Cara's First Snow Day

So we haven't gotten much of a winter this year (and by this year I mean since November). We got snow Christmas morning and by dinner time it had all melted away. It's been pretty pathetic and normally I'd be excited about the lack of snow, but I've been dying to take Cara out in a snow suit to see how she reacts to snow.

Well we finally got our chance today. I happened to look outside and saw there was so much snow and it was the perfect amount to take Cara out....only problem is the only snow suit we have (even though we've looked EVERYWHERE for some) was size 6 month. Luckily we were able to squeeze her in, despite her protests of not being able to move in it (she HATES when she can't roll over to crawl around, it's got a total Randy "I Can't Put My Arms Down" vibe).

Taking her out was so much fun, but since she couldn't move in the snowsuit (as I mentioned) she was just kind of stuck, on the ground, in the snow. I forgot to put the glove part of her sleeve on so she ended up with a handful of snow really quickly and...she hated it! She cried a little bit and when I tried to warm her hand up and put it back in the glove part she wanted nothing to do with it. So she lasted a whole 5 minutes before we went back inside and took her out of the suit. She was so much happier being out of it so I guess we might have to work on her moving in bulky clothes...just in case.


So while it wasn't the experience I was expecting, it was still fun to take her out and show her snow. Bonus is the snow is pretty much melted again so I don't have to worry about driving in it. Maybe next year when she can walk this will be more fun. Plus she can build a snow man at that point! So happy winter here in Utah...where we aren't actually having a winter, but oh well. There's always next season.

Cara is EIGHT Months

I am EIGHT months old!

She's not laying straight...but this is the best
I could get when she just wanted to crawl away

A little blurry, but like I said: she likes to
Crawl away

 

I like: Fruits (which we give her for breakfast), music and dancing time, chasing the kitties now that I crawl, straws (she goes CRAZY for straws), my uncle Andy and Rachel (they are one of the only people to make her smile from the second she sees them and she doesn't want to nap if they are around, but she's not cranky), and just generally being happy and giggling...I'm very good at it, especially with mommy!

 

Outfit from Papa & Nana [Wilson]

First Candy Cane!

 

I dislike: when I crawl and bonk myself into things, when daddy tickles mommy, when my parents remind me I'm hungry (even though I wasn't acting hungry), crawling herself onto toys (if they are touching her, but not in her hands then OH NO!) 

I am now:  Cara is in 6-9 month clothes, quickly growing into just 9 month. I've found some larger 6 month clothes that fit her still, but it's only a matter of time before they don't. She isn't growing REALLY fast, but she's learning fast and I think I prefer it that way.

Teething??

I love cords now!

And I'm big enough to sit in carts on my own!

A Typical Day looks like: She usually wakes up around 7, but I get her at 7:30 (I'll stretch it to 7:45 on weekends), grab an outfit and take her downstairs to wiggle and play for 15 minutes. I'll change her diaper, put lotion on, and get her dressed around 7:45, feed her half a jar of fruit at 7:50/7:55 and her morning bottle at 8 (with 2t of flavored oatmeal). Around 8:15 I leave for work and leave Cara with Larry (sometimes she's done eating, sometimes she's not). She hardly needs to be burped anymore so sometimes he'll watch a "fail" video while burping her, other times we just let her move around and she kind of burps herself.

She naps 9:30 to 10:30 and 1-2:30/3. Then she might need another nap around 4:30 and she'll wake up between 5 and 5:30 then. Around 11:30 we give her a pouch of food for lunch and then a 7 oz bottle and then her last "day" bottle at 3:30 (which get the flavored oatmeal as well). I get home between 5:40 and 5:50 and we'll do dinner together at 6 (she gets a half jar of food with 1T of plain oatmeal). After dinner we do our activity and hang out (we might work on her next skill she's working on like pulling herself up, walking, etc.) and Cara gets a sippy cup with water. Then around 7:20 we do her "last call" bottle (usually between 5 and 6 oz with the flavored oatmeal still) and by 7:45 we start our bedtime routine which includes new diaper, lotion, pj's, and a book (so she's all "tucked in" by 8). Sundays and Wednesdays she gets a bath included in that.

She sleeps mostly through the night, she might get up every once in a while, but she puts herself to sleep so well that we say between 8 and 7:30 she's in her crib. If she's awake, she can entertain herself, if she sleeps, then we're happy. The only time she's cried is if she's pooped at night, but that's only happened a couple of times and she's put herself back to sleep so we didn't know what it was until the morning. We've got a GREAT sleeper!

 

Me with Nana [Sweatfield] Kitty

Going to Travers Outlets. HAD to get a pic
With the big tree!

This Month I: Got to go to Hawaii and be on a plane right for the first time and did so great! Mom did a separate post about that you can read here. I also started experimenting with crawling right before Christmas and then on Christmas became an official crawler - AKA I am a mover. First thing I went after was the kitties, they are probably terrified even more of me haha. If I can't find them I go for their toys to tease them with.

I celebrated my first Christmas and loved that. Unwrapping presents was fun, playing with my new toys was fun, and mommy was just super happy with everything. Let's not forget matching pajamas with my parents was so cool (okay...maybe she didn't say that, but until she speaks I get to talk for her).

Matching jammies!

Helping the parents pick a good new car!

I also squeezed in my first New Year's Eve and New Years before today, I didn't get to stay up late, but I slept so well even though my parents were having a loud game night downstairs. I think I'm going to like this whole new year thing!

Parent's Notes: Cara is just the cutest girlie ever! I know every parent thinks their kid is perfect, but I swear she really is! She sleeps through the night, she loves new foods, she loves exploring and discovering, she's a huge people watcher, but everyone always thinks she's so cute. We only need to work on the socializing part still because it can take her a minute to warm up to people sometimes, but it's getting SO much better.

I'm so excited for a new year and to make new goals this year. To have Cara be a part of it really does make it more exciting. I get to involve her on my yearly goals and since she inspires me to be a busy body (in ways that involve her, rather than just sitting in front of the TV) I'm thinking this year is going to go really well!

She's just SO cute to me!

Yes, she started crawling (officially) on Christmas day and then New Years Day she started pulling herself up to stand on EVERYTHING she could literally get her hands on. She doesn't last in a phase very long before she's ready to move on (I'm pretty sure she mastered sitting up in a day and then moved on to scooting).

One thing I want to note is that I always want to remember her scrunched up nose lately. She scrunches it up when she's really excited or about to be really upset. It looks just like Larry (I didn't notice that until he did it one day), but it's so cute. And for some reason I'm getting sentimental about little things about her (like her armpit, tongue, little yawns, etc.). I can't believe we made this perfect, cute, amazing little girl! I could not ask for a better baby.
 

Update on last month's goals:

• Cara is a crawling and sitting up machine! This one can definitely be checked off!
• As far as waving and clapping goes, she waves a tiny bit (mostly when she's eating for some reason...I think it might be her starting to sign a little bit). Clapping is still a ways off!
• We definitely got our fill of Christmas movies while we had the time. I'm a very happy camper with that.
• The first vacation with her went off without any real hitches. I'm SO happy to have a great traveler! This will definitely inspire more vacations coming up.
• We did do more signs, but please and thank you are a bit harder (I feel like I'm begging her and I don't like that as the parent). This one I will continue to work on.
• New foods we try all the time and she does so well. We're figuring out the new people thing and she's doing much better. She loves little kids or anyone who is animated. They tend to make her smile the most. She does have to get used to the noise that other kids bring though. I think we're going in the right direction with this one.

Goals for next month:

• Add in brushing her teeth to morning and night routine. This way she's used to it by the time her teeth finally show up haha.
• Work on signs still. I forgot to do grandma and grandpa too often this last month so I need to do that more with please and thank you.
• Work more on adding in a lunch pouch and some finger foods (to get those fine motor skills working) to the food routine.
• Make her 9 month appointment to get her checked out again.
• Maybe go out to dinner and not worry about putting her to bed a little later (this one is a bit of a stressor for me).
• Find a good swimming lessons place to get her started in that. With how well she was kicking in the pool water in Hawaii I think she's ready to start that soon and I'm ready to have her learn for safety reasons.

Let's Talk Resolutions

Or, as I've mentioned, my yearly to-do list. Here's what we had in 2017:

• Eating Healthier: HA! Between the pregnancy, the load of candy Larry bought for Christmas (which didn't get finished till about April-ish), and FINALLY getting to eat whatever I wanted after Cara was born (no more stressing about if it was okay to eat or expired)...this one took a bit of a tank. I actually did REALLY well during my maternity leave, but the second I went back to work all bets were off. Oh well...guess this stays on the list.
• Keeping Busy: Um..I did do this, just not like I expected. I was way busy with a newborn, figuring out how to find time to take a shower or eat, and managing those lovely postpartum hormones. I think I got the swing of being busy towards the end of the year, but nothing was really blog worthy (except vacations). We did do more hikes this year, but that's pretty much the only time I left the house the whole summer (which is when it's easiest to keep busy).
• Be better at blogging: Oh boy, if you're just reading this now, then you can't really tell I didn't do this, but I really didn't. I did the same thing as last year where I wrote up the posts and then uploaded them (with an adjusted date) later. Granted, having a baby made computer time very scarce, but I do think I've found a good balance with this and it's going back on the list!
• Complimenting a stranger: I would say of all my plans, this one I was the most successful at! I didn't do it ALL the time, but if I found an opportunity I took it. And it was literally the best thing I could've done. I found a way to come out of my shell a lot more. Even if I was being awkward, I just laughed it off, and kind of started over. This is going on my list every single year because it made me AND another person feel better.
• Organize All I can say besides *downward thumb emoji* is this one went so wayward that it's the first one on my list for 2018
• Get the house put together: Now this one was my second most successful. It also goes with the keep busy notes above, that this was something that definitely kept us busy in the first part of the year. We got 3 rooms put together, most of my craft room, and our whole kitchen/dining/living rooms are also mostly put together. There are some rooms we need to do a bit with, but I'm happy to say we did get a lot done in 2017

Now for 2018 (just my personal) goals:

• As I said up above, Organize is my 2018 theme! I text Stace this week to say I've never ended a year in such chaos and disorder before. At first it was very overwhelming and made me wonder what was my problem (did having a baby mean I lost what was very most important to me?). Then I realized, this means I get to revamp and restart my organizing this next year! My biggest thing is to make organizational totes that will be seasonal (Halloween, Thanksgiving/Fall, Christmas, Winter, Valentines Day, Spring, Summer, Back to School, and vacation) and inside them is going to be all sorts of fun things! We'll have specialized recipes, fun craft projects, maybe some good books (or book ideas to get at a library), list of movies to watch, magazine articles I've collected, etc. Then each "season" we'll open it up and have fun with it AND our kids can eventually play with the things inside and contribute to them as well. I'm VERY excited for this idea
• Complimenting a stranger is another one I really want to keep on this list. It's really changed me for the better, I feel, and made me more empathetic (or maybe compassionate is what I'm looking for here...either way, I get other people's emotions now).
• I'm also making it a goal to do one craft/organization/project thing each month. This really shouldn't be that hard, but I tend to lose patience with crafts so I need to work on it if I'm going to keep up the "create night" for Mondays.
• Stay caught up on the blog. As I've said I think I found a way to make this work and I definitely like having this to read back on (even if blogging is becoming a dead "art"). I hope to keep this until I'm ready to move on to another form of memory keeping (and even then I still want this blog to exist!). We have been tossing around the idea of vlogging. Larry got me an amazing camera for my birthday that's supposed to be good for vlogging. It would mostly be for us, but we'd make it public for anyone to see. We'll see if I can transition smoothly enough.
• After losing our Gender Reveal video with Cara I've decided I need to backup my pictures more often. So I've got a plan for that (backup onto my computer once a month, backup everything onto our external hard drive every 3 months).
• Keep with the frozen meals. The control freak in me loves this plan. I think I can accomplish this one!
• See family more often. We just don't do this enough and it bums me out!

And that's it...or all that I'm sharing. I've created a GREAT nightly and weekly plan for this year to help me keep to these goals. I also think I'm going to join this 100 mile challenge where you (walk/run/crawl/whatever) 100 miles in a year (this is in addition to your regular daily "miles"). I really think I can do this AND you get a medal at the end (which I didn't think I cared about, and then I saw it). Here's to a healthy, happy, more organized year for us!