Random Thoughts

Have I mentioned to you all how excited I get for Emma’s check-ups? I get to go, ask as many questions as I want to, I get to see her height and weight listed out for me, and I always walk out feeling like I might be doing okay as a parent. I honestly wish I would have just taken her each month for a check-up… but I don’t have that much vacation time so that wouldn’t happen really.

Anyway, my sweet baby turned 9 months old TODAY! I can’t believe how big she is getting. I mean, I know they get bigger as time goes by and all, but when it happens to your own baby it’s kind of shocking. Just 9 months ago she was so tiny. Haha. Well, tiny for a human, not tiny for a baby because let’s face it, she was a BIG baby.

Isn’t funny that nine months being pregnant, waiting for your bundle of joy, it feels like it really takes years instead of months? Then afterwards, nine months go by so quickly. What makes it even more strange, is that each day feels like three. So really, I feel like 27 months have gone by. Lol.

I’m already starting to plan out Emma’s first birthday party. Pinterest will be a big help in the end, but really, all the thoughts I’ve come up with so far are my own original ones. That could be why there’s no real theme, but it’ll be great no matter what. J

I think Gene is worried that I’ll go over the top, because I will. Yes, I’m going to invite way too many people. And yes, I’m going to go overboard with food and drinks. But, I love to entertain, so that’s how it always is… he should be used to that! *I might even have a photo area for guests to get their pictures taken!

A co-worker is pregnant. I’m jealous. I wanted to hurry up and get to cookin’ another one right away, but Gene decided that he wanted to wait. How are we supposed to be the Duggars if we wait so long?!?! My thought on it is that if we didn’t do it right away, then we were going to wait like a year and a half before trying again. Then I read an article just this week about how more U.S. women are dying during and after childbirth. It’s scary stuff! It makes me think that Emma might just have to be the only one. But, I want to also say that I couldn’t be happier for said co-worker. I’ve already started making a list of all the things that worked out so well for Emma and her friends so that I can be sure to get them for her. J Oh, and she’s having a girl!!!

So, Emma goes to the doctor on Monday and I will be sure to post her stats and all conversations had with the doctor right away. If I had to guess, I think Emma is around 32” long, and 26lbs. We shall see if I’m close. J

Talk to you Monday!

Movies

With the passing of famed movie critic Roger Ebert, I’ve been surrounded by conversations about movies – the good, the bad and the ugly – so I thought I’d put together a little blurb about my loves, and some recommendations. *I could have probably listed hundreds of recommendations, but these are the ones that come to mind.

Top 3:

1.       A League of Their Own. Hands down my all-time favorite movie. I could watch it morning, noon, night, weekday, weekend, winter, summer… you get the picture. The actresses (and occasional actor) were phenomenal. They were able to make you fall in love with their character, with the thought of all-female baseball, and with the story as a whole. I think what made me love this movie even more is that aside from the actual participation in the league, my mom could be Dottie; she can play ball better than any unprofessional male or female I know. She would have definitely made the team.

2.       Terminator 2. While I can’t see myself watching this movie more than once or twice a year, I feel like it was the start of an entirely new movie generation. It was well before its time as far as storyline and effects go, and let’s face it, “I’ll be back” is one of the most buzzed about movie quotes. J Definitely a must see for all generations young and old.

3.       Finding Nemo. While this slot could have held so many movies for me, I had to go with Finding Nemo. It is a movie that anyone of any age can enjoy. It has a great story plot. You laugh. You cry. And while it has its annoying parts “Shark Bait ooh-ha-ha!” it still captures the heart of many. My favorite character? Dory, of course!

Recommendations:

-          Any movie with Tom Hanks. This man cannot make a bad movie. Even the “weird” ones like The Terminal are fantastic. FYI, The Terminal is a WONDERFUL story. It will be boring to those of you like my friend Holli who cannot sit through a movie unless it’s a comedy or horror, but it’s worth the watch (or attempt, if you’re like her).

-          Pride and Prejudice. Okay, so Holli wouldn’t like this one either, but it’s a must see for those of you who are like me and wishes the world was the same as it was back then (except with modern medicine of course).

-          The female classics: Pretty Woman, Dirty Dancing, Steel Magnolias. Can you believe Holli hasn’t seen Steel Magnolias? The girl doesn’t have good taste in movies. Haha.

-          Roadhouse. There is just something about this movie that makes it a great one. No idea what it is… maybe subliminal messages?

-          Moulin Rouge. Okay, I have a HUGE, GIANT crush on Ewan McGregor. I think he might be gay though. *Sigh* All the super cute ones are.

-          Oh! But Jude Law isn’t and him and Kate Winslet both play in a fantastic movie called Contagion. Seriously. See it. Watch it. Think long and hard about it.

-          Multiples: Lord of the Rings, Twilight, Pirates of the Caribbean, Die Hard.

I love movies. I used to dream about having Roger Ebert’s job. To be able to sit privately and watch thousands of wonderful movies? Aaaah, only a fantasy to those like me. J

RIP Roger Ebert.

Grandparents' Time

I don’t know what gets me thinking of such depressing things all the time. I think that Gene and I have just had so many struggles since we’ve gotten married that we have more heartache than we should at this age.

I was just sitting here thinking about how Emma can now pick up her puffs and put them in her mouth (she did this the first time last night during dinner). I was so shocked and elated that she just did it out of nowhere, like she has been doing it for years. It didn’t even phase her but I had tears of joy when it happened. The first thing I did was take a picture and send it to my Mom who eagerly replied “Is she feeding herself?” J Yes, she was.

Then I think about how lucky I am that I can share Emma’s journey, and my journey as a Mom with her (my Mom) and my Dad. Not everyone is as lucky. And to me that is so unfair. I’ve read numerous stories about people who have lost their Mom and how hard it was on them. And of course, I went through the turmoil and heartache with Gene when his Mom passed. And then not even two years later the sudden passing of his father, which surprising to say was harder on him than his Mom. Neither of his parents will physically see their son transition into the great father he is becoming (or already is).

I know I’ve written about all of that and I don’t want to get into it all again, but I’m going to just point out again that I feel the worst guilt for not having a child sooner so that his parents could have witnessed their Grandbaby coming into the world. No, not literally, just figuratively. My stubbornness and selfishness kept me blind to the miracle of a child for so long… not to mention that Gene and I didn’t have the best marriage until a few months before I conceived; I think that once I was finally happy my “clock started ticking.”

Anyway…

My Mom and I were never very close when I was growing up. I was, of course, a Daddy’s girl until about middle school and then I wasn’t close to either of them. However, once I moved out (the weekend of my 18^th birthday) it was only a matter of days before I missed my Mom and I realized that I needed her more than ever. I spoke to her a few times a week then, and now I speak to her numerous times every day. Funny though, I don’t feel like I talk to her enough.

Ever since Gene got promoted my parents started watching Em four days a week compared to the previous three, and one Saturday night a month. Well, it seems that something always happens and they pick up an extra day or two per month. So, because I feel like I am abusing their time I don’t see them on the weekends in fear that they will get to the point where they say “We watch her too much.” Or, “when will we ever have time to do anything again.” They tell me all the time that they love seeing her, watching her, spending time with her, but if they ever said anything negative I think my world would come crashing down considering she’s my daughter and I don’t see her nearly enough. It’s not fair.

Wow, I’ve said that twice now. I know, I know… life isn’t fair. Nobody ever said it was. And like the Rolling Stones said “You can’t always get what you want.”

So now I think of all the things that I want to do with Emma, and I want my Mom to be there with all of them. I think of how she reacts and how Emma just lights up when she sees Grandma is delighted with her skill or expression. I know that of all people, she would be the one to get the most excited (besides me of course). I know that some people think it’s silly for me to spend so much time with my Mom, but honestly people, parents won’t always be around… why not spend every second you can with them?

So… Here’s hoping that I soak up my parents’ time as much as I can, but only to right before the point that they feel suffocated or exhausted. I’m hoping that all of you do the same.

Jenni

Blood Orange Blueberry Muffins

Blood Orange Blueberry Muffins
These are not meant to be “super healthy”… just made-from-scratch muffins to fill your belly.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar (can substitute with Splenda or Agave Nectar)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup/container Blood Orange Chobani Greek Yogurt
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries (or frozen)

*I used half of the $3.99 bag of Schnucks frozen blueberries. I did not pat dry, but I did drain the juice from the bag.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners (not cupcake liners).

Combine flour, sugar and baking powder in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl combine, Greek yogurt, milk, oil, egg and vanilla. Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients just enough to combine. Fold in blueberries. *I’m impatient and just threw everything in the bowl and stirred.

Fill muffin cups right to the top (these don’t rise much).

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until centers are domed and set (they don’t wiggle when you jiggle the pan.) *Once you hit the 20 minute mark, make sure to watch. You don’t want them to be too brown on top.

Makes 12 muffins. *One bag of frozen blueberries is enough for two batches of muffins, so if you are thawing the entire bag then I’d plan on making two batches!



The left are plain blueberry that were in a couple minutes too long (23 minutes). The right are the blood-orange blueberry that cooked for 21 minutes.

Poo & Sleep - Two Necessities

When you have a baby, your world turns from conversations about last night’s activities or celebrity gossip to poo and sleep. Literally. I spend every day asking numerous times if Emma went poo, how much and color/thickness as well as nap times and lengths of each one. Why? Well, for our house, both of those things will affect our bathtime/bedtime routine and her overnight sleep.

Poo:

We learned the hard way that Emma gets dehydrated easily (which causes constipation). She’s on formula, and has been since September 13^th. We started solid foods (baby food) on January 14^th. From that day, we started to have poo problems. Either she couldn’t go, or she’d spend all day trying, to finally go in her sleep that night. I hated when she would go in her sleep too because it’s grunt, grunt, grunt, poo; all while she’s asleep. I’m awake at first grunt, so I’d lay there debating if it was a short enough time to leave her there until she woke up. The guilt almost always got me out of bed.

I know, I know. Babies don’t have to go every day, and can even wait up to 7 days before there’s a problem. But, I need her to go each day. Why? So she sleeps at night. I’m not kidding you, once she hit 7 months there was no more going in her sleep.  If she goes the whole day without potty, we WILL have a wake-up in the middle of the night and it will take anywhere between 30 minutes to two hours to get her back to sleep. No joke. And she never even goes until the next day!

At the suggestion of a friend we started prunes at dinnertime within the first week of solids. We did about one ounce up until she was sitting on her own, then we upped it to almost two ounces each night. This worked well to keep her regular (she’d go each morning), but it would still get to be super thick and difficult for her.

Somewhere around the end of January I took Em to see Dr. Murphy (her doctor) for her poo troubles. Side note – I actually had a long list of items to go over with him because I’m a bit of a nut when it comes to health issues. Anyway, he had told me to start giving Emma water. She can have up to 12 ounces a day total. We don’t do anywhere near that right now, but we started giving her water out of a sippy after each baby food meal and she’s up to around four or five ounces a day on average. Since we’ve started that, no more problems! (Until we have a day where we are out running around all day and her water intake is less).

I did want to mention something about the whole water toxic issue. The only time a baby can die from too much water is if they are not getting a sufficient amount of formula or breast milk. Meaning, those moms out there that try to save money by giving 5 ounces water with one ounce worth of formula to save some money are the ones at risk of losing their baby. It makes me want to cry to think about any baby not getting enough to eat.

So, long poo story short, We “push” water all day and we do prunes EVERY night. This keeps Emma going on schedule, and amounts to make Momma proud.

Sleep:

Emma’s first two weeks out of the womb were rough on her sleep wise. She’d have that falling sensation and throw her arms out (which woke her up) like five times a night. Oy, was that time hard on me or what?!?! Being a new mom with no close Mommy friends, I turned to my Twitter moms and low and behold there’s something called a swaddle. Hey, I got one of those at my baby shower from my cousin Billie Marie! The first night we used it was the first time Emma slept all night.

Well, as most of you know, my baby girl is no small baby. She was born big and grows so fast that she’s about the size of a one year old now (even bigger than some that age). At about 3 months we had to give up the swaddle. Most people would have stopped already, but it worked so well that I rode the swaddle-train until Emma would just stretch and break it open. So, there goes that. Lol, it was overdue anyway seeing as though she could just barely straighten her legs. Lol.

Because it worked so well for my Mom the one time she watched Emma all night (my Mom boycotted the swaddle), I put Emma in bed on her belly for bedtime. Side note – we ALWAYS give her a big bottle, and then hold her until she falls asleep, then put her in her bed. We don’t do the whole “Put them in bed awake to get them used to putting themselves to sleep.” To this day she still sleeps on her belly.

After about 2 weeks of no swaddling and belly sleeping, Emma started to wake up at night again. After night number three I started getting very frustrated. I talk to my Mom every day on my way home from work, and on the day after the third night of constant wake-ups, I told her that I was exhausted and it was taking its toll on me. She asked me a bunch of questions, including what type of blanket I used. I said “I don’t! Babies die from that!” She told me that I had to use one. So, that night, after the first wake-up (because I was stubborn) I decided to give the blanket a try, and voila! No more wake-ups.

FYI – I use a thick baby blanket. It’s thick cotton on one side (loop style) and a microfiber type on the other. The cotton side almost sticks to the bed and most of the time doesn’t move throughout the night. More recently Emma has been turning side to side so it has been shifting more, but it still works well.

About 3 weeks ago now, Emma started to wake up during the night again. Really only once a night. After a whole week (Wednesday to Wednesday), I asked my Mom about it. We were both stumped until I was explaining to her how I walked into the hall and I could see Emma sitting up in her crib playing, when she stopped me and said “How can you see her?” I told her that I have the nightlight by the crib so that I can peek in on her any time. She told me that was the problem; Emma was waking up and since she could see she thought it was time to wake up. So that night I tried turning out the nightlight when I went to bed, and we haven’t had any real wake-ups since (excluding when she had the stomach bug).

I keep joking that my Mom is the baby whisperer. How she knows exactly what Emma needs I will never know, but I know not to question her anymore.

So there you have it. The two most-talked about things by any Mommy, broken down and explained according to my baby, Emma.

Jenni

I got this picture in a text just today, with this message: "Mommy, I just went poo!"



On My Mind

I thought I’d just jot down a few things that I’ve been thinking a lot about lately.

Baby Food:

                I started wondering if Emma is eating too much. I mean, she had another growth spurt, so her major chunk is gone, but she’s still on the chunkier side I think. I know it fades with their ever-increasing mobility, but I can’t help but feel like she is over eating at the fault of my own.

                Currently, at wakeup she gets a 6oz bottle, 8:30am is whole fruit (3.5oz) and 9 or 9:30am is 5oz bottle. Anywhere from 12 to 1pm she gets a half or whole veggie, then a 5oz bottle a little later. Then at 3:30 or so she will have another 5oz bottle (with or without the other half of the veggie). 6:30pm she gets a 4oz bottle, then bedtime routine starts at 7:15pm with half prunes and ends at 8pm with a 4 or 5oz bottle.

                So, that’s around 8.75oz of food for the day, and around 30oz of formula. I’m not quite sure, but it seems like too much. I know she’s a BIG baby and all, but shouldn’t her formula intake decrease? I mean, she’s also getting around 6oz of water a day and sometimes a few puffs (this isn’t a regular thing). Her doctor was never concerned with her weight because of her height, but I think I will always wonder if I’m giving her everything she needs; this includes moderation.

Talking/Signing:

                I have a couple friends who are teaching or have taught their child sign language. I had thought long and hard about this. While I was pregnant I was all for it. I think it’s fascinating. Now that Emma is here and growing/learning at an alarming rate I have decided not to sign. Why? Well, on one hand, I feel like it is a way to communicate with your child early on. On the other hand I think “Why would they talk if there’s no need to?” So, since in my eyes Emma is a quick learner (hello?!? crawling at 7mos?!?), I am just repeating small words for her to hear over and over again. Emma. Momma. Dada. Daddy. Okie. Baba. Binky. Words like those. 2-syllable. She says “hi” already, but I don’t think there is context behind it. Same with “dada.” She also has down the following: Yayayaya, babababa, googoogoogoo, dadadada, thathathatha. Also, she most recently learned to whisper. It’s creepy to wake-up to “dadadada” whispers. Lol.

Car Seats:

                Well, I’m pretty sure I’m breaking the law with this one. I think my pumpkin seat is only eligible for a baby up to 30”. Since Em was at 29.5” almost two months ago I’m pretty sure we’ve surpassed the limit. So, we’ve been buying the “Stage 2” car seats. Convertible? Is that what they are called? Anyway, Gene and I found one on clearance at Target. It only goes to 50lbs, but it was super cheap and I get an extra 5% off with my Red Card so we bought it. One down, two to go. Next, Gene is buying the second one tonight at Target. They have their Eddie Bauer 65-something one on sale, plus I have a 20% off coupon, plus we get another 5% off… good deal! So for the time being, until we find another awesome deal, the pumpkin seat car seat will “live” in Mom and Dad’s Jeep, and Gene and I will each have a convertible. This scares me because even if she’s sleeping we will have to wake her up to take her inside. So much for my sound-sleeping-move from the car to the house.

Home and Goods:

                So, since we’ve had Emma, our house has been turned upside-down… and not the Fresh Prince way; the unorganized, cluttered, messy way. I’ve actually done a fantastic job since Emma has been born of keeping it uncluttered for the most part, but we are accumulating more and there seems to be less space. Also, we are in need of new windows, new carpet, a new couch, new end tables, new bathroom shower plumbing, etc. So, I’ve been slowly trying to get this all figured out (on my own for the most part). My plan is to purchase a couch, have the old couch picked up, get new carpet down, bring in new couch, look for end tables, get taxes done, get new windows with tax money, get a plumber’s estimate, get new plumbing done. Hmmm, I also need to get the house repainted. I also need to purchase some organizing items I’ve found online. And all of this… needs to be done before Emma’s first birthday party on July 13^th. Wow.

Well, that’s all I have time for today.  J Wasn’t meaning to cut it off here, but it is what it is. There’s only so much time in a day.

Jenni