Lunch with a Friend

Last night Nadia went down at 7:15pm, and she first started talking at 6:15. She was fairly quiet though (chattering very sporadically) until 6:55am when I went to get her. I put her down earlier than usual for her first nap (8:30) because I planned to leave the house at 9:45am. Lately her morning nap has been one hour long. I thought she'd wake up at 9:30 which would have given me time to change her diaper, feed her, and get her in her snowsuit. She decided to have a long nap this morning. She woke up at 9:55 which was the latest I figured I could let her sleep and still have a chance to get to my 11:00 meeting on time at work. My friend, Donna, had agreed to watch Nadia during my meeting. As expected, she got tired around noon and fell asleep in Donna's arms, but she wasn't able to fall asleep in Donna's pack 'n play. While I was in the meeting, Donna's daughter and granddaughter (who turned 8 months old today) came over. Nadia had her first experience "playing" with a baby her age (they are 18 days apart). Donna's daughter was a student of mine in two classes at the university so it was good to see her and her daughter. Nadia was very happy to see me when I got back about 2 hours later. Of course I want her to be happy while she's being cared for by other people, but it's hard to express how wonderful it feels to have a little girl so happy to see me. :-)

Donna had made some vegetable soup, and so we ate lunch together and visited some before I needed to get Nadia home for her nap. It was so great to have time to chat with her (and the soup was delicous!). The last time I had lunch with a friend was in September. It's not that I had a booming social life before we moved, but I had two friends I did things with from time to time - a colleague at work (she's the one I had lunch with in September when Nadia was still going to work with me) and Cheri, whom I met in a Bible study (whom I haven't seen since we moved). Cheri and I are planning to go to a concert later this month, and I am looking forward to that. I always enjoy lunch with a friend, but I really enjoyed it today since it's a very rare treat these days. I appreciate Donna's willingness to watch Nadia from time to time. I know she's very well cared for when she's with Donna! Donna will be watching her on March 12 while we have our tests at the RE. She lives a stone's throw away from the hospital so that will work out very nicely. Hopefully Nadia can take her morning nap at Donna's that day. I brought my camera with me, but forgot to take any pics. Thankfully Liesl took some pics with Donna's camera. :-)

After I got Nadia in her snowsuit, she fell asleep in my arms before I even left Donna's house. She slept most of the way home, but her nap was only 30 minutes long. So I fed her and put her back down and thankfully she fell back asleep for 45 minutes in her crib. Nadia gets an A+ for flexibility today!!! She also took a few bites of food without puffs. She ate 1/2 a container of baby food today. Many babies her age could polish that off (or more) in one meal, but I am happy that she finished that amount over the course of three feedings today. Progress!