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!