It's November! and i'm already behind

I cannot believe it's November 1st. This year has flown by and soon it will be over.

I'm behind on a couple things already.. Scarlett's 9 month post and the background on my Tastefully Simple constultantship (i just made up that word, yes!) I will be writing posts on each of these things tonight hopefully.

This week has been filled with work it seems, despite Hurricane Sandy making it's way through on Monday and Tuesday and closing lots of businesses. I guess that's the beauty (and curse) of being able to access email from home. I am also working tomorrow, which is something I don't normally do, so I can try to get a handle on my to-do list, which is endless.. literally.

This weekend we don't have much going on, which will be very nice considering the week we just had and the upcoming week we're going to have. I do enjoy being busy though and it makes things exciting for Scarlett (and Alex too) I hope.

Maybe we'll get around to carving the pumpkins we bought a couple weeks ago! ha!!!

I will leave you with a couple of images of Scarlett's halloween costume from my iphone. The headband wouldn't stay on during the day but she was distracted enough by other things in the evening to keep it on for a couple pictures!!

Have a happy Thursday and look out for a couple more posts coming soon! Possibly a video of Scarlett laughing while reading, if I can figure out how to upload it!

Fun at the Pumpkin Patch

Sunday we did the first festive thing of the fall season, we hit up the local pumpkin patch with some friends! We took a hayride out to the patch, Tayden got stung by a bee on her tiny cheek (and i almost cried bc it was scary/sad) but luckily she was okay and we continued on our outing taking lots of pictures and choosing pumpkins! I wish I could've brought back lots more pumpkins from the patch but I only have so many arms so we chose a small one that Scarlett loves and rolls around the living room. :)

I mean, how cute are these kiddos? :)

A Day in my Life

I'm over at The Domestic Wannabe today talking about a day in my life!

Check it out!!

Lately

Just a couple of notes of what we've been up to lately..

..we finished watching LOST on Netflix. Call me crazy but I actually liked the ending. Just in time for fall shows to start up soon! Yippee!

..I've been stroller striding twice a week (as long as my schedule allows) since the beginning of August and it feels good to get out there and work out. Not to mention the ladies there are super nice and I'm the kind of work out girl that needs other people around doing the same thing I am to motivate me (or pressure me) into keeping up.

..Alex and I keep meaning to start this 5k training app I have on my phone, but things keep getting in the way after work. For some reason we are just fighting the whole 'establish a routine' thing.

..Weekends have been relaxing recently and it's been lovely to say the least. As the weather cools down we have some ideas of how to enjoy the fall, such as apple picking and pumpkin patch visiting.

..Scarlett is pulling herself up on everything and perfecting her crawl. She just started letting go of things to balance for a couple seconds before sitting down, so there's that..

..We just bought a bunch of gates from Alex's coworker and now we just need to figure out how to install them. We're actually thinking of turning the 'eat in kitchen' area beside the kitchen into a little play area that Scarlett can go wild in.

..Volleyball is going to start in a couple of weeks and I'm pretty pumped to be able to play the full season this time (last year I was pregnant and played half the season). Alex is playing Tennis this year as well. He started last week and is really enjoying it so far.

..I'm trying to figure out the best way to keep track of all the baby food we have in the freezer. I currently just have a running list but I feel like there has to be a better way.

..I really want to take a trip to Ikea, but that's a dangerous venture because I really don't need anything. Plus I've been thinking about christmas far too often and have updated my Amazon Wish List and started a Gift List for Scarlett to try to put all my ideas for her in one place.

..I think Scarlett needs shoes. And some fall clothing...... uh oh!

That's probably enough. I'm sure I could go on and on and on but I won't!!

Tough Love pt 2

Well after researching this every single night, I finally found a website that explains everything, and I do mean everything, that I was looking for.

Most of the questions I had were related to how to interact with her after the initial cry it out session. Should I nurse her if she wakes up? Should I even go in and soothe her if it will just make her mad again?

Over the past five nights, she's consistently awakening at 2:30am (last night was a bugger bc she was up more, which we later suspected was a dirty diaper, boo!) and I figured it was because she was hungry but my previous reading and the even the doctor at our last appointment and my own personal opinions made me feel like, she got enough food during the day, she doesn't need to eat at night. I didn't even think about trying to wean her off of night feedings until reading this website that I was reading last night (at 2:00am) and today during my lunch break.

About a million light bulbs flashed in my head about 20 minutes ago. Bringo! I get it now. I am going to start weaning her off of night feedings instead of unintentionally trying to have her go cold turkey. Miss Scarlett is an eater.. I should've known that she wouldn't give up her early morning snacks so easily.

I just wanted to come in and update on this subject and perhaps also point out that "Tough Love" is probably not the most appropriate title. I understand now that crying it out has a point and she learned how to put herself to sleep at bedtime (not without a min or two of crying but it's still a success). It's not an end all excuse to let her cry all night long if she wakes up. Babies have needs and I apologized to Scarlett for missing her cues of hunger (and that dirty dipe, she never poo's at night.. sheesh!). And I told her I wouldn't ignore her cues anymore and that we will be working on sleeping through the night over the next couple of weeks until her she is weaned from eating at night. I hope she understood what I said but who knows! :)

Anyway, Happy Monday to those of you who are reading!

Also, Edited to Add... I'm a total twit for not mentioning the website I was reading! It was TroublesomeTots .. Praise praise praise :)

Tough Love

Last night, we did it.

We let Scarlett cry herself to sleep.

I had every intention to do what I normally do, and nurse her than rock her to sleep, then lay her down gently. After laying her down gently, she opened her eyes and smiled at me, in a sort of.. haha, gotcha lady, you are mine, i am the boss.. sort of way. I knew I didn't want to spend another 15 minutes upstairs trying to rock her back to sleep and lay her down gently. I patted her gently, said it's nigh-night time and promptly left the room. She was angry. I went downstairs to grab my phone so that I could look up how to actually do this and headed back upstairs so I could sit outside her door, which was cracked.

I timed 3 minutes and she was still pretty angry so I went in, laid her down because she was standing up at the crib. I know for a split second she thought I was going to pick her up, which probably brought a glimmer of hope to her little world, right before I laid her down and the agony continued. I said to her gently again, it's nigh-night time, i love you but it's time to go to sleep. And promptly left again. More crying ensued and I was supposed to wait 5 minutes before going in again. Her crys were dying down to whimpers so I stayed out more like 8 minutes and then made a mistake. She was still crying on and off so I thought one more time to go in would be the last. Well that made her mad again when I left, again, but about 5 minutes later she had laid down and fallen asleep.

Success!

She slept until 1:30 am. I walked over to her room, laid her down, told her to go back to sleep and left. Again, she was angry but fell back asleep in about 5 minutes or so.

She woke again at 3:30am. I did the same thing. She was quiet in her crib so I thought I would go and check on her. I found her sitting in her crib looking around. She had been doing that for 15 minutes. I wondered if she was hungry and since she wasn't bawling for me, I did nurse her. When she was done, she was sleepy again and I laid her down again. She wailed again when I left and then fell asleep about 5 minutes later.

She woke for the day at 6:45am.

Overall, I think it was a successful evening. I didn't actually lose anymore sleep than I normally would. I'm hoping tonight goes even better and she can sleep even longer.

It's bittersweet sleep training her, I know it's what is best for her and me but I will miss getting up with her. I will miss her needing me. I will miss holding her limp sleeping body with her head upon my shoulder right before I lay her back down to sleep. Pretty soon, she'll sleep through the night and we won't look back. I do hope to remember these times though, as they truly are precious. Guess we'll just have to have another so I can do it all over again :)

10 Things :: V7

10 :: Blogging. I suck at finding time to do this. Yes. I. Do. I like blogging and I don't really have trouble finding things to write about it's just finding the time to do it. I'll work on it.. :)

9 :: Alex and I started watching Lost together on Netflix. It's interesting so far to say the least. I might have ruined it for myself by reading the wiki on it but it doesn't bother me.

8 :: I'm finally back to my pre-pregnancy weight! I hope this breastfeeding thing can help me shed even more pounds.. now if i could only stop drinking soda!

7 :: Look, I made it through the first three without mentioning Scarlett, I do have a life outside my baby! ;) She's awesome by the way, I'm currently trying to teach her how to go to sleep on her own (while I lay beside her) it's kind of inconsistent though. I also think she's teething, which means she wakes up crying for no reason sometimes. Ouchies.

6 :: We just returned from the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. Post coming on this!

5 :: We're really enjoying our CSA this year so far. Alex has been making us some yummy dinners with our fresh organic veggies and the fruit share has been decent as well. Tomatoes are ripening.. this means unlimited salsa is on the way!

4 :: I've been following the bachelorette this season and next week we get to find out who wins. Team Jef for sure. Arie's family just doesn't seem like the right fit for Emily and Ricki. I hope she makes the right choice and it sticks.

3 :: We had a sushi making party with friends a couple weekends ago and it was de-licious! I wish I would've taken more pictures but maybe I will write a post on all the prep and planning that it took in case someone wants to do it on their own. Making sushi is surprisingly easy!

2 :: Somebody might be crawling now. I'll try to take a video to upload. It's good, but also.. not so good. A lot comes along with having a mobile baby and I was kind of hoping to keep her immobile for a little while longer. Oh well, there's no stopping this girl!

1 :: I have so many iphone pictures to put on here but surprisingly, I don't take as many as I used to. I'm not sure why this is and when I think about it, i usually end up snapping a ton at one time. We have been trying to use our regular camera though and I want to get a picture of all of our family members faces so that I can make her a faces book so she can learn everyone faces and names. This goes along with me wanting to make a digital scrapbook each year for her, I should probably start that now so I don't have to do it all at once, huh?

10 Things :: Volume 6

Jumping right in..

10 :: The cats. Their winter hair is shedding and our one particular kitty, Domino basically refuses to groom himself properly which has resulted in an enormous amount of mats, mostly on his back leg area. So I have resorted to cutting them out. This makes for a very weird looking cat. Alex and I really want to get his hair buzzer and just buzz his whole body, minus his head but I don't know how well he'll tolerate it but really, something has to be done. Ugh!

9 :: I got my legs waxed last Wednesday by my sister, Nicole. All seemed fine except that I sweated a lot over the weekend while outside in the heat (duh) and now they're irritated. Gah!

8 :: Revenge.. the show. Can you believe the season ended like that? First of all, I didn't know there was going to be an episode 22, so I was surprised to see that but glad because then we could find out what happened to Nolan, obv they couldn't kill him. I kind of wish she would've killed the white haired guy, then he couldn't have blown up the plane! I'm surprised they killed Victoria, unless she's not really dead? Won't they need to keep her around for flashbacks at least? Season two is going to be awe-some. Alex said he kind of wished they would've killed off Daniel at the engagement party, but I think they took it in the right direction. In order for a season two to work, she still needs to want revenge, which now she does, plus her mom? Wow! They could take that in so many directions!

7 :: Scarlett is definitely ticklish in her belly. It is hilarious to make her laugh. We need to get it on camera here soon so that we have it! Her laugh is infectious!

6 :: We bought this coleman beach shade for our upcoming beach trips! We cannot wait to try it out when it arrives on Thursday. It will also be perfect to sit in the yard and watch Alex in the garden or the birds at the water bath! I also plan to get her a little inflatable swimming pool for this summer. She loved the pool at Richmond so much so why not get a little one here she can splash around in this summer and keep cool!

5 :: Father's Day is coming up, I need to get on my planning for Alex's gift that Scarlett and I are going to make. Oh pinterest, you are too awesome!

4 :: I've decided I'm going to do push-ups and the plank plus take a walk everyday starting today. Yesterday evening I did push-ups and the plank and thought that it's a good way to keep moving this summer, even if it's hot outside! Scarlett will enjoy the walks as well so it's a win win! Maybe i'll get up some courage to do some interval training with C25K as well!

3 :: The Lancaster Farm Fresh Coop that we're a part of has been giving us some yummy greens. We've made kale chips twice and lots of other fresh veggies including strawberries. The fruit share starts this week and I can't wait to make this recipe next time we get strawberries. Alex's garden has also been producing some yummy foods including broccoli and sugar snap peas!

2 :: Volleyball has started back up and I'm super excited about it! I love playing and I love my teammates and it's so fun to play! Thank goodness for them!

1 :: Summer is officially here. I feel like after Memorial Day weekend, it's official summer. Not to mention the hot hot weather we've been having. I can't wait for the cookouts and the bonfires and swimming at the pool and spending time with family and friends, going to the beach and going to the mountains and showing Scarlett what summer is all about!

Life after Baby :: Working

I've been back to work now for 8 weeks at the end of this week. What?

My baby will be 16 weeks old on Friday. Double what?

Time is moving so fast now that I'm back at work. I have so much to do at work that the days fly by and before I know it, I'm home again, settling down for the evening.

It's staying lighter later which is great for some things and bad for others. After returning home from work we have about 3 good hours until we lay the little one down and unwind for the night ourselves. Three hours isn't really enough but somehow, it is.

I love my half hour lunch breaks where I have just enough time to eat and write a blog post, or read some blogs, or catch up on perezhilton (less and less these days). I try to get these things done while Scarlett is napping at home, but her naps never last long enough for me to get anything done and our home computer is getting slower and slower. Not to mention, computer time falls behind cleaning time and laundry time.

But before I know it, she will be 6 months old and then she'll be crawling and then walking and then talking and then I'll wonder how she was ever so tiny. Tiny enough to fit neatly inside my body. I both dread and look forward to those days. It's a delicate balance I guess.

I'm thankful that I can work part time currently and spend a couple days a week caring for sweet Scarlett. I wouldn't trade that time for anything in the world. When she smiles at me (and she does so quite often), it melts my heart in a giant puddle of love.

So I guess since I can't slow time down.. I'll continue filling it with all the moments I hope to remember forever.

Life after Baby :: Social Life

Quick nap at the Doutrich's

Now I know what it's like to have a dialed back social life. Admittedly though, prior to having Scarlett, I wasn't really the best at having a social life either but having a baby makes it far more difficult.

Sleeping at Iron Hill

I thought I would be the mom who didn't leave the house for 4 straight weeks. Granted, I still felt that way around week 2 when breastfeeding was still getting the best of me. Soon after that, we were invited to a super bowl party and wanted to go. By that point, being in the house was getting a little bit old. Watching the seasons of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice and Revenge were getting boring. Sure we had been out to go to the Doctor's offices but that wasn't fulfilling enough. So off to the super bowl party we went. We had a great time! Scarlett behaved so well (she slept through most of it). I felt far less self conscious about nursing her in someone elses house. I used my hooter hider thingy and it went well. Soon enough we would be traveling to the grocery store, Alex's parents, my parents, my grandma's houses, friends houses and it worked out fine. We were finally mobile, albeit she was riding with two parents in the car, more on that in the next Life after Baby post.

Sleeping at the McHenry's

I also thought I would be the mom who was paranoid about germs. Of course, if someone is sick or thinks they are sick, we refrain from having them hold her.. that's common sense. But we don't have people constantly washing their hands when they're around her. It's not like people are putting their germy hands into her actual mouth and she just recently started putting her own hands in her mouth which I'm sure are also germy (and lint filled, wha whaat?). This is going a little off topic from our social life so I'll get back to it.

Needless to say, we do less than we used to. Our weekends are a little more open but we like that time to relax as a family. Especially since we hit the sack around 9pm every night. But Scarlett seems to do well in all environments but is definitely the most comfortable at home. I think she's going to be a pretty laid back little girl which will be nice.

With all that said, if you haven't met Scarlett yet and you want to.. call us! We're usually free!

Life after Baby :: Sleep

She fell asleep on her activity mat the other day. What a little doll baby!

 
Our lives have changed quite a bit since January 20th. I won't speak for Alex here so consider the following solely my opinion.

Before having Scarlett, I loved sleep. I didn't like to miss out on too much sleep. Sleeping in was what I looked forward to on the weekend. I would set my alarm for work with the precise amount of time I needed to get ready, no more, no less. I would snooze that same alarm because I wanted just a couple more minutes. Now, i'm up twice a night to nurse my little girl. Once around 2am and then again around 4 or 5am. My alarm goes off much earlier for work now and I sneak quietly out of bed so I don't wake her, so that I can get myself ready as much as possible before she wakes up and one of our parents arrive to watch her for the day (except Mondays). I make breakfast now where before I just took something small with me. I actually sit on the couch and check my email/facebook/blogs for a little bit, as long as she isn't awake. When she is awake, I nurse her and get her ready for the day. I need more time if she is awake but I don't mind one bit. It's time I get to spend with her then before I head off to work. Extra smiles for me before I leave since the morning is one of her best times of day.

We do go to sleep earlier though. The evenings fly by now when we start to get ready for bed around 8:30pm. Assuming that will get pushed back once she has a consistent bedtime routine and is sleeping in her own room. For now, it means we go to bed a little earlier and get some extra sleep. Sleep I need to make it through the night time feedings and not be tired during the day and sleep Alex needs to wake up at 5am for work. 8:30pm always comes too quickly and I imagine it will continue to do so as spring and summer approaches.

I cannot say I've been the stereotypical "exhausted" yet since Scarlett arrived. Maybe that first night in the hospital when I was up almost all night and the next day was tiring but we caught back up and exhaustion never hit. Maybe it's because I'm lazy? Maybe the mom's that get exhausted have a lot of other stuff going on where I had nothing else going on. The phrase "sleep when the baby sleeps" was taken advantage of from time to time. I think the key for me was the early bed time and the later wake time. Scarlett would often go back to sleep after her 7:30 or 8am feeding and sleep until 10 or 11.. I did the same. It helped. It also helped that Alex was there the first four weeks to take her out of the room so I could continue to sleep if I felt the need. Sure, she would end up having to eat an hour later but that hour of extra sleep was glorious and I think really made a difference.

I remember a quote that I heard a while back, "True love is not wanting to go to sleep, because reality is better than any dream" and that's how I feel. It's not that I don't want to go to sleep, but I don't mind not getting a lot of sleep. I'd much rather watch my baby girl sleep or hold her while she sleeps. Trying to soak up these bitty baby moments while they last since it won't be forever!