Yeah, I'm that Mom...

OK.... let me preface this with saying I hate diapers. Yeah, yeah, who likes them, right? Well, I've heard of this thing called elimination communication. I've done a bit (like a spec) of research on it enough to understand that the point is to try to get your little one to tell you when they need to use the restroom. Well, I've figured it out with poop (she's a grunter...) but not with pee.

I need to preface this story with a couple other tales... last week, Nick had a few late days at the office. He wasn't able to be home for the bath, so I said I'd do it. Can't be that hard, right? So, normally after her dinner, he goes and draws the bath while I go into her room with her and strip her down. Well, wasn't going to leave the water running so I went and stripped her down, took her into the bathroom and started the water. As I did... I was talking to her and... what's that? Ah!!! She's peeing, all over me, all over the bathroom floor. OK. I'm now soaked in pee. I grabbed a towel, threw it on the floor and went to our bedroom to change. I stripped down and put on a bath robe. When we got back to the bathroom, I realized I needed to pee... ugh, so, I'm holding Jenna, while in my bathrobe and I peed. Nick rounds the corner as I'm holding J, trying to wipe and the water's still running on her bath. Needless to say, we all laughed.... I'm sure it was quite a sight.

So, fast forward to Friday. Nick is up with his Dad and brother fishing and I'm left to fend for myself for bath time once again (dude, Nancy, I know you're going to laugh at all this, I'm clearly not cut out for running the bed time alone). This time I stripped her down, let her play in her room while I went to start the bath. She had a pretty bad diaper rash so this was round 2 of naked tushy time to help clear it. I started the bath and went back to get her and.... a big wet spot. My darling child peed on the carpet. I grabbed one of the 48 burp rags in my possession (thanks to reflux!) and got it up, then took her into her bath. Oy...

Next up? Sunday night. Nick's still fishing... OK, I can do this. The water starting is clearly what's triggering her to pee. So, I went and got her little infant seat out, put it on the floor of the bathroom and stripped her down, sat her on the potty and started the water. No pee. She was more interested in the clacking of the seat on the tiles. I put the potty on one of our kneeling pads (for bath time... kneeling on tile = ouch!) to stop the clacking and was making the psssssss sound that I want her to be able to associate with peeing. Nope, still nothing... So, this is where my college education came in handy. I looked over at the bath, being filled with warm water, grabbed one of her toys that happens to be a cup, filled it with water and stuck her hand in and started saying pssssssss ... this is what I found.....

Yes, I cheated my baby girl into peeing on the potty. I'm sure I've ruined her for life. And, yes, I took a picture of the potty with pee in it. I really am that Mom (hey! in my defense, Nick missed it! I wanted to share with him and show him I'm not nuts!)

As for elimination communication, I'm currently reading a book on it. We'll see what I get out of it (if anything). I figure it can't hurt, right?

I'm at a loss for words...

A friend of mine lost her sweet baby Lydia Rose yesterday. I'm so angry. Sad. My heart aches. Echloe, you're in my heart.

10 month letter

Dear Jenna,

I've struggled with starting this month's letter to you. Each month, I am more and more proud to be your Mama, to watch you grow, to see you smile, to comfort you when you cry and to love you. However, with each passing month, I feel like I'm trying to put my hands under that hour glass, and stop the sand from falling. I wish I could stop time. However, with each month, I fall more and more in love with you. With your personality, your spirit, your heart and your presence so I really look forward to the next month. Quite the conundrum.

This month has been fantastic. I'll apologize to you now, because I've been shoving that camera in your face more frequently now than ever before. I got a new lens, and finally am understanding how to use the camera, and you're my favorite subject. I suspect it will be this way the rest of your life, after all, growing up with a shutterbug Dad (Pop!) I've been on the receiving end, and although you'll get sick of me snapping away, you'll look back at the images and, hopefully, be thankful.

You're so beautiful. I don't know how else to add to that sentence. I get stopped by strangers on the street to comment on your eyes. Most look at me and assume they came from me, but they didn't. You've got your Nanny's eyes. The light crystal blue that captivates me and makes my heart melt. I can only imagine what those eyes, coupled with a pouty lip and a toddler voice will do to me when I have to leave for work in the morning. I shudder to think of that day. For now, at least you wave bye-bye.

In terms of developmental milestones, you're crawling all over the place, you wave, you can now stand, and squat, and stand independently, you're moving around the house enough to get into trouble, but we don't have the heart to keep you from exploring. You've 'met' Vinnie, our chinchilla... and you've both starred each other down. We haven't let you touch him yet, because we're just not sure how he'll respond yet (well, to be honest, we're not sure how you'll respond, either). You also have 8 teeth (2 more popped out this month).

Your playing has kept us on our toes. You're starting to get into more of a groove with the sleep, the feedings, the naps, day care, weekend activities. You're a real trooper, and I must admit, we have been doing much better truckin along with you.

I can't believe you're 10 months old. I've started to plan for your 1st birthday bash, and it just amazes me. I keep flipping back through old letters to you, old photos and I can't believe how far we've come in such a short period of time. I can't believe you used to sleep all day, and wouldn't smile in the beginning... It just doesn't seem real. Time slips away so quickly, and yet, I can't wait for more...

You are the highlight of my day, each and every day. Whether I'm trying to wrangle you into a high chair at a restaurant and feed you, trying to get you to sleep, wishing you would want to snuggle with me, comforting you after you've toppled or just playing with you... you make me smile.

Smile and laugh out loud. I can only imagine how things will be in the future. I can see bits of attitude in you already. Irma says you're going to be like Lauren, one of your day care buddies, with just enough attitude to test the waters, frequently. I'm not saying I'm planning on that, but I will say that you do like to test the limits and boundaries often.

This month, I became a baseball widow. See, that means that baseball season is in full effect in our house. Daddy was so happy to dress you up for opening day (and for the Yankee's opener, and for the new Yankee's stadium premier, etc.) you've never spent so much time in Yankee blue. Last year, you were born during the season, and you used to snuggle with Daddy on the couch. You'd both watch the game (OK, Dad watched the game, you snoozed), and I'd catch myself just watching the two of you. So much has changed in so little time. And yet, now you and Dad still will sit on the couch and watch the game. Funny how that works, huh?

I have to admit, I snicker when I put you in dresses... it hinders you, just a bit, from crawling. But, on Easter, it backfired. I think it was that weekend you realized that you couldn't crawl in a dress... but standing was easier, MUCH easier... since then, you've been testing those little legs.

Also sometime this month, you started that whole cruising thing. I don't know when, but it started happening. You also learned to say the word 'cookie' thanks to the cookie monster Grandma & Pop got for you for Christmas. Words that come out of your mouth include: cookie, dada, gagaga, uh oh!, gu gu, gogogo along with many other phrases that I have no clue how to type. You sing yourself a little diddy, made up by you, in the car to entertain yourself.

You LOVE music. Your musical table, the xylophone, the maracas and shakers we have all over the house, music in the car, in the house, if there's a beat to it, you're dancing. You also love it when Daddy sings "There was a Dad who had a bean and Jenna was her name-O... J-E-N-N-A" (you get the picture.... Daddy's gonna kill me for putting that in here, but too bad)

You've also started to increase the amount of time in between the night wakings. You're only up about once a night, unless you're teething. This is one crazy ride, my dear. Thank you for picking us. Thank you for allowing us to experience this with you. I can't quite remember what it was like to not be a parent, but I'm certainly enjoying being one now.

Love,

Mama

Jenna's first Easter

It's Jenna's first Easter! She was so excited to be in her Easter 'duds' she was a little impatient with every one's arrival! Here she is, all dolled up, wondering where everyone else is.... (I took this opportunity for a little photo session... be warned LOTS of pictures ahead!)

Where is everyone?!

"Is Daddy ready yet?" She's looking down the hall...
"Nanny, Poppie, Aunt Heidi, Uncle Mike, Grandma AND Pop?!?! They're all coming! When will they get here!?!"

"Mom, you missed a spot on this window... lemme get it for you. WITH MY EASTER DRESS"

Still waiting...

Grandma broke out the bubbles that were in her Easter basket... She wasn't sure what to do with them, and was a bit irritated they went away just as she got her hands on them!

Greeting guests. (She waves now, have I mentioned that yet?)

Poppie reading her her Easter bunny book

She's dancin away! Super excited every one's there to watch.

Playing with Aunt Heidi.

This is after our dinner, she's super tired, a whole lotta guests and a whole lotta play can wear a girl out! Nanny was happy to hold her. Jenna was happy to play with her necklace.

One last bubble session with Aunt Heidi before everyone heads home!

There it is! Jenna's first Easter. We had a great time, the meal came out surprisingly quick and easy. Grandma and Pop were there, too but I didn't manage to snag them in any pictures (mental note for the next time we're all together!!!)

Jenna's really fun right now.

There's not much else I have to say beyond that... She's sleeping better (though I fear writing that out for fear of jinxing it!) She's also been super adaptable when naps are off. She's happy, healthy, has 8 teeth (2 popped out in the last week!) and just loves to play, play, play.

She's started waving, randomly. And also give 2-3 claps and then raises her hands over her head (think touchdown!). Adorable. Oh, and when I say Mama to her? She responds with "Dada"

Here she is... um, playing with tofu...

*sniff* I love this picture.

Jenna with her Ace Ventura psycho ward hair... Daddy snapped the pic. It's right before bath time, just after her pigtails came out ;)

My beautiful babe... on opening day!

Giving raspberries! Always out of the side of her mouth... and always with the serious face!

Stories, before they're lost... and a few pics

So, I've been meaning to blog about this for over 2 months now (yipes!) and I keep forgetting, or maybe I'm just hesitant to get it written down for fear that someone will try to tell me Jenna's first word was something other than Dada.

A couple of months ago, just when Jenna was getting mobile enough to get into trouble, we started setting limits on what she can and can't touch in the living room (or is it family room? I always get those confused... it's the one with the TV). One thing she's not allowed to touch is Nick's guitar (um, for obvious reasons, right?) So, she crawled over to it. We sharply said "Jenna, No." and take her hand and remove it from the guitar. This was repeated over and over and over (we tried removing her and distracting her, but the allure of the guitar was apparently too much for her). At one point, after removing her hand and saying "NO" again, she looked at me, angry, turned back to the guitar and yelled "NO!" I dropped my jaw, looked over at Nick and we both started laughing. We did hear what we think we heard, but I maintain that she has yet to repeat the word 'no' again, thus, it isn't really her first word.

The other story happened about a month ago (maybe less?) I'm in the kitchen making coffee (decaf for me, leaded for Nick). Nick's in the above mentioned room (family room!?) laying on the floor, Jenna's crawling all over him. All the sudden I hear "Ow, hehe, ow... OWWW!!!" I go over to see what all the commotion was about and see Nick holding his nose. I asked him what's wrong and he proceeded to say "She gave me a bloody nose!" She was examining his face and stuck her finger up her nose. He claims he thought she'd stop, only to discover she wanted to see what was up there. She found blood, apparently.

OK, so normally I save all my favorite pictures for the month end letter, but I can't wait on these. They turned out great. I'm super excited I picked up a new lens, and the results, thus far, have been amazing. YAY!

I just pulled her hair out of pigtails and she was rockin her mop-top

I really can't get enough of her little round booty or her thigh rolls!

Jenna and Kellen, hanging out, admiring all the leaves outside they would love to get their hands on.

Again with the booty and thigh rolls... the smiley flower bloomers were too cute to ignore!

Mama and her baby.


This is, by far, my favorite picture lately. I love her eyes, I love that she's not all the way in the frame, I love that her pigtails are in the distance. This picture never fails to make me smile, and I think it ranks up there with my other favorite shots: Daddy's girl and the Tutu shots