9 months

Yesterday Tessa had her 9 month appointment yesterday. She is still long and skinny, as we suspected .She weighed 17 lbs 4 oz and is 27 1/2 inches long. That is around the 50th percentile for length and just under the 25th for weight. She's been hovering around that 25th percentile since she was born.

They did a lab draw which had me nervous for Tessa's reaction. But, she did so well! She was perfectly content playing with the paper on the exam table. She only started to cry when she didn't want the tech to hold her hand anymore. Then she ate the bandaid.

We did discover her hemoglobin was a little low at 10.2 so we'll have to do iron supplements every day until she's a year old. They'll recheck at her 1 year appointment. The doctor said it's not abnormally low and that it's pretty common in breastfed babies. He thought this would help boost her immune system a little too so she can fight off infections in the coming winter months. 9 Month pictures to follow.

daycare

After 9 months and a few odd days, Tessa went to daycare for the first time. She was giving me looks of confusion as I woke her up, dressed her, and packed her up with a couple bags. She didn't want to eat breakfast at my pace. She wanted to dink around and play with her cheerios. She didn't want to get dressed, she wanted to crawl around naked. She definitely didn't want to go in the carseat. Have I mentioned that the carseat is apparently the worst form of torture Tessa could think of?

I had every intention of leaving home ten minutes earlier than usual. It was only a couple miles to daycare, but I wanted to be prepared and help Tessa settle in a little. Well, 15 minutes later, we were out the door. I packed her a lunch, but forgot one for me. I packed her water bottle, but not my own. She had plenty of diapers, and I thought I might need one after this.

Off we were. Joel met us there since he was working overtime so he was still on duty. We got our access code, went in, and handed her off to the gal working in her room. But, we had 2 bags of stuff. Food for the day plus some extras for future days, milk, formula, bottles, everything. We had moved in.

I didn't realize until later that they said they provide almost all of that free of charge unless we need to bring her something because of an allergy. Oops. I'm a planner, I wanted to be prepared. And prepared I was. Just not for how easily Tessa would lurch out of my arms to go play. How dare she. Didn't she understand that this was supposed to be traumatic? I certainly did.

10 hours later, I was back to pick her up. Joel was going back into work early that day so he needed to go home and get some sleep and I was off work, ready to see her and see how her day was. Of course, she did very well. She wouldn't nap though because she's so curious about everything she doesn't want to miss a beat. I mean, how dare we suggest she get some rest so she's not a crank-o-pottamus. Alas, she won that round. She crashed about 5 minutes before I got there to pick her up and slept through the car ride home and an extra 45 minutes at home. I knew she'd give in eventually. Tessa's a strong willed one. I wonder who she gets that from!

So anyways, the moral of the story is, I had built this day up as a huge deal and very scary, and it was absolutely no big deal. She had fun. Joel got some much needed rest. And,  I finally got bumped up to full time hours again! More on that to come.

The next day, we left on time and I was actually to work 5 minutes early. We're professionals at this now.

Oh Man

We've been busy!! It's been a month since I've posted. How did I let July slip away? Oh yes, I know. I have an incredibly active wild child. Here's a recep of the last month, and then I'll really try to be better in August.

• Tessa turned 8 months. She started crawling and began trying meats and dairy during meals.
• We went tent camping for 3 days.
• Tessa attended her first wedding and Grandma Laura got to babysit her plus her two cousins while the adults danced and had fun at the reception.
• Tessa started pulling herself up on everything. Absolutely everything.
• She discovered her love of paper and our shredder is no longer necessary because she does a fine job.
• She figured out her sippy cup finally.
• I had to bleach/strip all her diapers because she got a yeast rash.
• We rearranged the furniture to make it more baby friendly. Did.not.work.
• She tackled the lamp and won.
• We took many trips to Grandma's house.
• Tessa visited PaPa Dale in the hospital and met some of my old work friends.
• Joel went to Canada for a week and Tessa stayed with her Grandmas for 4 days.
• She solidified her hatred for beef, but loves the white meats. Pork, chicken, turkey, and ham are the favorites.
• She's a grandma's girl and loves cheese.
• She's too good for solids and prefers finger foods
• We transitioned to her big girl car seat and so far it is a hit.
• We had a get together with a couple friends at the outlet mall and she scared away more babies.
• She learned to give kisses, blow kisses, high five, wave, and clap.
• She's still sleeping great, but she has her nights.
• We experienced our first ear infection, cough, and congestion. 
• She crawled off the end of the bed. Did I mention she's wild? I was more traumatized than her.
• She loves reading the DVD's, or at least pulling them off the rack and chewing on them.
• She's wearing 9-12 month pants but 6 month shirts. She's very long, but still very skinny.
• I stopped breastfeeding so she's on a mixture of breastmilk and formula. I had a good freezer stash.
• She's got quite the attitude.
• Definitely a talker.

Naptime...

...has gone awry. 

Sigh.

Our $18.80 mistake

I blame all you readers that are parents on this one. Why didn't anyone warn me that the 1 time we don't bring the diaper bag on a trip to Target that we'd have a poo-splosion? This was legendary, a story for the ages.

We needed to go to Target, which was 25 miles away. Tessa was due for a nap, so we figured she'd get a 30 minute nap in while we drove there. She didn't fall asleep but we she usually fights naps so we figured she'd fall asleep sometime at Target or on the way home. We parked, and I went to grab her carseat. That's when I saw it. A gooey brown pile. In her carseat. On her leg, on the strap, on her clothes. Well, Crap. We also realized we didn't bring the diaper bag. Oops.

Well, Joel wanted to drive home. I vetoed that, I don't get to go to Target often so I wasn't going to give up this opportunity. So, we brought her in, ran to the baby section, bought our first ever pack of disposable diapers, a pack of wipes, and a new outfit. $18.80 later, we were ready for clean up time.  I had been itching to get her a couple new outfits anyways, so there's your silver lining.

I took her into the bathroom and started wiping. Hmmm. The woman always has this responsibility. Joel sat in Starbucks for 20 minutes while I wiped and wiped and wiped. 27 wipes later ( 1/3 of the pack!), 3 disposable diapers later (I forgot how to do those!) and 3 target bags full of dirty stuff, we had a clean baby and a semi-clean carseat. Luckily no poo got on the actual carseat, just the straps, but still. It was not pleasant. She had a new outfit, although it was not prewashed so hopefully I didn't give her cooties. Of course, she was pretty proud of herself and happy as a clam.

So now we have a 33 pack of size 3 diapers, a pack of wipes, and a cute new pink outfit! We are now -1 onesie. I didn't attempt to salvage that.

Lesson learned.

Father's day

Happy Father's day to the most wonderful husband and daddy Tessa and I could ask for. You are so dedicated to us and we really appreciate all you do. Working nights so you can spend your days with Tessa while I work, getting up in the night with her on your days off, wrestling around on the floor with her, taking her on playdates, are just a few of the hundreds of examples of what makes you a great dad.

For the rest of your father's day gift, you got a personalized picture frame that we created for you.

We had a pretty low key day but it was nice to relax with family. We had a nice lunch, went and got some ice cream, and then had a nice dinner. Joel was supposed to work overtime (again, shocker!) but he declined it so we could spend the day as a family. We had so much fun!

Painting Galore!

Yesterday I let Tessa have do her first art project. I had gotten an idea from a friend to get kid friendly paint (washable of course!) and let her finger paint on canvases. I thought this would be a fabulous idea for Joel's first father's day. Little did I know what I was getting myself into.

 I had to be very careful with the different colors to make sure that the canvases didn't all turn brown because of the mixing colors. So, one at a time, I squirted a blob of paint on her tray, put her hand in it, and then put the canvas under her so she could eat the painted canvas smear and splash paint on the canvas. We did this very meticulously through all the colors and then I let her splash around for a while. 

Just as suspected, paint was everywhere. She had somehow gotten a huge pile of red paint on the back of her head, which made it look like she was bleeding. Luckily it washed off and her head was still in tact. But, the final product was pretty good! I think daddy will love it! 

Playing outside

We had beautiful weather for a few days last week before it turned hot and then cold again. So, Joel washed the cars while Tessa and I played on her blanket. I also got a few good pictures of Tessa in her swimsuit. We planned on swimming later that day but the water never warmed up enough, so she just hung out in her swimsuit instead.

She wasn't too sure about grass, but we're practicing!

Heavy Stuff

Warning: This post contains stuff I don't really like to discuss or think about, but I'm going to anyways because it's on my mind.


Every once in a while, fear creeps up on me. I am a pretty strong willed, independent person that thinks I can conquer anything. But sometimes, I let fear in. I know the career that Joel chose puts our family in a dangerous position. I know that at any second, our worlds can be turned upside down. I normally choose to block it ou and not think about it. I push it to the far edges of my mind.

But ya know, it's been bugging me lately. I'm not sure why. There hasn't really been anything to provoke these thoughts, but I know that the potential is there that he could be gone in a flash. Any call could become a dangerous situation. Any traffic stop could turn into a shooting, a car accident where he is run over, or a violent situation. My family could be ripped apart in the blink of an eye. That is my reality.

I don't like showing weakness. I should be the strong and optimistic wife. And I am. Normally. But I see the crazy in people, I see the anguish, the anger, and the need to lash out. More often than not, they lash out at themselves, but they could just as easily lash out at someone else. I feel safe in my own home, but I also know that at any point, an angry person could want to get revenge on a cop and we could be targets for something. Again, that is my reality.

Do I really think that Joel has done anything to warrant this? Absolutely not. But I know that if something were to happen, it's a desperate person doing a desperate act. They don't think of the families behind the men/women. They don't think of the consequences. The anger and despair drives them to do something and unfortunately, it often causes them to act out. And all it takes is a call to the police department and Joel to respond to a call for this to occur.

He knows that any call could end like this. He has training, knowledge, and experience in handling these situations. But no amount of these can prevent someone from doing what they want, and that's the scary thing. Joel could get ambushed. He could get set up. It's terrifying. Sure, WC is a fairly safe community with little violence, but in his 18 months, he's had his share of scary situations.

Some wives choose to be blind and ignorant to the danger. I usually want to know about it. I like to know that he successfully diffused a situation and made things better for someone. Or, I like to know that he got the bad guy. It makes me thankful when he walks in the door. But I fear the day that he doesn't. I fear the day that someone else comes to the door or calls. What would I do if he wasn't there? Would I be able to continue on with my life? What would I tell Tessa? Would I lose my mind and shut myself in my house? I hope to never have to find out.

I know that anyone could lose a loved one at any moment, but my reality sucks sometimes. So, I make a conscious effort to hug and kiss him everyday when he leaves and every morning when I leave for work when he's sleeping. I won't allow myself the possibility to leave on anything but love.

What we've been up to

We've had a really busy week! Last weekend, Tessa went to Des Moines for the weekend to spend some time with her Grandmas while Joel and I both worked extra on the holiday weekend. It seems she is something of a performer already, because she was a perfect angel for them. Or so they say. I'm still not sure they were entirely honest with me, but they said she was good, so I've got to believe it.

We worked all weekend, and finally got her back on Sunday night after 48 hours away from home. I was much more traumatized than she was, although I really did not have time to miss her since I was working 12 hour shifts and would have gotten home right around her usual bedtime. But, I was glad to get my baby girl back!

Then, I worked almost all week and am working again this weekend. But, she's still moving, growing, and being sillier and sillier every day. She's on the verge of officially crawling and finally figured out where her knees are and how they should be used, so I can only imagine what kind of trouble she'll get into when she's fully mobile.

We have a pretty busy June ahead of ourselves since I've been working full time hours lately and Joel has been scheduled overtime, but we're making it work.