Super-Mom

"Oh, so you don't work? What do you do all day?"

The answer to that question is EVERYTHING. Just because I'm a stay at home mom, people get the impression that I sit at home all day and paint my toenails while watching TV. Let me tell you... I have seasons of shows DVRed on my TV that I haven't even watched yet and it's been months since I've painted my nails. Do you know what it means to be a mom? I cook three meals a day everyday, I do loads of laundry what seems like every day a week, and I clean up the same mess over and over again 20 times a day. I play with my daughter, read to her, change her diaper when needed, breast feed her, kiss her boo boos when she falls and hurts herself, and bathe her. At all times of the day she is with me, we are basically attached at the hip. For every good day, there is a bad. My happy girl can turn into a monster within minutes. My job is 24/7, seven days a week. Even when she is sleeping I am always on call, always keeping an ear out for her to wake up. If she does wake up, I'm automatically at "work" again, no matter how late at night it is. When I was pregnant, the moment I decided to keep her was the moment I made one of the biggest commitments. My job as a mother is for LIFE. No sick days, and no walking away because I'm fed up. I do all of these things and I don't get paid. Can you say any of this about any job you have ever had? I don't think so.

While pregnant, I was committed to going to school. My due date was January 22nd, which was also the first day of the spring semester. I was enrolled in 4 classes. Crazy? Well, In my mind I was going to do it. It wasn't until Jayde was born on January 18th and after my first day of class that I realized that maybe I expected too much out of myself. I ended up dropping out that semester and was "for sure" going to go back in the fall. Fall semester came, and I couldn't go. I couldn't leave my daughter. I didn't want to put her in daycare that young. I didn't want to miss her first year and her first word or first steps. That is when Keith and I made the decision that I would take an entire year off school to raise Jayde. The first year, in my mind, is the absolute most important. I couldn't miss out on anything. If I did, I would be heart broken.

It is now December and Jayde will be turning a year old next month. As promised, I am going back to school starting January 23rd. After being home for a year and being able to have all of these special moments with my daughter, I can honestly say that I am ready. I know that it will be hard for both Jayde and I to be away from each other after spending all of this time together, but I know it is best for both of us. I think that when Jayde turns one, it will be important for her to be in daycare. She will need to meet new friends and learn how to be social, which is something that she wouldn't be able to learn at home with me. I need to finish school. After much thought between getting my medical assistant certificate and becoming a certified RN, I have decided to study to become a RN. It will take longer and it will most definitely be harder, but it will benefit both me and my family in the long run.  Now that I have a daughter, someone who depends on me, I am more determined than ever.

I am exhausted. When people ask, "do things get easier once they're older," I sometimes don't know how to answer the question. It really depends what you think is easier. Yes, now that Jayde is older she doesn't cry and nurse as much. However, her being older does mean that my house is completely destroyed by the end of the day. For every exhausting thing a baby gives up as they get older, there is something new that they throw at you to balance everything out. I can't fold laundry without her grabbing every folded shirt and throwing it on the ground. I can't even walk into the bathroom to go pee without her wanting to follow me in. Don't get me wrong, I love that Jayde is crawling and so active. It's just that sometimes I wish she would sit in one place for just 5 minutes while I finish doing something. The sleepless nights do get better with age, but they never completely disappear. Now instead of staying up to taking care of a baby, I stay up to clean all the messes in my house that have accumulated that day. As weird as it may be, sometimes I am happy that I had my daughter while I was young. I can't imagine being older and having a kid. I think I would die of exhaustion!

Obviously, Jayde isn't the best helper when it comes to putting away clean laundry.

"Mommy, your telling me that you didn't want me to pull this out of the cabinet?"

Jayde hasn't been the happiest baby these past few days. I have finally figured out why: she is teething again! Waterfalls of spit is spilling out of her mouth and she is only satisfied when biting on something. I am pretty sure her top teeth are coming in now and I can only hope that they break through sooner than later. Teething is probably the worst thing I have had to deal with. I have actually heard that if we where to get our teeth in as adults, we wouldn't be able to handle the pain. I feel bad for Jayde, because I can't even begin to imagine what she is going through. The only thing I am able to do is try and help her by giving her teething tablets, frozen fruit, and being here to comfort her when she cries. Don't worry baby girl, there is always a rainbow after a storm!! Other than teething and getting into mischief, Jayde has been Jayde; my beautiful, happy, smiley girl.

It amazes me to think about how much Jayde trusts me. I could throw her into the air, and it would be no question to her that I would catch her. The thought of me possibly dropping her doesn't even cross her mind, not for one second. From day one I have always taken the best care of her. I have caught her just before she hit her head on a sharp corner and have dove to grab her just in time before she was about to put herself in danger. To her, I am super human. I can take care of her every need, no matter what it may be. Hell, she probably thinks that I can walk on water.  Having this innocent child see me as god-like somehow makes me feel like I have true purpose. At the same time, it is also scary. I am not always going to be there to catch her when she falls and not always going to be able to save her from danger. One day, she will find out that I'm not super woman and that there are a lot of people that aren't worth trusting in this world. Hopefully, even when she is older, she will know that I will always be here for her and that she can always trust me.


"So, when are you two getting married," has been the number one most popular question since Keith and I had told people that we were expecting. The answer: I DON'T KNOW. I don't say this because I don't see myself with him or because I don't love him. I say this because, well, don't you think we have enough on our plate right now? First off, Keith and I weren't dating for too long before I found out I was pregnant. I met Keith in July of 2009, we started dating in October of 2009, we became "official" in May of 2010, and then about two months after that I discovered was pregnant. I moved in with him in October of 2010, which was a huge transition for both of us. I had never lived with a boyfriend and Keith had been living happily by himself for many years. Then, three months after that, we welcomed our little princess into the world.  We are still transitioning into parenthood AND living together. I don't want the reason for me to marry someone to be because I had a child with them. I want the reason to be because I am completely in love with them. I know that in our society your suppose to me married BEFORE having kids, but for all of you who know Keith and me know that we are not your average couple. Maybe we are doing things backwards. Maybe we are living in "sin" in some people's eyes. But, I am completely happy right now. Honestly, I think having a baby together has been a true test for us as a couple. People are married for YEARS and get divorced after they have children because it is so hard on their relationship. I think that if Keith and I can get through this first year raising Jayde, that we can get through absolutely ANYTHING.

Keith and me on Thanksgiving.

Trick-or-Teething

Okay, so I haven't blogged in a while. I'm not going to lie, things have been rough these last couple of weeks with sickness and teething plaguing my home and family. As I mentioned in my previous post, I was a little bit sick. Well, that "little bit" turned into "a lot bit." I was on my death bed for about two days after Halloween. Sore throat, cough, stuffy nose, chills, achy; The whole works. Pretty much I felt like someone hit me in the head with a hammer, twice. Then, once I started to feel somewhat better, my poor little Jayde gets sick. I don't know how she's feeling since she can't speak to tell me. All I can tell is that she has a horrible stuffy nose, which probably means that she isn't feeling so hot either. To top it off, Keith got sick a few days ago too. Jayde has not been sleeping well, which means that I have not been able to rest AT ALL. She has been waking up about every 2-3 hours, which means that I have been waking up every 2-3 hours as well. Because of this, a few nights ago, I started feeling sick all over again. I was laying in bed shivering and I even had a mild temperature. All of my lymph nodes are completely tender and swollen and my whole body is sore. I have come to the conclusion that with the lack of rest, my body pretty much hates me right now. I have been sick for over two weeks now, Jayde has been sick for about a week and a half, and Keith has been sick for about five days. In other words, we are all sick and miserable. Hopefully, all of this will pass. Sooner rather than later would be fabulous!

Just before everyone got sick, we went through teething. This meant that Jayde wasn't in the best mood, and that nightly awakenings were also frequent then as well. Finally, on Halloween, Jayde broke through her very first teeth. I am not going to lie, it is a little weird seeing her with two little white teeth growing in her mouth. I do miss her little gummy smile, but I am sure that I will get over it quickly. I bet you are wondering, "so has she bitten your nipple?" The answer is: YES. Non of the times has it has been purposefully. I have noticed that she tends to do it once she has dozed off a bit. She will bite, I will let out a yelp, she will wake up confused and scared, and then she will start crying. After all of this happens, I will completely forget that fact that she just bitten me and I will start to feel bad that I scared her. The weirdest part of her having teeth is the moments where I forget she has them,  like when she sticks my finger in her mouth and I feel a little sharp object cutting into my finger. I think Jayde knows she has these new things in her mouth. Today there was this weird moment where I was putting dishes away and she came up to me and bit my foot. Yes, JAYDE BIT MY FOOT! I looked down at her awkwardly and she started laughing, which means that her actions were on purpose. Today, with increased drooling, I realized that Jayde will most likely be getting another tooth or two shortly. The two top ones are starting to come in, which could also be a reason that she has been waking up so frequently at night. Although I hope this process goes by fast, many have told me that the top are worse then the bottom. More sleepless nights, here I come!

I spy TWO teeth!

Because of teething and sickness, obviously my hard work at sleep training is completely out the door. I will pick her up when she cries, she has slept in my bed with me numerous times, and her bedtimes have been at all times of the night. Although I did know that this was going to eventually happen, I cannot help but to feel frustrated. Sleep training was very hard for me! Just when everything was perfect, it became a disaster. I can only hope that since she has been sleep trained before, that she will fall back into the routine of things quickly. Sleep training Jayde was one of the best things I have ever decided to do. It helped me catch up on hours of sleep that I was lacking. I just need to remember of all the wonderful things that came out of it when I do decided to train her again. After Jayde is 100% healthy and done teething, I NEED to do it, regardless of how hard it may be.

Now that all of the bad news is out of the way, let's go on to some happy thoughts...

This year was Jayde's very first Halloween. Even thought I was horribly sick, I wouldn't have missed it for the world. Yes, I know, "she won't remember it when she's older." That doesn't matter to me. What matters to me is that I was going to remember it, and I would forever regret it if I didn't participate in all of the festivities. You know when something is so cute that you can't help but laugh? THAT is how cute Jayde looked in her costume. She was dressed up as a lady bug, and she was by far the cutest little bug I have ever seen. On Sunday we went the the costume parade in the park with my mom and sister. It honestly wasn't that fun because I was miserable the whole entire time. However, Jayde seemed to enjoy herself and that is all that matters, right? On Halloween, we went trick-or-treating with my sister around my mom's neighborhood. Jayde had a blast! She had so much fun being carried from house to house. When people presented her with the candy bowl, she dove in it and picked out her own candy. It was the cutest thing ever! Her favorite candy to get was those little boxes of Junior Mints. She would hold them in her hands and shake them around while she spazzed out. Obviously I didn't let her eat candy, which means that mommy and daddy ate most of it. After a while, we ended up throwing it away because we were sick to our stomachs. You would be surprised to see how much candy Jayde got, people were literally giving her handfuls like she was actually going to eat it. All in all, it was a good Halloween and I am glad that I participated. 

Everyone has been asking me about Jayde's photos from the Pottery Barn shoot. No, they have not came out and I have no idea as to when they are suppose to be advertised. I assure you that when they do come out, I will be telling everyone who will listen. However, a family friend did contact me a few weeks ago asking to shoot Jayde for her portfolio. This meant that I would be getting copies of the pictures for no charge and that I would be able to add professional pictures to Jayde's portfolio. I just got the pictures back about a week or so ago, and I am so happy with how they turned out! Here are my favorites of the bunch:

As I have said before, Jayde is very mobile. She has now even given up her military crawl for the traditional crawl. I think she realized that crawling on her hands and knees can be more effective then sliding around on her stomach. I swear she is going to be walking any day now. She is always standing and sliding things around so she is able to walk places instead of crawl. The one thing that makes me sad about her being so mobile, other than she is growing up too fast, is the fact that she is so wiggly. I am never able to just hold her anymore. Not for even a few seconds. She is always trying to jump out of my arms and do her own thing. I guess it's part of her gaining independence, but sometimes I just wish I could take her in my bed and cuddle up with her like when she was younger.

Keith and I took Jayde to the zoo for the very first time yesterday. We all had a lot of fun. Both Keith and I like the zoo in general, and Jayde had fun looking at all of the different animals. It probably will be 10 times better when she is older and able to better express how excited she actually is. ("Wow Mommy!!! Look at the monkeys!!!!!!")  But, for being 9 months old, she was pretty excited! Her new things is pointing at things, which is what she did to pretty much every single animal that came into her sight. I don't know whether it's because Sofie has been a good friend to her for a long time, but the giraffes where by far her favorite to look at. Keith took her into the petting zoo to pet the goats. I wasn't able to see her face, but I could only imagine..

Jayde with her toy Sofie meeting the real live Sofie for the first time!

Setting the boundaries

It's that time of year again! Every year, around late October or early November, I get my annual cold. A few nights ago, I had this intense sore throat before going to bed. I knew that when I woke up, it was either going to be gone or I was going to be feeling even worse. The next morning, I didn't feel either better or worse, I felt pretty much the same. However, that night I decided to go to bed a little earlier than usual to get some quality "rest," which is something that I have been lacking for quite a while now. I woke up about two hours later and felt worse. My head was hurting, my nose was stuffy, my throat was scratchy, etc. I ended taking some cold medicine in order to sleep peacefully. Cold medicine? Ahhh, yes. It has been such a long time since I was able to take medicine other than Tylenol to help with my issues. I remember last year I wasn't able to take anything to help my horrible cold because I was pregnant. THAT, was probably the worst cold of my life. I think that we take everything for granted, including something as simple cold medicine. You don't realize how much you appreciate little things until they aren't available to you anymore. This morning, I am happy to say that I am feeling much better. I am still not at my best, but I know that in a few days I will be as good as new.

There is something I learned while being sick, and that is that there is no such thing as a "sick day" when your a mother. No matter how crappy I feel, there is no way that I could just snuggle in bed all day with a bowl of soup. Jayde doesn't understand the fact that I'm sick. I still need to cater to all of her needs, regardless of how I'm feeling. It's not easy being sick with a 9 month old baby. She is everywhere in the house, and I'm always having to watch her every move to make sure she doesn't get hurt. Not only that, but I need to make sure the house is vacuumed and cleaned so she doesn't get a hold of something that shes not suppose to. It sounds easy, but it's not. Every time I put her books back on the shelf, she pulls them down. Every time I put her toys back in the box, she takes them back out. Every day is a day of me cleaning stuff up with her behind me messing it up again. As annoying as all of this sounds, it's not. She's a baby and that's the types of things she enjoys right now at this age. Her getting into everything and making a mess out of my entire house is just a part of her growth and development. I just wish I wasn't sick, because cleaning my house 100 times in a day can be exhausting.

"Mommy! Get up and come play with me!"- Being sick isn't so bad when you get to look at this face!

I'm pretty sure that I mentioned before that Jayde is able to get into a standing position by herself. She has mastered this technique, and now it's all she wants to do. What she has been starting to do lately is cruse, which means she is moving along the furniture. This also means that she is switching between furniture, like moving from the coffee table, to the couch, to the end table, etc. In conclusion, I have no doubt that she will be walking well before her first birthday. Walking is something that she has been determined to do since she knew it was possible. As exciting as this might sound, it is also a little scary. Walking doesn't only mean that she will be able to get into more things, but it also means that the probability of her getting hurt will also increase. As much as I am looking forward to this milestone, I'm also sad. This is going to be her last leap to independence. She will soon not be my little baby anymore, she is well on her way to toddler-hood.

The nice thing about Jayde being older is that she is able to eat what I'm eating. For example, last night we both had chicken and broccoli for dinner. This morning we both had oatmeal with banana for breakfast. Eating with her is not only helping me eat better, but it is also helping her explore newer solid foods. Right now, since she is learning to eat, it is important for her to learn what is good for her to eat. If I fed her nutritious food every night but I sat down at the table with McDonald's, what good would that do for either of us? Right now, she eats what she eats because she has no choice. When she gets older, she will be able to choose the food that goes into her mouth. My goal is that when she is older and gets to make that decision, she will choose the right foods. She is looking at me and listening to my every word and watching my every movement. Who she will grow up to be is going to be strongly influenced by me, so I know that I need to lead by example.

Lunch time! Pasta!

Discipline. Everyone has their own way, and no one agrees on the best way to go about it. What is important to know, is that RIGHT NOW is the good time to start enforcing rules. I feel like I spend half of my day saying "no" because Jayde is spending half of her day testing her boundaries. (No, do not touch the TV. No, do not push the buttons on the DVD player. No, do not put mommy's shoe in your mouth. No, do stand up in the bath tub.) The good thing is that since I say "no" so much, she knows what it means. The bad thing is that she hasn't yet learned to listen. Just as I sit to relax, Jayde will crawl over to the TV, stand up, and start touching it. I will say "no" once, and she will usually look back at me and smile because she knows she isn't suppose to be doing what she is doing. After she doesn't listen, I will have to get up and grab her and then set her on the floor away from where the TV is. I will then look at her and explain to her why I just removed her, "No Jayde, do not touch the TV. The TV is not for touching, it's for looking at." Even though she will eventually do it again, whether it be that day or tomorrow, I know that one day she will know that touching the TV isn't something that she can do. And hopefully when that day comes, touching the TV will be something that she will no longer do. I am not going to lie, it can sometimes be exhausting setting boundaries. I can totally see how some parents let some things slide. However, I refuse to be one of those parents. If for a week I tell her she can't do something, and then the next I'm too tired to enforce it, what will that teach her? It will teach her that the world is confusing and that if she does things long enough I will eventually give in. I am not saying that I am going to be a strict parent, but I want my daughter to grow up to respect the rules that are put in place and to not be out of control like some other children I see.

"NO!!!!!"

The Dropping Game

Do you know what has been irritating me lately? The fact that every time Keith and I go out to a restaurant with Jayde, they NEVER have anything for her to eat. I don't mean typical baby food, because obviously I know that isn't on the menu. I mean something without all the bad things added to it. Why can't I order plain old chicken without all the seasoning? Why do the mash potatoes have to come with salt and pepper? Why do the steamed vegetables have to be saturated with tons of butter? I realize that, yes, I am very capable of bringing food for her. I also realize that I don't necessarily need to be eating out. And, I also realize that most food in restaurants are pre-made. I know that there are many parents out there who don't mind feeding their kids greasy french fries, but I do. Whether it's my daughter or someone else's child, I feel like there should be at least one thing on the menu that can accommodate them. Is that so hard?

Jayde is on the move. I now realize why people say that having a mobile baby isn't only a blessing, but a curse! Jayde is in to everything and anything that she can get her little hands on. I will turn my head for just one second and she will have made her way into the other room and pulled all of the books off of the bookshelf. All of her toys that used to remain in one corner of the room are now scattered across the house by the end of the day. The weirdest part is when I walk out of the room and into another for a moment, she will follow me. She is still doing her military crawl, which everyone who has witnessed it thinks is interesting. Although, in the last couple days she has been working on her "normal" crawl. She usually will start out with the traditional crawl for about 2-3 feet, and then plop down onto her belly and continue to crawl military style.

The thing that scares me now is the fact that Jayde keeps trying to climb up onto everything. The table, entertainment center, her crib, a chair- You  name it, she will try to climb up on it to get herself to a standing position. She has gotten better at it, but she is still clumsy, which she will be for a while since she is a baby. Her climbing on everything means that she is always falling, which also means that she will have a new bruise every couple of days. It isn't the actual standing that she has problems with, it is pulling herself up to a standing position that can be tricky. Once she is standing, she is a pro. Her favorite little game: to drop her toy while she is standing and bend over to pick it up off the ground. Then, of course, she will drop is again and repeat the process. It is so fun to watch her. She has so much fun and is so proud of herself being able to do it. That's the funny thing about babies. They have the most fun doing stuff that is a natural reaction to someone our age. Usually, if we were to drop something on accident we would pick it up without thinking about it and go on with our day. I sit here and watch Jayde drop something on purpose just to pick it up. While she is doing it, she will be concentrating so hard like it's the biggest and greatest task, which it is to her. I always laugh to myself. Watching a baby develop can be so interesting at times.

First Photo Shoot!

The day before the shoot:

Jayde's very first photo shoot is already here! I know I signed up for this whole modeling gig just for fun, but I'm pretty excited that she actually got a shoot! I found out that she got booked about a month ago, and here we are. A month has just zipped by! So this morning I got to sleep in a bit while Keith woke up with Jayde. He came into our room during my mid-sleep and told me that Jayde fell and bumped her head, but I really gave it no thought. When I woke up and walked into the living room, I saw this huge red mark on Jayde's beautiful face. WHAT THE F*$&?! When I first saw her face, I wasn't thinking about her photo shoot. My poor baby! Keith told me that she was trying to stand up against the entertainment center and that she fell and bumped her head. After I asked Keith a million questions about how it happened and why it happened, it then dawned on me, SHE HAS A PHOTO SHOOT TOMORROW!

Crap! Jayde's first shoot could be ruined by the fact that she has a huge red mark/bruise on her face. I knew I had to e-mail her agent and tell her about it. Basically I said, "Jayde had a fall this morning and she has a 'somewhat noticeable mark' on her cheek." I was nervous when she sent an e-mail back to me asking me to send her a picture ASAP. All the pictures I was taking made the mark look 10 times worse than it actually was. I was trying to take a picture where you could see it, but it wasn't too noticeable. Finally, I got a decent one and sent it to her. She took a while to message me back, which made me even more nervous. But after waiting for an hour, she finally e-mailed me back saying, "Don't worry about it. She will be fine." THANK GOD!


Jayde's boo boo on her cheek!

Later that day, I finally got the e-mail telling me the time and location of the shoot. Like I have said before, most go-sees and shoots are very last minute. The shoot is going to be at 10:30 am in the city of Inverness. Inverness? Ya. I looked it up on my GPS, and it's basically towards San Rafael. It's about 57 miles away from where I live. I kept reading the e-mail and came across the "please bring" section. It said, "Playclothes. Girly, backyardy feel with a little bit of a romantic edge. Natural textures, fabrics would be great here. Go a little more earthy but still ultimately preppy. Colors: pink, white, with touches of taupe and yellows." Um, what? Good thing her agent called right after I had read the e-mail, because I was completely confused as to what to bring for her to wear. She read the description and started to laugh. I'm glad I wasn't the only one who thought it was completely crazy! She said to just pick out some "preppy-ish" clothing, and not to worry about it to much. Most of the time, they won't even look at the clothes I bring because they are going to have what they want already. The clothes that I bring are kind of a "just in case" thing, for whatever reason. I then told her happily that Jayde's cheek was a lot better from what it was that morning. She just kinda laughed and said, "If for whatever reason it's a problem, they will just photo shop it out." Oh ya, duh. I forgot I was dealing with professionals.

The day of the shoot:

Keith decided to take the day off of work to come with me to Jayde's shoot. Thank god he did, because driving there was insane! There wasn't traffic or anything, but the roads where curvy and foresty. Inverness is really in the middle of nowhere! We got there at the perfect time, I had enough time to feed Jayde and change her diaper before going in. When I say that she had a photo shoot, your probably expecting this big wear house in the middle of a business area. Her shoot was at a house in a residential area. Like, they literally rented someones house out for the day to have the shoot there. In front of the house there were huge moving trucks with all these props and things. Basically, they choose a room in the house and completely transformed it into a nursery for the shoot.

When I first got there, I was brought upstairs where I met another mother with a 10 month old daughter who was also going to be shooting that day. There was this lady who was there who wasn't part of the shoot really, but her job was to stay with us and walk us through everything. She had tons of toys for Jayde to play with, which kept her occupied for most of the time. Eventually they brought in wardrobes, which was pretty much just a plain onesie with a pair of pants. I guess the wardrobes weren't a big deal since Pottery Barn isn't necessarily a clothing store. I was just a little thrown off by the plainness of it from the extravagant "please bring" section of the e-mail I had read the night before. A lot of the time is just sitting there waiting. Your waiting for the photographer and and for everyone else to make sure that the set is perfect.

Waiting around for her turn to shoot!

The other baby was completely ready, so they decided to shoot her first. They where having a tough time deciding what pants Jayde was going to wear; the first were too long, then to tight, and then just right. Finally, it was Jayde's turn. While shooting they try and make it so the parents aren't in direct sight of the baby. That way the baby isn't distracted and looking at mommy rather than the camera or whatever else they want the baby to focus on. Because of this, I wasn't really able to tell if she took good pictures or not. After a while, she got bored with the people trying to sing her songs and poke her feet. They asked me to come in there and try to get her to be active. Right when I walked in, she seemed super happy, she started laughing a smiling. Then, all of the sudden, she started reaching for me and crying. I finally got her to calm down, and they were able to finish getting the shots they needed. The only thing that was frustrating was that when they wanted her to sit, she would crawl and when they wanted her to crawl, she would sit. But what can you do? She's a baby.

The other mom and I sat in the room again and waited for them to review the pictures. After a while they came in and told us that they wanted to take a few more shots of each baby. We looked at each other like, "really?". Not because we didn't want them to take more pictures, but because the babies where exhausted, hungry, and where kind of done with everything. She went down first for a little bit, and then it was Jayde's turn yet again. She wasn't really having it this time around. They where able to get some shots, but she was just done. She was happy when I was holding her, but then every time I tried to set her down she would start whining. They told me it wasn't a big deal. They had already got what they needed and was just trying to get some"extras."

I went and got my stuff together, got the time card filled out, and then was able to leave. Afterwards both Jayde and I where exhausted and starving! We stopped and got something to eat on the way home, and then we were able to nap on the way home too since Keith was driving. It was a LONG day. It was a 1.5 hour drive there, a 2.5 hour shoot, and a 1.5 hour drive back home. I cannot wait to see how Jayde's pictures turn out. I am even more excited to see her as a model for the Pottery Barn Kids Spring 2012 collection!!!

Even though I was stuck in a room for the most of the day, at least I got to look at this beautiful view!

Change Overnight

The past week has been a little... how do I put it? Off. Basically, Jayde's sleeping has been totally horrible! I have no problem getting her to sleep. Its the same as it's always been, she is down at her bedtime with no struggle. So, what's the problem you ask? The problem is that she has been waking up at incredibly early times. On Tuesday she woke up at 4:30am. I figured she just woke up for a feeding, so I brought her out to the living room like I usually do and fed her. She ended up dozing off, so I put her back into her crib. She immediately woke up and started crying. I thought that maybe I didn't feed her enough, so I went back into her room to get her, fed her, and then tried to put her back down. Nope, she wasn't going back to sleep. I ended up bringing her into my bed, because I was not in any way ready to be up that early. I know that 4:30am isn't THAT early, but it is when your expecting to wake up at 7:00am. She ended up falling asleep in our bed and waking up at about 6:45am. The next night Keith asked me, "Do you think Jayde will be up at 4:30 again?" I responded, "I don't care what time she's up, as long as it's not at 4:30!!" Well, she didn't wake up at 4:30. Instead she woke up at 2:30am. SHIT! When I said "as long as it's not 4:30," I didn't mean earlier!!!! Pretty much the same thing happened, she ended up in our bed, and fell asleep. Last night she woke up at 3:00am, and again, the same thing happened.

Your probably asking why I don't let her just lay in bed and cry it out. The problem is that when Jayde wakes up at night, she pulls herself up to a standing position in her crib. I really don't think she would be able to put herself back to sleep while standing, she doesn't even know how to get herself to lay back down! Not only that, but she doesn't exactly have perfect balance yet. I have witnessed her fall and hit her head on the wooden panels, and I seriously freaked out! So not only will she not go back to sleep, but I won't able to either. Because I will be sitting there in my room staring at the monitor making sure she doesn't hurt herself. I researched the topic today, and this was my finding:

"At 6 to 9 months, your baby may be learning to sit up, crawl, or possibly even cruise or walk — quite a list of achievements! Not surprisingly, he may not want to stop practicing his new skills at bedtime and may get so excited that he'll wake up to try sitting up just one more time.

Children who are learning to sit or stand up may practice their new skills at night in their crib and get stuck in an upright position once they're sitting or standing up. If this is happening to your baby, you'll need to teach him how to lie back down

Separation anxiety could also be the cause of your baby's wake-up calls. Waking up and finding you not there may cause some distress. But he'll probably calm down as soon as you enter the room and greet him."

I could definitely understand her practicing at night, and possibly getting stuck. Separation anxiety? Jayde does have slight separation anxiety at times, it depends what mood she is in. When we are at an unfamiliar place with people she doesn't see often, she can get clingy and she won't want to be in any ones arms but mine until she warms up to them. But, is it even possible to get separation anxiety when your in your own bed in your own house? It doesn't seem possible to me, but apparently it is.

All I have to say that whatever the reason; practicing, getting stuck, growth spurt, teething, etc., I hope that this will pass sooner rather than later!

Jayde standing with the support of her changing table

Speaking of teething, Jayde is almost 9 months old and she has yet to break a tooth through! It's so crazy because everyone thought that she was going to be on the early side of getting her first tooth. We thought she started the process of teething at 2.5 months, and then again at 4 months, again at 6 months, and so on. She never got a tooth when we were "for sure" she was teething, so we gave up on talking about it. People always ask us, "Is she teething?" We always look at each other and respond, "I have no idea, but it is a possibility." I kept waiting anxiously for her to break her first tooth, but now when I think about it, I am happy she hasn't for two reasons. 1. The longer she waits to get her first tooth, the longer it will be easier to breastfeed her without getting bitten. Hell, if she doesn't get her tooth until shes a year old, I will never even have to worry about it! 2. I will have longger to enjoy her cute baby gummy smile.

Fall is finally here! Which means that Jayde's first Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas is coming up! I am ecstatic! It's weird to think that this year, I am now officially "Santa!" I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season, because I know that I will!


Another amazing thing about fall- Starbucks pumpkin spice latte!

Oh, and I thought this was cool:

Crazy, huh? 

Downsizing

Just as I was getting into the routine of walking every morning, I get a flat tire in my jogging stroller. I've been taking morning walks almost every morning, of course I skip a few days here and there. Today, I ended up walking 3 miles. Why? Because I wanted a Starbucks. I decided that if I was going to get one, I would have to work for it. So what did I do? I walked half way across town to get one. Let's just say that I'm not going to go that route again until I'm more in shape. The whole way there I walked uphill, and the whole way home I had the sun beating down on me. Hot? I think so. Anyways, when I got to Starbucks I decided to get a frappacino instead of a pumpkin spice latte because it was way too hot for a hot drink. I ordered a small, instead of a large like I usually get, because I didn't want my entire walk to be pointless. I got my drink, and after I took my first sip I felt guilty. Did I really need this fattening drink? I threw it away. Yes, it was a waste of money, but it was for a good cause. I walked all the way home in the hot hot heat, and was happy for myself for the first time in a long time. Instead of rewarding myself with a delicious Starbucks, I rewarded myself with a healthy choice. It felt great. As I was walking up to my apartment, I noticed my stroller was moving a little weird, but didn't think anything of it. Later today as I was getting my wallet from my stroller, I realized that the back tire was flat. Whether it was because it needed to be pumped with air or because I need a whole new tire, I don't know. I guess I'll have to figure it out tomorrow. Sadly, this may mean that tomorrow I will be skipping my morning walk.

A cool picture I took this morning on my walk

Before having a baby, you hope and pray that nothing will change between you and your friends. It's sad to know that the people who I trusted to be there for me have vanished, even the people who I used to call my "best friends." They didn't vanish instantly. As soon as Jayde was born, everyone was dieing to see her. Not only did I have my friends visiting, but I had all of these people who I hadn't talked to in years coming to my house to see my mini-me. Then, after about two months, things started to slow down. I am not completely blaming them, because I know that I was busy and that a lot of my time was consumed by my brand new daughter. But when the "newborn" stage was over, and I was eager to get out of the house to spend some time with someone other than a baby, no one was there. Of course not every single person was gone, I still had people who where more than happy to hang out with me and Jayde. I knew that my social life would decline after having a baby, but never in a million years did I think that some of my best friends would just vanish; stop calling me and texting me, not returning my calls or texts. I wonder if people think that just because I'm a mom that I'm all the sudden not the same person. Just because I have responsibilities and I had to grow up a little faster than your average 21 year old, doesn't mean that I'm not Michelle. A few months ago, thinking of this subject was difficult. Now that I have had time to realize that they obviously weren't my true friends, it has helped me grow stronger. I realize that friendships work two ways and that if they aren't willing to put it any effort, then I was done putting in effort too. With all of this said, I am so very thankful for all of the wonderful friends that have been there for me through my crazy journey of motherhood. You are all so amazing, and I promise that I will always be there for you through all of your changes just as you are here for me.

Me, Jayde, and my best friend FOREVER :) I hate that she lives so far!

 Jayde has been doing wonderful, she is such a happy baby. I don't know how I got so lucky, but I am so grateful. She is still doing her military crawl, and doesn't have much interest in learning how to crawl regularly. What she is really interested in is learning how to walk. She can pretty much balance herself on my hands or an object without me holding on to her, and she has even lifted herself up to a standing position by herself. I know I say this every post, but it is crazy how much she changes from day to day. I can't even imagine her walking, although I know she will be running around sooner than I can even imagine.

Jayde happily standing without my help.

 Jayde's sleeping habits are wonderful. I put her down for bed at 7:00pm with no crying and she sleeps completely through the night until 7:00am. She is still sleeping 12 hours at night, which means that there still isn't much napping. I have gotten used to this, and I am OK with it. If she was in a bad mood, having to deal with her all day would bother me. But since she is usually in a good mood and can entertain herself for parts of the day, her being awake is no longer an issue. There usually is a 20-30 minute time period in the middle of the day where we will have a "quiet time." During this time, I turn off all the lights and anything that makes noise and put her into her swing with a sippy cup filled with water. I will lay on the couch, and we will both just relax. My favorite part of the day is her breast milk snack in between lunch and dinner. We will both lay in my bed and she will feed for about 30 minutes while she dozes off a little bit. I usually end up dozing off too, with her cuddled up next to me. The best part is her climbing on me to wake me up. As I open my eyes, I am greeted with her huge smile and her beautiful face. It is a beautiful thing.

A unique moment- Jayde is taking a nap!

Lately I have been slacking with making her food. The reason for this is because I get about 80 free jars of baby food a month from the local WIC office. Originally, I was giving the food to my friend until I realized that 80 jars of food is a lot. As much as I hate giving her jar food, it is saving us tons of money. It is just hard for me to accept this because I was so determined to feed her only fresh foods. Every time I feed her a jar of baby food, I feel like a bad mother. Even though I feed her Earth's Best, a trusted organic baby food brand, it just doesn't feel right to me. I plan of feeding her more fresh foods and cutting down on the baby food jars regardless how convenient they are. Luckily, she won't be eating baby food purees for too much longer and I won't have to worry about any of this.

Baby Fat

Since I could remember, I have never been your average "skinny girl." I was working on losing weight before I got pregnant and it was going great. I was in my own little routine of going to the gym almost daily, I even had my own personal trainer to help me with my goals. However, when I got pregnant, I had to put aside some things. While pregnant, your not technically suppose to diet. So, my plan was to eat healthy, for both the baby and me, and hopefully I would be losing the weight I needed while gaining the baby weight. My plan worked. It took a while for me to actually show because while my belly was shrinking, my baby belly was growing. I stopped going to the gym when I was about 24 weeks because one day after a work out, I had some light bleeding that freaked me out. Being afraid of the gym for a whole 6 months took me a few steps back from reaching my goal of getting in-shape.

While pregnant I only gained about 25lbs. With breastfeeding and my lack of eating, since I somehow always "forget" that I'm hungry, I was able to lose that weight pretty quickly. You probably asking yourself, "so, what's the big deal?" The big deal is that I still feel FAT. Months later, here I am. I've lost all my baby weight, yet somehow none of my pre-pregnancy clothes fit. My body feels like it's completely different. I guess I should have prepared myself for this. What was I expecting? I was carrying a baby for 9 long months. I surely couldn't of possibly thought that after being pregnant my body would be the same, could I? Sadly, I did.

The last month I haven't been eating very healthy. I've been eating out a lot and eating "whatever is quick." I have been so busy taking care of my baby that I forgot that I need to take care of myself too. Luckily, before I gained all my pregnancy weight back and more, I realized that I needed to make changes. About 4 days ago, I started eating better. I've also started taking Jayde on walks in the morning. It's only been 4 days, and I can already feel my body thanking me. I feel less tired and feel like I have more energy. It's amazing! I can only imagine what it will feel when I start to actually shed pounds. Not only do I look forward to the day that I will be able to fit comfortably into my pre-pregnancy clothes, but I also hope to go down a few sizes as well. I hope to finally reach my goal of being healthy and in-shape. Not only do I owe a healthy life to myself, but I owe it to my daughter.

Before: Jayde excited for our morning walk. After: Jayde fast asleep, all that walking wore her out! (Even though mommy did all the work.)

If your happy and you know it clap your hands!

As I went into our apartment's laundry room to switch my clothes into the dryer from the washer, there was a man inside of there doing his laundry also. He looked at me and said, "what a way for us to be spending our Friday night, huh?" I laughed and thought to myself, "what else would I be doing?" After he left and I was finishing switching my clothes over I remembered long ago when Friday night meant dressing up and going out with friends. Those nights seem so distant, but I can still remember all of the great times I had. Do I wish I could go back and do things over so I could still be able to do things freely like I did before? Absolutely not. I would pick my daughter over those nights any day. Even if that does mean that I will forever be doing laundry on the weekends while everyone else is out.

Jayde on her new toy. She's getting so big!

Things have been irritating me a little more than usual this week, I have no idea why. But here is a list of the things that are annoying (be prepared for bitchiness):

1. Yesterday I went out with a friend to Red Robin for lunch with her and her baby girl. It was fun being able to spend some mommy time, it's nice to have people that I can talk to about baby stuff. While eating, Jayde was quiet for the most part while eating the food I had brought her and observing. Her baby was being a baby, babbling and using her vocal cords like most babies do. After lunch, we decided that we wanted to go and walk the mall and go shopping so we went out to our cars to get the strollers. While I was getting Jayde ready to go shopping, this old man walked up to me and said, "your baby is such a sweet heart, she is so quiet and so good. That baby," he said pointing to my friend, "well, that's a different story." I was astonished, I honestly really didn't know what to say. "Thank you?" I said back confused. Why would he come up and say this to me? Obviously she was my friend. Not only that, but we were parked right next to each other! She was standing not too far way! I had told her what happened and she pretty much had the same reaction as me. I seriously could not believe what he said. Her baby was being a baby, just experimenting with her vocal cord. Maybe I could understand if she was screaming and crying, but she wasn't. If your going to come to a public family restaurant, then you should expect noise, whatever it may be. If you want piece and quiet, then stay home or go somewhere else! How rude!

2. A couple days ago, Keith took a picture of Jayde's Graduate puffs that she loves so much. Basically the label is a little confusing. It reads, "naturally flavored with other natural flavors." Keith posted it onto facebook asking, "I'm confused, is it natural or not?!" Someone commented, "I think not... I didn't feed them to my youngest. I bought snacks from the organic section of the store.... always read your labels. watch the sugar and sodium per serving. I only fed them briefly to my oldest." I get she was trying to look out or whatever, but really? I thought to myself, "good for you!" I also felt as if she was trying to act like she was so wonderful because she bought from the organic section and that the puffs weren't acceptable by her standards. If she knew what she was talking about, she wouldn't have said anything. Not only do I make my daughters baby food from ORGANIC fruit and vegetables from scratch, but the puffs have 1g of sugar and 0g of sodium per 73 puffs. So, in other words, PLEASE SHUT UP! You pay attention to your kids, and I'll pay attention to mine!

Jayde's puffs container- natural or not? Whatever.

3. Today on someones facebook I saw someones status that read, "its annoying to see baby pics all the time on fb, no one cares. fishing for compliments from ppl u dont personally associate with is lame.." (Ya, not only is he irritating but he doesn't know proper grammar.) Usually these things wouldn't bother me. But, since I've already been in an irritated mood all week, I couldn't help but respond. I said, "You can't get annoyed over people posting pictures of their baby. If you don't like it, don't look at it. Just because you don't want to see it, doesn't mean others don't. Not trying to be rude, but I'm just saying.." Bitchy? Probably. But honestly, I don't care. He responded, "not trying to be rude, but thats why theres a button that blocks certain peoples posts =)" Yes, he is completely right. If you don't want to see pictures of my daughter, then block me. I don't post those pictures for you anyways. I post them because I love her and because I have family who rarely sees her.

Other than be being annoyed at little things, everything has been going really good. Not too much has changed.

Jayde is officially mobile! She doesn't know how to crawl the old fashion way, but she is a pro at the military crawl! It is so fun to watch her. Just today I was watching her throw her toys across the room and crawling to get them. She was having so much fun. Just the other day I went into the kitchen to put some dishes away, and all of the sudden I see her little head peak around the corner. I couldn't help but laugh. It was the cutest thing ever. She is so proud of herself and how she can maneuver around. Little does she know, mommy is probably more proud of her than she is of herself.

Jayde visiting mommy in the kitchen.

Jayde has taught herself how to clap. In the past, every time she accomplished something, I would clap my hands and cheer for her. I never thought that she would ever catch on and start clapping herself. Now every time someone cheers or claps their hands, Jayde does too. It's adorable. It's also a little crazy, because I realize that she really does watch and observe everything I do. But, now that I have realized that she is capable of learning new tricks I am trying to teach her a few other ones. The main one I'm trying to teach her is how to wave "bye-bye." So far, she kind of get it. She just flails one of her arms around and sometimes adds a "ba-ba" (Coincidence or on purpose? Who knows.) I am also teaching her how to give kisses. She definitely still needs work on this trick, but she is slowly getting it. If she does give you a kiss, she will come in with an open mouth! So if any of you try and give her a kiss and you accidentally swap spit, don't say that I didn't warn you!

Fond of Fondue

I am sitting here and waiting for my last batch of vegetables to steam and puree. While I sit here, I think about the last past weeks and about all of the changes that have been happening. My daughter is now almost 8 months and I can't even believe it, time really does go by so damn fast! Just to think that in 4 months I will be celebrating Jayde's first birthday is just crazy!

I just found out on Monday that I am suppose to be feeding Jayde 3 meals a day. THREE MEALS?! No wonder why she is eating 6-10 ounces in the morning, I have been depriving her of food! I was only feeding her one meal a day, which makes me feel like a horrible mother. The day I found out I needed to be feeding her more, I gave her a second meal when I got home. This whole week I have been giving her both breakfast AND lunch. Next week I will introduce her third meal, dinner. I can already say right now that with Jayde eating lunch, her breast milk intake has decreased. I can't even imagine how much more it will decrease once I start giving her dinner. Her eating solids can be tiring at times. With her eating more meals, means I have to be making her more food constantly. Not only that, but she takes about an hour at each meal time to eat. Already, that's about 2 hours a day that I'm sitting at the table feeding her. Each mealtime she is still eating about 6-10oz of food. The nutritionist that I talked to said that once I start feeding her on a regular basis that the amount she consumes per mealtime will decrease. So far, it hasn't. I'm sure hoping it does! If not, then I will be in the kitchen almost every night making baby food! I am already starting to miss the convenience of breastfeeding. With breastfeeding there is nothing to prepare and nothing to clean.

Last Saturday Jayde stayed the night at my moms house. That whole day I was so nervous! I spent most of my time that day pacing around the house and packing Jayde's things. I wanted to make sure that she would have absolutely everything she needed! Even though I was a nervous wreck, there was also a part of me that was excited. This was going to be the first time since Jayde was born that I was going to be able to spend time with Keith alone. At about 4:45pm, I packed everything into my car. (I definitely over packed, but I rather pack too much then too little.) Keith walked out with Jayde in her car seat, loaded her in the car, and then I was on my way to drop her off. While pulling out of the parking lot, I started getting anxiety. What if she cried the whole time? What if she didn't go to sleep? What if she NEEDED me? I could feel my heart beating up my throat, I just couldn't believe that this was the last time I was going to see Jayde until in the morning. I arrived at my moms house and explained everything in detail: when she eats, what she eats, her bedtime routine, what she sleeps in, etc. I needed to make sure that nothing would go wrong. I gave Jayde one final hug and kiss, told her to be a good girl, and let her know I would be back for her in the morning. I tried to stay as calm and as happy as possible, because I know she can pick up on my energy. After I got into my car I put on my sunglasses so no on would see me cry while I drove. I was balling all the way home. I had never felt so empty and sad in my whole entire life. Thank god I waited until after dropping her off to put my make up on.

When Keith and I left for Sacramento, I started feeling a lot better. All of the sadness and anxiety was slowly fading, and my excitement was reemerging. I knew that me dropping Jayde of with my mom for the night was the best decision because of the fact that I was going to be drinking. On the way there we stopped in Fairfield at the mall so I could return a few things that I had bought at Forever 21. While going to get my wallet in my purse, I realized that I had left it at home. Usually it wouldn't have been a big deal, but since I was planning on drinking that night and didn't have my ID, I was a little upset. I was so thankful that Keith drove all the way back home to Martinez to get it. Especially since that was one of the only places that decided to card me! It was a wonderful night. The food was fantastic, the drinks were great, and I loved spending time with my family and Keith without having to worry about a baby. Dinner was about 3 hours long, and it was 11:45pm when we left The Melting Pot. Keith and I decided that since this was going to be the only time in a long time that we were going to have some time to ourselves, we went to a bar and had some more drinks. We ended up getting home at about 2:00am.


Dessert was Delicious!

My favorite drink of the night- Love martini. Yes, the strawberries are in the shape of hearts.

I was planning on picking JaydeJayde was. She said everything was fine and told me to take my time. Take my time? I literally rolled out of bed and ran out the door. I was anxious the whole ride over, I couldn't stop fidgeting. Finally I got to my moms house. I walked in and Jayde looked at me and smiled. I was so extremely happy. I took her in my arms, gave her a hug and a kiss, and then I fed her. My mom told me that she was great while at her house. She fell asleep at about 8:30pm and slept through the night until 6:00am, which means she slept a few hours less than usual.

The picture I woke up to in the morning. Jayde at my mom's house waiting for me to pick her up.

Jayde is ALMOST crawling. She is a fantastic roller, and she has been doing well scooting. It's so funny watching her try to maneuver. She knows how to work her legs perfectly, the only thing she needs help on is her arms. She will pull up onto her knees and look as if she is about to crawl, but then she face plants onto the ground. Even though she isn't crawling yet, she sure does know how to make her way across the room. She will spot an object that she wants and then will find a way to get there. Once she has accomplished getting to where she wants to be, she spots another object she wants and starts making her way over there. This is pretty much what she enjoys doing for a good portion of her day. It's really exciting seeing her so mobile!

I have saved some good news for last..... JAYDE HAS BOOKED A SHOOT! It's for Pottery Barn Kids on October 12th. Exciting!!!!!!!!

When life hands you lemons...

The last couple of weeks I have noticed that I have been becoming less and less of a control freak. If you would have observed me with my daughter a couple months ago you most likely would have noticed that I was very uptight about everything my daughter did. When I say everything, I mean absolutely everything! From what time she went to bed, what she ate, touched, played with, etc- I always needed to have control of everything in fear that something terrible would happen. I think that now Jayde is 7 months old, I have realized that being a mother is so much more enjoyable when your not constantly worrying about every little thing. I have also realized that almost every book you read about parenting is about what you should and should not do to your child. I almost feel like every book is just a big book of rules, which is probably the reason why every mother freaks out once something that "the book didn't say was OK" happens. "Do not let your baby eat anything with sugar or with added sugar." I get that you shouldn't be giving your child candy bars all the time, but I have given Jayde a lick of ice cream and she seems to be doing fine. I am no longer afraid of my daughter being exposed to germs. Don't get me wrong, I still sanitize the swing at the park before I put her in. But, I no longer have the need to wash every single thing every time it falls on the ground. (As long as I'm not at a place that is obviously dirty.) I have even let Jayde try a lemon, which I thought I wouldn't do until she was older. Even though I am veering from the book, I still keep it around. I think it's good as questions come up, but I don't think I should have my daughter live by it. I have found that parenting by instinct is so much easier.

Jayde tasting a lemon for the first time.

Saturday was my 21st birthday. I must say, my birthday weekend will be one that I will always remember. I woke up Saturday morning later than usual because Keith got up with Jayde, that itself was a wonderful birthday gift. After waking up, I got ready to have lunch with some family. We went to eat and BJs, and at that point, I ordered my very first legal drink- Mango Tango. When you read and hear the name "Mango Tango" you picture this pretty, colorful mixed drink. When they brought over a clear, water looking drink with some sort of leaf sticking out of it, I was a little confused. Don't get me wrong, it was still decent tasting. Just... not what I was expecting. I didn't really get to enjoy my drink anyways because Jayde was in such a fussy mood! The whole time I drank it I was nervous about me having to feed her when I wasn't able to. After lunch, we went over to my mom's house to open presents and eat cake. From my mom I got the ONE thing I wanted the most for my birthday, a BOB Revolution SE jogging stroller!! I was so excited!! I still can't get over the fact that getting a jogging stroller is now more exciting than getting the newest iPhone or iPod. I'm sure that at some point I'll have no choice but to get used to it. After receiving presents and indulging in cake, I went home and took a nap. (Yay, more sleep!!) After waking up, I put Jayde to bed, and then started to get ready for my night out in the city. Obviously, I drank. It was my 21st birthday so I was obligated to! I had a great time! But, I was a little upset that I didn't get carded, not even ONCE.

You would think that since I was turning 21 I would be most excited about going out and ordering drinks from bars legally. That part was fun, but I think I was most excited for taking Jayde to the beach. Keith and I left for Santa Cruz on Sunday after I came home from San Francisco. (And after my much needed long nap.) He decided that we were going to stay the night in a hotel as part of my birthday present. When we got there it was a little late, so we decided that we would just take Jayde on walk in her new stroller to the Boardwalk. It was pretty cold and overcast, so before we left I went to BabiesRUs to get Jayde a warmer outfit and a blanket since I had only brought her outfits for warmer weather. We ended up getting back to out hotel at about 9:30pm, which is obviously way past Jayde's 7:00pm bedtime.  We had a one bedroom room with one queen sized bed. We brought the Pack-n-Play thinking that Jayde would sleep in there, but we were wrong. I have to say that it was a pretty rough night. Jayde slept with us in our bed and finally fell asleep at about 10:30pm, woke up at 11:45pm, slept again until 2:00am, and then woke up at 4:30am and didn't go back to sleep. I was so exhausted from my previous night that I was not in the mood to deal with all this. It would have been different if she was awake and in a good mood, but she was extremely grumpy. I understand that we were sleeping in an unfamiliar place and that I had put her to bed way later than normal, but her acting the way she did was so different. Where was my happy girl?


Jayde and I entering the Boardwalk in her new stroller!

The whole day on Monday she was pretty grumpy, but I didn't let it ruin the day. I was FINALLY going to take my baby to the beach, and I wasn't going to let her bad mood get in the way.Keith took her on a long walk in the morning, for almost 2 hours, so I was able to get some more sleep. If it wasn't for those two hours, I probably wouldn't have been able to get through the day. Before heading to the beach, Keith and I went shopping and went out to lunch. While shopping I found Jayde a tie-dyed onesie, I was pretty excited. I had told Keith that I had wanted to get her something tie-dyed while we were in Santa Cruz. After lunch, we drove back to the hotel and walked down to the beach. As soon as we got to the there, Jayde was happy. She was so amazed by the ocean waves. I immediately took her to the water and let it wash up to her feet. I then took her back to our towel and put her in the sand to let her play. The sand was by far her favorite part. She sat there grabbing handfuls of it and letting it fall through her fingers. She then started to grab the sand and throw it to the side, almost as if she was digging a hole. She had SO much fun! I smiled the whole time as I watched her explore this new place with amazement. She then fell asleep and took a mini nap on the beach, it was the cutest thing ever. I need to take her back again soon, she absolutely loved it there!

Jayde's feet in the ocean

Long day- Taking a nap on the beach.

Jayde is almost starting to crawl. She can turn in circles and scoot backwards a little bit. So far the most productive way of her moving is rolling across the room. It is so funny watching her. She will be intesely consintrating on getting somewhere, and once she has made some progress she will look at me and smile. She is so proud of herself, and I am proud of her as well. Everyday she gets closer and closer to crawling. I know that it is only a matter of weeks until she will be completely mobile and I will have to watch her all times. I know she is going to try and get into absolutley everything.

Jayde's first time rolling across the room. She started from the middle of the blanket, and made her way over to play with her gym.