It Ended With A Bowl of Cereal- Photo Dump

On our great trek across the lower states we made a full pit-stop in Texas to see our favorite family, the Hamiltons. It seems like yesterday Megan was moving into a room in my little college house. Then, in a blink of an eye and countless moves between the two of us, here we were with our own little families... her's quickly expanding with the addition of a baby girl coming any minute now (!!). Mila and Hayden played as best can be expected from a 4 (!) year old and 4 month old. Cory and Megan took us to our first BBQ experience. Boy, they did not disappoint! Salt Lick- we WILL be back... one day. 

After stuffing our manly/ pregnant/ nursing faces we retired back to their home, where they graciously put us up for the night. We ended our night with bowls of cereal and gabbed late into the night, just as we used to back in the day. It was a perfect day in Texas.

On Your Marks, Get Set... GO! Photo Dump

Bits and pieces from our big move from California to Alabama...

1. a jump for joy in arizona
2. lone tee-pee in new mexico
3. bearded hubs and his baby girl
4. my inner firework pyro rejoices
5. had the pleasure of sitting next to this little lady for the ride
6. dog-dogs waiting for a quick play sesh
7. monument in texas
8. driving over swamps in louisiana
9. a peek at mexico from over a beige wall

Excused Absence

it's been awhile with no word from this wifey.

apologies. 

settling in a new home and location is hard work. it's a job that i'm still plugging away at, but i can now see light at the end of the tunnel. there have been new friends, play dates, doctor visits, family walks, church callings and teaching, schedule switch-a-roos, colds, teething, lots of carne asada eating, baking, late nights, developmental milestones, phone calls to california, surfing, road trips, crazy thunderstorms, and falling in love with a new album by a favorite artist. as you can see we've been a little busy. 

in the midst of this a stranger showed up unannounced. at first it was quiet and subtle. then it grew noticeable but was kept in a corner, like a pile of papers waiting to be filed. suddenly it required my full attention. i was prepared for post-partum depression to hit but not this late, and not in this way. it has caused such a disturbance that it's hard to function some days. functioning as a mom has been no problem. but functioning as a wife, friend, sister, daughter? yikes. 

on side, but relevant, note: honestly... i took starting solid foods with birdie very, very hard. part of it i blame on post-partum, another part i blame on having to go through infertility, and the other part i blame on social pressures of being a mom. (and a new one at that!) d and i waited and waited for so stinkin' long to become parents that starting the solid-food milestone is just a tangible reminder- and a strong one- that her babyhood is quickly fading. pressure from outside sources to get her to eat three solid food meals a day seems, to me, intrusive and ..... commercial....? in the end- one la leche league meeting reassured my fears. so, while we'll sloooowly continue with solid foods but not make in a huge focus while she's still under a year old. 

for now my postings will slow down a little until i can get a better grip on this post-partum business. i have a few scheduled posts/ photo dumps that will appear next week in my absence. and despite all of this murkiness there have been so many bright, sunny spots. sweetness between our little trio, or with new friends, have made me stop and relish the moment. the following pictures are proof of that. 

1. a walk with mama and dog-dogs

2. all fancy-faced for church

3. weeeeeeee

4. my two best girls

5. lovin' our huge backyard 

6. one tooth... two tooth... and now we're on to our third

7. a very, very, very late night bath

8. a face i could eat up

9. less than a week away from being a 7-month-old

And Then I Realized I Was One of Them

A couple weeks ago I was exchanging pleasantries with a woman that I had seen a few times at our church. Waiting for our instructional class to start we started chatting, both of us holding our sleeping littles in our arms. (Her child being their youngest)

Our conversation, naturally, turned to our kids. Just like most everyone else we meet while out and about she asked me if Birdie was a good eater, sleeper and such. I responded with simple answers. "So, have you figured out which kind you are?" My mind went blank.

"Uh.... I'm... A...girl...?" Was my first thought. Clearly she could see that and wasn't referring to my gender.

"I'm sorry... What kind of what?" I asked.

She replied, "Oh, have you figured out what kind of parent you are yet?"

Well, heh, that's a new one I haven't been asked.

After a little more prompting on my part I answered her question: "... exclusively breastfeeding but I do pump for storage... We co-sleep.... Oh, no, she's usually in my arms through out most of the day... Yes, I typically hold or lay next to her during naps unless we're out... We only really let her cry it out if we're in the car, and only until we're able to safely stop...." Yes on that, no we don't do that, yada, yada, yada...

"Oh!!! You guys do attachment parenting! We do that as well!" My new friend happily proclaimed. At that moment our attention was called by the instructor who was beginning to start his lesson. She mouthed, "We'll chat later," to me and promptly turned around.

Meanwhile, I was increasingly becoming confused. "What. The. What?! How the heck did I just get thrown into the attachment parenting category?! Those people are weird hippy parents who, like, don't own televisions and do... weird... hippy stuff!" I thought. Seven-ish minutes later I was in the mother's room. While Birdie was enjoying a mid-morning snack I was on my phone googling "attachment parenting."

And then it hit me. I was one of them. Aw, crap, how did this happen? Why did I not know this? I was confused... Was I happy to have this label or ... not? I didn't know. I mean, yeah, we do everything that is categorized as attachment parenting but some things we don't do all the way... Or 100% of the time.

Fast forward to earlier this week. Mentioning that we don't let Birdie "cry it out" to a family friend got this person instantly spitting out reasons why we should and how it's wrong of us to do so. I explained, sweetly, our reasons why we don't. Before I changed the conversation this person was getting pretty heated in her argument. I didn't take it personally and found her reaction almost humorous. This is not the first time we've been in this situation with someone.

I've been thinking about these two things the past week or so. I think it's so interesting how strongly parents feel about how other people parent. Is it for validatation purposes? As though everyone not doing it a certain way is wrong because that's not the way you're doing it? Is it an intimidation thing? Like someone you respect, for example, puts their baby on a very precise sleeping schedule and because you don't, or can't, the other person is automatically not parenting correctly?

I know I'm only 5 months into this whole parenting thing and so it could be argued that my knowledge and experience is extremely limited. It's true in some ways. However... Just like every other mother I know what works best for my child and our family. I parent the way that has come natural to me. I know I'm parenting correctly as I love my child, she's clean, fed, has shelter and is safe... Her basic needs are constantly met.

Every child is different and, I feel, doesn't always fall under one parenting category. This is what works for us now. Who knows- maybe in a few years we switch to a different theory. Or maybe we don't. Chances are we'll pick up lots of different tools that we'll throw into our parenting backpack. (Like Dora the Explorer's bag only it doesn't sing and, also, is not annoying) As our Bird grows or situations arise we can pick and pull from that bag the different ways to go about things.

Hi, my name is Wifey and I (we) practice attachment parenting.

Whew! The first step is admittance...

Life, Lately, From the Comforts of a Couch

After waiting forever and a day our stuff finally made it to us in Alabama. It was Christmas all over again as we watched our stuff being unloaded from the truck and opened boxes. We immediately set up our kitchen and living room after living in our master bedroom for a few weeks. The other half of Birdie's things arrives tomorrow. This mama FINALLY gets to set up her crib after all this time. I may not be able to sleep tonight from the excitement.

I was asked to be a leader for the young women in our church. While I'm so honored to accept this task it's also a little daunting. Having to learn everything while teaching lessons is a little stressful but I love it so far. The girls are amazing and it reminds me of when I was that age. (Just a few years ago, right?!) I've also made a few new friends that I can tell are going to be keepers. I love spending time with and learning more about them.

Our laptop bit the dust. Fortunately it's just an easy battery fix. Thank goodness for iPhones that allow us to get done what we need to do.

I'm not sure I will ever get used to Alabama's high sales tax, or the fact that they tax groceries. What the what? A good portion of my grocery budget goes straight to sales tax alone. We're also trying to adjust to not having a Costco. Major bummer.

We've been eating too many cupcakes and it really. Has. To. Stop. We've been taking advantage of the gym at D's base a lot lately. I'm the person that brings candy to the gym in my purse. Whoops. I can't help it... I crave sugar when I'm working out.

Birdie girl has cut her first tooth and her second one should be popping through the surface any day. Now that she's mastered rolling over from both sides she's been quite the show off. She loves to play with mama's spatulas, measuring cups and ice cream scoop. I've been building up a milk storage lately for D to feed her on nights when I'm teaching. I'm glad that she's finally learned to take a bottle so they can share that special feeding time.

D has started a fruit and veggie garden in our backyard. We're looking forward to eating all that he's planted. Speaking of our back yard- since only two sides are fenced we get a lot of doggie.... visitors. Our two, who alert me from their respective posts, want to play with and sniff these doggies. Usually I shoo them away. Today's visitor was a sweet coon hound who was at least 6 months old. (And ginormous!) Instead of shooing him away I played with him for a little before he wandered back home. (....and I might have named him Kevin...)

D's sister is getting married in Hawaii this fall. We're looking forward to a real family vacation. All of our extra pennies are being saved up for the flights 'cause it ain't cheap. Still sporting my pasty Oregon skin I need to work on a plan to gradually become tanner.

My pixie haircut is officially gone. I do miss it but I'm ready to have longer hair. I have enough to wear it half-up. I plan on adding some color to it in a couple months as, sadly, grey hair is creeping in faster than I'm willing to admit.

Sigh... The cupcakes are calling me...

Five... Five of the Best.

mila-bird is so sweet. so silly. so cuddly. the first tooth made it's appearance a few days ago. she growls, mimics us shaking our heads and can produce a fake cough. her laugh is contagious and slobbery, gummy grin is adorable. her hair is getting long while some of her clothes are getting too short. five months old and she keeps on growing. she's downright the best thing ever, and so we'll keep on lovin' her.

It's Lookin' Bare Around Here

As you can tell, our little virtual nest received a little scrub down. I wanted clean, simple and easy*. This is what I came up with 5 hours later after some thought. I'm still getting used to it myself. As the year goes on- or time permits- I might tweak some things here and there.  

It's challenging enough to blog with a baby but trying to redesign it? With codes and templates and lots and lots of mistakes? Psh. Tough stuff right there. I think a little pat on the back and some pb&j's are in order at this moment. 

--

*Actually I wasn't planning on changing my entire blog. I was just playing with a few settings and ended up deleting my entire template. That was an awesome** moment. 

** Awesome= not awesome