derm update

I had my first dermatologist appointment for a mole check (i wish there was a better name for that) today. She checked me all over and said everything looked good and not to come back in for another check for 2 years. I asked her about what I could be doing with my skin and she gave me a sample of retin-a and told me to use it 4-5 nights a week and, besides sunscreen, it would be one of the best things I could do for my skin. She said sunscreen, wearing hats in the sun and using retin-a (except during pregnancy) are the top 3 things to do to help your skin as you age. I asked her about microdermabrasion and she said it's not worth it at my age - that I would see enough of a change and that I could look into it in 10+ years.

I've been feeling like a major wrinkle face lately. Not sure if it's me being a bit self-conscious about being the oldest person in my classes or b/c I really have aged a ton over the last 2 years. Regardless, I am looking for new face regimes and I read in one of those free hippie/health magazines that you get at the natural food store that you should use an apple cider/water toner on your face each night before you put on your night cream. The article said apple cider vinegar works as a sort of acid to slough off your top layers of skin. I made up a little bottle of toner with 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar to 2 tablespoons water and I'll see how that works.

Other than that, I wash my face with Dove, wear a hat in the sun, wear sunscreen and night cream and try not to wrinkle my brow.

I want to go to one of the fancy beauty schools in town and get a microdermabrasion or something where I will see a major difference.

Is there anything else I can be doing?

I just had the sweetest night with Piper. Patrick is working late all this month so I'm doing the bedtime routine solo. Around 5:30ish we went for a jog and she zoned out staring at the houses and looking at the birds and trees. We came home and I plopped her in the high chair with a bunch of random food. She sat and played with the food and talked to herself for about 30+ minutes. She was COVERED with banana and avocado. It was so innocent and cute. I scooped her up and we took a mommy+baby bath and she loved it. We cuddled, splashed the soapy, lavender-scented water and nursed. Afterwards I gave her a baby massage, put her in the Halloween pj's, zipped her up in her sleep sac, placed her in her crib and never heard another peep. She is such a sweet googie.

Behold

Today my friends, I have accomplished a huge goal. A roadblock in my life has been cleared. My soul is free from the weight of a task which seemed impossible for so many years. I am now a dove, flying high above my self doubts.

I have made
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the perfect loaf of homemade bread.

7 months of babyhood

Some thoughts on Piper and parenthood:

• cloth diapering gets harder as the baby gets more wiggly. i'd like to just use disposables but now i feel guilty since i have the diapers.
• making your own baby food is really fun. it's sorta relaxing to find some new fruit/veggie, peel it, slice it, steam it, mush it, package it up and then see her enjoy it later in the week.
• i am so glad we put her on a sleep schedule. she goes to sleep so easily. we just plop her in the crib and she talks to her stuffed animals friends and then drifts off.
• a friend called me last night for some breastfeeding help for her newborn. i couldn't believe that i was the one getting a phone call when it seemed like just yesterday it was me with the bleeding, sore (oh gawd the soreness) boobies. btw, my friends baby was 2 oz below his birth weight at his 4 week checkup..yikes!
• when i was talking to my friend i found myself telling her the exact same things SA and Xta told me when I was 3 weeks postpartum. how it gets so much easier at 6 weeks, then 12 weeks. how breastfeeding will get so much easier. going out and running errands will be no problem really soon. the baby will be sleeping through the night with no problems in just a few weeks. i remember them telling me all of that and i was all "uh, i'm 3 weeks postpartum and you are telling me that things don't get real easy for another 9 weeks?" but in a blink of an eye you are at 7.5 months postpartum and it's second nature.
• being away from piper part-time is perfect for me. i love the opportunity to have some "me time" and to learn and work on a personal goal. but i'm still there by lunchtime to get her, nurse her and put her down for her afternoon nap. besides when i have a full class load in nursing school i don't ever want to work full time until our children are much older.
• patrick and i are definitely in our parental groove now. we are getting much more one-on-one time with each other now and feel like we have our own little gender roles with her.
• it is amazing how fast you go through baby stuff. it seems like basically all baby items are useful for about 3 months and then the baby outgrows it/gets bored of it. if SA and Christa and I all lived in the same town we would literally never have to buy any baby stuff...it could just get rotated around until the item falls apart.
• the breastfeeding weight loss thing has finally caught up to me and all my clothes are getting really big on me. toot toot!!! i only have one pair of jeans that i can wear now without having to cinch the waist up like crazy.
• speaking of breastfeeding: having a baby who is all excited about her newly found sense of motion is both adorable and scary when you are nursing. now piper likes to nurse and practice rocking back and forth at the same time and it makes me feel like a human milk machine. the days of her lying still while she nurses are gone as well as all nerve endings in my boobs from her ripping her head off the boobie to look around.
• whatever i'm choosing to worry about/obsessive about regarding piper has a 1 week lifespan before i move on to the next issue. i was worried she wasn't into eating solids and i was starting to imagine her going to preschool with mushed baby food and in the last 48 hours she's been ALL into solid foods (broccoli florets, pulled pork, cheerios, peaches, shredded cheese) and so whew, i'm done with that and now i'll move on to something else.
• we applied for piper's passport today and it still blew my mind to sign my name to her application and list "mother" next to it. thankful isn't a word big enough for how i feel.

inspiration needed

(Besides the windows that I desperately want in our back family room) I've been wanting to cozy up our back porch since we moved into this house 2 years ago.

We have such a great backyard and we love to sit out there in the morning and watch the fog (I guess it's fog? steam? heat?) in the park and then in the evenings watch the geese honk and fly in (a gaggle!) while the park is full of little league games and dog walkers.

BUT, our furniture sucks and is old and uncomfortable. I have no inspiration at all. I just know that I want to go and buy a bunch of expensive, comfy furniture with colorful, pretty pillows and lounge on it all day while I read People magazine and drink coke and eat cheetos. But that's not going to happen because I'm cheap, if I drink anything other than water it might be diet coke and well, the cheetos thing...that would probably happen.

We get 100% sun all day long on the back porch, so we need something that can withstand the sun, won't mildew and won't take up the whole porch. I think I'm gonna try and sell the wrought iron furniture (that I got for $200 from a thrift store 2 years ago) we have now and try and piece something together through craigslist and garage sales.

Any suggestions?

guilty pleasure

I can't stop watching The Girls Next Door on E! It is so horrible and hilarious. I mean, Hugh Hefner is so old and disgusting. Each scene shows him shuffling around the mansion in his pj's and he looks like he's gonna croak any minute. And his main girlfriend Holly calls him "Puffin Boo" which makes me laugh out loud because it is so redonkulous.

Mix tape!

the sweetest thing

I am SO THANKFUL for this. Artwork! Done by my own baby!

weekend review

This weekend pretty much revolved 110% around Piper having a fever and feeling bad. When she felt bad we were all VERY unhappy about it. And when she felt good, we were all VERY happy about it. It's funny how your day is completely dictated by how the little person is feeling. Which in our case works out well since Piper is always a happy girl. But this weekend things were different.

Patrick spent pretty much all of Saturday wearing Piper. She was super clingy which was really sweet and cute and also a pain in the back.

Splashing in the tub.

Checking out the fascinating male/female lawn lady next door. Affectionately known in our house as the Shemale.

Playing on our bed. Her favorite spot to roll around and try and crawl. Which she seems so close to doing by the way.

Our bedroom is feeling so cozy now. Mom came and worked her magic on the room, rearranging furniture and wall hangings. We put up a huge mirror that I found on the side of the road (and repainted a really nice, glossy black) and it opens up the whole room. I really love the room now.

Pop Pop

Piper and Pop Pop. Maclay Gardens State Park, September 2008.

I adore my parents. Driving out of their driveway this past weekend Patrick noted that I wasn't crying. "Up until about a year ago you use to always cry when we left your parents house." I did. I just love and adore them so much. They are so fun, entertaining, loving, giving, attentive, present. And they are wild about their granddaughters...all 5 of them.

In my Human Growth and Development class we do so much talking about how infants and children develop. If you do this, then they will turn out depressed. If you do that, then they will turn out with trust issues and low self-esteem. Gah, it stresses me out. I'm trying to just ignore it and just have fun with the little googie because she is at such a fun, interactive, cuddly stage right now.