Ups and Downs

This wasn't posed. Ian loves to read books!

1. The number of posts on my blog has gone down by about 300. I've started deleting posts in preparation for getting ready to have some printed in a book form. Some were easy to delete, and others were hard to delete even though I've never gone back and read them. Some of the harder ones to delete were regarding the adoption efforts, but it seemed pointless to pay for posts about trying to adopt from Ukraine and within the US to be printed, when we never actually adopted. I still need to delete more posts as I imagine right now it would cost a fortune to have my blog printed. I do want some posts printed. I am picturing Nadia reading them in say 15 years or something like that.

Nadia is really into her dollhouse lately!

2. Ian's weight has gone up by 1/2 pound in the past two weeks! He hasn't been throwing up as much, and I've been putting LOTS of cereal in his bottles. They are so thick you could eat the contents with a spoon, lol!

3. Ian's sleeping habits have taken a terrible turn for the worse. He's been waking up usually twice during the night (between 9pm-midnight) and has also been getting up before 6am. It takes a long time to get him to stay asleep in the crib. He'll fall asleep rather quickly in my arms or Paul's arms, but as soon as we start to put him in the crib, he wakes up. Last night Paul let him cry for a couple of minutes. Not Good. Ian threw up all over the place. We then had to change his clothes, clean him up, change his sheets, etc. That ordeal took about 90 minutes from when he started crying until when he was back asleep in his crib. Not Fun. I went to bed at 8:30 last night in the hopes I'd get enough sleep last night, but I didn't get anywhere near enough sleep since Ian and Nadia were both up during the night.

4. I found a few things Ian will put in his mouth! He will lick a cheese curl, Dorito chip, or a chocolate mint flavored candy cane. He doesn't like the licorice (any of the 3 flavors I bought) which the feeding team recommended. The OT is supposed to be coming tomorrow afternoon. I am very hopeful that she will be able to give us many helpful tips. I am praying the snow we're supposed to get tomorrow doesn't interfere with her plans to visit us at 2pm. I've also noticed that he's putting a lot more toys into his mouth. I've actually had to tell him "no" regarding something he's put in his mouth for the first time ever I do believe.

5. Nadia has been a lot more aggressive toward Ian lately. I think it's because now that he's "on the move" he's able to annoy her a lot more frequently. She doesn't really want him to ever touch her or many of their toys. She has pushed him, kicked him, etc. Not Good. Hopefully this phase won't last long. At this point I view it as entirely her problem. He's the innocent party at this stage, but in time I'm sure he'll be at fault at times in how he treats her.

6. We have a LOT more craft supplies in our house today than we did yesterday as I took the kids to Michael's today. I noticed afterward that there also was a AC Moore. Does anyone know which store is better in terms of prices? I wasn't going to comparison shop with 2 toddlers in tow. I really have no idea where is the best place to buy craft stuff such as construction paper, pompoms, pipe cleaners, glue, wiggly eyes, tempera paint, etc. If anyone can point me in the right direction (Amazon, Walmart, Target, AC Moore, etc.), I'd appreciate it! I spent a lot of money today, but I bought a lot of the items listed above in large quantities so I shouldn't be buying things like wiggly eyes or pompoms for a LONG time. I felt out of my element as I am by no means an artsy, craftsy person. In fact I signed Nadia up for a art class (Preschool Picassos) that starts the end of February just because art is a weak area for me. This evening we opened one of the large bags of pompoms that I bought and started sorting them into smaller ziploc bags by colors. It was good practice for Nadia on some colors we don't routinely practice (white and pink for example).