Babies, houses, weddings: oh my

Happy mildly belated new year, friends. I know I haven't posted in EONS, but I have so much to share. 2012 and 2013 are going to be big in our family. HUGE. So excited.

First of all: we are putting our house up for sale in March and getting the eff out of hereeee! Not out of here as in out of New Jersey, but out of our current neighborhood. We are looking forward to raising Peyton in a neighborhood with kids her own age, where there are (possibly) sidewalks and (hopefully) privacy, and (definitely) no crazy people. Denny is looking forward to having a garage. And maybe a pool. And me, I'm looking forward to a nice kitchen (even though I love the one I have now) and entertaining space. Keeping my fingers crossed that we won't have to schlep Peyton all over South Jersey for the holidays next year because we can host them and everyone will come to us. I have beautiful dreams about that scenario.

Second of all, this happened:

We're getting MARRIED! Date is set (7-13-13, one lucky number and two unlucky numbers, but I MAKE MY OWN LUCK, FOOLS), venue is booked, and I am going (happily) crazy looking at all the amazing DIY crafty things I can do. Just so, so, so excited.

And not only am I getting married next year, but my sister is too! They finally booked their wedding for January 2013. We are both going to be so busy with wedding shenanigans in the next year and a half that we won't know what to do with ourselves.

Third of all: the joys of having an incredibly mobile child are...many-faceted. Peyton does not stop moving from the time she wakes up until she falls asleep. I took her to visit with my grandparents yesterday and she crawled in circles for FOUR HOURS STRAIGHT, taking a break every so often to climb onto something, pull herself up on some piece of furniture, or to gather her surroundings in the resulting dizzyness. It's comical and amazing, because she discovers something new every day (as I type, she has discovered that yes, the coffee table is wonderful to chew on) and watching her overcome obstacles in that clumsy baby way brings me such pride and joy in my little girl that my heart almost hurts because of it.

Okay, enough sap, let's talk DIAPER CHANGES. With an increasingly mobile child comes the difficulty with which diaper changes are executed. Never in a million years did I think I would dread these times, but now it is a reality. Peyton, during diaper changes, reminds me of an alligator in the sense that an alligator spinsandspinsandspinsandspins once captured and tethered, because, you know, it wants to rip your face off since you're trying to capture it. My kid, while I'm pinning her down as best I can and fumbling frantically to get business taken care before she notices I'm even doing ANYTHING, will suddenly and forcefully use her head for leverage and arch her back so hard that I have no choice but to release due to the sheer fact that I'm terrified I will somehow harm her during her retaliation. At which point she will flip and flee as quickly as she can, diaper on or not. I can honestly admit that she has flipped and fled on two occasions that involved #2 diapers, and the outcome was not pleasant. There is something horrifying about poo smushed into the carpet because your 7 month old daughter finds it hysterical to plant her dirty little butt onto the floor while you shriek helplessly, "NNNNOOOOOO! DON'T SIT DOWWWWWN!"

Not the best quality photo, but a perfect example of not wearing any pants

due to the skillful "flip and flee"

Also, I freaking love this kid.

Teeth and sleep, sleep and teeth

As I mentioned previously, we are growin' some teefies up in here.

If you've been paying attention to Facebook, you know this is not an enjoyable experience for Peyton or for myself.

It's funny because Denny's mom told me how he got his eye teeth first. If anything, our daughter is the spitting image of her father, so I swore she would most likely take after him in her teething process as well. I was so focused on those upper gummies of hers that I paid absolutely no attention to any other area of her mouth. So convinced, I was. EYE TEETH ARE COMING FIRST.

I was also so wrong, but it's not the first time I've been mistaken, nor will it be the last (pshhh).

About two weeks ago I was doing my normal check, feeling, of course, only her upper gums, pep talking those little teeth into existence. Then Peyton BIT ME, and I felt a little nubbin on her lower gum. That thing was so effing sharp I actually cried out in a mixture of surprise and pain.

So there was a tooth. Where most babies get them. Bottom gum, front and center.

All downhill from there.

Peyton had actually been doing quite well with her sleeping. After a lot of thought and sleeplessness and TOTAL AND UTTER DEVASTATION (exaggeration) at night, I finally caved and tried the Ferber method of sleep training (am I alone in constantly thinking "Fockerize" every time I hear about the Ferber method?). Ferber encourages timed check-ins to let baby know you haven't disappeared forever, but my check-ins only induced hysteria the likes of which I have never seen and did more harm than good. Eventually I had to tearfully (both of us) leave her in her crib, tell her I loved her a million times, and then sit and wait for the crying to stop. After about a week, we could put her down and she'd be asleep in five minutes.

But I digress. Because then TEETH HAPPENED.

Alllllllll downhill.

I couldn't just let my baby CRY while her MOUTH HURT. That's barbaric. And then she got sick. I couldn't let my baby CRY because she's SICK, DAMNIT. So back we went, rocking and nursing until she was sound asleep. I undid all my hard, stressful (seriously, it was the hardest thing I ever had to do) work. I would try to put her down, sound asleep, but NOW the second she hit the mattress, her little eyes popped open.

PARTY TIME.

Gentle encouragement, that "no, darling, this is not playtime, this is sleep time" does not translate well to babies. I am such a sucker for that quivering lip and tear-filled eyes.

A huge sucker.

Now I make excuses:

"She's getting her second tooth; she's in pain."

"She had a fever on Friday!" (it's TUESDAY.)

"She misses me already!"

"I just changed her crib sheet. She must not like the pattern."

Now we're back at square one.

But baby is better now, no more nasty cold and the fluid in her ear must have miraculously disappeared because no symptoms of an ear infection ever popped up. And now, since Sunday night, we are enduring the brutality that is bedtime in our household, trying to get my baby to sleep on her own again.

And tooth number two is coming in, guns a-blazing.

I have the strange feeling that the next few months are going to be a vicious cycle of sleep, teeth, no sleep, rinse, repeat.

But did I mention that those teeth are freaking ADORABLE? I love me some gummy baby smiles, but there's something about those two little teeth that KILL ME.

Thing 1 and Thing 2, I've named them.

Chaos, just chaos

We're still alive over here.

Things have been, in a word, INSANE since Thanksgiving. I'm further embracing my inner Martha Stewart and getting way too crafty for my own good. Making lots of gifts homemade this year, which is awesome and it makes me feel pretty darn productive.The dining room table has taken a hit though, since it's currently where I'm storing all my goodies.

My goal was to ultimately finish up my shopping/crafting this week so I could enjoy the week preceding Christmas and do Christmas-y things and just relax. But I'm realizing my slacker self would have benefitted immensely from, oh I don't know, maybe starting my Christmas shopping and planning back in OCTOBER.

This is pretty much my train of thought once October hits:

"Oh wow, Halloween is in a few weeks. Can't believe the holidays are so soon! I should at least START my shopping."
"Oh wow, it's Halloween...candy! No shopping yet, but I still have all of November. I'm golden!"
"November 1st, turkey soon! Maybe I should just start picking up just one gift a week."
"Thanksgiving! Well, I haven't gotten anything yet, so I might as well try out Black Friday and see how that works out."
"It's December already! Good thing I got TWO WHOLE GIFTS on Black Friday." (This one is actually somewhat false. I finished all my shopping for baby and absolutely no one else, HAAAAA.)

Next thing I know it's December 16 with all this to do:

Finish shopping
Finish homemade gifts
Wrap all of the above
Bake a crap-ton of cookies
Physically and mentally prepare for the whirlwind that will be December 24th and 25th.

It really doesn't seem like a lot when I write it out, but throw a sick baby (POOR BABY!) and a sick mommy (POOR ME!) into the mix and it seems pretty daunting. With only eight days left.

Once it's all done it'll feel pretty good. But in the meantime I am locking myself in the house and turning this place into a veritable Santa's workshop.

I WILL PUT THE FAT MAN IN RED TO SHAME.

SHAAAAAAAAAME.

PS: Peyton now crawls, sits up, AND has two teeth. I feel inclined to reiterate how much teething sucks, but those little baby teefies are ADORABLE.

PPS: I can't wait until we move into a big big house where I can host holiday festivities and everyone will come to ME.

What we've been up to

Holy busy month of November. I feel like it has been non-stop since Halloween. Plus I feel like I have nothing relevant to write about, thus I had nothing to post all month.

Bad blogger, BAD.

So instead of leaving a complete and utter void in this space, here's what we've been up to:

This started happening right after Halloween:

I can't stress this enough...my kid does wear pants.

Yep, my teeny tiny baby crawls now. At five months old. This prompted a meltdown of epic proportions since MY SWEET BABY IS GROWING UP SO FAST, and also since it remains to be seen if she will be the only baby we have. It's happening so fast it breaks my heart.

Peyton has reflux. The good doctor prescribed her Zantac and HOLY MOLY it's like she's a whole new child.

SO HAPPY.
SO SMILEY.
HARDLY CRIES.
NAPS FOR MORE THAN 20 MINUTES.

Whyyy did it take us almost five months to figure this out?!

I started crocheting, thanks largely to "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3". Once that game entered our house, I figured it was time to pick up a hobby that would pass the time spent listening to simulated gunshots and explosions that were bound to fill our home. So I made a few scarves and some hats so far:

Peyton obliges to show off the goodies.

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.

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Just kidding.

I'm also getting crafty. Crafty as hell. I'm scaring myself with just how crafty I'm getting. Pictures of goodies to come.

Another reason why I haven't been blogging as much is because I've been introduced and addicted to Pinterest. So instead of blogging I'm pinning and repinning and ohIjustloveitsomuch. Try it, you'll love it.

Thanksgiving happened. It was wonderful, but so busy. So many people to see, and only one day to do it. I had an itinerary that had us down to the minute. Sucks, but it had to be done and it worked out perfectly and required no stress about being late or whatever. JUST FOLLOW THE DAMN SCHEDULE. It really was a great day. Lots of food and family. Reasons #2 and #1 (respectively) why I love the holidays.

Black Friday also happened, oh ho ho, Black Friday. I've never gone out on Black Friday before, especially in those wee hours of the morning, but I figured I'd give it a shot this year. There was a particular toy I'd had my eye on for Peyton that was heavily discounted at Target, so I put on my crazy pants and out I went at 12:30 (pleeeease, I wasn't waiting in any lines for that place to open--I gotta draw the line somewhere). Baby and Denny sleeping soundly at home.

It was, shall we say, a special experience.

I went by myself so I was only willing to get in and get out, and not to use the experience as a socialize and shop event. So methodical, I am. Anyway, there was this woman there with an infant. I'm talking brand-spanking-new infant. Outside, in the cold. I put my Judgey McJudgerface on, but went about my business. Until I passed the rack with PJs (!!!) on sale that I wished to peruse quickly, quietly, and politely before I moseyed on over to the toys. But lo and behold, there was this woman, with HER BABY BALANCING ON THE TOP PART OF A SHOPPING CART (cringeee), completely blocking any and all access to the desired PJs with her cart and her posse of five or six large women. I tried to peek around them, hoping maybe they'd be nice and let me take a look as well, but nope. They stayed put. I huffed and puffed and might have rolled my eyes, but no dice. Bitches ain't movin'.

So off I went to toys and (cue singing angels) the toy I wanted was there and it was the last one one the shelf. I grabbed it and silently gloated in my discounted shopping luck.

Here comes the woman, her precariously balancing baby, and her gaggle of girlfriends. Looking for my toy. She asks her girlfriend to find the toy on sale (MY TOY!), but they picked up the wrong one and off they went to annoy other shoppers. I said to her "Oh yeah, this is the one. I'm getting one for my daughter and I'm sure she'll love it."

Dumb lady didn't even look in my cart to see that the actual toy that was on sale was in my cart. KARMA, BETCH.

Then I went back to the PJs, scored a few cutes ones for the babykins, and that was the end of my Black Friday shopping ordeal. Home by 2:00 AM. My kind of shopping.

Now our house is decorated, we'll probably get our tree some time in the next week or two, and I can officially start revelling in the wonder that is the holiday season. Getting to relive our childhood traditions and maybe starting a tradition or two of our own is, by far, my most favorite part of this particular time of year.

It's the most wonderful time of the yearrrr!

I'm already in the holiday spirit. I will not lie, I have enjoyed some festive Christmas music already. I had to stop myself from purchasing Michael Buble's Christmas album yesterday. I've already started planning out Christmas light schematics for the house.

My favorite time of the year is here!

It is kind of bizarre that Christmas officially starts at like, 12:00 AM, November 1. I kind of hate that Christmas has turned into a big, consumer-driven hoopla. I don't really appreciate the holiday season for that, though. There's just something about Christmas that is really special. It will be especially special this year, thanks to my little munchkinface. I know she'll only be six months and won't remember a single thing, but OH MY GOD I am so excited.

But first: Thanksgiving. I'm already having dreams about my mom's string bean casserole. Peyton's Thanksgiving outfit is already in her closet (has been since August). I'm planning out my Black Friday shopping (if I even decide to go). I'M JUST SO EXCITED I WILL GO TOTALLY CAPS-HEAVY WITH EVERYTHINGGG!

Some belated Halloween photos:

The candy. Ohhh, the candy. I didn't take Peyton trick-or-treating this year because, honestly, a grown woman pushing her tiny little baby to your door to trick or treat...you know damn well who that candy is for. Plus it was so, so cold. I did want to show her off, though, so we visited with some family and friends instead. A very busy, exciting evening, indeed. 

Peyton was exhausted after all was said and done:

And so was Daddy, apparently.

I still have 30 pounds to lose, but we still have so much candy. And it's all the good stuff, too, so I can't even be like "Bahhh, it's just Sweet Tarts and Milk Duds." No no, friends...I have so many Reese's cups in my house it's like a factory opened next door.

But I will BEAT the candy. I will stare that Reese's cup in the face and prevail.

Adventures in Baby Food Culinary Awesomeness

Yesterday was so gross. Just so so gross. Some people got snow, but we got rain.

I was too chicken to poke my head out the door,

but it was just gross.

I don't think I can use the word "gross" enough to explain what yesterday was like.

Gross.
Gross.
Gross.

We didn't leave the house, and it was just a bum around kind of day. I started getting antsy around noon and the house was already clean and I had a random squash laying around the house...so I made some baby food.

And now...I will share my baby-food-making-wisdom. Even though it's not wisdom at all. You can find ways to make baby food all over the internet. My particular favorite is Wholesome Baby Food because EVERYTHING about babies and solids is right there.

So anyway...this is a butternut squash, and in the background is an oven preheated to 400 degrees:

The immature perv in me giggled at the shape of this squash, a little bit.

Always in the gutter, my mind is.

Clean the squash. This little guy (a guy, for ooooobvious reasons) got chopped into a bunch of pieces like so:

And then I scooped out the seeds (like a pumpkin!)

See ya later, seeds.

Arrange your squash pieces flesh side down onto a baking pan filled with about an inch of water, like so:

I like to use foil, but I also hate scrubbing pans.

I can't be the goddess of domesticity every day, you know.

Roast the squash for about 45 minutes. When it's done the skin should be blistering away from the squash:

"I've got blisters on me fingers!"

The next step is very important: LET IT COOL. My overeager self thought, 'How bad could it be? I'll be careful.' There is no such thing as carefully handling food that has been heated to 400 degrees. Unless you use an oven mitt, so just let it cool. At least until you can handle it.

Once it's cool enough, scoop the flesh away from the skin.

And put it into your blender or food processor. There are all kinds of gadgets that are specially made for the purpose of making baby food, but I have a blender and my blender has a "puree" button, so it works for me and it was already in my kitchen so I didn't have to spend a ridiculous sum of money on yet another gadget. WIN.

Before.

Add water (preferably the water it was cooked in to keep the nutrients and not simply water it down). And puree.

After. I think it's gross,

but Peyton sure does seem to enjoy it.

Once that's done, spoon the puree into ice cube trays:

Boom.

And freeze. Throw the frozen cubes into a freezer bag and they'll be good for about three months.

I bought two butternut squash at like, $1.50/lb., which yielded 64 cubes (approx. 1 oz. per cube, and 16 average jars of baby food). A four ounce jar of organic baby puree is about $0.70 each, give or take a few cents. My homemade food is about $0.30 for every four ounces. Sure, it's only a $0.40 difference, but that sure will add up as Peyton starts to eat more. Plus I have peace of mind that I made it myself and know exactly what's going into my baby's little body. Plus I have a jar of organic squash sitting in one of my cabinets and the expiration date isn't until December 2013. I kind of question anything that can stay fresh for so long.

Don't get me wrong; I will buy SOME jarred baby foods, specifically those foods in which high levels of nitrates are likely to appear, and the nitrate levels are screened in commercial baby foods: carrots, spinach, etc. But if I can save by making my own squash, apples, pear, sweet potatoes (which I have already), and other awesome foods, then BY GOLLY I WILL.

Anyway, here's my sweet pumpkin, whose first Halloween is TOMORROW!

Halloween pics forthcoming. Once Halloween actually happens.

Make me a liar

When I was pregnant, I had all these glorious plans for when Peyton was finally here. I'm pretty sure every future mother does: I'm going to do this, and I'm going to do it this way, and NO ONE CAN CHANGE MY MIND AND NOTHING IS GOING TO STOP MEEEE.

It's funny what having such a tiny little person around will do to all those perfectly laid-out plans.

Let's see:

"I will not co-sleep/bedshare."
When I was pregnant, I swore up and down that Peyton would sleep in her crib from DAY ONE. After all, she had this beauuuutiful nursery that we spent a lot of time and money on, so why not put it to good use right away?

Once I brought her home, that went right out the window. We didn't have the monitor we wanted yet, and the thought of shuffling back and forth with such a tiny, hungry baby in the middle of the night while nursing seemed so exhausting. So I slept on the couch in the living room while Peyton slept in the Pack and Play about five feet from me. Did I miss sleeping in bed? Sure did. Denny's parents gave us a gorgeous bassinet that I put in our bedroom at the foot of the bed in hopes I could sleep on a normal mattress again. Unfortunately, Denny never slept well while she was in our room, and since he was the one working I just manned up and camped out on the couch all night. When she was a month old we got the monitor, and I told Denny I would start putting her in the crib. But I just liked having her near me. So for three months, I slept on our couch every night.

Peyton is finally in her crib, but there are some very early mornings when I will bring her to bed with me. Sometimes you just need to sleep; Peyton's Great Sleep Strike of Fall 2011 is the perfect example.

Besides, morning sleepy cuddles are the best.

"I will not become a crazy Facebook mom."
I am, without a doubt, a HUGE offender. It started during pregnancy. No offense to my mommy friends with older children, but baby-related Facebook statuses drove me up a wall before I was pregnant. Plus Facebook raises such insane privacy issues that I promised myself that no, not everyone needs to see my kid's face every day, and no, not everyone cares that Peyton finally rolled over.

Now that I have a baby of my own to show off, it's like crack. There is a post, a photo, something baby-centric at least once a day. I can't really help it, though; this child is my life and I am consumed with love and adoration for her AND I JUST WANT TO SHARE IT WITH ALLLLLL 600 OF YOU.

To my non-parent Facebook friends: sorry. You'll get it one day.

"I will not talk about Peyton/kids 24/7."
I think this would be different if I was working, but it goes hand-in-hand with the Facebook thing. I spend 10-11 hours a day with my peanut, five days a week, just me and her. Truth be told, you forget how to talk to other adults and you forget what the hell you're supposed to talk about. Current events? The weather? What's going on in other people's lives? Yo, my kid is starting to sit up on her own, isn't that exciting? No? Not to you? Oh, alright then. I guess you don't care. JERK.

Case in point, a scene from this past weekend. A conversation between me and Heather (more or less summarized):

Heather (holding Peyton): Wow, she's got a huge boogie in her nose.

Me: I know. I've been trying to pick it all day, but it just won't come out.

Heather: You know what works? Try squeezing her nose and it should just come out on its own.

Me: I will have to give that a try, because that boogie is driving me insane.

Heather: Did you ever think our conversations would ever sound like this?

Me: Ha, nope.

End scene.

You see what I mean here? Booger talk runs my life. I'm okay with it, though.

"I will never leave the house looking like a hot mess."
HAHAHAHAHAHA. I thought I'd be the cute mom with the cute hair and make-up magically done. Seriously though, I look homeless ALL. THE. TIME. Sometimes I totally forget to brush my hair before I walk out the door. I NEVER left the house in sweatpants (yoga pants were acceptable). Now I leave the house in sweatpants and a huge spit-up stain on my shirt. No joke, I went out the other day wearing: Uggs, gray cropped sweatpants that left a six-inch gap between the top of my boot and the hem of the pant leg, a navy blue nursing tank top, and an orange cardigan. What the hell?

You better believe Peyton is dressed to the hilt. Even if mommy is a hot mess.

Which leads me to...

"I will not buy a ton of baby clothes because she will not even wear half of them."
Oh God. The baby clothes. Do you even KNOW how cute little girl clothes are? They're so cute it should be a crime, that's how cute. I have not bought a single item of clothing for myself in almost a year. But you know I have baby jeggings with SEQUIN HEARTS ON THE BACK POCKET. 

I wish this photo was closer to truly get that there are A LOT of clothes there, and that's just 0-3 months.

It's really a cute little problem I have. To the point that Denny will give me money because he knows I enjoy shopping for baby clothes. Sheesh.

"I will not give Peyton a pacifier because I don't want it to be something I have to take away eventually."

Well, part of this went according to plan, but by no fault of my own. Peyton, until about two days ago, HATED pacifiers. When she was born I was terrified to give one to her because breastfeeding started out so shakily for us, but we got the hang of it so well she eventually started using ME as a pacifier. Then I started to wish she took a binkie. I tried every day for her to take one and she is just now coming around to it. I'm torn about this because before, since she didn't take one, it was something I didn't have to worry about taking away from her down the road. But if it gives my boobs a break, I'm just going to go with it for now. We'll worry about being a mean mommy later.

See that? There's a binkie there!

All in all, I had plans. Most of them crumbled the second I brought that sweet little girl home, and that's okay. If anything, becoming a mother taught me that things aren't always going to go the way you want them to, but it's how you adapt that makes it okay. Besides, Peyton probably isn't going to remember the sleepy cuddles, the bedazzled baby jeggings (and if she does she'll probably want to kill me when she's a teenager), or mommy obsessing over boogers, but I will. So I'm making the most of this time, plans or not.

After all, my baby won't be a baby forever.