Baby on the move, eating everything

It is amazing how life changes completely again once a little one becomes mobile. I hardly feel I can walk out of view for even a second these days. Prior to eight months I thought rolling, pushing backwards, and sitting up was a lot of movement. Starting promptly after 8 months, he crawled for food then for toys and familiar people, and now just to discover anything within view. With spanning out in space comes finding more stuff, I am amazed how the sense to put everything in one's mouth develops quickly! I was cleaning the spare bedroom last weekend and saw little mister put something in his mouth. I sprung to action sweeping a game dice out of his mouth. Sadly I wasn't quick enough to reclaim that small chunk of dirt off Greg's work boots before it left LO (little one) with a muddy disappointed mouth. His dad's reaction....oh, Holland boys eat dirt!

Seeing green...St. Patrick's Day and more

Our little family is in a roll with holidays- baby had a cold for Halloween, we all were sick for Thanksgiving, bad colds over Christmas, Greg had the flu over Valentines, and on St. Patrick's Day! Poor hubby even called in sick today, not even the drinking "day after" illness. My boys have the stomach bug but it amazes me the random smiles and good cheer we get out of the baby.

Despite being under the weather, it was a good day. My little sister (from the Navy) came home to the Midwest and landed in Des Moines. Mom, little bro, and I went in the airport to meet her-we were distracted by the bacon display in the store since she hadn't called to tell us she landed. Last October, we gathered at the airport with flowers, balloons, and a sign so this trip we used the same sign. After the store we made our way over the bottom to the escalator, since she hadn't called we were all staring at the list of planes that just landed when she walked over....FAIL...mom didn't even have the sign turned the right way!

After that we meet our grandparents for lunch who drove up from Omaha to celebrate Christmas will with us since Chrystal was back in town, we had them wait till March. The night was low key, no one drank anything green. If Grant would have felt better, I thought about doing a green bottle but no luck. Anyway, we managed to get some cute photos.....

Goals

Being a new mom is time consuming. I asked my new neighbor a while back what her hobbies were (pre-baby here and 2 years post baby there) and I could not get it when she said working out and cleaning. I love to travel, take photos, cook, read, craft, draw, explore our community, write, play board games, and more. My house and my post baby/returned to work body now wishes I have her hobbies. But with what time?

I hope to get a better hang of my new life and one day possibly hope to mess it up again with baby number two (years away in my present mind set) so I am putting in writing the following goals.

General:

Be better at asking for help
Have more girl time
Do something out and around every two weeks beyond shopping
Keep up with baby books and photo sorting to prevent mass confusion later
Start a big box of things to remove from my house

Weekly:
Deep clean one room of the house
Exercise/walks/wii fit
Complete a Pinterest worthy item/craft/recipe

Monthly:
Update on little ones photo and letter
Read and throw 4 magazines (i have a big backlog)
Reflect on money spent and ways to do better

By the end of 2013:
Print my massive prego journal
Photo book in the 2008 and 2012 year
Scan in all my photos
Find a way to review and relearn some Spanish
Plan our next couples vacation
Visit my sister in Seattle (when she is home from deployment)

I think I have a good start here. Time will tell but for now it is time for sleep, not that I could ever do it better than my little man, found butt up/face down just now. I may get a photo of that in the morning but here is a different one for me to be jealous of...

Car + new baby...learning moments

I have learned a couple of things these past six months that I wouldn't have thought of when I registered for or purchased gifts for the baby. I will be sharing my thoughts according to different locations. First up...

Your car: I got a couple of great things I registered for to make my car a family car including a car seat protector, baby mirror, and many hanging toys. Here's the scoop- the carseat carrier handle is suppose to be down in the car so many hanging items either get in the way or are continuously removed; the baby mirror with cute remote doesn't always work or falls off of your visor scaring the shit out of you while driving; and the seat protector that only goes halfway up the seat back can't protect the snagging a ring does when finding that release button very time the carseat comes out.

These are all products that are more a novelty but looking at what actually works with your car is key, otherwise you will be like me with a pony tail holder assisting the baby mirror to be positioned correctly (seriously!)

Yes that is carrots on my glasses thanks for asking...

We have reached the six month mark of babyland so it I got my vita mixer out and steamed up some food. We started with carrots, they were a hit and an orange mess. I can't believe where this stuff all goes: his hair/ears/nose, the table/floor/chair/bib/clothes, mama's clothes/shoes and my glasses.

I had an eye doctor appointment for new glasses and when the lady took them to determine their strength there it was... a drop of dried orange carrots. I got a funny look from her and it got me thinking about the funny situations parenthood has already gotten me into:

1. Finding a dirty diaper (the next size down) under your car seat
2. Having your little one darn near flash your cleavage (and then some) to everyone in church as they were commenting on his cuteness
3. Pulling a pacifier out of your pocket during a work meeting
4. Having a stranger ask me if I had my baby vaginally since his head wasn't deformed
5. Showing up to work with a huge snot crusted streak across your white sweater

And the latest carrots on your eyewear

Ok, world...Christmas can be over

Thanks to Pinterest I have a long list of cutesy baby photos my baby boy will have to play an active role in. Since the start of this past holiday season meant me returning to work full time, the holidays went super fast. I was not, not going to put up decorations so a tree and stockings was just fine. I had a goal of posing him for two Christmas photos, baby in a box with a tree background and sitting in front of the tree. At the time of Christmas, little mr. was only sitting for 10 or so seconds so I didn't rush taking our tree down.

We had a adults only vacation the first week in January so I didn't get the chance to get photos then either. This past weekend my goals were photos, hand prints, and pack up the Christmas stuff until next year. Thankfully, I got that done yesterday. My tree is in pieces-needing to fit back in the box but at least its naked.

Not the best or the worse photos in the world...I give you a "yay" and "fail" version- you can pick which is which.....

I have already moved onto to Valentine's day ideas and can't help but giggle at the possibilities of one of the "fail" shots ending up in a graduation or wedding slide show down the road.

Oh, it's been a while....

We made it through holidays (despite what my house looks like with that 6 foot decorated green thing hanging out in the corner) but things haven't slowed down. Our little one is about ready to turn SIX months (pause for brief momma freak out), sitting up, finally sleeping in his crib, and is a little busy body.

Last year our Christmas card announced our upcoming baby news with a cute photo hunt to find the differences between what our Christmas 2011 and 2012 would look like...2 verses 3 stockings on the mantel with some small baby items mixed in. Yeah, there is nothing "small" about the loads of baby stuff taking over my household (see below.) I find little Mr's stuff everywhere including four things eye level to me in my bedroom as I write this. I don't suppose this gets any better?