Planning a Monumental Birthday

A huge responsibility is at hand to make sure that my daughter’s first birthday is a memorable one. Of course I realize that she is still just a baby and will not exactly appreciate the hoop-lah, decorations, gifts, or the people in attendance. My solution to that is to take 100+ pictures and document the day for her to see when she is much older.J

The biggest problem to solve so far has been the guest list. Who to invite, who not to invite, who would be hurt if they missed it, who would feel obligated to come, etc. At this point the count is over 40 people and that does not include kids (she doesn’t have many “friends” yet). Obviously that is too many people for a 1^st birthday party, but where do I draw the line?

We just attended another little girl’s first birthday this weekend and it was wonderful! There were a lot of babies and they all played together and had a great time. Sadly, Miss Anya’s parents (that would be me and Kyle) do not have a lot of friends with kids…and the cousins are mostly older too. So that drastically cuts down on the number of kids at the party and I don’t want this to turn into an adult get-together and “oh by the way, there’s the birthday girl”.

What I do know is that the theme will be Fall and pumpkins galore. That was easy enough to decide and I’ve already convinced my husband that the decorations can be repurposed in our own house after the party is over, thereby allowing me to go as overboard as I’d like in my crafting! Yay for me!

So the saga will continue as I pare down the guest list to a realistic number and try to remember that the day is about celebrating Anya’s birth with the people who love her, and not so much about the surroundings and décor. Stay tuned!

Crawling & Selling a House

If you've never had to put your house on the market, you are LUCKY! We are in our 2nd month of having our town home FOR SALE and it hasn't been easy. To give your home the best chance of selling, it has to look like a model home. In case you didn't know...babies don't live in model homes. So the dilemma for us has been trying to live in our house, with our 10 month old little girl, and keep it "model home clean" all of the time. (You never know when a realtor will request to show your house and some of the less organized ones only give you 15 minutes of prep time before they expect to show their clients around.)
If you're in the market to buy a home, you may or may not know what goes into the preparation to make those perfect online pictures PERFECT! We now have tons of respect for people who obviously take a lot of time and care in staging and cleaning their homes (we too are looking for a new, larger house).
We've learned a few things and now believe to be fairly savvy sellers and buyers at the same time. Here are a few tips:

• Take down all personal photos of your family and especially your baby :( Sad, I know, and I don't like living in a house without pictures, but honestly most buyers cannot see themselves living in your house if they see pictures of you everywhere.
• Take away/hide as many toys and baby items as you can, and the ones that you leave in the house should be organized and in one room. We have a portion of our bonus room designated as a play room, and put the big toys in our cars during a home showing.
• De-baby proof your house for a showing/Open House. Again, people will be distracted by your lifestyle (parents!) and you would rather have buyers looking at your beautiful wood floors or upgraded fixtures....not outlet plugs and baby gates.
• De-clutter as much as possible, which will actually benefit you because you'll have less to dust and clean around. Since our baby is now crawling and pulling herself up on everything, it's helpful not to have so many decorations and trinkets on display. That's one less thing for her to break or end up on the floor.

So the selling continues, and so far the only upside is that our house is clean and organized 90% of the time. Not the way I want to live my whole life, but it works for now, and hopefully we'll get an offer SOON...

Baby's 1st Vacation...a packing challenge!

We decided that it was time for a little family getaway, since it had been 6 months since we had any sort of time off...and that was Christmas. The first challenge was in deciding where to go with a 9 month old baby. I thought flying somewhere tropical would be nice, but my husband vetoed that because he didn't want to deal with the airport lines, security, the plane ride, then taxis, etc. Understood... but a little disappointed L
My task was to find a place that was within driving distance and family/baby friendly. The winner? A little beachside town in Alabama. It would be a 12 or 13 hour drive, and we would have a small 2 bedroom condo that could be our little home for a week. It sounded like a plan, but we were a little apprehensive about the trip.
How do you pack for a baby for a week-long vacation? Because I knew the 10 day weather forecast, it was easy to pack clothes. Swimsuits, onesies, and a pair of shorts. (Okay and of course a couple adorable beach dresses for the sunset photog session.)
Baby essentials were the next thing to tackle....diapers (regular and swim), wipes, food, formula, snacks, SPF lotion, and a few others. I tried to determine how many diapers would be used in a day, but after a few minutes I decided to just throw in an entire package of 40 and hope that would be enough...it was!
I packed more baby food than I knew what to do with, because it was around this time that our little one started eating table food as well. I decided that I did not want to run out of anything for the baby, so in this case, it would be okay to over-pack.
The last thing you want is to be stranded in a small town and not know where to go to buy something that the baby needs this very minute. So, we packed it all...and we wouldn't have done it any differently looking back.
We had 2 pack-n-plays (one for playing, one for sleeping), all necessary beach gear (sand tarp, 2 umbrellas, insulated bag for drinks), pool floaties and toys, indoor toys, a stroller, and everything from the crib that could make baby feel like she was in her own bed at night.
It did take us 13 hours to get to our destination, and luckily, THANKFULLY, she slept most of the way since we left home at 10 pm...just in time for bed J. Although night driving is hard on the driver, it is peacefully quiet as baby snoozes away.
In the end, we found this vacation to be the most relaxing, memorable time spent with our little girl. It was great to have the condo and plenty of space for us and ALL of our STUFF! Time on the beach, playing in the pool, and snuggling together in the evenings were all great ways to spend our vacation!

Skipped Dinner? Never Again...

I was recently invited to a friend's house for a tupperware party (clothes actually, not tupperware, but you know the type of party) in the middle of the week. I hesitated to go because our weeknights are usually busy with taking care of the baby, getting dinner on the table (or couch), and preparing for the next day. Kyle encouraged me to go though because I haven't had a "girls night" in way over 6 months. So, although it was hard getting out the door, I went...
It ended up being a great night with good friends, good food, and some adorable clothes. I came home to Kyle almost asleep on the couch, basketball on the TV, and a quiet house. Everything appeared to have gone super smoothly while I was gone...
I asked Kyle how everything went with Anya. "Oh fine, she went to bed about 30 minutes after you left." (that would be 7:00 pm......she usually goes to bed around 10:00 pm with a short nap in the evening)
Then I ask him when she had her dinner......"She had part of a bottle, but I didn't have a chance to give her cereal since she fell asleep." Oh Kyle.....big mistake...HUGE!
We went to bed around 10:00 pm and Anya woke up at......11:30 pm, 1:00 am, was fully awake from 3:00 am - 5:00 am, and after a bottle, finally went to sleep at 5:30 am. Lucky for us, it was a Friday, so even though we were zombies all day, we could at least sleep in on Saturday to make up for it. (and we did....until 10:30 am!!!!)
Moral to the story....even if you have to WAKE THE BABY UP, feed them on schedule because otherwise you will surely regret it in the wee hours of the morning. It makes me tired just thinking about it!

I need a maid...

I have never professed to be the model housewife, and after having a baby, I'm even worse. I find myself a little envious of those women who appear to "do it all" and wonder how they find the time or motivation to take care of their children, their house, and their husband (which means, "cooking"). I love to cook but I only make a home-cooked meal once a week. I like a clean house, but I don't like to clean it. I have ambitious goals for how our house should look but I don't make the time (or set aside the money) to rearrange or redesign it. What I DO make time for is spending time with our baby. I work 40 - 45 hours a week outside of our home and I think about Anya at least once during all of those hours. I tell myself, "If I didn't work, I would have a clean house, food on the table, and blah, blah, blah perfect everything". WRONG! That's not me, and if I didn't work, I would spend most of the day playing with Anya, taking her around to family and friends' houses to visit, and probably spend way too much time shopping for more adorable clothes that she surely needs. J
I think it's wonderful that there are women out there who really have it together, but lucky for me, my husband did not marry one of those women. He married me, and he knew that although our house always needs dusted, there's always some sort of laundry piled up, and I tend to do my cleaning around 11pm...I can still be a loving wife and mother, and when I do cook, I knock his socks off!
So my strategy is...do the best I can, put Kyle and Anya first, and find a maid to keep the house clean. J

Mommy Must Haves

It occurred to me today that it would have been so helpful to know what I was getting myself into with pregnancy, birthing, and then of course the time post-pregnancy (BABY♥). Of course I had a pretty good idea of the generalities, but I will certainly be more prepared the next time around.

A few of my absolute necessities while being pregnant included -
Palmer's Cocoa Butter lotion and spray. It's so soothing for stretching, itchy skin and also smells quite lovely.
Tums for the ever frequent heartburn which I had never in my life experienced before being pregnant. It didn't matter if I watched what I ate, stopped eating an hour before bedtime, or drank more water. It was awful! (the good news is, once the baby slipped out, the heartburn disappeared!)
Tylenol PM was very helpful in getting me to sleep at night, and keeping me asleep. My doctor said that I could safely take it every night, however, I decided to be more selective and only took it on Sunday nights. It was helpful in getting my weeks off to a good, rested start. Sleeping is not pleasant, even in the early months, and you take all the help you can get.
Spa days with a good, understanding, willing to listen to your complaining self friend! I tried to get in a pedicure every 6 weeks, especially in the summer. When you are giving your whole self to your baby (gladly, might I add), it's perfectly deserving to take an afternoon for yourself and get your toes prettied up. We usually tried to get in a scrumptious lunch (whatever my craving was), and a shopping trip as well. More to come on spa days...
Now for the days in the hospital...
We were lucky in that we weren't rushing to the hospital to have a baby after my water broke in the cereal isle at the grocery store (my biggest fear in the last few days of pregnancy). Instead, my doctor gave us the option to induce labor, at 6 days past my due date. We were fairly prepared, packed, and calm when we checked in to the hospital the evening before our baby's arrival. So, my one and only absolute MUST HAVE in the hospital.........my husband........who was beyond considerate, attentive, and ready to take out a nurse for sticking me one too many times with a needle while trying to get my IV going. J
I still don't remember certain details about my/our hospital stay, because I kind of had a lot going on, but Kyle was on top of everything and it was super comforting. Although we had the support of family and friends, there was nothing better than the time of day when it was just the 3 of us. Our new little family, trying to feel out this whole parenthood thing and stare at our perfect little girl who has blessed our life beyond our imagination.

Be back later for the rest of the story...it's bedtime!

Sleeping through the night no more. . .

When your baby has been sleeping through the night since she was 8 weeks old, you tend to get a little spoiled by long (anywhere from 7 - 9 hours) restful nights. So when she started waking up 2, sometimes 3 times a night, we were caught off guard. Was she sick, colicky, having bad dreams, what?
It turns out, this growing girl was hungry! Now she gets 2 cereal feedings a day (one mid-day and one at night), and still as much milk as she desires throughout the day and evening.
Hopefully these last 2 weeks of sleepless nights are soon to be over, and we can get back on a sleepFUL schedule!