365 Days of Duran

This is the Duran life. This blog, which started in 2010, as part of the "365 Project", aiming to document a year of life through photo has morphed through the years. First into a "52 Weeks of Duran" format, and now into (pretty much) photographic documentation of our lives now. While life has caught up to me as our family has grown, photography means the world to me, and often speaks volumes beyond word, and I cherish the chance to look back on our memories, so I continue on...

Monday, March 28, 2011

3/28/11 – Play Date

Well, it was just another Monday in our world. I spent the morning catching up on work from Friday, and ended up leaving a couple hours early to get some stuff done. I ran home to do some uninterrupted “picking up” around the house, washed some dishes, pumped, made bottles and then I was off to Target. Oh Target, I seriously had the fullest cart ever by the time I was done…people were looking at me like I was crazy! Well, that’s what happens with you need cat litter, dog food, two boxes of diapers and a box of wipes, along with all of the groceries, all at the same time. I swear; I keep Target in business!

I was finally home, and Christian was right behind me with the girls. I quickly got the groceries put away and whipped up some dinner. One of my sisters ended up stopping over to visit, with 3 of her kids, and it was such a great surprise. We had the chance to catch up, which we NEVER do, and Olivia had SO much fun playing with her cousins. We definitely need to get together with them more often!

After they left, we did a little cleaning up, and then it was straight to bed for the girls. My mother in law gave both of them a bath today, so that was one thing we got to check off our list! Tonight we removed the bassinet portion of the pack n’ play, and we’re going to try having Amelia sleep in the pack n’ play. Maybe some distance between us will do her some good. I guess we’ll see. We just have to try everything we can at this point, and, hopefully something will look promising soon!

Tonight Amelia tried Sopa for the first time (on its own, it’s a very plain tomato-like soup, with noodles). She actually ate a whole little bowl of it, she loved it. It was hard to get decent pictures of her, but here are a few. She like playing with the noodles, and kept giving me a very confused look, even though she liked it. Probably because dad was feeding her, so she thought something was up. LOL

Sunday, March 27, 2011

3/27/11 – Sunday Girl’s Day!

Today was a great Sunday! Amelia was up a few times last night, like normal, but she did end up “sleeping in” this morning a little bit, so I guess that’s something! We all had a quick breakfast, and then I hopped in the shower and started getting ready for the day. We both had pretty busy days, but mine was much more fun!

After feeding Amelia and getting her down for a nap, I was on my way to meet my sisters, stepmom, grandma and aunt for a girl’s day! We grabbed some lunch at Green Mill, and stopped into the Plymouth Playhouse to watch a show, the “Marvelous Wonderettes”. It was actually really good. It was just four women, singing 50’s and 60’s music. It started off with them as a high school seniors glee-type club, performing at the senior prom. Then, it was them performing at the 10 year high school reunion. Good music, it was pretty funny, and the storylines were good. I was very pleasantly surprised.

While I was gone, my mom dropped Olivia off at home to Christian, and he was off to his parents’ house. They bought new furniture for their upstairs, so Christian had to go over and help unload it. I met up with them after the show was over, and his mom made dinner for Christian’s birthday and we hung out for a while. Finally, we all headed home, put the girls in the bath right away and put them to bed. By the time I got Amelia to sleep, Christian was passed out sleeping…apparently turning 27 is hard work! So, off to bed I went. Which I’m sure is for the better anyway since sleep doesn’t usually last too long in our house!

Here are some bath time photos from tonight. Bubbles galore!

Saturday, March 26, 2011

3/26/11 – HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAPA DURAN

Today is Christian’s birthday!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my wonderful husband! The big 2-7...LOL.

Amelia and I woke him up bright and early and gave him his birthday present. On the other hand, Olivia decided to sleep away the morning today…apparently we should go play with Andrew more often! Once Olivia was up, we all just hung out for a little while and relaxed. Then, Christian was off. His mom is babysitting Amelia tonight (thankfully, even though she works in the morning), and part of her stipulations for doing so was that Christian had to pick her up from work today because his dad had to work. So, he was off to pick her up, and grab us some lunch from a little hole in the wall Mexican place in the cities. YUM.

I jumped in the shower quick, fed Amelia, and got her down for a nap. Then, I was off to drop Olivia off at my mom’s for the night. It’s easier for us to get out, and stay out a little longer, this way…so we can just quick grab Amelia on our way home, and Olivia gets a good night’s rest. I rushed home to finish getting ready, and we were off. Christian’s mom and sister surprised him with a few gifts when we dropped off Amelia, so that was nice. Finally, we were on our way! We picked up our friend Gini, and headed to Chatterbox for the night. We love that place…they have all kinds of unique food, and board games to play and it’s just a really fun atmosphere. We weren’t sure in the end who was going to be able to make it out…but much to our surprise, all of our friends were able to make it out, at least for a little while. Man, that was so great. We never get out any more, and it’s so rare that we see ANYBODY, let along all of our friends, in one place. We caught up with everybody, chatted, laughed, joked around, played some “Would You Rather”, had some beers, and just had a good ol’ time. It felt like old times again.

It started getting pretty late, so we bid farewell, and were on our way. Amelia was great for his mom, she took her bottle and passed right out until we got there. Hopefully my late night doesn’t come back to bite me in the butt….I’m not holding my breath on this one!

Here are some pictures of our night. One of JUST ABOUT the whole crew and one of Nate, all on his own, because he’s always late to the party! LOL, so fun!

Friday, March 25, 2011

3/25/11 – Almost 8 Months

It’s FRIDAY! And, my Friday home. I’m ashamed to admit, I started off the day a bit bitter. Tomorrow is Christian’s birthday (which is why I’m posting Amelia’s 8 month post today). We are going out with some friends to celebrate tomorrow, but his co-worker wanted to go for dinner and a few beers with him after work tonight, which left me home with the girl, all day, and all night, all by myself. Ay, talk about a long day. Don’t get me wrong, I know that’s the daily case for many people in the world, but not me, and I definitely don’t have the patience for it!

But, we made the most of it. Olivia and I were up before Amelia, so we hung out and did “puzzles” (aka, played on the iPod) for a while. Once Amelia was up, we all had some breakfast and played for a while. Finally, I got the girls dressed and we were off to Target. I haven’t really had time to shop for Christian. For the longest time we didn’t even exchange gifts, but we’re trying to resurrect that. Unfortunately, I just had no idea what to get him this year. So, I decided to just wander around Target and see what I could find. I grabbed a couple shirts and some random necessity things I found around the store. And, if you didn’t catch that, I took the girls, to Target, all by myself! This is the first time I’ve taken both of them anywhere like that on my own. Amelia was so difficult, for so long, it wasn’t worth it for me (or fair to the general public) to bring her anywhere. Thank goodness things are getting better in this area! I do get the strangest looks though when I walk around with her in the sling! I think a lot of people just think it’s pretty cool, some people maybe thing I’m weird. Whatever, it’s the easiest way to get two kids out shopping!

After Target, we all ate some lunch and the girls went down for naps (very late naps). However, Amelia decided that she did not need a nap and woke up a short time later. So, I gave in, and just brought her downstairs. We hung out, played and watched some TV while Olivia got a nice long nap. Finally I was so sick of being at home, I guilted the BFF into letting us come over for dinner and playtime with Andrew. So, as soon as Olivia woke up, we packed up our bag and were out the door. It was much needed too…adult talk, and Olivia wore herself out silly running around with Andrew. She passed out as soon as we got home. I stayed up for a while watching some TV, and contemplated waiting for Christian to get home, but that definitely did not happen.

In other news, Amelia turns 8 months old tomorrow!!! Man, I can’t even believe it. Seriously, where does the time go? I think it’s even crazier to me just because she’s so small; it’s hard to believe she’s really 8 months old. She’s been doing great lately. She still thinks sleep is for losers, but other than that, we’re making constant improvements. Her first (front) tooth is finally all the way in, and the second front tooth is trying with all its might to poke through. She can crawl without any issue, and often ends up trying to go faster than she physically can, and face plants. She can sit herself up and pull herself to standing no problem at all. She can even stand all on her own for a few seconds now! She’s been doing downward dog for weeks now, trying to stand up, and the other day she actually did. Just for a tiny millisecond, but she stood herself up. We couldn’t believe it! She is still eating fruit and veggie purees only, but much chunkier than they were before. I plan on starting meats very soon. On the milk front, she is still 100% breastfed, and we’re going strong. No cereal, no finger foods, no sippy, no other liquids.

While she exhausts me, and I could do with a few less late night parties with her, she still amazes us every day. So much energy and ambition in such a tiny body. She is so focused, always learning, taking everything in. She mimics our facial expressions, she can copy a few sounds, she can play with toys, use her hands, no problem at all. She is our little energizer bunny, ready to go, go, go!

Here is her 8 month picture! Love her!

Thursday, March 24, 2011

3/21/11 – 3/24/11 – Oops

Well, I made it just over a year, posting every day, and I pat myself on the back for that. Unfortunately, my streak has come to an end. Things have been so crazy that I haven’t had the chance to keep my posts up to date. Top that off with the sleep deprivation that makes it impossible for me to remember what I do from day to day, I just can’t recall enough to provide a decent update for this time period.

But, here are a few pictures to make up for it! Olivia has been doing so well drinking from a regular cup lately, VERY exciting! My mom sent home ribs one night this week (for Christian)…Olivia got a hold of one, and ate the entire thing! A cute one of Amelia crawling around, and another of her trying acting like she’s in jail at the top of the stairs! Of course, Olivia had to join in then. Gotta love these girls!

Sunday, March 20, 2011

3/20/11 – Adventures in Baby Food - Broccoli

Of course, another busy Sunday around the house for us! The girls had us up nice and early today, BUT, for the first time in days Amelia only woke up once, so that was a nice gift. I was surprised they were up early though…it had rained all night, and was still raining, so it was nice and cloudy, so I thought for sure we’d get to sleep in. Apparently, they knew there was a lot to do today!

We had some breakfast, hung out and relaxed for a little while, watched some movies on TV amidst doing a little picking up around the house. It was finally time for me to tackle my main task for the day….baby food! Our freezer stash was just about depleted, so it was time to cook, cook, cook! I made apples, pears, sweet potatoes, squash, green beans, peas, carrots and a NEW food, Broccoli. This task took me all day, on and off, and I still have lots of freezing to do, but it’s all made, so that’s good! Christian kept the girls busy and entertained most of the day, and got them down for their naps. We ate some random leftover our of the fridge, and I cleaned up the kitchen between batches. I also managed to get a couple loads of laundry done throughout the day…of course it’s not put away though!

Christian ended up taking the girls over to his parents’ house to hang out for a little while around dinnertime. I was nice to get a little peace and quiet and time to myself.

As I mentioned, today I tried out a new food…broccoli. Broccoli is very high in Vitamin C and is a great source of soluble fiber. This makes broccoli wonderful to add to baby food recipes. Soluble fiber is the fiber that helps loosen up the bowels as it changes its form as it passes through the digestive tract. An overabundance of soluble fiber in a diet may produce diarrhea. Insoluble fiber does not change its form or make up and simply helps to add bulk and too much of it may cause constipation.

Broccoli is not a good choice for one of Baby’s FIRST vegetables as it may cause gas and may be a bit hard for a young infant to digest. Broccoli is best given to an infant between 8-10 months old. We started it slightly early, because it’s one of the vegetables that we often eat, so it would be nice to have the finger food option for her soon, as she gets ready for that. If your baby has had any digestive issues, it would be best to introduce broccoli into the diet later rather than sooner. I purchased a bag of frozen broccoli, steamed it on the stove and pureed it for our batch. Super easy. Now, will she like it…that is the real test!

Cost Savings:- 1 Bag of Frozen Broccoli = $.89 – Makes Roughly 10 Jars- 10 Jars of Gerber Stage 2 Broccoli (Which I’ve Never Seen) Would Be = $5.95- Cost Savings of $5.06

Here are some pictures of the baby food making extravaganza!

Saturday, March 19, 2011

3/19/11 – Family Day

Today we had a pretty low key, family day. After yet another sleepless night, we were up for the day pretty early. We all ate some breakfast and hung out for a while in the morning. After Amelia ate, we get her some Tylenol to help with her aching teeth, and she ended up taking a nice long nap! Christian and I got ready for the day. Since most of Amelia’s 6-9 month clothing is summer stuff, we have to get out and buy some warmer clothes to get her through the next few months. Of course, we knew that would be a difficult task as all the stores have their “Spring” clothes out now. Once Amelia was up, we got the girls ready, ate a quick lunch, and were out the door.

It was SUCH a beautiful day today. Lots of sunshine, warmer than it’s been in a LONG time. So nice to be out and about. We stopped into Carter’s, and had a little luck. Most of the outfits were short sleeves, so we had to get some long sleeved onesies to wear underneath, but they did come with pants at least (rather than shorts). We ended up finding a really cute diaper bag…more compact and appropriate for our outings, and they were having a decent sale on them. YAY. After Carter’s, since the girls were doing so well, we stopped in to Target to do our weekly shopping We picked up some PJ’s for Amelia, some Motin, in hopes that it helps more than the Tylenol has been, and some groceries. Mainly, fruits and veggies to make some baby food. Of course, our usual stop after the grocery store is some take-out food for dinner, so we grabbed dinner and headed home. We pretty much just took it easy the rest of the night. The girls were playing so well together, especially since Olivia didn’t really get a nap. Finally, it was time for them to head to bed. I was so tired and exhausted after days of no sleep, I really wanted to settle in with a glass of wine and relax. As I poured my glass, and took a sip, I was quickly reminded that I do NOT like wine…I keep hoping that I’ll find one I like, but I never do. So, I was going to crack open my one and only Mike’s Hard Cranberry instead…but, I fell asleep before I had the chance. Seriously, how sad am I?!

Here are some pics of the girls enjoying their treats from Chipotle…Amelia a lime, Olivia her chips and guac.

Friday, March 18, 2011

3/18/11 – More Work Stress

Today was a good day. Work was busy…the END to a very busy week. I keep waiting for things at work to level off and become more manageable, but they never do. We have a lot of added stress going on right now, that just keeps piling up. Apparently there are strong talks of a government shut down this summer (like, if the legislature can’t come to an agreement on the next year’s state budget)…so I have to do whatever I can to save up my time, just in case. Now there are a lot of union talks going on…apparently there are several bills going through the legislature right now regarding state employees. One, to cut our pay 6% (keeping in mind that we have not had any raises for several years, just like most anybody out there), another to increase employees’ retirement contribution 3%, and decrease the state’s match 3%, and another one to increase our healthcare premiums. WOW, that’s a lot of hits, all at one time. It seems like there should be many other options out there rather than hitting us with all of these punches. There were talks a few years ago about a statewide Furlough…why not do that? Force every employee to take a day off, unpaid, per paycheck. I’d be totally up for that. Even more, have every employee off on the same day…so there are no lights, no computers, no copiers, etc. running. To me, this seems like a pretty easy fix, that has the potential to save the state a lot of money…

So, that’s the big stress at work right now (aside from the ever-growing pile in my inbox).

After work, I ran home to get myself and the girls ready…we were meeting up with some of our long lost friends, Nate and Gini for dinner! Once Christian was home and ready, we met them at Buffalo Wild Wings…a nice loud place for crazy little kids. Surprisingly, Amelia ended up sleeping through most of our dinner, YAY. Nate and Gini stopped over to our house to hang out for while after dinner. Olivia of course spent the night putting on quite the show for them. Like most people, they spent the night in constant fear that Olivia was going to injur herself…I swear, I don’t think we could ever have a babysitter for her, because the sitter would probably have a heart attack by the end of the night! It was not long before Amelia was getting hungry and tired, so I was off to put her to bed.

After they left, Christian and I settled in for the night. I was all set to spend a little time together, watch a little TV and kick back. Well…he passed out shortly after, so I amused myself online for a while, before finally just heading off to bed. One of these weekends, we will actually stay awake and spend some time together…it is my goal!

On a side note…5 years ago today Christian and I got engaged! People think it’s weird that I remember that…but I don’t know why. It’s an important date in our relationship history…why wouldn’t I remember it? I included a picture of that night, it seems like a lifetime ago!

Thursday, March 17, 2011

3/17/11 – Sisters

Well, it’s St. Patrick’s Day. Like every year, I couldn’t care less. I suppose if I were even the tiniest bit Irish it would interest me, but I’m not, and it doesn’t. They were interviewing some actually Ireland born folks on the radio today, and they were all adamant that St. Patrick’s Day is much more “celebrated” here than over there. Just another reason I find this day ridiculous…for MOST people, it’s just a reason for people to get drunk, act like idiots in public, and think that it’s OK. Something that has never interested me, so I guess that’s why I don’t get it.

Other than that, today was just a pretty normal day. Work was pretty quiet for some reason, so I was really able to focus. Amelia is becoming more and more mobile, every day. She can now pull up using the couch, but still hasn’t figured out how to move along it. She still gets into her downward dog position over and over again, but now she can actually move around in that position…which is quite funny to see. She starting to actually follow us around now, so there’s NO escaping her! LOL. She gets all over the place…one second she sitting in front of you in the living room, the next she’s back in the kids’ room. Definitely have to keep an eye on her! Olivia has definitely been showing her more attention lately and is becoming more interested in her now (which was my hope). She likes to go down the call and call “sissy” to “come here” (yes, like a dog), she brings her toys and shows her what they do, she tries to get her to follow her through the play house. It’s fun to watch. It makes me even more excited for the next few months, to watch their relationship grow more and more.

Olivia is still a little under the weather. She’s eating MUCH better though, and seems to be more herself that the last few days. Poor thing, I sure hope whatever bug she caught leaves very soon!

Here are the girls of the house, getting into the spirit. As you can see, Amelia cares of St. Paddy’s Day as much as I do! LOL

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

3/16/11 – Topic #8 – Vaccinations

Today was a pretty low key day. Just the normal…no sleep (back to normal here), work, home, clean, cook, eat, play. We’re just gearing up for another sleepless night! Christian did have his ear surgery today though, and everything went well. They biopsied the tissue they removed and everything came back just fine, thankfully. Now we just wait for it to heal, and pray that it’s finally gone for good. They want him to continue coming back for a while, every other month, to get the injections still.

A local report came out today regarding an “outbreak” of measles in our area. I quote outbreak because it’s a VERY small number cases, but for a disease once basically extinct, it’s very sad to see. Seeing this report made me want to chat about that today.

Vaccinations are a very controversial topic. It all seemed to have started with a (now debunked) report linking vaccinations (particularly the MMR vaccination) to Autism. There are basically three roads people follow when it comes to vaccinations…vaccinate on schedule, vaccinate on delayed schedule or even choose to skip some vaccinations all together. If you plan on putting your children in public school, the only way to skip vaccinations all together (other than proven record of reaction) is to claim religious reasons, and I have heard of many people lying to claim this reason (which upsets me greatly).

We fully vaccinate, on schedule. I can understand parents that vaccinate on a delayed schedule, and I honestly don’t see anything wrong with that. I think if I were a stay at home mom, or at least had more time options as far as trips to the clinic, I would consider it. But, I just cannot understand not vaccinating, or skipping any of them. With the exception of the chicken pox vaccine, which I’m slightly uneasy about.

People who do not vaccinate, and catch flack for it, often argue “why should you worry…your child is vaccinated, so you shouldn’t be worried about other children”. Yes, that’s true…my 2 year old is vaccinated. My 7 month old however, is not old enough to receive several of the vaccinations, leaving her defenseless in the meantime. So, we go out in public, around other children, and have to risk her safety. It makes me sad, and it’s something I constantly worry about. I remember (vividly) an episode of Law & Order: SVU from a few years ago…a young mother’s very young toddler child passed away, and she thought it was a result of spanking her, so she tried to cover it up. They realized she passed away from a bought with Mumps. They ended up finding out that she had contracted it from an older, unvaccinated child, at the park. She was too young to be vaccinated against it herself; leaving her helpless once it took over. They ended up linking this kid to several cases of Mumps, and I believe they ended up trying the mother of the unvaccinated child for manslaughter (extreme in real life, I’ll admit). This broke my heart. I realize it’s only a TV show, but it’s very true, and something that is now happening in reality.

Anyway, my ultimate hope is that they will separate the MMR vaccination so people feel more comfortable getting it for their children, maybe even spread out the schedule of vaccinations, and hopefully every parent will start feeling a little more at east about something so important, not only to their own children, but to the safety and welfare of those around them.

Here is Amelia downward dog…I swear she is in this position ALL day long!

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