Mom-tuition Follow-Up

Mom - 1
Daycare - 0

No fever. No issues. Perfect check-up and clean bill of health. She'll be back in daycare tomorrow.

I love being right.

When Grace is feeling under the weather, she gets extra snugly and I love it. Hate her feeling bad, but I just eat up extra cuddliness. Here's a pic from Tuesday:




Check out those lashes! Wish I could say they came from me, but unfortunately that's not the case. I did remember something I left out on her 10 month update: eye color is officially brown. It's literally been in just the last week that they went from a hazel/green to a deep, dark chocolate. We love our little brown eyed girl...and I love that she finally has one distinctive attribute from her momma!

xo,
H

Mom-tuition

I remember the first time I felt like I was really getting the hang of this whole mom thing. I had taken Grace back to the doctor after she had been on antibiotics for an ear infection for a week. Something just didn't seem right. I felt silly bringing her back in...it's a hard thing as a new parent to gauge what is and what isn't "appointment worthy". You don't want your kid to feel sick ever- but you also don't want to be that parent that brings them in every time they get fussy or have a fever.

Grace didn't have a fever at the time, but she just wasn't acting herself, even after that week of meds that should have kicked the infection, so back in we went. After I apologized 344,545 times for bringing her back in and having the doctor tell me that kids just pull at their ears out of habit, she checked them out.

"Okay", she said. "I really would have expected more healing progress at this point with the medicine that she has been on. Let's try something else."

I let out an audible sigh of relief. I'm not crazy, I thought to myself.

"You know your baby, Mrs. M."

I seriously held back tears. Isn't it silly how getting an affirmation like that can mean so much to an insecure new parent?

Now I won't lie, I still don't always feel like I know what I'm doing, but one of the best things is starting to figure out what your child needs or wants or is feeling. It's like having a 6th sense, or super power, if you will. ;)

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Grace has had a fever on and off for the past 2 days. No symptoms other than a fever and being a little fussy. My call was to let her ride it out, keep an eye on things, and take it day by day. It could just be teething or a little bug! Daycare over-ruled me yesterday. She can't go back until we have a form signed off by a doctor, so we'll be heading in at 10:30 am for an appointment.

We'll see if my mom-tuition is right this time or not...

xo,
H

Taco Tuesday!

We love Tuesday's in this house. Okay, that was kind of an overstatement. I love Tuesday's in this house- because Tuesday's are my excuse for Mexican food. I generally don't ever need an excuse to have Mexican, but when you tell your fam it's "Taco Tuesday" it sounds exciting and special. Or at least it used to until I insisted on making tacos every week of the year.

And maybe sometimes declaring a Margarita Monday (which everyone knows is only enhanced by the addition of tacos. Duh.).

I realize I get excessive about my love for Mexican cuisine (can you call Mexican food "cuisine"?) and occasionally I do take pity on the other person in this household who has to ingest my often sub-par cooking. This week he's in a sling and looks extra pathetic, so I decided to mix things up for him.

That's right, not tacos this week...

TACO SOUP!!!!

Even better? It's cooked in the crockpot, requiring minimal effort on my part. I plan on heading to spin class at 5pm, coming home to throw some cornbread in the oven and calling it a meal. It already smells delish and I'll come clean...I tested out a small mug of it for an afternoon snack. OMG...heaven in a cup!

I read several different chili and soup recipes online and decided on this one based solely on it's ease. Call me lazy. It's fine.

I linked to the recipe above, but here's the ingredients and directions below--

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The Ingredients:

• 2 cans of kidney beans
• 2 cans of pinto beans
• 2 cans of corn
• 1 large can of diced tomatoes
• 1 can tomatoes and chiles
  
• 1 packet taco seasoning
  
• 1 packet ranch dressing mix
• 1 lb browned ground turkey or hamburger
• shredded cheese and sour cream for embelishment
  

The Directions:

• brown meat
• drain fat and add to crockpot stoneware insert (the meat. not the fat.)
• sprinkle seasoning packets on top of meat
• drain and rinse the beans and add
• add the ENTIRE contents of the corn and tomato cans
• stir.
  

Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 4-5. I think the longer you cook soup, the better, so if you have the time, opt for cooking on low. Stir well, and serve with a handful of shredded cheese and a dollop of sour cream.
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I'll try add add a picture later. So far so good! Hope everyone is enjoying their Tuesday...with or without tacos. ;)

xo,
H

10 months

Last Thursday Gracie turned 10 months old. As usual, we practiced singing "Happy Birthday" in the morning when I went to get her out of her crib. :) 10 months seems so old! Every day it feels like we are getting further from baby status and closer to toddler.

Whatchu lookin' at?!

A few stats-

• At 10 months Grace is just about 31 inches tall- I measured her at closer to 32 at home, but we did run into the Dr's early last week, so I guess we'll go with that right now...pretty much off the percentile charts either way.
• Weighs around 22.5 lbs. Girl is long and lean.

Large and in charge ;)

• Is in size 3 diapers during the day, size 4 at nights. Probably will need to be in 4's all the time, but we have another case of 3 left...
• Has started clapping. Loves to clap for the dogs when they catch a ball outside.
• Points at things. Pictures, trees outside, etc.
• Loves to share. Toys and food especially. Will hold out her food to strangers when we are out, like at Starbucks this weekend. Always good for an "awww".
  
• Crawling machine.
  
• Pulls up to a stand, uses furniture to rotate herself, but hasn't tried to take steps.
• Still has 6 teeth...don't really see any new ones on the horizon, but she still loves to chew on toys and her hands, so who knows.

Check out these chompers!

• Is over baby food. Hates being fed...only wants cheerios, puffs, and lil crunchies. I'm lucky if I can get her to take 3-4 bites of other things. Anyone else have issues like this? I'm starting to get worried that we're going to have a malnourished kid. And trust me, I try giving her EVERYTHING.
  
• Says Dada, Mama, and baba (bottle).
• New wordy thing...when asked a question, she will respond "yeh!" for yes. Sounds like the beginnings of "yeah". Responds to questions she knows like, "Want to go watch the puppies outside?" "Want to read a book?" "Want a ba-ba (bottle)?" Smartypants.
• Is a chatterbox. Will frequently catch her "singing" and bopping around to her own song.
  
• "Dances" to music. The best is when you catch her doing it without realizing she is dancing. It's like she can't help it...music comes on, she's bopping along to the beat. Sometimes holding one hand out for stability. Hilarious.
• Loves to snuggle. Gives hugs and open mouth kisses. The best is when she leans in to kiss you without being prompted. So sweet.
  
• Obsessed with her blankie, but only when tired. Thankfully she's not so attached that it has to come everywhere with us yet.

Blankie Love

• Has started to really enjoy books. Thanks to the in-laws for this one...there was lots of reading going on while D and I were on vacation.
• Takes two naps a day at home- one morning and one early afternoon. At daycare she tries to stay up and not miss out on any action...which makes for sleepy weekday evenings.
  

I'm sure I'm forgetting things, as usual, but for now we are just really enjoying this age and looking forward to all the new things on the horizon. Even looking at shoes this weekend, D and I were excited when we realized we will have to upgrade Grace to some shoes for walkers in just a couple of months! Maybe in time for her first birthday?

xo,
H

A Day in the Life - Weekdays

Here's a little snapshot of life in the M Casa during the week. I love taking a peek into other people's "normal", so here's our typical Monday - Friday.

5:15 am - D's alarm goes off. I try not to cry and pray Grace stays asleep while he gets up to feed the dogs and get himself ready for PT.

5:30 am - If it's my drive into the office day, I get up now. If not, I usually am still laying in bed, knowing Grace is going to be awake shortly. D gets a bottle ready before he heads out the door. He's helpful like that.

6:00 am - After a 5 minute make-up application, a quick date with my straightening iron (showering at night after G is asleep maximizes my sleep-in time in the morning), and trying to find something office appropriate to wear, I wake up G if she hasn't gotten herself up already. We change her diap, get her dressed and snuggle while she has her morning ba-ba.


6:15 am - I run around putting bottles in Grace's diaper bag, making sure she has a change of clothes for daycare, enough diapers, wipes, etc. I try to distract her with cheerios...that usually buys me 5 more minutes. If it's a work at home day we are more leisurely with this part of our morning. We can read a book, play for awhile, and I dress in yoga pants instead of a skirt. We love our mornings. :)

6:30 am - If it's a drive in to Alexandria day, we head out the door. We swing through McD's so I can grab enough caffeine to stay awake for the hour drive into work. I cut through post to drop G off at daycare and I'm still, at 10 months, the mom that stays as long as I can to make sure she is happily playing and chat with her "teachers" before we do our daily kiss blowing ritual and I slip out. If it's a work at home day, we make our way to daycare closer to 7:30 am and I skip the drive thru. (It makes me feel gross to even type drive-thru. Ewwie.)

8:00 am - 4:30 pm - Working hard for the money...so hardddd for it honey! Or something like that. If I'm working from home I try to get in a quick lunch time workout at the pool a couple days a week. I also try to do a couple loads of laundry and get in random little house things that will free up the evenings so we can just spend our after work time relaxing and hanging out as a little fam. Lately I'm trying to get dinner started or do a crockpot meal sometime during the day too. Just call me super mom. (Obviously kidding.)

4:30 pm - I head to the gym or out for a run. D picks up Grace in the afternoons, cause let's be honest, most of the time I don't get in a mid-day workout and need to get in a quick sweat.

5:30 - 6:00 pm- I get home, we do dinner, play in the living room, go outside to watch D throw the ball with the pups (Grace LOVES this and will go look out the sliding glass door and pat it until we go out). We also do bath time most nights and then get cozy in PJs, try to read a book or play a little more before it's time for her bedtime bottle.



8:00 pm - Grace has started falling asleep later- which we definitely appreciate, because it extends our evenings with her. Around this time she is usually winding down, having a bottle and snuggling with her blankie. As she starts getting sleepy, she'll actually go find her blankie if it's not already out and rub her face with it. (Aww...)

8:30 pm - I'm a sucker, so I rock Grace to sleep and sing lullabies and let her fall asleep in my lap before I put her in the crib.

8:30 pm - 10:30 pm - Mommy Time. I get to shower, D usually helps get bottles ready for the next day, straighten up, and relax in front of the TV. D's basically an old man, so he's generally in bed by 9:00 (I'm serious). Most nights I try to catch Chelsea Lately and then call it a night.

Sometime during the night - I wake up to pee and tip toe into G's room to check on her. Yes, we have a monitor and yes, I still find myself waking up every night to make sure her blankie is covering her and that she is okay. Wonder if this will ever stop? I'm okay with it. :)

How many of you fell asleep reading our mundane daily routine?! The weekends are much more exciting around these parts. I'm going to try to keep the camera with me tomorrow and do a follow-up to this post with our weekend routine. With D's shoulder out of commission, it will probably be a laid back one, but these days those are the best kind.

xo,
H

San Diego Recap

I wanted to post a quick recap about D and my first trip sans baby. The in-laws had wanted to gift us with a little honeymoon after our wedding (going on 2 years ago- wowsa!), but at the time we had to pack up a Uhaul and forgo any vacations until after we had gotten settled in Louisiana and figured out D's schedule. For those of you non-military folks, unfortunately he doesn't have the luxury of just "taking off" work. I mean, don't get me wrong, he accrues leave and all that jazz, but there is definitely an unspoken rule about what you can and can't take leave for and with him just really starting his career after being in various Officer's courses and Ranger School for most of the previous year, let's just say he wasn't ready to ask for a vacation. This still annoys me every time we want to do something that requires he take off. Ugh.

Anyways.

Long story short, we got pregnant, Grace was born and life has been busy since then. Earlier this year D's parents reminded us about their offer and then added that they would fly to us and watch G while we took the trip. After some back and forth with D we picked a location, had things scheduled in conjunction with his 2 week Army block leave (a perk!) and off we went. We chose San Diego because frankly we are OVER the heat, but wanted to go somewhere that we could spend most of our time outside. It was the perfect location. After a rough start (a big middle finger to American Airlines) we arrived at our gorgeous hotel, right on the water.

This Dole boat is not our hotel. Ha! There was a dock with a giant ship behind our hotel to the left. It was kind of cool to see it loaded up and after 2 days it went back out to sea. Right behind the hotel, outside the pool area, there was a boardwalk that stretched about 4 miles to the right. We would walk or run it every day...passing docked boats, other hotels, and cute restaurant and shops. The boardwalk was the point of the pic above...

One of D's good friends lives in the area and took us to lunch for the best fish tacos in town. SO good! Then he took us on a drive to check out an amazing coastal view and some pretty incredible houses. We got out and scaled around for some pictures. I have several that turned out really cute of the two of us...that violate D's strict "don't put me the blog" policy. I tried to sweet talk him. It failed. You'd think someone on pain meds (for his shoulder surgery yesterday) would be more relaxed.

Then we headed to La Jolla beach to check out some sea lions and little shops and get ice cream, which was a regular occurrence during the trip. We indulged like it was going out of style.

See the sea lion hanging out in the picture above? What a sweet life. Sunbathing, swimming, just relaxing all the time...sigh... ;)

We HAD to check out the San Diego Zoo and it definitely did not disappoint. I'd have tons of gorgeous pictures to show you, but this is where *someone* (Hint- not me.) discovered that they had left the camera on from the day before and it died. Boo!

We are losers and checked out the USS Midway where we posed like tourists next to planes and cardboard pilots. No big deal.

From the top flight deck on the ship. Wouldn't this look cute framed in a little boy's nautical themed room?

View of some of the bay. We went to Seaport Village for a couple meals (cough-and Ben and Jerry's-cough). We also got to see one of my besties Jen and her BF who was in town for a conference the same week we were visiting! We had drinks one night, went out for dinner another night, and it was just so good to see them both. How random is it that we were both in the same place at the same time in hotels literally next door to each other? Awesome coincidence.

Jen- send me the picture you took of us so I can add it to this post! You made the blog, babe...haha! ;) Seriously...send me the pic!

Giant statue of that famous picture I'm sure everyone has seen of the Navy guy coming home and kissing his lady love. :)


The last night of our trip we went to a Padres game. Made me miss Nationals games back home! I seriously do not like watching baseball, but I love going to games! Weird, huh?

Other than those highlights we got to hit the pool, did a lot of shopping/walking around the Gaslamp District were I stumbled upon a Nordstroms, Banana Republic, and Ann Taylor Loft and played a little game I like to call "buy as much as I can in as little time as possible- aka- before the hubs gets annoyed we are in a store." Anyone else familiar with that one? :) We actually went to the movies one night and saw Horrible Bosses. It was cute and silly, I'd recommend it for a date night movie.

Our 4 day trip flew by, but I can honestly say by the last day we were both missing our little girl and ready to be home. We called to check in once or twice a day every day. It would have been more often if it were up to me, but D did a good job reigning it in to just once. I guess our first mommy-daddy trip went pretty well...but I will say it is going to be our last for awhile. I totally get that couples need time together to keep the romance alive and all that psycho babble, but I already am calling that next summer's vacation will be family style in a beach house and will include an almost 2 year old (holy cow) Grace running around on the beach. Till then we'll just have to keep up the occasional date nights and maybe plan on a 5 year anniversary trip for just the two of us.

But by then we'll probably have another little one I won't want to leave...I'm guessing it will be a vicious cycle for the next several years! Anddd with that thought the quick recap has turned into a long one...oops!

xo,
H

Well hello there!

We are officially back from vacay, well rested, and maybe even a tad sunburned (oops). Apologies for the lack of posting, but things got c-ray-zy right before we left...

Sharing with friends

I got a stomach virus, Grace got the diaper rash of the century, and D...well...nothing really traumatic happened for D pre-trip, but he does have shoulder surgery scheduled for tomorrow, so that's his news for the moment.

Buddies. :)

I have a brief vacation post to share, updates on us PCSing (Army move...yay!), and of course fun Grace updates. Can you believe my little monkey is going to be 10 months old on Thursday!? Me either. She's practically asking to borrow the car keys.

iPhone Bandit

Speaking of my little monkey, we also have a first birthday coming up- and party planning has officially begun. Is it sad I'm already looking forward to the day she asks for money instead of a birthday party? I guess I'm a grinch, but party planning is stressful, y'all!

Trying to sneak out...age 10 months.

Want a sneak peek at some party inspiration?

It's gonna get bananas around here for the next 2 months. I'm sure I'll have some crazy to share...

xo,
H

How To...

...create a loving relationship between your fur and biological children...

Step 1- Get baby in highchair

Step 2: Acquire two large, yellow labs

Step 3: Sit back and allow nature to take it's course

I'm not sure who taught Grace it was okay to feed the pups (guilty...), but she's definitely made herself some good friends now that she's mastered the art of finger foods!

xo,
H

365 days...

What a difference one year makes! Last year I spent 4th of July weekend hiking up my maternity capris and braving the Louisiana heat at 26 weeks pregnant. This year I got to tote my little tot to fun holiday weekend celebrations. It's been quite the year for us and events like this weekend just prove how much better life is with our little lady around. :)

Photographic Evidence....

July 4th, 2010

July 4, 2011

xo,
H

Captain Daddy

D was promoted on Tuesday. He is now officially "El Capitan". We are very proud of our daddy! :) Grace and I attended his promotion ceremony Tuesday morning and both were sporting cute, cotton summer dresses. We left the house appropriately dressed, EARLY even, and obviously our good fortune was too good to be true...

Everything took place on an open field outside and we are in Louisiana in late June, so although it was scheduled to take place early at 8:30 am, we knew it would be a little warm.

Fast forward to 8:40 - Things haven't started yet, Grace is fussy, we forgot the nipple to her bottle, and I am starting to glow. I try to force feed puffs in hopes that they distract her. No dice.

8:50- Things begin, Grace has a bottle we borrowed (new and clean!) from a child development center nearby, but refuses to drink out of it. Instead she's giving me the stink eye for even dreaming of trying to pass some other baby's bottle off as her own and retaliates by wiggling and letting out random cries.

8:55 - People are telling me I should go up and pin D's new rank on him when the time comes. D and I haven't discussed this, but whatever, I do what I'm told and get ready. I'm holding a 22 lb hot pocket on my hip and am desperately bouncing her around and singing dumb songs to try and keep her from becoming the star of the show. (Too late.)

9:00 - I am sweating profusely, look like I ran through a sprinkler and literally have boob, stomach, back, and probably booty sweat marks on my dress. They show. Awesome.

9:05 - An old lady tells me she is a Grandma and offers to take my baby. I oblige her and desperately try to cool off. Sweat stains do not dry when you are standing in 98 degree heat. Neither does my hair that has now become a life of it's own and looks like it is trying to win the contest for frizziest weave on post. Eff my life.

9:07 - Some random guy in a beret tells me to go up font because it's D's turn next. I awkwardly approach. Apparently D has asked his Battalion Commander (imagine a really high up boss for those of you in the civilian world) to pin him since I clearly had my hands full with our child. Now I am standing in front of 100+ dudes, look like I'm in a redneck wet tee shirt contest and am ruining the ceremony. I quickly pray for a random bolt of lightening to strike me down, with no luck.

9:07 and 30 seconds - Someone yells to the Battalion Commander that I should be pinning D. He rips off D's new rank and gives it to me, apologizing. (What are you apologizing for? My unfortunate appearance?) I slap it crookedly in place and then give D a meek "Congratulations...?" I try to hightail it outta there, but get asked, "Don't you want us to take a picture?"

NO. No I do not.

And we didn't. And we have no pictures of the day to share because after it was done and I was silently cursing myself for being so airheaded and probably sweating on D's boss, D gave us all a once over and declared that we could put the photo sesh on hold. My mom points went down a few notches that morning.

But needless to say, no matter how crazy the morning was, we were so happy to get to see D's promotion and silver lining? There was someone taking photos for the Battalion, so they do have a few shots of D and probably my sweaty ass that we will get a hold of eventually.

Yay.

xo,
H