For those of you who didn't know, I used to write quite a bit... according to my old teachers I showed some skill with it...
Later I taught classes to other pagans and witchlets, and writing and finding new material for those classes was a source of joy for me. I think I managed to not only be informative, but entertaining... *insert modesty here please*
So I have all these ideas bouncing around in my head all the time now (believe it or not, Motherhood gives me lots of thinking time, while nursing and rocking...) and I talked to Tim about it and I think I'm going to get back into writing. It'll not only soothe the beast and let me get my thoughts out there en masse (as opposed to constantly blogging about random baby things)
Don't worry, I'll keep the blog up to date with all the Kat and life stuff, I can't help myself, communicating seems to be an obsession for me.... but I'm starting to write again. I may even submit some pieces I've got half done now once I finish them. Maybe someone will read them :)
We'll see...
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Rhythms...
Life is really all about them, and finding mine has always been important to my sense of well being. Call it my inner musician, call it my OCD... but when I find a good rhythm for my life everything else seems to fall into place.
In my theory on rhythms... your life has a lot of them- your home rhythm, your work rhythm, your friend rhythm... one dissonant note can effect all the other pieces of your life.
Why all this prattle about rhythms? I feel like I've settled in quite nicely into my motherhood rhythm. Kat and I are pretty harmonious, and it's nice. We've got our little piece of music down pat, granted when outside influences happen it can either enhance it- or throw it into dissonance. The key is being able to settle back into it quickly rather than dwell on the bumps. I feel myself changing and wrapping my life around her little rhythm, and now that I've got it down, I feel more peaceful and happy. Granted I'm more tired and worn out, but that's just how motherhood works!
Maybe there are other rhythms that aren't nearly so smooth in my life, but I also think that your personal piece of music is never perfect. If it were, you'd have nothing to work towards or learn.
Maybe I've been listening to too much classical music lately... maybe my inner band geek is showing...but my theories work for me. :)
There goes my little trumpet now... gotta run! accelerando!!!
In my theory on rhythms... your life has a lot of them- your home rhythm, your work rhythm, your friend rhythm... one dissonant note can effect all the other pieces of your life.
Why all this prattle about rhythms? I feel like I've settled in quite nicely into my motherhood rhythm. Kat and I are pretty harmonious, and it's nice. We've got our little piece of music down pat, granted when outside influences happen it can either enhance it- or throw it into dissonance. The key is being able to settle back into it quickly rather than dwell on the bumps. I feel myself changing and wrapping my life around her little rhythm, and now that I've got it down, I feel more peaceful and happy. Granted I'm more tired and worn out, but that's just how motherhood works!
Maybe there are other rhythms that aren't nearly so smooth in my life, but I also think that your personal piece of music is never perfect. If it were, you'd have nothing to work towards or learn.
Maybe I've been listening to too much classical music lately... maybe my inner band geek is showing...but my theories work for me. :)
There goes my little trumpet now... gotta run! accelerando!!!
Friday, January 30, 2009
Odd Musical Fact about Kat...
She will calm down from a yelling fit if Daddy turns on techno and she can watch the equalizer...
Her naps last almost twice as long if Mommy plays classical music during the day...
There's your random factoid for the day, hope you all feel enlightened!
Her naps last almost twice as long if Mommy plays classical music during the day...
There's your random factoid for the day, hope you all feel enlightened!
Thursday, January 29, 2009
First Dresses
Aunt Jen sent 2 pretty summer dresses when she heard we were having a little girl this past summer. Unfortunately it's Michigan and Kat will have grown out of them (and the dear little shoes) before she's able to wear them this summer... so I had to take a few pictures. Kat kept trying to scoot down and out of them though! LOL, I think she's not a fan of dresses....
Here's my pretty girl!! Thank you Aunt Jen!
Here's my pretty girl!! Thank you Aunt Jen!
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
"Plastic is tasty!" says one local baby...
Kat's newest skill, grabbing things and putting them in her mouth. I'm sure this will come in handy far through her toddler years! She's teething and those frozen teethers don't seem to make her too happy, but these linky ring things seem to do the job just fine! Right now she's playing in her playpen with a ring in each hand and talking to herself. I wish I were this easily entertained...
Tasty...
She was more interested in the camera than eating plastic here...
Smiley and Drooley... two of her main moods all at the same time. That's multitasking at it's finest!
Along with this new skill she's needing to learn that she can't shove the whole thing in her mouth! She was doing this and then trying to smile around it! Silly girl!
And just for fun: The plastic eating baby has a sleepy play doh face!Love...
Sometimes I look at Kat and get choked up, I love her so much... I was just looking through the hospital pictures my mom sent me from when Kat was born. She's growing so much! I'm a little teary right now.
I am lucky to have such a beautiful little girl!
Almost 3 months old- time is flying and I can't wait to see her grow some more!
I am lucky to have such a beautiful little girl!
Almost 3 months old- time is flying and I can't wait to see her grow some more!
Monday, January 26, 2009
Sleeping through the night?
The last 3 nights in a row, she sure has! We've had 3 nights back to back where Kat has gone to bed between 11-12 and woken up around 7:00-7:30! Well let me correct that, she doesn't request food until that time. I hear her waking up in the night for a few minutes at a time, playing in her bassinet and talking to herself for a few minutes before putting herself back to sleep! This is really great and I feel downright human again. Not to mention I'm bursting with pride over my awesome little girl!
She's given us long stretches before, but never with any regularity. Her 'long stretch of sleep' used to last about 3 hours, then 4, 5, now it's 6 or 7 with regularity. She's been sleeping in 6 hour stretches for about a week and a half now.
At 10 weeks old I didn't expect her to be sleeping so well all on her own, and self soothing herself back to sleep. Her pedi told us in the beginning (when she'd absolutely meltdown everytime she was hungry without giving you a chance to feed her) that babies do that in the beginning mostly because they don't trust that they're going to be fed again (sad huh?) but once they realize that you're there and they don't need to be scared that they relax and trust you. Sounded silly at the time (she was a newborn after all) but I see where he was coming from! I think that since Kat can hear me (and pretty soon be able to see me from her co sleeper) at night, she doesn't need to cry to wake me up to eat, she knows that food and mommy will be right there as soon as she needs it so she relaxes and I'm getting good sleep. That's the feedback I'm getting from other co-sleeping mommies too, that their little ones would normally start sleeping through the night earlier.
It seems like once Kat really started to trust us, she's SO much more mellow and sweet. She knows she doesn't need to scream to get something she needs, she just needs to let us know. Now (usually, not ALL the time lol) she'll fuss for a second, then listen... then increase the volume and wait another minute or so... if you keep ignoring it she WILL start crying like crazy, but she just gently kinda lets us know- hey! I'm hungry! Granted if she's in pain or gets startled she'll start the big cries, but she'll calm down fairly quickly if she gets some snuggles and feels comforted.
I think that I got lucky the first time around getting such a fantastic, smart, sweet baby. She constantly amazes me and I SO love being her Mommy.
She's given us long stretches before, but never with any regularity. Her 'long stretch of sleep' used to last about 3 hours, then 4, 5, now it's 6 or 7 with regularity. She's been sleeping in 6 hour stretches for about a week and a half now.
At 10 weeks old I didn't expect her to be sleeping so well all on her own, and self soothing herself back to sleep. Her pedi told us in the beginning (when she'd absolutely meltdown everytime she was hungry without giving you a chance to feed her) that babies do that in the beginning mostly because they don't trust that they're going to be fed again (sad huh?) but once they realize that you're there and they don't need to be scared that they relax and trust you. Sounded silly at the time (she was a newborn after all) but I see where he was coming from! I think that since Kat can hear me (and pretty soon be able to see me from her co sleeper) at night, she doesn't need to cry to wake me up to eat, she knows that food and mommy will be right there as soon as she needs it so she relaxes and I'm getting good sleep. That's the feedback I'm getting from other co-sleeping mommies too, that their little ones would normally start sleeping through the night earlier.
It seems like once Kat really started to trust us, she's SO much more mellow and sweet. She knows she doesn't need to scream to get something she needs, she just needs to let us know. Now (usually, not ALL the time lol) she'll fuss for a second, then listen... then increase the volume and wait another minute or so... if you keep ignoring it she WILL start crying like crazy, but she just gently kinda lets us know- hey! I'm hungry! Granted if she's in pain or gets startled she'll start the big cries, but she'll calm down fairly quickly if she gets some snuggles and feels comforted.
I think that I got lucky the first time around getting such a fantastic, smart, sweet baby. She constantly amazes me and I SO love being her Mommy.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
My newest hobby... digital scrapbooking
Not only is it free :o) but I can do it one handed while Kat nurses or sleeps on me... here are my first few attempts...
This one is a 12x12 print, and the quote (in case it's too small to read) is: "My fingers may be small, but I've got my Daddy wrapped around them!" These are all of Tim's favorite pics of him and Kat...
This one is a 5x7 image, and it's actually a signature I'm using on my message boards.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Interesting Article on Baby Einstein and Educational Programming
Hmmm this is interesting, but makes SOME sense to me... this is from the TIME magazine website...
Baby Einsteins: Not So Smart After All
By Alice Park Monday, Aug. 06, 2007
The claim always seemed too good to be true: park your infant in front of a video and, in no time, he or she will be talking and getting smarter than the neighbor's kid. In the latest study on the effects of popular videos such as the "Baby Einstein" and "Brainy Baby" series, researchers find that these products may be doing more harm than good. And they may actually delay language development in toddlers.
Led by Frederick Zimmerman and Dr. Dimitri Christakis, both at the University of Washington, the research team found that with every hour per day spent watching baby DVDs and videos, infants learned six to eight fewer new vocabulary words than babies who never watched the videos. These products had the strongest detrimental effect on babies 8 to 16 months old, the age at which language skills are starting to form. "The more videos they watched, the fewer words they knew," says Christakis. "These babies scored about 10% lower on language skills than infants who had not watched these videos."
It's not the first blow to baby videos, and likely won't be the last. Mounting evidence suggests that passive screen sucking not only doesn't help children learn, but could also set back their development. Last spring, Christakis and his colleagues found that by three months, 40% of babies are regular viewers of DVDs, videos or television; by the time they are two years old, almost 90% are spending two to three hours each day in front of a screen. Three studies have shown that watching television, even if it includes educational programming such as Sesame Street, delays language development. "Babies require face-to-face interaction to learn," says Dr. Vic Strasburger, professor of pediatrics at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine and a spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics. "They don't get that interaction from watching TV or videos. In fact, the watching probably interferes with the crucial wiring being laid down in their brains during early development." Previous studies have shown, for example, that babies learn faster and better from a native speaker of a language when they are interacting with that speaker instead of watching the same speaker talk on a video screen. "Even watching a live person speak to you via television is not the same thing as having that person in front of you," says Christakis.
This growing evidence led the Academy to issue its recommendation in 1999 that no child under two years old watch any television. The authors of the new study might suggest reading instead: children who got daily reading or storytelling time with their parents showed a slight increase in language skills.
Though the popular baby videos and DVDs in the Washington study were designed to stimulate infants' brains, not necessarily to promote language development, parents generally assume that the products' promises to make their babies smarter include improvement of speaking skills. But, says Christakis, "the majority of the videos don't try to promote language; they have rapid scene changes and quick edits, and no appearance of the 'parent-ese' type of speaking that parents use when talking to their babies."
As far as Christakis and his colleagues can determine, the only thing that baby videos are doing is producing a generation of overstimulated kids. "There is an assumption that stimulation is good, so more is better," he says. "But that's not true; there is such a thing as overstimulation." His group has found that the more television children watch, the shorter their attention spans later in life. "Their minds come to expect a high level of stimulation, and view that as normal," says Christakis, "and by comparison, reality is boring."
He and other experts worry that the proliferation of these products will continue to displace the one thing that babies need in the first months of life — face time with human beings. "Every interaction with your child is meaningful," says Christakis. "Time is precious in those early years, and the newborn is watching you, and learning from everything you do." So just talk to them; they're listening.
Baby Einsteins: Not So Smart After All
By Alice Park Monday, Aug. 06, 2007
The claim always seemed too good to be true: park your infant in front of a video and, in no time, he or she will be talking and getting smarter than the neighbor's kid. In the latest study on the effects of popular videos such as the "Baby Einstein" and "Brainy Baby" series, researchers find that these products may be doing more harm than good. And they may actually delay language development in toddlers.
Led by Frederick Zimmerman and Dr. Dimitri Christakis, both at the University of Washington, the research team found that with every hour per day spent watching baby DVDs and videos, infants learned six to eight fewer new vocabulary words than babies who never watched the videos. These products had the strongest detrimental effect on babies 8 to 16 months old, the age at which language skills are starting to form. "The more videos they watched, the fewer words they knew," says Christakis. "These babies scored about 10% lower on language skills than infants who had not watched these videos."
It's not the first blow to baby videos, and likely won't be the last. Mounting evidence suggests that passive screen sucking not only doesn't help children learn, but could also set back their development. Last spring, Christakis and his colleagues found that by three months, 40% of babies are regular viewers of DVDs, videos or television; by the time they are two years old, almost 90% are spending two to three hours each day in front of a screen. Three studies have shown that watching television, even if it includes educational programming such as Sesame Street, delays language development. "Babies require face-to-face interaction to learn," says Dr. Vic Strasburger, professor of pediatrics at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine and a spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics. "They don't get that interaction from watching TV or videos. In fact, the watching probably interferes with the crucial wiring being laid down in their brains during early development." Previous studies have shown, for example, that babies learn faster and better from a native speaker of a language when they are interacting with that speaker instead of watching the same speaker talk on a video screen. "Even watching a live person speak to you via television is not the same thing as having that person in front of you," says Christakis.
This growing evidence led the Academy to issue its recommendation in 1999 that no child under two years old watch any television. The authors of the new study might suggest reading instead: children who got daily reading or storytelling time with their parents showed a slight increase in language skills.
Though the popular baby videos and DVDs in the Washington study were designed to stimulate infants' brains, not necessarily to promote language development, parents generally assume that the products' promises to make their babies smarter include improvement of speaking skills. But, says Christakis, "the majority of the videos don't try to promote language; they have rapid scene changes and quick edits, and no appearance of the 'parent-ese' type of speaking that parents use when talking to their babies."
As far as Christakis and his colleagues can determine, the only thing that baby videos are doing is producing a generation of overstimulated kids. "There is an assumption that stimulation is good, so more is better," he says. "But that's not true; there is such a thing as overstimulation." His group has found that the more television children watch, the shorter their attention spans later in life. "Their minds come to expect a high level of stimulation, and view that as normal," says Christakis, "and by comparison, reality is boring."
He and other experts worry that the proliferation of these products will continue to displace the one thing that babies need in the first months of life — face time with human beings. "Every interaction with your child is meaningful," says Christakis. "Time is precious in those early years, and the newborn is watching you, and learning from everything you do." So just talk to them; they're listening.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
How Crunchy are you?
The quiz is here:
http://themoralesfamily.us/granola.htm
Some of the ladies in my Attachment Parenting group passed this out, I scored:
129-90 Mmm! Love that whole-grain crunch!
Guess I'm crunchier than I thought! LOL
Oh for those not really into mommy slang: Crunchy or Granola Moms are typically the baby wearing, breastfeeding, into organic foods, co sleeping, cloth diapering, alternative, attachment parenting hippie types. The moms running barefoot in the yard... they tend to be liberal and left leaning.
I'm mildly crunchy, don't think I could ever go hardcore crunchy- IE: unassisted home birth, home schooling etc etc... but I'm fairly proud of my mild crunchiness :o)
For more information about Attachment Parenting check out Dr. Sears's website at:
http://www.askdrsears.com/html/10/T130300.asp
His site is also great for all those questions you'd like to bug your Pedi about in the middle of the night :) Good, down to earth advice... as good as it comes anymore anyway!
http://themoralesfamily.us/granola.htm
Some of the ladies in my Attachment Parenting group passed this out, I scored:
129-90 Mmm! Love that whole-grain crunch!
Guess I'm crunchier than I thought! LOL
Oh for those not really into mommy slang: Crunchy or Granola Moms are typically the baby wearing, breastfeeding, into organic foods, co sleeping, cloth diapering, alternative, attachment parenting hippie types. The moms running barefoot in the yard... they tend to be liberal and left leaning.
I'm mildly crunchy, don't think I could ever go hardcore crunchy- IE: unassisted home birth, home schooling etc etc... but I'm fairly proud of my mild crunchiness :o)
For more information about Attachment Parenting check out Dr. Sears's website at:
http://www.askdrsears.com/html/10/T130300.asp
His site is also great for all those questions you'd like to bug your Pedi about in the middle of the night :) Good, down to earth advice... as good as it comes anymore anyway!
Great deals... yay!
The deal I'm getting that I'm most excited about is my new Arms Reach Mini Co-Sleeper... for those who don't know what this is... it's basically a large bassinet that attaches directly to a parent's bed with a small bumper between the two to keep the baby from rolling into the parent's bed. It enables me to be on eye level with her in the bed, to be able to reach out and comfort her without standing up, walking over to the bassinet and checking her. This will make my nighttime breastfeeding MUCH easier, and I'm a fan of anything that makes my nights easier since I'm the only one getting up with her!
I am a fan of co sleeping, but am just too nervous to let her sleep directly in our bed. So basically this gives her her own space attached to our bed, so it's the next best thing! This is going to make my nighttime wake up calls much easier, and since she's rapidly outgrowing her original bassinet, it was this or transition her to the crib in the next few weeks, which I wasn't quite ready for. I'd like to keep her co sleeping for at least 4 months, if not a bit longer.
These Co-sleepers are top of the line and recommended by Dr. Sears (whom I use for all my pediatric questions) and usually run about 150-180 dollars, I have a lady selling me her mostly unused one for 30 dollars! yay!!!!!! So saving like 120 bucks is a happy thing, plus I get to keep the peanut in my room for a little longer. This will be handy if we decide to have another one ever again... this would've made the c-section recovery SO much easier!
Here's a pic of the one I'm getting:
My other great deal was not nearly this exciting but made me happy anyway. We're still using our Boppy Pillow constantly, and the peanut is a messy eater lately since she's started teething. We desperately needed a new cover for our boppy so we could always have a clean one. I went to Target today to get one, and one was 13 dollars, but once I cruised over to the clearance aisle they had a 2 pack of covers for only 8 dollars... very sweet..
I'm a bargain shopping fool... bless you if you've read this far, this is the most exciting thing in Tara land right now LOL so I apologize for boring you mindless! I'll try to find something better to write about soon!
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Watching history...
Someday I'll tell Kat the story about how she sat on mommy's lap when she was 2 months old and watched Barack Obama being sworn in as President...
I'll tell her how when he spoke she was very quiet and big eyed, and watched the whole thing...
I'll tell her how I sat with her Grandpa in the middle of the night the night Obama won the election and watched his speech, rubbing my belly wondering when she'd come out and watch all this history happening around her....
I'll tell her how when he spoke she was very quiet and big eyed, and watched the whole thing...
I'll tell her how I sat with her Grandpa in the middle of the night the night Obama won the election and watched his speech, rubbing my belly wondering when she'd come out and watch all this history happening around her....
Monday, January 19, 2009
My funny kid...
Remember the purring video yesterday?
Last night I woke up to nurse Kat, and our cat Luna crawled up next to me so I pet her with my free hand while Kat was nursing.
Luna started purring, Kat gave a BIG smile, stopped nursing, and then started purring happily back at Luna.
I laughed so hard I woke Tim up, problem is- after this it was Playtime in Kat's mind and she refused to go back to sleep, she just wanted to purr and talk to everyone (Luna included)
Luckily Daddy finally took a shift and I managed to get a little more sleep!
Last night I woke up to nurse Kat, and our cat Luna crawled up next to me so I pet her with my free hand while Kat was nursing.
Luna started purring, Kat gave a BIG smile, stopped nursing, and then started purring happily back at Luna.
I laughed so hard I woke Tim up, problem is- after this it was Playtime in Kat's mind and she refused to go back to sleep, she just wanted to purr and talk to everyone (Luna included)
Luckily Daddy finally took a shift and I managed to get a little more sleep!
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Kat purring...
I told you she purred :o)
While I was editing the movie she heard it and started purring again, she does it all day long now! What a silly girl!!
Saturday, January 17, 2009
It was a good birthday
Officially I am 28 now, though Tim insists that I'm actually only 2... as that's all the birthdays I've had since I moved here :o)
This post is a few days late, because we've been running around like maniacs doing things and generally being parents...
So Tim took me to Red Lobster where I spent waaay too much money, but had myself my first margarita in over a year (yay!), forgot what I lightweight I was, and proceeded to giggle my way through the rest of dinner and try to convince Tim into making a snow man with me in front of the Red Lobster...
Then we were supposed to go sledding at The Fridge with some friends, but due to -20 below wind chills they closed it for the night (like I'd have attempted it that cold, but I digress) so we went to Borders, bought LOTS of books (woohoo), then grabbed Katie and Matt to go bowling with us.
All in all it was a good birthday, I got all kinds of goodies- Borders gift card, the first 2 seasons of Weeds, awesome 1928 jewelry, and I still have a gift in reserve from Tim that I need to go pick out at the Mall once I'm feeling up to it. We were going to do it then, but we were just too tired and cold!
Kat hung out at Grandma and Grandpa's house for the evening and had lots of fun. She finally mastered purring (no I'm not kidding) and will look at you and make the little purr noise to tell you she wants you to purr at her, once you do you get a BIG smile out of her. She knows that, and how to ask for kisses... if you make the kiss noise she opens up her mouth real wide and leans in for her 'kiss'... but once in awhile she'll just make the kiss face and go in for one to let you know she wants one! This kid cracks me up! Going to have to get some video of that for Grandma in West Virginia!
So 27 was a good year, very full... I enjoyed it, and very much look forward to the year of 28... and all the cool stuff Kat will be doing, and everything else going on in our lives!
This post is a few days late, because we've been running around like maniacs doing things and generally being parents...
So Tim took me to Red Lobster where I spent waaay too much money, but had myself my first margarita in over a year (yay!), forgot what I lightweight I was, and proceeded to giggle my way through the rest of dinner and try to convince Tim into making a snow man with me in front of the Red Lobster...
Then we were supposed to go sledding at The Fridge with some friends, but due to -20 below wind chills they closed it for the night (like I'd have attempted it that cold, but I digress) so we went to Borders, bought LOTS of books (woohoo), then grabbed Katie and Matt to go bowling with us.
All in all it was a good birthday, I got all kinds of goodies- Borders gift card, the first 2 seasons of Weeds, awesome 1928 jewelry, and I still have a gift in reserve from Tim that I need to go pick out at the Mall once I'm feeling up to it. We were going to do it then, but we were just too tired and cold!
Kat hung out at Grandma and Grandpa's house for the evening and had lots of fun. She finally mastered purring (no I'm not kidding) and will look at you and make the little purr noise to tell you she wants you to purr at her, once you do you get a BIG smile out of her. She knows that, and how to ask for kisses... if you make the kiss noise she opens up her mouth real wide and leans in for her 'kiss'... but once in awhile she'll just make the kiss face and go in for one to let you know she wants one! This kid cracks me up! Going to have to get some video of that for Grandma in West Virginia!
So 27 was a good year, very full... I enjoyed it, and very much look forward to the year of 28... and all the cool stuff Kat will be doing, and everything else going on in our lives!
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Baby, it's cold outside!
Welcome to the life of a Michigander...
We were going to run errands today (we meaning myself and the WeePiglet) but the wind chill is going to be around -20 today and this evening, so looks like we're staying snuggled up inside.
It's snowing a little outside, and luckily nothing we needed to pick up is urgent and we can put the errands off for a few extra days until it's a little better outside. No way am I taking the little one out in this weather!
Ask me in the summer if I regret moving to Michigan and you'll get a resounding no... however, anytime after the Christmas holiday up to Summer (we have no spring here lol) you might get a different answer. I only miss Virginia weather in the winter.... brrrr... you'd think after living here for over a year I'd have gotten used to the weather, but my blood must still be southern and thin because I'm FREEZING!!! lol
I feel like I should put on some Hawaiian music and make some Margaritas to dispel the chill outside. I'll get a tiny grass skirt for Piglet and we'll have ourselves a luau before daddy wakes up!
We were going to run errands today (we meaning myself and the WeePiglet) but the wind chill is going to be around -20 today and this evening, so looks like we're staying snuggled up inside.
It's snowing a little outside, and luckily nothing we needed to pick up is urgent and we can put the errands off for a few extra days until it's a little better outside. No way am I taking the little one out in this weather!
Ask me in the summer if I regret moving to Michigan and you'll get a resounding no... however, anytime after the Christmas holiday up to Summer (we have no spring here lol) you might get a different answer. I only miss Virginia weather in the winter.... brrrr... you'd think after living here for over a year I'd have gotten used to the weather, but my blood must still be southern and thin because I'm FREEZING!!! lol
I feel like I should put on some Hawaiian music and make some Margaritas to dispel the chill outside. I'll get a tiny grass skirt for Piglet and we'll have ourselves a luau before daddy wakes up!
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
The Sun will come out tomorrow...
Okay, so I lied... I live in Michigan... where the sun only shines 2 weeks out of the year. So sad...
Today is a better day than yesterday, Kat's little fever is allll gone and she slept all night last night, and only woke up once to nurse from 10:30-9am! That's my good good girl.
While I'm dreaming of a tropical vacation... Now for some more pictures!
Daddies are good for napping on...
And they tell good stories...
Then we nap some more...
Then we cry because we're hungry!! (Note the words on the bib- hahaha!)Monday, January 12, 2009
It's a bad day to be a baby...
2 Month Vaccinations were today... poor baby! She woke up in the BEST mood, flirted with the doctors and nurses... then the bad stabby things happened!!
Then to make things worse Mom and Dad thought they could do grocery shopping at Wal Mart... for this experience she reserved the special cry, the one where she turns purple and can't catch her breath...
She can't nap, or get comfy... she's running a low grade fever and her chubby little legs are all pink!
It's not a good day to be a mommy either! I just want to make it all better and not hurt! That's all the time we have now folks... hope my Piglet feels better tomorrow!
Then to make things worse Mom and Dad thought they could do grocery shopping at Wal Mart... for this experience she reserved the special cry, the one where she turns purple and can't catch her breath...
She can't nap, or get comfy... she's running a low grade fever and her chubby little legs are all pink!
It's not a good day to be a mommy either! I just want to make it all better and not hurt! That's all the time we have now folks... hope my Piglet feels better tomorrow!
Sunday, January 11, 2009
2 Months old!
Grrrrr.... Blogger isn't letting me separate different points and running it all together no matter how many times I edit to correct it.... sorry if this blog looks messy, but it won't let me fix it!!!
Since she's sleeping... see above!
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I can do this quickly :o) We've been having a rough few days here in Lewis Land... started off with Kat having diarrhea for 2 days, then switching off to cranky, listless, and irritable for another 2 days. We suspect she may be teething, but we aren't sure. It's way early for that, but from what we gather not unheard of! We'll be bringing it up at her 2 month checkup on Monday.
So our little one has been here 2 whole months now! It feels like longer :o) What do we know about her so far?
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~She's gotten over her hatred of baths, we figured out her main problem with the baths was the hammock bathtub thing, once she's actually IN the water rather than over it, she loves them! She recently discovered that if she kicks her legs hard enough it makes splashes, and she loves that.
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~She's also decided that naked really isn't so bad! When we change her now she smiles and coos at us instead of turning that lovely shade of magenta and screaming. She also spends her diaper changes talking to the stickers of Beavis and Butthead on the side of Tim's computer... I kid you not! She gives a HUGE grin everytime she sees them! We're thinking it's because they're so brightly colored against the black background of the PC box.
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~She's really really strong, especially for her age. She holds her head up and steady like a champ, and looks all around all the time. She's been doing that for weeks now. She also likes to play the up and down game... basically standing up and sitting down while Mommy said "Up and Down!"... funny enough when she hears Up... she pushes with her legs because it's time to stand up! She can pull herself upright holding onto your hands and stand on her own feet as long as she's balanced. Holding her own weight is not a problem at all for her. She can sit assisted already for short periods of time as well, but likes standing better.
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~She rolled over (back to tummy) the first time yesterday. Granted it was during a full scale temper tantrum, so I'm not sure we can really count it because it was accidental, but she still did it. We'll wait to see when she starts doing it intentionally... lol
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~She looks like a tiny little elf up to no good when she grins... 'nuff said!
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~ She is cooing a lot and trying hard to mimic sounds! When you talk to her she screws her face up concentrating, then starts moving her mouth trying to imitate. So far she's got down Dadadada, and Mamamama (though that only happens when she's crying lol), and just the other day we heard her say Kakakakakaka (which is her mimicking me saying Kat over and over again) .... she's a genius! (Shhhh, every mom thinks that- it's mean to point out otherwise LOL)
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~She's gotten really fascinated with Daddy the last few weeks. Whereever he is she's trying really hard to watch him! Even when nursing, which makes for some awkward poses!
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~She's sleeping (almost) through the night! On a good night, normally she'll go down around 10:30 and sleep until about 3:30-4am so 5-5.5 hours at a stretch! After that she'll nap for 2 hour stretches until Mom decides to roll out of bed.
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~She's basically a sweet and cuddly little thing. She's extremely loving and really enjoys lots and lots of human contact. That being said, she's got a temper on her when she's hungry/sleepy/otherwise irritated.... she goes from smiles to screams at the drop of a hat. Luckily we get more smiles than screams, but that's mostly because Mommy knows when the screams are coming and intercepts lots of them early!
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I've learned we sort of unintentionally practice something called Attachment Parenting... not to the letter of course, but it's the closest label for our sort of natural parenting style... and it's working very well! If I notice she's starting to get upset I intervene before the meltdown starts and try to fix the problem. I basically feed her when she's hungry, hold her as much as she wants when she's upset, put her down when she wants it, and let her sleep when she's tired. Crazy huh? I keep getting lectured I'm letting her get spoiled.... but I've sniffed her and she's still perfectly fresh!! *evil grin*...
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Attachment Parenting also advocates co-sleeping (check!) in the bassinet in the bedroom actually counts as co-sleeping, breastfeeding (check!), baby wearing (check!).... the only deviations with us are the whole medical thing... I was all about the drugged birth, don't regret my c-section, if she'd been a boy she'd have been circumsized, and we're definitely vaccinating her according to schedule. I trust my doctor (who really encourages us to keep her as happy as possible by whatever means and assures us she cannot be spoiled when she's this little) and I believe in medical technology. At home, we totally practice the idea of compassionate and connected parenting (because that's just how we are normally anyway)... but I also believe it's my job to keep her as healthy as possible and would be derelict in my duty by skipping her vaccinations. I've gotten some steam over that from some crunchier moms that me.... and that's fine too. You raise your kid, I'll raise mine LOL....
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Or better yet, you eat your granola.... and I'll eat mine.... tee hee....
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