... and a headband.
Now all I need are the pearls... -_-;;;
Friday, July 22, 2011
I have done it...
I may have bought Samantha a tutu....
... and a headband.
Now all I need are the pearls... -_-;;;
... and a headband.
Now all I need are the pearls... -_-;;;
Guess who's 10 months old!
And a chunkah to boot! Within the last month, she's almost gained a whole pound, now weighing in at 19 lbs, 12oz! Growing girl... and here I was worried about her eating habits.
Nothing TOO dramatic has happened in the last month. Still crawling, still pulling up to standing, still cruising. She wants to walk SO bad, you can just tell by teh way she reaches for things while she's standing. Soon, little girl... soon enough.
Samma has been getting my nerves and axiety up lately, that's for sure... over the last weekend or so she's been starting to do this head-bobbing thing similar to a nod when you're drifting off to sleep mixed with the spasm you might do if you have a shiver going down your spine. Honestly, it's really been freaking me out, and after she did it multiple times the other night, I finally decided to bring her to the pediatrician's office yesterday to have the doctor look her over to see if there was anything glaringly wrong. Well, she made me feel like a fool because according to the doctor, developmentally and behaviorally she is beyond where she should be, and her reflexes and reactions as exactly what they should be. Of course, she reassured me that I wasn't in the wrong for being concerned, because she remembered hows he was when her daughter was Sami's aged, and she even thought for a while she was having seizures. Yeah, seriously. But she also said it wasn't abnomal for ticks to occur while they're growing, and there's a possibility she could be doing it voluntary as she learns what her body can now do. So she told me to keep an eye on her, monitor when it happens, and what's going on when it happens, and try to get it on video, and then we have a follow-up on Monday to see how things are. My sister and I both saw it happen last night, and after a bit of research via Google (sometimes not the best thing, I know) and what we found was that it seems like babies similar in age to Sam have done the same thing across the board, and that it goes away as quick as it began... so I'm hopeful this is just a thing, and not something more serious...
So other than feeding anxieties, that's about it. We went away for not just one night, but TWO nights last weekend, and we entered Sami into a Diaper Derby race.... she came in second place, along with all the other babies who didn't move, but hey, the effort was there, and it was fun!
Up next? First birthday plans!!!
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Feeding Habits
With Samma now 10 months and close to walking, her feeding schedule and what she's been eating has been on my mind a lot, so please allow me to take a moment to air out my thoughts more than write an actual blog post worthy of publishing.
As of right now, food-wise, this is how her day looks:
What to feed
So, long story short, I don't think it's the amount we're feeding her that I need to worry about... it's the actually getting her to eat real human food that's the issue. And it's not her wanting to eat that's the issue... this is 100% on my shoulders.
I am terrified.
What if I don't give her the right thing? What if I don't cook it enough, or cut it up small enough? What if she then chokes? Or worse???
And here's where my anxiety steps in.
I'm just glad Chris has a stabler and sturdier head on his shoulders, because I don't know what I'd be doing without him. Yes, clearly and obviously, she can't stay on Gerber foods forever... and we have been giving her whole foods like bananas, bread, pancakes, and potatoes when we have them, but to get her on par with us and what we eat is the hard part.
We both work, and we both have different hours, so when I get home with Sam in the afternoon, it's a good 2 hours or so before Chris gets home to make dinner, and then by that time Sam is usually ready for or in bed.
So what does it all mean? It means I need to get my shit together and start prepping food. Easier said than done, yet again, as I hardly plan ahead for my own meals... and I'm sure by now plenty of you are out there saying "well, if you have a kid, that should be your top priority -- make time -- blahblahblah" and I know, I know... trust me, Samma is my #1 priority, and believe you me, she is NOT starving (the little chunkah gained almost a pound in the last month!), so that's why I think I need to start focusing on the WHAT and now the HOW MUCH.
We're going to take this weekend to work on it I think.... I hope...
As of right now, food-wise, this is how her day looks:
- 5-6am: 6 oz bottle of formula
- 7am: 2 tbsp cereal with 1/2 jar (about 3oz) of Gerber 3rd Foods fruit
- 9:30-10am: 6 oz bottle of formula
- 12pm: 1/2 jar (about 3oz) of some sort of Gerber 3rd Foods veggie or pasta
- 2pm: 6 oz bottle of formula
- 3:30-4pm: yogurt or puffs
- 5:30pm: 2 tbsps cereal with 1/2 jar (about 3oz) of Gerber 3rd Foods veggie or meat/veggie combo
- 6:30-7pm: 4 oz bottle of formula
- (Water is has with every meal)
What to feed
- -Breast milk or formula PLUS
- -Soft pasteurized cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese (but no cows' milk until age 1)
- -Iron-fortified cereals (rice, barley, wheat, oats, mixed cereals)
- -Fruit cut into cubes or strips, or mashed
- -Bite-size, soft-cooked vegetables (peas, carrots)
- -Combo foods (macaroni and cheese, casseroles)
- -Protein (egg; pureed or finely ground meats, poultry, and boneless fish; tofu; well-cooked and mashed beans)
- -Finger foods (lightly toasted bread or bagels, small pieces of ripe banana, spiral pasta, teething crackers, low-sugar O-shaped cereal)
- 1/3 cup dairy (or 1/2 oz. cheese)
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup iron-fortified cereal
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup fruit
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup vegetables
- 1/8 to 1/4 cup combo foods
- 1/8 to 1/4 cup protein foods
So, long story short, I don't think it's the amount we're feeding her that I need to worry about... it's the actually getting her to eat real human food that's the issue. And it's not her wanting to eat that's the issue... this is 100% on my shoulders.
I am terrified.
What if I don't give her the right thing? What if I don't cook it enough, or cut it up small enough? What if she then chokes? Or worse???
And here's where my anxiety steps in.
I'm just glad Chris has a stabler and sturdier head on his shoulders, because I don't know what I'd be doing without him. Yes, clearly and obviously, she can't stay on Gerber foods forever... and we have been giving her whole foods like bananas, bread, pancakes, and potatoes when we have them, but to get her on par with us and what we eat is the hard part.
We both work, and we both have different hours, so when I get home with Sam in the afternoon, it's a good 2 hours or so before Chris gets home to make dinner, and then by that time Sam is usually ready for or in bed.
So what does it all mean? It means I need to get my shit together and start prepping food. Easier said than done, yet again, as I hardly plan ahead for my own meals... and I'm sure by now plenty of you are out there saying "well, if you have a kid, that should be your top priority -- make time -- blahblahblah" and I know, I know... trust me, Samma is my #1 priority, and believe you me, she is NOT starving (the little chunkah gained almost a pound in the last month!), so that's why I think I need to start focusing on the WHAT and now the HOW MUCH.
We're going to take this weekend to work on it I think.... I hope...
Saturday, July 9, 2011
1st-year photos
Like so many people I know, I too am a fan of the Groupon / LivingSocial / BuyWithMe / EverSave daily emails that arrive in my Yahoo inbox every morning. Somethings I can use, most I cannot, but earlier this week a deal came my way that I just couldn't pass up!
"Picture this: you, trying to take a family portrait, struggling to wipe one kid's face clean, while your husband holds the other offspring in place and simultaneously reaches to click the remote. For an image worth framing on the wall, forget the DIY nightmare and pick up today's photogenic deal from Picture People. For just $25, get a photo shoot and five photo sheets -- one 8x10, two 5x7s, five 4x6s, 16 wallets, and a low-res View and Share CD of the entire session -- perfect for posting pics on Facebook or emailing to family members (a $125 value). Find a nearby location and your bundles of joy won't even have to be strapped into the car seats for long. Snap up this deal for a photo that brings joy -- not a reminder of stressful times."
So, of COURSE the first thing I do is figure out the expiration date, look at a calendar, and make sure it's in time for Sami's 1st birthday, which is was, so I jump on board as fast as I can! And as soon as I received the confirmation email that my deal went through, I was online and on the phone making my appointment -- Sami's 1st year photos are scheduled to be done Saturday, September 24th at 1pm.
Now, some may say that this is a little bit of overthinking, but alas, I do not. Pictures are timeless, Sam is growing up fast, and I am going to make damn sure I don't miss a minute!
And now that I know 1-year pictures are going to happen for sure, I have plenty of time to think of picture ideas! Because, I mean... how many other 1st birthday pictures is she ever going to take??
Now to those who know me, this might come as a shock.... but when I was looking through the ideas on PicturePeople's website, this one picture caught my eye:
Yup. That there would be a baby in a tutu wearing a headband and pearls. And I think it's one of the cutest, most adorable things I've seen in a LONG time. So I think I'm going to do it. And I think Etsy.com is going to help!
After much searching (not really) I can across tiaratutu's Shop and instantly fell in love! I haven't decided on anything specific yet, but I'm still looking. I just love the whole tutu / headband / pearls combo on a baby for her first birthday pictures....... and I can't believe I just typed that out.
As for the second outfit during the photo shoot, I think I might go with the standard "I'm 1!" onesie outfit or diaper cover, and let her go crazy with a cake to be brought with the intention of getting destroyed.
And if anyone else has any other ideas, I'd be more than happy to hear them! Yay!
Friday, July 8, 2011
Update: the daycare situation
I feel like I'm doing more of these retro-active posts than writing about what's currently going on, but I'm not going to be able to move forward without covering all that's already happened... or something like that.
So, back in February we were furloughed a day at work, dropping my 4-day schedule down to 3 days. Because of this, we had to remove Sam from the HugsPlus daycare center because there was no way we were going to be able to afford the $1500 tuition it required monthly... that and, with me being home 2 days a week now, it wasn't as necessary as it was before. At the time, we lucked out, as we already had my mom watching her on Tuesdays, and our friends were already going to be home with their newborn son, so they would be able to take on watching Sam for the addition two days we needed, so we had everything covered for a while there.
Sometime in May we were given the heads-up at work that we would be able to come back to full-time as our business was picking up. Great for everyone else, but because we had to adjust our schedule so much, there was no way I was going to be able to pick up the extra days so quickly. Around this same time, my friends were looking to get themselves back into the workforce, so the last thing I wanted was the burden of keeping an eye on Sami to hold them back from working themselves. So from the outside looking it, it would start to seem like our daycare situation was about to implode on itself... but alas, not all hope is lost.
Around this same time, I was talking Loki down the street, and across the way there was this sign on the front lawn of a house that had just been recently purchased, advertising an in-home daycare. Thinking this was too good to be true, I went home and started searching for the listing on Craigslist, just to see if there was any more details, and sure enough there she was, right down the street, with everything we were looking for: state-licensed, CPR certified, 15+ years of in-home daycare experience... Chris immediately called, and the price was right, so we scheduled an appointment to go down and meet her.
Charlaine was everything I could ask for. A mother of 4 herself, she and her husband were originally from Braintree, moved to Plymouth for a couple of years, and had just recently purchased the house a few doors down because they were moving back. The house was clean, we were able to see the areas she set up for the kids, and because she is state-licensed, she needs to be inspected, so I knew safety wasn't an issue. Being alone in her endeavors, she is only allowed to have up to 6 children, but no more than 3 infants, so she was being very selective as to how many kids she was taking on because obviously it's about her limits and not about the paycheck. But we immediately fell in love with her, and she must have liked us enough, and the next think we knew, we were slated to begin the week of June 20th.
Because of her previously scheduled kids and Samma's age, she told us she was only going to be able to take her on for Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Although a little bit of a schedule change, it wasn't going to be a problem. My mother is still able to watch her on Tuesdays, and with my job as awesome and flexible as it is, I was able to move my day off per week to Mondays.
Also, with this schedule, I was able to go back to my 4-day work week, which is always a good thing.... work was getting difficult with the day on, day off schedule, and an extra day's worth of pay a week is ever a bad thing either.
And because it's an inhome daycare as opposed to an organized center, there's a lot more schedule flexibility, and Charlaine already told us that once Sam is older and in the toddler stage, because she won't need as much supervision as she does now, she may be able to take her on Mondays as well, which means that I will finally be able to go back to work 5 days a week full-time. But we will cross that bridge once we come to it.
Now that we're at the end of our 3rd week with her, I can honestly say I am very pleased with our decision. It's in-town, its convenient enough, there's flexibility, and she's amazing to deal with.
In hindsight, despite all of our stressing in regards to daycare before Sami was even born, I am very pleased with how things have turned out in the end, and I hope that we're able to maintain this relationship with our new daycare provider for a long while to come.
So, back in February we were furloughed a day at work, dropping my 4-day schedule down to 3 days. Because of this, we had to remove Sam from the HugsPlus daycare center because there was no way we were going to be able to afford the $1500 tuition it required monthly... that and, with me being home 2 days a week now, it wasn't as necessary as it was before. At the time, we lucked out, as we already had my mom watching her on Tuesdays, and our friends were already going to be home with their newborn son, so they would be able to take on watching Sam for the addition two days we needed, so we had everything covered for a while there.
Sometime in May we were given the heads-up at work that we would be able to come back to full-time as our business was picking up. Great for everyone else, but because we had to adjust our schedule so much, there was no way I was going to be able to pick up the extra days so quickly. Around this same time, my friends were looking to get themselves back into the workforce, so the last thing I wanted was the burden of keeping an eye on Sami to hold them back from working themselves. So from the outside looking it, it would start to seem like our daycare situation was about to implode on itself... but alas, not all hope is lost.
Around this same time, I was talking Loki down the street, and across the way there was this sign on the front lawn of a house that had just been recently purchased, advertising an in-home daycare. Thinking this was too good to be true, I went home and started searching for the listing on Craigslist, just to see if there was any more details, and sure enough there she was, right down the street, with everything we were looking for: state-licensed, CPR certified, 15+ years of in-home daycare experience... Chris immediately called, and the price was right, so we scheduled an appointment to go down and meet her.
Charlaine was everything I could ask for. A mother of 4 herself, she and her husband were originally from Braintree, moved to Plymouth for a couple of years, and had just recently purchased the house a few doors down because they were moving back. The house was clean, we were able to see the areas she set up for the kids, and because she is state-licensed, she needs to be inspected, so I knew safety wasn't an issue. Being alone in her endeavors, she is only allowed to have up to 6 children, but no more than 3 infants, so she was being very selective as to how many kids she was taking on because obviously it's about her limits and not about the paycheck. But we immediately fell in love with her, and she must have liked us enough, and the next think we knew, we were slated to begin the week of June 20th.
Because of her previously scheduled kids and Samma's age, she told us she was only going to be able to take her on for Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Although a little bit of a schedule change, it wasn't going to be a problem. My mother is still able to watch her on Tuesdays, and with my job as awesome and flexible as it is, I was able to move my day off per week to Mondays.
Also, with this schedule, I was able to go back to my 4-day work week, which is always a good thing.... work was getting difficult with the day on, day off schedule, and an extra day's worth of pay a week is ever a bad thing either.
And because it's an inhome daycare as opposed to an organized center, there's a lot more schedule flexibility, and Charlaine already told us that once Sam is older and in the toddler stage, because she won't need as much supervision as she does now, she may be able to take her on Mondays as well, which means that I will finally be able to go back to work 5 days a week full-time. But we will cross that bridge once we come to it.
Now that we're at the end of our 3rd week with her, I can honestly say I am very pleased with our decision. It's in-town, its convenient enough, there's flexibility, and she's amazing to deal with.
In hindsight, despite all of our stressing in regards to daycare before Sami was even born, I am very pleased with how things have turned out in the end, and I hope that we're able to maintain this relationship with our new daycare provider for a long while to come.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
And then Samma turned 9 months old...
We are three-quarters of the way to Numero Uno, my friends... and something tells me that trying to take that monthly picture of my daughter is going to take at LEAST the two of us from here on out....
Which reminds me, I really need to keep up with updating Sam's baby book, which has turned out to be yet another daunting task to keep up with... but at least between this blog and my Facebook, I'll have somewhat of a recollection of all her milestones. But I digress...
Sam had her 9-month appointment on June 20th (her actual 9-month birthday, if anyone's counting) and everything is looking fantastic! She weighed 18lbs 10 oz and measured at 27" long -- still within the 25-50 percentiles, which is just where she should be! I asked the doctor about her feeding schedule, and she didn't seem too concerned, especially since she's gaining weight well enough. And I asked about the sippy cup, and she said so long as we've introduced the cup to her and she's familiar with it, regardless of whether she's using it properly, we're on the right track. Then the poor thing had to get some blood taken, and then another HepB shot, and now we aren't due back until September for her 1-year appointment! :o
So our baby is on the move, for sure, which is another reason why it's hard to just sit and type lately... I get either early in the morning when she's gone back to sleep after her bottle, or at night when she's gone down for the night. Regardless, she is mobile, which means a stricter eye on her whereabouts, and babyproofing. I think we're running a little behind on the babyproofing part, but we're getting there. It's funny, though... the order of which things occurred. First it was rolling over, then it was rolling across the room. Then it was scooting backwards on her belly, then something kinda like an army crawl. Then she figured out how to sit up on her own, and then stand using things around her for support. Now she's crawling over to couches, pulling herself up, and cruising all around the room! She hates being carried, and if she can get somewhere by crawling, oh she will get there. She's going to be walking by her 1st birthday, for sure, and it still blows my mind as to how far she's come in how little time. Remember that time I was worried about her not rolling over from tummy to back?
Yeah.....And then there's the teething... within the last week or so Sami has become the proud owner of two top incisors, and the poor girl definitely earned them. Even still she's waking up in tears because her teeth are bothering her, and after some comfort and a little Oragel, she's right back to sleep. I will say that those top two teeth make her faces all the more adorable now... especially when she does her scrunchie face!
Did I mention her new daycare yet? No I don't think I did... but I think that will be a post for another day. That and the 1st birthday ideas post... yes, definitely for another day. ;)
Monday, July 4, 2011
So, Father's Day...
Yup, it happened about 2 weeks ago, but that doesn't mean I still don't want to talk about it!
For Chris' first Fathers Day, I wanted to do something special, but not your generic card and/ or gift. So thanks to the ever-so-handy TheBump.com I found this fantastic idea from one of the other moms on the September '10 Moms board.
The idea was to take pictures of your child holding the letters "D" and "A" and then putting them in a frame so that it spelled "D-A-D"... get it? Dad? OK...
Finding the letters was easy enough -- I took the foam letters from Sam's alphabet play mat. I had seen examples of this being done with cardboard or paper letters too, but I just didn't think they would be as sturdy or interactive.
Next was the when and the where. I was still off on Wednesdays and Fridays, so doing it when Chris wasn't going to be around wasn't going to be a problem. As for the where, I knew I wanted to do it outside, but did I want to go to a park? Not really. Luckily, the backyard had just been mowed the weekend before, so all I needed was a sunny Wednesday and we were all set! Yay for me, that Wednesday was the last one before Father's Day!
So I waited til there was just the perfect combination of shade and sun, grabbed my white sheet and my baby and outside for our photoshoot we went. And when you have a baby that LOVES the grass, doing anything out the ground outside is a task in and of itself.
Have you ever tried to take pictures of a then-almost-9-month-old??!
And then I was running around frantically on the Friday before Father's Day trying to find a 3-slotted 4x6 picture frame, and luckily Kohl's had exactly what I was looking for, so then it was over to CVS with a sleeping Samma to get prints done.
But in the end, we finally got everything to work out, and the finished product came out something like this:
As far as I can tell, Chris loved it, so all off the effort and energy paid off in the end. So Happy belated Fathers Day to all the dads out there -- I hope it was a good one, whether for first or 40th!
For Chris' first Fathers Day, I wanted to do something special, but not your generic card and/ or gift. So thanks to the ever-so-handy TheBump.com I found this fantastic idea from one of the other moms on the September '10 Moms board.
The idea was to take pictures of your child holding the letters "D" and "A" and then putting them in a frame so that it spelled "D-A-D"... get it? Dad? OK...
Finding the letters was easy enough -- I took the foam letters from Sam's alphabet play mat. I had seen examples of this being done with cardboard or paper letters too, but I just didn't think they would be as sturdy or interactive.
Next was the when and the where. I was still off on Wednesdays and Fridays, so doing it when Chris wasn't going to be around wasn't going to be a problem. As for the where, I knew I wanted to do it outside, but did I want to go to a park? Not really. Luckily, the backyard had just been mowed the weekend before, so all I needed was a sunny Wednesday and we were all set! Yay for me, that Wednesday was the last one before Father's Day!
So I waited til there was just the perfect combination of shade and sun, grabbed my white sheet and my baby and outside for our photoshoot we went. And when you have a baby that LOVES the grass, doing anything out the ground outside is a task in and of itself.
Have you ever tried to take pictures of a then-almost-9-month-old??!
And then I was running around frantically on the Friday before Father's Day trying to find a 3-slotted 4x6 picture frame, and luckily Kohl's had exactly what I was looking for, so then it was over to CVS with a sleeping Samma to get prints done.
But in the end, we finally got everything to work out, and the finished product came out something like this:
As far as I can tell, Chris loved it, so all off the effort and energy paid off in the end. So Happy belated Fathers Day to all the dads out there -- I hope it was a good one, whether for first or 40th!
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