She's walking! For real this time!

So after about a week of the "Yeah I'm sorta walkin' but I don't really WANT TO" phase, Bugs threw caution to the wind and lit the afterburners.  Our little baby is walking at her 11 month birthday mark! Her wobbles make us laugh and she seems to really enjoy this new freedom.

I have a wonderful friend who also has a small daughter and she sent Bugs her birthday present early. She ALWAYS finds the best presents and so she sent her squeaky shoes. Not shoes that squeak against the floor, but they have actual squeakers in the heels. Hilarious! They are driving our poor dogs wild, but so funny. Even she thinks so!

And She's Off

So for the last few weeks or so Bugs has been stumbling around. I hate to call it walking because, well it's not. She'll take a few steps, realize what she's doing and promptly fall down. She really started doing this around Christmas.

On Wednesday she walked a good ways holding onto the hem of my dress with no tension. She did it "alone" if you can even call it that. Then that same night she stumbled from one toy to the other about 3 or 4 steps. I'm of a firm conviction she doesn't WANT to walk. She is just accidentally doing it.  Hubs originally prediction was that Jan 28th would be the day she walked. Guess what? He was WRONG!

Bugs' first steps were on his birthday, Jan 19th, and they were at "M's" house. We are so lucky to have such a great sitter. She video taped her for us! It's not much but it's a start. I'm so not ready for this!

Goodbye Bottles!

Our old non-leaky cup.
I heart you Playtex!

Well it’s official.  The bottles are G-O-N-E! And let me tell you it’s not a moment too soon in my opinion! We have been using the Dr. Brown’s bottles and they have seven, yes SEVEN, pieces to them! Washing them has been incredibly time consuming, not to mention in addition to the drying rack they are huge space eater uppers of my very limited counter space!

We attempted to start giving Bugs a sippy cup at about 5 months, just to experiment. She did ok if she was really hungry but otherwise, she didn’t really want anything to do with it. Which was fine. So we just offered the cup and let her choose. 

At about 8 months we were full blown cup through the day thanks to “M”. She really worked with Bugs on this and did a great job. But I was reluctant to take away her night time bottle. I felt it was a comfort thing to Buggy and with starting the sleep training I just didn’t want to have to fight too many battles at one time.

So this week, “M” tells us that Bugs has chewed through her sippy and we need to provide a new one. No problem. She suggested going up a level in cups. Sure! I tell her that she has hard cups at home and does well, so I’ll get her more since she’s chewing threw the rubber ones anyway. Well “M” let’s her try the stage 4 toddler cup. AND BUGGY LOVES IT! She does great! Awesome! No more crazy impossible rubber topped cups that leak like crazy!

So last night we took away the last bottle and gave her a cup before bed. She didn’t even bat an eye! Just slugged it down, snuggled up and passed out. Really? Did that just happen? Um yeah. Have I mentioned we’re incredibly lucky??

Goodbye seven piece bottles and drying rack – I won’t miss you and your counter space invading.  See ya leaky rubber cups! Hello easy dishwasher safe, spill proof cup!  I think I love you…

Go the F*ck to Sleep!





Precious right? Oh you'd think that wouldn't you?

Oh sleeping babies! How cute they are, right? Well what do you do if your formally awesome sleeper is no longer awesomely sleeping? You try what you think will work and then you feel guilty right? Of course you do!

From the day we brought Bugs home, she’s been sleeping in her own bed, and almost through the whole night.  We were truly lucky.  She was a baby we had to wake up during the day to eat and sleeping from 11 pm – 6 am was huge! Gradually we worked our way to a 7 pm bedtime and no problems.

Well what nobody tells you is that once this dream sleeper learns to pull herself up - look out! That’s all she’s going to want to do is through a damn disco in her room - Every. Freaking. Night.  So we would rock her all the way to sleep. Every night.  Well once she can pull herself up standing you need to drop the mattress so that’s what we did. Have I ever mentioned I’m practically borderline dwarf? I’m 5’1 and trying to reach all the way over the rail to place a sleeping baby on her lowered mattress is damn near impossible. Couple that with the new “alligator death roll” out of your hands, and the formerly sleeping baby is now wide awake and screaming again.

*Sigh* This was it. Every night, rock all the way to sleep, attempt to put her down, she wakes up, start the process all over. This would go on for upwards of an hour. I couldn’t take it anymore.  At about the same time my mom was visiting and said, “You’re just going to have to let her cry it out, you used to scream and fall asleep standing up, but eventually you did it and she will too!”

Now I should also mention that our sitter “M” says “OH she goes right down for me, no fuss, no binky, no problem!” So I KNEW she was capable of doing this. The other thing is that we barely see her during the day that all that cuddle time was what I really cherished. But after getting in our snuggles, I wanted her to stay asleep and not go berserker on me.  Also I wanted her to soothe herself back to sleep in the middle of the night instead of playing the bongos on my boobs for an hour at 2 am. The cycle had to stop.

So one night we tried to put her down and let her cry it out.   And it went on for about a half hour and we couldn’t take it. We caved. And cuddled. But she was so exhausted from screaming, she crashed.  Hubs was anti-cry it out. He fought me. I begged for a compromise. I’m a new mom; I don’t know what I’m doing. If you don’t like my method, give me an alternative. He had nothing, but didn’t want to let her go.

So I researched and everything I read lead me to believe we were creating a sleep monster. She would have horrible habits and it would be because of us. So I sent did what any person would do. I tried it again. I sent Hubs to the gym, let her cry it out, and cried and asked for help to my Twitter heroes (you know who you are). It lasted approx. 17 minutes. Then nothing. I checked on her. She was out. Not too bad! Until the middle of the night she was wide awake again. But I went in – armed with 4 binks and laid on the floor next to her bed. No more middle of the night drum sessions. This is sleepy time damn it! And she partied like it was 1999 for an hour but gradually laid herself back down and back to sleep.

Over the next two weeks, she woke up a handful more times at night and the crying gradually got less and less until there were no more tears and now she is actually schootching out of my arms to get into her bed. It’s been a process for sure, and I know some people frown upon the CIO method. We tried a little of both CIO and whatever else I read on the internet and it worked.  And now I can say “I TOLD YOU SO” to Hubs (nah I wouldn’t really do that, oh who am I kidding of course I do!). But really I’m just so glad that we’re hopefully instilling good sleep habits, and that’s what’s most important. She’s still getting her evening snuggles and when I’m sad that I don’t see her much I remember that on the weekends we still have our naps!

 

You know how people tell you to

nap when she naps? Well we took that to heart! So we nap - alot and we NAP HARD!

Swims like a Fish

We knew from the beginning that Bugs loved the water.  Starting with her baths in the sink, then the pool, then the ocean, we knew she would be a fish. 

So as part of her Christmas present we signed up for Mommy/Daddy and me swim class. And bought her a new baby bikini (I'm sorry - baby two pieces are my weakness).  Hubs and I both agree that having a good relationship with the water is paramount and that eventually her knowing how to swim is vital (especially since her sitter “M” has a giant in-ground pool).

Saturday was our first lesson at the YMCA and we are taking the class with one of Hubs’ friends from college.  Over all there are maybe six babies in our class, yet it is already clear our teacher has a favorite. Seriously? These children are all less than a year old and you would think this little girl is the second coming of Michael Phelps.  Big deal she can “lie back” and not freak and put her face in the water.  

So we have to sing, fall into the pool from a sitting position, put them on their backs and bellies and blow bubbles.  Um yeah I don’t care if Bugs ever learns how to blow bubbles I am NOT sticking my mouth in that water. I’m sorry it totally skeeves me out.  There is a toddler class at the other end of the pool going on simultaneously and you can’t tell me there isn’t pee in the pool.  It’s bad enough my child is drinking her body weight in pool water (she tries to drink the bath water too so if you know how to cure this please let me know) but I refuse to stink my lips under. Go ahead and judge me Susie Swim Instructor (really her name is Susie) I am not changing my mind here. We’ll practice at home, k?

Overall Bugs LOVED it. We knew she would. And she did a really good job too! She loved the fall into pool part and she might be a natural “kicker”. I mean she kicked me constantly for nine months so this class should be a breeze right?!

First Swim Class

The Christmas Wrap-Up

Well it's better late than never right? Actually I was waiting so that I could add photos, but here is our baby's first Christmas!


The hats are Hubs and I's tradition.  And yes I made that plate on the wall in 1985!



My parents, Nene and Poppy, came to visit from the "south" (yes its cold here, you should know that you lived it for 50 some odd years) and stayed for several days. This in itself was awesome as we now had two extra pairs of hands to wrangle/control love/nurture Bugs. But also with them came all the traditions of my childhood such as Santa decorating our tree, getting up at the crack of dawn to open presents with tea and cookies, buying a new ornament each year, and Marshmallow (more on him later).   





 

 

 

When Santa decorates your tree, you have to ask permission to get up and go see it. If you get up before he’s come to visit and you see nothing, you will get nothing. That’s how it works. So you have to yell from your room “CAN I COME OUT YET?!” to your parents and they have to go see if Santa was there (I actually did that up until last year! Tradition, you know?) before you can come out.



In all our anticipation of Christmas everyone said “Oh, she’ll want the boxes more than toys!” Pfft! She didn’t even want that! She wanted nothing to do with opening presents (even though we wrapped hers in tissue paper for easy access) all she wanted was her old toys. That was until she got to her scooter! And even then she wanted to put her toys in scooters trunk instead of riding it. Hey if she’s going to clean up after herself, I’m not going to complain!



Bugs new scooter and cheesy grin we love!



Then came the grand finale. Marshmallow. I had no idea he was coming. I knew he was around somewhere. And now, now he’s at my house.  Marshmallow is a handmade rocking horse that my dad (Poppy) made for me when I was 3. And I loved him fiercely.  And Poppy saved him, restored him, and gifted him to Bugs. AND SHE LOVES HIM! Of course she does, he has tons of sharp edges and dangerous moving parts! What’s not to love right?

Overall it was a fantastic, whirlwind weekend of family and friends and lots of love, and food, can’t forget the food. (Or wine. Lots of wine.) And I can’t imagine it any other way!













There is a Teenager in that 20 lb Body

Oh what a long weekend. Perhaps this is why I feel like there is a teenager trapped inside my baby's body.  We spent Bugs first New Year's at Hubs' family cabin in the "twitterless wilderness" of Pennsylvania.  All in all it was great, a little hiking (surprisingly it was warm!) a little family time, some games, some drinking and lots of eating - it was wonderful. Even better was sleeping in until 10 am (yes you heard me, 10! I didn't even think that was possible anymore!) because my MIL snagged Bugs at 6 am both mornings so we could sleep in! It was heaven.

Well once we got home to finish our long weekend Bugs was totally out of sorts. She, like her momma, is a creature of habit and routine. Well her routine was shot to hell. Add that to more teeth (we blame everything cranky related to teething and have been since she was about 4 months old) and you have yourself the non-napping crabass baby of 2012.

So can someone please explain to me why my formally happy child is now throwing herself backwards head-first at the slightest sign of her displeasure? Our first temper tantrum.

-No remote? -throws entire body backwards and commences screaming fit for approximately 7 seconds....
-Removed her from dangerous end table? -throws entire body backwards and commences screaming fit for approximately 4 seconds....
-Placed in pack-n-play so I can pee without her injuring herself as I'm in the middle of deconstructing Christmas? -throws entire body backwards and commences screaming fit for approximately 15 seconds....

And this body throwing is not without appreciation. I mean she goes from the crawling position to backwards on her knees. This is some serious flexibility my friends. I guess if all else fails I can sell her to Cirque de Soleil. But I won't. Unless it's for a good price.

Does She Look Like Me Yet?

Since Bugs was born everyone comments "OH! She looks just like Hubs!" Which is great because I hear that helps fathers from wanting to flee from their offspring. But I had hoped she would at least look a little like me!

So the great Poppy (my dad) sent a picture after our visit over Thanksgiving to prove in fact she does look a tad like me...

Yes she looks a little like me in the eyes and nose (she has her dad's ears and mouth) but she looks a whole lot like her Aunt and Cousin - which is fine by me because they are both Gorgeous. And yes it needed a capital "G".  But I'll take what I can get! She's my Bugs afterall! Now if we could just figure out where those grey eyes came from we'd be set!

Monster Baby

This is not the first time Bugs has done this, however I feel it needs to be recorded for posterity.  Because you see, she is a "MONSTER BABY".

Hubs has growled at her as "MONSTER DAD" since she's been alive. And apparently "M"''s eldest son growls at her (in a non-threatening way of course) too. So now we have a "MONSTER BABY".  And I'm sure you will enjoy it!

(Sorry it's sideways I don't know how to fix that.)

And just to prove she is NOT demonic she can growl then talk then run away:



Also, when she first started "MONSTER BABY" it was in the middle of the night in our dark house and scared the bejesuz out of Hubs and I. Now that we know she is not demon spawn and can growl on command we find it entertaining to have her growl at passersby in the stores.  Entertaining indeed! Well until someone throws holy water at us.

Get a Move-on Tooth Fairy

From the time Bugs was about four months, our fabulous sitter "M" has said "OH - any day you'll see that tooth!". And it seemed true enough. You could feel the ever so tiny bumps under those baby gums. But alas, after months and months - still no tooth.

Well the tooth fairy must be in the Christmas Spirit because the first sighting of said tooth was December 9th (I know I'm behind here but I KNOW the date!).  It's her bottom left tooth (even though you could feel the top and bottom two teeth).

And she's grinning like a cat that ate the canary and all you see is one little fang. It's awesome! However, you think this kid will cheese it up for the camera? Yeah no, she'll smile but it's all closed mouth no toothy grins yet.

"What tooth?"

But in order to not forget the small stuff....we have a tooth! Just no evidence yet!


**UPDATE**
Over Christmas we procured evidence of said tooth as well as gained the second bottom tooth!

Well Hello there Santa Claus

Last night we took Bugs to meet Santa for the first time. Best idea comes from Hubs as he says "Let's go tonight while the Steelers are on Monday Night Football. I bet there won't be anyone there." And you know the man was RIGHT?! For reals there were approximately 5 people in line ahead of us! SWEET!

So Bugs is checking everything out. She loves to people watch and all the lights are just baby crack to her.  As we approach she's checking out the bearded man (note he did not have a hat but did have an authentic beard so he's a wash in the "good" Santa category) and not really displaying any sort of animosity.

Up we go towards Santa and I place her on his lap. All good. I turn around to walk out of the way of the camera and when I turn back around I see this:

"Santa! Please don't flash my girlie bits!"

Alright, that's one for the books! We purchased the ridiculously overpriced photos for us and the grandparents and walked about 1.5 feet away to get things situated/organized and I see this:

Who me?

Yes this is the angel we all know and love. Seriously though she has it right. I mean who would trust a stranger handing out candy asking you what your heart desires and begging you to sit on his lap? Kid's got good instincts and to that I quote The Black Eyed Peas...."I got it from her momma".

It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas

It’s Christmas at our house (at last!).  Due to an over scheduled December, the decorations were FINALLY pulled from the Attic of Disaster.  Having the nursery right outside the opening to the attic makes it nearly impossible to accomplish anything attic related. Because we all know you gotta get this shit done when the baby’s sleeping. But of course attic shenanigans wake the baby up. It’s a horrific cycle. Lesson learned is that Santa will not be storing ANYTHING in the attic in the future. The shed is looking mighty fine my friends.



Growing up we had some AWESOME traditions throughout the year. Halloween we went for pumpkins at the same patch, Christmas we went for a tree at the same farm, Easter the girls get Easter flowers on Good Friday. EVERY YEAR. I loved it. I love that most of the traditions have carried over to my husband and I.  We’ve cut down a tree every year since we’ve been together – even when we lived in Georgia and there was a freakin lizard in our tree (and it wasn’t even a “real” pine, it was some crazy shrub/tree concoction that was spray painted green).



Bugs First Tree



You gotta haul that tree yourself
or it doesn't count



That being said, there are some rules in my family about Christmas Trees. The first is that you MUST have a live tree. That smell is what it’s all about and no candle can trick me otherwise.  Second, you have to cut down your own tree and haul that sucker back through the muck, mud, snow, sleet and/or rain to your car. No lot trees for us (No offense if you’re lot tree people, or fake tree people for that matter). 



Now here comes the crazy good part.  When I was little, Santa decorated my tree. Yes, I went to bed with a nekkid tree and no presents to wake up and find the whole thing decorated with lights, candy, ornaments and presents everywhere. We didn’t even put gifts to one another under the tree until Christmas Eve. I would have to wait until my parents were in the living room before I could come out of my room to see everything. And let me tell you it was like walking into a Christmas heaven! We weren’t a wealthy family by any means, but waking up and seeing all that glamour and presents and stockings were weeks before that had been nothing – WOW! I will have those memories FOREVER!

The Hubs thinks this is a fantastic tradition. So even though Bugs is still too little to understand, Santa will be decorating our tree Christmas Eve so that she can wake up to all the Christmas glamour. Now I’ll just have to take a lesson from my parent’s book so that she doesn’t sneak out without us when she's older. In all my years, I never did. But then I never hunted presents either because I didn’t want to ruin the surprise.  So this may or may not last, but we’re going to try. And I’m forever grateful for the love and effort my parents put forth for me to have such magical memories.



Taking a Sick, but not really Day

As a new mom there are things that I’m constantly learning. Like snot suckers are the devil in a child’s brain. But I’m also learning “Mom Laws”.  So yesterday I learned “Mom Law 1” which would be that once your child gets sick and you stay home with her, she will be better by 9 am. 

Yes this is the first time I stayed home “sick” with Bugs. She wasn’t exactly sick-sick but she was up from midnight the previous night until when she crashed around 7 am.  She had a stuffy nose and is teething and her belly didn’t feel good – all three combined probably contributed to the late night rager that occurred at my house.  Well this momma was exhausted and the hour and half drive to work (then actually functioning at work) looked pretty bleak.  So we played hookie. And snuggled. And it was awesome!

Yes, watching Real World
Sprout all day IS exhausting.

As a working mom I don’t often get to just hang out. Usually the weekends are for catching up on everything that didn’t get done during the week. So yesterday was a nice excuse to just lie around and hang out and play and nap (and wow did she nap!) and just enjoy my baby. 

I have the utmost respect for you SAHM’s out there. As much as I enjoyed it, I know in my heart that I would be terrible at it. I love my job and I enjoy it and that is so rare. But I know that I wouldn’t be “me” if I didn’t have it. I would be a shell. A mommy shell. I would do a good job, but then what would I be teaching Bugs? I struggle a lot with leaving her at daycare, with missing out on the small stuff. It’s hard. It’s mommy guilt. I want the best of both worlds but can only choose one path. It stinks sometimes.

So I’ll take my sick days and enjoy them, even if it’s wiping snotty noses all day. It’s the small stuff that makes this mom gig worth it.

The Wrap Up - NYC edition

Bugs is ALIVE! (I knew you were all worried and hanging on the edge of your seats out there.) Probably because Hubs got called into work and MIL came to the rescue.  Hubs still has no clue as to what actually goes into caring for this youngster for an entire weekend (complete with chores).  I came home Sunday morning to find the little one with a cold and napping for 3 hours (which is usually unheard of!)  The look of joy on her face was priceless. Probably because I’d rescued her from the crib, but whatever I’m going to believe it was because of me!

The weekend was fantastic, minus the 6+ hour bus ride each way in the coach from hell. Pretty sure it was designed for midgets and the “escort” was terrible, but we made it with only taking out one sidewalk outside the Lincoln Tunnel. I won't even go into the terrible diner we stopped at along the way or the world's worst "escort" that forced us to stop at said nasty diner. Bus trip = suck-fest.

Once we arrived, got lost and then found, we decided to schlep from Times Square to Chinatown the 50 some blocks and back again. I’m sure honest to God citizens of the Big Apple think we’re crazy, but it was a nice day and we found a Crumbs Bakery on 6^th Ave that was not even nearly as crazy busy as the one in Times Square.  Along our journey to Downtown we saw hundreds (no I am NOT exaggerating) of Hootchie Santas. For Reals. They were everywhere. Apparently “SantaCrawl” was in full effect and these kids (OMG I just called 20 somethings kids, I’m officially old) were travelling everywhere dressed in various states of nakedness trying to pass themselves off as Santa, Mrs. Clause, Reindeer, and elves. I even heard one guy complain that the kids of NY were going to be traumatized by all the Santa wannabes. The best part was after they all stumbled out of the bar the kids yelling “Merry Christmas Santa!”  All the ones I saw played along and I hope none were traumatized too badly by Drunk Santas. We also witnessed a Mrs. Claus brawl with some intoxicated ladies – pure awesome.

I have to admit that all day I saw tons of kids being toted along by parents. Wow – you parents seriously rock. These children will learn to be so independent and city savvy! You work that city and holy cow how do you get groceries home? I’d be having that delivered in – and I only carried minimal purchases around all day!  Also you are geniuses because you blaze right through all the stupid tourists with your strollers and forge your own paths.  Note to self, bring a stroller next year – one to cart around packages in and two to forge paths.

Best parts were dinner in Little Italy, the window displays (NYC really does an amazing job of decorating) and Crumbs but the whole girls weekend was wonderful and getting away to come home to all the chores I left behind was priceless. Laundry waits for no woman, remember that. 

And sadly no Jen Aniston puppets were to be found. I even asked the scary back-shop knock-off sellers if they knew where I could find one. That's when they asked me to leave. Sorry Alyssa. I'll try and work that out on Etsy.

The Girls

First time away

This weekend is the first time I'll be leaving Bugs. I've spent every single night with her. Until tonight. I'm heading to the fabulous NYC to  stalk Mommy Shorts go shopping, eat a giant cupcake at Crumbs and sight see. I will also be on the lookout for a Jennifer Aniston puppet (ahem Alyssa), but I'm not holding my breath on that one.  But we are hitting up Chinatown, so you never know.

Anyway I'm leaving the care of my one and only with the Hubs.  Let me assure you he is entirely capable of doing this, yet here are few questions he's asked of me :

"Are you going to set out clothes for her all weekend" - because apparently he's never dressed her in the nine months she's been alive. I set clothes out this morning just to ease his fears.



Bugs first taste of pizza






"What do I feed her" - um food? It's gotten easier since she's now eating a little of what we eat but I'll give him this one. I've made a schedule to leave with him for the weekend.














"What if I don't hear her in the middle of the night?" - oh you will my friend. Trust me she only gets louder the longer you wait.

"I'm calling my mom to come over" - fine by me! My MIL (mother in law) is pretty awesome and she almost always brings food/dessert. Win - dinner when I get home. The only downside is that he may not FULLY GET just how hard it is to be with her all by yourself all weekend.  Is it wrong of me to wish this on him? naaahhhh. He NEEDS to know.

I'm guessing that these are all normal Dad type dilemmas. And I'm going to say as long as Bugs is alive when I get home Sunday afternoon, it will go down as a win in my book.  I'm sure that I will be sad and call and check in often, but honestly I am SO looking forward to sleeping soundly for two nights.

For Buggy

I’ve always dreamed of you.  One little girl to call my very own. I thought you’d be just like me, look like me, act like me. And every day I look at you, you’re just like your Dad. The laugh, the attitude (and yes at 9 months you have one!), the looks – they are all your daddy. You’re so lucky. I’m so lucky.

 I’m so glad you’re not like me. You’re you. And you’re perfect.

And it all started here

This is Bugs, Buggy, Bug, my baby.

It all starts because of her. Because I don't want to forget anything. And lately I forget everything. Pretty sure that's part of the "blur". At least I hope so because otherwise I need some ginko baloba in my life.

Most days its always the same thing, get up, take care of the baby, drive an ungodly long trip to work/daycare with the baby, work, pick up baby, drive the same awful drive home, take care of the baby, put baby to bed, relax for approx. 1.5 seconds and go to bed myself.

But then, then there are those shining moments, where she started to crawl, started to stand, giggled at a silly face, blew me a kiss, fake coughed at me, gave me a sloppy - Charlotte's bad kisser boyfriend on SATC kiss, that I just don't want to forget. I don't want them to be lost in the shuffle anymore.

When she asks, I want to be able to remember and tell her every detail. So this is for her, and me. And I probably won't get it right, but so far I've been inspired by best, funniest, bloggers and for all you girls, thanks.  And thank you to Sara, because in order to start this journey my sad self couldn't even get past the first question - the title.