Nick and Rachel

Growing Girl

// July 1st, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Mariah, Motherhood, Rachel

i hate when i write an entire post and then lose it! grrr….attempt #2 for this post:

i thought being at home for the summer would lead to more frequent posting. quite the opposite. even though mariah now takes one nap that gives me 2-3 hours to myself, i spend it doing other things. my photography business items take over, as does cleaning, reading a good book or other’s blogs, or taking a much needed nap myself. not to mention our site was hacked twice now and inserting pictures is a big headache now for some reason.

i’m so enjoying being home with mariah. we have a nice little routine of getting out of the house every morning for a walk/run, playground, errands, zoo….etc. followed by lunch, nap and playtime. having the little pond right behind our house is great for those crabby moments. one lap around and she’s just fine.

i don’t know how i’m going to go back to work in august! leaving a four month old last year wasn’t hard at all. she mostly ate and slept and made cute faces and noises. now everything has changed. she’s soaking up information like a sponge and it already breaks my heart to leave her with someone else. i want to be the one who teaches her new words and colors and shapes and morals and obedience. maybe i’m just being selfish and my need for control is coming through, but maybe in this case that’s ok.

mariah had her 15 month check up today (a little late b/c i kept forgetting to schedule). we had to see a different doctor b/c i’m a slacker, but he was so impressed with her. he asked if she had 1-2 words other than mama and dada that we understood. we counted a few weeks ago and she had 30!!! she’s been rapidly adding to that every day.

he also said she’s doing very well socially and was impressed she didn’t cry or squirm during her exam. then she wow’ed me by not crying at the first shot, wimpering just a bit for the second, and then just a few tears on the last one. she’s never done that before!

she’s getting so grown up i can hardly stand it, but i sure do love it!

and for those of you interested in stats: 30 inches (30th percentile) & 24lbs. (65th percentile)

walking smartie pants

// April 12th, 2010 // No Comments » // Mariah, Motherhood

i’m not one of those moms who writes monthly letters to her child. and sometimes i feel guilty about it. i should be recording the milestones and sharing wonderful words of wisdom with her that she’ll look back on and read with tears in her eyes. but then i remember that monthly (and later yearly) letters are NOT a requirement of motherhood and i take a million pictures to help jog my memory, right? besides, as a a working mom i barely even have time to write a few blog posts a week some weeks and my book club book is being neglected.

but today, i’ll record some milestones.  it’s slow at work and i might not remember to put them in the baby book this week since nick has been forced to put in 11 hour days and work weekends and the house is a mess.

**

mariah is walking!  she’d been taking a few steps independently since last week, but after 3 (5 max) she’d end up on her butt and crawl. now she’s going for it.

she’s walking around like a little zombie. her elbows are bent and her hands are open and straight in front of her for balance. she’s wobbly so her whole body shifts side to side. and she’s concentrating so hard that her face is all scrunched up. yes. a zombie. *note to self: record video*

she’s also talking up a storm. the usual babbling that most kids do, but i believe she does it in excess. i LOVE to hear her playing by herself talking and giggling away. sometimes there’s a cute little “ohhh” when she discovers something fascinating i guess. this morning she played with a stuffed duck in the car and i’d like to think she was showing him and telling him all about what was out the window. then she’d kiss him, giggle and “shake” him while saying “ah ah ah”. not sure what that means.

her current vocabulary: dada, mama, ball, kuck (duck), keykey (kitty), baby, gog (dog). i LOVE when she says baby. it’s long and drawn out and so sweet. “baaabyyy” melts my heart.

what i might love the most is that she understands what we say – which is tied to the memory i suppose. she has a fantastic memory and must be soaking up information like crazy. she remembers where a ball once was, that a particular magazine has a picture of a baby or dog, he knows what shoes are and that they go on her feet, that putting on a coat means “bye bye”…and she knows when we hide the pacifer. stinker!

last night i said, “mariah, it’s time to change your diaper” and she went to the changing table and handed me a diaper. genius!

we made monkey noises when reading a jungle book and now she says “ah ah ah” when she reads it.

**

um…i just thought of like 8 more stories, but i’ll spare you. i need to just save one or two good ones for their own entries. otherwise i might be writing all day.

one year invites

// March 6th, 2010 // No Comments » // Mariah, Motherhood, The Grays

can you believe it? mariah turns one in twelve days!  it’s flown by. i miss those itty bitty newborn days, but i love seeing her little personality, hearing her sweet voice, and getting slobbery kisses.

these are the invites i made for her party in two weeks. i found cheap notecards at target on clearance and added the paper to the front. the nice cursive is nick’s.  mine’s still stuck in fifth grade – the last time i used it. i hand wrote the information on the inside which took quite some time, but it adds a more personal touch i suppose.

i’m going to attempt making tissue paper poms to hang from the ceiling and bake up something yummy. hope those both turn out ok.

photo of the week: legs

// February 10th, 2010 // No Comments » // Mariah, Photo of the Week, our pictures

motherhood rollercoaster

// February 8th, 2010 // No Comments » // Mariah, Motherhood, Rachel

honestly i think i’ve had more ups and downs in the last 10.5 months than i’ve ever had in my life. it’s amazing how much mariah’s mood and attitude affect mine.

when she was first born i was high on some new mommy chemical or something. even though i was feeding every 2.5-3 hours, i could keep going. i mean, there may have been something in the fact that we had visitors and help for 2 straight weeks and i took lots of naps. but she was a perfect angel. the world’s easiest baby. all my fears of being able to be a good mommy were gone.

then after our travels to italy around 2.5 months, things got a little tricky. sleep through the night was now hit or miss for the first time. but at {3 months} things seemed to click. then at 4 months with the start of daycare, pneumonia, and teeth it got ugly. 6 months i think was happy (kind of a blur). from there it was up and down weekly daily.

between colds and sickness every month, lack of sleep at daycare, teething, tummy aches from grown up food, learning new skills…. sleep has been rare. then i get crabby. then i write posts like {this one}

but then she catches up on sleep, gets over a cold, the tooth breaks through and we see our easy baby again. and i feel the joy of motherhood.

she told us a BIG story at the dinner table saturday night. something that included “poof” and her hands on her head and then behind her ears. we kept trying to figure it out and keep her talking. “is mommy’s hair poofy?” “did you poop?” finally she picked up some food, put it behind her ear, brought her hands out and said “poof”. OH! she was telling us about her magic trick!

today i noticed how much her hands had grown and it put things into perspective. during these happy moments i need to treasure them and drink them in so i can hold onto them in the rough moments. because she’s growing up too fast to get stuck in the hard times.

next time she’s screaming for two hours in the night, i need to think back to her cute little magic trick story.