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.

Progress!!!

This morning was not one I'd want to repeat any time soon - a big poopy mess to clean up (Oliver's diaper did not do its job), Ian spilled a large glass of EleCare, and a lot of crying/fussing on the part of all three children over various and sundry things. In hind sight, I should not have taken the kids to the birthday party for Dr. Seuss at the library, although Nadia got lots of compliments on her Cat in the Hat costume that she wore for the third year. One of the books the librarian read was Horton Hatches an Egg, and that happens to be my most favorite Dr. Seuss book, and I hadn't yet read it to the kids (I have read them Horton Hears a Who many times). The highlight for the kids was eating chocolate cake and having their faces painted (Ian picked a green snake, and Nadia asked for a pink dog). While we were there I discovered Oliver had a fever. That explained why he couldn't sleep last night. I nursed him at 1am and then he woke up again at 3:30am (but I just turned him over in bed that time) and was up for the day at 5:45. After we got home, I also came down with a fever and sore throat. Oliver's nose would not stop running. I am praying that it doesn't progress to anything more severe for him in light of his lung disease (the nurse said at his 6 month appointment that he had been labeled with "chronic lung disease" which was news to me). His last Synagis injection was a little more than 28 days ago, and they only last 28 days supposedly. I also am hoping to feel better asap because moms don't get sick days, although I am planning to stay home the next two days.

We had two exciting developments this evening though! First, Oliver sat independently for a few minutes (first time ever). I am NOT saying he has mastered the art of sitting independently, but he's making a lot of progress in that direction. Way to go, Oliver!!! Second, Paul had a call from the school that interviewed him two days ago over the phone inviting him to interview on their campus next week! Paul is a little nervous about the 20 minute presentation that is not allowed to be about his area of research. I am grateful that at the minimum he will get some interviewing experience, and possibly it might result in a job offer. If it did, we would only view it as a short term position as New Jersey is not where we want to settle down long term. Paul said if we can't stay in Pennsylvania then he either wants to move south (farther south than Maryland) or farther west. I'm just grateful that out of 60 applicants he made the cut of those selected to interview on campus. Way to go, Paul!!!

Giving Thanks

I am a day late with my weekly gratitude post, but better late than never, right?

1. I am thankful for the good health we've enjoyed the past 6 months. As of tomorrow, it will have been 6 months since any of us were hospitalized, and that's not something I take for granted. We've also been rather healthy even in terms of minor illnesses. I was reminded of that yesterday because Ian and Nadia came down with something. Both have runny noses, and Ian also had a fever and a cough yesterday. Oliver didn't have a fever or a runny nose, but he was really cranky yesterday so I think he also must not have been feeling himself.

2. Oliver continues to gain weight at a nice pace. He will hit 15 lbs before he turns 7 months old. He's currently up to 3 percentile for his weight! People still comment to me on how small he is for his age, but when I look at his preemie size clothing, I am amazed at how much he has grown.

3. Paul had his second phone interview yesterday! They called while he was at work. This one was just with one person and was impromptu (the first one was scheduled with a committee). They said they had 60 applications for the two positions. If Paul is selected to come for a face-to-face interview, they said he will find out between now and Sunday. Yay for not being in suspense for long. It isn't our first choice because it's at a community college in New Jersey, but if he's invited out there it would at least give him additional interviewing experience, and if they offered him a job, it would at least give him teaching experience. We haven't heard anything from his first telephone interview. No news is probably not good news in this instance.

4. Paul hadn't submitted any applications over the past week, but he's working on some today. As of last week he had submitted 27 applications. Once he finishes the ones that are in progress, he will have submitted 34 applications (2 were submitted thus far today to bring the current total to 29). I was encouraged that one posting this week was for a tenure track position at a university in PA (although it was in biochemistry so he can't apply for that one). I'm hoping that maybe there might still be a few more tenure track openings posted this month (at 4 year schools). Almost all of the openings lately have been at community colleges or for temporary positions (visiting assistant professor) at 4 year schools. Two of the seven he's working on are for teaching post doctorate positions (2 year positions). They will be the first post docs he's applied for. He's been applying for jobs for more than four months now. It can be rather discouraging at times, which meant that yesterday's phone interview was encouraging for both of us.

5. I am thankful that Paul's dad is very flexible regarding Paul's work schedule. Paul had originally planned to take off work today (and work tomorrow instead) to go to PSU to meet with two different professors regarding two additional articles he might try to get published this year. This morning he changed his mind and rescheduled his meetings at PSU for next week. He's staying home today to work on job applications and such.

6. Yesterday morning Oliver started fussing off and on as early as 3:45am, and I got up with him at 5:30 (and then Ian came down at 6:15). Between that and the kids not feeling well yesterday (and a lengthy battle with Nadia over eating chicken and dumplings), I was exhausted last night and went to bed within 30 minutes of putting the kids down for bed. I was grateful I went to bed so early when Oliver woke up at 2:30am. I had him back down by 3:05 (usually he's up for at least one hour so that was better than usual). When he woke up again at 4:30 I was really flustered until I went into his room and saw he had his hand pinned under his body. I helped him out and he went right back to sleep and slept until 7:00am. I can't remember the last time he slept until 7am. I'll take a 2:30am feeding if it means my day isn't starting at 5am.