kapachino

Category: motherhood

  • a first birthday scrapbook

    Like I mentioned in Meredith’s first birthday post, the thing that was most important to me about the event was doing something to remember it by, including a sort of guest book. After all, she won’t remember the party, and I knew it would be a blur for me, too. (It was.)

    At first I tried to think of something unusual, but in the end what I kept coming back to was a simple scrapbook, because that’s what I love. My idea was that I’d buy an Instax Mini camera, have everyone take a picture with Meredith at the party, then decorate a page and write her a note. (This idea may or may not have been influenced by the fact that I’ve wanted an excuse to buy an Instax for awhile now.)

    So that’s what we did!

    I set up a station with instructions and supplies, thusly:

    There was also a box with color coordinating papers. Then I just went around telling people what to do. My husband was great and took the camera around and made people take pictures. He knew how important this scrapbook was to me and he made it happen! (That M was a chipboard letter that I covered with washi tape.)

    The result was amazing! Everyone made a page except for one family (my aunt, uncle, & cousin) who were late.

    The nice thing is that by the end of the party it was done! It gave people something fun to do while they were there and now Meredith will have a special book to look back on.

  • Meredith’s First Birthday Party

    I started planning Meredith’s first birthday party when she was about six months old. I stressed about it for a few weeks then, thought of a theme, made an invitation list, figured out the date and time, and then I didn’t do anything else on it for months.

    I wanted a mermaid theme because it’s her nickname. The first task I took care of was the invitations. I saw this on Pinterest and had my brother design something similar, then my mom and my friend Lauren helped me put them together.

    As the planning evolved, the mermaid theme kind of went away. It ended up being more of an aqua/coral pink color scheme, and that was fine. I just wanted it to be cute, fun, and laid-back.

    For decorations I hung crepe paper and made bunting out of scrapbook paper. I also displayed Meredith’s monthly photos by clipping them with binder clips onto a piece of string and hanging them up. I have them hung in her room now.

    I decided not to do favors because the kids were all four years old and younger, but they stayed busy with the bounce house in the backyard (that my brother-in-law & sister-in-law own), teeball, and I covered the coffee table with white craft paper and put out crayons and stickers.

    As for the adults? Well, there was food. Lots of it. We grilled hamburgers, hot dogs, and had lots of snacks and sides. I asked for help with the food and my family definitely came through. At the last minute I decided to make the cupcakes instead of buying them. They might not have been as pretty, but they were full of love and still delicious. The toppers are made out of scrapbook paper and toothpicks.

    The thing that was most important to me was some kind of guest book. I entertained lots of different ideas, but what I finally decided on was to have everyone help make her a scrapbook. It turned out amazing, and I will do another post about it tomorrow.

    As for the party itself – it was perfect. All of our family was there, and the only thing that could have made it better was if a few of our best friends could have been there (they either live far away or were out of town). The weather was clear, Meredith was in a good mood the whole day, and everything came together without much stress.

    I love my little one-year-old. :)

  • meredith at one year

    She:

    >Still only has one tooth, on the bottom left, and thankfully the sleeping has gone back to normal for now.

    >For awhile when she was actively teething she whined a lot and it sounded like a howl – aaaeeeeee, aaaoooooo.

    >Got her hair cut, as previously documented.

    >Points like crazy. It’s the first thing she does when she wakes up, and it’s her primary way of communicating. To her it means everything – Look at that! I want that! Hi! I like you! I’m awake! I’m here! I know how to do this, so I’m just going to do it!

    >Has fallen off the bed a couple more times. And she’s fine. Not that I wasn’t upset when it happened, because I WAS. But babies are resilient, man.

    >Is throwing mini tantrums now when she’s tired or doesn’t get what she wants. She cries and has started banging her head on the floor, which obviously only makes matters worse. Do not like this.

    >Pulls hair and grabs faces. Ouch.

    >Gravitates toward other little kids when they’re around, even though she doesn’t exactly play with them. Still, it’s super cute how she wants to be around her cousins.

    >Sort of dances to music sometimes! It’s more like bouncing but I love it all the same.

    >Plays more games with us now, like chase – she laughs and crawls really fast when we go after her – and boo – she pushes my face away and I whip it back to her quickly and say boo – she smiles every time.

    >Has more sounds now, most notably “mamamama” which I’m hoping will turn meaningfully into “mama” soon. :)

    I:

    >Recently read the book Bringing Up Bebé out of interest, and although I don’t agree with everything in it I did learn a lot about myself as a parent and will probably pick up more parenting books in the future.

    >Am proud to have survived the past month, which has been one of the most stressful in recent memory.

    >Have returned to the land of the living again with cable and Internet back in our house.

    >Really enjoyed planning Meredith’s first birthday party and am so happy it all went well. Can’t wait to share more about it.

    >Have been in somewhat of a creative slump due to lack of time.

    >Did a lot of research on kids’ toys when I was looking for gift ideas for Meredith, and it made me excited to watch her develop and be able to play with them.

    >Spent an evening watching old videos of M. as a baby, and although I really miss that stage, I wouldn’t put her back there. I love her personality and the interaction we can have now, and I know it will only get better. She’ll be walking any day, and I’m ready to embrace toddlerhood. :)

    For reference:

    No months
    One month
    Two months
    Three months
    Four months
    Five months
    Six months
    Seven months
    Eight months
    Nine months
    Ten months
    Eleven months

  • Cloth Diaper Obsession, First Haircut, First Tooth, and Two Comically/Tragically Bad Nights

    On Saturday I did a bunch of errands and one of the places I stopped was my local cloth diapering store, Nurtured Family. It’s been a long time since I set foot there, because I’ve been mostly set with diapers and supplies, but I needed some things and didn’t feel like ordering them. I was obsessed with cloth diapers for awhile (and I still love them) but my obsession has waned as life has gotten busier. HOWEVER, going back to that store made me realize why I was obsessed in the first place, and nearly brought it back in full force. The diapers are so cute! And there are so many different kinds to try! But as much as I wanted to add to my stash, I only bought one additional Flip diaper (which we use for nighttime) and that was exercising some serious restraint.

    ***

    David insisted that Meredith get her hair cut over the weekend, so we did so. Behold, the before:

    The first snip (the mullet comes off):

     

    In process:

    The back, after:

    And the front:

    I didn’t cry, and neither did she, so all in all it was a success.

    ***

    Another milestone we’ve reached is that she finally got her first tooth. Saturday morning I couldn’t feel anything, but by the afternoon a sharp little piece was sticking through. This development has led to two equally tragic nights. The first was so bad it is almost comical. My stomach began hurting me on Saturday afternoon, and by the evening it had gotten worse. David was out running errands before bed, so I let him know I needed him home because Meredith was stubbornly refusing sleep. I went to sit on the toilet, as we do when digestive difficulties present themselves, and since I was in pain and half asleep I just let Meredith play in the bathroom. Before I knew it she had flushed the toilet twice in a row, and apparently it was broken – I was unaware of this when I sat down but quickly became aware as the pee water overflowed and covered the ground. Meredith was delighted and immediately commenced splashing and playing. I immediately commenced crying. I turned the water off, stripped both of us down, threw some towels down, and got us into the bath. At this point David finally came home. I’m sure he was delighted to walk into that mess. He began cleaning and the smell of the cleaner was overpowering to me so I wondered aloud if I was pregnant, because at least that would explain some things. David immediately pulled out a test, but it was the cheap kind that you have to dip in a cup of pee. So I grabbed a little cup and filled it up, but when I held it up it dripped all over me. On closer inspection I noticed that it was in fact a lid to something that had an air hole in it. So that was great.

    The test, by the way, was negative.

    Last night was just ridiculous – she woke up a little after midnight and was awake until nearly 4 a.m. I tried everything I could think of, and even took her for a drive at 1:30 a.m. but she woke up when we got home. Since David is sick, with a fever and everything, it was just me to deal with this. I must have completely slept through my alarm because I woke up at 6:45 a.m. and I realized I wouldn’t be able to function at work anyway, so I called in sick. I dropped Meredith off at daycare, slept a few hours, then woke up feeling weak, shaky, and nauseated. My mom came over to take care of me and I am finally feeling almost normal again. I am left with a healthy fear of nighttime, however.

  • meredith at 11 months

    Keeping it real with the photos this month – these were taken after daycare, so her shirt is dirty, hair is crazy, and her mood was happy one second, crying the next. 

    She:

    >Kind of says “hi” now. Sometimes I’m convinced she knows what she’s saying, other times I’m not so sure.

    >Had some erratic sleep patterns this month for the first time. There were three nights in a row of no sleep, and some extremely early mornings. In addition, she regularly resists going to sleep and we’ve had to rely on the “night-night drive.” The past week, however, has been great – so who knows what it is.

    >Is very into cabinets right now. Her favorites are in my bathroom where all my travel-sized toiletries are, and in the living room where we have a basket of knick-knacks.

    >Learned how to climb on top of things. I love to just lie on the floor and let her use me as a jungle gym. She’s also figured out how to lower herself down to the floor off a chair or couch.

    >Points at everything, and if she has anything in her hand she’ll hold it out to show us. She also loves to bang on any nearby surface with her open hand.

    >Drinks water from a sippy cup, although sometimes it’s still just a chew toy to her. Her appetite has been low, but I’m not worried about it. Maybe it’s another teething thing.

    >Still doesn’t have any kind of schedule with anything – eating, sleeping, napping, nursing, etc. We just respond to how she acts and go from there.

    >No bedtime routine either. Every few nights we’ll have a bath, some nights we nurse in the rocking chair and she goes down in the crib, other nights we go to sleep together in my bed. Sometimes I try to read to her, but only ONCE has she actually sat and let me do that.

    >Has been such a delight lately. Not that she wasn’t before, but these days her personality is really coming out. She interacts so much more, and we can start to see what it’ll be like to have a little girl around. And it’s kind of fantastic.

    Happy! (I could not get her to let go of my keys.)

    Crying. Boo.

    I:

    >Am at the point in breastfeeding where I can pretty much eat whatever I want and not gain weight, and OH I am abusing this privilege. I am going to have a seriously rude awakening when Meredith weans. So…yay for extended breastfeeding!

    >Still haven’t babyproofed, so lots of times I’ll just follow M. around the house while I read a book or magazine, let her get into whatever she wants (unless it’s dangerous or breakable), and then I’ll just follow behind picking things up.

    >Have an incredibly hard time dropping Meredith off at daycare now because the lady who was with her since she started retired last week. New lady is nice and all, but she and Meredith don’t know and love each other yet so M. cries every day now, and so far it’s only gotten worse. I know she’s fine once I leave, but the process of leaving is terrible.

    >Swear I saw a tooth poking through Meredith’s gums the other day. It was a little white nub, and my mom saw it too. But the next day it had disappeared. So still no teeth.

    >Really want to make over our bedroom…and the craft room, and the library, and the dining room, and the backyard. It’s not the lack of time or money that inhibits me, it’s the lack of time AND money.

    >Go running maybe once a week right now, if I’m motivated on the weekends. I was doing great until it became oppressively hot here. I need to figure out a way to incorporate yoga back into my routine.

    >Have been having a lot of fun buying craft supplies. I really wish I had time to expand my ventures, but for now I’m just barely keeping up with Project Life and cross stitching when I can.

    >Love love love seeing Meredith interact with her cousins. I’m so glad our family lives nearby. I’m looking forward to giving her a sibling one day, but no idea when that day will be.

    >Have to stop myself every night when I’m writing down my good thing of the day from writing “playing with Meredith” or “making Meredith laugh” or “time with Meredith” because that’s boring, but honestly – it’s the best part of my day, almost every day. And that is a wonderful thing.

    For reference:

    No months
    One month
    Two months
    Three months
    Four months
    Five months
    Six months
    Seven months
    Eight months
    Nine months
    Ten months