What happens when you're not looking

Let's say you have a child. Let's say this child is of an age that he or she cannot yet distinguish edible from inedible items. Or perhaps she DOES recognize edible items, but does not understand that some once-edible items may no longer be suitable for eating. 

As it turns out, if you, the parent of this child, turn your head/avert your eyes/go to the bathroom/tie your shoe/engage in conversation for greater than 1 second (the time it takes for the child's hand to reach mouth), you will inevitably end up with a little list I like to call Nasty Things (insert your child's name) Has Eaten or Attempted to Eat.

Here's ours:

Nasty Things Libby Has Eaten or Attempted to Eat

-used chewing gum (found on the floor at Sears while we were deep in concentration choosing appliances)

-unidentified bug (on the hotel room floor) - you may now proceed with your dry heaving...that's what I did

-old corn cob, eaten by wild animal (we suspect rabbit) and deposited into front yard

-dryer lint 

-Skittle from the laundromat floor

-various flowers, grasses, and shrubbery

-rocks

-dirt

-styrofoam (still unsure where this came from)

And that was just the last 3 weeks.

Daily Life

Years from now, when I think back to the time when Libby was a baby, I think I will be more interested in remembering what our lives were like on the plain and simple days than on our rare adventurous days. And so...as of August 2011, here's what we do on an average day. 

6:30 AM - Libby wakes up. She's incredibly consistent. Jared is usually up already (he has to be at work at 7! gasp!), so sometimes he'll get her out of her crib and bring her to me to nurse in bed. Other days, I drag my sleepy self out of bed and walk the 5 feet to Libby's room...and then bring her back to nurse in bed.

7:00 AM - Libby is finished nursing, and I can no longer convince her to stay in bed and cuddle and try to go back to sleep, so I get up, change her diaper and get her ready for the day. Then we head to kitchen and I eat breakfast while she plays or snacks on cereal. She's usually too full from nursing to eat much yet, so she has her breakfast a little later.

Libby's "monster" face; aka growl/scowl/"you want me to eat that?!" face

8:00 AM - We head to the rec center, where I exercise and Libby plays in the nursery. She has surprised me by how much she likes it there, considering what a Momma's girl she is and how afraid of strangers she's typically been.

9:30 AM - We get home, and Libby is usually ready for a nap pretty soon. While she naps, I take a shower and get ready for the day. I check my email, read some blogs (you know, the important stuff!) and eventually convince myself to do something productive, like meal-planning or washing the dishes from breakfast. (We don't have a dishwasher, so washing dishes seems to be a never-ending task.)

11:00 AM - Libby wakes up, wants to nurse, and then play. We play outside, where she likes to walk up and down the pathway from the driveway to the front door, or chase the rabbits in the backyard, and I try to keep her from eating too many leaves and rocks. Or we play inside and read books or roll around on the floor or play hide and seek. Or (I'll admit it), sometimes I watch a movie while Libby plays in the living room or busies herself emptying the drawer of tupperware in the kitchen.

Sitting still for a rare moment

12:00 PM - We eat lunch. By this point in the day, I'm usually ready to get out of the house, so we might go grocery shopping or to the library. Libby LOVES the library. As much as she loves books, she loves the toys at the library even more. Our library has tons of toys in the children's section and Libby can entertain herself for quite a while. Give her 5 minutes in there and it will look like a tornado hit the place, though, so I'm usually following close behind to prevent chaos.

3:00 PM - Libby takes another nap. She has a harder time falling asleep at this nap, but it happens eventually. I try to clean the kitchen and get dinner prepped during this time. Or (let's get real) sometimes I just surf the internet or read a book.

4:30 PM - Libby wakes up and nurses, and is usually pretty clingy at the this time of day...which is why it's really in my best interest to do dinner prep rather than browse pinterest while she's napping. ;)

5:30 PM - Jared gets home and we eat dinner. After dinner, we usually take Libby outside to run around or we just hang out in the living room, rolling around on the floor and tickling Libby until we've gotten all the giggles we want out of her (it's never enough).

Carrying her Dora backpack the only way she knows how

7:00 PM - Libby gets a bath or a shower. If she's cranky, she gets a shower for sure. It's her "off switch" as Jared likes to say. Totally calms her down and puts her to sleep. After her bath, I nurse her and put her to bed, usually around 7:45 to 8:00. She goes to sleep easily these days and sleeps through the night! Bless that girl!

After Libby's in bed, Jared and I hang out, read, or get things done around the house. Lately, I've been spending my time sewing or upcycling clothing and trying to figure out how to decorate our house. 

I have to say, I don't miss my job for even a second. I am incredibly content being a full-time mom, and feel lucky that I have so much time with my little girl. I am sure I don't value it enough day to day, so I resolve to be better. To spend more time interacting, and less merely observing. More teaching, more chasing, more crawling, more messes. This girl is totally worth it.

Looking out our front door window

We're here!

We rolled into town Sunday of last week and have been hard at work getting settled into our new house in Illinois:

Oops, wrong picture. Here's where we actually live:

We did check out the first house and half-way considered renting it (it's a great deal considering how GINORMOUS it is) but we were worried it would cost our first born child to heat in the 8 month long winter. That, and Jared was scared we were going to electrocute ourselves. The house was built in 1875, after all.

Anyway, our new (rental) home is certainly sufficient for our needs right now. Two bedrooms, a living room, kitchen, a not-quite-dining-room (more like an extension of the kitchen), 1 real bathroom, an unfinished basement with a BONUS toilet and shower out in the open (guest room, anyone??), a detached 1 car garage, and a wide open fenced in backyard. There's even an apple tree.

It may not be (read: isn't) our dream home, but it is SO.MUCH.BETTER. than all the other rental homes we looked at, so we feel really really grateful that we found this place. In general, we are just feeling so grateful right now. We are blessed.

I've got tons of sewing projects in mind to pretty up our new place, and Jared is busy with training, meetings, and still trying to finish his dissertation. And of course, there's all the other busy work that goes along with moving - registering the cars, getting new driver licenses, insurance, etc. So we've got plenty to keep us busy right now, but we are really happy to be getting settled. Life is good.

11 months

At 11 months, Libby is an excellent walker. She is playful and curious, opening every drawer and climbing every step she can find. She took a long tumble down the stairs at her aunt's house in Utah last week, but it hasn't appeared to dampen her interest in stairs whatsoever. (Other than a rug burn on her chin and a bitten tongue, she was, thankfully, unharmed.)

Libby has always loved eating, tearing, and crinkling paper, so it's no surprise to me that she loves books. What IS a surprise is how careful she is with her own books. She will still rip up pieces of paper she finds on Jared's clipboards and notepads, but she treasures The Foot Book so much that she knows not to tear its pages. I think it's remarkable how smart she is.

Libby mumbles and babbles all the time, but we're still waiting to hear her "first word." For now, I'm enjoying every little giggle and squeal we get out of her (which is a lot).

Love you, Libby Claire!

Small town charm

We took a trip last week to visit our future town and try to find a place to live. We were unsuccessful on the housing front, but I'm sure something will turn up. Preferably something built in the 20th century and with doors on the bathrooms. And maybe, possibly, pretty please with air conditioning. Is that really too much to ask?

Anyway, we heard some pretty funny things from those small-town folk.

For instance, a landlord trying to entice us to rent his house: "P*** (town about 20 minutes away) is growing like crazy - they're getting an Olive Garden!" (Well, if that isn't the definition of a booming metropolis, I don't know what is!)

Airport baggage personnel at the teeny airport we flew into: "We had 60 bags last week! That about did me in."

Airport rental car employee to customer on phone: "I'm sorry, we just had TWO planes land at the same time, so I'm really busy. Call back in 20-30 minutes." (There were a grand total of 3 people in line.)

Truth be told, I'm pretty excited to live in a small town. I'll take getting stuck behind a tractor on the road (which we did) over getting stuck in interstate traffic during rush hour ANY DAY.

10.5 months

Kissing herself in the mirror

Libby is changing and growing so much every day, she deserves a half-month update.

In the past 2 weeks, Libby has really gotten the hang of walking and takes so much pleasure in it, she will spend up to an hour at a time walking laps in the apartment, smiling and laughing to herself the whole time.

She's also learned to climb, which means she can access that many more forbidden places. But it's pretty fun to watch.

She's also discovered her eyelashes, which is just plain cute. While she's nursing or lying in my arms, she will bring her hand to her face (sort of in an L shape) and stroke her eyelashes with her thumb.

And, in one of her funniest developments of late, she's realized she can make noise (aka screech) while breathing IN as well as out. It's especially funny when she pairs it with her newfound ability to shrug her shoulders and pull in her belly. If only she'd do it on command so I could snap a picture of that. :)

10 months

At 10 months, Libby weighs 18.0 pounds (24th percentile). Woohoo for gaining a whole pound this past month!

I don't know when exactly it happened, but it appears that someone has stolen my baby and replaced her with a toddler. I can't believe how mobile my little lady is.

She can take about 5-7 steps on her own, though she still much prefers crawling and walking with assistance of a hand or piece of furniture.

Also, maybe it's her mouthful of teeth, but for some reason, she looks so much older when she smiles like this:

Libby is babbling all the time and using a variety of consonants (m, d, p, k, b, y). She says some things that sound like words (mama, dada, yeah yeah) but of course, only she knows if she really understands any of them. She does understand the sign for "milk" which I use when I ask her if she wants to nurse. She usually drops whatever she's doing and makes a beeline for me when she sees the sign. I can't wait till she signs back to me. Even without talking or signing, it's amazing how well babies can communicate with their expressions.

She's been trying out different laughs, which is so stinking cute. For her favorite fake laugh, she scrunches up her face and makes a long, hard K sound, which usually spews slobber and/or whatever food may be in her mouth. It's awesome.

It's been an amazing month of growing and learning. Happy 10 monthiversary to Libby!