progress?

Claire didn't wake up till 5 am this morning. (Emily was already awake) We somehow got back into patting Claire to sleep. Tonight Mark got her to sleep with no patting. Whew! Hopefully she'll sleep all night long. Emily has been wide awake and kicking and flailing from about 4:30-6:00 am several times this week. (She gets out of her swaddling.) It is very hard to follow my schedule under these circumstances. I've scrapped most of the schedule most of the week! I constantly want to turn to chocolate for comfort. (I'm trying to satisfy my sweet tooth with fruit.)
I'm looking forward to Lent. Hopefully I will be able to turn over a new leaf. (Get up on time, eat right, do the things in my mother's rule.)

I took Emily to the pediatrician today. The Dr said she looks great. Her hemoglobin is well within the normal range so she doesn't need her iron supplement anymore. She weighs 10 lbs.

I had fun reading Torgusborg and Making Room blogs the past few days. I like the clock idea (pie graph) since our schedule is very loose and based more on doing certain activities and not about doing them at a set time.

recipe:
Jen's Veggie Combo
finely chopped
cauliflower
broccoli
asparagus
zucchini
green onion
cilantro
stirfry in oil.
add ginger paste or garlic paste.
other spices may include cumin, paprika, cardamom.

I have used this as filling for empanadas, veggie pot pies, salmon wraps. Mark added it to lentils and rice with balsamic dressing. It is very versatile and tasty.

Back to lacking sleep

When your 8 hours of sleep is interrupted 5 or 6 times it ceases to be very restful or satisfying. Claire has been waking up once or twice per night during the past two weeks. I finally figured out that part of the problem is thirst. We put the humidifier in her room and set out a cup of water for her. We'll see if this helps. Last night she was crying like a banshee for milk but I gave her water and she settled down fairly quickly after even though she still asked for milk. (We haven't given her milk during the night for months.)

I was on a very short fuse when Claire only took a 30 minute nap and prevented me from taking one. She was cranky the rest of the afternoon and evening and threw several tantrums. I felt like getting out the duct tape and.... well restraining her. Of course she did get a very long "energy drain" time alone in her crib.

On the positive side Emily took a 90 minute nap this morning. She usually takes a 40 minute nap at that time so I was very happy that she slept so well.

Music class was canceled today so I pushed Claire to the park on her tricycle. She doesn't know how to steer yet so this was a challenge especially with Emily in the sling. I don't think we'll do this again until she can steer.

Horsey visit

Claire is all better. We went to visit Linda and her horses (And big cat Pepito). We all had a good time and I enjoyed the Chicken soup and muffins. Claire had great fun playing with Linda's collection of multicultural dollies. I drove around for an extra half hour once we got back to this side of town because both girls were sleeping.
I am very behind in my chores since we were out today. Claire did do her quiet time this morning and easily sat for 14 mins. Sometimes she requests a second quiet time in the afternoon. Thank you God!

Claire photo is from Linda's camera from her visit to our house a couple weeks ago.
Claire had really enjoyed playing dress up lately.

Claire sick

Claire was sick to her stomach today. She seems to be feeling better this evening and was able to eat. I had frozen breastmilk to give her and pumped some fresh for her also--I think this helped to speed recovery.

We hope to be able to go and visit Linda tomorrow and take carrots to her horses.

We have a well baby visit scheduled for Emily for Friday afternoon.

Emily laughs

Emily laughed a lot today. She has an unpredictable sense of humor. I never know what she will find funny. She laughed at Claire and I several times today. Once was when I has holding Emily and reading Dr. Seuss aloud to Claire who was laying on her bed.

Emily has started splashing in the bath. She really seemed to have fun today.

After we read her a book and then put it down she often cries. I think it's because she wants to read it again. She really seems to enjoy looking at books and patting the pages.

All our problems with riding in the car are not over yet. She cried most of the way home from music class on Thursday. She did well on the weekend when I was in the backseat to soothe her while Mark drove. One thing that helps is the pacifier. She doesn't seem to need it any other time except in the car.

We got new boots with arch support for Claire and it's helping her walking. The Physical therapist was amazed at how quickly they started helping.

Slow Progress

I'm making slow progress working through a Mother's Rule of Life by Holly Pierlot. I've been reading a few pages each day when Claire has her quiet time. She is up to 12 minutes. Sometimes she will keep reading quietly when the timer goes off. Today while Claire was with the babysitter and Emily was asleep I worked on room analysis. I finished the living room writing down the purposes/activities for this room & Materials needed,repairs and improvements I'd like to make things that need to be removed or put away and a list of cleaning chores and how often they need to be done and when and by whom.

I had a nice walk with Emily and went to the farmer's market. I had a hard time getting Emily to sleep for naps today and yesterday. She seems to be making progress towards tolerating car trips now that she can put her hand in her mouth and keep it there. She is also able to grab toys and sometimes get them to her mouth. She has been rolling over frequently when I put her in tummy time. I think she's figuring out how this happens.

good news

We had Emily evaluated by a therapist from Regional Center and she said that Emily seems to be right of target for 4 months (Her adjusted age.) She said that Emily does all the things she should be able to do at this stage in the game and isn't showing any behaviors that babies with developmental problems might display at this age. The social worker from regional center said that she may qualify for infant stimulation just because she was born so early. It is a relief to know that she is on track at this point.

Claire is making progress with eating. A week ago we started enforcing new rules for mealtimes. Milk after food. Claire feeds herself (we will no longer feed her, but will help her get food onto her spoon or fork as she still has difficulty with this.) She has to choose from what is served...not ask for various things form the shelf or refrigerator that are not in front of her. Mealtimes are of limited length and she has to ask politely to be excused. Last week she didn't have much of an appetite partly die to her cold. Today she ate more food and more variety of foods. Last week she chose to eat almost exclusively starchy foods. Now I give her some meals that don't contain any starchy foods so that she has to pick something else to eat. I think we are making progress.

babywearing

For those of you who may be wanting to buy a sling as a shower gift andfor new moms:

Mark and I have tried a number of babywearing contraptions. I think it is helpful to have at least a couple. If I could only have two it would be a ring sling and an Ergo Baby carrier. The ring sling is great for nursing a small infant. As they get heavier the Ergo is great because it is easy on the back. The wrap style carriers are also pretty easy on the back and you can nurse in them with some adjusting of the baby. I always feel the need to re-wrap and re-tie afterwards of the baby hangs too low and gives me a back ache.
We also have a hand-me-down snuggli carrier which Mark likes because baby can face out. I find it to be less comfortable on my back. We have a terribly uncomfortable pouch sling I got at toys R us (Premaxx baby bag) which has a buckle that sits right at the neck or on the shoulder. Ouch! ( Just checked their website and it is no longer carried..good. It is similar in style to the Infantino slingrider. We also have a adjustable pouch from kangarooKorner.com that I used a lot with Claire, but Emily doesn't seem to like it as much. I haven't used it for nursing. I just sewed a wrap with rings and tried it out a little yesterday. I need more experience with it to know how it will be. I read online that you can just thread rings onto your wrap to make it easier to put on and adjust.

Emily

Emily has been holding her hands together and playing with her hands a lot lately.
She has rolled from tummy to back a couple of times and from side to back or tummy a couple times. At this point I think she is still surprising herself by rolling but soon she will be able to do it at will.

She and Claire have been interacting more lately. She smiles at Claire a lot when Claire is nearby and she likes to watch and listen to Claire.

Emily is so sweet tempered and doesn't cry very often. One thing that gets her in a tiff is being strapped into her car seat and riding in the car when she is tired. She gets especially revved up when we stop at a red light. I've heard/read that most babies like the car and it soothes them to sleep. Not so with Emily. She is much happier in the car after a nap. At first I thought it was the car seat... But now she will ride in the car seat set in the stroller with no problem.

I have been trying to put her down for naps with her falling asleep in her bed because when I put her down after she's fallen asleep in my arms it usually wakes her up. So we do it over and over and she gets crankier and crankier. The past two days I have had success. First I change her diaper, feed her burp her, and sway with her to the song "My Bonny Lies Over the Ocean". When she starts to look sleepy I laying her on her side and patting or rubbing her back and continue singing our sleepy song or shushing.

She had a 2 hour and 45 min nap the other day. This is unusual.

I guess I forgot to mention Claire and Emily and I have all had a cold this week. (Starting on Saturday.) There are still some lingering sniffles but all of us are feeling better. Claire coughed a lot last night.

soups

I was inspired by a recent post on the Making Room blog.
Yesterday for lunch I made the following soup:
Saute 1 chicken thigh and add 1 bunch asparagus snapped in thirds. Dice chicken and add to 2 cups veggie broth and 1/2 can lite coconut milk.
add 2 diced carrots and zest of one lime a teaspoon of fresh ginger paste and 1/4 teaspoon of green Thai curry paste. Garnish with diced green onion, chopped peanuts and cilantro if desired.

today's soup:
saute
one diced potato
a cup of raw cashews
3 sliced green onions
1 bunch asparagus
2 zucchini
with 1 T ginger paste
1/4 t Thai curry paste
add 1 can coconut milk
and a bit of water and boil 10 mins

weigh in

We returned the baby scale we had been renting to track Emily's progress and make sure she got off to a good start breastfeeding. Her last weigh in was on Friday at 9 lbs 7 oz.
I started jumping rope for exercise in the mornings. I also took a long walk with the girls on Friday and a hike last Saturday. I feel more energetic and upbeat when I exercise.

Our morning routine has become an expected routine for Claire now. She will tell me "I'm ready to do quiet time." She will sit quietly and look at books for 10-11 mins most days now. We'll see if this starts to translate into sitting quietly in Church now. Last Sunday she was particularly loud.

artistic exploits

The first Music class was a hit with both Emily and Claire today. Claire loved playing the drums and other instruments and dancing and acting out the songs. Emily got to play a drum too with my help and was mesmerized by the whole experience. Claire pretended to swim like a fish during one song.

Claire did her first representational drawing today. She said she was going to draw David (From the book No, David by David Shannon) She drew a circle and said, "This is David's head. His head is a circle."

Go Claire GO!

Claire discovered the joys of sliding by herself today. She finally overcame her fear of this last piece of playground equipment and went for it. Then there was no stopping her. She must've gone down the slide at least a dozen times at the park. The first time she asked mommy to catch her, but later she went down "all by herself." She was so proud of herself. She kept saying "I went down fast. I'm about to climb up again." etc.
Another notable quote has morphed. It started out as "I'm a kid." and then "I'm a big kid" Now she says, "I'm a big old old kid-id-id." (I guess this is for emphasis.)

Another conversation went like this.
Claire: I want to get married.
Me: Who do you want to marry?
Claire: Mommy!!
Me: You can't marry Mommy. I'm already married to daddy.
Claire: Daddy's a husband.
Me: Who is is wife?
Claire: Mommy.

Emily is 9 lbs 3 oz. She loves batting at her toys, watching the mobile, riding in the sling, nursing, smiling and being smiled at. Looking at books and being read to. She will smile at herself in the mirror. She is getting a bit of chubs on her thighs. She wears cloth diapers part time.

She is getting used to riding in the car. She is getting used to her swing, and sometimes falls asleep in it.