Advice to my future self (and other Mommas to be)

Now that Evie is a year and a half old, everyone in my life (except for me) seems to think it's time for me to get knocked up again.  I've been thinking about what I would do differently next time (if there is a next time).  Honestly, there isn't too much that I would change.  Like all new parents, M and I did the best we could with what we knew at the time, and there's nothing we can do to change it now.

M with Evie.  She was about 3 hours old.  Oh, if I only knew then what I know now!!

But anyway, here is my list of advice to my future self, should I decide to do this all over again someday:

• Stay away from all books written by Dr. Sears, Harvey Karp and Elizabeth Pantley.  Actually, don't read anything at all.  Do what feels right, because if it feels right, then it probably is.  (Caveats can be made for people who are truly clueless, which I totally was before Evie was born...but don't take the things you read too seriously, everything must be adjusted to work for you, your baby, and your situation.)
• Don't worry that the baby is sleeping too much during the first few weeks.  (Yup, I was actually concerned about this!)  Enjoy the quiet because it's not going to last for very long.
• Stay calm during baby meltdowns.  Really, you're just making it worse by getting worked up too.  The baby will be fine.  Hold her tight and let her know you care, but don't flip out if she doesn't stop crying immediately.  
•  Take other people's advice with a grain of salt (kind of like the reading thing).  Even if it's someone that you completely trust and respect, what worked for them may not be the best thing for you.  
• Lastly, be cool, calm, relaxed and confident.  Taking care of a baby is hard work, and you're doing just fine.  :)  (Wow, that one made tear up a little...maybe I need to follow my own advice right now.)

This mom thing is quite a roller coaster.  You're going to screw up...but you're also going to have the best reward in the world when your little boy/girl says "mommy" for the first time, or gives you a kiss when you drop him/her off at daycare.  Try to cherish those moments when everything else seems to be going to hell.  ;)


This was written as part of the Toddle Along Tuesday blog hop.  This week's topic is advice for Mommies to be.  Click the button to link up at Growing up Geeky!!

Sick Baby = Sad Mama

Over the weekend we had a few "firsts" at our house.  Unfortunately, they weren't the good kind of firsts. 

Saturday night, Evie vomited for the first time.  I mean like real puke, not spit up or drool with some leftover food in it.   Real, grown-up barf.  She doesn't have the flu, but she's had a cough for about a week now.  She actually coughed so hard that she threw up.  It was about an hour after she went to bed that I heard her coughing.  Sometimes she sleeps through it, but this time she started crying.  I could smell it as soon as I walked into the room.  (Eeeeeewwwwww!!!!) 

M and I have a deal that he takes care of all vomit situations (baby or dog), so he cleaned up her bedding while I gave her a bath.  She even had it in her hair.  (Double eeeeeewwwww!!!!)  After everything was cleaned up, I called the nurse on-call line to see if there was anything we could give her or do for her.  We gave her a little honey and stood in the bathroom with the hot water running so that she could breathe in the steam.  It actually worked pretty well and she slept the rest of the night. 

Yesterday she was lethargic all day.  Last night we took her temperature and it was 102.4.  This is the first time she's ever had a fever.  M stayed home with her today and she was feeling much better by tonight.  I'm going to send her to daycare tomorrow with strict instructions to call me if she seems even a little out of sorts. 

This is the first time that she's been sick this winter, other than a little cough back in December.  I forgot how much it sucks.  I hope she gets over it soon. 

Any tips to help her sleep with the cough????  PLEASE share...I'm willing to try anything to make her feel better!!!!

Holy Cow! 18 Months!!

I am having a hard time believing that Evie is really 18 months old.  She is truly out of the "baby" stage and in full-on toddler mode.

At 18 months:

• Evie weighs 23 pounds and 7 ounces. (35th percentile)
• She is 32 1/2" long. (65th percentile)
• She is wearing mostly 18 month clothing, but the pants are getting too short on her.  She still has some 12 month clothing in the rotation too, but her belly is starting to hang out of that.  I actually bought her first pair of 24 month pants today.  They seem huge, so we'll see what happens!
• Evie loves: grilled cheese sandwiches, blackberries, kiwis, seeing her friends at daycare (seriously, she doesn't even say goodbye to me anymore, she's so focused on running to play with the other  kids...I know that this could be much worse), playing peek-a-boo, "scaring" people by quickly uncovering her face and saying boo, trying to dress herself, *trying* to help around the house by throwing things in the garbage (this was cute until she tried to throw my cell phone in the trash), trying to play in the toilet, and unloading all cupboards and drawers in the kitchen/bathroom.

You can see bibs and random utensils laying all over my kitchen floor.  As soon as I put them away, she pulls them out again.  It's not worth the effort most days!!

• Evie hates: being told no, when we take anything away from her (she usually scolds us), cottage cheese, napping (at home, she does fine at daycare), having her diaper changed, having lotion put on, when we dress her because she'd rather try to do it herself, and shoes.  

I can't believe that she's now closer to 2 years old than 1 year old!!  She is such a little person now.  It's hard to believe that she was ever any different, but she has changed and grown so much.  I can't wait to see what each new day brings!!

Top 5 Laughs of the Week

This week was SUPER hectic at our house...late meetings for both me or M depending on the night, and the end of the semester for me, which is always crazy busy.  We did manage to have a few laughs in the meantime though.  :)

In no particular order...

- Evie has started saying "good" when you ask her how she is doing or how her day was, etc.  M figured out that she'll say good to any question that starts with the word "how."  So, he has spent the week trying to come up with goofy questions to ask her so that she'll answer "good."  It's cute to watch!!

- Evie loves to try to dress herself.  She is INCREDIBLY bad at it.  For the most part, she just manages to get the shirt over her head so that her face is peeking out of the head hole.  This morning, M was eating a bagel, and he tried to share it with Evie.  The shirt was covering her mouth, but she tried to push the bagel piece in her mouth through the shirt.  She just ended up with a mouthful of shirt.  We were both laughing pretty hard.

Example of Evie's excellent dressing skills

- M won me over by making me laugh, and he continues to do it pretty much every day.  The other night "Footloose" was on TV.  Of course, I had to watch it even though I've seen it about a million times.  (Who doesn't love Kevin Bacon, seriously?!?!?!!?)  It was the scene where they play chicken on the tractors, and M, being the farm boy that he is, said, "He'd be able to go a lot faster if he unhitched the corn picker."  He said it so matter-of-factly, I just about died laughing.  Only he would think of that!

- Evie has figured out that she can sit in "big people" chairs, and now that all she wants to do.  She likes to sit in our glider rocker in the living room with a pile of books on lap and her baby doll with her.  It's so cute to watch her "reading" to her baby.

- Last weekend in the Dells, M's company paid for a fancy dinner for everyone who was there.  Several of M's coworkers had brought their families, so there were quite a few kids there.  However, there were also quite a few people that did not have young kids, so it was an interesting mix.  The families with young kids designated some kids tables right away when we arrived at the restaurant.  Immediately, all of the moms moved the candles to other tables, moved the silverware to a big pile where none of the kids could reach it, and rearranged the chairs to maximize space for the high chairs.  I thought that it was funny how quickly we all reacted, and it was so apparent how much life has changed in the past 18 months....we used to be the couple that headed straight for the bar.

Hopefully next week will be a little less crazy and we'll be able to enjoy a little more time as a family.

Linking up my top 5 laughs with Melissa over at The Mommyhood Chronicles.  Click on the link if  you'd like to link up too!!

Weekend in the Dells

  Sorry for the bad qualilty...Evie and I are the ones going down the slide!!

Last weekend we were fortunate enough to have a free weekend getaway in Wisconsin Dells!!  M's department reached a sales goal for the end of 2011, so, as an incentive, his company put us up at a HUMONGOUS indoor water/theme park for Friday and Saturday night.  They also bought dinner both nights and we had free waterpark passes for Saturday and Sunday. 

I was very angry with myself because I thought that I had forgotten the camera.  Then, on the way home on Sunday, I found the camera in the console of my car.  AARRRRGGGHH!!  M was able to get a few pictures and videos on his phone (hence the crappy quality), so at least we have this.

Evie LOVED the water!!!  The resort had a great play area for little kids with plenty of tame waterslides and fun water squirt-y things to play with.  It was so much fun to see Evie enjoying herself.  She always says "wheeee" when she goes down a slide, but she was so excited that she just walked around the kiddie pool repeating, "Wheeee....wheee....wheee..."  It was so cute!  :)

Hopefully we'll have the opportunity to go back to the Dells sometime soon!