Mateo has been taking leaps and bounds with his Spanish. Yesterday Alayna and I went running at the park. (Yes, we went running and we each ran for 15 minutes. While one of us was running the other was playing with the kids at the play structure.) Anyway, after running, it was time to go home and Mateo didn't want to get in his car seat. Alayna, being quite creative, found an old paper cup, and pinched the top together so it was a puppet. The puppet asked Mateo to get in his seat, and Mateo did right away.
Then, he wanted me to sing a new song that we learned yesterday at our Spanish playgroup. (Spanish play group had 10 people this week, and is slowly growing!) The song goes "hola, ____ (nombre) como estas, muy bien muy bien, gracias." After I sang one of two times I stopped, and Mateo said, "El vaso quiere cantar otra vez." (The cup wants to sing again.) Wow. He said his own original sentence in Spanish.
This morning he said, "El cerdo toca la guitarra, la gallina toca la trompeta y la vaca toca la violin." The pig plays the guitar, the chicken plays the trumpet and the cow plays the violin. This is from a book that we read, and frequently I say that sentence, but still I was excited to hear him saying so much.
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In other news, both Natalia and Mateo slept through the night last night! Yah! I can take more nights like that. Also, Alayna and I were in bed by 9:30 and for the first time in over a week I feel slightly rested.
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Another note of news. From when I went into the hospital (to give birth) to today, I have lost 50 lbs. Sure some of that was the baby, but it has been quite the journey. I am just 5 lbs. away from my goal weight. In January I started by making three changes: no eating sugar after dinner, eating dinner by 6pm most nights, and exercising 6 times a week. This week I started doing Weight Watchers points again, and that has helped me take another drop. I have been following the Beck plan, which goes along with any eating plan to help me the emotional and mental side of loosing weight.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Monday, March 2, 2009
Supplementing with formula
For the last eight months I have been breastfeeding Natalia. After a rough start, it has been such a nice thing to do. A lot of the times, though, I have felt stressed about if I was pumping enough milk for her. I think that up til the last month we used my milk or Alayna's milk 95% of the time. She then stopped nursing Natalia during the mornings, because someone was getting really distracted and impatient while nursing.
This month I am probably not making that much less month, but need to make more to compensate for the shift. It does seem that I've been getting less of a let down when I pump at school. As it is I normally pump two different times to get 3-4 ounces for Natalia. I get to school, check in, and pump for 15 min. Then, after I teach my last class, I pump for 10 minutes and leave. Some days, though, I have to do something else for part of that time, and will get a bit less. Anyway, she is starting to get supplemented with some formula a few days a week. For a while I was feeling bad about the supplementation, but I am coming to peace with it. Some formula really isn't going to hurt her in any way.
I have also started giving her a few ounces of formula after I feed her for the night. She continues to wake up once a night to eat (many more times for the binky), and Alayna and I are wondering if she might sleep better if she was a little fuller. On that note, we are also focusing on giving her something with a good amount of fat for dinner, like whole yogurt. Tonight, after I nursed her fully, she gulped down two more ounces. I just hope this means she will sleep a bit more.
After thinking for such a long time that I didn't want to give her formula at night, I am now all for it. If a few ounces of formula, after she nurses completely, means she sleeps for a few more hours and that we are all happier, saner and more with-it during the day, I am all for it. She still gets plenty of nursing during the day, and this will hopefully make for more rested moms!
This month I am probably not making that much less month, but need to make more to compensate for the shift. It does seem that I've been getting less of a let down when I pump at school. As it is I normally pump two different times to get 3-4 ounces for Natalia. I get to school, check in, and pump for 15 min. Then, after I teach my last class, I pump for 10 minutes and leave. Some days, though, I have to do something else for part of that time, and will get a bit less. Anyway, she is starting to get supplemented with some formula a few days a week. For a while I was feeling bad about the supplementation, but I am coming to peace with it. Some formula really isn't going to hurt her in any way.
I have also started giving her a few ounces of formula after I feed her for the night. She continues to wake up once a night to eat (many more times for the binky), and Alayna and I are wondering if she might sleep better if she was a little fuller. On that note, we are also focusing on giving her something with a good amount of fat for dinner, like whole yogurt. Tonight, after I nursed her fully, she gulped down two more ounces. I just hope this means she will sleep a bit more.
After thinking for such a long time that I didn't want to give her formula at night, I am now all for it. If a few ounces of formula, after she nurses completely, means she sleeps for a few more hours and that we are all happier, saner and more with-it during the day, I am all for it. She still gets plenty of nursing during the day, and this will hopefully make for more rested moms!
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Things are looking up
After a tough, tough week, Mateo seems to be feeling better. He spent most of the week feeling pretty awful, which in turn made us all feel pretty awful. His throat seemed to really bother him, even with lots of pain medicine in his system. He didn't want to eat or drink, didn't want to go to the bathroom, didn't want to do anything but have one of us holding him at all times.
Each night both of us were up for around an hour, because he couldn't seem to go back to sleep once he woke up, which didn't help the daytime for anyone. We both spent hours "sleeping" with him on the couch. We were laughing because normally you'd think of sleeping on the couch and think, those people must be having marital problems. Not so in our case - just a sick kid! We didn't have many sleep reserves to start out with and this set us all back. Plus, it was just so sad to see him feeling so awful. Poor baby.
We were so grateful to our parents and friends for checking in with us, for dinner being brought to our door, and for one fabulous friend who braved the germs to come over yesterday morning and spring us for a couple of hours. Thank you!!
Anyway, thank goodness he's feeling better and Natalia seems to have avoided getting the horrible virus. He is feeling so much better that we even went up to Vancouver to our favorite indoor play park this afternoon. We actually had a really nice day together with very few toddler meltdowns, which leads us to think he really must be doing better. And, we had a nice dinner and evening with Apa tonight, which we always enjoy!
Here are some photos of our last few days.
It got a little crowded in our bed last week. We tried bringing Mateo to bed with us to sleep and that lasted about 10 minutes. He snuggled for a brief time and then said, in a chipper voice, "Hi guys! I'm snugglin' with you!" Then, the thrashing commenced. And the sister-waking followed soon after. Soon, they were both crying. It was great. Morning was somewhat better...
Hanging out with Mama...
Thank you, Katie!
Playing with Apa...
Littler kid feeling smiley...
Bigger kid on the mend!
Each night both of us were up for around an hour, because he couldn't seem to go back to sleep once he woke up, which didn't help the daytime for anyone. We both spent hours "sleeping" with him on the couch. We were laughing because normally you'd think of sleeping on the couch and think, those people must be having marital problems. Not so in our case - just a sick kid! We didn't have many sleep reserves to start out with and this set us all back. Plus, it was just so sad to see him feeling so awful. Poor baby.
We were so grateful to our parents and friends for checking in with us, for dinner being brought to our door, and for one fabulous friend who braved the germs to come over yesterday morning and spring us for a couple of hours. Thank you!!
Anyway, thank goodness he's feeling better and Natalia seems to have avoided getting the horrible virus. He is feeling so much better that we even went up to Vancouver to our favorite indoor play park this afternoon. We actually had a really nice day together with very few toddler meltdowns, which leads us to think he really must be doing better. And, we had a nice dinner and evening with Apa tonight, which we always enjoy!
Here are some photos of our last few days.
It got a little crowded in our bed last week. We tried bringing Mateo to bed with us to sleep and that lasted about 10 minutes. He snuggled for a brief time and then said, in a chipper voice, "Hi guys! I'm snugglin' with you!" Then, the thrashing commenced. And the sister-waking followed soon after. Soon, they were both crying. It was great. Morning was somewhat better...
Hanging out with Mama...
Thank you, Katie!
Playing with Apa...
Littler kid feeling smiley...
Bigger kid on the mend!
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Natalia's eight month letter
Dear Natalia,
You are eight months and four days old! Somehow eight months seems very grown up this time around. You're practically a year old already! Well, not quite, but you know what I mean. Or, you will in 30 years when you're digging through all these old letters :)
Anyway, back in the here and now: This was a big month for you. You learned how to crawl! You learned how to pull up! Mobility has transformed your environment into an even more interesting place. You're thrilled to be put down just about anywhere in our house. You particularly like the playroom, for obvious reasons, and the living room carpet, where toys can often be found. You've started to pull up on items of reasonably low height and are working your way towards things like the coffee table and the couch. You can actually stand on your own for several seconds at a time - you're amazingly stable for this stage of the game. Mommy found you today in our living room, standing and holding onto this toy activity block with one hand and wildly waving your other hand in excitement.
Also, your addled moms are convinced that you're learning how to talk. You really do seem to say "ah-da" for goodbye and also for general communication. You say it when you want to participate in the conversation! You look so pleased with yourself when you say it. You can make quite a few other sounds, but nothing is quite as much fun as screeching at top volume when the mood strikes.
In the eating department, you took advantage of this month to discover dairy. Yogurt! On the plus side, you love it and it supplies you with lots of good calories to fuel your busy body. On the less fun side, well, it's pretty constipating. That's why most of your meals involve some sort of prunes these days! Your poor little digestive system is learning what to make of this stuff called food. You still love your mommy's milk and consider her mammary glands to be your own personal possessions. When she comes home from work, you transform from a mellow baby into a milk-seeking missile!
Speaking of that, you clearly recognize both of us. The way you crawl up to us when we come home from being gone is just too adorable to describe. It's just one of the many moments when we wonder how we got so lucky to have you and Mateo as our kids.
And, of course, you love your brother. He cracks you up! You get quite a kick out of watching him zoom around the house going about his two-year-old business. You want to play with ALL his toys, and usually right when he's playing with them, too. Right now, you particularly like his puzzles and his toy trucks, as well as the big activity block we mentioned earlier. You're teaching him a lot about how to share and how to be gentle!
Sleeping is going pretty well these days. After a concerted effort by your moms to get you to sleep longer, you generally sleep until about 4 am before your first feeding (not counting the sometimes numerous binky re-insertions by Mama prior to that time). You even (very) grudgingly consented to sleep through until 6 am on one occasion. Crying it out with you hasn't been as gut wrenching as it was the first time around, but it still isn't fun. Luckily, we haven't had to do that much of it. We love the progress you're making and are actually entertaining faint hopes of sleeping through the night sometime soon. Knock on wood.
Other popular people in your life right now include your Apa and both sets of grandparents, your great-Grandmommy, your aunties and uncles, your cousins, and a constellation of big and little friends. We've said this before and it's still true - you are just a delightful little chickie. It's a lot of fun to watch you peck out of your shell and start to explore the world around you. We love you more than ever all the time!
Happy three-quarters of a year, little munchkin.
Besos y abrazos,
Mommy and Mama
PS: One more thing - you're starting to get some actual hair! We're trying to enjoy your fuzzy little head while we still can...
You are eight months and four days old! Somehow eight months seems very grown up this time around. You're practically a year old already! Well, not quite, but you know what I mean. Or, you will in 30 years when you're digging through all these old letters :)
Anyway, back in the here and now: This was a big month for you. You learned how to crawl! You learned how to pull up! Mobility has transformed your environment into an even more interesting place. You're thrilled to be put down just about anywhere in our house. You particularly like the playroom, for obvious reasons, and the living room carpet, where toys can often be found. You've started to pull up on items of reasonably low height and are working your way towards things like the coffee table and the couch. You can actually stand on your own for several seconds at a time - you're amazingly stable for this stage of the game. Mommy found you today in our living room, standing and holding onto this toy activity block with one hand and wildly waving your other hand in excitement.
Also, your addled moms are convinced that you're learning how to talk. You really do seem to say "ah-da" for goodbye and also for general communication. You say it when you want to participate in the conversation! You look so pleased with yourself when you say it. You can make quite a few other sounds, but nothing is quite as much fun as screeching at top volume when the mood strikes.
In the eating department, you took advantage of this month to discover dairy. Yogurt! On the plus side, you love it and it supplies you with lots of good calories to fuel your busy body. On the less fun side, well, it's pretty constipating. That's why most of your meals involve some sort of prunes these days! Your poor little digestive system is learning what to make of this stuff called food. You still love your mommy's milk and consider her mammary glands to be your own personal possessions. When she comes home from work, you transform from a mellow baby into a milk-seeking missile!
Speaking of that, you clearly recognize both of us. The way you crawl up to us when we come home from being gone is just too adorable to describe. It's just one of the many moments when we wonder how we got so lucky to have you and Mateo as our kids.
And, of course, you love your brother. He cracks you up! You get quite a kick out of watching him zoom around the house going about his two-year-old business. You want to play with ALL his toys, and usually right when he's playing with them, too. Right now, you particularly like his puzzles and his toy trucks, as well as the big activity block we mentioned earlier. You're teaching him a lot about how to share and how to be gentle!
Sleeping is going pretty well these days. After a concerted effort by your moms to get you to sleep longer, you generally sleep until about 4 am before your first feeding (not counting the sometimes numerous binky re-insertions by Mama prior to that time). You even (very) grudgingly consented to sleep through until 6 am on one occasion. Crying it out with you hasn't been as gut wrenching as it was the first time around, but it still isn't fun. Luckily, we haven't had to do that much of it. We love the progress you're making and are actually entertaining faint hopes of sleeping through the night sometime soon. Knock on wood.
Other popular people in your life right now include your Apa and both sets of grandparents, your great-Grandmommy, your aunties and uncles, your cousins, and a constellation of big and little friends. We've said this before and it's still true - you are just a delightful little chickie. It's a lot of fun to watch you peck out of your shell and start to explore the world around you. We love you more than ever all the time!
Happy three-quarters of a year, little munchkin.
Besos y abrazos,
Mommy and Mama
PS: One more thing - you're starting to get some actual hair! We're trying to enjoy your fuzzy little head while we still can...
Bad morning
Mateo and I just finished up what had to be the worst morning we have ever had together. If he wasn't crying and whining, he was deliberately throwing stuff off the counter and looking at me to make sure I saw him. I think I must have given him between 10 and 15 timeouts. He didn't want to eat, he didn't want to play, he just wanted me to carry him around. He usually wants to be carried around, but this was a lot more than usual. We did make it out to drop some stuff off at goodwill and took a side trip by the library, but even that didn't last long. Sometime after his millionth timeout and in the middle of another tempter tantrum, I started thinking that maybe we should take him to the doctor. He just wasn't acting like himself. And he did just have a fever for a couple of days. And he had an awful night last night - he was up crying and carrying on twice - once for an hour and once for half an hour. And he kept asking for cuddles and wanting ibuprofen, although he'd already had some (I thought maybe his molars were bothering him).
So, I called the advice nurse and she thought we should take him in this afternoon. Sacha and the kids are there right now. When I called around 2:30 pm, she said he'd been screaming for 45 minutes continuously after taking an absurdly short nap.
My theory is that he has an ear infection. He's only had one before, but it got to the point of nearly rupturing his ear drum before we realized anything was wrong. And, as Sacha said, I almost hope it's something like that, because otherwise we have really hit the terrible twos! I just wish I could be at the doctor with them instead of stuck in my office...
Updated to add:
Well, it's not an ear infection but it still sounds awful. He has something called Herpangina, which is basically painful blisters in the back of his throat. It's not the same as hand, foot, and mouth disease, but apparently it's similar. Doesn't sound like there's much to do for it except give them pain medicine and try to get them to drink. I'm sure the next few days will be really fun at our house! It does explain why he keeps wanting teething gel though - it was probably numbing his throat. And, he had inexplicably started drooling, which we thought was related to teething, but turns out to be a sign of this virus. Bleck. Poor baby :(
So, I called the advice nurse and she thought we should take him in this afternoon. Sacha and the kids are there right now. When I called around 2:30 pm, she said he'd been screaming for 45 minutes continuously after taking an absurdly short nap.
My theory is that he has an ear infection. He's only had one before, but it got to the point of nearly rupturing his ear drum before we realized anything was wrong. And, as Sacha said, I almost hope it's something like that, because otherwise we have really hit the terrible twos! I just wish I could be at the doctor with them instead of stuck in my office...
Updated to add:
Well, it's not an ear infection but it still sounds awful. He has something called Herpangina, which is basically painful blisters in the back of his throat. It's not the same as hand, foot, and mouth disease, but apparently it's similar. Doesn't sound like there's much to do for it except give them pain medicine and try to get them to drink. I'm sure the next few days will be really fun at our house! It does explain why he keeps wanting teething gel though - it was probably numbing his throat. And, he had inexplicably started drooling, which we thought was related to teething, but turns out to be a sign of this virus. Bleck. Poor baby :(
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Sacha's teeth are rubber banded shut
Poor Mateo has a virus - fever and one episode of throwing up. He is starting to feel better and his fever (I hope) is going down today!
That was me writing yesterday. He seems much better now. He played at the park today, his fever finally broke, and was just a sweet cuddly boy today.
I received some exciting and different news at my ortho appointment today. Finally, after over two years, I am going to get my braces off! Yah. The only deal is that before I get them off, they wanted to make my teeth "fit together like gears" to take all of the stress in the future off of my jaw. This means that all of my teeth are rubber banded together. I made a video, which I will try to post of this.
Mateo thinks that the finishing is quite funny. This afternoon he keeps on singing - open and shut them, open and shut them. Too cute. All I can say is that I pray to not get the stomach flu. Just in case, though, I have a small set of scissors in my pocket and have practiced cutting the rubber bands quickly, if the need should arise!
Also - notice on the video how Natalia starts saying "a-da, a-da" when I say bye-bye! It could just be coincidence, but who knows!
That was me writing yesterday. He seems much better now. He played at the park today, his fever finally broke, and was just a sweet cuddly boy today.
I received some exciting and different news at my ortho appointment today. Finally, after over two years, I am going to get my braces off! Yah. The only deal is that before I get them off, they wanted to make my teeth "fit together like gears" to take all of the stress in the future off of my jaw. This means that all of my teeth are rubber banded together. I made a video, which I will try to post of this.
Mateo thinks that the finishing is quite funny. This afternoon he keeps on singing - open and shut them, open and shut them. Too cute. All I can say is that I pray to not get the stomach flu. Just in case, though, I have a small set of scissors in my pocket and have practiced cutting the rubber bands quickly, if the need should arise!
Also - notice on the video how Natalia starts saying "a-da, a-da" when I say bye-bye! It could just be coincidence, but who knows!
Saturday, February 21, 2009
When the cat's away, the mice can play
Someone got brave during big brother's naptime this afternoon...
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