Favorite-Things-Phone-Dump Friday

Well, it is the weekend after a 3-day week for me.  School was called off on both Monday AND Tuesday because of the cold.  Callie still had preschool on Monday, so I got a day with Maya.  Then we had a girls day on Tuesday with the three of us and had a great day.

Prepare for a poop update.  Skip the next couple paragraphs if you'd rather not hear about it.

We are making progress with the preschool poop.  I found a princess puzzle iPad app that she is only allowed to do if she sits on the potty to poop.  On Tuesday she sat there FOREVER and got SO MUCH POOP OUT.  Sorry if that is TMI, but hallelujah!  She has been much better ever since, and we haven't been going through underwear like crazy.  And to make pooping even more exciting, I taught her today that she can call her pooping "dropping the kids off at the pool."  Seriously.  Today we had a conversation about her poop and what it was doing (like putting on sunscreen) in her tummy, and how excited it was going to be to "go swimming."  Especially the school bus-sized poops.  And then they get to go on the water slide (getting flushed), which is SUPER exciting for everyone involved.

You gotta do what you gotta do, right?  Today I got in the frame of mind of poop and had an entire conversation with Callie from it's perspective.  (e.g. Callie: What is the poop doing?  Me: It is putting on sunscreen.  "I'm so excited to go swimming!"  Callie: (giggling) What is it doing now?  Me: It is finding it's sunglasses.  He is ready to come out!  Callie: Okay!  (running to the bathroom to go poop!))

Once again, parenting is SO weird and a little gross sometimes.

Okay I'm done with the poop talk.

Our baby is slowly but surely figuring out the sleep thing.  But I still think this is true:

She really does seem to do better up in her room.  In general, she goes to sleep faster and has stopped waking up so much within the first few hours that she is asleep, as well as the couple hours after she eats.  Two nights ago I only got up one time to feed her, and was able to put her back to sleep after about 45 minutes and she stayed down until morning.  (Or should I say, she stayed down until Callie woke her up a little after 6am.  Blarg.)  Last night I went blissfully to bed about 9:30pm, and got to sleep until she woke up at 5am!  But I found out later that she was up screaming with Chris from about 10-11:30.  Regardless, I got 7 straight hours of sleep and it was AMAZING.

So there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel, though I probably just jinxed it.

She is also sitting up pretty well, as you'll see in a couple of pictures, and is VERY proud of herself.  She gets a big smile on her face and seems super happy to be sitting up with the "big kids."  Her smile just lights up the room.  She is so sweet.

Favorite Thing #1: This smile

On to the rest of the pictures pictures...

Favorite Thing #2: Mommy and Maya day

Favorite Thing #3: This track suit

Favorite Thing #4: Dancing like no one is watching

Favorite Thing #5: Playing and Eating

Favorite Thing #6: Girls Day

Favorite Thing #7: Pa Day

Favorite Thing #8: G-ma Day

Add caption

Favorite Thing #9: Reading with the girls.  And them holding hands.

Favorite Thing #10: Hanging out with Auntie Mari

 

Favorite Thing #11: Boom Day

Have a great weekend!

TBT

For this week's TBT, I have some Kona love going on.

Look at her- totally resigned to the fact that she will be baby-manhandled
for the rest of her life.

The babies had pretty different reactions when noticing Kona for the first time.  Callie noticed her much earlier...at about 4 months...and did lots of giggling.  Maya just recently paid attention to her, and was just interested in touching her.  So...THROWBACK VIDEOS!

Here are Callie and Kona (May 2010):


Kona from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Here are Maya and Kona (January 2014):



IMG 9999b (2) from Baby Goose on Vimeo.


We also have more sitting and sippy cups.

Preschool Pictures

Callie got her picture taken at preschool a couple weeks ago.

I was expecting the one standard pose where she is sitting on a stool. 

I wasn't sure what to expect when it came to her facial expression.  There was a good possibility she could have refused to smile for the weird stranger trying to take her picture. 

But I went to pick them up today, and THEY COULD NOT BE ANY CUTER.

I'll just let them speak for themselves.

They could not be more perfect.  My heart has melted into a (gluten-free) puddle on the floor.

Vegetables QOTD

So.  Gluten Free.

It actually hasn't been as bad as I thought. 

Callie and I have eliminated gluten, are trying to cut down on the sugar, and are TRYING to increase the intake of veggies.

That last part?  Brutal.

Callie hasn't really eaten veggies since they were pureed in her baby food.  Seriously.  We never pushed it because we always figured she was getting enough of whatever nutrients are in fruit.  She LOVES fruit. 

Vegetables DO NOT taste anything like fruit.

I bought some carrots and edamame for our first shot at veggies. 

It. Was. Pulling. Teeth. to get her to eat a bite of either one of them.  But we persisted and she managed to choke down a bite of carrot.  Seriously, you'd think that the world was ending with the big deal she made it out to be.

Today at lunch I made her try a cucumber slice, and she immediately spit it out.  But she likes pickles, and pickles are kind of a vegetable, right?, so I made her a "turkey wrap" with pickles inside and she ate it fine.

Notice my fiesta salad?  Deliciously gluten-free.

Tonight we tried cooked vegetables.  She had a VERY small portion of cooked corn, carrots, green beans and peas on her plate.  Refused refused refused.  I put a bite of the veggies on her fork with a piece of her gluten-free pizza, but she totally freaked out and spit it all out.  Then she picked up a green bean and said, "Mom!  This carrot turned green!"

Clearly we have some work to do.

Weekend Wrap-Up: The Gluten Free Edition

Well, folks, the time has come to do a diet overhaul for the Gosselin girls.

Frankly, it has been a long time coming.  I know that I do not have a good track record for eating healthfully, and we have not fostered good habits in Callie.  Our new theory is that her gluten-filled go-to foods of sandwiches, macaroni and cheese, and pizza, along with lots of sugary things like fruit, juice and sugary sweets for rewards have helped to create the monster SUPER CRABBY preschooler that is now living in our house.

Okay, that is a little harsh, but sometimes it feels true.

So, after advice from Dr. Stewart (after Callie treated her to the melt down show that she has been putting on lately), we decided to try and have her go gluten-free for a couple of weeks to see if her behavior would improve.  And I'm going to do it to, to see if I feel better, and to see if it has any kind of positive effect on Maya (better sleeping perhaps?  That would be amazing).

You guys, it is going to be hard.  I'm overwhelmed.

But after talking with two of my girlfriends tonight who have been gluten-free for awhile, they recommended we start small.  So this week we're going to try and cut down on sugar intake, and still be relatively gluten free.  I went to two different grocery stores today and got some gluten free substitutes for things she already likes, so that part shouldn't be too hard.  But the cutting down of the sugar could be pretty brutal.  And that doesn't even begin to address the fact that along with reducing sugar, we need to increase the vegetable intake.  Having her take a bite of carrot today without spitting it out felt like a marathon.  Wish us luck.

This weekend was pretty much consumed with figuring out this gluten-free thing.

We went to Boom and Bops' house, played at home, and had friends over tonight and cooked a delicious gluten-free meal. 

Bops can't wait for the day that he can swing her up on to his shoulder.

Working hard on nursing and upping my milk production to keep this baby happy.
It has not been easy, but that is a topic for another post.

Adorable bath pictures

Our first gluten-free meals- with gluten free bread, veggies, popcorn, veggie sticks.

Look Mom, I'm gluten-free too!
And I can sit in a high chair.

Sunday- laundry, movie, playing, weather watching, and dinner with friends

DELICIOUS gluten-free chicken lettuce wraps with quinoa.
They were so good.  So so good.

The other big even of the weekend that I talked about on Friday, was Maya moving up to her room.  She did okay the first night...there were a number of times that she got a little fussy, but I let her try calming down on her own and she did it a few times.  There were no hour-long screaming fits like we had gotten used to.  But she was up every 20 minutes from about 2:30am-5am fussing and babbling.  I only went up there once during that time, but I didn't really sleep either.  Last night was a different problem.  Callie was back, so we really didn't leave her to try and calm herself as much as we did Friday night when Callie was gone.  She went down pretty easily but was up for awhile around 10:30pm.  After that she only got up once (about 2:30am), but after I fed her she stayed awake for an hour and wouldn't let me put her down without freaking out.  So bottom line, she is still pretty inconsistent. 

But I gotta say, it was freeing to be able to get ready for bed, read and not have to tip toe around in our room and worry about waking her up. 

I go to the workshop on sleep tomorrow, so I hope to get some tips on how to make things better.

It is also going to be ridiculous temps again tomorrow and school is canceled for the FOURTH time this month.  I'm flabbergasted.  What a crazy January.

Favorite-Things-Phone-Dump Friday

Happy Friday!  What a weird month of January this has been.  There was no school on Thursday due to double digit negative temps, and it is questionable whether we'll have it on Monday.  Yet today was pretty nice...double digits above zero.  So bizarre. 

Anyway, remember last week I talked about maybe moving Maya upstairs to her room?  And how I decided not to?  Well, enough crappy nights of sleep happened this week that we decided to give it a try tonight.  Callie is sleeping over at G-ma and G-pa's house, and Chris has reserve duty til late, so I am currently hanging out on our upstairs couch with wine, skittles, and my various electronics.

I'm anticipating a long night...

I have been researching the HECK out of baby sleep.  In fact, I'm going to attend a workshop about it on Monday given by a local sleep consultant.  I'm serious about EVERYONE in our house getting sleep.  It has been 6 months of not sleeping much more than a few hours at a time, and I can tell that it is affecting me.  Especially my patience when it comes to dealing with Callie.

So...our first step is moving her into her room.  Last night she startled when I went in to go to bed, and about 20 minutes later she was up babbling, and then shortly after that she was screaming bloody murder for over an hour.  I'm sure it isn't all related to being in our room, but being the light sleeper that she is, we'd like to minimize the chances that she will get woken up.

It is very possible that I will be sleeping on the couch tonight, however, because the thought of her being so far away from me is brutal.

So I'll let you know how it goes...fingers crossed.

As for Callie, we are now accepting donations of 4T underwear.  My laundry skills can't keep up with the number of pairs she goes through in a day every day.  POOP.  I hate it.

Okay, now I feel like I'm complaining about my children.  So here are some great things about them.

Maya LOVES to play lately.  She is super content just sitting in her little chair surrounded by toys.  It is awesome to watch her explore, and also awesome that she can do something independently that doesn't require us to hold her.  She also finds herself (and her toys) extremely hilarious.  And she LOVES being tickled.



IMG 9845 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.



IMG 9860 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Callie has been pushing pushing pushing pushing pushing the boundaries and my patience, but she is always able to melt my heart when her little hand grabs mine to hold.  And sometimes I just stare at her and wonder how she grew into such a beautiful and smart girl.  She astounds me every day.

Seriously gorgeous, right?

Okay, so on to the pictures from the week. 

Favorite Thing #1: Off on Monday
Callie had preschool so I got some quality
time with Little Squish

Favorite Thing #2: Trying a banana
Verdict?  Meh.

Favorite Thing #3: Daddy day and a trip to Wild Rumpus (with a chicken!)
and a trip to MOA to see Calvin and Sylvie

Favorite Thing #4: Wednesday is a Pa day
Look at that cute chubby baby hand on the top picture!

Favorite Thing #5: An unexpected day off on Thursday
Time to myself knowing that the girls were well taken care of
by G-ma and Auntie Cat
A 6-month birthday

Favorite Thing #6: A day with Boom
Baby playtime at home
Wine

Favorite Thing #7: Trying a Mum-Mum
(a baby wafer that dissolves super fast)
Verdict? Okay!

If you're still with me and read this entire post, thank you.  I have found that I have posted a lot more frequently since having Maya, which surprised me.  But this blog is like my therapy, and I appreciate all of you who stick with me post after silly post.

Have a great weekend!

TBT: 6-Months-Old Style!!!!

I don't know how it happened, but our little Squish has been around for HALF OF A YEAR.

Goofball baby!

Maya celebrated turning 6 months by actually giving us a decent night's sleep.  I was able to sleep uninterruptedly from about 10:15pm to 3am.  She ate and fussed until about 4:10am, but then went back to sleep until 6:45am until her big sister came and woke her up (grrrrr).  But I felt so revitalized at 3am after sleeping almost FIVE STRAIGHT HOURS, that it was hard to go back to sleep once she was down again.  Let's hope this is the start of a new era!

I'm celebrating her 6-month-birthday by sending the girls to G-ma's house and having a ME day, since school was canceled (yet again) because of the frigid temps.

I'm going to go for a run on our glorious new treadmill, I'm going to take a super long, hot uninterrupted shower, I'm going to drive through Caribou and treat myself to a big, warm beverage, and I'm going to take a nap.

I'll probably put away the four baskets of laundry too, but that will be lowest on the priority list.

On to the throwbacks!

TBT #1: 6-Months-Old!

TBT #2 and #3: Eating is SERIOUS BUSINESS

And TBT#4: Working on sitting up!

I'm really looking forward to the next few months of Maya's development.  They are SO fun, when they sit up, play, and start interacting more and more.  I was home with Callie during the summer when she was Maya's age, and it was the best summer of my life.  Can't wait to watch my beautiful girl #2 continue to flourish...maybe with a little more sleep as an added bonus.

49-Months-Old!

I gotta be honest, you guys, this has not been my favorite month.  I'm not super impressed with the 4s right now...but I hope that will change.

I'm sure part of it is my ridiculous sleep deprivation and preschooler cold the past few days, but it has been tough.

There has been whining, and defiance and a ridiculous pooping situation that I can't talk about with getting all worked up.

There has been being scared of the dark and scared to be alone.

There has been silliness and learning and being too smart for her own (or her parents') good.

There has been learning and growing and smiling, despite the challenges.

And let's face it, her ability to go to sleep quickly by 7pm and sleep straight until between 6am and 7am makes her a TOTAL rock star in my eyes.

She needs to teach her sister about the beauty that is a full night's sleep.

And before she goes to bed, we enjoy quiet cuddles, and I wouldn't trade that for anything in the world.

New Years Resolutions

We're well into January now and I'm just starting to think about resolutions.  I don't make them very often, but when I do I usually follow through.

Last year my resolution was to stop eating microwave meals for lunches at work.  I did really well until about December, when the craziness of having 2 kids to get ready in the morning made making myself a lunch nearly impossible.  So I'm still going to count that as a resolution (almost) accomplished.

Another resolution I made and kept (that I can remember) was when I was a teenager.  I resolved to give up drinking pop for the entire year.  I did it.  I remember on January 1st of the following year, my family and I went to Famous Dave's for lunch.  I think I ordered a cherry coke (super weird choice of pop after not having it for a year) and it tasted SOOOOO sweet.  These days I drink pop every once in awhile, but I'm more of a LaCroix girl now.  Delicious.

When I think about my girls, I can totally make a resolution for each of them.

Maya's New Years Resolution: SLEEP DEEPLY and UNINTERRUPTEDLY.

Future Maya, you may be cute, but your inability to sleep for more than a few hours
at a time at night is making me a little bit crazy.

Callie's New Years Resolution: POOP on the POTTY.  EVERY TIME. 

Future Callie, I'm sorry if you're embarrassed by this, but you are seriously being
ridiculous with the pooping lately.

I don't think either of them have bought in to those resolutions yet, but I'll keep on it.

Chris is too cool for resolutions.  So I'll make a couple for him. 

Chris' Resolutions:  Let me take pictures of him with the girls, WITHOUT MAKING A RIDICULOUS FACE.  And also...TAKE ME OUT on a date every once in awhile. :)

He doesn't read this blog very much, so someone else may need to inform him
of his resolutions.

Back to me...this year. Well, I have been partaking in any and all foods that I can and have not been exercising.  My resolution is a very cliché one, but I think it will make me feel better all around.

Me Resolution: RUN RUN RUN

I want to shed the remaining 15 pounds of baby weight.  I want to stop wearing maternity pants (though they are SO DANG COMFORTABLE, it will be hard to do).

I tried to start back running in September, when the weather was still decent, and I did okay.  My body has changed, being in my 30s makes it harder than when I was in my 20s, but I survived.  Once the cooler weather happened and work started, though, it just wasn't in the cards. 

But last week I ordered a treadmill. It came today and it is beautiful.

And I found out about a mom's running group that is supposed to start up this spring in our area.  I actually reached out to the organizer to get information and she responded. 

So another resolution, I guess, is to not be so awkward around strangers and try new things.  Like a Mom's running group full of strangers.  Gulp.

The last piece of the puzzle is going to be signing up for a race again and training for it.

I did a mile in under 12 minutes tonight and it actually felt pretty good considering I haven't run in 3 months.  I'm sure I won't be able to walk tomorrow, but I'm proud of myself for making it a mile.

Anyway, I don't know how it will all work out, or if I can manage taking that time for myself (on the treadmill and not on the couch), but I'm definitely going to try.

Weekend Wrap-Up

Remember on Friday I thought we needed to take the doctor's advice and move Maya upstairs?

I can't do it.

Part of the reason is because she woke up with a fever yesterday and didn't feel well all day.  She had a bad night last night (in our room) and I can't imagine running up and down the stairs as many times as I got out of bed last night to put her passy in, soothe her or feed her.  At this point it still just works better when she is a foot away from me, and not a floor away from me.

I know that some of the problem (her being a super light sleeper) probably won't be solved until we move her upstairs where she can't hear our creaky door and squeaky bed, but I'm just not ready.  So I'll take a few (not sure how many) more nights of crappy sleep so I can have her sleeping near me.

Callie is hilarious. And sweet.  And spastic.  The other day she said to me, "Mom, Maya is so handsome and graceful.  I'm so glad you had her.  I love her."  And then two seconds later she freaked out when she got into Maya's face and Maya grabbed her nose and yanked on it.  Gotta love sisterhood.

As for the weekend, it was pretty low key. 

Saturday
As I mentioned above, Maya woke up with a fever.  She was a cranky baby, but managed to eat a little rice cereal and sweet potatoes for breakfast like a champ.

Those poor watery eyes.

We went to the condo to see Boom, Bops, Gi-Gi, Auntie Yoda and Auntie Mari.

We got a good view of the now dome-less Metrodome.

Later, Callie and I played outside in the snow.  It was deep!

Sunday

Maya and I spent a lot of the day just the two of us, while Chris and Callie went to Sunday school and then Dave and Cherilyn's house for football.  Maya got to enjoy the beautiful weather (and a short nap in the Baby Bjorn) a little bit, though, when G-ma and G-pa picked her and Kona up for a little walk. 

Otherwise we did a Target run and hung out at home.  During her naps I got some major laundry and dishes done.  It felt good.

She's a mommy's girl

Check out the back of her head.  Can you see the long hair wisps?

I've got one more day off tomorrow! Callie will be going to preschool so it will be another Mommy-Maya day.