Making a Person

Hhhhmmm...I dunno...

2008-04-30T11:58:00.004-05:00

Lately, I've been tossing around the idea of watching a child (or children) in my home. I would love to contribute to our household income and I stay home most of the time anyway, so why not make some money while Scout and I are hanging around the house, right? But then I think of all the drawbacks. Scout would be forced to spend every day with another child. Forced to share her mommy, her toys, and her space. Her routine would be altered. I still nurse her down for her naps. How would I go about doing that with another toddler or baby around?

I know all of that happens when a sibling enters the picture. But to me, sharing her daily life with another member of the family is very different than having to share it with some random child. One of the advantages of us waiting a while to have another baby is being able to give Scout all of our attention for the first few years of her life. Opening up our home to another child 5 days a week for 8-9 hours a day kind of cancels that out.

I'm sure she would enjoy having a playmate sometimes, but I would just feel bad that she'd have no choice but to play with this other child day in and day out. Or would she even care?

I know this may sound rude or finicky or whatever, but IF I did decide to open up my home to other children, I would have to like them immensely and get along great with their parents. How awful would it be to get stuck with a super difficult and challenging child and rotten parents that annoy me? I think I am asking too much. The planets would have to align just perfectly for me to end up with the ideal babysitting situation.

Obviously, it seems I have already made my decision. When I "think out loud" about it, it appears to be a bad idea. But then when I think of the money aspect, it really makes a lot of sense. I know that there are probably lots of stay-at-home moms who babysit in their homes. How do they make it work? I'm sure there must be a way to do it, but I'm just not sure how.

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

2008-04-29T23:19:00.004-05:00

The weather was gorgeous today, so Scout and I spent a lot of time outside. We played in the yard for a while and then went for a walk around the neighborhood. I brought the camera along so I could snap random pics. Yes. I was THAT bored.

Here is Scout just as we were setting out on our journey. She is waving "Hi".

Here is our new-to-us car chillin' in the side yard. It's a '92 Buick somethin'-er-other. It's in decent shape and was FREE. (DH's older sister and husband can't drive anymore due to medical problems, so they gave it to us) It's not the fanciest ride in the world, but hey, it's a lot less embarrassing to drive than MY CAR.

Our freshly mowed lawn.

The town square.

Why do these people need so many satellite dishes? Just sayin'.

Pretty Irises

There is a sidewalk in front of the high school with all the graduates' names engraved in it. At the end of my pregnancy, I'd walk the neighborhood almost every day and when I went down the graduate walk, I used to slow down to peruse the names to get some baby name inspiration. Wow. I see I overlooked some really good ones, like: Wilda Sue, Homer, Mable, Dortha, Verda, and Lowell.

In case you didn't know, it's classy to stick fake flowers in a pot of dirt outside your door.

I don't know if you can read the signs, but this store a block from my house sells jelly beans, canned tuna, porcelaine figurines, satellite t.v. service, computer repair, and cell phone service. Um. What?

And finally, back at the house, we have DH's 80's moped

The Scariest Moment of My Life

2008-04-28T17:17:00.002-05:00

DH and I scored free tickets to a local music festival at the last minute on Saturday and decided to go and take Scout with us. (Couldn't pass up an opportunity to see one of my fave bands - Sonic Youth - for free!) My only concern was that we didn't have adequate ear protection for her and I wasn't sure how loud the music would be. So, Matt picked up some ear plugs at a music store and even though they weren't made for kids, we figured they would work (since they are the spongy foamy kind that you can squeeze into even the littlest ear)

When we got to the festival, we ate and then I strapped Scout to my back in the Ergo carrier right after we put the ear plugs in her ears. We found a not-so-crowded spot sort of far away from the stage, but where we could still see really well and we chilled there waiting for Sonic Youth to take the stage. Scout was still in the Ergo.

All of the sudden, Matt said "She's got an ear plug in her mouth!!!" I turned so he could reach her and then he yelled, "Get her out of there!!!" My heart jumped into my throat. I unbuckled the Ergo and he pulled her out. She was choking. She could not breath. Her lips weren't blue yet, but her eyes and mouth were wide open but she wasn't drawing any breath - she was panicking. We were panicking. I told Matt to flip her forward so that she was almost upside down and I pounded on her back HARD with the heel of my hand. The ONLY reason I knew to do that was because she choked briefly on a canned peach chunk not too long ago and it freaked me out enough to look on the internet for info on what to do in that situation. The peach chunk incident was more like she was gagging/coughing....nothing compared to THIS. I swear. I did not think the ear plug was going to come up! It seemed like it took FOREVER, even though I know it probably only took a few seconds.

She finally let out a cry and we lifted her upright. For a second, I still thought she had the ear plug in her mouth, but she didn't. It had come out and was on the ground by Matt's feet. To me, her lips looked a little blue-tinted at that point, but it was hard to tell since it was getting dark out. She seemed a little bit shaken up, but was totally back to her normal happy-go-lucky self within minutes. Matt and I were total wrecks and could not believe what had just happened. What if it would not have come up? I felt like we came so close to losing our precious baby girl that night. It is so crazy how one stupid mistake like that has the potential to change EVERYTHING in an instant. I felt so dumb. Why didn't I think about the possibility of her grabbing them out of her ears? I could just kick myself. For months and months (actually, even before Scout was born) I have been wanting to order some of those noise cancelling headphones that are made especially for kids and toddlers...you know, the kind that ther rock stars' kids wear to concerts. But I just kept putting it off.

Matt said that right before it happened, he was sitting there spacing out, staring at some woman who was dancing all drunk and crazy-like to the music, when he heard that Still Small Voice that said, "look at your daughter". We believe it was the Holy Spirit telling him to look at Scout at that moment. I am so glad he did.

I kept playing the whole thing over in my head the next day and the more I thought about it, the more I knew that there was definitely some divine intervention going on. Whew! It just makes me so thankful that even in our total stupidity and carelessness, God's grace abounds and he is there to guide us.

I know this sounds over-dramatic (and way morbid) but Sunday morning, I woke up thinking that Matt and I could easily be in gut-wrenching, disgustingly painful mourning for the loss of our sweet child, had Matt not seen that she had the ear plug in her mouth. It could have been several minutes before I would've even thought to try to look over my shoulder to check on her. If I would've stopped feeling her moving around in the Ergo, I would've just thought that she had fallen asleep. What if Matt would've been in the bathroom or off getting a drink at a concession stand? No one around us seemed to be paying much attention and it was pretty dark, so I doubt that anyone would've noticed that Scout was choking to death. It makes me sick to think about how things could've turned out. I should probably stop thinking of all the "what ifs"

Scout's 1st Birthday

2008-04-21T10:57:00.005-05:00

Scout had a great birthday party on Saturday (Which was on her actual birthday - How cool is that?) Just by some stroke of luck, the whole thing was timed perfectly with her nap schedule, so she woke up nice and refreshed just before it was time to get her dressed for the party. My mom made her a sweet dress out of Hello Kitty print fabric and a pinafore with machine-embroidery. It turned out so cute!

Here's me with my one-year-old!!

Scout seemed to have fun running around with all the "big kids" on the gym mats at my friend's gymnastics studio where we had the party. She chowed down on some Chick-Fi1-A nuggets (We got 2 large nugget trays and had a coupon for buy-one-get-one-free. Woot!) and some fruit salad and pasta salad, and then tore into her cake.

I made a smash cake especially for her out of somewhat healthy ingredients. She gagged on the first taste of icing, which was hilarious because I had just been bragging to the surrounding guests about how I made this delicious healthy cake from scratch for her. She seemed a little reluctant to dig in at first, but then decided it was tasty enough and got a couple of good fistfuls. My favorite was when she turned and looked at the video camera in the midst of the messiness and said, "Hiiiiiieeeeee!" with a giant grin on her face (I need to get hot on uploading that video so you guys can see it) She also liked to lean in and just suck the icing off the corner of the cake.

I didn't think she'd be all that interested in unwrapping gifts, but she really surprised me. She actually seemed excited about it and enjoyed ripping the wrapping paper and tossing tissue paper out of gift bags. She also had fun tossing the once neatly-folded clothes over her shoulder as she grabbed them out of the boxes. (Man-o-man, did she get a TON of clothes!!!! I won't need to buy her any clothes for Summer now!)

I had invited about 30 adults and 12 babies/toddlers to the party, but only about half showed up. Maybe not even half. I'm not sure what the head-count was. (I think more people did show up after I took this pic, though) It was super nice outside that day, so I bet a lot of families were taking advantage of the nice weather and doing things like cooking out and working in the garden. Can't blame them for that. If I would've known it was going to be such a gorgeous day, I would've planned an outdoor party. But we've been having copious amounts of rain around here lately, so I wasn't sure that'd be smart.

All the kiddos that did come seemed to have a blast romping around on the padded floor, trampoline, and big soft ramps and cylinders. It was a great place for a party and we were blessed to get to use the facility for free. My friend who made the gorgeous Hello Kitty cake, insisted on making the cake for FREE! DH does computer work for her and her husband sometimes and she just wanted to bless us back. What a wonderful gift!!

In fact, we really didn't have to pay for much of anything!! My parents and grandma paid for all of the decorations, the table/chair rental, and most of the food. I think the only thing we may have paid for was one nugget tray! We are seriously spoiled. DH's dad said to me, "Good thing she won't remember any of this, because this is one heck of a party! It would be tough to top this with future parties!" He's right. From now on, I'd like to do smaller "family" parties at home (at least until she gets old enough to care)....but I'm sort of glad we went all out for her first birthday. It was really special.

2008-04-17T12:23:00.003-05:00

I swear, Scout is determined to make her face look like that of a beaten down prize fighter for her upcoming birthday pictures. Just in the last couple weeks she has scratched & bruised her left temple on a sharp aluminum computer part of some sort, busted her lip on the corner of a book, and tore that little flap of vertical skin that hangs between her top gums and the inside of her lip. Oh yeah, she also hit her forehead on a chair pretty hard yesterday. Poor thing. Walking is dangerous business.

Cake Nazi

2008-04-16T01:02:00.007-05:00

We're going to pick up the ingredients for Scout's smash cake today while we're out and about. Ever since I started planning Scout's party in my head, I have been giving much consideration to that fun and messy tradition of letting baby tear into her very own cake while friends and family gawk and giggle. I couldn't wrap my head around letting her dive into a sugary cake frosted with grocery store buttercream icing (which mainly consists of partially hydrogenated oils and other nasty things....not to mention the mass amounts of artificial colorings), and just had to come up with an alternative. I wanted a cake that would be a sweet and tasty treat....still indulgent, without being a total shock to her system. Scout doesn't get much in the way of refined sugar in her daily diet and I can't in good conscience let her devour something that will probably end up giving her a tummy ache. I mean, it would be different if I thought she would just play in it like many babies do, but we have a GOOD eater on our hands. She pretty much shovels anything we put in front of her into her mouth frantically like we've never fed her before.

Here is the recipe I plan on using for her very own cake:

Baby's First Birthday Cake (Carrot Cake)
(Makes 1 double-layer 9-inch square cake adapted from "What to Expect")

~ 2 1/2 cups thinly sliced carrots
~ 2 1/2 cups apple juice concentrate (you may use slightly less)
~ 1 1/2 cups raisins
~ Vegetable Spray/Shortening
~ 2 cups whole-wheat flour
~ 1/2 cup vegetable oil
~ 2 whole eggs
~ 4 egg whites
~ 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
~ 3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
~ 1/2 cup wheat germ
~ 2 Tbsp low sodium baking powder
~ 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon

Prep: Preheat oven to 350 F. Line two 9 inch square cake pans with waxed paper and spray the paper with vegetable spray/shortening.

1. Combine the carrots with 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons of the juice concentrate in a medium size saucepan.
2. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer, covered, until carrots are tender, 15 to 20 mins. Puree in a blender of food processor until smooth.
3. Add the raisins and process until finely chopped. Let mixture cool.
4. Combine the flour, wheat germ, baking powder, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl. Add 1 1/4 cups juice concentrate, the oil, eggs, egg whites, and vanilla; beat just until well mixed. Fold in the carrot puree and applesauce. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans.
5. Bake until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, 35 to 40 mins. Cool briefly in the pans, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely. When cool, frost with Cream Cheese Frosting.

I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to make the frosting yet, but I know it will involve cream cheese, yogurt, fruit purees, and a small amount of sugar. We recently went to our friends' son's first birthday party and those are the ingredients that were used to make the frosting on his cake (which was delicious, by the way). We're going to have a separate fancily decorated "normal" cake for the guests that will match the party decorations. I may make a few cupcakes with the "healthy" cake batter just in case there are some other parents there that don't want their toddlers eating tons of sugar. You know, other cake Nazis like me.

Shoppin' Fools

2008-04-15T09:15:00.006-05:00

My family is in town and we are having a great time. My mom, step-dad, and grandma are totally spoiling Scout. Yesterday, we went to the mall and they spent a bunch of money on her. She got 2 outfits from Gymb0ree and 2 pairs of shoes from Str1de Rite.

Here is one of her outfits. I *heart* it.

Here is the picture the Str1de Rite employee took of Scout in her first pair of "real" hard-sole shoes. She actually walks quite steadily in them, despite the fact that she is used to Robeez. (I was just holding her hands to keep her still for the picture)

She got a brown and pink pair and a pair of white T-straps. Here are the brown pair. I couldn't find a pic of the white shoes online...

Gotta go - I'm being a rude hostess to my family. LOL :)

I'll be in Heaven

2008-04-09T12:17:00.003-05:00

My mom, step-dad, and grandma are getting here this Sunday and are staying for 2 weeks. Woohoo! My mom and step-dad have been planning on coming down for Scout's birthday for quite a while now. Then, my grandma started hinting around that she would like to be here for Scout's birthday too, so my mom asked her to come along. I'm really glad she did. My grandma had a big hand in my upbringing and I want her to get to see my daughter as much as possible.

We don't have a lot of extra space, so I had to rearrange the house a little to accomodate all the extra bodies. Our front living area (the room that used to be our dining room and that we now use for my computer desk and Scout's toys) is now a guest bedroom for my grandma. I moved the toys to Scout's bedroom, and now she just drags them out as she plays with them. My mom and step-dad will sleep in our room and DH and I will crash in the family room on the couch and recliner. Sometimes we spend the night in there if we fall asleep watching t.v. anyway, so it won't be that big of an adjustment for us at all. My mom is worried that we won't be comfortable in the family room, but I keep telling her that DH can pretty much sleep anywhere and I actually think the recliner is very comfy and sleep in it all the time.

The thought occurred to me last night that this will be like a little vacation for me. With my family here, I will get to take a shower whenever I want. Heck, I'll even be able to take a crap all by myself while they visit with Scout and keep her occupied. If I need to make a quick run to the store or something, I know my mom and grandma will jump at the chance to watch her for me. I won't want them to leave!!

DH will be working the whole time they're in town, but at least he has a normal 8-5 job now, so he will be here in the evenings. For a while, he was working some insanely long hours and I never knew if he was going to be home at 6:00 in the evening or at midnight. I guess that's why having 3 extra people here to help keep an eye on Scout is going to feel like such a luxury to me.

Funny Engrish Puzzle

2008-04-04T17:14:00.005-05:00

Here is one of Scout's toys that I find pretty interesting...

Apparently cabbage (or lettuce?) is not worthy of having its own name. And I must've missed the memo that said we're calling corn maize now.

Gulp.

2008-04-04T11:37:00.007-05:00

Last night we were hanging out with some childless friends and I was kind of picking up the vibe that one of my friends did not approve of some of my parenting choices. I mean, she wasn't really saying or doing anything too blatant...just some of her expressions made me think that she thinks I'm too much of a softy with Scout. I had attempted to put Scout to bed at 8:30, but it didn't work. I'm sure my friend could hear the screaming and whining and my shushing and singing from the other room, before I gave up and brought Scout back out to play.

My friend: Is it because we're here?
Me: Well, no - not really. Her nose is just so stuffy - she's all snorkly when she lays down and I think she's having a hard time getting comfortable. Also, I think I left the room too fast. She wasn't quite asleep when I tried to sneak out after nursing her, so she saw me and got scared and started screaming.
My friend: {rolling eyes}

Also, when Scout was exploring the room and playing, if she touched something she wasn't really supposed to or headed in a direction where she shouldn't go, my friend would say "no!" really loudly and with authority. She was kind of making a joke out of it - telling me that's how she has to get her kindergarten kids to listen (she's a student teacher) - by annunciating "no" very clearly and signing it at the same time. I guess she thought it was the appropriate thing to do, since she knows we are teaching Scout signs.

I'm just not quite as strict with Scout. Don't get me wrong, I do tell her "no" (seems like I've been having to do that a lot lately) ....but I don't usually raise my voice and if she is not getting into anything dangerous or being purposefully disobedient, I simply redirect her and offer her something else to play with. I try to see the world through her eyes. She is curious and wants to explore. I can't fault her for that. I definitely want to teach her boundaries and make her understand that there are things that she needs to stay away from and refrain from touching for her own good. I don't want to let her do EVERYTHING she wants simply to keep the peace. But I am learning that it is wise to pick my battles.

My friend would seem frustrated with Scout when she was trying to read her a story and Scout would want to grab the book out of her hand or turn the page before she was finished reading a sentence. Also done in a joking manner, but loud and authoritative nonetheless, she would say, "No! I am reading the book. WAIT until I am done." When Scout does the same thing to me, I just turn it into a game and say, "The end!" cheerfully every time she closes the book mid-sentence...and Scout giggles and we have fun.

I don't think my friend realizes that there is a vast difference between kindergarteners and 1-year-olds.

Keep in mind that we are close enough friends that if I felt like she was crossing the line with Scout or if she said something that really bothered me, I wouldn't even hesitate to bring it up. And it would be totally fine and wouldn't ruin our friendship at all because we are very comfortable with eachother.

Her actions didn't necessarily bother me or make me mad....they simply made me realize how much I've had to adjust my thinking since having a child of my own. It made me realize that I've had to eat many, many of the words I said back in my babysitting days.

I used to get irritated with Bob's mom for some of the silliest things and I had a lot of thoughts that began with, "When I have a child he/she will...." or "When I'm a mom, I won't do that, I'll...."

Ha! Man, oh man....have I had to chew up some of those judgmental sentences and gulp them down hard! It is easy for a childless person to say what they would or wouldn't do with their own children. It is easy to want to be strict and merciless with another person's rambuctious toddler when you haven't been the one to nurture and love that child since they were a teeny newborn baby. I may even go so far as to say that I'm not sure I would feel comfortable with anyone who has not had children of their own babysitting Scout on a regular basis. It's not that it bothers me for other people to correct my child....but I would much rather that gentle (but firm) discipline to come from someone who is looking through the eyes of a parent's love. I know if I had it to do all over again, I would've given Bob a lot more hugs and kisses. I would've used his playful curiosity as a tool for learning instead of mainly being annoyed by him getting into everything. I would've been more patient and understanding with both him and his mom. (in my defense, though, I was pregnant, tired, and hormonal, so I'm sure that attributed to my short fuse at least a little bit)

{Sigh} You live and learn, I suppose. Someday, my childless friend will know what it means to be a mother and she will have to munch on a lot of her words as well.

Serial Mess-Maker

2008-04-03T12:57:00.005-05:00

Okay, I halfway expected this would happen when I let Scout play with a bag of puffed rice cereal, but I needed to keep her occupied for a few minutes so I decided I didn't care about the consequences. It was really old and stale anyway.

Having a dog sure comes in handy sometimes.

Hell Yeah.

2008-04-02T08:20:00.003-05:00

As Promised...

Sorry about the profanity. But it's the only appropriate caption for this picture.
I hope you can forgive me.

No Bowling Pins Allowed

2008-04-01T11:30:00.004-05:00

I thought this symbol on the dirty mall food court high chair was interesting:

I assume that it means "No Standing"....but it's strange to me that they use a bowling pin instead of a stick-figure child or something.

***ETA***
I have mommy-brain. Some of my readers informed me that this "bowling pin" could actually be a footprint and I photographed it upside down. {smacking forehead in a very Homer-esque way}

I swear that I didn't used to be this stupid.

The Mullet Cometh

2008-03-31T18:03:00.004-05:00

I am sad to say that I have no pics of the mullet yet. I tried to get some last night after DH had it done, but it was late and DH assured me that since the mullet was here to stay for the next week, there would be plenty of time to capture it in all its glory. You see, DH just got a new job that he will be starting a week from today. It will require him to look...umm....NOT like a dirty hippy. His scruffy neck-beard and beautiful long locks will have to go. For a long time, he has said that the next time he cuts his hair short, he wants to walk around with a mullet for a while before chopping it the rest of the way off. I guess just to look like a total jack-ass....because it's funny.

Oh dear, is it funny! I cannot even look at him with a straight face. He shaved off the neck-beard and left behind some wicked-cool chops to go with his trashy new 'do. I am chuckling just thinking about it. He usually wears a hat when he makes service calls at his current job, so at least he can hide the wavy waterfall and look halfway professional when working on dental office computers right now.

I promise to post pics soon...if he'll let me.

In other news, Scout got her first real boo-boo. She's had plenty of bumps and bruises before, but nothing that has been accompanied by blood. This weekend, she fell on the concrete in front of our house and banged up her nose. I'm sure it won't be the last time.

My Weekend

2008-03-30T22:06:00.006-05:00

DH had to work about 2.5 hrs from home yesterday, so Scout and I just hung out by ourselves. I called 2 different friends to see if anyone wanted to hang out with me, but they were busy. I was REALLY needing some adult conversation. REALLY. Oh well.

After Scout's nap, I loaded the stroller into the trunk and we went to the mall to walk around. It was rainy and cold and I was tired of being couped up inside, so I had to do something. Well, when we got there and I pulled the stroller out of the trunk, I realized that I had forgotten to bring the detachable tray that fits in front. Without the tray, the stroller is next to useless because Scout is scared of riding in it without it. I think she feels all vulnerable, like she'll fall right out or something. If she has the little tray in front of her, I think she feels more like she is sitting in her highchair at home or in a shopping cart (which she loves).

Well, I did get her to ride in the stroller for a while, but not without telling her I'd buy her a pony when she's 8 years old...and even then, it was very short-lived. The tray would've also been nice to have when we went to the food court and had lunch. I could've just kept her in the stroller and put her little chunks o' food on the tray....instead of lugging a dirty mall high chair over to the table while trying to push the stroller at the same time. Public high chairs give me the heebie jeebies. And these particular high chairs were way too short for the food court tables, so poor Scout had to reach for her food and made an even bigger mess than she normally would have.

We left right after we ate because as soon as I tried to put her back in the stroller, she started screaming bloody murder. I did have the Ergo carrier with us, but frankly, I was too lazy and tired to wear her around the mall while pushing our giant stroller.

(Scout looking less than enthused at the mall food court)

We then went to Wa1-Mart to grab some ingredients for the Asian noodle salad I made for lunch today. The recipe is from The Pioneer Woman, adapted from a Jamie Oliver recipe. I chopped all the ingredients, made the dressing, and cooked the noodles last night. All I needed to do when we got home from church is toss it all together. We had some friends and their sweet kiddos over this afternoon. They seemed to really enjoy the salad. I made some orange glazed chicken in the crockpot to go with it. Oh, and I also made some banana bread, which we enjoyed with the vanilla ice cream our guests brought. I guess I was feeling particularly Betty-Crocker-ish for a change.

Oh yeah. And DH got a mullet today. Yep. A mullet. You know, like business in front, party in the back? That's right. A real mullet. More on that later.

Nurse?

2008-03-28T04:18:00.003-05:00

Scout learned how to do the sign for nursing yesterday. I am a proud momma. It is the most wonderful thing in the world to watch your child learn. I know that she has been learning things from DH and I all along, but lately the results have become much more tangible and it's so exciting. I am soaking up every moment of this stage in her life.

She first made the sign yesterday afternoon when she was nursing in my lap sitting upright. (a strange habit she's taken up lately) I had put my shirt back down when she seemed to be done. She quickly decided that she wanted more and started lifting my shirt when she remembered that there is another way to ask. She stopped tugging at my shirt, looked up at me with her great big blue eyes, and squeezed both fists open and closed. I asked with enthusiasm, "Nurse?" and she smiled a huge smile as I met her request.

Last night, we were playing in the floor next to DH, who was eating his dinner at my computer desk. Scout toddled over to me, sat on my lap and asked to nurse. DH thought she was waving at first, but I told him that she was signing to nurse. He was so proud. It was close to her bedtime, so I didn't really want to nurse her, for fear that she would fall asleep on my lap diaperless and barefoot and I'd have to disturb her to get her into bed. But I could not resist her request. How could I? I nursed her there in the floor for a few minutes and talked to her a little so she would stay awake. She unlatched long enough for me to close my shirt and quickly hand her to daddy so he could say goodnight. She wasn't pleased at all because she wanted to keep nursing, but I stuck her in the bathtub and she was happy again. After her bath, we went in her room and got her jammies on. As I walked over to the light switch with her in my arms, I asked, "Are you sleepy?" She replied with squeezing both of her fists and then rubbing her tired eyes.

My snotty-nosed dirty-faced hillbilly baby girl

2008-03-28T03:30:00.000-05:00

The weather was so beautiful yesterday. I took Scout for a long walk in the stroller. Then we came home and had some lunch and went right back outside to play. (without even wiping the food crusties off of her face) She sure can have a lot of fun with just a baggy full of hair clips and a plastic cup! Then, I strapped her on my back with the Ergo and trimmed the hedges around the house with a little pair of pruning shears. (I had forgotten to ask the lawn guy to do it)

I love spending so much time outside.

Slurp!

2008-03-27T12:50:00.004-05:00

Everyone at my house has congested noses right now. I think it's just allergies. I seem to remember hearing something about an elevated pollen count on the news. Anyway, Scout's poor nose is always clogged and I can't seem to pull out much snot with the bulb aspirator. A friend of mine swears by her electronic snot-sucker, so I went out and bought one.

She is just as terrified of this BebeS0unds Nasa1Clear battery powered aspirator as she is the bulb aspirator, but at least it's faster. I seem to be able to suck a lot more gunk out as well. The Nasa1Clear has the rather odd feature of being able to play music while sucking snot. I guess it's to make baby less scared, but honestly I think the tinny loud electronic circus music adds to the horror.

In other news, the lawn guy is at my house cleaning up our hell-hole of a yard right now....just in time for Scout's nap. So far, so good, but his ginormous industrial mower is so loud, I cringe every time he whizzes past Scout's window. Please, oh please, don't wake up, sweetie!

MIP left a sweet comment on my last post asking if I have lost weight. I am proud to announce that I have lost 26.2 lbs since October. It really should be more than that, but Christmas tripped me up and I've had other brief periods of naughtiness interlaced in there as well. All in all though, I have learned to pay more attention to portion control and I try to eat lots of veggies, drink lots of water, and eat less sweets. Last night, DH and I baked a frozen pizza and I only had 1/4 of the pizza, whereas I would've normally eaten half of it and then wished that DH wasn't around so I could eat his half too. I felt satisfied with my one large slice of pizza, spinach salad, and apple. That is a huge thing for me, as I have always been a pretty awful food addict and binge-eater.

Well, my house seriously looks like a tornado ripped though it, so maybe I should go do something productive. Every day, Scout likes to open up every single cabinet in the house and drag everything out. She tears through the place, unfolding blankets, pulling things off the coffee tables, spreading books, CD's, and magazines everywhere, ripping up tissue, banging on the front door while screaming, etc. Usually, if she is not doing anything to hurt herself and she's not ruining anything, I pretty much let her do whatever she wants just because it keeps her occupied and I love watching her explore. I hope I'm not creating a monster.

I'm not dead

2008-03-26T12:24:00.006-05:00

I've been a bad, bad blogger lately! I just can't seem to get motivated to post anything these days. The only time I have to sit at the computer for any real length of time is during Scout's one (sometimes short) nap a day and then after she goes to bed. These days, I've been using those times to either sleep a little or get things done around the house....OR just to sit on my rear and watch soap operas while eating lunch. I miss blogging so much, though. I'm going to try hard not to be as lazy about it in the future.

I should summarize the happenings around here.

-- Scout is walking almost full-time now. She went from only taking maybe 10 steps at a time sporadically throughout the day to using walking as her main mode of transportation almost over night!

-- She is sleeping soooooooo horribly lately. She developed a nasty yeast diaper rash from the antibiotics she was on for her ear infection and I was thinking that might have something to do with the crummy sleep. But her butt is almost clear now and she is still waking frequently through the night. I have resorted to letting her fuss a little longer than I used to because sometimes she will sound like she is not really "awake" when she cries and will just roll over and go back to sleep within a few minutes.

-- She says momma and (maybe) dada pretty frequently. Yesterday she said "baby" plain as day after I had pointed to a picture of a baby and said it...but I have yet to get her to say it again since then. Little stinker.

-- She has learned sign language for "more" and uses it in the correct context all the time now. I love it! She made up her own little variation of the sign and that's what we use now. I watched a baby signing video that said to go with your child's signs instead of forcing them to adapt to the real signs, so that's what we've decided to do. We're now working on "potty", "milk", "eat", and "diaper change". Sometimes I remember to sign for "mommy" and "daddy", but I'm not very consistent about it.

-- If she's in a rotten mood, Scout throws little tantrums now by flinging her head back then forward and arching her back while screaming if she doesn't get what she wants. Yeah. Fun. I particularly love it when she does this in my arms and head-butts my nose several times in the process. I think that's why I am all of the sudden getting proactive about the whole sign language thing....I know it'll help her not to get so frustrated if she has the ability to communicate better.

Here are some recent pics, for those of you who haven't already seen them on my Flickr page:

My new haircut:

Scout having fun outside:

Easter dress (made by my mom!):

Hhhmmm....what else?

-- DH has been having to work really long and hard hours lately. Maybe I'm just all wacky and hormonal from my stupid period (which came 2 weeks early...ggrrrrrr) but yesterday I was just thinking about how grateful I am to have him. He does so much and works so hard so I can be at home with Scout and we can have nice things.

-- My mom, step-dad, and grandma will be getting here soon. April 12th, to be exact. They will be staying 2 weeks and will be here for Scout's birthday! Woohoo!

-- We just hired someone to maintain our lawn for us this summer. DH HATES yard work with a passion and I can't seem to find the time to go out there to mow and weed-eat and rake, etc. I don't know where I would put Scout while I'm doing all of that and doing it during her nap is not feasible for many reasons. (including the fact that it takes 3-4 hours to mow and trim our yard with our push-mower) The guy is supposed to come within the next couple days to do a "spring clean-up". There are a ton of leaves smashed up against the back of the house, the flower beds are overgrown and ugly, the ditches are full of leaves and branches, and all the bushes need cut back. I really wouldn't mind doing all of that, but I just can't find the time! We normally wouldn't be able to afford a service like this, but we are able to use some of our tax refund for it. I'm so excited that our lawn will no longer look trashy!! (umm...which is more than I can say for my car)

That Can't Be Comfy

2008-03-16T01:03:00.005-05:00

Friday morning, Scout woke up at 4 AM (as she did on Saturday morning as well...let's hope this does not become a trend again!) and wouldn't go back to sleep until 7 AM. I tried to nurse her back down 3 times, but each time she would squirm and pop right back up, eager to leave her bedroom to explore the rest of the house. When she woke up again at 9 AM, I changed her diaper and made a funny discovery. I had changed her diaper at 4 AM after realizing she wasn't going back to sleep. Changes are alway a struggle, but can usually be made less traumatic for all involved if I give her something to busy her hands, so I gave her a little plastic ring (which is a little bauble that used to be part of a larger toy)to keep her occupied. Apparently, the ring had fallen down into her pajamas before I zipped her up. The poor gal had to lay on top of it while I was nursing her too, because when I opened her pajamas, there it was on her right side...the side she lays on when facing me to nurse. At least there was a bodysuit between her and the hard plastic ring. Oops!

What a Novel Idea

2008-03-13T22:17:00.007-05:00

Hey, did you know that getting prints made of digital photos is pretty inexpensive? I didn't know that because I NEVER have prints made. No scrapbooks or photo albums laying around this house. Nope. Not because I don't like stuff like that....Truth be told, I would love to get into scrapbooking if our budget would allow it. For some reason, I assumed that prints would be expensive and I'm pretty content just having our pics stored on our machines. But I recently had some prints of Scout made for my dad (who lives in the stone age and doesn't have a working computer, so I can't e-mail him any pics of his sweet granddaughter) and it was only $3.75 for 18 4x6 prints with one-hour processing. To me, that's pretty do-able. I guess I am easily amused, but there is something really cool about seeing the pics we've taken on photo paper rather than a computer screen for a change. I'm a dork.

In other news, Scout's favorite thing today was banging on the dishwasher. A knee-slappin' good time, I tells ya.

Look Who's Feeling Better!

2008-03-12T13:09:00.003-05:00

Scout is almost acting like her old chipper self. She woke up relatively happy this morning and is crawling through the house, wreaking havoc once again. She ate about 1/4 of a banana and 4 or 5 grains of puffed brown rice for breakfast. It's nice to have her back.

I suddenly feel the urge to deep clean the house now that she is mobile again. The floors feel so dirty and there are household chores that I could not seem to keep up with when she was sick and needed held 24/7.

I was afraid that her usual good sleep habits would be destroyed after waking up every one to two hours through the night the entire time she was sick. That's not something I want her internal clock to get used to. But I was pleasantly surprised (actually, shocked!) that she slept straight through from 8:30 PM until 6:00 AM last night and then went back down at 9:00 AM for a nap.

I think that life is back to normal. (well, you know, as normal as it gets around here)

2008-03-11T10:22:00.003-05:00

Scout has been sick for a week. Not just like sniffly-nose sick, but like the can't-keep-anything-down-high-fever-no-sleep kind of sick. Last Tuesday she puked once and had no fever. I just thought it was something she ate. I had given her some lentils and rice earlier in the day and I think that was the first time she had eaten lentils, so I assumed they didn't agree with her tummy. Wednesday, she had one BAD totally sick-smelling diarrhea diaper, but no vomiting and still no fever. I was still thinking it was the lentils. Thursday, she had a high fever, vomiting, AND diarrhea. Then I realized it was a virus and not just a sour belly from some new food. I think it was either Thursday or Friday when she had a temp of 104. If it wouldn't have gone down fairly quickly after a couple doses of Tylenol, we would've taken her to the ER. In retrospect, that's probably what we should've done.

Every day after that, she would have a few good hours when she would actually lift her poor little sweaty head off of my shoulder and she may even have enough energy to get off of my lap and play a little. I would think that she was getting better and then, boom....puke is projected onto my shirt and splatting onto the floor, while her fever would be up again. Night time was pretty miserable for her and she was waking every hour or two. Sometimes she would refuse to nurse. Instead of just turning her head away when I offered my breast, she would get angry and bite my nipple. Not fun for either of us.

DH was so extremely helpful through all of it, even though he was sick and had a fever at one point too. I honestly don't know what I would've done without him. When I would change Scout only to discover a bad diarrhea explosion, I could yell for DH to get me a change of clothes and some extra towels. He would hold Scout so I could go pee or change my clothes and scrub the carpet after being barfed on. Administering medicine and sucking snot would've been really difficult without his assistance. Thank you, DH!!

I continually put off taking her to see the pediatrician because she kept tricking me into thinking she was on the mend. I also just assumed it was a virus that needed to run its course and it would be a waste of time and not very much fun for Scout to drive 30 minutes into "town" only to be given some tylenol samples and told to keep her hydrated. I hate to admit it, but the fact that we are self-pay also plays a part in my reluctance to take her to the doctor when I feel the situation is non-emergent.

Yesterday, I broke down and took her in to see the doctor. Even though her fever was completely gone by late Saturday night, she was still puking and having diarrhea all day Sunday.

Turns out she has an ear infection on top of the tummy virus. The doc said that the infection is probably what caused the fever to spike to 104.

I feel so bad that I let it go on for so long. Who knows how long the poor thing has been suffering through the ear pain. Even though we did give her Tylenol a few times to keep the fever at bay after it reached 104, I don't think it would've been enough to relieve any pain she may have been having in her ears. She never grabbed at her ears (that I noticed), so I had no clue there was an infection.

The doctor was super nice and saw that we are self-pay, so he gave us enough samples of the antibiotic to last the full course. I am not a big fan of administering antibiotics willy-nilly. But I really didn't see another option. Maybe some of you mommas who embrace more natural remedies when it comes to treating sick kids can tell me.... What do you do when it comes to ear infections? (or any infection for that matter) I think I would've been comfortable treating it with garlic oil and skipping the antibiotics if we would've caught the infection soon enough, but I don't want to take any chances with letting an infection rage on in her little ear just because I am too stubborn to give antibiotics. It's so tough to know when to stray from medical advice in favor of a more natural approach and when to just heed the advice of the doctor and give meds instead. I really don't want to pump her full of antibiotics every time she gets sick.

I learned my lesson, though. If her fever spikes that high again, I am not messing around next time - I'll take her in to be seen by a doc.

She is doing a lot better now and has only vomited once since Sunday night. She is nursing better, but I can tell now that her ears are bothering her. Hopefully the meds will take care of that soon.

Somehow, I managed to escape this awful plague that had infected my household. Woohoo!

Here is a pic of DH and Scout* during one of her brief stints of feeling better the other day.

*Scout doesn't normally romp around in a diaper and nothing else in the winter time. I just happened to be changing her on the bed and she was taking a little break to snuggle with daddy.

Purdy Hair

2008-03-06T07:33:00.002-06:00

Scout has a fever and has diarrhea this morning. Poor little gal. She is such a trooper, though. Yesterday, her peppy spirit and will to play had me convinced that she was fine, even though she had a little diarrhea yesterday morning as well. I am very thankful that she is still nursing fine. I think she will be on the mend really soon.

She's napping right now, but here's a pic from a few days ago when she was actually on top of her game:

She has just learned to "brush" her hair. It's so cute! She starts at the back of her head and brushes it all forward into her eyes. (that is, when she is actually holding the bristles in the right direction)

Drinking From a Straw

2008-03-03T02:42:00.002-06:00

I think it would've been a nicer video if my hands wouldn't have constantly been in the shot, fumbling with the juice box. But I was all paranoid that the teeny straw would go too far into Scout's mouth and potentially jab her in the back of the throat. I need to get her a good toddler cup with a straw. Juice boxes are (obviously) not ideal for babies, but I had some natural apple juice boxes laying around and thought it might be fun for her to try one out.