mama's got this

The groove. I'm starting to get it. Starting to feel just right. This motherhood thing is a crazy rollercoaster, and just when you've got it right, it throws you a left hook again. But for this moment, I'm going to say that I feel good. Don't get me wrong, there are a million transitions going on, constant worries, more busy-ness than I can normally handle. I have cried, lost my marbles one too many  times in the past 6 months, but been the happiest, most proud, most full of love mommy in the whole world. Yeah, I said 6 months. [We'll address that later] I knew it would feel good, but I never thought I'd want to just bite those little cheeks ALL DAY, EVERYDAY. And kiss those lips. And smell that breath. Oh man. Nobody could have explained to me how hard motherhood could be; but nobody could have explained to me the feeling of motherhood, either. The intense LOVE that you have for your little lumpa lumpa squishy joy.

Feeling fresh in the form of retail therapy and spring flowers.

Renewed love for motherhood comes when you still have time to slip in some blueberry pancakes before the princess wakes from her slumber.



You can't replace moments like this.



She has a very busy schedule. Exhausting, really ;)

 Girl is wanting to sit up and crawl. Forget the rolling over stuff :)

 
I love your little rolly wrists and your cankles. And your fat toes. And the way crud gets stuck in between your fingers. And your new lean-into-mommy's-shoulder-with-shyness when somebody talks to you. I just love ya!!

favorite

Place to be.

Girl in boots.

Sunday morning.

Little girl, wrapped up snug.

solids

Remember I was saying we introduced rice cereal last weekend?

Well...

SHE LOVED IT!!

I mean, um, she hated it.

And loved it!

And then wondered why we were torturing her slowly.

And then begged for more.

And then wondered how we could be doing this to her.

Mean parents.

And then she almost fell asleep.

Oh well, we'll keep trying them :) Pretty sure she got at least 4 bites!

new

The fun thing about having a little runt around is that there is "new" all the time. New experiences, new faces, new little hairs sprouting up o'top a little girls' head. Last weekend we pulled out this thing that my SIL let us borrow.

See the position she is standing in? She stood frozen, just like this for a good 10 mins. I don't think the concept of "jumper" has quite hit yet :) But she did like to be upright and look around.

Here's something new: almost thumb-sucking. She has been expirementing with it for the past week or so. She can't quite get her hand to stay in the right position for long enough to make it work though.

First daddy's-tummy-sleeping since she was a newborn. He loved every second. I loved every second.

New: try to escape from the confines of the Bumbo seat. Sometimes I think she is just going to get up and walk away.

New: French kissing mommy. She totally leans in with mouth open. LOVE.

***

We spent some time at Grammy and Grampy's this weekend. Andrew made Chicken Cacciatore since our chef is out of service for a little while (love you mommy!). We watched some baseball. It was a nice relaxing evening.



Grampy love.





Kisses o'plenty.



And for the last new: Solids. Yes, we tried some long-overdue rice cereal. Pea has been grabbing at our forks for at least a month and getting excited at the smell of dinner time. She's ready. Mom wasn't. But I'm over it. So here we go. On our way to becoming a big girl. Stay tuned :)

Spring, sunshine, and finally taking the stroller out

Spring has sprung!

We finally got out (I was beginning to think my child would never see the outside world) and went for a walk! It has been so beautiful out and I'm so glad we had time to actually enjoy it. We tried a few times during the week, but by the time we looked outside and were done with dinner, etc. it was too dark. I took my no-nap girl out for a stroll. Here she is super grumpy :)

The sun kissed little toes for the first time. I was walking the fine line of letting her skin get some sun and letting her skin get toasted for the first time.

After about 15 minutes, our sun strolling did the trick.



Why is it that babies look so cute with wide-angle lenses? This girl is gonna give us a run for our money.

 Mama begging for another roll over. She gets really frustrated when I lay next to her and try to get her to do it. It's so true that babies do things on their own time.

 Her new favorite game is to see herself in the mirror and smile and coo and lean in. It's so cute.