12 Month Update

I realize I’m terribly behind on this. In fact, baby D is closer to 13 months than 12 now, but the last few weeks with party planning and wedding attending have been busier than usual. I know, I know, excuses are like a$$holes.

Weight/Length: I was WAY off last month when I thought he was around 24lbs. He’s actually only about 22lbs, which we found out because we had to take him in to see the doc for his very first ear infection. More on that below. No clue on length but he seems tall for his age. We’ll find out next week at his 1 yr appointment.

Sleep: Awful. Between the ear infection and the travel, we’ve been a co-sleeping family more often than not and though it’s getting better (meaning, we’re getting more used to having him in our bed), we still don’t want this to be a long term thing. But oh my goodness the screaming and wailing that happens when he’s not in our bed. It’s ear-piercing. I’ve thought about packing up the baby monitor because there’s absolutely no need for it anymore.

Feeding: We’ve been much more ambitious with REAL food this month. Letting him have bits of fish and squash off my plate, chopping up strawberries and bananas for his little fingers to grab. We even started buying some of those Gerber raviolis and cutting those in half and letting him go to town. And in addition to MumMums, we also buy yogurt melts, puffs, and little Gerber crunchies that my husband likes to call Cheetos. And the maple sugar ones are his “breakfast Cheetos.”

Developments: Still crawling and pulling up on everything, but no where near walking yet. His crawl isn’t your typical crawl either. He takes his left foot and puts it on the ground, using it to propel himself forward, and brings his right knee up for the other side. So he ends up with carpet burn on his right knee but his left knee never touches the ground. Like a combo crawl/crab walk. He also figured out how to shake his head from side to side, as if he’s saying no. Sometimes it’s appropriate – like when we’re trying to feed him something he doesn’t want – and sometimes he just does it when he’s looking at you to get you to do it back to him.

As for vocabulary, he’s saying “mama” all the time now, but not always in context. It still sounds like babbling and he’s not saying it to get my attention, usually. “Gog” aka Dog is still his favorite thing to say. And any animal he sees is a “Gog” or “Guk” which is duck. But he KNOWS so many more words now and he’s picking up on how different things work. Like he knows that the remote control changes the TV channel, so he’ll grab it, push buttons, and look at the TV to see if anything happened. And if I grab the DVD remote, even if he’s busy playing, he’ll stop and look at the TV because he knows I’m about to play his Baby Einstein DVD. Little sponge!

Even though he isn’t walking yet, his hand-eye coordination is awesome. He can throw balls directly to you, spin wheels with one finger, but for the life of him cannot figure out how to tip his sippy cup or hold his own bottle if he’s not laying back.

Firsts This Month: First Mother’s Day and first time celebrating mommy’s birthday (on the outside). First birthday party. First taste of cake. First time in a swing (loved it). First dip in the pool (also loved it). First time attending a friend’s first birthday party (baby playdate!).  First ear infection, which came with first fever and first time taking antibiotics.

Likes: Still loves dogs, still loves his mama, still entranced by Baby Einstein videos. He also loves to go outside and go exploring. This kid is happiest when he’s out and about, observing the world. Or playing ball or tickle games with his parents. Or eating. He loves to eat.

Favorite Songs: He’s finally grown to love his bath music and will light up when he hears Splish Splash, Rubber Ducky, or Under the Sea.

Favorite Toys: Balls, blocks, books – still the same. The jumparoo days have officially ended and the exersacuer days are numbered. Good thing we bought him a splash table for his birthday this month!

Dislikes:  Bedtime is a battle because he hates being left alone at night. Naps are a breeze most of the time, but for some reason, he fights us on bedtime. And even though he’s had 3 haircuts now, the third time he didn’t like it when the stylist sprayed his hair with water. Clippers didn’t bother him, but spray his hair with water and he will cut you (with his eyes). Diaper changes and changing clothes always seem to piss him off, but as soon as it’s over, he’s fine. Depending on how tired he is, sometimes he fusses when bathtime is over, but other times he’ll lift his arms up voluntarily to get out.

Oh and ear infections. It started the Wednesday or Thursday before his party. He had a fever and took a super long nap and was just all around irritable. On Friday morning, I took him to the pediatrician and they confirmed that he had an ear infection in his right ear. He battled a fever until later that night, despite the combo dosing of Ibuprofen and Tylenol. And I’m so glad it broke because we nearly cancelled his party for Sunday.

What I’m Thankful For: That we made it nearly an entire year without any sickness. And that we caught his ear infection before it got worse. Also thankful for two very successful first birthday parties and all the friends and family that came out to celebrate.

What I’m Looking Forward To:  Had I written this on time, I would’ve said our trip to Nashville, which has now already happened (post coming soon). So now I’ll just say that we’re looking forward to a relaxing, low-key summer that hopefully includes a few trips to the pool and evenings in our backyard.

How Mommy’s Doing: Same old, same old. Body is still a wreck and I can’t find the motivation to do anything about it. Where does one find motivation?? I know I need to try harder but I just…can’t. Or won’t, I should say. I frustrate myself. Also, for those wondering about the lasting effects of c-sections, my scar STILL itches! Not constantly or anything, but at least a couple of times a day I find myself scratching it. And (TMI warning) periods post-baby and post-nursing are THE WORST. They’re unpredictable (for me anyway) and they knock you on your butt for days. They’re almost bad enough to make me want to be pregnant again. ALMOST.

On the positive side, I received a promotion at work and then promptly treated myself to a cleaning service twice a month. I’m not one of those people that can “do it all” so as much as I hate to say it, Sorry D, part of your college fund is now going to someone else to clean our toilets and mop our floors. But considering how many things enter your mouth after being on the floor, let’s call it money well spent, shall we?

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On Becoming a Mom (Blogger)

I was never much of a baby person. I always knew I wanted kids, but babies terrified me. I never wanted to hold anyone else’s baby, and just pulling into the parking lot of a Babies R Us was enough to give me a panic attack. I feared walking in there one day, on the hunt for a specific diaper cream from a friend’s registry, only to be found by the staff days later under a pile of breast pumps and monitors. (I didn’t say it was a rational fear.) When I was pregnant, I even overheard my mom say to someone, “Ryan finally talked her into having a baby.”

But deep down, I knew things would be different with my own baby. I just didn’t know how. I couldn’t picture it. In the days before birth, I remember sitting on the couch with my husband, trying to imagine a tiny baby all swaddled in a blanket and sitting there with us. I couldn’t. But here we are more than two months later and it just feels so…natural. And considering how awkward I’ve always been around babies, I guess I’m just surprised. Pleasantly surprised. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s been easy by any means, but I guess I just didn’t expect to enjoy it this much. I mean, no one goes around saying how awesome it is to change diapers 15 times a day. Or wiping sour milk chunks off your shirt. Or spending those precious few minutes you get when the baby is sleeping washing bottles and pump parts. To an outsider who’s never gone though that, it sounds like the 9th circle of hell. But honestly? It’s not that bad. And I’m shocked, SHOCKED, that I’m the person saying that. Me, the assumed baby hater, apparently. (For the record, I’m not a baby hater. I’m not sure why my family thinks my husband had to “talk me into” having kids, because that’s totally not true AT ALL, but I guess it just illustrates how non-maternal I appear to be. To my own family. Awesome.)

Anyway, life is different now, yes. I mean, I’m sitting in bed on a Saturday night with my laptop writing a blog post. I know it all sounds very lame, but to be honest? I love it. And I’d probably be doing this with or without a new baby. You see, I’ve always been more of a homebody. I absolutely hated college in part because I felt so much pressure to attend frat parties and be social when I’d much rather stay in and hang out with a couple of friends in our PJs, watch movies, have a few drinks, and talk. Except back then, our conversations typically revolved around boys. And now, well, I guess they still revolve around boys, but the “boys” are my husband and son. So it’s easy to see why “mom blogging” became so popular several years ago. On social media, the only thing I ever seem to post about anymore is my baby. In fact, I was just about to send a tweet saying that my baby hasn’t pooped ALL DAY and so I think he’s cranky. But I stopped myself because who really cares? No one. Yet, I know one of the other sweet new moms would chime in to say something like “Really? My baby pooped 5 times today. Wanna trade?” Or “My baby didn’t poop for a day too, but then we had a poop-splotion the next day so BE PREPARED!” And that is why I love social media. Because there will always be someone willing to talk about poop with you.

And while we’re at it, I also considered tweeting about the fact that sometimes when I pump I only get 3 oz and sometimes 6 oz. What’s up with that, boobies?

When you don’t leave the house for days on end and your entire life suddenly revolves around this tiny, grunting thing, you find yourself craving social interaction yet you seem to have forgotten how to talk to people. (See aforementioned “poop” and “boobie” comments.) So you blog or you tweet and post pictures about what else? Your baby. And eventually, thanks to the magic of the internet, another new bleary-eyed mom comes along and comments. And then another. And another. And suddenly? Community. And with it, a little bit of sanity. It’s a beautiful thing really, if you think about it. I’ve watched it happen from afar. I read the “popular” mom bloggers, all with kids around 7 years old now. I thought that once I had a baby, I’d have this immediate connection with other moms. Finally, I’d be one of them! But while my blog posts, Facebook and Twitter have been completely overrun by all things baby, I still don’t really feel like a mom. Only when I talk to other new-ish moms do I feel some sort of connection on that level. I guess it will take awhile before all of those diaper commercials will feel like they’re targeting me. In the meantime, I’m going through a bit of identity confusion. I feel like the same person, even though all I talk about is baby stuff. And yet, I feel like I’m more interesting now, even though I know some people get annoyed by the non-stop baby updates.

So I guess what I’m saying is, that despite my previous declarations to not be one of those people who constantly blogs about their baby and therefore becomes a “mom blogger”, well….I also said I’d start eating better but this second glass of chocolate milk tastes SO GOOD! So I’m going to embrace it and this post is just me, putting it out there that yes, from now on, a good majority of my posts will probably involve my baby. If that’s not your bag, I get it. I really do. But I’ve always used this blog as a way to document what’s going on in my life and as of right now, he’s what’s going on. And I kind of like it.

Obligatory photo of baby that mom bloggers typically post:

Tummy Time!

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On Bloggy Things

I just spent the better part of my Friday night redesigning this blog. I spent about an hour tossing around new blog name ideas, of which I came up with none, and then another hour making a pretty new banner with actual pictures OF MY FACE so that there’s no mistake that yep, that’s my blog. I also bought one of those new fancy domain name thing-a-majigs so now you can just type in ButWillThereBeCake.com and get my purdy new blog. Annoyingly enough, I needed to add the “but” since someone else was using (or rather squatting) on the domain of my same blog name.

The hubs doesn’t approve of starting the blog domain with “but” but he’s also the one that suggested my blog name should be “Holy Shit I’m an Adult” and after realizing that it is a) available and b) kind of awesome, I decided I didn’t want profanity in my blog name regardless of how much of my vocabulary relies on profanity to express emotion. Which is to say, a lot.

Anyway, I still have some little things to take care of like changing the title fonts/colors to match and playing with widgets, but if you haven’t clicked over in awhile because you’re reading this in a reader, please do and let me know what you think so far.

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Sharing the Love

I feel like I’ve been quite the Debbie Downer lately. Always bitching and moaning about something. Well today, I’m changing my tune. It probably has less to do with me caring about how I sound on this blog and more to do with the wine, but let’s just go with it, shall we? Mkay.

So HGTV. (Hang on! Don’t leave!) Alright. So I love HGTV. I find it fascinating to watch someone with about 10 times more vision and creativity than me transform a house from a total shit-hole into a palace in just a few weeks. I love those types of shows. What I don’t love is the “My First Place” or whatever the first-time home buyers show is called. Why? Because every freakin’ time the young couple they feature end up house hunting with a budget of oh, a measly $400,000!!! Seriously, HGTV? How is anyone supposed to relate to that? I mean, I know the houses are prettier and more fun to show on TV, but here I am, expecting to watch some cute young couple fall in love with their first house and get ready to begin that lifetime of happily ever after everyone talks about in some quaint little cottage, big enough for two and maybe a baby down the road. But that’s not what I get. I get a couple of whiny ass rich kids that nit pick about the crown molding or the color of the cabinets in the ginormous kitchen with a built in island and marble counter tops. Boo-fucking-hoo. And then when the contract on their first house falls through, I’m supposed to feel all bad for them but instead I feel like using my TV screen as a dart board because no one should be dropping $400K on their very first house unless they’re a trust fund baby or buying a house in the heart of San Francisco. Which they are not.

Wait, did I say I wasn’t going to bitch and moan anymore? Damnit. Sorry.

So instead, I turn to the blogs for inspiration. (They make me feel less…stabby.) And that is the point of this post. To share some cool home improvement/DIY blogs that have inspired me over the last few months. In no particular order:

Brooklyn Limestone– Her latest post features a DIY pet bed which ALMOST makes me want a small animal so I can make this too. But not a cat, because (most) cats are ungrateful creatures that would not appreciate all my hard work. And I hear they will sit on your head if you’re not careful. Gross.

Centsational Girl – I just started reading her but her master shower makeover had me drooling all over my keyboard. And I may or may not have dreamt about taking a shower at her house, no matter how creepy that sounds.

Nesting Place– A lot of the projects she takes on are simple and easy to follow, but they make a HUGE difference to a room. Her latest DIY project involves wreaths which I’m keeping in mind for later this fall when it’s time to break out the fall/holiday decor.

One Project Closer– This is really more of a guy’s blog because it focuses more on home repair and maintenance than it does on home design, but I’ve found several posts to be really relevant and helpful so I’ve emailed one or two to my hubby for extra reading.

She Wasn’t Pretty– Now THIS is the kind of couple HGTV should be filming. They bought a house that wasn’t in the greatest condition but they’re doing some pretty major work to make it feel like “home.” I love their before/after pics and their taste in home decor is pretty similar to my own.

Young House Love– Similar to the blog above, this adorable young couple bought an old house and rehabbed the entire thing – both inside and out – taking on one room at a time. Their photos are amazing and their recent experience with painting their bedroom ceiling had me staring at my own bedroom ceiling last night wondering what color to paint it (answer: None. Because then I’d have to paint the walls and, you guys, I just hung curtains. After 3.5 years in the house. At this rate, I think painting could commence in another 12-18 months, but hopefully by then the market will bounce back and I can SELL! Until then, the walls will stay white. With awesome curtains.)

Enjoy! I hope you like these blogs as much as I do!

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Inspiration Award

The lovely Nora presented me with a cool new award today: The Inspiration Award

So here are the rules,  followed by the winners and why I deemed them worthy of such an award.

 1. Please put the logo of the award (above) on your blog if you can make it work with your format.
2. Link to the person from whom you received the award.
3. Nominate  7 or more blogs. (I just did six, because I’m tired. I also don’t like rules.)
4. Put the links of those blogs on your blog.
5. Leave a message on their blogs to tell them. (or don’t. It sometimes fun to see if they figure it out.)

I now award the following blogs:

La Dolce Vita: She’s fearless, a little crazy, and completely unapologetic. And I totally adore her. If there was ever a girl I was convinced had a set of balls, it would be this girl, and she wears them proudly on her chest. I mean all of this in a good way, of course. And wish my stories and weekends were even half as interesting as hers.

Operation Pink Herring is not afraid to embrace her inner dork and confess to completely irrational crushes on fictional teenage vampires. Well, just one fictional teenage vampire, I suppose. She’s the reason I wanted to read Twilight, she introduced me to lolcats, and her trips to Spain and Scotland have inspired my own. I learn a lot from this girl, and I always look forward to reading her blog posts.

Janet at Love is Blonde has it all. An intriguing job in politics (working for the good guys!), a fabulous wardrobe, gorgeous blonde hair, and a good head on her shoulders. She’s beauty AND brains and I only wish she updated more.

Pelletier the Chocolatier is a friend of mine in real life. Though he doesn’t get into his past life much on his blog, the man spent a lifetime working in the PR field before he decided to throw caution into the wind and take his career in a completely different direction: making chocolate. Now, he’s happier than he’s ever been and beating the odds – and the economy – by turning his little dream of making chocolate all day into a successful business venture. Now THAT’S inspirational!

Jen and I often find ourselves moving down the same life path. We’re both happily married, twenty-something, Christian women who enjoy beach vacations and home improvement projects. We find ourselves facing some of the same issues: balancing budgets, trying to be healthier, and planning for an eventual family. Recently, she’s done a few things that I’ve wanted to do. She’s taken steps toward learning how to sew, has spent time learning how to cook things that didn’t come in a pre-packaged box or frozen bag, and last year she ran a 5k (or was it a half-marathon)? I’m starting to feel like quite the slacker in the wife-skills department.

Nora (the rules didn’t say I couldn’t award the same person that awarded me) is a daily reminder of what “new love” feels like. Once you’ve been married for awhile and regular life starts to get in the way, you begin to forget about the time when all that mattered was that the two of you were together. You forget about the butterflies and all the sweet little firsts – like the first time he said “I love you” or the first time he told you that he thought you were “the one.” The first time you met his friends, the first time you met his family, your first Christmas together  and the first time you ever discussed living together. With each little first she writes about, I’m reading on the other end, remembering my own firsts and falling in love with my husband all over again. Though he doesn’t know it. :)

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And know that the pecan-crusted chicken salad has 750 calories

I can’t believe I haven’t blogged about meeting Stephanie yet!

Okay, so last week? I met Stephanie. She was in town for work and after much “Yay!-ing” about her impending arrival, we finally got down to logistics and decided to meet at TGIFriday’s, since it was super convenient for both of us. Having recently read a post about how she is always freakishly early for events and meetups, I decided to put extra effort into not being late. I am habitually late for everything. Except my period. That bitch is always on time, and sometimes early. I digress…

So I showed up about 20 minutes early, sat in my car applying lipgloss, flipping my hair, and listening to the new Darius Rucker song on the radio. (side note: is it strange to primp for meeting up with girlfriends? does everyone else do this too?)

I walked in, notified the hostess that I would be meeting a friend, and proceeded to use the facilities. I was still about 15 minutes early at this point. Once I came out, I waited for about five minutes before the hostess offered to seat me in a booth where I would be able to see Stephanie walk in. I ordered a water, perused the menu, and waited. Five minutes past our scheduled meet up time, and she wasn’t there. Maybe she had a meeting that ran late, I thought. Maybe she fell asleep in her hotel room. Maybe she got lost finding her way back to her hotel and never got my email with my phone number in it. Maybe she ran into someone that looked like me and they started talking and now she was stuck in some awkward conversation she didn’t know how to escape and I needed to save her but I DON’T KNOW WHERE SHE IS! Okay, so maybe I overreacted a little. I looked around for the waitress and told her I was going to go to the other side of the restaurant to see if she was waiting for me over there (there are two entrances to this particular Friday’s). Lo and behold, there she was, standing there all pretty and patient and I felt like a giant asshole for not thinking to check over there earlier when I KNEW there were two entrances, and she did not. And after she had just posted about being super early for everything. Sheesh.

I showed her back to our booth and our mouths watered simultaneously at all of the photos of deliciousness in our menu. Still, we are both former Weight Watchers members, and I would’ve felt guilty for ordering something I know would be bad for me when I assumed she would likely order something light, like a salad. So I ordered a salad too. Only to find out a week later that my innocent salad had at least 750 calories!! Now I know.

But the salad was by far the least interesting thing going on at the moment. We talked as if we were old friends that had somehow lost touch over the years and we were just now getting the chance to update each other on our lives. I was having such a good time that the very first time it occurred to me to even check my watch, it was already after 10pm. An hour later, we finally said our goodbyes. Poor Steph had been up for about 20 hours straight!

So my takeaway for you, bloggy friends: If you find someone that you can talk to for more than four hours straight and still not be tired of talking to them, then you should probably hold onto them. They’re good people. And maybe you should think about checking BOTH entrances so you don’t make these good people stand there, waiting on you for 15 minutes.

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