milk drunk and tit-faced

 

i knew it was coming,

but for some reason i didn't put two and two together.

reid is NINE months old.

that means its time for me to start weaning.

yesssssssss.

...

noooooooo.

i go back and forth.

i'm totally ready to never nurse again,

but i'm not quite ready to let go of my little baby.

if you remember with brette,

i started weaning at seven months and

was completely done by the time she was eleven months.

i had a deadline for kassie's wedding in mexico

and so i stuck to my schedule like a nazi.

it was easy.

it went smooth.

brette never bucked the system.

so i'm taking the same approach again.

we're going to move at a snails pace and

slowly ease her out of it.

i'm going to start this weekend - may 1st and

i want to be completely done by july 15th.

that gives me eleven weeks.

and it will also give me an extra week to start

mixing breast milk with whole milk and get

her completely switched over by her birthday.

my goal:

3 sippy cups of whole milk per day.

no bottle, no boob by july 22nd.

 

lets. do. this.

 

so in true type A fashion,

let's go over my schedule and

plan of attack.

right now reid nurses 6 times a day:

5:00 am

7:00am

10:00am (morning nap)

2:00pm(afternoon nap)

5:00pm

8:00pm

 

my goal is to take one feeding away every two weeks.

it's also my goal to get her down to 3 milk feedings a day instead of 6.

at first, when i cut a feeding i won't replace it with a bottle.

i'm going to offer more people food and snacks instead.

i think i'll start with the 7am one.

my plan is to offer her breakfast right away.

next, i'll most likely take away the 5pm one because

she eats dinner at 6 and i can offer her a snack

when she wakes up from her afternoon nap.

after that, it gets a little harder.

i nurse reid to sleep, so she will have to transition to a bottle or

i'm contemplating giving her a bottle while she's still downstairs

in more of a social setting and then laying her down so

she outgrows needing a bottle before bed.

that's a month away, so i'll worry more about that then,

but i know i have an uphill battle waiting for me in june.

i also have to get ronnie on board.

weaning, for us, means dad gets to take over a lot of the baby work.

i'll probably start getting brette more and more while

ronnie takes over reid.

i think it's easy on everyone when transitioning off the boob,

to take me out of the equation.

just for a bit.

until she's used to her new normal.

i really hope this is as easy as i remember.

for some reason i'm nervous.

 

okay, wish us luck!

 

 

 

 

party time

our weekend was a little busy.

on friday my mom, madeline, eden

brette and reid met me at the bank and we

had a little "girls night out" dinner.

it was fun and brette always loves having her besties around.

ronnie took advantage of a free night and met up with "the guys."

they all went to the royals game,

but being the idiot he is, he drank way too much beer

and was a hot mess when he got home.

idiot.

 

saturday i put ronnie to work finishing up some

things around the house:

wash deck furniture,

hang a newly painted mirror,

mow the yard and

 bring up some tables and chairs for the basement.

(i hosted a baby shower on sunday and these things needed done)

meanwhile, the girls and i went to paige's first birthday.

shannon is so crafty and does such a good job

with all her decorations and details.

it was a true pinterest party - completely adorable.

and hello, i got to spend all afternoon with my friends.

loved it.

 

 

 

when i got home the girls slept for a little bit

and then we met up with my parents and brother for

a little dinner at costa vida on the patio.

it was so nice outside the girls ran and ran and ran.

just look at reid, sipping on ronnie's drink.

such a big girl.

 

 

sunday was kassie's baby shower at my house.

i packed up ronnie and the girls first thing that morning

and sent them to my parent's house for the day.

i needed every minute to get ready.

i went grocery shopping, i cleaned, decorated and got food prepped.

luckily, dana and shannon were co-hosting with me

so they showed up early to help out while i managed

to get myself in the shower and dressed.

we did a fiesta theme since it:

1- paid homage to kassie's wedding in mexico

2- gives kassie an excuse to eat mexican food- her favorite.

3 - let us try something a little different than we've done for other showers.

(we're becoming professional shower hostesses with all these new babies.)

 

weren't the invites adorable?

 

it was super cute little party and i think kassie had a good time.

 

 (nacho bar)

 

(cactus cookies, mini cupcakes and "ready to pop...corn" favors)

 

 

 

and how funny are dana and i?

we traded places.

last april vs. this april

what a difference a year makes.

 

and that was our weekend.

busy, but so. much. fun.

and i really do love hosting stuff at my house.

it drives ronnie crazy because i make him

do so much stuff, but

it's one of my favorite things.

i'm already excited for the girls' birthdays this summer.

i better start planning!

 

 

reid: nine months

 

 

 

i really like this age.

she's becoming more and more

independent and that's always a bonus.

 

 

growth:

we had a doctor's appointment a few days ago

and she weighs 18lbs 13ozs - 60th percentile.

she is 28 inches tall - 75th percentile and

her little peanut head is 17 inches - 30th percentile.

the doctor said she is right on track and

her growth curve is perfect. yay!

she wears 9 month clothing and size 3 diapers,

but i'm going to bust out some of brette's 12 months clothes

because it's gotten warm and reid needs some summer wear.

the sides and top of her hair is still long but no real

growth in the back or along her neck.

her hair actually looks a lot like a pixie cut. 

she sits a plays all the time and

she'll roll around on the floor.

she also gets up on all fours and will rock

back and forth but hasn't actually started crawling.

i wouldn't be surprised if it was soon though.

the cutest thing she just started doing is clapping and waving.

it's so darn cute to see a little one wave at you

or clap when they are happy.

i'll try to get a picture of it soon.

 

 

sleeps:

oh. my. gosh.

it has happened.

reid is sleeping through the night.

i hate to claim that, because

she's been so inconsistent, but

i really feel like we've turned a corner.

she is sleeping from 8:00 to 6:00,

i nurse her and put her back down and

she'll sleep for another hour or so.

everyone in my house is normally up by 7:00-7:30.

it's a nice schedule and i feel much more rested.

her napping is the same.

two to three naps a day.

her first at 10am,

her second at 2pm and

depending how long her 2pm nap lasts,

she might go down again at 5:30.
she sometimes still naps with a pacifier and
i'm still nursing her to sleep, so
those are both BIG things we're going to have
to break her of in the next few months.
i'm NOT looking forward to it.

 

 

 eats:

reid has no teeth.

still.

and so i hadn't given her a lot of people food,

unless is was super mushy or puréed.

i talked to the pediatrician about it and she

told me to go ahead and give reid everything

i gave brette, even though brette had lots of teeth.

(at this point brette was pretty much eating a four course meal.)

  the doctor said she didn't want reid to get a complex about the

textures of food since all she was getting was baby food.

she also said that babies mostly gum their food to death and

really don't use their teeth anyway.

it made me nervous because choking is a fear of mine,

but i started giving her mostly everything we eat and

GUESS WHAT?

she freaking loves it and does a really good job.

i've been giving her lots of new things to try,

with the exception of meat.

i've given her chicken salad,

but i guess i'm going to start seeing if she'll eat little pieces of meat too.

this makes things a lot easier, especially at restaurants.

 

 

plays:

she sits and plays all the time and

can make her way across the room to get something she needs.

(like my cell phone or the dog bowl)

like a said above, she's not crawling but she can

still roll or push herself around.

she does a good job grasping items and moving it from

one hand to the other.

i forgot to try to have her stand and play so that's

at the top of my list of things to do.

 

 

firsts:

she is clapping and waving.

she celebrated her first easter.

she's sleeping through the night.

she's eating with the family.

 

what. a. big. girl.

 

 

sorry these are so blurry -

she would not stop moving!

 

 

what's going on

a list of my life.

 

1 - we sold the 4Runner!

i'm glad to get the money out of it

but i'm sad to actually see it go.

i loved that car.

it brought both my babies home from the hospital and

honestly, if it had a third row,

i'd probably keep it until it died.

but it doesn't, so its

going to go live in texas with another family.

 

2 - ronnie and cale spent all weekend working

on the outside of our house and they have

the side done with the garage,

which ronnie told me was the hardest part.

they expect it will take another 2-3 weekends

to get the rest of the house complete.

i went ahead and scheduled the painters for

the 3rd week of may.

i literally CANNOT wait.

 

 

3 - i just started week three of my diet.

i've lost seven pounds so far.

my goal was 10 by this weekend,

but i'll be happy with 8.

i figured i'll be working at this at least until

memorial day weekend.

hopefully by then i'll have lost somewhere

around 15 lbs and feel much better about summer.

 

4. our new couch (sofa sleeper) was delivered!

it's so plush and comfortable.

not to mention, i now have a place for

someone to crash if needed.

i love the color and how it fills the front room,

but i just have to keep brette and her cheeto fingers away from it.

 

5. reid has started waving and clapping.

i know a full 9 month update is coming in a few days,

but it's just so darn cute, i had to share.

and of course, brette thinks its the greatest thing ever.

she's always like - "oh my gosh, reid is clapping!  good job, you precious girl."

hahaha - you can tell she repeats what she hears.

 

6 - i bought myself some new summer sandals from target.

my similar pair literally broke off my feet last summer

when shannon and i were on a walk and i never replaced them.

the ones i really liked were in the girls section, but

low and behold... i can actually wear girl sizes.

wahoo!  a whole new world of shoes just opened up.

 

7 - i'm having kassie's baby shower here on sunday.

it's fiest themed.

i'm busy cleaning and cleaning and figuring out decorations.

but i'm excited for this weekend - i really do love hosting things at my house. 

ronnie is taking the girls to warrensburg so i can

focus fully on getting my house and food prep all ready.

i'll share pictures next week, but

hopefully it's as cute as this...

 

 

 

i guess that's it for now.

reid just woke up. always.

 

you wanna step outside?

 

my goal has always been to get the inside

 of our house done and then move on to the outside.

but as luck would have it,

we are STILL NOT DONE with the freaking walls,

and since its spring, ronnie would like to

start working on the outside

while the weather is nice.

of course he does. (eye roll)

when we bought the house we both

agreed that we would hire someone to

replace the rotten siding and paint.

we didn't want to mess with all that,

especially after everything we've done

ourselves to the inside.

then ronnie got a wild hair up his ass and informed

me that he and cale are going to be doing the siding.

of course he is. (eye roll)

i'm not happy.

sure, sure, it saves us some money,

but i just want it over with. and fast.

and let's be honest,

nothing ronnie does is fast.

so i made them a deal:

it has to be done by the end of may.

they promised me it would be.

so far, i'm still waiting.

of course i am. (eye roll)

but i did move forward with the painters.

i've been in contact with three different

people to get some estimates and

hopefully as soon as the new siding is up,

the painters will swoop in and complete the look.

i'm excited.

 

but i realized that i've never really shown

the outside of our house.

so here you go... a tour and some pics.

sorry, about the wind.

i didn't realize it was going to be so loud.

 

 

 

 (this is where ronnie and cale are building a gate around the stairs

 to our basement so the girls aren't at risk of falling.)

 

 

to be continued...

 

 

seasonal concepts

 

 

sorry, but i just wanted to update you on

my latest diet craze.

diets. ew.

but in my world, after having two kids...

completely necessary.

i've decided i'm what you would refer

to as an "event dieter."

i need a reason.

when i had brette, we were heading to

mexico within the year.

i knew there was no option but to pull

myself together and get swimsuit ready.

it was such a great motivator.

i could imagine myself on the beach and

KNOW that a chocolate chip cookie wasn't worth it.

but this time around...

well, nothing cool is on the horizon.

i thought the motivation of being back down

to pre-pregnancy weight by the time reid

hit six months would be enough,

but sadly no.

then i thought maybe getting into

all my old clothes would be helpful.

but most days i'm in "mom gear" and the

other two days a week i go to work 

i try to find something that will be

easy enough to pump in.

so i had no real motivation to get skinny.

sure, sure - - health and wellness always

sound great, but between christmas,

valentine's day and easter, eating healthy or

eating chocolate, well, chocolate always wins.

always.

who can resist reese's trees, hearts and eggs?

it's the mother-effing trifecta within a few months of each other.

so i spent a lot of time doing this:

 

i did diet for a week and lose some weight, but

regrettably gained it all back.

(that damn trifecta strikes again.)

 

so i recently decided to diet - for real this time -

because i had a lot coming up:

baby shower's

birthday parties

SUMMER

possibly a vacation this august

SUMMER.

did i mention, summer?

the season of tank tops and swim suits.

and there it is... the motivation i need.

give me an event to get ready for and

i will try my best.

kassie's baby shower is first on my list and

the third weekend in april.

perfect

i started my diet on april 2nd (last weekend)

and i've lost FIVE POUNDS so far.

oh yeah.

my goal is at least 10, but i would prefer 15. 

i also started going to a spin class with a friend of

mine from the bank.

it kills me, but i doubt there's a better leg workout on the planet.

and i feel better already.

i always do.

i don't know why it takes me so long to realize the benefits...

probably because it's so darn hard not to eat all the crap amazing food.

 

but i'm on my way. 

wish me and my celery snacks good luck.

time for school

 

i spent the majority of my time yesterday

driving around town, meeting with PRESCHOOLS.

yes, brette is already to that age.

on one hand i am so ready for her start school.

make friends. 

take a picture with her little backpack.

fall in love with her teachers.

start learning things that i would never think to teach her.

on the other hand, ITS TOO SOON!

she's my little two year old baby.

she needs to be with me.

she needs to be older.

she needs to stay little.

 

but i have a plan.

don't i always?

she'll go two days a week when she's three.

three days a week when she's four and

if i think she's ready,

she'll start kindergarten when she's five.

she'll  be one of the younger ones in her class, but

since she's a girl and i don't see any delays,

i think she'll do just fine.

in fact, her and eden will both start kindergarten together.

the cut off it august 1st, so

she makes it by a few months.

that means its definitely time to start venturing out of the house.

she's super excited about school.

she talks a lot about going to school like madeline and eden.

i'm excited for her.

 

i met with four different facilities yesterday.

some i loved, some i liked and one

i crossed off my list immediately.

of course, my favorite one is the most expensive,

but it's also less than a mile from my work.

hello, convenience.

and i still have to work out a schedule with

my work hours and ronnie's,

but hopefully if everything comes together we

should have her enrolled for this fall by next week.

as of right now, she'll be going every wednesday and friday and

still spending monday's with my parents and her cousins.

then next year she'll go monday, wednesday, friday. 

that's the plan as of now.

 

 

also, a little sidenote:

reid will be one by the time brette starts school,

 which means she'll start going to an in-home daycare on fridays

instead of spending the day with my mom.

this also means, i'll get every wednesday with just reid.

i love the thought of getting a little one on one time with her.

brette got a whole year.

reid gets one day a week.

#SecondChildProblems

 

 

 

that's what little girls are made of

there must be a lot of

sugar and spice and

everything nice because

we keep getting more and more

little girls.

 

in the last year all my friends had babies.

all. of. them.

and only one is having a boy.

luckiest boy alive, am i right?

 

we started last april when shannon had paige.

 

then i had reid in july.

 

margie had clara in january.

 

lindsay had willa at the beginning of march.

 

and jana followed suit with katie a few weeks later.

 

this week alone i was able to drive to warrensburg

on tuesday to spend the day with willa and

then head to north kansas city on thursday to meet little katie.

 

but we're not done yet.

dana will add our one and only boy in may and

kassie will round us out with

our last girl (for now) in july.

 

our lives are so packed right now.

everyone is planning showers and 1st birthdays.

we're packing lunches and pumping breastmilk.

we're trading maternity clothes and baby gear.

we text at least a dozen times a day to

ask advice and keep each other sane.

we share funny parts of our day and pics of our babies (or bumps).

we're raising these kids together and

these new little girls are so lucky.
they are starting life with built-in buddies.

i can only hope they become friends

or find friends like i did mine.

 

love you girls and all your new little ladies you've added to my life.

 

 

(this pic is three years old, but its the only one i could find with all of us in it.)

(minus margie)