Blah!

The baby does have yet another cold, even after all my efforts to not spread the germs. Thankfully, she's still pretty happy-go-lucky and only woke up twice last night. She was still able to nurse and went right back to sleep. No fever, so I am thankful.

I'm beginning to wonder if the pumping and drinking breastmilk from a bottle has something to do with her catching these colds. What I mean by that is breastmilk changes every day to meet the needs of the baby. However, she is getting the milk about 1/2 a week later since I pump for work. She gets the milk that I pump on Fridays on Monday and Tuesday. Perhaps that's why the antibiodies don't take effect right away, etc. Just a thought. I realize that she's still a pretty healthy child.

I have several book reviews that I want to do but I've just been lazy about it. It hasn't helped that I've been going to bed EARLY (like 8:45 pm last night . . . early) in order to combat the amount that I've been getting up at night and my own cold. It worked well last night, however. I got about 9 hours of sleep even after getting up twice! :)

I read a great article in the dentists office yesterday (my second round of fillings . . . again . . . blah) about easy ways to help yourself avoid getting colds. They are easy, seriously, so I need to give them my best effort.

1). Wash your hands. I do wash my hands but not as often or as completely as I should. Jordan Rubin (the Maker's diet guy) says that you should even scrub under your nails at each hand washing. A lot of diseases are eliminated today because we have better hygiene than we did years ago. So, I'm going to do my best to wash for 20 seconds in HOT water and soap more often than I am doing. One of my MAJOR pet peeves is when my husband shoves his fingers into the baby's mouth to check for teeth without washing them first, especially after just getting of the bus or coming from a public place. ARGH! (First of all, I don't want her to be sick or hurting, and second of all, if she does get sick, it's ME who gets up with her and ME who has to miss work! Ok, my rant is over).

2). Cleanse your sinuses. I do this occasionally but I want to do it every day. I have terrible sinus allergies anyway, so maybe this will help. I use a product called SinuCleanse (with a Neti pot). So far so good, I cleansed this morning and the ole' sinuses feel pretty good!

3). Exercise. I will admit that this is something I rarely do. I need to do it for my health! I love taking walks so I just need to make it a priority.

In other weird news, the scale in my bathroom is malfunctioning. Just kidding. For the first time in my adult life, I have lost weight without ANY effort what-so-ever. (I don't count after childbirth because I was so swollen with water weight, so I just had to pee to lose weight). I'm 3 pounds lighter than my pre-pregnancy weight. Weird. Perhaps if I throw in a bit of exercise for my health, we might really get somewhere!

For the Record

Some of what I write on here is just for my memory. I want to look back, in the event that we have another child, and say, "Oh, so this has happened before". We had a pretty bad night last night. Abigail woke for the first time at 1:15 am and had no interest in eating. I rocked her for a bit but she was restless so I laid her back down in her crib and she went to sleep. Weird. She was back up again at 3:15 am (at which, I just replaced the pacifier) and again at 3:45 am. Finally, around 4:30 am, when I hadn't slept for a while, I woke Andrew up to go see what he could do. He changed her diaper, laid her back down, and she slept until 7 am.

There is a good chance that she could be that she's catching my cold. So far, sneezing is the only indication that something may be wrong. Her nose isn't stuffy (yet). I have tried so hard to keep my germs to myself (hand washing ALL THE TIME) but I suppose sharing my milk with her would lead to some sort of exchange of germs too. Hopefully, if she is getting it, it will be as mild as mine or milder since she should have antibodies from the milk. I'm beginning to think that's a myth! :)

It also could be that she just wanted mommy (doubtful but possible).

She's also cutting teeth. For the record, she has one top tooth in and it looks like she's working on a few more. Is that possible? I know one more for sure but there are others that look ready to drop in.

She tried peas this weekend and seems to really enjoy them. She kept eating until the bowl was empty. That's good! So far we haven't found too many foods that she really excited about. I still am going to have her try peaches and green beans and then I'll start mixing and matching a bit since we will have tested food allergies on lots of food. I tried giving her store bought carrots (baby food) last night and she did not like it! She does like carrots so I guess only homemade will do. They are easy to make so I don't mind.

I have learned my lesson with making baby food and just need to make it in bigger batches. I thought I was making TONS of peas but it only filled up one ice cube tray. I just need to do more at once.

I'm tired so that's all for now.

Grateful Friday

Things I am grateful for today . . .

• Abigail slept through the night . . . sweet girl. She knew her mommy had a bit of a cold and let her rest!
• I am thankful that I only have a mild cold. Should be gone by next week.
• I am thankful for my hardworking husband. He is always striving to do what is right for our family.
• I am thankful for our house. . . even in its unfinished state.
• I am thankful for my job. I am about to get Fridays off and that is just awesome. I don't know another place that is more protective, loving, and in-tuned towards their employees' needs.
• This may sound weird but I am thankful for my car. I love my car, even in its junky state. I needed some hot tea this morning for breakfast and the window on the driver's side decided to work for me for the first time in a month. I will be in serious mourning when I have to get another vehicle! It is zippy (love that) and reliable (except the window).
• I am thankful for my family. I get so much support from them every day. I don't know how I would do it with out the emotional support and physical support (watching Abigail, feeding us, etc) that we get all the time. I definitely take this for granted even though I try not to! Abigail is also a lucky and blessed girl to be raised in such a wonderful family.
• I am thankful for our church. What wonderful, giving, loving, and real people are at our church. We were at a function last night and I was just amazed again at the outstanding outreach focus that our church has.
• I am grateful that it is Friday. I'm ready for a weekend to catch up and to rest!

Why I can't Do It!

So, I literally can't put Abigail to bed. I know this is because I have given in before and rocked her or held her hand going to sleep. The past two nights we've let her cry. In the back of my mind, I always say that if it gets bad enough I'll go in there and hold her hand but Andrew has stopped me. Last night she cried almost 2 hours (I checked on her at least every 10 or 15 minutes) and the Andrew goes in and bam . . . she goes to sleep.

The exact same thing happened tonight. She cried for maybe 15 minutes and I went in. No go. She was screaming before I left the room. Andrew went in to check on her and bam . . . asleep in 5 minutes with no more crying.

We're thinking it's either the separation anxiety thing (she's much more clingy to me) or she know that I will eventually give in and her dad won't! :)

She's a smart cookie.

Anyway, I'm off to bed now to try to beat this cold/allergies/whatever. It's pretty much on one side of my face. Weird. Night all!

Car Seats

I believe we're ready for a new car seat for Abigail. I'm going to measure her tonight or tomorrow to see how long she is. She has grown a lot lately (length, not necessarily weight). I never thought I would be this sad to give up the pumpkin seat. I always thought I'd be a slinger and would never use it but the girl just didn't really take to that. It was her choice not really ours. So, we used the pumpkin seat for naps during church, at work, and at Grandma's. She can still nap in the car but yikes, what will we do during church?!

Ok, any suggestions for the next car seat? I may have to go shopping for it this weekend!

Her teeth are ALMOST in. Poor thing has white blisters where the teeth are struggling to break though. I would imagine we would at least have the right tooth by next week.

I have a weird sort of touch-of-a-cold as well. Usually I am mainly affected by sinus issues which leads to a sore throat but this time my nose is just stuffy. No sore throat, etc. I am VERY THANKFUL that it is a mild as it is. I'm treating myself with loads of vitamin C, Silver, Zinc, and Garlic (that's what I had at home). So far I'm not worse than yesterday, so maybe it will hold in this mild state and then go away. I'm hopeful!

I have gotten into a very negative thought pattern lately (the grass is always greener . . .) so I think I'm going to add a feature on here called Grateful Friday, like several other blogs I read. It will be good for me!

Pics

Grandma, Mommy, and Abigail on Sunday morning. Abigail looks like she is conducting a choir.

Grandma Fairchild and Abigail

Abigail loves to pet kitties! The kitties don't love to be petted by Abigail though.

Sounds like things might be moving along to find someone to sub for me on Fridays. I am trying not to get my hopes up too high but seriously, I will admit that I am overwhelmed! I can't believe I haven't forgotten something very important since I went back to work. I'm ready for a little more time with my babe and to get my house under control!

2 Things I know are True!

I have recently come to the conclusion lately that these two things are true:

1) It's time for us to let Abigail figure out how to put herself to sleep. She's almost 8 months old and still does not sleep through the night (only rarely, like once a month), and is a torture to put to sleep. I usually end up sitting by her crib and holding her hand. It lasted two hours last night and YES, she was TIRED! We have let her "cry" in the past but I'm not consistent and usually end up giving in, which is not good, I know. We also argue about this ALL THE TIME and that has got to stop.

2) I can't do it. I simply do not have the heart to let her cry it out. She cried for maybe 20 minutes last night (with two or three checks by me during that time) and I just couldn't stand it anymore. So, if we decide to do this, it's going to have to be the daddy who puts her to sleep until she is over the worst of it. I just can't hear my child cry/scream. It's not in me as a mother. When she cries, I HAVE to do something to help her!

It's worse right now because she is having separation anxiety. She cries when I leave her, even when I hand her to Daddy or put her on the floor to play alone! So, it is worse when I am the one leaving her alone in her crib. My mommy heart is breaking for the sweet girl but she's old enough to sleep already and . . . I'm tired!

Also, I hesitate to do it now because the girl is seriously teething. Her top teeth are getting closer and closer to coming in each day. I can feel and see the difference each day in her gums. It's only a matter of time now!

Ah, the challenges of doing what's right for the baby. It never ends, does it?!

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In other news, my sister's wedding was absolutely beautiful. I am so happy for her! It was also terrific to see many family members and old friends at the wedding. We had a wonderful time visiting with some Sterling friends at Jenny's girls night on Friday and with family that we don't get to see nearly often enough! I have some pictures to post, so perhaps I will do that later today.

Hiatus!

I really didn't mean to take such a long hiatus from blogging. I guess that is what happens when you have no power, some travel, and a big wedding all in the same week. Abigail and I left for KS on Tuesday afternoon and we still had no power. It came back on Wednesday afternoon.

We had such a wonderful trip to Kansas. It was great to see old friends and all of my family again. It sure is hard to leave after such a wonderful trip like that. I will post more details later, but as for right now, I'm swamped. . . with everything! Since we didn't have power before we left our house is a mess. Andrew did manage to do ALL of the dishes, which is wonderful but everything else is bad. I'm also swamped at work so . . . more later.

Power?

We are currently without power here in Ohio. I'm at a relative's house that does have power. It's interesting to me how people are freaking out and waiting in hour long gas lines, etc. I'm not happy about losing all of our food, but really, we still have a lot of modern conveniences and everything is fine. We're enjoying the challenge of cooking most everything on our grill. Toast anyone? :)

I'm leaving tomorrow morning for Kansas and the big wedding of the year! :) We're so excited to get there any join in all of the excitement!

As soon as I reach a regular and consistent power source, I will give you some regularly scheduled blogging. I need to write a book review and have some other stuff to say about Abigail's crazy sleeping! It's been crazy!

While the power is still out folks (like you're reading this blog, if it is), grab a good book, candle, and enjoy yourself! :)

*Edited: Abigail is crawling . . . like across the room, crawling. We're in trouble now!*

Up, Up, Up, and Away!

Sorry these are kind of dark. I took them on Sunday morning, so she's still in her PJ's! So cute!

Up, Up

Up,

And Away!

I'm a big girl, pulling up and standing all by myself at the coffee table!

She took a major tumble right after this picture and hasn't managed to pull up on anything (except the crib rails) since this picture. Anyone want to guess how long it will be before she takes her first unassisted steps? My guess is before Christmas Day.

I've done well at not reading any blogs so far. I had extra time last night to clean the kitchen, fold some laundry, pray for some people in my life in need, and still get to bed early.

Here I go!

80 is the number of blogs that I have saved in google reader (it's great! If you don't use it but read a lot of blogs, use it or something like it). I don't read nearly all of those every day, since most people don't post everyday and sometimes I just scan the title or first few lines and don't read it all. By the way, I NEVER do that of a blog of someone that I know, only informational blogs, like nutrition or breastfeeding. Still, I could be spending time doing other important things. . .

I also read several other blogs that don't have rss feeds (or are password protected) and therefore cannot be tracked in google reader.

So, no blog reading (yes, I will still write, probably) until Friday morning at 8:00 am. Can I do it?! Perhaps I will use all of my free time this evening to . . . do our budget, clean, cook, laundry, read, pray, spend time with family. Who knows!

I will let you know how it goes!

Pain Management

Last night, as Andrew was giving Abigail a bath, I unloaded a ton of Target loot from my car. One of the cheap plastic bags broke and sent a glass bottle full of delicious Archer Farms juice crashing onto my foot. The bottle broke (I think when it was partially on my foot and partially on the cement in the garage) and sent glass shards into my toes and spraying out into the garage.

My reaction to this a year ago would have been to scream, cry, call for Andrew and act as if I were dying.

Yesterday, it just didn't seem to hurt as much. I calmly looked for a broom so I could get the glass away from Dewey the dog's area (I hobbled to the broom), got it all swept up, went to the outside faucet to wash the blood from my foot and headed inside.

Let's just say that when Andrew saw the blood coming from my toes he was in shock that I wasn't screaming or crying.

The difference between a year ago and now . . .

I have felt what a 10 on the pain scale feels like through drug-free childbirth, and a little cut on my foot is nothin'. This has revolutionized the way I handle pain (I think)!

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In other news, Abigail's night was better. She again went down without much of a fuss (I think I checked on her twice) but woke at midnight. I thought we were in for another long night but she slept until I woke her up at 6:30 am. She's not coming with me to work today. :( Sniff. Sniff. Time for her to have the attention and care she needs at the babysitter, instead of me ignoring her (not purposefully but you know it's hard to play with someone and answer phones/work at the same time) and her not sleeping well with me at work.

We're hosting our small group on Thursday of this week, and I can't wait! It will be so good to see old friends, even though we'll be missing those who can't be with us. I want to say a special hello to Emilee and Jason who are serving God in Nigeria (that's why they can't join us) with Back 2 Back Ministries. Check out their link in my blog roll! We love you guys and miss you. Let us know how we can best support you!

Never a Dull Moment

Abigail always keeps us guessing. She went to sleep very easily last night and has been sleeping very well lately. I headed to bed at 10:30 pm thinking she would do her usual thing and sleep until 5:30 or 6 am. Nope! She woke at midnight, 2, and 4:30 am. At 4:30, I went back to bed even though she wasn't asleep in her crib. I watched on the monitor as she played with her dog, sat up, pulled on her bumpers, crashed back to the mattress, and eventually fell asleep on her own. What a crazy girl! This is very unusual and I have no idea why she did it. She is still quite stuffy so maybe her nose or throat was still bugging her. Perhaps her top teeth are (finally!) coming in or perhaps she wanted to practice her new tricks, sitting up on her own and (yes!) pulling up to a standing position in her crib. She's already had a few crashes from this.

We are so excited about the upcoming wedding of my sister, Jenny. Abigail and I leave next Tuesday and I've got to get packing. I'm a tad bit nervous about the flight (don't worry Mom, we'll be fine), just because I haven't done it by myself yet but they are short flights so even if she cries and whines, it won't be too bad.

I'm also still looking forward to taking Fridays off at work. I don't know yet when this will happen but I'm holding out hope that it will happen soon. I can't imagine how good it will feel to have a whole day off each week! I've never had that before! :)

In other news . . . I've been thining of what I could fast in my life. Food for any extended period isn't really an option (although it would be good for me) since I'm breastfeeding and I can't take any chances with my supply dropping. I considered TV but to be honest, it wouldn't really be a sacrifice. I don't watch much anyway and what I do watch isn't something I live for or even watch regularly. The only thing I do on a daily basis really that I could give us (that would hurt) would be blogging! I'm not even considering giving up writing on my blog, although I might at some point for a few days, but I'm talking about reading other blogs. I want to do this and so I will be thinking about when to do it and for how long.

Recent Pictures

These are recent pictures of Abigail that I have taken over the last few weeks. Enjoy!

Abigail rolling the ball that her Grandpa Fairchild gave her. She LOVES to play with balls.

Carrots! Yum! She likes them.

Chicken. Yuck! She HATES it!

Abigail in her new walker. She can zoom all over the house now (downstairs on the hardwood, of course) and we even chasing Dewey (sort of) while I cooked dinner tonight. He's pretty scared of her but she can't take her eyes off of him.

Daddy feeding Abigail bananas.

Daddy teaching Abigail how to play the guitar.

She has been sitting herself up quite a bit lately and I caught her sitting up in her crib tonight as she fell asleep. She kept herself quite content for quite a while sitting up in her crib. I think the day has come to possibly move it down a notch. She's VERY interested in standing but doesn't quite have the coordination . . . yet. She is also quite a scooter. Her favorite direction to go is backwards. I will try to get a video of that soon. I have a few videos that I will try to post sometime.

A Book Review: I Don't Know How She Does It

I just finished reading this book. It is a book about and for (I suppose) working moms. In the first few chapters, I could feel a definite connection to the character in the book. Kate Reddy is a working mom who trys to appear to her world that she has it all together. The opening chapter starts out the book with lots of laughs when she is up at 2 am distressing pies in order for them to appear homemade for her daughters school the next day!

As the book continued to go along, I felt more and more out-of-touch with the character. She was a work-a-holic who was hardly ever home to tuck her children in at night (saying over and over again things like "who gets done with work by 8:30 pm?"). She was scared of her children and would do almost anything to get away from them. Her job took her on long business trips and while I identified with her hurried manner of trying to organize and hold things together, I did not identify with the get-ahead-at-work mentality.

This book is written in a way that will leave you laughing or at least chuckling to yourself, however the author points out some poinient points about working moms. For example, if a woman left a business meeting to go to her kids soccer game (for example) she would be labeled as not being dedicated enough to her job. If a man did the same thing, he would be labeled as a caring and concerned father. The main point here is that women are primarily looked towards to be the children's caretakers, so if men show interest in their children then they are praised as "involved" and "a good dad". Very interesting stuff really. I'm not sure I'm explaining it properly. You'll have to read the book.

I'm reading another interesting and challenging book that I will write my thoughts about soon.

**Update: Andrew and Abigail are both on the mend. They both are just slightly snotty (ha ha) but both seem to be quite happy and comfortable. You may be asking why I haven't come down with something. After all, I'm the one to drops off and picks up Abigail from the sitter's house (and nurses her there). I have no idea. Perhaps it is the fact that I have been VERY dedicated to getting as much sleep as possible or that I have been taking Vitamin C, Garlic, and my Pre-natal vitamins like a mad woman! Perhaps it is the fact that, on average, I consume more vegetables than Andrew. I have enjoyed lots of sliced tomatoes with mozzarella lately. I have no idea. I'm just thankful!!**

Abigail's Firsts . . .

Last night I witnessed Abigail do something new for the first time . . . she sat up by herself (twice)! I could hardly believe my eyes. Andrew was also in the room and saw the same thing I did. Perhaps she has done this before for someone else and they didn't tell me (which I appreciate because I like to think that we witnessed her first sitting up). She was on her tummy and got her legs up under her (yes in the crawling position, oh my!) and then just pushed up with her arms. As a new mommy, I was amazed! :) She is also scooting around like crazy. She mainly goes backwards but she'll get in gear soon, I think. She also LOVES her walker. It is amazing how well she has figured that out. She can zoom around on our hardwood floor in just seconds. I took pictures and video last night that I had planned to post on here but that will have to be another day.

We are at the end of the road with her coming to work with me. She has really just been coming one afternoon a week for some time. It's just not fair to her anymore. Preschool is in session here and so I had to wait until after it was let out before putting her to sleep because it was so noisy! She also needs focused attention and interaction and I can't work and play or put her to sleep at the same time like I used to be able too. I'm sad to see the end of this but I'm hoping to have Friday's off soon to spend with her. I will still get to see her and feed her on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday at lunch. That helps a lot. It's hard to leave her all day. I don't know how people do it who work really long shifts, etc!

She has been sleeping very well for having a stuffy nose. She has been going down before 8:00 pm and sleeping until at least 5 am. I consider this a pseudo sleep through the night. She's just waking up a little early! :) Andrew ended up sleeping downstairs last night so he wouldn't wake us (me) up with his fog horn nose (and it's cooler down there) and so I brought Abigail to bed with me at 5 am when she woke up. She nursed and then we snoozed together until my alarm went off at 6:10 am. I must admit that I missed Andrew but we also laughed together this morning at how well we both slept! :)

I was to concerned with getting sleep last night to stay up and watch the RNC (Shows you how political I am. My parents would be disappointed.) but I am and will be watching snippets online.

She's Growing Up

Dear Honey Bear,

Happy 7 Month Birthday to you (yesterday). You are growing up so fast and we're enjoying each of your stages. Right now you're still struggling with a stuffy nose. Thank you for sleeping so well last night. You slept until 5:30 am, which is a little early, but that's ok. We'll get you back on track soon. You are growing so tall and are really starting to move around on your own. Your new interests include the new walker we got and watching the doggy run around the house. We are thankful that you love to eat fruits and carrots (so far). We'll be working on those meats in the future. We both love you so much! You are certainly a treasure to me!

Love,

Your Momma

And the keys appear . . .

Ok, I will definitely admit when I'm wrong. I spent most of the day blaming my husband for misplacing my keys but he ended up not being an accomplice in misplacing the keys mystery. He left them where he said he did and in my haste to leave this morning, I carried them inside the house . . . with the trash!

The first thing that goes in my life when I get busy is my car. I have mentioned before that I do eat some meals in there (today it was breakfast and 1/2 of my lunch) and it is my supply center on wheels. I keep the stroller in there and diapers, etc. Well, it gets pretty messy. I try to keep it cleaned out but honestly, keeping my house clean is more important. If I have 15 minutes, I'm going to spend it on the laundry and dishes, not my car.

So, as I was searching through my trashy car, I saw a few items that needed to be brought in and discarded or cleaned out (old cereal bowls or lunch containers). My keys were in one of those bags. I broke out into a spontaneous Hallelujah Chorus when I found them (yes, I know the whole thing!).

The weird thing is . . . Andrew wrote that comment on my last post hours before I actually found the keys. He did that on the bus on the way home and I didn't find them until I was cooking supper.

Abigail's cold/teeth/allergies seems to be either improving or very manageable. Her nose wasn't terribly runny today, again no fever, and she was pretty happy until supper time. Unfortunately, Andrew told me he has a scratchy throat and runny nose. It will be an early night for all of us here!

Painful Leaving

It's good to know that I'm not the only working mom who struggles with leaving their baby every day. I have been reading other blogs lately and finding their struggles and feelings matching up to my own. It was especially difficult to leave this morning as Abigail is still not feeling the best and she was crying a bit as I left. Oh my heart was breaking! I do know that she will be ok and I will be called if I am needed!

Thanks for the tip, Cindy. I will look for that stuff today! :)

Her nose seemed better last night and this morning but as we were leaving for work, she was sneezing and she seemed to get plugged right back up again.

In other news: I have lost my keys. I believe I may have had an accomplice in losing my keys . . . my husband. I left them in my car for him yesterday when he was to drive it home from his parents' house and now I can't find them anywhere. Thankfully I found a spare car key so I was able to make it to work but my work keys are gone. Not good! I search the whole car but I'm hoping that with some help, I can find them tonight.

The House of Snot!

Well, Saturday night I could tell Abigail was a little sneezy and starting to get a snotty nose. I didn't know how the night would play out otherwise I would have gone to sleep much earlier! She woke for the first time at 11:00 pm (I was still up). I nursed her and she could hardly breathe through her nose, poor babe. So the night continued at 1:30 am, 3:00 - 5:00 am, 6 am, 7 am, and 8 am wakings. I had to teach Sunday School so Andrew stayed home with our girl.

We think it is either
1) teeth coming in
2) a minor cold
3) allergies

I'm leaning towards teeth. The gums seem bumpy and she can't keep stuff out of her mouth. Last night our night was much better (she woke twice, Andrew got her once and I got her once). She has had no fever to speak of really (once it was 99.2 but mostly it's under normal around 98.3 to 98.6) and the snot is clear and flowing!

Her main issue is that she isn't napping very long. Her longest naps are 45 minutes so she is also overly tired.

We're doing everything we know how to do to make her comfortable. She took a nap in her seat today in a steamy bathroom. She's had her nose suctioned and HATES that. We're also giving her the teething tablets and I did use Orajel last night. I hope that if it's teeth that they show up soon!

I'm very thankful that this came on her this weekend, since we're both not working today!