Happy Uterine Birthday!

Although the 1-year mark is a major milestone in our western culture, it seems that the 9 month mark is a bit more fitting.  At 9 months, Greta has now been out of my uterus as long as she was in it.  Pretty crazy to think how much time has passed since she was born; trying to imagine life without her is impossible.  The fact she spent just as much time inside is amazing, because that time didn't seem as monumental.  She kicked some, but didn't do much else as far as I was concerned.

This has been a really, really big month for her (and, therefore, for us).  This month, Greta started sleeping.  In the week after her 8 month birthday, her sleeping went to shit.  She started waking up 3, 4 or 5 times a night.  The night before I gave up she consumed 20 ounces overnight, and a mere 7 during the day.  She was totally flipped around, but any time we tried to feed her smaller bottles or water down her formula so that she would eat more during the day, she would have none of it.  While I didn't want to resort to cry-it-out cold-turkey style, I didn't know what else to do.  I hated thinking of her being so hungry all night, but there seemed to be no other way.

However, we did concoct a plan to lessen the blow.  I'm sure I will get judged by the internets for this one, but it worked really well.  The first night we drugged her.  We gave her Benadryl in hopes of getting her to sleep as long as possible, and then hopefully she'd only be upset for a small part of the night.  She slept until about 4 a.m., and then cried for all of 30 minutes (the horror, ugh.)  But then that was about it.  She woke again about an hour late and cried a bit.  When she woke up after 6 we decided it was time to feed her.  We fed her then, and she ate a ton throughout the day.  The second night was better, she cried for maybe 10 or 15 minutes.  By the 4th night she didn't cry at all.  I thought about other non-cry-it-out approaches, but this seemed the most humane, to me.  So that she knew from the first moment that something was different and she'd have to adjust, rather than leading her on. Since that time she's done really well.  We continue to give her a dream feed before we go to bed.  The first week we got up with her when she woke after 6 am (to break the habit of waking up for feedings in the middle of the night), but now we give her a bottle at 6 and put her back to sleep for an hour or two.  She still doesn't take many bottles during the day, too much happening, but she drinks a lot right before bed and at those other two feedings (prob 15-18 ounces) so she's pretty set for the day.

Her other big accomplishment is crawling.  She started crawling on April 27th, two days before turning 9 months.  With MJ it was a much more gradual transition into crawling, but with Greta it was an abrupt shift.  It clicked for her, and she was off.  It's still more like scooting, but there's some crawling mixed in, and she definitely gets places.  Like her sister, she's very persistent and determined to get places.  She loves chewing on shoes (ugh!) and will seek out the tiniest piece of garbage to put in her mouth.  She also loves outlets, something MJ never cared about.

Poor second child has definitely been injured more than MJ was.  Today she fell down two stairs as I was reading to MJ.  I just don't have my eye on her as closely as I did for MJ.  Partly, I think, because I had to keep my eye on MJ so closely.  But partly just because she's a second child.

This little girl just lights up my life.  She's so full of joy and the first comment out of everyone's mouth is how happy she is.  She beams from ear to ear much of the day.  She jabbers and screeches much of the day, too.  She continues to be "the calm one" but that will really only hold true in our family, because she's still awfully energetic and ready to get into things.

This month also saw my first trip away from her.  Two nights in Vegas with some girlfriends.  It was a glorious trip, and so very needed, but I did miss her (and MJ, too; my life is just not as entertaining without her in it).  When I got back she kept poking me, as if to say "Are you real?"  She also bonded with her Dad while I was gone, in a way that makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.  She's still definitely a Mama's girl, but she adores her Dad and he now has the confidence to watch her and play with her.

Happy 9 Months Miss G.  You're getting more interesting every day, and my love for you just keeps on growing.

As usual, the very first photo I take is one of my favorites.

These photos were so much more difficult to get than last months.  And I think blocks would be easier than the sign I used for MJ.... so wrong....

Basically, the photos only worked if she didn't notice the blocks were there.

Showing off some new skills she didn't have last month.

Proving to me that I shouldn't underestimate the trouble she's capable of.  

So the photo shoot devolved into nursery pictures.

Since she's nine months and I neer got around to taking photos of the nursery.

I was not pleased with the lighting, though.  And a few other things I forgot to move before taking these photos.

The walls are much more of a sunshine yellow than these photos are letting on.

Cleaning out the fridge.

The fridge being my brain.  I feel the need to update, but can't seem to find the motivation for a full-commitment, well thought out post.  So you'll get the crusty stale things that get cleaned out of my brain simply because they can't stay in there any longer.  Sounds appetizing, no?

1.  This pregnancy is going quickly.  I judge this, somewhat, based on how little progress I've made on the nursery.  I wanted to be done by 25 weeks, but I'm not even done painting the crib yet, which I've been working on for about a month now.  Oy.

2.  I love my pedometer.  I'm pretty sure that's like saying "I love support hose", i.e. not something you're really supposed to admit.  But I feel like when I get a lot of steps in it rewards me, and when I am a lazy bum it chides me.  Considering all I'm really up to at present is walking, it at least keeps me moving.  Good pedometer.

3.  I have been trying to avoid saying I hate my job, but I kind of don't like it.  I am trying to be grateful, and patient, and hope that things will get better.  I love my co-workers.  I think that in time it could become great, but I'm coming to realize I don't know how long that will be.  As it stands now, all day, every day, I work on reports.  Very long reports.  For months at a time, the same report.  It is often mind-numbingly boring.  I know that work is not always supposed to be fun, but I have had plenty of other jobs.  There are always pluses and minuses, but currently there are very few pluses.  The number reason I find my motivation is that MJ is currently THRIVING at preschool and I couldn't justify keeping her home with me.  So I might as well work.   But once I have another?  It's going to be hard to justify leaving her to go to a job I don't like very well.  I know you're not supposed to say this sort of thing to the internet, because it's bound to get back to someone who it shouldn't get back to, but that's what's on my mind.  Internet, are you tired of hearing me complain about my various jobs yet?  Because there's been a lot of that this year, I hope it will end soon.

4.  Yes, MJ is thriving.  Her teacher is AMAZING.  While I didn't come up with this description, her teacher reminds me of a very gentle and kind Mary Poppins with flaming red hair.  Every day I drop her off or pick her up they are doing something that looks joyous and educational.  They are pretending to be airplanes.  Or learning about caterpillars, followed by a snack of everything the hungry caterpillar eats.  They have butterfly cocoons in their classroom.  They are always reading.  They are always learning and it seems every bit of fun has a lesson couched within it.  I think MJ is in love.  She has become better at sharing, she has learned new things that she comes home and tells me and she enjoys every moment of it.  I realize "school" isn't necessary at 2 1/2, but the strides I see her taking make me question that.  At least for her, I know the right thing is not for her to stay home with me.

5.  I am psyched that my discovery of insoles for my shoes has cured me of back pain.  But I'm little perplexed about summer footwear.  I've been wearing Tom's without socks, and now my shoes just stink.  But I can't put insoles into sandals.  ::dilemma::

6.  My husband has been amazing lately.  So helpful, so present.  It has brought much peace to our household.

7.  There are so many things I'm trying to fit in before the baby comes.  As much friend time as possible, because I feel like we'll be house bound without much social life for a long time.  Lots of cooking, because I found it near impossible when MJ came along (particularly once she was mobile.)

8.  Some of my favorite recipes from this last week:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/18/dining/basic-pizza-dough-recipe.html
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2012/03/petite-vanilla-scones/
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Arugula-Bacon-and-Gruyere-Bread-Pudding-350898

9.  It's intriguing to me how the more interesting my daughter becomes the less I have to say about her.  It's almost like words can no longer capture the person she's become so often I don't even try.  Pictures probably do a better job.  I am so proud of her, which is a feeling I haven't really had until recently.  She is compassionate with other children, and (usually) when she does something to upset someone she will feel awful about it and start crying herself.  She is independent and feisty, and prefers to do everything by herself that she possibly can.  She's not violent, she's good at sharing and she's curious about everything around her.  Granted, she's 2, so none of these are all encompassing adjectives.  But, in my limited experience with 2 year olds, she seems to be doing well at these things (not that I'm biased or anything).  And I guess I'm proud of her because I see her figuring these things out for herself.  We've played some role, I'm sure, through parenting, but I see her making most of these strides on her own.  It's kind of hard to have such an independent 2 year old, but it's so fascinating to watch what she's capable of already.

10.  MJ had her first dentist visit today.  As I suspected, it was mostly a waste of time.  But I guess now it's a little more familiar, so should she ever need to visit she might do better?  She let them stick their hands in there and polish a bit, which I guess is all you can expect of a 2 year old.  She was interested in it all, but after about 10 minutes was too antsy to sit in the chair and could only think about the playground I had promised her after.  All in all, a fairly uneventful milestone in her young life.  20 teeth, no signs of cavities.

10.  My fridge is exhausted.  It's not really clean, but I guess the things that had to be taken out were.

Nursery is done!

At long last, it is complete. Now if I can finish the rest of my life I will be ready for the babe (it's not like I'm waiting until the last minute or anything.)

Nursery Progress

I'm posting some pics of where the nursery stands. I like where it's headed, but it's needs something more, I'm just not sure what. I will be lining all the baskets underneath the changing table (not just the one) and will probably make a changing pad cover to match the basket liners. The cross over the crib was A's idea; it seems a little overbearing to me, but I lost that battle. Also, I'm torn on whether to recover the chair in red fabric, or whether that would be overkill. I'd love to hear feedback and ideas from folks, both positive and negative.

A spattering of nursery.

Well, I'm apparently already a slacker momma. The weight gain metaphor? Still at 27 weeks. Today? 30 weeks!!! 3 weeks overdue. I know everyone loves sock monkeys, but that's insufficient justification. But it turns out that Parents.com, where I was linking to, has no comparisons past 27 weeks (though I didn't realize this until today, it's just a convenient excuse). Apparently, from here on out there is so much variability in fetal weight gain that they stop the metaphors. Half the time I'm hoping for a big baby, to justify my above average weight gain, but then I remember that no matter the size of the baby it has to come out of the same size hole. Then I hope for an average baby.

It's hard for me to realize that baby could survive on her own right now. I'm hoping she doesn't make a go of it for a while yet, but she could. And in two more weeks her survivability dramatically goes up outside of this here ute. Wow, how did she already get so big? I went to Babies 'R Us yesterday to register (some stuff you can't register for online) and was looking at the 12 month clothing, already sad about how quickly she'll apparently grow.

The other debacle of the past few weeks has been the nursery. I had a whole scheme. I had an inspiration nursery. I bought paint. But it's not going to work. I started scraping the cracked paint from the previous owners, only to realize I was scraping off 5 layers of paint, not 1. Which means, in our 100 year old house, that it was certainly leaded. I talked to the paint people: no good way around this, other than to scrape everything down, prime and try again. But, being as the previous paint really wasn't in bad shape, and was a nice cream color, I just couldn't do it. Fatigue has been hitting me hard core, and my feet constantly hurt. It was no longer worth dealing with something that didn't need to be done.

So the nursery design has started over. Here's what we have so far:
Crib set



















Crib
















Rug






















And art...











































Not to mention a garage sale glider and a dresser I picked up free off the curb. Everything looks a bit ragtag at the moment, we'll have to see how this comes together.