A Song for Ian

Last night at choir rehearsal the choir director told me she had just found out that Ian's dedication was scheduled for April 18. She asked me if I'd like the choir to sing two songs this Sunday. Most Sundays we just sing one anthem. Connie had the choir sing two songs, and she asked me to choose one. They were both really nice for a baby dedication, but I picked "In the Hands of the Lord" by Pepper Choplin. I still left choir early (at 8:05pm) even though I asked Paul to put the kids to bed. I leave for choir at 6:45 so I'm not gone that long, but I think they should both be in bed earlier than 8:15. Last night was Paul's very first time putting Ian to bed, and he did a good job as Ian slept from 8pm to 4:30am. Way to go, Ian! I was glad I left the rehearsal early as even with doing so I still was up for 80 minutes longer than Ian was. Usually I am in bed within 15 to 30 minutes of putting him down.

When I got home from choir I wanted to empty the dishwasher, which had been full of clean dishes for more than 24 hours. I also wanted to empty the sink of dirty dishes, but I saved that for today. The problem with going to MOPS was it meant I couldn't get any housework done as Ian's naps were both in the car. After emptying the dishwasher I pumped 2 ounces and went online to buy a 3 user copy of McAfee 2010 for $69.99. I also printed out rebates for $70 so aside from the postage to mail the rebates, it will be free. Our Norton will expire in the near future so it was good timing, and one of the rebates was only good if I bought the McAfee by April 15.

Yesterday as I was snuggling with Ian outside while Nadia was playing, it hit me that lately I have really been enjoying Ian. There were moments of delight the past 4 months such as when I got to see his beautiful smile, but I have to say even though it seems wrong to admit, I can't say I have been enjoying the overall experience. A colleague at work commented to me on Tuesday that I seemed back to my normal self. The difference has been getting more sleep. For over 3 months I had a splitting headache due to lack of sleep. I am so relieved that the headache has gone away. The stress over his lack of weight gain also didn't help. I know some people really love the newborn stage, but I have to say the fun of parenting for me begins around 4 months old. In Ian's case since many babies are 9lbs or larger at birth or before they turn 1 month old, he's still the size of a newborn baby even if he's 4 months old. If he was born on his due date, he'd be turning 3 months old next week. I'm just glad the "fourth trimester" of this pregnancy is over. I really feel much, much better when I get a decent amount of sleep! Last night Ian slept for almost 10 hours. I didn't sleep much after putting him back down at 5:30, but at least I was in my bed for 8.5 hours.

MOPS

I went to MOPS for the first time in September. The last time I was at this particular MOPS was in November because I was in the hospital when they met in December, the February meeting was snowed out, and last month I was in the middle of my attempt at potty training Nadia. I can't remember why I missed the January meeting. In February I did attend another MOPS group that by the odometer is closer to home, but in terms of length of the drive (25 minutes) they're equally far from our home. I haven't gone back to the other MOPS group because of potty training last month and because of a dentist appointment this past Monday. Since Ian did such a great job with his first two naps yesterday (first one was 85 minutes long and the second one was 50 minutes long which was terrific), I was tempted to stay home today, but I knew there were some folks there wanting to meet Ian. I was a member of that church for 4 years (until we moved in the fall of 2008). I was one of the doorprize winners today. I was the last winner, and all the other winners had picked one of the potted plant centerpieces. I was given two pots of herbs, but I gave them to someone else as that's not really my thing (I would have taken flowers if I had won one of those).

Everyone received a small flower pot. I brought home some pretty purple pansies. :-) I won't be attending the final meeting (next month), and right now I am thinking I probably won't join next year as by then Ian will need to be in his crib to take a good morning nap. I might rejoin in fall 2011 as probably by then he'll only be taking an afternoon nap. Nadia had fun this morning, and I managed to keep her awake on the way home by feeding her lunch. The nursery worker (a former student of mine) commented on how much Nadia is talking these days. Last night Paul was impressed when he offered her something and she said, "I don't want that." Good job, Nadia! Ian slept for both car rides, and I brought my boppy and nursed him during the meeting. I enjoyed chatting with Evie whom I met several years ago at a Bible study at another church. I'd like to invite her and her daugher Desi (who turned 1 a few days ago) over to our house for a play date as I haven't met Desi since Evie's husband watches Desiree while she's at the MOPS meetings.

I have to say though the biggest reason I am glad I attended today was because I found out about a free Mom's Night Out pampering night two of the women are hosting tomorrow night. One is a massage therapist, and she'll be giving chair massages. The other woman is an Esthetician, and she'll be giving facials, eye treatments, hand treatments, and foot treatments. We were told to wear comfy clothes, leave our rings at home, come without makeup on (no problem since I never wear any these days, LOL), and bring a basin (for our feet) as well as 2 washcloths, 1 hand towel, and 1 large towel. It sounds so heavenly! I've never had a facial or eye treatment before, and the only times I've gotten massages the past 9 years have been the day of embryo transfers (3 times). It sounds like it will be like going to a spa (something I've never done), but it won't cost a penny! How cool is that! Hopefully Paul will be able to put Ian to sleep tomorrow night. I can pump when I get home. He's never put Ian down for the night before.

Last night Ian slept about 9 hours total between 8:30pm and 6:30am. I worked on a syllabus for this summer while nursing him from 3:15-4:15am. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed by my to do list at the moment as I am a little behind on grading, and I'm also needing to put more time than usual into preparing for the summer classes since we're transitioning from Blackboard to a new LMS. One month from today we're flying to Florida. YAY! I need to do a little shopping for that such as to buy Nadia some sort of flotation device. I think we'll just bring the Nap Nanny with us since we don't have 2 pack 'n plays and Southwest lets you take two free bags per person. I think it will fit in a large suitcase. I hope so anyhow! Paul is also a busy guy as he has an oral presentation regarding his research on April 27 (so he's trying to make more progress with his computer program before then) and he has the oral part of his comprehensive exams on June 7.

Twenty-Five

Yesterday morning Ian was fighting his morning nap so I decided to let him cry it out. I took Nadia into our bathroom and took my shower and blowdried my hair. After letting him cry 25 minutes I couldn't take it any more. It took a long time to calm him down, and I was pretty frazzled from the experience as well. I hate sleep training. I like the end result, but I hate the process. He went down really easily for his second nap, but it was very short (only 25 minutes) long. I had put a chicken dish in the oven shortly before he woke up (for Paul to eat for dinner). So yesterday wasn't a good nap day. This morning with a little help (popping the pacifier back in) he took a REALLY long nap - one hour and 25 minutes long!!! YAY!!! It was so wonderful to have all that one-on-one time with Nadia. We played with blocks (she shouts "Oh no!" right before she knocks down a tower), read books, tickled, hugged, and cleaned the kitchen floor (I gave her a baby wipe so she could help me clean the floor). I have really missed her the past 4 months. We've had very little one-on-one time, and she's not the only one who has missed it!!! I'm hoping Ian will have another good nap at noon as then I can have some "kid free" time to get some more stuff done (like get dressed for work as I'm still in my pjs). Paul will be home by 3:20 as that's the time I need to leave for school today.

Last night Paul waited for me to come home to put both kids to bed. I got home about 8pm so I first took Nadia up to get her changed, brush her teeth, sing, pray, etc. Then I came down and started nursing Ian. I was shocked to find out that during the almost 7 hours I was gone he had only had 4.5 ounces. Last Monday during that same time span he had 9.5 ounces. The funny thing was that I was actually concerned that he hadn't had enough rather than my usual reaction of wanting him to have as little formula as possible, LOL. I had pumped 3 ounces in my office. Anyhow in light of how hungry he was, he didn't get to bed until 9pm (compared to 7:30pm the previous night). I think that's the reason he only slept 8 hours total last night. His first stretch was 7 hours (9pm-4am) and his second was 1 hour (5:30-6:30am).

Yesterday the bill came in the mail from my January hospital stay. The total bill was for $11,842.58. The insurance paid $1,917 and my responsibility is $25. Why the "adjustments" total $9,900.58 is beyond me! I am grateful my part is only 25 dollars, but I didn't think I'd owe anything as I thought if you were admitted to the hospital (which I was) that you didn't pay the normal ER copay. Ultimately I feel the first hospital (where I had the botched c-section) should pay this bill. I haven't heard back from the investigation. I should hear pretty soon as they said they'd get back to me within 30 days, and it's almost been 30 days.

Four Months Old!

My sweet little Ian is four months old today!  Here is a 2:10 minute video of him that I took yesterday. I did one on Friday night but his sister drowned him out in the background. He coos at the beginning and end of this one and smiles a lot in the middle. I'll try to get another one that's more of his cooing. He blows bubbles, makes the "g" sound a lot, etc. I think he's adorable!

The biggest change in the past month has been that he is sleeping more at night. He isn't totally consistent yet, but most nights the first stretch is at least 7 hours long. Last night he slept from 8pm to 3:45am (7.75 hours!). I greatly appreciated it although since he hadn't been sleeping that long lately by body was ready for him to wake up sooner than that. His second stretch was from 4:45-6:25am so he slept over 9 hours. YAY! I could definitely handle two more months of nights like that. Hopefully over the next month he will make great strides with his naps. None were taken in his Nap Nanny yesterday, but that was because the schedule didn't allow it.  I'm also considering transitioning him out of the Nap Nanny this month.

I was struck yesterday by how much he's grown. Unfortunately in the NICU carseat photo (12-22) there was a blanket over him so you can't really see how big he is, but I think by the 3rd picture in yesterday's post you can see he's getting bigger! I took that picture of him last night before we headed to church since I had taken one of Nadia in the morning when I saw she had climbed into Ian's carseat. With the exception of the swing, she climbs into all of his things (bumbo, bouncer, gym, carseat, etc.). Once he gets a little bigger, I plan to run some interference on his behalf until his sister learns to share. She definitely understands the concept of sharing as she always asks me to share when I'm eating something she also wants to eat. Ian now weighs 9lb 6oz, which means in the last 7 days he gained 6.5 ounces. YAY!

He's doing better at holding his head when sitting. Hopefully in the next month he'll master that and also start rolling over. I need to give him more tummy time. I'm also considering having him work on his self-soothing skills as I am nursing him to sleep most of the time. That will likely involve a lot of crying though. Sometimes I just use the pacifier to help him fall asleep for his naps.

I wanted to focus on Ian in this post, but here are a few other brief updates. Over the past couple of weeks Nadia has begun calling all white haired people either Grandma or Grandpa. Last night at church the man sitting beside her had white hair (and does have 10 grandchildren), and she said "Hi Grandpa!" He seemed to not know how to respond, but I think she's doing a good job that she always uses the words correctly in terms of gender and also has only used the term with people who actually are grandparents (albeit not always hers). Yesterday I was proud of her as yesterday morning when we picked her up the nursery worker called Nadia a "smarty pants." She said she was impressed that Nadia could say the name of (correctly identify) so many shapes - including octagon! Hip hip hooray for Nadia! If she sees a shape she doesn't know the name of, she just points to it and says "shape." LOL!

Bathtime

As time goes by, Ian is handling the things he used to NOT enjoy one iota better and better. He used to scream when I was getting him dressed or undressed - particularly if a onesie had to go over his head. He usually doesn't cry when getting dressed or undressed any more. His most recent area of improvement was with taking a bath. I honestly thought he'd rather get a shot at the doctor's office than get a bath. He seemed to hate it THAT much. I had been bathing him in a small basin inside a sink or the tub, but last night I tried him on what I used for Nadia after she outgrew the basin (I am not sure what it's called). Well he did oh SO much better. He actually even smiled at me as long as I kept eye contact with him and kept talking to him. I was giving him a bath near the end of Nadia's bathtime. He did fine until she was splashing and squealed with delight right next to his head. He then started screaming his head off. Still it was a HUGE step of progress as normally he screamed from the first moment a drop of water landed on his body. It was quite a scene at the end though as Nadia was crying "poop, poop" in the tub (I had already taken her out to have to try to go a couple of times) and Ian was screaming and then he peed while I was drying him off with a towel. Fun times I tell you, LOL!

There are many times in a day I wish I had more than two arms. Nadia has come a LONG way as far as being a big sister. She always says his name when he's not with us. She's definitely aware of whether he's with us or not. However there are still times she struggles with sharing her parents with Ian. She says "hold you" many, many times a day (meaning "hold me"). Of course we both love to hold her, but sometimes we can't do so when she asks due to Ian. It's hard for Paul and I. I keep reminding myself that this stage won't last forever and that since she's so little she won't remember this time period where she didn't get as much of our attention as she wanted (and needed to be honest).

I have come a long way in the past week with taking both kids out and about. I had avoided it (aside from going to church on Sundays) for the past 3+ months. The first experience (last Tuesday) didn't go that well, but since then Ian has decided to sleep whenever I put him in the Snugli. He took two of his three naps in it yesterday. His second nap was while I was mowing the lawn during Nadia's nap, and his third nap was while I took the kids with me to the grocery store. The next step will be to try taking both kids to the mall.

Last night was a much better night than Friday night. Friday night he slept less than 8 hours total. Last night he slept 7.5 hours (7:30pm to 2:55am) and then after nursing for 80 minutes slept another 2 hours (4:15-6:15). I much prefer starting my day at 6:13am (today) rather than 4:48am (yesterday). I'll admit though I'm a little jealous of Paul as he very rarely gets up before 7am, but I should keep in mind that I go to bed much earlier than he does. I went to bed at 8pm last night for example. Eventually I hope to get in a routine of staying up until 9pm, but that might not happen for another couple of months if I'm going to be up for over an hour in the middle of the night like I was last night. Paul didn't get up until 8am this morning, and by that time I had fed both kids and myself breakfast, gotten Nadia dressed for church, started a load of laundry, and done some dishes. By 8:15 I had myself and Ian dressed for church. We shouldn't be late this morning! Getting Nadia dressed took longer than usual as the first couple of dresses I tried on her didn't fit. Boo hoo! Size 24 month dresses are just way too short. She has to wear size 2T. One of them she had never worn. It still has the tags on it so I guess I'll sell it on eBay.

Nadia has officially entered the stage of asking "why?" seemingly five million times a day. I wasn't expecting it quite yet. Hopefully I'll always have a good attitude towards that question as I certainly don't want to squash her curiosity (desire to learn!).

Cabin Fever

Yesterday I had a case of cabin fever in light of not leaving the house at all on Thursday and also the not so nice weather yesterday (a drop in temps of over 40 degreees). Thankfully it's supposed to get warmer again today. I did take Nadia out for a little bit during Ian's first nap, but otherwise we had been inside all day. So I decided to make a second attempt with the Snugli and head to Walmart and McDonald's. Ian did pretty well at Walmart. He cried for maybe one minute and then fell asleep in the Snugli and didn't wake up until we were in the checkout line. He started to get fussy at McD's, but I had brought him a bottle. He had a total of 6 ounces by bottle yesterday. Nadia ate some fries and about half of her burger. She devoured her entire ice cream cone. My silly girl tried to eat the cone from the bottom up, but I told her she had to eat the ice cream first and then eat the cone. Aside from what dripped onto her bib (thank goodness I remembered to bring it!), she ate her entire cone. That's my girl! I then thought I'd let her play in the playland. I hadn't taken her inside this McD's since 7-24-09. Well she's still too little. The slides are HUGE. I guess you need to be at least 3 years old to really use the playland, but she still had fun running around, and we happened to run into friends of ours while we were there which was a huge added bonus for me as I sorely lack for adult conversation!

I rarely run into any of my colleagues at work since I just come in for the "night shift" two days a week, and I generally don't see anyone aside from Paul and the kids on Thursdays or Fridays. I do get a little adult conversation on Wednesday nights at church. I really don't get to talk to Paul very much either as the time in between when the kids go to bed and I go to bed usually doesn't exceed 15 minutes. The main way I get adult conversation each week is through talking on the cell phone - mostly with my mom and Paul's mom. Since my parents have the same cell phone company, it doesn't cost anything to call them. I take advantage of that! Nadia associates the phone with talking to Grandma. Yesterday morning she went to the kitchen and brought me my cell phone and said "call grandma." So I did call one of her grandmas (my mom that time). The first and third pictures in this post were taken on 7-24 (the day she turned 13 months old). The second picture was taken yesterday (21 months old). We left McD's at about 5:40pm to make sure we'd be home when Paul got home, but I should have called him before we left as she was having fun running around, and I was having fun chatting with Dave & Jenn. We could have stayed longer as Paul didn't get home until almost 7pm.

One thing I have appreciated these past almost 4 months is the helpfulness of strangers. I could give many, many examples, but I'll share just a few. The people at the pizza shop carry out my pizzas for me which is a good thing since usually I'm holding Ian in his car seat with one hand and holding Nadia's hand with my other hand which doesn't leave a hand for holding pizza. On Tuesday even though I had a free hand because Ian was in the Snugli, the cashier at CVS volunteered to carry my purchases out to my car. How nice! Yesterday the cashier at McD's carried our tray of food to our table for me. I had Nadia in a highchair that had wheels and had Ian in the Snugli. At Walmart yesterday someone helped me lift Nadia into the shopping cart. And the list could go on. I am very grateful for the kindness and courtesy that people extend to those who have two little ones. :-)

Schedules and Scales

Yesterday my department chair called me to discuss a few things. One was to ask if I would like to teach a second section of the online course I'm already scheduled to teach this summer because the waiting list for my class was long enough to fill a second section. I said, "YES!". During the fall and spring semesters I typically have about 35 students in each class. The online classes are capped at 20 students so I am happy to be paid for two classes to have 40 students when typically I have 35 in one. Last summer I taught 3 courses, and I found it to be too much during the session that I taught 2 courses as that meant teaching 4 nights a week. So I had only volunteered to do two courses this summer, and then last fall found out I could do one of them as an online course for the first time. I get paid a pretty nice stipend for creating the course (almost as much as I'd get for teaching a class). Now it turns out I'll be getting paid about as much as if I taught 4 courses this summer. I'll be teaching three courses, but I'll only be going on campus for one of them. That means I'll be going in on Tuesdays and Thursday for 6 weeks, but then I'll stay at home for almost all of July and August. YAY! I'll actually make more money than I did last summer, but be on campus far less than I was last summer. He then asked if I was still only going to teach at 50% in the fall. Last fall I had requested my schedule be reduced to 50% for all of 2010. He had scheduled me for 75% this fall, and I told him yesterday that was fine. He then asked me if I would consider being full-time in the fall if I taught the same online course that I'm teaching this summer for the students at two branch campuses. He had planned to hire a 50% adjunct to teach those two classes so it's a win-win scenario as they'll only need to pay me 25% of my salary to teach it online. This makes me feel all the more confident that I made the right decision to go from 50% to 75% for the fall as now I'll be paid full-time for the first time since September 2008 and I'll only be going in 3 nights a week. Now to see if I can continue to teach one online course a semester as I had planned to stay at 75% during 2011 and 2012. I've never taught an online course before, but it seems to be ideal considering I want to be home with my kids as much as possible!

Ian's first stretch was 7 hours last night (7:45pm to 2:45am) and his second was 2.25 hours (4:10-6:25am). I went to bed at 8:15pm. I'd rather not go to bed that early but doing so meant that I didn't wake up feeling exhausted. I am very grateful that his first stretch is now usually at least 7 hours long. I can handle getting up to nurse him once during the night for another two months. We're still working on his nap schedule. I am trying to get him to take 3 naps a day - 9:00am, 12:00pm, and 3:00pm. The first two are usually taken in the Nap Nanny. I haven't had any success with the third nap being in his crib yet. He still takes that one in someone's arms. The naps last from 30-60 minutes long. If I get him down at 12:00 then that means both children are down at the same time as Nadia has been napping from about 12:00-2:00 lately. Yesterday was her longest nap in a few weeks. She's still doing a GREAT job of getting up later. Many days she doesn't get up until after 7am. For example, yesterday she didn't get up until 7:45. AMAZING!!! Right now they're going to bed at about the same time, but the plan is to keep backing Ian's bedtime up until he's going to bed around 7pm. When Nadia was about 6 months old she was sleeping about 12 hours straight. I'm hoping in two months to have Ian sleeping from 7pm to 7am.

I did weigh Ian this morning, and he now weighs 9lb 5oz. WOOHOO! That means he gained 5.5 ounces in 4 days! If he can stay at the pace of one ounce a day then he should be right about 10 lbs at his doctor appointment on the 20th. Monday and Tuesday he had about 10 ounces by bottle each day, and Wednesday and Thursday he had about 8 ounces by bottle each day. Some of what he takes by bottle is EBM, but it's mostly formula. The fact that he's gaining weight faster is helping me feel better about that.

A goal I have for this weekend is to take some good videos of the kids. I have been delinquent with that. I need to get one of Ian cooing (so sweet!), Nadia counting to 10 (her Grandma and Daddy enjoyed hearing that on the phone yesterday), and Nadia singing the chorus of "Jesus Loves Me." She can't sing it perfectly, and she can't count to 10 perfectly, but for 21 months old I think she's doing a good job. The funniest thing she has been saying lately is "Oh boy." Gabby laughed when Nadia said it as she was having trouble climbing the ladder to her slide on Wednesday afternoon while I was doing yardwork. I laughed this morning when right after Daddy left this morning she said "Daddy bye bye oh boy." She doesn't like it when Daddy leaves, but she is SUPER excited when he comes home. If he dares to do something like go to the bathroom right after he comes home (instead of immediately holding her), she starts sobbing her little heart out. She loves her Daddy very much!

Half-Sizes

Well it turns out you can buy half-sizes in toddler shoes. I've only ever looked for shoes for Nadia at JcPenney, Walmart, and Target, and they don't carry half-sizes. There was a time when Nadia really needed size 5.5 as she couldn't keep size 6 on her feet, but size 5 was really too small. The next time that happens I will head to Payless. Money Saving Mom posted about a good sale Payless is having on all their shoes. I need to try shoes on as sometimes I buy 8 1/2 and sometimes I buy size 9, but I did buy Nadia two pairs of shoes. Size 6 fits her now so I didn't buy 5 1/2, even though that was an option. I got her two pair of shoes that together cost me $10.66, and I've often paid more than that for just one pair in the past! The best deals are at yard sales, and I hope to get some shoes for both of them at yard sales this summer. The shoes I purchased online today were a pair of lime green sandals and a pair of blue water shoes for our trip to Florida. Paul and I really like wearing them when we're at the beach as then you don't have to worry about stepping on rocks, shells, or hot sand. They had pink water shoes, but I got blue ones just in case Ian could wear them next summer.

I'm a bit embarrassed to post these picture of Ian because of how awful the seat cushion looks. It's 9 years old. Way past time to get a new one. After taking these pictures I flipped it over, and the other side looks much better, but it's still time to get a new one. He looks so adorable in them; so I'm trying to ignore how pitiful the cushion looks, LOL. Of course you don't know what it looked like 9 years ago so it might not look so awful to you.

Whisper, please!

What is the age when a child is typically capable of whispering? In the Toddler Busy Book the author suggests working on inside/outside voices with toddlers, and I have tried that, but Nadia just doesn't seem to get it. She laughs when I whisper. She thinks it's funny, but she hasn't tried to imitate me. Invariably when I am taking Ian up to his crib for a nap she will be shouting "MOM!" from downstairs as I go up the stairs with Ian. I get really frustrated, and then I try to remind myself that she's only 21 months old. I think it's easy to have unrealistic expectations for your oldest child once the second child arrives. She seems SO big compared to him that I think sometimes I expect something that isn't reasonable for a child under the age of two. She's still rather young herself!

Yesterday was a glorious day! Ian's first nap was 45 minutes long, and his second was one hour long! YAHOO! I took Nadia outside during the first nap. I played with her some and also got some yard work done (for example shoveled and carted a few wheelbarrow loads of dirt). We were going to put the dirt in the holes left by two bushes I wanted to get rid of, but since it took all day to dig out two small bushes, I no longer have any desire to ever remove these two big ones. They can just stay put! We weren't sure what to do with all this dirt. I put 4 loads up close to the shed around the two sides that are not in the area enclosed by the fence. It's really not ideal but at least only a little grass will be killed and more importantly Nadia won't be climbing a mountain of dirt anymore. We need to spread some grass seed where the dirt used to be as it obviously killed all the grass. I put 3 loads in the flower bed in the front yard, and I didn't quite finish the task due to time constraints and also because Paul said he might use some of it to level the area where we're going to put her sandbox. During Ian's second nap, Nadia was also napping. This was the first time in a long time that the overlap between their two naps exceeded 20 minutes. I printed some coupons in Paul's office, did some cleaning downstairs, and then went outside and worked on that dirt pile some more. I will definitely be able to get more accomplished around the house if I can have one hour a day when both are napping. Since I got a decent amount of sleep the previous night, I wasn't tempted to take a nap. It actually was a good feeling to know I could take a nap but didn't feel the need to take one. Life is starting to get in a more sustainable rhythm. :-)

Gabby was here for about 90 minutes. During that time I worked on weeding and mulching. I spread about half of the mulch.  I'm hoping today to make some more progress. The lawn still needs to be mowed, but I don't think that will be happening today.

 The only problem with my shopping trip was that I called Paul on the way there and when I he told me Ian was still up I asked him to not give him more milk so I could nurse him when I got home. Well Ian ended up screaming for 15 minutes and didn't nurse much when I got home. I think he just wanted to go to bed. His first stretch was about 7 hours, and I think it would have been longer if he had gone to bed earlier. Also, I had clogged ducts that kept me up for awhile. I had planned to pump when I got home. Next time I'll stick to that plan as he didn't nurse enough. His second stretch was only one hour long, and I didn't fall back asleep right away so I am feeling tired this morning.

The Snugli

When Ian first came home from the hospital, he didn't mind me putting him in the sling, but as soon as he got out of "sleep all the time" mode, he screamed when he was in it. Nadia was happy in the sling for a few months. Next I tried the Ultimate Baby Wrap. He definitely preferred that to the sling, but I have a hard time putting it on properly. I can't seem to get it tight enough that it stays put. If Paul helps me then I can use it, but generally when I want to use it he's not around, and it doesn't work for him to put it on me in the morning before he leaves as it doesn't stay on properly especially when I have to fiddle with it to nurse Ian. So aside from church, I haven't been taking both kids anywhere by myself. For church I have Ian in the infant car seat and hold Nadia's hand while we walk from the car to the building. That wouldn't work at the grocery store. I can't shop and hold Nadia's hand, and I doubt she'd hold my hand throughout an entire shopping trip. So I've been only doing shopping when Paul is home so that I can leave Ian at home and just take Nadia with me. That usually means only going to the grocery store on Saturdays.

Yesterday I decided I wanted to try to take them both with me to CVS. I decided to give the Snugli a whirl. He screamed on the way there (it's only about 5 minutes from our home) and continued to scream while I was shopping. I had him in the Snugli and Nadia in the cart. Thankfully after a few minutes of screaming he fell asleep. I guess I need to stick with just shopping with Nadia for a bit longer. Eventually he'll need to get used to being in the Snugli while we shop. The first few times I used the Snugli I had a hard time figuring out how to wear that device as well. At least I've mastered that one. I am  not very "mechanically oriented."

Speaking of which, I need to learn how to start the lawn mower myself. I have never been good at starting machines that involve yanking a rope. I asked one of the neighbors to come to our house after she gets home from school to watch the kids so I can finish weeding and then put the mulch down that is currently in a pile on our driveway. I'd also like to relocate the pile of dirt, but I might be underestimating (again) how much can be accomplished in a certain time span. When I feel badly that I need to hire a babysitter to help me so that I am able to get yard work done, I am trying to remember Joy's encouraging comment that taking care of two little ones is a big accomplishment in and of itself. :-) I have more success getting schoolwork done during the day than I do housework, but that's because I can grade papers and nurse Ian at the same time whereas I can't nurse him and mow the lawn. Once he gets better about being in the Snugli I think I'll mow the lawn during Nadia's nap while he's in the Snugli. I don't always want to have to pay someone to babysit so I can do yard work, but I shall do so today.

Last night was a good night for Ian. He slept 7.75 hours and after nursing for an hour slept 1.5 hours. Anything that exceeds 9 hours total is a good night in my opinion as it means I was in bed at least 8 hours. I'll be home all day aside from choir rehearsal tonight so I'm planning to work on his ability to take naps in his crib today. I also want to spend a lot of time outside today and tomorrow since it will be a lot cooler starting on Friday. The best news regarding Ian is that he now weighs 9lb 3oz!!! WOOHOO! He gained over 3 ounces the past 2 days! That's a big improvement considering over the 8 days before that he only gained 2 ounces. This makes me feel a big sense of relief about my idea to supplement a bit more. The past two days he's had 9-10 ounces by bottle (some of it formula and some of it EBM). I don't think he'll stay at that pace the next few days since Monday and Tuesday are the days I'm separated from him for 5 hours a day those two days, but I am thinking he should probably continue to have at least 6 ounces a day by bottle. I would be thrilled if he could get to 10lbs before his next doctor appt (which is in 2 weeks).