19 Months!

I started this on the actual day, but time got away from me...

A,

This month had a big change in it. You moved to the Toddler Room! You were sad to leave your favorite teacher (Miss Cheryl), but were very ready to move in with the big kids. You seem to be doing well in your new room (better than me!). Though in your first month you got sick by the end of the first week and then had to be out for the next week. Then you returned and got bite by someone! So, it has been an interesting transition! Overall though, I know you are having fun being in the bigger yard and getting to do more activities throughout the day. You also are starting to get attached to one of your new teachers already and have started to ask for Miss Lee. I love when I drop you off and your morning teaching, Miss Miriam, tells me how smart you are! I mean, I knew you were, but it is nice to have a teacher say it as well :)

You crack Daddy and I up all the time. You are starting to get to be a little miss bossy and will now tell Daddy or I to "sit" where you want us too. It is really funny! You are getting much better at communicating what you want with us. And, what makes me really happy, is that you are starting to use please and thank you without us having to prompt you!

You are still funny with your food. Some days, you will eat everything in site and ask for more and more. And then other days, you want nothing to do with food and we have to try everything we can just to get you to eat! You still love your blueberries though and we can pretty much count on you eating those.

This month, you also got really sick :( You got RSV and an ear infection. You were out for a whole week! I felt so bad for you! Daddy and I shared staying home with you and giving you lots of cuddles to help you feel better. I was so happy when your medicine started to work and you were getting back to your rambunctious self! Though, you did pass the sickness on to me which was no fun!

These months are going by so fast, and you just keep growing and growing! I was just looking at pictures of you from a year ago and it is so hard to believe that they are you. You were so little and now you are becoming such a big girl! I love watching you grow and learn and seeing your personality blossom. I just love being your mommy and having fun and reading stories and singing songs with you. You truly light up my life and I love you so much!

Love always and forever,

Mommy

Worst Mother

So, I feel like the worst mother every. I was playing with Aurora and lifted her up and swung her around from her hands. Now, I know not to do this, I have even told my husband not to do this, so I do not know what possessed me to do it. So, I set her down and she suddenly starts crying and saying ouchie.  She was holding her wrist and so I put some ice on it and she seemed to like that. She stopped crying and we sat and read books and she kept making sure that the ice was on her wrist. I noticed though that she was not moving her arm. I tried to distract her and then get her to move it and she would move her hands and could lift her arm. By this point, it was past her bedtime and she started to get really cranky and asking for nigh nigh. So, we put her pajamas on and I rocked her and she fell asleep. I was worried about her but as she seemed to fall asleep, I assumed she was not in pain. I also knew we had her 18 month check up early the next morning and I could ask more about it then. Well, when she woke up, she wasn't moving her arm. We again got her to pick things up with her hand, but she wouldn't lift her arm up. I was in a panic and thought I had broken her and felt awful. So, we head to the doctor.

Apparently, she had what is called, nursemaid elbow. Basically, her elbow tendon had popped out of place. And I know officially feel like the worst mother. The doctor had to pop it back in which was very loud. Aurora cried, but only for a minute and then was using her arm as if nothing had happened. I was so relieved! The doctor said this is very common and to not feel bad, but I still do.

Lesson learned, never, ever, swing a kid around by their arms/hands!

18 Months!

A,

A year and a half year's old! Already halfway through another year. They always say time flies, but I never knew how true that statement could be!

You had a big change this month as you had your last day in the Infant room and officially moved to the Toddler room. You were very ready for this change though, so I know you are going to do just fine in your new room!

You also learned a new skill this month - singing! It is so adorable! At the moment you will sing along to Let It Go, from Frozen, and It's a Small World, the song from the ride. You also are dancing a lot more and ask to watch Elsa. I love seeing you get into the music and hope you appreciate musicals and Disney as much as I do :)

Your talking also continues to grow. You have become quite the little parrot and we really need to start watching what we are saying! Some words you say are clear as day and then others I still need to decipher (such as what sounds like pot pie to me really means pacifier). And then of course you sometimes go off on your own Aurora language that I have not been able to interpret at all!

We can see that you are going to be tall as you are the youngest in the class now, but you are one of the tallest. You are wearing starting to wear 2T clothing already and many of your 18 month pants are turning into capri's for you. It is time to do another closet clean out!

You are also quite the mountain goat as daddy would say, as you are now climbing on everything! You can get up on the couch on your own and try and climb pretty much anything that you think is climbable. It is fun to watch, but also scares me as some places should not be climbed!

You are very fearless in some areas (such as climbing), but are still a bit shy around people. Especially, if we are in a large crowd, you tend to hang back with my until you understand the situation. Once you are comfortable though, you join in with full gusto! I am curious too see if this is a stage or if you will be shy as you get older.

I look forward to watching and seeing what you learn and do this next month! I have never felt greater joy that watching you, reading with you, and now singing with you. I love you with my whole heart always and forever!

Love always,

Mommy

17 Months! (and a day!)

A,

Here we are, another month that has flown by! You has a very busy month. You participated in your very first run! We did the Star Wars Disney Run at Disneyland. Daddy, Grandma, and I did the 5k and then you did the 100 meter dash! It was so much fun to be apart of it all. We then also spent two days at the parks. We did Ariel's Grotto for the first time with you. You were so funny! When the princesses were far away, you would point and be excited, and then the second they got close to you, you would clam up and not smile but just stare. You have also gotten bitten by the Frozen bug! You seem to love Elsa and ask to watch her now all the time. We actually went and saw Elsa, but you did the same thing where in line, you were very excited, but then I think you get star struck and again just stared when we actually saw her and Anna!

I am going to start with sleep this month, because you are actually sleeping! It is lovely for everyone :) You have now been consistently sleeping through the night, which makes mommy and daddy very happy! You still have a few nights here and there where you wake up, but it is not bad and you usually settle yourself. So, bedtime is now bath, book (usually), and then bed between 7:30-8 and you wake anywhere from 6-7am.

This month, we finally said goodbye to "mama milk". We had been working on weaning fully, but the last to go was the right before bedtime feed. You did much better than I thought you would! I think it was harder on me than it was on you! We still snuggle before bed, but mama milk is now officially gone. You are doing really well on the goat's milk though, which is good. We will try cow's milk again someday, but for now, we are going with what works! And you seem to enjoy it, which is what really matters. You have become a better eater as well. Before, you had the feast or famine thing going on, but now, you pretty much eat well at every meal! Blueberries are still your favorite as well as beans. You also still love your pouches and we will give you one if we feel you haven't eaten enough as we know you will eat one of them!

You are becoming more and more you own person and it is so fun to watch you grow! Your personality really cracks me up sometimes. You are talking more and more and have really gotten used to the word, no. You like to say it, a lot. But, you also have been saying please and thank you, more and more, which that I am happy about. You also will say two. You won't say one, or three, but if we countdown, you will always chime in with two! You also make up your own dances now which are of course the most adorable thing I have ever seen.

Watching you grow and learn really is the best thing I have ever done. I am truly grateful that I get to be your mommy (and I know daddy feels the same - even though you have not been very nice to him and say no to him when he tries to give you kisses!). I look forward to each and every day with you and watching you to continue to grow into the toddle you are becoming.

Love you always and forever,

Mommy

Parenting Fail - How we made our daughter afraid of birds

So, we may have accidentally installed a fear of birds into our daughter. We were out to breakfast yesterday and we sat outside. This place tends to have a lot of birds flying around, which has never bothered Aurora before. So, yesterday though, she had an extra crumby croissant that got all over her. Now, we know Aurora is picking up more and more and understanding more and more, but we sometimes forget that, and we forget that she doesn't understand jokes. So, when my husband jokingly said, Aurora, those birds are going to come eat you with all those crumbs on you. I think she understood what was said, but not that it was a joke. Because, suddenly she started pointing at any bird nearby and getting visibly upset.  We had to shoo the birds away and tell her the rest of the meal that she was ok and that the birds were not going to get her...

So, hopefully, this has not installed a life long fear of birds into her!

The Last Night (Our Journey has ended)

So, our journey has finally come to an end. Last night, was the last night that I will have breastfed Aurora. We had been slowly weaning since December. She handled all the other transitions pretty well. The morning one, which we removed at the beginning of the year, she handled much better than I thought she would. She had a few fussy days, but overall, did really well. But, this one, the right before bed one, I worry.

She LOVES her right before bed feeding. Last night she was crying and trying to pull me to the rocking chair to start it right away, rather than to read a book first. We did finish the book, and then for one last time, we had our night time feeding. Now, these feedings have been getting shorter and shorter where they were lasting less than 5 minutes. But, I think she knew something was up, because she stayed on much longer this time. And then when she did finally finish, she just laid her head there and looked at me.

I had done really well at not getting emotional, up until that point. When I rocked her as she sucked on her pacifier and I tried to get her to sleep. The tears just ran down my face. I thought back to all the times I had fed her, many right in that chair rocking her, and just was sad and happy at the journey we had taken.

It was a long journey. Longer that I ever thought it would be. I was very nervous about breastfeeding and I did not know if I could do it. But, I tied and I kept at it, and with some help, we got into a really nice rhythm and I really enjoyed being able to feed and nourish her. I enjoyed those cuddles before bed. And while I enjoy my sleep now, I do sometimes miss those middle of the night quiet feeding sessions (not the middle of the night crying won’t go to sleep sessions!). I made it through a year of pumping at work and dealing with the panic of not having enough milk, of then feeding past on year and getting all the comments about why aren't we done, and now here we are 16 and a half months later finally finishing this special journey.

I think she knew at some level that something was up, because she woke up many times in the night screaming, MOMMY, over and over again. It breaks my heart because I know that is how she felt a special connection to me and how I could easily comfort her. Now, my hugs and kisses will have to be enough. I know the next few nights will be rough, but we will get through, and just lead her into the next stage of her being the big girl that she is becoming.   

What do you do with the poo!

The title is especially for my husband :)

I have recently had a few friends interested in cloth diapering. It is fun to share this with them, but the big question I always get is, but what about the poo!

When I started out, I searched how to wash cloth diapers. And man, is there A LOT of opinions on this! And they are all different and contradict one another. So, I thought I would add to the mess and share what I do.

I try and keep it as simple as possible.

Before I even get to washing them in a machine, any diaper that has that dreaded poo, I first take and dunk shake the poo off into the toilet. I then use my Spray Pal (amazing invention!) and sprayer to spray off anything that may have been left behind. So, there is no actual poo going into the washer (as many fear).

As for the actual washing portion. I have a front loading he washing machine. I do a rinse cycle first, then do a heavy duty cycle with an extra rinse at the end. That is it!

I originally did not use anything extra in the rinse, but now use Eco Nuts ammonia bouncer. I also used to use Tide Free and Gentle which worked great for the first few months. My diapers just didn't seem to be getting as clean as I would like and I won a sample of Molly's Suds and so I tried that. It was great and worked well! I decided I liked using a specific detergent for Cloth Diapers, so I decided to get GroVia's Tiny Bubbles detergent and then also a packet of their Might Bubbles to try. I chose them as I have a lot of GroVia products (I think I have most of them now!) and have always had good luck with them. They work great! I use the Might Bubbles when I have a load that sometimes goes that extra day before cleaning and they always come out nice and clean. So, I will continue to use this awesome product!

For drying, I line dry them outside. Since we are in California and it is usually sunny, I like hanging the diapers outside to dry. The sun helps with any stains and I don't have to run the dryer forever to dry them. At the end of the day when I bring them in, I just pop the inserts in quickly to fluff them back up as the sun can make them a bit rough.

The other question I am often asked, is how many extra loads of laundry does this really add. Well, for me, it is two. I do laundry on Tuesday night and then Friday or Saturday night  depending on what is going on that weekend. I do the rinse cycle at night. And then set my timer to do the heavy duty cycle at 4am so it is done when I wake up. I then put them out on the line in the morning and then bring them back in that night.