52:33 & 34 The move to Dallas

So we moved to Dallas on August 15, 2012. I haven't been able to blog lately because of obvious reasons...moving, unpacking, painting, trying to find a job, nanny, and mommy groups. It's been a busy busy time. Plus I have a baby, too. So that makes it much less stressful...yes.

My lovely mom is here visiting now, and I'm so happy she came. Her positive outlook on our new area is starting to rub off on me. I've had a bit of anxiety since we've moved, and went to a doctor to figure things out. After talking it out with my mom, I've decided to try some exercise and "mind over matter" tricks. I pray that I'll be strong enough to pull myself out of this...I know I'll be ok.

I went exercising today, and I already feel mentally stronger. I do believe I'm having some remnant post pardom hormone-y stuff going on, and that must be the reason for this anxiety. Obviously I have a lot of stressors in my life right now, but if I got over pdd before, I can do it again, I plan on joining Stroller Strides and going a few times a week- a good way to meet new mommies, too.

So I've already found a night babysitter for when Jeff and I want a night out. She's young, calm, sweet and smart! Perfect. "Check!" (You know why that's in quotes, right?)

I'm interviewing a daytime nanny tomorrow for Tuesdays and Thursdays. Hopefully it goes well.

I love making decisions when my mom is with me. Having her reassurance makes me so much more confident in my choices. :) Love you mom!

Oh, and we brought Gwen to the Dallas World Aquarium! So fun! She loved watching all the colorful fish! I also made sweet potato fries, rosemary chicken burgers, catfish with quinoa salad, and tonight we're having cheesy broccoli baked potatoes! I might have had some help making these...

52:32 Gwen is 10 months old!

Learn more about my project 52 here and check out styleberry BLOG for links to more Project 52s.

Gwen, you are now in the double digits!  On 8/8/12, you turned 10 months old!

Baby, at 10 months:
You weigh about 22 lbs and are tall for your age.

You LOVE yogurt, Cheerios, pcookies, puffs, green smoothies, and chicken...pretty much everything besides peas, actually.

You just learned how to feed yourself with your fingers two days ago, and I think it's the cutest thing ever!  You prefer Cheerios over anything on a spoon, and you've had a couples cookies, and nothing can take your attention away from those! It's the best watching you lick your whole hand and wrist trying so hard to put that Cheerio in your mouth!

You look at mommy and laugh when I laugh, like you "get the joke".

You're still breastfeeding about 5x per day, and it's the best way to calm you down if you're upset. 

You have about 5 1/2 teeth (2 on bottom, 3 1/2 on top) and this is starting to conflict with breastfeeding (yes, ouch).

You got your first haircut because the hair on your birthmark was growing faster than the rest, and someone said your "baby mullet" was cute.  It was cut that same day.

You want to eat whatever we're eating; you think you're a big girl.

You wave "bye bye", "hi", and sign "more" constantly while eating.

You have started variegated babbling: poowee, baawaa, beewee, etc.  Today you said in the car "diapo bwait".  Its adorable to hear you talk. 

You are standing a little on your own- about 3 seconds before you lunge forward onto whatever is closest- usually me.

You are taking two naps per day that range anywhere from 30 minutes to 1.5 hours- it's never consistent.

You laugh very easily now, and love it when we swat at bugs, chew on things, crawl around with you, pull things out of your hands, and play peekaboo.  Those things crack you up.

You are scared of big dogs, and I showed you a cat recently, and you freaked out screaming.  This makes mommy sad, since I love cats, and I was hoping you'd be on my side.

You are obsessed with dolls (with hard plastic limbs, not the soft ones), and you carry them all around the house with you!

You are happy and so so so sweet. 

52:31 Smoothies and Giblets

So, if you have been living under a rock and havent heard of 'green smoothies' yet, you might look at the picture here and think, "ew, gross. Is that one of those wheat germ protein shakes?" You would think that if you were living in the 2000's, actually. Well, welcome to the 2010's, friend! The era of the new and improved wheat-germ protein shake- THE GREEN SMOOTHIE. Much much much improved, in fact. If you google green smoothie, a million recipes pop up. But it's funny to me that there are recipes because it's basically fruit and veggies in a blender. Whatever sounds good to you, just dump it in and, boomtastic: you are now on the green smoothie train (just make sure to add something green, of course). ;)

All kidding aside, there's just something about feeding a food so simple and nutritious to your baby that makes me feel like a superhero. And I made it! Like in 20 years, she'll be a genius because she drank spinach as a 9 month old...I know, I'm delusional. Accept it.

So I know you're just dying to know what I put in my smoothie, right? Ok, so I'll tell you- a bag of frozen strawberries, peaches, and bananas (not organic. Whaaaaat?), Greek yogurt, water, a tiny bit of cranberry juice, and half a bag of spinach. It was soooo good. I'm hooked, and I've already daydreamed of making green smoothies everyday for breakfast from now on.

On the hot side, my new soulmate: the crockpot. It's my (other) secret to making dinner...me, who stays home with the baby and manages to get nothing done. Using a crockpot allows me to say to Jeff when he gets home, "I've been cooking all day!" We, wait no, I made ribs last week in the crockpot (who knew?) and they were so good, they fell off the bone trying to take them out. Another thing I've done is cook a whole chicken in it about once a week the past couple weeks. It's so easy, and it comes out awesome. The only problem with the whole chicken idea is the giblets. I just can't get those things...it's too gross, thank you. Jeff can take those out afterwards. Love you, babe!

And Gwen is back to 45 minute naps. So irritating.