my big girl

Maya turned 6-months old earlier this week. She is growing up so fast, I swear I feel like she was just born a couple of weeks ago. My sweet daughter continues to be such a little joy. She is so silly, so happy, so fun. We are incredibly blessed and lucky to have such a good natured kid.

We started her on rice cereal a couple of weeks ago, and with good results. Some days are better than others though; some days she will open her mouth willingly and gobble up a few spoonfuls of cereal, other days she closes her lips tight and turns her head to avoid the spoon coming at her. Here are some pictures from the very first time we tried rice cereal - it looks like we were torturing her but it's gone much better since that first time.



Tonight will be a bit of a milestone - we're adding apples to the mix! This will be the first food, other than rice cereal and rice crackers that Maya will have. I'm going to whip up some fresh applesauce in my sweet new Williams Sonoma Beaba Babycook Baby Food Maker tonight. I'm so excited! I think Maya's really going to like it, I've given her a few licks of banana over the past couple of weeks and she really seems to like that, so apples should be a big hit!

The 6-month stage should be entitled "I want to do it myself". Over the past few weeks, that one phrase has described baby girl perfectly. She wants to feed herself, hold her own spoon, hold her own toys, do everything herself. I think it's awesome and we're encouraging it. She has even been - are you ready for this? - putting herself to bed. One day, she just up and decided that she didn't want to be held, nursed and rocked to sleep anymore (the routine we've had since her birth). It took me a few nights to figure it out. She'd squirm and fuss after feeding and lean and reach toward her crib. I thought she was just been fussy and over-tired. Then, it suddenly occurred to me - she just wants to be put in her crib and left alone to fall asleep. So I kissed her about a million times and laid her in her crib. She was asleep in seconds. And it's been like that ever since.

Sure, it's easier and takes a lot less time to put her down, which is great. And she's getting more and more independent, which is fantastic. But I have to admit I am a bit heartsick that she's starting to need her mummy less and less (sniff, sniff). What a big girl I have!

honest scrap

Hey thanks Mel for the tag!



The rules for Honest Scrap are:

1) Choose a minimum of 7 blogs that you find brilliant in content or design.

2) Show the 7 winners names and links on your blog, and leave a comment informing them that they were prized with "Honest Scrap." Well, there's no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon.

3) List at least 10 honest things about yourself.

So here goes...

1.  As long as I don't have to go out again, I always immediately get right into my pajamas the minute I get home.  It doesn't matter if it's 11:00am, if I'm home, the PJs are on!  My husband D will stay in his work clothes until he goes to bed and for the life of me, I just can't understand that.

2.  I have a major handbag fetish.  It's bad.  Last year I finally downsized my collection from about 30 to about 15.  And anytime I get a new bag, it is IMPERATIVE that I also get a matching wallet.  It's just my thing.  (Consequently, I only have about 8 pairs of shoes and that includes my bedroom slippers.)

3.  I have three cats, and since the arrival of miss Maya, I have found myself resenting them.  A lot.  I know it's awful, but I sometimes wish I didn't have pets at all anymore.  Between the expense (they are all on a medicated diet), the layer of cat hair on all the furniture and the stinky litterbox, I'm just over it. While I'd feel too guilty to go through with giving them away, I dream about it often.  

4.  I don't like to travel; my idea of a perfect vacation is to stay home with a stack of books and movies, lock the doors, turn of the phone, and just chill out.

5.  I have a bad habit of picking at my lips when I get nervous.

6.  I used to play the viola.  I was really good at it too.  Then, when I was in junior highschool, someone made fun of me for being so uncool.  Being the sensitive and impressionable pre-teen girl that I was,  I quit playing the viola immediately and never picked up an instrument again.  I regret that.  I don't remember how to play anymore.  (Consequently, I am still uncool despite quitting the viola.  Go figure.)

7.  I am Jewish by blood and was raised as such.  But I don't practice at all anymore.  I think I would consider myself spiritual, but not religious per se.  Truth be told, I haven't got it all figured out yet.

8.  I have seen both Dirty Dancing and The Big Lebowski at least 50 times each.

9. I make the World's Greatest Guacamole. Really, it is SO good.

10. My favourite sound in the world is my husband/daughter/friends laughing.

Okay so now I shall commence with the tagging....Hmmm let's see....

I tag Apron Strings, Destination Baby, Life in the Cat Pad, My Baby Quest, Paint It Black, Roadblocks & Rollercoasters and last but not least Xbox4NappyRash (who consequently is up for the Irish Blog Awards 2009 - winner announced tonight! Good luck, Xbox! Canada is cheering you on! WooHooooooo!).

Have fun guys!

i didn't expect this: 5 things i thought i knew about parenting before i became a parent

1. I knew motherhood would be hard.

I never laboured under the preconception that motherhood would be a piece of cake. The constant diaper changes, the late night feedings, the tantrums, the exhaustion, the mess - this is what I thought the real exertion would consist of. As it turns out, this stuff is easy, now that I've got the hang of things and six month's worth of experience under my belt. I could do these things with my eyes shut. What I've discovered is the real challenge of parenting are aspects that just can't be controlled: The vaccines, baby's first cold, teething, watching the tears stream down her sweet little face and having no idea how to help her. This is the real hard stuff. This is where the real work lies. I can't even imagine how I'll deal with the first time Maya has hurt feelings, the first time she works so hard at something only to fail, the first time she's dumped by a boyfriend.

2. I knew having a baby would be fun.

What I didn't account for was the joy. It sounds corny, but there is just so much joy surrounding parenthood, and I never really expected that. Our daughter keeps us giggling all day long, she's such a silly-pants, I just have the best time taking care of her every day. D feels that too. I go to sleep at night so excited to wake up and spend another day being Maya's mummy. Every day is an adventure, and I laugh. A lot.

3. I knew that once I had a baby, everything would be perfect.

Maya is perfect, that's for sure. But having a baby certainly does not right the world's wrongs by any means. I know I was certainly guilty of romanticizing the idea of having a baby, assuming that it would make my life perfect and everything would be roses and rainbows; but unfortunately, there are still arguments, wars, sky-high piles of dirty laundry. Having a baby does not "fix" a marriage, but it has certainly brought D and I closer together. Having a baby did not "fix" my life, but it has definitely made it feel complete. No, everything is not perfect, but I am, possibly for the first time in my whole life, completely and utterly content.

4. I knew I would follow all the rules.

Turns out rules are made to be broken, especially in the world of parenting. "They" say a lot of things, but all babies are different. What's best for one kid might not be for another. You can read 100 different parenting books and come back with 50 conflicting pieces of advice. They don't call it Mother's Intuition for nothing - and it really comes in handy. In my experience, I have found that if it feels right, then it is right (and vice versa), despite what "They" say. I have found the confidence to rely on my own gut instincts in my 6 months of being a mum. No one knows my daughter better than me.

5. I knew I would love my child.

I just didn't expect to love her THIS much. This kind of love is totally and completely different than anything I've ever experienced. It's the kind you live, die and kill for. I wish I had the words to describe, with eloquence, this feeling. It's too vast to even try to explain. All I can say is this: Maya is, without a doubt, the great love of my life.

the outskirts

This is officially the longest amount of time I've gone without posting. Nearly two whole weeks. I used to get so frustrated with other blogs when I wouldn't see an update in a timely manner. And here I am totally slacking. I have no excuse, really. Well, I guess you could say my excuse is that I just haven't felt that blogging enthusiasm lately. I've had plenty to say, but little aspiration to update.

My head is just not in it these days. I think it's the stress of all the constant cleaning, staging, open houses and private viewings that have been taking up whatever attention I have left to pay after I give Maya the lion's share. Selling our house has really turned out to be a full time job! I'm just hoping all my efforts aren't for nothing. The market is BRUTAL right now. While we've had a lot of interest, we've seen no offers yet and it's a bit discouraging. I haven't even heard from my realtor over the past two days.

And, if we DO get an offer, a whole other layer of stress will be added to the mix. Then we have to find a new place to live. Right now is indeed a great time to buy - there are tons of options out there - but until this is all settled, I'm feeling a bit muddled. Selling, buying, moving. Ug.

But other than that, things are great. Maya is wonderful and continues to surprise and amaze me on a minute-to-minute basis. She is two weeks shy of SIX MONTHS and is growing and changing so fast. She continues to "talk" all the time, and she is constantly adding new "words" to her repertoire. She has full conversations us. She even talks to the cats. She wakes D and me up every morning by telling us all about her dreams with such animation. She makes these great facial expressions and varies her tone and volume with each word - it's so funny to watch. She's really trying to communicate! I think she'll be talking at an early age.

Speaking of the cats, over the past two weeks, Maya has become completely obsessed with them. She kicks and waves in excitement whenever she notices one. She'll reach out and smile at them, and seems honestly and truly disappointed when they don't come and interact with her. She is also totally into watching people eat and drink. She'll make a grab for whatever you're about to put in your mouth. Yup, my girl's ready for solids I think. D and I were going to give her some rice cereal for the first time last night, but she's got a bit of a cold so we're going to wait until she's over it and then it's Solid City for miss Maya. I think she's going to like eating. She loves her Baby Mum Mums and I've given her a few licks of a banana this week. All with good and happy results.

Maya went to her first birthday party yesterday - it was her "boyfriend" Jack's 1st birthday. We dressed Maya up in the sweetest party dress and off to the party we went. Maya had a great time watching the other kids and interacting with all the people. She discovered balloons for the first time and once that happened she was completely preoccupied with them for the remainder of the party. It was a really fun afternoon. And I know I'm biased, but I have to say, my little daughter was the cutest little belle of the ball. Unfortunately my camera was dying and I didn't get many good pictures, but here is one I was able to salvage (although it's a bit blurry....booooo):


I'll try to post more frequently going forward. Plus I've still got a ton of photos to upload. I want everyone to know that I am most definitely reading and keeping up with you all, even if I'm not commenting as often. I'm still here, just hanging around on the outskirts. Just for now.

yum yum mum mum

I have been totally consumed with trying to sell our house; hence the lack of new posts lately. The market is tough, nothing is moving and I'm feeling discouraged about the whole thing. Despite two open houses and countless private viewings, we have yet to see an offer. We've had a ton of interest, a few people have come back for second and third viewings, but nothing has come of it thus far. It's been a ton of work and although I'm happy to do it, it does sting a bit to suspect that I've worked so hard to no avail. Yet, anyway. But enough about that.

Maya ate her first solid food today! Granted, she is still three weeks away from being 6 months old (when they say you're supposed to start solids), and because of that, we didn't go all out and do the cereal thing quite yet. I bought her some Baby Mum Mums (rice rusks - a kind of rice cracker thingy that babies can kind of gum and suck and it sort of dissolves). We tried them twice today - the first time with much success and the second time not so much. The second time she actually made some wincy yuck faces and kicked her legs in protest when she tasted the cracker, but kept putting it in her mouth anyway. It was silly. And both times, I ended up eating the lion's share of her cracker after she lost interest. Those things are pretty good actually.

The cup drinking is going quite well, although interestingly she does not care for breastmilk from her cup. She only seems to like it when it's filled with water. At first, I thought maybe I wasn't heating the milk sufficiently for her taste; and then I thought maybe I made it too hot. And then a friend pointed out that (duh) she doesn't want breastmilk from anywhere but my breasts. That's what she's used to and that's what she likes. Other liquids are OK from the cup but not her breastmilk. Makes sense to me. I like to think my daughter's already cultivated a sophisticated palate - she likes her milk warm and fresh from the source. Not the re-heated day-old crap thankyouverymuch.

She's in ONE YEAR clothing now. ONE YEAR PEOPLE!!! She really is getting so big. In fact, D said he saw a little girl at the coffee shop the other day who was almost one year old and the same size as our 5-month old. I must admit, the fact that she's big does make me happy. Somehow in my head I equate that with being healthy, although I realize this is not always the case. Our girl is strapping, I guess you could say. And she's got the sweetest little chubby wrists and legs it's oh so cute.

I realize I owe you guys some pictures. I have taken a TON of them (176 to be exact) but have yet to download them off my iPhone. I got some really cutes ones too. Will post asap. As soon as the dust settles from all this house selling craziness that's currently preoccupying my poor addled brain.