Afternoon in the Park

On Saturday we organized an outing for our Sunday school class to a local park where they were showing a movie outside. Although we didn't stay for the movie, it was nice to hang out with a few couples before bedtimes approached. Savannah did great even though it was over an hour past her bedtime. She got her first feel of really thick grass and didn't seem to like it much. The first picture shows her examining the ground and the second one is of her trying to lift her legs off of that itchy grass.

New Noises

Savannah is so funny! Just this week she has really started to mimic what we do and the sounds we make (uh oh). Her favorite thing for the weekend has been sniffing over and over. I'm still trying to capture it on camera because it's absolutely hilarious to see her scrunch her face and sniff. She even makes herself laugh. She's also learned to click her tongue on the roof of her mouth . . . and does it quite frequently.

Another little step of progress is that she can stand without holding onto anything for about 5 seconds. I know it's not much time, but it's definitely progress! I can't wait for her to start walking!!

Here's a picture of her favorite face to make while saying "ooohhhhh". We call it the fish face.

Grand Day

I'm excited to report that yesterday was a wonderful day . . . for me and for Savannah. We had a great morning starting with her drinking an entire bottle from her new sippy cup. Thanks Heather for the suggestion to use Nuby cups!! They are working great. I just decided that it was the day and we haven't used any bottles since. I know it's only been a little over a day, but I'm holding strong. She didn't like drinking her nightime milk last night from the cup, but she soon realized that it was that or nothing and drank most of it! :) YIPPEE!

Then I had a chance for a little ME time. My sweet friend Elizabeth volunteered to keep Savannah so I could drive uptown to visit with Jessica, who just had a baby. What a special time to be able to see baby Kathryn ~ she's SO beautiful and tiny ~ it almost makes me think about having another baby. It was so nice to get out for awhile without Savannah and to know that she was having the time of her life playing with her friend Jack. Here is a couple of pictures of them. They're too cute together, but boy are we in for some trouble!



Finally, the day wrapped up with our Bible study group. I so cherish these girlfriends and honestly don't know what I would do without them. I LOVE ALL OF YOU GIRLS!! All in all it was a grand day. Thank you Lord for showing me today how blessed I am and for giving me a truly awesome day.

A Job Like No Other

I just want to take a minute and really share what's been on my heart today. Lately I've really been struggling with being a stay at home mom. The frustration of not knowing why Savannah is being so fussy all day, not knowing how much or what to feed her, not knowing how long she should be sleeping during the day, etc. has been driving me crazy and actually made me question God's plan for me. Add to that my own agenda of chores and errands that I need (okay, want) to get accomplished and I've just been overwhelmed. I'm even guilty of jokingly trying to give Savannah away to friends, her pediatrician, and even strangers.

It wasn't until this morning when I was reading a friend's blog when it hit me . . . I am Savannah's mom. This is my job. No, it's not easy, but it is exactly where God wants me. He doesn't want me in the workplace. He doesn't want me to be stressed over mystery shops and running errands, but He has shown me today where He wants me ~ here in the floor of my living room spending time with Savannah. Loving her, teaching her, learning with and from her, reading to her, getting dirty again and again together, sharing meals together, and enjoying her precious life. God blessed our lives with her and who am I to question why things aren't perfect?

I have definitely been convicted this morning of not spending enough quality time with Savannah, of wishing away the hours until Dave gets home, of rushing around from place to place trying to check things off of my list, of time spent right here in front of this computer . . . God has given me a job like no other and I intend to start making it my top priority. After all, I've already given up house cleaning, so what's a few errands too?? Here's a picture of what my job involves, being a wife and mommy.

Rough Afternoon

Savannah was unusually fussy all day yesterday. Although it's quite normal for her to need attention ALL of the time and to cry when she's not getting it, I just sensed that something was different all day. As Dave and I were counting down the hours until bedtime we finally decided to just bathe her, give her some milk, and put her in front of the TV so we could enjoy our steaks we'd just grilled.

Well, it wasn't 3 minutes after sitting down to eat that Savannah came crying to the kitchen table. So, trying to preserve some of the peace, I picked her up and was attempting to hold her while eating my dinner . . . then, you guessed it, she threw up all over me. It was awful! So, after another bath and changing both of our clothes, we decided that we should probably just put her to bed. Dumb idea. Again, we sat down to dinner and after about two bites she started screaming violently. We rushed upstairs and found her covered in more throw up. Only this was worse because everything on her was covered, the bumper pads were covered, the sheets were soaked, and when I picked her up the food was just falling all over the carpet on the way to the tub. Nothing I have ever smelled was worse than this and now we were both covered again. So Dave sat watching her in the tub while I changed the bedding, bathed her a third time, changed her PJs, and rocked her for awhile before putting her back to bed. Oh yeah, as for that dinner that we'd hoped to eat in peace, I just threw mine away.

Thankfully, she slept through the night and didn't have any more episodes, but she still just isn't normal this morning. We went for our regular morning run and she started screaming only 10 minutes into the run so we headed home, me carrying her in one arm and pushing the stroller with the other hand.

Is this because of the whole milk? Did she get a virus from the nursery? I'm clueless, but we're headed to see Dr. Baker today.

Transition Phase One Complete

WE ARE FINALLY ON WHOLE MILK, 100%!!!!! I don't know what makes me more excited, that we don't have to buy formula anymore, that we've accomplished one thing the doctor told us we needed to do, or that she even drank one serving out of her sippy cup today!! Way to go Savannah. Thankfully her tummy seems to already be adjusted to the whole milk. The next phase involves getting rid of those bottles.

Home Sweet Home

We are finally home from our trip to Charleston. I'd like to say it was a much needed, relaxing vacation, but honestly, it was anything but that. Things sure are different when you're travelling with a one year old!!

It started with the trip down when she screamed for two hours straight. Now I tried to plan it so that she would nap on the way there, but she had other plans. Then, add on a traffic jam for over 5 miles with a screaming child and you have two pretty frustrated parents. We arrived just in time for Dave's meeting to start so I thought it would be a perfect time to introduce Savannah to the pool with her new float. WRONG!! I quickly discovered that she's terrified of the water. She didn't even get her legs completely wet and was just shaking with fear. It was sad to see her so terrified . . . and also frustrating for me because that's what I had planned to do to cool off and unwind for a few days.

The weather was in the high 90s every day so a quick stroll to the market took place each morning, but then we were at the mercy of hotel room entertainment for the afternoon hours. Whew! Let's just say that we LOVED seeing daddy each afternoon, but one night he had to go with the group to dinner so we were on our on for a long time.

Then there was today. Check out was at noon and Dave's meeting wasn't over until 1:30 so again we didn't have many options. It was way to hot even for a walk in partial shade so we strolled the hallways of the hotel over and over as she just screamed louder and louder. She needed a nap but was fighting it in the worst way. Finally I gave up, loaded our stuff in the car and just drove around downtown until Dave finished up.

The drive back was just as bad . . . another awful traffic jam, screaming from Savannah, and now exhausted parents. At one point the song came on the radio about beautiful things and there's one line that talks about a dad who gives her daughter away on her wedding day. Trying to change the subject I asked Dave if he'd ever thought about giving Savannah away on her wedding day ~ to which he replied "No, but I'd give her away to anybody right now."

Thankfully we are finally home. I just can't help but think of the Wizard of Oz . . . There's no place like home , there's no place like home . . . We're both looking forward to a nice long night of sleep in our own bed!!!

An Unwelcome Transition

We are still trying to transition Savannah into drinking milk from her sippy cup . . . it's not going so well. It totally baffles me at how she'll take water no problem from the cup, but once you put milk in there she immediately throws it onto the floor (temper, temper). Anyway, I finally decided that she was going to have to make a hard decision today and I stuck to it. For her middle of the day milk, I gave her a bottle filled with water and a sippy cup filled with milk. The choice was completely hers ~ water from a bottle or milk from the sippy cup. The way I figure she's still getting plenty of milk in the morning and at night through the bottle, so missing milk once a day isn't going to hurt her nutritionally. We have to start somewhere. So, you can probably guess what happened, she decided not to drink either. FINE. Here's a picture where she's trying to decide what to do. I've also include a funny picture of her newest trick, sticking her tongue way out of her mouth. She must have picked that up from Dave! :)

All in a Day

It's been a rough day for my little one. She managed to survive even with the following:

• eating a hand full of hair off of my bathroom floor
• screaming like she was dying because I was in the shower
• slipping on some playing cards and going face forward on the kitchen floor
• taking only ONE nap that was 1/2 her normal length
• eating some dryer lint straight from the dryer
• pulling out an entire container of wipes one by one
• falling from the stairs straight back onto the hardwood floor

Never a dull moment around here. We made it and were SO thankful when daddy got home! :)

Baboon Walk

Savannah is trying so hard to walk . . . we're just not quite there yet. Now that she's perfected the real baby crawl, she's on to bigger and "better" modes of transportation, what I like to call the baboon walk. It's very difficult to describe, but hopefully the picture will help. She goes across the room with her legs fully extended, her hands on the floor, and bottom high in the air. No matter what I'm doing when she takes off I just laugh like crazy!!

I QUIT!!!!!!!!

Well, today was not such a great day in the Bachmann household. I spent the entire morning trying to get chores finished up from the weekend "to do" list, entertaining a baby who needs attention ALL of the time, discovering that our downstairs air conditioner was broken (might I add that we just found out Sunday a week ago that the upstairs unit will probably not last another month and has to be replaced ASAP as well), and just feeling pretty defeated all together. Praise the Lord that Dave was already scheduled for a half day of vacation this afternoon because I met him at the door and told him I was headed to Target to apply for a job!

Wouldn't it just be easier to take Savannah to day care and let her throw cheerios on someone else's floor . . . and let someone else try to figure out her new schedule . . . and let someone else change dirty diaper after dirty diaper . . . and let someone else entertain her 12 hours a day??? Today I actually felt like it would be worth working full time and putting my entire earnings toward day care. Whew! As the saying goes, when it rains it pours ~ I think we're flooding here!

Progress

The transition continues of trying to switch Savannah to whole milk. As most of you know she has been on an incredibly expensive formula that is completely broken down making it easier to digest for about 9 months. Now that she is a year old, the time has come to switch her to whole milk. The doctor is unsure whether or not she has a milk allergy so we're having to go extremely slow with trying the whole milk but we're making progress. Just today I tried 4 ounces of whole milk mixed with 4 ounces of formula and she's tolerated it okay. We've been building up from one ounce so we're headed in the right direction.

Another big breakthrough . . . she's finally doing the real baby crawl! She still prefers to do the army crawl (and has perfected it with quite a bit of speed) but from time to time I catch a glimpse of her actually crawling on her hands and knees. Exciting times.

New things

Sunday morning as we were leaving for church Aunt Cherry called to say that she was coming to finish the window treatments in the office and living room. By 10pm last night we had successfully finished the office ones, and the living rooms are in a temporary state. I LOVE THEM! Don't you just love new things? Here is a small picture of the living room ones.

Savannah also got something new . . . her long awaited ABC books came in the mail today. I got a great deal on eBay for these 26 books of the alphabet. Look how excited she is to get them!!