MOPS

wow.  can i just say—– WOW.  yesterday was SUCH a good day for jovie!  it amazes me sometimes.

i was chatting with my bff becky & i said “brb.  it’s naptime.  give me 5min” & that statement alone set me back!  a year ago— i would’ve had to say  “brb. it’s naptime.  give me 2 hours”  and i wouldn’t have been joking.

so as much as i hatehatehate that she is growing up so much, there are definite advantages.  & The Mr. likes to point out all the time what a happy baby jovie is.  and how we cannot freakin’ believe that we would ever have uttered that statement about our child.

jovie has always been somewhat of a surprise to us.  we truly had no idea that babies could behave that way.  she came out of the womb unhappy.  and stayed in that place for much longer than was necessary.  so we learned early on to ease her into things.  and test the waters to get her used to things (ie: car rides to the neighborhood salary-drainer Publix*).

i’ve mentioned a few times before that she has surprised us.  she handled the Callaway trip well.  Her first pool experience was really great.  & she did fantastic for Gramma & Grampa when they watched her while we went to the Hawks game.

that was one of very few times that anyone has even babysat jovie while she was awake.  each and every time she’s been awake and left alone, g’ma & g’pa were the ones she was with.  and i think it’s mostly been a quick trip to the grocery store once or twice.

i have been apart from her very little in her 13almost14ohnoway months.  twice for 4.5 hours, a coupla times for 2-3 hours.  that’s it.

so imagine my trepidation when i decided to try & join a program called MOPS.  The Mr. is hoping that its a program that will help me learn how to want to use a mop.  unfortunately for him, MOPS is an acronym for “mothers of pre-schoolers”.  if you haven’t heard of it, it’s a playdate- for mommies.  for 2+ hours while i’m upstairs enjoying a brunch and chatting w/ other ladies, listening to guest-speakers, or doing crafts, the kids are downstairs in a daycare like setting having their own version of playtime & fun.

sounds great! right??

yesterday, they had a registration/open house.  i’ve been a little nervous about it since i found out about it.  b/c i learned that at this open house,  jovie would be dropped off in a classroom.  without me.  with other kids her age.  without dad.  in the hands/eyes of a stranger. who’s not gramma or grampa.  during what should be naptime.  without her crib. 

and before you start tsking me… i’d like to clarify that my nervousness was not about my leaving her.  nor was it really about her leaving me.  i’m not your typical mom.  my boobs don’t ache when i leave her/ hear her cry.  the fact that we haven’t been separated much has more to do with the fact that The Mr. & i aren’t comfortable making someone else deal with her when she starts nutting up.  (thanks to our friends kenny & amy for that fun term)

so my nervousness was about making the workers in the room have to deal with her.  when she’s REALLY upset, it’s hard for us even to settle her down.  nevermind being in a room w/ other babies- who, let’s face it, all glom onto other kids’ emotions.  i did NOT want a volcanic eruption of screams to boil out of that classroom.

right before i was going to leave (did i say it was during naptime, by the way….  oh, and she decided to wake up AN HOUR EARLIER THAN NORMAL yesterday!  so that just meant that naptime should’ve been much earlier) i called The Mr. who was out of town and i seriously considered the fact that it’s not fair to the other kids!   i didn’t want her to be the cause of what could be a crappy day for everyone.

but, still- i knew it was the best situation for her.  unfortunately, in spite of her nap schdule.  but she obviously needs to get away from me.  and be with kids her own age.  and learn to be w/ strangers.

it’s a really cool setup at MOPS. a real big production.  & they have beepers and badges for the mom/kids.  i knew i’d get paged if there was a need.  in any case, i went & decided that if she got to be too bad, we’d just leave.  and try again the next time. 

but (please don’t jinx it please don’t jinx it) she did FANTASTIC.  i put her down to play.  i walked over to her cubby, and she saw me and crawled towards me.  not crying, just loving.  so i grabbed her and kissed her.  and walked her back to the toys.  and i left.  and she didn’t care!

as far as i know, she only cried when someone took a toy away from her.  i went to get her and she just finished eating snack AT A TABLE.  a table!  my baby’s eating at a table!!

and, just WOW.

so we now have something scheduled the 1st & 3rd thursdays of the month.  i hope they all go well.    you know, i’m starting to wonder- if DAD brought her, would she’ve cared then??

*about Publix, The Mr. no longer gripes when he sees all the receipts for that place while we do our budget.  in fact, he is considering getting his paycheck direct-deposited there.  State Taxes, Federal Taxes, 401k, Publix….   there is a category for that, isn’t there?

title: picture that mommy posted so she doesn't get yelled at for not posting a picture even though this isn't at all about MOPS.

she looks like a million bucks

so, i’m thinkin.  if HE *can earn a million with this look, why can’t SHE??

sadly, i did not take this picture of him... it was on hollywoodgrind.com

surely someone would pay me lots to sit here and be cute, too!

 * many thanks to zac efron for letting me steal his picture unbeknownst to him!

13

so 13 months came and went on sunday.  i said repeatedly how i needed to post.  to commemorate the number 13 of course.  but as you see, i didn’t.

as i mentioned in a recent post, i’m likely not going to go around and tell everyone that jovie’s 13mos old.  i’ll just say a year.  but still- 13 is kinda special.

here are some random goings-on:

1. just this morning she decided she knew how to crawl down the stairs.  & successfully did 4 of them on her own- i wasn’t even prompting her.  in fact, it’s been over a week since i tried to guide her down the last time.  guess she figured out now that it’s the same as getting down from furniture….
2. which she does ALL. DAY. LONG.  she’ll crawl to the window and stand up. and crawl to the couch and stand up. and crawl to the chair and stand up.  and crawl to the ottoman (aka baby gate) and stand up. 
3. she LOVES music.  when we sing to her, when we play it, when there’s a musical chime like if we reboot or something.  she’ll stop what she’s doing, give a little wiggle & a smile, and be on her merry way.
4. she is starting to cruise ever so slightly.  especially to get to the computer at one end of the couch.  she did better before she knew how to get down from the couch…. but now she knows it’s much quicker to crawl under my legs and stand up again to get to it.
5. yesterday she began to let go w/ one hand while standing up on me and/or the couch.
6. her bangs are ridiculously long.  too bad i can’t keep her cute all day long with a barette….
7. because she’ll eat it.  truly- she ate her barette!  so for the last month, we are probably more diligent than we need to be- but man, that was crazy!  she seriously ate that thing w/o any problem or our knowledge.  she was in the backseat while The Mr. was taking her to the park.  in less than 5 min. he noticed it was gone.  surely she didn’t eat it. not that quickly nor silently.  we tore the car apart several times.  just to be sure.  well, a few days later….. it was confirmed. so now she can’t wear one when she naps or rides in the car.  oy vey!
8. and now i see how easy it is. b/c she swallows a lot of her food whole too!  especially the yummy stuff.  (baby raviolis that i still have to quarter, veggie puffs from gerber that i have to break in half, etc…)  
9. she finally began to suck from the sippy cup spout.  i wish i had any kind of mechanical knowledge so i can invent the sippy cup that lets one or 2 drops out and that’s it.  b/c she’s been sucking it for quite a long time.  but every time i’ve tried the plug, if she wasn’t getting any, she didn’t know to suck.  so when i show her how to do it and start sucking in my cheeks, she just gives me her adorable goofy grin and laughs.  we’re still working on doing this more consistently.
10. recently she has taken to some links that she has.  you can usually find her crawling around with one in each hand.
11. after waiting for about a month for that tooth to finally poke thru, she now has an even set of teeth.  4 up top and 2 on bottom.  complete with spaces. 
12. it’s easy to get her to giggle these days, and i do it often.  it’s so adorable & surprisingly quiet.  i know she can be quite loud.  in her voice, and of course her cries/screams!  (she has never had that cute newborn cry). 
13. yesterday she ate PIZZA for supper!   did y’all hear me??  (unfortunately, it was “light on the sauce”- so i hope next time she’ll also enjoy it).

so now that she’s as old as she is, i just don’t ever think to have the camera poised on her so often.  all i have is video of the pizza.  i didn’t grab my camera. 

but here are a few recent shots of her, her rings, and her mess of hair!