Mama dancing? Hilarious.

Okay - I know I'm probably not the best dancer, but am I really this bad? :) (Please note: I was dancing to the song that was playing before the one heard in the background. I swear. She thought it was so funny... so I couldn't stop!)

Wordless Wednesday

"Thorns may hurt you, men desert you, sunlight turn to fog;

but you're never friendless ever, if you have a dog."

 - Douglas Mallock

So we found this chair

Well, my mom found this chair. It just happens to be the perfect size for little monster babies like Lily. Now that she's learning to sit unassisted, that's all.she.does and if she's not sitting up she is steaming mad. This past weekend was the first time I've been able to let go of her without her toppling over immediately. She'll go strong for a good 20 seconds now!

I don't know why, but looking at these pictures gets me all teary eyed. She's doing it... all by herself. Once less thing she's dependent on mama for. She's becoming a little person. Every morning she wakes up a little bigger, a little more developed, smarter, and more independent. ::insert a huge sigh:: I look into those big brown eyes and wonder what she's thinking. This little stranger that's stolen my heart, wrapped me up into a big ball of emotions, transformed our lives into something unfathomalby beautiful. She's morphing into a little girl right in front of my eyes. If she only knew what she's done to us...

Wordless Wednesday

Smiley :)

Back to school...and some randomness

Ugh. I’ve dreaded this day since I registered for classes. Biology. Three days a week, I get to sit through lectures and labs, disgusting dissections and slides, all while daydreaming of better places to be. I failed Biology in high school. Not because I didn’t understand it. Nope. We had to dissect an earth worm. Now, anyone that knows me knows that I am deathly afraid of snakes. Like, my chest tightens… I start shaking uncontrollably…. I can’t speak…. and I cry, embarrassingly cry. Dead, stretched out earth worm = looks like a snake. I sat in the hallway during that class, so needless to say, I got a big fat zero for a huge lab grade. Oh freakin’ well. So wish me luck, if you will. Maybe cross your fingers that anything resembling a snake stays far, far away from my biology class, or we might just have a repeat of high school.


I have to admit, I’m a little nervous as to how I’m going to balance baby, work, and home life with school now in the mix. I’m only taking one class so that will help, but when will I do homework? I think the only logical conclusion is to stay up an hour or so longer than I do now and try my best to get it all done.


Something is definitely going on with my sweet girl. For starters, we’re going through a sleep regression stage. Our once-a-night rendezvous’ have slowly increased to 2, then 3, and now sometimes 4 and 5 times a night. I’m exhausted. I’ve tried everything that I can think of, short of letting her cry (Which we all know I REFUSE to do). Right now the only thing that seems to work is either feeding her or giving her the paci and rubbing her back until she falls back asleep. I just don’t know what else to try. Is this just a phase? A super long growth spurt? Another really late 4 month wakeful period? If anyone has ANY ideas, I’m all ears.


That brings me to my next thought. What if she’s ready for solids, and I’m just too stubborn to realize that those researchers only give estimates on what age they think babes are ready? What if I’m so stuck on the “6 months to the day” that I’m really prohibiting her from starting on HER time, not mine? Could this be why she’s suddenly waking more to eat? Is she not getting full on breast milk alone? Ugh, I’m so confused.


Yesterday my mom went and picked Lily up from day care. They told her that she’d been a little fussy all day, but as soon as they picked her up she was fine. Uh, oh. Is this the start of the dreaded separation anxiety? Or are we dealing with a case of being spoiled? (hehehe… I’m totally to blame. I won’t even TRY to deny that one.) Here’s the thing: I’m still having a pretty hard time swallowing the fact that someone else gets to care for my heart while I slave away behind a desk. Lily loves her teachers, she’s excited when we get there, she’s napping better there now, and we can afford to give her (almost) everything she could possibly want right now. It is what it is. We can’t afford for me to quit, so here we are. When I hear that my girl was upset and I wasn’t there to console and hold her, I break down. I cried after I got off the phone with mom yesterday. I felt so guilty for leaving her somewhere that someone could not hold her 24/7 like I can (and usually do). I know she's well taken care of there, but that’s my baby girl. It’s just hard, that’s all I’m saying.

Okay well enough of the randomness... we got some cute pictures this past weekend so I'll be sure to share them soon!

FYE - (That's, For Your Entertainment) :)

My Lily Pie is still on her screaming kick. She's happy: she screams. She's tired: she screams. You ask her a question: she screams. Here she is trying to carry on a conversation (aka screaming) with her Daddy and I, while giving Daddy a few adorable laughs in between.

Tasty Thursday - Mexican Casserole

This week we've been exploring with different genres of food, including Chinese and Mexican. I have to admit, I'm not the biggest mexican food fan out there, but this recipe was actually pretty good! We used Jiffy corn bread mix, but I would suggest using something a little less sweet. The sweetness kind of counteracted with the spicy and, well, it could have been better.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 (16 oz.) bag of mixed taco cheese (or mild cheddar)
• 1 can whole kernel corn
• 1 pack taco seasoning
• 1 medium jar of salsa
• 1 pkg of corn bread mix..
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Brown hamburger meat in skillet. While meat is browning, mix corn bread package, egg, and milk until well blended. Once meat is brown, add corn (don't drain), salsa, and taco seasoning. Simmer for 3-5 minutes.

Spread half of the cornbread mix in the bottom of a greased 9x13 baking pan. Layer half of the cheese, then meat mix, then the other half of the cornbread mix, then the other half of the cheese. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until browned.

Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday

Since I won't give her solids just yet, Lily's decided to protest by eating Papa's nose.

5 Months

I'm going to pretend that next month isn't her 1/2 year birthday (for now) and make it my goal to soak up as much "littleness" as possible for the time being. 5 months?! Where do I begin? I really thought last month was full of new developments... who was I kidding? She's growing up right in front of my eyes. She's a little person, she knows what she wants and how to get it. :) She looks at me with those eyes and just smiles. A sweet, perfect combination of our best qualities.

Okay, enough of the sentimental mush (lol) - here are her updates:

• She hasn't gone back to the dr. yet, but I'm guessing she's well over 17 lbs. now.
• She's reaching for everything she sees. I used to be so good at holding her and multi-tasking. Um, not anymore. Whatever I'm doing while holding her, she has her hands in.
• We said farewell to all over her 3-6 month clothes (already!?) and she's in 6-9, 9, and some 6-12 month ones.
• We were barely able to squeeze her chunky butt in the rest of her size 2 diapers. I'm surprised they didn't rip in half. She's comfortably in size 3 now.
• She's just started this new thing during tummy time: She'll scoot up on her knees and stick her butt straight up in the air. I'm thinking it won't be long until she's on all fours. ::Scary::
• I think we're starting to experience some attachment issues. She's favoring mommy big time right now.
• We have a roller! She started rolling back to tummy right after her 4 month birthday and hasn't looked back. If she's lying down, she's rolling over. She's ->this<- close to rolling tummy to back.
• Because of her new found rolling skills, she's become a tummy sleeper for the majority of the night. Makes me a nervous wreck. She's only waking 1-2 times a night though, so she's sleeping good! Bedtime is 8:30, she might get up around 2, normally gets up around 5, and is up for the day at 6:45 (when I wake her up to get ready for daycare).
• Still fights naps like they are poison. She won't sleep for more than 10-20 minutes at a time at daycare, usually 2-3 times a day. She's better at home as long as I'm holding her, but lets be honest, I can't hold her for every nap. (Although I try to...:) )
• She is starting to sit on her own for a few seconds at a time. She can prop herself up with her arms, but she's too much of a wiggle worm to sit still.
• She thinks mommy is hilarious. Ha! She laughs almost every.single.time I talk to her. Not in a baby voice either. If she's eating, I'll look down and say, "Hey, sweet girl" with a smile... she started giggling. It's the cutest thing I've ever seen! (I'll post a video of her laughing later. NOT while eating, lol)
• Since we're not starting solids until 6 months, we've been letting her experiment with the spoon with "Momsicles". Breast milk frozen to a slushy consistancy. She LOVES them. I know developmentally she's ready for solids, but I'm a firm believer that their gut is not fully developed until around 6 months, so we'll wait until then.

And of course, 11 million pictures of my beauty:

These just crack me up. :)

Tasty Thursday - Monterrey BBQ Chicken

This is hands down my favorite chicken recipe. It takes less than 30 minutes and the ingredients list is   ->very<-    short, so once again... easy!  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• Your favorite BBQ sauce (We love Sweet Baby Rays)
• Bacon, cooked crispy
• Monterrey Jack Cheese Slices
• Pepper Jack Cheese Slices

Pound chicken until thin (around 1/4 inch thick). Over medium-high heat, pan sear the chicken breast until done.

 Smother with BBQ sauce, then top with strips of crispy bacon and both cheeses.

Broil until cheese is melted, approx. 5 minutes. Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday

After a massive poop explosion while running errands and discovering our backup outfit no longer fits monster baby, we had to resort to "exhibitionist style" car seat riding.

Don't worry - she had a diaper on. :)