Happy Easter!

Today was a busy day! I had the au gratin potatoes and ham in the oven before we left for church, and I made some yeast rolls when we got back. Millie brought some very tasty desserts, and Paul's mom brought some yummy deviled eggs. Nadia said she wanted to go in the church service with us, which was special. Ever since I started putting Oliver in the nursery, I have been sitting in church by myself. It was so special to sit with Paul and Nadia this morning. Part way through the sermon she whispered and asked me how much longer it was going to last. I asked if she wanted to go to Wee Worship, and she said "yes." She stayed in the service for almost an hour. I was pleased.

We gave Ian his usual lunch when we came home from church and sent him up for a nap when the rest of us were sitting down to have our ham dinner. Oliver was already sleeping. Nadia did a great job eating the meal as she loves cranberry sauce, ham, rolls, etc. I didn't make her eat the creamed corn or green beans. Since there were only eight of us at the table, she got to join us at the dining room table (usually she and Ian eat at the "kids" table when we host a holiday meal). The kids had a blast playing with Pop Pop and Grandma, and they enjoyed their Easter gifts from them (Legos, VeggieTales dvd, and princesses). My only regret was that there were some pictures I was hoping to get that didn't get taken - I was hoping to get a family photo and some pics of myself with the kids (I wear makeup less than 5 times a year and I was wearing some today and was wearing a dress I hadn't worn in years), and I was hoping to get a photo of the three kids together as well as individual ones of each child (only took some of Nadia). I think I'll just need to make an appointment at Sears. I had said months ago that once Oliver was sitting up I'd schedule his next appointment, and that day has come! I'll have lots of chances to take pictures of the kids in their "Easter" clothes. When the weather is warmer and the outside is prettier (greener and more blossoms and flowers), I'll take some photos of them outside. I am not posting all the pictures today. I'll save a few of the ones I took today for later this week.

 

 

 

Easter Eggs

Yesterday I took the kids for storytime at the library, and since it included an egg hunt, the place was packed. They held the hunt inside, and it was the first time Ian collected a lot of eggs and put them in his basket. The plastic eggs were empty, but at the end the kids dumped the eggs in a bin and received a bag containing stickers and some white cheddar puffs. This morning all five of us went to another egg hunt very close to our house. This one was held outside, but because the weather was gorgeous, far more people were there compared to last year. Nadia and Ian were in the area for ages 1-4. Ian picked up only one egg. The swarm of humanity didn't intimidate Nadua so she still collected several eggs. All the plastic eggs contained candy (mostly Tootsie rolls), and Nadia picked up two prize eggs. One was for a Tweety bird stuffed animal, and the other was for a large Dora book. Ian claimed Tweety. Nadia and Daddy each had a (free) hotdog before we left. This was the first time ever that Daddy attended an Easter egg with any of our kids.

Last night we dyed eight eggs. We made enough dye to do many more, but we had already been eating a lot of egg salad lately so we just did eight. I've never bought the kids any candy for Easter or any sort of Easter basket, but I think I will starting next year. Last year they got so much stuff between the Ronald McDonald House in Hershey and the prizes Nadia won at the same place we were today. I feel torn in light of wanting to focus on the true meaning of Easter, but I have fond memories of eating a chocolate bunny once a year when I was a child, so I think I'll start that tradition for them as well. I know they love chocolate! I did buy them a treat today. I hadn't bought any ice cream in almost a year, and the last time I bought some I got plain vanilla (because of the need to avoid chocolate while pregnant). I hadn't had any ice cream in six weeks, and I ghouth Ian might enjoy having his first ever taste of ice cream. Unfortunately he didn't get any today because he took forever to eat his dinner, but Nadia and I really enjoyed having some ice cream for dessert!

The weather was simply delightful today. It got up to 59 degrees! WOOHOO! Sadly, it's not supposed to be that warm again for more than a week. I took Nadia and Ian to the park while Oliver napped at home. That meant Nadia could ride in the stroller whereas lately she has been walking beside me as her brothers are in the stroller. I also took Nadia to Walmart to buy her a pair of cleats and a soccer ball. Nadia was really upset that she had to give up her "quiet time" for our trip to the store; so we listened to the "Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" in the van instead. The smallest cleats they had were size 12. She has been wearing size 10 shoes. I was considering getting size 10.5 or 11 because she's been wearing size 10 for awhile so I'm sure she'll be moving up in the near future, but size 12 seems like too big of a jump. If they prove to be too big, I'll hold on to them for the future and get her a smaller pair for this season at another store. After dinner tonight Paul took Nadia and Ian out to practice dribbling the soccer ball in the back yard.

The other highlight of the day was that Paul received a call inviting him to participate in another phone interview (it will be his 6th). Over the next 9 days he's scheduled to have three phone interviews - two schools in NY and one in NC.

 

 

 

Soccer Mom?

I am not exactly sure what is meant by the term "soccer mom," but I did take Nadia to her first practice yesterday. I think she had fun! I found out I need to buy her cleats, and I think a soccer ball so she can practice in our yard would slso be most helpful. She did wear shin guards and soccer socks yesterday for the first time, and I'll be picking up her uniform on Tuesday. The first game was supposed to be April 6, but it's been pushed back to the 13th, which means she should have four practices before the first game. Her favorite part of the practice last night was playing sharks and minnows. She especially liked being a "shark" and trying to steal the ball from a "minnow." It definitely helped that she knew one boy on the team (from our church). I hope she has fun playing soccer! I am planning on having her do Upward Basketball later this year. Maybe Daddy could be her coach! Oliver, Ian, and I are hoping the weather warms up for the rest of the soccer season as we were cold yesterday. I also realized I was supposed to bring her water. I'm learning!

I wish I had brought a video camera instead of my camera with me (although actually I could have recorded a video with my DSLR camera). Watching ten children ages 4-6 attempting to dribble their balls across the field was downright hysterical. Nadia had never dribbled a ball in her life, and I will say just over the span of one practice she improved quite a bit. I imagine the games are going to be rather humorous also. I want her to try a variety of sports and hopefully she'll find at least one that she enjoys and wants to stick with for a longer period of time. First was gymnastics, then ballet, then tap dance, and now soccer. This is the first one that has involved fundraising though. I am NOT a fan of selling things (it's Yankee Candles this time). I know the organization just gets a small portion of the proceeds. Whenever a child comes to my door selling something, I honestly wish they would just be collecting donations for their organization rather than selling something. It would cost less money for me and give more money to the organization. I'd rather pay a little bit more for the registration and skip the fundraising.

Oliver has had a cold for five weeks. During those five weeks he's only slept through the night twice. Sometimes he's gotten up multiple times in the night, but mostly he's been getting up once. His cough went away, but his runny nose is back, and he's also had a fever off and on this week as well. Last night he only slept 8.5 hours total (was up from 4-5am). I've been getting 6-7 hours of sleep a night on average for 5 weeks. I'm pooped. My situation is mild though compared to my sister as all six of her children are sick, including her youngest who is only about six weeks old. Still I'm hoping that Oliver will get over his cold asap, sleep better at night, and go back to gaining weight at a better pace. My other sister, Wendy, also won't be getting much sleep these days because she gave birth to Grace Caroline today. My parents now have 13 grandchildren age 10 and under - 6 girls and 7 boys. Grace and Julianna are very close in age just like Adam and Joshua are also just a few weeks apart in age. We are looking forward to meeting Grace in December and Julianna in 2014.

Thankful Thursday

1. At church tonight we'll be having communion and remembering the suffering Christ endured. I am eternally grateful to the Lord for his willingness to die on the cross for my sins, and I am so glad that we get to celebrate His resurrection on Sunday. Up from the grave He arose!

 

2. I love singing in my church's choir. We're doing two of my favorites on Easter - the Hallelujah Chorus and "Rise Again". Later this spring we're doing another of my all time favorites,"The Majesty and Glory of Your Name." I loved this singing that anthem so much in Maryland that I ordered it for the choir I directed in Pennsylvania.

 

3. After going 11 days without working on any applications, I submitted two for Paul yesterday - to Wright State University (OH) and for a one year visiting position in VA. We've now submitted 45 applications, and the local position will be number 46.

4. Although I wish the temperature was a bit warmer, it has been really nice to see the sun and blue sky more this week. We did make the trek to the playground on Wednesday, but I'd like it to be a bit warmer before we venture there again.

5. Nadia will finally be having her first soccer practice this evening! She'll be having two practices next week, which means she should have three practices before her first game. Because of the service at church tonight, Paul is going to meet me at the soccer field (come straight from work) so that I can to to church on time. The choir is singing two songs tonight so I need to get there 30 minutes before the service starts.

6. My parents and Paul's family are planning to join us for dinner on Sunday. A ham dinner is one of my favorite meals, and it's always a treat to spend time with our families. Including Oliver (who won't be eating the dinner), there should be 13 of us gathered at the table on Sunday. I'm looking forward to it!

No more snow, please

We got more snow yesterday morning. You can tell we've had plenty of snow this winter because the kids had no interest in going out to play in it, and it was good packing snow, too! It was much warmer out today. The kids played in the back yard after lunch, and I took Ian and Oliver to a park while Nadia was in her ballet/tap class. It was time for Oliver's afternoon nap so he fell asleep in the swing at the playground. I am hoping that we won't see snow again until December, and I'd really love it if the temps were warm enough to resume regular trips to the playground. Aside from the nicer weather, the best news of the day was that Paul was invited to do another phone interview next week (for a tenure track position in New York). It will actually take place a few days before the phone interview with the school in North Carolina. Also, based on emails he received from Colgate University today, I think he'll be having a phone interview with them as well (for a 2 year teaching post doc position).

Today I spoke with the man who was my mortgage broker the last three times I bought a house. He confirmed the realtor was correct that a seller can't back out of a contract (I knew from experience that a buyer can back out so I assumed a seller could as well). In light of the fact that there is now a small chance that we'd want to stay in this house, we are going to wait until May to put our house on the market (unless Paul receives a job offer before then). This also gives us more time to get some things done around the house before we try to sell it. If we do put the house on the market later than planned, I hope it goes under contract quickly so that settlement can take place in July or August.

 

One of these days

I have told myself countless times that anxiety and worry don't help one iota, and they certainly increase my stress level. Will I ever truly learn this lesson? I have really been trying not to worry about Paul's job search. I keep reminding myself that God is in control. Our neighbor told Paul last week that he accepted a job offer at a local hospital. He will start the job when he completes his degree in nursing in a few weeks. Paul feels like he made the wrong choice when he decided to pursue a Ph.D. in chemistry. We've been submitting applications for five months now. At one point we thought he'd start a new job in January. Now we've been praying for a job in his field by August. He's applied for 43 jobs so far, and 21 of those appear to be still active. If he applies for the local temporary job, that would be application number 44. We would rank that one above seven of the active ones and below the other fourteen. Part of me really, really wants the suspense to be over, but I'd rather be in suspense longer if it means ending up at the place best suited for our whole family.

The last few weeks I've been frustrated over Nadia's soccer situation. Before I signed her up, I asked when the practices were to be sure it wouldn't conflict with Cubbies or ballet/tap. The administrator told me it wouldn't be a problem, but then when the coach called me 4 weeks ago she told me the practices were on Wednesdays at 5:30, which would not work with Cubbies. The administrator emailed me on March 4 to tell me she was switching Nadia to a team that practiced on Mondays and that she'd let me know the details within two days. I actually had to wait 21 days to find out, which means she missed at least one practice. I definitely was frustrated at her lack of returning my weekly phone call and email. She finally called me back today, and I found out that a man from our church will be her coach on Thursday nights. What a relief! I assumed I wouldn't know her coach or anyone on the team. It seems like it all worked out for the best, and my getting worked up about it over the past few weeks did not help at all. I'm trying to keep this in mind the next time I feel myself getting anxious about the job search. Easier said than done.

Oliver has been waking up around 4:30am every morning for quite a few days in a row. I do not like waking up at that hour because by the time I put him back down it's 5:30am (or later), and I have the hardest time going back to sleep even though I feel tired. If he wakes up at say 3:00am, I have a much easier time going back to sleep at 4:00am. Yesterday afternoon we went to see Puss 'n Boots. Because of church in the morning and our trip to the theatre in the afternoon, Oliver had three very tiny naps (around 20 minutes each). I decided to put him to bed earlier than usual because of the sleep he lost and also in the hopes that then he might wake up earlier in the night. Even though I put him down at 7:30pm, he still woke up at 4:30am. Thankfully I was exhausted enough that I slept for another hour after I got him back down. I really don't like for  my day to start at 4:30 every morning. Putting him down earlier did result in him getting more sleep than usual. Lately he's been sleeping for 10 hours total (sleeps 8 hours, is up for one hour, and then sleeps 2 more hours). Last night he slept for 9 hours, was up for 40 minutes, and then slept for another 2 hours and 50 minutes, which meant he slept almost 12 hours total! There was a time when Nadia was young that she regularly slept 12 hours a night, but that was never a norm with Ian. The longest we have gotten him to sleep (with any sort of regularity) has been 11 hours. Oliver's cough has gone away (thankfully!) so if he keeps waking up at 4:30 I am going to have to let him cry it out at some point because I know he could sleep 10-11 hours straight at night because he did it for more than 2 months a few months ago.

4.75 Years Old

My girl is almost five years old. Sometimes she acts like a baby (crying and screaming instead of using words to say what is bothering her), and other times I think she's already acting like a teenager (stomping off in a huff and showing quite an awful attitude), but most of the time she seems like a preschooler who will soon be a Kindergartener. I love my little princess dearly. I am so grateful the Lord brought her into our family! Here are some of the ways she's changed over the past three months...

1. She spends FAR more time playing in her room. She usually has the CD player on. Sometimes she listens to music, but most of the time she's listening to a book. This last week one of the books she listened to was Stuart Little. Sometimes she's playing on her bed, and other times she's in the pink castle tent with her stuffed animals. Many times she's wearing a princess costume. On Wednesday she invited Paul into her room for Ariel's wedding.

2. She had finished the pre-k handwriting book a couple of months ago (minus the numerals). Recently I started her on the Kindergarten workbook. Also I've started having her write in a journal a few times a week. Her stories are all about princesses.

3. She's been putting random things in her mouth lately - something she hadn't done in a few years. I have no idea why, and I hope she stops asap! Is she trying to imitate Oliver???

4. I've read her 13 chapter books in the past 3 months. The last one we finished was Ramona Quimby, Age 8, and now I'm reading her Little House in the Big Woods.

5. She's obsessed with Annie lately. She's often singing either "Tomorrow" or "It's a hard knock life." Nadia and Ian often are acting out the story together. Ian is usually Daddy Warbucks.

6. She's spent more time playing with Ian's train table the past three months than the previous 12 months put together.

7. She's now working on 150 piece puzzles. I'm hoping once yard sale season starts up again to get her a few more as the 100 piece ones don't challenge her any more.

8. Her favorite thing to watch lately has been Angelina Ballerina.

9. Her sight word vocabulary has greatly increased. Words that she should learn by sounding out she learns through memorization instead.

10. I've started teaching her some Spanish. She loves it!!!

11. Her cutting skills continue to improve as well as her coloring skills.

12. Some of her favorite picture books at the moment include Amelia Bedelia books, Berenstain Bear books, Pinkalicious books, Little House books (picture books based on the Little House on the Prairie series), Lyle the Crocodile books, 101 Dalmatians, and Henry's Freedom Box.

13. She always has cold cereal for breakfast, but her selection constantly changes. It was Raisin Bran yesterday. Her favorite lunch lately has been some pretzels, half a banana, a glass of skim milk or apple juice, a grilled cheese sandwich, and two cookies.

14. She's no longer using a booster seat at the kitchen table.

15. We are working on teaching her not to make unkind retorts when she's reprimanded for something. In reality some of the "threats" she makes are funny, but the attitude is not funny at all.

16. Lately she's been wanting to wear jeans far more than she did over the previous year.

13 eggs and 2 feet

There's a coupon code for a free photo book expiring in a couple of days so I started working on the photo book and realized I have not taken anywhere near as many pictures as I normally do over the past two months. I am trying to take some extra ones this weekend to compensate. I say this because I posted some of the pics in posts I wrote earlier this week (I know there are Grandmas who will want to see them).  In particular I have been delinquent about getting a bath photo of Oliver. He is 7.5 months old, and I finally took his first bath photos this morning. Since I don't have a device for him to rest in like I did for his siblings, I needed him to be able to sit on his own before I could get a photo since I can't hold him in the tub and snap his photo at the same time. He hasn't totally mastered the art of sitting without toppling over, but he's come a long way. Several days ago Oliver discovered he has feet. I wondered why a part of his sock was wet one day, and then I realized he had been putting his foot in his mouth. If you put him on his back, he promptly reaches out with both hands and grabs both of his feet. I think this stage is so cute, and I was wondering if he was ever going to discover his adorable feet.

 

 Nadia really wanted to go to our church's Easter egg hunt last year, but I learned the first time we went (2011) that the event lasts about 2 minutes, and it hardly seemed worth the effort to drive there and back, particularly as they hold it at 2pm on a Sunday. Ian and Oliver were sleeping at 2pm last Sunday, and I knew I made the right decision. I kept telling Nadia I would take her to some other egg hunts. There are (at least) three in our town. Today was the first, and weather permitting I'm planning to take them to two more next week. Another reason for skipping the one at our church last weekend was because the ground was totally snow covered. Almost all the snow is gone, but it was still rather chilly today. When I wrote this event on the calendar, I was hoping Oliver would be able to stay home with Paul, but he's at work today because he took Wednesday off. I only got one picture because I was holding Oliver (in a baby carrier) and Nadia and Ian were off running in different directions (although they were in the area for only 3-4 year olds).

Last year we didn't do the egg hunt that we did today because it was raining. I had taken Nadia to this one two years ago, and I forgot that they use real eggs at this one. Last year Ian didn't want any part of picking up eggs at the library's egg hunt so I left him at home with Paul, and only took Nadia to the second egg hunt last year. This year I kept explaining what he would be doing, but once they said "go" he just stood there. I walked out and picked up one egg and put in his basket to help him grasp the concept. He then picked up one other egg (as seen in the photo below). Nadia has been enjoying egg hunts for a few years. She picked up eleven eggs, but she wasn't happy at the end because she was expecting some candy. She remembered that last year there was candy in some of the eggs, and she also selected a couple of prize eggs (and received some really nice prizes including a huge chocolate bunny). None of the thirteen eggs they picked up were prize eggs, and they were all hardboiled eggs (I guess I'll be making egg salad tonight). To appease their disappointment, I gave them each a lollipop when we got home. Last year at the library they gave each child a free book, which was great. Hopefully it will be a bit warmer next week for the other two egg hunts.

A new plan

Every once in a while I visit Pinterest. Honestly, I should spend less time on Facebook and more on Pinterest because I always quickly find some new recipes to try, crafts ideas, etc. Yesterday morning at 3am I went on Pinterest and found a link to an organizational post that was chock full of great ideas on a wide variety of topics. Some were not new ideas (but good reminders) such as always double a recipe and put half in the freezer. I do that occasionally but not regularly. Some I already have been implementing completely such as only print photographs that you want to frame (and I would add or those I want to put on the frig) and make photo books instead of photo albums or scrapbooks. I started making photo books when Nadia was an infant, but at first I kept ordering prints also. I did make 2 scrapbooks and 2 photo albums for her covering the first two years of her life. Because I had done that for her, I felt obligated to do the same for Ian (not wanting to "gyp" him). I have had no such complusion this third time around. The problem has been what to do with things that used to go in scrapbooks that can't go in a digitally produced photo book.

The blog post I read yesterday suggested having a file drawer or a portable file box for each child and then create a hanging file folder for each year of their life to go in that box. I love this idea. Right now things are buried in a big box, which means it's not easy to access them. This idea is simple (much less time consuming than scrapbooking), and it provides a very accessible way to organize and store things. I can't stand clutter, and Nadia brings home papers from church every Sunday and Wednesday. I have scanned some of her artwork as a way of preserving it, and I've kept a few things over the past few years, but with this new system, I will keep a little more of her work. It will be a portfolio of sorts. As the kids get older they can have more and more say as to what is put in that year's file. I will also include the prints that were framed (or on the frig), birthday cards they received, etc. She specifically suggested putting one copy of your family's Christmas photo card in each child's file each year. I think that's a great idea. I have one for Nadia's 1 year old file (the card from 2009), but I don't think I have any of the other ones. I'll save 3 extra starting this year. I used to save all the letters and photographs of the child I sponsored, but the last few years I've been tossing them after I've gotten a new one. I am going to start saving them again and file them as well. We sponsor three children, and the two latest ones are boys with the same (month/day but not year) birthday days as Oliver and Ian. In time I'm planning to have the children correspond with "their" child.

I started working on this project today. For now I am just going to start with one file box. I did two files for Ian (one for birth to age one and the other for age one to age three) and one for Oliver. One thing I discovered is that although Ian and Nadia have certificates from the hospital with their footprints on them, Oliver didn't get one. Bummer. It's rather ironic given he spent 4 weeks in the hospital. I received TONS of baby cards during my pregnancy and after giving birth to Nadia. There are way too many to put in her first hanging file folder. Ian has the fewest cards if you count all the "get well" type cards I received during Oliver's pregnancy in addition to the ones I got after he was born (I put all of those in his first folder). I have decided to ask Paul to get me two card storage boxes (something like this) at a craft store. I will use one to store the majority of the baby cards I got in 2008 and the other to store the bridal shower and wedding cards I got in 2001. I am usually not one to save too many cards, but I did save all the wedding, bridal shower, baby shower, baby, and my first Mother's Day cards. She also suggested having an album to keep the 8x10 pictures that you had in frames at one time (one album for each child). I liked that idea, but the 8x10s will fit in the hanging files. You can always get free 10x13s from Picture Me and Sears so I have many 10x13s, and those won't fit in the hanging files. So I am also going to ask for three of these for my birthday so that I will have one for each child to make an album of their 10x13 (or 11x14) photos after they are taken out of the frame and replaced with a newer photo. I am really excited about the new plan because the kids enjoy looking at the photo books, and I am sure they'll enjoy looking in the file box from time to time. This also will make it easier to pass the boxes on to the kids after they graduate from college.

I think I am also going to make some files for Paul and I. I kept up with my scrapbooking through 2005, but I didn't do any in 2006, 2007, or the first half of 2008. I could make a file for our trip to China for example since I never put those in a scrapbook. I love photo books, but there are some keepsakes that would have been put in a scrapbook that don't fit in a photo book such as Nadia's program from her musical last summer, the certificates from their baby dedications, their hospital bracelets, etc. This seems like a wonderful solution.

The university where I taught for the past 9 years posted two FT one year positions in chemistry today. Our first preference would be for Paul to get a permanent (tenure track) job, but he has also been applying for temporary (visiting professor) and post doc positions which are for 1-3 years. However, if he's going to take a temporary job, we'd MUCH rather it be local so we wouldn't have to move for a temporary job. None of the first 43 applications were to schools within 2 hours of our house, which is why I had started to pack up our belongings. In light of this possibility, I think I'm going to take a break from packing until Paul gets an out-of-state job offer OR until we know that he wasn't chosen for one of these two local positions. They won't start reviewing applications until April 30 so we can wait a few weeks to see what happens elsewhere before submitting this 44th application. Now the question is whether to stick with the plan to put the house on the market in 2 weeks. In 2004 we put our house on the market the first week of March, and we sold it the middle of September. If we are going to move in July or August, I really think we should put it on the market asap, but I don't want it to go under contract in April and then find out in May that we're staying in this area because he'll be teaching where I've been for the past 9 years. Tough call! It's also going to be a tricky decision if he is offered a temporary or post doc position elsewhere before the end of April.

Thankful Thursday

1. Paul had his third phone interview yesterday (for a one year position in MA) and will be having his fourth one (for a permanent position in NC) next week.  Praying for more interviews and more importantly a job offer. As of last Friday, he had applied for 43 jobs. So far this week there haven't been any posted that he wanted to pursue. He's very interested in the position in NC. It would be so lovely if he landed a permanent position rather than one that will only last 1-3 years. I am hoping that within the next 6 weeks we'll find out where we'll be moving this summer. I assume most schools will want to have their searches wrapped up by the end of the spring semester.

2. Paul never got the cold the rest of us had. Ian, Nadia, and I are back to full health. Oliver's nose isn't as runny, but now he's had a cough since Sunday. Poor guy! He's been under the weather for almost 3 weeks now. I hope he feels better asap! In light of his illness, I've been wishing he was more interested in nursing so he could get the antibodies from me. At least he still is getting some of my milk. Some is better than none, right?

3. Nadia and Ian rode down to work with Paul today because they are spending the day with their grandparents. They love their Grandma and Pop Pop soooo much! I got an incredible amount of work done today. Only having an infant at home during the day is incredibly different from having 3 kids age 4 and under. In a typical day I have 2 hours a day with just Oliver (3-4am and 1-2pm) and 1 hour without any kids (8:30-9:30pm). Oliver and I went grocery shopping, and I also picked up some empty boxes. I cooked dinner and was able to do the dishes right after cooking! Normally it's a challenge to have enough time to cook dinner, and the dishes (I hand wash mixing bowls, pots, and pans) usually have to wait until the kids are in bed. I also did some spackling and packing. Oliver's first two naps were only 40-45 minutes long (whereas they average about 2 hours each). I put him down for a third nap (which is very rare for him), and that nap finally was a good one.

4. We had a some caramel bits left over that weren't needed for the cookies we made so yesterday I melted them and cut up some Granny Smith apples to dip in the caramel. Nadia and I thoroughly enjoyed that treat! It was her first time having a caramel apple.

Allergy Update

For more than 18 months we eliminated the following foods from Ian's diet: milk, soy, eggs, peanuts, cinnamon, and oats. Cinnamon only needs to be eliminated if it's something that is likely to come in contact with his skin; in reality this has just meant not serving him cream of wheat or applesauce that contains cinnamon. No big deal. I thought that oats caused him to have to go #2 multiple times a day, but now it seems that's just how he's wired. I haven't gone so far as to serve him oatmeal for breakfast, but he's had things like oatmeal cookies.

The first offending food that we reintroduced was baked eggs. That was SUCH a big help as it meant he could have far more cakes, cookies, brownies, etc. More recently I served him a little scrambled eggs when we were having breakfast for dinner, but he hated them. I decided that since he still tests positive on the prick testing for eggs I wasn't going to make him eat eggs. If I make eggs, I make them in conjunction with something else (french toast or pancakes). Nadia eats enough scrambled eggs for both of them. I'm perfectly fine with Ian not eating eggs. If at some point he expresses an interest in eating eggs, then we'll give it a whirl, but until that point, I am perfectly fine with not serving him eggs as long as he's eating foods that have eggs in them.

He has had peanut butter cookies, chocolate peanut butter chip cookies, and two peanut and butter jelly sandwiches. The first time he had a PB&J sandwich he got hives all over his face (even around his eyes) and they really bothered him (he was itching like crazy). Since the allergist said he could have soy, I have been buying him wowbutter (soy based) that really does taste very similar to peanut butter. Once since then I made him a sandwich with real peanut butter, but I put in on really thin in the hopes it wouldn't get on his skin. That did the trick. He didn't get any hives. I still have a few jars of wowbutter left, but when those are gone I think I'll serve him peanut butter and just make sure to go easy on it so it doesn't come in contact with his face.

Aside from the wowbutter, I haven't attempted to reintroduce soy protein. If he was still allergic to milk and not allergic to soy any more, then it would be nice to give him soy milk and soy yogurt and such. I haven't completed the milk trial yet so I am holding off on that. If he does fine with milk, I see no reason to try him on soy yogurt or soy milk as those aren't things we typically have in our house.

The last thing I reintroduced was milk. First I was told to only serve baked milk. This was a HUGE help as it meant he could now have things like lasagna, pizza, grilled cheese sandwiches, and tuna noodle casserole. Although everything has gone well so far, I admit I have been very nervous about introducing milk (not baked). So far I have sprayed a tiny bit of butter on his English muffin a couple of times, allowed him to have a couple of packages of cracker/cheese sandwiches, and today I put a little skim milk in his cold cereal for the first time ever (usually I put EleCare in his cereal). He's still drinking EleCare, and I haven't given him a yogurt yet. Even though everything has gone fine so far, I am not wanting to upset the apple cart. I think I'll continue as I am right now and just ever so gradually peridiodically give him a little milk. I think the next thing I'll try is a yogurt. We probably have enough EleCare to last a couple more months so I'm going to wait at least that long before I give him a glass of milk to drink. It is so, so, so nice to not need to read every label and for him to be able to eat things other people have made. He couldn't do that very often before.

Cooking for a family can certainly be a challenge. I make cookies about once a week on average. Last night Nadia requested chocolate chip, but I said let's make one that Daddy likes since he's not a big fan of chocolate chip (although he does eat them). We tried a new recipe for caramel oatmeal cookies. I forgot that Paul doesn't like cinnamon, and he detected that ingredient although there was only 1 teaspoon in the whole big batch. He also told me he's not really keen on oatmeal. So much for choosing a recipe Daddy liked. Paul doesn't like tomatoes, so I picked a recipe for chili that didn't have any tomatoes (even though I really like to have tomatoes in my chili). It's a challenge finding recipes everyone likes, and I'm not even cooking for Oliver yet. I will say all four of us liked the chicken parmigiana that I made not that long ago.

More Snow

Although most of Saturday's snow had already melted, Paul took Ian out for some fun in the snow while Nadia took a very rare nap yesterday afternoon. It is snowing as I type, and a few inches have already acculumated today. If I took a photo now, it would look a lot different than this photo Paul took yesterday. I hope this is winter's last blast. I'm sooooooooooo ready for spring.

Nadia's first soccer practice was supposed to be today. I am  not sure how she's going to have a clue what to do in her first game on April 6 if she doesn't get a few practices in first! One upside of the snow was that Paul came home earlier than usual (due to difficult driving conditions) and so he got to feed Ian his chicken pot pie (lucky him). I appreciate getting a break at least once a week from the duty of feeding Ian something he doesn't want to eat. Tomorrow I'm going to make cornbread and chili. It will be the first time the kids have eaten those. Here's to hoping they'll think it's yummy. Nadia is excited about the cornbread because it has been mentioned both in the Little House as well as the Ramona books we're reading. I wasn't sure we'd be able to continue reading Ramona Quimby, Age 8 that we got from the library on Friday because we couldn't locate it yesterday. After MUCH searching yesterday and again this morning, I finally found it in the cupboard of the play kitchen. Go figure!

Green!

We can't see much green outside today due to the snow, but there were quite a few people wearing green clothes at church today. Paul's dad's side of the family has Irish roots so the kids celebrated their Irish heritage by wearing green clothes today. Today was the first day in Oliver's life that he spent the entire church service in the nursery. Sniff. Sniff. He also spent half of Sunday School in there as well. I had him with me for the first half of Sunday School. Momma needs the letting go process to be somewhat gradual. He's just so incredibly cuddable and kissable! The kids enjoyed eating the shamrock sugar cookies their Aunt Millie made that Paul brought home from work yesterday evening.

Only Constant

The saying "the only constant thing in life is change" has been going through my head a lot lately. Not counting the big changes we hope will occur in 4-5 months (selling the house, moving to another state, Paul starting a new job, etc.), life constantly seems to require flexibility. We were in a routine as far as Oliver's schedule (which then determined many parts of the schedule for Nadia, Ian, and myself) and then he got sick 2 weeks ago. He still has a runny nose, and he's only slept through the night 2 times during that time span. His routine at the moment seems to be to go to bed around 8:30pm and get up around 4am and then after being up for about one hour he sleeps for about two more hours. The good news is that means he is back to getting at least 10 hours total of sleep at night. When he first got the cold he was only sleeping 9 hours total. Also, his day is starting later than usual, and since the other two are generally sleeping until 7am, it means my day is starting later than usual, if I am able to go back to sleep after I feed him. Sometimes I can't get back to sleep. Since he's getting up later, his morning nap is starting later than usual (somewhere around 10am), and he's also decided to make his morning nap really long these days (close to 3 hours). This means there is no way that there is any overlap between Ian and Oliver's naps because he's usually getting up around the time Ian is going down for his nap. Oliver's second nap is also much later than usual (starting sometime between 3-4pm). I've had to wake him up sometimes as I don't want him to take two long naps, and I want him to be awake for at least 3 hours before he goes down at night. One nice thing about the current routine is that he's usually asleep when Nadia, Ian, and I eat lunch and dinner, which is a nice thing since meal times can be challenging.

Here in PA in March the weather is also constantly changing. Last week it was warm enough to play outside without a jacket on, and right now as I am typing Nadia and Ian are outside in their snowsuits and boots playing in the snow. Oi vey. Spring is only 4 days away, and it looks like a winter wonderland out there. At this time two months from now we'll be in Florida. There won't be any snow there! I checked out two books from the library on Tuesday about WDW. Nadia asked me this morning what I was doing, and I told her I was figuring out what rides we should ride at WDW to which she responded, "They have rides? At Disney World?". LOL! I guess she thought it was ONLY a place to meet princesses! If any of you have tips for spending a day at Magic Kingdom with three kids age 4 and under, I am all ears! We're also going to spend a day at Sea World, hang out at the resort for a few days, go swimming with my Aunt Tina in Ponta Vedra Beach on two different days, go to the Jacksonville Zoo with my friend Jo, and spend two nights in San Fernadina Beach with Paul's Aunt Diane and Uncle Jim. Should be a great trip!

Since we stopped going to gymnastics, we haven't been going to the preschool story time at the library on Wedndesdays either. Yesterday we went to the local library's preschool story time for the first time in quite a long time. The librarian (who has been there about 18 months) still isn't as good as the librarian she replaced (in my opinion), but she has definitely improved. At the other library Ian would stay in one area and play with toys while Nadia went to the story time. At this library I asked him to sit on the carpet and listen to the stories. He did fairly well. It was easier than normal yesterday because Paul stayed home to work on finishing his dissertation and also work on finishing another article his advisor wants him to write. He's at work today. Since Paul was home yesterday, I didn't have to bring Oliver to the library. He was napping the whole time we were gone. If Oliver stays on this later schedule, it is going to be a problem for an 11am story time at the library on Fridays. Maybe we'll go every other week or something like that as a compromise.

It will be wonderful for Paul when the PSU chapter is totally done. He's hoping to reach that status in the next two weeks. He has a lot on his plate right now with working FT (most weeks anyhow), wrapping things up at PSU, interviewing for jobs, getting the house ready to sell (he hasn't worked on that for a few weeks), etc. The kids kept thinking that since he was home yesterday he would have time to play with them. Not so much. This too shall pass. As for the job search, I completed application #43 yesterday (another community college in Ohio). Yesterday a college in MA contacted him about doing a phone interview on Wednesday morning for a one year visiting assistant professor position. This is probably our least favorite of the 21 current possibilities, but at the very least it will give him more experience with phone interviews (his 3rd phone interview), and if that was the only place to offer him a job, he'd accept it.

Thankful Thursday

1. Although the weather has turned cold again, we really, really enjoyed the gorgeous weather we had Saturday- Monday. I know that soon those temps will become the norm, and the average temp will keep going up, up, up. YAHOO!

2. Oliver slept through the night twice in the past week. On Sunday night he slept for 10 hours, and on Monday night he slept for 10.5 hours straight. It was heavenly to be able to stay in bed until 6:30am on Tuesday morning. The last two mornings he's had a 4am feeding. Hopefully sleeping 10-11 hours straight will become the norm again in the very near future.

3. Nadia loved the chicken parmigiana and spaghetti so much on Tuesday night that she said it was scrumptious, and she asked if she could have it again tomorrow. Given what a picky eater she is, I celebrate each time I find a new food (for dinner) that she likes to eat. Paul also liked the recipe so we shall add that to the rotation!

4. Last night was a very unpleasant meal. I lost track of how many times Ian threw up. My mom graciously bought us pizza; so today's meals should go much more smoothly.

5. My mom came up for a visit yesterday! She spent 26 hours at our house. We hadn't seen her since Christmas. It was so very wonderful to spend some time with her. I'm hoping some day we'll live closer to each other and can see each other more often. If my sister's baby isn't born before Easter (she's due 4/7), my parents will be coming up for Easter. Yay!

6. I'm going to a Casting Crowns concert with my friend, Cheri, this evening! Woohoo!

7. I submitted application #41 for Paul yesterday, and I'm planning on submitting #42 today. Of the 25 that have been submitted in 2013, twenty are still active listings. Hopefully one of these school will hire my hubby!

8. Today I signed Nadia up for a one week theatre camp this summer geared for kids entering Kindergarten or First grade. I wasn't sure if I should sign her up in light of not knowing when we will move, but the cancellation fee is only $5 if we cancel by mid June. For her age group there were two options - a fairy tale theatre camp (no music) or a musical. I picked the non-musical one because if we don't move she'll participate in the musical program again that she was in last summer.

3.25 years old

I didn't do my usual monthly posts for Nadia or Ian last month, and I have decided that I'm going to start doing them every 3 months. I'll keep doing Oliver's every month for quite a bit longer since he's still so little and changes so much each month. Today Ian turns 3 1/4 years old!

1. He's really come a long way with eating. Twelve months ago he was living off of EleCare and coconut milk yogurt. He feeds himself breakfast and lunch these days. He has either 2 slices of toast with jelly (cut into small pieces) or a bagel (broken into pieces) plus a glass of EleCare and 2 vitamins for breakfast. For lunch he has pretzels, half a banana, and either a grilled cheese sandwich, cheese and crackers, or a wowbutter and jelly sandwich and a cookie for dessert. I feed him dinner unless we're having a food he REALLY likes (ex. pizza or chocolate chip pancakes). He has been eating baked milk and baked eggs, which means that he now can eat what the rest of us are eating. Last night he had chicken parmigiana and cheese ravioli. He still throws up a couple of times a week (on average) over a texture or because he overstuffed his mouth or because he tried to swallow something before chewing, but most of the time he now seems like a pretty typical three-year-old when it comes to eating, which is an amazing thing considering he had never chewed a thing at this time last year.

2. His favorite toy the past 3 months has definitely been the Little People pirate ship I got him for his birthday. It was easy to know what to get him because he loved playing with that toy at the Ronald McDonald House last August.

3. His favorite stuffed animal at the moment is a tiny little white bear (about 2 inches tall).

4. Although he still prefers to drink EleCare, he's doing a LOT better these days with drinking water. He doesn't like juice, and that's fine by me. I don't drink any juice (only water for me).

5. He's come a LONG way over the past few months with doing jigsaw puzzles. He will now help Nadia and I do a 100 piece jigsaw puzzle. He can do a small jigsaw puzzle by himself (ex. 12 pieces).

6. His favorite song is "Joshua fought the battle of Jericho." He sings all throughout the day. One day he was singing "Tomorrow" from Annie in an operetic type voice. Hysterical! I love hearing him sing. His sense of pitch is excellent.

7. He came a long way in gymnastics, but I still decided after 16 weeks of lessons that we should take a break and try again when he's a little older (and hopefully better able to follow instructions).

8. He is a chocoholic. I think his most favorite food in the whole world is a brownie. Great taste, Ian!

9. He usually naps for 1 hour each day, but sometimes his nap is really short (ex 30-45 minutes) and other times it's longer (90-120 minutes). Every once in a while he still wakes up crying, but overall he's come a long way with that over the past 3 months. Thank goodness.

10. He usually sleeps for about 11 hours at night (8pm to 7am). He falls asleep very quickly at night and is a noisy breather. Sometimes he doesn't make it all the way to 7am, but overall he's done better with that over the past month or two. He sweats a lot when he sleeps.

11. He's starting to do a little better with playing games. His lack of impulse control often interferes with his ability to play a board game.

12. He's gotten much better with picking socks that do match his outfit. He also tries to color coordinate his choice of underwear, even though I tell him it doesn't matter. He actually likes wearing dress clothes. This morning when I asked him what he wanted to wear he said his blue (dress) shirt and tie. I told him we'll save that for Sunday. Gotta love a little boy who likes to wear a tie!

13. He gives Oliver many, many kisses every day and often asks to "pet" him. He loves his little brother!

14. He loves to play rough house with Daddy and snuggle with Mommy. Other favorite activities include Play-doh, running, hide and seek, wearing costumes, building with wooden blocks, building with legoes, looking at books, watching dvd's, listening to cd's, playing with his train table, etc.

15. Although he loves to play with Nadia, he still has a long way to go with learning to always be nice to her. Lately he's learned to talk in a NOT nice tone of voice with her. Lovely. Although he's not great at sharing, he is actually better at sharing than Nadia is.

16. A few of his favorite books include: Are you my mother? (and other books by P.D. Eastman), Berenstain Bear books, Happy Birthday, Moon (by Frank Asch), Froggy books, Daddy's little boy, books by Iza Trapani, Clifford books, etc.

17. He now only talks about my time in the hospital about once a week on average (compared to several times a day the first few months).

Growing Girl

I could have done it awhile ago, but last week I promoted Nadia to a cushioned kitchen chair like Paul and I use. No more booster seat for Nadia! Ian is still using a booster, and of course Oliver is in the high chair. 

Her new accomplishment today was that she walked to and from the playground for the first time. My back was KILLING me from wearing 15lb Oliver to and from the playgroumd the previous two days. It hurt so badly that I had to wake Paul up and ask him to help me get out of bed at 2am so I could go to the bathroom. Oliver spends the majority of the time he's awake in my arms, but I haven't been "wearing" him lately, and I guess my back wasn't ready to do that it for a couple of hours a day two days in a row. When we went to the park today, Oliver and Ian rode in the double stroller and Nadia helped me push the stroller. I'm not getting quite as much exercise, but this way my back can hopefully recover and also Nadia got more exercise, which isn't a bad thing.

Her appetite for cd's of unabridged books is voracious. Today she finished listening to Pippi Longstocking. Since my throat was so sore, Paul read Ramona and her mother to the kids during lunch on Saturday and Sunday. Oh. My. Goodness. Paul was laughing so hard that he was crying. His laughter got everyone else (except Oliver) laughing right along with him. Since my throat doesn't hurt as much now, I read them some of that book today. Nadia loves Ramona! We have three more Ramona books left to read. I read a different book in between the Ramona books. I think I'm going to start reading the Little House on the Prairie books to her next.

Next Monday she'll have her first soccer practice. She's excited! Some of the teams started their practices this week. Her first game will be on April 6.

Must. Let. Go.

Parenting is the process of preparing children to be independent some day. It's painful to think about at times, but of course I don't want them to be forever dependent on their parents. That is not the reason I am going to homeschool Nadia for Kindergarten later this year, but it is an added bonus to be sure. The first "letting go" that has been the hardest for me with each child has been putting them in the nursery. I reached that point with Nadia and Ian when they were 6 months old because I felt they were too noisy to keep in church. Because of my sore throat I thought I could keep Oliver with me today as I wasn't going to sing in the choir. I had to take him to the nursery part way through the sermon. His days of being in my arms during church are over. I know I'll adjust, but it makes me sad right now. At home I'm delighted when he takes a nap in his crib, but at church my arms feel empty. It won't be that way for long though as I am going to have Nadia start coming to the worship service with me starting in September. We enjoyed another trip to the playground today! Thank you, Lord, for warmer weather!

 

 

The sun will come out!

Today has been a great day. First, Paul did one of Oliver's feedings during the night (9:15pm) so I only had to get up at 3:30am to nurse him. I went to bed at 8:15 last night before Paul came home. I was exhausted! The weathermen were right and the temps were up in the mid 50's today. We went to the park after lunch. I wore Oliver facing outward in the Bjorn carrier and pushed the other two kids in the stroller. I quickly realized how very out of shape I am. Wow. It felt HEAVENLY to be outside in the fresh air and to actually see the sun. The kids loved the playground, and Oliver had his very first ride in a swing. He loved it! Nadia loved the swings from the start, but Ian was much older before he started enjoying being in a swing.

Oliver fell asleep on the way back (I switched him facing toward me when he started fussing as I knew it was his nap time). When we got back I put him directly into his crib, and then Paul put Ian down for his nap. Nadia and I then left to see "Annie." Two of my Sunday School students attend a Christian school, and that school was putting on a production of Annie. The other two performances the last two nights started at 7pm (too late for Nadia), so I had been planning to take Nadia to the 2pm showing. They did a great job, and it was special to have 3.5 hours of one-on-one time with Nadia, although when I got home I wanted to hold Oliver as I was really missing my baby. Ian wanted to go, but I don't think he's ready to sit still for a 2.5 hour musical yet. He's been belting out the song "Tomorrow" at home.

I submitted application #38 (to a community college in NY) this morning, and I'm planning on mailing #39 (community college in OH) on Monday.

Big Day

Paul had his first teaching demonstration and interview today for a tenure track job at a 2 year college in New Jersey. He spent 6 hours driving there and back. I gave him (and Ian) a haircut on Wednesday night while Nadia was at Cubbies (my throat was not in any condition for choir rehearsal) in preparation for his interview. They are conducting more interviews tomorrow and next Friday. They will submit three names per position (they were considering Paul for two positions), and then the administration picks from the list of three that the search committee submits. So we will be in suspense for a few weeks probably. If they offer him a job, he will accept it unless something better comes along before then.

Over the past few days I submitted several applications for Paul. I am very happy to help him in this way, but I have to say if I never fill out another application again, it will be too soon. I need his signature on one, and then we will have submitted 38 applications (20 of those in the last few weeks) to schools in the following states: NJ, PA, RI, NY, MA, OH, MD, DE, WV, VA, NC, TN, and IN. If any of my cousins in Indiana are reading this, we submitted an application to Trine University (the first application to a school in IN). Paul has extended the radius a little, but he still isn't interested in positions in Iowa, Florida, Texas, California, etc. Seeing how tedious this process is makes a tenure track position even more desirable. We already preferred a tenure track position (over a 1-2 year temporary or post-doc position) because we would like to put down roots after our next move, but after applying for jobs for 5 months, the idea of doing this again in 1-2 years is very unappealing. We shall see what the Lord has in store for us. If you put together all the jobs I applied for from 1989-2013, the total would be far less than 38 (I had 7 different employers over those 24 years). This is a new experience for me to be submitting so many applications in a short amount of time.

Oliver only got up once last night (3:35am). It's been a week since he got more than 9 hours total of sleep in a night, and the longest stretch he's had in the past week has been 7 hours. I think being sick is one of the hardest parts of motherhood because you don't get a sick day. In light of Paul's interview, the kids will be in bed before he gets home, and obviously he didn't have any time to give them this morning so today was one of those "single parent" type days for me, which was a challenge considering I still have a fever and my throat is raw plus I was trying to help Paul with a few things (like ironing his suit jacket). Ian keeps asking why I am being so quiet (because I was whispering when I read books to them because it hurts too much to talk). It doesn't help that when little kids aren't feeling up to par they are fussier than usual. The good news is that this too shall pass. I am very grateful that Paul managed to escape catching the bug.

7 Months Old!

1. Oliver weighs 15 pounds as of today, which puts him at 3.8 percentile for his weight.

2. Since he's been sick the past 6 days, I haven't been feeding him solid foods as often. Thus far he's had a variety of fruits, Cheerios, and Gerber rice cereal. Blueberries seem to be his favorite thus far. I doubt he'll be like Nadia who was eating table food by 9 months, but he's certainly enjoying solids more than Ian did. He's still learning how to use his tongue.

3. He's come a long way over the past month with his sitting skills and also playing with toys (for example when he's in his high chair while I'm cooking).

4. He's regressed a lot with his sleeping at night. I hope that once he's over his cold he'll go back to sleeping at least 10 hours straight at night.

5. He's overflowing with bodily fluids between an excessive amount of slobber, lots of mucus coming out of his little nose, and he's spitting up more as well (both in frequency and quantity). I keep reminding myself that it could be worse. He's not projectile vomiting like Ian did many times a day. I am getting pretty used to being in a soaked shirt or sweater.

6. His eyes are still blue, and his hair is light brown. His hair is coming in more and more.

7. His smiles and laughter absolutely melt my heart.

Thankful Thursday

I haven't been posting as often lately, but I'm writing two posts today!

1. Paul has an interview tomorrow at 4:30pm in New Jersey. Prayers are appreciated! I am very grateful he made it to this stage - at the minimum it will give him experience with interviewing and doing a teaching demonstration and it could possibly result in a job offer.

2. Oliver took two good naps today for the first time in 6 days. Now if he could go back to sleeping better at night. Sometimes he's waking up every hour. I am pooped.

3. Paul has somehow managed to escape catching the bug the rest of us have had. I'm also thankful that Oliver's didn't include a cough like Nadia and Ian have had.

4. Paul has let me start doing cover letters (by modifying some of the previous ones he sent). My goal is that by tomorrow we will have submitted a total of 37 applications (18 were submitted in 2012).

5. In just two days it is supposed to be up in the 50's! Yahooooo! I have cabin fever and cannot wait to start walking to the playground as many days a week as possible. This also will help me reach my weight loss goal.

6. Paul is taking the kids to our local library (that we haven't been to in months) tonight for Cliffords's birthday party. Since Nadia got to wear the Cat in the Hat costume to the other library's party last Saturday, Ian gets to wear the Clifford costume this evening. I told her she could go as Emily Elizabeth. :) Oliver and I will stay home.

7. Nadia has shown great improvement within the last week with her coloring skills.

8. I made refried bean and cheese quesadillas for dinner last night, and Ian loved them! There have been times lately that he has done a better job of eating dinner than Nadia. Considering at this time last year he was only eating coconut milk yogurt and drinking EleCare, that seems nothing short of a miracle! I'm also thankful that he hasn't had any allergic reactions to baked milk or baked eggs. Today I ever so gradually started introducing not baked dairy products into his diet. Hoping for continued success, but even if we need to back track to only baked milk, that will be fine. Today he had a little apple crumb pie for the first time, and he loved that also! The last Sunday in February there was a dinner after the worship service to say farewell to our church's youth pastor. At first Ian was eating any ziti (just the roll that I gave him), but when he saw Nadia eating chocolate cake after eating her ziti, he ate his ziti so he could also have some cake!

9. Oliver is making great progress with sitting independently!

10. Paul brought home some boxes that Al and Millie passed on to him at work earlier this week, and that was greatly appreciated! I have continued to work on packing.

Napping Again

For three decades I never took naps unless I was really sick. After I became a Mom in June 2008, I began to take naps when possible until Nadia was sleeping through the night. It wasn't easy to take naps when Ian wasn't sleeping through the night. Oliver started sleeping through the night earlier than the other two kids so I didn't have a very long time where I attempted to take naps. He hadn't been sleeping through the night as consistently the last couple of months, and then he got a cold so now he's waking up multiple times in the night. Since I have also not been feeling well, I have really wanted naps the last few days. It doesn't always work out that there is an overlap between Ian and Oliver's naps, especially since with his cold some days he has only been taking 30 minute naps. However I did get a nap yesterday. Ironically it was Nadia who woke me up after I had been asleep for about 40 minutes. If she had left me alone, I could have slept for up to 2 hours. I got another nap today. It helped so much. Sleep does a body good.