Just a day....

This post will be seriously boring to most.  But, I just wanted to document a random day in my life with an almost six month old.  This was my day yesterday...

6 Blakely wakes up.  I change her, feed her, and then put her back to bed.  

630 pump (usually about 4-5 oz)

645 crawl back in bed

730 B wakes up for the day

745-815 fix me and Blake some breakfast.  We are both having oatmeal (different kinds thank goodness....have y'all tasted that crap???)  I eat mine and she spits hers out.  

815-830 clean her up from the crazy mess she made!

830 diaper change and breastfeed

830-900 I go through some of her old clothes while she plays on the floor.  I'm making piles to give away and then storing the other stuff.  

915 she gets sleepy and goes down for a nap in the crib.  She goes down easy this time...miracle!

915-945 I straighten my hair (because I didn't have time after my shower the day before), clean up the living room and kitchen.  I also start a load of towels.

945 B wakes up.  I let her play in her crib for 15 minutes while I finish putting on a little makeup

1000-1020 change her diaper.  I get dressed.  I also start the diaper laundry.

1020 We walk down to the dock to pay the guy who is cleaning our boat (YAY BOAT!)

1030 I put B in the Jumparoo.  I move the straps on her car seat...been meaning to do that for a week!  Start cold wash on the diapers.

1045 She decides she hated the Jumparoo.  I take her out and feed her a little early because she is fussy.

1100 Blakely in bouncer chewing on Sophie.  Hot wash for diapers.  I make me some lunch.

1110-1130 I eat my lunch while reading a few blogs.

1130 Put dishes in dishwasher.  Wash the bottles and pump parts from the day before.  diaper change.

1200 Leave house to run errands.  Have to turn around twice because I left something at home..

1215 Actually leave house!  I had to take a phone to my brother and we went to see Lonnie at work...he loves that!  I also ran into Belk to try and find a top for Easter.  Usually Blakely loves this but for some reason she screamed the whole time I was trying on clothes.  Not crying....just yelling!  She slept on the drive to see Lonnie and on the drive home.  About 30 minutes total.

215 Get home and breastfeed.  diaper change.  

230-330 We play in her room.  She practiced sitting up.  I organize more clothes.

330 We go upstairs and I make a snack.  I have to resist the urge to eat everything in my house because by this time I am starving...every day!

345-415 NAKEY time!  She loves this and she rolls over two more times!  (Only her 2nd and 3rd time ever going from back to belly)

415 Diaper change and nap

415-500 I hang up the diapers and start a load of B's clothes.  I also do my sit up's and some Pil.ates.  

500 She wakes up.  Breastfeed and change her diaper.  Also change her clothes and get ready for a boat ride when daddy gets home.  

500-600 Play on the floor...waiting for daddy...should have been home at 5!  I also start another load of laundry.

600-715 First boat ride of the spring!!!

715-800 Diaper change.  Let the dogs up and feed them.  Entertain a fussy baby who is so so sleepy since she only slept 1.5 hours total all day.  

800-830 Diaper change, pajamas, feeding (bottle), and put down to bed.  

830-845 Fold laundry and stuff the diapers

845-945 Eat dinner leftover from the night before and watch Bo.nes with Lonnie.  

945 Pump (about 4-5 oz) and get ready for bed.

1000 Lights out!  Mama's tired!

This was just a random day for me.  I feel like I did a ton and I didn't even cook dinner!  It was Blakely laundry day though...

Have you ever written down what you do in a day.  I was kind of surprised!  Everything seemed so small but it took up my whole day!  Best part of the day?  The boat ride!    

Blakely's First Vacation!

So a few weeks back we went on our first vacation with the babe.  We wanted to go to a place that wasn't cold and where we could walk around with her in the stroller a bunch.  I was okay with flying but we decided to just drive since we needed to take so many things for Blakely.  pump, stroller, car seat, packn.play....

We picked New Orleans.  It is about an 8 hour drive...without a 5 month old.  I have been twice but I was a teenager when I went.  My husband has been many times.  We have been wanting to go there for a while so this seemed like the perfect opportunity.  

We decided to bring my mother in law with us just so she could stay in the hotel and watch Blakely if we needed her to.  This turned out to be an AWESOME idea :)  

We drove down there on a Sunday and it took us about 9 hours...not too bad with a baby!  Blake did GREAT in the car.  I was totally prepared for her to be over the car seat after about 4 hours, but she wasn't.  My mother in law stayed in the back with her and entertained her and played with her.  They had a blast.  When we would stop, I would nurse her and change her diaper.  Then Lonnie would walk around with her while we got gas and all went to the bathroom.  Once we were done it was back in the car seat for the next 2-3 hours.  She only got fussy once and that was when we were 20 minutes away from our hotel.  But, who am I kidding, I was fussy too!

Sunday night we just got room service and let B play on the bed way past her bed time.  Since she had been in the car seat all day, she was really wanting to stretch out and play.  So we let her.  We took the pack.n.play for her to sleep in. I was a little worried about this too since she hasn't slept in it...oh, EVER!  But she did great every night.  She woke up a little earlier than normal a few mornings but I just put her in bed with us and she would go back to sleep.

Monday morning we walked all over the Fren.ch Quar.ter and then stopped at a little place and had lunch.

It was great and B slept through our lunch.  Then we walked along the river and enjoyed the beautiful weather.  

That night, all four of us went out to dinner.  We had a great time.  We took a cab so me and Lonnie got to enjoy a few adult beverages...YIPPEE!!

She got beads...

Mama got beads too ;)

This is the first time we had to take her out of her car seat at a restaurant...she did so good once we did!

On Tuesday we decided to go to the aquarium.  But first we needed lunch.  Bob (mother in law), me and B went and found a place for us to eat along the river while Lonnie stood in line to get the BEST.MUFFALETTA.EVER....  I do not kid...it was badass....and huge... 

The line to get in the aquarium was 43586 people long.  I don't know if it was like spring break in Louisiana or if it was because it was kinda rainy that day but GEEZ...everyone was there.  They opened up some new lines and we got in pretty fast.  Then all of the sudden I got totally stressed out.  It was hot in there with absolutely not air circulation.  There were a million kids and all I could hear were coughs and sneezes.  Blake was completely asleep and I started wondering why in the hell we were even there.  Why were we exposing her to all of these unnecessary germs?!?  So we left...after we paid to get in.  Lonnie wasn't all that happy about it and I'm sure Bob thought I was crazy.  I kinda thought I was crazy.  But, I just had no idea there would be so many people in there!  So we walked around some more and did a little shopping.  

 She did wear her fishies to the aquarium for 5 minutes :)

That night Lonnie and I went on a date.  Bob stayed in the room and put Blakely to bed.  We had a fantastic dinner and an even more fantastic bottle of wine.  It was so so so so nice!  We then went out on Bour.bon Street for a little bit...that was interesting :)

The next morning we went to Bren.nen's for brunch.  I ate so much I was sick...seriously.  It was so yummy I just couldn't stop eating!  We took B in the baby bjorn and not the stroller.  Bad idea.  We were there for a really long time (my only complaint) and she got sleepy.  She didn't get TOO fussy but we had to entertain her for most of the time.  

After brunch, we ran back to the hotel to get the stroller and then went shopping on Maga.zine Street.  Blakely was out before we even got out of the hotel.  

We did a ton of walking that day and were all worn out so we decided to stay in for dinner.  Lonnie went to the store and made us and awesome cheese plate, with salami, apples, 4 cheeses, almonds, and a few other things.  We enjoyed it on our balcony overlooking the Fren.ch Quar.ter.  It was a great evening in!

This was the view from our balcony.  

The next day we got our car and drove through the Garden District.  It was so beautiful...the houses, the trees, all of it!  

Then we were going to tour a cemetery but it closed at 3...we got there at 310.  Sad face...  I was looking forward to that...

Lonnie and I went out to dinner together that night as well.  I had shrimp and grits....LOVE!  

We drove home on Friday, the day before my birthday.  Blakely did great on the trip home as well!  I was so proud of her.  It was a great trip leading up to my great birthday!  B was such a good traveler and I know we will be taking her many more places.  I am already trying to decide where to next!  She spent a lot of time in her car seat and her stroller but she was just happy and looked around at everything...taking it all in.  

 I am so glad we took this last minute trip.  It was great to spend time with my little family.  It was especially great to see how well Blakely did when she was out of her normal routine.  I didn't stress about keeping her on the same schedule...I  just tried to go with the flow, we were on vacation after all.  It was also great to have 2 date nights with this handsome guy...

I am so lucky...

How I spent my birthday

I have like 451 posts that I have been meaning to write...just no time!!!

I've been meaning to post about my birthday!  Life has been such a whirlwind but I want to remember what I did for my big 30th birthday.

Blakely slept until 7 that morning and then I fed her and brought her in the bed with us.  She fell back asleep and we all snuggled for 2 more hours!  It was so awesome!

I can't think of anything better to wake up to...

We decided we wanted to go to breakfast....sort of a late breakfast.  We were driving around and nothing sounded good so we just decided to go to the store and get stuff to make breakfast at home.  

Lonnie cooked a huge breakfast and we ate outside on our deck.  It was so very nice.  Then we all took a nap together..glorious!  

Happy Birthday Mommy!  Seriously, that is what she is saying....

We have a pretty cool parade downtown every year.  I felt like we should go but I didn't really want to.  I just wanted to spend time with my baby.  We didn't want to take her because it is kind of a wild parade and not for little babies...if you know what I mean ;)  

This is my most favorite picture of us ever...We are all smiling so big!

We did get a babysitter for just a few hours and Lonnie and I went.  We met up with some friends and hung out for about an hour and a half.  Then we decided to come home.  I just wanted some B snuggles and I wanted to be the one to put her to bed.  

After we played with her for a while I put her to bed.  It was hard to put her down because I was just so thankful to have her.  I spent a few birthdays longing to be rocking my baby to sleep and I was finally doing it.  I can't really even put in to words how grateful I am to be her mommy.  

Lonnie cooked us an amazing dinner and we ate outside.  It was so lovely.  It was such great weather we ended up laying on a blanket looking up at the stars for a few hours!  What a wonderful way to spend my 30th birthday.  I wouldn't have wanted it any other way! 

Oh and I did get an awesome present from Lonnie.  We are waiting for it to be delivered and then I will post some pics :) 

Up next, our trip to New Orleans!!!

Balance

I feel so behind lately.  Just behind at life...

There seems to constantly been 10 things that I HAVE to get done and I only have time for about three.  

I just haven't found the balance yet, I guess.  

I am so busy being a wife, a mother, a daughter, and a friend that there is absolutely no time for myself.  I am plenty of other things as well but those are the main ones.  The only alone time I can get is when I take a shower...which is actually a pretty rare occurrence around here.  And about half of my showers are taken while Blakely is in the bouncer and I am singing to her the whole time..so that is definitely not time for me.  

Don't get me wrong.  I am enjoying every single minute of all of this.  It is just that I am realizing that I need to make time for myself....or I am going to go bonkers.  Seriously.  

I spend all day trying to do the best for B that I can and I still feel like I am failing at that some days.  For example, I really need to be giving her oatmeal every day so she will actually start eating it but I haven't been able to find the time.  I need to be consistent with it or we will probably end up how we were with giving her a bottle...NOT FUN!

I spend all day trying to get stuff done around the house so my husband doesn't have to worry about it.  I am not talking about cleaning or anything because that is just not happening.  We live in a total mess until Tuesdays, when Juanet comes over and cleans.  I would just shrivel up and die in this mess without her.  I'm talking about all the other crap.  Getting all of our tax stuff together, renewing our car registration, renewing the boat insurance and registration, getting the oil changed on our cars, paying all of the bills, etc.  You know, just the normal stuff that keeps a household running.  I feel like I can't ever get that stuff done on time.  

I spend a ton of time trying to be a good friend.  I love my friends and I love hanging out with them.  I am having another baby shower at my house this weekend.  I really enjoy hosting these showers for my friends but it does take up quite a bit of time.  I am excited about it but also ready for it to be over all at the same time.  

Since my mom has been living with us since the beginning of January, I have been spending a lot of time trying to be a good daughter.  She never asks me for anything...even in the beginning when she couldn't get around at all.  She doesn't want to be a burden and she doesn't expect anything from me.  Literally there would be days I forgot to feed her.  She never said anything until I realized at five o'clock that she hadn't eaten all day!  I know she is so ready to go home and get back to her normal routine.  I have really enjoyed having her here and I am going to miss her when she is gone :(

So after doing all of that every day, where is the time I spend on myself?  Yeah, it doesn't exist.  And I don't even have a job!  Well I do have a job...this stay at home mom thing IS my job but you know what I mean.  I think that is part of my problem though.  I look at this as my job and feel like I need to get a certain amount accomplished each day.  Like I need to have something to show my husband when he gets home.  "Look honey, this is what I did today!"  He works so hard every single second that he is at work and I just feel like I need to have something to show for my day.  I can't just be like, well, I went and got a mani/pedi for myself today.  Or I spent 2 hours reading blogs just for me.   

On Sunday night I told Lonnie that I was going to take a bath with a glass of wine and let him put Blake to bed.  Well once the time rolled around for me to do that I was so sleepy I just wanted to go to bed!!  UGH!  Maybe I should start getting up earlier than B so I can have an hour to myself?  But I am so not a morning person and at this very moment that would mean getting up at 4...that should be illegal.  

I guess it is just a constant struggle to find the balance in our lives.  Some days I feel like I have this mommy thing down and I am super woman and then other days I feel like I totally suck.  I am still learning...

How do y'all find the balance??? 

Five Months Old!

My sweet B turned five months old on the 13th!  I am a bit late in posting this but better late than never right??  

Dear Blake,
Your daddy and I love you so very much.  You change so much every day...it is amazing to watch!  I say to him every day, "When did she get this big?"  I feel like every time I come to get you out of your crib in the morning you are bigger than the night before!  You are showing more of your personality as well.  You are the sweetest thing and you LOVE your daddy so so much. You just light up when you see him.  It makes mommy so happy.  We are so proud to be your parents sweet girl!!

Firsts
Blakely tried rice cereal for the first time on 2-21-12..she's not really a fan..

We took B on her first vacation!  We drove to New Orleans and she did wonderful.  She was excited to get in the stroller every single day and go on an adventure!

She had her first Valentine's day!

She held her own bottle for the first time...

2-16-12 was the first time someone else put her to bed besides Lonnie or me.  She did ok and is getting better at it every time.  

first time wearing shoes ;)

first time wearing a hat ;)

Feeding:  We are still exclusively breastfeeding.  She gets one bottle of breast milk a day, sometimes every other day.  I pump in the morning and before I go to bed and that is enough for two bottles the next day.  If I only give her one then I freeze the rest.  I am estimating she takes about 4-5 ounces per feeding.  I'm not sure what my goal is with breastfeeding.  Will I do it for the whole first year?  I don't know.  I think my freezer stash is enough for about 6-8 weeks.  So will I stop around 10 months?  Not sure.  I am just enjoying doing it for now and will keep doing it as long as it keeps going well.  Weaning sounds horrible because the child loves the boob...  Oh, and I will keep doing it through the summer so I can FINALLY have big boobs in a bathing suit :)

Sleeping:  Weeeeeeellllll, this is ok.  I can't complain because she does sleep great.  But, she has been a little off the past few weeks.  She still sleeps good just not as long.  She will sleep until 5 in the morning and then wake up and want to eat.  I then put her in bed with me and we will sleep until 8ish.  So that is still really good, I know.  Mama was just getting used to no interrupted sleep so this has messed me up!  SInce I don't go to bed until 2 or 3 hours after her I am not getting a whole lot of sleep.  My own fault!  I think we are just in a transition period with her schedule.  I think she wants to go to bed a little earlier and then she will sleep longer, weird, I know.  But the few times that I have tried it it worked!  So we will see how this next month goes.  

Diapers:  We are doing cloth diapers all of the time except over night.  I am working on that one.  While we were on our trip we did disposables and it was fine.  I moved her up to a size 3 and we had fewer blowouts.  I think the three is a little big but since we really only use it overnight it works fine because it holds more pee!  And since it goes up higher in the back it did hold the poop better on vacation.  

Clothing:  She is in 6 month clothes or 6-9 month clothes.  Just depends on the brand.  The weather has been awesome here so we have been getting into our spring and summer dresses!  

Weight: On our home scale she weighed a little over 16 pounds.  

Height:  25 inches long.  

Eyes:  They are the most beautiful blue.  They are closer to Lonnie's blue than mine.  Mine are a little lighter than his.  

Hair:  Still rocking the bald spot in the back but it does seem to be trying to grow back in.  It is a light brown color and sometimes looks pretty red!

Daily Routine:  Our routine is pretty much the same as last month.  Vacation messed up our schedule a little bit.  Like I said before, we are kind of in transition so it is not the same every day.  She is still eating 7 times a day and I am trying to get down to 6.  We are up for the day around 730 and go down for the night at 9pm.  Still takes 2-3 naps a day but she has cut out the small catnap in the evening.  

Favorite toy:  She really loves all of her toys.  But I have to say her favorite thing in the whole world is her daddy!!  She smiles so big when he comes home from work and she wants all of his attention :)

She does love her Baby Dotty and her Baby Dolly too.  She usually wants to kiss on them when she is sleepy.  This is Dotty...

She does like "reading" her books now...

A few other things...

Blakely LOVES being naked.  She got a teeny diaper rash about a month ago so we let her be naked on the floor for a little bit.  She had so much fun!  We have been trying to do it once a day now since she likes it so much.  She gets all excited and moves her arms and legs around like crazy.

She is this close to rolling from back to front.  She can get her hips all the way over but she can't quite get her arm out from under her.  She will do it very soon though.  

She talks all the time.  I mean all.the.time.  It is adorable.  Any time we go to a restaurant she talks the entire time.  We can only go to places that are loud.  She and I just talk all day long.  

She loves her Grand Di (my mom).  Since she has been staying here they have totally bonded.  I can go put B on the bed with her and they just play while I get things done.  It.is.awesome.  In the beginning Blake would get fussy after a while and I would have to go get her.  Since mom couldn't stand up with her she couldn't be consoled.  Now Grand Di can console her, sing her to sleep, and play all day long.  I am sure going to miss her when she goes home and so will Blake!  

Blakely loves to be startled!  She thinks it is hilarious!  She jumps and then laughs out loud.  It all started out with peek a boo and has turned into strait jumping out and scaring her.  Here is one of the many videos I have taken of this.  

The weather here has been beautiful this month.  Spring has definitely sprung and we have been taking full advantage.  Here are a few pics of our days at the park, walking downtown, and laying on a blanket in our yard.  

B is not a fan of the bumbo seat.  She acts really uncomfortable when she is in it.  She straightens her legs out so that makes butt pop up out of it.  We don't ever use it anymore.  I try it every so often just to see.  

Nicknames:  We have so many nicknames for our little princess.  We rarely call her Blakely!  
Blake
Blakes
Blakers
Blakey
Blakester
B
Sweet pea
Pea pod...this one is used a LOT

I love being your mommy, sweet girl.  Every day is better than the last and I can't believe how big you are getting.  You will soon be half of a year old!  I remember so vividly bringing you into this world and it seems like it was yesterday.  I am so proud of you baby girl.