21 months WOW

 Zara is 21+ months old.  She amazes me daily, she is talking in full sentences telling me new and exciting things everyday.  She is funny, smart, and still so very sweet.  We had such a fun summer together, we went to the swimming pool, played at the park, went to the library and farmers market on Saturdays, played with friends, and just enjoyed slowing down a bit.  Zara seems so tall and big to me, I can not believe she is almost 2 years old.  She tells me she wants a yellow birthday cake for her birthday.  One of my favorite things she has started to do is to sing along to music in the car.  I have tried time and time again to capture these sing along moments on video but as soon as the phone comes out she stops and just stares at me.  She gets into her song when she doesn't think anyone is watching.  Zara is also becoming quite social.  She makes friends at the park and it is so sweet to see her play independently with another little one.  She also remembers all of her friends names and asks about them regularly.  Z loves to draw, color, and play with play doe.  She still loves reading books and snuggling with mama.  I thought she may start weaning off of mama's milk this summer having me around all the time but it seems the opposite has occurred, she loves it more than ever so I am still tired, sleep deprived, and feeling chubby.  Oh well, it is the best "food" for her to eat, she is so strong and smart and someday will stop sucking me dry.  I have gone back to work and Zara seems perfectly happy saying good-bye in the mornings.  She loves spending time with her papa and is spending a few afternoon's each week with our friend Laura and her 6 month old Baby girl.  Overall life could not be any better, even with life getting busier I feel excited to teach art and reconnect with my students.

Tell me all about it....19 months old

Sweet Zara Wheatley is 19 months old.  She is still a driven, smart, beautiful, sweet, feisty, and all around amazing little lady.  She is talking, expressing herself, and putting words together into short sentences.  This evening she bumped her head on the faucet in the bath tub and she kept saying "sad mama, sad" and frowning into the mirror.  Everywhere we go she points at different things and says what they are.  She is really listening and paying attention to the world around her.  Zara has temper tantrums but she seems to pull herself together pretty easily and as long as she is healthy she seems to sleep pretty constantly.  She is so sweet, giving mama hugs and kisses all the time. We are having such a fun summer together, I am so happy that we have this time and will have this time together every year.  I am so happy, tired but happy.  Have I gotten my "body back"? No.  Do I have time to read, draw, paint, do yoga, meditate, etc?  No.  Do I work my tail off all day and sometimes all night. Yes.  But do I love almost every second of it?  Yes.  I love being a mama to this amazing little lady.  I love watching her evolve and become more and more of who she is.  I love walking around the block with her while she walks and smells the flowers while holding lucy's leash.  I don't really care that I am not wearing a size 4, I do not care if I do not have alone time to reflect because I am so happy with what I do get.  So much time with this beautiful soul that entered the world through my body.  

37 years old and 16 months

Zara is almost 16 months old and today I am 37 years old.  Birthdays always seem to bring me to a nice place of reflection, a milestone of sorts looking back over the past year and all the changes, evolutions, trials and tribulations.  This past year has been one of the most wonderful and most challenging of my life.  Becoming a mother has fulfilled something inside of me that was looking to be filled for as long as I can remember but it is also challenging.  It seems almost impossible to keep up with taking care of another little soul while working, cooking, cleaning, shopping, and getting ready to move house but as long as I stay in the moment most everything gets done and I have fun taking this little lady along with me.  Zara is becoming such a strong minded, independent, smart, communicative, beautiful and sweet little lady.  I am amazed at her evolution this past 4 months.  Since she turned one year it seems that everyday it is something new.  She is climbing up on anything and everything, new words sneak out of her mouth daily, she is actually napping for longer, running, playing at the park more independently and telling us what she wants, when her diaper is dirty, and signing up a storm.  All of it amazes me and when I take a moment to reflect I just smile.  All of it is so worth it.  Just as Zara is getting more and more curious about all the junk we have stored in this little town home of ours we are going to move.  Darren and I have been looking for a house since this past summer and the perfect house has fallen into our lap in the perfect time in the perfect scenario and we even sold our townhome without putting in on the market and will close on our place on April 1st.  The picture above is Zara and lucy playing in our new backyard.  It will be nice to have a few extra rooms, to be able to unpack with child proofing in mind and have a nice storage shed outside to store all of the little things we do not want Zara getting into, and it is amazing how we have time to update the bathroom and kitchen before we move in so that we are moving into our little creation and do not have to live in a construction zone.  Life is so beautiful, I feel so blessed and I am so happy.  I do not even ming that I seem to be creeping closer and closer to 40:)  I will deal with that another day...Until next time....

my big little girl

Lying in bed nursing Zara back to sleep this evening I had a moment where I couldn't believe how big she is.  She is long and lean and looks like a little girl, not my little baby.  Zara is 14 months old and growing into a full blown toddler.  It is interested how time moves these days.  I have been so wrapped up in each moment that I haven't really had a chance to reflect and digest this past year of my life.  Zara is growing and changing so fast that I cannot keep up.  I love the constant change of this beautiful little lady, it is fun and exciting to watch her grow, change, develop, communicate, express, and evolve.  She has always expressed her needs clearly and that trend continues as she blossoms into a lovely little lady.  Zara's nature is kind but she has a little fire under all that water.  She is a bit shy with people when she first meets them or sees them for the first time in a little while but it is fun to watch her open up and begin to interact.  Zara is not a great sleeper, maybe she will fall back into a great sleeping trend after these molars come through but the past month has been a bit rough for mama:) 

From mama's point of view I would like to express some reflection on my parenting style.  I tried reading the books, listening to what others told me to do, follow social norms but quickly I realized that the only way for me to parent is from my own intuition.  I feel that Zara's needs are met, she is happy and supported and has thrived from the moment she arrived.  I sometimes feels people's judgements, I can hear their thoughts that Zara may be spoiled or bratty from the love she is receiving but I feel very strongly that we are instilling empathy in Zara and that will not create a bratty and spoiled child.  Supporting her, nursing her, sleeping with her and responding to her cries is not going to create a monster child who gets what she wants all the time and thinks the world revolves around her.  I feel very strongly that making sure that Zara has what she needs will only create a stronger bond between us in turn creating a child that respects us, loves us, and chooses to do the right thing not because of a reward but because she feels good about it.  I realize that a lot of my parenting decisions can be linked to attachment parenting styles and that is fine but what happened in our society to make unattached parenting the norm.  Why is it that every other nation in the world practices attachment parenting, breast feeding their babies like nature intended, sleeping with their babies, responding to their babies cries, carrying their babies, and staying close and connected.  Why is it that our society has such a problem with violent behaviors, could it be linked to these people living an unattached life where they do not attach to their parents and so do not make the attachment to the rest of mankind.  Just a little stream of consciousness, I do feel that Zara is getting all that Darren and I have to give and more and I feel very strongly that it can only benefit her in the long run.  YES I will breastfeed Zara until she weens herself, YES I will co-sleep with Zara until she is developmentally ready to make the decision to sleep in her own bed, and YES I will hold her when she cries and I will wear her on my body because it makes both of us happy:)

A year ago today!

Our beautiful baby girl is going to be one year old tomorrow.  This afternoon on our Sanitas hike I was telling Zara all about how I went into labor one year ago today.  Beginning that conversation I got to thinking about how this year has changed my life.  Zara is the one most precious gift I have ever been given in life.  I love being a mama and I have no problem giving all of myself to this beautiful being.  This past year feels like it has gone by in the blink of an eye but at the same time it feels like a lifetime ago that Zara was not part of our lives.  I feel like she has always been with us and I can not remember what life was like without her.  She is walking, talking, communicating, playing, figuring out toys, puzzles, pointing to different animals in books, making their sounds, etc.  She is developing so fast and arriving in her body more every day.  She is a funny little lady too.  She throws fake fits to get what she wants, she nibbles on my nipple to get a reaction from me, she is using more and more sign language and is amazing me at every turn. 

What a wonderful journey this is, I am excited for every coming moment and look forward to the years to come. 

Happy Birthday baby Z! 

Almost One, WHAT?

oh boy, how time flies when you are having fun.  I can not believe that sweet baby Z will be one year old next month.  She is a funny little lady who is keeping me thoroughly entertained.  She is very clingy and loves to throw little temper tantrums when I do not do what she wants me to.  A funny little battle of the wills already.  In her perfect world I would hold her all day long so she can see and experience the world through my eyes and height but that just doesn't work for me.  She seems to get over her heart break fairly quickly most of the time and I do my best to just laugh.  Zara would also love to have her open all night buffet open all day too.  I really do notice a huge difference in her feeding when I am working.  I wish I could be a stay at home mama but I also feel like it is a good balance for us that I am gone at work 4 days a week.  She is a lucky girl in that she gets to spend so much wonderful time with her papa.  When I go upstairs to take her to bed before I leave for work she goes through a whole body happy kicking fit because she is so excited to go get her papa. 

Sweet Z is still not walking on her own even though she has been caught taking a few steps here and there.  I feel like she does not want to walk yet, like she is not ready to grow up so fast.  That is okay with me, she will walk for the rest of her life so I think it is great if she just wants to crawl around a little longer.

I am doing well, feeling more and more like myself even though I have not really figured how to fit it all in yet.  I really want to make a commitment to working out but just have not had the time do that.  I know it will happen in time so I am just trying to be patient with myself.

Life is good!  I love being Zara's mama more than I could have ever imagined and I think it is just going to get more and more fun as the years go on.  The love I am filled with is beyond words:)

Sweet Zara is 10 + months old.  She is changing and growing every day.  She is quite the communicator these days and is using her signs.  She tells me with signs when she wants milk, when she is all done, when she wants more, she waves hi and bye and even says the word "hi" when she waves.  Zara is pointing to things with an questioning look on her face, it is like she is already asking me what everything is in the world.  Zara is still a sweet and calm baby.  She is balancing on her feet and I feel like she will be taking her first steps by herself any day now.  She gives hugs and kisses (sometimes messy) and seems to be arriving in her mind and body more every day.  She is doing great with me being back at school and is even spending one full day a week with her nanny Bridget and her friend Penny Rose.  She is playing muscial instraments and loves the drums and xylophone:)

Zara got a tube toy from IKEA and loves to crawl in and out of it.  She seems to be needing more and more interesting toys, hard to keep up with the constant evolution of these amazing creatures.  At least mama can get creative with toys and find just about anything in the cabinet to entertain sweet Z.

I am also doing well.  I am finding it difficult to keep up with life right now but I feel like I am getting into a grove.  I just need to minimize any kind of social interactions after school so I can focus on getting some exercise and spending a few hours a day with Zara.  I find that it is more difficult for me to find balance when I am going 100 mph all day and all evening.  I hope that eventually I will figure out how to keep myself from spinning out of control but for some reason this transition into fall has been very busy for us, maybe this winter things will slow down a bit:)  We are heading to KC tomorrow to spend some time with family.   I am so excited for Z to meet her cousins, aunts, and uncles.  I hope she enjoys her first airplane trip.