Five Months

Holy crap. Time is flying. This baby is growing soooo fast! Like I get a panicky feeling in my chest when I realize that Indiana has been here for FIVE MONTHS and she's not my teensie baby anymore! It's both thrilling and so sad. Five months! This past month was cRaZy! I should probably just stop saying this every month as it will most likely be the norm, but she has changed so much in the past month! Like insane development. INSANE.

We had to move the photos from the crib to living room (what I should have done all along). Indy's sleeping in her big crib now so I've got some rather janky light blockage going on the windows. You do what you gotta do.

Indiana is about sixteen (!!) pounds of awesome. She's grown SO much in the past month, which makes sense because she ate like a little piggy. She loves smiling at her reflection, mama's singing, anything involving daddy, and playing! She loooves to play. She can sit up mostly on her own! With help of her hands. Still extra wobbly, but one day she realized she could use her hands to hold her self up, and off she went. It's like a lightbulb went off and she could do it. Now she's into one hand or no hands, which means she's the leaning tower of Pisa, but it's real fun. Sitting in the high chair now and that makes dinner way better, she's at the table with us! Speaking of being at the table and near things she shouldn't get, she reaches and grabs for EVERYTHING. Like if it's in her reach, she's gonna get it. And if it's not, she's gonna try. She'll leeean and stretch towards whatever she wants. And then it goes in her mouth to get soaked. Drool queen!! She found her feet, which is the cutest thing ever. They also go in her mouth. She sticks her tongue out pretty much nonstop these days, even when she smiles. It's hilarious. Just call her Barty Crouch Jr! And laughing is beginning to happen! Little tiny bits that sound extra fake, but it's amazing. She screams like a baby dinosaur when she's happy. She's very into following you with her eyes and entire body when you're moving around the room. She'll pull some exorcist moves to keep an eye you. Oh and she finally noticed the cats! She loves them. They're still on the fence about her, as she tends to just pull their fur or kick them. Indiana can roll from her tummy to back and from her back to her side, but she hasn't made it all the way from back to tummy yet. Almost all of her baby hairs have fallen out, except for her very awesome mullet. She's had it since she was born and it shows no signs of disappearing. Her hair was pretty dark at first, but the new stuff is more of a golden color. Which is baffling as she's got dark haired parents. Who knows. Eyes are still blue though!! I think they're gonna stick around!

The not so fun stuff: This month was real hard. All that development meant a crazy baby. Have any of you used the Wonder Weeks app/book? It's basically weeks of developmental leaps that equal a cranky baby. I don't know if it's in my head or what, but it seems to be pretty accurate. Most of the past month was leap four and shoot, it was a doozy! Lots of wildness, some of which we are still dealing with. Recently she loses her cool if you walk away from her and she's anywhere but in her crib. It's made day to day home life for me interesting. She gets super frustrated when she can't get to something she wants, or move the way she wants to. Understandable. Occasionally cries when you take something away from her (more of this to come). And the hardest part... Indiana's good sleep habits went out the window right before four months and never returned. She was a dang good sleeper until then, I thought we had it made! But then a switch flipped and boom. I thought I was going to die from exhaustion; she was waking up pretty much every hour at night. I lived in the rocking chair. I was tired, grumpy, and frustrated, and so was she. I was becoming someone I wasn't a fan of. Constantly on edge and so angry at everything. Not cool. Something had to give. So after a hell of a lot of indecision, procrastinating, and dragging our feet, we moved her into the big crib in her room and did some sleep training. I won't go into details because I know it's a hot topic, but so far sooo good! We're less than a week in and naps are still a mess, but I can honestly say it's life changing. Everyone is so much happier. Best thing we could have done for our family. Sleep is important. So important. We got the book Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child from a friend when I was preggo and although the methods are whatever, the biggest thing I got out of it was to treat sleep like food. You need it to survive, and to thrive! Healthy sleep is like healthy food, so much better than the junk variety. And not just for babies, y'all. Adults too. We don't take sleep seriously enough! Coming from someone who went from barely a few hours a night to a whole bunch, it greatly impacts your happiness.

Anyway, it feels like we're almost out of woods with that phase and all that not so good stuff was so worth it. Because Indiana is a rockstar baby and watching her learn and grow is my favorite. She is becoming the coolest cat. So fun. I might be biased, but gosh she is just so alert and aware of everything around her. I mean, I know she's just a baby... but she seems really smart! Ha, gah what a mom thing to say. But really, she wows us daily. She's turning out to be just the badass we thought she'd be. Extra cute too.

As evidence, here's Indiana and some of her tricks:

Rolling over!

Sitting up, like a boss! So proud of that big headed little munchkin.

These updates are getting sooo long. Sorry not sorry. If you want even more baby spam, scroll on back in time. Here's the ever growing Twelve Months of Indiana.

First Father's Day

This picture... ha! Sunday was Brendon's first Father's Day. (Duh.) I wanted to take a bunch of pictures throughout the day, but ended up only getting some at breakfast and towards the end of the day I was like, oh whoops! But we got some good shots at Taco Cabana. ;)

Giving the side eye to the salsa bar. We were all a little on the sleepy side.

For Father's Day I just wanted to do whatever Brendon wanted to do, which was eat. (You're pretty limited with a baby.) He's the (veggie) burger king, so we went to Killeen to hit up Red Robin where they GAVE HIM A TURKEY BURGER. It looked sketch so he sent it back, but they said, no it's a veggie patty, so he ate a bite. And it was turkey. It was terrible. We'll probably never go back. Happy Father's Day, oh you're vegetarian? Here's some sneaky meat. He should have went with his gut. Otherwise it was a pretty chill day! We went grocery shopping, hung out at home, and I baked a thousand snickerdoodles for him and his coworkers. Not a bad day!

We tried taking pictures outside but the sun was too extreme for us vampires. Man, she looks so much like him. Thank goodness she at least got my eyes. SHE'S LIKE HARRY POTTER. "You look just like James. But you have your mother's eyes." Destined for greatness! Except hopefully not so much like HP that we die and she has to destroy a whole bunch of horcruxes and fight an evil dude to the death. Not that. Magic and Hogwarts though, that'd be cool.

Indiana loves him so much. He makes her so happy, she saves all the best smiles for her daddy. He will definitely be the "fun" parent, while I have to be the rational "bad guy". He loves that baby. He's already all kinds of wrapped around her finger. I mean, me too. But he's gonna spoil her rotten, even though he says he wont. ;) He's already the best daddy and I can't wait to watch those two get into shenanigans. Because there will be shenanigans. Years of them.

My people. I love them, so so much. Couldn't have picked a better daddy for my little monster.

One year in Temple

I had to search my photos forever to find something Temple related, ha! It's not the prettiest city. This is the old Santa Fe Train Depot near downtown, which is now a museum and, well, still a train station.

Somehow a year has passed since we moved to Temple. Well, a year in some days. We moved here June 1st. It both feels like just yesterday and a million years ago. Our life in Austin seems very distant and unfamiliar, mostly because when we were there we were carefree and childless. What is that? Temple has been all about baby. Preggo for half, new parents for half.

Y'all all know, I hated Temple when we moved here. Hated it. I kinda blame months of morning sickness which began I swear, the week we moved up. But I also blame Temple, because it does suck a little. ;) I wouldn't say I love living here now, but there are things about it that I like. It was the perfect place to have a baby. Quiet, easy, affordable, full of kind folks and little old ladies and men who love babies. Really a decent place to spend 75% of your time never leaving the house. It's been good to us, which is convenient as we've got at least another year here ahead of us. Silent scream/sigh of relief? I go back and forth. Every day is grows on me. And seriously you'd never think it, but Temple is booming. SO many new businesses have opened just since we've been here and there are a ton more on the way. There are like twice as many places to eat now! Places to eat have a big influence on my appreciation of a place. Probably why I loved Austin so much.

The town is still and will probably always be terrifyingly conservative and very much like what you'd imagine a Texas town would be like socially. I feel very much out of place when things like politics or religion come up. Don't get me started on all the bumper stickers. Terrible place to live if you're vegetarian. Which saves us moola. We are also far younger than most of the citizens. By like 30 years. BUT as with southern towns, most folks are endearingly kind and polite. Which is refreshing. Everyone is very nice. Unless you're a minority. I kid, I kid! (Kinda.)

No one can drive (or park) worth a damn, but getting across town still just takes ten minutes. And there's NO TRAFFIC. We still love our little apartment and all the lovely folks that live in our complex. I've never met my neighbors anywhere I've lived, but this small town thing y'all. Our neighbors gave us baby gifts. We don't even know these people! It's crazy and kinda sweet. I legit think they'd give me a cup of sugar if I asked. I won't because strangers scare me and I'm never short on sugar, but it's a nice thought.

The VA where Brendon works is really the best thing we could have imagined. We could not have planned it better. Everyone there is soooooo nice and kind and family friendly. Every time I go visit him I am swamped with smiles and hugs and boy do they looove Indiana. I'm glad we're here for another year, if for no other reason than Brendon gets to keep working where he is. And the thought of moving to a new city again and resettling with a 4 month old is kind of terrifying. Thankful that we are not!

So YES, I am ready to be staying another year. Would I rather be in Austin with my fellow liberal weirdos? Maybe. Well, let's be real, yes. Could we afford it? Maybe not. I really do think this is the right place for us at the moment. And we're helping to spice Temple up a little! It needs a little weird.

Magnolia Silos

This happened a while back, but babies man. They keep ya busy. The Magnolia Silos! The weekend Brendon had his lasik surgery I dragged him to Waco to go to Magnolia. I'm not sure he really saw much of it because he was basically blind, but we had a good time anyway. Or at least I did. ;)

For those of you who don't know about this place (is it possible?), Magnolia Silos are the massive retail storefront of Chip and Joanna's company on the show "Fixer Upper". I only stumbled upon this show by accident. We don't have regular tv or cable (we about dat Netflixxxx) so a lot of the times I'm clueless to tv shows unless someone recommends it. But at Thanksgiving my mom had the tv on and "Fixer Upper" was on. I was like hey this is cute. And then I saw it was based in Waco and I was like, say what?? I became obsessed with Waco when we moved to Temple, so I was obviously very interested. I watched the first season when I was preggo and the second when Indy was little bitty and still snoozed while I watched tv. Where's that third season at, Netflix? Anyway, the show is super cute. And the things they do to funky old houses is amazing. Joanna has crazy good taste and her and Chip (and their crazy big family of kiddos and animals) are adorable. What is that the youngins are saying? "Goals"? Except hold the four kids please.

The actual store/complex sells the sort of home decor stuff they use in the show, plus souvenirs, generally cute stuff, and a small amount of renovation materials. And it's all pretty marked up. Basically it's like Target. Don't go in if you don't want to watch your money fly away. The place is a money making machine. And even though the weather was questionable it was PACKED. They have food trucks outside and are going to open a bakery and garden shop soon. Just making allll the money. Those Gaineses are smart folks.

After taking this struggle bus selfie a kind woman offered to take our photo:

Why do photos taken by strangers ALWAYS come out extra awkward? Is it just us?

HEART EYES! He's so much better at this than me. I'm such a weakling.

And a parting shot of Brendon in his extra cool lasik shades and Indiana being the most adorable creature on the planet. This was at Dichotomy, which I recommend if you're in the market for real good coffee in Waco. It's a coffee wasteland between Austin and Dallas; this is an oasis. Also, Schmaltz's Sandwich Shop. Best cheese sandwich I've ever had.

Anyway, the Silos are worth a checkout if you're in the area. Just be prepared to buy a bunch of random things you absolutely do not need. But honestly, just give Waco a shot if you haven't. It's seriously a cool place. Highly underrated. Every time we go we find new reasons to love it.

Baby must haves: first 3 months

This photo has little to do with this post, aside from it containing a baby. BUT LOOK HOW CUTE SHE IS! She likes chillin' in the tub.

So there are the obvious things you'll need for a baby: crib, blankets, diapers, changing pad, car seat, etc. But here are some things I either didn't realize were so important or didn't know I needed. I looked at a lot of these lists online when I was preggo so I figured I'd make one of my own. These are must have goodies for at least the first few months, or what I think of as the survival days. I am still flying by the seat of my pants and learning as I go, so I've got no clue for the rest of the first year. And everyone is different, you might hate these things and swear by something else, but these are what worked for me. 

I put links to some of the stuff we got, in case you're in the market. We mostly used (and still use) amazon for all our baby stuff, it's where we registered. And it's the bomb.

A swing. I mean this sounds obvious, but dang, you need a swing! I was kind of whatever about them because they're huge and unattractive (ha!) but they rock. (Puns!) Indy napped great in it when she was little and now it keeps her (momentarily) occupied while I cook/clean/whatever. We have a tiny little apartment so from where it is in the living room she can see me while I'm in the kitchen! And vice versa.

Plug in night lights: Oh man, this is something we had to go grab post baby. We just got a bunch of the cheapo plug in ones; there's one in our room, her room, and the living room. That way I can sneak around at night when I'm feeding/changing her without waking Brendon or getting Indy into party mode. Also so I don't trip!

Sun hat: We love being outside but are also vampires so this is a must. Indiana has my fair fair skin, but she loves being outside and so do we! The sun hat doesn't bother her at all and bonus, it's adorable.

Onesies: For real, all the onesies. Because as cute as those little dresses and shirts and pants are, ain't nobody got time or energy for dealing with that mess with a new baby. Indy lived in onesies for the first couple months and they're still our daily staple. Plus, they're hella cheap so if there's a bad blow out just toss 'em. You'll probably get a million at your baby shower. 

Knee high socks: Indiana is a maniac. She's a wiggler and a kicker and has been since she was in my belly. Blankets get kicked off, as do little socks. Those little crew socks are super cute, but impractical. We bought a pack of long over the knee socks on Amazon and they're the best. Homegirl can't get them off! She wore them pretty much everyday when it was cooler, and even now sometimes in the mornings. And they're SO CUTE.

Lullago: This is what we use instead of a bassinet in our room. It's a fold up travel crib, so it doubles as a crib on the go! We love it. There are similar ones by other brands but this is what we got. It's bigger than a traditional basinet so I think you'd get a little more mileage out of it.

Rocking chair/glider: I almost went without. Just because we didn't have much space and they were a little pricy. That would have been a mistake. But my mom bought us a glider at the last minute and SAVED US. Like we got it the day I went into labor, it was close. Since day one I have used the hell out of that thing. I love it. My cats love it. Indy loves it. It's her calm place. We rock, a lot.

Swaddle Me's: I suuuck at swaddling with a blanket and Indiana is, as previously mentioned, a wiggle worm so she's been busting out of traditional swaddles since the her debut at the hospital. We were gifted the Swaddle Me's by a friend and they are a life saver!! Praise Velcro. So much easier and it helps her sleep. I'm dreading the day we have to stop swaddling her. Which will be very soon.

Humidifier: Maybe because Indy was born during the winter, but dang she'd get crazy boogers. So we got a humidifier and it's actually a pretty good white noise machine too, haha. And I think it helped my snot situation too.

One million burp cloths: I mean, duh. But seriously. Keep them everywhere. Because spit up happens, everywhere. I prefer the big flannel ones to those little narrow things. We ended up buying an extra pack. Bonus, Indiana likes to hold/chew on them soooo they're like a toy too! ;)

Boppy: Okay everyone swears by these for nursing but I didn't really use it until I started propping Indy up on it. We only used it for nursing a handful of times. It was just awkward with my body? I don't know maybe I was using it wrong. I liked just having her in my arms/on my tummy. But we chill together on the couch with the Boppy everyday. She sits in it while we play or I read to her. Plus it helps with tummy time. It's also a good head rest for grown ups and a decent cat bed.

Colorful wall art: Random, but for real. I put some vintage Disney posters above her changing table and homegirl LOVES them. She smiles and talks at them like crazy. We joke that she's in love with Peter Pan because seriously... that poster makes her so happy. Jungle Book too. When she's fussy sometimes I just let her stare at them. Baby rooms are so often all pastel everything but I swear, she looooves bright colored stuff! I made this rainbow felt star garland for her room that she is also very into staring at. Staring at stuff is her favorite.

Sling/soft carrier: I HATE carrying the car seat. I have zero upper body strength, and that sucker is heavy. Plus she's not nuts about hanging out in it when she could be out looking at the world. Thus I'm a big fan of baby wearing. We registered for an Ergo structured carrier, but Indy just sorta disappeared in it even with the infant insert when she was little bitty. So after she was born we ended up getting a ring sling and I loved it. Sooo easy and handy. We kept it in our diaper bag and we used that thing all the time. It's the only way we survived at HEB. Now that she's bigger (heavier) and even more wigglier, the Ergo works better than the sling. She tends to wiggle her way out of the sling, but there's no way she can escape the Ergo. I think a wrap would be a good medium between the two but we haven't tried one; I'm intimidated the actual wrapping part. But I highly recommend a sling for a newborn! And they make them in so many pretty colors and fabrics. Mine is linen but there are some silks out there... Woo!

Backpack diaper bag: I am not into diaper bags. They generally scream "diaper bag". So I found a backpack diaper bag that looks pretty much like a backpack. It's huge, and has a zillion pockets and all the diaper bag bells and whistles. And I tried to get one that was gender neutral so Brendon could carry it and not feel silly, but he says it's still girly. I think it's pretty chill. But the important part here is backpack. Hands freeee! Which is super nice and extra important when you're flying solo.

Nursing bras (I'm a fan of the Cake brand), tanks, pads: In a bigger size than you think! I had nursing bras ready to roll but my boobs got SO BIG when my milk came in that they didn't fit. We had to make an emergency target run after Indy was born. The emergency bras I got are now too big, but man, when your milk comes in you do NOT want restriction. You want those puppies to be free. But also not to leak milk everywhere so stock up on pads. They make reusable ones! Also nursing tanks are cool, I like to sleep in them. And when Indy was a newborn I lived in them. I wear normal shirts during the day now but at night it's easier to sleep in a tank. Just bust that boob out. ;)

Netflix: Mostly joking but seriously. Stock up on things to watch. Hunker down on the couch or in bed with your little one and binge. I swear all we did for the first two months was watch tv while Indiana snoozed on my chest. It was so good. A happy blurry daze of cuddles and sleep deprivation. Those days are gone. I'll get a few episodes of Gilmore Girls in during her afternoon nap but we spend a lot of time playing (aka me trying to entertain her) now. Which is awesome! Watching her learn and play is insane and so fun. But I do miss those lazy Netflix days. TAKE ADVANTAGE. Soak it in. Don't feel guilty, just bond with your baby and rest rest rest! Seriously!

I hope this was helpful, if you're expecting. Or thinking of one day expecting. I think there should also be a list of "things you don't need" because baby stuff man... you can go overboard. But I think we were pretty minimal on our registry so we haven't had too much unused stuff. There were some outfits she never wore. And Indiana has a million toys. But I guess eventually she'll play with them. (Am I the only one bothered by all that obnoxious bright plastic? I guess that's what babies are into?) Anyway, don't register for clothes or toys because you'll get them, by the truckload.