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Sometimes my best, most creative thoughts come to me the second I open my eyes in the morning.  This morning started with the sound of scissors....

It's light out but still dark enough to create that I-wish-this-would-last-forever-because-I-am-just-the-right-temperature-and-all-is-quiet-in-the-house kind of sleepiness.  My silent Eden was shattered by the sound of scissors.  I listened for the sound twice and shot up in bed which is really hard for me at 26 weeks pregnant.  Once I shot up in bed I remembered that one shouldn't make sudden movements that would hinder the possibility of a loving, cuddly child going back to sleep in your bed, even if just for half an hour.  So I hit the pillow again.  The sound continued.  My mind reeled through what she could be cutting, hoping and praying it wasn't her own hair.  Ohhh, how am I going to fix this???  Shame on ME for even having scissors in the house!  What was I thinking?!?  Then I hear, "Hi, Mommy," in the sweetest, faintest little whisper.

She entered the room.  I didn't have my glasses on so I couldn't see the damage.  She approached my side of the bed (Why always Mommy and never Daddy?).    I could see in her hand a toy from an old McDonald's happy meal that Rob tied to a balloon yesterday.  She says again, "Hi Mommy," and then begins hitting me over and over again in the face with that damned balloon, and the scissor sound was none other than her playing with the McDonald's toy.  Relief!

So moral of the story:  You may think Eden is sleeping in lazily on a Sunday morning while the entire house is quiet, but when you have a 2 year old, realizing that she has NOT cut off her own hair is even better.

Work Life Balance

This is a post I started back in July. Again, how far we've come! I'm still busy and ironically never got around to posting this. Maybe work-life balance is as hard as I thought it would be. Just as my mother warned me, I get used to a certain phase or behavior or ability or inability of hers and just when I'm feeling good about it, she changes. At 13 months we don't have dirty diapers in the morning anymore. Kathy at the daycare gets to deal with those. Muahah!! Oh and potty training before age 1? HAHA...yeah right. I have not made time for that and won't until months from now.

Robbie, the baby, and I went to Mobile for 10 days over a month ago and I still haven't posted about it. I feel behind on most things in my life these days so it's no surprise this has taken so long. Motherhood keeps me busy. My job keeps me busy. Family keeps me busy. Though in ways the work-life balance isn't as hard as I thought it would be.
I work Tuesday through Friday now with Mondays off so I know what my week looks like. Katie Rose and I have a good routine in the morning. She wakes up earlier than I wish she would (around 6:15 which is an excellent alarm clock if I accidently forget to set mine). Do blackout curtains really help them sleep later? By then I have hopefully had a shower and done my makeup. KR then has a bottle while she watching Baby Einstein's Baby Mozart. Then she usually has a dirty diaper so after I dry my hair, I change her clothes, get myself dressed, and head out the door by 7:25. I might get in a cup of coffee which has been reheated 3 times and cereal. And I try to make my lunch every day, so really, I'm pretty proud of all that I do in 2 hours. I wish she didn't watch tv every morning but I have alot to do and something has to give.
Now, let's address this dirty diaper (or 3, as this morning would have it) every morning. A lady I work with started potty training her little girl at around 7 or 8 months old. She was a "regular" baby each morning so they started sitting her on a potty seat with a toy and eventually she did her regular business on a potty instead of in her diaper. By the time she was a year old she rarely had a stinky diaper. I think this could work especially now before she's really mobile. Any thoughts?
I can't believe she's almost 8 months old and she just gets cuter and cuter every single day. I love where she is right now. She still can't crawl but she gets on all fours and rocks, so it will be soon. She's not great a pulling up on furniture or her crib but she doesn't get many opportunities to practice that particular skill. I'm not in a big hurry for these things to happen anyway. She loves playing peekaboo and she really loves when her daddy or I act like a monkey. Parents do such ridiculous things to make their children laugh.

Baby Sleep Project

I used to think I understood the phrase "sleeps like a baby."

Haha! These are posts I started and never published and it's really funny going back and looking at these. I like how this is titled Baby Sleep Project and was started last spring. Oh how far we've come. KR started sleeping through the night at about 7 months old and has never turned back. Thank goodness!

So Behind!!

Ok so I have not been updating as often. My job keeps me busier since I got a promotion in August. My homelife keeps me busier with a now 13 month old running around and relentlessly trying to eat dog food. And along came hunting season...Halloween....Birthday....Thanksgiving....and now Christmas. Whew!!

So back to KR's birthday. It was a great little birthday party. The "rule" is that you invite the age of the child plus 1. The girls at work make fun of me because I have all these "rules." Rules about timeliness of thank you notes. Rules about what shoes can and can't be worn before and after certain holidays. Etc. We invited more children but hunting season is busy for families in Montana so only Alison Sutherlin came. And it was just perfect. Katie Rose loved all of her toys and she loved loved LOVED her cake. KR loves attention - an audience - commotion, noise, and entertainment, for sure. She gave the best performance a parent could ask for and we delighted in celebrating her first year.

Grandma Posie and Grandpa Bob came over with V-V and Grumpa. Bonnie and Pop were there and Meredith. We sipped on boxed wine and ate yummy food. The funniest part was what Bonnie was exclaiming while KR ate her cake. Bonnie thought maybe the top of the cupcake cake reminded her of her breastfeeding days. I've never heard Grandpa Bob laugh so hard.

Then and Now

This picture was taken exactly 1 year ago

What happens in a year!

I have so much to post about my baby turning 1. We had a fun little birthday party for her. V-V and Grumpa and Great Grandma Posie and Great Grandpa Bob came over from Stevensville. Bonnie and Pop were there too and our friends Meredith and Alison. She had so much fun opening her gifts and hugging her new baby dolls. She loved her giant cupcake and dove into it face first. I will post pictures and a video when I'm at home. It's just hard to find time these days but I want to cherish these memories for sure. We love you baby girl!!

As the Grownups Do

She talks on the phone like we do.

KR loves to hear someone talk to her on the phone so whether it's a phone, a remote control, or anything else smallish and rectangular, she holds it up to her ear and says, "Oh? Ahhoh?"

She loves chocolate the way we do.

She loves credit cards the way we do.

And she cries when they're taken away...like we do.