I like her; I like her not

The past two weeks Naomi has become a much more content baby. She's gotten to the point that she rarely cries; she was SO good during our trip to Spokane- cried just a little on the plane trips. While we were there, I remember thinking I was starting to really like my daughter. Before that, I hadn't really liked her much- all she did was demand my attention and deprive me of my sleep. I've also been reading about a member on a forum I check alot who just lost a daughter to SIDS- her baby was two weeks older than Naomi. So I've felt so bad for my ambivalence toward Naomi; so sorry for this poor woman who will forever wonder what would be if she'd just checked on her baby five minutes earlier; and so thankful for the fact that I'm not in her position when I so easily could be.

But then, just when I start to like her, she blows it. After crying alot today, she just spit up about 4 ounces of milk. She soaked me, the couch, and a receiving blanket. I spend almost two hours a day pumping since the kid is too lazy to suck effectively, and then she just throws it back up on me?!? We've discovered that she does better with enfamil's formula with rice starch added to it; if it weren't so dang expensive, I'd quit pumping and just let her have that. Hopefully by tomorrow I'll forget about the milk bath and like her again:)

Baby, It's Cold Outside

Today the high temperature in Rockford is supposed to be 40 degrees. Yes, that was the high, not the low. Right now it's 27 degrees and my back deck is covered in snow! If this was mid-November I might not be surprised, but snow!?! Sunday it was 75 and we were in t-shirts outside. Four days later it's snowing. I don't like this midwest weather!! Fortunately the cold is only supposed to last a couple days. When Hope saw the snow outside, she said "Oh, good, now Santa Claus is coming!"

David has decided, based on my last few posts I suppose, to implement a shift system for Naomi's sleep habits. Now I go to bed at 8 after I put Hope to bed. He stays up with Naomi until midnight, and then it's my turn to get up with her. Last night he put her in her swing around 10 and slept on the couch. At 2:30 I woke up and realized they were still downstairs- she'd slept so well in the swing that he didn't wake up when his shift was over:) I told you she loves that swing! So I got almost six hours of continuous sleep. I feel really good this morning, and thought I'd try to take a shower and go shopping at a few places today, but I'm not real sure I want to be out in this cold weather.

Yankees Suck

Yesterday David and I watched a GREAT baseball game. As a member-by-default of the RedSox nation, I had to be happy the yanks lost. It's so nice to watch those cocky jerks get their superiority complex batted out of them. Every time I see Jeter's smug smirk, I wish a bat would fly right into his pretty little mouth. So it was fun to watch a team that came from nowhere, with a 23-year-old pitcher I had only heard of because dad worked with one of his relatives, single-handedly silence the Yankee-lovers of the world.

What really got me, though, was after the game. One of the commentators said something about Joe Torre and the "dynasty years" of the 1990's. Dynasty years??? The yanks won the world series four times in five years. Ok, maybe that's not so bad. But they hadn't been in a world series game for 15 years before that. That's not a dynasty. It's a few good years. A dynasty is UCLA when John Wooden coached. They won the NCAA championship 10 times in 12 years; 7 of those championships were consecutive; and 40 years later they are still one of the top teams every single year. Granted, Lew Alcindor played for them a few of those championship years, but even Michael Jordan's college team only won once, and I think most people would admit that Mike is a little better than Kareem. So you can't say it was cause they had one great player. I really wanted to email the station and ask, exactly what is their definition of a dynasty? Cause I think it's a lot different than Webster's.

Beyond the yanks losing though, I really do love this time of year. I wouldn't say I live for October baseball like the commercials say, but I sure do enjoy it. I don't even care who's playing- it's just fun to watch a game. I remember the first time I really got in to baseball. It was the summer Hope was born, and I was home all the time with her. That year we got lucky with our cable "poverty package"- we had ESPN and FOX Sports. So six or seven nights of the week, there was a Mariners game on and I'd watch most of them, even when David wasn't around. The first weekend of October was sad because I really liked the M's that year and I wasn't going to be able to watch them anymore. So tonight, since the Yankees were kind enough to lose quickly rather than dragging it out, there are no baseball games on. And while most females wouldn't really care, I'm disappointed that I can't watch a game.

Sorry David

It seems I hurt David's feeling with my last post, because he's sitting here not talking to me after reading it. In his defense, he does have to get up for work and I don't. He can't go back to sleep easily and I can. And some weekend nights he has let me sleep the whole night and he even keeps Naomi downstairs and sleeps on the couch so they won't disturb me. So I certainly don't have it bad- he's a wonderful help with both girls, especially considering how involved (or non-involved) some fathers are. I was just crabby that day.

False Alarm

Why did I get excited about Naomi sleeping? She was back to her old self last night:( She fell asleep about 9:30; I went to bed at 10:30 and fed her some then thinking that she'd sleep till at least 2:30 or 3:00 with the extra food. Nope- she woke up at 11:30, 2:15, 5:30, and 7:30. The other day- monday maybe- she slept for six hours in her swing. SIX HOURS!!! Why, oh why can she not do that at night?

I'm the one that gets up with her at night because I fall right back asleep; once David wakes up it can take him hours to go to sleep again. So I thought I was being the great wife by getting up with her so he can sleep since he's the one who has to get up early for work. He'd even said several times lately that he's getting better about sleeping through her crying- he asks every morning how many times I had to get up and says he didn't even hear me. Well, yesterday he slipped up. He was just talking about work but mentioned something about how he'd told them I try so hard to be quiet but he wakes up every time I get up with her and doesn't go back to sleep for sometimes an hour afterward. Last night when he woke me up to tell me she was crying- what the heck is up with that??- I wanted to say, You're awake-and apparently you'll be awake for another hour- why don't you go feed her!

Never mind me- as Mandy used to say "Shishy soooo cabby!!"

I'm telling you, she's Bryn's kid

If I didn't know better, I'd say Bryn is Hope's mom. She's exactly like Bryn was at this age. Today on Dora, there was a pinata. Hope told me she was going to pretend to have her own pinata, so I watched her pretend to break it. Then things got a little nutso. She was showing me all the "stuff" in the pinata (imaginary, of course). There was candy, toys, suckers, and stickers. Then she started passing them out. Apparently, there were alot more people here than I realized- she had all sorts of friends sitting on the hearth that she'd take something over to. Even Shrek and princess Fiona got suckers.

Dad is concerned that she's not in preschool because she doesn't have anyone to play with. As I told him, she has all the playmates she needs right inside her little head! Right, Brynner?

She Did It!!!

Ok, so maybe she didn't completely sleep through the night, but Naomi only woke up once last night! Hopefully this is a trend that will continue for awhile:)

Don't Swallow!

In anticipation of our plane trip to Spokane, we're trying to teach Hope how to chew gum. I figure it's the best way to make sure her ears don't hurt on the plane. I remember when we flew to Seattle to go to Disneyland when I was five, uncle Ron took us to the airport and gave me and Mandy gum and told us to chew it; I had no idea why we were supposed to but I did because he said to. So last night at the store we got a few packs for her to practice with. David wanted to get her Juicy Fruit; why would mom never let us have that? It's not like its alcoholic or addictive; well, maybe it's addictive- she sure went through enough packs of it. I still say they should make JuicyFruit candy- that stuff tastes so good but the flavor lasts about two minutes and then it's time to spit it out and have another piece. Anyway, we got boring ole' sugar-free bubble gum flavor and came home to practice. I bet we looked like dorks sitting around the table watching each other chew gum. David reviewed the basics- chew but don't swallow it, no playing with it, and no putting it in your hair. Luckily, I made her bite off about a quarter of a stick at first. She chewed it several times and then swallowed it. So we went over the rules again and she had some more. This time she chewed it for quite a bit longer, but still swallowed it. Third time was a charm. She chewed it for about ten minutes and then we threw it away.
As soon as she came downstairs this morning she was bugging me for more gum. I told her she had to wait for David to come home, so the instant he walked in the door she was groping around on the counter trying to get a pack. She remembered the no-swallowing part, but forgot the don't play with it part. I caught her pulling it out of her mouth. So I expect that tomorrow will be gum-in-the-hair day. Oh well, I'm going to have Trish cut her hair some anyway; maybe I'll just have to cut parts of it a little early.