my latest endeavor

Ever since I was informed that I was going to be having a baby girl, I have had my eye out for cute clothes and accessories. In the process of scoping out goods, I have fallen in love with hair accessories. Evie popped out and surprise- no hair! Nevertheless, my love for hair accessories turned into a desire to create my own. Since January, I have been working in the wee hours of the night, glue gun in hand, to make hair clips and headbands. I just wanted to post a few of my favorites.

My hope is to sell my accessories, but I have not yet decided if I will do this through Etsy, Facebook, or another website. You will notice that I do not have any headbands posted as I'm still working on perfecting my headband creations. More to come soon!

time is on my side

"Time is on my side" - Jerry Ragovoy aka Norman Meade

Is it? Lately I've been feeling as though that is the one thing in my life that I'm lacking. I've been working diligently to daily cross tasks off of my (seemingly never ending) to do list. When I (happily) quit graduate school and work to be a stay at home mom, I was so excited at the thought of having endless amounts of time and energy to devote to things that I have always wanted to do such as learning how to cook, photography, blogging, crafts, reading (I can go on and on). Perhaps the first year of a baby's life is just extra challenging for a mom, but I don't find myself with chunks of extra time to devote to my new found hobbies. I find myself counting down the hours and minutes until Evie takes her next nap or goes down for the night so that I can enjoy supergluing a flower to a headband or spilling flour all over my kitchen. Don't get me wrong, I love spending time with Evie, but sometimes you need to accomplish some things scrawled on your to do list to feel like you have been productive. And why have I been so busy with the little one, you ask? Well....she's been quite busy.

Just yesterday Evie began to produce immeasureable amounts of mucus (i.e. she caught a cold). My little snot factory had a pretty miserable night. I slept in the twin bed next to her crib as she tossed, turned, and gasped for breath all night. She seems to be in good spirits throughout the day. She smiles, laughs, and bangs her toys together. Occasionally she will extend her hands out towards me so that I'll pick her up. I follow her cue as she lays her head on my shoulder. Apparently she's just checking in to see that I'm available for her because as soon as I struggle to get up off the floor, she immediately begins to push away from me. I can relate; when I'm sick, I'm pretty indecisive as well. I don't know what I want and nothing feels right. You just feel like garbage. Poor girl. Along with my wide feet, she seems to have inherited my weak immune system. I mean the girl has been sick 4 times now and she's not even 8 months old yet. Isn't this the primary reason I'm feeding her breast milk?

(please skip the next paragraph if the topic of breast feeding and breast milk make you feel ill) 

As of last week I had made the tough decision to slowly wean Evie off of breast milk. Bring on the guilt!! My goal was to pump for 6 months, and I told myself that pumping for any more than that was just bonus. Well, it's almost been 8 months, and I can't help but feel guilty at the thought of quitting. There were many reasons that I decided to toil and provide Evie breast milk as opposed to formula. The primary reason being to boost Evie's immune system. I'm not sure if I was successful or not, but the girl has been sick every other month. And I don't think I'm going to be stopping any time in the next week. Her recent malady has got me working overtime! Any mom who breastfeeds/pumps for a whole year deserves an award! It is HARD work, and I'm shocked that I've been able to do it this long. 

Let's move on to less serious subjects. I have a book recommendation for everyone out there! Read Tina Fey's Bossypants! I highly recommend it, and I haven't even finished it as of yet. If you like to laugh, this is the book for you. If you like more serious topics, I have recommendations for you as well! If you are feeling particularly serious give, Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach a try. If politics is what you fancy, pick up John Heilemann and Mark Halperin's Game Change. Please note that I have not finished any of these novels and that this is the result of lack of time rather than evidence that I meet at least one of the criteria for an ADHD diagnosis. 

my funny girl

Speaking (or rather writing) of laughing, Evie has been cracking me up as of late. Today, as opposed to other days when she doesn't have cold germs covering her hands and face, she thought it would be hilarious to put her hand in my mouth (and then remove it, and then put it back in again). I too thought this was funny and I couldn't spoil the fun especially because I knew she was feeling crummy. Anything to make her laugh right now is worth it. I can already tell that I'm going to be a great disciplinarian. 

Attention!!! New milestone met!!! Evie can now stand up all by herself. It's been about 3 days and she can now do it with the greatest of ease. I'm thinking she'll be walking in no time. It seems as though she is in a rush to grow up as she seems to be wanting to skip the whole crawling phase. 

kate and christian

evie's first trip to the lake

This last weekend we had Grandma and Grandpa Ruta in town along with Aunt Beth and Uncle Matt and cousins Katelyn and Christian. We had the best time! Friday we visited the pool. On Saturday we spent the morning at Independence Lake and then had lunch at Dominick's. After spending some more time at the pool (these kids are fish :) grandma and grandpa treated us by babysitting the grandkids and Dave, Matt, Beth, and I visited The Jolly Pumpkin for a couple of hours and unwound. Sunday we took our visitors to Kerrytown followed by a visit to County Farm Park where the kids played together before everyone headed home. It was such a wonderful weekend, and we all enjoyed spending time with family.

cousins

I apologize for jumping topics so much in this post. As I read through this post I notice I covered a lot. I plan on posting more frequently so as to avoid this and focus more on one topic. It's on my list.

dog days of summer

Dog Days

  

Definition: the hottest, most sultry days of summer. Also defined as a time period or event that is very hot   or stagnant, or marked by dull lack of progress.

beach babe

It has been sweltering in this part of the country, but life has not been dull. Evie seems to be grasping new skills, all the while developing quite the personality. She spends her days upright as she either is sitting or standing (with assistance). She can actually stand while holding onto furniture for more than a minute (I stopped counting after 60 seconds) without assistance from me.  Lying down actually is met with resistance (which makes changing her diapers quite a challenge). She is not yet crawling, but some how she finds a way to scoot across the floor at a snails pace on her bottom. Sometimes I find her up on all fours, rocking back and forth. Somedays she has stranger anxiety and other days, she seems perfectly content when someone else is holding her. She loves children, dogs, elmo, swimming, and food. Her delight with the aforementioned is quite obvious as she screams, squeals, and squawks repeatedly. This seems to startle animals and other children, but it is so cute. Just recently, she has begun to hide her face in my chest and put her arms around my neck when she is shy or tired. It's so amazing to see her interact with her environment. Sometimes she just sits on my lap, puts her forehead against mine, and giggles. My heart just melts whenever she smiles.

Evie's sleep and mine, as a result, has greatly improved!!!! Last night Evie slept 12 hours, only waking up once to eat. I could not believe it. What a difference sleep makes! I feel like a different person, and she wakes up with a smile on her face. I'm still rocking her to sleep at night, but I don't mind. I'm enjoying this age and being able to cuddle with her while she will allow it. 

daddy's girl

Dave has been working like a dog. He has had the last two weekends off, but he has been working 80 hours Monday through Friday. While he is not physically at the hospital on the weekends, he has dictations (patient notes) to do and lots of reading to catch up on. This leaves a few hours Saturday and Sunday to hang out with his two girls. We've been enjoying spending time as a family at the farmer's market (in both Ann Arbor and Plymouth), at the the pool, and enjoying time with other residents and their families.

Evie and I are beating the heat by hanging out at the pool. This girl is quite the fish! She loves kicking, splashing, and actually cries if I leave the water with her prematurely. It's quite the blessing that it has been so hot this summer as I don't think she would be as comfortable in the water if it were ice cold. It's so nice to have something to do with her that is literally just outside our front door.

We have visitors coming! Uncle Matt, Aunt Beth, cousins Katelyn, Christian, and Grandma and Grandpa are all coming to Ann Arbor this coming weekend. Dave and I composed a list of activities and places to visit. We're all very excited to spend time with family and introduce them to summer in Ann Arbor. You'll be hearing about our weekend adventures soon!