big box

As of late, my FB feed has been blowing up with new moms discussing their dislike of "big box" daycares and how they're desperately searching for a nice small place for their child. Careful not to take offense to their ignorance of so called "big box" daycares, I can't help but feel a tad bit defensive. Mind you, this is coming on the heels of Sydney's first real cold, and a bout with Hand Foot and Mouth Disease, which is, no doubt, daycare initiated (grr).
Being a parent is a sensitive subject. How you parent and all that goes with it is even more sensitive. The first lesson I learned as a new mom was to never, ever (like Taylor Swift EVER) judge a mom. Whatever you need to do to keep the train moving, by all means. Seriously, by all means. So I try not to say much about OUR childcare situation or how we do things, because it's what works for us and that's the story. I'm feeling compelled, however, to discuss our Bright Horizons experience, in defense of the "big box" daycares.

When I walk into the center everyday, I'm greeted with "Hi Jamie! Good morning Sydney!" by literally, everyone I've ever met, even if it was just once. They know us! Even after day one, I had this experience.

mom forgets warm clothes for buggy travel,
sydney is forced to cross-dress.

Prior to walking into Sydney's classroom, I pass a 4 ft bulletin board for Infant 1 (her classroom) that displays pictures of the kids engaging in various activities, based on the primary learning focus for that week. For example, a sensory experience they did with bubbles, water, textures, etc. Every child from the classroom is featured. This board exists for every class in the center. Also posted outside her classroom is a weekly menu of the ORGANIC and locally sourced foods the children can be fed that week.
I then I have to either slip off my shoes or put shoe covers on to avoid tracking in any dirt.



Once inside, we are both greeted warmly by her teachers and cheerful music.
Her day typically consists of story times, rides in the buggy, which are clearly one of her favorite things, crafts, playing with musical instruments, snoozing and lots of tummy time. Sometimes I think she's being exposed to more there than I could ever give her at home on my own. That may be because I'm a lazy person by nature and would overuse the exersaucer or play gym, but there is no denying that her days are robust and stimulating! She's also given plenty of social time, which cracks Evan and I up. We've been hearing quite a few stories as of late about her chatting it up with her male classmates. Evan's working on getting his concealed weapons permit (although I don't condone gun use).

Ok, climbing off my soap box now.

catch up.

my favorite 6th month photo. bff's

gazing at gpa

Well hello there. Seems as though we've fallen off the grid for a beat, but we're back. The past month and a half has been quite the circus at the Sodi household. We've celebrated both Sydney's half birthday and 7 month-er, St. Patty's Day, her first road trip to Winthrop to visit G&G Sodi, first Easter, made it through a nice case of Hand, Foot and Mouth disease (not to be confused with Hoof and mouth disease- and that joke by the way, is getting old), my insane case of strep that turned into Scarlet Fever (yes...Scarlet Fever), cousin Isabella's first birthday and the start of swimming lessons! Whew.  It's so funny as I look back on life PS (pre-Sydney) and think about those days where we were "so busy," and for the life of me, I cannot remember what on earth was consuming all of our time! It's quite embarrassing actually, given the dramatic spin I'd put on life and
all we had going on. I'm sure all of my mom friends wanted to give me a swift slap across the face. Shut up, Jamie! you ain't got s*%# going on, compared to raising a HUMAN BEING. And ya know what? I would have totally deserved that slap. That's definitely not to undermine what people sans children do and how busy their lives can be. But once you have another person you're responsible for? Add 2 hours...to everything.

gma quality time

But I digress. Our little peanut continues to be everything good in our lives and we simply cannot get enough of her. Every other day, Evan and I will look at each other ask "how can she be getting cuter??"All parents know exactly what I'm talking about and all non parents think we're ridiculous. But really, in a side by side comparison, she gets cuter daily. Plenty of proof below :)

Quick catch up on Sydney's going-ons as of late:

• Being the good mom that I am, I don't remember her exact height/weight/head circumference off the top of my head but I can easily rattle off her percentages. 
• 92% Height
• 74% Weight
• 52% Head circumference
• She's loving everything, I mean ev.er.y. th.i.ng. in her mouth. It's adorable to watch her grab something, knowing her next plan of attack is to bring it straight to her mouth.  Sophie the Giraffe has proven to be worth the hype, as Sydney loves chomping on that little Frenchie. 
• While we're still not getting her rolling as a form of transportation, she is rolling from back to tummy and vice versa like a pro. Of course, my nervous nelly tendencies are rearing their head. "Why isn't she rolling to get to point A-point B?" "Is she behind?" "Will she ever walk?!" Must remind myself to settle...
• We're constantly refining her pallet and she's now enjoying applesauce, green beans, avocado, pears, prunes (dear Lord, thank you for prunes and the magic they make), sweet potatoes, yams, oatmeal, and rice cereal. Meal time is a pretty big event at our house and Kirby always makes an appearance. 
• Speaking of Kirby, he and Sydney have reached BFF status and it's the most adorable thing we've ever seen. While she is pretty much always a happy girl, she bursts into full on giggle fits when Kirby is around. 
• Sleep is a dream (marmarmar). She's a solid 12 hour sleeper and mama and daddy couldn't be happier (or more well-rested). There was a bit of a set back after she was sick, but once we trudged through that, we're back to getting a good night's sleep. New moms: it gets better. 
• She's becoming quite the chatty-Kathy. Her babbles are the sweetest music to my ears, and Evan and I are convinced she's saying dada. Please don't deflate the balloon by saying that all babies start with those noises and blah blah blah. 
• Sitting up is a fav. Now she's not sitting up on her own, like using baby ab muscles to pull herself to a seated position, but when we put her down on her bottom, she stays there. It's like she's a little person. Imagine that. 

That's enough for now. Onto the pics, man.

Sydney and Lucy gabbing it up on St. Patty's Day

lil' Leprechaun

pureeing machine.

first and only visit with the easter bunny. i mean...why is this a good idea?

Cousins enjoying a little Salty's Easter Brunch. Refined gourmands.

Belle giving Sydney the low-down 

Easter goodies- the only cure for hand, foot and mouth

our little mermaid. and seriously...those thighs?!

such a big girl!

Belle getting down to business

On a roll

Pun totally intended. This has been quite the week for the littlest Sodi.
Saturday: Sydney's first time in a high chair (loved) in preparation for her first few bites of solids (rice cereal- loved).
Monday: she started at mermaid's lagoon, just downstairs from me! Life just got that much better.
Tuesday: Miss Briana (her teacher) informs me that Sydney rolled over- multiple times! Now this was my greatest fear, that she would have her first roll at daycare and we would miss it. But ya know, it wasn't all that traumatic. Mama Steppan reminded me that we will still have OUR firsts and those are just as special.
Today: Evan and I got our first roll over from her and it was so special! It didn't matter that we didn't see the first time, it was just as great because Evan and I saw it happen together. We got to share in the monumental moment with each other. It was yet another reminder that THAT is what life is all about.
I'd be remiss not to mention she also experienced her first owie. Today at daycare, one of the other babes accidentally hit her head with his shaker toy. Poor baby was upset! But between the time daycare called to let me know and when I got down there to snuggle her, they had filled out an "incident report," iced her owie and given her some soothing snuggles. It's that kind of behavior and response that makes me feel good about having her in child care.
Saturday-today: 12 hours of sleep!! And the house rejoices!

Renew

To match my mood of "renewal," I decided it was time to give the ol' blog a face lift. That and I actually took the time to figure out how to resize, change text colors, etc. So here it is, voila.

I simply don't have the energy to post any pictures this round, but must discuss the fact that Sydney starts at the mermaid's lagoon tomorrow, which is Starbucks' very own personal Bright Horizons. And mama? Is beside herself with excitement. Seriously, tomorrow feels like Christmas morning. I'm really looking forward to starting our new normal, for reals this time. Of course having her just downstairs is the bee knees (ding) but also finally being able to settle into a groove will be refreshing. It seems like since our wedding 3.5 years ago, there has always been something on the horizon. Something that has required a ton of planning and/or changes to our little lives. And for the first time, I feel like we can coast and really live in the moment, which, hello...when does that ever happen? Taking a moment to reflect on sweetness of life.

Taking another moment to reflect on the weekend:

• 7-noon on Saturday= most productive morning ever. Queue the background music, as it went something like this: wake up- feed baby from my body (I feel like I need to include that as it's a pretty big deal...you know, women feeding their children from their breast), tummy time, workout (first real true workout in, oh a year), build high chair with E, hair cut (chopped), explore new Greenwood Freddies (am thoroughly impressed) and feed baby from body yet again. Again, all before noon. What did you do (ding)
• Fed Sydney her first bit of solids. She takes it like a champ and seems to really love the whole high chair, airplane, num num, yummy!, food in mouth experience. And so it begins.
• Watched two flicks- Flight and Snowhite (one word?) and the Huntsman. Guess which was a colossal waste of time? Sorry K-Stew...you were born to be Bella and nothing else. 
• Sunday=glorious. Vea and Denny came up, we all hit the Sunday market in the brilliant sunshine. Everyone was strolling the streets of Ballard and we were right in the thick of it. Little miss slept the entire time, but for once, I finally felt like my little visions of being that cute family gallivanting (ding) around Ballard on a Sunday came true. Ha...and you thought my expectations could never be met. Oh and we capped it all off with a Rajun' Cajun' from Other Coast. Jelly, aren't you?
• Feeling incredibly blessed.

Consolation

If I have to leave this little nugget everyday, at least I'm going to a place where I can listen throwback nsync (celebrity album specifically) all day. Well played Starbucks- literally.

9-5 (ish)

First day of school!

We are officially completing week 3 of my return to work and guess what? we've survived! And this is life, isn't it? Just when you think you can't manage it, time floats by and you've come out on the other side. That doesn't mean this has been easy, not by any stretch of the imagination. Tears have been shed, hearts have been broken, but we're making it through. Sydney seems to be flourishing in fact. Her teachers have raved about her happy disposition and that she's only really fussy when she's hungry (surprise, surprise). Admittedly, this makes it easier for me to handle. If she's happy, that's the most important thing. It also helps that Evan has been able to hop over on his lunch breaks and spend some QT with the little miss. After 5 months of straight mama, it's good to have a little 1:1 daddy time.

every. single. night.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, this working mom business is no joke. That's not to diminish what stay at home moms do. That job is just as hard, but they pose different challenges. My biggest hurdles include: missing Sydney like crazy- like real crazy, taking 2.5 hours in the morning to get to work, only having about 1.5 hr with my baby at the end of the day and a crazy, frantic feeling riding my shoulders all day. But along with the challenges come some surprising rewards: adult time and conversation, reengaging in my career and feeling like I have something of my own, Sydney's socialization and exposure to a broader world than I could provide her on a daily basis, and unlimited coffee. Wait...one more challenge...at the end of the day, I'm done. Flat out done. Hence the lack of wit in this post. Mama ain't got nothing left in the tank.

downside of daycare? wearing someone else's pants! why am I in someone else's pants? mama- pack more back up clothes for me!

picked her up from daycare with her top button undone. they explained that she "just finished eating." 

And these are just too cute not to share:

she's found her thumb. 

vday baby

5 months

Story of my life, this post is belated. Our little peanut turned FIVE months last week and what a dream she is continuing to be. See for yourself:

tipped.over.

she did this all on her own. making out with georgie

Major things happening in the Sodi household at 5 months:

• Regular giggles- I challenge you: is there a sweeter sound?
• Rolling from side to side. She's getting so close to actually rolling over! Naturally, every time I'm with her, I have her on her tummy, willing her to roll over. Do it, do it, do it. Not because I'm concerned about her actually doing it, but because I want to see it happen for the first time. Daycare shouldn't get to have all the fun!
• The toes have been discovered, folks. Yep, someone is learning to love her little pigglets as much as we do. 
• Reaching with a purpose. She's actually reaching out to things and grabbing them, with purpose. Sure we still have some flailing arms, but that Georgie make out session? Was all her. She reached right for that stud and went for it. I'm merely supporting the interlude. 
• Taking your shirt off is now hilarious. Every single time we take her shirt off, especially when we're slipping her arms out of her sleeves, she starts laughing. I mean, it's hilarious. Getting undressed? A total riot.  We can only hope she's not so eager to get her shirt off, come teen years.
• Putting herself to sleep. We had a long stint there where Sydney would easily go down to bed but wake up exactly 30 minutes, on the dot. We tried letting her cry it out, but didn't have much consistency with it. Night after night, we'd have to go up and "rescue" her and spend another 20 minutes to get her back to sleep. Well, taking a queue from the millions of sleep books I've read, we tried the ol' "put down drowsy but awake," trick and guess what? it actually works! Rather than nursing her to sleep, we bumped dinner up, pre-bath and story and now just put her in bed when she's still awake. She'll give a rebellious cry for maybe 5 minutes and then she's out. Glorious. 
• Ab machine. She's really been working to sit up. I know we're still a ways off, but whenever she's laying down, she lifts her little head off the ground and brings her legs up, almost creating a V with her body. I'm pretty sure I've had to do the same move in a hellish boot camp, and here our little lady does it like it's her job. So cute to see her learning new skills and developing before our eyes. 
• Daddy/Mama are preferred. She definitely prefers Evan and I to anyone else and gets worked up if there isn't enough easing in with new people. In fact, the poor baby gets sad if Evan and I walk away or leave her with someone she's not quite comfortable with. Of course, I secretly love it, to a certain extent. Reminds me that maybe she does love me, even if it's just a fraction of how much I love her. 
• Mama's returned to work and school has begun. We're about 2 weeks into the whole charade and  although it's extremely tough to be away from my little darling (more on that later), she seems to be adjusting well. In fact, she's done such a great job immersing herself that she picked up her first bug. To avoid being the mom who talks about poop, I won't go into specifics, but it required her to be picked up from school early and home bound for 2 days. Selfishly, mama and daddy loved it because we both had the chance to work from home and watch her. I set up shop on our bed with my laptop, a aspirator, the humidifier blowing away and my little peanut in my arms. Working from home is a completely different story with a sick babe involved. But in true Sydney fashion, she was in great spirits and just full of smiles. I felt terrible for her, but the smiles made it seem ok.