Even in his sleep.

Scene. The other night, I'm crawling back into bed after feeding Isabelle. It's 3:00 ish. Or 5:00 ish. I have no idea because I'm delirious.

Jazz sits straight up in bed. "WHAT DID SHE HAVE OPERATED ON."

Me: Um. Whaaat?

Jazz: "Well, what part!"

Me: "Jazzy, darling. I think you are asleep still. Izzie didn't have any surgery."

Jazz. "Well, the ones at the hospital did."

Me: "Ones? What? No- we just have one. Singular. Go back to sleep. shh. there now."

Jazz: "gobbledofsdflzzzzz."


Just another example of how much of a super concerned and caring father Jazz is to little Isabelle- even in his sleep. He does more than his fair share of night feedings and paci-replacing and rocking sessions without being asked. He takes her in the evenings so I can have a nice long bath, or read a magazine, or sew something uninterrupted. And I look forward to my Saturday mornings knowing that every week Jazz will voluntarily get up with her so I can sleep in. I've suddenly lost my ability to nap or fall asleep during the day-which is weird considering when I was pregnant I was a borderline narcoleptic. Just that extra hour or so on Saturday morning is a fluffy cloud straight from heaven and very much appreciated.

I know I've said it before but I'm so lucky to have him. Not just lucky- thankful and grateful and giddy everyday that he is my baby daddy, yo.

And for our out of town friends and family here is a video (I never add video!) of Jazz making Isabelle giggle and laugh while having play time on the floor.

the woes of diet plateaus.

I'm stuck.

I've been at the same weight for about ten days now and I feel totally stuck.

I hate plateaus.

The diet-kind. Not the lovely scenic kind.

I'm doing everything the same and working really, really, really hard and then this morning I gained a pound.

WHAT. I HATE YOU SCALE. DIE, DIE, DIE.

When I was pregnant (remember that!) and I gained all that weight my doctor eventually took away my scale. He made me get on backwards for my weigh ins and told Jazz to hide our scale at home. Funny at the time, not so funny when I lost complete track of how much I gained. In fact, right before they took me in for my c-section, the anesthesiologist asked me how much I weighed so he could administer the correct medicine and I had NO IDEA. To this day I'm not sure where I ended up. This is not something I recommend.

Anyway, I digress.

I wanted to lose 25 pounds from January to Maui in May, and I'm at 20 now, so only five more to go, which is great. Except now I think I can maybe get five more before we leave in seven weeks to make it an even 30. It was going all fine and dandy until this AWFUL PLATEAU. It's frustrating to see the same. number. every. single. day. (and now plus one! yeah!) It's not like I'm getting close to my ideal weight and I just have ten more to lose and I'm there- I still have oh, like, about two hundred more pounds to go.

The hardest part is that I'm still not back in all my normal clothes. Not even most of them! Exclamation point! I'm dreading the summer because I know I will have to buy a "between" wardrobe- not normal size, not maternity size- to get me through the heat. I swear by the time I am done with all of this, I will have clothes in every single size known to woman. *le sigh*

Pretty sure I would trade my soul for a warm maple bar and a glass of milk. Just sayin.

Random Stuff: Title by Morgan Sumsion.

Remember how we are moving?

Like, in a week?

I guess I should be preparing and packing and organizing and sorting. But I'm not. I read somewhere that moving to a new home is ranked among the top most stressful events in your life. I always get a little anxious when I know that stuff will be unorganized and thrown into a car somewhere only to end up in a random place in a new house. And by anxious, I mean HOLY CRAP WHERE'S ALL MY STUFF.

Ask Jazz. I am prone to go nuts if the box marked "Kitchen" accidentally ends up in the bathroom. Or if the random last left-out plate gets thrown in with the Christmas decorations. Nuts I tell you. I'm trying my best to be at peace with it this time because I know this is our last move in awhile. I will have lots of time to go through everything and throw away Jazz's stuff when he isn't home. (Relax honey, its just a joke.) (Or is it? Mwahaha)

I will feel much better when we get there and get settled, when the boxes are unpacked and everything is put away. We will eventually need a couple things like a couch or two and a dresser for Isabelle and stuff for the walls, but there is time for that. Right? Tell me there is time for that before I reach for a paper bag to breathe into.

Besides the whole buying a house thing, I've kind of been obsessed with fabric and sewing. Poor Jazz comes home to find me at the machine and Isabelle buried under yards of material. I've learned a lot and tackled some new projects, I'm sure I'll blog about them eventually. I've had some successes and pretty major failures. (damn seam allowances!) I finally cleaned up my area today and have vowed to take a little breather to catch up on housework and laundry and regular life.

Also. Isabelle is kind of sleeping more? I don't know, she still wakes up to eat at 10, 3ish, and 6 am. My mind is so blown because she slept for 7-8 hour stretches most of her little infant life. Now I'm not sure if she wakes up because she is genuinely hungry or if it is because she is simply used to it. Regardless, she is falling asleep better on her own and we are all thankful for that. The jiggling, rocking, please-go-to-sleep song and dance was awfully tiring. Naps are on a day by day basis- some are better than others. I really can't believe her 6 month well baby checkup is next week. What the whaaat!

Starting yesterday, I'm not allowed to buy anything for Isabelle for at least a week, maybe two or three or four. Seriously, out. of. control. You would assume that because we live in a small town, we don't have a lot of options for baby boutiques and stores. Well, you would assume wrong. Enter the World Wide Web- I've ordered stuff that she can't even use or wear for a year or so just because it was on sale. If my mom was here she would scold "Mic-o-leen! Stop it this instant!" But mom! She is just so cute in her new dress/outfit/sandals/hat! Okay, fine I'm done.

I just re-read this post and whoa nelly it's pretty random. I guess that's what you get when you are sleep deprived and your brain can't complete one thought without fritzing out. Bedtime, yo. Well, at least until ten.

Why my diaper bag weighs more than my baby.

I mean, really? We are just going to Target!

Steppin' Out

Need something really super fun to do in the next two weeks? The Redding Dance Project is putting on their spring show entitled "Steppin' Out." This production is massive. I'm not kidding, 30+ dancers, 10 amazing singers, backdrops and costumes and music, oh my. It's a collection of songs from favorite Broadway shows and Hollywood movies including Mary Poppins, A Chorus Line, In the Heights, The Color Purple, Nine- seriously it would be impossible for you not to enjoy yourself.

My mom has once again totally and completely outdone herself as the Costume Director. Imagine coordinating 40 people for like ten+ numbers. It's huge! She has been measuring and ordering and hemming and ironing and bedazzling and glizting everything for months now. I went over to the house the other day and she had accidentally hot glued sequins to the dog. Just kidding! They don't even have a dog.

The show is appropriate for all ages- in fact our niece Madilyn is almost two and she was mesmerized the whole show. A two year old! Sat still! For two hours! Right there-totally worth it to bring your kids.

Keep your eyes open for all of the headpieces and hats- Mom's specialty, and also my brother Scott who is moonlighting as one of the male singers. I have to say this is the only logical time I have ever seen my brother wear make up. I've been to see a few of the final dress rehearsals and wow. It is such a polished and high caliber show, we really are lucky to have something so fantastic in our little area. Just a quick note about my mom- she volunteers her time to head up the costume department. It turns out to be hundreds and hundreds and zillions of hours. She loves theater, she loves fashion, she loves design. This is what she does best. Downstairs in the greenroom she is completely in her element- everybody loves to be around Cindy, she is the life of the party. If you aren't careful, you might mistake her for one of the young dancers- she's just that cool.

"Hmm. Jana's skirt needs hemming."

The show runs though March 27th. Tickets are $15-25 and $10 for children and are available at the Cascade Theater box office or can be purchased online here. Come out and support your local arts!

Spring Sewing, Part 2

So, I've always been a fan of Etsy and they have some really, really cute baby accessories. I was looking through zillions of items one day and I thought. Hmm. I could make that. So I did. I may have gotten a little carried away though- I didn't realize how many bows I had made until I went to take pictures of them. And I have infinitely more material to make EVEN MORE OF THEM. Turns out, making crap yourself is a lot cheaper than buying other people's handmade crap. Who knew?

Most of them are sewn by hand using wool felt, fabric, and ribbon. Oh and tulle- every baby needs some tulle. Then I just got some plain metal clips, covered them with ribbon and hot glued them to the bow. Interchangeable!

Special thanks to my adorable and readily available baby model, Isabelle. I will pay you in sweet potatoes and/or kisses.

Have a favorite?

Spring Sewing, Part 1

Once in awhile I get bitten by the craft bug and then I must immediately create something or else I will explode. This usually means getting out my machine and plugging in my glue gun and then going, "uh, now what." Most of the time it ends up a big pile of glue and fabric and frustration, but sometimes it works out and I get a finished project that I like and might actually *gasp* USE!

Last week while Isabelle was napping (I mean, sike, sleeping for 15 minute increments) I worked on a few projects. Here is the first one I finished:

I started with a yard of heavy wool felt, a 16-inch Styrofoam wreath, and some straight pins. Four hundred felt circles later:

A new wreath for our new front door at our new house.

I actually really like the way it turned out- it needs some fluffing and some fixing in a few places before it debuts on the door, but for the most part, I'm in lurve. This project came from an online tutorial and I just made a bigger version, I'm sure you could do it to Styrofoam balls and hang them from your mantle- that would be cute. Hmm...maybe I need more felt. Anyway, it was super easy, required no sewing, and left room for my little errors.


However, if you decide to do this project PLEASE for the LOVE. Buy more than a yard of felt. I got started and then ran out of felt and I was thinking, "WHY is Joanne's not open at midnight! I hate you Joanne! I hate you!." I think it took four whole yards and a few hours of circle cutting to complete it. Maybe I'll add a giant bow or something. Probably not though, I like the simplicity of it, and I'll probably just hang it with a wide ribbon once we move. (Hey, we are moving!)

Next up... Spring Sewing Part Two: Baby Accessories

In the middle of the street...

So I had this entire post about Isabelle and her habit of not sleeping. About how she is up multiple times a night and wants to play instead of sleep. About how her naps are a scanty 15-30 minutes long most of the time. About how yesterday she was so tired and cranky she cried so hard she barfed all over everything just as we were heading out of the house. It was one of those days.

I was getting ready to publish it and I was like whaaat this is ridiculous. No one wants to hear me whine about my baby who doth noth sleepeth. Everyone has a "baby who won't sleep" in some way, mine is just literal. And so instead I'm going to post about something so awesome and exciting that my mind is being blown as I type this.

We bought a house. A beautiful four bedroom home for our family. And, as a bonus, we just found out we are closing a lot earlier than we thought- April 1st! I'm not a big fan of exclamation points but for this I will put that aside and SHOUT FOR JOY!!! Three exclamation points! In a row!

It's so spacious and open, the kitchen is beautiful, and there is a fenced in backyard with a patio. Tons of room for Isabelle to run around and play and space for us to grow and expand. Plus, it's only a hop, skip and a jump away from my parents' house! We will be able to ride our bikes to Grandma's for lunch and swim time in the summer.

I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. We move in just 2 1/2 weeks and for once, I am thrilled to pack up our stuff and haul it across town because this is our last move for a long, long time.

Please excuse cell phone picture...

Of course, I can't wait to decorate and furnish and set everything up- especially Isabelle's room. Anytime I start talking about what I want to do, Jazz's eyes get huge and his brain explodes just a little bit. That's prettys standard Jazz though. So if friends/readers/strangers want to help us move April 2nd, we can definitely use some extra hands! (exclamation point!)

not sleeping

draft post: posted 8/2018


Have I mentioned how much Isabelle is NOT sleeping? I haven't? Well, Isabelle isn't sleeping very well lately. Here is our typical night.

Isabelle gets bathed, cereal, milk at about 6:45ish. After that, she MUST be swaddled very tightly, rocked/sang to/sshhhed/rocked more for about twenty minutes before she gives in and falls asleep around 7:45 or so.

She usually wakes up a few times the rest of the evening and needs her paci put back in.

2 AM she wakes up for a feeding and diaper change. Then we resume the swaddle/rocking/singing/shhussing/fussing for a half hour until shes asleep. And if we put her in her crib a minute before shes ready ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE. and we must repeat the whole process.

5:30 she wakes up for another feeding/diaper change. Except lately, she is refusing to sleep much after this point. Usually Jazz gets up with her and plays with her or tries to get her to sleep until he has to get ready for work at 7:30ish (which I greatly appreciate). But, because she isn't properly rested, she is pretty fuss-tastic.

This morning I got her back to sleep at 8. She woke up at 8:15. I fed her more at 9, she went to sleep at 9:30. Only to wake up at 9:45. ARE YOU KIDDING ME, CHILD. We don't do cat naps in this family, its go big or go home, and I have been known to throw down a 3-4 hour nap on a rainy Sunday. What I can't figure out is whyyyyyy we can't teach her to appreciate sleep! Not to mention, most of my day is centered around the fussing/rocking/shhushing/singing part of this cycle.

Everything that I read about a 5-6 month old says she should be sleeping 10-12 hours at night, with about 4 naps per day, maximum awake time about 2 hours at a time. I don't know what magical baby does this but we need to get the sleeping fairy over here to adminster some dust. I'm trying my hardest to make sure she doesn't stay awake too long and get overly tired. As soon as I see a sign she is sleepy, its naptime.

I feel like I'm more exhausted now than she was as a newborn and then I think HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE. I figure the 3 hour chunks of sleep I get are great but they just aren't cutting it. Plus, I can't be tromping around in my yoga pants and ugg boots all day long, its just not cute.

So, I turn to you, dear friends and readers and strangers alike.

Is this normal? Is this fixable? Do we need to sleep train her? Let her cry? Feed her tylenol PM? (I'm just kidding. I'm afraid someone will read this and call CPS) Is she teething? Growing another foot?

2010 Oscar Recap

I love watching the Oscars- Jazz and I usually print out a ballet and compete to see who can guess the most winners correctly. I am proud to say that I recovered from my slightly narrow loss last year to brutally kill Jazz in the competition this year. Sucka! You never saw The Hurt Locker coming!

Highlights include: Steve Martin and Alex Baldwin as hosts. Just the right amount of mockery and humor.

Best Dressed:

Sandra Bullock: Gorgeous dress, gorgeous hair, gorgeous makeup. Timeless. Best she has ever looked. She's 45! Give me a break!

Sarah Jessica Parker: Loved the vintage look! The best shot was when she would turn around- the back of the dress was beautiful and her hair was huge. I love huge hair, can't go wrong.

Rachel McAdams: Some people didn't like this dress but I loved it! I thought it looked like a swirly watercolor just painted all over her body. Not everyone could pull this off, but it looked fantastic on her.

Ben Stiller as an avatar: Brilliant. The tail thing? Had me dying. I love that he didn't bother to shave his beard, he just painted over it. Ben Stiller is right up there with Will Ferrell. Well, close anyway.

Worst Dressed:

Charlize Theron. I'm sorry, but really? We couldn't have placed those rosettes anywhere else? It's very forgettable and bridesmaidy.

Miley Sirus: At first glance, I was like- hey, this is kinda pretty. I think I would really have liked this on someone else, maybe someone a little older? I don't know, the bodice is tight, I'm not crazy about her hair and makeup. She could be the bride for Charlize's bridesmaid dress.

Mariah Carey: FAIL! How many times do I have to tell you, Mimi! Its boobs OR leg! NEVER BOTH. (Sorry I said boobs, mom.)

Honorable Mention:

Cameron Diaz: I really thought this dress was stunning but something about her top half just wasn't quite right for me. Earrings? 80's Wave? I don't know, I can't put my finger on it.

Overall it was quite the impressive showing of celebrities and egos and tears and speeches. Jazz, I accept your challenge for next year's event, though you will never prevail again.

5 Months

Dear Izzie,

Yesterday marked five whole months since the day of your birth. I know its cliché but I can’t believe how quickly time is passing. Your infant days are over and you are starting to use your muscles to explore your surroundings- you reach for objects and promptly stuff them in your mouth to chew on. You can now roll from front to back and back to front, although sometimes you get stuck and you holler for help.

You are still a petite little thing, just shy of 13 pounds and are 24 3/4 inches long. I try to feed you as much as I can but really you don’t seem too interested, which is shocking considering the level of appreciation I have for food. Maybe cereal and squash isn’t cutting it? You are still wearing your 0-3 month clothes and lately you have been rocking Baby Legs. Your little chicken legs look so cute in polka dots and stripes, I stick them on you as often as possible.

Your hair is really coming in now- it looks sorta brownish and is oh so fluffy. The nape of your neck that used to be wrinkled and velvety is getting smooth and full. Your cheeks are plump and delicious and you light up when you see us. Sometimes when other people are holding you and you get fussy, you look for me to be comforted. You know me- you know the way I smell and the way that I feel, and I am so lucky to be so needed. Someday that will change and I won’t be able to rock and cuddle you, so I try to drink in every moment that I can. Please don't blame me if I try to swaddle you when you are thirteen.

You love your exersaucer which we have nicknamed the Neglectaroo since you are so happy and content to play in it. Not that we neglect you, its just a joke! Silly baby. You have really found your giggle lately, especially for Grandpa. He will just talk to you and you think it is the MOST HILARIOUS THING EVER. Your father and I will try the same thing and it just doesn’t produce the same results.

Lately you have been on a sleep strike. I don’t know what the problem is, but I think you are teething. You slept so well for so many months I’m not sure what to do now that you are not. Most of the time I just continue on in a zombie like state until I get a reprieve when you take your 45 minute nap. What baby only naps for 45 minutes? I have contemplated getting out the horse tranquilizer but I will wait a bit longer mostly because you are so ridiculously adorable when you smile up at me from your crib.

Isabelle, another month has come and gone and we love you more than ever. Your little personality is starting to come through and I can’t wait to see how you develop and grow.

Love, love, love you.

xoxo

Momma

Stuff I'm thinking about currently.

In conclusion.

Isabelle is not sleeping. Possible reasons include:

She thinks it's funny.

She is a robot.

She is teething.

Being on a diet is very sucky. Possible reasons include:

Cake is not allowed.

Egg whites get old quite quickly.

In season Cadbury eggs taunt me.

Housework is not getting done. Possible reasons include:

See above.

3/2/10

Do you know my sister? The one with the waggily tail? I may or may not have a bunch of children's songs stuck in my head. Sorry.


Morgan came out and visited this weekend and it was great. Nay- it was glorious. We giggled a lot and sat around the on couch, played cards and had some serious conversations. Sometimes we get kind of too focused on each other and Jazz calls it "Morgan mode" because its a bit difficult to interrupt/understand/appreciate. Whatever, its awesome.

Morgan is good at a lot of things. High on that list is 1. Baking/cooking/making me fat and 2) taking pictures that I like. She knows what angles work best for me, which side to put me on, she reminds me to suck in and tuck and lift and hold. We used to live together so it worked out great. I have thousands of pictures from college thanks to her. Here is the problem though. She doesn't live with me anymore. In fact, she lives 800 miles away in a cold and dark land known as Utah. So whenever we get together its like QUICK TAKE A PICTURE THAT I WILL LIKE. And so she does.

I've been trying to teach Jazz this fine art for awhile now, and don't get me wrong he has SERIOUSLY IMPROVED. We are working on the sophomore curriculum of How to minimize chins. He's really progressing. Soon we will move on to Centering and Zooming.

She always finds errors on my blog post. Shes like, "Hey, you missed a word." Or "did you mean to add an extra s there?" Its infuriating but helpful. It also makes me overly neurotic when writing these things. Sometimes I pretend there is a teeny tiny Morgan elf sitting on my shoulder proofreading. See, she will think that is funny. No one else will. (In teeny tiny elf shoes! With striped socks! And a high voice! And freckles! Mo Mode..)
ANYWAY THE POINT OF THIS POST. I was looking through pictures to frame a good one of our family, and I couldn't find a recent one. Morgan took some pictures in the backyard on Friday. Behold.





Some others from this weekend...



Morgan, we really appreciate you flying all that way just to take our picture, so thanks. We will need some new ones in six weeks, so plan accordingly. Also, I dare you to find an error in this post. Double dare.

Post edit: Morgan found an error immediately. I'm totally firing the Mo-elf. Also, why did no one tell me my math was off on my weight tracker? I swear I can add to 25. What is my problem. Its like I have pregnant brain except minus the pregnant part.