Being a Mommy

It sure has been awhile!

2011-04-27T06:55:00.000-07:00

Been bust lately, starting to miss blogging! Hopefully this post will open up my writing and memories enough for me to scribble down a few for you all : )

I will be writing more detailed things later, just a quick update. Zeraea started walking, turned a year old, is learning sign language, getting into EVERYTHING haha. She is too curious for her own good, actually as I type she is digging into the tissue box and pulling out all of the tissues then walking around with it...never gets old watching the things she does. Kevin and I made an offer on our first house, it was accepted and now the closing date is only about 9 days away, we will be moving to Holiday, FL. Zeraea will FINALLY have her own room which will hopefully mean more sleep for mommy. Oh yea, she still doesn't sleep through the night, waking up at least 3x and that is on a great night! For three days now she has stopped her nightly feedings, so maybe that is a sign she will start sleeping through the night : D Can you tell I am excited?!? I really really really want her to start sleeping through the night, after a year of no more than 4 hours a night, I am exhausted!! She has such an amazing personality, it grows and grows everyday. Kevin and her have gotten closer also, she reaches out for him, kisses and hugs him, says "dada", I love watching them together, my heart completely melts into a puddle of nothingness. She doesn't talk much :( but she is now learning sign lanuage pretty fast, just started it with her and she already knows "more", "banana", and "all done". I love watching her do it and know that as a mother, I taught her that :)

First Christmas!!

2010-12-26T14:02:00.000-08:00

Having Zeraea's first Christmas was amazing! She ripped right into the presents, then wanted to play with the presents till she saw another present to rip open. She even helped her Grandma open up a big present. She also tried to eat lots of paper haha. She loved her new blocks and balls, teddy bear and interactive dog (she keeps kissing them), her play house with a tunnel (she will actually go down the tunnel, I didn't thinks he would yet!). I loved seeing her have fun, she just loved it so much! She has been itching to get into those presents the past week haha. I love my baby girl so much! She is growing up too fast!

Park Play-date!

2010-12-23T19:09:00.000-08:00

Zeraea and I headed over to St. Pete today and meet up with some other Moms and their children. There were like 7 of them running around, it was adorable! The ladies were great, I enjoyed being there, even if it was a bit chilly at first ;) Zeraea had a good time though, she loved looking around at everything and watching the kids run around! She loved the swing, it was her first time, she was all smiles! :) I love my baby girly!

Mommy's X-mas Helper!

2010-12-22T19:22:00.000-08:00

Tonight as I was wrapping a couple of last minute gifts, Zeraea decides she wants to help me. It was cute! She grabbed the wrapping paper and began slapping it, moving it, roughing it all up, then tried to eat it. Then when I wrapped the present up she decides to climb on it and rip the bow I had just placed on there right off, over and over again! haha. It was adorable watching her play with those bows! She couldn't figure out why they were sticking to her hand! I then just took the wrapped gifts and put them under the tree, and little one crawls after me and meets me there and begins to start ripping off all the bows on all the other presents as well, one by one hahaha!! I guess she is excited!! :) :)

Sick Baby?

2010-12-21T11:31:00.000-08:00

I don't know if Zeraea is getting sick or not, I feel dumb. I should know something like that, right? Last night she was up about every 10 minutes just whining, almost like she didn't feel good. I took her temperature and it was 99.6, a little high for her. I checked again later on and it was 99.2, then this morning it was back to her normal 98.3. So I'm not worried about a fever, but I just FEEL like there is something wrong with her, she wants constant cuddles (which I don't mind), but she is so darn grumpy! She cries at anything and everything, it's so sad to watch. I feel so helpless and am not sure what to do. I am thinking it is her teeth since they have been bothering her for a couple of weeks, but never this bad. Kevin thinks she isn't feeling good either, just from her mood. Times like this makes me feel like a bad mom. I want to be able to help her or to know that she needs help. She is finally taking a nap, and hopefully she will take a good one cause she needs it, and maybe in return it will make her mood a bit better!

Zeraea's Scrapboook In Progress!

2010-12-20T16:12:00.000-08:00

1 month

2 months

3 months

Trip to Arizona July 2010- 3 months old

My Z-buggies Scrapbook is finally back in progress! It's hard to find time to do it but I am so glad I am. I love looking through all the old photos and seeing how much she has changed, it is a blessing. She has grown so much and has learned so much in the 8 months she has been alive, it is crazy! I love my little buggy so much! :)

Now 8 months!

2010-12-20T05:13:00.000-08:00

Haven't been on lately, wanting to start this back up. I have just been so busy, seems like the more she moves around the busier I am haha. So update on Zeraea, she is now 8 months old as of the 16th. She is pulling up on EVERYTHING, the couch, the entertainment center, the coffee and end table, etc. She is sitting up all by herself, and now using her arm to do so. She will walk if she holds your fingers. She is in 12month clothing, she is getting BIG!! I printed off pictures for her scrapbook yesterday, and when I was looking through them, I found myself glancing at her and just realizing over again how much she has grown and changes everyday! She is curious about everything too, she hears a noise and she has to look around and figure out where it came from. She says Mama and Dada. She is now starting to dance! (she loves to dance!). She will now grab the doggies toy when the dog is playing with it and they will play with one another, it is quite adorable!

Today I caught her by the X-mas tree holding a present, she is ready already! ALMOST! I am getting SO excited for her First Christmas, she has been wearing a pink Santa hat that says "My First Christmas" on it till Christmas :) She looks adorable in it and loves to take it off! I love my baby girl soooo much!

Never Too Late to Go Back Home...

2010-11-27T17:08:00.000-08:00

November 18th 2010- Hearing about the new TSA inspections at airports, I was worried about how long it would take to get through security on our trip to Indiana.The line was long, wrapping around behind Tampa International airports subway. I thought it was going to easily take hours to get through it all, but luckily, it didn't. About an hour later we were headed through the metal detector, skipping the full body scanner completely. We then grabbed our carry-on bags and headed off to our gate, first stopping at a store to get bottled water for her bottles.

I'll admit, I wasn't looking forward to trying to keeping her busy, on my lap for 2 1/2 hours while we were on the plan but once we were on the plane, it wasn't so hard. we got lucky and had the row of two to ourselves. I laid down one of the two blankets I brought, onto her seat and then sat her up in it and gave her a toy to play with. She often would go from her seat to me, playing a bit then wanting Mommy. I would slid up the blinds on the plane window and she would peer out of it, placing her hand on the window. The higher we got, the less interested she was in looking out as the buildings, trees, and cars fell from our sight, replaced by white fluffy clouds that reflected the bright sunlight.

Zeraea was really friendly with the ladies that sat behind us, they were talking and making faces with her as she stuck her head just over the seat back to look over at them and flash her "I'm adorable, look at me" smile, which I am sure won them over in the first place. She did amazing on the plane ride except for the last 15 minutes or so as we were descending. Her wars were killing her, she had tears running down her face and everything. I tried to give her breast and then tried the bottle but she didn't want anything to do with it and left me helpless to help her. As we landed, she fell asleep. As we walked off the place and waited for her stroller to come up from the aircraft, there was a big difference in temperature, it was chilly. 45 degrees to be exact, and my Dumba** wore short sleeves, go figure. Felt nice to me but I then pulled the second blanket from the diaper bag and wrapped it around her as she slept as I lowered her into her carseat/stroller.

Seeing my Grandma and Uncle Mark for the first time in 5-6 years, I felt an overwhelming feeling of peace and like I was finally home again. It's true what they say, "Home is where your heart is, not where you are." Indiana has always owned my heart, even through I had in Arizona for well over half of my life, it was never quite home. When we got into the elevator, her eyes opened and looked at my Grandmother, who was the one now pushing the stroller. Her eyes grew big and gave that look like "You aren't my mommy" haha. It was funny. As we got out of the elevator, they worried she was going to be cold but her blankets were doing their job keeping her warm to the touch. Oh yea, the airlines broke the anchor on our carseat...that PISSED me off!! ugh!

The ride home was nice, full of conversation and staring out the window at the beautiful open-ness of Indiana. The green, yellow, red, and orange leaves of the tress looked as if they were butterflies fluttering in the wind, so full of movement. Something about Indiana was soothing, life isn't rushed like in Tampa. Indi gives this essence of time. Time to relax and actually look at the beauty surrounding you. Time to take in a huge breath of fresh unpolluted air. Time to feel the cool air against your skin as it makes goosebumps rise.

Driving through the neighborhood I once knew by heart gave me a sense of peace all over again. From the old public Library my Grandmother use to work in, to the park on the corner. My grandma filled me in on the latest changes to our Crawfordsville town when we reached the house, everything seemed familiar. Going into the house and seeing my Grandpa's face was great. I could tell by the look on his face as he looked at her, that she had him wrapped around his finger already. She is truly irresistible.

As my Uncle Mark sat her up to take a good look at her, she sat up unassisted nice and tall for the first time!! She was a pro already, clapping her hands, playing with toys. It is great!! :D

November 20th 2010- Zeraea has gotten her picture taken so many times haha. Great Grandpa and her got some quality time today since it was just him, her and I at home. Uncle Mark and Grandma had to work. Today around 9am, Great Grandma and I left to go to Zeraeas Great Great Grandma Fox's. I was so excited, it had been 4-5 years since I last day her sweet face. The ride there was rough, Zeraea was sitting in her car seat screaming her head off most of the ride there (25minutes), she was just tired and didn't want to go to sleep. She is an insomniac, I swear haha.

In the next week, we visited her Great Great Grandma Fox, Great Great Grandma Craig and her Great Great Grandpa Fox who was in the hospital. It was so great to see everyone. Zeraea and I got a lot of one on one time also, which is always great. She had fun at Great Great Grandma Fox's house, getting into all of the toys that I had once played with when I was younger. It was a trip down memory lane for sure! There was something special about my daughter playing with toys I did when I was younger that made me happy. We also stopped by my Great Grandpa Craigs grave (her Great Great), it was nice to be there and have her there too even if she was sleeping in the car. I told him that I loved him and that I missed him and that I wished he could've met her because she is so amazing and so beautiful and I knew he would have loved her and she would have loved him also. Something about being there on a cold day, finally back to somewhere I could really call home, and have my daughter there with me made me feel at piece and I hope he felt that too. R.I.P Great Grandpa, we love and miss you terribly.

Great Great Grandma Fox, Zeraea and I

Zeraea climbing up on stuff, she is a pro at it now!

If you couldn't tell...she found the toy stash haha

My beautiful baby girl! I LOVE YOU!

Zeraea and Mama (she's pinching my boob..ow haha)

Great Great Grandpa Craigs Grave.

Visiting Great Great Grandpa at the hosital

Time with Great Great Grandma Craig, hopefully she brightened her day

Baby Proofing Time!

2010-11-08T22:38:00.000-08:00

First I want to start off and apologize, I haven't done my blog in awhile. Got too exhausted with everything. Zeraea still isn't sleeping longer than 2 hours at a time and sometimes even less than that. I wish I could help her sleep better, in return I would too. It seems like she is ready to go down to 2 naps a day, which sucks all of my "Mommy Time" away lol. Guess it is all apart of her growing up! :)

Zeraea is going to be 7 months in 7 days, which is still so hard to believe. Tonight when I got done feeding her, I just held her and listened to her breathing. Something about it was so calming, the fact that I gave her that breath, that I made something so beautiful and so special. As I watch her during the day crawl all over the place, and exploring everything, I can't help but smile at the amazement in her eyes as they slowly get bigger as she reaches out to grasp something in her tiny hands.

Today we had an incident, she got a hold of our Yorkie puppy's poop. I wasn't fast enough to get to her before she grasped it in her hands. Talk about GROSS! haha. Luckily it was kind-of dry and it didn't mush in her hands! After a quick clean up the moment was over. I am so glad she didn't put it in her mouth, so gross. Our dog, Missy was right next to her, smelling it like she wanted her to do it or something. I had to dart across the room so fast! I couldn't help but laugh after the fact though.

We went on a 25 minute walk today after her nap, seemed to chill her out a bit. She was still moody and tired. She is always so quiet on walks, just looking around at everything, and watches as each car drives by. The weather was great here in Tampa today. Nice and cool with a breeze. It was nice just to step out and take a huge inhale of fresh cool air. It felt great to me, but she had to be dressed in her new winter outfit and had her fleece blanket over her little legs. I love going on a walk with her, without Missy. Whenever I go on a walk with her AND Missy, it's far from relaxing. Missy is pulling in all sorts of directions and trying to get into peoples yards, or catches a glimpse of a squirrel and wants it, it would be cute if I didn't have to push a stroller too. Sometimes it is worth it though when Zeraea sees the puppy get out in front of the stroller, she lets out a tiny laugh as she watches her favorite thing walk ahead. Her and Missy are so cute together, she definitely loves her "Pup Pup". :)

I got a lot of chores done today, I feel like I sweep and mop my living-room, bedroom, and kitchen floors like 3-4x a week to make sure they are clean so she can crawl around without getting filthy. I know it is time to clean the floors when I pick her up and there is dirt and dust on her outfit haha. I don't know how these floors get so gross so fast, but it is hard keeping up. Last night I baby proofed the living-room, got everything off of the lower shelves, she now owns anything within reach. I watched today as she realized all her stuff that was on the lower shelf of our bookcase. She laid there and pulled each of her books off one by one and then played with them. It was cute. I feel better now that there is really nothing to harm her anymore and that there isn't something that she can get into and hurt herself with. All the plug ins are now covered, now no tiny fingers can make their curious way into them!

All and all, things are great. I love my Zeraea.

It's Nice Being Her and I...

2010-10-29T18:34:00.000-07:00

Since Kevin got a job, it's mostly just her and I all the time. I have to say, it is pretty nice having this adorable little girl all to my self to hug and kiss all day long! Zeraea and I played outside for awhile. It felt great outside, the sky was nice and clear. She seemed to love to pull up the grass (Grandpa doesn't know there is now a tiny bare spot in his lawn...shhhh!) After playing in the grass a bit, I put Zeraea in the back of the truck and see what she did. She instantly found leaves and began playing with them. She learned that she could break them into pieces :) Zeraea is so curious, I love it!

We then went inside and she had some yummy sweet potatoes for Lunch! She ate them right up, and got it ALL over the place!!! I don't mind mess at all, let them have fun..it all cleans up! She hates clean up time though, when I start wiping her hands and face she starts wiggling and whining lol, she hates it! When I put her on the ground after cleaning her up, she ended up reaching the doggies bowl (luckily nothing was in it!) But of course, I had to run into the next room and grab the camera! :)

After a quick 30 minute nap, I got her ready for our appointment with the Realtor at 5pm, got in the car and drove to St. Pete and looked at a house for rent there. I have to admit, I am getting REALLY excited and impatient when it comes to finding our own place! Waaaaaay overdue!

Now night has come, Zeraea got her bath and her tummy full and she went to bed at her new bedtime (8pm), and currently is still sleeping which is great (9:33pm). After some clean up, Mommy will hopefully join her in sleep land (that is if she doesn't wake up when I get in there like usual!) I LOVE my baby girl! :)

Such A Great Day!

2010-10-27T17:23:00.000-07:00

Today we had Zeraea's tummy doctor appointment, and she still needs to stay on her Prevacid. I was hoping to try to get her off of it since most babies outgrow acid reflux at 6 months, but for now, she is going to stay on it. She also needs to take Milk of Magnesia every day for now so her bowel movements aren't so hard and they start coming more frequently. She HATES Milk of Magnesia, gives the "ew" face and starts crying :( She was 18lbs 2oz, and 27 1/2 inches long. When we got her undressed on the clinics bed, she rolled over onto her tummy and began to crawl on the bed and then started to tear up the paper on it, even ate a tiny piece. Swallowed it just as I got her mouth open and my finger in it haha. She was having some fun though. She is perfect when it comes to her growth, 90% :)

Later that day, Zeraea, Daddy, grandma and I went to the opening of the new Wal-Mart in Tampa. It's like 10minutes away from our house which is AWESOME because before if we ever wanted to go to Wal-Mart, we had to drive like 30minutes just to get there, than 30 minutes back. Talk about a long time! She had fun looking around at all the people and things as we walked by, liked playing with Mommy down the aisles too.

When we got home from Wal-Mart she had her first Popsicle! She made a MESS! It was really cute though watching her play around in the juice, she smeared it all over the place, even on the ground. Our puppy, Missy, cleaned up some of the mess too. Then it came to clean up time , had to get her less sticky!

After getting dressed, Kevin gave her a pot lid and she loved it. It made a lot of noise. She was glising it across our tile floor :) and SHE SAT UP ALL BY HERSELF FOR THE FIRST TIME!!! WOOOOO!! I ALMOST missed it, I was getting her cereal ready and just as I walked into our living room, she was sitting up and she got that way all by herself this time!!! : D I am SOOO proud of my baby girl!! :) ( I didn't have time to catch a picture of it though :( (next time!) She went to bed on time tonight too! (8pm)

Curious Monster!!

2010-10-26T15:55:00.000-07:00

Zeraea decided to try to get some wires behind our TV and succeeded haha. She ended up getting stuck, but I didn't want to miss this picture!!

Found Daddy's Fishin' rope :) She was having fun with it for awhile!

Clean up time! (She is getting SO big!)

Her Rubber Duckie! She loves to kick around in the water.

Yes, she decided to roll over on her tummy!

My Little Chubba Lubbers! :)

Zeraea had an adventurous day today. She was crawling all over our living room finding new things to play around with and try to eat. She loves anything that isn't her own toys haha. She's starting to love bath-time even more now that she is starting to splash in the water with her hands and her feet :) She ended up rolling over to her tummy in the bath, then tried to take a taste of the water and didn't like it too much! Again just goes to show that she doesn't want to stay still for long, she just keeps going and going and going!

Zeraea still isn't sleepig too good, still about every two hours which is rough on Mama! I hope soon she starts to sleep on her own ALL night. But with Daddy starting school, Mommy can get her back on her schedule! :) I love my baby girl!!

And yes, I did need to star out her privates haha I am protective!!!

Go Green Baby!

2010-10-24T18:06:00.000-07:00

     Going green has become the new "fad", a fad I actually believe in. I think us, as humans, and as a species that live on this earth, need to take a stand and make changes. Even if that's starting to recycle, using cloth diapers, organic food, or organic clothes, I think it is our responsibility as parents to want and get what is best for our child.
     I have been wanting to "Go Green" for awhile now, the first step I want and am willing to take is Recycling. Does it take more time and effort?? Yes. Do I have to remember a new day every week?? Yes. Will I have to take special trips to recycle depending on what I am recycling?? Yes. The thing with recycling is that every one in your household has to be on board and willing to make the change. To me, it is worth the effort to do our part to save our Mother Earth, not for us but for our children and children's children.
     As all of us who have looked into going green, it can be expensive!! My significant other and I have gone organic when it comes to our baby Zeraea. We began to prepare her food instead of buy it. We went to the markets or organic grocery store, picked out the fresh, organic vegetables and fruit and came home and puree them. Carrots, sweet potatoes, and even cantaloupe (cantaloupe was a bad idea, but hey, at least we tried!). It wasn't much more expensive either and it made a lot, the extras we could just freeze.
     We do buy baby food from the grocery store though, don't get me wrong. Sometimes we just don't have the time! There isn't much selection for Organic baby foods at your local grocery store but we found Earth's Best-Organic brand and so far Zeraea likes it. They do have less selection than lets say, Gerber. We can find them at Target and Babies R Us. They aren't more expensive either, Target just had them on sale for $.69 a piece, which is awesome! I say at least TRY the brand, if it isn't for you then it isn't for you. It's really the only thing we have tried, we knew from the beginning that we wanted organic food for our baby.

Now to clothing, I haven't yet gone green with her clothing but I sure have thought about it! It is such a great idea. I found this perfect site that people should check out, purely organic baby clothes, accessories like bibs/hats/mittens/socks/etc, they have selections of bedding and blankets, everything. I mean EVERYTHING, you can think of they have it organically made!! The link is, http:/kushiesonline.com/?click=12052 All products look so adorable, even the little swimsuits! They have just diaper swimsuits too that just look like they would be so darn comfy and cute! Just give it a look yourself and let me know what you think. GO GREEN BABY!!

Another way to go green is Carpool. You have probably heard for years to carpool. It saves you money and it saves gas in the long run also. Most people might consider it a pain, cause with carpooling there does have to be some sort of planning put behind it and people who are willing to carpool. I think people who work or go to school and live near each other should definitely carpool. Just think about all the kids that are on the school buses if they didn't have a public carpooling like system, could you imagine how much more gas would be wasted and time too? Each child's parent would have to drive their child to school everyday, money and time would add up quickly. And that brings me to another point, if you are going somewhere that is close to your house then walk. Zeraeas clinic is only about 3-4 blocks from our house, and on her 6 month Well-baby appointment we walked to her clinic and walked back. It was nice to get out too, and I know she enjoyed looking at the trees as we passes each one. With walking more, you get exercise which all of us Americans need! I will definitely be walking to her clinic from now on.
Check out this site too, it is 52 Cheap ways to go green. See if you can make some changes to your everyday lifestyle and go green! http://www.sheknows.com/living/articles/807479/52-cheap-ways-to-go-green

Our First Playdate!!

2010-10-23T12:40:00.000-07:00

Zeraea and her first friend, Barbra Jewel :)

Zeraea (6m) checking out Jewel (8 1/2m), how cute! At first she cried haha

She took out all those colorful, fun toys just to eat the bucket haha :)

Zeraea, Jewel, and Grace (4m) all playing!

Zeraea started to eat Jewels legs! :)

Zeraea chewing on a play-mat piece!

Zeraea and Jewel playing together (not screaming at each other!)

I was so excited for her first play-date, she was horrendous in the car driving to the Mandy's house. It took about 35 minutes to get there (the GPS took me the LONG way..of course). But once we arrived and got inside Zeraea just wanted to explore. After I sat the Halloween cupcakes down I brought, I was watching Zeraea and talking to Mandy, when Zeraea saw the big doggie (11 year-old lab), she did her super fast army crawl and ended up slamming forehead first into the glass sliding door! haha It was funny! She didn't cry at all, just looked at me like "Why can't I get the doggie?!?" She soon figured out that she couldn't get it, and just laid there with her head and hands against the glass. It was priceless! She sure loves dogs. Barbra Jewel and Zeraea kept feeding off of each other, Jewel would scream and Zeraea would start crying, the "crocodile" tears just streaming down her face :( I knew she was okay though, was just a new experience. Soon the other Mommy came and the three of us talked as the babies played on the floor with each other. It was really nice to get out and talk to other Mothers, and to see Zeraea in a new environment and take kindly to it. I can't wait to do it again! :)

Stealing my own Car?!?

2010-10-22T21:13:00.000-07:00

Tonight came down to me and my Fiance having to steal out our car haha. We had just got done with dinner with Zeraea at Outback Steakhouse, and we were just about to our car and he realized that our car keychain that unlocks the car and turns off out alarm's battery died! BAD, cause that means we can't unlock it now without setting off the alarm. So as Zeraea and I sat away from the car, he unlocked the drivers door with the key and the alarm started going crazy! He tried for awhile to find the alarms killswitch, but couldn't find it. The funnest part of the evening is every time the car would stop, he'd move inside the car (while looking for the killswitch) and it would go off again and again.

We had two choices, spend $200 to get our car towed back to our house, or to drive it home with the alarm blaring. We chose to drive it home with the alarm still screaming haha. I can only imagine what people thought as we pulled out of Outback and drove down the rode! The whole time my Fiance was sounding like a real car jacker "We should stick to the back roads" blah blah blah, I was just sitting in the back with my daughter laughing. It was priceless to me, definitely worth a few laughs. We were hoping not to get pulled over and be given a ticket. But nope, we made it home after 15 or so minutes and the adventure was over!

What made this all nice, is Zeraea. She was being so great through all of this and all of dinner. The whole time we were eating dinner, she sat in her carseat and just played with one of my bracelets. It was adorable! :) What a great night!!

Laundry Service!

2010-10-22T20:02:00.000-07:00

Zeraea decided to help with the laundry last night it was quite cute! All she wanted was to be near Mama, Daddy was good enough at the moment haha. I love how she explores everything, she loved trying to get the puppy while she was in the laundry basket (I thought it was adorable too!). It was something new, which she loves. I think her favorite part of Laundry time was when I pushed the basket all the way into the bedroom, she had a BIG smile on her face. I think she found it to be uber fun :)

Baby Einstein Around The World Discovery Center Review!!

2010-10-22T14:21:00.000-07:00

Baby Einstein Around The World Discovery Center REVIEW!
Around The World Discovery Center is great in many ways. First the bright colors stimulate baby's senses. The variety of toys presented to the baby to play with is great for entertaining the child. It is adjustable to height so it grows as my child does. There also are two extra places to add toys of your own onto the excersaucer, we normally put on her teether, and she sits there and sucks on it for a few. The first time we put Zeraea in this, she just looked so excited. She loves the bird that spins around and the puppet Lion she can't quite reach yet! The penguin is still something she needs to master, she doesn't get that you have to push down on it and watch all the little balls spin around, she always looks at in in amazement when we do it for her. The piano plays 3 different songs, makes 3 different animal noises, and 3 different nature noises, she likes the songs the most. We also say "DANCE DANCE DANCE", as we dance around, she sure gets a kick out of that!! This Center is EASY to clean and move.

"****"-I give it 4 stars, it is the best excersaucer my Fiance and I could find. We looked at SO many, and most of them just looked so cheap and didn't have very many entertaining toys and we knew that Zeraea would just get bored of it. But luckily we came across this one and it's a winner in my book! It's good for both boy and girl. You could even keep it for the next baby since it isn't gender specific. (seeing if you want another lol.)

Messy Messy!!

2010-10-22T07:04:00.000-07:00

After yesterdays successful craft, I decided to do another. It was a bit messier than the last but it's worth it! :) Zeraea sure did make a beautiful picture, it got all over her and mommy (I still have it on my hands and arms as I type lol). At first she seemed like she had no idea what to do, so I showed her by taking her hand and rubbing it into the glob of paint and smeared it around, she soon followed and did the same with the other colors :) She's a quick learner!

What an artist at only 6 months old!!! :) I'm so proud of my baby girl, her first painting and Im glad I can share it with all of you :)

Crafts with the Little one! :)

2010-10-21T20:32:00.000-07:00

Zeraea and I had fun today doing some crafts to send out to her great grandparents and great great grandparents! I had more fun that she did haha. I got some black paint and brushed it onto her tiny hand and pressed it onto the paper, she kept perfectly still most of the time. I made these Halloween themed card-like things and wrote a private note on each one. I love being able to have her interact with what I am doing in that way. It was a great moment! :) I was so excited to get home from the store and do this with her. I knew it would be something special for us and for out family to have this memory. She was so good with staying still and quiet! She almost seemed curious and very interested :)
Originally, when we sat down to do this and I began brushing the paint on her hands she smiled and curled her hand up, I bet it tickled and felt so cool on her hand! I can't wait to see how much they are going to enjoy their cards.It's becoming more and more apparent to me that she is growing up right before my eyes, changing at every blink. Daddy (Kevin), was getting a kick out of this also, took many more pictures that you see now. She has been such a happy baby today. Laughing so much! :) I love looking at her and seeing the happiness written all over her face. When she smiles, her whole face smiles.

After some crafts, when Daddy was cleaning the grill before he started grilling our steaks, Zeraea and I went outside with him and began running around while chasing the dog. She couldn't stop laughing! : D I think chasing the dog is just about her favorite thing besides Booby haha. Before this she crawled to the back door after watching Daddy disappear out of it, the puppy was right by her side. She reached up onto the screen door and began to bang on it and yell hahaha. It was so adorable!!! I LovE MY BABY GIRL!!

My Poor Baby :(

2010-10-20T07:42:00.000-07:00

She had her 6 month Well-Baby appointment today. Talk about rough! Mama and baby were crying by the end of this appointment! I didn't think I was going to cry this time but it was different, the nurse had me hold her in my lap and I had to hold down her legs and arms. When the first needle went in, she flinched so hard and she got so stiff and just having to hold her down was horrible! She cried so hard! (Mama cried too)

On a lighter note! haha. Zeraea is growing just as she should, she is now 17lbs 15ozs and is 26in long! Big difference since her first appointment when she was still only7lbs 1oz and 21 1/2 inches! It's hard to believe how big is is now! She has now taken her acetaminophen after her nap and now is happy as ever. It's crazy to me how a baby can get over something so traumatic so quick! They sure are resilient little things! Gosh, I love my baby girl! :)

Mommy's Little Helper!

2010-10-18T20:36:00.000-07:00

This afternoon she finally ate some of her sweet potatoes. She loves her sweet potatoes! After some grub, Kevin, my once Fiance now boyfriend (I know complicated haha), began chasing me around the house with her in his arms, got her to laugh which made me happy. Baby's giggles are so contagious especially when it is your own :)

Finally got some time to start catching up with my daughters scrapbook today! It was fulfilling for a moment till Zeraea decided to pull down all her pictures and spread the on the floor haha. I guess she wanted to help Mama! :)

She has been a handful today, couldn't set her down without her screaming at me. I set up a tiny craft table near her play area on the floor thinking she'd be happy cause I am in close access to her, but I was wrong. She ended up just crawling over to me and began to pull on my clothes, whining until I picked her up. She did find markers to play with as she sat on my lap but soon she got bored of that and began to whine again.

I finally gave up on scrap-booking and played with her on her play-mat though she really didn't play any *sigh* Then it was nap time which lasted like 15 mintues, her normal. More moodiness haha.

Bedtime was crazy, a lot of screaming until I turned on some music and sang to her. I love just holding her, rocking as I sing in her ear. It's just a nice peaceful moment as she looks into my eyes as she drifts off to sleep...

Eat Meals..ha!

2010-10-17T20:46:00.000-07:00

I have found it impossible to eat a meal in public with my little girl haha. We sat down at Olive Garden and ordered out food and drinks, luckily Zeraea was sleeping at this time. I soon realized she was awake when I saw her little feet kicking :) I peeked inside her carseat that was covered with a blanket and there she was wide-eyed and looking around!

After a few minutes, I unbuckled her and gave her some toys to play with so I could eat since our food had just arrived but all she seemed to want to do was reach for everything, cept what she was allowed to have haha. She got my cloth napkin and tried to eat it. She got her big girl cup even though she didn't want to drink it. This whole time the only thing she found to be interesting was this rag we brought for her in case she spit up or something. She played with that for awhile.

The whole time during dinner I kept having to pull her back up into her carseat because she managed to wiggle herself out of it. It was adorable but annoying all at the same time! Dinner was then over and we headed to Party City.

I was so excited to get to Party City and find her her first costume for her first Halloween!! We ended up getting a fuzzy pink bunny which of course I put on right when we got home to see how adorable she looked in it and took some pictures! :) I am so excited to see her wear it on Halloween!!! We had fun in Party City trying on different hats on her, so cute!!

Clap Clap Clap!! :)

2010-10-16T20:33:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I have been trying at least 5x a day for the past 3 months to teach my daughter how to clap and guess who surprised me today when she started trying??? HER! I was soooo happy! First she started trying to clap one hand and not move the other, than watched me do it a few times as I repeated "Clap Clap Clap!" every time I clapped. She the proceeded to copy me (still kinda with one hand) :) It's nice to see how me as a mother, can really teach my daughter. She's been teaching herself for months with really no help from me, this is the first thing I can think of that I know I did. It's a fulfilling thought!

Zeraea also tried some banana today! She loved the taste of it but then Daddy let her get a piece in her mouth and she spit it out. It was cute, she loved sucking on some canalope too. When we first started feeding her solids when she was 4 months, she loved it. Now lately she hasn't been eating any so as her parents, we decided that we might wait a couple of weeks and try the whole solid thing again!

Glued to my Hip!

2010-10-15T09:46:00.000-07:00

Zeraea is beginning to not want to let me go, it was adorable at first but now it is hard to do anything! Whenever I sit her down, she screams and screams, tears running down her face as she looks at me or watches me leave the room, she will reach her little arms out for me, it breaks my heart! Being my first child, I'm not exactly sure how to go about dealing with this. Maybe it's just a phase she is going through, that will dissipate as she gets older??

My friend Natasha, she has a daughter who is now 9 months old who is going through some type of separation anxiety also. I think I am just caught off guard by the short leash I now have when it comes to daily activities! Doing any chore is a hassle cause either she is crying for me, or I have her on my hip. I've tried putting her in her excersaucer, bouncer, crib, floor but she only wants me. Daddy notices it too, whenever Kevin picks her up, she instantly reaches out for me!

I've been trying to re-paint the kitchen but its impossible with her like this! Somehow I got laundry done this week, which is nice! :) Even with her being like this, it is still unbelievable cute! I know that she is doing this because developmentally it makes sense, I know for sure now without a doubt that she knows who her Mama is! haha She just doesn't understand that Mama is coming back! To all those Mothers out there whos gone through this, I am sure you understand where I am coming from! ;)

Past bedtime...again

2010-10-14T19:48:00.000-07:00

Here I am sitting at my computer writing this blog, as she lays on the floor well after her bedtime. It's now almost 11:00pm and she still seems like she's gonna go for awhile longer. She is sure cute though, she has all her toys on the floor but the one thing she is playing with is our Huggies Diaper Bag, just keeps pushing it and scooting to it again and again! I don't know where she gets her second wind, but I wish Mama got one too! I was ready for bed HOURS ago!! She has always fought her sleep, 6 months old and still wakes up 2-5x a night, talk about exhausting! But I hear that things will get better when it comes to her sleeping, I'll keep my fingers crossed! :)