Snow Day!

Snow clothes for a snow day!

Goodnight Mom

As everyone is wrapping up presents and Christmas stuff and everything is harried and hectic - thought you all might enjoy this and could relate...

Goodnight Mom

In the messy green
family room
There was a telemarketer
ringing the telephone
And a crying toddler
because his brother
just popped his
red balloon
And a picture of -

The cow jumping over the moon
(which someone colored on
with permanent marker)
And there was a missing
teddy bear, and a girl with
gum in her hair

And one to be scolded
And laundry to be folded
And a very hungry spouse
And something stinky in the house
(that no one else seemed to smell)

And a comb and a brush and a colicky
baby who just won't shush
and a frazzled mommy screaming #*%#@

Goodnight messy room
Goodnight scribbled-on moon
Goodnight cow getting out while she can
Goodnight telemarketers and the
popped balloon

Goodnight long-gone teddy bear
Goodnight cereal bar smeared all
over the dining room chair

Goodnight spitup
And goodnight leaky sippy cup
Goodnight much-too-little house and
goodnight grumpy spouse
Goodnight comb and goodnight brush
And goodnight to a certain 4 year old
who just needs to hush right now I mean it

Goodnight Elmo
Goodnight toys we'll pich up tomorrow,
or the next day
Hello chardonnay and Tivo -
"me" time finally!!

Christmas Pics

Christmas Tree Time!!

Because it's closing in on 1am and Roo still isn't asleep and frankly, I'm too lazy to type a post right now - here are our Christmas tree pics. Roo LOVES the tree! The first are from when she was sick on Thursday with a 102 deg. temp most of the day. Turns out she is now getting her 5th tooth in! The fever was from a cold I had Tues-Thurs. though. Thanks a lot, Mama, right? She also had some milestones last week - she now transfers toys from on hand to another - though she may have done that before and I didn't notice. She also found her feet and now happily spends time nakie spread eagle, looking akin to what I looked like when I delivered her. It's quite amusing, especially since she is much more flexible than I am. My daughter, such a puritan. Anyhoo, on with the pics!

Mom I Am!

Thought this was cute!

Would you nurse her in the park?
Would you nurse him in the dark?
Would you nurse him with a Boppy?
And when your boobs are feeling floppy?

I would nurse him in the park,
I would nurse her in the dark.
I’d nurse with or without a Boppy.
Floppy boobs will never stop me.

Can you nurse with your seat belt on?
Can you nurse from dusk till dawn?
Though she may pinch me, bite me, pull,
I will nurse her ..till she’s full!

Can you nurse and make some soup?
Can you nurse and feed the group?
It makes her healthy strong and smart,
Mommy’s milk is the best start!

Would you nurse him at the game?
Would you nurse her in the rain?
In front of those who dare complain?
I would nurse him at the game.
I would nurse her in the rain.

As for those who protest lactation,
I have the perfect explanation.
Mommy’s milk is tailor made
It’s the perfect food, you need no aid.

Some may scoff and some may wriggle,
Avert their eyes or even giggle.
To those who can be cruel and rude,
Remind them breast’s the perfect food!

I would never scoff or giggle,
Roll my eyes or even wiggle!
I would not be so crass or crude,
I KNOW that this milk’s the perfect food!

We make the amount we need
The perfect temp for every feed.
There’s no compare to milk from breast-
The perfect food, above the rest.

Those sweet nursing smiles are oh so sweet,
Mommy’s milk is such a treat.
Human milk just can’t be beat.

I will nurse, in any case,
On the street or in your face.

I will not let my baby cry,
I’ll meet her needs, I’ll always try.

It’s not about what’s good for you,
It’s best for babies, through and through.

I will nurse her in my home,
I will nurse her when I roam.

Leave me be lads and ma’am.
I will nurse her, Mom I am!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Riley being Josephine

Happy Thanksgiving!

I've started calling Roo Josephine when she is acting especially like Joe - you can see one of her Josephine faces at the top. I can't believe it is already Thanksgiving! Roo decided to get up at 4 in the morning (I don't recommend trying it...) and then fell asleep at 5. Mama, on the other hand, was up until 7. It was fun times.

I trialed dairy and tomatoes this week - all seemed to be going fine and I was harboring a hope that I may end up with a piece of pumpkin pie after all, but this morning she had the worst poop in the world and dairy/tomatoes are out again. Oh well.

I've been so into sewing lately - Joe told me I could get a serger, so I found a Janome 9102D off of one of my crafty sites and that is my Christmas present! I so can't wait to try it out - it will make finishing seams for clothes so much easier/better looking. I've decided that I will be making some of Roo's clothes from now on. The poor kid has the longest torso and the shortest arms, so she is usually squished into a romper with the sleeves rolled back. I figured I can at least make her some clothes that fit better. Beyond that, she would be in 18m clothes torso-wise and she definitely does not have 18m length legs either. I made these diaper sets for Joe's cousin for her newbie due inn January and it would have been much much simpler with a serger. I still think they turned out well though, and the embroidery was fun to do. Actually it all was fun to do!

Riley has been sitting like a champ lately, and is really enjoying her teeth... unfortunately. She helped me make cornmeal rolls for dinner tonight - they are rising right now. We used Sadie's mixer with the dough hook and SO much easier than doing it by hand! Anyhoo, she is getting tired so I'm signing off :-)

Ho hum.

I can't believe it's almost Thanksgiving - the weather here certainly can't decide either! Yesterday it was warm (for Oregon) and sunny; today it is cloudy and cool. It makes it hard to get into the holiday spirit when fall hasn't truly hit yet, although the leaves fell a few weeks ago, so maybe it is just me.

Roo slept until 11 (11!) today but she also went to bed at midnight, so eh. I reeeeeally don't want her to get into the habit of going to bed late - I am a night owl, so I don't mind staying up with her, but Joe and I don't get any quality time (heh, heh) this way because he has to go to bed earlier because he gets up so dang early. It probably doesn't help that it is pitch black dark by 6 pm now.

I've been getting back into sewing and really enjoying it - I made Riley a sleeper but had to change the pattern because the only one I could find was for a romper. Then apparently the pattern was made for babies with necks the size of Goliath's, so I had to rip out the neck and resize it.

I've also started gathering materials up to work on cloth diapers for Roo - we have been cloth diapering since 2 weeks after she was born, but she is now growing out of everything, so I figured I'll just make some more myself.

Sitting Ducks...

Not quite sure what I'm doing here that has gotten you so excited, but ok...

Looking cute!

I figured I'd better update since it's been a while. Also, we hit another milestone this week - Roo started sitting! I wasn't sure if it really "qualified" as sitting at first, but she doesn't fall to the side even if she ends up doing the lean towards her toes the longer she sits. So she sits!

She also has been working on getting her front top teeth in; and today she cut the left side! Tooth number 3 - check! Tooth number 4 - in progress! She was thrashing around this morning, alternating in between nursing and gnawing furiously on the blanket she had clutched in her fist - nurse nurse nurse, gnaw gnaw gnaw and so forth. I finally got up to get the Orajel because I figured that that would help. I came back with a little on my finger and she was dead asleep. Well, there I sit with the Orajel still on my finger, and I wasn't about to eat it myself, so silly me decides to put it on her gums anyway, figuring that she would be doing the thrashing thing again in a second... dumb move. She wakes up and I find out that she has actually cut the tooth!

Her new thing is now grinding her teeth together making this awful sound that just is like nails on a chalkboard to me. Fun times! Her other top tooth is really close to being cut and she will probably cut it tonight or tomorrow.

Roo also does this raptor/pterodactyl sound that is just unearthly - it's pretty funny though!


Uh, Gaston? Can I get an order of your finest booboo milk?

Whachoo lookin' at, foo?

BalleRoona Girl!

Bathtime!

I got a mohawk!

Say what?

Helping out Mama

Roo was helping me out this morning while I did the dishes and these pics are the result! Nursing at the keyboard - will post more tomorrow!

Riley's Interim Car Seat

This picture was too cute not to share! Roo has been hating being in her bucket seat because she can't see. She is also 19 lbs. and her seat only goes up to 22 lbs.. Anyhoo, I had the True Fit car seat, but I found out that they will be updating it in January/February and coming out with more colors, so I decided to take back the one I have and wait for the newer model to come out.

This means that Roo had to stay under 22 lbs. until February at the latest. As it's only the middle of October now, I just couldn't see that happening seeing as she is gaining at least a half pound a week.

I found a Britax Marathon in Ashley Floral print that is really cute, and so we got that to tide her over until the TF comes out - and she loves it!

We have a milestone!

Riley laughed for the first time today! Well, she had laughed in her sleep at 11.5 weeks but today she was wide awake and laughed for me!

Baby Booty

Roo learned to roll over last week, right? Well, I guess last night she figured out how much fun rolling is...

...and proceeded to practice ALL NIGHT LONG.

Needless to say, Mama is very tired this morning.

Out and About

I dist a wittle wambie - don't mind me!

We had quite the eventful day today - first day with a new mom's group, and shopping afterwards. Roo was great though! There were 2, 3, 4, and 5 month babies there, one in each group (obviously Roo was the 3 month baby!). I found out one of the moms (with the 2 month old) lives just down the road from us! Next week will be busy, as the LLL meeting is Monday, Tuesday is another mom's group meeting and then this mom's group meeting is Wednesdays. We may just go to the LLL and Tuesday meeting next week for the sake of gas.

It has turned quite chilly here, especially at night. Last night was the first night I had to get up and put another blanket on the bed because I was too cold to sleep. It was 40 deg. this morning so I'm guessing it was close to freezing last night. I guess winter has finally hit! It is very sunny still, which is nice, although we did have a bout of rainy gray weather last week. Par for the course I suppose, but at least in the Willamette Valley we get some sun in the winter. When I lived in Portland, I went around 28-29 days in January without sun and was so busy I didn't realize it until the sun came out. I had literally forgotten it could get sunny! (This was just after we got engaged, so I was planning a wedding, was working 40-45 hours a week and taking 12 credits at school - I was a little absentminded by the end of the month!)


I got Riley's Halloween costume in the mail the other day - I'll post a pic of her dressed up in it on November 1st or 2nd, as we will be taking her out to the grandparents Nov. 1st because Joe has a business trip that week and won't be getting back until way late on the 31st.

My mom is flying in on the 25th to stay the week with us and I can't wait! It will be nice to have her here while Riley and I are more mobile. Last time she was here I was either very pregnant or newly postpartum, so we didn't get to do as much as I would have liked. Hopefully, it won't be too cold to go to Tuesday Market (farmer's market) while she is here.

Happy 3 Monthiversary!

Here's her 3 month shot! Excuse the fan in the background - the house is still a mess from me unpacking and whatnot. It's been a crazy week.

Roo started rolling over from back to front yesterday consecutively - she has rolled in the past, but I don't think she was really meaning to do it - now she knows how to do it and thinks she is pretty hot stuff! She is also solidly in 9 month clothes - I can't believe she is as big as she is!

Dates so I don't forget - first tooth came in on September 23, second on September 30, rolled back to front on October 3.

Some more pics:

We're home!

After quite a few hours traveling due to delays and such, we have finally made it home.

The house is a mess, Roo finally cut her second tooth, it's dark and rainy out, and any initiative that I might have had to get things done is totally gone now.

The pic is from the Portland airport on our way to FL - Roo was watching some kids play with their toys.

I'll update later with more pics and more text, but for now - we're alive.

Happy Birthday, Mama!

Pick me, pick me, I'm the one!

Yes - it IS 3:20 am here. However, Roo DID decide to sleep from 9:30 pm til now, so I have to give her credit for that. I went to feed her in her sleep about 10 minutes ago, she ate the entire side, which after almost 6 hours had a LOT of milk. It just kept coming, so in her half-awake state, she just kept eating. You can imagine the size of her stomach relative to the amount of milk she was trying to fit in there. All of a sudden, I had a coughing, puking ball of joy, complete with milk coming out the nose. Ooops. Of course, after that, she was wide awake, so here we sit.

In other news, I have been hardcore carseat shopping. Why? Well, I had the startling realization the other day that Roo has already outgrown her infant bucket seat! It only goes up to 26" and/or 20 pounds. Weightwise, she is fine, but heightwise she is too tall. Fortunately, I also have a Graco SnugRide that will go up to 29" and/or 22 pounds, so we have a little bit of time, around 2 months, I figure.

The specs I had to deal with were these:

- Gender Neutral - I needed a carseat that was gender neutral, or at least could work for a boy since we are definitely having at least one more. Fortunately, that is not hard to find with car seats, but I didn't want brown, particularly.

- Tall Shoulder Strap Heights - I needed one that could grown with tall kids. The weight it went up to didn't really matter to me because I'm pretty sure our kids will outgrow a seat by height LONG before they ever outgrow it by weight. Also, Oregon has tough car seat laws and requires kids to be in a seat/booster until age 8 or 4'9" tall.

- Small While Rearfacing - Have you seen our car? I will be getting a bigger car down the line, but at this point the infant seat she has now only fits with the passenger seat pushed forward quite a bit, so anything that has a really tall back was kind of out for us.

- High Rearfacing Weight - Most nice seats nowadays go up to 35 lbs. rearfacing, so this was a fairly easy option to find. Babies are safest rearfacing as long as possible.

- Comfortable - We drive a lot and I wanted a seat that I would want to sit for long periods of time. Have you felt some of the car seats out there? They make airline seats look cushy.

- Safe - I wanted a car seat from a company with high safety ratings. Cosco/Dorel and Evenflo do not do voluntary recalls and so both those companies were out.

I narrowed it down to the Britax Boulevard - on sale at Amazon for 229.99 (normally 309), but in a color I'm not especially fond of. It is cushy though! Other choices included the Radian65 and the First Years TrueFit. Since I wasn't going to pay 309 bucks just to have a seat in a color I liked, the Boulevard was out. The Radian65 is very long rearfacing, and most likely would not even come close to fitting in my car. That left the TrueFit.



I like the True Fit because the headrest comes off while rearfacing so it isn't so long - that is important in our car where space is at a premium! It also has the most cushions out of all the car seats. The shoulder strap heights go up to 18" which is higher than the Boulevard and as high or a little higher than the Radian.

BabiesRUs had it for 190 with a 20 dollar off coupon making it 170 but did not have free shipping so it was 190 shipped. I had a gift card there but I also had gift cards at Target. Target DID carry the TrueFit and had free shipping on it - so I found a 10% off code online and ended up getting it for 170 shipped in Sporty Blue. I had 135 bucks in gift cards there so it only ended up being 35 bucks out of pocket!

I've researched the heck out of carseats now, so if anyone needs info - I'm here!

How much laundry?

SOOO much!















This looked so pretty I had to share with all of you - plus it's going to be one of the last days we see sun for months, I'm sure...


I am so glad we don't do disposables solely for the cost - this is 2 days worth of diapers.

Soy - definitely out.

Roo and I went to Target the other day and found her new bathing suit for FL on sale for 1.48 for each piece! She is proudly wearing it in the pic, as you can see!

I trialed soy yesterday and unfortunately that was a no go. I had a bagel with the last ingredient being soy flour for lunch and by 6 pm she was acting colicky and like her poor tummy hurt. She also started rashing out again. Poor thing. I thought because I can eat soybean oil and she doesn't seem to react that soy flour might be okay, but apparently not. I'll be taking soybean oil out as well for now just because I don't want to risk it becoming allergenic.

Roo had been sleeping through the night (well, 5-6 hours in one stretch) but last night she was up almost every hour, if not more, wanting the boobies. I can't say that I blame her, I think she was wanting to settle her stomach. She is back to normal this morning though, thank goodness!

This morning, Joe was poking around looking for clothes and I had been behind on the laundry, I guess, because he had no more clean boxers. So laundry is the task for today. I needed to do diaper laundry as well anyway.

Our task for today, besides laundry, is to start packing for FL! We went to the Carter's outlet on Sunday when we went up to Woodburn and traded in all the clothes that no longer fit for ones that will - and they are oh so cute! I think we might have more outfits than days in FL though... oh well! She will just be the best dressed baby around!

Soooo sleeepy...

Well, we have gotten half the night down pat as to sleeping well... At least she is back on her old schedule (if you can call it that) of sleeping well the first part of the night. Though I really have no idea why she is so insanely squirmy the second half of the night! She just kicks and kicks and talks and eats and squirms from 2-3am on - the thing is, she isn't really awake, but it sure keeps me awake! I'm honestly so glad we aren't feeding her formula, because I really wouldn't get any sleep with having to go make bottles and warm them up all night.

We have discovered Roo loves the book Olivia by Ian Falconer. I suspect she really likes the colors of the book - it's in blacks, white and red, but it's the only book she will sit still for right now. I picked up a board book copy at Ross' the other day for $2, and so we have been reading it a lot. I'm going to have to pick up a few more of them.

Roo has taken to imitating our sounds lately - it's pretty funny. We'll say "hi" to her and she says it back and then grins away. She just thinks she is the bee's knees for figuring it out. Frankly, I think she is, too! She also had this funny cry now - when she is tired, she says "Nee"! Every time she does it, I automatically think of the Monty Python skit, The Knights Who Say Nee! It cracks me up :-) She has figured out that if she kicks her toy (in second picture) it will make noise and lights come on - so she sits there and kicks and kicks at it, all the while staring at the lights intensely. If she can't get the lights to come on, (sometimes she kicks it too far away) she gets very frustrated and tells me about it loudly!


Monday I'm hoping to get Roo ready and down to Eugene to go to a La Leche League meeting and then to Trader Joe's and Market of Choice to get some good food. I'm trying to rework our diet so that poor Joe isn't stuck with college food and I'm not making 2 meals a night. 3, if you count Riley's meal!

There is a VW show this weekend up in Woodburn, Joe wants to go, although he was wishy-washy about going when I asked him last night. I want to go so I can take all of Roo's outgrown-before-she-ever-worn-them clothes back to the Carter's outlet up there to size up. She is at the upper end of the 6 month size clothes right now - I'm sure she will be in the 9 month clothes within the month. Who would have thought my 3 month old would be wearing 9 month clothes?!?! I do love Carter's clothes though, I think they are so cute and durable!