the 8th month

At 8 months, Kaellyn is starting to look more like a little girl than a baby... and I feel rather bittersweet.

She is really on the move. She's crawling all over the place and is unbelievably fast! She pulls up on the stairs and furniture and manages to stand on her own. She has 3 teeth and another one on the way. She is moving towards eating more solid foods and has taken a liking to dog food (whoops). She has grown SO much. I studied child development in undergrad and graduate school and I am still constantly fascinated at how much The Baby learns and changes during these first several months. Her little brain has grown and expanded at an unbelievable rate - it's absolutely amazing.

My brain, on the other hand,  is exponentially shrinking. I'm quite often easily amused, snappish and absent-minded, most likely as a result of constantly being tired. I truly feel like a "mom". Yikes. Lately, my tired, old body has somehow starting to become "accustomed" to tiredness and exhaustion. Who knew this was even possible?  Again, human development never ceases to amaze me. A recent milestone of mine, wait for it... is walking the dogs and the baby at the same time (see above regarding 'easily amused'). Yes, this took 8 months to accomplish, but have you MET my dogs?? Here are a few other tidbits of absentminded knowledge:

• Nothing is fast anymore nor will it ever be again. There is no "running into the store" to grab something I forgot and there is no "stopping by", "for a little while", or "making an appearance" no matter what the occasion or event.

• It is virtually impossible to "nap when the baby naps". During Kaellyn's lifetime, I have had mild success with this advice a total of, um... .75 of a time.  Everything seemed so perfect, but as soon as I fell into a beauteous, peaceful slumber, she woke up crying! Despite the fact that I work part-time, which in reality means "work when the baby naps", necessities I used to take for granted such as showering, getting dressed, cleaning, emailing, eating, setting fantasy football lineups, and blogging actually become quite stressful, not to mention they get in the way of naps.

• Pinot Grigio and chocolate peanut butter swirl ice cream is a perfectly respectable dinner.

• It does not matter if you wrap your daughter in a pink blanket, stick a huge pink bow in her hair, and write “GIRL” on her forehead - a stranger still inevidably will say “HE is so cute.” 

• Being hungover with a baby is one of the worst, most horrible, difficult, challenging, life-changing experiences ever. I will NEVER drink too much again. Ever! ...really.

• Nothing will ever gross me out again. Enough said.

• My pre-pregnancy jeans may never fit again, and I'm ok with that.  But I'm still going to hold onto them. Who knows, I may eventually enjoy a form of exercise that doesn't involve lying on a mat so I can sneak in naps.

• My baby is interesting. Random people's babies - not so much. I really don't care much for babies I don't know and their respective parents'  opinions. No offense, while I'm sure they are intelligent, wonderful creatures, I am just not interested in how often the random lady in the park's baby poops, how much he weighs, what he ate for breakfast, or how much smarter and advanced he is than my baby. This does not surprise me, and is the main reason this blog is meant for family and close friends, i.e. those who care can CHOOSE to read it. That being said, stay tuned for my next post, "Other Babies' Parents".

waiting for pilates

well hello, kitty!

dinner outside on one of the last warm nights