no news is good news, great g-parents & job hunting

nothing much new here to report. chicka is learning new things everyday [like an officially 11 mo old should]. she can sign "eat", "hot" and she points to her palms which I still have NO IDEA what it means. she does it all the time and looks me square in the eye as she does it to say "see?". i never taught her anything like it so i'm stumped. she must be modifying another sign! sorry chicka.

made some caramel corn for the first time... YUM

 

baby loves her bath

few pics of bubble fun

"wearing" momma's sunglasses

bath time in the sink at "neece's"

 

papa chicka's grandparents came to visit his aunt and uncle that live near hutch last weekend. i think they really enjoyed seeing chicka without everyone else hovering. we also went to the last day of the fair before it got too hot out. it was really nice to see them without traveling back 8 [with stops] hours to our native land. they also brought chicka's 1st bday present. eek. giving of the first bday present put it into reality. my thought was, if i wished it to go away or "forgot" about it, chicka would never EVER turn one. sigh. luckily, its still 1 month [-6 days] away...

money sucks. can't we go back to trading? i need to find a part-time gig. i've tried target, michaels, wal-mart, starbucks and dillions. nothing. i must be either overqualified or there aren't any openings. i can't find any evening/weekend jobs. i'm not willing to put chicka into a daycare because i literally had a meltdown [including panic attack + hyperventilation] when i thought of dropping her off somewhere... alone... without me. granted, she does need some momma-less time just as much as i need chicka-less time but we don't know anyone nor can i even bring the idea into my head of trusting anyone with her. i never thought i would feel this way about it. 

when i first found out i was pregnant i had FULL plans on going back to work but when my income just barely paid for daycare, it just didn't add up. why would i work just to pay someone to watch little chicka? since i wasn't even in my field of education it was pointless. after the decision was made for me to stay home. then expenses came... 

over halfway through my pregnancy 7 hospital stays with a $200 co-pay a day and at least 3-4 days per stay, bed rest at 32 weeks [meaning short-term leave WITHOUT pay because i hadn't been working there a year yet], a c-section, emergency kidney/ureter surgery (twice once to put ureter stints in and once to separate the fused ureter to my uterus), constant $40 co-pays to see the special urologist for follow-ups. when  it was all said and done little chicka and i had racked up quite a bill! 

we are slowly paying the hospital bills off and we have been trying to be good and stay on a tight budget but when those darn bills are due [and might i add why are they all due at the same time?] it just doesn't add up and for a week or two we can't even buy the essentials. i pray that chicka doesn't run out of diapers, or for us, toilet paper. if we do need something, out comes the credit card. granted we don't have a huge bill on that becuase we immediately pay it off when dada gets paid. infact, i don't own a credit card because i'm afraid of what i might do with it. cha-ching, cha-ching... it just really sucks when i see something i know chicka would love or the fact that my pre-pregnancy wardrobe still doesn't fit [i long for a shirt that doesn't show my muffin top] and i can't buy it. i know money can't buy love, thank goodness for that. i just really wish we would have to stop holding our breaths and crossing our fingers right before payday when the money runs out.

lemme know if any of you moms know anything legit or good because i need help! i'm a hard worker and will NOT let you down.

chicka chicka boom boom, i'll write again real soon...

dress-up, blowing kisses, self-feeding & teeth, where for art thou?

this last week we played dress-up with momma chicka's baby clothes! here is a few pics.

collage of the day

a few picniks

whew, pictures out of the way. chicka has FINALLY learned to blow a kiss! no video of it yet... weeks i have tried to get her to do it and my mom tries ONE time and BAM, she gets it. happy but grrrr... [its like when you try to get a lid off and then someone comes along and makes you look like a dumba**.

chicka has learned to self-feed, a little! i'm so proud. here's a video for you! WARNING: turn down you speakers! i tend to squeal right into the microphone, i'm sorry.

ps- [yes, blue's clues is in the background on netflix. normally, i don't let her watch tv but she was beyond tired, cranky and i needed her to eat] earlier, breakfast did not go over very well and couldn't get her to sit in her highchair for more than 3 minutes. meaning, a whole bowl of hard earned breast milk cereal went down the sink... sad day. i hate wasting breast milk since i work so hard to keep my supply up!

at 8.5 months i finally got my wish, chicka got her first tooth, followed by another a half a week later. then... nothing. where are you stubborn pearly whites? my chicka will be 1 year [yes, i'm in denial] next month and all she got for "christmas" was her two bottom teeth! she wants to eat what we eat but most of the time ends up spitting it out because she can't chew. i'm afraid underneath those volcanic gums is 4 or 5 hot lava teeth about ready to "blow" all at once and it BETTER NOT be around her birthday! what a sad day that would be if poor little pink pirate [that's her theme] chicka was a big mess of teething insanity!

chicka chicka boom boom, i'll write again real soon...