Friday, June 26, 2009

The week in pictures

another word of warning: this post is full of pics, hence the title. enjoy.

Last Tuesday we went swimming with Kristen, Evyn, and Carter. Grace had a lot of fun lounging in her crab and hanging out with her new friends. Carter was too cute; he made Grace laugh all afternoon and was so sweet with her. I will leave out the pull up explosion and the penis prayer experience, although they really were the highlight of the afternoon. We had a blast Kristen; love you!




carter the stud. with the aid of mr. crab, floaties, an inner tube, water shoes, and goggles, carter went to the deep end by himself!

I heart this little pumpkin!




Grace waking up from her nap. this was the day I realized I maaayyyy need to move her out of her swing for naps. it squeaks and groans and has a 20 pound weight limit. I had to start buckling her in after she decided to try and crawl out a few weeks ago.


these are from father's day when grace decided to dress up like a little sailor. yes, my husband is wearing a nascar shirt. yes, my father-in-law is wearing a ufc tank top. we only roll high class.





beth bought grace these ridiculous but adorable ostrich feather headband thingys. it was so cute we decided to eat morning bananas with it on. if you can't eat bananas looking fabulous, when can you?



Grace is getting close to pulling up on things by herself. She loves to gnaw on the side of our chair.



Trying to grab the camera


Almost got it...

There it is...

I love her personality. she is such a sassy little gal!



she likes to sit in her toy basket after taking all of the toys out

the end.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

danny,
I love watching you be a father. it is one of my greatest joys to see you love our baby girl. thank you for being so amazing.




I love you. happy first father's day.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

My own tag

I was tagged a few weeks ago by lisa to list 25 random things about myself. that seems like a daunting task, so here is my own made up conglomeration of "tags" done in groups of 5's, 6's, and 7's. again, with the random theme.

Five random facts:
1. I am a sucker for infomercials. Despite my common sense and better judgement, I have ordered (but do not use) the slim in 6 program, a stationary bike for your feet, those really sharp scissors that are supposed to cut a penny, self tanning wipes, a pancake flipper thingy, and a ped egg.
2. Though I know I probably won't use the product after it comes out of the box, I want one of those blankets with arm holes in it, your baby can read dvd's, the 90X challenge series workout dvd, a microphone ear thing that would let me hear the tv better when dan is asleep, and that microdermabrasion wand that susan lucci promotes.
3. I moved 20 times in 27 years and was in 7 school systems before I finished high school.
4. I have four tattoos and Dan and I are working on the next one. I think I would cover my arms in sleeves of them if it were more acceptable. and if I wasn't so prone to changing my mind.
5. I nearly died in a car accident in high school. I flipped my car going 90 miles an hour down interstate 20 across the median and then was hit from behind by an 18 wheeler.

Six Things I wish I could Do:
1. Follow through with things. I am the best starter and the worst finisher.
2. Travel more
3. Fly (not on a plane. like superman.)
4. Accept that God simply loves me for me and not what I do. I'm getting there...
5. Be in two places at once
6. Speak another language fluently.


Five Mommy Confessions:
1. The other day I realized around 3 in the afternoon that I hadn't changed Grace's diaper since 8 that morning.
2. I still HATE drool. cut the teeth already!
3. If I could get away with it, if it were socially acceptable, and if my child would do it, I would nurse Grace waaaayyyyy past one. But call me crazy, when your child can talk and ask for it, I think it's time.
4. I find baby einstein videos eerily mesmerizing
5. For the first three months of Grace's life, I felt like a success if I had brushed my teeth by the time Dan came home from work.


Seven favorite movies of all time:
1. Shawshank Redemption
2. Steel Magnolias
3. Memento
4. Tommy Boy
5. Toy Story
6. Fight Club
7. The War

Five favorite TV shows:
1. Cops
2. The Office
3. So you think you can dance
4. Deadliest Catch
5. 24

Six Bands I want to see in concert:
1. Foo Fighters
2. Dave Matthews
3. U2
4. Coldplay
5. Phish
6. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Five Favorite Pictures of the last year







Seven people I tag to do this:
1. Georgia (this should be good)
2. Emily (this will be funny)
3. Kristen L. (this will split my side)
4. Mom (I know you don't have a blog; just leave it in the comments section. you can leave off the picture part. c'mon, it will be fun.)
5. Libby (can't hardly wait)
6. Kristen H. (looking forward to your mommy confessions)
7. Traci (this is because I miss you!)

Sunday, June 14, 2009

7 months, market, and some baby mama drama



This post is long. I haven't blogged in two weeks and there is much to discuss. Don't say you weren't warned.
We are almost back to normal around the Sinclair household. The last two weeks have been insane, and while I never want to be that person who wishes away her days, I was SOOOOOOO ready for this weekend to get here. I left last Tuesday for market and flew in at 10 on Sunday morning. Being gone that long from Dan wouldn't have been so bad except that he had to fly to Colorado for work training at 3 on Sunday afternoon. And did I mention that he didn't come back until Friday at noon? Yuck. No thanks to being a single mama. It is soooo not my bag.
Anyway...
So last Tuesday I left for market with Grace and stayed the week in Dallas. It was Grace's first time on a plane ride and I must say that for as much as I dreaded it, she was fabulo-so! My mom was precious; she flew in at 3:15 to help me fly with her and our plane for Dallas left at 3:45. That was the day of the really neat hail storm and we barely made it to Dallas. When we got on the plane, we were lucky enough to have the last two rows to ourselves, so I nursed Grace when we took off, she fell asleep, and woke up right before we landed. It was wonderful.



Market was great this time. So much to see and I ordered a lot of fun new things for the store. The worst part was leaving Grace all day while I had appointments, but she had some much needed bonding time with Mimi and Auntie Am. Amber is getting married in August (what!?!) so we had fun Wednesday going downtown to check out the venue and staying up talking about all things wedding.
Saturday night was going well until I decided to start packing and left Grace in the middle of my mom's oversized king bed. She was sitting up and playing and I ran to the living room to grab some things off the table. I heard a thud, but thought at first it was her sippy cup. No way did my child who can't crawl make her way to the end of the bed and fall off in the 15 seconds I was gone. I was sooooo wrong. I turned my head to see what the thud was and there was grace, on her back, on the tiled-concrete floor. She started screaming, and I started screaming, and then we both started crying. I spent the next 10 minutes alternating between guilt and near-hysteria, sure that I had done irreparable brain damage to my child. She finally calmed down when I gave her to my mom; I am sure I was making matters worse being that I could not do the correct parent thing and act like everything was fine so that she would be calm. Who does that anyway, when you are sure that you are going to pick up your baby and blood will be dripping from her half peeled back scalp? Not me. I guess I need to revisit that parenting chapter. All was well within 20 minutes, although I kept thinking of her lying there and would well up and cry every few seconds until I went to bed. I know it is the first of many falls and bumps and scrapes and bruises to come, but man, I don't feel ready for them.
Sunday was an experience all in itself. We were an hour early to Love Field, which turns out is not enough time to check your bags and get yourself, baby, mother, frozen breastmilk, unfrozen breastmilk, stroller, carseat, diaper bag, and 2 carry-on items through baggage and security. I started crying when I saw the line for baggage check; I just knew we were going to miss the flight and if we did, I would be flying in at 2:15 and Dan's flight left at 3. I had to be one of those women who asked the people in front of us if we could jump in line because our flight left in five minutes and we hadn't even begun to make it through security. Grace thought it was a blast to run through the airport and while I can admit now how funny the situation was, I was not laughing at the time. Actually, I was sweating and praying while I ran down the terminal ahead of my mom who still had to manage getting the stroller and milk past the ever-so-thorough TSA. Somehow we made it to the back row of the plane and mom joined us a few minutes later. The rest of the flight went much like the first; just swimmingly.
We spent a few hours with Dan on Sunday before he had to leave and then the week began. I had to open and close the shop every day, which I haven't done since Spring break, and I don't want to do again. I must repeat; I don't know how you 40 hour work week moms do it. Leaving Grace was horrible, knowing I wouldn't see her for 9 hours and that the next day held the same routine. But we made it, and finally the weekend has come!
Here she is with Dan after he was gone for the week. She was so sweet. She kept smiling and touching his face.

Grace turned 7 months on Thursday. I need a new way to say, "where does the time go?" but that is the question I keep asking!
A few updates:
She L-O-V-E-S her feet and has recently started sucking her toes.
She rolls everywhere and will not stay on her stomach for longer than five minutes at a time. Which leads me to my next update...
Because she still hates her stomach, we are nowhere near crawling. She scoots and will eventually make her way to the toy we put in front of her, but she doesn't have much interest in being on her tummy.
Carrots are her new favorite food. She can almost finish a stage 2 container and we are going to start greens this week. Should be some good fun.
She still laughs, giggles, babbles, and coos all the time. No new words (and by new words I mean "mama") but she doesn't say dada much anymore, so I guess it's okay.
We bought her a new high chair and she looks too big in it! I used to be able to set her on the table or counter in her bumbo but she has started pushing off with her feet and arching back and the last thing I need is her laid out on the kitchen floor!
(Is it me, or does she look five miles long in this picture?)


We are going to buy her a big girl car seat this week. I cannot carry the infant seat anymore without straining my back (I know, I'm a lightweight) and we take her out to carry her in places anyway, so we are ready to make the move. Any suggestions of what to buy?
She CONSTANTLY moves her hands and feet in little circles. If she is on our hip, in the stroller, in her hi-chair, car seat... doesn't matter, she is moving. So cute.
That about covers the last two weeks. Next week we are back to normal and I can't wait!