Mother's Morning Out

Addie had her first day at Mother's Morning Out yesterday. It took us a little longer to get out of the house than usual. Here's how our morning went...

5:15 am Addie wakes up to eat
5:22 am Back to sleep
5:55 am Daddy's up
6:23 am Addie and Mommy up
6:50 am Take Daddy to work

7:24 am Arrive back home
7:27 am Change Major blowout diaper
7:30 am Shower, bath, dress Mommy
7:50 am Breakfast for half naked baby and the cat
7:55 am Label paci, wipes, blanket, lovie, change of clothes, attempt washcloth. Thank goodness for those great Inchbug labels for the bottles and sippy cups!
8:00am Thaw milk for bottle. Find cheerios.
8:02 am Dress baby

8:05 am Take pictures in the den = distracted by toys
8:12 am Pictures in the chair = creates a glare
8:13 am Pictures in the hall = cat/dog hair on the clothes
8:16 am Put dog up because she keeps walking in front of the camera
8:17 am Pictures in the den again = Mommy officially develops a love/hate relationship with her new lens = totally frustrated Mommy!

...because this is what I kept getting...

ok ok...so I did get one good one (out of 50 something)

8:25 am Grab bags, baby, attempt to leave

8:30 am Mother's Morning Out starts...Mommy calls Daddy to vent about lens and being late. Mommy realizes check and paperwork are at home
8:35 am Return home

855 am Arrive at Mother's Morning Out

9:00 am Addie happily playing on the floor. Mommy back in car trying to decide which errand/s to run without baby.

So long story short...
No tears from Addie
No tears from Mommy
Good report from Ms. Deborah and Ms. Tulula
A little poorer from visit to Target.
Reattempt to get a picture on her "1st day"

too bright...

look left...look up...look right

crawl baby crawl!
ohhhhhhh, I see another rock I want to eat!
or maybe that's dirt or a leaf?

trying so hard to stand!

90 something pictures later...semi-success!

I'm outta here!
See ya later alligator...after a while crocodile!

Wordless Wednesday

New Years

Although I'm a little late posting these, here are some pictures from New Years Eve and Day.

"Not Me!" Monday

I did not decide not to do a Not Me Monday post and then change my mind. I'm not that indecisive.

I did not send 234 pictures to CVS to be printed only to get them back and have them look terrible. I did not contemplate never picking up a camera again because of my poor shooting ability and lack of knowledge. It wasn't until I compared one of the new prints to an old print of the same picture that I realized it had nothing to do with my lack of knowledge or new lens...it was the photo printer machine at CVS. I did not go back, show them the difference, and get my money back. I'd never obsess about pictures that much...now would I?

I did not spend hours trying to figure out how to create my own blog background, searching countless websites to find the answer. At my wits end, I did not succumb to asking my computer genius husband for help. And it didn't take him a mere 45 seconds to look at another blog, read the code, and tell me how to fix it. I'd never waste that much time when I can just load a pre-made background. Nor would I admit that I couldn't read html code...oh wait, I can't!

I did not stay in my pjs the entirety of yesterday...and I did not leave my child in her pjs 75% of that time also.

I also didn't sleep until 9:55am yesterday, with my sweet (he really is) husband taking excellent care of our daughter. I'd never need that much sleep...that is unless I had not stayed up until 2am the night before for no reason at all!

I did not just today finally get the Christmas lights off our tree, drag our tree out the backdoor, and vacuum up the 14,000 tiny needles that fell off our dried tree. I did not seriously consider laying the lights on our tree next year instead of wrapping them around the branches because it took 3 forevers to get them all off. Our tree is now not lying out on our deck and will get moved who-knows-when because, you know, our cut up tree from 2 years ago is not still in our outdoor garage because my husband was going to burn it. 1.) that's bad for the environment 2.) it's dangerous and 3.) it shows what terrible procrastinators we are!

Hmmmm...all better! Now, what did you not do this past week!
Make sure to check out the finger foods post and share any hints you might have!
And...of course make sure to check out MckMama's blog. She's had quite the week...but everyone is on the mend!

Happy Monday!

Mommy Poll

Alrighty all you Mommies out there! I've done several Mommy Polls through email in the past: Baby things you can't live without. Car seats. Favorite toys. Sleep habits. Now we're at another stage: finger foods.

So my questions:

What healthy finger foods did you start out feeding your baby?

What healthy foods do you now feed your toddler?

How did you manage portion size, storage (apples do not save), and variety?

Answers to any or all of the questions would be much appreciated! Feel free to leave a comment with any tips you might have!

Enrolled!

Well...I did it (the week before Christmas, that is). Addie is now officially enrolled in Mother's Morning Out. It wasn't that I was hesitant about doing it. I knew exactly where I wanted her to be...it was just the timing.

When Addie was first born, I got a lot of pressure to "just leave her" (with whomever, in the nursery, etc.). Again, it wasn't that I wouldn't ever leave her...it was just the timing! I knew that when I was ready that I'd be ready...and it would be before she was five (or walking or even talking)! For those of you wondering; yes, I have left her...many times now! I know the importance of having children interact with others besides us! BUT...I also know a mother should heed her intuition.

So...I'll get off my virtual soapbox and back to Mother's Morning Out. A local church has an excellent preschool program from 1-3 days a week that goes all the way up to a 5 day kindergarten. They have an outstanding reputation, but it's an incredibly difficult program to get in unless you're enrolled early on. (like parents wait in lines for hours to get in their Pre-K 4 classes!) Well...we're in and now we have early enrollment for next year (and the next and the next)! For the remainder of this school year, Addie will go one day a week for 3 hours (with the option of staying longer for lunch bunch).

I met her teachers the Tuesday before Christmas (although I knew one from when I was in the youth group there) and got to see Addie's little big classroom. It's actually the only class where there's an opening! So Addie will start on January 7th!

Perfect timing!!!

Oh...and Happy New Year! :)