Contest fun

Hey friends! At 5 Minutes for Mom, they are having a July 4th Giveaway! So head on over there and check it out. There are a lot of great prizes that could be won!

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to the BEST Daddy in the whole world! James is a wonderful daddy to Lena. She just thinks the world of him. She can't wait till the end of the day for him to get home from work, and when she hears him come in the door, she runs to him saying "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!" and gives him the biggest hugs. I knew he would make a great daddy, when my nephew attached himself to him before we had been married a year. I'm so blessed to be married to such a wonderful husband and father.

Father's Day 2006-Lena is 6 mo. old

Like Father Like Daughter--Big cheesy grins.

Contest!

At 5 Minutes for Mom they are having a contest where they are giving away two gift baskets with new baby toys made by Playskool and CVS/Pharmacy. Be sure to go check it out!

Pudding

Last night, Lena and I thought that we would make some chocolate pudding.
She had a lot of fun helpingmix it up and tast testing. I think she got her love
of chocolate from her Daddy and her Granna.

I better taste this, just to make sure it's good.

Yum! It is good pudding!

Having a baby changes everything

I was recently taking a poll online on a baby website. One of the questions was:

What does the phrase "Having a baby changes everything" mean to you?

Here is my answer:

Your thinking changes, you no longer think about just yourself and your spouse. You think about your child, and how you conduct yourself will affect your child. How your money is spread out is different. You no longer have the same amount of spending money for yourself, you have to buy diapers, clothes, doctor's visits--and they are more important than that new shirt or pair of shoes you've had your eye on. Your schedule changes. You no longer get to stay out late, or be able to go somewhere on a whim. Bedtimes and naptime are important, otherwise the rest of the day is cranky time. Your sleep pattern changes. You no longer get to sleep in when you want to. But, amidst all these changes, come a lot of wonderful unimaginable changes. Your sense of joy changes from the things you used to love, to getting that toothless gummy grin. Even those slobbery kisses (that do eventually change to sweet ones), put a smile on your face. You find yourself having spent half of naptime just watching your child sleep, in awe of their beauty and amazed at the fact that they are yours, and the other half of naptime catching up on your sleep. And who can forget how your heart leaps when your child first says, "Mama", or "Dada", or how proud you feel when the doctor says your child is smart. Yes, having a baby changes everything, but the positives outweigh the negatives. For me, having a baby changes everything for the better, and I wouldn't ever exchange my "Mama Time" for the times I had before having a baby.

I'm so proud to be a Mommy. This is the job that gives me such joy.

Dreams

It is interesting how dreams are. Some are good, some are weird, and some are scary. Some dreams actually come true. Last thursday night, I dreamed that we went to Midland and was out with my family. In the dream, my sister-in-law forgot to pack diapers for her son, Lena's cousin, who is two weeks older than Lena. She asked in the dream if she could use one of Lena's diapers for him. Well, the next morning, I ended up packing double the amount of diapers and wipes in Lena's diaper bag. Well that day we went to Midland to go to my niece's high school graduation. We went out to dinner with my family, and sure enough, my sister-in-law (the same one from the dream), realized she didn't bring the diaper bag and asked if she could use one of Lena's diapers for him. Freaky, huh!? Like I said, it is interesting how dreams are. There have been some other times that some dreams have come true, but the one I like the best is when I dreamed when I was pregnant with Lena, (before we found out she was a girl) that we had a little girl with curly blonde hair and blue eyes. Well, that certainly came true. I like to see how dreams come true. Of course there are times I wake up in a sweat and pray really hard that dream that woke me up would not come true. Dreams are interesting.

First time mom lessons

First time mom lessons I have learned:

1. It's okay when your toddler refuses to eat meat. She substituetes it with veggies, and it's just a phase.
2. When you encourage your child to foster a love of reading, be prepared to read each of her books a million times a day.
3. "No" becomes a favorite word, even though you're sure you weren't the one to teach it to them.
4. Your child surprises you every day with something new they have learned.
5. Slobbery kisses are the best.
6. Toddlers are good at hiding things :)
7. How to multitask beyond the meaning of multitasking.
8. You don't have to buy the expensive diapers--the cheap HEB brand works just as well.
9. Getting a puppy is like getting another baby--only with a lot of bark.
10. What the meaning of a schedule is--and it's okay when it gets changed. Tomorrow is always another day.
11. Meals and food prep. are scheduled events.
12. Babysitting trade-off with other moms is a wonderful thing.
13. No matter how much you thought you knew about children before having them, you still learn new things every day.
14. Sleep is a luxury.

This is just the beginning of what I have learned in the last 17 months.

Sleep is a word in house again!

Lena is over her fear of going to sleep alone in her room! Yay! Last night I left the lamp on in her room and let her cry it out. She was in and out of crying for nearly 10 min. before falling asleep. She also woke up at 6:00 am, but she did sleep completely through the night in her own bed all night. We were so happy to get sleep last night. Now I know not to put her in her bed right when a storm starts, but rather just wait a little till it ends. The lessons you learn when you're a first time mom.

Back to no sleep

Well, we're back to the no sleep topic. Only this time, it's not because of not wanting to go to sleep without James there. Lena is now afraid to sleep by herself alone in a dark room. On wednesday night, when it stormed, I put her to bed at her normal time, but that was when the storm was just starting. The lightening and thunder scared her, and since then she won't sleep at all in a bed alone in a dark room. Last night I tried putting an extra night light in her room so she would have 2, and it not be so dark, but she wasn't going for that. I even tried putting her in the pack n' play in our room to sleep. The only way that she would go to sleep is to sleep in our bed with us. That is not a normal thing for us to do. Sometime around 12:30 am, I moved Lena from our bed to the pack n' play. There was a night light right by her bed, so she had plenty of light. She slept there till about 5:30 and then woke up with her scared cry. I was so sleepy, I just put her back in our bed. She sleeps just fine for her daytime naps in her own bed. It's just at night now, she doesn't want to sleep where she can't touch us and know that we are there. I'd love to break her of this, I just don't know how yet. I don't want to have to go to bed every night with a toddler in my bed.

No makeup

Adventures in Babywearing is having a contest. They are looking for pictures of bloggers
without makeup. Looks like a fun contest. http://adventuresinbabywearing.blogspot.com




Without absolutely no makeup



With full makeup

Sleep Update

The last few nights have been better for me with getting enough sleep. I decided what I needed to do is wear myself out more during the day, and then at night I'm so tired, I am able to go to bed at a better time. Last night, I went to bed about 11:00 or so, and Lena woke me up at 6:45, and I got right up and wasn't tired. In fact, I have so much energy, I don't know what to do with it. Of course, this is the day that Lena is more tired than usual, so I don't have her to wear me out as much. Maybe I need to work out. I need to figure out how to manage my time better so that I can squeeze in time for working out. I would love to lose some weight. Only 24 lbs to lose to get back down to prepregnancy weight! Anyways, I was derailing from the subject of sleep.....
I think I've figured out how to get more sleep. This summer I plan to take Lena to the library, the zoo, the park, playgroups, etc. Since I won't have preschool, I'll have some time flexibility for those things, and they should help wear me out.

Cooling off

Daddy got Lena a new water mist hose for the
yard. Lena and Daddy enjoyed cooling off with it.

Frustrated

Lena loves her playscape, but is a little frustrated
that she can't stand up in underside of it. Maybe
we'll get her a playhouse at some point.