This morning I woke to the sound of a pooping baby. I stumbled out of bed, carried her by the armpits to the changing table wondering whether or not any of it had gotten into the bed. I carefully removed the full diaper and then had to QUICKLY make my hand a catcher's mit to save the changing table cover from what hadn't come out yet - with only a thin warm wipe as a barrier between the skin of my hand, and the pile of peas from yesterday. YUCK. I was standing there gagging, literally, and Jordan was giggling at me, obviously enjoying this new sound mommy was making. What a way to start the day. :)

She is sitting up now - and I can't believe it! She has it nailed, although I still hover, ready to catch her if she decides to tumble. She has a tooth poking out of her gums - you can see it when she smiles. The other one can't be far behind, since her poor little gums look like a water balloon... The baby orajel is seeing much use these days. I've tried to get pictures, but she resists as I try to stick the camera in her mouth... :)

We have swimming lessons coming up this weekend - starting Saturday, and lasting for 10 weeks. Our friends Meghan & Diego, Kari & Eva will be there as well, so we are super excited about that! We also are expecting a new jogging stroller - that's right - we are going to try and get this mommy back into shape! Hunting season has started, so BJ is bound to be out on the prowl for sweet little bambi's daddy (Jordan has her camo, and wants to go, but we told her she has to wait until she is big enough to shoot the rifle - at least 6 years old or so... ha ha ha!)

Anyhow, there are likely to be some stories to come. So stay posted!

Comments

So - My mother this morning told me that she has wanted to comment on a post, but couldn't figure out how. Well, I had to change a setting - but now even those folks without google accounts can comment. Sorry that I didn't have it set up correctly. Comment away! I'm glad to know that people actually read all of my random thoughts. :)

Admission

Okay - so here I am admitting that everyone was right - about how much life was going to change once we had a baby. I am flabbergasted at how different things are, how much I have changed! Jordan has made me into a different person altogether. When consciousness comes to me in the middle of the night, or in the morning, the first inkling of a thought is of her - feeling her warm little body snuggled into my chest, her little legs draped over my thigh... She makes it incredibly difficult for me to get out of the bed in the morning! Our morning routine doesn't change, no matter how loudly my bladder screams at me, I will change Jordan's wet diaper before relieving myself - even if I have to dance a little, from one foot to the next while standing at the changing table... :) The way she waits for me to open the car door when we pull into the parking spot at daycare, and when it happens, she flashes me the biggest smile - I may as well melt into a puddle on the sidewalk. And at the end of the day, I can't wait to go get her - to hear her squeal and giggle, and reach out her arms for me when I walk into her classroom - I'm mush once again... This girl has become my whole life - my reason for doing everything that I do. How is that possible??? Well, it was something that i couldn't fathom, and that no one can ever explain to another soul - but I get it now.

Now that she is 6 months old, things are changing so fast! She has a tooth poking out of her gums (much to her dismay, poor little girl). She is eating solids like it is going out of style. And she is now sitting up! I still have to make sure that she has something to tumble back on, but she really has it down! I can hardly believe it, to see my little baby, sitting on her bum, like she is a big girl or something! :)

The concept of time has truly changed for me. While on the one hand, it took FOREVER to get to this point, where things are a little easier, or I am more conditioned, whichever the case - on the other hand, things are also happening to quickly! I've got to hang on to these moments, these milestones - because once they happen, they are gone, they become old hat, and it's on to the next - so fast!

Hmmm... sort of a scatterbrained post... I think that this must come with the territory. :)

Hooray!!!

Jordan enjoys her sippy cup!

Dancing with Daddy

With the good, comes the bad

The good news:



Jordan is eating! She has decided that she will eat not only bananas, but also oatmeal and rice cereal! YAY! She eagerly grabs the spoon full of goo that I present to her in the morning, and shoves it into her mouth - squirting oatmeal out of the corners of her mouth and down her chin in good style. It is truly entertaining to watch her get sloppy, as she obviously enjoys meal time.



The bad news:



After changing this morning's diaper, I'm beginning to rethink the whole "eating solids" thing. Maybe milk was just fine after all.



The "Must-read Guide to Poop" warns that the poop will be "much darker, firmer, and more odorous". I must say, this is accurate - but understated.



There are a few random quotes that I've found on a few websites, that I simply must share, because as disghusting as this topic is, it is also rather funny....



1 - "don't be surprised if what was green yesterday is yellow today".

2 - "Call me crazy, but I love the smell of infant poop – especially when you compare it to 3- year-old poop, which is absolutely vile".

3 - From Dr. Jay Gordon "I have often asked parents not to bring poop samples into my office".



The most surprising thing of all - that I would ever find myself researching POOP on the internet.



I will be brave, grin and bear it, and continue to feed Jordan new foods - and will pray before each diaper change from here on out that she can keep her socked feet out of the poo, and therfore off of mommy's hands, arms, and shirt, as she kicks her feet around in delight.



She's lucky that she is so cute. :)

Amusing

So I was sitting in daycare this morning, nursing Jordan, and talking to the two ladies there. The window in Jordan's "classroom" looks out into a brick wall of the building next door. Not much of a view. I commented on this, and they proceeded to ask me if I had a window in my office - which I do. They asked me what my view was - and I was amused to consider this.

I have two windows.

One looks out over the entire mill.



The other looks out at the trimmer line (I can tell from this scene that the gang is down for something).



So, I tried to describe my view to the keepers of the children, and after some contemplation, decided that while my views certainly leave some things to be desired, they surely beat looking at a brick wall. And even better yet, while other folks' offices are still, mine rocks me gently too and fro, to let me know that all is well in my professional world.

Enjoy your view - whatever it is - it could be worse. :)

NO FOOD MOM

This is no ordinary baby. Not only is she GORGEOUS :), but she is also adamant that she wants nothing to do with solid food. Notice the stubborn posture (that she must have gotten from her daddy, because it certainly couldn't have come from me...) and the look in her eyes that says "go ahead, make my day mama, try it again and see what it gets you". We've been trying for 2 weeks, with rice cereal, oatmeal, banana, and finally applesauce, with little success. She is hungry - milk is hardly enough for her anymore. It appears that she would much rather eat the fried halibut and hushpuppies on mom's plate then her delightful bowl of rice ceral - can you even imagine? So I FINALLY got her to eat some banana - off of my finger - after I took a bite of it myself and she watched with much interest. Maybe it was because I was eating it - well, I can't allow myself to eat the rice cereal soaked in breastmilk - so banana will be about the extent of the "group" eating. :) And then, to my horror, the next morning, her poop looked very strange, almost as if there were worms in it! Anyone who saw me would have thought I was a complete lunatic, holding this poopy diaper up so close to my face to see if the little strings in it were moving... But my relief was instant when the internet immediately correlated this with eating banana - THANK GOD. I was trying to imagine having to explain that we had to worm my daughter.... I blame Jordan - if she would just eat her rice cereal this would never have happened. I can hear the laughter of my mother echoing in my ears, as she figures this is karma for me, as I understand that I gave her quite the hard time with eating as a baby myself. I fear that this may be a trend. :)

TORTURE DEVICE

Okay - so this is a picture of my personal torture device. I have to strap up to this awful thing 3 times per day - for 30 minutes at a time. I see it and I cringe. I hook up to the cold hard horns, and turn it on and relinquish to the relentless tugging at my poor tender self - as it hisses "again, again, again......"ARGH! It makes me incredibly thirsty at moments, and nauseous at moments... but I am a stubborn stubborn woman, and I WILL make it through this..... I do it for Jordan, so that she can have the best nutrition - knowing that until she has to do the same thing, she will never appreciate this thing that I do. So here's to all of the mommies out there who are/were willing to "torture" themselves in various ways - to be the very best mommies that their babies could hope for! :)

Bragging Rights

There is likely to be an inordinant amount of blogging about little Jordan - but this one needs to be bragging rights for BJ, or maybe for Cobey, I haven't decided which. Cobey retrieved his first grouse - which means that BJ shot it - so I suppose kudos is in order for both of them! We didn't know whether or not old Cobey was going to live up to his bloodline - but it looks like he has some natural ability - and daddy has worked with him quite a bit as well. What a handsome pair... :)

Brand new

So - it is SO hard to keep up with everyone, everywhere, to post pictures, and tell stories, and share video... I've tried myspace, and sampasite, and neither one offers a way to share everything I want to share with everyone - so enter the Hutchins Blog!

I call it the 4 Hutchins because I hope for it to share events and goings on in the lives of all 4 of our little family - myself (Ashley), my husband (BJ), our beautiful baby girl (Jordan), and our ever loving dog (Cobey).

So, here is my meager attempt at the beginnings of a new place to share our lives with everyone - those far away, and nearby. :)