2 days in a row...aren't y'all proud?

It's that time of day where really all I do is waste time. Kevin leaves for work with the charge from me to "protect the city and uphold justice", and then I sit around and do nothing. I can't motivate myself to go to bed or anything. Every afternoon I have these pipe dreams of actually using this time to clean house, read a book, actually finish those thank you notes I found on Tuesday...but, nothing. I just sit and lose intelligence by watching Ace of Cakes and Letterman. So, tonight, I take a step in the right direction, and Blog.

I actually have had quite a few things run through my mind over the past couple of days that I want to blog about, but there's something incredibly Type A going on in my head that wants to write about each of these things in an individual blog...you know, give each item it's fair share, so those things will have to come later. What I'm going to tell you are a couple of Laurel-isms from the past couple of days....

First of all, our Little Bit turned 6 months old yesterday. I truly cannot believe it. I know it is such a cliche to say it goes by so fast, but well, it does. She has been such a joy to watch grow and change and learn how to interact with the world. I love how everything is new to her. I love how she loves the new sounds she makes each day, and continues to practice making them, especially when she knows she is supposed to be going to sleep. I love her pudgy legs and her two new little teeth that have come in on the bottom, and how these two teeth make little indentions on her spoon when she eats. I love that she wears more food than she actually ingests. And, she's taught me a lot about myself. Mostly, that I'm not in control like I like to think I am, and that truly, she is the Lord's, and I have to daily give her over to Him, the One that can care for her so much better than I can. I could go on and on, but back to the original points...

As many of you know, we didn't find out if we were having a little boy or a little girl when we had Laurel. We first knew when the doctor told me to push that final time and then said, "Take a look at your little girl." We loved the surprise, but I especially appreciated it when I found out what happens when people find out you've had a little girl. Pink exploded onto our house. Dresses, blankets, bibs, toys, pink, pink, pink. We had decorated in teal and brown to be neutral. I look at how much pink we have now, and can't imagine what it would be like if everyone would have had 4 more months to buy pink. Well, when the clothes needed to be put away those first few weeks, I started putting them in the closet in order by size. It made sense in my head, and I figured it would be an easy way to make sure that we didn't overlook any clothes as she grew. Well somewhere along the way, the closet exploded and Laurel took this massive growth spurt, leaving a closet full of unworn clothing. I happened to look through it all last weekend and found this precious pair of jeans, size 6-9 months. Perfect, I thought. Exactly what size we're in now. I washed them and had them ready to wear. This morning, we got ready for Mother's Day Out (where Laurel goes on Tuesdays and Thursdays when I'm at work and Kevin sleeps), and I put on the jeans. They looked precious. Embroidered butterflies and flowers on the legs, a velvety pink ribbon that fit around the waist. I sat Laurel on her play blanket on the floor so I could grab the camera and get a picture...

She could hardly sit up! You know that terrible 'I'm wearing too tight of jeans' feeling? Well, she got to experience it today. What's worse is that I thought, "Oh, this isn't that bad," and took her to MDO like this! Needless to say, by the time we picked her up, she was only in her onesie. Apparently, she'd gotten pretty frustrated by the incredibly tight squeeze going on on her little hips (she can thank me later for those), so her teachers had mercy and took them off. They were a one-hit wonder in her wardrobe, I guess. What was I thinking? She will be spending the majority of her life facing the dilemma of finding jeans that actually fit. Why in the world would I introduce this to her at 6 months?

My second item of bloggage for this evening is a tip for all of you who are around little ones that are still in diapers. You can take it for what it worth, think we're ridiculous parents or whatever, but all I've got to say is it worked for us, and we're going to keep it up...So, here's what happened...when we were in Missouri last week, Laurel was teething like crazy, absolutely miserable, and got a terrible cold in the process. Poor little thing couldn't hardly breath, and her nose was a little faucet. She was drooling so much and so congested, she kept coughing, which would wake her up at night. And then, she was in a strange bed in a strange place. There were a couple of nights that she woke up 4-5 times. She didn't even do that when we first came home from the hospital with her! So, we decided to sleep her on her stomach one night in the middle of the night in a moment of desperation. It worked wonders. In fact, she's slept on her stomach ever since, and has slept like a little champ. The only problem is, that this new position makes her wake up with a wet belly from a leaky diaper every morning. I can only wash so many sheets and sheet savers. It doesn't seem to bother her...she still sleeps from 7-7, but I guess I'm not crazy about the idea of her sleeping in urine-soaked pj's all night. So, we started experimenting. Maybe if we put her diapers on backwards...maybe they're more absorbent in the back. Nope. Maybe buy the next size bigger diaper, and they'll be more absorbent. Nope. The last straw was the morning when I got her out of bed and she was soaked from her little armpits to her knees.

I had read about this idea that we finally had to resort to in one of those semi-cheesy mommy magazines. I was pretty hesitant because well, it sounded kinda silly. After she woke up that soaked, though, I was desperate. So, I took the advice of the magazine and stuck a maxi pad on the front of her diaper (horizontally across the band to soak up anything that would leak). And, it worked. Amazing. Dry two days in a row now. Last night, Kev and I went to Target to buy our little girl her first package of maxi pads at 6 months old. Oh, Laurel, I'm so sorry to have to introduce this to you when most of your life will be filled with the concerns of such things anyway. But, hey, you're dry, and I'm not doing laundry every day of my life.

You guys can store that little tip away for a leaky day. You're welcome.