Mommy's Day Out

I LOVE being a mommy, and I have LOVED every minute of getting to spend the summer with G.  BUT.....she does make it much more difficult to shop.  Walking around a mall and spending hours trying on clothes doesn't have nearly the same appeal.
A friend suggested we leave our little ones in Daddy daycare and go to the outlet mall three hours away in Colorado.  We loaded up with her oldest daughter early in the morning for a girls' day out.    It was really nice to shop, chat, and relax.  My friend is really good at making good conversation so the three hour trip didn't seem very long at all.  We did both worry about how our little ones were faring with the daddies.
My friend calls to see how it was going at her house.  Her husband informs her that he has taken the kids to the activities center, the library, the museum, and was having a water balloon fight.
I call my husband worried that G is giving him fits.  He informs me that she had already taken two hour and a half long naps (for me she takes a couple of 20 minute naps and one longer nap).   He'd also had no poopy diapers (the day before I'd gotten three, and I've already gotten one this morning).  Other than that they'd played, sang, worked on standing, and were having a great day.  He also called excitedly to ask if it was normal for her to be sitting in her crib after being laid down for a nap.   No!!!! Not normal!!!!  She had sat up all by herself for the first time for him, and he thinks he heard her say da.  I may have to go shop more often!

A Case of the Mommies

I'm lucky enough to have had a couple of months of being home with my daughter over summer break.  For most of the break, it's been just us all day, every day.  It's been incredibly wonderful to get to see all the changes and spend so much quality time together, but my daughter has caught a case of the mommies.  She really wants me to snuggle her, feed her, play with her, and not pass her off to all the open arms of friends and family (unless I'm nearby so she can see or hear me).  Secretly (or not so secretly anymore), I love having her want me around so much.  I love being the one who can comfort her and make her feel safe.
With school getting ready to start, I've taken her to the babysitter's house a couple of times.  This has resulted in fits of wailing, scrunched up faces, and super pouty bottom lips.  She can screw her face into the saddest looking little face you've ever seen.  It breaks my heart to leave her like that.  I know she'll get over it and probably have more fun with the babysitter than at home, but to start with, it's going to be hard!

Coming to See the Baby

You definitely know where you rank after having a baby!  It's been pretty funny to watch both of our families as G has come into our lives, and it's pretty funny to watch all the relatives and friends try to act like they want to see us when they really want to see the baby.  Please don't think I'm upset by this baby phenomenon because I'm not, just amused.  I'm very glad we have such loving, supportive families and friends.  I want our daughter to have as much love and support as she can get so if you've been coming by to see "us" (the baby), please don't stop!
People call to come out to see us, but as soon as they get here they scoop up G.  We barely get a hello as they beat a path to get her.  My parents came out a few times before their first grandchild entered the world, and now they find as many excuses as they can to come see "us".  Brian's parents used to be fine seeing me for a meal once in a while.  Now they call to make sure "I" can come over for a meal about once a week.
I now laugh when someone calls and asks if they can come out to see "us".  The truth has been unveiled!
 

Hoodwinked

My daughter LOVES her thumbs....LOVES them.  If she can have one thumb in her mouth, great; if she can have two thumbs in her mouth, even better.  She puts them in while taking a bath (very tricky to get the soap off before she sticks them in), while playing with her toys, and even while taking a bottle (very messy).
My husband is exploiting this thumb adulation.  He has promised her two extra thumbs....in exchange for no poopy diapers.  The worst part is she believes him despite my valiant attempts to make her see that her father has hoodwinked her.  He has avoided changing a poopy diaper for months.  I realize he only changes one diaper a day, but you'd think sooner or later he'd get a messy one.  Statistics say that he should have to take one for the team once in a while, but no.  I change them, the babysitters change them, the grandmas change them, but not Daddy.
Since he heads out for the field each day, he gets up and spends time with her each morning and changes the first diaper of the day.  It's never anything but wet except for the day I decided to let him sleep in.  On that particular morning, she had the stinkiest poo ever filling her diaper, running up her back, through the sleeper onto the blanket. WHY??????  That is the only morning it's been that way before or since.  Just see if he ever gets to sleep in again!

1 out of 8 equals 25%????

My husband's a brilliant man.  He teaches upper level science courses and can figure farm figures in his head quick as lightening, but diaper math throws him for a serious loop.  Shortly after our daughter was born, I heard from one of my co-workers that Brian had told her at an inservice that Gracelyn was doing great (she was), she was sleeping all night (she wasn't; he just didn't get up or even hear her), and he was doing 25% of the diaper changes.
I started cracking up!  At that time, we were doing 10-12 diaper changes a day; one with each bottle.  He was changing ONE of those.  I quickly explained that he was obviously very mistaken about the number of diapers our little darling was producing each day.
I tried setting him straight the next morning by asking him to go do his "25%".  Being facetious did not help him realize the error of his ways.  All he did was laugh, and now the phrase has caught on so now when he changes his diaper of the day he informs me he's off to change his 25%.  On the rare occasion he changes two, he's up to 50% despite there being eight diapers (give or take) each day now.  I haven't had to be gone yet to see what would happen to the percentages if he had to change all the diapers in a day.   Could be interesting to find out though!