It's officially my anniversary!

I'm so proud of us. I can honestly say that I truly enjoy being married to Michael. And that every day, I love him more. It's not cliche, just how it is. He's really my best friend and I love hanging out with him.

And now, we've got RE, who is simply the embodiment of what Michael means to me. She is our future.

Happy Anniversary babe, here's to the rest of our lives!

More Diaper Covers!

In my never ending effort for my daughter to have the cutest behind ever, I have made several new diaper covers! Including a knitted one. It's a bit spastic, but it fits, and I did it! Plus, now I know how to make it better for next time.

And the fabric ones I've been doing are just darling! And they're starting to come out more uniform.
I will post more pics tomorrow, when she's awake and can model for me! For now, she just looks darling with the knit one on her head! It's a statement, anyway.

RE's 4 month update!

Here's the update on the peanut:

She's now 12 pounds 12 ounces, 23 inches, and healthy!!

She continues to deserve the nickname "peanut".

RE did very well at her appointment, she peed on the scale, fun. And not just peed a little bit, but seriously soaked the ENTIRE scale, including bathing herself in urine. Again, thank goodness for baby wipes! And at least she was already nakie, cause if not, she'd be in trouble!

The shots were not so fun, of course, but after just a few minutes of really pitiful crying (from both me and her), all was OK, and as we left the Doc's office, she was smiling.

She is developing perfectly, doing everything she should be at this point: bringing her hands together, reaching for toys, tracking with her eyes 90 degrees, pushing up on her arms. She can also roll over and sit with support, so she's a bit ahead of the game in those areas. And of course, she's brilliant, but with me and Michael as her parents, it's to be expected!

And now, she's sleeping off the shots. It's kind of nice, I had time to get all my school work finished, work out some bridal stuff with/for Alyssa, and fill out some more of RE's baby book.

One more reason to LOVE cloth diapering!

As many of you know, Michael and I chose to cloth diaper Ryan, not so much for the economical advantage (as we chose a diaper service, we really aren't saving money), but because of the environmental guilt and the desire to have soft, fluffy stuff on our darling's butt. That, and disposable dipes are NASTY. So, I've recently discovered that cute diaper covers are quite easy to sew, and quite addicting as well. I've got a whole stack of fabric waiting for me to turn into darling diaper covers! As soon as I finish this damn paper for school, I'm allowed back on my sewing machine. It's a self-imposed ban.

And I'm working on knitting her a diaper cover too. It's green, my fave, and if I get my tush over to the fabric store, it might wind up with a pink stripe in it! Y'all know how I LOVE pink and green!

So in any case, as much as I love cloth diapering for the environmental reasons, it's also another excuse to dress my daughter in cuteness!! And seek out new and more fabulous accesories for her tush! All under the guise of necessity, too, since one MUST use a cover for the cloth, why can't it be cute?

I don't wanna do homework!

Ok, this isn't about RE, although she's doing fine. I don't want to finish my homework. I have a paper to write that isn't due until NEXT Tuesday, so of course, I have no pressure to write the stupid thing. I have 982 words written, and it only has to be 1000-1200 words long, so it's basically done, but if I turned it in as is, I'd be pretty disappointed in myself. The problem is, I forget that I don't have endless free time, and I have to plan my life around RE's sleep schedule (which less resembles a schedule and more looks like a schizophrenic's thought pattern). In any case, I shouldn't be blogging right now, but I don't want to do homework, so I'm not going to.

In fact, I think I'm going to knit some more when I get off the damn computer. I've discoverd a new obsession with knitting diaper covers. In fact, I've discovered a new obsession with diaper covers in general. I'm ridiculous. I love me.

They fit!!! Hurrah for me!

Ok, no seriously, all of my old jeans fit. I'm so proud of myself. Even my super skinny JCrew jeans, my milestone for all jeans, jeans. And they don't look half bad. I'd wear them out. Not with a tight top, mind you, but I'd wear them out nonetheless. And I now have to be a but more careful, since if I bend over in them, I have a bit of a crack issue, and as I have a four month old who likes to be on the floor, this could become a bit of an issue.

But they fit!!!! Yay, me!!

(and yes, it's a cheesy, self portrait taken in a fitting room, but I look good! Oh, and I cut my hair!)

Nearly there!

I fit back into ALL of my old jeans! Now, granted, some of them don't look pretty and I would never wear them out of the house (we all know I don't do muffin top). But, I can get them zipped and buttoned, and that means that someday, in the near future, they'll look cute again! And many of them do actually fit, so I've gained quite a bit of my wardrobe back!

On a down note, I still don't look quite like I'd like, and I have just found out that I have a wedding to be in in August (that's you, Miss Alyssa). That's 4 months to look hot! I refuse to have everyone saying it's OK that I'm chubby since I just had a baby. Hello! She'll be 7 months old by then!

The Ideal Time

Apparently, the ideal time for a three month old to practice her latest skill is between the hours of 10pm and 3am. Ryan has decided that the middle of the night, in her crib, is the perfect opportunity to practice rolling over.

She starts by gathering her legs up underneath her, then straightening them up. This makes her look like she’s doing baby yoga, some variation of the downward dog pose, sans arms. Then, she kind of flops to her side, where she is sidetracked by her hands. Yes, despite the fact that she discovered them weeks ago, they are still her favorite toy. Finally, she gains enough momentum to get onto her back, where she flips out, and wails for someone to come put her back on her stomach. Only to start the whole process again. Now, I’d be glad to play this little game during the daylight hours (and NOT at 4am), but someone doesn’t want to play during the day. It’s more fun to try this at night.

Then, she can’t sleep because she’s teething, and her mouth is bothering her. So we give her children’s Tylenol. Now, I ask you, why, oh why, do they insist on putting BRIGHT RED DYE in this stuff? I ask this because, number one, it stains, and number two, it never makes it in her mouth. Which mean we have BRIGHT RED stains on everything that has come into contact with this stuff: her hands, her lips, her nose, her white jammies, and everything in between. Is the BRIGHT RED DYE necessary to the healing powers of the Tylenol? I doubt it. It’s probably to make it look more appealing. To whom? My three month old? Her palate currently consists of breast milk, soon to include such highlights as pears, apples, and strained carrots. And the occasional Cheerio. I doubt she cares about the color.

But, I digress.

I finally get her back to sleep after all this nonsense, and no sooner is she back in her crib, does she let out a HUGE fart. And accompanying this huge fart, is a huge squishy poo. Followed by more squishy poo. Score. I call for reinforcements. Daddy’s turn. Michael gets her diaper changed and starts to rock her back to sleep and she spits up on herself. Not just a little bit, but really lets it go. Great. Wardrobe change. And now he’s trying to get her back to sleep, again. It’s now been an entire hour since the whole rolling over practice began.

Just when we thought we had one of those kids who slept through the night. Murphy’s Law, I suppose.

The big revelation of the weekend.

I am now a guest in my parent's home. Not in a bad way, but rather in that way where you no longer live there, and it's not really like going home anymore.

In a sense, it will always be "home," but now it's not my first home. When we got back up to Seattle, we both remarked how this is "home" now.

Example: When I did the dishes after dinner one night, my mother thanked me and said I didn't need to do that. If I had been living at home, it would have been expected that I participate in family chores.

I am officially out of the nest. I guess it's about time, I have my own nest to tend to now.

It's been a while...

Things have been so busy around here!

We were on vacation last weekend, and then, we returned to a ton of errands and stuff we wanted to do while Michael was at home.

Vacation: Went very well...very busy though. Oh man was it busy. ALL of our family was there, mom, dad, brother, his girlfriend, my aunt, my uncle and his wife, my grandma. It was overwhelming, to say the least. But everyone wanted to meet RE, and she was her usually cheery self most of the time!

It was over 80 degrees while we were down there, so RE really had NO idea what to do with the weather. She slept all day long, and didn't really want to be held, unless we were in the A/C mall. Just as she started adapting to the weather, we headed home! But the weather's been great here too, though not 80, and she's enjoying herself.

On Friday morning, we went with Alyssa to check out wedding gowns. It was good times, even though RE decided to poop on my new white pants. Oh, the joys of motherhood. I should have known, if I was brazen enough to wear white pants, it was bound to happen! Alyssa found some lovely dresses, and hopefully, one will be "the one" as her wedding is in August!

Speaking of August weddings, this means that as a bridesmaid, I have less than 4 months to work out and get this baby weight off. I refuse to be the bridesmaid everyone excuses for being a little chubby, saying "she just had a baby". Yeah, 7 months ago. I don't want to be THAT girl.

Saturday was Ashley's big 4th birthday party! She had a bounce house. Nuff said. I think the big boys might have gotten even more out of it than the kids!!

Sunday was RE's big day...her baby naming. It was a really beautiful ceremony, and talked about the history of women in the Jewish faith, and how she was now a part of that history. We washed her feet as a symbol of the Mikvah, a traditional cleansing that women do. Her Jewish name is Rayna Elisheva. We chose Rayna because it means "pure" in Hebrew, the same thing that Kathryn means in Greek. So, it's kind of like we have the same name, in a sense.

She fell asleep at her big party, poor little thing was so wiped out from all the fun and heat. But we had more friends over later and she was up and enjoying the crowds. Such a party girl!

Monday was a mellow day...we just did some errands, hit the mall (wouldn't be a trip to Ptown without hitting Stoneridge) and Michael and I did In-n-Out. Yum. Man, I miss that stuff. When they open one in Washington, I'm going to be one of those crazy people camping out for days.

All in all, a great trip. RE did awesome on the planes, I think we might have a world traveler on our hands!

Top ten things I learned on vacation:

1. My husband is a strong man. In mind and spirit.
2. My parents are non-judgemental.
3. My friends have nice children. Thank God.
4. My daughter is an amazing human being. Despite the fact she’s only 3 months old.
5. I don’t like the Bay Area anymore.
6. I’m glad I don’t live at my parents house, though I like going there to visit.
7. A home without a dog is FAR too quiet.
8. Shopping is fun with my mom.
9. The right bouncy seat makes all the difference.
10. I truly miss all my old friends.