Happy Grump-Butt Day

Today was one of those days. By the time 5:00 rolled around and Grant came home, I had officially been declared a grump-butt. So Grant took Hallie to the store and I got a much needed half-hour to go to the bathroom by myself, and then sit and waste time on facebook. When Hallie and Grant returned he sent her into the family room with these Tulips (my favorite), coaching her to say "happy grump-butt day Mamma".

I love being a Mom. I honestly feel that the first year of Hallie's life I had a relatively easy time dealing with the changes that first time parenthood brought into my life, but I will say the past 2-3 months have been hard. I feel as though I have hit the wall. When I talk with friends it always seems that they had a hard time with the first year. The first baby turns their life upside down, and they beg for the assurance that it gets better. I would always try to be sympathetic to these people, but really never understood what they were talking about or where they were coming from. I loved the first year, my biggest worry was how quickly the time was passing. The first 4 months of Hallie's life I would have been completely content to never leave my house and just sit inside and snuggle my sweet baby. People began to think I was depressed because I never wanted to go out or have people over, but really it was the exact opposite. I was the happiest I'd ever been in my whole life. I wanted to spend every second soaking it all up, the two people I loved most in the world, Grant and Hallie. I didn't want to share them, or our time with anyone else. I actually hated it when people would ask to hold Hallie because I felt like I was loosing the precious little time I had with her as a new baby, she was just going to grow up too fast. Well I was right, the first year did go by way too fast, and now all of the sudden I feel like I am really struggling with day-to-day motherhood. I spend my days with the cutest tyrant in the whole world. She rules our home with an iron fist. What Hallie wants, Hallie gets- and if I try to hold out and set limits she screams, and shrieks, and and stomps her feet, all while signing "more" which she seems to think means "I want it". The past three months have been a blur of sickness, temper-tantrums, and teething. In January she started waking up between 5:30 am and 6:30 am every morning so we decided it must be time for her to go down to one nap a day. Before she would sleep for 1 1/2 hours in the morning , and then 2 hours in the afternoon. Now she is sleeping 45 min-1 1/2 hours total for the whole day. She is grumpy all afternoon because she didn't sleep long enough, but when we try to put her back in her crib to sleep she just screams (this is coming from a mom who is a big advocate of making your kids cry-it-out), to the point that I feel hopeless that her crying will ever turn into a longer nap. She is a very strong willed kid. Our afternoons seem endless as she wakes-up with 4 hours left before Grant comes home each night. Have you ever tried entertaining a grumpy 15 month old for 4 hours? We try to get out and play with friends as often as possible, but it has been hard as Hallie's nap schedule doesn't line up with friends whose kids all seem take normal naps. I thought I was used to going with the flow, I thought I understood that once you got one stage figured out it would change and you'd be on to something new. I have never felt so overwhelmed at the beginning of each day, hoping that somehow this will be the day that we figure it all out, her nap works, and she wakes up the happy nice girl that we know she can be. In the mean time I will try to keep the grump-butt days to a minimum, and pray that I figure out the secret to "wrangling" this girl, sooner than later. I really do love being a Mom, some times are just harder than others. Someday I'll have a clean house and get to take a shower or use the bathroom by myself, until then I'll I'll try to start savoring this time with Hallie like I did her first year. I'm sure I will blink and this time will be over - good and bad.
I'm done venting now.

Spring Fever

The sun finally decided to show it's face again in our neck o' the woods last week, and left us all with a bad case of spring fever. The 5 day forecast showed 60* weather and sun over the weekend so we decided to set up Hallie's bike seat and buy her a helmet to prepare for the nice weather. She liked the helmet/hat for the first 5 seconds, but quickly decided she wasn't a fan.

We'll be ruined when she learns how to unhook the buckle on her helmet.

Once we got outside and were moving she didn't seem to mind, and enjoyed her new mode of transportation.
I think we're all ready for Spring any time now.

Day to day life

I realize I haven't done any posts recently on Hallie's milestones... So get ready for a long one! Mixed in with the Birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years, there was a lot of day to day life. On one of those such days, Hallie fell while playing and chipped her brand new front tooth. Mom has gotten over her sadness about the loss, and Dad loves it- says it gives her more character. Character is one thing I'm pretty sure Hallie will never run low on.

Hallie also started using this purple toy truck as a ride on toy. She came up with the idea all on her own, such a smart girl! It has provided her with loads of entertainment, and us with lots of laughs as we watch her try to maneuver herself around on it.

Preparing to mount the truck

Our days are also filled with lots of snacks. Hallie is a great eater. Her favorite foods change everyday, but she does pretty well with all of her fruits and veggies.

There was a brief one week love affair with a pink "Dora" visor.

I can't get this picture to move. It should be eat the end of the post with the rest of the sick-day pictures. We built Hallie a fort, which she destroyed, to help pass the time on a day we were stuck at home.




There were many pictures just like this, as Hallie discovered the camera. She now tries to grab it every time we're taking pictures.

And there was a lot of horsing around with Daddy.

We played outside when the weather permitted.

And Hallie's discovered a love of exploring the neighborhood.

Hallie is always very eager to help out. On this particular day she was helping me get my lesson ready for church.

She did become a little frustrated that while sitting on the book she couldn't turn the pages.

Hallie also helped make brownies for Daddy. Before I had kids I dreamed of the day that I would have a little kitchen helper. It's hard to describe the feeling you have when you realize you are in the midst of a long time dream coming to fruition... I guess I'll just say it was as sweet and precious a moment as I always imagined it would be.

And finally, the majority of our days this winter have been spent doing this. Laying around the house with a sick little girl. I will be so happy when Spring finally arrives and we are done with cold and flu season.On the really bad days it has been so sad to watch our little busy-body be so lethargic and sick. The first bout of sickness started in early November, and a pattern of 3-5 days sick ,3-5 days healthy, and then back to 3-5 days sick began. During all of this she also had 4 molars come in. It has been a rough winter for Hallie. In early January Hallie, who had been running fevers for a few days out of every week since the beginning of November, became sick enough to convince her Doctors that it was time to start running tests, and checking for hidden infections. We took her into the hospital with her 104* fever that motrin wasn't touching, and they put her through the works trying to find some hidden cause to all of the fevers and sickness. The results- Hallie really is just a very unlucky kid, who has managed to catch every flu bug and virus she's come in contact with this winter. No hidden infections, nothing serious, so now we're hoping that she really has had it all and will have an amazing immune system after going through all of this.

A random sick day. Hallie threw up on the couch so I had to pull off the cushion to wash and dry it. Hallie thought it was great fun climbing on and off the couch with it's missing cushion.

Taking a rest in the middle of the day. Before Hallie got her new slippers for Christmas she would bring us her shoes to put on every morning, trying to copy me with my slippers.

That's about it. She walks (started 2 weeks before her birthday), she talks (if you speak Hallie), and she is still the love of our lives! We love this girl so much!