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Tummy Time Just got Harder

Wednesday, January 27, 2010
So Kate has again pulled a new trick out for us to see. She can now roll over from her belly to her back. This means that during our forced tummy time (I say forced because she definitely does not like it) she can now just roll over and end her own torture.

Yesterday while catching this on video I would put her back onto her tummy just to have her immediately, and I mean immediately, roll back over.

Ah well, what can ya do?

Sick

Friday, January 22, 2010
Our little Punkin' is sick. Not fun.

She woke up last night a couple of times, which is very out of character. Her crying was different, almost like she added a squeal to the end of it.

In the end I ended up downstairs on the couch watching I am Legend at 2am, with her cuddled up in multiple blankets until she fell asleep (ie. 3:30).

When I woke her up before leaving for work to feed her she was running a slight temp and then proceeded to fill three diapers in a half hour, ick!

Anyways, I was able to work from home and take care of her...which basically meant letting her sleep all day.

I never knew how easy it would be to care for a sick kid. Granted, the waking up part wasn't fun, but since she doesn't ever really do that I guess we could suffer through one night.

The really funny/sad part is though that even through all of the extra diapers, temp, and snot (who knew a person so little could produce so much) she still is smiling, most of the time.

That is what makes dealing with all of it easy.

Kate and Peyton Playtime

Thursday, January 21, 2010
You know you are a parent of an infant, when another infant spits up and you go to catch it in your hand...

Last night Kate and I headed on over to hang out with Chris and Peyton. Peyton is three months older than Kate, which means she is quite a bit more mobile...and has to just take what Peyton gives her.

Peyton kept tugging at her clothes, and I think trying to pet her head. : ) Then she started going for Kate's Nuk...which is something that one of Kate's other friends does as well (Reese).

I'm pretty sure though that Kate had a blast. She has started chewing on her tongue as of yesterday, could this be something that Peyton taught her to do?

Peyton is the biggest ham in the world, and with her super cute cheeks I don't know how you can't just fall in love with her! : ) It doesn't help that she makes cute Monkey sounds when she "talks" to you or gets excited. Oh and when I was holding her later in the night she laid her head down on my chest and cuddled in. My heart definitely melted. Kate didn't seem to mind.

Here are a couple pictures of our night, I would have had more but my learning curve on the new camera is pretty big.

Peyton, about ready to crawl.





Peyton close up!





"Hey, Kate is using my toy, not fair!"





Kate playing in Peyton's excersaucer.





Peyton has Kate's toy (in her mouth) but that isn't why she is upset...she's hungry.

This one looks like Peyton giving Kate her toy back...

Nope! But she'll show Kate how this other toy works!

Doesn't Fit

Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Last night when I was picking Kate up from daycare I noticed that she had a different outfit on than when I picked her up.

Uh oh.

That means a mess of some sort happened during the day, the other big clue of this was the plastic sack tied to the side of her carrier with her clothes in it.

Anyways, I had been thinking off and on that I had to remember to send some more clothes to daycare with Kate since I was sure she had grown out of the extra clothes we had previously provided. Low and behold, the outfit she had on fit just fine.

At first I was really confused, because I knew the outfits we had given Joyce were size three months. If Kate doesn't fit into any of the other three month sized outfits that she owns how in the world does she fit into this one, and it was kind of loose?!

Do you want to know how?

It wasn't hers! Ha ha. It was an old one left over from one of the older girls Lila.

I washed it up last night and sent it right back with her, oh well. In the end I guess it all works out.

But guess what, even though I sent back the outfit that fit her that was Lila's, I again forgot to pack in some of her own that fit her as well!

Kate's Fifth Month Slideshow

Sunday, January 17, 2010
I just finished a slideshow of pictures from Kate's fifth month.

Here's the link:


From Movies

Kate the Screaming Pterodactyl

Friday, January 15, 2010

Here's a little clip to the new soundtrack of our house, let me tell you, cute can only go so far...

From Movies

Five Months Old


Kate is Five months old today!
(this picture would be a whole lot cuter without the spit up!)


Cable Guy

Thursday, January 14, 2010
(being said in the totally creepy way Jim Carey said it in that same title movie.)

Does anyone have any good, funny, frustrating, or even creepy stories relating to service people that have come to their homes to perform work? Well now we do!

A couple of weeks ago John and I decided to switch from our two separate Internet and satellite providers and bundle together with one.

Last night was our scheduled install time, from 4-6pm.

The service installer guy arrived at about 4:30. It was just Kate and myself home, so the house was pretty quite and it was getting close to her dinner time.

I quickly showed him where he should hook the new box up as well as where we wanted the Internet to come in. Then he got to work.

Not ten minutes after he had been there he asked to use our bathroom.

Now I understand that working in a position that puts you in people's homes, that there may come a time where you will have to use their facilities.

My husband's job puts him in people's homes quite a bit, but he does not even remember a time where he even thought to ask the customer if he could use their bathroom...

anyways...

I had him use the bathroom downstairs as it is void of any personal items, and fifteen minutes and one two minute phone call (that I could hear) later he was back to work.

That's right, he spent fifteen minutes in our bathroom. Let me rephrase that...he spent fifteen minutes in a stranger's personal bathroom while working. What amount of time would he have taken if he used the upstairs bathroom where I wasn't around? I am pretty sure I know what kind of bathroom was happening in there, but will not state it for the record, though I don't know how he could ever have the nerve to do that!?!

I sat there, feeding Kate, hoping that this was one of those days she would be a noisy eater. Fat chance! Go figure that the house was dead silent and I could hear everything. Lovely.

I will have to admit that the remainder of the time he was there (until around 7pm, I know...forever) I was a bit uncomfortable around him.

The best part of the whole event was watching John's face when I told him. It was right after he went upstairs to introduce himself and while making small talk asked about any crazy happenings on the job (people who have to go into other people's homes love to share their war stories).

I'm pretty sure even John hadn't heard this one before!

Oh Mr. Sun

Tuesday, January 12, 2010
"Oh Mr. sun, sun, Mr. golden sun, please shine down on me..."

To any of you out there does this line instantly bring to mind the sweet and fun croonings of Raffi?

Well to me it does, almost instantly, and it isn't just becuase Kate received her first Raffi cd for Christmas and it has been playing in our house. It is probably the same album that I had as a child but of course not in tape form!

My musically inclined child (who loves it when you sing to her, thank goodness she hasn't started critiquing me yet!) is lucky enough to listen to Raffi at least a couple of times a week.

And when I say listen, I mean to the entire cd. So in honor of Kate's luckiness I have decided to share some Raffi with all of you. Here are some of my favorites, Kates to be decided...

Baby Beluga (this is the first song I ever sang to Kate)


Day O (one of my all-time favorites, you don't even need a kid to get into this one!)


Apples and Bananas (always there at the back of my mind to pull out if a singing distraction is needed!)


Peanut Butter Sandwich (I distinctly remember how much I loved this song as a kid)

Stop Being so Snotty!

Friday, January 8, 2010
I'm not sure if this is a normal kid thing, or if we just lucked out (lucked being said in a very ironic-type tone).

Ever since the first bit of windchill decided to bless us all in this freezing cold state, Kate's nose has been plugged. Well not 100 percent of the time, but off and on. I would say it is on and off like a faucet, but usually it doesn't drip, but instead gets all full and stuck in her cute tiny button of a nose.

Because of this she was introduced to her #1 nemesis, the nose saline solution. This nemesis of course does not travel alone, but always brings her #2 nemesis, the nose sucker. Ahhhhh (a scared scream)!

I got the tip to use the nose saline from my friend Chris, I will thank her but I am not sure that Kate will. At that time Chris also told me that it really works to slightly prop up the crib mattress at one end to decrease the stuffiness accumulated while sleeping. I never tried this, don't ask me why, until Monday night.

It works! I don't know why I would ever think it wouldn't as all other tips and tricks she has given me have proven to be quite effective as well!

The other day due to Kate's very loud and tearful protest to me squeezing the saline solution up her nose, I decided to not squeegee and see where that left us.

It left us with an adorable girl, looking not as adorable with tons of dried bugs all over her face/hands/etc.

Of course I had to clean her up, but it was bath day so in the end it worked perfectly.

As I carried her into the bathroom and set her in the tub, in true embarrassing parent fashion, I switched around the lyrics to Lady Gaga's song "Poker Face" (which I don't really know anyways) to be:

Kate has a, Kate has a
Kate has a buger face
Kate has a, Kate has a
Kate has a buger face

B-b-b-buger face, b-b-buger face
B-b-b-buger face, b-b-buger face

Kinda catchy isn't it? : )

Tattle Tale

Wednesday, January 6, 2010
John was informed yesterday morning by Joyce, Kate's daycare provider, that Kate has turned into a bit of a tattle tale! (Let me assure you that she thinks this is funny, and is in no way telling us something that we need to change about our four month old daughter!)

Every morning while the older kids eat breakfast, Kate sits at the table in her bumbo chair and watches them.

She really loves to watch kids, of any size/age/type. So I am sure this is probably one of her favorite times of the day.

Joyce happens to have a golden doodle dog named Kirby, who I am sure just loves it when the older kids "drop" (yeah right) food on the ground so that he can eat it.

Kate now though has decided to start making a squawk when anyone drops food on the floor. Is it because she wants it? Is it because she knows in our house that Nora and Puller (the beagles) love to "clean" the floor?

Joyce thinks she is letting her know that something is dropped, but I am pretty sure it is Kirby that she is giving the heads up to!

Do you fondue?

Saturday, January 2, 2010
We do!

Lutefisk

My husband, John, has been teasing my dad that for our Christmas meal what he really wanted was Lutefisk. Well he didn't get it on Christmas...but the other night, he did!

Here are the heating/eating instructions the store sent home with my dad.



Lutefisk before cooking.



My Dad, excited to try the Lutefisk.



Into the microwave, yes the directions did say to cook it in the microwave (interesting and appalling, I know)!
Kate was not a fan of the Lutefisk/microwave smell.
Ta da! Done!

The Lutefisk did actually make its way to the dinner table.
We also had lefsa.
John getting the Lutefisk ready to try for the first time (also known as dousing the fish in butter, salt, and pepper).
John was brave enough to try the first bite.
All in all it wasn't awful. Besides the interesting texture, it basically tasted like butter, salt, and pepper. With the smell it created while cooking I was sure it would taste really fishy, but I didn't actually get any fish flavor from it at all.
No one really wanted to eat a huge portion of it, so tell me, what do you do with food you don't want to eat in a house that has a dog?
That's right, it went from being our dinner to being Darby's. Lucky for her my dad also mixed in some normal dog food.
First she basically just smelled around in it and looked up at us a couple of times, probably weary to what we had given her to eat.
She finally started eating, but really only picking through the fish to get to the dog food. In the end all that was left in the bowl was fish. There was less than what was put in, but I am guessing that she wasn't able to get it all off of her food and had to sacrifice eating some in the process.
Thanks dad, for a memorable meal and another thing that we can cross off of our list!
I don't think that John will ever request it again!

A Secret Love Affair

Friday, January 1, 2010
**Warning** The following post may be too graphic for some readers...

Ha ha, just kidding.

I would like to share though, my secret love affair with a certain fast food restaurant. Some of my friends and family may know exactly which restaurant I am talking about, but most others will not.

If you do not, please do not feel offended that I haven't shared this most important secret with you, I only told those who do know on a need-to-know basis!

The first time I ever had food from this fast food restaurant, we'll call it X for now, was the day after I had my wisdom teeth out. (There are rumors that when we were younger my grandma would take us there sometimes, though all I remember is going to the Old Country Buffet with her!) Due to the food's softer consistency, and my strange lack of major pain (until a green bean got stuck back in there three days later), it was a perfect fit.

Boy was I glad that I had those wisdom teeth out! Without that experience I would never have had the need to eat softer food, and would probably have never had that most wonderful experience.

I carried this growing love for X into college, where one night during my freshman year my car actually broke down in the drive through. That was it, I needed help. That meant I had to start letting some people know that I actually at there! Thankfully I was able to dig through my mental list of friends to find a few that liked it as well, and would not ridicule me for my choices.

Though one roommate did find out about that night, and loved to bring it up to me with a huge grin on her face! I say that she didn't know what she was missing!

Through college we often would stop at X after a night of drinking to stabilize our stomachs. Eating at X was an okay standard to do after drinking and no one was ashamed of doing it then. The difference with my feelings for X is that I loved it even without the excuse of alcohol. But did I ever let anyone know, of course not!

My husband, John, also likes X. He does know how much I love X, but he cannot eat it like he could when we were younger (for reasons I will be happy to not share here).

When I got pregnant I thought, "This is the perfect excuse to eat at X all the time, and I can just blame it on cravings!"

That did not work as well as I thought. The first time I went to X after being pregnant it tasted to me like fish. My heart was broken...nine whole months with no food from X. And would this awful taste mind trick ever go away, what if after I had the baby it would still taste fishy to me? (I later learned that all dill pickles had that flavor for me during that time).

Kate is now four-and-a-half months old and I still have not tried it again.

Today I was on my own for lunch, and was thinking to myself what I should have...a Lean Cuisine or a salad of course! Did that happen? Of course not!

So I jumped in my car and headed for X. It had been too long, and I needed to prove to myself that my love for it was still there. The anticipation of my reconnection with X increased the weight of my foot on the gas pedal, which quickly made me realize that I was almost out of gas.

No worries, just a slight detour at the gas station and I was back on my way.

Finally I got to X, and ordered what I wanted from the drive through (of course I am too embarrassed to actually get out of the car and go in to get my food). Back on the road I couldn't wait to break into my meal, and guess what...

...it again was probably one of the best things I have ever eaten, and my life was whole again.

What you ask could be the purveyor of such fine food? Where is this fast food restaurant and what is it's name? Well here's a little hint, a picture of what I ate (but two with cheese):


That is right, my secret is out. I LOVE WHITE CASTLE. Funny as I type this I am almost excited to get my secret out into the world, maybe this will help lower the shame I often feel when eating it...or maybe not.

Ah well, I just hope that I can get Kate to like it just as much. What could be a better bonding experience than a mother-daughter secret trip to White Castle for lunch...I can't think of anything!