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Monday, September 26, 2011

Anika is 6 Months old- VIDEOS including!

This post is almost a week late, but I wanted to get the pics and videos on here.




























And, this is Piri's ball- and yes, Anika has put it in her mouth. Super gross.


The videos are from the past month. It is crazy, because every day you get more and more mobile and seem to learn new things. For example, last night I turned around while making dinner and found you standing between your car seat and bumbo. I am not sure which one you used to pull yourself up, but you fell down a few seconds after I saw you. You didn’t cry…you just got back up to your knees. You do pull yourself up on most things these days, so we have to keep our eyes on you when around unsafe objects.  You tried to pull yourself up on a small trash can and that went falling on you. You were unphased.











I try to sound sweet when I talk to her, I really do.


You are not doing a traditional crawl. We saw you do it a couple times, but usually you just pull your knees up at the same time by kind of dragging them on the floor, and then put both arms forward at the same time. You certainly can make some distance, but it’s not a normal knee, knee, hand, hand crawl. I call it your own variation of a crawl, but your dad says it is not crawling.
You often keep your legs rigid and straight when I try to sit you on the floor. You would rather stand.
This month you have dumped your trash can in your room several times, so I think I will get rid of it for now. I do leave you alone in your room a lot to play, so I want it to be safe. When left alone, you have pulled clothes out of your dresser, you have pulled books off the small book shelf. You have pulled stuff out of your diaper bag. USUALLY, you play with your toys. I am now changing you into your clothes on the floor in your room. I still change your nappy on the changing table, but you move too much for me to do your clothes. You also now cry 3 out of 5 times when I change your nappy. I don’t know why you suddenly hate this. You used to be so good about it. You have pulled your Buzzy bee mobile out of the wall (it hangs above your changing table) and I spent an hour on my hands and knees looking for the tack on the floor. I do use sign language for “changing your nappy” and you smile when I sign it. You also smile when I sign “going for a ride” so I am pretty sure you just like my hands moving and don’t know what the heck I’m saying.
You also cry 3 out of 5 times when being put IN your car seat. Once you notice you lost the battle, you stop crying. You give me a real fight putting you in. It’s like you are saying “I can’t be tied down!! Let me free mother!” I think this is the same concept as me holding you down to change your nappy-you just don’t like to be constricted. haha But, you will play with you r seat and even try to get into it when it is just sitting on the floor.
This past month you had some rough sleeping patterns…well, rough, as in you wake up in the night a few times. I am sure you didn’t mind though. At your 6 month doctor appointment, we were told we can stop night feedings. I was unsure about this. The doctor just said if I want the kitchen to be closed at night then I need to tell you that. I guess I didn’t really mind that I left it open, but it would be nice if you went back to sleeping through the night. After your apt. I decided to give it a whirl. When you wake up the first time, you are not really hungry, so I just cuddle you and put you back in bed and rub your back. You wimper and then fall asleep. I do feed you if you wake up after 4 AM, because you seem hungry then. I have not been bringing you back to bed though like I normally do. (ok, I did last night though because I was too tired).  If I bring you back to our bed then I fall RIGHT back to sleep while you eat, so you end up sleeping in our bed too until I wake up. This is me being lazy and it is my way of losing as LITTLE sleep as possible. As soon as my head hits the pillow, I am sleeping again, and you get yourself on and off the boob by yourself. I am trying to feed you in your room and then lay you back to bed. This seemed to work last week. You did sleep through the night once last week, which had not happened in over a month. You used to sleep through the night at 4 months. I think you miss me and want to hang out at night time though! Ha. The doctor did say if I want a family bed, then do it. If I want you to sleep in your own bed, than do that. She said I am confusing you by doing both. I don’t know…Ugh, I kind of hate to be told what to do because I feel like what we do works for us, but maybe I should be consistent. I mean, I do want you sleeping through the night AT SOME point.


We did not do the 2 shots you get because you had a little cold, and I didn’t want you having shots while already not feeling well. She also mentioned the flu shot…I said “We don’t do that” and she said if you don’t get it, then daddy and I HAVE to. I just looked at her and she rephrased that we SHOULD. I have never had the flu or flu shot. Neither have Noni and Grampa. Daddy has had the flu once he thinks, but he has never had the shot either.
I was pretty disappointed with your 6 month visit- not with you of course, but just with how it all went with the professionals. I really had liked the doctor before (actually, nurse practitioner) but she had a student this time, so I am not sure if that played a role. We changed your scheduled appointment from Wednesday (your actual 6 month birthday) to Monday because I wanted to make sure you didn’t have an ear infection. Because we moved the apt. up, we saw someone different than originally planned. You had a runny nose, and I learned from Ashley that can be a symptom of an ear infection. Your ears were fine though. The NP said to start using the antibiotic eye drops in your eyes JUST in case your cold moved to your eyes …and since you had a clogged eye duct when you were younger, she said you were susceptible to eye colds. We just don’t believe in giving you medicine before you even need it. Your eye ended up being fine by leaving it alone. I didn’t really feel supported in my decisions, but at the end of the day- Daddy and I make the decisions, and I feel like we are doing a fine job. Every baby is different, and no one knows you like we do. I don’t like to let you cry it out, no matter how many people tell me to do that. It doesn’t feel right to me.
My Original goal was to breast feed you for 6 months…BUT, the American Pediatrics Association recommends one year, and the World Heath Organization recommends 2 years, so I have no intentions of stopping anytime soon. The more solids you eat, the less you want to nurse anyway. I still pump 3 times a day at work. The only times you eat peacefully are at night and in the early morning. Otherwise, you move the whole time you are eating and you take man y breaks to look up and smile at me…or to play. Or, to talk to Piri and Daddy. You love to talk to Piri. I think you two will be great friends! You can hold your own bottle- I guess you have been doing this for a while, but I didn’t know because I never give you bottles. Noni, Miss B and daddy give you bottles.
So far, you have eaten Everything I have ever given you to eat. You now eat the Happy Munchies Organic Broccoli, Kale and cheddar cheese munchies (made by Happy Baby). I think Piri ends up eating quite a few as well! Noni gives you cheerios, which I just found out about. You do sit with us at dinner MOST nights, and you seem to love that time. You do reach for food off our plates and daddy often gives you some. I gave you avocado and you were able to feed yourself off your tray with your fingers. It was slippery though!
You weigh 15 pounds, 13 ounces. I could have sworn the scale said 15 pounds and 2 ounces, but that is not what the nurse wrote down. You are average for height and weight (for a girl).
I can see your hair growing…VERY slowly. Your nails grow at rapid speed though!
You still love to play on the floor in any room. We put down your alphabet rug in our main living area, and then put the basket of toys on the rug and put you down. You never stay on the rug, but it I try to give you an area without dog hair. Last week, you took All your toys out of the basket and then played with the basket forever!! You even rolled the basket from one side of the room to the other and then took a break and laid on your back smiling and kicked the floor with your legs (thump thump thump)…I peaked around the corner to see you doing this and it was like your own little victory dance. I feel like I miss EVERYTHING with the camera. You crack your dad and I up A LOT. Actually, daddy was giving you some of his spaghetti and watching you play with it was quite comical. Sometimes while playing, you do get caught under chairs, stools, a foot under the floor radiators (They are not on), IN your basket, under your crib, etc. But, you screech/scream and we usually know it means you are stuck, and we help get you out.


Last week, I decided I wanted a morning shower. Usually you and I shower at night time. Oh, you did have your FIRST sink bath last week though. You liked that too, but you kept turning the water on. Usually, I get in the shower and daddy hands you into me when I’m ready. If daddy is not home, then I just bring you in with me from the beginning. If I leave you on the floor in the bathroom you will try to get into the toilet. Last week, I had fed you in my bed and then wanted a shower before work. I put you in your crib and thought you might cry but I was going to be quick. Since the bathroom is right next to your room, I could hear you the whole time. You were talking up a storm, so I took my time and had a 15 minute shower. When I got out I found you in your crib just having the time of your life sitting there playing with a blanket. Oh yes- You now have a blanket AND I gave you a Lovie. I am not sure If you will pick a different lovie or not. Also in the past month, you had your first bath WITh daddy. Not just daddy givng you a bath, but both of you in there. I told daddy to bathe you and he called me up…I figured he needed a towel for you and didn’t want to leave you in the bath, but I walked into you and Him in there together. You were so happy. I laughed at daddy because he had a hand towel over his boy parts! LOL. He said he wanted to make sure you didn’t grab …because you are a very grabby girl and he has seen you man handle mom’s boobs before, so I guess he was scared of that.
You are OBSESSED with tags. Tags on stuffed animals, tags on blankets, tags on rugs, tags on clothes, tags on ANYTHING. You rub them and just love tags…BUT YOU DON’T Like that little blanket with ribbon tags on it. You could care less about that. You want real tags …maybe you like the words on them! Lol. You also like to play with plastic shopping bags (obviously we only allow that supervised) and packaging bubbles! You look at your books and chew them. Actually, most things will make it to your mouth at some point.


I could go on and on. You amaze us every single day. You really do. People have said you look like daddy for a long time, but people have said you look like me recently- ironically, since you have filled out! Lol. You have very big feet (So daddy and Noni say). They look normal to me. Daddy has big feet too. Maybe your big feet help you stand up! Ha. It is no secret that you are Strong. I mean, you have been incredibly strong from the day you were born. I will be honest- sometimes it freaks me out a little bit. I will try to put you down on your tummy and you put out your arms as straight and rigid and Just WONT budge. I feel like I am forcing you down sometimes. You have also kicked me pretty hard…not on purpose, I am sure! You are NON Stop moving. You only cuddle when about to fall asleep or feedings before bed or right after. You keep us busy, but you also are so happy that we feel like it all balances out. You do go out to eat with us all the time. You do sit in the high chairs at restaurants now. You used to sit in my lap or someone else’s lap. You will never just sit in your car seat unless it is IN the car. It usually doesn’t even leave the car unless you are going with someone else. MANY drinks have been spilled because you reach for things on the table. By the way, A drink has never spilled when you were on my lap because I KNOW what you are up to. No matter how many times I have warned other people, they don’t stay on top of you and then SPILL Happens. Ha . A spoon will usually entertain you for a while at a restaurant, but also all the activity keeps you pretty entertained. You came up to Anna and Seth’s wedding this weekend for 15 minutes and you were in your glory. ALL that activity, music, dancing and ATTENTION- holy moly. You went home with Noni and Grampa and had a fun sleep over with them. You sleep in their room in a pack n play and of course- you slept through the night for them! (the rest of the wedding will be a separate post).
While we were at the wedding (noni and grampa were guests too) you stayed with our friend’s parents. The same people we visit at the island in the summer. You were pretty good for them, but I think you were getting fussy when I got there, but you were all smiles once I was there. We were talking to them the next morning about parenthood and how it changes you. The subject of the overwhelming feeling of love and protection came up. How daddy and Mommy never imagined we could hurt someone or kill someone, but if someone ever did something to you, we would be tested. In some ways, it feels like you have been part of our family forever, and in other ways, your first 6 months have FLOWN by. As you know, I think you are absolute perfection…even when You test my patience :)

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Night I met Andrew. And Mean Girl.

Ok, so I thought my next post would be ANika's 6  month post. AND, that is coming. I have videos for it too :)


But, I just realized something super duper cool. Andrew and I FIRST met in person at a wedding. That wedding was at a ski area near where I grew up. It was the wedding of his brother to my cousin.  I had only seen photos of Andrew before that night, and in the photos I thought he was pretty cute. This is one of the photos I had seen. This is a cropped version and I think I took a photo of a photo...so its not as great as it was.

Oh, and in the original photo..his whole body was showing...and there was a bulge.
I'M not going to explain that further,  but it got my attention.
Then, I saw him at the wedding standing up there as best man, and he looked like this:
Sure, he was Like, WAYYY older than me. But, I liked.  I knew he had a girlfriend back home in NZ...a pretty serious one. So, I knew he was not available. I was introduced to him after the ceremony by his brother. I shook his hand and said "nice to meet you"  Then, he went from looking at me for a sec and turning to his brother and said in his thick kiwi accent "When can I take this penguin coat off" meaning his jacket. haha. His bro said he could since pictures were over, and I never saw someone get out of a jacket so fast.   I was used to formal wear, so I thought he was a bit...odd. Odd, but I was intrigued!! He also seemed to have a nervous energy.
Such a nervous energy, that my dad thought he was a crack head! lol. He wasnt.
Then, his cousin hit on me. I turned that down.
Then, during the toast (which his dad gave because Andrew was too shy to give it) his dad went ON AND ON AND ON. All about the NZ family that couldn't be there. Their mom who had passed soon before.  Mid toast,  Andrew got up from the head table and skipped out of the function room ....then came back 10 minutes later. Apparently, he had to pee!! I later learned that when Andrew drinks...he has to go when he has to go. BUT, at the time- I thought he was a WEIRDO!! But still hot. haha
Fast forward a few hours and LOTS AND LOTS of drinks for me later...and Andrew comes up to me at the bar. HE said "Can I buy you a drink?"
I looked at him and said "How can you BUY me a drink when the wedding party has open bar? Its not like you would be paying for it-the bride's parents are"
Andrew looked at me kind of drunkly and said "Fine, can I GET you a drink?" I think he slurred too. Not like I was standing too well by that point! haha
And I said "No thanks. I have one already"
AND, I walked away. I may have come off as a bitch, but he intimidated me. AND, I thought he was hot and I knew he was taken, so why take a taste if I couldnt have the whole thing? haha
ANYWAY- I didn't talk to him the rest of the night...not until I went to NZ 9 months later to study abroad...and by then, he was single :)

OK, the point of this story IS...we are attending a wedding THIS coming weekend AT THE SAME PLACE. I have not been to a wedding at this place SINCE the wedding I met Andrew.  
AND, weird- This weekend is EXACTLY 7 YEARS SINCE that other wedding!!  SAME FRIGGEN WEEKEND!
UM- how cool!!??
The wedding 7 years ago is ALSO the wedding I met my friend Kate at. Only problem is- I didnt know that! LOL.  The first time I remember meeting Kate was 3ish years ago through a friend.  BUT, apparently Kate had not liked me BECAUSE of that wedding. She is married to a kid I went to HS with, but I didn't really know him either.  Kate and her husband were at the wedding 7 years ago, and according to Kate, I was giving her dirty looks from the dance floor "THE WHOLE NIGHT"
Kate obviously didn't know that my drunk dance moves included a "Sexy face" that came off as a scowl? or a Mean girl look. ANd, she thought it was directed towards her. Funny, when I met Kate 5 years later, I could swear, I had never seen her before in my life. So, Kate is my friend now, but she still brings this up. Kate will be at the wedding this coming weekend too...so I guess it is our chance to fix the past, right Kate? I will get on the dance floor and give you the warmest, nicest smile from across the room. 
I will mention here, that After that wedding, I got a myspace friend request (ya, myspace) from a user name Jason and Kate. I looked at the pics and I knew Jason....but I had NO idea who his bride was (Kate) so I accepted just because I didn't want to be mean and say no to Jason...even though we weren't even friends in HS.  Well, come to find out, Jason didn't even use myspace and still doesn't use FB to this day. Kate had just put his name on there. So, Kate got to stalk me through there..even though she thought I hated her. (Fyi, Jason is not his real name- I changed it)  Obviously, Kate was just obsessed with me and wanted to hate me for my awesome dance moves.  :) )
Also, A while ago I wrote on my blog that my friend JL is the only friend who has ever watched Anika. That was a mistake. Kate watched Anika the night of my reunion. She was upset I made that horrible mistake on here. Sorry Kate. I retract that statement.
Speaking of reunion....
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Unrelated, yet funny.  Remember the girl who wrote on FB about Anika at the reunion? I am not FB friends with her, but I was told. And then I sent her a private message...yadia yadia.
If you want the link-its at the old blog.
Well, I got a message from my friend today saying she wrote something kinda rude to this girl.
I asked to see.
It wasn't about ME or the reunion,  but that same Girl wrote THIS as her status yesterday:
(I am not correcting her spelling, by the way)
i hate listening to someone complaine about road construction, exspecially because they r the same people who will complaine when the road is a mess!

(Then: or listening to some complaine they r fat but they eat fast food every other day
Then: Or listening about to someone complaine about something in their life but then dont do what it takes to fix it

ANd, my friend commented:
so is it fair to say we don't like listening to someone complain about those who complain?

Ha. AND, then, I just heard that she just got married recently and I guess her and her hubby got in a big fight AT THE WEDDING reception.  Eeks.

Very Interesting !! So, I think its safe to say, she just likes to complain, so I feel better about her being mad at me.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Weekend Review and other Randoms

This past weekend, we had a lot of time at home. That doesn't happen often, so it was nice.





This little mooshka is SIX MONTHS Old tomorrow. I have soooooo much to write for her this month. She has changed so much- for the better and the worse :)  I hope to get that post done this week. I feel like I haven't had much time to blog lately. Tonight, I did a gym class AFTER work and didn't get home until 7. I did Tabata for the first time. I think I may be sore tomorrow. Has anyone else done tabata? Maybe it will get popular :) When I first started blogging, I did zumba and then it seemed like zumba was all over blog world. It fizzed out for me...and not sure if it did for everyone else. By the time we got home,  I had to nurse Anika, feed her solids, make our dinner (Andrew has been getting home to help), bottles, clean pump parts, read with Anika, etc, etc.  My night just flew by...and all our nights have been lately. Never mind all the new tv shows that I don't have time to watch!  
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This is my Ninja.  The Ninja came with 3 different size blender type containers and blades. The motor is the part on top (left) and it just goes on the top of the container of choice.  I haven't used the very big container yet, but I use the big one in the picture (The medium one in the set) for my smoothies every morning. Every morning I make a smoothie for breakfast with fresh fruit, ice, yogurt, frozen fruit and flax.
I use the small blender for Anika's baby food. It seriously mushes up the food in seconds.  I have used it to chop onions before too and it does it SOOO quick. Each container comes with its own blade. I have a mini food processor too, but I think I like this more. Anyway, I thought I would share this because my friend emailed me the other day asking what baby food maker I had. I don't have one, and they are EXPENSIVE. I got my Ninja kit with 3 different sizes for less than $50.
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I made some soup this weekend. I basically just made it based on other recipes I have followed before.
It was butternut squash apple soup.
I bought organic butternut squash, but then I had a bag of frozen butternut squash in the freezer so I used that for my soup and gave Anika the organic fresh stuff.
 I tossed carrots, onions, garlic and mushrooms in my food processor (mini ninja). I would have added celery if I had some. I added that to the pot with EVOO. After 10 minutes, I added one bag of frozen butternut squash,
3 peeled and cut apples, 3/4 container of chicken broth, fresh basil from garden, cinnamon, salt and pepper.
That all boiled and then simmered and I added a cup of almond milk. cooked a few more minutes, and then mushed it all up with a hand mixer I won from a blog giveaway 2 years ago from Amy! I used the mixer right in the pot I cooked it all in.
I added a few fat free croutons for crunch and some parm cheese for...well, I love cheese!
 


This is the hand mixer above.
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Sunday night, Andrew made a great feed. I have to say (because I am often quick to complain about my husband, he also deserves praise when deserved). Andrew did a lot of things this weekend without me even prompting him...but things that made me happy. I hate sand in the garage, so he swept it all without me saying a word. He cleaned my car for me...and did all his normal chores outside, then came in and did a lot of inside chores to help me out. On Sunday morning Anika was wide awake at 5:30 so he took her out for a walk in her stroller so I could sleep in peace. He loves showing her nature, and she is such an outdoor girl, but then again, I have heard all babies love being outside. And, as I said, he made a big Sunday feast and even cleaned up all of it. He actually CAN clean the kitchen better than me. I always have a hard time with our stove and sink...and he gets them perfect. So, I was a happy wifey.

Kind of out of order, but we went out to dinner Friday night. (if you havent noticed, we go out to eat a lot, and I usually get healthy options even when out to eat). We went to a restaurant I had not been to since my Papa's 80th birthday party which was March 10th...3 days after my due date and 11 days before Anika was born. I should link the post....eh- bad blogger, Ashley.  I had bad bad gas and everyone thought I was in labor, if you read my blog back then. It is a restaurant we used to go to often and my parents go ALL the time, so we know a lot of the people.  Anika got to meet all of them...and the owner. She was a pretty good girl MOST of the time. I did sit in the corner table so I was able to feed her with the cover when needed. I actually was feeding her in the locker room today at the gym before my class and I had her under the udder cover. Then a lady turned on the blow dryer (but asked me first if it would scare the baby- haha- she could only see her feet, but I guess it was obvious what I was doing). I actually started to feel uncomfortable but had to remind myself I was IN A Woman's locker room and I was covered, so I was fine. I told the lady it was fine and it wouldn't scare her. BUT, as soon as the dryer went on, I saw A's little hand LIFT the cover and peak her head out and  she needed to see what this new noise was. She stared and I realized feeding session was over. ha. I also have been feeding Anika a new way at home. She sits on my lap facing me with her legs straddled around me and just goes for it face on. She came up with this method all on her own. My mom saw it yesterday and thought it was hilarious.
Anika wearing one of her NZ shirts for the first time that she got from Nana and Poppa.



backing into things still
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I got my new Macys card in the mail the other day- and it was red. My old one was a silver color- platinum actually. I haven't used my card in a while and it is paid off....SO, they DOWNGRADED ME to the regular one!! How rude.

Also, when I was at the gym last week, I was on a spin bike next to a girl who I have become friendly with in the past year at the gym. When I was pregnant (and I remember we were in boot camp) and I was not showing yet, one of my other friends was talking about me being pregnant (as we were running up and down stairs). He asked this girl if she had kids and she made a comment that made me think SHE DID NOT want kids. She made some other comments since then that made me think she didn't want kids. She is married and she does not work (her husband does well enough). I thought she just liked her free time and kids weren't for them.  I also thought she was my age.
WELL, last week in spin someone asked me about Anika from across the room before we started. And, I will note this girl always fusses over Anika when she sees her and seems to like babies. So, she said to me "My ovaries hurt" as I was adjusting my bike. I was like- huh? And she said how she has had several surgeries and she loves kids but cant have them. She went on to tell me her and her husband tried IVF, etc and its just not going to happen for them. She is also 6 years older than me, not my age like I thought.
Well, the whole class, i was sad. So sad for her. I wanted to fix it. I wanted her to have babies if she wanted them. Here she is in a loving marriage and they have financial responsibility and the means....but wtf? So not fair this couple cant have kids.  I turned to  her about 20 times and wanted to say I would be her surrogate. No joke.  I day dreamed about being a surrogate for the entire spin class. I just read a book about it too (Fiction), but still. Money wasn't even my main reason for doing it. That thought came later. I just wanted to help her and I loved being pregnant. And, birth was a very empowering experience for me. The after part was painful and sucked. Ok, and the contractions weren't awesome either. BUT, overall I want to do it again.  I guess I would ideally want to have OUR 2nd kid first...and then do it. SO, what do you think- should I volunteer to this gym friend? haha. She might think I'm a creep :))

I took Anika to the doctor yesterday and  I will write all her stats and the interesting visit with her 6 month post. I kind of left the apt. dissapointed in the dr I thought I liked.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Weekend Review-True blood, yard sales, child on the go

Um- WHO Else watched the season finale of True Blood?  I died. I rewound the part at the end when Eric and Bill killed Nan and how Bill was like "We are NOT EFFING Puppy DOGS" and Eric was like .."[sigh] What A Bitch" It was amazing and I LOVED his delivery and tone and look. yum.
Sookie is dumb- she didn't choose hot Eric or Bill. I know Marian wants her to pick Alcide. I can now cancel my HBO until next season :)  Oh, and what about Entourage Series finale. They wrapped that show up with a little bow, huh?

Yesterday, I turned around and discovered little Miss Anika was scaling the Shelf (it is bolted to a wall).   I got a quick picture before she fell.  After this, she tried using the trash can to pull herself up. That fell on her. 
Things are over for me. THis child wants to use everything to pull herself up and the bumps and bruises are starting. I want to say "NO. That is naughty" but I think I have to let this ship sail.
Friday, I took the morning off and took ANika to library time!! The library is a 2 minute walk from my work, so it worked out well. The Friday morning session was originally advertised for kids 0-3, but it said 1-3 when I got there. I decided to stay.  Miss B took the other kids she watches full time, so they were there too. My mom met me  after to take Anika for the rest of the day.   THey did a story time and Anika listened and watched all the kids.  Then there was an arts and craft which I had Anika just watch. Then they played. She loved the big leggos and loved watching all the kids. It started at 9:30 and went until 10:30. At one point Miss B asked if Anika had taken her nap yet. Um- what nap? I thought it was at 11 or so?  Anika and I had left home at 7:30 and I went to the gym and did a class. She was in gym day care while I took a class and showered...and she never slept there. Miss B said Anika usually has an hour nap by now. So, I was surprised A was so good at play time. But, as soon as we walked out of the library and started walking back to my work to meet my mom- she fell asleep in my arms!! She hasn't fallen asleep in my arms like that for months! She was tuckered out I guess and she lookes so sweet sleeping on me.  This is something I want to do with her every week. I want to request Friday mornings off. I am sad I miss out on this kind of stuff  while at work :((

She will sit for me...for about 30 seconds....
This little devil chewed her crib this weekend. Andrew found her standing in her crib chewing it. I have one of those things to put on the top so she cant chew, but I thought I had time to get it up!!  SO, we moved the mattress down to the lowest setting so she cant fall out!!

This weekend, the safety gate went up at the top of the stairs. Thanks Ashely for the recommendation. IT did take Andrew and I 45 minutes to do this. The distance between walls was a bit off so we were RIGHT between needing one extender or two. We ended up with one. SO this is screwed into the wall so when she tries to push it down, it shouldnt budge- lets hope!  Our other stairs have a door at the top so we will just get a door knob thing so she cant get the door open to the stairs. We also bolted her tall bookshelf in her room to her wall. I want her room to be a safe place for her to play, since she independently plays in there a lot.  

Our garden has pretty much stunk this year as far as veggies go. We got TONS Of tomatoes but not a ton of other things, but looks like the sunflowers came up! Yes, that is all weeds in the garden because Andrew gave up a while ago when nothing was coming up. I have made tomato salad with basil from my herb garden (Oh, the herbs did amazing), feta or mozzarella cheese , onions, avacado, balsamic, and EVOO MANY times in the past couple weeks. DELISH.
Saturday we went yard saleing.  It was a town wide yard sale about half hour from us.  You can just drive around to all the houses as you see them, or you can get a map of all the sales. I went to this sale with my friend, J, last year and I got Anika's swing, which was almost brand new for super cheap. I also got her really nice hiking back pack which we plan to use this fall....and some other cool stuff.  THis year, Andrew wanted to come. Of course Anika came too. Andrew, J, Anika and myself loaded into the truck. We got a late start because Andrew and I had to bring Anika to a post office to get her passport application sent off.  We tried going a few weeks ago, but I forgot her birth certificate! It was sitting on my desk at home and we didn't have time to go get it before the post office closed.  For children under 16, you have to go apply in person and both parents have to be present.  So, we did that and the pictures I had taken at walmart were not good, so we had to get more taken at the post office. No big deal though. We should have her passport in a couple weeks.

One of the first yard sales we went to was in a community center area.  There was a table selling those things I see everywhere with tags on them...like this.
The lady selling them had a baby in a stroller sitting behind the table with her. I picked one of these up (Anika was in my sling) and I asked what they were. She said they are just lovies and babies like the tags.  I looked at her baby and he was connected to oxygen with the things in his nose.  I walked over to where Andrew was and asked him for my money.  I told him I needed to go buy one of those rag things because the baby was sick. I picked one up and asked how much and she said $5!  WHAT?? for a little rag??  Ok- most things at these yard sales are like $1 or $2.  I bought it because of the sick baby. At this point J and Andrew were back in the truck, so I walked towards it and tears were streaming down my face as I held ANika.  I just thought, WOW- I am so lucky to have a healthy child...and the thought of a sick child just made my heart ache. I felt for that little boy. When I got in the truck, Andrew had no idea why I was crying because he is heartless..haha, but Jordan knew right away. Then she said "Wow Ash. In all the years I have known you (which is 15), I have only seen you cry a hand full of times and motherhood has turned you into a sensitive, caring person! " haha. Andrew wondered what she was talking about since he has seen me cry more times than he would like to remember.  Ugh. I wiped my tears and gave my babe a big hug before strapping her in her seat for the next stop. Oh, ya- that was interesting. Taking Anika in and out of her seat about 25 times to go to different sales! Luckily, ANdrew's truck has a big back seat so I had a lot of room to maneuver. By noon, I realized she had not napped yet!! So, I left her in her seat and we left a door open while we went to a couple sales (I was close to the car) and she fell asleep and stayed asleep for 2 hours, which I was surprised about.
Here is Anika with all her loot. We spent $25 on everything which includes her $5 rag...and a nice wooden memory game for $2. Each piece for Memory is wood with hand painted animals. That game is in the red bag in the picture. Jordan teaches at montessori school and told me to get a book that teaches positive discipline. It was only 25 cents, so I got it. I never read parenting books though...even though I have like 20. I skim them.  They don't keep my interest. hahaha. that sounds bad. Speaking of books, I finished Jennifer Weiner's new book last week. LOVED IT. IT is called "Then Came You" Read it. It is fiction. I have read every single one of her books. 
Another funny story. One house we stopped at was a nice house. Let me tell you something I learned about yard sales. The wealthier people sell NICE stuff for cheap. The lesser income people try to sell their nasty shit for too much money. One not so clean person tried selling Jordan a book for half the cover price which would have been $10 since it was hard cover!! LOL. Yard sale books go for 25 cents usually. $1 at most.
Ok, I am no expert but from the little yard sale'ing I have done, that is what I see.  Ok, so we were at a nice house. They had tons of nice stuff for good prices.  They had a boy about the age of 10 helping out. He had his Little money apron on and if I had a boy, I would have bought some boy stuff. They had some girl toys too, but much older. I did get the wooden memory game at that house though. So, the mom was organizing some stuff and the dad was sitting in a chair behind the tables. He started talking to Andrew about his truck and how nice it was, etc. Then we noticed he had the same one (but smaller version) sitting in his yard...and it was brand new.  Then Andrew picked up a book that was something about "The Art of Pleasing Your Husband"  and Andrew jokingly handed it to me and I Just laughed out loud and the dad saw and he laughed.  THe thing is- I KNEW THIS GUY. I had no idea how, but I knew him.  I thought maybe an old teacher, but I thought noo...his house is too nice to be a teacher.  (no offense to teachers and I dont even know why I thought that because I shouldn't judge. I know people with lots of money who live in very modest houses, so I really shouldn't judge). But, something in my head told me my memory of him was that he was creepy.  My friend J was buying tons of stuff at this yard sale so we were there a long time. His son was darling and trying to show me toys and he said Anika's sling was a very cute Pouch! haha.  So, It was on my mind of and on all day to whre I knew this guy from.
THEN, at 4 AM the next morning I woke from a deep sleep and I KNEW!  IT was a gyno I went to ONCE!!  I ran down to get my laptop and googled to make sure. I woke Andrew up to tell him. He said something gross about him knowing me too...from the inside out.   I went to him before I tried to get pregnant. I was looking for a doctor that was closer to home (my other ones are an hour away). He did an exam on me with him being the only one in the room.  In all my years of going to a gyno, that had never happened!! Also, I Know from a legal standpoint that most malpractice insurance policies require someone else to be in the room during an exam. So, I was confused and I just thought it was irresponsible of him to be so careless with liability issues. I mean- doctors these days need to be careful and this was the first time he saw me, so he didn't know me. He also didn't leave the room after for me to get changed. He just kind of turned around. I had a dress on I just pulled back down so I didn't really care...but again...I found it odd. He also made a comment about me seeming to have a lot of energy and if my husband could keep up with me and had as much energy. This was years ago, but I remember thinking it was in reference to sex....so ya. He asked me if I was going to have my baby there and I was like maybe. ha. AND, then I talked to another friend who went to him when she was pregnant and he told her she couldn't have a natural labor and he TWISTED her arm behind her back and said "Could you deal with this pain for hours and hours?"   She went somewhere else after that. BuT, I have another friend who recently went to him to have her baby and she LOVED him. SO, its all personal preference I guess.I just thought it was funny.

this photo is dark, but Anika loves riding on daddy's shoulders.  it does make me a bit nervous but ...I have to let go sometimes.  After  yard sale'ing we got J's boyfriend and went to Thai and sushi. I cant wait until Anika can eat the food off our plates!! 

On Sunday we went to brunch with ANdrew's brother, his wife and the twins. His brother told us something about how if it weren't for 9/11, none of us would be sitting there together. I asked what he meant and he said that the place he had worked pre 9.11 (in a different state) would not give out work visas after 9.11. He was in NZ, and through a friend he got a visa to come work at a place in NH. It was a change of plans for him and it was the place in NH he met my cousin (his wife now) and then because of Andrew's brother, I chose to go study in NZ instead of Australia.  And, then NO ONE tried to hook Andrew up with me, but I made that happen all on my own :) haha. In fact, his brother and my cousin weren't happy about that at first.
Anyway, we had a nice brunch. When we got home, I needed to do some errands and I had to force myself to leave Anika home with Andrew so they could have some of their own time. I like to bring her with me!! I went out on my own, but I missed my little buddy.  Andrew thinks that its easier to do errands without her...maybe it is, but its not as fun!!  I like her to be with me to talk to and to watch her soak everything in.
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Sunday night she slept like shit. She was up so much.  I don't know- I almost think its separation anxiety. It is a little early for that but it makes sense because as soon as I picked her up she stopped.  She wanted to be cuddled. She would eat if I tried, but that wasn't why she was awake.  For some reason, as tired as I was on Monday morning when I went into get her up for the day, I woke her up and looked at her and such a weird word came to mind- Perfection. I Looked at her and saw perfection. Every ounce of her looked perfect to me. It was weird- considering hours before, I thought she was a devil child keeping me up. Also, I can always find negative in most things and can be quite critical...so the word or feeling perfection just doesn't usually enter my mind. Speaking of my little angel haha- Last weekend at my mom's triathalon, we were on the beach getting ready to watch my niece do her swim portion and Anika PULLED my tank top down!  YES- violently. She was trying to get boob. A lady saw and commented "She knows what she wants. Mine did that to me too"   haha. I quickly got my udder cover out of the stroller and got to feeding her. She does get a little man handling with me these days, and I'm not sure what I think about that.

I had a few more stories, but this is too long as it is. I guess I shouldnt care since only a few of my readers seem to have followed me over here :(  
Let people know where I am!






Thursday, September 8, 2011

I am Anika's Mom now, I guess....And other Randoms

A couple more pictures from the weekend...

The pictures above and below were taken by one of the event organizers and put on FB. I didnt really walk on the side of the Bob the whole time. Just when that picture was taken because they asked to see my number.  I was a little ahead of Andrew, Gram and my niece. 
My mom ran the course in 30 something minutes and then came back to check on my niece and I don't know how she ended up with Piri (behind Andrew and Gram). I guess Andrew had some nice quality talk with Gram and dare I say- He even said he had FUN at the event! ha


family photo


I ordered this trick or treat bag for Anika from Pottery Barn Kids. I have NEVER ordered anything from Pottery Barn or the kids part. I think a lot of the stuff is very expensive for what it is.  Just my opinion.  Well, I get all the catalogs and I Saw a lot of Halloween Totes and I wanted to Get A one.  I figured this will last year after year and will get plenty of use. The tote, her name monogrammed and shipping it was $23.  I did notice there were strings of hot glue gun on it when I opened it and I can see the hot glue gun glue under the pieces glued on the bag.  I probably could have made this (My friend has a monogram machine) but....I am bad with crafts. So, I think it was worth the cost.  


My niece at her Tri after the swimming. The  only pictures I have of my mom...it looks like she is coming out of her top....She did the tri in one hour 25 minutes though, which is quite good (I think).


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So, Anika is more popular than me. Its true. Not that I am that popular.  When we go out around town people come up and Say "Hi Anika" and I am like...who are these people? Yes, people I don't know, know her!! That is because she gets around with my mom and with Miss B. MIss B brought her kids to swim lessons this summer and then my mom also brought my niece for a different session, soA got to know lots of people there. Miss B goes to the beach a lot in the summer, and to library, and all kinds of fun things where Anika gets to be out and about. I cant even tell you how many people will recognize Anika or come up to me (at the store or the gym) and tell me how they want to steal my daughter. One lady went up to my mom and said she had the sweetest grand daughter and if her kids acted like ANika she would have had several more babies!  Then, Miss B introduced me to a lady at the gym the other day and said "SoandSo, do you know Ashley" and SoandSO said NO. ANd then Miss B said "Ashley is Anika's mom" and she was like Ohhhhhh, you have the happiest little baby ever.  I know Anika is happy when she is about and about- I have seen it. SHE LOVES People and from what I can tell, she loves attention!!  She loves to watch kids play and swim. She LOVES LOVE the outdoors. Put that child outside and just watch her glow!
I guess I am no longer Ashley, but Anika's Mom. I was warned this would happen. But, as long as I am the mom to a happy, cheerful little girl that everyone loves to hold and talk to ...I'm cool with that.  I dont want to be the mom of the bratty, whiny kid that no one likes. I pray she stays sweet and nice :)  hahah, but Im realistic...I Know her time will come :) You know what is also cool?- all the big kids love Anika too. They are SOOO sweet to her and love to talk to her. I think that is pretty neat and I hope Anika is a great big sibling one day. She plays the role as the youngest in a group quite well, and I hope she steps into the older role just as well :)
Library time is on Mondays here. THere is a program for 0-3 year olds.  Do you know how badly I want to be able to bring ANika to these types of things??? SOO BADLY.  I am trying to work something out. The library is a 3 minute walk from my work. I am tyring to figure out something at work so I can take an early lunch and meet Anika at library time on Mondays. (Miss B or my mom will bring her).  This would mean I would need to skip the gym that morning and go at night instead.  Its so hard to fit it all in!!!  I went to the gym twice yesterday since I did a power tone class in the morning but needed cardio at night. I am slowly seeing my hard work pay off.  Luckily, Miss B brought A to the gym, I fed her, then she went to gym daycare while I did the spin class that Miss B teaches. We were still home by 6:45. She got to play with daddy when he got home,  and eat dinner as a family. I had to have a STERN talking with daddy this weekend about him needing to do more if he is gong to come home after work each night. Remember, he used to be gone during the week. I need him to pick up after himself, do some laundry during the week, not just weekends! 


Anika backs herself up into lots of things. She seems to like reverse more than 1st gear. I was in the kitchen getting dinner and I walked out and she wasn't on the rug Andrew set up for her to play on....then I found her UNDER the stool. haha
Andrew gets down on the floor a lot with Anika. I am trying to make time every night to do the same. You know- on top of making A's solids for dinner and lunch the next day, cleaning her bottles and remaking them. Cleaning my pump parts. Making my dinner and my lunch. Unloading the dishwasher,  Doing a load of diapers. Putting away clothes. Unpacking and repacking her diaper bag. Showers for both of us, etc.  Going through mail and filing what needs to be, random cleaning, etc.  Bla. So, ya- making more time for Anika with my undivided attention at night after work is on my priority list.  I had to crop myself out of these becaue I actually had No shirt on. I had a bra and the belly shots are SCARY!!  I had taken my shirt off when I got home to nurse Ankia because it was too restricting to keep on and feed her. 


I bought this little playskool thing at a 2nd hand store last week. I like to buy a lot of the toys 2nd hand. She just seems to need new things all the time and I cant justify spending full price for a lot of the toys out there. Andrew puts her on the seat part and gives her rides around the living room. IT IS HILARIOUS. When a dog barks (either someone elses or ours) she tries to bark. When we were at our friends this weekend, a dog kept growling at her, and she would growl back! We find this quite funny, so now Andrew will kind of growl at her when he comes in, and she growls back. He said "barking" and "growling" are her first words. I was like- those arent words, they are just sounds.  I have been signing with A too. The signs for getting changed, milk, more, and car ride. She smiles at all of them even though she doesnt like getting INTO her car seat....but then she is fine once she realizes she has no choice.
By the way, she didnt pull herself up to this. I placed her at it. Also- this outfit was put on after dinner when her original outfit got messy, but it was too early for pajamas....so you get this mis matched ensemble :)
But- these tights are the cutest. She has 2 pairs (one in poka dots and one pair in stripes). So cute. That sweater is 0-3 months but it was HUGE on her...so it fits more as a sweater now and the hat that came with it finally fits.

The Chicago Tribune had an article today about banning crib bumpers!!! LIke, not allowed to sell at all! I find that interesting. We have never used them, but I did put on breathable bumpers when she was about 4 months. Lately, she gets her legs Up OVER THEM and gets her leg stuck that way.

I want to share a few sites I found.
Minefornine.com - This site RENTS maternity clothes.  I would have used this site for work clothes and formal wear.  I think it is a great idea for weddings and suits!!
Another new site I love is Wag.com   THey sell pet supplies. I recieved a 20% off coupon with something I ordered from soap.com (owned by the same people-they own diapers.com and beauty.com and I think now yoyo.com that sells toys). ANyway, we used to buy Piri's food at an Agway, but it recently went out of business :(  Walmart doesnt sell the food we like and there are not a lot of pet stores around us- we would have to travel a bit. Wag.com is free shipping on $40 or more. I ordered Piri a 40 pound bag of the dog food we like and a bag of treats on Friday. It was free shipping and I used my coupon. It was delivered to OUR front door the very next day (Saturday). I was impressed.  It is hard to carry a baby and a 40 pound bag of dog food at the same time (I Have done it!)...so this makes life a bit easier.

I have been singing to Anika a lot in the car. She gets bored and likes the interactin. I run out of things to say, so singing has been my saving grace. I got some singalong CD's to learn the songs, and she loves them.  When we were all in the car this past weekend, I was singing along and Andrew asked me to stop. I mean, I know I am bad, but Anika loves it. Espeically when I try to sing high and low and in accents...like I make a song country or opera. haha  Andrew said it was giving him a headache!
I told him to watch it...because I just got my renewal license to carry a concealed weapon....
:)) All the importannt info was blacked out using Paint. Importnant- like my FRIGGEN WEIGHT!  WHy does that have to be on there!
I am down 39.5 pounds. SO Close to 40. Lots more to go, but at least its in the right direction.