Gift Ideas for Erica's second Christmas

I will start to make a list of Christmas ideas for grandparents and aunts/uncles/cousins who might like some ideas:

Inchbug "orbit" labels for cups http://www.inchbug.com/1a1.html

monogramed thermal lunch bag

Seeds family music (Look on Amazon.com for Seeds Family Worship: Seeds of Faith, Seeds of Praise, Seeds of Purpose)

Nashville zoo membership or Frist Center membership

gears building set - moveable gears that fit together in a set

puzzles

Lacing cards

School bus with Little People (she loved playing with Zachary's bus)

play kitchen items (or real kitchen items that would be safe. She likes playing with gadgets)

Shoes: Pedipeds, Keds, Stride Rite (size 5.5 Wide now) any cute Target shoes that are knock-offs of brand-name shoes in the next few sizes up would be good.

Clothing sizes: Winter/fall 18 month Spring/Summer 24 month/2T

Socks (Need more socks): Shoe size Toddler 5 or 12-18 month and bigger sizes (different brands list different kinds of sizes. I really like socks to have non-skid bottoms. Found at Target, Babies R Us, Gap, Old Navy

A few thoughts after many months

Right now I don't plan to be a regular blogger. Really I prefer the speed and convenience of Facebook for posting pictures and keeping Erica's admirers informed. I mostly use Blogger to keep lists of ideas (in draft form) and to comment on other people's blogs or enter blog giveaways.

This is a giveaway http://theurbanhen.blogspot.com/2009/10/hen-gives-away.html I would LOVE to win because I think these items are soooooo cute, especially the apple t-shirt! I must really love it because the giveaway inspired me to update my blog! haha!

The Urban Hen is a woman in my church who has the cutest homemade items, many made with vintage fabrics. The bags and kids' t-shirts are just adorable. Even the little girl in the picture with the apple shirt reminds me of Erica. So...I hope you like the link (if I can figure out how to really link it).

OK --- now an update on what's been going on lately. Erica is 14 months old tomorrow. She really started walking right on her 13 month birthday. Standing up more seems to have stretched her out a little, because she seems taller and skinnier even though I don't think she's really grown much in height and certainly hasn't lost any weight.

Walking also seems to have given Erica the confidence to love Sunday School and Parents' Day Out when she used to cry a lot whenever she was left in either place. I wonder if all those 13 months she was mostly frustrated having to sit in one place?

I counted 25 words that I know Erica recognizes. She babbles all the time and it won't be long until I'm making a list of words that she can say! Right now all she says is Daddy, "Hi!", and her newest phrase, "Uh, oh!" Very cute.

Grandparents, aunts, random blog visitors: If you want me to post anything in particular, send me a question to answer or topic to write about and maybe I'll write some more! I can make a post of Christmas gift ideas, sizes, stuff like that if anyone wants. I can make silly lists of words she recognizes, whatever!

Stay tuned in the months to come for another blog update.

Seven Minutes

This afternoon it took a little longer. It always seems like it will last forever...

Three Minutes

I have been struggling with the nap routine this week at the house where I'm babysitting this summer... not wanting to stress Erica out by leaving her in a strange place but knowing it was hard to settle her down for the same reason. I knew that in the five days between yesterday and next Wednesday I would need to practice laying her down awake to settle herself down. It is hard. I hate it. I question myself. I knew she was tired, she was falling apart on our walk with Nanette. She wouldn't even let me read one time, "Goodnight Moon" or sing all the way through "Jesus Loves Me." I had to put her down. She cried so loud. I didn't want to do it. Then I sat down with the computer and looked at the time. Three minutes and she was silent as a sweet dream.

I hear

• the fan coming through the baby monitor while she is sleeping
• all her fun little new words she says: Da da, Ma Ma, blah blah, puh puh, blub blub, hi!
• new way of crying, very soft blub blub, really brings a new meaning to the word "blubbering"
• very faint clapping sounds
• drumming on many different toys
• at least a few little barking frogs, making Russell crack up laughing (passing gas)

I smell

• yummy yummy baby bath smell on her hair
• telltale signs that she has filled her diaper

I taste

• any food that I'm not sure is cool enough for baby
• formula on the occasion there is a blocked bottle nipple
• any food stuck to her hair or skin when I don't have a washcloth handy (like a mommy kitten)

I see

• sweetest eyes
• most precious little rose lips
• yellow golden gorgeous hair
• learning new skills all the time like sitting up from face down position

I feel

• soft skin
• slippery after bath
• warm hugs
• getting heavier all the time
• awesome settled down baby rocking for bed
• strong pulling against my turning pages when she wants to turn her own pages
• sweet little hands on my legs now that she can scoot her way into the bathroom while I'm getting ready

This week's fun milestones

Erica is working hard on one big milestone -- crawling. She isn't quite there, but it is only a matter of days. For a few weeks she has been leaning over, reaching for toys, and almost acting like she is ready to crawl, only to forget to put her arms out front and fall right on her face. Ouch! She sometimes cries, sometimes just lays there. I can only imagine she's thinking, "Doh, not again." That is if she is thinking in Homer Simpson's language, which I hope not. Or the Simpson Dad, can't remember his name. She's also had a hard time figuring out what to do with one of her legs, which gets stuck up under her bottom when she's trying to lean over into the all-fours position.

I saw a video on Babycenter.com about developmental steps that lead to crawling. When a baby can get from tummy down position into the sitting up position, she is physically ready to crawl. This week Erica figured that out for the first time! AND she clapped for the first time right after doing it. The whole family is very good about cheering for Erica whenever she accomplishes absolutely anything, so she is used to people clapping for her. My guess is that she has been wanting to somehow get up from the "fell on my face" position, and when she did it, she was also ready to cheer for herself. So cute. Just the best.

Another fun thing Erica did this week was to melt her Daddy's heart into hot butter. She has said similar things in the past, but one day this week it was the most clear-sounding full sentence ever heard from an eight-and-a-half month-old. Erica was sitting in her high chair when Russell walked in the door after work. She just as plain as a big kid said, "Hi Dad-dy!" I really thought Russell was going to fall on the floor. His reaction was as cute as her little feat.

One last milestone really is a work in progress. Whenever Erica falls asleep in the car, even if for just a couple of minutes, she wakes up when we bring her inside and take her out of her car seat. She just can't seem to transfer. We have left her in the car seat for short periods of time, but she still wakes up after no more than 10 or 15 minutes. Today after a long outing and no real morning nap, I thought she just might be tired enough to stay asleep if I took her out. She did! Then she slept about 45 minutes which was a nice little nap.

Every day is a new trick and I believe that all this activity is also making Erica grow! Yesterday I dressed her in a new one-piece playsuit and Russell noticed it was too tight around her thighs. Now she doesn't seem to be a real fat baby, but that suit was definitely not going to work. We have lots of beautiful dresses for her to wear that still fit, but dresses have been getting really tangled during her crawling attempts, so we are putting together play outfits of t-shirts and shorts in her NEW size.... drumroll... 18 months! Now most of her 12 month clothes still fit, just not one-piece suits. Yikes.

We are really looking forward to what the next milestones will be like. Crawling, here we come!

How Everything Relates Back to Erica

I always wanted to be a Mommy, from the very first doll I held, it was my dream. There were many things I didn't know, which could be a post all their own. Today I will write about this fact I did not know before becoming a Mommy: Everything somehow relates back to Erica.

Simple things relate back to Erica -- Can I stay a little late at work if needed? NO! I want to get home and see Erica. Can I go to CVS and rob them (as my father says because of my amazing deals)? Not yet! I have to wait until either after bedtime, in between naptime, or some appropriate Erica-time.

More complicated things relate back to Erica. This is how I thought of the topic of this post. I will listen to something on the news and wonder how it effects Erica. Kidnapping? Must protect Erica. Swine Flu? What if one of us gets it, including Erica?

Speaking of being sick, I Don't Have The Swine Flu, but I am pretty sick with some awful allergies and respiratory stuff. Hope Erica doesn't get it! Sorry, boring post. Three weeks to write it and it still isn't the exciting "Everything relates back to Erica" post I had planned.

Better Day, Yippee!

When I left the blog yesterday, Erica ended up taking about a one hour nap.  I was so proud of her.  It was hard work but she did it.  Today has been the miracle day from heaven, and I think we might have both learned something.  I adjusted the schedule to a longer time in between eating and naps and she must be grown up enough to handle it!  Two hour nap in the AM and now she's almost hit one hour for her late afternoon nap.  Seems like 4:10 is quite late for her PM nap, but I will take it for today and adjust when possible.  She went to bed great last night so I know she was exhausted.  We will get there. Mommies have been helping babies nap ever since Eve helped Cain and Abel I suppose.  Sometimes I wonder what kind of grief (if any) Jesus gave Mary.  Doesn't seem possible:)

Maybe some babies never learn to nap

I really don't want to portray glum negativity, but I am wondering this afternoon if Erica will EVER EVER EVER learn to take good naps.  Who are these kids who take 2 hour naps in the morning and then more 2 hour naps in the afternoon and then go on and sleep for 12 hours at night?  Can someone please give me remedial lessons?  Am I that unskilled that I can't even teach my sweet little girl to get the rest she needs??  I am very sad and frustrated at our progress.

Today I am home for day one of my short spring break.  Since I usually work Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday and I am off Thursday this week, it is almost having a whole week off even though it is just one work day off.  Get it?  So I thought this would be a good week to work with Erica on scheduling and napping.  Disaster already.  What am I doing wrong?  Does she have something missing from her brain that doesn't allow her to learn this?

Here are direct quotes from the notebook I am keeping:

Wednesday schedule fixing day 1

March 18

6:30 woke up

6:45 6 oz.

9:00 nap after 17 min cry (kept crying 30 min)

9:25 two more tries - put in bed asleep :(

slept 5 or 10 min

cried another 15 - I give up

10:45 6 oz.

11:25 down crying for nap

11:45 finally asleep

12:25 woke up

2:45 6 oz.

fell asleep 10 min on shoulder woke up when I put down :(

3:42 in bed wide awake

wrapped in blanket

Now it is 4:03 and she started crying about 3 min after I put her in bed.  Now what do I do?  She isn't going to sleep!  I am a terrible sleep trainer.  I honestly need help.

**** UPDATE **** Maybe I am just impatient and it is my issue, not hers.  Here is the rest of the notebook for this nap:

4:07 I'm not holding my breath, which is good b/c by the time I wrote this sentence she was crying again.

4:09 maybe? no.

4:10 possible?

OK this is promising 3:42 to 4:10 cried 28 min.

Wish List

Aunt Laura sent me a link to another Mommy's blog which was an ongoing wish list for her children's grandparents and relatives to know what the kids needed.  I have to figure out how to put this on this blog.  For now I will list a few things that people might be wondering about for an upcoming holiday involving bunnies, chocolate, dresses, and a real story of a risen savior.

www.popatot.com  has a really cool outdoor play area I saw online.  It would be cool to take to Daniel's baseball games, the park, out on our deck, or wherever and it can be used until she is 18 months or 33 pounds.

Sizes:

For now -- Spring clothes in 9 month size (Old Navy or Gymboree will be 6-12 month that fit well); lightweight long-sleeved shirts, pants, short-sleeved shirts and dresses.

Shoes -- Robeez or similar (soft leather soles) size 6-12 months.  These will be good when she starts pulling up or taking steps, especially at school.

For summer -- Shorts and t-shirts in 12 months size (or the next size in whatever brand after 9 months or 12 months).  She has a lot of dresses in this size already.

Equipment:

As soon as Erica starts crawling, we need baby gates for the stairs!   We will measure the width needed and add to this post.

So, there is my first wish list post.

Another Napping Post, Photo Link, and Carrots!

Wow!  We did it!  Sorry for another napping post, but maybe when we get this down pat it will be old news.  Erica napped on Monday at SCHOOL for two 30-minute nap, put down to sleep by a teacher she has only met briefly.  Good girl!  Yesterday she took two good naps at GM and GP's house, one of them was 1 and 1/2 hours!  Today she has taken one morning nap of 1 and 1/2 hours, and has just gone down after a little struggle for a nice afternoon nap.  What happened was she fell asleep in the stroller during my walk in the park, only slept 20 minutes so I was hoping she would still go down for a good nap after we got home.  She had a bottle, we played and played and folded laundry and we tried one time but she was flailing all around so I thought it would be best to give it a little more time.  One thing I'm learning is that for these daytime naps, if she isn't exactly ready, she will be unable to fall asleep without an hour of excruiciating crying.  I am just tired of putting her through that when she seems to be learning to calm herself as long as it doesn't get too far out of hand.  So... we got up and played a little while longer.  Then I swaddled her, sang a few new songs, and she finally started acting drowsy.  I still realize it is important to put her in bed before she falls asleep all the way, something about a skill that will help her in life.  I trust this advice.  Russell said recently that he thinks she is learning this and I agree.

On another note, we had a great photo session with Mattie who has taken all of Erica's professional shots since she was one day old.  You can see the link at www.mattiecallahan.com.  Click on the gallery and Erica 6 weeks, then use our last name for the password.  I am so happy with the pictures of how she has grown and of Erica with her precious grandparents.  It will be so much fun in August when we have pictures taken with the Massey grandparents!  What a gift for Erica to have such loving grandparents -- all four!

Last bit of news -- Erica has been trying some more new foods.  We got some cute shots of the carrot night.  Enjoy.

First day of school and Erica's curl

Well this will be short because I am fairly exhausted and you would think Erica would be exhausted too but she is giving me a run for my money tonight and Russell is working late.  So let's just put it this way...  She's A Tough Cookie.  She cried quite a lot and I cried privately inside my office right across the hall from her class even with the door closed I could hear her and it nearly drove me to insanity.

Enjoy her little curl.  I am not officially saying she will have curly hair, but this one appeared after taking off her winter hat this afternoon.

Erica to start school tomorrow

Erica is going to start coming with me to Parents' Day Out on Mondays, starting tomorrow.  It will be an adventure for both of us.  For Erica, it will be a long day in a classroom with two teachers and up to five other babies, mostly who have already turned one year old and are walking.  For me, I will get to wonder how she's doing and definitely hear her if she cries because her classroom is right across from my office.  Yikes.  Pray for us, OK?

Well, we trusted our pediatrician and have carried on with sleep training.  Erica has really learned to go to bed drowsy and put herself to sleep the rest of the way.  Sometimes she can even put herself back to sleep if she wakes up.  You notice the word, "sometimes."  Other times, like the past two nights, she was woken up shrieking and not been able to put herself back to sleep.  Therefore, we, her parents, have helped her.  That is how we love her, helping her learn and adjust and get through the hard times.

We just love her soooooooooooooooooo much!

The spoon feeding hasn't been any more exciting.  She doesn't seem to really want anything badly enough to work it into a final swallow.  Most of the food ends up spit back out or played with in her hands.  Maybe she will go straight to finger foods.  She loves to put Cheerios in her mouth and sometimes she actually swallows them.  Today I tried little chunks of banana (sorry Aunts Laura and Nette) and she thought that was pretty cool.

Another think Erica is working on is rolling over. She doesn't like it.  The best that she does is dive off the boppy when she is propped up on it, and then roll herself onto her tummy to try and reach something.  

She also love tags.  Anything with a tag!  The most exciting Christmas toys all over the house, boppy, blankets, anything... she goes for the tag.  Yesterday I even propped her up on the boppy tummy side down because she wanted to reach the tag and it helped distract her for a good five minutes. 

Sleep Camp Was Worth It

We really tried to believe everyone who told us that Erica learning to sleep on her own would be well worth the work it required.  I think it was just one of those things we had to wait to truly believe until we experienced it.  I am so proud of our little sleeping angel.  She still isn't perfect with her naps, but they are getting so much better.

Now that she has been sleeping better, I want to really get her on a great schedule with nice 12 hour nights, 2 hour morning naps, and 2 hour afternoon naps.  I will call it Intermediate Baby Sleep Camp for baby who has some beginner skills but needs to master some more advanced ones.

Erica is also learning to like solid foods!  She has tried bananas, sweet potatoes, and oatmeal cereal.  She likes them in descending order.

This is getting boring so I will stop for now.

Baby Sleep Camp Day Three: Maybe she is learning this...

Oh, it just hurts me every time I leave her in her bed and she cries.  How does she know how to make me want to quit this stupid plan every time?   Welllll, darling little sweet pink baby has no idea of this plan and I really think if she DID have any idea, it would be that she is a growing smart girl who CAN learn to fall asleep by herself!  I think it must be working, but it is SO HARD.  I have been home alone today with three awful naps.  This one might be sticking better than the others.  She woke up after 20 minutes but I went in and told her she was OK and she eventually went back to sleep. We've never done that before!

Now I'm waiting for my Valentine to arrive with my well-deserved Sonic surprise.

The Hardest Night

The title of this post really might be an exaggeration.  I think there were harder nights when Erica was two or three months old and up crying for reasons we couldn't understand for hours we couldn't endure.  The Night I'm describing here was really one hour and twenty minutes of sadness and then another nine hours (so far) of sleeping baby bliss.

Russell and I have been proud to brag that Erica has been sleeping through the night since she was seven weeks old.  This is true!  At least five or six nights a week, sometimes more, Erica has been sleeping in her own bed alone for at least seven hours.  We continued to have problems with napping, but really felt like the nights were good.

Erica has had problems with sleeping on trips (horrible nights on trips to TX and AL) and she has trouble napping at Grandma's/Grandpa's house and friend Amy's house for babysitting.  At home she sometimes takes one one-hour nap in the morning, but usually the rest of her naps are barely twenty minutes.  It can be exhausting.

We talked with the pediatrician about it on a visit to check Erica's ears after some particularly bad days and nights of sleeping.  She suggested it was time for "Baby Sleep Camp."  What????? My baby has to go to camp?  No.  We learned a technique of helping the baby learn to fall asleep on her own.  We are supposed to rock her for a little while, but not all the way to sleep as we had been doing.  Put her in her bed awake, then tell her night-night and leave.  She will scream and we will die of torture listening to her.  Then we can go check on her every five minutes and reassure her and she will eventually fall asleep.  Do this for a week and this doctor has never known any baby not to succeed after one week.

One Week!  Are you crazy??????  But we agreed it was a good idea to try "one day."

Here are our reasons we hadn't tried it until last night:

1. Dr. suggested we put it on the calendar and not try it if we were going to be going out of town.  We had a trip to Birmingham planned.

2. I have two days off next week so we thought we would wait until I would be home from work to do the daytime napping part of the sleep camp.

3. We didn't wanna yet.

4. It hurt our hearts to think about doing it yet.

5. She was really sleeping fine most nights and we were enduring the naps as best we could.

6. Maybe she would wonder if we loved her.

7. Lots of other procrastinating reasons.

8. Maybe one of the websites I read was right, that when babies are left to CIO (Cry It Out), they finally give up and go to sleep because they figure their parents will never help them anyway.  Duh.

9. I decided I needed more pediatrician advice so I emailed a friend's wife who I used to babysit for and liked their babies' bedtime routine.

Well the clincher was probably that friend writing us back with --- practically word-for-word identical -- the same advice as our pediatrician.  Plus we had it invisibly on our calendar for this Thursday night.

So we agreed to try it for her late afternoon nap.  At 4:30 I fed Erica, and then we went to the International Market for some produce.  She acted subdued and ready for a nap while we were out and about, so we made our bedtime routine plan and sent Russell upstairs with Erica.

Read two books, sing one song, and put Erica in her bed awake.  Then the crying started.  This was 6:40 PM. 

Not easy.

We hate this.

We can't do this.

OK, five minutes have passed, Russell went in to reassure her, picked her up because he forgot that Not Picking Her UP was part of the drs.' advice.

Lots and lots more five-minute segments passed.  These were timed on the kitchen timer.  We took turns going in to reassure her.  Most times she didn't even quiet down when we went in to check. She just flapped her arms around and screamed madder and madder.

Side note:  I think the way she cried made it a little easier than it would have been even a month ago.  She sounded slightly in control of herself, not even screeching like she was sick or anything.  Just a constant, "I'm tired and mad and stubborn" cry.  Made me think she could get through this and wasn't really in pain or anything.  Except it was still awful and terrible.  I never enjoyed doing dishes so much as I did last night, drowning out the sound of her crying when it wasn't my turn upstairs.

One hour passed.  Can we still do this?  The second pediatrician said his first daughter cried one hour and forty four minutes the first night.  We said we could try it that long.  We never really came up with a plan of what we would do or when we would give up.

Once I was sending a friend a note on Facebook and I was watching the timer and listening to Erica quiet down 10 seconds before that five minute segment was over.  I even typed to my friend that I thought Erica had gone to sleep.  Fifty two seconds later she was screaming again.  Then I think it was only two five minute segments after that and she was asleep for the night.  

Of course we didn't know she was asleep for the night.  It was 7:00 PM and I told Russell that even if she only slept for ten minutes I would get her up if she cried and she would at least have fallen asleep on her own for a little while.  She never woke up.   It is 4:20 AM and I am a crazy person writing a blog when I could be happily asleep because my baby is happily asleep.

There has to be a gospel message here somewhere.  Now I might try to go to sleep again.

Well I thought I would write a quick catch-up blog but now Erica is waking up from her little nap.  That is OK, though because she slept for 10 1/2 hours last night!  Yippeeedoodliedoo!  Say that out loud!

She is just the sweetest little thing.  I will upload a couple more pics just for fun:)

My Sweet Girl and her New Hobby

Erica is learning to sit up by herself and she has taken quite an interest in toys and books from this position.  I guess when she was laying down all the time or being held, she didn't have much independence to explore her toys and books or choose which ones she wanted to examine further.  When she is at Mom and Dad's house, they have a little basin with toys in it that she plays with.  At home this morning I set up a plastic bowl from the kitchen with some toys and let her explore.  I was sitting on the couch next to her making a call for work.  My work notebook was still on the couch when I stepped a few feet away to start folding laundry.  I watched Erica eyeing that composition book, about two feet away from where she was sitting.  She leaned over to try and pick it up, but ended up diving on top of the book and flipping herself forward onto her tummy.  She didn't like that very much, started crying for help so I picked her back up into the sitting position.  Wouldn't you believe as soon as I stepped back to the laundry, she dove right back on top of that notebook!  I called Mom and Dad to tell them about her mischief, and they suggested I put a pile of her own books in front of her to go through.  She has been paging through them for about 15 or 20 minutes now.  Very very cute.  She must be a genius.

Saturday Blog

Well, here I am 24 hours later.  I'm still a blogger, evidently!  Erica is asleep again and I am so proud of her!  Yesterday after her 2.5 hour nap, she went four hours between feedings two different times and then 3 hours between the other feedings!  I think she must be a big girl as Annessa said!  She didn't even act hungry.  I just kept her really busy and I really think maybe she felt wonderful without being overly stuffed.  Maybe I have been giving her indigestion for five months and one week with feeding her every 2 hours!

Now she is waking up after about a 15 minute nap, so I will take care of her and see what the day holds.

OK I can try a second post since I still can't believe Erica hasn't woken up.

What I meant to explain in the paragraph about schedule in the first post, is that after the predictable morning nap, Erica's day is pretty much willy nilly the rest of the day.  Or whatever you want to call it:  She Has No Routine.  We just try guessing all day long if she is hungry or tired.  I first thought I would like the book, Babywise (need to learn how to underline in this blog).  We liked the feeding, playing, sleeping order of things, and that order still works for us most of the time.  However, we DIDN'T like the recommendation of letting the baby cry for 3o minutes if needed.  It made everyone in the house hysterical and when we asked the doctor on call at midnight on the phone,  he said we weren't ready for that.  I think it was mostly because she was only about four weeks old, but I imagine the doctor didn't think the parents sounded developmentally ready for it either.  

Back to the routine.  I would like Erica to be on a rough schedule of eating about every three or four hours (I want to say "Three" or "Four", not "Oh, around every three or four hours."  Then I can tell babysitters or nursery teachers what time she needs to eat.  Right now I just guess, and it is usually closer to two hours.  Then she cries and cries and nobody knows if she is hungry, sleepy, gassy, or misses her mommy.  My heart breaks at different levels for each of those choices.  I would like Erica to learn how to fall asleep in her bed (or in a pack 'n' play or nursery crib) with a quick comforting routine.  One family I really loved babysitting had a routine of singing "You are my sunshine," putting the baby in the bed, and walking out.  IT WORKED!  But I'm sure they did a lot of practicing this before it actually worked.  Don't YOU??????  Please comment now if you haven't commented yet.

Another thing I might like to blog about is that I am thinking about starting to run again.  I was something of a runner in college and I have jogged on and off throughout my young adult life.  I have quit so many times because I hated it, but really when I am doing well with it I live life better.  I breathe better, my clothes fit better, I definitely sleep better.  I also get some of the same results from swimming, but we aren't members of the Y right now so I don't have a place to swim.  I think running will be easier to do with Erica in the stroller.  Too bad they don't make baby floating strollers for swimming mommies in case we ever get to join the Y again!  Ha!

I don't know if I will blog about weaning, because it might be too personal.  However, running is something that might be a fun treat for me when Erica stops eating that way.  Enough said.

Really I don't know what this blog will be about yet.  I don't necessarily have to decide, I could just wing it.  Like right now, I'm winging it!  Wing away!  Figure out fonts!  Maybe learn to post a picture or a link!  GO for it Jeanettey!

Do you spell that will an -ey, a -y or an -ie?  Jeanetty, Jeanettey, or Jeanettie?  How did I get that nickname back from age 5 to age 38 ( think it started last year sometime).

I could sometimes talk about cooking. This weekend I am going to shop for a birthday meal and for two birthday cake projects.  The birthday meal is for someone I know will be reading this blog, so I won't reveal any secrets.  The second birthday cake project is for one of the teachers at my PDO.  She loves strawberry cake and icing (I took a teacher survey) and I plan to make cupcakes of my favorite birthday recipe.  FUN!

I could sometimes talk about coupon-ing.  I have to get some more coupons before I can use them, right?  Ha.  I have been reading several coupon websites, but I haven't gotten around to finding any coupons.  Also I want to learn the CVS game but I also need to start collecting coupons to do that.

I could talk about cleaning the house, but then I would feel like I should stop blogging and start cleaning.  I have considered a "one room a day" cleaning schedule.  Today would be laundry, but I need to do that anyway, so is that really sticking to a schedule?  Yesterday would have been our bedroom, but I'm still only halfway through the living room which was Monday but I started Wednesday.  I somehow skipped the nursery which was supposed to be Tuesday.

This blog will just be a fun learning experience for me to start.  I will try to add a picture now and stop writing so I can put some laundry in.

Just Trying to Blog a little

It shouldn't be this complicated, but it has taken me several weeks to figure out how to set up a blog account.  Am I just a few months (years) older than the average person who learns anything about new technology?  Is that why it took me forever to accept IMing, texting, facebook?  Now I love all three, so maybe I will love blogging too.

Part of my problem is that as soon as I get started trying to sit at the computer, Erica wakes up.  She is a reluctant napper.  I'll just type right now until she starts to cry.  We'll see how it goes.  Maybe I will be typing for two hours.  I doubt that.

To start blogging, maybe I should describe myself in case anyone stumbles upon me who doesn't know me.  I have been described as short, curly haired, and my cheeks are always pink. This is true, unless I have straightened my hair or put on makeup.  can't do anything about the "short" part, but the first time my husband (Russell) and I went out, he said, "You are short, but you aren't ridiculously short."  I took that as a compliment.

I am 39, a first time giddily happy Mommy of Erica, age 5 months.  She is just the most precious thing ever, and as Russell said in his Facebook 25 Random things, she is sweet as the water that runs down Sugar Creek.  That is a song, but we don't know who sings it.

My job besides mommy and wife is Director of Parents' Day Out.  I have completed three weeks at my new job, and I think I like it.  I won't say the name of the church in case I end up saying anything that isn't going great, that way nobody will find this when googling the church!  Ha!

Maybe it would be descriptive of me to list some topics I like to read about on the computer:  I like to read mommy blogs, coupon blogs, blooper blogs (about apostrophe and quotation misuse), and Facebook.  I wish you could search the 25 Random Things feature so I could read everyone's entries.  They are usually pretty hilarious.

Anyway, today's blog will continue with me telling some things that Erica is learning.  She is learning to sit up.  This is very cute, because of course she has been all wobbly until now.  If you prop her up in the corner of the couch or other similar location, she can sit for several minutes and play with toys.  She might lean over a little, but she can usually recover and sit straight again.  It is very cool to see the pride in her face as she sits like a big girl.

Erica is also trying to get on a better schedule.  I should say that sometimes I attribute my own characteristics or activities onto Erica.  We, her parents, are trying to get Erica on a better schedule.  Usually she wakes up very happily anywhere between 5:30 and 6:30 AM.  She eats and plays and honestly as soon as the clock strikes one hour after she woke up, she starts acting sleepy.  This is the easiest time most days to ever put her down for a nap.  Right now we are rocking her to sleep, which is usually fine for morning naps and very very late nights.  We are thinking about learning to let her cry a little and put her in the bed to all asleep on her own.  This is because most other naps during the day she isn't consoled very easily by rocking, she has a terrible time calming down for a nap at any babysitters' or church nurseries, and we think she will need this skill in life.  We are waiting for a week when we aren't traveling, and will probably put February 8 as the night we start practicing this new skill.  Yikes, that is very scary to me.  I will need lots and lots of help and support.

Another skill we are considering is stretching the time between Erica's meals.  She ate every two hours during the day until about a month ago, and now she is closer to every three hours.  I think she could probably go longer.   We will start solids here within a few weeks.  Oatmeal is the first meal we have in mind.

This entry is really getting boring, so I might just stop it soon.