A day in the Life of Mommy and 13m old Xia Bliss

I don't post as often as I should, nor do I document little things here and there that I should. I think of great post as I'm in the middle of laundry or raking leaves, or even at 11pm when I'm in bed - not great blogging times!

Well, it's taken all of 13 months for us to get into a routine that we both can work with and enjoy. I am taken back that little Xia Bliss is already 13 months old (March 3rd). She is such a big girl full of personality and fun, and growing by leaps and bounds! I love you, my darling dear!

So here's an average day in the life of Mommy and Xia...

She wakes up between 7-8am and I take her straight into the kitchen for a breakfast of either oatmeal - plain or w/yogurt, or scrambled eggs. She loves both meals equally! On Sunday mornings, I try and make banana, blueberry pancakes - she can eat 1-2 pancakes!

We then transition to the living room for her favorite HBO shows - A Little Curious and I Spy. This gives me time to clean the kitchen, shower, and/or get ready for our morning jogs (MWF). About once a week her grandparents (Oscar's parents) come over and watch her for a few hours so I can go to the office and get some work done. One morning a week, we go do errands - namely HEB shopping! She is a good errand runner with Mommy. She is a angel in HEB! Probably because she gets so much attention:)

When snack time rolls around, I give her fruit (oranges and bananas are her absolute favorite right now!), and maybe some cheerios. I also offer her milk (half plain and half strawberry as she won't drink whole milk by itself yet). Then I engage her in more play time. She plays so well in our living room. She has a kitchen with a telephone that she talks on! She cooks with the pots and pans and offers us the food pieces. We play tea party with her new tea set! I pour her tea and she pretends to drink it. I just can't get enough of our tea parties together! She got a new tunnel for her birthday that keeps her occupied. We use it to play pee-a-boo. She has LOTS of books that she likes to sit down and look at. Sometimes I leave the toy box open and let her take out each toy one at a time. She finds it so amusing! I read to her and she loves to turn the pages. We listen to music and dance. This girl LOVES to dance! She will dance to anything! We crack up so hard when she dances:)

Sometimes she goes down before lunch time and sometimes after lunch. Lately for her mid day meal I've been feeding her quesadillas - whole grain tortillas and colby jack cheese. She LOVES this meal! She eats beans, rice, potato salad, left overs, really, just about anything. I guess my baby girl loves food in general! She naps around 2 hours. I play classical/instrumental music for her before and about 20 mins into her nap. She seems to enjoy it and it helps her relax.

Her new thing is her non-verbal communication. She shakes her head no and most recently yes. It really helps things. She throws food down on the floor less often. She lets me know if she wants more of the same thing or something different, or if she is done just with her head shake. It's so cute and it helps Oscar and I understand her. Other times, it doesn't matter if she shakes her head no, like when we're getting into the car seat or the stroller...she will start crying and shake her head no!!! It's cute and sad all at the same time:)

Afternoons are so much fun! We have another snack when she wakes up - usually her veggie drink that she slurps right down! I just blend veggies together since she hasn't been eating them alone (unless it's corn or sweet potatoes or now even broccoli with cheese - yay!). We either play inside and maybe do laundry or other chores, or I take her to the park to swing and play, or we go to our neighbors- Jo's to play and visit, or we go outside to do yard work. I's been so lovely outside lately we can't just stay inside. Our latest outside project has been raking leaves. I put her in the stroller near to where I'm raking or bagging leaves and get busy for about an hour. She likes to use this time to loudly vocalize her deepest thoughts and feelings! Perfect since the wind is blowing and the middle school students across the street are equally as noisy. I'll even dance a little jig and sing one of her favorite songs from A Little Curious if she starts getting fussy. It usually buys me an extra 20 mins! I can only imagine what the neighbors are thinking or the cars that drive by... hey, it's all in the name of peace and chores! After wards, we start on dinner and wait for daddy to get home so he can play with her:)

After dinner, it's bath time and sometimes we let her stay up a bit and play before we put her down (bwtn 7-8pm). Although if we're out at a friends home, she's a tropper and stays up later. Since she's been weaned, we feed her yogurt before she goes to bed so she has something in her tummy.

She does so many cute things now. It's hard to name them all. She started blowing her nose on her own and will even "blow" when we're wiping her nose! She's said a few words here and there like "ba" for bath, "no" - only once, "papa" for Oscar. She said "mama" for about two weeks last year and hasn't said it since. She's also stopped saying "dada". I'm waiting for her to call me by name - "mama":) It will be a special day:)

Mothers Day Out starts June 6th. She'll go 3 days a week - Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursdays, 9am-3pm. On the off days, I plan to take her to the zoo, play at the park, and have Xia days. I think it will alleviate some of the daily pressure and stress off of me. I'll work from home, do errands and house work the days she'll be gone to "school" and the days she's home will be all for Xia and Mommy! Of course that's the plan and sometimes plans change. I get sad sometimes thinking about being away from Xia for three days in a row, but I know that I'll get use to it. I also know that it's important for Xia to be around other children. She likes the church nursery, so I'm sure she'll get a long just fine when she goes to MDO.