Margo Thrived in Month Five

Each month with Margo gets more and more fun! She is a true and utter joy in our lives. There simply are not words that can express the love in my heart for her or the gratitude I have for God giving us such an amazing gift.

Margo is now laughing at everything… sometimes it seems as if she is just so happy she laughs… whether there is anything to laugh at or not. She loves spinning in circles with mommy, laughing at my funny animal noises and is quite ticklish.

Mid-month we started feeding Margo solids with the spoon. She caught on quickly, most loves her wholegrain cereal and gets excited to eat it. On her third meal of oatmeal with a spoon, she was so delighted she laughed through the whole thing. It sure did make it easy to shovel the food in—ha ha! I started making other baby food for her and so far have two bags each of frozen applesauce and sweet potatoes. I tasted both and they are deliciously simple and pure. I love that I am able to feed her an entirely organic diet with the freshest/best ingredients. Her first sampling of applesauce was hilarious—I have never seen such a face—this time mommy laughed through the entire feed. She truly does not know what to think of these new flavors, but seems to like it more as we continue to feed it to her this week.



Margo loves being outside and we try to take her on a walk once a day. After about a mile, she wants to move around and gets a bit impatient. I think she more enjoys just laying on a blanket under the trees, looking at the sky, kicking her legs and feeling the breeze—when there is wind in her face, she opens her mouth, smiles and makes a little excited noise… it’s pretty sweet.

Margo desperately wants to sit up, but she’s just not there yet. She does stomach crunches in her bath, bouncy seat and on the ground. When I try to help her sit, she quickly falls forward or backwards, but rarely can sit steady for a few seconds on her own. She also still hates being on her tummy, which I find strange since she sleeps on her tummy. She grunts, groans and fusses on her tummy—she is just not strong enough to keep herself pushed up for extended periods. I continue to work with her on this. I think that if her arrival to the world a month early will be evident anywhere, it will be in the area of physical development. She may be a tad bit slower in sitting, crawling, walking, etc… At the same time, she started rolling over and holding up her head very early, so who knows… she is clearly very smart and I realize that all babies develop at different paces, so I am not concerned.

Margo still talks like crazy. Her main sound is still ahh-goo, but I am trying to teach her mama and baba… I am holding daddy responsible for dada. This month she started razzing and thought it was very funny. She literally stuck her tongue out and made these spitty, tooty noises all day long for two days. I took this video sideways, but it is still funny.



She is still sleeping through the night, thank goodness—11 hours on average. Naps are still an issue, but getting better. I would say she has at least one solid 1.5 to 2 hour nap at least 5 days in the week. She really tires after 2 hours of awake time and still sometimes requires a nap in the evening before bed. I have only tried the dreaded crying it out twice and it was successful, but heart wrenching for me. I think once we are past the reflux and having to keep her upright after eating, it will be easier to put her in bed awake and sleep train her.

I cannot believe we are halfway through one year. It is too too fast and I am really trying to soak in each incredible, precious moment with her at this beautiful, pure and innocent age.

Grits & Grillades

Just in time for Mardi Gras, I happened upon a really tasty Cajun dish in Southern Living that is super easy! I love anything in the slow cooker & this recipe has easily won me over. Cary said it was delicious & wants me to fix it again soon.

Grillades

1.5 lbs. top round steak, trimmed
3 T. all-purpose flour
2 t. Creole seasoning
2 T. olive oil
1-14.5 oz. can fire roasted diced tomatoes
1-10 oz. pkg. frozen diced onion, red & green bell pepper & celery, thawed
3 garlic cloves, minced

Flatten meat to ¼” thickness using the flat end of a meat mallet. Cut into 2” squares. Combine flour & Creole seasoning in a large zip lock bag. Add meat, seal bag & shake to coat. Heat 1 T. oil in a large skillet over med-high heat. Add half of meat & cook 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until browned. Transfer meat to a lightly greased slow cooker. Repeat procedure with remaining oil & meat. Add tomatoes & next 2 ingredients to slow cooker & stir. Cover & cook on high for 3 hours or until steak is tender.

I could not find a frozen mix that included celery, so I just chopped a few fresh stalks and added it to the onion/bell pepper mix. The recipe in the magazine called for Asiago Cheese Grits that sounded wonderful, but I already had frozen cheese grits in the freezer, so I just used them and it was great. This grits recipe is as easy as it gets and is a favorite in the family that I often bring to get togethers.

Granny’s Cheese Grits

1 c. Quaker Quick Grits
4 c. water
1 stick butter, melted
4 oz. velveeta, cubed
2 eggs, slightly beaten
Salt and/or garlic powder to taste
Paprika for color

Boil water & add grits, cooking for 5 to 7 minutes until thickened; stir as needed. Remove from heat. Add butter, cheese & eggs; combine until blended and cheese is melted. Season to taste with salt & garlic powder. Transfer to a buttered casserole dish & sprinkle with paprika. Bake at 350º for 45 to 60 minutes until browned.

Bon appetit!

Pomodoro e Peperoncino Sauce

I love to cook and now that Margo is a bit older, I have been trying to accomplish one or two healthy meals a week.

Since I love to cook so much, I decided... why not share?? So... this Sunday I made an oldie, but goodie. I had forgotten just how good it was and Cary and I enjoyed every last bite. This recipe was given to me many years ago by my sister, Laura, and what I like about it is that includes an array of vegetables in all of the color groups with the healthy fat of EVOO. Once it's all blended together, the veggies are disguised and are really what gives this such amazing flavor! It's worth trying even though it requires lots and lots of stirring. Enjoy!

Pomodoro e Peperoncino Sauce
¾ c. olive oil
2 c. roughly chopped red onion
½ c. roughly chopped celery
½ c. roughly chopped carrot
3 cloves garlic, peeled
½ t. salt
1/8 t. pepper
1-14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 t. red pepper flakes (if you have kids I would reduce to 1/4 t. or none, as it can be pretty spicy)
10 fresh basil leaves

Heat oil in a medium saucepan. Add next 6 ingredients & cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, for 15 minutes. Add tomatoes & red pepper. Reduce heat to medium-low & cook for 30 minutes, stirring frequently. Add basil leaves to sauce & process in a blender or food processor until smooth. Serve over cooked pasta of your choice.

I Adore Month Four

New this month, Margo has started waking in the night occasionally. Some of the time she is rolling onto her back and if I turn her over and pat her back, she immediately goes back to sleep. I am also reading Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child and trying to better establish her naps. Currently, Margo likes to cat nap and take little 30 to 45 minutes naps in between each feed. According to the book, it is much better to have two long naps in the AM and PM, so I am working on this by trying to give her time to fall back asleep when she wakes. Fortunately, Margo is a very easy baby and I have not yet had to try crying it out (knock on wood). Usually, if I put Margo into bed drowsy and not asleep, she will soothe herself to sleep. I am also working on this and she is back to almost consistently sleeping through the night and is getting better at taking long naps.

She is eating about 30 oz. a day and taking five bottles of about 6 ounces each. I add brown rice cereal to her morning and bedtime bottle, which she loves. I am a huge lover of the Happy Bellies brand of rice cereal and think the added probiotics make it easier for her to digest. She is starting to last a little longer than three hours in between feedings, so I may have to start adjusting her schedule a bit, so that we can maintain the same bedtime.

Every night before bedtime, we have a fun ritual that I always look forward to. She likes to be undressed before I put on her jammies and I blow raspberries on her tummy and tickle her belly, feet and neck. She laughs and laughs and laughs—it is hilarious. (I've included a funny video where she couldn't decide if she wanted to laugh or cry.) After her last feed, we always read a bedtime story and she is getting increasingly interested in books, which I love. My favorite right now is It’s Time to Sleep, My Love, which has neat illustrations and is very soft and soothing. It is by one of my favorite children’s authors who also wrote On the Night You Were Born, which is beautiful and brings me to tears. I read her fun stories too during the day when she has to sit upright after her feeds. It is a great way to kill time during those 20 minutes.



This month we introduced Margo to the doorway jumper which is a hoot! She picked up on it on her first try and loves to bounce away… I swear I could probably leave her in it for an hour and she’d be content, but I don’t want to damage her legs or hips.



We also had a funny moment this month when Margo decided to poop in the bath that I was taking with her—what luck! It was so gross, but fortunately it went right down the drain without spreading all over the place. I saw her making the poop face and screamed for Cary to come get her, but it was too late—ha ha! Ahhh, the adventures of parenthood! What joy it brings to our lives… unlike anything I could ever imagine. We are incredibly blessed!

Month Three Brought Us Glee

To say that month three with Margo has been amazing is an understatement. Margo’s little personality is really starting to shine through and she is getting more and more fun each day! In month three, Margo started smiling a ton, rolls over from her tummy to her back, although Cary says he saw her roll both ways on her play mat once—I have yet to see it! She is holding things with her hands and becoming more aware of them, drooling A LOT and continues to talk up a storm! I have been around lots of babies and do not remember this much cooing and gooing, squeeling and ooohhing at such a young age! We are definitely going to have a talker on our hands and I better start preparing to answer tons of repetitive questions.

The night before I was to return to work, Margo gave me a most special gift with her first real laughter. She gave me big belly laughs over and over and it made my heart smile so big! She now laughs for me every day and it is so much fun to play with her in this way!

She is a little rolly polly and definitely is “healthy” as they say! She weighs 14 lbs. 10 oz and went from the 10th to the 60th percentile since her last appointment! She is 24” and in the 27% for height and her head is 14%. She is so cooperative in letting me trim her nails and most loves her bath time. Her eyes are dark dark brown and her eyelashes are so so long—like a giraffe’s—as my sister pointed out! She is getting a little beauty mark on her face near her right eye. Right now it just looks like a tiny freckle. I hope it doesn’t get too big and actually is beautiful! Otherwise, her pediatrician wants to watch it closely and we may end up having it removed.

One of her favorite toys continues to be the play gym and she loves her cell phone and aquarium toy from Christmas. She also loves to look at herself in the mirror in her bed. Sometimes I come in in the morning and after her naps to find her rolled on her back and chatting with herself in the mirror.

Margo’s reflux is staying steady and she is doing much better than in month two. She has good days and bad days, but we have seen marked improvement on this front. Motherhood is amazing and fills my heart with joy and gratitude each day! I love that so many friends have had babies around the same time, so I can seek out advice, share stories, swap ideas, etc…

A New Year, A New Frontier

The new year brought some new challenges for the Weavers. After four amazing months off with Margo, I went back to work. Luckily, my boss agreed that I could go part-time three days a week. This enabled us to cancel Margo’s slot in daycare and she is now being lovingly cared for by my mom on Mondays and Fridays and by Cary’s mom on Thursdays. This has been a difficult adjustment for me, as I know it is for all moms. Part of the reason Cary and I waited so long to get pregnant was because I desperately wanted to be a stay-at-home mom and we were not in a position for me to quit working.

For those of you who know me well, I have felt very strongly on this subject since I was just a teen and am sad that the circumstances of our society do not allow for more mothers to stay at home. It is just too expensive to live and I think most of us, including myself, want to be able to maintain a certain lifestyle. Sometimes I think I should just put my selfishness aside, buy a simple house in a less desirable neighborhood and be with my Margo. Things cannot buy us happiness, but my sweet girl sure can. At the same time, I feel that I didn’t work so hard to go to a great school, earn my degree and build a life to give it all up. I want Margo to go to summer camp, have college paid for, etc… all things that neither Cary or I had. It’s a catch-22 and there is no real solution, so off to work I go, missing my girl terribly, but also knowing that I am doing what I think is best for all of us. It is so comforting that she is with our moms and perhaps if things work out as planned, I will get to start staying home with her in a year or so.

Don’t get me wrong, I know I am VERY lucky that I have such an awesome arrangement with both my job and our mothers. My heart really goes out to those mothers who have to work full-time and especially those single moms who do it all alone! I count my blessings everyday and am all the more grateful for my special time with Margo on my days off and the weekend.

During my pregnancy, one of my favorite things was sweets—especially brownies. I ate sugar to my heart’s desire and got Cary on a big sugar kick too. I would buy things I NEVER buy like cookies, whole cakes and ice cream at the store and eat something every day at lunch and dinner. Since I had Margo, this has been my biggest downfall and I actually gained a few pounds around the holidays. So… Cary and I gave up sweets and sodas except once on the weekend. I have had to pass up carrot cake at work, warm Shipley’s donuts, muffins and more, but I have stuck to my guns and have managed to get a few pounds off. I think it is going to take some serious exercise to get the last few pregnancy pounds off, but I feel much better without all this sugar in my body. After the first few weeks, it has gotten much easier to resist the temptations. The plan is to continue this at least through Lent, but I am hoping we can make it a permanent lifestyle change instead.

Also, in the past three months after I had Margo I did a terrible job of getting out with her. Not only did I not want her to be exposed to germs, but I found it very stressful to get out for dinners, errands, etc… I now have a goal to get out with her once a week on one of my days off. She hates the car seat, but is getting used to it and we have had two very successful outings. We have gone to lunch both times… once she slept, the other she played and talked to me. We also made trips to Hobby Lobby, Pottery Barn and Janie and Jack. I have quickly learned that she loves getting out and seeing new things. It is still hard for me to juggle all of her stuff and the carrier, but I have to learn eventually. I know it creates a new, fun form of stimulation for her and it helps the day go by faster.

So in the new year, as we face a new frontier, pray for us… that mommy and Margo can be happy and thriving with the work situation, that Cary and I can be successful at our no sugar/soda diet and see it pay off, and that I become a pro at taking Margo on outings!

Christmas Cheer with my Margo Dear!

Margo’s first Christmas was truly memorable! Although she didn’t know what was going on and was a bit overwhelmed by it all, it was so much fun having Santa visit and creating new memories and traditions with her.

We spent Christmas Eve with my family and Margo did really well until it got to opening presents and there was a bit too much excitement. Margo and Caroline, her cousin, wore matching bows, which was not planned and made it extra special. I loved her in her smocked dress! Alan made his amazing beef tenderloin and we had a meal that rivals even the best of restaurants.

Margo and Grannie

Christmas morning Margo woke up very happy after having slept through the night for 11 hours for only the second time! We took our time feeding her and then set her in her bumbo in front of her toys from Santa. I wanted to go crazy with toys, but knew it wasn’t really necessary since she is so little. I am also going to work really hard at trying to not spoil Margo too much. I think some kids have far too many things and have little appreciation for their toys, so I hope that we can prevent this in our home. I want Margo to have a clear understanding that Christmas is most importantly, about Jesus’ birth. That doesn’t mean that I don’t plan on making it plenty fun too!

The new tradition I started at our house was giving Margo nine books—one from each of Santa’s reindeer with a special message from each of them. I am a huge advocate of reading and thought this would be a fun way to incorporate it in her Christmas, so she receives more than just toys.

Christmas Day was spent with the Weavers and was also a ton of fun. Margo got a lot of attention and enjoyed being around those who love her so much. Our traditional Christmas dinner hit the spot and we enjoyed Ron’s amazing margaritas as well!

Margo was incredibly blessed with lots of awesome toys, clothes, books and more from both of our families. Christmas has always been a special time for us and is by far, my most favorite holiday. Having Margo brings a whole different level of happiness to our lives and now makes the holidays even more amazing and fun! We are truly blessed with such a sweet baby girl!