Hello, Rice Cereal!

Tonight was our first attempt at rice cereal with our girl! She's 4.5 months exactly, and her voracious appetite is consuming all of us. So we're trying to satisfy her hunger by adding in some watered down rice cereal.

The canister says that it's 4 or 5 tablespoons of formula (or breastmilk) and one tablespoon of rice cereal. Stir together and you have a delicious meal of watered down cereal! Mmmm. My husband describes the taste as "a dead skunk's anal cavity." What a delicious visual he is placing for us.  But in all honesty, it does taste pretty gross. Like rotten oatmeal and mashed potatoes all together. Bleh.

But this is the first somewhat solid food that our Nylabear is getting! Hooray! At first, she tried to suck the spoon like it was a bottle nipple. Actually, she tried to do that the whole time. I think we're using the wrong type of spoon. Tomorrow I will go to the store and buy every single type of spoon there is so we can find the one she likes. Once we find the one she likes, we will proceed to buy out every store within a 10 mile radius of that exact baby spoon. I've learned that that is what you do; when you find something your baby likes, buy 10 million of it.

All in all, Nylabear ate about half of the rice cereal. Then we gave her a four ounce bottle and added in the leftover cereal. You would think that she would slowly drink her bottle. No. She sucked it down like a vacuum. I'm telling you, our girl is a hungry monkey!

See the video below for a sample of her feeding.

Hungry Hungry Hippo

Let me tell you what Nyla has done literally all day.

Cry.
Eat.
Sleep.
Cry.
Cry some more.

That's it. Nothing but crying and eating. She kills a 6 ounce bottle, burps, then continues to cry and try to eat her fist like she's still hungry! Can you say growth spurt?! Now when I say she's slept today, I mean for maybe 15 minutes at a time. This could be disastrous for tonight. You'd think that if a baby doesn't sleep much during the day that they would be tired that night and would sleep well and all night. No, that is not the case actually. Nylabear has a high potential to be up all night, doing what? Crying. Lovely.

Finally, it is 2:37 and she has decided that she's okay to finally play in her bouncy chair. I'm predicting that by 3:12 she'll be hungry again. And then again at 3:47. Put your money on it! She is part Samo!

Here are a few cute pictures that I took today. These are the only times where she was acting human.

Sleepy monkey. I'm tired.

This is the half laugh/half breakdown.

Sisters. Look, even Okie is over it. lol

This Girl is Everywhere!

Homegirl has definitely learned how to roll and now she's taking advantage of it. She's all over the place! Finished are the days when I could take my eyes off of her for a second.

She's super adorable when she rolls. A few days ago, it would take her forever to figure out how to swing her leg over to the other side. Now it's within five seconds that she's able to go from back to tummy. And she loves being on her tummy! She's nothing but smiles! Super sweet. Since my parents are overseas for the summer, we're Skyping with them everyday and now we have to Skype from the floor so they can see her do her tricks!

Okie has even learned to love Nyla rolling over. When Okie sees that Nyla is laying (lying?) on the floor, she comes and lays (lies?) right next to her and watches. She's even very careful with her paws and keeps them underneath her head so she won't scratch Nyla. Isn't that sweet? And when Nyla sees Okie, she tries her hardest to squirm her way to her sister. Yeah that's right, our dog and daughter are sisters.

Here's something new that we've had to go to: bibs. Nylabear is drooling like whoa. If I thought that a couple of weeks ago she was drooling, I was wrong. She is like Niagara Falls from her mouth. Nonstop drooling. If she has something in her mouth, the amount of drool triples instantly. It's almost gross. But really, is anything gross on a baby? No, it's just adorable!

Lastly, this is just for my future knowledge, Nyla is moving in to size 3 diapers. At 4.5 months, she has to start wearing the diapers for 16-24 pound babies. This means that our monkey is quickly becoming a baby elephant...and we love it! Her little thigh rolls are BEYOND cute. You just want to munch on them!

Nylabear, how about a good night's sleep tonight?

Sorry Grandma Toms!

Yesterday morning started off with a bang. I learned the lesson about when to change a diaper. Nyla's changing table butts up against a wall with a beautiful painting done by my Aunt Lynda in Oklahoma. My mother loves this painting. Now, when you change Nyla's diaper, her feet (and buns) are facing the wall.

Yesterday morning, we came downstairs to start our day. I thought to myself, "Oh Elizabeth, her diaper isn't warm, maybe I should wait a few minutes." But I went against my better judgement and changed it anyway. Huge mistake.

All it took was opening the diaper and Nyla started peeing everywhere. EVERYWHERE. On the table, on her legs, on mommy's hands, on her feet, on the wall...and on the painting. Great. Now from her buns to the painting is a good three or four feet; this gives you a pretty good idea about how MUCH pee there was and how fast it was coming out! And of course it was a neverending pee, you know the one that you've been holding for a few hours. That's hers yesterday.

Mommy needs to learn to make good diaper changing decisions. Wait for the diaper to be warm and then change it. You would have thought I would have learned this by now being 4.5 months into this parenting thing. But, no...I'm learning new stuff everyday.

At least the painting isn't ruined! Whew! Not even a single stain on it. Right on! Nyla, it'll be our little secret. :)

She's a Roly Poly

Well, our girl has learned to roll over on her own! Gone are the days where if we put her in one place, there she would remain for an indefinite amount of time. Now, homegirl rolls over within 30 seconds of being on the floor/bed/couch etc...

I fear that "easy" parenting is over for Paul and me. Up until before this week, she would lay where you put her, hang out in the same area, and not move from it. Now she is all about going places! Crazy how fast she has grown up!

Next week is her 4.5 month appointment with the doctor, which also means her second round of shots. This time, I get to go. Great. I'm going to be a sobbing mess. Hopefully will be able to contain myself and will not punch the doctor for hurting our girl.

Okay as a recap, Nyla has learned the following things:
1. How to cry...she's pretty good at it.
2. How to roll over
3. How to shimmy from one corner of the bed to the other
4. How to drink a bottle in under 30 seconds...she is part Samoan!
5. How to be adorable...I'm thinking this was instinctive.

Here's what she's still struggling with:
1. Sleeping through the night...someone clue our girl in that it actually is okay to sleep more than three hours in a row. I feel like we're back in the first two weeks of her life right now. Mama needs a nap like whoa.

What DO Babies Dream About?

When Miss Nyla sleeps, she is so animated! What can she possibly be dreaming about? She'll start sleeping with her mouth wide open-Paul says she gets this from me. That's true. Then she'll start moving her mouth like she's talking to someone, then she'll whimper, then laugh. It's so funny watching her sleep!

What can she possibly be dreaming about? Right now, her life consists of the following things:

1. Being adorable
2. Having her diaper changed
3. Eating
4. Being loved
5. Trying to roll over

That's it! It's not like she has a subconscious like adults who have dreams that are reflections of their everyday lives. I like to think that when Nyla is smiling in her sleep, she's dreaming about breastmilk (haha) or a big bottle! Or maybe she's dreaming about trying to munch on her Tickle Me Elmo!

When Nyla is in a deep sleep though, there is no movement at all. She lays flat on her back, arms stretched up, legs spread wide, mouth all the way open. That's when you know she's comfortable! On a real tiresome day, homegirl will even quietly snore. It's adorable! As gross as it may seem, I like to put my nose right next to her mouth and sniff. Baby breath is one of the best smells to me. Weird, huh? I like to smell her breath! (Unless she has just burped...that is heinous.)

Last point about Nyla's sleep, the best part is her waking up. Thankfully she takes after me and wakes up happy and ready to go, unlike her father. Nyla wakes up with a HUGE smile across her face and a gigantic stretch. Her face looks like she's saying, "Oh hello mom! I missed you!" And then she snuggles and kisses and hugs for a few minutes. It's my favorite part of the morning. Then the crying starts or the search for milk starts and so the day begins!

She Must Have a Sixth Sense or Something

I think Nyla has a very keen sense of intuition, because she is always finding the exact moment to start fussing.

She showcases this almost every single night during dinner. She'll be casually playing on the floor with her toys, laughing and giggling and trying to eat her feet. Paul and I are able to make dinner and get everything set. Right when Paul and I sit down with our plates of food, she cries. I mean at the exact moment we sit down, she starts fussing. It never fails!

Another example is right now. She was happily napping in her vibrating chair. I thought to myself, "Oh, now would be a great time to write a bit." I opened the website, clicked to start a new blog, and the fussing began before I even typed the first letter!

In positive news though, homegirl is sleeping well in her own room! *KNOCK ON WOOD KNOCK ON WOOD KNOCK ON WOOD* I know that by just saying that, tonight will be a horrific disaster, but that's okay. I have to give kudos where they are due, and Miss Nyla has earned them this week. Really good sleeping at night. Now mommy and daddy just have to master going to bed at the same time as her. We like watching HGTV or FoodNetwork until 11pm. Oy vey!

Silence is Smelly

You know, I should have learned by now that when Nylabear is silent, something stinky is brewing. Today, she proved that fact once again!

Her vibrating chair should be renamed the blowout throne or something! It's like magic; you put Nyla in there, let her stew in silence for 15 minutes, and voila! You have laundry and an extremely dirty diaper. I think her poo-poo comes out of the diaper because it's vibrated up and out, because she had it all over her back this morning. How delicious.

Here's my favorite part: as I'm changing the diaper, Nyla gets very excited and kicks her legs...right into the poop. Lovely. Now I'm not only cleaning her buns, back, and some of her tummy, but also her feet and toes. Let me tell you, getting poop from in-between baby toes is not easy.

Now she's a happy girl, kicking and laughing on her playmat, while I'm trying to de-odorize the room and get it smelling like something didn't just die in here.

Unconditional Love

I thought I knew what it meant to unconditionally love someone. I have a husband that I love no matter what. I have a dog that I love no matter what. I thought I had unconditional love understood. I was wrong. My Nylabear has taught me what it really means.

Unconditional love is...

1. ...getting peed on.
I've been testing my luck the last few days. Miss Nyla has the sweetest buns in the world! I have chanced fate and snuck my fingers in the back of her diaper to give them a little squeeze in the day. I was able to avoid being peed on until this morning. Damnit. But was I grossed out? No. I laughed, washed my hands, and am now plotting how to do it again...without the bodily activity.

2. ...catching your baby's barf in your hands.
Nyla is spitting up like crazy. I looked it up online and most sources say that baby spit up is at its height around 4 months. That's Nyla's age, and she sure is living up to the statistic! This morning, I heard the familiar gurgle; baby barf was coming. Instead of flustering around, searching for a burp cloth, I just cupped my hand at the bottom of her chin and caught her spit up. That's right, I caught her baby barf with my bare hands. Disgusting. 

3. ...having fresh baby barf on your shirt and still snuggling.
My whole family has joined in on this one. Nyla has a newfound love of drooling and spitting up on everyone. Thankfully, we all love this little monkey, so we don't have panic attacks, screaming "Ahhhh my shirt!" No one does that; they actually go "oh, it's okay!" and pull Nyla in closer for a snuggle. Sweet family!

4. ...having slobbery kisses.
I like kissing my babygirl. I give her kisses on her cheeks, arms, legs, tummy, and her lips. Sometimes, when I'm lucky, right at the moment of the kiss, Nyla has a spit bubble. Yum.

These are all things that have happened just since Nyla woke up this morning at 6:15. She's just a ball of activity lately! Lots of bodily functions, lots of shimmying around the living room, lots of nap time.

Sitting up with her new friend. 

As I write this, she has just finished kicking and squealing in joy in her vibrating chair, and has fallen asleep. She looks like she's locked in and holding on for a roller coaster ride. :) I love this monkey.

Locked and loaded for nap time.

A Whirlwind Weekend

Nylabear has been a busy bee this past weekend. The in-laws were in town, and that means Grandma and Grandpa were here for some snuggles! What a wonderful time we all had together.

Whenever people are in town, or when we travel, Nyla's schedule gets all off and so her sleeping is just crazy. I can safely say that over the weekend, I think Paul and I got a total of 15 hours of sleep over three nights. Homegirl just doesn't sleep at night!

Wait, let me take that back. She does sleep, but only in one place...our bed. Yes, we have broken the cardinal rule of parenting: do not let your child sleep in your bed--they will never leave it!

I should have known this from our Okie-doodle! When Okie was a puppy, we tried to start her in crate training at night. When we went to bed, we'd put her in her crate. She would cry and cry and CRY for hours on end. Finally, after two weeks of no sleep, Paul and I broke down and put her in our bed. She slept like a rock! Fast forward to today; as I write this, Okie is perched comfortably on the bed in front of me. Once the baby (puppy) is in the bed, they never leave.

I fear the same is true of Nyla! The last two nights, the only way she has slept is by being in our bed. At least last night, we put her in our bed just to fall asleep, then transferred her into her crib. Hopefully we can get back to Sleepy Land where Nyla slept in her crib soundly from the start. We'll see tonight...

How My Dog Helped Me Prepare

There are certain things in life that can prepare you (somewhat) for a child. Things like keeping plants alive, keeping schedules, building stuff, etc...but nothing prepared me for Nyla more than my sweet Okie! Okie is an almost-2-year-old yellow Lab and Paul and I consider her our first-born child. She is my first pet ever, and we named her after our favorite football team, the Oklahoma Sooners! BOOMER SOONER!

Here are the ways Okie-doodle helped me get ready for a baby.

1. My heart bloomed when I saw Okie.
This helped me because I honestly did not know what that kind of consuming love would feel like. It's overwhelming. I felt the same way with Nylabear, for sure, but I think I would have been an emotional disaster if it weren't for Okie. I was prepared to have my heart grow for Nyla!

2. I did all my psycho-mom stuff with Okie.
Every little thing with Okie as a puppy sent me to the vet. She had an itch, we went to the vet. She started to sneeze, we went to the vet. She didn't poop four times a day, we were definitely at the vet. If she stayed over at someone's house, I would call a million times to see how she was. Yes, I was that worried about my dog. I feel like with Nyla, I know she's being taken care of and that I don't need to psycho-out like I did with Okie. Whew!

3. She helped me learn patience.
Nothing builds patience like standing out in the snow in the middle of the night waiting for a puppy to go poop.

I'm not ready yet.

4. Middle of the night feedings are a breeze thanks to Okie.
Okie-doodle really prepped me for being up in the middle of the night. For the first three to four weeks of Okie being home with us, we were up multiple times a night, carrying her out to go to the bathroom. Sometimes she would go back to sleep immediately, sometimes she would want to stay up and play. That sounds familiar right about now...

5. I have more trust in my family because of Okie.
This isn't to say that I didn't trust my family before. But it is one thing to trust them with your life, but with someone else's? It's a scary/stressful situation leaving your children with someone else, even if it is your own mother. It's also super emotional. The first time we left Okie with my in-laws for us to go to Oklahoma, I cried the entire way to the airport, which was over an hour away. I mean I ugly-cried. But Paul helped reinforce to me that I need to trust that others can take just as good, if not better, care of Okie while I'm gone. The same goes with Nyla. Except for when I leave her with my family now, I don't have that freakout. I have Okie-doodle to thank for that, teaching me that it's okay to let go a little bit!


6. I built my arm muscles with Okie.
Shamefully, I used to carry Okie around like a baby when she was a pup. If you would have seen how adorable and fluffy she was, you would have done it, too! 


7. My sense of responsibility was heightened.
Before Okie, I had no sense of home-responsibility. Paul and I were newlyweds and had nothing to tie us down to our home. We could pick up and go anywhere we wanted at the drop of a hat. That all changed with Okie. The same thing happened again with Nyla. I think our Okie-dokie helped me be a more responsible person, taking into consideration someone other than myself! 


8. I can now deal with other being's bodily functions.
There's just something about barf and poop that is heinous, unless it's someone close to you. Okie taught me that you know what, sometimes animals get sick. The first time Okie barfed, it was disgusting. But we just cleaned it up, even though it was gross. When Okie got a little bug in her tummy, she pooped all over our floor. On the floor, in the carpet, on the rugs, all the way to the bath where we cleaned her. But instead of feeling totally grossed out, I cried my eyes out because my Okie-doodle was sick. The same goes with my Nylabear. As gross as it is when she spits up or blows out her diaper, I am not as revolted as I thought I would be. I just want to take care of her. I have Okie to thank for that maternal instinct.

Oh Okie-doodle, I just adore you. You and Nylabear are my girls and I can't even imagine our lives without you two.

Isn't That Special?

Well now, I was thoroughly disgusted today. Nyla barfed on my face and partially in my mouth today. Heinous.

But that's what I get for holding her above my head, right? I was just trying to get a cheap laugh/smile out of my girl, since she hasn't been feeling good. But what do I get instead? Baby spit-up. Dis-gus-ting.

This was worse than last time this happened. The last time she barfed on me was during the Royal Wedding, but it was just on my face. This time I got some IN MY MOUTH. Holy gross. I should have known it was coming, too. She does this small hiccup/burp sound and then spit-up quickly follows. But I guess I just chose to ignore that warning signal this time, and I was punished for that. Hmph.

Note to self: use better judgement when dealing with Nylabear please. When you hear the hiccup/burp, get out of the way!

PS: my mission tomorrow is to put on makeup and do my hair. Let's not even talk about how gross I've looked the last few days.

Just all around attractive......

Infant Illness

This morning I woke up like normal when I heard Nyla starting to stir in her crib. Then Nylabear started cooing and I heard it...the chest congestion. I started crying immediately. My baby is sick. :(

I felt like an awful mother today! I know my angel, my precious, innocent, perfect sweet girl is sick because of me. And that makes me feel awful. But what can I do? Right now, during the summer, I am her primary caretaker, the person she's around the most since Paul is working during the day. It's not practical for me to wear a Hazmat suit while I'm with her. But still, I can't help but feel bad because I know I am the one who got her sick.

I called our nurse today and she just said baby Tylenol and pumping Nyla full of liquids is the best thing to do for her right now...and that I shouldn't worry at all. Every baby goes through this. That did make me feel a little bit better.

All I did today was snuggle with my little one and try to soothe her when she was feeling down. My cousin has been my lifesaver the last two days, coming over to help me with the baby and Okie-doodle, her God-dog. Yes, her God-dog.

Thankfully I started feeling a little better today; nowhere near 100%, but well enough that I wasn't having barf-o-rama like yesterday. (No, it's not morning sickness mother.) Hopefully tomorrow I'll be feeling back to normal.

Here's something I learned though: sick or not, Nyla still likes to barf down my chest. How wonderful of her.

Sick Mama = Sick Baby

This is misery. I'm sick. Baby isn't feeling so hot either. Basically it's just a disaster in the Ellis household right now.

I'll give more details when I'm not coughing and sniffling too much. Bleh.

Possessed?

It's 10:47 as I write this blog. Nyla has just gone to bed after screaming for an hour. AN HOUR of blood-curdling, gagging, white knuckled, red faced screaming. Whoa nelly.

She's not really a cry-baby, so this was a different experience for Paul and me. Not that she's never cried, she's just never cried like that for so long.

First we fed her--did nothing. Then we let her hang out on her own in bed with us--no result. We put her in her crib--pissed her off even more. She was getting all native on us, crying and pulling the covers off and kicking her legs.

After all this, we decided to just rock her to calm her down. First up was Paul. Apparently this is not what Nyla wanted at all. She was calm at first, but then the storm of Screaming Child washed upon him. Holy moly.

After about 10 minutes, it was my turn. As parents, it's admittedly hard to keep calm, cool, and collected when your child is screaming bloody murder on your lap or shoulder. I took over for Paul, and call it mother's soothing, but homegirl was quiet in a hurry. She calmed down almost immediately. How weird of a change she made between the two of us!

"They" always say that the mother is who the baby wants, especially in the early months/years. How difficult this must be for the fathers, though, who only want to be there for their baby! Sometimes Paul thinks that Nyla doesn't like him at all, but that's not it. She just wants her mama sometimes...most of the time. He probably thinks it's because she likes me better. That's not the case. I just have the feed bags, as he calls them. :)

Anyhoo, let's hope that the silence we are enjoying right now lasts for a few hours. Moe moe, Nylabear. (In Samoan, that means "go to sleep" lol)

An Evening Surprise

Last night, Nylabear graced us with a special surprise as we were heading to bed. We took her up to the room and we were snuggling and hugging and kissing her before she went down to sleep. This is when Nyla started her surprise. A little smelly surprise for her mama and daddy before bedtime. We started to change her diaper because there was a little poo-poo in it.

"Oh Paul, maybe she's just starting to have harder poops and they're not as big--"

I should have kept my mouth shut. As we're wiping off her buns, she unleashed the poo. Holy moly, it was everywhere! And it seemed nonstop! NONSTOP. There was no warning signs for this either; no grunting, no groaning, no red face, no white knuckles. It was like Nyla was just taking a walk in the park, relaxing, and pooping at the same time.

At first we tried to clean it up as it was coming out--horrific idea. We couldn't pull the wipes out fast enough. So we ended up just throwing up our hands and letting her finish. Of course we had to move her around the blanket that she was on so she wouldn't get poop all over herself. So she would poop, we scooted her to another section, more poop, move again.

I thought the clean-up would be the hardest part of this whole scene; I was wrong. Trying to get a onesie with poo all over it off of an infant is ridiculous. As a tip for other moms, the best way to do this is to roll the soiled clothing up so that only a clean section is showing, and then slide the onesie off. Paul's solution was to cut it off. Maybe next time!

Oh Nylabear, you continue to amaze us...and by "amaze" I mean "totally gross us out." lol It's a good thing we love you. :)

Nowhere To Go

I now know what hell is like.

Paul and I were heading to dinner tonight, and Ms. Nyla had her fussy pants on...and they were on good. Homegirl screamed and cried almost the entire time. Holy Jesus, someone save me.

Now don't go judging me because even having my own child crying irritates me sometimes. The problem with being in a car is that there is nowhere you can go, not really much you can do. Sure, I could pull over and feed her, but that's a real unsafe solution seeing as we were on the freeway.

The sound, the cries just echo through the entire vehicle. This makes the volume just increase exponentially. And don't even try to turn the music up because that just signals to Nyla that she should cry louder.

I think our sweet thing is just tired. Time to stop writing this blog and put my babygirl to bed. Happy (early) Friday everyone!

The Binky

I don't know why that's the universal word for "pacifier" but Nyla has sort of taken to a binky. At first, Paul and I were super anti-pacifier because we didn't want to break her of it. But then we realized that sometimes, Nyla isn't hungry; she just wants something to suck on. Why not let it be a binky?

We have tried for the past almost four months to get her to take a pacifier, but it has all been to no avail. I think I may have found some success today though! She's been fussy, and we're thinking it's because some teeth are starting to come through. I have started to take her pacifier and dunk it in super cold water for a few seconds, then in her mouth it goes! And she's loving it! Hooray!

Yeah, I like this.

I think it's soothing on her gums so she's liking it. Mommy is loving it because this means I don't need to be pulling my shirt off or making a bottle every ten minutes. Sweet!

Why So Grumpy, Nyla?

This morning, Nyla just woke up in a mood. She was irritated, crying, and fussy. This is very unlike her, as she usually is all smiles and giggles. Not today though. There was nothing that could satisfy her. I tried food, I tried her playmat, baby swing, changing her diaper, playing in the bouncy chair...nothing was consoling her. It was super frustrating because this lasted for hours...HOURS.

My cousin, Tau, came over to watch Nylabear while I was helping Woody prime my parents' dining room for painting. Apparently Tau has the magic touch because Nylabear was nice and quiet for her. This is when I should have remembered Nyla's routine: quietness means pooping.

Not even 15 minutes later, Tau was calling me because Nyla had indeed pooped. And she didn't just poop; she destroyed her diaper, outfit, and baby swing. I mean, baby poo everywhere. Per our ranking system, this was one of the most major blowouts at 19 wipes needed to clean her up. Most of these wipes were used to clean her thighs, knees, butt, back, and shoulders. Yes, shoulders. That's how much poo there was.

No joke, after we changed her diaper, she had about 1/2 an ounce of food and knocked out. Homegirl passed out! After all that fussing this morning, I'm not surprised. Oh Nylabear, you're a piece of work sometimes.

Lesson #351,035

Last night we learned the importance of changing a baby's diaper before entering a vehicle. We were at my auntie and uncle's house last night and Nyla started to poop. "Oh Paul, we're only going a few blocks, so we'll just change her diaper when we get home."

Huge mistake.

We clicked Nyla into her car seat base, jumped in the front seats, and closed the door. Paul turned on the car, I turned up the radio, and just as we were about to go in reverse, the aroma of baby poo hit our noses. I felt like I was suffocating in baby poop. It was stifling, to the point that I was almost choking on her smelly diaper.

You know when you're in a carful of people and someone farts, the way everyone races to get their window down? That was us, just in my auntie's driveway. I can honestly say Paul was clamoring for the outdoor air. I had to keep my mouth closed because her smell was so pungent, I could almost taste it. Gross!

How can something so small produce something so SO heinous? We got home just in time, as her business started to creep out of her diaper right when we hit the changing table. Of course we couldn't go a diaper change without one of us getting baby poop on us; Paul was the big winner last night.

Oh Nyla, you silly girl. You teach mommy and daddy lessons everyday.

PS: Nyla has returned to her favorite pastime: barfing down my chest. Lovely.

Homegirl Likes to Sleep

I love this little monkey. There are rare nights, like last night, where she sleeps. And she sleeps hard! Last night, she went to sleep around 10 and didn't wake up until 6 in the morning! HOORAY!! Too bad my allergies have been working overtime so I wasn't able to enjoy it as much. Boooooooo.

And what is Nyla doing right now? Sleeping again! YAYAYAYAYA. These little pleasures are what I am living for these days. I used to live for happy hour and staying out late with friends. Now if I get to sleep for more than 6 hours, I feel like I've won the lottery.

Yesterday, I assembled Nylabear's little jumpy seat from Grandpa Toms. Adorable. She looks too cute in it!

Hey everyone. I'm in my jumpy seat.

She played in it yesterday for about an hour, then gave up and started crying. I'm not sure she knows what to do in it. She spent most of the time trying to put all the toys in her mouth.

That's her new addiction. She used to be addicted to pooping on her mother, then she was addicted to barfing on me. Now she's got a fever to put things in her mouth. Dresses, shirts, burp cloths, toys, blankets, EVERYTHING. And the drool has started as well! I think I'm going to have to put her in an all-plastic suit to keep the drool from soaking her clothes. If you hold Nyla facing outward, she will drool so bad that it leaves a puddle at your feet. For real, a puddle.

Lastly, she is still eating like a little piggy. Eat, eat, eat...that's what our little girl is doing. Nursing and formula going at the same time right now. She's a hungry little monkey. Do you like how I refer to our baby as animals? I think all parents do this; the children are monkeys, elephants, little tigers, baby bears, cows, etc...My favorite for Nyla is calling her my baby bear. Or as her nickname has come to be, my Nylabear.

Oh Nylabear, your mama loves you so much!