Her favorite...

My sister has taught me a lot of "mom" stuff in the past few months. One of the best bits of advice was that maybe when my baby was fussy, she was actually just bored. So after that I started doing more things with Baby J in different parts of the apartment.

It turns out, one of her favorite places to "play" is sitting in Daddy's sink. It's quite nice because she gets the security of me holding her, without my back feeing her 13lbs. She has a mirror, shiny faucet, and lot of Mommy and Daddy's "getting ready" stuff to look at. Honestly, she' entertained there for a good 10 min most of the time. I just find it funny that my baby likes to play in the sink.

Daily Grind

So Mom is back to work this week. Well.. sort of back to work. I'm working 4 hours a day for a few weeks to give me some time to remember how to be a therapist. It's also nice because it also allows Baby J to get comfortable at school without having to be there all day.

The back to work/daycare experience isn't as traumatic as anticipated. Her teacher, Janet, is a very nice lady who takes care of 5 children in her home. She lives only a mile from where Mommy works, so that's convenient. Eventually it will be great because Baby J will have some friends to play with. It turns out that most of the current students are moving and all the "replacements" are also babies.

It is quite hard to leave my precious baby every morning, especially when she's happy and smiling at me from her carrier as I leave her on the living room floor at Janet's house. And when I pick her up in the afternoon, she doesn't smell like my baby, but instead a slight aroma of Janet's house. However, it's a necessary evil, and ultimately I'll be a happier mommy because I have some adult interaction for part of the day. But I guess my "no agenda vacation" is over and it's back to the daily grind.

2 month check-up

Baby J had her 2-month check up today. The doctor said everything looks and sounds great and Baby J is doing exactly the things she should be doing at 2 months. Then they gave her shots and her face turned a shade of red that I have never seen before. But all is "ok" for her now (she's still in shot-shock)

Here's her stats:
Weight: 13lbs 8oz (97%)
Length: 25in (>97%)
Head: 16.5in (95%)

So basically we have a large, very long, healthy baby (who will once again be happy when she forgets about the shots). I can't ask for much more.

ADVENTURES OF BABY J: baby j and the family photo

It was a hectic morning in Baby J's home. Mommy and Daddy were quickly putting on "fancy clothes" and Mommy was gathering Baby J accessories. Baby J couldn't understand why she had to wear her dress too. What was going on?

Mommy and Daddy eventually gathered everything and the whole family was out the door. On the way to the car, Mommy said, "Are you excited to see your friend Baby F's baptism today?" Baby J was quite content to finally know what the hustle was for and was quite happy for her friend's big day. She decided to fall asleep.

While Baby J slept in the pew by Grandma, Grandpa, and Mommy, Daddy stood up with Baby F and her family for the baptism. Afterwards, they all headed over to Baby F's house to party. Baby J had a grand ol' time flirting with Grandpa. Just as Baby J decided it was time for yet another nap, Mommy and Daddy decided it was time for family photo... not too bright Mom and Dad. They tried in vain to convince Baby J that family photo would be fun and she should smile for the picture. Baby J just wanted to sleep, and let them know her dissatisfaction with them attempting to make her do anything else.

But Mom and Dad got the family photo.. Baby J will just forever have to live with the faces she chose to make for it. :-)

HAIR!

So it's not exactly like mine was, but James claims Baby J has my hair. For those of you who don't know, my hair stuck straight up for the first few months of my life. My mother tried everything to get it to go down with no success.

Baby J's hair will eventually go down, but after her bath I am very quick to get a hat on her head... this is how her hair dries and stays for a few days.

So this is what it's like to be a mom.

Well, I've been a mom for almost two months. As most of you mom's probably know, it doesn't 100% set in for a while. Sometimes I still feel like I'm just on the never-ending babysitting job. The kids cute, but when are the parents coming back? Well, I think I had a very "mom" moment this weekend and it didn't even involve Baby J.

This weekend our little family of 3 made a trip down to Virginia Beach for Aunt Katie's bridal shower and bachelorette party. I was able to have a wonderful time with the women-folk while James so graciously watched Baby J all day. (that's not my mom moment). Sunday morning we woke up and made it out to Cousin K's soccer game. She had quite a showing on the sidelines to support her team though the tournament.

During the game one of the players hurt her ankle. All the other girls patiently knelt on the floor as the coach ran out the the crying girl in the middle of the field. James' sister Nicole made a comment that she tears up every time one of the kids gets hurt. And noted how it's been like that since Cousin K started playing. Well... I didn't fess up to it then, but I was freaking crying. It seriously broke my heart to see this little 9 year old girl who I don't know and will never meet hurt her ankle. So I guess that's what it's like to be a mom. (And I thought the excessive crying would stop once pregnancy hormones were gone).

This is how I'll do it... and other things from the weekend.

So if you look at the post just before this one, you'll notice I've decided to go "storybook style." If there is a story I personally find somewhat funny, I"ll put it in story book style. I tend to be pretty boring otherwise. Hope y'all enjoy it.

Background to the story:
Baby and I were able to travel to Chapel Hill this past weekend while James attended a wedding. It was Baby J's first time meeting Uncle Woody and Cousin W. She had a great time, and Cousin W seemed to take a liking to her; sharing his all important Ernie doll! It was really wonderful to spend the weekend, and my first Mother's Day with my family.

Don't be too jealous of me and my sleepy baby. About 30 min after she f ell asleep at the truck stop, she woke up and would have nothing of the car seat. So we pulled over yet again and spent a good 45 min "bounce walking" around a parking lot until she fell asleep.

Adventures of Baby J: Baby and the Truckers.

It was a calm Friday morning. Baby J played with Daddy while Mommy diligently packed up the car. Today was the day Baby J would be taking her first road trip to Aunt Jen's house. Once the car was packed they said their good-byes to Daddy who was on his was to a wedding in Kansas, and hit the road. Baby J instantly learned that road trips are best spent sleeping, which is exactly what she did.

Around 10am, Baby J was hungry again. Mommy pulled off the interstate at the first exit she could find toward a "Subway" shop. Mommy was a little timid about this location as the Subway shop was located inside a truck stop. Luckily there was a church across the street, and church parking lots are usually empty on Friday mornings. Baby J enjoyed a second breakfast in the church parking lot and then played "stare at the baby" in the window of the church shuttle.

Well around that time Mommy realized she need a break as well, so she decided they would brave the truck stop. Mommy pulled the car into the truck stop and assembled Baby J in her stroller. As they entered the truck stop Baby J was wide eyed; there are so many things to look at in the convenient store of a truck stop. With her toothless grin she coerced the truckers to open doors and smile, something Mommy has never experienced when interacting with a trucker.

Once Mommy had her road trip snacks, she and Baby J headed back to the car. Baby J promptly fell asleep again in preparation for the continuation of road trip. It looks like she'll have many travels in her future.