Family Dollar

I am not sure why, but I have not been one to shop at Dollar Stores. I would say in my entire life I've been inside one less than 5 times, and it's been probably 10 years since I went inside one. Well I got a coupon in the mail for $5 of a $25 purchase, and there's a Family Dollar store in our town (less than 5 minutes from home) right across from where I've been grocery shopping lately. So yesterday I went there with Nadia after going grocery shopping and put a variety of items in my cart such as 3 picture frames for $5 for the half-bathroom little shelf above the toilet that's been sitting empty, a shirt/short set for $3 for Nadia next summer (size 12 months), two different play food sets (total of 80 pieces for $10), and a dress up set ("high heels", necklace, purse, earrings, and hat) for $5. It's fun shopping for Nadia! These toys are obviously not for her now, but I'll store them in her closet for future use. Well after the cashier rang up my purchases I handed her my credit card only to find out that they don't take credit cards - cash or debit card only. Although I don't usually carry much cash, I normally would have had enough to pay for these items, but Paul had just borrowed some of my cash the day before. So I only had $20 on me which wasn't enough. How embarassing! She set aside my bag full of purchases, and I returned a few hours later on my way to work and bought the items. I am so used to paying for everything with my credit card (I pay the bill off completely each month), that it caught me off guard to not be able to use it. The next time I go there, I'll be sure to have more cash in my wallet!

I was tempted to let Nadia cry last night, but Paul said she wouldn't take the bottle much while I was at school yesterday, and she was in bed before I got home from class. I did let her cry the first time she woke up to see what would happen (4 hours after she'd gone down) and she only cried a few minutes (less than 5) and was back asleep, but then she woke up crying again 30 minutes later. So I went in her room and discovered she was on her belly. I know Daddy put her in bed on her back. She did nurse vigorously at first, so I think she was actually hungry although again she fell asleep after not too many minutes of nursing but then was upset when I put her in the crib. I think tonight I'm going to try not nursing her during the night and see what happens as I'll be home the rest of the day today, and tomorrow I'll be home as well so if tonight is a rough night I can get a nap tomorrow. Plus I can nurse her before she goes to bed tonight and first thing in the morning tomorrow which I can't always do.

I have only ONE day left of class - Friday morning. WOOHOO! I don't mean to make it sound like I don't enjoy teaching. I do! However, I am not so keen on leaving the house at 6:40am when I am up twice during the night. Plus I can't say that spending 80 minutes a day on the road thrills me either. Friday is going to be a double trip day, but unlike most trips, Nadia will be coming with me the 2nd time as the department is meeting at an Italian restaurant at 2pm for our December faculty meeting. I don't think the Dean can ban her from attending a meeting off campus.

In the photos I posted yesterday, you might actually get a glimpse of one of Nadia's other new "skills" - the art of pulling up her pant legs. She hasn't taken off her socks yet, but she does frequently reach down and hike her pant legs up. Mommy certainly tries to keep her legs covered in this cold weather. :-)

Paul was wanting some photos for his new desk at PSU. He has a desk now that he's in a research group. I was picking out some photos to put in the frame, and I ran across some from when she first came home from the hospital. Wow has she grown. I know babies are supposed to double their birth weight by 6 months. Well she doubled hers BEFORE she hit 4 months. It really shows if you look at this photo from July 3 and compare it to December 3. Those legs were so thin, and now they're so chubby! I wish I could go back in time and hold her once more when she was my little munchkin.

Well I should get back to grading papers. Yesterday Nadia's morning nap was back to 45 minutes, and her first nap this morning was even shorter than that. Right now she's been asleep for more than an hour so I am glad she's back to one longer nap. It would have been better for Paul if the long one was while he was watching her, but there's not much I can do about that! He even kept her up for 1 hour 45 minutes (instead of the usual 1 hour 30 minutes), but that didn't seem to help (that time anyhow).