Apple Juice and Sippy Cups

Hello world!

It's been a month since I last wrote, but its been a fun one! Things have been going pretty smooth in the Montanez house lately. I’ve been feeling better the last few weeks. Not sure why, but I’m grateful! We decided we are moving into a bigger house. We have found two and are trying to decide between them at the moment. Oden (formally Hermes...we renamed him b/c we kept thinking herpes) has managed to find his place in the family. He still doesn’t understand how to tell me he needs to go potty though, so unfortunately I deal with way more poop than any women should on a daily basis. Not to mention Athena, who keeps eating some plant that makes her sick and for some unknown reason, she wont stop eating it! Oh yeah...and the baby is making some pretty awesome diapers lately. My questions is, why on earth do these small creatures have to go so much! It baffles me. Oden also loves to tear apart stuffed toys, so my living room often looks like a pillow exploded. Hope is finally up to date on her shots. That was not a fun trip! We went to the free clinic for this round and they are not as nice as the hospital nurses. They jabbed the needles right into her little thighs and sent me on my way with a screaming baby. I felt so bad! After a little baby tylenol and TLC she recouped pretty well. She has also learned how to use her walker. She is pretty much a pro now, which is not so fun for mommy. She loves to run around the house terrorizing the dogs! The other day I put her in the kitchen with me while I was cooking. I let her roll around so she felt like she had some freedom. While I was cleaning some dishes, she decided the trash can looked like a fun toy. She dumped it over and the contents went all over the floor! Thats not all...she then started to put the trash she could reach into her mouth! Why me? The sweetest moments in life are sometimes the funniest. Welcome to my life :) Another funny story...So, Hope had juice for the first time today! I’ve been having a hard time getting her to use her sippy cups. I didn’t understand why she didn’t like them. I thought, maybe if I put something sweet and new in them she will start using them more. I would really like to get her off the bottle because I hate cleaning them! So I put the juice in and tried sucking it out to show her how it works, and nothing came out. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get anything out! Weird, so I inspected it to make sure it was assembled correctly and tried again...still nothing! Then I realized the spout thing was never punctured! Apparently, when you first buy them, you have to poke the whole in the spout. Well, I feel pretty silly because I’ve been trying to get her to use the sippy for months and didn’t understand why she didn’t seem ready. Silly mommy...nothing was coming out. It probably just seemed like a lame toy to her.

So, here we are...time for another nap for Hope and a break for Mommy.

I hope your day turns out to be as fun as mine!

Megan

Is it wrong to laugh at this?

Motherhood

Jason is staying in Mobile overnight tonight, so I am sitting in bed alone wondering what to do. Normally I would be drifting off to Lala Land the second Hope was asleep, but when Jason is out of town, I have trouble sleeping without him. I seem to become an insomniac. Well, not quite that bad. It’s only 10:30 pm. But, I tend to stay up much later than normal...usually until my eyelids are closing without my telling them to. It’s storming outside and I can hear the wind whistle against my windows. Its an erie sound I never much liked. I would much rather it down-pour all night. I miss you Jason!

Today, I watched a movie about motherhood. Actually, It was called “Motherhood”. It was an independent film, so it was a little on the weird side, but it got me thinking. The main character, played by Uma Thurman, is a mother who used to be a popular writer. She is now the author of a daily blog about her life as a stay-at-home wife and mother. She decides to enter a writing contest for a parenting magazine. Winner gets their own column. So, she goes about her day, trying to figure out how to explain motherhood in 500 words. As a new mother, I sat their thinking, how would I explain motherhood? Whats my favorite part of the day? What are my favorite things about Hope? How has motherhood changed me as a person? If I could go back, would I do it again, knowing what I was getting into? Well, lets see what I have come up with at the end of the day.

My favorite time of day is the moment I walk into Hope’s room in the morning to get her out of bed. I call her my little sunshine, because every morning she wakes up with a smile on her face and I always think of the rising sun. Also, I’ve been singing “You are My Sunshine” to her since she was in the womb.

My favorite things about Hope: Her smile is number one on my list, especially now that her two bottom teeth stick out! She holds my hand as she falls asleep. When she is sleeping in my arms, and something startles her, she wakes up, looks for my face, and as soon as she sees me smiling at her, she falls back asleep. She likes to stand on my lap and play with my face. She will stand there poking and pulling and giggling for as long as I will let her. She is such a happy baby. Every morning I wake up to the sound of her jabbering through the monitor. Through out the day, she only stops laughing and squealing when she is hungry (makes it easy for me to know whats wrong). If you ever need a reminder that the world really is a beautiful place, come over to my house, because Hope sees something good in everything (except a hungry tummy or a lack of sleep). I love watching her play with her toys. She looks at them with these intense eyes, like she is trying to really figure them out. She pays attention to everything. I like to play with her and make voices for her stuffed animals. Every time I do, though, she looks over at me. If she doesn’t catch me moving my mouth, than she looks back at the toy and laughs her big belly laugh. But, if she catches me, she looks at me, then back and her toy, then back at me all disappointed. She is too smart for her own good. We all know there is much more I love about Hope, but I have already started rambling, so, before this post becomes a book, I will stop at this for now.

How has motherhood changed me as a person? Wow, this is a hard one. I’ll start by saying that it has changed me for the better. I never used to really care about much, meaning I floated through life, not really paying much attention. Now, I wake up every morning alert. I have a job to do and someone who is depending on me for all her needs. I have a husband who is depending on me to take care of the household while he provides for the family. I wake up with this in my mind, and it changes the way I see my day. Really, it changes the way I see my life. I think ahead and plan. I don’t always stick to the plan, but I plan! I look at my mistakes and see how I can do better next time. I’m not perfect by any means!!! But, I can say that I am honestly trying. I feel like I am finally fully awake. I feel like I am right in the middle of God’s will for me and He is helping me better myself everyday.

Yes, I had a really hard pregnancy. I had horrible morning sickness the WHOLE time (minus month seven, that was a good month), and morning sickness isn't restricted to the morning, trust me. Yes, the stress the pregnancy and birth put on my body caused me to get very sick and we still don’t know what is wrong. But would I do it again? YES! Absolutely, I would do it again! My life hasn’t been the same since I set eyes on my little sunshine. At the end of every day, when I am standing over Hope’s crib, ready to put her to bed, I say a prayer, thanking God for her. I’ve never prayed a more sincere prayer.

I love being a wife. I love being a mother. Just as I have known I would since I was a little girl.

I think tonight is the perfect night to post the pictures from Olimb Photography. Enjoy...

New Addition...Hermes

As most of you know, our mini-dachshund, Athena has taken the addition of Hope into our family pretty hard. Although she has warmed up to Hope and she seems to like her now, or at least tolerate her, she has still been jealous and lonely. We have been trying to find her a doggy friend, but after many attempts, we haven't been able to find a good match. Well, last night I decided to tag along with Andrew and Cassie to Pensacola for Sushi and puppy drooling at Petland. See, Andrew and Cassie have found this adorable puppy they want to buy, but are waiting to buy it until they move into their new house. So, they are traveling to Pensacola about once a week to "eat sushi" and check on her. After meeting their cute Toto dog, I decided to bring Hope around to see the rest of the puppies. She loved it and giggled every time we passed puppies roughhousing. Somewhere near the end of the row I saw a cute little mini-dachshund sleeping in a ball. Now, I know the pups at Petland are way over-priced, so I wasn't even thinking about getting him, but I was curious to see how over-priced he was. Well, turns out he was on super-clearance because he was getting to old to stay there. So, naturally I asked to hold him. After playing with him and emailing Jason a few pictures and video, we decided he was perfect. It was a long night in Petland (three hours to be exact), but well worth it. I brought our new puppy home and he fit in right away. Athena and him played until midnight and woke up early this morning to play some more. He is a perfect match.

Hermes...welcome to Team Montanez.

Date Night, Crawling, Standing Up and Pictures

Hi everyone,

I think I am officially the worst blogger in the world! I just keep forgetting about it! Haha. Well the past two weeks have been as fun as ever. I love being a mom and watching Hope grow into this beautiful, strong, smart, curious, and active little girl. As most of you know, Hope turned 6 months old on the 16th. She is growing up much faster than I would like, but I am enjoying every minute of it. Today, we went to the doctor for a check-up and she came out with flying colors! It was so funny, the doctors eyes grew huge when I told him she was already sitting up, crawling, and pulling herself up onto her feet. She will be walking and potty trained in no time! We now have the OK for a sippy cup and table food!

Aunt Cassie took Hope's 6 month photos last week, and they turned out beautiful! I don't have them available to post online yet, but when I do I will. They take my breath away. They are the kind of pictures you get lost in. They will be bringing tears to my eyes for years and years to come; probably for the rest of my life. Cassie - I can't thank you enough! Thank you for capturing the true beauty and innocence of my dear Hope.

So, Jason and I went on a date the other night! It was the first time we had gone out without Hope in months and it was wonderful! Jason made the whole night a surprise. First, he brought me to this great Irish pub that brews their own beer. Then he gave me two choices - something dangerously fun, or something innocently fun. I chose innocently fun and he brought me bowling. We used to bowl all the time when we were dating. We played 3 games and I won best out of 3! That is a really big deal because I almost never beat Jason at anything. Jason then gave me two more choices - something romantic, or something relaxing. After bowling 3 games and eating tons of irish food and beer, I chose relaxing. Jason took me to this hotel that keeps their hot tubs on all year. Yes, we put our swimsuits on and ran in 50 degree weather to the hot tub. The breeze from the ocean played with my hair as Jason and I kicked back and let the hot water work out some of the kinks in our backs. I think I chose the better of the two choices, because a hot tub is both relaxing and romantic! The whole night reminded me of when Jason and I were first dating. Thank you, Jason, for bringing me back to the fall of 2005! I'm so glad you chose me to be your forever girlfriend!

Right now I am sitting on the couch. Jason is sitting next to me finishing up some work and I am finishing up a bowl of cookies and cream ice cream...yes, some things never change. My house is kind of a mess, but it was still a good day. The laundry is almost done, the dishes are almost clean, the toys are almost put away, but the most important thing is that Hope is happily dreaming away in her bed, and Jason and I are happily signing off on another day in this wonderful life.

Thank you all for tuning in and here are some recent pictures.

My play house (not very happy in this picture)

Learning to stand
TEETH
Daddy and Me
Sitting up like a big girl...with big girl shoes

Mommy and Me

This year, Grandma and Grandpa Lewellen came down for Thanksgiving. While they were here, we had some family pictures taken...here is a peek.

Grandma and Grandpa Lewellen
Team Montanez
The whole family together for Thanksgiving! Miss you Grandma and Grandpa!

First Teeth!

Hello all my followers!

I know I have not blogged for a while. Right now, I am taking advantage of the fact that Hope is down for a nap. Have I ever mentioned that she does not nap often? She sleeps 11 - 12 hours at night, but almost none during the day. So, that doesn't leave me a lot of alone time to do things like this. Especially lately, because she has been very grumpy. I don't blame her though. Her two bottom front teeth are coming in. The poor thing has no idea why she is in pain all the time. Today I was able to feel them! So they have actually pushed all the way through the gums! I'm so proud of her. She could have been a lot worse than she was. She just wanted to be held a lot.

Life has been fun lately. We have been living the crazy holiday life of endless mashed potatoes and family gatherings. We spent about a week car shopping and finally purchased a decent car that doesn't sound like a semi truck! Hope is starting to eat solid foods. So far we have tried Applesauce, peaches, and bananas. She isn't very fond of the peaches. Her face is priceless! I was laughing so much I wasn't able to take a picture, so sorry Grandma Jeske. I'll try again. We also put her in her first pair of shoes this week. They went straight into her mouth. I'm convinced she likes them more than her teething ring! She looks so grown up in them. I have a video I will try to upload onto the blog. You are supposed to be able to, but it always takes too long for me and I lose patience.

This week I am spending cleaning my house from top to bottom! Reason number one: We had rats in our house...yes RATS!! for about a month. The stupid poison I bought took weeks to kill them! Finally we found them and got rid of them! I am so glad to not wake up to fresh rat poop in my bathroom every morning. So, now I get the hebbie jebbies thinking about how much gross stuff they left al over my floors. Reason number two: Jason's boss is coming into town next week to check out his home office and spend some time working with him (His boss works 7 hours away in tampa). We are having her over for dinner on Monday and she will be in and out for three days. Definitely a good reason to get your house in order!

So I have to mention how totally awesome my husband is! He is only 2 months into his new job and he won us a free TV in some territory competition! GO JASON! He is so dedicated to his work :) He also won the championship with his Best Buy football team! Way to go team!

Hope just woke up and is staring at me with a wide-eyed blank stare..HAHA she is so funny

And now for some pictures and hopefully some video.

To Grandmother's house we go...

Here we are, Hope and I, in Minnesota, braving the snow and freezing weather. For those of you who don't know, a huge snow storm came through the midwest this week and left 15 inches of snow in Minnesota! Let me just say that it is sooooo cold here, that I can hardly breath when I go outside. According to my i phone, it is zero degrees here, and it will be six degrees tomorrow. Fun! I have a double chocolate hot cocoa in hand and am enjoying all my Grandma's Festive Christmas decorations. I'm so excited to see my family during the holidays. I didn't think it was going to happen this year, but I recieved a surprising phone call last week from my Grandma asking if I wanted to come to the annual christmas cookie baking party, held at her home in MN and I jumped at the chance. Tomorrow my mom, sister Mel, and I are having a sleepover. We are going to watch Julie and Julia and eat tons of junk food, including the traditional mint chocolate chip ice cream. Can't wait! Then we will wake up Saturday and all us girls are getting together for some major baking! We are talking dozens and dozens of sweets! Yes, be looking for cookies in your presents this year :)

I wish Jason were here. I only left this morning and I miss him already. He stayed home to work, of course. He is doing awesome in his new job! And as far as I know, he loves it! I love having him work at home with me. It provides me with a little bit more company, compared to the very quiet house I have grown used to. I miss you hun!

Grandma and Grandpa Jeske had so much fun playing with Hope tonight. She was laughing and rolling all over the place! Here are some pics from tonight.

Late Night

Every few months, Hope goes through this weird faze where, for a week, it's really hard to get her to bed by her bedtime. Instead of her nightly ritual of bed by 10:30, she literally wants to eat for about 2 hours straight. So every night for a week I feed her and put her to bed by 10:30, but she wakes up about 2 minutes later wanting to eat again. This pattern repeats about three times until midnight when she is finally too tired to eat and I am too tired to do it all over again.

It is now midnight and I have my handy dandy baby monitor next to me, hoping she is dreaming of ponies and rainbows and not of delicious milk!

Life is going by so fast, I can't seem to get my head on straight! I officially have Celiac Disease and am off gluten FOREVER!!! (For those of you who don't know Gluten in a protein found in wheat, barley, oats, and rye) But, its not so bad. I made gluten-free pizza tonight that was amazing! I'm just happy I'm not sick all the time! But let me tell you, I wasn't this easy going a week ago. I stared at the dinner rolls the whole thanksgiving meal! Eventually they put in the freezer and finally the temptation was gone! It was hard. They smelt so wonderful...and we all know how much I love bread! So, all Thanksgiving Day and the next few days, I was having a little pity party "Why me?" boo hoo....but somehow, I'm still not sure how, I ate some gluten on Saturday. I think it was the french fries from Dairy Queen. They are supposed to be ok, but I didn't think about how they are fried with other things like onion rings. So, up until today, I have been EXTREMELY sick! I mean unable to walk straight, fever, chills/sweats sick. It was awful! Thus I am now deciding to stop feeling sorry for myself and move on because this isn't going away and no matter how much I want to cheat and eat a Pizza Hut stuffed crust pizza, it's really not worth it.

Updates on Hope...

-She is now 4 1/2 months old

-She has found her feet, but they have not made it into her mouth yet

-She rolls over like Rolly Polly

-She "scoots" herself across the floor

-For the first time, tonight she got up on all fours! I caught her twice. It was only for a second and I tried to catch it on camera, but I wasn't fast enough. Maybe next time.

-She is sleeping in her own room (tonight is the first night)

-She must have realized its her voice she is hearing because she squeals and screams as loud as she can and then giggles...sooo cute

Well I am now off to bed. No pictures this time, because my computer is acting funny and I'm too tired to figure it out.

Megan out