disposable diapers are not meant to be washed

Gross gross gross. I'm reasonably sure it was a clean one. A rogue diaper probably slipped into the laundry basket when I was taking a diaper out of the box, and then it slipped from there unnoticed into the washing machine.

Then I went back to the washer when the cycle was done, and there plastered to the wall was the diaper. The very VERY fat and full of water diaper. I picked it off, and marveled at how funny it looked so full like that, then noticed that a tiny edge of the... "seam" for lack of a better word... had come undone. This of course meant that inside the washer was a large quantity of those fun little gel pellets. Yay.

Thankfully, the seam seems to have ripped in the second spin cycle, so they were somewhat in a pile. And they did come right off of the clothes that they were on. Then I gathered up what I could of the remainder and threw those away, then ran an empty rinse cycle to catch the last few that I couldn't see.

It could have been worse, definitely. It could have come undone in the wash cycle as opposed to the rinse spin. It could have been some wool. It could have been a DIRTY disposable diaper. I've learned my lesson, though. From now on, no more just dumping the whole laundry basket into the wash w/o looking it over first, item by item.

that parenting preparation email was right

A while back, I got an email with a list of things to do to check and see if one were ready to be a parent. It had a list of things like stick a fish stick in the back seat of your car and leave it there for a week, and put a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in the VCR. One of the items was to prepare you for feeding a baby. It said to cut a small hole in a gourd, hang the gourd from the ceiling, and swing it. Then prepare some baby food, and try to spoon it into the swinging gourd. I originally read this, and laughed, but thought to myself, how much can an infant really move when you're feeding it?

Then, this past week, I was feeding my 12-month-old. I was just sitting on the couch with her food and she was standing up on the floor and I was feeding her that way. When she was getting full, she started swaying dramatically from side to side, but still had her mouth wide open to accept another bite. I was unsuccessful in getting the spoon into her swaying mouth, and suddenly remembered the email from long ago.

I got back home today after visiting my family for a week. It was a very tiring trip. My nephews are now 4 (next month), 2.5 and 1.5, and they are exhausting to be around. My family kept telling me to "just wait" and one day Lydia would be just the same. But I'm hoping that the parenting techniques I'm learning from Raising Godly Tomatoes will pay off. It's a very Bible-based way of parenting, and one of the keys is to start early, which I believe I have done with Lydia. I believe I'm seeing results, but people who aren't around us all day just think that it's her personality, or it's because she's a girl, or it's because she's still young, etc. Hopefully it'll become more evident to strangers as she gets older that she knows how to listen and obey -- the first time I ask her to.

I'm once again about to go through a decluttering phase. Every so often, our apartment just gets to feeling too cramped and crowded and there's "stuff" everywhere and it starts driving me crazy. I'm going to start in our bedroom, since in all my other decluttering phases, I still haven't managed to thoroughly go through our dresser drawers. There's no doubt clothes in there that I have forgotten I even have, and that no longer fit me, and that I probably won't wear again even if they DO fit me, etc. Hopefully I will be able to clear out a bunch of drawers and put different things in them that currently don't have a home, which will at least get things out of sight. Right now the task seems elephant-sized, but I just have to remember to "eat" the elephant one bite at a time.

12 month stats and birthday party highlights

We had Lydia's 12-month appointment today. She's doing fine, looks healthy, developing normally. She is now 27.5" long and staying on the "standard" percentile curve for length, but she's now only 15 lbs and 2 oz. Her weight curve is getting a little flatter, but her doctor said that if you just look at her, she doesn't look underfed or anything. I like to say that Lydia is "fleshy." We went briefly over some other miscellaneous things (like what's good to eat) and came home.

We celebrated her birthday on Sunday when hubby's parents came down for a visit. There are a TON of pictures of the party on her photo page (see the new link to the right). Her daddy helped her open her presents. She was intrigued and excited at being able to "play" with paper. Then we got the cake for her. I made her cake (homemade carrot cake w/ homemade cream cheese icing) because I wanted a tasty cake. She tried to grab the cake instead of blow out her candle, so her daddy had to help her with that. Then we cut her a little piece for her and put it on a plate on her high chair. She promptly smooshed her fingers into the frosting, then licked them off, then repeated this until the frosting was all gone. Then she picked up the whole piece of cake with BOTH hands and was going to eat it that way. She got about one bite off like that and then set it back down again. The rest of the cake-eating was pretty methodical. She was so serious about it. lol

This may be my last post for a while. This weekend, I plan to go visit my family for about 10 days. It's been since August since I've been up there so I'm really looking forward to being able to see everyone.

My home business is going slow for now. I did finish some candy-cane striped longies (wool pants that go over a cloth diaper instead of a diaper cover) and hoped that someone would want them for Christmas, but no bites so far yet. I also went ahead and listed all the rest of the yarn I had planned for longies as you-pick-the-size listings to hopefully have them sell better. I also have plans for something else that will be quick-ish to make when I come back home. Then soon after I come home, I'll need to order some yarn to start in on my play food items.

one year ago today

One year ago today, I hadn't yet found out that my little child was a girl.

One year ago today, I was completely surprised by going into labor a few days early (since most of my family went late with their first babies).

One year ago today, hubby and I were running last-minute errands, even while I was in labor.

One year ago today, a friend took some VERY last-minute maternity portraits of us.

One year ago today, we packed too much stuff to take to the hospital.

One year ago today, I knew that the 9 months of anticipation and waiting and wondering would be over soon, but a new phase of wonder would soon begin.

One year ago today, I never imagined that the next year would go by so quickly.

One year ago today, I started to capture a new little life in pictures, and wish I had taken more.

One year ago today, I finally met the little one whose foot I had been playing with while she was inside me.

One year ago today, I heard my child's voice for the first time.

One year ago today, I was surprised again by a newborn with a lot of hair since hubby and I were somewhat bald.

One year ago today, I first counted tiny fingers and toes in amazement.

One year ago today, I nursed a baby for the first time.

One year ago today was filled with dreams and unknowns and bonding yet to be, and this past year was filled with a love so intense it sometimes made me cry.

One year ago today, my little child was born. May her next year and all the years of her life be filled with unending love and blessings. Happy Birthday, Lydia.

please don't call me again, that is not my name

So hubby and I moved into this apartment in July, and got a phone number. Most "new" phone numbers nowadays are recycled, and ours recently belonged to someone, and we started getting a BUNCH of calls that were obviously from debts gone bad from the prior phone number owner.

I answered the ones I could, and they'd take me off their list w/ no problem once I explained that I am not so and so. Occasionally I'd get a phone message that was automated, and which left me a phone number to call back. One of these happened the other day and I happened to answer it so I could get the whole number (it wouldn't get it all on my machine for some reason).

So I called. The rep wanted my name and zip code, so I gave it to them and said but I'm not the person you're looking for, etc. He said something about putting a block on the file until they get updated information. He put me on hold for a bit, then came back and said that they're sending out a letter to that person requesting updated info, but that they can't stop the calls because they're automated.

O....kay..... so I say (very calmly, I might add), "And what happens if you can't get a hold of her? Am I to just receive these calls from now until forever? Obviously this is a debt you're trying to collect on, right?" He somewhat weakly said "yes." lol. I continued, "I am not the person you are looking for and do not want to receive these calls anymore. Continuing to call me is a violation of the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act."

(That is Dave Ramsey's "magic phrase" I was talking about. lol. I've listened to his radio show for long enough that I knew it applied in this situation.)

So the guy is silent for a minute and then puts me on hold again. Then when he comes back, just like magic, he says "OK I've put in a request to get these calls to stop going to you, but it does take 5 business days for it to be completed, so if you get a call in the next 5 days then please just understand that we are working on it."

Yay. :) They can't be stopped b/c they're automated, my FOOT! lol. There is always a way for them to be stopped.

Now I may have to call a bank. I get "automated" calls from them, too, but only about once every 3 weeks. Just enough to annoy me.

she loves for me to scare her

She is so cute when I scare her. She jumps, then lays her head down on whatever she's pulled up onto at the time and grins. I could describe it more, but here, I'll just let you watch the video. :)

squishy lovey blanket

Woohoo, my store is now open! It is here, and I spent my traveling time over Thanksgiving weekend crocheting like a fiend to get my stocking levels higher than just 1 per item. I'm really excited to finally be opening my store. Eventually I'll be adding tie-dyed prefold cloth diapers (aiming for March) and crocheted play food (aiming for January). The play food seems to be in demand right now, and it's been so fun thinking up "new" foods that I haven't seen for sale yet, and working out how I'll pattern them.

As for the squishy lovey blanket, Lydia has a little tiny blanket that's red satin on one side, and a slightly furry cow print on the other (with her name and birth stats embroidered on it) that my mom got for her shortly after she was born. I took her crib bumper out a few months ago, but she had been using the falling-down bumper as a pillow, so I needed to put something else in there for her to cuddle with. The transition to the cow lovey was easy. Now when I lay her down, she grabs a hold of it and hugs it as she falls asleep, whether it's just for a nap or for the night. But anyway, enough history. Usually the lovey will be in roughly the same spot that it was when I laid her down. Occasionally it'll be way on the other side of the crib. But this morning it was in a brand new spot. The entire lovey was completely squished down in between the side of the mattress and the crib slats. I'm still wondering how she managed to do that.

opening day is decided upon

Yay, I've made a commitment to open my store the Monday after Thanksgiving. I'll have some of the items listed and "previewed" the Monday before, though (which means THIS Monday... eeek! lol). For any of you who aren't familiar w/ Hyena Cart, you can go in and look at items, but if it's a particularly high demand item, then the seller can set a time for the item to go "live" and then after that time it's first come first served. I don't expect right off that my items will be in high demand, but hopefully I'll get a good clientele going. :) It's just hard right now to balance hosuehold stuff, taking care of Lydia, doing my transcription (I'm SO close to getting a bonus this month), and making my wares to sell online. I should be able to get it all done though. I'm really getting excited. I'll be out of town Tuesday through Fridayish, and will try to be working on some more dishcloths or scrubbies or whatever while I'm out of town, also, since I'll be chauffered by my in-laws. Then maybe I can increase my stocking levels just before opening day. :D Oh and definitely check here late Monday for a link and/or pictures.

first birthday sneaking up

Hm I guess all the comments about hubby's job loss came where I posted this elsewhere. We found out Friday that he has to wait for his drug test and his DMV background check to come back before he can be "officially" hired. He should pass both of them w/o trouble, although the DMV check was VERY extensive, asking him questions even about his Very First Job Ever. We're supposed to hear today or tomorrow if he passed that. I'm hoping we'll hear back this afternoon sometime or early tomorrow b/c this wait is killing me.

The mom of one of the women from church knew we were OU fans and she gave us some tickets for the game this past weekend, hence our going out of town. We made a weekend of it and went up Friday and came back yesterday. My MIL watched Lydia during the game and gave her two pumped bottles and even got her to sleep for the night. It was the longest I'd ever left her, almost 6 hours. When we got back, I had to fight the urge to go wake her up and tell her good night. I was nervous that she wouldn't take the bottles since she hadn't had any before, but she took them with only a little encouragement. With the first bottle, MIL would poke her finger at the base of the nipple to get it to squirt into Lydia's mouth and get her interested that way. Then by the second bottle, Lydia was an old hat at it and was even almost holding it herself. But they had lots of fun and I'm glad they had some bonding time. Hubby and I enjoyed the game, too.

This week is still pretty busy w/ transcription. I should be able to make enough to make my 12% bonus for the month. Woohoo. I'm also still working on some longies to sell and some dishcloths. Eventually I have plans for cotton and/or wool play food. It won't be in time for this holiday season, obviously, but hopefully soon after the new year I can start on those plans. I have a few ideas for the food that I haven't really seen yet. I've only been looking on Hyena Cart so far, though, since that's where my cart will eventually be set up.

Oh and we went and got DD's one-year pictures made today, and her and our holiday pictures too. I'll have to post those when they get back. At the studio, the current customer happened to be one of the moms from our local moms group. I got close and was like "That looks like E." Then I peeked around the corner when I was filling out my sign-in card and sure enough it was her DD on the table. :P I'm so excited about how these pictures are, though. She's really getting more and more photogenic as time goes on. I was telling the photographer when her birthday is and he said that's when the pictures would be ready to pick up. :)

I can't believe we're taking her ONE-YEAR pictures already. Soon I will have a toddler instead of a baby. I haven't made any party plans yet. It'll have to be a small one. But I don't have any idea of a "theme" or anything, and I really don't necessarily even WANT a theme since she's still so young. There will be plenty of other themed birthdays that we can have so I think this year's theme will just be "birthday." :)

an unexpected career change

So. Up until last Friday, hubby worked for a pool supply retailer. He made an honest mistake in late October which caused 4K of merchandise to go missing. Friday morning, he and his DM and LP were on the phone together, where LP mercilessly interrogated him and basically called him a liar. But in the end, they did determine that DH did NOT steal the items. Even so, they had him write up a statement in his own words of what happened, and they also had him sign a restitution agreement for the 4K, authorizing payroll deductions and he was even talking with his DM about making payments over the next several paychecks. Then Friday afternoon, they fired him anyway. Hubby never even saw it coming. He knew to expect a write-up but had absolutely no clue that they were going to let him go. We've spoken briefly to a lawyer friend but employment law isn't his department so he couldn't really go into a great deal of detail, but said that what they did sounds legal (even if it is, IMO, underhanded and unethical and just plain mean).

So this week hubby's been looking for a job, revising his resume, sending it out online. This morning he's going to a car dealership that's having open interviews for salesperson positions in several dealerships throughout the area. But this loss of employment couldn't have come at a worse time. Our recent move down here ate up our already small savings account b/c of deposits and vehicle title changes and new-state licenses and all that, and we had just barely started building it back up again. We barely have enough money to last until probably the second week of December at the latest. Due to the circumstances of his loss of employment, he will not be getting a final paycheck at all. I don't know what's going to happen from here. Eventually he wants to go to nursing school, but in the meantime we need some income coming in. We have a few thousand people praying for us... I just hope those prayers are answered quickly.

Now here's a few quick Halloween pictures.

my poor baby's diaper rash

Oh I feel bad for my poor baby. She just had a #2 and I changed her, but her whole bum was bright red. I was wiping her, and I think her skin's a little dry too (her legs feel all chapped, but she was still in her jammies so I know it wasn't carpet burn)... because when I wiped her I broke the skin in a few tiny spots. :( And I wasn't done wiping and couldn't very easily go get plain water since I'm by myself, so I had to keep using the wipes on her and since her skin was now broken, it hurt her. :( :( :( I tried to be as gentle as I could while still cleaning her all the way. Then afterwards I fanned her fanny and that seemed to feel better to her. She stopped crying and was just looking around. I put her in a disposable diaper (we had switched back to cloth last week) and she went right to sleep for her nap. But I still feel so bad b/c I can imagine how it was hurting.

I'm trying to figure out why the rash all of a sudden came like this, though. She's had little more than Cheerios and breastmilk all week, except for Sunday. For noon she has a bite of bread, and in the evening I fed her some of my On the Border Quesadillas (a little bit of chicken, plain avocado (i.e. not prepared into guacamole), a bit of cheese, a bit of onion). All things she's had before w/ no reaction.

But her poor bum. :( I hope the little sores heal up quickly.

saying words before she can talk

Babies of course make all sorts of random noises, and occasionally those noises match up with what could be construed as a word.

At 3 weeks old, she said "yes." Or a version of it, anyway. :P We were visiting out of town family, and one of my aunts was holding her, but Lydia was getting a little tired and hungry and was fussing. My aunt asked her if she wanted her mama, and in the middle of Lydia's fussing, she said a very clear "uh huh."

Then pretty much nothing until the past month or so. At church about 5 weeks or so ago, hubby was holding her and she looked at him and said "da da", only it came out more like "duh duh." She hasn't done that since, though, so we're not counting that yet. She's also said "ma ma" similarly, but I'm not counting that either, b/c it's usually not just "ma ma", but instead "mum mum mum mum mum."

After I feed her, I hold her and ask her if she needs to burp. Usually she still does, even at her ripe old age. She'll talk a bit before the burp comes up, and one time I had just asked her if she needed to, and she said "Bup." But it was more like "Buh - puh." where the second syllable was just a puff of air.

Changing subjects now briefly, when she was just a few weeks old I was getting nervous because I thought it was taking an awfully long time to "bond" with her, despite my having a drug-free birth and breastfeeding right away and staying with her all the time, all of which are supposedly supposed to help enhance the bonding process. But, it has indeed been a process and not something that happened instantly or even very quickly. Now, though, I have no doubt that I've bonded with her. The way she looks at me, the smiles we share, the sweet songs that she sings and squeaks, the learning I can see through her eyes, the touch of her little hands... all these and more just make me want to melt or burst or laugh or cry or squeeze her or kiss her or just sit and enjoy watching her... or everything at once. It's so amazing being a mom.

catching up on videos

Just thought I'd catch up on a few videos. I had hubby hold Lydia while I took a few videos this morning while she was in a good mood. Sorry some of them are sideways, I forgot that my camera can't do portrait-style videos. :P

In this first one, hubby's holding her just barely off the floor and she's kicking her feet and making noise.



In this next one, he's holding her above his head and she's kicking and smiling. She does this pretty much EVERY SINGLE TIME we hold her up like that.



And then in this last one, it's just to show that she's now accomplished at crawling, unlike her earlier video where she kept falling down.

the next "big" thing in solid foods

Tonight, for dinner, hubby and I were eating one of those rotisserie chickens you can get from the grocery store deli. I had a few pieces of breast meat and was also feeding Lydia a few strings of it. Then I decided to tease her a bit and pretend that I was going to give her a BIG bite. I put a whole "slab" of chicken on my fork and offered it to her, and sure enough she opened her mouth. I even let her taste it before I took it away. Then I repeated this a couple of times, but on the last time, she managed to actually take a bite! I took away my fork and there was a big hunk gone from my slab. This was surprising to me because she still only has 2 teeth. Hubby and I watched her closely to make sure she wouldn't choke. She chewed that chicken and swallowed it like she had been eating solids like that her whole life. I was surprised that she did that without any teeth. I mean I'd heard that you could mash food w/ just gums but it was neat to really see it in action. My little girl is getting big so fast.

the woes of the sippy cups

Well, Lydia knows very well how NOT to drink from a sippy cup. So far we just have Gerber ones, both soft spout and hard spout, but these are so spill-proof that you also have to actually suck pretty hard on them to get any liquid out at all. Nothing will come out if you chew or bite even the soft spout (which is all she does... no sucking on it at all). I hesitate to get some of the sippy cups that have a spout that's a little more forgiving of an imperfect suck, b/c I don't want her to get into the habit of biting to make fluid come out and then get a "normal" sippy cup and think it's broken or empty b/c nothing comes out when she bites it. I've tried a straw but that only works for sips at a time, and only when I hold my finger over it and let a little dribble out from the bottom. I've even tried just a cup by itself, and she either helps me tip it back way too far and too fast and gets too much and chokes on it, doesn't get any at all, or gets just the right amount but lets it dribble out of her mouth. I keep asking around and babies way younger than Lydia have mastered even the hard-spout sippy cups, and then I feel bad that I didn't introduce it to her sooner, and I wonder if she'll ever "get" it. Surely she will eventually. I mean, she won't stay a baby forever, right? I won't have to pack some bottles to send her off to college with, right?

my first call to poison control

So last night, I'm getting ready to go to church (we're in the middle of a totally awesome lecture series by a geologist, showing how the fossils and whatnot not only prove a young earth and creation, but at the same time they disprove evolution), and Lydia is on the floor close to me, crawling around. She crawls over to the wall, and in the crack between the carpet and the wall she finds something and puts it in her mouth. I didn't think a whole lot of it, thinking it was probably a piece of fuzz or something. But even so, I got down right away to fish it out of her mouth.

I felt whatever it was in there, and then I HEARD it go "squiiiissssshhhh" as she bit down on it. I was confused. I fished again and finally got it out. It was a capsule of some sort, looked exactly like a Vitamin E. Whatever it was was from prior tenants because we don't have any Vitamin E. My ibuprofens were soft tablets also, so I checked those, but those were green instead of amber. I didn't know if the Vitamin E would be toxic to her, or if it was even Vitamin E at all, so I called Poison Control. They said to watch her for any strange reactions and that they'd call back in an hour to check on her, and that if it was a medication or some sort that would produce a reaction, it would happen within 6 hours.

So I watched her the rest of the evening and she acted and looked perfectly normal. Went to bed at her usual time, woke up in the middle of the night at her usual time, was fine this morning. And we're out of the danger zone now, so it's back to normal I suppose. :)

standing up

Last night, hubby was in the living room watching TV, and Lydia was in her playyard there also. I was in the dining room sewing. All of a sudden, hubby says that Lydia has pulled herself up all the way to her feet! I asked if she was still standing there and he said yes, so I went to take a peek. So cute. She was so pleased with herself, too. And ever since she started pulling to knees, I've been using Puffs to "encourage" her to learn how to get back down, so hopefully we won't have any of those late-night "Mooooooom, I'm standing up now but can't get back doooooown" cries. Here's a picture of her standing up on her changing table, leaning on the wall... doesn't she look like she's about to be frisked? lol

eating and baby signs and dresses

Here's a little video of Lydia self-feeding some steamed veggies. I found out that actually steaming them on the stove makes them MUCH more tender and mushable than steaming them in the microwave. I also found out that already, Lydia is mooching the food off of my plate. Today after a ladies' Bible class, I went out to eat with a few people, and Lydia ate some fresh mozzarella w/ pesto, a crust of my grilled sandwich, and some roasted chicken. Then tonight she had some bites of a plain waffle. Who knows what she'll go for tomorrow? Anyway here's the video:



I've made myself another nursing dress. I'd been wearing the same dress to church every single Sunday and it was getting old. I could do skirts and tops, but I just really like the way dresses look and feel on me. Here's a picture. You may notice that the skirt portion looks a little familiar. It matches the pinafore that I sewed for Lydia a couple of weeks ago.


A few weeks ago, I started signing with Lydia. We do "milk" consistently, to mean nursing. And then "all done" when we're finished, and "sleep" occasionally. I'll add more as time goes on; I don't want to overwhelm her. But the other night when I got up for one of her night feedings, I really think that she signed "milk" to me. Of course, it WAS in the middle of the night and I was half asleep, so I could have been imagining the whole thing, but she seems to have done it a few other times since then. It's so hard to tell since she moves her hands around a bunch anyway, but the few times I saw her do it, it really seemed deliberate. I'm excited. :)

10 month appointment (stats, etc.)

We had Lydia's 9-month appointment today, but I'm calling it her 10-month appt since she'll be 10 months in just a few days. Here's her newest stats:

Head circumference: 16 inches.
Length: 26.5 inches.
Weight: 14 lbs, 8 oz.

Bigger than last time, but still a Very Tiny Baby. Very tiny. lol. She's on the chart for her head circ and length, but nowhere close to the chart for weight. She only was due for one shot today and didn't mind that, but then she was also due for some bloodwork (standard tests for iron and lead), and they took it out of her vein. Poor baby did NOT have fun with that at all. They had the needle in her skin and it took them about 3 tries before they were able to get it into her vein. Afterwards, they put a pressure bandage on her:

... and the bandaid was really sad for her when we were leaving. See, they took the blood out of her left arm, and her left thumb is the one she likes to suck. She tried to get her thumb to her mouth but couldn't do it right away because of the big bandaid on her elbow that was in the way. She did figure it out on the drive home, though, and is taking a nap now. I'd probably be sleeping too after all that.

Besides that drama, though, she has a clean bill of health and is a normal baby. She had an ear infection last time and that's cleared up, as well as her diaper rash. She supports her weight well on her legs (but doesn't have very good balance yet). Her dr told me to start "brushing" her little teeth with a washcloth so I'm going to start doing that. The solids regime (one day of "jarred" solids and one day of self-feeding) is fine and she's not having constipation from it or anything.

babbling again and sitting pretty

After a months-long hiatus of babbling, Lydia's finally picking it back up again. She has the "m" sound down now, and "accidently" said mama the other day, and a few times since then. So yay, she said mama before dada. lol. Seriously, though... I'm not convinced yet that she knows it refers to me, so I don't know if I want to "count" it as her first word yet. Plus, sometimes she'll say "mama" and other times she'll say "mum mum mum mum mum," just making noise. And still other times she'll talk with an entirely different consonant than "m."

But in other news, she can now get to a sitting position, and stay there, without having to lean on one of her arms for support:

I'm so proud of my little girl. :) And I can't remember if I mentioned earlier, we got her a high chair finally so she can experiment with food. She thought that was loads of fun:




I'll have to remember to keep the clip in her hair next time to minimize the chances of her getting food in her hair. It was so funny to watch her eat, because every so often she'd "shudder" (like how you would shudder if you ate something slightly bitter), but then grab another bite right away.

Lastly, here is a dress/pinafore set that I sewed for her to wear to church. I think she likes it:

playing hide and seek with snacks

The other day, hubby gave Lydia a Puff to eat, but put a funnel over it before she could grab it. She swiped the funnel out of the way to get to the puff underneath, demonstrating her understanding of object permanence. Here's a little video of that. Pardon her ungracefulness, she usually doesn't fall down like that. :P

i know she's growing, but...

The picture shows one of her well-worn size 3-6 month pajamas, laying on top of her brand-new-with-tags size 6-9 month pajamas. She is currently just slightly too long for the 3-6 size, but looking at those loooooong 6-9 month ones, I just can't imagine how she can possibly fit into them. How will her feet be past the pajama's knees? Will her hands stick out of the sleeves at all? Interestingly, so far it only seems to be pajamas that she's outgrown. The rest of her clothes still fit fine. I think, anyway. I did finally get her some fall/winter clothes, and they are all 6-9 month size. I hope she grows into them by the time the weather cools down.

sweet moments

Already in Lydia's short life, there have been countless and immeasureable "sweet moments." To write about them all would take up way too much time, but here are a few of my favorite ones:

1. The way she sometimes sticks her tongue out in the middle of a smile:


2. How she wakes up in her crib before I go to get her, and "talks" softly to her blanket, crib bumper, fingers, etc.

3. How she's usually content to lay fairly still and play with what's around her, but at the same time how her belly-crawling can be so determined if she spies something across the room that she wants, even if it's as small as a Puff.

4. The way she gives her daddy a HUGE grin when she sees him in the morning, and when he comes home from work.

5. After her night nursings, how she'll lay so calmly on my chest, sucking her thumb and waiting for the burp.

6. How she'll fall asleep in my arms and be sucking her thumb every so often, and make the tiniest little movement with her head when she sucks it.

7. If she's being entertained all day, she doesn't mind missing a nap, but then will eventually get worn out and then peacefully fall right asleep anywhere:


8. How she'll be playing with toys that she's had forever, but will randomly find them so funny that she'll just squeal out a giggle.

9. The way she finds delight in simple things, like just touching my bun when she's riding on my back.

10. How much fun it is for me to "pet" her head to keep the hair out of her eyes (and how it goes right back in there moments later if I don't clip it out of the way).

Ten is a nice round number so I'll end there for now, adding more as she grows.

the birds, not quite hitchcock style

Yesterday Lydia and I went to the Fort Worth Zoo with our local playgroup. It was pretty nice as far as zoos go, but hot and humid, so we didn't stay more than a couple of hours. But, I had to mention my favorite part - the giant walk-in bird cage. Most of the birds in there were parakeets, with a few cockatiels thrown in, and some random ducks down in the moat below. In the "foyer" there was a little booth where you could buy popsicle sticks with some seeds stuck on them, or some cups of nectar. With these treats you could enties the birds to come to you. I found a stray stick on the ground that someone had dropped, and I held it out and birds flew to the stick and nibbled. Then other birds flew to the stick and tried to fight with the original bird for dominance of the stick and the food. And the birds were so pretty, some of the birds had a green that was so green it almost glowed, and then there were yellow, blue, and white ones too. I would say there were well over 100 birds in there.

I'm looking forward to Monday, when my dad and grandmother will be in town visiting. They've just seen Lydia less than 2 months ago, so I wonder if they'll notice a change in her in just that short time.

My sewing projects are moving right along, including all our costumes. Hubby's going to take the 27th off so he can come to the party with us and be the father to go with Lydia's and my mother/daughter pair. I'm also still sewing several of her dress/pinafore sets, although first thing this morning I had to rip out a seam. The directions weren't clear to me when I first sewed that particular seam, and I did it wrong. No biggie, though, now I know for next time. And I also figured out a slightly different way to do the elastic for next time, too, that should hopefully be both easier and a little more secure.

transcribing coming back

Yay, I finally got a hold of my old transcribing job and they reactivated me. :) There probably won't be any work for me until the middle of next month, but that's OK. I really need the time to finish up sewing projects and dye several diapers and get those on the web, and possibly make a few crocheted baby headbands, although I may wait until after my next paycheck in November or so to really do those.

Lydia's teeth finally popped through. She has two teensy white lines on her bottom gums now. I need to get a picture sometime. She's still not doing hands and knees crawling, but she does get up on her hands and knees and will even lift one of her arms, but then she puts it right back down where it was before. We got her a Superyard, to help keep her contained when I do transcribing. So far she seems to like it, although she'd rather me play with her than her be in there by herself. She likes it if I'm outside and I stick my face onto the "wall", then she'll come up and try to grab my nose or lips, or sometimes just try to mash her face up against mine.

The parenting class at church is going well. It's weird being in there w/ such a young baby, b/c a lot of the principles are applied better to children who actually need a little more guidance than a 9 month old, but I really like it just the same. The teacher told us some things on Wednesday that were scary, though, about how a child will try to manipulate his/her parents and possibly turn them against each other (like by going to Dad when Mom said no, and then Dad doesn't back Mom up and Mom and Dad then fight about it later). He also said that Moms are better at guiding girls b/c they were once girls and can think like a girl, and Dads are better at guiding boys for the same reasons. And that made sense to me. Hubby and I recently read a couple of books, "For Men Only" and "For Women Only", by Jeff and Shaunti Feldhahn, and it was really eye-opening for both of us.

wrong number

So every so often for the past couple of months or so, I've been having a strange number show up on my cell phone. It started with a "normal" area code, then the rest of the number was 000-4627 or something. I can't remember the last 4 digits, but the middle was definitely 000. I never did answer it and they never did leave a message. I really didn't know what to make of it because I thought it was someone who would somehow "steal" my phone information with that fake number, then start making calls that would get billed to my phone. I called my cell phone customer service to inquire about blocking this "strange" number, and they put me on hold while they tried to see a record of me receiving a call from that number, only to come back and tell me that they couldn't block calls. So I said to myself that I'd just keep on not answering those calls.

Then in the past week or so, the calls became more frequent, sometimes even happening 2 or 3 times in a row. Then finally today they leave me a message. Turns out it was the capital of Missouri. I had set up a home-based business account with them, then never did use it. I cancelled the business when hubby and I moved, and tried to give them an address of his new work to forward my cash bond refund to (since we wouldn't have our new address for a while). Turns out that it got sent back, and they'd been trying to call me and let me know. I of course called them right back and told them why I never answered the phone when they called... they thought it was funny. Anyway, the check should once again be in the mail. Now one of these days I need to set up an account for Texas.

halloween costume thoughts

I know, Halloween is still weeks away, but I started to think of costume ideas quite a while ago. Originally I was going to have Lydia be a troll doll (you remember the ones with the colored hair that stuck straight up and the jewel in their tummy?), but decided I didn't want to mess with it. I had thought that I had a sewing pattern for a one-piece footed sleeper, but I didn't. Then if she were a troll, I was going to be 1985 again, but this time with some loud earrings to go along with that shoulder-padded, overly-ruffled outfit. I no longer have that outfit and it probably wouldn't fit still anyway, so I would have had to go down to Goodwill and try to find a similar one.

So instead, Lydia and I are going to dress in coordinating costumes. What we'll be is a secret until I get the costumes made, but I think you'll like them. I will give you a hint, though... we are dressing up as a famous mother/daughter pair.

squinchy faces

I thought I'd share a few of her "squinchy" faces that she does fairly regularly now. She bunches up her eyes, nose, and mouth and then sniffs a little bit. It's hard to describe in words, so without further delay, here are a few pics:

Apart from the squinchy face, she's not really doing anything new. I'm still feeding her baby food when I remember... which hasn't been very often lately. She's still crawling on her belly (as opposed to hands and knees), and I guess she can still babble a little bit even though she hasn't even done that recently either. She's still waking up at night and still has no teeth.

In other news, hubby caught a little gecko the other day and decided that he wants to keep it as a pet. So I went out yesterday and got a little aquarium and a few accessories... and some live crickets. Yes, this new pet eats LIVE crickets. But, I'm not squeamish about it at all. My grandfather was a serious fisherman when he was alive, and used live worms and live crickets as bait. I put my own crickets on the fishhook long ago. Plus they're not very big at all, the biggest ones are probably only a half-inch long or so. But anyway. So far the little gecko likes to hide a lot. I actually found a whole message board devoted to geckos and according to them, I probably have a Mediterranean House Gecko, which will grow to a max of 6 inches.

One of the classes at church this quarter is a class on parenting. I've only gone to two classes so far (since the quarter just started), but so far I'm really enjoying it. I know that the material in it will be helpful as Lydia gets older and we add more children to our family.

breaking out the recipe books

Before I left Missouri, one of the moms from our local group mentioned to me that down here in Texas is a grocery store called "Central Market." She said it's like Whole Foods except bigger and better. (I'd never been to a Whole Foods either). So today was hubby's day off, and we went to check out this store. Mostly to look at the prices, since it's hard to find the right balance of easy to prepare food, healthy food, and economical food. I wasn't disappointed with the prices.

WOW oh WOW was I impressed with the store though. Every corner I turned, I was amazed. I don't know if any of you know what an asian pear is, but usually I see them the size of peaches. The ones here were the size of grapefruits. And in the produce section, there were so many things that just aren't in your typical grocery store. Everything was beautiful and undamaged and fresh. The other departments in the store impressed me just as much.

Now, though, I feel like I need to go through my recipe books again and make better plans of what to eat. More vegetables, better snacks, etc. For a while I've been heavy on the "easy to prepare" leg of the food stool, with "economical" a close second. It's really time to make a change. Now all I need is time. Anyone have any they can spare? :)

a sideways falling crawl

I was videoing Lydia, and she was motivated to come towards me and try to get the camera. (Otherwise I don't think she would have had any forward motion at all. :P) But she did it weird... I'd describe it in words, but here, just watch the video instead. :)

yummy solid foods

I'm now giving Lydia 2 meals of solids each day. Little meals, though, so she still gets most of her nutrition from me. In the morning I give her a little fruit and cereal, and in the afternoon I give her some meat and veggies. She loves it so far. I also give her a puff every now and then, too. She's so funny with these, because she'll investigate it, then carefully use her cute little pincer grasp to get a hold of it. But when she tries to put it in her mouth, it takes her a couple of tries before she figures out how to let it go. Then she eats it. :) I only give her one at a time for now because if there's more than one available, she'll get overwhelmed and lose interest in it all together.

I haven't heard anything back yet about getting back into transcription, but Monday is a slow day, so hopefully I'll hear something tomorrow. If I don't get back into this, then hopefully I'll be able to get on with another company, now that I have some transcription experience. I also still need to dye up my diapers that are all tied and ready, and try to get those up for sale soon. I'm all unpacked so I really don't have any excuse for delay.

sleep, baby, sleep

There's nothing sweeter than a sleeping baby, so I thought it would be fun to do a sleeping-baby slideshow, starting from when she was tiny up to now. Hope you like it. :)

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

babbling moving baby

First off, WOOHOOO my home internet is finally back up. It arrived on Tuesday. So glad I don't have to traipse out to the library anymore. :)

I had a nice visit with my family, even though it was a little hectic. Both my sisters work, so my mom watches all 3 of my nephews, and they're all 3 and under. It wouldn't be so bad, but the 3.5 yr old and the 13-month old are... "lively" shall we say. I honestly don't know how my mom does it, or how much longer she'll be able to do it. The situation is wearing on her emotionally and physically. Lydia was of course a hit. Her cousins interacted a little more with her on this visit than last time, now that she'll interact back a little.

While I was out of town we went to my mom's parents for a couple of days too. Mom asked me if there was anything in Granny's kitchen that I wanted, and mentioned that my sister was taking the green glasses. I thought about it for a moment, then made my decision. I told Mom that I wanted her wheat grinder if she still had it. She did. :) I was excited. Grandpa even gave me a big container of wheat too (straight off of his farm). I need to fashion some sort of filter for it though b/c the filter is missing, but the instruction book still exists. :) I can hardly wait to try it out, but first I need to get settled after being gone for so long.

Here's a new video of Lydia. I took this a few days after she learned how to babble. Of course for the video she only says "Ba. . . . . . ba" instead of "babababababa", but oh well.



Poor thing has been sick off and on this week, with a stomach bug. She had it on Tuesday and then I thought she was better and then today she got sick again, so I don't know what's going on. I did take her to the dr today just to make sure it wasn't anything more serious. He gave me a bottle of pedialyte and had me feed an ounce to her to "see if she'd keep it down." Well she did, but when she gets sick it's way after she eats, not right after. Anyway she is acting like her normal self, and the dr said that she looks nice and hydrated, so that's good. I just hope she kicks this thing soon.

still at the library, and going out of town

Well, I guess my DSL isn't going to be hooked up today after all. Hubby and I were out and about today since it was his day off, and I thought that I would come home to either a missing dial tone (indicating that my line was in the process of "being prepared" for DSL), or a dial tone that was already returned and a working DSL line. Well, the dial tone was working so I optimistically plugged in my DSL line and.... nothing. I'm so bummed. I have SO many pictures that I've taken in the past few weeks, and a few videos, and I have no means to share them. :( Part of the pictures and videos are updates on Lydia's newest "things" and I want to wait and share them when I have a visual aid to go with the stories.

And on Monday morning, early, I'm going out of town for 10 days and won't have internet then, either. But at least I can look forward to coming back home and SURELY it will be hooked up by then. :P And at least today I was able to leave the house while she was napping since her daddy was at home.

Guess I'll write when I get back. I'll be visiting my side of the family. Last time they saw Lydia, she was 3 months old and not doing a whole lot. I think they will be surprised how much she's grown. Not in size, but in abilities. I can hardly wait. :)

internet coming this weekend... maybe

So the other day I got a message on my answering machine, saying that on Friday, August 10th, my dial tone would be temporarily disconnected while they prepare my line for my new high-speed internet service, and that my dial tone would be restored by 6:00 pm. The message didn't say I'd have internet at that time, but since I already have the modem, I'm definitely going to try it out as soon as the dial tone comes back. Fingers crossed. Not that I don't like the library, but with Lydia it's such a hassle to try and come up every few days, and then hope that she doesn't cry too much or talk to much or otherwise disturb the other library people. It's just too bad that my home internet isn't coming in time for me to do any transcription at all, since on Monday I'm driving up to Amarillo and will be there for about 9-10 days.

Lydia and I are finally getting over our cold that we had all weekend while hubby's family was in town. They were so helpful though, putting dishes and food away for me and trying hard to let me get the rest I needed so I could heal up. But even with all the help, it was amazing what a difference a day by myself made w/ regard to healing, etc. By yesterday evening, I felt SO much better. I still had a ways to go, though. But Sunday I was so sick that I stayed home from church that morning. I'm definitely glad to be feeling better, and not going through a box of kleenex a day anymore.

well-baby visit turns sick-baby visit

Wednesday Lydia had her 6-month well baby visit (even though she'll be 8 months on Sunday... we're slowly catching up from being behind though). Sunday and Monday she had a fever, but Tuesday it had gone down again. She wasn't really having any other symptoms and we had already scheduled her well-visit before she got her fever, so I wasn't overly concerned. Then Wednesday she woke up with a cold, which she later gave to me. So nice of her to share. lol. And at our appointment we found out that she also has a little ear infection too. Poor baby really looked miserable on Thursday. I took some pictures but will have to share them later, since I STILL don't have home internet yet.

Anyway, I LOVE her new dr. Once again, I got lucky by just picking a random one off of the insurance list. (The other time was when I got a natural-birth-supportive dr for my prenatal appointments back in Missouri.) At only 13 lbs and 13 oz at 8 months, Lydia has "fallen off" the growth charts now. But her doctor made the comment that "these charts were made in the '60s based on a bunch of Caucasian formula-fed babies" and that she's not worried that Lydia's no longer on it. She also told me that it's totally fine that she hasn't had any solids yet and that if I wanted to exclusively breastfeed until she's 12 months then that was fine (but she did give me a vitamin perscription to give her to help her iron). I was so surprised, since the medical community as a whole generally has the reputation of not being quite so supportive of breastfeeding.

I finished unpacking yesterday, just in time for hubby's sister and her family to come into town today for a few days. I'm excited for their visit. I haven't even met my brother-in-law yet since they've been overseas since before I met hubby. And none of them have met their niece/cousin yet either. There's only one other girl grandbaby on that side of the family and my sister-in-law is so excited to have a niece.

nice to swim in a warm pool

The pool that was at our apartment in Missouri was not heated... and it was in the shade for a good portion of the day, therefore even on the warmest days of summer, the pool was still quite chilly. But, we took Lydia into the pool anyway since she was old enough and thought she'd like it. And at the time, I thought she DID like it.

But today, we went to our pool here at our apartments in Texas and what a difference! The water was MUCH warmer (there was no "shock" or "getting used to" the water or anything) and Lydia clearly liked it better. She actually played in the water a little instead of giving us a look that said, "Why are you holding me in this COLD water?" She would try to grab the little air bubbles that floated around, and would pat the water a little and smile and coo. :)

In other news, I've finally gotten all of the non-essential kitchen "stuff" re-packed and stacked in our storage closet. I can see my dining room and the dining room table again! :) For a couple of days, I didn't do anything unpacking-wise because I just felt like I was doing the same thing over and over and not really getting anywhere. But the accomplishment today is really giving me a boost. There's not a whole lot left to do now, just the bookshelf and getting rid of the boxes, really. OH and we have a home phone now! I last checked it on Monday and still didn't have a dial tone, then plugged it in today and surprise, there was a dial tone! Then I called hubby's cell phone and he answers it, but he's right there in the room with me. He was only slightly amused. :P

unpacking for a long time

Well, we found a place to live. It has some small faults but overall it's not a bad place at all. It's right in between hubby's work and church so that is nice to be close to both places. And it turns out that we will be reimbursed for any legit expenses that we went over on our moving. Hubby talked to his new DM and apparently when we moved to Missouri, the relocation thing was done wrong. I wish it could have been done "wrong" again, but oh well. What's done is done.

As soon as we had an address, I called from the hotel to get phone service connected, but they said it would be 5-10 business days for the phone and then another several weeks (worst case scenario) for DSL. I am almost positive, based on this info, that I will not be able to work at all in July, which puts a damper on August's budget. But hopefully everything will be installed in time for me to do at least a little work in August. And in the meantime, I can definitely put a big dent in unpacking. I also need to go through the dresser drawers and a few other minor places, and probably get rid of some more stuff.

Hubby had his first scary moment with Lydia the other day. He took her with him to go check the mail, and the only thing there was a postcard advertisement. When he got back he said that he hoped I didn't like that particular store b/c "monster baby ate it." Lydia had it all crumpled in her hands and was gnawing on it. I took it away but the damage had been done... a big piece was missing from the corner. I swept my finger through her mouth but didn't feel anything (I was a little too aggressive in my sweeping though and made her gag). I set her on the floor and moments later, with no sound or fuss, the missing corner came sliding out of her mouth. Hubby was closer so I had him grab it out of her mouth. He felt SO bad afterwards. He really didn't think that she could actually take a bite of something without teeth.

The church we're going to is amazing. It's the largest congregation, by far, that I have ever been a member of. They have a babies' Bible class there, and I took Lydia on Sunday morning but stayed in there with her just in case she got fussy. She did fine though and really enjoyed it. :) So on Wednesday I tried leaving her by herself and she did fine then too. I was telling Mom about the class and she got all sad b/c she didn't realize that Lydia was that old yet.

I'm on a limited time budget here at the library computer, though, so I'd better close this up. Until our DSL is hooked up, I don't know how often I'll really be able to get on here.

on the move in more ways than one

The first "on the move" is obviously our big move to Texas. Turns out that the company is only paying for 2 nights in a hotel, Thursday and Friday. So once again, they think we can do everything in 1 business day. I keep looking at our "short list" of apartments and think I have it narrowed down to just a couple, but we definitely have to see them first. But I mean the apartment rental application alone can easily take more than one business day. I even called one today to ask about their availability and said that we'd need to move in on Friday, and he's like "Well, the soonest we can process your application would be the middle of next week." OK then, thanks anyway.

I'm taking a little break from packing. I was bad and put it off for as long as I could, but I think we'll be able to get it done today. It's going a lot smoother than I thought it would. Plus hubby only works a half day today and then he'll be able to help me pack, etc. too. Tomorrow will be the real kicker, though, since we'll have to wait until after our showers to pack up all THAT stuff, and we can't clean the floor all the way until the washer and dryer are gone, can't vaccuum all the way until the furniture is gone, etc. I'm hoping that we'll be able to be on the road by 10. I have to take a detour to my in-laws to drop off our cat, since we won't be able to pay the pet deposit for a few months, so if I leave by 10 and take minimal stops, it'll still be probably 9 before I get to the hotel.

The other "on the move" is Lydia. She's still not crawling, but is finding it easier and easier to get around. I left her in the middle of our bedroom while I was packing a box, and she managed to roll over to the wall where some empty boxes were stacked and was playing with a box and chewing on its corner. I asked her how she got all the way over there and she just looked at me. :P

very strange dream about moving

This will probably be my last blog entry until after the move, and I had a weird dream last night that I have to write about while I still remember it.

So I'm laying in the bed, dreaming about moving. Except it's not quite "right". First off in the dream, my in-laws are living in the back bedroom and we're having to pack up all of their stuff also. Then they're going to pack it up again from our new place and move out from there almost right away. We had barely started packing by the time the U-haul came, and so we were late getting to the new city. Then, when we were moving my IL's couch, there was ... hm how to put this delicately... there was "evidence" that an animal had been there. They called someone to come clean it up, and a guy came w/ a steam-vac sort of thing and vaccuumed up part of it, then got out a little test strip and stuck the strip into the matter. The test strip was able to tell what kind of animal had left the deposit. It was a raccoon.

Shortly after that I woke up, relieved to not have to worry about finding random animal "stuff" under my couch, and relieved to still have 2 full days to pack. Although we did get some disturbing news about the move yesterday. Hubby's company is paying for the move... BUT... we pick up the Uhaul Thursday morning and have to turn it in Sunday morning. So we will be packing and driving on Thursday and since it's 7 hours away then we'll obviously get there way too late to look for any apartments that day. So according to them, bright and early Friday morning we need to try and find an apartment, hope they can process our application that day, sign the lease, get the utilities connected (since every other apartment I've lived in needed that connection slip before I could move in), etc. True that there are apartments that are open on Saturday so in theory we could do some looking then, too, but they wouldn't be able to check our rental history since the management company here is closed on Saturday.

Hubby has a call in right now to see how many hotel days the company is paying for. Hopefully it'll get us through Tuesday morning so we can possibly have Monday to look for an apartment too and/or finish narrowing down the ones we'd seen on Friday and Saturday. Also, this is DALLAS! Our time already will be limited because of the traffic. When the new district manager told hubby that he wants him to start on the 15th, he said he'd work with him on the move. This doesn't really feel like "working with" us at all. Our other relocation went a LOT more smoothly, probably because we left on a Tuesday instead of a Thursday and still had several business days to look around before the weekend came. I'll try to update a bit later when I hear from hubby again.

Lydia's doing well and still rolling all over the place, still no teeth, still not sitting up. We went to our last Springfield LLL meeting last night and one of my friends took me and hubby out for dinner afterwards. I'm sad to leave all these babies that Lydia has been growing up with but know that there are groups down in Dallas for me to join too.

her cousin remembers her

I talked to my Mom today. We had spoken yesterday, also. I called her to get a diaper rash cream recipe since Lydia still had some bad diaper rash going on. She called my sister and got it from her and called me back, and also mentioned that an oatmeal bath had cleared up my nephew's rash very quickly. So I went the oatmeal route first and it worked for Lydia also. Mom called today to ask how it went and I told her.

Then she also mentioned to me that my oldest nephew (3 yrs) and sister were shopping the other day, and passed a display of straw-cups. These cups had different characters and designs on them, etc. Well my nephew grabs a butterfly cup and puts it in the cart. My sister asks him why he got that one b/c it's for girls. He told her that he wanted to get it for Lydia. :) :)

Hubby found out yesterday that we are indeed moving to DFW. It'll be sometime late next week when we pull out of here with the U-haul. I should be packing right now but I did do a lot of pre-moving errands already today. I'm also still a little worn out from being out until nearly 2 am last night (er, this morning) doing fireworks. Besides, it's only Thursday and hubby's moving expense check won't even be cut until Tuesday, and I did just finish that big purge from a couple of months ago... so I'll rest the rest of today and start in strong tomorrow. :)

another round of giggles

I had to grab another video of Lydia laughing since she was doing it a lot more in this one. :P A month or so ago, I bought her a mouse that makes noise and vibrates when you pull its cheese. She wasn't all that interested in it at first so I put it away for a while, and "found" it again today. As you can see and hear, she clearly loves it now. :)

moving again already?

Well, my tie-dyed diaper business is on hold again, while hubby and I wait to hear about his job situation. He has applied for two different positions (w/ the same company) in Texas (DFW area). He hasn't heard back from one of them but on the other he has a phone interview tomorrow. If we move, it'll likely be before the end of the month. Good thing I semi-finished that organization a while back. It's weird, too, because the last time I did a big organization thing, we found out the very next week that we were moving to Springfield. :P The move would be a good one for us in so many ways, but on the other hand I wouldn't mind staying here in Missouri for just a little while longer. If we get the position that he has a phone interview with tomorrow, it would be a lateral move (i.e. no increase in salary), BUT there are 10 stores within 18 miles and more even after that, so definitely easier to move up again w/o having to "fully" relocate again, KWIM? So for now, the diapers are staying un-dyed since it's a several-day process. Transcription will pick up again later this month, hopefully we will be moved (if we move) in time for me to take the most advantage of that.

I just got back from a week in Oklahoma. Mother-in-law had had surgery a week ago Wednesday and needed some companionship and someone to do her heavy lifting. I let Lydia lay in her bed and in her chair with her frequently, and I think she was good medicine. :)

I realize I posted a video w/ my last entry, but that was almost half a month ago. So here's another one. lol. In this one, she's taking great enjoyment from her turtle teething toy. Some of her noises in there sound like coughs, but they are all laughs. :) Hubby's mom got to hear a bunch of laughs while I was down there, too.

video of toy and tongue

Here's a new "Lydeo" that I took today. She's apparently not interested enough in the toy to try to grab for it, but she really does like it. And then towards the end, when she sticks her tongue out and just leaves it out, she's been doing that new trick the past few days. It cracks me up because she'll even turn her head to look at something else and her tongue will just still be all dangling like that



Speaking of videos, the last 10 days or so I've been showing her the Starter video in the Your Baby Can Read series. My mother in law got us that video a few months ago but it sat unopened for a while. Then one day I decided to pop it in and read the parents' section first and was amazed. The creator's 9 month old daughter was reading words off of flashcards. Like he'd show her the card that said hair and she'd reach up and play with her hair. Then he'd show her bellybutton and she'd lift up her shirt and poke at her belly button. The video also had a section where other children were reading too, at a pre-school age. I'm definitely not expecting her to be reading by such and such a date, but she loves watching it so far, and there are songs and activities (clap, find your eyes, hold your arms up, etc.) in the video. I have to help her do pretty much every activity right now but maybe in the future she'll start doing them as soon as the word pops up onto the screen. :)

My tie-dyed diaper business will hopefully still have an opening date of next month. Right now I'm in the middle of tying up all the diapers into their various patterns. It's going slowly. When hubby and I dyed DD's personal stash, we dyed 48 total diapers. But for my initial offering, I have 36 smalls and 54 regulars that need to be tied. So far I have almost all of the smalls tied but none of the regulars. I won't be able to do anything next week so I'm really trying to get it all done this week and get "preview" pictures posted on my store site.

Next week I'll be helping out my mother in law. She is having surgery tomorrow and will need a LOT of assistance for quite a while. My father in law is taking off the rest of the week but has to go back on Monday, so I said I'd come down and help her out when he goes back. I hope the surgery goes well for her.

get in shape, girl

I'm wondering if any of the ladies on here remember that fitness series from the early '80s. Each set came with a cassette that led you through the workout, a poster showing the moves, and a piece of workout gear. I think I had one that had leg warmers and another one that had a ribbon-on-a-stick. Like this one here. That was my favorite thing ever.

But anyway. I am now going to be a "girl getting in shape" again, because yesterday hubby and I joined a local fitness center. I really think this will be helpful to both of us. I haven't really been able to stick to an exercise in the recent past b/c I've gotten quickly bored. But just from the brief view of the gym yesterday, I really think I'm going to like it a lot. It has a ton of variety and some of the weight machines are VERY user-friendly. Inexperienced me needs a lot of user-friendliness. I'm going to call later today to try to schedule time w/ a personal trainer to get my burning questions answered.

As for Lydia, she is doing fine. :) When it's time to eat, she's now started anticipating it. (She's still just nursing). As soon as it's in sight, she will look at it and reach for it. And last night while I was trying to get her to sleep, she popped off and was smiling and gurgling to her food source. It was so cute and sweet.

six months old

Wow, where is this time going? I feel like I just had her yesterday. I need to get some 6 month pictures taken and post them. Maybe I'll go do that on Wednesday. As for her new skills now that she's so "old", she now does..... nothing. lol. She has gotten better at rolling from front to back now and doesn't look like she's falling down anymore. But still no teeth, still no sitting up, still no solid foods yet. I did take the first step to solids yesterday though and actually brought some into the house. :P We decided to go with oatmeal cereal instead of rice since I've heard rice can be constipating.

I had a FABULOUS time in Indiana. It was so nice to hang out with my friend and her hubby, parents, and 2-year-old. It was so cute watching the little girl interact with Lydia. I kept telling people that Lydia would have made such a great second baby, since she was so patient with what the other little girl kept doing to her. She even emptied out her little round laundry basket and put it upside down on top of Lydia. lol. Oh and Lydia LOVED their golden retriever. She kept smiling and laughing and having a good old time. And apparently this dog will "nudge" the 2-year-old every so often, and the dog did this to Lydia at one point but wasn't used to nudging such a small baby... and rolled Lydia right over with her nose.

While we were there, we went to some of the cutest little kids' stores. I got her a new toy that I'll post a picture of once she's awake. She LOVES it. When we left that store, she cried when I put her in her carseat. I gave her the new toy and she was SO happy and was playing with it and "tasting" it and talking to it. Then we got to our next stop and I had to take the toy away to get her out of the seat, and she got mad again. We also went to Babies'R'Us since there isn't one anywhere near where we live, and I got her a tiny swimsuit. :D All of the other stores we looked at had swimsuits but they started at 12 months. BRU is the only place that has swimsuits in her size. I tried it on her last night and it is SO cute. :) I'll have to post a picture of that, too, later. So far her daddy doesn't know about the swimsuit. He's off on Wednesday but has an eye appointment so I'm planning on getting both of us ready for swimming while he's at his appointment then surprising him when he comes home. I can't wait, he is going to love it.

The drive wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I planned 2 stops and took them, and she hardly cried at all on the way up there. But the drive back home seemed like it was twice as long. :P We made it OK though. Now at the end of this month I'll visit my mother in law for a few days to help her out post-surgery, then for most of July I should be here. Then I added a trip in early August for a wedding (another 8-10 hour drive), and in later August I'll visit my sister in law and my family on the same trip, and then after that I think I'll rest for a few months. Or years. lol

organizing is finished

Ok first off, I just want to say that I think that the new dark chocolate, cherry cordial filled Hersheys kisses are totally fantabulous.

Now that that's out of my system, I am very pleased to announce that I am DONE DONE DONE with my organizing!!!! Well, not really "done" as in there's not a single thing at all left to do, but it's plenty done for my needs right now. The remaining tasks aren't vital and I'll do them here and there when I have time. We even moved a little furniture around. I wasn't crazy about the new layout of the living room at first but I made a few very minor adjustments and it's growing on me now. Everything just seems so much more open now without a big pile of "stuff" next to or on or behind things. It's almost like we're in a new apartment.

On Friday, I'm taking a trip up to Indiana to visit some friends who moved away a while back. I am so looking forward to visiting with them, but I'm NOT looking forward to the drive. If I drive it straight, mapquest says it should be just under 8 hours. I'm allocating 10 though to allow for 2-3 stops for gas/food/feeding the baby/etc. It should be a good visit though. Hopefully Lydia takes the trip well.

Transcription is going fine. I took several days off to do that organizing thing but am working again tomorrow. Every little bit helps when I'm needing that money to fund my other work at home thing. I've gotten a positive response when I've asked people about it, so I am making concrete plans to start my business offering tie-dyed cloth diapers. So far, all I have is a half-finished website, an idea for a logo, and a long to-do list. But, if I work on it a little each day then things should move right along. I'm aiming for a mid-July grand opening date. Mid-July is also when the new peak season for transcription starts up again, so I may be VERY busy all of a sudden, depending on how much demand there is for my "art." And although I'm starting out with diapers, I do have plans to offer other items later on, both dyed items and other crafts. I can't stop being excited about the prospects. :)

Lydia is doing great. She is rolling from front to back now, but not very consistently. And it usually ends up being more like a "I think I want to lay down on my side... oh, if I stretch a little then all of a sudden I'm on my back" kind of thing, instead of consciously rolling straight from her tummy to her back. But she likes being on her tummy and plays there with her toys for quite a while. She is starting to put her arms in front more and more (instead of the airplane pose), and push with them. She also pushes her little bootie up into the air too. I can tell she is totally working all her muscles and one day she will be mobile and I'll be sitting there trying to figure out how it happened. She still has no teeth, and I feel like I post every other week about her new "teething symptoms" but then several weeks later she's still just gummy. She has gotten noticeably more drooly lately though, and has gotten a little fussier overall. But whenever I check in her mouth, there's still no pokeys yet.

This past weekend, we had a nice visit with some friends of ours from Texas and their 2 boys. I'm glad I got all the organizing done in time, it sure made it a lot easier to be a hostess. They got married about a month before Tim and I did and we all went to singing school in 2003.

Tim's job is in the thick of the busy season. I can't call him at work right now and even if I stop in, he's usually 3 or 4 customers deep. We may be here in Springfield a little longer than expected, though. His DM had been keeping an eye out for openings in Texas overall instead of just the Fort Worth area, but all of the other Texas locations would be too far away from one family or the other. But anyway his DM called him today w/ one of the non-Fort Worth locations. Hubby said that it would have been a lateral move, too, and into another store instead of into the commercial account rep position that he would totally love. So we may be here for another little while. I don't mind, really. Especially since I found out this week that one of the couples at church is expecting their first baby. :D :D I think she's due in early February, her dr didn't give her a due date yet. I was SO excited for them when I found out, but then sad that we wouldn't be here for it. But now I'm excited again because we may get to stay and see her tiny baby. :)

discouraged at the time organizing is taking

Well, I did get the nursery finished, but not until Sunday afternoon. This of course pushed back the rest of the organizing, and even today I'm still working on some of Sunday's tasks because of the million errands that I had to run on Monday. But the nursery looks GREAT!!! Especially the closet. That closet was FULL. I took everything out, sorted it out, combined some things, stacked other things better, and put it all back in. It's really amazing how much more room there is now. Her giant travel-system stroller (that we haven't once used yet, lol) even fits in there now and even with THAT in there, there's still a ton more room than I started with. And I didn't even really get rid of a whole lot, either.

When I was finished w/ the nursery and saw how beautiful it ended up, I was so motivated. I couldn't wait to do all the rest of my projects. Especially since I had divided the rooms up into sub-projects that are more managable than looking at the room as a whole. But today I'm behind once again. I was really hoping to be done by the weekend, mostly just to have it DONE, but now I'm not sure if I'll make that goal. Lydia was needing me more than usual today, there's always still the "regular" chores to do, I have to eat (I seriously even had to write "eat" on one of my to-do lists the other day... I didn't get hungry b/c I was on a roll with cleaning, and had to remind myself to eat. lol), etc.

Right now I am working on the bathrooms. I am using the same method that I did w/ the nursery closet, taking everything out and sorting through it then putting it all back in. This method really yielded the best results possible in my opinion. So at this moment, every single item from both bathrooms is in a large pile on the floor. I'll go through what seems like a lot, then look back at the pile and see how much there still is to go. :( And the bathrooms weren't the only things on the agenda for today, either. But, it's not quite 5:00 pm so I may yet get these things done. It did help that I didn't have to go anywhere today. And tomorrow's "schedule" is a bit lighter with some things on them that can actually be pushed to next week, so I can possibly catch up.

But speaking of catching up... this is all the catching up I am going to do before then. I hope to come on here Monday and share my success. :) Oh and also on Monday I'll talk about one more work at home opportunity that I'll be working on.

reasons why camping is better with a wrap

So DD and I went to a homeschool camp this week. I did take my Maya sling that I re-did the shoulder on, but mostly used a wrap. It made things SO easy. Here's my short list of reasons why I will never go camping without a wrap again:

1. The 30-ft increase in elevation from the dining hall to the cabin was much easier w/ baby on my back (strap carry) than in my arms.

2. Baby had a nice cozy spot to sleep (short FCC facing in) when we went to tour the trout hatchery during her naptime.

3. The "intensive" babywearing (when we're home it's usually just for a trip to the grocery store) REALLY made her love it SO much. (See below for more details on that).

4. Everyone there thought it was the neatest thing so I got to spread the babywearing luv. (Although most of the people there are either unmarried and babywearing is far in the future for them, or their children are too old to be worn anymore). But hey, spreading the luv is spreading the luv.

5. Babygirl got passed around a LOT, so babywearing kept her close to me when I needed some time with her. (I did get a lot of people asking me "Can I hold her when you take her down?" lol)

Five's a nice number for a list so I'll stop there. We really did have a good time at camp. And as for her enjoying babywearing... the last day or so there, I would lay her down on the bunched up wrap to do a strap carry, and as SOON as I had the "lasso" around her and she felt that and knew she'd soon be on my back, she would start grinning and giggling. She totally loves being swung gently up onto my back. And she also likes coming down the same way. Everyone else thinks it's so cool and loves to watch me take her down and swing her OFF my back as well. Every time I went to take her off, I'd hear "watch that" or "watch her" in the background. lol

Now as far as the organization I mentioned last time... I am going to be here in town through the rest of the month and as soon as Lydia wakes up today, I'll start in on her nursery. Hopefully I can get that entirely done today, including moving the furniture. I also have some ideas for moving our bedroom furniture too. I think it'll be nifty.

highly motivated to get organized

Ok, I'm going to do it... I'm REALLY going to do it this time. I'm going to go inch by inch through the apartment and touch every single item and purge things we don't need and have a better organization to the things we do need. I started yesterday with a big box of paper, and it was discouraging because it took ALL day to go through that box (well in between taking care of Lydia, eating and doing a load of laundry anyway). But next, I think I will go through the nursery. The closet has some Very Scary Boxes in there but overall it seems to be the most managable room to organize so far. And hubby was sad the other day b/c we have a little desk in there that is piled with stuff on it, and right behind its chair is Lydia's laundry basket so he can't really sit in that chair and keep me company. So I am thinking about trading places with that desk and her dresser and surprising hubby with that rearrangement.

But the reason I'm so highly motivated this time is because of what I want to do AFTER I get everything cleaned up. I'm going to do another work at home thing, using the money that I've earned from transcription so far for start-up costs. But between the 3 more times that I'll be out of town between now and the end of June, it'll take a good month or more before I'm open for business and I'm keeping it a secret until then. If you want to try to guess what it is, that's fine... but I'm not telling you whether you're right or wrong. I will, however, write all about it here when it's all set up.

Okay, here's the newest "Lydeo".

Hope you like my newly-coined term, a cross between Lydia and video. :P

various updates

Well, on Wednesday I got back from a Very Long Road Trip. I have other updates to write besides that, but will put those in other entries so it doesn't become too long.

We left home on Thursday afternoon and spent the night with hubby's parents. (Hubby stayed home to work.) Then Friday we got up at a reasonable time and made the drive from OKC down to College Station. The drive overall wasn't too bad; I had downloaded a bunch of songs and sermons and was listening to them while I was in between radio stations. And Lydia was OK for most of the trip, though she did get mad towards the end of the drive during each of the 4 segments.

I had a wonderful visit and definitely want to go back and visit again soon. The drive is way too long to make it a regular trip right now, but hubby's work will likely let us transfer to Ft Worth later this year. Then if his sister gets moved from Japan to San Antonio, we would be central to everything... Springfield, Oklahoma City, Amarillo, College Station, San Antonio. It would really be the ideal spot. But before then I'll need to get going again on the organization/purging plan. I do NOT want to pack up all our things while our apartment is in this current condition.

The work at home thing is going great. I really love it. So far I'm not making quite as much money as I thought I would with it, but it's still more than enough to suit our needs. But it's also a company I can grow with, as they don't have "just" transcribing. Later on when I get a little better I can move up to reviewing and if I ever get a foot pedal I can "scope", whatever that is.

I am LOVING the wrap that I tie-dyed. I also am re-doing the shoulder on my sling b/c the way it was originally sewn disagrees with me. Once that's done, I'll have 4 carriers, with 3.5 of them being homemade. :P I think I will wait until June sometime to do any more other sewing, and instead make the decluttering a priority.

Lydia has finally learned to roll over! She did it yesterday twice and today twice so far. :) I tried to catch her on video so I could put it on here, but I haven't even witnessed a full roll over live myself yet (I'll put her down on her back and be away for a bit and she'll be on her tummy when I come back), but hopefully soon I can get the video up. Mom said that usually babies roll from tummy to back first instead of back to tummy, so the tummy to back roll may not be far behind.

clothes shopping, pre- and post-pregnancy

A few weeks ago, I bought a pair of jeans since there is NO way that I will yet be able to fit into any of my pre-pregnancy jeans. Then yesterday I also bought 2 pair of shorts and 2 pair of capris since it's getting to be summer and I don't want to be hot. I was amazed at how little time it took to select the properly fitting garments. Maybe it's b/c I'm 2 sizes larger than I was 2 summers ago and clothes don't fit skinny people very well? I don't know.

Anyway, here's what I went through in the past, trying to find pants.

1. Arrive at the store.
2. Select 2 sizes of pants each in 3 different brands, and optimistically take them to the dressing room.
3. Discover that on one of the brands, the smaller size is too small overall but the next size up is big overall.
4. Discover that the smaller size of the other brand fits in the waist but is too tight in the hips, and the next size up fits great in the hips but is gaping in the waist.
5. Pull on one of the third brand, and it fits great... but even though I am wearing low low bikini panties, the pants' rise is so low that my underwear shows in the back when I bend over. Plus I keep feeling like I need to pull them up.
6. Put all the pants back on the hangers and deposit them onto the did-not-fit rack.
7. Repeat steps 2 through 6 through several different stores.
8. Finally find 2 pairs of elastic-waist pants that are suitable, but definitely not "in fashion". Snatch them up quickly while they still fit.
Total time - 17 hours spread over 4 days.

Then, here is what I did yesterday:

1. Arrive at store.
2. Using the same size number as the jeans I bought a couple of weeks ago, grab 1 denim pair of shorts, one khaki pair of shorts, one denim capri, and one khaki capri.
3. Take them to the dressing room and notice that they all come with some sort of belt or tie around the waist, so if any of them have a slight waist gappage then the little beltlets will help cinch that in.
4. Try on each garment and look in the mirror, pleased with the fit. The rise is high enough, the gap in the waist isn't too big, the hips fit fine and I can sit and squat in them as well as stand.
5. Take them to the checkout and purchase.
Total time - 30 minutes.

Not sure exactly why clothes fit me better today, but I'm not going to complain. (Although eventually I would like to one day wear my too-small shorts again.)

restless sleeper, done dyeing

Ever since she was tiny, L has been a restless sleeper. I'll lay her down in the middle of her crib and she will wiggle and squirm and move around until she's wedged herself next to an edge. But she's never bothered by this, and continues to sleep peacefully. A few weeks ago, I encountered this when I went to peek at her in the morning:



Then this morning, her little feet were sticking out between the rails and on top of the bumper. In both cases she was still either sleeping or as happy as can be. (She usually wakes up in a good mood). I just think it's funny how much she moves.

Tuesday, hubby and I finally dyed. I dyed a length of fabric to be used as a wrap baby carrier, and we also dyed 48 prefold diapers. I'm pleased with the way most everything turned out. Here's a few samples:

I was surprised how long the overall dyeing process took, but I shouldn't have been surprised since each of the 49 pieces of cloth had to be tied and dyed individually. Hubby and I had a lot of fun, though. Maybe someday I can dye some more. :)