My Little Troublemaker ^_^

Visiting Mamaw and Papaw

Elainna and I went to visit my parents for a bit today. Dad installed a recipe program onto my computer for me (thank you, dad) and Elainna got to play with her toys at mamaw and papaw's house. Oh, and she watched Shrek. Again. I swear she will know all the words to that movie by the time she is one year old. We watch it quite a bit at home.
She also raided papaw's cookies, and mamaw's mountain dew. Well, she attempted the Mountain Dew. Let me say that if she would have succeeded, she would have been sleeping at their house tonight! Hahaha.


Woohoo, a cookie!!

Mmmm, trying to drink Mountain Dew...and trust me, mommy is sooo glad I don't know how to drink from a straw yet!

Now *that* was a good cookie!

Turkey Dreams and Spitup Reality

I woke up from a very hazy dream this morning (about Thanksgiving and eating an entire turkey by myself) to the sound of my sweet daughter's voice over the monitor. She was laying in her crib content as could be, talking to herself. Just that little babble that babies do. It's always such a sweet little sound. Just when you think you can't fall in love more with your little bundle, you do. Amazing and fascinating how much someone so small can take over your entire world, isn't it?

I pulled my lazy (and still half asleep) body out of bed and went in to see her. Honestly, I kind of wanted to go back to my dream. That was a darn good turkey...wonder what else I would have devoured on my own... There my Sweetpea was, lying on her back with her feet in her hands, talking away. We can give her any toy in this house and I am willing to bet that she would rather play with her toes. I was greeted this morning with a giant smile and coo of approval. (I had a bottle in my hands. She was happy. Ha!)

After a quick little conversation and a warm bottle to fill that little grumbling tummy, we did a quick diaper change--well, as quick as it can be when she rolls away from me--and played. Or rather, she played and proceeded to spit up all over her blanket, toy and hand, and I cleaned it up. She never noticed. She was too busy trying to stuff everything in her hands into her mouth. Apparently spitup just adds to the flavor. Yuck.

As of now, she is back in her bed taking what is going to be a very short nap. She is beginning to teethe, so those long naps I adored so much are beginning to fade. Wherever that darn nap fairy disappeared to, I will never know. I do know that if I ever find him, I am chaining his butt to her crib. :-)

Anyway, subject change!!
It's almost here: Thanksgiving. Yay! Oh, how I love this holiday. Good food, good family, lots of laughter and banter. I forget how much I look forward to it until it's almost here. Now with our little Sweetpea, it will be even better. She's old enough to kind of enjoy certain foods, and it has already been established that she is a fan of mashed potatoes. Wonder what her take on gravy will be?

No holiday is more comforting to me than Thanksgiving. The smell of my parent's house when all that food has been cooking is so comforting. Then that night, we can watch the annual lighting of a giant Santa Claus downtown. This will be the first year we go to the lighting. I want to take our daughter. (I want to see it myself being lit up, too. I've lived in this town for 15 years now and have never seen it when they light it up.)

Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks. I am thankful for my family, thankful to have such a loving and caring husband, thankful for the blessing God gave me: my little Sweetpea. I am thankful for the chance to be a mother, wife, daughter, sister, friend. I am thankful for so many things. How about you?

Early bedtime means Happy Momma!!

Long naps and early bedtimes are awesome!!!!! Seriously. I bet this is the first time since we brought our daughter home from the hospital that she has been asleep before 9:30pm. You can bet your happy little buns that I am relaxing and enjoying the quiet!

This won't be the longest post tonight. I feel like keeping it short and simple. My sweetpea is off of her antibiotics. Yesterday was her last day for them. I am sure she is glad of that--I know my hubby and I are! Giving her the medicine was terrible. I bet more ended up in the burp rags than in her tummy. It's alright though, because she seems to be doing wonderful!

She is going on 5 1/2 months old but has managed to go the next size up in her clothes...already. She is in 6 to 9 months. Geez she is growing fast! The Dr. said that she is 2 inches longer than most babies her age. She gets it from her dad! I am 5 foot 1 inch and shrinking. My hubby is 6 foot 2.

We found out that she does not like carrots at all. As a matter of fact, I have a bib that will prove it. It was purple at one point. I'm sure you can still find some purple under the orange that has stained it. So far, her veggies of choice are sweet potatoes and squash. Fruits are bananas, applesauce, prunes (eew) and surprisingly, mixed medely.

So yeah, that's all I have for the night. I will post a little more tomorrow. I'm going to enjoy the rest of my silent evening with a few chapters of a book before hitting the hay. G'night!!

Explosive Diapers: I did not sign up for this crap...

I have made the determination that explosive poopy diapers are the most horrible things ever. Worse than liver, worse than undercooked brussels sprouts, worse than the smell of a skunk that has just been hit. Worse than going to the freezer and finding out the ice cream you've wanted all week is gone...

Our daughter has a respiratory infection that requires the use of antibiotics. Great, no biggie there. I filled the prescription and proceeded to read the side effects. In there it said: irritability (great, it can't get worse than it is already), nausea (well, she's already puking...), and diarrhea (not a problem, she poops regularly. Maybe it won't happen. HA!)
Irritability remained about the same. She's five months old, so she has her moments. Nausea hasn't been an issue, and neither was the diarrhea until Friday. I woke up to a genuinely happy baby and thought, "Hey! This is awesome, she's feeling better!" We hadn't had any issues with the diapers...until about 11 that morning. I was sitting at my laptop typing away (I am working on a novel currently) when this God-awful smell hit me. I looked at my daughter, who was just sitting in her bouncer babbling away and flailing her legs. She looked at me and grinned...and then grunted...a lot.

I scooted closer to her to find that, indeed, that smell of 'dead animal up butt' was coming from her. Wonderful. I unbuckled her from her seat and the smell got about a thousand times worse. Now, I am not one to gag, but this smell did it. I can't even begin to explain it.
So, I laid Elainna down and unbuttoned the now desecrated onesie to find that the diaper she was wearing had exploded. I am not joking when I say I think there was more baby grossness (not a word, but I just made it up...) on her clothing, back and legs than there was in the diaper. EEEWW!
And she just laid there...grinning. I cleaned her up, got her bath ready and gave her a bath right then. Batime is usually reserved for bedtime. I made an exception. When I was finished with her (which took a while because I washed her twice...and she proceeded to splash half of the water on me while attempting to swim) she smelled like a fresh-non-poopy baby. No more poopy smell for her. Oh no. It was that clean, fresh, comforting smell of baby.
That stain on her onesie never did come out. I washed it twice in warm water with color safe bleach. To no avail, that ugly stain is still there. We've had no more explosive diapers *knocks on wood* and hopefully we will have no more while she is on her medicine. That was seriously the worst thing I have ever changed in my life. And I know when she really starts eating solids that it will get worse. Oh, joy.

I just wish I could have saved the outfit. Any tips on getting out a stain like that are appreciated! If I never have to change a diaper like that again, it will be too soon. Maybe the next one will be left to daddy...ha!!

I'm A Survivor of Mommy Separation Anxiety

I give myself a pat on the back--I survived the first real night out--without child attached-- for the first time in over five months. And I only texted my mom (who was wonderful enough to babysit for us!) once. Go me!! Ha!
I am a fan of music...loud music. *smiles* My husband and I went to a concert last night that consisted of Pop Evil (who was awesome, by the way) Red and Saving Abel . I give props to all of them. The concert was unbelievable. I think I enjoyed Pop Evil the most of all of the bands...when I wasn't worrying about my daughter, of course.

Now, I know the child is supposed to have the separation anxiety problem, but I never realized how much I would have that problem. I mean seriously, I felt like I was being a bad mom leaving my daughter, even though I know she was in perfectly capable hands. I could have used an anti-anxiety medicine at that moment. I hadn't felt that much anxiety since my wedding day. Even giving birth was easier. My husband thought it was hilarious at how anxious I was. Can you tell I don't go out much without my little girl? I think the longest I ever stayed away was five hours...and that was only because I stood in line for that long for the darn H1N1 shot...and I texted my hubby constantly. *bowing head in shame* Oh...and Elainna didn't even realize we were gone. No anxiety on her part. She was too busy entertaining my mother. :-)

Now with that said, my hubby and I were at the concert a grand total of one whopping hour before I sent my one and only text to my mother. It read: "She behaving? This concert is frickin awesome! The guitarist is HOTT!!! :)" (And I am serious. The one guitarist for Pop Evil is gorgeous!! Hey...I'm not dead...I still notice drool-worthy men. Anyway, back to subject here...) And of course my mother told me to just enjoy the concert. Which I did, of course.

We stayed through most of the concert before heading home. I was impressed. It was my first *real* concert. Ever. And I loved it. It was loud and I could feel the base from the bands reverberating in my chest. The music was wonderful. It was nice being able to go out and speak in normal language rather than motherese for a few hours. We may have to do this again. Soon. I think I have a handle on that mommy anxiety now. Maybe.

Now Introducing...

Hello to everyone out there! My name is Amber and I am new to the blogging world. I live in Northeast Indiana, and am a stay-at-home wife to my wonderful husband and mother of our beautiful five month old daughter.
I love to write. Usually it is just journaling, but I am working on trying to write a short novel. I am a sucker for a good book and a good fresh cup of coffee. I love watching my daughter grow. I feel so blessed to be given the opportunity to be a stay at home parent. I am your typical every day mom. I thrive on the chaos my daily life brings me.
Autumn is possibly my favorite season of the year. The colors and smells that come with the season are wonderful. The fact that Thanksgiving is in this season doesn't hurt, either. I have an addiction to sweaters, hence my love for autumn. Sweater weather is awesome!!
I spend my summers watching my husband race at our local track. He races open wheel modifieds at Baer Field Speedway, along with his family. I didn't much care for it at first to be quite honest(it actually terrified me) but it has grown on me. Now, I look forward to it each year. There's soemthing oddly calming about hearing the rumble of the cars. Yes, I know it sounds crazy, but for me it is true.

Well, I will cut this post a little short. I have a child who has just decided to wake up from her nap. She is attempting to Houdini herself out of her swing. The things my child has learned already. If she figures out how to undo the clip for her swing harness, I will be in deep trouble!