it's been a while! i'm back!

so it's been a couple months since i've updated you on our lives, but i'll try my best to revert back and post about fun events. our 10-year high school reunion was this past weekend and it was so great to see everyone again! I was a bit nervous about all the planning our committee went through and it all came together in a fun weekend with old friends!

other than that our little munchkin turned one a few week's ago and is off and running (well a stumbly walk, but she's getting better!) it's crazy to think how fast she grew! and her new favorite word is MORE?!? :) super cute!

i'll fill in the other posts when i get a chance later!

lily's monthly updates – 7 months old

so much has changed for lily this month.

right after she turned 7 months I started having to go back to the city to finish up work at spoon. the first full week lily was cared for by my aunt marysia and she did very well. I surprisingly was happy to get out of the house and work again. the second week she started daycare... holy moly I think she screamed for the full 8.5 hours she was there on both monday and tuesday. I called in monday during my lunch and could hear her screaming the entire time. I felt bad but there's really nothing I could do. by wednesday she got used to her surroundings and was better and better each day. mark picked her up and one of the teachers asked if we could pack a pacifier or anything else that soothes lily. much to their dismay lily is comforted by one thing and one thing only... HER MOMMY. :)

overall, this month will be a lot of adjusting. hopefully me physically going to work will be a smooth transition and still get as much lily time as possible.

for now I leave you happy pictures!

ciocia marysia + lily

daddy's girl

sleeping beauty.

play time... loves swings!

my two favorite people.

daddy's girls.

i've officially been replaced.

goofy lily at day care.

lily's classroom.

my sweet goofy girl.

lily's monthly updates – 6 months old

my favorite picture of my loves!

lily started off this month by sleeping the entire night! but a day later went back to her old habits. mark and I just could not take the interrupted sleep any longer so we tried the "cry-it-out" method. those first few days were awful... first night took 50 mins, second 24, third 14 mins and by the fourth we were at 5-7 mins and down for the night. what a relief! this has changed our life completely! you take for granted sleeping every night uninterrupted... it's not like you went to sleep late and didn't get enough and you feel tired. it's more like you are completely exhausted and the second you fall into a deep sleep someone wakes you up and does that repeatedly throughout the night for days on end. so glad we're finally getting sleep again!

loves the baby in the mirror!

lily is still very much a good eater. we've bought her happy baby organic food so she's had a great variety of foods. we've also started her on a sippy cup while she eats to get used to lifting the cup on her own.

during this month I accepted a new position and mark and I started looking into day care options. we would have loved to have my aunt watch her since she does so well with her already but she had to go back to Poland for a while so we've looked into all types of care. CDW offered subsidized care but still was way out of our price range. there were recommendations from other CDW colleagues but those were inconvenient for us due to time constraints. ultimately, we decided on a daycare in deerfield since hours worked well for the both of us and the location was in between our work locations. definitely nervous about how lily will react not being with me and having new surroundings. hopefully she doesn't cry the entire time and get kicked out!

lily has learned how to sit up on her own this month which give her a new perspective. no crawling yet but she sure knows how to roll her way to things! she gets more and more curious each day :)

6 month doc appt: 
weight: 17lbs 2 oz
length: 26.75 in

our big girl!

all dressed up for her 6mo doc appt!

curious lil lily.

love her smile!

sofie and lily.

singing her screechy song!

lily's monthly updates – 5 months old

almost sitting.

this month went by so quickly! or maybe I should just say blur because our lily has been a horrible sleeper and by horrible I mean we've nicknamed her lil terrorist. right as you fall into that deep cozy sleep you hear the monitor go off and she's woken up. mark and I pretty much feel like zombies... I don't require too much sleep but I've never felt so tired in my life. before baby mark would be cranky if he didn't get 8-9—you could on imagine the dynamic in our home right now :)

big smile.

so we thought by changing her eating habits (feeding her one meal of cereal/fruit) would solve our lily waking up in the middle of the night hungry dilemma. wellllll. not entirely. for a good while she still wanted to suck down 2-3 oz of milk in the wee hours of the morning. or just wake up a couple times just to have (mostly mark) walk in and pat/rub her back till she fell asleep again. most times she'd be back to bed in 5-10 mins but it still interrupts your sleep cycle especially the times it takes long than 10 mins to get her to calm down. so i'm writing this when she is now just turned six months and last night she did sleep all the way through with out a peep! so maybe (knock on wood) she's growing out of this phase. please god let it be the case!

goofball.

lily this month is getting much better being around people other than mommy—my aunt now could play and keep her occupied all tuesday morning which is a relief. i've had a couple conference calls where all i hear is Lily wailing in the background, but I think she trusts ciocia marysia a whole lot more. i am very thankful for that change.

she smiles so big when daddy gets home and loves hanging out with him saturday mornings when I get to sleep in. mark I love you so much that you do this—sleeping till 10:30 feel amazing!

toes...nom nom nom.

our silly lily learned how to blow raspberries with her lips and we know she's in a good mood when she does this. it's funniest when it happens in church! she also loves to grab her toes and have caught her a couple times with them in her mouth—kinda gross but they're probably cleaner than her hands most of the time!

I try to make her laugh as often as I can because that laugh of hers is the best. puts me in a great mood. since the weather has been so nice we've taken many walks and even enjoyed the park. caela and lily hung out at the park and lily tried the swing for the first time and loved it! she also spent a whole day with granpa, auntie gosia and ryan when we went on a much needed social outing. that was the first time I was away from lily for 6+ hours!

she also gives us kisses (i think it's a kiss mark would argue otherwise) but she opens her mouth and kind bites/sucks on your chin or face. she only does it for 1-2 secs but we give her kisses all the time and she knows where to get food :)

baby jeans!

lastly, although our lily bear is not mobile, she rolls and shimmies every which way around the living room. it's nice to just plop her down and she could play with her toys for 20-25mins without wanting me.

love our girl and she's changing so much! we'll see what new things happen in month six!

favorite baby gear: newborn–3 months

so I have a couple of girlfriends who are having a babies and some have asked for advice of products or gear. I was so overwhelmed when I first walked into a baby superstore. I had no idea what things really were needed or what half the items were even. so below is a list of things I and mark say we couldn't live without, because it was necessary and really made or life easier. (these are in no particular order by the way.)

chicco keyfit travel system

this is the easiest way to tote around baby. it comes with a super safe carseat (per consumer report rating), the stroller and base to place in your car. we took the stroller and carseat to florida with us and it worked really well in the airport. I also packed a baby sling but never ended up using it because it was too warm. it took getting used to opening and closing but it's easy nevertheless. it's hard packing a full diaper bag below right now since the seat has to fully reclined to have the car seat snap in but if you remember to place it there first before reclining the seat it's not a big deal.

learn more at the chicco site.


boppy pillow

this is usually on everyone's list. it props baby comfortably for feeding, helpful for tummy time, and later to help baby sit up. it definitely helped in the beginning with feeding with lily—esp with my c-section it created a nice comfy spot for lily without hurting mommy. it's helpful to have the water proof layer as baby spits up and drools all the time.

find it here.





boppy booster pillow

it's a foam wedge that props baby up a bit higher. where the boppy pillow works, this just literally makes things super easy especially with a newborn. my sister gave me this and it really came in handy—she found it on clearance at target and just gave it to me to try and it really helped. being a first time mom breastfeeding is something you need to get used to so anything to make it easier the better. the first month and a half I always used this to feed lily.

find it here.

aiden and anais muslin cloths

so at first all I could really think is these are expensive pieces of cloth. but compared to other recieving blankets these are most comfortable, easy to use for swaddling and hold up very well. these are great if baby doesn't need heavy covers but still would like to snuggle up to something.

carter's soothing sounds bear

there are many soothers out there but this one was most appealing to me. first it's a really soft velvety cute bear. second it's easy to travel with. third it plays nice sounding momma's heart beat, rain, water and waves. we always use this to put lily to sleep—just wish it stayed on longer than 45 mins!












burt's bees baby bee diaper ointment

I know there are a bunch of diaper creams out there, but this is mark and I's favorite. we only use this when her bum is looking red and when we apply it helps with one application. we also use aquaphor sometimes but in general we rarely have needed to use diaper cream. we only use wipes if we need to clean up a poopy mess, so that may help cut down on irritation too. burt's bees is our favorite because it smells nice and minty too—it's a lil butt fresher too :) another plus is that is 100% natural!







aveeno baby calming comfort bath

so if you ask me this by far is my favorite smelling baby product. when I'm all done washing lily she smells like pure baby goodness and love snuggling up to her. it has a vanilla lavender scent which adds to the comfort. lily really doesn't have a choice but she likes it too :) daddy of course favors the burt's bees shampoo and wash, but this one is great in mommy's eyes.








fisher-price whale of a tub

so those who know me will understand I have a sea obsession. maybe it's because we live in the middle of cornfield America and I always long to see and hear the waves crashing on a beach that has lead to my state of nautical love. well I saw this tub and instantly added it to the registry without second thought. I then read the reviews and maby other parents love it too. this is a great tub. I fill it and then prop it on the bathroom sink (it has legs that level it and keep it in place.) the ledge on the inside keeps lily safe in place and once done I lift the plug and the water drains straight into the sink. I don't have another tub to compare this to, but this one is easy-to-use and keeps baby in place.



fisher-price rainforest play mat

lily has loved this playmat since she was about a month and a half. I placed her on there and the lights mesmerized her and all the colors and sounds kept her busy. there are a bunch of loops to hang toys or rotate the ones that come with the mat. it was fun when she learned or the mirror and reflection she played on that mat by herself for 45 mins! now that she is 4 months + rolling over to her belly she still has a lot to see and play with still. great mat for baby!





lamaze toys

this was one of the first toys to capture lily's attention. we hung it from her play mat and she batted it for a half hour. her favorite is olivia the owl but she equally is intrigued and will play with sydney and sandy kangaroo, sophia the princess and jacques the peacock. all these toys are brightly colored and have distiguishable black and white patterns which helps when baby is just developing eyesight. these are great toys but baby won't start to be interested in them till around 2 months.







fisher-price snuggabunny swing

I didn't mean to put so many fisher-price items on my list but this swing is great. it wasn't until lily was 2 months old that she started sleeping in the her crib. the snuggabunny swing was and still is a savior. we also have a bouncer, equally useful, but if you had to choose one this has been used practically every day we've had lily. right now we use it for nap time and if she needs a bit of help before falling alseep for the night. this swing plugs in so if you need to use it all night, you can and don't have to worry about batteries. this too has a snuggly lining so it's comfy for baby to sleep in. the soothing sounds and mobile assist lily to fall tired and sleepy. sleep is important and anything that helps I say I love it!




carter's sleep-and-plays

these are a necessity. some may say onesies are but I found sleep and plays are the easiest and quickest especially for babies under three months. we found onesies difficult to put on a newborn—their heads are so wobbly it's hard putting something over their heads and makes changing longer than it has to be. zippers are quicker than buttons of course but all these have been useful to have for baby not only for pjs but to wear during the day. they come in so many cute designs too—this strawberry one is my favorite!




burp cloths

baby spits up... A LOT. baby drools... A LOT. so you will go through 2-3 of these a day. I just bought these white diaper cloths and they have worked wonderfully. you don't need the fancy kind just something that is absorbent and easy to clean.

lily's monthly updates – 4 months old

since around christmas she learned how to roll it's basically the thing she does best. she does favor rolling to her left though, but just recently she'll just keep rolling or you'll see her roll back. she shimmies herself on her belly to reach things to the right and left of her, but no signs of crawling.

she also has decided to sleep on her belly—which at times scares us a bit but the doc said it was ok. lily's sleep is hit or miss. she's getting better at going down for the night, but always seems to wake up at the 5 or 6 hour mark and then will continue waking up every 1.5 to 2 hours until mark goes to work. I have late nights working (it seems to be the only time I could focus and not be interrupted every half hour) so her not sleeping is especially miserable for me. she used to be so great at sleeping but regardless we're working on it. she needs to learn how to self soothe, because right now she won't go back to bed unless one of us goes in there.

we've also introduced very soft food since she started waking up for us in the middle of the night hungry. so far we've given her ground rolled oats, bananas and brown rice cereal. I could tell the texture of the oats to lily is a bit strange so sticking with smoother options I think is best now.

we plopped her in the jumperoo one day and now she bounces around like a crazy goose—she loves the lights, music and of course being able to bounce! putting her in there is great because then I know I have about 15 minutes of freedom before she gets bored—I'll take what I can get. :)

I love our lil munchkin like no other. she loves her mommy so much which is endearing and I hope to get her out more that spring is just around the corner. she's been saying what sounds like "momma" but it's more like "mmmmm-mmmahh" so she could just be practicing her Ms. my aunt helps me every tuesday morning and she swears she grows every week she sees her! six month clothes fit her best and I just recently put everything with a 3 mo tag away.

lastly, she loves "Peek-a-boo". cover your face and reappear... puts a smile on lil's face everytime! till next month!


4 month doc appt: 
weight: 14lbs 6 oz
length: 25.5 in
head: 40.0 cm

SMARTicle: the 25 documents you need before you die

I was on pinterest and saw this as a post. thought I would share since it's really important for anyone really :) you can read the full article here.

lily's monthly updates – 3 months old

december – january : 3 months old

lily learned how to roll. she started to go to her side on christmas and two days later she rolled from her back to her front. she becomes stronger and stronger every day and almost has her head fully controlled. she laughs at you if you make funny sounds at her. she also grabs on to things tightly i.e. momma's hair and doesn't let go :( we think she is starting to teethe since drool constantly is coming out of her mouth. :) the sleeping thing (getting her down) has become a bit of a challenge lately. hope we stay sane!

lily vids – giggle monster

lily zofia: 3 months, 3 weeks

my apologies for being neglectful in the updates. mommyhood is wonderful but extremely time-consuming—so any free time I literally just try not doing anything but relaxing. writing should be relaxing but it's a task nonetheless so it's been difficult to keep up with blogging, esp weekly like I did when I was pregnant. but it's a new year so i'll try to be better!

a few weeks ago I did post lily's birth story—very wordy at first so there's a quick synopsis and then the fully story if you'd like all the details. :)

our little lily is almost 4 months old! I could hardly believe how time has gone by yet stood still. days are consumed with lily so weeks have go by slow, but then all of a sudden all the holidays went by and we're at a new year. being a mom changes your life completely, it's rewarding, it's a blessing, but also so emotional. people always told us you're life is going to change so much and trust me IT DOES. you never really think about how much time you have before kids (because there's never enough) and how much freedom you have to do WHATEVER you want, when you want, but let me tell you once you have a baby it instantly becomes all about them.

the major change we quickly had to get used to fast was we're now on "lily time". has lily been fed? has lily been changed? is she happy? does she need to take a nap? did you sing to her? did you rub her belly? did you burp her? where's her darn burp cloth?!?? along with a hundred others that will come up within a moments time. and the thing is you have to accomplish all of those things before doing anything further. at first it's overwhelming and you forget certain things but it becomes second nature by two months :) mommyhood and daddyhood are definitely learning experiences and you learn just have to go with it.

because we're on "lily time" everything usually takes about an extra half hour to do. want to pop out to the store to pick up groceries? hah. where before all you had to do is put shoes on, grab your keys and go, adding a baby to the mix deems going to the grocery store is now an event to prepare for. I work from home now and surprising to myself I rarely leave the house during the day just because of the anticipation that at some point miss lily is not going to be happy so i'd rather wait till dad comes home and I could just go by myself. :) I do have to say it gets easier. you prepare for the worst and sometimes she ends up napping the entire time so that's a golden moment.

my favorite time with lily are in the mornings she's freshly awoken from a long night's rest and is usually happy as a clam. she'll giggle and laugh at almost anything you do. her worst moments of course come right before bed... it's funny how kids know they're tired yet keep their eyes open to make sure you are still there. mark and I have learned that a well rested baby is a happy baby and if lily wants to sleep in the middle of the afternoon then she will sleep. we used to wake her up from naps worried that then she'd not go down at night... BAD IDEA. remember the lil line of advice of "never wake a sleeping baby." well it's true. let them sleep, they'll be more happy if they wake on their own versus you waking them.

overall, I really love being a mom. I love seeing lily learn and accomplish new things, even if it's just a smile or a roll. no matter how difficult times may get snuggling up to you baby and getting just one lil smile makes everything worth it and it truly brightens your life.