Crazy Child

LOOK at how my daughter loves to sleep.  She is such a nut!  She refuses to be laid down in her crib, she sits until she gets sleepy, then just slumps forward.  No, I do not let her stay like this, I go in and lay her down once she is soundly asleep.  What a goofball! 

I Swear, She Says "Mama"

Though she adamantly refuses to in this video  : )
But I have officially cataloged her first word as "mama" because she repeats it, and looks for me when other people say it. It really blows my mind.  My friend Kelly put it perfectly:  she still looks like a baby, but does big kid stuff.  Sometimes I can't believe how she motors around, processes information, and generally outsmarts me.  I guess I was thinking she wouldn't have cognitive skills until she was a teenager?  She is already shaking her head "no"; like when I want a kiss.  But then she turns right to grandpy and kisses him. *sigh*.  And the other day, I was lying in the way of her crawling path.  She sat up and assessed the situation, discovered the way around the coffee table was clear, and crawled back the length of the living room to go around it.  As I watched her through the underside of the table, she giggled at me.  Little stinker.  There is so much more, and every day I am reminded of how smart she already is.  It is so neat to watch, and I love seeing her develop into a little person.

Don't You Remember Being Obsessed With This as a Kid?

I do.

I'mNotReadyI'mNotReadyI'mNotReady

CHECK this out.

Yesterday was quite a day.  The morning started with Lydia going from lying down to sitting BY HERSELF.  Then, as I was fixing her breakfast, she lovingly cooed "mama" from her high chair (I am not putting this in the books as her first word, she has yet to repeat it.  It's usually something more like: "mamamamama").  And as I took this video of her motoring across the floor (she was after the yogurt Caesar was eating), I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed.  Mommy anxiety is in high gear now that she is mobile.  I am so proud of her for being strong and smart, and growing as she should be.  However, my mommy vigilance seems weak against the odds that have stacked up against me.  She can now get herself into unforeseeable danger before I can even blink.  It's a stark difference from the days when I could leave her on my bed while I used the restroom because she was going nowhere.  I know, I know - I shouldn't have left her unattended on a piece of furniture even then.  But gone are the days where I could cut corners relatively comfortably due to her complete immobility. 
This is so much more than a milestone.  This is the beginning of a new time for Lydia and I - the passover from sweet newborn days to uncharted toddler territory.  Every mom connects to her child in different ways in different stages.  I think I will always cherish Lydia's time as a newborn because I was soothed by the ease of it.  Not having much previous contact with children, I feared ignorance on how to actually raise one.  I was delighted to find that the first months of her life were fueled by pure instinct, which no amount of experience could have ever taught me.  I loved it, I was good at it, and I made Lydia promise me she would always stay a newborn.
It was a promise never meant to be kept; a running joke that will probably always be fondly remembered as she continues to reach and pass milestones.  I can't believe how fast this time has gone.  I want to stop the universe for a year or two so I can hold onto every precious moment.  It's not possible to stop Lydia's development, and I wouldn't want to.  I look forward to seeing the intelligent, thoughtful, kind, tenacious, strong, happy, healthy, sassy, buoyant, dynamic, beautiful individual she blossoms into....
But I can wait.

Stop and Smell the Roses - They Smell Like Crisco

Well, this is my last project from cake class.  We learned the rose - much harder than it looks.  Things I learned in cake class:

• Always add dry ingredients to your mixer on slow
• People like Crisco.  But I don't think they realize they're eating Crisco
• You can buy white butter up north  (WHY only up north?  Because you can buy anything up north)
• There are cupcake tins and muffin tins.  They are not synonymous
• Chocolate cake is a bitch to frost
• The top of your oven does not qualify as a cooling rack
• People who take cake classes are strange

I Love Cake Class!

We decorated cupcakes this week - so cute!

My mom took them to work and everybody fought over the different designs.  The nice thing about learning to decorate?  I HATE the frosting we use, so I am never tempted to eat my own creations.  Saves me a lot of calories, and the rest of the world can enjoy them.  They all seem to think it tastes just fine, so everyone is happy in the end.

Ghost of Tuxedo Strawberrie's Past

Is my blog about anything other than my baby?  Why yes, there is also my baking. 

My mom's company had a bake sale this week, and she thought it would be smashing to make my famed tuxedo strawberries (see "Did You Know Buddy the Cake Boss Has His Own Cooking Show?" post).  I happily agreed - they were so much fun to make, and I knew they would sell like hot cakes (all proceeds went to Ronald McDonald House).
When I made tuxedo strawberries the first time, I made approximately a dozen.  This time, approximately 8 DOZEN.  I finished about half during the day, and when my mom got home from work, she helped me finish the rest, slide 2 each into cellophane baggies, affix adorable star stickers to enclose, and pack into a cooler.  We were up until about 10:30 p.m., and we darn near filled the cooler.  It was quite a sight to behold

That cooler doesn't look full to you?  That's because after we cleaned the kitchen up, took this picture and patted ourselves on the back, we found another full tray hiding in the fridge, still in need of being packaged and placed in the cooler.  My poor mom was already an hour past her bedtime, but did she scream and pull her hair out?  Nope - she laughed and pulled the packing supplies back out.  The apple did not fall far from the tree on this one - we suffer for our art.

Fantastic Voyage

Lydia and I visited the Pilot family last weekend, just in time for her 6 month birthday.  She got some awesome outfits, and loads of love and affection.  Considering her struggles with stranger anxiety, she didn't do too bad (this was the first time she was meeting most of the family).  My cousin Sarah's kids were so sweet with Lydia - little Miles was all about supplying her with endless toys, and Lily was motherly and doting.  They definitely helped make the weekend go smoother.

Driving was another story entirely, and poor Lydia protested the 3 hour trek vehemently.  When we stopped at a Wendy's on the way home, I wanted to abort mission almost immediately.  Lydia was hot and crabby ( I had her stripped down to her diaper in public, SO white trash), and she was squawking incessantly.  The dirty looks from the Wendy's patrons threw me back to my pre-baby days...I was that parent with her grumpy kid, just pissing everyone off.  Not to worry, she calmed quickly with the accidental discovery of mom's strawberry shake.

God bless Sarah (not just her kids) for helping so much with Lydia.  There are a lot of things that rock about being a single mom, but traveling alone with your baby is certainly not one of them.  She saved my sanity on more than one occasion throughout the 3 day weekend.  It taught me a valuable lesson that I hope and pray I will not forget when the memory of this hectic weekend is not so fresh in my mind...

I am never traveling with Lydia again.

MY

DAUGHTER

IS

SO

CUUUUUUUUUTE!

New Career?

I know I am a big fat dork - let's just get that out there before I begin.  I am taking a cake decorating class so I can be like Buddy the Cake Boss.  What can I say, I am obsessed with cake shows, now that I watch daytime T.V.  Taking a class is the right thing to do for me, considering I had never even baked a cake before this week.  I ended up with a raw center to my cake, and my icing didn't turn out right (probably something to do with starting the kitchenAid on "high" and essentially creating a powder sugar "bomb"...THAT was fun to clean up).  Don't worry, I won't be feeding anybody my first cake; it was just for fun and practice.  All things considered, I think I did pretty darn well.

24 Carrot Gold

Lydia the Rocker

We all knew my daughter was going to be a rocker (mommy exposed her to Rock 'n' Roll when she was just an embryo) but lately, she has given  it a whole new meaning.  She sits up pretty well on her own, and has taken to rocking back and forth.  It's funny, because it was a trademark of mine when I was a child.  Sometimes, she does it with such force, I'm afraid she'll hurt herself.  For your viewing pleasure, I have captured one of her milder episodes.  The world is not ready to see her in full swing  : )

Lydia is obsessed with the paper towel holder.  I believe this has something to do with the famed "paper incident".  I have talked little about this until now, because - frankly, it made me feel like the worst mother in the world.  In a nutshell, while in the "safety" of my very own lap, she managed to devour (yes, EAT!) approximately half a piece of printer paper before I noticed.  Since then, it doesn't matter what toys I set in front of her, she will ALWAYS go for the paper products nearest at hand.  Case in point:

 She sees the delightful toy mommy has placed on Bumbo Tray.  She ALSO sees the paper towel roll just slightly behind and to the left of her.  A reach and a snatch proves possible.

This is WAY better than mommy's stupid toy!

Victory is SWEET

You Asked For Videos...You Got 'Em

Just my daughter, being cute.

Ninja Raspberries

Lydia recently learned to blow raspberries, but she likes to do it when no one's looking.  Sneaky ninja!

Doggone Funny

I swear, the only thing this kid laughs at is the dog!  She loves him!

Piggy Mania

I am obsessed with Lydia's piggies (cute mommy name for toes).  I was wating for her to become obsessed with them, as I heard most babies do

Ta-Da!

Time to Baby-proof Already?

I am not ready for Lydia to become mobile yet.  Lately, she has been protesting her former favorite hangout - the Baby Einstein gym.  Yesterday morning I put her in there so I could use the restroom, and this is what I came back to five minutes later

 Guess she told me.  She scooted her way out of the gym all by herself and was happily watching TV and playing with a dog bone.  What can I say?  Babies have their own agendas.

Everyone Wins

My mom recently visited my brother and sister-in-law with Lydia in tow, and they had a new toy for Caesar (my mom's chocolate lab).  No toy for Lydia you say?  No, no - the toy for Caesar ended up really being a toy for Lydia.

She laughed at Caesar playing for a good 15 minutes.  Later that night, my mom got her laugh at just the dog toy (sans Caesar).  The kicker?  I have an entire chest full of baby toys that she could take or leave.

Her New Favorite Sound

Oh yes, she'll do this all day.  It's funniest when Grandma's in bed.

LOOK at my cute baby

That is all.

5 Generations

I had the very cool opportunity to capture five generations of my family on camera this past Sunday.  My grandma and great grandma had a layover in Milwaukee while flying to Texas, so we met them there to hang with Lydia and drink Starbucks.  Lydia was very "wowed" by the airport

 and I got my first chance since she's been born to get this photo

Moments like these are priceless.

Her First Food!

As a breastfeeding mother, I was very excited to give Lydia her first food - baby rice cereal.  Breast milk is digested FAST, so it seemed my growing daughter was always hungry.  I researched the cereal selections and chose a very impressive organic formula with antioxidants and probiotics.  I also decided to spoon-feed her (rather than adding the cereal to a bottle) because evidence supports that this method teaches babies the difference between hunger and thirst.  I had my cereal and baby spoons - ready to rock! I mixed the cereal with breast milk so it would be a little more familiar to her...and away we went

Now, I had tried some of the dry cereal, and it was GOOD!  A little sweet, melted upon contact with the tongue, pleasantly nutty aftertaste...

Yeah, doesn't look like Lydia shared my love of the cereal.  She continued to make faces like this throughout feeding, and most of it ended up on her bib.  Everyone tells me this is what babies do when they are introduced to new foods, so I just have to keep giving it to her.  Poor kid.

A Ella Le Gusta Espanol!

SO hilarious.  This toy has all sorts of settings, but "Let's Learn Spanish" is her favorite.  It's rare to get a giggle out of her, so I relish these moments.  I hope you will too!

Did You Know Buddy the Cake Boss Has His Own Cooking Show?

Well, he does.  Admittedly, I am a bigger fan of the Cake Boss (the things they do with cake and frosting blow my mind), but I do tune into the cooking show on occasion.  Last week, he made Tuxedo Strawberries that looked divine.  Naturally, I had to try my hand at them:

I had a cute attack when I made my first one...they are so frickin' adorable.  You know, last weekend my cousin said I was one of those "cutesy" moms.  I laughed, but maybe this sort of stuff is what she was referring to.
*sigh*  I need a life.

"POOP" is Going to be Her First Word

We've been talking a lot about poop lately.  At Lydia's 2 month check-up, I casually informed the Dr. that Lydia is only pooping once a week.  This alarmed my Dr., based upon her dinner plate-sized eyes and her order to start giving Lydia prune juice immediately.  I in turn was alarmed, and I felt like the world's worst mother for not seeing a problem where there clearly was one.  I went straight from the Dr.'s office to the grocery store, and bought prune juice.  I went straight from the grocery store home, and made Lydia a formula bottle with a splash of prune juice.  Fortunately, she enjoyed the prune juice and drank it with no protest.  It had been three days since she last pooped.  I was now on "poop watch".

Others joined the "poop watch".  Grandpa called every day to check progress.  Grandma kept open eyes and nostrils, waiting for telltale signs of poop.  But alas, the poop was elusive.  Lydia's three day drought turned into four days.  Then five.  I called the Dr. and asked what else I could do, and she replied, "more prune juice".  Finally, on the sixth day, I left Lydia with Grandma to go to work.  I returned home to a clearly bathed baby in a new outfit.  She...Had...Pooped.  Yaaaaaay!!!!

But the poop remains elusive.  Sometimes it makes it's appearance every other day, sometimes once a week like before.  After the initial panic wore off for me, I gained perspective on the overall health of my baby.  She is (and always was) extremely happy, active, and growing like a weed. I started to consider that nothing was ever wrong with her in the first place.  Through research and asking around to other moms, I got both sides of the situation.  Some people say babies can poop whenever they want, as long as the poop is soft and baby is eating/growing (DEFINITELY Lydia's case).  Others side with the Doc and think infrequent poops are a sign of Armageddon. 

So who is right?  I myself am undecided.  this push and pull has been my first hard lesson in mommyhood that everyone will try to tell you what to do with your child.  The trouble is, no two pieces of advice are the same.  I can sit on the internet 24 hours a day, and still come up short on the best choices for Lydia.  It is all trial by error.  To console myself in the face of this conundrum, I have come up with a piece of advice of my own:

"Opinions are like assholes...and every asshole eventually poops."