The Begining of the End

After a lot of discussion, like a lot a lot- nearly two weeks worth of discussion, I've decided it's time to start weaning Tegan, and thankfully the Hubs is on board too. It wasn't an easy decision to make especially with Tegan's current weight issues (although I doubt its ever really an easy decision to make), not to mention the added cost of buying formula (holy expensive batman!). I feel a bit relieved having made the decision. It also helps that we had an unofficial weight check mid month that puts Tegan at gaining a pound since her last appointment.

The timing just seems right for Tegan, I think she's started weaning herself anyway. And for me, I'll be relieved to have a way to acknowledge how much she's eating instead of guessing how much she's getting. Since we found out she had lost weight it's been really stressful on me trying to get her to eat what the medical society deems as enough when the only form of measuring I have is in minutes. In all honesty even before we knew there was a weight problem feedings had become really stressful trying to keep her focused. There's also the small factor that I've mentioned before, that feedings now are really painful! She doesn't actually bite, at least not often, but the mechanics have changed with the introduction of lil teeth.

Making the decision was only one step though, now we have to start the transition. We've tried a few times to give her a bottle but she just doesn't go for it, and quite frankly at this point if we were able to get her to take a bottle we'd just be getting her unused to them in a few months. So our game plan is to continue feeding her normally for a while longer while we get her used to a sippy cup. Once she can drink comfortably from her cup I'll start skipping one feeding at a time for a glass of formula with her solids. This seems like a good solution to everything. She'll keep getting breastmilk for a while and keep beefing up, we'll get her used to a sippy cup and ready for the transition to cows milk when she's one, and hopefully a reduced stress weaning situation. It sounds like a perfect plan in theory. I guess we'll have to wait and see how it works out in real life.

I'm happy with the timing. I'm happy with the plan. I'm happy with the decision. But in true parent form...I feel guilty. I feel guilty for asking the Hubs to work the cost of formula into the budget. I feel looming guilt for stressing out Tegan. I feel guilty for not giving Tegan the best when we're having trouble keeping her size up. But mostly I feel guilty that even with all those things listed above, overall I'm happy and relieved to have an end to breastfeeding in sight. I feel guilty that this isn't a harder decision for me to make. I'm ready to be done, and that's what gives me the most pause, and the most guilt.

Baby Etiquette

(Alternative Title; Things that annoy the snot out of this Momma)

I try my best not to be a 'Debby Downer', but every now and then a good rant is so very therapeutic. And in lieu of the holiday season approaching I figured a few etiquette tips would be a great disguise for this rant :) So in no particular order, here are the things I would suggest avoiding when interacting with children and/or their parents this holiday season, or at least when you are within spitting distance of me or I may just spit back at you, j/k...sorta:

1.) If you want to get my daughters attention, please don't call and whistle at her like she's a dog. She does know her name, and if she's not responding to it she's trying to ignore you. Instead I would suggest doing something more intersting than poking at her just to say hi. Otherwise I will not be held accountable when either my child or myself has this reaction to you.

2.) Please keep in mind that if I am holding my daughter and you get all up in her face, you are also getting all up in my face. Personal space people...even babies need it, those kissable cheeks will have to be admired in limited quantities, or from a distance.

"Don't bug me! I'm sleeping here!!"

3.) Please don't ask me every 5 minutes when my child will wake up from her nap, or jokingly threaten you are about to wake her up because she's taking too long. I know you are excited to see her, but nap time is vital to my sanity, and necessary down time for my daughter. As an adult I expect you to be able to amuse yourself, and/or keep your britches on for an hour or two. I promise, I'm not making my daughter take a nap just to annoy you.

4.) When taking a special outing with us, please don't bring along more than you are willing to carry yourself. While I understand some strollers are as big as a shopping cart, I utilize that space for things I need to care for my child. If I have to dig through all your bags, extra sweatshirt, jackets, bottled beverages, and whatever else you have shoved under there, or stop every few feet to access or stash said items my baby will not be the only one cranky in record time.

5.) When winding down for a nap, whether at home or in a strange place, my daughter will occasionally cry. Sometimes harder than others, sometimes longer than others. Please don't remind me every few minutes she is still crying, or claim that it is difficult to listen to her cry. This momma knows how heart wrenching it is to hear that cry, but also knows sometimes a few tears will fall before dream land descends.

"This is my fussy face!"

6.) When basking in my daughters adorableness, please remember to take into account what she needs, not just what you want. While it's hard to pass up some snuggle time, it might not be the right time for her. We have a very active curiouse munchkin, and holding her in one place might cause fussiness. This fussiness is not to be confused as her cue to be held more, but a plea for wiggle room. If you love her set her free!

7.) Don't assume just because I am a stay at home momma, I have all the time in the world to answer your calls, texts, emails, smoke signals, or any other form of communication. While some days I will be ably to accommodate you immediately, other times it may take a while- minutes, hours, even days, occasionally weeks. My slow/lack of response is not a personal attack on you...yet...

8.) If you ask a favor of me, and I arrange my schedule, and my child's schedule to accommodate you, do not call an hour before the agreed upon time for said favor, and ask to change things because it would be more convenient for you. That's just rude, and has the uncanny affect of causing the action of a face palm. I am more than capable of causing my own headaches thank you very much, your help is not appreciated. **Exception to this rule; if you are also a parent of a little one I understand life happens, you are allowed a pass, and a commissary pat/hug. We can reschedule at a time that works for both parties, perhaps at a time that a glass of wine can be involved.

"Hee, hee, hee! Momma's lost it again!"

And lastly while the above are all in good fun, disobeying them will only cause the wrath of this momma to descend on you and smush pie in your face under the ruse of an innocent trip, this last one is an absolute must and a serious issue...

9.) Please, please, PLEASE, for all that is good and right in the world, DO NOT slip my daughter a special treat unless you have cleared it with her parents first! We know what she is eating, what she can eat, and what may cause problems or bring harm to her. She may not be ready to ingest your special treat. Disregard to this rule WILL cause you physical harm. You are warned.

By simply following these simply guidelines, which come on, are really close to just common courtesy, you will ensure the best possible moods for all involved. Plus you have the added bonus of avoiding this face:

"You're an idiot!"

Best of luck and sanity to all the momma's this holiday season. May my unfortunate experiences not grace your festivities. I have encountered all of the above. Mostly from two 'unique' family members. I'm sure some of you can guess at least one of the offenders based on previous posts here (all though most of the above did not originate from her!). Perhaps some of you that know me in real life can guess the main offender. Ha!

Those few out there reading this, anything you would like to add to this list?

9 Months!

This month has really just flown by again (as is evident by my lack of posts again. Sigh). I have a feeling the next few months are going to fly by even faster with holiday festivities starting. Especially since it is officially holiday season in my book. I'm so looking forward to your first holiday everything, but for now here's where we're at:

Weight: 14lbs 9oz. Unfortunately that's not a typo. At your last check up at 6 months you were 14lbs 7oz. Although there is also a little confusion around this since according to the Dr's office you lost weight, but the paper work they sent home with me shows you gaining a few ounces. Which ever record is right, it still doesn't spell out a good situation. I've been worried about your weight for a while, so when I read the scale at your appointment I was close to tears. Meal times lately have become a battle and I'm not sure how to get past that. We'll go back for a weight check in a month to make sure you're not losing anymore. For now though you've fallen to into the 1st percentile for weight.

Height: 27in, moving you up to the 31st percentile.

Head Circumference: 17in. placing you solidly in the 27th percentile.

Clothes: You're getting closer to filling out your 6-9 months clothes. With any luck next month your update will read that these are fitting you correctly.

Diapers: You're still comfortably rocking out in the size 3 diapers

Feeding: We've made it so far through the teething troubles, and are continuing to breastfeed. You have officially bitten me a few times and it is NOT fun! We tried sneaking in a bottle to give me a break and chance to unclench my teeth, but the nipple on the bottle confused you and instead of eating you decided to use it as a teether. Oops. Guess we haven't been doing so well keeping you used to a bottle. Sigh. At least you've only bitten me a few times. My best guess is that you're eating around 5-3 ounces a feeding. With any luck I'll get this back up bit more.

As of the first of this month we have you eating 3 meals a day of solid food. You still prefer fruits to anything else, and I have yet to find a way to successfully sneak in any meat. When I make a concoction that's fruity enough you'll gobble it all down, usually about 4oz a sitting. But if it's not fruity enough to mask the veggies we sneak in you'll literally turn your nose up at it. The one thing we have found that you'll eat even better than fruit are rice puffs! Holly cow you scarf those down. You'll actually throw a little baby temper tantrum if I try to take your puffs away!

Sleeping: You have created a pretty rock solid schedule for yourself these days. It's pretty easy to guess when you'll be waking up, and when you'll be going down for a nap. You're still sleeping through the night, but you have been edging towards a more 'normal' wake up time. This doesn't always go over well when I drearily stumble to your crib without an ounce of coffee in me yet, but we're working it out. Lucky for me you think it's hysterical when I drink coffee. Ha!

Baths: Sigh...we're back to hating baths again. I really think it's that you HATE being cold. Can't blame you there.

Milestones:
Crawling: You are officially all over the place. If you see something you want to investigate you don't hesitate to wiggle your way over to it. Wiggle being the operative word! You still don't have crawling in the traditional sense figured out, meaning on hands and knees, but you have modified the army crawl to work for your needs. You can definitely pick up speed when you're motivated too. No sign yet of pulling yourself up to a standing position, but you're working on figuring it out, I can almost see the wheels turning as you're trying to figure out how to make it work.

Teething: So far you seem to be snow plowing through teething. You have two teeth on the bottom, and you've been working on a few on top too. You're still usually a pretty laid back teether, but you have your moments. Again I can't really blame you for this. I even took a brush up coarse in teething this month when my wisdom teeth started acting up. Sympathy pain? Perhaps, the bottom line was still 'OUCH'!

Talking: This month you've been working on your weird sounds! This resulted in a disclaimer to Grandma when she took you for an over night. You've developed your own version of a silly laugh that has the unfortunate side affect of sounding like you're gasping for breath. It's a dead give away when you break into the giggles afterwords though. Ha! There's a few other noises that you're working on, and Hubs says we need to work on a few that don't sound like a medical emergence :) We've also learned that the best time to practice your noises is when you are cruising around. At least I can always hear where you're at!

Check Ups: You had your 9 month check up this week. As I mentioned at the beginning there are a few concerns about your weight. You really are a very tiny peanut. We'll have to go in again in a month to see how you're doing. I'm glad we'll get another check up before you're 12 month appointment though. It also conveniently works out to get your second flu shot. Sorry in advance for that! Other than your itty bitty size, everything looks good. So we just have to get you to eat a little more.

Baby's First Halloween!

Happy Halloween Tegan!

It's been a crazy month so far, and it seems to have just flown by! But we have been busy enjoying the fall season. This year for Halloween we're not planing on going out trick-or-treating, but I'm hoping by next year Tegan will be able to grasp the concept of free candy and dress up. I'm definitely looking forward to taking her trick-or-treating when she's older.

Even though we aren't going trick-or-treating we're still having some Halloween fun. I made Tegan a turtle costume which she has been able to rock out to two Halloween parties so far. Our fist party was last weekend, the third annual Halloween party hosted by my sister and her family. I spent most of last week working on Tegan's costume giving little thought to what I might do...oops. Ha! I managed to throw together a costume for myself about an hour before the party. I went as the thing that goes bump in the dryer, static clings evil cousin, I was the dreaded sock monster! That's right, run away in fear! We perfectly fit the theme of the party NOT, which was scary.  Her cousin was a killer bee and absolutly adorable. I was a little worried that some of the costumes would scare her, but she took it all in stride. It was a really great time and even though Tegan stayed up way past her bedtime it went smoother than I would have expected. The ride home got a little hairy as she screamed the whole way home. At least until we were two blocks from home and she finally fell asleep just in time for us to wake her back up and go inside. Sigh! But considering we got home from the party three hours past bedtime she did really very well.

Me and my lil Turtle

Grandma with Sophie and Tegan

Our second party was at our ECFE class, which due to MPLS schools policies was really just a dress up day. But come on, who can say no to a room full of babies dressed up in costumes. I nearly died of cuteness.

Left to right: Turtle-Tegan, Lion-Camden, Punk Rock Star-Margo, Chicken-Betsy, and Spider-Gavin

And finally to wrap up the night our big plans are to have my parents over for a Jack-o-lantern pizza from Pappa Murphys and handing out candy. All in all, I say it's been a good Halloween!

8 Months!

If anyone happens upon the pause button, please let me know! While it still blows my mind that you are over half a year old, I'm really enjoying the stage you are in right now. You are so expressive these days, and seem to giggle at the smallest things. I don't know how to express it, and maybe other moms know experienced this too, but you seem to be becoming more of a little person and not just a baby. It's so much fun to watch that come out in you. As I've said all along you are going to have a stubborn streak a mile long, but you've also started to show that you are going to become one independent little diva. You are also just so laid back about everything, and almost always in a happy mood, and for that I am very thankful, and extremely spoiled!

Here's what else you've been up to these days:

Weight: I'm guessing you're still pretty close to 15-16lbs. It will be nice to get another exact weight for you next month. I am super curious where you're at but since our scale is not the most reliable (its typically accurate +,- 10lbs. Like I said not reliable) I guess I'll just have to wait. Or buy another scale.

Clothes: You're now wearing 6-9 months and 6-12 months clothes, but they're still a little big on you. Also what gives with some baby clothes going from sizes 0-3, 3-6, and then 6-12 months?! This just seems silly to me. Just saying...

Diapers: The size 3 diapers are finally fitting you nicely. I may have jumped the gun on moving up from size 2 before, but I swear the size 2 were getting small at the time!

Feeding: Breastfeeding continues for the time being, but it's gotten really painful again so we'll see how long I can hold out. You seem to get confused between feeding, teething, and just plain playing, and oh yeah, add a pinch of distraction and you have a recipe for a slightly abused me. And don't forget you're adding teeth into the mix now as well! Oosh! Like I said we'll have to see how long I can hold out. My best guess is you're still getting about 5-7 ounces a feeding, and you usually have about 3 feedings a day.

When it comes to solid food you eat like a champ! Well, you eat like a champ if its a fruit concoction. You'll eat a whole jar of fruit (4oz) in one sitting, but you make faces at any vegetables, and wont even open your mouth for the meats. We're currently trying to find combinations of fruits and veggies that aren't disgusting, everything so far has been a little like the V8 juice stuff. But hey, it gets the veggies in. We also just started upping your solids to twice a day. So far each sitting has been about a full jar, but it gets harder to tell now that we are mixing stuff.

Sleeping: You're still sleeping through the night, but you have started to slowly shift to an earlier schedule. Just this past week you've also started staying awake longer between naps, and shortening your actual nap times during the day as well. I'm certainly not complaining about the extra play time with you. You are definitely starting to keep me on my toes though.

Milestones:
Crawling: You figured out forward this month! It's not quite crawling yet, it's more an army crawl where you're just pulling yourself forward by your arms and your legs drag behind you. The Hubs was actually the one who saw you figure this out. I was really glad he got to witness a 'first' with you, he was pretty excited too. I think he said something like "So this is the fist time she's done this EVER, not just the first time I've seen it!" You were both pretty happy with yourselves, and pretty cute I might add. Just last week you managed to squirm wiggle your way all the way across the room. Progress we're making progress!

Teething: You are now the proud owner of a single tooth. Your front bottom tooth came in first and surprised us all! Immediately after that tooth broke through you not so subtly started working on a back molar. It's my understanding that molars take a while to come in, and they will work their way up in fits of starting and stopping, so after a few days of teething, you're now chillaxing with your one and only tooth.You were slightly more fussy as you were working on the molar, but with a little oral-gel you were good to go. Overall you were amazingly laid back about the whole ordeal. Way to go my little trooper!

Talking: You'll certainly gab up a storm these days, especially when we're getting sleepy. You have managed to say 'Mama' a couple of times by accident. You just happened to string the right syllables together, but they don't have meaning to you yet. You can bet though that I'm working on this with vengeance, and we're getting pretty close. You also still 'sing' all the time. The Hubs says we sound like screech owls, or even nails on chalkboard when we 'sing' back and forth to each other, but who asked him anyway! I think he's just jealous that he can't get his voice that high.

And finally, here you are at 8 months!

"Tegan- warier baby" S1 Episode 7.9; Accidental Discovery

Tegan, my little trooper, just cut her first tooth!! Color me surprised!! Which, okay fine, other than the milestone of a first tooth of my first child it isn't that uncommon of an event. Everyone has to get teeth at some point, it's how this whole growing up thing typical goes. So why the big font and italics drawing extra attention, and the theatrics making it seem like I just discovered how to achieve cold fusion, and oh by the way in my spare time I created world peace attitude?

Well fist off, she is my first, and it is her first tooth, so there deal. That alone is enough reason for a celebration. But the mind blowing part is that she didn't show any of the typical signs of serious hard core teething! No over the top fussiness, no bouts of uncontrolled crying, not even the hint of a fever, or even any extra redness on her gums where the tooth was trying to break through! About the only thing she did do was increase her 'chewing' on things. She put just about everything in her mouth I would let her, and she become very interested in her actual teething toys. Lately she's even been sleeping longer at night instead of the hellish nights you usually hear about from parents with a teething child.

I think this new development surprised her as much as it did me. There she was, minding her own business playing in her bouncer and gnawing on a teether when BAM! Out of nowhere she completely lost it seeming to be crying for no reason! To achieve maximum cry volume she had her mouth open as wide as it would go providing me with a clear view of her new budding tooth! Looking back I'm pretty sure she discovered her new pearly addition by biting her lip- thus providing a now understood reason for the before mentioned freak out.

This is turning into one crazy week! And it's only Tuesday! I might just be in trouble here.

Next up the rest of the in-laws come to town for a visit.

Mommy Milestone Moment

I'm still trying to play catch up on recent events, like a few weeks ago we took a trip to a friends cabin for the weekend (which was absolutely wonderful), and some words on the ECFE class we started, and just this weekend a trip to the zoo with the MIL...but this is worth mentioning out of order, and by far was the best part of my weekend! 'What has me so excited' you ask? Well I'll tell you...

Last night Tegan was playing on the floor in her nursery enjoying some Daddy time, after-all what are weekends for if not for as much Daddy time as possible! When I came in to join them I was greeted with a nice big smile (I'll never get sick of that reaction when I enter her room). I took a seat on the floor on the opposite side of her room from where she was and she immediately abandoned her favorite toy and proceeded to wiggle/pseudo crawl her way across her room to come and see me!!! She crossed the length of her room to get to me, which at the moment is no small feat for her! It was the best feeling ever to watch her excitement and determination to come and see me. It was like her way of telling me "I love you". It definitely warmed my heart.

In my little girls eyes I apparently rock!

Babys First...

State Fair! We took Tegan to the State Fair a few weeks ago. I know, I know I'm falling behind. Better late then never. Anyway, I had really been looking forward to taking Tegan to the fair so by the time we went I had a long list of things I wanted to do with Tegan while we were there. Most of the things I wanted to do with her involved visiting anything fury. Tegan is so fascinated with anything fury I thought it would be a big hit. Since we were going to be there on traditionally the busiest day, I wanted to get there early to make sure we didn't have to fight the crowds with the stroller, and so that we could actually get relatively close to some of the animals.  So we actually woke Tegan up bright and early and managed to get out the door close to the time we had set for ourselves. As soon as we got there we went straight for the furry things. She was a little more hesitant than we expected, but still very fascinated.

"Umm...Dad...That's not our doggy, not even close!"

We made it through most of the barns and the pet center before it was time for the Hubs to do his thing. He had been invited to speak on a panel for the DFL booth to discuss the media in politics along with a few other political bloggers. They were introduced as prominent, and influential bloggers (channeling Inspector Gadget- "Go-go wif-y pride!") It was a lot of fun to watch him talk on the panel.

Hubs speaking on the panel in front of the DFL booth at the State Fair

While he was talkin' and doing his thing I met up with my parents and tried to get Tegan to take a much needed nap. I did manage to get her to sleep for maybe about a half hour, but as soon as she heard Daddy's voice over the speakers she was roused from her sleep in search of where his voice was coming from. It was pretty cute, except for the missed nap part which came back to bite us in the ass.

After the Hubs panel, and with the Grandparents in tow we decided to try some more furry creatures while Tegan had a renewed good mood. This time around went more like what we were expecting. She was very curious about everything and was trying to reach out to all the creatures.

She really wanted to pet this guy, but he we were pretty sure he was thinking baby fingers make a good lunch.

Alas, around 4pm the little trouper told us she had had enough, and my feet agreed whole heatedly. Considering we woke her up around 6am, and only managed to get her to shut down and take a nap for about 20 minutes around noon, I was pretty impressed she made it anywhere close 4pm! With a parting visit to Sweet Martha's we were retreating to the comforts of home where Tegan promptly passed out in her crib...it took an additional two days to get back to normal (read- she was fussy as all get up!)

Not bad for our first State Fair, there was good company, great food, and fun for all!

*No fury creatures were harmed during their meetings with our daughter.

MIL Showdown

***Warning, very long, slightly boring, and very rant-y post to follow. Read at your own risk...

Recently we ran into a bit of MIL drama that just sort of bubbled over. It actually stayed pretty tame considering. So here's where it all started- the Hubs decided he was going to cook a big ol' ham that has been sitting in the freezer forever (as a side note 'Horray for getting freezer space back!'), and since it was going to be a big meal we invited the MIL over to have dinner with us and see her grand daughter.

From the very beginning of the visit things were off to a shaky start. When the MIL arrived I had just finished feeding Tegan her solids for the day and was cleaning her up in her highchair. And, well, the MIL was a little miffed that I hadn't waited for her to get here so that she could have fed her. If the timing had worked out for this, then I would have been fine with the her feeding Tegan, but with Tegan's current schedule you have to act fast to get things to fit in before she goes down for her next nap. Waiting for the MIL in this situation really wasn't an option. Okay. Fine. Moving on.

Next the MIL wanted to take Tegan out in her stroller for a walk. I had already told the Hubs before she arrived that I wasn't comfortable with her going alone with Tegan. She has a horrible sense of direction, I mean really horrible, words can't even describe how easy she gets turned around, and she doesn't know the area around where we live. Combine this with a host of other objections like some of the mental/emotional problems, and that she sometimes has trouble walking, and there was no way I was going to be comfortable with them going alone. Whether I was being reasonable or not was besides the point, it was how I felt on the topic. So when the MIL asked to go out, the Hubs was a real champ and insisted that he went with. This illicited another snarky comment from the MIL about how "(she) can't even take Tegan out for a walk by (herself)". To which the snarky voice in my head responded "HELL NO!!!" But again, okay. Fine. Moving on. And off the three of them went for a walk.

By the time they were back from the walk Tegan was already showing signs of being ready to go down for the night. So off to the nursery they went for a few more minutes of play before bed. When I entered Tegan's room a few minutes later it was definitely time to get the little one ready for bed. The MIL asked if she could put her to bed, and I explained that there was a whole routine that we have to go through, and it would just be easier to show her how it goes than try to explain it (my snarky voice was now thinking "even though it is really unlikely that you will need to know the bedtime routine"). I also reminded her that she can't get Tegan into her crib because she can't reach. (It may just be me, but I think that could cause a slight problem...just saying.) So I scoop Tegan up and start getting things ready to put her down. By this point I was really trying to not let the MIL get to me since Tegan picks up on my mood really easily and if I wanted even the slightest hope of her going down without a fight I needed her to stay relaxed. I was working so hard on keeping myself calm I almost forgot to change Tegan's diaper, can you say sad baby with diaper rash by morning? Oops, slight back track to take care of my mistake, and again the MIL contributes a snarky comment about how "all you have to do for the bedtime routine is change her diaper?" I'm literally grinding my death at this point and thinking "if that's all there is to it you could have done it", but instead I opt for a simple "no there's more". After tripping over the MIL for the rest of the routine because she keeps finding a way to be in the wrong spot at the wrong time (and for a routine that only takes a few minutes this is impressive!) I finally get Tegan down and push the MIL out of the room. Patience and sanity reserves are hovering dangerously close to empty. Okay. Fine. Moving on.

Finally we move to the dinning room for adult dinner and incidentally start our final steps in the showdown. The MIL is a very direct person so it wasn't to big of a surprise that she brought up the topic about how she feels like we're not comfortable with her spending time with Tegan alone, and hows she's starting to resent this. To keep a long post from becoming absurdly long we ended up talking for a good 40 minutes about this and essentially reminded her that we had a conversation before Tegan was even born about how we weren't comfortable with her babysitting until Tegan was older because of certain issues. We clarified that by older we mean when she's like two years old. It seemed like she excepted this and was doing okay with it, even assured me that if I felt I was doing what I thought was right then I needed to listen to myself and my instincts. We ended the night on good terms and I thought that would be the end of it.

I was wrong. A few days later the Hubs got a call. The MIL wasn't okay with it and she wanted to talk about it some more. Awesome. Fine. Alright, come on over. It was clear at this point we needed to be a lot more direct about things. and make sure everything was crystal clear and out in the open. She wanted specific examples of our reasons for being uncomfortable with leaving her alone with Tegan, and in return we were brutally honest with her. I'm sure she didn't like a lot of what we said (and we certainly didn't like that she had forgotten some of her scarier moments that concern us, but seeing as this is one of my largest concerns it made a good case-n-point). Towards the end of the conversation I thought we were really getting her to hear and understand us. That is until she tried to sum up what we were saying by explaining that she thinks it was just different parenting methods- "when (she) was raising her sons it was really important to her that her family be involved in there lives, and that her family have a big part in helping to raise her kids". I may have lost my cool and yelled at her at this point.

In the end I hope we reached an understanding. There are things that the Hubs and I need to work on to be more comfortable, and there are plenty of things the MIL needs to work on. I'm hopeful that we can close this chapter and move on, or at least have less stressful get-togethers. Although history is not on my side.

On a final note (I swear I'm almost done); at one point the MIL made a comment about how she only gets to see Tegan every two weeks, and in her opinion that's not enough. Now Tegan only sees my parents about every two weeks and occasional little encounters during the week mainly because they live a lot closer and this seems to work fine. So my question for those out there that actually read this- How often did you visit your grandparents growing up? And if you now have kids of your own, how often do they see their grandparents? Is every two weeks that unreasonable?

7 Months

7 months! 7 months!!! I don't know why this seems different than the 6 months that came before, after all it is the logical procession of things. After 6 months comes 7 months. But for whatever reason I'm having trouble coming to terms with the fact that you are 7 months old now, over half a year old!!! Commence mini-mommy-meltdown...Okay I'm over it now NOT.

This last month has been a little slow, or at least blogging slow seeing as I didn't get anything up between your 6 month post and your 7 month post. But it has been a nice laid back month. We went to a family reunion of your Great Grandpa's side of the family, which was both nice and weird since we didn't know half the people there. But it made you're Great Grandpa really happy that with you there, his side of the family had the most generations present at the reunion. Here's our side represented:

4 Generations!

We also welcomed another member of our family into the world, your cousin Sophia Ann. She was born on August 31st at 6lbs 10oz and 19" long. She was only 1 lb bigger than you, so it was crazy to go and meet her and remember just how tiny you were. One more cousin to add before the year is up! We've been a busy family this year/last year, Ha!

Meeting for the first time!

Aunt Jenn, and Sophie (~1 month)

That's enough recap of what we've been up to this last month, now on to what you have been up too, after all this is suppose to be your 7 month update...

Weight: My best guess is 15-16 lbs. I have a feeling you might be going through another growth spurt though (crossing my fingers).

Clothes: You're still wearing 3-6 month clothes primarily, although I have been able to sneak in some 6-9 month clothes too. I still think it will be a couple of weeks, maybe even another month before you move on completely to 6-9 month clothes.

Diapers: Still rocking the size 3 diapers.

Feeding: Still breastfeeding, but my best guess is that you're eating a little less than you did before, back down to 5-7oz in a feeding. Although it's my understanding that this is to be expected when you're also getting solid food. Speaking of solid food, you're still eating just one meal a day. I think the middle of this month we'll up you to two meals a day. We have just a few more stage 1 basics we have to work through before we can start really having some fun and mixing things up, doesn't that sound exciting! So far you're top food picks are sweet potatoes and apples, these are the magic foods at the moment that will help you forget when we try to feed you the absolute lowest of lows which are any of the baby meats. You absolutely DETEST the meats (I can't blame you for this either, they smell worse than the rice cereal crap!!) Even the tiniest bit of meat on your spoon causes you to gag, and I'm not talking about a little baby gag here either. I'm talking full on body constricting gag that nearly bring tears to your eyes, which is followed by a look of pure hatred that seems to ask "WHY?! Why did you put such a foul thing in my mouth! GET IT OUT, GET IT OUT, GET IT OUT!!!!" Yeah, my babies a bit of a drama queen, HA!

Sleeping: You're still in a crazy sleep schedule where you're really only up for two hours (including feeding time) before you go down for another 3-4 hours or longer. And at night I think the longest you have gone is nearly 20 hours. No joke! I feed you around 4pm one day, and you went until 11am the next day. Honestly if we hadn't heard from two different doctors that this isn't a problem we would be worried. But we've been told as long as you're happy and alert when you are up this is okay, and you've been hitting all your milestones on time or early so clearly things are working out. Your regular doctor even joked with me that I should keep your habits to myself when talking to other moms if I don't want to be bludgeoned. Ha! You are starting to lean towards an earlier wake up time now though, more like 8-9am. This is great and I'm glad about the shift, my second cup of coffee in the morning might still be a bit bitter about it, but we're working on it.

Milestones:
Crawling: You haven't quite figured out the mechanics yet, but you've gotten really close to getting yourself where you want to go. At the moment you've figured out every direction but forward. You're a little like a Mexican jumping bean squirming all over the floor. It's really very amusing to watch!

Teething: No pearly whites making their debuts yet, but you're getting closer. I think i can feel one of your bottom teeth getting ready to cut through. I imagine this means there are some 'happy times' in our future.

Talking: You're certainly working on this right now. You're 'm' sounds are very clear, although in all honesty you figured this out because when you were learning to make raspberry sounds you would scrunch up your face and hum, it was so cute!!! But regardless of how it came to be, you're working on 'm' sounds and therefor I am counting down the days until I hear you say "Mama". You also 'sing' quite often. I'm always singing along to the radio when we're playing and you've picked up you're own version of singing now too. It's almost like an oscillating high pitched whining sound, but you do it when you're happy and it tickles you pink when I sing back, so I'm going to call it singing.

That's pretty much it for this month. This upcoming month should look more like our normal schedule. We have the State Fair to go to, and we'll also be starting an ECFE class which I'm so looking forward too. More on these to come

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for, drum roll please.....Your 7 month picture:

6 months!

Little Miss Tegan you are now half a year old! It simultaneously feels like its been way longer than 6 months you've been with us, and also that it couldn't possible be 6 months already! I know it sounds cheesy and cliche, but I can't clearly remember what life was like before you came along. But there's no denying that after one anniversary, one holiday, and two baby showers you are now one month older (what a crazy month)!

Here are your 6 month stats:

Weight: 14lbs 7oz. This is lower than we all expected but the Dr. didn't seem too worried. It's still possible that you lost weight but since we don't know for sure how much you weighed last month its hard to tell. It's something I'll have to keep an eye on, but over all she seems to be settling back down into the 20th percentile.

Height: 24 3/4in, and also around the 20th percentile.

Head Circumference: 16 1/4 in. and also around the 20th percentile.

Clothes: Surprisingly you're still wearing 3-6 month clothes. Last month I was pretty sure you would grow out of these in short order but it seems you are redistributing and these are almost big on you again (another implication that she may have lost weight). I'm betting you're going to take after your Mama and be long and lanky growing up!

Diapers: Along the same line as your clothes we switched you to size 3 diapers when the size 2 were getting small (<---- Captain Obvious statement), but as soon as we switched to the larger size you stretched out and we probably could have kept you in size 2 longer. But alas, for now the size 3 are working out, but slightly big for you at the moment.

Feeding:You're started eating solid food!!! We started this at about 5 1/2 months, but I was a bad blogging mommy and never got a post up about it. Oops. Anyway, you started off with rice cereal but you're sooo not a fan of this stuff. I can't blame you, it STINKS!!! So after a few days of it we decided not to torture you with it anymore and moved on to better things. So far we've added green beans, pears, and now apples to your diet. Apples by far are your favorite thus far. You'll eat about 1 ounce of solid food in a sitting, and our routine is to feed you after breastfeeding, where my best guess is that you eat somewhere between 6-8 ounces.

Sleeping: You're still sleeping like crazy! About 12-14hrs at night and 2 naps during the day. It was great to talk to the doctor about this, even though I was pretty sure uttering the words "my baby sleeps to much" was going to get me slapped. Your Dr. and I agree that as long as you are happy and alert when you're awake it isn't anything to worry about.

Baths: I think it's save to say you're over your hatred of baths. We even took you to the pool and you didn't hate that either. Grandma and I are planning another pool trip for you and your cousins soon.

Milestones:Your default now is to roll over as soon as you are laid down. While this still causes you to get into some crazy positions when you sleep its not nearly as much of a problem as it used to be. You're not quite ready to sit up unassisted yet, but everyday your getting better and I only offer a touch of balance at this point. From your new found position you've also discovered your toes and these are just the coolest things ever, well almost the coolest things ever- the cat is still way better! Your Dad and I are convinced that cat will be your motivator when it comes to crawling. You've already managed to 'launch' yourself at her once, poor kitty is in for it!

Check Ups: You had your 6 month check up today and everything looks just fine. While we want to watch your weight and make sure you are gaining it's not such a worry that you'll need to go in again before your routine check up at 9 months. It was a pretty uneventful check up, but with all well, there wasn't much need for anything more.

I haven't taken your 'official' 6 month picture yet but this is one of my new favorites:

"I'm just too cool"

I'll get the real one up soon...

As promised...

Water Works!

But without tears!

The Hubs, Grandma (my Mom), and I took Tegan to a local kiddie pool last weekend. I was a little nervous since usually at bath time as soon as she hits the water the rest of the time is spent screaming until the house shakes and the sky opens up, and the dogs head spins (you get the picture). But thankfully everything went great. It was the perfect day for a swim, about 90 degrees out and nice and sunny. So after our usual family dinner at Grandma's, we pulled out Tegan's lil swimsuit and trekked the few blocks to the pool. By the time we got there Tegan was asleep in her stroller. Ha! Amazingly there weren't a lot of people there on a hot muggy weekend day so at least if Tegan had decided the pool was not for here we wouldn't have a thousand pairs of eyes watching our failed expedition.

So I tentatively dipped her toes in the water and waited for a reaction...Nothing. So I dipped her a little farther into the water and waited for a reaction...Nothing. So I put her in a little flotation thing that Grandma had and waited for a reaction...AND...the little twerp fell asleep! I'm not kidding! At least it wasn't screaming! HA!!

We wrapped up the night with a bath to wash away the pool and sunscreen, and even the bath went off without a hitch. Maybe just maybe we've gotten past the ungodly hatred towards water. Here's hoping anyway.

It Starts...

Tegan learned a very fascinating lesson the other day. One that Auntie S. would be so proud of...

"Ohhh, Diet Coke!"

"It's so shiny! I want"

Yup, that's right Auntie S! As I was sitting next to her she suddenly got completely focused on the Diet Coke can I was holding. She was even reaching out for it. If I had let her I'm sure she would have tried to drink some of it too. At just over 5 months old, Tegan has already learned that Diet Coke is awesome.

As a wise Auntie S once said "Diet Coke makes everything better".

The 4th!

We didn't do much around here for the 4th of July. We had a barbecue the day before with my parents, but for the actually 4th we pretty much chilled at home. That didn't stop me from getting Tegan all dolled up though! A dress made entirely out of ruffles- Brilliant! Although every time I turned around Tegan had pulled her dress up to chew on said ruffles. The things we do to be cute. Ha!

We did manage to catch a few fireworks though. After Tegan was down for the night, the Hubs and I were able to glimpse the fireworks show from the park that's two blocks away by watching out our second floor windows. No bugs, no crowds, no fuss, and no messing with bed time. I'll take it!

5 Months!

It happened again, another month has passed. My little girl is now 5 months old! It seems this last month she has kept growing at breakneck speeds too. Here are her stats:

Weight: Since we don't have a check up this month I don't know your exact weight, but I have a feeling you're around 17-18lbs. You're certainly getting your baby rolls on! I can't get enough of your rolly-polly legs!

Clothes: You're still fitting into 3-6 months clothes, all though I suspect you're about to outgrow them. Which means that your Dad and I really need to do some clothes shopping again. Ha. We're also thinking you will finally start being above the curve in clothes sizes, no more being older than the size predicts.

Diapers: You're still in size 2. Although that's really only because we still have size 2 left, and hopefully you'll let me finish off the last box before we move to size 3! Holy bean sprout Squirt! I thought babies were suppose to stay in size 2 for a long time, you're moving onto bigger-and-better already!

Feeding: We're still breastfeeding, and sometime this month you'll be starting solid food. I don't expect solid foods will be more then just a game this month, but we'll give it a crack. Hooray for bland cereal type stuff! You're eating around 6-8 oz right now depending on the time of day. We started making an effort to give you a bottle once a week because you nearly had a melt down two weeks ago when I tried to slip out for a while. 40 minutes after I had left I got a call from the Hubs who was a little frantic after being unable to calm you down and get you to eat, even though we all knew you were hungry. Props to the Hubs though, he pulled out all the moves from the play book before he gave in and called.

Sleeping: You're nap/bedtime routine is now well established. You're definitely sleeping through the night now, HA! You usually sleep from 9pm to 10 or 11am!!! I think your record is 16hrs in one stretch, but I've honestly lost track. You no longer need to be swaddled at night (you basically stopped needing to be swaddled right after I wrote your last update). Your Dad and I have joked about strapping you down to your crib though. I'll put you to sleep in one position, and I'll find you at the other end of the crib completely flipped around, sideways, and with in the last week on your stomach. I need to set up a camera to catch all your night time wiggles sometime, it would be HYSTERICAL!

Baths: We had a break through last month! We've experienced one bath free of cries. I'm hoping that might continue for your upcoming baths, but I'm not going to hold my breath. Ha! This weekend I'm going to take you to the pool for the first time. Hopefully that will be a fun experience.

Teeth: You currently don't have any teeth showing, but I suspect you've just started teething. So far you haven't been to crabby, with any luck we can hold out longer with the good moods.

Milestones: You've been busy refining your motor skills, you're starting to get more accurate with your movements but you're not totally there yet. And we've definitely hit that stage where everything has to go in the mouth. I'll admit watching you try to get things in your mouth is a riot. Especially when the focus of your exploration is attached to something and therefore can't be picked up. You've discovered if you can't bring it to your mouth, you'll bring your mouth to it. This gives me endless laughs during tummy time. You are now rolling over like a pro. You started rolling first from back to stomach, and have just recently learned that it works the other way too. As mentioned above, this has been causing some slight problems with sleeping. Oh the crazy positions you get into. In the last few days you have also been attempting to figure out how to make 'raspberry' noises with your mouth. This is hands down my favorite thing from this month.

So to wrap it up, without further ado- your 5 month picture:

Fathers Day

Last weekend was Fathers Day, the Hubs first! We kept it pretty low key around here, the Hubs didn't really have anything that he wanted to do (I'm pretty sure I was more excited about Fathers Day then he was. Ha!) And the only thing he asked for was some more books that he could read to Tegan. I was more than happy to add to the book collection since I get such a kick out of the voices the Hubs comes up with for the characters he's reading about. Lately we've been hearing about the adventures of Frog and Toad... ahh yay, good times!

We also had a visit from the FIL over Fathers Day. He flew in from NY on Friday afternoon, and stayed until Monday morning. It took Tegan a couple hours to warm up to him, but by Saturday she was only eying him with slight trepidation. Which if you know my FIL, slight trepidation is pretty good, he can be a bit of an odd ball at times, and some of the things he says can just be plane bizarre. I think the Hubs had to tell me a couple of times to just zone out what he was saying. If you think its hard to follow him during adult conversation, you should hear the kind of babel he carries on to a baby! Ha. The FIL is a good guy though, and it was great to watch him interact with Tegan. Before he left he mentioned he was hoping to make another trip out in August or September. I'm sure it has to be hard for him to be living so far away from his first grandchild.

But back to the point of this post, the FIL wanted to see the King Tut exhibit at the Science Museum, so the Hubs, his brother, and the FIL spent the morning in St. Paul while I slipped over to my Dad's with Tegan for a quick visit. After lunch we were all back here where it was pretty much business as usual, with a little extra story time mixed in. All in all it was a great first Fathers Day!

Daddy's Girl

The theme of this weekend was 'Daddy's little Girl'. Tegan was so fixated on the hubs this weekend, it was pretty adorable.

She's also started playing a game with the Hubs whenever he's sitting next to us. She'll squirm towards him and lean as far over as she can, then with a little help from me we lean over far enough to get kisses from Daddy. She gets the biggest smile when we do this, and usually gives us a little laugh. It's just to much :). Now that the Hubs is back at work, she spent all morning staring at the spot he usually sits trying to find Daddy!

4 Months

Happy 4 month Birthday my little girl! You are growing so fast! In just the last few days you have started to be so much more interactive with your Dad and me, and I am so looking forward to this continuing. Your personality is also starting to unfold and we can already tell that you are going to be one stubborn little girl. Ha! I'm not sure if that's your Dad's fault or mine, I'm sure we'll both claim it comes from the other person.

So here's what you've been up to these days-

Weight: 13lbs 9oz, placing you in the 50th percentile on growth charts! A big jump from last month when you were 10lbs and in the 15th percentile.

Height: 24in, placing you in the 42nd percentile on growth charts. Another big jump!

Clothes: We just switched you to size 3-6 clothes, they're still a little big on you though. Some of your new clothes are the same styles you had when you were wearing preemie clothes which makes for a crazy comparison. It's hard to believe you were really that tiny! Maybe I'll try to get a picture of this up soon, it's crazy!!

Diapers: We just started using size 2 diapers. We pushed that transition off a little longer then we should have, but we were trying to use up what we had left of the size 1's. You're in such a hurry to grow that we still weren't able to get through our last box of size 1's.

Feeding: You love to eat! We're still  breastfeeding and besides your fits of wiggles its going great. It's been a while since we gave you a bottle so I'm not sure how much you are eating these days. I suspect it's around 5 ounces. We have successfully managed several outings where I feed you on the go but we're still working out the kinks of that nursing cover. We also learned that you are NOT a delicate eater. Ha!

Sleeping: We're trying to get you used to a bedtime routine and so far it's been a little rough. We're changing how we go about it this week so hopefully you stop fighting us at bedtime. Once you're asleep though you sleep for a good long while. You're technically sleeping through the night and have been for a while, but you take your first 6 hours from 8pm-2-3am, and then after a late night snack go back to bed for another 6-8 hours. Your record so far has been sleeping for 9.5 hours straight! Way to go! You still have to be swaddled to get to sleep or you thwack yourself awake and cause a sad baby (and sad parents) We're hoping you'll be out of the swaddling soon.

Baths: You still absolutely HATE getting a bath! Hate is almost not a strong enough description for your feelings towards baths. You have started to tolerate them a little more and wait a good 10 seconds before screaming like crazy. I think everyone in the house hates bath time as much as you do now. The poor dog has taken to pacing the hall during your bath time waiting for you to stop crying, she's even brought you peace offerings with her favorite toys to try and help! I keep waiting for one of the neighbors to show up on our door making sure everything is okay. Ha! In all seriousness though, I do really hope we can get past this hatred of baths. I really want to take you to the pool during the summer, but I have a feeling we have to get over bathing before we try that.

Milestones: You support your head most of the time and only need a little help when you start to get sleepy. You've  started to reach for things and manage to grab them some of the time. Rattles are your favorite thing to reach for these days. And when we do tummy time you've already gotten your legs underneath you and started to rock (you've been doing this since you were two weeks old though so no surprise there!). We suspect that you'll be cruising around sooner than expected since this immobility stuff seems to really tick you off. Ha! You've also started to discover the new world of jumping. You're favorite time to exercise this new ability is when I'm trying to burp you on my shoulder. So far I've avoided a bloody nose, but I'm sure I have one in my future.

Check Ups: We had your 4 month check up yesterday. Everything went well. As always the Doctors and nurses are in love with you. As we we're leaving I heard the nurses at the nursing station saying that everyone fights over who gets to be your nurse when you come in. Ha! The doctor thinks you might have reflux which is pretty common, so we'll be trying some different tricks to help you out with that. There's also some marks on around your knees that the doctor wants us to watch, but no ones all to worried about it.

I'm sure there are other things I had wanted to mention in here, but I've forgotten what they were. So we'll wrap it up with some pictures. Keep growing strong little girl!

Her new favorite face- did I mention she's starting to show her personality :)

And because I'm a sucker for comparisons- That's the same stuffed animal in the above picture!

2 weeks old!

A Week in Review

This last week has had its share of ups and downs, a little bit of a whirlwind for sure. Our biggest hurdle lately has been bed time. Oosh! We've started trying to put a bedtime routine together which we should have been doing for a while now. We're certainly paying for our late start on this. Tegan doesn't have enough of a set schedule to have a real set-in-stone bedtime, but she is predictable enough to give us a pretty good idea when its going to be nap time i.e. an hour after a meal almost like clockwork. Unfortunately she's decided that instead of her bedtime routine triggering her to sleep, it's her que to start a full fledged meltdown. Not fun! The biggest thing we are trying to get away from during bedtime and nap time is rocking or bouncing her to sleep. So once we get her initially calmed down and in her her crib we try everything we can to calm her down without picking her back up. This, as you can imagine, is not an easy task. We're also trying a hybrid version of the CIO (cry it out) method, where we start with letting her cry for only a few minutes before you try to sooth her, and then add a few minutes to each attempt. Our stubborn little girl went, for all intensive purposes, 40 minutes last night before I caved and nursed her to sleep. (Lil-sis, I'll blame this stubborn streak on you :) Just another crazy trait she seems to have gotten from you somehow.)

This week certainly hasn't been all struggles though. On Thursday we met up with Melissa and baby Azalea for a picnic and a walk around a popular lake. It was our first ever picnic, and if I do say so myself it was a great hit. I've really enjoyed having another new mom to talk with (Azalea is only two months younger than Tegan). Its amazing how long a conversation you can have about a babies bodily functions. Ha!

Just hanging out!

Then on Friday we got the two little ones back together and included the Daddy's to enjoy a dinner. Another great day!

And lastly we'll add a three day weekend to the week and end it on a very happy note. I'll never turn down an opportunity to have the hubs home to help out. Plus then he gets extra baby time which I'm sure he looks forward to, and I get a shower that doesn't involve keeping an ear out of screaming. Definitely a win win.

Next week will be Tegan's four month check up! I'm looking forward to finding out where our little squirt falls on the growth charts now!

Getting Frustrated

I had a sad realization this weekend. Tegan isn't quite 4 months old yet and the MIL is driving me crazy! Thankfully, I'm not alone the hubs is getting frustrated too otherwise I'm sure this would be causing problems for our relationship!

I've heard there are usually two common situations people have with in-laws after a baby- either it brings you closer together, or creates an even larger rift. I'm the latter. From the very start I never had a great relationship with the MIL, but I think it worked because we didn't see each other that often. She lived in NY, and I lived in MN. Problem solved. Then she moved out to MN right before the hubs and I got married. I still didn't see her that often, and it continued to work. Now that we've had Tegan (who is the first grandchild on the hubs side) we see her a lot more often, and this is where I'm reaching my wits end. To make the problem more complicated I'm not comfortable letting the MIL babysit because of a host of mental, and physical problems.

I know there's not a lot of people who read this blog, but the few out there that have past by, I NEED help. I'm reaching out for advice, even if the opinion is "Get over it". I don't know what else to do but at this rate somethings going to need to give. I can't make it another 18+ yrs like this.

Here's the situation- she calls the hubs on a regular basis (meaning weekly or several times a week) asking for a time to see Tegan, and emails me usually once a week asking for time to come by during the week. She pushes constantly for chances to babysit (that's actually what she asked for for Mothers Day which irritated me to no end). Whenever she hears someone else babysat, even if it's the hubs taking time off work, she blasts us for not having her babysit. When we do have her come by, she pressures me to let her do special trips with Tegan like going to the mall or taking her out in her stroller for a walk. And when we do tell her 'No' to something she has to know why, and will revisit the topic several times for answers.

What we've done so far- before Tegan was born we explained that we were not comfortable with her babysitting so not to expect that. We've told her several times to back off a little, and she does for a little while but starts pushing again before long. The hubs confronts her on a regular basis when she gets out of line, like explaining that we don't have to have a reason for saying 'no' but that she needs to respect our decision. The hubs has really done a great job running interference so far but it's still getting to be too much.

So what does the cyber-world say? Is there anyone else having similar problems? And how did you make it work?

Bad Mommy Award

I won my first "Bad Mommy Award" this week, it broke my heart. Tegan and I were playing on her play mat when I decided it would be a good idea to switch to reading since it had been a while since we had read a story. I went to pick Tegan up off her mat and thought it would be fun to add a little flare to the maneuver and go from the floor to swooshing her just over my head. We've done this before and she likes it so I didn't think twice about it. Unfortunately this time around there was a ceiling fan/light just above us. I swooshed her right into one of the light globes and bonked her head on the edge of it. She wasted no time making sure I was aware of my mistake and started crying. It took about 10 minutes to get her to calm down. I was feeling pretty awful. She now has a crescent shaped mark on the top of her head from the light. Its fading quickly but I can still see it.

Tegan's Piglet Lovee Helped calm her down afterwards

Her boo-boo (It really wasn't that bad- I just felt awful for doing it in the first place)

I know these things will happen, and this is probable only the first of many "Bad Mommy Awards", but that doesn't make you feel any better when your little one is crying as a direct result of something you did. And usually its something pretty stupid you've done.

Special Visitor

My little sister paid a visit to us last weekend! She came all the way from Kentucky. It was so great to see her again and she was so excited to meet Tegan. She stayed in the 'Sibling Hotel' (aka our spare bedroom) so we were able to spend a lot of time together. It was great watching her interact with Tegan too. As the days went by she got more and more comfortable with her, she even mastered dirty diapers before she left. Ha!

While she was in town we gathered everyone together for a family picture. That was a bit of an experience to say the least. We had 8 adults (2 pregos) and 3 kids (3yrs and under). My nephew Ethan was so fasinated with Tegan it was adorable. I think in all the pictures Ethan has a hand on her head. There's even a series of photos where Tegan is crying so Ethan reaches across her to where his sister is sitting and takes the stuffed animal shes holding and gives it to Tegan. So cute!

Cousins!

My sister is hoping to make it back out for Thanksgiving or Christmas, so until then...

Mothers Day

Yesterday was my first Mothers Day! The Hubs made it a great day for me. I had told him that all I wanted was a lazy day to spend with him and Tegan. Our weekends get so crazy that I just wanted to hide away and spend time with my new family unit. The hubs even surprised me with a digital picture frame and some chocolate. It was definitely a great day.

About the only thing we did do yesterday was get Tegan's 3 month pictures taken. Tegan wasn't quite her bubbly self unfortunately. We still got some great photos but the shoot did not go as well as we had hoped. I think the studio was just to warm for her, for all of us really. She was pretty fussy and kept spitting up. She actually spit up on her outfit three times before the shoot even started. My poor baby. But like I said there were still definitely some cute pictures, and I'm super excited for them to come in.

Next weekend when my Mom is back in town we'll be doing something for her. As cliche as it sounds-now that I'm a Mom it really does put a whole new perspective on things with my Mom. I think back to some of the Mothers Days in the past and think I really didn't get it before. The beauty of hindsight right?

So here's to a great first Mothers Day, and many more Mothers Days to come. I'm so looking forward to celebrate them with Tegan as she gets older.

3 Months

Happy 3 month birthday Tegan (a few days late, but better late than never)!

Tegan is getting so big so fast. At her last appointment she was 10lbs, I suspect she's around 11lbs now, or at least close to it. At 3 months old she is already supporting her own head pretty regularly, she still needs a little help every now and then. She's also just starting to figure out bouncing! I have a feeling that will become a new favorite thing pretty fast. Ha! And continuing her super baby theme-she's already starting to rock on her hands and knees. This child is going to be unstoppable once she figures out how to move! And even though the transition started out kinda rough- she's sleeping in her crib like a big girl, and actually sleeps for 5-6hrs in a stretch at night pretty regularly and on a rare occasion she'll sleep for 7hrs. I am certainly enjoying the extra sleep, even if I wake up a little uncomfortable after the longer stretches.

We'll be going to get her 3 month pictures taken on Sunday, which will also be my first Mothers Day. I'm really excited for both. Until then though here are a few pictures to show just how much she's grown!

Just home from the hospital

Her last day in the bassinet (~3 months old)

Props to Working Moms

I had a bit of a reality check last weekend when it comes to working Moms. If I was going back to work I would have just completed my first week back. This alone blows my mind. Tegan and I are just starting to figure out a routine that works for both of us, and I can't conceptualize what it would be like to leave her home, or at daycare, and go to work. She's changing so much each day I would always feel like I was missing out on something whenever I was at work. Not to mention just that I would miss her like crazy.

I had a small glimpse of what it would be like to be a working Mom this weekend. I had a training session for a new job that started on Friday afternoon, and went to Sunday afternoon. All in all, it was exhausting. From trying to get out the door in the morning, to trying to function on little or no sleep, to trying to fit pumping into the day to keep supplies up- I would get home at the end of the day and have nothing left. I was excited to see Tegan, but had no energy to calm her when she got fussy. I wasn't happy, Tegan wasn't happy, and I think the Hubs was worn out too. It also became clear to me why a lot of nursing Moms don't continue to nurse once they go back to work! It is really hard to fit in pumping time (even if by law you are entitled to that time now).

This weekend was definitely an eye opener for me. I'm so thankful that I am able to stay home with Tegan, and so happy to find a job that will help out the budget but also still allow me to stay home with Tegan. This new job will on average only need me to work one day a month, and I will have the ability to accept or decline each project. I will admit when I first heard about this new job I thought it was too good to be true, but I'm glad it worked out.

So as I mentioned in my title- many, many props to working Moms, and I hope next weekend you get the Mothers day you deserve. I tip my hat to you! I am honestly in owe of what you are able to do.

Tegan's First Easter

Happy First Easter Tegan!

We spent the day over at the Grandparents place (my parents). Some of the Hubs family were able to come too so all together we had my parents, and Tegan's Great Grandma, the MIL, my step sister and her husband were able to stop by, the Hubs brother and his girlfriend. It was a little crazy! I was starting to feel overwhelmed with everyone there so I'm sure it was a little bit of an overload for Tegan too. It was still a great day though. My Mom cooked a great brunch, everyone was going back for seconds. I had a little too much myself and woke up with a stomach ache the next day, but it was soo worth it. Ha! The weather even cooperated, it was so nice out I went for three walks!

But what family get together would be complete without a little family drama? We had enough to share with anyone who thinks they missed out. My Mom and one of my sisters are having some...disagreements. With the current lack of communication there were a few feelings hurt. My Mom thought my sister and her two kids were coming and had a whole Easter Egg hunt set up for them, and my sister thought she hadn't been invited to Easter so didn't come. It was a real bummer. I had really been looking forward to seeing my niece and nephew hunt out the eggs. The worst part is that the whole situation could have been avoided with a call from either of them to the other. Hopefully the lesson was learned and they'll work things out, if not I'm thinking of staging an intervention between those two.

Also a little more MIL drama. I can't decide yet if I'm just blowing this way out of proportion, but the end result is still me being annoyed. When the hubs and I slipped out for a walk we left Tegan with all the Grandparents. I had just finished feeding her and put her down for a nap so I figured it was safe to step out for a little bit. Apparently right after we left Tegan woke up (I have my doubts she woke up on her own), and the MIL was the first to respond. Now here's the rub- the MIL started searching out a bottle of formula! I have no problem giving Tegan formula, we actually make a point to give her formula every now and then to make sure she wont refuse it if we need it, but I had just finished feeding her. And since I am nursing, giving her a bottle without my knowing can really mess things up! Thankfully my Mom stepped in and reminded the MIL I had just feed Tegan, and confirmed she was not hungry just fussy. Like I said, I don't know if I'm overreacting to this, but it really doesn't sit well with me!

Not to distract from the day with all this drama, Tegan's first Easter was really nice. I was so excited to put her into her Easter dress. We even had a back up dress in case she messed the fist one (this happens often for some reason at Grandma's place) I can't wait for when she's big enough to go on an Easter hunt with all her cousins. By next year she'll have a lot more cousins to hunt out eggs with, that will be exciting!