No further words are necessary

A story about my boobs

Today, May the 25th, marks the first and only day that I actually whipped my boob out in public and nursed Anna.

(Holds for applause). (And holds for retching noise from my brother to end).

Ah, thank you. Thank you.

I was at StrollerFit class and Anna got hungry at the end of it when we were all sitting in the park with our babies. So, I attempted to give her the bottle of milk I brought... but I don't think she likes taking bottles from her Mama, because she was having none of it.

It was only making her angrier and angrier. And the poor thing was crying. Since I can't stand to hear her cry (it breaks my heart when she gets the tears going, too), I thought "Hey - these other Mamas have certainly seen nipples before. And my poor Anna is hungry!"

So out came the boob, (sans hooter hider), and Anna was instantly happy again.

And I got over my issue of breastfeeding in public.

Yay for me.

And my boobs.

And for making Anna happy.

The end.

Don't ever make me take that mean old bottle again, Mama. I'm all about your boobs. Just like Daddy.

Mish mash

As the title suggests, this blog post is just a whole bunch of different thoughts thrown together. Just because it's Friday morning and I can't think of an eloquent, single-minded post. So... yeah. Here you go.

This morning, the height of hilarity to Anna was when she threw up on my shoulder (on her bib, thankfully) and then mushed it into her face. Big smiles all around for that. So I'm thinking I should add "puke on face" right above "blank walls" to the list of things she finds amusing.

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So, yesterday was HOT around here. Our house was 26 degrees inside. But, since it was such a beautiful day, I didn't want to put the air on... I wanted to enjoy the warmth. However, when it came time to go to bed, our house was still 26 degrees. (Well, it was 25.5... close enough). And when I woke up at midnight to get up and feed Anna, I was roasting. So, after she was done eating, I took off the ol' pajama pants before going back to bed. Then I put them back on before feeding her again at 5am. (For some reason my mind was telling me it was 'wrong' to feed Anna pant-less???) The whole reason for this long, blathering paragraph is because I've just looked down and realized I put them on inside out. And I have no intention of changing them. Apparently it's not acceptable to have no pants on around Anna, but inside-out pants are just fine.

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I have had the same damn song stuck in my head for 3 days now. Over and over and over again, it keeps repeating in my head. Sadly, it's a Kindermusik song... so it's not even close to being a good one to have stuck in my adult head. This is my life now? Walking around with puke on my shoulder, my pants on inside out, singing "Come my little darling, a-walking we will go..."???

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A few people told me about the post-pregnancy phenomenon of losing your hair. Your hair apparently falls out a lot after you have your baby. I don't know about most women, but my hair used to fall out like crazy before being pregnant... so I assumed I was aware of what it's like to have your hair falling out all over the place. I assumed wrong. I'm now finding my hair (capital "e") Everywhere. Super annoying. I look down at Anna, she's got hair on her sleeper. I go to put her in her crib, but wait! Gotta pick the hairs off her crib sheet first. I go to give Andrew a hug... there's my hair hanging from his chin, stuck in his beard. I feel a tickle on my arm? It's a hair. On the nursing pillow? Hair. On the kitchen floor? Hair. In the shower? Hair. And don't even get me started about the bathroom sink after I've blow-dried. It's like a bird nest just instantly forms in our sink every time I get ready for the day. I seriously hope I don't end up bald in a few months...

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Anna's napping now, so I think I'll take advantage of the time to have a little brekkies, tidy up the kitchen, throw a load of laundry on. Get the day going. That sort of stuff.

(But I'm not changing my pants.)

A letter to you

Dear Anna,

I started this blog because I love to write. Then, when I got pregnant, my hope was that I could document everything I was thinking and feeling so that one day - you could read it all.

So that you would know what your Mom thought when she was young (ha!) and hadn't even had you yet, but was really, really excited that you were on your way.

And so you would know that when you arrived, you absolutely amazed your Mom and Dad with everything you did.

You would be able to read about the things you liked as a baby. Things that made you unhappy. You could see pictures of the cute faces you made. You would know what your Mom was thinking at the time as she watched you grow up.

(As I type this, you're lying on your playmat, chewing on your hand and kicking your legs in your white cupcake jammies. You look incredibly, incredibly cute. Mommy thinks you're just adorable. But I'm sure you already knew that.)

Sometimes it's hard to remember the little details. I'm already starting to forget how it felt to hold you when you were only 5lbs and 15 oz when you were born. You're already too big to nuzzle into my neck and fall fast asleep after a nighttime feeding. If I didn't have it written down, I might not remember that you smiled for the very first time at me on March 12th. (Now you do it all the time).

It's only human to forget these things. I get caught up in what you're doing right now (smiling and cooing at the panda doll hanging off your playmat) and I tend to forget the little things.

So that's why I have this blog. So you'll know that when you were 3 and a half months old, you absolutely LOVED to stand up in Mommy and Daddy's lap (as long as we held you there, of course) and look around. You'll know that you actually laughed out loud one time when I was giving you a bath.

You'll know that ever since you were about 2 months old, you loved the tree painted on your wall by your "Uncle" Char and that your Dad and I used to call the owl in the tree "Professor SmartFeathers" so you would get a huge grin on your face.

You'll know that your Mom felt silly trotting in Kindermusik class - but I wanted you to be engaged and have some fun. And after only one class, I proudly sung the "Dilly dilly" song to you in front of my friends.

You'll know that I watched your Uncle Chris (the fun, bachelor Uncle who never held babies much) hold you with such tenderness and give you a big kiss on your head at a party in front of all his friends.

You'll know that you scare easily now, you make lots of loud noises when you eat, you love being rocked to sleep on your glider and you hate when I try to clean out the boogies in your nose. (I'm sure you still hate that. I'm sorry, but I can't help it.)

Most of all, you'll know how much you were loved and adored by your Mom and Dad and everyone around you from day one. You'll know that we couldn't imagine our lives without you and that you make us smile and laugh every, single day. You'll know that when Mommy and Daddy hold you and hug you, suddenly all seems right in our lives.

And you'll know that right at this moment, you're letting me know that it's time to wrap up the blog and focus more on you. You're letting out a little cry that seems to say "I want you to give me all your attention, Mommy!"

So that's what it's time for me to do.

All my love now and for the rest of your life,

Mom

Things I love

Just sitting here with a cup of coffee and Anna sleeping attached to my chest all open-mouthed and cute. And I started thinking, "Man alive, I love this". (Of course, it didn't hurt that I was watching Glee and a sappy music montage was playing in the background).

Either way, I'm now inspired to give you the following list of: Things I Love. (In no particular order)...

• Coffee. (This is new. Who knew??)
• Anna's triangle mouth hanging open whilst she sleeps
• PVR (it's changed my life)
• Lululemon stretchy pants
• A full fridge (we just went grocery shopping yesterday. Now - all the food with the different colours and shapes and sizes filling up our fridge makes me happy).
• Anna's elbow dimples
• The sun shining into our kitchen through the blinds
• Sleep Sheep (Look it up. It's amazing.)
• Sitting in Anna's room, rocking her to sleep on the glider while reading a book in the afternoon
• Modern Family (Hilarious!)
• Hanging out with friends
• Compulsively checking my email and Facebook
• Napping on a summer afternoon

Photo op

Anna and I played around with the photo booth application on my Mac today. Well - I played with it while the poor kid tried to nap.

Here we are. Anna's in the stretchy wrap and Mommy can't resist smooshing her face onto Anna's head.

A close-up of sleepy Anna.

Mommy and Anna in black and white. (Gettin' fancy here).

Old-Western-Styles Mommy and Anna. (Even fancier in sepia tone!)

The back of Anna's insanely cute head.

Mommy rubbing her cheek on top of Anna's head.

And Mommy sniffing and kissing the top of Anna's head.

This is how I spend the better part of my days, folks.

The order of things

The following is Anna's ranking of Things She Clearly Loves in order of most exciting and amazing, to least loved. Ranking is judged by, and based on the size of her smile when looking at said object:

• The tree mural on her wall
• Kitchen ceiling fan
• Play mat
• Blank walls
• Mommy and Daddy
• Jolly jumper
• Light fixtures

I think Mommy and Daddy just squeaked by the Jolly Jumper - mainly because it's brand new to her - and she's still a little small for it. However, I'm pleased to say that we rank higher than light fixtures.

She's lucky she's so cute.

Anna cries at Mama's singing

Here's an email I sent to my friend today.

Subject: At Kindermusik class today...

... we actually "trotted" around the room while singing to our babies.

Perhaps sometime in the FAR future, (after a glass of wine or two), I will show you my trotting abilities.

Anna enjoyed herself for the first half... then she got tired and was having none of my trotting anymore.

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So, yeah. Anna cried at some of Mommy's singing. But I'm blaming it on her being tired... not my wonderful Streisand-like voice.

Kindermusik was fun! It was just an hour of singing and a little dancing. Anna's still pretty young, but I think she'll enjoy it.

So - day 3 of Getting Out with Anna Week was also a good one.

And now, I'm sitting on the couch eating and watching PVR'd shows again while Anna naps.

Life is still good.

***Editor's Note.... Here's my friend's response to my email:

"Hahahahaha! THANK YOU for that update! Please paint me the whole picture… what were you singing??"

(My dear friend is quite obviously loving this. Maybe Anna should take note.)

Anna checks out StrollerFit

Anna's waking up from her afternoon nap... so I only have a quick moment to update you on what's going on in the world of Hez.

Went to StrollerFit today... synopsis: Fun!

I got to chat with other Moms, got outside in the sun with Anna, got some exercise, and at the end of class, got to sit in a circle with the Moms and babies and played with our little ones. It was cute. So I'm really glad I signed up for the class.

Day 2 of Getting Out with Anna Week is a success!

Afterwards, I came home, fed Anna and put her down for a nap. So I got to shower and change. (Woo!) Then I fixed myself a plate of finger foods (like Mama used to make for me when I was little) and sat on the couch eating and watching a PVR'd episode of Oprah.

Life is good.