Shopping Around

I moved Kate into her convertible car seat this weekend. She still had a few inches and pounds to gain before outgrowing her infant carrier, but it was getting too heavy to actually carry Kate in it and I didn't want to have to rush to try and get the new seat installed. I'd rather be prepared.

I was planning on just leaving the infant seat in my mom's car for now, knowing I would probably have to buy her a convertible seat too. But on Saturday my dad and I went to a tot sale at his church and found a Britax Advocate CS for only $20! Still in great condition, and it retails for around $300. We couldn't pass up that deal. I know 'You're not supposed to buy used car seats' because 'you don't know if they have been in an accident before' but my mom only drives Kate around if she is going 5 minutes to the grocery store.

So with the car seat situation fixed for mom, I installed the Graco seat I got at my baby shower into the Subaru. With the help of some rolled towels I got the seat installed and level. But this seat is significantly larger than the infant carrier, so the front passenger seat had to move up.

I don;t know if you can tell, but the seat is up so far that when I sit down my knees touch the glove box. Not comfortable, and I don't think being that close to the air bag is very safe. For every day use, it won't be a problem. But when Adam and I need to go somewhere (or when any friends ride with me) I will be in the squished seat. I told Adam (he's working in Seattle this weekend) and he was sad. We got the Subaru because it would be the family car, and now there's no room (especially if we ever have baby #2).

So that brings me to the internet- shopping around for a pre-owned mid sized SUV with low mileage, for a good price, and quality that will last. But most importantly it must fit the car seat and a passenger comfortably.

Does anyone have any tips for car hunting?

6 Months

Holy cow, where did the time go?

Kate is happily sitting and scooting now. She even lifts her tummy off the floor when she's playing.
She's going to be crawling before we know it, and, while I'm excited for that milestone, I am not ready for her to grow up so fast.

My big girl is now: 17 lbs 6.5 oz and  26.5" long. I'm going to have to switch her car seat out for the bigger convertible seat soon.

She's still nursing morning and night, and she gets food and some formula during the day at my Mom's. She loves every kind of food we have given her, including those nasty peas... and she's even practicing her chewing with some sweet potato puffs.

Some of her favorite things to do are: bouncing (in the bouncer or on you), playing with (and trying to eat) everything, and mickey Mouse Clubhouse (she shows no interest in Wonder Pets or Dora, but she squeals and 'talks' when MMC is on).

Check out all her monthly pics here.

It's Official

I can't watch anything involving a woman delivering a baby.

6 months have passed since I had Kate, and I still cry when a story line on TV involves a birth- if it's natural I cry because I didn't get that, and if it's a c-section I cry because I didn't get to see Kate right away like the woman on tv, and if it's a complicated delivery I cry because I am so thankful I have a healthy baby who had no complications.

Stupid hormones...

Let's cheer things up with a pic of Kate:

6 month pics and stats to come after her appointment on Friday :)

Thankful

And let the rambling begin...

1. Kate. I probably goes without saying, but I love her beyond words. Even as she is teething (I think?) and has decided to start waking up at 4:30 again, I love my happy, funny baby.

2.A day off of work in the middle of the week is such a gift. My school district takes the major Jewish holidays off (Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur) which, when combined with labor day and some other professional days, makes going back to work in the fall totally bearable (hardly a 5 day work week in the month of September). I loved being able to sleep in, if only until 7:00, and lounge eating breakfast and watching Hot Tub Time Machine (totally stupid yet funny movie).

3. As much as I miss being pregnant, I am so thankful I can enjoy my breakfast the way I like: runny eggs. And I actually had the time to cook them this morning.

4 & 5. Mom and my new school. I love that I can drop Kate at my mom's house and then drive 5 minutes to work. And I actually like the school, my team, and my students. There were a couple days where I was trying to think of any way possible I could work part time because I missed Kate so much- but she is in good hands and gets so excited to see me when I pick her up. And since she is with my mom, if she takes a longer nap or I have a late meeting, I don't have to worry about needing to pick her up 'on time' from a day care center. And Mondays work out perfectly- afternoon meeting, then hang out at mom's house until we head out for Monday night pizza at the same place we've been going to (with the same waitress every week) for over 10 (maybe 15) years.

I don't know how you do it

All you working, blogging, moms out there. I realized that I hadn't posted since before starting work again.

A month ago.

I just can't don't want to blog anymore. I drop Kate off, go to work, pick up Kate, play with Kate, make dinner, play some more, clean bottles and pump parts, prep anything for work, and if there is any time left in the day I can maybe take a shower.

Seriously, how do you all do it?

There are things to share: Kate's getting older, sitting, rolling, eating food; work is going great; we have been to the beach a couple more times... but I am only writing this now since I prepped dinner yesterday, Kate is napping, and I am pretty much set for work.

So I guess my point in this random post is to say that my posting will probably be really sporadic and random from now on. Thanks for hanging with me.

And so this post isn't completely boring, here are some recent pictures of Kate:

Daddy picked out her monster truck PJs from the boy's section of Gymbouree

A cow says WHAT now?

Rice, Rice, Baby

playing with a spoon

Kate had her first experience with rice cereal this weekend. It was 1 Tbs of cereal mixed with 2 oz of milk; a little more than recommended but it was what I had ready, and I didn't want to waste any milk. It was basically the consistency of milk, it didn't seem thickened at all, but since it was her first time it needed to be pretty liquidy.

two spoons are better than one

A lot of the milk/cereal ended up on her pajamas, and it took 15+ minutes, but Kate seemed to enjoy eating from the spoon. At first she wasn't too sure, but by the end she was opening her mouth for the spoon and acting like I couldn't feed her fast enough (which was probably true, do you know how hard it is to move a spoon of milk through the flailing arms of an infant?).

Overall it was a success. Happy baby = happy mommy.

A Trip to Spain...

...Via a cooking class.

Adam and I finally cashed in our wedding gift certificate and took a cooking class on Saturday.
As tempting at the 9:30 am cupcakes class was, We signed up for the afternoon Summer in Spain. We met some people, drank some wine, and cooked the most delicious roasted red pepper and tomato soup, paella, and custard. All from scratch. And the best part, by far, was getting to enjoy the food at the end.

It was amazing. So much food, yet we had non left :( Our five person cooking team was awesome. We were the first to finish every dish... we were also the first to finish eating everything.

We took the class through L'Academie de Cuisine. I highly recommend them. We had a great experience.