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Monday, March 31, 2008

A Political Moment

Ok, so it's not about me nor is it about my own experience, but I had to share because I am so so so so so looking forward to moments like these when Ellie gets older:

From my friend, Gabe:

My nephew: Uncle Gabe, who do you want to be president? I want Barack Obama.
Me: Why?
Him: Because he's canadian.
Me: He's not Canadian.
Him: Yes he is. He's a candidate!

Friday, March 28, 2008

Monkey see, monkey do

The other day Ellie and I were being monkeys. I would take her monkey and make my best monkey impersonation, to which she would smile and repeat me.

I'm not sure there is anything cuter than a 10 month old baby going "eh eh eh" like a monkey.

Let it be known, though, that my monkey sound include ooo-ooo and aahhh-ahhh sounds. You would have been impressed. Or scared. Let's stick with impressed.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Cups - who would have thought?

At Christmas the mommy's group got together and did a little gift exchange. We ended up opening a present that had a bunch of stacking cups. At the time, I remember thinking "Oh, man, this is kind of lame... not nearly as cool as the flip book that I bought for the exchange."

Little did I know... those cups would become one of Ellie's favorite toys EVER!

There are so many things you can do with cups, you know?

You can bang them together
You can fill them with water
You can drink from them
You can put stuff in them
You can shake that stuff out
You can put cups into baskets
You can take cups out of baskets
You can put cups inside cups
You can shake those cups
You can stack cups on top of each other
You can knock those down
You can hand cups to other people
You can put food in cups
You can eat food out of cups
...

Trust me, the list goes on and on. I suppose I owe someone an apology.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

A great plan of attack

I think that when the Greeks came up with the idea to build a huge wooden horse (as well as the soldiers hidden inside) to plan a sneak attack on Troy, it wasn't a bad idea. However, I do think they over-engineered and put too much thought and effort into the plan.

Though it was a decent plan, and obviously worked out in the end, I do think that it was inefficient. Afterall, don't you think that even for a brief period, the Trojans were suspicious of such a gift? Think about it, after recieving this really big wooden horse, I can imagine the Trojans thinking "Damn, that's tacky! What the hell am I supposed to do with this??" I bet they were even beginning to think of just how to re-gift the horse for someone's birthday or something. Who wants a gigantic wooden horse in their living room??

Now, if you had asked me, I would have suggested babies, sick babies to be more specific. The Trojans would have been presented with an amount of cute-ness that no one could ignore, and yet while they are comforting the little ones, they would have no idea what was about to hit them! They wouldn't see it coming! And it wouldn't require staying up late at night trying to figure out whether you should use nails or screws to hold the horses ass together.

I think it's a perfect plan, afterall Ellie was able to single-handedly wipe out most of our family with her illness. She was so cute and cuddly that everyone wanted to hold her close and calm her down. Who could resist such a snuggle bug? Ah, but the payment for such snuggles is extreme! Death to all who hug the baby!

I think I'm going to use this knowledge in my quest to rule the world. Oh, the fact that most of those on "my side" are now sick in bed may slow down the plan, but with Vicks as my witness and Ricola as my Savior, I shall prevail!

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Cow (over) Drive

I must say that the boobs were excellent while Ellie was sick. I have mentioned before that Ellie loves to eat and that we are constantly getting comments from daycare about how great she is with her finger foods. Once she got sick, that was out the door. She wanted nothing to do with anything that came from a finger or a spoon. Only the boob will do.

Normally it takes a few days for the supply to catch up with any changes in demand, but not this time. As soon as word got to the two... hmmm... moo-ers, they were working overtime! Maybe we should call it the Cow Overdrive of 2008?

Now keep in mind, Ellie had been sleeping completely through the night for a week or two (I got a glimpse of what Heaven must be like), but the first night she was up every couple of hours, the supply was ready. No, wait... that's not quite true. "Ready" is an understatement. "Got Milk?" would be an insult. These babies made jugs that night! Every time she woke up (and mind you, it was every hour or two), they were rock hard.

You would have been proud. No wonder I'm exhausted.

Monday, March 24, 2008

A sick baby update...

Ellie is doing much better and is smiling and playing like everyone likes to see. Her mommy and daddy, on the other hand, are passed out on the couch.

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Ugh... We've had better days

So Thursday Michael took the day off to take care of Ellie, who still wasn't feeling well. He ended up taking her to the doctor, who ended up sending us to the hospital because her oxygen levels were low. It turns out she has a bad virus and two ear infections. We spent the night at the hospital for observation to see if her oxygen levels would increase. Not fun.

Before this happened, she was such a social butterfly, but by the end of the day she had been prodded and touched by 9 different physicians/nurses/med students. It got to the point where whenever a stranger came into the room, she'd just start crying. Oh man, I hope that's just a temporary thing.

I was hoping to come out of the experience being thankful for those in the medical field for helping make my precious little one feel better, but I'm not sure that happened. I think overall the nurses were great, it was just everyone else. And the whole repetition of everything. That, and the trash man came into the room and shook a bag really loud at 10:30 PM. UH? Hello? Is it EVER a good idea to change the trash that late at night in the pediatric ward????

Anyway, it was a long long day and we were sent home with instructions to keep her on oxygen while she sleeps. That's easier said than done.

I think we may have our parenting licenses taken away. I accidentally gave her the grown-up size nose piece for the tubing to the oxygen, which is easily 4 times larger than the baby one. Poor thing, her nose was in so much pain by the end of the night (during which we had to constantly force her to keep the thing in her nose). Then this morning, we gave her the wrong dose for her medication. Ugh. We feel like we're new parents again.

Today she slept a lot. She no longer has a temperature, so that's a step in the right direction. She feels so cold to the touch, which is weird after getting so used to her being so hot. But she's sleeping. A lot. And then more.

Hopefully that's good, and hopefully tomorrow will be better. I'd love to get some cute Easter pictures out of this little thing, but we'll see how she's feeling.

I want this to be over with now. I don't think I'm cut out to be the mother of a sick baby*. It's heartbreaking. It's so sad to see her so tired and not feeling good, yet she tries to play with you from a lying position. Cute, but sad. I wish I could make it better.


* Disclaimer - I consider myself incredibly lucky to not have worse problems with little Ellie. In the end, a trip to the hospital for oxygen really isn't that big of a deal, and I certainly know of a few people who had worse Fridays than we did. H, I'm so glad that you and O are going to be ok, and I hope that your neighbors are doing well too! We love you!

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Who is the sicko who wrote this?

During the last couple of days, my ability to come up with the words to songs has really been pushed to its limits. However, in trying to soothe Ellie, I have reached deep down inside to come up with songs that I have forgotten about in years. And I"m not sure I like what I found...

Rock-a-by baby, in a tree top
When the wind blows, the cradle will rock.
When the bow breaks, the cradle will fall.
And down will come baby, cradle and all.

That's just evil.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Sick baby

My precious little thing is sick. She had a bad fever yesterday and we were called in to pick her up early. When I showed up, she was just lying there on the floor, not asleep but definitely in a zombie-like state. She didn't even really respond to me when she saw me. There was NO question what-so-ever that she wasn't feeling good.

Poor little thing. I wish there was something I could do to help her feel better.

Luckily, though, she seemed in better spirits this morning so maybe she'll learn that playing hookie from school means a fun day with the grandmas! At the very least, she gets to wear her PJs all day!

Why buy expensive toys?

Oh man... You have to see this video!

It's just one of those videos that force you to laugh. It's adorable. I love the sound of baby laughter.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Shortest game played ever

In the books they claim that if a baby bites you while nursing, you should try to do the opposite of your instinct (to pull away) and actually push towards the baby. In theory this is uncomfortable for the baby and she will learn to not bite you.

I tried that tonight. Here's how it went:

Mommy tries nursing baby
Baby bites mommy
Mommy shoves baby into her breast
Mommy says "Ow, that hurts!" in a stern voice
Baby laughs
Repeat

After about a minute, she would laugh with anticipation every time a breast got close to her.

I wish I would heal as fast as that game lasted!

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Sleep Negotiations

Grandpa recently came up with a plan on how to get Ellie to sleep through the night: threaten her that for every minute she is awake and crying is another day longer that she will have to wait until being able to date.

That's not such a bad idea.

We decided to give it a try. Well, that and on Friday we decided to have Ellie "cry it out" for her middle-of-the-night feeding.

And the result?

She slept all the way until 6:30, and has every night since then.

What is it with this girl?? Seriously, it seems like the only thing we *REALLY* have to do to get her to sleep better is to inform her of the plan. You may call it "threatening her" but it's still weird non-the-less.

It makes me wonder just how much she really understands what we say. Seriously. Think about it. She may not understand "Where's the car?" yet and point to a pine tree whenever you ask, but if she overhears you say "Tonight is the night that we're going to not get up when she cries", she'll go off and sleep the entire night.

It's creepy, isn't it?

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Stand up, please!

I'm completely fascinated by how drastically different all babies are. Take Ellie's friend, Thomas from MD, for example... He was crawling at 5 months!!! When we left MD, he was just starting to stand up.

Thomas, as the cute baby he was, chose what I would consider the typical method of standing. Hmmm... I'm not sure I can describe this by typing, but we'll try. Imagine being on your hands and knees, then you place your feet on the ground so that your butt is in the air. Then you walk your hands back towards your legs to eventually pull yourself up to a standing position.

Got it? Admit it, you were trying to act it out while I was typing, weren't you?

Anyway, that's how I would think everyone does it.

Not little Ellie! She's decided that the way she is going to stand up is the following: Stand on your knees. Stick one foot on the ground in front of you like your stereo-typical proposal position. Then pull yourself up onto that foot to end up standing up. This requires a brief period of time where all your weight, and thus balance, is on the single foot.

Got it? Now try it while you're drunk! Not saying Ellie is drunk. I'm just assuming that's the level of balance she has.

Let's just say she gets partial credit for the effort.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Hollow Leg

Earlier I mentioned the miracles that daycare provides. Another is eating. Recently we have had such a hard time getting the little one to eat her solids. And by solids, I mean the mushy goop that is fed by a spoon. We got so desperate that we started moving forward full-throttle with the finger foods. We basically came to the conclusion that she was boycotting the gross mush.

Enter daycare... I have been leaving her with tons of food because I wasn't sure how she would respond at daycare and I wanted to make sure that her hunger wasn't a question. So, here is what I've been sending with her every day:

(breast feed & 1/2 cup yogurt/oatmeal & blueberries for breakfast at home)
1/2 cup of meat & cheese
1/2 cup of fruit
1/2 cup of veggies
1 large jar of baby food
3 5oz bottles of breast milk
(breast feed & 1/2 cup food for dinner at home)
(breast feed before bedtime)

The amount I sent with her to daycare was AT LEAST twice the amount of food that we could get her to eat during a day at home, yet she came back with nothing. We were convinced the teachers were tossing her leftovers away, but when we asked about it they said she ate it all!!!! And everyday since then we're told over and over again that our baby is a crazy eating machine!!!

How can she be eating that much food??? Does she have a hollow leg or something? The teachers say it's peer pressure and that since she's eating with her new friends, she eats more. Apparently she really shows off during meal time.

Damn girl!!! You do realize that what goes in must come out, don't you??? Slow down a little!

Saturday, March 08, 2008

She ain't no ordinary pig!

Last year I posted a few posts saying that Baby Vincent is a pig. Well, it turns out that she's not an ordinary pig! Not only was she born in the year of the pig, but she was born in the year of the GOLDEN pig!!!

What does this mean? It means the Korean owner of the sushi restaurant we went to tonight made it a point to come out from the kitchen and see for himself. "Oh, how special!" he exclaimed! Apparently the Year of the Golden Pig only comes around once every 600 years and so it's extremely lucky to be a girl born in that year. So much so, that people were trying very hard to have a baby born last year.

So, without even trying, we have ourselves a very very lucky baby girl. She will live an extremely intelligent, rich, prosperous and happy life. And people will sought after for her hand in marriage.

Maybe we should start taking out loans on her future prosperity like we read about online!

It really was neat to see how this old Korean man was so thrilled to see such a lucky, special and very rare baby. We thanked him and he said "oh, no, it is not to be thanked... she's special."

Friday, March 07, 2008

Mommy's on her way

I once thought that an hour commute to work would be no big issue. It never bothered me driving an hour to get anywhere. Maybe it's that I'm just used to spending every day with my precious little one, but this 45 minute commute to my temporary job is KILLING me!!! And every day!!! UGH!

I basically turned down a job today. Not really, but I called to cancel a job interview. It was for a company in Ft. Collins, which is an hour away. If you don't believe me (the company didn't), look on Mapquest or Google. An hour. AN HOUR. That's 15 minutes longer than 45 minutes!

No way. No way. Please, please, please can I just have a nice local job within 5 minutes from daycare? Better yet, do you think the daycare has a need for an electrical engineer? And while I'm asking, how about a part-time electrical engineer? That would be nice.

Daycare - the miracle makers

When we originally started daycare (Ellie was about 4.5 months) we had recently experienced issues with getting her to take the bottle (I had just returned from our trip to CO and Ellie and Daddy had to rediscover their bond), and getting her to take her naps (is there ever a time when a baby sleeps like they're supposed to?).

Daycare cured those two issues. After a week at daycare (which at the time was MWF), we no longer had a problem with the bottle and we no longer had a problem getting her to take naps. Problem solved. Daycare rocks!

This time, I have to admit that the naps seem a little iffy (they were great when Ellie was with me), but since it's only been a week I still have hope of them balancing out.

However, the bottle is another story! Again, another miracle! We haven't really been able to get Ellie to take a bottle since returning to CO (with a few exceptions - thank you, Uncle Justin). Yet tonight's bottle (after 4 days of daycare) went without a hitch!

I'm telling you, these daycare people know what they're doing! The way I figure it is that Michael and I are rookies. It's best to leave the frustrations to the pros! It's just too bad they can't do something about her sudden desire to wake up at 5:45 in the morning!!!

Thursday, March 06, 2008

Death to the pump!!!

The other day I counted the number of 5 oz bags of breast milk I have stored in the freezer. There's almost no room for anything else in there!

Anyway, 30. I counted 30 bags. Do the math. That's 150 oz of breast milk!

Let's continue, shall we?

Assuming I pump one less bag than Ellie drinks every day at daycare (I'm assuming this because I will need to pump less at my new jobs)... that gives me 30 days of daycare before I run out of supply.

30 days of daycare gets me to... let's see... well, would you look at that! 6 weeks from today is Ellie's birthday!!!** And guess what happens then?! I NO LONGER HAVE TO PUMP!!!!! Woohoo!

Ever seen the movie Office Space, where the guys take the printer and bash it in a field? They should redo that movie with mothers and their breast pumps. I'm so sick of it.

So yes, I'm counting down the days until I'm free of the evil machine that sucks so much more than milk from me. It sucks my energy.


** HOLLY CRAP! How did this year go by so quickly???

A declaration

It has been announced that I am the Mother of All Cuteness.

I like the way that sounds. It has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Shopping with Baby

Baby Ellie: Eh? (pointing)
Mommy: Yes, that's vodka. Can you say 'vodka'?
Baby Ellie: Eh?
Mommy: Yes, that's Rum. Can you say 'rum'?
Baby Ellie: Eh?
Mommy: Yep, that's beer. Can you say 'beer'?


Hmmm... I sense a theme. Maybe this isn't the right place to bring an impressionable baby.

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Grey hair

I used to think it was just coincidence that people started to get gray hair when they had kids.

Well just now I counted 5 gray hairs (in one area). It can't be coincidence. This little one must be the cause!

Monday, March 03, 2008

You get used to it

Yep. Babies are slimy. You get used to it. I've had a few people comment on how gross the booger queen can be, but really, is it worth wiping her nose EVERY waking minute??? I think not. Trust me.

Boogers I understand. They're gross. Who wants to touch them? The worst part is that baby boogers do NOT come in baby sizes. I think the size of a baby booger might be inversely proportional to the size of the baby.

However, one thing that falls under the "Yucky" category that surprises me is breast milk. I do find it interesting how many people have been commenting on the fact that we taste the bottle of breast milk before giving it to Ellie (to test the temperature). Since we're now surrounded by a lot more people than we were in MD, it's been a relatively common and surprising comment. I wonder if I, too, thought it was gross before becoming a mother myself.