Happy First Birthday Genevieve

Happy Birthday to You!

Happy Birthday to You!

Happy Birthday dear Genevieve!

Happy Birthday to You!

So hard to believe that we sang that song over a month and a half ago. I have been meaning to blog about this special day for a while but I was having trouble gathering up photos. I'm still not sure if the photos will end up working. Since I was busy hosting a birthday party for almost 50 people and making sure an adorable one year stayed out of trouble, I wasn't able to take as many photos as I had wished. I ended up having to steal them from various family members from Facebook. Thank you! Plus, we use an external hard drive to store everything important (aka photos); however, I'm still not quiet sure on how to save anything to it.

Josh and I started the initial planning for Genevieve's first birthday while we were in Florida back in late February/early March. I wanted to spend the 4th of July at my family's lake house on beautiful Lake Wawasee in Indiana. A three week trip (for G and I) evolved from there. We thought it would mean a lot to our families if we were in Indiana and they could be a part of this celebration. Genevieve even got to meet her great-grandparents for the first time. They winter in Arizona so they are gone when we are home for the holidays. 

My aunt and uncle willingly let us host Genevieve's first birthday party at their lake house. People came from all over the country. Well actually most were from Indiana but we did have some travelers in from Utah and Georgia. By the time we invited Josh's immediate family (he is one of 6 kids) and my extended northern Indiana family, we were just shy of 50 guests. 

It has a great day had by all. The weather was  absolutely beautiful. It had been a major concern of my aunt's on what to do with 50 people inside the house on a rainy day. Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time. I think over half of the attendees ended up swimming in the lake. Only a couple ended up with sun burns.

Ready for the party to start

Not a huge fan of everyone singing "Happy Birthday"

One of Genevieve's birthday cakes - I love her expression in the background. 

Present Time!

First piece of chocolate cake. Cake time ended up being right around nap time so by the time she got to eat her cake she was almost falling asleep in it

I absolutely adore this face she makes. It's one of my favorites.

My baby is growing up. Where has the time gone? How much longer can we actually call her a baby?We are so blessed and thankful that she is healthy and happy. She is a content baby that enjoys being around others. 

I am so excited to see what the next year has in store for little miss Genevieve!

Climbing

Yesterday, little miss G turned 13 months. She will be walking any day now. Although I've been saying that for over a month. She stands alone and will take one step if that helps her cruise from one piece of furniture to the next. When she gets to a point where she can't hang out to anything, she sits down and crawls to where she wants to go.

Today started the climbing phase of our lives. For the past couple days she has liked to empty out one of the drawers of our coffee table. I still haven't really baby proofed any of the drawers because she really didn't have the strength to open them. Not any more. Guess I'll add that to my list of things to do. Well after she emptied most of the items out of the drawer, she tried to climb in it. I kept any eye on her but below are the pictures of her process.

The Beginning

So proud of herself

Time to play

By the way she is only in a diaper because right before all this occurred she had drank a bottle that I hadn't fully screwed the lid on. Most of the bottle leaked all over her so I took off her dress since nap time was just around the corner and would put on different clothes then.

I showed these pictured to Josh when he came home from work. He wanted to know why I put her in the drawer. I want to make it clear that I had no part in this other than to make sure she didn't fall or hurt herself. 

Guess we are skipping the walking stage and going straight to climbing. I pray that climbing out of the crib is not next.

Smiles Chapman

Josh and I are truly blessed with a smiley, happy baby. I always think this is a bit of a surprise since I felt like all she did for the first two months of her life was scream.

Praise God for such a happy, content baby!

Recently our conversations with strangers seems to take on the same pattern. It has gotten to the point that Josh and I can pretty much guess what they are going to say.

Oh what a cute baby

Oh I love that smile

Wow! Look at all those teeth!

Yes we know that she has a lot of teeth. She seems well ahead of the curve. I was looking at a chart I found that gave a timeline on when teeth are suppose to come in. G is usually a week a head of when the chart says the teeth should appear. For example, for the first set of bottom teeth is said they should cut through from 6-10 months. G cut the first one a week before she turned 6 months old. 

Her first year molars are a completely different story. I thought we should expect to see them around her first birthday (I still need to blog about that). So when she started exhibiting her classic teething signs - waking up lots at night and a minor hunger strike - I was preparing myself for there arrival. We discovered this week that the top two molars and one of the bottom molars have cut through and the 4th and final one is well on its way. I checked my handy dandy chart. Bottom molars appear 14-18 months and top molars 13-19. At least a whole month ahead of schedule! Go baby G!

The things people say...

I really try not to pass judgement on other mothers. Let's face it motherhood is tough enough without bringing in the drama from high school. But something one of my neighbors said today really irked me.

I bit of background information. One of my neighbors constantly lets her dog out in her front yard to do it's business without a leash or any supervision. The dog often strays far from home. That part doesn't really bother me. To each their own. My dog, Daisy, would be in a different state before the front door could close.

However, today when I got home from running an errand the dog met me as I got out of the car. Probably because I had McDonalds (I love their Monopoly game - but that's another post for another day). Well the dog wouldn't leave me alone. I knew if I tried to go into my house Daisy would see this dog and go crazy and run out the door. Then I would really be up a creek with two dogs running lose and a baby in my arms. So I went down to the neighbors house. Her front door was opened and she saw me with the dog. She apologized then said that her daughter is 7 months old and she just can't take the dog for a walk.

That's what irks me. She says she can't take her dog for a walk due to her baby.  G and I have taken Daisy for a walk pretty much every afternoon since G was 1 month old. There are days when it's really hard and annoying.  Particularly those days when it's raining or when it's cold and it takes me longer to bundle G and myself up than the actual walk takes. Or in the beginning before I had a baby bjorn carrier and I would have to strap G into her carseat. Then carry the carseat to the car while holding Daisy's leash to get the snap n go stroller from out of my car's trunk.

I do kinda saying this while patting myself on the back. Getting ourselves out of the house for these walks was/is hard but it's something we have to do. But I'm no one special. If I can do certainly anyone else can too.

Looking back to the conversation with my neighbor the nicer, loving part of me should have offered to walk her dog too in the afternoons.

Bra Size

***This post contains the word "bra". If you are not wanting to know too much personal information about me, please stop reading now****

Many expecting women and nursing moms have asked me what happen to my bra size after quitting nursing. Now I am finally able to give a more exact answer. Today I finally got fed up with still wearing my nursing bras and their inability to fit properly. After G's morning nap, she and I headed over to the Fair Oaks mall for a proper bra fitting. I stopped nursing in March and at some point in April was able to fit into my pre-pregnancy pants. Seems like things have returned to their new normal. The girl measured that I should be a 36DD. I tried on a few in that size but the cup size was still too big. The 36D was much more comfortable.

Stats:

Pre-pregnancy- 36C/sometimes 36D depending on style or brand

Pregnancy/Nursing - 36E

10 months postpartum - 36D

As you can see I pretty much went back to the size I was before. This is not the same for all women. Some get a smaller cup size but bigger band. Some get even smaller (I so wish that was me). Some never decrease from pregnancy/nursing sizing. But everyone is different. This is just my story and my experience. 

I still have about 10 to 15 more pounds that I would like to get rid of. Hopefully when/if I accomplish that goal the sizing will change again. Only time will tell.

Buh-bye

I swear G is saying her first word. She does say Mama and Dah-da but I don't think she realizes that those are our names. Twice today when she and I were leaving to go somewhere, she has waves and said buh-bye.

10 Months Old

Can you believe it? Where has the time gone? Time slow down. Where has my little baby gone? She has gotten so big. I was looking at her newborn pictures yesterday and I can't believe how little and wrinkly she was. She has been such a blessing in our lives. We are so gratefully for this precious gift that God has given us. 

Highlights:

*She now waves hello and goodbye.

*She can go from laying down to sitting up. She had done this for a while but Josh never witness it. I don't think he believed me for a while that she could do it.

*After spending a week with her cousins, she is very interested in feeding herself. If I try to feed her wit a spoon, she just tries to grab it which flings food everywhere. I now have to think of foods that I can cook soft enough for her chew - bananas, strawberries, sweet potatoes, broccoli, puffs.

*She has 8 teeth. 4 on top and 4 on the bottom. It looks like we have a 3 month break before her first set of molars start to come in.

*She is getting close to sleeping through the night. By night I mean bedtime at 8pm to wake time at 8am. 

*She is in size 3 diapers and size 9 month clothes. I anticipate that she will move up to 12 month clothes soon.

*She can finally put the pacifier in her mouth herself. Although it is usually upside down or sideways when she does it.

*She loves to babble. She's definitely got the B, D and M sounds down.

*She loves to take the DVDs off the shelf. 

*We promoted her to the crawlers classroom on Sunday mornings at church

Lunch at Fuddruckers in Atlanta

Lemon tasting at Cinco de Mayo lunch

Car ride back from Atlanta - She did great on the 10 hour trip

Eating a whole strawberry

At Daddy's soccer game.

My two loves

Our kitchen helper

Pacifier and animal soup

Happy Mother's Day!

Beautiful dress my mom bought her

Waving hello!

Can of Worms...

So I may have inadvertently opened a can of worms the other day on Facebook by posting this picture. 

I think it was more of this descriptions than the actual picture:

Saying goodbye to Fuddruckers this evening. It has been a wonderful go to place after church for many FBCA families. Just another sign its time for us to move. G was very excited to help the Weavers carry their milkshake sign.

To answer everyone's questions. Yes we are thinking of moving but we don't have any definitive answers at the moment. We have been praying for months about possibly relocating and Josh finding a new job. Well on Wednesday, April 17 we got out answer. Josh was called into one of his bosses' offices and informed that due to the Federal budget problems their contract was not renewed. Due to this Josh and 27 of his co-workers would be out of jobs on April 30. The rest of the would be out of jobs on May 31. While this is not the answer to our prayers we were expecting it was definitely an answer. 

We are taking this opportunity to really get in gear and look for jobs in Atlanta. Josh's older sister and her family already live there. We hope more of the clan will also move there as well. We are excited for the opportunity for G to grow up around her cousins and other family members. 

So for now we are exploring the options. Please keep us in your prayers. We will make an announcement once we know something.

Grocery Store Helper

G is a huge help at the grocery store. She loves to hold my list for me. She is really cute. She seems so proud of herself and waves the list around. I do get lots of comments on how cute she is. The old men are always stopping to talk to her.

There are only two problems with her holding the list:
1. I must make sure her pacifier stays in her mouth otherwise she likes to eat the grocery list.
2. She gets really mad when I take it away to cross things off or check what's left. And I do mean really mad.

Poop Detector

There's that saying that everyone has a thousand ideas for a new invention every year but don't act on them. I have a brilliant one that I just need someone to figure out how to make it for me. I would like my baby monitor to have a poop detection feature. I know it sounds crazy and a little gross but bare with me.

We are in the middle of nap/sleep training (more on that later). I put G in her bed for her two hour or longer afternoon nap. Often she wakes up after 45 minutes screaming. It's hard for me to know if this is a "I'm pooppy" cry or "I don't like being in here alone" cry. If there was a poop detection feature that would make it sooo much easier.

Anyone else agree with me?

9 Months Old

How on earth is my baby already 9 months old?

Head Circumference: 18 inches (92%)

Height: 26 inches (4%)

Weight: 16 Pounds 8.8 Ounces (22%)

At her 9 month well check at the pediatrician, the doctor said she looks great and is meeting all her milestones. She did give me little lecture about not rocking G to sleep anymore unless I want to do that until she's 18. Feels like we just started getting her to sleep well, hate to have to change something in the routine. Guess we will have to make some changes little by little until we get to that point. She only got one shot today. She seemed to cry more for this one shot then all the others. 

Today also marks our dog, Daisy's birthday. We now have an 8 year old dog. G really does love Daisy and gets excited when ever she see her.

Pre-pregnancy Weight

It's official...I know weight the amount I did before I got pregnant with G. I honestly really never thought this day would arrive. Yippie!

Preschool

So hard to believe that G is even old enough for us to be discussing preschool. Nevertheless, we received G's acceptance letter to preschool at our local church. Just two days a week in the one year old class with Mrs. B (she better not leave us). We mainly enrolled her to secure a spot for her if I those to go back to working at the preschool in the fall.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

Jesus Christ is risen today! Alleluia! 

I'm unsure of what Easter means to you and your family. But for me and my family, Easter is the glorious celebration of Jesus' triumph over death. My wonderful husband wrote an awesome blog today about the true meaning of Easter. Check out his blog.

Little Miss G on her first Easter

Working Out

I'm in need of some advice. When do you moms with little ones find time to workout? I do not own a treadmill nor have a gym membership.

I am going to be honest, open, and vulnerable with you now. I am having a really hard time embracing my post-baby body. I am slowly getting close to my pre-pregnancy weight but I things have shifted around and my pre-pregnancy stuff does not fit. We want to have more children, but the thought of putting my body through this multiple more times terrifies me.

You may not have notice but I posted very few picture of myself. Whenever one is taken I just focus in on my problem areas and end up hating the picture. It kills me that there is not a family picture of the three of us that I like.

I have pretty much always struggled with self-confidence and self-esteem issues. Now that I have a daughter I want to over come them so I do not transfer my fears and insecurities on to her. Any suggestions?

Crib - Stage 2

This afternoon Josh lowered G's crib to the next level. Her crib has three different settings. We moved it from stage 1 to 2. We figured since she is starting to crawl, sitting up well on her own, and starting to show interest in pulling up on things, it was time. We wanted to be on the save side of things.

It was definitely a sad moment for me. Usually I go in to check on her before I go to bed and give her another kiss goodnight. I am no longer able to bend over the side rail to do so. I will just have to give her extra kisses before I put her down for the night.

I just put her to bed for the first time in the lowered bed. Not sure she likes it either. Took me 30 minutes longer to get to down for the night. She would scream and scream but as soon as I picked her up, she cuddled in and went immediately to sleep. I guess she knew Mommy needed the chance to love on her a bit longer tonight.

We have come to the end...

We have come to the end of nursing. While I was pregnant with G, I was skeptical on the whole nursing thing. But I was willing to give it a shot. My goal was to nurse for six month then start to transition to formula. Without going into too much detail, nursing was a very trying process. There were many days that I just wanted to give it up. Josh, my mother-in-law, experienced moms and the numerous lactations consultants I saw encouraged me to push through. After a rough road, we made it through. I can't say that I ever quiet sure I enjoyed doing the whole nursing process. I knew it was what was best for G, she enjoyed it, and it was convenient.

A week before G turned 6 months old. I realized that I was done. G received exclusively breast milk - either through nursing or pumped bottles - for six months. I reached my goal! Then I followed through and transition her to formula. I did not know how I would feel the first time I gave her a bottle of formula. She loved it and did not act like there was anything different in the bottle. That made me feel a bit better that I was not taking something away from her that she loved. I slowly weaned her until she was just nursing to sleep at night and for the middle of the night feeding. This was mainly because I couldn't quiet figure out the whole routine to prepare a bottle thing in the middle.

G is official exclusively bottle and solid baby food now. I've stopped nursing her at any point during the day when we got back from our trip to Florida. We have also used up all the stored frozen milk. She received her last bit of breast milk Wednesday, March 20 while she was in childcare at church. Although, I am sure that I have missed one and will find a frozen bag of breast milk when I one day clean out the freezer.

Props to those ladies that continue to breast feed longer. I have no idea how you do it and I have a great deal of respect for you.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! G is wearing a Virginia original. Do not worry, I am not starting my own fashion line anytime soon. I enjoyed making the dress for her and I love how cute she looks in; however, my skills are not quiet up to the level of being paid to complete a project.

Teeth x 4

G has official cut her fourth tooth. She has two on the top and two on the bottom. You cannot really see the top two yet but you can definitely feel them.

Any day now she will be able to eat steak.

Scootting

G is becoming more mobile with each day. She is now getting up on her hands and knees and rocking back and forth. She can scoot herself a little bit backwards on the hardwood floors. She can scoot herself a bit forwards when reaching for something using her knees to push herself. I do not think she realizes what she is doing though. Rolling and pivoting on her belly are still her main mode of transportation.

She is getting better and better at sitting though. She still seems a bit wobbly in her middle. She is getting better at getting on to her belly from the sitting position instead of just falling backwards like she use to. 

Crib Mobile

G has learned to turn her crib mobile on. Early this morning around 5:30, I heard G start babbling on the baby monitor.  I turned to watch her to see if she was going to get fussy. I noticed that the crib mobile music was playing and could see the crib mobile turning. G was just starring at it and babbling. This is not the first time she has done it. Just the first time at night. Needless to say 5:30 is a bit early for us to be getting up.

Florida

We just got back from our first family vacation as a family of three. We went to my family's condo in Longboat Key, Florida, outside of Sarasota. We had anticipated warm 70 degree weather, but that was not meant to be. It was windy and in the 50s. We even had to buy G a new sweater and zip up jacket. I had tried to pack the best I could for the weather for her but most of her clothing in her current size (6-9 months) are for spring weather.

Tuesday, February 26 - Flew down to Tampa on an early morning flight out of Baltimore. G did great on the flight. Fell asleep during take off. Very little crying. I, on the other hand, was a mess. Anyone who knows me, knows I despise flying. I get really worked up before every flight and promise myself that I will never fly again. Before the flight even took off the pilot informed us the flight would be bumpy and the flight attendants would stay seated for longer after take off. The flight was bumpy with about 30 minute window where the flight attendants were able to do beverage service. We successfully navigated the airport with infant car seat, stroller, 3 suitcases and a pack-n-play. We rented our car (a Crown Victoria - wanted to fit in with the locals) and were on are way. We stopped for lunch at Outback Steakhouse in route to Longboat Key. One of the many wonderful things about staying at the condo is the kitchen. We are able to go to the grocery store and fix ourselves breakfasts, lunches, and dinners for the week and not have to spend a lot of money eating out. The people at the grocery store (Publix) ate G up. They do not get many little babies in the store.

Wednesday, February 27 - Went for two walks on the beach. The gulf water was rather cold but we got use to it hitting our ankles after a bit. The gulf was rather choppy and the waves were bigger than I had ever seen before. G seemed to love our walks. We even put her toes in the sand so she could feel it. Our walk in the evening was much colder. G was dressed in pants.

Thursday, March 1 - We took another walk on the beach in the morning. G even fell asleep for the majority of the walk. She did not nap well in the pack-n-play on vacation. However most nights she slept better than she did at home. We took G to the kiddie pool. She was very hesitant at first. She makes this sound whenever she cold. It's like three inhales without exhaling. She made this noise at first. After a bit she discovered that she could splash around. She did not like that at first when she splashed the water went in her face. Josh laid her on her back a bit and she loved kicking her feet.

Friday, March 2 - We went to a spring training baseball game- the Oriels vs the Pirates. The weather was very chilly. One of the beer salesmen scared G. He was walking down the aisle screaming "cold beer". The first time he said it G jumped. The second time, she started screaming. She rarely screams like that. The entire section then booed the man. He apologize profusely. I did not anticipate G to react like that and was laughing so hard from the entire experience that there were almost tears. The man behind us even offered to treat Josh and I to beers. The second time the salesman came around he whispered "cold beer". Good thing because G had finally fell asleep in Josh's arms. The game ended with a great play. Oriels were ahead 5 to 4 at the top of the ninth and the final out was at home plate.

Saturday, March 3 - Went to a train expo and RV expo. With the cold weather we had to find other non-beach things to do. The train expo was a bit of a let down. We had seen an advertisement for it on the news so we thought about checking it out. We assumed it would be lots of train scenes set up. But it was mostly people selling gear. They did have an interesting set-up of Lego trains. The RV expo was interesting because we got to see the inside of different models. Josh had worked at Coachman back in his youth so he enjoyed getting to see those models.

Sunday, March 4 - Went to church at First Presbyterian Church of Sarasota.  One of the pastors from my mom's work had just taken a new position there. We went to say hello to him.

Monday, March 5 - We went to lunch at Dry Dock Grill in Longboat Key and walked around St. Armands circle. Found a shop of clothing for G that I absolutely love, Litte Bo-Tique. Wish I could have bought everything there. Unfortunately, it was a bit out of my price range. While we were walking around, G was going to town chewing on her stroller strap. Once we got back to the condo, I discovered that G's top tooth had pushed through. Guess all the chewing had paid off.

Tuesday, March 6 - Prepare to come home to DC. The flight was much smoother into Baltimore. G did not fall asleep during take off as she normally does. She is getting more mobile and does not like to be constraint for so long. She fell asleep for about 15 minutes in the middle of the flight before she had a coughing fit and woke herself up. We landed around 9:30, collected our numerous bags, and found the car. We got home shortly before 11. I put G to bed and Josh ran to the grocery store to get us food before the big Snowquestration hits.

Southern Charm, Northern Girl

I have started a new blog that documents my craft and sewing projects. Check it out...

http://southerncharmnortherngirl.blogspot.com

Teeth

G now has three teeth. Two on the bottom and one on top. Her top tooth is her souvenir from her first trip to Florida (stay tuned for that). Since her bottom teeth came in within one week of each other, I anticipate that her second top tooth will be coming in within a matter of days.

Sorry for the slacking on this blog. I really plan to be better about posting.