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.
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