  Since she was 5 weeks old she has slept at least 7 hours at night, often 8 and the occasional 9 hours.  I am so thankful for this!  So why mess with a good thing, right?  The only set back about her sleep habits is that she wasn't going down for the night until midnight.  She would be awake until midnight, dreadfully tired, but awake.  So, this is where my mother's intuition told me that she probably didn't want to be awake that late but her second wind was kicking in at some point during the evening.  This is also where the doubt came in, telling me 'why mess with a good thing, she is a good sleeper, just be thankful for that.'

Tyler and I moved forward with our plan to try and get her to bed earlier, desperately hoping that we weren't messing with a good thing.  No magic potions or sleep dances, just trying to create a calm bed time environment around 10:00pm.  It took about a week of her continuing to stare us right in the eyes from 10:00pm to midnight, and then we had three nights in a row of 11:30pm.  So, a week and a half later I was thankful for my mother's intuition.  The doubt left my mind and I felt like I did the right thing. Tonight, Daley girl is sleeping at 10:30.  

I know that they late nights aren't over, but I am a woman that trusts the Lord and has a great husband; my late nights are not spent alone. That makes me one grateful momma!  

One, two, buckle my shoe

How many of you thought I was pregnant with baby number 2 when you saw the title to this blog post...maybe you thought I was making an announcement with numbers similar to Mindi, but I assure you I am not making that announcement at this time.  Instead, I am catching up on Daley's month 1 update and right on time with her month 2 update.

 At 1 month Daley is:
 - trying to smile
 - sleeping 4 to six hours at night
 - taking 3 hour naps during the day
 - dirtying the diaper with ease
 - holding her head up with a little wobbling
 - such a sweet baby

At 2 months Daley is:
 - smiling big and proud of it
 - sleeping 6 to 9 hours at night (whoohoo)
 - taking 1 to 2 hour naps during the day
 - still dirtying the diaper with ease (she's a healthy girl)
 - holding her head up with only an occasional wobble
 - very active when she is awake
 - a fan of kicking her feet...hard
 - making great eye contact
 - grunting, her favorite form of communication
 - well loved by momma and papa

Each day is a blessing!