Muddling Momma

14
Jan
2021

Hannah: 5 & 6 Months

Dear sweet Banana,

Happy half birthday! These months have equally flown and crawled by. You are so interested in everything and generally HAPPY. I swear every morning you wake up like your brother did at your age – as if you are shocked and delighted we are still here. I have to say, we feel the same.

{Rolling Over} You’ve rolled over a few times, but nothing consistent. You are much more interested in crawling and get pretty frustrated when your attempts fall flat.

{Sitting} You are now sitting with a little bit of help and you love seeing things differently. You do get the sways when you are tired, but your balance is awesome. Now you just get mad that you can’t get from laying down to sitting – you want to do it like a crunch and I can assure you that ain’t how we do it.

{Food} The doc gave us the green light to start testing the waters with baby food. The first few times you were excited, but couldn’t get the mechanics straight. But after you figured it out you were all in. So far you love bananas and blueberries and we not so keen on green beans.

{Dogs} It’s like you suddenly realized you have doggies! They are so patient with you even though you aren’t so gentle with them. But the minute they hit your line of vision you are reaching and touching them.

{Your Boys} Speaking of loving on things – your brother and father ADORE you and the feeling is mutual. The minute one of them walks in the room you light up. With Daddy you rub his beard and with Mikey you grab his cheeks with both hands and pull him in. You are one lucky little girl.

{Bath time} I’m calling it now water baby – you are going to have us up at O’dark thirty at swim meets. You LOVE the water. Aunt Phyllis has been steadily upgrading our bath contraptions to keep you happy. It’s to the point where you smile and get excited any time we run the water. You’ve taken to getting a quick shower with us and don’t blink an eye when the water hits your face.

{Holidays} The holiday season was certainly different this year thanks to COVID, but we made the most of it. You were really taken with the lights and our plastic snow globe that blows the ‘snow’ around. You saw Santa on a Zoom call and Mikey told him you wanted bath toys. You were certainly spoiled for both Hannukah and Christmas! You’re favorite toy was a bouncing seat and a new penguin bubs.

{Taylor Swift} You are my little Swifty! Folklore and Evermore came out at the best time and is the perfect soundtrack to put on to sleep because it is all mellow music. Turns out you agree! It is the only music that will put you to sleep and that, to me, is hilarious.

My sweet 18lb chunky banana, you are truly the bright spot in this crazy world. The next six months might not be thrilling, but we can’t wait.

xo

Momma

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Hannah: 4 Months

categories: Dear Hannah

Dear Sweet Banana –

I know I am a little late, but I am finding YOU are taking up my free time, and I am not mad about it. You are growing physically (hello, 15lbs!) and growing into your personality.

{Hands} If you are reading this at the age of 30 with your hand in your mouth, it will be proof I’ve given up. You just want your hand in your mouth. Even if something else is in your mouth. I try to gently remove your hand to replace it with a pacifier, but damned if you don’t flex those muscles like a little Hulk Hogan.

{Water} I have to say you are a generally happy baby but put you in a situation with water, and you take happiness to the next level. Your Great Aunt Phyllis got you a bath seat, which is easier to use than the baby tub, and you sit in it, kick and splash until the water goes cold. You’ve even ventured into the shower with Daddy and had zero fear of getting your face wet.

{Halloween} Your first Halloween was pretty low key with COVID. But you still dressed up as a pineapple and went trick or treating at Grandma and Aunt Rachel’s work then around the neighborhood with Great Aunt Phyllis and us.

{Pumpkin Patch} You joined us for your first trip to Y Worry Farms to pick out a pumpkin. I want to say it was a magical fall day where memories were made, but you were in a horrible mood and cried, I mean CRIED, most of the time. There’s always next year.

{Maryland Zoo} We haven’t done adventuring very much, but we did spend the day at the Maryland Zoo, which was a first for Daddy and me. You were a trooper just hanging out in your stroller, taking in the animals. Mikey picked out a stuffed penguin for you to commemorate your first zoo trip.

{Family} You also got to meet your cousin Bonnie, who you will call Aunt Bonnie. She will be the one who tells you crazy stories about her adventures that make Momma send her a ‘look’ but secretly love her stories. You also met you, Great Aunt Cathy and Great Uncle Bill. Shortly after meeting Uncle Bill, he passed away, but I will always remember the day you met him because he was just enamored with you just by existing.

As someone who has struggled with infertility for so long, I got really tired of hearing people say, ‘God’s timing.’ It wasn’t helpful and seemed very flippant. But man, you came on God’s time when we needed you the most.

I love you,

Momma xoxo

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Dear Marcie: Finally Four!

categories: Family

Dear Marcie,

My curly hair cutie you are finally four! It has certainly been a strange year for you because of COVID, but you seemed to have taken it in stride. I’ve been lucky to have been able to spend some time with you despite all the hullabaloo and I am so thankful for that.

The big thing this year, in my opinion, is you are no longer the baby of the family! You welcomed your new cousin, Hannah, with WIDE open arms. You love sitting on the couch to hold her and alerting us to when she is maybe, possibly, could be unhappy. I can’t wait for you to show her the ropes of the cousin crew.

You also continue to show how brave and resilient you are by having another surgery. I’m not sure if it is harder because you are older and understand, or easier because you understand. Either way you rocked it and handled recovery better than some adults I know. I can’t believe how quickly your speech has changed and what it has done to your confidence. You’ve always been spunky but now so much more so.

I feel like this year you’ve really warmed up to me, which makes my heart soar. We’ve had fun Facetiming, reading, talking about Paw Patrol and brushing Barbie’s hair. All of my favorite things!

My sweet Marcie Pie – I love being your aunt and seeing your sly smile and bouncing curls running around with the big kids. You take no crap and are up for anything.

Happy birthday!
Love,

Aunt Jackie xoxo

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Dear Hannah: 2 & 3 Months

categories: Being Mom

My sweet Baby Hannah –

Yes, I have already skipped writing you a monthly letter. But alas, your 2 month birthday landed on my first day back from maternity leave and your brother’s first day of school. To say I was a little busy was an understatement. I’ll try to do better.

In true baby fashion, once I feel like we’ve hit a groove, you throw a monkey wrench into the plan and we start again. You are hitting your milestones and growing (GROWING) so much every day. I like to say you have more thigh rolls than an airport Cinnabon!

You are obsessed with your boys – and they are obsessed with you. Even Daddy, who is the more serious of your two parents, puts on a silly voice just to get a smile out of you which you give willingly. Your brother always asks me to bring you with me to pick him up from daycare so he can tell people you are ‘freaking adorable’.

You are trying really hard to roll over and figure out how to put your Bubba back in your mouth. Which I would love for you to master because at night when it falls out you immediately start screaming. You are also working on sitting on your own and love sitting in your baby chair on the kitchen table while everyone is getting ready for dinner.

We laugh about your best friend Dr. Phan (our ceiling fan). You can watch him for an hour before dozing off. You still love looking at dangly things and I can see the wheels turning in your head on how to get it in your hand and then into your mouth.

You are the best coworker while Daddy and I are working from home. You pretty much hang out in bed with me while I am working and babble to me or doze off for your morning and afternoon nap. We sneak downstairs to give Daddy a kiss too!

You finally met your Great Aunt Cathy and Great Uncle Bill who were, of course, totally smitten with you. We celebrated Grandma and Daddy’s birthdays on the shore and you were the belle of the ball with your cousins. They are going to be so much fun when you are older.

Well my littlest love, happy 3 month birthday. You are a gift and a joy.

Love,

Momma xoxo

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What I Did on My Maternity Leave

categories: Baby

Today is my last day of maternity leave. Not only was it a strange time to be pregnant and give birth, it is also a strange time to have a newborn. Looking back on my maternity leave with Mike (which was really the result of being laid off before he was born) we were on the move a lot – lunches with Daddy, parks, walks, meeting friends and family … that did not happen this time thanks to COVID. To be honest, that might be been a blessing.

I took about 9 weeks and, while I am furious this country doesn’t have better maternity leave practices, I recognize how privileged I am to be able to use my leave bank to have this time.

Here’s what I did on my maternity leave:

{Nap} Good Lord did I nap. If you look at my Fitbit’s account of my nights it is up and down and lots of restless time. If you look at its record of my naps – it is SOLID BLUE meaning I was barely-breathing-might-be-in-a-coma sleeping. I ain’t mad about it either.

{Folklore} Taylor Swift dropped her surprise album Folklore and it has been on constant repeat.

{TikTok} I showed by age lately by wondering what ‘this TikTok new fangled app is all about’. Well I wish I found it sooner. The short videos are perfect for my attention span and the #sirivoiceover has me laughing until I am crying every time. I even tried making a few of my own!

{Moved my FIL to Assisted Living} It was fast and unexpected, but almost immediately after we got home from the hospital we realized S.’s Dad can’t be living alone any longer. Thankfully we were able to get him into an assisted living facility near us and I had the time to make phone calls and manage the logistics.

{Poshmark} I gotta unload all these beautiful maternity clothes I didn’t wear because I worked from home. So I was snapping pictures and making deals left and right.

{Games} Mikey got me hooked on Hungry Shark World and it is a great, mindless game where you are a shark and eat stuff. Also, I discovered Rusty Lake which is an escape room style game for adults. It has beautiful graphics and a rich backstory – definitely needs a trigger warning though.

But what I did the most was stare at this beautiful little nugget and wonder how I got so damn lucky to be her momma. I really took the time to get to know her and get all the baby snuggles.

Oh. And put her pacifier back in her mouth no less than 5,295,820 times during these 9 weeks. I counted. It was ridiculous.

Back to work on Tuesday. From home. With the baby. So basically maternity leave with answering emails and not taking two-hour naps.

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Dear Hannah: 1 Month

categories: Dear Hannah

My Littlest Love –

How on earth did your 1 month birthday sneak up on us? It is such a strange time to be a newborn. I was rereading your brother’s 1 month letter and we were able to go out and about and explore. Sadly, with COVID, that just isn’t an option for us. But we have made the most of your first month at home.

You are a chonk! You are already firmly in 3 month clothes. You have quite a wardrobe too and I would probably dress you up a few times a day if you enjoyed being changed. Any time you are naked, having a diaper change, or getting dressed you WAIL. You are not a fan of being uncomfortable and you make sure we know it.

The only time you like being naked is in the ‘bath’. You doze, kick your legs, and leave your hand under the faucet. It’s the getting out part you hate.

We’ve gotten a few small, maybe intentional smiles from you recently, mostly at the dogs and your brother. Speaking of your brother – he calls you Baby Hannah and is obsessed with you! He keeps saying how ‘adorable’ you are and he is not wrong. He only wants to hold you if no bodily fluids are involved. I must tell him 100 times a day that he needs to give you some space or stop touching all over you while you are sleeping. I can tell you are going to have a strong bond growing up.

You’ve met your cousins and they adore you and love having another girl in the mix. Mollie can’t wait to babysit you!

You are a snuggly little nugget. When you aren’t balled up in someone’s arms, you are in your vibrating chair babbling to the turtle hanging. You are really alert and are always looking around.

Welcome to the world little love. We have waited so long for you and are just in awe that you are here and so perfect.

Love,

Momma xoxo

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Baby Birthing Soundtrack

categories: Being Mom

Guess what? Hannah Beth is here! She arrived right on time via c-section on July 8. I will write more about her birth story and how the past three weeks have been going, but first I wanted to share my ‘Baby Birthin’ Soundtrack’.

I remember with Mike asking my OB if I could request certain music be played during his c-section. She was a no-nonsense type of doc and said that it would happen too quickly to really have a playlist. They did have music playing, so our sweet Mike was born to ‘Fifty Ways to Say Goodbye’ by Train. Which was nice because S. and I love Train (and have seen them live multiple times), but it is hardly what I would pick to hear as meet our firstborn.

Fast forward seven years and we are planning a no-nonsense c-section again and two days before Hannah is born, my new OB mentions making a playlist. So I went to researching the perfect songs to listen to while having major abdominal surgery AND bringing new life into the world.

Google was worthless with the majority of ideas since we aren’t really ‘Butterfly Kisses’ type people. A Facebook friend suggested just playing my favorites playlist, but there is nothing appropriate on that list for public consumption. I am going through a bit of a 90’s rap phase right now.

Thankfully I was able to find some awesome songs from my library for my playlist. Without further ado:

Dear Theodosia (Regina Spektor): As a parent and a Hamilton fan, I couldn’t not include this one.

When you smile, you knock me out, I fall apart
And I thought I was so smart

Welcome to Wonderland (Anson Seabra): I am not sure where I first heard this song, but it has such a pretty lullaby type melody and great visualizations.

Welcome to Wonderland
I’ll be your guide
Holding your hand under sapphire skies
Let’s go exploring or we could just go for a walk

High Hopes (Panic at the Disco): Not exactly the slowest, sweetest song ever written, but I love Panic and played them a lot my last trimester. Miss Hannah always responded to them this song and you can’t NOT smile when you hear it!

Mama said
Fulfill the prophecy
Be something greater
Go make a legacy
Manifest destiny

Cecilia and The Satellite (Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness): I loved this song the minute I heard it and when I realized McMahon was the lead singer for Something Corporate, it made sense. He wrote this song for his unborn daughter and the lyrics are beautiful. This is the song that was playing when Hannah was born.

If I could fly
Then I would know
What life looks like from up above and down below
I’d keep you safe
I’d keep you dry
Don’t be afraid Cecilia
I’m the satellite
And you’re the sky

No Plans (Jason Maraz): Maraz always has great, catchy songs and this one is no different. AND it is how I feel about Hannah right now, I have no plans for us – just sitting around loving each other.

If we dream it, we can be it
I’m putting all these feelings
In giving good vibes to you
I could stay right here all evening
Just listening to you breathing
And taking in the view

Daughter (Loudon Wainwright III): My Dad and I danced to this song at my wedding and it is so sweet and has such great memories for me. And some of the lyrics will probably ring true for Hannah!

Everything she sees
She says she wants
Everything she wants
I see she gets

A Thousand Years (Christina Perri): Anyone who has gone through fertility struggles knows this song by heart. It really speaks to how I felt when she arrived. I FELT like I had waited 1000 years for her.

I have died everyday, waiting for you
Darling, don’t be afraid, I have loved you for a thousand years
I’ll love you for a thousand more

Wait for It (Hamilton Cast): Yet another Hamilton song! This has always been one of my favorite songs from the musical and I really like the surface message.

Wait for it Wait for it
I am the one thing in life I can control
Wait for it Wait for it
Wait for it Wait for it
I am inimitable I am an original

A Million Dreams (Anthem Lights): I am always a sucker for a good acoustic or acapella cover and The Greatest Showman is one of my current favorite soundtracks. A million dreams is what I hope for Hannah.

‘Cause every night I lie in bed
The brightest colours fill my head
A million dreams are keeping me awake
I think of what the world could be
A vision of the one I see
A million dreams is all it’s gonna take
A million dreams for the world we’re gonna make

Don’t You Worry Child (Anthem Lights): I like both the original and the cover of this song and remembered it came out when I was trying to get pregnant with Mike. Heaven did have a plan for us – a family of four!

Don’t you worry, don’t you worry child
See heaven’s got a plan for you
Don’t you worry, don’t you worry now, yeah

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Dear Mike: Super Seven!

categories: Dear Mike

My Sweet Mikey Pie –

This is not how we pictured your big seventh birthday buddy. We were going to have friends and family to your favorite swim school to hang out, eat ice cream and swim. There would be Titanic decorations (that part I am not sad about – there are not many decorations celebrating the Titanic) and laughter.

Instead, we are limited thanks to a global pandemic. Daddy and I are going to try to make this birthday fun and we know you will take it in stride, like you always do, but man. It stinks. We hope you look forward to presents, ice cream birthday wishes over Zoom and, if the weather cooperates, a trip to Matapeake to get in the bay. You only turn 7 once!

It’s been an interesting year to say the least, Covid or not!

{Titanic} You spent a good part of the year obsessed with the Titanic. I think we’ve seen every documentary about it and read every book. For Christmas ‘you’ got a Lego Titanic and we didn’t realize it was teeny tiny Legos. Daddy painstakingly put it together, basically with tweezers, over the course of a week. Six months later we still threaten you within an inch of your life not to take it apart.

{Monster Jam} In March we went to your first Monster Jam. It was a little anxiety provoking at first because we were really high up and it was loud, but once the action started you were all in and frankly, never looked back. Ever since you have collected the diecast models, watched YouTube videos, ask everyone their favorite truck/stunt/driver, played the game for countless hours on your Nintendo Switch, and probably dreamed about it.

{School} We all absolutely loved your 1st grade teacher. She was so reassuring and helpful for everyone and really was patient with you. We were so lucky to have her during the e-learning experience. Speaking of … you did pretty well with that! It was a bit of a curve ball for everyone and we made it work. Your reading has come a LONG way, even if you say you don’t enjoy it. I firmly believe you just haven’t found the right book yet.

{Adventures} We had a bunch of adventures this year. We had a mini-beach vacation to Bethany Beach with our family – including Uncle Ken and Aunt Linda which was so much fun. We also explored Mommy’s old vacation spot Frontier Town. We loved seeing you hang out with your cousins on the sand like Daddy used to do with his cousins. We followed that trip by our family vacation to Ocean City for a week which was much needed. Grandma and Grandpa gifted you a ticket to the Polar Express in Baltimore and it was a really unique experience. Your first train ride AND it was to the North Pole!

{Hannah} Another little change was I spent much of your 7th year pregnant with your baby sister, Hannah! It’s been a journey and you’ve been there the whole way. You’ve asked great questions and seem really excited to FINALLY be a big brother. Just a few more weeks before you can put your superior baby holding skills into action.

{The Extras} You still aren’t much of a team sports guy, but you still managed to stay busy with extra activities, even if they were cut short with Covid. You continued swimming lessons and even though you told us many times, and spent lots of time stressing about it – you did NOT want to get your face under the water. But when it came time to do it, you didn’t hesitate. You also really enjoyed your art class with your friend and hip hop dance class.

Bug, you are a light and a joy. We love you so much and are so proud of you. Happy 7th birthday!

Love always,

Momma xoxo

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33 Weeks: Cauliflower Blossom

categories: Baby, Pregnancy

How far along? 33 Weeks

Size of baby: The heads of a cauliflower. Last week she was an armadillo!

Total weight gain/measurements: 2 lbs since February. Miss Hannah is in the 70th percentile for her size, which is apparently a good thing.

Sleep: I am having a hell of a time getting comfortable and end up on the couch most nights. I am eating Restless Leg pills like they are Skittles (pregnancy approved) and going through our COVID toilet paper stash pretty quickly.

Best moment this week: It’s been a few weeks since I last updated, but we have gotten her room mostly set up (not organized), but things are in place. I packed HER hospital bag and started mine (totally out of character). And today at my MFM appointment, I was able to see her in 3D! I just wish the boys were with me. She also doesn’t like when I rest anything on my stomach. Hands, phone … no pressure. She kicks like a crazy woman.

Miss anything? Swimming – which gave me such relief when I was in the home stretch with Mike. Same for my chiropractor and massage therapy. Also, being able to bend over. Now I just kick things I drop to the side and figure they will stay there for a few more weeks or become someone else’s problem.

Food cravings: Caramel, cheesecake, scrapple, sausage

Symptoms: My hips and lower back are screaming, full body fatigue, super emotional … I’m fun to be around right now. Plus I just feel huge.

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I Hope You Remember

categories: Being Mom

Dear Mike,

The last few weeks (and likely the upcoming weeks) have been a challenge. We’ve been inside the house a lot and focusing on staying healthy and not sharing germs. It’s been hard for you to understand why we can’t see family, go to the playground, or go swimming. It hasn’t been much fun most of the time, but there have been some good things I hope you remember during this time in quarantine.

{Sleeping in Mommy and Daddy’s bed} It used to be a rare treat, but lately it’s been a nightly thing. You get the best rest there and it gives Daddy and I time downstairs to watch something other than Spongebob. Plus, there are extra morning snuggles. I know it’s temporary, but it is working for us.

{Playing the Nintendo Switch} I never had a ‘gaming’ system growing up so when Daddy suggested it, I was really hesitant. But our vacation was canceled so we had the extra funds and we (finally) found one and it has been an AMAZING investment for us as a family and individually. We’ve started playing it in the afternoons when our day is done and I hope you remember how much fun laughing and being competitive. Then when it is just Daddy and me, we play old school Nintendo games.

{Seeing Daddy and me working} Every day was the same, you went to school and we went to work. Our jobs aren’t so simple to understand like a police officer or teacher. I hope you remember seeing us on the phone with coworkers and working on our computers. I hope you know our work is important and needed during this time.

{Snuggles} No one will argue that this time is hard on everyone, including little kids. You tend to need quiet time to process things and think about things and I’ve noticed you do that snuggling. I’ve kept a quarantine ‘journal’ on Facebook and each day mentions snuggles. Sometimes you just want to lay quietly under a blanket, some days with a book, and some days watching TV. I hope you remember how it made you feel. I hope it makes you feel safe, loved, and adored (because you are).

{Getting ready for Hannah} While we’ve been home, we’ve been getting ready for Hannah’s arrival! You’ve been helping in the room and picking out clothes and reminding us what we need to get (mostly toys). You’ve been a HUGE help and I hope you remember that.

I hope you remember what little things we sacrificed to do what was right for our community. It wasn’t always fun or easy, but we are continuing to do it.

So much love,

Momma xoxo

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