(un)Happy Halloween!

As to be expected, today was not the happiest day for Nadia. Thankfully there were a few minutes here and there where I managed to get some photos of her (when she wasn't crying, nursing, or sleeping which is mostly what she did all day). It was fun taking my little bumblebee to the grocery store this afternoon. :-) Did any of you guess the right costume? Paul narrowed it down to either pumpkin or bumblebee, and then he let me pick between those two. Yesterday, Nadia received her very first card in the mail. Paul's mom sent her a Halloween card. :-)

Ouch!

Nadia had her four month shots today. She screamed of course and gushed blood again (even got on my shirt). I wish all of them could be given like the rotovirus one (oral suspension). She finally fell asleep at 7pm after crying A LOT. I probably should have gone to bed already so I am going to keep this brief as I've been up since 5:45am and didn't get a lot of sleep last night even though I went to bed at 7:45pm. I am not sure what tonight will be like in terms of sleep for Nadia & I. I really was hoping to sleep in this morning since Thursday is my "day off," but as Paul said she takes after Mommy and is a morning person, LOL. Thankfully I did get her down for two 45 minute naps in her crib this morning. Anyhow to summarize her doctor appt today this doctor disagrees with having her on Zyrtec. Instead she suggested the congestion might be from reflux and said that thickening her diet might solve the problem. She suggested adding rice cereal to her bottles (of breastmilk or formula) and also starting to give her solid foods by spoon as well (first cereal and then fruits and veggies). Nadia is now 24 inches long (two feet!) and hasn't quite hit 13 lbs yet without her clothes on (12lb 8 1/4 ounces). The most shocking thing was that they took her temp rectally and she kept smiling away (whereas when they take it under her arm she screams her head off). Go figure, LOL! For weight she is in the 21st %ile and for length in the 35th %ile which is a huge jump as she was less than 10th %ile for both 2 months ago (unless you use a chart adjusted for her coming almost 4 weeks early). So we will start the rice cereal this weekend. I am not sure about the fruit and veggies. This seems kind of early???

The photos here are from Walmart that I picked up today. The first ones were age 5 weeks at Sears and these were from 2 weeks ago at Walmart. In about a month we plan to get ones of the three of us (and of her by herself) with a Christmas dress on. I hope she smiles for those! I hadn't planned to dress Nadia up for Halloween this year since she hasn't a clue about what she's wearing. I thought I'd wait until next year when she could have a little say in picking out what she wants to be for Halloween, but when I was at Walmart I changed my mind and bought a costume that also is a footed sleeper. I called Paul on the cell phone and asked him if he wanted her to be a pumpkin, horse, cow, bee, cat, or dog. You will find out tomorrow which he picked. How's that for a little suspense, LOL! I figure when the kids come to our house they will enjoy seeing Nadia in her costume. Hopefully I got enough candy. We haven't had trick or treaters the last few years when we lived in a really rural area with a long driveway and long walks in between the houses.

Under the weather

Yesterday as the day progressed I started to come down with something - sore throat, headache, etc. Because of how I was feeling I decided not to go to handbells last night. Nadia went down at 7:00 (and only cried for 5 minutes before she fell asleep), and I was in bed by 7:30. Unfortunately she woke up at 9:45 which is VERY early for a first feeding (usually it's around midnight at the earliest). The next stretch was 4 hours but then she woke up at 3:00 only 45 minutes after she had gone down last. I was very frustrated as usually the stretches are at least 2 hours long these days. It's been many weeks since she got up that soon in the middle of the night. I checked her diaper to make sure that wasn't the problem, nursed her for 5 minutes, and put her down again and thankfully after crying 5 minutes she fell back asleep. Normally she goes down without crying during the middle of the night, but I was too tired to do another feeding such a short time later. She got up for the day at 5:30 which was earlier than I was hoping. I was determined to take naps when she went down but unfortunately today has been a tough day as far as napping in the crib even though yesterday I got her down easily for two naps (plus Paul had her down for an hour yesterday morning). I am torn whether I should go to the doctor or not. It might just be a virus. I do feel lousy that is for certain. On top of that we have had rain and very strong winds today, but east of us it has been snow and freezing rain so I am concerned about driving to and from school tonight. It's only October for Pete's sake!!

Yesterday I finally took two videos of Nadia. It's taken me long enough! I've been planning to video her cooing for two months. I took another this morning and posted one of the ones from yesterday and also today's here on the blog. The next video I want to make is of her laughing, but I need Paul's help with that as I can't get her to laugh while I'm holding the camera. I want to start videoing her at least once a month as I know I'll treasure these in the months and years ahead. I'm already kicking myself that I didn't take any the first four months. Well at least I took lots of pictures. :-)

Photos Galore!

Let me start out by saying that last Thursday night was a GREAT night for Nadia as she slept 7 1/2 hours the first stretch and 2:45 the second which means she slept 10:15 total which was greatly appreciated by her Mommy!!! That had been the norm for a few weeks awhile back but hadn't been the norm lately. I didn't expect Friday night to be a good night, and it wasn't. She cried about 40 minutes of the first 2 hours of our trip and then thankfully slept the last 2 hours. However this threw her off of her schedule that she slept over 3 hours between 4:15 and 8pm. She was up from 8:00-9:30pm and then got up once to nurse about 4 hours later and then was up for good at 4:15am. Momma was tired on Saturday as that is too early to get up particularly after I had been driving for so long. When we arrived Adam was already in bed, but Susie did get to meet Nadia before she went to bed. We went to bed before Wendy got home from rehearsal so she didn't meet her until Saturday.

Saturday we met one of my friends at IHOP for breakfast at 7:30 so she could meet Nadia, and then we came back to my parents and spent the rest of the day with my family. It was such fun to hear Susie play the violin and read, paint her finger and toenails MANY colors, tickle Adam, etc. Also it was wonderful to see Wendy, Maurice, and my parents enjoying my little girl. :-) Thankfully she slept pretty well on Saturday night even though she was in a pack n play (rather than her usual crib).

Sunday I debated whether to put her in the nursery or not at my parent's church. At my church most parents keep their babies with them when they're this young even though they do have two nurseries. At my parent's church though almost everyone uses the nursery (although there was an 8 day old baby with her parents in the service). So I put Nadia in the nursery which worked out fine for most of the church service (she napped) but when she woke up she wanted fed so they paged me (they have those devices like restaurants give you while you're waiting that light up and vibrate). They commented on how she arches her back. Yes she does! I nursed her and left her for Sunday School but they quickly paged me again as they said she suddenly "erupted." She wasn't hungry but just wanted Mommy so I took her back and kept her with me in Sunday School. She slept on my shoulder so that worked out just fine. :-)

Sunday afternoon we watched football as the Giants beat the Steelers. I had gone with the Steelers on my fantasy team. If I had played the Giants defense instead, my Groundhogs would have won. I went with my heart and so both my teams lost. :-( Well there's a VERY slim chance my Groundhogs could win as I have one player playing tonight but I highly doubt that will happen. I really get too emotionally involved in this stuff. It's just a game, right? Well at least Paul is happy. If my team has to lose I guess it should be to my hubby's team.

We left when the game was over and Nadia slept the entire time. Wow! It was so nice to not have any screaming during our 3+ hour trip. That was the reason we left when we did as Paul & I would rather have gotten back earlier (we got home a little before 11pm). So Momma is tired today as well since I got up to feed Nadia in the middle of the night and then got up a little before 6am as I have to be out the door by 6:40am. Thankfully though Nadia did well. If you don't count her brief waking period when we moved her from the car to her crib at 11pm she really slept a very nice long stretch and again slept around 10 hours total. Hopefully that will become the norm again! She's also getting better at taking naps in her crib as she often cries only about 5 minutes and usually no more than 15 minutes. I think as far as driving goes, we will travel in the evening as much as possible when we have to make a long trip which won't happen again until Christmas.

Enjoy the photos! The teddy bear one was taken on Friday (the day she turned 4 months old), and the others were taken on Saturday and Sunday in MD. As you can see, she's not the only child in our family who sucks her thumb. :-)

Four Months Old!

What an exciting day today is! First of all, my little sweetheart turns four months old today. Wow! She has changed and grown SO much!!! It's exciting to see her grow, but it's also a little sad too. Thankfully she still likes to snuggle (I hope she always is a girl who likes to cuddle!), but she doesn't like to do things like say take a nap lying on me anymore. I wish I had savored those moments more. It is a good reminder to me now to really treasure each moment as certain types of experiences will quickly go away. Here are a few things Nadia loves as well as things I love about Nadia.

1. She has such soft skin. Of course all babies do, but I just really enjoy touching her sweet little cheeks and such.
2. Nadia loves it when I look at her and say "hi." She just LIGHTS UP if this happens after she hasn't seen me for awhile (which could be just a couple of minutes).
3. Of course I love her smile. It just makes my day!!! I also love her laughter!!!!
4. I love how she likes to grab on to one of my fingers. I always hold her hand while nursing her in bedroom to warm her sweet little hands.
5. She likes the song "You're a cutie" that I made up to the tune of "Oh my Darling" (Clementine).
6. She likes to be bounced on the boppy, given airplane rides, etc. Grandpa will have fun with her this weekend!
7. She often goes to sleep to another song I made up to the tune of "Jesus Loves the Little Children."
8. She loves seeing Mommy and Nadia in the bathroom mirror.
9. She likes it when I put her face up to Daddy or Grandma's cheek to give them a kiss. She usually smiles after she's given the "kiss."
10. She loves it when Mommy eats her belly!
11. She likes to sit on Mommy's lap while Mommy plays the piano.
12. She likes to go outside; sometimes if she's upset this will calm her down.

I am also REALLY excited because we're driving to MD today. I am not looking forward to the drive, but I am so looking forward to seeing Susie, Adam, and Wendy as I haven't seen them in 7 months (which is a LONG time to go without seeing little children as they change so quickly), and of course they get to meet Nadia for the first time! It's been a little bummer for me to have to wait so long for my sisters to meet my girl. I have to wait quite a while longer for Yvonne to meet her. So I am looking forward to seeing my family interact with my sweetheart (my parents and brother also), and I am also looking forward to painting Susie's nails, hearing Susie read (she's up to the 3rd grade level and is not quite 4 1/2 years old), hearing Adam's greatly expanded vocabulary, etc. I hope to take a lot of good pictures this weekend that I can post upon our return (Sunday night). At least Patches ( my mom's cat) has nothing to fear since Nadia's not mobile yet. :-)

I was wishing we could get in the car this morning right after I got back from teaching, but Paul won't get home until about 3:45 so we can't leave until then. So I went to a local bank and set up an account (only 1.3 miles from our house). I am glad I didn't try to do this yesterday after going to the grocery store as it took a lot longer than I expected it would. I also got gas for the car so we have a full tank for our trip. On my way home from work I saw gas for $2.69 at a Sunoco. I paid more than that when I got it today with Nadia, but I've learned with a baby that sometimes convenience matters more than price. I am happy to see the gas prices going down. I hope they STAY down and that this isn't a really temporary thing. Also I hope that this leads to other prices (such as food) going down since the reason they went up was because of the gas prices. I wonder if that will actually happen?

Time to go pack. This is my first time packing for THREE!!! :-) Of course her clothes won't take up much room, LOL. This will be the fifth house she will have been inside of. So far she's been in our old house and new house, Donna's house, and her cousin Holly (& Quentin)'s house. This fifth house will be Grandma and Grandpa's house!!! If I have time, I will be adding the traditional photos to this post (with the Steeler snuggle ball and the teddy bear). The snuggle ball photos are from July 10, August 24, September 25, and October 24. She now weighs 13 lbs with her clothes on!

Thumbs are Yummy!

Nadia sucked her thumb for the first time yesterday. Paul was the first one to notice it. That's a perk for him (and a little bummer for me) that since he spends more time with her than probably most dads spend with their babies, he will get to discover more "firsts" than probably most dads do. I witnessed the behavior this morning. She looks so cute! I know it won't be cute if she's sucking her thumb years from now, but it's cute for a 3 month old. She used to put her fists in her mouth - her knuckles in particular were what she seemed to be sucking on. This morning it was her right thumb. I am curious to see if she will favor one thumb over the other. Hopefully I'll get a good pic of it and be able to post it sometime. I am definitely taking photos today as I didn't take any the last 2 days. Such a long time to go without a photo, LOL! I will take lots of photos this weekend as she will be meeting Aunt Wendy, Susie, and Adam for the first time while we're in MD (and also seeing Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Maurice).

Last night she slept 5 hours then 2 1/2 hours then 1 hour. So she got up at 5:30am which was too early. She went down at 8:30pm so I was hoping a later bedtime would help, but it didn't. For weeks she was getting 10 hours a night (at least) but the last few nights only about 8 hours a night. I hope we get back to 10 soon and also have some longer stretches soon as the longest I've gotten lately is 4 hours which isn't enough! This morning she wouldn't nap for Paul more than 20 minutes so I decided to let her sleep on the boppy as I figure that she gets a nice long nap is more important than where it is taken.

The hematologist's office called today and said I am still slightly anemic. They said I should check with Nadia's pediatrician, but if she approved he wants me to take one iron pill a day (less than I was on while pg) and have bloodwork again in 3 months. When I had the appointment I asked him about why I wasn't allowed to have an epidural or spinal or anything during labor or the c-section. He said they were being overly cautious and that he wouldn't have said I couldn't have one, but he said now that I passed the ultimate bleeding test (the c-section) that I could definitely have one in the future. I really would like to avoid general anesthesia if I am ever giving birth again so I am glad to know this. Of course I may never be pg again, but I figured I might as well ask him while I was there so I wouldn't have to see him again if I was pg again.

Discouraged

Well yesterday was a long day. It was too long really. I wasn't feeling well at all part way through handbells. I had a splitting headache for one thing. Mostly I just felt like I needed to be in bed at that very moment. Two weeks ago I left rehearsal at 8pm, but last night I was trying to stay until the end since I had missed the rehearsal the week before. I left at 8:15 because I knew I just couldn't stay one more minute. When I got home I took off my coat and immediately climbed in bed. Paul had told me that Nadia went down at 7pm so I was going to bed 2 hours after her which I knew wasn't a good thing. I decided last night not to go to Bible study this morning as I realized that if I did I would be home about 90 minutes between 8:30am and 8:15pm, and I knew I didn't want two long days in a row. I had worked really hard yesterday to finish my Bible study lessons so I was ready for the study today, and I had rated the applicants for 4 jobs at my university (19 of them) yesterday so I'd be ready for my search and screen meeting that will start at 2pm today. I really did intend to go to the study this morning until I realized how tired I was last night.

Well there proved to be other reasons not to go to study this morning such as Nadia woke up at 4:30am (the previous feeding had been from 1:30-2:00). I nursed her from 4:30-5:00. She cried from 5:00-5:15. I nursed her from 5:15-5:30. She cried from 5:30-5:45 and so I brought her to bed and let her nurse in bed until 6:30, and then I got up. Although I was horizontal for part of that time, really I have been up since 4:30am which means I got 7 hours of sleep total. I know that is a lot compared to back when she was less than 12 weeks old, but it's just not enough for me. I am tired.

So I sit down at my computer at 6:30am while eating breakfast as I hadn't be on it for 12 hours (long time for me, LOL), and found a really, really harsh anonymous email from a student (who was to be representing several students) that had been sent not only to me but also my chair and Dean. I have never received such an email or anything close to it before. My student evals since I started teaching at the college level in January 2003 have been very positive. It's very frustrating when a student doesn't come to you (and I think I'm a very approachable person) and then goes right straight above you (first time this happened to me). The person admitted the stimulus for the email was their frustration over one quiz. I wish they had just come to me about that. Instead they got all worked up and proceeded to critique every aspect of the course and give their input whether an assignment was a good one or not and whether it should be worth more points or whatever. It was all done in a VERY harsh tone. I wish I had read the email last night. The reason I say that is that when something upsetting happens to me it takes me a little while to process it and get over it emotionally. I teach this class tonight. I am feeling very emotional at the moment. I did respond to a FEW of the concerns in an email to the whole class (since I have no idea who wrote the email) and sent that to my dept chair and Dean as well. The Dean is away. The dept chair wrote back that he thought my email was good and he wasn't concerned as he has never heard anything negative about me before and said sometimes these things happen. Well I don't want to dwell on this or I'll just get more upset.

Even though Nadia was awake since 4:30am, she didn't want to take much of a nap in her crib. The first attempt at 9:00 lasted 15 minutes, and the second attempt at 9:50 lasted 25 minutes. So she is now sleeping on my lap on the boppy as Momma is too stressed out to try to get her to take a nap in the crib right now. Well I leave for work in 3 hours and hopefully can get myself together before then. I think a good cry would help. I also need to make dinner so Paul has something to eat (he'll be watching Nadia from 1-8pm today since I have a committee meeting at 2pm before my office hours and class) and finish grading some papers.

Hematologist

Last night Nadia was tired really early. I was trying to keep her awake as I was afraid if she went to bed earlier she'd get up even earlier. At 6:45 I decided to just let her go to sleep. She slept 45 minutes and then after I nursed her she went back down at 8:15pm. I was in bed by 8:30pm and thankfully she didn't wake me up until about 3:15am! She then slept from 3:50-6:45am. Yahoo!! I was SO glad for the 7 hour stretch!!! Then she performed an even more impressive feat this morning when she napped for Paul from 8:15-9:55 am which is a new record for her!!! I put her down again at 11:25 as she was acting tired and she took a 45 minute nap. Wonderful! She hadn't taken any naps in her crib on Sat or Sunday (yesterday because she was in the church nursery) so this was great!!!

The longer nap was well timed as I was at work longer than usual as I taught the 8:00 and 9:00 classes as the prof who took over the 9:00 class was speaking at a conference today. So it was helpful for Paul that she slept so much while I was away. Today is a long day for me. In addition to spending an extra hour at work, I am spending about 3 1/4 hours on the road today. Not Fun. I have a hematologist appt as a follow up to make sure the anemia was just pregnancy induced. I have a bloodwork appt at 2:20 and then see the doctor at 3:00. Nadia will be with me. Then I'll come back home and be home for a couple of hours before I return back to the same town for handbell rehearsal. I'll be really glad when Thursday rolls around as I don't need to drive anywhere that day!

At least the gas prices have dropped. I paid only $2.89 today which was much appreciated (of course that price would have been considered very high not THAT long ago). I keep track of our expenses rather carefully and from 2001-2007 the most we spent in any one month on gas was in the $290's (for two cars). Well two months ago we spent over $400 on gas, and then last month we spent over $500 on gas. Oi vey! I can only imagine what our totals would have been the last two months if the gas prices hadn't been dropping. It should improve in a couple of months when first of all I'll have a break from going to school for one month and then I'll only be going twice a week instead of four times a week.

Nadia's congestion seemed to be getting worse so Paul thought we should get her back on the Zrytec. So she had some last night. We shall see what the new pediatrician says. I contacted them last week to get the long overdue results on the bloodwork, and they said Nadia isn't allergic to milk. It's good to know I don't have to give up dairy products, but it means we don't know how to help her!

Carpal Tunnel

For a few weeks I've had a lot of pain in my left wrist. I was going to ask my sister (who used to be an OT at Hopkins) about it 2 weeks ago, but it didn't seem important at all compared to her son having a seizure! The pain has increased since then so I asked her about it yesterday and after I answered the questions she asked me she diagnosed it as carpal tunnel and suggested I take an anti-inflamatory and wear a brace at least during the night. She said probably the "trauma" occurred during labor (makes sense since I was pulling for hours with all my might during the "pushing" stage of L&D) and that over time as Nadia has grown heavier the inflammation has gotten to the point that it's painful. So I went to CVS (thankfully there is one less than 5 minutes away) and got one last night. Hopefully in time it will improve as with Nadia gaining weight it's becoming more painful as I usually carry her with my left arm so I have my right arm free to do stuff like make myself breakfast or whatever. The pain is so bad that certain times when I do something very simple like put my fingers through my hair I scream in pain. I dropped Nadia (in the crib so she was fine) once a couple of weeks ago the pain was so intense. Of course that scared me! I should have brought the brace to church this morning as it hurt to play handbells. Thankfully Carol had me playing the very smallest (lightest) bells. I have a friend whose wife is a PT so if it doesn't improve I might also ask her for advice as obviously it will be easier to help me in person than for Yvonne to help me from across the ocean. :-) If any of you have had carpal tunnel and have any suggestions, I am all ears. Having a baby is definitely tough on the body, but of course Nadia is worth all the pain and discomfort!!!

Since the handbells were playing 3 songs today I needed to put Nadia in the nursery for the first time. I admit it wasn't easy to leave her especially as I didn't know the people who were working in the nursery during the SS hour. Nadia had gone to bed at 7:20pm and slept until about 12:30am and then after nursing her for 30 minutes she slept from 1:00-4:30am. At 5:10 am I put her down, and she cried a little. I could tell when I went in at 4:30 that she thought it was time to get up. So I did the same as the day before and shut our door so I wouldn't hear her cry. Well I woke up at 5:55 and she was still crying. :-( So I went and got her. This is two nights in a row of her getting up between 4-4:30am and only getting 8- 8 1/2 hours of sleep. I stayed up 2 hours after she went down so I am tired. For a few weeks she was having one stretch that was at least 6 hours and it was averaging about 7 hours. I am frustrated that the last 2 nights the longest stretch has been 5 hours especially since that has meant the longest stretch for me has been 3-4 hours. Hopefully soon she'll get back to having one stretch that's 7-8 hours long. I also hope she stops getting up so early! She used to get up between 6-7am and that was much better. We aren't putting her to bed any earlier. She has been going down between 7-8pm because that's when she gets tired and is ready for bed. Any suggestions are appreciated. Maybe this is just a temporary thing and she'll get back on the right track soon. Momma is tired though! Her early wakeup time proved helpful for the nursery workers as after they fed her a bottle she slept through the rest of the time in a swing in the nursery. It was nice to play with the handbells today. One of the songs we played while the choir sang, and it was gorgeous. I had goosebumps (the good kind) for that one (Rejoice the Lord is King).

Wallpaper and Wish lists

Well yesterday I put up 90% of the wallpaper border in Nadia's room, and this morning I finished that project. The photo on BRU showed it being placed in the middle of the wall (like where a chair rail would go), and although I thought that would like a little better than at the top, I didn't trust myself to be able to keep a straight line. It's easy when you have the edge of the wall/ceiling to use as a guide! After I was done I inspected my work and found only 3 places where you can tell that one piece stops and another starts. Not bad considering I was putting up small pieces at a time. I hadn't put up any wall border in the last house, but in the first house I bought (2001) I did put up wallpaper border in the nursery (that was never used), our bedroom, and the kitchen. There was no wallpaper or border in this house so it's not like there's an excess of it now. Actually I found some of the kind I used on that first house in the kitchen, and it would match here so I am trying to decide if I'll use it or not. I need to see if I have enough first of all.

Yesterday I also worked on our Christmas wish list. 99% of it relates to Nadia, LOL. My family exchanges wish lists which I greatly appreciate. It's always special when you think of a good idea on your own, but sometimes that's really hard and it's nice to know what books Drayton wants or what computer games Maurice wants or whatever. So I will throw it out there for suggestions before I send off our list to my family, what toys do you recommend for a child ages 6-12 months? It is nice that Nadia's birthday is 6 months away from Christmas so we can just ask for clothing that will fit in the next several months and toys for now and then for her bday we can ask for the next 6 months. Of course when she gets bigger it won't be as big of a deal, but kids change SO quickly at this stage of life! Paul assembled the johnny jump up today, and she seemed to like it although she wasn't jumping in it yet.

This morning I planned to mow the lawn while she napped. Well unfortunately she only slept in her crib 15 minutes, and I didn't know it. So I kept mowing while Paul was caring for her, and I assumed she was sleeping. The lawn hadn't been mowed in 2 weeks, and we had a lot of rain so it needed mowed. We are supposed to start getting a frost at night so I think the grass shouldn't grow as quickly. It took me 55 minutes to mow 95% of the lawn. I wasn't quite done when it ran out of gas. It would be faster if we had kept our riding mower, but this is much better exercise! I prefer productive exercise rather than just doing exercise for the sake of exercise although I do need to start doing that as well since I don't get enough in my daily routine. I hadn't asked Paul to do anything around the house over the last week in light of his midterm exams, so it's been nice to have him doing a few projects around the house today like installing a towel ring in our bathroom for a hand towel and doing some spackling.

We were supposed to have 3 guests for dinner tonight (two profs from my university plus one was bringing her dh) however on Thursday night one called to cancel so then I asked the other one if we could postpone. Unfortunately I had purchased a whole bunch of salad stuff that morning at the grocery store and some garlic bread for our dinner. One was going to bring lasagna and the other dessert. The garlic bread is no big deal as it will keep in the freezer, but it will be a challenge for Paul & I to eat all the salad stuff before it spoils. Oh well. Ironically the same thing happened to me in June only that time my dinner guests were 3 adults and 4 kids and they cancelled the morning of so I had a lot more purchased/cooked. I am not doing well in terms of my dinner guests actually coming over. Our social life is 99% of the time just we three so I am trying to invite people over more often but it's not working out so far. The ones who were going to come in June have been rescheduled for November (but only 2 adults and 2 kids this time) so hopefully it will actually happen this time! I enjoy having people over for dinner and playing games together, but it happens only a very few times a year in part because we didn't know many people where we used to live and of course that's even more true now that we have moved. That's another factor of Nadia not being able to go to work with me. In Sept I had lunch at Applebee's with a colleague one day (with Nadia), but lunch with a friend is no longer possible. Well Nadia is a most wonderful companion even though our conversations are not very intellectually stimulating, LOL.

Getting the mail was not a very pleasant experience today as there was a bill in there for $558 for Nadia's time in the intensive care. I will be calling the insurance company about this next week that is for sure! I hope we don't really end up having to pay this. We have an HMO (by choice- we could have Blue Shield if we wanted) so I don't understand why we're getting this bill as we were in the hospital that is owned by the same company as the HMO. Of course Nadia is worth every penny, but I really felt they kept her there MANY days more than necessary. The reason she was put in there was because of her breathing issues that they thought were due to an infection. She only received treatment (CPAP) for those breathing issues for a few HOURS that is it, and she didn't have an infection. Many babies are born smaller than her and many have jaundice and aren't in NICU. I really was very seriously wanting to pull her out against the doctor's wishes while we were there, and of course getting a bill like this is just stirring all that up again within me. Well hopefully we won't have to pay, but if we do, she is of course worth it. I just will give serious consideration to switching our insurance next summer as then we can also go to a different hospital - one that is closer to where we live now. I guess it will depend on if we decide to do IVF again as this insurance does pay some of the costs of that whereas Blue Shield doesn't. I know the charges were astronomical, but we pay $1,400 a year for health insurance which is 10% of the premium so that means our premium is $14,000 a year and over the past few years aside from fertility stuff I haven't been to the doctor hardly at all, and it's not like they paid most of the fertility stuff. We paid for most of it. It's just they paid a little bit of it compared to Blue Shield wouldn't even pay for blood work. I know it's only one "problem" in our economy which seems to have bigger issues right now, but healthcare is a mess - the bills that are charged are just out of control, health insurance premiums are skyrocketing, and so many are without any health insurance at all. I think limiting the amount a doctor can be sued for would be one small way to help so that medical malpractice premiums would be lower and hopefully this would translate to lower doctor bills. I am not sure what else needs to be done, but it's a mess!

Last night is the first night since Nadia has been home from the hospital that I can't tell you how much she slept. I know the first stretch was 5 hours and the second was 3 1/4 hours, but after that I have no idea. She woke up at 4:00 and didn't want to go back to sleep after I nursed her. She was ready to get up for the day. Well that was just TOO early. So at 4:50 I threw in the towel and shut her door and shut my door so I wouldn't hear her cry. I panicked when I woke up at 6:50 as I could hear sounds from her room and I felt awful at the thought maybe she had cried for 2 hours??? I rushed in only to see she was smiling and cooing at her butterflies (mobile). Whew... so I have no idea what happened during those two hours - how long she cried or how long she slept, but I do know she didn't cry the whole time as she was happy when I went in to get her. If my door is open I hear her if she coughs or coos or cries, but if my door is shut it's very muffled. It's good to know that if I am really tired and she refuses to go back to sleep that I can just leave her be and she'll be okay. :-) Of course first I made sure she had a full belly and dry diaper, but I was not getting up for the day at 4:00am on a Saturday morning. No way, Jose! I need more sleep that that.

Little Houdini

If it weren't for the fact that I value my sleep more than my curiosity, I would love to watch Nadia sleep some night. She always ends up in a totally different position than where I put her down (a full 180 degrees different). At least her arms don't get stuck any more thanks to the mesh bumper. Well last night I put her in a pair of hand me down pjs someone at church gave me. The pjs had four pieces - top, bottom, and two booties for her feet. I didn't expect the booties to stay on, but I knew she'd still be warm as I put her in a sleep sack at night. Well I was very surprised when I unzipped her sleep sack this morning to discover the only thing she had on from the waist down was a diaper! Her pants and booties were in her sack but not on her body. These pants had cuffs that were fairly tight around her ankles. I have NO idea how she got her pants off while in a sleep sack! As an adult I'd struggle to get my pants off without using my arms (while sleeping no less). So no more multiple piece pjs for Nadia! We will stick with one piece sleepers from now on as I think she needs to wear more than a diaper even if she does have the sleep blanket on. Unfortunately her room is the coldest in the house. I even get cold when I nurse her during the night in there.

Last night Nadia slept 6 hours and then after nursing for 30 minutes slept 3 more hours. So she got up an hour earlier than normal (5:30am). I had a feeling it would be hopeless to get her back down when she greeted me with a beaming face (I have yet to capture that on camera but I sure hope I do someday), but I still nursed her in the dark hoping to convince her it wasn't time to get up yet. I gave up at 6:15 since I needed to get ready for school. I said to Paul let's make sure she takes two naps in the crib this morning. I actually had that idea yesterday as she fell asleep in my arms while I was picking out which pose to order at Walmart and she then slept in the car and while I was grocery shopping in her infant carrier. I had said last night let's start putting her down again 2 hours after she gets up from her first 45 minute nap. I was definite about this plan after she got up so early. So Paul put her down at 7:00 and she slept for only 30 minutes, but then he put her down again at 9:10am and DRUM ROLL PLEASE she slept until 10:20am. WAHOOOO! That's more like it, Nadia! It was great to break the 45 minute nap barrier. :-) Let's hope this becomes a trend and not a one time occurrence.

We should have taken the photos today as she's been SUPER smiley and laughing so much today. Even Mommy kissing her on her cheeks brought on laughter today. Oh well hopefully we'll have more success the next time.She has started to find "eskimo kisses" (nose brushing nose) to be humorous as well. What fun! :-)

I weighed Nadia today, and she's now 12 pounds 9 ounces with clothes on (and a dry diaper). After her 2 month visit I guessed she'd weigh 13 lbs at her 4 month visit, and I think that prediction will prove to be accurate. I am curious to see how many inches long she is. She's not going to last much longer in the 3-6 month sleepers - on to 6-9 month for her pretty soon! I need to buy some more dresses for her. I'll just force myself to do that, LOL. She only has one dress in size 3-6 month so far and the 0-3 month ones are getting too short. Of course the sleeves are going to be too long, but we'll just roll them up.

Paul has another midterm exam this evening from 6:30-9:30. He thought the one on Wed was harder than he was expecting so I can only imagine what he'll think about the one tonight as he is finding thermodynamics harder than quantum mechanics. If you think of him tonight please pray he'll be able to do his very best! :-)

I have one more decorating question. I received four handmade quilts for Nadia of varying sizes. The largest was made by my handbell director (Carol), two from Paul's paternal aunts, and my friend Cheri bought one from her niece who makes and sells various baby items. How do people use quilts???? I don't want to just store them all in the closet all the time. The last week or so I had the one Carol made on the floor of Nadia's room. I think it looks nice on the neutral berber carpet. We never wear shoes around the house so it's not like we're walking on it with shoes on. Is this "rude" though? I don't know if that's an inappropriate use for a quilt.

No Smiles

Last night was a great night. Nadia slept 7 1/2 hours straight and then after nursing for 30 minutes she slept another 2 1/2 hours. She is very consistent in that the total number of hours slept is usually ten, and since I went to bed within an hour of when Nadia went down, I got a decent amount of sleep even though she got up for the day at 6:15am. True to form her morning nap was almost exactly 45 minutes long (7:55-8:40). I left her for 10+ minutes and she just cooed during that time and then started crying so I really don't think she was going to go back to sleep. I fed her and got her dressed in her pretty purple Winnie the Pooh dress that her Grandma gave her awhile back. Well it's almost too short already although the sleeves are still a bit too long. My girl has short arms and legs! Yesterday she was wearing a dress size 3-6 month that was a hand me down, and it was already too short (except the sleeves of course)! She is wearing size 3-6 month sleepers exclusively now, but many 0-3 month size pants are still too big. Go figure!

Anyhow after she was fed and dressed we departed for Walmart, and I picked up a few things before our 10:30 appt (such as a padlock for our shed as there isn't a lock on it now). I also got a pack of size 2 diapers as I am finding the size 1 ones that I bought on Monday are a bit on the small size even though they're supposed to be for up to 14 lbs and she's definitely not there yet. I had her in the infant carrier in the shopping cart and she was smiling and cooing away at Mommy so I thought everything would go well for her photos. Nope. She didn't smile one single time no matter all Mommy did that usually works like eating her belly. She didn't cry (at least not for 15 minutes) but she would NOT smile. In reflecting back the times I am most certain to get Nadia to smile are when she hasn't seen me for awhile (and "awhile" can be say 10 minutes). So when I first got her out of the car she was happy to see me and all smiles. So the next time we get photos I will not do anything in between getting her out of the car and arriving at the photo session as I really, really want her next photos to be ones of her SMILING as she has such a beautiful smile. She didn't like being posed on her belly (although we did get one photo of her in the process of rolling over, LOL), but she was fine on her back and sitting up. It was easy to pick which pose to buy as not many were taken, and in most of them she had her tongue sticking out. Hopefully she'll smile for the Christmas photos! I am thinking we'll try the Sears up here for those. At least the salesperson didn't really try to convince me to buy more than I did as she knew I really wanted a smiling pose.

Aside from caring for Nadia my accomplishments for the day were to clean the 3 bathrooms and kitchen (minus the floors which I didn't get to yet), finish putting away the stuff that was on the floor of the spare bedroom (still unpacking!), go grocery shopping, write an annual performance evaluation for a probationary faculty member, etc. I'd be able to get more done if Nadia would sleep more than 45 minutes a day in her crib, but of course I also enjoy her napping on the boppy on my lap. I usually enjoy seeing her learn new skills, but there is one new skill I am not too fond of - pulling Mommy's hair. Ouch! And it's not like you can tell a 3 month old "no" and expect her to understand what that means. :-) Over the next 3 days the two projects I would like to accomplish around the house would be to put up the wallpaper border in Nadia's room (that I received as a shower gift in April) and mow the lawn. If Paul wants to start putting away the books in his office (all still in boxes), I would be happy to help him with that also. As for school projects, I'd like to select which textbooks I will use for each class in the spring semester (as those are due to the bookstore soon) and edit the 26 book reviews my graduate students wrote ten days ago before I send them on the editor of the column in Childhood Education where hopefully many will be published in the coming months.

Gorgeous!

Well for the last week we have had absolutely GORGEOUS weather. Yesterday it even got up into the 80's! Wow! I haven't been outside tooo much as unfortunately that doesn't bode well for my allergies, but when I have been outside, it's been a pleasure! That is one definite perk of this house. Having central air has definitely been a blessing for my allergies (compared to having the windows open at our other houses). The other thing that has been GORGEOUS lately are the trees. I try to take notice of them during my commute on I-80 as the longer commute doesn't exactly thrill me. There is one stretch in particular that I wish I could take a picture of as the colors (orange, yellow, etc.) are so vibrant and such a beautiful combination, but I don't think I can safely take a pic while driving, LOL!

Paul's parents put Nadia to bed at 6:15pm last night. That was good for Paul as far as studying last night, but it meant she got up EARLY this morning and since I didn't go to bed until 9:30pm I am one tired Momma. So I plan to go to bed very early tonight as I'm pooped. The sleep book I have recomends a bedtime between 6-8pm for ages 5-12 months, getting up at 7am, first nap at 9am, second nap at 1pm, and 3rd nap possibly around 3pm or so. Nadia seems to get up about 11 hours after she goes down which means on average she's getting at least 10 hours of sleep a night. Anyhow I have been aiming for bedtime to be between 7-8pm so that she doesn't get up earlier than 6am. I'd say the latest she's gone to bed the last few weeks would be 9pm. She often gets up around 7am and then goes down for her nap around 8:30am. Does this seem about right as far as a bedtime at this age (7-8pm)?

Tomorrow she's having her pictures taken at Walmart. I hope she SMILES, and we get some good photos! Well considering we're getting 30 pictures for $4.99 I can't be too picky. I also want to go grocery shopping tomorrow and do some cleaning around the house. I did a little spackling and painting today and then decided it was better if I leave those tasks for Paul to do later. It won't be too time consuming (just doing touch up painting), and he'll do a much better job than I am able to do. I also want to mow the lawn sometime in the next few days. It really needs mowed again surprisingly. I also want to finish weeding before I mow. My arms aren't too itchy any more thankfully.

Paul is taking his quantum mechanics exam as I type. I suggested that he spend the night with his friend Kirk since he would only be home from 10:45pm to 6:45am. I figured it would be better to save that 2 1/2 hours of travel time for studying or sleeping than driving. I was surprised that he was hesitant at first. He didn't like the idea of being away from his peanut! :-) I said well even if he came home he doesn't usually see her at all during those hours (I've done all the middle of the night feedings for several weeks). It was very sweet how he didn't want to be away from his girl. He kept coming back in the kitchen and kissing her goodbye before he left at 10:45 this morning. Awwww.... I will admit there was a little part of me that thought wait a minute I only got ONE kiss goodbye and he didn't seem bothered at the thought of being apart from me for the night, but then I was just so moved at how much he loves Nadia that I decided it was very sweet and didn't bother me that she got more goodbye kisses than I did. I am soooo thrilled that Paul is such a devoted Daddy!!!!!

At one point while spackling in the kitchen, I put Nadia in the high chair so she would be close to me while I was working. She smiled at first, but my timing wasn't as good with the camera today. So even though it's not a smiling pose I need to commemorate the first time Nadia sat in a high chair. Of course it will be a bigger deal when she's actually eating solid foods. :-) Speaking of which, I know some start rice cereal at 4 months and others wait until 6 months. Anyone want to share their thoughts on when to start rice cereal? I won't start it until the pediatrician gives the green light. She will see her new doctor towards the end of the month. Can you believe next week she'll be FOUR months old. Wow.

Auburn?

When I first saw Nadia I called her hair dark brown. Well that was partially due to the fact that they hadn't bathed her yet (which I didn't know at that time). Over the past couple of months I would say that every time we are out and about (shopping, church, etc) there is at least one person who comments about her hair being red. It partially depends on the lighting. In certain lighting her hair definitely has a reddish cast to it especially on the top. In the very back where it's the thickest and longest, it still looks brown to me. Yesterday it happened again (at church) of someone saying her hair looks red. Paul said to me that maybe her hair is auburn (reddish brown)? Time will tell once it fills in more. Those of you that only see blog pictures probably don't believe she even has hair since it doesn't show up in most photos as it doesn't come down on her forehead yet. Well I am open to suggestions as to what color you would say her hair is.
Speaking of hair, I gave up on the idea of going to a beauty salon this week and just trimmed my bangs myself on Saturday night. The sides really need trimmed also, but I am not skilled enough to do that so I have resorted to just pulling them up in a barrette. Hopefully a few weeks from now I can find a new salon and also work it out so Paul can watch her while I go get it cut. Maybe the week of Thanksgiving would work as he gets that whole week off (I have class Mon/Tues that week). The hair stylist I've gone to the last four years has been my favorite one - EVER. She charged a reasonable fee, was a really nice person to chat with, and she did a really great job cutting my hair. Well hopefully in time I'll have a new favorite beautician.

I pumped this morning before I left for work and thought she wouldn't need any formula as I left 5 ounces of milk for her, but that wasn't enough for my growing girl! She drank 3 ounces of formula on top of the 5 ounces I had pumped. One thing I don't like about leaving for work early in the morning is I miss seeing her smile when I come get her. That is often my favorite moment of the day. During the night if she wakes up she cries, but when she wakes up and is ready to get up for the day, she doesn't cry and when she sees me she just BEAMS. It is just the most precious thing to me!!!! I think part of the reason she was so hungry this morning was because she only got up once last night (4:15am). She slept almost 7 hours and 45 minutes the first stretch!! That was great since the previous two nights the longest stretch was only 5 hours and that is tougher on Mommy especially on nights like Friday night when I stayed up 90 minutes later than when I put her down so that meant the longest stretch for me was only 3 1/2 hours.

She and I just got back from running errands, and it's the first time we've gone a few places and she didn't cry At All! Usually me getting gasoline guarantees tears.  I took her in the car seat and put that in the shopping cart at Walmart, and it worked great! My left arm is so very grateful! While I was at Walmart I signed her up to have her pictures taken on Thursday. It will have been 11 weeks since we had them taken at Sears; I hope I can get her to smile when they're taking her picture on Thursday (which certainly wasn't possible the last time as she was only 5 weeks old then!).

Missed My Girl!!!

Well let me start by saying yesterday was just a really good day. The weather was gorgeous (and will stay that way the next few days - what a blessing!), I had fun with my sweet girl, and I got LOTS of work done such as two loads of laundry, one load of dishes, graded papers, finished thank you notes, did some more unpacking and decorating, etc. It felt great!!! Last night wasn't nearly as great in terms of Nadia sleeping. She slept 2 hours then nursed and then slept 5 hours and then nursed and then slept 3 hours.

I left the house at 7:30am and picked up another prof along the way and headed to the University of Scranton where I had a 4 hour mtg. During our brief lunch break I wanted to pump. I asked the prof from U of S who was hosting the mtg if there was an office or conference room or something I could use for 15 minutes to pump. She suggested the bathroom. I should have found the batteries for the pump. It was a challenge. If I left the pump in the middle between the wall where the sinks were (and the only outlet) and the stall then the cords to the parts I needed to use reached just under the stall door with like two inches to spare. So I had to kneel on the floor of the stall (in a skirt) and get myself as close to the stall door as possible and as close to the floor as possible to be able to use the pump. Also this was the first stall closest to the door (the closest one to the outlet) so women coming in to use the bathroom had to step over my pump which was making it's lovely pumping sounds. Needless to say I pumped for as few minutes as I thought I could get away with. I think I got 3 ounces in 5 minutes and said that's it for now! I was ever so glad when we were reunited at 4pm (that's the longest I have ever been separated from her during the day and I sure hope it doesn't happen again any time soon!!!). I missed the gal something fierce, and boy did I want to nurse her!!! She gladly obliged being fed and snuggled, and she even waited til Mommy came home to have a big poopy diaper. Wasn't that nice of her to not make Grandma change an icky diaper? Paul watched her til 10:30 and then Grandma took over from 10:30 til I got home. Thanks, Grandma!!! On the way home I made a quick stop at BRU and purchased three items for Nadia: a mesh bumper so her arms won't get stuck any more, another valance as there are two windows and it looked funny to have one valance stretched across the two windows, and another sleep sack so that if she has an accident I have a spare one. It was my first trip to BRU since she was born.

As an aside, Nadia didn't have any formula on Wed or Thurs and that's probably the first time in her life she went two full days w/o any. I pumped Wed morning and Paul used that, and since I was with her all day on Thurs I didn't need to use any bottles. Of course today she had a fair amount of formula since I was away from her so long, but now there are 3 ounces in the freezer for Monday since I pumped today. I brought ice packs with me to keep it chilled til I got home. Thursday the only time I left the house was to go grocery shopping, and I went to the same one last week. It's nice to have a nice store only 5 minutes away! Well I planned to buy one can of formula just to have as back up for when she's being babysat in case I didn't have enough pumped milk for her.
Since the weather is supposed to be really pretty the next couple of days, I really, really want to do yardwork this weekend. That's the highest thing on my to do list right now along with getting the cross-stitch that my sister made for Nadia's room framed as well as one more of my Grandma's paintings framed. One other thing I'd like to accomplish soon would be a haircut. Boy do I need one, but I am not sure if that will happen. Of course as always there is more grading to do, but if that doesn't happen until Monday then so be it! Paul and I worked on hanging a couple more pictures this evening, and this weekend I also want to hang the valance I purchased today. I am having dinner guests for the first time on Saturday night so it's my goal to having the house as close to finished by then as possible. I don't care what the basement looks like or the closet in the spare bedroom so the boxes that are yet to be unpacked will probably be hidden there. It would be nice though to unpack Paul's books before then though. None of his boxes have been opened yet, and there are quite a few!!! Well it's off to bed for me as Nadia has been down for an hour, and I always try to go to bed within an hour of when she goes down. Have a lovely weekend!

Good News!

I have to report that last night I put Nadia down a little before 8pm. Usually I nurse her to sleep, but this time I actually put her down while she was drowsy but not asleep. She cried (whimpered would be a better word) for about 30 minutes. Normally I don't let her cry that long, but since it was a quiet, tired sounding cry (not an "angry" sounding one) I thought she might drift off to sleep on her own. And she did! She then slept until 4:45am (which means she slept 8 hours and 15 minutes straight!) and after nursing for 40 minutes she then slept for three more hours!!! So actually not including the one feeding she was in bed for 12 1/2 hours and she slept for a little over 11 hours! How wonderful!!! This meant that Mommy "slept in" (as compared to when I get up on MWF), got showered, ate breakfast, graded some papers, and had one load of laundry in the dryer and another in the washer all before Nadia woke up! What a great feeling!!! I should add that she wakes up in such a pleasant mood these days. I can tell by her sounds that she's awake although she is not crying. She is usually looking at her mobile. She's really been enjoying that the last few weeks, and then when she sees Mommy's face then she just lights up! Her smiles are soooo beautiful!!!

Adjusting Expectations

I keep making my to do list of what I hope to accomplish in the day smaller, but it seems I still haven't adjusted down to what I can actually accomplish as a Mommy. Yesterday I went from having a goal to do yardwork + grade papers + thank you notes to just grading + thank you notes to just grading, and then I actually went to bed before even the grading was completely done. I think in light of the move and the extra work with getting unpacked and settled as well as the extra time driving (80 minutes a day instead of 30), it is a blessing that I am working less (particularly if I can figure out more ways to reduce my work load closer to 50%). Hopefully I'll still feel that way when I get my first 50% paycheck! :-)

Well today is Thursday and Thursdays are the one day of the week I don't go to school. So hopefully I can at least get the grading and thank you notes that I hoped to finish yesterday done today. I guess I'll save the yard work for this weekend. I also need to run to the grocery store for a few things as well. That will be a quick trip though so I will be home ALMOST the whole day which will be nice (and it means I don't have to get dressed up today which is also a treat). And maybe just maybe Nadia will take a nap or two in her crib rather than on the boppy on my lap. I love snuggling with my sweetheart, but then I am limited to working on the computer. Another project for today is to find where the battery charger is for my camera as I can't take any more pics til I find it. The joys of moving and not knowing where stuff is. Ugh!!!

It's great fun to play with Nadia. She seems to have Harton blood in her as she loves to be bounced, spun, etc so I think she's going to like amusement parks (which is something that runs in my family). I can't wait to take her on her first ride!!! Actually the shopping mall that I shop at now has a large carousel in the middle of it and so maybe that will be her first ride. For now she just enjoys watching it as the music plays. I have been reading to her every day for five days now, and I love it! It's a dream come true to have a daughter to read to!!! I am getting good use of the bouncer these days as well. For example while I take a shower I bring her into the bathroom in the bouncer and she stays entertained as long as I keep singing to her and don't take TOO long of a shower. The same goes for the gym, as long as she knows she's not alone she's okay. :-) Isn't she just soooooo cute? Who could resist kissing those cheeks and eating her (bulging) belly? :-) I weighed her yesterday and she's now up to 11 lbs 9 1/2 oz with her clothes on. The sleeper she wore last night was actually size 3-6 month, and it was only a smidge on the big side. However there are still some 0-3 month size clothes that are on the big side still. There is such a variation between clothes that are supposedly the same size!

Reflections

I saw this on a friend's blog a couple of weeks ago and decided to do it myself. I'm to give an account of what I was doing 20 years ago, 10 years ago, 5 years ago, 3 years ago, etc.

20 years ago: I was 16 years old in my junior year of high school at Capitol Christian Academy in MD. This was my last year of HS as I started college the next fall. Aside from school I was taking piano and flute lessons (maybe also guitar lessons...I don't remember exactly when I took those although I do remember it was the next year that I took organ lessons), babysitting a LOT (especially my youth pastor's children who are now college students), and involved with my church youth group. I was also a serious bookworm.

10 years ago: I was 26 years old and starting my 3rd year as the principal of Cressona Christian School. I lived alone in a 2 bedroom apartment. Paul and I had been dating for about 18 months, and he was in his second semester at PSU working on his bachelor's degree. I had just started working on my doctorate.

5 years ago: I had just finished my 7th year as principal and begun my 2nd semester teaching in the Elementary Education department at Kutztown University. Paul and I had been married for 2 years and ttc for over a year. I had tried various fertility meds with my Gyn that summer and had just switched to my first RE. We were living in a house I had purchased 18 months earlier. Paul was working for his dad while taking classes PT to finish his Bachelor's degree in math.

3 years ago: In July 2005 I had my first miscarriage. That pregnancy was from inj/iui. I had another inj/iui which was unsuccessful and at this time in 2005 I was gearing up for inj #6 and iui #4 which I had in November 2005. We had also been pursuing domestic newborn adoption for almost a year as we began that in November 2004. I was starting my 2nd year teaching at the university where I am now. We had been living in our second home for 15 months. I also was singing in the church choir, a member of ladies Bible study, and playing in the church's handbell choir. Paul was working FT for his dad's company.

1 year ago: In July 2007 our dossier expired in Ukraine before it was submitted to the SDA, and we decided not to update it. We also only had a few months left of our 3 year contract with Lifetime Adoption. So we had signed a contract with Adoption Consultants and began the ivf process. In October 2007 I was having daily shots to get ready for a frozen embryo transfer of one blastocyst (Nadia!) because we had lost the other 6 embryos in August. I was also busy applying for tenure and promotion at my university. Paul was in his second year of his Master's degree program in chemistry.

Yesterday: I left for school at 6:45am and returned at 9:45 then I took care of Nadia and worked on my Bible study lessons and replied to seemingly 5 million work emails before heading to church for handbell rehearsal. I went to bed shortly after I got home as I was exhausted from not getting much sleep the previous night.

Today: Nadia and I went to ladies Bible study this morning (left around 8:30am and got home at about noon). It was my first time attending since I had her, and when I walked in the leader announced that a miracle had just come in the room. Yes, Nadia, who is 15 weeks old today, is a little miracle! Around 3:00 I will leave for work and will get home around 8:00 and will probably go to bed at 9:00.

Tomorrow: I'll teach tomorrow morning, but then I'll be home the rest of the day (yippee!). I would like to get caught up on writing thank you notes, and if Nadia takes a nap in her crib at some point during the day then I'd like to get some work done outside as far as trimming shrubs, pulling weeds, etc. I also need to cook something for dinner as tonight Paul will finish up the beef stew I made on Sunday.

Apple Tree!

Over the past 10 days that we've lived in this house I've discovered things I like and don't like about the house. Today I learned something new as I was moving stuff from the garage to the shed, trying to make room so Paul can start pulling his car into the garage. We have an apple tree! How cool is that! :-) I saw apples on the ground and looked up and a couple are still on the tree. I'll enjoy eating those next year. It will save me a few $$ at the grocery store which is always a good thing too. A few things I don't like are how slippery the kitchen floor is, the location of the silverware drawer, and that only one of the four bedrooms has a light in the ceiling. A few things I like (which are all new things I've never had before) are:

• the fact that some of the kitchen cabinets open on both sides which will be nice when setting the table


• that there's a shed and swing set/slide in the backyard
• how many closets there are upstairs (including my first walk-in closet!)
• how many cabinets are in the kitchen AND I have my first pantry!
  
  
• the deck in the backyard (we need to buy a picnic table and chairs next spring!)
  
  
• ice maker


• jacuzzi tub (haven't had time to use it yet! and Paul calls it "Nadia's indoor swimming pool, LOL)


• fireplace
  
• central air


• an appliance hutch in the kitchen which has a rolling door (we put the toaster oven there)


• a cabinet in the kitchen that has a glass door so you can see the pretty things inside
  

I haven't taken pics of every room yet, but here are a few. Can you tell that a child lives in this house? She might only weigh 11 lbs but her presence is seen throughout the house

To respond to the comments - yes Nadia is still congested although it's not quite as bad. It would be awesome if she cleared up when she gets off the formula. She gets about 6 ounces of formula a day on average. We tried soy formula for awhile but that didn't seem to make a difference. Once life calms down (post moving) my goal is to start pumping so hopefully I won't have to buy formula (just been using the free samples thus far). As far as multitasking....I have always been one to do a couple of things at once. Even if Paul and I are watching a movie I'm usually doing something else also. What struck me yesterday was doing THREE things at once. That was not easy IMHO. Ironing while singing to Nadia to keep her entertained while she was in her bouncer was "normal." What felt too much was ironing with my right hand while holding my cell phone in my left hand talking about work stuff. For one thing I couldn't keep singing to Nadia and so she started crying. Almost every blog post the past 3 months has been written while nursing. I am used to doing two things at once. I realize life will still be busy as a wife/mother/homemaker, but I do think life will calm down some once the moving tasks are done (still unpacking!) as well as my workload is cut down at the university. For example I planned to type a midterm exam while Nadia napped on my lap yesterday afternoon after I got home from the grocery store, but the file wasn't on the computer, and I didn't want to disturb her nap. So I had to stay up after she went to bed to finish writing the midterm exam.

The discovery I made yesterday which ranks right up there with the apple tree today was that I found a grocery store I like that's only about 5 mintues away! I don't think of myself as a really picky person, but I didn't like the appearance of the first two I tried or the prices at the second one. Also both were missing items I ususally buy like the first one didn't sell any rye bread and the second didn't sell frozen carrots (not like those are exactly gourmet or strange items IMHO). Plus this one is the closest of the three! It's not a HUGE one, but I think it will work out fine. Now to find a hairdresser I like as I need a haircut. I am tempted to go back to Karen, but I know that would be a waste of gas $$ and time.

Here are some notes regarding the photos:

The penguin themed bathroom (Paul picked out) is in the downstairs half-bath. Aren't Nadia's coats so cute on the hooks? :-)

• The bookshelf is in the living room and aside from the top shelf which has my cookbooks, all the other shelves are filled with Nadia's books and puzzles. The bottom shelves are the ones we'll use first (board books and simple puzzles). I plan to start reading to her every day in the VERY near future. What fun! My mom said I shouldn't buy her any more books for the next 2-3 years. Hmmm I doubt that will happen, LOL.


• The monkey themed bathroom is the upstairs hall bathroom (I picked it out).


• The floral one is our master bathroom. I bought that shower curtain in 1994 and used it in Annapolis & Port Carbon but haven't used it since 2000 so it seems new.


• The bedspread in our room was a wedding present that we hadn't ever used so it also seems new.
  

Over the next few days I'll take pics of the other rooms in the house such as of course Nadia's room! :-)

P.S. I just thought of a funny thing in terms of multitasking. When I was in college I rarely took notes. I am a very auditory learner and remember what I have heard very well so I didn't have to study for exams that were lecture based (did have to study for the ones based on the textbook). During classes it probably looked like I was taking notes but I was actually writing letters to my mom. Well I didn't do that in chemistry class but in the ones I thought were easy I did. The irony now is that I deduct points from my students if I see them text messaging during class and really is that any different than writing a letter? I guess what goes around comes around! It's just that their actions are more blatant I guess whereas my letter writing was easier to disguise (not that some students aren't very adept at trying to hide what they are doing by keeping their hand in their bag or under their desk). Truly that takes talent! I've never sent a text message, but I would find it a challenge even if I was looking at the keys. I am amazed they can do it without looking!!