Sunday, September 27, 2020

Rose-7 Months!


Date: September 20, 2020

Sleeping Pattern: We switched to a 2 nap schedule this past month with Rosie sleeping for ideally about 1.5 hours for each nap (but more often than not one of the naps, usually the 2nd, falls a bit short and then we have to do an early bedtime). Once we got the schedule and wake times all sorted out she still went down easy and then at night has taken to sleeping 11.5-13ish hours, depending on how her naps went during the day (and thusly if she needed an early bedtime). It was a really good sleep month, though! As usual it seems after her monthly birthday things have started needing adjusted potentially lol. 

Eating Habits: Now that she's only nursing 4 times a day Rose doesn't fight it as much, so that's good! She still usually only eats for like 10 minutes (15 if it's the morning or bedtime feeding) and is prone to being distracted (usually trying to watch and smile at her daddy and brother if they're about) but it's good! AAAAND little lady started eating solid food this month! We're doing Baby Led Weaning again and were excited to start (but also terrified of the inevitable gagging, etc.)--and of course the sweet girl took to eating like a champ. She loves food-so far hasn't disliked anything-and does a really good job taking her time to chew things well (and smile at us occasionally in the process). She's had some gags but they've all been dealt with super calmly and easily by her so turns out it hasn't been stressful like at all. Huzzah! We started just with 1 meal a day-dinner time as a family. But it didn't take long for her to pretty much insist on eating breakfast with her brother too so we're up to 2 meals a day. She also does great with her Munchkin 360 cup-we give her some water to take "sips" of after she's eating and she loooves water (that's my daughter! I LOVE water). I usually have to wrestle it out of her little hands because she tries to chug it. 

Development & Firsts: On 8/22 she had her 1st meal of solid food (filet mignon, yellow squash, and potatoes) and she did SO WELL. The steak was absolutely her favorite. She just chewed the heck out of it while grinning huge. Food is so fun to her, it makes her so happy lol. She also rode in the actual stroller (so not the carseat locked into the stroller) for the first time. And Rose is starting to roll more-she rolled from her back to her front for the first time and ever since she doesn't usually lay on her back for long before she rolls onto her tummy. This eventually led to her then doing her first little bit of travel by rolling when she rolled from front to back to front again (it also led to her first time sleeping on her belly when she rolled during the night on 9/6. So far it's only happened one other time during a nap.) She's still doing lots of scooting around, too, so I can tell mobility is coming. She's definitely sort of working on crawling or at least more rolling. Talking has amped up also-the same 3 words (mama, dada, buhbah) but she says "bruhbah" (brother) almoooost constantly. I don't know, just, in general, I can tell there's a lot going on. She's learning so much and growing up so faaaast. Oh, and 1 final (and very momentous) first: on 9/17 she got her first PIGTAILS. And I am now very obsessed. Little girl is almost unbearably cute in pigtails (also they keep her hair out of her food when she's eating lol). And then on the less fun side of development-separation anxiety has really intensified this month. Woooo.

Mischief: Still so so grabby. Always trying to get and grab anything and everything and frequently pulls hair. She's also becoming fond of trying to get things she's not supposed to (like some of James' toys) and usually has a sweet smile of happy mischief/victory if she succeeds in getting the thing. Especially if you say "Excuse meee? What do you have? What did you dooo?" 

Cuteness: I mean...you read that she's wearing pigtails now, right? GUYS THEY ARE SO FREAKING CUTE. I'm obsessed with them. Even she thinks they're cute-the first day she had them when she saw herself in the mirror she got so pleased. I also tried a top pony which was definitely cute but pigtails remain my favorite. Rose eating food is also super adorable. She'll just happily eat her food and smile at you while she's at it, ever so happy about the whole situation. She's always just so happy and wanting to talk to us and play with us. (On the flip side if I walk away from her she has the saddest cry ever.) You pretty much just need to look at her and she's thrilled to death. She gets so excited to see James she'll like wiggle around in my arms and smack my shoulder while grinning huge and giving tiny little half laughs when he and I go get her after she's woken up. He and her are always kissing and hugging and snuggling and smiling at each other and playing. The 2 of them oh my gosh there aren't words for how clear it is how much they love each other. Even when they yell at each other (hehehe I'm so amused when they act like siblings). Whenever Michael looks at her she has a special grin just for him. And me? Oh the lady loves her mama. She always is reaching for me to hold her, trying to crawl into my lap (although she can't crawl yet so she just like puts her arms in it), one time Michael was holding her in a standing position and I walked up and she grabbed my legs and just grinned up at me with the most pure ecstatic expression. She makes my heart explode. She will happily just be held and cuddled like indefinitely. My sweet snuggly girl. She just wants attention and affection, that's pretty much what she thrives on. And Rosie is always so happy to see people-I can tell she is just social and sweet. I can't wait until she actually gets to be with other people (I really hope soon, ugh). All of her sounds are also so so cute, she's always coughing and yelling and roaring and babbling. Honestly she just amazes me. I can't get over the depths of her cuteness and I'll never be able to fully sum it up. *sigh*

Nicknames: Rosie, Rosie Rose, Rosie Posy, Baby Rose, Baby girl, Pretty girl, Coy fish, Lady, Ladybug, Chunk/Chunk-a-munk, "Little Chub/Chubby/Chubby-bye" (James calls her that), Grunty Girl, Sweetling, Sweetie-girl, Cutie-girl, Honey girl, Honey bun, Little miss, Missy, Ma'am, Sweetness, Love, combinations of all of the above...

Talking: Michael's taken to calling her "Kayle 2" (I'm very talkative, if you can't tell). She's always telling us all about it. Whether it's the cute constant chorus of "bruhbah bruhbah" to her brother or the sweet occasional "mama" or "dada" or her very many grunts, roars, growls, squeals, and yells. She is not afraid to say what's on her mind and express herself. I love it. I mean....sometimes the constant yell-talking combined with her loud brother makes my head want to explode lol but overall, it's a delight.

Favorites: James, mommy, and daddy. Playing and cuddling with James (they're always hugging and snuggling and also yelling at each other. The sibling games have begun). Seeing people (on the street, at the doctor, or on FaceTime or Zoom). Anything with a face. Smiling and being smiled at/attention in general. Eating food (can't say that she has any real favorites yet because she just loves all of it. Maybe strawberries if anything?) Kisses. Being held and snuggled. When I make a surprised face at her (usually elicits a giggle). Tickles/raspberries. When we sing fun songs (especially Bunny Foo Foo). Peek-a-boo. Sleeping. Toys. Mirrors. Tags. Getting dressed up. She's just happy like all the time so it's almost like everything is her favorite.

Dislikes: Me "leaving" her (aka taking a step away from her) and n
ot being paid attention to/not having attention from any 1 of us for any length of time. If James is too rough (she yells at him to inform him). Having to wait to long for her food. And yeah that's mostly it.

Concerns: COVID. Always COVID related. *sigh* Worrying about her getting it (presently a very slim chance due to our almost complete quarantine) and worrying about the lack of exposure to different environments, people, etc.

A Day in the Life: She wakes up around 7 (it's actually been more like 7:15-7:20ish and I must say I've loved that) and she, James, and I go downstairs. She nurses, I change her diaper, I give her and James breakfast, we play for a bit, and then down for a nap after being awake for two hours and like 15ish minutes. She usually wakes up in the 10:30-11 range and I nurse her, change her, play with her, then we get James down for his nap by like 1ish and she usually goes down after that (about 2.5 hours after waking up). I then get a blissful 45-90ish minutes for both children napping. Rose and James usually wake up around the same time as well (between 2 and 3 generally, I always hope for closer to 3). I nurse Rose, change her, then I usually rush to get dinner ready ASAP. We all have dinner as a family and then play (potentially do baths) until Rose's bedtime (which starts 3.5 hours after she wakes up, so it tends to range from 5:30-7 start....7 almost never happens lol). One of us reads Rose a book then takes her around to say goodnight to everything. Then one of us-sometimes the same one sometimes not-takes her upstairs and does superhero rules and then puts her in her overnight diaper, sleeper, sleepsack, and then I nurse her and sing "Rosie" (by Passenger) to her and then she eats until she falls asleep usually or is finished eating. If she's asleep I may snuggle her for a couple minutes, and either way I then lay her in her crib and tell her I love her. And then she sleeps all night. The end! <3

Sunday, September 13, 2020

Something Saturdays on a Sunday (9/13/20)

Oh helllooo! So, ya know, it's always a million things going on around here. As always. One thing that has been sort of exciting but is also definitely a lot is Michael and I are now, like, on the board of a brand new non-profit created by my cousin and some other people. It's called RACE (Real Action Community Engagement) and it's "a nonprofit organization dedicated to building a better community by providing programs/resources to dismantle institutional racism, celebrate diversity, and empower people from all walks of life." You can check out our Facebook and Instagram for more info if you'd like!

Posts from this week 

Recipes from the blog that I've made lately
Just Chicken Pot Pie (although I add potatoes and carrots-that I chop and microwave for about 4 minutes-so that there's some veggies for the kiddo)



Cheesy Chicken

Homemade Cheddar Pierogi {with Caramelized Onions}

Mom's Pot Roast

3 Cheese White Pizza with Truffle Oil

Recent links bookmarked (visit my Pinterest for more)

Movies/TV Talk (assume there'll be spoilers)
Schitt's Creek-I finally hopped on the bandwagon and it is totally living up to the hype! Of course I love David. I also really enjoyed Alexis + Mutt and am fairly bummed that didn't work out. But I really enjoy/was surprised by the fact that even though these are privileged not great people...there is an under-layer of goodness to them that I feel usually isn't seen in this type of character. And I really like it.

Instagram Lately 

Monday, September 7, 2020

Chocolate Peanut Butter Tart

Chocolate Peanut Butter Tart
Let's go back in time. Let's go back to a very very long time ago when I first discovered food blogs were a thing thanks to a Facebook ad for Annie's Eats (now called Everyday Annie). I started hoarding recipes to try one day. As I added more blogs to read, that list grew. Even more so when I started blogging myself. Then, in 2012 (picture this: I was still in NY, not yet engaged, Obama was in the middle of his presidency. What a time), I laid eyes on this delightful gem on that same Annie's site: a chocolate peanut butter tart. Clearly so rich and delicious I had to save it. 

But then it took me like 7 years to actually make it. Isn't that sad? 
Chocolate Peanut Butter Tart
Fear not! This story has a happy ending because I did make it and it WAS so good! And, honestly, look how pretty that pb swirl is. I can't believe I was able to make it look that good (tasty food is my forte, pretty food: less so. We frequently joke I should be on Nailed It. I think I could legit win because at least my food would be edible lol). 

Let's break down each tasty layer: chocolate crust, peanut butter, chocolate ganache, more peanut butter swirled on top. Clearly, a winner.

Friday, September 4, 2020

Rose-6 Months!

Date: August 20, 2020

Height: 25.6 inches (we measured her on 9/3/20 because they were off at the doctor lol)

Weight: (as of her doctor's appointment on 9/2/20) 16 lbs. 5.6 oz.

Sleeping Pattern: Things are finally settled into a nice pattern! Rose takes 1 long morning nap, a sort of medium length (about an hour) early afternoon nap, and then a short late afternoon catnap. (Of course I changed her schedule after writing this but we'll talk about that next month!) She goes down easy still, immediately into her sleepy pose of sucking her thumb and holding her hair while I put her in her sleepack. And she is officially consistently sleeping through the night! WOOOO! She usually sleeps 10.5-12 hours at night, depending on when her bedtime falls. She's the best girl.

Eating Habits: It's funny how ambivalent Rose is about nursing compared to James. She wants to eat and is happy about it but very quickly gets bored and wants to play and look around and smile at you and talk to her brother...etc. 

Development & Firsts: Rose's talking has been her biggest development of the month. First her babble started to sound more and more intentional and word-like. Then she definitively said "mama" and "bruhbah" (brother) on August 5th--and said "dada" on August 16. She usually says mama when crying/whining and usually calls out "bruhbah" to that whirlwind brother of hers (sometimes it's really funny like he'll walk away from her and it's BRUHBAHHH like "COME BACK HEEERE"). She also has really started twisting and rolling to her side more from her back, but no full rolls yet. I think she probably could but isn't super motivated lol.

Mischief: She's soooo grabby. Wants to grab at everything and everyone. She especially likes to try to take your food...or really anything you're holding. And she's always grabbing and holding (or pulling) my hair. She also still seems fully amused when she surprises me with poops, her little "hehehe" grin is honestly adorable. 

Cuteness: Oh gosh I mean she's just the sweetest sweetie. Rose still makes you feel like the most loved person in the whole world. She somehow manages to make all 3 of us feel equally special. She gives huge INSANELY excited grins to James and he makes her laugh like no one else (she'll even laugh at the memory of him being funny: any time she's on the side of the pack n play or if she sees him climb on the high chair-even if she isn't in it-she'll start giggling because of all the times he's made her laugh). He is clearly the most fun and funny person on this planet. She always gives Michael this slow sweet grin when she sees him like she is ever so pleased he's here and looking at her. And she always wants her "mama", if I leave her she is displeased and she is always just holding me and kissing me. She reaches allll the time now and that is especially true for all of us-little arms are usually being held out for any of us who are near her. And then those open arms turn into sweet sweet hugs (her hugging James is like omg the most adorable but I also love when she's sitting next to me and just opens her arms and puts them around me like "nooope want to be held please"). She's just so affectionate and smiley. She loves kisses SO much that she even is happy to receive them from stuffed animals. There's no such thing as too many kisses for Miss Rosie. Her demanding kiss cough has evolved into a cough of excitement and/or for attention lol. Her hair just keeps getting longer, it doesn't stick up in the back anymore (kinda sad, still so cute though), and I'm seriously starting to debate getting her some hair ties. It's so hard to sum up the cuteness of the cutest little girl. She's so chubby and has the tiniest little nose and the softest hair and such pretty eyes with long eyelashes and happy lips that are almost ALWAYS smiling (and don't even get me started on her many different and perfect smiles) and cute little grabby hands and tiny feets and I just love her.

Nicknames: Rosie, Rosie Rose, Rosie Posy, Baby Rose, Baby girl, Pretty girl, Coy fish, Lady, Ladybug, Chunk/Chunk-a-munk, "Little Chub/Chubby" (James calls her that), Scoots (Michael calls her that), Sweetling, Sweetie-girl, Cutie-girl, Honey girl, Honey bun, Little miss, Missy, Ma'am, Sweetness, Love, combinations of all of the above...

Talking: Constant sound from this one. She's a loud lady. Lots of high pitched squeals and squeaks, she'll straight up yell if she's angry or frustrated (or sometimes just super excited haha) and lots of little bits of babble. And like I said earlier she can now say mama (usually "muhmuhmuhmuhhhh"), bruhbah (brother), and dada! 

Favorites: James, mommy, and daddy. Playing with James (especially in the high chair or pack n play). Being higher up than James (she thinks it's funny to feel bigger than him lol). Anything with a face. Smiling and being smiled at/attention in general. Kisses. Being held and snuggled. Tickles/raspberries. Eating. Sleeping. Toys. Mirrors. Tags (Like the kind on clothes and stuff...it's weird but true.) Sitting up. Being naked and being dressed up. Getting dirty diapers taken off.

Dislikes: Teething, not getting enough sleep, and not being paid attention to/not having attention from any 1 of us for any length of time. She's become super clingy lol. 

Concerns: Still just the lack of socialization and missing everyone because COVID sucks.

A Day in the Life: She wakes up around 7 (usually I get James then we both get her), nurses, we play for a bit, and then down for a nap after being awake for an hour and a half or so. She usually wakes up again 9:30-10:30ish and I nurse her, play with her, then she and James both go down for naps around the same time (after she's been up like an hour 50). Then she wakes up around 1:30ish usually and I nurse her, we play some more. After she's been up like 2-2.5 hours she has a little catnap and then is usually up around 4:30ish. She hangs out in the high chair while we all eat dinner around 5:30 and then her bedtime is around 7pm, give or take. Honestly the times are pretty variable depending on how her naps are going. For her bedtime routine we read her a book then say goodnight to things on the main floor (including brother) and then one of us takes her upstairs and reads superhero rules to her and then changes her diaper and gets her in her sleeper and sleepsack. I then nurse her (while singing the song "Rosie" by Passenger) and lay her down (sometimes asleep, sometimes awake) in her crib when she's done. Every day with Rosie is a good day <3

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