Is there anything better in the world than sitting down with a magazine, a few Girl Scout cookies and a glass of cold milk, knowing my little one has 30 minutes of nap left, the essential laundry is done and the dishwasher is finishing the last of the kitchen mess for you? I think there is, if your magazine isn't "Cookie" magazine. The cover always has some thin, gorgeous supermodel-mom, the advertisements have serious-faced and overdressed children in odd settings, and the whole thing is full of ideas of how to spend MORE money on your kid than you thought you needed to. For example, there's a page in this month's issue about how you can spend $300/night at a lodge near San Francisco that's supposedly kid-friendly. You can also spend $240 on a bag to organize the ton of crap you'd need to take with you when flying with a kid. Even the finger puppets ($40, kidonyc.com) and magnetic figures ($14, galison.com) are listed so you don't embarrass yourself by completing only part of their suggested ensemble. Yeesh. I'm all excited about goign to a garage sale next weekend; I am NOT spending $149 on jeans for my kid! I would never spend that on myself, and I won't be outgrowing them in a matter of months!! I think my year's subscription came free with the Boppy pillow I got - I definitely won't be resubscribing.
April is going to be a crazy month for the Sullivan family. I feel terrible that I'll be passing Emily around to family members and friends while my daycare provider recovers from ACL surgery, but hopefully she's young enough that it won't be that traumatic. I'm taking the rest of my vacation during this time, too, so I'm hoping that will asuage my guilt. In addition to the daycare complications, my sister's family is visiting, I'm playing in a wedding, and Travis goes to San Francisco for work during the last week. At my job, I'll need to be looking for a new position during so I'm ready to move on when Molly comes back from maternity leave and takes back her position. At home, Emily will have her first half-birthday, and we'll begin the adventure of solid foods. This month could just fly by!
I AM SO GLAD IT'S FINALLY SPRING!!!
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Teeth!
Emily got her first teeth this morning! She was up several times last night, acting as though she wanted to be sleeping but something was hurting her. (I am so spoiled with her sleeping through the night - it was torture to get up several times) This morning, on the way to church, I looked at her gums and there were two little white dots on her bottom jaw. No wonder she's been so incredibly drooly lately!
She's such a character. She's starting to learn which toys she prefers over others, and there are some that she's tired of already. She's interested in whatever I have in my hand at the time - a glass, a remote, an apple. We're not supposed to start solids until 6 months, at which point it'll be a nice slurry of rice cereal and breastmilk, but she's been gnawing on apples as I eat them, and she really enjoys it. I doubt she actually consumes much, but she sure enjoys the taste of it! (pictures are posted at her picasa site). I'm really amazed at the attention span she has. My afternoon apple snack will entertain her for a good 15 minutes, and a new toy might keep her occupied at least that long. And now she'll examine things with her fingers and eyes, not just her mouth. And did I mention she's gorgeous?? :)
I think we've decided on a church to go to. It's a Methodist church in the vicinity of Drake University, so similar in demographic to the church we liked at ISU. It's really very liberal - there are pamphlets for renewable energy such as wind energy in the lobby, and one of the bulletin inserts today was an invitation to a screening of a film about reconciling homosexuality with Biblical scripture. The fellowship seems welcoming without being so... intimidating somehow. I think we'll probably get Emily baptized this spring, yet. We've gotten our first nudge from grandparents to do so, so... yeah.
My daycare provider tore her ACL, and will be going in for surgery in just under 2 weeks. She'll be on crutches for up to 8 weeks afterwards, so I've gotta find other daycare for most of that time. Fortunately, between grandmas and other family, friends, and vacation days, I think I can get it covered. I'm more worried that Emily will have to learn to be comfortable at Amanda's all over again, so I think I'll spend some time over there on my days off. I figure Amanda can use a hand anyway, and it'd probably be fun for me too. It's weird to think what Emily will probably learn to do in those 8 weeks. She's growing up so fast!!
She's such a character. She's starting to learn which toys she prefers over others, and there are some that she's tired of already. She's interested in whatever I have in my hand at the time - a glass, a remote, an apple. We're not supposed to start solids until 6 months, at which point it'll be a nice slurry of rice cereal and breastmilk, but she's been gnawing on apples as I eat them, and she really enjoys it. I doubt she actually consumes much, but she sure enjoys the taste of it! (pictures are posted at her picasa site). I'm really amazed at the attention span she has. My afternoon apple snack will entertain her for a good 15 minutes, and a new toy might keep her occupied at least that long. And now she'll examine things with her fingers and eyes, not just her mouth. And did I mention she's gorgeous?? :)
I think we've decided on a church to go to. It's a Methodist church in the vicinity of Drake University, so similar in demographic to the church we liked at ISU. It's really very liberal - there are pamphlets for renewable energy such as wind energy in the lobby, and one of the bulletin inserts today was an invitation to a screening of a film about reconciling homosexuality with Biblical scripture. The fellowship seems welcoming without being so... intimidating somehow. I think we'll probably get Emily baptized this spring, yet. We've gotten our first nudge from grandparents to do so, so... yeah.
My daycare provider tore her ACL, and will be going in for surgery in just under 2 weeks. She'll be on crutches for up to 8 weeks afterwards, so I've gotta find other daycare for most of that time. Fortunately, between grandmas and other family, friends, and vacation days, I think I can get it covered. I'm more worried that Emily will have to learn to be comfortable at Amanda's all over again, so I think I'll spend some time over there on my days off. I figure Amanda can use a hand anyway, and it'd probably be fun for me too. It's weird to think what Emily will probably learn to do in those 8 weeks. She's growing up so fast!!
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Double standard
Last night, for some reason, I had trouble getting to sleep. The night before I had had all kinds of terrible dreams, and then we watched "V for Vendetta" which is not that great of a movie and has all kinds of things in it that my mind saved up to turn into horrible thoughts later. So, even though I was up until after 12:30, I had to be up at 6 with Emily when she woke up hungry. Fortunately she snoozed from 6:30 til 7, so I had a little more shut-eye but I've been so spoiled that today was a bit rough. Anyway, tonight we went to a party at a friend's house, and when Emily got tired I came home and put her to bed while Travis stayed to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Even though his staying up late is his choice and he's having fun with friends while mine was an episode of my stupid brain attacking itself, it'll still be me getting up at 6 tomorrow. Not that I could sleep much past then, anyway, cuz my boobs get so full that the pain wakes me up. Oh well.
Emily has found her toes!! Talk about CUTE! When we lay her down or recline her in a chair she reaches for her feet, although she'd generally prefer to be sitting upright. She can pretty much sit on her own now, and she's able to pick up toys off the floor once she's dropped them. She seems to think she's mobile, and is surprised when she lunges in a direction and then gets stuck there. Amanda said she nearly rolled over on Friday, kinda scaring herself, I guess!! She tries to imitate what we do - if we're buzzing on her feet or her tummy she'll put her lips together and buzz, if I babble at her she babbles back, and if I sing to her she kind of sings back (different than the babbling, a very soft, consonant-free song). I am just crazy about Emily. Even for a girl who's not so giggly, she's really really happy and I just would do anything to see her smile at me. She's the most amazing thing!!
Emily has found her toes!! Talk about CUTE! When we lay her down or recline her in a chair she reaches for her feet, although she'd generally prefer to be sitting upright. She can pretty much sit on her own now, and she's able to pick up toys off the floor once she's dropped them. She seems to think she's mobile, and is surprised when she lunges in a direction and then gets stuck there. Amanda said she nearly rolled over on Friday, kinda scaring herself, I guess!! She tries to imitate what we do - if we're buzzing on her feet or her tummy she'll put her lips together and buzz, if I babble at her she babbles back, and if I sing to her she kind of sings back (different than the babbling, a very soft, consonant-free song). I am just crazy about Emily. Even for a girl who's not so giggly, she's really really happy and I just would do anything to see her smile at me. She's the most amazing thing!!
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Spending money like fools
We got a new washing machine! Yes, it deserves an exclamation point, cuz we're both pretty darned excited about it. It's a new high-efficiency washer, which apparently saves on water and electricity, and it's quieter, too. I'm most happy that when I reported that the old washer was broken on Saturday morning, Travis started researching new washers and by 3:00 that afternoon he had gone out and found the best deal and had it ordered! It arrived yesterday morning. How's that for a crazy-fast home improvement?? I'm also excited that we're having the house cleaned tomorrow - yes, by somebody else, someone we're paying! I also have a whole list of things I'd like to buy for Emily, so one of these days I'm going on a shopping spree for her, too.
I keep telling myself that the best thing about me working is that it makes it all right to spend money when it helps things go better. My dad told me (especially when I was worrying about finding enough money for college) that if money can fix a problem, it isn't really a problem. I suppose that's not completely true in all cases, but it does help keep perspective. And, I think I like working all right, too. I can't believe how into one of my projects I am. I'm really excited to see it done, and see how much better it can make things.
We babysat a friend's little boy last night so they could go out to dinner, and they offered to do the same for us sometime. It's a really nice thing to do with friends, and Emily had a good time (until she got inadvertently head-butted - oops!), but he kept looking at the front door, saying, "Daddy!!" It was heartbreaking, cuz he'd already been at daycare all day, and when his dad came to pick him up he had the biggest smiles I'd seen all evening. So it made me think: although Amanda is doing a wonderful job with Emily and I know she's safe and having a good time there, I'm going to be very careful as she gets older to make sure I don't regularly put Emily in a situation where she she would feel like this little boy did. That's something that money can't fix.
I keep telling myself that the best thing about me working is that it makes it all right to spend money when it helps things go better. My dad told me (especially when I was worrying about finding enough money for college) that if money can fix a problem, it isn't really a problem. I suppose that's not completely true in all cases, but it does help keep perspective. And, I think I like working all right, too. I can't believe how into one of my projects I am. I'm really excited to see it done, and see how much better it can make things.
We babysat a friend's little boy last night so they could go out to dinner, and they offered to do the same for us sometime. It's a really nice thing to do with friends, and Emily had a good time (until she got inadvertently head-butted - oops!), but he kept looking at the front door, saying, "Daddy!!" It was heartbreaking, cuz he'd already been at daycare all day, and when his dad came to pick him up he had the biggest smiles I'd seen all evening. So it made me think: although Amanda is doing a wonderful job with Emily and I know she's safe and having a good time there, I'm going to be very careful as she gets older to make sure I don't regularly put Emily in a situation where she she would feel like this little boy did. That's something that money can't fix.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
La La La
Emily is learning to use her tongue, and she's been working on a couple of imitations. I've caught one of those in a little video, which I will try to post after I'm done with the blogging (we'll see how long Emily sleeps!). She puts her lips together and tries to buzz, blowing bubbles and drooling everywhere. But she also likes to watch me as I say La La La, very closely watching my mouth. So I sing all kinds of songs to her with La, and she stares intently and happily. She also likes listening to music, so I've been going through my CD collection ripping it onto my computer. Travis bought a new sound system, which we had originally planned on being our Christmas present to each other - in 2004!! It sounds awesome, and Emily loves to sit with a toy and chew and listen. Yesterday's tune was Tchaikovsky's violin concerto. I mean, hey, why not listen to really good stuff if you're going to sit and listen intently to something? :)
I am trying not to gauge Emily's accomplishments too strictly. I feel like there is some expectation for her to quickly reach developmental milestones - to do things on the same pace as her parents, her aunts and uncles, her cousins - but I'm really okay if she just gets to things as she gets to them. She rolled over once, but not since, and it was probably by accident. It's taken a long time to get a laugh out of her, but I think it's just that she's not a very giggly girl. I heard her giggling when she was talking to another baby this weekend, so that was music to my ears but it's really okay if she's too serious to laugh much, cuz she's certainly happy and smiley. I know I should have an eye out for a few key developments (the thought of autism scares me to pieces) but other than that I am doing my best to just relax and enjoy her as she grows. She is the most wonderful little 5-month-old and I love her for everything she is right now!
I finally have a mother-in-law story, but although it left me feeling a bit hmph-ish I'm sure it wasn't malintentioned. Those of you with true Mother-In-Laws will not have any sympathy for me at all. :) We were in Barnum last weekend, and we started looking through some of Travis's pictures from when he was 4 or 5 months old. It was fun to see which expressions and features of hers come from him - those cheeks are most definitely his! (and his dad's, too). Nancy was marvelling at how big and beautiful Baby Travis's eyes were, then she looks at Emily, and says, "But her eyes are definitely yours." Well, they really are, and I'm sure Nancy would agree that they're still gorgeous, but it did come across weird. I know she's just reminiscing after her own baby, but Emily is mine and I think it's great that she looks like me too!
This has been such a dreary winter. I am so glad that February is over (I think I said that last year, too!), even if we are supposed to get more snow tonight. I can tell the sun is higher in the sky and it's light a little longer each day, so even though it's overcast, windy and cold today, well, maybe it'll be warm soon. I can't wait until I can use my sunroom, and take Emily for walks in the stroller, and just get out of the house without bundingly up and bracing myself for that blast of winter air!
I am trying not to gauge Emily's accomplishments too strictly. I feel like there is some expectation for her to quickly reach developmental milestones - to do things on the same pace as her parents, her aunts and uncles, her cousins - but I'm really okay if she just gets to things as she gets to them. She rolled over once, but not since, and it was probably by accident. It's taken a long time to get a laugh out of her, but I think it's just that she's not a very giggly girl. I heard her giggling when she was talking to another baby this weekend, so that was music to my ears but it's really okay if she's too serious to laugh much, cuz she's certainly happy and smiley. I know I should have an eye out for a few key developments (the thought of autism scares me to pieces) but other than that I am doing my best to just relax and enjoy her as she grows. She is the most wonderful little 5-month-old and I love her for everything she is right now!
I finally have a mother-in-law story, but although it left me feeling a bit hmph-ish I'm sure it wasn't malintentioned. Those of you with true Mother-In-Laws will not have any sympathy for me at all. :) We were in Barnum last weekend, and we started looking through some of Travis's pictures from when he was 4 or 5 months old. It was fun to see which expressions and features of hers come from him - those cheeks are most definitely his! (and his dad's, too). Nancy was marvelling at how big and beautiful Baby Travis's eyes were, then she looks at Emily, and says, "But her eyes are definitely yours." Well, they really are, and I'm sure Nancy would agree that they're still gorgeous, but it did come across weird. I know she's just reminiscing after her own baby, but Emily is mine and I think it's great that she looks like me too!
This has been such a dreary winter. I am so glad that February is over (I think I said that last year, too!), even if we are supposed to get more snow tonight. I can tell the sun is higher in the sky and it's light a little longer each day, so even though it's overcast, windy and cold today, well, maybe it'll be warm soon. I can't wait until I can use my sunroom, and take Emily for walks in the stroller, and just get out of the house without bundingly up and bracing myself for that blast of winter air!
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