Bouncy Bouncy Bouncy

Now that Nyla is super mobile, she loves to chase Okie around the house. Wherever Okie goes, Nyla follows. I think Okie is amused by this, but I'm not sure. Sometimes she has this look:

Mom. Please.

But for the most part, Okie is a happy girl. She's got someone to be partners with, someone to get into trouble with, someone to feed her Mac N' Cheese. These two!

I think Okie has one thing she's not a fan of: bouncing. Nyla loves to bounce on her. Nyla will take her 26-pound body and bounce on Okie's stomach, on her head, on her feet, grabbing her tail and bouncing on her butt. And how can you tell Nyla to stop when she's screaming and laughing with such joy?! Nyla does redeem herself though; after her little bouncing-fest, she turns to Okie and gives her a kiss. It's pretty sweet. Then she kisses Okie again...and again...probably four times. We all know that when Nyla kisses, it's like she's trying to eat your face. So when Okie gets a kiss from her, it's full open-mouth, tongue lagging out. And Nyla won't close her mouth until Okiedoodle starts to lick Nyla's face. Gross.

Wow

Someone find me a sweater set! I'm turning into my mother!

Today I went to the tulip field with Nyla and my mom...and LOVED it! We had so much fun! We didn't do anything but walk up and down the rows of tulips, but it was great! The weather was awesome, there wasn't a ridiculous amount of people...it was just wonderful. But the best part for me was seeing my Nyla enjoy herself and swat at all the flowers.

We came home, ate lunch, and I did the unthinkable: I gardened. I physically planted flowers in the ground. By nature, I'm not a very garden-y person--I'm not know for my green thumbness. But today, I was feeling the inspiration! And of course, I had my Nylabelle with me as my little helper. "Helper" is the operative word here; she spent most of the time sitting on my newly planted florals.

All in all, even though I realize that slowly but surely turning into Kat, it was a wonderful day!

Joining the Ranks

I've officially joined the ranks of parents who flock to child-friendly

Ego Boost

This morning, I went into Nyla's room to wake her up. She looked so peaceful, lying in her crib, mouth open, belly hanging out, spread eagle, just off in lala land. It's painful waking her up because she looks so stinkin' adorable! But alas, mommy has to go to work, so awake she must be.

"Nylaaaaaaaaaaa." It's annoying how I call her name in the morning, but she likes it so I keep it going.

"Nylaaaaaaaaaaa" and usually by the second call, she wakes up. This morning trumped every morning up until now. She opened her sleepy eyes, stretched her arms up, started slowly rolling around her crib. She then stood up and grabbed onto the rails, looked up at me and said, "pretty pretty." The first words out of her mouth this morning were the best compliment in the world to me! In general, the only things she thinks are "pretty pretty" are earrings, Okie, and flowers. But this morning, mama joined that illustrious list of "pretty pretty" things. Love it!

I'm a Mess

So I thought that I would be totally fine dropping Nyla off at daycare on a daily basis. The first two weeks of work, things went great; I just dropped her off, gave her kisses, and was able to go on my merry way to work. The last two days have been awful for me! I have cried while driving away both days.  I didn't expect this to happen so long after she came into our lives. I mean, in the early months, it was expected for me to have some separation issues and to be a little teary. But 13 months later? And it seems like the tears are from out of nowhere.

I think it's because I realized that my time with her is so limited now. I stayed home with her for the better part of her first year of life; she was my buddy, my partner, my little sidekick. And now, no sidekick. No pal. No sweet thing during the day. That makes me sad. Yesterday morning, I was able to see her awake for a whopping 22 minutes, and that includes driving time to daycare!

And you know what made things worse? I dumped my full cup of coffee in my car. So not only was I crying over my baby, I also was crying over my Starbucks! Yesterday just was not a shining day for me.

What I do know is that my time at home with her at night is all about Miss Nyla. I walk in the door and we snuggle and kiss. She's only awake a few hours until it's her bedtime, so I try to get in as much Nyla-Mommy time as possible. Well, Nyla-Mommy-Daddy-Okie time really.

It's One or the Other

You can never get two things at once with Nyla. You either get one or the other.

Perfect example: this morning. Nyla slept through the night last night! Yes, we're still dealing with that. 13 months later, we're still having a little trouble with sleep. Not as much now that she's in daycare, but still having some wakeups in the middle of the night. Anyhoo, last night she killed it with sleep! Right on! This morning, I started my job at full time, so I needed time to get up and get dressed before waking her up. This is her "one or the other" moment.

I got out of bed to start getting ready, thinking that she wouldn't wake up for another half an hour or so. WRONG. Homegirl woke up and started talking just as my feet hit the ground. Instead of having a relaxing and quiet time for me to actually brush my hair and do my makeup, I now had to rush and had a little voice sqauwking at me, reminding me that she was awake. It's one or the other with her. Either take a full night's sleep or get time in the morning to get ready in peace. I can't have both, damnit.

In conclusion, if you see me out in public looking a little disheveled and out of sorts, don't worry. My child slept all night so I'm good!

ps: I missed writing my blog! So we're back! Welcome to the second year of mommyhood.