At least one person in our house has been sick since December 21st, when The Plague hit The Hubby.
Actually, I take that back. Baby Girl had had a cough since the day before. So make that December 20th.
So The Hubby had The Plague late 12/21 until 12/23ish (he was still feeling rough on Christmas Eve). I felt really nauseous, but still don't know if it was from the anxiety of the situation or if I had a mild version of it.
Baby Girl started puking Christmas morning (total of 3 times....completely freaked out both her and me). This is why I haven't blogged about Christmas much. The good news? Most of the people at Christmas (we were at the in-laws') had already had The Plague. Another piece of good news? She was done puking by 8:30 a.m. and then acted like her normal self. We thought maybe she was vomiting due to the phlegm in her stomach and not The Plague.
Puke session #2 for Baby Girl: morning of 12/26. Oh yeah...it's The Plague. We go to my parents' house anyway because that's what they want. She then pukes the morning of 12/27 as well. She throws up once, sleeps for a bit, then wakes up and is normal for the rest of the day. We avoided everyone but my parents for fear of passing it along.
Morning of 12/28....no puke from Baby Girl. My mom, however, is another story. Ugh. We leave town and come home (my dad got sick the next morning). At this point I'm coughing and have been doing so since just before Christmas. When we get home from traveling, we get one last vomit from Baby Girl. We've then left The Plague behind us.
The Cold, however? Not so much.
Baby Girl starts coughing. I'm coughing. The Hubby is sort of coughing. We take Baby Girl to the doctor and she's given azithromycin, hoping to knock this cold out. I get progressively worse, but tell myself it's just a cold and will go away. In the meantime, I lose my voice for about 3 days. That part sucked. Happy New Year.
By mid-week the first week of January, I go to the doctor. I braved a snowstorm, but I went and was rewarded with a Z-Pack. Got it in my system and I was feeling markedly better by the 10th or so. Still had a lingering cough, but it wasn't horrible.
Baby Girl, however, gets worse again (although you would never know it...she has acted sick probably twice in her life, not counting when she was vomiting). She makes a return trip to the doctor on Monday the 10th. She gets a prescription for Omnicef and diagnosed with her fifth ear infection in seven months. This means we'll be talking about ear tubes with our regular pediatrician at her 18-month checkup. She takes the antibiotic like a champ (she's only hated amoxicillin so far) but is tugging at her ears a bit toward the end of the ten days of antibiotic, something she's actually never done with any of her ear infections. We wait it out.
She's done with the antibiotic on 1/19. Still tugging on the ears, but letting her go--this is also one of her tired signs.
We actually all seem fairly healthy for once. Woohoo! Maybe we've kicked it!
Oh no. Of course not. This is when God just laughs in my face. The Hubby and I both start feeling scratchy on Saturday (1/21). I wake up Sunday with definite sinus pain and a sore throat. This morning I woke up feeling like I had two softballs in the back of my throat. I would think it was my tonsils except I haven't had any for 25 years. The softballs are gone at this point, but I'm still scratchy and experiencing some sinus pain.
If you are keeping track, this makes over a month now that at least one of us has been sick. And you know that if I get fully sick everyone else will, too. I can keep from kissing my husband for a few days on the mouth, but my baby girl? Oh hell no. She offers up the sweetest kisses and even makes the smacking sound. I'll do my best to resist, but it'll be tough!
Monday, January 24, 2011
Weekly Meal Plan: 1/23-1/29
In our effort to get organized again (more on that later), I'm going to start posting our weekly meal plans again. We've been meal planning the whole time, but I think this will keep me accountable and love to share recipes with all of you!
We figured out the meals Saturday night and Baby Girl and I went to the grocery Sunday morning. We spent an ungodly amount for us ($95), but that included a lot of stocking up--pear juice for Baby Girl, WW ice cream (usually over $5 apiece, but on sale for around $3), paper towels (this was the first time I've actually paid for paper towels in years...and they were still on clearance), large bag of rice, large bag of string cheese (should last about 3 weeks--Baby Girl gets one daily in her lunch), and a few other things. So this coming week's shopping trip should be a bit less expensive--I hope so, anyway!
Sunday, January 23rd: Taco Joes (delicious!), lime rice, and peas
Monday, January 24th: Ribs (bought on manager's special a few weeks ago), mashed potatoes (not a thrifty purchase, but I love Ore Ida's Steam & Mash), corn, and cornbread
Tuesday, January 25th: Chicken & Stove Top (my mom has been making this for forever) with mashed cauliflower
Wednesday, January 26th: Pork Chops & Rice (pork chops were also bought on manager's special)
Thursday, January 27th: Pasta & Bean Skillet
Friday, January 28th: Chicken Parmesan
Saturday, January 29th: Planning on eating out if we don't eat out during the week sometime--it's Baby Girl's 1 1/2 birthday!
We figured out the meals Saturday night and Baby Girl and I went to the grocery Sunday morning. We spent an ungodly amount for us ($95), but that included a lot of stocking up--pear juice for Baby Girl, WW ice cream (usually over $5 apiece, but on sale for around $3), paper towels (this was the first time I've actually paid for paper towels in years...and they were still on clearance), large bag of rice, large bag of string cheese (should last about 3 weeks--Baby Girl gets one daily in her lunch), and a few other things. So this coming week's shopping trip should be a bit less expensive--I hope so, anyway!
Sunday, January 23rd: Taco Joes (delicious!), lime rice, and peas
Monday, January 24th: Ribs (bought on manager's special a few weeks ago), mashed potatoes (not a thrifty purchase, but I love Ore Ida's Steam & Mash), corn, and cornbread
Tuesday, January 25th: Chicken & Stove Top (my mom has been making this for forever) with mashed cauliflower
Wednesday, January 26th: Pork Chops & Rice (pork chops were also bought on manager's special)
Thursday, January 27th: Pasta & Bean Skillet
Friday, January 28th: Chicken Parmesan
Saturday, January 29th: Planning on eating out if we don't eat out during the week sometime--it's Baby Girl's 1 1/2 birthday!
Friday, January 21, 2011
Half a Lifetime
I just put on a sweatshirt from my high school's boys' basketball team. It has their schedule on it and I got it from my Chemistry teacher--an assistant on the team. I looked at the back, where the schedule is, and realized that it is from the 1995-96 season, which means I've had the sweatshirt for 15 years...half of my life.
It's so hard for me to understand that high school was half a lifetime away. I felt like everything that happened while in school was incredibly significant. I remember who friends dated, when we had first kisses, teachers, subjects, even specific tests. Many people told me that college would be the best years of my life...but I remember high school as the happiest time of my life.
College brought...complicated times. Independence (and not necessarily in a good way). A severe drop in self-esteem (not that it was great in high school...that *was* when I was not eating, after all).
It's just so hard for me to believe that high school, the time I was the most popular, when I had great, lifelong friends, when I felt like I BELONGED was almost half a lifetime ago.
And, honestly, it makes me really sad. It makes me sad to realize that I've lived as much time away from those friends as I did with them. It makes me sad to realize that I've spent half a lifetime not feeling like I belong, like I fit in, like I'm liked.
All this is really brought on by a picture I saw from college. I was FAT. Hideously huge. And I was part of a group that had structure built in, but I still didn't belong with my smaller part of the group. I just didn't. And I hate that. I spent all of my 5 years trying to fit in and never did. And it makes me so sad to think about. College was a time of failure for me. Failing to get decent grades. Failing to maintain a reasonable weight. Failing to make people like me. Sure, I had friends. College is where I met The Hubby and some of our best friends. But the masses didn't like me like they used to. I used to be the "it" girl in my circle in high school. Not college. Not by a long shot.
This is another one of those posts that I'm just going to publish because it's late and I need to do some stuff and just get this off my chest. I have a lot more to say about it all...high school...college...belonging...FAT. But not right now. Nope, I need to get my shit together and get out of here so I can see my girl.
It's so hard for me to understand that high school was half a lifetime away. I felt like everything that happened while in school was incredibly significant. I remember who friends dated, when we had first kisses, teachers, subjects, even specific tests. Many people told me that college would be the best years of my life...but I remember high school as the happiest time of my life.
College brought...complicated times. Independence (and not necessarily in a good way). A severe drop in self-esteem (not that it was great in high school...that *was* when I was not eating, after all).
It's just so hard for me to believe that high school, the time I was the most popular, when I had great, lifelong friends, when I felt like I BELONGED was almost half a lifetime ago.
And, honestly, it makes me really sad. It makes me sad to realize that I've lived as much time away from those friends as I did with them. It makes me sad to realize that I've spent half a lifetime not feeling like I belong, like I fit in, like I'm liked.
All this is really brought on by a picture I saw from college. I was FAT. Hideously huge. And I was part of a group that had structure built in, but I still didn't belong with my smaller part of the group. I just didn't. And I hate that. I spent all of my 5 years trying to fit in and never did. And it makes me so sad to think about. College was a time of failure for me. Failing to get decent grades. Failing to maintain a reasonable weight. Failing to make people like me. Sure, I had friends. College is where I met The Hubby and some of our best friends. But the masses didn't like me like they used to. I used to be the "it" girl in my circle in high school. Not college. Not by a long shot.
This is another one of those posts that I'm just going to publish because it's late and I need to do some stuff and just get this off my chest. I have a lot more to say about it all...high school...college...belonging...FAT. But not right now. Nope, I need to get my shit together and get out of here so I can see my girl.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Her Favorite
Baby Girl has been going to the new sitter for two and a half weeks now and I think it's time I tell you all about it.
In a word? Fabulous.
And the best part (you know, for MY ego) is that the sitter confided that Baby Girl is her favorite. She's the one she brags about to her friends and who she enjoys seeing each day. She says she's the happiest kid she's ever met. She's always telling us how impressed she is by her talking and everything she does at her age.
And the best part of Baby Girl is that she loves it there. She's happy when we pick her up, but doesn't fuss anymore when we leave. She waves as we go and plays with her friends. There are 6 kiddos there total but all 6 are there only on Wednesdays. Baby Girl is in the middle as far as age and I think that helps her--she loves doting on the babies and I think she learns from the big kids. She's eating well, doing art, learning, playing...it's a great situation so far.
We have one small reservation--each of the last 4 days we've picked up the sitter has been on the phone and it's seemed like a personal conversation. It strikes us as odd and a little bothersome. We aren't sure how long we'll let it go on before we say something. Her stated hours of operation are 7:30-5:30 and we all pick up by 5:00, so she's technically getting off early. She's got some free time during naptime, too, to make business (or personal) calls. But if that's our only gripe...we're doing really well :)
In a word? Fabulous.
And the best part (you know, for MY ego) is that the sitter confided that Baby Girl is her favorite. She's the one she brags about to her friends and who she enjoys seeing each day. She says she's the happiest kid she's ever met. She's always telling us how impressed she is by her talking and everything she does at her age.
And the best part of Baby Girl is that she loves it there. She's happy when we pick her up, but doesn't fuss anymore when we leave. She waves as we go and plays with her friends. There are 6 kiddos there total but all 6 are there only on Wednesdays. Baby Girl is in the middle as far as age and I think that helps her--she loves doting on the babies and I think she learns from the big kids. She's eating well, doing art, learning, playing...it's a great situation so far.
We have one small reservation--each of the last 4 days we've picked up the sitter has been on the phone and it's seemed like a personal conversation. It strikes us as odd and a little bothersome. We aren't sure how long we'll let it go on before we say something. Her stated hours of operation are 7:30-5:30 and we all pick up by 5:00, so she's technically getting off early. She's got some free time during naptime, too, to make business (or personal) calls. But if that's our only gripe...we're doing really well :)
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
2011
I'm not one to make resolutions because I definitely don't ever remember keeping one. So we'll call these....goals.
1) To cut out (or at least down) cursing in the car. Now that Baby Girl is with us in the car almost every day, I need to watch the road rage. It isn't healthy, either, but now I have another reason for chilling out.
2) To take at least one picture every day. I have Cassie to thank for this one--I think it's a great idea. I started on January 2nd and have taken pictures every single day. And so far each day I've taken pictures of Baby Girl, of course. It's an easy subject and I can't take too many landscape photos since I'm not at home when it's light outside :) I'm hoping this will both capture moments as well as help me learn my camera. My favorite unedited photo so far:
Beautiful, isn't she? :)
3) I'm going to start doing something for me more often. I have a hard time saying every day, but I'd like to do something for myself every day, even if it's as little as taking a 5 minute walk around the building at work. Tonight I plan to do some working out after Baby Girl is in bed and then I want to paint my toenails--something I've done maybe once or twice since she was born. I have a really hard time putting myself first, but I think I should make a point to *try*.
1) To cut out (or at least down) cursing in the car. Now that Baby Girl is with us in the car almost every day, I need to watch the road rage. It isn't healthy, either, but now I have another reason for chilling out.
2) To take at least one picture every day. I have Cassie to thank for this one--I think it's a great idea. I started on January 2nd and have taken pictures every single day. And so far each day I've taken pictures of Baby Girl, of course. It's an easy subject and I can't take too many landscape photos since I'm not at home when it's light outside :) I'm hoping this will both capture moments as well as help me learn my camera. My favorite unedited photo so far:
Beautiful, isn't she? :)
3) I'm going to start doing something for me more often. I have a hard time saying every day, but I'd like to do something for myself every day, even if it's as little as taking a 5 minute walk around the building at work. Tonight I plan to do some working out after Baby Girl is in bed and then I want to paint my toenails--something I've done maybe once or twice since she was born. I have a really hard time putting myself first, but I think I should make a point to *try*.
Pep-poo and other cute things
(This post was started a week and a half ago....and instead of adding to it, I'll post it now and be writing an 18 month update in a week and a half!)
The last two months have brought about a lot of changes for Baby Girl--most of them verbally!
Physically, she's got 7 teeth now (#5 showed up the Saturday after Thanksgiving, #6 that next Tuesday, and #7 that next Friday--3 new teeth in a week and no fussing involved). We think #8 is coming soon based on a low-grade fever and some major chewing this morning (edited to add: #8 showed up 1/10).
She's jumping. It's mostly with each foot off the ground separately, but it's a-dor-able to watch her trying.
She LOVES pretzels. Serious love. Those and Goldfish. We made the mistake of giving her some pretzels in the car one day and now she asks for them every time we get in the car. But she says them "pep-poo" and it's so sweet...so we typically give in. Not like she's asking for a Snickers. ;)
She's gone through some pickier phases with eating, but seems to be back to eating like a tank after our unfortunate illness. We send her to daycare with the following: her lunch (leftovers from the night before), pretzels (probably about 25 of the little sticks), full can of mandarin oranges, small box of raisins, and something else. She eats it all after eating over 1/2 cup of baby barley and sometimes part of a banana. And then she acts like she's starving, so we give her some pretzels when we get home and then she eats all of her dinner. And she still nurses in the morning and before bed. That girl can put it away!
Baby Girl LOVES animals. The new sitter has a bird, a cat, and a HUMONGOUS dog. She asks for the kitty all evening and wants to pet it as soon as we get there in the morning. She asks to see the dog (usually says "woof woof", although yesterday finally said something like "dog") when we're leaving--but she's scared of him when we get close (his head seriously comes up to my boobs and I'm 5'7", so I don't blame her). We also have to pet the kitty (which she calls a kitty). She doesn't call many animals by name, but rather identifies them by their sound (you should hear her make the elephant sound...so cute!).
She's also starting to string together words--at the sitter's she said "more color" to indicate that she wanted to color more or that she wanted a new color of crayon.
Speaking of coloring...it's ALL she wants to do. That, play with block, and read books. But it always comes back to "color? COLOR?" It's cute....but gets annoying. Because you know she can't do it on her own. Oh no...she must have "mom-mom" (her name for me) or daddy color with her. And we oblige...because we miss her so much during the day. But we're running out of things to color on plain paper (because Grandpa makes paper, we get free reams all the time). We typically do footballs, trees, flowers, and try our best at some animals. She does circles, squiggles, and lines. Curvy ones. :)
Baby Girl also has reasoning skills that really impress me. We'll be in the car and she'll say "Emma?" (one of the kids at daycare) and before we can respond, she says "home". Yep, honey, Emma went home. And the first day at the sitter's, K, the sitter, told her that Mommy and Daddy went to work. So whenever someone else would be dropped off, Baby Girl would say "work". Then when the first kids were picked up, she'd say "home".
The last two months have brought about a lot of changes for Baby Girl--most of them verbally!
Physically, she's got 7 teeth now (#5 showed up the Saturday after Thanksgiving, #6 that next Tuesday, and #7 that next Friday--3 new teeth in a week and no fussing involved). We think #8 is coming soon based on a low-grade fever and some major chewing this morning (edited to add: #8 showed up 1/10).
She's jumping. It's mostly with each foot off the ground separately, but it's a-dor-able to watch her trying.
She LOVES pretzels. Serious love. Those and Goldfish. We made the mistake of giving her some pretzels in the car one day and now she asks for them every time we get in the car. But she says them "pep-poo" and it's so sweet...so we typically give in. Not like she's asking for a Snickers. ;)
She's gone through some pickier phases with eating, but seems to be back to eating like a tank after our unfortunate illness. We send her to daycare with the following: her lunch (leftovers from the night before), pretzels (probably about 25 of the little sticks), full can of mandarin oranges, small box of raisins, and something else. She eats it all after eating over 1/2 cup of baby barley and sometimes part of a banana. And then she acts like she's starving, so we give her some pretzels when we get home and then she eats all of her dinner. And she still nurses in the morning and before bed. That girl can put it away!
Baby Girl LOVES animals. The new sitter has a bird, a cat, and a HUMONGOUS dog. She asks for the kitty all evening and wants to pet it as soon as we get there in the morning. She asks to see the dog (usually says "woof woof", although yesterday finally said something like "dog") when we're leaving--but she's scared of him when we get close (his head seriously comes up to my boobs and I'm 5'7", so I don't blame her). We also have to pet the kitty (which she calls a kitty). She doesn't call many animals by name, but rather identifies them by their sound (you should hear her make the elephant sound...so cute!).
She's also starting to string together words--at the sitter's she said "more color" to indicate that she wanted to color more or that she wanted a new color of crayon.
Speaking of coloring...it's ALL she wants to do. That, play with block, and read books. But it always comes back to "color? COLOR?" It's cute....but gets annoying. Because you know she can't do it on her own. Oh no...she must have "mom-mom" (her name for me) or daddy color with her. And we oblige...because we miss her so much during the day. But we're running out of things to color on plain paper (because Grandpa makes paper, we get free reams all the time). We typically do footballs, trees, flowers, and try our best at some animals. She does circles, squiggles, and lines. Curvy ones. :)
Baby Girl also has reasoning skills that really impress me. We'll be in the car and she'll say "Emma?" (one of the kids at daycare) and before we can respond, she says "home". Yep, honey, Emma went home. And the first day at the sitter's, K, the sitter, told her that Mommy and Daddy went to work. So whenever someone else would be dropped off, Baby Girl would say "work". Then when the first kids were picked up, she'd say "home".
Friday, January 14, 2011
Mojo
Like Austin Powers, I've lost my mojo. This time, though, it doesn't just seem to be my bloggy mojo.
I have four minutes to write this, so I don't think I can get in-depth completely. But I guess I just needed to get *something* out there.
I'm feeling pretty down. I don't know if it's the weather, the sickness that've encompassed our house for the last month, or a combination of that and other things. I don't know how to fix it and I don't know if there's anything, really, to fix. It's a never-ending circle of:
- I go to work
- I miss my kid
- When I get home with my kid, I'm exhausted and don't spend quality time with her
- She goes to bed
- I'm still exhausted and do nothing the rest of the night (The Hubby doesn't, either, which reduces my motivation even more)
- I miss my kid and feel awful that I didn't make the most of the little time we get together
- I go to bed
- I start the cycle all over again.
I get upset at little things. I cry at the drop of a hat. I don't feel like I'm enjoying my little girl when I actually have the time to do so because I just want to take some "me time", even though I know I'll get my "me time" once she's in bed.
I get depressed at the state of our house, but don't have the energy to do anything about it. Honestly, I feel like we're living in filth and I think it's mostly because we have mice. Not one mouse....mice. And I feel gross. We find mouse poop in bizarre places (who knew mice could climb to the top of a 6-foot shelving unit????). The Hubby removed two bodies from the house the other night, but we think there are more. We have mouse poison in our basement and in the garage, which means we can't take Baby Girl to either place. *I* don't want to go to either place to do laundry or clean because I don't want to come across another one (I was the one that discovered the first one when it scampered across the laundry room floor while Baby Girl and I were looking for clothes for her). This means we have no clean clothes. I might be wearing a puke-covered shirt. What's worse is that I don't actually know if I am. All I know is that there's something flaky on the entire left shoulder that I just discovered at 3:00. And I got the shirt from my bedroom....what I thought were clean clothes.
It's a mess. We're a mess. And I'm so overwhelmed by it all that I just want to climb into bed and cry.
I'm not going back and editing and I'm just hitting Publish. Not looking for pity....just needed to get something--ANYTHING--out there. Because even this is better than silence.
I have four minutes to write this, so I don't think I can get in-depth completely. But I guess I just needed to get *something* out there.
I'm feeling pretty down. I don't know if it's the weather, the sickness that've encompassed our house for the last month, or a combination of that and other things. I don't know how to fix it and I don't know if there's anything, really, to fix. It's a never-ending circle of:
- I go to work
- I miss my kid
- When I get home with my kid, I'm exhausted and don't spend quality time with her
- She goes to bed
- I'm still exhausted and do nothing the rest of the night (The Hubby doesn't, either, which reduces my motivation even more)
- I miss my kid and feel awful that I didn't make the most of the little time we get together
- I go to bed
- I start the cycle all over again.
I get upset at little things. I cry at the drop of a hat. I don't feel like I'm enjoying my little girl when I actually have the time to do so because I just want to take some "me time", even though I know I'll get my "me time" once she's in bed.
I get depressed at the state of our house, but don't have the energy to do anything about it. Honestly, I feel like we're living in filth and I think it's mostly because we have mice. Not one mouse....mice. And I feel gross. We find mouse poop in bizarre places (who knew mice could climb to the top of a 6-foot shelving unit????). The Hubby removed two bodies from the house the other night, but we think there are more. We have mouse poison in our basement and in the garage, which means we can't take Baby Girl to either place. *I* don't want to go to either place to do laundry or clean because I don't want to come across another one (I was the one that discovered the first one when it scampered across the laundry room floor while Baby Girl and I were looking for clothes for her). This means we have no clean clothes. I might be wearing a puke-covered shirt. What's worse is that I don't actually know if I am. All I know is that there's something flaky on the entire left shoulder that I just discovered at 3:00. And I got the shirt from my bedroom....what I thought were clean clothes.
It's a mess. We're a mess. And I'm so overwhelmed by it all that I just want to climb into bed and cry.
I'm not going back and editing and I'm just hitting Publish. Not looking for pity....just needed to get something--ANYTHING--out there. Because even this is better than silence.
Monday, January 10, 2011
The Sweetest Thing
A week ago, I was a bit incredibly anxious about sending Baby Girl to the new sitter. It was Sunday and I was realizing how much I was going to miss being with my girl once The Hubby and I returned to work after 12 days off. I, like I tend to do these days, started crying.
Baby Girl looked up at me, said "Mom-mom? Mom-mom?". She leaned in and wrapped her arms around my neck.
And then she put her sweet little hand on my face and wiped away a tear with her thumb.
I melted.
And then she looked at me and said, "Wet". Yep, honey, mommy is a little wet. And then I got a little wetter still.
Baby Girl looked up at me, said "Mom-mom? Mom-mom?". She leaned in and wrapped her arms around my neck.
And then she put her sweet little hand on my face and wiped away a tear with her thumb.
I melted.
And then she looked at me and said, "Wet". Yep, honey, mommy is a little wet. And then I got a little wetter still.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Pumping....still
I think 95% of you will think "wow, she's a little crazy" when I tell you this.
I'm still pumping at work.
Yep, Baby Girl is 17+ months old and I am still pumping once a day at work (down from 4 when I first came back to work after maternity leave).
The remaining 5% of you will probably be switched to the "she's crazy" side when I tell you this part.
I have been getting just over one ounce per day. ONE OUNCE.
I keep doing it because, somehow, I'm convinced this means I can still nurse Baby Girl on the weekends during the day. And she still asks for it. All. Day. Long. The Hubby and I can't decide if she's bored, wants some bonding time, or if she actually wants milk (she'll say "Milk?", then if I tell her it isn't milk time, "Eat?"), but if she's asking for it, I want to give it to her because...I'm just like that.
I actually came here to post that I may be pumping for the last time at work. I figured if I got less than an ounce today, it's not worth it anymore and that she really isn't getting much milk during the day from me anyway, so she'll probably be just as happy nursing and not getting anything.
But then I looked down and realized that I might get closer to two ounces. And I completely rethought that.
I feel neurotic for still doing this. It feels silly to keeping pumping, especially since it doesn't matter much to me whether she's drinking the milk at the sitter's--it's ONLY about being able to nurse on the weekends.
So we'll see. I'll see how much I actually get today, put it in the bag, and decide after the weekend what to do. Just taking it one day at a time since I cry every time I think about being done with nursing. I'll miss that time with my baby. She's not a huge snuggler when she's not tired, so I'll miss the snuggly time we get together. Ah...such an incredibly emotional thing, whether it's my body "failing" (obviously not a failure at 17+ months!), her leading the weaning, or my leading the weaning.
I'm still pumping at work.
Yep, Baby Girl is 17+ months old and I am still pumping once a day at work (down from 4 when I first came back to work after maternity leave).
The remaining 5% of you will probably be switched to the "she's crazy" side when I tell you this part.
I have been getting just over one ounce per day. ONE OUNCE.
I keep doing it because, somehow, I'm convinced this means I can still nurse Baby Girl on the weekends during the day. And she still asks for it. All. Day. Long. The Hubby and I can't decide if she's bored, wants some bonding time, or if she actually wants milk (she'll say "Milk?", then if I tell her it isn't milk time, "Eat?"), but if she's asking for it, I want to give it to her because...I'm just like that.
I actually came here to post that I may be pumping for the last time at work. I figured if I got less than an ounce today, it's not worth it anymore and that she really isn't getting much milk during the day from me anyway, so she'll probably be just as happy nursing and not getting anything.
But then I looked down and realized that I might get closer to two ounces. And I completely rethought that.
I feel neurotic for still doing this. It feels silly to keeping pumping, especially since it doesn't matter much to me whether she's drinking the milk at the sitter's--it's ONLY about being able to nurse on the weekends.
So we'll see. I'll see how much I actually get today, put it in the bag, and decide after the weekend what to do. Just taking it one day at a time since I cry every time I think about being done with nursing. I'll miss that time with my baby. She's not a huge snuggler when she's not tired, so I'll miss the snuggly time we get together. Ah...such an incredibly emotional thing, whether it's my body "failing" (obviously not a failure at 17+ months!), her leading the weaning, or my leading the weaning.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Because I know you're all wondering....
(Actually, because I haven't had any adult interaction today and just feel like talking...)
Been a really long 24+ hours in our house.
5:00: The Hubby starts feeling nauseous
6:30: The Hubby leaves for work party, leaving me alone with Baby Girl to do bedtime, etc.
11:30: The Hubby comes home and tells me about said nausea
12:30: The Hubby wakes up to get sick for the first time. I get up and go down to basement to sleep. Upon failing to sleep (cable box is broken down there, so it was far too quiet for me and my thoughts), I come to the first floor, listen to him get sick, feel very nauseous myself, post on the blog, kick ass at a typing game on FB, watch Storage Wars until Ipass out fall asleep on the couch (around 3:00).
5:30: The Hubby gets sick for what will be the last time (knock on wood).
8:00: I wake up, scrub down the first floor and disinfect everything in sight.
9:15: Baby Girl wakes up (latest she's ever slept--I assume it's her body fighting off the sickness)
9:20: The Hubby tries to come downstairs and I send him back to our bedroom
10:30: Baby Girl and I go to my work to get my wallet, then to Target, then to CVS, then to Kroger. If Target had just had what I needed and I hadn't forgotten my wallet at work, Target would've been the only stop. I notice that I still feel nauseous (wondered if it was in my head last night, but now confirming that it isn't)
noon: Come home with Baby Girl, have lunch, play. Give The Hubby a sandwich and my home remedy (onion juice and peppermint tea found here).
1:45 Nurse Baby Girl, put her down for nap at 2:10. Check on The Hubby and he's sleeping.
3:45: Baby Girl wakes up and we play and have a snack. Feeling very nauseous the whole time. Had a nice time playing with her, though.
5:30: Fix and eat dinner of black beans and barley. Sits fine for me and Baby Girl eats well over one adult serving.
6:30: Build blocks, read books, played with Mr. Potato Head
7:30: Nursed and bedtime
8:15 (it was a long, drawn-out bedtime): Checked in on The Hubby. He's just woken up from his "nap" that started around 1:30. Brought him dinner and chatted for about five minutes. Realized how much I've missed him today.
8:30: Cleaned up some things, talked to my mom on the phone, and here I am. Still nauseous.
Praying that Baby Girl stays healthy. Not sure when we can start to breathe. Not sure when I can let The Hubby out of our bedroom, either. Praying that this nausea is all I'm going to experience. After consulting with some people who have had this bug, it sounds like most people don't feel nauseous for long before they get sick, so I'm hoping the bug is presenting in me as just nausea. And I'm hoping I was successful in keeping Baby Girl from getting it. No mouth kisses. Hands washed so much they're raw. Lysol used repeatedly. Being out of the house for a couple of hours. Giving her a probiotic (after taking one myself). I've put a lot of work into keeping her healthy--I hope it was all worth it.
Been a really long 24+ hours in our house.
5:00: The Hubby starts feeling nauseous
6:30: The Hubby leaves for work party, leaving me alone with Baby Girl to do bedtime, etc.
11:30: The Hubby comes home and tells me about said nausea
12:30: The Hubby wakes up to get sick for the first time. I get up and go down to basement to sleep. Upon failing to sleep (cable box is broken down there, so it was far too quiet for me and my thoughts), I come to the first floor, listen to him get sick, feel very nauseous myself, post on the blog, kick ass at a typing game on FB, watch Storage Wars until I
5:30: The Hubby gets sick for what will be the last time (knock on wood).
8:00: I wake up, scrub down the first floor and disinfect everything in sight.
9:15: Baby Girl wakes up (latest she's ever slept--I assume it's her body fighting off the sickness)
9:20: The Hubby tries to come downstairs and I send him back to our bedroom
10:30: Baby Girl and I go to my work to get my wallet, then to Target, then to CVS, then to Kroger. If Target had just had what I needed and I hadn't forgotten my wallet at work, Target would've been the only stop. I notice that I still feel nauseous (wondered if it was in my head last night, but now confirming that it isn't)
noon: Come home with Baby Girl, have lunch, play. Give The Hubby a sandwich and my home remedy (onion juice and peppermint tea found here).
1:45 Nurse Baby Girl, put her down for nap at 2:10. Check on The Hubby and he's sleeping.
3:45: Baby Girl wakes up and we play and have a snack. Feeling very nauseous the whole time. Had a nice time playing with her, though.
5:30: Fix and eat dinner of black beans and barley. Sits fine for me and Baby Girl eats well over one adult serving.
6:30: Build blocks, read books, played with Mr. Potato Head
7:30: Nursed and bedtime
8:15 (it was a long, drawn-out bedtime): Checked in on The Hubby. He's just woken up from his "nap" that started around 1:30. Brought him dinner and chatted for about five minutes. Realized how much I've missed him today.
8:30: Cleaned up some things, talked to my mom on the phone, and here I am. Still nauseous.
Praying that Baby Girl stays healthy. Not sure when we can start to breathe. Not sure when I can let The Hubby out of our bedroom, either. Praying that this nausea is all I'm going to experience. After consulting with some people who have had this bug, it sounds like most people don't feel nauseous for long before they get sick, so I'm hoping the bug is presenting in me as just nausea. And I'm hoping I was successful in keeping Baby Girl from getting it. No mouth kisses. Hands washed so much they're raw. Lysol used repeatedly. Being out of the house for a couple of hours. Giving her a probiotic (after taking one myself). I've put a lot of work into keeping her healthy--I hope it was all worth it.
Scratch that plan
The Hubby and I both took off work 12/22 so we could prepare for our Christmas traveling--doing laundry, packing, finishing up gift-buying, wrapping, etc. Then on 12/23 we were planning to head to the in-laws.
Not so much anymore.
The Hubby got home from a work holiday party around 11:30 telling me that his stomach didn't feel good. We're very aware of the stomach bug going around--his brother, sister-in-law, and our three nieces all had it the end of the last week and had to postpone sister-in-law's family Christmas until January because of it. So when he told me that he was nauseous, I knew where this was going. Somehow I was able to fall asleep, but was awakened about an hour later by him rushing to the bathroom....and then kept awake by the noises that followed.
After he came back out, he offered to go to the basement, where we have a guest bed set up. I told him that I should go down there so he could be closer to the bathroom. I took the baby monitor with me. I tried to fall asleep down there (it really is a comfy bed), but kept fluctuating between anxious, mad*, and sad/disappointed and didn't have anything but my thoughts (our cable box down there died). I couldn't sleep.
So here I am in the living room watching TV, feeling nauseous from either the anxiety or the actual stomach bug, waiting to hear Baby Girl awake, sick, trying to decide what I should do with her if she seems healthy in the morning. Should we go out and about to minimize our interaction with The Hubby? Should we go stay for a day at my parents' house?
I worry about going to my parents' house because if we're carrying the virus already, I'd hate to take it down there. I also would hate to delay the inevitable and end up with us sick on Christmas Day. If we're all going to get sick, might as well have December 22nd be the worst day of our year. But if Baby Girl and I can avoid it, I'd love that, obviously. I have no idea what to do and know that sitting up at 2 a.m. isn't the answer, but just cannot sleep. I'm going to go peek in on Baby Girl (she did cry out earlier, so I want to be sure she didn't get sick and fall back asleep or something) and then try again to go to sleep. If I'm going to be fighting this with my entire being, I need to have some rest. Heck, even if it's just that I'm going to be taking care of Baby Girl by myself, I need rest.
*Yes, mad. I've always felt like The Hubby didn't take the care he should to avoid getting sick and/or bringing sickness home. I realize that some sickness is a part of life, but I take as many precautions as I reasonably can--washing hands ALL.THE.TIME, using paper towels to open doors, using hand sanitizer or washing hands before eating, etc. And he just...doesn't. And maybe it's because he's not as paranoid. But it seems that he's the one bringing this virus into our house, so part of me blames him (okay, a BIG part).
Not so much anymore.
The Hubby got home from a work holiday party around 11:30 telling me that his stomach didn't feel good. We're very aware of the stomach bug going around--his brother, sister-in-law, and our three nieces all had it the end of the last week and had to postpone sister-in-law's family Christmas until January because of it. So when he told me that he was nauseous, I knew where this was going. Somehow I was able to fall asleep, but was awakened about an hour later by him rushing to the bathroom....and then kept awake by the noises that followed.
After he came back out, he offered to go to the basement, where we have a guest bed set up. I told him that I should go down there so he could be closer to the bathroom. I took the baby monitor with me. I tried to fall asleep down there (it really is a comfy bed), but kept fluctuating between anxious, mad*, and sad/disappointed and didn't have anything but my thoughts (our cable box down there died). I couldn't sleep.
So here I am in the living room watching TV, feeling nauseous from either the anxiety or the actual stomach bug, waiting to hear Baby Girl awake, sick, trying to decide what I should do with her if she seems healthy in the morning. Should we go out and about to minimize our interaction with The Hubby? Should we go stay for a day at my parents' house?
I worry about going to my parents' house because if we're carrying the virus already, I'd hate to take it down there. I also would hate to delay the inevitable and end up with us sick on Christmas Day. If we're all going to get sick, might as well have December 22nd be the worst day of our year. But if Baby Girl and I can avoid it, I'd love that, obviously. I have no idea what to do and know that sitting up at 2 a.m. isn't the answer, but just cannot sleep. I'm going to go peek in on Baby Girl (she did cry out earlier, so I want to be sure she didn't get sick and fall back asleep or something) and then try again to go to sleep. If I'm going to be fighting this with my entire being, I need to have some rest. Heck, even if it's just that I'm going to be taking care of Baby Girl by myself, I need rest.
*Yes, mad. I've always felt like The Hubby didn't take the care he should to avoid getting sick and/or bringing sickness home. I realize that some sickness is a part of life, but I take as many precautions as I reasonably can--washing hands ALL.THE.TIME, using paper towels to open doors, using hand sanitizer or washing hands before eating, etc. And he just...doesn't. And maybe it's because he's not as paranoid. But it seems that he's the one bringing this virus into our house, so part of me blames him (okay, a BIG part).
Monday, December 20, 2010
If you're easily offended, keep on moving...but if not, come on in!
I have two stories to tell that were hilarious when they happened in my bedroom. Whether they're hilarious as told in my blog will be a totally different story.
Baby Girl's favorite game is peek-a-boo--it has been for months and months. It seems that with each day, she play peek-a-book in a different way. It started out just giggling when we'd hide, but now it's to the point that she will hide or even just put her hands over her own (or you) eyes and say "peek!"
Well, we were enjoying a relaxing morning in bed on Saturday morning. I had just finished nursing her and we were snuggling and tickling and having a great weekend morning. And then...she realized that she could play peek-a-boo. Using my bra. So she kept saying "peek!" and pulling my bra down (I should note that I still wear a nursing bra...so it's easy peek-a-boo access).
Seriously, though...the game went on for like 5 minutes. She'd pull down my bra, say "peek!", giggle, and hide it again. Rinse and repeat. The Hubby and I were trying to contain our laughter a bit so she didn't realize what an incredibly hilarious game this really was...we don't need to encourage her playing peek-a-boo like that in public! I explained to her (although I know she didn't understand) that this is a game that we only play in mommy and daddy's room...we can't play peek-a-boo with mommy's boob in public.
This kid gets more and more clever every day.
Then Sunday morning she picked up something off the floor and said "cheese!". Her "cheese" sounds really similar to her "please", so I had to look to see whether she wanted me to do something (thus the "please") or if she found some cheese.
I look in her hand and what do I see? Something in a (mostly) white wrapper that *did* look an awful lot like a piece of string cheese...
A tampon.
No, Baby Girl, that's not cheese...
Baby Girl's favorite game is peek-a-boo--it has been for months and months. It seems that with each day, she play peek-a-book in a different way. It started out just giggling when we'd hide, but now it's to the point that she will hide or even just put her hands over her own (or you) eyes and say "peek!"
Well, we were enjoying a relaxing morning in bed on Saturday morning. I had just finished nursing her and we were snuggling and tickling and having a great weekend morning. And then...she realized that she could play peek-a-boo. Using my bra. So she kept saying "peek!" and pulling my bra down (I should note that I still wear a nursing bra...so it's easy peek-a-boo access).
Seriously, though...the game went on for like 5 minutes. She'd pull down my bra, say "peek!", giggle, and hide it again. Rinse and repeat. The Hubby and I were trying to contain our laughter a bit so she didn't realize what an incredibly hilarious game this really was...we don't need to encourage her playing peek-a-boo like that in public! I explained to her (although I know she didn't understand) that this is a game that we only play in mommy and daddy's room...we can't play peek-a-boo with mommy's boob in public.
This kid gets more and more clever every day.
Then Sunday morning she picked up something off the floor and said "cheese!". Her "cheese" sounds really similar to her "please", so I had to look to see whether she wanted me to do something (thus the "please") or if she found some cheese.
I look in her hand and what do I see? Something in a (mostly) white wrapper that *did* look an awful lot like a piece of string cheese...
A tampon.
No, Baby Girl, that's not cheese...
Friday, December 17, 2010
Thrifty Thursday (on Friday): Gift Cards
'Tis the season, y'all!
Yep, this is the time of year when many restaurants start offering free gift cards when you buy a certain amount of gift cards. For instance, Bob Evans will give you a $10 gift card when you buy $50 in gift cards from them. 20% extra exceed what you'll ever earn in fuel perks by buying your gift cards at the grocery store.
The idea behind this is technically that you could buy your friend a $50 gift card and keep the $10 for yourself, but if you typically eat there, why not keep all $60 for yourself?
Look around at your favorite restaurants--you'll see many are participating in something like this. We're creatures of habit, so we go to the same restaurants all the time. We'll be buying at least $50 in Bob Evans gift cards, probably at least one gift card to Chipotle (or more!) (they are giving you a free burrito for every $25 gift card you purchase), and maybe an Outback Steakhouse gift card as a special treat to ourselves.
No reason not to treat yourself (and save money you would've spent anyway!) this holiday season.
Enjoy!
Yep, this is the time of year when many restaurants start offering free gift cards when you buy a certain amount of gift cards. For instance, Bob Evans will give you a $10 gift card when you buy $50 in gift cards from them. 20% extra exceed what you'll ever earn in fuel perks by buying your gift cards at the grocery store.
The idea behind this is technically that you could buy your friend a $50 gift card and keep the $10 for yourself, but if you typically eat there, why not keep all $60 for yourself?
Look around at your favorite restaurants--you'll see many are participating in something like this. We're creatures of habit, so we go to the same restaurants all the time. We'll be buying at least $50 in Bob Evans gift cards, probably at least one gift card to Chipotle (or more!) (they are giving you a free burrito for every $25 gift card you purchase), and maybe an Outback Steakhouse gift card as a special treat to ourselves.
No reason not to treat yourself (and save money you would've spent anyway!) this holiday season.
Enjoy!
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Some days I just feel like quitting
I want this blog to be private-ish. I don't care if most people read it, but I don't go advertising that it belongs to me. I don't connect it with my FB account because I want to remain a little bit anonymous. But do people I know IRL read? Yep. But they all know that these are my thoughts and feelings and they can't judge me for anything I write here.
And I'm still incredibly careful about what I write. I have MANY posts that I want to write but don't feel I can because I don't want to offend someone. I have people I've wanted to complain about, but held back, for fear that they might read my blog. It's my blog, though. Shouldn't I be able to write whatever the heck I want on my blog?
The answer, you'll all tell me, should be yes. But it's not.
This is why so many people are going to private blogs. I don't *want* to go private--reading a private blog can be a hassle since you can't (that I know of) put them into your blog reader and, therefore, have to remember to check in every once in awhile. I like meeting random people through my blog--I've made a good friend because she found my blog (who I still have yet to meet in person...but someday!).
But is the risk greater than the reward? This is what I'm trying to decide. I'm tired of censoring myself, of worrying that someone I know IRL will find this blog and be mad at anything I might have written. I already take such care not to post anything that I wouldn't want read by someone I know, but then there are times I go back and read posts and think "eh, maaaaybe I shouldn't have written that because someone, somewhere could get offended". Do I need that added stress?
And I'm still incredibly careful about what I write. I have MANY posts that I want to write but don't feel I can because I don't want to offend someone. I have people I've wanted to complain about, but held back, for fear that they might read my blog. It's my blog, though. Shouldn't I be able to write whatever the heck I want on my blog?
The answer, you'll all tell me, should be yes. But it's not.
This is why so many people are going to private blogs. I don't *want* to go private--reading a private blog can be a hassle since you can't (that I know of) put them into your blog reader and, therefore, have to remember to check in every once in awhile. I like meeting random people through my blog--I've made a good friend because she found my blog (who I still have yet to meet in person...but someday!).
But is the risk greater than the reward? This is what I'm trying to decide. I'm tired of censoring myself, of worrying that someone I know IRL will find this blog and be mad at anything I might have written. I already take such care not to post anything that I wouldn't want read by someone I know, but then there are times I go back and read posts and think "eh, maaaaybe I shouldn't have written that because someone, somewhere could get offended". Do I need that added stress?
Embarrassing Moment of the Day
I know it's been awhile since you've heard from me. There is a lot I need to catch up on. But I had to tell you all about this.
At theChristmas Holiday party for work. Have been sitting for awhile and get up to put my coat on. My boss (who is a woman who I am pretty close with....thank goodness) looks down and sort of makes a noise, asking what was on the floor. I look down. And I gasp. It's a nursing pad. From my bra. On the floor.
I said, "Oh, that's mine." I look in my shirt to be sure there isn't another one soon to follow. She's looking at me funny. I said to her what I wouldn't say to pretty much anyone else at work, "it's from my bra". She laughs and tells me she thought it was a coffee filter.
Crisis averted, I suppose. But wow. I was still glowing bright red, I believe!
At the
I said, "Oh, that's mine." I look in my shirt to be sure there isn't another one soon to follow. She's looking at me funny. I said to her what I wouldn't say to pretty much anyone else at work, "it's from my bra". She laughs and tells me she thought it was a coffee filter.
Crisis averted, I suppose. But wow. I was still glowing bright red, I believe!
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Meal Plan 12/4-12/10
Sunday: Southwest Sloppy Joes (we didn't do the slaw) and Southwest Butternut Squash--this was DELICIOUS! We all (all three of us!) wish we could've had it again the next night. This will definitely be on our regular rotation. I found this through my friend, Cassie's, food blog.
Monday: Baked Chicken Fingers and Baked Basil Fries
Tuesday: Vegetable Pizza--just going to throw some sauteed veggies, pizza sauce, and cheese on a pizza crust and cross my fingers!
Wednesday: Christmas dinner leftovers--I made a ham, green bean casserole, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, and rolls (and a friend brought over corn casserole...and, honestly, I didn't do as much cooking as I typically do because I was with Baby Girl...story to come later), so we're planning to eat all this for dinner
Thursday: Breakfast Strata--made with leftover ham
Friday: BBQ Chicken Pasta
Saturday: Sesame Chicken and broccoli
We'll also have sweet potato fries with one of these meals since I have some leftover from last week. Just need to figure out which night...might be tonight.
I also wanted to share one other recipe that I think I'm going to make at least once a week. Seriously. It's a hot dip using sweet onions, cream cheese, & parmesean cheese. But I can't find the recipe. So I'm going to keep you all in suspense until I find it. But once I do....you'll really appreciate it because this dip? I can't get enough.
Monday: Baked Chicken Fingers and Baked Basil Fries
Tuesday: Vegetable Pizza--just going to throw some sauteed veggies, pizza sauce, and cheese on a pizza crust and cross my fingers!
Wednesday: Christmas dinner leftovers--I made a ham, green bean casserole, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, and rolls (and a friend brought over corn casserole...and, honestly, I didn't do as much cooking as I typically do because I was with Baby Girl...story to come later), so we're planning to eat all this for dinner
Thursday: Breakfast Strata--made with leftover ham
Friday: BBQ Chicken Pasta
Saturday: Sesame Chicken and broccoli
We'll also have sweet potato fries with one of these meals since I have some leftover from last week. Just need to figure out which night...might be tonight.
I also wanted to share one other recipe that I think I'm going to make at least once a week. Seriously. It's a hot dip using sweet onions, cream cheese, & parmesean cheese. But I can't find the recipe. So I'm going to keep you all in suspense until I find it. But once I do....you'll really appreciate it because this dip? I can't get enough.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Okay, I'm going to say it...
Baby Girl has been sleeping through the night for a week now. Let's hope tonight is night number eight.
She slept through the night on Thanksgiving night while we were at my parents' house. She was totally worn out from the day and not getting a good nap, so we figured it was a fluke. But then she did it the next night.
What was different about sleeping at my parents' house than at our own house? Well, she was in a pack-n-play in the same room with us. And we also had a space heater on, making it like 80 degrees in the room (my parents don't have heat or a/c upstairs b/c it's such an old house).
So we figured we'd try making her warmer at home. We've started putting on a long-sleeved onesie underneath her pajamas. And yesterday I went out and got her some fleece jammies (that are SOOOOO cute!!! These are them.)
And she's been sleeping through the night ever since.
Seriously, kid? You've just been COLD??????
Of course that hasn't been the case this entire time, but it's been our fix now. Just wish we could've figured it out a few months ago!
She slept through the night on Thanksgiving night while we were at my parents' house. She was totally worn out from the day and not getting a good nap, so we figured it was a fluke. But then she did it the next night.
What was different about sleeping at my parents' house than at our own house? Well, she was in a pack-n-play in the same room with us. And we also had a space heater on, making it like 80 degrees in the room (my parents don't have heat or a/c upstairs b/c it's such an old house).
So we figured we'd try making her warmer at home. We've started putting on a long-sleeved onesie underneath her pajamas. And yesterday I went out and got her some fleece jammies (that are SOOOOO cute!!! These are them.)
And she's been sleeping through the night ever since.
Seriously, kid? You've just been COLD??????
Of course that hasn't been the case this entire time, but it's been our fix now. Just wish we could've figured it out a few months ago!
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Christmas Cards
My absolute go-to website for photo prints is Shutterfly. I've ordered many photo books from them, including a wedding album that I put together for our parents (and am planning on putting together for us since we can't seem to get our shit together to order one through our photographer!).
Speaking of getting out shit together...I wanted to do photo birth announcements. But didn't. lol I threw a photo into our holiday card last year for some people, but generally didn't get it done. But when I was looking at announcements BEFORE Baby Girl arrived, I looked at these on Shutterfly.
I've previously also ordered Mother's Day and Father's Day cards from Shutterfly for our parents with pictures of Baby Girl (Shutterfly is always offering great promotions).
The best promotion they've done, though, is one that I think a lot of you may have read about at this point. They are offering 50 free holiday photo cards for bloggers who write about their products! I'm so stinking excited. I had actually already put together the photo cards I wanted to use on Shutterfly when I realized that I should participate!
This is one of our favorite designs:
Another favorite is this one:
Although while trying to find the ones that I loved, I might have fallen in love with some others... lol After the holidays, I'll be sure to share the final product!!!
Speaking of getting out shit together...I wanted to do photo birth announcements. But didn't. lol I threw a photo into our holiday card last year for some people, but generally didn't get it done. But when I was looking at announcements BEFORE Baby Girl arrived, I looked at these on Shutterfly.
I've previously also ordered Mother's Day and Father's Day cards from Shutterfly for our parents with pictures of Baby Girl (Shutterfly is always offering great promotions).
The best promotion they've done, though, is one that I think a lot of you may have read about at this point. They are offering 50 free holiday photo cards for bloggers who write about their products! I'm so stinking excited. I had actually already put together the photo cards I wanted to use on Shutterfly when I realized that I should participate!
This is one of our favorite designs:
Another favorite is this one:
Although while trying to find the ones that I loved, I might have fallen in love with some others... lol After the holidays, I'll be sure to share the final product!!!
Monday, November 29, 2010
Fail
Things have been hectic. I honestly thought I'd get online during my Thanksgiving break to blog, but just haven't had the time or motivation. We spent Thursday morning through Saturday late afternoon with my parents, then came back and spent Saturday evening and Sunday at home. It was a good long weekend, but far too short.
Work has been insanely busy--I haven't had much time to breathe or eat, let alone write a blog post.
Baby Girl is in the midst of a verbal explosion. She's willing to try to say any word we say (which is a little scary sometimes...) and watches our mouths intently, trying to figure out how we're forming words. While playing Thanksgiving Bingo at my aunt's house, I won a foam alphabet puzzle, so we've been playing with that. It's adorable to listen to her try to say the letters--all the ones that end in the "ee" sound sound about the same.
We've been piecing together childcare, which has been sort of interesting. It has been a blessing that our work is SO flexible and allows us to work from home in the evenings or for The Hubby to go into work for awhile when Baby Girl is down for the night (like he's doing tonight and last night). We've spent quite a bit of time with Baby Girl, which has really been nice. Today The Hubby stayed home with her, my mom is coming up tomorrow, Wednesday she has her major doctor appointments, then I'll be home with her in the afternoon, then Thursday and Friday The Hubby's coworker's daughter (who is in a Master's program--not a 12 year old or something) will watch her. This girl, K. (because "The Hubby's coworker's daughter is sort of lengthy), will be watching Baby Girl until Christmastime. We're hoping to have something else lined up very soon that would begin in January!
Baby Girl has quickly made her way into toddlerhood. She is hitting, throwing tantrums for no reason, and is refusing food. She wants to dip food (she was dipping cornbread into BBQ sauce tonight at dinner) and refuses food she used to eat all the time. If it weren't for peas, she wouldn't be eating much. We're still sticking to our guns and not fixing anything special for her for dinner, but it's getting difficult. Tonight we had shredded chicken, frozen veggies, and cornbread. She just wasn't really interested in any of it.
So I failed at this NaBloPoMo thing. I totally dropped the ball over the last four days, but hope to finish out the month strong. Today is Baby Girl's 16 month birthday, so I should probably do a monthly update post, but am having a hard time finding the motivation to do so. I'm horribly worn out from work and from battling this toddler...all I want to do is retreat and sleep.
Work has been insanely busy--I haven't had much time to breathe or eat, let alone write a blog post.
Baby Girl is in the midst of a verbal explosion. She's willing to try to say any word we say (which is a little scary sometimes...) and watches our mouths intently, trying to figure out how we're forming words. While playing Thanksgiving Bingo at my aunt's house, I won a foam alphabet puzzle, so we've been playing with that. It's adorable to listen to her try to say the letters--all the ones that end in the "ee" sound sound about the same.
We've been piecing together childcare, which has been sort of interesting. It has been a blessing that our work is SO flexible and allows us to work from home in the evenings or for The Hubby to go into work for awhile when Baby Girl is down for the night (like he's doing tonight and last night). We've spent quite a bit of time with Baby Girl, which has really been nice. Today The Hubby stayed home with her, my mom is coming up tomorrow, Wednesday she has her major doctor appointments, then I'll be home with her in the afternoon, then Thursday and Friday The Hubby's coworker's daughter (who is in a Master's program--not a 12 year old or something) will watch her. This girl, K. (because "The Hubby's coworker's daughter is sort of lengthy), will be watching Baby Girl until Christmastime. We're hoping to have something else lined up very soon that would begin in January!
Baby Girl has quickly made her way into toddlerhood. She is hitting, throwing tantrums for no reason, and is refusing food. She wants to dip food (she was dipping cornbread into BBQ sauce tonight at dinner) and refuses food she used to eat all the time. If it weren't for peas, she wouldn't be eating much. We're still sticking to our guns and not fixing anything special for her for dinner, but it's getting difficult. Tonight we had shredded chicken, frozen veggies, and cornbread. She just wasn't really interested in any of it.
So I failed at this NaBloPoMo thing. I totally dropped the ball over the last four days, but hope to finish out the month strong. Today is Baby Girl's 16 month birthday, so I should probably do a monthly update post, but am having a hard time finding the motivation to do so. I'm horribly worn out from work and from battling this toddler...all I want to do is retreat and sleep.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Baby Girl's Day
Baby Girl had an exciting day today! A very good friend offered to watch her since she was off work, so Baby Girl got to experience life as if she were a twin. My friend has a 15-month-old of her own, so she, as she put it, "had twins with a return policy". lol
It sounds like they had a fabulous time--such a good time that neither kid (neither of whom is a great sleeper) wanted to take a nap! They both fell asleep after lunch, though, and napped for 2 hours! They must have worn each other out :)
She didn't even cry when we left--in fact, she waved at us as we walked out the door! I guess that's what happens when she is spending time with someone she already knows (and who is feeding her something tasty like grapes!).
On this Thanksgiving Eve, I'm just so incredibly thankful for a friend that is willing to watch our daughter, to give us the peace of mind of knowing she's with someone we trust 100% and who loves her and only wants the best for her. We were both able to work, knowing Baby Girl was having a great day (I got an email update, a phone call, and Daddy got a text with a photo!). Thank you.
It sounds like they had a fabulous time--such a good time that neither kid (neither of whom is a great sleeper) wanted to take a nap! They both fell asleep after lunch, though, and napped for 2 hours! They must have worn each other out :)
She didn't even cry when we left--in fact, she waved at us as we walked out the door! I guess that's what happens when she is spending time with someone she already knows (and who is feeding her something tasty like grapes!).
On this Thanksgiving Eve, I'm just so incredibly thankful for a friend that is willing to watch our daughter, to give us the peace of mind of knowing she's with someone we trust 100% and who loves her and only wants the best for her. We were both able to work, knowing Baby Girl was having a great day (I got an email update, a phone call, and Daddy got a text with a photo!). Thank you.
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