Mother's Day

I had an absolutely wonderful second Mother's day as a mom.  We slept in a bit and then headed out to the enjoy the perfect weather: sunny with a high of 75!

Adam prepared a picnic lunch for us, complete with (in true Adam style) the biggest sandwich I have EVER eaten.  Seriously, look at these!

I could barely fit the entire thing in my mouth, but the funny thing is that I finished mine and Adam did not :)

Me and the pretty girl that made me a momma.  I wish she would smile for the camera, but she doesn't like to be confined these days.

She is happiest when we let her freely explore the world.

Then we explored everything the park had to offer. 

Truly, I got exactly that I wanted for Mother's day - time outside in beautiful weather, quality family time, great food and new nail polish!!  However, as I write this recap I feel so blessed that I don't at all only feel appreciated as a mom on this day.  I can honestly say that I hear and see and feel this from my sweet husband pretty much every single day of the year.  

The end :)

Super Sweet Baby Feet

Amaia and I are working on walking with shoes on, so that we can go on many outdoor adventures this summer! 

As usual, she is quite the quick learner and looks so cute all the while :)

End of an Era

***Warning: this post is going to be entirely about breatfeeding.  If that is TMI for you, feel free to stop reading now :)***


So, Amaia and I are officially done with the breastfeeding portion of our relationship.  We have had  many ups and downs, but I am really thankful that it worked for us for an entire year.  I'm a bit sad that our cuddling time is over, but I also know that parenting is pretty much all about training our little ones to be independent and this is one small step in that direction.

When I was pregnant I assumed that breastfeeding is what we would do.  It seemed to me to be the way God designed our bodies to work and I am always for the natural (and CHEAP!!) thing to do.   I had heard stories of breastfeeding being a challenging endeavor, but I had taken my class and read up on the basic techniques, so I thought we were good to go.  However, once Amaia was born many aspects of breastfeeding were challenging for us.  Amaia did not easily catch onto the concept of breastfeeding, so we had to do through great lengths during the first few weeks to teach her the concept.  There were many tears (and hormones!) and feelings of discouragement in the beginning, but I think any other momma will agree that when it comes down to it you just do whatever you need to do for the best interest of your baby.  To me, the best interest of Amaia was to at least give breastfeeding a hard-working try.  It took us a couple of weeks, a little formula supplementing, and many, many phone calls and visits with the amazing lactation consultants, but we made it happen.

We have gone through a few rough patches, but for the most part I have loved it.  I have loved cuddling with my sweet little girl.  I loved the phase where she played with my hair whilst eating.  I have loved that I know I am providing the most natural and healthy nourishment there is for her.  AND I loved that I had to put forth no effort in preparing it!

Weaning happened slowly over a couple months for us.  Amaia had started refusing to take a bottle of any kind, so it was necessary and I was ready.  We started by offering her water in a sippy cup and after a few weeks of that we elimanated one feeding in the middle of the day and replacing it with milk in a sippy.  The first few weeks were rough!!  We tried many different kinds of cups.  It was a very new concept to her, so of course it took awhile and at times I thought she might be addicted to breastfeeding for the rest of her life!   In the end, what worked for us was to stick with one kind of cup and keep offering it until she just started catching on one day.  I remember one day in particular that Amaia and I both had a breakdown.  She got up from her nap and was totally fine until I did not breastfeed her and instead offered her a cup.  The poor girl was crying and crying....I felt like she looked at me so confused and sad.  Then of course I started crying, which probably only made miss Amaia more upset.  Oh it was a sad day!

After she mastered drinking from a cup I waited another couple weeks and eliminated another feeding in the middle of the day, so we were only breastfeeding in the morning and right before bed.  I felt like this was the best of both worlds.  I was free to go places and have other people watch her during the day, but I still got to cuddle with my sweet little one a couple times a day.  Bliss!  However, over the past few weeks she has become more and more disinterested in breastfeeding to the point over the past couple days that she really didn't want to do it at all and I am certainly not going to force it.  So, I'm sad!  But only because I miss my cuddles.  I am really glad that we waited and I let her become ready on her own to be done with this phase of life.  And I am really glad that she is growing up.  I love that she is walking around and having so much personality and life.  I love the little girl that she is becoming.

I'll just have to get a bit more creative about how to get my cuddles.  :)

Book Baby

Amaia's love for books has been growing a lot lately!  We read before most naps and every night before bed and she is always sad when reading time is over.  I love our reading time together too, partly because she will sit and cuddle with me, which does not happen often these days for my little mover and shaker!

She has also started finding her favorites on the shelf and bringing them to me to read to her.  Her current favorites include:
Noah's Ark
The Foot Book
The Eye Book
This Jazz Man

My mom and I took Amaia to Book Babies this week at the library and oh my she had quite the grand time.  She just loved it!  It is meant for 12-24 months olds, so they did not expect the kids to sit and listen by any means.  They sang songs, read a book, and played with a parachute.  Amaia just wandered around with glee written all over her face and checked in with me ever few minutes or so to make sure I was still where I was supposed to be.

Amaia is currently difficult to photograph, but we got a couple of good ones!

I want to start taking her to this regularly - any other mom's interested in coming with us?! 

My Little Mad Scientist

Sunday at the Park

I recently discovered that a park very close to where I grew up has received a complete and total makeover in recent years.  I have been talking in up big time to Adam and Sunday we had quite possibly the most wonderful weather of all time, so off to the park we went.  

Amaia got to break in her shoes.  This was her official walking experience outdoors.  She is a fearless little gal.  She seems to have no fear of falling (although she still does fall somewhat frequently), she just wants to go places. 

We tried to use the self timer to take a family picture and this is now it went...

We will have to try again another day :)

But Adam did a mini photo shoot of Amaia and I and I think we got a couple of good ones.

I love this girl so!

Spring has Sprung

We have been on a spring break this week and we have been partying it up!!  Ha.  Ok, actually it was only me on spring break.  I work a small part time job from home and the company closed down this week.  I typically work during Amaia's morning nap, but this week I could do whatever my little heart desired during that time, so what did I do you ask?!?  Well mostly I cleaned, which is quite the opposite of partying I suppose.  However, a clean home makes me very, very happy!  And I also "chillaxed" as my sister would say, which involved sitting in complete silence while reading magazines.  It was wonderful!

Amaia's week has been quite the opposite of taking a break from learning/working.  She has been perfecting her walking skills all week long.  In fact, she is most more interested in walking around the house than playing with her toys right now.  She has also been perfecting her eating on her own skills.  She can now take a drink out of her sippy all by herself!

It was very rainy/dreary for most of the week, but we did get out to take a few walks and do a few fun things.  This morning we went to a park with some friends and Amaia got to get out of the stroller and explore.  She really seemed to enjoy walking around, however she also really seemed to enjoy putting the wood chips (that were covered with dirt) in her mouth.  One second was all it took! I tried to be extra vigilant, but she managed a get a couple in her mouth.  Gross, right?!  But it will only make her immune system stronger....that is my philosophy at least.

Sadly, this is the only picture I got of our outdoor excursions.  Amaia has a bit of a sad face because she does not like stopping while we are on a walk.

I was gifted daffodils twice this week!  By my sweet husband and mom.  I LOVE daffodils.  I have a special memory of daffodils and they always remind me of God's care for us.  

Amaia and I also took a cue from my friend Allie and stopped at the library today to get a few books.  I am yet to be an expert at picking out children's books, but I do know that we like: bright and colorful pictures, turning the page frequently, looking at other babies and Dr. Suess!

I hope she likes them!  I know that I will enjoy having a few new ones to read :)