I'm starting to sound like a broken record: family Costco run, out to dinner (Chipotle), too hot to do much else this past weekend.
Becca is pointing to the cats and saying "dat." I think she has stopped using "dat" for "that," so this may be a real word for her now. She also seems to have picked up some signs and kept doing a sign for "more" at Chipotle. Becca is our child who will eat until she explodes, though. The other two I trust to stop eating when they get full, but Becca will eat and eat and eat and then throw up, so we have to keep an eye on her. Becca loves loves loves to play with the stacking cups, and in addition to making towers, lately she has been putting them on her toes like shoes.
In fact, they are all trying to put their shoes on themselves. Rebecca is pretty insistent about doing it herself sometimes. Emma is pretty close to getting them on herself. And Julie excels in taking them back off. :) Emma had taken hers off in the car on the way to daycare this morning, and Greg accidentally put them on the wrong feet when we got there. He realized it right away, but she threw a fit when he had to take them off again. Their daycare teachers say that they love their shoes and get upset when they come off. I'm not sure if we should be saving for college, or for shoes.
Oh, and Emma is trying to take off her clothes now. Nice.
Emma is understanding way too much. I can ask her to do simple things (get the puzzle piece, etc) and she can do it. She is obsessed with those bracelets, and she pretty much has some on all day (they have them at daycare, too). I haven't seen her sort them by color and put them on in rainbow order again, but it seems like it would have to have been a very big coincidence. I noticed on Monday that she only had about 6 on: maybe 3 green, a blue, a yellow, and a purple - which matched her outfit. I mentioned it at daycare this morning and they said she does that there, too.
Julie finally managed to get herself up on the couch again on Sunday. We'd seen her do it before, but for the last few weeks, she hasn't been able to - she just starts yelling and crying and doesn't *really* try anymore. Greg helped her on Sunday afternoon, and by Sunday night, we looked over and saw her up there all on her own.
They are all about shaking their heads "no" right now.
Oh, and definitely had a "mom of the year" moment last week. Emma woke up in the middle of the night, and cried a couple of times. We let her go back to sleep, and I don't think she woke up again all night. But when I went to get her in the morning, she had gotten her arm (up past her elbow) stuck through the crib rail and had apparently been stuck like that all night. Her arm was all cold, and she has this nice red mark across her arm (still now). She was using it fine when I got her up and it had warmed up by the time we got to daycare, but I felt just terrible.l
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
Feeling Overlooked
I don't want this to sound whiny, but I am feeling kind of whiny.
So, last week in the mail, we got a very nice letter from the March of Dimes people for raising money. We got a nice little magnet and a pin, and a letter that said our name was listed on their local web page. But I looked. And it's not. I mean, it's not like something I wanted or asked for and completely NOT the reason we raised the money. But they specifically sent a letter saying our name was listed.
And, I started in my new department last week. The admin sent out a new department list with everyone's phone number on it on Friday. I swear, I looked like 3 times, and my name's not on the list. The woman who started the same day that I did is on there. And the admin obviously knew I was in the department if I made it on the email list to receive this list.
They are little things, I know. And they don't really bother me on their own. But I feel like this happens to me a lot - like I just get overlooked... my department going to our holiday lunch without me comes to mind. Am I too easy going? Do I not make enough noise to be noticed? Why do I always feel like I have to fight for things that I shouldn't have to fight for?
So, last week in the mail, we got a very nice letter from the March of Dimes people for raising money. We got a nice little magnet and a pin, and a letter that said our name was listed on their local web page. But I looked. And it's not. I mean, it's not like something I wanted or asked for and completely NOT the reason we raised the money. But they specifically sent a letter saying our name was listed.
And, I started in my new department last week. The admin sent out a new department list with everyone's phone number on it on Friday. I swear, I looked like 3 times, and my name's not on the list. The woman who started the same day that I did is on there. And the admin obviously knew I was in the department if I made it on the email list to receive this list.
They are little things, I know. And they don't really bother me on their own. But I feel like this happens to me a lot - like I just get overlooked... my department going to our holiday lunch without me comes to mind. Am I too easy going? Do I not make enough noise to be noticed? Why do I always feel like I have to fight for things that I shouldn't have to fight for?
Sunday, June 27, 2010
She floors me.
On Friday night, she did this.
I looked and Greg and said, "Do you realize that she sorted those by color and now has them in rainbow order on her arm?"
I have no idea how she did it. I didn't see her working on it. But wow... the poor child is going to be as OCD as me.
I looked and Greg and said, "Do you realize that she sorted those by color and now has them in rainbow order on her arm?"
I have no idea how she did it. I didn't see her working on it. But wow... the poor child is going to be as OCD as me.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Likes & Dislikes : Week of June 20
Likes:
Dislikes:
- Quesadillas
- Chewing on new shoes.
- Standing on buckets.
- Staring at other people when we go out to eat instead of eating (E).
- Running the halls at daycare when we're trying to leave.
Dislikes:
- Oatmeal
- Meals that don't end with cookies.
- Crossing the threshold into their daycare classroom.
- Mommy (E). She's daddy's girl at the moment.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Diabetes
My post about the new job reminded me that I rarely post about myself anymore. A big part of the reason for this blog is because I'm not keeping a real baby book, so I'm trying to record things here for the girls to read. But I am realizing that it will also be important to them what ELSE was going on in our lives, besides them (you know, in the 2 or 3 minutes every day that we're not focusing on them).
I developed gestational diabetes around week 17 or so of pregnancy. After trying some oral medication with no real results, I was hospitalized for a weekend in November of 2008 to start insulin therapy. On insulin, my blood sugar was very well controlled. I also had a consultation with a diabetes specialist/dietician, and my maternal fetal medicine nurses required me to check my blood sugar 4 times a day and fax the results to them every Monday morning. (If it wasn't there by 10am, they'd start hunting me down.) It was actually harder for me to check my blood sugar (finger prick) than to give myself the insulin injections every day. I had very specific carbohydrate targets for each meal, and I could stick to them, because I knew it we had a specific goal. I also stopped working in late November, so I didn't have much to do except eat, check blood sugar, eat again, check blood sugar again. Once the girls were born, my blood sugar would go back to normal.
Except it didn't.
It's been over a year now. I'm still carrying way too much extra weight, which is probably my biggest issue. I don't exercise enough, because I can only find time once the girls go to sleep, and I'm exhausted by then. If I do make it to the gym, I have to worry whether someone is going to wake up before I can take a shower. If it's just one, Greg can handle it (we take turns going to the gym and doing the massive nightly clean up at home), but if 2 of them start crying, it's a lot to handle. We have made a lot of dietary changes in the last few years, but it doesn't seem to be enough. My fasting blood sugar first thing in the morning is ridiculously high, despite medication.
We are still trying to fine tune my medication. Some of it makes me miserably sick, some of it drops my blood sugar way too fast. Right now, I take the one that drops my blood sugar really fast in the morning, so my blood sugar actually drops before I get hungry for lunch... so I eat lunch earlier. And get hungrier in the late afternoon. It's a cycle I can't seem to get out of. And then I take the one that makes me sick (if I take too much of it) at night.
Diabetes is a serious disease. It scares me. I'm trying to live my life, and set a good example for the girls, and do everything I can to be around for as long as I can for them, and for Greg. My food excuses are that I don't always know when I'll get to eat again, I'm always hungry, and I don't know how long I will have to inhale some food before someone throws a tantrum. For the most part, we don't eat *bad* stuff. Just too much.
I read something the other day about someone who had been living with diabetes for 10 years and needed a kidney transplant. What?!? No.
I really need to make some more changes. Lose this weight.
I was doing weight watchers earlier this year, with meetings at work. But I wasn't really getting anything from the meetings - it was all stuff I learned while doing WW online a few years ago, except now I'm surrounded by a room full of people talking about food for an hour. I went to a few meetings, lost a little bit. Then gained a little back. And quit going. I wasn't tracking what I ate. I wasn't measuring.
I need to get it together.
I developed gestational diabetes around week 17 or so of pregnancy. After trying some oral medication with no real results, I was hospitalized for a weekend in November of 2008 to start insulin therapy. On insulin, my blood sugar was very well controlled. I also had a consultation with a diabetes specialist/dietician, and my maternal fetal medicine nurses required me to check my blood sugar 4 times a day and fax the results to them every Monday morning. (If it wasn't there by 10am, they'd start hunting me down.) It was actually harder for me to check my blood sugar (finger prick) than to give myself the insulin injections every day. I had very specific carbohydrate targets for each meal, and I could stick to them, because I knew it we had a specific goal. I also stopped working in late November, so I didn't have much to do except eat, check blood sugar, eat again, check blood sugar again. Once the girls were born, my blood sugar would go back to normal.
Except it didn't.
It's been over a year now. I'm still carrying way too much extra weight, which is probably my biggest issue. I don't exercise enough, because I can only find time once the girls go to sleep, and I'm exhausted by then. If I do make it to the gym, I have to worry whether someone is going to wake up before I can take a shower. If it's just one, Greg can handle it (we take turns going to the gym and doing the massive nightly clean up at home), but if 2 of them start crying, it's a lot to handle. We have made a lot of dietary changes in the last few years, but it doesn't seem to be enough. My fasting blood sugar first thing in the morning is ridiculously high, despite medication.
We are still trying to fine tune my medication. Some of it makes me miserably sick, some of it drops my blood sugar way too fast. Right now, I take the one that drops my blood sugar really fast in the morning, so my blood sugar actually drops before I get hungry for lunch... so I eat lunch earlier. And get hungrier in the late afternoon. It's a cycle I can't seem to get out of. And then I take the one that makes me sick (if I take too much of it) at night.
Diabetes is a serious disease. It scares me. I'm trying to live my life, and set a good example for the girls, and do everything I can to be around for as long as I can for them, and for Greg. My food excuses are that I don't always know when I'll get to eat again, I'm always hungry, and I don't know how long I will have to inhale some food before someone throws a tantrum. For the most part, we don't eat *bad* stuff. Just too much.
I read something the other day about someone who had been living with diabetes for 10 years and needed a kidney transplant. What?!? No.
I really need to make some more changes. Lose this weight.
I was doing weight watchers earlier this year, with meetings at work. But I wasn't really getting anything from the meetings - it was all stuff I learned while doing WW online a few years ago, except now I'm surrounded by a room full of people talking about food for an hour. I went to a few meetings, lost a little bit. Then gained a little back. And quit going. I wasn't tracking what I ate. I wasn't measuring.
I need to get it together.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
General Chaos
Besides our fiasco of a father's day outing, we haven't been up to a whole lot lately. It's just too hot. We did do another family trip to Costco, because, well, it's air conditioned.
The girls (Julie and Emma, I believe) figured out how to get the drawers in the entertainment center that hold all of our cds (we're old school... and lazy) open. The drawers used to be too heavy. We put cabinet locks on them on Sunday night, and I'm not sure how long they will last.
Speaking of the entertainment center, I don't think I wrote about the time a few weeks ago that Julie started venturing back between between the wall and the entertainment center (in the original Danger Corner). She would get back in the corner, sit down, and get stuck. Her legs would end up under the entertainment center and then she couldn't stand back up. She did this twice, and wanted to in a few more times before we stopped her. This past weekend, Emma decided to go back there and somehow got her head stuck between the entertainment center and the wall. Sigh.
Julie is trying to imitate a lot of sounds right now. Last night, she was playing with a package of Boogie Wipes, and I kept saying to her, "boogie boogie boogie" and she finally started saying "bweh bweh bweh." We have also been working on animal sounds, and Julie has the duck, sheep and cow sounds down. Becca and Julie will make the sounds if you tell them what to say, but you can say to Julie, "what does the cow say?" and she'll get it right.
Becca and Emma are certainly pushing our buttons lately, with climbing on the table. They get the devilish look in their eye, and look right at us when we tell them "no." And they do it again and again. We yell, they laugh. There's no such thing as discipline right now. I try to "punish" them by putting them in the exersaucers, but they're as happy as clams in there.
Everybody got new shoes last week, because their sandals were getting pretty smelly. It's pretty much a fiasco to buy shoes for three kids, so I estimated. There was a pretty good sale at Stride Rite, and the sneakers were less than half of what we paid for them earlier this year, so everybody got the exact same sneakers they already have (in bigger sizes). There was a lot of confusion with the sandals... trying to get everyone the same ones they already have (trying to preserve our sanity here) in appropriate sizes. It required ordering 2 pair from another store (they came the NEXT DAY UPS for free... I was impressed), but in all the confusion, the one pair that I thought I was buying at the store was not the pair I came home with. And I don't have the energy to go back. It's not a huge deal, but it means that now Emma and Julie have the same sandals. It's blowing Emma's mind. Every time she sees Julie getting those shoes put on, she gets upset.
In addition to recognizing whose shoes are whose, the girls have figured out whose stuffed animal is whose. Currently, Becca is attached to a monkey, Emma a bear, and Julie a giraffe. We try to get them to leave them in their cribs in the morning, but on the weekends I usually cave and let them take them downstairs. Periodically throughout the day, they'll find an animal and give it back to it's "owner." It's just too cute for words.
Just some pictures of hanging around...
Managed to get a clip in Becca's hair for a little while on Sunday.
It didn't last long.
Trying to put it back in.
They got to play in the kitchen on Sunday, and we moved the baby gate to block off the entry way/stairs to give them free reign of both the kitchen and living room.
The shopping bags came out.
Emmy double bagging it. She walked around with those two bags behind her like she was carrying quite the shopping spree.
Then we discovered the curtains on the back door.
Can you see the smile on Julie's face?
Becca crowds in.
Traffic jam
Aren't they sweet?
"dad. dad. daddy. dad. daddy. daddy. DADDY!"
For some reason, Becca decided to flop on the floor. And then Emma followed her.
They mentioned to us at daycare yesterday that Emma had started doing this. We had seen her (and all of them) making these rings in to bracelets, but they usually only get one or two on an arm. But apparently Emma has started trying to get them ALL on her arms.
I was going to crop this one, but that's Julie in the corner trying frantically to get on one of the "bracelets" before Emma claims them all.
The girls (Julie and Emma, I believe) figured out how to get the drawers in the entertainment center that hold all of our cds (we're old school... and lazy) open. The drawers used to be too heavy. We put cabinet locks on them on Sunday night, and I'm not sure how long they will last.
Speaking of the entertainment center, I don't think I wrote about the time a few weeks ago that Julie started venturing back between between the wall and the entertainment center (in the original Danger Corner). She would get back in the corner, sit down, and get stuck. Her legs would end up under the entertainment center and then she couldn't stand back up. She did this twice, and wanted to in a few more times before we stopped her. This past weekend, Emma decided to go back there and somehow got her head stuck between the entertainment center and the wall. Sigh.
Julie is trying to imitate a lot of sounds right now. Last night, she was playing with a package of Boogie Wipes, and I kept saying to her, "boogie boogie boogie" and she finally started saying "bweh bweh bweh." We have also been working on animal sounds, and Julie has the duck, sheep and cow sounds down. Becca and Julie will make the sounds if you tell them what to say, but you can say to Julie, "what does the cow say?" and she'll get it right.
Becca and Emma are certainly pushing our buttons lately, with climbing on the table. They get the devilish look in their eye, and look right at us when we tell them "no." And they do it again and again. We yell, they laugh. There's no such thing as discipline right now. I try to "punish" them by putting them in the exersaucers, but they're as happy as clams in there.
Everybody got new shoes last week, because their sandals were getting pretty smelly. It's pretty much a fiasco to buy shoes for three kids, so I estimated. There was a pretty good sale at Stride Rite, and the sneakers were less than half of what we paid for them earlier this year, so everybody got the exact same sneakers they already have (in bigger sizes). There was a lot of confusion with the sandals... trying to get everyone the same ones they already have (trying to preserve our sanity here) in appropriate sizes. It required ordering 2 pair from another store (they came the NEXT DAY UPS for free... I was impressed), but in all the confusion, the one pair that I thought I was buying at the store was not the pair I came home with. And I don't have the energy to go back. It's not a huge deal, but it means that now Emma and Julie have the same sandals. It's blowing Emma's mind. Every time she sees Julie getting those shoes put on, she gets upset.
In addition to recognizing whose shoes are whose, the girls have figured out whose stuffed animal is whose. Currently, Becca is attached to a monkey, Emma a bear, and Julie a giraffe. We try to get them to leave them in their cribs in the morning, but on the weekends I usually cave and let them take them downstairs. Periodically throughout the day, they'll find an animal and give it back to it's "owner." It's just too cute for words.
Just some pictures of hanging around...
Managed to get a clip in Becca's hair for a little while on Sunday.
It didn't last long.
Trying to put it back in.
They got to play in the kitchen on Sunday, and we moved the baby gate to block off the entry way/stairs to give them free reign of both the kitchen and living room.
The shopping bags came out.
Emmy double bagging it. She walked around with those two bags behind her like she was carrying quite the shopping spree.
Then we discovered the curtains on the back door.
Can you see the smile on Julie's face?
Becca crowds in.
Traffic jam
Aren't they sweet?
"dad. dad. daddy. dad. daddy. daddy. DADDY!"
For some reason, Becca decided to flop on the floor. And then Emma followed her.
They mentioned to us at daycare yesterday that Emma had started doing this. We had seen her (and all of them) making these rings in to bracelets, but they usually only get one or two on an arm. But apparently Emma has started trying to get them ALL on her arms.
I was going to crop this one, but that's Julie in the corner trying frantically to get on one of the "bracelets" before Emma claims them all.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Father's Day
Ah, Father's Day.
A fiasco.
The plan was to go to the park where there's a huge open field. We were going to play with a big ball I got and blow bubbles and just let the girls run around.
But it was HOT. Miserably hot. Still, we decided we needed to get out of the house. (Keep sending me ideas of things to do in air conditioned places!)
And they watered the grass at the park.
Well, watered is probably an understatement.
In places, it was a muddy mess. And I had on flip flops. Greg's sneakers didn't fare much better.
We finally put the blanket down on the sidewalk. Gave the girls some sippy cups with water, as we already traipsed pretty far in the hot sun. I tried blowing bubbles. But they were more interested in running up the sidewalk.
They all wanted to play with the ball (duh, me), and it kept rolling down into the wet grass.
It just got to be too much. So we left.
Drove around in the air conditioned car until it was an appropriate time for lunch... 11:20 or so. And we went to Moe's.
Happy Father's Day, Greg. Sigh. You deserved better. Not even any good "daddy and me" pictures. It was just a fiasco.
We'll do better next year.
A fiasco.
The plan was to go to the park where there's a huge open field. We were going to play with a big ball I got and blow bubbles and just let the girls run around.
But it was HOT. Miserably hot. Still, we decided we needed to get out of the house. (Keep sending me ideas of things to do in air conditioned places!)
And they watered the grass at the park.
Well, watered is probably an understatement.
In places, it was a muddy mess. And I had on flip flops. Greg's sneakers didn't fare much better.
We finally put the blanket down on the sidewalk. Gave the girls some sippy cups with water, as we already traipsed pretty far in the hot sun. I tried blowing bubbles. But they were more interested in running up the sidewalk.
They all wanted to play with the ball (duh, me), and it kept rolling down into the wet grass.
It just got to be too much. So we left.
Drove around in the air conditioned car until it was an appropriate time for lunch... 11:20 or so. And we went to Moe's.
Happy Father's Day, Greg. Sigh. You deserved better. Not even any good "daddy and me" pictures. It was just a fiasco.
We'll do better next year.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
New Job
Monday, June 21 is my first day in a new job. I don't talk about work much anymore, unless someone really does something funny. Or like the time someone asked me how to save a file to a floppy disk. But, for the most part, it's just work. Life is much more interesting.
Most of you know that I'm a (chemical) engineer, and the work I've been doing for the last 4.5 years has been engineering, but more like mechanical engineering than anything else. There's a reason I didn't major in mechanical engineering. The majority of my work load for the past few years has been more along the lines of finite element analysis and computer modeling. There's a reason I didn't major in that either. Don't get me wrong - I like my job. There's a sense of familiarity that's nice. And, compared to my first job (I didn't major in dirty, thankless, grunt work, either), it's a dream come true. My boss is fabulous, and gives me the freedom to get my work done, and pretty much manage myself. I've got incredible flexibility, and my group is great (especially now since the weird/crazy guy retired). They're all much smarter than I am, so I'm constantly learning from them. My job has its frustrations, but for the most part, I consider myself very lucky.
But it's time for a change. I finished my MBA in the end of 2007, and have some interest in supply chain ever since. I feel like it's a better fit for my personality, especially since the girls were born - I think I have earned an honorary doctorate in supply chain optimization. The job I'm going in to is still technical (product development supply chain as opposed to end product supply chain), so I'm hoping to use all of the stuff I've learned (no one in the new department really has that background), but it will be enough of a change that hopefully, in a few years, I can decide if product supply chain is something I want to go for, or, if I hate it, I'll still be close enough to the technical world to go back. The new job has a lot of plusses. My new department is a majority female, and most of them are working moms. I'll be working for a woman who has 4 young kids of her own. I'll still have the flexibility to do some work from home. I won't travel ... except maybe back to France... And I'll still be at the same campus as Greg, so we can continue to carpool.
Most of you know that I'm a (chemical) engineer, and the work I've been doing for the last 4.5 years has been engineering, but more like mechanical engineering than anything else. There's a reason I didn't major in mechanical engineering. The majority of my work load for the past few years has been more along the lines of finite element analysis and computer modeling. There's a reason I didn't major in that either. Don't get me wrong - I like my job. There's a sense of familiarity that's nice. And, compared to my first job (I didn't major in dirty, thankless, grunt work, either), it's a dream come true. My boss is fabulous, and gives me the freedom to get my work done, and pretty much manage myself. I've got incredible flexibility, and my group is great (especially now since the weird/crazy guy retired). They're all much smarter than I am, so I'm constantly learning from them. My job has its frustrations, but for the most part, I consider myself very lucky.
But it's time for a change. I finished my MBA in the end of 2007, and have some interest in supply chain ever since. I feel like it's a better fit for my personality, especially since the girls were born - I think I have earned an honorary doctorate in supply chain optimization. The job I'm going in to is still technical (product development supply chain as opposed to end product supply chain), so I'm hoping to use all of the stuff I've learned (no one in the new department really has that background), but it will be enough of a change that hopefully, in a few years, I can decide if product supply chain is something I want to go for, or, if I hate it, I'll still be close enough to the technical world to go back. The new job has a lot of plusses. My new department is a majority female, and most of them are working moms. I'll be working for a woman who has 4 young kids of her own. I'll still have the flexibility to do some work from home. I won't travel ... except maybe back to France... And I'll still be at the same campus as Greg, so we can continue to carpool.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Likes & Dislikes : Week of June 13
Likes
Dislikes
- pancakes a la Daddy
- triple-teaming the blanket in the living room
- wearing buckets on their heads
- any toy that doubles as a bracelet
- Chicken parmesan
- Hootie and the Blowfish (E)
- Bruce Springsteen (J)
- Oatmeal raisin cookies (R)
Dislikes
- Blueberries in her pancakes (E)
- Getting in to the car after daycare (E)
- Sharing
Friday, June 18, 2010
Darn you Amazon, and your free shipping
My book binge continues. I'm currently reading The 19th Wife, but I've been exhausted lately and haven't gotten very far. So far, so good, though. Finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, and liked it for the most part. I don't like not getting some of the literary allusions, but I also don't like being hit over the head with some of the other ones. The story was ok, but what I really liked was all of the research that was obviously done into the German occupation, and life on the island under occupation. Don't think I'll be reading history any time soon, but I find WW II fascinating.
So back to Amazon... and their free shipping on $25 or more. I've ordered a couple of things lately (this and this), though not at the same time. And Amazon has had super prices on these 2 books by Stieg Larsson(~$5 each when I bought them):
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Girl who Played with Fire
So they're officially on the list now. I'm sure the third one in the series will be out in paperback by the time I get to it.
So back to Amazon... and their free shipping on $25 or more. I've ordered a couple of things lately (this and this), though not at the same time. And Amazon has had super prices on these 2 books by Stieg Larsson(~$5 each when I bought them):
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Girl who Played with Fire
So they're officially on the list now. I'm sure the third one in the series will be out in paperback by the time I get to it.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
EI Report 6/16/10
Becca missed this session because we were getting her tube replaced. Note, Miss Catie will be on vacation next week, so we'll have to wait 2 weeks for a new report.
Emma:
Miss Brittanie and Emma called mama and Rebecca on the play phone. Step stool - we practiced going up the step while holding EI's hand. She liked doing this and jumping down with help! Peg board - she would pull them out and EI and Emma would say "pop" and put our hands in the air. She was very animated today!
Julie:
Julie told Miss Brittanie "bye" when she left for her break. Child chair - we practiced sitting in the chair today and doing activities while in the chair. We looked at a picture book with children. She babbled and pointed to pictures. She said "uh oh" when the girl had fallen down. Interlocking pegs - she "zipped" open the bag. She was very proud of the tower and clapped. She was vocal today!
Emma:
Miss Brittanie and Emma called mama and Rebecca on the play phone. Step stool - we practiced going up the step while holding EI's hand. She liked doing this and jumping down with help! Peg board - she would pull them out and EI and Emma would say "pop" and put our hands in the air. She was very animated today!
Julie:
Julie told Miss Brittanie "bye" when she left for her break. Child chair - we practiced sitting in the chair today and doing activities while in the chair. We looked at a picture book with children. She babbled and pointed to pictures. She said "uh oh" when the girl had fallen down. Interlocking pegs - she "zipped" open the bag. She was very proud of the tower and clapped. She was vocal today!
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Where did I leave off?
Becca went back to the ENT last week, and he said her ear drums have healed enough for surgery.
We had to fill out a survey while we waited. Becca didn't want to play with the toys again. She wanted to help fill out the survey.
When we were done, I let her walk down the big long hallway by herself. Both of the windows to check out were occupied, so we had to wait. She turned around and headed back down the long hallway, back toward the doctor. I thought she'd go a few steps and realize I wasn't behind her, but she got almost to the end of the hall. When I finally got her to turn around, she went all the way in the other direction. I'm trying to not grab her hand constantly... trying to let her develop some confidence, but grab her hand when we're in the parking lot or something so she knows the difference. I thought she'd be a little more hesitant, but she kept taking off. And my phone is so slow at taking pictures that she's pretty much out of the frame every time I took one.
I wanted to get the tube done ASAP, while I have time to be home with her, because I'm going to be starting a new job next week (topic for another post), and it will probably be harder for me to be at home, at least in the beginning. Greg's swamped at work, too, and while we both have flexibility to do some work from home, it's often hard to find the time for it. Anyhow, Becca's tube replacement is scheduled for tomorrow. We have to be there at 6:30; please don't let me oversleep this time. She's on antibiotics at the moment to make sure she doesn't have an infection going in to the surgery, like she did last time.
And... since I crashed last night and didn't get this posted, we are now home from Becca's tubes, and she playing like normal. Well, not quite like normal since her sisters are at daycare and she doesn't have to fight for the toys. But she's acting just fine. She woke up a little easier this time, less thrashing around. She was mostly just whiny, which was fixed by an oatmeal raisin cookie in the car on the way home.
Still didn't take the camera, but I grabbed a quick photo with my phone while she was playing. It was a much longer wait with just one kid, so she got a little antsy. She wanted up and down out of the chairs, and wanted to play with everything in the diaper bag. And then she dropped my keys behind the bed that I couldn't figure out how to move.
We really didn't do much over the weekend. It was SO hot. Can't believe it is this hot out already. We did a family Costco run on Saturday again.
"I. am. fabulous."
"I can get how many shoes for that price?"
Other than that, we mostly stayed inside.
We played with buckets.
We loved our daddy.
We fought over who got to sit in the Julie Cave.
We turned toys into bracelets.
We played with the dinosaur puppets book.
We played peek-a-boo.
We wore the cloth book like a scarf.
We hid under the blanket. (And made a fort under it with daddy.)
And we played with buckets some more.
Seriously, we need some ideas to get us out of the house this summer. Things to do when it's too hot to be outside?
I think I'm going to take a photography class at the local technical college this fall. Once a week for 8 weeks. I want to learn for real the stuff I fake. I want to learn to use manual mode, and learn about lenses and filters. And I want to justify a camera body with an ISO16000 setting...
Julie seems to be picking up words pretty quickly these days. All weekend, she walked around saying "BAW" and holding a ball over her head. We've also caught her saying "hello" on the toy cell phone.
We had to fill out a survey while we waited. Becca didn't want to play with the toys again. She wanted to help fill out the survey.
When we were done, I let her walk down the big long hallway by herself. Both of the windows to check out were occupied, so we had to wait. She turned around and headed back down the long hallway, back toward the doctor. I thought she'd go a few steps and realize I wasn't behind her, but she got almost to the end of the hall. When I finally got her to turn around, she went all the way in the other direction. I'm trying to not grab her hand constantly... trying to let her develop some confidence, but grab her hand when we're in the parking lot or something so she knows the difference. I thought she'd be a little more hesitant, but she kept taking off. And my phone is so slow at taking pictures that she's pretty much out of the frame every time I took one.
I wanted to get the tube done ASAP, while I have time to be home with her, because I'm going to be starting a new job next week (topic for another post), and it will probably be harder for me to be at home, at least in the beginning. Greg's swamped at work, too, and while we both have flexibility to do some work from home, it's often hard to find the time for it. Anyhow, Becca's tube replacement is scheduled for tomorrow. We have to be there at 6:30; please don't let me oversleep this time. She's on antibiotics at the moment to make sure she doesn't have an infection going in to the surgery, like she did last time.
And... since I crashed last night and didn't get this posted, we are now home from Becca's tubes, and she playing like normal. Well, not quite like normal since her sisters are at daycare and she doesn't have to fight for the toys. But she's acting just fine. She woke up a little easier this time, less thrashing around. She was mostly just whiny, which was fixed by an oatmeal raisin cookie in the car on the way home.
Still didn't take the camera, but I grabbed a quick photo with my phone while she was playing. It was a much longer wait with just one kid, so she got a little antsy. She wanted up and down out of the chairs, and wanted to play with everything in the diaper bag. And then she dropped my keys behind the bed that I couldn't figure out how to move.
We really didn't do much over the weekend. It was SO hot. Can't believe it is this hot out already. We did a family Costco run on Saturday again.
"I. am. fabulous."
"I can get how many shoes for that price?"
Other than that, we mostly stayed inside.
We played with buckets.
We loved our daddy.
We fought over who got to sit in the Julie Cave.
We turned toys into bracelets.
We played with the dinosaur puppets book.
We played peek-a-boo.
We wore the cloth book like a scarf.
We hid under the blanket. (And made a fort under it with daddy.)
And we played with buckets some more.
Seriously, we need some ideas to get us out of the house this summer. Things to do when it's too hot to be outside?
I think I'm going to take a photography class at the local technical college this fall. Once a week for 8 weeks. I want to learn for real the stuff I fake. I want to learn to use manual mode, and learn about lenses and filters. And I want to justify a camera body with an ISO16000 setting...
Julie seems to be picking up words pretty quickly these days. All weekend, she walked around saying "BAW" and holding a ball over her head. We've also caught her saying "hello" on the toy cell phone.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Likes & Dislikes : Week of June 6
Likes
Dislikes
- Pot roast
- Sweet potato fries
- Homemade yogurt and fruit smoothies for weekday breakfasts
- Climbing on the coffee table
- This Little Piggy
- The Itsy Bitsy Spider
- toy cell phone
- baby food (I know... but it's one of the few ways I can get them to eat fruits and vegetables at the moment)
- ducks
- former baby food containers (their favorite toy, I swear)
Dislikes
- Grass (E, R)
- Watermelon
- Getting chairs taken away for standing on them
- Mom and dad leaving at daycare
- Ear drops (R)
- Tooth brushing
Friday, June 11, 2010
Thursday, June 10, 2010
EI Report 6/9/10
Rebecca:
Rebecca told Ms. Brittanie that she wanted the music on by pointing at the CD player. She danced! Ball - Rebecca and Ms. Catie rolled and kicked the ball back and forth. She made lots of sounds and smiled during the game! Tea Party - Rebecca would imitate Ms. Catie and stir her tea. Wooden blocks - she built a tower of 6 blocks on her own.
Julie:
Tea Party - Julie would imitate EI and use the tea pot to "pour" the tea. Wooden blocks - We wore a hard had and built a tower of wooden blocks. She laughed at Ms. Catie when she wore the hat. She said "hat." She said "bye bye" on the play phone.
Emma:
Clothes puzzle - She would point to the picture and would aim the piece to the correct spot. EI used hand over hand to put piece in. She would turn the pages of the book. Wooden blocks - she was able to imitate EI and push them like a train and would "growl" instead of "choo choo." :)
Rebecca told Ms. Brittanie that she wanted the music on by pointing at the CD player. She danced! Ball - Rebecca and Ms. Catie rolled and kicked the ball back and forth. She made lots of sounds and smiled during the game! Tea Party - Rebecca would imitate Ms. Catie and stir her tea. Wooden blocks - she built a tower of 6 blocks on her own.
Julie:
Tea Party - Julie would imitate EI and use the tea pot to "pour" the tea. Wooden blocks - We wore a hard had and built a tower of wooden blocks. She laughed at Ms. Catie when she wore the hat. She said "hat." She said "bye bye" on the play phone.
Emma:
Clothes puzzle - She would point to the picture and would aim the piece to the correct spot. EI used hand over hand to put piece in. She would turn the pages of the book. Wooden blocks - she was able to imitate EI and push them like a train and would "growl" instead of "choo choo." :)
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Books Added to the Reading List
Darn you, Costco.
Picked up 2 more for the list.
South of Broad (Pat Conroy) - just heard lots about this. Nothing specific. But enough to make me pick it up.
The 19th Wife (David Ebershoff) - I don't know why I find polygamy so interesting. I read about this one in the Costco magazine (yes, I know they're just trying to sell me things) and was hoping to catch it.
Picked up 2 more for the list.
South of Broad (Pat Conroy) - just heard lots about this. Nothing specific. But enough to make me pick it up.
The 19th Wife (David Ebershoff) - I don't know why I find polygamy so interesting. I read about this one in the Costco magazine (yes, I know they're just trying to sell me things) and was hoping to catch it.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
We probably won't be camping any time soon.
The weekend was a hot one, and so on Sunday afternoon, we put the girls' bathing suits on and took them out to the back yard to play with a new sprinkler we got at Target. I'll spare you the 3 minute video, but I'll summarize it for you:
Everyone was happier once we got to the swings.
After they got bored with the swings, we pulled the water table back out, and Julie and Emma went to town. Becca got down for a minute, but then really preferred being in her daddy's arms.
Our adventurous eater... that's walrus.
Those curls!
So serious.
She wanted me to hold her long enough for me to turn the camera over to Greg. Then she wanted her daddy right back.
Emma, eating the walrus, started making "mmmmmm" sounds. So Julie did, too.
Julie feeding the penguin to Emma.
Becca got down long enough to snatch the coveted penguin.
Oh, the curls!
Emma and Becca have grown VERY attached to their stuffed animals, really over the last week or so. Becca has a stuffed monkey that she sleeps with, and Emma has a bear. When we got them up over the weekend, they insisted on bringing their stuffed animals downstairs. Which of course led to Emma stealing Becca's monkey.
And getting awfully cozy with it.
Which did not make Becca happy.
They've all been playing with this puzzle a lot lately, particularly Emma. She gets very frustrated when the pieces don't go in, but is learning to turn them. (Another favorite activity, particularly of Julie and Becca, is clapping the puzzle pieces together.)
The sleeping situation had been getting better since the middle of last week. But on Monday morning, Becca woke up at 5:30. Not too bad, because she sort of went back to sleep once I got her. But every time I'd shift, she's start screaming. On Tuesday morning, she woke up at 4:30, pretty much screaming and writhing inconsolably. It was hard to hold her, but if you put her down, she'd just roll off the bed. We tried milk. We tried tylenol. Greg finally brought her downstairs around 6 and she eventually dozed off for a little while, before we had to wake her up again. And once we woke her up, she was fine. We had an episode like this a few months ago. I actually took her to the doctor that time. I'm not sure what's going on. The only think I can think of is that the drainage from her ear stopped on Monday. I don't know if her eardrum closed back up and now she's got an ear infection... or what. We go back to get her ears looked at by the ENT on Thursday, so if we can just make it until then...
Emma has been sleeping, but has been having some more bad days lately. No biting or anything, luckily, just very very cranky and clingy. We've been having problems dropping them at daycare in the mornings this week, where they just don't want to let go of us. Breaks my heart. This morning we had to trick Emma into letting go of Bear so we could go to daycare, and then it was downhill from there. She was already crying when we went to get her this afternoon, and screamed herself to sleep on the way home.
Speaking of daycare, we have been stroller-free for about a week now. It's like a circus getting everyone in and out, but I am starting to fantasize about the day when one of us could handle pick up or drop off. A girl can dream...
- Julie runs right over to the sprinkler. She proceeds to stand there and let it spray her. Then she grabs one of the arms and squirts herself in the eye. Then she does it again. Finally, it's squirting her in the face and she doesn't seem to be enjoying it anymore, but she doesn't move away, like she's frozen there and doesn't know what to do.
- Becca and Emma have to be dragged over to the sprinkler. They get sprayed once or twice and then throw their arms up in the air to be picked up.
- Becca and Emma refuse to walk on the grass. They spot the swings, but won't walk over to them. They stand there in the grass, pointing until we carry them over to the swings.
Everyone was happier once we got to the swings.
After they got bored with the swings, we pulled the water table back out, and Julie and Emma went to town. Becca got down for a minute, but then really preferred being in her daddy's arms.
Our adventurous eater... that's walrus.
Those curls!
So serious.
She wanted me to hold her long enough for me to turn the camera over to Greg. Then she wanted her daddy right back.
Emma, eating the walrus, started making "mmmmmm" sounds. So Julie did, too.
Julie feeding the penguin to Emma.
Becca got down long enough to snatch the coveted penguin.
Oh, the curls!
Emma and Becca have grown VERY attached to their stuffed animals, really over the last week or so. Becca has a stuffed monkey that she sleeps with, and Emma has a bear. When we got them up over the weekend, they insisted on bringing their stuffed animals downstairs. Which of course led to Emma stealing Becca's monkey.
And getting awfully cozy with it.
Which did not make Becca happy.
They've all been playing with this puzzle a lot lately, particularly Emma. She gets very frustrated when the pieces don't go in, but is learning to turn them. (Another favorite activity, particularly of Julie and Becca, is clapping the puzzle pieces together.)
The sleeping situation had been getting better since the middle of last week. But on Monday morning, Becca woke up at 5:30. Not too bad, because she sort of went back to sleep once I got her. But every time I'd shift, she's start screaming. On Tuesday morning, she woke up at 4:30, pretty much screaming and writhing inconsolably. It was hard to hold her, but if you put her down, she'd just roll off the bed. We tried milk. We tried tylenol. Greg finally brought her downstairs around 6 and she eventually dozed off for a little while, before we had to wake her up again. And once we woke her up, she was fine. We had an episode like this a few months ago. I actually took her to the doctor that time. I'm not sure what's going on. The only think I can think of is that the drainage from her ear stopped on Monday. I don't know if her eardrum closed back up and now she's got an ear infection... or what. We go back to get her ears looked at by the ENT on Thursday, so if we can just make it until then...
Emma has been sleeping, but has been having some more bad days lately. No biting or anything, luckily, just very very cranky and clingy. We've been having problems dropping them at daycare in the mornings this week, where they just don't want to let go of us. Breaks my heart. This morning we had to trick Emma into letting go of Bear so we could go to daycare, and then it was downhill from there. She was already crying when we went to get her this afternoon, and screamed herself to sleep on the way home.
Speaking of daycare, we have been stroller-free for about a week now. It's like a circus getting everyone in and out, but I am starting to fantasize about the day when one of us could handle pick up or drop off. A girl can dream...
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