Baby Girl Baptism

My daughter's baptism was yesterday and I had a lot of fun gathering ideas on the web for decor and food. Here are some pictures of my favorite things from my event.


I used a pink and white scheme.
Here's the dessert set-up,



the super cute invitation made using my Cricut and Lyrical Letters Cartridge (inspired by Capadia Designs),





and my take on a Cobb Salad
(i.e. use what ever you want for your layers).

Waiting

They say not knowing is the hardest part of a situation and in my case I have to agree. I had to take my 6 month old baby girl to Children's Hospital of Central California yesterday for a hip x-ray. The creases in her legs are asymmetric. In other words, her fat rolls don't match. Of course I had to do some research on the internet to see what the problem could be and what kind of treatment might be indicated. Bad idea. The asymmetry of her creases could mean that she has hip dysplasia. Seeing that my baby girl could possibly need surgery under general anesthesiology and then a spica cast from her chest to below her knees has affected me immensely. I have had a range of emotions thinking about her little body going into surgery or trying to cuddle my lovable baby covered in plaster and what her reaction will be to her loss of mobility. I had a glass of wine last night, okay two glasses. When I woke up at 2:30 my mind was buzzing and I was not able to go back to sleep. I've just been looking at her, kissing on her, and cuddling her as much as possible. The nurse at our pediatrician's office said she wouldn't expect the films back before this afternoon and she would call me when they come in. I hope to get some sort of answer before the weekend because this not knowing is killing me.

When naps go away...

I'm currently in a huge transition. My almost-3-year-old is giving up his nap and my 15-month-old is going down to one nap all at the same time. Wow!

My older son has never been a great sleeper and fighting him to take a nap hasn't been much fun. I'm hoping this change of schedule will help him fall asleep more easily at night and give him a longer period of rest. It worked last night. He slept for 11 hours which is amazing! Of course he fell asleep in the car on the way home from Grandma and Grandpa's house. It may need to be one of those 'hop in the car to go to sleep' kind of things until this schedule is firmly on the books. I don't feel like the best mother when I plunk him down in front of the TV for an hour and a half in the afternoon to give him something quiet and still to do when the other kids are sleeping. He's not one to sit and do anything for an extended time and for now this is his rest time.

As for the baby, yesterday he was able to stay up until my other day care kids took their nap at 1pm and he slept for 2 and 1/2 hours. Very good. He has been sleeping about 1 and 1/2 hours in the morning and 1 in the afternoon. This will be better. He still sleeps 12 hours at night! What a life saver!

My Baby is 1

Such a bittersweet moment. My baby boy turned 1 yesterday. The past year has gone by so quickly. I guess sleep deprivation can do that to time.

He is at such a glorious age. He is fun and happy and sleeps well, but as soon as he takes those first steps he won't be a baby anymore...he'll be a toddler. He is very close. He received a shopping cart walking toy for his birthday and he loves doing circles around the living room, but he needs help to make the turns. He will also briefly let go of whatever is holding him up.

He is such a Momma's boy and loves me so much. Will he ever love me this much again once he wants to do everything himself and can say 'no'? When my first son turned 1 only a year and a half ago we thought he was so big. And while they have changed so much from those first days and weeks he is still a baby and I can see that now with my second. Now that I understand how fleeting babyhood is I am able to enjoy it so much more. I try to breathe it in and seer it in my memory everyday.

Get rid of the baby stuff?!

I'm just not ready. We're having a garage sale, but I'm not ready to part with all of the stuff that came along with my boys (now 2 and 1/2 and 1 year). I'm still holding on to the hope that my husband will give in and we'll have just one more. I've always wanted a bigger family. Growing up it was just my brother and I and he is 7 and 1/2 years younger than me. I just feel like there is another baby waiting to join our family.

When our second was colicky and would start crying at 7:00pm every night and go until 10:30pm or 12:00am or 1:30am it was so stressful and exhausting that he said we were done. Then our baby boy turned into a sleeper and we thought we'd try again this fall. But our other son was 2 and all that it entails. A lack of listening skills and again with the sleeping problems. It takes, on average, an hour to get him to sleep at night with someone in the room with him. He won't stay in his bed or even his room. And again we decided our hands were full.

I'm hoping next fall will be good timing for us to think about it again. In the last three months our older son is already showing signs of improvement and I am hopeful for his third birthday. By next fall the baby will be leaving babyhood behind officially by Halloween so if we can conceive before he turns two we can get well into 2 and 1/2 before a potential third baby arrives.

So, for now I'm holding on to my baby dreams and all that stuff too.