It is what it is!

When I climbed into bed last night I thought about getting up to write but was exhausted, so I slept well and here I am tonight.

I was thinking about this saying today, "It is what it is." It seems to have two meanings to me today. In one sense you should be content with what you have if you take it for what it is and enjoy every day. In another, don't read into things. Really, it is what it is. Don't make something out of nothing.

Sometimes I've found that I really need to remember this before I open my mouth. Nothing good can come from when you don't think before you speak. That's my two cents for today.

We had Karoline's 6 month appointment today. She weighed 15 lbs 9 oz, 50th percentile; length: 25 1/2", 25th percentile; head: 43 cm, 75th percentile. She is one smart girl! She handled her shots so well, I was really proud of her. She only cried while she was getting the shots, as soon as she was picked up she was fine and even gave the nurse a smile. Our poor nurse, she said that some parents blame her for causing their child pain. Some people!

This afternoon I had fun spending time with Karoline, we played and read books. She held up pretty well for having shots and even took an hour long nap. We got to FaceTime with my mom, such a neat way to be able to feel connected. Sometimes it's a double edged sward though. Often times it's great to be able to see each other, but pushing "hang up" is painful. Thank goodness we only live 2 1/2 hours away, any longer and it would be very difficult.

I am pretty excited about being an Independent Consultant for Pampered Chef! I'm doing really well and already have two shows booked for December and January! I feel like this is a way for me to use my degree. With a background in communications I am able to really do quite a bit with promoting my personal business. I know I could even be doing more. However, I'm still only doing "business" while Karoline is asleep. She comes first and that is how it will always be. But, I know that I will get into a routine and I'll be able to do more if I wish to.

I've decided I would like a new wardrobe and a new look. I need to make sure I feel pleased when I look in the mirror or look back on pictures. A couple new tops would help. My shirts all are very warn out looking. I also want to get a new brand of make up when it goes on sale next time!

Last words of wisdom, "Say what you mean, and mean what you say." I supposed I better learn this now versus later on in life. Instead of trying to get people to know what you are thinking, tell them. This goes for everyone in your life. Don't beat around the bush, be open to rejection if your approach isn't well received. At least then you know you were straight forward.

There are very few things that I wish I could do over again. About the only thing I can think of is my choice for college. I wonder what it would have been like to have gone to a college with a performing arts program. I really didn't even think of that as an option. I know that if anything in my life would have been different I might not be where I am today. When I was younger I always thought I had to do something received by the masses with my life to feel complete and accomplished. I feel more complete looking into this sweet then I ever have. She's makes my life just right.

Thanksgiving Recap

This year I made the Thanksgiving feast. We were so fortunate that my mom was able to take Karoline for 3 hours while Tim and I cooked. He really was a big help and the meal turned out great!

Karoline and I were able to spend a little with my parents before Thanksgiving. It was a wonderful couple of days. It truly is wonderful to see my parents love her. Karoline has always loved her baths, she talks and giggles and plays in the tub. Apparently she is quite the performer, with my mom and dad both loving her noises she went to town splashing and talking. It was really neat to watch.

I'm somewhat scatter brained right now ... definitely need to go to bed ... but ...

Sunday morning while we were at Tim's dads house that I was just in love with my sweet precious girls face. I always love her, obviously. However, that morning I knew I wanted to remember her beautiful she looked. She was laying to my right and we had fallen asleep in bed together, something that only seems to happen when we are away from home. Her skin was perfect, the curves of her nose and cheeks were just right. Adorable.

Today Tim got out the Christmas decorations for me and even "fluffed" up the tree. It was the perfect day to set up the decorations, very chilly and cloudy. In the afternoon I was able to take a few Christmas pictures of Karoline. Amazing how well our phones do with picture taking!

Ok, beyond tired now. Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday spirit! 

Weekend Recap

This weekend went zipping by, seems like they always do! Saturday was a lazy day with a few errands in the morning. Tim was my chauffeur and helped me get a few things done that I just didn't have energy for Friday night. We watched a few movies that afternoon, when I say watched I mean they were on in the background while taking care of Karoline.

Sunday was a football and pizza day, the Broncos won so it was a great day! We also found out Tim gets to go to a game in December with a friend who won tickets. I'm very excited for him, he hasn't done anything like this since we've been married. I think it he will have a great time!

Today we got up early to head to the doctor for a check up on Tim's foot and flu shots for the two of us. I hardly even felt my shot, I was pretty surprised! However, now my arm feels a bit sore, guess that's to be expected.

Karoline only took one 20 minute nap today, that's been rough. Not sure what was wrong other than maybe I gave in to easy and she got over tired from not sleeping. Poor girl. Luckily she always likes her bath and that calmed her down enough to get her to sleep this evening.

Speaking of sleep, my bed is calling my name. Good night all!

TGIF

Visitors are always fun. Today we went down south to meet up with my dad and two uncles. My Uncle Hoopie (Jesse) was in town from Florida for a week and was heading home today. I was bummed that we didn't get to spend more time with him. But, in light of my recent discovery of having to take care of myself we did not make it down to Canon City to see him. So, this was nice a nice compromise. It was wonderful to see my dad and his brothers together. Unfortunately, I didn't think to take a picture of them, or of Hoopie and Karoline. I'm sure they were happy though. I can hear my dad's voice in my head, "Stop with the pictures please." I hope that one day we can get down to Alabama to see Tim's sister and then head over to Florida to see the rest of my family too.

Karoline was thrown off by the time in the car today. As a result she only took one 25 minute nap this afternoon. That was a little difficult for me, I'm not feeling all to well and it was a little bit rough as it got closer to bed time. But, never the less that adorable smile and laugh is all it takes to melt my heart. I've started to notice the last couple of days that Karoline will breath really quick and heavy when she gets excited, it's very cute. Normally it's even followed by a squeal!

Here's to a good nights sleep after my husband brought me a sandwich, I really do need to do a better job of taking care of myself. This time it was nice for him to take care of me, sometimes we need a little TLC.

PJ Day

Today was a fun day with my daughter. We spent the whole day in our pajamas! She slept on schedule every two hours for an hour at a time, once it was even an hour and fifteen minutes. I actually found myself waiting for her to get up. I miss her when she is sleeping, silly I know. Thank goodness I'm a stay at home mom.

Karoline had more bananas today, it's going well. I am so blessed to be able to stay home with her and to be able to make our own baby food. With being able to breastfeed her as well as make our own baby food we are literally saving thousands. However, that's not the important part...we know exactly what she is drinking and eating! I love this! I'm hoping that when we have a garden I can even grow some of her food, is that organic or what!

I closed my second Pampered Chef show today. I am so thrilled, I reached my 30 day milestone! This means I will get a rebate on my start up kit as well as some money to spend on Pampered Chef products and I still get a check too. This has been a great move for me. I'm excited because I am also using what I learned in school to promote my business as well as stay organized.

Karoline was such a little cutie all day, very happy and smiling. She hardly cried at all, amazing what enough sleep will do for a baby.

The last couple of nights I've noticed something around bed time. She gets slap happy! Completely giggly and smiley and almost gets a second wind. But, sadly I have to put her down for the night, again I miss her. I know she needs the rest though, and so do I.

Have a great night everyone. There's always a bright side.

Library Time

Yesterday we put Karoline down for naps 1 1/2-2 hours after she woke up, it was extremely successful.  She took naps up until 6pm, and she still slept really well last night, from 7:15pm-6am! We went ahead and did the same thing today and it seems to have been a good routine for her. She is such a happy girl when she gets enough sleep. I'm thrilled that she is finally letting us know what she needs.

Today was a fun day. I got up with Karoline when she woke up the second time at 7:20am and we had our usual morning play time. I love reading books to her and getting some early morning smiles. This morning we all went and had a family outing. Karoline and I dropped Tim off at the gym and then we went over to the library for baby story hour. I love taking her to story time. She gets such a thrill out of watching all of the other kids. This also gives me a good reason to get dressed and ready for the day and to get her all dolled up. She was in a good mood today and was very interactive with everyone. 

After the library we picked up Tim and then went to the bank and came home. The days seem to be going by quickly. I know that before we know it she is going to be crawling and moving on to bigger milestones. Tonight I had some play time with Karoline just laying in bed laughing with her. The word, "boo" seems to be a laughter trigger for her. I love the sound of her laughter. I love when I take the time to just enjoy being with her. 

We do a bath every night, this seems to get her into bed time mode. After her bath when I was drying her hair I realized that it is getting quite long now. About an inch, I couldn't believe it! I also put her into 6 month pajamas tonight, this was quite a trigger for me. She is getting older and growing, definitely a good thing, but still shocking. I feel like babies older than 6 months old aren't "little babies" any more. I can't believe the little baby stage is almost over. I know that the next stages will bring amazing and wonderful experiences. Just have to cherish all of the memories from the little stage. Luckily those 6 month pajamas were still a little on the big side. 

I'm getting the hang of Pampered Chef. I submitted my first show and I'm working on my second tomorrow. My goal is to only ever work on PC things when Karoline is asleep. However, I've been staying pretty busy with it. Karoline always comes first but I've found that when she is content and playing I can organize my desk or do a little bit here and there. I make sure that she is happy first. I think this is a good thing, she does enjoy playing with out me right in her face.

Speaking of which, every baby I have nannied for went through the, "scream when you leave the room" phase. Karoline is at the age that she should be going through this, if she is going to. But, she has not! I am thrilled with this. In my opinion she has not gone through this because I get to be a stay at home mom. Have I mentioned that I love being able to stay home with her?! Another reason why she may have avoided this phase is the lay out of our home. It's very open and she can usually see where we are. 

I think that's about all that I have for today. Tomorrow is a new day. 

Blogging Before Bed

Karoline must have felt my need for some real sleep! I also found that apparently blogging before bed allowed me to clear my head enough to actually fall asleep. Last night I was asleep by 10:30pm and Karoline didn't get up until 4:45am. Then she promptly went back to sleep and I was able to too, until after seven. Today was wonderful, it's amazing what some great sleep will do for a person.

This was day two of our sweet girl getting upset in the afternoon and acting hungry right after eating. So, we gave solid food another attempt. She did amazing and loved her acorn squash! It was amazingly rewarding watching her little mouth open when the spoon was in her vision. Such a smart girl. She didn't eat a whole lot of the squash but it definitely went over very well. All previous attempts at a solid food were not successful and she did not know how to swallow the food. She definitely is ready to keep trying solids. We also gave her her sippy cup with her squash and she did a great job with that too. She reaches out and grabs on to the handles and puts it right in to her mouth. Granted, she just wants to chew on it but she does know what to do with it. Watching her grow is beyond rewarding. I am so thankful that I married a guy who is supportive in me being a stay at home mom while our children are too young for school. I recently heard the phrase, "Risk versus reward." When I heard it I really started to think that in our case we are so blessed that we are able to stay home and reap the rewards of spending our time teaching our daughter. In addition, she is almost 6 months old and is a healthy healthy girl. She's had some interaction with other kids as well as public places but she is not put into a germ infested day care. I know that some people don't have a choice to avoid day care but I sure am glad that we are!

Through out the day Karoline went down for a nap every 1 1/2-2 hours. She seemed to really do well with this and was a happy girl all day.

We had a friend over for dinner. She got here while Karoline was asleep. When she woke up I didn't give her sufficient amount of "wake up" time in her crib before getting her out. This was a mistake on my party, when she got up she was upset and wasn't sure what was going on. She would stick out her little lip and really look sad while whimpering. She did warm up and was fine after a few minutes but I sure felt horrible while she was upset. Luckily it didn't last long.

Today was a great day. Hoping for another night of good sleep, lately I can't seem to string together two good nights of sleep. I'm doing better at realizing that not everything has to be done right away. Everything will still be here tomorrow and can wait until I make time to do it.

My goal is to make every day count. Today was full of baby smiles, laughter and lots of love. It was just right!

Love and Laughter

Today Karoline was up at 3am (I'd like to personally thank whoever decided that time changes were a good idea). She used to sleep from 7pm-7am with one feeding around 4-5am. Now it seems as though she is up to eat around 3 and then is ready to be up for the day at 6am. The only problem with this is that she now needs more naps through out the day. Which wouldn't be a problem if she weren't such a strong willed little princess. I must make the disclaimer that I would rather her be strong willed ... anyway, the only way for her to nap is to put in her bed and let her cry. I know there are millions of people who think this is horrible. However, it is the only way she will nap. She cries for about 15 minutes and then she will sleep. If you try to rock her, hold her like a baby ... anything that a "normal" baby would like does not work. She is far to advanced for her body. Her poor little mind wants to move and do what she wants but the legs just aren't working. When she lays on her stomach she air swims and can completely spin around but still no forward movement. Soon though, I'm sure.

Along with the early start today was coupled with the first real signs that a tooth may be coming soon. Her desire to chew on anything and everything she can see was at an all time high today. Poor little bug, I sure hope that she has softened her gums up enough that it won't bother her. I'm really hoping to avoid giving her medicine. Not because I want her to be in pain but more so that I would like for her to be able to have a natural remedy to sooth the pain. I've seen several different options. "Momsicle," just breast milk frozen around a pacifier. Oh, right she doesn't like pacifiers, guess we will figure something out.

This morning Tim said something that made my day. He said that one of the best parts about working swing shift is that he gets to spend the day with Karoline and I. If he worked the day shift he would only have about 3 hours (if that) with Karoline before she went to bed. We really enjoy our mornings. Plus, the last couple of days he has even made breakfast. Score. That's been very nice. I also feel like the house was cleaner today, usually Monday is spent cleaning up the "living" from the weekend and it didn't seem to take as long today. He is definitely an amazing guy. Still a guy, but when it really comes down to it he is pretty awesome, I won't get all mushy gushy. But, just know that I am thankful for the things he does. I have found myself not mentioning when I get stranded in the bathroom with out toilet paper. There are just some things that aren't worth nagging.

This afternoon Karoline and I went out with three errands to do: post office, library story time and the bank. When we got to the post office I quickly realized that today is Veteran's Day (observed), thank you Vets. Funny thing about being a stay at home mom. This is the second time that I've gone out with the intent to do things that were not accomplished because of a holiday. Last time I even had to call my dad (Federal worker-always has the national holidays) and ask him what holiday it was. Couldn't tell ya know what it was, mom brain? Any who, I tried my hand at the little machine at the post office to send my package and it was quite easy. I will be doing that from now on if there lines. I wonder if eventually they will all be like that. When we got to the library I was relieved to see a full parking lot and that story time was still on. On Monday story time is all ages, Karoline is usually the only baby. I still enjoy the break from being in the house even though she is not old enough to do the craft. Part of me wants to do one anyway with her in my lap. But, she seems to want to put everything in her mouth and I highly doubt I'd be able to get her to sit with me to do one. After story time we went by the bank, no holiday alternative there. So, two of our three we were able to accomplish. Not to bad.

Today I was able to make Karoline laugh while on the phone with my mom. Her laughter is golden to me. When Tim and I hear her laugh we stop what we are doing and listen. Then we try to keep her laughing. It is a glorious sound.

On my mind!

Today was the beginning of a new era in the mommy hood. As a family we have decided that we need more outings. Staying in the house all day is not healthy for anyone.

So, for our first outing Karoline and I went to an afternoon story time at the library. It was very neat to see her interact with all of the other kids. There was one little guy who was just about two weeks older than her, she had an easy couple pounds on him and could definitely take him...besides the point. They were adorable to watch, they were "talking" to each other and making sure that everyone knew that they were the center of attention.

We are planning to go to the library at least twice a week to enjoy the story time hours. I urge everyone to go to the library if you haven't been for some time. I find comfort in being at the library, there are so many resources and options now that were not there when we were kids. DVD's, MP3 books, the option to download PDF style books onto your smart phone, as well as audio books! Did I mention my mom is a librarian, that might be why the library is such a comforting place to me.

I had a moment where I really missed my mom today. I have a hard time with this emotion. My husband recently lost his mom, when I miss mine I think automatically to the pain he must feel missing his. I miss her too. I sure wish she would have gotten to meet our sweet Karoline. I am comforted in knowing that she knew her before we did and that she is watching over us. But, it's still hard.

So, we have the library as an outing. I'm also hoping to make it to a mommy and me group either this week or next. Another plan is to make it to the pool to take the wee one swimming.

When we lived in Canon City I always thought, "If we live in Denver there will be so much to do." Well we now live here, we ought to make sure we are doing things and enjoying our new location.

Switching gears...I started selling Pampered Chef about a month ago. It's been a nice way to fill time and I really think I am going to enjoy it in the months to come as I begin to learn more.

The woman that I signed under is quite a strong woman. She is battling breast cancer but still finds time to answer my questions, if it were me, I would feel like I would be the last of her concerns. She has two children and seems to not let the cancer slow her down. She has a blog to document her cancer journey. Reading it is painful. She is positive in the way that she takes it as it is. The bold horrible truth. I feel that admitting the situation is a feat in itself. To anyone who happens to read this post...please say a prayer for her and her family. Send positive thoughts!