Christmas Recap - Minus Pictures...

We left Christmas Eve morning for my parents. They live 10 hours away by car before AJU5, and luckily it was only about 11 hours each way this time! She did fairly well, but she did prefer that I sit next to her (which wasn't very comfortable since her car seat is in the middle).

We were the first ones to my parents. My sister and her son arrived around midnight (he spent Christmas Eve with his dad). My brother and other sister (and their families) arrived just after noon on Christmas Day after doing the Santa thing at home. AJU5 went down for a nap about 15 minutes before they showed up because she was exhausted! She woke up about 2 hours earlier than normal (the time we had left the day before actually), so she missed the first half of the presents. She wasn't too interested in the present anyways!

The opening was a little chaotic! With five kids pulling presents (AJU5 and cousin G were too little to participate in this), there were often 5+ presents being opened at once. But, it was fun none the less. After presents we hung out until dinner time (we had snacks when everyone arrived). The kids played with their new toys and the Wii's (there were 2 hooked up at that point). I got my first experience with the Wii - and enjoyed it. We just don't think we need to spend $400 right now on it (Wii + Fit).

The kids ate dinner while the adults done everything else ready. Then the kids watched a movie and played while we ate (AJU5 ate during all of this because she is a huge eater!). After dinner and dessert (about 2 hours later), my brother and his family went home (and we didn't see them again).

AJU% kept her 5:00-5:30 wake up time the whole time we were there. She also had a 3:00-3:30 time where she refused to sleep in her bed (without a lot of crying). So, our sleep wasn't the best. Luckily with all of the kids to play with and not having much responsibility in terms of cooking, I didn't get too exhausted! Luckily she did go down to sleep on her own - something she didn't do at the in-laws over Thanksgiving!

Friday the big kids went on a hike with the guys. The rest of the day was spent playing as usual. My mom and sisters are addicted to books and tv, so I often spent my time with AJU1 and my brother-in-law (Dad was usually playing with the kids or with us). Saturday we did a little birthday party of AJU5 and her cousin M who had a birthday on the 19th. AJU5 was actually interested in her presents at this point - at least a little - so that was fun. The biggest issue was that cousin G liked her presents too (He will turn 2 in January). Luckily the whole time we were there AJU5 only pulled him down once to get a toy!

All in all, it was a good trip. My mom had her usual blow-ups, but we all survived those. Last night AJU5 slept great - 5 hours then 3 and 3, so we are happy there. Now to get the house done (AJU1 has this week off as well)...

Pictures to come eventually!

One year ago today...

AJU5 came home from the hospital. She had spent a week in the NICU/Special Care Nursery receiving antibiotics and oxygen (off and on). She ended up coming home on the lowest possible setting of oxygen (1/32 of a liter) because she failed the car seat trial. We will never be sure if she failed due to monitor issues (the day before she came home her pulse oxygen levels were low regardless of the level of O2 they were giving her until they changed the lead) or because she needed it. Luckily she is perfectly healthy now!

Here are a few pictures from a year ago today! Note: One of the babies tested positive for RSV the day I was discharged. So, we had to wear gowns and gloves...

Some people have too much time on their hands...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081219/ap_on_fe_st/rudolph_s_gender

A Year Ago...

Today is the Thursday of finals week. Things seem so much different now! I had to enter grades and complete all of our end of term paperwork with AJU5 in tow. I am no longer a full time faculty member, so I don't have an office on campus (which makes keeping AJU5 entertained slightly harder). But, I would definitely say that I love my current life!

At her doctor's appointment on Tuesday, we found out AJU5 weighed 18 lbs 3.5 oz (10th percentile), was 28 inches tall (25th percentile), and had a head circumference of 48 cm (95th percentile). That makes for one very skinny, somewhat short, and very large headed one year old! This might be why she doesn't want to walk - she isn't proportioned correctly (have you every tried to walk with weights attached to your head?).

We have also started sleep training AGAIN. Getting up every 2 hours was killing me, so I started making her go three hours on Monday. Tuesday night she refused the three hours once (screamed for 20 minutes before I gave up), but did the 3 hours every other time on her own. Last night she went down close to 9 (we were at church late, but she was happy because she was playing with the other kids). She woke up a little past midnight. Then she cried a little around 1, but she put herself down before I even considered getting her. I didn't hear her again until almost 7! It was amazing to get that kind of sleep! Now, if only I hadn't had to hear my husband's alarm at 4:45...

Here are a few cute, somewhat recent, pictures. One is of one of her melt downs (for an unknown reason - we were right there!). Then there is her winter sweater, hat, and mittens from her grandma. And finally, there is a picture of spiked hair!

Birthday Party Pictures!

The cupcakes

Eating her cupcake (well, the frosting at least)

Opening a present

Crayons - I love crayons!

Here party was fun. It was supposed to be 4-5:15, but as usual, people were late. So, we didn't really start anything until 4:30ish. The kids played with the inflatable duck balls (as well as the guys). Then we had snacks (sorry Jen, didn't have time to try to make the cheese ball because, well, we were running late as it was!). Then came cake and presents. It was nothing fancy, but everyone had a great time. AJU5 had only napped for about 30 minutes all day, so she was a little sleepy. But, she didn't have any melt downs (probably due to having kids to play with). Only one present was wrapped (the others were in bags), so she was good at helping get her presents out. I wonder how she will do with wrapping paper at Christmas?

365 Days Later...

AJU5 was born 365 days ago. When I think back to this time of year last year, I find so much has changed. Her birth wasn't easy, but when it is time for another kid, I am not afraid. Here is a short synopsis of her birth:

• Doctors appointment at 11 - 3 cm dialted, 90% efaced
• Go to work/school. Give last "final" (presentations) and turnin grades.
• Pick up two lost exams from testing center.
• Go home and grade exams and email boss new grades so he can change them (I didn't want to have to go in the next day to fix them in person).
• Take a nap
• Cook dinner
• Feel first contractions between 7 and 8 pm while watching movie
• Take showers and try to go to sleep
• Around 10:30 realize they are coming quickly and not letting up so call the on-call doctor.
• She says come in but we may send you home.
• Get to hospital around 11:30 - 8cm dilated!
• Around 1 am feel the need to push. Water still isn't broken (but bulging) so she breaks it - realizes I am only about 9 cm dilated (inner ring not "visible" due to water)
• Get epidural and oxygen because baby is having some distress
• Try to sleep until about 6 am
• Infection at some point - on antibiotics now as well
  
• Midwife comes in (new shift at 7) and try pushing - more distress
• Around 9 realize the baby isn't going to come out (she was not positioned right, may have been to big) so agree to c-section.
• Tell us baby will go to NICU after birth due to infection I have
• Baby born at 10:04 am
• Get to hold baby around 1pm

AHHHHHH!!!!!

This is a bout work. Since I know I have at least a few readers who are also college instructors/professors, I thought I would rant here!

I am teaching a course for the first time this semester. I somehow miscalculated points to make them add up to the numbers on the syllabus. So, back before Thanksgiving when one student pointed this out, I told them I would adjust the grades based on percentage by dividing by the possible points and then multiplying by the point values on the syllabus. Sounds simple enough - right? Well, I have had to explain it three times today so far! And it is a math class!

How hard is it to get - add them up, divide by x and multiply by y? They keep telling me my points don't add up to what you posted online. Yeah, that would be right! Why can't they get it?

Okay, now off to get more work done. Rant over...

Sleep and Procrastinating...

First, AJU5 has NOT been sleeping well lately! On average, she is going about 1.5 hours between screaming episodes. She seems to only be willing to nurse back to sleep or scream forever. AJU1 is out of town tonight and tomorrow night, so I might let her cry it out more. I want to get back to the 4-5 hours at least! I need more sleep (she is screaming right now - about 1 hour and 15 minutes after going down...)!

On another notes - her birthday (and party) are on Sunday! I still need to ourder her cupcakes... hopefully I can get that done tomorrow. I have meant to do it before, but it was going to be our last stop each time and she wasn't up for the stop... luckily I only want white cupcakes with white frosting and some sprinkles on top... it shouldn't be that hard for them!

Now to go somewhere else (other than the room right next to hers) to let her cry...

*** after 30 minutes of hearing her scream (while I stained some wood), I finally gave in and got her out of bed. I forced her (gently) to take a few sips of milk from her cup (we started milk last week because she has been biting more lately). Once she had a good drink, I let her nurse to sleep... now she is back down 45 minutes later... This is NO fun!

MILESTONES!

First, we got AJU5 to take steps yesterday! Some times she would go 3-4 steps before getting to the other parent without leaning too much. She went back and forth between us for a good 15 minutes. She just laughed and laughed each time. There is hope she will actually be walking at one year!

Second, she has learned about inflatable balls. We have one of the duck balls for her birthday inflated for her to play with. Somehow she got the plug out last night. I found her sitting on the floor sucking in the air. This morning I blew it back up. She cried because I plugged it back up. She spent a good five minutes trying to get it out (much slobber on the ball). So, I unplugged it. Now she is sucking the air out again... At least she likes it.

Finally, I finally dug out one of our old cell phones (they were still in a box in our closet). Now I don't have to worry about her making calls... And fighting to get my phone back...

Preparing for a Birthday Party

AJU5's birthday party is next Sunday (on her birthday). We are having it at our church before evening service (since a good portion of the guests are church members). The theme is ducks. I bought 48 miniature rubber ducks and twelve inflatable balls with ducks inside. I have also bought yellow plates and napkins and clear glasses. I still need to buy silverware. I had thought about baking cupcakes, but after realizing I would need more pans and decorating material, I am going to go store bought (it will probably end up costing about the same). Now I have to figure out snacks. Here are my current ideas:
Chips and salsa
Baby Carrots and Ranch Dressing
Apple Slices
Something with protein yet to be decided (possible cheese and crackers)

I will only have 3 hours between morning service and the party to get ready. The day before is the church holiday party, so I won't have much time then to prep things either. So, I want to keep things easy.

Any other suggestions?

Trip in Review...

We left last Monday morning for our trip to the in-laws. We fly Southwest with one de-planing in the middle. With the reduced number of flights, we now have a two hour lay-over each direction in Las Vegas (not my favorite of airports to say the least). AJU5 flew WONDERFULLY! She slept on all four flights! On the way there, we would get in our seat, install her car seat (the flights weren't full so they let us take her seat), and then top her off. I would then put her in her seat and give her a pretzel. Within minutes of takeoff she would be asleep! Once we are done flying, we have a bout 2.5 hours to car travel to the in-laws. This time we stopped twice on the way there. The first stop was about 30 minutes in for a little shopping and delaying. Then we went to my husbands aunt and uncle's for dinner (about 1 hour farther). We were there until AJU5's bedtime, which worked well in that I was able to top her off and get her to sleep just before we hit the road. Unfortunately she woke up fairly close to the in-laws and didn't go to sleep for a while...

Sleep was the hardest part of the trip. She didn't want to fall asleep on her own. We had to rock her until she was cmpletely out and then transfer her to her bed (or let her sleep in our arms for a nap). With the exception of the last two nights, she didn't sleep for more than 2.5 hours at a time either! Needless to say we were exhausted! On top of AJU5 being a sleep hinderance for us, the bed and pillows weren't great, so the sleep we did get wasn't the most comfortable...

AJU5 did get her first YoBaby though. She loved the stuff! We will have to go tot he grocery store tomorrow to get some (we did Costco today for the basics). She also get corn flakes which she liked. But we don't think she liked what we had for lunch on Sunday. We went to a "Chinese" place. I gave her some chicken (fried but the batter peeled off), french fries, and rice. She ate well, but ended up with a very upset stomach! We went through 5 diapers in about 6 hours! She also did a little spit up/throw up action in there too. Luckily once she got it all out of her she slept for 6 hours straight!

AJU5 also got a new word - CAT. The in-laws have an indoor cat named Kitty. AJU5 loved to watch her! She wasn't too interested in touching the cat, but whenever she saw her, she would smile (and stop crying if she had been upset). It Kitty was in my lap, she would come over and "ask" to sit in my lap too and just be near Kitty. It was fun to watch the two of them interact. Kitty would sit near AJU5 but not close enough to be touched. AJU5 would crawl over to Kitty, but normally wouldn't get close enough to touch her.

Teh in-laws bought this instead of a standard high chair. I think I prefer the regular high chair. Food kept falling between the table and the chair. Plus, it is a non-machine washable fabric that kept getting dirty. I washed it in the sink, but vinyl is a lot nicer...

ON the way home, we ended up being delayed in Las Vegas for over an hour. We ended up sitting at a gate other than the one we were to depart from because ours was packed with people on another flight that was delyed two hours (and took off just before ours). We ended up talking to a "couple" - high school seniors - one from Indiana and one from Austrailia. She (Indiana) had spent 5 months in Austrailia studying (friends of the family were there on sabbatical). She met him at school. So, when it was time for her to come back to the States, he came with her (it is summer there, so he was free to travel). They had been traveling for 40 hours so far and weren't to land in Indiana until 2 am local time after all of the delays. I felt sorry for them, but we did have a good time chatting with them while waiting!

Okay, I think that is it... Now that we are home I can be more diligent at reading blogs and posting comments!