Megan 的个人资料Megan's World照片日志列表更多  |  工具 帮助 |
|
2007/11/30 such a relaxed dayAfter all of the hulabaloo going on earlier this week today was peaceful and quiet. Kate and I went outside for a little while this morning, we read a lot of books, and did the hokey pokey. During her nap this afternoon I made dinner and took care of a few things, but the real work will begin tonight. Today was the calm before the storm.
We'll be in Seattle for almost 8 days, so that requires a lot of packing. I'm planning to do laundry, probably Saturday morning, so that helps somewhat. Of course all of that laundry needs to be done this weekend in order for it to make the trip, so that's a bunch to take care of. The packing list of stuff for Kate has gotten crazy long, but I am feeling like it's a pretty complete list at this point. I think we are going to bring our booster seat with us; it folds up and we're going to bring our duffel luggage that can easily handle freeform objects anyway, so we'll just toss it in. I'm really hoping to stick to one suitcase for Jay and I, one small suitcase for Kate's clothes, and this duffel for the random toys, books, eating equipment. Those three bags plus the pack n play should do it, I think.
Our flight leaves Monday evening at 6, so we're hopeful that Kate will fall asleep once we're in the air and sleep most of the trip. I guess I should just put her in her pjs for the flight, huh? Hmm, hadn't thought about that. Anyway, we get into Seattle at 8pm, so I expect that after waking her up to get off the plane she'll probably be up for 2 hours or so - if we're lucky that two hours of awake time will translate into two hours of extra sleeping in in the morning. Kate and I are taking it easy on Tuesday - just hanging out with Melinda and Stella - so I'm hoping that I can really work on pushing out her naps and bedtime that day so that she can be on the right time zone without any issues by Thursday. I really hope the timezone thing isn't too awful because we do have a lot of plans based on my expectations of when she'll be normal again.
Anyway, I'm really excited about the trip. I talked to Allison this afternoon and in the background I could hear Jillian and Taylor - I cannot wait to see them! Kate is going to love being around them. She gets so excited about other kids, but for there to be two of them so close to her in age...oh man, she's going to freak out. And, of course, they have all different age-appropriate toys, so yeah, she's going to be over the moon. Just wait until Sunday when all of the kids will be in one place - Carmen is hosting brunch - I wonder if she'll be able to contain herself. She's so silly.
Our days are pretty well planned out at this point with some flexibility at the end of the trip, but only a couple of our evenings (dinner, that is) have been accounted for. I don't intend to spend much time hanging out in the hotel, so if things don't come through with the people we're waiting to hear from we might just have to start forcing our way into people's homes! *lol* Just kidding, of course. It's going to be so nice to see everyone, I just can't wait.
OK, so my relaxed day is coming to an end. Jay is bathing Kate right now, and I might just let him handle her until bedtime. I've got things to do, and I'd really like to get some yarn to finish up this blanket I'm making for Kate to take on the plane. Hmm, maybe I'll go now... 2007/11/28 more!Kate has been putting the sign for 'more' to great use in the last few days. It's so nice for me to ask her if she wants more and she signs for more - as opposed to the pointing and whining that I've learned to interpret as more. The sign itself isn't hard, it's really understanding the concept that's taken time. I think she's got it now, though: I turned off the tv the other day after Blue's Clues and she looked at me, looked at the tv, looked back at me and signed 'more.' Nope, sorry kiddo, no more. shoes...Last night I forgot about the shoe saga for a little while, and then I remembered as I was heading to bed. I thought I should place my order in the off chance that they could be shipped out today, so I turned my computer back on...and her size just isn't available in any of the shoes I'm interested in. Not on any site that I can find. WTF???? I was peeved, and I went to bed. This morning I awoke and thought, screw it. Baby shoes just aren't worth this much aggravation. We were headed to the mall today anyway, so I figured we'd take a look there. We went to Nordstrom, and once again, her size just isn't available. There was one pretty cute sneaker, and I considered getting it but held off because I knew there was a Stride Rite in the mall. We stop there, and I'm thinking, this should be a slam dunk. Nope - guess why? They don't freaking have her size!!! How can you be a store that specializes in children's shoes and not have shoes available in the obviously most popular size for new walkers?!? They did have one option that fit her, so I bought them.
So here's the thing. The shoes are darling, but they really aren't what I was looking for. They're the classic baby shoe - white (with some tiny flowers and lacy trim), supportive up to the ankle, lace up. They just don't fit at all with my taste. I was convinced after getting some info online and from the two stores that it probably is worth having a higher top shoe while she's getting more stable, but there are cuter ones out there (ie, not white!) - but not available anywhere in size 4. Argh! So I have these shoes but still am not sure if they're going to be used...There's a Stride Rite outlet store nearby, so I think I'm going to call over there to find out about their baby inventory. We need to head out in that direction anyway this afternoon.
As we're sitting down at Nordstrom to get Kate's foot measured, the salewoman asks, does she have a wide foot? I say, I have no idea. Ha! I took off her shoe and the woman laughed and said (before measuring), yeah, that's a wide foot. Poor Kate. She ended up in 4XW shoes - I've cursed my darling. But if you were around then, you might remember that I mentioned the inevitability of this given my big feet.. 2007/11/27 not today...Ay, for all the effort I made today hasn't been very successful. Well, ok, that's an exaggeration, but you know how sometimes things just don't work out? Today is one of those days. I'm looking near and far (literally) for a pair of shoes for Kate. I suppose my failure is due to my determination to get a certain pair for her that isn't carried in mainstream stores and my unwillingness to budge...Yesterday we found some, but the ones available in her size (apparently very popular!) weren't very cute. I got recommendations to two other stores that might carry them - no dice, neither one has them. This summer I saw them (for the first time) in Alexandria, so I called the store today and asked what colors they have in her size. I get a great answer - lots of options - and decide to suck it up and go to Alexandria during Kate's nap. I get to the store and, lo and behold, they don't actually have all of those colors in her size - only the ugly ones. UGH. So now I've wasted two days looking for them when I should have just ordered them this past weekend online. Now I'll have to pay extra to have them shipped here in time for our trip. Oh well, I guess they're worth it (maybe...). They're so darn cute! They're called Pipsqueaks (or Pippytoes due to a name change) and they have this little squeaker (removable) in the heel. Kate loved the squeaking (after some initial hesitation) yesterday at the first store, and they're so darn cute. They're supposed to be really helpful in encouraging new walkers (probably should have bought them a while ago...) and in helping them learn to walk using their heels. Anyway, I'm going to order them online tonight and have them shipped two day, so they should show up before we take off Monday evening. I hope!
 The shoe failure notwithstanding, I've done quite a lot of shopping in the last two days. I'm having the same issue now that I had with the birthday dress - I want the right outfit for the photo session. So now I've purchased quite a few, and I tried a bunch of them on Kate this morning. It's amazing how, even for a baby, what is cute on a hanger can be so not cute on her body (although with all of this trial and error I'm starting to get what her 'rules' are). So, I still have a few options, but the search isn't completely over with yet. By the end of tomorrow I need to nail down her outfits so that I can plan what Jay and I are going to be wearing for the family shots. BTW, of course Kate has cute outfits already, but the little goob has managed to stain or substantially wear just about all of them. That said, I am thinking about maybe using her denim overalls...I still need to think about that option. I found this absolutely perfect sweater for Kate today, but it's 24mo. In the store I had convinced myself that it wasn't so big that she can't wear it now, but I think I was delusional (it's SO perfect for her) at the time. It was crazy expensive, so I think it's going back to the store, sad as that is. You all probably think I'm nuts to be thinking about this so much, but I just want her to be as cute as possible!
Oh, still no teeth although her top gums are bulging. Last night I dosed her with Tylenol and Motrin as we approached bedtime, and she slept really well. She woke up at 4:50 and I didn't mess around - another dose of Motrin and she was out until 6. Hopefully tonight will be equally easy... 2007/11/26 the frenzy beginsWe're leaving for Seattle in a week, and contrary to what I had said previously, I have spent very little time thinking about the details of the trip. Well, the one exception to that is that I've been constantly thinking about what we're going to be wearing for our session with the photographer, but I've made very little headway into actually making any decisions...Anyway, the reality of the trip is hitting me now, and there really is a lot to do in preparation. I thought it would be easier to travel with Kate as she gets older - and actually, the literal traveling will probably be easier - but I don't think that's actually the case. We're in much more of a routine now than when she was younger, and she knows what she wants, she's used to things a certain way...hmm. She just loves her books, but I can't bring her whole library - they'll be too heavy, and it just seems silly anyway. So that means I need to be good in choosing her favorites. Then there's the toy issue. Her favorite toys aren't small anymore, so I'm trying to figure out how to manage the packing of at least a couple of them and how I'm going to appease her when we're there. Three of the days we'll be spending entirely with other children close to her age, so those days should be easy. It's the rest of them...Oh, and then there's the whole food thing. We have a mini fridge in the room, so I think I'm going to just have to load up right away with things that she'll eat and we can bring on our various visits. I feel like she really needs to have her booster seat for all of that eating, but packing that is a big fiasco. Claire suggested just buying one there to leave behind as a gift for Stella to use, but even that isn't ideal because we won't have it when we first need it. I don't know, I don't want to get all worked up, but I also know that the more thought out this all is, the better it'll be for all of us.
We went out this morning to buy Kate a pair of 'real' shoes but didn't end up getting any. I wasn't thrilled with the selection that was at the store, so now I'm in a bit of a panic trying to figure out where I'm going to find what I'm looking for. This is where it really stinks to not know the area you live in very well! I bought an outfit that I thought would be cute for her pictures, but when I put it on her at home - yuck. So that needs to go back, and I'm still looking for something cute for the pictures.
Claire and I are going to Tyson's Corner (again!) tonight. I have a ton of things to do there, and I think she's just coming along for the fun of it. We're going to take off around 6, so hopefully we'll get a full 3 hours of shopping in before we head home. Maybe they're having extended hours now...well, even if they are, I think 3 hours is sufficient.
Kate had an absolutely HORRIBLE night of sleep last night. I'm attributing it to the teething, so hopefully it'll all end pretty quickly. She was up 7 times, I think, between 10 and 4 (and almost all of that was between 10 and 1). Just shoot me! She woke up the first time right as I was heading to bed, so I dealt with that. Then 30 min later, she woke again. 30min later, again, on and on. It was 12:50 before I got any real sleep - until she woke up at 4:00. UGH UGH UGH. I will say, though, that I love that she's affectionate now. I sit down in the glider with her (and her blanket) on my lap, and she just snuggles into my chest and cuddles with her blanket. If it wasn't the freaking middle of the night I'd be absolutely smitten. Around 12:30 I actually started to wonder if maybe we shouldn't just sleep like that since it seemed to be the only thing that kept her happy. Luckily my rational side prevailed! Anyway, after she was up at 4 I thought, there is no way I'm going to exercise at 6am, so I came downstairs to leave a note for Claire on my door. No exercise since the race Thanksgiving morning - I need to get back to it! Jay took Kate when she got up and I slept until 7:45, so I'm feeling ok right now. Hopefully tonight will not be a repeat of last night! 2007/11/25 a great weekendMy mom got in Wednesday evening without any issues, so that was a relief for everyone. Although Claire and I don't get that stressed about possibility of encountering a deer during long drives it was all my mom was talking about in the week leading up to the trip, and that much worry does rub off a bit...Anyway, my mom was here and it was great. Thursday ended up going quite a bit differently than we had anticipated - John, my BIL, had to go to the hospital in the morning and they ended up not going to his family's Thanksgiving (he's fine, btw). So, Claire and the girls spent the whole day over here, but we still just had pizza and wings for dinner. *lol* Friday my mom, Claire, and I went to Vienna to a craft show (which ended up being really lame) and then to Crate and Barrel since we were nearby. Oooh, we spent some time in there. We had our spaghetti dinner, and then the three of us got our Thanksgiving food ready. We made the sweet potato casserole that my family loves, did lots of chopping for the stuffing and to go in the roasting pan with the turkey, I made pumpkin and pecan pies, and my mom got the stock going for the gravy. We brined the turkey, so that was another thing that we needed to take care of that night. Lots of cooking! Saturday we got up and got the bird going, my mom made the stuffing, and we did the Thanksgiving thing. Dinner was excellent, but I didn't get to eat any of the food when it was hot. Kate has impeccable timing - a big diaper change and lots of teething pain right as we were sitting down. *sigh* We did find out, though, that gherkins (the little sweet pickles) are great for helping with teething pain. She's been chewing on everything for the last few days, and her two front top teeth are starting to be visible under her gums, so it looks like more teeth are imminent. Anyway, our dinner was great, the dessert was great, and we had a lot of fun with my mom. She left first thing this morning and should be getting home in the next hour.
The best part of the weekend, though, came on Thursday when Kate started walking!! Yay! Everyone was relaxing, and Claire, my mom, and I were watching tv. Kate was playing in the room, and all of a sudden I see her take a lot of steps while no one is even paying attention. When she did it again - this time we were all watching - I ran downstairs to get Jay. We did a lot of encouraging, and she repeatedly took a dozen steps across the room. Since then she really has gotten more confident, and she just steps away from stuff all the time. It's sooooo cute to see her waddling across the room! I think she's pretty proud of herself, too. We got video of her almost first steps, and I'll try to post it today sometime.
Oh, one last funny story. On Friday Jay spent a lot of time teaching her that cows say 'moo', and since then she moos whenever you mention or show her a cow. This morning I said to her, holy cow, Kate, you're doing such a good job! while she was walking, and she mooed. It took me a second to figure out why she mooed, and then I just cracked up. She is SO freaking cute! 2007/11/21 waiting anxiouslyAfter a long day of cleaning and cooking, things are finally calm around here. My mom should be getting in in the next 90 min or so - here's to hoping that she doesn't encounter a deer in the final leg of her trip!
I spent way too much time cleaning bathrooms today. Gosh, I hate that. Our bathroom is the worst and took up a huge amount of time. We have a huge soaking tub and a little shower stall, and cleaning that darn shower is so difficult! I just HATE doing it. I can't wait until I have a job and we have someone come in to clean for us.
 I made my pie crust dough and will finish up the pies Friday evening. Really, the pie crust isn't that difficult as long as you have a good recipe with decent instructions. If you like to cook and/or bake and have never been introduced to Cook's Illustrated, it's a great publication - add it to your wish list. You'll learn TONS and get lots of good recipes too. I also made sauce and meatballs for Friday's dinner; Claire and I figured that an easy dinner that appeals to all ages would be best after a long day of shopping and facing a long night of cooking. It's been simmering for a few hours now, so I'm about to go put it in the fridge - happily, we have a fridge in the garage (came with the house), so I plugged it in last night in anticipation of the upcoming food gorging. Good thing, too, because that 20lb bird is taking up some serious space in my kitchen fridge! Add to that the two pizzas that Jay just picked up for tomorrow's dinner (my mom's bday wish - pizza and wings), and we have lots of food hanging around.Jay was such a help today. I give him lots of grief - too much, in all honesty - but he's a great hubby and daddy. I sent him to Wegmans for a few things, knowing that it would be insane there today, and he took Kate along too. So I had a little while to really buckle down and clean. Great way to spend my free time, huh? He did some vacuuming later on, and I think he's off doing something right now...
Kate seemed to be feeling better today. Her congestion is improving - she's moved from that really thin runny thing to the more sticky wheezy thing. It sounds like Darth Vader is sleeping in her crib over the monitor. Hopefully tomorrow will be better yet. Jay and I are both feeling fine (not sure what that was yesterday with me). So, we're looking forward to a nice, yummy weekend - I just know Kate is going to be in her glory! 2007/11/20 blechKate has come down with a doozy of a cold, and now I'm feeling pretty strange. Ugh, I have too much to do to start feeling crummy. Hopefully it's just a fluke and I won't end up sick.
So, poor little Kate is sick. She's just a snotty, dripping mess. I put on a bib on her this morning after her first nap, and it was absolutely drenched by 12:30 - it was so bad that her saliva was just pooling up on it. Yucko! Between her very runny nose and her drooling mouth (from breathing through her mouth all the time), she's just wet all over. Yesterday afternoon she only took a one hour nap, so she was pretty tired early on. She went down to bed at 5:30! The first few hours were pretty rough. We could hear her waking up every hour or so, a few times really crying. Luckily she did better overnight; I went to bed at 10:30, and I didn't hear her again. Jay said that she was still waking a lot until about 1am, but she slept until 6:30 this morning. I hope she starts feeling better in the next few days - my mom is coming into town tomorrow night for Thanksgiving, and I'd hate to have Kate be sick during her visit.
Speaking of Thanksgiving, I can't wait! We're actually having our dinner on Saturday so that Claire and her crew can celebrate with John's family on Thursday. No one can eat two Thanksgiving dinners in one day! Anyway, we have quite a feast planned. Our almost 20lb turkey is defrosting in my fridge right now, and tomorrow I'm going to make my pie crusts (for pumpkin and pecan) and my mom's birthday cake (also on Thursday). On Friday Claire, my mom, and I are going to go shopping (not mall shopping), and I guess after we all have dinner we'll be doing some of the prep for our Thanksgiving. It should be a nice long weekend, and I can't wait for the food!
Oh, just an update - I totally overhauled my resume last week, and it's really great now. In March I had a professional career coach look at what I had, and he thought it was great. Clearly he was wrong since I haven't ever been contacted for any of the positions I applied for. I think this new version is far better, and I've applied for a handful of jobs so far. 2007/11/16 growth???Kate is clearly growing - all of her clothes fit her differently in the last week and a half than they had before. Good thing I leaned heavily toward the 18mo size for her winter clothes! She'll definitely be out of 12mo soon. She's been sleeping great for the last two weeks, and I was starting to wonder if there was a correlation between the growing and the sleeping. Although the books all say that babies eat and sleep more during growth spurts (at least when they're really young), I never saw that with Kate. Allison has sworn up and down that her twins really go through growing pains with crankiness and disrupted sleep during the growth spurts, so that's what made me wonder about Kate. I don't know. What I do know is that the kid slept like a champ today! She woke up unhappy at 6, and Jay had her up for just a couple of minutes before she insisted on going back to bed. She then proceeded to sleep the morning away! At 7:45 I told him that he had to get her up...She then took a two hour nap, no problem. This afternoon she took a three hour nap and had to be woken up again. At 5:15 we said, sheesh, she's never going to go to bed if she keeps sleeping. She wasn't too happy about getting up that time, but she's gotten over it. I wonder what time she'll go to bed... 2007/11/15 almost doneMan, today has seemed LONG. I'm not sure why - Kate has been a doll and took two great naps, so it wasn't a bad day. I guess it was partly because I got up with her at 6 (Jay took over at 7), so that was early for mommying, and the morning was so dreary and wet that it just seemed like it lasted forever. It was just one of those days when you're like, well, now what? I decided to wash Kate's car seat cover, so that meant we weren't able to go out in the car - hopefully the cover will be dry by morning. Luckily ithe rain ended, so after lunch we went out and practiced walking for a bit, and just an hour ago we walked over to the grocery store for a few things. I didn't realize how cold it had gotten, though, and it was super windy - luckily I happened to have a blanket for Kate in the stroller basket. She didn't seem to be bothered by it, but I'll tell you that I hightailed it home. brrr! I was planning on Kate having grilled chicken for dinner, supposedly left over from our dinner last night, but we weren't able to grill yesterday because we ran out of gas. Drat. So I had to improvise and I tried this 'easy mac n cheese' recipe from my baby food book. It was easy, but I don't know that it really qualified as mac n cheese. It was more like noodles with clumps of cheese...not so tasty. Happily, Kate ate it anyway, clumps of cheese and all, so I guess it worked out ok. I suppose I should do a bake sometime soon to see how that goes. Really, it's not all that bad for her if I use whole wheat pasta...Anyway, tonight we're grilling the chicken (Jay went and got a new tank this afternoon), and Kate will have it tomorrow. She's loved it in the past, so hopefully she will again. Right now the munchkin is finishing her dessert - graham crackers. Her eating seems to be back to normal, thankfully, with the exception that she still will not touch cheese (outside of mac n cheese, that is). I'm just not sure what that's about... 2007/11/13 I'm backAfter last week's constant chatter about me being alone and Kate's sleep issue (sorry about that!) I thought you might need a break.
Jay got home fine on Friday (funny comment, Jess, but with MS reimbursing parking at the airport, luckily I'm never involved in that transportation!), and Kate was happy to see him. His plan was for me to get a serious break from mommyhood, and he took off yesterday and today. So Saturday Claire and I went to Tyson's Corner. I've been feeling a desperate need for new clothes, but I've been holding back because I wasn't sure what was going to happen with my weight once I weaned Kate. After a month of no breastfeeding and no weight gain, I thought I'd be safe getting a few new things. Of course, the reality is that I actually have decent winter clothes - it's the fall/spring clothes that are really lacking. So Claire and I went through my wardrobe, and I got a few tops. I really need jeans, but that's such an undertaking that I didn't even try any on. We had a good time at the mall - after shopping we got dinner and saw a movie. It was a great Kate-free afternoon and evening. Sunday I had my soccer game - my last one, unfortunately, we lost in the playoffs - and I watched Kate in the afternoon. Yesterday I left the house at 9:30 and spent 6 hours doing job hunting work. I had purchased two books that I really wanted to read, and taking the time to just read them cover to cover really got me in the mindset to get down to business. Jay and I came up with a plan for getting me time everyday to work on this; he's going to watch Kate from the time she gets up until she goes down for her nap. It works for both of us since his co-workers are all in Pacific time anyway and he tends to skew his day late as it is. That lets me work until ~10:30, and we started this morning - and I got a lot done. In fact this morning I found 6 jobs to apply for, so that was great. I'm going to re-work my resume first, though - that's the goal for tomorrow. Anyway, I'm really committing to making headway on this front!
Today we spent a lot of time in the car. We are trying to learn more about the areas closer to D.C., so we checked out Bethesda. Gorgeous! We really loved the feel of the town, and it's so close to D.C. It's a great location, albeit a crazy expensive one...Anyway, we went to lunch in Ashburn and then hit the road. We drove all over Bethesda looking at houses, and then we went downtown and got an ice cream cone at Ben and Jerry's. Then we headed to Gaithersburg because Jay hadn't seen it yet. I really haven't been impressed with it the two times I've been there, and I think Jay reached the same conclusion today. It would be fine to work there, but it just doesn't feel like somewhere we want to live. From Gaithersburg we came home (using the ferry into Leesburg), so we made a great big circle. Kate did pretty well, although she was pretty much fed up by the time we got home.
So Kate has been super cute recently. She's learning SO much, we're just amazed everyday. She's now pointing at things when we ask her where they are, and that's so fun. In one of her books there is a page that has two balloons, one red, one yellow. She can point to the right one if you ask her, although I don't think she understands red and yellow as colors per se, I think she just knows "red balloon" and "yellow balloon" as a concept. She's doing more and more baby signs, and really she just talks constantly. Tonight she was having pasta with sauce and meatballs and I said, is your spaghetti good? and she said right back 'getti!' SOOOOO cute! I should really start a list of her words. (Of course, in the interest of full disclosure, you would never recognize her words as words if you just heard them, it's only when you know what she's doing and what she's looking at that you can understand them.) Anyway, she's so darling - although still not walking. *sigh* 2007/11/8 another good day - yay!One more night, and then Jay is home tomorrow afternoon. Yay! His plane lands at 4:30, so I don't really expect to see him before 6. Hopefully he won't be too late because I'd hate for him to miss Kate altogether.
Today was a good, 2 nap day. I woke Kate up at 90 min of morning napping, and she was pretty much fine. She yawned periodically for about 15min (she never yawns), but other than that she was happy as can be. She went down for her second nap with no issue at all and slept for 2 hours - thank goodness! I guess this will be the new routine. I'm hoping and assuming that she's going to have a normal 12 hours of sleep tonight. Last night was almost continuous - she woke up around 2:30 crying, but I patted her and she went right back to sleep, so that wasn't too bad. Oh, funny (in a sad way) story, though. I was sitting on the couch reading last night when over the monitor I heard this thunk sound at 8:00. As I'm thinking, I wonder what that was, she starts crying. I gave her a moment but she was really upset, so I went upstairs to calm her down and she was fine after that. I have no idea what happened, but I assume she banged some part of her body against the side of the crib hard enough to make a thunk sound and wake her up. Poor baby.
Claire brought Anna and Molly over today for lunch and to play in our leaf piles in the backyard. The girls had fun, and Kate loved watching them. Claire was even getting into it, too, and kept raking up more and more leaves to make the piles that much bigger. The girls thought that was great fun. It was good to see them (oddly, I don't really see them that much...I'm not sure why that is), and I like that they can associate fun things with Aunt Megan's house. Actually, I'm glad that they associate anything with Aunt Megan - the fact that they really know who I am is reward enough for moving here.  They're so darn cute!2007/11/7 a planOK, so I just did some reading, and I think that Becky and Erin are at least partly right that Kate may be moving toward the one nap routine. The book I was reading (that I totally swear by) said that morning naps should only be 60-90 min so that the afternoon nap isn't affected. Kate has taken 2 hour morning naps since she moved to 2 naps, but maybe now that she's older that's too much sleep. And yesterday she had a 3 hour morning nap, so I guess it's no wonder that she didn't sleep in the afternoon. So, the author suggested waking her after 90min in the morning, so that's what I'm going to do. We'll see how it goes! She says that some kids just try to give up the afternoon nap and keep the morning, but that's a total no-no. Perhaps that is what Kate would prefer, but we'll stop her! Anyway, apparently the transition to one nap should be at ~15-18months, so we're only two months off from that - maybe her sleep needs are starting to tail off a bit already. We'll definitely be sticking with 2 naps for now if I can help it. Oh, the other thing is that the overnight sleep requirement at her age is a little more than 11 hours, and Kate always gets 12-12 1/2 hours, so yeah, maybe she really just isn't tired enough to sleep in the afternoons right now. I always hate waking her up, but this is for her own good! day fiveTwo more to go, then Daddy is home! Yay! Today was actually a pretty nice day, although it was still a bit of a zoo over here. Kate slept until 6:45 this morning and didn't wake up overnight, so that was great - 3 of the 4 nights since Jay left have been peaceful, phew. After her morning nap we took off for some errands in Leesburg - Little Me (the store is closing, go catch the great prices!), Petco, Target, and Costco. I got Kate the mac n cheese kids meal at Target, and that worked out ok. I hadn't planned on her eating while we were out, but it was good for her to have a little down time, and she was definitely hungry. And, since she had eaten we were able to leisurely peruse Costco, so that was fun - oh, and she loved the pumpkin pie sample! *lol* She is going to have such a blast with Thanksgiving...
So, the errands went well and they took a long time, which was what I wanted. By the time we were home it was 1:00, and normally (that is, before all of the chaos with her afternoon nap started recently) I would expect her to start her nap then. But since I expected trouble, I let her play until 1:30 and then tried for a nap. Again, no doing! I cannot believe how much she fights this nap! Again, at 3 I said, fine, come downstairs. We snuggled on the couch and watched Blue's Clues (I closed my eyes, hers were half open), but after it was over she was off and running. And she wasn't in some overtired state, either, totally happy and darling. I just don't get it - but I do get now why moms dread the giving up of naptime at 3-4 years old! There's no question that she would have gone to bed at 5:30, but uh uh, no way. She will only sleep 12 hours overnight, and I have no interest in being up at 5:30 tomorrow morning, so we stretched her to 6:30.
She was so fun today! All day she was standing up in the middle of the floor, it was so cute. It's funny because her legs are so far apart when she does it, you think she's going to slide into a split. I'm a little surprised that she's figured this out - I thought for sure that this was a skill learned after walking began. And, speaking of walking...she'd taken a couple of steps last week with lots of urging on by me, but today she did it a couple of times and I was lucky to see it! She's just starting to turn away from whatever she's holding onto (because she can stand on her own for as long as she wants) and then take a step or two - I have yet to see 3 steps, but I'm hoping it's soon. I will feel bad if she strings together too many steps before Jay gets home, though (although that doesn't mean that I'm not going to encourage her to do it!). Anyway, I'm really hopeful that walking is just around the corner...
Claire gave us this collapsible nylon tunnel that her girls weren't playing with anymore, and when we first got it Kate thought it was interesting but wasn't that excited about it. I pulled it out today for the first time in a long time, and she had such a blast. She was going back and forth inside it, playing peekaboo with me, carrying her animals in and out, it was hysterical. She has this stacking toy from my mom; there are four pieces (a fire truck, a dalmation, a cat, and a mouse) that each have interlocking tops/bottoms (like Duplo blocks). These are currently her favorite thing. She always has the cat and dog, and she tells me all day 'kitty!', 'doggy!' Well, she took them into the tunnel with her, and every time she approached the end of the tunnel she'd toss them back to the middle so that she 'had' to go back in. I was laughing so hard! The throwing thing is relatively new, and Jay and I love how she throws - she lets go when her arm is down so things go behind her. Anwyay, in the process of all this throwing and crawling, at one point the tunnel rolled over, and she got a little tossed. She thought it was the funniest thing, and from then on she was just throwing herself around inside so that it would roll around. Watching from the outside was hysterical because the tunnel would move 5 feet, twist and turn, roll back a few feet; it was always in motion. It was this huge, green, giggling tube. She had an absolute blast with that thing today - we'll see if she does again tomorrow.
Anyway, nap or no nap, today was a fun day. I'm crossing my fingers that tomorrow is good too - we're going to go to Yvette's playgroup, and that should be great fun for us both!  2007/11/6 success!Kate didn't end up sleeping at all for a second nap today - I was in and out of her room for an hour and a half, and then I gave up. She probably was about to fall asleep, but by then it was 3 and we needed to leave at 3:30. So I got her up and let her watch Blue's Clues until we left. Luckily the lack of sleep didn't impact her photos! There were some really cute shots, and I restrained myself - really, I just wanted to use up all of our savings points today - because I know that in a month we'll get far more impressive photos in Seattle. Anyway, it was almost 6 by the time we got home and I had one hungry, tired baby on my hands. Quick dinner of pasta with sauce and off to bed! She didn't get down until 6:30, so I'm hoping that she'll sleep in just a bit more in the morning.
Amazingly it seems that the Picture People site is letting me save the images to my hard drive, so I've posted a few of them. I had almost forgotten the best part of our shoot! Kate stood up in the middle of the floor all by herself for the first time - and we have a photo of it!! And once she did it, it was clear she wanted to keep trying to repeat the trick, but she kept getting distracted by the ornaments...we'll see what happens tomorrow! I had been wondering recently if she was trying to do it; every once in a while she'd plant her feet and stick her butt in the air. Today was the first time she even got close, and she just stood right up. Our little girl is getting so big... ok so farKate ended up sleeping for a full three hours before - sheesh, that's quite a nap! I realized after I blogged that our 3:00 photo appt wasn't going to work with the long morning nap because she wouldn't be up from her second nap at 2:30 like normal. So, I changed our appt to 4:00 and things have gone according to plan - she just went down for a nap and should be up at 3:30. I'll whisk her out the door and be there with time to spare. After she got up she had lunch and then we went and got her the shoes we needed (along with a few other things - when's the last time you went in to Target for one thing and left with just that item?!). When we got home she spied her bike and walker in the garage and made a fuss, so we walked around outside for a bit. She loves pushing her walker now, it's so cute. The funny thing is that I have to push her bike while she walks; if I try to leave it in the garage she sits right down and starts fussing. When I get the bike she starts laughing - what a twit. Anyway, we circled the entire cul-de-sac today rather than our normal back and forth across it routine, and she even pushed the walker up the driveway back to the garage. I really want her to walk soon...Anyway, when we came inside I got her hair wet and then blew it dry, so hopefully she'll wake up with a neat little 'do and the pics will be just darling. crazy dayLast night ended up great. Kate slept peacefully all night long and got up at 6:05 this morning - much more reasonable. Hopefully tonight she'll be in bed at a more normal time and will sleep just a bit later tomorrow. I was in bed by 9:30, so I had a great night of sleep myself. Thank goodness for small favors! Kate is now at 2 1/2 hours for her morning nap for some reason...I keep thinking she's going to be up any moment, but that started a half hour ago...
We have a Portrait Club membership at The Picture People - basically for an upfront $35 you get >$60 of savings over the course of a year. I've known that our expiration date was soon - remember that I took her for photos that turned out horribly right before her bday? - but I looked at the card this morning and the expiration is today! Augh! I still have a one free sheet and $10 off savings that I'd like to use. So I spent some time ironing some clothes and thinking through what would be cute. I'm going to put her in her bday dress for sure and into these darling pink overalls for a second outfit. We need to run out to get little shoes to go with the dress, though; I've been eyeing them at Target, so now we're definitely going to get them. I really, really hope these photos turn out well. I've been thinking about Xmas cards, and I'd like to do something nice this year. A family photo would be great, but we don't have one now and I'm not sure that we can guarantee a good shot in just the next few weeks. So, maybe if one of the shots turns out great today we'll put that photo of her in our cards - Kate is who everyone wants to see anyway, right?
So, while Kate's clothes are ready to go (sans the necessary shoes), she really isn't. Her hair is a mess - a clean mess (bath last night), but a mess anyway. I'm not sure what to do about it. I think I might just get it wet and give it a quick once over with the blow dryer (we've done it before without issue). The question is, when to do this? She's going to be napping again before the session, but I don't think I'll have time to deal with her hair after that nap. I guess I'll do it before her second nap and hope that she doesn't get too crazy in her crib. *lol*
OK, the silly girl is still sleeping. This reminds me of when she was much littler and would take an unexpectedly long nap and I'd start to worry that something had happened to her. I'd tiptoe into her room to check on her, trying to avoid all the squeaky spots in the floor, and inevitably she'd wake up within a few moments of my visit. And, of course, she was always fine! I learned that lesson long ago, but I'm still tempted to go check on her...she did just make a little noise a few min ago, so I'm resisting the urge! *lol* 2007/11/5 arghYesterday ended up being a perfectly fine day. Kate apparently hadn't shifted her time, though, because at 5:45 she was exhausted. She was bathed and in bed by 6:05. I got caught up on some of my recorded tv and finished my book after she was in bed, and I was in bed by 10 because I figured she was going to be up early this morning. At 3:20 she woke up and was up off and on until 5:15 when she really was up. She wasn't happy to be up at that time, but she didn't want to sleep anymore, that was for sure. So, we had an early start to the day. She napped from ~6:45-8 (I slept too) and was much happier afterward. Of course that is totally off from her normal schedule, so I had no idea what to expect from then on. She ended up taking her nap from 10:30-12:30 (after much struggle falling asleep). While she napped I showered and then planted a bunch of bulbs outside - 50 crocuses and 20 daffodils! So, at that point, all was well. I had been thinking that when Kate got up we'd go out to the store, and then after her afternoon nap (I figured ~2:30-4:30) we'd try the running again. But then I talked to Claire and she said that I'd better go as soon as she was up. I thought about it and realized that if she did get up at 4:30 it would be starting to get dark by the time we got out the door, so I figured we'd flip the plan - run earlier, go out later. So, she got up at 12:30, had lunch, and then at 1:30 we went out for a jog. It's a gorgeous day - 65 and sunny - and the beginning of the run was fine. But then she started fussing as we approached my house so I called it quits; I didn't want a repeat of yesterday! So then we played outside, practicing her walking in the cul-de-sac and came back inside around 2:30, right around the time I was expecting her to go down for another nap. We played inside for a few minutes, and then she did seem tired, so upstairs we went. She was quiet for about 15min, and then...nope, no more. About 10 min ago I gave up and brought her back down.
Now I'm really frustrated because I don't think she'll make it without a nap until bedtime, but if she does nap it's going to be late. So I'm thinking that we're not going to be able to go out after all between feeding her dinner and going to bed. On top of that, I know that she needs her sleep; I'm sure that if she doesn't nap again she's not going to make it through the night without waking. Argh! Part of my frustration is being fueled by my own tiredness - between the run and soccer yesterday and the waking up in the middle of the night, I'm pooped. Claire offered to come over tonight so that I can go out, but I think I might just go to bed instead. We'll see.
OK, off I go to figure out what the kiddo wants to do... 2007/11/4 okay, thenI actually am feeling optimistic today. Yesterday Claire, Kate, and I went to Wegmans for dinner (Chinese, yum), and that was a nice little trip out. It's so nice to be out with Kate and have a second adult there! Man, that makes life so much easier. *lol* After dinner we ran into Target quickly and then came back here. Kate was in bed at 7:15, and Claire and I hung out and talked for a couple of hours. She left at 9 because we knew we had to get up this morning for our workout! We've decided to run in a 5K on Thanksgiving morning, so the running that we'd been talking about starting needed to start NOW. So, this morning we went for a run. Amazingly, Kate slept until 6:30 this morning - with the time change, an hour later than normal - and I was thrilled because it means that I don't have to get her onto the right time, she's already there. And, actually, she slept a ton yesterday. I mentioned that she hasn't been sleeping through the night (she probably does 2x a week); she's up around 12 or 12:30, and it's often 2 before she's asleep again for the rest of the night (with off and on sleep in between). I don't know what's going on or how to handle it. We generally let her cry quite a bit before going in there, but that hasn't seemed to help. On Friday night I decided that I'd had it. So, when she woke up at 12ish I went in, laid her back down, rubbed her tummy (while holding her down), and walked out. Ooh, she was mad. So she cried - a lot. Honestly, I'm not even sure how long, definitely 20, maybe 30 min. Eventually she fell back asleep (long after I had gone to sleep, I think - how selfish that makes me sound!), and woke again around 2. This time I picked her up for a moment (I was in a sleepy haze, totally shouldn't have done that), put her down, gave her her blanket and walked out. Again, fury and lots of crying. So, she was up and using a lot of energy for a substantial period Friday night. Well, yesterday she slept like nuts! She took two 2 1/2 hour naps and then a 3rd 1 hour nap at 4:30 - and still she went to bed at 7:15 (only 45min later than normal) and slept for a full 12 hours without waking. Man, crying hard has repercussions, I guess. Anyway, she woke up happy this morning, so I was hopeful that the run would be ok. Not so much. Claire and I loaded her into the jogging stroller with a snack, her monkey and Grover, and I had books and a banana as back up. She was ok for the beginning while we were walking to warm up. It wasn't super cold out, and she had her fleece pjs, a fleece jacket, a fleece hat, and a fleece blanket to keep her warm. When we first started running she was alright, but that was pretty momentary, and I realized that a pacifier would have been a good addition. So we stopped back at the house when we passed by (we make 2 loops past), and at that point she was mostly annoyed. The pacifier temporarily helped, and we walked for a bit. Again, when we started running she started to freak out. This time things got a little more vocal, but what were we going to do? We were a half mile from home, we had to finish it up, and running is faster than walking. I actually didn't realize quite how upset she was until we got home and I took her out of the stroller. She was in quite a state, poor baby. She wouldn't make eye contact because she was in some alternate state, she couldn't catch her breath, and every time she gasped for air her head twitched to the left. Yikes. We came inside and she just wouldn't calm down, so we went upstairs to get her blanket and a pacifier, and then snuggled on the couch while she watched Blue's Clues. Every once in a while she'd let out a huge sigh - I think she was exhausted from all that crying. So, I don't know why the run bothered her so much. I don't know if she was cold, didn't like the wind, was just annoyed about the stroller, or what. I think tomorrow morning Claire is planning to run on her own, and I might try to take Kate out in the afternoon when it's warmer and she's more awake, etc. Claire also offered to come over on her work days to sit while Kate is napping so that I can go out, but it just seems like she should be able to handle the jogging...we'll see. I just got home from soccer - thank goodness Claire is here! She was here for 3 hours, a timeframe that covered a little of Kate's first nap, her lunch, and then playing. Yay for Aunt Claire! Kate loves having her around, and so do I! 2007/11/3 trying to be optimisticJay just left for the airport - he's going to Seattle for a week, he'll be back next Friday. UGH. That's a freaking long time by myself with Kate, especially considering that we just had a week without him 3 weeks ago (although I of course recognize that everything is relative and this really isn't that long). I'm feeling pretty porky about the whole thing right now, but I'm hoping that my mood will improve by the end of today. For now I keep thinking...I'm stuck to a child that doesn't sleep through the night, won't eat, and is whiny and demanding most of the time (I just love this phase that we're in!). *sigh* But, I just talked to Claire for a little encouragement and we're going to have dinner with her tonight, so that's something to look forward to. I imagine that by Tuesday I'll be ready to have Claire come hang out after Kate's in bed so that I can get out of the house by myself; being alone out of your house is a luxury you don't appreciate until it's not possible...being alone in my house is a luxury that I've experienced once in the last year!
OK, so all pessimism aside, I do have a plan to get through the week. I've started a list of things to do while Jay is gone; some in the house, some outdoors, some errand-related. I figure this way, if boredom or whininess really set in, I can just pick something to do off of my list. I will not just lay around here because I know that that will do nothing to help my mindset. Of course if I really think about it I just need a one-item list that would resolve all these issues: FIND A FREAKING JOB!
On to a happier, yet still Seattle-related topic. We booked our trip to Seattle last night (finally!). Yay! We're going to be there 12/3-12/11, so we'll have lots of time to visit our friends and indulge our Seattle nostalgia. We used frequent flier miles to book both mine and Kate's (yay!) seat, and since Jay will be working the whole time his ticket is reimbursable. Excellent. We got the car set up and even a hotel; we got a 2 room suite in Bellevue for the same price as a Seattle hotel (also reimbursable), and it will be great with Kate there to be able to be up after she's in bed. The best part, though, was our flight. We have American miles, but they don't fly non-stop from here to Seattle, so we had picked out an itinerary that routed us through Dallas. It wasn't an awful trip, but non-stop is SO much better. Well, their website woudn't let us actually reserve the tix last night, so Jay called to book them. In the process we found out that, because American and Alaska are frequent flier partners, our American rep could book us on Alaska flights. It just so happens that Alaska flies non-stop from Reagan airport to Seattle and seats were available on our dates! Woo-hoo! So, the best of all worlds - free flights and non-stop to boot. It really doesn't get better than that! Anyway, I'm really looking forward to our trip. I miss my friends, and I miss the city; hopefully the trip will quell some of that angst for me. I'm already starting to think through the logistics of the whole thing, though. We'll be there for a week, so we need to make sure we really have entertainment for Kate (although luckily all of our friends have kids now), and while most of the trip will just be relaxed visiting with people, we are doing another session with Kate's photographer, and that raises a whole other set of circumstances to plan for. It'll all be fine but I think the packing lists might be started very soon...
OK, I'm off to bake a cake I've been wanting to make for some time. I want to cross that off the list.... |
|
|
