On The Upswing

We’re all finally over the puke/poop bug that plagued us for two weeks! Of course, Aaron now has a raging ear infection that sprung up over night but all the contagious bits are GONE.

My hope is to get a real post here soon, but there is SO much to be done after being out of commission for so long. Instead, I’ll leave you with a picture of the sicky child.

Sleeping in the new recliner. This chair was our lifesaver! It arrived 2 days before the plague hit.

And no, it’s really not that floral print! I covered it with an old comforter and boy am I glad I did…

Poopfest ’09

I’ll spare you the details, but I’ve been sick since Sunday with the most wretched intestinal bug. It’s been getting progressively worse until I got some prescription medication from my midwife yesterday and now it’s suddenly not working!

I’m tired, headachy, run down, and just generally feeling gross. That’s where we are!

A Couple Of Gripes

As a teenager, I always reveled in the “extra hour of sleep” that daylight saving time produced every spring. As a mother of a small child? Not so much. Last night, despite our efforts to have her go to sleep at her DST bedtime, she fell asleep at the EXACT moment she normally did before the time change. I am not impressed. Not one bit. I’m fully expecting her to adjust just in time to switch back this fall.

Another thing, what is up with this digital television transformation? It had been touted as revolutionizing the visual experience of the consumer. I can assure you that it has revolutionized our viewing experience but not in a positive way! The picture and sound pauses, skips, and is often littered with pixelated boxes. Our antenna meets the digital requirements and we have the recommended DTV converter box. The only other two options we have is moving the television itself to a new place in the hopes of getting better signal or pay for cable television.

Moving the television is not an option. My living room is finally looking how I want it to and it would put everything into a conundrum. Not worth it. Paying for cable isn’t in the budget and it seems kind of silly to PAY to watch the evening news and our local PBS station. Although, I have really been enjoying the new PBS Create station. Few things annoy me more than anxiously waiting to hear the best way to choose an exotic fruit when the signal cuts out. It is tempting to pay $10.00 a month for all the awesome programing Create offers, but $10.00 a month would get me 3 boxes of strawberries or 8 cups of coffee on the way to work.

I think I’ll stick with my strawberries and coffee.

Ella Update

Ella turned 16 months old a week or so ago. It amazes me to look at her and see a little girl instead of a baby! I still call her my baby, but she’s quickly abandoning the idea of infant and hurdling at a break neck speed into toddler hood.

She loves to go outside. If she feels she hasn’t had enough fresh air, she’ll crawl into the stroller and bang on the window. Or if the stroller is put away, she’ll grab her coat and try to open the front door! I can’t wait until the weather is better so I can let her play in the backyard. There’s talk of tomorrow being 60 degrees, so we just might be able to partake in the squishy backyard!

Words she says:

Mama
Dada
Cat
Peass (please)
Bye bye
Hi
Eye (She gets really upset if I try to lay down for her nap with my glasses on!)
All done
Yes (da? I don’t know where that came from)
Syllables that are untypeable but mean “thank you”.
Ackies! (for anything stinky or messy)
Mess
Uh Oh

Signs she uses:
All done
More
Please
Thank you
Milk
Help

Some of her other favorite things to do is running to everyone and asking for kisses. She tries to pucker up and makes begging noises. Another new development is that she smacks her lips when something sounds good!

It was as if overnight, she became fiercely independent. I can hold her hand while using stairs, but she has to do it herself. She insists on putting away her own shoes and if I try to carry her to the car, you’d think I squeezed a cat too hard.

My all time favorite nickname for is is “chickpea”. When she was an itty bitty baby, her bottom looked like a garbanzo bean. “Garbanzo” seemed to masculine, so I went with the more feminine name for the same legume. ha! Now I have fodder for her high school graduation party or something similarly embarrassing.

Aaron trait: The other day, she was riding on her “beep beep” car in the kitchen and accidentally crashed into the cat food bowl. She wasn’t hurt but was sobbing to beat the band and emphatically saying, “Uh oh! Mess!” over and over again. She didn’t stop crying until all the cat food was picked up and everything set to rights. Aaron is pretty similar, without the sobbing part or cashing his beep beep car.

Dallas Ann trait: When I was really little, I use to go to the bathroom to watch myself cry. Ella has started the same thing. When we tell her “no” about something, she runs away, sobbing loudly, and sits down in front of the hall mirror to watch herself cry. It’s very amusing.

Some Serious Daddy Love

I know I’ve already posted today, but I just couldn’t resist sharing these pictures!

When Aaron came home last night, Ella was so excited to see him that she clung on with all her might any time he tried to put her down! It was a while before he could change his clothes…

This and That

It’s been a busy day so far! Dishes were washed, diapers cleaned, two breakfasts eaten, carpet vacuumed, WIC appointment attended, lunch consumed, and Ella is down for her nap (by herself!!!). All written out, it doesn’t seem like a lot but trust me, it’s more than I’ve been able to accomplish in a few weeks. I’ve been suffering from severe migraines since hitting the second trimester. The longest to date lasted eleven days! My midwife referred me to a neurologist and his only two suggestions were: give birth and take 400mg of vitamin B2. Since this first suggestion isn’t an option until August, I’ve been dutifully choking down my B2 with breakfast. So far, it appears to be working. I only have low grade headaches that are magnified if I sit at a desktop computer for very long. Aaron’s laptop appears to be less an of an issue, so I find myself online more when he leaves his computer at home for me.

I really am feeling the need to have more structure to my day. For the past few months, it feels like I’ve just been rolling through the day without much of a plan. There is a set day for grocery shopping, going to church, and working, but other than that, nothing! When I’ve tried to implement a more formal schedule to my life, I’ve always gone completely overboard and burned out ASAP. My hope is that this time, I’ll do “structure lite” and hope it sticks. Maybe something like this?

AM
Breakfast
Dishes
Diaper laundry
Weekly chore
Lunch

NAP (sleep or do something for personal time)

PM
Post-nap snack and snuggle
Vacuum living room
Get dinner started

After that, Aaron arrives home and we just fall into the routine of dinner, post dinner cleanup/play, and bedtime. Maybe this time, I’ll be able to stick to it and feel like I accomplish something every day other than simply surviving.

(side note: Ella’s been sleeping for TWO HOURS, people! That’s nearly unheard of!!!)

On a complete change of subject, I just wanted to share how much I love my midwife. She is the type of person who I could have a relationship outside of the professional realm and she feels the same way! So if she isn’t catching a baby, she’s coming over tomorrow evening for chatting and tea. Evidently, she made a birthday gift for Ella but wasn’t able to make her party in October. I can’t wait to see it tomorrow. Knowing Sherry, it’ll be personal and perfect.

I feel like this year is going to be one of change. Aside from the obvious change of an addition to our family, I feel the need to do a personal overhaul. I feel like I’m in a rut, stuck, and I don’t like being this way. Even if my changes don’t fit in with what’s “hip and cool” or isn’t even in with the “out crowd”, I hope to be able to be true to myself and stick with it. That is completely different post and I hear the small child waking up!