6 Month Milestone

We survived! Sometimes I am not sure how we survived sometimes and I hardly remember some (most) nights, but maybe that is why people end up having more children. Not this lady :) Time has flown by and sometimes I wonder how she got to where she is at and look back a few days and she was only just starting to "talk" to me. We have determined that the ONE thing my child got from me was my personality which means when she is 14 she is going to live with her Nana...ok Mom? This weekend my brother graduated from high school and on the way to dinner my husband and I were talking about our child's future. Not gonna lie, I tear up every time I even think about Kindergarten let alone her graduating. Oh boy! I also mentioned how I always wanted a boy and never pictured myself with a baby girl, but I truly think God knew what he was doing because she is the apple of my eye. That girl has my whole heart and now I don't know what I would ever do with a boy now. I am at the point where I can't decide if we should buy an actual video camera or just keep using my trusty iPhone? I capture things like her playing with our dog, trying new foods, and her pooping. Yes, you heard me right, I am not sorry it is so cute and funny. Plus I may need blackmail for the future, remember she acts like me! Haha I love capturing her sitting up, crawling, and now trying to pull herself up to stand. We are so over just sitting, she thinks she is bigger than she really is. Why do they have to grow so fast? If I could bottle up a stage/age it may be this one right now. What does everyone else do? Buy a camcorder or not??

I made another round of baby food Saturday and her favorite one at that. 1/2 avocado, 1/4 pineapple, 1 banana, and 1/2 container of Yo Baby pear flavored yogurt ( from Whole Foods). Blend and freeze. Super simple and to use the all of the goodies, like yogurt and avocado, make another batch :) Oh and my brother licked the spoon clean after I was done...he is 21. It's seriously that yummy. Her second favorite food....pizza crust. Don't judge, she loves carbs like her daddy plus her Pediatrician said to do this, oh but add butter to it (which I don't do). I am not Paula Deen. Most of you know that I have a garden and my awesome hubby built me a new raised garden so I could plant more goodness. I love everything about it, but now I have another itch that I am trying to NOT scratch. I may want chickens...only 2 of course but someone please talk me out of it because I can't seem to leave the idea alone. Thank you in advance. My husband would appreciate it also. Baby proofing is becoming a constant task these days and I swear she finds the smallest pieces of nothing before I can even blink! I feel like I will never be able to move any furniture in the future because it will be all bolted to the walls or strapped to the floor! Would it be bad to use the dog kennel as a corral? Kidding. Who needs to exercise when you are chasing a crazy baby? And as far as leaving her unattended in her Mama Roo....

I think our question is answered about that one. Time to rid of another baby item :(. We had our 6 month photos taken this month by Sarah McConnell Photography (she is awesome) and I swear I leave a photo session feeling like I just put in 12 hours at work. I mean seriously the things I do to get her to smile...turd. Listen, I pull out all of the stops and by all I mean ALL. So embarrassing. One of my favorites is for some reason I started saying "Scooby Doo" in the voice of the character and she laughs most every time, but I sound like a buffoon. I also wonder if in her tiny little head of hers she is secretly cracking up at the fact that I am clowning around yelling her name, clapping my hands, making every noise and face you could imagine to make her laugh? She probably knows what she is doing and laughing inside at me. Well baby, mamma's got news for you....it won't be the last time I embarrass you :) Huge thank you to Sarah for joining in on my madness to get that perfect picture.

Copywright Sarah McConnell Photography. To whine or to wine? We do both. Maybe 6 months comes with whining, I would not bottle this part up, believe me people. I started teaching her simple sign language at 4 months old, which is too early, but she knows what they are but can't quite figure out how to coordinate her movements yet. Not a genius yet, but close :) If she can't get a toy, she whines, if she want's another bite faster than you are going, she whines. Oh and I put her in a dress the other day and it inhibited her crawling, she threw a holy hell fit until I took it off. Whoa! Is this normal or do I really have a diva on my hands? So therefore this mamma loves a glass of wine on occasion! My current favorites are Simi cabernet and La Crema chardonnay! Ahhhhhh bring on the whine or wine. Cheers! My absolute favorite things about her being this age is when I sing to her she instantly gets a smile on her sweet face and I get to snuggle her still without her pushing me away. Almost every day since she was born I sing "You are my Sunshine" to her. Oh these are some of the days that I will never get back but I hope she always remembers. So before the Bachelorette (for a good laugh, follow @Possessionista on Twitter) comes on, I am making some brownies (from the box of course because they are the best) and pouring myself a glass of wine to celebrate this weekend being over, and cheers to a 7 p.m. bedtime. Ahhhhhh

Birthday Weekend

Oh I used to count down the days until my birthday arrived but the older you get you try to balance out the days leading up to the day with cocktails! At least I am still hanging on to my 20's....by a single tiny thread :) I am a girl who likes to celebrate the whole week leading up to my birthday, spoiled I know, blame my Mom. It's really a great excuse for whatever you want that week, try it but don't tell your sig.other I told you too ;)When I first met my hubby he couldn't remember if it was the 3rd or the 4th...so he refers to it as May turd. Nice huh? Whatever works I guess and he has never forgotten the day. Also people assume he won me over with lavish gifts. Think again. He won my heart with a cheese grater, you heard me right! He knew I loved to cook and he is very uhhhh let's say eclectic. That has to be one of my favorite qualities about him, anyways never again has he bought me a household object for any gift, he knows better. That same grater sits right next to my sink this very day.

The best "non gift" thing I got was my lovely child sleeping in 5 hour incriments. Yeah yeah, poo on you people whose child already sleeps all night but my child must just love me more because she wants to see me more often. Kidding :) Oh and let's not forget the other one....SHE IS TAKING A BOTTLE!!!! I couldn't love this face more right about now.

Opening day of the downtown Des Moines farmers market was Saturday and what a perfect way to start my day. Awesome weather, sun a shining, and baby all strapped in her Baby K'Tan wrap. I will not add to the mess of dogs or a stroller, much too busy and my dog would be another dogs lunch. Breakfast was a Farm Boys burrito oh and a cinnamon roll from Java Joes for later. Hey it's MY birthday.

Some of my favorite actual gifts I received were jewelry from Stella and Dot (love), a new purse (thanks to my love), and Birkenstocks (oldschool kicks). I have been wearing these shoes all weekend! I forgot how comfy they are. Call them what you want: Jesus shoes, mom shoes, old, or ugly, these babies are all mine to wear :) Don't mind my big fat toes creeping in the photo!

Dinner/date night Saturday with the hubs was awesome! How do people live without family close by?? My Mom is a saint. I picked to eat at the new Eatery A in downtown Des Moines off of Ingersoll. Arrived at 6pm ( close to gray hair special time) and put our name in. A 40 minute wait, but sans baby, I would wait for hours. We stood at the bar and I ordered my first martini since baby, a Pompeii Rising. Perfection.

The atmosphere is airy, relaxed, and current, if that makes sense? Contemporary style with a mix of the old using barn boards to contrast. Great windows, lighting, and a patio to please all ages.

For dinner we ordered a few things to try of course and we were not disapointed at all! We started with chicken croquettes, the hummus plate with pickled veggies, and our waitress picked the Sambusak. Her pick was actually our favorite! Get your own order because the plate only has 2 and you may want more :) We agreed from all of the reviews we had to try the wood fired pizza. #5 was our pick, lamb gyro, feta, pickled onion and raita. Don't worry I googled almost everything I ordered, under the table of course :). This pizza was BOMB, yes I am yelling!

Dessert was on the house thanks to my loud mouth husband telling them it was my birthday...I picked the Salted Caramel Budino which was like a caramel pudding, heavenly.

After dinner I was rolled to the car. We will be back! Sunday was my relaxing day, just taking in all of the weekend while enjoying one last day with my family. Who am I kidding? My birthday is long over once it actually hits, that is why I tell you to celebrate the week before :) Sunday was laundry day...with my helper.

And a trip to Whole Foods for goodies to make baby food for the month. I tasted everything I made and why don't I remember my food tasting that good? I was tasting all of it! Kale, green beans, potatoes, and parmesan, what's not to love?

All in all it was a great week and Facebook has a way of making you feel like 100 people really care that it is your special day! Thanks to everyone for making my weekend awesome :) Until next year....

Baby Kissing Craze

http://youtu.be/_L03lX5AuBk For those who have not seen this video on my Facebook account and want a good laugh...here you go. I turned on the camera to hear her sweet giggle and what I got was so much more. Happy Friday! Everyone have a great weekend. Happy Easter🐇

Bringing up Bebe My Way

Let's go back to before I had a child....I was going to be the best mom, do everything right, be that parent that everyone envys, have the smartest and most well behaved child in the history of babies. Duh because I had never had a baby so how could I ever understand the reality of raising a baby? I read the book Bringing up Bebe: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting by: Pamela Druckerman. Sounded great, achievable, and ideal so why couldn't I be THAT mom? I can. I would casually talk to my mom friends about how I was going to accomplish this task and be that fancy French parent, heels and all :) It became an ongoing joke, my friends would say to me how they couln't wait until I had a child so they could sit back and watch. One friend even bought me snack cups for my baby shower because I said I was NOT going to give my baby snacks, they don't need them according to the book. They should eat meals just like us. Right? I would love to think that I am still a great mom but ladies....this mom is gonna use snacks as blackmail, bribes, and silence (when she can start eating them of course.) But I am already washing up those snack cups for future use. I give up. One thing I have not let go is the way I dress. No friends, I did not take on the yoga pant wardrobe, never have, except actually going to yoga class. I swear it is the only way I feel human is if I continue to pretend I got sleep, got a shower, and had a warm meal, but it's all an act. I may look cute in the process but I am starving, dirty, and the bags under my eyes are covered with concealer. I kind of win. I swear my child is trying to win every Untapped badge available, if only there were one for breast milk not beer. I can feed her 20 minutes before we leave or I can try and squeeze in a feeding in the parking lot but for some reason she waits until the most inopportune time to want to eat. You name the place, I have breastfed there. Every mall-tapped, Smokey Row-tapped, Palmer's Deli-tapped, oh and Chocolate Story Book-yet again tapped. It was awkward at first because I try not to draw attention to myself but now...we whip it out just about anywhere. Sorry not sorry people. If you had to listen to crying instead, you would be begging me to make it stop. So you are welcome :) For those following my bottle saga (Breast or Bootle blog post)...it is still a battle of wills. I try daily but I am home all day with her and I choose peace over screams and she wins, I cave and the boob she gets. At my caffine fix mom date this morning, my friend suggested the MAM bottle, it worked for her so I guess we will be borrowing one of those now to give it a whirl. Add it to the list, why not right? Oh, and in my search of trying to replicate a boob in bottle form, Joovy, who has a nipple like your so called Boob bottle? (Please don't send me pictures if you do.) She wins.

The car rides are still painful with screaming and crying from start to finish, we are lucky for a silent ride. It is so painful that I bought an iPad case for the car to hang over the seat so she can watch her favorite Baby Einstein movie EVERY car ride. Seriously, how can this precious thing be so viscious? Geeze! What 5 month old gets to watch a movie every car ride? Spoiled much? We will see if it even works, hurry up Amazon and ship my package my sanity is dwindling away. I bet those French mothers are covering their eyes and ears over this one. Shopping with the baby is also painful. Come on child you are supposed to love shopping! She wants to be held and see everything, or wants to sit up as if her car seat doesn't sit up far enough. So she gets held the entire time so I can have some silence during my walk. I even went as far as asking the lady at Von Maur if they had baby care so I could actually try something on for once. They have everything else so why not? She kindly held my baby so I could try on clothes and spend some money. Too bad she caught me trying to sneak away and leave her with my baby (Kidding.) I will admit, when I see kids on those leashes I cringe, but next thing you know I will have one in every color and animal they sell! She wins always! People remind me daily that "oh little girls are so sweet now, just wait until 12 or 13 years old." What exactly am I waiting for? It gets worse? Aye ya aye! I am totally in for it and my mother would proably agree:) Paybacks. The new thing I am now struggling with the whole only child syndrome thought. Yes, she has siblings but they are older and it isn't the same. Babies relate to the whole baby talk thing. I YouTube babies and she talks to them, it is so cute. Is she socialized enough, is she going to be the sterotypical introvert nerd? Oh the stupid things I worry about. Sooooo....I signed us up for a class at the local library. Singing, clapping, and sitting in a circle with other babies and gaurdians. She seemed to like it but oh the things I do now with my free time is comical, the next thing you know my car radio will be nursery rhymes and I will know every word to every song, but I will still look cute singing it by golly! Haha good Lord. You should hear the amazing sounds I can make trying to entertain her 24-7. It's impressive.

Yes, I know she is only little once and it's only for a short while, but if you can not vent or laugh at your awesome parenting skills along the way, admit your faults, and try something else, what fun would it be then? The best part about these memories is that a year from now I will look back and wish that those problems were our only "issues" again as they will seem so minimal. But in the moment, right now, it is a monumental battle with my parenting knowledge. We will see who wins next time :)