A Very Doodles Birthday!

Let me just tell you that the best party-planning idea that I ever stole from someone was leaving room in the budget to hire a photographer to come and take pictures throughout the party.  Best.  Decision.  Ever.  This freed me up to enjoy the party, relax while watching my baby take it all in, and, best of all, I actually made it into a few of the pictures with my birthday girl this go around!  Usually, I'm behind the camera as most Mommy's are, but this year I hired the best photographer I know (who happens to be my best friend...win win), and she did a BEAUTIFUL job capturing the day for us, right down to the littlest details. 

As is usual with Katie's pictures, I couldn't just choose a few favorites...so here's a lot of my favorites from Delia Jane's special day!

(The monthly chair/lamb pictures...sigh.  Makes me want to cry!)

(On the move!)

(Giving her Daddy the eye...love this one.)

(Watching the video Russell made of Delia's first year...um, sob fest!)

(YUM.)

(Proud Daddy.)

(Emery and Nomi enjoying the new trampoline!)

(My talented friend.)

(How we really act together.  Nice.)

It was such a lovely day spent celebrating our little lady.

Not so little anymore.

:)

12 Months: A Letter.

Sweet Delia Jane,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!  You are one year old today, baby girl, and it has been such a wonderful year spent watching you grow and laugh and play.  Here are some of the highlights of your twelfth month:

(One month)

(One year...sigh.  So fast.)

Growth:
-You weigh 24 pounds and are 32 inches long, which keeps you in the 90th percentile for weight, and you are not on the charts for your height anymore.  Big ol' kiddo!  But....to me, you still seem teeny.  Stay that way.  ;)

-In that sweet little mouth, there are six teeny teeth with a couple more just under the surface.  You have been teething and drooling and gnawing for WEEKS.  Poor kid.  Those teeth need to just come through already!  It doesn't seem to affect your sleep or eating all that much, but it sure doesn't look fun for you.  :(

-Just like your sister, you have an ear infection on your first birthday, and this is your second ear infection in six weeks.  Boo.  You just look kinda pitiful with your flushed cheeks, sunken eyes and runny nose.  Poor baby.  Not the best way to spend your birthday, but you are sure snugly when you don't feel well.  So, we'll snuggle for now.

-Big ol' girl, you started walking a few weeks ago!  We were shocked when you just took off without much practice in the weeks prior, and now you are just walking all over the place!  You are still pretty wobbly and often you'll bonk onto your bottom.  But I'm so proud of you for this new skill, and you just look so very grown up toddling all over the house, my love.

-You can point to your tummy and your head, and you are showing us that you understand so many commands, such as: put your toys away, sit down on your bottom, don't touch, don't hit, be gentle, get your cup, get your paci, dance dance, jumpy, and so many more.  Somewhere in there, you went from a tiny baby to a little lady who can understand so many pieces of our conversations.  When did this happen?!

-Also, you are SO brave.  You'll try to climb anything, and you think you are as big as your older sister and her friends.  It is pretty funny to watch you try and be a big girl.  ;)

Eating:
-This past month was the end of breastfeeding for us, and I think you were more than ready.  You were down to about one or two feedings per day, so, when Daddy and I left for a short vacation, you transitioned fully to your straw cup with whole milk inside.  It was pretty seamless!  I was sad to see that phase of your little life come to an end, but it was time.

-You are a pretty adventurous eater still, but you are starting to show preferences here and there.  You love cereal bars, tuna, lots of fruits, veggie pouches, PB&J sandwiches, crackers of ALL KINDS, chicken, and yogurt.

-Unfortunately, you finally figured out that if you don't really want something, you can slip it right back out of your mouth with a push from your tongue.  Kind of can't believe you didn't figure this out sooner...hehe.  ;)

-You use a snack cup for your afternoon snack which usually consists of some sort of cereal, and you get a cup of watered down juice.

-You are starting to show interest in feeding yourself with a fork, and you also love to share your food with your puppy, Milly.   Sneaky....  ;)

Sleeping:
-Not much new to report in this area.  Like always, you go to bed at 6:30pm and wake up around 6:30am with morning and afternoon naps thrown in there.

-You are an excellent paci tosser.  When you are done playing in your bed after waking up, you start to toss your pacis out of the crib, and we search and search and search for them to no avail!  How you manage to toss them into the perfect hiding places is beyond me.  Funny girl.
-You are loving your crochet bunny, and you snuggle him up to go to sleep.  Very sweet to see.

Play:
-During this phase, you are SO snugly, and you love to toddle over to me and smoosh your face into my neck once I've swooped you up.  LOVE THIS.  So much.

-You and Emery love to 'sing' together, which is really more of a monastic chant than a song...but I still think it's sweet.  ;)  Really, you do just about everything together, and, if for some reason you've spent time apart from each other, you greet her with a squeal and reach out for a hug.  Sisters.  Love you girls.

-You still put any and every thing possible into your mouth.  Craziness.

-Some of your favorite activities/toys include: your play kitchen and all of the cooking accessories that go with it, board books (you've recently learned how to turn the pages), play dough, www.starfall.com activities and learning games, the doll house, drawing with chalk, splashing in the bath, swinging, playing in the sand table, watching and playing with yourself in front of the mirror, dancing to music, singing in the car, your toy musical instruments, and anything else your big sis might happen to be doing.  ;)

Events:
-Your first birthday party!!!  After a sweet pre-party with Mommy's family in OKC, we celebrated your first birthday with family and friends at your house.  You had strawberry cake, and you loved smooshing the icing around and licking your hands.  You received lots of thoughtful gifts, and your Daddy put together a video of your 12 months spent with us.  Made me cry.  It was a lovely party to celebrate YOU, my love!

(More party pictures to come...!)

Doodles, you are precious to me.  Your spunky personality, your bright eyes, your crinkly nose when you smile, and your joyful spirit are the highlights of my day.  As cheesy as it sounds, you've completed our family.  Seriously.  I can't picture what our lives would be like without you, and you make our family whole.  God blessed us by loaning us you, sweet girl, and I pray we will guide you in His steps as best we can.  

I'll love you forever...

...and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Love,

Mommy

Whip It Out.

My first born, Emery, nursed until she was 14 months old.  By that time, I was already four months pregnant with Delia, and my body just couldn't keep up with growing a baby while keeping another baby fed.  When Delia was 11 months old, I weaned her.  She was pretty much ready as she'd dropped down to just one or two feedings per day, and even then I had to really wrestle with her to get her to lay still enough to do her business.  I truly enjoy nursing my babies, but I was also very ready to be done this time around.  I missed bras with no strap clasps, and I just kind of wanted my body back for just a second.  As of last month, I'd been either pregnant or nursing or BOTH for three years and three months.  With no breaks.  At all.  So, to say that I sort of wanted my body all to myself for a little while is an understatement.  Very blessed to have carried these two babies, and I truly did enjoy the experience of nursing...but, for reals.  Get off my boobs and get out of my uterus for JUST A MINUTE!!!  ;)

I kid.  Mostly.

Anyway, I found myself pondering the practice of nursing a lot recently as that season of my life has come to a close (for now), and a few friends had asked for some advice on the topic in the past few weeks, too.  As I thought about my experience, I realized that I'm not really a nurse-in-public kind of gal.  It hadn't really hit me until someone asked what I would do in a public setting when my baby needed to nurse.  I realized that I just never got all that comfortable with nursing in public for whatever reason.  I mean, I easily nursed in front of my mom and sister and female in-laws, and I had no problem feeding the baby in front of my closest girlfriends or in the nursing room at church.

But, as far as whipping it out in a bona fide public setting?  Not so much.

There were a handful of times that it was absolutely necessary to nurse in public, but usually I found  way to step away, go to the car, etc.  Maybe I never got comfortable with public nursing because my babies would NOT do their business under one of those hooter-hiders no matter what I tried...and no matter how cute the hooter-hider was.  ;)  Maybe it was because they were distracted eaters from a very early age and would look around for whatever noise they could hear...leaving me on full display for the world to see.  Maybe I'm just a prude.  Who knows?!

Somehow, my preference to not nurse in a group setting or in public never really hindered anything for me, nor did it make me feel left out of anything.  Granted, my girls were both extremely fast eaters from  day one, usually only needing about 5-10 minutes to eat.  Thus, I was only out of the room or away from the group for a little bit.  Perhaps, had they taken their sweet time to nurse, I would have just forced myself to get comfortable whipping it out in public.

Also, it should be noted that I seriously have zero problem with women who choose to nurse in public.  Before babies?  Yes.  I thought these moms were weird and too granola and needed to put that thing away till later.  Ooooohhh, the uninformed pre-baby opinions.  I wish I could go back and delete approximately 100% of the judgements I passed before having my own children.  Sigh.  ;)  But really, I have a lot of girlfriends who will nonchalantly nurse as we chat, and I've pretty much seen all of my close friends' boobies.  Big whoop.  While in nursing mode, the 'ladies' really do just become instruments of feeding for awhile, so it doesn't bother me at all when a friend needs to nurse in a group.  Most of them deftly use those cute hooter-hiders, and it's no big deal.  They are discreet and stealth-mode, and I'm always proud of women who give nursing a go despite the trickiness of public nursing.

Prediction: when/if we are blessed with third little baby, I bet I'm just going to have to learn to make it work.  I'm assuming I'll have even less time to step away and nurse when I've got, not one, but TWO other kiddos to keep watch over.  And there's no way I'm going to get lucky enough to have THREE quick eaters...my luck just can't be that good.  ;)

Anyway, thoughts?  Did you nurse your babies in public or have friends who did so?  What's your secret to success?  ;)  Thoughts on public nursing in general?

This subject makes me curious.

:)

Percoset Stream of Consciousness.

So, I've hurt my back.  For reals.  Lower back/hip area.  Hurts to lift, to sit, to walk, to stand.  After having an x-ray, my doctor determined that there is a big inflammation around my SI joint in my hip, so we're trying a round of oral steroids, pain meds, muscle relaxers and rest (ha) to see if it can get healed up without anything more serious.  So, on Day Three of the steroids, I'm still not really feeling all that great.  Sigh. BUT.  It has been quite interesting around here while on all of these medications...and don't worry, I don't take any of the pain meds or muscle relaxers until my hubby is home and my kids are in bed.  Those things knock me over!  

As I'm typing this on Tuesday night, my pain pill has started to kick in, and, while it is numbing the searing sensations in my back and leg, my brain is getting a little foggy.  I sat down to write a post about how potty training is going, but, when I realized that all I could conjure up for a title was "Pee Pee and Poo Poo," I decided to save that post for another time.  ;)  

You're welcome.

Anywho, here are a few thoughts/updates from this slacker of a blogger...

--I've fallen in love with Instagram.  I've had the app on my phone for a long time, but, for some reason, the first account I made would never let me accept followers.  I finally made a new account, and I am loving the picture updates from my friends and a few celebs.  If everyone I truly cared about that had a Facebook would switch to Instagram, I'd quit FB in a heartbeat.  It mostly annoys me nowadays, and I just scan for pictures anyway.  So, give Instagram a try!

--With some of my spending money this month, I had acrylic nails put on for the first time in about 5 years.  I love them.  I had the lovely nail tech use 'soft white' and 'soft pink' instead of the more common bright white/pink, and, as far as fake nails go, they look semi-natural.  I also like how they make my hands look long and and elegant...especially when I'm wearing booger-covered sweats.  Somedays, my hands are the only elegant thing I've got going.  ;)  The drawbacks: my texting and typing skrillz are encumbered, and I can't pick up things like coins or earring backs off of the floor.  Eh. Give and take.   And my husband says he is at my beckon call and that I can have anything I want in the entire universe when I scratch his back with these nails.  See, ladies?  A worthy investment.  ;)

--I am willing fall weather to arrive by burning my pumpkin spice scented candles and by shifting the girls' closets from summer clothes to winter clothes.  Oh, and by buying boots.  Do you think my efforts will work soon...?

--My baby turns one this month.  Please pause while I go sob in the corner.  My friends have diagnosed me with "My Baby is Turning One" baby fever.  I think they are correct.  

--Speaking of babies, we found out that my beloved OBGYN is not in-network through my husband's new military medical insurance.  WAH!!!!!  I am devastated.  She is wonderful, and it makes me teary just thinking about never again getting to walk through the process of pregnancy and delivery with her and her staff.  Call me crazy, but the bond between a preggo and her OB can get pretty serious, and I just love them.  Bummer.

--Russell and I reading a great little study together by Dr. James Dobson and his wife Shirley called Night Light.  The premise is that it's a study for couples to do together, but it is short and sweet.  The authors talk about how they understand that during this phase of life (small kids, busy lives, exhausting days), couples DO still want to study together and communicate about God's word, but realistically they might not have two hours to devote to Bible study at the end of a hectic day.  Thus, these daily readings take about 10 minutes, they are insightful and thought-provoking, and the reading ends with just a couple of questions to talk about together.  It has been so refreshing during this season of busyness to come together at night and have a guided discussion about our walk with the Lord.  And it doesn't overwhelm our tired brains.  Win win.  It was only $5 to download to our iPad Kindle app, and we highly recommend it!

Okay, between my fake talons and my foggy brain, my typing and spelling abilities are slowing declining.  I do believe it is time to give in to the Percoset and go to bed.  I shall dream of autumn leaves, pumpkin cookies, and skinnies with boots.  Ahhh, fall.  Come hither.

:)

Over the Hump.

Oh, August.  How glad am I that you are just a thing of the past.  After much husbandlessness, illness, craziness, and neediness, it was time to fly.  Fly far far away.  To a land of no stress, no broken cars, no neediness, no diapers, no PBS Kids, no dead mice in toilets or tarantulas to kill.

This land was named Scottsdale, and to it I flew.

Russell was there already for residency training, so, with the amazingly helpful and generous assistance of the girls' grandparents, I was able to vacate life and fly off to meet up with him at the resort for a few days.

  

Can I just tell you that this was, by far, the most unorganized and unprepared I've ever been for a vacation?  Normally, I'm a big time list-maker and planner-ahead-er.  This time...I threw some things into my suitcase about 30 minutes before I had to leave for the airport, and, when I went to check in, I didn't even know where my connecting flight would be.  Chicago?  Houston?  Denver?  No clue.  Luckily the semi-kind airport personnel put me on the correct path, and I was able to sip some deliciousness while waiting for the plane.  

All.  By.  My.  Self.

Over the next few days, my husband proceeded to earn the maximum allotted amount of brownie points in existence for any human being to allot.  Seriously.  He sent me to a spa for the day while he was in meetings, and I was thoroughly massaged, rubbed and tenderized like a piece of beef.  And it was glorious.  Oh, so glorious.  Especially for my angry sciatic nerve.  :(

We ordered room service in our jammies (read: I didn't have to cook--hooray!), and snuggled in for some movie time together in the hotel suite.  

The next day, he was finished with his training, so we spent the day meandering around Scottsdale Fashion Square.  There was a moment of intense shaking and man-sweating inside of Tory Burch when Mr. Surprise-y Pants McGee struck again, and I'm pretty sure the sweet ladies working there thought I was the biggest geek in all the land.  I don't care.  How many times do I ever shop there...um, never.  That's how many.  I shall geek out all I want.  ;)

(Palm trees.  More geeking out.)

We relaxed by the pool, took part in lots of people-watching (isn't that truly one of the best parts of vacation?), and just enjoyed each other.  We actually slept in a bit (8:15...but I'll take it!), we had a nice dinner with his colleagues (other adults, what?!?), and we talked.  And talked and talked and talked.  Just the two of us.  No interruptions, no responsibilities, no dishes, no mowing, no diapers, no laundry, no...well, nothing.  

But, as with every break from our little ones, things started to feel a bit incomplete by the end of the trip.  Our conversations began to once again focus on them, what they might be doing right at that moment, wouldn't they just love the pool here, I bet Delia would like a bite of this, I wonder if Emery is singing her night time songs right now, etc.  Feels weirdly incomplete to not have all of our ducks in a row, so, after a gloriously sweet handful of days spent together, we winged it back to good ol' Oklahoma.  And to our babies.  :)

I'm sure any Mommy or Daddy would agree, after spending so much time being parents together, it is quite refreshing to remember that we are spouses together first and foremost.  It was so good to get away and remember...especially after this incredibly trying month of being apart and lonely and extra-tired.  The "stuff" of the trip paled in comparison to the companion of the trip, and I'd gladly do another August if it meant spending it with him.

Very grateful to reconnect.

And the break was just what we needed to get re-energized about being spouses AND parents together.  

Officially over the August hump.  

Praise the Lord.

For reals.

;)