simple made special

Margot, the topsy-turvy doll

This is what I gave the babe for Christmas. She is from the book Wee Wonderfuls, by Hillary Lang. She is 2 dolls in one. I love this book and all the projects look amazing, but this one really jumped out at me. I made my Margot much smaller than the pattern, for small hands. I had never done yarn hair like this, but once I got a bit used to it, I loved stitching it. This project should have been easy, but for a sleep deprived mom it took a while, but was fun and therapeutic for me. I just worked on it in the evenings, and since we are tip-toeing around after she goes to bed, it worked out to have a quite project to do. I had Dave braid the long strands of yarn. He's good at knot tying and such, and I wanted him to help with the doll a little, too. 

 

cuteness

One day old and 6 months old. O.M.G. She is so different and at the same time she is still that little baby she was the first day. I really get weepy thinking about it. Sometimes I cry because I'm just amazed at all the things she can do now, she's almost crawling, she stands up and holds onto the couch (I stay very close), she has a sense of humor. And sometimes I cry because I'm sad about all the things I wish I could have done better. She is really fun right now, and even though I was looking forward to her entertaining herself a bit, I just sit and watch her play, and still don't get anything done. The other day Dave said, "She seems so grown up when she's ignoring us." It really sums up a funny part of her personality. We love her.

 

 

Babywise, and her cute new rug.

We got this rug on our little date Saturday. It was the first pink thing we have purchased for her room and I love how cushy it is, I'm not so worried about her tipping over onto the hard wood floor. It came to my attention that we do not own a vacuum cleaner, so we need to get one, as I am hoping to find another rug for the living room. Rugs are so expensive an investment. Luckily this Pottery Barn reject was only $49 at Down East, and bonus, it matches the Pottery Barn reject crib we purchased there. Huzzah! I know what you're thinking, a pink rug! What's next? Curtains, some bedding possibly? We shall see.

And I did say date! We can now leave baby for 3-4 hours. See below.

Dave and I have been so happy the last few weeks and the reason is this book. It was recommended to us early on and I read some terrible reviews about it, and decided it was not for us. Scathing. Attachment Parents would have Gary Ezzo left to cry in a poopy diaper for 4 days straight. Basically he is described as a sadist who is responsible for starving babies who are too sad to cry. HARDLY. I tell you this man is a GENIUS. Yes, she cries herself to sleep, but she also naps for 2 hours and wakes up happy. Do you know what that's like? I didn't. Before she was napping for 15 minutes, and I promise you we were all crying a lot more. We were mad, tired and frustrated. She slept for 45 minutes at a stretch at night. Now she goes at least 3 hours, and it is improving. Yes, it is hard to leave her in her crib crying. The first time I cried, too. This has been a big 'never say never' experience for me, because I was going to be the mom who answered every cry and made my baby feel so safe that she would sleep soundly knowing her mother was right there. Um, it was not working and her behavior was getting worse and worse. To some, just using the word 'behavior' in regards to a six months old is evil, but this little girl is very, very smart, and she understands things well beyond her six months. For starters, how many six month olds shudder when they see a Monchichi? That's another post, but we got her one at Target, and when I tried to get her to play with it she picked it up by the tail with two fingers and held it as far away as possible. She then carefully inspected the area below the tail before discarding it for good. It had Dave and I rolling.

In a nutshell, no one really tells you baby raising is so hard, and I wish people would talk about it a little more, because there are so many things to learn, and learning them the hard way isn't fun. I could have enjoyed my baby a lot more, and I feel sad about that. I honestly think so many of our nursing issues would have been helped as well. So I'm spreading the Babywise message, I hope it doesn't offend anyone. So if you're pregnant—watch out, you are getting this book from me!

I would love to hear your comments and experiences! I know this is sacrilege to many of my home-birth mom friends and for that I am sorry, what works for your family?

a merry little christmas

We had a pretty tame holiday here. Baby has some new skills: sitting up and rolling over. She is not very interested in doing either and looks confused when we clap for her. She likes to grab ay anything in reach, pulls hair, pinches eyeballs and prefers boring objects to her toys. She almost crawled today just trying to get a nail file. She is still really small, about 13 pounds. January is going to be a tough month, I'm going to start some sleep training and I am very afraid. I want to do the right things for her, but it turns out I have no idea what is right, it's so hard sometimes. But, she is a terrific little baby who is very smart for her 25 weeks.

I kind of got a little addicted to eBay this season. I got Dave's present there and picked up a few things for myself. I 'won' a few more items than I intended, and am pretty obsessed with little Japanese christmas bits. Dave really came through in the present department, and I loved my gifts. We gave baby girl a little rag doll, more to come on that..

Honestly, this year has been pretty darn tough, and I'm not that sad to see it go. I'm not really one for resolutions, but I have lots of hopes for 2011. Mostly, I just want to be a good mom and wife and earn enough dough to pay some bills.

Here's a bunch of pictures. 

Big girl, sitting up. Whenever she is really grumpy, I just undress her, and she's pretty happy.

Riding dad's head with a fist-full of hair.

Here's one of my scores:

Baby with some freaky baby dolls at Great Grandmother's on Christmas Day.

Playing in the snow. Lasted about 5 minutes. She hates coats and being bundled.

Baby in her Santa suit! Her expression here reminds me of the grinch. That little eyebrow cracks me up every time. It reminds me of my midwife.

tis the season

my mother in law has always put together the most amazing gift baskets, and after much hounding has made her services available for hire. she has some great ideas and can make you anything you want. her website is www.basketandgift.com if you want to see some great ideas for gifts, and see some pretty photos by dave.

here is a tasty creation to tempt you...

and while I'm shamelessly promoting my family, here's one for me. I added a link to my (rarely updated) design blog over there on the left. It's sooo out of date. Which reminds me that this blog needs a facelift, huh?

And just because it doesn't feel right to post about anything other than the babe... here's a pic of her helping me make pancakes this morning. she rides around in the bjorn while we do a few chores, mostly make breakfast. she loves to watch chopping and the blender. I let her smell different spices while I'm working and she seems really interested. She is really getting sweeter every day.

 

31

 

Today is my birthday and it has been a great day spent with 2 lovely people. Dave gave me these awesome Matryoshka dolls that are ready to be painted! I am so excited. I want to paint them for baby's christmas present (next year, or maybe when she is five, depending how much time I can get in!) This picture cracks me up. I am in total denial about how big she is. I really thought she would be just a little bigger than the biggest doll. She is wearing a little kerchief like the dolls traditionally wear. I think I will paint them in traditional garb, but in the colors I like, which as it turns out are all the colors of baby poop. 

I love my family and am so lucky to have them.

no time!

 

I just have no time these days! Baby keeps me so busy, sometimes it's really hard and sometimes it's okay. She started sleeping really badly in October, she got a cold and was waking up like every half hour. It was worse than when she was a newborn! It is only now getting a little better. It is a bit awful, but we are getting used to the sleep deprivation. I think the brain fog has only put my career at serious risk once, maybe twice, probably more, but I'm too tired to really notice.

Sometimes I feel really bad, because I think other moms are just more natural at being with their babies ALL DAY. I try to enjoy every minute, but dang, sometimes it's hard.

16 weeks old

baby at one week and 16 weeks.

can you even handle this? she's huge! almost 12 pounds. she wanted to do crunches in her picture, so you can't see how tall she is. The poor dear has the sniffles, and it is making her mad, but she's lovely otherwise. she is NOT content to lay about and wants to be up all the time, either bouncing, standing or going whoosh—basically our arms and backs are killing us. a trip to the mailbox can calm her worst crying fit. it's a little scary to go out because she may decide she cannot stand the car seat one more damn minute at any minute. and she enjoys Tasha's antique mall as much as I do.

baby weekend

some real random photos from the weekend...

enjoying her bouncy chair—a first! it helps if you let her try new things when she isn't too tired. mom's learning.

 

baby went sailing on grandpa's boat. well, more sitting than sailing, but it was still an adventure!

 

there was better pictures of mom and dad, but baby had her eyes shut...

 

it can be cold on the water!

 

a new quilt from grandma!

 

using her quads...

 

checking on dad's tomato plants, best we've ever had. not bad for planting them in July.

 

getting mugged on by her boy cousin. he's so cute with her. the first time he saw her he asked if she knew patty cake. he holds her sweetly and is quick to offer the binky. he's also very aware of girl blankets.

I've spent a lot of time on this lawn, scheming and planning bigger garden beds, chicken coops, and new things to grow, but honestly I never really thought I'd see this... it is a happy site.

 

         

lately

we've had more of this...

 

and less of this... note the 'colic hold'

So I'm feeling happy about that. Our big work push is over for now, so I can relax more and maybe she's sensing that, but we're all a lot happier these last few days.

Now we just need more of this...

I'm not complaining though. She has slept from 10 or 11pm until 5 or 6am for about a week. It's heavenly.

She is back to sleeping in her crib after co-sleeping at the hotel. I learned a lot from watching her at night. She wakes up a lot more than I thought. She would look at me and if my eyes shut, hers would shut. She also cries out a lot while she is sound asleep. I think I have probably been actually waking her more than I realized. It's hard because we had such a fragile feeding routine going, that I've really been on edge to feed her ALL the time. I'm learning to recognize when she's just tired, and not hungry at all.

So I guess we're figuring her out.