THE GREEN(wald) HOUSE … (growing rosemary & raising a little wolf)

well, today is the first day of getting this site up and running - I have just finished copying and pasting several posts that I had put on the Mothering.com discussion boards keeping track on my pregnancy and rosie’s birth and her first few months of life. I hope to keep this site up as a way to record all of my precious daughers (and my) memories of these years that I know will go by only too fast. I hope when she reads it later on in life she doesn’t think her mom is too much of a dork…
Also, I thought this would be a good way to keep family and friends informed on what is going on in our lives - so I hope anyone who reads this will enjoy it. Also, please don’t take anything personally if I make fun of or vent on any friends or family members - I love you all.

I try not to compare - but everyone else’s babies seem to be getting teeth now - I hope Rosie’s come in soon - she has still been chewing hard on everything - her hands and my hands mostly. She has been sitting up for longer periods of time and seems to be getting the hang of it - we have a bunch of new obnoxious plastic toys she got for christmas/hanukkah presents - I kind of wish they weren’t plastic - but when putting them together - I thought they were kinda cool (they are all music related cuz ofr mine and joe’s connection with music) - I am going to try to limit plastic from now on and request wooden/natural toys for upcoming birthday and holiday gifts - anyhow - these new toys seem to help to keep her focus in front of her face while she is playing and sitting up - so she doesn’t lean and fall over as much.
Right now Rosie is going to town on her jumparoo - it is her favorite thing - she jumps so hard I am afraid sometimes she will break it - she is laughing so loud it is so cute - she wants to spend so much time in there -and common sense tells me to limit it - but even when she is just sitting on my lap - she pushes up to a standing position and bends her knees and tries to “jump” on my lap - I use my arms to help her and lift her up and down - but my arms can only take so much of a workout - so back in the jumparoo she goes… I am sure this phase will only last a while longer - so I will indulge her while it is something she really loves…
We are both fighting a bit of a cold - hopefully this is the last day - I have been taking tons of vitamin c and garlic and it seems to be working - Rosie had a bit of a stuffy/runny nose too and I squirted some breastmilk in her nose (and all over her face) and it cleared it right up!
We had a great time in Florida with my family - it was chilly weather for them (65-70) and a bit cloudy but WAY nicer than our weather at home so we were happy - even if we didn’t make it to the beach - my mom had her pool super heated so it was like bath water so we swam in there and Rosie loves the water (maybe because she was born in it?) and splashes and kicks and giggles…she looks like she is trying to swim!
As far as starting solids - I made some extra mashed sweet potatoes at x-mas dinner (without butter or sugar) and kept them to the side with the intention of giving a little to Rosie if she looked interested - but she was too distracted with all the people around - so we haven’t started any tasting of foods yet - but I think we probably will soon - she is fascinated with watching us eat - maybe I will buy some avocado this week just to have some on hand in case…
She has started grabbing my boob with both hands while nursing and squeezing and pulling her head back to stretch my nipple WAY out - not fun! Another thing she has been doing is squealing a very loud high pitched scream - not because she is upset or anything - just to try out her voice - she always looks surprised or impressed when these sounds come out of her mouth - so funny!

Teething - I hope Rosie is getting close to cutting teeth - she has been REALLY cranky and drooling tons and chewing HARD on my hands and her hands and whatever else she can get a hold of… I hope this stage doesn’t last too long!

She has also been very interested in my eating and is grabbing at things on the table - but I don’t know if it is because she wants to EAT the food - Or just grab it…I think it is more she just is interested in grabbing new things - hmm - it is definitely something to keep my eye on…

I am already getting worried for when Rosie grows out of her swing - it is one of the only ways she gets a good long nap - either the swing - the car- or on mommy - sometimes she will go as long as 3 hours for a nap in the swing!

Speaking of naps - there is no schedule here - I can tell when she gets tired and fussy and I try to nurse/rock/bounce her to sleep then - she will nap in the car or in the swing or I have to hold her (or lay her in my bed and lie next to her so she can feel my body against hers) otherwise the nap will maybe last 15-30 min at the most - sometimes if we are out - she gets several short naps - when we are home she usually naps for an hour in the morning - sometimes 2-3 hours in the swing in the afternoon - and a couple short 30min naps until around 8-9pm when I have been trying to put her to bed.

Only 3 more days to go in the cold weather before we go to Florida for a week!!! I am soo excited for some warm weather - especially since we got about 8-9 inches of snow yesterday! I am going to go outside in a bit and build a snowman and take some photos of Rosie in the snow!

I have an appointment to get my hair cut today - and I have to admit I am nervous - I have had the same long hairstyle for the last 6 years and I am excited for a change but I am afraid I won’t like it or it won’t look good - I am not going too drastic - just cut to about shoulder length (just out of reach of grabby hands when we are nursing).

Today is my niece’s 2nd birthday - Happy B-day Ella!

Rosie had a great time watching her mama shovel snow this morning! We got about 6 inches last night and since joe is out of town - I decided to get it out of the way in case I decide to leave the house today (not likely). It was beautiful and sunny so I bundled her up really warm and dragged the jumparoo out to the garage - so she was sheltered from the wind - but the sun was hitting her face - and she LOVED it - she was jumping like crazy and cooing and giggling - it was so cute - a couple neighbors came out and commented on how adorable she was - luckily it was light, fluffy snow and didn’t take too long cuz I was worried about keeping her out in the cold - but she was fine and warm when we went inside - only her cheeks and nose were a little pink and cold…

I just moved the baby bucket out and installed the new (well, hand me down) Britax Roundabout yesterday - I am kinda bummed to not be able to carry a sleeping baby in a carseat inside - but it was getting too tight and heavy and I can tell Rosie really likes the new seat - she is less “scrunched” in there and she sits up taller and can see more. Plus, I got a really cute cover from someone off of ebay - so the seat looks brand new!

Rosie has been exploring my mouth - she loves it when I kiss or play bite her hands and fingers. She is definitely getting a sense of humor - Joe was playing with her yesterday and she kept kicking up at his face and finally when he helped her to connect and kick him in the head she started cracking up - so now they have a new game - kick daddy in the head - and she thinks it is hilarious!

We are struggling with the leave the baby/won’t take a bottle situation a little- I had a work meeting on Saturday that had me gone for almost 3 hours and I expressed 3-4 oz in a bottle for Joe and he said she was fussy and crying and wouldn’t take the bottle - until about 10 min before I got home - so I guess if she is hungry enough - she will take it! I hate that she was crying and fussy - but maybe next time she will take the bottle more easily - hmm - it’s such a hard situation…

Rosie has found her thumbs and chews on them constantly - with her fingers splayed out wide so you can hardly see her face. She hasn’t worked much more on sitting up - can still only go a min or 2 before she leans and falls over - she really prefers to stand while holding on to my fingers and yesterday morning she started to lift her knees up and try to take steps! She always wants constant movement and gets bored and fussy really easily these days - which exhausts her mama!

We got our tree up last weekend - a huge 12 footer! and of course once we had it all up and decorated - half the lights burnt out! arg! We are waiting to take a cute pic of Rosie all dreassed up in front of it for our holiday cards.

I still think Rosie is reverse cycling a bit- she gets so easily distracted during the day - I’m lucky if she will nurse for 5 min - then she seems to want to be latched on all night long - I’m hoping she will grow out of this - or else I am going to have to nurse her in a dark room during the day…

As for the holidays? We will be going to my parents house in Florida and meeting up with my 4 sisters and brother from the 19th-23rd - we have started a new celebration of “winter solstice” this year instead of x-mas/hanukkah with my family - that way we can all celebrate together and then also get to spend time with the in-laws and be at home with our kids for the actual holidays. We are having Joe’s family over to celebrate x-mas eve and the first night of Hanukkah once we get home and then xmas morning will just be a small celebration with the 3 of us!