9 months and Sailor's First Christmas!

So, now that she's almost 11 months, meaning my 10 month post is on the horizon, (or should be...) what better way to spend this fine SNEAUX DAY than by giving an update! (Yes, New Orleans MAY get to see some snow today! Consequently, everyone has gone bonkers! Schools are closed and shelves are bare, so I hope I get some cute pictures of Sailor in the snow after all of this commotion!)

Backtracking just a little, (aren't I always?) in November our lovely friend, Leslie Pendleton, took some great family photos of us to kick off the holidays! Here are some of my faves!

Month 9 was a little bit crazy in terms of milestones, Sailor officially started crawling with her belly off of the floor, as well as pulling up in her crib, not to mention cutting two more teeth (a total of 6 at this point), and having her first fever :-( (we made it pretty far on that one, I know, and as sad as it was, I was thankful that so much time had passed! I thought it might have been her teeth, but the Doc mentioned that she usually doesn't attribute fevers to teething if it was over 100. It was like 101, so the verdict is out on that one!) 

Her nine month pics took place just days after the fever so I think that explains the lack of smiles :-(

We did manage to get a little goofiness to come out...

 Case and point...

She also has officially gotten over pureed food, so here she is sampling toast (with squash smeared all over it...sneaky Mommy)

And Daddy's homemade banana bread (A clear winner!)

 

And then there was Christmas!!!

Naturally, we spent the entire month dressing in themed outfits, because they are my absolute FAVE!

 Or in some cases, just Santa hats...(That may or may not have a picture of Justin Bieber hiding on the back of them...don't ask!)

Our Arkansas family came to town the week before to celebrate with us! (Yes, we celebrate Christmas in just a diaper sometimes, Hey! we live in southeast Louisiana! And Sailor also woke up from her nap with another little fever :-( 

And just like that...OVER IT!

Christmas Eve!

 True feelings come out...

 She ended up pretty freaked out by this adorable rocking horse my Mom gave her...

 Our little skeptic...

 Her very own cell phone! (That does not deter her AT ALL from actual cell phones...FAIL!) At least she loves it...(When not around real cell phones...) Thanks MiMi!!

 We Love MiMi!

 A very sleepy Sailor opening her Christmas Eve present, "The Night Before Christmas."

 Which she then proceeded to attempt to rip apart/eat as I tried my darnedest to have a monumental family moment of us reading it to her on the eve of her first Christmas...sigh...maybe next year! 

 Seriously, we had so much fun playing Santa! No one told me how fun it is! Perhaps because it won't be so fun once you're building toys (or desks...sorry Mom!) at 2 am, but this year, it was my favorite!

Our Santa Baby on Christmas Day!

And later with her BFF, Ellie! (Getting this photo, was like herding cats! Major props to twin-mommies who do this often!)

And finally, a little New Years kiss with my loves! 2013 was amazing! Bring it, 2014!

Ps. You know that saying, "Never wake a sleeping baby?" You should definitely wake a sleeping baby when she spends most of New Years afternoon/evening sleeping. Otherwise, although you may get an adorable picture kissing your cute- as -can - be baby, she will be ready to party, while you on the other hand, have been struggling to stay awake since 9 pm!

Next up, birthday party-planning :-( :-( :-(! 

8 Months, Halloween, and Thanksgiving!

Well, now that Sailor is 9 months, I figured I better magically create some time to write my 8 month post before I blink my eyes and she's a year old. So here are some of my favorite pics from the last month.

Back tracking to a little before the 8 month mark, here are some pics from Halloween. I seriously can't even handle the duck costume! I'm sad we had to put it away for a future sibling...I'd dress her up in it everyday if it was appropriate!

 Happy Halloween from The Nuckles, JACK! 

Trick or Treat

I sincerely apologize if this pic is too much for you to handle (not really...) but I feel my blog would not truly be considered a candid look into parenthood without its inclusion, as well as a short anecdote. LOOK CLOSELY if you dare!

That ladies and gentlemen, is a generous slathering of SHIT! ALL OVER THE EXERSAUCER! AT LIKE, 7 AM! A brief synopsis for you, Every morning I feed Sailor and then put her in the exersaucer while I pump. At about the mid way point, I saw her little face get bright red and heard some interesting noises coming from such a tiny little person. I laughed and began telling her, "OH MY GOODNESS, we are gonna need to change you when Mommy's done aren't we?" (clearly I was blissfully unaware of what was going on below) "Mommy sure hopes it doesn't go up your back." (It didn't.) 

And then, my worst nightmare, became a reality! At this point, (the point of observation) Sailor had already kicked the little turd into sheer, disgusting, oblivion! 

Frozen in shock, I did what any mother of the year would do before jumping into action, I took this picture and sent it to her father, and my best friend, who's also a SAHM. 

Now reality has set in and I have no idea what the first step is in handling this "situation." So I worked in the most logical way I could think of.

1. Wipe down baby's legs as to not create a trail while carrying her to the changing table.

2. Remove baby from demonic-shit-inducing exersaucer, and proceed to changing table. 

3. Strip baby down and clean mass explosion

4. Put naked baby on floor and clean disgusting changing table.

5. Put naked baby in crib and run bath water.

6. Bathe still stinky, but semi clean baby.

7. Put squeaky clean baby in swing to tend to disgusting exersaucer.

8. Wipe down liberally with Clorox, rubbing  alcohol, and conclude with a nice dose of spray Lysol. 

9. Pray for time to go by at the speed of light so you can have a huge glass of wine when Daddy comes home :-)

Moving on to  more enjoyable pictures....

 Working on teaching her how to give kisses

 Revisited carrots and experienced success!

 About to brave the cold in her pumpkin hat!

 She fights sleep so badly these days, you can pretty much find her napping randomly pretty much anywhere...

 Case and Point.

So, precisely one week into buying a baby gate, this happened...so thats been fun! You can currently find her trying to scale it at any given moment....

Sailor's First Thanksgiving!

We braved a 6 hour (10 hour...) road trip to Pine Bluff, Arkansas to spend the week of Thanksgiving with Will's family, and regardless of my thoughts that perhaps trips would get better as she ages, it was once again a pure shit show! We certainly made some mistakes along the way, (not leaving until 9:30 am, taking a leisurely 1.5 hour lunch...) but it was utter madness! Sailor was pretty manageable... but I wasn't. I cannot stand pumping in the car! IT IS HORRIBLE! It is hands down one of the very worst things I've ever had to do! As if I don't despise the act of pumping itself enough, pumping in a moving vehicle is horrendous! I feel like (know...) I flashed multiple drivers and innocent bystanders, and I was in a tremendous amount of pain all while trying to tend to a baby. It is so bad that on the way back, I actually contemplated letting myself get engorged rather than do it again. 

Speaking of that, I would like to take this moment to publicly apologize to my very sweet, gracious, and accommodating hubby, who tried his hardest to make me comfortable. To which he was re-payed with a few choice words (beginning with the letter, F), a full on mental breakdown, and a vow to never travel again.

Sorry, hun.

*Side note: I do plan to stick to not taking any road trips with the next kid during the first year. I just can't do it while breast-feeding. It's too much, (Sailor has already been to: Mississippi, Alabama, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Arkansas!) and I can only imagine it will get worse with 2 kiddos to manage. So sorry (not sorry) if this is blunt, but next time we have a kid, if you would like to meet he or she, you will need to come to us. This Mama needs to stay sane somehow.   

Now, more pictures!

Before our annual "Friendsgiving" at home

 Enjoying a sweet potato and turkey dinner on Turkey Day! (As well as bits of a yeast roll, which she was of course, apathetic about...we get so excited to feed her table food, and she is just so NOT into it..)

Sweet cousins! 

 On Friday night, we got together with some of our closest Arkansas friends, and their beautiful babies for a super fun, crazy, hang-fest.

Sally and Justin's cuties, Rosie (probably) in black and Elsie (Probably) in pink...maybe.

Stephen and Cherish's  Sweet &Silly (and talkative!) Capri! 

 This little guy, Brandt, has my heart. (and ovaries...too much?) throbbing for a little boy one day! He is so lovable and goofy! And he has the best smile! (That obviously I didn't catch!) He belongs to Eric and Heather!

The kiddos checking out Sailor

Brandt loved to give Sailor kisses!

 Capri loved to rock her. 

 Babies and phones...

 Probably Elsie hanging with Sailor

 Probably Rosie hanging with her Daddy.

 Sailor loved Terrell! 

 Daddy's little turkey! 

Other mentionables about Month 8:

Its definitely been a bit challenging as she gets more and more mobile, (officially crawling now, so long, "Army Crawl.") I feel like I spend my day constantly shifting her to different places. (Swing, bouncy, highchair, floor, repeat.)

Hissy fits are most certainly in effect...the other day she made her first attempt to bite me out of frustration (Shame on me for trying to block her from getting out of baby jail!)

But it also gets more and more fun! 

I love watching her meet all the different milestones and see my serious baby get down right goofy sometimes...like this!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToqvvLnLcjw&feature=c4-overview&list=UUVqG4a2h6o8I8QsHs_Q5Hrw

Until next time! (Which is hopefully soon, since she's already 9 months..)