Graves

Yesterday, I was out on a walk with Baby, when my hubby called and said he was probably going to pick up a grave shift that night, since they couldn't find anyone to cover it and he'd had to take some emergency time off earlier this week. Now, my hubby works from 2-10 PM, and graves go from 10 PM - 6 AM. Ouchie. So, last night I brought him some food... and his desktop computer. Not the first time he's had that guy at work (so he can play games on reeeeeally slow days, like Thanksgiving), but it was my first time taking apart his computer. I felt reasonably accomplished after that. The whole thing felt like an adventure (for me... he was probably miserable since he told me he was already pretty tired at 10), but we'll see how today goes.

Right now, I still feel like it's 8 in the morning, because he's still in bed. (Also, baby had a bit of a horrible evening last night. The benefit was that I was awake when hubby came home at 6:30, so I actually got to "go to sleep" with him after all. The disadvantage was, well, I got up an hour later with the kid and have been up since. I guess this "aside" is a bit long for parentheses.) Maybe by the time I've actually showered and finished the laundry, he'll be up and it will feel like a normal day again.

My guy really knows how to bring home the bacon. I only hope his sleep schedule isn't too messed up for doing it.

Hungry baby

My little dear has seemed, to me, to want to eat solid food for a while. I read something a while back, though, that suggested that staying on breastmilk for the full six months might help with allergies or antibodies or something useful sounding, so I was determined to wait it out. Until she started grabbing at my food, staring longingly at our food, and not seeming satisfied after feedings yet not taking more milk (when I was pretty sure I still had some). The only reason I waited until today was because I had a doctor appointment, and I wanted to clear it with him, what with her surgery coming up pretty soon. He actually strongly agreed, hoping it would help her regain some of the weight she's lost in the past three weeks or so.

Well, I'd say it was a success! The very first spoonful she looked at me like she didn't really know what was going on, and then I thought maybe she was just playing with the spoon, but she wasn't spitting it out, and she seemed to like it. The first bit I mixed with quite a bit of milk so it would taste, umm, like what she used to eat, but lessened the amount a little in my next few batches. That's right. She kept eating. It took at least into the second tablespoon for her to finally tell me she was full. I could tell she was getting there because she wasn't as excited about eating near the end.

Here, pictures are the best anyway:

Food? I'm just going to eat my bib. Thanks.

What is this?

All finished! (With the first batch.)

I probably didn't mention that I nursed her a little bit before and after that first batch. Yeah. I always knew this kid was an eater. I just didn't realize how much she wanted to move on from eating just milk. I wish I'd gotten a picture of later feeding, because she took to grabbing the handle of the spoon and shoving it into her mouth (yes, I was holding it/guiding it too). SUPER cute. That's another reason I knew she was slowing down; she hesitated before grabbing the spoon.

Lesson learned: make more food from the get-go. Baby likes to eat. She was pretty happy about it.

At least she's really cute

Sometimes my baby falls asleep while nursing. Sometimes I just let her hang out there, cause I know she'll sleep longer if she's being held. Sometimes this means I get pretty bored. (Yes, I do have homework. No, I don't want to do it right now.) Enter the blog. Unfortunately, not much has been going on around here. Hubby and I have been sick and lazy, and baby is returning to her normal self after her most recent bout with infection. (Occasionally I realize she could have had her surgery by now and I kick myself.)

We did go to Tucano's to celebrate my birthday on Saturday (and because they sent me a free meal voucher... I love birthday clubs). Baby slept through most of it, which was amazing, but when she woke up and hubby took her out of the car seat, she started screeeeaaaaaming. Apparently she didn't like the excitement, noise, and/or people. I left without being stuffed, getting my little birthday icecream, or any extra cheese bread things. I think that was the saddest part. (My life is so hard, right?) She calmed down right after leaving though, poor dear. And it's possible she's been extra cute lately to make up for it. Here, I'll give some proof.

Mmm, toes.

This is something she's taken to lately - she can grab the pacifier while it's in her mouth, and she pulls it out. But I figure she can't put it back in yet, so what does she do? Chew on the side. I missed a beautiful photo opp just before this where she'd gotten... umm... the sticky-outy part on the back into her mouth in such a way that she was sucking on the pacifier without holding it. It's hard to describe, but I laughed and laughed and took a picture just as she spat it out. Oh, well.

That's about all for now. Our neighbors made something delicious and (American-)Italian smelling, and it's making me hungry! Time to see if the baby girl will be okay separated from me for a few moments.

She's so high

Trying out the high chair!

It's possible that she is ready for solids (though maybe not, because of a tongue reflex), but I'm balking a little because I'm not ready for her to start solids. I was planning on having six months! Well, I guess that's what happens with plans. My next plan was to wait until after her surgery... The current plan is to talk to her doctor when I go in next week about starting solids. Whew.

Right after I put her in, she christened the high chair by first leaning forward and sucking on the little arm of it, closely followed by some mean spitup. We waste no time over here!

My Sunday Thought

I remember once, during tummy time, baby seemed to be getting tired from holding her head up and started to fuss. Since she had only been doing it a few minutes, I told her, "I know this is hard, but if you don't do it, how else are you going to grow big and strong?"

Whoa.

Life lesson. To myself.

I think that a lot when I'm talking to my daughter - I should really be listening to what I'm saying. It hasn't taken me too long to catch a glimpse of why Heavenly Father wants us to be parents (though I'm sure it is just a glimpse, so far).

Sometimes I wonder if God is as sorrowful as I am to let things, painful things, happen to his children. I know my baby hates hates hates her medicine, but if she doesn't take it, she'll get an infection. If I don't take her in for surgery, she'll have problems with infections the rest of her life or possibly have kidney failure. She won't understand... and even if she did, it will still hurt. Does God ever feel that sadness when he knows he has to let bad things happen to his children? I have a lot of questions like that. The more my understanding of the nature of God deepens, the more my hypotheses change... but I still don't really know.

And, even though I feel like I've already learned a lot from being a parent... I'm super glad God is a perfect parent.

Posing

A few pictures from the changing table...

Baby sweatpants. What else can I say?

Happy Sunday Post

I remember thinking this morning, "This is not my day." Fortunately, I can't remember exactly why I thought that. Baby's in bed sleeping away, even after a rough afternoon. (She has a low grade fever... so... we are going to see how she is in the morning and possibly go to the doctor.) I managed to bake some super delicious cookies tonight.... that were egg free. Totally ate a ton of the dough. Yummy.

Basically I feel pretty chill right now. I should go to bed soon, though, since Baby went to bed a little earlier than usual. Meaning she's going to get up sooner than normal... I can handle that, though. I just hope her fever doesn't spike in the middle of the night. The first time she had a fever, we were able to go into the doctor and get her checked out (since I discovered her fever around 6 and didn't know what to do... longest two hours of my life), but the next time was Thanksgiving. Swell. Actually, I think that time was 4 in the morning or something and I woke Hubby up because I was having difficulty with the 24/7 line and didn't know what to do. Nothing like spending Thanksgiving in the hospital, friends. (It's okay though - hubby had to work, anyway, and  I didn't have any plans.)

Baby is adorable. She's getting a little giggle going on, which is amazing. She is also getting closer to rolling over - from her back to her tummy, which was not the first roll I anticipated. When we were doing imaging at the hospital, she almost pushed herself from her tummy to her back (with her legs, mostly), but she hasn't really gotten as close since. 

Classes are going okayish; it's harder to finish the reading than I originally anticipated (especially when I decide to blog instead), but babysitting is working out nicely so far. And I figure, this close to graduating, I won't be too disappointed if I don't get straight As. I might be kind of traumatized if I get a C, but I have complete confidence I would get over it. As long as this does end in graduation. Cool deal, Neal.

Woof. Just got hit with a wave of The Tired. Must be time for bed... I'm okay with that.

Do something good

I was reading my cousin's blog this morning, where she decided to use some Christmas funds for self-betterment instead of merely gratification, and she wrote that she sat back and realized she did something good for herself.

When I finished my breakfast, I finally pulled out the multivitamin after at least a week's neglect and thought, "I'm going to do something good for myself." I decided in that moment, wouldn't it be great if I did something good for myself every day? Not in a selfish, it's-all-about-me fashion, or even the often-necessary time to myself, but something that helps me feel better as a person. You know, sort of like that daily improvement thing I should be doing anyway... yeah. I take inspiration where I can get it.

Today it was just taking a pill (did I mention I secretly hate/fear pills? True story); tomorrow I may try to find some quality time with the scriptures. After that, who knows? Assuming I keep up with it, I'll try not to be repetitive (like counting my multivitamin every day), but I also want to be realistic. If taking my multivitamin after a long night or crazy morning is all I can manage, I'll consider it my good deed.

And, hey, maybe after I figure out how to do something good for myself, it will be easier to do something good for others. Or is it the other way around?

To Whom It May Concern

Dear World,

May I complain for a bit? I'll try to keep it brief.

I liked being a full-time mom. And, to be honest, I felt pretty luck to take care of anything besides Baby and the occasional meal throughout the day.

This responsibility business with school is really throwing off my groove. What if Baby is awake and wants to play? I guess I am pretty horrid at being responsible and reading while feeding her, which is probably the biggest claim on my time at the moment.

So, I guess I basically led a charmed life while only being responsible for the baby, and I want it back. Course, I am also slightly traumatized y the babysitting situations today - my plans fell through this morning and I couldn't take her to class, and while they fell through this afternoon, we found a replacement... it's just that when I went to pick her up, she was crying inconsolably! Traumatizing. She should have been ale to go that long without eating, but you know babies -- they eat on their time. Lesson learned: send milk with the baby. Poor thing.

Also, Baby is having some medical imaging done tomorrow morning... up in Salt Lake. And I just realized this evening that I'll be part of the dreaded Morning Commute. And that I'll probably need to leave no later than 7. Yay. Hopefully baby will sleep through it.

That is all. Sincerely, Diane

PS - To make this post a little more chipper, I decided to add baby pictures at the end. Can you see why I just want to play with her all day?

Really Funny

To borrow a friend's joke, I think Baby's new year resolution is to eat as much of every day as possible.

Actually, it's possible that a recent stomach bug of mine caused my milk to be low (since I didn't/couldn't eat much for a few days and wasn't stellar about drinking enough fluid), and also, she might be attempting a growth spurt. Cause, you know, 15 pounds at the beginning of three months isn't big enough. Since I was sick, I indulged her and let her nurse as long as she wanted. Now that I'm better, I'd like to do a few things.

Last night, she was attempting to eat constantly before bed. Each time I tried to put her down, she would wake and usually fuss, her hands clasped together and one or both fists in her mouth. (As a side note, I'm impressed by how much of her hand fits into her mouth when she's hungry.) Finally, around midnight we thought for sure she was finished for the night, and I gave her a few extra snuggles before putting her down.

I had to leave her kicking around for a few minutes before coming back for her because I was so tired and upset that she woke up. My husband was actually the one who picked her up and convinced me to try feeding her again, since she usually only really stays up late when she's hungry, even though she might not at first appear hungry. After that feeding, she was limp and out like a light. I gratefully settled down for my five or six hours, the time being almost two o'clock.

Surprise! Baby was hungry at 4. At least she ate quickly and went back down pretty fast.

At 6:30, I convinced her that she was just tired and soothed her back to sleep after a few minutes.

At 7:15, she convinced me that only feeding her was going to help. I sighed and got to work.

At 9, I got up again and decided to feed her in bed, but she decided she didn't want to eat just then. Luckily my hubby was up. He looked at the clock and said, "Seven hours isn't so bad, I guess." I just laughed (bitterly) and informed him that I had slept five of those hours. Then Baby told me she wanted to go play with Daddy. >:-) Fortunately she was being extremely cute just then.

On a more lighthearted note, Baby took a short nap in her crib this afternoon with only a little spitup. Yay! Also, I made Mexican Lasagna which was AMAZING, and Baby tried out her new playmat for the first time today. I would upload some cute pictures, except that I'm ashamed to admit that the last time I put the camera battery in the charger, I put it in backwards, so the camera is currently juiceless. Sad, embarrassing day.

She just woke up. After eating. And wouldn't you know, she's acting hungry.