So smart!

I HAD to blog about my baby because this week she totally spoke several times! Now, I am meaning words that are intended and decipherable. Not babble. She's been babbling for months. So her first words were officially, "Where's dad?" He had just left the room and she was looking around for him. I almost died. She says mamama plenty, but not in regards to me. :(

Then, yesterday at church she said, "hi" to two people. We say hi to her quite a bit so that's no surprise. And then just now, 10 minutes ago, she was sitting on dad's lap and Jack jumped up to join her. She said "Jack!" twice in a row then pushed him away.

This baby is not even 11 months old yet! I have to admit, I knew she'd be a fast talker. She's been very verbal for a long time. Now, if we could only get her to crawl or creep or anything more than sit and spin. She's got the physical ability, but I think she's scared and hasn't been motivated enough to make it happen.

These pictures are about the best ones of me trying to get those legs underneath her!

Working Mom

I'm working full-time now. I have to be completely honest. I hate it. I have basically put aside my top priorities: home, family, sibling and friend relationships, garden, budget and self. All of these are sacrificed for money.

I did not choose to work full-time. I was working part-time to help out and there was a major need at work. Without fully realizing the life-changing consequences, I agreed to work full-time for a very short amount of time: no longer than 6 weeks. And I told them I would need a raise. Well, they met my requested increase in pay and, seeing the company's need, I agreed. Last week was the first week and I almost quit. The only thing keeping me there is my commitment and loyalty. I've seen my home decline into a pig pen. I have seen James and I become short with one another as more and more of the weight falls on him and I get more and more tired.

I am more sure than ever that almost any family can subsist on one income, no matter what that income is, but it is a choice and sacrifices have to be made. When I am working, we spend more because we have limited shopping time and we do not look for the lowest prices or use coupons. We are also not cultivating the garden that I so desperately wanted to grow this year. We did plant tomatoes, because that is my bare minimum. We eat out more often because no one wants to cook after a long day at work, and no one makes lunches. Lily still can't crawl at 10 months and I blame myself for not spending enough time teaching her. She does have an amazing sitter, though, who is working with her. More on that later. Finally, I have lost the mental stability that comes with personal time. I work all day and then come home to work another full-time job of cleaning, laundry and baby. I'm not complaining, but I am saying that it is unsustainable and I have no idea how people do this. It just seems that there are diminishing returns.

One thing that keeps me going (besides my word) is that the money we make is earmarked for fertility treatments to have our next baby. Truly, that is a major blessing. We don't know how many months we will have to try to get Lily a sibling. At $500 a month, there's just no way we could afford that without this income. Heavenly Father has truly blessed us and I am grateful that we have this opportunity. I am grateful for and love the life that I have. I just can't wait to come back home and enjoy it.

Tooth #2

This lady has been chewing on anything and everything.



Well, it turns out she's been teething on tooth #2!

Maybe now she'll start eating some meat and potatoes!

I had to add this video. We laughed so hard.

Sleeping through the night!

At 9 months, Lily is finally sleeping through the night! The key is having her get enough to eat during the day. She doesn't love to eat when there are other more exciting things going on around her. She's also been sick off and on and lost weight and needed to have a growth spurt to catch up.

Finally, she is not sick and she's getting enough to eat during the day! She goes to bed at 8pm and wakes up at 7am. Woohoo!

Some nights she does wake up and fuss. I usually enter the room and see this:

1. Head hitting bars of crib

2. Feet kicking the wall through the bars

3. Mouth located too far away from...

4. Binky

Like mom and dad

I wanted to list some ways Lily is like me and some ways she's like James. I thought it might be fun to look back on. These are what I think.

Malea:

• Eyes


• Mouth


• Cheeks


• Skin tone


• Hair texture


• Always cold


• Spirited personality


• Binky-addicted (I sucked my fingers)


• Loves to sleep

James:

• Chin


• Nose


• Forehead


• Hair line


• Toes


• Fingers


• Body length


• Skinny


• Picky eater

Interestingly, she more like me in her personality and much more like James physically. My mother-in-law says we might be like the Stephensons who have a model A (Karla, Brad, Malea) and a model B (Marcia, Amanda, Krista). If that's true, maybe our next baby will be short, chubby and like Dungeons & Dragons.

What do you guys think? Who does she look like? Who does she act like?

The benefit of skinny babies

Baby dresses become cute shirts. Here:

And here: And pants with a hem can be unhemmed to create longer pants!

This cute 9 month old baby looks very cute in her newborn dress and 3-6 month jeans!

9 months!

These days, Lily enjoys reading, daddy,

and sleeping.

I wish she enjoyed eating more. Gosh, she's skinny for her age! Soon, we'll introduce whole milk and I have high hopes for her putting on some weight.