Milestones.

 

Look how strong I am, guys!

Caroline's Milestones

My little lady is now four months old and has hit so many milestones ahead of the game. She can "sit up" (in quotation marks because she never stays up for long before beginning her gangster lean), she can "hold her bottle" (also in quotations because she drops it pretty quickly, but the effort and understanding of how it works is there), she can blow raspberries, she can hold toys, etc. The only milestone she might be behind on is rolling over...

...or so I thought. According to the lady at daycare, Miss Caroline is rolling from her back to her tummy, something I have never witnessed at home. The daycare lady says she likes to stay quiet when babies hit milestones while at daycare, because she wants to keep it a surprise for the parents so they think the first time they witness something is the first time it happens. She says she only told me about this, because it's probably time to move the crib mattress down a setting so Miss Caroline doesn't somehow roll or pull herself out of the crib. I super appreciate her telling her that, because I would not have known it was time to move the mattress down and Caroline's safety is very important. But, at the same time, I am sort of bummed I missed it. At least she hasn't (that I know of, at least) flipped from her tummy to back. But she has a ways to go until it's officially time to reach that milestone, so I'm not worried.

I knew when I put her in daycare that I would miss milestones, and I'm actually okay with thinking that the first time I witness something is the first time it happens... for most things. The idea of missing her first steps or her first words makes me really sad, though. I really hope those milestones are reached while both Josh and I are watching, and if they do happen at daycare I don't want to know.

We did hit a huge milestone last night, which is probably my favorite to date: she slept through the night! I feel like the most well rested mommy in the entire world at the moment. Usually, she wakes up between 2am and 3am for a feeding, which can often last up to an hour depending on her appetite. Not last night! She fell asleep in her swing around 8pm (I fell asleep on the couch around 8:30pm; it was magnificent) and Josh moved her into the crib around 10:30pm. I woke up at 5:30am this morning and realized I hadn't yet been woken up by sounds on the monitor. Even though the monitor told me it sensed movement, I still peaked into her room to check on her. Little one was happily curled up on her side in the corner of the crib (nowhere near where Josh put her down to sleep). I actually had to wake her up this morning to feed her before daycare. I'm so proud of her. I hope this becomes a regular thing :)

Mommy's Milestones

I have posted on here about trying to get back to my pre-baby body, which is still a goal of mine. I mentioned eating better and working out. Well, I have been eating better but still haven't figured out where to find the imaginary extra hour in the day to spend working out. I have been choosing healthier options (i.e.: instead of ordering a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit at Dunkin Donuts, I order the turkey sausage and egg english muffin) and trying to eat smaller portions. I am a bit of a pig and love food so much I just don't know when to stop. A lot of the time, if there's food on my plate, I eat it... even if I'm full. I just love food so much!

Anyway, I hit a milestone of my own this weekend. There is this pesky pair of size six (or four, I am honestly not sure) American Eagle skinny jeans that have been hiding away in my pants drawer since early pregnancy. They stopped fitting long ago. And I don't just mean "I can't button these" not fitting, I mean "I can't get these up past my thighs" not fitting. Guess what, guys. I pulled them out of that drawer this weekend, slid them up my thighs, and buttoned that pesky button. THEY FIT. I am so freaking excited about that. Now, I just need to work on that evil baby pooch...

It's strange, though. My clothes are noticeably fitting me better, but the number on the scale remains the same. I honestly do not care about that number (although, it is a bummer). I just want to tone what I have, and get rid of the pooch, before the beach in May and definitely before Barcelona. Spring is bringing warmer weather (except for today, brr), so I need to be better about walking around the block with my girl. Note, when I say "walk around the block" it's not like a city block; our "block" is 1.6 miles long. I just need to be better about going for walks and, eventually, even running around the block (I run like an idiot, though, so I'm not sure how realistic that goal is).

Back to the Monday Update Routine!

 First things first: my baby is four months old today. A third of a year! WOW.

Gross, it's Monday. That means I'm at work. I drove Caroline to daycare this morning and she talked to Eeyore in the back of the car (her current version of "talking" is squealing, squeaking, and screeching). It was hard dropping her off at daycare this morning because she was so cute and so sweet all weekend.

So, let's make this one of my "Monday Update" posts. I haven't had an official one in quite a while! Obligatory: "Mondays suck" - okay, I'm ready to blog now that I have said that.

Fridays are my favorites because most of the time I get to leave my office early and go pick up my lady. Once I picked her up from daycare, we went to Homegoods, a local boutique called Loli and the Bean, and Fresh Market. She is such a fun shopping companion. She just sits in her stroller and smiles at me.

"Shopping with mommy is THE BEST THING EVER"

I got myself dinner at Fresh Market (Josh grilled bratwurst for himself) - chicken stuffed with portabello mushrooms and broccolini. I also got cupcakes because 1) I'm a pig and 2) I was hungry and I buy random delicious things when I am hungry. We came home to a fun Easter box from my mom, complete with candy and an Easter outfit for Caroline! We spent the evening eating, watching The Walking Dead (a series we recently started on Netflix; Josh loves his Zombie shows), and snuggled with Caroline. 

Red velvet cupcake... heaven.

Saturday, Joshua made us eggs and sausage for breakfast, with his assistant Caroline in her chair plane (this is what we call Caroline's high chair since it can fly from room to room. Get it? chair plane, air plane; I'm so clever). He then headed out to an archery competition while us ladies hung out at home. We played, she "talked" to her Memaw and Pepaw on the phone, she ate, and she finally nodded off for a nap

After chatting with her Memaw and Pepaw.

I decided to be productive. I have been complaining about the lack of furniture in Caroline's nursery (her changing table is overflowing with stuff due to the lack of surface space in her room), so I decided to take matters into my own hands. We have an old desk sitting in the garage, so I took it upon myself to move it into the house. Muscle woman Kaitlin carried it into the house, cleaned it, moved a super heavy chair out of the nursery, and then carried the desk down the hallway to the nursery. Holy cow.

I'm a BEAST.

Josh was quite impressed with my super human strength when he got home and saw this bad boy in the nursery. He was not impressed when I told him I vacuumed the nursery, since I accidentally had the vacuum cleaner on the floor setting and not the carpet setting. When will I figure out how vacuum cleaners work? Anywho, he shot in the competition and did really well. They didn't keep score due to the rain ruining the scorecards, but he had fun. We then went to Newk's for lunch, where I got my favorite salad ever (possibly second only to the Funky Chicken Salad at No Frill Grill in Norfolk). Look at this beauty:

SO GOOD GUYS, SO GOOD.

After that, Josh and Caroline went to the archery store to do some stuff that Josh explained to me but I didn't fully understand, while I did some shopping. We then went to Target and then home to relax for the rest of the day. We watched more walking dead, I lined the drawers of the desk, and we ate random stuff for dinner (potato skins for me, nom nom nom), and I snuggled with my Caroline Quinn.

SNUGGLES!!!!

Sunday, we realized we had nothing for breakfast so Josh braved the rain to get us Dunkin Donuts. He offered to buy me donuts but I said NOPE and he got me a healthy breakfast sandwich instead (baby pooch, be gone!). We lazed around the house all morning and decided to go through some old photos that were in the garage. We sorted through, I took pictures of the pictures, and he uploaded a bunch onto Facebook. Caroline and I then played peekaboo and had an awkward photoshoot and it was loads of fun.

Awkward morning photoshoot with my love.

We then decided it was time for a shopping trip. I was once again hungry (shocker) so I got some tacos at Tropical Smoothie. They were actually quite tasty, with a mango salsa, but way overpriced. The tropical-ness felt appropriate for the heat wave that had swept through Tallahassee. Little one had a blast while I ate. She loves sitting on tables and was mesmerized by the ceiling fan.

Happiest little thing ever.

We then headed to DSW to look at shoes. Joshua kills business shoes so quickly. He found a pair on sale for $20 which will now be his standard court shoes. After we got him shoes (none for me, whomp whomp) we went to World Market to get colorful knobs to put on the desk, which will be a project for next weekend). We then headed to the mall to get Josh another pair of shoes, his fancy Kenneth Cole shoes which will now be reserved for trial days. Caroline was a very good girl at the mall, but insisted on being held. So, we pushed the shoes around in the stroller and held her :) What a goof!

Fun at the mall!

We then headed home and enjoyed some brewskies on the porch (the 85 degree weather was amazing). I then headed off to Kohls and Publix while Caroline hung out with her daddy. We watched more Walking Dead, Josh ate bratwurst, and I made some delicious salmon and broccolini (thanks, Jessica the Food Friend, for the salmon idea).

YUMMY

Okay, it took me entirely to long to write this and add all of the photos because my work computer is AWFUL. I would like to throw it out the window, please. I guess I should work now, or try to... this computer is making everything impossible. I hope everyone has a nice week! We all have short weeks, as even Caroline's daycare is closed on Friday! Enjoy your snow, everyone up north!

Pregnancy Brain Turned Mommy Brain

When I was pregnant, I had a bad case of pregnancy brain. I was putting the milk in the pantry, I was forgetting the security pin to get into my office, and I pretty much lost the ability to properly form a sentence. I have a theory that pregnancy doesn't go away after you give birth. It sticks around and transforms into mommy brain. It could also be lack of sleep that creates this annoyance. I suffer from mommy brain (or just being a blonde, but we will pretend it's mommy brain).

I am in the process of getting my passport renewed so we can go to Barcelona this summer. In order to do this, I needed to get a passport photo taken. Simple! I got that picture taken last Wednesday. It "disappeared" a couple days later. I spent last night frantically searching the house, both of the cars, my purse, the diaper bag, everywhere. I spent this morning at my office searching all over my desk. No passport photo. Gone. I thought Wrangler ate it (we are suspicious that he ate another item, so I figured maybe he ate my photos, as well).

I didn't want to get it retaken because 1) what a waste of time, 2) what a waste of $12, and 3) an idiot turned my hair red when I specifically asked for blonde, and I don't want red hair in my passport photo. Unfortunately, I had to go to Walgreens during lunch to get a new picture. Luckily, they still had my old photo on their memory card, so problem #3 turned out to be a non-issue. It took forever because of a machine malfunction (see problem #1 above, ugh). And they charged me another $12 (problem #2, rawr).

Well, I paid, said goodbye, put my wallet back into my purse, and what do I feel? The freaking envelope with my original passport photos. WTF, mate? I looked through my purse about ten times last night and never once did I see this envelope. Luckily, the girl refunded me my $12 and probably rolled her eyes at me as I walked out (which I deserved for being an idiot).

Mommy brain, you are a pain.

Sorry, Wrangler, for blaming you, but I know you ate other things.

Little Irish Girl

I hope everyone had a lovely St. Patrick's Day weekend!! We had a wonderful one, and I'm not very pleased that it is already over :(

We went to a flapjack breakfast at Applebee's on Saturday. It was to support a local high school girl's flag football team (definitely didn't have one of those when I was in school). Josh's coworkers' have a daughter on the team, so they gave us tickets. It was delicious and we had fun showing off our Caroline :)

After our breakfast, we headed to the mall to see the Easter Bunny! We heard Caroline "toot" in the backseat and sure enough, it was a blowout. I cleaned her up in the Dillard's bathroom (luckily, the mall had just opened so we were alone in there). Josh had to get an employee to bring me a plastic bag for her dirty clothes (note to self: put plastic bag in diaper bag). Once she was clean, after what seemed like an hour, I put her into her adorable Easter dress (hand-me-down from her cousin, Lena) and we went to see the Easter Bunny. Caroline was so well behaved. She basically used the creepy bunny as a fuzzy lounge chair.

After seeing the Easter Bunny, we headed home for lunch and then took a walk around the block with the dogs. The weather was gorgeous. I whipped out shorts for the first time since giving birth and was very pleased that they fit me! We pretty much stayed home for the rest of the day in order to avoid the crazy St. Patrick's Day drivers. Josh grilled us some burgers for dinner and we had a relaxing afternoon. Caroline did decide that she was going to sit up on her own and oh my gosh, it's adorable. She tends to lean too far forward, though. The strength is there, but the balance isn't quite there yet. I almost cried watching her sit up on her own. She is growing up so fast.

Beers after our walk around the block!

"WHOA LOOK AT MEEEE"

Sunday was Caroline's first St. Patrick's Day. I got the corned beef in the crockpot in the morning (recipe called for 1/2 a beer, so I drank the other 1/2 at 10am - cheers!). Josh set out on an archery mission while Caroline and I shopped. Once Josh was back, we put Caroline in her adorable St. Patrick's Day dress that my mom sent her. She looked SO CUTE, especially with that little shamrock bum!

Caroline spent a lot of time playing in her activity saucer. She's getting SO strong and could support herself a lot longer than she could last weekend. She talked to me the whole time she was in there, and I caught some of her adorable sounds on video, here. Just look at this happy, happy girl:

I made my Irish man some corned beef and cabbage (with potatoes) for his St. Patrick's Day dinner, and GUYS, it was so good. I'm so proud of myself :) :) :) Here's a picture:

Holy Boredom, Batman!

I am bored, guys. There's nothing to do at work. I can't even make up anything to do. So, I will blog.

We have fun plans for this beautiful upcoming weekend. The weather? Both Saturday and Sunday will be sunny with highs of 81 and 75 respectively. YES, PLEASE! It may suck living all the way down here at times, but it really is a beautiful place to live (until the nasty summer heat hits, that is). So, moving on, we have plans this weekend. 

We plan to take Caroline to see the Easter Bunny on Saturday! Now, I "like" our local mall on Facebook and a couple days ago they posted a picture of the Easter Bunny. He is one creepy bunny that will probably give Caroline nightmares, but we'll give him a try. Look at this creepy thing, guys. You know that movie, IT, with the creepy clown? Yeah, this bunny reminds me of that clown. He's going to eat my baby!! Hopefully he doesn't inflict a fear of bunnies into my baby! I wish I could take a road trip to Norfolk, VA for her to see the Easter Bunny. The mall there has the Velveteen Rabbit and he's so cute. Maybe one day Caroline can see that Easter Bunny, but for now, she's stuck with this guy. Oh, well. Even if she screams out of fear, the photo will turn out adorable because she's just the cutest little thing in the world. There will also be an Easter Bunny visiting her daycare later in the month. Perhaps he will be a little more... cute.

This weekend also marks not only Caroline's first St. Patrick's Day, but it will be one year since we found out we were having a baby. See that picture on the left? That was me on St. Patrick's Day 2012 devouring an amazing dessert at Outback Steakhouse. Little did anyone aside from me and Josh know at the time, but that was a celebratory lunch. Earlier in the day I had found out I was pregnant :) Maybe we can blame that dessert for kicking in my sweet cravings throughout my pregnancy! Needless to say, no beers were consumed that St. Patrick's Day. This year, there will be beers consumed. Hey, beer helps increase my milk supply, so it's a worthwhile drink (as if I need the excuse). I'm excited to dress Caroline in a sweet St. Patrick's Day dress we just received from my mom. Pictures to follow, of course! I know Tallahassee always throws a St. Patrick's Day festival downtown. Perhaps we will take her there depending on her mood :)

Last night, I got my hair done for the first time since our wedding. Yes, the wedding that took place in August 2010! I know, I know... it's about darn time! An ULTA just opened in Tallahassee and they were advertising cut, color, and style for $55.00. Not too shabby if you ask me :) So, I decided to partake in this deal and get my hair done. It's now a bit brighter with some layers. See below (and please excuse my nasty red eyes - stupid allergies). I didn't get home until 8:30pm (my god it took a long time) and I missed my baby! I snuggled her when I got home before putting her to bed.

Caroline has been so fun lately. I swear three and a half months is the cutest age yet! She smiles ALL THE TIME, especially at her "milk machine" (me!). She sees me and just grins; it melts my heart every single time. And she is making the funniest sounds. She has this new screaming/screeching thing she has learned. She was talking to me on her changing table this morning and sounded like a Pterodactyl (sidenote: that is a very strange way to spell that word)! SO FREAKING ADORABLE. Josh picked her up from daycare and says as soon as she figured out she was there, she started talking to him and smiling. She does the same with me and it seriously just makes my day. I took her to Homegoods with me on Tuesday and she smiled at me the entire time. Most adorable shopping companion EVER. And just because no blogpost is complete without a picture of her, here are a few from the past few days:

Ready for St. Patrick's Day (Yes, that's a tag on it. Yes, I'm cheap)

Those hands are SO TASTY, guys!

Standing on daddy's lap. She LOVES standing up.

Sweetest little sleeper ever, ever, ever.

MY NEW TOY IS THE BEST THING EVER, GUYS.

Shopping with mommy in Homegoods.