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Kailyn

Furry Babies

A lot of parents will give you advice about transitioning your pet from being the only baby in the house when you have your human baby. They say to get them familiar with the new baby's things, have them smell diapers and wipes and baby formula and everything. They say to bring something the baby was wearing in the hospital to the animal before the baby arrives, etc, etc. But I'm just going to tell you about my experience, because I didn't do any of that.

Pregnancy


I swear to you my dog, Lucky, knew I was pregnant before I did. She started laying on my belly non-stop and being super careful of me. Lucky is a pit bull-boxer and a lot of people told us to get rid of her before we had the baby. But we couldn't do that and everyone who has ever met my Lucky Girl wouldn't be worried.
Cade found her in a dumpster when she was a puppy and she has been the sweetest dog ever. She loves to cuddle and snuggle and give kisses. She is such a gentle, clutsy, sweet girl. We were honestly never worried about how Lucky would be around the baby because she has such a gentle disposition. She cowers if one of us gets mad and apologizes in her doggie way if she nips us a bit when playing, even if we just fake it.


First Day Home

Lucky loves Everlyn, I mean, just look at the love on that face. She sits in Everlyn's room with me and monitors play-time and gives her lots of kisses, she even lets her yank on her tail every now and then.


First Day Home

We were honestly more worried about how our other dog, Lila (Lee-la) would handle the new baby. Lila is a little mutt. A mixture of what we assume is a rat terrier with something else, maybe an actual rat, who knows. She's a hyper, crazy, goofball of a dog. But Lila is a Mama's girl. She was my little baby. She basically lived up on my lap. We knew with the baby here, Lila would have a hard time.

But Lila has been great with her too. Sometimes she still tries to crawl in my lap and take attention away from the baby but she's careful of her, and gentle like we never thought. She wakes up with me and the baby every morning and hangs out in Everlyn's room with us while she plays.

Petting Buster on Halloween

Then there's our old man Buster. He's old and doesn't care about anything much. He lets her pet him and yank his ears and he just lays there. Buster was born to sit and have tea parties with little girls who dress him in funny outfits and feed him treats.

 

We've been really lucky that Everlyn loves our dogs and our dogs love her too. Everlyn will chase them around the house and laugh and laugh when they play together. We really didn't have to do anything special to help transition our dogs. They don't get as much attention as they used to, but I think they like watching the baby and playing with her so it makes up for it. We just need to keep Everlyn out of the dog food bowls.

Colic Bottles

I forgot to mention in my previous colic posts about the bottle I use. I use MAM anti-colic bottles. They actually really do help to prevent gas and indigestion related to colic. Nothing can be anti-colic completely but these vented bottles do help with stomach aches and such. They have a flat nipple, rather than a round one so once your child gets used to this type of bottle it is harder to transition to a regular round nipple. These bottles come in a small size, up to 5 oz, and the large up to 9 oz. The regular MAM bottles go to up 12 oz but these are not anti-colic. The anti-colic has the vents at the bottom and are self-sterilizing. You just rearrange the parts, put some water in and put them in the microwave. It's pretty neat. The anti-colic ones only come with stage 1 nipples but you can order different stages for a few bucks on Amazon. The regular ones come with stage 3. But anyway, they were a lifesaver and that's all I had to say.

Bows and Funny Hats

I'm not a girlie girl, I'm not into frills and fluff, but I love putting bows on my little girl. I can't do those giant ones like a lot of moms put on their little ones, but a nice simple bow always makes an outfit extra cute and prevents the question, "Is it a boy or a girl?" Except this one time I was at Big Lots. Someone standing behind me in line says to me, "I can't tell, you have me all confused, your baby is wearing blue but is also wearing a bow. Is it a boy or a girl?" Seriously folks, just because my child wears blue does not mean she's a boy. Who puts bows on boys?

Everlyn has worn a bow since she was one week old. She was a preemie so newborn hats didn't fit her head so I tied a knot in the back of her bows to make them smaller and she's worn them ever since.  She rarely takes them off like a lot of others do, I think because he is so used to wearing them. Only when she's real grouchy will she yank them off.  A lot of people ask me where I get her bows, mostly Target, a few from Babies-R-Us and a rare few from Baby Depot at Burlington Coat Factory.




But even more than bows, I love funny hats. Is it mean to make your child wear funny hats? I don't know. She doesn't seem to mind.









She has a Vikings hat for football season, a Wildcat hat for college basketball, a pumpkin hat for Halloween, Santa and elf hats for Christmas, lots of hats with animal ears for any occasion, a monster hoodie that has little monster hair on the hood... I could keep going. When will this stop being cute? I hope never.

Baby Daddy

As you know, I had a baby with my boyfriend. Not my husband. Not my fiancé. My boyfriend. I'm typing that with some distain, so you can read it like a disgusted third grader would say boyfriend... boo-ooyyyfriend. Anywho, now I've got me a baby daddy. Let me tell you, it sucks. I have no ring on my finger, when I go out with Everlyn I feel like people look at me like some trollop who got knocked up by a one night stand (which I'm proud to say, I've never had ever in my life). They don't know. They see me as some unmarried hoe with a kid. Now, I don't know if they really think these things, but I'm assuming.

So what I did is I went out and bought me a fake wedding ring for $50 that I wear when I go out. Cade doesn't mind. He doesn't want me to look like a hoe either. But he also doesn't want to get married any time soon. Well, he doesn't really ever want to get married. And that really sucks.

Having a baby daddy puts a girl in an awkward spot. Because now you really want to make it work and get married and have more babies and live happily ever after as a family. But how often does that really work out? And then there's also that little part of you that still is saving hope for your fantasy man. We all have them don't we? Mine is a big burly lumberjack. He will chop down trees to build me a house and then when a bear comes and attacks us, he will kill it and make me a bear-skin rug where we will sit and have meaningful conversations in front of the fireplace. Not that I've thought about it much.

Oh, but what really bothers me is that my daughter and I do not have the same last name. I wanted her to have her dad's last name, and I'm happy with that decision, but it kills me that she and I don't share a last name. So I either have to go be crazy and change my last name to my boyfriend's, wait to see if one day maybe he will change his mind about the whole marriage thing, or just live with having different last names.

I'm going to go shine my fake ring now because I'm going out soon.

Activities

I try to give Everlyn at least one big activity each day. Mondays we go to My Gym for a Mommy & Me class. She LOVES it and I do too because they wear her out. She always gets a good nap after My Gym. They exercise her body, teach her new skills, and give her an opportunity to be with other kids her age. My Gym has helped with her grip and balance, her crawling and standing, and her separation anxiety.

On Tuesdays we go to Mother Goose on the Loose at the public library. While Monday My Gym gives her body a workout, Mother Goose story time gives her mind a workout. They read stories, sing songs, learn syllables and interact with other kids. I have actually noticed a difference in how much she babbles after we started going to the library.

Wednesdays we usually go to My Gym for open play time. This is not  class and is not as structured but we like to go and play and see the other kids.

Thursday through Sunday is difficult because I don't have anything planned. Last week I had a few little kids over for an art day. They all got together and finger-painted, made valentines, and played together. It was really fun and Everlyn loved having her friends come to our house.

Last week I also took Everlyn to the zoo. One of her little friends' Mom (that we met at My Gym) has a pass to the zoo to get her in free as well as another adult and children under age 2 are free so we didn't have to pay a penny. She walked her son in a carrier and I took Everlyn in her stroller. Even though it was a little chilly the day we went the kids seemed to have a great time watching the animals and I have fun chatting with another mother.

I have a park about a half a mile away from my house so I like to take Everlyn for walks there when it's not too hot out. She loves to swing and go for walks in her stroller so she really enjoys it and I get a little exercise. Sometimes I hold her and go down the slide too but there really isn't too much she can do there being so little.

Other days we go out to lunch, which she enjoy as well. It gets us out of the house at least. She loves to be around people and see new things. I bring her food so she can eat with us or else she gets upset and tries eating our food.

And some days, just going to the grocery store can be our activity.

Every day we play with her toys, read books and play with the dogs, but each day I try to do something different. Even if it's only for a little while, like doing a quick art project outside.

I have a girl

Before I ever had kids, I wanted all boys. But now I have a girl. And now I need to compete with society to help her grow up right.

Note: I will be posting a lot of links in this blog. I really encourage you to at least glance at them.

I saw this link on my facebook news feed today--

Barbie Makes the Cover of SI

Barbie, a toy for young girls, is on the cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition. Are you serious? What are they trying to teach kids? I already have a problem with Barbie and her unrealistic perfectionism. But now they're putting a doll on the cover, a normal person wasn't good enough? Just seeing that link today got me all in a frenzy.

I have such a problem with this "princess society" we are raising our daughters in. I've tried really hard to keep Everlyn's toys neutral. She has the same number of dump trucks, and cars as she does dolls. Whenever I have a choice between getting the pink girls version of a toy or the boys neutral colors, I buy the "boys toys" over the girls because I don't want her whole life to be pink from the get-go. Raising our daughters to be princesses isn't really working out. I found this website today; it is a website and a cause developed entirely to redefine what being a princess is. Being a princess shouldn't mean being spoiled, materialistic, beautiful, and selfish, it should mean putting others first and being beautiful from the inside.

The Princess Generation

Why not make movies and TV shows about actual women in history who made a difference? Why not make a princess who isn't stereotypically beautiful? Here's a link that you have to look at. This artist made real life women in history and disneyfied them into princesses. While he did this as a joke, why not use these women as role models? Turn their lives and achievements into a cartoon series for young girls to understand and look up to. Something is better than nothing.

Artist Turns Female Role Models into Disney Princesses


There are a lot of people, like myself who are concerned with these issues. What are we teaching our daughters? There is a company called Goldie Blox that is entirely dedicated to making toys for girls that teach engineering and innovation. Just go to the store and walk through the girl isle and the boy isle. Look at the toys offered for girls. Dolls, kitchen sets, cleaning sets, princess costumes... Did the feminist movement never happen? But in the boy isle they have superhero toys and costumes, building toys, inventing toys, cars, trucks, sports toys. And why don't parents just buy toys in another isle? They think they will confuse their child by mixing gender roles. Let me roll my eyes one more time for you.

Goldie Blox

I have high hopes for my daughter. I don't want her to turn into some spoiled little princess who ends up not knowing how to take care of herself. There are too many women like that out there. I think we need to change the way we raise our daughters if we want to have strong, capable women in our future. Let them get dirty and messy, let them play with the boys and get them involved in sports, don't only buy toys in the pink isle. Teach your daughter everything you would teach a son, and more. Teach them how lucky they are, teach them to help others, teach them how stupid boys are, teach them that the most beautiful part of themselves is on the inside.

Weight Loss Part 2

Bet you didn't think you'd be seeing another weight loss blog so soon. Well, I have news. I have lost 7 lbs in the past few days and am expecting to lose a few more this week. How you ask? Food poisoning!

Valentines dinner at our favorite restaurant turned into food poisoning fiasco. Cade and I both had the chicken quesadillas, and have both weight since. Not quite sure it was worth it. But hey, I'll take what I can get.

Thank God my mom was able to take Everlyn the entire day and night after we fell ill. We could barely make it from the bed to the bathroom, I have no idea how we could have taken care of our feisty little one on top of that. Oh and Everlyn is teething too. She's grouchy and has diarrhea. I'm not sure why some babies get sick when they start cutting teeth but I hear it's very common. But that is besides the point. The point was sick parents trying to take care of sick babies. I managed to take care of Everlyn when we both had the flu, but this was worse. Luckily it was over in about 24 hours and I had my mothers help.

But this blog is about weight loss not sickness! So let's celebrate my -7 lbs and hope that my irritated stomach leads to even more weight loss this week! Woohoo!

POOP

POOP.

It's talked about for more often than one might think in the Mommy world. We analyze the color, texture, frequency and ease of exit (that's a nice way of saying whether or not the child struggles to poo). We know our childs "poop face," we know what each smell means, we know if that smell was really a poop or if it was just a toot and are very happy when it was just a toot.

Now, I knew motherhood consisted of changing diapers and dealing with poop, but I guess it never registered how much poop I would be dealing with. I have witnessed poop coming out of my daughters bum while I'm in the middle of changing a diaper. I never thought I would have such a close up view of that, and I really never wanted one either. I've seen a bathtub turn brown from an aqua dump I didn't see coming. I have also had to clean said poop out of bathtub.

It is just another one of those things we mommy's must deal with. Don't even get me started on those dads who have never changed a diaper. My dad, a father of two and a grandfather of one, is one of those men. That would not fly in my household. I get my boyfriend to change diapers any time I can. Sometimes he can't handle the bad poops and needs help, which is okay, we all know men are the weaker sex and must give them a little leeway on such difficult tasks.

I'm not a thrifty mama, I buy the expensive diapers, because I know they work. I've used some of the cheaper ones but they fill up faster and leak and I'm not going to deal with that. I'll spend the extra money to not have to touch a goopy diaper or deal with poop overflow. Granted it does happen with the expensive diapers also, it's not quite as frequent. People say the cheaper diapers are just as good, but clearly they haven't used the Lamborghini of diapers, Pampers Baby Dry. Not the Swaddlers, the Baby Dry. Try it. They'll change your life.

POOOOOP!

A Clean House? What's That?

Eternal 12 year-old. I wasn't joking.

Keeping a clean house? Let's be serious. That's a funny joke. I have three dogs, a 10 month old and a boyfriend who may be 25 but is really just an eternal 12 year-old. I think it's funny when people post things like, "just do a little cleaning each day and your house will never be messy." It's more like, do a little cleaning each day and your house will always be messy. I just power cleaned my entire house (I'm having people over tomorrow so I had to) and I can promise you, I'll have to clean again before they get here. It won't even stay clean for less than 24 hours. It's like my house has something against me and dirt and dog hair and random crap just grow out of the floors just to piss me off. Dishes and bottles fly from the cabinets to random places in the house just to mess with me. The walls change color to look like splotchy messes of who knows what. Maybe spaghetti sauce? So hey, I have a messy, dirty, stinky house. I guess we would just rather have fun in our house than keep it clean. Mess=fun. That makes it a little more acceptable. Right?

In the time it took me to write this, a dog puked on my freshly mopped floor and the baby decided books don't belong on shelves. I'm serious. I didn't take a picture of the puke, you'll have to take my word for it.

Separation Anxiety and Grammy

It may come as no surprise to you, but another one of Everlyn's wonderful traits is that she gets severe separation anxiety.  I don't know why, does anyone really? But I think it has something to do with she knows I take care of her and know her routine and how she likes things. I can leave her with one person only and that's my mother. Grammy knows how Everlyn likes things too so she is okay with staying with her now. But if I try to leave her with anyone else it's a scream fest. Even my boyfriend deals with screaming fits when I leave. Sometimes she is okay with him but sometimes she's not, there's really no telling. Moms who have babies with separation anxiety would tell me I am lucky at least that my mom can watch her. And while yes, I know I am lucky, this is also a problem.

Grammy likes to spoil Everlyn a bit too much. Sometimes Everlyn doesn't want to come home after spending time with Grammy and will fuss fuss fuss when we don't give her 100% of our attention. When my mom and I are in the same room with Everlyn it's like I'm chopped liver. Grammy is her favorite and I don't like it. I can just say the word "Grammy" and she will freak out. Not even fair. But can I imagine not having anyone else who could watch her, having no help, no time away, like many moms do? No. I can't imagine. If you've read my other posts I'm sure you understand why I need some time away from my "sweet angel." So I guess I'll put up with it.

They say Grandparents are supposed to spoil their grandbabies, and I partially agree with that. I think if they don't see them that often, yes, spoil away, but when they see them almost every day and have a hand in raising them, well, you can't spoil a kid too much unless you want to end up with a brat. I don't know, there's no solution except for her to get over this separation anxiety and let me leave her with babysitters and such. When will that time come? Who knows.

My Girl

A rare moment of cuddling

Can I just take a moment to say how freaking much I love my daughter? Of course I can, it's my blog.

I don't know how such a little person can make life so difficult yet so worth living at the same time.


She is my angel. My little pain in the ass. Everything we've gone through with her being sick and colic and all the fussiness and the attitude is totally worth it just to see her smile.

And that is all.

Finger Painting Designs

Adding a name or a design onto a finger painting project is so simple.

For this project, I used a large canvas and washable tempura finger paints.

I cut some blue painters tape and used the strips to write out Everlyn with tape on the canvas.

I squeezed on some paint and let her get to it.

Once the project was dry I pulled off the painters tape and voila, there was her name on her own finger painting project.

You can do this with anything. For Christmas I cut out small hearts on the painters tape and placed them onto computer paper. I then used a stamp pad to cover Everlyn's hand in ink and placed her handprint over each heart. When I pulled the tape off (yes it came off computer paper without ripping it) there was a small heart in the middle of her handprint. I cut these out and made them into ornaments for the family.

This was Everlyn's first finger painting project and is hanging on her wall in her bedroom. Who knew all you needed was some painters tape to make projects extra special?

Weight Loss, or Lack Thereof

Like I've said before, I gained about 50-60 lbs while pregnant. Way too much. And I wasn't able to breastfeed, which helps with weight-loss. So here we are 10 months after I gave birth and I'm still much heavier than I would like to be. I know I'm not alone in this, but it totally sucks seeing all you moms who lost all the weight so fast and are super skinny and beautiful again. Oh and to add to awesomeness (sarcasm) of my giant belly-- stretch marks. My stomach basically looks like this...

I really do want to lose weight. But I have this big problem. I love food. Not just food, but sweets. And Carbs. And oh let's just face it, I just plain old love eating. This wouldn't be the worst thing in the world but with little miss fussy pants attached to me all day, its really hard to actually find time to work out. Someone sent me this video, which I tried, and it worked pretty nicely until Everlyn threw up on me.

 

I'm going to keep trying and I'll get back with you if I start showing any progress toward my goal. But I did eat a slice of chocolate cake last night.

Edible Finger Painting

 Edible finger painting is such an amazing activity to do with a little one and it is so easy! Trust me, I wouldn't do it if it weren't easy. The edible finger paint is thicker than normal paint so the project becomes a sensory project with taste and touch. It is safe, non-toxic and you don't need to worry about the little one sticking paint in his or her mouth.

Edible finger paint only lasts about a week so the activity is more for a fun sensory project rather than an art project. For something you want to keep forever and ever, use regular finger paint.

 There are tons of different recipes out there to make homemade finger paint. I chose the recipe I did over some of the others because I had all the ingredients in my cabinet already. I didn't have to buy anything for this project.

You will need:
3 Tbsp. Sugar
1/2 Tsp. Salt
1/2 Cup Flour
2 Cups of Water
Food Coloring

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and heat. Stir continuously until the paint thickens to the texture you like. You can make it thicker or more watery depending on your own preference. Let it cool and then separate into small containers. Add food coloring to your liking (you can make light pastels or bright vibrant colors) to each container and then you're done!

Don't worry if your little one doesn't seem interested right away. I had to smash Everlyn's hands into it for a while before she got the hang of it. However, with the edible finger paint, sometimes she focuses more on the eating rather than the painting!

For this project I used watercolor paper since it is thick and won't rip easily. I taped it onto her high chair try and let her get to it.

The more you do projects like these, the more your child will understand it and enjoy it.

Don't forget to keep baby wipes on hand to clean up. The food coloring I used did wash out of her clothes when I washed them the same day. But you may want to let your little one paint in his or her diaper if you are worried about ruining her clothes.

Colic Part 2

Now I can't tell you what will work for you if your child has colic but I will tell you what worked (sometimes) for us.

When Everlyn was very little, the only thing that would soothe her was being outside, night or day it didn't matter, with a steady stream of background noise. I would usually walk her out back of our apartment so she could hear the noises from the AC unit. I had to have her wrapped in a blanket and cuddled in my arms even if It was 80 degrees out and I was sweating buckets. I would have to bounce her slightly when I walked and I couldn't stop moving. It was make or break getting her inside the apartment once she fell asleep in my arms. She would either wake up and scream and we would have to start the process all over, or she would allow me to put her into her crib to sleep.

When she started getting older and was not quite as colicky, when she would get into a screaming fit the only thing to get her to stop was distracting her from her screaming with noise and lights in front of her face (we used a light-up piano toy) and once she was distracted from her own screams, it would allow me to slip a bottle into her mouth without her fussing. Once she took the bottle she would calm down and doze off.

Every baby book out there says not to feed a baby to get them to fall asleep, well that was the only thing that helped calm her down enough to sleep so we did what we had to. She still needs a bottle to fall asleep and I'm sure it will be hell when we have to wean her off bottles, but when you have a colic baby, the rules don't apply. You will do anything to get your baby to stop screaming and sleep. To give her peace and to give you and daddy peace.

Using a pacifier also helps. Once she was used to having it, it could help make stressful situations a little less stressful. I've noticed that she does better with strangers now when she has her paci. It gives her another way to soothe herself.

Along with the pacifier, Everlyn became very attached to one particular blanket, and having that around in stressful situations or times she may get tired really helps. Stuffing her face into her blanket helps comfort her. This is the same blanket I would wrap her in while walking her outside.

Premie, Colic, Acid Reflux, and a Food Allergy

Everlyn was born a month early, weighing only 5 lbs 1 oz. Luckily, she was healthy and we were able to go home the day after she was born. When we got home she developed jaundice. We had to take her to the doctors every day that first week. They pricked her foot every single time, poor baby. As a mother I was miserable. I hated seeing my teeny-tiny helpless baby girl sick. Eventually, they put her on a bili-blanket, which is like a hard light pad that has to be kept on her at all times. Along with the blili-blanket we took her outside and I tried breastfeeding her as much as I could. The jaundice went away but it soon got worse.

When Everlyn turned a few weeks old she began to spit up everything and scream after eating like she was in excruciating pain. At first the doctors told me spit-up was normal and maybe she was just tired or still hungry after she ate. Well, it progressively got worse and worse. She would throw up almost everything she ate. I initially tried breastfeeding her, but my milk wasn't coming in properly and I could not supply enough for her so doctors had me supplement with formula. But soon I had begun to realize that both my milk and the formula were making her sick. She was miserable and so was I.

The doctors told me it was acid reflux and prescribed her Zantac and Prevacid to help and told me to keep her head elevated when she slept, when she ate, and 30 minutes after she ate. It seemed to help a little bit with the pain, but she still threw up far more often than normal. I ended up switching formulas about a thousand times trying to find something that she could keep down without any help from doctors. They would just tell me, "find what works" and not even recommend anything or give me some insight on why she can't keep anything down.

After weeks and weeks of trying different brands, soy formulas, organic formulas, homemade formulas and lactose-free formulas, I found that the only formula she could keep down was the hypoallergenic formula. There are two hypoallergenic formulas that worked for her. Similac Alimentum and Enfamil Nutramigen. However, she hated the Nutramigen, she refused to drink it, so we settled with the Alimentum. I wanted her to be on an organic formula since I couldn't breastfeed, I thought it would be the second best option, but there are no organic, hypoallergenic formulas out there. I looked. So from the fact that she couldn't keep down lactose-free formula but could keep down hypoallergenic formula, I figured out that it was casein, the milk protein, she was sensitive to, which is still in lactose-free formulas. Thanks doctors for nothing.

Now, I may have written that like it was no big deal, but unless you've been in that situation you can't imagine how awful it is. To have a screaming baby, in pain, not keeping anything down. Everyone is telling you what to try, what to do, but nothing works. Weeks and weeks of seeing your baby miserable. Not sleeping. Not even thinking about taking care of yourself because you're so worried about your baby. It was awful. Finding something that worked for her was a miracle. But then it got worse again.

Colic. You don't know how bad it is unless you have ever had a colic child. My Everlyn had colic to the extreme. I can't even put into words how bad it was so that you might understand. You had to be with her to fully grasp it. She would scream and scream and scream uncontrollably, for no reason. There was no consoling her. We tried everything. EVERYTHING. Some days some things would work, sometimes other things would work. But basically she just screamed all day, every day and all night, every night. To hear doctors say its colic and there is nothing they can do, and that you just have to give it time and it will go away, kills you as a parent. Your little one is clearly upset and there is nothing you can do but try to keep your own sanity.

Everlyn would scream when she was tired, she would scream because she didn't want to sleep, she would scream when she saw strangers, she would scream when I set her down, she would scream when I held her, she would scream when it was too quite, she would scream when there was too much noise, she would scream at everything. There was no leaving her with a babysitter to get some time away. The times I tried they would call within 30 minutes saying she wouldn't stop screaming and I needed to come get her.

Cade and I were losing our sanity. I'll admit that there were times I had to leave her screaming in her crib only to go into the bathroom and bawl my eyes out. There were times when I would scream and scream out of frustration. I threw things across the room and cried A LOT. They say colic goes away at around 4 months. Well, it only started getting any better when she turned about 9 months. She got better with people once she began recognizing them and better with falling asleep. But still she is fussy, fussy, fussy.

Everlyn is very particular. If you didn't do things her way, the way she liked them, exactly, it would be a scream fest. She knows what she wants, what she likes and what she doesn't. Part of me thinks good, she will be strong in her beliefs and stuff when she's older, but the other part is like oh crap, I have a stubborn little monster on my hands.

Everyone says enjoy it while they are young, you'll miss it when they get older. but those first months were absolute hell. Now that she is getting older and can crawl she is very independent and active and it seems to help with the fussiness. She is so much more fun now that she's getting older. we can do more things, go out, see people, I still can't leave her with anyone unless they know her routine to her exact specifications, but hey, it's getting better.

Valentines Day Art

I Figured I should post this before Valentines Day passes.

For Everlyn's first Valentines Day we did some simple hand and foot art.

For this first one, I used two footprints to make a heart on pink construction paper and then cut out the heart around the feet. It was too hard to make the heart and then get the feet to match. I used white crayon to write on the red construction paper.

This one was made on white construction paper as a valentine for her daddy. I used Crayola finger-paints to paint her feet and create the heart. I drew a heart around it, added polka-dots and made it to look like a balloon. I used matching paint and Crayola markers to finish the valentine.





This one I used stamp pads. I put red on her feet and then put black only on her heels. I drew hearts on the bug body, antennas with hearts, and 6 legs on each bug. I glued on google eyes to finish the love bugs. We also made Grammy's Love Bug and Auntie's Love Bug.





For the last one we used stamp pads again on white computer paper to create an O and a V and then I simply used marker to finish it.



I also had her finger-paint on some watercolor paper with red and pink paint. Once it was dry I cut it onto the shape of a heart and pasted it onto some construction paper.

Happy Valentines Day!

Art and Paints

Creatology Jumbo Stamp Pads

When we can, I prefer to use children's safe stamp pads.  I use the Creatology Jumbo Stamp Pads. I bought mine in the children's section at Michaels. The only downside to the stamp pads is they only offer them in a few colors, black, blue, red, green and a rainbow wheel. I find it easier to stamp her hand or foot rather than to paint it with a paintbrush. The paintbrush can tickle their feet and cause their fingers and toes to curl up while the stamp pads get their hands in a flat, spread out position, ready to be placed on paper.




When I need a color other than the ones I have stamp pads for, I use children's washable finger-paints. I have two different kinds of finger-paints I use. One I use for hand and footprint art and another, more watery one, I use when I let her finger-paint by herself (which I will post more about later).

Crayola Washable Finger-Paints

 I use Crayolas washable finger-paint to do her hand and footprints as it is slightly thicker and sticks better to paper. These paints mix well together and are offered in many colors.

Washable Tempura Paint

For finger-painting I use these non-toxic, washable tempura paints. These are great for squirting onto paper or canvas and letting the little one use her hands to spread it around. It is thinner than Crayola and therefore, easier to spread, but has a slightly more sheen texture than Crayola.


I do also have a recipe I use for edible finger-painting, but I will post that later on.


For finger-painting I like to use watercolor paper. It is thick and will not bunch up or rip if the little one uses too much paint or rubs too hard. This paper comes in almost every size and is relatively inexpensive. I bought a large pad of watercolor paper at Michaels for less than $15.

For hand and footprint art I usually do it on white computer paper and then glue construction paper behind it so it wont wrinkle. Sometimes I paint right onto construction paper which also works just fine.

For other, bigger projects that I plan on hanging on the wall, I use canvas. Again, I buy these at Michaels. They sell these singular or in packs of 2,3,5, and 7.

I always keep baby wipes nearby when we paint. They wipe the paint and the stamp ink off very easily and quickly so she doesn't get paint on everything on the way to the bathtub or sink.

Generally, when we do art, I will have her sit in her highchair. Instead of stamping her foot onto paper, and trying to hold her up to do so, I press the paper onto her feet while she is sitting (you will need something hard underneath the paper, I usually just use the stamp pad). For finger-painting I tape paper to her high chair and let her paint, or if it is nice out we will go sit outside to paint.

Pregnancy

Pregnancy was AWFUL. Every woman out there would have you think pregnancy was wonderful and beautiful and they never felt better. Oh my God, I thought I was dying every single day. When I was pregnant I kept saying, "never again, no more kids ever, this better be worth it." Which of course it was, but again let me reiterate - It was awful.

The day after I found out I was pregnant, I stopped taking my birth control and everything hit me at once. I was throwing up, gagging at every smell, my feet swelled up like balloons, I swelled up like a balloon, I would cry at everything, funny things made me cry, I craved everything, I was tired all the time. I ended up quitting my job about two months after I found out I was pregnant. I just couldn't handle the energy of the three-year-olds I was teaching. I was too tired and sick. And I had to pee constantly. If you ever worked in a classroom you know pee breaks are rare. I gained probably 60-70 lbs while pregnant. Which is not normal. Especially since I'm only 5'2" and I was weighing in at over 210 lbs. My feet grew two sizes, and still haven't shrunk down (bye bye shoes).
I got onto the WIC program, which if you don't know is a supplemental food program for women, infants and children. Every month they give checks, like food stamps, with certain foods you can buy for free. While pregnant I got milk, eggs, bread, cheese, peanut butter, cereal, and beans. Once your child is born they provide formula (if you aren't breastfeeding), and baby food. I also got Medicaid to cover the costs of my doctors visits.

When I was about 35 weeks pregnant my doctor became concerned because he found protein in my urine. They made me do a 24 hour pee test were I had to collect all of my pee for 24 hours and then bring it to the hospital to be analyzed. How embarrassing to have a jug of your pee sitting in your refrigerator while living with your boyfriend. I was mortified by the whole thing. Well, at my next doctors visit my doctor said there was too much protein in my urine and he wanted to send me to the hospital for observations. Well, they observed and found out my baby wasn't growing so they induced me the next day, 4 weeks early.



The pregnancy photo my boyfriend took of me

The pregnancy photo I posted on Facebook

From the Beginning

Now, it probably wouldn't be fair to start my blog without starting from the very beginning. I was at work, working in a three-year-old classroom in a preschool up in Charleston, SC. A coworker stopped me on the playground and quietly asked me if I was expecting. Oh hell no. This bitch is calling me fat. No I'm not pregnant thanks for ruining my day. Well, after work that day we had a training class so instead of driving home and back before the class I went and got a margarita from a Chilis close by my work. But on my drive home from work, at about 9 PM, I was thinking, well shoot, maybe I should take a pregnancy test, I knew, I was 100% sure, I wasn't pregnant but I'll just double check. You might ask, why was I so sure I wasn't pregnant. Well, I had a surgery when I was 14 which left me with only one very scarred up fallopian tube, which doctors claimed probably would not work. They told me I would have to do invitro and all that if I ever wanted kids. And also I was on birth control (since without birth control I was having a period every two weeks - no thank you). So I get home and go to the bathroom and take a pregnancy test (I kept them around the house because I only got periods every few months on the birth control I was on and, you know, even with doctors telling me I can't get pregnant I was still paranoid about it). Now, at this point in the blog most moms might be like, "When I saw the test was positive and I was pregnant, I was so happy, it was a miracle!" Welllll, it didn't quite go like that for me. I was an unmarried, 23 year-old working a low paying job, living with my boyfriend in a crappy apartment in a city where we didn't know anybody (we moved there for his job after he graduated college). I fell to the ground and began to cry. My first thought was not to tell my boyfriend and just break-up with him, move away, change my name so he couldn't find me, so that it wouldn't ruin his life as well as mine. I knew I couldn't give it up for adoption, I knew I wouldn't be strong enough to do that. I knew I couldn't have an abortion, I couldn't live with myself if I killed my baby.

All this is going through my head as I'm sitting on the bathroom floor bawling. Cade (my hunky boyfriend of 3 years at the time) starts banging on the door telling me to open up. I unlocked the door and he stood over me asking what was wrong. It was all I could do to point at the pregnancy test sitting on the bathroom sink. He tried to calm me down and tell me it couldn't be right, it had to be a faulty test, I couldn't get pregnant. So I took another one a little while later. Positive again. We couldn't believe it. I knew he was mad. He was trying to be calm but he was mad.

The next day on my lunch break I went to the clinic by my work to get a real pregnancy test done. Cade waited outside in his car. He couldn't bear to go inside. Well it was positive, obviously. I went outside, after crying my eyes out yet again in the doctors office and told Cade. We both left and went back to work, calling our parents and telling them on the way. I went back later that day, after work and had an ultrasound done to see how far along I was. I was already 16 weeks! Into the second trimester and I didn't even know it. I really though my parents would be mad, that his parents would be even more mad. But nobody was mad. They all thought it was a miracle. Cade was mad, all he kept saying was how could I not know for 16 weeks. Eventually he stopped being mad and embraced being a father but those first few weeks were awful for us both. Neither one of us was ready for a kid. It seemed impossible that I was even pregnant. But we were going to stick together and do the best we could.

Not Your Normal Mommy Blog

You may be wondering how this blog is any different than all those other mommy blogs. Well, I'm not perfect. Not even close. I don't use cloth diapers, organic cleaning supplies or have a baby whose been sleeping through the night since she was 12 weeks old. I don't feed my baby all organic food. I didn't breastfeed. Hell, I didn't even want a kid. This is not one of those blogs from an amazing do-it-all mom that will make you feel like a lousy mother. This blog may make me look like a poor parent at times, but I know that there are plenty of moms out there just like me who can relate. I got pregnant when I was 23. Not ready for a kid. Broke as hell. But hey, I love my kid more than anything and that's all that matters here.

While I'm not your normal Mommy, my daughter, Everlyn is not your normal baby either. She's my little pain in the ass. A premature colic baby with allergies, reflux, and a hell of a temper. She was no picnic and still isn't. She doesn't sit still and play or watch TV like all the other parents tell me their babies do. Oh no, she's my fiery-tempered, constantly moving, feisty, little daredevil.

In my blog I will talk about everything I went through with Everlyn to help other moms suffering with a baby with the same or similar issues. Since she is so active, we do plenty of activities and crafts and I will talk about those as well. Also, I'll talk about my new life as a mom, how I handle it, how I don't handle it and I promise to be honest.

Embrace the craziness.

Kailyn