Day in the Life of an Eight Month Old

While we were in Jacksonville for the 4th of July holiday, something else happened that I haven’t mentioned yet.

Gabriella hit the big 8 month mark! So hard to believe!

Instead of doing my normal ‘I can’t believe she is already 8 months old… and the whole ‘each month keeps getting better’ (which it REALLY does!), I thought I would do a post about the day in the life of an eight month old. I figured it might be a bit more fun, and you can see what my day consists of.

So here you go, a day in the life of Gabriella:

Between 7am & 7:30- She wakes up. (I actually set my alarm & wake up anywhere between 5am & 6am- depending on how much work I need to get done.) We bring her downstairs, and play with her for a bit before feeding her breakfast.

This morning happened to be a little bit of oatmeal, fruit and homemade baby pancakes. (recipe to come!)

I feed her after Craig leaves for work (around 7:45am) and we watch a bit of the Today Show before heading out for my morning run.

Most days I will nurse her around 7:45am/ 8am before I run, to top off her little tank. (& also for some relief- ha! Nothing like running full of milk. )

8am – 10am/ 10:30am : We run, well, I run and Gabriella naps.

She will usually fall asleep about 30 minutes into my run, and then I will run anywhere from an hour and a half to two hours- just depends on if I am doing a long run, speed work, or an easier run day. I typically run at least 8 miles a day, and once I finish my run I will walk until Gabriella wakes up. (& to cool down) Once she is up, we head to the park.

She loves just watching other kids run around, she will just stare & laugh. Once she is done at the park, we walk home while she chugs her water. (it’s hilarious!)

11:15am – 12pm: Pool time!

I’ve been trying to take her at least three times a week. She loves it, and she really tries to swim- I believe it’s a natural instinct that they have. She kicks her little feet like a frog and LOVES to be dunked under water. The very first time we ever did it, she cried for a second, but then was fine. Now, she wants me to do it! Crazy little girl. It’s definitely a good thing though, I don’t want her to be scared of the water. She is a water baby! I almost have to drag her out when it’s time to go home. She’s always a little prune when she gets out.

12pm – 12:45pm: Craig comes home, I make him lunch & he will play with Gabriella for a bit. She will also have a little snack.

She loves Gerber Puffs or plain Cheerios. That day happened to be vanilla puffs, which are also my favorite. Bite for me, bite for G.

Sometime between 1pm & 1:30pm I will feed her (nursing) and then put her in the crib for her nap.

Between 2pm – 3pm (sometimes, if I’m lucky even 3:30pm) She wakes up from her nap. It’s ROUGH when she only gets an hour nap, which was yesterday. Eek! Little time for me to do ANYTHING. I use her nap time for work and to clean the house once my work is done. But Tuesday she had other intensions…and those intentions were NOT to work.

Around 3:30pm: Snack time

^a picture that I plan on showing her future boyfriends

This girl LOVES yogurt. I always have a ton of Stonyfield in the refrigerator for her, but I happened to see a new line from Yoplait for baby yogurt, so I tried it.

I think Gabriella was getting mad at me for stealing a bunch of bites. Ooops It was SO good!!!

Depending on her nap, anywhere between 2:30 & 4pm we just play. Lately her favorite thing is seeing how far she can ‘test Mommy.’ We have a ‘baby jail’ around the entertainment center & stairs so that she can’t get to these things.

That would be the whole process above. The whole time while she is crawling over there (OH, and girl can CRAWL full on now, there’s no stopping her), I am saying ‘Gabriella, NO. No Gabriella, come here.’ Repetitively. Hopefully this is not a sign of what’s to come.

Her favorite toys happen to be ANYTHING in the entertainment center…especially DVDs. Thousands of toy & she wants those. Little stink

4pm – 5:30pm: I go on another walk with her, usually I go with my neighbor. (She has a 2 year old son that Gabriella just adores.) Sometimes I will run again, just depends on where I’m at in my training. We walk/ run for an hour & then I’ll bring her to the park again sometimes.

Between 5:30 & 6pm Craig gets home. He will take Gabriella and play with her, while I start dinner- or at least prep dinner.

Between 6pm & 6:30pm: Dinner time for Gabriella!

We decided to try giving her pasta (you just over cook it, so that it’s almost mush), and she liked it!

She wasn’t quite sure what to do with it, she kind of played with it for a while but eventually figured out that it was for her to eat. She also had some sweet potatoes and apples. Girlfriend has quite an appetite. I say she gets it from her Daddy!

Oh, and you may wonder why she is suddenly without clothes…well, we strip her down when it’s feeding time. – Meal and snack time. Just because she is very messy, as all babies are, and sometimes the food will stain her clothes even AFTER using stain removers and letting the clothes soak. (Mom’s out there: have you found a stain remover that really does remove stains entirely?)

Between 7pm & 8pm: Bath time, and then I nurse her to bed.

Since we have been sleep training, and it’s been going pretty well (I say that with caution because every time I’ve mentioned something about her sleeping better, she has a WILD night.) and she is also getting up to eat once- around 3am/ 4am. She may cry or fuss for a bit around midnight, but we just let her cry & it’s REALLY short and she puts herself back to sleep. Thankfully.

And there you go, a day in the life of Gabriella! Needless to say, she keeps me busy!! I LOVE every minute (or almost every minute ) of it- I’m so blessed to be able to work from home so that I don’t miss a moment with her.

I also love that I have the best running buddy – she keeps me motivated. Looking down at those chunky thighs while I run just cracks me up. I’m starting her off right….

…with only the best shoes: Mizunos!!! I really think Gabriella needs some baby Mizunos to match her Momma!

Mom’s out there: If you stay at home with your child, how does your schedule look? Similar to mine? Favorite activity?

Runners: Favorite brand of shoes??

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Perfect Ending

Despite this past week being as crazy as it was, this weekend was by far one of the best weekends I’ve had in a long time.

Yes, I am still having issues with my Crohn’s, but I think I can finally say that the new medicine may be kicking in. I don’t want to jump ahead too much, I am thinking positive though. It really is amazing how much positive thinking helps.

Also I cannot say THANK YOU enough for each and every one of your kind words, emails, and comments. Every time I checked my email & saw that I had a new comment, I would read it & it would just make me smile. Most of you I have not even met in person, and yet you still have the nicest, most uplifting things to say. For that I truly cannot thank you enough!

This weekend was time spent as a family. Our little family of three.

Saturday I actually did quite a bit of cleaning and clearing out my closet. I took a bunch of clothes to Plato’s closet and made some money, always nice to sell more than you were expecting!

After that Craig & I played with her and she is REALLY into hearing her little voice. She will just sit and screech for HOURS. It is hilarious!! Then I will do it back to her & she laughs and does it some more.

^that would be her mid screech 😉

Absolutely LOVING this age!! She’s becoming more & more aware of her surroundings and really soaking it all in. She is already trying to pull herself up on EVERYTHING. The more & more I look around our house the more ‘hazards’ I see when she starts walking. I think we may have a couple of more months before that, but never to early to baby proof, right? 🙂

Saturday afternoon I actually felt up to going for a run, I wasn’t able to run on Friday (due to the Crohn’s flare up) and REALLY missed it. So the minute I felt like going, I knew I should. I put Gabriella in the BOB stroller and we were off!

It felt SO good to get out and run and NOT have to have any bathroom stops along the way. (Sorry if that was a bit too much information.) Gabriella enjoyed her time too, girl LOVES to be outside. She got her Momma’s love of nature and outdoors! Once we got back, we spent even more time outside- I set her her baby pool and she played for a good hour in there.

I thought Saturday was great, but then there was yesterday…which was darn near perfect! G woke up at her normal 6:30am wake up call, so after getting dressed and getting her ready, we were out the door for our normal Sunday morning Starbucks run. The baristas love seeing her each week, she made some friends. 🙂

Once Craig woke up and Gabriella had her morning nap I suggested we go to the farmer’s market on Lake Eola, in downtown Orlando. I really wanted / needed to get out of the house. I couldn’t really go anywhere last week, because of the stomach issues, and I was just feeling a little stir crazy.

My parents were actually going to come down & visit us, but I asked that we postpone the trip, only because I really was not sure if I would be able to enjoy the company. (only because I wasn’t sure if I would be in the bathroom the whole time) Thankfully they understood, and I’m looking forward to seeing them soon.

I figured we would give the farmer’s market a try, and it was right near my office, so I knew exactly where EVERY bathroom was, just in case I needed to make a run for it.

Side note: One of the perks of having Crohn’s disease is that you know where each & every bathroom is at all of the places that you go to – restaurants, grocery stores, departments stores, etc. 😉

I’m so glad we went because we ALL really enjoyed ourselves. Gabriella loved looking at all of the people there, and she had her first encounter with a duck!

She also got to play with a new toy at the park.

And we had to get a few Daddy & Mommy pictures in front of the lake too, of course! 🙂

Girlfriend was MUCH more interested in the swans & ducks than taking pictures, can’t say that I blame her, she pretty much always has the camera in her face. 😉

I also was able to pick up some homemade Kombucha at the farmer’s market, which made me think of Lindsay :), in hopes that it may also help my stomach. Fingers crossed!

Once we left, we headed home & took Gabriella out to the big pool for a while before nap time. We finished up watching the Orioles win the series against the Tigers! WOOHOO!

Couldn’t think of a better Sunday! (well, unless the Ravens were playing too 😉 )

I’m so thankful that after such a stressful, rough week that our weekend ended up PERFECT. I’m so thankful for my husband & daughter. They really do know how to cheer this Momma right up!

Do you ever go to your local Farmer’s market?
Favorite part of your weekend? Anyone out there run any races? I know two very special ladies that ran AWESOME races & WON!

I’m the Lucky One

Well guys, I must say…This was the BEST Mother’s Day EVER. Wanna know why?? Because I get to be the Mommy to such an AMAZING little girl.

One of my girlfriends had this on her Facebook page &  I couldn’t agree more. Gabriella may not be an ‘easy’ baby (is there even such thing as an easy baby?!) – and by that I just mean that she isn’t a fan of taking a bottle, or sleeping many hours at a time – but you know what?? Everything happens for a reason! It must mean that she just needs EXTRA Momma time, and I am 100% OK with that!! 🙂

Now, I have to brag on my hubby for a minute. He really is the best.

I was up at 5:30am to feed Gabriella, and was able to rock her back to sleep. (Sometimes she is up for the day at this time) I went back in our room to go to sleep, but was just tossing & turning…I knew I wouldn’t be able to fall back asleep. I figured I would make the most of my time & asked Craig if he minded if I went to the gym.

He said absolutely not, so I was on my way. (I have a new workout coming your way- arms, abs & calves!) Shortly after me leaving, Gabriella decided that she in fact WAS up for the day…and was ready to get out of her crib.

He took care of her while I was gone, and even sent me a super cute picture of her when he went in to her room to get her.

Once I got back to the house, I was walking up to the door & saw a piece of paper just laying there. I was a bit confused, I thought maybe I had dropped something out of my purse when I was leaving for the gym. Nope. I picked it up…and this is what I found:

I mean really?! Does it get any cuter??

I walked in and he was playing with Gabriella. I sat down & started playing with them, and shortly there after Gabriella ‘gave’ me my Mother’s Day gift.

First was a card ‘signed’ by her. ADORABLE.

And then she ‘handed’ me a small gift box, with a beautiful necklace inside!

Hopefully you can see it, but it is Gabriella’s birth stone- Citrine/ yellow topaz.

I LOVE it! The funny thing is, I’m not a huge jewelry person, but I really had been wanting a new necklace- he did GREAT!! …or I mean Gabriella did GREAT 😉

The rest of the morning was spent hanging out with G, putting her down for a nap & then getting everything ready for brunch!

We also got to Skype with Grandma & PapaNote in Maryland, which Gabriella loved!

Please excuse her bed head look 😉

She is actually starting to ‘understand’ the idea of Skype. Before she would just kind of stare off into space when we had Skype on, but now she ‘gets it.’ She sees the people on the other end of the computer. It’s actually really cool to see her react to it! 🙂

Like I said yesterday, I made Sally’s Super Crumb Coffee Cake. YOU GUYS, this recipe is TO.DIE.FOR. Seriously SO GOOD!!!

Look at all of that crumb topping! I did not change a thing from her recipe- just used the standard substitute for buttermilk. (I used Skim milk & white distilled vinegar- did perfectly fine!)

The only weird thing that happened was that the crumb topping ended up falling through on part of the cake. Not sure what I did, but the batter ended up rising above the topping, just on part of it.

Maybe I pressed too hard on it. But you know what? It ended up being a delicious mistake! It was like a little ‘surprise’ when you bit into the cake because from the top you didn’t know what to expect.

This coffee cake was the STAR of the show. I also had blueberry scones & mini bagels, along with a TON of fruit & greek yogurt dip. (I just combined Chobani Strawberry banana & Pineapple- made for quite a tasty dip!)

It was a really fun day, and it was FANTASTIC to be able to spend it with my sister! (& of course my brother in law, nephew & niece as well!)

Our girls are only two and a half months apart!! Craig declared yesterday that the WILL be best friends, no matter what they say! 😀

Nothing better than spending time with family, even as far as Maryland (!!!) & enjoying a day filled with lots of love from little ones. ❤

Sometimes I take a step back & am just like, WOW! I’m a MOM!. I don’t know how to describe it. It just kind of ‘hits’ me. Sometimes it’s unreal, but it is the BEST feeling in the WORLD.

Seriously she COMPLETES us. Gabriella is our entire world, and I wouldn’t have it any other way!

A Little Reminder of What’s Important

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Oh I CANNOT tell you HOW MUCH I have been looking forward to this day ALL week.

This week has been TERRIBLE. Like one for the books kind of terrible.

This post is going to start out TOTALLY like a Debbie downer kind of post, but then I promise it makes a turn for the better at the end. It’s a LOT of words, not many pictures, but I just need to vent.

As you know this weekend was kind of rough on the Mom front. Gabriella just wasn’t her normal self (extra fussy & wouldn’t sleep), and I just felt burned out completely.

Monday was similar- just a rough day for the little one. She is teething pretty bad now, so it’s definitely NOT her fault, I just feel bad that I can’t help her out more. Although I did just purchase some Hyland’s teething tablets for her. So far so good! They seem to help her, and of course anytime she can chew on my fingers she is happy. (or her toes :D)

Tuesday nothing really happened too out of the ordinary. We actually had a pretty good day. & it was MUCH needed.

Wednesday. oh Wednesday, how I wish I could travel back in time. Wednesday was one of the worst days of my life. And it all started at 6:50am. I had just left the gym (I still go every now & then…can’t stay away 😉 ), and figured that I would get gas since I had a free minute. I go to a 7-11 by my house, and as I am pulling into the parking lot I get backed into.

UGH! The good part, or so I thought, was that there was a cop actually in the parking lot as well, just stopping to get his morning coffee. He ended up seeing the whole thing and came over & asked the guy what he was thinking- like did he not see me, or was he distracted. The guy fully admitted that he just didn’t look. He saw the car in front of me, but didn’t see me. Lovely, right?!

So I’m thinking that it actually may be my lucky day…a cop IN the parking lot when I got hit. Yes, the accident sucks, at hey, at least a COP witnessed the whole thing & can now help. Boy was I completely wrong. The cop said that because the accident happened on ‘private property’ (the parking lot) that he could not help us- that they do not respond to accidents in parking lots unless someone is injured- and that all he could do was provide us with some paper to exchange insurance & license information.

Not so lucky day.

After the cop leaves and we are in the middle of filling out the paperwork the guy then proceeds to tell me that he is going to have his girlfriend come up and fill out the paperwork, since it was her car & he was going to have her ‘act’ as the driver. SAY WHAT?! At this point I really don’t know what to do. The cop is gone, and I’m all by myself in a 7-11 parking lot at 7am. (it’s still dark out) I mean what am I supposed to do…tackle the guy and demand he give me his information? Uh no thanks. Who know what could of happened.

The girl ends up coming up, fills out the paperwork, and we exchange all of the information. While she was doing this I DID contact FHP (Florida Highway Patrol) just to find out their recommendation- again, nothing they could do, but the guy told me he would document it & gave me a case number. Umm, thanks? (I also called my insurance company as well, just to cover all of my bases.)

Once she was finished we exchanged information and we continued on our way.

As soon as I got home I told Craig about it- I had tried calling him several times after it happened, but he didn’t have his phone on yet- and then I IMMEDIATELY called their insurance company to start the claim process.

Well, I’m sure this will probably come as no surprise to you after you have read all of this, but they gave me FALSE INSURANCE INFORMATION. No policy could be found on them, and come to find out the vehicle they were driving is COMPLETELY uninsured. (I had the VIN so they could run it.)

I seriously just saw everything crumble around me. I thought Craig was going to lose it…and I don’t blame him. I mean HOW does this STILL happen?! People can drive around with NO insurance. SERIOUSLY?!

After a lot of investigation by my insurance, there was really nothing we could do. I would have to file a claim with them (as not responsible for the accident…but still have to file a claim) & then we could start on the repair process. – which is pretty significant considering that we were both going pretty slow- passenger door can’t close all the way & the back passenger door is also messed up.

AWFUL. So because we have to file a claim, even though it’s not my fault & I have evidence to prove it (surveillance at 7-11) , our premiums will likely go up the next time we renew.

I’m still in shock. But honestly, you know what??? The only thing I kept thinking was thank God Gabriella was not in the car with me because that is where he hit me. Seriously THANK GOD. I don’t know what I would of done, but I can assure you a whole new side of Holly would of come out & it wouldn’t of been pretty.

That was only the BEGINNING of the day. From there it only got worse.

The whole day was kind of ruined by the whole accident situation, but that night I was SO SICK. Around 10pm I woke up and started throwing up like crazy. (sorry, hope you aren’t eating breakfast) I cannot even remember the last time I threw up. I NEVER throw up. EVER. So I knew something was seriously wrong. I woke Craig up & told him what was going on. He was AMAZING after that. He said he was going to stay up with me all night, no matter what. He went & got me some Pepto Bismal to take. When G woke up around midnight, he changed her diaper and brought her to me so I could feed her. And I didn’t sleep at all. He stayed up with me the whole time. SO SWEET. Husband of the year right here!

How did I get so lucky?! He wanted to make sure that I didn’t have appendix issues, and it wasn’t…thankfully. I’m pretty sure it’s Crohn’s related- could possibly be a flair starting up. Let’s hope not. But it sure does appear to be that.

And yesterday, well, we won’t talk about that. I think I’ve expressed enough downer stuff for the day. 😉 Time to MOVE on!

Throughout this WHOLE week there was one thing that ALWAYS lit up my day.

(she tried sweet potatoes & LOVED them. pretty much yanked the spoon away from me.)

That little lady. Even though I may have some rough Mommy days, the minute she smiles at me or does goofy stuff like the face above I can’t help but remember HOW lucky I am. HOW LUCKY I am to have this precious baby girl and HOW LUCKY I am to have a wonderful husband who I love more & more every single day, especially when I see how he is with G.

Those two are my WHOLE world.

So no matter how rough life I can be sometimes, I literally just have to go home & I am reminded HOW blessed I am. NOTHING can bring me down when I see those two. NOTHING.

ENJOY your weekend, and remember to do something for YOU! You deserve it. And tell someone you love how much they mean to you. They may wonder why all of the sudden you are doing this, but I guarantee you it will bring a smile to their face. 🙂