Nine month doctor appointment

Weight: 17 lbs 11 oz (about 30th percentile, which was a drop and bothered me, but with how active she is, the doctor wasn't worried whatsoever)
Height: 27 1/4 in (over 40th percentile, which was a jump up from last time)
Head circumference: 75th percentile (doctor says she has a big brain ;) )

He was really impressed and surprised by how much she's moving.  He said he doesn't see that much moving or pulling up with so much ease very often in kids her age, so that made us feel really good!  He did say that since she's starting to stand without holding onto anything she'll be walking soon.  Eek!

Only thing that might have been wrong was that he heard a heart murmur (insert panicky mom here).  He says it's really common at this age, as sometimes the heart doesn't grow quite fast enough to keep up with the blood flow and that it should resolve itself within a few visits.  He says if it doesn't, we'll go see a cardiologist, who will tell us everything is fine.  He says not to worry...not easy to do!!!

We then asked questions about feeding.  Our next step will be to give her peas, pasta, and then, if we want, chunks of meat since we've already been giving her mashed potatoes and Cheer.ios and chunks of green beans.  He said we can give her bites of casseroles and things, too.  She'll love that!  He said to wait on yogurt until 11 months and other milk products after a year.   He also confirmed that she doesn't need water and won't become dehydrated because there is plenty of water in breastmilk.  Will need to make sure to tell my mom and the sitter.

The last part of the appointment was a finger stick to pull blood to test iron levels and lead levels.  She was quite the champ--whined a teeny bit, but no crying at all and just seemed a teeny bored by the whole ordeal. 

What happens when you stock up on diapers...

...but buy too much of one size and are, therefore, tempted to put your baby in a size long after they should move out of them...

(yes, she's playing with a hanger.  No, her clothes don't match--those are the clothes the sitter sent her home in after she had a blowout (which you can see why, from the diaper!))

Connected

I feel absolutely no need to be connected to the world 24/7.  I love my computers and am connecting myself to people during work and even in many hours in the evenings.  But I just don't feel the need to essentially have a computer on me at all times of the day.  I like to disconnect every once in awhile.

I know some people who have their devices and are able to put them down, but there are far too many people these days who rely on their electronics.  I'm not a texter--I don't see the need.  No, I'm not a fan of talking on the phone, but if I need to ask someone something, I just call them or email them.  The husband and I will text maybe 10 times a month, mostly b/c he's in meetings a lot and if I need to get ahold of him to tell him I'm leaving work or something, that's when we'll do it.  We don't have full conversations that way, though.

I guess it really just annoys me because of the people who think they're multi-tasking by texting/emailing/surfing while in meetings or while they're supposed to be having conversations with you.  It's obvious they aren't paying attention to where they physically are and that's just rude.  If I'm giving up my time to be with you, you should give your attention to me in return.  Plus we can get this meeting out of the way more quickly if you just pay attention. 

I'm seeing this need to be connected running rampant around work.  Almost everyone has some sort of fancy device to connect to the outside world.  Has it come in handy before?  Absolutely.  My coworker just took pictures of some notes I took on the dry erase board and emailed the picture to me.  But is it typically more a hindrance than anything?  YES.  If this meeting is that unimportant to you, then why are you here?  Couldn't I just tell you what we talked about when we're done?  I'll have to do that anyway.

(and now you can all go back to surfing your on iPhone or Blackberry...I know some of you probably even read this post on one!  I hope you're not offended...I just think we're losing the value of in-person interaction.)

Nine Months Old

Nine months...how did we get here?  You've been here with us for longer than you were in my belly (from the time of conception, that is--I counted the days!).  Some days I feel like it was just yesterday that I was feeling you squirm around in my belly and then that day, nine months ago, that we finally met you.  But then other days I can't remember my life before you.

At nine months old, you're just recently wearing size 3 diapers.  You're starting to wear 6-9 month size clothes (we usually have to cuff the pants and sometimes even the sleeves), but are still able to wear most of the 3-6 month stuff.  Tomorrow we'll find out how you've been growing (and you have been!).

You still love to nurse--it's the only thing that can soothe you when you're extra grumpy.  We only get a few nursing sessions a day while I'm at work (morning, evening, then whatever happens overnight), but we both savor every moment (except when you're pinching my bo.ob--that still hurts pretty bad).  I love to look into those big brown eyes while you gaze back at me.  I still can't believe my body has provided for you for this long.

You're quite the eater overall.  You have cereal made with pear juice in the morning and fruits and veggies for lunch and dinner.  So far you've had: carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, green beans (both whole and pureed), peas, zucchini, avocado, bananas, applesauce, pears, and peaches.  You've got quite the set of pinchers on you and have mastered picking up food like green bean pieces and Cheer.ios.  You now know the color of bowl we keep the Cheer.ios in and get excited whenever we get them out.  You get mad when we tell you the Cheer.ios are "all done". 

You're the busiest little girl I've ever seen.  You're into everything and crawling and pulling up everywhere.  You can pull up on a flat wall, which is a really funny thing to watch!  You love to explore and are so curious about everything around you.  You're also pretty easily distractable--you could be headed toward one toy, but if another is in the way, you might stop to play with it instead (or you might just try to crawl right over it, no matter what it is!).  You prefer to be upright at all times.

You love your daddy fiercely, but I think you're still a mommy's girl.  Over the last month we've spent a lot of time together because of Daddy's work schedule and I think that's attached you even more.  Sometimes it's frustrating (like when I just want to go to the bathroom!), but most of the time I love to turn around and see you crawling like a mad-woman to get to me.  You can move really quickly!

Soon you're going to be walking and I'm not sure I'm ready.  You're starting to let go of things and stand on your own for a few seconds at a time--thank goodness you've become quite the graceful faller! 

Your favorite thing to do at home is to pull up on the windowsill (we have one that's no more than a foot off the floor) and watch the goings-on outside.  You love to watch other little kids, cars, motorcycles, and even just the trees blowing in the wind.  I'm excited for the weather to turn warm (as much as I truly hate warm weather) so we can spend even more time outside, where you seem to thrive.

Your sleeping continues to be a struggle for us.  Some days we'll think we've got it under control, then you'll shake things up.  Last week, for instance, we were at a point where you'd sleep 7 p.m. to 3 a.m., get up and eat, then go back to sleep until 6:30 a.m.  This week, however, you've been up all sorts of odd hours and then getting up for the day at 5 a.m., which is WAY too early for all of us!  Mommy still thinks there are teeth coming, but who really knows.  If I keep saying it, it eventually has to be true!

You have the biggest smile that just melts my heart.  You're sometimes shy about showing it to new people you meet, but when we get you alone, you don't stop smiling!

You also now wave!  It's the cutest thing (well, to this mommy, anyway).  You won't do it on command, but I suppose we should get used to that, shouldn't we?  :)

You giggle and babble nearly constantly now and my favorite time is when we're in the car and you sit in the back and tell me all about your day.  We've heard so many consonants from you: B, D, F, H, L, M, N, P, T, V.  I was so happy to hear "mama" finally.  Of course your words aren't directed at anyone in particular, but it's still a beautiful sound to hear.

You had your first real boo-boo this month and it scared your mommy and daddy a lot.  I finally have a picture uploaded and will do another blog post on it either today or tomorrow.  You, of course, were fine within a few minutes--it amazes me how resilient you are.  Usually a hug from mommy or daddy and you're off again!

I love you, baby.  I hope you'll never ever doubt that.  Even through the sleepless nights and grabby hands (you love to get ahold of Mommy's hair and tug HARD), I can't imagine my life without you in it.  Thank you for being such a happy blessing in my life, Sugarbear.

Love always,
Mommy

NIAW

This week (April 25-May2) is National Infertility Awareness Week.  While I know I haven't been touched personally by my own infertility (although I had a gut feeling that we would...we did get a diagnosis of semi-fertile), this is a subject that touches my heart deeply.  I've shared in the joys and sadness of so many people who have suffered from infertility.

I have many feelings about the topic, but don't think I can do them justice and also don't want to make any of my friends who are currently suffering feel like I think I know what you're going through or have gone through.  I don't and I never will.  But just know that my heart aches for all of you to be able to reach your goals of becoming parents. 

This post is in honor of all those warriors out there and to make you all more aware of the topic.  I read a few blogs of women who are currently suffering and I'm sure they can speak much better than I can on infertility.  Please visit them and educate yourself--try to get a feel for what they might be going through.  And, if you're the praying type, say a prayer for them.  I do every single day.

A Little Pregnant
Happy Hopefuls
The Adventures of Taderbaby
...Expect Miracles...
Maybe If You Just Relax....

...as well as a few more

How timely!

A blog that I coworker pointed me toward is discussing teething this week.  The post from today is a really interesting read:  http://www.secretsofbabybehavior.com/2010/04/truth-about-teething-part-i-is-it.html

I was just asking another mommy friend about her experiences with teething and she noticed that her son's teething wasn't actually associated with drooling.  She thought her kid was weird, but according to this site, the "typical" symptoms aren't regularly actually associated with teething. 

Maybe I'm not such a nutcase to think that baby girl might be (finally) getting some teeth.  She did seem to be in some pain (which I can imagine would be the case) and has been chewing on some things, but no excessive drool or the other symptoms that some people note.

Meal Plan 4/25-5/1

Sunday: Chinese take-out, as my mom was at the house until about 7:30 and we still hadn't eaten
Monday: Lasagna Soup that didn't end up anything like a soup.  It was more the consistency of a Johnny Marzetti type of dish...but it was still delicious!  We made it with ground turkey that I found on manager's special and we had it with salad and cheese-stuffed biscuits (took refrigerated biscuits, separated in two, put pizza cheese blend in the center, made a ball, put some Italian Seasoning on top, then baked until done).
Tuesday: Jessica Simpson Chicken & Dumplings from some frozen rotisserie chicken from last week
Wednesday: Grilled chicken with sweet potatoes
Thursday: More pork tacos (leftovers from last week were frozen)
Friday: Frozen pizza and breadsticks (had a freebie coupon for the new Digiorno product--there's nothing on the DiGiorno website about this product, so the link takes you to a $3 coupon Facebook)
Saturday: Black Beans and Rice

Random Musings

I have three posts that I'm planning to write up, just need to upload the pictures (and, for the third, trying to make sure I don't alienate any of my readers).  Stay tuned!  For now, here are some random things that I'm thinking about:

- Do other people plan their blog posts and Facebook status updates while they're away from their computers?  I'll think, "Gee, that would make a great FB status" or "Ooh, I need to blog about this".  Problem is, I don't write down what I'm thinking, so it never makes it to the computer.

- Working on a big project for the hubby's 30th birthday.  Gathering letters from friends, family, and coworkers to put into a scrapbook for him.  It's really interesting to see what I'm getting from different people.  One person sent in a photo that I love :)  Sent out a final reminder today so I can work on it this weekend.

- Also along the birthday front--I'm going to give him small notes/gifts each day until the big day.  Today I began the countdown--10 days left until his birthday!  I left a note on his car since we park in the same garage.

- Had a really rough night of sleep last night.  Baby girl was awake at 11, 12, 12:30, 1, and 1:30.  I nursed her at 1:30 and she ate well, but when she popped off, she passed out.  I laid there for a minute, just holding her--it felt so good!--then I got up and stood there watching her.  She'd rolled over onto her belly and looked so peaceful.  If I could have been sure she wouldn't roll onto the floor, I would have considered leaving her there to sleep with her daddy (I was perched on the edge of the bed, so I couldn't have slept that way for the rest of the night).  I picked her up and went and laid her in her bed, where she slept the rest of the night. 

- The rough night of sleep was caused by a visit from my mom, where baby girl was kept awake for too long after she was sleepy.  *sigh*  The issues with my mom deserve a whole separate blog post, though...

- We're finally caught up on laundry!  I think it's the first time in years and we both feel great about it!  Now we just have to make sure we stay caught up.

- Trying to figure out how to store restaurant coupons so we don't forget we have them.  I have some on the fridge, but am getting too many to do that with.  My other coupons are in manila envelopes, so I could do that, but I'm afraid I'd forget to use them, then.  As it is, they lay on the dining room table in a pile with our magazines.  Ugh--I hate the clutter!!!

- Baby girl shook her head no to me today for the first time.  She was eating her barley cereal and she must have been done because just looked at me and shook her head.  I offered 2 more times (who knew if that's really what she was doing???) and she still didn't want anymore. 

- She has also started letting go when she's pulled up on something.  She can balance for a few seconds, then will fall down.  Luckily, most of the time she falls gracefully!

- The husband's working hours have gotten pretty ridiculous.  We were having our first full weekend without him working since the beginning of 2010...and then something went wrong and he had to go in on Sunday for about 2 hours.  Not a huge deal, but still disappointing.  I know he was really bummed about it, too.  I, though, had a pretty bad breakdown about it all one night this past week.  We've talked and I hope things will be better and I won't feel like the pressure of the world is on my shoulders.

- We're back on the healthy eating kick.  The husband is feeling pretty tubby and I can't stand to look at myself in the mirror, so it's time.  I bought a bit more fruits and veggies yesterday at the grocery.  It's really helpful that he's on board, too.  He was the one who suggested getting more salad stuff, so I did.  If we can't find time to work out, at least we can start trying better with the eating.

- Made yummy banana bread yesterday.  I just love to bake--I wish I had a bit more time for it!  I miss baking and crafting and reading, but just put my daughter and my time with the hubby first.  I should try to find a craft to do, though, in the evenings while the husband and I are watching TV.  Should I get back into knitting, scrapbooking, cross-stitching, sewing, or work to make my photography skills better?  Hmmm...decisions....

- Today is National Pretzel Day!  How fitting....it's one of my favorite foods!!!  I could eat soft pretzels any day, if you remember my post here....  I'll be eating little pretzel balls, maybe some other hard pretzels, and just to celebrate I'll probably have a soft pretzel tonight :)

Daddy is just a word

No, this isn't going to be as philosophical as the title might suggest...

I was just thinking this morning.  In all the languages I know (and taking information from here), "father" starts with P (padre, papa) or B (baba).  So who decided that Daddy would also mean Father in English?  I think it was the men.  When babies start talking, what is the first consonant sound they make?  "Da".  Seems like a conspiracy to me.  They use the P and B sounds, too, but the very first one is usually the D.  I think dads just wanted to believe that the first word their baby says is "Daddy".

Just my thinking, though....

Meal Plan 4/18-4/24

Sunday: Shepherd's Pie (finally)
Monday: BBQ Chicken Salad (bought a rotisserie chicken for use twice this week)
Tuesday: Black Bean Pizza
Wednesday: Pulled Pork Tacos
Thursday: Leftover Pulled Pork Tacos
Friday: Slow Cooker Black Beans and Rice
Saturday: Some new chicken dish that uses cooked chicken (thus the need for the rotisserie chicken)--I'll update this later.  It's written down at home somewhere.



I'd like to try these at some point this week (only a half batch, though): Tie Dyed Sugar Cookie Bars  I also don't know if I'll make the icing as fancy or if I'll just ice them with white icing.  We'll see how motivated I am. :)

Last Night

Last night was exceptionally bad.  Bad bad bad.

Baby girl went to bed fairly easily at 6:50 (normal bedtime) or so.  She was awake at 9:45, screaming like she was in pain. Well, she sort of was...she had pulled a blanket off the edge of her crib and gotten tangled in it.  Scary for all of us. DH got her back to sleep, though, and pushed all the blankets to the end of her crib.  She woke around 10:15 and he went back up and got her to sleep, removing everything from her crib, just in case.  She was then awake at midnight.  DH went to her and she wouldn't go to sleep for him, so he came and got me.  She passed out on my shoulder before I could even sit in the rocking chair.  So I swayed with her to get her to sleep, then got her into her crib.  Back to bed.  I laid there awake for about 25 minutes when she woke up again...same routine, except she felt a little chilly, so I covered her with a crocheted blanket (less likely to suffocate...I hope). 

She then woke up at 3 (I think?) and the husband went and got her.  He brought her to me and I fed her while laying down and must have fallen asleep.  I jerked awake about 15 or 20 minutes later and she was limp.  I was so scared.  It felt like a minute passed, but I'm sure it was less than a second.  She moved and looked up at me and giggled.  Just sleeping...*sigh*  But, of course now she isn't sleeping.  Now she wants to play.  I tried to get her to lay down, but she was crawling all over our bed.  DH got her and took her back to her crib.  She wasn't interested in sleeping, but wasn't upset, either, so he laid her down awake and left the room.  I knew that blanket was in there and with her being awake, was afraid she was squirming all around the bed, getting tangled.  She had gotten quiet, so around 4 I got up and checked on her--sleeping like an angel, not really even close to the blanket. 

I ended up laying in bed watching some cake-decorating show for awhile and finally passed out.  She didn't make another peep until morning.

Last week was good--she was waking one time per night, eating, going right back to bed.  She even did it Saturday night (she typically sleeps pretty poorly Saturday and Sunday nights b/c she doesn't nap well, but she napped for us this weekend!).  I had a feeling we were over the hump with the sleep issues.  We were completely happy with that one easy waking a night.  But last night....ugh.  That was bad. 

What a looooong night. I still don't know if I can go through this again with another baby someday.

If she slept, why don't I feel rested?

I am officially jinxing myself here, but at this point, I don't think I care.  Last night baby girl went down really easily, woke up for a few minutes around 10:30 p.m. (as we were getting in bed), then didn't wake until 6 a.m. 

So why am I yawning and ready to fall asleep??  Oh wait, because I had to stay up later than I wanted last night.  I would have loved to go to sleep around 9 p.m.  Why didn't I go to bed?  Well, here's what my night looked like:

4:30 Leave work and drive to the sitter's
5:10 Pick up baby girl
5:11-5:30 Sing silly songs, talk baby talk, all in the interest of keeping baby girl happy
5:30 Get home with baby girl
5:31 Get baby girl out of her car seat and sit her on the floor and she starts to play
5:35 Go into kitchen to discover that an ingredient of dinner is missing
5:36 Go back to living room to figure out what I can make with the ingredients I have
5:45 Still searching for dinner plans, watching baby girl pull up repeatedly on the faux marble window sill, knowing she needs a bath, but wanting to get dinner started and figure out what I can make
5:50 Find something to make for dinner, but don't want to leave baby girl pulling up in the living room (she'll just head back to the living room if I bring her into the kitchen), so I sit and watch her and wait for daddy to come home (who was supposed to be home at 5:30)
5:55 Think about giving baby girl a bath, but figure daddy will be home ANY MINUTE, so I'll wait for him to get home and give her a bath while I fix dinner
6:10 Daddy walks in the door
6:10:01 I go into the kitchen to try to whip something up, knowing baby girl should be nursing by about 6:30
6:11 I find the missing ingredient buried in the fridge.  Back to Plan A.
6:12 Rushing around, working on dinner, daddy gets to play with baby girl.  He thinks this is helpful.
6:15 Pull out baby girl's dinner.  Daddy keeps playing.  I keep cooking and cleaning.
6:30 I go pick up baby girl and plop her in her highchair to feed her her green beans.  Daddy says, "Oh, I can do that".  I tell him I've got it at this point.
6:35 Baby has been fed.  I realize dinner is done and ask for help getting it out of the oven. 
6:36 Dinner is out of the oven, I nurse baby girl
7:00 Daddy takes baby upstairs while I put together pictures to send to grandma
7:10 Daddy comes back downstairs and we eat dinner together while watching The Biggest Loser.  On the laptop. Because the DVR failed. 
8:00 Daddy falls asleep on couch
8:30 I get out my pump parts, get pissy that Daddy can sleep while I have to extract food for the baby.  Pump while watching the rest of the Biggest Loser and other TV.
9:20 Turn off the pump.  Go to look for the pieces to finish up the taxes.  Daddy still sleeping.  Doesn't even realize tomorrow is Tax Day.  Hasn't done anything to help with taxes.
9:25 Find the document I need.  Sit down and review all taxes information
10:15 Finish up taxes.  E-file.
10:16 Put away breastmilk that has been in cooler on the counter all evening.
10:17 Put away all dinner dishes.
10:18 Pack up pump to take back to work
10:19 Pick up baby toys that I just stubbed my toe on.
10:20 Set alarm and go upstairs, get ready for bed, and fall into bed.  Daddy joins me shortly thereafter.

I guess I'm just really frustrated that all Daddy has to do in the evenings is come home late, play with the baby, do what I ask of him if I ask, and sleep.  I, on the other hand, take care of dinner (deciding on meal, shopping for ingredients, prepping, cooking, cleaning up), make sure the child is fed (nursing, making food, buying food, pumping, prepping for pumping) and bathed (including remembering to do it, even though I've mentioned it before), make sure our household is put together (all financial tasks, filing taxes, trying to figure out an organizational system)...and it goes on and on.  I'm tired fucking exhausted.  I can't do it anymore. 

(This is all the beginning of a bigger conversation that I want to have...all about the expectations we have, both imposed by society and ourselves, and what motherhood looks like to different people.  I've been reading a book and want to share some of it here.  For now, though, I have to be done writing or I might go crazy  hurt someone  cuss out my husband  cry.)

I...

I feel like I've lost sight of who I am, outside of being a mommy.  In an effort to focus on that, I've made the following list.

I...

...am a wife
...am a musician
...am a diehard Buckeye fan
...believe wholeheartedly in balance and fairness
...am too hard on myself
...wear my heart on my sleeve
...have a *touch* of road rage
...swear like a sailor
...am a friend
...like to read
...am a crazy deal-seeker
...love to dance
...am a volunteer
...love to sing
...have crazy allergies
...could sleep 15 hours a night
...love fun socks
...hate the sound of people chewing
...have a weakness for all things sweet-tasting
...love to play board games
...love the smell of the rain
...hate the sound of thunder and the sight of lightning
...act like a kid sometimes
...love to snuggle
...have always tended to act older than I am
...was considered a genius in my previous life
...love math
...love brain teasers
...hate the idea of doggie kisses
...am a cat person
...dislike chocolate ice cream
...am a curvy girl
...could eat food from the grill every night
...love to look at the stars
...was one test away from being a Mensa member
...am a television addict
...love all reality shows
...am a crafter
...have ADD when it comes to crafting
...am an engineer
...am a slob at heart
...have a brain that never stops going and usually focuses on at least 3 things at once
...have an unhealthy relationship with food
...am a clotheshorse
...am a fan of pretty much all sports
...prefer college football to professional
...am anxious
...want to be liked more than anything else
...can be passive, aggressive, or passive-aggressive
...am a Christian (but am really ashamed to admit that this didn't come to my mind earlier...need to work on that)
...am a planner
...hate politics



...have always been and will always be a mommy.

Mommy/Daddy Relationship: Talk to me

I have a lot of feelings and things to say on this topic, but I'm curious, first, to see what you think.

How has your relationship with your husband changed since having kids?
How has it stayed the same?
What do you do to stay connected?

I'm not even talking about the physical relationship today (that's a whole 'nother blog post), but, rather, the emotional connection.  My husband is (was?) my best friend, but lately it doesn't feel like we talk at all.  I don't know if it's the kid or his work or a combination.

But I want to hear from YOU.

An Update

Thank you all so much for the comments on my Friday post! 

My update is that there really isn't much of an update to speak of.  Baby girl seems to be feeling better.  Didn't have to wipe her nose yesterday except after the trauma she experienced (see the next post for details on that...), but then this morning she had more snot again.  Everyone at the hospital (not related to the trauma--we went and met our new baby nieces!) thinks she's working on teeth based on her chewing on her hands, but I'm losing hope.  No tooth. 

For those of you whose children get The Snot when they're teething, do you notice it more or less at certain times of day?  We can't correlate it to when she lays down or the time of day, even.  Some times she's totally dry and then others we have a consistent river of clear snot running down her face.  That doesn't seem cold-like, but I wondered if anyone else had ever seen anything like that with teething snot.

Mommy and Daddy has, thus far, avoided The Snot.  I had to fight it like crazy, drinking OJ like it was my job, scrubbing my hands until they were raw...but so far, no snot in either one of us.

And as for taking care of baby all day on Saturday?  My parents came up to visit and gave me a bit of a reprieve.  She's quite the mommy's girl, so whenever I was in the room, she was all over me, but I was able to sneak out to CVS for a little while, which was really nice.

Poor baby and poor me

Baby girl isn't feeling well.  Last week the brother & sister at the sitter's were out spending the week with their grandparents. The little boy came back with a cold.  Shortly after they returned, baby girl starts to get snotty.  For the first day or so, it seemed like her other two colds--thin, runny snot, but still acting like a happy little lady.  The first full day with the cold, though, she came home from the sitter's with her chest soaked with drool.  I just figured it was because she had to breathe out of her mouth since her nose was stuffy.

After another two days, though, I'm not so sure that's the case.  This drool is like nothing I've ever seen from my baby.  It's constant, pools on the floor as she's on her hands and knees, soaks everything she touches.  She also has been getting extra fussy randomly.  She also woke up at 3:40 this morning and wouldn't go back to sleep.  As long as we didn't try to get her to sleep, she was happy to climb on mommy and daddy and drool all over our bed.

This has got to be teeth.  Seriously.  8 1/2 months old with no teeth, all of a sudden drooling like never before, chewing on things (a bit more than normal--she's always chewed a ton)...

I say poor me because, for one, I'm exhausted right now.  More tired than I've been in a long time.  I think my body is trying to fight off her cold and it's pretty difficult to do when you've been awake since before 4 a.m.

For another, my ILs are going to spend the night with us, at least tonight, and possibly tomorrow night.  This wouldn't be an issue if our house were in any way presentable.  With all the hours the hubby has been working, I've just been doing the bare minimum, just enough to be sure the kid doesn't ingest anything and we have enough dishes to cook on (when we cook).  So that means that as soon as we eat dinner (yes, it's 7:45 p.m. and we haven't eaten dinner) we'll need to at least make the basement useable so they can get to their bed.

Speaking of all the hours the hubby as been working....this is the real "poor me" reason....he's working all day tomorrow.  Like 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. all day long.  And because I still think baby girl has some sort of cold, I don't want to take her out and expose others (most importantly, not our nieces that should be born sometime tonight (edited to add: our nieces that were JUST born!)) to her possible sickness.  So I'm stuck in the house with a possibly sick, possibly teething baby all by myself.

Dinner Fail-ish

Tonight (as has been true for many nights recently) DH is working late. I successfully made a stop at Walgreen's with baby girl to pick up some pictures, got her dinner, gave her a bath, nursed her, and got her to bed without much of a fuss. I came downstairs, got frustrated with how messy the house is, and sat down and played online for awhile. I realized I was hungry, went poking around online, looking for ideas for a single serving dinner, and found some pancake recipes. No way was I making them from scratch, but I remembered that we had baking mix out there, so I made my way to the kitchen and whipped up some banana pancakes (my favorite).

I should stop here and clarify. I'm a pretty good cook. I do all the cooking in our household except grilling (just b/c DH likes to do it) and breakfast. So I haven't made pancakes in a loooong time.

I sliced the bananas and poured the batter over top like I typically did. I tried to make two separate pancakes that then turned into one. So I went with it and poured batter over the rest of the pan. I tried to flip the pancake and,....it became one big lumpy mess. I tried to flatten it enough that it would cook through. Then when I went to flip it back over, I just cut it in half. What a mess.

I then made a second large pancake and, while it was a bit better than the first, it was still a total mess. See the results:

You see? A mess. I actually didn't end up needing the syrup or the spray butter, though; the bananas were enough. I wish I were eating peanut butter--that always goes well with the banana pancakes.

As you can see from the picture below, they still tasted fantastic!!!

Meal Plan 4/4-4/10

Sunday: boneless chicken wings and mac & cheese
Monday: Manwich (made with ground turkey and served on those thin buns) with cheesy veggies, tater tots, and a whole wheat roll
Tuesday: turkey burgers (again served on the thin buns--I got a deal at the Pepperidge Farm Outlet even though I already had some) and sweet potato fries
Wednesday: shepherd's pie
Thursday: something chicken-y
Friday: not sure (hubby is working late, plus we're expecting the arrival of ILs because we'll be aunt & uncle two times over this weekend)
Saturday: no clue--hubby is working all day and we'll be hosting the ILs because of the birth of our nieces

Nothing too out-of-the-ordinary this week. We needed to eat out of the cupboards (I rearranged them this weekend, so I became very aware of what was in there!), so these were the simple things I came up with. Made a quick run the grocery last night to pick up some produce (trying new veggies--got an artichoke and an eggplant!) & dairy and walked out of there spending $40. Ugh. You know why? Sale Easter candy. It wasn't even *that* cheap, but all of a sudden, those Hershey Kisses, Cadbury Mini Eggs and Starburst Jelly Beans sounded SO good!

Pincher Grasp

Over the last few weeks, baby girl has been practicing her pincher grasp. I must say that she's getting really good at it! She can now proficiently get lint, dirt, small pieces of paper, and chunks of dinner from-who-knows-how-long-ago into her mouth. Oh, and she's also now eating (under our close supervision) Cheerios and chunks of green beans, all without any teeth. She's actually getting really good at picking up things with those two little fingers and getting them into her mouth.

You know how she got so good? Practice, baby. And guess what she's been practicing on? Oh yeah. My boob. While she nurses, she lays there and pinches my boob-skin over and over again. I have all these little red marks all over me from where she gets me with those teeny little pinchers. Why don't I stop it? Well, I did. But then I got tired of trying and, well, I looked into the big brown eyes of a baby who wasn't maliciously trying to hurt mommy (right, baby?) and thought, why not let her practice. She's never going to get better any other way. At least that's what I tell myself. It makes the pain a little better.

Hopping On

Well, I'm back on the wagon again. I saw some pics of me with baby girl from this weekend and I wasn't happy, to say the least. I'm still nervous about cutting calories, especially since my milk supply has been lagging a bit recently (having to pump every night before bed to keep up now, whereas before I would pump maybe 2-3 nights a week and all of that would go into the freezer). But I need to get healthy, even if it doesn't necessarily mean weight loss right now.

When I lost weight before, I actually didn't exercise. My body, for some reason, doesn't like to let the weight come off with exercise. I was eating well, doing the Couch to 5K program, and couldn't lose any weight. I would try eating more and eating less and saw zero results. The minute I stopped exercising regularly, the weight came off. It might be finding the balance between eating enough for the exercise I do, but I didn't have the patience to do it since just eating right was working for me.

This time, though, I want to be in shape and my weight can do whatever it wants. I'm going to start tracking my food, which does seem to help me be more conscious of what I put into my mouth and eating more fruits and veggies. But I'm still going to allow myself some ice cream and cupcakes and things like that and I'm not going to be super strict on myself. But I've made a committment to start exercising in the evenings. Baby girl is in bed by 7:30 each night, there's no reason I can't do something after she's asleep. The husband and I have gotten three workout games for the Wii (plus the Wii Fit "game"): Just Dance, The Biggest Loser, and something else (edited to add: I just remembered that it was the Jenny McCarthy one). See how much they've been used? I can't even remember what the third is! I figured, though, that those would be great starting spots for working out, especially since at least one of us has to stay home with the kid, so we can't go jogging together.

I'm going to start tracking my food on SparkPeople. If you're a member, let me know and I'd love to share my food intake with you. I need some people to keep me accountable! I'll also be posting here each week how many times I worked out that week. I'm hoping to feel better about myself and feel healthier. If my clothes fit better, that's just a bonus ;)

Lessons in Pumping

Lesson I learned today. When you're pumping 3-4 times a day, don't wear a dress unless you want to sit at your desk with your bum and undies hanging out or it has a big enough neckhole where you won't stretch it out (this one doesn't).

*sigh*

Dwindling Readers

I've noticed on my Google Reader that the number of readers that I have is dwindling, so I'm trying to figure out what I can do to keep you all coming back. Are you tired of hearing about my baby girl? Tired of hearing about her sleeping issues? Want me to talk about more funny stuff? More serious stuff? More thought-provoking?

Yes, this blog is for me to record things that baby girl is doing, especially since I generally suck at keeping up her baby book. But I also want readers and, even moreso, I want happy readers.

So tell me, what can I do to keep you? Hell, I'm sure I can follow through on that giveaway and finish answering those questions...I suppose I should do that. I know who won already--I already did the random number generator.

But what keeps you coming back, if you do? Is it just because you know and love me? Or is there something else?