Back at Work

I'm back at work again today after two days off. I loved having the two "snow" days to spend time with my baby girl and have fun. We did some reading, playing, napping (her, not me), and cleaning. She's slowly but surely becoming less whiny when I leave the room. She's actually pretty content to play with my Tupperware and a few toys in the kitchen while I work. I just have to watch out for her underfoot. She loves to get into the fridge or freezer when I open it, so I usually do it pretty quickly so she doesn't have a chance to try to climb inside!! We're hosting our small group tonight so I also got a bit of cleaning done.

When Andrew and I were home together on Tuesday, we got the office closet (mostly) cleaned out during Abigail's long nap. I have TONS of filing to do but it feels good to have gotten that far. I still have a few things to get rid of that are mine.

One of the things is my old clarinet. I played that beauty for 12+ years and I hate that it just sits in the closet. I cannot see myself playing it often or doing anything with it at this stage. It is not functioning properly and I'm not sure I want to spare the money to have it fixed (just missing a pad). I guess I need to just get a quote on how much it will cost.

I got the guest room clean because we'll be having guests in a few week's time for Abigail's birthday. Her birthday is actually Monday but we're not having a party for a few weeks.

That leads me to another point. Her birthday. I generally don't characterize myself as an overly emotional person. 98% of the time I can control my tears and I RARELY cry in front of anyone, unless it's a big deal (private crying is another matter!). Anyway, I didn't expect to feel so emotional about my baby turning 1-year old. The first year held so many sweet and tender memories along with the struggles of being first-time parents. Okay, I'm going to save any more of this sappy writing for Monday! :)

A new goal of mine it to take more pictures! Abigail does so many fun things that we don't capture very well!

Pictures

Here are some pictures that I took yesterday!

Abigail at lunch time doing the "itsy bitsy spider" with me. I do some motions with it and she has caught on. I think she's either doing the sunshine or the rain here. Not sure. She even wiggles her fingers for the spider part. So cute!!

She LOVES exporing the house. It's mostly babyproof (at least the stuff she gets into) except she has started to pay attention to the stairs lately! Yikes! I caught her on the second step a few days ago.

Abigail's inquisitive face. She is still constantly saying "da" but has added lots of new sounds! Unfortunately, one of these new sounds, sounds like "Good God" but we know she's not taking the Lord's name in vain. (Is it bad that we had quite a laugh at this new sound?)

Abigail's hair is getting long! I have to keep it swept to the side or it gets in her face.

She loves looking outside, especially at the snow. It is about 3 to 5 inches deeper today!

I love this little girl. She is at such a fun age! :)

*By the way, I didn't go into work. The county where I work (which is not where I live) has issued a level 3 snow emergency until 3pm. This means you can get a traffic ticket if you're caught out driving around without an emergency. It's not worth me going in after 3pm anyway, so I'll see if I can get everything done tomorrow. If not, I guess I'll be in some of Friday. We'll see. Ok, it's just now 2pm and I've got to go get into the shower!

Snowed In

This is the second day that we have been snowed in at home. It wasn't terrible yesterday but I just didn't want to chance driving with a baby. . . not only the whole issue of how long it would take to get to work but the chance of sliding off the road.

Today is worse. I should have gone in yesterday! Andrew decided he just couldn't take it anymore (more of this later) and decided to head in! Ah! He has a very long commute (usually an hour). I talked to him about a few minutes ago and he had made it to work. Crazy man!

I hope the snow lets up so I can go in at lunch. I'll have a long busy day tomorrow if I can't get out today. Plus, I'm getting cabin fever!

Desert-Like Thirst

No, I'm not talking about anything spiritual. Believe me, I wish I was. I have had an issue lately with thirst lately. I know that there could be some underlying medical condition that could be causing this but to be honest, I just don't think that I drink enough. I woke up at midnight last night and had the urge to run to get a cup of water, I was so thirsty. I couldn't even wait for the cup to fill before taking a drink.

Also, does dehydration cause bad dreams? I have had some horrible ones lately. Last night I had a dream that I was driving around a dark parking lot (who knows why) with Abigail in the backseat. A guy popped out of the shadows and started firing a full-automatic rifle at us. Due to my magnificent driving, I was able to get us both out alive but then the dream continued and we were on the run from this dude for a long time (with my mom). It wasn't fun!

That's all. This isn't very deep but hey, it's what is going on in my world at the moment. Ok, I'm off to refill my water bottle!

One Week!

I cannot believe my baby girl will be one in only one week! I am feeling very sappy. I was just remembering how I started having contractions this week last year, thinking that they were just "cramps" and how Andrew kept telling me "Yeah, those are contractions." I guess that is why I was already dilated to 7 cm when I got to the hospital. I had been in labor (though not active) for a whole week! I was only supposed to be working 1/2 days, due to blood pressure issues but I really worked from about 9:00 am to 2:00 pm. Now that I look back, why did I do that?

Our almost one year old is working on some serious teeth! She really doesn't seem to be bothered much by them. By that, I mean she isn't crankier than usual. She just chews on EVERYTHING and I can feel some major movement in her upper one-year molars. It also seems like her eye teeth are working their way down on one side. We'll see what comes through.

We have a pretty busy week coming up. I wish my house was cleaner to start out with but we'll get there. Andrew has Bible study tonight, nothing tomorrow night (yeah!), two meetings with people on Wednesday night, we're hosting our small group on Thursday, and Friday I'm going to a Girls' Night party while Andrew hosts a guys night at our house (and babysits). Crazy, huh?! Good thing we're not actually having Abigail's party for a few weeks.

We're planning on taking one year pictures this weekend. Should be fun!

Grateful Friday

I haven't done one of these in a while. Here it goes:

• I am grateful for our employers. We both work at great places!
• I am grateful for my husband. He is so much fun to be around. I am more thankful everyday that I get to be his wife.
• I am grateful for our fun baby girl. She can be a handful at times but she is an absolute gift from God and I'm also blessed to be her mommy.
• I am grateful for my mother-in-law who brought me yummy food (greek food) and kept me company while Andrew was gone to Kansas.
• I am grateful that we found a renter for our house so quickly. We'd still like to sell it, since it is just so hard to manage from here, but these people seem good and will (hopefully) be respectful of the house.
• I am grateful for my grandparents. They are wonderful Christian people and I hope that I can be like them (when I grow up). :)

We have had a good day together (Abigail and I). She didn't wake me up until 8 am! She has been waking up and then just sitting in her crib entertaining herself for a while. I don't know when she woke up exactly but she was pretty tired by 9:15 am, so I figured it was before 8. I fed her breakfast and she went down easily from a nap. While she napped and a bit after she woke up, I worked on making more baby food. I made caulifower (this was her first taste - she's NOT a fan), kale (yes, she eats this regularly), and raspberry/strawberry. The raspberry/strawberry smelled so good that I had a few bites. It was totally delicious! :)

We headed to Steinmart to exchange some jeans for Andrew. Abigail got LOTS of attention and comments. It's funny. Lots of women will stop and talk to her but if they walk away from her she does her little whining bit like "Hey, I want you to talk to me some more".

She's napping right now. I have discovered in recent weeks that I don't think she will be one to have a "lovey". I've tried to get her attached to a satin toy in her crib but she's just not interested. However, what does work is putting a pacifier in her mouth and giving her one to hold. I've found out that she falls asleep easier that way.

Ok, I'd better start supper! Have a good weekend!

Getting Ahead? Is it possible?

I feel like I struggle to "get ahead" every day. I was feeling pretty good this morning. I had cooked a nice meal last night, cleaned up the kitchen, had the laundry mostly done and put away, exercised (whoo hoo!), and gotten to bed at a decent hour. This morning I even managed to get up before Andrew (it was 6:10 am but I'm making progress) and made our lunches (which he forgot, but that's beside the point), and made us both breakfast. Doing stuff like that makes me feel like I'm actually getting somewhere then . . .

I walk into our office. There are papers thrown everywhere, things are so disorganized, and I can't find anything I'm looking for. No, the child has not made a mess in there, it is from me and Andrew. I started to work on it this past weekend but got a little disheartened when I realized how long it was going to take me!

Andrew is, in no way shape or form, a cleaner. He does help out around the house but would never dream that the counters needed to be wiped off, the microwave cleaned, the sheets changed, the bath scrubbed, etc. He will do the dishes when they pile up so high that you can't get to the sink! I attribute all of this to the fact that we are generally opposites. He's not lazy, he's just a big picture kind of guy. I'm into the details and usually can't see beyond what's right in front of me.

My point here is the office is his domain. There are pieces of equipment in there that I couldn't tell you what it was to save my life. I NEED his help to clean it. It's hard to clean and organize things that you have no idea what they are.

Anyway, I'm getting a little off topic. Does anyone else feel like they never can get ahead? I'm mainly thinking of cleaning at the moment!

In other news: the main reason why I don't have a lot of time left for cleaning is that I spend the majority of my evenings making baby food. Our daughter is eating us out of house and home. Seriously, she consumes like 8 cubes of food per day. I recently got a new baby food cook book (or two) thanks to the recommendation of Amanda. I'm SO excited to try some of these. Most of them use ingredients (carrots, peas, or sweet potatoes) that Abigail already likes but it mixes in other foods. I can't wait to try them.

"Gospel Truth"

This is a great "video" (actually, just audio). Listen carefully. I have been convicted lately of how important it is to use the Bible filter in every area of life!

I'm a nerd

I'm a total nerd. I actually like tax time. I actually like doing the turbo tax thing and getting it all taken care of. Of course, we have never owed money at tax time, otherwise I might feel differently.

I have also really enjoyed doing our budget, keeping quicken updated, tracking what we spend where and balancing everything.

Like I said, I'm a nerd. That's all I have to say today.

Reflections

I'm feeling very reflective this time of year. No, it's not Christmas time, I know. These are the weeks leading up to when my daughter was born. A lot of my thoughts have been about how if I had known what a newborn was really like (or maybe it was just mine), I would not have worked up until days before my due date. I would have slept a lot more, gone to more movies, gone out to eat much more, before she was born. I would have had all the things we needed in the car and I wouldn't have EVER stayed up late, just in case the baby came that night. Which is what happened to us!

I'm remembering the sweetness of that time. She was still an unknown person to everyone else but me. I remember feeling uncomfortable with those constant kicks in the ribs, the aching hips, the inability to even roll over in bed. After she was born, I missed them. Silly how those things work.

I remember getting her room perfectly ready. Thinking that she would enjoy calmly sleeping in her crib. Little did I know that it would take us 5 weeks to even think about getting her to sleep in her crib. She mostly slept in my arms in the easy chair (not comfortable!) or in her swing. I'll know better what to do next time! I had all of her clothes washed and ready for her to wear.

I can now look back on the weeks leading up to her birth and the few weeks after her birth with a kind of sweetness but if I'm honest with myself, and with you, they weren't easy. After her birth, I felt shocked that my whole world had changed so drastically. I felt like I would never have a moment of rest or relaxation again. I now know that all things shall pass. Babies grow up and learn to sleep. I remember looking in her closet the first week, as I sat there nursing, and desperately clinging to the hope that we could all get out of the house and go to church on Sunday. I had her outfit all picked out that first week. We did it, too. We went to church with her when she was 8 days old. I was so nervous about it too! I was so nervous that I would have to nurse at church. They even have a designated room for that. I was so silly!

I'm thankful that a year later, the memories of the sweet times when she snuggled constantly and slept a lot and was easily pacified with some milk are outweighing the blues and the shock of a new baby. I do hope that I can hold on to those other memories, just a bit, so that I can remember that it will all pass when we decide we're ready for another child. All of the memories are good ones because they all serve a purpose.

Most of all, I am remembering and am constantly thankful for the blessing of a wonderful little girl that God has given us. She is a joy to be around, fun and playful. She is healthy and growing. In fact, upon reflecting on year #1, the only time she has made a trip to the doctor was for her rash in June. I hope that I'm not jinxing her good health (don't want her to be sick for her birthday!) but I don't think I will. I love seeing her smiling face every morning and hearing her say over and over again "da". She is such a joy to me and I'm so blessed to be her momma!

Prayer Needed

I know some of you probably already read this blog, but if you don't, the lady who writes it and her newborn daughter really need prayer. The baby was born with pneumonia and other complications and needs prayer. See this link to her blog for more information. www.kellyskornerblog.com.

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I'm surviving without Andrew this weekend. I must admit (for the 100th time) that I really don't like being alone. I like people and conversation, etc. I suppose that's why I'm considered an extrovert even though I have a fairly reserved personality.

It's hard to go out with a baby in these brutally cold temperatures and harder yet to do it when she goes to bed between 6 pm and 7 pm. Thankfully I'm finding lots that needs to be done around the house. Andrew and his dad are getting things fixed and cleaned up in our rental house, so that is great. The latest news from them is that they will be staying an extra day to finish up the work they have started. I wish I could have gone with them to help clean etc, but it is definitely not feasible to make a quick trip with a baby. She was a handful on our last Kansas trip. I suppose it didn't help that we were all sick!

Thanks for reading and thanks for praying!

All Alone Again

I'm going to be all alone again this weekend. Andrew and his dad are headed to Kansas to work on our rental house (which we're trying to sell and/or rent at this point). Abigail and I will be hanging out by ourselves until Monday or Tuesday. I'm sure we'll miss the big guy!

Updates:

• The soup was pretty good. If I make it again, I'm going to add some other ingredients, like tomatoes but it was good for the first try. I put some garlic, onion flavoring, other spices and it tasted pretty good.

• I actually got up earlier this morning (not quite at 6:00 am yet), and made my lunch, Andrew's lunch, and Andrew's breakfast. Abigail was awake by the time I got back upstairs so I fed her before my shower today. She does so well hanging out in her crib with a few books while I shower. I still didn't get the car loaded up or my breakfast eaten, so it would be to my advantage to try to not hit the snooze so much. I'll keep trying.

• I'm glad I have the day off today. Lots of laundry needs to get done and my favorite thing . . . playing with my daughter!

5:00 am Club?

I'm reading a great book called "Shopping for Time" that was given to me for Christmas. The first concept in the book to help you find more time in your day is to get up earlier. Right now I usually get up around 6:15 am for work. I shower, do my hair, get dressed, get baby awake and dressed, nurse baby, bundle baby, grab breakfast any baby supplies and head out the door. Most days I can get out the door by 7:20 am but it's a stretch. Here's a confession. . . most days I forget my own coat! (not today though . . . brrr!)

Andrew gets up before me. His daily goal is to get up by 5:30 am so he can get an extra hour or so in everyday. His company has flex time, which is SUPER nice, so he can take a day off here and there and not have to take actual vacation time. Most days he gets up around 5:45 am or 6:00 am.

My most recent frustrations in life include, forgetting things at home that I need at work, forgetting things for the baby (like diapers in the diaper bag), not having lunches for Andrew or myself, eating pre-packaged breakfasts for convenience, eating on the go, etc. I have been hit with the realization that I would be able to save myself time, frustration, lots of money, etc, if I only got up earlier.

I could pack the car while the baby is still asleep. I could make a healthy, nutritious breakfast and eat it at home, instead of in my car (which I do Every. Single. Day.). I could put my make-up on at home, instead of at work. I could pack lunches for Andrew and myself (I usually take mine) saving us LOTS of money.

I have not mentioned my plan to Andrew, or anyone else for that matter, because then I will have to do it. I have been getting up slightly earlier in order to read my Bible, but it's just not enough time. So, I'm telling everyone. I am not, however, planning on joining the 5:00 am club, like the book suggests. I just cannot lose that much sleep. My goal is to wake up (and get up) at 6:00 am. I'm just going to try it. I do have my alarm set for 6:00 am, but it is battery operated and I have the snooze button pressing down to an art. I can do it in my sleep (seriously). The baby is no longer waking at night (very very rarely) and so I can't use that as an excuse.

I have been convicted of the fact that taking care of my family should be a top priority and I'm just not quite making it. I should be providing them (ok, Andrew since I already do this for Abigail) with healthy and nutritious breakfasts and lunches. This will help. I hope I can do it. Feel free to hold me accountable! I'll try to let you know how my new quest is going from time to time.

Today is a Special Day

Today is a special day in our family.

• It is my dad's birthday! Happy birthday, Dad! I wish we could be there to help you celebrate. Isn't it nice that I'm not mentioning your age?
  
• It is my in-law's anniversary. 31 years. Yeah!
• It is also my mother-in-law's parents' anniversary. Grandpa is rejoicing with Jesus but we can still celebrate the wonderful effects that their marriage is continuing to have on this earth.
• It is also our beautiful, ornery dog's birthday. He is four years old today. I reminded Andrew of all this last night and he said "You didn't buy him anything. Did you?" Actually, I didn't. Poor dog. I'll give him some real meat for supper and his other gift was getting to stay in the house all day. It's too cold to leave him outside.

No Reports

Well, I don't have a picture to post (yet) and I can't tell you how the bean soup was because we didn't eat it! When I got home last night, I realized I had set the crock pot on warm and not low so it didn't cook at all. I cooked it during the night and plopped it in the fridge this morning so it will be nice and flavorful for supper I didn't have time to post a picture last night because . . . I WENT SHOPPING!

I cannot recollect the last time that I bought that many clothes at once. It certainly helped that I was shopping with Christmas money. It's easy to spend other people's money and not your own! Since I haven't shopped (at all!) since May, it was a big treat. I went after Abigail was in bed (about 7:30 pm) and there was no one in the stores. It was great.

I found one pair of pants and several shirts for myself. I couldn't resist going to the children's section and I'm glad I did. I found a bunch of great winter stuff on sale so I bought some 24m clothes for Abigail to wear next winter. I found a few cute summer dresses in the 18m size for her to wear this summer.

So, hopefully I'll get my act in gear and be able to report on the soup and get a photo tonight. Oh, and since I didn't get home until almost 10 pm, the house has fallen in disarray again.

What's for dinner tonight?

Thanks for the comments on my hair. I will try to post a picture tonight. I have to have one taken of me first! I have a few from Christmas but I don't think I had my hair done, so they don't count!

I have really struggled with what to fix for suppers and getting lunches made since Abigail has been born. I used to make a meal plan and grocery shop once a week. It was a breeze. Now I come home and scramble for what to make. Not fun or easy! One of my new goals is to make a meal plan. If I do this, then I know I will have sufficient ingredients, will cut back on wasted food and save money, have leftovers for lunch, and have things to make Andrew's lunch (he doesn't like leftovers). Must do this!

I have been trying to make most of our food from scratch. I have always loved to cook but with my busy life, I tend to turn to convenience food (sometimes junk) before making things from scratch. I am excited to say that I have been doing pretty well with this.

Believe it or not, I actually soaked beans overnight, and in my crockpot at home sits simmering a lovely 16 bean soup for supper. I also made another package of beans from scratch a few months ago. . . not canned! It's really pretty easy, cheaper, and more nutritious than the canned beans. I have several other things mentally planned to do with my crockpot. If things turn out well, perhaps I'll post some recipes on here.

I'll tell you how the soup turns out!

Hair Help!

I am finally getting my hair cut next week. I haven't had it cut since early October and it wasn't a very good cut then. A good cut lasts longer!

These are the reasons it has been so long . . .

It costs me about $40 every time I have my hair cut! I am spoiled by growing up with Kansas rates of about $12 for a GOOD hair cut. I have a $20 monthly beauty budget, so I have to wait at least every other month to get it cut. This is fairly easy to stick to, actually.

I also just don't have the time. The place I like to go is by my job, which is no where near my house. It is difficult to figure out when to do it with the whole breastfeeding/pumping issue but I have a window of opportunity next week.

So, what should I have done? I'm just tired of the same old thing. I need a cut that will look good at least two months, be stylish, easy to do, and look good on me. I am thinking about getting it cut the way I did two cuts ago (was that really all the way back in August?) because I'm getting the same girl who did it that time, and she was fabulous. I (sometimes) wish that someone else would just tell me what would look good.

I also don't like to be stuck in the same rut. I mean the same hairstyle for years and years is no fun for anyone, especially the people who have to look at you! :)

Anyone else feel like this? Advice? Perhaps I'll get ambitious and post a before and after picture. Oooh!

Productivity!

This weekend has been full of productivity on my part. It all started on Thursday when I cleaned the kitchen because we had someone coming over. It ended up that this person cancelled on us so I was left with a clean kitchen, not bad.

I got a cleaning bug on Friday! I mean I moved chairs, couches, the coffee table, etc to vacuum under them (and it was needed). I washed the couch slip cover, did about 5 loads of laundry, cleaned out the dishwasher, scrubbed the counters, cleaned the microwave and cook top, cleaned the oven door (need to clean the actual oven), swept and mopped the kitchen, etc, etc.

It is amazing how one clean room leads into others. It feels so much easier to keep the kitchen and living room clean rather than to get it clean from an utter mess, so I'm determined to keep it up. My next project is the entry way. The paint needs touched up (from when we had the drywall patched, almost 2 years ago), the door needs painted (for the first time), and the trim needs caulked. I have the door taped so it's ready to be painted. That's half the battle, I hope.

This weekend Abigail has definitely shown her dad and I that she's pretty spoiled when it comes to naps. She hasn't napped well all weekend. The only time she does is when I almost nurse her to sleep and the quickly lay her down. I DO NOT want to get into the frustrating habit again. I KNOW she can put herself to sleep in her crib and so I need to let her do it. She actually didn't nap on Friday morning because I refused to coddle her to sleep. Oh, she knows what she's doing. I ended up going into her room many times to pick up the 10+ pacifiers that she has thrown out of her crib. She knows that will get me to come in. I decided to be smarter than the 11-month-old and clipped a pacifier to her blankie, which she won't throw out of the crib. No excuse for me to go in there now. She's currently "trying" to go down for a nap. She was SO drowsy while nursing but perked up when I laid her in the crib. We have got to get back into our good rhythm of napping. She got a bit spoiled on our recent trip to KS (we let her sleep with us one night!) and so we've got to mean business! It's for her own good. She's so much happier when she's well rested (and when momma's not utterly frustrated by hours of putting-to-sleep).

Well, have a great week everyone.

Ah, a semi-clean house!

I'll try to not be so boring!

Wow, most of my recent posts are quite boring. Don't you agree?! Anyway, I'll try to not be quite so boring in the future. I'm finally feeling back to normal and even have a clean kitchen and living room at home. The upstairs is close to being clean so I should get that accomplished tonight. Yeah! So, in attempt to hold your interest (ha ha), I'll post more pictures from our Christmas Adventure!!

Grandpa's New Tractor (my dad)

Me, Abigail, Grandpa Fairchild (my dad), and Uncle Brett (my brother) by the new tractor.

Abigail and her grammy (my mom)!

Uncle Brett reads to Abigail. She seriously sat there for like 10 or 15 minutes. A record!

Grandpa Fairchild reading to Abigail.

Abigail and her new monkey that her grandma (my mom) made her for Christmas. She's not so sure about it yet.

Abigail is getting reacquainted with Aunt Jean and Uncle Joe (my Great Aunt and Uncle).

Grandma is reading to Abigail while Mommy and Daddy rest!

Grandpa and Abigail watch Sound of Music before bed. She was so mello! Andrew and I were still not feeling good so she was pretty used to Grandpa and Grandma by this point. I think Grandpa was in heaven here!

The day we left Kansas. Why am I the one who looks so bad when we were all sick? Abigail was sharing her pacifier with Daddy (made for a sweet picture!). She been trying to share it with lots of people and I'm constantly trying to stop her!

Thankfully not round 2!

I got a call yesterday afternoon from our babysitter saying that Abigail had thrown-up her lunch. Actually her very words were, "Her flu has returned." I thought, "You-have-got-to-be-kidding-me". After the last few weeks we've had with a very bad traveling experience, the nasty flu (which is even nastier when traveling, believe me), and now a round of colds, I just couldn't believe it!

I picked her up and she didn't look all that great. I got her home and took her temp and it was normal! Yeah! I put her down for a nap and she slept a bit. She never did get sick again and we ended up giving her milk and food for supper. She proceeded to sleep all night! Yeah!

I guess it was just an upset stomach and not a bug and I am SOOOOO thankful! She is grinding her teeth constantly so I'm wondering if she's working on her one-year molars. Also, since she has had this cold, it could have been drainage. Those are my theories anyway.

So, like a good mom (just kidding), I carted her off to daycare this morning since she seemed fine. We'll see what the day brings!

The Dilemma

If you're a man and don't want to read about breastfeeding and pumping, stop here!

I'm having a milk crisis (again, I know). I have been hanging on by a thread but this may be the end of the road. No, not the end of the road for breastfeeding but the end of the road for breastmilk being the ONLY liquid that Abigail has ever consumed (a few sips of water here and there).

I just cannot pump enough for her to drink and she's not drinking any more than usual. The main problem was that darn flu. Not only could I not keep any liquids in my body, but I was also breastfeeding through it (expelling more liquids), and traveling 15 hours in the car . . . with a baby . . . and probably got dangerously dehydrated. I can only pump between one and two ounces at a time.

I have tried everything . . . drinking more water, drinking the special tea, eating more oatmeal, taking a fenugreek supplement. Nothing is working at this point. If you have suggestions beyond what I have listed above, I'd love to hear them.

I wanted to make it to her first birthday before trying juice or cow's milk but we might not make it. I have about three or four bags frozen so we might make it. We'll see.

Yes, I know I'm being radical here . . . that most kids drink juice way before now but this was a goal I set and really wanted to make. We'll see what happens.

Breastfeeding seems to be going just fine when there is no pumping involved. Abigail seems satisfied after I feed her, etc, so we'll keep going for a while with that, until self-weaning occurs (or a reasonable amount of time passes).

I have to admit . . . I cannot wait to be done with pumping!!!

Happy 2009

I'm still not back in the swing of things. Our house is slightly less messy than it was when we arrived but I have a long way to go. Abigail and I have minor colds too so I haven't been as energetic as I have the potential to be. Ugh! I'm ready for spring. Anyway, I don't have any resolutions per se but I'm hoping 2009 to be a year in which I continue to grow (by leaps and bounds) in my walk with my Lord and in all my other relationships. That's what it is all about, after all. That is my hope. I love this song and wanted to share the lyrics.

No sweeter name than the name of Jesus.
No sweeter name than I have ever known.
No sweeter name than the name of Jesus.

You are the light to my heart and my soul.
You are the light to the darkness around me.
You are the hope to the hopeless and broken.
You are the only truth and the way.

I love the new year. I think it might be my favorite time of year. It just feels fresh and full of opportunity. I suppose I should feel this way at each new day too.

Happy 2009!

Grateful Friday

I'm grateful for:

• Abigail's long and peaceful naps today.
• Getting to see my family last week.
• Having the day off.
• Fun times playing games with family.
• Getting my Christmas decorations put away.
• A new year!
• Abigail's 11 month birthday (today!).