Smart Cookie

Vivian started Montessori School today. She will be going 2 days a week, Tuesday and Thursday. At first I was a little disappointed in myself sending her off to school when I'm supposed to be a super stay at home momma. But as I thought more about it, I realized that it will benefit her, me and our family. Aside from the knowledge she will learn (which I am qualified to do with my background however don't necessary have all the tools to do), Vivian will get to socialize with other babies and learn to be more independent. At this point, Vivian is great at playing by herself but I have to be near her or she will follow me and tug at me. I will have the opportunity to have time for myself, whether I'm doing things for myself or for the family, it will still be me time. I have a list of things I am eager to do on my "days off." This will make me a happy person. I am excited that my little girl is growing up. It is not by any means a sad day. And she is excited as well!

1st day of School Board. I can't wait to do this every year! Obviously she doesn't understand what it says but I did ask her and then gave her some chalk to fill in the blank. She doodled a little something in response. :-)

Vivian's First Cubby

The Theme of the Month is Reptiles

The Class Pets

Oh yeah, I was already asked to be the Room Mom. Of course I said 'YES'!

Tough Princess

Preparation and Overview

Well it's official, I will be participating I my first half marathon in February. I'm registered for the Disney Princess Half in Orlando. I am very excited but a bit nervous. The last time I ran was right before we found out we were pregnant in November of 2010. So I will be starting my training from scratch just like I did when I trained for the 5k nearly 2 years ago. I'm going to share my training with you in order to hopefully keep me more accountable. So I'm all geared up. I got new running shoes and a few new running outfits for my birthday this past weekend, which means I'll be excited to run for at least the first few weeks because who doesn't love to wear new things. :-) While I'm busy training, Derrick is also training for a Tough Mudder, which is basically a half marathon intense obstacle course.

My Gear:

New Brooks running shoes from Louisiana Running Company. The store was pretty cool. They video taped and took pictures of my foot while I ran on a treadmill. Based on my foot and stride they found several shoes for me to try that would be ideal. After an hour of trying shoes on and testing them on the treadmill, usually wearing two different shoes to compare, I decided on my Princess Jasmine Brooks shoes. (that's the name I gave them since this is all in the name of the Disney Princess Half).

My Schedule:

Monday: cross training (lower body)

Tuesday: running

Wednesday: rest

Thursday: running

Friday: cross training (upper body)

Saturday: running

Sunday: rest

Pre- Half Marathon Goals:

Although I'm training to run 13.1 miles and not too concerned about speed at this point, I decided it would be smart to participate in a few organized shorter runs before February.

I am currently registered for the following:

Oct. 7 - Surf and Sun 5k in Jacksonville, FL

Nov. 22 - Turkey Trot 10k in Miami, FL (this was my very first run 2 years ago)

Dec. 16 - Ole Man River 5k in New Orleans, LA

Modified Diet:

We already eat pretty healthy; we don't keep cookies or chips on hand, we don't eat out a lot, we shop from the outside of the market rather than the isles and we drink lots of water. That being said we are going to up the ante a bit by trying a Paleo diet. Derrick learned about it at Crossfit. At first we thought only he would do it and I would do a modified version. Well since I have to cook slightly modified meals for him anyway I figured I may as well go all in. I will be sharing only good recipes with you but please keep in mind that I am not a recipe writer and usually cook like the Italian I am- a little bit of this, a little bit of that- so measurements will be a challenge but I will try to keep them in mind.

What is the Paleo Diet?

In a nut shell, we will be eating like cave people. Veggies, farm-fresh meat, fruit, nuts. No dairy, no sugar, no legumes, no grains, no processed foods. It's going to be really hard not eating pasta or dairy. Cheese is one of my top two foods depending on the day.

So let the games begin.

First Drawing

Vivian loves her colors both the markers and colored pencils. She loves to take them out of the box one by one and unfortunately likes to put them in her mouth, which is why she doesn't have crayons. I have been encouraging her to hold them in her hand and showing her that when she uses them on the paper there is an effect. Teaching her that she is actually producing something when she colors. I tried for about a week and she wouldn't even hold the markers in her hand without attempting to eat them. So we took a break and I let her do some more independent exploration of them. We came back to them a few days later and tried again. Mind you, I'm not sitting down with her and forcing her to hold the marker. Rather, while she is playing, if she hands me one to share I take the cap off, model how to hold and use it, place it in her hand and draw her focus to the paper. It took several more days until she finally began to make marks on the paper and then she went to town. Coloring back and forth and making dots.

This is her first master piece.

And her second a couple of days later.

H-O-T-T Hot

Vivian loves to eat! Actually, that might be an understatement. She can get a little impatient when she wants food and it is too hot for her to eat right away. So we started telling her that the food was hot and then we would of course blow on it. Well, she caught on quick. She soon began to help us speed up the cooling process.

Milk, It Does a Body Good

It certainly does. I made my mind up even before getting pregnant that I wanted to breastfeed my baby for at least 1 year. I knew the benefits far out-weighed anything that formula would ever provide. It is the most natural and healthy thing a baby can consume, after all, breast milk has never been recalled. Most families begin introducing solids to babies at around 3 months. I didn't think that was necessary. Vivian was thriving and my goal was to exclusively breastfeed until she was 6 months. Well we did. And at 6 months she was ready for solid food. She was eyeballing our food, reaching for it, grunting for it. She new there were many flavors she had yet to discover and she was ready. Although we began solids, I continued to make breast milk her main meal, the solids merely supplement the milk. Well, of course she began to grow and her body craved more and she got more comfortable and confident with eating different foods and textures. I continued to breastfeed her. And I reached my goal. I made just over a year. I was very proud of myself. Of course there were obstacles along the way like mid-night comfort feedings and not being able to go out alone or on a date because she required me and only me to fill her tummy. Although it also made things easier. No warming bottles or carrying them around. If she was hungry or thirsty there I was, piece of cake. And of course the bonding and intimate moments of her holding my hand while she nursed, or humming, or falling asleep together. I'm 100% glad I did it and I will do it again. I will miss it but I am happy to move onto the next stage in raising a healthy baby.

I was a bit fearful of the weaning process, especially at night. Vivian has always woken up in the middle of the night for a comfort feeding. This is what I was most concerned with. We had to build up to that. For 2 days I didn't offer a feeding. If she asked for milk, I tried to give her a snack or water. If she refused then I let her nurse. I continued the mid-night feeding as normal. This went really well. Friday night came and we figured that was the perfect time to try no mid-night nursing since Derrick could go in and comfort her so she wasn't tugging at me. We weren't sure how long it would take and we didn't want Derrick to be up all night if he had to go to work the next day. Vivian went down at 7:00 pm as normal. Derrick put her to bed. Like clock work she was up at 3:00 am. Derrick went in and I waited nervously. Nervously because Derrick has a shorter threshold than I do when it comes to letting Vivian cry. 3:15am and it was quiet. Derrick came back to bed and that was it. What?! Are you kidding me?! Yep! That was it. She has been sleeping through the night since. And when I say through the night, I mean 11 hours without a peep. If I had known it was gong to be that easy I would have stopped doing mid-night feedings a long time ago. Oh, well. Nevertheless we did it. Vivian has been Momma's Milk free for nearly 2 weeks now. She did great and we did great. Way to go Team!

Baptism

Thank you to my Mother-in-Law, Lynn, for making Vivian's Baptismal dress. It will make a beautiful heirloom! Thank you to Kyla Goebel and Ian Mitchell for accepting the responsibility of being Vivian's Godparents. We couldn't ask for two better people! Thank you to family and friends who were able to join and support us in the celebration at All Saint's Episcopal Church and to those who were with us in spirit.

Vivian thinks it's too early and wants to stay home to snuggle and finish recovering from her party yesterday.

Blessing

Holy Water

Vivian's God Family

Vivian's Godfather, Ian, and Kristy

Vivian's Godmother, Kyla, and Bryan

Grandma Lynn and Grandpa Rick

4 Generations with Grandma Nat and Great-Grandma Elaine

Papa G

Vivian Showing Off Her Pretty Dress

That Wasn't So Hard. How Did I Do?

Party

We were so lucky to have friends and family in town for Vivian's 1st Birthday. Unfortunately we didn't get any of our own pictures but everyone was gracious enough to share theirs with us. Here is a collection of the best ones.














Decorations Highlights

How Many Cheerios are in the Jar?

Dessert Bar that included Chocolate Covered Pretzels, Meringues, Almond Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting and a Pink Rose on Top, Pink and White Iced Animal Cookies, Almond and Strawberry Macaroons, Strawberry Wafer Cookies, Homemade Sangria, and Vivian's Mini Strawberry Cake, which she devoured.

Monthly Pictures

Guest Favors - Homemade Watermelon Birthday Jam - Spread the Joy!

This is now a tradition I suppose. Derrick and I made Grape Wedding Jam for favors at our Reception. Those said Spread the Love. I think it will be neat to continue to do it for other big occasions.

Tissue Paper Tassel Garland

Our regular food included Chicken Salad Croissants, Steak with Blue Cheese and Sauteed Onions on French Bread, Muffelettas, Shrimp Cocktail, PBJ, Veggie Platter, Fruit Platter with Homemade Dip, Water and Lemonade.

I tried to make as many things as I could. I made the Happy Birthday Pennant, the Tissue Paper Garland, the Pom Poms on the mantel, the Monthly Pictures accents, I wrapped the flower vases in pink lace, I made the dessert trays out of candle stick holders that I had and dollar store serving trays, the Watermelon Jam, the photo booth set up, and the picture frames for the activities and favors were spray painted and glittered and the signs inside were handmade/designed. I wish we were able to get into the party room prior to everyone arriving so that I could have taken proper pictures. Maybe next time. (and that's not to say I don't appreciate the pictures that everyone took)

I really enjoy planning and hosting parties. The only problem is I get so entranced in the whole thing I usually can't sleep well. Oh well, it's still one of my favorite things to do.

I hope everyone had a great time. I know that we did, especially Vivian. She really enjoyed hosting her party and I think she did an excellent job of mingling with everyone. Cheers to a great year #2!

Celebrate! Vivian is 1!

What a ONEderful day to celebrate! Vivian turns 1 today. Here's a sneak peak at her birthday photo shoot. We have a busy day so I'll be back later to give a proper update.

Tooth #3, 'All Done'

Our little princess has been a little out of sorts. She's been working on getting her top teeth for at least a week. Well while she was having a snack and playing one broke through her gums. Literally. Look closely, you can see her gums dangling. So gross. It must not have felt so good because as you can see in the video, she was not happy and shared her newest sign with me, 'all done'. However, once it came through she was ecstatic, as you can see by her giant smile in the picture.The video is pretty short. She had been complaining quite a bit and I was more concerned with consoling her than getting the perfect video. But watch her right had flick back and forth. She is saying 'all done'.