Oh the Baby Weight

I'm starting to love Tuesdays, Wednesday and Thursday nights.  Selfishly those are the nights I drop NannyLu off at school and don't have to take her all the way home.  Meaning I get more quality time at home with the baby girl before bed time and hopefully meaning that once we are out of the 100s baby and I will be going for walks again as they have been put on hold during these temps. 

With a black stroller and 113 at 6PM it is not really conducive for long walks with a baby, but this momma is ready to get back to her wedding shape bliss and I'm doing it before the holidays and my 27th birthday in December.  I want to take family photos and I want to look my best in them. I was beyond thrilled when I opened my Weather Channel app to see that this Thursday seems to be our last day in the 100s for awhile and by next Thursday the high is only 94! No more heat excuse!

Everyone says it takes 9 months to put it on and should take 9 months to take it off.  Well we are approaching the 6 month mark so time to hit the ground running- pun in intended. Oh I crack myself up.  Luckily M loves her stroller and has been riding around in it since she was only a few days old.

Only a week old.

Almost a month old.

Weekend Fun

We had a wonderful weekend- Saturday M and I ran a couple of errands but mostly hung around the house until Brent got home. 

We did some grilling both nights and last night we went to the Keith Urban concert with friends and family and had a great time. I felt guilty (see there is some more guilt) leaving M at home with Nanny Lu but I try to remember that it is just as important for Brent and I to get out and do things on our own as well.  Luckily, it was a late concert so I only missed an hour of her day and of course she decided to wake up at 1 and 4 AM to say hello.  Needless to say Brent and I are both exhausted today.

Some really fun and exciting things did happen this weekend.  M officially rolls everywhere she goes and will not stay put.  We had to baby proof the house!  She things she is pretty big stuff.

 I finally got to make some baby food and decided to start her on sweet potatoes!  I think she is really liking it.  I am however mixing it with formula and not breast milk since supply is limited these days, but I feel okay about it so far.  I'm also giving her some water out of a sippy cup with her solids and she is doing really well with it, so I'll be purchasing more sippy cups this weekend!

And tonight a really fun thing happened.  I was giving her some sips of water out of her bottle and she just reached up and grabbed the bottle with both hands and took over!  I was so happy to have been the one who got to witness this first!

So much has changed in this first 6 months I can't even imagine how much more it will change before her 1st birthday.

The Roles We Play

This whole working mom thing is hard in the most non-obvious ways. I officially have so many roles in my life: Wife, Mom, House keeper, Friend, Account Executive, Sister, Daughter, Coach's Wife (a role way beyond wife) and I pretty much live in guilt, really. 

My role at work is work and when I'm in the office I am 100% there.  Even when I'm not in the office I still work- I'm known for responding to client emails on days off and at all hours of the night when they come in on my phone.  I've said for the past year now, if I can't stay home with my baby then I will be the best AE I can because I'm working for her. 

As for the other roles- I try to remember I can't be everything to everyone and the funny thing is I feel more pressure now then I ever did before adding Mom to my life description, I always tried but never felt pressure. Maybe because it was easier to handle the other roles without a 5 month old taking up 90% of my non-work time.

I leave the house feeling guilty I'm not there to snuggle her while she watches Micky Mouse Clubhouse. 
If I'm 5 minutes late to work, because M was screaming and I couldn't leave her like that, I feel guilty.  I come home at night feeling guilty I only get to spend a few hours with her before I have to put her to bed. 
I feel guilty when I find out she has learned something new, example rolling over, and I wasn't the one there to see it and celebrate with her. 

I live in guilt.  I feel really guilty when my amazing husband comes home at night and I have no energy left for him or if he showers and then realizes he has no clean britches to wear to bed, because I forgot to rotate the laundry.

I forget where I read this, but they suggested giving yourself one day to feel guilty about all of those things and then on the other 6 days of the week try to not let it get to you and eventually it will not be as strong- I'm not sure about that one, but I can try.  Until then I will continue to not go to bed before midnight so that I can accomplish all the things I need to do to feel better about it all.

How could you not want to give this little bitty everything and more!

She look so big in this picture especially in her footless jammies!!

Rocking the: "What happens at Grandma's stays at Grandma's" onesie.

And of course I had to make homemade sugar cookies for the very first game of the Season!

Go longhorns!! We are cheering from home tomorrow night as it is still 110 at game time and too hot for baby girl, but we are there in spirit and cookies all the way!

Pictureless Wednesday

Things to remember:

Baby girl finally rolled from her back to her tummy! We can officially roll all over!  I have yet to see this but Nanny Lu has witnessed it twice- I'm so jealous!

MG also started getting oatmeal at lunch time as well as in the evenings today.  My poor sister was running out of steam in the afternoons because MG was just not having it, we finally determined it must be hunger.  I read the book and she is showing all the signs that it is time to add more solids, mostly she was staring at us when we would eat and would even grab for things on our plate, nursing just did not seem to be filling her up like it used to.  This weekend I will make her first baby food! So excited- now just to decide what to make!

Oh and to top it off we had to move into some of the 6-9 month PJs because the others were getting to small.

5 Month Pictures

I have not been able to take month pictures on her actual birthday lately because for some reason something gets us off track.  So, even though we were a couple of weeks late and somebody was beyond cranky this weekend we ventured outside to try.  She doesn't look too happy in these photos, but sadly this is about the happiest she got on Saturday.  This is actually really sad, because my child is a ham.  This girl knows the camera and will automatically start "posing" and smiling.  It's actually pretty hilarious.

I could just eat her up! Oh and someone tried some kiwi today and loved it- and no it wasn't me!

Happy Birthday to Nanny Lu!

It's the B-I-G 21 for my wonderful little sister and Madison's Aunt, Godmother and Nanny!  Happy Birthday LuLu!  We love you so much and not a day goes by that we don't appreciate all you do for us.  You take care of our baby girl every day with so much love and a smile on your face (even on her crankiest of all days)- and for that we will never be able to thank you enough.  She loves you so much and of course we do too (even Bella)!

P.S. This is how I find them every day at lunch- passed out and snuggled up to each other!

It's Friday!

Well it is my Friday! I took tomorrow off of work to help the hubby get his classroom ready for the year and take a much needed 3 day weekend with my baby girl.  This just has me in the best mood ever, of course it helps that M has not woken for a midnight feeding since Monday and that my mom and sister showed up at my door this morning with Starbucks!  Feeling pretty refreshed today!

It's already been a full week so I can only imagine what 3 days with her will bring!

Bella now gives M her own bath after her Oatmeal.  M thinks this is a lot of fun and laughs!

M helped Aunt Liz do some shopping!

We are still loving our bites and now eating from our bumbo seat and not the  chair.

This picture might be the most heartwarming photo.  We have our little routine as a family.  Every night after M gets her bath, we get her into jammies, and I rock her while Brent sits next to us on the floor and reads a goodnight story.  Lately Brent has been working late and not home for this part of the night, and every night M will strain to look backwards looking to find him.  Luckily, tonight Brent was home in time to read her a goodnight story.  The whole time she did not take her eyes off of him and she just had the biggest smiles.  It just warms my  heart to know how much she loves him.

Happy Weekend!