A year plus.

Claire turned one a few weeks ago. We celebrated with a cupcake on her actual bday. I had been practicing blowing out the candle with her by holding my finger up as if it were a candle. So after we sang to her she helpd up her little finger and blew on it! She loved the cupcake we bought her...tried to jam the whole thing into her mouth. I panicked and took it away from her, afraid she was going to choke. She started screaming! I gave it back to her and she continued jamming the cupcake into her mouth as if it was business as usual. The next day we had a monkey themed party and all the kids got monkey visors. We had monkey games and banana creme cake. It was a good birthday weeked for the Pea!

Almost a year!

Claire will be one in a few weeks. It is bittersweet for me...my baby is becoming less and less of a baby every day. She does so much now. She can say almost anything. She does a lot of mimicking. She can walk 4 consecutive steps at once. She sings Old Macdonald and loves animals. She pants whenever she sees a dog. She says "baby" and "mom" now. She makes this cute scrunchy face at us, and especially at Poppop. She signs "eat", "all done", "more", and "cup". She nods or shakes her head in response to questions. And she is starting to hug, kiss, and cuddle. She is an absolute angel.

Baby Banana Bread

I made banana bread for the Pea and it turned out pretty well! I found the recipe on a Mommy blog.

Here it is. The only things I did differently were that I added apple, omitted raisins simply because we had none, and used 2 egg yolks instead of an egg. It freezes well and the Pea like it! It's a keeper!!

2 small, ripe bananas (mashed)
3 oz (1/3 cup) organic raisins
4 oz (1 cup) self rising flour
2 oz (1/4 cup) butter
1 beaten egg
pinch nutmeg
pinch cinnamon.

1. Add the nutmeg and cinnamon to the flour and rub in the butter.
2. Stir in the raisins and the egg, then the mashed banana.
3. Bake in a greased loaf tin at 350 deg F (175 deg C) for 45 mins to one hour, until firm.

More :)

The Pea signed for the first time! She successfully signed that she wanted more food. I have been signing for months, but very inconsistently. The other day I showed her the sign for more, did it with her hands, and gave her more food. After she finished what she had on her tray I asked her if she wanted more while signing. She copied and I gave her more food. When she ran out again she signed on her own!! It was so great to have her be able to communicate in this way!

Sleep!! :)

Two nights ago Claire woke up 3 times...improvement from the previous night for sure. Last night I put Claire to bed after a snack and some formula, as well as nursing. Sounds like a lot but it was spaced out. She went down around 8:00. I didn't hear from that sweet pea until 5am!! Good job, Pea!!

On another note, she said Mommy last week!!

Sleep? Not a chance.

Claire refused the bottle in the middle of the night and screamed until I relented and nursed the first waking. The next time she woke up she refused the bottle again. But I did not give in this time...no nursing. She finally calmed down and I layed her back in bed. She fell back to sleep peacefully as I rubbed her head. But then she woke up two more times. Still I did not nurse - I held her to soothe her and laid her back in bed. Hopefully this will pay off soon!

Sleep?

Claire started sleeping through the night at 8 weeks and stopped after about a month or so. Now she wakes up twice a night - around 11 and 3:30. She is almost 11 months old and it is time to stop! So far we have said that she is a baby and of course we will go to her when she cries at night. But we are beginning to realize that this is now a habit and that it is in her best interest if she can put herself back to sleep when she wakes in the middle of the night. So here is the plan of attack: I will feed her a few ounces of formula before bed. When she wakes I will feed her 2 oz of the formula for three days, then 1 oz for three days, then water for three days. After that I will pick her up to soothe her for three days, then go in and verbally soothe her. I am giving this 2 weeks and then I will let her cry :( if this does not work. So that is the plan - I am sticking to it!! I hope it works!!

Hi! Bye!

Claire's vocabulary includes: hi, bye, daddy, yay, ball. We are still working on Mommy but no pressure! She has her whole life to call me Mommy :)

Night weaning.

So, the Pea is 10 mos old and it is time to wean her night feedings. I just can't stand to let her cry so it is a longer process than I would like it to be. I am just shortening the feedings at this point to try to reduce them one at a time (there are two per night). It's hard! We'll see how it goes! So far she cries when I cut the feedings short but after I lay her back down she is calm and falls back to sleep.

Sweet dreams for our Sweet Pea

I love the video monitor. Every night I check on her dozens of times to see what she's up to or what sleep position she is in. It's nice to watch her sleeping without having to tiptoe into her room and risk waking her. Just about every night my husband and I discuss how cute she and how much we love her. (We don't know what we talked about before she was born!)Then we usually look at the monitor and confirm her cuteness even more. The other night we were taking part in this nightly ritual and caught her smiling a huge grin in her sleep. It was the most adorable thing ever! It warmed our hearts to know she was having sweet dreams, and we had fun speculating what she could have been dreaming of - a puppy dog, a hug from mommy or daddy,a room full of cheerios, grass (she loves it!), snatching daddy's sunglasses off his head, pulling mommy's hair (so fun!), etc.

Hijack Part II

Hi Mommy,

I hacked your account to tell you to post again! I am making my growling tiger face in this picture to scare you into action. GRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!

Swimmy Pea

Last week was a scorcher! To cool down I bought the Pea a small blow-up baby pool. She seemed a little unsure at first...maybe she was confused as to why she was in water but not in the tub. She had a lot of fun splashing and playing with the new toys I got for her. She kept going to the edge and peeking over. The problem with doing that in an inflatable pool is that it collapses under her weight. She is Curious Claire though! Next week we are going to the shore for the first time with the Pea. We are super excited to see her reaction to the water and the sand. :)

Mice

My wonderful husband is redoing our outdated kitchen. We had a busy Memorial Day weekend planned but he was determined to get the second coat of primer on the walls before going to our friends' house for dinner. Matt takes great care to do things the right way, so he carefully covered all the appliances with dropcloths and did all the other prepwork that comes with painting. We have a blanket that is perfect for serving as a drop cloth. As Matt was opening the dropcloth he brought in from the garage a mouse ran across his arm jumping to the ground while another skittered down the blanket onto the floor. Of course they ran under the appliances to hide. I ran to pick up all of Claire's toys and blankets off the ground and Matt sealed off the kitchen, closing the doors and sealing the cracks under the doors as best as possible. He was ready with a broom to sweep them out the back door hockey style. Alas, no mice came out and they were no longer under the appliances. Matt did not get any painting done as he spent the rest of the afternoon buying and setting up traps.

No matter how hard you try...

Normally when I go grocery shopping I wear Claire in a sling while pushing the cart one handed. This week I decided to put her in the front of the cart. So I brought my Boppy cart cover and the instructions. After about 5 minutes standing at the front of the store, I finally put it on correctly, making sure everything was covered. It was perfect! She sat up straight and was content looking around. I could shop with both hands and had the whole back of the cart to carry my groceries in. I went to the meat section, picked out my organic chicken and was horrified when I turned around to see Claire sucking on the belt that was attached to the cart. I shook off the deflation I was feeling and tucked a blanket around the strap, hoping that it wasn't as germ-infested as it looked. No matter how hard you try I guess you can't control everything.

Bath

Claire has always loved bathtime. Lately she seems to be especially enjoying her time in the tub. When I set her down in her baby bath she looks at the water and then up at me with a grin that exudes pure bliss. It's as if she wants to say, "I love you so much for putting me in this bath. It's my favorite." Then she looks back down at the water and begins the splashing session. So sweet.

Crawling Claire

Sweet Baby Claire is mobile! The impetus that finally drove her to crawl her first few inches was my friend's Blackberry. Claire saw the phone lying on the floor on her blanket and that was it. She excitedly scooched her little legs frog style and pushed herself forward until she had her little fingers on that intriguing object. She is certainly my daughter - Mommy's bobo phone doesn't interest her nearly as much as the nice, expensive Blackberry! Guess they call it 'Crackberry' for a reason. Now she is exploring her new found mobility while she plays or anytime we set her down on the floor. Her obsession with chewing the edges and corners of throw rugs is now the bane of my existence - she immediately goes for the rug's edge when we put her down.

Mother's Day Goal

Mother's Day is coming up this weekend so of course I had to hit the local Walgreens to get some cards for the mothers in my life. Although they make for a nice gesture and I do like receiving them, sometimes giving a card can seem more like a formality than anything else. Nonetheless, I take my time to try and find the perfect card for whatever the occassion may be. As I was picking out my cards I noticed how sweet they all were. Many told the reader what a wonderful mother she is/has always been, how she has always been there, portrayed the reader as the most important person in the card-giver's life, etc... I looked at my little Claire, who was blowing raspberries at passers-by and was wriggling in my arms as I balanced her on my hip. I silently made a promise to her, and myself, that I will do everything I can to bed the kind of mother to Claire that ALL of those cards depict. I want her to think I have been the best mother ever, I have always been there for her, and that I am the most important person in her life (besides Daddy of course!).

Hijack

Dear Daddy,

I have decided to take over this blog because a) mommy doesn't do it consistently b) mommy shouldn't speak for me, I should! and c) I am the pea damn it.

Today was a good day. I went with Mommy to the Flower Market, right after Grana's favorite spot (Fresh Thymes) where everyone said how cute I was. Mommy decided to bring me in the jogger because she thought I'd fall asleep. Ha! I wasn't tired one bit. There were so many things to see there...flowers, rides, vendors with lots of junk...It was a horder's paradise! There was so much to see that I decided that I could see better if mommy held me rather than be in the jogger. I started to cry and mommy fell for it. Then I could really people watch and see all kinds of stuff! There was this really pretty painting of a monkey that would look great in my room. Mommy tried to give her arms a rest by letting Grana or her friend hold me but I would only let my Mommy hold me. Luckily, for us both, Mommy was smart enough to bring the carrier and she carried me in it the rest of the time. It was so great! But I fell asleep in it by the end of our visit.

Today I also ate a biter biscuit and some of those Gerber air puff thingies. Mommy was so nervous she cut the puffs in half to make sure they melted before I swallowed them. I did a good job picking them up on my own and putting them in my mouth.

I missed you today, Dad. I said your name lots while I was playing. I was thinking about you and how much I love you. Mommy said "Mama" to me...she's trying to get me to say it. But I just say Dada because I loves you so. It's my most favorite thing to say.

Love you!

The Pea

PS Make Mommy wash my Duckums ASAP! I misses him!

Always a bright side.

Every week on my way to grad class I treat myself to a guilty little pleasure - a coffee from Starbucks with sugar and cream. This particular trip to class was special because it was my last class for the semester. I thought I'd live it up by getting an iced coffee instead of my normal hot one. The Starbucks was pretty lively and there were several busy baristas making coffee, taking orders, etc. As one of them took my order she rolled her eyes as a baby squealed in the background. She huffed and murmered something under her breath. I looked back to see a precious little baby with his mother, feeding from a bottle, giving his mom a hard time by arching his back and stretching his neck away from the bottle. I knew that move. My mind began to drift to Claire when it was yanked back to reality by the barista. "God! If you can't control your kids then don't bring them," she said to her colleague, quiet enough that the mom couldn't hear. At first I was offended and wanted to stand up for the mommy and the baby. But then I realized something - she wouldn't have said that within earshot of me if she thought I was a mommy. Guess my mom jeans and messy hair aren't as bad as I thought. :) I'll take it.

Bon bons and soaps

I have heard the question a few times. "So what do you do all day?" The question is always from people without children. I don't expect them to understand how much work a baby is. Before I had Claire I used to think how nice it must be to be a stay-at-home mom...since they could get up whenever they wanted, do whatever they wanted, etc. I had my ten-year reunion this past weekend. I went to a very small private single-sex high school. About 15 out of the 45 of us were there...one-third is a decent turn out I think. It was fun catching up with old classmates and friends. I don't know why I wasn't suprised when an old friend (no kids) asked, "So what do you do all day?" My response always seems to be, "Um...ya know. Take care of the baby. Try to get stuff done." Doesn't quite encapsulate what I really do all day. I should've asked her, "What do you do all day?" Describing what you do, no matter what it is, never sounds as busy as it really is.

Slee-pea

When Claire was an itty bitty baby she would sleep in my arms or on top of me while I lay in the recliner. It was so peaceful and relaxing to feel her breathe and listen to the baby noises she made as she slept. I am glad I savored those moments because they did not last long. Now, when she is tired she is happiest lying in her crib with her blanky, her soother on, and the sounds of the ocean coming from her Sleep Sheep noise machine. But now and then I still get to hold my baby girl as she sleeps quietly, looking like an angel. Today was one of those days. She was a little unsettled today and wouldn't go down for her second nap. So I brought her downstairs and sat her next to me in the recliner. I had the tv on and covered us with a blanket. She was so content sitting with me, but I was just waiting for the moment when she would fuss to tell me she was over it. After about 10 minutes I noticed the rhythmic cadence of her breathing that could only mean that she had fallen asleep. I sat so still the whole time trying to make it last as long as possible. And then I had another one of those moments where it hit me that this perfect little person is mine.

Hello, I love you.

Claire, who is 7 mos old now, has begun to wave to us! I noticed her opening and closing her cute little hand a while ago. I didn't realize at the time that she was practicing another way of communicating with us. We saw her do it several times on Sunday and it seemed like she was directly doing it to people. But last night Claire woke up around 10pm. She doesn't normally do that and I wouldn't normally bring her out of her room but she was so cute and cuddly I couldn't bare to put her back down. Plus Parenthood was on and I really like that show. So I brought her down and nursed her a bit. She finished her snack but was still awake. I brought her over to daddy so he could kiss her goodnight and he waved to her. She waved back! She held up her cute little hand and opened and closed it. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. She acknowledged Matt's wave and responded. I am one proud mommy.

Cats Wars

Right after we went under contract on our house we noticed a few cats that were hanging around the property. I thought, "How cute!" A few weeks after we moved in we realized that there were about five cats that felt very at home in our yard. They glared at us as we pulled into the driveway or walked outside. I noticed that a small plate of catfood kept appearing behind our garage. My husband was PO'd! The cats were constantly hanging around and the neighbor even was feeding them in our yard! It was a little annoying but the neighbor is an old lady...who can be mad at a sweet old lady?! Then I found cat hair on my patio chair/pillow. And then they started using our newly mulched flowerbeds as litter boxes. So began the Cat Wars. My husband has made it his life's goal to get those cats to stay out of our yard. This has proved to be a tricky task. We found a lot of remedies online but are apprehensive to try any. For now, my husband quickly and quietly sneaks out the door with a super soaker to make his attack. Usually the cats get away before his water ammunition even nears the cats. Cats 10, Us 0.

Babyfood

Recently I have become more aware of the junk that is put into our food supply. It all started when I began registering for my baby shower. Everything said BPA-free...bottles, spoons, pacifiers, etc. I didn't know what BPA-free meant but I shot that registry gun at every bar code I saw with that logo on it. Whatever BPA was I didn't want it! Finally a few months ago I researched it online and found out that it is a chemical in packaging that could have negative imacts on our health. I found out that it is present in more than just baby products...it is in tuna cans, jars of sauce, and obviously in many things plastic. Immediately I began a crusade against BPA, trying to rid it from my home and looking for brands of stewed tomatoes and tuna that do not use BPA in packaging. Apparently anything in cartons or pouches is poison free...I mean BPA-free. I found out, too, that many baby food companies use it in their jars and plastic packaging. So I have found four BPA-free and organic baby foods all of which are sold on diapers.com. Neurotic mommies rejoice!! The brands are Sprout, Happy Baby, Plum Organics, and Ella's Kitchen. Happy Baby makes cereals too, at a reasonable price, that do not have preservatives like the Gerber ones I have been buying. I am making most of The Pea's food, but there are some that you are not supposed to make on your own, due to nitrates in the soil, until they are a little older. Also, recently I completed a project for my grad class (only one more class thank God!) about the issues with our food supply. I found a ton of info that is enough to make me want to become a hippie, move to a compound, and eat tofu. Then just when I think I'm living happily in my BPA-free bubble I find out about BHA...another chemical in packaging and in foods. Today at a party I found myself wondering if a mom new that the food she was feeding her son has BPA in the packaging. It has taken over my life!

I feel like there's always going to be something to worry about so I'm just going to do my best without driving myself too crazy.

First blog!

What to say on your first blog?!

I am a mommy to a seven month old (she is 7 mos old today actually!) I am a teacher, but am taking a break to stay home with Claire. Her nickname is The Pea from when she was the size of a pea when I was preggers. It said she was the size of a pea one week in What to Epect and the name just stuck. My husband and I were married for two months before we got pregnant. And we bought our home one year ago and it is one of those old, yet charming, fixer uppers. It needs sooo much work. Besides learning to be a mommy, a wife, and making home improvements I am in grad school, am trying desperately to learn to cook and have been working diligently (ok maybe that is an exageration) on losing those baby pounds. And since it's spring I've decided I need to learn to garden. Why not, right?

I decided to write a blog because a) I follow several that I enjoy b) I have lots to say! c) why not?

We'll see how it goes!