Things have changed

I can't sleep, I'm not sure why. Maybe it was the migraine medication I had to take today, or maybe my mind is still recovering from Lost, or maybe it was the glass of water/baking soda my husband dared me to drink AFTER we had already gone to bed for the night. (I know, we're strange) I guess I'll never know! So I was just laying in bed, not sleeping, and thinking about how so much has changed since Isabella was born. When I first started working at the bank, almost everyone I worked with was a childless, recent college graduate like me. There was only one person that had children. Every morning we would all talk about what we did the night before. So and so went to a movie, this person went out to eat, that person went to the gym, etc. But the girl that had kids always said, "I just hung out with my kiddos and played." (The poor girl - she probably felt how I do now when people ask me what I do. My response - I just stay at home with my daughter. Why do I say "just", it just comes out. Like I'm not doing anything at home between keeping up my home, laundry, ironing, cooking and baking for the husband who is allergic to EVERYTHING and oh yeah, spending lots of quality time with my daughter) I'm sure I was not the only one who on more than one occasion thought, "how boring". Due to Monte's medical problems and the drugs he was on, we were married for four years before we could have any children. So we got used to lots of movies, eating out, basicly doing whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted (how selfish was I?!). And now my days are filled to the brim with "just hanging out and playing"! I realize my life was so empty before, and I know my true vocation is to be a wife and mother. What I once considered to be boring is now my life, everyday, and I LOVE it!

The Book Nook

A few days ago I posted about Montessori. I finished my first project, Isabella now has a little reading nook right in the living room. We don't have a bookcase yet, so for now her books are just in the basket.

It didn't cost anything to do this! I made my own pattern for the bean bag chair, then sewed it from some curtains that I didn't need. I stuffed it with packing peanuts that I got free from the post office. And this is the picture I framed for her, which I just printed off and put in one of the 12,000 frames we got as wedding gifts.

No Nap = No Fun

This is not working out too well for us. She still needs to take two naps a day, but insists on only taking one. She wants her morning nap, and wants nothing to do with an afternoon nap. This has turned our day from happy all day to a complete whine fest from about 4:00 until Daddy gets home about 5:30, right when I'm trying to get supper ready. Then instead of staying up until 7:00 she's in bed at 6:20 every night. Monte only gets to see her for less than an hour! Today I kept her up all morning even though she was tired, then she clonked after lunch. Hopefully this will get a new routine going.

My Rosy Cheeked Gal

Isabella will be 15 months in a few days, so I decided to take some pictures this morning.

Here she is

Here's a very short clip of Isabella walking yesterday. This was only the third time she tried, she is getting better every time

She Walks

Isabella finally took off walking yesterday! She was quite proud of herself. She's getting too big.

Long Day

It has been almost three months since I started staying home full time with Isabella, and since Monte started his new job. So far, I can't believe how fast the days go. Isabella and I have quite the routine going. Our days are filled with playing, sleeping (Isabella sleeping that is), reading, cooking, baking, cleaning, laundry, and recently I have become addicted to sewing (I go in cycles with my crafty type things I'm interested in). But today I had my first - "This is the longest day ever, when is your father going to be home?" kind of day. Not that I don't LOVE being home, because I absolutely do. I'm sure I'll have these days from time to time, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels like this once in a while. It could be that I'm not quite feeling up to par (just a sore throat and tired) or that our schedule is changing with Isabella not taking a morning nap, or that we're not getting out much because of the cold weather. I'm ready for spring, but unfortunately I think I'll be waiting quite a while!

It was nice while it lasted

Isabella has decided this week to start phasing out her morning nap. This has been quite the change for me. So goodbye excercising, reading the paper, blogging, and cleaning in peace and quiet every morning - it was nice while it lasted. It was bound to happen, I figured out that since she has been born, between sleeping at night and naps, she has gotten a minimum of 16 hours of sleep on the average day. And I don't know if this will last or not. Today, when I took her out of her high chair after dinner she laid her head down on my shoulder and was out like a light in about 2 minutes, she has never done that before! Although, if it does last, it will make it easier to go places. We won't have to try and cram everything in, between the morning and afternoon nap.

Montessori

I have recently become totally addicted to the Mommy Life blog. This woman is amazing, she has 12 children, is an author, has numerous speaking engagements, etc. I don't know how she does it! She is also a Montessori teacher. I started reading her blog when she began the process of becoming Catholic. I had heard of Montessori before, but knew nothing about it (I still don't know a whole lot). But I do know that she has me completely excited about learning more. I have learned that so many everyday experiences can be learning experiences for Isabella. I also learned that one of the main aspects of Montessori is seeing the world through a child's eyes, that being so little causes a lot of frustration, tantrums, etc, for little ones. It promotes a very child friendly environment, such as having a child size table and chairs for them to play and do projects at. I was really wanting to get a good set, but that is not in our budget right now. So I was SO excited when my aunt emailed me the other day and wanted to know if we wanted hers, now that her kids have outgrown it!! Another thing I am going to try to do is create a very child friendly reading environment. Isabella's favorite thing to do is read (and my favorite thing to do is read to her). A lot of the posts talk about creating a reading nook with books, a bean bag chair, and eye level pictures for even the littlest ones. I am very excited to try this, since a bean bag chair is also not in the budget right now, I'm going to make one myself (or I'll try at least :) )
Thank you Barbara for getting this mommy excited for everything each new day will bring!

Toys

I was quite concerned when all of the toy recalls came out a few months ago. I read an article a while back that said only 20% of toys in the average U.S. store are completely lead free, even after all of the recalls! Apparently there is a certain amount of lead that is allowed. I found this really neat website with toys that are only made in Europe and the U.S. They are completely safe, and a lot of them are educational. Some of them are on the spendy side, but a lot of them are reasonable too. I won't be buying anything from there as we have no occasion to be buying Isabella anything right now, but I will definitely be keeping it in mind for next Christmas.

Strike a Pose

New Words

Isabella's vocabulary is really taking off. It's good something is taking off, as she has yet to walk by herself! It seems there is a new word almost every day. Her latest - cookie. And today - Jesus! Oh, it makes me so happy to hear her say Jesus (which sounds like, Jee Jees). When she says Jesus, she holds her arms out like Jesus does on the cross, because she loves to stare at the Crucifix in her room. It just makes my day!

Toddler Activites

The temperature here has been around 0 degrees all week, with a windchill below that! I'm a wimp so I refuse to go anywhere in this weather unless I absolutely have to. I haven't absolutely had to go anywhere, so Isabella and I have been hermits all week hanging out at home. Besides the fact that I don't want to go anywhere, I also don't want to get my cold blooded 1 year old out. She takes after me, and is always freezing! If you even mention the word "cold" to her she does her long, drawn out version of "Burr" which sounds more like "mmmmmmmm" with a lot of vibrato in it! And the last two Sundays after church, she has insisted on being completely wrapped up in a blanket over all her winter gear and carried in my arms like a little baby on the way out to the car. Today she was looking out the window, then looked at me and said, "bye, bye, bye?" as she waved at me. I told her it was too cold out, and she dropped it right away!
So . . . in spite of our cabin fever we have been keeping fairly busy. I found this website with all sorts of toddler activities if anyone else is in the same boat as us right now. Some of the acitivies are kind of lame, quite a few are for older toddlers, but we did do this one and she enjoyed it. I also broke our rule of, "We're not buying her anything except on holidays and her birthday", a couple of weeks ago when I bought these. I justified it with the fact that the cold weather was upon us, and it would be a good constructive, educational thing to do. And it is, I highly recommend them. So does anyone else have any suggestions for fun, indoor activites?

What's gotten into me?

It must have all started with this (which is working out great). For some reason I feel the need to have everything completely organized all of the sudden! I must say, I can't stand clutter in sight (although it seems there are toys everywhere I step during the day, but that's different), so my house is fairly clean and organized. But my closets, oh my poor closets, it's just shameful. I can't find anything in them. Today I started with bathroom drawers and cupboards, Isabella was a lot of "help" since she slept in and therefore did not take a morning nap! It was actually quite exciting to find stuff I forgot I had. Then it was on to the kitchen to get a small start at those cupboards, and now I have rugs and curtains in the washer. There's no telling how far I will get, who knows how long this feeling will last so I better get back to it!

Tea Party

This was during the two minutes that everything was set up and Isabella enjoyed "feeding" her bears.

This was during the destruction, when the not so ladylike Isabella decided to throw out her guests and their food!

Little Mommy

I love Fridays!!

My goodness, I have been posting a lot lately. I guess I have a lot on my mind! Anyway, I am so glad today is Friday! I remember when I was in school, then when I worked full time - that wonderful, giddy feeling you get when it's Friday. Then when I worked part time, everything changed becuase I worked Thursday through Sunday, so Friday was just the middle of my work week. I thought when I quit working, Fridays would be just like any other day to me, but they are not at all! I still get all excited thinking about whatever movie we'll watch after Isabella goes to bed, but most of all I can't wait to have my husband home for two whole glorious days!

Gluten Free Fun

I enjoyed some alone time last night by going to the HyVee Healthmarket to get some food for the diet. It was not such a fun night for the checkbook, though! I bought a loaf of gluten free bread (which consists of 12 slices) for $5.79! I don't care what it tastes like, he is going to eat it. :) I also got a box of all purpose gluten free flour (which consists of 2 cups of flour) for $4.79. I figure if he is going to stick to the diet, he should probably have some "normal" things to eat, which is why I bought the bread, a brownie mix, and a cookie mix. But these things will definitely have to be rationed at those prices, my goodness! I did find some flour I can buy in bulk on amazon.com. It's still pretty expensive, but nothing like what I bought in the store. I'm looking forward to getting that, then I can go back to making everything from scratch again.
Also, for anyone who can't have dairy- this stuff is amazing (at least that's what Monte tells me, although I have tried a bite and it is very good). I actually love everything that brand has, and it's not terribly expensive.

Miss Independent

Yesterday Isabella played in her crib for a little over an hour after she woke up from her nap. Today she disappeared while I was cooking. I found her in the spare bedroom, with the door shut! I guess I'll take the hint. :)

It's time again

Monte has not been doing the greatest with his Crohn's lately. Often times when he has a setback we attempt a wheat/gluten free diet to see if that helps. He has gotten somewhat positive results before, but can never stick to the diet long enough to know for sure. We'll hope and pray for some good willpower this time (for both of us, so that I don't tempt him). I'm sure tomorrow I will be spending most of my free time googling "gluten free recipes".

Wearing out her clothes

This is Isabella at 5 months old.

This is Isabella today at 14 months old. Notice anything about these two pictures - she's wearing the same (size 0-3 month) sweater in both pictures! Yes that's right, I said the size is 0-3 months! I realize that sweater is really big for 0-3 months, I know it was sized right, though, as it was the same as all the other 0-3 month ones. This kid stays in the same sizes forever! Even Monte said the other day, "When is she going to grow, I'm getting sick of her clothes." She's in 12 month clothing, but also wears some 9 month and even 6-9 month (but not too often)! Also her shoe size is 6-9 month. I'm not complaining because I love that she gets a lot of wear out of her clothes, I'm actually going to throw a few things away instead of saving them for future children, as they are so worn and gross looking. I am a bit disappointed, though, because my mom got a ton of really cute winter clothing last year on the end of season clearance. It's all 18 month, and I really want her to wear it. I have put her in a few things and just rolled everything up and it's not too bad. Hopefully she will be able to wear it all within the next couple of months, or else she's going to be dressed pretty warm come spring!

Meals

I've decided my current method of meal preparation is not working out. The way it is right now is, I have no idea what I'm going to make for supper until Isabella's afternoon nap. I sit down and go through recipes, my mind starts wondering and I think of a dozen other things to get done while she is sleeping. On a day like today, she wakes up, unexpected company drops by (which was very nice) and all of the sudden it's 5:00, the husband will be home in half an hour and I still have no idea what we're having for supper. I did manage to whip up some mini meat loaves that only take 30 minutes to bake, but I've decided I need to set some time aside one day a week to plan what I am going to make every night of the upcoming week. I think this will be really good, but I'm not exactly the most organized person in the world. We'll see how this goes.

Nice Day

It is unseasonably warm here today, 41 degrees. I thought I would take the opportunity and let Isabella play in the snow for the first time. Unfortunately, she was terrified of the snow. I was hoping to get some good shots of her standing in the snow, but this is all I got.

She may have not wanted to stand in the snow because her boots were three sizes too big, but you work with what you've got! :)

First Taste

Isabella had her first taste of unhealthy, greasy food this evening - McDonalds fries and chicken mcnuggets. Needless to say she loved it. Maybe she'll go another 14 months without eating anything unhealthy, but somehow I really doubt it!

She Knows

I swear any time we have some sort of outing planned Isabella purposely will not sleep. Today I was planning on going to town to get groceries and visit Monte at work. I planned on going (as I always do) right after Isabella's morning nap. Of course she refused to take a morning nap (as she always does when I plan on going somewhere). Now she is crabby and tired, and I refuse to go to town until after she takes a nap. Any other day, when we are just staying home, she takes long naps like clockwork at 9:30 and 3:00. I just laid her down again, and this time it's completely quiet in there, I can only hope . . .

My favorite Christmas present

is this. (This post could also be titled, My first product review). Words cannot express how much I love this thing, I know I'm a dork. I was so good about excercising this past summer. Isabella and I would go for a walk every morning, then after she went to bed I would either go for another walk or a bike ride, and I did all kinds of yard work and gardening. And now that the cold weather has hit I've turned into a big blob. It feels so good to excercise again. Last winter I had a membership to the fitness center (doctor's orders - to help with post-partum depression). And now for under a hundred dollars I can work out in my house. It's a total body workout, fun to do, and the best part is that it folds up, so when I'm done using it I just fold it up and put it away. I read on Danielle's blog that husbands should never get their wives excercise equipment for Christmas, unless they really want it and ask specifically for it. Well, I really wanted it and asked specifically for it!

Wild Child

Okay, maybe she's not so wild, but that's what makes this outfit kind of funny if you know her. It is so NOT her! I got it in a box of hand-me-downs.