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  • project life 2012 : weeks 20 – 24 (& what’s been up with us)

    Hey there. I have so many things to write about and share here, but let’s get caught up first, shall we?

    A lot of different small-ish factors converged at once to bring me to the point where I had to take a break from blogging until things calmed down. The tipping point came when we had to cancel our cable and Internet temporarily, but we are back up and running again and life has generally resumed its former normality.

    In the meantime I’ve mostly been keeping up with Project Life, so I thought a good way to recap what’s been going on with us would be to share my spreads.

    Here we go.

    Week 20 (June 10 – 16)

    This week:

    >David went on a fishing trip with his dad and brothers, then later that night we gathered to eat what they caught.

    >I made my first from-scratch pizza (and ate it instead of the fish because ew).

    >Meredith slept better than the previous hellish week, but still had a few rough moments due to teething.

    >We went to the wedding of an old church friend and saw a lot of our favorite people we used to see every week when our church was still functioning. My brother and his wife babysat for the first time and Meredith did great with them.

    Week 21 (June 17 – 23):

    This week:

    >For Father’s Day I let David sleep in and we had brunch with his family. A little later we went to see the play my brother directed (Godspell Jr.) followed by dinner with my family and dessert with David’s.

    >Meredith turned eleven months old (the blank spot in the bottom right corner is where I’ll eventually place her monthly update once I get around to writing it).

    >David’s Aunt Lorraine came to visit from Pennsylvania so we spent a lot of time with his family.

    >We went on a one-day road trip to Austin – documented with an insert.

    Week 22 (June 24 – 30):

     This week:

    >I had book club where we discussed Nicholas and Alexandra.

    >Had to lower the crib all the way to the ground.

    >We closed on the refinance of our house – always a stressful time (this is our second one).

    >I was in charge for two days at work (not my thing).

    >Saw my nutritionist and got the ‘OK’ to quit taking the myriad of supplements I’ve been on since before I was pregnant.

    >Had a girls’ night with a couple of coworkers. It was the longest I’d been away from Meredith and the first time I’d been to the movies in six months (we saw Rock of Ages).

    >Meredith got her hair cut.

    Weeks 23 & 24 (July 1 – 14):

    This spread is two weeks combined. The first week:

    >I made and sent Meredith’s birthday party invitations with the help of my mom and my friend Lauren.

    >M. & I went to the neighborhood pool.

    >I completely reorganized the nursery to make it more toddler-friendly.

    >For the 4th of July David had to work, so Meredith and I walked in our neighborhood’s parade, then spent the afternoon hanging out with my parents and had dinner with David’s family.

    The next week is what I’m referring to as “The Lost Week.” We didn’t have cable or internet, we were under severe financial stress, work was busier than ever and I was coming home late every night, it stormed constantly, David and I hardly saw each other and when we did we were arguing.

    Thankfully the weekend brought a respite from work and bad weather, and we were able to spend some much-needed quality time. We got back on our feet financially and talked through some things, and now happily all of these issues are in the past.

    That brings us closer to the present, although I’m still a week behind. Meredith’s birthday party was last weekend so I’m kind of in recovery mode. But!

    Right now…

    We’re getting our groove back. I’m carving out time for blogging again and dreaming up projects. I want to finally start working on our house (the bedroom! the office!), set a budget and stick to it, and figure out how to be more active. I’m eating a lot of chocolate. Still reading, all the time reading. Dipping our toes into the water of a new church. Loving my one-year-old, soon-to-be toddler, and growing my marriage.

    Glad to be back.

  • meredith at one year

    She:

    >Still only has one tooth, on the bottom left, and thankfully the sleeping has gone back to normal for now.

    >For awhile when she was actively teething she whined a lot and it sounded like a howl – aaaeeeeee, aaaoooooo.

    >Got her hair cut, as previously documented.

    >Points like crazy. It’s the first thing she does when she wakes up, and it’s her primary way of communicating. To her it means everything – Look at that! I want that! Hi! I like you! I’m awake! I’m here! I know how to do this, so I’m just going to do it!

    >Has fallen off the bed a couple more times. And she’s fine. Not that I wasn’t upset when it happened, because I WAS. But babies are resilient, man.

    >Is throwing mini tantrums now when she’s tired or doesn’t get what she wants. She cries and has started banging her head on the floor, which obviously only makes matters worse. Do not like this.

    >Pulls hair and grabs faces. Ouch.

    >Gravitates toward other little kids when they’re around, even though she doesn’t exactly play with them. Still, it’s super cute how she wants to be around her cousins.

    >Sort of dances to music sometimes! It’s more like bouncing but I love it all the same.

    >Plays more games with us now, like chase – she laughs and crawls really fast when we go after her – and boo – she pushes my face away and I whip it back to her quickly and say boo – she smiles every time.

    >Has more sounds now, most notably “mamamama” which I’m hoping will turn meaningfully into “mama” soon. :)

    I:

    >Recently read the book Bringing Up Bebé out of interest, and although I don’t agree with everything in it I did learn a lot about myself as a parent and will probably pick up more parenting books in the future.

    >Am proud to have survived the past month, which has been one of the most stressful in recent memory.

    >Have returned to the land of the living again with cable and Internet back in our house.

    >Really enjoyed planning Meredith’s first birthday party and am so happy it all went well. Can’t wait to share more about it.

    >Have been in somewhat of a creative slump due to lack of time.

    >Did a lot of research on kids’ toys when I was looking for gift ideas for Meredith, and it made me excited to watch her develop and be able to play with them.

    >Spent an evening watching old videos of M. as a baby, and although I really miss that stage, I wouldn’t put her back there. I love her personality and the interaction we can have now, and I know it will only get better. She’ll be walking any day, and I’m ready to embrace toddlerhood. :)

    For reference:

    No months
    One month
    Two months
    Three months
    Four months
    Five months
    Six months
    Seven months
    Eight months
    Nine months
    Ten months
    Eleven months

  • Pause

    Due to extenuating circumstances, we don’t have an Internet connection at our house right now other than 3G on our phones. Turns out it’s not all that fast around these parts, either. We haven’t had it in a couple of weeks, and although we’ll be getting it hooked up again, I’m not sure when that will be. Hopefully before the month is out, but maybe not.

    I hadn’t planned to take a break from my blog, but it’s becoming more difficult to keep up with. I don’t want my family to think my visits are only for the wifi, after all, so it might be quiet around here until we’re connected again. Not that I think anyone would even particularly notice, but I still feel the urge to say it.

    But when we’re up and running again, get ready. Because I have books to discuss, Project Life spreads to share, challenges to start, and there’s the small milestone of Meredith turning one.

    Be back soon.

  • Good Things: June 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 – Two hours to myself at night to read, cross stitch, and watch 30 Rock!

    2 – Ran 20 minutes straight without walking and felt great; David won $400 on a scratch-off ticket

    3 – A good church experience, spending all day with David, my brother’s niece Stella’s birthday party, & getting a great deal on a new microwave

    A rare, though blurry, picture of my entire family

    4 – Taking a nap after work

    5 – Going to Chuck E. Cheese’s with the family – watching my nephews play and Meredith ride the carousel

    6 – Dinner with my parents & a walk with Mom

    7 – Celebrating 65 years of marriage for my husband’s grandparents

    Gigi and Pappy

    8 – Talking history with my dad

    9 – A day without plans to relax; Meredith sleeping till 8 a.m.

    10 – A few hours of alone time; dinner with David’s family and watching my nephew Cameron & Mer play in the grass

    11 – Starting to make new lists of goals for myself; watching M. explore the house

    12 – An evening home with David chatting and cuddling in the chair as a family

    13 – Meredith going to sleep easily in her crib and getting to shower and read in peace

    14 – Having a great experience with a difficult patient

    15 – Seeing all the old church people at a friend’s wedding; going to bed at the same time as David

    16 – M. sleeping in till 7:45 and being in such a good mood all day; out and about with Mom; visiting with friends in town

    We miss you, Dave and Bridget!

    17 – David’s first Father’s Day: how he liked his gifts so much, brunch with his family, and seeing my brother’s children’s play that he directed

    18 – New baby clothes from Mom

    19 – Working with one of my favorite coworkers in injections

    20 – An incredibly smooth day at work; visiting with David’s aunt who was in town

    21 – Picking up Meredith from daycare together with David

    22 – Dinner at David’s brother’s house, M. climbing stairs and standing on her own (later, in the bath) for the first time

    She wants to be where her cousins are

    23 – Awsome road trip with David, seeing Carmen & Steve, swimming in the big pool with M.

    24 – The times when Meredith smiled at me with such unadulterated love, like when I open her car door, and when she burrows her head in my chest

    25 – Dinner at Gigi & Pappy’s with David’s parents and aunt

    26 – Meredith’s good mood and going to bed early allowing me to read

    27 – A sweet card from a difficult patient; playing with M. before bed and being overwhelmed with love and gratitude

    28 – Talking to Mom on speakerphone and seeing how Mer reacted to her voice

    29 – Night out with coworkers eating at Carrabba’s and seeing Rock of Ages

    30 – Meredith’s first haircut, shopping with Mom

  • Cloth Diaper Obsession, First Haircut, First Tooth, and Two Comically/Tragically Bad Nights

    On Saturday I did a bunch of errands and one of the places I stopped was my local cloth diapering store, Nurtured Family. It’s been a long time since I set foot there, because I’ve been mostly set with diapers and supplies, but I needed some things and didn’t feel like ordering them. I was obsessed with cloth diapers for awhile (and I still love them) but my obsession has waned as life has gotten busier. HOWEVER, going back to that store made me realize why I was obsessed in the first place, and nearly brought it back in full force. The diapers are so cute! And there are so many different kinds to try! But as much as I wanted to add to my stash, I only bought one additional Flip diaper (which we use for nighttime) and that was exercising some serious restraint.

    ***

    David insisted that Meredith get her hair cut over the weekend, so we did so. Behold, the before:

    The first snip (the mullet comes off):

     

    In process:

    The back, after:

    And the front:

    I didn’t cry, and neither did she, so all in all it was a success.

    ***

    Another milestone we’ve reached is that she finally got her first tooth. Saturday morning I couldn’t feel anything, but by the afternoon a sharp little piece was sticking through. This development has led to two equally tragic nights. The first was so bad it is almost comical. My stomach began hurting me on Saturday afternoon, and by the evening it had gotten worse. David was out running errands before bed, so I let him know I needed him home because Meredith was stubbornly refusing sleep. I went to sit on the toilet, as we do when digestive difficulties present themselves, and since I was in pain and half asleep I just let Meredith play in the bathroom. Before I knew it she had flushed the toilet twice in a row, and apparently it was broken – I was unaware of this when I sat down but quickly became aware as the pee water overflowed and covered the ground. Meredith was delighted and immediately commenced splashing and playing. I immediately commenced crying. I turned the water off, stripped both of us down, threw some towels down, and got us into the bath. At this point David finally came home. I’m sure he was delighted to walk into that mess. He began cleaning and the smell of the cleaner was overpowering to me so I wondered aloud if I was pregnant, because at least that would explain some things. David immediately pulled out a test, but it was the cheap kind that you have to dip in a cup of pee. So I grabbed a little cup and filled it up, but when I held it up it dripped all over me. On closer inspection I noticed that it was in fact a lid to something that had an air hole in it. So that was great.

    The test, by the way, was negative.

    Last night was just ridiculous – she woke up a little after midnight and was awake until nearly 4 a.m. I tried everything I could think of, and even took her for a drive at 1:30 a.m. but she woke up when we got home. Since David is sick, with a fever and everything, it was just me to deal with this. I must have completely slept through my alarm because I woke up at 6:45 a.m. and I realized I wouldn’t be able to function at work anyway, so I called in sick. I dropped Meredith off at daycare, slept a few hours, then woke up feeling weak, shaky, and nauseated. My mom came over to take care of me and I am finally feeling almost normal again. I am left with a healthy fear of nighttime, however.