Baby Quilt - Finally Finished!

This is the quilt that I started nine months ago…

This is the quilt I finished yesterday…

This is the quilt I made for Baby Love.

Good news:

She loves it!

Bad news:
Sweet potato spit-up stains pretty quilts.

 I am struggling to figure things out

and to find myself in this new role of "mother".

 How to live and sleep and work and blog

with a daughter to consider.

A cascade of circumstances 

has me feeling

overwhelmed

lonely

inadequate

hungry

and ever thankful

to have a husband

who keeps me fixed on God.

I am struggling.

But I am happy.

Is that possible?

Apparently so.

Some Things, on a Monday.

1. Tim is definitely, obviously, certainly Rosemary's favorite person. Her whole face lights up when he walks into the room. I think that, because I haven't left her sweet little side for more than a couple hours since she was born and we always, without fail, have a feeding rendezvous every three hours or less (except during the night)… I have kind of become just an everyday part of the scenery of her life. Good old, always-there MOM, that's me. So Tim is her favorite, and in truth I can't blame her, and we both await his arrival home each night with eager expectation.

2. Our tickets to Hawaii have been purchased. The thought of Hawaii kind of cancels out any negative thought that exists. Baby crying inconsolably because she can't figure out how to roll the other direction? Hawaii, Hawaii, Hawaii.

3. As if I wasn't already socially awkward enough with my crazy diet… I'm gluten free now too. It is with great reluctance that I have given up gluten. Rosemary has had a lot of congestion and a rash that won't disappear since she was born, and the doctor thinks it might be a gluten intolerance. That's kind of the conclusion he came to by default, since the most common food issues with babies come from either meat, dairy, sugar, eggs, or gluten, and gluten is the only one of those five things I eat. So you're wondering what gluten-free vegans eat. The answer? Vegetables, vegetables, nuts, some fruit, vegetables, and rice cakes. After one week of this, I'm starving. 

5. Our part-time worker decided to go back to school (the nerve!), so now Timmy is back to working six days a week. (Thank goodness we are closed on Sunday.) This has been a devastating blow to the morale of our home. But, my friends, there is hope on the horizon. Hawaii, Hawaii, Hawaii.

6. I showed my risk-loving husband and similarly cra-zy little sister this video, in an attempt to prove once and for all that bungee jumping is insane. Instead of the "ohmygosh, I'm never bungee jumping again!!!" response I was smugly expecting, they both excitedly stated, "See?! She lived! I told you it was safe." Ummm, guys… when a survival story includes the word "miraculous", SAFE cannot be an additional adjective used in its description.

7. I've fully embraced winter hibernation. Pajamas, fireplace, and baby snuggles are my only ammo against the winter blues that three snowstorms in one week brings. Oh, that and…  

Hawaii, Hawaii, Hawaii.

A Conversation: About Daydreams

Me: You know, you're better than I ever imagined in any of my daydreams.

Timmy: You're a daydream that I caught.

(Happy 31 Months of being Mr. & Mrs.!)

Oh, how we roll…

Yesterday morning I informed my daughter that it was high time she start rolling over. Seriously. She did it - ONCE - and then decided she was content being a stationary little log and never tried it ever again. 

So we settled on the living room floor for a little BBC (Baby Boot Camp). For half an hour I helped (forced) her to "practice" rolling from her tummy to her back. I told her of all the wonderful things rolling could accomplish. 

She went stiff as a board and squawked at me like a baby birdy until I finally gave up.

Two hours later she was chilling on her back, contentedly sucking her fingers and cooing. And I was all like, "Whatever, baby. It's your loss." 

I took my eyes off her for one teensy second, only to turn around and find her on her stomach looking at me as if to say,

"That's right, Mom.
This is how I roll."

I promptly flipped her back and watched her do it again,

and again

and again.

Baby girl went from a stationary log to a rolling-over pro in the space of three hours.

Her technique is hilarious (and definitely not how I was trying to teach her). She curls herself up in a little ball and then shoots her legs out like a ninja. She really is her father's daughter.

We have a tiny rolling ninja in the house. I'm pretty sure that once she figures out how to roll from tummy to back, our lives will never be the same.

A Coversation: About French

Me: I wish we could teach Rosemary a foreign language.
I know some French. Let's say something in French. 

Timmy: Ok!

Me: Bonjour je m'appelle Becki. Je suis magique.

Timmy: … TRIANGLE!

I learned some basic French before we went on our honeymoon to Paris. I basically knew how to say, "My name is Becki. This is my husband, Tim. We are newlyweds. It is so magical. If I eat dairy I die."

And I could only remember it if I said each phrase in that exact order,
so needless to say I didn't have very many meaningful French conversations.

And I think it is obvious from the above conversation that Timmy knows ZERO French.

So I guess Rosemary won't be bilingual, but…

she has a Daddy that will always make her laugh.

(so who needs French?)

Music By Caleb.

 My brother-in-law is such a talented musician.
As a Christmas present, I designed him some business cards

and a header for his music blog.
He wanted something "folksy" and "classic"

and here's what we came up with:

 (front)

(back)

Be sure to head over and listen to some of his work!

www.musicbycaleb.com

Chiropractors & Belly Laughs

 

We all barely survived last week. Rosemary had her first cold, followed by an ear infection. But we had no idea that was the reason she could never, ever, not-for-a-second, be put down in her crib. We had 48 hours of hysterical crying all night long before a friend of mine mentioned it might be her ears that were bothering her.

And then it was like, 

"Oh gosh, why didn't we think of that?!"

One trip to the chiropractor and she was a bazillion times better. We spent the rest of the week putting garlic oil in her ears and she has once again returned to her normal nightly schedule of blessed SLEEP for ten hours straight. Whew.

Which brings me to a couple points. Firstly, every baby should go to the chiropractor. We love ours. We started taking Rosemary about a month ago and he completely cured her car-crying problem. (She would crycrycry EVERY time we got into the car.) Turns out there is a lot of air pressure in cars and it's pretty common for baby's ears to hurt when driving. No more car cries for Rosemary (seriously!). He also saw that her range of motion was restricted and has solved that problem as well and now Rosemary can completely turn her head both directions. (We had thought she just preferred to look a certain way.) And while talking with our chiropractor he mentioned that chiropractors can help with many common baby issues, like colic, digestive issues, acid reflux… the list goes on. So, please take your baby to the chiropractor.

Second point. You don't need to use antibiotics to cure an ear infection. Garlic oil does the trick, and the less we use antibiotics, the better.

It's been so wonderful to have Rosemary back to her normal, happy self. This weekend she gave us her first belly laugh, thanks to her silly friend Elizabeth who Rose is clearly in love with. 

Baby belly laughs now top the list of best things ever.

 Timmy Text: There's a surprise for you upstairs on our bed.

…and when I ran upstairs, this is what I found:

*smile*

Four Months.

Four months finds us with

one baby with an ear infection
(who hasn't slept in 48 hours)

two sick parents

three very, very, very sleepy house inhabitants

and four months of happy memories
(to keep us sane in moments of pure despair.)