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AHHH!!!!!!!!

Where have all of the naps gone?

Our little rock star napper has turned into a napless little fuss pot. Ada used to take two naps a day. Sometimes even three. But lately, she's on to our little plan to sing her to sleep and rock away the fun. She's putting up such a fight that she spends more time trying not to go to sleep than actually sleeping. And then she does silly things like fall asleep on the way to a party, but not until we are five blocks away. She doesn't normally even sleep in the car, unless of course it's a really short trip that we don't want her to sleep. Then, she's out.

Today has been the ultimate battle of teething, Tylenol, and resisting a nap. As eleven rolls around, I assume she's hungry as she hasn't eaten since 7 am and, what does she do? She falls asleep while nursing. So typical. And even more frustrating...we had a lunch date at noon that we had to cancel so she could get her beauty rest. Such is the life of having a baby I guess. It's still worth it :)

I have to say, I'd rather she were a mess during the day and off her schedule now instead of during the night. We are still very blessed to have a daughter who sleeps 11 or 12 hours a night. For that I am very thankful.

Moral of the story: Don't get lulled into a false sense of security when your child adheres to a schedule for awhile. Enjoy it, but know that it isn't likely to last and be thankful for what naps and sleep you do get.

The Formula Formula

Ada's 10 months old and we're ready for a little formula. So how does that work?


Well, we don't know.

Rick and I have been talking about introducing a bit of baby formula for weeks now as my milk supply is okay but not bountiful, and we'd like it if I was less tethered to the baby, less stressed about having enough milk supply and just as a fall back plan in case we need it. I have about 9 oz in the freezer, but that's not a whole lot when she's eating more than that each day. I'm still nursing her four times a day when I'm home, two times a day if I work. And I still pump each night before bed and mid-day at work assuming we don't have a lot of milk in the fridge and I'm not on a deadline. But I can make it eight hours without nursing now, if need be, and it is not the end of the world.

So yesterday, we tried a little formula in a bottle. Oh boy.

She hated it!

She had a look as if to say "Wow, what a fun toy you've given me. A bottle with sticky stuff that I can drip all over myself." She tasted it. Then made a funny face and proceeded to play with the bottle and make a mess. We tried a generic soy-based formula to begin with as I'm told it is easier to digest, but I think we're going to have to try something else. We'll give this formula another chance or two since it is only good now for a month and we have a whole container of it, but I'm not confident that she's going to go for it. At least we have less than two months before we can make the switch to whole cow's milk. Hopefully that goes better than this little experiment.

Moral of the story: As a parent, you'll find that you often have no clue what you're doing. That's okay. Just keep researching, trying new things, and asking mom's who have gone before you. We can't all be clueless.

I'm a little TOUCAN, short and feathery...

Rick and I know Ada is going to hate us for this when she gets older, but who could resist? She's just so cute!

And the best part?

The costume is from a school fundraiser garage sale in our home town and was purchased by grandma Ba.
The leggings are from Aunt Anne and will last all winter long. The socks and the long sleeve red onsie are hand-me-downs.

The next best part?

She fell asleep 5 blocks from the party after not having taken a nap all day. Of course, we then had to wake her up for the party. And she slept the whole way home - all 25 minutes.

Cost of looking adorable on Halloween? Nada.

Thanks to all who help Ada always look cute.

Moral of the story: Don't

spend a ton on kids' Halloween costumes. Kids are so cute to begin with that it doesn't take much to exploit

that fact and make a good costume out of a sheet and some pipe cleaners.

This one's for Bobpa...

My dad thinks all kids should know how to flick their lips with their fingers and make noise. Here is Ada's latest attempt.

Enjoy!

More Teeth!

Finally, the onslaught begins. Ada has her two front teeth popping through now too! And we've found a new use for her "Soothie", which is another brand of pacifier or "Nuk". She uses it at a teething toy since it is hard plastic that she can get into the hard to reach places in her mouth and it doesn't hurt as much as chomping on her fingers.

If you squint, you might be able to see the 3 teeth here. One bottom, two top. Pretty exciting!

Enjoy!

I wish I could still fit in the sink...

I didn't think I had anything exciting to report today... but then I checked the camera for recent photos of Ada.
Here's what I found... I wish I could still have someone bathe me in the sink.

Remember when life was this easy? Ada loves the mirror...And can entertain herself for hours...

Other than that, not much else to report on the Ada scene. Her tooth is still coming in. She's still trying to crawl. She's getting better at stealing toys back from Eva on their play dates. And she's still not on a napping schedule. But she's sleeping through the night -- 14 hours straight is still the record. And she's still having whiny moments where she gets so frustrated from not being able to crawl yet that she just screams. I think we all have those moments in life.

I'm sure we'll have a more eventful weekend coming up as we are off to our first Halloween party. Stay tuned for some spooktacular photos to come...

Moral of the story: Just go look in a mirror and smile. Someone will smile right back at you. Then you can make faces at them, and they'll make faces back too.

Up, Up and Away!

This past weekend was Ada's first plane ride since being out of the womb. I've been nervous all week and not really looking forward to traveling with an infant since I don't enjoy the whole process of flying all that much to begin with. Surprisingly, it wasn't that bad. It wasn't good, but it wasn't so bad that I'm never doing it again, bad.

Unlike our long trip to Germany via Ireland with a sprint through the airport to catch a connecting flight in June while I was 3 months pregnant and very unhappy about flying... this trip was about a 2 to 3 hour flight from Chicago to Boston. Not bad. But...then we had an hour and a half drive to our final destination of Brooklyn, Connecticut.

The flight there wasn't too bad. We took off 20 minutes early (shocking, I know!) and were able to pack light as Rick's sister is totally awesome and was able to borrow a crib, car seat, toys, blankets, etc so that we didn't have to pack much. I took Ada in her Ergo carrier and that was easy. We also left on a Saturday night with a 6:55 Departure. It turns out NOBODY flies on Saturday nights this time of year so there were no lines. Okay, maybe I waited behind Rick in line at the security check but then I decided he had too much crap (keys, money, wallet, watch, shoes, belt, etc.) that I'd be better off in the other line. I took off my shoes, threw my purse in the x-ray bin and walked through with Ada attached to me. So easy. Then we did have to hike to our gate since it was on the other end of the state it seemed, but we got there in time to eat the dinner we brought with us, change her into footie pajamas for the trip, and change her diaper one last time.

The flight was uneventful, thankfully. We arrived. Heather and Matt were there to pick us up and all was well until they lost the car in the parking garage. 20 minutes later, after a long walk up and down aisle after aisle, Matt finally realised we were one floor above the car, but in the right section. We loaded up the stuff. Ada passed out almost instantly. And we started the journey to the farm. We had a minor blip with the toll booth exit and detoured for a minute but finally arrived and nestled into our beds right around midnight.

Rise and Shine! Baby wakes up early and it doesn't matter if you didn't get much sleep because it's time to go see the horses and play on the farm. In the two days we were there, we got way more than just quality time with Aunt Heather and Uncle Matt. We saw horses, cows, baby cows -- that scared Ada when they mooed--hay being baled, really big (Ginormous actually) horses, the pet cemetery on the farm, the local ice cream shop--yum, hot waffle cones fresh off the iron-- and Matt's friend Sam's 101 year old grandma who was out picking weeds! I learned that I need a whole new vocabulary and my own Carhart overalls in order to really fit in. And a highlight of the trip were the resident deer in the front yard. Momma and two babies who came to visit each day for the freshly fallen nuts from the trees. All good things.

Then the trip home. Well, let's just say today was tough. We got up at 3 am our time and got home about 11 am. That makes for a long day with a fussy little miss. It was a great time to drive in Boston but a crappy time to get a baby to nap and not want to play and be entertained on the plane. Highlight: We saw The John Kerry at the airport --and almost ran into him as he came out of the book store. Very cool. He was flying to Milwaukee.

Oh, and Heather and Matt are awesome. They are doing great. Their home is adorable. Enormous compared to our little box in the city. They have 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a basement after all. And the farm is soooo quiet. Nothing like the city. You stand on the front porch and hear nothing but your heart beat and the red squirrels in the leaves ten feet in front of you. Crazy how quiet it is. You don't really have to look both ways before crossing the street because you can hear any car coming for at least a football field away, if not two.

I've decided it needs to be an annual or almost-annual retreat and that next time we'll stay longer and eat more yummy food, and we'll keep Ada to a more strict schedule as she did break down do to the lack of structure.

Moral of the story: Traveling with little ones is manageable assuming they aren't sick, you aren't sick, you travel light, and you don't have a bunch of crab apples on your plane who are all ticked off that your kid won't shut up. Just ignore them.

My first face-plant

Yep. She's finally done it. Someone should have started an office pool for when it would happen but ... too late now. Ada had her first face-plant today. She went to the park with Nanny Ashley and decided to fall face first into the wood chips on the playground. She was sitting so sweet and innocent on the end of the toddler slide and whoop, waaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh! Down she went. Good thing is her spirits are still up and her cuts are minor... and pink (the color of scratches and cuts) really is her color.

Moral of the story: Babies fall. That's what they do. We pick 'em up, dust 'em off, pretend nothing happened and move on. And be thankful that even if they are all scraped up, they are still cuter than most adults (and some puppies).

If you squint, you can see it...

The eagle has landed...

If you blink, you'll miss it...

Some things are worth the wait...

It's about friggin' time it showed itself...

Yes.

It has arrived.

Dun dun dunnnnnnnnnn... (Imagine some really cheesy music here.)

What you ask?

HER TOOTH SILLY!

Can't you see it in the photo clear as day?

No? You can't see it? Well. Obviously you are blind! Squint a little harder.

Okay, so you can't see it because NEWSFLASH a baby's tooth isn't easy to photograph (without an x-ray machine that is) AND they don't come shooting up all at once like you see in the movies. Gesh!

But it's here. Her lower right front tooth has finally -- after about 6 months of pissing her off to no end and driving us all nuts--decided to show up. Thank goodness.

Moral of the story: Patience is something you are born with and I don't have much of, if any. And if you ever have to photograph a baby's tooth, make sure you have two people, flip her upside down, tickler her while hopping on one foot and you might, just maybe, still end up with a whole lot of nothing.

Celebrities Rock The Vote

This isn't political, but it will make you register to vote, and entertain you if you already have registered.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vtHwWReGU0

Enjoy.

First Camping Trip

Ada's first camping trip was gloriously uneventful. We didn't see any bears or raccoons. There weren't any mosquitoes since it was on the chilly side --50 to 60 degrees I'd say. And we didn't spend the night and actually "camp" in tents as we normally would since the overnight temperatures were in the mid-thirties. That just isn't my idea of fun.

Instead, Rick chauffeured Ada and I up to Marengo Ridge for the day. We left early in order to arrive for breakfast. At first we arrived at the wrong camp area but were quickly redirected to the group site. After some trouble with the combination to the lock on the gate that delayed us from entering the group camp area, we were met at the parking lot by Grandpa Rich, Grandma Ba, Uncle Shawn and various family friends. They anticipated having to help us carry all of our "camping gear" which was really just Ada's diaper bag, blankets, extra clothes, Ada's food, and Ada's toys. We didn't even take camping chairs with us. And it was so nice just to show up and be taken care of. With someone holding the baby and everyone else holding most of her stuff, I carried my knitting bag and camera down to the campsite.

Upon arriving at the site, we were greeted as if we had just woken up and crawled from the tent. Hot cinnamon rolls from the dutch oven, hot off the campfire. We have the world's greatest camping chef who camps with our group. Tom is the master of all things camping, and has a knack for dutch ovens. You name it, he can make it. Birthday cake, pineapple upside down cake, biscuits, rolls, etc. And all of it delicious. After inhaling the cinnamon roll, we got settled on a blanket in the sun with Ada and her toys sprawled around us. Then we placed our omelet order. Somehow I got to be at the top of the list and was first to enjoy my ham and American cheese omelet hot off the propane stove. Then I shared an order of biscuits and gravy with Rick, had some bacon on the side, and decided life was good.

Ada had a jar of green beans and rice and some prunes. Boy did she ever get the short end of that deal.

Then Ada took a nap. Woke up. Got passed around from person to person for a million cuddles. Then took another nap, as did I. She did well sleeping in an air mattress in Grandma and Grandpa's tent. And when she awoke from her second nap of the day, she momentarily caused a bit of alarm in the campsite as she had grabbed hold of the rain fly and started shaking it vigorously, similar to what we all imagine it would look like if a raccoon got into your tent and started rustling around. Someone quickly called out, "Ada's up" and everyone went back to the calm state of relaxation they were enjoying. I of course, rolled over from my nap and got up to feed her. Lucky me.

Somewhere during the day, Great Aunt Connie arrived with brownies --triple chocolate brownies to be exact--and life got really good. I got some knitting projects completed, Ada got a ton of attention, Rick got to play poker and read. All in all, a great day. We decided to stick around for dinner - roast beef sandwiches - and then took off for the drive home. The nicest part of this camping trip (that I haven't mentioned yet that is), is that we only had to drive an hour and a half to get there and then the same on the return. And since Ada really doesn't sleep in the car much, that was a real bonus.

Now I just have about 6 loads of laundry to do to get the smoke out of everything.

Moral of the story: Camping is a lot of fun when you don't have to do anything but show up with the baby and her stuff and can let someone else take care of the rest. Oh, and good weather helps.