Taking a little trip...

JJ has left for the day (big Physics test at 9:30). I am here with little missy waiting for her to be ready to take her bath and eat. Today we are headed to Bismarck to surprise my Grandma. It's her annual Mother-Daughter Banquet at her church. It's always on a Thursday, so guess how often I've been able to go lately. And this year will probably be one of the last times again. So, MVJ and I are starting to get all packed up. It's going to be tough to leave without JJ. I told him it's so much different if it worked out for me and I headed out for a quick trip, but now I'm taking our daughter with me! Sad! We'll all be just fine and this will make my Grandma's day so much, so it's definitely the right thing to do. We will also go through Fargo on the way home to deposit neicey LJ's bday present and SIL LJ's wii fit! (JJ would NOT let me play it first!)

Man... I must be breastfeeding...

I just ate three pieces of pizza! THREE! I think that is the first time in my whole life. Well, for one thing, I don't really like pizza... but normally I just can't eat that much. When I had my six week postpartum appointment, I told my doctor that I could eat all day every day. She told me that I actually need more calories breastfeeding than I did when I was pregnant! That shocked me, but when I was discussing it with JJ later it made sense. That little thing I was making in my body is now growing like a feign and using more energy -- for all that kick, kick, kicking and punching.

My challenge is to fill my tummy, but not with junk (like pizza! ; ) ). Also, being home I find that it's fun to bake! It's fun to make cupcakes... and then... well... the cupcakes just sit there looking cute waiting for me to gobble them up!

Tidbits of Advice: Bathtime Prep

My advice is to always put everything out before it's time for the actual bath to go down. I always give her a bath in the morning because she seems to get hyped up from them (not calmed down as I have read a lot --- i.e. "give your baby a bath at night because it will calm her down and she will be ready to sleep" --- but then again my baby seems to go against the grain -- maybe yours won't!). I usually put out her stuff the night before just so that when she's ready for a bath I don't have to scramble.

This is what I lay out:
*her tub -- she has one with a little hammock-type thing for little babies, so she is cradled above the water
*two washcloths (I use one for soap and one to get the soap off)
*baby soap, shampoo, and lotion (we have a little basket for all of this stuff so it's already together)
*whatever you use for diapering (wipes, a clean diaper, "butt cream", powder, etc.)
*a big towel (I put this on the table, folded so it supports her head)
*one of her hooded towels (this is what I use to dry her off and warm her up)
*a clean outfit (don't forget the socks or whatever little item that is easily forgotten!)
*a warm blankie close by so it's easy to warm her up as I feed her afterward

I like to give her a bath just as she starts getting hungry so that I can feed her/warm her up right afterward. Plus -- it does not work for us to give a bath on a full or even semi-full tummy... bad things can happen!

No House for Us... Yet

JJ and I are feeling like big kids. Well, for one thing... we're parents! We've also been looking at houses lately. Our price range is somewhere between teeny-tiny and very small. It's interesting to see the houses available. There are huge fixer-uppers... small spaces... weird layouts... cute potential... antiques... I'm blessed for the fact that JJ is handy. We've found out more about the dynamics of our relationship, also. My role seems to be the realistic stick-in-the-mud. JJ is spontaneous... optimistic... impatient...

Here's a short list of things I've found that I require:
a) a shower,
b) a safe neighborhood,
c) at least two bedrooms with at least one of them accomodating the size of our bed (NOT that big!),
d) a sound foundation, and
e) no mold or even damp smell.

Not that demanding right?

Guest Blogger: Niecey LJ!

My name is LEJ and I have fun. I will be 5 in one week! : ) I like to play wii. I really like to play Sorry. My auntie EJ is here. Let me tell you a joke.

What kind of car does a cat drive? A cat-a-lac!

My house is really big. I like to play dress up at home. Let me tell you about my birthday party. The party theme is dress up! When my friends get to my house, they will bring their favorite dress-up outfit but if they don't have any then they can use some of mine!

Right now I'm 4. BJ turned 3. He's my little brother. BJ likes to play wii too. He also likes to play Sorry with me. He plays with cars and balls.

Family was at our house this weekend.

That's all. I would like to play Purble Palace now.

Favorite Spring Quote Ever!

It has been weird weather lately. Usually we can expect spring to be warm one day, cool the next, but c'mon -- 70's one day and SNOW the next?? Weird. JJ and I were driving by a golf course on one of those coool days and saw some people golfing. That would be one thing, but they were golfing in shorts. I was like, jeez, shorts?? It's just too cold. JJ replied, "EJ, you have to fight for spring here. You have to fight for it."

Return of the Poopetrator

Ugh. I know you don't want to only hear about poop, but that seems to be my life right now. Let me set the scene. Little missy needed a bath. I had just gotten her about naked and was cleaning her bum from her dirty didey when "poof". Oh no! It is her warning system that more bad things are to come. I put a wipe near her bum area and... "squirt"! She shot poop ALL OVER the kitchen. Thankfully I stepped away just in time, but the floor was not so lucky. I took a picture for JJ... heehee So if you've ever been in our kitchen, I do the bath on the kitchen table because it's the right height and I can spread out all of her necessary items. She honestly got poop to the stove. yeah......

So.... if you're having a bad day, just remember, you probably did not have to clean up poop this morning. : )

Not ALL perfect

So, from my last post it seems we have the perfect child. We'll, she's pretty darn close, but I failed to mention that her FAVORITE activity is pooping or peeing while we change her diaper. I thought in the beginning I was a very poor diaper changer. But, two months and... oh... I don't even want to think about how many diapers later, she still continues to surprise us. And, they only caution parents of boy babies of the... uh... waterfall effect, but girls apparently can squirt pretty well themselves! So, the other night we were hanging out with a new Bible study crew having a Pot Providence (no such thing as "luck" -- I love it!) and it became obvious that little missy needed a diaper change. I decided to go into the bathroom (no carpet!) to change her. I got out the changing pad and all that and realized I didn't have the wipes! I called to JJ, who was summoned by J to help. Still no problems, but sweet thing has had plenty of time to finish doing her business. I get her cleaned up. Her bottom has been slightly red lately, so we've started the "butt cream" as JB calls it (Desitin), so I put that on her, and as I'm juuuust about to close the diaper up, she poops --- AND this time one of her poops lands ON MY CHIN. WAY too close for comfort!! That little stinker. And she just lays there smiling. This has solidified her new nickname: the poopetrator.

My 10 Week Old!

Missy MVJ turned 10 weeks old yesterday. I remember when I turned 10 years old... it was a big deal because I was in "double digits"... well, now my little baby girl is in the double digits... weeks-wise anyways. It's hard to believe how quickly time goes. I know everyone says it, but it's just incredible nonetheless. Here are some of MVJ's latest tricks, favs, and abilities:

*She smiles! And don't tell me they're just gas, these are the real deal now! Sometimes I can even bring one out, but mostly they seem random at this point. She's so darn cute it's just unbelievable!

*She makes other noises than cries. They're definitely not a real coo or gaga or anything like that (I KNOW my baby's brilliant, but I AM realistic! ; ) ), but she is starting to baby converse in her own way. We love making up what she's saying. She is SASSY! Let me tell you! For example, this might be one of her conversations: "Hey! You! Over there! Yeah, look at me. Ok, here's a smile. There, I know, I know, I'm so cute. Well.... what are you waiting for?? I gave you a smile. You ackowledged I'm cute. Now PICK ME UP. Do it. C'mon. You know you want to. Oh, that's better. Thanks. Wait, now I'm going to punch you. Punch, punch, punch. Oh, and maybe a little kick too. Let me get my leggies going. Kick, kick, kick."

*She has started taking a paci every once in a while. It's still not her favorite thing... and generally she'll only take it if she's calm and ready to relax anyways, so it's nothing very useful to us. But, she does look so darn cute sucking on her little paci....... Oh! And she's also taken a bottle from time to time. It's still boobie juice (as Daddy calls it...), don't worry, but it's just helpful if I need to be somewhere, or as a family we want to do something in public where it's not convenient to find a spot to breastfeed.

*She GENERALLY (now that I say this it won't happen) wakes up twice a night (around 1:30 and 5:30), eats on one side, poops, gets her dider changed, eats on the other side, gets a few rocks, gets laid in her crib, and goes right back to sleep. It's been heaven lately. I think just the routine of it too has been helpful for Mommy!

*She loves, LOVES her mobile! Before she just sat in her swing like a little lump (I mean... baby), but now she is so much more interactive. It's so cute! She'll just stare down that poor lion, giraffe, and zebra. Then she'll kind of get a little shy and coy. And then a huge smile. What a little flirt! I think Daddy's smart in keeping her away from EB and his baby blues!

*She still loves being held, and bounced. Her favorite position seems to be tummy to tummy - either being held upright like that or laying while the person holding her is laying. Although, in a pinch when all else fails for soothing her, holding her out in front of me, her laying on her back in my two arms outstretched gently swaying back and forth will almost always do the trick.

*She still generally sleeps with her two arms straight above her (I surrender! It's good! [you know... the uprights... in football]).

*She still sleeps MOST of her day... mornings are best. She doesn't seem to like a lot of racket, and being around noisy children seems to bother her a bit. (The day with the B's was a stretch of her senses. Good thing Daddy could take her to our apartment for a breather from time to time.)

*Between 9pm and 10pm she generally has "Crazy Baby Time" as Daddy coined it. She's alert and kicking and punching and fighting sleep like nobody's business. There's not a whole lot Mommy or Daddy can do. At times she just has to cry it out. It's no fun for any party involved, so we're hoping it's a phase she goes quickly through!

Oh man! Time flies!

I was totally encouraged today when my friend (my long term sub to be exact), KE, said that she and another friend at work (LH) kept checking my blog to see if I updated it. SO, KE and LH, this one's for you! : )

What have we done so far in April? Welllllll, here's a quick update:

*The B's called us Tuesday morning... BB was GOING TO THE HOSPITAL! Woohoo! JJ went upstairs to be in their apartment with their two kiddos so they could leave and I slept a bit more after being up oh, just about every two hours with li'l miss MVJ the night before. I called him a little while later to say I was going to shower and then would be up. He said that no, I should come up first. I got there and he was sitting in the living room. He was like the kids are awake, you should go in there and get them up. I was like, what, that's what you wanted me to come do?? But, I went in there and told them their Mommy and Daddy went to the hospital so that Mommy could have her baby. They were more than a little excited. We got them dressed and checked BB's detailed schedule to see what would happen next. I LOVE that she prepared for basically everything. It made our "job" a lot easier! She called about 11:30 ish almost depressed. Not much had happened. The baby wasn't dropping, so they didn't want to break her water. She was feeling bad that I was in for more babysitting than I maybe had bargained for. I told her not to worry - the kids were doing great and we'd be just fine. The kids were doing great. JB was full of her usual spunk and EB was in a great mood. We read LOTS of books, watched a baby einstein DVD, and played with their kitchen toys. Time went quite quickly! Those kiddos are BUSY, let me tell you! JB had a question for everything... and is a nosy little thing! I did need JJ to be there as often as he could ... with MVJ PLUS two busy kiddos... it got a little hectic! At about 7:45ish we got a call from BB. She wanted to talk to JB. I heard her say, "You have a little sister!" YAY!!! JB wanted pretty much nothing to do with taking a phone call and hung up on BB! I quickly called her back to get all the details. Little missy wasn't quite so little, NAB weighed in at 9 lbs, 11 oz! And her birth wasn't without some excitement. Her head came out but she wouldn't turn her shoulders. The doctors feared her head would go back in BB, so a nurse basically jumped on BB to apply pressure while a doctor just pulled her out rather forcefully. She ended up with a broken shoulder, but is doing rather well now. She is a beautiful little girl and we are so happy for the whole B family!

*MVJ turned TWO MONTHS! Wow! Which means.... two month shots! : ( Poor baby! Poor Mommy! She cried so hard that she stopped breathing and the nurse had to blow air in her face to get her started enough to breathe again. She was fine a few minutes later. I didn't get this tip beforehand: give your baby baby tylenol before going to the doctor --- so now you and I all know!

*We went to Bismarck, my hometown, for Easter. My grandparents got to meet their very first great grandchild, and it was the most awesome thing ever! My grandpa became putty in her hands! He is one who tears up easily (our major sporting wins, musical performances, graduations, etc... we could always count on Grandpa's tears), but he could just not contain himself with this little bundle. Everything she did was the most advance and most mature and smartest thing ever! I loved it! We went to Bismarck two days after her shots and after driving for four hours, she was a little out of sorts and by that evening she was crying hard. My grandparents said they didn't sleep that night worrying about her. Awww! My parents and JJ and I slept just fine because MVJ only woke up twice after falling into a deep sleep -- she wore herself out! After much pinochle playing and, oh, just a few pictures, it was time to hit the road back to Grand Forks.

*Back home not much was accomplished during the week after Easter, but then on Saturday my Mom came up to hang out with us before the big event of the weekend: MVJ's Baptism on Sunday! LJ and AJ are MVJ's godparents, so they came up, along with LJ and BJ of course. My Dad drove my brother and grandparents up the morning of the big day and several friends joined us at Church. It was so special! We are so blessed to know so many great people! Here's how the baptism went down: we had it all planned that I would nurse MJV around 10:15ish since Church started at 10:30 so that she'd have some time to have her tummy settled before her big moment. WELL, would you believe that she was JUST TOO TIRED to wake up and be bothered with eating? I tried everything, but to no avail! So, back to our spots I went. What could I do? After a song or two, announcements, and a mission moment, MVJ started to squirm a bit. Uh oh, just what we had feared! She'd be screaming hungry by the time she got to the front. But, Pastor Paul motioned for us to come up and she quieted down and was absolutely awake and absolutely silent the whole time! Her picture was put on the big screen and everyone ooohed and aaahed at how simply beautiful she is (Mommy talking of course!). The holy water in her hair made it spikey and added to the whole effect! We pray that little miss MVJ will gorw up to love the Lord and develop a personal relationship with Jesus. She sure has the tools now - two baby Bibles, a PraiseBaby CD, a beautiful cross that says "God danced the day you were born" (I love that image), and of course lots of love and support from lots of wonderful people!

*So Saturday night I started feeling sick. I was like whatever... I am so unlucky, I get sick all. the. time. I had a fever for sure -- night sweats, chills, achy and headache. I took some tylenol before Church and felt better (and of course was a bit distracted). After MVJ's reception at the golf course (totally recommend that buffet by the way!), JJ, MVJ and I all took about a TWO hour nap! It was wonderful! But afterwards I still didn't feel better. In fact, that night I felt even worse and (boys reading this can look away) my right breast started getting all red and hot and starting Saturday it was ouchy when MVJ nursed on that side. I took some more tylenol and told JJ about it. He told me to make an appointment with my doc. She happened to be out sick for the day and would be back Wednesday... I just felt too miserable to wait it out, so I made an appointment with a different resident doctor. The nurse took my temp. and it was 102.3. Ahhh, that explained a lot of the icky feelings! Yup, turns out I have mastitis. Grrrrreat! Seriously if there is ANYTHING I could possibly get, I do. It's EJ's Law or something. So, some antibiotics to fight my infection (taken four times a day... I feel like I'm popping pills all day!), lots of water, rest, nursing and pumping later... I feel much, much better! Yay! I even went to work today for two meetings... and just some visiting too! I have to say I LOVE LOVE being home, but I think it will be good to get back to work in August too. I'll probably feel great to be back to work and then want to be home after the first week or so!

Double duty items

I love things that do double duty. I guess I'm like Alton Brown, who preaches against things that serve only one purpose. We use receiving blankets as large burp clothes and a pitcher as a shower of sorts to help us get shampoo out of MVJ's hair and suds off her squirming body. I've recently started using a mail holder to organize upcoming recipes for the week. I've seen tiered pants/skirt clothes hangers used to hold tissue paper and gift bags, but have not accomplished this organizational idea in my closet yet.

But my all-time favorite double duty item that we just discovered is our baby monitor.... which has doubled as our very own intercom system! One day I needed JJ to come into the bedroom. I started calling for him, but with the TV on and other noises, he wasn't hearing me and I didn't want to yell. Ah-ha! (Do you see the lightbulb hanging over my head?) I pressed the monitor on and in my best store employee voice, calmly said, "Paging Daddy to the bedroom. Daddy to the bedroom. Thank you." In he came grinning from ear to ear.