Guilt

I've been working a lot these last few weeks, and I've been feeling extremely guilty about it. On top of working, there's my gym time that I squeeze in when I can. After a 12 hour day today, I drove home with a heavy heart.

I kept checking the time while at work, and as the clock struck 8:00 - Josephine's bedtime, I wanted to cry. Neil is usually the one that puts her to bed & gives her last bottle, but I didn't see her at all today. Except for the 1st hour & a half of her day this morning.

Is she aware I'm not around?

I went straight to her room & watched her sleep for a couple minutes. What I really wanted to do was pick her up & squeeze her!!!!

Fall

Surprisingly enough we haven't had any serious snow yet, and it's almost December. I'm shocked! And we've had the most amazing Fall weather - absolutely perfect. I mean, take a look at these trees:

Jack-o-lanterns we made:

Obsessed with pinterest, where I learned to make this wreath:
(I did add a few flowers & such...didn't take a photo though - so strange. I ended up giving this one to my friend Autumn. Plan to make more!)

I have always wanted to be considered a "crafter" but never put my craftiness into action. Well, except for quilting. Thanks to my friend Virginia, I've been quilting for 10 years or so, and still love doing that. Since pinterest is in my life, I've taken action. It's so much fun. I want to refinish every furniture piece in my house, mod podge every photo, and basically - I want to just hang out at Hobby Lobby...
My next project, Christmas stockings. Oh! And head bands for Josephine...annnnd for myself. We'll see how all of that turns out. I have a really bad habit of rough draft projects. I learn to master something, and the 1st drafts end up in the trash. Don't judge. Slight case of OCD? It's very possible.

I have been aching for CA these last few months, and I came across this shirt at Old Navy:

This shirt is meant to be in my possession. I chose not to buy it though...we're trying to save all we can to actually visit my home state. So, I texted it to the husband in hopes it'll end up under the Christmas tree this year....?
We've had some lazy days around here. It must be the weather....

We find ourselves in the living room most nights, watching anything from the Wonder Years, to Sons of Anarchy, to Arrested Development...it's nice & cozy here in the Hartman house. On occasion we'll have a visitor. But it's mostly just us. We're happy with that. :)

Driving to my friend Autumn's house after work last week, and the sky looked like this:

I didn't edit this photo one bit. Seriously? How extraordinary is that?!!!
As of last Friday, we have an 8 month old in the house. She is so dang precious!!!!!!!!!! I'll sing to her (usually Adele), and it ain't pretty - let me tell you...but she'll just smile & sway side to side. Anytime the Wonder Years intro song comes on, she'll zone in on the tv, and smile - she loves that song. She also does this shy thing. When I tell her no, she hides her face in her arm. (Breaks my heart every single time.) When someone new talks to her, she'll go all shy as well - hiding her face either in my neck, or in her arm. It is seriously the cutest thing. Here are some recent photos of the munchkin:

8 months?!! It's already going by too fast. It shouldn't be a shock to everyone that I'm already thinking about what to do for her 1st birthday party. (I haven't even started on my Christmas cards yet. Goodness.)
Sorry this post was all over the place. I just reread it, and it really just jumps all over. Sorry!

7 months (oops, never posted this...)

*I just went to post a new blog about our little girl being 8 months, and here this 7 month blog sat in list to edit - unposted. Whoops.

A lot has happened in the Hartman house these last few weeks. We have a mover on our hands. Her name is Josephine and she is FAST. And since she feels the need to eat, bite, lick everything she gets her hands on - we're on watch constantly. Which is not a problem. We enjoy playing on the floor with her, and watch her little body move all over the house. I've learned that if I set myself up in a certain spot on the floor, I can keep her in the living room. She's so sweet...she'll come over, play with and climb on mommy - then venture off to her toys and play. Then repeat. Not only is she crawling, she's pulling herself up to standing. There is so much joy in her face when she accomplishes this... She'll be walking before we know it. It is freaking Neil out. He basically refuses to allow her to grow up. And admitted yesterday that he'll be crying, along with me, when we send her off to school. I get choked up just thinking about it. Um. She's only 7 months old, and these are things we're already thinking about. It's sick really.

Some pictures:

*8 month blog coming up soon....

Harry Potter Corn Maze...

...Neil had been talking about this corn maze he heard about for weeks, that's in Edinboro, and we decided that we'd go....as long as it was during the day.
(Okay, let's be honest - I don't like this time of year. Well, I love the Fall weather, leaves changing, pumpkin patches, the smell in the air....what I don't like? Halloween. Scary movies. Anything creepy.)
Anyways. We went. During the day. We did find out hours before we left that it was Harry Potter themed. We almost didn't go. We both don't care for Harry Potter. But since the weather was absolutely beautiful outside, how could we not go? It turned out to be extremely fun! There were 16 mailboxes hidden in there, inside were stickers w/the characters' name on them - and the goal was to collect all 16. Neil's mom Cindy had gone the day before, and found 8. So, we set a goal to at least find 9. Sooo we're competitive...don't judge. We hunted and conquered and ended up finding all 16! Josephine just hung out in the bjorn, and even though she didn't say it - she seemed to have had a good time :)

The entrance (and exit).....and inside the maze...

Finding a mailbox.....falling behind for a photo....

Pretty trees....second-to-the-last mailbox we found....

As you can see in the above left photo, Neil took over wearing the bjorn...
She fell asleep...

Precious.
An aerial view of the maze:

Can you see it?

Munchkin had a bath later that night:

Love her.

Brooke

Brooke came to visit!!!!!!!!!
First, let's discuss the day of pick up. Autumn came w/me to Cleveland and we literally spent ALL day shopping. All. Day. We ate at Cheesecake Factory, which turned out to be a mistake. We ate way too much and spent way too much. It was a good time in the end - of course. I love time spent with Autumn. :)
Well. Brooke ended up missing her flight - not her fault...some sort of mix up w/the terminal... anyways, she didn't get in until 9:30pm. Autumn & I got to the airport about an hour early. Why? Um, because we were exhausted from shopping and we really couldn't spend one more dollar... and we people watched at the airport - that's always fun. There are the strangest people at airports.
Brooke shows up! Yay! We get her bags, get to the car and make our way to Melt. Melt. Yummy Melt. The kitchen closed at 11pm, and we got there at 10:30. So we rushed to place our order. Since the bar didn't close 'til 2am, we were able to just hang out & eat & catch up. Such a good time.
The rest of the weekend was so much fun! Brooke got to meet Josephine, and spend time with her. We had girls night Friday night over at Autumn's. Even though there were some last minute no-shows, it was a great night all around. Girl talk, coffee, snacks. I meant to take pictures of this night, but all I got were pictures of the decorations (photos below). Nice, right?
What wasn't fun? The rain. The non-stop rain. Brooke loved it, but I was getting extremely frustrated. It was perfect Fall weather before she came, and then the day of her arrival - up until she left Monday - cloudy skies & rain. Annoying.
Sunday we headed north, crossed the border to the Canadian side of the Falls. Regardless of the gloom, we had such a great time. Brooke was cold. I, surprisingly, was not.
Pictures from the weekend w/Brooke:

The decor from the Fall party:

Just parked, and we eventually rode this ferris wheel:

Walking to the Falls:

The Falls:

6 month check-up.

When I arrived at Josephine's 6 month appointment at 8:25 (my appt time was 8:15) - I was accepting the fact my day was going to be bit off. I don't do late. Well...45 minutes of waiting in the lobby didn't help the situation, just got me more irritated. That wasn't the first time in this office, and guaranteed it won't be the last - but I love Dr. Fadrigo, so I put up with it. We meet w/the nurse first, she weighs Jos - 15.2 lbs...gaining 2 lbs. in 2 months. Doesn't seem like a lot, but she doesn't seem concerned. The nurse leaves, stating the doc will be right in...
I take this time to shoot pictures of her, because she looks so dang cute:

When the doc finally comes in, Jos is on the table, in her I'm-about-to-crawl position, and a "whooooaaaa" comes out of the doctor's mouth. She asks "how long has she been doing that?"
Dr. Fadrigo checks out Jos, and says she's doing really well. Yay! She's in the 30th percentile in weight, and advanced in her strength...saying "I bet she'll walk by 9 months." All that means to me is trouble, trouble, trouble. I already see signs of speed, urgency and determination. I'm pretty sure we'll be chasing her all over this place.
The appointment runs well past 10:00am, and that means well past Josephine's first nap of the day. Great. She starts to show her crankiness, when the nurse comes in w/3 needles. THREE!!!! Good grief. The nurse does her thing, 1,2,3, all while Jos is looking at me w/this terrible look in her eyes like why are you doing this to me? Kills. Me. She cries, I choke up. I pick her up immediately and squeeze her and love on her. I get her dressed, and we're out the door w/7 canisters of Enfamil formula - talk about spoiled!
My day was non-stop since...
Met w/Autumn to discuss a Fall party her & I are having when my friend Brooke comes into town (next week! Eeek!). And I introduced her to pinterest.com - which is actually super new to me, but we were ooooing and awwwwing at Fall decor and foods.
I made my way to Wegmans, purchased some fruits to puree up for Josephine, and got all the makings of 3 days worth of lunches for me...
Came home.
Had about 20 minutes of down time, where I watched some tv.
Fed Josephine.
Started laundry.
Made pears and peaches for Josephine.
Discovered I need veggies for her - and don't have any in the house...great. We all know I need to get her on veggies PRONTO!
Neil came home.
Neil hunted for Baby Wise on amazon.com for purchase. (We want to change up Jos's schedule, now that she's getting older and eating more solids - so want a bit of help w/that.)
Decided to just upload it onto my Kindle.
Then I hear "Um Dawna, I broke your case." Ugh. Monster!
(He was looking for the kindle's serial number - dont know why! He just needs to log onto my account. Goodness!)
He is such a monster w/stuff. If something doesn't give way, he pushes or pulls - forcing it, and it always breaks. Always.
I immediately call Amazon. My case is pretty amazing...it has a light that pulls out of the corner, which is wonderful for night time reading. (My kindle hooks up to the case, and the power from the kindle is what lights up the case - Neil pulled on the kindle to release it from the case, and snap, the metal hinge broke off...light doesn't work.) So. Amazon. Originally, I got my case through a promotion they were doing months back - and I was sort of hoping I could get the same deal - I mean, it was 50% off the price of $60. Did NOT expect this, just hoping. The customer service agent explained they didn't have any kindle case promotions at the moment, but basically said that since I'm such a good customer, having purchased a lot of ebooks recently, she will go ahead and credit my account $25, to go towards a new case. AMAZING! I love Amazon.

As I'm finishing this off, Neil is playing his guitar to Jos - see:

Precious.

6 Months

Wow.
Josephine will be 6 months old tomorrow. Where has the time gone? Last night, Neil and I were looking through photos to upload onto Cindy's birthday present of a digital frame (yeah, we were late on her gift...not happy about this lateness streak i've been on...and the month started out so well...) and we were just in disbelief that this much time has gone by. And yes, like everyone said, it has gotten better - and continues to get better each and every day.
She is one active little munchkin. Even in her small stature, she's a pistol. And once she starts to actually move - we're all in trouble. Comparing her height w/other babies - she's petite. (She was wearing size 3 month pants today, for example) It does run in both families. Not that you can tell these days, but I was once and always had been quite small. I remained under 5 feet tall until about high school...and even then, didn't surpass 110 lbs until I join competitive sports where I gained muscle. It wasn't until I got married that all the weight gain happened...but that's been in past posts, and we're not discussing that ridiculous issue right now. We're on Josephine talk....
She's been on cereal for awhile now, and eats wonderfully - shouldn't surprise anyone...
We did start her on apples a week ago. Which I made myself, thank you very much! But by the end of this week, she has broken out in a nasty rash on her bottoms - this is no bueno...especially during a diaper change. So, we continued on cereal, but stopped the apples - at least until we talk to her pediatrician, which she's scheduled for her 6 month check up on Monday. Good timing! It hurts every ounce of me when she starts to cry from the pain...(ugh, and I just felt them again as I typed that, thinking back on today - poor baby!) We stocked up on creams and lathered that cute tooshy all up! Hopefully by morning it will have subsided.
She is almost crawling. She gets on all fours:
See...

And shifts front to back, huffs and puffs - it's the cutest thing. Even when she loses control and goes splat, head first into the floor - she doesn't cry, she scrunches back together, butt in the air, and gets right back up. She does this caterpillar shift thing to get to where she wants to go. It's hilarious.

And she's sitting by herself (sort of...she falls over after awhile)

Cindy has been dying to buy her a walker. Now....we've read all the dangers, and are aware that she needs to be monitored at all times when in one...but we all know she's going to have a blast in that thing bolting from one end of the kitchen, to the other. I'm pretty sure we're going to regret this decision when are ankles are black & blue and scraped up....we just couldn't help ourselves. I had one as a baby, and so did Neil. And when my mother babysat, all the babies she watched were always rolling around the kitchen in one. She can't quite touch the floor yet, but take a look at this cuteness:

(In the background, you can see our gift to Cindy - it's a photo of us in San Diego on our 3rd anniversary.)

These last 6 months have been amazing. She is SO FUN!

Catchin' Up

August was a busy month! With family coming into town, weddings, a birthday party, festivals, extra hours at work...it was a good month - that's for sure. The month started off with the Kalvelage wedding, which I posted about already. A week later our friend Erin threw a surprise party for her husband Leroy. That was a good time! Neil was in charge of keeping Leroy busy all day and I went to the house to help set up. Josephine was totally content just playing w/her toys:

Didn't get any pictures of Leroy & the surprise because I was in charge of the video camera. And then just forgot all about it for the rest of the party....
A couple days later Grandma Campbell came in from Florida...Josephine's only great-grandparent. Neil's brother Nathan and his wife Linda came in a couple days after that. Having them all here was so amazing. Cindy hosted a dinner that same week...boy did she out do herself. No surprise though. Hartman Style. Even with the 13 in attendance, there were so many leftovers, we have dinner prepped and frozen for about 5 nights. Ridiculous.
I took some pictures:

4 Generations

Uncle Nathan

(None with Aunt Linda. How is that possible? So upset right now. Just noticed this!!!!)
The weekend they were in town, it was the weekend of Celebrate Erie, or as everyone who has lived here longer then 15 years or so, call it Erie Days...we've gone every summer since we moved to Erie, and it's always an interesting time. It's a good time, don't get me wrong...but always interesting. People watching, yummy fair foods, seeing friends...we look forward to it :) This year, we made our way downtown two nights in a row. Didn't see that coming! With family going one night, and then other family members going the next...we couldn't not go. The only picture I got of the festivities? The chalk drawing our friend Joel did:

14, my favorite number! And the drawing - awesome as always. Why I didn't aim the camera towards me, and my munchkin is so strange. She was such a trooper! Both nights, just hangin' out in the bjorn w/mommy. At one point, she even fell asleep in it. Precious. And also impressive because it was LOUD. It was a great couple of nights, running into friends - like Mr & Mrs. Q., always a pleasure to see them! It was their first time seeing Jos, so it was nice we were able to see them & spend time w/them.
We had such a good time w/Nate and Linda, we were so sad to see them leave. We did so much with them. Ate a LOT - I can't even admit to what we ate....ugh....
We've had some cooler nights these last couple of weeks (minus the last few days) - I was excited to put Josephine in some super cute pajamas. For example:

Last weekend started off with Joel Quiggle's Art Show, which was so great! We left baby Jos with Grandma, and spent a couple hours hanging out w/friends and seeing ridiculous good art. All done by Joel. Along w/his older brother Davey, these guys never disappoint.
The following morning, I went to a huge Indoor Yard Sale that my boss told me about. Whether I buy anything or not, I love going to these things. It's nice to get out of the house, and the chance of good finds for my house is always an added bonus. I brought Jos w/me, and she was amazing. I originally was just going to head to this sale by myself, but when I mentioned it to my friends Taiya and Carly, they were in. Since the warehouse was near where they live, I picked them up and we headed over. I came out of there with a couple kitchen items, and a pretty great chair...that Neil dislikes, but I don't care. He says that about every item I come home with. What does he know, right?
That same Saturday, we attended our friends Selena and Tony's wedding that was actually held at Saint George's Catholic church - where Neil went to grade school, so that was fun for me to check out. This church was breathtaking on the inside w/all the stained glass.

Neil and Josephine

This past weekend consisted of a lot of hanging out w/good friends....
Sean came over on Friday, and we talked and hung out all day. I loved that. It's been awhile since we've had good quality hang out time w/this man. He's had a busy summer! I left at one point to return a redbox movie, and came home to this:

Apparently he had her laughing while I was gone. Can't believe I missed that! Which then leads me to say, my daughter is pretty stinking amazing. She is always smiling and having a good time. Unless Leroy is around. For some reason, she cries when she sees him. So sad.

Well...The next morning, I had made plans to hang out with Autumn. I was there for hours and hours...which is always so awesome. We don't even do anything. I just go to her house, bring Josephine...we drink coffee, eat and chit-chat. I just love that. We've also been spending a lot of time with the Hamps, and that night, we had them over for dinner. With their new addition on its way, it's fun being able to pass on advice to them when asked. What I learned early on in my pregnancy was that everyone and anyone is going to give you advice, whether you ask for it or not. So I've learned to give advice, when asked.
The month of August just flew by...Constant on the go, and extra hours/days at work - I'm exhausted. Which is why I'm spending Labor Day at home, with zero plans - except to make burgers for us to enjoy :)


(Just had to make phone call to the Erie Police Department because a cat and her kittens have been discovered under our shed we don't use out back. Of course, the Animal Dept. wasn't open today, due to Labor Day. Annnnnd...it makes sense why Cali constantly wants to go outside.)

Kalvelage wedding

This past weekend we celebrated our friends Bryan and Christina. It was such a beautiful and fun weekend. Neil has been blessed to have Bryan as a friend since very early on in his life. Not many can say they've been friends with someone for over 25 years. Growing up, I was barely friends with someone for 25 minutes I moved around so much. I am always astonished when I hear about friendships lasting so long. I love it.
Friday night was the rehearsal, and dinner:

Neil, Trevor and Lucas

Bryan and Neil

Bryan and Christina

After the rehearsal, we headed over to Bryan's grandparents' place where it was set up beautifully for a nice dinner. It was a great time spent reconnecting with family and friends we haven't seen in awhile. Christina is such a great addition to the Kalvelage family. Neil and I both just adore her entire family. Neil ended up staying the night over at Bryans. What was going to be an all nighter of boys playing video games, turned into a little bit of game playing - and then off to bed. Proof that these boys are getting old...

The next day was the BIG day! It was a hot/humid day. All it took was me going from the house to the car, carrying Jos - and I was sweating. Bleh. Thank God for air conditioning! I picked up Cindy, and we made our way to Grace Church. Found Neil. Took this picture:

While we waited for the ceremony to start, had to keep Josephine entertained:

Ceremony:

After the ceremony, we had some time inbetween so I went home & put Jos down for a nap and got her fed. Cindy then came to my house - and we headed over to Zem Zem, a shriner's club where the reception was being held. I was really looking forward to having Josephine meet and spend time with family/friends - but she had other plans. Well...actually....this didn't surprise me. If I'm an eye shot of her, she gets upset that I'm not the one holding her - no matter where we are. Unless of course the one holding her is Daddy or Grandma. She will first give me this look like "am I okay?" and then that'll lead to "why would you do this to me? do you not love me?" kind of look. Then the tears will come. And it's not fake tears. It's serious. It actually got to the point that Grandma couldn't even hold her. I had to be the one. Trying to eat/drink with those crazy uncontrolled hands reaching - not so fun. I was sitting at Christina's family's table, and Cindy was at Bryan's...I cannot express how lovely these people are. They all offered to take Jos while I ate, deal w/the crying - and I did try it - but I didn't want to ruin everyone's time. Because when she cries - it's LOUD. Cindy ate, then like we planned - took Jos home & watched her the rest of the evening. Seriously. I have the BEST mother-in-law. Let me just say, my bicep was burning by the end of this day holding that 14 pounder. Neil and I got to dance and mingle. It was such a good time. Oh and when I say dance, I mean slow dance - and then the ladies (4 of us) danced when it was more fast tempo. It was such a great weekend!!!!! Neil and I feel so blessed to have been a part of it all....

4 Months

After a bath...

Not too happy about this, but it is cute...(notice the index finger on her nose?)

Cereal messyness. It's unavoidable.

Content in her high chair, hanging with mommy, watching Veggie Tales...

Right now I hear her in her room, talking and playing - awake 30 minutes early from her nap. So, I have to make this quick. Some things we've learned this past month? Doesn't care to drink/eat her formula past 3ozs or so. Would rather talk/smile with whoever is feeding her. The rest of her feeding is always a battle. *Sigh*. Likes cereal. Hates cereal after about 5 minutes. Likes being read to some days. Hates being read to other days. Sucks her thumb when tired. Sucks her thumb when she's upset & does it to calm herself. Loves Cali & always tries to grab her face. Can roll from her back to her belly. Cannot roll from her belly to her back. Loves her owl "lovey". Loves her giraffe w/all the gadgets in place of limbs (see photo directly above). Is extremely happy to just be with either mommy or daddy. Likes watching daddy play video games (ugh). Smiles/laughs at Veggie Tales. Likes playing "under the sea" (floor play thing). Is very ticklish. As soon as I make eye contact with her, a smile just lights up across her face...that makes me melt. I love her more and more each day....