Thursday, March 31, 2011

If This Doesn't Make You Smile, Then You Have A Heart of Stone.


"I'm actually smiling at the t.v. I love Top Chef."

Cradle Crap

I have so many friends who are pregnant and having babies right now, and for some reason, they all seem to care what I think about baby products! I have to say, it is sort of satisfying to be able to give an educated opinion about this stuff, because if you know me at all, you know that when I was pregnant I spent HOURS reading reviews on everything from strollers to sleepsacks, and from nipple cream to nasal aspirators. I mean, it was borderline obsessive and sort of scary to Bill, who probably thinks I love Amazon more than him after all the time I spent gazing at the computer screen with my pudgy pregnant brow furrowed.
Anyway, I have to say that I made some great choices and some not so great ones, and that along the way I have discovered some real gems among all the CRAP that is marketed to hormonal, easily influenced pregnant people. Here are a few of the things that have TRULY FOR REAL made my life as a mom easier and more satisfying. Presented in a manageable one-at-a-time format, so you have more of this babble to look forward to!


Bella B Bee Gone Cradle Cap Shampoo
I HATE cradle cap. it is so gross, and I will admit that I feared it more than the way more serious things that could have befallen CC. and of course, like all babies, she got it. I remedied that ickfest with a quickness, first picking at it with my fingernails (ew), then rubbing her little head with olive or canola oil every other day (she IS part Sicilian), and finally stumbling across this shampoo in Pier 1 one day. The verdict? Picking cradle cap is GROSS and CC hated having me attack her head all the time. The olive oil worked but resulted in a baby who smelled like a french fry and had weird oily hairstyles all the time. Also the cradle cap would come back in force between oilings. The shampoo is the ONLY thing that works and it keeps the cradle cap from coming back! Now CC has a beautiful, soft, cradle cap free head that people (who have babies) notice and comment on! No cradle cap=happy mommy. Here it is. Get it. This stuff is SO MAJOR. (holla Rachel Zoe fans!)


Bella B Bee Gone Cradle Cap Foaming Shampoo 8 Oz




Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Oh My Cuteness!

so I am working on quite a few things lately and I am hoping to share many of them here in the near future. there is Caroline of course, who is just growing so FAST, and who makes me laugh every day. and, there is our house, which after a year and a half still hasn't been painted inside and I have yet to decorate in the way I want to. but hopefully that will be changing soon! I really want to do some before and afters, so that is something to look forward to :) until then, here is yet another shameless photo of the cutest baby of all time. Happy Wednesday!


"I know, I know. I'm adorable."

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

writing and daydreaming...

so I have actually been writing! it is taking time and patience and discipline, but I am trying. I started working on writing down everything that has happened to us since we first found out we were pregnant in November 2008 (our first loss), but it is slow going and I really don't want to forget anything, so it may be awhile before I am finished. but it feels so good to start.
 in the meantime, things have been good, spring is in the air, CC is enjoying the Ergo (thank god!) and we are itching to get outside and get to Squirrel Island!!! I can't wait to play with CC on the beach and watch her with all the other new Squirrel babies. growing up with such amazing people and having such a wonderful group of friends (really though, extended family) was such a gift for me, and now that we are all having babies I have no words for how incredible it is. thinking of CC growing up with all the other littles fills my heart with such love and joy and makes me want summer RIGHT NOW. soon though. very soon...

Friday, March 25, 2011

I DID IT!

finally. a finished letter to my darling girl. now, I am challenging myself to go back and write her letters for the previous five months! man does it feel good to finish something. :)


March 14, 2011

Dear Caroline,

            Today you are 6 months old! It is unbelievable how quickly you are growing and changing, but is all amazing. You sit up all by yourself now, and you have been eating like crazy! You love cereal, and fruits and veggies, but you especially love teething cookies. I think it is safe to say that you might have your Mommy’s sweet tooth. You are just like your Dad in that when you are hungry, you want to eat NOW. I love seeing both of us in you, and as your personality emerges more and more every day, the little ways in which you are like us make us smile. You are your own person though as well, and we love seeing the unique traits that make you our little girl. You know what you like and you will accept no substitutes! You LOVE your kitties, and they are sometimes nice enough to let you pat them. You smile at anyone who talks to you, and you bring such joy to everyone who meets you. I feel so blessed to have you as my daughter.

            You spent most of the winter holed up inside with Mommy, but you also went to California three times! Your family all love you very much, and everyone wants to spend time with you, so we did everything we could to make sure you could meet all of them. We feel incredibly lucky that you got to see your three great-grandparents in San Diego, since they are all over 90 years old and you are their first great-grandchild. You get to see your other great-grandma almost every week here in NH, and it is safe to say that they all love and adore you more than you can ever know. You are such a light in the lives of everyone around you.

            You and I spend our days together, since I am lucky enough to be able to stay home with you, and I hope we will always be as close as we are right now, and have as much fun as we do! Daddy works hard so we can give you the gift of a stay-at-home parent, and I love every second of being with you. You are bright, sweet, curious, funny, charming, and beautiful. At times, I simply cannot believe that you came from my body, that we created you, that I lived without you in my life for so long. You are my miracle, my lovely girl, my daughter.

            I have given you many nicknames, and you will most likely beg me when you are fifteen to stop calling you by most of them, but until then you will always be, Mommy’s little bird, a nice hummingbird, a sweet honeybee, a little bitty bug, a lovely ladybug, a snuggle-cuddle-bug, an itty-bitty bean, a sweet jellybean, a tiny butterbean, the smallest one, a tiny bun, my honeybun.
           
            I love you little bird. Happy 6 months. Love, Mommy



Teething Cookies = Nasty Business

Since CC is teething now (she even has a little white nub poking through her bottom gum!) we have been giving her Earth's Best barley teething biscuits. Obviously I call them cookies, because to me, cookies are life. I had no idea that these teething things would completely disintegrate all over EVERYTHING. seriously. I am finding bits of teething cookie everywhere, including my rug, the high chair, the couch, in CC's diapers, and stuck to the cats. so now, we are on the hunt for teething CRACKERS, which maybe are less gross? sigh. my life.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Six Months.

AAAHHHH! My little bird is 6 months old and I am STIll having major issues with forcing myself to write. I had the best intentions of writing her letters and documenting everything, but it just has not happened. maybe this is a good time to start pondering why I can't seem to settle myself for just ten minutes a day (or a week, or a month!) to have time to sit and reflect on my life and my child. I feel like I am enjoying her so much in the moment, but I worry that little things will slip away easily as each new thing happens. sigh. well, I just have to keep pushing myself, and hopefully, eventually, I will manage to get into a groove. Until then, here she is, 6 months old and BEAUTIFUL. My Caroline. My little bird.