Cookie ends in E

Last night Ian pointed to an "E" on Paul's shirt and said, "E." Paul didn't think Ian could possibly be able to correctly identify a letter, so he said, "It says Penn State." Ian then pointed to the "E" and said "E" again. We were shocked! Way to go, Ian!!!

Ian brought smiles to people as we were walking to the playground yesterday afternoon. Several that were sitting on their front porches were smiling and laughing as they heard him singing at the top of his lungs. He sang "Down by the Bay" most of our way to the park and "Twinkle Twinkle" on the way home. I love to hear him sing! At the library yesterday morning he saw a large Humpty Dumpty on a bookshelf, and he pointed up to it and started reciting the entire rhyme. This boy knows a lot more than we realize he knows!!!

This morning Nadia told me that she wants to "go voting when she gets bigger." We had talked about elections on Tuesday while reading Duck for President. I took both kids to the poll when I voted. I let Nadia hand the magnetic card back to the man when were done. They gave each child a pretzel on our way out. Nadia said she also wanted to go vote with Daddy. So Paul took her later when he went to vote, and this time she was given 4 ginger snap cookies. Well it turns out THAT is why she wants to vote again. She told me this morning she wants to vote when she's bigger so she'll get another cookie. Well hopefully over the next 15 years her motivation for voting will shift to something more along the lines of being a good citizen. :-)

This morning I was trying to convince her of the merits of listening to the radio. I do miss listening to the local Christian radio station. I get tired of VeggieTales all the time. I told her that her Sunday School teacher's husband (our church's youth pastor) is sometimes on this station (as the announcer). She told me that "Miss Dottie's husband's name is Jesus." LOL! No, I don't think so (it's Dave).

Better to be Outside!

Ian and I enjoyed the nicer weather while we were at a playground during Nadia's ballet class. Well it's even prettier out today. Normally one of the neighbor girls come over on Tuesday afternoons to watch the kids for 60-90 minutes while I grade, but I called their mom this morning and said I don't want to grade this afternoon. I wanted to walk to our polling place and vote and then head to the playground from there. Yesterday it was still chilly in the morning, but today it was even nice out this morning! We played in the backyard this morning, and a grandmother walking a dog while pushing her granddaughter in a stroller even came and joined us in the backyard for awhile. Her granddaughter is 3 weeks younger than Ian (although Ian should have been younger as she came after her December 28 due date and Ian came before his January 20 due date).

Another reason it was better to be outside today was because our basement flooded - again! Our pump stopped working at some point, and we didn't know it. It hasn't rained in several days so we weren't expecting any water in the basement. Paul discovered over 8 inches of water this morning, and he had recently put some boxes on the floor so we'll be throwing away some things, and I'll be washing a lot of clothes that were floating around the basement. The backup pump makes a horrible sound when it's running, so that was another reason it was better to be outside today.

Nadia woke up at 6:20 on Sunday, 7:00 yesterday, and 5:30 today. Yesterday I had hoped that both kids had transitioned to the time change, but today that hope was dashed. The good news is that Ian slept until 7:00 all three days. Way to go, Ian!

Ian has started breaking the pretzels when he chomps down on them while licking them. However, he's not swallowing any of it. So Karen said today that I should start giving him crushed puffs on a spoon so that he gets used to swallowing crumbs. I had no idea how complicated it can be to teach a child to eat. No idea.

Today was cd1. The past two cycles were each 38 days long. I called the ivf nurse this morning, and she said to start the bcp today. I asked her if it would be possible to stay on the bcp until a couple of days before Christmas so that the egg retrieval could be around January 9th (when the embryology portion of the clinic will reopen). The plan she had mapped out on October 27th entailed the retrieval taking place in the middle of December. The primary advantage to waiting would be that we could use a FSA to pay for $3,500 of the cost, which would save us at least $700 in monies that otherwise would be paid to the government. She said either option was possible. If we go the earlier route I'd only stay on the bcp for about 2 weeks, and if we go with the January option I'd be on the active pills for about 6 weeks. I'm really hoping to hear the President's decision by the end of this week as Friday is the deadline for setting up a FSA for 2012. I told the ivf nurse I'd call her by the end of the week to let her know when we'd be starting the cycle. I'll have to have one appointment while on the pill (for the mock transfer and sonohysterogram. Part of me wants to go with the sooner option because I'm not feeling very patient lately, but $700 is a lot of money!

Curiosity

I took this picture as we were walking from the parking lot to Nadia's ballet class this afternoon. I am really looking forward to next week's class because parents can sit in and observe the entire class. I have made arrangements for Gabby to babysit Ian as I'd never be able to take pictures or videos of Nadia with Ian on my lap. I have NO idea what they've been up to because Nadia won't show me at home what she's learning in ballet. I'm dying of curiosity especially as I never took ballet myself. I bought some size 9 ballet shoes on eBay recently, but they seemed too big (whereas her size 8 shoes that Grandma gave her for her birthday in June are too tight). Another pair (size 8.5) arrived in the mail today (also from eBay), and they fit perfectly! This particular pair is in great condition, and they were very reasonably priced. The skirts and leotards are all from yard sales. The one she's wearing in this picture is definitely her favorite. The weather was much milder today so we only needed to wear light jackets. Yay!!!

The other thing I'm really curious about is what the President's decision is going to be regarding my childrearing leave request. I emailed my department chair this evening asking if he thinks a decision will be made by the end of the week. I told him the reason I was asking is because the open enrollment period for medical and dependent care FSAs for 2012 ends this Friday. Patience is a virtue, right?

The Dreaded Time Change

On Wednesday we started putting the kids to bed later to try to have a smoother transition for the time change. Prior to having kids, Paul absolutely loved "falling back." I never was a fan of my internal clock being messed with, but as parents we've discovered that "springing forward" is actually not so bad. It's falling back that is not very pleasant. The past few days the kids were going to bed one hour later than usual, but instead of sleeping in longer, they were waking up earlier than usual, which meant they were losing almost 2 hours of sleep each night. I was pleasantly surprised this morning because Ian didn't wake up until 7am. Our plan actually worked with him! Nadia climbed into bed with us at 6:20, and normally I don't let her join us any earlier than 7am. If the plan had to work with only one child, I'm glad it was Ian that slept until 7:00 because Nadia takes longer naps, and I could still stay in bed until 7:00, whereas I get up with Ian gets up.

I had gone to bed later than usual because of the 3+ hour concert last night, so I didn't gain any extra sleep despite the extra hour. I'm hoping that it won't take too long to get both kids back into a routine of sleeping until 7:00am. I thoroughly enjoyed my evening out last night. It was so refreshing to be able to chat with my friend, and the concert was outstanding. I really enjoyed all of the artists. This video presented by World Vision was also very moving.

I figured it was going to be really hard for Ian to stay awake at church in light of the time change. I went back to the nursery as soon as the choir went down from the loft (11am). He was asleep in someone's arms. I asked if he had been asleep for a long time. If he had, I was going to let him sleep, but she said he had just fallen asleep. So I woke him up and took him in the service with me for awhile until he was a bit too vocal (saying things like "light"). I then kept him in the lobby (they have speakers so you can hear the sermon in the lobby) for the rest of the service. At one point he tried to sleep on the floor in the lobby. He was very tired! My efforts to keep him awake paid off because he slept in his crib for 50 minutes after I fed him lunch.

I actually did a little shopping while the kids were napping. The consignment shop was having a sale this weekend of 50% off everything. I had fun getting the kids some Christmas clothing and such. Whenever I'm shopping I'm always comparing the prices to what I expect to pay at a yard sale. With the 50% off the prices were closer to yard sale prices. Speaking of clothing, I love these tights that Nadia wore today. She wore this dress last winter, but I think the pink tights she wore today for the first time today really jazzed the otufit up. I knew she wouldn't object because her favorite color is definitely pink!

Recommendations

In the last couple of weeks I've seen three movies that were very wholesome and REALLY good (although all have tear jerker moments). If you are looking for a good movie to watch on DVD, I'd recommend Soul Surfer (based on a true story about a girl who loses an arm in a shark attack), Hatchi (based on a true story about a dog), and Like Dandelion Dust (about adoption). I'm looking forward to seeing Courageous whenever it comes out on DVD (made by the same people who produced Fireproof and Facing the Giants).

I've also had some success lately with trying new recipes. I won't be making baked spaghetti again, but I will be making baked potato soup, garlic cheddar biscuits, tuna melt pie, crock pot roast, and slow cooker barbecue chicken again.

Tonight I'm looking forward to going out for the first time in 3 months. The last time I went out was in early August with Paul for our anniversary. We've tried to have a date three times since then, but something has come up each time  such as the flood or our babysitter cancelling on us. Tonight I'm going to meet my friend, Cheri, for dinner. I haven't gone out for a meal with her for over a year. After dinner at Perkins we're going to a concert (Downhere, Aaron Shust, and Jason Gray). I'm really, really looking forward to spending time talking with my friend and also enjoying a wonderful concert. Bliss.

Doing the Happy Dance!

I admit that I was rather stressed out yesterday. I felt completely overwhelmed when we were getting in the car to go to the dietician appointment. Both kids were screaming their heads off, and I was feeling the same way on the inside about NOT wanting to go to another doctor appointment. I kept reminding myself of the verse "Do everything without complaining" because I really was in a complaining type mood. When the phone rang and I saw "Beth" on the caller ID, I was thinking it was my Dean. It hit me later that I don't have her number in my phone. It was my neighbor (same first name), but when I saw "Beth"  my heart started racing as I thought I was going to get the verdict about whether I am teaching next semester or not. That reaction made me aware of the tension this time of being in suspense is creating within me. Also, Paul called me as we were walking to the car in the hospital's parking lot to tell me the IVF nurse had called him and asked me to call her back. I immediately thought there must be a problem. I thought that because they never call him first. I was so nervous when I called her back, and it turned out she just wanted to know what pharmacy to call for the IVF meds. No big deal.

The dietician appointment went fine. I was nervous she was going to say we needed to go back on EleCare or something like that. In reality she said we needed to add 1 teaspoon of oil or margarine to each of Ian's four meals so that he will get more fat in his diet, and she said I need to add 2 ounces a day of meat or beans to his diet. She suggested buying packaged deli meat and putting that in the Magic Bullet. She said he needs more protein and zinc. She said we can use up the Duocal that we have, but we probably don't need to buy more if we start adding fat to all his meals. She said we might consider a liquid vitamin from Shaklee also. The biggest revelation yesterday was that he can have soybean oil and soy lecithin! Oh how I wish someone had told me that in May. They said no soy, and I thought that meant no soy of any kind. They meant no soy protein. I thought I had been reading labels really carefully, but I didn't inspect the Gerber rice cereal label becuase it had soybean oil and soy lecithin in it! Thankfully the rice cereal is still okay for him to have. This means he can have graham crackers and many other things that I had been banning because the word "soy" in some form was on the label.

Yesterday Ian only napped for 30 minutes, but today he slept for 1 hour! He's been off to a great start this month. On Tuesday he slept 45 minutes and then played for 15, and he also played/slept for a total of an hour on Wednesday. That means that 3 of the past 4 days he spent 1 hour in the crib without crying at all! Wow! Yesterday I let him cry for 10 minutes after his 30 minute nap and then had the timer go off. On Sunday I'm going to make sure he doesn't sleep in the nursery, even if it means I stay in the nursery myself after the choir sings.

The nap was great, but that's not why I'm doing the happy dance. This morning Paul asked me to edit the $500K NSF grant proposal that he and his advisor have been writing. In one section (that his advisor wrote) I read, "In addition, a senior graduate student, Paul Kennedy, will be on the project for about another year." It's up to her when he graduates, and she thinks it will be in about a year! When he started the program in August 2008 we were hoping he'd graduate as soon as May 2012 or no later than May 2013. That seems possible! Paul thinks he can graduate in August or December 2012. Reading that sentence was the BEST thing that happened this week in my life. I had been wanting Paul to ask her when she thought he might graduate. He didn't want to ask her, but I got my answer anyhow! The end is in sight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Another reason this is so encouraging is because she has recently been unhappy with her other doctoral student (who started in August 2007), and the other student has to switch to another advisor next semester and must graduate by August 2012 (which is very unlikely because she can't use any of the papers she wrote thus far).

There aren't many things that would put a bigger smile on my face right now, but one of them would be if Ian would start chewing. You'll probably hear me scream from the rooftops when my boy takes his first bite of something and swallows it down his throat!

Thankful Thursday

1. I got a new lens  for my camera this week. I have sooo much to learn, but I'm enjoying my new camera so much already!

2. Recently I bought a shoe organizer on Amazon for less than 9 dollars. I hung it over our coat closet door (on the inside), and it's now holding all our craft supplies. They used to be stored in a kitchen cabinet, and that was a disaster. This works out so much better!!! I got the idea from one of my favorite blogs (I can teach my child!). If you have young children, check it out!

3. We were able to walk to the park yesterday for the first time in a long time. The weather was nice on Tuesday afternoon, but I had already made arrangements for a babysitter to come over for 90 minutes that afternoon so I could get some grading done. Let me tell you that I could tell I hadn't walked there in awhile because my legs hurt after we got back. The babysitter cancelled on me today; this meant we got to go to the park again today!

4. I took Nadia's good health for granted the first 2 years of her life. Since Ian has so many appointments, it reminds me of what a blessing it is that Nadia has only been to the doctor twice in the past 2.5 years (both well child visits). Both kids were wailing when we left for the doctor appointment this morning. Nadia kept saying, "but I don't want to go to the doctor." I wanted to tell her that Mommy was thinking the same thing. At least we were only there for one hour today. I'll have one ivf appointment this month, but Ian's next four are all scheduled for December.

5. Yesterday a Steeler cheerleading dress I bought on eBay arrived in our mailbox. I love it! I purposefully got it a couple of sizes bigger than what she's wearing now. My plan is to have her wear it with black leggings underneath the next couple of years. The sleeves are WAY too long right now, but I just rolled them up. I think she looks adorable! It was a splurge for me as I honestly can't remember the last time I spent even $10 on an outfit for her, and it was over $16, but of course had I bought a new one it would have cost twice as much.

6. I love the fact that Nadia's favorite books are the Beginner's Bible and A Child's First Bible. Sometimes I'm tempted to ask her to select a different book, and then I remind myself that it's a wonderful thing that she loves to read Bible stories.

7. Yesterday after Ian's appointment we made a quick stop at JCP on the way home. I had two $10 off coupons. I used one to buy another pair of pants. I have bought 2 pair of pants and 1 pair of jeans over the past several weeks. I used to wear professional clothes most of the time, and then I have been wearing elastic type pants lately. It feels good to be wearing pants that button/zip.

8. I used the other coupon to buy myself a pair of shoes. It was probably the most I ever paid for a pair of shoes - ever. I paid $39.99 for a pair of Clarks brown leather casual shoes. I have had one pair of brown leather casual shoes since high school. Yes, I've worn those shoes for at least 25 years. The last few years I've been meaning to replace them (I wanted one without any shoelaces for one thing). I probably could have found a better deal, but sometimes being an efficient shopper is more important than finding the best deal. I love them. They are very comfortable, and I feel a little less "outdated" wearing those. We shall see if this pair lasts 25 years. My guess is that they won't, but I do know I'll get plenty of use out of them!

9. Mom Creative (another of my favorite blogs) shared another coupon code for Paper Coterie today! I don't know how Paper Coterie can give away so much free stuff! I've already gotten 5 free photo books from them over the past 3 months (only paid s/h each time). Today I ordered 2 free personalized fabric growth charts for the kids. I have been eyeing up growth charts over the past 3 years, and I can't wait for them to arrive! I picked one for Ian that has vehicles on it. It has his name and a photograph of him on it. I let Nadia pick which one she wanted. She picked one with a large ice cream cone (lots of scoops!). This coupon code is good until November 13th so I might be using it again between now and then! I only paid s/h for the fabric growth charts ($7 each). I'm excited about having this keepsake - a great way to record their height over the coming years (at least until they're 5 ft tall!).

Psychologist, Take 3

Today was Ian's 3rd appointment with the psychologist who is the head of the feeding clinic in Hershey. Thankfully he comes up to a city that is less than 30 minutes from our house every couple of months. Our day started at Nadia's gymnastics class. We usually go to story time at the library after gymnastics, but all we did today was return our books. On our way to the appointment, we stopped at Walmart to shop the Halloween clearance section. I spent more than I planned on spending, but the kids love dressing up, and I got costumes in a variety of sizes - some won't really fit for a few years. Nadia took her nap in a Dorothy costume (Wizard of Oz). She asked me where the red shoes were, lol! Ian enjoyed wearing different animal hats (they were only $1.49 each!) - pig, tiger, dog, etc. I also went through the drive-thru at McD's in the hopes that eating a happy meal would occupy Nadia during Ian's appointment. I didn't bring her along to the first two appointments. She interrupted us a little, but she did pretty well.

I brought Dr. Williams up to speed on what has transpired over the past four months. Thankfully, Ian didn't cry very much while I fed him, which meant that we could start the process of teaching Ian to chew. He explained the process and said I might need to hold the veggie stick or pretzel stick on his gum for as long as 45 minutes until he'd chew one time. I asked if he'd demonstrate. Ian threw up and screamed during that "demonstration" so the psychologist then changed the instructions to read that I am to try up to 5 minutes, twice a day prior to when I feed him (so he can't throw up that much). He said that once he starts chewing, the progress should go much faster. I have to admit I'm expecting it to take a long time for him to learn to chew. I hope I'm wrong. As for Ian's nap, he suggested that I set a timer for 10 minutes (after he wakes up) and then go in to get him after Ian hears the "ding" so that he'll associate when I come to get him based on when the alarm sounds (rather than him crying). I'm supposed to gradually increase the time I set on the timer. I didn't use that strategy because including the time he played quietly in his crib with his nap, he was in his crib (without any crying) for an hour yesterday and today! WOOHOO! If he regresses back to 20 minute naps, I'll give that idea a whirl. The weirdest part about his good nap yesterday (45 minutes) was that he had taken a nap in someone's arms in the nursery in the morning. I wasn't even going to try putting him down for a nap since he had already had one, but he kept yawning during lunch so I figured it was worth a try. The psychologist thinks that the dietician is going to recommend changes as he doesn't think Ian is getting enough protein, etc.

Painting Pumpkins

Baby Ballet - October 31, 2011

Nadia had fun painting two pumpkins today. In case you were wondering, washable tempera paint is easily washed off of skin and the kids' table, but it doesn't come out of cotton clothing very easily. I followed the directions on the bottle, but there are still some blue stains on Ian's shirt and my turtleneck (from when he rubbed the paint brush on my sleeve). I won't be letting Ian anywhere near the tempera paint anytime in the near future.

Nadia also had a blast today because I let her wear her costume All Day Long. What a thrill! This morning we did our weekly CVS run, and I also stopped our local grocery store because Ian was almost out of rice drink. Well they don't sell rice drink, and they were out of almond milk. We had to stop at another grocery store several hours later en route to ballet to buy some rice drink. Everytime we entered a store today, Nadia took off her coat so people could see her costume better. It was rather chilly this evening so we decided to skip taking the kids trick-or-treating. It just feels weird that we'd have to drive somewhere to go trick-or-treating. I'd be more inclined to participate if we could do it in our own neighborhood.

Ian's duocal arrived in the mail today. I added two scoops (50 calories) into each sippy cup. I'll see what the dietician says on Thursday as well as what the scale tells me as I weigh him in the next several days to help guide me as to whether to increase or decrease this amount. My big accomplishment was planning out what we're going to have for dinner each night in November. The plan includes five new recipes. I recently started using pinterest, and it's helpful for finding recipes. Before I head to bed tonight, I hope to make a list of what is needed for all the recipes and also check my pantry against the list so I know what I need to buy. My goal is to start doing this every month. Including new recipes is definitely making the planning and cooking process more exciting although some new recipes will likely be "duds." The last few I've tried have all been winners; the chocolate banana bread, crock pot roast, chicken barbecue, and tuna melt pie were all hits!

Trunk or Treat

Our church held its first Trunk or Treat last year. They're holding their second annual one tomorrow night. Many churches have these events. I've never taken Nadia trick or treating or to a Trunk or Treat. A church that is very close to our home (where Nadia attended her 2nd week of VBS this past summer) had a Trunk or Treat even this afternoon. Thankfully it's 30 degrees warmer out today than it was yesterday. Ian chose the bumblee costume today. I think it was an excellent choice to wear black and gold this evening (Go Steelers!). He went as Superman on Friday to the library. Nadia has consistently been choosing to be Snow White. The church served a free dinner inside and had various crafts and activities for the kids like decorating a cupcake. I thought that was the better option that taking them somewhere to do traditional trick-or-treating tomorrow. No one goes trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. I learned this in 2008 while I kept Nadia awake so I could show her off in her costume to the kids who came to our door. I had the candy. I was ready. No one came.