Did the tri and reached my goal

Last weekend I completed the triathlon. It seems all that freaking out and pre-race neurosis was for nothing, because I beat my overall time (for this race) by 6 minutes! My second goal was to hit my pre-pregnancy goal by race day and I am now under that weight by almost five pounds. It was a lot of fun, and I was reminded of how empowered I feel once I cross the finish line. It's always good to have a fitness goal and acheive it. Doing triathlons remind me that I am strong, and this year I also thought a lot about how I want Zooey to grow up in a healthy, fit household. It was good, too, for me to have something to focus on other than mommyhood. :)

Freeze!

I have to wonder if all mommies have moments where they wish they could stop the clock, scoop their children into an embrace and just hold them there. The last eight and a half months have gone by faster than any other period of time in my life. I look at Zooey and I want to freeze everything about her right now; I don't want to ever forget it. And yet, I know that someday my job as mommy will be as complete as it can be, and she will be grown leaving these brief moments as memories. And I know that every stage will bring more fun, memorable moments along with it. I want to remember...

...the way she smiles and wiggles her whole body in joy when I go in to get her up from sleep
...the way she practically jumps out of my arms to get to Daddy when he gets home
...her fast, excited breathing when she's happy and can barely contain herself
...the way she practices making different sounds in the backseat while we're driving somewhere
...the way she furrows her brow in concentration when she's reaching for her finger foods, or when she falls backwards as if to say "what just happened?"
...how she daintily toys with my necklace then squeals and tries to put it in her mouth
...the way she snuggles on my lap as I read to her
...the weight of her in my arms as she stares outside when she wakes up

There's so much more. I replay these moments in my mind each day before I go to sleep - the sweet blessing she is and how much fun we have together as a family. It is all just so sweet...it leaves me without words.

An adorable giveaway

The Chronicles of a Babywise Mom blog is doing another amazing, cute giveaway. I am hoping to win and crossing my fingers that I do. The stuff is just too cute! Check it out: http://www.babywisemom.com/2010/06/product-review-boutique-patterns.html

Zooey is 8 months old today!

I cannot believe that we have but four months until Zooey is a year old. Last year at this time, I was 22 weeks pregnant. Halfway there, looking forward to a week off from work for our last kids-free vacation for a very long time. I remember looking forward to that trip, the time I would get with Ryan alone and wondering how our future trips would be. I've been on two short trips with Zooey, one alone and one with Ryan and his family. There were some areas where it was tougher, but she was also such a blessing; she enhanced the trips. Don't get me wrong, I know Ryan & I will take some much cherished alone trips away from our kids, but I think my perspective is just a little different. I now see that it's not as bad as I thought it was going to be, and I enjoy her so much that I want to spend every minute I can with her. :)

So - Zooey is 8 months old. She weighs about 16 lbs., 6 oz.; I don't know how long she is, because our next check up is next month.

Zooey LOVES:

"where's Zooey?" and "peek-a-boo"

independent playtime

bathtime in the big tub

pulling toys out of a basket and examining each one

books

Daddy. He's like a rockstar in our home.

her jumparoo

her tiny doll that says "I love you"

her bunny that goes with us whenever we go bye-bye

her "Raffy" the giraffe

having her tummy and chin tickled

going for walks and actually stays awake and talks now

when we open the blinds

Zooey dislikes:

being away from Mommy - even in the same room (separation anxiety has started)

strangers

having her arms touched in bathtime, getting lotion on them or getting dressed

waiting to eat

Zooey now:

rubs her hair when she's sleepy or self-soothing - it's cute!

eats some finger foods (more for practice at this point)

stays up about 2 hours at a time, give or take a few minutes

...and as of last week, she sits independently!

The Leap of Categories

My feelings toward leaps are twofold. First, I love that my daughter is learning new skills and that her brain is growing. On the flip side, being the "Type A" that I am ::read: control freak:: I hate what these leaps do to our daily routine. I also don't like the fact that these leaps are seemingly scary and confusing to my baby, who definitely shows it with much fussing instead of being her happy self.

I am obsessed with getting enough love sleep. If I don't get enough sleep, I like to whine to everyone who is around me will take a nap. I am SO happy we have a baby who sleeps 12 hours at night. SO happy! We worked very hard with Baby Wise from Day 1, just like the book talks about, to get her to sleep through the night. That was, in fact, our main goal for picking Baby Wise as a parenting book at first. We now feel that the –Wise books have a lot of "wise" information in them for rearing a tot and plan to read some more of them. Anyway, my point is that I'm glad we worked hard, and I'm glad it worked.

When Zooey goes through a leap, sleep is the last thing she wants to do. Seriously. That and eat. This time, the leap seems to be coinciding with a growth spurt, so the eating thing isn't an issue, but she's been waking up between 5:00-6:00 in the morning and not sleeping well for her naps. At first I thought it was because she had a cold, but it was a short cold that's almost gone, and the early waking is still happening. Throw the fact that she's learned to sit up independently ::Hooray!!:: and we have a completely messed up routine.

So, once again, we're employing CIO. Once again, I must change my perspective to being happy that Zooey's learning a new skill and waiting for about 2 weeks for her to get back to normal. Vent over. This leap is actually kind of exciting! It's called the Leap of Categories. Around week 37, babies begin to comprehend that everything has a category and practicing new skills. This applies to everything they learn about, for example, a spotted horse and a brown horse are both horses or Moto and Snowball are both cats or (most excitingly) Zooey, Mommy and Daddy are all people. The book states that some scientists believe this is the age where real intelligence begins. The world of categories helps baby interact on a new level with the people around her. I'm extra excited that she's sitting now, because good toys for this wonder week are blocks of different shapes and sizes, picture books, stacking toys and toys/household items that are in the same category. We have some of these, and I've been waiting to use them until she could hold herself up and play with it in front of her. It's a lot of fun to see her growing into the little person she will become.

I think it will be interesting when I have another child to look back on these wonder weeks and see if I feel the same way with the next one or if some of the stress will be gone, because I will have two kids to focus on. Time will tell…

Here's a chart of the leaps. I found it on the Wonder Weeks website. I'm not too sure about that super freaky picture in the bottom righthand corner, but nothing I can do about that. http://www.thewonderweeks.com/images/stories/Book/WW_info_chart.pdf

I've been slacking on my blogging...

We will see how long this post is, as I think Zooey's in the process of dropping a nap and I may have to go get her very shortly. Life with a baby = little time to blog. There is so much that's been happening on all the fronts of my happy little blog.

On the "oh my gosh does she really think we care" front, we made the decision this week to eat less meat and try (insert overexaggerated drumroll) tofu! For those that know Ryan, this is a BIG deal. And get this - much of it was his idea! So far, we've tried a lovely little tofu stirfry that I threw together for lunch: tofu cubes sauteed in olive oil and garlic then stir fry in the brocolli, purple onion and red bell pepper seasoned with soy sauce and hot sauce; serve over hot brown rice. Delicious! I also made tofu spaghetti, which tasted like spaghetti sauce. I was in a hurry, but I'll let you know how it goes when I decide to actually make my own sauce. I'm excited about this change and hope it will last, as I know it is much healthier for us. We aren't foregoing meat completely, we just won't be eating it as much as we were. If you have any good bean or tofu recipes (or cookbook referrals), please let me know! My husband will not eat a dish with only veggies - there has to be some source of protein. I promise to share any good recipes I come across, too.

Growing in the importance scale here, Zooey is finally on a four hour routine. For those who follow Baby Wise or the Baby Whisperer type of routine, you know that it is nice to have blocks of 2+ hours when you don't have to be home, so "baby can nap." Plus, with all the nap problems we were having, I'm happy to report that the extended schedule actually helped her daytime sleep (I was sooo scared it would hinder it), and she's getting the rest she needs. She's also extra super happy, even with an impending leap on the way, and I promise to post some uber cute 8 month pic's in :sniff, sniff: a week.

It has been so nice to get out and about this summer. So far we've been to the zoo twice, the aquarium and the botanical gardens. I was thinking this morning how this time of year used to be so exciting, because it meant Ryan & I would be heading on our "anniversary vacation." This year, I'm just excited that Zooey's growing and can do more. Along with her physical growth, her sense of wonder grows by the minute, and it's so fun to watch her get interested in things and figure out the way the world works.

My mom finished her chemo and radiation this week. I know I've been somewhat silent on this topic on my blog, but that is because I had so many raw personal emotions about the subject that I decided to journal elsewhere rather than make it so public. It's been a trying experience for our family to watch her go through this. This past week has been extra hard on her, and she's having a very rough weekend. The sensation of not being able to get comfortable no matter what she tries is driving her crazy. The dr. gave her some med's to help her relax, and we're all praying that they will work quickly. In the midst of this whole thing, God continues to answer our prayers. She hasn't thrown up, not once. She had insurance and financial worries answered this week in a positive way. God has shown us all verses and sent us people to encourage us. My faith has grown and once again I have learned how dependent I must be on Christ and how He is in control - not me. I know some of you read this to learn how she is doing, and I wanted to tell you that her treatment has ended. Please continue to pray for quick recovery and that the treatment got rid of all cancer cells with no return.

And...I'm done with the post and it looks like I may even have time to prepare dinner before she wakes up. So nice!

Zooey is 7 months old today!

I cannot believe it! I know I say this every month, but I just...can't. It amazes me how fast time has gone, how big she is getting. I have a slideshow of pictures as my screen saver, and there's one of her in a sleep sack when she was about 1 month old. I had to roll the sleeves twice to make it fit her little arms. She still wears that sleep sack, and although comfy, she will soon outgrow it. So many times each day I look at her, smell her sweet baby head and kiss her sweet smooshy cheeks and think about how much I love her. Daily I think about how I cannot wait until she walks, about how much fun she will have next year when we visit the zoo or how she'll enjoy different foods, etc., and yet I cherish these moments when she's so small and I can snuggle her up to me.

Zooey now has eight teeth! Her top two middle teeth came through last week. Maybe we'll have a break for awhile?? I've read that if babies teeth early they'll usually get their molars by the time they turn one or shortly after, so the next few months might just bring more teething fun. And, yes, I'm still nursing. Yes, she's bitten a couple of times, but she listens pretty well when I tell her no firmly and won't bite again until the next teeth come in and her mouth hurts. She's getting so close to sitting on her own. We practice several times a day, and she will sit for a couple of seconds then fall over on us. I think she gets frustrated that she can't sit for longer or move around where she wants to go. During her independent play time, she sits in her bumbo chair in her play pen where she takes all her toys out of a basket then throws them down. Sometimes she can't quite bend over far enough to pull out one of her balls, and she gets so frustrated! She'll end up turning herself and getting her leg stuck, so we have to go fix her. It's cute, but I think she'll be happy once she can just sit in there and get what she wants. She also seems really close to rolling from back to front. Ryan & I have to wonder if she doesn't just make the move because she hates being on her tummy so much! She'll flip onto her side but she goes no further. She will make it soon enough. In the past few weeks, Zooey's fallen even more in love with her jumparoo. Her feet really touch, and she just goes crazy jumping up and down and squealing with delight. She also loves books. I open the pages, and she laughs and kicks her legs. She is really starting to look at the pictures and "talks" to them, too. My sweet little girl is in a sleep sack for all her naps now, and she seems to be slowly moving herself to a 4 hour routine; she's done it about three times in the last couple weeks. I've decided not to push her too much, but now that I know she can do it, it gives us a little more freedom to run errands or something without as much worry about getting her down for a nap. The girl loves to sleep, though! It wasn't until I kind of accidentally figured out her waketime can be longer by keeping her up when I was out that I noticed she could do it. She'll go down after about an hour and ten minutes and sleep for a good 2 hours for each nap. She's like her daddy - he likes his sleep, too. :) I'm still making her baby food, and she's tried so many things that she loves. One thing I love about making her food is that there's a lot more variety than the store bought baby food. Her new favorite thing is watermelon. We put it in a fresh food feeder for her, and she sucks all the juice and melon out then begs for more. It's very cute! Zooey has begun to enjoy my runs a little more. She doesn't just immediately conk out and go to sleep anymore; she will stay up longer and look around or look back at me. When Ryan goes on a walk with us, she'll pretty much stare at him the entire time. She loves him so much. He walks into a room, and she smiles, laughs and reaches for him. She gets pretty excited about her grandma & grandpa and Aunt RaRa and Uncle Rey, too. Even more exciting than us boring people though, are the cats. Our cats, Sarah's cats, Grandma's cats, Zooey loves them all. She's started to reach for them, and sometimes in the morning, it's just the motivation she needs to sit up when she sees Snowball. I could go on and on, but these are the highlights that really stand out to me from the last month. She's just so precious.

I feel so blessed to have Zooey and to be a mom. I pray daily that Ryan & I will be a good example to her in all that we do. It's just such a privilege to care for her. God knew what He was doing when He gave parents this amazing, fragile, helpless little baby to help raise into adulthood; the bond we've formed with her even now is so strong, and we want nothing but the best for her. I can't wait to see what each day of every month to come holds.