Pickles, Car Washes, and Giggles

Since I seem to be having no luck at all in getting time to write about the absolutely insane December that we had (including a first birthday party, house guests, a second Christmas, new years, our first swing set - which we LOVE, and lots of other really, really exciting things) I thought I could at least quiet the naggers (you know you who are) and post some pictures. Yes, they are a bit random and some a bit fuzzy. I took them with my phone this past weekend on our adventures around town.

We were in Sam's and her new favorite place to sit is the big part of the cart. It's also the only place where she will sit for any length of time. I swear if I had a dollar for every time I have said "Sam, please sit down" in the last week I would be typing this from our own private island in the South Pacific.

We were in the car wash and Sam really wasn't sure what to make of everything that was going on. I am positive that she has been in the car with us before when we got the car washed but she looked she freaked out I had to take a picture. The crab in her lap counts in English and Spanish so any day now she'll be bilingual (we're holding our breath).

Does any other baby just get the giggles sometimes? Everything we said made her laugh and then it made us laugh and so on. Vicisous cycle. Notice the feet. Her feet are ALWAYS crossed at the ankles. Even when she sleeps.

Chowing down on a pickle at Corner Bakery. She sucks the juice out of them. It makes me cringe just thinking about it. She loves them!

Hitting the Bottle

First, let me start off by saying that I know sharing parenting opinion/criticisms is a touchy topic to write about. Especially since I had SO many preconceived notions of what I would and wouldn't do as a parent. As my mom has said numerous times to me "You are the best parent in the world until you have kids". Feeding is an especially is a tough topic and what works for one person may not work for another. (Nursing versus formula is one of the first things on my "Things to NOT discuss if ever invited to a dinner party" list. I told you I have lists for everything.) OK, with that said I'll get to my question.

1.) When should a baby put down the bottle and pick up the sippy cup? I mean put down the bottle for good. Sam already drinks out of a sippy cup with meals but takes 2 bottles during the day at Emily's.

I am not OK with seeing this a few years from now. In my opinion she is one of the best dressed babies but the bottle she totes everywhere certainly knocks her down a few pegs.

Of course, now that I have shared my distaste for the bottle at 2+ years Sam will surely be drinking out of one on her way to nursery school.

Week In Review

It was a pretty fun week in our house. We celebrated Dad's birthday twice - once at home (where the icing tasting took place) and once at a restaurant. I used to look at the restaurant floor after people with kids left and think "oh my, how did they make such a mess? And not clean up after themselves? tsk. tsk. tsk." How things change. I am amazed at the mess she can make with just a few Cheerios's and a piece zwieback toast. I felt terrible but unless I am going to carry a vacuum with me there really isn't much I can do about it. And there is NO WAY I am carrying one more thing. I feel like a bag lady as it is.

Watching her face change as she tasted the icing was hysterical. She went from "what the heck is this?" to " More, please" in no time at all.

The hardest thing right now is keeping up with her. If I turn my back for a second she's off. And she always seems to be headed for whatever it is that she can't play with - an outlet without a baby proof cover (changing that ASAP), a wire, and we discovered the dog bowls (say it with me - EWWWW!!!). Thank god she forgot about the dog bowls after we left the kitchen and hasn't "re-discovered" them yet. I am considering getting a little bell for her to wear around her wrist so that I can hear what direction she is heading at all times. The next time someone comes to visit don't be surprised with rubber, padded walls, pillows on the floor and nothing else.

Our first taste of butter cream icing

Not sure what to make of this but it might be a good thing....

Ahh, she did get a sweet tooth from her dad

KC and Sam occupying themselves at Target while Mom was in the fitting room

She is always such a good baby at Target. I think she might love it as much as her mom.

Dad's birthday dinner with Auntie Dev

Just enjoying some zwieback toast. Does anyone else bribe their kid with food already? I think half the time she doesn't even really eat it. She just plays with it.

She will try to climb anything - including the kitchen cabinets.

Note the brush in the background. We carried it everywhere this weekend. Maybe she won't have a lovey, just a $3 brush from Babies R Us.

This is also her favorite thing. Everything has to be touched with one finger. EVERYTHING - Grandma's nails, the side of the pool, the bed frame, Cheerios's...

Another Food Post? Sheesh.

Yes, another food post. Food has been an ongoing issue since Sam came home from the hospital. We went through a phase of not eating and losing too much weight. And then a phase of some very painful stomach problems. Now food isn't so much as issue as an ongoing event in our house. Over the weekend we had a few firsts.

1.) First time we flip flopped - Blueberries are now on the like list. Is this a sign of a future politician?
2.) First Biter's Biscuit - I spent a good 10 minutes in Target looking for zwieback crackers and could only come up with biter biscuits. I am assuming they are the same thing or so close it doesn't matter.
3.) We tasted graham crackers! And loved them! See video below.
4.) I bribed her with puffs for most the time we were in Target. (It takes me a while to make my way through there!)

5.) We tried strawberries for the first time and the jury is still out. See picture below.

Dinner with dad = peas in the ear, hair, etc...

Loving the biter biscuit! I think these may have to be reserved for areas when she not as mobile. After making it nice and gooey she dragged it along the floor after herself as she crawled. And then brought gross to a whole new level when she used it to pet the dogs. It would have gone straight to the trash but then she abandoned it in favor of something else and Raja quickly snapped it up. Up until Sunday Raja's interest in her had waned. Now that she is possible source of food we are back to the love fest.

After all the panting and excitement over a graham cracker there's not much I can say.

Not quite sure what we think about strawberries yet.

Yummy, Yummy In My Tummy

We have finally started real food (and by real food, I mean food that doesn't come in a little plastic container) and have found somethings that we love and some things we are not so fond of.

Loves: Bananas, Peaches, Watermelon, Cantaloupe, but our absolute favorite is...CHEERIOS! She will only eat about 2 for every 20 we give her but she spends a lot of time working on getting those 2 in her mouth.

Hates: Cherries, Blueberries

Eating Peaches with Mom-Mom

Our Blueberry Face

*Does this sound like a personal ad or what? No worries Chase, we're not looking!

When Dad does dinner...

Sam ends up with a handlebar moustache and goatee made of prunes. Prunes are a big hit in our house. After bananas they seem to be her favorite dessert. Trying out new foods is so much fun. I love it. KC has to watch me. I can go a little crazy in the baby food aisle.





Question for other parents: How much does your baby eat? I have tried finding a schedule or a recommended "menu" for babies to no avail. Sam eats a vegetable with oatmeal for lunch and then a vegetable with oatmeal and a fruit for dessert. Should she be eating more? Less? Do I drop the oatmeal? Introduce meat now? Should it be three meals a day? I checked the AAP for their recommendations and they are pretty vague. KC is wondering if we are overfeeding her. Now I'm freaking out about that. Does she get enough vitamins? Are we force feeding her too much? Encouraging childhood obesity? Why do I have such a hard time with what she eats???

Footnote: If you happened to read about the day where everything that could go wrong did go wrong you know that prunes are banned from our house. These pictures were taken the day before that day.

It can't get any worse, right???

There are some pretty disgusting descriptions in this post so if you are eating or just don't want to read about someone else's gross day - stop now.

I have said that no less than 10 times since yesterday at 5pm. I got home from work early, so excited to be able to put a load of laundry in before going to my MIL's house for dinner. KC stayed over by work to play in the work softball league. I was greeted at the door by one of our labs - not a good sign. Apparently they had broken down the gate during the day and done god knows what. There was no evidence of any wrongdoing so I am hoping for the best (and keeping my fingers crossed that I don't discover something a week or two down the road).

Then I walk into the kitchen. And into a puddle of water. The freezer door is open about a foot. Unless the dogs learned how to open a freezer door (in which case I am calling David Letterman immediately) KC or I must have left it open that morning. Within 5 minutes Loni (MIL) comes over with Sam and we start to clean up the disaster that is now my kitchen. KC's first question was "There wasn't too much breast milk (aka liquid gold) in there, right?" The large supply of frozen breast milk is in the freezer in the garage. So I only lost about 10 bags. But if you have ever pumped you know how painful losing even 10 bags is. While I fed Sam and started cooking the 4 packages of veggies, a pound of chicken, and 2 pork tenderloins (the things that couldn't be savaged and were not too disgusting to throw out) Loni actually cleaned the freezer. Now our freezer is bright, shiny, and clean like the day we bought it. Seriously, my MIL rocks.

Unfortunately the whole time this is going on Sam is not herself. She is really clingy, and always seems like she is on the verge of crying. Emily said that she didn't really want to play with the other kids she just wanted to be held all day. I am wondering if her teeth are bothering her. She is eating ok thought so who the heck knows what is going on.

After KC gets home we put Sam to bed. She doesn't go down easy though. By 11pm she is sleeping in our bed again. We would get her down and then she would wake up screaming. The hardest part for me is that even when I was holding her she was crying. We blamed it on teething and then we blamed it on the prunes she has had the last 2 nights so really we don't have freaking clue what we are doing or why our daughter is miserable. (Yea - mother of the year!)

This morning I wake up thinking today will be a good day. It has to be better than last night. Sam is still pretty subdued, just laying down talking to herself while we get ready. Usually she is all over the place, playing with toys, trying to crawl off the bed. I leave our room to let the dogs out and can't find Raja. I am looking everywhere and then I open the door to Sam's room (pretty much the only no dog room in our house). Usually the dogs are really good about not going into her room. When we are playing in their they usually hang out in the doorway but not crossing into the room. I guess the door was left open when we got Sam to come sleep with us and Raja decided to make herself at home in Sam's glider, her white, chenille glider. Not too bad, just get rid of the dog hair. But one of her paws was bleeding so now there is a bit of blood on the edge of the chair. I almost lost my mind. Needless to say Raja is spending today in the laundry room. We're done right? Bad evening, bad morning, day has to get better, right???

Sam's is sitting in her highchair waiting for us to get our act together, get lunch packed, pack her bag with bottles, etc and get out the door. I can tell she is pooping so I pick her up to change her diaper before we leave. Here is the disgusting part. Not only has she pooped through her diaper but it is dripping down her leg, into the chair on the floor. There is also a huge amount in her high chair. It was the most disgusting thing she has done so far BY A MILE. You can only imagine the scene, I am holding her about a foot away from my body trying not to get poop on my clothes while trying to get her to the changing table where KC has laid a trash bag down for her but trying not to get poop on her carpet. If I wasn't so panicked about the whole thing it would have been hysterical. We ended up taking everything off of her and taking her into the bathtub where I hosed her down while KC held her up. Note to self: Prunes are off the list of acceptable foods in our house.

Finally, we get everything in the car and are heading to Emily's. Late for work and really sick of the day and it is only 7:45am. About half way there Sam lets out a cry and then we hear the puke. We pull over to see that she has thrown up all down the front of herself. It's on the car seat, her outfit, the toy she was playing with, lovely disgusting sweet potatoes and corn from the night before.

Could this all be from teething? I have taken her temperature twice in the last day and each time she was fine. She did give Emily a big smile when we got there so I am hoping that she is feeling better.

And I am really, really hoping that this day gets better.