Crawling!

So Baby A has started crawling!  Mind you, it's not your cliche, gerber baby crawl.  With one knee up (actually using the foot to move) and the other leg sliding sideways from below, she has a slight reminiscence to Gollum from Lord of the Rings.  :-)  I think it's absolutely funny.  My man would much prefer her to 'crawl like a real baby'.  Although, according to NatGeo's Science Of Babies, there is no normal crawl.  Crawling is rather just a means of getting from one place to the next, until they can walk.  My dear niece, M, did a version of an army crawl.  I'm not sure if her stomach ever left the floor.

Whatever the case, I'm sure walking is not too far behind.  Baby A is always looking for sturdy objects to help pull her to standing, and a good set of guiding hands to help her walk to a toy.

To Sleep Or Not To Sleep

Our sleep/play schedule has been a little off the past couple weeks.  Baby A's learning spurt has also been on the rise (kinda like a growth spurt).  Soo....the few (albeit long) naps we've had have been few and far between...  And with the move, needless to say, I crave every nap she can get in.  Usually, Baby A absolutely HAS to nurse to sleep.  This afternoon, however, I was getting slightly annoyed at her new game of nursing, then crawling around and playing, like she's not tired at all.  There have been a couple previous times I have tried to escape before she falls asleep (to no avail).  Today, I tried it again, and surprisingly it worked!  I walked around the house for about 10 minutes and didn't hear a peep.  I was actually a little worried, so I checked on her, and she was passed out.  :-)

Because of her 2+ hour nap, it took her a little while to start showing signs it was time for bed.  Unfortunately, not even the bedtime routine could make her calm down.  She resisted sleep until around 1030.....(normal bedtime is around 730).  At one point I tried the same method of leaving her to fall asleep on her own.  It didn't work the second time...  In fact, she was actually a bit more clingy than normal, finally falling asleep drooped across my stomach.

I don't really understand what the difference was, as she seemed content for me to leave at nap time.  Maybe she senses that naps are quite short, where bedtime goes for a while.  Or maybe she's becoming afraid of the dark? (Except it wasn't quite dark out when I left the room.)

Who knows.  One day she will be secure enough to fall asleep like a big girl.  Until then, I'm content to have extended downtime with her (even if it's boring or annoying).

Sleep Talking

LOL
Baby A talks in her sleep, just like daddy!
:-D

Weight-loss

This is something I never, ever want to be cynical about: but I simply can Not understand how breastfeeding women have a hard time losing baby weight.  I am quite aware that every body functions differently.  What I don't understand is why my body seems to be on maximum speed, as well as baby A's.  At 8 months, I have already dropped back to my pre-pregnancy weight, and have to fight to make it higher.  I have to eat so much that I get bored and tired of eating.  

Now, on the flip side, I have to fight from considerably loving the fact that I can fit into my old clothes already.  So part of me doesn't really care, until 15 minutes after nursing or Any light exercise when my stomach feels so hungry that it might start eating itself.

As soon as I hit 'publish', I'm heading to get a 2nd serving (after eating a bowl of lo mein/stir-fry and a small plate of pizza).  Yes, I'm still starving.  (There may possibly be a 3rd serving as well!)

Graduation...

...to sitting like a big girl in the stroller!

The jogger still looks like it swallows her alive (we tried once before, right when she was starting to sit up on her own).  :-)  She'll grow into it.

We met up with baby R and mommy at the park today.  Baby R is a few weeks older and has also graduated to sitting forward.  When we took the babies out to play, they got super excited to see each other.  It was so cute!  I doubt they actually recognized each other, as the last time we were able to hang out was almost two months ago.  I love how babies love other babies.  "Hey, you're my size!"

2nd Tooth

It hasn't hatched, yet, but you can see it!!

Attitude-wise, she hasn't been deathly cranky, like last time when we were on vacation.

What she has been, is clingy.  I left her for an hour and a half with my mom, and came back to nonstop tears and begging to be nursed.

I won't deny that it's a nice feeling to be wanted.  But, omg.

Allergies

Oh my goodness...

It's been 10 years since I've gone through Spring season in this part of the world.  Apparently my body has forgotten what the pollen here is like.  So along with my chronic sinus issues, I've been sneezing up a storm.

Life will get a little better once it rains (I'm hoping tonight) and the pollen gets mopped up.

Until then, tissues are my best friend.

Mis-hearing

"Bears eat goats, and goats eat oats, and little lambs eat ivy.  A kid'll eat ivy too, wouldn't you?"

"Mares eat oats, and does eat oats, and little lambs eat ivy.  A kid'll eat ivy too, wouldn't you?"

This is part of 'Merzidotes' by Session America on the Children's Indie station on Pandora.  (It's a pre-set-up station, if you want to listen to it.)  Except that (starting at the top) these are what I gradually thought the song said.  :-)

These are the real lyrics:

Maresy Dotes and Doesey Dotes And little lamsie divey, A kiddley divey, too, Wouldn't you! Maresy Dotes and Doesey Dotes And little lamsie divey, A kiddley divey, too, Wouldn't you! Now if the words sound queer, And funny to your ear, A little bit jumbled and jivey; Well, "mares eat oats" And "does eat oats" And "little lambs eat ivy".

Okay, so the second version I thought was relatively right, just not in the chorus line.

I like bears eating goats.  Is that wrong?

How To Look Good Naked

I discovered this show tonight, both the US and UK versions.

I was a bit surprised at what I found.

I'm terribly in love with British shows and British humor.  However, as much as I loved the British version, I actually liked how the American host handled most situations better.  

What I didn't like about both shows was the comparing bums (trying to make the topic lady's bum look almost the smallest) seems pointless to what the show is trying to do.  I feel for the lady in cue with the biggest bum.  And what happens when the topic lady really does have a huge bum (or midriff)?  Find even larger ladies?...  You can only go so far with that. I prefer the wall of belts approach.  No need to go encroaching on others' self-esteems to make the topic lady feel better.  

I almost gagged at some of the British styles (of dress) they ooed and ahed over.  Wait, I almost did the same for a couple American dresses too.  Am I being too critical?  I'm quite okay with everyone having their own taste in style.  (So it just means I wouldn't wear it.)

I also preferred the American approach to the makeover: much more subtle and easier to replicate at home.

That was some pretty heavy make-up and hairstyling (and fake tanning!) there, Brits.

What I thought was an amazing feature of the Brit show?  Product testing!!

For this, I love you.

No matter the criticism, I'm So Glad they are not nip and tuck shows.

Really, these shows should be more well-known.  As should the concepts they're trying to explain.

Mahna Mahna

I absolutely Love this song :-D

I will give an angry bird sticker to anyone who can tell me who sings this song.

I know half the answer, so I'm partly wondering myself, and am refusing to use my freakish Google skillz to answer for myself.

And I have like 5 sheets of angry bird stickers I need to do something with.

Mahna mahna

Texting

To all my dear friends that have texted me (or even called) in the past week (or year for that matter!)--I'm sorry I haven't replied yet!

Between the move and teething....I'm a lost soul.

I will resurface soon!  (esp. to those who I texted first!)

Honestly, what I need is an app that allows me to do all my texting at night and pre-send them so they arrive the next morning (I do not feel the need to be rude and text people after midnight, or before, unless I happen to know they're working a night shift).

This would also mean that I would need a phone that allowed apps (lol!)

Teething

O

M

G

Teething has officially started.

That probably gives enough info about our week so far.

:-D

Honestly, I could see it being much worse.  Baby A isn't crying so much as babbling and muh-muh-muhing nonstop.  She is obviously in pain, though, and there were two nights (not tonight, thank goodness) where I had to give her acetaminophen to be able to go to sleep.

I'm not really sure what I should expect.  All I knew was that I was terrified for this phase to begin.  I am also incredibly grateful that baby A and I did not fly to join my man at his overseas job training.  If we did, we were planning on leaving today.  Terrible timing.  I'm okay playing this out here.  I know, Not what you were expecting to hear.  But really, would you want to travel with a teething infant?

My man will be back in less than 4 weeks for a visit!!

Please, oh please bring back one of the chargers so I can use the camera again :-)

(the camera on my oh-so-outdated phone is less than gratifying...)

Changing Taste Buds

Baby A's taste for food has been constantly changing.  She is growing pickier every day.  She loves food SO MUCH.  However, the baby food sometimes just doesn't kick it for her.  She actually doesn't care so much for super sweet food, like applesauce.  She loves peas and green beans.  The more fresh or more warm the food, the better.  Even better is when the food comes directly from another person's plate.  And no matter how much she likes the food, please don't give it too more than once or twice in a day: she will refuse it until she forgets she's tried it before.

:-D

She is starting to show signs of teething, but with no teeth yet, I don't feel comfortable giving her super solid food, like whole green beans.  No matter how soft I can get them, they don't dissolve in your mouth. 

HOWEVER, today, we discovered cantaloupe!  Bananas (which make constipation--boo!) and avocados only go so far.  Even though quite sweet, when ripe, it is soft enough for baby A to gum to death.

:-)

Score!

Blast From The Past (Update)

It's amazing what you can find on the internet!

I was browsing through a blog: PRÊT À VOYAGER

When I stumbled across this post about this amazing project.

At the bottom of the post (if you're looking at it!) there is a picture of four little women.

I am currently searching to see if that picture was taken in the mountains of northern Vietnam, because I have totally seen the two women on the left before!!

I'm not going to cry if it's not true and I'm just hallucinating (LOL), but I will be super stoked if it's true!

I will update here for sure!


Update!
Yes, I can almost conclude that those four women were from Vietnam.
This site does not say what part of Vietnam, but their dress and the background indicate the northern mountain tribes.
Yay!  Close enough.
:-)

Those last 5 Lbs

Oh my goodness!!!

At 6 1/2 months after having baby A, I'm finally down to 5lbs above my pre-prego weight!!  And with hip-shrinkage to boot!!

Score!!

I know this may seem like a little dream to many people out there, and, unfortunately, not much of it is muscle (yet!), but it is an Amazing feeling when you can fit back into your loved clothes (and not lose an entire wardrobe).

Move # 4,789

Well, that's a bit of an overstatement...but man, oh man, does it feel like it.

At the end of...let me count...10 days '!', there is still one more load sitting in our old apt.

Not to mention the cleaning supplies, as, yes, the apt. still must be cleaned from top to bottom by this Sunday night.  I am completely in love with my Sabbath hours...hours of relaxation without real work...and of course worship and family/friend time--except that this isn't college where I had only me to worry about.  I can't just run over to the apt. tomorrow night for a few hours and make it a cleaning party. Baby A allows me only so many freedoms these days--one of which means that if i'm trying to do work by myself with her, one hours worth of work can stretch into like 5 or 6 hours.  This is actually why it's taken 10 days to get only most of the move accomplished.  I was able to recruit some friends and family for a little bit of time (between work schedules and nap times), and am incredibly grateful for the help they were able to give.  But man, oh man, I still thought it would take less time than this and I wouldn't be so stressed in the end.

Mmmmmm, I should know better.  I can get stressed over having to decide between doing the dishes or eating (which, of course, creates more dirty dishes) during baby A's nap time (which, on some days, if I'm lucky, can last up to 20 or 30 minutes--in the past couple of weeks she's been Finally starting to nap for up to 2 hours!).  :-D  (This is why I tend to stay up way past being tired so I can have some me-time and hopefully get a few things done.)

I will be soooooooooooo excited for Monday to come---which should hopefully mean that the old apt. will be cleaned out and cleaned up and the keys turned in!

And then on to settling in with mom (for as much as you can settle in with somebody for 4 months).

:-D

One day I'll be able to leave my house somewhere and travel with only a backpack and a tent or a suitcase and a carry-on.  :-)

I Love H2O2!

I learned a tip from my dad a few weeks ago: Hydrogen Peroxide is a stain remover.

What?!  I am nearly 30 years old.  How am I just now learning about this??

H2O2 has become a life savor!

The #1 stain I have to clean?  Bananas...  I never would have imagined that bananas would be my worst nightmare.  That yellowish-clear slime that comes from smashed bananas, very quickly turns into brown goo before it dries.  The shelf-life of bananas (and avocados) should be longer (in a perfect life).

So until that perfect life, H2O2 will be my new BFF.

LOL

Ooo! If you're also a mom (and if you're not!), check out this website for more ideas of what to do with H2O2 and other green chemicals (and you can enroll to win some green products of your own!).  

First Signs

I know it can be hard to tell what or even if a baby is signing, well, anything, but tonight baby A gave the definite sign for milk!

I am so completely stoked!  It's not the first sign she's 'made', but it's a pretty important sign.

I'm praying super hard that she will keep using it.

It makes life so much simpler when you can communicate.  :-)

Sitting Up

Oo! Oo!

So baby A has been sitting up better (on her own!) without toppling over!

She can't pull herself up to a sitting position, yet (obviously), but if I set her down, now she stays!

I'm super excited, because the more she sits up (and rolls over), the more she can do more things by herself!  This frees me up to get more things done around the house. (Yes!)

(Maybe soon she'll start crawling!  For those who may think this will make things worse, I challenge you to watch baby A from sunrise to sunset.  See how much you get done around my house, then we'll talk.)

Zeitgeist

Okay, so I normally try to keep my posts politics-free, but right now I'm "watching" Zeitgeist: Moving Forward (2011)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qe03mYVfmg&feature=fvsr

...if you so desire.

I quoted the 'watching' as I stopped really listening to it a while ago (it's 2 hours and 40 something minutes!  I'm a multi-tasker.  I don't have that kind of attention-span.  LOLOL  I like my oxymorons...)  I also stopped listening because I started becoming wary of the topic at hand.  (Very well-rounded criticism I can give now. LOLOL)  

I actually liked the beginning of the video, esp. the intro part about the kid playing a game with grandma and the neurological science used to ascertain how humans change according to their environment (more than how genes affect humans).  And then....it started digging itself into a hole, and I started fading out.

It's very informative of one way of thinking about how a society should live and work.

Right now, it seems more like a 'perfect' society that works in theory, not necessarily in real life.

(...isn't Communism a little like that?...)

I need to do more research....