8 Months with Zelie

This girl. Glasses and hair exist only for her entertainment, never beyond her exceptionally strong grasp. She has a seriously low, loud growl, and she's constantly shrieking and clapping her hands. Is there a time when her arms are not flailing? Questionable. She's got personality, and it's LOUD. I guess when you've got to compete for attention with the 2.5 year old who NEVER. STOPS. TALKING. 

Let's get right into the nitty gritty.

EATS.

AKA THE STRUGGLE. I have been suffering through trying to feed this baby solid food twice a day for approx. two months. It's always a huge mess, something I didn't mind much with one kid, but now is a big inconvenience. But we forge onward. I don't want to jinx, but it seems—as of this week—that she's warming up to them. She LOVES Puffs all of a sudden (YAY MY FAVORITE PARENTING TOOL) and she's starting to actually open her mouth to take bites of things. Baby steps. Baby steps. 

Breastfeeding is going much more smoothly than it was with Little Will at this point. Probably because she actually likes it. She isn't as distracted. She's never taken a bottle, though we haven't really tried (no point, unless you want to volunteer to come watch her for an entire day? *sob sob sob*), so yeah, she's really into the boob. 

Her routine is pretty solid now that we are settled in the new house - 6:30 nurse, 10:30 nurse after nap, 12:30 lunch (solids), 2:30 nurse after nap, 5:00 dinner (solids), 6:30 nurse for bedtime, and then a 4am-ish nurse. 

SLEEPS.

Great improvement has been had in this area. She struggled with sleep from about 3-6 months with the 4-month sleep regression. And then there was a period of time after the move when she was dropping her third nap, so things got dicey at night again (3+ wake-ups) and I decided to sleep train/night wean. She goes down at 6:30, takes a 4am feed, and wakes for the day at 6-6:30. I could probably drop that 4am feed with some effort, but at this point I really don't mind it. 

UNLESS I STEP IN DOG PUKE ON MY WAY TO GO IN AND FEED HER. (This morning's episode. Can you tell?)

She takes two naps a day. Typically one short nap in the car in the morning (30-ish minutes) and then a longer afternoon nap (1-2 hours) that overlaps with big brother. 

We had both kids in the same room for a while, but I moved Z into the pack n play in the guest room for sleep training purposes. (She'd always nap there so Will would have access to his beloved train table.) Even though they never woke each other up, I didn't want to risk it. Then immediately after sleep training, they both came down with colds so I kept them separated. And now I suppose it's just inertia, she's still in there. Maybe I'll move her back soon. 

Maybe I'll just make this face

and not deal.

POOPS.

Siggghhhhh. When babies start solids, man, it's never fun. Every poop is a blowout, but the timing is always unpredictable. So that's fun. She's in size 4 disposables, which was pretty cool, because Little Will could squeeze into the same size, so I was only buying one box of diapers each time. BUT, little dude is potty trained now, which is so much better. 

This girl hates diaper changes with something fierce. Feeding her and changing her diaper are some of the most frustrating parts of being her mom, but she makes up for it by always giving me a round of applause for my efforts.

The Smoothest PCS There Ever Was

We've been settled here in SoCal for an entire month and a half. Apologies for the lack of updates. Although if you follow us on Instagram or Snapchat you know we made it here safe and sound. I gotta say, for all my hemming and hawing over the move the weeks leading up to our PCS a month ago, it was THE SMOOTHEST PCS THERE EVER WAS. Everything fell into place at the very last minute such that we couldn't have planned it any better ourselves. 

The two biggest sources of stress were: (a) the movers weren't scheduled until the very last minute and (b) we didn't have a place to live at our destination. We expected that our things would be in temporary storage for at least six weeks, and maybe even up to six months if we decided to play the waiting game for a house on base (our original plan). The rental market during PCS season in the tiny town nearest to the base moves so very fast and our attempts at securing a rental off base before the move were very, very frustrating/unsuccessful. Postpartum hormones + moving uncertainty made me a real fun lady to be around, let me tell ya.

The movers told us, oh a week and a half ahead of time, that they'd be coming the day after our scheduled departure (no bueno). But like I said, it ended up working out perfectly. The kids and I flew out on a Monday, so I scheduled us to view a house first thing in the morning on a Tuesday. The first and only house I saw was sufficient (and way under BAH to boot), so I took it and put down a deposit right then and there, so that I could tell the movers where the destination was. The lease was signed by Friday.

AND THEN GET THIS. …

The movers came on Saturday.

Here were are overjoyed to greet them.

So we only did a week in TLF (temporary lodging on base) with the kids and our stuff didn't have to go into temporary storage at all.

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE. …

Not a-one thing was missing or damaged in the move. (I've heard too many horror stories to even recount.)

Will and his dad made the four-day drive and arrived the following Monday evening with the rest of our things. So the moving truck actually arrived before Will did, who was pulling a trailer full of designated "important" things - like the vacuum cleaner, washer/dryer, and kids' cribs. Waiting on that stuff was the only real hiccup of the move, but my mother-in-law and I were able to do a ton of unpacking over the weekend.

So Edwards Air Force Base.

It is really remote.

They like to say, "It's in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of everything."

Lots of sonic booms.

Everyone has an RV.

My lips are forever chapped.

BUT, drive a couple hours in any direction and you are somewhere amazing. Like here:

(Santa Monica Pier.)

We've made it to the coast a couple of times so far.

During the week, the kids and I have settled into an easy little routine. Our life is basically gym-Costco-library or GCL for all you old Jersey Shore fans. (Admit you know the reference.) Pretty much every morning, we hit the YMCA about 20 minutes away toward civilization. Some days we hit up Costco next door afterwards. Zelie gets her morning nap in the car on the way home. I nurse her, we eat lunch, and then both kids go down for naps around 1-1:30. Then afternoons are either for hanging out at home (currently throwing puffs at Z while LW watches Netflix to finish up this post!!) or hitting up the library.

It's kind of nice to slow things down after ending up with so many commitments the past few weeks at Scott. The kids are thriving. Since getting settled, Little Will turned 2.5 and has suddenly potty trained and started being able to identify letters and colors (after SO MUCH STRUGGLE, seriously). And Zelie is 8 months old today! (Don't worry - photos have been taken and her eat sleep poop deets are forthcoming.)