Going private

So, in the interest of posting what I want, when I want I am taking Frog E. Mama private. This means that I will post a whole lot more about our day to day lives because I don't have to worry if the weirdo around the corner (figuratively) is reading and keeping tabs of our comings and goings.

If I have forgotten anyone, please let me know so that I can add them as readers.

Another fun bonus, I will now feel comfortable linking to my friends sites because I know that no weirdos will find them from this site. :)

Frog E. Luv will remain public.

Madelyn's new toy

This is Madelyn's newest and greatest toy. She loves it even though it caused a few spills last night, she decided that crawling on her knees behind it is a great idea when you're tired.

Sneaky sneaky

Madelyn has to be one of the sneakiest babies I have ever met, she is learning quickly what she can and cannot do and since she is just 9 months, she still does the things she's not supposed to do.

The other night she licked the TV. We are working on not licking everything and she knows the TV is off limits because as soon as she did it I said "No Ma'am" and she put her hand over the wet spot and then looked at me like she wasn't doing anything wrong.

Yesterday she climbed onto the landing and started up the stairs, I was right behind her but she didn't see me. She is very good at climbing stairs (unfortunately, new baby gate here we come) and had made it up 4 of them before turning around. When she saw me she grinned and I asked where she was going and she waved "bye bye" and turned to start back up them.

Today she was trying to pull books off the bookshelf and I was telling her "No Ma'am" and she would stop, look at me, and start playing with one of her toys. At one point she did pull out a book, looked at me with an "Oh crap" look and tried her hardest to put the book back in it's place.

Back to her obsession with licking everything, she will distract you and slowly get her mouth on whatever it is that needs licking. She tricked Andrea and I both the other night by holding her toy over the edge of the highchair like she was going to drop it...the whole time she was focused on licking the table.

She is a total mess and every day is an adventure. I wouldn't have it any other way!

Schedules

I love having company, but I hate what it does to mine and Madelyns schedule / groove. I feel like we get out of synch and that I also look like a lazy bum. When we have company we tend to spend more time at home, more time playing on the floor listening to music or watching some kids show. Madelyn plays better if she has background noise, almost like she doesn't get bored as easily because there's always something changing. I tend to back off of my normal time with her to allow the "company" an opportunity to play with her a little more. I don't want to be the mom that hovers, but maybe it comes across that I am too slack, that I don't do enough. I let Madelyn explore and discover new things on her own terms. I don't confine her, I don't prevent every little bump she's going to get. She has to learn somehow.

Our normal day is packed full of activity, ever week day we have something going on out of the house. The weekends are our time to veg out with Chris.

I hate feeling like I have to defend myself as a mom, that I am constantly being judged by visiters to our home. I feel like I can't be myself because every choice is called into question. I guess I know that is how motherhood is, everyone plays backseat driver to your parenting. It sucks.

Just because I make different choices that some do doesn't make them better than me, it doesn't make me better than them. I make the choices that are best for my family, for my daughter and lastly for myself.

I guess I just need to not alter my life when company comes to town and just let them hang on for the ride.

9 months

Hey baby girl!

Wow. I don't know where to start, this month you have really taken off and we've been going non-stop! I think an easier approach to this letter would be to talk about the things you haven't done. You did not cure cancer, you did not run a marathon, and you did not make me a grandparent. There. Happy 9 months!

At some point this month you stopped being a baby and turned into a little person, I swear I woke up one morning and you were just a person. You chatter all the time, pull up on everything and your personality is more present than ever. I love our days together, although now that you can voice an opinion I am getting a little tired of the constant complaining you do if I am not within 5 feet of you. No longer is seeing me enough, you have to be arms length of me...unless you don't want to be and then you crawl across the room full speed only to complain if I move from where you left me.

You finally have enough hair for me to put bows in and I have been doing so full force. I don't care that it's barely enough hair to even consider hair, I've got a bow in it.

You think that sitting down is over rated and you have to STAND on everything! You are a climber, standing on your toys in the pack n play to make yourself taller, climbing over my legs again and again just for fun.

You want everything that you aren't supposed to have and the art of distraction just doesn't work on you. Oh, you might humor me for 5 minutes, but as soon as I think you're properly distracted, you go right back after that thing you had to have. If you still don't get it, you cry. I have vowed that you will not win these little battles of will and so far I haven't given in. But you are wearing me down and wearing my nerves thin with your grunting and whining. Don't get me wrong, I know there is a valid reason for the whining...it's usually that I am cooking dinner or looking at you.

I live for the moments when you hug me, when you grab my face and mash your open mouth all over it. In these moments I feel that you understand love, that you understand what an expression of love is and that proves that even though I might make mistakes, I am a good mom.

I love you,

Momma