Baby Powder

A big part of the process of packing is purging. I don't want to pack and haul stuff we don't really use. You'd think I wouldn't have *that* much purging to do since we just moved here four years ago, and I'm sure the quantity is less because of that, but still I've been doing a lot of purging this year. Salvation Army already made one trip here in the spring, and I'll be having them come again in September. I keep saying if we haven't used it in x years then we probably don't need it. One example would be the ice tea maker someone gave us for a wedding present. I've never used it. It wasn't something I registered for or thought I'd use, so I am not sure why I didn't give it away at our last move 4 years ago. However I've decided since we haven't used it in 7 years I'm not packing it up and hauling it to our next house. It's going in the donate pile. As I was looking in Nadia's closet, one thing I was uncertain if I really needed was baby powder. I ended up with a few containers of it. I must have purchased some 3 1/2 years ago when I bought a bunch of stuff for adoption and have also been given some. It's really not something that's supposed to be used on babies though, right? Why do they still sell the stuff in the aisle along with diapers and wipes and such? Well unless I am wrong and I will need this for Nadia later on, I plan on adding the baby powder containers (all unopened) to the donate pile. One thing I wish I hadn't bought in 2005 was baby wipes. Not that I don't use them for Nadia, but they had dried out even though they hadn't been opened. So if any of you readers are preparing for a possible last minute adoption, wait to buy the wipes.

It seems what works one day for Nadia doesn't work the next. So much for developing bedtime routines!! It seems we need one million tricks up our sleeve and have to go through them to find out which one works at that moment. Yesterday she did GREAT with her naps. She fell asleep for her first nap in the sling while we were shopping and slept in the car seat as well and had just the right length of nap by the time we got home from shopping. Then in the afternoon I nursed her in our bed and she took a great nap. I was able to mow the front lawn, get a shower, etc. while she napped. After she had been up a few hours I gave her Zyrtec and it did seem to make her a little "calmer" than usual so I mistakenly thought putting her to bed would be easy. It was not. I nursed her in bed and after she had been asleep transferred her to her crib where she slept a few minutes and then woke up. Getting her back to sleep took over an hour. Basically from the time I gave her the Zyrtec until she was actually down in her crib asleep was 4 1/2 hours. Daddy did give me a break in there for awhile. After that lengthy battle (I think she sees sleep as "the enemy"!) she slept 5 hours thankfully. Getting her back to sleep was again a challenge but thankfully when I put her down awake she didn't cry much before she fell asleep in her crib. Same went for her morning nap today. I nursed her in bed forever. Paul then gave her a bottle and eventually she fell asleep on him and then she took a decent nap on the boppy on the couch. He had tried getting her to sleep in her crib, but she kept waking up. I wouldn't say Nadia has colic as she can wake up in a happy mood and can be very pleasant for extended periods of time, but there are two things that are a big challenge with her #1 she likes to be held All The Time (thank heavens for the sling). She lasts only a couple of minutes on her own in the bouncer, swing, or activity gym before she starts crying and if she isn't rescued that quickly escalates to screaming and of course #2 is that getting her to sleep (naps and at night) is a BIG ordeal that rarely goes smoothly. However when she's held she's a content baby. In fact yesterday was the first time I felt she was definitely cooing. She's always making all sorts of noises, but yesterday was the first time I felt that when I was talking with her and we were making eye contact that she was trying to talk back to me (by cooing). It was so sweet!!!

I didn't make it to church this morning. I went upstairs to get ready and just decided I felt too lousy. I guess I should have napped yesterday instead of mowing the lawn, but it hadn't been mowed in a couple of weeks and really looked bad. I wonder if I am still anemic? Maybe I should get a doctor appointment. I have an appt with the hematologist scheduled as a follow up in October but maybe I need to be seen sooner? Or maybe it's just the combination of going back to work, caring for Nadia, and packing for a move. I knew that the beginning part of motherhood would be exhausting, but I admit I didn't expect to feel THIS tired for this long (almost 10 weeks now). Most of the time I have a headache - the kind I get when I'm tired. I haven't been taking anything for it since I'm nursing. Sometimes I get dizzy and lightheaded. That happened yesterday afternoon when I was packing during her afternoon nap. The other way that motherhood has been tough on my body has been my back. I usually sleep on my sides but that hurts due to nursing. So my lower back hurts very badly particularly when I get up in the morning.

I'm guessing my body could handle all of this a little better if I was 10 years younger. A few weeks ago a chemistry prof I know was chatting with me (Nadia was in the sling) and she was saying how she had a baby at the age of 20 and then her 2nd at the age of 35 and how much harder it was to care for a baby at 35. The way she said it I could tell she thought I was younger than 35 (which I take as a compliment!). She looked surprised when I said I'm 36. Of course there are women who have babies in their 40's so to them I am young. :-) I just wish I knew when things will get easier on me - when my headache will go away, etc. I hope the end is in sight. Being a mother is not an easy task although of course she's worth all the discomfort!!!!

I think she takes after her mommy and her length is in her torso. Plus she seems to be on the petite size. If the length measurement was accurate on Tuesday they said she's 21 inches. 0-3 months is for 21.5 to 24" and 8 to 12.5 lbs. She is definitely weighs enough to qualify for this size but might be a smidge short. Really though she was far more than 1/2 inch too short for those pants which is why I think she's like her mommy. I am 5'7" and yet can wear petite pants as my length is in my torso not my legs. Size 0-3 month clothing fits her fine when it comes to tops and dresses but not bottoms. She only owns ONE pair of newborn pants, and they are brown and white polka dot so it's not like I can put a bunch of different shirts with it. Maybe I can squeeze her into her two pair of preemie pants a bit longer until these 0-3 month pants fit her. I was hoping not to buy newborn pants as I am thinking they won't last too long, but maybe I need to just buy her a couple of pairs. I did see some cute newborn outfits yesterday, but I didn't buy any because I figured that size won't fit much longer. She has a few newborn size sleepers - some still fit and some don't fit any more. She's wearing some newborn and some 0-3 month sleepers now. I was hoping she'd wear the first dress I bought her (size 0-3 months) to church today. I bought this while pg on eBay. It's super dressy - she hasn't worn any really dressy dresses yet. I thought today would be the first, but I decided I really needed to rest. Unfortunately Nadia didn't cooperate so I didn't actually sleep although at least I did lie in bed (nursing her) for a couple of hours. If I can't sleep, being horizontal is the next best thing, and actually I have gotten to the point where I can sleep a few minutes here and there while she's nursing.

Sleep....

Yesterday afternoon I got a nap - something I really needed and hadn't had all week. I think it might have been due in part to the Zyrtec. I didn't read the side of the box where it said it might cause drowsiness. So I won't give it to her today until closer to bedtime. I actually had to wake her up from her nap which is highly unusual as she generally doesn't take long naps, but I didn't want her to think it was nighttime. Last night I tried to nurse and/or rock her to sleep in the glider (which used to work in the past) and after trying that for awhile I let her cry for a bit and when that didn't work I decided to just skip to nursing her in bed rather than turning trying to get her to bed into another 2-4 hour ordeal like it usually is. It worked like a charm. I nursed her and transferred her to her crib. Less than 15 minutes for that whole process. Then she slept for SIX hours straight. WOOHOOO!!! That was such a relief given the previous two nights the longest stretch was 3 hours. I nursed her for an hour in the glider (in her nursery) and put her down but she woke up. So I did the same thing and nursed her in our bed until she fell asleep (about 20 minutes). She woke up a little later but this time she cried less than 5 minutes and then slept 2 hours. The next time she woke up (6:00am) I just skipped straight ahead to the nurse her in bed stage and 45 minutes later transferred her to her crib where she slept for 80 minutes. I think tonight might be easy due to the Zyrtec, but if it's not I am going to skip ahead to the nurse her in bed step much sooner since it's working so well. I hope the Zyrtec clears up her congestion. When she coughs it sounds like a cat trying to cough up a furball. Poor girl! I've decided to stop the antibiotic since the first 12 days she was on it she showed no sign of improvement.

Zyrtec

Paul got some Zyrtec on Wednesday, but he got the wrong kind (for hives instead of for allergies and for 6 year olds not 2 year olds). So after school this morning I stopped and exchanged it for the kind Dr. M had suggested. She said to give Nadia 1/2 tsp a day for at least until the congestion clears up, and that we could consider giving it to her once a day for a year as some studies have shown doing that will prevent allergy problems later in childhood/adulthood. Nadia likes the taste of Zyrtec also (grape). I know some of you are nurses and some are married to doctors so I am looking for input on two issues. #1 should I really keep giving her antibiotics? She's been on Amoxicillan for 12 days now and I see no improvement. In fact Paul commented to me this morning that he thought her congestion was worse, and I agree that it is. We've been aspirating her little nose many times a day for 23 days. The saline definitely helps her breathing. Anyhow I am not a big fan of being on antibiotics unless they are really needed due to this leading to things like yeast infections and/or her becoming immune to this antibiotic. I feel like taking her off the antibiotic. So that's my first question. #2 I am definitely going to try the Zyrtec for a few days to see if it helps clear her congestion. My question though is about this theory of giving her 1/2 tsp every day for a year. Does this seem like a good idea? If it would work I would definitely be in favor. I just am not sure how well established this theory is and what possible negative effects there might be to giving her this drug every day at such a young age.

Thankfully she has been CALM this morning. She's almost back to how she was on Wed. I guess she's exhuasted due to the fact she was awake almost all day yesterday. I probably could have worn her in the sling while teaching, but of course I had no way of knowing that. I felt badly as the babysitter showed up bright and early at my office. I had sent her an email and posted on her wall in Facebook, but she didn't get the messages. We have now exchanged phone numbers. I paid her $50 today for M/W so today was my first time paying a babysitter. Having Grandma watch Nadia saved us a little $$ today although that was definitely not the reason I asked for her help. So hopefully I can get a nap this afternoon as I am still very, very, very tired. I had a hard time not yawning while teaching today. Nadia slept 3 hours last night and then was up for about 75 minutes and then slept 3 hours. So I got 6 hours of sleep. The second feeding was from 4:30-5:30am so I wasn't able to go back to sleep but Nadia did sleep while I was showering and eating breakfast. She woke up before I had put in my contacts etc so I put her in the sling. She likes me to bounce around or walk around while she's first in the sling or she'll cry. Let me say that although it's not too hard to bounce while blowdrying, it's rather challenging to bounce while putting in contact lenses, LOL.

Well I feel so much more relaxed today now that Nadia is calm again. I could tell early this morning that she had calmed down but figured it was too late to change gears as far as calling Paul's mom. I think she really enjoyed spending time with Nadia anyhow. She hadn't seen her in 10 days. I will say I have great sympathy for those with colicky babies. Yikes. Just one afternoon of nonstop crying was very hard for me!!! Nadia is generally a happy baby aside from in the evenings when we're trying to get her to bed. She seems to fight sleep like I've never seen another baby do - especially if it means sleeping in her crib. Last night she went to sleep in our bed and then at 11pm I woke up and transferred her to her crib. She definitely prefers sleeping with Mommy. I am sooooo glad we have a three day weekend in store. I don't go back to work until Tuesday afternoon. Hopefully I'll get lots of sleep this weekend and also get some packing done, and hopefully Nadia's congestion will clear up soon. She won't go back to school until Wednesday morning.

Grandma

I decided it was highly unlikely that it would work out for me to care for Nadia while teaching from 8:25-8:50 and 9:00-9:20 so Paul called his mom and she agreed to come up to our house and babysit Nadia from 7:30-11:30. I'll cancel my office hours tomorrow so that I can get home earlier than I usually would. The other reason is that Nadia had an AWFUL day. From 8:20am when she got up until 5:15pm she slept a whopping 30 minutes total. Instead she screamed. So I didn't get the nap I was hoping for aside from getting 5 minutes here and there myself. I hope this is from the shot and hope it will wear off ASAP. I hope she sleeps tonight. She sure should be tired!!!! In case she would still be fussy tomorrow (fussy seems too mild of a term to use to be honest) that was the other reason we asked Paul's mom to come up and watch her. So her next day at school won't be until Wednesday since Monday is Labor Day. She'll have a different babysitter next week. Ashley and Angela are alternating weeks. I have to say I felt like a horrible mom today. I know it's not true, but it's hard not to feel that way when your little one just keeps crying and crying and crying. It's funny because earlier in the week I said my goals for Thursday were to mow the front lawn and get a lot of packing done. Last night my goal for today changed to - get sleep (naps). Then as the day went on my goal switched to - get Nadia to stop crying. Well I didn't get any packing done or mow or get a nap, but she has been calm the last couple of hours. I'm going to try to put her to bed shortly (8pm).

The only thing I accomplished was to sort through her clothes. It was very sad for me as I realized there are more than 10 outfits (size 0-3 months) that she never wore and never will as they are too summery (sleeveless etc). Really she doesn't fit 0-3 month size bottoms yet. The shirt fit that she wore today but the bottoms kept falling down. She never wore the outfit we bought her in St. Thomas for example - the first outfit I bought her was a tshirt/shorts size 0-3 months, but it still doesn't fit her so she'll never wear it. :-( A few others were ones I purchased, but mostly they were baby shower gifts. I have only one thing in size 0-3 months that is long sleeved (a dress) besides the 3 sleepers that are of course long sleeved. So I need to get her some 0-3 month play clothes and a couple of dresses for the fall. It will be fun to shop for her! :-) I do have a few outfits in size 3-6 months that are long sleeved that I was given as gifts (maybe 3-4 outfits), and I just ordered her one dress in that size on eBay earlier this week. I'll hold off on buying in that size until I know for sure when she's going to start wearing that size. For now I'll just buy some warmer clothes in size 0-3 months. Her arms get cold rather easily so I think she needs to wear long sleeved clothing.

Exhausted Mom

Well unfortunately the fact that Nadia slept pretty much all of the time she wasn't eating from 8am to 4pm didn't help me get any sleep since most of that time I was at work and then my dept chair said he'd call me at 3:30pm so I stayed awake for his call (and he never called). She had slept easily in the pack n play in my office, but when I tried to put her down in her crib at home after nursing her to sleep she only lasted a few minutes before she woke up. So the bottom line is I didn't get a nap.

I tried to put her to bed early, but that didn't work even though she had been yawning for hours so I knew she was tired. We went back to our usual routine of it taking literally hours to get her down. She finally cried herself to sleep at 9pm (I have started letting her cry again but never more than 15 minutes). She slept 3 hours. I nursed her from midnight to 12:30, and she went down easily which was a relief. However she woke up 90 minutes later and was then up for over 2 hours. When I started nursing her at 2am I was so tired I felt like I was going to throw up. I closed my eyes to see if that would help, but it didn't. I called to Paul and asked him to bring me a trash can in case I threw up while nursing. This is normal for me in years past when I am really super, duper exhausted I feel like I am going to throw up (and actually have upon occasion). Of course there are other symptoms that come up first (headache which gets progressively worse for one) and usually I go to bed before I get to the really nauseous stage. With a baby her needs come first so my need for sleep had to be ignored. What finally worked (after 4am) was I was nursing her lying down in bed and she fell asleep in our bed and that's where she is still (she did wake up since then and I nursed her again in bed). I'm up because the plumber is here. He called at 7am and asked me to go down to the basement and check on something and then he arrived about 7:45am.

I was trying to figure out why I seemed to be more tired last night than any night the previous 9 weeks. There were other weeks when I got less sleep. I think the answer is it's the combination of going back to work and caring for a newborn and packing our house to move. Even before I became a mommy I was always tired the first week of school; it's an adjustment getting back into that routine especially when I'm teaching at 8am (last semester I taught in the afternoons not mornings). Now this semester I'm getting up even earlier than I used to when I taught at 8:00am before (5:30am) because getting for ready for work includes nursing Nadia. Most of the summer I've been getting up between 7-8am which is later than usual for me but has enabled me to compensate a little for all the hours I am up during the middle of the night. So I think that's another reason I am exhausted. Well thankfully Monday is Labor Day so next week will be a little shorter of a work week. I haven't gotten any naps this week; hopefully I can get one today.

Last night I kept thinking how badly I wish I was a SAHM and also not moving. I feel like I can't do either job as well as I'd like to. I don't have as much time or energy to give either Nadia or my job when I am juggling both. I was wishing Paul had a job around here, and I could just stay home with Nadia and not need to pack up the house in the next few weeks. I guess thinking like that won't do me any good, eh? Reality is Paul will be a FT student for the next 4-5 years just like he has been since January 2006, and we have to move as his commute is too long (and expensive in terms of gas $$) right now. Hopefully juggling everything will become more manageable for me once we move and Nadia starts sleeping through the night. Many have told me that 12 weeks is the time when their child slept through the night. That's just 3 weeks away and boy would I love that, but I know it might not happen since Nadia is small for her age due to being premature. Dr. M said we have to add about 4 weeks to all the "norms" of when certain behaviors are expected since that's about how early she came.

I have her in an outfit today that she's never worn before. I was looking through her 0-3 month clothing and several outfits are sleeveless. It's already too cool for those. Prior to her birth I had washed all the 0-3 month clothing (hadn't washed anything larger than that) as I thought that's what she'd be wearing this summer. I feel badly as most of it will never be worn by her. The 3 sleepers will come in handy but most everything else is too summery. I'll hold onto it just in case we have another girl some day, or maybe they'd make good doll clothes for her dolls (not that she has any dolls yet but some day she'll have her first doll that's for sure!) or I'll find someone to give them to. I need to buy her some clothing for the fall/winter.

I'd appreciate prayers that I get some sleep today and/or a better night's sleep tonight and also that Nadia will have a good day in my office and classroom tomorrow. She was good as gold yesterday but that was due to the shots so it doesn't really count. I don't want to have to put her in daycare or something like that, but my plan of bringing her to work will only work if she's pretty quiet. I can't have her screaming for so long like she did while I was teaching on Monday.

Sleepyhead!

This is another photo of Nadia from Sunday. I haven't seen her eyeballs too much since she had her shots yesterday. She slept well last night - almost 6 hours the first stretch and then after nursing for about 30 minutes she slept for 3 1/2 hours and might have slept longer, but I woke her up to nurse her before going to work. I nursed her a little more in my office before the babysitter arrived. I had gotten reports from additional faculty members of how much she had screamed on Monday. Thankfully no one seemed upset. So I shared additional tricks with Ashley - use the sling, give her a little milk, etc. Well the tricks weren't needed today as she slept very easily in the pack n play for most of the 3 hours I was teaching. She didn't cry at all. She did drink most of the 2 bottles I provided (one with my milk and one with formula). I brought extra as I knew I wasn't going to be able to nurse right after class like I did on Monday because I had appts with students right after class. I wasn't able to nurse her until we came home. She's pretty much a zombie. She looks like she's on sedatives or something like that! She didn't even cry when I squirted the saline up her nose - that's how out if it she is! I'm going to try to keep her awake some in the early evening as I don't want her to be up all night. I gave the same advice to Paul yesterday and wish I hadn't.

He woke her up at 6:30pm and was trying to keep her awake until I got home at 8pm. Well unfortunately the only options last night were sleeping or screaming so she screamed for 90 minutes. Paul opened the garage door prior to my arrival home and was waiting at the door so he could hand her to me asap. He's never opened the garage door for me before, LOL. I nursed her but she fell asleep before I could do both sides. I should have pumped the other side as then that kept me awake later in the night I was lying there thinking WHEN is she going to wake up (and all the other nights I wanted her to sleep but that one side hadn't been nursed in about 11 hours!). So finally I got up at 2:15am and started pumping (I should have gotten up sooner instead of lying there awake for so long in pain) and a few minutes into pumping she woke up and I nursed her. So that's two nights in a row of only ONE feeding in the night. That is wonderful! I hope this is a trend. One feeding a night would be terrific especially if she goes down easily after I feed her. When she has her 4 month shots I won't try to keep her awake as she's now slept very well for almost 24 hours so I won't worry that her sleeping in the afternoon/early evening after shots means she won't sleep at night. One of the nursing profs said she noticed this pattern that colicky babies (I wouldn't say Nadia has colic but she definitely leans more in that direction) tended to sleep and be easy going for a day or so after their shots whereas easy babies are often fussy for a day or so after stheir hots. Interesting. So Daddy survived his first night alone. It cracked me up when he told me that he ate dinner while she napped but he wasn't able to get any other work done (he was referring to the fact that he hadn't emptied the dishwasher). I responded that I completely understood that - often times I don't get much else done except care for her! :-) I think next Tuesday will go more smoothly for him since there won't be any shots involved. I hope so anyhow!

Since errands are trickier with Nadia, I asked him if he'd stop at CVS on his way home from school to get her Zyrtec and Amoxicillan, and I stopped on the way home to get pizza for our dinner and go to the bank (we finally got our "economic stimulas" check on Monday). Thankfully since she's in chilled out mode she was fine going through the drive thru at the bank, and the pizza shop is kind enough to carry the pizza out to my car.

One thing I have to say is I am super duper glad that I turned down overload this semester. I would have been teaching another class tonight if I had accepted it. It's a course I've taught every semester since Fall 2004 so in that sense it would have been easy, and my dept was really in need of faculty members to teach overload (ironically we've wanted it in the past and not been allowed to have it), but I had to decline. I can't imagine teaching tonight. I am pooped from teaching last night and again early this morning (I went to bed an hour after Nadia and got up 45 minutes before she did so I am tired). I hope to take a nap after she finishes nursing. The best news is that although I have to get up early for the plumber (who is arriving between 7:30-8:00am) other than that I have no appointments tomorrow. Thursday is my stay at home day which will turn into a packing day until we move.

Friday both of my babysitters have a meeting they have to attend on campus from 8:30-9:15, and I teach from 8:00-8:50, 9:00-9:50, and 10:00-10:50 so Nadia will be in class with me in the sling for part of my 8:00 and 9:00 classes that day. Hope that works out to have her in the sling during that time frame. I'm sure my students will enjoy getting to see her in person (so far just photos).

Ouch!

Nadia is 9 weeks old and almost 9 lbs! All of the previous weight measurements at the pediatrician were with her diaper on (no clothes just a diaper), but today's was without a diaper. I think if it had been with the diaper she would have been a little over 9 lbs. Without her diaper she weighed 8lb 15 1/4 oz. Just 3/4 of an ounce away from 9 lbs on the day she turned 9 weeks old. The poor girl got stabbed three times today. She bled a little in one leg and a LOT from the other leg. That look in her eyes when the first needle went in was very painful emotionally for her Mommy! The fourth immunization was given orally. She liked that one a lot as it tasted sweet. If only they could all be given that way! Paul and I drove separately to her doctor appt. She rode in with Mommy and back home with Daddy. It's the first time the base was used in his car; it was her first ride in any vehicle other than Mommy's car. I hope she's good for Daddy tonight. The doctor said she could have some Tylenol if it seemed like she needed some. Paul has never been home alone with her before, and he'll have her for 4 1/2 hours until I get home at 8pm. Hopefully it will go well. This will be the longest I've ever been separated from her, but at least she's with her Daddy!

Last night she was a very good sleeper. She slept 5 1/2 hours and after nursing for 45 minutes went down easily and slept another 3 hours. That meant I got about 8 hours of sleep. Woohoo! I still feel tired, but I guess it will take awhile until I make up for all that sleep I've lost. The doctor said that if Nadia weighed more she'd probably be sleeping at least 6 hours in a stretch but that it will take longer for her to sleep through the night since she started out small. In church yesterday they announced the birth of another grandbaby for our Pastor (his first grandson), and that baby weighed over 10lbs at birth. Nadia is 2 months older than him and weighs less! However she's now 22 inches long so she's grown almost 3 inches! I believe it. The newborn sleeper I had her in today really is too small in the legs and arms. She's definitely ready for 0-3 month size sleepers and dresses. I am still not sure about the other 0-3 month outfits. I guess I'll have to try some more on her, but they still look rather big for her.

As for her congestion, Dr. M said to renew her antibiotics and continue for another 10 days. I didn't think it did any good the last 10 days, but I will follow the doctors orders. Nadia likes the taste of it so she won't object, LOL. She also suggested having her take a tiny bit of Zyrtec every day in case it's allergies. She said we might consider giving her a small dose of Zyrtec every day until she's one year old. She said it's been shown to decrease problems with allergies later in life, and allergies are usually passed down from the mother so Nadia has a high liklihood of developing allergies (I had weekly allergy shots for a few years as a child). I personally think it's more likely to be allergies. Poor girl has been congested for 3 weeks now! She hates the saline spray up her nose but frankly that seems to do far more good than the aspiration as sometimes there isn't anything that far down that the aspirator can do any good. Paul found a different kind that seems to be easier to use than the "Little Noses." It's called Baby Simply Saline. Well I need to get ready for class. I teach from 5:00-7:30 this evening. I hope Nadia has a good evening. I'll be anxious to get home and see how she's doing and nurse her before I put her to bed.

Phones

Paul has never owned a cell phone. I've had one for about 10 years, but for most of that time I've had one "just for emergencies" that cost less than $10 a month. For the last maybe 3 years we've had a prepaid phone that costs us $8.33 a month, and we barely used it so we had a credit exceeding $100 on it. So we've been using it a lot lately to use up the credit as we planned to get 2 cell phones (family plan) now that Paul is on the road so much driving to PSU 5 days a week. We've decided to go without a landline in our new home. I think that this plan will cost the same per month as what we previously paid for cell, local, and long distance. What really has jacked up our phone bill the most every month is the "local toll" charges for Paul to call his parents. That alone is usually $30 a month as the rate is more expensive than even long distance (which makes no sense to me when they're only 30 minutes away). Since Paul's parents and my parents both have Verizon cell phones, that's what we went with in light of free mobile to mobile minutes. I've often been resistant to cell phones, but with our busy schedules and Paul's long drive, I figure some days that might be our best chance to talk is when Paul is on interstate 80. So even though we're finally joining the "norm" let me say we are not into text messages. Neither of us have ever sent a text message, and I haven't enjoyed receiving the few I've gotten on the old phone since I get charged for them. So we haven't totally come up to speed with the current generation. My college students always think it's so funny when I tell them I've never sent a text message in my life and have no desire to do so. I think typing a message using a regular phone keypad would take me forever for one thing!!

I learned today that while I am teaching I need to unplug the phone in my office as the babysitter got Nadia to sleep and then the phone woke her up and it took her awhile to get her back to sleep. Poor Nadia, Ashley, and all the others who had to listen to her scream for a long time. :-( The phone also woke her up at home this afternoon, but I was able to get her back to sleep more easily than the babysitter (no offense to her!). So phones haven't been a good thing for Nadia today! I put her on her activity gym for some "tummy time" and she conked out instead so I'd say the girl is tired!

She's probably tired because first of all she woke up at 5:50am and was awake until I gave her to the babysitter at 7:45am and it sounds like she only slept about 30 minutes until I came back for her at 10:50am. I stepped in the shower at 5:50 and that's when she woke up. So Paul held her while she screamed until I got out of the shower and got dressed and changed her diaper and then nursed her. It was a zany morning as I was blowdrying with her in the sling, etc. I left earlier than I normally will (7:00am) and found it wasn't a good time to leave as I was behind a school bus most of the way there. Thankfully she didn't cry in the car going or coming back.

It was hard to leave her, and it was even harder to stay away. I was very tempted to go check on her at 8:50 and 9:50. I also got paranoid part way through my 10:00 class that I was leaking. I am not sure why I was worried about it as the only time my shirt has ever gotten stained is during the night while I'm sleeping. Well I was greatly relieved to find out at 10:50 that I had not leaked while teaching, but then ironically while holding her and talking to the babysitter that's when I leaked on one side. So I was frantically trying to get my shirt to dry off before I had anyone show up during my office hours. I need to bring a sweater and leave it in my office so I can cover up any future wet spots. I also need to try to minimize the time between when I start holding her and start nursing her. At least I didn't leak while teaching. That would have been much worse as no one saw my wet spot today. Not surprisingly, Nadia woke up with Ashley put her down (asleep) into the pack n play. Ashley said she had to hold her the whole time. I will work on that at home, but the office is not the place to work on it. I don't want other profs complaining of a screaming baby. I really want this plan to work of Nadia coming to work with me. I am going to see if I can put her to sleep on Wednesday before Ashley comes at 7:50.

I have decided to try to leave as close to 12:30 every day (MWF) as much as possible. I did well today (left at 12:45). I was asked to come to a meeting at 12:15 tomorrow and I turned it down (said I'd be available by phone if they needed my input on anything). I am trying to limit my time at work, and saying "no" doesn't come easily for me so it's taking effort on my part, LOL. She won't be going to school on Tuesdays. Paul will watch her instead. Tomorrow she has her 2 month appt at 2:30 and is supposed to get her shots. She's still very congested so we shall see if she has her shots or not. Maybe she has allergies? Last night she slept from 8:45 to 2:05am which was awesome but then she was up for 2 hours which wasn't fun. Then she slept almost 2 hours until she was up for the day. So I got about 7 hours of sleep which isn't too bad.

Photos: #1 of Nadia with her babysitter, Ashley, #2 in the pack n play in my office, #3 of Nadia in the car seat after we got home - her first day of classes pooped her out, lol, and #4 of the bottom of her socks which say "I love my mommy"

Growing Girl!

August 5th (6 weeks old)

August 24th (2 months old)

July 10th (2 weeks old)

August 5th (6 weeks old)

August 24th (2 months old)

Two Months Old!

Today Nadia is wearing the same dress she wore the first time she went to church. Well today will be the last because it's a dress for spring/summer not fall but also because it's getting too small! It barely reaches her knees. She has definitely grown! I don't take pictures of the back of her head, but the hair back there has really grown as well in terms of how far it hangs over the collar of her dress.

Last night was an absolutely WONDERFUL night. Nadia went to sleep at 9:30 and slept until 2:30. Then although the remaining stretches were only about 75-90 minutes each what made it so wonderful is she only nursed about 20 minutes and then went down very easily every time which is a HUGE improvement as she used to nurse 60 minutes and then go down but lately it's taken 2-4 hours to get her back down. So that meant I got a little more than 8 hours of sleep! WOOHOOOOO! I hope this is the beginning of a new trend. :-) Now I shall write a little letter to my two month old Nadia (the first photo she's wearing a sleeper size 0-3 months which shows she's grown as she's gone from preemie to newborn and now to size 0-3 months!).

Dear Nadia,

I love you soooo much. When we are separated even if it's just for an hour while I do something like mow the lawn, I miss you!!! Sometimes when you're snuggled up on me I still think to myself - is this truly my sweet little daughter? I've wanted to be a mommy for soooo long and sometimes I still can't believe that dream has finally come true. Although you don't have many ways to express love yet, I know you like to be near me and that means sooo much although I think you're giving your Daddy a complex. He thinks you don't like him very much.

Daddy is a really special guy, and he's a wonderful father. He loves you soooo much. A few days ago he was laughing while holding you and this caused you to smile (on purpose - mostly you only smile in your sleep these days). This meant a lot to your Daddy! He loves to laugh and smile and make those around him, especially you and I, smile and laugh also.

Thank you for sleeping so well last night. Mommy is going back to work tomorrow, and it would really help her a lot if you would keep sleeping well at night. Some people don't need much sleep, like your Grandma Harton's father didn't ever sleep very much. Your mommy is not like that at all. She really needs her sleep! I wish I didn't have to go back to work, but the good news is that we'll only be separated for about 13 hours a week. Daddy will take care of you at home for about 4 hours on Tuesday nights while Mommy teaches, and Ashley and Angela will take turns caring for you for 9 hours a week in my office. The only babysitter I've left you with so far has been Grandma Kennedy. It will be hard for Mommy to leave you with Ashley tomorrow, but I know she'll take very good care of you, and Mommy will be just around the corner teaching.

It's been so wonderful to have you join our family and to spend so much time with you the last 2 months. I can't wait to get to know you better and watch you grow and learn many things in the coming days, weeks, and months. I know I give you lots and lots of kisses and take lots and lots of pictures of you (it's only 1pm and we've already taken 31 pictures of you today), and that probably won't be changing any time soon!

Lots of love, hugs, and kisses,

Mommy