My Alarm Clock Turned Silent

Its been fun to watch how my baby girl changes over time. With every change she makes, i too, must change something of mine.
When she learned how to crawl, i changed where certain things could be placed so she couldn't get a hold of it. When she learned how to feed herself, I was able to just sit next to her and help her occasionally, rather than steal a bite here or there while trying to feed her. When she started enjoying watching tv and movies, I had to change my shows and movies to mostly children's movies and shows. Etc. Etc.
Loralai used to wake up and then come over to my husband or I and wake us up to get the day started. Now, her morning routine has changed. My alarm clock has disappeared. When she first wakes up, instead of waking up my husband or I; Loralai now goes instantly to her toys or her arts and crafts section I set up for her. Then she will proceed to play until she decides she is bored or hungry, and that is the point in which it is time to wake up mommy or daddy. Once she has woken one of us up and we get out of bed, we then get the fun task of picking up an entire room strewn with toys, crayons, coloring books, kids books, and various toddler shoes.
Its easy to say that my husband and I have learned to set a different form of alarm in order to avoid these fun mornings that leave us feeling exhausted.

Hey Look I Can Run!

So we are almost to my daughter's first birthday party and I cant believe how big she has gotten! She is 21 pounds (3 times what she weighed when born). She has been wearing 18-24 month clothes for months and whats that?...She has been walking for about a month and a half.
If you think its hard to keep up with your babies energy when they can crawl; just wait til they can stand on two legs and magically teleport around the room in a blink of an eye. Once they can walk, everything changes. Say hello to actually securing the baby gates and putting baby locks on everything. Also, if you have stairs; guess what, they can climb them with ease.
Loralai absolutely loves the fact that she doesnt have to rely on me to help her around anymore. If anything, in her mind I hold her back from exploring the wonders of the world. While it is a huge workout keeping up with her, (especially on 2 hours of sleep like I had last night) I do love seeing her smile and laugh as she runs and explores her surroundings.

Cant Keep Up

Well everyone, Loralai turned 9 months old 3 days ago. She has spent as much time growing out of my tummy as she did in it. And of course, like most babies do, she has become extremely active. I am still young, I should still have energy; but she takes all of it. I never thought she would be able to get across a room faster than I can. I turn for one second to put something down or to grab something and she is gone into another room. Let me give all you new moms out there a piece of advice...a baby gate (or even a few) will be your best friend. It's so much easier to confine them to one room or to confine them to one part of a room so they can play and you can still manage to get everything done.
I hated doing chores during my high school years because it felt like they took forever. Add your crawling/almost walking baby to the mix and it takes an hour to fold just one load. Energy drinks, coffee, 5 hour energies, and nap time for you and baby are going to be what helps you get through every day. But try not to get so caught up in doing everything in one day that you forget to play with your baby for part of the day. Spend quality time even though you know they wont remember it. Even if I'm not in the mood to play with Lori, I at least try to take her for a walk or take her out some where. (Even just to a store for 20 minutes.) In fact, taking her out of the house helps conserve my energy more than when I play with her and try to get chores done at the same time. Plus a quick trip can tire the little ones out enough that they will just fall asleep for an hour when you get home, or even on the car ride back. Then you have some mommy time to relax or get a few things done around the house. Being a parent is a learning experience and every child is different, but every mom will feel slightly overwhelmed at times. Don't be afraid to just get behind on one load or leave the dishes overnight just so you can get your rest.

Oh How Time Flies

To all of my readers; sorry for the lapse in time between posts. For those of you who are mothers, I'm sure you understand how time can disappear before you realize it.
Loralai is now 7 months old and has just hit the teething stage about a week ago. Let me tell you, its not as bad as some people have told me it would be. Then again, Lori is a very happy and easy going baby when she wants to be.
Advice about teething: make sure you constantly have a teething ring in the freezer even if one of them is out. You always want a frozen one ready because you never know when your baby will need it. Orajel is great but dont use it too often. It hardens your baby's gums and actually increases the pain for your angel when the tooth breaks through.
Also, if your baby has an appetite for learning and exploring like mine then this is not just the time for teething; but also the time for bumping heads. I cannot tell you how many times this bundle of diaper and smiles has fallen and hit her head. The cry that usually follows gives you a good gauge as to how much it hurts and how hard they really hit. If you are worried about a concussion then just keep them awake for a couple hours more than usual, but beware for the fake cries. Loralai has learned to fake it. Sometimes a wooden spoon or a toy can distract your baby enough to bring them out of their fake cry.
Unfortunately my daughter is trying to crawl off the bed so I will finish this later.

Babies First Holiday

Today is Loralai's first Halloween. I am going as a gypsy and she is going as a monkey. My mothers friend made the costume for her and let me just say she looks adorable in it. If you don't have much money for costumes, let me just say that home-made costumes can be just as cute, if not cuter, than store bought costumes. 
I carved up a traditional looking pumpkin face on her first pumpkin. I'm going to take her trick-or-treating for an hour at family and friends houses. 
I decorated as much as I can afford for the holidays. I decided that every holiday I will buy one decoration for it. This way, by the time Loralai is old enough to want to decorate with me, I will have a good pile of decorations for her to put up. I bought a Halloween door sign this year, and my mother gave me a witch candle holder and a witch falling off a broom flag.

Shots and Tears

The other day we took Loralai to get her shots. I had accepted the fact that I was going to have to be the bad guy and hold Loralai still while the nurse gave her the shots. Unfortunately, its a lot harder to get through that doctors appointment then I had let myself believe it would be. As soon as the nurse stuck the needle into her chubby little leg and I saw her face get all red as she built up a scream; I wanted to punch the nurse in the face. She was causing my baby girl to cry. Even though I knew she was just trying to do her job, it was hard to just sit and watch her do that. Worse than that, holding Loralai still started to feel more like holding her down. Then after the doctors appointment, Loralai wasnt feeling well. So I gave her some Tylenol and a bath and she went to sleep after 3 hours of crying.

Horrible Mom?

We all have those clumsy moments in life; but what happens when your sweet little baby is involved in these clumsy moments?

Twice now I have accidentally grazed Loralai's head against the door frame and today I had an even worse moment. I was getting her in her car seat and had my keys in my hand. Well I went to set the keys down and they somehow flew out of my hand and got Loralai on the side of her face. Now she has a dot next to her right eye. This was the first time that she actually cried longer than a minute from one of my clumsy moments. I felt so bad. 

How do I take better precautions to avoid these situations?