All About Roo - She's Here!

Jadyn Elizabeth Marie
11/30/2009 @ 2:41AM
8 lbs, 18.5 inches

All About Roo - Part Four

Well, here it is. Part four... and hopefully the last of the pregnancy pics. :-) I'm halfway through my 38th week and Morenna made her debut at 38 weeks and 6 days.

For those keeping tabs, that means she came early.

I like early.

Early is good.

For this score-keeping momma, that means Baby Roo should come soon... like, yesterday - right?

I am definitely ready to see and hold my little baby girl. Perhaps because I'm not facing the distraction of wrapping up my last week of work, like I was with Morenna at this time, the days seem to drag by. I'm antsy to see some forward progress. The signs are definitely there. I just want a date and a time.

Is that too much to ask? ;-)

My mom is finally here with us, my bags are packed, the baby clothes are washed and I'm about as rested as I'll ever be. Oh yeah, and my maternity clothes don't fit.

Momma at 38 weeks

The last of my baby preparations included making curtains for the changing table, which we moved out of the nursery and int our master bedroom. It was a great evening project that helped me pass the time, while feeling I was accomplishing something special for the baby.


We're ready, Baby Roo. Come on out to play!

Where We've Been... Part Three

Better late than never, right? Forgive the unedited pictures. In the interest of getting this post up, I detoured editing them for simply posting them. :-)

Trip Two - Welcome to the Golden State!

Part two of our wedding-themed "amazing race" began the day the rain moved into Charleston, SC.

My parents dropped us off at the airport before beginning their long trek homeward and we casually made our way through security and caught our flight. No delays. It was great. And better yet, the Lord really answered our prayers concerning Morenna's behavior on the plane. She was very content to sit quietly on our laps and either read or color.. and then she napped. Our layover in Dallas provided her the ability to run around the indoor playground they had and so efficiently wore her out that she napped on the second leg of the trip as well.

We pulled into Matt's old hometown pretty much stress-free. After a quick dinner with Matt's mom, we got to work putting Baby Roo's crib together. Confused?

As you may remember from this post, Morenna insists on hooking her feet into the crib slats to sleep. That pretty much makes our pack 'n play useless. Oh well. To solve the dilemma of sleeping arrangements for the CA trip, we decided to order the mini-crib we wanted for Baby Roo and have it shipped to Matt's mom's house. It worked out great for Morenna while we were there, and then we had it shipped home.

At any rate, Morenna was pretty exhausted from the trip and fell asleep on our bed long before we finished the crib assembly. I was glad she transitioned to the new time-zone so well.

While we were there, Nana (Matt's mom) was so thoughtful to invest in a few activities for Morenna's enjoyment. The biggest success was the classic turtle sandbox. I don't know why I hadn't thought of getting Morenna one of these, but it certainly entertained her for hours. We spent very little time with Matt during the week, since he was busy with his best friend's wedding, so with his absence this was a great life-saver.

Morenna also spent a great deal of time following her Nana around. Because of the distance, Morenna doesn't get to spend a lot of time with Matt's family, so the fact that she had Nana to herself for more than a week was a special treat. Here they are pulling weeds in Nana's backyard. They also spent countless hours dancing and singing together. I think Nana got her workout while we were there. Morenna is, after all, like a mini gym membership. :-)

One day we (Matt's brother, David, Nana, Morenna and I) decided to head out to the California foothills to a charming place called Apple Hill. It's really a collection of many small apple orchards and farms, each with their specialties including dozens of types of apples, apple wine, apple treats, and lots of children's activities.

We made a point to hit up the petting zoo and Morenna loved it. Her favored mammals were the pigs, but this momma preferred the baby Angus calf and the goats. I heart goats. If we ever have land I think I will have to purchase a goat, just to keep myself entertained. I'll name my goat Chloe.

On Saturday, Matt successfully married off his bestie. It was a lovely outdoors wedding and he looked super sexy in his tux. My husband, that is, not the bestie. Well, I guess the groom looked pretty swell too (right, Chelsea?), but for the health of my marriage I think I'll just leave it at that. :-)

Matt's dad was able to attend the wedding and enjoyed chasing his little granddaughter around the grounds of the wedding site. She loved having the attention, of course. I loved having the help. :-) Morenna was able to get double use out of her flower-girl dress. But sadly it was in pretty poor shape by the end of the day.

It was great to get to meet several of Matt's childhood friends and acquaintances. By the days end, though, we were all wedding-ed out. Two best friends married off.

Whew.

On Sunday, we were able to kick back and have some fun time with Matt's extended family. Matt's mom was so sweet to throw me a baby shower for Baby Roo. All of the gals of the family (and most of the guys, too) made the long round-trip to/from Roseville from Fresno to spend the day with us and celebrate. Included in the company was Matt's maternal grandparents, who we only see on an occasional basis. What a joy it was to spend time with them! Morenna is their first (and currently only :-)) great-grandchild and the visit afforded them their first meeting. She took to them both right away (and to all her other new cousins, aunts and uncles, too!). It was a great experience. I love Matt's family. So full of fun! We are definitely looking forward to visiting with them again, hopefully, at Matt's aunt's wedding in June.

And then the rain moved it. After eight days of beautiful California sunshine, a nasty storm arrived the day we were to leave. So, we left the rain in Charleston, and then we left the rain in California. :-) The trip home was a little more stressful, but we made it back safe and sound... and with no delays, amazingly enough.

And that is the story of our amazing race. :-) To see more pictures, click here.

Freezer Baking Day

I wrestled with a bit of disappointment that I wasn't able to participate in real time with my favored bloggers - FishMama and MoneySavingMom - as they took the blogging world by storm and loaded up their respective freezers with lots of yummy food. The flu does place one in survival mode, after all.

But in the days since, I've been stashing things in my freezer a bit at a time. Perhaps it's a bit better I'm doing my cooking a little at a time anyways, seeing how I waddle around like a duck these days and my belly is sagging a bit low.

But then there was Monday.

After a six-hour stint of six-minute spaced contractions on Sunday (whoa, that's a lot of "S's"), an urgency to tackle my pre-baby to-do list swept over me. Since Baby Roo decided November 16th was not her idea of a good birth day, I marched into the kitchen and stormed my pantry.

Morenna was a real comrade-in-arms and occupied herself with dirtying up the kitchen... something normally off-limits but when you have a crazed mom on your hands, you can get away with anything.

Here's what she accomplished:

- Rolling leftover dough around in a fluffy pile of flour;
- Putting said flour all over her face, her clothes, her step-stool, and the floor;
- Dropping said leftover dough in my bowl of banana muffin batter, and then fishing it back out;
- Emptying my 5 lb bag of red potatoes on the kitchen floor;
- Transporting each of the said potatoes to the living room couch while counting them: "One... two... three... six...";
- Being generally good-natured and cute.

Here's what I accomplished:

- Made 5 lbs of freezer mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving dinner;
- Made 2 dozen pumpkin rolls for Thanksgiving dinner (I made these for Christmas last year and we loved them - so tasty!);
- Prepared a double recipe of Chicken-Asparagus Casserole (one for dinner and one for freezing);
- Chopped and bagged 5 lbs of asparagus for winter eating (got them at a terrific price!) not pictured;
- Individually froze and then packaged 2 lbs of bacon, not pictured;
- Prepared two stir-fry packets (one for dinner this week and one for freezing);
- Chopped 1 pineapple;
- Made 2 dozen banana crumb muffins

Whew. Was I ever pooped at the end of the day. And of course that would be the day my child refused a nap, which happens about once every 3 months. But although tired, I felt so good knowing the food in my fridge would not be going bad and that my post-baby food tally was growing.

To the casserole and the stir-fry packets I've also added: a chicken pot pie, 2 broccoli-cheese quiches, pizza dough, and three bags of spaghetti sauce. Those things, combined with the two Birdseye Steamfresh Meals for Two that I got cheaply at a good sale last week, brings my frozen meal allotment to a grand total of: 11.

But lest I tempt you to envy me... here's what was on my other counter:

Hmm, now if I could have just arranged labor to kick in before I had to address the dishes...

Another Week of Food

The last two weeks didn't bring about much in the menu-plan department due to the flu. But the week prior we had a yummy selection of food for each day and I was able to throw some ideas together for this past week to just get us by. Definitely prefer the whole planning-it-out thing, though.

As I mentioned, I tried planning out breakfast and lunches in addition to dinner. I found I did like having a plan for breakfasts, but lunches never quite went the way I had scheduled, so I'm thinking it may have been a waste of time to plan them out? I might try again just to see.

Anyways, here's another menu to share:

Monday
B: Muffins & Eggs
L: Mac & Cheese
D: Oven Fried Chicken, Lima Beans

Tuesday
B: Eggs & Toaster Strudels (got these for cents on sale last week)
L: PB & J
D: Almond Crusted Tilapia, Baked Potatoes, Fruit

Wednesday
B: Sunshine Toast
L: Hot Dogs, Applesauce
D: Slow-Cooker Lasagna, Salad

Thursday
B: Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal
L: Egg Salad
D: Chicken Pot Pie, Fruit Salad

Friday
B: Cereal & Eggs
L: Leftovers
D: Eating at a party

Saturday - Didn't end up happening due to the flu :-P
B: Blueberry Coffee Cake
L: Cheese Quesadillas
D: Out

Sunday
B: Cereal & Eggs
L: Leftovers
D: Tacos, Fruit Salad

Where We've Been... Part Two

Matt and I have done a lot of laughing this past month at just how crazy our life gets sometimes. I'm sure we're rather arrogant to assume we're the only people this happens to, but what are the odds that each of our respective closest friends (my maid-of-honor, his best man) would get married the same year?

One week apart.

On opposite U.S. coasts.

Six weeks before baby number two is scheduled to arrive.
::Insert screaming banshee here::

I say we've been laughing about this because we already had about five months of walking around with a deer-in-headlights look on our faces. But God is gracious - and faithful - and we now have some lovely memories to reflect upon.

Nope, none of us got H1N1 from the flights. Neither did Baby Roo decide to make a break for it and arrive in an unplanned state. We're back, safe 'n sound, healthy 'n happy. Here's how the month of October went for us, in two parts:

Trip One - Welcome to the Palmetto State!

If I've never publicly made this announcement before, let me say it now: my mom is awesome. Our wedding-themed "amazing race" of sorts started with the arrival of my mother, who came to take over my life. Literally.

My plan was to head to South Carolina a week beforehand to help my close friend with last minute wedding tasks. Although my mom (bless her heart) came down with a sinus infection 24 hours post-arrival, I was still able to make my Saturday flight to Charleston.

I spent the last week of September traipsing around historic Charleston and the neighboring Yonges Island helping my friend and her fiancee make last minute purchases, etc. It was very refreshing to be childless for five entire days, to sleep through the night and awake on my own time, and to feed only myself at mealtime. :-) From what I hear, Morenna didn't even miss me that much.

Two days before the wedding, the wedding party began arriving, including my parents, Matt and Morenna who, by God's grace, managed the 10-hour trip down with no meltdowns.

We had a wonderful weekend spent with family, church friends and old college friends. Morenna didn't end up making it down the aisle as flower girl (although she did for the rehearsal), but she made up for it by being super cute and dancing a whopping 2 hours at the reception! I think she pretty much collapsed from exhaustion by night's end.

Sunday we hit up the beach and introduced Morenna to the waves. The day was warm, not too warm, but nice enough to get in the water. She love it. Loved it.

Two of my close friends from college roomed in with my parents and us. We had a lovely suite in downtown Charleston with just enough room for us all. They were able to join us in the beach festivities and later in the day for a trip to the famous Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. and my personal favorite - the Charleston Candy Co - for gelatos, salt-water taffy and pralines.

After nine days in the South, it was time to head West...

One friend successfully married off, one more to go.

'Tis the Season

Wondering where all my promised posts have been regarding our recent family adventure? They're here. In dry dock. Awaiting edited pictures to go along with them.

My pictures are still sitting untouched. The flu paid me a visit this past week and I'm just now getting around to trading in my pajamas for normal clothes.

And my little one has three of four molars poking through.

And last, but certainly not least, I think I'm due to have a baby in a couple weeks.

All that to say that my to-do list hasn't quite shaped up to what I wanted it to be. But here's what I did do today:

- Bestowed lots of kisses on the rosy cheeks of my baby girl
- Visited briefly with a dear friend
- Ran a load of diapers
- Danced with my baby girl
- Stacked dishes in the dishwasher
- Made a loaf of bread
- Cuddled with my baby girl
- Made dinner (for the first time in nearly a week)
- Pushed the "start" button on the dishwasher
- Loved my family

More posts to come soon, I hope. :-)

All About Roo - Part Three

Time both crawls and flies, doesn't it? The month of October has just flown by for me, yet at the same time I'm really starting to wrestle with patience while awaiting Baby Roo's arrival.

I'm now 35 weeks along and should things progress as predicted (which they never do), we just might see this little one in about three weeks. I'm not really sure whether to expect her before, on, or after Thanksgiving. Should she arrive on the same timeline as her big sister we'll be celebrating Thanksgiving in the Birthing Inn. :-) Good times.

Of course, she could be late. Something in my gut laughs at that possibility, but nevertheless I guess I shouldn't dismiss it. :-) To make sure it doesn't happen, though, I've taken the liberty of inviting a houseful of people over for the holiday. We had planning a huge feast for Easter when Morenna decided to come, so I figured a fully-planned feast (including a pre-ordered Turkey) and lots of guests would all but guarantee Baby Roo doesn't come late... but, um, right when predicted.

Anyway, my little sweetie certainly did well surviving through all the traveling and flights we just completed. Oddly enough my BH contractions all but ceased throughout the entire three-week trip... only to return within days of getting back. I'm not complaining, though.

I did have quite a bit of heartburn develop throughout the month, but that all changed last week when she suddenly dropped on me. I thought subsequent pregnancies meant no lightening until labor starts, but apparently I'm an exception (we all know there are no hard and fast rules in pregnancy anyway, right?).

I have been SO much more comfortable this past week, despite my many trips to the restroom. :-) No more heartburn - hurray! - and my breathing has returned to normal human levels. I'm thankful. Very thankful.

Momma at 33 weeks

Finally Home Again

It's hard to believe that nearly a month has passed us by since my last post of any substance. Actually, it's not so hard to believe. We've been BUSY! More on that later...

For now, here was our menu from last week for those of you who like to follow along. Yes, I do have this week's plan all set and ready to go, but I find it a bit easier to share the previous week, since something always changes by week's end.

Last week's plan simply included dinner. This week, however, I bit the bullet and decided to plan all our meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner. It certainly takes a bit more time. I'll let you know what I think about the process next week.

Sunday
Tuna Casserole w/ Peas; Fresh fruit (The casserole was just "ok")

Monday
Spontaneous dinner out with West Coast friends!!! (More on that later :-))

Tuesday
Chicken Fajitas; Black bean soup (with a couple tweaks)

Wednesday
Pasta with Pumpkin and Sausage; Spinach salad (and since we had a houseful of company, we popped the cork on some fancy apple wine my mother-in-law had given us. It was definitely a fall-themed meal!)

Thursday
Homemade pizza; Salad

Friday
Chili w/ Baked Potatoes; Fruit

Saturday
Dinner out

Any great recipes worth sharing for next time?

Where We've Been...

On the road again...

Charleston, SC to Sacramento, CA - it's been a busy couple of weeks. One wedding down, one more to go.

Here's a family pic from our visit to the beach last weekend. Morenna loved the water and the sand.

A New Bum

I briefly mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I took the plunge and switched Morenna over to cloth diapers. I may appear the Queen of Green by doing such a thing, but really the change was influenced by a little emergency preparedness chat my hubby and I had.

Water? Check.
Food? Check.
Battery radio? Check... What else would we possibly need?
Ooo, diapers. What'll we do about that?

So I looked into cloth diapering. I had briefly considered the option when I found out I was pregnant with Morenna, but it held little appeal to me. I know my mom had cloth diapered, but it seemed like a lot of work, albeit she had a diaper service. Besides, I scored cheap diapers at CVS, so the expense for disposables seemed minimal to me.

Yeah, minimal.

Come to find out, paying less than $5 a pack can still add up week after week. Who knew?

My first tour of the world of cloth (the new and improved world of cloth, that is) left my head spinning. After one evening of research, I promptly informed Matt there was no way, no how, I was going to be able to do it. Ah, but I love a challenge.

Once I faced my fear of all the unknown lingo, the choices, the very opinionated mommies... I found a company that offered a trial pack of several well-known, well-liked diapers for only $10. That certainly made things a bit more doable, so I gave it a try.

After just a couple days my thoughts mirrored those of many others I had read: Why in the world didn't I do this from the beginning?

It's true, the front-end dishing out of cash seems like a lot. And the concept of washing poopy diapers each day can sound ridiculous and pricey in resources. But really, it is cheap(er). And the extra work? Well, I haven't really noticed it, other than that one extra trip I have to force my pregnant body take down the stairs to the washer each night.

Cons? Swirling a poop-stained diaper in the toilet isn't my idea of a party. But the biodegradable liners you can put in your diapers pretty much take care of all the dirty work. And I have my eye on this handy-dandy little do-dad that would help out a bit, too.

My favorite pro? Simply put: cloth doesn't stink. Consequently, my trash can doesn't always smell and I don't have nasty, stinky, diapers piling up to be thrown out. Morenna's room always smells fresh, even though the pail of dirty cloth diapers sits there. Very cool. And we're now two months into this. Another pro? Not feeling guilty for buying a pack of diapers because I accidentally ran out. I don't run out. Sweet!

We still sometimes use a disposable diaper at night. Morenna is such a heavy-wetter that the cloth diaper I have to make for nighttime use makes her look like a freakin' grasshopper. One night alone she soaked through 4, yes FOUR, inserts in her diaper and I still ended up putting her in a disposable by night's end. There are lots of other options I could try, but I'm lazy. And honest. :-)

Our daytime diapers of choice have been BumGenius and Fuzzibunz with a few old-fashioned prefolds thrown in. The BumGenius are an easy and cost effective route in my opinion, because they have the ease of disposables and are one-size-fits-all. Once Baby Roo arrives, I won't be forced to sort through a pile of diapers to find which one belongs to who. Both girls will be able to use them!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go hang up some diapers. :-)

Frugal Is as Frugal Does

Our little family raked in some super frugal deals last week! The local grocery chain that I frequent was offering quite the promotion from General Mills: buy 15 qualifying items and receive and instant $5 off. On top of that it was triple coupon week!

But the best part was that this little deal included some super mini deals like Totino Pizza Rolls buy 2 get three free and $0.99 frozen Green Giant veggies that likewise generated their own $3 cash back for every 5 you purchased.

Make your head swim? It did mine... but I'm so excited by the outcome. We scored 11 packages of frozen veggies, 5 boxes of pizza rolls, 10lbs of flour, a box of toaster pastries, and a Betty Crocker Warm Delight brownie for $5! Yay!

In other frugal news...

Back in February I mentioned my new obsession with Swagbucks for my internet searches. For those of you who may not have taken action on this great new search engine, you still can! And here's a little update: I've now cashed in my searching points for over $50 in gift cards! I'm loving it! Matt is also a "swagger" and he's added another $20 in gift cards to our little stockpile, too! Looking for some side cash to gear up for Christmas? Sign up here for Swagbucks!

Home for the Holiday...

the Labor Day holiday, that is. We made our last trip before Baby Roo's arrival to the Buckeye State to visit with family over the long holiday weekend. For the hundredth time (or so it seems to me) I came down with a cold the day we left and spent the first couple of days recuperating. Morenna had some teething issues, too, and combined with the sleeping issues we already were dealing with made for a couple sleepless nights. Oh well.

On Sunday we celebrated my dad's birthday. Morenna got a kick out of all the packing peanuts that contained his gifts. I'm so glad we got to be there to sing and celebrate as a family!





My extended family also got together later that same day for a bonfire, a common occurrence with my family seeing how my grandpa, dad and two cousins are all firefighters. Where there is a good time, there is fire. :-) The rest of us enjoyed sitting and relaxing. Matt kept all the little boys busy learning how to play football and that gals watched. Morenna threw rocks. That's my girl.


Two of my cousins and I have little ones the same age. My grandpa, now the great-grandfather of eleven (soon to be twelve!), enjoyed sitting with the three youngest on the swing for a large part of the evening. I think they enjoyed it too.

L to R: Riley, Grandpa, Stephen (15 months), Morenna (17 months), Ryan (14 months).

I also got to visit awhile with my other set of grandparents. Unfortunately my mom's dad was in the hospital the entire time we were home, but my mom's mom was able to come join in all the family fun with my dad's family. I love that my grandmas are friends!

All in all it was a good weekend home. I can't believe we won't be able to go home again until Christmas. ::Sniff:: But it's all for a good reason. :-)

Morenna sitting in the baby rocking chair that has been in my family for three generations.
My mom, me, and now Morenna have grown up with it. So fun!

Sweet Refreshment and Other Stuff

Who doesn't experience burn-out? During the season of motherhood the "cliffs" of weariness and discouragement seem to ever loom in the not-too-distant future for me to plunge over. And I only have one child! (At least for the next two months!)

This past spring, Matt and I initiated a new Mom's Time-Out on Saturday mornings. What refreshment I've found during that time! He graciously takes Morenna and I escape to the local coffeeshop for a few hours of alone time, followed by any necessary errands I need to run.

Are you feeling ready for a break? Let me encourage you to see if your spouse would be willing to give you some time away.

A couple of my friends have inquired as to what I do with my morning out. Here's a basic overview, in preferential order:

- Eat a slow-paced breakfast someone else prepared;

- Study God's word and prepare my heart for any foreseen challenges in the coming week;

- Evaluate my calendar and think through the events of the coming week;

- Menu plan: I usually do one week at a time and establish my meals based on a day's events. I can always switch it up if my day changes;

- Clip and organize my coupons and shopping list for the upcoming week;

- Balance my share of our budget

- Update my blog: yes, I admit, I only blog once a week. :-) I typically set my posts to run on future dates so that the fresh content pops up all week long; and

- Browse the internet :-)

It's amazed me just how refreshed I feel after being away just for a few hours each Saturday. Mentally I'm refreshed and ready to return to serve my family and my weeks run much more smoothly since I feel on top of things. Many thanks to my hubby for his support of such an outing! :-)

Do any of you do something similar?

A Night Out

Though Matt and I share the same spring birthday month, I took the liberty of extending his birthday well into the summer this year. Two weeks ago we had a night out to celebrate, just the two of us. It was fantastic!

Following dinner at McCormick and Schmick's, we headed to our box seats at WolfTrap for a summer evening together. For Matt's birthday gift I purchased tickets to see WolfTrap's HD showing of Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. The movie was shown with a live orchestra and choir. Wow. I'm not a huge fan of LOTR, but I couldn't help but thoroughly enjoy myself.

To compliment the event, I wore my Lord of the Ring's Evenstar necklace that Matt had bought me for my birthday. Hmmm, see a theme here?

Breakfast for Dinner

I have a love-hate relationship with weekends. Who doesn't love being with family and having daylight hours to blow through to-do lists?

But I don't like cooking on weekends. By the time Friday night rolls around, I'm done with food prep. Despite menu planning - which I love - I still am not in the mood to be in the kitchen.

In an effort to curve our weekend take-out bill, I've established Saturday's dinner as breakfast time. :-) It's working so well for us, especially since I can't do the fancy recipes I'd like to on Saturday mornings because of being pregnant.

Banana-nut pancakes have become a favorite of ours. I double the recipe and freeze the extras for quick weekday breakfasts. We had them again tonight and loved them yet again... so I thought I share the love recipe with you:

Hearty Banana-Nut Pancakes
*Recipe adapted from epicurian

1.5 cups flour (wheat or all-purpose)
1/4 cup oat bran
1/4 cup wheat germ
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups + 2 tablespoons buttermilk
3/4 cup mashed bananas (about 2 large very ripe bananas)
2 large eggs
1/4 to 1/3 applesauce (amount dependent on flour type)
1/2 cup (2 ounces) chopped pecans or walnuts

~Enjoy!~

Growing Up - The Lengthy Edition

My first thought was to begin this post with the proverbial: Morenna is growing like a weed. ::Yawn:: That's a no-brainer. Instead I'll try to be a little more purposeful in sharing what her life (and ours as parents) is like these days.

As I type, I'm glancing at my husband's khaki-clad pant leg, which is currently a marbled tie-die of marker smudges. Drawing is a new thing for our little BG, but I'm elated that she's finally taking an interest. It didn't take long for a "marker rule" to be enforced after this picture was taken. After cleaning my floor numerous times (what heavenly provision washable non-toxic markers are!) we finally moved all coloring to the table. We're still having issues with marking our face, teeth, lips, clothes and other extremities, though. I thought about switching her to crayons. No stain. No mess. Brilliance! But she's taken to badly chewing the ones we get at restaurants so I've stuck with drawing utensils that can defend themselves.

Concurrently, I'm listening to Morenna (who's supposed to be sleeping) on the baby monitor counting the dots on her pajamas. It sounds something like this: "won (one)... doo (two)... tree (three)! Seriously, in the matter of about a week she picked up counting to three and will typically perform on demand. Yes, this is definitely my most favorite developmental milestone at the moment. I'm trying to move her past "three" and on to "four", but she's pretty adamant about staying at three. She refuses to even say "four". So, no dice. (Note: as you see in the picture from Monday's post, Morenna refuses to fall asleep unless her feet are propped up. She also has to prop them up at the table, too. So funny!)

Speaking of refusals, what's up with the sudden arrival of picky eating? If offered to her, any variety of food will be refused. Even favorites. But if haphazardly placed within her reach (whether purposefully or accidentally), any food may readily be devoured, including, but not limited to: raw potatoes, garlic, prunes, onions - gross stuff like that. What the...?

She very much enjoys climbing and standing on her stool to watch me cook, prepare food, do the dishes, you name it. I can't believe how big she looks to me standing there and trying to help out. Too cute!

By far her favorite thing to do is stand and swirl around the bubbles in my dishwater. It will keep her entertained the whole time I do the dishes. Can't beat that!

One personality trait Matt and I have been a little disappointed about is her lack of luster for outside activities. We are both big outdoorsy people... but not her. No way. She'll play out in the yard with us a for a little while, but in no time at all she'll waddle her way to the door and pound on it until we let her in.

On a positive note, she's a big singer. Yes, she loves music. And loud music, too. Matt and I still haven't outgrown our loud music tastes from college, but Morenna is a great sport and will start bopping to the music as soon as she hears the beat. Not to worry: she listens to Christian music, too. :-) My mom taught her to sing the Hosanna song. It sounds something like this:

Morenna: Ho, ho, ho, ho...

Mommy: Hosanna...

Morenna: Ha, ha, ha, ha...

Mommy: ...hallelujah...

Morenna: He, he, he, he...

Mommy: ... Saved me...

Morenna: I got da...

Mommy: ...love of the Lord...

Morenna: in Me! ::big grin::

I'll be sure to post the video we have of that sometime soon.

This Too Shall Pass

One thing I'm learning as a mommy is that time moves on. Thank. God. It's been a struggle this week to be a patient and energized mommy.

A big struggle.

I'm still playing detective as to where Morenna picked up the new habit of night-waking (teething? hunger? new developmental milestone?) but wherever it came from, she has it. Bad.

Several nights this week she'll wake up between 2am-3am, wide awake. For the first hour or so she'll just sit quietly in her crib and stare at the wall, poor dear. Ask me how I know this? Bathroom visit, every two hours. Blah.

After the initial hour, she'll get frustrated and start whimpering for attention. I give in. I can't help it - I sympathize as I'm dealing with my own pregnancy-related insomnia. There's nothing worse than being awake and feeling like the only one in the world to be that way.

Anyhow, she's always so delighted to see me and will sit quietly on my lap and rock. And rock. And rock. Every now and then she'll count to three, or identify my eyes, nose, mouth, and ears, or ask about her favorite book. An hour later, she'll start asking for food, milk, juice, her toys. Finally around 5am Matt gets up for work, so she laughs and chatters while chasing him around the bathroom as he gets dressed. Did you catch the time? Yeah, 2-3 hours later.

I can rarely get her back to bed until around 6am. She'll sleep until about 9am and then be grumpy and out of sorts the rest of the day until naptime. From what I've read, this night-waking phase usually lasts from month 18 to month 20. We'll see about that.

Sounds like I'll get one back into the habit of nighttime sleeping just in time to welcome a new addition... with her own reasons for night-waking. Fun stuff!

One thing in which I have found comfort is the wisdom of seasoned moms, saying: "This too shall pass." Should nothing I try work, I know this won't last forever.

I hope. :-)

Bringing Nature to Suburbia

Most of you know that I grew up in the country. And loved it.

Now being a forced resident of suburbia, I find I'm lonesome for the freedom that owning land can bring. Since our backyard is fenced in, I'm all primed to attempt planting a garden in our rock-infested yard next year. But what to do in the meantime?

Enter brilliance. Not my own, unfortunately, but I shamelessly stole the idea. No rocks. No weeds. Just good nutritious soil and yummy greens in... my gutter garden.

It took only one evening for Matt and I to purchase our vinyl gutters and other materials. Easy-peasey. I back-ordered the seeds and in late July I put in a crop of baby spinach, gourmet greens and Simpson lettuce. Both have done really well and we had some of the lettuce in salads a night ago. Yum, yum! (Sorry the picture is blurry.)

I know you're probably as taken back about the brilliance in suburbia gutter gardening as I am. You're thinking: Man, this gal's got it going on. Or maybe not. Perhaps you think I'm crazy, and you might be right...

Last week our little family (read: me) decided gardening didn't quite fix our back-to-nature cravings so we pulled out all the stops and... joined a raw milk club. :Gasp: Now you really do think I'm crazy, don't you?

Best. Decision. Ever. Despite the multiple health benefits I was a little apprehensive about the switch, but I'm so happy we did it. And let me tell you, once you join the little raw milk community you find your fellow raw-milk-drinking-friends start popping out of the woodwork. Who knew?!

So anyway, we've been purchasing (yes, purchasing... even though it's against the law. As if it's the government's place to regulate what I drink... it's just MILK people, come on!) about a gallon and a half a week. From that amount I'm able to skim off quite a bit of cream and make my own butter (all-in-all about 3/4 cup) using my kitchen aid mixer. Simple and tasty.

Wow. So there's the good, bad and ugly regarding my back-to-nature cravings. Well, not totally. Would you believe in the same time period I also made the decision to switch Morenna over to cloth diapers?! I blame my pregnancy hormones. More on that later. The diapers, I mean, not the hormones. :-)

All About Roo - Part Two

Ignorance is bliss, or so they say. Frankly, I'm inclined to believe there's a whole heck of a lot of truth in the statement. When I was pregnant with Morenna it seemed that my OB implied first-time mommas were the biggest worrywarts. Oh, contrare.

Perhaps it's the been-there-done-that factor that makes second pregnancies much more worrisome, at least for me. I compare every twitch, every movement, every ache and pain to what I experienced with Morenna. And when they aren't the same, I wonder what might be wrong. Sheesh.

On a non-hormonal note, everything in Baby Roo's world is in tip-top shape. :-) I'm cherishing these last two weeks of my second trimester (already nearly to my third! where did the time go?) and am attempting to harness my energy wisely. Sadly, I'm already noticing my stamina patterning that of our booming economy. (Yeah, about that...)

Thus far, Baby Roo has been MUCH more active than I ever remember Morenna being. Matt and I are quite entertained most nights watching her acrobatic skills shift my belly this way and that. In that regard, I'll be glad when her growth starts limiting movement a bit. Many. Sleepless. Nights.

Thankfully, I returned to the pregnancy chiropractor I used with Morenna and it's made a huge difference with the aches and pains of physical changes. The special table my doctor uses is designed for pregnant tummies, so it's definitely an added benefit to lay around on my stomach for at least five minutes each week. If the office isn't too busy, I shamelessly ask to lay around "for just five more minutes?".

On another note, Big Sister Morenna most likely doesn't understand why my lap has disappeared, but she has picked up on the fact that I rub my belly a lot. She'll prance around with hers stuck out like a little Budda, rubbing it and jabbering on about Baby GiGi, as she calls her.

(Oh my word, did I just drop a hint as to what baby's name might be? But definitely don't be thinking in the French Poodle department...).