Crayons and Kisses

Nadia has had several experiences with crayons. The first few were at restaurants; those were very brief encounters as she was inclined to put them in her mouth. My friend, Sharon, gave her two crayons in December that she plays with in the bathtub, but yesterday she created her first masterpiece on paper while I was in Bible study. I am saving the paper. She did a lot of coloring on it and used several different color crayons. So when Daddy came home last night, I got out some crayons I had purchased for her many months ago and she colored a little bit while sitting on Daddy's lap. In addition to working on puzzles, we can add coloring to the list of activities Mommy and Nadia can do together every day. I was concerned about how Nadia would do in the unfamiliar nursery. On the way there she kept saying "Abby?" My response was that there would be other children there for her to play with. Thankfully, she had a blast. She went up and down the little slide, colored with crayons, played with Playdoh, etc. She didn't want to leave when it was time to go home 2.5 hours later!

The one problem though was that she fell asleep on the way home and that 25 minute nap proved to be the only nap she had yesterday. Monday her afternoon nap was 10 minutes shy of 3 hours long so that's a big difference. When we got home I fed her lunch and let her play awhile before I put her down, but she just played happily in her crib for 75 minutes. Paul put her to bed a few minutes early last night, and she fell asleep almost immediately. I am going to bring pretzels with me next week, and hopefully if I keep handing them back to her she'll stay awake during our drive home. If that doesn't work, my other idea is to hold off longer on putting her down for the nap (maybe wait until 2pm?). All I know is that she does need at least one nap a day, and 25 minutes is no where near long enough! In light of the fact that I had gotten very little sleep Monday night (due to Ian) and then didn't get a nap (due to Nadia), I called the neighbor at 2:30pm and asked if one of her girls might be able to come over for an hour or two after school to play with Nadia so I could take a nap. Due to nursing Ian and such I didn't actually get a nap, but still I am glad Gabby came over and played with Nadia for 2 hours as it was still less tiring for me to nurse Ian upstairs in our bedroom than to take care of both kids.  Gabby was thrilled that Nadia came close to saying her name (called her Abby).

I was 5 minutes late to Bible study. I am getting closer to being on time, LOL. Since I had been up so much during the night, at 5:30am I asked Paul if he would watch Ian (and Nadia when she woke up) for one hour so I could take a nap. I didn't actually get up until a little before 7am, and 90 minutes didn't prove to be enough time for me to get Nadia and myself fed and dressed, myself showered, and nurse Ian. Maybe next week I'll make it on time. It was great to see ladies I hadn't seen in awhile, and of course many women wanted to see our newest arrival; I was very happy to show him off! :-)

Nadia is going to spend the day at Sarah's tomorrow. She'll be thrilled to be with Abby, and I plan on using the day to work on weaning Ian off the shield. On Sunday I had asked Sarah if she would watch Nadia February 1st while Ian and I were at the doctor's office, but yesterday I ended up cancelling our appointments. I wasn't that impressed with the importance of a postpartum appointment after I had Nadia - just a very quick check of the c-section incision, but the reason I cancelled was in light of spending 24 hours in the hospital last week. I also decided I never wanted to return to that clinic again. My OB and the kids' pediatrician were there. I had planned to switch them to an office of just pediatricians, but when Ian came early I was unprepared to state who his PCP would be when they asked me in the NICU. Yesterday I made the change for both kiddos, and it will be effective on February 1st. I then cancelled Ian's 2 February doctor appointments. Today I plan on calling the new office and scheduling a 2 month appt for him. I haven't had the need for a regular gyn since I started seeing an RE in 2003, but since we are done with that I guess I'll need to pick one this year. I plan to go back to the clinic where I went at the start of this pregnancy. The OB who did my D&E is a part of that group, and she seemed really nice.

Nadia has been one to give lots of hugs for many, many months. Her newest way of showing affection is to give kisses. It took Paul off guard when she kissed him on the lips last night. I am thrilled that she's such an affectionate little girl. I hope she stays that way for a very long time! Who can resist a kiss from a 19 month old? I sure can't! :-)