Sleeping through the night.

No work to do... I shall blog!

Miss Caroline Quinn has gotten so good at sleeping through the night. I'd say she sleeps completely through the night about 50% of the time. She wakes up once, nurses, and quickly goes back to sleep around 25% of the time. And then there's that other 25% that we dread... happily awake baby nights. Where she would much prefer to smile at mommy and daddy than be sleeping at 3am. But, if we dare leave her in the crib smiling, she cries. This kind of night usually involves her waking up, me nursing her, me trying to put her back in the crib, her staring at me with a huge grin that says "I'm not sleepy, I need more foodssss", Josh feeding her a bottle in bed while I attempt to [unsuccessfully] go back to sleep, and Josh spending the rest of the night on the couch while Caroline hangs out in her swing watching cartoons and eventually drifting back off to sleep. But, these nights are becoming more and more rare, and will probably become nonexistent in the near future.

What's odd is that the better Caroline sleeps, the worse Josh and I sleep. Last night, Caroline slept completely through the night. I had a hard time even waking her up this morning (little one had rolled onto her tummy in the middle of the night and was pleasantly snoozing away, and kept sleeping once I got her into our bed for her breakfast). However, Josh and I slept horribly. We were both tossing and turning, constantly taking turns kicking a cuddly Ellie off the bed (as much as I love her snuggles, miss space heater needs to sleep on the floor sometimes), and we even had the pleasure of cleaning up Tollie puke in the middle of the night (oh, the joys of having pets).

This is after my attempt to wake her this morning. Sleepy head!

This is becoming a regular thing. On nights that Caroline sleeps for ten hours straight, we are constantly waking up. On nights that we sleep great, Caroline decides to be happy baby at 3am. Part of my lack of sleep is the strange dreams I have. I don't usually remember my dreams, but I remember these oddly vivid and realistic dreams. For example, I will dream that Josh goes to get Caroline out of her crib to bring her to me so I can nurse her. Then, I will wake up and he'll be asleep next to me and Caroline won't be in my arms and I will freak the eff out. Like, I mean freak out. Josh says I have screamed on occasion. I will search the bed for her, go into full on panic mode, and then finally glance at the monitor to see that she's still in her crib sleeping peacefully (the monitor has this ticking line on the screen, which tells me it's sensing her movement in the crib). After all of this, I will have a horrible time going back to sleep. I have been having dreams like this since she was born (when she slept in the cradle, I would actually dream that I was nursing her, and then I'd wake up and see her sleeping in the cradle and I would honestly not remember if she had nursed or not). Silly maternal instinct weirdness is messing with my precious beauty sleep! Not cool.

Anywho, we are a super proud of Caroline for being such an amazing sleeper. We just need to re-train ourselves to properly sleep!

After she finally woke up. Leaning back is so one month ago.

On a side note, Caroline ate her applesauce like a champ last night! When I was getting her dressed after her time splish splashing in the bath, she was making chewing motions with her mouth. So, Josh went and set up her food, and I went to feed her. She promptly opened her mouth for the spoon, and ate almost the entire two ounces (of course, half of that ended up on her chin, but it was still awesome). She let me know when she was done by keeping her mouth shut and pushing the spoon away with her hands. She's a smart little thing, and a food lover like her mommy! Tonight, we'll try a different type of food... hmmm, bananas? peas? prunes? carrots? We shall see!

Where did the weekend go?

Seriously, guys. How is it already Monday? We were a bunch of zombies this morning and so not ready to start the work week. Even Miss Caroline was a sleepyhead and wanted to go back to bed. Alas, I am at work, Josh is at work, and she is at daycare.

We all had an amazing weekend!! I loved getting off work early on Friday, as it means I got to pick my baby up early from daycare. We enjoyed the weather on the front porch until her daddy got home from work. She had her bottle, and I had mine. One was formula and the other was beer; I'm sure you can figure out who had which! We watched Netflix and just enjoyed the sunshine.

Snuggling on the porch with mommy.

We went on a family shopping adventure on Saturday, going to World Market, Best Buy, and Babies r Us. Miss lady was a good girl during the shopping adventure, but she got pretty fussy in the Babies r Us parking lot, so she had her lunch in the car. Saturday was a big day for her; see her "weekend achievement" list below to see why! 

After splish splashing in the bath!

We went for a long walk around the neighborhood on Sunday, which was the perfect way to enjoy the gorgeous weather. Josh and I could have kept walking, but the dogs were getting hot and tired and we didn't want Caroline to get too much sun. We walked about 2.75 miles, so that's not too shabby. I have dropped a couple pounds on the scale since last week, so hopefully this diet and exercise are paying off and it's not just the scale being silly. We had a great lunch at Momo's on Sunday. Josh had pizza and I had smoked wings with celery and carrots, and a delicious brewsky! Caroline loved sitting outside and stared at the trees in amazement.

No, that is not her beer.

So, she has been hitting milestone after milestone these days, and I swear she learns something new daily. Here is just a sampling of this weekend's achievements: 

• She ate APPLES! She actually really enjoyed them, a lot more than the rice cereal. She actually started opening her mouth for the spoon, and a couple times ate the entire bite without half of it ending up on her chin. It was absolutely adorable and I am so proud of her.

nom nom nom nom nom APPLES!!!

• She has started imitating our movements. We were playing in her activity saucer and I started "dancing" to the music by moving my arms around. She would watch me until I stopped, and then start waving her arms around. Saturday night, she was in her swing and I was on the couch. She was staring at me (one of her favorite past times), so I waved at her. When I was done waving, she lifted her arm and started trying to wave back. Josh then waved at her, too, and she waved back at him!
• We worked more on her standing because she really enjoys it. We got out a storage tub and draped quilts over it to soften the corners. She stood on her own (with a few "falls" - I of course caught her before she actually hit the ground) for a very long time, filled with grins, giggles, and squeals of delight. I swear she is going to be walking before she crawls.
• She rolled over from her tummy to back multiple times. She still kind of struggles with this, because she can't seem to get her arms out of the way. But, I propped her up on her elbows and Josh laid on the floor next to her, and she flipped herself around to get him. She was so proud of herself!
• We officially moved her highchair into a "big kid setting" meaning it's nearly upright, because she loves sitting up. We, of course, have to buckle her in all of the time now, because she tries to grab her feet constantly, and that would be a disaster if she was not bucked. I think she loves this new setting and feels like a big girl.
• I believe she has officially become a side sleeper. Our doctor says as long as we put her to sleep on her back, it's fine if she rolls herself into a more comfortable position, so that's what we do. Every time I placed her in her crib this weekend, I put her on her back. She would immediately kick her legs up and roll onto her side. Sometimes she'll lay there for a few minutes chewing on her fingers before drifting off to sleep. At around 3am this morning, after I fed her, she flipped onto her side and immediately began to snore (yes, snore, she is very congested right now, poor thing).
• She played in the activity saucer for thirty straight minutes, meaning she supported her head comfortably for that long, and most of the time stood with very little support. She had a blast!

Her daddy took her to daycare today and is going to try to pick her up early to hang out with her. She loves showing off her daddy to her daycare friends :) 

PS: Monday, you stink.

What I cooked this week.

Per my earlier post, here is a weekly installment of "what I cooked this week" - meant to be my weekly foodie post. Rather than making a new post every day, I'll just summarize my cooking at the end of the week. We'll see how this goes! Shall we start with Saturday? OKAY!

Saturday

As seen in the below image, I made a lot of food for dinner on Saturday. We were expecting company, but they had to cancel at the last minute. So, please do not judge us when you see how much food I prepared. These are steak kabobs with green peppers, red onions, zucchini, and portobello mushrooms. I marinated them with Worcestershire sauce, browning sauce, garlic, salt, and pepper (basically I grabbed everything that looked yummy and mixed it together) and then Joshua grilled them. I served them with a side of tiger dill sauce (sour cream, horse radish, and dill) and rice pilaf. They were delicious and made great leftovers for Sunday's lunch!

Sunday

I couldn't think of anything to make Sunday evening, so the husband suggested chicken broccoli casserole. I was feeling quite lazy, so he even went to the store to get the ingredients! Chicken, broccoli, cream of chicken soup, mayo (sorry, food friend, for saying that curse word), curry powder, bread crumbs and cheddar cheese were all mixed together to make this tasty dinner. Not exactly healthy, but it was easy and made the husband happy! It made me delicious leftovers for Monday's lunch!

Monday

We made burgers on Monday, ground beef mixed with this stuff. They did not look pretty, so there was no picture taken. I ate mine without the bun (bread is not a food I love). I ate mine with a side of brussel sprouts, and fixed tater tots for Joshua (I may have eaten a couple!) - easy weeknight meal for us!

Tuesday

I made chicken enchiladas! My food friend, Jessica, gave me the idea and told me how she and her husband make them. I used chicken, whole wheat tortillas, enchilada sauce, black beans, and cheese. I thought they were delicious, but don't think the husband was a fan (he probably prefers the unhealthier boxed version I make, le sigh). At least it made yummy leftovers for lunch!

Wednesday
When I left my office, I had no clue what I was going to make for dinner. On nights like that, I usually end up in the premade food section of Fresh Market. The only thing on sale that looked good was burgers, so we ended up having them for the second time this week! They were blue cheese burgers that Joshua cooked perfectly. I ate mine without the bun (as I have stated, I'm not a big bread fan) with a little bit of mustard on the side. I made tater tots for Joshua (I practiced amazing self control and did not sneak a single tot) and sauteed asparagus tips for me. Josh said the burgers were too blue cheesy. As a blue cheese addict, I fully disagree and state that being too blue cheesy is impossible!

Thursday
I made this for dinner and it was SO GOOD. Mine differed a bit from the recipe in two ways: 1) I didn't get bone-in pork chops; I just got thin cut chops that cook faster. 2) Smarty pants Kaitlin had a brain fart in the grocery store and thought scallions and shallots were one in the same. So, my version included scallions (and honestly, I can't imagine it being better the other way). Joshua loved this dinner and gave it the "make-again" stamp of approval. We had mixed veggies on the side. Since this was actually a pretty small dinner (note to self: .6 pounds of meat does not fill up two people), I totally ate a cupcake. Or two. But look how small they were! I photographed my thumb with them to show the size, and apparently to show off my need to repaint my fingernails.

Friday
Steak night!! Joshua grilled some NY Strips, and I made tiger dill sauce for dipping and broccoli and orzo. The steak was perfect! The broccoli and orzo was good, but not really anything special. 

Have an amazing weekend, everyone!!! Baby girl is snoozin' in the swing and I'll probably be in bed within an hour. I'm such an old lady :)

The Boogie Monster!

Miss Caroline Quinn is indeed a boogie monster! Poor little girl is so congested and has so many boogies, I have nicknamed her the boogie monster. Mean mommy? Probably, but it's fun. She hates the booger suctioner, though. That disgusted look she gives me when I try to feed her with a spoon? It's even worse when I try to suction those boogers. Poor baby.

I have decided that she is a creeper, just like her mommy. About 4 days out of the week, when I go to pick her up, she is sitting in a swing just staring at all of the other babies. For the past two days she has only taken one nap in the morning at  day care, and I swear she spends the rest of the afternoon creeping on all of the other babies. She likes people watching, just like her creeper mommy! That's my girl :)

Yesterday, she rocked one of the outfits I bought her at the consignment event. $3.00 outfits are awesome. I think she looked absolutely adorable, if I do say so myself! She outgrows everything so quickly, there is really not much point to spending much more than that on an outfit. I did buy her two dresses on clearance at Target for $3.50 each. They're size 9 month, so at the rate she's going she'll probably outgrow them within a week.

Ahhhh, it's the boogie monster!!!

One of my True Loves.

A friend of mine (I'm sure anyone who knows her can guess which one) has brought to my attention that my blog needs more food. She misses my Monday blog posts that basically talked a little about my weekend and a lot about my food. I love food. It's one of my true loves. My husband thinks I'm crazed. I think I'm just a person who enjoys fine dining. SO, I think my blog should involve more food posts mixed in with all of these adorably necessary Caroline posts.

I had hoped that my scale had been lying to me all this time about how much I weigh. I am still stuck at that sad number, which is fifteen pounds above my pre-pregnancy weight. Despite my healthy, well healthier, eating habits, I am stuck. I had a doctor's appointment this morning and they confirmed that my scale is not lying to me. It is a very honest scale and I no longer like it very much.

With that said, I am going to start truly eating healthier. I have been stalking my favorite food blog all morning to obtain healthy recipes and I'm going to start actually making them! AND perhaps even blogging about ones I liked! The problem with a lot of these healthier recipes is the cost of making them. I feel like I could go get a fine meal at the Outback for the same price as the groceries for these recipes. So, I'm going to try to make healthy, budget friendly food. This food has to also please my hungry husband, who isn't a fan of some of the healthier, meat free food I make. The food also can't take too long to make, because I am a working mom who loves to snuggle her baby at night instead of slaving over a stove for hours. Healthy, budget friendly, husband happy, quick and easy food... IS THIS EVEN POSSIBLE? I do not know, unnecessarily capitalized question, I do not know. BUT I WILL FIND OUT!

So, in conclusion, expect more foodie posts mixed into my blog. I have none to share at the moment, so because seriously, no post is complete without some sort of photo to look at:

MY BABY IS A STANDING MACHINE!!!!

Memories from the Beach!

In four weeks, Caroline and I will be on our way to Hilton Head, SC to spend almost a week with my family! This is the longest vacation I have had in a long time. It will be the first time Caroline sees the ocean and feels the sand between her toes. I am thrilled. Sadly, the husband will probably not be able to make it (we're still keeping our fingers crossed that something will work out and he can come with us), because the Public Defenders like the push their entire caseloads onto his desk, and he has three trials scheduled that week. Darn them!! At least he can stay here to watch our kitties and pups, although he'd much rather be at the beach with us. At least he'll get a week off for Barcelona!

Anywho, in honor of the beach, I figured I'd share some old family images from Rose family beach vacations from the past. Some are hilarious (especially old ones of Joshua, oh my goodness). Enjoy! (as always, you can click on the images to see them larger)

MYRTLE BEACH, 2004

Best pictures of Joshua ever.

ANOTHER MYRTLE BEACH VACATION, 2004

AKA tons of pictures of me and my sister.

OUTER BANKS, 2004
Thanksgiving fun!

OUTERBANKS 2006

Apparently I skipped 2005? That is sad.

OUTERBANKS, 2006 AGAIN

This time for Thanksgiving!

MYRTLE BEACH, 2008

Apparently 2007 was skipped, as well.

MYRTLE BEACH, 2009

The one where I drank with my sister for the first time.

OUTERBANKS, 2012

When my parents found out they'd be grandparents.

Ah, memories :) TONS of photos will be taken in a month. Caroline's first beach visit will be well documented!