"Happy Girl" {12 Months}

Carly had her 1 year check up this afternoon, which means I can finally post her 12-month blog.  I suppose a week late isn't so bad.  We had a good appointment and she handled those nasty shots like a champ, once again. It helps a lot that they let her sit on my lap while they stick her.  The kid has a high pain tolerance, that's for sure!

Carly is a pretty happy little girl, a joy to be around and the love of our lives.  It's hard to believe she is 1 year old, although we feel like she's been in our life for a long time.  It's hard to even remember our Florida life without her around. So without further adieu, here's what she's up to this month...I'll break it down into 3 categories:

Play

•  Her absolute favorite parts of life are being outside and in water.  We try to do these things as much as possible, which translates into most days going for a run and taking a bath.  Most weekends we now try to hit one of the water parks and spend nearly the entire day under the sun (she has a very nice skin color as a result, I might add).
• She has explored ever crevasse, nook and cranny of our home, and her favorite spots are in the bathroom, the kitchen cabinets and standing on her changing table or rocking in her chair.
• She loves anything that has a button to press, lights up, plays music or can be dumped all over the floor
• She continues to place everything in her mouth, and has shown a special interest in eating my hair
• She has decided that the word "no" is funny and will do whatever action she is doing over and over again upon hearing that word
• Diaper changes have become increasingly more difficult as she likes to feel the product inside
• She enjoys opposites: in/out, up/down, on/off, open/close, etc.
• She has resorted to screaming when she needs our attention or doesn't like something and we are working DILIGENTLY to help her use her words and actions by giving her more to use.
• Is one of thee most verbal babies I have ever met.  She has her own language and generally forms words using, "di-doo," "doo-di," "doo-doo," "wi-geet" and "joo-gi."  
• She refers to herself as, "Gigi," and regularly says, mama, dada, JJ, hi (she says this an average of 200 times per day and it is her go-to word for everything), & bye.
• The telephone is her favorite toy and loves to chat, pretend or for real
• She's a climber and has creatively made a few impressive obstacle courses
• She's standing on her own for minutes at a time but prefers cruising and crawling...although she did walk ACROSS the waiting room at the doctors office today.  So much for a first step...make that first steps. ;)
• No teeth but those bottom two are a comin'
• LOVES animals, just loves them....whether in real life or in a book
• Books only hold her attention if they have actions, animal noises or flaps to open and close...she has a few books memorized and can answer the questions or complete the sentence to a few of them.  Her absolute favorite book is "Moo, Baa, La La La" followed by "Wheels on the Bus"

Eat

• Carly is a food enthusiast, always asking to eat and seeking out whomever has food or drink nearby.  
• She is not a picky eater in the least bit, but most enjoys sweet potatoes, iced animal cookies and anything chocolate
• She tends to have a "fruit of the week" that she asks for daily and then will all of a sudden refuse to eat it. Her "fruits of the week" have gone from bananas to grapes, to blueberries and currently we're on oranges.
• She doesn't like strawberries...so far the only food she will continually reject. We've been trying to give them to her since she was 8 months old but each time have had no success.
• We introduced milk this week and she spits it out if offered in a sippy cold while cold, but will drink it if it's heated and in a bottle.
• Loves water and chugs her sippy cup multiple times per day.  Also enjoys spitting it on people.
• Smacks her lips when she's hungry
• Asks to nurse once/day.  We've tried to wean this feeding but so far we haven't convinced her to stop.
• Loves to eat ice and throws a tantrum when told no.
• Her record for most food in one sitting was 3 eggs, cheese, crackers and mama milk 
• Goes about crazy when she sees iced animal cookies and knows exactly where they are in the pantry.

Sleep

• Overall enjoys sleeping and goes down without a fuss.  She generally plays for a few minutes before falling asleep and sometimes will play for 10 minutes when she wakes up from a good nap.
• When asked if she wants to take a nap will sometimes point to her room or crawl in there, with us close behind.
• Is OBSESSED with her paci, and will hunt for one at random times during the day.  She knows we keep one in her car seat and one in her crib, so she frequents those locations when searching.  I have been against the paci from day one for this very reason, but here we are and both Brian and I have come to the conclusion that if it makes her happy and serves as her sleep aide that we have no problem letting her continue use.  We are, however, starting to put our foot down that the paci is only for car rides and sleep time.
• Is a paci thief and will take the paci out of any babies mouth during a play date
• Is also a paci giver...on multiple occasions I've been laying on the floor playing and closed my eyes for a few seconds and sure enough, a paci will be inserted into my mouth.  How sweet!
• Monkey has become a close friend and confidant, and she frequently wakes up from naps telling him/her (I think I want monkey to be a girl...) all about lots of things.  
• When I enter her room to get her up, she quickly leans down to grab monkey, followed by finding paci and refuses to leave the crib unless she is accompanied by both.  We then stand over the crib until she has thrown both back in (which she thinks is a fun game).  We want both to be associated with sleeping, but will probably let her start playing with monkey outside her crib in the near future
• Started sleeping through the night 5 days before her first birthday and does so 5 out of 7 days per week.  WOOHOOOO!!!  I think a year of middle-of-the-night feedings is plenty!

Carly about broke the scale this afternoon, weighing in at 19 pounds 12 ounces (before nursing, and 20 pounds on the dot after nursing) and tipped the top of the charts at 30.5 inches.  She's grown exactly 10 inches and 12 pounds this year and ranks in the 27th percentile for weight and 88th for height.  That's a jump in both measurements, but a huge jump in height!  The doctor said their percentiles at the one year mark are a good representation of what they will be all throughout childhood, verses the marks she has received at her check ups throughout the year.  We also found out at the office today that our doctor suddenly quit two weeks ago due to a family emergency.  But he didn't take a leave...just quit.  I thought it was very strange, but pray that everything is okay!  The doctor covering all of his patients is the only other doctor on staff in the office, who has gone from part time to full time until they find a replacement.  She's a mother of three and wants to return to part time as soon as possible.  I think we might switch offices when we move, so I suppose it's good timing.  The doctor we saw was incredibly sweet and was very impressed that Carly has a vocabulary of 10 words!  She also thought she was one of the prettiest little baby girls she had ever seen. :)  And...we gave her peanut butter in the office, just in case of a reaction...but we are in the clear!  Last thing to try is honey...which she can now have at any time.  Oh, and fish...but I don't know when she will have an opportunity to eat that.

Her schedule is still pretty consistent with what she's been doing the past two months, but now she is finally taking naps that are over an hour on a regular basis.  I feel like I have so much time!  I finally know how my friends were getting so many crafty things done!

7:00am-up, nurse
8:00am-breakfast
10 or 10:30-nap (one nap is generally an hour and a half, the other 45 minutes but isn't consistent on which nap is the long one and which is the short)
12:30pm-lunch
2:00pm-nurse
3:30ish-nap
6:00pm-dinner
7:45pm-get ready for bed with lights out hopefully by 8:15pm)

We've found that if she is sleeping before 8:30pm that she will sleep until after 7am, but if she goes to bed after 8:30pm than she wakes before 7am.  Warning to our families...we will be very strict about her bedtime in Iowa, so plan on it! :)

Lastly, here are her 1 year photos in her sweet lady bug dress.  It took me 42 snaps but I think I ended up with some decent photos.  I'll do a big photo shoot with her outdoors very soon.  I also learned that she needs a bright colored bow, because after the edits her black bow makes her hair too dark.

This one is my favorite...she looks like a toddler here. :)

I love my growing girl and am enjoying loving life. :)
To God be the glory for a year of health, safety and happiness for our little family.

"Lessons Learned"

What a wonderful first year of motherhood I have had.  Like I am anticipating the next several years of my life will be, it was full of learning moments.  I do, however, wish I would have had more encouragement and less advice accompanied by having no expectations of my baby.  If I've learned anything this year, it's this sports analogy:  My baby should dictate the tempo, and I can guide her along by calling the plays.  So...with that said, here is my advice/encouragement to all new mamas.  I hope those of you who have also recently entered motherhood or who will soon step into the great journey, that you'll find encouragement in my lessons learned and always take heart that you are not alone!  We all struggle the first year...we just don't all admit to it. ;)

Here's the list I wish someone would have spelled out for me the first few weeks home from the hospital:

1. You are not a perfect mom, but you are the perfect mom for your baby 

2. God has entrusted this child to you, He has confidence in your decisions
3. Do what your instincts tell you...know one else knows this baby like you do
4. Acknowledge that your baby is different than every other baby because each baby is unique
5. Your primary responsibility in life is to love on that sweet baby
6. Don't compare...just don't.
7. Some days it's going to be tough, just know that going into it and don't expect anything more
8. Don't let them tell you nursing will take the pounds right off--my weight didn't start coming off until the weaning process began around 11 months
9. Try to stop yourself from feeling bored or wishing the days away-you only get this calm time with your first born once
10. The sleep patterns of your baby should not determine the level of happiness you have with him/her and do not reflect your parenting skills
11. Nursing can be so difficult and doesn't work for every mom but if you can get through the first 3 weeks with no bottle the rest will be much easier.
12. No guilt. Don't let Satan influence your thinking that you're doing something wrong.
13. Don't try to be super mom, because bottom line is you aren't, yet...but take heart, you'll get there!
14. The first few weeks are hard! Your hormones drastically come down on day 5; so don't be surprised if you spend the whole day crying.
15. When your baby gets sick, take heart that in most cases health is right around the corner...the week that we first traveled to Iowa, Carly was only 6 weeks old and much of the trip she would vomit everything she ate.  I was worried about her and my cousin said that in the moment it seems like it's never going to stop, but then a few short days later you look back and say, "remember last week-I thought we'd never get through that!" :)
16. Do what's best for your family and don't listen to the pressures that can be placed on you (i.e. keeping your baby up past nap time or bedtime to play, letting someone get in the way of a schedule that is working well, etc.,etc.  Just do what's best for your little family, even if you end up taking wrath from someone for it).
17. Find someone whose been through it to give you encouragement. Not advice, you'll get plenty of that!  I was fortunate that my best friend had delivered her first born just 8 months earlier, so infancy was fresh on her mind and she showered me with encouragement.  My mother also reinforced for me that I was an excellent Mom, especially when I felt judged by others.
18. Accept that you aren't going to get everything done, especially right away.  If I could go back to that first month, I wouldn't have lifted a finger.  No cleaning, no cooking, just cuddling and napping.
19. Do some reading, but read multiple viewpoints and take it all with a grain of salt.  Your baby is most likely not a textbook baby.
20. You must not worry. Your baby will wake up the next day, unless God decides otherwise, and you cannot control His will, so you might as well just get a good nights sleep.

So there you have it, my top twenty pieces of advice/encouragement, primarily for the first three months.  After the first three months, you tend to figure a lot of this out anyway...because you get to know your baby and your baby gets to know you.  I was so hard on myself the first three months of Carly's life, and I truly hope that this list can inspire other moms not to put so much pressure on themselves and their baby.  Once I realized these 20 truths, my time with Carly was much more precious.

Philippians 4:6-7

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, 

by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, 

present your requests to God.  

And the peace of God which transcends all understanding 

will guard your hearts and your minds in 

Christ Jesus."

"Happy Birthday, Princess!"

Happy 1st Birthday, Carly!

It's amazing to me that I have a one-year-old.  My mom said to me last week when she was here, "remember telling me you could imagine yourself with a baby but you couldn't imagine yourself with a toddler or child? Well now you can."  Carly is officially a toddler, but in all actuality she is still very much a baby. She isn't walking (although I know she can...more on that later), she doesn't have any teeth, she's still nursing and she is so dainty that we can still snuggle her on our chests. 

When I turned on my iPod this morning, there was a message from Baby Center wishing Carly a happy birthday.  The message read:

"Congratulations! You've made it through the amazing, exhausting first year of your child's life. Think how far you've come since meeting your precious baby: Remember changing ten diapers a day, waking every few hours for a feeding, and worrying over every new milestone? Remember when a quick trip to the store with your little one was a strange and scary endeavor?  Those days are long gone – now you're a pro. While you celebrate your baby's first year and how much he or she has grown, take a moment to reflect on how much you've accomplished, too.  And the fun has just begun! You have a toddler now – which means walking, talking and greater independence.  Read about what's headed your way in the toddler years--potty training, tantrums and more."

Then it went on to say, "You've also finished the My Baby Today app..."  What? I don't get daily updates on Carly anymore?  I was so sad to hear that!  I guess I'm a pro and I don't need them anymore!  That's not true!  Anyway, it was fun to wake up to that little message as I held Carly tight and wished her a happy birthday.  

So, what have we done to commemorate such an important year?  Well, Miss-C woke up before the sun this morning (and 2 hours before her usual wake up time) due to a mess in her diaper.  Her parents, however, did not know that was why!  Brian's alarm was due to go off in about 10 minutes, so he got up and tried to rock her back to sleep.  She was squirmy like she was in pain, so he brought her in to me.  I nursed her and then carried her back to her crib so that she'd go back to sleep.  She started crying before I was even back to my room (which she almost never does).  So I went back in there and asked if she was just so excited to be one that she couldn't sleep anymore?  I rocked her as she wiggled and squirmed and cried.  She was throwing her head around in exhaustion but something was wrong.  I picked her up and put my nose to her booty...nothing.  So I decided maybe her jammies were bothering her, so I took those off and could see poop in her diaper.  Why didn't it stink?! I'm telling ya, this kid has some rancid stools, so I was shocked that I couldn't smell a thing through her jammies.  At any rate, I quickly began changing her and her little bum was SO red...I bet she had been sitting in that poop for hours!  Poor kiddo!  When is she going to learn that we don't go number 2 at night?!  She let out a squeal of pain as the wipe hit her tush, and I knew at that moment the only way to get this sticky poo off without hurting my poor baby was to stick her in the bath.  Needless to say, we didn't get to go back to sleep after that...but she did snuggle with me in the nude for about 10 minutes.  I really wanted to let that rash get some fresh air, but after one poop and one pee, the diaper was put back on!  I swear I only looked away for a second, and looked back at her and she had a turd in her hand!  Oh the joys.........

This morning was our regular routine: play time followed by breakfast, followed by some more play time.  I dumped her entire toy box out in the middle of the living room, which she found great delight in. I also made sure to cook all her favorite foods today and was generous with the amount of iced animal cookies that she got to eat.  We went for a run and played outside for a long time.  It was in the thirty's when we woke up this morning, so I bundled us up real good to go outside.  Turns out the Florida sun is still very warm, so we were shedding some layers on what turned out to be a lovely 55 degree day.  I think the temperature on her birthday will drastically change from year to year.  Could be anywhere from 30 degrees up to 90 degrees...like it's suppose to be later this week!!

We took a trip to the grocery to get rice, chicken and sweet potatoes so that she could have her favorite foods for dinner!  She took a long afternoon nap to make up for her lack of sleep last night and we anxiously awaited daddy's arrival.  We then sat down to dinner and a birthday cookie.  She loved the singing, candle and the sweet treat.

We finished the day with a nice long bath.  I am fairly certain she delights in water even more so than being outside.  She had a bath last night, but it was her birthday, and we wanted her to have as much fun as possible.  I think we were successful at that. :)

After 3:52pm, I kept thinking about how exactly one year ago I was holding my precious infant and how I held her for nearly 48 hours straight and how precious that time was.  No pain, no stress, just lovin' and snugglin'. Today I looked at pictures of our family in the hospital, read my birth story and praised God for a year of health, safety and happiness.  I look forward to the days and years to come, entering a new stage of toddlerhood.  She's been up to quite a lot this past month, but I will wait to post her typical monthly updates until after we go to the doctor and get her stats on Friday.  

She's a joy and a blessing...nothing shy of a miracle, certainly Heaven sent.  

Here's the song we sing at Disney:
"Happy Birthday, Princess! Today's your special day!  We're having a party to say, Happy Birthday, Princess!"   

"It's My Party I Can Cry If I Want To"

Last night we celebrated Carly's first birthday!  She is still 11 months old for one more week, but since my mom was in town we thought it would be wise to have her party a little early.  Tiff is still playing basketball, so my mom has to get back to Iowa for sub-state; hence why she came this week. :)

The day was loads of fun, decorating, cooking, cleaning...I enjoy the decorating part the best.  I really enjoy putting events together, but I've decided I don't like being the host.  I just don't like the pressure and take things very personally when they don't go just perfectly.  I suppose I will learn to shrug it off the older I get.  Here is the decor and the spread for her birthday party: 

Throwing a big birthday bash comes with a learning curve.  The party started at 4:30pm, and guests arrived for about 20 minutes.  I think I counted 30 people in total who were able to celebrate with us.  Carly and I should have stayed at the door greeting, but I was trying to talk to everyone who came in. Mistake number one. Brian was suppose to get off a little early and be home by 4:50pm, but he didn't roll in until nearly 5:15pm, so I was rather anxious for those 25 minutes.  I wanted to wait for him before we ate, so we just chatted and played but that was mistake number two. People, including Carly, were hungry and it wouldn't have felt like we were waiting for him had we all been eating.  Regardless, Brian came home, blessed the food and thanked the Lord for our sweet Carly, and we all dove in.  On the menu was Chicken Salad Lettuce Wraps (a favorite in the Weiss household), fruit kabobs & Brian's Aunt Paula's Veggie Pizza.  We had Pink Lemonade, Nutella cookies and lady bug Cake Pops for dessert, plus an array of pink candy and cookies for guests to take home with them.  It's nice that Carly is born around V-Day, because there is ample amount of pink for sale!

Carly was very fussy for the first hour of her party.  She greeted guests but then became completely overwhelmed that there were so many people in her house.  She hadn't had a great nap and was hungry, but knew that there was chocolate on the table and refused to eat her dinner....pointing, screaming and lunging for the chocolate.  So, I felt discombobulated, embarrassed, and anxious that whole first hour.  At that point I had decided that the party was a epic fail. :(

But...as soon as we got Carly in her highchair and began singing "Happy Birthday," she made a 180 degree turnaround in attitude.  Her ladybug cake was placed on her highchair and she was happy as could be.  The girl loves chocolate...can you blame her?  Chocolate is one of my absolute favorite foods, so I'm not at all surprised.  Carly ate pretty gracefully, but inevitable the cake painted her skin.  So fun!

My friend, Amanda and her daughter made the cake!

I made her a pink polka-dot bow to match her theme

All done!!

Here's a video I took toward the end of her chow down.  We got 7 minutes of footage on our camera but I haven't edited that yet.

We moved into the living room to open presents and Carly really enjoyed that time.  There were 8 toddlers/babies at her party and they were all sitting on the floor, so she had plenty of playmates.  It was precious because she kept crawling over to Jacob (the boy she spends each Saturday with).  It's fun to see her really know another baby.  The oldest child there was Karis, and she was the biggest help in opening gifts!  I have decided that every 1st birthday party needs a 2-year-old to assist with opening.  Karis loved opening Carly's gifts and then would sweetly hand them to Carly, who truly loved each and every one, a fairly even spread of clothes, toys and books [and one very fun alphabet puzzle that she has enjoyed spreading all over the house]).

C is a paci stealer!

Rapunzel soft baby doll

Learning puppy

Alphabet puzzle

Big lady bug stuffed animal she decided to ride!

Overall, the party was a success!  I shouldn't have had any expectations going into it, especially of Carly.  She's 1, after all, and it was her party, so I suppose it was acceptable for her to act however she felt comfortable acting.  We felt so loved to celebrate her first year of life with so many friends from different facets of our life (we had lots of people from church, Disney and a couple of neighbors).  Thanks to everyone who celebrated with us and support us and love us!

"Listen To Your Heart"

It's almost been a year since stepping into motherhood, and like most mamas, I've grown and matured quite a bit this year.  The Lord has been gracious to me and met me in my lowest moments and counseled me when I have stumbled.  So, I thought I would share the journey my heart has made this year with hopes that it will help other new or experienced mamas examine themselves.

When I first saw those two little pink lines intersecting to make a + sign on that little white stick, I broke down in tears.  Soon after came a period of anger and fear.  I had always wanted to be a mom, but not yet.  Not without my family, without a church family and far from most everything that was familiar to me.  I had a tough pregnancy and dreaded going to work to hear the multitude of opinions and comments on my expanding body.  After Carly arrived, I began struggling with contentment, despite being completely in love with her.  All summer I fought this word, "contentment," and would pray earnestly that God would fill my soul with pure joy and that He would take away my discontentment of not living in Iowa.  Most of the time, I truly was happy, but when I was sad, I was pretty down.  I didn't understand why I couldn't love the life God had given me.  I loved being a mom and a wife, but I didn't love all the other components of my life.  All I wanted was to be in Iowa, with my family, with my friends, being a stay-at-home-mom, and desiring my family to grow up very similarly to the way I grew up.  However, I knew that working was the best arrangement for our family, and that having the freedom to raise my children without judgmental glances and opinions was key to establishing ourselves as a unit of itself.  I was so thankful for our home, our reliable cars, plenty of food on the table, a job that I love, a job that my husband loves, and all the entertainment one could possibly want or need!  I also knew I was incredibly blessed, so it made me all the more upset that I wasn't appreciating that.

In the recent weeks, God has explained all of these feelings to me in a very simple way.  You see, I began following my heart Satan has been feeding me lies about listening to my heart. How many songs can you name that has lyrics which point to listening to your heart?  All those songs do not speak truth, but present false hope. Jeremiah 17:9 says, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt: who can know it?"  I was laying in bed one night praying that I would find joy in everything.  I was explaining to my Heavenly Father that I didn't understand why I was feeling so sad when the rational part of me knew that life is great. It's fantastic.  In fact, I am so rational that I dared say that it couldn't get any better...we are SO blessed.  That is when I realized that those "feelings" of discontent were coming from my heart, which is exceedingly corrupt.  Then God reminded me of the verse my Dad shared with me when I was 14 years old and falling in love with my first boyfriend: "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." -Proverbs 4:23.  That was it...those two verses were the answer to my problem.  I wasn't content because my heart was trumping my mind.  Something deceitful was stomping on something rational.  If my heart is guarded by my mind, it is absolutely the wellspring of life.  But if it runs wild, it can destroy me.  The key to finding pure joy in each layer of my life is guarding my tender heart with my strong mind. 

My heart is in Iowa, my heart is with my family, it's with my friends, its the desire to be a stay-at-home-mom, the need to be skinny.  My heart wants my family to look the same as it did when I was growing up.  However, my mind is here in Florida.  My mind knows that working is the best arrangement for our family, my mind loves having the freedom to raise my children as we see fit, my mind is so very thankful for our home, our reliable cars, plenty of food on the table, a job that I love, a job that my husband loves, and all the entertainment one could possibly want or need!  My mind needs to set the tone for running this race, not my heart.  When my mind is on track, my heart will follow suit. 

Being a mother is one of the greatest gifts God has given me.  I love it day in and day out, more than I could have dreamed.  Carly is a companion and a friend to spend nearly every minute of every day with.  She has helped refine me as a person, a wife, a friend, a mother and a daughter of the most high King.  This year has been full of ups and downs a lots of "inbetweens," but more than anything it's been a gift and a blessing.  Praise God for never giving up on us, meeting us in our times of distress, celebrating with us in our times of joy and refining us in ways we could not be refined without him.