In the Throws

...of weaning.

We cut out her 9am feeding a week ago today but today was the first time we were actually home during that time and boy did she notice. I guess distraction of the grocery store, walk, church, etc is the best way to beat the weaning blues.

I've never really seen her have a tantrum like the one day. I gave her milk in a sippy and she threw it at me. I tried to put her down for a morning nap and she screamed herself to sleep. No yogurt tubes, no cookies...she wanted nothing except what was below the shirt.

So we compromised and I gave her her post-lunch feeding at 11am. She was so worn out from crying she fell asleep before lunch instead of after.

I was planning to cut out her 4pm feeding today but given the messed up schedule I think we'll just play it by ear.

Ugh!

There Go My Millions

When we go out to eat Tessa currently eats straight off the table. She just can't handle a plate, even though servers always ask if we want one. I have a feeling it would end up on the floor, possible shattered. We did just get a plate with a suction cup on the bottom the other day but haven't tried it yet.

Anyway I had a plan to make millions. Invent a disposable sticky placemat that you can just stick to the table and peel up when you're done. Great idea right? I was at Target today and somebody already thought of it...boo hoo!! :(



They're super expensive too, almost fifty cents per placemat. Dangit!

I won't be buying this product for many reasons. I'm too cheap, don't want to buy many disposable things, and am not overly obsessive about germs. If the table looks ooky I wipe it down first. That being said I'm sure there are plenty of folks out there who buy it. Oh well, gotta noodle the next big idea.

New Snacks

Tessa seems to be doing well with our first few days of weaning. We have cut out her 9am feeding and subbed with whole milk. She likes the milk okay but doesn't drink much. She doesn't seem to fuss for nursing or anything though, so that's good. I think it's actually harder for me than her...I'm in a little pain but not much.

Our great little eater seems to be chowing a little more though and continues to eat anything and everything we give her. I'm so happy about that!

Here's a couple new things she likes. These dehydrated vegetables are so good and don't have a bunch of junk added to them...there's about a dozen different kinds. I got them at Whole Foods but you can order them online too:


The couple of times we've gone to Panera, Tess has gone crazy for this yogurt that comes in a tube. She can down the whole thing in like 15 seconds (of course we have to hold it for her or there would be a yogurt explosion). Well I found some at the store today!


Finally a note to cloth diaper Mama's out there...sunflower seeds, although they may be your child's favorite new snack can cause continuous problems with your dryer lint trap if unproperly digested. Proceed with caution :-)

1 Year Checkup

We had a busy morning visiting Tessa's doctor and going to the hospital to get her routine one year bloodwork. So she got 2 shots and blood drawn...poor girl. We did decide to get all routine vaccinations which I know some people find controversial. I trust our doc so decide to go with his recommendation on this issue, which was to get them all.

After the doc's we had to go to the hospital where they took two vials of her blood to test for lead and iron levels, which is also routine. She actually didn't cry too much at this, but was more mesmerized by the tube sticking out of her arm.

Here are her stats:
95%tile of height- 31 inches
50%tile of weight- 21.5 lbs
95%tile of head circumferance (don't remember the inches)
She remains tall and skinny with a giant head. It's amazing to me that she's still so skinny with all the food she eats, but I guess she walks it off. I should take note.

The doc avised me on weaning and we stopped by the store on the way home for her first jug of whole milk. He said to take it slow, not only for her to get used to the idea but also for her stomach to get used to cow's milk. So we will stick to the same plan of eliminating one feeding per week until they are gone.

Birthday Picture Overload!

What a great day we had. THANKS to everyone who came and partied with us. Tessa did really great but was super duper tired last night and today. She had the most amazing cake made by Jessica and Janet, and got all sorts of outside toys and clothes for summer!

The kitchen set actually came from her Auntie Jessica and she loves it, especially the phone.

Well I will let these pictures speak for themselves. Enjoy!

Just a Taste..

...of birthday pictures that is. I promise more later!

Happy Birthday Tessa Betty!

What a crazy day. I'm trying very hard to stay awake long enough to make this post. Jeremy's Mom and Sister have gone bananas making a stellar cake for tomorow and are still working on it as we approach 11pm.

Tessa is loving all the attention and busy getting a good night's sleep for tomorrow's party.

Enjoy the slideshow of Tessa's first year. I've watched about 7 times and can't get enough. What a year it has been!

Tight Rope Walker

One of the ladies in my babycenter April 07 club was making funny photoshop pics of our babies and made this one for Tessa. I wish I was all cool with photoshop so I could do stuff like this, but alas I am not!

She said this was Tessa's debut as a tightrope walker and she was so nervous she forgot her pants.

Not A Drop

Well I'm going to take a moment to pat us on the back because we have officially hit the one year mark and Tessa has never had a drop of formula. Yay for us! I'm not meaning to dog on anyone who chooses to formula feed. Formula is fine for those who choose it, but being that we did not, I find reason to celebrate our full year of sucessful breastfeeding!

I was initially surprised at how easy it came to us (I know it doesn't come easy to all), and how much I enjoyed it. I think there are very few things that feel as natural and important, especially before 6 months when it was her only sustaining food. I was blessed with a good nurser, as well as the time and ability to do it every day. I know women who pump every day at work and I commend you, that would not be easy to keep up for a year.

Tessa still nurses 5 times a day right now in addition to her regular food and it's time to start weaning soon. We have her 1 yr well check next week and I am going to ask the doc about how much cow's milk she should have to replace the breastmilk, then we will cut out one feeding a week until they are gone :(

I told Jeremy I think I'm going to have to enforce 'cuddle time' when she's done nursing, because it's currently the only time she will let me hold her still for more than 30 seconds, and I will miss that part the most.

btw Tessa is currently enjoying nakey time in the living room. It's part of our nightly routine now and helps alot with her diaper rash. I could seriously watch her walk around nakey all day, it's so funny, especially that little bum.

A Year Ago Today

Well this was April 15th, 07...my last pregnancy picture taken just two days before I went into labor (when I thought I had 9 days left!)

I remember having a very active weekend eating labor salads, visiting friends and waddling the mall with Mom and Dad. Eventhough I knew a baby was coming, I had no idea how life was about to change.

One Year Faux-To Shoot

Well it's almost here..only 4 days until Tessa turns one! We are busy today getting our house ready for company and a party, before Jeremy takes off for a short trip this week. We did squeeze in some time for a photo shoot outside. It was a little chilly so we did it quick!

We're still to cheap to get a professional photos taken but I think these are great. Sorry for the spoiler on Tessa's bday outfit. Enjoy!

Randomness

I definitely had a huge "I can't believe my baby's all grown up" moment today. She bit me when she was nursing (on accident, she was falling asleep) and it hit me like a wall....it won't be too long before breastfeeding is done with, she's walking, she's almost one. Boo hoo. I got all teary then she charmed me with her laughing and babbling, so we moved on.


Anyway, here's some randomness

naked remote thief

Mr. and Mrs. Duck are back! They live in our backyard every spring.

I tried to capture Tessa dancing on video but it was hard. Here just a snipet of her rockin to the little song that her push car plays.

To The Local Delivery Man

Dear FedEx and UPS delivery people,
While I am appreciative of the importance of your job and respectful of your methods and protocols, I must disagree with you on one matter.

If it is absolutely neccesary that you ring the doorbell and walk away upon delivery of a package to a given door, may I please request that you never do so between 1-3pm when babies eveywhere are napping. Especially if these household have guard dogs (or wiener dogs).

I would contend that you needent ring the doorbell in the first place if said package requires no signature and the purpose of your ring is alert the household to its arrival, but that's simply my opinion.

If you truly wish for satisfied customer, I would recommend not only a speedy delivery, but a quiet one.

Sincerely,
Mothers Everywhere

Skin So Soft

Well I've decided Tessa simply has sensitive skin.

The previously mentioned diaper rash was finally clearing up. Thanks for all the tips everyone! We had good luck with the Arbonne diaper rash cream (which is a zinc oxide formula just like butt paste, which is much cheaper!) but I now have many ideas to try thanks to my faithful readers!

It was finally clearing up until yesterday when Tessa had some carrot juice and bam it was back this morning with her wet diaper. Now it should be noted that I always dilute her juices- 1 part juice to 2 part water, but it still seems to cause a diaper rash everytime. I think the last diaper rash was brought on my diluted peach juice.

So I guess she just has sensitive skin and we'll have to watch the juices. It's too bad too cause she loved the carrot juice, which I was very happy about. Maybe in a few days we'll try again.

With all of the diaper rashes I have had to really hone the diaper washing skills. The cloth diapers can get a build up from detergents, etc that you have to be careful of. So every once in a while I run them though a 'stripping' process, where we basically wash them all day in the hottest setting using various mixes of vinegar, dawn and bleach followed by many cold rinses. We have been using a flushable rice paper liner which protects the cloth from buildup of the rash cream as well.

Totally off topic, but I got an air popcorn popper from Freecycle and love it. Why have I never tried one of these before? It's so easy and tasty. It makes me happy :)

Darn Scary Birds

Today when Tessa woke up from her nap instead of crying and whining like normal she was screaming. When I went up there she was all red from crying and was pointing at her window.

Sitting on the window sill right next to her crib were a pair of big grey birds. They must have scared her as she was waking up cause she was all worked up. We went over the window to check them out and she calmed down, then they flew away.

Another day another drama :)

Conner Prairie

On Saturday we joined Mom's class field trip to Conner Prairie, and it was a beautiful day. For those who don't know Conner Prairie is a a bunch of historical old homes where they have actors that pretend it is 1836. Mom's class goes there every year, and it's alot of fun.

You'll see we didn't have jackets on for part of the day, it's finally nice spring weather! Stroller aerobics has moved back outside which is great as well. It's not as much fun inside the cramped fitness room.

Tessa was flirting with all the 4th grade boys

Tessa with her Mamaw, Queen of Conner Prairie

Tessa wanted to show off her favorite new thing, her toothbrush. Earlier tonight she was fussin in her highchair while I was trying to clean up dinner, so I handed her her toothbrush with a little paste on it. That bought me like 20 minutes!

Also this weekend we went to the party store (and the giant junk store) in search of party stuff. After looking at all the options we settled on a rubber ducky theme, but tried not to go overboard. We just got tablecloths, plates, balloons, etc. I don't have any creative ideas on a ducky themed cake...hoping that our pastry inclined visitors can help

We Have a Walker! (Video Now Added)

Yup it's true what everyone says. Once they get it, they get it!

Like I posted Tessa took a few steps yesterday. Then earlier this evening she walked back and forth between us in the office. We were fortunate to be able to video-cam all 3 sets of grandparents before she pooped out.

Then we went to band practice with Jeremy and she is obessesed with the steps leading up to the stage, so I kept setting her a few pews back and letting her walk the distance...and she did it over and over! Her incentive was definitely the steps, she loves to climb up them to the band. Wow!

She is all pooped out in bed but I will definitely get video up tomorrow!!

I just added this video this afternoon (4-3) of Tessa's first on-camera steps

Tessa Vision

I know I posted twice today (I swear I don't have too much time on my hands) but I had to share this. I just turned on the camera and handed it to Tess. Priceless.

Picture Overload: The Rest of Our CA trip...

....aside from just the food that Tessa enjoyed so much. We did eat alot but I weighed myself this morning and am only up 2lb so the world's not over. I just need to get back on the WW bandwagon big time!

Jeremy worked most of the time we were there but Mom and I did alot....

We went on an adventure that took us an hour or so south of SJ to find the grave of a woman her class had studied named Charlie Parkhurst. We didn't know where we were going which is what made it fun, and the cemetary was really cool. You should read about this chick, she was pretty awesome, the first woman to vote (while posing as a man)

We stopped by a bookstore on the way back to SJ and read a few stories as Tessa was getting bored in the car..


We also went to the San Jose Discovery Museum, where they have a whole area just for crawling babies. It was pretty darn cool, although the rest of the museum was a spring break madhouse. Below is Tessa hanging out with the story lady and exploring.

On the last day of our trip Jer got some time off to come up to San Francisco with us. We went to Fisherman's Warf before heading to dinner with Jer's step-brother Colin. You can see that Tessa is happy riding in the carrier with Dad, and fell asleep despite all the crazy noise around us.

And on the way home we stretched Tessa's legs at the airport. She hasn't flown since she was 9 months, and she was wearing me out on the plane....much more squirmy than she used to be!

Firsts

It seems like there's a first around here about every day. Speaking of 1st, sorry I didn't pull a April fools joke yesterday. I didn't realize it was April Fools until last night when Ryan Seacrest said the musicians were on strike and there would be no Idol...d'oh!!

-- Well the big news is that Tessa took her first unassisted steps. We counted four, and she did it once yesterday and once today...neither of which I was able to capture on camera. I'll keep trying! We've been practicing going back and forth between me and Jer, and she's gotten really great at walking holding only one hand. Stay tuned for footage.

-- We went to our first storytime at the library today! It was great. We are in the babies and books class for kids her age....and I only wish we would have known about this sooner. I thought storytime was only for older kids but in the baby class they blow bubbles, sing songs, play with puppets and yes there's a book or two. Best part?...it's FREE! Tessa had a good time, so we will definitely go again. I was a little overwhelmed by the children's wing of our library, it's like the size of our whole house. Next time we will explore a little more.

--Tessa is now the proud owner of her first toothbrush. She loves putting in her mouth and cries when you take it away, so I guess that's a good sign. We had to buy baby toothpaste...apparently they are not supposed to have flouride before two or something. Who knew?

--Tessa's first birthday is coming up! Tomorrow we are going to the party store (The Flower Factory, aka the giant junk store) to pick out some plates and tablecloths and whatnot. The theme?...something cute that looks nice and is a good price :) Jeremy's sister and mom, both skillled cake makers, will be helping us make the cake so it should be pretty good. We're just doing a small shindig here at our house, nothing fancy. But Tessa does have a fancy dress of course!