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I’ve been pretty busy for the past few weeks attempting to get things in a semblance of order as well as having fun with friends and thoroughly enjoying my baby girl who is at an amazingly fun age.

We are in the process of getting our house painted which has resulted in a chaotic mess with furniture everywhere and lots of time wasted gabbing with the painters.

I celebrated my birthday with the few friends that are still down here during the summer and a few that drove/flew to visit. We finally made a trip to the beach with Alexis and then another one and it was more fun than I’ve had for a while.

Days are split  between playing and snuggling with an adorable six months old and trips to the pool, because I, in fact, have given birth to a water baby.

I have gotten much better at time management with an infant, a topic I am in the process of writing about. I am much more organized and focused. The problem has been and will be that when it comes to this blog my working time is extremely limited: nap times is THE ONLY time I get to edit photos, put them together, write posts, put together videos, answer emails (thankfully, comments can be answered quickly on my cell at any time). And with nap times being short (though extremely predictable), I am left with 40 drafts of great posts I have started writing but no time to finish them up properly.

Things won’t get better until everything slows down. I have more friends coming down to visit in a week, then a Disney trip for a week, then possibly another visit from friends, and then depending on how the first Disney trip foes, another one. All that yields colorful photographs that beg to be shared and no time to share them.

So I guess what I am trying to say is that at times I don’t blog about the things I want to blog about, or the things I think I should blog about, because those are usually more time-consuming involved posts that I want to sit down and write in peace, gathering my thoughts and laying out everything exactly the way I feel or think.

The photo below sums up some of the upcoming photo posts I am hoping to schedule asap, so that I could be free to share more current events as well as more serious posts.

And 10 minutes into my writing, Alexis is up, so I will be right back. {…}  Ok she’s asleep now. But of course I lost my train of thought. That is presicely why i’ve been putting off longer more important posts on parenting because I just can’t rely on more than 20 minutes and Andrew is so busy that he cant give me a few hours at a time right now.

What else is new? We’re currently “struggling” with what seems to be separation anxiety (OK, Lexi is up again… BRB… ). For the past week or so, she has been watching me like a hawk, with wide eyes and fear apparent on her face. I can’t even leave her for 2 seconds without her erupting. I feel so bad for my girl, and try to not leave her alone unless I can see she’s engrossed into what she is doing and I need to throw in a load of laundry or something. If I am around but she can’t see me (like when I am in the kitchen trying to make lunch), I try to sing her a song so that she’d feel I am still here.

It also could be the growth spurt she is going through. She’s been eating pretty much every hour and if I miss her hunger cues, and daddy goes to spend time with her, so that I could get  a few things done,… (Ok she is up again… and I am back.), as soon as I leave, she starts crying and if I am in the same room, cleaning up or moving around, she just watches me non-stop. It’s really kinda cute. I bet she’s just keeping tabs on her food source lol

It also looks like we might be ready to drop the third nap, though I am not sure if she can go all the way to her actual bedtime which is usually 8-9 pm depending on when she took her last nap. Never once though has she been able to go to sleep before 8pm.

Alexis has really changed again overnight. She does so much more and just a much bigger, even more aware baby. She seems so smart, her cognitive development has exploded, she reacts to things in a different way. She’s also such a profecient sitter and are able to reach for toys easily all around her. I just love watching her bloom into this amazing capable human being. I’ll write about everything that she’s been doing in her “7 months” post, but so many things already happened and she’s not even half way to 7 months.

She’s also developed object permanence, which is probably where the separation anxiety comes from.

I am also excited to write about Baby Led Weaning and the whole solids introduction, because it’s going fabulously and I cannot IMAGINE doing anything but that. If any of you are on the fence about trying it out, I would totally recommend this method and the book (though I am not crazy about how it’s written, I do love the concept behind it)

I started a #30daysofbreastfeeding challenge on Instagram. So if you are a supporter of breastfeeding, join me in posting a BF picture a day for 30 days with the hashtag #30daysofbreastfeeding. My IG name is @girl_on_e

Also I reset the numbers on the poll for future posts on the right, so if you feel like it, go ahead and vote for what you’d like to see. Again, I mostly go by what I feel like at that moment and the time I have when it comes to writing posts, but I do try to take the poll into consideration.

And finally, the biggest, most amazing thing that happened at 6 months and 1 week was ALEXIS’ FIRST WORD!

MAMA!

I didn’t want to believe it at first. She’s been babbling and using mama, baba, papa for a few weeks now, which is normal and does not constitute an actual meaningful word. For the past week, though, she’s been saying mama whenever she “appeared” to need me. Which I considered a coincidence or her new cry for food or something. She’s been saying mama and lifting her arms for me, also while crying for food, all the times either looking directly AT me or looking for FOR me. But again, I just wasn’t sure that she knew what she was saying. Last night, however, when she woke up during her witching hour at 4am and refused to go to sleep, Andrew got up to rock her (I wake up to feed her and soothe her, but if nothing works, he gets up to rock her so that I could get some sleep). He ALWAYS rocks her at night. This time, however,  she broke down into hysterics, crying “mama” and looking back at the bed where I was. I got up and she followed me with her gaze while repeating “Mamamamamamamama!” and only after I took her into my arms, she calmed down.  And with that, we have decided that, while she might not be realizing she is actually speaking or what words are, she has said her first word with intention: MAMA!

{mind explosion over}

Next up: Father’s Day in photos

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I am doing a good job catching up with the photo posts and soon you’ll see more current ones and more meaningful posts.I have Father’s day, 4th of July, Lexi’s first boat trip and an overnight trip to Orlando left to blog about and then I’ll be all up to date and hopefully start posting more current photos, as well as more parenting related stuff. It’s much easier to edit photos, put them into a collage and post them, than write about more serious things, so I am trying to get the backlog of photography out of the way.

I don’t have much to say for this post. It’s a simple photo dump from our first playground trip. Alexis loved the swing and would probably do it until she passed out. Unfortunately, with the current Florida weather we can’t be going to the playground too often. It gets too hot by about 8 am. But starting October, when she’s 8 months old and the weather is cool, I suspect we’ll have daily trips there. I am already seeing how bored she gets at home, even though I try to provide a stimulating environment. But she’s the happiest when we go places. So i predict a lot of walks and fun trips outside of home as soon as the weather gets cooler. Right now we’re trying to plan at least one outing somewhere fun once a week: the beach, the playground, children’s museum, the mall, the pool, Disney, etc.

{swing cover by Infantino}

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I cried because when I looked at Lexi lying on the bed all naked and chubby and cute, smiling at me with her gummy smile, I realized she is changing. She is growing and changing and she will never be this sweet, this small, this innocent. In that moment I realized how much I need to savor every moment, spend every waking second with her.

And also how vulnerable that love for her made me!

In that moment I realized that nothing else matters, not my work, not my hobbies, not “me” time. What matters is that I don’t miss out on tight snuggles, and soft limbs, and fingers in her mouth, drool all over her shirt, those heart melting post-nap smiles, the look on her eyes when she’s nursing, the way she opens her mouth when I kiss her, the way she is happy to see both of us, the serious thinker’s  face when we carry her around, her little face and chubby cheeks. I hope to keep those memories via thousands of photos and videos that I take of her every day.

I am not of the emotional kind, but it makes me extremely sad thinking that every moment with her can’t be re-lived, it’s gone.

And at the same time I am over the moon thinking about the moments we are yet to have. And I’ll be damned if I miss any of them.

I am not an emotional person. I do not cry. But today I did.

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OH-MY-GOD!!!!!!

If I thought it was hard to take pictures when I was pregnant ( you know the whole “gather up the energy, put make up on, wash my hair, possibly style my hair, put clothes on, go somewhere pretty to take pictures), well it is twice as hard trying to get a good picture with Alexis in tow. I still have to do all the preparations listed below, all while she’s hopefully sleeping, then pray for good mood on Alexis’ part, so that all the pictures didn’t look like this

And even when she’s in a good mood, how on earth do you get a 2 months old to pose? You don’t! So you take a million shots hoping that at least in ONE of them she’s going to look decent in and you don’t have a closed eye or busy shushing her. It’s even harder with Alexis because she tends to make all kinds of faces that might look cute in real life, but definitely don’t when they’re frozen on a photograph.

So nowadays, I have to be content with 1 photo out of about 100 that looks good. And after yesterday’s Mommy and Me shoot, this is The Photo:

I think the result is decent considering yesterday was a fussy day!

We’re both wearing a Mommy and Me set from Boob Design, my absolutely favorite item in their store. If you’ve been reading my blog since I was pregnant, you’re aware of my undying love to this brand. I think they have the cutest maternity  clothes and absolutely THE BEST nursing wear on the market. They just opened their US store which makes it impossible for any pregnant or nursing woman to resist buying something. I wasn’t planning on running another Boob giveaway, but after numerous requests from readers, I finally have it ready. So enjoy! It’s open internationally and anyone who’s pregnant or nursing or planning on becoming pregnant or has a baby can enjoy Boob Design clothing. I also have a DISCOUNT CODE if you plan on purchasing something. It’s 20%OFF any purchase except for Outlet and it’s valid till April 12th. Use BOOBDESIGN-APRIL-20% code to get the discount.

Some of the other Boob items that I have:

So for those who aren’t familiar with Boob Design ( and note: this is not a review, I just love them this much), their nursing dresses, tees and tanks have a special pocket that opens up without exposing your belly so you can breastfeed in public without the darn cover-up. They are definitely my prefered online retailer of nursing clothes. I’ve nursed in Boob tees in public and it’s a breeze!

It’s funny that I had to nurse Lexi during the shoot, but it looks damn good, doesn’t it? You open the top pocket and latch the baby on- VOILA! No boob hanging out :) Most items are made out of organic cotton or  lyocell and are very nice to touch and are very stretchy ( which is a key to baby onesies, because Alexis has developed hatred of clothes going over her head, so I have to stretch the neck to make sure it doesn’t touch her face as I put it on)

So here are a few other photos taken that I am somewhat ( but not fully) happy with.

This was taken after the shoot, while I was putting Alexis to sleep in the stroller (more on that later)

BUY IT:  Use BOOBDESIGN-APRIL-20% code to get a 20% off discount until April 12th.

WIN IT:

So now, due to popular demand, I present to you a Boob Design giveaway.
There will be 3 winners of $150 credit to Boob Design Store each. The contest is open internationally and there’s a new entry that can be entered in once a day.

BELOW ARE THE GIVEAWAY RULES
and Mandatory Entries: {read carefully}

There are two mandatory entries, after which you will have additional entries available,
and 2 daily entries for which you can come back to enter daily.
The winning entry will be verified and the winner disqualified if the action is not found or if the mandatory items are not fullfilled.
Make sure to notate how you’re following the blog in the extra info field (entry #1). The entry won’t count if that information is missing.
Please make sure to visit Boob Design facebook page and write on their wall what you’d buy if you won.
The giveaway is open to INTERNATIONALLY. See the rafflecopter widget for additional terms and conditions.

UPDATE: You can now log into the Rafflecopter through Facebook or just by using your name/email.

If you have a blog, there’re 2 entries each worth 10 points ( post our button on your blog’s sidebar and blog about the giveaway)

{If you’re not sure how to use to enter, feel free to watch this video tutorial or email me at contact {at} prebabyblog {dot} com
Otherwise, make sure to read everything carefully. Click the DO IT link first, then I’VE DONE IT once the action is completed}

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: This is NOT a review.