Category Archives: Kids

Planning For Lila’s Birthday Party

Posted in Kids, Lila, Party Ideas by

November is a big month for our family. Lila’s birthday on the 18th, my parents visiting Nov. 15 – 19th, Luke’s birthday Nov. 27, Thanksgiving at our house Nov 28, Luke’s family visiting Nov 24 – 30. I’m super excited for all of these things, but I can feel the stress starting to creep in, which means I need to start checking things off my to-do list.

My planning focus lately has been on Lila’s birthday. We went back and forth about whether to do a party or just an activity with our family. We wanted it to be fun for Lila, not stressful for us, but also a special day where we could celebrate our girl. Ultimately we decided on a small party with family and a few friends at our house.

First up to figure out was the food. In an effort to keep things a stress-free as possible, we’re going to do just a dessert party so we don’t have to worry about a bunch of food. There is an awesome gluten-free bakery up the street from us, so Lila and I went in and ordered some goodies. A vanilla cake with purple icing for Lila’s smash cake, along with creme puffs, chocolate creme bundt cakes, cheesecake bars and cookies in the shape of a 1.

For the decor, I ordered this burlap Happy Birthday banner and a cake topper to go with.

burlap happy birthday banner

 

burlap cake topper

 

I also made a trip to Party City and picked up some purple and white goodies to finish out the decorations like purple and white candies, purple polka dot napkins, white paper puffs and party favors like bubbles for the kids.

I also wanted Lila to have a special outfit to wear as the birthday girl, so I got her this totally ridiculous party hat and a personalized balloon onesie.

baby birthday hat Personalized baby onesie balloonsNow that I have everything planned out, I’m getting really excited for Lila’s birthday party. We’ll have family here (my mom & dad, sister and her family and Luke’s brother) and a few good friends to celebrate Lila’s first year of life. I can’t believe my baby is a year old already! I just hope I can keep it together during her party. :)

Okay, onto the next November event … Luke’s requested a pumpkin creme brulee cheesecake for his birthday. Does that even exist!?

 

A Sick Little Bug

Posted in Kids, Lila by

My little Lila is sick. She had the symptoms of a stomach bug the past few days, but it was intermittent. Friday night she vomited while we were out for a date night, but then was fine all day Saturday and Sunday. She seemed in a great mood and not sick at all.

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Then this morning, while she was having her milk, she vomited all over the place. Since then she’s vomited four more times and hasn’t been able to keep milk down at all. She also had two very messy diapers.

I called her doctor and he suggested Pedialite or some other drink that has electrolytes to help with the dehydration. The only thing we had at home was some coconut water, but I remembered I had read that it was an excellent rehydration drink, so I gave her some in a bottle. So far she’s successfully kept that down.

Thank goodness too because the doctor said I’d have to take her to the ER for an IV and possibly an overnight stay if she couldn’t keep anything down. I can just imagine how traumatizing it would be for her to be poked and prodded in a high-stress environment like a hospital ER.

She got sleepy right after drinking about three ounces of the coconut water, so I put her in her crib and she went to sleep without so much as a whimper. She’s sleeping now as I write this.

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This is really the first time Lila has been sick. She’s had a few minor colds or runny noses, but this is full on. It’s a truly awful thing to watch your precious baby vomit uncontrollably. The look in her eyes says “why is this happening to me and why aren’t you stopping it, mommy?!”

The best I can do is sit her upright, rub her back and try to soothe her. As a parent, your duty is to protect your child, so when they’re sick you feel totally helpless.

Part of my motivation for keeping this blog up is so Lila has a record of her childhood from my perspective. And who knows, maybe one day she’ll have her own sick baby at home and feel comforted reading about how her mom went through the same thing.

Any advice or encouragement you have to share for comforting a baby with the flu would be appreciated.

No Wrong Way

Posted in Kids, Lila, Liz's Life by

If there’s one thing I’ve learned so far about motherhood it’s that every baby is different and no one thing is a solution for EVERY baby.

Before Lila was born I did my research and felt strongly that I would “do” certain things as a mom. I was excited to wear her in a sling next to my body, have her sleep in a co-sleeper in between us and cuddle with her on the couch. Well none of that panned out the way I thought.

When I put her in my Moby Wrap, she immediately squirmed and screamed. When we had her in her co-sleeper in our bed, she awoke with every shift we made, leaving us all exhausted. When I tried to cuddle her, she pushed off me, eager to explore her world.

See, what I didn’t realize when I made my mommy plans was that Lila was not going to be some object for me to “do” things to and/or for. Rather she is her own person with her own desires, and she will definitely going to let me know what she liked and disliked!

I began to understand that my job was to toss out my preconceived notions about how to be a mother and instead observe Lila so I could learn about her, understand her and care for her in a way she liked. Once I started to do this, I stopped feeling frustrated that I couldn’t “get her” to do things the way I had planned and started enjoying the new directions she took me in.

Instead of wearing her in a wrap, I gave her freedom to explore her world on a blanket. Instead of having her sleep in our room, I enjoyed the restful nights sleep we all got once she was in her own crib. Instead of days spent cuddling, I watched with a smile as my curious girl inspected every little detail of her environment.

And the beauty in all this? The way we did it is not “the” way. It’s just what worked for us. It was how Lila taught me how to help her blossom. Some other baby may get this same confidence by being in a sling or sleeping next to his/her parents.

I guess the point of this post is to tell other moms that just because someone is adamant that their way is the best, it doesn’t mean it’s best for ALL babies and it certainly doesn’t mean you should feel guilty for doing something different. You know your children better than anyone, and once you give up on the quest to perfect parenting, you’ll be surprised at how clearly they are telling you what they needs.

They say being a parent is an adventure, and so far I’m loving the new discoveries I’m making each day about how to best be Lila’s mom.

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Flying Solo

Posted in Kids, Lila, Liz's Life by

Last week Luke had to go on an extended work trip to Mexico, so Lila and I decided to make the trip back to the midwest to visit both my and Luke’s families. It was an ambitious undertaking for one parent, but one I felt was worth it to get some time with family.

They were loooong travel days – one four-hour flight, a three-hour layover and then another one-hour flight, but Lila did really well on both legs. On the way there we were lucky to get a whole row to ourselves, so she could crawl around, and on the way back, we sat with another mom and her baby, so they entertained each other. During our layovers I let her do lots of crawling around at the O’Hare Airport Children’s Museum. She also took some good naps.

Screen Shot 2013-10-01 at 9.45.43 AM Screen Shot 2013-10-01 at 9.45.30 AMWhen we finally arrived at my parent’s house in Ohio, I was ready for a break! I was expecting to be able to enlist my parent’s help watching her so I could clean up and rest, but Lila wasn’t having it. She clung to me and cried whenever I walked out of the room or someone else held her.

This separation/stranger anxiety continued throughout the week and only got slightly better when I was completely unavailable to her, like when Luke’s mom took her for a walk while I was doing some work calls in my room.

While I have to admit it was exhausting and at times frustrating to not get a break much of the week, I can’t say I really blame her. A three hour time change, whole new environment and lots of new people would set any 10 month old into an anxious state. On top of that, she cut two teeth while we were there!

Plus it was pretty sweet how her whole face would light up, arms would flap and she’s crawl over to me every time I entered a room.

The only part that made me sort of sad though, was that our families – whom we don’t get to see often – didn’t get to experience the sweet, independent, outgoing Lila I know. I really wanted them to see who she is and for Lila to feel comfortable around the people who love her most.

I guess that will just take some time. My job now is to support her and help her build trust in her autonomy. I have no doubts she’ll outgrow her anxiety and learn to feel secure that Mommy and Daddy will always return.

And even though she struggled at times, we still managed to make lots of sweet memories with my family in Ohio and Luke’s in Indiana. Here are some photos from the trip, starting with our visit to Luke’s parent’s house in Indiana and then some with my family and Lila’s cousins in Ohio.

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Nothing makes me happier than being with the people I love. And seeing how much they love Lila brings a smile to my face. Even though a cross-country solo trip with a clingy babe isn’t always fun, it’s worth it so Lila understands just special her family is.

Special thanks to my brother Nick, brother-in-law Mike and MIL Felicia for snapping a lot of these photos while I was busy holding Lila!