February's Channeling Martha Moment

It's the last day in February and a good one at that. The weather was absolutely beautiful, work went by fast and I accomplished a lot of things I wanted to finalize, went for a family run, Mallory's been all smiles and burbling away; definitely a good day. So to top off my good day I decided to slide in my February's channeling Martha moment. It's from the Make and Give section, though these Chewy Chocolate Chunk-Cherry Cookies are so yummy that I'm not so sure I want to give them away.

Of course I had a little helper in the kitchen. She was actually more of a supervisor and she did a great job at it. The recipe called for dried cherries and for some reason I had a hard time finding them so I went with dried cranberries soaked in cherry juice. The dough balls were a little bigger than I'm used to but they turned out perfect; crispy on the outside and chewy in the middle. Accompanied with a glass of cold milk, this was a nice way to end a nice day.

 

 Look at this adorable ruffle butt. Ready for bed.

Darth Vader

When she snores she sounds like Darth Vader. (You might have to turn up your volume a bit.)

Win, Win

She gets a kick out of watching Leo play with his toys. And I think Leo really enjoys the attention again. Win, win.

Just Sittin' Around

Blogger in the Making

Teaching her the ropes, my little future blogger in the making. Though I'm sure when she gets old enough to know the world of blogging she'll be the one teaching me.

Reflections of Motherhood

I ran across this video on a friend of mine's blog and it touched me so much that I wanted to share it here as well. Becoming a mom for the first time is an experience that nobody - and I mean nobody - can completely prepare you for. Though you can prepare for the concept of motherhood, it's impossible to know what becoming a mom truly entails until it happens.

Personally, there are many sayings in this video that I can relate to but the one that tugs at my heart strings the most is, "It's okay to want a break." I am not going to sugarcoat how I felt in the beginning of Mallory's life, it was tough. For the first two months I didn't like motherhood so much. Dealing with a colicky baby was not how I envisioned things to go and there were many days where I would have rather been anywhere other than stuck at home with a crying baby. I craved breaks from her, even if they were only for 10-15 minutes. But when I would get those breaks I would feel so guilty for wanting them, like as if though wanting a break meant I wasn't a good mother. It took me a little while to finally be okay with wanting breaks and watching this video made me feel so even more. Wanting breaks doesn't mean I don't love my little girl. If anything, those breaks allow me to miss her and want to be with her even more.

I encourage you to share this Reflections of Motherhood video with other moms you know. It is guaranteed to touch all hearts in the way that they need to be touched.

Not So Favorite

At her last doctor's appointment, Dr. Randall told me that we could start feeding Mallory rice cereal from a spoon. We had already been giving her a little bit mixed in her bottle during her last feeding before bed but it was only a tablespoon at the most. The very first time we did it she knew something was different with her bottle, but she reluctantly drank it anyway. Now that she's able to sit with some assistance the doctor said it was time to try the spoon instead. Though I'm looking forward to this milestone I know it means things are about to get super messy and require a lot more time. Bottles are easy and quick with little to clean up afterward. 

My mom and Tom were in town today so I thought it would be a good time to give the spoon a try. I know my mom loves seeing Mallory experience things, and first time moments even more. We put her in the infant seat, strapped a bib around her neck, rolled up our sleeves and went to town. Unfortunately she barely ate any of it. It took me about 10 minutes just to get three spoonfuls in her mouth. And out of those three spoonfuls I put in her mouth ninja style, she maybe swallowed one. She gagged, pushed it out with her tongue, even sneezed a little out; anything to not have to swallow it. She looked so disgusted. Although our first attempt at rice cereal from a spoon wasn't a total success, practice makes perfect. So we'll continue to try her not so favorite method of rice cereal until she figures it out and learns to love it.

Lashes

I am so envious of my daughter's eye color and lashes. Everyone always comments on them, and who could blame them.

Slouching

Mallory is starting to get better at sitting up on her own but still needs our assistance. For the first few minutes when you let go of her she'll sit there pretty steady. Then she'll slowly start to wobble back and forth or side to side until she falls over. Don't worry, I'm a good mother and make sure that my hands are there to support her back down. But every now and then she'll fall forward and not be able to get herself back up straight, sitting there slouching to the point where her face is almost touching her toes. And from the look on her face I know she doesn't like it. So what do I do? Keep her uncomfortable for just a little bit so I can grab my camera and take a picture. What a meanie I am sometimes, yet I know I'm not the only mom who would do this. She has to learn how to keep her balance somehow so struggling in an uncomfortable position for a little bit is just part of the learning process. Good thing babies are really flexible because if I were to try this I would be in a lot of pain.

Four Months

Mallory turned four months old today and unfortunately it wasn't the best day for her. Poor little girl has a cold and on top of it she got her next round of immunization shots this morning. I thought for sure they wouldn't give them to her because she was sick but he said she was fine because she didn't have a fever. Of course she handled the appointment like a champ, only crying from the initial prick of the needles.

We've experienced some big milestones in the last month. Her biggest was starting daycare at the Kindercare just down the street from us. Though she's only been there for two weeks, she seems to be doing really well with the transition. She's even started sleeping through the night again, which I think is partly due to being in daycare. With other babies around and lots of toys to play with, she has a lot to keep her stimulated all day. On the flip side, she already got sick. Not sure if she got it from me or one of the kids at school, but either way it's a milestone that breaks my heart to see. Luckily her disposition is still positive, but you can tell that she feels super crummy and it scares her a little bit. She does this little whimpering noise which I've figured out is her way of just wanting you to touch her so she knows you're there. It's adorable. I think she's already figured out how to turn the charm on to get more attention; smart girl!

At about three and a half months she learned to roll over from her tummy to her back. She will sometimes show signs of going from her back to her tummy but hasn't figured it out all the way yet. She can sit up with your help and stay up on her own as long as you have your hands there for her to bounce off of like bumpers as she still is figuring out how to keep her balance to stay sitting up. Sometimes she'll lean forward too much and get stuck, face just inches away from her feet. I'll have to try and get a picture of it as it's pretty comical. I'm sure she doesn't appreciate it, but I can't help but chuckle. She still loves her changing table and now seems to talk and scream much louder than ever before. I love to hear her talk and wish she did it more often. The changing table and usually in the evenings is when she chats the most. I've even noticed that she talks to Jody more than me and it secretly makes me jealous a little. At the same time it's so heartwarming to see her turning into more of a daddy's girl. 

Her hair still doesn't seem to be getting longer but I have noticed that there's more of it so at least it is starting to grow. I look forward to when I can put clips and bows in her hair. She's up to 15 lbs and 25 in long, falling in the 80th percentile for both. I still don't totally know what that means, but to me she's perfectly proportionate. We started giving her rice cereal in her bottle at night. Dr. Randall told me that we can now try feeding it to her on a spoon so she can start getting used to eating from one. Once she's mastered that we can move on to veggies. I know it means messier feedings but I can't wait to see how she reacts to the taste of veggies. I hope she got my taste buds and likes vegetables; Jody doesn't care for them so I'll be fighting a battle to get her to eat them if she's like him. 

We love this little girl of ours like crazy, and that love grows more and more everyday. We're very blessed to have her in our lives. We thoroughly enjoy sharing her with all of our family and friends, thankful to have them as our support team. We're adjusting to this parent thing pretty well and are having so much fun exploring each day with Miss Mallory.

Sharing Doesn't Always Equal Caring

Though we're taught at a young age that sharing is a good thing, I'm currently going through a situation where sharing doesn't always equal caring. I'm sick and I know for a fact that I got it from someone in my office. Last week was my first week back at work and I ran into at least a handful of people who were either coughing up a storm or literally came out and told me they were sick. By the end of last week I could feel my body being invaded by the evil germs. I immediately started taking Zicam and did so throughout the weekend hoping to nip it in the bud before it turned into anything, but I was too late. Monday morning, sickness burst through my doors and made itself right at home - just like Mr. Mucus from the commercials.

It's been a long, long time since I've been sick. Not since October 2009 have I been reminded how much being sick impedes your life. I guess I was due. But that doesn't mean I have to like it. In fact, I hate being sick more than ever before in my life now that I have a child. I am crossing all of my fingers and all of my toes that Mallory doesn't catch it. I've even resorted to not kissing and cuddling with her the past couple of days which isn't fun when she's as cute as she is. So not fair. I also hate that it's preventing me from training for my race. I know that taking a few days off of running isn't going to ruin what I've built up thus far but once I'm in the groove of training mode, it kills me not to run. Normally I would just continue running but I have to get better much quicker now that Mallory is around.

Now let's go back to my point earlier about sharing doesn't always equal caring. I totally understand that in reality, when you get sick you can't always take time off of work. Sometimes you're too busy with projects, may not have any PTO, a client meeting or conference call. All great reasons. However, when you're really, really sick - like when people look at you and start trying to get out of your breathing radius - and you can't stay home, I think it's only fair to others to at least stay in your office as much as possible. Sharing your germs with others is not very nice. I was kind enough to stay on the opposite side of the table at my client meeting today and then went home early to keep my germs as quarantined as possible. Let's hope that all this resting and vitamin popping I'm doing pays off and I get better; pronto. Especially because I miss kissing this face:

Date Night, Crab Feed Style

Last night Jamie came over to watch Mallory while Jody and I went out for a date night, crab feed style. We met up with our group of friends at the Placer County Fairgrounds where the crab feed took place. I don't recall what organization the fundraiser dinner was for but from the looks of it, they made out like bandits. This particular group of friends we don't get to see very often so it was really nice to get everyone together and have a good time.

We were in a rush to get out of the house and as a result came a little unprepared. We didn't realize that our admission tickets didn't include any drink tickets which had to be purchased separately. Not a big deal, except that they were $3 for one ticket and we only had $4 between the both of us. Luckily I had my bottle of water so at least we were able to get a beer with it. Because of our cash-less situation we also couldn't partake in the raffle prizes. Though not winning a tool set from the local hardware store or a gift certificate for a SpeeDee Oil Change didn't make me want to go home and cry. Next year we'll make sure to come prepared with cash though.

Once the crab arrived we all dove in like a pack of wolves devouring a carcass. It was so delicious. Crab is one of my favorite foods and I don't get it often so I made sure to eat as much as my stomach allowed. Of course getting it out of the shell was a feat but so worth it. It was funny to see everyone hold up their prize with pride when they were able to get a big chunk of crab out; as if though no one else knew what a piece of crab looked like.

We all had a great time last night; catching up on stories, trying to figure out how to use the flimsy bibs that were provided, making fun of each other as if though we were all siblings, getting really serious when it came to raffle prize time, putting dot stickers on our foreheads, interrupting each others conversations with random questions, and attempting to whistle with our fingers. You know you're having a great time when you get away from your kids for some adult interaction only to act like a kid yourself.

January's Channeling Martha Moment

Okay, so I'm a little behind with this one. However, I did do most of the project in January so it counts in my eyes. I'm just finishing it up and blogging about it in February. My bad; it won't happen for the project I do out of February's issue. For some reason the month of January totally slipped past me as if though it were a ninja. I think it was because I knew it was my last month before I went back to work so I was trying to squeeze in and soak up as much as I could. But even in the hustle and bustle of the month, I was determined to stick to my goal of channeling Martha.

I was contemplating between a couple of different projects in the magazine before I decided on the one that I chose. January's channeling Martha moment was from the Good Things section. Though the actual craft was to create a New Year's greeting for those who didn't send Christmas cards - which I did - I tweaked it and turned the greeting into a thank you note. I got the paper at Michaels and chose a variety of patterns that were within the same color palette so the notes would compliment each other when grouped together. Everything else about the project I followed according to the magazine's instructions; very easy, very quick to do (except when you're a new mom!), and very stylish. I love that you don't need an envelope, especially since the paper is so beautiful the last thing you want to do is hide it. I will definitely continue to use this creative idea for future notes as it's a fun twist on having just plain white paper stationary.