Upgraded the co-sleeper!

Here is the old Arms Reach co-sleeper bassinet currently serving as a changing/dressing table. Mariele just seemed a little cramped in there lately. I felt like she needed room to roll around a little:



My solution was this convertible crib. The crib is currently in the toddler daybed configuration (the drop rail is off) and the mattress is in the second highest configuration. The castor wheels are not on the legs. The crib is heavy enough to stay put right next to my bed. So this way I get to safely co-sleep and Mariele has her own safe space in the bed. Last night she slept on the side next to the railing on her side (she is a side sleeper like me). I think we are both sleeping better this way!



To fill in the gap caused by pushing our mattresses together, I tightly rolled a blanket and some towels on the other side of the crib. Everything is nice a tight now with no suffocation risk:



Graco does not realize that this convertible crib has a co-sleeping configuration. I am super excited about it myself. Mariele really likes it too!

I wish I had this set-up when Analese was a baby. We did more bed sharing with her. I like co-sleeping with my kids, and I realize it is not something that I will do forever. In fact, sometime after the second birthday it starts to become less fun and they get longer and wigglier. Analese enjoys her own bed now, and we enjoy having our bed back too. It is nice to be able to still co-sleep with Mariele, but to spread out a little.

Now for grins and giggles here is a pic of Mariele enjoying her sweet potatoes:



And here she is enjoying a piece of nectarine inside the mesh feeder:



We are slowly starting solids. She is getting only an insignificant amount so far. Just tasting and she is not really in love with anything yet. I will keep offering and introducing some new foods and see if anything in particular will tickle her taste buds. I have made all of her baby food so far, although I am giving her the rice and oatmeal cereal from the box. I made her some homemade oatmeal cereal. I ground the oats as fine as I could, but it is still a little clumpy for her to have yet. She has the one tooth on the bottom (will try to get a good pic now that it has emerged enough to see it if she gives me an open mouthed grin).

Wordless Wednesday - Sisters at play!

Mariele's 6 month well baby visit . . .

Poor Mariele had to get 3 shots and an oral vaccine today. I tried to tell her that it is better than the alternative, but she would not listen to me and just kept crying.

But her stats look great! Her development is right on track and she is an extremely healthy baby!

Weight: 16 lb. 13 oz. (70%)
Height: 25 1/2 inches (45%)
*Head: 17 inches (73%)

*I have big headed babies, what can I say?

At 6 months, Analese was 16 pounds 6.5 ounces and 27 inches! So Mariele is a little shorter and chunkier, but in my eyes both of my girls are so perfect. I can't imagine either one of them being any different than they are.

Still waiting . . .

to get my computer back. There are cute pics in my iPhone, but I have to sync it to my computer. There are cute pics in the regular camera, but I don't want to dump any more pics into Lee's computer because it messes up my system. So not doing much blogging til' the puter comes back, unfortunately. I hope I get it back this week.

Thanks for all the great ideas about paci weaning. I had to laugh at the paci inside the build-a-bear. Yep, I'm pretty sure that Analese would find some way to rip into that poor animal! I do like the idea in general though. I may try the snip and cut method. She has never chewed holes into her pacis, so she just might not like that. But I think I will leave it alone for just awhile longer and continue to be strict with the only at bedtime and naptime rule. At least Mariele does NOT take a paci, so that will be one less thing to wean! She likes to suck her thumb, but she does not suck it constantly or anything.

I've been sick this weekend. I hate summer colds. They somehow seem even yuckier than winter colds. I'm trying to take it easy as much I can with Lee at work. He helps out tremendously when he comes home. I'm also trying to make sure I drink enough water, although with nursing I always have to do that anyway. I had a fever yesterday, but so far today I do not have a fever. Just lots and lots of snot. I know, TMI!

Advice please!

Trying to wean my 3 year old from the paci is not going so well. I've reserved it only for nap/bedtime for a long time now. She is cooperative about this and willingly hands her paci over to me when she wakes up. Today I tried to lay her down for a nap without it. I promised her a treat at the grocery store later if she complies. Well, she cried and cried like her little heart was breaking in two and said, "I want my paci! I want my paci!" I gave in because I just could not stand it. Honestly, if it were not for the issue of pacis affecting the teeth, I don't even think I would worry about it. It is such a comfort object to her (along with her bunny) . I mean, she has had paci even longer than bunny. She has sucked a paci every night for the last 3+ years! Oh what to do? I wish she would just forget about it or lose interest or something, but somehow I don't see that happening.

Half a Year Old!

All good things must come to an end.....

Vacation week is over. Lee had to go back to work (although he has already emailed me today that he wishes he was home with his sweet family). We had the best time with Grandma Linda and Aunt Amy!

Grandma Linda really enjoyed the pool!



Aunt Amy planted us a vegetable garden! She also planted many other beautiful things all over our yard. Amy is the talented artist of the family, and she is working as a landscape gardener. Here is a pic of the garden. Some of these plants came from our Thai hairdresser's garden. Some pretty exotic stuff like Lemongrass and lemon basil!



We all enjoyed a morning swim, then breakfast by the pool:




Amy and Analese really bonded, and Amy styled Analese's hair into all these great up-dos!



Grandma, Mariele and Amy. Mariele was very temporarily sucking on that paci!



Analese really enjoyed going through Aunt Amy's purse and playing with all of her make-up! She even got to wear mascara (as if she needs it. She already has the longest and most gorgeous lashes)!







We had a pool party last night:



We went shopping at Bed, Bath & Beyond and Garden Ridge yesterday. Amy picked out and Grandma bought us all of these fabulous decorating items for the area around the piano. It looks so great! And Analese was pretty proud of her ring pop too! And she had another pretty up-do, courtesy of Aunt Amy:





Amy brought us another original piece of her art work. This is a nude that she did in charcoal from a live model while she was in school. It is entitled "Simple Lineage" and it is now hanging in our dining room!



Today Mariele is half a year old! I still have to take some nice 6 month pictures of her. I will post them later after I take them.

A few Sea World photos

See...I wasn't gone long. I have a tiny window of opportunity here to use hubby's computer while kiddos are napping and hubby is otherwise occupied.

Sea World was great, albeit a bit hot (105). We probably could have spent another couple of days exploring if the kiddos were a little older and more tolerant.

Here is Mariele when we took an air conditioned lunch break:



Here is Lee (and Analese - can't see her - she is on the other side of Lee) riding the kiddie coaster called the Shamu express. Analese loved it! She calls it the Shamu track (train tracks):



Mariele hot and tired - poor baby. She did SO well and was so good and extremely tolerant:



Analese got to play kiddie games (guaranteed winning games) and she won two frogs and a whale!







Then Analese got to play in the fountains and in the kiddie water playground. She had so much fun, as you can see from the photos!




Here are me and my girlies (I was so freakin' hot!)



The last thing we did was let Analese feed the dolphins!



We got good video (too big to upload here) of the Shamu show and the Sea Lion show. It was really a very fun day!

And maybe I should blog from this computer more often. I think it has a faster upload speed than my laptop!

Be back in a few days, but will tweet now and then also.

Forced blogging break

First of all, I am having a terrific time on vacation week. We went to Sea World and I took lots of pictures and video.

Second of all, I am blogging from my iPhone right now. Reason for this is the Mac Genius sent my computer off because the logic board is fried. If any of my computer addicted family will move their butts from the desktop computer then I might be able to get on and post some photos later. But I don't have alot of time anyway because I need to get ready for family coming in to visit tomorrow through the weekend.

So hopefully be back soon!

ABC's of Me!

Got this fun idea from Kara's Blog!

The ABC's of Me

A - Age - 34

B - Bed size - King

C - Chore you hate - Mopping floors

D - Dog's name - Don't have a dog, but have cats: Dudio and Tabatha

E - Essential to start your day - smiling baby

F - Favorite color - blue

G - Gold or silver - Gold

H - Height - 5'3

I - Instrument you play(ed) - piano, baritone

J - Job title - Mommy (used to be Medical Technologist and Microbiologist)

K - Kid(s) - Analese & Mariele

L - Living arrangements - In a house

M - Mom's name - JoAnn

N - Nickname(s) - Mel, Mommy

O - Overnight hospital stay besides birth - strabismus surgery when I was 4

P - Pet peeve - Way too many to list!

Q - Quote from a movie - "I'm busier than a one armed paper hanger" Steel Magnolias

R - Right or left handed - Right

S - Siblings - 1 brother

T - Time you usually wake up - Between 6:30 and 7:00 am

U - Underwear - Uh, yes! - nursing bras lately!

V - Vegetable that you dislike - mushrooms

W - Ways you run late - When Mariele GERDS (spits up) on me or when she blows out of her diaper.

X - X-Rays you've had - teeth, chest

Y - Yummy food you make - veggie burgers

Z - Zoo favorite - river otters

Anyone else want to do this?

Our attempt at Mother Baby Portraits

I really wanted to capture Mariele's "babyness" - her perfect round, bald head and all of her cute baby chub, as well as the love that I have for her. Man, I really need a photography studio and lots of technical photography knowledge. I am so lacking in that area. But hubby followed my directions the best he knew how and these are some of the passable shots. Pic overload!