Why am I so damn hungry? Argh! This is what I've eaten today:
100 calorie bagel with sugar free jam
Golden Grahams bar (favorite new treat!)
soynuts
2% Cheese Easy Mac
Baggie of grapes
20ish Town House Flatbread crackers (holy crap, these are good...)
Lean Pocket
2 piece of Laffy Taffy (complete with cheesy jokes)
And I have an apple and a Fiber One bar (aka death bar (srsly, folks...bad news, especially during this particular time of the month)) in my bag just staring at me.
I've drank my water and keep drinking it as I feel hungry, but it's not really helping.
I have taken walks and tried to get away from my desk, but when you work doing computer stuff, you can't really be away from the computer for long.
Losing weight sucks. I was just thinking about the fact that I've lost about 15 pounds from the day I gave birth. Over seven pounds of that was baby and who knows how much was fluid. All those people who said breastfeeding was a magical weight loss solution can suck it.
Wow, I'm bitter today, aren't I? I think I'm just tired of being fat. I know I could change it if I tried, but I've tried before and gotten to a good place and just gained it all back again (shut your mouth, those of you who want to say "but it was for the baybee"...I could have gained a lot less than 50 lbs and been perfectly healthy). And losing weight isn't fun. Part of me feeling entitled to be able to eat whatever I like and not gain weight is because of all the work I did in the past to lose it and also as a....reward?...for breastfeeding for so long.
I suppose it's time to start tracking again. I just see all these people who eat what they want and are teeny. Of course, they don't eat as much as I'd like to, but still. I just feel like I *should* be able to eat whatever, even though I can't, so I try. And it's bad news.
Now that you've read my horribly bitchy, disjointed post, you can return to your life. :)
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Thursday, August 12, 2010
One Year Stats
We had Baby Girl's one year appointment yesterday (a little late, but that's what happens when Daddy is supposed to call and make the appointment because his job is so much busier and more important and never does call and the appointment only gets scheduled because Mommy was at the pediatrician's office with the kid getting her ears checked and by then the earliest they could get us in was 2 weeks after her birthday...).
She got her four shots (didn't like them, of course, and took a bit longer to calm afterwards than ever before--typically she'll calm as soon as we pick her up but this time she whimpered for another couple of minutes but probably would've been fine if we'd've distracted her, but of course after all the screaming we just wanted to snuggle her) and we haven't seen any sort of reaction so far, thank goodness. We could see mump/measle-like bumps today, which aren't contagious and/or we could see chicken pox-ish bumps next week, which *could* be contagious for about 24 hours. Yippee.
Anyway, we also, of course, had her height, weight, and head circumference measured.
Height: 28 inches (25th percentile)
Weight: 19 lbs 15 oz (25th percentile)
Head: 18 inches (>75th percentile)
Yep, that's my lollipop of a kid. ;) But she still has delicious rolls on her thighs and a little buddha tummy. The pediatrician said she was perfect--he was fine with her size and said she was above average for all of her developmental progress (of course my kid who NEVER crawls was crawling when he came in, so he asked if she was pulling to standing....um yeah...she can stand up in the middle of the room, run to you, do a backflip, and land on her feet. Well, maybe not that backflip thing, but you get what I mean). He was pleased with her talking prowess and her mobility (once we told him what she could do). The only thing he's a bit concerned about is the heart murmur. He emphasized that it probably isn't anything, but if it isn't gone by her 15 month appointment we'll be heading to see a cardiologist. Mommy is a little freaked out and just praying it resolves itself by then, but trying to stay calm and know there's nothing we can do about it now and know that it's a really common occurrence.
She got her four shots (didn't like them, of course, and took a bit longer to calm afterwards than ever before--typically she'll calm as soon as we pick her up but this time she whimpered for another couple of minutes but probably would've been fine if we'd've distracted her, but of course after all the screaming we just wanted to snuggle her) and we haven't seen any sort of reaction so far, thank goodness. We could see mump/measle-like bumps today, which aren't contagious and/or we could see chicken pox-ish bumps next week, which *could* be contagious for about 24 hours. Yippee.
Anyway, we also, of course, had her height, weight, and head circumference measured.
Height: 28 inches (25th percentile)
Weight: 19 lbs 15 oz (25th percentile)
Head: 18 inches (>75th percentile)
Yep, that's my lollipop of a kid. ;) But she still has delicious rolls on her thighs and a little buddha tummy. The pediatrician said she was perfect--he was fine with her size and said she was above average for all of her developmental progress (of course my kid who NEVER crawls was crawling when he came in, so he asked if she was pulling to standing....um yeah...she can stand up in the middle of the room, run to you, do a backflip, and land on her feet. Well, maybe not that backflip thing, but you get what I mean). He was pleased with her talking prowess and her mobility (once we told him what she could do). The only thing he's a bit concerned about is the heart murmur. He emphasized that it probably isn't anything, but if it isn't gone by her 15 month appointment we'll be heading to see a cardiologist. Mommy is a little freaked out and just praying it resolves itself by then, but trying to stay calm and know there's nothing we can do about it now and know that it's a really common occurrence.
The Great, the Good, and the not so Good
The Great: We had a fantastic night last night! Baby Girl had her one year appointment (complete with shots), but she was in a fun mood yesterday. I was laying on the floor and she would walk up to me, then give my head a hug (which probably looked more like putting me in a headlock...), then roll off, stand up, walk around to the other side, and tackle my head again. She was showering my face with slobbery kisses and giggling like crazy. She would eventually tire of attacking my head and then walked down along my side and pulled up my shirt to tickle my belly. She got a little rough, but it was so cute that she wanted to tickle mommy :) Then she'd climb up onto my head, usually end up straddling my neck, and lay down like she was tackling me. I'd roll her off to a barrage of giggles, tickle her, and she'd run off, only to return about 15 seconds later. So much fun!!!!
The Good: Baby Girl is understanding compound requests like "Go get the shoes and bring them to Mommy, please". She knows what shoes are, where they are, and can combine the instruction to bring them to Mommy. According to the sitter (whose thoughts we always take with a grain of salt), that's pretty advanced for her age. What a smartie!
The Not-so-good: Our family has gotten quite a bit of bad news recently. My aunt is terminal with her cancer (started out as breast cancer that was in remission, but then metastasized in her brain. She's been fighting the brain stuff for awhile now and about 2 months ago was given 4 weeks to live. She's outlived that, but her doctor has officially turned her over to hospice care to help her be comfortable. It doesn't sound like things are good.
We also got a call last night from The Hubby's mom that his grandfather (his dad's dad) wasn't doing too well. He had had some surgery on his leg and was given a spinal block for it, which apparently, when combined with some pain meds he'd been given early, has rendered him unconscious. He's come in and out of consciousness, but when he's awake, doesn't know where or who he is. Scary stuff.
Lastly, I've just learned about a coworker having breast cancer. It sounds like they've caught it early, but it's still so very scary.
Please keep them all in your thoughts and prayers.
The Good: Baby Girl is understanding compound requests like "Go get the shoes and bring them to Mommy, please". She knows what shoes are, where they are, and can combine the instruction to bring them to Mommy. According to the sitter (whose thoughts we always take with a grain of salt), that's pretty advanced for her age. What a smartie!
The Not-so-good: Our family has gotten quite a bit of bad news recently. My aunt is terminal with her cancer (started out as breast cancer that was in remission, but then metastasized in her brain. She's been fighting the brain stuff for awhile now and about 2 months ago was given 4 weeks to live. She's outlived that, but her doctor has officially turned her over to hospice care to help her be comfortable. It doesn't sound like things are good.
We also got a call last night from The Hubby's mom that his grandfather (his dad's dad) wasn't doing too well. He had had some surgery on his leg and was given a spinal block for it, which apparently, when combined with some pain meds he'd been given early, has rendered him unconscious. He's come in and out of consciousness, but when he's awake, doesn't know where or who he is. Scary stuff.
Lastly, I've just learned about a coworker having breast cancer. It sounds like they've caught it early, but it's still so very scary.
Please keep them all in your thoughts and prayers.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Dancing Queen...Uh Oh!!!
This weekend Baby Girl started doing two new things! She started out nodding her head--we think she's equating it to "yes", but aren't sure. But then she started using it as a head bob to dance. Adorable! We're turn on some music and she'd start the head bob. It got to where the whole family was head bobbing to the music--too funny!
The other thing she started doing was saying "uh oh". She doesn't really use it in context, but just says it randomly. We, of course, think it's the cutest thing in the world, so we say it back, resulting in all three of us just saying "uh oh" over and over...
The other thing she started doing was saying "uh oh". She doesn't really use it in context, but just says it randomly. We, of course, think it's the cutest thing in the world, so we say it back, resulting in all three of us just saying "uh oh" over and over...
Monday, August 9, 2010
A Year of Nursing
Wow. It's hard to believe that I've made it to a year. When I first got pregnant (and up until Baby Girl arrived), I was a little weirded out by the thought of nursing, honestly. I knew I wanted to give it a try, but couldn't imagine what it would be like, having only used these puppies for pleasure previously.
I remember the day I first saw some colostrum while I was still pregnant. A friend of mine had mentioned that she had some (we were due around the same time), so I squeezed and got a little bit out. It was both freaky and exciting at the same time--maybe my body was going to cooperate!
Baby Girl took to nursing fairly easily (with help from almost every nurse and a couple of lactation consultants!) while in the hospital. Because of having a C-section, my milk didn't come in right away (it came in the day we left the hospital--day 5) and we were a little concerned that Baby Girl wouldn't gain weight well. She also had a touch of jaundice (I found out later that we probably shouldn't have been discharged with as jaundiced as she was. The measurement taken before we left the hospital was lower than the day before, so they thought it was on its way out of her system, whereas it then went back up the next day.), so the doctors really wanted me to nurse a lot to "wash" it out of her system.
I still remember the stress I felt of having to go for weight checks. It felt like a direct reflection on my abilities as a mother. We were discharged on a Sunday and had our first pediatrician appointment on Monday. We had to go back that Wednesday, Friday, and the next Monday to see if she was gaining weight. That next Monday the doctor said since she was just one ounce below birth weight that she would be okay (they want them back at birth weight by the time they're two weeks okay, which would be that Wednesday). I was so nervous we would have to supplement with formula, though, because I knew that the more she nursed, the more I would produce. I wanted a chance to be able to provide because I was pretty sure if she had formula she wouldn't nurse as much and, therefore, I would never produce enough for her. I'm thankful daily that we didn't have to supplement (both for my ego and for my wallet!).
We've had a couple of rough patches with nursing (including the night it was so painful that I didn't know what to do...thank God for a friend who offered me nipple shields at 10:00 p.m. who was dealing with her own newborn at the time!), but overall nursing has been amazingly easy for us. We haven't had to deal with thrush, clogged ducts, undersupply, oversupply, or mastitis, which I realize is incredibly fortunate. Each day that I nurse my baby I'm grateful for these blessings.
Nursing, though, while it hasn't been too bad physically, has taken an incredible emotional toll on me. I'm very happy to do it and, in the moment, love it more than words can say, but it's been hard having to manage my bo.obs all the time. I have to always be thinking of how I can relieve myself and am nervous about missing a session because I'm afraid my milk production will slow. Many people will say "well, you can just have someone give her a bottle", which is true except that I still have to find a way to get the milk out of my body. If I'm going to pump and *could* be close to her, then I'd just as soon nurse her. It's entirely my own mentality, though. I could probably miss some sessions without pumping and be okay, but don't want my supply to suffer because I'm being selfish.
The hardest part is the combination of the pressure of being Baby Girl's sole source of nutrition with knowing that I ALWAYS have to think about how to get the milk out of my body and never have the true freedom to do something I'd like to and also with knowing that anything I put into my body is still affecting her (I always really thought that would end with her birth!). I haven't had caffeine in a very long time...I'm overly cautious about it, but now fear what it would do to her if I had it. This means I'm always looking for caffeine-free options, which can be difficult, especially when all you want is a Coke Zero! It also means that I haven't had any alcohol in almost a year because I'm nervous and refuse to pump and dump. No glass of wine is worth that and those stupid test strips are expensive. This body-sharing also means I can't take drugs I'd like to sometimes when I'm sick, which includes my allergy medicine, but that's because I'm afraid it'll dry up my milk.
You'll find a theme to most of my complaints, though--they truly are my own choices, just like nursing. I suppose it's going to be this way for the rest of my life--always making sacrifices for my baby. I still think nursing her is the best thing for her, so I continue to pump three to four times a day during the week (I'm pumping once before bed every night because if I don't I'm not able to get the 12 oz per day that she needs) and I continue to make choices for her benefit.
I can honestly say, though, that nursing now is more physically painful than it was when she was little. She twists and turns while she eats and I have a hard time controlling her. She's also forgotten the art of LETTING GO. She just slurps off and on and, well, it hurts. But we're working on it. At least she's stopping biting.
Many people have started to ask about weaning (especially when I mention the biting!). I plan to just let her lead weaning whenever she's ready. Many times she doesn't seem like she needs to nurse, but if you could see that smile when I offer (show her the sign for milk), it would melt your heart! And there are still other times when she wakes from her naps that she's cranky until she gets her milk, so I know she still wants it, at least for now.
She loves to nurse and it's the only thing that can calm her sometimes, which makes me a little nervous for when we do wean! It makes me wonder, though, if I have any soothing skills besides offering the breast. I suppose we'll find out someday. For now, though, whenever she wakes in the night The Hubby brings her to me and I nurse her back to sleep. And I'm okay with it. I don't think if I stopping nursing her that she'd necessarily stop waking, so I do it. When she slept through the night for that glorious week it wasn't because I withheld nursing--she just did it of her own accord.
I'll miss this bonding time when she does wean. I love my snuggle time and because she's such an on-the-go type of girl, I don't know if she'll have time to snuggle with her mommy anymore. I hope so. I'll miss looking into those big brown eyes gazing up at me. I'll even miss the way she pulls on my hair (she can get a little rough sometimes) and tries to play with my eyelashes while she eats. I'll miss those lazy nursing sessions (we still have ones that last for 20 minutes or more!). I'll miss that moment when she pops off and just lays there, asleep. I'll miss this bond I have with my baby girl, but, for now, am just thankful for the year of success we've had.
I remember the day I first saw some colostrum while I was still pregnant. A friend of mine had mentioned that she had some (we were due around the same time), so I squeezed and got a little bit out. It was both freaky and exciting at the same time--maybe my body was going to cooperate!
Baby Girl took to nursing fairly easily (with help from almost every nurse and a couple of lactation consultants!) while in the hospital. Because of having a C-section, my milk didn't come in right away (it came in the day we left the hospital--day 5) and we were a little concerned that Baby Girl wouldn't gain weight well. She also had a touch of jaundice (I found out later that we probably shouldn't have been discharged with as jaundiced as she was. The measurement taken before we left the hospital was lower than the day before, so they thought it was on its way out of her system, whereas it then went back up the next day.), so the doctors really wanted me to nurse a lot to "wash" it out of her system.
I still remember the stress I felt of having to go for weight checks. It felt like a direct reflection on my abilities as a mother. We were discharged on a Sunday and had our first pediatrician appointment on Monday. We had to go back that Wednesday, Friday, and the next Monday to see if she was gaining weight. That next Monday the doctor said since she was just one ounce below birth weight that she would be okay (they want them back at birth weight by the time they're two weeks okay, which would be that Wednesday). I was so nervous we would have to supplement with formula, though, because I knew that the more she nursed, the more I would produce. I wanted a chance to be able to provide because I was pretty sure if she had formula she wouldn't nurse as much and, therefore, I would never produce enough for her. I'm thankful daily that we didn't have to supplement (both for my ego and for my wallet!).
We've had a couple of rough patches with nursing (including the night it was so painful that I didn't know what to do...thank God for a friend who offered me nipple shields at 10:00 p.m. who was dealing with her own newborn at the time!), but overall nursing has been amazingly easy for us. We haven't had to deal with thrush, clogged ducts, undersupply, oversupply, or mastitis, which I realize is incredibly fortunate. Each day that I nurse my baby I'm grateful for these blessings.
Nursing, though, while it hasn't been too bad physically, has taken an incredible emotional toll on me. I'm very happy to do it and, in the moment, love it more than words can say, but it's been hard having to manage my bo.obs all the time. I have to always be thinking of how I can relieve myself and am nervous about missing a session because I'm afraid my milk production will slow. Many people will say "well, you can just have someone give her a bottle", which is true except that I still have to find a way to get the milk out of my body. If I'm going to pump and *could* be close to her, then I'd just as soon nurse her. It's entirely my own mentality, though. I could probably miss some sessions without pumping and be okay, but don't want my supply to suffer because I'm being selfish.
The hardest part is the combination of the pressure of being Baby Girl's sole source of nutrition with knowing that I ALWAYS have to think about how to get the milk out of my body and never have the true freedom to do something I'd like to and also with knowing that anything I put into my body is still affecting her (I always really thought that would end with her birth!). I haven't had caffeine in a very long time...I'm overly cautious about it, but now fear what it would do to her if I had it. This means I'm always looking for caffeine-free options, which can be difficult, especially when all you want is a Coke Zero! It also means that I haven't had any alcohol in almost a year because I'm nervous and refuse to pump and dump. No glass of wine is worth that and those stupid test strips are expensive. This body-sharing also means I can't take drugs I'd like to sometimes when I'm sick, which includes my allergy medicine, but that's because I'm afraid it'll dry up my milk.
You'll find a theme to most of my complaints, though--they truly are my own choices, just like nursing. I suppose it's going to be this way for the rest of my life--always making sacrifices for my baby. I still think nursing her is the best thing for her, so I continue to pump three to four times a day during the week (I'm pumping once before bed every night because if I don't I'm not able to get the 12 oz per day that she needs) and I continue to make choices for her benefit.
I can honestly say, though, that nursing now is more physically painful than it was when she was little. She twists and turns while she eats and I have a hard time controlling her. She's also forgotten the art of LETTING GO. She just slurps off and on and, well, it hurts. But we're working on it. At least she's stopping biting.
Many people have started to ask about weaning (especially when I mention the biting!). I plan to just let her lead weaning whenever she's ready. Many times she doesn't seem like she needs to nurse, but if you could see that smile when I offer (show her the sign for milk), it would melt your heart! And there are still other times when she wakes from her naps that she's cranky until she gets her milk, so I know she still wants it, at least for now.
She loves to nurse and it's the only thing that can calm her sometimes, which makes me a little nervous for when we do wean! It makes me wonder, though, if I have any soothing skills besides offering the breast. I suppose we'll find out someday. For now, though, whenever she wakes in the night The Hubby brings her to me and I nurse her back to sleep. And I'm okay with it. I don't think if I stopping nursing her that she'd necessarily stop waking, so I do it. When she slept through the night for that glorious week it wasn't because I withheld nursing--she just did it of her own accord.
I'll miss this bonding time when she does wean. I love my snuggle time and because she's such an on-the-go type of girl, I don't know if she'll have time to snuggle with her mommy anymore. I hope so. I'll miss looking into those big brown eyes gazing up at me. I'll even miss the way she pulls on my hair (she can get a little rough sometimes) and tries to play with my eyelashes while she eats. I'll miss those lazy nursing sessions (we still have ones that last for 20 minutes or more!). I'll miss that moment when she pops off and just lays there, asleep. I'll miss this bond I have with my baby girl, but, for now, am just thankful for the year of success we've had.
Twelve Months Old
A few of these developmental things technically happened just after she turned a year old, but I am having a hard time remembering what was happening as of her birthday (bad mommy not writing things down then!).
~ Baby girl is beginning to run! It's the cutest thing! She's still stumbling and falling down a lot, but she (almost) always hops back up and goes again. We've had multiple people tell us that she's really "rough & tumble", which we're happy about.
~ Baby girl says "Hi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" all the time. Seriously. To her dolls, to us, to anyone. She says "Hi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" as soon as a door is opened, many times before people can hear her. And if you don't respond, she'll keep saying it. Of course, if you *do* respond, she'll keep saying it.
~ Baby girl also says "mamama", "dad", "daddy", "daho" (dog, we think, as she said it when the IL's dog would run across the room), "duck", "bye", and The Hubby says he's heard her "moo" and "quack"
~ Baby girl knows where her nose, her tummy, and her mouth are. She can also point out the eye on her doll, but we haven't seen her do it on my own body yet.
~ Baby girl has had a few meals where she eats what we eat, but because we still haven't successfully introduced milk, we typically give her pieces of our meals. Last night, for instance, she had a bunch of black beans from Chipotle while we had our burritos. I also gave her some of my tomato and corn salsas. We still haven't found many foods she won't eat (she didn't seem to like yogurt this time, even though she liked it the first time and she didn't like the fruit cocktail I tried to give her at Sam's Club last night. She still love hummus, applesauce, black beans, corn, peas, and quite a few other things.
~ As of the day before her birthday, Baby Girl has four teeth! That second top one finally poked through the gums and is about the same length as her other top tooth. She never seemed horribly bothered by it, thank goodness!
~ Her favorite game is still peek-a-boo. It is the only thing that will always be responded to with giggles.
~ Baby Girl loves to tickle. If you aren't wearing shoes in our house, chances are good that she'll toddle over to you and grab at your feet. Many times it's a bit rough to be ticklish, but we play along. She's also started pulling our shirts up to tickle our bellies. Just need to remember to teach her not to do it in public!
~ Books are still a favorite in our house. Many times we'll be delayed in doing something because she'll request a book--and who can deny that??? She still loves her Elmo book (So Big) (she even knows when it says "Elmo says 'Ma-Ma-Ma'" and says "mamama" when the page is turned) and also really likes Brown Bear and anything with a flap or textured pages. Our library has grown tremendously--there are books all over the house!
~ We're working on teaching Baby Girl to put things away. It's fun to see that she understands simple questions ("Please take this shoe to Daddy") and follows our instructions. She receives high praise and snuggles whenever she does something we ask!
~ Baby Girl's kisses have moved from open to closed mouth and, honestly, I'm a little sad about that! I loved those big open-mouthed kisses I used to get all over my face. But the closed-mouth ones are so sweet and if you say "give Mommy a kiss" she'll lean in and give you one right on the mouth. She's also learned to blow kisses this weekend. Sure, sometimes she'll blow them from her cheek or something, but she gets it ;)
~ We've completely transitioned to the convertible carseats. We weren't taking the infant seat out of the car anyway, so we went one weekend and got a second convertible seat (our first was a hand-me-down from The Hubby's relative). Baby Girl looks so teeny now in there, but she seems comfortable (besides getting sweaty....anyone have a remedy for that???).
I think that's about it...my baby is turning into a little girl before my eyes! She's still so sweet and loves to sit on your lap to read books, but when she thinks you're going to try to get her to go to sleep, she's out of there! She's sleeping okay--bedtime is a bit more challenging than it used to be, but getting better. She slept through the night for exactly a week, but then got sick and we haven't seen that again. But we're doing okay :)
~ Baby girl is beginning to run! It's the cutest thing! She's still stumbling and falling down a lot, but she (almost) always hops back up and goes again. We've had multiple people tell us that she's really "rough & tumble", which we're happy about.
~ Baby girl says "Hi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" all the time. Seriously. To her dolls, to us, to anyone. She says "Hi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" as soon as a door is opened, many times before people can hear her. And if you don't respond, she'll keep saying it. Of course, if you *do* respond, she'll keep saying it.
~ Baby girl also says "mamama", "dad", "daddy", "daho" (dog, we think, as she said it when the IL's dog would run across the room), "duck", "bye", and The Hubby says he's heard her "moo" and "quack"
~ Baby girl knows where her nose, her tummy, and her mouth are. She can also point out the eye on her doll, but we haven't seen her do it on my own body yet.
~ Baby girl has had a few meals where she eats what we eat, but because we still haven't successfully introduced milk, we typically give her pieces of our meals. Last night, for instance, she had a bunch of black beans from Chipotle while we had our burritos. I also gave her some of my tomato and corn salsas. We still haven't found many foods she won't eat (she didn't seem to like yogurt this time, even though she liked it the first time and she didn't like the fruit cocktail I tried to give her at Sam's Club last night. She still love hummus, applesauce, black beans, corn, peas, and quite a few other things.
~ As of the day before her birthday, Baby Girl has four teeth! That second top one finally poked through the gums and is about the same length as her other top tooth. She never seemed horribly bothered by it, thank goodness!
~ Her favorite game is still peek-a-boo. It is the only thing that will always be responded to with giggles.
~ Baby Girl loves to tickle. If you aren't wearing shoes in our house, chances are good that she'll toddle over to you and grab at your feet. Many times it's a bit rough to be ticklish, but we play along. She's also started pulling our shirts up to tickle our bellies. Just need to remember to teach her not to do it in public!
~ Books are still a favorite in our house. Many times we'll be delayed in doing something because she'll request a book--and who can deny that??? She still loves her Elmo book (So Big) (she even knows when it says "Elmo says 'Ma-Ma-Ma'" and says "mamama" when the page is turned) and also really likes Brown Bear and anything with a flap or textured pages. Our library has grown tremendously--there are books all over the house!
~ We're working on teaching Baby Girl to put things away. It's fun to see that she understands simple questions ("Please take this shoe to Daddy") and follows our instructions. She receives high praise and snuggles whenever she does something we ask!
~ Baby Girl's kisses have moved from open to closed mouth and, honestly, I'm a little sad about that! I loved those big open-mouthed kisses I used to get all over my face. But the closed-mouth ones are so sweet and if you say "give Mommy a kiss" she'll lean in and give you one right on the mouth. She's also learned to blow kisses this weekend. Sure, sometimes she'll blow them from her cheek or something, but she gets it ;)
~ We've completely transitioned to the convertible carseats. We weren't taking the infant seat out of the car anyway, so we went one weekend and got a second convertible seat (our first was a hand-me-down from The Hubby's relative). Baby Girl looks so teeny now in there, but she seems comfortable (besides getting sweaty....anyone have a remedy for that???).
I think that's about it...my baby is turning into a little girl before my eyes! She's still so sweet and loves to sit on your lap to read books, but when she thinks you're going to try to get her to go to sleep, she's out of there! She's sleeping okay--bedtime is a bit more challenging than it used to be, but getting better. She slept through the night for exactly a week, but then got sick and we haven't seen that again. But we're doing okay :)
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Happy Breastfeeding Awareness Week!
I just found out this is Breastfeeding Awareness Week. I want you all to be aware of the benefits of breastfeeding and then make the best choice for you and your child, whether that means to try to nurse until you have gouges in your nips, not to ever try breastfeeding at all, to nurse until baby is 5, to exclusively pump, to take supplements, to wean at a certain age...whatever it means, just be aware there are benefits to breastfeeding. And whatever you choose, I applaud you for doing what's best for you and your child. Really. I believe breastfeeding is what is right for our family, but know that it isn't right for everyone. It's okay to differ on this subject!
I just read a fabulous blog post (all of her posts are fabulous--if you need another blog to read, please check out hers...it's witty, dry, and intelligent). I think it's absolutely right to aim the discussion in that direction, rather than to tell everyone that breast is always best, no matter what.
So good for you, mom. However you choose to feed your baby!
I just read a fabulous blog post (all of her posts are fabulous--if you need another blog to read, please check out hers...it's witty, dry, and intelligent). I think it's absolutely right to aim the discussion in that direction, rather than to tell everyone that breast is always best, no matter what.
So good for you, mom. However you choose to feed your baby!
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Meal Plan 8/1-8/7
Sunday: I think we had leftovers
Monday: Taco Pizza (refrigerated crust with a sauce of refried beans mixed with taco sauce, topped with ground turkey in taco seasoning, cheddar, tomatoes, and sour cream. Wanted to use onions, but we can't find the bag I bought and The Hubbyhid because he wanted the house to look clean put away)
Tuesday: Burgers and diced sweet potatoes
Wednesday: Shredded BBQ chicken w/corn on the cob
Thursday: Brats and mashed potatoes
Friday: Pasta and meatballs
Saturday: either eating out (we're celebrating our anniversary by going to see a musical and may eat lunch or dinner out depending on the plans of our babysitters (my parents))
We were out of town Friday through Sunday, which is when Baby Girl got sick, so we were also home all day yesterday with her and I'm home with her again this morning when I get relieved by The Hubby. The Hubby has been sick for a week and I'm just praying I don't catch it, too. Baby Girl now has a double ear infection and is being treated for a possible case of whooping cough (guessing she doesn't have it based on most of the symptoms, but the doctor said since we're giving antibiotics for the ear infections anyway we should nip it in the bud just in case). So yeah....not much time to write up about what we did on her birthday (short story: went to the state fair), where we are developmentally, where I am emotionally, and what's going on with nursing. But we'll get there at some point.
Monday: Taco Pizza (refrigerated crust with a sauce of refried beans mixed with taco sauce, topped with ground turkey in taco seasoning, cheddar, tomatoes, and sour cream. Wanted to use onions, but we can't find the bag I bought and The Hubby
Tuesday: Burgers and diced sweet potatoes
Wednesday: Shredded BBQ chicken w/corn on the cob
Thursday: Brats and mashed potatoes
Friday: Pasta and meatballs
Saturday: either eating out (we're celebrating our anniversary by going to see a musical and may eat lunch or dinner out depending on the plans of our babysitters (my parents))
We were out of town Friday through Sunday, which is when Baby Girl got sick, so we were also home all day yesterday with her and I'm home with her again this morning when I get relieved by The Hubby. The Hubby has been sick for a week and I'm just praying I don't catch it, too. Baby Girl now has a double ear infection and is being treated for a possible case of whooping cough (guessing she doesn't have it based on most of the symptoms, but the doctor said since we're giving antibiotics for the ear infections anyway we should nip it in the bud just in case). So yeah....not much time to write up about what we did on her birthday (short story: went to the state fair), where we are developmentally, where I am emotionally, and what's going on with nursing. But we'll get there at some point.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
A letter on your first birthday
Baby Girl,
How can I begin to thank you for all you've done for me over the last year? It may sound odd for a parent to thank their child, but that's what I'm doing. You have taught me so much in the last 365 days. You've taught me what true love is, what it's like to love another person more than you love anything else. You've taught me things about myself that I never knew, some good and some bad, but always a blessing.
You are such a beautiful little girl, physically and emotionally. You have the biggest, brownest eyes that always have a sparkle in them. They tend to reveal what you're feeling, much like your mommy's. You love fiercely, like I've never witnessed from someone so small. You give hugs and kisses freely, wrapping your sweet little arms around my neck and opening your mouth wide to engulf my cheek in your wet, warm mouth. You also love to give hugs and kisses to other children, tackling them many times, trying to show them how much you love them and you even give kisses to babies in books and the baby in the mirror.
I love that you love people so much. You give smiles (after you're done investigating) and waves and even scream "HI!" at random people whereever we go. I hope you'll always be as friendly as you are (although you could probably hold off on the flirting with men in uniform). Everyone is charmed by you and wants to be with you. We're told every time we go out how beautiful you are and we just nod because we know it's true.
You are smarter than I ever could have dreamed. We see you learning every single day and you seem to be reasoning at a level far beyond your age. Your daddy and I are always amazed at what you seem to comprehend. I always feared that my expectations of you would be too high, but now I fear they won't be high enough! Keep learning, little one, and maintain that love of books. Both will serve you well for the rest of your life.
I look forward to seeing the little girl you become, but please don't grow up too quickly on me! You're already becoming so independent, always wanting to do things yourself and getting frustrated when Mommy and Daddy slow you down. Keep on smiling and the world will smile with you.
I love you more than words can ever say, but I've done the best I can to express myself. You make me proud every single day to call myself your mommy. Thank you for answering my prayers by coming into our life one year ago today.
All my love,
Mommy
How can I begin to thank you for all you've done for me over the last year? It may sound odd for a parent to thank their child, but that's what I'm doing. You have taught me so much in the last 365 days. You've taught me what true love is, what it's like to love another person more than you love anything else. You've taught me things about myself that I never knew, some good and some bad, but always a blessing.
You are such a beautiful little girl, physically and emotionally. You have the biggest, brownest eyes that always have a sparkle in them. They tend to reveal what you're feeling, much like your mommy's. You love fiercely, like I've never witnessed from someone so small. You give hugs and kisses freely, wrapping your sweet little arms around my neck and opening your mouth wide to engulf my cheek in your wet, warm mouth. You also love to give hugs and kisses to other children, tackling them many times, trying to show them how much you love them and you even give kisses to babies in books and the baby in the mirror.
I love that you love people so much. You give smiles (after you're done investigating) and waves and even scream "HI!" at random people whereever we go. I hope you'll always be as friendly as you are (although you could probably hold off on the flirting with men in uniform). Everyone is charmed by you and wants to be with you. We're told every time we go out how beautiful you are and we just nod because we know it's true.
You are smarter than I ever could have dreamed. We see you learning every single day and you seem to be reasoning at a level far beyond your age. Your daddy and I are always amazed at what you seem to comprehend. I always feared that my expectations of you would be too high, but now I fear they won't be high enough! Keep learning, little one, and maintain that love of books. Both will serve you well for the rest of your life.
I look forward to seeing the little girl you become, but please don't grow up too quickly on me! You're already becoming so independent, always wanting to do things yourself and getting frustrated when Mommy and Daddy slow you down. Keep on smiling and the world will smile with you.
I love you more than words can ever say, but I've done the best I can to express myself. You make me proud every single day to call myself your mommy. Thank you for answering my prayers by coming into our life one year ago today.
All my love,
Mommy
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
So many posts...
On this, the day before the first anniversary of my baby's birth, I have a lot of blog posts I want to write, but no time to do it! I want to write up my normal developmental update, a letter *to* her, a post about my year of nursing, and a post about where *I* am a year later.
I will say here, though, that I was just looking at my phone and saw a picture in there from one year ago today. One blessing of having a scheduled C-section, assuming everything goes according to plan, is that on July 28, 2009 I knew I would be having my baby the next day. I knew it was my last day of work (yes, I worked up through the day before I gave birth). I knew it was my last day of having this baby inside my belly, going with me everywhere, quiet, kicking. I knew it was my last day of having a baby bump. So I took a picture. It's from my vantage point--what I saw every day. It's my bo.obs and then the bump. No feet, of course (I haven't seen them on a regular basis since puberty). Just boo.bs and bump. And I have to admit, I miss it (the bump, I mean...the boo.bs are the same as they were--pre-pregnancy, pregnant, and nursing). But I'm so very glad I had the presence of mind to take that picture to remember where I was one year ago today.
I will say here, though, that I was just looking at my phone and saw a picture in there from one year ago today. One blessing of having a scheduled C-section, assuming everything goes according to plan, is that on July 28, 2009 I knew I would be having my baby the next day. I knew it was my last day of work (yes, I worked up through the day before I gave birth). I knew it was my last day of having this baby inside my belly, going with me everywhere, quiet, kicking. I knew it was my last day of having a baby bump. So I took a picture. It's from my vantage point--what I saw every day. It's my bo.obs and then the bump. No feet, of course (I haven't seen them on a regular basis since puberty). Just boo.bs and bump. And I have to admit, I miss it (the bump, I mean...the boo.bs are the same as they were--pre-pregnancy, pregnant, and nursing). But I'm so very glad I had the presence of mind to take that picture to remember where I was one year ago today.
Monday, July 26, 2010
My baby has made me bipolar
Okay, that's a little overdramatic.
But seriously, folks.
When I was trying to conceive Baby Girl, I thought *that* was a roller coaster of emotion. But now I've realized that that was nothing. That was the Blue Streak of roller coasters (you Ohioans probably know what I'm talking about).
Don't get me wrong. That sucked. But this is a whole new level of suck. A year's worth of suck.
My every emotion is tied to my baby. To her sleeping. Her eating. Her temperment.
So when she's *not* sleeping...well...I feel sad. And when she's not interested in nursing, I feel sad. And when she's sad? Yup. Sad.
But when she's happy, curious, interested? I'm happy. Relaxed. Blissful, even.
And then an hour later when she's screaming bloody murder because, God forbid, we think she should take a nap because she was laying on the ground on her belly, rubbing her face on the carpet? I feel so sad again.
I'm emotionally exhausted. I'm tired of having my every emotion hinge on the feelings and behavior of my daughter. I have a feeling it's going to be like this for the rest of my life and I need to figure out how to deal. I know that the fact that I care so incredibly much about how she's feeling is just an example of how I'm a good mommy. I know I love her more than words can say and really just want the best for her. I'd be perfectly okay waking up overnight with her if she were just HAPPY.
Saturday was great. We had so much fun partying it up. And I was able to overlook the maniac she'd become at bedtime. But then Sunday...oh Sunday. And Sunday bled into Monday. And here I sit. Tired. Exhausted. Watching the clock and waiting for the moment I can walk in the door and hear that resounding "HI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" (yes, WITH the exclamation points) and feel my mood lift again.
But seriously, folks.
When I was trying to conceive Baby Girl, I thought *that* was a roller coaster of emotion. But now I've realized that that was nothing. That was the Blue Streak of roller coasters (you Ohioans probably know what I'm talking about).
Don't get me wrong. That sucked. But this is a whole new level of suck. A year's worth of suck.
My every emotion is tied to my baby. To her sleeping. Her eating. Her temperment.
So when she's *not* sleeping...well...I feel sad. And when she's not interested in nursing, I feel sad. And when she's sad? Yup. Sad.
But when she's happy, curious, interested? I'm happy. Relaxed. Blissful, even.
And then an hour later when she's screaming bloody murder because, God forbid, we think she should take a nap because she was laying on the ground on her belly, rubbing her face on the carpet? I feel so sad again.
I'm emotionally exhausted. I'm tired of having my every emotion hinge on the feelings and behavior of my daughter. I have a feeling it's going to be like this for the rest of my life and I need to figure out how to deal. I know that the fact that I care so incredibly much about how she's feeling is just an example of how I'm a good mommy. I know I love her more than words can say and really just want the best for her. I'd be perfectly okay waking up overnight with her if she were just HAPPY.
Saturday was great. We had so much fun partying it up. And I was able to overlook the maniac she'd become at bedtime. But then Sunday...oh Sunday. And Sunday bled into Monday. And here I sit. Tired. Exhausted. Watching the clock and waiting for the moment I can walk in the door and hear that resounding "HI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" (yes, WITH the exclamation points) and feel my mood lift again.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Meal Plan 7/25-7/31
I owe you all a post about the party yesterday. Let's just say it was overwhelming but a lot of fun. It's great to see all these people who love us and our little girl.
Onto the meal plan (because we can't eat leftovers all week) (although there might be enough....)
7/25: Leftover shredded chicken for lunch and BBQ pork for dinner
7/26: Red Quinoa and Summer Grilled Veggies
7/27: Pork Loin Chops w/Roasted Garlic Cream Sauce with rice
7/28: Burgers & corn on the cob
7/29: Chipotle for Baby Girl's actual birthday (The Hubby's choice)
7/30: Either leftovers or we'll be heading to the husband's parents' house (which deserves a whole separate post all of its own)
7/31: At DH's grandma's 70th (yes, you read that right...DH is 30, his mom is 50, and his grandma is 70...and he and his mom aren't even the oldest children in their immediate families) surprise birthday party
Onto the meal plan (because we can't eat leftovers all week) (although there might be enough....)
7/25: Leftover shredded chicken for lunch and BBQ pork for dinner
7/26: Red Quinoa and Summer Grilled Veggies
7/27: Pork Loin Chops w/Roasted Garlic Cream Sauce with rice
7/28: Burgers & corn on the cob
7/29: Chipotle for Baby Girl's actual birthday (The Hubby's choice)
7/30: Either leftovers or we'll be heading to the husband's parents' house (which deserves a whole separate post all of its own)
7/31: At DH's grandma's 70th (yes, you read that right...DH is 30, his mom is 50, and his grandma is 70...and he and his mom aren't even the oldest children in their immediate families) surprise birthday party
Thursday, July 22, 2010
A Kroger Deal for my readers
Easy deal:
Buy 10 packages of Philadephia cream cheese for $14.90 ($1.49 apiece)
Print off 2 coupons from realwomenofphiladelphia.com on every computer you have access to (worth $1 apiece--we'll just say 2 coupons for this super easy deal)
When you buy 10 of these, you get $5 off instantly (Mega event)
$14.90 - $2 (2 $1 coupons) - $5 = $7.90
Get a coupon for $5 off your next order when you buy any 5 Kraft cheese items
So in essence you're paying $2.90 for 10 bricks of cream cheese!
You can make the deal fit your life better by looking at other items in the Mega event--as long as you get at least 5 Kraft cheese items (Philadephia is a Kraft brand) and 10 of the Mega event items, this deal will work for you!
I, for instance, did this deal:
4 packages of Philadelphia: $5.96
6 packages of Kraft shredded cheese (also part of the Mega event & $1.99 apiece): $11.94
Printed 2 Philadephia coupons: -$2
Had 3 Kraft coupons for $1 off 2 packages of cheese (found on the shelf at my store): -$3
$17.90 - $2 - $3 - $5 (Mega event) = $7.90 with $5 coupon on your next Kroger order
Check out all the great items that are part of the Mega event at http://www.kroger.com/
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A different easy deal!
Buy 9 packages of 24-count Crayola crayons (in the back-to-school area) for $0.25 apiece : $2.25
There is a deal going on right now where you buy $20 worth of school supplies and you get a $4 off coupon for your next Kroger purchase. The thing is, the calculation to figure if you've spent $20 is based on the original price before sale. These crayons are $2.25 apiece regularly, so to get to $20, you need to buy 9 (see above).
Pay $2.25 out of pocket and get a coupon for $4 off later!
Now you have two easy deals to get stuff for cheap or to make money--get out there and shop!!!
Buy 10 packages of Philadephia cream cheese for $14.90 ($1.49 apiece)
Print off 2 coupons from realwomenofphiladelphia.com on every computer you have access to (worth $1 apiece--we'll just say 2 coupons for this super easy deal)
When you buy 10 of these, you get $5 off instantly (Mega event)
$14.90 - $2 (2 $1 coupons) - $5 = $7.90
Get a coupon for $5 off your next order when you buy any 5 Kraft cheese items
So in essence you're paying $2.90 for 10 bricks of cream cheese!
You can make the deal fit your life better by looking at other items in the Mega event--as long as you get at least 5 Kraft cheese items (Philadephia is a Kraft brand) and 10 of the Mega event items, this deal will work for you!
I, for instance, did this deal:
4 packages of Philadelphia: $5.96
6 packages of Kraft shredded cheese (also part of the Mega event & $1.99 apiece): $11.94
Printed 2 Philadephia coupons: -$2
Had 3 Kraft coupons for $1 off 2 packages of cheese (found on the shelf at my store): -$3
$17.90 - $2 - $3 - $5 (Mega event) = $7.90 with $5 coupon on your next Kroger order
Check out all the great items that are part of the Mega event at http://www.kroger.com/
-------
A different easy deal!
Buy 9 packages of 24-count Crayola crayons (in the back-to-school area) for $0.25 apiece : $2.25
There is a deal going on right now where you buy $20 worth of school supplies and you get a $4 off coupon for your next Kroger purchase. The thing is, the calculation to figure if you've spent $20 is based on the original price before sale. These crayons are $2.25 apiece regularly, so to get to $20, you need to buy 9 (see above).
Pay $2.25 out of pocket and get a coupon for $4 off later!
Now you have two easy deals to get stuff for cheap or to make money--get out there and shop!!!
Thrifty Thursday: Online Coupon Resources
Printable coupon sites:
Coupons.com
Smartsource.com
Redplum.com
Coupons, Inc.
For most of these sites you'll probably need to install a coupon printer plug-in, but once you do that, you can print until your heart's content!
Coupons, Inc. is a bit different than the others because it's a source for all coupons that are hosted by Bricks, which is a company that has many printable coupons. The key to Bricks coupons is that you can print two copies per computer by hitting the back button after you print the first one.
Product websites:
If you're going to buy a specific product, check their website! Many times there are coupons available on the product website. Look for a link called "Special Offers" or something like that. Colgate is one of my favorites and you'll notice that Special Offers is the last link in the top bar of links.
Coupon Databases:
There are a lot of sites out there that track all available coupons, including mailers (flyers mailed to your home), inserts (those that come in the paper), printables (those you can print online), peelies (coupons attached to products found in stores) and blinkies (coupons in little coupon machines found hanging on store shelves). Here is a list of those that I've used at one time or another:
CouponMom (you'll need to create a login*--I've never received any spam from them)
Bargain Briana
Deal Seeking Mom
Hot Coupon World
Many of these databases function so that you could enter in something you're going to buy, like "beans" and it will pull up coupons for any brand of beans that is available. That way you can comparison shop when at the store and decide which coupon matches up with which product for the best deal (but remember that generic with no coupon may STILL be cheaper!!!).
Please let me know if you have any questions or any other good suggestions for online couponing resources (I will cover online resources for shopping other than food/toiletries/paper products later)!
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Next week Thrifty Thursday will be on a hiatus because I'll be spending the day with my daughter and husband celebrating Baby Girl's FIRST BIRTHDAY! But stay tuned--I will turn the following week and hope to dive into answer the question, "How do you match up coupons with grocery ads to get the best deals"?
*Because many sites require a login to get the best deals, I suggest creating an email address that you can have all your accounts tied to. That way if you do end up getting a bunch of spam from the site, you don't have to weed through it every day.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Quick points
1) You know how I said in mid-June that the bitch is back? Yeah, that was just a little warning shot. She officially made her way back into my life in all her gory glory this past Sunday night. Nice. Perrrrrfect timing.
2) Speaking of Sunday night...OH.EM.GEE, y'all, that was rough. Really rough. Last night wasn't great--it took her a full half an hour of coddling to get her to sleep. But it wasn't anything like the screaming-fighting-sleeping-with-all-her-mightbullshit stuff we had Sunday night. And of course I can say that because The Hubby was the one dealing with her last night. We're starting to think she needs some combination of a later bedtime, more wind-down time before bed, and more food. We'll see how she does tonight (hoping she is taking normal naps today so we can truly judge it as a "normal" day).
3) Yesterday was not a normal day. I ended up taking her to the doctor at 10 am, which is during naptime, normally. No ear infection. No sinus infection. And not really any signs of teeth. Of course. Oh well. The appointment served two purposes: it proved that my mommy instinct isn't 100% off (I didn't think she had an ear infection) and it gave us the peace of mind that nothing is seriously wrong. But of course the crazy napping lead to being up overnight. Twice. Yawn.
4) Thank you SO much for the comments on my Sunday post. I really appreciate the reassurance from you all that it's totally normal to feel the way I did (do?). I agree that more mommies need to be more forthcoming about the struggles we face. I had someone ask me the other day, "Isn't being a mommy the best thing in the world?" I had to pause and think about it. I LOVE Baby girl. LOVE LOVE LOVE her. But right now I'm having a hard time thinking of anything but a secluded beach, sun, 70 degree weather, and a strawberry daiquiri as the best thing in the world. I, of course, smiled and talked about how wonderful it is. And I felt like a big fat liar. And this was when she was sleeping through the night!
5) Baby Girl's party...we're in the last few days. We have a plan. It's a plan that's going to mean less sleep for The Hubby and me, but we'll have a presentable house, some food, some decorations, and hopefully a fun party for everyone. We will be crashing on Sunday, though.
2) Speaking of Sunday night...OH.EM.GEE, y'all, that was rough. Really rough. Last night wasn't great--it took her a full half an hour of coddling to get her to sleep. But it wasn't anything like the screaming-fighting-sleeping-with-all-her-might
3) Yesterday was not a normal day. I ended up taking her to the doctor at 10 am, which is during naptime, normally. No ear infection. No sinus infection. And not really any signs of teeth. Of course. Oh well. The appointment served two purposes: it proved that my mommy instinct isn't 100% off (I didn't think she had an ear infection) and it gave us the peace of mind that nothing is seriously wrong. But of course the crazy napping lead to being up overnight. Twice. Yawn.
4) Thank you SO much for the comments on my Sunday post. I really appreciate the reassurance from you all that it's totally normal to feel the way I did (do?). I agree that more mommies need to be more forthcoming about the struggles we face. I had someone ask me the other day, "Isn't being a mommy the best thing in the world?" I had to pause and think about it. I LOVE Baby girl. LOVE LOVE LOVE her. But right now I'm having a hard time thinking of anything but a secluded beach, sun, 70 degree weather, and a strawberry daiquiri as the best thing in the world. I, of course, smiled and talked about how wonderful it is. And I felt like a big fat liar. And this was when she was sleeping through the night!
5) Baby Girl's party...we're in the last few days. We have a plan. It's a plan that's going to mean less sleep for The Hubby and me, but we'll have a presentable house, some food, some decorations, and hopefully a fun party for everyone. We will be crashing on Sunday, though.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Bad bad bad
(this is a raw, painful post. if you can't handle it, read no further.)
We are in the midst of the absolute worst night I think we've ever had. Bad enough that I'm considering cancelling the party on Saturday. Bad enough that I just walked out the door with my car keys and phone and thought about not telling The Hubby where I was headed. Bad enough that I just WEEDED. (I don't weed) Bad enough that I'm burying myself in my computer.
I don't know what's wrong with this kid. I feel like a failure for not being in tune enough to her to have any idea what's going on. Friday July 9th through Thursday July 15th were perfect. Baby Girl was happy, took good naps, slept through the night... Every night since has been awful. She's fought bedtime, fought every single nap. She's screamed and screamed, been whiny all day long, been fussy. And then she'd stop and be the sweetest, most charming little lady in the world. We haven't ever dealt with anything like this for teeth, so it *could* be teeth, I suppose. She's not really messing with her ears and isn't running any fever, so I don't *think* it's a fever (but it could be).
I honestly want to leave. I hate what Baby Girl has done to my self-esteem. I hate feeling like this. And I hate feeling like I want to leave. I want to love this baby an want to be with her and still be able to see the positive through this. I have friends who say they've never been to where I am right now and it makes me jealous and makes me feel even more like I don't know what I'm doing and I'm not meant to be a mommy.
And I'm going to hit publish now. I might regret it later, but I need to get it out there.
We are in the midst of the absolute worst night I think we've ever had. Bad enough that I'm considering cancelling the party on Saturday. Bad enough that I just walked out the door with my car keys and phone and thought about not telling The Hubby where I was headed. Bad enough that I just WEEDED. (I don't weed) Bad enough that I'm burying myself in my computer.
I don't know what's wrong with this kid. I feel like a failure for not being in tune enough to her to have any idea what's going on. Friday July 9th through Thursday July 15th were perfect. Baby Girl was happy, took good naps, slept through the night... Every night since has been awful. She's fought bedtime, fought every single nap. She's screamed and screamed, been whiny all day long, been fussy. And then she'd stop and be the sweetest, most charming little lady in the world. We haven't ever dealt with anything like this for teeth, so it *could* be teeth, I suppose. She's not really messing with her ears and isn't running any fever, so I don't *think* it's a fever (but it could be).
I honestly want to leave. I hate what Baby Girl has done to my self-esteem. I hate feeling like this. And I hate feeling like I want to leave. I want to love this baby an want to be with her and still be able to see the positive through this. I have friends who say they've never been to where I am right now and it makes me jealous and makes me feel even more like I don't know what I'm doing and I'm not meant to be a mommy.
And I'm going to hit publish now. I might regret it later, but I need to get it out there.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Hi!
This is what greeted me as I came down the stairs this morning.
Baby Girl *might* say a few words, but none has come out as clearly as "Hi!". She says "Da" sometimes when her daddy walks in the room or when she looks at him...or when she wants something...or when she sees something whose name doesn't start with a "d". lol You see what I mean? Hard to tell!
And she babbles "mamamamamamamama", but we still haven't exactly related it to her "mama".
I've also heard "Duck" a couple of times (once directed toward a toy duck and once toward Big Bird...who I suppose looks like a duck, even though he's technically a canary), but also hear it in random places. So I still don't know what her first word is. But I do know that her first very clear word is "hi" and it's the sweetest sound! I was greeted by it twice this morning, both times just by coming down the stairs. And one time when I headed up the stairs she waved "bye-bye". Apparently she waves at the parents dropping off at the sitter's all the time...who knew? She doesn't wave consistently for us ever!
Baby Girl *might* say a few words, but none has come out as clearly as "Hi!". She says "Da" sometimes when her daddy walks in the room or when she looks at him...or when she wants something...or when she sees something whose name doesn't start with a "d". lol You see what I mean? Hard to tell!
And she babbles "mamamamamamamama", but we still haven't exactly related it to her "mama".
I've also heard "Duck" a couple of times (once directed toward a toy duck and once toward Big Bird...who I suppose looks like a duck, even though he's technically a canary), but also hear it in random places. So I still don't know what her first word is. But I do know that her first very clear word is "hi" and it's the sweetest sound! I was greeted by it twice this morning, both times just by coming down the stairs. And one time when I headed up the stairs she waved "bye-bye". Apparently she waves at the parents dropping off at the sitter's all the time...who knew? She doesn't wave consistently for us ever!
So much for that
I was going to write this really nice, reflective post today about Baby Girl's sleep. And she still slept okay last night, so that's not really why I say "was". I'm just not in the mood after the way she's been acting today. She's been clingy and cranky--two words I would NEVER use to describe my baby. She has no fever and has been chewing on everything, which makes me think (hope? pray?) that it's her teeth and not another ear infection. I noticed the two teeth on either side of her middle bottom teeth are just below the surface on Thursday.
And then there's that pesky top right tooth. Most people think it's actually already in because her gums are so white, but it's looked like that for WEEKS (almost a month). So who knows. Maybe we'll get all three this weekend. Or maybe my baby has a raging ear infection and I'm ignoring it by just chalking it up to teeth.
This would be a lot easier if she could talk and tell me what, exactly, hurts. Oh, and if she'd take her finger out of her ear (which she does whether she's got an earache or not).
This could be a long weekend.
And then there's that pesky top right tooth. Most people think it's actually already in because her gums are so white, but it's looked like that for WEEKS (almost a month). So who knows. Maybe we'll get all three this weekend. Or maybe my baby has a raging ear infection and I'm ignoring it by just chalking it up to teeth.
This would be a lot easier if she could talk and tell me what, exactly, hurts. Oh, and if she'd take her finger out of her ear (which she does whether she's got an earache or not).
This could be a long weekend.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Thrifty Thursday: The Sickness Edition
Over the last few days, I've gotten a couple of thrifty ideas for you, though, so I'm calling this "The Sickness Edition"
First, if you have to go to the pharmacy to get medication, look around online or in your flyers for coupons to get a free gift card when you fill a new or transferrred prescription at the pharmacy (Target has them in their flyer fairly often). Even if you are pretty loyal to your pharmacy, most of them will take competitor's coupons. I was able to find a coupon for KMart's pharmacy to get a $25 gift card, take it to my CVS, and get a $25 gift card when I filled my $5 prescription.
My second tip really has very little to do with being sick besides that my head was cloudy and I didn't realize what I'd done until this morning.
I've preached and preached about buying stuff (especially meat) and freezing it. So I had purchased a huge package of chicken and had 4 different chicken meals planned, so I pulled the package out of the freezer and put it into my sink. Baby Girl's bedtime was a teeny bit rough, so we didn't get dinner until after she went to bed. By that time, neither of us felt like cooking so we had leftover pizza. The Hubby did all the cooking while I ran to the pharmacy. I thought he would put the chicken in the fridge, but he apparently didn't notice the ginormous package of chicken in the sink. So the chicken sat out overnight. You all know what happens when you assume. And there's $8 (good thing I bought it on sale!) gone. Wasted.
So the moral of the story is to USE what you buy! It's the same thing with produce or anything that can expire. Think of all the effort you go to to save a few pennies with coupons and think about how many DOLLARS you throw into the trash when you waste your food. If you aren't going to use it, find a way to freeze it. Or at least don't leave it in the sink overnight to spoil.
The Sickness
Let me tell you, the month of July hasn't been a healthy one in our household!!!
Baby Girl and I started feeling icky at the end of June and we both suffered from a cold over the next couple of weeks. It wasn't fun, but we both took it in stride and still went about our normal business.
Then The Hubby got it (while Baby Girl and I were still coughing a bit). And you know how men can be when they get sick. While I was sick, I was still doing laundry, cooking, cleaning up after dinners...it may not have been the cleanest time in our lives, but I kept up on things so we weren't living in an absolute pigsty. When he got sick, though, I got zero help. He's not a baby about being sick...just lazy.
Two days after The Hubby got sick (on Tuesday morning), Baby Girl had a few cases of diarrhea. And then a couple more. I called the doctor and they told us to give her a probiotic, so we tried, but the kid wouldn't drink it mixed with water, I was home with her, so she was directly nursing...we didn't think to put it in her food until Wednesday morning (of course!).
The Hubby and I hung out at home with her on Tuesday (The Hubby was still recovering from his own illness, so I figured I should stick around with her). By the end of the day on Tuesday, it was apparent that we were ALL sick again. *sigh* I ended up staying home Wednesday and Thursday and even going to the doctor for some heavy-duty antibiotics on Thursday. Two colds in one month?!?!?! Really??? Hopefully this is just getting it out of our systems so we aren't sick for the BIG PARTY next weekend.
This morning, though, (after, I think, the worst had passed) I was realizing how incredibly fortunate we are. Both The Hubby and I have the sick time we can take if we're sick or if Baby Girl is sick. We have great health insurance so we didn't even have to consider if we could afford to go to the doctor's office. We paid our copays and I got my meds and spent $45 total. Could things have been better? Of course. We could've not gotten sick. I could *not* be breastfeeding and therefore able to take good cold meds. But it could've been SO. Much. Worse.
Baby Girl and I started feeling icky at the end of June and we both suffered from a cold over the next couple of weeks. It wasn't fun, but we both took it in stride and still went about our normal business.
Then The Hubby got it (while Baby Girl and I were still coughing a bit). And you know how men can be when they get sick. While I was sick, I was still doing laundry, cooking, cleaning up after dinners...it may not have been the cleanest time in our lives, but I kept up on things so we weren't living in an absolute pigsty. When he got sick, though, I got zero help. He's not a baby about being sick...just lazy.
Two days after The Hubby got sick (on Tuesday morning), Baby Girl had a few cases of diarrhea. And then a couple more. I called the doctor and they told us to give her a probiotic, so we tried, but the kid wouldn't drink it mixed with water, I was home with her, so she was directly nursing...we didn't think to put it in her food until Wednesday morning (of course!).
The Hubby and I hung out at home with her on Tuesday (The Hubby was still recovering from his own illness, so I figured I should stick around with her). By the end of the day on Tuesday, it was apparent that we were ALL sick again. *sigh* I ended up staying home Wednesday and Thursday and even going to the doctor for some heavy-duty antibiotics on Thursday. Two colds in one month?!?!?! Really??? Hopefully this is just getting it out of our systems so we aren't sick for the BIG PARTY next weekend.
This morning, though, (after, I think, the worst had passed) I was realizing how incredibly fortunate we are. Both The Hubby and I have the sick time we can take if we're sick or if Baby Girl is sick. We have great health insurance so we didn't even have to consider if we could afford to go to the doctor's office. We paid our copays and I got my meds and spent $45 total. Could things have been better? Of course. We could've not gotten sick. I could *not* be breastfeeding and therefore able to take good cold meds. But it could've been SO. Much. Worse.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Signing
Going into pregnancy, I was a firm believer in the positive impact of sign language. I've known sign language since I took a class when I was 5 or 6 and it's come in really useful throughout my life and I've even taught a few classes myself. For this reason, I'd love to teach it to Baby Girl and was so excited to learn that it is something that is becoming trendy to teach babies to help them communicate!
However, once Baby Girl was born, I got a little lax about working on sign language with her. It seemed like I was always focusing on other pieces of development and keeping her safe and the priority to teach her sign langauge really sank to the bottom of the list. While feeding her, it just wasn't easy to ask her "More?" between every bite. So it's been REALLY sporadic. I do typically sign "milk" to her when it's time for her to nurse (and now she comes crawling or running over the second I ask her if she wants milk), so that one we've had down for awhile and she's now starting to ask for it herself.
This weekend, though, Baby Girl started signing both "more" and "all done" (well, she's done "all done" once or twice...but it was in context!). I couldn't believe it! The Hubby and I both use the signs just a few times a week, but apparently she's picked up on them and has started using them (the sitter refuses, so we know she isn't getting it there). The best part is that her "more" isn't clapping, so we're able to tell the difference (many kids start out signing "more" by clapping, which gets confusing--do they want more or are they happy with themselves? 'Cause this kid claps whenever she hears a laugh track on TV, if someone says "yay", if she's done something she's proud of...you can see how it would be confusing for us!). Her "all done" was pretty impressive, too! I'm hoping we can get her to start using these all the time and maybe we can add in "water" or "juice" sometime!
However, once Baby Girl was born, I got a little lax about working on sign language with her. It seemed like I was always focusing on other pieces of development and keeping her safe and the priority to teach her sign langauge really sank to the bottom of the list. While feeding her, it just wasn't easy to ask her "More?" between every bite. So it's been REALLY sporadic. I do typically sign "milk" to her when it's time for her to nurse (and now she comes crawling or running over the second I ask her if she wants milk), so that one we've had down for awhile and she's now starting to ask for it herself.
This weekend, though, Baby Girl started signing both "more" and "all done" (well, she's done "all done" once or twice...but it was in context!). I couldn't believe it! The Hubby and I both use the signs just a few times a week, but apparently she's picked up on them and has started using them (the sitter refuses, so we know she isn't getting it there). The best part is that her "more" isn't clapping, so we're able to tell the difference (many kids start out signing "more" by clapping, which gets confusing--do they want more or are they happy with themselves? 'Cause this kid claps whenever she hears a laugh track on TV, if someone says "yay", if she's done something she's proud of...you can see how it would be confusing for us!). Her "all done" was pretty impressive, too! I'm hoping we can get her to start using these all the time and maybe we can add in "water" or "juice" sometime!
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Meal Plan 7/11-7/17
I don't think I can even try to plan which nights we'll have things...so here are our meals for the week:
Tonight: Baby Back Ribs, cornbread, and some sort of veggie
The rest of the week:
Cayenne Chicken
Sweet & Sour Chicken
Tacos
Lemon Chicken
BBQ Chicken Pasta
Veggie Quesadillas
Tonight: Baby Back Ribs, cornbread, and some sort of veggie
The rest of the week:
Cayenne Chicken
Sweet & Sour Chicken
Tacos
Lemon Chicken
BBQ Chicken Pasta
Veggie Quesadillas
Almost Perfect
Yesterday was the best day (I think) since Baby Girl was born.
It started with The Hubby and me realizing that the sun was up and it was almost 6 a.m. Why is this a big deal? Well, the last time we'd spoken to each other was 10:30 the night before. That's right, folks, Baby Girl slept through the night. Woohoo! That, alone, would have made the day great!
We all got up, had breakfast, then went to Wal.mart (I still think there need to be more 24-hour stores...) to look for a polo shirt for The Hubby and to pick up a few jars of baby food (easier to take out of the house). When we got back, we went on a short bike ride with the new bike trailer we picked up. Baby Girl seems to love it and it was great to get out of the house.
When we returned, I worked on getting ready--took a shower, packed up some stuff for the day, made sure Baby Girl and The Hubby were doing okay.
At about 8:55, I left the two of them alone and drove to Goodale Park to meet up with a local photographer. I was hosting a portrait party! A portrait party is when there are many 30-minute sessions back-to-back throughout the day. In turn, the client gets a reduced session fee and usually a reduction in price in prints. We had 5 other clients besides my family booked. The first family arrived at 9:30 that morning and we (I say "we", but really all I did was entertain guests, help make babies smile, and carry the camera bag) had shoots from then through mine, which started at 11:30. We got a bit off schedule and our shoot was over around 12:30. At that point The Hubby, Baby Girl, and I sat on our blanket with our friends S, R, and their little boy, A to have some lunch in the park. It was a lot of fun! The kiddos played and we all ate and chatted.
Around 1, the last client showed up, another friend, M, with her little man. We did their shoot, then all of us (3 babies and 5 adults) hung out for a little while. A little after 2, we realized it was probably nap time, so we loaded up the cars and headed home.
Baby Girl fell asleep in the car with The Hubby pretty close to home, so he got her out of the car and took her straight up to her room. Many times if she's fallen asleep in the car, putting her back down doesn't go well (and no, she doesn't sleep at all in her carrier if it isn't in a moving car), but he took her upstairs and she cried for just a minute or so and fell asleep (it was about 2:40).
The Hubby and I came downstairs and did a lot of relaxing and I got dinner (the Buffalo Chicken Lasagna (there you go, Colleen!!)) cooking. We figured Baby Girl would be up after 1 1/2 hours, or around 4:10. Imagine our surprise when she didn't wake up until 4:40! Woohoo!
She got up in good spirit, had some milk, played for a bit, then we had some dinner. We played after dinner, then she nursed and went to bed around 7:15. I cleaned up after dinner, then The Hubby and I watched a movie that had been in our DVR for a long time--27 Dresses. It was really cute! We went to bed around 10:30.
The near perfect day carried over to today, too...when we realized she'd pretty much slept through the night again! She woke at 4:00 with a little fuss and The Hubby was near the door to go to her when I told him to wait...and sure enough she fell back asleep on her own. She slept until 6:30!!!
(yes, I am absolutely aware that I might be jinxing things by talking about this sleeping, but even if it doesn't happen again for awhile, I'm happy for these two nights)
It started with The Hubby and me realizing that the sun was up and it was almost 6 a.m. Why is this a big deal? Well, the last time we'd spoken to each other was 10:30 the night before. That's right, folks, Baby Girl slept through the night. Woohoo! That, alone, would have made the day great!
We all got up, had breakfast, then went to Wal.mart (I still think there need to be more 24-hour stores...) to look for a polo shirt for The Hubby and to pick up a few jars of baby food (easier to take out of the house). When we got back, we went on a short bike ride with the new bike trailer we picked up. Baby Girl seems to love it and it was great to get out of the house.
When we returned, I worked on getting ready--took a shower, packed up some stuff for the day, made sure Baby Girl and The Hubby were doing okay.
At about 8:55, I left the two of them alone and drove to Goodale Park to meet up with a local photographer. I was hosting a portrait party! A portrait party is when there are many 30-minute sessions back-to-back throughout the day. In turn, the client gets a reduced session fee and usually a reduction in price in prints. We had 5 other clients besides my family booked. The first family arrived at 9:30 that morning and we (I say "we", but really all I did was entertain guests, help make babies smile, and carry the camera bag) had shoots from then through mine, which started at 11:30. We got a bit off schedule and our shoot was over around 12:30. At that point The Hubby, Baby Girl, and I sat on our blanket with our friends S, R, and their little boy, A to have some lunch in the park. It was a lot of fun! The kiddos played and we all ate and chatted.
Around 1, the last client showed up, another friend, M, with her little man. We did their shoot, then all of us (3 babies and 5 adults) hung out for a little while. A little after 2, we realized it was probably nap time, so we loaded up the cars and headed home.
Baby Girl fell asleep in the car with The Hubby pretty close to home, so he got her out of the car and took her straight up to her room. Many times if she's fallen asleep in the car, putting her back down doesn't go well (and no, she doesn't sleep at all in her carrier if it isn't in a moving car), but he took her upstairs and she cried for just a minute or so and fell asleep (it was about 2:40).
The Hubby and I came downstairs and did a lot of relaxing and I got dinner (the Buffalo Chicken Lasagna (there you go, Colleen!!)) cooking. We figured Baby Girl would be up after 1 1/2 hours, or around 4:10. Imagine our surprise when she didn't wake up until 4:40! Woohoo!
She got up in good spirit, had some milk, played for a bit, then we had some dinner. We played after dinner, then she nursed and went to bed around 7:15. I cleaned up after dinner, then The Hubby and I watched a movie that had been in our DVR for a long time--27 Dresses. It was really cute! We went to bed around 10:30.
The near perfect day carried over to today, too...when we realized she'd pretty much slept through the night again! She woke at 4:00 with a little fuss and The Hubby was near the door to go to her when I told him to wait...and sure enough she fell back asleep on her own. She slept until 6:30!!!
(yes, I am absolutely aware that I might be jinxing things by talking about this sleeping, but even if it doesn't happen again for awhile, I'm happy for these two nights)
Friday, July 9, 2010
Thrifty Thursday (on Friday): Electronic Coupons
I know most of my readers are local to the Central Ohio area, but I'm sure these resources exist even outside Central Ohio.
If you shop at Kroger, as I do, there are electronic coupons available on their site here: Kroger E-Coupons
You need to create an account with them and enter your Kroger card number with your account. Then go to that site that I've linked and load up to 150 coupons to your Kroger card. They won't double, but you can use them with any paper coupons you have to double your savings**.
For instance, there is a coupon on there to save $0.40 when you buy 6 Yoplait yogurts (which usually run between $0.40 and $0.50 apiece, depending on sale). Say they're $0.50 apiece--buy 6 and it costs you $3. $0.40 off doesn't sound like much, but when you combine it with a printable coupon from Coupons.com that's also for $0.40 off 6 (but will double), it's $3 - $0.40 - $0.40 - $0.40 = $1.80 for 6 or $0.30 apiece.
Here's another deal you could do. Betty Crocker Warm Delights are sometimes marked down to $1.50 apiece. Load a $0.75 coupon from Kroger's site to your card and print off a $0.50 coupon from Coupons.com. $1.50 - $0.75 - $0.50 - $0.50 means you get $0.25 overage.
You don't just have to use Coupons.com coupons--I just know you ALL have access to those!
You can also load electronic coupons through these sites:
Shortcuts (works for both Giant Eagle and Kroger)
Cellfire (I've never used this b/c I didn't have free data stuff on my phone, but it seems like there are good coupons there!)
P&G E Saver (these look like the same ones you can load from Kroger's website and that they're linked up so if you load them from Kroger's website, they aren't available from P&G's)
There are quite a few deals to make items free or near free when combining electronic coupons with printed coupons. Can you find any others? If so, post in the comments!
Next week I'm planning on discussing resources for coupons--there are a lot of them!
** Disclaimer: I don't believe this is the intended useage of these electronic coupons. I don't think you're supposed to use them in conjunction with other manufacturer's coupons for the same item. But it works as long as the cashier with scan the coupon (which they have no reason not to, since they don't know you have the electronic coupon loaded).
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Meal Plan 7/4-7/10
7/4: Chicken Alfredo
7/5: Cookout (turkey burgers, hamburgers, hot dogs, pretzels, chips, macaroni salad (blech), roasted potatoes, and cake)
7/6: Chicken & Pesto w/ Ravioli
7/7: Chicken Kebabs
7/8: Baby Back Ribs, Frozen Veggies, and Cornbread
7/9: Foil Packet Chicken
7/10: Buffalo Chicken Lasagna (seriously...someday we'll have this again...)
7/5: Cookout (turkey burgers, hamburgers, hot dogs, pretzels, chips, macaroni salad (blech), roasted potatoes, and cake)
7/6: Chicken & Pesto w/ Ravioli
7/7: Chicken Kebabs
7/8: Baby Back Ribs, Frozen Veggies, and Cornbread
7/9: Foil Packet Chicken
7/10: Buffalo Chicken Lasagna (seriously...someday we'll have this again...)
Monday, July 5, 2010
A teenage boy in my house, Smurfing Smurfs, and snot
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, these are the things that my weekend was made of.
First of all, I didn't have a real teenager in my house. But my daughter was eating like one! She couldn't be satisfied and just ate like there was no bottom to her stomach. Peas, green beans, corn, cheerios, applesauce...anything we put on her tray she devoured and still wanted more! She even got fussy for the first time in a VERY long time because she was hungry. We're hoping this means a growth spurt is on the horizon, especially since she didn't grow even a quarter of an inch in two months.
Smurfs. You know, those little blue guys? You know how, when they talk, they substitute the word "Smurf" in place of other words? Well, The Hubby is finally on board with trying to tone down his potty mouth, so we've both been making a concerted effort (mine had been toned way down already) and have been subbing in "Smurf" when we want to cuss. The funniest was when I decided to sing "Shoop"...but with the word "Smurf" instead of any words I didn't think I'd want Baby Girl to say. :)
And lastly...there's still a good amount of sickness going on in our house. I started feeling congested last weekend and Baby Girl did, too. I thought maybe mine was allergies, but by the middle of the week, it was apparent that I was getting a cold and so was she. The worst day for me was Thursday, I think. My head was just cloudy and it hurt. I took a good nap that day and ended up staying home from work on Friday. Baby Girl was still in great spirits, so she went to the sitter's. By Saturday, mine developed into a cough, but the baby's head seemed to be drying up, so I was hoping the worst was over for her. My cough got a bit worse on Sunday but she still seemed to be feeling okay. But it seems someone turned on the faucets today...Baby Girl has snot EVERYWHERE and is coughing some. *sigh* I don't know why she suddenly got worse, but I'm a bit nervous and am not sure whether to send her to the sitter's tomorrow. She's still acting fine and so far as been sleeping okay. We'll see what tomorrow brings.
So that was our weekend. It was nice. We went to see my best college friend and her family on Saturday (she lives in Wisconsin) and then the ILs came down today for a cookout. It was relaxing and enjoyable. We got the invitations out for The Party on Saturday. Now I just don't want to go back to work tomorrow...
First of all, I didn't have a real teenager in my house. But my daughter was eating like one! She couldn't be satisfied and just ate like there was no bottom to her stomach. Peas, green beans, corn, cheerios, applesauce...anything we put on her tray she devoured and still wanted more! She even got fussy for the first time in a VERY long time because she was hungry. We're hoping this means a growth spurt is on the horizon, especially since she didn't grow even a quarter of an inch in two months.
Smurfs. You know, those little blue guys? You know how, when they talk, they substitute the word "Smurf" in place of other words? Well, The Hubby is finally on board with trying to tone down his potty mouth, so we've both been making a concerted effort (mine had been toned way down already) and have been subbing in "Smurf" when we want to cuss. The funniest was when I decided to sing "Shoop"...but with the word "Smurf" instead of any words I didn't think I'd want Baby Girl to say. :)
And lastly...there's still a good amount of sickness going on in our house. I started feeling congested last weekend and Baby Girl did, too. I thought maybe mine was allergies, but by the middle of the week, it was apparent that I was getting a cold and so was she. The worst day for me was Thursday, I think. My head was just cloudy and it hurt. I took a good nap that day and ended up staying home from work on Friday. Baby Girl was still in great spirits, so she went to the sitter's. By Saturday, mine developed into a cough, but the baby's head seemed to be drying up, so I was hoping the worst was over for her. My cough got a bit worse on Sunday but she still seemed to be feeling okay. But it seems someone turned on the faucets today...Baby Girl has snot EVERYWHERE and is coughing some. *sigh* I don't know why she suddenly got worse, but I'm a bit nervous and am not sure whether to send her to the sitter's tomorrow. She's still acting fine and so far as been sleeping okay. We'll see what tomorrow brings.
So that was our weekend. It was nice. We went to see my best college friend and her family on Saturday (she lives in Wisconsin) and then the ILs came down today for a cookout. It was relaxing and enjoyable. We got the invitations out for The Party on Saturday. Now I just don't want to go back to work tomorrow...
Sunday, July 4, 2010
It's Official!!!
I'm calling it now. Baby Girl is a walker. It's been 3 weeks 1 day since she took her first unassisted steps and she's been practicing toddling off and on since then. She'd take up to 8 unassisted steps, but it would take a LOT of coaxing. Today, however, we'll just plop her down on her feet (or not--she's also mastering standing up without pulling up on anything...a skill Mommy has apparently lost along the way) and she'll walk over to where she wants to go--Daddy, a toy, a book, the VCR, the piano...
We first realized that she was a walker about 2:45 this afternoon when I put her down on her feet from my lap and she immediately walked over to her Daddy without any prompting and also without shuffling (she'd been taking a step sideways, then bringing her other foot to it). Just like she'd been doing it forever.
Look out, world...next thing you know, we'll have a runner!
We first realized that she was a walker about 2:45 this afternoon when I put her down on her feet from my lap and she immediately walked over to her Daddy without any prompting and also without shuffling (she'd been taking a step sideways, then bringing her other foot to it). Just like she'd been doing it forever.
Look out, world...next thing you know, we'll have a runner!
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Thrifty Thursday: You Don't Have to Use a Coupon
It's true! You do NOT have to use a coupon.
You could very well be thinking "duh", but I wanted to make this point very clear. You do NOT need to use a coupon for items that you could have a coupon for (most of you time you won't have coupons for meat, milk, or produce...although they do come around every once in awhile!).
All of us have things for which we're brand-loyal. For those, make sure you're always seeking out the coupons for that brand. But re-evaluate every once in awhile. Give the generic or the other brand a shot if it'll be cheaper. If you still don't like it, that's fine.
But for things that you're not brand-loyal to, check the unit price on everything. Take your coupons with you, so you're prepared, but it is absolutely okay to buy the generic (or cheaper brand name) if it's still cheaper than the brand you have a coupon for. I see way too many people in the store, for instance, buying something for $3 after coupon when they could get it for $2 without a coupon if they just bought a different brand.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Eleven Months Old!
This is the last monthly update that I'll be able to write before Baby Girl is ONE YEAR OLD. Excuse me while I go puke.
Baby Girl, this past month you've made a lot of progress (much to Mommy's dismay at times) at becoming a Little Girl, rather than a baby. You've stopped fearing that Mommy would make you go to sleep if she put you on her shoulder and started giving the sweetest, longest hugs and cuddles. You wrap your little arm around Mommy's neck for a minute or so (which is NEVER long enough for Mommy) and I could just melt.
You've become so VERY vocal. You love to tell us stories and it amazes us how many consonant and vowel combinations you use! We can't wait until we know what's coming out of that sweet little mouth (unless you're cussing us out...which is possible sometimes!).
You also took your very first steps! You continue to take a few steps at a time, but just don't have the confidence to let go and take more. You can do it, Baby Girl! You have the balance and the strength--just do it! You love to drive around your push toy (a pink car) and also the push toy at the sitter's (a Pooh with wheels), but haven't figured out the steering just yet. You'll get there soon, but won't need to once you start walking!
This month you've tried lots of different foods. Your standard dinners are still the same--vegetable (typically peas because you can feed them to yourself) and a fruit (applesauce, pears, or peaches, typically)--but you're trying lots of Mommy and Daddy's food. You've had little bites of chicken, ground beef, chicken pot pie, salsa, hummus, and you love black beans! I just hope you'll always be this adventurous with your food. Your favorite remains Cheerios, though. Your little body just shudders with excitement when you see the little bowl of them!
You're still our happy little lady. You smile from the top of your head all the way down to your toes when you're happy. We love that we can tell you're smiling even if you're looking in the opposite direction. You're quick with a smile, even if you've just taken a bit of a tumble (which is happening more and more as you become more adventurous).
You've also become quite the little climber. You love to climb into kiddie chairs and stand in them and like to try to climb on top of tubs and under tables. We know you're just exploring, but it makes Mommy and Daddy really nervous!
As of your doctor's appointment last week (your follow-up from your ear infection--your first one!), you were 19 lbs 8 oz (with clothes and diaper on) and 27 1/4 inches tall. You haven't grown even a quarter of an inch since your 9 month appointment, but Daddy and I are expecting a good amount of growth before your one year (!) appointment next month since you were eating like crazy over the last 4 days, then slept really well last night.
You've got three teeth, with number four just wanting to come through and join the party. Your bottom front two are pretty much all the way in and your top left is about halfway in (or less). That upper right tooth has dropped down about as far as the upper left, but the gum is still covering it and is bright white. It doesn't look comfortable, but like so many other things, your spirits have remained high and you're taking it all in stride. We haven't noticed you being in pain, even though you're chewing like crazy on everything (including Mommy...ouch!).
This month you've learned so much! You were hanging out with your Grandma and Grandpa B. and danced with them and also did the Itsy Bitsy Spider with Grandma. You amaze us with how quickly you learn things! We can see your mind moving quickly, trying to grasp ideas. You can now find objects that we hide behind us or inside a tub and are figuring out how to turn things on and open and close things. You climb into cupboards just to see what's inside and cruise around the dining room table, just to see all sides of it or to play peek-a-boo (your FAVORITE game!). I have loved watching you learn this month (and every month!).
Even though we still aren't sleeping real well (still waking at least once a night), we are loving spending time with you, Baby Girl. You're fun, funny, happy, curious, explorative, adventurous, and just plain busy! I can't wait to see what the next month brings. It's always something new and exciting with you!
Baby Girl, this past month you've made a lot of progress (much to Mommy's dismay at times) at becoming a Little Girl, rather than a baby. You've stopped fearing that Mommy would make you go to sleep if she put you on her shoulder and started giving the sweetest, longest hugs and cuddles. You wrap your little arm around Mommy's neck for a minute or so (which is NEVER long enough for Mommy) and I could just melt.
You've become so VERY vocal. You love to tell us stories and it amazes us how many consonant and vowel combinations you use! We can't wait until we know what's coming out of that sweet little mouth (unless you're cussing us out...which is possible sometimes!).
You also took your very first steps! You continue to take a few steps at a time, but just don't have the confidence to let go and take more. You can do it, Baby Girl! You have the balance and the strength--just do it! You love to drive around your push toy (a pink car) and also the push toy at the sitter's (a Pooh with wheels), but haven't figured out the steering just yet. You'll get there soon, but won't need to once you start walking!
This month you've tried lots of different foods. Your standard dinners are still the same--vegetable (typically peas because you can feed them to yourself) and a fruit (applesauce, pears, or peaches, typically)--but you're trying lots of Mommy and Daddy's food. You've had little bites of chicken, ground beef, chicken pot pie, salsa, hummus, and you love black beans! I just hope you'll always be this adventurous with your food. Your favorite remains Cheerios, though. Your little body just shudders with excitement when you see the little bowl of them!
You're still our happy little lady. You smile from the top of your head all the way down to your toes when you're happy. We love that we can tell you're smiling even if you're looking in the opposite direction. You're quick with a smile, even if you've just taken a bit of a tumble (which is happening more and more as you become more adventurous).
You've also become quite the little climber. You love to climb into kiddie chairs and stand in them and like to try to climb on top of tubs and under tables. We know you're just exploring, but it makes Mommy and Daddy really nervous!
As of your doctor's appointment last week (your follow-up from your ear infection--your first one!), you were 19 lbs 8 oz (with clothes and diaper on) and 27 1/4 inches tall. You haven't grown even a quarter of an inch since your 9 month appointment, but Daddy and I are expecting a good amount of growth before your one year (!) appointment next month since you were eating like crazy over the last 4 days, then slept really well last night.
You've got three teeth, with number four just wanting to come through and join the party. Your bottom front two are pretty much all the way in and your top left is about halfway in (or less). That upper right tooth has dropped down about as far as the upper left, but the gum is still covering it and is bright white. It doesn't look comfortable, but like so many other things, your spirits have remained high and you're taking it all in stride. We haven't noticed you being in pain, even though you're chewing like crazy on everything (including Mommy...ouch!).
This month you've learned so much! You were hanging out with your Grandma and Grandpa B. and danced with them and also did the Itsy Bitsy Spider with Grandma. You amaze us with how quickly you learn things! We can see your mind moving quickly, trying to grasp ideas. You can now find objects that we hide behind us or inside a tub and are figuring out how to turn things on and open and close things. You climb into cupboards just to see what's inside and cruise around the dining room table, just to see all sides of it or to play peek-a-boo (your FAVORITE game!). I have loved watching you learn this month (and every month!).
Even though we still aren't sleeping real well (still waking at least once a night), we are loving spending time with you, Baby Girl. You're fun, funny, happy, curious, explorative, adventurous, and just plain busy! I can't wait to see what the next month brings. It's always something new and exciting with you!
Monday, June 28, 2010
Keeps getting more interesting...
Nursing a teeny baby isn't particularly easy, especially with trying to get them positioned just right with all their floppiness. But I'm starting to think that that was pretty easy compared to nursing a mobile, busy, almost-11-month old...
Baby Girl will lay in cradle hold for a couple of minutes, but then she gets all squirmy. She starts shifting and rolling (all while still latched...eek!) and most of the time ends up standing in my lap, bent over. Yes, folks, my baby nurses standing up. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine we'd be at this point 11 months ago. Sometimes I'll let her lay vertical and I'll just lay the recliner back, as this is easier on me and seem to appease her.
This all may sound painful, but it's actually really funny. The funniest part is when she sits up to see what's going on around her, then, once she's satisfied that she isn't missing anything, dive-bombs me again to go on to nurse for a few more minutes. It's pretty comical. It definitely gets frustrating, as we could be done if she would just eat until she's full, but I try to take it all in stride and just enjoy the time we get together, especially since I don't nurse her as often during the week.
Baby Girl will lay in cradle hold for a couple of minutes, but then she gets all squirmy. She starts shifting and rolling (all while still latched...eek!) and most of the time ends up standing in my lap, bent over. Yes, folks, my baby nurses standing up. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine we'd be at this point 11 months ago. Sometimes I'll let her lay vertical and I'll just lay the recliner back, as this is easier on me and seem to appease her.
This all may sound painful, but it's actually really funny. The funniest part is when she sits up to see what's going on around her, then, once she's satisfied that she isn't missing anything, dive-bombs me again to go on to nurse for a few more minutes. It's pretty comical. It definitely gets frustrating, as we could be done if she would just eat until she's full, but I try to take it all in stride and just enjoy the time we get together, especially since I don't nurse her as often during the week.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Meal Plan - 6/26-7/2
Really, July? Ugh. July is the month my kid turns one....where the heck did the year go???
Sunday: Pot Roast, red potatoes, & carrots in the crock pot
Monday: Stir Fry
Tuesday: Chicken Pot Pie (using leftover chicken from last week)
Wednesday: BBQ Chicken Braid (using leftover chicken from last week)
Thursday: Turkey Burgers
Friday: Tacos
Saturday (if we're home): Buffalo Chicken Lasagna (we've planned on it for the last few weeks, but it hasn't happened b/c it doesn't make a good weeknight dinner for us)
Sunday: Pot Roast, red potatoes, & carrots in the crock pot
Monday: Stir Fry
Tuesday: Chicken Pot Pie (using leftover chicken from last week)
Wednesday: BBQ Chicken Braid (using leftover chicken from last week)
Thursday: Turkey Burgers
Friday: Tacos
Saturday (if we're home): Buffalo Chicken Lasagna (we've planned on it for the last few weeks, but it hasn't happened b/c it doesn't make a good weeknight dinner for us)
Friday, June 25, 2010
Happy Anniversary?
Yesterday The Hubby and I celebrated the fourth anniversary of our wedding. Well, "celebrated" is being a bit generous... He told me "Happy Anniversary" when we woke up and we had BW3 for dinner because we didn't have meat thawed to cook at home. He did come home from work early, though, without telling me, and cleaned up some of our first floor. It had gotten overwhelmingly bad, so it was really nice to come home and know that it's now in a manageable state. Who would've thought that that would be the best anniversary present I could ask for?
To be fair, we're planning on going to see Wicked when it comes to town in August and will probably do a nice dinner when we do that. My mom has also been telling us that she'll watch Baby Girl if we want to go out, either on our anniversary (obviously didn't happen) or this weekend. We'll see. It would be nice to go out, but I just find myself missing my girl so much that I don't know if I'd enjoy it fully.
I look at the pictures from our wedding day (about 15 pounds heavier than now, but that's 235+20-70+50-15...lol) and remember what a beautiful, happy day it was. We had a great time and I think our guests did, too. I was on the dance floor so much that day that I didn't actually see many of our guests and didn't spend much time with my own husband!
And then I look at the pictures of Baby Girl. Our baby, born out of the love that we have for each other. So perfect. I couldn't have a better confirmation that I made the right decision when I married my best friend four years ago.
To be fair, we're planning on going to see Wicked when it comes to town in August and will probably do a nice dinner when we do that. My mom has also been telling us that she'll watch Baby Girl if we want to go out, either on our anniversary (obviously didn't happen) or this weekend. We'll see. It would be nice to go out, but I just find myself missing my girl so much that I don't know if I'd enjoy it fully.
I look at the pictures from our wedding day (about 15 pounds heavier than now, but that's 235+20-70+50-15...lol) and remember what a beautiful, happy day it was. We had a great time and I think our guests did, too. I was on the dance floor so much that day that I didn't actually see many of our guests and didn't spend much time with my own husband!
And then I look at the pictures of Baby Girl. Our baby, born out of the love that we have for each other. So perfect. I couldn't have a better confirmation that I made the right decision when I married my best friend four years ago.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Thrifty Thursday: Shop Holiday Sales
Sorry for the hiatus, folks...I wasn't in the best place to post last week, but I'm back today!
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Think holiday sales are only for electronics, clothes, furniture, etc.? You'd be wrong! With the Fourth of July coming up, I wanted to make sure to get this post out!
Think about what foods you typically eat during holidays. Ham for Easter. Turkey, stuffing, rolls for Thanksgiving. Burgers, corn on the cob, hot dogs (plus all the fixings) for Memorial Day and the Fourth of July.
One of the things I stock up on the most around Memorial Day or July 4th is pop. I know a lot of people avoid drinking pop, but not in our house! The Hubby is a big pop-drinker, although I have gotten him to switch from regular Coke to Coke Zero, so at least he isn't drinking those empty calories. Coke just doesn't go on sale that often, but leading up to Memorial Day and July 4th there are typically quite a few sales. I know at Memorial Day Walmart had Coke and Pepsi 24-packs for $4 apiece. My stock-up price for pop is $2 per 12-pack, so it was time to stock up! Our garage has about 8 24-packs of Coke products in it right now.
Remember that freezer, too. If hamburger is on sale, buy a bunch and freeze it. Same with hot dogs, cheese, ham, and other meats. Many condiments are shelf-stable for awhile, so look for coupons and stock up when things get really cheap. There was a point that I had four bottles of mustard in my cupboard...and I don't even like the stuff. But when it goes on sale for $1 and you have a $0.50 coupon that doubles...you buy it!
I actually found this link that shows you the best time of year to buy anything, both food and non-food. I'd seen it before and found it really useful.
I have all sorts of topics ready to discuss, but if you think of anything you want tips on, please feel free to let me know!
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Think about what foods you typically eat during holidays. Ham for Easter. Turkey, stuffing, rolls for Thanksgiving. Burgers, corn on the cob, hot dogs (plus all the fixings) for Memorial Day and the Fourth of July.
One of the things I stock up on the most around Memorial Day or July 4th is pop. I know a lot of people avoid drinking pop, but not in our house! The Hubby is a big pop-drinker, although I have gotten him to switch from regular Coke to Coke Zero, so at least he isn't drinking those empty calories. Coke just doesn't go on sale that often, but leading up to Memorial Day and July 4th there are typically quite a few sales. I know at Memorial Day Walmart had Coke and Pepsi 24-packs for $4 apiece. My stock-up price for pop is $2 per 12-pack, so it was time to stock up! Our garage has about 8 24-packs of Coke products in it right now.
Remember that freezer, too. If hamburger is on sale, buy a bunch and freeze it. Same with hot dogs, cheese, ham, and other meats. Many condiments are shelf-stable for awhile, so look for coupons and stock up when things get really cheap. There was a point that I had four bottles of mustard in my cupboard...and I don't even like the stuff. But when it goes on sale for $1 and you have a $0.50 coupon that doubles...you buy it!
I actually found this link that shows you the best time of year to buy anything, both food and non-food. I'd seen it before and found it really useful.
I have all sorts of topics ready to discuss, but if you think of anything you want tips on, please feel free to let me know!
Friday, June 18, 2010
Teaching moment
I taught my daughter something that I think I'm going to regret tonight.
I had just finished nursing her and she still sat on my lap. I was putting myself away, pulled my shirt down, and she looked at me with that little questioning look. I said, "Where'd mommy's bo.obies go?"
And then she grabbed my shirt tail and pulled it up.
I know, you're already laughing. But it gets worse. I cracked up. Loudly. So she started giggling. And lifted up my shirt again.
And again.
And again.
And then, before I knew what I was doing, we were playing peekaboo with mommy's bo.obies.
I had just finished nursing her and she still sat on my lap. I was putting myself away, pulled my shirt down, and she looked at me with that little questioning look. I said, "Where'd mommy's bo.obies go?"
And then she grabbed my shirt tail and pulled it up.
I know, you're already laughing. But it gets worse. I cracked up. Loudly. So she started giggling. And lifted up my shirt again.
And again.
And again.
And then, before I knew what I was doing, we were playing peekaboo with mommy's bo.obies.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
My Realization
This morning, after a very, very long night, I came to a horrible, painful realization that I have yet to share with anyone.
I want my daughter to wake up at night.
I know. I KNOW. How insane am I???
Baby Girl was up last night at 10:30, 11:30, 12:30, and 3:30 (I think...based off of conversation with The Hubby...neither of us has a real clear view of what happened last night). At 10:30, The Hubby got her back to sleep. At 11:30, he tried again, but came into our bedroom and essentially threw her at me. I was upset. She crawled around, whined, fussed, and he covered his head with his pillow. I thought about holding it over his mouth, but decided it would be easier to just deal with the baby.
I took her into her bedroom and rocked. And rocked. And she'd fall asleep, then wake up as soon as I started to put her into her crib. I let her cry for a couple of minutes while I found her seahorse. I had actually discovered about a week ago that she loves that thing and isn't distracted by it anymore. I turned on the music (left the seahorse in her crib) and sat and rocked and she settled down. Just as I was putting her back in her crib, the seahorse turned off and she got up on her hip and looked at me. Damn. I turned on the seahorse and she immediately laid down and went to sleep. Whew. I went back to bed and sat and listened for about 5 minutes until the seahorse turned off to see if she'd wake up. She didn't. At that point.
An hour later (an hour after she'd woken previously, that is), though, she was awake again (I think this part happened...surely I couldn't have dreamed it, right???). She was yelling and screaming from her crib. I just listened. I couldn't do it again. And The Hubby didn't move. He's usually the one to get her, but he wasn't moving. So I laid there, staring at the TV. She'd stop crying, notice that she didn't hear noise outside her door, and start screaming again. I think she cried for between 5 and 10 minutes and then it stopped. Yes, I was scared that something had happened, but was so exhausted that I just assumed she had fallen asleep and I went to sleep myself.
At 3:30 she was up again. At this point, I fed her. The typical rule we try to follow is that if she's up before 1:00, she doesn't get fed because there's no way she's hungry. If she wakes up after that, I'll feed her and she'll typically fall asleep nursing and then go back to her bed. It works for us and that's just what happened last night. She slept for the rest of the night.
So on the way into work this morning The Hubby and I were discussing the fact that I let her cry until she fell asleep. He didn't even remember it. So then we were trying to decide if we need to do that every time she gets up.
That's when it happened.
I realized that I didn't want to cut out all of her nighttime wakings.
There was a time when she was waking one time around 2 or 2:30, eating, and sleeping the rest of the night. And I liked that. I could spend a little time with her, snuggle, she could eat, thereby helping my milk supply, and she'd go back to bed. I was okay with it and could keep doing that for awhile.
But I can't keep doing this. I can't keep dealing with her waking FOUR times in a night. And The Hubby is probably right--if we go get her some of the time (after the designated time), she won't understand and that probably won't keep her from waking up fully the other times. So it seems it's all or nothing and it's time to make a decision.
I'm sad. And scared. I don't want to negatively effect my already waning milk supply by her not eating overnight. I don't want to miss out on my snuggle time, especially since I spend about 3 hours with her on weekdays, with an hour of that being in the car and another hour (almost) being feeding her. I don't want her to stop needing her mommy in the middle of the night.
How sick and twisted is that? If she sleeps, we all sleep. And we'll all be better people when we wake up in the morning. And she might (!!!) even stay up longer in the evenings and nap better during the day. I know it's a normal part of life, to be able to sleep through the night, but I don't know if I'm ready to let go.
I want my daughter to wake up at night.
I know. I KNOW. How insane am I???
Baby Girl was up last night at 10:30, 11:30, 12:30, and 3:30 (I think...based off of conversation with The Hubby...neither of us has a real clear view of what happened last night). At 10:30, The Hubby got her back to sleep. At 11:30, he tried again, but came into our bedroom and essentially threw her at me. I was upset. She crawled around, whined, fussed, and he covered his head with his pillow. I thought about holding it over his mouth, but decided it would be easier to just deal with the baby.
I took her into her bedroom and rocked. And rocked. And she'd fall asleep, then wake up as soon as I started to put her into her crib. I let her cry for a couple of minutes while I found her seahorse. I had actually discovered about a week ago that she loves that thing and isn't distracted by it anymore. I turned on the music (left the seahorse in her crib) and sat and rocked and she settled down. Just as I was putting her back in her crib, the seahorse turned off and she got up on her hip and looked at me. Damn. I turned on the seahorse and she immediately laid down and went to sleep. Whew. I went back to bed and sat and listened for about 5 minutes until the seahorse turned off to see if she'd wake up. She didn't. At that point.
An hour later (an hour after she'd woken previously, that is), though, she was awake again (I think this part happened...surely I couldn't have dreamed it, right???). She was yelling and screaming from her crib. I just listened. I couldn't do it again. And The Hubby didn't move. He's usually the one to get her, but he wasn't moving. So I laid there, staring at the TV. She'd stop crying, notice that she didn't hear noise outside her door, and start screaming again. I think she cried for between 5 and 10 minutes and then it stopped. Yes, I was scared that something had happened, but was so exhausted that I just assumed she had fallen asleep and I went to sleep myself.
At 3:30 she was up again. At this point, I fed her. The typical rule we try to follow is that if she's up before 1:00, she doesn't get fed because there's no way she's hungry. If she wakes up after that, I'll feed her and she'll typically fall asleep nursing and then go back to her bed. It works for us and that's just what happened last night. She slept for the rest of the night.
So on the way into work this morning The Hubby and I were discussing the fact that I let her cry until she fell asleep. He didn't even remember it. So then we were trying to decide if we need to do that every time she gets up.
That's when it happened.
I realized that I didn't want to cut out all of her nighttime wakings.
There was a time when she was waking one time around 2 or 2:30, eating, and sleeping the rest of the night. And I liked that. I could spend a little time with her, snuggle, she could eat, thereby helping my milk supply, and she'd go back to bed. I was okay with it and could keep doing that for awhile.
But I can't keep doing this. I can't keep dealing with her waking FOUR times in a night. And The Hubby is probably right--if we go get her some of the time (after the designated time), she won't understand and that probably won't keep her from waking up fully the other times. So it seems it's all or nothing and it's time to make a decision.
I'm sad. And scared. I don't want to negatively effect my already waning milk supply by her not eating overnight. I don't want to miss out on my snuggle time, especially since I spend about 3 hours with her on weekdays, with an hour of that being in the car and another hour (almost) being feeding her. I don't want her to stop needing her mommy in the middle of the night.
How sick and twisted is that? If she sleeps, we all sleep. And we'll all be better people when we wake up in the morning. And she might (!!!) even stay up longer in the evenings and nap better during the day. I know it's a normal part of life, to be able to sleep through the night, but I don't know if I'm ready to let go.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Down
The post title refers to a few things in my life right now.
1) My weight. From last week to think week, I've lost 1.6 pounds. Woohoo! I'm right around the lowest I've been since having Baby Girl. After the first few days I've gotten used to eating less, too, and am not all that hungry.
2) My milk supply. I'm going to blame it on my impending period (yes, I said impending...she shot off a warning signal on Friday and I've been spotting ever since), but if AF doesn't show by this Friday, then I'm going to blame it on the calorie reduction and will probably go back to eating junk like before.
3) The numbers of hours of sleep we're getting a night. Baby Girl was doing really well (didn't want to jinx it by blogging about it) and waking once a night, eating, then going back to bed. We've been struggling recently, though, with the worst in awhile being last night. We woke at 10:30 and The Hubby was able to get her back to sleep. She woke again at 11:30, screaming her blasted head off. It wasn't pretty. I was determined not to feed her, as I had just finished pumping around 9:45 and knew I wouldn't have much supply for her and didn't want to piss her off more. But after about 45 minutes, I caved. I had tried rocking, hugging, talking...everything I had up my sleeve. She'd doze off, then wake up screaming again, tears streaming down that beautiful little face. So I nursed her and she eventually (after a LONG time...like 45 minutes of nursing???) fell asleep. I thought, great, this means she'll sleep for awhile. Not so much--she was back up at 3:30. She was, once again, really upset. I don't know if it was b/c she'd gotten overtired from not napping (even though she went to bed before 6:30) or if her teeth were bothering her or if she was truly hungry because I was producing *that* little milk...but she was pissed. So I gave her some Tylenol and nursed her and she fell asleep. She slept until morning and woke up happy. Who knows. But I'm dragging ass today.
4) My mood. Might be partially because of the lack of sleep, but I'm also just getting really bogged down with everything recently. Baby Girl is really getting grabby (in a mean way--pulling hair HARD, scratching our faces, pulling our noses and lips...she's always done it, but as she gets bigger, she's getting stronger) and is making our interactions not nearly as fun. Work has been pretty overwhelming. The Hubby just isn't helping in ways that I want. I want to go out with friends, but want to spend time with my daughter in the little bit of time I get each day and don't know how to balance that because what if, God forbid, something were to happen and I didn't spend every second with her that I could have? Of course I can't live that way all the time, but it's the thought I've had a lot recently. I won't regret spending time with my baby, but if I take time for myself away from her, I just might regret that. So yeah, things are weighing heavily on my head and heart recently. And I need to plan her party still and it's bugging me that The Hubby isn't giving me any feedback about our guest list. I know it doesn't matter as much to him as it does to me, but, damnit, it should!
So yeah, there it is. I'm down...in one good way and in three bad. Eh, 25% isn't so bad, right?
1) My weight. From last week to think week, I've lost 1.6 pounds. Woohoo! I'm right around the lowest I've been since having Baby Girl. After the first few days I've gotten used to eating less, too, and am not all that hungry.
2) My milk supply. I'm going to blame it on my impending period (yes, I said impending...she shot off a warning signal on Friday and I've been spotting ever since), but if AF doesn't show by this Friday, then I'm going to blame it on the calorie reduction and will probably go back to eating junk like before.
3) The numbers of hours of sleep we're getting a night. Baby Girl was doing really well (didn't want to jinx it by blogging about it) and waking once a night, eating, then going back to bed. We've been struggling recently, though, with the worst in awhile being last night. We woke at 10:30 and The Hubby was able to get her back to sleep. She woke again at 11:30, screaming her blasted head off. It wasn't pretty. I was determined not to feed her, as I had just finished pumping around 9:45 and knew I wouldn't have much supply for her and didn't want to piss her off more. But after about 45 minutes, I caved. I had tried rocking, hugging, talking...everything I had up my sleeve. She'd doze off, then wake up screaming again, tears streaming down that beautiful little face. So I nursed her and she eventually (after a LONG time...like 45 minutes of nursing???) fell asleep. I thought, great, this means she'll sleep for awhile. Not so much--she was back up at 3:30. She was, once again, really upset. I don't know if it was b/c she'd gotten overtired from not napping (even though she went to bed before 6:30) or if her teeth were bothering her or if she was truly hungry because I was producing *that* little milk...but she was pissed. So I gave her some Tylenol and nursed her and she fell asleep. She slept until morning and woke up happy. Who knows. But I'm dragging ass today.
4) My mood. Might be partially because of the lack of sleep, but I'm also just getting really bogged down with everything recently. Baby Girl is really getting grabby (in a mean way--pulling hair HARD, scratching our faces, pulling our noses and lips...she's always done it, but as she gets bigger, she's getting stronger) and is making our interactions not nearly as fun. Work has been pretty overwhelming. The Hubby just isn't helping in ways that I want. I want to go out with friends, but want to spend time with my daughter in the little bit of time I get each day and don't know how to balance that because what if, God forbid, something were to happen and I didn't spend every second with her that I could have? Of course I can't live that way all the time, but it's the thought I've had a lot recently. I won't regret spending time with my baby, but if I take time for myself away from her, I just might regret that. So yeah, things are weighing heavily on my head and heart recently. And I need to plan her party still and it's bugging me that The Hubby isn't giving me any feedback about our guest list. I know it doesn't matter as much to him as it does to me, but, damnit, it should!
So yeah, there it is. I'm down...in one good way and in three bad. Eh, 25% isn't so bad, right?
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Meal Plan 6/13-6/19
Sunday: Quiche (based very loosely on the recipe linked--I didn't use any cheese and had some turkey bacon with some leftover veggies. This is a great way to use up some extra cooked veggies!)
Monday: Steak Fajitas
Tuesday: Sesame Ginger Lettuce Wraps (I think I try something from Cassie's blog every week!)
Wednesday: Chicken Stir Fry
Thursday: Turkey Burgers & red potatoes (if the potatoes are still good) & corn on the cob
Friday: Either Pasta & Meatballs or Buffalo Chicken Lasagna (never made it last week and all the ingredients are either canned or frozen)
Saturday: I actually bought stuff for 7 meals this week, but just remembered that we'll be visiting with some high school friends and going out to dinner with them, but I won't be cooking on Saturday.
Monday: Steak Fajitas
Tuesday: Sesame Ginger Lettuce Wraps (I think I try something from Cassie's blog every week!)
Wednesday: Chicken Stir Fry
Thursday: Turkey Burgers & red potatoes (if the potatoes are still good) & corn on the cob
Friday: Either Pasta & Meatballs or Buffalo Chicken Lasagna (never made it last week and all the ingredients are either canned or frozen)
Saturday: I actually bought stuff for 7 meals this week, but just remembered that we'll be visiting with some high school friends and going out to dinner with them, but I won't be cooking on Saturday.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Big Day!!!!
Small news for today...I spy tooth number THREE! It's the upper left tooth and has completely broken through with no swelling or anything. She slept like junk last night, so I guess that could be why. She wasn't upset, though, just tossing and turning a lot and not sleeping well.
But the BIG news is...
Baby Girl took unassisted steps!
She's been strong enough and had the balance for it for awhile, but she hasn't been brave enough. We kept thinking that the key would be to get a running start at it--get her walking, then let go and see her continue. But that wasn't the case at all. She took those first 3 steps while standing by herself. The Hubby stood her up facing a friend of ours and when he held out his hands, she took three steps toward him until he snatched her up! She then did it multiple times later--always starting from standing by herself. She even took four steps to me earlier this evening--I just stood her up facing me and held out my hands and she took four tentative steps until she could tumble into my arms.
The task for tomorrow, though, is to capture it on film...let's see if she cooperates!
But the BIG news is...
Baby Girl took unassisted steps!
She's been strong enough and had the balance for it for awhile, but she hasn't been brave enough. We kept thinking that the key would be to get a running start at it--get her walking, then let go and see her continue. But that wasn't the case at all. She took those first 3 steps while standing by herself. The Hubby stood her up facing a friend of ours and when he held out his hands, she took three steps toward him until he snatched her up! She then did it multiple times later--always starting from standing by herself. She even took four steps to me earlier this evening--I just stood her up facing me and held out my hands and she took four tentative steps until she could tumble into my arms.
The task for tomorrow, though, is to capture it on film...let's see if she cooperates!
Friday, June 11, 2010
The Bitch is Back
I hadn't seen her since late October 2008. But on 9:45 a.m. on June 11, 2010, she has taken back her place in my life. Yes, my friends, the horrible Aunt Flo is back.
Shit.
Shit.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Thrifty Thursday: Shop Around
I hope you all are enjoying Thrifty Thursdays. I'm loving discussing something I'm passionate about--saving money!
Today I want to talk about another way to save on your grocery shopping--shopping around. There are different degrees of this and it's up to you how much you want to do.
When I'm planning my meals for the week, I go online and get the sales insert for the three stores that I typically consider for grocery shopping--Kroger, Giant Eagle, and Meijer. I've done shopping at Walmart before, but typically assume the prices will be good there and don't shop according to the sale--gasp! I then look at the produce and meat sales and see if there's anything that jumps off the page. If there aren't any fantastic deals, I'll default to Kroger because it's close and easy to get into and out of. If there are great deals at one of the stores, though, a decision must be made. Is it worth going to that store just to get that one thing? Or if I'm going to go to, for instance, Giant Eagle for chicken breast, should I just plan my whole shopping trip there? Honestly, it depends on the week which one I choose. If it's a busy Sunday (and which ones aren't these days??) and I just want to make a quick trip, I'll go do all the shopping at one store. If I have an evening that I will have extra time, I'll go do the rest of my shopping at one store, then get the chicken at Giant Eagle.
I have friends, though, that will always shop at 2-4 stores per week. No matter how much money I want/need to save, I just don't have the time for it most weeks (but I can't say I've never done it!). It's totally a personal decision. You can save a lot of money by shopping at different stores--it's a balance of opporunity costs (the loss of time) and financial costs. (Wow, I did learn something in Econ 200!)
All that said, be flexible about what store you do your grocery (and, really, any!) shopping at. Shop the sales and be prepared to go to the store that has the best sales for that week.
Next week: Coupon Match-ups (it's much easier than you think!)
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Victories
Two victories I've wanted to post about:
1) Baby Girl finally had her second tooth (both bottom middle) break through yesterday! Woohoo!
2) My freezer stash (frozen milk) has eclipsed 250 ounces! When I think about it, that would only meet her needs for about a week or a little over if my milk suddenly completely dried up, but I try not to think about that. It's a great number, especially since I froze VERY little in the beginning.
1) Baby Girl finally had her second tooth (both bottom middle) break through yesterday! Woohoo!
2) My freezer stash (frozen milk) has eclipsed 250 ounces! When I think about it, that would only meet her needs for about a week or a little over if my milk suddenly completely dried up, but I try not to think about that. It's a great number, especially since I froze VERY little in the beginning.
Healthy Food Ideas
Now that I'm back on the healthy eating wagon, I've been re-engineering the things that I eat. I wanted to post two good finds that I came across.
Last night I was at Giant Eagle and found Thomas Bagel Thins. The Hubby and I had them this morning and I found them really satisfying. I had a small amount of cream cheese on it and it was a great 2 point breakfast! There are 8 in the package and I think they were only like $3.
For dinner last night I planned a vegetarian quesadilla. The Hubby and I? We're carnivores. So something vegetarian doesn't typically go over real well for either of us and we end up needing to go get a McDonald's cheeseburger or something. But I saw the idea on a blog and thought I'd give it a shot. I had some leftover grilled veggies from the other night that I thought I could use. I sauteed a BUNCH of mushrooms and some onion and wilted some spinach, then threw in the grilled veggies to heat them through. Using these (I think--they were definitely the SoftWraps, which I would change next time), I put one tortilla loaded it with between 1/4 and 1/2 cup 2% cheddar cheese and a pile of veggies, then folded over the tortilla and used my quesadilla maker (hello wedding registry!) to make a tasty quesadilla. I topped it with fat-free sour cream and some salsa and ate it with about 1/2 c. fat free refried beans. What an incredibly tasty dinner for just 6 points! Both The Hubby and I were completely full (of course, he had a two tortilla quesadilla, but whatever...) after this, giving us both a little more faith in vegetarian meals again. We might try this again soon!
What are your favorite sneakily healthy foods? Things that don't feel healthy to you, but are?
Last night I was at Giant Eagle and found Thomas Bagel Thins. The Hubby and I had them this morning and I found them really satisfying. I had a small amount of cream cheese on it and it was a great 2 point breakfast! There are 8 in the package and I think they were only like $3.
For dinner last night I planned a vegetarian quesadilla. The Hubby and I? We're carnivores. So something vegetarian doesn't typically go over real well for either of us and we end up needing to go get a McDonald's cheeseburger or something. But I saw the idea on a blog and thought I'd give it a shot. I had some leftover grilled veggies from the other night that I thought I could use. I sauteed a BUNCH of mushrooms and some onion and wilted some spinach, then threw in the grilled veggies to heat them through. Using these (I think--they were definitely the SoftWraps, which I would change next time), I put one tortilla loaded it with between 1/4 and 1/2 cup 2% cheddar cheese and a pile of veggies, then folded over the tortilla and used my quesadilla maker (hello wedding registry!) to make a tasty quesadilla. I topped it with fat-free sour cream and some salsa and ate it with about 1/2 c. fat free refried beans. What an incredibly tasty dinner for just 6 points! Both The Hubby and I were completely full (of course, he had a two tortilla quesadilla, but whatever...) after this, giving us both a little more faith in vegetarian meals again. We might try this again soon!
What are your favorite sneakily healthy foods? Things that don't feel healthy to you, but are?
Back on the WW Wagon
I know I said about a month ago that I was getting back on the wagon. That was a complete failure.
Yesterday, though, I started counting points again. You know what? It's HARD. I did it for so long that it became second nature, but I'm having a really tough time with it now. I've been eating whatever I want since Thanksgiving 2008 (wow...). Yesterday I went all balls-to-the-wall and had eaten so few points that I needed to have a big piece of cake before bed. But the cake had gone bad. So then I was scrambling to stuff something into my piehole...and found the canister of whipped cream. lol I still didn't meet my points for the day.
But then today I went out to lunch with a friend. I got this wrap that I thought would be pretty healthy...it was 12 points alone. Glad I didn't get any chips!
I have no idea how I used to do this regularly, especially because I was eating a LOT less points per day. With breastfeeding, I'm allotted an extra 5-10 points per day (I can't decide how many...the description for 5 is for if you're supplementing with formula or food and for 10 is just for nursing mamas. For now, I'm allowing myself 7 points b/c I'm still nervous about dropping supply.). That means if I weren't nursing, I'd be having to have even less points per day. Geez.
I just had to do something about this body, though. I can't look in the mirror. I hate the way I feel. I still feel like I look likeshit a mom who doesn't sleep much most days, but at least maybe I'll be a thinner hot mess. We'll see if it works.
(And again with the schedule posting not working??!?!! Ugh!)
Yesterday, though, I started counting points again. You know what? It's HARD. I did it for so long that it became second nature, but I'm having a really tough time with it now. I've been eating whatever I want since Thanksgiving 2008 (wow...). Yesterday I went all balls-to-the-wall and had eaten so few points that I needed to have a big piece of cake before bed. But the cake had gone bad. So then I was scrambling to stuff something into my piehole...and found the canister of whipped cream. lol I still didn't meet my points for the day.
But then today I went out to lunch with a friend. I got this wrap that I thought would be pretty healthy...it was 12 points alone. Glad I didn't get any chips!
I have no idea how I used to do this regularly, especially because I was eating a LOT less points per day. With breastfeeding, I'm allotted an extra 5-10 points per day (I can't decide how many...the description for 5 is for if you're supplementing with formula or food and for 10 is just for nursing mamas. For now, I'm allowing myself 7 points b/c I'm still nervous about dropping supply.). That means if I weren't nursing, I'd be having to have even less points per day. Geez.
I just had to do something about this body, though. I can't look in the mirror. I hate the way I feel. I still feel like I look like
(And again with the schedule posting not working??!?!! Ugh!)
Friday, June 4, 2010
Planning
I'm a planner by nature. I love it. Then why am I so overwhelmed with the planning going on?
I'm talking about Baby Girl's first birthday party. I'm excited to work on the details, but keep getting stuck on the very first task on my list--the guest list.
Ugh.
If we were to invite everyone we want, we could end up with 75 people in our house. Our house is NOT made for 75 people. We're not even sure if our house is made for 30 people.
We'd also end up with 65 people on my list and 10 on The Hubby's. We can't have that.
It's the extended family and the friends that are throwing us off. With The In-Laws, we have five adults and three kids (one 3 year old and 2 almost-four-month-olds). Then there's my parents (I'm an only child). Then we need to also include my mom's cousin, her mom (who is like a grandma to me), my mom's cousin's daughter (who is like my sister), and her kids. If we invite Nan (my great-aunt--mom's cousin's mom...did you get that?), we have to invite my grandma, since she's her sister. If we invite that grandma, we have to invite my other grandma. But my mom doesn't think either grandma will come if they don't have someone to come with (they'll have to drive an hour to get her), so that means we need to invite at least one of my aunts from each side. Well, do we need to open it up to all of my aunts and uncles? My parents are each one of five. Then what about all of my first cousins? And their kids? And if we invite my aunts and uncles, what about The Husband's? His mom is one of five and his dad is one of EIGHT.
You see how it just grows and grows and grows? And that's without talking about friends. We're definitely inviting two couples that we're close to and have been since college. But then I have a group of about 7 or 8 ladies who I'd love to invite--some with kids and some without. Some of them I'm closer to and some I've gotten closer to recently. I want them to come. But if we're cutting the list down, they're the first to go, sadly.
I just want to share this celebration with all the people who have been a part of Baby Girl's life, whether that's people who love her, the people who loved her before she was even conceived, the people who helped get me through those TTC times, or the people who have helped me not kill her. (kidding. mostly.) I know my friends will understand, but they're not the ones I *want* to understand. I mean, I do want them to understand the struggle, but I don't want to have to cut them off the list.
Ugh! How frustrating!!! Any suggestions on how to deal with this? The location of the party is non-negotiable--it will be at our house. We're cheap like that.
(this post didn't post as scheduled...but it's still applicable...I still haven't started any planning!)
I'm talking about Baby Girl's first birthday party. I'm excited to work on the details, but keep getting stuck on the very first task on my list--the guest list.
Ugh.
If we were to invite everyone we want, we could end up with 75 people in our house. Our house is NOT made for 75 people. We're not even sure if our house is made for 30 people.
We'd also end up with 65 people on my list and 10 on The Hubby's. We can't have that.
It's the extended family and the friends that are throwing us off. With The In-Laws, we have five adults and three kids (one 3 year old and 2 almost-four-month-olds). Then there's my parents (I'm an only child). Then we need to also include my mom's cousin, her mom (who is like a grandma to me), my mom's cousin's daughter (who is like my sister), and her kids. If we invite Nan (my great-aunt--mom's cousin's mom...did you get that?), we have to invite my grandma, since she's her sister. If we invite that grandma, we have to invite my other grandma. But my mom doesn't think either grandma will come if they don't have someone to come with (they'll have to drive an hour to get her), so that means we need to invite at least one of my aunts from each side. Well, do we need to open it up to all of my aunts and uncles? My parents are each one of five. Then what about all of my first cousins? And their kids? And if we invite my aunts and uncles, what about The Husband's? His mom is one of five and his dad is one of EIGHT.
You see how it just grows and grows and grows? And that's without talking about friends. We're definitely inviting two couples that we're close to and have been since college. But then I have a group of about 7 or 8 ladies who I'd love to invite--some with kids and some without. Some of them I'm closer to and some I've gotten closer to recently. I want them to come. But if we're cutting the list down, they're the first to go, sadly.
I just want to share this celebration with all the people who have been a part of Baby Girl's life, whether that's people who love her, the people who loved her before she was even conceived, the people who helped get me through those TTC times, or the people who have helped me not kill her. (kidding. mostly.) I know my friends will understand, but they're not the ones I *want* to understand. I mean, I do want them to understand the struggle, but I don't want to have to cut them off the list.
Ugh! How frustrating!!! Any suggestions on how to deal with this? The location of the party is non-negotiable--it will be at our house. We're cheap like that.
(this post didn't post as scheduled...but it's still applicable...I still haven't started any planning!)
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