Playing in the baby pool with Daddy & Josie

Loving it...Part V

I'm not sure about you, but I am totally indecisive when it comes to dinner. On a nightly basis Cheyenne and I wonder up and down the grocery aisle with blank stares saying "uh I dunno, you decide". It's a mess.
Now we have this website! I love it. First of all, it's totally tongue in cheek hilarious. Second, it's actually super helpful.
If you cant decide on dinner tonight pop on over...you'll be glad you did.

R.I.P.

It's true, i have a very "relaxed" view when it comes to death. Between having grandparents and uncles in the funeral business {and thus growing up with an odd kind of "shop talk" at family gatherings} and being an atheist I tend to view things related to my death with a fairly clinical aspect. Making a will and picking out a burial plot, are in my mind not at all morbid but rather a smart idea that should be taken care of when you're nice and healthy instead of leaving these up to your grieving family to sort out.
Which leads me to our will{s}. Years and years before we actually HAD a baby, Cheyenne and I decided on a god-parent that we would have take charge of our child/ren if we should both die. However; now that enough time has passed and we have an actual child we are rethinking our choice. It's not that we don't love this person or that this person isn't in our lives anymore {quite the contrary, which is why I'm leaving the identity so ambiguous}. But said person's life situation has taken a turn that neither Cheyenne or I saw coming and the would-be household is not exactly what we would want Amelia {and/or any siblings she should have} living in. "Awesome".
So now we not only get to deal with the disappointment of the godparent not working out but now we're back to square one. Ugh. We have someone{s} picked out as a first choice but...how does one bring that up in polite conversation? "Uh hey, yeah, so I was thinking we should all go to the farmers market. Speaking of travel....wanna be the person{s} our child goes to should we die?" yeah that just seems weird.
I'll have to think on this. Any ideas?

I can do it MYSELF!

What a difference 6 months makes.

First day home
6 months old.

Then vs. Now

Amelia is now 24 weeks old aka 6 months. Way back in early February when she was about 2 weeks old I made a list of her likes and dislikes; lets see how they compare to now:

The like then - Skin to skin contact.

Now - She doesn't need to lay skin to skin for comfort anymore, however she does now prefer to be naked whenever possible.

The like then - Being looked in the eyes and talked to.

Now - She still loves this, even more so if you sing to her or make a funny face. Now she can laugh, smile, or make a silly face back at you.

The like then - Josie.

Now - They still have an adorable bond only now Amelia wants to "pet" Josie which she is still unsure of.

The like then - Massage. Like veal our Peanut got massaged daily and really loved it.
Now - My little go-getter rarely has the patience to lay still for massage. She would much prefer to roll over or play with toys when she's on her back. I still do some massage but it's usually on the changing table and for much smaller bursts.

The like then - Sitting up on Daddy's knees.

Now - Standing up on Daddy's knees.

The dislike then - Having to wait more than one second for a meal.

Now - She can wait up to two seconds :-)

The dislike then - The binkie.

Now -Much to our delight she never took to a binkie. I suppose that we could have forced it upon her until she grew to like it, but we never wanted her to use/depend on one and I think that has to do with why she never grew to like it.

The dislike then - Having her tummy rubbed.

Now - She doesn't really mind one way or the other.

The dislike then - Her swing.

Now - This one makes me laugh. She loathed the swing when she was itsy bitsy. Then around 10 or so weeks she grew to cherish it and the swing became a god send to Cheyenne & I. Now she's kind of growing away from it, out of boredom. I still use it for some of her naps but she's not as content to lay in it while awake the way she was before she was so curious.

The dislike then - The hours between 11:00pm & 3:00am

Now - Ouch. I think back on those weeks and cringe, they were so so hard on all 4 of us {baby, mom, dad, dog}. Now however she goes to sleep at 8:30pm and doesn't wake back up until 6:30am. On the mornings when 6:30am feels far too early I remind myself of the "survival days" and my attitude changes quickly.

Looking back at the photos and posts from 6 months ago seems like I'm looking at a different mother and baby. I'm so much more confident and at ease with motherhood and my capabilities and my baby is much more a "person". I cant image how different these current posts and photos will seem in another 6 months.

Loving it...Part IV

Aside from the obvious {family, friends, pets} my two very favorite things on planet Earth are baking & stationary...luckily I am not alone. Sisters Ali & Nikki of Papery and Cakery are all about baking and paper goods {Ali is a baker - the "cakery" part of their business. Ali runs the "papery" side of things aka invitations and other paper goods} basically their business is my dream and i am super jealous.
I check in with their site's blog almost daily and am rarely disappointed by a post. Nikki has fantastic decorating, fashion, & entertaining ideas while Ali writes a weekly post with a new recipe each week {to make things even easier she includes step by step instructions along with photos}.
If you are even half as into these things as I am you will surely love their site/boutique/blog!

Avocado.

Amelia got to try avocados for breakfast this morning {to get the right consistency i pulverized a fresh organic avocado in the food processor with breast milk until it was super creamy}. She didn't know what to make of it at first but seemed to like it after a couple of bites.

Music Together Classes.

Amelia & I started going to our "classes" at music together this week {we go Mondays & Tuesdays} and she's loving it so far!
A few people that I have mentioned these classes to have asked what it's all about so lemme explain:
* A music Together class is an internationally recognized early childhood music program for babies, toddlers, preschoolers, kindergartners, & the adults who love them. First offered to the public in 1987, it pioneered the concept of research based, developmentally appropriate early childhood music curriculum that strongly emphasizes & facilitates adult involvement.
Music Together classes are based on the recognition that all children are musical. All children can learn to sing in tune, keep a beat, & participate with confidence in the music of our culture, provided that their early environment supports such learning. By emphasizing actual music experiences rather than concepts about music, Music Together introduces children to the pleasures of making music instead of passively receiving it from Cd's or TV.
Central to the Music Together approach is that young children learn best from the powerful role model of parents/caregivers who are activity making music. The program brings families together by providing a rich musical environment in the classroom and by facilitating family participation in spontaneous musical activity at home within the context of daily life.
Music Together is committed to helping families, caregivers, & early childhood professionals rediscover the pleasure & educational value of informal music experiences. Music Together applies the latest research in Early childhood music development to the program.

OK, so that's a description of what the program is about but you may be wondering what the benefits are. There are several, here are a few of them:
1. According to a landmark state & federally funded study {performed by the Michael Cohen Group}, children in the Music Together preschool classes made statistically significant gains in cognitive, language, an physical development on the Creative Curriculum Assessment used in the Head Start program. Children in the Music Together classes have been shown spatial concepts, more gross motor movement, & more imaginative play as well as having powerful benefits towards speech & language skills.
2. The social benefits. Parents and children that often would not interact with one another come together on common ground {music for children & the love of our children} which over time makes the children have a deeper connection to their home, school, & community.
3. It provides children with a means of creative self-expression that is uniquely human.

There are qute a few more benefits and reasons that we {Cheyenne & I} are stoked about this program, but quite frankly, this post is already on the overly long side and I think you get the idea already. If you want more information visit their website or email me and I will be happy to share what I know!

6 month check up.

Today Amelia had her 6 month check-up with our awesome pediatrician Dr. Mari Kay Evans-Smith. Our peanut weighs 14 pounds & 6.5 ounces {29th percentile}, is 26.5 inches long {87th percentile}, & her head is 42 centimeters around {46th percentile} - still long and lean!
She is perfectly on track and where she needs to be developmentally and was totally charming... she barely even cried when she got her shots.
Next appointment is in October when she is {gasp} 9 months old.

Photos from the first breakfast.

All Done!
I wanna help.

Yummy!

What is that???

First bite.

Scenes from Amelia's first meal

Now that Amelia s just a week or so from the 6 month mark {24 weeks} we are starting on solid foods. She got to try HappyBellies organic rice cereal and she did really well! She insisted on "helping" me feed her, which of course gets less food to her mouth but it does help her learn to self feed...not to mention, it's super cute! Next on the list {Saturday} is mashed organic avocado then mashed organic sweet potatoes {thank you food processor!}.

New.

As most of you know Amelia & I go to the mommy & me classes at Good Sam hospital. The groups are broken up by age {0-4 months, 5-9 months, 10-14 months} and I have been putting off moving up to the next group even though Amelia is over 5 months old because I so hated to admit that she's no longer a little newborn.
However being the oldest baby in the group was getting a bit ridiculous and not really that helpful on a mommy level {the newbies have a totally different set of issues to discuss e.g. sleeping and new mom worries vs. when to switch to solids, how to get them to crawl, etc. that the parents in the next group up are talking about}.
Today I finally faced up to reality and went to the new class. Yay! Why didn't i do this a couple of weeks ago? It's so nice to see kids a bit older {Amelia is one of the 3 youngest in this group} and to talk to their moms and see what the Peanut will be up to in late summer or early fall {crawling already? seriously? Wasn't she just born yesterday???}. It was also good to hang out with other babies born in the same week so that I know how she's stacking up {still right where she should be} and share advice and stories.
Ah. Sigh of relief.

I wish that I had found this in time to share for Fathers Day

Silly girl

The 4th.

We had a nice 4 day weekend this 4th of July {Cheyenne got Friday-Monday off}. We had originally planned on going camping this weekend for a few reasons {our neighbors put on one hell of a show but it makes our poor dog go crazy with fear, we didn't get to camp last year because i spent every minute of my summer consumed by morning/noon/night sickness, we had 4 whole days} however at the last minute we changed out mind {camping with a 5 month old wasn't quite something we wanted to try just yet, the weather was supposed to be chilly}. We stayed home instead and I must say that I rather enjoyed it. It was nice to just hang out as a family and enjoy each others company and take walks & hikes with our dog and baby without any kind of schedule or plans. On Sunday {the actual 4th} we drugged up the dog {hilariously sad video to come}, put the baby to bed, opened up a bottle of wine, and watched our crazy neighbors put on the most spectacularly illegal fireworks show West of Wyoming! The only downside is that we relaxed so much that we forgot to take any pictures! But don't worry, I plan on putting Amelia in her little 4th of July outfit and "recreating the mood if Independence".

Loving it...Part III

Hyperbole and a Half is one of THE funniest blogs out there if you are between the ages of 24-36ish. Allie Brosh is totally hilarious and writes in such a way that is so relatable for people that loved the cartoons of the 1980's, aren't quite sure how we feel about this "growing up" thing, and have a sick and sarcastic sense of humor (and fear of geese). If this doesn't have you screaming with laughter then I'm not quite sure that you find my own blog funny or interesting. Enjoy!