Packing Anxiety Attack

When it comes to packing, I am one of those women that cannot pack lightly. I have tried many times to limit my load, but every time I do, I usually become really disappointed with my wardrobe choices. So to prevent future frustration at my failed outfit selection, I always pack more than I need. 

Enter a baby into the picture. We no longer have the luxury to over pack. Especially since we need to get on an airplane for the trip home for Christmas. For about two weeks now I have been compiling a list of all the things I need to pack for the baby, for myself and all the presents we need to bring home. (The hubs can worry about himself. ;) (Love you, Hun!) This list has been edited multiple times. Things have been deleted because we can buy them when we land.--Granted there isn't a snow storm. Dear Winter Storm Draco Malfoy, (Yes, I gave the storm the last name of a Harry Potter character, so what.) please go easy on MN and WI. I have added things to the list that I think are necessities that probably aren't...Don't forget that nightlight!

Sunday night I pulled the list up on my computer and did a "practice pack" where I started putting all of Harper's clothes into a suitcase. It went pretty well, but then I realized I had only packed her clothes and they took up half the suitcase dedicated to her. That's about 1/16th of the baby packing puzzle. There are a lot more items on my list that have nothing to do with clothes. So tonight we will be turning the "practice pack" into the "for realsies pack" and hopefully there will be room for my stuff. I've decided that I'm only going to pack 4-5 outfits for myself (I think Harper has 12) and do a load of laundry during the week. Since I will be seeing each side of the family for about 5 days, each family will only see my outfits once. Oh the horror if I wore something twice! (I'll probably end up wearing my one pair of sweatpants I packed all week.)

The only thing that is preventing my packing list from being a lot longer is the fact that my mother-in-law does daycare so she has a lot of the stuff we need and Harper is the 8th grandchild for my parents so they have a lot of baby things as well.

Here is my list for the baby. 

Clothes:
White sweater dress
Black sweater dress
Purple dress
White snowflake dress
White dress with red sweater
Red snowflake onesie with black sequin pants
5 long sleeved onesies
2 jeggings
5 PJs
hat 
fleece body suit
2 fleece jackets

Hygiene:
comb
nail clipper
shampoo and soap
teething gel 

Feeding:
5 bibs
5 burp rags 
6 bottles
formula
oatmeal
bowls and spoons
breastfeeding shall (in carry on)
 
Transporting:
car seat
stroller

Plane:
diaper bag with changing pad, diapers, wipes, diaper rash cream, disinfectant, tissues, change of clothes, toy

Entertainment:
bumbo
pacifiers
book
ball
Sophie
Penelope
Pink Fleece blanket
  Pooping:
Diapers
wipes
plastic bags for diaper disposal

Other:
nightlight
blanket

Moms, what am I missing?

I'm already preparing to write a post about how horrible it is to fly/travel with a baby and also list out everything I should have packed.

Merry Christmas to everyone if I don't get a chance to write another post before Tuesday! 

Picture Time!

 

L M N O Please Stop Crying

I know that every baby grows and learns at their own pace but I get concerned that Harper is behind because she hasn’t rolled over yet. She’s almost 4 ½ months old. I’ve read that babies start rolling over between 3-6 months, but when I see on Facebook that babies younger than Harper are already rolling over this mommy starts to freak out.

To combat this, Hubs and I have started doing daily tummy time with Harper…something we should be doing anyway. She hated it when she was 1-2 months old so we stopped for awhile. Now she can hold her own for about 10 minutes before she has had enough. During tummy time we try to encourage her to roll over by putting toys on one side that she would need to roll over to reach or we even push a leg over to show her how to roll over. Both haven’t gotten us anywhere and so we continue to wait for her to learn at her own pace like good parents do.

Something on a similar note. I get worried that we aren’t socializing enough or teaching Harper enough and she will be behind.  The logical side of me says this is plain silly, but the worrywart side of me tells me to fix this ASAP.  I’m surprised nightmares of Harper being behind haven’t taken over the “I forgot my locker combination and my class schedule” dreams that still haunt me at night.  So to put myself at ease I started singing to Harper. I decided the ABCs was the perfect song choice since it’s educational and I know all the words. :) Most of the time Hubs is around and chimes in with me. We have discovered that the ABCs ARE MAGICAL. She loves it when we sing this to her. If she is in a good mood, she laughs and smiles and coos along. If she is in a bad mood, she stops crying and listens to us sing.

We probably went through 10 rounds of the ABCs on the 10 minute trip home last night just to keep Harper from crying. I will do anything to make my baby happy, even if it is singing the same song over and over and out of key in public.

PS--I know it is cute when kids say elemeno instead of  L M N O, but I obnoxiously enunciate these letters to prevent Harper from what-being cute???  I hope the real reason is to prevent future turmoil of having to rid her of the elemeno habit.Something is wrong with me.

PICTURE TIME!
Quote from picture: "But Mom, I don't want this toy to go to my cousin for Christmas. I really like it as a pillow."

Soooo all the people that read this blog get a sneakpeek at our family photos that I took. Yes, I'm that talented with a camera timer. ;) I won't be posting these until this weekend. So you should feel special. The rest are ten times better than this one so keep a look out!

Mommy Isn't an English Teacher

So a random thought popped into my head while changing Harper's diaper. Why does having a child cause you to speak only in the third person? 
"Mommy is putting socks on you now," and "Harper, why won't you smile for Mommy?" are examples of sentences that have left my mouth. 

I even talk to my husband like this. "Daddy, can you get Mommy a glass of water." 

Not only do I refer to myself as Mommy to my daughter and husband, but I also call myself Mommy in my head. I caught myself thinking yesterday, "If Mommy goes to the store this weekend remember to get garlic salt." I do this ALL the time. I'm surprised I haven't referred to myself as mommy to a coworker. 

I have also caught myself dropping the "G" on "ING" words and saying things like "Whatcha doin?" and "Harper, you got stinky feets." Come on Sarah, let's use proper English.

Why do we moms do this? Maybe not everyone does and I should rephrase this to why do I do this? One thing is for sure: Harper will have bad grammar, and it's all Mommy's fault.

Pictures! Pictures! Pictures!

Only two. Sorry! I hope to get pictures with Santa this weekend!