Big Girl Bed

We recently moved Maryn from her crib to a toddler bed.  She loves it.  Every night she squeals that she gets to sleep "in my big girl bed!" and every morning she is so proud to wake up in it.  It's pretty cute. She really has done well.  I was very nervous about the transition, but after finding her asleep on the floor the first couple of nights, she seems to have completely adjusted.  Still sleeping 12 straight hours at night.  She's never been the greatest napper, but even naps seem to have returned to her normal routine.

Things like this really make Billy and me amazed at how fast Maryn is growing up.  It's the bittersweet that every parent knows.  I wish I could keep her a toddler forever.  Tonight she did something funny that gave us a little glimpse into her teenage future.  At dinner, Maryn said she was all done and ready to be cleaned up and get down from her seat.  She had a little bit of chicken left on her tray, so I tossed it to Graycie.  Apparently the idea of sharing with the dog was too much for her.  She completely lost it.  But instead of throwing her fit right there, she immediately ran to her bedroom.  After a minute or so, Billy went in and she was sitting on her bed crying.  He asked her why she was sad and she said because Graycie ate her chicken.  Then Billy asked if that made her angry and she replied, "Go away!" while pointing to the door.  She then remained on her bed crying.  We were cracking up.  Talk about drama!  Don't worry, she was happy and singing "Down by the Bay" within a few minutes.  Oh, the joys of raising a girl.  :)

Twelve Months Old (One Year!)

What a year it has been.  Maryn is one!  She is rapidly becoming less of a baby and more of a toddler.  She's beginning to express lots of emotions - happiness, frustration, jealousy - and trying to figure out how to let us know what she wants.  She's using the signs for more, all done, and milk, and she's saying "hi", "momma", "dadda", and "book" and lots of new sounds.  She loves the body part game ("where's your nose/mouth/hair/feet" etc).  She is crawling all over the place and into everything.  She's definitely been keeping us on our toes; if we look away for one second she'll disappear and we'll find her in another room with the door closed getting into who knows what.  We're working on "no" and "come to momma/dadda".  She is doing much better cruising around the furniture and this last week she started standing on her own without holding on.  She's such a big girl!!  I think we now get to discontinue physical therapy which is great too!

She had her one year check up (and vaccines - boo) yesterday with her pediatrician.  She hasn't gained much weight.  She is 16.8 lbs (1st percentile), 27 3/4 in (10th percentile), and her head circumference is 17 and 3/4 in (50th percentile).  It turns out she is a little anemic, which can cause decreased appetite.  She has to start an iron supplement, so hopefully that will help.  We go back in another month for a re-check.  Dr. Harvey also wants us to really work on boosting calorie intake.  She is becoming very stubborn about eating though.  Unless it's yogurt, a yummy fruit, or her cereal, we have a hard time getting her to eat anything from a spoon.  She wants to feed herself.  Her favorite finger foods are cheese, avocado, blueberries, strawberries, pears, apples, beans (pinto or black), crackers, cheerios, peas, corn, bagels with cream cheese, toast, and waffles.  I'm having a hard time getting her to eat much of anything with protein other than dairy and the beans.  She refuses all meat and eggs.  We may have to add some kind of supplement in her milk (carnation, etc) too.  It can be quite frustrating.

We've also begun the weaning process.  We have replaced one nursing session in the afternoon with a sippy cup of whole milk and a snack.  She does pretty well with the milk.  We're going to stay with this for a couple more weeks and just see how it goes.  I'm not in a huge hurry to wean but I do want to get down to two feedings a day - one first thing in the morning, one just before bed, so we still need to drop her late morning feeding.  She is only waking for a midnight feeding occasionally.  I can't believe I've been breast feeding her for over a year now; she's never had to have formula.  We are very blessed; I know there are many moms out there who, for various reasons, are unable to breast feed.  I am also blessed in that I have received so much support - from Billy, from our families and friends, and from my workplace.  I haven't received a single negative comment about nursing her for this long.

Pictures from the big birthday will be up soon.  Can't wait to see what the next year brings for our sweet little girl!  We'll do another update at 15 months.

Maryn's Birthday Video

I promise I will get around to blogging about Maryn's birthday party and her 12 month old/1 year update post (I'll wait until after her check-up with the pediatrician later this week).  In the meantime, suffice it to say that Maryn's birthday was a blast and we had a wonderful birthday weekend together celebrating our sweet little baby-cakes.  Here is the video I made to show at her party and to re-live her amazing year:

Mother's Day 2011

I love being a momma.  I love my little family.  And I love my momma (can't wait to see you soon, Mom!).  

Today, Billy and Maryn gave me two books (biographies - Billy knows me well) and a homemade card (I cried).  I was also gifted with rest, chocolate chip cookies, coffee, time to myself.  And the sweetest kisses from the sweetest girl.  But truly the best mother's day gift is the gift of motherhood.  My sacred task.  And I'm reminded that I need to spend more time on my knees thanking God and asking for the grace to be a momma in pursuit of His heart.

Mother's Day pics:

Me and my love

Posing :)

Ta-da!

Happiness

Maryn was a little confused about the holiday.  Instead of "momma" she started saying "da-da".  I think it will be hilarious if she says "momma" on Father's Day.

Love Grows Love

Here are pictures from the last 3 Easters.  Each year keeps getting better!

Easter 2009 - Happily married, but growing our family wasn't even on our radar yet.

Easter 2010 - Excitedly expecting a baby, no idea of all the changes ahead.

Easter 2011 - Baby makes three! A hole in our hearts we didn't even know was there has been filled!  

When we got the news

we had to call our families

and start painting the room

a nice bright blue.

Our vows they started breathing

and they took on flesh and blood

and we held them in our arms

and tasted God was good.

I fell in love with you

and that love became something new.

It added a name and it added a smile.

It keeps getting bigger every further mile.

There on your bended knee

we sowed the seeds of our history,

they're coming up stronger

than we ever could have longed.

Love keeps growing more love.

- "Love Grows Love" by Caedmon's Call

Baby Food

Most of you know that I'm uneducated and unskilled in all things domestic.  So it may surprise you to hear that I recently undertook the task of making homemade baby food.  I never thought I'd be that person either.  But the idea of never really knowing what's in Maryn's food bothered me - preservatives & such.  Plus, there are so many easy fresh foods that babies can enjoy, some you don't even need to cook like bananas & avocado.  So I was motivated to at least give it a try.  I got an electric food mill, a steamer basket, and ice cube trays made the perfect size for single servings of baby food.  So far so good.  I have batches of carrots, peas, green beans, butternut squash, apples, and pears in the freezer - plenty to last quite a while.  Easiest thing I have ever done in the kitchen (although once she moves beyond single ingredient foods it may get a little more complicated).  And I honestly thought it was fun; I just kept imagining my baby enjoying the "fruits of my labor".  :)   They all tasted quite good, too.  Maryn is still getting the hang of rice cereal, so she has only tried the squash as of yet.  It's so easy - grab a cube from the freezer, pop it in the microwave for 30 seconds, & feed to baby!  Don't get me wrong, I'm not totally anti-jar food.  I even bought a few organic jars to have on hand, which I'm sure will be used, especially for travel or when I'm in a pinch.  But for the most part, I'm going to do my best to stick with the real stuff.  Here are my resources: this website & this book.

Carrots

Butternut Squash

Pears

Freezer bags of homemade goodness :)

First Date...

...since Baby entered our lives.  When we were home for Christmas, my mom offered to babysit for a few hours one evening so we could go to a movie.  We were unsure at first, we had never left her except for an hour in the church nursery on Sundays.  And she had never been given a bottle by any one other than Billy.  Our hesitation didn't last long, we knew she'd be in capable, loving hands.  We cautiously walked out the front door.  As soon as we were outside, no baby in tow, we paused and looked at each other.  Then Billy grabbed my hand and we ran as fast as we could to the car, laughing the whole way!  We had a blast!  Looking forward to many more dates to come!

We saw The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Narnia) in 3D

So happy to be alone!

When I'm with You

I first heard of this song by JJ Heller through my friend Kim. It is such a sweet song, and I wanted to share it because this is how I feel every morning when I get my sweeter-than-strawberry-pie little girl out of bed. :)

A New Mom's Top Ten

My list of necessities that I can't live without these days:

1. Diet Dr. Pepper - I've never been a caffeine person, but ever since Maryn was born, I have come to heavily rely on and crave my daily dose of Diet DP.

2. Dry Shampoo - let's admit it, having a newborn/infant to care for doesn't lend itself to daily showering. Gross, but true. A lot of times I just try to grab 5 minutes to shower without washing my hair. Enter my friend, spray-on dry shampoo. With this amazing product I can add a couple of days between washing my hair and still feel like I can leave the house.

3. Burp Rags - aka old-fashioned cloth diapers. They're scattered everywhere - the diaper bag, the couch, our bed, the nursery, the car, and the laundry is always full of them. Cause you never know when a spit-up attack will hit you.

4. Smart phone - I spend a lot of my time during the day just sitting while Maryn nurses. It can get kind of boring (and daytime TV is just stupid for the most part - although I have taken a liking to Billy the Exterminator, haha). But with my spiffy Palm Pre Plus, there's always something to do. In addition to the normal cell phone uses - calls, texts, emails - I can catch up on facebook, play games, look up stuff I'm curious about on Wikipedia, read my favorite blogs, check the weather, watch YouTube videos, make to-do lists, etc. I even have an app that keeps track of Maryn's feedings (during my pregnancy I used an app that monitored weight gain, kicks, contractions, etc). And every morning during her first feeding, I get on ESV.org and use one of their daily reading plans for my quiet time.

5. Digital camera - another techological must-have. I love my Canon Powershot. Because with a new baby, there's always a cute or memorable moment to capture on photo or video. And I love the battery life on our camera - I think I've only charged it 4 times since Maryn was born!

6. Oxiclean - enough said. (Explanation for my brother Scott: baby poo-poo)

7. Miracle Blanket - Maryn has been sleeping through the night since she was 2 months old, and I give this blanket all the credit. It's the only swaddle blanket that actually keeps her swaddled all night. What will I do when she outgrows it?

8. Paper plates - bad for the environment, but good for my sanity.

9. Marie Calendar Steamer meals - another dinner time shortcut - fast, easy, and tasty. And the hubby loves them too.

10. Amazon - membership in AmazonMom + diaper delivery subscription = 30% off diapers plus free 2 day shipping. AmazING.

Anyone else out there have their own top 10 list for moms?

A Quiet Heart

I've been experiencing a lot of unrest lately. It really troubles me that the apartment is very far from unpacked, the dishes are rarely done, and my plans to go grocery shopping usually fall through. Most of this is simply attributed to the fact that caring for my sweet Maryn takes up the majority of my time, and Billy is working nearly 60 hour weeks already with school. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE staying at home and meeting the infinite needs of my darling baby. I just have to learn that if that's all that gets done, that's okay. I'm trying to depend on the Father and keep a quiet heart, but it's hard. Reading this quote today helped:

"I think I find most help in trying to look on all the interruptions and hindrances to work that one has planned out for oneself as discipline, trials sent by God to help one against getting selfish over one's work. Then one can feel that perhaps one's true work--one's work for God--consists in doing some trifling haphazard thing that has been thrown into one's day. It is not a waste of time, as one is tempted to think, it is the most important part of the work of the day--the part one can best offer to God. After such a hindrance, do not rush after the planned work; trust that the time to finish it will be given sometime, and keep a quiet heart about it."

~Annie Keary, 1825-1879 (qtd in Keep a Quiet Heart, p. 9)