3/10/11 – Our Mobile Baby

Well, it’s Thursday (my Friday)! Today was the last day to vote in the cutest baby content, so I’m pretty anxious. Fingers crossed!!!!

Today was the end to a VERY busy week at work. Man, I am just exhausted. I get so frustrated feeling like I’m under water all the time, and can’t catch up. I suppose I better get used to it…it doesn’t look like anything is going to change there. My supply seems to have finally leveled off again, and I actually pumped a little extra today for the first time in a LONG time. YAY, I was starting to get worried!

I yet again blew off Target, and went straight home. Just not in the mood to shop, so we’ll continue to make due with what we have around the house. I was pretty upset when I got home and realized today was trash day. Thursday has ALWAYS been trash day, but for some reason I convinced myself that Friday was this week, so I didn’t go through the fridge or get the diaper pail emptied or anything! Seriously, it’s wonder I remember how to get dressed in the morning! I got a letter from my work benefits last weekend that they need the girls’ social security numbers on file, and forgot ALL week to submit them. I got a letter last week that I need to update my parking pass information at work, and forgot to write down my license plate numbers ALL week. We have to submit our garbage disposal rebate by this weekend, and I forgot to send it in ALL week. And, I forgot to make Amelia’s nurse appointment for her shots all week too! So annoying…is pregnancy brain permanent?

After work I ran home to clean up the bedroom and get some random “picking up” done around the house. Christian arrived home and it was just a pretty normal night. We ate some dinner, played. Amelia is officially a PRO crawler now. She can get herself all over the place now. She has also officially outgrown her 3-6 month pants as everything appears to be high waters on her now, so this weekend we’ll be pulling out the 6-9 month bag. YAY. She can even pull herself up to standing pretty well all of a sudden. She doesn’t really understand how to move and position her feet once she’s up, so she’s a bit of a weeble wobble still, but she’s doing well. When she’s crawling, she’ll often hoist herself up into the downward dog position, like she’s going to stand up! I couldn’t believe my eyes…it could all just be a freak thing, but I seriously wouldn’t be surprised to see he standing on her own, even walking, in the next month or so. But, she’s not even cruising the furniture yet, so who knows. She’s kind of short, so that doesn’t help.

We decided to skip baths tonight, as after a little playing, it was off to bed. Amelia is still in bed with me, and Christian is still banned to the couch (he lovingly refers to the living room as “his room” now, LOL). I really want to break her from this, but I don’t know what to do. She’s been sleeping so well, all week, only getting up once to eat. She’s obviously much more comfortable. Maybe we should take apart her crib and move it into our room! Ha.

We tried out the mesh feeder today for the first time. We put some apple slices in it and she loved it. YUM.

3/9/11 – Super Mom for the Night

Today was a pretty good day. Busy at work, spent the day recruiting votes on and off. I finally realized that I can play games on the iPod at work because I don’t need WiFi to play them…so pumping goes by much faster now that I have that distraction! Not very exciting to most people, but I’m super excited!

I (again) planned on heading to Target after work today, and I again opted not to at the last minute. The house is literally a disaster right now, so I headed home to get that all cleaned up instead. And boy, I was BUSY. I fed the dog and took him out, made Amelia’s bottles for tomorrow, washed bottles/pump parts, washed dishes, made Amelia’s carrots and peas (made them chunkier since she’s eating so well now) to replenish the freezer supply, started our dinner and cleaned up the kitchen. I was exhausted and the evening had barely begun! Christian called me as he was about to leave his mom’s house, because Olivia was throwing a fit and did not want to leave. We decided it was OK for her to spend the night there and plan with her cousins some more. Well, he arrived home and I could hear her yelling up to me right away. Apparently as soon as he pulled away she started crying…so he had to go back and get her. LOL, at least she loves being with us!

After dinner we hung out for the night. We watched American Idol and man there are some GOOD singers on there this year! It was a pretty normal night otherwise….playing, baths, bed. Nothing new there!

Here’s my sweet girl, in one of our favorite sweaters! Cutie! Also, Amelia found a new friend in Rico, the hung out for a while today (really, Rico was just attempting to battle for a place on my lap…he lost).

3/8/11 – EXCITING!!!!

Oh, so exciting! Our little peanut has made it into the FINAL round of voting for the cutest baby contest! We can’t even believe it, and are yet again, harassing everybody for votes! So if you've voted before, it should be super easy. If you haven't, you'll have to register. You don't have to put your address, you can use a fake phone number and opt out of the marketing questions. This is the last round, winner take all. The grand prize is $1,000 and we'd LOVE to put that away for her future. Thanks guys - CLICK HERE to vote!

In other news, it was a pretty laid back day today. Work was the usual…Christian found out that his next check will include his annual “bonus” (which they get in lieu of raises”, so that will be exciting! I should also be getting my [very small but very appreciated] cost of living raise at work soon. We haven’t gotten those in YEARS, so I’m pretty excited about that too. I’ll be making a BIG payment on our credit card when we get paid, and man I can’t wait to see that balance drop. The day it hits $0 I think I’ll throw a party! I’ve been working on our budget, and pushed it out another year and I’m starting to get pretty excited about it. I feel like we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, and I don’t get so stressed out when I think about money. Don’t get me wrong…we still don’t have any, and it’s still going to be some time before we’re looking up, but it’s coming, and I KNOW it’s coming, and that feels good.

This has gotten me to thinking about our future, family wise. Christian doesn’t seem to keen on the idea of having another child. I don’t know if it’s still the stress of the girls and adjusting to having 2 still, or if he really doesn’t want to have anymore. I on the other hand, just don’t feel done. I can’t imagine never being pregnant again, I just don’t feel done. I hope that some day I do get that feeling, but I worry that I’ll never be ready to give up on being pregnant again. Anyway, what prompted the discussion (which was promptly ended) is that unless something happens along the way, we should have all of our unsecured debt paid off next year when we get our taxes back, and then the following February (2013), the truck will be paid off. So we’ll be in the clear, and we’ll be looking good. So, rather than have our next kid be way younger than the girls, I thought we should shoot for having a third in the late Spring/Summer 2013. Christian didn’t want to talk about it, so for now I’ve just taken it upon myself to decide that’s the plan! Ha. There are several factors that play into the plan though…

1. First of all, if something big happens between now and then, which keeps us from getting debt free, that throws a wrench into the plans
2. I need to have enough time saved up at work so I can take 10-12 weeks off when the baby is born (probably 12 since it’s HIGHLY likely that will be our last). Debt free or not, I don’t want to take unpaid leave from work at any point. I don’t have a ton of time right now, and on top of that, there are discussions of a government shutdown this summer, and if that happens, it will likely deplete any time I do have, so I’ll be starting over again.
3. We need to be in a place where I can get a new vehicle. My 1999 baby isn’t going to last much longer anyway, but regardless, she can’t fit 3 car seats, so I’ll be heading down mini-van alley before #3 comes along.

These are the three major hurdles…everything must fall into place in these areas, or my plans will be null and void. We’ll see what happens!

Finally, today I started really seriously thinking about cloth diapering. I know it would save us quite a bit of money, as long as we play it smart. I’m sick of literally throwing money away on disposable diapers. I think we’d skip Olivia as I’d really like to hit potty training soon anyway, so it would just be Amelia. I’ve never overwhelmed by the world of cloth diapers though, and can’t even figure out where to start! Also, Christian is really not into the idea, I’m pretty sure my mom wouldn’t like it too much, and I have no idea what his mom thinks about it. If I don’t have their support, it’s not really going to work. Something I plan on looking into, but I don’t know how far it’s going to go.

Amelia pulled herself up, all on her own, to stand on the toy crate today! YAY. I also snapped this picture of the girls, and I love it.

3/7/11 – Topic #7 – Homemade Baby Food

Today was Monday. A pretty ordinary Monday. Work is work, home is home. We’ve been making a conscious effort to spend one on one time with Olivia at home, before bed lately. She likes to chase each other around the house, she’s getting into “hide and seek” and scaring people lately. She just likes to run around and play with us. If you sit down, she’ll grab your arm and say “mo, peeeeese”. How can you resist that?!? Tonight Christian was giving her piggy back rides and she thought it was the best thing EVER. She was laughing so hard, harder than I’ve heard her laugh in a LONG time. We eventually put Amelia up there too, and they were both laughing. It was fun…it’s nights like this I breath a sigh of relief and think “THIS is why you have kids”. So much fun.

When it comes to homemade baby food, I don’t know that I’ve ever really gotten into the details of why I’m doing it. I thought I’d write about that today.

First and foremost, making your own baby food is SO much cheaper. It really is. As I mentioned before, in just over a month, I paid off my baby bullet with the savings. It’s great, saving money anywhere we can do it is a huge bonus, especially as your family grows and your income does not!

More than that though, homemade baby food is so fresh. The smell, the color, and nutrients, it’s just perfect, it’s the way food should be. Olivia has been off of baby food for WELL over a year, yet we have jars of Gerber baby food in our cupboard from her that is still “good”…still not expired. Now, that is not fresh. Talk about preservatives! I like grabbing the fresh and frozen produce, and knowing exactly what she’s eating.

I did initially consider doing it with Olivia. I remember starting to read up on it, and checking out some websites, but for some reason, it just seemed so overwhelming. I’m not sure why, everything is super easy, rather quick to make, and nothing really confusing about it. I think it’s just getting started that is overwhelming. Once I made the decision to do it with Amelia, and dove in head first, I realized just how easy it really is, and I’m so happy I did it. I mean, I cook our food, I cook Olivia’s food, why not cook Amelia’s food too?!

For anybody on the fence about making your own food, I really suggest you do it. Trust me, you won’t regret it. All you need is an appliance of some sort…a good blender, a good food processor, etc. I have my baby bullet (which I do highly recommend), and I know Babies R Us has a similar product. Anything will do. I use the website http://www.wholsomebabyfood.com. It has all of the recipes, instructions and information you could ever need. It’s a great place to start.

Here are some pictures from the piggy back sessions. Amelia took a nose dive a few times, but still thought it was pretty funny (thank goodness dad has some quick reflexes!).

3/6/11 – A Sunday With Nothing To Do…

Sunday, Sunday. Sunday is pretty boring for us when it’s not football season. We’re always kind of lost, like, what do we do when there isn’t any football to watch? Of course, we decided to be kind of lazy today. I should have gone to do my weekly Target shopping, but I was just too tired. We managed to get the girls down for their naps at the same time today, so we were able to sit down and rest ourselves for a while. Other than that, we just spent the day with the girls. Olivia is really into her baby dolls again, she likes to put them to sleep and feed them and all that. It’s cute. She’s been doing SOOOO well with Amelia lately, and I’m so happy about that. She actually gives her toys, she lets her play with things, she actually gives her some space. I’m hoping that she’ll leave her alone this week since she’ll have her cousins to play with now! Amelia was working hard on her motor skills today…crawling better than ever (still pretty inch-worm like though), trying with all of her might to pull herself up. She can sit up from laying down no problem now, which is pretty cool to see. We tried out the mesh feeder, with some apples, today for the first time. She seemed pretty into it at first, but it didn’t keep her excited for too long.

Rico has been pretty interesting lately. Ever since Frank passed away, he’s been coming around more and more. He seems oddly attached to Amelia actually. He likes to lay by her, he’ll let her pet him and roughhouse with him, everything. It’s strange…he didn’t really want anything to do with Olivia, and didn’t come around much, but he’s like a whole new cat now.

We did a little cleaning around the house throughout the day, but pretty much just hung out and took it easy. Even though it doesn’t seem like it, Spring and Summer really are right around the corner, which means busy weekends and lots to do, and with two kids this year, it’s going to be even more crazy. I think we’re just taking in as many low key weekends as we can right now!

Today Amelia noticed that the “other baby” in the house had a bottle, she promptly crawled over to her and bathed her for said bottle…she was not happy to find out that there wasn’t actually anything in it though.

3/5/11 – A Day of Randomness

Today was a pretty low key day. A friend of mine was hosting a children’s book party, so I packed up the girls and brought them with me. Of course I like to show them off, but there were also going to be other kids there for Olivia to play with, so I couldn’t pass that up! There were SO many cool books, I honestly could have spent an entire paycheck flipping through that catalogue! I settled on some English and Spanish flashcards (because Olivia REALLY needs to get working on her ABC’s and 123’s!) and a cool puzzle books (because she’s so into puzzles right now). So, we shopped, played, chatted, and then were on our way. Amelia passed out right away in the car, and continued to nap for while. Olivia fell asleep when we were almost home, then decided that was nap enough for the day. I hate when that happens!

While we were gone, Christian took Chuy to get his nails clipped. Of course the spoiled dog came home with some new treats too! We spent the rest of the night hanging out, watching some movies on the TV and not doing too much. After we put the girls down for the night, Christian went to a friend’s house to hang out for a while, so I got some peace and quiet for a while. YAY.

Amelia enjoyed some puffs for the first time today. YUM, she’s grabbing them pretty well, but they get stuck to her hands and then she can’t get them in her mouth. She doesn’t think so, but it’s pretty funny. Also, Daddy and Olivia read some nursery rhymes tonight…so cute.

3/4/11 – YAY for ROUND 2

Well, thanks to our amazing friends and family, Amelia has made it through to ROUND 2 (of 3) of the cutest baby contest!! We are so excited, and VERY appreciate of everybody’s votes in Round 1! Now, we REALLY need your help. She is one of 100 in the contest now, and we again need to get as many votes as possible. The top 25 will move on to the final round of voting. Vote today, tomorrow and Sunday. Remember, you can vote with every e-mail address you have, each day, so please do!If you haven’t voted yet, you will have to register. It’s annoying, but it keeps the cheating to a minimum. When registering, you don’t have to provide your address, you can use a fake phone number (I do) and you can select no to each marketing option. You will also have to verify your e-mail address(es), which is pretty simple. If you have voted, you shouldn’t have to do any of that again. So, super easy! CLICK HERE for the the direct link to Amelia’s picture. If I didn’t mention the first time, if she were to win the contest, she’d get $1,000 and a free photography session. We’d love to put this money in her account for the future! Thanks so much for all of your help.

In other news…it was a very busy evening for us. I left work a tad early, stopped at Target quick to buy a “welcome baby” gift, stopped home to get the girls dressed and loaded into the car, then was off to meet Christian at the hospital. Our friends Kelly & Nixon welcomed their little boy, Niko, today and we were all so excited to go meet him! Olivia didn’t really care too much…I think she was pretty bummed that Meeka wasn’t there! Amelia seemed quite jealous while I was holding the baby…but I think she was also just annoyed because she wanted to get down and move around. Christian had to leave shortly after we arrived because his work was hosting their “Holiday Dinner” tonight. I spent a little time catching up and cuddling baby Niko, then was on my way home as well. I picked up some dinner for Olivia and myself; we ate, fed Amelia, took our baths and were off to bed. It’s always a little stressful doing the whole routine myself, but we got it done. Once the girls were in bed, I crashed on the couch for a while. Christian ended up home much earlier than I expected…I was still awake and everything! Not for long though, I’m just no party animal these days!

Here is a [semi-creepy] night vision picture of what I get to wake up to every day. I’m beyond lucky!

3/3/11 – Topic #6 – Parenting Styles

Well, Christian and I have been busy bees at work lately, and today was no different. After work we met up over at his parents’ house for dinner because his sister and nieces are in town!! We were so excited to catch up with them and see the girls. I’m a little nervous about the daycare situation though. They are going to be in town for about a month, and staying at his parents’ house a majority of the time. Olivia is going to love having other kids to play with, but of course she’s not used to that, so it’s going to take her time to adjust to sharing her stuff, sharing her grandparents and not being the center of attention anymore. BUT, it should give Amelia a nice break from Olivia, that’s for sure! I’m also nervous about when they leave…I hope Olivia doesn’t get upset or too confused once they aren’t around anymore again. And, I’m not going to lie, having all 5 girls in the house every day, makes me a little nervous. That’s a lot of chaos and requires a lot of attention. Even though his sister is there too, it’s still a lot to keep track of. Hopefully eating and napping and attention continue at an appropriate level!

Parenting Styles
There was a post on one of the parenting groups I follow on Facebook today asking: Do you think “what was good enough for one is good enough for the rest” or do you constantly try to improve on parenting missteps you may have made the first time around? This got me to thinking of just how different our parenting of the girls has been, even in just the 7 months since Amelia was born.

It’s interesting to see the choices parents make. Formula vs. Breastmilk; Forward Facing vs. Rear Facing; Crib vs. Bassinet vs. Co-Sleeping; When to Introduce Solids, the Sippy, Finger Foods. And, it’s interesting to see just how defiant people become about their decisions. And, of course they do, as they should. You make decisions because YOU think they are the right decisions. But, does that mean is always “right”…does that mean that’s the way it “has” to be…does that mean you will make those same decisions with every child you have? I don’t think so.

While I attempted breastfeeding with Olivia, I quickly gave into all of the breastfeeding pitfalls, and gave up. I succumbed to the ease of formula (and ignored the expense of it). Amelia has been 100% breastfed, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I absolutely love it…the bond, the nutritional value, the fact that it’s free. I love all of it. I knew from the moment I became pregnant with her that I would do it, and I would not give up. Being successful with her just makes my mistakes with Olivia even more obvious, and it makes me even more upset with myself. In the end, other than a few ear infections her first year and a cold here and there, Olivia is happy, healthy, smart and full of life. So, I can’t regret my choices too much.

Olivia slept in her bassinet, in our room, for 3 months. We never once “allowed” her to sleep in our bed. At 3 months, she was consistently sleeping through the night and we decided we wanted our room back, so she was moved into her room, into her crib, and I was a wreck. She did great though. It never bothered her, she slept just fine, and we all slept more soundly once we adjusted. Now, you notice I “allowed” is quoted above…well, after having Amelia, I came to the realization that Olivia was a very independent sleeper. She had no NEED to sleep with us, she never needed that comfort, and she was perfectly content in her own beds. Amelia has been a different story. She is 7 months now, is nowhere near “putting herself to sleep”, she does not sleep through the night, she hates her bassinet and because they will need to share a room (and are not ready for that yet), she is still in our room. Well, she is in our bed. I swore I would NEVER let my children sleep in our bed, but, it’s what works for us. We’ve tried…and tried…and tried. She does not like the bassinet, and we don’t know what to do. So, rather than be upset and work ourselves up about it, we’re doing what works for our family at this time. So, when will Amelia be back in her bassinet? When will she move into her room? Who knows. Furthermore, Olivia is well over 2 now, and still happily in her crib. A lot of people think its crazy that she’s still in a crib…I say, why wouldn’t she be? Yes, she is fully capable of climbing out of it, but she doesn’t. So, she safe, secure and confined in her crib, and we feel that’s the best option. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! She will remain in her crib, until she is consistently climbing out, risking her safety.

We started Olivia on rice cereal at 5 months, and on Gerber jar foods at 6 months. I followed our doctor’s recommendations to the T…no berries (especially strawberries), no honey, so seafood, no nuts, no dairy, no egg whites until 1 year. Well…we started her on whole milk organic yogurt at 9 months, but no other dairy. We started her on veggies (to avoid a sweet, fruit preference), then started on fruits. Then meats, then “people” food. It worked great. She was never the BEST eater, but she ate well and we didn’t have a ton of problems. Well, I now know how useless and nutritionally void rice cereal is, so we did/do not give that to Amelia at all. She was exclusively breastfed until 6 months, as recommended. I make her food myself as I now know how much healthier and cost effective it is to do so. We again started her on veggies, then fruits, and are following the month by month food introduction recommendations closely. She has not had any meats yet, but we’ll be starting them shortly. We’ll again go against recommendations and start the whole milk organic yogurt at 9 months, but again will follow the rest of the rules. So, we made a few big adjustments when it comes to food, but we’re also following a lot of the same rules.

Both girls use disposable diapers. BUT, I would like more knowledge about cloth diapering, and am now very interested in it. If I had the support of our mothers and Christian, I would definitely be going for it. I think it’s so much better for the environment, it’s easier on baby’s bottom’s and in the long run, if you do it right, it’s much cheaper than disposables. If we have another child in the future, I think this is an option I will definitely explore during my pregnancy. It’s something I hope to “improve” in our parenting if we get the chance…even yet with Amelia if I can wrap my head around the whole process and get everybody else on board!

Car seat safety is one thing I’ve ALWAYS been big on (as you could see from my car seat post previously). I was upset that Olivia was on the taller side and outgrew her car seat so early. But, she did rear face for just about 2 years, and I’m happy about that. Unless Amelia has some HUGE growth spurt along the way, she seems to run on the short side of the scale, so I’m hoping she’ll be able to rear face beyond 2 years. It’s something I get funny comments on, funny looks on and something people just don’t understand, but rear facing is such an easy thing to do, and increases their safety in the car so much, that I don’t care what anybody else thinks. So, this is one area I am content in.

Both of our girls are fully vaccinated, on time, on schedule and will continue to be so. This is also one area I will never change or fluctuate in.

In the end, there is one quote that comes to mind and rings so true here: “When you know better you do better” – Maya Angelou. You cannot live your life, especially when it comes to parenting, thinking “Well, my mom did it this way, so I will too”. Things change, research changes, information becomes available, statistics become available, the environment changes. Everything is constantly evolving and changing, so we need to as well. Just because something worked “back then”, does not mean it was or is the best choice. And, just because something works for one child, does not mean it will work for the next. Part of parenting is adjusting and realizing what each child needs individually. It’s OK to admit something was “wrong”, or a “mistake”. It’s OK to adjust your ideas and your way of living as you grow, learn, gain knowledge and become more confident in your own choices.

Here are some pics of the “little mommy” of the house, putting her baby to sleep. Checking her diaper, gently walking her down the hallway, rocking her in the chair for a bit and sashaying over to the crib (before tossing her in). Such a sweet girl.

3/2/11 – Adventures in Baby Food - Bananacado

The horribleness has continued. Amelia continues to not sleep, unless in bed with us. And, when in bed with us, she just wants to be…..attached….to me all night long. It is very negatively affecting my pumping output during the day, and is keeping me from sleeping. I am so exhausted. I need sleep. And, I’m really worried about keeping up my supply at this rate. She just will not stay in her bassinet. I don’t know what to do!

Today was pretty busy at work after being out at the conference all day yesterday. Playing catch up again, all day long! But, makes the long, sleepy days fly by, so that works out well. After work, we really didn’t do too much. Just the usual dinner, play, baths and bed. Amelia hasn’t been a HUGE fan of Avocado’s. She’ll eat them, but doesn’t seem to enjoy it too much. So, tonight I mixed together a banana and an avocado, and…she LOVED it. I’m hoping the nice fatty, filling avocado will help her sleep better. So, fingers crossed, because this mama needs sleep like nobody’s business! I don’t even like avocados, but it’s pretty tasty. Obviously, I added some lemon juice to the mix so the leftovers wouldn’t get TOO brown.

So, that was pretty much the excitement of our day! Now, we go to bed, and just pray for some sleep!!! Here are some before and after pics of the bananacado. I also have a video to post, but it's not working right now, so I'll have to come back to that...

3/1/11 – La Ti Da

Another bad night. What’s new at this point. I honestly can’t believe how little sleep a person can truly function on! Seriously.

Today we had our big annual conference at work. So, Christian had to drop the girls off so I could get on the road (double the commute to get to the conference) on time. I was lucky enough to need gas today...and it cost me $50.00 to full my car!!! What?! Christian also got gas for the truck…the pump stopped him at $75.00…seeing that his tank holds nearly twice what mine does (yet empties in half the time), it would have cost him nearly $100.00 to fill up. OMG…

The conference went well. I man the registration table all day with a couple co-workers, and I really enjoy doing it. Luckily the conference site had a location where I could pump! How awesome was that?! I ended up getting off work a little earlier than normal, headed home, cleaned up a tad and packed up some toys (you know, from our personal toy store) to bring over to my in-laws house. Olivia needs more distraction over there! Christian was working OT tonight, so I dropped off the toys and picked up the girls. We hung out and played for a while, had some leftovers for dinner, watched some TV and that was about it. It again took me forever to get Amelia to sleep, and I’m not holding my breath for sleep tonight. Oh sleep, where art thou?

Here is a picture of Olivia, concentrating very hard on her puzzles.