Keep on Truckin

I am continually amazed by the leaps and bounds of development.  I know they say you learn more in your first couple of years then in the next 10, but the rate of growth is always a bit shocking. I know Alex growing up will continue to go by super fast.  Every time she's another month old, I can only shake my head and ask, "where did the time go?"  It'll probably be like that all her life.  I love each new stage that she enters into.  Seeing her experience things for the first time is so much fun and makes me proud as her mama. 

Helping with the laundry

 The funny thing about Alex is she's a watcher.  Always has been.  I think most of the time she'd rather sit and take it all in, then do something about it.  In terms of her milestones, she's usually pretty on, but she tends to be at the later end of things.  She started to roll at 3 months, but didn't start to roll both ways until almost 6.  She doesn't seem to do things half way.  Learn at bit here, do a bit there.  With her it's all or nothing it seems.

It's like she's saying, eh, why bother rolling when I'm just fine sitting here watching you.  Now she's starting to scooch and maybe crawl, but I'm not sure.  She seems to do fine rolling on the floor and pushing herself up when she wants things.  I put her on her belly and she puts her legs in the splits and pushes herself up to sitting.  She's content sitting for right now, and doesn't seem to want to crawl.  I'm not complaining as I like having a less mobile child, because when she starts moving I know they don't stop!  I think she'll be one of those kids that goes from sitting to walking.  Or when she finally decides to move it'll be an avalanche of firsts.

Life is hard!

Either way, experiencing the world through Alex is a much different perspective that I would have thought but a fun one.  Every time she learns something we learn right along with her.  We're trying to stay a step ahead of her while we're still able to, cause who knows when she'll move on to the next thing!

Vacation

Not only did I survive my first vacation since having Alex, I actually ENJOYED it and relaxed and didn't feel too guilty.  There was a lot of guilt up front, me thinking, will she be mad that we left her for a week, will she be ok with her grandparents, how will she adjust etc etc.  Obviously like I figured, she did just fine, and suprisingly I did too. 

The view from our Hotel room

Sometimes technology is daunting and there's so much of it out there, but one wonderful invention is Skype!  I realize it's probably been around a long time, but I've never really had a reason to use it as my immediate family is all within a couple of hours.  Well, we got to Skype with Alex while we were in Aruba which was fantastic.  I know she can't talk, and gets really confused by the computer (I hear my parents voices but they're not behind me) but there's something wonderfully reassuring about seeing your baby even if she's 2,000 miles away.

Enjoying dinner on the beach the 1st night

 After almost tearing up during that session, I think I allowed myself to relax more after that and enjoy the beautiful island.  Everyone keeps asking, what did you do?  Well, it involved 4 things, sitting on the beach and reading, swimming in the ocean, eating, and sleeping.  That was it.  It was 4 1/2 days of just that, nothing more, nothing less and I could not have been happier.  It's always mid 80's with a constant breeze which makes it just comfortable.  Of course we ate a lot of AMAZING food and enjoyed just being adults.  Of course there were fruity tropical drinks, those were a must, and lots and lots of time spend under one of those awesome Palapas, aka, the mini huts.

Our Palapa

Enjoying the clear wonderful water

Although I felt a bit guilty leaving her for so long, we've now come back refreshed and wonderfully rested.  And I have to point out that parents and in-laws are the best for taking her.  I don't know if they'll take another baby for more than a day the next time, but we do appreciate the challenge of taking on 6 1/2 month old for a few days straight.  It's tiring and we love them for giving us this break!  Now to enjoy the last few weeks until Mark starts his new job and Alex and I are back to mommy and me.

Busy Busy Busy

Summer is always a bit of a blur, but even more so now that we have Alex.  It seems like we go from one activity to the next and we have a never ending stream of things going on.  Which is both good and bad.  It's good, because it doesn't allow you to get bored.  It's bad because you don't have time to just veg a little and have some down time.

She does love to swing

Mark finally has some time off and we haven't had a lot of time to enjoy it until now!  The past 2 weeks have been him studying for boards, of course 4th of July weekend, then a few days at the cabin.  I know it sounds relaxing, and it's fun, but not necessarily relaxing, if that makes sense.

Papa I'm DONE

My messy little child

Sometimes I wonder if we are too busy.  I think despite all the activity we've done a pretty good job at keeping Alex's schedule pretty routine.  We are those parents that are a little bit anal (me more than my husband).  I like a schedule and I think that at 6 months, Alex following one is better for her too.  We work trips, activities, going out around her naps, eating, and sleeping schedule.  I'm sure some parents are more go with the flow, but that's just not how I roll.  I don't think we're rigid and inflexible,  but I do make sure that most days/nights, we follow our routine.  In return we get a well rested, happy fun baby.

I think it's the right answer because the days that are really wonky and she doesn't get good naps she's a bit cranky.  She goes with the flow pretty well, but she is her mother's daughter in that she needs her food and her sleep!  However, life will get a WHOLE lot slower in a few days when Mark and I go to Aruba on a vacation without Alex.  Oy!  I'm excited for the relaxation, the beach, and the time to reconnect with my husband.  I will fully admit leaving my 6 month old for 6 days is a little scary and nerve wracking, despite her being in good hands.  No matter how much I trust my parents and in-laws, they're not us, so I worry a bit.  Will she miss us?  I have no clue.  She'll be fine and I'm sure have a blast getting oodles of attention from her grandparents, because that's what they do, right?

Playing with Nanna's Straw

After we get back hopefully life will slow down for a bit.  It's hard to take to to smell the roses when they're whipping by you at 80 mph.  I'm just trying to enjoy each day I have with my precious baby and my husband before real life starts again in August.  Until then, here's to stopping to smell the flowers.

Worst. Mom. Ever.

I didn't know if I was going to blog about this but I thought, this is an open forum to share the good AND bad things about being a mom.  What if people judge me?  Well, that's ok, we all judge each other, and if someone thinks I'm bad mom, that's their opinion.  I realize that I will never be a perfect mom and I'm ok with that.  I feel like my main duty is life is to protect Alex and make sure she's happy and healthy and everything beyond that will come or not.  I know along the way there will be good times and bad, but this time I felt the the worst mom ever.  Even though this is the first time, and I know it won't be the last, it makes you feel awful.

Poor Baby :(

To start the story we got a video monitor because our little peanut is a mover and a shaker.  She kept on waking up in the middle of the night getting stuck in precarious positions, but that's for another time.  Both Mark and I were in her room and he was installing the monitor while I was changing her.  When he got it installed he called me over to see if the positioning of it was good.  I left Alex on the changing table to look at the monitor real quick.  I was about a foot and half away and it took maybe 10 seconds.  I look back and she's falling head first, end over end off a 4 foot dresser, landing on her back and sounding like a bowling ball
.

Add caption

All I can say is sheer panic ran through me when I heard the THUD and then the resulting screaming from our baby.  I quickly picked her up and started crying and thankfully Mark scooped her up, took her to our bedroom to soothe and then look over her.  I sat on her floor sobbing for a min.  Then I went in the other room, saw that she was ok and continued to cry even harder!  Then my loving husband had a crying baby and a crying wife to try and calm down.  Obviously the thoughts that ran through my head were, what if she had fallen on her head, what if she had broken her neck, what if, what if?  I know she didn't, but it scares me that in mere seconds with me close to my child, accidents happen, but sometimes those accidents turn serious or worse.

Had to add a happy one after all the tears :)

Will this make me a little more careful with my child, Definitely! Will it make me overly paranoid, hopefully not!  It taught me a valuable lesson with nothing more than a bump and a scare and I'm thankful for that.  I think that the blood pressure spike is enough for me to remember this for a long while.  And although I realize I am not the worst mom ever, that is how I felt at that moment and for a lingering time after that.  All I can say is no more unattended time on the changing table or any other potential high places :)

Feed Me

The new adventure starting baby food is, well, an adventure!  My sister-in-law gave us a bunch of baby food (thanks Heather) so Alex is all set for a while.  The resounding advice we got was, start with the veggies, well, duh :).  You give the kids the sweet yummy things, why would she want to go back to less tasty but oh so good for you veggies?

She's not sure she likes the peas

What are you looking at?

We started with what I thought would be the least popular, and in my personal opinion the least tasty.....peas.  We tried straight up peas the first time and we got the stink face.  I think it was part taste and part texture.  Once I mixed 1/2 rice cereal and 1/2 peas, she hoovered that bowl like it was an ice cream sundae.   Feeding Alex is a bit like feeding an angry animal.  It involves lots of grunting, whining, and crying if the food does not come fast enough.  Oh boy, she is her mother's daughter (usually minus the grunting).  She has my appetite though, and right now it's a bit like a sieve. You put food in and it doesn't seem to be enough.  I have no idea how much a 6 month old should be eating when it comes to food, but she'll easily take a bowl of rice cereal and a jar of baby food in 1 sitting, only a couple hours after having a full bottle.

She's doing a really good job keeping it all in despite her tendency to keep her tongue by the roof of her mouth.  She'll eat at the speed you feed her, but her preference tends to be fast.  The faster the better.  If you leave minimal time to swallow, she's just fine with that.  She really is a good eater, and has taken to peas with gusto.  I love my veggies, but peas are one of the few things that I will pass one, so I'm happy her taste buds don't seem to be all that picky at this point.

There's a smile :)

The biggest problem feeding her, besides not feeding her fast enough, is my lack of limbs to feed her.  She loves her fingers and is constantly putting fingers, hands, and toes in her mouth while we try to feed her.  I wish I had an extra hand or two to try to keep them out of the way.  She doesn't realize that food will come faster if your hands aren't in the way.  At the end of a feeding it usually looks like I tried to give her a bath in baby food, so a good cleaning is usually needed, which is fine with me, but Alex hates it!  She screams when I take a wet paper towel to her face, hair, hands, arms, legs etc to get the left over peas, beans or rice cereal that has taken residence in any little crevice it can find :).

I know eventually we'll start the bananas, pears and yummy things, but hopefully by then she'll be well established with the vegetables that she'll eat both.  Well, we can hope right?

6 months already

Man, it's been a busy couple of weeks.  Obviously getting ready for Mark's graduation and the last week with the 3rd year residents, it seems like life was really busy these past couple of weeks.  Hence the hiatus in blogging, but now we're back.

I am shocked to say that my baby is 6 months old.  A half a year has flown by in what I can only describe as warp speed.  It seems like a just gave birth to her yesterday, but in that same note it feels like eons ago.  It's this weird dichotomy of time standing still and jumping weeks at a time.  In any case, it's here and I find myself a bit sad.  Alex is no longer my tiny little baby, sleeping in my arms, not able to do anything but eat, sleep and poop.  Now she does those things in greater abundance :) and much much more!

Playing in the back yard

Yes, mama, can I help you?

At her 6 month visit she was 15 lbs 3 oz and 26 1/2 inches long, which are in the 35% and 73% percentiles.  She's a tall lean peanut, which I'm a little shocked about since neither Mark nor I are in the upper registers of height.  We are both by definition, average or slightly under.  I'm assuming the height part comes from Mark's side, somewhere, dormant waiting to be released.  It's sure not from my side where my birth parents were 4'11" and 5'6".  It's very noticeable though from her carseat, which she's getting too long for, to her clothes, she has the longest torso ever! And although she's only 15 lbs, she's a little over double what she was when she was born and grown 7 inches in 6 months, which is crazy!!

Sooooo Big

Big smiles :)

I do miss that new baby smell, which is better than any scent ever, but there are so many things she does now which are almost as good.  She of course smiles, giggles, and babbles to her hearts content.  One smile from her and you're sunk.  Even those tough days when you want to bang your head against the wall, the second she looks and you and grins, it's over.  She's also started sleeping through the night (knock on wood).  The last 2 weeks a switch went off and she's now sleeping 11 - 12 hours at night, and it's AMAZING!  She gets up early most days, around 6:30, but I will so take it.  She's also doing so much better at napping.  She still takes 3 a day, although the 3rd is really a cat nap, but she takes 2 good naps a day, and life is good.

Rambo brought the biggest stick ever & expects Alex to play with him

Right now I feel overly blessed.  I really can't complain about anything, even the tough times we had and all of the growing pains.  I have a wonderful family, a healthy daughter, a loving husband, and we are just content in life right now.  I know things can change in an instant, but right now I'm reveling in 6 months of wonderful baby bliss and excited to see her grow in these next 6 months, although I'm sad with the thought of my baby getting even bigger :(.  Right now she's perfect, sitting on her own, starting "real food", and not too mobile.  She still cuddles, and likes to be rocked, so I'll take it, for now :)

7 Year Itch

It's happening, the 7 year itch!  No, not the kind you get in your marriage, it's been 7 years since Mark started on this journey of becoming a doctor and in 8 short work days he will no longer be a resident and become a full fledged MD.  Woot Woot.

3 1/2 years ago, Match Day, when we found out we'd be coming to La Crosse

I can't explain what it's like being a doctor's wife, it's one of those things that unless you experience it, it's hard to understand.  It's been almost 7 years of fully supporting my husband through this journey to make his dream a reality.  No, this isn't a pity poor me party in any sense of the word.  It's been my pleasure and privilege to be able to support my husband in order to make a better life for our family and so he can do what he loves, and therefore I can do what I love.  But, and there's a BIG But (hehe) it's been a difficult road full of challenges.

Graduation from Med School

I have currently moved twice for Mark.  Once to Milwaukee for Medical School and then again 3 years ago to La Crosse for his residency.  When he got a job here, I can only sigh my relief that I don't have to move again.  The sight of moving boxes makes me a little nauseous at this point.  Moving to a new city is tough.  You leave all your friends, your comfort zone, your family, and your home.  I had to find new jobs in each city and get readjusted.  He had an instant friends/co-worker base and I had to find my way.  He was busy with school, rotations and the like.  There were times I would cry since I was so lonely.  It also seems each time I make great friends we have to move and it starts all over again.  Thankfully, we don't have to move, but sadly some wonderful people in our lives are once again, moving on and away to their new jobs in other states.  It's one of the worst things about this profession. Along the way I've been blessed to meet some amazing people and lucky to still consider some of them my friends!

Some of my favorite people in the world we met during Medical School

Now, we have our own little family and for the first time in almost a decade, I can comfortably call somewhere home, other than Apple Valley.  We always joke that Mark makes the money and I do everything else :).  I am the CFO to his CEO and we makes things work.  I run the household, the finances, and most little things in between. His job is being the best he can be at work, and come home happy.  It's weird moving from this phase because we've been in a constant state of flux the last 7 years, never knowing what our next step would be. 

Mark's AMAZING residency class and families, I will miss them DEARLY!

I'm excited to have him around a little more, and I'm sure Alex will be too.  Putting up with 100 hour weeks and nights as an intern were difficult.  There would be 4-5 days when we'd literally see each other in passing as he came home to sleep and I went to work.  I know there are some families that do that all the time and I don't know how they make it work, but I commend them.  Having him on call and gone that first year was tough, and some months were better than others.  Now, it'll be a new schedule and a new adjustment, but we will make it work, we always do.  This time however it's different. 

Our family + Alex's friend Elly

So here's to the next step in our journey.  I am so proud of my husband and what he's accomplished and hope the next 11 years are as happy and eventful as the last 11 we've been together.