Pat-a-cake.

Linna learned how to "play pat-a-cake" (AKA clap and roll her hands) about a month or so ago, but this morning I found her playing it all by herself in her crib after her nap! It's pretty cute, and I can't get enough of the hand rolling. Enjoy!

Memorial day weekend at the cabin.

Hangin' out on the dock. It was almost
90-degrees on Saturday!

Last weekend, AJ, Linna and I headed to the Krekelberg family cabin in Hawick, MN to enjoy a four-day weekend. This is Linna's first trip to the cabin this year, but we did actually take her to the cabin last summer when she was about three weeks old. I grew up at our cabin, which is right on Long Lake near Spicer and New London. My aunts, uncles, and grandparents built the cabin when I was about a year old. I LOVED spending summers on the lake growing up, and I want my daughter to have the same fun memories!

Linna crawled two "steps" this weekend at the lake, and she also said "Papa" for the first time. She loved to show off her clapping and "rolling" skills for all her cousins, aunts, and uncles. She got to go out on the boat and even went in the water for the first time! The water was SO cold. Someone said it was 70-degrees, but I think it was like 40-degrees;) I planned on just dipping Linna's toes in the water because it was about 90-degrees outside on Saturday, but when I did that, she wanted to leap right in the water. She wasn't affected by the chilly water at all. So I put her in the water up to her belly, and she was splashing all around!

Papa putting up chicken wire on the upper deck.

When we went out on the boat, I put her in her lifejacket swimsuit that was handed down to us by AJ's cousins (thanks Johnny and Amy), and Linna was not a fan. She was tired, and the suit/lifejacket came up too far in her face. But once the motor on the boat started, and we started driving around, she LOVED cruisin' around on the lake. About 10 minutes into the ride, she fell asleep!

My little flower child.

For being out of her element and around a TON of family this weekend, Linna slept really well. Our cabin is always loud because there are so many people and dogs, but we brought her sound machine so she could sleep like she normally does. I even got to snuggle with her for one of her naps in our bed! I'm really going to miss when she stops letting me do that.

AJ also put up some chicken wire around the top deck for safety reasons. It's so crazy how that deck has been there since I was a kid, and there haven't been any accidents yet, because the deck is really high up. I never really thought about it as a "safety concern", until I had a kid. We know chicken wire isn't going to hold the weight of a kid, but it's just there as added protection, instead of a big space she could fall through!

Falling asleep on the boat.

All in all I think Linna loved being around all of her cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. She loved being outside, watching the dogs, and getting LOTS of attention! AJ wouldn't let me take her out on the jet ski this weekend. He says she's too small. Guess we'll have to wait until the next weekend;)

In the chilly lake with Mama.

Happy Memorial Day everyone!

Getting lots of attention from Aunt Jen, Cousin Maris, Auntie
Paige, and Loany!

I LOVE the cabin!

Taking a bath in the cabin sink.

It's all in the name.

Linna Jane Saigh

It still amazes me how many people cannot pronounce my daughter's name. From the nurses at the pediatrician's office, to the friends I bump into who have seen her name on Facebook, poor little Linna has been called everything from "Line-ah" to "Lee-nah". Dude, it's pronounced "Lynn-ah". Not "Lenea", not "Line-ah"... just "LYNN-AH". Pair her first name with a last name like Saigh (it's pronounced "sigh" by the way), and it's amazing the combos people can come up with. My favorite so far... "Lee-nah Sag". I literally want to look at these people and say, "Do you really think I would name my daughter Lee-nah Sag?". Come on!

Yesterday, I came across an article on Babble, about the top 20 girl names on the rise. The names Adele, Bryn, and Aubree made some pretty big jumps in popularity, but I am very happy to say that Linna did not make the list!

When I was pregnant with Linna, my husband and I went through every name in the book. A couple names we both agreed on were Nora and Harper, but the more we thought about it, the more we really wanted a unique (not weird) name with "meaning". Right around the time we were trying to "finalize" the baby's name, AJ's Grandma Pollard mentioned that her mom's name was Linna. The second we heard the name, we fell in love. From that moment on, Linna's name was Linna, and we never turned back!

Linna with Great-Grandma LaVonne Pollard. She "gave" us Linna's name.

We did, however, ask ourselves how we were going to spell it. Would it be "Lynna" or "Linna" (AJ's great grandma's original spelling)? We asked other people if "Linna" would be pronounced "Line-ah", and literally everyone we asked said "no way". I really didn't think there'd be any confusion either, but I guess I was wrong.

According to the Babble article, girl names ENDING in "Lynn" are a growing trend. Woohoo! Not only did we not fall into one of the rising "trendy" names, we did the complete opposite by STARTING our baby's name with one of the "trends";) Coming up with the name of your baby is hard work. A lot goes into selecting your baby's name. I am a fan of some of these "trendy" names like Charlotte, Pearl, and Harlow, but I don't want my kid to have the same name as every other kid once she's in school. I guess our next baby will have to be named something like "Linger" or "Ling Ling". Oh wait, those are my daughter's nicknames;)

I don't know how it started, but Linna
somehow got the nicknames "Ling Ling" and
"Linger". I took this pic at Target when she
was like 4 months old.

Papa's crawling lesson. FAIL.

First of all, in case you can't see him, please note my creepy husband's face in the door frame of Linna's room in this video:)

Moving on...

Now days, it seems like a majority of our time is spent trying to teach the little lady how to crawl. We hold her tummy off the ground, demonstrate how to crawl, bribe her with our iPhones, but tonight's attempt may be one of our weirdest attempts yet. AJ sat outside Linna's bedroom door playing peek-a-boo with her, and when his attempt to get Linna to crawl out of her room failed, AJ decided to imitate Linna's current crawling technique... "The Drag". One of these days, she'll figure it out:)

Nap time shocker.

Everyone told me these types of things would happen in the blink of an eye, but holy cow! I just grabbed the video monitor to check on Linna while she was taking her morning nap, and she made my heart skip a beat by SITTING UP in her crib!

This is what I saw when I turned on the monitor.

She has never done this before, as she (until now) hasn't been able to figure out how to get from her tummy to a sitting position. Well, that's not the case any more, and as I write this she is trying to grab for something while on her tummy, and pushing herself into a sitting position. I am just... WOW! I texted my husband and the grandparents a photo of Linna sitting in her crib, and my mom texted back, "just wait until she's STANDING in her crib!". I'm so not ready for all of this. Looks like Papa will be lowering Linna's crib tonight!

The 45 minute intruder.

My friend Arleigh and her son Clark.

Last week, our playgroup got together at Lake Calhoun, and as we were walking back to our cars to head home, one of the other moms and I got into a conversation about our babys' sleep schedules. Arleigh is a friend of mine from my pageant days, and she has a one-year-old named Clark and a little girl due in August. I asked Arleigh when Clark stopped doing "two-a-day" naps, because I'm literally fearing the day Linna becomes a "bad" napper. She told me that Clark has never really been a "good" napper, and she usually only gets one two-hour nap out of him a day. Nap time is something every mom cherishes, and I don't know what I'm going to do when Linna decides that her two, two-hour naps a day aren't necessary!

Anyway, we got into a conversation about naps, and I told her that we (my husband and I) never get Linna out of her crib if she wakes up crying. We always make sure that when she wakes up, she's either just hanging out in her crib or playing with her toys/blanket. When I told Arleigh this, she said, "that's called the 45 minute intruder."

Huh?! The 45 minute... what?! I never knew that this "thing" had a name, but once she said it, it made sense! Sometimes, Linna will wake up fussing or crying about 45 minutes or an hour after she falls asleep during her naps. The first time it happened, I went in to get her because I thought she was up. BIG MISTAKE! She was so crabby and wouldn't stop whining for anything. After that, I learned that if I let her fuss for a couple minutes, she'd go right back to sleep, wake up a little bit later and be happy as a clam! Arleigh told me she wished she had figured this out BEFORE she got into a pattern of going in to get Clark up from his naps when he would fuss around 45 minutes after she'd put him down.

The "45 minute intruder" is a term coined by the book Baby Wise. My husband and I aren't followers of the book, but I have read bits and pieces. Until Arleigh and I got into our conversation about naps, I had never heard of this phrase, but I had definitely experienced it! Baby Wise explains that babies cycle from light, deep, and back to light sleep in about 45 to 50 minutes. When your baby returns to light sleep, they may partially arouse.

I remember when she would fall asleep anywhere...

I feel very lucky that I figured out this sleep pattern, even before I ever learned what the phrase "45 minute intruder" meant. We all know that babies need sleep, because they grow and develop when they're sleeping. I feel like the longer my baby sleeps, the better. But before I got into this conversation with Arleigh, I had no idea that other moms deal with this "45 minute intruder" too. I thought it was just something Linna did. Thankfully, I figured it out on my own, but for other moms out there who may be dealing with this right now... it actually has a "name"! So the next time your baby wakes up fussing after 45 minutes or so of you putting them down, maybe try letting them cry or fuss them self back to sleep. It worked for us, and since sleep is something we ALL need, maybe it will work for you too:)

Anytime...

Have you experienced the "45 minute intruder" and did you know how to deal with it at the time???

My $1 garage sale "find" for linna.

My mom's side of the family (the Krekelbergs) is a group of BIG garage sale fans! Every summer, my aunts, cousins, and I spend hours up at our cabin, driving around in the Ol' Suburban, searching for great bargains at the endless garage sales around the Spicer/New London area. In the Krekelberg Family, a lot of "dickering" goes on between "the buyer" and the "seller", because the Krekelbergs know how to get a good bargain!

This weekend, my mom, Linna and I hit up the Hobby Acres garages sales in Hopkins... an event we look forward to every year. I found some super cute, gently-used clothing for Linna for around 50-cents a piece, including some Oshkosh B'gosh overalls and a GAP romper! My mom even found a swing for Linna for $3. But the "find" I am most excited about, is the wood rocking horse that I got for ONE DOLLAR!!!

The best part is, I didn't even have to "dicker" with the seller. It was just a buck! It's an old, all-wood rocking horse that is in great condition! We had Linna test it out this morning and she loves it! Every little kid needs a rocking horse, right?!

On a side note, although we LOVE garage sales and I'm not "above" buying gently-used clothing, toys, etc., I am really cautious with my purchases. I never buy bedding, soft kid's toys etc, because I really fear gross things like bed bugs and other bacteria that live inside those kinds of things. I wash all of the clothing we buy at garage sales TWICE in HOT water. Any hard toy, even the rocking horse, is hosed down and cleaned off. It's great finding a good deal, but let's be honest... we'll never know the full history behind things you find at a garage sale;)

Happy hunting!

Done with reusable diapers.

Baby Linna in her reusable
 diaper-wearing days.

Sorry Earth, but the Saigh's have stopped using cloth/reusable diapers. For all of you pointing your finger at me saying, "I told you so"... well... you were right.

I should preface this by saying that reusable diapers did work for us in the beginning. But, now that I'm getting busier with my Minnesota Baby endeavors, we've decided to go for the convenience of using disposable diapers. I know, I know... we're all going to be sleeping on heaps of rotting disposable diapers one day, and yes, disposable diapers are so bad for the environment. But the amount of time I spend scraping poop into the toilet, laundering the dirty diapers, double-drying the inserts (that's right, one dryer cycle doesn't do the trick), and running up and down the stairs to soak the inserts in the washer... for me, it just wasn't worth it.

All I can say is, at least I tried. Some people don't even try! And a big high-five to all of you parents who go through your children's entire diaper-wearing years using cloth diapers. Seriously, you're making a big difference. In the end, we really weren't saving money by using reusable diapers, because we were using so much water to wash the darn things. Plus, I was still using disposable diapers outside the home, and now that we're spending more and more time outside the house... we're using more disposable diapers anyway.

We use the Target Up&Up diapers, and buy the BIG pack online, and have them shipped to our house. If you spend $50 on Target.com, you get free shipping! This way, I don't have to worry about running out of diapers, and I don't have to drive to the store to get them. So. that lowers my carbon footprint, right?! ;)

Whether I've made a bad decision in the "green department" or not, the convenience of using disposable diapers has won this mom over, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. I was kind of sick of being tied to the house, doing an additional load of laundry every day. The poop-scraping was the least of my worries!

My big-bum reusable diaper wearing baby.

Again, I apologize to you Earth, and to all of you disposable diaper-haters out there. Trust me, I used to be one of you... BEFORE I had a kid. There's a lot of things I'm learning that are easier said than done. To make up for it, I'll take one less shower each week. How about that?!

My dirty little disposable diaper wearing baby.

9 months.

Is she crawling? Nope. Is she walking? Nope. Is she a happy, healthy baby? Yep!

This month has really taught me what "each baby develops at his or her own pace" means. As a first-time mom, it's really tough not to look at other children Linna's age and think, "Why isn't she doing that yet?". Linna did a lot of things early... sitting, sleeping through the night, etc., but crawling and walking are not one of them. Although I am waiting very patiently for her to start moving around, I'm kind of loving that I can put her in one spot, and she stays there!

Linna has figured out how to go from a sitting position to her hands and knees, but once she's there, she goes right down to her belly:) Right now, her means of transportation is rolling! She rolls underneath furniture, to get to her toys, and to discover new things around the house. She does a little "launch" move, where she pushes off from her hands and knees to her belly. She hasn't quite figured out the coordination to move her arms and legs together to crawl. She does pull herself up onto things with help, and she'll take a few steps if she's holding onto someone's hands. My thought is that she'll walk, and just skip crawling all together!

Another reason I am learning not to listen to what other people say and think, is because someone once told me that your baby HAS to crawl before she walks. I've even heard that walking before crawling is a sign of Autism. AHHHHH! These kinds of things are enough to make any mom go crazy! I'm just going off of Linna's cues. If she wants to eat, she'll eat. If she wants to crawl she'll crawl. If she wants to say the alphabet at one year... so be it! The sky is the limit for our babies, right?!

Mother's Day 2012

This month, we also celebrated my first Mother's Day with Linna! Last year on Mother's Day, I was about six months pregnant, so it was really special to celebrate with my little love muffin:) AJ and Linna woke me up with Caribou Coffee, and I had lots of snuggle time with my baby. We spent the afternoon at my parents' house, and the boys made us brats, and other delicious treats! Thanks boys! I got to relax, not change diapers, and drink some beer on the deck:) It really was a perfect Mother's Day!

Linna has tried a couple new foods this month, including scrambled eggs and tilapia (fish). She LOVES both of them! She is becoming a really good eater. Last month, there were meals where she'd have a bite or two of food, and then she was done. Now, she's gobbling up food faster than I can make it! She is a really healthy eater. She loves fruits and veggies, whole grains, chicken (sometimes), fish, and loves water! We give her a TINY bit of juice a couple times per week, just to keep her poops soft. She really likes the V8 Fusion, but I'm also going to start making juices for her with our juicer. It's about time I get some use out of that thing! I also am planning on introducing her to smoothies, because mama needs to start her day off with something healthy too. One of my old favorites is a green smoothie recipe that Laurie Crowell, owner of The Golden Fig in St. Paul, introduced me to when I was pregnant. All you do is throw some plain yogurt, frozen mango, spinach, banana, and a little orange juice into a blender with some ice, and you have a delicious and healthy smoothie any time of the day! If you're not a fan of spinach, don't worry, because the mango cancels out the taste of the spinach.

Linna's first worm. Not interested.

We are so lucky to have such a good little sleeper, eater, and developer! Linna loves to clap and "roll" her hands when we play pat-a-cake, she says dada, nana, lala, etc. She babbles, sings, and hums to herself, and can keep herself entertained for hours! She has four teeth... two on the bottom and two on the top, with more coming in! She is always smiling, loves all of the family dogs (especially Parker and Zoey). If she doesn't want anymore to eat, she scrunches up her little nose and puts her head down. She's still eating three meals a day, and three bottles too (4 oz. after breakfast, 4 oz. after lunch, and 7-8 oz. before bed). Bedtime is between 7-8 p.m., and she sleeps until 7 or 8 a.m. I have gotten so used to getting great sleep at night. I don't know how we're going to get used to all the sleepless nights again when and if baby #2 is in the picture! No I'm not pregnant.

We've signed up for some ECFE classes this summer, we'll continue with our lessons at Foss Swim School. and we'll be spending a lot of time at the park and cabin this summer! Linna is at such a fun age right now, and I can't wait to soak up every minute with her during our beautiful Minnesota summer! I'm already starting to plan her first birthday party!

Cuddling with "cousin" Zoey.

Crawlings knee-pad winner.

Congratulations to our blog follower "Sarah - Fat Little Legs" (this is the follower's "title")! You've won a pair of Crawlings Knee Pads! Please email me with your address so I can send them to you. Don't forget that we are giving away a Britax B-Safe Infant Car Seat next Sunday to one of our blog followers! Good luck everyone, and happy Mother's Day!

Are you mom enough?! Really?

This cover of Time Magazine has generated a lot of attention, and is creating a lot of discussion among moms and non-moms too. So, being a first-time mom, I thought I'd throw out my two-cents...

First of all, I think breast-feeding is a beautiful thing. It's the best thing for your baby, I choose to do it, and every breast feeding mom should be able to feed their child as long as they want, where they want, and when they want. Although I feel this photo of an amazingly beautiful mother, breast feeding her three-year-old son is a very creative way to bring attention to the natural way for a mother to feed her child, I think the headline is very unsettling.

"Are You Mom Enough?"

When I look at this photo with the headline, "Are You Mom Enough?", I immediately pull back and think to myself, "Is Time Magazine insinuating mothers who don't breast feed their child, or insinuating that mothers who don't breast feed until their child is 3, 4, 5 or 6 years old, isn't 'mom enough'?". Many mothers literally can't breast feed their child or children. Does this mean they aren't "mom enough"?

For those of you who read my blog, you know that I breast feed Linna, by pumping my milk and bottle feeding her. She eats solid food, but at 9 months old she has never had formula. This is a choice I made for my daughter and I before she was even born, and I have a goal of breast feeding her until she is 1 year old. That said, I am a stay-at-home mom who also works out of my home, and I know that my goal would not be accomplished if I would have gone back to work. Breast feeding is TOUGH... VERY tough! It's almost like having a part-time job, on top of my other duties at home, as well as building my business, and taking care of my daughter. There have been SO many times where I've wanted to throw in the towel, quit pumping, and just feed Linna formula. I completely understand why some moms don't even try to breast feed past one week, or "give up" a few months in. It's not an easy thing to figure out when you first start, it doesn't just "happen", and it takes a lot of time, focus, and... did I mention TIME? Breast feeding is a lot of work!

A breast feeding mother has to really take care of herself, because the nutrition she puts in her mouth ends up inside her baby. I love nights out with my girlfriends or my husband, but every time I want to get a little crazy and have a drink or two (or six), I immediately think of the breast milk that will be wasted and dumped down the drain. As moms know, breast milk is liquid GOLD! A part of me gets so upset when I have to dump what could be an entire bottle of milk for Linna, down the drain. But hey, a mom needs and deserves to let loose every now and again, right?! I commend any working-mom that is still breast feeding. If you ask me, any woman who is working full-time and continues to breast feed... those moms are "super moms".

Part of me also feels that mothers who choose to breast feed their child or children past the age of two, is really fulfilling something inside of themselves and not their child. This is my opinion. I don't think there is anything wrong with breastfeeding your child for as long as you'd like, I just wonder if it's something the child really wants, OR something the mother really wants. Again, I have one child who is 9 months old, so I am not speaking from experience... just opinion:)

I don't think the headline writer for this cover of Time Magazine is a mom, because every mother knows how much emotional and physical hard-work goes into being a mom. Breast feeding does NOT make you a better mom than the mom who chooses to formula-feed her child. Breast feeding your child until he or she is 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 years old, does NOT make you a better mom than the mom who breast fed her baby for a week. As long as you love, protect, and nourish your child or children... then, in my opinion, YOU are "mom enough".

Britax car seat winner.

The winner of a Britax B-Safe Infant Car Seat is...

***** AMY HYSER *****

Amy has been randomly selected from all of the Minnesota Baby blog followers, and will receive a Britax B-Safe Infant Car Seat, just for following our blog! We love our Britax car seat, and we hope you will love yours too. Congratulations, and thanks for following us! Get ready for another fun giveaway coming up soon!

Linna in her Britax Convertible Car Seat. When
AJ installed it, he accidentally put it in forward-facing.
We have since re-installed it to be rear-facing:) LOVE
this car seat!