First for the toes

Our little bambino has had so many first in the last few weeks I am struggling to keep up with them.....that is because I am trying to do this crazy thing called....live in the moment. I am a very carpe diem type of person but I am also a planner, I plan, I record, I think and dream of the future. Hubby ( and men in general I think) lives in the moment. It seems so carefree, not wondering if there is laundry to switch over, how many eggs do we have left and oh no daycare is coming up soon. So I am turning off my brain and living in the moment...as much as I can.

Here are a few of her first from our vacation..

First time walking on grass. We won't see grass here in Alaska for at least 4 more months.

First dip in the ocean...this is a topic for a whole blog soon to come.

First toes in the sand. We found the softest sand beach and she squished her toes in it!

First Christmas ornament, a little silver rattle. She loved the noise.

First plane ride, snuggled against pops, happy as can be.

A change of scenery

Our view in Anchorage, Alaska

Our view in Maui!

We are home from our Hawaiian Christmas vacation. It was a great trip and over too soon. The pictures show the view have her in Alaska, out of Ocoee's room and then the view we had in Maui.

Bug Bear (that is your nickname this week) did such an amazing job. She barely fussed at all on the plane. I will say first class is worth it when traveling with an infant on your lap. She was such a good sport when getting her diaper changed in those way too small airplane bathrooms. She learned to open her mouth and pop her own ears, since she ate before landing and wouldn't eat during. The feeding did work really well during take off though.

Her favorite part was turbulance. She loved all the bumps and smiled and laughed the whole time. Several people told us how great of a job she did. I was very relieved she traveled well and once we hit the warmth of Hawaii it was all worth it.

I will post more later about the trip, along with pictures.

Cheers

j

Heading to Maui-Travel with baby

Bags are packed and boarding passes are printed. We head to Maui tomorrow for our annual Hawaiian Christmas vacation. I am really looking forward to some sunshine, warmth and swimming in the sea. This year the grandparents will be meeting us so Ocoee will get some great family time. We also have a good friend who will be in the same condo complex with his kids and he is always fun to hang out with.

I think we have everything we need for Ocoee and I really hope she will be happy on the plane...she is a pretty happy baby everywhere so I am optimistic. Also the flight from Anchorage to Maui at Christmas is always full of families so she will be one of many babies on board.

She will turn 3 months while in Maui and it is amazing how much she has changed. Her new skills are: Rolling over, reaching and grabbing things often, great head control and self-soothing in her crib during naps and nighttime. She also really enjoys when we read books these days and pays attention to the pages as we read.

I feel blessed to have a great family and a chance to relax in Hawaii and reflect on the amazing changes in our life since we conceived little Ocoee last year in Maui.

The business of being pretty

You is kind

You is smart

You is important

-Aibileen Clark, from The Help

Notice that she doesn't say, pretty, cute or beautiful. I have discussed this with my other mom friends who have daughters...the tendency to comment on looks, which is not what I want my daughter to focus on. It is really hard when an adorable little girl in some sparkly cute outfit comes bounding in the room to not say, "oh how cute!"

My goal is to say, You are kind, smart and important. What are you reading, what did you learn today, how are you feeling??

The journey through being a little girl to becoming a women is hard enough without your looks becoming all you feel people see in you when they look at you.

My darling baby girl, may you grow to be kind, smart and important.

Cheers

J

Swimming again

Ocoee with her swim instructor, while mom jumped out of the pool to grab her iphone and take a photo. He looks a little creepy but was really so nice!

So we swam again today and she was really getting after it. She swam several times from the instructor to me underwater. She was kicking so hard she would have crossed the whole pool I believe. There was one boy there who was crying and really upset about the water. I am so glad she seems to like the water so much. She hasn't cried once and just is so comfortable when she is in the water. I think she will do great in Maui.

So hubby has been at work for the classes and has missed her swimming. I called him today all proud of her swimming underwater so much and he was in disbelief.....really. He started googling videos of babies swimming under water. He think since she can't crawl yet how can she swim. I can't wait for her to show off her moves to him in Hawaii.....then he will believe it!

Also if your little one is big enough to watch santa videos, go to this awesome website and create a personalized video for them....way too cute!

http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/home

First swim lesson

Darling Ocoee, you have inherited my love for the water. Today we had our first swim lesson at Swim Like a Fish, where you...well, swam like a fish. You floated and kicked and put your face under water like a pro.

We have another lesson on Thursday and I hope to snap a photo to add. The pool was a warm 92 degrees, which we both agree, all pools should be. We had the pool to ourselves, and the instructor agreed with your mom that you were the cutest little baby in the world!

You really did love it and I am so happy. For me growing up in the south, my parents just threw us in whatever what was closest, pool, creek, river or lake. I don't remember learning to swim but I don't remember ever not knowing how.

As a lifeguard in college I saw lots of kiddos who were afraid of the water and I never wish this for you. Also in Alaska lots of kids don't learn to swim, despite the fact we have so much water. But the ocean, rivers and lakes here are all way too cold to swim in so indoor pools will be your lot in life unless we are.......in Hawaii!

That is why we are doing the lesson because we leave for our annual Christmas trip to Hawaii on Monday. And a swimming we will be :)

If your looking for great swim gear check here.

Cheers

Janelle

Spoiled!

Brodie and Ocoee

Last night at book club I was chatting with my lovely and wise friends who are moms. I told them something I heard the other day that I am trying to remember as I raise my daughter.

I will give her everything she needs and teach her to work hard for everything she wants.

This makes so much sense to me. I know I want my daughter to have all she needs and to grow up with the character and strength to work hard and know when something is worth working for.

But it will be really hard to not spoil her...even though I think there is nothing worse you can do to children than spoil them. When you grow up spoiled you never learn to appreciate and derive pleasure from the little things in life and that is heartbreaking and no way to live.

As someone who didn't have a lot growing up I will have to fight the urge to give her everything...as parents we want to give our children more than we had, but I want to know when I have to let her work for something...or say no. I know now how hard this will be.

On a lighter note...Ocoee is beginning to recognize the dogs. They have been VERY aware of her presence since we brought her home but she doesn't really pay them attention....even though they are very rarely more than a few feet away from her. Brodie is in great shape from all of our trips up and down the stairs to check on her. Both he and Guiness both come every time and lay down dutifully waiting while I feed, change or rock her. She even got a little snuggly time with Brodie on the couch yesterday as you can see from the photo.

Which also explain why my poor baby constantly has dog hair all over her! ugh! What can you do...shave the dogs? Or as I am learning to do more and more.....just let go.

Cheers

J

Cloth diapers-An update

How has cloth diapering worked out.

We totally love cloth diapers. Sure it is a lot of laundry but every time I wash a diaper or wipe I think about how much less we are putting in a landfill. Plus our bambino never gets diaper rash and seems to love her cloth diapers.

Here is what is in my stash. I have 15 one size Fuzzibunz and 4 on the way thanks to the sale on Zulilly. I also have 5 thirsty wraps, which we use with the same inserts that the fuzzibunz use. In addition, we have about 6 G-diapers that we use with the inserts as well.

Fuzzibunz are my favorite, both hubby and I love using them and were thrilled with their new improved Elite upgrades, which feature super soft new minky inserts as well as better adjustments. Ocoee can sleep through the night in these with out any leaks at all.

The first few weeks we really liked the thirsties wraps. They are really cute and easy to use. The fit was key to our love during these weeks. We are also thinking we will use these in Hawaii since they are trimmer and will be cooler than the fuzzibunz in the heat.

The G-diapers have a lot going for them. They are easy to put on with the velcro closure (though I hate this when washing since it sticks to everything). G-diapers also allow you to use disposable inserts for when we are on the go traveling and have these liners that saved us a lot of issues those first few meconium filled days. Just take the liner and put on top of the inserts. When the diaper was a mess, just flush the super thin, biodegradable liner.

We can use cloth at our daycare we have lined up for next year but I am not sure about the one we will use for next semester until I am off again for the summer. If not we will use the 7th generation disposables. I hope we can talk the daycare into cloth.

Other than the diapers the gear we love is Charlie's Soap which washes the diapers perfectly...they look brand new each time. We use Planet Wise wet diapers bags to store the dirty diapers. They hang on the door and we just toss them in. We usually do laundry once every 1-2 days, and never smell the diapers in the bag...no water, no soaking, no mess! Brilliant as far as I am concerned. For on the road we have travel wet bags from fuzzinbunz and kushies which both work great.

Our wipes are Baby kicks, cloth wipes. Perfect size and get softer with each wipe.

My favorite baby wipe solution. I add it to the nursery wipe warmer and use it in a squirt bottle downstairs for our reusable wipes. We still buy disposables but mostly use them just for travel. The cloth wipes just go in the bag with the diapers and wash right up!

No measure-just like I cook

Fill 3/4 of the bottle with water-fresh glacier water if you are lucky to live in Alaska.

3 squirts favorite oil-I use almond, but you can use olive oil, grape seed, vitamin E whatever you have on hand.

4 drops lavender oil

4 drop ying ylang essential oil

3 big squirts witch hazel

Optional: 1 squirt baby wash (we are using burt's but whatever you have one hand)

Shake, squirt, wipe!

A few of my favorite things

List and links to my favorite baby gear from the first 3 months of babyhood!

Pictures in action

Top Baby Blog and yummy recipe

We have added our blog to the top baby blog site at http://www.topbabyblogs.com/cgi-bin/topblogs/in.cgi?id=ocoee
and in order to become one of the top blogs we need your clicks. So please click on the box to the right that says top baby clogs. Each unique click, per day, which means clicking several times a day from the same computer doesn't work :) gets us a vote! Feel free to click and vote for us daily though...I mean what else are you supposed to do at work.

In order to bribe you to click us I have included the yummy recipes for black bean and sweet potatoes enchiladas below. Just had this for dinner last night and it is so yummy!

Enchilada Sauce

1 15 oz can tomato sauce

1 3/4 veggie broth

1 tsp ancho chile powder

1 tsp regular chili powder

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp chipotle chili powder

Filing

1 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion diced

3 cups of diced sweet potato

1 15 oz can of diced tomatoes drained

1 cup of salsa

2 cloves of garlic chopped

1 hot pepper roasted and diced ( I used poblano)

1 15 oz can of black beans rinsed an drained

1 12 oz package of queso fresco, divided

Enchiladas

Brush 13 by 9 baking pan with oil

12-16 corn or flour tortillas

2 limes as garnish

avocado as garnish

1/2 cup sour cream as garnish (I use plain yogurt instead)

Cilantro as garnish

1. To make sauce, bring all ingredients to a simmer over medium heat. Whisk to combine and remove from heat. Salt and pepper if you desire.

2.To make filling, heat oil and saute onions. Add sweet potatoes, garlic, tomatoes, salsa, hot pepper, and 1/2 cup of water. Bring to a boil.

3. Reduce heat to simmer on medium low and cook for 30-40 minutes until sweet potatoes are soft. Mash with fork or potato masher (if you have one of those things :) Next add black beans and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in half of queso fresco and remove from heat.

4. To assemble the enchiladas. Preheat oven 350. Brush pan with oil. Add 1/2 of sauce to pan. Fill each tortillas with filling and place seam side down in pan. Pack 'em in there! Top with remaining sauce and queso fresco. Bake for 15 minutes

5. Turn oven on broil and watch like a hawk to keep from burning....just let broil until cheese is brown and bubbly!

6. Garnish with lime, cilantro and sour cream. Let stand for 5 minute to keep tongues from being burnt. Devour :)

435 calories per serving (2 enchiladas)-less if you use yogurt. I suggest organic tomatoes and black beans.

I wish I would have taken a picture...but we ate them too quickly! Don't forget to click and vote for us!

Cheers

Janelle

I am just a rookie at this...

Which might explain why today in my first attempt to be super mom...you know one of those crafty, multi-tasking moms who is also wearing real clothes for once...not yoga gear. So off I went to the fabric store to get cute fabric to make a pendant banner for Ocoee's room. I recruited my truly crafty friend to help me pick out fabrics that would match the quilt that said friend made Ocoee. I was also inspired to buy some uber fun scrapbooking paper that was on sale. So far all of Ocoee's ultrasound photos and baby mementos are crammed into a few binders. The next stop was to the post office to mail off a few Christmas presents, this went well until Ocoee and I reached the parking lot.....

This is when my super mom charade fell apart. Hubby called as I was loading bambino into the car and starting the car to get the car warm while I loaded the stroller, and talked on the phone to hubby....obviously multitasking too much....baby was loaded and OH NO! my car child lock clicked...there sat Ocoee in the running car, while I stood in the parking lot....locked out of THE CAR!!

Thank god I was talking on the phone to hubby who was only a few minutes away. He came and rescued us. Ocoee sat in the car the whole time smiling and laughing at her silly mommy who was outside in the cold!

Needless to say my guilt caught up with me and I spent the rest of the evening creating the best dang scrapbook ever. One offsets the other...right?

Oh we live and learn!

Cheers

Janelle

Sleeping through the night

Ok, so not to jinx us but our little bambino has been sleeping through the night....for a solid week. I am talking 6ish pm to 6ish am.....holy Toledo! I can't believe it. Not only does it make me a better, happier and more energetic parent but it makes me feel better knowing my baby is getting the rest she needs to grow well.

Speaking of growing. We just had her 2 month check and she weighed, buck naked (which is how I weigh too, clothes are heavy!)12 pounds and 12 ounces. A solid 24 inches long. Both were in the 95% for her age. Where she really has been focusing her energy is growing her head......we laughed out loud when the sweet nurse told us it was, um off the growth charts. 100% plus. We just know that this means she is brilliant...right?

She also had her first vaccination. I have done the whole circle of emotions regarding vaccines and after much research realized it was important to follow the recommended schedule and watch closely for reactions. When the time came, she cried so loud...my poor baby. Good thing dad was there to hold her, though I am pretty sure, immediately after, I said something like, give me my baby and snatched her away to receive the comfort only I can give her (or so I tell myself).

All in all we are doing so well. I never thought I would love being a mom this much. I never knew my hubby would be such an amazing dad. We surprise ourselves because she brings out the best in us.

Cheers

J