Can't Win

A few years ago we showed up at the library story time the Friday before Halloween and discovered almost all the other children were wearing costumes. Oops! The next year I knew to have the kids in their costume for the story time closest to Halloween. This year the kids wore their costumes first at the Halloween party we attended a couple of weeks ago. Then they wore them on Sunday evening for the Trunk or Treat event I took them to at a church close to our home. If ballet hadn't been cancelled yesterday because of the hurricane, Nadia was supposed to wear her costume to class. A mom on Facebook asked the teacher if the kids could wear them next week instead; so our days of wearing costumes out in public has been extended. Although Nadia rotates between her princess dresses here at home (she wears one almost every day), she has only wanted to wear her Ariel dress for all "Halloween" events this year. Last year she was Snow White at ballet. When we were getting ready for gymnastics this morning, I packed their costumes so they could wear them at the library. They were the only kids wearing costumes at story time today. Last week Nadia brought home a flyer describing the special activities for Cubbies tonight - hay ride, crafts, games, etc. It was called a "fall festival," and there was no mention of costumes. When I dropped her off this evening, I saw all the kids running around in costumes. Oi vey. I hope it didn't bother her too much. I guess in future years I'll keep a spare costume in the van for the month of October so we'll always be prepared sunce I seem to be totally out of synch. I had gotten Ian a Thomas the Train costume at a consignment shop, but he's only wanted to wear the pirate costume this month. I feel confident that Ian and/or Oliver will enjoy wearing the Thomas one at some point.

Two days ago when Nadia and I were playing Candyland (it's her favorite game this week) she said to me, "Mommy you should concentrate." I was puzzled because I had been drawing cards and moving my piece in a very efficient manner throughout the whole game, even though I was holding Oliver at the time. She saw my puzzled face and said "or you'd be winning." Here I thought the reason I wasn't winning (at the moment) was because I had just drawn the ice cream cone card that sent me back near the start of the game! It turns out the problem was a lack of concentration, ha ha. This morning I told Nadia that the Giants and Steelers would be playing each other on Sunday. I asked her which team she was going to root for. She said she'd cheer for the Steelers with me, and then she added that Ian and Oliver should cheer for the Giants with Daddy. She said the girls will root for the Steelers, and the boys will root for the Giants. Works for me!

The last two weeks Oliver slept in the Weego during gymnastics and I nursed him at the library. That worked out well. He usually gets up for the day sometime between 5:50-7:00am. This morning he slept until 8:10. I nursed him for 15 minutes (much shorter than usual) and then gave him his bottle before we left. He screamed all the way to the gym. Holding him at the gym wasn't enough. I had to nurse him, and it's difficult to help Ian around the gym while nursing Oliver. In the future I guess I'll be waking Oliver up at 7:00am on Wednesdays, although at that point he only had slept a total of 6.5 hours so I can see why he slept another hour this morning.

Ian didn't wake up dry this morning, but he wasn't totally soaked either, and he asked to go to the bathroom as soon as he got up (and he went #1 and #2 on the potty). So I think he stopped himself in bed. I am pleased with his progress.

Paul didn't meet his advisor's deadline. This afternoon he asked her for a one day extension, which she approved. Although the last week has been very stressful, I have to say I am actually glad that she made the deadline 12 days before the deadline when he has to give it to all 4 committee members. If he really does get the draft to her tomorrow, I am confident he will meet the November 12th deadline as typically she doesn't have too many revisions that she wants him to make. He told me that he's also been working on the powerpoint for the oral part of the 11/26 defense. He didn't come home tonight. I want him to do whatever he needs to do in order to finish his PhD in 4 weeks, but I have to say I cannot wait until this time of being a single parent is over. I am exhausted. It drains me emotionally to hear Oliver screaming, but there are times I have to put him down and let him scream so I can take Ian to the bathroom or help the kids in some other fashion, and this happens more when I'm on my own 24 hours a day. Oliver was none too pleased with our trips to Cubbies this evening either. He only took one nap today (1:00-3:45pm) so he went to bed at 7:30pm (although his first stretch was less than one hour long). The upside of his early bed time was that Nadia and Ian's bedtime routine was far more peaceful. Yesterday I had to keep raising my voice when reading the devotional so that the kids could hear what I was reading over Oliver's crying (in my arms).

I found myself feeling rather agitated by the time the day was drawing to a close. I think the two main culprits were #1 feeling like a broken record with Ian and Nadia all day long and #2 wearing jeans that are rather tight in the belly area. So I tried to think of what I could do to improve these situations. First, I realized that I need to implement consequences far more quickly so I don't continue to repeat myself 50 million times a day. For example, I must remind Nadia at least 30 times a day to sit properly in her booster seat at meal times. Starting tomorrow I'm going to buckle her in to see if that helps and also have told her there will be immediate consequences when she fails to sit properly. I'm not going to continue to repeat that instruction umpteen times a day. As for the weight loss, I've thought of two things to try to get that going in the right direction again. I'm going to switch to a small bagel or oatmeal for breakfast as I've been eating too large a serving of cold cereal, and I'm going to spend time rough housing each day to burn more calories (ex. giving the kids a horsie back ride, spinning them around, etc.) in light of far fewer trips to the playground lately due to the weather. I had quite a few different pairs of capri pants that fit me, but it's not really capri pant weather any more. I literally only have one pair of pants that fit me well plus one pair that are too baggy. The vast majority of my pants have zippers plus a button or snap and those are not comfortable to wear yet. I need to lose more weight asap. It's frustrating that it's so hard for me to lose weight after I give birth even when nursing, but Oliver is absolutely worth it, and at least I don't have nearly as much to lose this time around.

Three prayer requests that are on my mind a lot right now are #1 for Paul to finish his draft of his dissertation asap, #2 for the insurance to decide to pay for far more of the bloodwork (my OB finally wrote them a letter last week explaining why the tests were medically necessary), and #3 for Paul to get a job for the spring and also next fall. I'm hoping he'll submit far more applications by the end of this week. Thus far he's just submitted one for an adjunct position for the spring. I told my department chair a few days ago that we could possibly be moving out of state before the spring semester starts if Paul is offered a job in VA or WV. I told him I'd let him know ASAP once we know.

If Paul had been home or if the weather had been nicer, I would have taken the kids trick or treating tonight. I wasn't up to taking three small children trick or treating by myself in this cold weather. I feel a bit embarrassed about the fact that Nadia will be 5 years old before she goes trick or treating for the first time (since we have yet to take her). She doesn't lack for candy though since she got more tonight. Part of the problem has been that no one trick or treats in our neighborhood. I'd have to drive (5 minutes) into town and park and take her trick or treating there. They did cancel today's annual parade due to the weather, but the trick or treating went on as scheduled. Hopefully next year Nadia and Ian will go trick or treating for the first time. Thankfully they don't realize that they've missed out on anything.

Twelve Weeks Old!

Oliver turned 12 weeks old today! He gained 6.5 ounces over the past 7 days, which put him at 6lb 10oz this morning. He should be able to reach 7 lbs before he turns 3 months old 8 days from now. It's such a relief to see him gaining at the pace Nadia did after having Ian gain weight ever so slowly. As a comparison, if Oliver keeps at this pace he will hit 9lb at 4 months, and that is how much Ian weighed at 4 months, but Ian started 2 pounds (plus 1.5 oz) heavier than Oliver did. Even the NICU doctors would be satisfied with his current pace of gaining weight. He's now wearing newborn clothes most of the time. Fewer and fewer of his preemie clothes still fit him. The newborn diapers also are fitting much better these days (meaning we haven't been having leaky diapers lately).

I am attempting to get him on the following schedule (which of course is always flexible but just a general idea at this point) - sleep 8 hours between 9pm and 7am (that allows for being two one-hour feedings). Right now he's averaging 7 hours of total sleep during the night so I'm hoping to stretch that to 8 hours (for my sake). As for naps, I'm trying to get him to take them in his crib at approximately 9am, 1pm, and 5pm. Usually his naps are each between 45 minutes and 2 hours long. On Monday his first nap was short so I didn't think much at first when his 2nd nap exceeded 2 hours, but then when it exceeded 3 hours I thought - this is too long and woke him up. Unfortunately he seemed off kilter with sleeping (naps and during the night) from that point until now. Did I do the wrong thing in waking him up? I didn't want him to think it was the night time as there are still nights where his longest stretch is 2.5 hours the whole night so a 3+ hour nap concerned me. This morning I gave up on him taking a nap in the crib (after many failed attempts) and had him nap in the Weego instead. Last night his feedings each took 1.5 hours so I was tired this morning. I decided to nurse him at 1pm in bed so I could nap a little during Ian's nap and Nadia's quiet time. Although I tried many times to get him to nap in his crib throughout the day today, he only took one nap in his crib, and it wasn't very long. That is very unusual for Oliver. He's really been a very good napper most of the time. It's been his night-time sleeping that has been needing to improve, but over the past week he's finally started to have a longer stretch now and then, which gives me hope. I keep reminding myself that the end is in sight. I should be over the hump in terms of being more than half-way through the sleep deprivation phase.

Today's post could have been titled "Thankful Tuesday." In addition to Oliver's weight gain, I have much to be thankful for including:

1. Paul came home around 4:30am on Monday morning (I was up nursing Oliver at the time). He headed back to PSU at 5:30pm this evening. He plans to pull an all-nighter in his office tonight and come home tomorrow. We tried very hard to not distract him while he was working here at home yesterday and today.

2. Paul's dad repaired a generator they had, and Paul's brother and nephew brought it to our house yesterday morning. We plan on buying one, but we weren't able to buy one before the storm because they were all sold out by the time Paul tried to get one.

3. We didn't need to use the generator as our power never went off! Also, no water came in our basement. It turned out that our ground was pretty dry and was able to soak up the rain.

4. My parents and Paul's parents also never lost any power or had any significant damage to their homes or properties. PTL!

5. Ian woke up dry the first three nights that he slept in underwear! Hoping tomorrow morning will be day number four!

Sandy and Oliver

Dear Sandy, It seems you are headed our way. My university has already cancelled classes for the next two days, and they don't often cancel for snow or ice. The town is just beginning to get back to normal after the flood that happened in September 2010 from another hurricane. When you live in the mountains of central Pennsylvania, you don't think hurricanes are going to be coming your way. If you must come our way, could you PLEASE not cause our power to go out? My husband tried to buy us a generator, but he started the search after all the stores were already sold out of generators. If the power goes out, our sump pump will stop working, and then our basement will flood. My husband just started writing his dissertation a few days ago, and it has to be at least 120 pages long. The rough draft is due in just three days. He's been staying in State College working as many hours a day on it as he possibly can. He only spent one night at home over the past week. He really, really doesn't have time to deal with a flooded basement this week. He's actually still in State College right now, and I should add that I really, really won't be able to deal with a flooded basement by myself tomorrow as I'm already really busy with a 2 month old, 2 year old, and 4 year old. I also ask that you not cause the bridges to be closed before he gets home. I'm really nervous about being stranded here with no power and three little ones if Paul is unable to get home due to flooding.

 

Dearest Oliver, Mommy is really, really tired. Being a single parent for a week is exhausting. There are a few things you could do that would help out immensely. First, keep up the good work as far as sleeping more at night. I greatly appreciate the improvements the last couple of nights. If your brother hadn't kept me up for an hour during the middle of the night and then come in my bed at 6:40am, I could have gotten a decent amount of sleep last night. Second, if you could take three good naps in your crib tomorrow, I would be so grateful. I would use that time to get some housework done (ex. I need to cook dinner), spend some one-on-one time with your siblings, and get a much needed nap. Third, if there's any way you could try not to cry while I'm putting your siblings to bed, it would be greatly appreciated. That is the time of day when I am missing your Daddy the most. I am sorry that I had to let you scream while I got my shower this morning. I had planned to take it before you and your siblings woke up, but Ian woke up before I got up.

I want to thank you for crying less in the car yesterday and today. I really, really was grateful that you didn't cry much on our way to or from Grandma's house yesterday. I'm going to try my best to time future lengthy car rides during your naps as none of us like to hear you scream the whole time we're in the van. I also want to thank you for sleeping in the Weego while your siblings enjoyed a "trunk or treat" event at a church near our house. That was a big help for one little pirate and princess this evening! Finally, I want to thank you for being so very flexible as to how you get your milk. You are doing a great job of nursing although I still have to wake you up a lot. That warm milk just lulls you to sleep! You also gulp down whatever I give you by bottle - even if it's cold or in the case of yesterday evening and today if it's formula. There were babies in the NICU who would accept either breastmilk OR formula by bottle. I am grateful you don't seem to care what's inside. I greatly appreciate your flexibility!

 

 

Underwear and Pumpkins

Ian has been asking multiple times a day to go to Grandma's house. They spent an a lot of time there this summer but hadn't been there for almost 2 months. Paul went back to PSU yesterday afternoon, and he's not planning to return until tomorrow. In light of that, today seemed like the perfect day to head to Grandma's house. In either January or next summer we'll most likely be moving farther away from them. I want to make the most of this time when we only live an hour away from each other. Paul knew he had to submit his dissertation to his 4 committee members by 11/12, but today he found out that his advisor wants the rough draft by 10/31. Yes, in just 4 days he needs to finish a draft of an at least 120 page dissertation. Wow. Please pray for him! It hasn't helped that a huge storm they've nicknamed "Frankenstorm" is headed our way. He spent precious time yesterday and today trying unsuccessfully to locate a generator so that our pump would keep working in the event of a power outage. Please pray that our basement doesn't flood. A flooded basement is never a good thing, but it would be disastrous timing in light of him needing to pretty much work around the clock between now and Wednesday.

Thursday night was not a good one for Oliver in terms of sleeping. I woke up Friday morning with a splitting headache, and over the course of the day I developed a fever. It was really hard to function yesterday. In the beginning I was handling the sleep deprivation fairly well (better than with Nadia or Ian). That is no longer the case. I am just plain exhausted. I find myself dizzy at times, and the headache won't go away no matter how many Tylenol I take, and the fever comes back at times as well. Thankfully, Oliver had a great night last night. It was by far his best night ever. He slept from 9:30pm to 11:30pm, was up for an hour, and then slept from 12:30am to 5:50am!!!! Yahoo! I woke up many times in there in part because I had an excess of milk due to my body not being used to getting that long of a break. He nursed for 70 minutes after he woke up!! I didn't bother to give him a bottle after that marathon nursing session. Oh and speaking of bottles, today was his first day of receiving a bottle (1 ounce) of formula. I have to keep telling myself "formula is not the enemy." I know my milk is "liquid gold," but it doesn't mean formula is awful. He's still mostly getting my milk. I wish this wasn't so emotional for me, but it is. It's hard. I wish I could go this "hybrid" route without any emotional hang-ups. Maybe it will just be a temporary thing. I keep telling myself "you are not a failure." Now we shall see if I actually believe those words. I am also trying to remind myself that just because we had a great night last night, that is unlikely to be the norm yet although hopefully it will eventually become the norm. I would be in seventh heaven if we only had one middle of the night feeding. I would feel a million times better if I could regularly get 7 hours of sleep each night.

Since Paul won't be around much, I decided to bring two pumpkins to Grandma's house today as I thought trying to carve two pumpkins while taking care of three little children by myself would be a bit too much. I figured that Ian would not want to scoop out any pulp or seeds as he doesn't like things that are messy, but I wasn't expecting Nadia to also be revolted by the idea. She helped a little with a spoon, but I did almost all the pulp/seed removal from both pumpkins. Pop Pop used the knife to do the carving. I thought it was so cute that he made Ian's pumpking into a pirate. That boy loves pirates!

Oliver wasn't the only one to have a big accomplishment last night. I put Ian to bed in underwear last night for the first time. I made a big deal about him being a big boy and took his diapers that he had been wearing at night to Oliver's room. He woke up dry! I am guessing he'll have an accident now and then, but it seemed like he was ready to work on being in underwear 24 hours a day.

Thankful Thursday

1. Ian is really enjoying the gymnastics class. I'm excited to see all that he'll learn over the coming weeks. I'm really pleased with his improvements in his sensory/fear issues regarding playing on the playground. He wouldn't have enjoyed gymanstics many months ago, but now he's ready although he certainly needs me to participate to help keep him on track. There are just four kids in the class. Will is about 3 months older than Ian, and Allie is a few weeks older than Nadia. Because this is Will's first class, and he has similar "issues" as Ian in terms of following directions, their mom is also helping out. This means there are three adults with four kids (not counting Oliver in the Weego).

2. In the past week Ian discovered he loves bagels, cereal bars, and chocolate cake. It's SO wonderful to see him open wide and want to eat something, even if that something isn't the healthiest food on the planet. It's also nice to know there are some foods we can take for meals eaten "on the go."

3. Monday night was the worst night by a long shot since Oliver came home in terms of me hardly getting any sleep. Thankfully Tuesday night was MUCH better. That night his first stretch was 15 minutes shy of 4 hours (WOOHOO!) and his second stretch was 15 minutes shy of 3 hours. Wow! If I hadn't gotten up before the kids did that morning (I needed to shower before they got up because we had to be out the door at 8:30am for gymnastics), I could have gotten over 8 hours of sleep. Amazing! Last night wasn't as good, but Tuesday night gives me hope that hopefully in the near future he'll start giving me one 4 hour stretch each night.

4. I'm thankful for the Weego. When he just won't go to sleep and has been up for too many hours in  a row, I get out the Weego. He cries at first, but eventually he falls asleep, and this way at least my hands are free so I can get some housework done.

5. Oliver got a good report at the eye doctor yesterday. His retinas are now fully developed so he doesn't need to have any more ROP exams. There had been a chance he'd need one more. Cheri was going to go with us yesterday, but she overslept. I am happy to report that it went pretty smoothly even though I forgot to put a stroller in the van and we were in the doctor's office at the hospital for more than an hour. I ran into a fellow NICU mom (Gideon's bed was right across from Oliver's for a few days) which was nice.

6. I put Paul's first application in the mail today. The university is about 2 hours from our house, which isn't an ideal length for a commute, but it's a FT one semester position starting in January. He plans to submit some other applications in the next few days. I'm going to try to help him with the uploading process.

7. Paul came home tonight! We really missed him. The time of day I find the hardest is bedtime. Oliver is usually crying while I'm trying to put Nadia and Ian down. Usually I enjoy our bedtime routine. When Oliver is crying I must say it becomes a very stressful experience in which I sadly often lose my patience. Last night was the worst because I had to wake Oliver up to go pick Nadia up at Cubbies. It wasn't a pretty sight at our house last night when I was putting Nadia and Ian down to bed.

8. Paul has scheduled his dissertation defense for November 26. The stress level in our house is going to be SUPER high over the next month, but then it will be done. Whew. The end is definitely in sight. Paul has to submit the dissertation by November 12 to his 4 committee members. He's actually doing two defenses because he couldn'd find a date that was good for all four of them. He'll be doing 3 of the professors on the 26th. I'd appreciate prayers that he will meet this deadline and also will be fully prepared for the oral questions that will arise during his defenses. He's more nervous about that than finishing his dissertation on time. Paul won't be getting much sleep over the next month, and I'll be on my own with the kids most of the time, but the end of his schooling is in sight!

9. I was able to mow the lawn today! Oliver had one good nap in his crib today. He slept from 1-3pm, and I used part of that to mow the lawn. Ian woke up before I was done mowing. I came in and turned on "Super Why" and went out and finished mowing (about 15 more minutes). We don't usually watch tv at that time of day, but if 15 extra minutes of tv will enable me to finish mowing the lawn, I'm okay with that.
                                                10. A woman from church brought us dinner last night. It was such a very pleasant surprise! The people in my church have been incredibly helpful the past few months.

11. Ian has stayed dry every morning thus far this week, and he was dry 6 out of 7 mornings last week. The one morning he wasn't dry, his diaper was only a TINY bit wet, and Paul had given him EleCare right before bed that night. So I think it's about time to move to underwear at night instead of diapers. Way to go, Ian!

4.33 years old

 
Over the past month Nadia learned how to buckle her own seatbelt, say the pledge of allegiance, and count to 30. I have to use extrinsic rewards to motivate her more than I'd like to, but I'm hoping that these successes will help build her confidence and perseverance. She gets frustrated and gives up way too easily. We are working on her "I think I can, I think I can" attitude. We've also been working on shapes. She knew them a long time ago, but I guess I let her go too long without working on them, and she forgot most of them. When I work on shapes I do it with both Nadia and Ian. She loves to "win" so beating Ian is a huge motivation for her (and thankfully Ian has no concept that losing is a negative thing). I can see that she's come a long way in ballet, and she seems to enjoy tap dancing as well. She regressed some in gymnastics since we took 4 months off, but I'm sure she'll get back on track in the near future. She loves to help Ian whether it's at gymnastics or at the dinner table.

She loves her Daddy very much. If he leaves for school before she gets up, she notices (Ian doesn't) and says "I'm going to have to give him extra kisses tonight." Last night when I told her Daddy wasn't coming home until Thursday night, she burst into tears and kept saying, "I want my daddy." She and Daddy often rough house, do puzzles, and play games together. Nadia has gotten very good at playing Memory. Paul and I now don't "handicap" ourselves when we play her, and she sometimes beats us. She also loves her baby brother very much. Many times a day she says to him, "I love you to the moon and back." She always wants to hold him. She's been very careful not to cough around him, and she's gotten much better about coughing into her elbow in general. Now if I could only teach her to blow her nose.  She still is obsessed with princesses. Ariel is currently her favorite, and Belle is her second favorite at the moment. When she seems something related to princesses, she asks if she can have it for Christmas. She'll often say (when seeing a princess toy she's never seen before), "I've always wanted that!" which cracks me up!

 



I don't think she's taken one single nap in her bed over the past month. She has gotten better about the quiet time though although she usually only lasts one hour. Her quiet time really isn't quiet. It's basically just a time for her to play in her room. She often is telling stories with her princess figurines or is playing a game on her Leapster. She's gotten very good at playing the games on the Leapster. She has occasionally taken a brief nap in the car. She really misses Gabby and Alexis. She talks about it almost every day how she wishes they hadn't moved to Oklahoma. Similarly, she wishes she was already five years old because Madeline used to be in her Cubbies group, but she's one year older than Nadia so she's in Sparks now. She wants to be in Sparks with Madeline. I haven't told her that we'll probably move before next fall which means she'll be going to Sparks at another church. I think the move is going to be harder on her than I would have expected given she'll probably only be 5 years old when we move. We've lived here since she was 3 months old.

 



Nadia is generally a very compliant child. The biggest struggles with her are getting her to eat vegetables (other than peas) as well as some other main dishes. This past month she learned that she likes peas as well as tuna noodle casserole. Nadia is the type of child for whom just knowing you are upset is enough of a punishment for her. I rarely have to dole out any negative consequences for her because just being told she did something she shouldn't have done is enough to reduce her to tears. I love my little princess so much, and it thrills my soul that she prayed to accept Christ as her Savior this month. I wasn't expecting it that is for sure! I have prayed for years that my children would come to Christ at an early age, and it's truly a delight to see that happen with Nadia. I will keep praying for her spiritual growth!

Six Pounds!

Today Oliver turned 11 weeks old, and sometime over the past four days he surpassed Nadia and Ian's birth weights as this morning he weighed 6lb 3.5oz. I was thrilled as it meant he had gained 6.5 ounces in 4 days! He should be able to double his birth weight by 4 months old. He definitely can now roll from his belly to his back. He repeated that skill several times yesterday. He takes after his big sister and does NOT like to be in the car seat. Paul was able to set it up so all three kids are in the middle row of the van, which is awesome because it means I don't have to climb back to the back row. Regina, it's a struggle just to get Ian to climb up into his car seat on his own. He shows no interest in learning how to do any part of the buckling process himself yet. I'm grateful that Nadia does her own seatbelt now. The kids went between trying to console Oliver to being annoyed and speaking sternly to him about the fact that he needed to stop crying.

For the first 10 weeks, Oliver was a pretty easy going baby. That has not been the case the past few days. At first he just was cranky in the evenings. His need to be held All The Time when he is awake has also increased lately. Sunday night I couldn't get him down until 11:00pm. Last night I kept trying to get him down until 12:30am. I threw in the towel and tried to go to sleep holding him. Usually that will work, but he still didn't even sleep that well in my arms. I had to keep patting him periodically. Then at 2:30 I fed him again. At 3:30 I tried to have him nurse in bed and usually that works. Nope. If Paul hadn't come to my rescue around 6am, I would have gotten about one hour of sleep total. He took over at 6am, and he was able to get Oliver to sleep in his crib for about an hour. When Paul took over I was so exhausted that I felt I couldn't even pat Oliver's back. I was dizzy and nauseous. I still didn't feel great when I got up because I had gotten less than 3 hours of sleep the entire night.

Although he struggled to sleep in his crib on Sunday night, he had no trouble sleeping in his crib during the day on Monday. His naps were almost exactly 2 hours long on Monday. Unfortunately the sleeping difficulties continued today. This little boy has been awake for an absurd amount of hours over the past 24 hours. I got him to take a one hour nap in his crib from 1-2pm today. My exhaustion plus his fussiness and wakefulness meant I let Nadia and Ian watch more tv than usual. When Paul left this morning, he said he wasn't coming back home until Thursday night so I am really hoping and praying that I get a couple of 2-3 hour stretches of sleep tonight. I am so glad I'm not a single parent and that Paul isn't in the military. My hat is off to those women whose husbands are frequently gone for extended periods of time. It was hard to get anything accomplished with holding Oliver all the time. This evening I put him in the Weego. He cried at first but then took a brief nap (less than 30 minutes) in the Weego, which enabled me to switch a load from the washer to the dryer and empty the dishwasher. Ironically the load in the washer had JUST finished when Ian came in totally drenched from head to toe. I do not know how he got so wet and dirty outside, but I had to take him up for a quick bath and change of clothes before taking Nadia to ballet.

 

I found out today that the insurance has recently paid $49 for the 3 hour glucose test that I had in March. I called the OB office today, and they haven't written a letter yet. I'm praying they will as it could save us $2,900. I hate being a nag, but for that amount of money, I will do so. As you can see from the first picture in this post, Ian had some more cake this evening. He loved it! Yay! Knowing cake was for dessert helped him eat an entire banana for dinner.

Roll Over

Oliver has been rolling over from back to belly for several weeks. He did it for the OT two weeks ago, and I thought she'd be pleased. Actually she said we should discourage this. I'm not exactly sure how to discourage it or why I should. Oliver has made attempts to roll from his belly to his back, but if my memory is correct, I don't think he'd ever made it all the way over until this morning. I had put him on his belly and came back and found him on his back. Normally it's considered a good thing when a baby masters rolling over. To be honest, I'm thinking of not actually following through with the next OT appointment. Thus far she's been pleased with his progress (when measured by his corrected age). Unless I start to see some delays, I think we'll skip the hassle of heading back to the hospital for one last OT evaluation. My guess is that the ROP follow-up exam scheduled for this week is also not necessary, but since the potential risk is blindness, I'll take him back for one final ROP check. Given how much he screamed at the last appointment, I'm sure he wishes I would cancel the appointment also! The good news is that after this week's appointment, we don't have ANY doctor appointments scheduled until the middle of December! WOOHOO! I'll be taking Oliver for his Synagis shot (and Ian for his flu mist) next month, but hopefully that will be our only time entering a doctor's office in November.

I wasn't planning to watch much of the Steelers game last night. I ended up watching the majority of it (although I still went to bed at 11pm before the game was over). Oliver was awake for over six hours straight! Typically he's awake for 1-2 hours at a time and then sleeps for 1-2 hours. I think the longest he's ever been awake before was 3 hours. He was really fussy yesterday evening. I tried to put him to bed several times starting at 7:30pm, but he didn't actually stay asleep in his crib until 11pm. He then slept for 3 hours (whew!). He was up from 2-3am and then when he was resisting sleeping in his crib again I immediately caved and let him sleep in my arms from 3-6am. My back was sore (because I can't get in a truly comfortable sleeping position when he's in my arms), but I was grateful that altogether I got almost 6 hours of sleep. My neighbor told me today that her son (who is several weeks younger than Oliver) is now sleeping about 8 hours straight at night. That seems totally impossible although I am sure she's telling me the truth. I was pleased to find out at 2am (while nursing Oliver) that the Steelers had won the game. Paul usually roots for my team. Next week he'll definitely be rooting for them as we're playing one of his divisional opponents. In two weeks he definitely won't be cheering for them as the Steelers are playing the Giants that week. Thankfully this only happens once every four years. This will be the 3rd time it's happened since we've been married.

Beautiful leaves (and kids!)

When Ian got up this morning at 8:00am, the first thing he told me was that he wanted to go downstairs and eat some chocolate cake. Up until a few months ago he had NEVER requested any food at any time of day. It does my heart good to know there are foods he enjoys now, and of course I have to concur with his opinion of chocolate! We didn't bring the cake home with us, not that I would have let him have cake for breakfast. I compromised and let him have a bowl of Cocoa Puffs in EleCare instead.

While Paul was watching football and Oliver was napping, I took Ian and Nadia for a ride in the stroller so I could get some exercise and also get some pics of them with the beautiful fall foliage. I'm going to use them as well as the other Picture Me pictures in other posts this week.

He likes cake!!!!

Ian was offered some cake at his first and second birthday parties. Both times I had my camera ready for the classic messy cake pictures. Both times nothing entered his mouth and a dab of frosting being placed on his lips brought him to tears, which definitely wasn't the desired response. Since I assumed all cakes had eggs, I hadn't attempted to get him to eat any cake since then. Paul's mom recently told me about wacky cake. It's very easy to make. I doubled the recipe and made it right in the cake pan (fewer dishes to clean!). I can honestly say that Ian loves chocolate cake! I am quite certain he won't be refusing to eat his birthday cake this year! I made the cake from scratch today for the Halloween party we attended, but I bought the frosting at the grocery store yesterday. I read the labels and discovered that some cans had milk and some did not. October 20, 2012 feels a bit historic to me since it was the first time Ian ate some cake. I doubt I'll get a really messy cake photo since he can't stand to have food on his face or hands, but I'm certain there will be some chocolate on his face during his third birthday party! Another new food for Ian this week has been the cereal bar. He's been eating two of these for lunch without any fussing. It's very nice to have a food he'll happily eat, especially one that's so transportable. He's also been enjoying fruit snacks, which aren't as healthy as a cereal bar, but they demonstrate how very far he's come with his chewing skills over the past 6 months.

Today was a jam packed day. I tried to do as much as I could without assistance in the morning so Paul could get some work done. As soon as we got up in the morning, I was in "get ready for pictures" gear even though they weren't scheduled to start until 3pm. I figured it would take me all morning to get the kids bathed, pick out what outfits we were all going to wear, give Paul a haircut, and make two dishes (a corn casserole and chocolate cake) for the Halloween pot luck we were going to attend at 4pm. I had given Ian a haircut on Wednesday night while Nadia was at Cubbies. I had planned to cut Paul's hair at that time as well, but Oliver didn't sleep long enough for me to give two haircuts that night. I also managed to squeeze in doing one load of dishes (including put them away) and one load of laundry (which I did manage to fold but will have to finish putting them away tomorrow). My mission was accomplished, and we actually showed up at the Picture Me studio a little early. First we did the family photo, and we got two pretty good ones of all five of us. I wasn't totally "wowed" by them like I was by our family photo at that studio last October, but I was satisfied. The same went for the photo of the three kids. It was fine but not amazing.

Then we tried to get photos of just Oliver. That was pretty much a bust. I've struggled to get pictures of him the last few days as well. If he's been awake, he's wanted to be held All The Time, which means almost every time I've tried to put him down to take his picture, he's started crying. The same held true at the studio today. It didn't help that it was time for him to sleep, and he didn't fall asleep until I was in the final stages of picking which prints to purchase. If I am so inspired, I might take Oliver to Sears to try again just to get some photos of him, but probably I'll wait until December when we're in Maryland and ask my sister to do a newborn shoot for him, although he'll be 4 months old at that point.

 

Nadia and Ian's newborn shoots were done at Sears, and both of those went really well. I still adore the pictures of Nadia and Ian taken at Ian's first newborn shoot. I still say today was a success because #1 we got a good family picture (two of them actually) and #2 we ended up getting some cute pics of Nadia and Ian in their costumes. The party we were going to was a costume party, and so we had brought their costumes into the studio to change them into them after the photo shoot. Since Oliver wasn't cooperating, I went to "plan B" and had Jen take some pictures of Nadia and Ian in their costumes. She got some good ones! Would you believe it was our first time entering a photo studio in 2012? I've gone several times a year every year since 2008. If my sister can't do shoot in December, I will take the kids back to Sears or Picture Me so that I can hopefully get some of Oliver plus some for Ian's 3 year and Nadia's 4.5 year ones (in Christmas clothes).

I brought my camera to the party. If I had more hands I would have taken some cute pics of the kids in their costumes playing with other kids wearing cute costumes. Many adults were also in costume. My favorite adult costume was a woman who was dressed as a red Crayola crayon. I haven't been in a costume in over 20 years unless you count school "spirit" week. Spirit week usually was more along the lines of "crazy hair" day and such like that so it wasn't really a costume per se. I do remember for one spirit day we were to come as a story book character so I came as a princess and wore a gown I wore in high school. I had forgotten when I made that choice that I had recess duty that day. I must have looked ridiculous standing outside doing recess duty wearing a floor length gown made of blue lace. That's as close as I have come to wearing a costume over the past more than 20 years.

We had to leave the party early because I had purchased tickets to a concert before we got the party invitation. We dashed home, and Cheri was waiting in our driveway. She and I left (with Oliver) for the 7pm concert. The concert was fine. There were four different artists/groups on the stage over the course of the evening. The last one (Jason Castro) was by far my favorite (and not because he'd been on American Idol because I've never watched that show). Unfortunately he was the last one in the line-up, and around 8:30pm I realized how exhausted I was. We stayed until 9:15. I imagine the concert probably went until at least 10pm, but I valued my sleep more than attending the entire concert, just like I'll value my sleep more than the Steeler football game tomorrow evening. Friday night was a really rough one for me as Oliver was only sleeping one hour at a time. He'd be up for an hour and then sleep one hour. That is hard for me when I'm never sleeping more than one hour at a time. I long for the days when I'll get at least one four hour stretch every night. I know I'll have fewer headaches once that becomes the norm. I probably shouldn't have purchased tickets to a concert when Oliver was only 10 weeks old, but Cheri and I usually only go to 1-2 concerts a year, and this one was taking place 5 minutes from our house. We don't have anything on our agenda for next weekend, which is a good thing in light of Paul's need to kick it into high gear with his dissertation. I think I'll tackle carving two pumpkins with the kids for next Saturday. We got 5 pumpkins last weekend, but I'm only planning on carving 2 of them.

Waving the white flag

I weighed Oliver this morning, and he hadn't gained much since Tuesday. Over the past 12 days his weight gain has been less than desirable, and I think that's because I've decreased how much I've given him by bottle over the past 7 days. I'm thinking that if he's been not getting enough that this could also be why he hasn't been sleeping well at night (unless he's in my arms). I felt really sad when I saw the number on the scale. I've worked so hard for the past 10+ weeks toward the goal of exclusive nursing. For the first four weeks I pumped 8-12 times a day. I've definitely been drinking more water than I did when nursing Nadia or Ian. I've been pumping every day for 10 weeks, far longer than I pumped with Nadia or Ian. I am not sure what the problem is as he has been nursing pretty well. Sometimes he still falls asleep, but if I pull him off me (when he's gone to sleep) that usually wakes him up and he'll latch on and nurse some more. I was on the verge of tears every time I thought of this "surrender" today, but my desire for him to gain weight is greater than my desire to get him off the bottles.

 

Today I went back to giving him 35ml of expressed milk each time after I've nursed him. I also put away the pump. That was definitely a waste of money considering I bought it not many weeks ago for $75. I'll keep giving him the milk we have in the freezer, but when that runs out, he'll be getting formula in his bottles instead of my milk. I am trying to remind myself I have not failed even though that's definitely what it feels like. I am grateful he's still nursing. Hopefully he'll keep nursing for at least 10 more months, and hopefully sometime during that time span he'll get off the shield. Maybe the shield is the problem, but right now I don't think he's ready to come off of it. Nursing him hasn't gone like I hoped and prayed it would, but it could have been much worse. A woman who was in the hospital room two doors down from me this summer (she was on the antepartum unit for more than 10 weeks) really wanted to nurse her daughter. Her milk never came in even though she was pumping around the clock for a couple of weeks before she resigned herself to the notion that her daughter would be a formula baby. In the grand scheme of life, my sorrow is over a very small thing. I'm hoping once he starts eating solid food we can eliminate the bottle feedings.

 

Paul's parents watched Nadia and Ian for about 5 hours at our house today. I did a little grocery shopping, and then after Paul came home we went shopping. I wouldn't call it a date as aside from the time we were in the car (during which I was in the back seat with Oliver), we weren't together. On the way to the mall we stopped at a consignment shop. Oliver and Paul stayed in the car while I shopped. I bought Oliver a three piece sweater outfit (size 0-3 month) and Ian three pairs of footed pjs (size 3T) for $8.50 total.

 

At the mall I carried Oliver in the Weego. He slept most of the time. Paul shopped for a new pair of jeans and a new pair of sneakers for himself. I ran in and out of 7 stores (BonTon, JCP, Gap, Gymboree, etc.) and actually made purchases at two stores (Macy's and Sears). I was just shopping the clearance racks for Nadia, Ian, and Oliver. Altogether I paid $52.18 for 16 summer items (most were 2 piece ouftifts). The original prices totaled $294.93, which represents a discount of 82%.  I am going to try to do as much of my Christmas shopping online as possible so I might not be back in a mall for 3 or 4 more months until it's time to shop the clearance racks again. I think I'm done shopping for Nadia and Ian for Christmas (and Ian's birthday). I am not planning on buying Oliver anything. I haven't gotten started on shopping for anyone else on the long list though. I had better get started!

 

Paul and I haven't been on a date since May. It would have been nice to go out to dinner together tonight, but we deemed the shopping to be more important. We have plans for tomorrow and also for November 3 (the circus!), but other than that I don't think we'll be seeing much of Paul over the next 6 weeks. I'm going to feel like I'm a single parent as Paul is going into serious writing mode to complete his dissertation. His last article is ready to be submitted to the journal Analytic Chemistry, and his advisor has written his letter of recommendation so he's planning to submit his 7 applications on Monday. Neither of us will be getting much sleep over the next 6 weeks - in my case because of Oliver and in Paul's case because of finishing his PhD. We'll go on a long overdue date after he defends his dissertation in December. What a happy day that will be!!!

Thankful Thursday

1. I am so, so, so, so thankful that Oliver is off the oxygen and apnea monitor. I'm finding I'm still putting my finger on his nose to check the cannula. When I'd pick him up out of his crib that's the first thing I'd do as usually I needed to fix it. I also find myself reaching down to pick up an oxygen tank, and then I remember they're in the closet. It's SO much easier to carry him around the house now. One unexpected benefit is that it's now much easier to burp him. I never had trouble burping him after I nursed him, but it used to be VERY difficult (and time consuming) to burp him after his bottle. It's been easy to burp him since the cannula left his nose! This equates to more sleep for Mommy at night if I spend fewer hours burping him during the night.

2. Ian has stayed dry every night this week thus far! If this continues, I'll be putting him to bed in underwear in the near future.

3. We went to the playground today. It was our first time this week. When I weighed myself yesterday I saw I had plateaued. I figured I needed to get back in gear with getting some exercise. I really want to be able to wear my jeans again.

4. Nadia likes peas. Hopefully we'll be able to add more veggies to that list in the coming months, but at least we have one vegetable that now goes down without a fight. Ian actually did pretty well with his peas this evening also, but that was mainly because he really, really didn't want to eat any spaghetti. Peas actually rated above spaghetti in his mind.

5. Ian ate 2 chicken nuggets yesterday (one for lunch and one for dinner). I am trying to get to the point where there are some foods that he'll eat that are served at fast food or sit down restaurants so I won't have to pack food for him when we go out to eat. We had two peaceful meals today (definitely not dinner!), and I think part of the reason some meals are going better than usual is because I'm diluting his EleCare. I am finding that giving him fewer calories to drink is translating to him doing a better job with eating solid food. Any meal that doesn't involve gagging and screaming is a good one in my book!

6. Today there were two more jobs posted that Paul is going to apply for. One is for a one semester (FT) adjunct position at the university where I taught as an adjunct starting in January 2003. It would be wild if 10 years later Paul got his start in higher education at the same university where I got my start. A tenure track position in physical chemistry at Juniata College was also posted today. If Paul's advisor gives him a letter of recommendation tomorrow, then he'll be sending off his applications this weekend to 2 schools in PA, 1 in RI, 1 in NJ, 1 in WV, 1 in VA, and 1 in MD. Two would be for one semester adjunct positions starting in January, one is for a tenure track position starting in January, and and five are for tenure track positions starting in August.

7. Yesterday we were actually EARLY for the 9:00 gymanstics class and also early for Oliver's 1:30 doctor appointment. It really bugs me to be late. Hopefully we'll also make it to church on time this weekend! I was glad that we didn't need to be out the door early this morning. I enjoy the days when we never get into the minivan.

8. Nadia's gymnastics teacher let Ian join the class yesterday even though it's for ages 3-5 (and he won't be 3 until December 12). He loved it! I had to follow him around and help him out (which is expected in the Mommy & Me class that is for 18-35 month old kids but is abnormal for the preschool class). He's never taken a gymnastics class. It was his very first class.

9. Nadia did really well in participating in the preschool story time at the library yesterday, and Ian actually sat and participated for longer than I expected. I nursed Oliver in the library while Ian played with some toys before we joined Nadia for the story time. The librarian usually focuses on challenging skills (that would go over Ian's head), but yesterday it was on colors so he definitely could answer her questions correctly.

10. It's a blessing in disguise that Paul and I have different tastes in cookies. When I make a type of cookie I like such as chocolate chip (that he doesn't care for as much), then I eat more than I should. Most of the time I make cookies that he likes (that I don't care for), and these aren't nearly as tempting. I'm also not a big fan of cake so it won't be hard to resist the cakes that I am planning on making for Ian. I thank those of you who sent me cake suggestions. I am first going to try a "wacky cake," and then I'll try some other vegan cake recipes. It didn't hit me (until a friend and one of my sisters pointed it out) that vegan recipes would work for Ian since he's allergic to eggs and milk.

11. I've mentioned it before, but I am oh so grateful that Nadia now buckles and unbuckles her own car seat. I'm hoping Oliver will like the car seat better than the car bed. He's spent a lot of time screaming in the car bed. Nadia was like that when she was little, and Ian was always pretty good about being in a car seat. Oliver was given permission yesterday to switch from a car bed to a car seat. I'm planning to return the car bed next week when I take him for his eye appointment.

12. Sheri is such a blessing. It's so nice to have someone to help me out so I don't need to take all three kids to a doctor appointment. What makes it really nice is that I can tell it means just as much to her as it does to me. I love those type of "win-win" situations! She asked if she could join us for their gymnastics class next Wednesday. I can tell their hugs mean the world to her, and the kids really do look forward to spending time at her house. What a blessing!

13. I'm still really grateful Ian has finally learned to take a nap, and I'm thankful that Oliver also usually does a pretty good job of taking his naps in the crib during the day. Yesterday Ian didn't have a nap (because of Oliver's doctor appointment), and he literally fell asleep during dinner last night. The absence of a nap yesterday helped me out this morning because he slept until 7:50am.

So long, wires and tubes!!!!!

This morning I disconnected Oliver from his oxygen tank around 5am. A couple of hours after that I removed the tender tabs and the cannula from his nose. He's been connected to oxygen for 10 weeks - through a ventilator, SiPAP, CPAP, vapotherm, and low flow oxygen via a cannula. In every instance he tried (or actually succeeded) to remove the device from his nose or throat. After lunch I dropped Nadia and Ian off at Sheri's house on the way to Oliver's appointment at the hospital. A nurse measured his length, head circumference, and weight. Would you believe he grew 1/2 inch over the past 5 days? LOL! I don't put ANY stock in length measurements of babies. He also supposedly lost one ounce in that time span BUT in reality the weighing conditions were very different. On Friday he was weighed with a wet diaper, a belt around his chest, probes, and a full belly. Today he was weighed with an empty belly and totally naked. He peed all over the exam table and scale. I understand why they weigh babies with a dry diaper in the NICU. Weighing a baby totally naked is a messy endeavor! When the NICU doctor and NICU nurse came into the exam room, the first thing they did was hook him up to a pulse oximeter. His initial saturation level was 100 and the lowest it went was 98! The doctor did a full exam - even more thorough than the pediatrician's 2 month exam on Friday.

I had been told earlier that once he went off the oxygen he'd still need to be on the apnea monitor for 2-3 more weeks. Nope! He is off the oxygen AND the monitor! WOOHOO! When I go to pick him up, I no longer need to pick up any other equipment! It will be so much easier to get him dressed and undressed. I also was anticipating a bit of a tongue lashing because I haven't used the apnea monitor as much as I was supposed to use it. They downloaded the data last week. Nothing was said about how often it was turned off. Whew. At the very end I asked if another x-ray would be done since the last one done in the NICU still showed his lungs as being "cloudy." He said that we could assume his lungs are fine now in light of his improved saturation levels without being on oxygen or the two medications he had been on up until 2 weeks ago. If I hadn't asked this question, the appointment could have been 100% positive, but unfortunately my question led him to make a comment about Oliver's weight gain being less than optimal. He said he wasn't going on a curve but totally flat from 9/2 to 10/17. I said that the Pediatrician has been very pleased at the last three appointments (the most recent being Friday). I guess I should have anticipated this feedback since they expect to see a weight gain of 1 ounce a day. If he had gained at that pace, he'd have gained 45 ounces since he was discharged, but in reality he's gained about 24 ounces. I will seek to be more diligent with keeping a hat on his head (haven't been working on that lately since he screams every time I put the hat on), and I'll weigh him a little more often in light of decreasing what I'm giving him by bottle. Mostly I am trying to remind myself that two different pediatricians have been VERY pleased with his weight gain at his last three appointments. I don't want to get worked up about his weight again. Today is right up there in my mind with 9/2 (day of discharge) because it's the day my baby became free of wires and tubes. WOOHOO! I tried to take some (cannula free) pictures, but he cried every time I got out the camera. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get some good pics! I gave him a bath and tried to get all the tape residue off his face.

10 Weeks Old

When Nadia was being discharged from the NICU, the nurses offered me various items that they thought I'd want as keepsakes, such as her blood pressure cuff. Nope. I didn't want any momento of our time in the NICU. With each pregnancy I've saved several pregnancy tests and with Nadia and Ian I also saved all the ultrasound pictures. This time I didn't save all the ultrasound pictures because I had more than 90. Thus far I've tossed at least 35 of them. This third time around I did save one thing from the NICU in Harrisburg - one of Oliver's diapers.

The diaper pictured above (the one on the left in the second picture) is a Pampers size Preemie extra small, which are for up to 4 lbs. I put a card from one of Nadia's card games on it so you could see it's about the same size as a card. They had to fold this diaper down. It was still too big for Oliver. When he was transferred to Geisinger, he moved into Pampers size Preemie small (the one on the right in the second picture) because they don't use the XS ones in that NICU. They use a different brand for their micropreemies. The first case of diapers I purchased were Pampers preemie small. I then noticed that they were virtually the same size as their newborn ones so now I've switched to Luvs newborn size diapers. For whatever reason, I am planning to save the XS one as a memento.

 

Today Oliver is 10 weeks old! I can't believe he's hit double digits in terms of weeks. He feels like a newborn now. He weighed in at 5lb 13oz this morning. I was hoping he'd hit 6lb by today, but I think the fact that I've cut back on how much expressed milk I give him has slowed down his weight gain a little as he only gained 4.5 ounces over the past 9 days. I am not concerned because the Pediatrician was happy on Friday with his weight gain. I've gone from 35ml to 30ml to 25ml to 20ml. I'm going to keep him at 20ml for several days before we drop any lower to make sure his weight gain doesn't slow down any more. Hopefully he'll start making up the difference with nursing. That's the goal! I've been having him wear newborn size clothes the last few days. The onesies fit him fairly well, but the pants truly don't. His waist is just too small. The pants will not stay on, even the smaller ones that have an elastic waist. The newborn sleepers are also too big, but they don't fall off.

 

Saturday and Sunday nights were not good At All in terms of Oliver sleeping in his crib, but last night he gave me 3 two hour stretches, and I went to bed 1 hour before Oliver (thanks, Paul!) so I actually got 7 hours total. Yesterday I was so exhausted that I ached ALL over. I did take a nap yesterday due to Ian's long nap. Sometimes I feel frustrated in that when the day is said and done, I feel like there are so many more things I wish I could have accomplished - housework, teaching Nadia a new skill, etc. A facebook friend posted a link to this article today, and it was excellent timing for me to read this today. I do love snuggling with Oliver. He likes it best when his head is tucked under my chin, but I function much better when he gets some sleep in his crib each night. We are still working on teaching him to self-soothe. Sometimes we've even let him cry or fuss a little. I do mean a little. I am by NO means ready for any full blown "cry it out" strategy with a 5 lb baby, but I have let him cry up to five minutes maximum a few times, and sometimes it has paid off, and he's then slept for 2 hours.

 

If Oliver passes his saturation test tomorrow, then it means TODAY will have been his last day on oxygen. Oh how I hope and pray he passes that test!!! He pulls his cannula out a million times each day, and I am oh so very tired of lugging around an oxygen tank! I want to take lots of pictures of my boy without any tubing or tender tabs showing. We shall see how long it will take me to get all the sticky residue off his sweet face. His right eye is doing much better. I think his tear duct is no longer blocked. His belly button is still gargantuan. Seriously it looks like a balloon that is stretched so thin it might pop.

 

In other parts of my world, I am getting a hair cut this evening!! Here's to hoping I'll be pleased with the end result. The last two nights Nadia and Ian had beef stew (which means they both had potatoes, beef, green beans, and carrots). I've discovered that if Nadia is the one to dole out Ian's cereal (he gets one piece for each bite he takes) that the meal goes much smoother than if I am the one giving him his treats. Yay for big sisters!! He also does better if Karen or Grandma are the ones feeding him. I'd take it personally, but his default is also to scream and cry for Dadddy.

 

Oliver, if you read this some day, we have a confession to make. Your parents have been calling you "Ian" an awful lot. We weren't expecting to have so much trouble as we didn't have trouble calling Nadia or Ian by their correct names, and it's not like Ian and Oliver start with the same letter or something like that. We're hoping that by the time you're old enough to comprehend our mistake that we're calling you by the right name. I have to say that of our three children, I have definitely gotten the most positive feedback about your name. Just today a lady at the playground said she wanted to name her son Oliver. People really seem to love your name. Hopefully we'll stop mixing it up with your brother's name.

The Timid Dragon

This has been a jam packed weekend! Originally we planned to go to the pumpkin patch last weekend. I wouldn't normally schedule three special events for one weekend, but that's what ended up happening. Friday night Paul and Nadia saw the Velveteen Rabbit, yesterday the kids and I went with my parents to the pumpkin patch, and this afternoon all five of us went to see the Timid Dragon, a production put on on by children. Yesterday it was about 55 degrees when we were at the pumpkin patch. Today it was closer to 70 degrees.

I was hoping to make it to Sunday School on time this morning, but we were late again. However we were only 15 minutes late compared to 30 minutes late the last two weeks. If I hadn't taken time to pump this morning, we would have been on time. We were actually 5 minutes early for the doctor appointments on Thursday and Friday. I am getting better at judging how long it takes to get the kids and I out the door.

Last night did not go nearly as well as the previous night. Oliver gave me one 3 hour stretch (12:30-3:45am), but the rest of the night he only slept for 45-60 minutes at a time. I don't really like getting up every hour throughout the night! I keep reminding myself that this too shall pass. Paul has decided not to appy for the three positions in PA or the one in NY. He's going to apply for the ones in VA, WV, MD, NJ, and RI.

Pumpkins, Hayrides, and Corn Mazes, oh my!

My parents arrived at our house around 10am this morning. Nadia and Ian had fun playing with them before it was time for lunch and naps (for Ian and Oliver). Around 2:30 six of us (Paul stayed at home to work on job applications) left for a farm. We spent about 2 hours there, which included a hay ride to a pumpkin patch, feeding some animals, going down a really big slide three times, and going through two small corn mazes. We came home with 5 pumpkins. Aside from Oliver (who slept through the first 90 minutes and then I nursed him in the car), a good time was had by all! The list of places Paul is going to apply is now up to nine. The ninth one is in Maryland.

 



Over the past 65 days the longest stretch of sleep I've had has been 3 hours, and that's been really rare. Oliver gave me a wonderful gift last night in that he slept for five hours straight (11pm- 4am). Thank you SOOO much, Oliver!!!!