T.M.I.?

I figured that this belly isn’t getting any smaller, so I might as well document it as is, right? Here’s to puttin’ it out there…

(By the way, I am living in leggings right now, my apologies.)

Baby Girl apparently was not camera-ready

It’s official, Sugarpie’s Daddy is going to be outnumbered. We’re having another baby girl! I am beyond thrilled as I’ve always seen myself as a girl Mommy. We tend to gravitate toward the familiar, I know, but I have so many girl clothes already…

They will be so close in age (19 months) and only one grade apart in school, so I have high hopes that they will be BFFs, at least most of the time.

Growing belly, scary veins. There’s a baby in there!

But, before we get ahead of ourselves, I have 20 more weeks to cook this sweet thing. We will be traveling internationally once more and I will be giving birth in the festering, hallucination-inducing heat of the Central Texas summer. I guess these will be the challenges — at least I hope these are the toughest bits (besides actually giving birth, you know)!

Anyway, we couldn’t be happier! We love our little Sugarpie SO much, I can’t wait to see her grow into her role as big sister. But I can wait, ’cause one baby inside and one outside is a lot easier than having two keeping me up at night.

Right?

See, she loves it already! And I am already showing.

Well that was a long break. I guess I’ve been procrastinating posting because I am not good at keeping my own secrets.

And Sugarpie is just dying for me to tell y’all that she is going to be a big sister! We are thrilled (and a little anxious, naturally). Sugarpie has brought so much joy and love into our lives that we cannot imagine how making our family bigger could be anything but a blessing.

We are due in mid-July and are looking forward to raising our family with two children so close in age. (Once we get at least one out of diapers, I’m sure life will be much more pleasant.) We don’t know what we’re having yet (only at 13 weeks now), though we do have confirmation that it is a baby.

Much more to come!

That’s you today on your 11 month birthday! I cannot believe that you left your hat on.

Dear Sugarpie,

Baby Girl! You are almost one year old! That means in one month you will make the transition from being a baby to being a toddler. This is bittersweet to me. While I will thank God for every birthday that you have, time is changing you from my squiggly little baby to a little girl and that makes me just a little sad. It’s hard to explain, but you’ll understand one day.

That being said, you are still officially an infant so let’s get down to enjoying it while it lasts

So funny standing in your costume! Your cousin Tobey let you borrow it

This hasn’t been a month with a ton of firsts, but you’ve really been enjoying standing. You even stood up from your little chair into Nanna’s arms all by yourself! I’ve seen you let go of what you’re holding onto for a couple of seconds too, it always surprises you! I think you’ll be walking by the time I write your 13 month letter, but not sooner.

You voted!! Mommy held you with one arm and voted with the other…our picture even made it onto Good Morning America! Too bad we missed it…

That’s you and your cousins at Nanna’s house! Sure looks like a good dinner…

Another delicious little thing you’ve been doing is that you’ve developed this little laugh. It’s like a little chuckle and you do it all of the time. It accompanies almost every smile. Adorable! I cannot tell you how much more it makes me love you!

You really like group hugs with Mommy and Daddy. You think it’s pretty funny and you show us by laughing a little. So sweet!

You were really into the pumpkin patch.

We started going to the park with a group of your friends every Monday. You’re the only girl when Adalyn isn’t there! But you don’t mind, you like bossing the boys around.

You started to clap your hands sometimes too when you’re nursing, though when I ask you to do it, you grab mine and make me clap.

You had a really high fever for two days this month, it was scary! You just lay on Mommy’s lap and nursed. We had lots of snuggle time. But then it went away and you were back to your old self.

This is your teething face.

Well, until your molars started coming in…cue scary music! These have by far been the hardest teeth, your top ones gave us all a run, but these are worse. Mommy feels so bad for you when you’re in pain! All you want to do is be in Mommy’s arms all of the time, even more than normal. I just wish I could grow those teeth for you, Sugarpie. If I could, I would…a million times.

You also like to give lots of kisses. You kiss the phone when we’re talking to someone that you love and you even kissed the picture of a little baby in one of our books. You have the sweetest, tiniest little lips!

This is one of my favorite pics of you two!

You love your daddy so much too! Saturday morning, when it was time for him to leave, you only wanted Daddy to hold you. You were sad that he had to leave! And so was he. It broke Daddy’s heart right in two. But Sugarpie, he has to leave sometimes so that Mommy can stay home and take care of you! He works so hard so that we can be together and Mommy is so thankful for that.

I love you so much, Doodlebug! And even though I get wistful thinking of how fast you’re growing, keep on doing it. I can’t wait to see you become a little girl, then a young woman, then a grown-up with a Sugarpie of your own. Even when that happens, I will always remember how you used to touch Mommy’s face when you nursed and those special times in the middle of the night when we snuggled. I will always hear that innocent baby giggle and smell your soft baby hair. Always.

And no matter how old you get, you will always be my sweet baby. Always.

I love you forever and ever!

xoxo,

Mommy

P.S. You also like to throw your little ball back and forth! You get so excited after you throw it. Incredible

Doing our civic doodie

Sugarpie, her daddy, and I headed down to do some early voting on Friday. She was having an I-want-my-mommy moment in this pic, but you get the idea.

I am now adding voting to the list of things I can do one-handed!

Just a quick share…I found Giddy Giddy barrettes in a store in La Jolla while visiting my in-laws. Sugarpie has always had a whole mess of hair. It not only needs to controlled, but it needs to be cute too. Duh! We are girly girls around here.

They hold like nobody’s business using a snap clip, even in fine baby hair. They’re also not atrociously large, very important for me. I love the little felt designs with the hand-stitching and bold unusual color combinations.

Giddy Giddy in hair-holding action

They’re not cheap ($8 per clip), but they are totally worth it. I’ve amassed a collection of 5 over a few months and they serve me quite sufficiently.

You don’t have to travel to California, just click on the link above to order them online. Shipping is a flat 2 bucks, I can live with that.

Sugarpie has taken to pulling them out, though not without effort. But I’m hoping this will pass!

Dear Sugarpie,

You are 10 months old today! Well, you were really 10 months old yesterday, but Mommy didn’t get to write this in time! You’ve been teething and that means you need Mommy to be with you pretty much every second, and you don’t like taking long naps either because that means you’re not with Mommy. But we’ll make it through! We’re a team, Sugarpie, and you’ll never have to go through the hard stuff alone.

Somebody LOVES her Daddy!

Since your last birthday when we came home from Italy, you have become SO much more animated! And active. You are not shy about letting the world know what you want, and keep that up! The world needs more strong women If I put you in your high chair without immediately putting food in front of you, you let me know exactly how much that stinks. If you want to nurse, you just reach right down in my bra and grab the goods. When we’re out in public and you want someone’s attention, you squeak at them! It’s adorable, and most people cannot resist that kind of charm.

I couldn’t get you both to look at the same time! That’s you and Ellie, MiMi’s Sugarpie.

Also, you’re crawling around pretty fast now and if you see something you want to put in your mouth like a shoe, or a microscopic piece of anything, or even a toy sometimes, you go right for it! We really have to keep our eyes on you!

Mommy and Daddy got sick a few weeks ago (you didn’t!) and there was a lot of coughing going on. You decided that coughing was cool and now that is also a preferred method of communication in Doodlebug parlance.

That is SUCH a little Sugarpie face! You had fun pulling up on the bed at the hotel in LA.

You are chatting up a storm these days. You have an entire arsenal of words and sounds, and you aren’t afraid to use them. On the 19th, you said bye bye to Nanna and Pawpaw on facetime! Clear as day, and in context! You also say meh meh meh a lot. Not sure what that means, could it be “milk?” You love saying baby, though I don’t think you really mean baby. There’s also a lot of very deliberate ba ba ba. It’s sounds like baa. baa. baa. Like that, with a period after every ba. You squeak and squeal and squawk all of the time too. You really like to do that when we’re in the car and Mommy’s trying to listen to Fresh Air.

I’ve been teaching you just a few signs too. We’ve been working on milk for a few months and the other day you reached for me and made the sign! I nursed you right away.

Verena came to visit and record some songs with Daddy. You are fascinated by her! She loves you too

We mentioned last month that you pulled up for the first time. When we were in La Jolla last week at Grandma’s, you just couldn’t resist her fancy glass table. You pulled up on it again and again and again until you wore yourself out! Now anything that looks sturdy is fair game to get you on your feet. You even took a few steps while holding on the table with Grandma!

That’s you and Romy at the British car show at the park in San Diego. She’s so sweet!

Speaking of California, just when you were getting back into Texas time after having been in Italy, we dragged you to San Diego for another time change. You got to spend a lot of time with Daddy’s mommy (Grandma) and you even saw your cousins and aunts and uncles. We spent a lot of time with Romy and her mommy and daddy too (they’re our good friends). You love eating at their restaurant (Jayne’s Gastropub) and you even liked eating Romy’s food after you were done with yours!

You got somethin’ to say, Mommy?

We ate at Bahia (our fave Mexican place in California, where we even had our rehearsal dinner!) and you and Romy tore up the beans and rice. You even had your first quesadilla and didn’t mind a little spicy green salsa on it! Yum.

Your new favorite fruit is strawberries, you hold them like little apples and bite around. Sometimes you stuff it whole into your mouth (giving Mommy a heart attack), but you smush it up, take a part of it out, and eat it that way. I guess you have your methods and I should trust you!

Nanna and Pawpaw came from Orange to spend a few days with you too. You miss them! Pawpaw is so silly and fun and Nanna is the sweetest ever.

Sugarpie, something happened a few days ago that I will always remember. You woke up early from your nap and were crying. I came in the room and picked you up. You lay your head on my shoulder. I went over to the mirror to see if you were sleeping and instead, you had the biggest smile on your face! I could see all 7 and 1/4 of your teeth. I could not believe that you were so happy just to be in my arms! It was the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen and my heart grew bigger right then and there.

You think it’s pretty funny when Mommy smooches you right there. That was on Mommy’s birthday!

The most wonderful thing about you is how happy you are! You smile so easily. Your happiness is like radiating crystalline sunshine and it fills me with the deepest satisfaction. I cannot get enough of you. I simply cannot.

Every time Daddy walks in the room, you squeal in delight with the accompanying flailing arms and kicking feet. You do the same for Mommy. We love you so much!

I can’t believe you are 10 months old already! Time really does fly. Our life with you is better than I ever imagined it would be. I am so glad that you’re my Georgia Ann.

I love you forever and ever,

xoxo Mommy

It’s a slow Monday, so I thought I’d provide you with some entertaining reading. This blog is called Mammals Suck and it’s written by an assistant Harvard professor who studies effects of mother’s milk on the development of rhesus monkeys. She’s pretty funny and this post on why breastfed babies cry more makes for fun readin.’

Click here for it. Enjoy!

Just a few little little nuggets of bite-size Sugarpie before we head out of Tuscany and down to Apulia…these pics pair great with wine.

Can you smell it? These cows live at the vineyards that make Bele Casel Prosecco.

Something like the Sistine Chapel…

That’s Daddy, Sugarpie, and Giovanni playing a hearty game of “I’m gonna get you” in the Zanotto vineyard.

This is what I do 98.75% of the time.

My two fave people, happy in Siena

Not the picture of peaceful sleep. At all.

So we’re a few days in and having a ball. BUT, it hasn’t been easy on the sleep front. On our trans-Atlantic 8 hour flight, we reserved a bassinet (as I mentioned before). Sugarpie was already sleep deprived by the time we took off at 7:30. Her usual bedtime is 7. She had a grand total of 40 minutes of nap time the whole day. (Yikes!)

By the time the bassinet was in place and the lights were finally dimmed, we were 3 hours into the flight. I got Sugarpie to sleep, but when I put her in the bed, she immediately sat up and in her mind, (with all of the hustle and bustle going on in the cabin), it was party time. The bassinet was small and the metal clasps that attached it to the wall had sharp bits in them. Ugh! NOT baby friendly. I would say that these are more appropriate for babies under 3 months who aren’t so grabby and squirmy.

On top of that, every time there is turbulence, the baby must be taken out and attached to an adult seat belt. This means that even if she slept, she would be constantly interrupted.

I ended up with her in my lap and attached to the breast. We managed to sleep for about an hour with my arms propped on several pillows so as not to drop her when I relaxed!

After that, hubs and I took turns holding her. It was brutal, to say the least. To Sugarpie’s credit, she was never inconsolable. It only took a zombie walk through the cabin to soothe her, at the worst.

Long story short, she barely slept and is probably scarred for life. But don’t feel too sorry for her, we ARE in Italy, after all

More stories coming up!