Our South Padre Trip

We got back from South Padre last Monday, and then Dustin ended up taking the rest of the week off of work. It was great - we had nine wonderful days together. We (sorta) watched movies in the afternoons while Eden napped (she usually interrupted and the movie had to wait until later), cooked, baked, sat outside enjoying the dogs and cool(er) weather, had friends over, watched football, went and played golf, and one afternoon we left Eden with my grandma and went out to the movies. I was really sad when he went back to work this past Monday.

However, I didn't get much done while he was home. Monday and Tuesday were catch-up days, so here I am on Wednesday, finally looking over our pictures from the trip.

We had such a good time! Eden loved the beach. She ate TONS of sand. And she showed NO fear of the water whatsoever. She actually kept trying to crawl farther out into the ocean, and we had to stop her!

 

One morning, Eden and I went for a walk on the beach while Dustin slept in.  It was beautiful.

 



I carried Eden down the beach until my arms got tired and she started feeling heavy... but then I had to walk all the way back!  I thought I was going to die!  My arms hurt sooooo bad; I was practically running back to the room so that I could put her down!

We took Eden to the pool too.  And out to eat.  And shopping.  And when she napped or went to bed at night, Dustin and I would sit out on our balcony talking and drinking beer.

We found a store where everything was 50% off so we all got new outfits, and that night we wore our new clothes and went out for lobster and ahi and wine.  I wanted to get a picture of the three of us, but all I managed was Eden in her new little outfit.

We went to the beach one more time on the morning that we had to leave.

And then we had to go home.  Boo.

In Eden news: she has FOUR teeth and is pulling up!  Yay, Eden!

Cutie Pictures

I mentioned in a previous post how my daughter only takes five second naps thus making it very difficult for me to get anything done.  Well in the past week she has started taking a glorious two hour nap every afternoon!  It comes at a price though... instead of sleeping until around eight each morning, she is wide awake and ready to play at around five.  She has always woken up at five, but she used to eat and then fall right back asleep for a few more hours.  No such luck anymore.  I lay her next to me in bed and beg her to go back to sleep.  I am NOT a morning person, and five in the morning may as well be the middle of the night to me.  She crawls all over me and puts her hand on face and pulls my hair.  I ignore her and close my eyes hoping she will get the hint and go back to sleep.  She doesn't.  If I continue to ignore her, she just crawls over to Dustin and attacks him.  Then I feel guilty since he's the one who has to get up and work.  So I try to entertain her on my side of the bed until I'm awake enough to actually make it out of bed.

I can't say that I like being woken up at the crack of dawn, but she's just so cute.  So I forgive her. =) 

Some cutie pictures of her lately:

 

For Labor Day this weekend, we are going to South Padre.   I am so excited!   I haven't been there in years, and Dustin has never been, and I can't wait to watch Eden play in the sand and water!

Eden - Seven Months (and one day)

Eden had a busy day yesterday.  She tagged along with me to the grocery store, a baby shower, out to eat Mexican food with some friends and then to my grandparents' house for my brother's birthday dinner.  When we finally got home last night she was NOT in the mood for pictures.  We had to wait until this morning to take her seven month picture instead.  She doesn't look like she's too happy in this picture either... she was; she was watching and laughing at Dustin.  But my timing with the camera was obviously off. 

This is absolutely my favorite age so far with Eden.  She just keeps on getting better!  SHE IS SO MUCH FUN!  She's exhausting... but FUN!  She has yet to get up on her knees to crawl, but she army crawls and pulls herself from place to place with the greatest of ease.  She's lighting quick.  I spend all day following her around because she seems to have zero interest in any of the toys that I've bought her, but she has a fascination with the cat water bowl.  And it's amazing what her teeny-tiny fingers are able to find on the floor and put in her mouth.  As soon as I feed the dogs in the evenings, I blink, and she's suddenly right there in the middle of them trying to get the food from their bowls.  So I think my days of actually accomplishing anything are over for a while.  I'm afraid to take my eyes off of her for even a minute!  She's also become the world's shortest napper.  I'm lucky if her morning nap lasts twenty minutes.  I run around like a madwoman in those twenty minutes... practically brushing my teeth while unloading the dishwasher and sweeping the floors.

It rained last night and today was just a gray, dreary day.  When you looked out the window, it actually felt like it might be cold outside.  (It wasn't... it is still August in Texas.)  But it was just one of THOSE days... Dustin and I decided to make it a lazy day.  It was wonderful.  Together we made a big pot of beef soup.  We laid around watching TV while Eden kept herself entertained with empty water bottles (again... why do I buy toys?).  We baked cookies, and then this evening the three of us all took a nap together.  Eden right there between me and Dustin.  It was bliss. 

We are rested and ready for the week.  =)

Changes

I feel like when Eden was first born, she did pretty much... nothing... for a long time.  I mean, I loved her, I adored her... I was perfectly happy just watching her sleep and yawn and lay there.  But for the first few months, they really don't do much!

Then all of a sudden, it's like BAM!  I guess she has to make up for lost time!  Every day it's something new!  Every day she does something that I've never seen her do before.  She makes a new face, a new sound, a new discovery.  She's growing right before my very eyes. 

So we've had some major changes around here!  The first one is a big one people... Eden now sleeps in her crib in her room at night!  She has now slept there for an entire week! 

That first night was tough. I really wasn't ready to move her, but she was outgrowing her bassinet, and she was waking constantly throughout the night because she had no room to move or roll.  So we made the move.  She did great.  I bawled like a baby.  After I got her to sleep in her crib, I crawled into bed and cried.  I'm not talking a few little tears.  I'm talking I sobbed so hard I was coughing and choking.  Dustin is never quite sure what to do with me when I act like that.  But I couldn't help it!  There were so many nights when we would all go to bed... me and Dustin... Eden in her bassinet right next to me... Drake and Max on their beds next to Dustin... usually a cat curled up at our feet... and I would think to myself how wonderful it was, all of us so cozy going to sleep together.  I felt so bad that Eden was in her room ALL BY HERSELF.  So Drake got kicked out too.  I dragged his bed over to the crib, and he slept all night next to Eden.  It made me feel better.  Now Max and Drake seem to take turns sleeping with her.  I'll go to sleep and one of them is in there with her, and when I wake up the other one is in there sleeping instead.  It makes me happy.  I got zero hours of sleep that first night.  She kept rolling over and sleeping on her tummy which was FREAKING ME OUT!  I think I got out of bed every thirty minutes to make sure she wasn't suffocating herself.  But she did just fine.  Turns out she's a tummy sleeper like her mama.  I've calmed down since that first night.  And it's allllll worth it when I go and find this in the mornings.

After Dustin leaves for work, I still put her in bed with me and we sleep for a couple more hours.  I always think that I should get up while she's still sleeping because I would be able to get so much done around the house while she's STILL... but I just can't seem to make myself.  Snuggling up with her in the mornings is absolutely my favorite part of the day!

Eden also eats food now!  She's been doing that for about two weeks.  So far she has had avocados and oatmeal and bananas and peaches and sweet potatoes.  She loves it all.  She hasn't spit anything out yet, so we're doing good!  Here she is all ready for her first meal:

I bought the Baby Bullet so that I can make her own food.  For some reason, I find great joy in making baby food.  I don't know why... but I get so excited about it!  I love my Baby Bullet.  And it comes with the cutest little jars to put the food in.

I also started using cloth diapers.  Maybe I'm just insane.  Because I seem to find great joy in that too.  I like the fact that she's wearing a comfortable, cotton diaper AND they're just so darn cute.

Okay, so those are some of the major changes we've had around here.  Also, if you have a baby or are going to have a baby, you must buy a door jumper!

Her playmat, exersaucer, all of her other toys... They can occupy her for a little bit here and there... But I think she would bounce and jump around in this thing ALL DAY LONG if I let her!  Seriously... if you have a baby... go buy it! 

Laters!

It's The Little Things...

Today was a very good day!

We slept in (as much as Eden allowed).  Dustin made eggs and bacon.  We relaxed for a bit.  And then we decided to go swimming.  So we loaded up beach towels, fishing poles, snorkel gear, the pit, two dogs and a baby and headed out to some land that my family owns about fifteen minutes from our house. 

We swam and ate guacamole dogs (they're the best!) and watched the dogs run around, and then while Eden napped, Dustin and I snorkeled around the tank and watched the fish.  On the way out, we saw a bunch of deer and fed them some corn.

There was nothing extraordinary about today.  But it was a fantastic day.  Eden obviously will not remember anything about today, but I hope that there are many days just like today in the future that she will remember. 

I have big stuff planned for her... trips to the zoo and waterparks and one day Disney World.   I want to make sure she sees all fifty states before she graduates high school like my parents did with me and my brother, and I hope she gets to go beyond the United States many times as well.  And I hope she has wonderful memories of all those things.

But I hope she has wonderful memories of these small days too.  Today was special in it's unspecialness.  It wasn't planned.  It didn't cost any money.  It was a little on the redneck side.  But it was perfect.  And we were happy.  And it's days like today that I want Eden to look back on and remember when she thinks about her childhood.  I want her to know that things don't have to be big and fancy and expensive to be special.  The big things are great, but it's the little things that count.  Just a lazy Sunday afternoon spent with your family can be amazing.

Eden - Six Months

Say it ain't so!

This is a hard one, people!  I've been watching this day get closer and closer on the calendar and dreading it.  On Monday, Dustin mentioned that she was turning six months old in two days, and I told him we had to stop talking about it because I was tearing up.  Don't get me wrong... I love my six month old.  She is so much FUN!  But I can't believe my newborn is gone!  Our days of spending hours on the couch with her asleep on my chest... over.  I can't help but be a little sad that she's growing up so quickly.  Wasn't I still pregnant, like, yesterday or something?

But then I get over it, and I just remind myself to soak up every single moment.  So six months old...  Eden has two teeth!  She can sit up for a few seconds at a time.  She scoots and rolls and army crawls and always ends up in a different place from where I put her.  Example:  Here she has decided that she is done taking pictures and is just going to get off of her lamb.

After that she spent a good fifteen minutes sliding around the wood floor.  It was great fun... she laughed the whole time.  She's obsessed with our dogs, and the mere sighting of one can make her stop crying in an instant.  She loves all dogs.  I took Eden to a friend's house, and their black lab walked up, and Eden just giggled and reached out and grabbed his fur.  One day we will have a talk about making sure it's a friendly dog before we pull it's fur.  Swimming seems to be her favorite.  She kicks, kicks, kicks and moves herself all over the pool/tank/wherever we are.  She sits in her bumbo in the bathrooms in the mornings and chews on a make-up brush while I get ready.  She lays in her nap nanny and watches me when I bake or cook.  She plays on the bed while I fold clothes.  She's my world.  I take her with me wherever I go.  Today I had my Grandma Jan go with me to get a haircut so that I could take Eden with me and have her watch her.  One day I won't take her with me everywhere I go... but that day is not yet. 

She's such a happy baby.

Oh how I love that picture!  I have plans to blow it up to a ginormous size and frame it. 

And so, just like I did when I was sad about Eden turning one week old and made cupcakes, I made a cake (half a cake) to celebrate Eden turning six months old.  Cake in any form always cheers me right up.

Half a cake for half a year.  (Cake decorating is NOT my talent!)

Dustin is making us a nice little meal, and tonight we will toast to six months of Eden.  Best six months ever! 

I know I will always be sad about all the phases we're leaving behind.  But I really am excited about all the ones that are ahead of us. 

To the next six months... here we go!

Baby Painting

Today's weather:  RAIN!  Glorious, GLORIOUS RAIN!

So we needed an indoor project to take the place of baby pool and dog-watching time.  After searching on Pinterest (of course), I found baby painting!

Eden had a blast. 

Baby Paint
2 cups water
1/3 cup flour
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons sugar
food coloring

Mix the water, flour, salt and sugar together in a sauce pan and heat on medium-high.  Stir until there are no more lumps and it thickens.  Separate into bowls and dye the colors of your choice.  Place on cardstock and let your baby go to town!

Eden's first masterpiece is currently drying in the window and shall be hung on the fridge presently. =)