Toddler Ambivalance

Today Andrina exhibited her first "toddler ambivalant" behavior. I was holding her for awhile, then went to put her down. Instead of crawling towards her toys, she pulled herself up using my legs, whined and reached her arms out to me. So of course I held her again. It's beginning...

Mommy's First Hug

I think I got my first hug from Andrina tonight. I was holding her and cuddling her when I felt her lean her body and face into me and tighten her arms around my neck. Oh that was so wonderful! I wanted it to last forever!

Coupon Queen Part 2

I just got back home from Target where there was a new sale/promotion for Pampers diapers. If you bought 2 boxes for $19.99 each (e.g., 80 count size 3) you got a $5 gift card at checkout. Well, I went though the Sunday coupons yesterday like I do every Sunday and there was a Target coupon in there for $5 off any Pampers diapers and Pampers wipes. Then on Saturday my new issue of Parenting magazine came in and there was a $3 off Target coupon for any Pampers diapers and wipes. So with those 2 coupons, and one I had for $2 and one for $1.50 and two for $.50 off pampers wipes, and the $5 gift card at checkout, I got 2 boxes of diapers and a total of 6 refills of wipes for only $33.50! Wow! I am gooooood! By the way, Andrina is good to go on diapers and wipes until at least her birthday! Wow, I must say again that I am GOOD! My husband is one lucky guy!

I Am The Coupon Queen

This week Target had a sale/promotion with the very large boxes of Pampers diapers (e.g., 116 count for a size 3). If you bought 2 of them for 27.99 each, you got a $10 gift card at checkout. Well, I happened to have my very last two no-maximum-value coupons left for a FREE pack of Pampers diapers. Tom and I bought 15 of them off of eBay when I was pregnant for about $12 each and I have been redeeming them for very large boxes of diapers for free as they had no maximum value on them. Well, I used my last 2 coupons (they were to expire on 7/30/08 anyways) and not only did I get my last 2 big boxes of diapers for free, but I got a $10 gift card too!

Oh, a sad side note to the Pampers coupons, they no longer make them with no maximum value anymore :( . Proctor and Gamble finally wised up and realized that people were redeeming them and getting the huge boxes of diapers for them for free instead of the small $10 "Jumbo pack" like they are supposed to be used for. So now the coupons have a $10.99 maximum value listed on them. So sad. It was such an incredible deal while it lasted as Tom and I saved about $15 per box of diapers with each of them. 15 boxes at $15 each means that we got $225 worth of diapers for free with them! Sigh... it was great while it lasted...

Paperwork

Here's Andrina helping me with some paperwork this afternoon while I am on the computer!

Just Some Pictures

That I wanted to share!

Mommy and Andrina

Andrina and Ryan

Quasi-Lazy Summer Days

Today, yesterday, and Monday Tom and I have been hanging out in the pool with Andrina. She loves the water, which is not a surprise since I love the water and we are both water signs (Cancer). Yep, just hanging out, playing with the baby and grilling hot dogs. Ah, the good life.

Andrina's Baptism

Andrina got baptized yesterday. It was a very nice yet short service. Here's some pictures:

Grandma and Grandpa with their granddaughters

Mommy and Andrina

Getting baptized

Mommy and Daddy with Andrina

Godparents Becca and Bob with Andrina

All of us who were at the service

Top row: Pat, Jerry, Kay, April, Doreen, Anne, and John (and a big THANK YOU to John for videotaping for us!)

Bottom Row: Tom, Shellie, Andrina, Becca, and Bob

Gotta have cake!

Some Home Improvements

Here's our front door painted teal. It looks blue but it is teal. I've been wanting it this color for a few years now.

Here's our deck with a new paint stain and the deck fence is also freshly painted.
It's so nice to be getting these things done. I've also got 2 large portraits of Andrina hung up above the fireplace, all four baby gates are up, there is a banister guard up, and many other odds and ends around the house have been taken care of.

Vying For Mommy's Attention

Andrina has not been letting me do any work on the computer. She starts to whine when my attention is not on her this afternoon. As soon as I give her my attention, she's as happy as can be. When I am focused on the computer, she starts to cry. I had to go physically put her in her crib so I could send eBay and paypal an email and do this. She really whined about it and just now settled down and is quiet. I'll go play with her now until her naptime to ease my Mommy Guilt.

Happy 11 Months Andrina!

Wow, only one more month to go until you are 1 year old! I can't believe it Baby! I love you soooooooo much! Ok, for the records again, your stats are: 19 pounds, 8 ounces (36th percentile) and 28 inches tall!! That is in the 41st percentile for height.

And overall, you have already more than tripled your birth weight and grew 10 inches from birth, you needed to do both by one year old but you did it by 11 months old! You are amazing!

She's Such A Good Baby...Or Do I Mean A Little Kid?

Tom and I had to go to the Home Depot today to buy stain for our deck, a new storm door for our back door and some lumber. Andrina come with and she was wonderful! Tom carried her around in the baby bjorn and we were all in there for about an hour and a half. Andrina was obviously getting tired and there were delays we were running into in there that Tom and I were getting a little impatient with but she was great. She is so happy that even when she was so tired she did not cry or get cranky in any way. She just sucked on her fingers and continued to smile at everyone who passed by that engaged her. She reminded me yet again of how incredibly lucky we are. Our daughter is so happy, healthy, beautiful, smart, and easy-going. Yep, this is just another of the many instances I say "thank you" for her.

Sock Wars

I think this picture speaks for itself!

How Can I Say "No"?

Tonight Andrina kept pulling up and standing in the bathtub and of course I tell her "no" and help her to sit back down because it's just too dangerous for her to practice her standing skills in the bathtub. But it was not that simple. She kept pulling up on me and holding on to my shoulders by my neck, sometimes she would put her mouth on my face, almost like she was trying to kiss me. Well, of course all of this just completely won my heart (like she hasn't already?) and how can I say no to my baby when she is reaching out for me? When she is expressing a need for affection or trying to give me affection? I just cannot reject this. Well, I thought I figured it out when I would embrace her back, letting her still hold on to me while saying "no standing in the tub" and helping her to sit back down. But she just kept doing it over and over again. How can I communicate that her behavior of pulling up and standing in the tub is dangerous while not rejecting my baby's affection? I will never reject her affection, no matter what is going on at the time. We have an extremely strong bond and I will not do anything to damage it. But I need to help her learn that there are some things she can't do because they are not safe. Do I just keep doing what I was doing over and over again, as many times as it takes?

Coming To Mommy

Andrina has done this several times before but I have not blogged about it because I've been so busy and my blogging suffered. Andrina just now (and many times earlier) crawled over to me and pulled up to standing on my legs. I think it means she wants me to hold her. I love it! Actually, I automatically assume it means that she "wants Mommy". And over course I praise her and pick her up and cuddle her. It's just as great as when she lifts up her arms to me to pick her up. It's so wonderful. I had been missing the newborn stage but not really anymore. Now we have more of a real relationship because before I could only express affection to my baby but now she can give it to me as well. Maybe these behaviors are the emotional equivalent of a pre-verbal "I love you" from her? I think so. Sigh.... I'm so in love with her....

Bathing Beauty

Wow, I have not blogged in about a week! Not that nothing has been going on, anything but! For 3 days last week there was a handyman over working on my very long list of jobs around the house to be done. Then I was out with Andrina visiting April, John, and Anne on Memorial Day too. But the real reason I have not been really blogging is I've been dealing with an "unpaid item dispute" on ebay. I sold some expensive diaper coupons and the buyer refused to pay for them. They were a newbie, giving me the run-a-round and I was checking my computer every day until about Wednesday or so to see if they paid. They didn't so I finally opened up the dispute and said to hell with it. I was not going to be wasting more time checking to see if they paid so I have not been on the computer since them. Besides, I was having fun swimming with my baby! My inbox was overflowing when I finally did log on today! And my blog has also suffered with all the busy work and ebay hassle.

But here's finally a post. Andrina and Anne from the pool on Memorial day and Andrina from 2 days ago in the pool.

Not the greatest shot but it's hard getting a tired toddler and a tired infant to sit still together for a picture!