Barley there in July

Well at least I am getting one in here before the end of the month....right? Write! Where are we at....almost 10 months old now...crawling, pulling up on everything, which equals many bumps and bruises -- and lots of questions from folks at work! (just kidding) My nights are now frequently dotted with late trips to Lucia's room to find her standing in her crib, gripped onto the bars like she is in jail, wailing at the top of her little lungs. Why? you ask. Who knows, I say! Maybe her binky has run away, or it is too dark, or she had a bad dream, was lonely....the list goes on. Needless to say, it is usually a little cuddle that does it and she is back to dreamland for another couple of hours. Bed time was easy at 6 months. You would think it should stay that way now that she is older, wiser if you will. But I think it is the wiser part that is messing it all up. The girl knows what she is missing! Just like her father she seems to be unable to reconcile that sleep is just as important as what might be happening outside on our creepy street at 2am. Lets all wake up and take a look! She yells from her crib. And if we can't do that, just come get me anyway, maybe I can pull your hair for a bit, or Maggie's tail. There must be something better to do than sleep in my crib all night long!! Coommmmmeeee ooooooooooon!!!!! My friend Brian tells me that we only have a short time before the piercing wails turn into "Maaaaaammmmaaaaa! Come get me!!! Paaaaaaaaaapa!!!!" Oh joy. Joy of joys. Won't that be a good day. Ha! I'll let you know....

Almost 9 months

June is almost over. Lucia will be 9 months old on July 1st meaning that her 1st birthday is really just around the corner. Jesus. It goes so fast. I mean fast people. Faster than those gals at the rollerderby can skate. She sits up, scooches around on her knees, rolls all over the place (no more hanging on the couch alone!), eats real food and I SWEAR -- says Mamma. She isn't even nursing anymore which is a whole other layer of heartbreak that if I talk about makes water come out of my eyes, a thing of which I am not fond of. My baby isn't really a baby anymore.

Just last night, her "will" as my friend Hannah calls it, reared its head big time. She has learned that there are certain cries that get immediate response...if I had a video I would post it....because now, now she will make that cry when you leave the room, and then look to see if you are coming back. If you stop, she stops, if you continue, so does she. Lovely.

Feet

I had to share something that you'll have to look forward to with pregnancy — your feet grow!!! I know! What?! Right? I had heard that, but didn't really believe it because all of my old shoes still fit once the swelling at the end of my pregnancy went away. Well, the gym shoes that I have are from when I played soccer with in college, so they are a little old, and pretty much falling apart. Anyway, I went to get some new ones and here is how that went:

Store lady: "What size should I bring you?"
Me: "Oh I am usually between a 9.5 and a 10." (Big already mind you!)
Store lady: "Why don't I measure you?"
Me: "Oh sure, it has been a long time."
(I look down at the measureing thing and then...)
Me: "Wow! Am I really more like a 10.5!?"
Store lady: "Nope. You are an 11."
Me: "What!?"
Store lady: "It is probably from having the baby (with a smile)."

Lucia was there with me giggling and laughing at the fact that her mother's feet are now a size 11. Lucikly they don't grow with each pregnancy, just the first. And I thought you should know that. ;-) I would post a photo of how huge my feet look in my new shoes, but it probably wouldn't fit on the page. And my camera is broken again...maybe that is a good thing.

What Happened to April?

Seriously. What happened to that month? I swear that just yesterday I was getting all committed to writing here on a regular basis and then this morning I woke up and realized I didn't even write once in April. Lame. Totally. Lame. So now I again will make a deal with myself (boring to deal with the devil, what is that thing going to threaten me with? Working full time while waking multiple times a night to a fussy baby? Throwing cereal in my face? What?! Yeah, hes got nothing on Luci) that I am going to be diligent. Shit, if I can get online and play a little scrabulous with my friend Ronika every night I can certainly get my lazy ass on here and write about it! Right!? Okay --

Barracuda updates:

My fabulous daughter can now - sit up by herself, eat solid foods (watered down rice cereal and oatmeal...really not that solid), sleep through the night (when she chooses to), grab her feet and put them in her mouth (something I haven't been able to do since high school), and blow raspberries. For those of you new to the baby jargon, she sticks her funny little tounge out and goes "thhhbbbbtttttt". It is cute. Except when she just ate.

Here she is on her first adventure in the swimming pool! She is getting so grown up! 7 months old and counting...still no teeth, but when all you eat is goop and breastmilk they are a little overrated.

Cheers to hoping this isn't the only entry on here this month.....

Bedtime success!!

So Lucia slept in her crib for the first time last night!!! She has been sleeping in a cradle in our room since she was born -- well, since she was like three weeks old. For the first three weeks she slept on me. Great for her, terrifying for me. Hence the move to the cradle.

Anyway, I decided that there was going to come a time soon that I would have to bite the bullet and get her into her own bedroom and out of ours. I am not sure why but last night seemed to be the night to do it, but it was. Prior to bedtime routine time (which really just consists of eating liking a pig, getting a new diaper and then being wrapped in a blanket ... her, not me) I switched all the blankets out from her cradle to the crib so she would have something familiar.

Around 8:30pm after gobbling down 6 ounces and burping in my ear we were ready. Luci was rubbing her eyes which is her new number one cue that it is time for bed. You have a pretty small window to get her down successfully before she is "overtired" and then fights like hell not to go to bed, even though she needs to go to bed. Right -- eye rubbing -- we walked upstairs, wrapped her in her nightime blankie, paci in mouth, and down in the crib. I turned on the monitor, kissed her goodnight and left the room.

And stood outside the door for the next 10 minutes listening to her settle in. Then it was quiet.

Fighting the urge to go back in and check on her I went downstairs and settled in for a little late night Law & Order marathon. Right about verdict time I hear a squeal which is immediately followed by crying that if translated would mean, "It is so dark! Where am I?! Why aren't you here with me? Get your ass in here noooooooowwwwwww!!!!!!!!" After a little soothing and the paci being located and back in mouth she corked off again no problem.

At 10pm I went to bed. I brushed my teeth with the bathroom light on, set my alarm while listening to music, and fell into the lightest sleep of my life. She woke up a couple times, needed to eat, get her paci back in her mouth, and of course, make sure someone would come when called. All in all, it was a success. And man did it feel good, all be it strange, to be able to move around in my room without having a heart attack if the floor squeaked when I had to get up and go pee at 2am.

Elephant babies

So last night we watched a Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom on the Animal Planet about desert elephants who live in Namibia in the Namib desert. Being a new mama myself it was pretty impressive to watch what these elephant mamas do to care for their babies. Most impressive is that a baby elephant has to drink up to 4 GALLONS of milk a day until they can properly digest grass, bark and all the other tasty treats the desert provides.

FOUR GALLONS!!!! And to think that I am tired of trying to produce 16-18 ounces a day. Kind of puts it in perspective.

Elephants are so cool. And matriarchal, which makes them even cooler.

One: the number of posts I have this month so far.

Two: the number of times I have thought about posting this month.

Three: my goal number of posts for April.

And finally, Four: the number of carrott sticks I told myself I have to eat before I can indulge in something sweet.

Cheers to trying to lose the baby weight....