kapachino

Author: Kathleen

  • Good Things: January 2012

    At the end of each day I write down at least one GOOD thing that happened, then I share them all here monthly.

    ***

    1 – A quiet morning just Meredith and me, and an easy drive home from Irving where we spent NYE.

    2 – David making dinner.

    3 – Rocking Meredith to sleep and watching her just lie in my lap, doze, nurse, and smile.

    4 – Prayer time while pumping & being filled with joy and peace.

    5 – Dinner at Scott & Vanessa’s with the whole family.

    6 – A patient (another RN) complimenting my needlestick technique, starting a difficult IV, and Meredith napping on my lap when I picked her up from Grammy’s house.

    7 – The Texans winning their first playoff game on David’s birthday; my good friend Carmen’s wedding.

    8 – Forbes birthday dinner (for David, my sister-in-law, and my nephew).

    9 – Getting through the day as charge nurse without any problems; finishing and truly enjoying The Marrige Plot.

    10 – An argument with David turning into a good conversation about how we can show our love better.

    11 – The whole evening at home with David.

    12 – Meredith’s milk experiment (giving less per feeding with snacks in between if needed) going well at daycare; David making Meredith laugh a lot before bed.

    13 – Doing a crossword puzzle at lunch.

    14 – Getting the house cleaned; Meredith napping in my lap.

    15 – Going to a church that David and I both liked.

    16 – A nice evening with David: sitting down to dinner together and helping each other with chores.

    17 – Finishing a book; Meredith nursing to sleep in my lap (apparently this is one of my favorite things).

    18 – My niece Lily was born! Ending the day with some paper crafting.

    19 – Meredith actually swallowing a bite of banana.

    20 – Relaxing on the couch with David; scrapbooking research.

    21 – Brunch with my good friend Lauren at Happy Fatz.

    22 – Mom’s birthday lunch with the whole family.

    23 – Taking Meredith’s 6-month pictures & video – she was in such a good mood!

    24 – Bell-ringing ceremony (for completing chemo) for one of my favorite patients.

    25 – Slow day at work and being able to leave 2 hours early.

    26 – Meredith falling asleep so quickly at night.

    27 – Meredith laughing when I kissed her all over.

    28 – Making a lot of progress organizing the craft room.

    29 – Church legacy celebration.

    30 – Putting Meredith’s hair in pigtails and seeing everyone’s reactions to how cute it is.

    31 – Meredith playing in her crib alone and falling back asleep, providing me with time to work on my cross stitch project.


  • Stuff We Loved: 3-6 Months

    We still loved and used a lot of the same things as before during the past few months, but as Meredith has grown and developed, new items and routines have made their appearance. Here are some new things we loved.

    >Ergo baby carrier (mine is in sienna sunset.) – I’ve tried a few slings and wraps and such, but this is my carrier of choice. We couldn’t use it until Meredith could hold her head up well, but there is an infant insert if you want to use it earlier. Anyway, I love that it goes over both shoulders and has tons of lower back support, I love that all you do is clip her in, I love all the pockets, I just love it. I find it very easy to put on and much faster than the stroller for quick errands. Meredith is happy in it, too.

    >iHome. Our nightly routine that usually works is that we bathe and change Meredith, then around 7:30 I sit down with her in the rocker, dim the lights, and nurse her. Hopefully she falls asleep and I place her in the crib, and I go about my business. We use this iHome to play this album of lullabies for her. It changes colors (although we don’t use that feature much, it’s still neat), is small and cute, and has good sound. We actually used the seahorse for awhile, which worked great too, but sometimes I need more than 5 minutes of music, and with this I can just leave it on repeat. We do take the seahorse with us if we’re traveling though!

    >Video monitor. We have this really nice one thanks to some generous church ladies, and it’s been great. We use it after we put Meredith down for the night. We set the big screen next to our living room TV, and thanks to the open layout of our house we can see it from the kitchen and laundry room. I take the handheld set with me into the craft room if I’m going to spend some time in there. Anyway, we need the video because with the music playing in the room the sound monitor is all thrown off. And our house is big enough that I might not hear her if I’m not close by.

    >Jumperoo. We are borrowing this from a friend, and I am so grateful for it. Meredith loves it to pieces and it’s extremely adorable to watch her bounce up and down and play with the toys. We use it almost every evening while we do chores to get ready for the next day.

    >Teethers. She doesn’t have any teeth yet, but she certainly loves to chew and drool. We use these things constantly, along with bibs. (But we haven’t gotten into any serious teething yet, so no recommendations there!)

  • thoughts on free time

    It’s Saturday morning and I’m feeling overwhelmed. It’s the first day in a long while that I don’t have a single plan. Not a thing on my to-do list. I’ve been looking forward to it eagerly.

    Meredith woke me up at 5 a.m. and I managed to stay in bed with her until around 6. We got up, I had coffee and oatmeal, and we played. I sat with her on the couch and finished a book while she chewed on her toys. It was good.

    Then I cleaned the kitchen. I knew I’d feel better once that was done. I tidied up the living room, but that didn’t take long. I thought that I needed to sweep the floor, do laundry, and vacuum, but I didn’t feel like it right then. Meredith needed attention.

    I picked her up and we walked around the house. We went into the extra room that I use for an office/craft room, and my head began spinning. I want to organize it. I want to work on several creative projects. I want to purge our house of the things we don’t need. I want to clean it from top to bottom. I want to read more books. I want to catch up on blogs and write and take pictures. I want to cook more and exercise. But I just have one day of free time, and Meredith needs me frequently. What should I do?

    I walked out of the craft room. I sat down to write this. The dogs are barking and it is annoying me. I feel on edge. Anxious for no reason. I’m going to take a shower now, to clear my head.

  • Review & Giveaway: Easy Canvas Prints

    Have y’all seen those pictures that are printed on canvas, like a painting? I’ve always thought they look really nice, but I wasn’t sure they’d be my style. But I was contacted by Easy Canvas Prints to see if I’d like to try one out, and if I liked it, to give one away. I figured this was a great opportunity to get some more art for the nursery, since one wall is still pretty bare. So I said yes!

    I chose one of Meredith’s newborn pictures, a closeup of her face in black and white (taken by my good pal Cio). I was going for a more abstract look. The one I got is 8×10, and here’s how it turned out:

    I was really pleased! I can’t wait to hang it up with a few other things I’ve collected to start building a gallery wall here.

    Anyway, I was quite impressed with the website. It’s extremely simple to use and guides you through step-by-step. It’s very clear how much everything costs and what options you have. The preview function is so helpful, too. There are lots of options for your photos, and the quality is very good. I can’t speak to how true the color is because I went for black and white, though.

     

    You can go create your own photos on canvas here, and be sure to “like” them on Facebook for 50% off your next order AND free shipping. It’s a great deal, seriously. (Here’s the Facebook link: Easy Canvas Prints.)

    Anyway, since I really do like this product, I feel great about giving one away! Just fill out the Rafflecopter form below, and let me know if you have any questions!

    a Rafflecopter giveaway

  • meredith at six months

    She:

    >Weighs 18 pounds even and is 26.5 inches long, which is 75th percentile for both. She wears all 6-12 month clothes now. Nice and chubby!

    >Is so grabby and purposeful with her movements now! She can pick things up, pull things toward her, and manipulate them in her hands much better. I especially love when she’s nursing, her free hand reaches up and plays with my hair, twirling it, caressing it, and eventually yanking it. However, she has also tumped an entire glass of water over at restaurants twice now. I am learning my lesson!

    >Can basically sit up on her own now, although we still have to watch her because she’ll get distracted and topple.

    >Makes all kinds of new sounds, and enjoys being extremely vocal when she wakes up in the morning.

    >Sometimes starts crying around certain people, like David’s father and grandfather. I don’t know why she’s scared of them! But she warms up to them again very soon so it’s not too bad. It’s also unbearably cute to see her lower lip jut out when she’s afraid.

    >Enjoys playing with toys (especially her new Jumparoo) and throwing them down on the ground too. She cracks up when we play Patty Cake!

    >No longer sucks her two fingers. I can’t believe that phase was so short; it was the cutest thing and I miss it.

    >Sits in the high chair for meals with us sometimes. We’ve tried giving her some food, and once she swallowed a bit of banana, but she’s mostly uninterested.

    >Has a new baby cousin as of January 18 named Lily! I’m so excited that they’re going to grow up together and I hope they become good friends. Lily is tiny and perfect, and I absolutely cannot believe that Meredith was ever that small, and so recently.

    I:

    >Am dreading the start of solid foods. I keep postponing it. I want to do Babyled weaning, but even that low-stress approach is overwhelming to me. Breastfeeding (even with pumping at work!) has just been so easy for us, and even though I plan to continue for a good while I’d rather not have another thing to think about.

    >Made up a little game where I say, “All aboard the Mermaid Express!” then I bounce her up and down on my knee making train sounds. She smiles every single time we start to say all aboard! She also for some reason really loves it when David sings “Mama said knock you out” by LL Cool J.

    >Still love cloth diapers. We use mostly Fuzzibunz but I was surprised at how much I love the Flip system and want to get more of them.

    >Have gotten serious about losing all the weight I gained, mostly because I want to fit in my old clothes again. I started counting calories a couple weeks ago using My Fitness Pal, and it’s definitely working. The first few days were SO hard, but my body has already adjusted a lot. I feel much better, am less bloated, and no longer need as much food to feel full. So far I haven’t noticed a change in my milk supply, either.

    >Exercised for the first time since before I was pregnant (shameful) over the weekend by doing the 30-day Shred. I nearly passed out and am soooo sore now.

    >Am still looking for a new church. We’ve tried out two different places fairly thoroughly, and neither feels quite right to us, although they both have great things about them. It’s hard because I’m ready to settle into a new place and get connected, but I want it to be right.

    >Haven’t been as emotional or anxious this month as last. I think a lot of it is because I’m learning how to take care of myself better now; how to avoid my triggers and how to train my thoughts.

    >Am planning on starting Project Life on my next birthday in two weeks. I’ve become kind of obsessed with it. I wish I had known about it before the new year, but I’m not going to stress. I’m just excited to get into a nontraditional, consistent way of scrapbooking that won’t take TOO much effort. The Smash Book is fun to carry around and collect scraps, and I’ll still use that for random things, but Project Life will be more of a reflection of the day to day.

    >Can’t get enough of holding Meredith. Even if I just put her down for a minute, I’m always so excited to pick her back up again.

    >Want to have more babies, but I kind of wish I could just have Meredith all over again.

    For reference:

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