Girls Day Out (sort of)



Terre and Cara with the list



My sister Terre (at Becoming Human) is moving to Rock Hill! Tim, her husband, has been here for about a month now, but Terre and Ethan came about 2 weeks ago. They have been staying with my parents, but the week before Christmas I went apartment hunting with her, and Cara came along. It was fun to look at the places and we saw about 6 in all. At the end of the day we had to debrief and try to remember each place, consider the pros and cons, and make a decision on which was best for her family.

Terre and Tim finally decided on a place and when Terre called, they had a first floor apartment that had just come available. (Did I mention that having a first floor was very important). So, we headed down to Fort Mill once again, but when we got there, the office was closed. So, we took the opportunity to grab a bite to eat. It was not quite time for Cara to have lunch, so she snacked on a lemon. Ha.

Does this girl get any more crazy?

Christmas Post

I worked over Christmas, so am just now getting my Christmas post up. Even though I was gone almost all day, we still managed to make it to the Christmas Eve Service at church.

 Cara and Ethan in the pew at church

Agbeke Family (not the best picture of me, I was beginning to come down with a cold)

I woke up Christmas morning and my voice was gone. But I didn't let that stop my from joining in on the Christmas activities. We went to my parents house and spent the day there. I had to leave around 5:00pm to go out on a call. The weather was starting to get bad and by the time I got back to my parents house, it was snowing. We ended up staying the night there, since the weather was bad.

Since I was under the weather, I didn't take many pictures, but here is Cara in her Christmas sleeper I bought at consignment when she was just a few months old. A few years ago my mom got the whole family  (my mom, dad, my sister, her husband, Cephas and me) matching pajamas. A few years later, she found another pair of the same pants, and as children are added to the family, she makes a pair for them too. The ones Cara is wearing used to be Ethan's. They are getting a little worn and Terre and I think that next year it is time for new ones all around.

The day after Christmas we woke up and it was snowing outside. It was nice to be at my parent's house, but bad because we didn't have any of our snow gear. Cara only got outside in her daddy's arms. Maybe next time, we will let her actually play in it.

My parents backyard, a winter wonderland.

We hope that all of you were able to spend the holidays with loved ones. I am looking more forward to New Years, since I will be off. I plan to get some more pictures too, since I will hopefully be feeling better then.



Getting in the holiday spirit

(Please note, this post was started on December 9th. I never got around to posting it because I wanted to have pictures to go with the post and I just took the last ones this morning. That is how dedicated I am.)

Since this is Cara's first Christmas, I decided to go all out and get a real Christmas tree. So, I drove to the Christmas tree lot and told the guy I wanted one, not too big, but maybe 4 or 5 feet. He showed me the smallest one they had, which was 6 feet, and it was.... Fifty-Five dollars! I never knew how expensive trees were. So, I told him I thought it would be too big and didnt buy it. But, that was not until after I said, "Really, fifty-five dollars, are they always that expensive." I have a little, 3 foot tree already, but was wanting something bigger. He told me it takes seven years to grow a Christmas tree, and I got to thinking about the impact on the environment... so I decided to go to Target and buy a fake Christmas tree.

I arrive, with Cara, and we stroll down the aisles, and you guessed it... One hundred and fifty dollars for a fake tree. I called Cephas, and he, of course, said I shouldn't buy it. I remembered a friend telling me she bought a tree one year during the after Christmas sale for really cheap, so I thought to myself, "I can wait."

So, we came home... treeless. I got my measly 3 foot tree out of the attic and put it up. I continued my holiday decorating and began to get into the holiday spirit.

 

I put up our little tree

My "humble" Christmas decoration and pine scented candle, since I don't have a real tree

I did some baking (I make pumpkin pie, peanut butter balls, snickerdoodles, and rice krispy treats-however, there are no pictures of the rick krispy treats, they did not last long enough)

Here she is by the tree... she is sitting still less and less for me!

And here she is with Rudolph!

We send our warm wishes to each of you as you get into the holiday spirit and spend time with your loved ones. 

The 12 Agbeke Days of Christmas

I must give credit where it is due. This was not my original idea. I stole it from my friend Carina at Long Winded in the Windy City I may not be as creative as her, but at least I give her credit.

ONE baby born this year: 2/28/2010

TWO days a week doing an internship (and then two days in class).

THREE cars we now have. We bought a used CRV about a month ago. I never thought I would have a car this nice. The best part about it... I now have FOUR DOORS!

FOUR years at DSS: This is my work friend a Kathy. She keeps me up to date on things since I am not in the office everyday anymore. This was taken on my last day of work before maternity leave, and the day before I went into labor.

FIVE K training: No, really. I want to train for a 5K. I started out good and sort of slacked off on my training. I am hoping to be in shape to do one by the time Cara turns one year. That means about 2 months. I think I can do it. Here is my running buddy (Confession: I took this picture today, when I didn't even run. Why did I dress my baby in a snowsuit when she didn't go outside? To get a picure for the blog, of course!)

SIX months of nursing: I won't post a picture of this, for modesty sake. I will probably write a longer post at some point on this, but suffice it to say that I was very disappointed I was only able to nurse Cara for 6 months.

SEVEN seconds it takes for Cara to get a leaf and put it in her mouth. She even gets the leaves off the floor in the living room. She also likes paper, strings, lint, pretty much anything that is not supposed to be eaten.

EIGHT months old is when Cara finally stopped crying everytime she was with Cephas

NINE papers written during Fall semester.

TEN times a month working past 2 am: This makes for one tired Mama.

ELEVEN loads of laundry each week: my laundry helper!

TWELVE pounds Cara has gained since birth: What a big girl!

Just a little light in your life

Cara adds light to my life. Everytime I see her, I can't help but smile. She is always learning and growing and has become such a joy in our home. I wanted to just share a few pictures I took this afternoon. I was doing some cleaning around the house and I came into the living room to find her getting into a few things herself. I just laughed, and grabbed the camera, thinking these would make some good pictures to post on the blog.

Do you think she knows she was caught?

And before you ask... Yes, those are Baby Legs (cute legwarmers for babies. I am a little obsessed and have about 10 pairs). Yes, that is ashy skin on her thigh. Yes, that is the tiny corner of her cloth diaper cover. And yes, that is the $60 diaper bag I splurged on, only after using the free "Gaston County DSS" bag I received as a door prize for 7 months.

Malta

Should I really post this? I am going out on a limb by doing so. However, this lightened mine and Cephas' evening, so maybe it will yours too.

Here is our darling, drinking her first Malta. For those of you who don't know, Malta Goya is a Malt flavored beverage. The process  to make it is similar to beer, but it is non-alcoholic. It is very sweet though, and similar to soda, so probably not the best drink for your 9 month old. But, we gave it to her anyway, I mean, you can't be 100% organic all the time.

I think the stuff is gross, but she liked it and kept wanting more

Notice the brown around her neck. She got a little excited and spilled it on her first drink.

This last picture is a little blurry, but shows her newest trick... pointing. She started a week or so ago and now points at everything.
Stay tuned, I am working on a Christmas post, I tried to take pictures the other day but Cara spit up on her outfit before we got any taken.

Working Mom

For those mothers out there who work, or go to school (or are crazy like me, and do both), you know what I am about to write, before I even write it. I can sum most eveything I am feeling up in one, five letter word, G-U-I-L-T. However, it is more than just the guilt that I am missing out on important milestones in Cara's life. It is more than being at work the day that Cara had her first cold (instead of at home, snuggling with her). Or feeling bad that I am distracted, thinking about work or school, when I am with her. Or dragging her along with me on the many errands I must run. Or giving her baby food from a jar. Or using landfill diapers. Or my mom missing doctor's appointments because she has to take care of Cara. It is the sadness that she is growing up without me, or, on a good day, only half of me.

By the time I finish school, Cara will be 2 and 1/2, and I will not be able to devote to her, the time she needs, until then. That means, for her first 2 and 1/2 years of life, she will be shipped off, to Nana, Daddy, Aunt Terre, or anyone else that is available to help out, and not be with me.

So, this all stems from when I came home tonight, and the last few weeks, when I have come to see her. She doesn't do her usual squeal. She doesn't cry until I pick her up like she used to. Sure, she smiles, but I can tell, she is not as excited to see me as she used to be. It is sort of like when you first start dating someone. It is butterflies all the time. Then, as you get to know him or her, those feelings fade a little. However, as I was getting her ready for bed, Cephas came into her room, and do you know who got the squeal? Yes, it was him.

So, after she was all snuggled in bed, I came out and told Cephas, "I want to quit school." He asked why and I said, "Because Cara loves you more than me." I tell him about once a week that I want to quit school, and sometimes even more than that, that I want to quit work.

Here we are, Cara and Mama, in the sweater that Aunt Terre bought her. She needs something like that to keep her warm in these cold temperatures we have had. I should say, this was one of my resolutions, to take more pictures of me and her.

And here she is, the star

The weeks that I am working, a lot of times, the only time I see Cara is in the morning, when I get her dressed and ready to go to Nana's house. I took these this morning, to capture her first thing.

I just laugh when I see this one... I had just turned on the light

She found the pacifier and was wanting to go back to sleep

No, really, she was trying to go back to sleep

And this one, classic. She is saying, "Really mom, pictures first thing in the morning?"

Cara's first date

Last night we celebrated Carina's (over at Long Winded in the Windy City) birtthday. I was nice to see old friends again, and we are now thinking we need to move to Chicago (not really, just wish we could be closer to them). Also, Carina's nephew took Cara on her first date.

Red Mustang and all

I didn't get very many pictures because, unfortunately, my camera's battery died. I think, if I am going to do this blog thing well, I might have to get an extra battery to keep on hand when something like that happens. I am also needing to find a good way to organize and back-up my pictures. Right now, they are all still on the memory card. I have some on shutterfly, but am not sure if that is really safe. Anyone have suggestions on the best way to organize pictures?

Cephas is rushing me off the computer, so, I leave you with one last picture of the "star," her boyfreind, and her boyfreind's grammy.

This Morning

I had the perfect morning:
7:00am-Wake up (I know, it is early, but Cara is used to getting up)
7:05am-Change dirty diaper
7:07am-Suck Cara's brains out (or at least she thought I was trying to kill her-but her nose was stuffy and she needed to breathe)
7:10am-Feed Cara a bottle
7:20am-8:00am-Cara and Mommy fall back asleep on the couch (this is very unusual, Cara almost never goes back to sleep in the mornings, at least not since she was like 4 months old!)
8:15am-Daddy comes to get Cara and takes her back to bed while Mommy makes coffee (Yes, I am now a coffee drinker, but am hoping I do not become addicted like my parents)

When I went in to take this picture, Cara immediately started crying, I don't know why she does that. Anytime she is with Cephas, she cries when she sees me. If I am not in the room, then she is fine, and when he takes care of her while I am working, she is fine. The doctor says it is normal, but I seem to think there is something wrong. Needless to say, I could not take the time to get a good picture because I didn't want to ruin their bonding time.

It was nice to spend the extra few minutes with her this morning since I am working this weekend. I always miss her the most on the weekends because I know I am missing a lot more of her time awake than at night, when she is just sleeping.

No, this is not an advertisement for Gerber or Earth's Best, just a picture to show how much "jarred" baby food I have in the house. I have gotten sort of burned out on making homemade baby food. It is sort of like the cloth diapers. I was really excited at first, but it seems like "life" got in the way. Although we use cloth on a part time basis, it is not like I thought it would be. It is the same way with the baby food, I thought Cara would very rarely have baby food from a jar, but now, she has eaten it for almost 2 weeks straight. I have to tell myself, at least it is organic!  

These are the pears my mom gave me to make pearsauce out of over the weekend. So, at least Cara will get something fresh very soon. 

I know, dorky name

Cephas gave me the idea for the blog name. I jumped on it, since it wasn't already taken. Now, looking back, I am wondering if it is not too dorky.

Cara is now waving "bye-bye" on a consistent basis. I was wondering if she really did it purposeful or not, but yesterday we had someone from Morris-Jenkins come and work on our furnice, and as he left, she waved to him. It wasn't prompted, so I believe she is understanding that when someone leaves, you wave.

This picture was taken this morning during playtime on the floor. I got out the camera and said "smile." This is what I got.

Maybe Cephas' idea that she would make a good baby model is not too far stretched.

This last picture is of her, beginning to crawl. I tried to get a better one, but none turned out. She is not fully crawling yet, but scooting. Also, she has a death grip on Sophie, her favorite toy.

P.S. Since I am new at this blog thing, does anyone have a suggestions on how to make pictures upload faster? It took almost five minutes for these two!

In which I start a blog

As if I don't already have enough to do, I have decided to start a blog. Often times, I feel guilty for not updating people on Cara, and want to have an opportunity for others to see how she is growing. So, as the first blog post, here I go...

Cara's 9 month check up was today and she weighs a whopping 19 pounds 14 ounces. People, that is only 2 ounces from 20 pounds! Is this the same 12 pound baby I had only 3 months ago? I am amazed at how fast she is growing and becoming more "human" (as Cephas says it). She is very "nosey" and interested in everything. She is still getting over her second cold, this one held on a lot longer than the first, 24 hour cold she had. Her favorite this is when I spray saline in her nose and suck out all the mucous(NOT! She screams her lungs out!).

Now, for the best part about reading a blog.. a picture of that cute baby! This was taken a few days ago. I usually let Cara sit in her chair while I fix her meal, but she will only sit contently if I give her a few puffs to snack on.