kapachino

Category: motherhood

  • Friday Things

    I’m home today because last night, after a lovely evening at my in-laws’ house for dinner where I got to read uninterrupted for something like thirty minutes and Meredith played outside, and after she fell asleep all cuddled up to me in bed, Meredith lost her dinner four times all over the sheets, herself, and me. Then this morning after a 3:30 a.m. nursing session she repeated the experience. Something new for the baby book! Meredith’s first vomit!

    ***

    In the blog revamp arena, I’ve been going back through my archives from the beginning to edit and update old posts. A few thoughts:

    >I like me from 5 years ago. And I miss my friends & roommates from that time a LOT.

    >It’s soooo weird to read about about David as my boyfriend. Feels like we’ve been married forEVER.

    >I would write posts with, like, one sentence in them. Obviously this was before Twitter.

    >The focus of my writing has changed a ton, just like I have changed. I like where it’s headed now, but back then I used to put more effort into writing about everyday stuff. Sometimes it was boring, but sometimes it was really funny or insightful.

    Also, I’m super excited that I hooked my brother, the actual web designer, into coming over in a couple weeks to redo my design. Either he felt guilty when he read my last post, or he shuddered to think about the outcome of me designing my own blog. Anyway, it isn’t going to happen unless I’m there in person supervising and forcing him to work, so I got him on the calendar!

    ***

    Things I’m succeeding at lately: work (i.e. being a great nurse and not getting overwhelmed there), getting lots of sleep, brainstorming creative ideas, keeping in touch with friends, spending time with family, not spending extra money even though I really really want to, reading, keeping the house basically clean and decluttered.

    Things that aren’t going so well: cooking, carving out child-free time with David, finding time to work on anything creative, social media, taking pictures, eating healthy, any kind of exercising, my spiritual discipline.

    ***

    Meredith is taking an epic nap right now so maybe I can use what’s left of it to AT LEAST do a little something fun.

  • Messy House Tour

    This morning I let Meredith run wild in the house because I just could not deal. Usually I clean up as she goes but today I just left it all and decided to shoot a video of the mess she made. It actually wasn’t as bad as expected.

    http://youtu.be/pIgY7TITY2o

  • meredith at 13 Months

    I thought I was done with the monthly updates! I’m certainly done with the monthly photoshoots; those things were getting stressful. Meredith isn’t developing as fast physically anymore, but everything else is changing so rapidly that I can hardly keep up. I think she learned at least three new skills over the weekend alone. So here’s the highlights of what’s up with her now.

    Not only is she walking, but she practically runs. And most of the time it’s with her hands straight up in the air like a victory V. Perhaps she was inspired by the Olympic gymnasts.

    She can finally stack the blocks on her own instead of just throwing them. Of course her favorite thing is still to knock them over, but I have seen her get up to four high. (Proud mom here, clearly.) She also initiates peekaboo now which is pretty much the cutest thing.

    One thing she loves to do is hand people things. She’s a great little helper with the laundry, especially with her diapers. She hands me each piece out of the dryer one by one while I fold and stuff. (This is also a fantastic quality because if she gets ahold of something she shouldn’t have, most of the time I can just hold out my hand for it and she’s happy to hand it over.)

    She can clap now! And say “uh oh”! And she’s laughing waaaay more than she used to, especially if you act like you’re chasing her.

    The best thing, though, is that she gives kisses. Slimy, wet, open-mouthed, beautiful kisses.

    She also doesn’t nap on the weekends. And the other day she took her diaper off and ate her own poop, so I guess nobody’s perfect. :)

  • fun.

    I had such a fun weekend. Meredith walked. On Saturday it was just three steps and I didn’t know when she’d repeat it, but on Sunday she took off and I knew it was the real deal. Seeing the exhilarated smile on her face makes me so happy; I know it’s the natural course of development but I have never felt so proud.

    We played together a lot over the weekend, which I am enjoying more and more. She is doing purposeful things with her toys now instead of just throwing them or eating them. She is interacting with me better and showing such joy. And as a follow up to my last post, we started a bedtime routine with her and for three nights in a row now she’s fallen asleep without needing to be driven.

    Other weekend things: A few weeks ago I started a weekly ritual of making pancakes from scratch. It’s easy and yummy. I read a lot, and finished The Age of Innocence. I started cataloging and organizing my books, and even though it will probably take me weeks to finish, I am loving the process of laying hands on all my books again. David and I went on a date to see The Dark Knight Rises. I hung out with a coworker-turned-friend, and recorded a day in the life for VEDA.

    There are some things hanging over my head these days, but for the most part life is good and I am choosing to see that.

  • Sleeping Baby.

    Photographing a sleeping baby is a sickness. I just can’t help it.

    She’s a good sleeper, she is. Not so great at naps, but after the first couple weeks I have only felt sleep deprived a handful of times. I will never fail to appreciate this gift.

    She sleeps most of the night beside me and has since birth. We are happiest that way (even my husband!), and it’s easy, and it makes me feel more connected to her after being away so long during the day.

    But if there’s ooooone little thing I could request, it’s that she wouldn’t resist GOING to sleep so much. She has had a late bedtime for awhile now, and I didn’t fight it because it wasn’t worth it. But lately she gets super grumpy and tantrum-y when she’s tired and I don’t like it one bit. The only thing that puts her to sleep consistently is taking her for a drive, and we have to resort to that a lot. The other thing that works is nursing her, but not even that has been successful lately.

    I know there are so many things coming into play here – her development and growing teeth come to mind immediately – and usually we can deal. But if you have had a similar experience, I’d love to hear about it. I don’t even need advice, just let me know I’m not alone!