I have thoughts #5

The view has changed a bit...

Imogen is almost 9 months old. NINE MONTHS, guys. How? When? I mean, the first three or four months were probably the longest of my life (I cannot relate to people who say the first few months fly by. For me, they didn't. At all.) but the last six? I feel like just the other week she was barely able to roll over, and now she's crawling, able to put herself into a sitting position instead of relying on us to help her, pulling herself to her knees on everything she can get her hands on, eating all kinds of solid food (except purees, don't you dare try to put a spoon of puree in her mouth!), trying to share that food with us, waving hello/bye...at this rate she'll be walking next week. Just kidding, I have a feeling it'll be a while before she walks - she's still reeeeally wobbly when she tries to stand up.

We didn't really have a plan when it came to introducing solid foods to her at 6 months old, although I had grand plans of making all kinds of fun and fancy purees at home. Of course we ended up with a baby who hates purees. She'll eat from a pouch, but try to put a spoon in her face and you're likely to get it flung back at you. I always liked the idea of baby led weaning and although we haven't followed the rules to a T, it's been the method that's actually seemed to work the best. She feeds herself all kinds of food now, and will take just about anything we try to put in her mouth as long as it's a piece of food and not some mush on a spoon. The only food she doesn't like so far is berry flavored yogurt drops - I think they might be too tart (thought she devoured some orange slices the other day, so who knows). I even gave her a bite of asparagus the other day and she didn't hate it. Which is good because it's one of my favorite vegetables and I would have been so sad if she didn't like it.

A little blurry, because she never stops moving!

We're now "those parents" who have purchased a giant baby gate for our living room. We knew the day was coming because we installed a wood stove the winter before she was born, but now it's a reality. It works. I don't love having a giant metal fence in our living room, but I know it's not forever, and it really helps me not have to monitor her SO closely when she's playing by herself. I will say it'll be nice when the day comes that she understands "no", but that day is not today.

She's also SO tall! I don't know how in the world we got such a tall baby, but she's been in mostly 9-12 month (and some 12-18 month, because Zara runs ridiculously small) clothing for several weeks already. I might have mentioned this, but Isaiah is 5'9" and I'm barely over 5'4", so we have no idea where her height is coming from. Her 9 month checkup is next week and I'm interested to see just how long she's gotten.

Anyway, this wasn't supposed to be a baby-only post, so let's switch gears.

What are your plans for Easter this year? Isaiah has to work all day, so I'm flying solo. Well, solo with a baby. I guess they're having a potluck at the police department, and Isaiah asked if I wanted to make/bake something for him to take, and since it's not like I have much else going on, I said sure. I'm thinking some kind of broccoli salad and vegan cupcakes (one of his coworkers is lactose intolerant). I don't know why I'm even talking about this. This is how exciting my life is, guys! I'm blogging about the food I'm going to make for my husband's Easter potluck at his job. Eye rolls.

Here's something annoying...for some reason, a lot of companies like to treat Alaska like a 3rd world country, and offer no other shipping options other than either FedEx Smartpost or UPS SurePost (same difference). Both take at least 3-4 weeks to deliver here. There are a few companies I'll still buy from, simply because I like their stuff enough that I'm okay waiting (H&M is one of them, I just make sure not to buy any baby clothes that won't fit Imogen by the time they arrive).

But I've been ordering from Ulta for YEARS. I have several staple items that I've always bought from them, because I either can't get them in Sitka, or they're cheaper than in town (mascara, for one). Up until recently, I've always just used their standard shipping, which generally takes a week or so to arrive. APPARENTLY they've made some changes, and now they're using FedEx Smartpost unless you pay $10 for expedited shipping up here. It just took 3 1/2 weeks to get my Ulta order. It's not the end of the world, it's just really, really annoying.

I feel like Amazon shipping has gone downhill, too. I can't expedite things I used to be able to expedite, things they do allow me to expedite cost an arm and a leg (I'm not paying $50 in shipping for a box of diapers, forget it), and Prime shipping has gotten suuuuuper slow. Things are taking over a week just to ship these days and I'm having to majorly plan ahead for things like diapers and formula.

First world problems, I know, but I live in a first world country for a reason.

Annnnd Imogen just bumped her head and started crying, and that's my cue to start the bedtime routine. Mama out!

Life Lately #16

I have my computer back!! Repeat: I have my computer back! I never realized how much I depended on it until I didn't have it for two weeks. But the guy who fixed it was really nice and gave me a huge discount off the labor cost due to having to wait so long to get it back. Praise the Lord, hallelujah, I can type like a normal person again instead of having to use my phone/iPad for everything. 

Reading: Why I Hate Green Beans by Lincee Ray. I'm about a third of the way done with it and my goal is to finish it by the end of the month! I'm a slow reader these days. Mostly because when Imogen naps, a lot of the time I'm too tired to read and I end up zoning out messing around on my phone instead.

Watching: At the moment, Paddington Bear. I would rather be watching something else, but the smallest Clark is in the room and therefore all shows, even though she isn't really watching, must be relatively kid-friendly. After she goes to bed, though, everything changes.

Listening to: See above. Also waiting with bated breath for the new Snow Patrol album. ALSO loving a new artist I discovered called Portugal. The Man. Yes, that's his (their?) name. "Portugal. The Man." Look up the song Feel It Still. Catchy as all get out.

Wearing: Jeans and a sweatshirt, but I'll tell you what I DIDN'T wear when I took Imogen out for a walk today - my winter coat! I started out wearing it, but it was 54 degrees today and a mile into our walk I was overheating and took it off - and even pushed up my sweatshirt sleeves! I don't think I've done that since, like, last August. 

Eating: A lot of protein. I'm still counting my macros and I'm trying to get about 130 grams of protein every day and let me tell you, it's pretty difficult. I feel like I eat nothing but chicken, Greek yogurt, and protein powder. It's for a good cause so I'm fine with it, but it's a struggle sometimes.

Loving: Watching how fast Imogen is changing. It's hard to be sad when she's turning out to be such a smart and funny little kid. I'm sure this is technically nothing special but today I was trying to point to something in a book and she wanted to see something on the page underneath my arm, so she shoved my arm out of the way so she could see better. It seems like every day she does something new that leaves me scratching my head and wondering how one day she's barely able to control her limbs and the next she's purposely shoving my arm to get it out of her way.

Not Loving: How fast she grows out of her clothes! Her 9 month appointment is coming up in a few weeks (how!?) and at her 6 month appointment, she was still in the 75th percentile for height. I'm interested to see if she's still actually long for her age, or if I just feel like she is. I don't know, is 28 inches an average length for an 8 month old? According to the WHO online calculator she's in the 86th percentile still? WHO knows (ha) but she's already wearing some 12 month clothing just because she needs the length, so...

Thankful for: No shots at the aforementioned 9 month doctor visit! I'm also thankful that we only have a few months left before we can start transitioning Imogen to whole milk instead of formula. I feel like my bank account is dying a slow and painful death. Formula ain't cheap.

Creating: Something for a friend having a baby, and I'm starting to attempt to design Imogen's first birthday party invitations. I *only* have three and a half months to get that done, after all. (Honestly, I'm only starting now so I have a ton of time to work on it.)

Wanting: A different hairstyle. I still love my short hair, but I'm getting bored of it. It's been almost two years of the exact same haircut. My hair is thin, though, which is why I keep it this short. I've toyed with the idea of growing it back out but then I remember how much I hate it when it gets long and is so obviously thin. And by thin, I mean thinning. Not like I just have fine textured hair. Like I've had postpartum hair loss all day every day for the last 10 years.

Laughing at: All the lip syncing segments on Jimmy Fallon. I've been watching them on YouTube and cracking up on a daily basis. The one with Emma Stone is one of my favorites, even though it's several years old. Girl can LIP. SYNC.

Feeling: Happy that spring/summer is within spitting distance. I mean, "summer" is a relative term, but I'll just be glad when I can consistently leave the house without my winter jacket and when I can start wearing my fun shoes again (TOMS! Vans! Chucks!) and not be a slave to my boots.

Buying: Some new toys on Amazon for Imogen. She's very much past the stage where she finds things like rattles and teethers to be exciting for more than .6 seconds, and I'm wanting to get her some more developmentally appropriate toys. I'm about to pull the trigger on this, this and this. I know the shape sorter toy won't be used properly for quite a while, but I figure it'll be new and interesting anyway and she can grow into it.

Anticipating: Isaiah's upcoming mini vacation. He very rarely actually takes time off from work, and never just to stay at home, but he's taking three days off next week which, because of how his schedule works, actually gives us 10 days off to spend as a family. I'm a little bit excited about it. Even when he takes time off to go to Seattle, he usually switches shifts with one of the other officers so it's never really an actual vacation. AND, we're usually headed to Seattle, which is great and I love visiting my family, but it's not family time for US. This is 10 whole days of just the three of us, and our 8th anniversary is in the middle of it, so it's nice timing.