Well, we had our pre-settlement walk-through of our house - it's all done! I went back Monday after work to make sure they fixed the few tiny little scratches in the paint. Then on July 30th, the day after we get back from vacation, we close! That week we will be buying a washer, dryer, refrigerator, and oven, and the BIG moving day is the following Saturday! I can't believe it's almost here! Yipeeeeeeeeee!!! Last week when we visited the house Marissa had a blast cuz she could finally walk around and I didn't have to worry about splinters, nails, etc. She ran in circles around the kitchen island!
Last Friday, Rach came with me to watch the triplets and Seth for the evening. She'd be dying to meet them, and we had sooooo much fun! They were all so great with Marissa, and Marissa wanted to hold everyone's hand! Too cute! I forgot how much fun that job was and I miss it!
Great story:
While I'm on the computer during the day, I let Rissa roam around upstairs by herself because it's all baby-proofed. She likes to turn the radio on and dance to music too. Well, Friday morning she woke up at 5:55am, I nursed her back to sleep, and then raced back to bed to catch some more sleep before I had to be up at 7:30 to get ready for the meeting at the house. Well, at 6am, I started hearing weird noises coming through the monitor, and it sounded like heavy breathing. Then I heard Marissa start freaking out and crying pretty hard. So I ran into her room, only to discover that while playing the day before, she had set the "ocean sounds" alarm to go off at 6am. Well, of course after that she wouldn't go back to sleep quickly, so I let her cry for a few minutes, and we both went back to sleep. But then she woke up again at 7, so I nursed her in bed with me, and she fell back asleep, but I didn't. So I put her back in bed, and by that time I had to get up for the day. So I only got 6 hours of sleep all night, because I was up late feeling sick the night before. So after the meeting at the house, I was all excited to get home and put her down for a nap so I could catch up on sleep. But wouldn't you know it, I had to get gas, and there was an accident on my way home, so she fell asleep in the car. Then when we got home, I was going to nurse her back to sleep, cuz sometimes she'll do that. But of course, not this time. So I put a children's show on tv, and curled up on the couch and just let her play for a bit. Next thing I knew I woke up to a loud crash, and she had knocked Rach's laptop off the tv tray (she had been typing on it too apparently, cuz a bunch of windows were up - lol). I know I didn't really sleep long, but for the 3-4 minutes I fell asleep, she certainly managed to get into trouble. Lol. She finally went down for a nap after lunch, and I got an hour of sleep then, but I was really out of it all day! I'm so glad Dan agreed to wake up with Rissa this morning, and let me sleep til 10! It felt sooooo good!
Well, I've been trying to pack for vacation and for moving. We've actually gotten quite a bit done. It's very overwhelming though! I'm still working this week (Monday and Wednesday) then Thursday we leave for vacation! Then when we come back, lots of exciting stuff is happening! I know I haven't been updating as much as usual, but once we get back from vacation and start moving, I'll be back in full swing, I promise!
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Sleep and food
Well, since I mentioned how Marisas had been taking awesome 2 hour naps lately, she seems to have switched back to the 1 hour double nap thing. Oh well. So I figured I'd try to mess with her night sleeping schedule by bragging about that too. Lol. I still have to nurse her to sleep, which is fine with me. Sometimes if she's stubborn about that, I can cuddle her to sleep instead, and I've been trying to do that more often. But once she's asleep, she sleeps for at least 9 hours straight. She hardly ever wakes up in the night, and if she does, she falls back to sleep immediately after nursing. When she wakes up in the morning, I take her into bed with me, and she nurses half asleep for 15-20 minutes while I wake up more. It's pretty great. Except for the fact that she doesn't go to sleep at night til 10:30-11:00pm. Not exactly sure why, but I still don't think she's quite ready to CIO for an 8pm bedtime. So I guess I'm just a sucker by letting her set her own bedtime. Hehe. Actually, sometimes if she's being really stubborn, I let her cry for 5 mintues or so, and she usually falls asleep pretty quickly. If she doesn't fall asleep within 5 minutes, I try another method. But for now, what we're doing works, and I'm not going to mess with that.
Food, however, is another story. I would like to share with everyone the pickiness of my daughter. The other day this is what I offered her for lunch:
Food, however, is another story. I would like to share with everyone the pickiness of my daughter. The other day this is what I offered her for lunch:
- peaches
- green beans
- pasta/corn/peas (Gerber toddler meal)
- freeze dried corn
- yogurt
- hot dog (tiny pieces)
- baby cereal (we had it leftover from "baby days")
- diced ham
- freeze dried apples
- cheesy rice cake
- baby goldfish
- garlic bread
- tortilla with chicken salad in it
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
14 months old!
Marissa will be 14 months old on Friday!
She always wakes up around 7:30-8am. Then we cuddle and she nurses for about a half hour. After breakfast around 9:30-10, she plays with her baby and we read her books over and over and over again. She consistently takes a 2+ hour nap every day around 11:30, then we eat lunch when she gets up, around 1:30-2. If it's nice, we walk outside, go to the playground, or go swimming. Sometimes she takes a short nap around 5ish, but it makes her cranky, and she still goes to sleep at the same time, so it doesn't seem to do any good. She stays up waaaay too late. I really can't figure out why. I know I should start to establish a strict bedtime, but she still nurses to sleep, and I don't think she's quite ready for the whole CIO method of toddlers-going-to-sleep. Sometime this summer I will start that though, because I know she needs a better routine, and I'd like for her to go to sleep earlier than 10:30 or 11!
She regularly says these words:
And loosely imitates:
She signs:
She does the fish face every time we come to the fish page in her "First Words" book, which happens to be her favorite (while I'm trying to type this, we're on the 4th time of this book, and she gets mad at me every time I stop!)
She loves Peek-a-boo, but if we're not paying enough attention and say it right away, she says it for us, only it sounds more like "tod-ul-da" - it's pretty cute!
Yeah, I know she's supposed to have more words by now, but she seems to be soooo close to lots of words, and she completely understands everything we say to her. So I'm not worried. Yet
The other day, Dan, Rach, and I were all sitting in different spots in the living room, and Marissa was playing on the floor. We took turns asking her to "Give Daddy a kiss" "Give Aunt RaRa a kiss" and "Give Mommy a kiss", with random people saying it each time, and EVERY TIME she went directly to the correct person to give them a kiss. It was too funny.
All this to say, we are completely and utterly enjoying every new thing she throws at us! She is hilarious to watch and interact with, and such a joy (I accidentally just typed "job" instead of "joy" - she is a handful too!). I love my girl!
She always wakes up around 7:30-8am. Then we cuddle and she nurses for about a half hour. After breakfast around 9:30-10, she plays with her baby and we read her books over and over and over again. She consistently takes a 2+ hour nap every day around 11:30, then we eat lunch when she gets up, around 1:30-2. If it's nice, we walk outside, go to the playground, or go swimming. Sometimes she takes a short nap around 5ish, but it makes her cranky, and she still goes to sleep at the same time, so it doesn't seem to do any good. She stays up waaaay too late. I really can't figure out why. I know I should start to establish a strict bedtime, but she still nurses to sleep, and I don't think she's quite ready for the whole CIO method of toddlers-going-to-sleep. Sometime this summer I will start that though, because I know she needs a better routine, and I'd like for her to go to sleep earlier than 10:30 or 11!
She regularly says these words:
- Uh-oh
- No
- Hi (only at home, never out in public of course - lol)
- Bye
- Tickle-tickle (sounds more like tik tik tik - but it's cute, and she knows exactly what it means)
And loosely imitates:
- Cup
- Ball
- Teddy bear
- Shoes
- Where did ____ (person, cup, ball, baby) go? (with arms outstretched appropriately - lol), then proceeds to look for that object all over the place!
She signs:
- More
- Please
- All done
She does the fish face every time we come to the fish page in her "First Words" book, which happens to be her favorite (while I'm trying to type this, we're on the 4th time of this book, and she gets mad at me every time I stop!)
She loves Peek-a-boo, but if we're not paying enough attention and say it right away, she says it for us, only it sounds more like "tod-ul-da" - it's pretty cute!
Yeah, I know she's supposed to have more words by now, but she seems to be soooo close to lots of words, and she completely understands everything we say to her. So I'm not worried. Yet
The other day, Dan, Rach, and I were all sitting in different spots in the living room, and Marissa was playing on the floor. We took turns asking her to "Give Daddy a kiss" "Give Aunt RaRa a kiss" and "Give Mommy a kiss", with random people saying it each time, and EVERY TIME she went directly to the correct person to give them a kiss. It was too funny.
All this to say, we are completely and utterly enjoying every new thing she throws at us! She is hilarious to watch and interact with, and such a joy (I accidentally just typed "job" instead of "joy" - she is a handful too!). I love my girl!
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Whew...lots to catch up on:
L's house
Last weekend (before our 2nd anniversary) Marissa and I visited L, who is 23 weeks pregnant. She is a nanny for four kids in her house, so I tried to help out a bit, and Marissa played with the kids. We had a really fun time, and it was good for Marissa to be around kids her own age and have a change of scenery with the toys! It made me realize how much I miss the triplets and Seth though, and I came to the conclusion that I love multiples. A bunch of kids the same age is just so much fun! Heehee...
Our 2nd anniversary
Rach took Marissa for the evening, and Dan and I went to Brio (like Bravo, our V-day tradition) for dinner and dessert. It was wonderful, and so nice to spend some quality time just the two of us.
Swimming!
We finally went swimming in our apartment complex's pool. The water was a little cold, but we had fun re-introducing Marissa to the water. I don't think she cared either way last summer, but so far this summer she is loving it!
Our house!
They are moving so quickly on our house! We went to see it last night, and half of the siding is up, all the brick is up, and all the drywall is up inside! It's so cool to finally be able to picture it better, since we had never seen an actual model of our floorplan. It should be ready for us to move in around the middle of July!
Marissa
Marissa is changing into a toddler more and more every second! The other day she put her baby in her highchair, and just this afternoon at work (while everyone else was sleeping) she was pretending to feed a baby pretend food out of a bowl, using a spoon! I thought the whole "pretending" thing didn't happen til much later! She is also beginning to throw little tantrums more often. While I still have a hard time not laughing, I absolutely refuse to give in now. Hmm, I just looked at this milestone chart (link) for 13-18 month olds. I know all kids vary so much in the timing they acheive different milestones, but it's still very interesting to me. Marissa is doing a lot of things that are "advanced skills" like saying 'shhhh' (15 mo), pushing/pulling toys while walking (14 mo), taking clothes off by herself (16 mo), dancing (17 mo), kicking a ball (17 mo), and especially being finicky about food (16 mo - wait, that's a milestone??? Lol); "feeds doll" is an emerging skill for 17 months, and "discovering the joy of climbing" is around 16 months; but she doesn't do some of the "mastered skills" like using more words skillfully. Well, I guess she sorta says "hi" "bye-bye" and "yeah." But I kinda just guess that's what she's saying.
Oooops, I almost forgot to mention that she has picked up the word "NO" - she doesn't say it often, but usually repeats it after I just said it to her! She also said it to the 8 month old at work today when he tried to take the toy in her hand. It's funny to see her asserting herself like that.
She gets her shoes and brings them to me if she wants to go outside. She also gets her shoes and her cup if I ask her to, which I think is very cool, especially if I'm being lazy. Lol, just kidding She is still nodding 'yes' to almost every question we ask her, but every once in a while she'll shake her head 'no.'
Her next top front teeth are very close to coming in. She has at least one finger in her mouth at all times, which creates a nice little waterfall of spit dripping down to her elbow. Haha.
She is consistently taking one nap a day, and it lasts anywhere from 1.5 to 2.5 hours! Finally, I get some time to myself! When she used to only sleep 45 minutes at a time, it was so hard to get anything done. I love naptime!
For some reason, she loves to lift up her shirt/dress to rub her belly...and I caught her picking her nose (and eating it) while we were walking around our house - lol.
Last weekend (before our 2nd anniversary) Marissa and I visited L, who is 23 weeks pregnant. She is a nanny for four kids in her house, so I tried to help out a bit, and Marissa played with the kids. We had a really fun time, and it was good for Marissa to be around kids her own age and have a change of scenery with the toys! It made me realize how much I miss the triplets and Seth though, and I came to the conclusion that I love multiples. A bunch of kids the same age is just so much fun! Heehee...
Our 2nd anniversary
Rach took Marissa for the evening, and Dan and I went to Brio (like Bravo, our V-day tradition) for dinner and dessert. It was wonderful, and so nice to spend some quality time just the two of us.
Swimming!
We finally went swimming in our apartment complex's pool. The water was a little cold, but we had fun re-introducing Marissa to the water. I don't think she cared either way last summer, but so far this summer she is loving it!
Our house!
They are moving so quickly on our house! We went to see it last night, and half of the siding is up, all the brick is up, and all the drywall is up inside! It's so cool to finally be able to picture it better, since we had never seen an actual model of our floorplan. It should be ready for us to move in around the middle of July!
Marissa
Marissa is changing into a toddler more and more every second! The other day she put her baby in her highchair, and just this afternoon at work (while everyone else was sleeping) she was pretending to feed a baby pretend food out of a bowl, using a spoon! I thought the whole "pretending" thing didn't happen til much later! She is also beginning to throw little tantrums more often. While I still have a hard time not laughing, I absolutely refuse to give in now. Hmm, I just looked at this milestone chart (link) for 13-18 month olds. I know all kids vary so much in the timing they acheive different milestones, but it's still very interesting to me. Marissa is doing a lot of things that are "advanced skills" like saying 'shhhh' (15 mo), pushing/pulling toys while walking (14 mo), taking clothes off by herself (16 mo), dancing (17 mo), kicking a ball (17 mo), and especially being finicky about food (16 mo - wait, that's a milestone??? Lol); "feeds doll" is an emerging skill for 17 months, and "discovering the joy of climbing" is around 16 months; but she doesn't do some of the "mastered skills" like using more words skillfully. Well, I guess she sorta says "hi" "bye-bye" and "yeah." But I kinda just guess that's what she's saying.
Oooops, I almost forgot to mention that she has picked up the word "NO" - she doesn't say it often, but usually repeats it after I just said it to her! She also said it to the 8 month old at work today when he tried to take the toy in her hand. It's funny to see her asserting herself like that.
She gets her shoes and brings them to me if she wants to go outside. She also gets her shoes and her cup if I ask her to, which I think is very cool, especially if I'm being lazy. Lol, just kidding She is still nodding 'yes' to almost every question we ask her, but every once in a while she'll shake her head 'no.'
Her next top front teeth are very close to coming in. She has at least one finger in her mouth at all times, which creates a nice little waterfall of spit dripping down to her elbow. Haha.
She is consistently taking one nap a day, and it lasts anywhere from 1.5 to 2.5 hours! Finally, I get some time to myself! When she used to only sleep 45 minutes at a time, it was so hard to get anything done. I love naptime!
For some reason, she loves to lift up her shirt/dress to rub her belly...and I caught her picking her nose (and eating it) while we were walking around our house - lol.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
New developments...
As a new mom, I've had to make waaaay too many choices, most of which I never expected. I have chosen to nurse Marissa on demand. Whenever she whimpered, whenever she woke up, whenever she needed to sleep, and (especially now) whenever she asks by lifting up my shirt (we're working on a better way for her to tell me she wants to nurse - lol). I decided that she would make her own schedule, even if it was always different, and I didn't want to only nurse her every 4 hours, or whatever. Also, everyone always said not to nurse older babies to sleep (8-9 months) or they'll always need to nurse to get to sleep. But I've just always done that. And most people assume you're supposed to wean a baby at 1 year old, but I decided I wanted to exercise child-led weaning - let her decide when she's done (mostly - but I will eventually set limits), not me telling her she's done.
Lately, however, Marissa has transformed herself from an easy-going baby into a adventurous, daring, contented toddler. She completely forgets about nursing these days, especially if we're out doing something like taking a walk, or at work. There's too much stuff to do and play with! She doesn't want to sit still enough to nurse (not that she sits still to nurse anyway!). It just happened suddenly, too. One day she was nursing every spare second just cuz she was bored, and the next day, I had to convince her it was time to nurse! My baby girl isn't a baby anymore! And at night, I usually nurse her to sleep. But lately, just as I'm getting ready to move her sleeping body from my lap to her crib, she wakes back up again. For a while, she used to fight it, so when I put her down, she'd start screaming. But now, even if she's awake the whole time I walk up the stairs, once I put her down, she curls up on her side, and lays there quietly until she falls back asleep! It's pretty wonderful. And it makes me feel good to know that the choices I made for her have worked so well for us as a family so far.
She is climbing everywhere - all by herself, with no help! I can't catch her fast enough most of the time either. I let her sit on the couch and futon, but the coffee table and the push/ride-on toy are definitely off limits! I'm amazed at her balance on the push toy though - she hasn't fallen YET! She thinks she's so cool sitting on the couch and futon.
So because of this new ability she has discovered, I've had to really start enforcing "NO!" - and she does NOT appreciate it! Haha. It's quite funny (for now at least), but I try not to let her see me laughing For the first 5 times I tell her no and remove her from the situation, she just ignores me and goes right back to what she was doing. After that though, she crumples to her knees and refuses to stand or walk, then crawls back to what she was doing. It takes quite a few times before she'll realize she's not going to win, and find something different to do. I have a feeling I won't find it funny for much longer. Lol.
She is also a dancer! Anything that makes music, she will push the buttons over and over and over again. She walks or marches in a circle while swinging her arms, but when the music stops, she goes back to turn it back on! This can also be done while holding her baby by the feet. It's too funny. It's so amazing to see her personality just explode lately. She's pretending with babies and kitchen toys too.
Oh, and the most awesome thing she does...KISSES galore! Just mention the word, and she puckers up to whoever she sees, even if they're across the room! She'd give kisses probably all day if she could. I just love it!
*EDIT* I almost forgot to mention - we finally bought Marissa a new car seat - the Britax Boulevard. Dang, why are they so expensive?!?! It's a good thing she's worth it! Too bad she still has to be rear facing for 3 more pounds. Lol. I'm hoping to go to the police/fire station tomorrow to get them to inspect it (or just install it for me?). Very complicated! But cool looking, and super safe!
Lately, however, Marissa has transformed herself from an easy-going baby into a adventurous, daring, contented toddler. She completely forgets about nursing these days, especially if we're out doing something like taking a walk, or at work. There's too much stuff to do and play with! She doesn't want to sit still enough to nurse (not that she sits still to nurse anyway!). It just happened suddenly, too. One day she was nursing every spare second just cuz she was bored, and the next day, I had to convince her it was time to nurse! My baby girl isn't a baby anymore! And at night, I usually nurse her to sleep. But lately, just as I'm getting ready to move her sleeping body from my lap to her crib, she wakes back up again. For a while, she used to fight it, so when I put her down, she'd start screaming. But now, even if she's awake the whole time I walk up the stairs, once I put her down, she curls up on her side, and lays there quietly until she falls back asleep! It's pretty wonderful. And it makes me feel good to know that the choices I made for her have worked so well for us as a family so far.
She is climbing everywhere - all by herself, with no help! I can't catch her fast enough most of the time either. I let her sit on the couch and futon, but the coffee table and the push/ride-on toy are definitely off limits! I'm amazed at her balance on the push toy though - she hasn't fallen YET! She thinks she's so cool sitting on the couch and futon.
So because of this new ability she has discovered, I've had to really start enforcing "NO!" - and she does NOT appreciate it! Haha. It's quite funny (for now at least), but I try not to let her see me laughing For the first 5 times I tell her no and remove her from the situation, she just ignores me and goes right back to what she was doing. After that though, she crumples to her knees and refuses to stand or walk, then crawls back to what she was doing. It takes quite a few times before she'll realize she's not going to win, and find something different to do. I have a feeling I won't find it funny for much longer. Lol.
She is also a dancer! Anything that makes music, she will push the buttons over and over and over again. She walks or marches in a circle while swinging her arms, but when the music stops, she goes back to turn it back on! This can also be done while holding her baby by the feet. It's too funny. It's so amazing to see her personality just explode lately. She's pretending with babies and kitchen toys too.
Oh, and the most awesome thing she does...KISSES galore! Just mention the word, and she puckers up to whoever she sees, even if they're across the room! She'd give kisses probably all day if she could. I just love it!
*EDIT* I almost forgot to mention - we finally bought Marissa a new car seat - the Britax Boulevard. Dang, why are they so expensive?!?! It's a good thing she's worth it! Too bad she still has to be rear facing for 3 more pounds. Lol. I'm hoping to go to the police/fire station tomorrow to get them to inspect it (or just install it for me?). Very complicated! But cool looking, and super safe!
Monday, April 23, 2007
I really don't like blogger...
We are planning a 1st birthday party for Marissa soon. She will be 1 in 7 days. And she just started walking! It's so exciting, and so much fun to watch her grow and learn new things. I am interested in babies, nannying, breastfeeding, and most other "mommy" topics, if anyone ever wants to chat. I guess that's all I have to say right now. I'm off to bed!
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