7 months// Christmas Shopping @ Urban Outfitters

// Sweetest Isabel turned 7 months this week!!!  Here is some of what 7 months old contains for this little dumpling: {written to and for Isabellie}

- Your talking sounds are getting really good!!!!! "dadadadadada...... fafafafafafafa...... bababababa....huuuhhhh" {and that huuuuuhhh has sounded very much like a hello, more than a few times!!}

- The rolling across the floor continues, but is becoming more sophisticated! We've been very impressed with how you can get to where you want, with a combo of rolls and scoots.

- You want to crawl so badly, and I think you will be doing it very very shortly.

- A few times, I've said "give mommy a kiss"  and you do it!!!  Your signature, big open mouth cheek slobber.  This makes my heart melt like nothing else.

- I'm trying {half heartedly} to teach you sign language for "more" and "all done". The sign for "all done" just makes you laugh....

- Your obsession and love for doggies continues.... {they would love you back equally if you were better able to control your impulse to grab fistfuls of their hair}

-You can really sit up now!!! and seeing you sitting up on a chair, on the bed, in the middle of the floor, with your little legs bent so that  your feet touch {like a tripod}... I turn to mush.

- You've kind of outgrown your little whale bathtub.  Bath time is now a lot of me trying to keep you alive, as you try to stand and lunge for all of the cool bath stuff {faucet, drain, sides of the tub...}, no more lying prone and watching me sprinkle water overhead....

- And that leads me to this: You are such a busy little bee!!!... So curious, so active, so engaged.... everyone who meets you comments on this {and your good looks too of course ;)}

- Our naps together are the best.  An hour and a half, middle of the day /// Golden.

- You and I have got a  really special bond going, and it's pretty sweet. I was worried that my going back to work would affect it, but it really hasn't.  We have each other down.  We speak the same language, and you are my best, sweetest girlfriend.   {please refer back to these writings during your teenage years....}

So, happy 7 months to you Boo Bear!  We are so proud of you, and love you the MOST!!!

 

Photo is from our August beach trip.... Bonnet can be found HERE

 

 

// This week, I did a little bit of Christmas shopping, and decided to check out Urban Outfitters.  I have not set foot in an Urban Outfitters for years, and had forgotten how much random, interesting, kitchsy stuff they have.  The clothes seemed geared towards a younger, hipster-ish crowd {especially the men's stuff} but there were a number of pieces that I think I could've gone for.  Alas, Christmas shopping is meant to be for others, so I had no time to peruse what might've been....

I snapped a few pictures of some things that I thought should be shared....

Watch out for: ruched velvet, acid wash, a cozy sweater, a great camera, cat prints, shiny rainbow pants {I'm sure SJP could've pulled them off circa 2001 SATC}, floral print {calico?}, mason jar shot glasses {I don't drink, but am sure I could find some use for tiny mason jars!}, a little black dress, sequins, some really cute tops {LOTS of crop tops-- that is another blog post.... crop tops post age 17? post partem?.... ehhh}, and some pretty rocks {some as coasters}.  It reminded me of an artsy cousin to Goodwill//Anthropologie// your neighborhood thrift store//Spencer's {remember that place?}.  Kind of a, "You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have...."  Urban Outfitters?  You be the judge. 

 

 

 

 Treasure hunting and wandering through weird interesting stuff is fun, right?  

 

 

 

XO

 

Cassie

 

 

 

 

 

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And have a happy weekend!

XO

Cassie

Sleeping Woes

Sleep has NOT been normal over the past 7 months or so, and that is to be expected with an infant {so, I guess this is what we might call 'the new normal'}.  Izzie hasn't been a really great sleeper, but she's also not been a bad sleeper.  {She's actually a very easy baby, with a pretty laid back 'tude.}

So our recent sleep issues lately have thrown me for a loop.  At first, I chalked them up to the fact that we had been away from home for 2 long weekends in a row.  Til we got back home, and the sleep issues continued.
{**update:  I'm almost convinced that we're dealing with teething here...good news? yea!} 

Tonight as I'm writing this, I feel so torn.... And scouring books and babycenter forums for clues and suggestions. {that being said, those mothers who brag about their babies sleeping through the night should be permanently banned..}

Sleep deprivation is a form of torture. 

I now understand this.

But letting Izzie "cry it out" also feels like a form of torture-- for both of us. 

Someone said to me recently, "A baby has never died from crying".  And I was left thinking, okay... so we are going for just slightly better??? {and in my sleepy fog, hearing the words death and crying in the same sentence did not help the matter- worst association ever perhaps?}.

Til now, I've been trudging through, thinking that I wouldn't need to resort to any Ferber-ish measures because everything would magically fall into place without a hitch.

And that has pretty much been the case. Until last week, when we went to Atlanta, and on into this week.  It's reached a point where I'm thinking that maybe she really does need to learn how to put herself to sleep, even if that means that she cries herself to sleep... because waking up every 90 minutes and needing mom there to fall back to sleep can't be good for her either.

But then I remember this huge cloak of guilt that colors some of my decisions....I feel guilty and sad that I'm leaving her with others for such a large part of the week, so the hours that I am home with her, leaving her to cry feel doubly hard. {um, impossible actually}

Admittedly, I have also created some "bad habits", which I then feel guilty about-- using the pacifier to fall asleep, bringing her into bed in the middle of the night, sometimes rocking her to sleep, the loose schedule that she has kept {which seems to shift every couple of months}... I've been told by other mothers that this is all normal, which I guess is comforting...? 

I don't want to foster an environment of neediness and clinginess; I want Isabel to be independent and self sufficient.  But on the other hand, I also want her to know that we are there for her always, and that she is loved, without anxiety or fear.   

When I started writing this, I was in the middle of a 5 minute interval of letting her cry.  She was on her 3rd wake up {3 hours after bedtime}. 

Hashtag: the pits.
Hashtag: the trenches. 
  Hashtag: I just wanted to scoop her up. 
Hashtag: I just wanted her to go to sleep. 

Once I did go and pick her up, her body relaxed immediately, she stopped crying and was asleep within 30 seconds.

I mean...... 

Hashtag:  I'm a puddle of mush.

My being a puddle of mush is, in this particular scenario {and I'm sure in plenty more to come} my kryptonite. Or maybe not?  {I'd like to think that being sensitive will be a strength...}

 



That's all I've got // Just a Cliff Notes version of what's been stewing in my brain for the past 48 hours. 

If anybody has an up to date instruction manual for babies, please pass it along.  I must've missed that somewhere along the way. 
Til then...We'll be getting through these teeth with some crying and lots of cuddling.
A healthy balance, I'd say ;) 

 XO

Cassie

Due South // Part II

On our 2nd day in Atlanta, my sweet friend Lauren and I took our squirmy little baby bugs to the Georgia Aquarium.  It was kind of a spontaneous field trip, and neither of us had ever brought our respective mini-people to an aquarium. 
It turned out to be a MAY-jor highlight of the trip!  Both of the little ones loved it- even Izzie.  There were some squeals, talky noises, excited//happy eyes, clapping, and a general air of fun-nes. I was really surprised at how much Isabel {almost 7 months} responded so positively to it.
At the Georgia Aquarium, your general admission ticket also gets you into the dolphin show {no extra cost}.  We decided to try it, not knowing what to expect...
and the show turned out to be verry Disney-ish, and theatrical.  There was singing, there was a ship, there were sea monsters that needed to be fought off, there was water spraying, and rain coming down, and the singing, did I mention that there was singing?
Isabel, unfortuately, had hit her wall by this point, and slept through the entire show in the Ergo.  {and I'm still tiptoeing around when she naps??}
 James though, he loved it!  He was completely enraptured// he sang, danced, clapped, and was utterly cute the whole way through.  It was so adorable, and kind of more fun to watch him than it was to watch the dolphin circus.  We were in the nosebleed seats too, I can't imagine what he would've done if we'd been any closer.

{oh, do I look tired in that picture?  ask me how Izzie has been sleeping lately.... or should I say, not sleeping...one of the joys of having a teething baby..}

So go to the aquarium! (:


XO

Cassie