Happy 4th of July...

...a few days late.

For the 4th, we took off to Lake George with our friends M&G.  It was a gorgeous (but super hot) day, and we really enjoyed being at the beach.  It was MiniM.E.'s first time being at a beach when the weather was warm enough to actually go in the water.  Of course, though it would have made for some adorable pictures, I was so hot that I wanted to go in the water too... and knowing me and my history of breaking cameras, I left ours safely on dry land.  I did take a bunch of cute photos though...

Prepping for the trip

Not really sure about this... 

Mom... enough with the pictures

Her favorite toy

Reaching for favorite toy #2... the camera

Waking up from a nap

So excited!

Hope you had a great 4th!

Montreal Jazz Festival

Forward to this post:  I decided that since Stretchy is not nearly so Stretchy anymore... I'm going back to MiniM.E.  It just feels right...

This past weekend we took MiniM.E. to the Montreal Jazz Festival.  We made reservations months ago... like probably when she was two months old.

As the weekend approached, I was excited anxious terrified ready to take MiniM.E. and hide under the bed and hope Bob didn't notice we were gone and would just leave without us.  We'd been to NH.  We'd been to NC.  We'd even flown on a plane.  BUT we'd never stayed in a hotel, or been someplace where I didn't know the location of the nearest Wal-Mart in case we needed more diapers/food/clothes.

What if she throws up on/ poops on all her clothes and she doesn't have anything to wear?
What if we run out of diapers and can't find a store to buy more?
What if we run out of her favorite food, puffs, and they don't make them in Canada?


To heighten my anxiety about the trip, MiniM.E. just had to learn to crawl a week before we left... Really?

What if the carpet in the hotel isn't clean?
What if she doesn't want to be in the stroller or the frame pack because she just wants to crawl?


And there were the normal concerns about any vacation with a baby...

What if she cries the whole time?
What if she doesn't want to eat?
What if I can't nurse her in public because she's too distracted?
What if she gets sick?


And worst of all:

What if we totally mess up her sleep schedule and she NEVER SLEEPS AGAIN?




I suppose it's my job to worry, but this was a little ridiculous.  Not to mention the fact that I was also having an anxiety attack about what to pack.  On all our previous trips, there had been a location for MiniM.E. to sleep, a washer and drier, and, as previously mentioned, a Wal-Mart.

It only took me three days to pack our entire house in the car.  Well, not quite, but we needed a roof carrier.... need I say more.


Fortunately, all my packing was worthwhile as MiniM.E went through just about every outfit we brought. I may have overdone the diapers, as we drove home with an entire box... but better to be safe than sorry!

AND, all my worrying was for nothing.  MiniM.E. was a fantastic traveler and everything went really well... except the entire day that I worried that MiniM.E. had Tetanus because she got the tiniest of scrapes on her foot from crawling around the hotel carpet... but I'm pretty sure she doesn't, so we're good now...

MiniM.E. loved the hotel.  There were so many new things to explore.  Fortunately, all the rooms had recently been renovated, so I was cool with letting her go to town crawling on the carpets.

Ooo... fun circles! 

If only I could learn to jump, this would be ten times better!

Eating at the makeshift baby-highchair. (Sorry Delta, for the sweet potato stains on the armrests of your chair...)

There was a lot of eating in the room

We brought most of MiniM.E.s toys... even this play table

And reading books

And some walking practice

 MiniM.E. can't walk quite yet, so there was a lot of being carted around.

On daddy...

With daddy...

In the shade...

In the sun...

and with Mommy...

As you can see, MiniM.E. didn't seem overly excited by the jazz festival... in fact, this is how she spent a lot of her time...

sooo tired

face plant sleeping

This was at an incredibly loud concert...

Fortunately, there were a couple fun things for her to do on the trip.

We swam a few times...

And got wet in some awesome fountains at the jazz festival.

Overall, I think it was a successful trip, and in the future, I will try not to stress so much... though I'm sure that I will anyway.  We had a really great time.  If being so exhausted that you nap anywhere and everywhere by the end of a trip means you had a good time, I think MiniM.E. really enjoyed herself too.

Did I Mention My Baby is AWESOME??

I just can't believe how quickly babies learn.  Yesterday morning the quickest Stretchy could get around the house was by lying on her stomach, shoving her face in the floor and using her toes to push forward... inch by inch.

Then yesterday she somehow learned to crawl, pull up, stand and cruise.  All in one day.

So this morning, I started baby-proofing...

Is it the cutest that she crawls like that?  Definitely.

I Don't Mean to Brag...

but my kid is kind of awesome.  We had to make a trip to the doctor's office yesterday, and even though Stretchy was supposed to be acting fussy and rubbing her ears (inner ear infection?), she was all smiles and cuteness...

Now, typically, as I think most parents know, when your child can do something awesome at home (wave, clap, talk, walk, stand on their head...) they never do it in front of someone else when you want them to, which often makes the parent look like an idiot, especially if they person they are trying to show doesn't have kids.

Scenario: Stretchy learns to wave and I want to show it off at coffee with one of my friends.
  (arrive at coffee shop.  Stretchy waves at multiple strangers the cashier and the barista while I wait for my friend.  Friend arrives, we get coffee, make small talk.)
  Me: Guess what Stretchy learned to do this weekend?  She can wave! Wave hello, Stretchy!
  (I frantically wave my arm around in front of the baby)
  Baby: Gaaaaa.  Ba. Ba. (gives quizzical expression and drops toy to ground)
  Me:  Come on, wave!  Hi! (I wave more, people start staring)
  Baby: Ba. Ba. (bangs table) AAhhhh! (starts crying).
I look like a giant liar.

As we sat talking to the doctor, Stretchy started waving.  The doctor waved back and said, "wow, already waving, huh?"  So, being the proud mom that I am, decided to try to show off her latest skill.

"Watch this," I said...  "Clap your hands..."

And for once, Stretchy actually did something awesome in front of somebody else.  She clapped.  The doctor seemed pretty impressed.  I was pretty impressed.  Which made me extra proud of my awesome baby.  Just had to share...

The Ridiculousness Continues...

When I posted about the "Terrible Eights," I may have forgotten to mention a few key issues I have with my now-eight-month-old.

Issue 1:  I like my sleep.  Apparently, Stretchy does not like me to sleep.  This is apparent in the fact that she wakes up more now than when she was a tiny infant.  Like every 3 hours.  Or less.  Last night, SEVEN times... SEVEN.  Let me just write it one more time for emphasis:  SEVEN.  Which, according to my awesome new toy, the fitbit, means out of the 8 hours and 15 minutes I was "in bed" I only slept for FIVE. AWESOME.

Issue 2:  I like to eat breakfast.  Apparently, Stretchy does not like me to be full and would prefer I was starving all day.  In the past, I was able to make my breakfast and eat it while Stretchy ate hers.  Now, since she refuses to eat breakfast, I must either eat my breakfast (tasty warm oat bran) while playing on the floor (resulting in oat bran covered carpet and/or toys) or let it get cold and gross on the table and throw it away when it becomes inedible.  Thus, I am now looking for new breakfast options... I am also hungry.

Issue 3:  I like to walk in a comfortable and upright position.  Apparently, Stretchy prefers that I walk with an extra 18 or so pounds on one hip so that my spine looks like a fish hook and I'm practically hobbling after a quarter mile. Obviously neither stroller we have is comfortable or exciting enough for her.

Here is evidence.  Yesterday I planned on taking a nice relaxing walk by the golf course at the Saratoga State Park.  Stretchy started out happy enough in her stroller.

We even saw a bunny.

This is us in the same spot on the way back.

What's different?  Aside from Stretchy being out of the stroller, I look unhappy tired like I love my baby so much that when she screamed her head off as if her arms were being torn from her body, I carried her an entire mile rather than let her suffer in the torturous stroller.

Issue 4:  I prefer people did not think I abuse my child or endager her in any way.  Stretchy, on the other hand, seems to want people miles away to think that I am either lighting her on fire, or letting her be mauled by wild animals.

Evidence:  In the parking lot after we returned from the previously described walk, I placed my seemingly comforted baby in the safe confines of her carseat so that I could pack up our belongings and take her home.  No sooner had I put her down than she began screaming so loudly and inconsolably that I immediately picked her up for fear that someone in the vicinity would hear her and call 9-1-1 or rush to her aid and call CPS because surely a child can only cry like that if she is being severely injured or mistreated.

My only other option seemed to be to set her in the grass while I put the stroller away.

This was a miracle decision on my part because A) she stopped crying, B) she seemed happier than she had in the past few days, and C) we had an activity to entertain her for a good 30 minutes.

I also got some really cute pictures...

The Terrible Eights?

Stretchy is a whole eight months old!  Where does the time go??

She's working on crawling and wants to stand and try to walk all the time.  Which is super awesome.  I also found out she understands us.  You can say "clap your hands" and guess what?  She does!  Amazing.

She's also been incredibly fussy.  All. The. Time.  Or at least it feels like all the time.

It's probably cutting teeth.  Apparently, once they get teeth, anything and everything can be attributed to teething... until they're done getting teeth.  Awesome.

She also has the worst case of mommy-itis.  Ever.  I can't even leave a room in my house and go someplace else without evoking a screaming fit which must leave my neighbors thinking I have a secretive torture chamber.  Forget going to the gym and let her stay in the babysitting room.  The second I set her down she starts crying.  And continues crying.  Until fifteen minutes later (which is apparently the standard amount of time they must keep your screaming kid) when they have to come get me.

And now she's learned that if she wants something that I've taken away, she can scream and cry and most likely, I'll give it back.  This is inclusive of cell phones, toys, kitchen utensils, cameras, stuffed animals, dirty diapers and hair elastics.  It also applies to occasions where she is someplace she likes and I try to remove her to a new location.

She's so super cute that I can't be mad at her, but it can get kind of trying.

AND, as mean as it may be, I do kind of enjoy cute screaming baby pictures...