Tales from the Mommy Trenches

I Might Have a Bonnet Problem

You already knew this, I’m sure.

Rhea is 11 months old! Cue the obligatory wailing and gnashing of teeth. She has almost completely weaned herself, which is leading to actual wailing and gnashing of teeth. On my part. I had this beautiful vision in my head of breastfeeding a plump toddler, Cassatt painting-style, and my hopes have been dashed. Well, you know what they say: we make plans and our toddlers laugh. Does anyone say that? I know I do.

Anyway, I’m going to do something different for her 11 month post. Instead of telling you all of her milestones (for example, she is pulling up to stand, and can say “ball” and shake her head for “no” and nod her head for “yes”, yada yada yada), I’m going to spare you all of those boring details and launch into a boring post of all of the bonnets she has worn throughout her 11 short months outside the womb. My darling friend Sarah suggested it. She lives in Australia, has seven gorgeous blonde children, and definitely needs a blog. I need another way to stalk her. Bring on the bonnets! read more

The Ultimate Spring Romper Roundup

Ok, so this post is going to be divided into two sections: 1) the rompers that are suitable only for pinning onto Pinterest for most of us, but that I would highly recommend if you are blessed with a sizable children’s clothing allowance; and 2) affordable but also really cute rompers for the rest of us.

Sorry for all of the annoying links in this post, but I am not affiliated with or sponsored by any of these shops (looking at my blog, that is pretty obvious), and as such I have no rights to their pictures. read more

The Easter Outfits and Haps

Happy Easter, dear readers!! Death, where is thy sting?!

We did not go to the Easter Vigil this year, but instead opted for the ER at the nearby children’s hospital. In the rush to get up the stairs for baths/bed, Wren got knocked down and smashed her two front teeth on the stairs. After Scott finally managed to mop up the copious amounts of blood spurting out of her mouth, he determined that her teeth were messed up and an ER trip would be needed. So I threw on her shoes and mine, put a rag up against her mouth, and headed for the ER. We both arrived with blood stains all over our shirts, which I was hoping would expedite our wait a bit, but no such luck. It was determined that even though her two front teeth looked pushed back a good bit, they weren’t in any danger of falling out . . . . yet. Apparently, her teeth could die and fall out later. It would give her a roguish look, for sure. I’m sure she could pull it off. Anyway, we have to go to the dentist as soon as possible to see if her adult teeth sustained any damage. They also said that her heart issue complicates things a bit and put her on antibiotics just in case the blood loss causes an infection. Wren seems fine, but Scott and I are still pretty traumatized from the whole incident. I will spare you a picture of it, because quite frankly I can’t even look at those teeth without getting queasy. read more

Rhea is 10 Months old and officially my oldest breastfed baby

So I missed the What I Wore Sunday linkup this week because we had to go to Palm Sunday Mass on Saturday and my parents weren’t with us to take the picture. That is my excuse and I’m sticking to it. Happy Holy Week!

Rhea turned 10 months on Saturday! This is a big milestone for both of us because 1) I’m not pregnant again yet (that I know of), and 2) since I’m not pregnant, my supply hasn’t died and we are still nursing! I must say, it is pretty nice not to have to shell out the big bucks on formula this time around. I do have a question for you nursing mamas, though. Since I have never nursed a baby this long, I don’t know what is normal. She has a nice long morning nurse when she first wakes up and sometimes a good nurse at night (but not always), but I cannot seem to get her interested in the two nursing sessions during the day before lunch and dinner. She just latches, then unlatches over and over again during those sessions without actually nursing for longer than five minutes and then refusing to continue. Is that normal at ten months old? She eats a lot of solids at this point, so I figured that maybe it was normal to only have two good nurses a day instead of four. But I was getting worried that she wasn’t getting enough to drink during the day, so she has been getting sippies with water during meals. read more

What the Bass Girls Wore this Sunday

On this week’s episode of “What We Wore Sunday”

I told Ruthie she couldn’t squat for the picture. Scott was off to get the van because he had to park a few miles away. The coffee and donut crowd from the 10 am Mass was being quite leisurely (I guess they were suffering from a Daylight Savings Time hangover too) and there was not a spot to be had in the parking lot for the 11:30 am Mass.

Ruthie: Headband is from Janie and Jack, dress is from Gap, and sandals are Salties. read more

My Love/Hate Relationship with the Rock n Play

I had been coveting the sought-after rock n play ever since before Ruth was born and my sister in law brought theirs over to put my nephew in while they were visiting. But for some reason, I never got around to buying one. Colicky Ruth lived in the accursed battery powered baby swing that we had to keep resetting whenever it automatically stopped after 45 minutes. Let me tell you, sleeping in 45 minute increments might possibly be worse than not sleeping at all. I kid! I kid! Maybe. Rose and Wren were easy babies and were quite content in the Moses basket, and transitioned easily to cribs at an early age. read more

What we Wore Sunday and a Prayer Request

They tell me it is Sunday again. I’m not sure where the rest of the week went, but here I am, staring down the barrel at yet another Monday. Here is what we wore to Mass this week on this glorious day.

Ruth: Dress is from Alice and Ames. You can find it here. It has a full twirly skirt that she enjoyed twirling around in all day. Her shoes were a gift from my mom.

Rose: Bow is from Free Babes Handmade. (Here is an insider tip: if you just google “free babes”, you won’t find any bows, but you will squawk in dismay and cover your iPad screen with your hands while frantically hitting the “back” button. Not that that happened to me or anything.) Dress was a gift from my grandmother that she purchased here. (This is an Amazon affiliate link. If you end up purchasing anything using that link, I receive a few pennies to help support the blog.) Sandals are Saltwater Sandals. Hooray for sandal weather! read more

What We Wore Sunday

The delightful Rosie from A Blog for my Mom is very kindly hosting a What We Wore Sunday linkup, and I thought it would be fun to join in and post a few pics from what we wore today. (Just FYI, Scott dresses all of the girls but Rhea for church every Sunday. He does a good job!)

Ruth: Smocked dress was a gift, tights are from Carters, and the shoes were a gift.

Rose: Hair bow is from Free Babes Handmade, dress is Gap, tights are Carters, shoes were a gift.

Wren: Sweater is from Carters, dress is Gap, tights are Carters, shoes are from Nordstrom. read more

9 months in, 9 months out

Rhea-bae is nine months old today. Cue predictable mommy tears and disbelief.

My sister says I should hire her out for baby therapy, because holding her placid, warm, chubby body is very therapeutic. She might be onto something there. Whether Rhea is on your hip or in your lap, her closeness is very soothing. She is just so sweet and unflappable.

Milestones: She still favors army crawling to crawling up on all fours, but she keeps assuming the crawling position and rocking on all fours like she is considering it. I am 99% certain she is referring to me when she says “mama.” She usually says it plaintively, which is my main indicator. She is babbling up a storm these days. She is finally sleeping through the night every night!!! However, it is in her rock n play. I have given up on the room sharing experiment for now, and am relishing sleeping all night long. She has graduated to group baths with the other three girls. It is a sight to behold, but she can hold her own. She eats her solids like a champ, and eats whatever we eat. The only baby food she receives is in the form of pouches that she can squeeze herself. SHE IS FINALLY DRINKING OUT OF A BOTTLE! I casually offered her one during one evening that she was staying with my parents before Scott and I went on our Valentine’s date and she guzzled the whole thing down like it was NBD. All prior attempts had ended in disaster. Babies mess with your mind, man. She can go from laying down to sitting up by doing an impressive baby sit up. She has abs of steel. She will clap, but one hand is always curled into a little fist and she also waves. read more

When Motherhood Defeats You

I broke down last night. I haven’t had a good cry in a while. To be honest, I have been too tired. You know the point where you are just too exhausted to spend any precious energy on emotions? That was the point I had reached. Unbidden, all of the emotions that had been stewing beneath the surface were unleashed in a tumultuous explosion. I felt hot tears running down my cheeks, and fled into the bedroom so that no one could see them.

I didn’t fool my husband, of course. As he sat down next to me and put his arm around me, the reason why I felt so broken in that moment came into sharp focus. read more