Random Stuff

A few random things I thought of this morning while sitting in the rocking chair rocking a sleeping Megan...

• She's sleeping so much better. She'll still fuss a few times (and/or lose her paci), but for the past week--minus a few nights--she's slept from 7pm to 5am(ish, this morning it was almost 6am).
• She can eat more than me...literally. She loves eggs and can eat almost 2 eggs, and that doesn't include the peas, carrots and 4 (or more) ounces of diluted juice she drinks.
  
• She crawls so fast...and moves pretty darn fast with her walker too. We're still right on the verge of walking, hopefully soon!
• She has gone from sitting to standing several times without using anything to help pull herself up.
• She loves to read books by herself...it's so cute to see her "reading" some of her favorites...then making the same sounds she does when we're reading it to her (aka at the end of 2 books she makes this cute little hum...she does the same when she's reading her books)
• She will "disappear" to her room to play with her favorite ball toy (it gives her position away--it plays music when she plays with it)
• She plays by herself quite a bit. Her favorite toys are still her rings, books, and phones. Speaking of phones, she's started putting her phones next to her ear as though she is talking on it. Then she hands it to Mom for Mom to talk on it, too.
• She loves to sign "thank you". She'll even sign it if I say it to her (as in, thank you, Megan for handing me something you are not supposed to have). It's so cute!
• Speaking of signs...she now signs "please" and "potty" too. The other morning Irish came into her room when I was rocking her. She looked at him, looked at me, and signed "potty". I said, "yes, I think Irish needs to go potty." Too cute.

I've been reading the book The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers and Preschoolers and have learned all sorts of things.

1. If I push back breakfast until about the time I desire her to wake up, she'll learn to wait until then to wake up. I've been doing this, and it seems to be helping. At least for the past few days, it has.
2. If after a few minutes of being awake she's crabby, she wasn't ready to wake up. If she wakes up cheerful, she's well rested and got enough sleep.
3. Kids her age need 13-14 hours of sleep (between naps and nighttime), and bedtime should be right when she seems tired and we put her to bed (between 6:30 and 7:30pm). The last 2 days she's gotten about 12 hrs, and things are much better.
4. Behavior of kids who are over tired include: temper tantrums, uncooperative behavior/overly stubborn, crabbiness, hyperactive, doesn't seem as happy as she should be, falls asleep everywhere (we don't have that problem!), hard time falling asleep. These are all problems we've seen. It's nice to know that it's not just her spicy-ness that makes her stubborn (although that could play a part) and her age doesn't necessarily mean we have to have temper tantrums as frequently as we have seen.
   
5. No changes to the bedtime/sleep routine will have an immediate impact. She says it could take up to 5-6 months. I think we've noticed this...if I think back to when we first got her, yes, we've been working on better sleep patterns the entire time. We've slowly gotten to where we are. There are few adjustments we're making, but are happy that we've been doing pretty much what the book suggests (I guess you could argue, it's the reason we've had success!).
6. What you feed your child for supper/bedtime snack impact their ability to sleep. I've not noticed this so much for Megan, but then we've only been watching for about a week.
   

Our talents...

Here's new video...for Cousin Ashley who loves Megan videos! She's signing several of the ASL signs she knows (of course they are the Megan version!). She's learned them a Baby Einstein Signing Video, but her favorites are the Signing Time ones. We just got Volume 2, which has some signs with pretty complex concepts (share, your turn, my turn, friends), but she's still learning from it! She learned go, stop and book. I forgot to have her sign baby on the video. And it's one of the cutest ones she does! Sorry!

We're back to not sleeping well, again. The last 2 nights have been pretty bad, although Tuesday night was worse (she was wake from 1-4am). Last night she fussed (aka typically lost her paci) almost every hour. At the advise of Debbie, I've started a new book The No-Cry Sleep Solution for toddlers and preschoolers, I've actually gotten a bit read (surprisingly). It seems pretty good, thus far, but I'm still in the information gathering stage on Megan's sleep patterns.

Another Secret Blog Pal Surprise!

Modeling her new "head gear"!

Yum...

Yesterday...I get the mail...to find a "most excellent" surprise! And believe it or not, I didn't break into the yummy chocolate until...THIS MORNING! Is it bad to have chocolate for breakfast? Or rather...pre-breakfast? I didn't think so...

He's Home!

Just a quick post...

Hubby is home....moving slow, but home. He enjoyed a short nap in his own, comfortable bed. Megan's so glad to have him home!!! You should have seen her face when she woke up from her nap and Dad was home! It was precious.

More tomorrow (hopefully).

Hubby's Health

Thank goodness the good Doctor Cole is back today! Hubby remained on the clear liquid diet all weekend. The doctor on call was concerned his white blood cell count was rising which caused them to be concerned about infection. So this morning Hubby had 2 CT scans to see if they could see a pocket of infection in his abdomen. They came back fine, but did show some possible pneumonia in his lungs. He has to walk more (therefore causing him to take deeper breaths) and they changed his antibiotic this afternoon. He was also able to eat a sandwich (which he was pretty darn excited about!) after we gave him a shower. If his white blood cell counts go down tomorrow morning and continue going down on Wednesday, he will come home on Wednesday.

As far as Megan sleeping...I'm happy to report that she essentially slept all night. Literally. She was asleep from a little before 7pm until a little after 4am! She woke up for the first time at midnight, but fell back to sleep about 30 minutes after I gave her tynelol. She then fell back to sleep in my arms in the rocker and slept about an hour more. I felt so good today (even though I was awake at 4am)! I pray tonight is a repeat!

Update

Hubby is making progress. Our prayers are working! He's moving around more (and better) and completed "the list" yesterday, but unfortunately, they kept him on clear liquids yesterday anyways. So, that means today will be full liquids. Hopefully tomorrow will be solids then Tuesday home. That's a guess at this point, but I'm thinking that's likely what will happen. So, that means at least 2 more nights. ugh. Megan is missing Dad terribly, too.

I am absolutely exhausted at this point. Last night was okay. Megan woke up quite a bit, like probably every 90 minutes or so. I did sleep when she did, but I'm still really tired. This morning Megan is crabby--I think her teeth are bothering her. She's got swollen gums on both sides of the top as well as seems to be working on at least one tooth on the bottom. At midnight, I could hear her chewing on her paci, so I got up and gave her some tynelol which seemed to help her sleep better.

So, that's the update.

Quick Update

A new favorite game!

Dad is still in the hospital. We had hoped he would be coming home tomorrow, but there's a list of things he has to do before he can even eat solid foods. He hasn't completed the list yet (who knew farting was so important!!!). The doctor said this morning that he'll be in the hospital through Sunday at least. That is so crappy. When I got the news this morning, I tried not to have a meltdown...and at this point, I'm just trying to not think about it. He's tired of being in the hospital bed and really ready for a real shower! If you are the praying kind, we could use it. Pray that his body "wakes up" so he's able to eat solid food. He hasn't eaten since last Friday night. That's a long time. He's had clear liquids, but that's it. Pray that I have strength to be with Megan 24/7. There's many hard parts, but I think the hardest is not having an adult to talk to all day. One year olds have a pretty limited vocabulary and understanding and regular temper tantrums get tiresome! I am very grateful that Grandma V has come over the past few days to take care of Megan so I can run to the hospital for a few hours without her.

On a good news front...Megan slept from 11pm to 4am last night! I could not believe it! It's the first time she's slept 5 consecutive hours! Can you say progress?? Of course from 10-11pm she was pretty much up the entire hour. But, I was so grateful...I desperately needed that much sleep! Pray that tonight and subsequent nights will be as good!

I'll keep you posted...as time (and energy) permits!

16 Months Old

My little book worm

A few things of note:

• 2 new teeth have finally popped through on the top. She now has 6 teeth! She's working on a few on the bottom, too.
  
• She loves to sign different things while she's falling asleep. There's nothing funnier than her signing "fish" or "ball" or "car" while trying to fall asleep!
• She is desperately missing her Daddy who is in the hospital! (And so is Mommy!)
• She loves books. When she finds the book bin, she has to empty it, but not before flipping threw several of her favorites.
• She loves to eat. This child can put it away like you cannot imagine...especially peas. She LOVES peas. She's gotten very good finger control with her left hand, the right hand isn't nearly as effective.
  
• She can softly/gently/carefully pet the dogs now. She used to pull on their fur after giving them "nice pets" (aka pats), but now she just gives the nice pets (much to the dogs delight!).
• She loves to play the "dada/mama" game. Its the game where she says "dada" (which is all the time) and I say "no, mama". We can go back and forth for quite a while. I do switch it up by saying "nana" (to which she promptly kisses) or "n-te" (for auntie--there's too many to get her name them). It's now gotten to where we have also "signing wars"--I sign "mama" and she signs "dada". Pretty funny, actually.
• She loves it when I'm changing her diaper and I ask her "what's the sign for..." I really need to make a list of the ones she knows because I often can't remember which ones to ask her anymore!
• She loves to look at her photo book of different people in her life. She loves to point at diffent ones. This is another diversion when changing the diaper

That's all I can think of right now...funny how I can think of all sorts of things when I'm not at the computer!

Happy 16th month Birthday, Megan. We love you so much!

Is it Waist or Waste? Hmmm

First the "waist" part...Dad's been sick for several days. I mean sicker than he's ever been in the 13 years we've been together. Finally, Monday evening after 3 days of serious sickness, I made him to go CareNow. They promptly told him he had appendicitis and he needed to go to the hospital (it was 10pm at that point). So, thanks to Grandma & Grandpa, he made it to the hospital. Waited. Had a CT Scan. Waited. Found out his appendix had ruptured. Waited. Had surgery this morning at about 6am. Megan & I made it to the hospital about 15 minutes after surgery started. It took longer than they expected because they could not do it orthoscopically. He now has about a 4 inch scar.

Now, the "waste" part...well, since I couldn't go to the hospital with Dad, I hardly slept. I was awake until after 12:30am thinking, wondering what was happening, thinking about how I needed to be asleep, thinking. Megan did fuss a bit during this time, but then she settled down. Since both grandparents were at the hospital, I KNEW I had to sleep. There was no back up plan! So, I slept from about 1 to 3:45ish when Megan realized she had lost her paci. Then I laid there wondering why they hadn't called. I mean I was sleeping with my cell phone IN MY HAND to ensure I would catch the call, but no call came. I tried calling, but Dad's cell phone was off, so I had to wait until he called me. He did finally call about 4:30 with the CT Scan results/surgery plan. I knew Megan was still asleep and would likely sleep for a bit longer, so I jumped in the shower to be that much closer to leaving for the hospital. She slept until 5am for first time in at least a week. Hence, the waste...a wasted opportunity to sleep past 4am! darn it. Hopefully she'll sleep that late tomorrow too! I certainly need the sleep.

In fact, I'm heading to bed now.

Fellow Frappuccino Lovers

I receive a daily email from Everyday Cheapskate from Mary Hunt (one of my favorite frugal inspirations). The original email contained other excellent icy drinks, you can see it HERE. You can sign up for it and see other issues by clicking HERE. I, personally, use French Vanilla coffee, which gives it a delightful vanilla flavor. I've not braved into other flavors, but others would likely be great too. The great thing is that I can buy fresh grounds at the grocery store for $7 a pound!

Almost Starbucks Frappuccino

3 ounces hot espresso*
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 1/2 cups milk (low-fat is okay)
1 tablespoon dry pectin** (Starbucks' secret ingredient)
1 cup ice
whipped cream (optional)

Stir the sugar into the hot espresso. Allow to cool. Stir the milk and pectin into the espresso mixture until dissolved. Fill a glass with ice and pour the mixture over, or pour the ingredients plus ice into the blender and process on "frappe" for 30 to 45 seconds. Pour into glasses and top with whipped cream. Yield: four 6-ounce servings.

*If you do not have an espresso maker, brew double-strength coffee by doubling the amount of grinds. Starbucks uses Italian Roast.
**Look for pectin (used in home canning to thicken jams and jellies) in the grocery store's baking (or canning) aisle.

I don't get 4 servings (imagine that!), only 2. I make it every other day, save the extra one for the next morning! It's just as yummy on day 2!

Photos

playing with her rings, her favorite toy

this is the I want to play "where's Megan?" pose

Megan consistently "pauses" when she's crawling and makes this pose.
I've been trying to get it on photo for a while.

Last night Megan was wired. I think having just a small amount of grape jelly on some toast was enough to make her completely crazy--in a cute way, of course! She was being so silly. Got some good photos. Enjoy!

A Public Commitment

I've not written much on here about the dissertation I'm supposed to be working...simply because I want this to be mostly about Megan (and she's the reason for my not working on it! Well, maybe not entirely, but mostly.) But, I decided this morning...this is it. I need to jump in and really work on it hard. What's tough about it for me is that Megan does need so much of my time when she's awake. Besides who can form many intelligent sentences when you have a 16 month old in the background you have your eye on and your ear listening to? Well, maybe there are some talents folks out there that can, but I can't.

So, in sitting down to write this morning while she was napping, I decided I'm making a commitment--and then I decided I needed to blog the said commitment so I'm not the only one who knows I've made it (well, besides DH)! Can we say accountability? Yep, unfortunately. Back to my commitment...I'm going to write (aka journaling at this point) every morning when Megan naps. It's not much time, but then today I've gotten an hour, so one never knows! I'm not giving up her afternoon naps for writing (although I probably should, and will at some point in the future) as I need to rest during these times since nights are typically not that great. My body and brain need the rest.

Now it's out there...in fact, I wonder if every once in a while I need to post my progress. As in...I'm still just journaling about this and that, or I'm now onto writing my thoughts about my topic, or I'm actually now researching my topic, etc. I probably will. I don't know how often I will, but if you think of it, ask me the status. That will definitely keep me writing. It has to. If I'm going to get done by December 2009, I have about 16 months to get this done in. That's not much time. And as fast as the last 5.5 have gone since Megan came home, it's going to come fast.

This 'n That

My Little Explorer

I got another special card from my Secret Blog Pal...with a gift card to Wal-Mart...hhhmmm, what to go shopping for! I don't know...but I'm going to spend some time thinking about it! THANKS!! And the card was beautiful (an excellent craft project)!

Several people have emailed me wondering how Megan has been sleeping. Well, the best way to describe it is "hit or miss". Saturday night I took "Megan duty" because it took over an hour to get her to sleep, then she was awake within 40 minutes. So, she slept with me. I mean, she rolled around the bed with me...kicked me in the face, etc. At some point she thought it would be a good idea to put her feet at the head of the bed and I had to protect my face (as best as possible) as she kicked and rolled while trying to get comfortable. Needless to say, neither of us slept well! She did finally calm down about 2am and slept until about 5am. Dad then took over and I slept for a few more hours. Sunday night started out similarly (taking so long to get to sleep), but she actually slept pretty darn good with me. She didn't hardly wiggle and was only up one time. In fact, she was doing so well I put her in her crib and she slept a few hours in there, but came back to bed with me around 4am. Last night she was in her crib all night, but was very restless and fussed quite a bit. I typically wait for a little when she cries out to see if its "crisis" or not (the tone is different). She also came to bed with me at 4am and slept (for the 2nd day in a row) until 6am.

One night last week (I think), I was becoming very frustrated at night when she wouldn't go back to sleep. I was complaining about how I was so tired...and I needed to get some sleep (and she did too!), but I was rocking her hoping she'd go back to sleep. She did finally, but not before I was reminded that soon she'll be too independent to need me to rock her for very long. Yes, it is inconvenient for me. Yes, I am losing sleep every night. Yes, I'm losing "my evening" time. But, the day will come (and likely very soon) that she won't want snuggles. She won't want me to hold her for 2 hours in the rocking chair. I need to soak up every minute of snuggles I get (even though I'm exhausted). She's growing up so fast. She's changing so much. This season will pass too. On the one hand, I'm excited to know I'll be getting sleep soon. On the other hand, I'm sad that she's getting so big and won't "need" me in the same way anymore. Such a conflict.

Oh, and before I forget, I've been meaning to post about rocking her to sleep. First, my mom rocked each of her five children to sleep when we were young. When they could understand, she would say she was rocking for x number of minutes, then we had to go to our bed whether we were sleeping or not. I remember doing this with my younger brother and sister when I babysat them. And this is the approach we've decided to take with Megan. Yes, I know she has to learn to put herself to sleep. And she will. One day. Well, I was researching sleep issues the other day I found a pediatrician who agrees with my stance. What's more, he believes (as I had felt) that forcing to her to sleep on her own is potentially negatively impacting her bonding and attachment. I appreciated an expert confirming my feelings. So, I'm not crazy. And I'm not spoiling my child (despite what I've been told by some). Dr. Sear's site has lots of good information about all kinds of child topics. Apparently, when his first child was born (back in the 1970s) his wife felt that the child needed to sleep with them, despite what the books said. He became a proponent for co-sleeping from that point on. So, I am rocking her to sleep and if necessary, she will slept with me. It's not up for discussion. And I'm not going to feel guilty for either of them.

Secret Blog Pal Surprise!

I received a special surprise on Friday evening from my Secret Blog Pal: An e-gift card to Amazon.com! I've been wanting to get Megan a few things. The timing was perfect!!! So, I went shopping (from home, with my feet up--without having showered, but I was out of my pjs--after having done some serious house cleaning). Here's what I got:
I LOVE Boynton books...and Megan has a few that she absolutely loves, so I think she'll thoroughly enjoy these.

And this:Megan is going to be DELIGHTED to get her special presents this week. The best part is that the price of this DVD went down a $1 since we discussed getting it earlier this week. So, not only was I able to use the gift card toward these items, but I also saved money by waiting to buy it! Can it get ANY more exciting than that???

Thanks, so much!!!

My Little Escape Artist

I was washing the kitchen floor, and she decided she needs to escape from my barricade! I'm going to have to reinforce my barricade next time!

Megan's Walking!!!

Okay, so not by herself entirely...but look what she can do now!!!!

I was washing the kitchen floor, hence all the chairs and high chair in the living room. (We don't regularly keep her high chair in the living room! haha)

Hair

Back, Photo 1

Back, Photo 2

Front...with a silly face

Megan's hair in the back is simply unbelievable. These curls show up AFTER it dries, even though I comb it so that it's straight. As you can see from the 2nd picture, she's got spots that look bald--it's almost as though she as a colic right there. She's going to have so much trouble with these curls when she's gets older (assuming they stay). The 3rd picture shows how one side sticks out while the other side sort of lays down more flat and stays behind her ear, but still wavy. I'm constantly trying to tuck it behind her ear because it just sticks right out! Poor thing.

Favorites

Is it possible that Megan (at 15 1/2 months) has a favorite color? Here's why I ask...

1. Shortly after she started signing, she would sign "more" EVERY TIME we turned to the page in a book about colors. The page is the purple one. I first thought it was a fluke, but it continued to happen. The picture is of a purple monster, so it's not that the picture on the purple page is pleasant to look at. It doesn't happen as much any more, though.
   
2. We have the LeapFrog farm toy. The purple cow is her absolute favorite animal of all the ones with the toy. Could it be simply because it's a cow? I don't know.
3. One night this week, Megan was in her room "helping" Dad get her jammies. Well, Dad picked out a pair, but she reached in and decided she needed one of the purple pairs. So, Dad put the other ones back and brought the purple ones instead.
4. Also, we have one of those wooden puzzles with 4 animals on it (zebra, purple elephant, monkey and lion). She consistently picks the zebra and the purple elephant. Further proof?
   

So...could purple be her favorite color? I guess why not! I just have never known a 15 month old who had a favorite color!

And not to leave you without Megan cuteness...here's video of her attempting to walk while only holding one of Dad's hands.

And here she is wearing purple, of course!

Secret Blog Pal Surprise!

We went to the mailbox today to find this special package from my Secret Blog Pal!

Megan has already danced to the tunes! (And loves them!)
And (As you can see), I couldn't even wait to find the camera before trying out the candle!

Thanks! It made my day!!! (In fact, I completely forgot to even open the rest of the mail for quite a while!)

Five Months

On bus from the civil affairs office

My big girl, this week

On the one hand I can't believe we were in China only 5 months ago...on the other hand, it was F-I-V-E months ago? Seems like she's always been with us. She's changed so much!

Things Megan can now do:

• Knows that a cow says "mmmmm" (which means moo, of course!)
• Stands without holding onto anything
• Can walk with holding only one hand
• She walks along furniture, around her FrogLeap table, the kitchen cabinets, etc.
  
• Loves to "tickle" everyone (especially mommy!)
• Says "e-i-e-i-e-i" (leaving off the "o")
• She loves books, balls, phones and remotes
• She loves music and loves to dance to music
• She loves Signing Time DVD (she signs fish, dog, eat, mama, dada, baby, milk, bye-bye, ball, shoes, more, all-done and car). Her favorites are dog, ball, milk and, of course, shoes (she is named after her auntie Katie after all!). We're working on some additional ones from another DVD as well.
  

I know there's more...but that's all I can think of right now!!!