that whole "so now i'm going to nap" thing ended so very sadly for me. i took out my contacts, had my bed warming up with my worth it's weight in gold electric blanket and was literally about to climb in bed when i heard my child start to cry. well, she was so congested she couldn't breathe so she would start coughing which also meant she couldn't breathe because she was just choking on phlegm (disgusting word, i know) sooo my 3 hour nap of a baby today was more like a 25 minute nap of a baby. the important things like nap and shower were tossed aside for really awesome things like wiping snot, wiping snot, and wiping some more snot. i lead a really glamorous life.
instead, we took kelsey to pick up her car from the shop which was a blessing because it was an hour and a half in the car and baby was very happy and content. what is it about cars that does that to kids? makes them sleepy or just content enough to sit in a five point harness forever when at home they couldn't sit still to save their life?! anyways, that was great and we got home a little after five so i just pretended that my baby got a normal nap and just woke up. i wasn't very convincing to myself but what can i say, we can't all win every time.
tonight was mutual and i had so much fun with the young women. they are a really awesome group of girls. my mother in law is super awesome too though because she came over to watch baby girl for me while i was at church tonight. that is a very fabulous thing not to have to drag your sick baby with you.
i didn't get her to bed tonight until 9:45 again. whoops. especially since she didn't get a real nap. i can't remember the last time i've seen her so tired. i put her in her crib without a binky, which hasn't happened since she started getting sick last week) and she was too tired to even get adamant about asking me for it. she asked for it and i ignored her and told her goodnight and left and then i heard her just roll over and cuddle up. ha. EXHAUSTED.
and so am i.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
slumber party
last night my sister in law kelsey came over. we had pillow fights and giggle fests and... just kidding, no we didn't. but we did stay up and talk til somewhere around 3:30 in the morning.
so now i'm going to take a little nap.
so now i'm going to take a little nap.
Monday, January 30, 2012
glamour shots
today after church we explored our backyard and took a few pictures. like 75 or something. sadly, i got no decent shots... except of the neighbor's dog. turns out, discovering nature is way more interesting than "look at the camera!"
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| how did my baby get so big?!?! |
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| baby girl loves new experiences |
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| i swear this patch of frazzled hair that hangs between her eyes is going to be the death of me. |
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| this is duke. his full name is the grand duke of ure (pronounced like"yore" and "your"). it's so cute and clever because that's their family's name. as a side note, it was president ure (who saved my life that one time). baby girl loves duke, and i love the ures. so really, our house could not be more perfectly situated. |
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| see what i mean about the hair? it kills me. |
it's 1am. can you guess why i'm blogging at 1am? yes you can. it's because my honey is gone again. he left after church today and won't get back til wednesday night. normally he's just gone two days and one night. this time it's three nights. three! so today i took advantage of his absence by spending hours skyping with my family, organizing and cleaning random neglected parts of our house, and keeping my baby up way past her bedtime. i don't know why i do this. the logical solution to being lonely is to put your baby to bed at her normal bedtime and then put yourself to bed right after. i did not do this. i kept my baby up until almost 10pm and then found random crap for myself to work on until the wee hours. not smart.
but i won't do that tomorrow because my sister in law kelsey is coming over for a slumber party! in case you didn't know, honey works with his dad and his brother. they're all in new york this week so since my christopher is gone at the same time as his brother, then it's the perfect excuse for the sisters in law to have a sleepover! and baby girl doesn't know about it yet but you better believe she's gonna love it. probably mostly because she'll get to go to sleep at a decent hour. she loves sleeping.
i swear i'm a really good mom.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
best $7 ever spent
tonight honey and i went on a date to a banquet for one of his clients.
but last saturday night we went on a family date to target and got a $7 castle tent.
my little pony has now entered our house. and we're really happy about it.
ps- honey's favorite thing to do in the evening is take out baby's rubber band from her hair and let her look like a whack job.
i have mixed feelings about it.
Friday, January 27, 2012
scriptures make me feel light as air
a week ago i wrote a post on the anxiety i feel from having such an incredible life. normally writing stuff out helps me clear it from my head... which is why i tend to blog late at night before i go to sleep. when i wrote this post though, it didn't make me feel any better. it made my fears and concerns just that much more real. i was worried but i was also prepared to pray a lot to help me find peace and understanding.
well, back in november my good friend kirstyn gave an excellent talk in sacrament meeting about the book of mormon and reading scriptures. it spoke to me so strongly that i started the book of mormon again and i have been reading my scriptures every day since then... which i know for many is a basic sort of thing, but for me this is pretty incredible. also incredible is the positive effect it has had on my life already. anyways, i read my scriptures after writing that post and it was 2 nephi chapter 4. let's review, my concern was that i was overwhelmed with the goodness of my life. preface summary italics writing leading into chapter 4? "nephi glories in the goodness of god to him - nephi puts his trust in the lord forever." wow.
i mean, the whole chapter is great but especially verse 15 on. parts that especially struck me were when nephi says repeatedly of how he rejoices in the goodness of the lord and that his soul delighteth in the things of the lord but also in verse 17 when he grieves because of his iniquities... because i have that guilt wondering why my life is so good while others have such hardships. but he says "i know in whom i have trusted. my god hath been my support..." and when i read verse 21, "he hath filled me with his love, even unto the consuming of my flesh." i thouht, nephi, you have certainly hit the nail on the head for this one. so i read on and took some very sound advice from this nephi of old (he's always been a favorite of mine) when he said "rejoice, o my heart, and cry unto the lord, and say o lord, i will praise thee forever; yea, my soul will rejoice in thee, my god, and the rock of my salvation." and "o lord, wilt thou encircle me around in the robe of thy righteousness!" and especially, "o lord, i have trusted in thee, and i will trust in thee forever." and "yea, i know that god will give liberally to him that asketh. yea, my god will give me, if i ask not amiss; therefore i will lift up my voice unto thee; yea, i will cry unto thee, my god, the rock of my righteousness. behold, my voice shall forever ascend up unto thee, my rock and mine everlasting god."
so, it's been a great week. i've been enjoying it in the moment and not anxious about not being able to preserve every moment of it. i've barely taken any pictures and the few that i have taken haven't even left my camera. i haven't uploaded or edited any pictures this week. i haven't taken any video. and get this, even though i had this incredible spiritual experience that could have been so wonderfully preserved, i didn't sweat it. i didn't get out my computer to instantly record my every thought and feeling. i just accepted it, took it into my heart, and went with it. and it's been really great.
everything is scary if you don't have faith. even really good things that you should be excited about. so, i give you my thanks and appreciation for the uplifting words and comments i've received concerning that post and my post about my new calling. thanks helping me get back on track. i feel really good about how things are going.
ps- but really, who'd noticed that it's been a whole five days and multiple posts since i posted a picture of my baby?! i don't know if that's ever happened before.
well, back in november my good friend kirstyn gave an excellent talk in sacrament meeting about the book of mormon and reading scriptures. it spoke to me so strongly that i started the book of mormon again and i have been reading my scriptures every day since then... which i know for many is a basic sort of thing, but for me this is pretty incredible. also incredible is the positive effect it has had on my life already. anyways, i read my scriptures after writing that post and it was 2 nephi chapter 4. let's review, my concern was that i was overwhelmed with the goodness of my life. preface summary italics writing leading into chapter 4? "nephi glories in the goodness of god to him - nephi puts his trust in the lord forever." wow.
i mean, the whole chapter is great but especially verse 15 on. parts that especially struck me were when nephi says repeatedly of how he rejoices in the goodness of the lord and that his soul delighteth in the things of the lord but also in verse 17 when he grieves because of his iniquities... because i have that guilt wondering why my life is so good while others have such hardships. but he says "i know in whom i have trusted. my god hath been my support..." and when i read verse 21, "he hath filled me with his love, even unto the consuming of my flesh." i thouht, nephi, you have certainly hit the nail on the head for this one. so i read on and took some very sound advice from this nephi of old (he's always been a favorite of mine) when he said "rejoice, o my heart, and cry unto the lord, and say o lord, i will praise thee forever; yea, my soul will rejoice in thee, my god, and the rock of my salvation." and "o lord, wilt thou encircle me around in the robe of thy righteousness!" and especially, "o lord, i have trusted in thee, and i will trust in thee forever." and "yea, i know that god will give liberally to him that asketh. yea, my god will give me, if i ask not amiss; therefore i will lift up my voice unto thee; yea, i will cry unto thee, my god, the rock of my righteousness. behold, my voice shall forever ascend up unto thee, my rock and mine everlasting god."
so, it's been a great week. i've been enjoying it in the moment and not anxious about not being able to preserve every moment of it. i've barely taken any pictures and the few that i have taken haven't even left my camera. i haven't uploaded or edited any pictures this week. i haven't taken any video. and get this, even though i had this incredible spiritual experience that could have been so wonderfully preserved, i didn't sweat it. i didn't get out my computer to instantly record my every thought and feeling. i just accepted it, took it into my heart, and went with it. and it's been really great.
everything is scary if you don't have faith. even really good things that you should be excited about. so, i give you my thanks and appreciation for the uplifting words and comments i've received concerning that post and my post about my new calling. thanks helping me get back on track. i feel really good about how things are going.
ps- but really, who'd noticed that it's been a whole five days and multiple posts since i posted a picture of my baby?! i don't know if that's ever happened before.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
some thoughts about food
this morning for visiting teaching we went out to gotcha yogurt. one of those self serve yogurt places. i love that kind so i can get exactly what and how much i want. what a genius idea. my base was girl scout samoa ice cream. delish.
i am rocking out to blasting josh groban - you raise me up - on pandora. baby is even singing and dancing. she loves it too.
that time in the evening when i'm supposed to prepare dinner? my least favorite time of day. that's right now by the way. i just texted chris and asked him if he wanted to eat leftovers. "sure." i love that guy.
a girl scout just came by my door selling girl scout cookies. i'm so glad they still go door to door. i've been holding out for the door to door girls... which is why i haven't bought any from my friends (aka as friends' daughters). what can i say? i'm traditional.
i'm also "that neighbor" because i answered the door barefoot in my pink fluffy bathrobe at 5:30 in the evening to do this. and then had to wait out there like that while the girl ran home to get some change. she brought back 12 quarters. ;-)
honey just got home. his first words? "honey's wearing her bath robe?" ha. second words? "man, honey's really rocking out in here!" that time it was a piano pachelbel variation thing. loved it.
yesterday at walmart i bought 11 bananas thinking that would last us a few days. we already had our two for yesterday and two for today. so now we have about three more days of bananas left.
today was such gorgeous weather. we went to the playground and did slides, swings, and seesaws oh my. it was wonderful.
i didn't make dinner last night either. whoops. i'll do tomorrow for sure. hold me to it.
i am rocking out to blasting josh groban - you raise me up - on pandora. baby is even singing and dancing. she loves it too.
that time in the evening when i'm supposed to prepare dinner? my least favorite time of day. that's right now by the way. i just texted chris and asked him if he wanted to eat leftovers. "sure." i love that guy.
a girl scout just came by my door selling girl scout cookies. i'm so glad they still go door to door. i've been holding out for the door to door girls... which is why i haven't bought any from my friends (aka as friends' daughters). what can i say? i'm traditional.
i'm also "that neighbor" because i answered the door barefoot in my pink fluffy bathrobe at 5:30 in the evening to do this. and then had to wait out there like that while the girl ran home to get some change. she brought back 12 quarters. ;-)
honey just got home. his first words? "honey's wearing her bath robe?" ha. second words? "man, honey's really rocking out in here!" that time it was a piano pachelbel variation thing. loved it.
yesterday at walmart i bought 11 bananas thinking that would last us a few days. we already had our two for yesterday and two for today. so now we have about three more days of bananas left.
today was such gorgeous weather. we went to the playground and did slides, swings, and seesaws oh my. it was wonderful.
i didn't make dinner last night either. whoops. i'll do tomorrow for sure. hold me to it.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
peachy pork chops and a cookbook endorsement
the other day i was at walmart and saw boneless pork chops on sale. so i was daring and i bought them. this is only my second time ever. the first time was when i made molasses grilled pork tenderloin similar to this recipe. except that i'm cheap so i didn't use a tenderloin... i used a less expensive cut... it was still great. anyways, i got home and opened up a real paper pages cookbook that i love (yes liza, it's the easy weeknight favorites) so i looked up pork, picked the recipe that sounded the best, and lo and behold i already had all of the necessary ingredients so i could make it that very night! i was loving life so say the least. i thought that was the coolest thing ever to just buy some meat and be able to make a meal out of it! go ahead and laugh. anyways, i made the peachy pork chops similar to this recipe i found online. but mine was quicker because you broil the meat. anyways, start to finish, you can do this in 15 minutes and it tastes super gourmet. i think next time i'll serve it over rice because the sauce would be really good for that. i still don't like cooking and it still stresses me out and gives me major anxiety, but occasionally i find those recipes that make me feel like a pro. baby steps. because really, i am determined to improve my feelings towards cooking. i don't need my food to taste any better... that's normally not the problem. i just need to not hate the experience so much. ;-)
so anyways, if you're in a rut or in the mood for an actual paper cookbook. i very very highly recommend this one. the recipes are quick, simple, and sooo delicious. they truly are 30 minutes or less and all use really common ingredients so it's cheaper and there's no waste. and if you check out that amazon link, you'll see that it unanimously got 5 stars. except for that one person that rated it 4 stars because she'd ordered it and reviewed it without yet using it. she should go back and change her review to 5 stars... y'know... in my opinion that's what she should do.
so anyways, if you're in a rut or in the mood for an actual paper cookbook. i very very highly recommend this one. the recipes are quick, simple, and sooo delicious. they truly are 30 minutes or less and all use really common ingredients so it's cheaper and there's no waste. and if you check out that amazon link, you'll see that it unanimously got 5 stars. except for that one person that rated it 4 stars because she'd ordered it and reviewed it without yet using it. she should go back and change her review to 5 stars... y'know... in my opinion that's what she should do.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
dubai pictures on fb
today i posted pictures on facebook. they're only pictures from our first 24 hours in dubai but it's a start, right? i'll get other pictures from the trip up eventually. so, should you be dying to know what we did our first day in dubai, click here. if not, click here.
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| it involved A LOT of walking. |
Monday, January 23, 2012
today flew by
i'm finding lately that instead of doing things i know need to get done, i'm just sitting down on the floor and playing with my baby. i loved her a month ago, but honestly, i can't say it enough, my parents are baby whisperers because baby girl is soo much more agreeable and happy and fun loving ever since our trip to atlanta. so instead of vacuuming (i honestly can't tell you the last time i did that) i just read more books, do more puzzles, and play with more little people toys. i don't have to do a lot, but just sitting down and playing along side of baby girl makes all the difference to her. it is amazing and i'm soaking up every bit of it. i love it.
so that's what this morning was, even though we should have ran errands because we've been out of whole milk since saturday and baby girl ate her last banana for morning snack. i didn't really care though, we had a really fun morning here at home. then it was lunch and nap.
i put her town for nap at two... exactly 3 minutes before the previous young women president came over to meet with me and give me the low down. baby woke up at five. and at 5:30 we said goodbye to the yw pres (yes, we met for over three hours and i still feel just as overwhelmed) and started on afternoon snack and making dinner. what is it about making dinner that gives me anxiety and makes me eighty million times more add than i usually am?!?! it's supposed to be a quick and easy corn chowder soup and i think i made it over the course of an entire hour. not exaggerating.
honey came home at 6:40 and grabbed a bit of soup along with some hugs from baby girl and then took a conference call from 7-8. honey and baby had some quality time reading books in their favorite red chair and then they went up for bed. honey came back down and we watched the debate (those things make me squirm... i can't handle contention) and then an episode of big bang theory and more political commentary on the news. now it's 11:30 and time for bed, scriptures, prayers, and sleep.
i swear i'm gonna be eighty before i know it. every day goes by so fast. time really does fly when you're having fun.
so that's what this morning was, even though we should have ran errands because we've been out of whole milk since saturday and baby girl ate her last banana for morning snack. i didn't really care though, we had a really fun morning here at home. then it was lunch and nap.
i put her town for nap at two... exactly 3 minutes before the previous young women president came over to meet with me and give me the low down. baby woke up at five. and at 5:30 we said goodbye to the yw pres (yes, we met for over three hours and i still feel just as overwhelmed) and started on afternoon snack and making dinner. what is it about making dinner that gives me anxiety and makes me eighty million times more add than i usually am?!?! it's supposed to be a quick and easy corn chowder soup and i think i made it over the course of an entire hour. not exaggerating.
honey came home at 6:40 and grabbed a bit of soup along with some hugs from baby girl and then took a conference call from 7-8. honey and baby had some quality time reading books in their favorite red chair and then they went up for bed. honey came back down and we watched the debate (those things make me squirm... i can't handle contention) and then an episode of big bang theory and more political commentary on the news. now it's 11:30 and time for bed, scriptures, prayers, and sleep.
i swear i'm gonna be eighty before i know it. every day goes by so fast. time really does fly when you're having fun.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
a new calling
today was my last sunday leading music at church. i'm kinda sad about it. i got released from three callings (ward music chairperson, sacrament meeting chorister, compassionate service committee) and got one new one. today at church i was sustained and set apart as the ward young women president.
please pray for me.
please pray for me.
a trip to the mailbox
these are pictures from thursday when we had such gorgeous warm weather. we had such a lovely trip to the mailbox before lunch and just ended up staying outside forever until i remembered that eventually my baby would need to eat and nap. only then did we go inside.
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| icy driveway |
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| purse? check. |
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| made it to the mailboxes! |
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| checking all of the empty package boxes |
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| oops. dropped a little people nativity sheep. |
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| got it back in the purse. |
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| and we're off! |
ps- notice in this last picture that the left side of the street is still covered in snow and the right side has not a speck in sight. the sun in colorado is very very powerful. y'know... since we're a mile high.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
insomnia... from the good life
i frequently have trouble falling asleep at night because my head is overwhelmed with thoughts of how great my life is. and frequently during the day i do that awkward squealy voice is cracking giggle laugh while i get butterflies in my stomach and hop in place because i'm loving that moment so much. i can't think of a time in my life that i have ever been happier than what i am right now. that's a really good thing, right?
lately i've been wondering (not kidding, i just wrote "wonderful" on accident... words like that are just always on my mind) if that's really true. i've been worried about that lately for a few reasons.
reason one: i love my life so much that i'm getting a lot of anxiety about not being able to preserve time. you can't freeze a moment. each second only lasts that one second. and you'll never experience that second again. it's gone. forever. sometimes that's really great when you fall down and scrape your knee, but when you're me and you're playing with your baby all day and loving every second, you just want to take videos and pictures and blog about it but you also just want to enjoy the moment without having to look through a lens. and the worst part is that no matter what you do, nothing will really preserve it. putting together that puzzle and reading those books and watching your baby light up and scream "DADDY!!!!" while banging two pan lids together like cymbals can feel like the absolute best moment of your life... but there are so many... and they slip away and become fuzzy like all the rest. i know more come, but i want all of them. i want to keep them all in a little glass jar that i can see and hold and go to any time i want. but i can't. and it stresses me out in a very very bad way.
reason two: i love everything soooooo much just how it is, that i'm hesitant for anything to change. tomorrow something will change for me. i'm excited about it but i'm also sad about it. and really, i'm worried how it will affect my day to day life. worried about "what if these changes make me not love my life as much?" or if i'll wish i could go back to how things were before. and this feels like i'm opening a can of worms but i'll go ahead and say that something else along these lines is that i'm hesitant to get pregnant again because i know it'll change things. i'll get sick, i'll be consumed with migraines, and i'll be miserable. i guess i don't know that for sure because maybe it'll be different this next time around, but even if i got lucky, i'm sure i'd go through some sort of morning sickness... which will probably make me a less enthusiastic mom. and then i'll have a baby.... a tiny little newborn. and it'll be hard (because there is no freaking way i'm going to get an angel baby again) and i'll be tired and taking care of a toddler will become a chore and not the joy it is now. i know this happens to people because i've heard many accounts of similar stories. i know i can handle having two kids and three and four and five but right now? my life is more than perfect with just the one and i don't want to rock the boat. because that's kind of something you can't go back on. there are a million more things i could say about this and explain the million ways in which i am torn, but instead, i'm going to go to sleep and pray my little heart out that i can get some of this emotional turmoil resolved.
tell me i'm not the only one though. have you ever thought that maybe your good life is really just the calm before the storm? comfort me. please.
lately i've been wondering (not kidding, i just wrote "wonderful" on accident... words like that are just always on my mind) if that's really true. i've been worried about that lately for a few reasons.
reason one: i love my life so much that i'm getting a lot of anxiety about not being able to preserve time. you can't freeze a moment. each second only lasts that one second. and you'll never experience that second again. it's gone. forever. sometimes that's really great when you fall down and scrape your knee, but when you're me and you're playing with your baby all day and loving every second, you just want to take videos and pictures and blog about it but you also just want to enjoy the moment without having to look through a lens. and the worst part is that no matter what you do, nothing will really preserve it. putting together that puzzle and reading those books and watching your baby light up and scream "DADDY!!!!" while banging two pan lids together like cymbals can feel like the absolute best moment of your life... but there are so many... and they slip away and become fuzzy like all the rest. i know more come, but i want all of them. i want to keep them all in a little glass jar that i can see and hold and go to any time i want. but i can't. and it stresses me out in a very very bad way.
reason two: i love everything soooooo much just how it is, that i'm hesitant for anything to change. tomorrow something will change for me. i'm excited about it but i'm also sad about it. and really, i'm worried how it will affect my day to day life. worried about "what if these changes make me not love my life as much?" or if i'll wish i could go back to how things were before. and this feels like i'm opening a can of worms but i'll go ahead and say that something else along these lines is that i'm hesitant to get pregnant again because i know it'll change things. i'll get sick, i'll be consumed with migraines, and i'll be miserable. i guess i don't know that for sure because maybe it'll be different this next time around, but even if i got lucky, i'm sure i'd go through some sort of morning sickness... which will probably make me a less enthusiastic mom. and then i'll have a baby.... a tiny little newborn. and it'll be hard (because there is no freaking way i'm going to get an angel baby again) and i'll be tired and taking care of a toddler will become a chore and not the joy it is now. i know this happens to people because i've heard many accounts of similar stories. i know i can handle having two kids and three and four and five but right now? my life is more than perfect with just the one and i don't want to rock the boat. because that's kind of something you can't go back on. there are a million more things i could say about this and explain the million ways in which i am torn, but instead, i'm going to go to sleep and pray my little heart out that i can get some of this emotional turmoil resolved.
tell me i'm not the only one though. have you ever thought that maybe your good life is really just the calm before the storm? comfort me. please.
Friday, January 20, 2012
overnight diapers
so there i was laying in bed, ridiculously early on a friday night, unable to fall asleep... when i got a text from my college roommate sawah. she asked me a bunch of questions about baby girl, one of them about soaking through diapers at night. so even though i should have rolled over and continued my attempts at falling asleep, i didn't. i texted her back and then got online. and then getting bored again, decided to write this post. about diapers.
i am sure that in addition to her fast metabolism, the reason baby girl is so skinny is because of the insanely large volume of liquids and solids ending up in her diaper. seriously. if it wasn't gross (and if i owned a scale) i would weigh her diaper pail bag after a week's time because i am sure it would weigh well more than my baby. anyways, all of that is gross, hopefully no one is reading this.
two months ago i was at my friend kirstyn's and she had huggies overnight diapers in her kids room. i thought "great. now diaper manufacturers have figured out a way to market diapers so we can pay twice as much per diaper just to feel like better parents." but then i asked her about them. she said michaela used to soak through every night and with these diapers it's only once every other week maybe. i wasn't sold.
but then when i was preparing to go to atlanta, i told my mom to buy some to try, because i didn't want to be doing laundry every day while we were in atlanta. it's already enough of a pain to do laundry when you're traveling and staying in someone else's house... i didn't want to be washing sheets and sleepers every day and giving my kid a bath first thing upon waking.
well... they worked. night after night after night. i was shocked and loving it. then i started rationalizing... well, baby girl hasn't been drinking that much since we got here so maybe it's just because of that. then we came back to colorado and used up the two nighttime diapers we brought with us. now we were back to a regular luvs size 4. and night after night baby girl would soak through and wake up completely drenched up to her neck. it was disgusting and it was causing me to do laundry more than once a week... which is a big huge no no for me.
until a week ago, i couldn't get baby girl to drink more than one sippy cup of fluid during the day. i would fill a sippy with milk every morning and she would take sips every once in a while and then towards night time she would drink quite a bit more and then by the time i put her to bed there was normally only about a fifth of it left. then i discovered that if the milk (or water) is room temperature or warmer, she'll gulp it right up. multiple sippy cups a day! this is fabulous but it also meant that while she soaked through her diapers at night before, now it was monumental... even using a size bigger than her regular daytime diaper.
well, i priced it. i pay 13 cents per diaper for baby girl's size 3's. size 4 huggies overnights (what she was using in atlanta... i thought 4's would be way too huge since it's for 22-37 lbs but she needs it because it is 100% full in the morning) were 33 cents per diaper. i have never paid that much for a diaper... ever. but i did the math... i only need one a day so for 20 cents a day, i can avoid tons of extra laundry, giving my terrified-of-baths-baby a bath at 8am every morning when our house is still 60 degrees, and being a terrible mom for letting my baby marinate all night in urine? well, i'm sold. if i can buy the badge of "good mom" for 20 cents a day, i'm totally on board.
am i even making sense anymore? i feel slightly delusional at the moment, like someone who has been in solitary confinement to long... which for me is apparently 1.5 hours.
anyways, the take away message from this is: if your kid is soaking through diapers at night, spend $20 (target, walmart, and amazon mom all have them for that price) and try out those special night time diapers in the blue box with stars and moons on them. you will love me for it.
ps- it's really too bad i'm not a popular blogger... they actually get paid for reviews like this.
i am sure that in addition to her fast metabolism, the reason baby girl is so skinny is because of the insanely large volume of liquids and solids ending up in her diaper. seriously. if it wasn't gross (and if i owned a scale) i would weigh her diaper pail bag after a week's time because i am sure it would weigh well more than my baby. anyways, all of that is gross, hopefully no one is reading this.
two months ago i was at my friend kirstyn's and she had huggies overnight diapers in her kids room. i thought "great. now diaper manufacturers have figured out a way to market diapers so we can pay twice as much per diaper just to feel like better parents." but then i asked her about them. she said michaela used to soak through every night and with these diapers it's only once every other week maybe. i wasn't sold.
but then when i was preparing to go to atlanta, i told my mom to buy some to try, because i didn't want to be doing laundry every day while we were in atlanta. it's already enough of a pain to do laundry when you're traveling and staying in someone else's house... i didn't want to be washing sheets and sleepers every day and giving my kid a bath first thing upon waking.
well... they worked. night after night after night. i was shocked and loving it. then i started rationalizing... well, baby girl hasn't been drinking that much since we got here so maybe it's just because of that. then we came back to colorado and used up the two nighttime diapers we brought with us. now we were back to a regular luvs size 4. and night after night baby girl would soak through and wake up completely drenched up to her neck. it was disgusting and it was causing me to do laundry more than once a week... which is a big huge no no for me.
until a week ago, i couldn't get baby girl to drink more than one sippy cup of fluid during the day. i would fill a sippy with milk every morning and she would take sips every once in a while and then towards night time she would drink quite a bit more and then by the time i put her to bed there was normally only about a fifth of it left. then i discovered that if the milk (or water) is room temperature or warmer, she'll gulp it right up. multiple sippy cups a day! this is fabulous but it also meant that while she soaked through her diapers at night before, now it was monumental... even using a size bigger than her regular daytime diaper.
well, i priced it. i pay 13 cents per diaper for baby girl's size 3's. size 4 huggies overnights (what she was using in atlanta... i thought 4's would be way too huge since it's for 22-37 lbs but she needs it because it is 100% full in the morning) were 33 cents per diaper. i have never paid that much for a diaper... ever. but i did the math... i only need one a day so for 20 cents a day, i can avoid tons of extra laundry, giving my terrified-of-baths-baby a bath at 8am every morning when our house is still 60 degrees, and being a terrible mom for letting my baby marinate all night in urine? well, i'm sold. if i can buy the badge of "good mom" for 20 cents a day, i'm totally on board.
am i even making sense anymore? i feel slightly delusional at the moment, like someone who has been in solitary confinement to long... which for me is apparently 1.5 hours.
anyways, the take away message from this is: if your kid is soaking through diapers at night, spend $20 (target, walmart, and amazon mom all have them for that price) and try out those special night time diapers in the blue box with stars and moons on them. you will love me for it.
ps- it's really too bad i'm not a popular blogger... they actually get paid for reviews like this.
18 months
baby girl is a big girl now! she finally [barely] broke 20 lbs! congrats baby girl! we knew were hoping you could do it! what a big accomplishment even though it doesn't make a difference to anything. like how we'll still keep her rear facing in her carseat. because it's supposed to be safer, the aap recommends it, and baby girl doesn't seem to mind at all.
this will be the longest, most scattered monthly update ever. i've written it over the course of several days so even though i've done my best to make it logical and organized... i make no guarantees for how it's turned out.
last month, baby girl got this little people nativity set. she wasn't too into it. then we left and came back and you can tell how much she's grown by how she plays with it so differently in just four weeks time. she really enjoys it now. she stands all of the people up and even tries to stand baby jesus up on his feet which is hilarious because he can't stand up and she'll try relentlessly before we finally tell her to give up.
she loves attempting puzzles now and even though she can't always get the pieces in, she knows where they all go and she tries tries tries and she actually pretty frequently gets them in!
baby girl still loves oatmeal and eats a bowl almost every morning for breakfast. i buy giant costco boxes of the quaker old fashioned oats and between baby girl and making granola, we go through that stuff fast. when i can, i make the oatmeal (just two minutes in the microwave) and set it out to cool before i go upstairs to get baby up from bed. that way when we come down, her food is all ready to be eaten.
the morning i got to atlanta from dubai, we made baby girl some oatmeal and had it cooling on the table while she sat in her highchair. it was taking far too long so i picked it up and put it in the freezer (we were in atlanta so it really wouldn't have helped to put it outside) and baby girl almost started crying. she was trying to be strong but her concerned look and quivering lip were too obvious to hide. it was simultaneously heartbreaking and hilarious. it's a little sad that i laugh at least half of the time my kid cries. it's just so cute.
bananas. this kid can throw back a banana faster than you can say "choking hazard." i never knew she loved bananas so much until recently when she's been able to communicate so well. i give her half a banana at a time and she takes full adult sized bites. normally she's done and asking for more before i've even had a chance to look back and check on her.
baby girl adores her daddy. she points to the door and asks and talks about him so much when he's gone. and if it's the evening time, i can bribe her to do almost anything by saying, "first we have to _____ and then daddy'll be home and we can play with him!"
the phone fetish is still going strong. she still makes everything a phone. "hi!" "hello!" all. day. long. the latest obsession now though is holding things up to both ears. and they don't have to be matching items. any two things will do.
the other extreme fetish? shoes. i have no idea where she got this from because i hate shoes but regardless, it is so adorable seeing her try on every pair of shoes she meets.
baby girl's hair is concurrently getting longer and more unruly. it was pretty cute while we were in atlanta because the humidity made it curl, back in colorado though, not so much. the good news though is that baby girl loves for me to put her hair in a ponytail! i gave up on bows and flower for a while because she puts so many things on her head and moves around so much that they always slip out of her fine hair. but now that i know she likes getting her hair done, we'll probably be doing the pony tail. baby girl goes to her bathroom, opens the drawer, and hands me a tiny rubberband. then she sits on the counter and looks in the mirror while i wet, comb, and do her hair. then she'll frequently run back to her closet and request a flower or bow... ha. so many preferences!
back to bananas. did i mention she'll request a banana every snack time, meal time, and just whenever she sees our fruit basket? even if she's just eaten, i'll honor her request for a banana and she'll polish it off like it's nothing. lately she's been averaging two bananas a day. i don't even bother putting her in her highchair to eat one because it is gone. so. fast.
baby girl is really good at looking for things. she's so helpful when i ask her to find her sippy cup, a toy she's been playing with, or something of mine that she's taken and now i can't find. she knows all the best places to look for things and it's especially cute to see her look under chairs and sofas and beds.
even with all of the bananas though, baby still eats a very well balanced diet. mostly oatmeal, fruits, veggies, cheese, and whole grains. meat still isn't her favorite but she'll eat what we eat for dinner... which normally includes meat of some sort. tacos, pork, meatloaf, chicken... she'll always eat at least a bite or two but normally more.
baby girl really enjoys sitting in adult chairs, benches, etc. before she just used to stand or climb around but now she'll go up to a chair at our kitchen table and pat it while looking at me and signing please. if she pats something, that means she wants to sit there. it's the same patting people do when they're indicating to someone that they want them to sit next to them. like that one scene from that first date in how to lose a guy in ten days. tell me you know what i'm talking about. i love that movie.
baby girl is consistently telling me when she poops. pointing to the back of her diaper saying "poop." or if it's really wet, she may point to it and say "diaper." i was originally planning on starting potty training at 2.5 but maybe we'll start a couple months earlier if she seems to be interested. we'll see how things go. i can't believe i just said "potty training." yikes.
baby girl continues to make funny faces and cracks herself up.
baby girl is a packer and an unpacker. she's really good at cleaning up, but she's also really good at unloading the contents of every drawer, cabinet, basket, etc. really.
baby loves coloring.
baby's 18 month well check went really well. apparently 18 months means you're a big kid because the nurse weighed her on the big kid scale in the hallway and did her height with the ruler on the wall in the hallway too. when the doctor came in she commented on how much weight my baby had gained. "21.5 lbs! wow! what a big jump!" then i had to break it to her that that was in the hallway with eight layers of clothes on and probably really inaccurate. so she went down the hall and got a baby scale, we stripped baby girl down to nothing and what do you know, she barely broke 20 lbs. i had the idea to feed baby a large banana right before we went to the doctor so it would be sitting in her stomach like a big crescent of lead, mercury, really heavy substance, whatever. since she was less than an ounce above 20lbs, i credit myself for her breaking into the twenties. it was a stroke of genius. really, how embarrassing for your 18 month old to only weigh 19 lbs? i think this is also the reason that this was the first time EVER that her weight percentile has gone up. seriously. it goes like this...
birth - 84%
3 weeks - 46%
2 months - 26%
4 months - 19%
6 months - 12%
9 months - 9%
12 months - .98%
18 months - 2.89%
ha.
this will be the longest, most scattered monthly update ever. i've written it over the course of several days so even though i've done my best to make it logical and organized... i make no guarantees for how it's turned out.
last month, baby girl got this little people nativity set. she wasn't too into it. then we left and came back and you can tell how much she's grown by how she plays with it so differently in just four weeks time. she really enjoys it now. she stands all of the people up and even tries to stand baby jesus up on his feet which is hilarious because he can't stand up and she'll try relentlessly before we finally tell her to give up.
 |
| check out those legs. like a cheerleader. |
 |
| putting everyone in the manger |
 |
| still sleeps with her head in the crib bumper so she allllways wakes up with crazy bedhead. |
she loves attempting puzzles now and even though she can't always get the pieces in, she knows where they all go and she tries tries tries and she actually pretty frequently gets them in!
 |
| cheerleader legs again |
 |
| upside down sheep |
 |
| can't figure out why it doesn't slide in |
 |
| ha |
 |
| and then she made a sled out of her puzzle board and slid around the kitchen. creative. |
baby girl still loves oatmeal and eats a bowl almost every morning for breakfast. i buy giant costco boxes of the quaker old fashioned oats and between baby girl and making granola, we go through that stuff fast. when i can, i make the oatmeal (just two minutes in the microwave) and set it out to cool before i go upstairs to get baby up from bed. that way when we come down, her food is all ready to be eaten.
 |
| when she noticed her oatmeal outside she was a whole mess of grunting, pointing, and signing "please" to get that stuff on her tray ASAP. |
 |
| baby eats her oatmeal in chunks. i felt like a genius when i figured this out. that way i can unload the dishwasher or get stuff done in the morning. |
 |
| still eats with both hands. normally at the same time but sometimes favors the left. |
 |
| eating is serious business around here. |
bananas. this kid can throw back a banana faster than you can say "choking hazard." i never knew she loved bananas so much until recently when she's been able to communicate so well. i give her half a banana at a time and she takes full adult sized bites. normally she's done and asking for more before i've even had a chance to look back and check on her.
 |
| her gigantic bites make her look like a monkey, don't you think? |
 |
| how bout now? monkey, right? yes. |
 |
| "let's just stow this under the chair for a minute while i chew my current bite." |
baby girl adores her daddy. she points to the door and asks and talks about him so much when he's gone. and if it's the evening time, i can bribe her to do almost anything by saying, "first we have to _____ and then daddy'll be home and we can play with him!"
 |
| a common dinner occurrance. he likes to share his dinner and feed her in his lap. butternut squash and grilled cheese sandwich. |
the phone fetish is still going strong. she still makes everything a phone. "hi!" "hello!" all. day. long. the latest obsession now though is holding things up to both ears. and they don't have to be matching items. any two things will do.
 |
| "hi!" with a rubber ducky and electric razor cap |
 |
| what a little clown |
baby girl's hair is concurrently getting longer and more unruly. it was pretty cute while we were in atlanta because the humidity made it curl, back in colorado though, not so much. the good news though is that baby girl loves for me to put her hair in a ponytail! i gave up on bows and flower for a while because she puts so many things on her head and moves around so much that they always slip out of her fine hair. but now that i know she likes getting her hair done, we'll probably be doing the pony tail. baby girl goes to her bathroom, opens the drawer, and hands me a tiny rubberband. then she sits on the counter and looks in the mirror while i wet, comb, and do her hair. then she'll frequently run back to her closet and request a flower or bow... ha. so many preferences!
 |
| with a little style help from her daddy |
 |
| aaannnddd she looks like a boy |
back to bananas. did i mention she'll request a banana every snack time, meal time, and just whenever she sees our fruit basket? even if she's just eaten, i'll honor her request for a banana and she'll polish it off like it's nothing. lately she's been averaging two bananas a day. i don't even bother putting her in her highchair to eat one because it is gone. so. fast.
 |
| when it comes to bananas, she's like a ferocious animal in the wild... or a monkey... like on her pj's. |
 |
| banana with a shovel |
 |
| and licking the shovel clean |
baby girl is really good at looking for things. she's so helpful when i ask her to find her sippy cup, a toy she's been playing with, or something of mine that she's taken and now i can't find. she knows all the best places to look for things and it's especially cute to see her look under chairs and sofas and beds.
 |
| notice that she still has a fist full of banana. |
baby girl really enjoys sitting in adult chairs, benches, etc. before she just used to stand or climb around but now she'll go up to a chair at our kitchen table and pat it while looking at me and signing please. if she pats something, that means she wants to sit there. it's the same patting people do when they're indicating to someone that they want them to sit next to them. like that one scene from that first date in how to lose a guy in ten days. tell me you know what i'm talking about. i love that movie.
baby girl is consistently telling me when she poops. pointing to the back of her diaper saying "poop." or if it's really wet, she may point to it and say "diaper." i was originally planning on starting potty training at 2.5 but maybe we'll start a couple months earlier if she seems to be interested. we'll see how things go. i can't believe i just said "potty training." yikes.
baby girl continues to make funny faces and cracks herself up.
 |
| typical. and don't you think she looks like cindy lou who? |
baby girl is a packer and an unpacker. she's really good at cleaning up, but she's also really good at unloading the contents of every drawer, cabinet, basket, etc. really.
baby loves coloring.
 |
| this is what baby's coloring looked like a month ago. i wish i had a more recent picture though because she colors like a mad woman now. |
baby girl is even more affectionate with inanimate objects. she'll blow kisses to me every time i ask, but she saves the real hugs and kisses for anything without a pulse. dora, little people, the wall, you name it. many times, she's walked up to the wall, kissed it, laughed, kissed it again, laughed, kissed it again, laughed, kissed it again, laughed, banged her nose while kissing it too excitedly, and cried. it's hilarious. but it also makes me wildly jealous of our walls. she'll also kiss my feet when i'm in bed on the computer and she wants my attention. that's kinda fun.
baby's 18 month well check went really well. apparently 18 months means you're a big kid because the nurse weighed her on the big kid scale in the hallway and did her height with the ruler on the wall in the hallway too. when the doctor came in she commented on how much weight my baby had gained. "21.5 lbs! wow! what a big jump!" then i had to break it to her that that was in the hallway with eight layers of clothes on and probably really inaccurate. so she went down the hall and got a baby scale, we stripped baby girl down to nothing and what do you know, she barely broke 20 lbs. i had the idea to feed baby a large banana right before we went to the doctor so it would be sitting in her stomach like a big crescent of lead, mercury, really heavy substance, whatever. since she was less than an ounce above 20lbs, i credit myself for her breaking into the twenties. it was a stroke of genius. really, how embarrassing for your 18 month old to only weigh 19 lbs? i think this is also the reason that this was the first time EVER that her weight percentile has gone up. seriously. it goes like this...
birth - 84%
3 weeks - 46%
2 months - 26%
4 months - 19%
6 months - 12%
9 months - 9%
12 months - .98%
18 months - 2.89%
ha.
1.17.12 - 18 month appointment
20 lbs .8 ounces 2.89%
2' 7.5" 45.35%
hc 45 cm 12.51%
baby girl has twelve teeth fully in (four top front, four bottom front, four molars. and has been getting in two more on the bottom for over a month. soooo slow getting all the way up. she's also been on so many flights i lost count about a year ago. probably mid twenties i think. and we have two more trips before she turns two so we'll add four more flights to the tally. and she loves doing the motions to pat-a-cake. sooooo i think that's everything of major importance i can think of. how'd i do? ;-)
aside from onsies, which are still size 6-9 months, baby girl is wearing mostly size 12-18 month clothes because that's what we have winter clothes wise. i still have bought her almost nothing because we've been blessed with tons of gifts and handmedowns. so even if some stuff doesn't fit right, we try to make it work. dresses are a bit big, as are sweaters and jackets but we can roll the sleeves up. pants are super tricky because when they fit in the waist and legs, they're too short. if they fit in the length, she looks like a thug. we have one pair of jeans that fits well. and because it's so cold here, i layer leggings or tights under them which makes them stay up better but it makes it more difficult for baby girl to more around and get up after a fall. isn't that just the nature of jeans though? that's why they have spandex now! anyways, shirts fit mostly fine although sometimes roomy and short. tights are getting too short in the length. shoes are a size four. diapers are size three. hats and hoods are always requested... especially if we go outside. yesterday as we were leaving walmart, walking from the register to the exit, baby girl leaned to the basket of the cart, got her hat out of my purse and put it on her head. then she just looked at me like "that's what we're supposed to do before we go outside, right?!?!" but really, she loves jackets... especially with hoods, and requests to wear them every day. also, her favorite pair of shoes is her red patent leather church shoes. she also tries to wear those all the time.
our typical day looks like this:
8ish - (although really anywhere between 7 30 and 9 30) wake up
until 9 30 - get dressed and eat (either order though)
until 10 30 - play/ get me dressed and ready, head out
10 30 til 12 30 we try to go out every morning, mostly either story time, play date, or walmart and errands
lunch
1 15 or 1 30 nap (this time totally varies on wake up time, how late errands keep us, and baby's mood.
a good nap is 3 hours. sometimes it's only two, sometimes it's over three. yesterday was 3h20m, the day before was just over 2 hours. it varies, but normally it's at least 3.
until 5 - wake up, maaaybe redress (she gets flannel footies for nap during the winter) but probably eat a banana and stay in flannel pj's til bedtime. we play and attempt to make dinner and take pictures. since honey's work schedule varies so much, this is always just cozy unstructured time at home, normally in the kitchen. this explains why most pictures of baby girl include bad lighting, a messy kitchen, bedhead, and flannel footies. it's because our pictures are taken at 6 pm while we wait for daddy to come home.
6 30 or 7 30ish - dinner
until 8 - playtime
8 - head upstairs and get ready for bed (teeth, special nighttime diaper, warm pj's, space heater (she has a love affair with her space heater), books, snuggles, prayer, crib) which can last as long or short as we want it... but it's normally 10 or 15 minutes.
i normally expect one wake up which can be at any time during the night, as early as 10pm, as late as 6am. i just hand her a binky and she lays down to go back to sleep. if i give her a binky to go to bed at night, she'll sleep all the way through (this was the case in for the whole month in atlanta when i gave her a binky every single time i put her down for nap or nighttime) but i don't give her a binky for nap so i don't want to give her one for bedtime either and i really don't mind getting up once during the night. side note: most recently, even at walmart or church, she doesn't need a binky... just a snack or something to hold and she'll sit nicely for an hour or so.
baby girl has twelve teeth fully in (four top front, four bottom front, four molars. and has been getting in two more on the bottom for over a month. soooo slow getting all the way up. she's also been on so many flights i lost count about a year ago. probably mid twenties i think. and we have two more trips before she turns two so we'll add four more flights to the tally. and she loves doing the motions to pat-a-cake. sooooo i think that's everything of major importance i can think of. how'd i do? ;-)
but really, this right here is the typical life... pj's, running, bedhead, and smiles.
more often than not, this is what we're doing. and i'm loving every second of it.
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