Traveling, a Wedding, and lots more

I have tons to say now that it's been about a week and a half since my last post. Since last night was a rough night without Adam in the mix (Toronto this week), I'm really tired and need to be in bed.

Last week - Morgan did quite well on the EASY drive down to Manhattan, KS for my friend, Meg's wedding. It was great that Adam could drive and I could crawl back and forth b/w the front/back seats. Thankfully I'm kinda bendy and could do it. That night? Not so great. Our fault. We forgot the bottle at dinner and she got WAY too overtired. Things settled by around 11:30pm and we all slept, Morgan in her car seat b/c the hotel crib didn't work out.

Morgan then turned into super adaptable, cute, happy baby the rest of the weekend. She did SO well - beyond our wildest dreams. She smiled at anyone who gave her the time of day although she still cried a majority of the time if someone else besides Adam/me held her. We worked on it though. We just warned people she's going to cry, not to worry, and here you go! :) We tuckered her out and then left bright and early Sunday morning (7am!) so that Adam could catch his plane. The wedding itself went off without a hitch. It was beautiful, Meg was gorgeous, Trey is a rather dashing individual, and we're really happy for them. On Sunday, Morgan was rather tuckered out and was a PEACH the whole way home. I got SO lucky. She slept 3 of the 5 hours it took to drive home and was content with looking outside, playing with the toys I handed her, or having a bottle with my arm (that felt broken by the end) reaching way back to reach her. Continued to thank God this whole week for Sunday.

Other Morgan updates:

• She now sits for long periods of time. We still don't leave her unattended b/c if she's going over, she's going over hard if something's in the way. The other day, however, she sat for at least 10 minutes without changing positions. It's fun to watch her "fall" forward and be SO surprised when she's suddenly on her tummy.
• Morgan's been eating like crazy. As in up to 8 oz of FOOD at supper some nights. No wonder she's gigantic.
• She continues talking up a storm and after some discussion with my fellow SLPs, her vocalizing "mama" when upset and looking for me is not quite her first word. It's not consistent enough yet but it's fun to say "Yes, Morgan, what do you need, honey?" We pretend she talks to me all the time.
  
• Morgan now sits in the bathtub until it's time to wash her hair. She LOVES this, btw.
• Morgan had her first shower this past weekend while we were in Kansas. She woke up a stinky baby and instead of putting her in the questionably clean bathtub, we did that. And it was fine. She might have even...liked it. :)
  
• I missed our cloth diapers all weekend.
  
• Since we got back, Morgan's been a little clingy. I can see why, though, as I think she felt like she was all alone for hours in the back seat even though she could see me in her mirror and hear me just fine.
  
• The never-ending wait for a tooth is upon us. I like to blame everything negative on the "suspected tooth arrival" but who knows. Thought I might have felt a slight bump last night during one of the 2.25 hours I was up trying to keep her from being awake but it was gone this morning. Mary said that might happen and that she thinks Morgan is chewing more than usual...I see no difference as she chews on everything constantly. We shall see. Really wish Adam was home tonight so I was ensured some sleep.
• The past two days she's come home from daycare in a onsie b/c she gets too hot there. It's been upper 70s or 80s the past two days. LOVE it. :)
• Nursing update - Morgan is now a morning and nighttime (bedtime) nurser. I am no longer pumping at work (as of today) b/c I only get about 1oz. On the weekends I will likely nurse her once during the day, but we're officially decreasing Morgan's nursing time.
  

Ok, I need to pack her bag, wash bottles, and GET TO BED. Later peeps. Pray for a better night for me, huh? I appreciate it more than you know. :)

Happy First Easter, Morgan!

Happy Easter blog followers!!

Happy Easter! What a lovely day...Morgan was the cutest stinkin' thing I've ever seen in her Easter dress and I'm so glad she got to wear it. But dang if this kid would take any sort of decent nap today...but she got enough sleep in to keep her from being too terribly fussy so we'll call it a victory.

Mommy & Morgan on Easter Sunday.

Opening Easter basket(s) at home

Mmm...tasty cow...thanks Easter bunny...

Morgan is amazing. I think it's b/c of her cold (or possible teething - one can never tell, especially rookie parents) but she slept until 7am this morning. SEVEN. A. M. And she only needed nuk plugs 2x which meant once for each of us. We all woke up feeling rather rested and happy this morning. Maybe that's why Morgan didn't sleep much today...either way, thank you Morgan for the extra (needed) sleep.

Having fun with her Easter package from Aunt Steph and Patt

Ah ha! Someone loves being dressed up.

Morgan didn't have to search for her Easter basket this year, but she enjoyed exploring everything that came in them...yes, them. I needed 2 baskets for all her stuff. :) She got: wooden toy animals, 3 books, a swimsuit cover (for our upcoming trip to Kansas), a toy bus that has a little guy and legos inside, and hair bows. Adam got an Ipod armband, some candy, and frames for his desk as he doesn't have any pictures of Morgan! Both of us are sharing some tiny cadbury eggs. I got a gift card from Von Maur where I'm going to buy my crazy jeans when I finish losing the very last of my baby weight. Sigh. Wish I didn't have to say that when she's 5.5 months old...

Test-driving bunny ears from Grandma Susie & Grandpa Andy

Easter bunny photo shoot...not so easy this year.

Happy Easter!

Ok, off to give the kid a bath. She's been lounging in the recliner with Adam for the past 25 minutes. She's doing this new "feeling" with her fingers where she kind of rakes new/different textures to explore. Adam thinks this is the greatest thing. I think it's cool she's exploring and learning. See ya, bring on the dirty monkey child!

Randomness

I feel like I don't have much but feel the need to update Morgan's stats/development a little bit since it's been a while. Forgive me for any repeats.

Morgan, when placed on her tummy, now almost always digs her fists into the floor and lifts her chest off the ground. One of these days she's going to figure out her legs too and then we're in for it - mobile baby. Then we will finally invest in those expensive baby gates for the stairs...and yes, the ones with the doors built in. My luck we'd get the cheap ones, I'd have the baby in my arms, try to step over, and go down the stairs sacrificing myself to save the child person. No thanks. Will spend the extra moola for the convenient door.

When Morgan pushes herself up while on her tummy, she now randomly loses her balance and accidentally rolls over onto her back. HILARIOUS to see the look on her face once she settles and realizes she's survived the crazy-fast roll-over.

Morgan has been "talking" like crazy lately. She's using all sorts of sounds and has been using variegated babbling for a few weeks now (various consonants in her "ramblings"). Today she was telling whoever would listen at the mall about something crazy interesting.

Speaking of the mall, we (and by we I mean I) were/was super interested in having Morgan's picture taken with the Easter bunny but we were too cheap to spend $24 for one 5x7 and a few wallets. I'm sure she'll thank us later when she's not screaming with EB...however, it was GREAT to see my nieces' picture with the EB and my older niece crying her poor little eyes out...only b/c it was cute. Sad little duck. :)

EB comes tomorrow. I'm pretty sure he's bringing me a gift card towards my crazy expensive jeans for when I reach my goal weight (only 7lbs to go as of last check!!). SUPER excited to collect said gift cards. (Von Maur for all you who might be intersted.) :-P

My battery is dying on my computer. I suppose I should charge the darn thing and go wash some bottles. Adam took care of loading diapers in the wash tonight so that was a nice thing to skip. Go hubs. :)

Big Cart-Riding Girl

What a great first day of my (what I call) Easter break; otherwise known as the "four day weekend." The temperature made it up to roughly 85 degrees, it was sunny but with just enough haze that you weren't blinded when you were outside, and with a breeze that made it not too hot to do anything. Loved it. :-D

Adam had to work today but since I didn't, the whole Schmidt family got to sleep in until 6:45am. WoAh!! That's an extra 1.25 hours for me. Morgan woke up super happy and was just lounging in her crib, feet up on her bumper, when I went in to get her. Lovely. :) Nurse, play, breakfast, diaper/clothes changed, and darned if I didn't put her in her crib with a nuk and she put herself to sleep from a completely awake state. In her crib. Awesome. :)

So today was yet another where my weight decreased about another half pound. I don't know where this is coming from but I'll take it for all it's worth! I AM eating a bit better and with smaller (somewhat) portions, but nothing that would account for the weight dropping off like this. Again...not complaining one bit - maybe my body was just sick of it as much as I am.

Today we received two very nice packages from Grandma Sherri & Grandpa Al as well as Morgan's Aunt Steph and Uncle Patt. There were even some treats for her to share with Mom & Dad which were much appreciated! :)

Today after Adam got home from work, he suggested we head to Menards to run some errands and exchange our propane tank so we had somewhere to cook the hamburgers I had planned for dinner. Well, I just carried Morgan in as I've been doing here and there at the store for short trips, and the cart seat was at such an angle that I thought she'd be able to sit in it with me watching her and/or strapped in. So in she went (without the seat protector I bought for her back when I was preggo and thought it was a great idea) and it went well! She hung on to the sides and/or front for dear life but overall did really well. She looked like she was 5 y/o instead of 5 months. Sigh. We were told by the guy mixing our paint for the bathroom (kind of a light blue-hint of green color) that we looked like kids at Christmas with a new toy (referring to Morgan). Hey - it's not our fault she's totally fun and we were bored while waiting. I think he might have been jealous b/c we have the cutest little girl on the planet. :) It's ok. I would be too if she weren't mine.

That said, my wine glass is empty and I should really go see what's left after Adam's 2nd trip to the bottle. It's a good bottle. No reason. But I love it anyway. Later peeps.

Nursing Update

Well, things aren't going the greatest in the nursing department. I blogged about my supply being nonexistent for a day or so while I was super sick with the stomach flu last week but it hasn't seemed to truly bounce back yet. At the end of last week, I was getting 2oz out of a pump session and for any of you pumpers, you know that's almost nothing.

I decided to give it another go yet this week of pumping 2x/day at work. On Monday (yesterday), I got the new "regular" 2oz per session. I wasn't going to pump in the afternoon b/c I was so frustrated and figured it almost wasn't worth it...but a friend made me think and I had some time at work so I pumped and got another 2oz...all together, one whole bottle's worth (she takes 4oz a time at the sitter's). I felt really good that I did that.

Today my schedule was weird b/c I had to go to the dentist after my last home visit but it was early enough in the day that I couldn't pump in the afternoon so I just pumped 1x over my lunch. I got 3.5oz which is super close to one whole bottle so I was pretty happy about that. I nursed Morgan when I got home then b/c we had volleyball tonight when she was going to bed. I have to go pump b/c of that so she'll hopefully have more than a bottle's worth. So for now I think I'm just going to go back and forth b/w 1-2x pumping at work and see what happens. Since Morgan's almost 6 months old (well, in 3 weeks, really) I feel pretty good about where things are at. My goal is to finish the school year pumping at least once a day unless things drop off even more...and then I just want to nurse her in the morning and at bedtime until we just don't anymore. I'm pretty pleased that I've made it thus far.

I also think that something (ie. good ol' aunt flo) might be making an appearance...which would completely make sense for the drop in milk supply. Great. I missed her so. NOPE. Not so much. One day at a time...

Push Ups

Few quick things (yeah right, me - quick, ha) before I do diapers, chat with Adam when he gets home from class in 20 minutes, and then bed. Maybe a snack in there. We shall see.

Morgan is now doing pushups when on her tummy. I am excited to see her coordinate the whole crawling thing and am pretty sure it will be quite hilarious along the way. She seems pretty proud of herself when she does these said pushups. I have a picture I'll post...likely in October. :) JK.

Add peas and plums to Morgan's diet repertoire. She liked the peas tonight and ate way more of them than I thought she would on the first try. The peas are store-bought b/c I couldn't get the homemade ones smooth enough for her to eat right now. Plums were funny b/c they were a little tart...she knew she should like them b/c they were fruit but shook her head a few times before squealing for more (then practicing signing 'more' as we would prefer that mode of communication over a squeal). SUCH a good little eater. Takes after her mother. :)

I am now down to 5lbs over my pre-pregnancy weight and 7lbs away from my goal weight. If you recall, I was in the process of losing my last 2lbs from Christmas 2008 when I found out I was preggo. Didn't think I'd be trying to get rid of those 2 dang pounds in 2010. :) But for very good reason. It feels SUPER good to be fitting into my pants so much better. I see my expensive Joes in the nearer than originally thought future. :-D

Grossest thing ever today (but it's funny if you think about it) - Morgan had just had 4oz of formula. Thought enough time had passed. Did "super baby" 1x. Giggles ensued. Mom needed more giggles. Mom got barfed on instead. Not just barfed on. Barfed on my face, down my neck, on my shirt, IN my shirt, on my pants...costume change and in jammies HOURS before I had anticipated. It's hilarious. It's ok. Where was the damn camera so I could win my $10K on AFV??

We are going to try a photo shoot with an Easter theme this week. I got Morgan some bunny ears (headband) much to Adam's dismay this past weekend and then remembered I have a ton of Easter eggs in the basement...since she's sitting up for brief periods now, I see adorable Easter pictures in our future. :)

Ok fine, I'll go do diapers. We managed to stretch them to 3 days this past time instead of washing them every other. LOVE it when that happens. It's not a gross thing by any means but it's just time consuming to put them together. It's supposed to be 74 degrees here tomorrow...and then 80something the next day; 81 on the first day of my 4-day weekend. I see Morgan and I spending some serious time outside after we buy her some baby sunscreen. LOVE THIS.

The OTHER Roll Over

Today Morgan officially rolled over from her belly to her back on her right side. This happened two weekends ago while Adam's parents were here and I scared everyone by yelling with delight as she was doing it but I thought it might have happened b/c I put her down on her tummy and it happened very quickly post set-down. But today I put her on her tummy, watched her for about 10 seconds, and then watched her stick her little hiney up in the air, tuck her right shoulder, and laugh after she rolled over. Stinker. She's so dang cute.

Eat-a-potomus. That's my daughter. I sent her enough homemade baby food to eat at daycare to last at least a week. Yup. When I picked her up today (Wednesday), Mary told me all she had left was zucchini. Piggy pants. :) Morgan has now added pears and zucchini to her food repertoire. I was going to add peas next but I couldn't get the dang things to get smooth enough. I just don't want her to choke on the hulls so maybe we'll do green beans next...

I had a terrible bought of stomach flu (small potential it was food poisoning but I don't think so) Monday night and all day Tuesday. UGH. It was awful. Adam was at class and I had just gotten back from a 3-mile walk with the baby. We were eating dinner and I didn't feel so great about half way through but got through it fine. Then bathtime...still not feeling any better and actually feeling a bit worse. By the time I got her upstairs for nursing I knew something was wrong. I finished nursing and literally tossed the baby in the crib before racing downstairs to the bathroom. I'll spare details but within 12 hours there was not a THING left in my system. Thankfully I was spared a fever/chills. And props to the amazing hubs who got up with the baby two nights in a row and took over almost all duties so I could rest. It was actually hard to be away from her (or not able to play with her) for fear she might catch it. So far so good...she's been a little quiet the past few days but nothing too alarming. I picked her up from daycare today and Mary said that Morgan had been quiet this afternoon. As soon as I shut the door to Mary's house, Morgan starts babbling away. Silly monkey.

Ok, off to get Morgan's things ready for the morning. I have a rather huge bag of frozen fruits/veggies ready for Morgan to go tomorrow. Should last her until...at LEAST Tuesday. :)