8 months!

Tuesday, Jade was 8 months old. Again, I know I say this every month... but really, where has the time gone? I will say that in some ways it feels like she's been a part of our lives forever, but most of the time I feel like I brought her home from the hospital yesterday.

Our 8-month photo shoot left a little to be desired. I had to wait until daddy got home from work to even try because I couldn't get her to sit still long enough to take a picture. Unfortunately, she was feeling a little fussy so we didn't get any smiles on camera... and then she started trying to eat the sticker. Sigh.

I feel like she has changed so much this month. She's doing new things every day and making Chuck and I laugh all the time. She's still a fairly serious baby, but is smiling and laughing more and more, which I have to admit is nice.

She has started crawling EVERYWHERE. Up until recently, she pretty much would crawl from one side of a room to the other and then stop, but she's started to crawl into other rooms now and is discovering that she can follow me when I walk away. She still isn't quite into everything, which is amazing to me, but I'm grateful for it. She has started to stick her tongue out while she's crawling. I'm not quite sure why, but it's adorable!

Although she isn't getting into too much yet, I still have to watch her constantly because she tries to pull up on everything... even things that aren't necessarily good for pulling up on. The poor thing has probably fallen a bazillion times this month, but she's definitely learning how to balance herself a bit better. She's even started to hold onto things with one hand while reaching for something else. It wouldn't surprise me at all if she walks fairly early. Which will look hilarious because she's still so tiny!

Speaking of tiny... in these pictures, she's wearing 3-6 month clothes. As you can see, they fit fine. We've moved her into a lot of 6-9 month stuff, but it's still pretty big on her and she still fits in most of her 3-6 stuff. We don't go to the doctor again until her 9 month appt, but I will be very interested to see how much she weighs. I know she's getting bigger, but she's doing it fairly slowly :)

She's also started to act "shy" when she sees new people. If I'm holding her, she'll lay her head down on my chest with this little grin on her face. She does this most days when Chuck gets home before she starts smiling and getting really excited.

She still loves bath time... Chuck gives her a bath every night and as long as she's in there, she's happy. She splashes and plays with her toys and sucks on her washcloth. Unfortunately, when we get her out, it's meltdown mode until she's dressed and I'm nursing her. I think she's a bit mad to be out of the tub and a bit mad to be completely out of control, so she screams :) Hopefully that will stop one day...

Her eating skills are improving dramatically. This morning, I gave her 5 peach slices for breakfast and every one of them made it to her mouth. She's even started to be able to get little things into her mouth... she has a lot of fun with Cheerios. She really does just love to eat... she's started to get excited when she sees me getting her tray ready, which is really cute. Last month she was cutting down on her nursing sessions, but this month she ramped back up. Between nursing and eating table foods, she spends a LOT of time eating.

We've been doing sign language with her since she was about 3-months-old and she's finally started to respond to some of them. She still hasn't made any herself, but I know it's just a matter of time. I can't wait until we are able to communicate with her a little bit better.

Her sleep was improving for a while, but then she got sick and then we went out of town so it's back to "normal". After a 2 am incoherent screaming match between Chuck and I which helped me to realize that something had to change, we did Ferber for a few days. It really didn't seem to be helping, and then she got sick so her sleep got much worse. When I realized that we would have to start all over after she was feeling better and then do it again every time we had a setback, I decided I just couldn't continue with that method. I have not read a single thing saying why it's a good thing to let your kid cry (and I've looked), but I've read a ton about how it can be detrimental. So, we're starting the No Cry Sleep Solution again. We tried it when she was 4-months, but I just don't think she was ready.... but now I know she can wake up fewer times every night, so hopefully our results will be better. I'll keep you guys posted :)

She still loves to be worn in my woven. If she's fussy and I need to get stuff done around the house, I can just strap her on and be on my way. That thing is a lifesaver! It's also great for walks... she likes being up high where she can see everything that I can see.

Whew, this was a long update post! But like I said, she's doing so many new things. I really feel like she's starting to grow up a bit :)

This isn't an "8-month" photo, but is just an example of how hard it is to get good pictures of her these days because she never sits still! I was trying so hard to get the tongue sticking out while crawling and I did... just a little late :)

I still have some pictures to post from our visit to Indiana and first Christmas, I'll try to get those up soon.

Christmastime

We have had a great trip to Indiana so far. Chuck's Auntie Beth did an amazing job getting the house ready for us and having things around for Jade. (my food-loving baby needs a high chair!)

Jade started to feel much better before we left home and was a champ on the flights here. Unfortunately, her nose has started running and she's coughing and not feeling so great now. Poor thing just can't seem to shake this virus.

I don't have internet access here so I can't upload any of the pictures I've taken with my "real" camera, but rest assured that we were all spoiled. I think jade got 15 new outfits.

Here's a cute one of her from Christmas day:



I hope you have all had a good Christmas with your family as well!

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My poor sick baby

Beginning last Saturday, Jade started acting fussy. She had no real symptoms, just waking up a lot at night and fussy during the day.

On Thursday she started acting worse, so I called the doctor. She said it was probably teething. "even without swollen gums?" I asked. She said yes, that this tooth might not break through until next month so the gums don't have to be swollen for the tooth to be bothering Jade.

I'm ashamed to say that my first thought was "yay, a fussy baby for another month".

Well, Friday night she felt warm to the touch, so I took her temperature. 101.1. No good. Tylenol helped bring it down, but as it wore off around the 3-hour mark it kept coming back. All night long.

This morning I called the nurses hotline. She said it no longer sounds like teething and encouraged me to go to urgent care.

Where I was told that my baby has a cold. A cold. While I am grateful it's not something worse, I'm frustrated because there's basically nothing I can do. Administer Tylenol, suction her nose, give saline spray, run a humidifier, and let the virus run its course.

Prayers would be appreciated :)

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More Christmas stuff

In my family, we have about a bazillion (yes, a technical term) Christmas traditions. One is that my brother and I each always have a little tree in our room with our Hallmark ornaments on them. Every year, my parents got us an ornament that was part of a series... one of mine (Mary's Angels) has been going on for 23 years. It's pretty neat to put up the tree every year and see all 23 of them.

So I had to buy an ornament for Jade. I wasn't really a huge fan of any of the "first in series" ornaments this year, so we got her one that says "2010" and is supposed to go for 10 years. I figure sometime in the next 10 years, Hallmark will start a new series that I like.

My parents contributed her "Baby's first Christmas" ornament, along with a little nativity scene to sit under her tree.

Growing up, we also had a little tin that we put under the tree that Santa would fill up with goodies... usually Chex mix or something like that. I found Jade's tin for .99 at Michael's. Can't beat that.

Stocking

Chuck is about the pickiest guy I know. Most guys I know say "yeah, whatever" when it comes to certain things. Chuck is not that guy. He has an opinion on everything. Except for what I cook for dinner, but that's another story.

So when it came time to pick out Jade's stocking, we had an extremely difficult time. I didn't want anything that was baby-ish because I want it to be her stocking for the rest of her life. None of our stocking's have our names on them, so I didn't want hers to have her name on it. I didn't want to buy new stocking for the whole family, because then what happens when we have another kid and we can't find those stockings? We have to buy all new stockings again? I don't think so.

So I picked out several while I was out shopping this year. I would take a picture and text it to Chuck. He would immediately (or not so immediately) text back and say "no" and then give his reason. Seriously, why can't you just say "yeah, whatever"?

But now I know why. Because it challenged me to find the best.stocking.ever. I love this stocking so much that everytime I look at it, I smile and think "wow, I love that stocking". It's girly, but not too girly. It looks good with the rest of our stockings, but it's not matchy matchy. Frankly, it's perfect.

Even Chuck likes it. Not so much that he looks at it and says "that stocking is perfect," but he doesn't look at it and grimace, which is what he would have done with any other one that I had picked out.

I found it from Etsy seller Mrowe. Etsy never disappoints :)

Glimpse

Since posting yesterday, I have wanted to edit my post about 40 times. I have considered deleting it entirely,but figured someone might notice.

The thing is, I know I'm not a hippy. And I know that the things
I posted don't make me a hippy. I read a lot of blogs and post on some message boards and through those things have realized I'm fairly middle of the road.

However, around the circle of people I know here in Virginia, I'm an oddity. And while I have nothing against being the "weird" one- it's certainly happened before- I won't lie and say that it doesn't bother me at times. I would love to expand my circle and meet some moms more like me, but that is easier said than done. So until then, I will be the token crunchy mom at my church.

I will try to return to normal posts soon. I know most of you read for updates on Jade, but the increased darkness combined with sleep deprivation makes me think way too much.

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Embrace the crunchiness

There has always been a small part of me that had a bit of a hippy ("crunchy", if you will) nature. I'm slightly freakish about recycling, and compared to my ROTC/Air Force buddies was quite the liberal.

Since becoming a mom, this has multiplied exponentially. I was talking to Chuck the other day about how I wanted to get some bamboo inserts for Jade's diapers because they're more absorbent and he looked at me like I had been possessed. Now that I use cloth, I hate putting disposables on her because they're so paper-like and the chemicals weird me out.

My parenting choices have put me in line with all the no-showering/no-shaving people. I denied it for a while, but it's true.

I baby-wear, and not with a Bjorn or some other mainstream carrier, but with a woven wrap.

I cloth diaper.

I breastfeed exclusively, nurse in public (without a cover) without batting an eye, and don't think it's "weird" or "creepy" if people nurse their baby past a year.

I really try to limit battery operated toys, and prefer toys made of natural materials.

I think bed-sharing is just as "normal" (if not more so) than babies having their own room.

We Baby Led Wean, instead of feeing purees

But all of a sudden, I have nothing in common with most of the moms that I know. I was talking to some ladies at church the other day and realized that I was definitely an oddity. But I am embracing it. A couple women now call me "the hippy" and I think this will be my new name.

That is all.

Thanksgiving

Somehow I got home and don't have a single picture of Jade eating turkey, but until I find that one here are some other pictures from our trip home.

On a walk with the whole clan.

Sitting with daddy.

Talking to Grandmama during her bath.

Showing off her adorable new Auburn outfit. She wore this during the AU/AL game. I believe that it was the deciding factor in Auburn's win :)

Eating one of her Christmas presents.

Showing off her standing skills.

7 months

Sunday, Jade was 7 months old. I think this month has brought the most changes so far, mainly with her physical milestones.

She can now sit up by herself no problem, and is far less wobbly than before. She also finally figured out to put her arms out when trying to go from sitting to crawling, so there's not so much face-planting going on :)

She learned to crawl. She still mainly scoots, but she is crawling more and more and is definitely mobile and going after things.

She can pull to standing while holding onto our fingers, and is really close to being able to pull up on the couch. We're going to have to lower the crib mattress tonight because last night she kept trying to pull up on the side- she wasn't quite successful, but it's just a matter of time.

She is finally sleeping a bit better. Her naps have improved drastically. If I put her down 2 hours after she wakes up in the morning, she goes down without a fight and normally sleeps for at least an hour. The afternoon nap is still a bit of a struggle, but is still better than it was. She now only wakes up twice at night more consistently than anything else, so that's been nice as well. When we were traveling, it was worse, but that's understandable. Two times a night isn't perfect, but it's so much better than it was so I'm super-thankful. It also helps that Chuck takes her first waking because I'm normally asleep by then :)

Speaking of Chuck, she's started to get excited when he gets home from work, which is super cute. I have a feeling she's gonna be a total daddy's girl.

She LOVES to eat. She's actually started to cut back on her nursing sessions a little and is eating 3 full meals of solids a day. So far, her favorite food is peaches, but I haven't found anything she won't eat.

Without further ado, her 7-month photo... I'll post soon about our trip home for Thanksgiving!

It was impossible to get her to sit still for this one.. but I thought this one was cute :)

Oops

I went out of town and kind of forgot about this thing...

I owe you a much better post than this, but I wanted to at least post something so here I am.

Jade turned 7 months yesterday. That update will come soon. I'll also post some photos from Thanksgiving with my family. We had a great time, but I must say that it's good to be home.

But for now, here's a photo I took earlier today. Love.

This is what happens

When you assume you will have time to straighten up and clean your bathroom during morning nap.

So basically, my bathroom isn't clean AND there are Cheerios all over the floor. Good thing we have dogs :)

And she crawls...

Last night while I was cooking dinner, Chuck was playing with Jade on the floor in the living room. Jade was going after the dog bone (I can't wait to tell her about this when she's older and hear her go "eeeewwww") and instead of her normal scoot, she crawled. She did this several times, I ran to get the video camera, and then she stopped. But the below clip is just a little hint of what she was doing.

Surprisingly enough, she's mainly scooting again today and she's not getting into too much stuff. But I'm sure that will change soon enough.

We had Chuck's work Thanksgiving today and it was sooo yummy. Jade did really well while we were there... I gave her some of my ham and she was a big fan.

The weather's been kind of weird the last couple days... really warm, but all the leaves are finally changing colors and falling off so it looks like it should be cool out.

Friday night, we're driving to Birmingham to spend the week with my family (and friends in Columbus) and I'm super excited about that!

And to close... another clip of a fun thing Jade has been doing. She'll be perfectly happy if she can't see me, but if I come into the room and don't pick her up, she cries. It's wonderful.

The crying continued for a bit longer than this, but I'll spare you guys :)

Ladies retreat

So last night after church, all the ladies took off to go to Yorktown to eat yummy food, stay in a hotel, hear some fabulous messages, and just get to know each other better. After going back and forth with the churches admin person (a good friend of mine), preacher's wife, and Chuck, we just couldn't figure out a way for me to go without Jade coming too. And I don't know about you, but a retreat with a 6-month-old just doesn't sound very relaxing.

I realize this is just a phase in my life and that there will be many more retreats and conferences that I can go to in my life, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little disappointed. I was alright with it until I saw all the women loading up into cars with their bags and pillows last night. This was on my second trip out of the auditorium to get Jade in the nursery.

Speaking of... my "goal" is to be able to sit through an entire church service before Jade is 1. But sadly, the achievement of this goal is all up to Jade so there's really nothing I can do to meet it. She just, in general, isn't such a fan of anyone except her mama. I think if we went to a "normal" church that met on Sunday mornings it would be easier, but we meet at 5 pm, which is the peak of her fussiness. And I also have to miss a lot of football games and attempt to stay up and watch them when I get home (thereby sleeping on the couch). But I LOVE my church, so it's all good :)

That's it for now. I just realized I haven't taken any photos in a few days, so I'll be sure to get my camera out today.

Nevermind

This post has 2 purposes. One is to say that I spoke a bit too soon. Last night we had some inconsolable screaming and as much as I tried to think of another cause, I'm pretty sure it's the dairy I've been having. But her reaction wasn't nearly as severe as it used to be and it took much longer, so I think I'll still be able to eat dairy if it's cooked into something, I just might need to avoid the cheeseburgers for a while. Tonight, we're having a recipe for dinner that calls for 1/4 cup milk, and I'm going to use real milk and see what happens :)

The other is to ask my dad a question while attempting to show you guys pictures of inconsolable Jade. Last  night, when Jade lost it, I thought "oh this would be great for my blog!" (sad? Maybe, but that's not the point.)

This picture was taken with the camera's built in flash... obviously left something to be desired so I added the fancy pantsy flash daddy gave me.

Which gave me those three. Seriously? What in the world am I doing wrong? I've taken pictures before... and I just don't understand why I can't get the lighting right these days.

Anyways, that's Jade last night in her "mama please don't eat dairy" fit. Looks like I'll wait a while before having another cheeseburger. But man, that one on Monday was good :)

I am proud to report

That I ate a cheeseburger yesterday. For those of you that don't know, I haven't had dairy in about 3.5 months. Jade's little digestive system couldn't handle it and every time I had so much of a smidgen of cheese, she turned into a little screaming devil baby.

Since I love breastfeeding so much, AND since my little angel will.not take a bottle, which left me with no choice but to love breastfeeding, I cut out all dairy. For those of you thinking "no biggie", you're wrong. The first week was awful because all of a sudden I realized that everything has dairy in it. Couldn't eat my English muffins for breakfast. No mashed potatoes. No sour cream on my burritos. No chocolate. No desserts at all. No ranch dressing to dip my wings in. No cheese dip at Mexican restaurants. No casseroles. I was especially dreading Thanksgiving and Christmas because most of my favorite foods would be off limits.

After the first couple weeks, it wasn't so bad, but it still wasn't very much fun because I love cheese :)

Last week, at Jade's 6-month well-check visit, I talked to her doctor about it and she said I could try to re-introduce dairy very gradually and see how it goes. Some babies grow out of it by 4 months, some 6, and some not until a year (or even later).

So Tuesday, I put a little itty bitty bit of milk in my coffee. No reaction. Wednesday, I put my (old) normal amount of milk in my coffee. No reaction. Thursday, I put milk in my coffee and ate 2 spoonfulls of yogurt. No reaction. Friday, I ate an entire thing of yogurt (albeit not in one sitting). No reaction.

I talked to the lactation consultant and she said that at some point, I was just going to have to decide it was worth it and take the plunge. So I decided that yesterday was the day. Chuck and I went to Five Guys for lunch and I had a juicy, cheesy burger. And Jade is fine.

I cannot tell you how happy I am. Now if I can just figure out how to keep all the weight I lost off and still eat everything I've been missing :)

The Jungle

When we moved into our house, this is what the front yard looked like.

What's that? You can't see the house? Yeah. We know. Honestly, we hated it. But we loved the house so much we agreed to overlook it and that we would tear it up ASAP.

Well, ASAP was not quite as "soon" as we might have hoped. Somehow I forgot that I am NOT a yard person. And then I got pregnant and the nursery became the number one priority and we let the yard go. So it looked like this for much longer than we wanted it to. Our parents actually helped us dig it all up more than once (sorry, mom) but then the weeds took over and it looked like this all over again.

But my wonderful husband spent the last 8 weekends making our yard pretty. He did all kinds of hard work that I won't claim to know anything about. And now it looks like this:

Now, he would be very upset with me if I didn't mention the light post and plug in the tree ring. Prior to his project, we had no power receptacles in the garage or on the front of the house. He ran electrical line from the box in the laundry room into the attic, put a drop in the garage, dug a 12 inch deep trench all the way to the street, added the box in the tree ring, and put that lamp post up. And it all works. I'm impressed. So now I have plenty of plugs for gaudy Christmas decorations. The neighbors are going to love me!

My little peanut

Yesterday was Jade's 6-month well-check visit. Everything is great... she's hitting all her milestones (surpassing most of them) and the doctor kept talking about how cute she is. She got her first flu shot... we have to go back in a month to get the booster since they don't give the whole thing to the little ones at once.

So here are her stats:
Height: 25 inches, 25% percentile
Weight: 13 pounds, 11 ounces, 10% percentile
Head circumference: 25% percentile (I can't remember the measurement...)

Up until now, she's been in the 50th percentile for height and head measurement, and the 25th for weight. So she's not growing as quickly as they expect most babies to grow, but she's growing consistently and they're not at all worried because she's developing the way she should be and Chuck and I are not exactly large people.

She likes broccoli more than she likes carrots, but I don't think her tummy likes it. She was SO gassy last night and actually pooped twice in the middle of the night, which she hasn't done in months. So I think I might be holding off on the broccoli for a little while. We have sweet potatoes in the house... maybe I'll give that to her next. Or a banana? Who knows. We're gonna have sweet potato tonight, so I'll probably go with that. I think it's fun when she eats the same thing we do :)

Currently, one of her favorite things to do is hang out with Belle. Unfortunately, that means they also share Belle's dog bone. Belle gets one end, Jade gets the other. The first couple times it was disturbing, but now I think it's adorable. Don't sweat the small stuff, right?

Not the best example...but shows that I'm not making the bone thing up!

What?

Best friends

She was ADORABLE in her Halloween costume. Everyone at the church's OctoberFest LOVED it. I was proud. It's no secret that I'm not exactly creative, so I was pleased by how well it turned out. But if I'm ever gonna make her another costume, I need to learn how to sew or something crazy like that :)

We took her to get her 6-month photos taken on Saturday and had some of those done with Jade as Princess Leia. I didn't bother taking pictures with her in her costume with my camera because we paid the extra money to get a CD of the pictures they took. We didn't pay for the printing rights, just the sharing rights, because that's all I really wanted. And here comes my vent. They don't bother telling you that the "sharing" CD comes with lo-res, non-edited photos. Who wants to share that?? I'm so irritated. I've been very pleased with The Picture People so far, but I will definitely be writing them a letter about that.

But if you want to see them, here is a link to her photos. Sorry... but that, and the below gem from Chuck's cell phone are the best I can do...

She actually looked happy in the ones at the photo place...

Chuck and I never got around to taking more pictures with her in her 6-month sticker, so I'll share the one I took last week. It's cute... she just happens to be falling over, haha.

Six months!!

I seriously cannot believe that my little girl is half a year old. I know I say that every month, but it's true. And six months just seems like such a milestone age.

We've recently started giving her some food... we had been giving her teething biscuits for about a week while Chuck and I were eating dinner and she got kind of bored with those. Monday, I actually gave her a bone from my chicken thigh (yes, I made sure there was nothing sharp on it) and she LOVED it. So Tuesday we started with carrots. I'm not planning on doing a whole lot of purees... I just cut into Jade-sized pieces and steam and let her feed herself.  I like it because the 3 of us can sit at the table and eat together instead of one of us having to feed her before (or after) we eat our own dinner.

So far, carrots are not her thing. We'll move on to something else soon :)

I'm not gonna post her cute sticker picture yet because she has been most uncooperative and I haven't gotten a good one! I'm gonna keep trying with Chuck this weekend and I'll post it on Monday after her 6-month checkup with her stats.

But here are some pictures of her eating... we're about to buy a highchair, but so far we're just using the bumbo, which she has started trying to escape from haha.

She really liked that bone :) She realized that she could chew on it without holding onto it and just chomped on it while looking around for about 10 minutes. It looked like she was smoking a cigar. Chuck found it hilarious.

Carrots. Mmmm, yummy.

Christmas

So I am a huge fan of Christmas. I listen to nothing except Christmas music AFTER the day after Thanksgiving and really love all the traditions that come with the holiday season. So I am, of course, super-excited about Christmas with a baby. I think next year it will be even more fun, but that hasn't stopped me from being excited this year.

So I already bought Jade's first Christmas present and I just think it's so awesome. I had a Cabbage Patch Kid when I was little that I was in love with and I had every intention to buy Jade one eventually... but then I saw this at the store and was so happy that I could get her one now.

Isn't she adorable?? I really think Jade will like it, as she's started cuddling up to some of the stuffed animals she has. Her name is Lilly Therese. I'm not sure what her birthday is because you can't see that part of the birth certificate through the front of the box :)

Pumpkin patch

We went to the pumpkin patch this morning and had a lot of fun. We did a corn maze, hay ride and got to pick out our own pumpkins. I think it will be a fun tradition for us. Jade loved looking around at everything... but per her usual style was quite serious the whole time :)

FYI, I usually don't put on her headband with the clip on the flower dangerously close to her eye... Chuck did that I didn't realize it :)

Need some inspiration...

So I read quite a few "mommy" blogs. I really like reading about other people's experiences and it helps me to learn that there is no one right way to do things. That, and they give me ideas about cool things to try (or buy... much to Chuck's dismay).

And I want this to be something that people enjoy reading... but I need help from you guys. I recognize that I have a whopping 5 followers, but I figured if I asked you guys what you want to see, I can make the blog more reader-friendly and maybe more people will read it. I mean, not that I don't love posting for 5 people... but it would be nice to post for a few more too, haha.

So, more pictures? Maybe some video? Does anyone know how to make pretty backgrounds? Every time I try I mess them up and wind up just going back to this one...

If you read other blogs, share those with me if you don't mind and I can maybe steal some of their ideas. I just want this to be more of a two-way street...

I guess that's it for this post. So let me hear from you, my 5 followers :)

Feeling better :)

Thanks for the encouragement guys. Friday was just suuuuuch a rough day and I think everything just kind of hit me at once.

But we had a great weekend. Saturday we all ran errands together. Sounds fun, right? Haha. But I did have much more fun running them with Chuck than I would have had it been just me and Jade. Yesterday Chuck worked in the yard ALL day and I got some stuff done out there too. He's almost finished his project in the front, and we'll both be happy when he does. I'll post before and after pictures soon.

I think this coming weekend we're going to go to a Pumpkin Patch. I'm excited and I thought it would be a fun tradition to start since all the Christmas tree farms around here stink and we'll be buying our tree from Lowe's again this year.

Ok that's all. Earth-shattering, right? :)

Some brutal honesty

I've always wanted 3 or 4 kids. Chuck said 3 was good, so I figured we'd have at least 3 kids and we wanted them fairly close together since Chuck is already 34.

Now, I have no idea. Not because I don't love being a mom and don't love Jade but because there are times that I feel like an absolutely horrible mother and I worry constantly about how my decisions are going to effect (or is it affect? Heck, I don't care) her. I don't know if she's a crappy sleeper because of something I'm doing or because it's just who she is, but facts are facts: she's a crappy sleeper and I struggle daily over how to deal with that (ie, survive).

Chuck says that I read too much, and maybe he's right. But that's how I handle things, ya know? The books give me hope. But I'm tired, and I feel the depression creeping back in and with that comes worry and anxiety. So can I handle this 3 more times? I doubt it.

5 months!

I simply cannot believe that my baby girl is 5-months-old. In a way, it feels like she's been around forever, and in another way it feels like we just came home from the hospital yesterday. Does that make no sense? Oh well :)

Jade has developed such an awesome little personality. She loves to watch the dogs play and will laugh at them as they bark at each other. The louder they are, the happier she is. She loves to cuddle with her mama, but has started to really like her play time on the floor. She gets so frustrated when she can't get to her toys, and I'm starting to think that she's going to crawl fairly soon because she's already gotten on her hands and knees twice. It didn't last long, but it happened. She can roll really well, but doesn't really like to do it on the floor because she hurts her head. In the crib, however, she's all over the place. She can sit up unassisted for fairly long periods of time now. I put pillows all around her and she just hangs out... and then falls on the one place I didn't put a pillow. She still cannot get herself to sitting though. Her favorite songs are "the wheels on the bus" and "shake your sillies out". We sing every day. Sometimes we even dance around (I'm so glad there's not a hidden camera anywhere in my house!).

She's gone to the nursery at the church a couple times now and really enjoys watching all the other kids play. Everyone commented on how hilarious her facial expressions are. She might not be the smiliest baby around, but you certainly can't call her expressionless. She loves bathtime. She kicks and splashes like a madwoman. And she's stopped getting annoyed when water gets in her face :)

She has even started to sleep a little better. Her naps are still catnaps, but nighttime is improving, so I'm not complaining. Any and everything she can grab goes straight to her mouth, so her hands are constantly slimy and covered in dog hair, no matter how many times I vacuum. Her curiosity amazes me. My phone is apparently very fascinating :)

This

Is one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time. Soooo true. Mom's are so judgmental of each other :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikvcS3Oe-oA

I love my life

Seriously. I do. There are times that I'm tired, sad, frustrated or just downright grumpy, but ultimately... I love my life.

Last Sunday I woke up a bit before Jade did. I laid there in bed watching her and Chuck sleep. I was overcome with happiness. I know it sounds cheesy, but there's no other way to describe it. There was my husband, who could not be more perfect for me, and my amazing little girl sleeping contentedly. I could not ask for anything else. I love my life.

Unfortunately, my poor little girl is sick. We went to the doctor last Tuesday and she was diagnosed with a sinus infection and given an antibiotic that we were supposed to give her for 10 days. Unfortunately, it didn't really do much. So yesterday we went back to the doctor. They said it might be mycoplasma instead of a sinus infection, which would explain why it was resistant to that particular antiobiotic, and they gave her another one. I gave her the first dose last night and this morning I spent 10 minutes suctioning junk out of her nose. While it was disgusting, I think the medicine is actually breaking everything up, which the other one never did. So that's good. I pray she will feel better soon.

Pictures

It's been too long since I posted some pictures on here!

So here are 2 of my recent favorites:

I mean really, who wouldn't love those??

Maybe...

I could have said that differently.

My point is: you raise your kid your way, I'll raise my kid mine. Just because it's different doesn't mean either one of us is right or wrong, it just means we're different. Do what works for you and your kid.

I'm the weird one?

Since becoming a parent, it's been brought to my attention numerous times that I'm "different" than most of the other moms that I know. It seems that most parents are super-worried about promoting dependancy in their children. They let their kids cry and fuss because they want them to learn to self-soothe. They sleep train very early in order to ensure that their kid will sleep in their crib for long stretches of time. They put them on a schedule because they feel that they, as the parent, know what is best for their kid.

Now I'm not saying that these are bad things. I'm just saying that they're not really my style. Jade is still sleeping badly, and I have let her scream in her crib a few times in efforts to get her to sleep. But honestly, I regret that decision and it was something I did out of exhaustion and frustration and not love. I always try to put myself in her shoes. I don't feel that she's ready to sleep on her own, and really, I don't blame her. She was inside of me for 9 long months. What kind of sense does it make to put her in a crib all by herself when she's only 4 months old? Some babies do crave space, and do well by themselves, but she's not one of them... and I'm ok with that. I want to meet her needs. If meeting her needs falls under other people's definition of "spoiling" then oh well. I truly believe that meeting her needs now will help her to be a more independent person in the future.

I'm reading a book called Our Babies, Ourselves and I'm realizing that we, as Americans, are the weird ones. I might be weird within America for bedsharing, but worldwide bedsharing is the norm. I don't think there is any right or wrong... I just think it's important to do what's best for your family. I am amazed at all the people in our culture that think that our way is the only way to parent... particularly with bedsharing. The American Academy of Pediatrics says not to do this because of the suffocation risk to the baby and the increased risk of SIDS. Yet SIDS doesn't even exist in most places where bedsharing is normal. Can bedsharing be unsafe? Of course. You should never bedshare if you're obese, or under the influence of any kind of drug (alcohol included). I pull the blankets down and sleep on the edge of a pillow.

There have been numerous studies done that are so cool to me that show how the baby's and mom's sleep cycles sync. And I experience it every night. I often wake up right before Jade does. I'm able to soothe her back to sleep before she even wakes up all the way and then we're both right back to sleep. Now, I will admit this doesn't always happen, but I can assure you it doesn't happen at all when she's down the hall.

Anyways, I'm rambling. I'm just sick of people attacking me because I don't parent the way that they do. I'm just doing what I feel is best for my family and my kid :)

September 11th

This day always leaves me feeling a little sad. I was a senior in high school in September of 01 and was in computer lab when they announced the crash into the first tower. We turned on the TV and saw the crash into the second tower. The rest of the day, all we did was watch TV in class. I remember that all of the Ft Benning kids were excused from all after-school activities because it was taking so long to get onto post.

But mostly, I remember the patriotic craze that swept the nation. Columbus is a pretty patriotic place all the time, but all of a sudden there were American flags everywhere and everyone was pro-military.

Recently, a C-17 crashed at Elmendorf. The 4 men on board (1 of which I knew) were killed on impact. I have a friend on Facebook that was really upset by this crash... but not because there were men killed, because of how expensive the jets are. I wonder if his attitude towards military spending would be different if our country were attacked again? It's amazing to me how quickly people forget what really matters.