Mommy Musings

Happy 10 month birthday to my little M!! {okay, so I'm a day late with this post} We went to the doctor yesterday for a well-baby visit and my 19 lb, 28" long little girl is just perfect, but I could have told you that! This was her last visit before she is she is a ONE YEAR OLD. {start sniffling now} It is sad to see Little M grow out of each stage, clothing and diaper size, but it is even more exciting to watch her embark on every new stage. I swear the love in my heart grows for her more and more every day. She's just the best little bopper ever!

Tomorrow my little girl turns 10 months old. Only two more months until she is the big ONE! I cannot believe it! Since it is coming up soon, I have begun planning her first birthday party. I have a theme picked out {but will be keeping it a secret until the big day!} I also have been searching for a *perfect* first birthday dress for Little M to wear to her family party. I was on the Gymboree website the other night {which I actually have never shopped at before} and found IT. It's great because it is birthday-y enough for her big day, but not so much that she can't wear it other times too. I can't wait to get it in the mail!

I've been trying to grow out my hair for a while now. It takes my hair FOREVER to grow, so it's been pretty frustrating. Part of the problem is that I eventually get bored of my hair and just end up cutting it. I was getting that itchy feeling recently but refused to chop off my hair. So I decided instead to do something a little less severe, and try out some sideswept bangs. I've envied people with them for a while and finally just dived right in. I am very lucky that my best friend L is a professional hairstylist and always comes over to my house and does my hair {very key when you have a baby!} It is also nice because I can really talk over with her exactly what I want. Well enough talking from me, I'll just show you the before and after pictures! Let me know what you think! Before After

Crap, I lost a follower. Back to 49. I hate when that happens!

I.cannot.wait.for.9 pm.tonight!!! Only a few short hours until the return of I may be slightly obsessed with this show and cannot wait to see what happens tonight! I'm also pretty excited that my friend J is coming over and we plan on watching Grey's in our pj's with tons of candy. Can't wait!

I'm pretty sure that all of you are not constantly stalking my number of followers...but if you have been, you would see that I am now up to fifty. FIFTY! 5 0!!! I am way more excited than I should be, haha . I just want to thank each and every one of you. It still shocks me every day that this many people are interested in what little ol ' me has to say. I value your comments and support so very much. Thanks again and I hope not to disappoint!!

Thanks so much to Young Mom/Wife over at I Took the One Less Traveled By for tagging me in this blog survey! {oh, and run, don't walk, and go check out her blog...it's one of my most favorites!} Here are the rules: 1.Respond and rework: Answer the questions on your blog, Replace one question that you dislike with a question of your own invention, and add one more question of your own. 2. Tag other un -tagged people. The Questions: What is your current obsession? GIANT'S FOOTBALL!!!! Who was the last person you hugged? My little girl, she just woke up a few minutes ago and just needed to snuggle her mom:) What is the next thing you are "counting down" to? My birthday!!!! {coming up on October 19 th for anyone who was curious:)} What are you listening to right now? The movie 'Milk' that my husband is watching and I am half pretending to pay attention to What is your favorite weather? Hot, hot, hot summer What is your least favorite season? Winter...I hat...

Skip's two days off last week were on Monday and Tuesday, and they really felt more like a mini vacation! Monday morning we traded off napping all morning. It was so nice to finally catch up on some sleep. Then after lunch we went for a nice long run in the park. Skip kept saying that he wanted to go to the diner for dinner that night, but we just weren't sure how Little M would react after this incident. Finally we decided to just give it a whirl and see how it went! Well, thankfully we gave it a try because it went fabulously. There was hardly anyone in there, and no one sitting directly by us. Little M was more than happy to sit in the little high chair and eat her waffle while Skip and I are our dinner. It was soooo nice to just go out together as a family! We spent the rest of Monday night with some friends watching, what else, Monday Night Football! {Sorry 'bout the Bills Christian!} Tuesday morning we got up early and hit up the park for another long run. ...

In this post I need some help from all you veteran mommies out there! Little M has been eating solids for 5 months now. She is up to the Gerber Stage 3 foods and also eats a lot of finger foods. She LOVES waffles, Cheerios, frozen peas, cut up bananas, chucks of peaches, bread, and these Gerber yogurt melts. She is still eating her oatmeal very well and loves the Yo Baby yogurts. But she refuses to eat any of the jarred food anymore! We've tried both Stage 2 and 3 and she just fights us every time. Sometimes she'll eat it if we mix it in with the oatmeal, but not always. She could eat enough to fill her belly with the other foods, but I want to make sure she's getting the right nutrition and that can best be rounded out with the jars. She is still drinking 4 6oz bottles of formula every day as well. I am worrying for nothing? Is this just a phase she is going through? Should we be trying to just give her more 'regular' food and ween her off the jars? Le...

With only the help of this, my daughter, my only 9 1/2 month daughter, is walking across the floor. WALKING!!!! I will get some video to post tomorrow!

*Make sure to change out of your pajamas and throw on some make up most days a week, especially when the baby is first born and you are running on empty. It really does help your mood and make you feel more like a human and not just a worn out Mommy*

It begins today.... LET'S GO BIG BLUE!!!

It has been doing this all weekend So Little M and I are curled up on the couch wearing these and watching this Sigh.....not a bad way to spend a Saturday!

This date will never be the same to me. It will never just be another day in September. It will always be a day of solemnity and remembrance. September 11, 2001 forever changed the world as I knew it. I was a college freshman and University in Connecticut. I had only been there 8 days when I woke up that Tuesday morning. I had an 8:00 am class that got out just before 9:00 am that day. As I walked out of class, I noticed a lot of students standing around the TV in the hallway. There was no sound but someone told me that a plane flew and hit into the World Trade Center. Just then I looked up at the TV and saw the plane flying into the tower. I thought it was video coverage of the first plane. I had no idea it was the second plane hitting. I went back to my room to tell my roommate what I had just seen. She was getting ready to go out to breakfast with one of her friends and invited me along. I said I thought I should stay home and check out the news, but she convinced me ...

With some extra money I got recently, I decided to treat myself to a new fall purchase {partially to help ease my dislike over the season}. After much deliberation I decided to get a new purse. I have not gotten a new one in years, and felt like it was time. I wanted something that was a decent size so I could throw some bottles, diapers, and toys in it for shorter outings with Little M, when I don't need to lug around a whole diaper bag. After scouring the Internet for DAYS I finally came across this beauty on Amazon.com. It retails for $92. I got it for $18!!! Wahoo, bargain shopping!!! I cannot wait until it arrives in the mail!!!

Little M is all ready for football season to start tomorrow...LET'S GO BIG BLUE!!

I just want to send a quick apology to all my blogging buddies recently. I have been reading all your blogs, but due to a crazy schedule, death in the family, and my husband working like crazy, I just have not had time to make any comments. But please know I love reading all your posts and will be responding more soon!

Sorry I have not been posting for a few days. I would like to say that I was away, enjoying this last unofficial weekend of the summer with my family and friends. But not everyone gets Labor Day weekend off. It was not a holiday if you're a mom...whose husband has to work {with overtime} those weekends...if you have a pinched nerve in your neck...if you have a teething cranky baby who refuses to sleep and just wants to fuss and cry. So while most of you are lamenting the end of summer, I am very excited to put this weekend behind me! Hope you all had a fabulous Labor Day!! PS..It might have been an exhausting weekend...but this little girl makes it all worthwhile:)

Since Little M is totally mobile now, I am constantly on the go. She wants to go everywhere and anywhere she can! We have a pretty open floor plan downstairs, which means I am always running after her! In order to preserve some sanity I have taken to some make shift baby containment in our family room. Take a look!

Little M's sleeping schedule seems to be getting a bit better, and a bit more predictable, recently. We didn't change our routine, but just kept doing what we were doing and hoped she got over her 'waking up every two hours like a newborn' phase. And it has seemed to work! She still goes down at 7:00 pm every night. Sometimes she will wake up at either 10:00 pm or 12:00 am for a bottle. If she does this, she will then sleep until almost 7:00 am!!! If she sleeps straight through then she wakes up between 5:15 am and 6:30 am. I'm sure that she will soon go through another phase and change all of this, so we are just enjoying it for right now!

I woke up this morning and it was *freezing*....like late October kind of freezing....like my husband who is always hot, was cold kind of freezing. I know it's September 2 nd , but really, can't we have summer just a little bit longer?? I'm not quite ready to put away my shorts, tank tops, and flip flops just yet. This cooler weather does remind of all the kids getting back to school this week and next. It's weird for me to not be going back to school again this year. Last year was the first year in my life I didn't start the school year in a classroom. I went right from college into my first year of teaching. I taught for three years and 'retired' in June of 2008. I was five months pregnant then and since I had been soooo sick up to that point, my husband and I figured the best decision was not to go back to work in the fall for the few months before the baby was born. I also didn't think it would be fair to my kids to have me for three months...