YAY! Baby has new friends (& by default, so does mommy!)

#naivenewbie

a girl has no bloody idea how important this is until she finds herself sitting at home with a new baby wondering what her kid-less friends/her old co-workers/her friends with much older kids/the mailman is up to, almost obsessively. wondering when she'll get to have another meaningful adult (specifically female-to-female) conversation again, wondering how she can possibly feel alone considering she's got a wee baby glued to her side 24/7. wondering if anyone else out there has been pooped, peed and spit up on eight times that day too, after just getting three good hours of sleep. oh my oh my oh my. it's overwhelmingly insanely mind-blowingly hard to find yourself entrenched in this predicament.

new mommy: if this sounds ANYthing like you, get your baby some friends. ;-) i'm over the moon thankful for my public library system and my local la leche league. without them, i'd have melted down big time by now (OK, i HAVE melted down big time, but i'm talking make-it-on-the-nightly-news melt down here). meeting other mommies with babies has saved the day, time and time again.

say L wakes up 100 times the night before, i stumble into a story time or a lactation tea and SOMEONE there will be able to relate to me. will vent with me, will tell me it'll get better. and as cranky-pants as L might be, he'll cheer up at the sight of other babies. he'll be stimulated, entertained and he'll likely sleep better that very night.

those of you that are already mommies, i know you know all of this, but those of you that are about to be mommies, or are brand new mommies, get dressed and get the HELL out of your house. find your nearest library, la leche league, or mommy group on meetup.com and make your baby some pals!

i'm so very very grateful for becki & quinn, sara & elena, johana & mia, maria & mason, lisa & william, leah & sutton, nadia & aviella, the list goes on, so if i've omitted you, it's just cuz i'm tired. LOVE LOVE LOVE all of L's new friends (& mine too!)

I leave you with raffi's little tune (and some cute pix of L & his buddies). we happen to sing this ALL the time these days, it's a simple song we might not really really -think- about when we sing it, but it's oh so very true.

ah! my #SAHM life, a hellacious comedy at times.

sarah christoph @sunlovey

Wondering why so many days of my #SAHM life are hellacious comedies. Note: comedies once retold, not during. #FML

(above was tweeted earlier today)

Let's see, I began my day with a clogged milk duct. Ouch x10,000,000. Attempted to remedy in shower (bag of marbles massage) & with baby (keep eating, L!). Nope, still painful and rock hard.

Off to story time in posh palm beach, 25 minute drive. No problem. Get there. Get baby in sling. Get to door of society of the four arts, see sign that says "no story time today - presidents day". Great.

Turn around to go back to car, run into another mommy I've me in my new baby-centric circles. She suggests we walk along intracoastal since we both drove so far to get there. Cool. Let me get my stroller. Transfer L from sling to stroller and off we go.

L hates stroller five minutes in. Wish i'd kept him in sling. Too late. Carrying 20 lbs baby and pushing stroller. P.S. its hot out. Fun. Walk is good despite. Get to vent with fellow nursing and anti-cry it out mommy.

Get back to car and spend a good 7 minutes getting all my sh!t back in car. Then decide to hit michaels on my way home since its close and baby seems in good spirits.

Park near a rogue shopping cart, set up said cart with shopping cart cover. It then rolls away as I turn to get baby out. Chase it down with baby on hip. Get baby in cart despite challenge of parking on semi-hill.

Inside... baby happy, fun stuff to look at everywhere. For like 8 minutes. Then baby screaming. Not typical of baby in a fun store. Should have known something was up. Picked him up & carried him through store and check out, then noticed a dreadful moisture on my shirt and hand, nope, not pee. And it's everywhere.

Awesome. My shirt is covered, as is his onesie. Get back to car, get stuff in car (purse, shopping cart cover, purchases, etc.) all whilst rubbing liquid poop into my shirt and his onesie even further. Then, rip off baby's onesie and my shirt. (Had tank on underneath. Don't fret.)

Baby screaming. Clean up and change baby, then feed baby in backseat to calm baby. Oh & duct situation still killing me. Head home for part 2 of this super fun Monday. Baby slept entire ride, which will likely jack up my efforts at a scheduled afternoon nap.

Yay! & happy monday to you, too.

#grrr

the artist wears diapers

saw something similar on pinterest & L just had to create his own. oh my... swift, strong baby and finger paint. no easy task. but what a fabulous little finished product i'll cherish always.
all you need is a happy baby, a canvas & finger paints + wet paper towels on hand galore!!!!
act fast! have baby attack canvas with one color at a time then quickly wipe baby's hands down pre-eating finger paint. let canvas stand over night, then repeat, next day with next color.
of course i completed the masterpiece, i didn't expect him to bang out the bouquet's stem. nevertheless, i love how organic and chaotic the bouquet itself is. he did the yellow background too. very little paint was eaten. ;-)

#FrumpyFighter: making spaces baby & adult friendly

So... I'm digging my new work & play space in mad ways. Ratherthan cover my living room floor with a primary color ABC foam puzzle for L to "tummy time" on, I scored a thick area rug. (I was inspired by one of my BFF's, Heather, to do this).

Next up, I found myself on the prowl for a low-lying cocktail table type piece that was round or oval, with no sharp edges anywhere (this was inspired by my dear mom, I miss you, mom). Table found! By another BFF, Byrdie, at a thrift shop for a mere $10!!! She and I redid it in a boy-friendly, yet living room friendly design and voila! L's play table was born. Ideal for pulling up on, and once he IS up, playing on, drawing on, etc. (note: For now, it works fabulously for my laptop, as he mills about on the floor, I can check emails and such.)

Toss in a few fun pillows (note: must add more! love, the Middle Eastern feel this table surrounded by pillows on a magic carpet creates) and I'll be over-the-moon smitten with this new area in which I currently spend loads of time.

Small baskets of fun baby toys exist throughout the entire space, fret not. We (or let's be real, I) sing the "clean up" song we learned at kindermusik after each play session as we put said toys away in their baskets and bins.

the table, post tons of love & magic in my garage, thank you Byrdie!

i'm six months old. HOW on earth did that happen?

i'm quite certain my mommy had an internal nervous breakdown yesterday, it was february 5th. & i turned six months old. she's having a hard time accepting that. while six months later she finds herself a lot stronger and more confident when it comes to being a mommy, she cannot wrap her brain around how quickly i'm growing and how insanely fast the months are flying by. she winces every time someone says how much i look like a little boy already (instead of a baby) so stop saying that to her, OK? i'm always always going to be her baby. got that?

these days i thoroughly enjoy chewing on EVERYthing. i love taking itty bitty sips of her citron flavored sparkling water.

i enjoy being the only boy at library story time. i talk A LOT there. loud. miss sheila, the librarian is very accepting of this. that's nice of her. my fave rhyme at story time? X marks the spot!

LOVE the part where it goes "ooooooh TICKLE!!!"

i enjoy miss angela's kindermusik class, especially "i hear a sound", bubbles and "who's that looking in the mirror". OH! the peek-a-boo song with the colorful scarves too!

i still like bath time, i have great toys to chew on during my bath. OH! i forgot to mention, my 1st tooth made it's debut last week. and i'm pretty sure three more are on their way.

i'm letting mommy put me down for short naps in the afternoon. in turn i'm waking her up more at night. teething, push ups and general loneliness in the dark are likely culprits, maybe? i'll never tell...

going shopping with mommy is much fun. i got to ride in the cart by itself last week too. i was grabbing everything!! mommy tells me she did that when she was a baby too. and that my grandma would find store merchandise under baby mommy and have to bring it back into the store and apologize. i haven't mastered that one yet.

i dig being on my tummy now so much more than i used to. although i get frustrated about the crawling thing, i see older babies doing it and i'm not quite sure how to get my knees up to move forward. anyway, tummy time is much cooler these days. i sleep on my tummy too. just like mommy.

i have tried some "solid foods". they're ok. i'm perfectly happy with my breastfeeding diet though. last week when i ate organic "pear sauce" i hurled it up shortly thereafter. i do like chewing on lime and lemon wedges though.

i smile so big at strangers and people who know me every single day. this makes them smile. i recognize more and more people i see on a regular basis and make special noises of happiness for them.

my mommy and aunt TT made me a play table this week. stay tuned for photos. I like standing up at it and smacking it like a drum. i try hard to pick up the post cards on it, but they are glued down or something. sneaky mommy & TT!

what else? getting dressed annoys me big time. i punch my little fists through the arm holes in hopes that mommy will hurry up and sit me up...

...i like being read to. i like it when people play instruments for me. i love my "crunchy book", puppets, and my "lovey". a pale blue teddy blankie i'm sleeping with these days. OH! and i love when you say "where's Liam??, THERE HE IS!!!!" to me. I'll smile big every time, and you might just see my little tiny teeth coming in. i'm sure i'm forgetting stuff. heck, i'm a baby!

six more months 'til my birthday! watch me grow and learn and play and laugh and make my mommy laugh and cry and get stronger and wiser.

love,

liam

#DIY onesies for fashionly screwed baby boys. ;-)

poor baby boys.

so screwed when it comes to fashion.

trucks & footballs abound.

who knows, maybe L will dig trucks & footballs.

but right now, mommy's in charge of what baby wears.

and when mommy can't find much she digs, she's forced to improvise.

thus: military patches scored at an antique mall + printed onesies from carters = cool little looks for baby boy. and i didn't even have to sew. as you see below. hit up craft stores like michaels or hobby lobby for your own patches, but definitely ask your area thrift and antique stores if THEY have any old patches for sale to ensure a one-of-a-kind end result.

you can always go solid when it comes to onesies, but you know me. i wanted prints. these came in a five pack. so YAY! i have three more to transform.

the patch/appliqué glue i used is Aleene's.

pretty sure L feels like a little bad a$$ in his easy & unique little DIY designs. ;-)