paw prints vs. fingerprints

i was really worried about how my

babies were going to react to our new baby.

let's be honest.

my dogs are spoiled and a little eccentric.

not to mention, that they hate when we have kids over to the house.

not so much leia, but definitely louie.

i always have to ask the kids to just leave him alone.

its better that way.

so you can imagine my concern when i was bringing

a new kid into the house full time...

oh, and forever.

 

good luck louie

 

we did the ol' bring home baby's clothing from the

hospital, let them smell it and

then give them a treat trick.

i also made ronnie sit in the car with brette

so i could have 5 minutes alone with them

before introducing b.

since i had been in the hospital i wanted

to give them some undivided attention first.

and then we brought in b.

 

and their lives changed forever.

 

 

but they really don't mind her.

they will lay in bed with her and

leia is especially interested in licking her.

we've even caught louie giving her some kisses.

thank god.

but for the most part they had been ignoring each other.

now that brette is more aware of her surroundings,

she loves watching them.

she completely stops and stares when they come in a room.

when they are near enough, she'll pet them. (or grab their hair)

one afternoon, brette even laid her head down on louie's back.

cutest. thing. ever.

so far, there has been no growling or snapping at her.

of course that might change once she's mobile

and running louie into a corner.

i hope not,

but i still make sure and supervise their interactions.

 

there have been two major changes since brette was born:

one

the biggest change has been in their behavior when i leave.

i think it's because someone is now constantly home with them

so they have major anxiety when they are left.

i could be gone on a quick 20-30 minute errand and they greet me

like i've been gone for 2 days.

and when i leave, they've also started peeing in the house.

oh hell no.

i would rather them poop everywhere then pee.

it stinks and its so much harder to clean up.

especially if you don't find it until much later.

so we've reverted back to locking them in the kitchen

when we go anywhere.

just like when they were puppies.

poor things, but i really can't handle peeing in my house.

 

two

i have no patience for barking dogs when brette naps

and my dogs are really barky.

do you see a squirrel outside or a man on a jog?

did the ice machine just make a sound?

they will lose their damn minds

and i want to kill them.

just this week i decided to rake the front yard

during brette's afternoon nap.

(ronnie can't say i never did anything nice for him.)

louie saw me outside and went crazy.

he woke brette up and she had only been asleep for 30 mins.

i gave him several dirty looks and a few choice words.

so i've tried to figure out a system.

i shut all the blinds and i move a big woven basket in front

of our front door window so they can't see outside.

then i take them everywhere with me.

am i in the basement on the treadmill?

so are they.

am i taking a shower?

they are in my room with the door shut.

i give them no opportunity to even want to bark.

 

 

so far our transition has been pretty smooth

and i'm happy to report, i'm still in love my with my puppies

and i think my puppies are in love with brette too.



 

 

 



happy birthday to you

 

my bff had her 30th birthday

and we all gathered to celebrate in the afternoon

at a kc beer festival.

some of us celebrated a little too hard.

and by us, i mean the boys.

especially since the beer fest was actually a

strong ale fest. 

and strong ale equals a lot of bitter beer faces.

 

i missed out on the last half of the par-tay

because i had to be home by 4:00.

i needed to feed brette and my mom had to make it to

another engagement she had that night.

since i was sober i offered to come pick up

the lee's summit group when they were done drinking.

apparently everyone hit a wall around 6:00

and chaos ensued.

c h a o s

i won't go into the details, but there was more than one

person puking at a time.
and my car needed a bath after.
holy hell.

but - finally - i got everyone home and asleep by 8:30.

and then i relaxed and watched tv.

is this the life of a mother?
well shit.

 

happy birthday, kass!
love you long time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

wrapped up

a little update...

 

we stopped swaddling brette

on her 5 month birthday.

it was very anticlimactic.

i still put her in a sleep-sack,

but didn't wrap her arms.

i laid her down and her arms didn't move.

they just stayed at the side of her body

like they would if they were wrapped.

 

the second night, she chose a more,

"halleluiah, come to jesus" pose.

you know, where her arms are spread as wide as they can.

but still, she fell right to sleep. 

i thought - well, this is going to be easy.

 

but, of course, you should never count your chickens before they hatch.

 

have you heard of the "why are you hitting yourself" game?

well, that's what brette was playing on night three.

she'd hit herself in the face or

she would pull out her pacifier.

over and over and over.

i kept going in there to shush her and give her back her pacifier,

but after an hour of this,

i caved and swaddled her arms.

she was asleep within two minutes.

 

the fourth night she fell right to sleep,

but woke up an hour later and once again,

couldn't keep her hands off her face and couldn't get settled.

so again, i swaddled her.

 

then i realized the first couple nights

she wore pj's that covered her hands.

so i've been making sure to do that the last two nights

so her fingers can't get to her pacifier.

it seems to be working.

 

right now, she is sleeping peacefully unswaddled.

my fingers are crossed we have this thing licked.

but i just don't know about my chicken.

 

 

it's not delivery

homemade pizza is one of those things

my parents made and i've always loved.

 

its one of my go-to meals i request when i'm at their house.

 

when my bridesmaids spent the night

before my wedding?

yep, that was the pre-nuptials dinner i asked for.

on my 30th birthday?

yep, that too.

 

so why don't i make it for myself?

i did try it y e a r s ago

for valentine's day and it was a big success.

 

and then i never made it again.

so weird.

and its really not that hard.

 

last friday we had a date night planned with the turnbow's.

since they just bought a house

and we have a five month old,

we decided that staying at home for dinner might be cheaper

and easier on our bedtime routine.

 

so finally, i busted out my pizza making skills after almost four years.

and i must say.

it tasted just like my parent's.

yee haw!

 

wanna make your own pizza?

instead of making margherita pizza like i did years ago,

i made supreme.

it was easiest for me to do things ahead of time,

so during morning nap i cut up all my veggies and cooked my hamburger.

i used a 1/2 lb hamburger (seasoned with oregano, basil and garlic),

 peperoni, onions, bell pepper and mushrooms.

i just left them all in the fridge so i was ready to go that night.

i bought canned pizza sauce (which is different than what you would use for spaghetti)

and made my crust about an hour before the turnbow's were scheduled to arrive.

the crust is what really makes a pizza

so here's what you'll need.

 

1 1/4 C flour

1/2 pkg dry yeast

1/2 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup lukewarm to warm water

(if your water is too hot it will kill the yeast)

 

mix water and yeast together and let stand 5 minutes.

add flour and salt together and stir into yeast.

mix until blended.

roll into a ball.

let it set in a bowl, covered with moist towel for 45 minutes.

preheat oven to 500.

spread dough with buttered hands on pizza pan.

add sauce and toppings.

bake for 10 minutes.

remove and add mozzarella.

bake until melted. (around 2 minutes)

 

 

so good.

i ended up doubling everything and making two

since we had four adults eating.

 

now i kind of want to make one every week.

 

 

 

(this crust recipe makes a thin, crunchy crust.

if you're more into deep dish, you might want to double the recipe

for just one pizza.)

brette: 5 months

growth:

we don't have a doctor's visit

until the middle of december,

so i'm not sure what her height and weight are.

she's been averaging an inch of growth per month

and a little over a pound,

so if i had to guess,

i'd say she's about 25 inches

and 14 lbs.

 

she's still wearing size one diapers,
but only during the day when i change her every 2-3 hours.
at night we make sure and put two's on her
for the extra coverage.
she fits in both fine,
we're just trying to finish up our bag of one's.
basically, its just ronnie and i being cheap.
 

a good way to describe brette right now
is "in between." 
she fits in 0-3 month leggings and coats the best.
all her jammies have to be 3-6 for the length
and the majority of her shirts are 3-6 months too.
none of our 6 months jeans fits yet,
so she's just in this weird in between sizes stage
where i have to juggle what fits.
oh, and then there is her head.
her freaking big ol' head.
you know that panda hat that is supposed to fit a 6 month old?
well, she's pretty much grown out of it.
i'm going to have to go buy some new winter hats in the next size up.
we loving refer to her as our big headed baby.

up top her big dome is still some hair.
she's still losing some of it, but it's started to grow in too.
it has also lightened up a ton.
she no longer has that real dark hair
she had when she was born.
i wonder if we'll end up with a blonde?
her eyes are gorge.
such a pretty blue.
i think they'll stay that way.

she's sitting up with support
all the time now,
so the bumbo is our best friend,
but she hates tummy time.
i still try and make her do it,
but she's definitely not getting in the 90 minutes a day
that's recommended.
in fact, she hates it so much she either
just lays her head down and cries
or
(insert trumpet playing)
rolls over!
yay!
she rolled over for the first time on november 5th.
i've seen her do it 4 times total,
but i have yet to catch it on camera.
i'll keep trying.
 

 

sleeps:

once again,
i would explain brette as in a "in between" transition phase.
she's sleeping through the night like always
but instead of putting her down around 9:00pm
and sleeping until 6:00 - 7:00am,
she goes down around 7:30 - 8:00pm
and sleeps until about 6:30 every morning.
 since she's sleeping that much longer,
she doesn't want to go right back down after nursing
and sleep until nine like she used to.
so we've been trying this new thing,
(i'm only 5 days into it)
where she gets up at 6:30am,
i nurse her and we play until about 8:30
and then i put her down for a morning nap.
she has been sleeping 2 to 3 hours!
then i nurse her again, we play, run errands, blah blah blah
and i put her back down around 1:00.
so basically she's transitioning into a more "normal"
sleep schedule.
a morning nap and an afternoon nap.
i never thought i'd see the day.

i also kind of made myself a prisoner to her.
(something i said i'd never do)
but she's a light sleeper and she naps in her swing.
her swing is our living room,
which is in the middle of our house.
so i secluded myself to our bedroom.
it didn't used to be a big deal because
she was only napping for like an hour, tops.
but now that she can snooze for 2-3 hours
i was trapped in my room.
let's just say i missed a couple of lunches
and decided it was time for a change.
i made ronnie move her swing.
it now resides in her bedroom,
where i can turn on her sound machine,
close the door and still live in the house.
it's been working great.

 

eats:

we've lengthened out our eating times again
and we're on a strict nursing schedule.
6:30
10:30
2:30
5:00
7:30
i think she could probably go longer
but i like how this fits in with our naps.
i'm also going to start her on some water.
my pediatrician suggested it
and i figured giving her a couple onces twice a day would be a good change.
i've decided to hold off on food though.
my ped said i could start is around five months,
but she said that most people do it because their kiddos don't sleep through
the night and they use it to help fill them up for bedtime.
since we're not having that problem,
i'm going to wait.
my plan is:
water at 5 months.
cereal & peanut butter at 6 months.
veggies at 7 months.
fruits at 8 months.
people food at 9 months.
of course, this might change,
depending on when she gets teeth,
but this is just my original thoughts on it.
 

 

plays:

"playing" has gotten more fun.
since she can sit up we use her bumbo
all the time and put toys out on the tray.
she can sit and occupy herself for quite sometime.
of course, the aim is to still put everything in her mouth,
but i like that she can sit and play for awhile.
i also try to keep her upright for the majority of her awake periods.
since she's logging so many nap hours now,
i want to keep her off the back of her head as much as
possible while she's awake.
lots of time in the bjorn, bumbo, mommy's arms and
our newest thing: the exersaucer!
my friend let me borrow her daughter's and
i love that it's something she can stand up in.
she's still a little short for it,
but i put a pillow under her to give her some extra support.
i also read it's not good to leave them in it for long periods of time
so i've limited myself to two 15 minute play times.
it sits in our kitchen so i normally use it while i eat or make dinner.
my s-i-l also gave us a bouncer,
but brette is still a little too tiny for it,
but i suspect that won't be the case for too long.
favorite new toy: the ring ball

 

firsts:

she rolled over!
she says some consonants now: mostly g's and r's.
she had her first halloween.
she tasted her first food.
(dad and grammy have started squeezing grapes into her mouth.
she loves the juice.)


i feel like my little baby is such a little lady now.
the next few months we should see some big changes.
stay tuned.

 

 

 

five month favorites

after five months i have some

f a v o r i t e

things that i think all mammas should have.

these are my top ten, plus one:

 

sleep

summer swaddle - it helps keep her hands out of her face and waking her up.

mybaby sound spa - i turn on the rain to help drown out any noises ronnie and i make so we don't have to tip toe around after she's gone to bed. plus, i think its soothing for her.

summer video monitor - i didn't realize how much peace this gives me.  margie insisted i needed it and i cannot thank her enough for splurging on me.

vicks warm humidifier - this is one of the first things we bought b that i never even thought of. it helps if she has a cold and i think it keeps her room a tad bit warmer.

 

 

 

 

 out and about

cloud b sleep sheep - we don't leave home without it.  its brette's sound machine for the carseat.  i also use it a lot when changing her diaper if she get cranky.  she loves the thing.

travel diaper changing kit - besides the sleep sheep and a pacifier, this is the one and only other thing i grab.  inside, i have wipes, diapers, hand sanitizer, an extra onesie and a bib. i just need it and i can provide the food, so we're good to go for several hours.

 

 

 

playtime

baby einstein take along tunes - this little toys does wonders when you want your kiddo to stop crying, to be entertained in a carseat or to get her to move her head side to side during tummy time. i keep it in my purse so i always have it. literally, my fave.

amazing baby feel and learn book - this is my other go-to item when i need to keep brette entertained. she can actually turn the pages herself, so i don't have to do much once i give it to her.  this comes in handy if you're trying to eat dinner.

 

baby holders

boppy - get both the nursing pillow and the lounger.  i use both everyday and for the first couple months, before brette was sitting, i used the lounger pretty much all day.  we have wood floors so i couldn't just lay her on the ground.  this thing is the perfect little lounger for her.  it went inside, outside, to the pool, on the deck. everywhere.

bjorn - i've just started using this within the last couple months, but it allows me to get some bonding time with brette without using my arms.  i can walk the dogs, vacuum the house, go shopping all with her on me. she loves it and so do i.  plus, it puts her to sleep if i leave her in it long enough. a win / win.

swing - at first we used it as something to put her in besides the lounger. but now she sleeps all her naps in it and i literally don't know what i would do without it. (thank you panek's for your donation!)

 

 

 

 

so there you go.

if you're having a baby,

already have a little one at home

or buying for a new mamma,

these are the items i suggest.

 

enjoy!

 

 

 

night night (an update)

i think it's obvious that one of the main

concerns and interests when you have a baby is sleep.

 

how much you're getting.

how much they're getting.

when they get up.

when they nap.

 

its the first thing people ask about.

even strangers.

and it was my main concern too

when i got pregnant.

just how tired was i going to be?

 

and, like you know, we got lucky.

a super sleeper.

she slept through the night under a month old.

yessssss.

but you also know that i have been

battling her with naps for months too.

its a give and take.

but i have two new updates on brette and her sleeping.

 

 

first, the naps.

early on i found that if i nursed her and held her,

she would sleep for hours.

but who has time for that everyday?

so i was trying e v e r y t h i n g under the sun

to get my baby girl to nap on her own.

 

i think we finally got it figured out.

brette was too tired by the time i was putting her down.

say what?!

i know.

i thought it was crazy too.

but when i visited marge she told me that her pediatrician

recommended babies sleep every 2 to 2.5 hours.

so that means, if b wakes up at 9:00am,

i should try putting her down between 11:00 and 11:30.

i mean, hello, i felt like she just got up from

12 to 13 hours of sleep.

there is no way she would be ready to go back down.

i was waiting until 1:00 to even begin to try to get her to sleep.

i just figured that since she was sleeping so late in the morning

we would skip a morning nap and head straight for the afternoon.

no bueno.

so i tried this new method.

and you know what?

it works.

around 11:15 i wrap her and put her in her swing

and she is sleeping peacefully within 10 minutes.

and she sleeps for an hour to an hour and a half.

holy cow.

then when she wakes up,

i wait another 2.5 hours and put her back down

and she sleeps for another 45 minutes to an hour.

no more battles.

no more holding her for hours.

i would have never guessed.

so its true: babies need lots of sleep.

but now, i feel like i am a little more confined to the house.

between feedings and naps,

there is no big span of time to get out and do things.

oh well.

like i said.

its a give and a take.

 

 

 

the second thing has to do with bedtime.

brette started to get fussy when trying to get her to sleep.

it was unusual.

normally, after i nurse her, i wrap her and hold her for a bit,

she drifts off to sleep and that's it.

but around 4 months old,

she started crying after we would get her wrapped.

at first i thought it was something ronnie was doing

when it was his turn to put her down,

but then she started doing it to me too.

it got so bad, that i finally just laid her in her crib

because she was so squirmy and crying in my arms.

when i laid her down she stopped crying

and drifted off to sleep.

whaaa?

i heard that around 5 months you are supposed to start

trying to put your baby down when they are kind of awake

to let them fall to sleep on their own anyway.

so that's what we decided to do.

nurse her, wrap her, and lay her down.

i guess she loves it.

no more crying.

and she's learning to sooth herself

and fall asleep on her own.

i feel like this is some sort of miracle.

i mean, what baby doesn't want to be rocked to sleep?

what a weirdo. (said in the best way possible)

its super simple and easy for us,

but i do miss rocking my baby to sleep.

four months definitely wasn't long enough.

 

bye bye baby.

hello, independent little girl.