Gettin' ready for the St Patty's Day Feast

Today we ran some errands. DD had her book babies session this morning. Her friend from playgroup was there and they recognized each other. They were most cute playing with the toys and listening to the books. DD was a little quiet as usual, I had to wake her up--she fell asleep in the 5 minutes it took to drive her to the library. The time for book babies falls right in the middle of her nap, but I think she can handle it for a few weeks. She's currently passed out and we'll see how long this nap is....She's sleeping right through lunch. After she gets up and eats, we have to take a quick drive up north to a yarn store. I am going to run a little short on the pink yarn I am using for her felted Easter basket. This is the only store I found that is carrying it--A Yarn for All Seasons in Martinsville.

Tomorrow I will be cooking corned beef all.... day.... long.... I have invited one of the other moms (and her daughter) from playgroup to hang out here since I will be captive to the beef. We will be having DH's brother's and sister's families here for dinner. I even have a recipe for soda bread. Not sure if I will have time to bake it, but I will try.

Caught up with some friends this past Tuesday--had dinner in Red Bank at Bueno Sera--so good, but the portions were crazy huge! DH and I both had it for dinner again last night and we STILL have leftovers. I guess that justifies the ridiculous price.....DD got cranky towards the end and I had to take her home a little early, but it was still nice to see our friends that moved to Florida last year.

Yesterday one of the members of our playgroup came over for lunch and adult conversation, lol. We had some pizza, the babies watched some Baby Einstein and we got to knit a little bit.

Oops, gotta go, DD is waking up--that was a short one.....

Back again

I have been a little busy lately and haven't had time to post, so here's another catch up session..

Friday: DD and I went to our usual knitting mtg at the B&N. There was a brand new knitter there. DD was pretty content to eat her lunch while I talked and tried to knit (in between feeding DD). I paused for a few minutes to help the newbie knitter, DD decided to take her sippy cup and drink large gulps of water and let it drool out of her mouth. She did that for the entire contents of the cup--she was soaked in a matter of minutes. Good thing I still had a spare set of PJ's in her diaper bag and I had to change her there and head back home. So much for trying to get her birthday invitations.
That night we headed to my SIL's house for dinner and playing mah jongg with our nieces. It was almost a complete shutout for my husband, the girls and I won most of the games. I think it's fair to say we are all addicted to this game now--good thing we aren't betting for real money...

Saturday: My parents and sister and her boyfriend came down for a visit. I cooked everyone a big breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, taylor ham, and french toast. We were all stuffed after that, and DD decided to take a nice long 1 1/2 hour nap. It was nice to get caught up. DD showed off all her new tricks for everyone. My mom brought her new clothes, as usual, lol. After they went home we took DD to the park in our development and she went on the baby swing. Boy did she like that this time--big grins, shrieking with laughter and kicking her feet the whole time. After that, we had a nice family nap. It was a nice quiet evening of dinner and playtime and bed for us all.

Sunday: I taught a beginners knitting class at my lys. Had three students, a mom, daughter and father. It went pleasant enough. On the way home I returned a huge bag of jarred baby food that DD now refuses to eat. I tried to find a few more things she could try. I also stopped by the chinese grocery store to buy some tofu and some noodles (DD's new favorite finger food). DH cooked dinner (hooray!) and I made some homemade food for DD and she ate it--tofu, noodles, brocoli, chicken and chicken broth. I personally would not have eaten it, but she seemed to like it.

Monday: Went out to lunch with an old friend from work (the NICU I used to work in several years ago). We had a good time, but had to cut it short because she had some back pain (leftover from shovelling snow--another reason to move to someplace warm). DD passed out in the car on the way home (even after a 2 1/2 hour morning nap!), so I took advantage of that and decided to keep on driving to the strip mall that has several stores I needed to go to. DD got a nice second nap in and was in a good mood for me to check out the invitations at the Hallmark store. I didn't like any of those, so went to Michael's to buy more of the invitations to print out at home. We also picked up a matt to put in the bottom of the bathtub for DD, now that she doesn't fit in her baby bathtub any more, she loves to take her baths in the big bathtub with all her toys. Also got a few things for her Easter basket.
My friend that had her baby two weeks ago called last night in a panic. Her baby spit up three times and it totally shook her. She's having such a hard time with breastfeeding and the baby just won't latch on at all. She's having to do the same thing I went through with DD which is the ridiculous pumping schedule, take herbs to boost supply, etc, etc. She's completely overwhelmed and I totally understand. I hope it works out for her, but I have my doubts that it will. It's too similar to our situation. I calmed her down and got her to agree to call her OB about the lactation consultants advice on taking the herbs, and to call her pediatrician to let him know about the baby spitting up. Hopefully it was just something she ate that upset the baby's tummy and all will go back to normal today. I totally feel her pain, though, and wanted to cry right along with her last night. Those first few months are so hard, I don't think anyone can really prepare you for how difficult it is. I had her promise me she would call with an update today--want to make sure she isn't developing PPD.
After that 2 hour long conversation )long distance from Florida no less!), I was a little wound up. I decided with only a few weeks until Easter, I had better get started on making the felted Easter basket kit Terri gave me for my baby shower last year. It's going quickly, as I knew it would. It should look really cute when it's done. I will try to take pictures and get it up on here later. Well, DD is in for a long nap it seems, I'm going to run and take a shower and get a few things done. So long for now!

Catchin' Up

Whew, it's been a busy two days, let me catch you up.

On Wednesday I met my playgroup in the park for a nice stroll. The weather was great! It was so unbelievably refreshing and wonderful to be back outside again! I miss it so much, and I think DD does, too. Every morning when we wake up and I open the shades in her room, she just stares outside, probably wondering why we don't get to go out any more. I cannot wait until it is warm enough on a consistent basis to take her out every day again. After our walk, we took the babies to McDonald's so that we could eat lunch and the babies ate their lunch and we had a good time. I can even start to see my mood lifting as the thermometer creeps up and up...

Yesterday I took DD with me to a knitter's meeting. She was sooo good! Even though she is cutting her fourth bottom tooth, she was in a great mood, smiled and laughed and entertained everyone at our table. I even got to KNIT! It is a very exciting moment for me. DD sat in her stroller and ate her lunch, while I knit--I just can't stop saying it. I feel like it has been forever since I have been able to knit that much. Everyone had comments to make about the fact that I am knitting DD's dress out of Debbie Bliss's cotton/angora--"she'll spit up on it, you won't be able to wash it", what do they think she's an animal or something. OK, I'm not going to give her foods I KNOW she's messy with while she is wearing it (like her new favorite blueberries), but if she does get it a little dirty, I am able to clean clothes--all by myself. I hand wash everything I knit for her whether it can go in the laundry or not, anyway. And she will be wearing a bib... Someone even snickered "first time mom"--UUGGHHH! Hello, I have worked in pediatrics for a very many years, I know what I am dealing with here. Besides, I am knitting her something for her to wear and enjoy, not to just sit on a hangar in her closet. I don't care what they say anyway--hhmmpphhh. (insert pout here) Did I mention it's white? He he

After we got home from the mtg (which was enjoyable despite the nay-sayers, I'm being overly dramatic here, lol), I tried to get DD down for a nap--no way, not happening, and she barely napped in the morning. Then my DH came home early from his dentits appt, then my mom and SIL called. Well, that pretty much clinched it--she was not getting an afternoon nap. My SIL called to say my MIL was over (she lives in Queens and rarely gets to come out this way) and I packed up DD again so she could go bond with her Grandma. We stayed for dinner and DD ate like a pig, lol. I don't think I have ever seen her eat that much before in my life! But she had a good time and that's all that counts and she passed out on the two minute car ride back to our house.

Today we will be heading over to another knitting meeting at the local Barnes and Noble and then I need to look into some invitations for DD's first birthday party. Wow, I cannot believe how fast this year went. I am starting to miss when DD was so small and loved to be cuddled on my chest to sleep. DD is too wild and wooly now for any of that, she wants to be down, on the floor, crawling around and exploring every minute until she passes out from sheer exhaustion!

After we get home from that, I need to hunker down and clean up the place. My parents, sister and her boyfriend will be coming tomorrow for brunch and to visit and see DD. I have some serious cleaning to do. See ya!

I knew this was going to happen!

Somehow I knew this was going to happen. I put my daughter to bed last night, and never got back to my computer to post anything. Oh, please forgive me, my poor blog.

Yesterday was a day of errands. Signed DD up for "Book Babies" at our local library. It's a 20 minute session of reading and songs and rhymes for babies under 2 years old. It's a little chaotic, but very cute, and DD just sits there taking it all in while sitting on my lap. Now that she can crawl, we'll see how content she is to stay put this time...Our friend from playgroup will be joining us this session, which will be nice.

After that, we went food shopping, which is always a challenge with DD along. I had to seek out new and exciting foods for her, since she has declared war on her jars of baby food and refuses to eat anything that she cannot pick up with her own fingers (except yogurt and pudding, for some reason, those are OK). I got some different kinds of beans, frozen peas, some fruit and veggies, some more yogurt, but basically I am at a loss--she's turned into a very picky eater. I dread mealtime, she wails and refuses to eat things I give her, I get frustrated and give in and give her cheese (her most very favorite food of all!). She cannot live on cheese, blueberries and mashed potatoes alone--these are the things she never turns down. Oh well, we'll keep on trying. Meanwhile, everyone keeps telling me how she's losing weight (which she isn't, she's just getting taller) and they all want to try to fatten her up. Good luck, I say, have at it! I really want her to be over 20 pounds when she turns a year so I can turn her carseat around--I know, selfish reasons, lol. Anyway, DD seemed to enjoy her trip to the grocery store and waved goodbye to each and every cashier and person in line that we passed. What a ham!

We also dropped off a package at the UPS store, but that was completely uneventful to even discuss. Today we are meeting our playgroup at a park for a walk--hooray! I so miss going outside for our walks, I cannot wait until it is warm enough to go out every day. I just realized that we are supposed to meet in an hour and I don't have her diaper bag packed and I need to dry my hair. So long for now!

A little confused..

OK, on many other blogs I have seen the amber alert ticker and I want to include one on my blog. I don't know how to get it on here, any advice? Anyone?

New to this.....

Hi, I'm new at this. Just wanted to join in the craze! I'm not sure how dedicated I can be at posting every day, but I will do my best. So here goes....

As you read in my profile, I have one daughter, who is now 10 months old. My goodness how it goes way too fast! We went to the post office today to mail off a new baby gift to friends of ours in Florida. I spoke with the new mommy today and she was just gushing with new mom pride. I can totally understand that! I am amazed at my little girl every day.

After our trip to the post office, we headed out to the mall to pick up our portraits we took two weeks ago. They came out better than I thought they would. If I can figure out how to post pictures, I will try to get one on here. I am specially proud of one of the pictures because DD is wearing a sweater I knit for her while I was on bedrest waiting for her to be born. Since she fell asleep on the way home, I decided to wait on food shopping for the day and took her right home. She's sleeping as we speak, and that's the reason I can finally post here, lol.

DD has been napping so much better lately--it used to be that she wouldn't nap at all, but that's a story for another time. She slept right through my knitting meeting today :-( Oh well, at least I got some stuff done around the house. She napped through the one this past Friday as well. It might be that she is transitioning to one big nap a day--right in the middle of the day, but that's a welcome change for me! It just means that I won't be able to attend many meetings any more.

Well, I think that's enough for my first post. I have to see how to rearrange this a little bit so it is more to my liking. Till next time--so long!