Can she pull herself to a sitting position yet?

Almost! Actually, I think today that she may have done it for the very first time. When we were lying in bed this morning, she leaned her little body to the left a little bit, and then she leaned in on her left hand, and she pulled herself up to a sitting position without my help. Of course, I am not referring to the sitting position that they accomplish after they learn to crawl. I am talking about actually lying on your back and bringing your body to a sitting position from your back. In essence, a sit-up.

So, this was the question that my mother-in-law asked me when I was so very proud that Annabelle was able to "sit" on her own. Sitting, you know, probably one of the third major milestones. 1st being smiling. 2nd being rolling over. And, 3rd, sitting.

Well, when they "sit" for the first time, it is typically because you, as a parent, prop them into a sitting position with their little arms in front of them. Basically, so they can learn to balance. And, so Mommy can walk away for a minute to go wash the dirty dishes from breakfast. Hee! Hee! Those days are long gone! No more sitting Annabelle down for just a second knowing that she'll go absolutely nowhere because she can barely sit, let alone crawl!

So, anyhow, here I was, proud mom of my beautiful and very smart daughter, and I just had to show off her new talent to everyone. Okay, not everyone, but you at least have to be able to flaunt their talents to family, right?!?!

The next thing my mother-in-law says is "Oh yeah, well, can she pull herself to a sitting position yet?" What?!?! I thought, "Is she kidding?" So, I say, "No. It will be awhile before she'll be able to do that. I've read that they don't typically do that until '8 months'. They learn to crawl before they can learn to sit on their own." I don't remember if the "8 months" is correct on what I had read since we are long past that milestone, but you get the gist, right?

She has two children of her own, so I thought, maybe she just forgot. Well, she asked the question again and again every time we were together. Finally, my husband said, "Mom, why do you keep asking that?" or he said something like that. She hasn't said a word since then.

Of course, it has been an ongoing joke between my husband and myself since she started making the comment continuously. Every time Annabelle would do a "sit up" holding onto our fingers, we would just hoot and holler for her, "Come on Annabelle! You can do it! Finally, come on, you can sit up on your own!"

Since then I have learned, babies don't get into a sitting position on their own from their backs. I mean, seriously, try it for yourself! It isn't all that easy to do, and it requires stomach muscles! I, honestly, could not even do it myself 3 months after Annabelle was born because my stomach muscles were non-existent! And, believe me, I tried! I tried doing Pilates for awhile after Annabelle was 3 months old. Let me just say, crazy!

So, instead, they go from an all fours position to a sitting position OR they go from a standing position to a sitting position, Ker plunk! on their little behind!

Now, I also am thinking that maybe my mother-in-law was referring to her being able to sit by herself from the typical crawling position. I don't know. If she reads my blog, maybe she can provide some insight on what she really did mean. I don't think she meant any harm by her comment, but as a new mother, I took it very personally.

Aren't our children a reflection of our mothering skills? Probably not always, but I am sure that whatever the outcome, as mothers (and parents, for that matter), we will always blame or pride ourselves on the adults that our children become.

Mother and Daddy, I hope I make you proud, and I hope you aren't blaming yourselves!

So, at the time, I would have blamed myself if Annabelle reached a milestone later than other babies her same age. Now I don't know how much it really has to do with the parenting though. I think a lot has to do with the child too. And, I do mean "too" because I think you have to encourage your children to reach certain milestones. If you don't encourage them and show them how to succeed, they will probably be a little slower in that aspect.

I, personally, have found things that my parents have thought to point out to teach Annabelle, and she caught on very quickly, but she probably wouldn't have learned it for awhile because I hadn't thought of it yet. For example, I just learned after reading my moms blog that she taught Annabelle where the buttons were on her clothes and my parent's clothes. I haven't pointed those out yet...probably because Annabelle doesn't typically have too many buttons on her clothes, but, I haven't seen Annabelle find the buttons yet on hers or on mine. I guess I'll try that one tomorrow.

That is why it is great to be around and to hear from other mothers! We can ALL learn from each other because everyone has their own talent. And, our babies learn from us!

The Rocking Horse

After Annabelle nursed this morning, I took her to our bedroom, and we sat in the bed with her Daddy. She had brought along a little board book of hers, "The Velveteen Rabbit." She flipped through the pages, and she pointed at the rocking horse in the book. I told her, "That is a rocking horse." As soon as I said "rocking horse," she started rocking back and forward, back and forward, back and forward and she just smiled ear to ear.

I looked at her Daddy and said, "That's new, isn't it? Where did she learn to rock?" All I can guess is that she understands that we "rock" her to sleep in the glider in her bedroom.

Wow! She learns something new every single day! This is such a fun age!

Tips for Keeping a Clean House

1. Start the dishwasher in the evening right before bed, AND empty the dishwasher first thing in the morning before you do anything else to prevent dishes from piling up in the sink while you wait to "find the time" later in the day to unload the dishwasher.
2. Run a sink full of warm, soapy water before breakfast, lunch and dinner so that the dishes and high chair tray that cannot go into the dishwasher are ready to wash right after mealtimes.

Daily Goals - Sunday, December 2, 2007

1. Complete rebate form for my husband's contacts. This does not include submitting the rebate form at this point as I'll need my husband to make copies on Monday before I can submit the rebate for reimbursement. I thought this should be next on my list as it has already been listed twice (by accident) on two separate lists.
2. Clean out car.

Mission Accomplished!

Okay, so far, only # 2 was accomplished on Sunday, December 2, 2007. I did clean out my car, but I failed to complete the rebate form. Instead, my husband and I spent the evening tidying up the house. I think that should have been listed as # 1 instead of the rebate form. Maybe tomorrow!

The Hands of the Bride and Groom

http://www.thepurplehouse.net/wedding/hands.html

Click on the link above. I just thought I would share this writing with everyone. It is called "The Hands of the Bride and Groom." I heard it for the first time just recently when we attended a wedding for some friends of ours (my husband graduated from college with the groom) on November 10th. If I had heard of the above writing when my husband and I got married back in 2000, I probably would have included it in our marriage ceremony as well.

I think it is beautiful, and the parts that hit me the most were:

"These are the hands you will place with expectant joy against your stomach, until he too, feels his child stir within your womb."

"These are the hands that look so large and clumsy, yet will be so gentle as he holds your baby for the first time."

When the priest recited those two verses during the ceremony, it really made me tear up as I thought of all the times that I held my husband's hands to my stomach while I was pregnant so that he could also feel our baby move within me. It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it.

And, it brings more tears of joy and happiness when I think of him holding Annabelle for the very first time. He waited so long to hold her as he wasn't able to hold her the day she was born. He had to wait until the next day because of her complications in the hospital. I was fortunate enough to hold her for 5 minutes or so shortly after she was born before they whisked her away quickly to the NICU. And, when we visited her in the NICU, and they offered to let us hold her again for the very first time after they had whisked her away, he never once asked to hold her before me. I know he must have been anxious to hold her, and I, obviously, was still overwhelmed after giving birth that I didn't even realize until later in the evening that he had yet to hold our baby that we created together. I hope that one day Annabelle will be as unselfish as her father.

Thank you God for such a beautiful miracle! And, thank you for blessing us with a little fighter!

Daily Goals - Saturday, December 1, 2007

1. Compile list of Annabelle's birthday gifts so I can finally start writing thank you notes some time next week and so I can move all of the bags with Annabelle clothes, etc. out of our living room and so I can take Annabelle's birthday gift money to the bank next week.
2. Trip to Sam's to take back both coats for Annabelle, 12 month PJ's for Annabelle and 12 month outfit for Annabelle. But first, I must find all of the receipts!

These two "goals" seem rather easy, I know. But, keep in mind, #1 has been on my original "to do" list for a very long time (since October 21st, 2007).

Mission Accomplished on Saturday, December 1, 2007!

Hooray! I completed both of the above goals before midnight.

And, I became creative in the process. I decided to jot down Annabelle's birthday gifts on the back of the little cards I had everyone fill out at Annabelle's birthday party. So, the gift they brought for her is on the back of their card with a note about how she reacted to certain gifts at the party and after the party. So, now she has a record of who all was there with their special little note to her, and a record of the gift they gave her.

On the clothes I took back to Sam's this afternoon, I returned $77 worth of clothes for Annabelle that I decided we just didn't need because of her already overflowing wardrobe! This just goes to show that you should always hang onto receipts, and always leave the tags on outfits until you are ready to use them.

Mission Accomplished Four-Fold!

In addition to the above two goals, I also completed the following that would have eventually "made" the written list as it was already on the unwritten list in my head.

1. Trip to Linens and Things to take back scrub brush and sifter.
2. Request Sam's eye center to print out receipt for contacts purchased to request reimbursement from the insurance company for out-of-pocket expenses.

Daily Goals Summary

I think I am going to try something new here. I am a huge fan of lists, and unfortunately, I create these lists of "important" items, and I then find them on my list and not crossed through several months after the item was listed as a "to do."

And, just based on my profession, I am very deadline oriented! If I don't set a deadline, the project will rarely ever get completed no matter how "important" it was when it made the list.

Did I mention that I am quite the perfectionist as well? Or, at least I try to be a perfectionist. Again, another reason why nothing every seems to get done for me. I am too busy trying to make everything perfect.

And, I am quite the procrastinator. When I don't want to do something (whatever the reason), I will find anything else that seems more important at the moment just so I don't have to complete the task at hand.

So, you probably wonder how I ever got anything done at work when I was working full-time. Well, almost everything had a deadline...April 15th, August 15th and October 15th. There were many more deadlines (monthly), but these are the more obvious ones. And, I am quick to finish tasks at hand that are business related and not personal tasks. I have aways procrastinated in my personal life, but when it comes to business, I try to be on top of everything!

So, anyhow, I am going to try to post my daily goals for the next day every night. Since my to-do list is, obviously, ongoing, I am only going to post 2 goals for the day that I feel I should and can complete by the end of the day. I read somewhere that you should focus on only two items per day off of your to-do list, and then once these items are completed, if you have additional time to accomplish more tasks, you can start chipping away at other items.

Okay, all of that being said, I am going to post 2 goals per day with the blog title "Daily Goals." The label for these daily goals each day will be "Daily Goals" as well. However, once the items are completed, I will change the label to "Mission Accomplished," and I will edit the post to show the date of completion. This way, I can hold myself accountable somehow.

Daily goals for December 1st, 2007 to follow in another post.

Wish me luck!