Pet Peeves

Ugh, bare with here I'm going to rant a little. I am just frustrated by some things so I need to get them off my chest. Please don't take any offense, this isn't aimed at anyone just trying to vent a a little.

Pet Peeve #1: Doctors

Not all doctors annoy me, I have some pretty sweet people in my family who are doctors and they're awesome. Actually it's just one doctor in particular. Normally when Penelope goes to the doctor we see Dr. Woods, who by the way is fantastic and we love her! But sometimes her schedule is booked up so we go with another doctor. This doctor irritates me to no end. She goes so fast, half the time I don't even know what she's saying.  The biggest pet peeve of mine is that she always acts like I'm an idiot. I feel like she's judging me. I'm not sure if it's because we have medicaid (sorry we can't afford the insurance Scottie's work offers) or if it's because she thinks I'm young. Although I hate to say it I feel like Medicaid has a certain stigma attached to it. I could be completely wrong & just be paranoid but whatever. Every time she talks to me about Nella's development she talks to me like I'm a moron. Little does she know I have an associates degree in early childhood education, so I do have just ab it of an idea of where Nella should be and what she should be do doing. So don't ask me if I carry her or let her crawl. Of course I let her crawl, why would I carry her every where when all she wants to do is move and be free.

And don't tell me not to force feed my child. I think I know when she's done, I think I am more than capable of respecting my daughter and watching her for signs of her being done, thanks. I bring this up because when Nella's height and weight were measured the doctor said she was the size of a one year old. Yeah, so what? Big deal, I'm tall and so is her father so she's going to be a big girl. Now I  am not an expert on nutrition and I get it, I get the whole risk of childhood obesity and all that jazz but really, she's 9 months. She's measuring 3 months ahead, is that really a big deal. I'm not giving her juice or anything she shouldn't have. She eats fruits, veggies and some yogurt. Once in a while she'll have some pasta or a bite of cake at a party but for the most part she's very healthy.

Now granted I could be completely over reacting and she could just be doing her job. Asking the questions she always asks to everyone but I find her questions annoying. She doesn't do it in a friendly way, it's more condescending and it really bugs me. Ok enough of that onto my next pet peeve.

Pet Peeve #2: Mom Wars

I am blessed to be surrounded by a group of moms who honestly do support each other in whatever choice they decide to make for their kid and that's the way it should be. Everyone is different. Everyone has had a different up bringing, everyone has different views, that's what makes our world a fun place to live. Different is not a bad thing.

It's start even before your babe is born. Natural delivery vs. having an epidural. If you can have a natural birth more power to you. I was induced so labor pains were intense, I got an epidural to take te edge off and Nella turned out just fine. Which ever you choose, you go mama! Labor and delivery is hard work so do what's best for you!

I'm sick of the breast is best slogan. Recently I've seen people using the hash tag breast is best for us. And I really like that. Like it or not, not everyone can breast feed nor does everyone want to breast feed and that's ok.

Some other things that really doesn't concern anybody but the family is weather you  choose to co-sleep or put you're kid in a crib. I'd probably have Nella with us in bed a lot more if she didn't hate it. She literally can not fall asleep in bed with us and that's fine. she needs her own space, nothing wrong with that. And there's nothing wrong with co-sleeping, as long as you don't squish you're babe you do you. 

Oh and this is a fun one too. Organic vs. non-organic. I choose to feed Nella all organic or as close as I can get to it, but not everyone has that luxury because it can be expensive. I know there's a million arguments out there about why we should all go organic but sometimes it's just not possible. So let it go, don't bash a mom because they're not giving there baby what you might think is the best thing. The kids eating right?! Can't we just be happy with that?!

Here's another good one, crying it out vs not. Sometimes it has to be done. Better have a parent let their kids cry it out instead of shaking them right? Yeah I think so too. Who cares, as long as the parent isn't harming the kid it's ok. No it may not be the way you do it with your baby but it's ok. Now I know there is a lot of research out there proving that crying it out is bad, it;s bad for their emotional growth but my mom let me cry it out and I'm ok! 

It's just so annoying. I feel like we're going to end up with a generation of bullies. Instead of seeing their moms empowering one another, supporting one another, encouraging one another they're seeing moms nit pick at each other for every little thing. So ladies can't we all just get along? Let's build each other up instead of tear each down!

P.S. Sorry if I offended anyone, just taking a moment to vent here, this is my blog so if you don't like it don't read it! (Not to be a bitch of anything, but really)

And to take the edge  off, here are my girls 9 month pictures. What a beauty!

9 months in!

Yup, you know it's coming. I think by now everyone knows exactly what comes in this first part of our monthly check in. Well here it is:  I can't believe my baby is 9 months old. It's so bitter sweet to watch my baby grow. In one hand I am so proud of all the new things she is learning, all the accomplishments but as she keeps getting bigger and bigger I'm missing my little baby. I'm missing that little newborn baby I brought home from the hospital.

She really has blossomed in the past month. She's finally got crawling down pat and can move pretty fast. She loves pulling herself up on everything & anything and has even started to cruise along the furniture. She's very slow at it but she just creeps right along. She's climbing now too! Up the stairs onto her chair! She's crazy! We've got to watch her every move. She tries to put anything that fits into her hand right into her mouth, so that's been fun. Thankfully we still have her step 'n' play toy that she loves, and that I love! She can't get out of it and I can actually do the dishes or make dinner and have her be content. If we're in the loving room she pretty much just stands on the couch by us begging for whatever food we may have. She's still working on how to get down, once she stands up but she'll get there. In other big news, she's in the big girl tub now! She has outgrown her baby tub so we've upgraded to the big tub! She does fine, much better now that we have a mat in there so she doesn't slip and slide!

Big girl tub! Before the mat, which was a little scary!

I'm taking advantage of her fresh palate. We've tried spinach, mango, blueberries, and corn. We've got parsnips coming up next and plan on trying some papaya along with plums and anything else we can think of! She's getting better with finger foods too! She eats her puffs like a pro, loves pasta, and she's tried oranges too! So far solid food wise she's tried pancakes, pasta, french toast, bread, meatballs, blueberries (anything that's fairly soft she does fine with). She finally popped out 1 tooth and I'm pretty sure there are more on the way.

Naps are still good. Sometimes they're 2 and a half hours, other times only and an hour. Night time is a daily struggle. I think it's her mouth. Sometimes she'll sleep till 6, other nights (like last night) she's up at 11,1,4:30 and then 6:30. I try my hardest not to take her into our bed, but sometimes it's just too easy not to resist. She usually goes down for bed no problem, we've only had a couple of night (knock on wood) where she screams, and I'm going to go out on a limb here and say it's because of her teeth. Seriously if you had these sharp things coming out of your gums, wouldn't you cry a little? I'm pretty sure I would.

Since learning how to sit up and stand in her crib, it took her a little while to figure out how to lay back down. This is how she ended up one night, so glad I got a picture of it! Too funny!

Although it is a little bitter sweet to watch my baby grow up, it is still so much fun. I love watching all of her different expressions, I love watching her personality  develop. I love watching all the new things she does. I am so excited to see where this journey will take us, I'm so excited to watch and see what kind of little human she will become.

At her doctor's appointment. 22.6 lbs and 28.5 inches tall! Growing like a weed!

We are having her dedication at the end of August so be sure to keep an eye out for a post about that!

Summer Travels

Let's see, so far this summer we've been to Gilbert Lake and Rhode Island. Originally I had thought I'd write some sweet tips for traveling with kids but what the hell do I know. With only one kid and two trips under our belts I think I'll settle for sharing our experiences instead.

Gilbert Lake was only an hour and a half trip which was really actually quite painless. I had my niece and nephew along for the ride as well. Kody (my nephew) does experience some motion sickness so I said a prayer and we went along our merry way. Penelope actually, some how managed to stay up the whole entire trip to Gilbert. With Adora and Kody in the car she was quite happy!  We made it up there only having to stop once for Kody because he thought was going to hurl. Luckily he manged to take a couple of deep breathes and we managed to finish up the trip! (Of course it had to be when we only ten minutes away!) On the bright side we made it, we didn't get lost and all was well. Everyone was very excited to see Mimi & Papa!

I try to get up to Gilbert every year. My parents camp there every summer and it's so nice to get away. Sadly my husband couldn't join us, he had to work (we're saving some of his vacation trips for the arrival of our new nephew!) but we still had a good time. We arrived on Tuesday and came home on Thursday and we all had a blast! We stay in a cabin, I brought along Nella's pack 'n' play and the kids had beds to sleep in. Nella had her first experience at a beach, which was super fun and of course she just had to try the sand. Who says a little dirt is no good for the diet, a little protein maybe? Haha, anyways we all had a blast!

Our next trip was to Rhode Island. Scottie, Nella, Papa Francisco and myself went to see the Pawtucket Red Sox. (They are the AAA team of the Red Sox, which is pretty cool!) Sadly I don't think we'll be making it to Fenway this year, well at least Nella and I won't be. The trip to Rhode Island was about the same amount of time as it would take us to get to Boston. I'm not sure if it was because I was in the back seat with Nella but by the end of the car ride she was over it. She wanted out of that damn car seat. Luckily she can go three to four hours between feedings so she made it the whole trip without needing to eat. By the end of the car ride I was letting her play with my hair to keep her quiet (and by play I mean rip it out!) We meant up with Scottie's brother, his girlfriend and their son. Seats were good, but unfortunately Nella obviously can't sit still very long so we took lots of walks. Which wasn't too bad but I knew there was no way I'd do it at Fenway. Hopefully next year we can make out there!

I guess I do have some tips for traveling with kids. Although I try my hardest to make sure Nella won't be a tech kid (and no I'm not anti-computer or anything let that I just don't want to depend on cell phones and I-Pads to keep her entertained) I would recommend a portable DVD player for travel with a kid over 2. I got lucky on the way from camp and everyone fell asleep! But seriously a DVD would of saved me on the way up. Keep toys handy, anything to distract them really. And that's all I've got. I'm sure down the road we'll learn more about how to keep the kids happy but for now I'm happy gathering up all these experiences!

Here's a few more pictures from our summer! We've made lots of park visits with Kody and Adora. With me babysitting Nella gets to hang out with Jackson and Michelle's girls too! We love summer! We get to spend so much time with our awesome families!

 Park day!

 Hairs so long, it's blowing in the breeze!

 Relaxing before naps!

 Playing with Papa!

 Axle and her are best friends!

 Reading with Grandma!

 Best thing about summer, more time with dad!