Jan 25, 2007

Overwhelmed

Today is a tough day. For no particular reason Thursday, January 25th is hard.

I am finding it increasingly difficult to balance work, being a mom, running my business, finding time for myself/my husband and keeping my house clean, laundry done, and food cooked... all that does not include doing anything fun nor does it include returning any phone calls or making phone calls just to chat or grocery shopping or going to the movies or reading.

I am just too tired.
I have no energy by the end of the day.
I feel like I am barely bobbing on the surface and the water is going to close in over my head.

....and all i want to do is spend time with my baby and do mommy things and not have to worry about paying the bills.

Jan 22, 2007

Big Day in Babyland!

We have a RN who comes out once a month to check on Hadarya's development, height, weight, motor skills, etc. It's really cool because she is funny, calm, talkative, and stays for over an hour. We actually get a chance to ask questions, show her things, and see how well Hadarya's doing without feeling rushed at the doctor.

SO our daughter weighs 13 lbs 15.5 oz and is just about 25 inches long! She has grown tremendously and is doing very well. She is doing many things she should be for her age and many things ahead of schedule. I know I gave a list of her things she does right about 3 months but there are more fantastic things.

Today we showed Pam, the RN, how Hadarya has suddenly, in the last week, been able to hold her head and chest up at a 45 degree angle. It's great! So she happily showed off and laughed and then SHE ROLLED OVER! We thought it was a fluke and so we put her on her tummy again and she ROLLED THE OTHER WAY!

We tried for a third time and she did not disappoint. Over she went with lots of pushing of her leg and clearly realizing the concept. Once on her back she pushed her leg and arched her back getting ready to roll back over. She has not done the reverse roll yet, but we are on our way of bigger accomplishments than eating our hands!

That's our girl. Delightful. Happy. Intelligent. We can't wait to see what she does next.

Jan 18, 2007

5 PM - the witching hour

Our daughter is amazing. There is no other word to describe this beautiful being that loves to play, hang out with us, be read to, and sleeps well. She is on a somewhat of a schedule due in part to us and mostly due to her. She eats breakfast at about 7 AM and then plays for an hour or two. She naps for 30-45 minutes (sometimes an hour if we are lucky) and then eats lunch around 10:45 or 11 AM. Within the hour she crashes for a good 2 - 2 1/2 hour nap. Snack at 3 PM and plays nicely until about 4:15- 4:30 PM. Usually she needs a nap again at this time for about an hour. THEN we hit 5 PM.

For the last week she has become a different child at the stroke of the clock at 5 PM. She begins crying and fussing and flailing and being really really mad. Nothing we have done helps. She can be fine at 4:55 and turn at 5. She refuses the pacifier. She kicks her legs if you try to cuddle her. She screams if you read a book. She wails if she is put in the carseat. She can't stand her room nor her beloved changing table that just 15 minutes before made her smile and giggle! We have had quite a few days of the little Miss!

We know that she might be a little hungry (she eats 6 oz every 3 1/2 - 4 hours) so 2 hours after a huge bottle, she should not be starving enough to wail like she does. We are trying, sorta unsuccessfully, to figure out her nighttime routine. We were determined not to give in to her screaming and pacify her with a bottle last night. She had a fantastic day and was happy as could be until the clock struck 5. So we tried everything again.... to no avail.

After 45 minutes of off and on crying and tears... we decided to that maybe we should change her diaper and start "fresh." Well, that was it. She had a pretty wet diaper and was her usual happy self when she was changed! I cannot believe it. She loved her mobile that only minutes before had set her off. She smiled, laughed, hung out, and was our amazing beautiful daughter again. So we are going to hope that we have solved our bewitching hour and we are going to go for the diaper change at 5 o'clock again today. I can certainly handle that better than screaming and crying for an hour!

Now if we could just get her bedtime pushed back to 8:00 PM again...

Jan 12, 2007

Transition to the Crib

After a my first week at work adjusting and having Hadarya still sleeping in our room, we decided it was time to try the crib full time. She just wasn't really sleeping well enough for us... she was getting up at 5 AM but not ready for her day and then refusing to go back into the pack and play. Then I had to get ready for work in the dark and be quiet in order to not wake her up. It was time.

SO we ventured into our first night on Saturday night. She was as happy as can be as we put her into her crib with all her blankets and things from the pack and play. We kissed her, sang the Shema, and let her put herself to sleep. I was the one nervous and worried that we wouldn't hear her (monitor and she's 50 feet down the hall) or that it'd be too hard to get up and go into her room in the middle of the night. All for naught... she slept, well like a baby!

The move into the crib went very smoothly and we are all getting good sleep because of it! She routinely goes to be around 8:00 or 8:30 and sleeps 5 - 6.5 hours at a stretch. We know we are so lucky that she wakes up happy and lets us know that it's time for her to get up and get a clean diaper and bottle. We are working on a smaller bottle in the middle of the night to wean her off that. Then she goes back down until around 6:45/7:10 AM.

It's been a better week balancing mommy hood and working mom because I am getting a good chunk of sleep and my baby is happy. Now we just have to get through the next challenge: teeth.

Jan 7, 2007

12 Weeks, 3 Months

Today is the end of my daughter's 12th week of life... she will be 3 months old tomorrow 01-08-07. It's hard to believe that a quarter of a year has gone by so quickly and that our lives have forever changed. She has changed so much in these 3 months that I wanted to capture as much as I could remember. While we think we have a genius on our hands and delight and revel in every accomplishment, we recognize that most of these are "normal" baby things to do!

1. Hadarya laughs out loud.
2. She smiles the biggest grin ever when you talk to her.
3. Hadarya LOVES books and being read to in Hebrew and English. (Yeah!)
4. She holds her hands together in front of her.
5. Hadarya kicks her gym to make the music go.
6. She grabs the links that dangle from all her "big" toys.
7. Hadarya slept in her crib all night.
8. She loves to cuddle in bed with us.
9. Hadarya carries on a conversation with different sounds and tones.
10. She loves her bedroom and actually lights up in smiles and laughs when we enter her door.
11. Hadarya can't get enough of her mobile hanging in her crib.
12. She holds her head almost perfectly steady at all times.
13. Hadarya tolerates tummy time --she pushes up her chest and head!
14. She has begun to put things into her mouth and chew.
15. She LIGHTS up in smiles when I get home from work.

It's been a whirlwind few months and I am glad that they are behind us. We are getting into the swing of things with our Princess and finally feeling like we are caught up with our new life.

Jan 2, 2007

Made it Through

Back to work and not too bad. Being a minimum day (done at 12:30 teaching), Daddy home sick, and very well planned certainly helped. Either way, it was actually very nice to be on a schedule and on the move all day long! The first day back is getting back to basics and cleaning out our desks and remembering the rules. For the first time in 14 years of teaching I did what I needed at my job and then left to come home to my family and do no work. It felt great!

Hadarya had a ball with Grandma, laughing, playing, not napping, and smiling up a storm. She didn't nap much in the afternoon and ate way less then usual. But she was happy and alert. That is until I got home... my beautiful daughter whom I have been home with all day long for 3 months would not share a smile with me, would actually not look right at me, nor give me the time of day. She was pissed that I'd been gone all day! She has not been away from me for that long boy did she let me know that she was unhappy.

It took some time, some cuddling, changing a very poopy diaper, and playing in her crib with the mobile she loves to get her to come around. I am going to be a mom who needs to work to be a better mom--or at least have a full schedule that includes doing for others. What I am going to miss the most about going back to work is being able to be part of a playgroup and interacting with other mommies who have children the same age.

Jan 1, 2007

Happy New Year!

December 31, 2006 ~ The end of a spectacular year for our family and the beginning of a whole new life. We started this morning with Grandparents 101. We went over Hadarya's schedule, feeding amounts, (6 oz!) how she likes to nap (cuddled close to your chest), and practicing the car seat. We had a wonderful time laughing and giggling as the Grandma's practiced with a huge teddy bear strapping her into the seat, carrying it to the car, and trying to make light of the nervousness that I was feeling going back to work full time on Tuesday.

Hadarya must know something is up or realized that she is now 12 weeks old and decided to stick to a great schedule all day and into the new year. She played as usual in the AM after eating and took a 30 minute cat nap at 8:40 AM. She ate again at the 3.5 hour mark and then cuddled into Grandpa's chest at noon, sleeping for just over 2 hours. (She allowed us to put her down too!) She then ate at 2:00 PM and played and ate again at 5:00 PM. We thought that'd be it for awhile and we'd have plenty of time to make it to our friends for a get together and then she'd eat and go down for a longer stretch.

After her luxurious bath she decided she neeeded to eat again and scarfed 4 oz at 7 PM. This made us late to the party but she fell asleep on the way there and stayed out until just after midnight! We had a huge stretch of time. She woke up happy and ate again at 12:30 AM. We got on the road shortly after that in hopes that we would not be in for a long night. Our beautiful daughter did not miss a beat and proved again to us how amazing she is! She hung out until we got home at 1:30 AM and then laid down in her crib. Within 15 minutes she had fallen asleep and stayed there until 7:30 AM. YEP... we got 6 hours straight. It was delicious!

She then repeated her patterns all day today with a long 2.5 hour nap in the middle of the day, (in which we joined her for some extra zzzz's) and has now been asleep since 7 PM. We are hoping that this lovely pattern stays and we have ourselves a great night again.

Tomorrow I am off to my first day of teaching since October 1st. I am excited, nervous, and anxious. She's going to have so much fun with the Grandma's and I am going to love being back in a structure and routine... but now that she has begun to really settle into a pattern, I am going to miss being part of it and miss playgroups. It will be an adjustment and balancing act that will take some time to figure out.