Shopping Spree!

Today was a busy day! Nadia woke up at 5:30, and I gave her a bottle in the hopes that she would sleep a little more, but it didn't work. I fed Nadia some rice cereal for breakfast. I hadn't tried to feed her any in a long time, and it went really well for the first time! So I plan to start making that a daily routine. I also want to get in a habit of feeding her some solids after her second nap. Yesterday I made some apples and carrots, and today I made green beans for her. So I shouldn't need to make baby food for a long time as I now have 36 servings each of the 3 veggies and 10 of apples. The veggies were definitely easy to make and much cheaper than buying baby food. The apples took a lot more time, and I didn't save nearly as much money on those. Once we are picking our own apples from our trees I might make more, but until then I think I'll probably buy the fruit - maybe even unsweetened applesauce instead of baby food apples for example. Then I ran to the grocery store as I forgot to get something to make for the party tonight. In between spending time with Nadia I exercised, did a load of laundry, made brownies, etc.

Paul's parents came a little after noon while Nadia was napping. She woke up a little bit later, and after I felt she was situated (she is definitely in the scared of strangers stage although of course her grandparents aren't actually strangers), I left to go to school. I was home for about one hour (I missed my girl!), and then put her to bed (6:35). Then a few minutes later I left for the choir party. Yesterday I made some calls to try to find a ladies Bible study to join around here. The church in our town that I had visited has one on Tuesdays from 12:30-2:00, but that's not good in terms of Nadia's nap schedule plus I leave for school around 2:30pm. Another church is doing a Beth Moore study (I really enjoy those) on Wednesday nights, but that's when I have choir rehearsal. I am really busy anyhow so maybe it's all for the best, but that would have been a good way to meet some ladies around here. I wish one of these churches had MOPS or something similar, but they don't have that either. I think in the fall I'll join MOPS at the church where I used to go. They only meet once a month, and by then Nadia might be done with her morning nap so she might enjoy being a part of Moppets (program for the children) one morning a month.

Selective Smelling

You know how it seems that sometimes kids have selective hearing? Well I think dads have selective smelling. Paul can be playing with Nadia, and then I take over and immediately when I get in her vicinty I can smell a poopy diaper which supposedly Paul hasn't noticed. Hmmmmm... Paul changes more diapers than I thought he would so I am not complaining but just making an observation. Here are some other differences between Daddy and Mommy.

1. Daddy reads books to Nadia even if the words in the book are the words of a song (ex. Skip to My Lou and Yankee Doodle). Mommy sings the words when she reads those books.

2. Mommy is "rougher" when playing with Nadia. Daddy is oh so very gentle which is fine except he wishes he could get her to laugh when he tickles her and eats her belly, but the problem is that he's being too timid so she only laughs when Mommy does those things with her.

3. Daddy is just more paranoid in general when it comes to Nadia. He hasn't been brave enough to try giving her a bath yet for example. I can understand why he doesn't want to ever trim her fingernails. Mommy is nervous when she does that also!

4. Mommy is not as bothered by messes as Daddy is. Therefore Daddy doesn't want to feed her solid foods yet. I told him he won't have a choice at some point in the future, but for now Mommy only feeds Nadia solid foods with the exception that Daddy did give her a cracker on Tuesday night when she was rather fussy.

5. Daddy keeps track of exactly what he has done with Nadia when he is taking care of her. He reports that he read x number of books to her etc. and expects Mommy to be able to do the same but Mommy doesn't keep track like Daddy does.

As you can see from the pics, we went shopping this morning in between nap #1 and #2. She went to bed at 6:40 last night (later than she had been going recently) BUT she woke up earlier than she had the last two days. She woke up a little before 6am and I finally gave up on her going back to sleep around 6:20am. I managed to keep her up until 8:30 which wasn't easy since she had been awake since before 6am, but then that first nap was less than 45 minutes!! So I thought shopping would help keep her awake during the second wake time. She fell asleep as soon as we got home without making a peep (11:20). So we're a little off schedule but hopefully I can hold off on her 3rd nap until 3pm. Yesterday her third nap was 3:45-4:30 which made it much easier to keep her up until 6:40.

This morning we went to the grocery store and CVS. I plan to take her to the Post Office and OIP later today. Paul won't be home until 7pm on Thursdays so that's a day she'll be in bed before he gets home as he has class at 9:45 and then TA's two labs the rest of the day (until 5:30pm). Grocery shopping is much easier now that she can sit happily in the cart while I shop. I bought myself a few treats today. First, I bought red grapes which I hadn't had in awhile which are one of my favorite foods as they were on sale for $1.28/lb. Normally I only buy them when they are $1/lb or less, but I thought that was close enough. I bought quite a bit, but that's a good snack food when one is dieting. Second, I bought myself some Turtle Chex Mix bars. I bought them for the first time ever a couple of weeks ago when they were on sale. I usually buy a couple of boxes of whatever granola bar is on sale (that I like). Well they are SOOOO good! I wish when they were on sale I had bought more than one box. Next time they go on sale I am going to stock up. Even though they weren't on sale, I bought a box today. Each bar has 130 calories (30 from fat), and each bar has 8 grams of whole grain. So they're pretty healthy but honestly they taste as good to me as a candy bar. The one that used to be my favorite was Fiber One's Oats & Chocolate bar which is also very tasty and pretty healthy. If you like caramel (I love it!), you would probably like these Turtle Chex Mix bars.

Part of the reason I have started going shopping on Thursdays is because the grocery store's circular comes in the mail on Wednesdays so I can study that when I make my list. For example today I got 4 packages of English muffins as they were on sale "buy one get one free." I want to make a habit of also studying the CVS circular online as I know if you buy things that they are giving extra value bucks for you can almost shop for free there. For example today I bought $20 worth of Pepsi products (at prices cheaper than what the grocery store was selling them for) and received $10 worth of extra value bucks for doing that. Then I bought two 12 packs of double rolls of Cottonelle toilet paper for $7.40 each and received $4 in extra value bucks for that. So next time I shop at CVS if I purchase $14 worth of items it will be free and if I buy things that also produce value bucks I can pay nothing plus have bucks to make another trip and the cycle can continue. Of course that only works when the items they are giving value bucks for are ones you actually use, but toilet paper of course will be used and Paul (unfortunately in my opinion) drinks lots of Pepsi. The CVS is on our way home from the grocery store, so I can easily add that to our Thursday routine.

Last night I went to choir rehearsal. I really enjoyed it. It lasted almost 2 hours. Many things at this church seem to last that long. I am used to the morning service lasting about 75 minutes on average but at this church that would be a short service. The norm seems to be somewhere between 90-120 minutes for the morning service, and one of the adult Sunday School classes goes from 8:00-10:00am which also seems long for Sunday School (I am not joining that class as 4+ hours would be too long for Nadia between SS and church). Anyhow the choir director is a retired HS music teacher. The choir sings more challenging music than the choir did at my last church, and they sing every Sunday morning (only twice a month at the last church). I think we rehearsed about 10 pieces of music last night! Some are easier (like the arrangement of In the Garden) but others are trickier, and some are done a cappella. On Sundays she mixes everyone up so it's not like all the altos are sitting together, etc. They also seem to sing a nice variety of music in terms of style. They're having a party tomorrow night which I was invited to attend. My first inclination was to pass, but I guess if I am wanting to meet people and make new friends then I should go! I won't want to stay too late though so I can have some time with Paul on Friday night. He's also welcome to attend, but we don't have any babysitters around here and at 7pm (when the party starts) Nadia will definitely be in bed so she can't come. Paul's parents are coming up Friday afternoon to watch Nadia while I am at a faculty meeting.

Crackers

As you can see from today's pic, one of the skills we're working on now is feeding herself a cracker. She is used to Mommy holding the food for her so it's taken some work to get to the point where she'll hold the cracker herself. The skill of learning to eat peas is not going well at all. Any suggestions?

 

We are finally getting on a schedule though! Last night Paul put Nadia down at 6:25. She was rather fussy all day so Paul gave her Motrin at 5pm. We think she's teething again. Thankfully she's in a better mood today. Last night she woke up once at 4 something or other and cried for less than 3 minutes and then woke up again at 6:50am. WOOHOOO! I was so happy that she didn't get up until almost 7am! My plan is to have her naps at 9am, noon, and 3pm give or take a little. That worked yesterday and has worked so far today (she's in the middle of her second nap now). Yesterday her first nap was 60 minutes and her other naps were 45 minutes each. She slept 55 minutes for her first nap today, and so far she has slept 60 minutes for her second nap. We are keeping awake time at a minimum of 2 hours, and usually the last wake time before bedtime is on average about 3 hours.

The two activities she has been enjoying the most the last few days are time in the jump up and bathtime. Sitting on my lap at the piano isn't such a hit lately. Hopefully she'll enjoy that again in the future. Her attention span for singing along with CDs while looking at books has also decreased a little although we still do that a few times a day.

Superbowl Bound!

We went to Applebee's for lunch (gotta love those gift cards!) and did a little shopping at Walmart. Today Nadia was wearing her Steeler hoodie and Steeler socks, and while she was mushing crackers in the highchair at the table, she wore her Steeler bib as well. We got lots of comments from waitresses and such. :-) I was wearing a gold turtleneck with black pants, Superbowl XL Steeler socks, Steeler emblem earrings, and a 5 time Superbowl champion pin. Although we might have seem rather decked out in Steeler gear, I am quite certain my Dad will outdo us this week. He proudly wears Steeler jackets, ties, hats, etc. I don't know if Nadia will be a Steeler fan when she's older, but for now I dress her up like one!

Nadia fell asleep at 6:15 last night. She hadn't slept as long during her naps due to going to church. I knew she was going to wake up early, and she did (5:25am). I decided to give her 4 ounces of formula and hoped she'd go back to sleep. She did! She didn't wake up until 7:15.

I think Nadia will be mobile soon. She has started scooting a little although when she tries it on her own she ends up going backwards. However if you put your hands against her feet, she will push off of them and propel forward. Sometimes she even gets up on her knees in a full crawling position. I went to take a picture of her on her hands and knees, and as you can see from the picture, she even lifted off her knees to straighten out her legs!

I had to post another photo of these purple pjs that Grandma got her for Christmas (size 9 months and they fit perfectly). It doesn't show up really well in the photo, but there is some stitching on both sleeves to make the top of each sleeve puffy. Every time I look at those sleeves I think of Anne of Green Gables. Presuming she ends up enjoying those books some day, I think when she is older we'll be taking a family vacation to Prince Edward Island. I've been there, but Nadia and Paul haven't.

We had a really nice day today. Last year our spring breaks fell during the same week, but not so this semester. Aside from that week, we don't have any other days off the rest of the semester.

Although she was REALLY well behaved at Applebee's & Walmart, our trip out seemed to really goof up Nadia's nap schedule. We left after her first (45 minute) nap. I thought she'd take her next nap when we got home about 3 hours later. Well she slept 15 minutes in the car on the way home and then wouldn't go back to sleep. Later in the afternoon she slept 30 minutes, but that was it. I can't remember the last time she slept only 90 minutes in an entire day! I hope that means she'll sleep well tonight. She was rather fussy due to lack of sleep. Thankfully bath time is something she enjoys no matter how fussy she is. She kicks her legs and moves her arms all about. I think she's going to love being in the pool in Antigua in May!

Her doctor's office called today and cancelled her appt for January 30th to have the 2nd half of her flu shot. They said they were out of the pediatric flu vaccine and wouldn't be getting any more. Is it a problem to only get the first half of a two dose flu vaccine? I am sure Nadia won't mind skipping a shot. :-)

Weaned

Yesterday Nadia stayed up almost 4 hours from the end of her last nap until bedtime so that wake time is definitely expanding. She went down at 6:30 and first woke up about 5:45. I went and got her at 6:15. She took one 45 minute nap before we went to Sunday school. When we arrived at the nursery, I noticed her name had been written on one of the cubbies. It's still hard to leave her in the nursery. Really hard. I heard her screaming a little later and went and calmed her down some before going back to my class. Later during church I checked and she was crying so I took her with me to church for a little bit and then discovered her clothes were wet. I should have told them she was going to need a diaper change as I had changed it last at 7:30am. So I went back and changed her wet & poopy diaper and took off her onesie since it was pretty wet. Poor girl! I left her in the nursery and one lady got her to sleep with Nadia's belly on her arm and she slept about 45 minutes which I thought was amazing given how noisy it was in the nursery. I must say I miss holding her in church though. That

was so special, but she's just not quiet enough to keep bringing her with me. Mommy needs to get used to taking her to the nursery. It made me think again about putting her in daycare. I just want to avoid it if at all possible. I love spending time with my little princess!!!

It snowed a little more last night, but I am glad I was brave enough to drive to church this morning. Since it was so cold, I had Nadia wear her snowsuit today as you can see from the pics.

She didn't nurse at all yesterday although I certainly tried. I would say she is now officially weaned off of my milk. I am trying not to let it bother me. I keep praying to the Lord that some day I can have one more baby and experience this one more time in my life. From when I was a child until my early 30's I always wanted four kids, but I think we would feel our family was complete if we could just have one more child. I really hope if that happens the next baby will nurse longer than Nadia did, but I need to be thankful for the time I did get with her, particularly if there never is another baby. She's napping now, but when she gets up she gets to try peas for the first time! :-)

Ponytails and Peekaboo

It is sooo nice to have our happy girl back. Her teeth are through enough that it hurts if she chomps on my finger, but really only a little bit of the two teeth is visible. I wish the party was at Aunt Debbie's this weekend since most of those relatives won't see her again until December and they saw her in a fussy (teething) mood last Sunday. Oh well... Yesterday two of the things which made her laugh were playing peekaboo (I've tried this many times with her over the last few months but yesterday was the first time she found it to be humorous) and me pulling my hair up in a ponytail on top of my head. I guess our girl already has some fashion sense as that is indeed a goofy hairstyle for Mommy, LOL!

Today Nadia finished her container of blueberries & pears so that means she gets to try peas tomorrow. I will do my best to convince her how yummy peas are! I actually like peas although they don't look very appetizing to me in pureed form. I plan to cook and puree some apples on Monday so that will be her next fruit to try - after she has peas for a few days.

Yesterday each of Nadia's three naps was at least 80 minutes long (compared to the day before when none exceeded 45 minutes). She went to bed at 7pm last night and slept until 5am. She refused to nurse and also refused to go back to sleep. I went and got her at 6am because after lying there listening to her cry for an hour I couldn't take it any more. So she only slept 10 hours last night. Today her first nap was 45 minutes long, her second was 105 minutes long, and she is taking her third nap right now. The side of me that likes to be scheduled & organized wishes her sleep habits would be more predictable, but as long as she's happy & healthy, and I'm not sleep deprived I guess it doesn't really matter if the schedule varies significantly from day to day.

Blender Time!

Well today I finally got around to making some baby food. I've had it on my to do list for oh about 2 months, LOL. I cooked 2 bags of frozen peas in the microwave and then used the blender to puree them. I filled two trays which are now in the freezer and had some left over so I can freeze some more tomorrow. This is definitely a little way to save some $$ as the bags of frozen peas cost me $1 each, and I'm probably making about 36 servings for $2. Now if I really wanted to save $$, I'd start making pizza at home.  I guess today is "cooking" day as I plan to try a new recipe tonight and make chicken parmigan with spaghetti. We both like that, but I've never made it before. January will be over before we know it, and I haven't tried any new recipes yet. I am trying to stick with my goals for the year!

During bath time this morning, Nadia was brave and had fun putting her hand under the running water as it came out of the faucet. Normally that scared her a little, but today she thought it was quite fun to feel the water as it came out of that fascinating faucet.

Yesterday Nadia took three 45 minute naps and refused to take a fourth. Amazingly she stayed in a good mood last night even though she was up for over 4 hours. Truly amazing! Although her wake times have been lengthened to 2 hours on average, usually 3 hours is the very longest she can go without falling asleep or without becoming super cranky. Last night she went down about 6:40pm and woke up the first time a little after 5am. I nursed her for a little less than 10 minutes and then she went down and slept about 40 minutes. Then she cried and cried and so I let her get up for the day at 6:15am. She's just unpredictable. I thought we were in a good groove of her not getting up before 7am. In contrast with yesterday she's taking her 2nd nap right now, and both naps have been over an hour. She's been in a really good mood the last couple of days so I'm not going to complain. Obviously she's getting enough sleep. I would like to get a picture to show off her first two teeth, but still only a little bit is poking through from each tooth, so I guess I'll wait until they come up some more.

Gratitude

I figure I shouldn't wait until Thanksgiving to count my blessings. :-) I am thankful for...

1. The time I get to snuggle with Nadia every day particularly when I rock her on the glider with her head on my shoulder prior to each nap and bedtime.

2. That I am getting much more sleep at night now that Nadia is sleeping through the night!

3. Only teaching two days a week this semester (a MUCH better schedule than last semester).

4. A husband who loves to sing, read, and play with his little girl. I never expected to enter a room and hear my hubby singing lyrics like "make new friends but keep the old." Keep in mind he doesn't stay on pitch when singing happy birthday with others. :-)

5. The good health we 3 have experienced. I'm grateful Nadia hasn't had an ear infection, stomach flu, or anything else the past 6 1/2 months.

6. The upcoming 3 day weekend.

7. That I've lost 3 pounds so far this year.

8. That my brother's outpatient surgery went well yesterday and his recovery seems to be going well today.

9. That Paul is so excited about the research he's doing with Dr. van Duin this semester.

10. That Paul isn't as stressed about his classes as he was last semester (in part since he won't have any exams this semester).

11. That Paul has had safety on the roads. We got more snow last night, and he passed three wrecks on his way to school on I80 this morning.

12. That I can stay inside our warm house all day tomorrow since the high is supposed to be 10 degrees. That would be cold for a low much less a high! BRRR!!!!

13. That we can make it financially with me only working part-time so I can have more time with my sweet little girl.

14. That even though her two little front teeth continue to come up through her gums (both can be seen), Nadia has been in a much better mood this week.

Bath Time!

Nadia has enjoyed taking baths for quite some time, but lately she has REALLY enjoyed bath time. Yesterday she did really well with eating carrots (ate almost an entire container in one brief sitting), but then throughout the day whenever she spit up (and she spit up far more than usual) the contents were orange rather than white. I didn't realize this was going to occur for about 7 hours as the first time it happened I decided to give her a bath and change her into her pjs. Thankfully she hasn't been spitting up today. Since she had veggies the last two days I let her have fruit today; she really liked the pear/blueberry mix! Anyhow she was smiling and laughing and splashing about yesterday during her bath; so I decided to make bathtime a part of our daily routine. I had read a schedule a mom posted on a blog that included a daily bath and thought wow I usually only give Nadia about 2 baths a week. As long as she enjoys it so much, I figure why not make it a daily routine. I don't fill the tub very much so hopefully our water bill won't skyrocket. Well bath time was a hit again today. I took over 60 pictures while she played in the water. I had a hard time picking which ones to post. :-)

I also decided to make time in the jump up a part of the daily routine. So yesterday I cleaned our bathroom while she was in it, and today I took my shower while she was in it. Usually I've been trying to get those things done during her naps, but I can only accomplish a certain amount during nap times so it helps if I can get something accomplished during jump up time especially on days like today when ALL naps have been 45 minutes long. :-( Yesterday the first nap was 45 minutes but the second and third naps were 90 minutes long. Today we have had three 45 minute naps. Hopefully she'll take a 4th nap (although she's only been taking 3 for awhile now) or it will be a major challenge just to keep her up until 6:00pm.

Thursday is grocery shopping day, and lately Paul has been home so I've been shopping alone. Today was the first day in several weeks I took Nadia with me. I had her wear her snowsuit since it is less than 20 degrees outside today. BRRR! She did a great job sitting in the front of the grocery cart while I shopped. I wished I had brought my camera to get a pic. I did take a pic of her with my phone, but I don't know how to get that pic from my phone to my computer so I'll have to take another pic another week.

Last night we put her down at 6:30pm and she slept until almost 5:30am. I nursed her for a little more than 10 minutes and then she was quiet for about 20 minutes. She started crying at 6:00, but after less than 5 minutes of crying she slept for another hour. So that's two days in a row that she hasn't gotten up prior to 7am. YAHOOO! I got up a little before her. That's what I'd like to do regularly, but if she gets up at say 5:45am then that's not going to happen. Her wake times are now usually 1.75 to 2 hours long whereas they used to be 90 minutes long.

I contemplated going to choir rehearsal last night for the first time at the new church, but I was feeling rather tired since I had taught the two previous nights. We get Monday off for MLK Day so I think next week would be a better week to start as I can stay home on Monday night. I need to be gradually eased into having 3 nights out a week. I think I'll introduce myself to the choir director at church this Sunday and let her know I plan to join the choir. I asked the pastor, and you don't need to be a member of the church to sing in the choir.

Daycare

Yesterday I was chatting with a nursing prof at work. Her office is 2 doors down from mine. Somehow it came up that I was working part-time, and she was surprised to learn I had been PT since October. She asked about next fall, and I said we hadn't decided yet. She almost seemed horrified that I would deprive my one year old of daycare. She began to list the benefits of daycare and then said well you're an educator so you already know these things. I just smiled and said something like I love spending time with my little girl at home. I am not trying to bash daycare here. Some of my grad students are preschool teachers, and some of my undergrad students work in daycare centers. It's a very important service which our society depends upon, and I would definitely be one to advocate that these centers need to be of the highest quality possible. For example, the last 2 years I was on the board of directors of a child care center. I figured that if I still had Nadia at home when she was say 3 or 4 years old I might encounter feedback that she is missing out on socialization and such by not being in a preschool, but I was NOT expecting to hear it at the age of 1. She will be 14 months old when the fall semester begins. I cannot believe that some people feel that keeping a 14 month old at home with her parents might somehow be to her disadvantage. I thought if people were disagreeing with our decision it would be for financial reasons not what they thought was best for Nadia. The primary reason I would work part-time is because we think that Nadia being cared for by her parents is the best thing for her and because it's my first preference also (I love having lots of time with her!).

Last night Paul was only able to keep her up until 6pm since she woke up from her last nap a little after 3pm. When her day starts too early it just throws everything off. She didn't make a peep until 5:15am, and I thought I'd try nursing her and see if she would go back down. Surprisingly it worked. She nursed for 15 minutes and then cried a couple of minutes when I put her down (she was still hungry but I think that was all the milk I had for her) and then slept until after 7:00am. WOOHOO! I went to peek in on her at 7:20 and saw she was awake (but not crying). I was so pleasantly surprised as lately 11 hours was the most we were getting even with a later bedtime so I assumed I'd be getting up very early today since she went down at 6pm. I'd say she slept about 13 hours total last night. YAHOO! So that means that the first nap today didn't start until about 9:10 which is much better than the last week or so when the first nap has started somewhere between 7:30-8:00 since she's been getting up between 5:45-6:15 most days. So it should be much easier to keep her up until 7pm tonight. Here's to hoping we can finally get back in a good groove in terms of her nap schedule. :-)