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!

Healthy Eating

Most of the time I think of myself as a pretty healthy eater. I spend most of the grocery budget on produce and I try to make things from scratch as much as possible. But sometimes, I just have to ignore the fact that the recipe I'm making calls for 5 cups of heavy cream and boasts over 10,000 calories. Because it's just that good.

photo via tasteofhome.com

Now that I've looked at the nutrition facts, I'm a little sickened that Jared and I finished off a batch of this in 2 days last time I made it. That means I consumed over 5,000 calories of bread pudding in one weekend! Good thing I'm breastfeeding. ;) Love burning those calories!

9 months

At 9 months, my sweet Libby Claire is representing the featherweights at 17.0 pounds. I met a 4 month old the other day that weighed 4 pounds more than that. Heck, there are probably some beefy 3 month olds that weigh that much. I'm not too concerned, but I did promise the doc I'd try to get her to eat more this month (we're heading back in next month for a weight check).

To my immense delight (most of the time), Libby is becoming a little mother's helper. She loves playing with dirty dishes in the dishwasher, reorganizing the pantry, unfolding laundry I've just folded, and being my little human vacuum cleaner, eating everything from food scraps to paper to spiders (luckily she didn't actually eat the spider but she was really close).

She cruises around the furniture these days and even experiments with letting go and standing on her own 2 feet for a few seconds at a time. I'm sure she'll be walking in no time!

She continues to mumble "mama" all the time, and said "dada" the other day. As exciting as it is to hear, I'm not too sure she knows what they mean.

She's holding steady at 8 teeth and is playing around with using them for biting...my shoulder, her own arm, shoes, anything really. She likes to put things in her mouth and carry them around the house. She really reminds me of a dog sometimes.

The little Libster still enjoys an occasional peekaboo game under the covers, but we mostly play full fledged hide and seek. She's great at seeking, not so much at hiding.

And, in her most amazing accomplishment yet, she is finally sleeping through the night! She's a bit of an early bird, often waking before the clock strikes 6 AM, but hey, I'll take it!

Good job on all your amazing accomplishments, Libs. I love you.

The Mom I Want to Be

I often think about the person I want to become. I've pretty much always known, though I'm more sure now than ever, that my greatest aspiration in life is to be a mother. But not just any mother. An awesome mother.

I don't need or even remotely want to be a "cool" mom or a mom who tries to be her teenager's best friend. But I do want to have fabulous and meaningful relationships with my children. I want them to know that I love and cherish them and care about them more than I care about anything else.

Every once in a while, I see examples around me of women who are THAT mom I want to be. I saw one in the grocery store last week. At the end of the laundry soap aisle, I saw a little girl, probably about 3 or 4 years old who was obviously upset and crying. Rather than scold her daughter for making noise in public (like too many people do), this very pregnant mom knelt down on the floor and just hugged her little girl. And I don't mean gave her a quick pat on the back and told her to buck up. She really hugged her and didn't let go until she stopped crying. It was so sweet it brought tears to my eyes, right there next to the laundry soap and toilet paper.

That's the mom I want to be. I want to be patient and loving and always, always put my kids first.

Because kids deserve love. Even if maybe they've made a mess and eaten 3 of your Rook cards.

8 months

At 8 months old, my dear sweet Libs

• has 8 teeth
• crawls with her tummy off the ground
follows me around the house like a puppy dog
• still tries to eat everything she can get her hands on
• pulls herself up to a kneeling position
• occasionally pulls herself up to standing
• thinks it's hilarious when I dance (which...it is)
• plays hide and seek - she covers her face with a blanket, (usually) waits for us to say "where's Libby?" and pulls it down
• is totally entranced by the computer and printer

• says Momma - Jared and I debate whether she is actually saying Momma or just making M sounds, but I think she says it with purpose. She usually says it when she is hanging on to my leg begging me to pick her up.
• goes to bed at 7 PM and gets up between 6 and 7 AM, which would be totally awesome except for those 2-3 night wakings. We're dragging her crib out to the living room these days (so she's not in the same room as us) and it really helped the first couple of nights, but no such luck since then. I keep hearing these horror stories about babies who don't sleep through the night until they are 3 or 4 years old and it makes me want to crawl in a hole to even think that that could happen. Oh Sleep Fairy, please come visit us this month!
• goes on hikes in the backpack carrier
• and...is just generally adorable. Love you, Libs.