Mommy Resolutions for 2016

This post is going up a little late...whoops! We are beginning to sleep train the baby which is super difficult as she is also in her 5th developmental leap and basically wants to be held/cuddled all the time. Needless to say, we are exhausted. And I forgot to write/schedule this post yesterday. But ah well...here it is now.

I still consider myself a new mommy...and I probably will until the next kid (which wonʻt be happening for a few years). I still get nervous about decisions I need to make for my kid. I get anxious leaving her alone for long periods of time. I love doting on her and being around her. I know that Iʻm a good mom. Being a mom is what I was meant to do. I also know that I can be a better mom, so here are my mommy resolutions for 2016.

I resolve to be the best mommy that I can be,

and especially the best mommy for Honey.

I resolve to listen politely to the people who have advice for me,

but to take their advice with a grain of salt

because no one knows my kid better than me.

I resolve to provide Honey with a world that is open and free,

so that she can explore everything around her,

and she will know of the beauty that is life.

I resolve to allow my daughter to be creative, explore, think, and grow.

I know that I will love watching as she gains knowledge.

I know that she is so smart.

I canʻt wait to see what she does.

I resolve to love her dad more and harder.

Relationships can be tough, a kid does not do much to relieve the pressure,

but I know that she will learn about love and relationships from us

and I want her to have a healthy view of them.

I resolve to say "yes" and be more present.

I will not let social media or other tasks get in the way of watching my daughter grow.

I donʻt want to live behind a phone camera or miss something that she does

all because of a social media post.

My kid comes first, always.

I resolve to love my daughter.
All of her.

What are your mommy resolutions for 2016?

Baby's First Thanksgiving Art!

If you know me in real life, then you know these two very important things about me:

1. I am a pre-school teacher.
2. I love art and crafting.

Because of those two things, I freaking live for Pinterest. I've been on Pinterest since it's beta stages and I love, love, love it. It's my favorite brand of social media.

Annnyway...I've been pinning holiday art (and a whole bunch of other things) to do with kids for years now. It's been fun doing those things with my favorite little pre-schoolers, but I am so excited to finally be able to do fun art things with my own kid. I think that art is so important and I really want Honey to grow to love art and creating as much as I do. So I decided that it was time to make let her do her very first piece of art--Thanksgiving themed of course.

Since Honey is only 4 months old, a lot of the projects on Pinterest were a little too advanced for her but I knew that I wanted her to make a turkey. I found the cutest hand and foot print turkey that would be perfect. It was minimal work on her part and I knew that it would be something to treasure forever. I wondered what it will be like to look back on it when she's grown and to see how small her hands and feet were....but I digress. So, I decided to do it on Wednesday--Josh doesn't work on Wednesdays and I figured we'd need all hands on deck.

Well...it turns out that she was a bit of a fuss bucket on Wednesday and doing the art wasn't going to be as easy-peasy as I planned--which I should have known just by looking at that face. But alas, we pushed on. She cried and I ended up having to nurse her while simultaneously painting her hands/feet and pressing it on to the canvas but we survived! And the finished project came out so cute (but a little messy--an honest reflection of Little Miss at 4 months old), see:

It's so, so easy! I know it's a little late, but I still highly recommend doing this with your little one. The instructions are on the blog linked above, but I'll share 'em here, too!

You'll Need: 

Red, Orange, Yellow, and Brown Paint (I used Horizon Group Acrylic Paint--it's non-toxic and Puffy Paint)

Canvas or Cardstock

Paintbrush

What to Do:

1. The website suggests dipping baby's hand in the paint, but I actually painted the paint on to her hands. It gave us the opportunity to speak to her about what she was feeling ("Does that tickle?" "Does that paint feel cold?" "It's squishy, isn't it?). Of course, we had to ask that over her screaming so it didn't really work out but I like having the opportunity to use different words and creating new interactions. 

2. Stamp baby's hand print 4-5 times across the canvas. Decrease by one stamp with each color you add. Let dry for a minute or two in between stamping. This will create the turkey's feathers.

3. Dip or paint baby's foot with the brown paint. Stamp foot in the middle of the 'feathers' to create the turkey's body. Let dry.

4. I then used the puff paint in black, red, orange, and yellow to create a little feather tuft on top of turkey's head (orange), eyes (black), a beak (yellow), and the turkey's snoods (yep, that's really what they're called...I googled it.) with red. Let dry.

5. Tie it all together with a Thanksgiving message, the year, and/or baby's name!

There ya have it, a fun and easy task for even your littlest baby. Obviously, our version of this fun project didn't come out perfect but that's okay--it's perfect in it's own right!

4 Months with the Little Miss!

This Little Love Bug is 4 months old today! I cannot believe it. I honestly feel like it was just yesterday that I was writing my 40 week bump update and just waiting for this little girl to arrive. This month has been interesting to say the least. We've had our fair share of good days and bad days but the good definitely outweighs the bad. 

Growth: We go in for our 4 month appointment tomorrow so I'm not sure what her exact height and weight are at the moment. She is definitely growing though. She is so long and heavy that it's getting a bit hard to carry her and definitely hard to carry her around in her car seat!

Feeding: Breastfeeding and still going strong! I'm so glad that we got this far...I was a little nervous that we wouldn't get here but Honey has been such a strong nurser from the get-go. I'm thinking that the Doc will give us the OK to start her on foods. I am so excited to start giving her poi regularly!

Sleeping: Did you know that 4-month sleep regression is a thing? And sometimes it starts a little earlier then 4-months? Yep...it's true and I know a little girl who is currently going through that. Honey has been an excellent sleeper since she was born. She's been sleeping through the night since 2 months so mommy and daddy have been spoiled! There have been a few days over the past few weeks where she'll wake up in the middle of the night like she did when she first came home. 

Her naps during the day has also been a bit shorter but she takes more naps so it's kinda a win. I'm glad that at least she's on a routine for her days--including nap and bedtime. On a normal day, she will go to bed at 8:30 and sleep until about 5:00. Her nap times are normally at 7:30, 10:00, 4:30, with a really short catnap at about 6.

Moods: Honey is really such a happy baby like 90% of the time but this month, her little moods have definitely come out! She loves being held and when people pay attention to her but she does not like being alone for too long. She is definitely still a happy baby but she is not afraid to make it known when she does not like something.

Clothes: She still fits some of her 0-3 month clothes but mostly she's in 3-6 month clothes now. We just cleaned out her closet and drawers and packed up most of her 0-3 month clothes...a lot of which I don't think she even wore, haha. It was just much too hot to put her in clothes all the time. Now that winter is finally here, I've been able to actually put her in clothes during the day.

Likes/Dislikes: Honey loves playing airplane, petting Lady, standing up, bouncing, looking at colorful books, her daddy's face, watching TV shows (Dancing With the Stars) or whatever video games her dad is playing, and touching everything she can get her hands on. She especially loves playing with her Minnie Mouse and Belle dolls.  She does not like loud noises, being alone for too long, still does not enjoy her car seat, and tummy time unless she can do tummy time on mommy's knees.

Etc.: She rolled from her back to her tummy for the first time but still hasn't quite mastered the art of turning from her tummy to her back. We put her hair in pigtails for the first time and she looks so cute! We also celebrated her first Halloween, she was Scrump--Lilo's doll from Lilo and Stitch. She is now able to stand up by herself in her exersaucer.

I can't wait for more months with my little girl!