Sophia's 1st Birthday Party

I can't believe Sophia will be one tomorrow. What a year! Its had its ups and downs but it is just so amazing to watch an infant grow into the little person who runs around this house all day.
To celebrate this momentous occasion we had a family and friends birthday party at our home. I chose a ladybug theme because 1) Sophia was a ladybug for Halloween 2) She loves ladybugs (or seems to be drawn to them) and 3) thats what I wanted and I am pretty sure I only get to choose for this one and maybe the next one lol :)
Anyway, I had a lot of fun planning and prepping for the party. It was nice to put my teacher abilities to good use. It was like setting up my classroom for the year except it was for one day and it was my house. Needless to say I may have gone overboard but I think I teetered nicely on the sane side of tastefully done :) If I didn't no one told me otherwise (which is both nice and wise of them!)

Here are some pics of the house and the party and such. I forgot to take pictures of the table with food on it of course and lots of other stuff as well but you get the gist!

SAHM: Not for the faint of heart

SAHM: acronym for Stay At Home Mom

Seems like a simple job from the outside in. Stay home. Be maternal. Be a mom. Get stuff around the house done. Whats the big deal, right? 

WRONG. It is by far the hardest job I have ever had. Period. 

On a good day, its the most fun and rewarding job you can find. Full of smiles, giggles, adventures and fun. There is nothing better than seeing your baby/child do anything for the first time. Be there to catch them right before they have a disastrous fall, roll around on the floor and give endless kisses and hugs. That smiley little person, happy as can be. Loving you, loving life. 

On a bad day, the toughest among us consider a small padded room with 1 window and peace and quiet as a possible reality. One of my friends said in a facebook status "my husband may come home and find his wife sitting in the closet, gorging herself on chocolate, rocking back and forth, and laughing maniacally..." I can totally relate.

Tuesday was one of those days. Everything was trying. Sophia did not want to be put down...she is at least 23 pounds....there is only so much carrying one mom can do. When she was on her own, she did EVERYTHING she was not supposed to. Pretty sure "No Thank You" were the only words I said ALL DAY LONG. Climbing on the stone fireplace, throwing food, cups, bottles, trying to climb the stairs, pulling off the corner covers from the stone fireplace, banging on the glass cabinet doors, refusing to nap...the list is endless. When I took her away from any of these things, she cried, yelled and I think at one point tried out a tantrum. Oh and she had a horrible night the night before so I was functioning on about 5 hours of sleep. It was in a word....exhausting. In a few more words...exasperating, frustrating, crazy, maddening. 
Now when you have a bad day at work, you go vent to a co-worker. I have no co-workers. I have a dog, 2 cats and the aforementioned trouble maker. 

Thank you Bill for taking my phone calls and calmly listening to your harried wife vent about the misery that was my day. Thank you Val for letting me vent via email during nap time. I made it through that day thanks to you two and nap time silence. 

Wednesday was a great day. It almost makes me forget Tuesday...almost. 

Sophia aka Trouble

a list of mom stuff

1. There is definitely some sort of snot, milk, formula, spit up etc on your shirt and you shrug wipe at it with a diaper wipe or your sleeve and go about your business. This includes being out in public.
2. You have a profound love for you coffee machine. (My Keurig & I are engaged.)
3. You have more grey hair. Yes literally. At least for me its true.
4. Yoga pants are a staple in your wardrobe and not used only for exercising.
5. One of your arms has quickly become stronger than the other.
6. You know what baby food tastes good and what tastes like vomit.
7. Long hair = hair cut or in my case constant pony tail.
8. Necklaces are a now considered a possible choking hazard. Not for the baby but the from the baby accidentally choking you.
9. You park near the shopping cart return in every parking lot.
10. You know that diaper wipes can clean up anything and will use them accordingly.
11. You know the song to any random Disney or Nickelodeon song. In my case its the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse song. (Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Come inside - Its fun inside! M-I-C-K-E-Y    M-O-U-S-E)
12. Doing anything alone and not in a hurry is relaxing. (Especially Target)
13. You are the last one to actually eat at most meals.
14. Businesses that have drive throughs become your favorites. My town has a drive thru Starbucks and a drive thru CVS. I love them.
15. Things that annoyed you before you had kids don't even register now. Example: Repetitive noises would drive me insane. Sophia LOVES to bang things together ALL DAY LONG...not phased.
16. Via Jess Nusbaum - and during this nap, how much time do i have? do i leisurely enjoy my coffee or do i blow dry my hair for the first time in a month? hmmm... is that baby food in my hair, too?
17. I find baby socks everywhere and regularly I pull them out of my purse.
18. Realizing I am out in public with a baby bow in my hair....why? Because my daughter rips them out of her hair repeatedly and I end up sticking them in mine without thinking about it around the house and then I do the same thing out in public. I am so cool. 
19. 
These are just the ones that came to mind as I typed. I will update I'm sure.

First Steps!!!

My daughter has officially taken her first steps! And I in all my mom glory actually caught it on video!
Sophia has been showing some interest in the idea of walking for the past week or so. Mostly she would cruise to the end of something and then let go and promptly fall to a crawling position. Let me say that I am AMAZED at her fearlessness...she just lets go and hopes for the best...I am sure there is a lesson there with some corresponding proverb or cliche' in there.Anyway, she basically falls onto her hands and knees and goes on her merry way. No fuss, no crying.
So, Bill and I have been doing "practice" walking with her when he gets home from work. We put her between us and get her in a standing position and prompt her to "walk" to mommy or daddy. Its ADORABLE and she can take few steps before we have to catch her. The pure joy on her face is to die for. But we haven't considered these steps her "first steps" because we are prompting and encouraging and facilitating them.

This morning we  girls were hanging out in the kitchen, drinking coffee and having girl talk. (So really I was chugging coffee because she decided to wake up at 6am and she was babbling like a banshee). And she started cruising down the counters on our island towards the oven. Now the oven is a main attraction because there is this cute little baby in there that does the same thing that Sophia does and screams and laughs at her.... Anyway, I noticed that Sophia appeared to be cruising with an intent purpose so I whipped out my iPhone just in case.
Next thing I know she gets to the end of the counter where she would usually drop down and crawl the 3 feet to the oven but she does not drop. She steadies herself, shimmies forward and lets go....and walks!!!! It was so awesome! It may have only been 3 little steps but as a mom your heart explodes in excitement and pride. You have just witnessed your child take the first steps of the millions in her lifetime. There is nothing like it.

"Cruising": Another Thing That Has a Totally Different Meaning When You Have a Baby

So am sure that all of my rabid blog fans are wondering why haven't I been blogging. I know my friend Val has been.... :)- I have two words for you... crawling and cruising.

To my non mommy friends, crawling is a obvious thing. Baby on all fours getting around. And thats true however 1) Babies can crawl FAST and   2) Crawling leads to Cruising.
Before I had Sophia I had no idea what "cruising " meant outside of getting on a big boat to drink frozen drinks and have fun or driving around your town when you are 16 with nothing to do. Well, if I had known I would have been more worried for this stage.
Cruising means your previously easy to keep an eye on baby is now almost always getting into something that you don't want them to. Cruising is the stage between crawling and walking when babies figure out how to pull up to a standing position and walk while holding onto something (the couch, the table, the dog...whatever).

So now suddenly seemingly everything is accessible! Today, Sophia spent almost an hour cruising the walls of the kitchen. Yup, I said walls. Imagine my tiny little 10 month old, spiderman style against the wall slowly making her way from the wall to the windowsill to the door to the bookcase. Cute, right? Yes of course but as a mom that means you are constantly there to say "No Thank You" when she tried to swing on the curtains Tarzan style, use her high chair as a push toy, play in the dog water bowl and pull the table runner with a vase of flowers on it off the table.
Needless to say, blogging time has been hard to come by ;) As you can see.....

Stand up, Sit down...Fight, Fight Fight!

I remember my dad telling me the story of when I figured out how to stand up in my crib and how it was a complete debacle because I wouldn't go to sleep. Every time my parents laid me down and left the room, I popped right back up and talked and yelled until they came back in.
At no point during this story did it ever occur that Sophia would do that....rookie mistake. Sophia figured out to pull up on things last week. We made it about 4 days before she realized this also applied to her crib.
At first we reverted back to the tried and true method of holding her and rocking/swaying her to sleep. I must say its very sweet and special to have your child fall asleep on you. However, after 4 days of doing this for 2 naps per day and bedtime...the novelty again wears thin. If you would like to know why that is so do the following:
Get 20 pound sack of potatoes. Begin swinging a 20 pound sack of potatoes (which also has arms to grab at your face and neck and a mouth full of little teeth just wanting to chomp down on something) side to side slowly for about 20 minutes. Then slowly as not to wake the very sensitive potatoes, lower the bag into an awaiting crib. Finally release the potatoes into said crib without jostling them or upsetting or startling them. If you cannot do this successfully, repeat!
Needless to say that last night Bill and I were over this new Sophia development. She was not. So, we decided no more rocking.....sounds SO easy. Yeah right. It took about 45 minutes of the following: Kiss Sophia good night, put her on her back in the crib, leave the room. Watch on the video monitor as she promptly flips over, crawls to the crib rail, pulls her self up and celebrates by talking, squealing etc. Eventually she begins to tire so she starts whining. Go back in, kiss, put down, leave. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. You get the idea. Finally, she thankfully gave up on us and sat down on her butt, rolled onto her belly and went to sleep! Sneaking little thing has been able to do that all along :P

It's A Nap Time Miracle

Location: My house

Time: 3:02 p.m. January 13th, 2011

Sophia's Motto

A miracle has occurred. Ok maybe not to most people but to me, hell yes! I will say that although Sophia is a great baby and very easy going...she seems to detest afternoon naps. Morning naps , no problem...9:00 right on schedule she goes down and goes to sleep. Afternoon naps are a whole different story! I feel like I need to put on my battle gear for afternoon nap time. Nap time battle gear would include....earplugs, advil, waterproof vest, a harness to help with rocking/swaying, and a victory shot if successful. 

Anyway today, nothing worked. Rocking, swaying, sound machine, mobile, no mobile, snuggling, you name it. I had lost nap time battle #52 ( this number could be higher, its just an estimate because if I kept track I might loose my mind). I gave up and decided we would have a bottle (no I didn't have one but I shot out of a bottle may have been nice) and then I would put her in the car and drive. Driving ensures passing out. However, I had nowhere to go, I am sick and I am tired. But driving was inevitable and much preferred to the grumpy baby that would have emerged around 4:30. So, I went with that plan and gave Sophia her bottle which she now feeds to herself. 

And suddenly the miracle began to happen...she started falling asleep while she drank her bottle....in a brightly lit room...without any rocking....nothing. I leapt into action!!! Snatched her up, went upstairs, finished the bottle in the rocker and she was ASLEEP! YES!!! After 1 and a half hours from starting nap time, Sophia was asleep! Thank you nap time angels..this blog has been made possible by you.