These are the days

Everyone thinks they have the cutest kid. Parents are so biased because they are so obsessed with their perfect little creation. I am no different, and I need to express what I love so very much about my little girl in this moment.

- When she is really, really tired you cannot get her thumb out of her mouth. If it's past her bedtime she doesn't usually get whiny or upset. She just hard core sucks her thumb. And then she smiles when you try to pry the thumb out to change her clothes. It's that sneaky little smile like she knows she isn't listening to you. Fiesty!

- She eats dirt. Ok, so that's not the most endearing quality, but it truly makes me giggle for some reason. I can sweep, vacuum, mop and then do it all again and she will seek out the one speck of dirt that is left on the floor and promptly shove it in her mouth. You would think we don't feed her, but I promise we do. In fact, Seth thinks I feed her too much!

- She loves lima beans. She inhales them actually. It's quite interesting to watch her eat right now because it's so intense and purposeful. A little bit of me comes out when she eats (go figure) because it's a little OCD.

- Everything she does makes me laugh. This scares me because at some point when I have to discipline her it will be very hard for me to even take myself seriously. I have this problem with her dad actually. We never  end up getting in fights because he makes me laugh (eventually).

This little girl makes me so very, very happy (if you can't tell). I simply cannot wait to spend every waking minute with her this summer!

New things

1) Cloth diapering - I went to a fantastic class on cloth diapering held by Super Natural Momma, Renee.  I have been thinking about it since before Lila was born, but never got my act together. It's an investment up front and if you have no clue about the options it can be rather daunting. But, I feel more prepared to take the steps and make the change. I love Renee's list of the reasons why to do cloth instead of disposable. That is pretty much what got me to take this seriously. That and Lila's skin issues. She has had some exzema and bumpy, rashy skin along with diaper rashes. I will keep you posted on what I buy and what I like in the world of cloth diapering as I dig in.

2) Ergo baby carrier - I have also been sold on the Ergo baby carrier as opposed to other carriers. I have a baby Bjorn and really haven't been happy with it. It may be because I had a bigger baby, but she never seems to really fit quite right. Except for when she was really little it has always felt too tight (yes I have tried loosening it). It also KILLS my back. I can't wear it for more than 15 minutes before my lower back is screaming at me. While I do not have an Ergo yet, I will get one in the near future.  I tried one on yesterday and I love the lower back support at the bottom.

3) Baby Food - I have recently had a few people ask me about making baby food. What's so funny is that it's probably the easiest thing involving anything baby that I have done so far!  You can buy baby food recipe books, but really I would save your money. There are some fantastic websites out there that are free! In fact, Wholesome Baby Food is where it's at (in my opinion). Baby food making is all about how you cook the food you want to puree. Then you puree it. Mix it with other things or just serve (depending on the age/stage of your baby). That's it. You can get creative on your own or use their fantastic ideas. Once you puree it, pour it in ice cube trays and freeze it. One cube is one serving.  Seriously, jarred baby food is mostly water and fillers. Teresha over at Marlie and Me wrote a great post about that very thing. I am still holding out for my Beaba babycook food maker, but I have exclusively used the magic bullet so far and it has been very good.  At any rate, we are now in the stage of finger foods and I am trying to get more creative with putting things together. I am going to attempt to post a new "recipe" or idea for feeding under the Foodie tab each week. This week's is avocado and cream cheese balls! Take a look.

4) Blog tabs - Speaking of tabs (this has nothing to do with anything baby) I have not been utilizing my tabs very much up there. Being that I am crazy for music, I have added a new tab that will feature each week's favorite song and my favorite lyrics from the song. The new song will be added every Wednesday. If you have any suggestions I would love to hear them!!!  Just comment under the post in the Weekly Song tab with your suggestion. 

That's all for now!  Have a great week.

Pop princess loathing

I have a MAJOR bone to pick.
Who told people like Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus, and Ke$ha (oh how it pains me to even type that) that they could be a star? How does that happen? And a singing star at that. These insanely horrible "singers" who just happen to be able to throw together a show have always bothered me. I mean really, really bothered me. They get under my skin like nose picking and bad drivers. I try really hard not to expose myself to the garbage that is passed off as music by artists like this. I try really hard to dig out the good stuff that is hidden beneath the CRAP. It actually takes more effort than you might think.

Unfortunately, I found myself in a situation tonight where I began to watch a Miley Cyrus performance on American Idol and the train wreck that ensued was like a magnet. It's like when I played tennis last night and I kept hitting the ball right to the girl at the net in just the right spot for her to slam it so hard I had no chance. Seriously, this happened 29 times. It's the kind of thing where you know you should stop but something so hideous about it makes you incapable of changing your behavior. What's even more unfortunate is that this same "performance" watching experience happened not long ago on American Idol again when I ended up watching Ke$ha perform. I wanted to jump into the TV and scream. Let's be brutally honest here. If any of the above mentioned chicks had been on American Idol before they became "famous" the whole crew of judges would have ripped them to pieces. Miley Cyrus is "mentoring" people on this show who could sing her under the table. I would like to call Simon Cowell and suggest a sing off between Miley and any of the American Idol contestants. Eminem syle in 8 mile is what I am envisioning.

Why do I even care? Why am I letting this rattle me? As I mentioned, it has always bothered me but now I have a future teeny bopper to think about. I have a child who happens to be a girl and girls get sucked into Hannah Montana type disasters no matter what their parents say.  I am fully aware that there will be many struggles and things to worry about along the way in regards to raising children. This one should be at the bottom of my list of concerns. I just need it to be noted at this very moment that I am going to do everything in my power to show LJ the really great music that I was shown. Maybe when she is watching the millionth season of American Idol someday someone that can actually sing will be her example. I'm not banking on it.

And so it begins...

They always tell you there's a bell curve for everything. Your child either hits milestones at the beginning of the curve (early), right on time, or later in the curve (all the parent hears is late). I think I do a fairly decent job of not letting myself focus too much on things that seem to happen later than I think they should. Lila had no teeth until a month ago and now she has four. Apparently, that's a good thing to be late about.

However, I will fully admit that the lack of effort in the crawling department was beginning to stress me out a little. Of course, everything you read says that some kids never crawl. Well that's fine and all, but I didn't really want my kid to be one of them. And, being that I am a teacher, my coworkers are asking if she is crawling. Some have even said, "well you know there is a correlation between crawling and reading". Yea, I looked that up and it is incredibly inconclusive. BUT, being a new parent means your mind then races with the random nonsense that comes with comments like that. On the other hand, being that she hasn't really seemed to care to go anywhere we haven't made ANY effort to baby proof our house. My cousin gave us an entire box of baby proofing gadgets that her husband apparently researched like crazy. It is sitting in Lila's closet waiting for the day when we actually needed to go through it.That day has come! As you can see from the video, we have an interesting area of bricks in our den that just has a blanket on it. It's oddly shaped and I have no idea how to cover it. These are things we will have to sort out. Like now.

 

Her light shines bright

At times in my life I have said I am not pessimistic, I am realistic. Growing up I followed this redhead chick around who basically oozed positivity. People have always been drawn to her because of this. People like Meg are really bright lights that make us not so positive people want to be better. They make you want to find something to jump up and down about every day. Positive thinking has never been a natural thing for me. I feel like I have to really train myself to feel super positive about things. While I have gotten better about this, things get me down easily and I truly envy people who face adversity with a smile.

All of this being said, I have been blessed with a lot of people like Meg in my life. The brightest and most positive one of those people is my aunt. She compliments the nurse who places the IV. She thanks the doctor for his soothing tone. I haven't even seen her yet, but I know that everything that makes her my aunt Linda is fighting to get better in the most positive and graceful manner. If a good attitude could cure cancer she would be the best example of how to make it happen. Every time I even think about her I immediately want to incorporate her outlook on life into my everyday behavior. If it isn't too late for new year's resolutions I would like to add "be more like my aunt" to my list.

If you are the praying type, please keep her on your list of prayers.  This world needs to find a way to hold on really tight to the good ones like Linda.

You know you're a mom when....

We are getting closer and closer to the one year mark and I just really cannot believe it.  While the 10 month header pictures are not great quality at all (taken on Seth's cell phone), they are the perfect representation of my child. It can be hard to capture Lila's hair in full effect. A lot of people that don't know me well that either see pictures or see her in person are very quick to give me "pointers" on how to make the hair not look like this. I kind of want to say to them, "how do you know I don't make it look this way?". I don't. (Well, ok. In this particular picture her hair was kind of dirty and Seth may have messed it up a little. BUT, it actually looks pretty close to this on a daily basis). But they don't know that. Furthermore, it is who she is. I am not going to grease her up with lotion or put bows in it just so it won't stick up. We embrace it because it's just too darn cute not to.

Anyway, please add to my little list of silliness here....

You know you're a mom when....

...you take a rare hour or two to go shopping for yourself and you buy more outfits for your child than you do for yourself.
...you leave the house with no make-up and no attempt at looking decent and you truly don't care (and you are not hungover from some party the night before).
...you find yourself humming the tune or singing the song of a toy or gadget that your child constantly plays with.
...you can suddenly picture older children as babies and it makes you smile (this may be the teacher in me).
...you find yourself appreciating your own mom more than ever.
...you count the hours: sleep (sometimes minutes), time spent with your husband, time spent with your child(ren), time spent doing household nonsense, etc. There are never enough hours.
...you realize that you were so diligent in filling in the baby book until the baby no longer spent most of the day staring at you.
...your child is screaming at some public place and you feel the slow motion effects of being judged.
...you have to make hard decisions in the hopes that one day she will look at you and say she is proud of what you have done for her.

Is Starbucks organic?

It's coffee. Yea they add milk and a whole host of other goodness to it. But at the core, coffee isn't jacked up like everything else we consume is it? I am struggling here. The Food Inc. man made me lose sleep over this and yet he gave me very few suggestions of what to actually eat. Truly, I have found that I don't actually WANT to eat a lot of the crap I typically would have eaten a week or so ago. I haven't had soda. I have only been eating meals with food purchased at the farmers market. Nothing has come from a box. I was doing really well....that is until today. I went to Starbucks and was fine with that. I have a masters student observing me and she brought me subway (with chips) as a treat and I felt REALLY bad not eating with her because it was such a nice gesture. So I did. Then I went to this work baby shower and ate like crazy. Get togethers are my weakness when it comes to food. Eating is SO social for me. What is more social than a shower celebrating a woman who is at the only time in her life when people expect her to eat whatever she wants?

I am not saying that any of this has damaged me for life or is really that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things. Seth tells me I need to approach this all organic lifestyle slowly or I will get burnt out quickly. Another flaw in my general make up is how things just stick with me.

SIDE NOTE - I'm not sure if I blogged about my movie fiasco on the way to Vegas, but I bought the movie Precious on the airplane on the flight out. About halfway through the "system" shut down. So I never saw the rest of the movie. This movie has damaged me. I mean seriously and for real. It has messed me up. I can't get the story out of my head and I don't even know the ending.

That is almost how badly Food Inc. is sticking with me. BUT, I guess they wouldn't make documentaries if they didn't want you to get fired up about something and hold onto the message they are trying to convey.

I know what you're thinking. LIGHTEN UP. Yea well, that's why they call them flaws right? If it was easy to get rid of them everyone would be perfect and that would just be lame.

It's official

1)  I am SEVERELY out of shape. I knew it was bad, but it's really, really bad. I haven't exercised since before Lila was born except for the random tennis match here and there. Sara and I decided to pick an exercise video off of On Demand. We scrolled through the choices and made what we thought was an educated decision. Unfortunately, it did not go well. Let's just say Gillian Michaels is not the instructor to choose your first time back in the saddle. Some of my students asked me today if I was sick again. Not one cough, sniffle, or sneeze came out. Apparently it was evident that I was out of sorts due to the moans and groans every time I moved.

2) I will not be going back to my job next year. I told my principal and a few other people today and yesterday. The relief and comfort in just saying it out loud was immense. At least I can say I tried. I tried to make being a full-time elementary school teacher and a mom work. I am just too much of a perfectionist so when I feel like something is lacking and I'm not giving enough in some area of my life it overwhelms me. I have said this before, but I constantly feel like I am 10% a mom, 10% a teacher, 10% a wife, 10% a friend, and I have no idea where the rest of it goes. I truly admire those mom/teachers that can hack it, and there are some that do it astonishingly well. Someday I will try it again when my kids are in school. But while I have babies I need to be a mom because that is what I am meant to be. Of course, I will have to find some kind of work from home or extra income so if you know of anything let me know!

3) Lila is growing up too fast. She is flying through the 12 month clothes and I am afraid to even get anymore. I think I just need to skip to 18-24 months. Double her age! One of my fabulous emails told me this the other day:

"Don't be surprised if your baby develops a serious case of copycat-itis around now. These days, she may attempt to mimic everything you do -- from using a spoon to brushing her hair. Just make sure she's not also picking up some of your less, um, charming behaviors."

And wouldn't you know Lila is at this stage in full force. I noticed after not seeing her all weekend while we were in Vegas that she started doing the motorboat sound with her mouth (I have no idea how else to explain the sound I'm talking about). Kim called it a strawberry so that sounds good too. Anyway, Seth did it back and it suddenly became a contest of who could keep this game going the longest. Seth quickly lost either due to his shock that she was full on mimicing him or more due to his uncontrollable laughter. Either way, this was one of those "where is my video camera" moments. Now, not only is she "motor-boating" but today I said the word go and she said it almost exactly back to me!  Of course she doesn't have a clue what it means because I just randomly said it. She was making the hard g sound so I just chose the word go to see if she would say it. She only likes to eat/chew spoons instead of use them for what they are and she also eats the hairbrush instead of using it. But, who's counting right? It's just so much fun to see her become more and more of a toddler, but so overwhelming sad to see some of the baby aspects disappear. 


SIDE NOTE:
Quick shout out (yea, I said it) to my friend Kristin!  She found out today that she is having a boy. I can't wait to meet little Mittel!!!


 

A whole bunch of CRAP

That is really an awful title for a post, but it embodies the things I want to cover. Aren't you excited?

My fabulous week of sickness ended with the stomach bug. Just when I had mostly kicked the throat funk I woke up on Thursday and was very excited to be feeling better. I missed work on Monday due to being sick. I should have stayed home Tuesday, and maybe even Wednesday, but I didn't. Getting a sub is more work than just going and suffering through it.

I knew I couldn't miss Thursday because we were going on a field trip. So the stars aligned that I felt better and I was excited about the field trip to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. Unfortunately, it was freezing. But, the kids tried so hard to enjoy it. Well, most of them did anyway. I didn't feel quite right during the field trip but I couldn't place the feeling. Then I ate lunch. Needless to say, the last thirty minutes and the bus ride back were TORTURE. No way was I going to stop a bus full of second graders. I was sitting in the very last seat in the very back of the bus and right before we got to school one of my students got a wicked bloody nose. Enter MY HELL. I did good to get my class into the building before I went into the teacher's lounge. The principal and vice principal were eating lunch and I busted out crying while managing to stammer that I was going to be sick. I promptly did just that (in the bathroom thank God).

I somehow got in my car and drove myself home only to run in the door where Katie and my sister are talking and say how sick I was and get to the bathroom again. Good times. So, I did not go to work on Friday and by the end of Friday I was a new person. Go figure.

Friday night Sara and I decided to watch Food Inc. I know, I know. Who spends 24 hours in the bathroom on and off to then watch a movie about how wrecked the food industry is? Well, as you can see I'm a little behind as usual. This movie came out a while ago. At least I am trying to catch up right?

Maybe you think organic food is a ploy to get you to spend more money. Maybe you look at the "crunchy" or "granola" moms out there and think how silly they are for spending more or taking more time to make foods that don't come out of a box. That was me two or three years ago. Slowly I started reading and paying attention and noticing more and more about the food I eat.

This movie has now put me over the edge. It is scary, overwhelming, disgusting, and disheartening. Here are the three things I took away from it:

1) If this is what the "government run" food industry has become, God help us if the government really does take over healthcare. When I said scary I was first referring to the fact that almost every politician that has a leading role in the FDA and/or USDA also has a leading role in major portions of the meat industry.

2) Farmers don't stand a chance. What started as the backbone of this country has now been degraded and destroyed to a point where it may never recover.

3) Individuals can make a difference. It may not ever change the whole system, but if you watch this movie and you don't at least consider making major changes you are just as much a part of the problem.

I have to find a way to really change many things about what I eat. I frequent the Dekalb Farmer's Market where everything is organic so I have already made steps in that regard. But, other regular grocery store items I often buy are going to have to make an exit from our lives. I am also looking into Co-ops.  More on that coming soon!  Sorry for the insanely long post. Thank you for reading all of it and have a great week!

All things baby part two

First, I want to say that I have been getting some spam comments. Back when only two people read this blog I took the setting off where you have to type some cryptic word to leave a comment because I found it annoying. I want this to be a place where commenting is easy! However, recently I have been getting a random spam comment here and there. They are easy to delete, but just as annoying as the cryptic word thing. Now I just need to go back and figure out how to add the word thing back.

Second, I love that people are commenting on the books and baby stuff! Please keep them coming. I have said this before, but there are a handful of ladies out there who read this blog who don't have kids but will in the future. They are great friends and if they continue to read I want them to see the diversity of parenting styles that are out there. That may be from reading blogs I have listed to the right, reading comments like the ones left on the previous post, or maybe at some point learning something from me. Being a new mom can be very overwhelming and finding your groove and what works for you is one of the most rewarding parts. As you can see, I chose to incorporate parts of the Baby Wise method while others did not. I would love to hear more about how they do things too. That's the other thing about all of these methods and theories and books. They are ENDLESS. The information is ENDLESS. That in and of itself can be too much sometimes. I have said this before too, but I feel it needs repeating. Whatever you choose to do, always know that you are doing a great job. You should never feel like you have to keep up with someone else or do what they do. Every baby/mom/dad/family is so different.

Alright, sorry for the preachy side of me coming out. In the world of parenting I have been so supported and I am eternally grateful for that. I just want to spread the wealth!

All things baby....sort of

I recently had a friend ask me for recommendations of pregnancy books. That question has spawned this post. PLEASE comment if you have anything to add, disagree with, or complain about in regards to my opinions on all things baby (that I can think of right this minute).

Pregnancy Books:

I love to read. Unfortunately, while prego I was working (which already requires plenty of reading) and I was getting my gifted certification (which required a ridiculous amount of reading). Therefore, I was tapped out. BUT, I did manage to narrow the vast section of pregnancy books down to a few based on recommendations.

1) I know she's absolutely crazy and no I don't think vaccines gave her child autism, but Belly Laughs by Jenny McCarthy is a funny, quick read that is a scary kind of honest. I like people to be straight with me and Jenny was one of the few who was, crazy or not.
2) What to Expect When You're Expecting....the standard guide to pregnancy. I used it as a guide and not a cover to cover read because it is LONG. The best part about the book is that if you are feeling it, thinking it, or crying over it, they have you covered. They also have a great website which is where the link will take you so I'm not going to include it under the websites section below.
3) The Girlfriends Guide to Pregnancy came the most highly recommended. I have to admit I didn't finish it, but what I did read also gave me the honesty I felt was lacking in the pregnant world.  Again, the website is great too!

Baby's First Year:

So, even though my time for reading became less available, the necessity for it took over.

1) All Books Baby Wise - Let me start by saying that the Baby Wise method isn't everyone's cup of tea. I have said before that I have seen it work enough times to know that it was the way to go for me. If you want more information email me and let me know. I can give you an entire dissertation that not everyone may want to read in this post!
2) Baby 411 - This book has been a great "ages and stages" sort of book. I can pick it up at any random point and get a quick, yet detailed amount of information that always satisfies my need for info. For instance, Lila started eating baby food but then I felt like she was ready for more finger foods instead. However, my "on her own time" child didn't have teeth yet and I was concerned about choking. I looked it up and they said that any food that is in the stage for her age and is cooked correctly can be gummed well enough to do the job and no teeth should not be a reason to wait. Done and done!
3) Touch Points - Diapering, feeding, and clothing a child are pretty easy things to learn. Understanding and dealing with "the witching hour" or separation anxiety, not so much. This book does a great job of helping you conqeur the ever changing emotional needs of an infant.
4) What to Expect and the Girlfriends Guides listed above also have great "sequels"!

Websites:

On these sites you go in and put your due date or your child's birthday and they send you emails (weekly or monthly). If you are pregnant they email you 3D pictures of what your baby is looking like every week and tell you about what you might be experiencing. I loved getting these emails every week. It was better than any book I could have read! Some people don't like emails, but I LOVE them. I love that I can skim them, see if there is anything I care about in regards to me or my child, and then read on if I so choose. Sometimes there are forums or chats you can join too where the wealth of firsthand knowledge is amazing. For instance, I joined one for moms that teachers. LOVE IT.
www.parents.com 
www.babycenter.com
http://3dpregnancy.parentsconnect.com (this is the one I read the most during pregnancy)

Lastly, in regards to all things baby, I would like to make a few suggestions dealing with money. These are things you can do before baby comes too and stock up! There are insane deals to be had if you look for them...

1) Join EVERYTHING you can think of that has to do with babies and things you might use. I shop at Publix. Publix has a baby club that sends me coupons with insane amounts of money off of products. Join diaper company websites, formula websites, get a Babies R Us Rewards membership (you typically get this if you register there). Do any of those things you can think of. Worst case they will send you emails or coupons you don't need that you either delete or recycle. Publix also takes competitor coupons that seriously add up, but couponing is another post for another day.

2) www.kidswoot.com   They have a daily item up for sale. Some of it is total crap. Some of it is not. I once saw a sleep sack for $3.99 on a two for Tuesday! Two sleep sacks (typically over $15 each) for $4!

3) www.babyhalfoff.com  They have one item daily that is half off, if not more. Great stuff like Robeez, cloth diapers, and more.

Alright, I think I have exhausted myself with this post. Again, please comment with any other suggestions!