And I mean that in the most positive way possible. :) What I mean is, basically, once Halloween hits, New Years comes in about a week. At least that's how it feels. And this year is going to be particularly hectic: my parents are here 11/11-11/16, I have a baby shower 11/21, we have a birthday party 11/22, Carmen's mom and grandma are visiting 11/23-11/30, Carmen's holiday party is 12/2, I have an evening event 12/3, and then there are other events and trying to wrap everything up before my office closes for the holidays - oh and of course Carmen's last minute travel that always happens in December/early January. So yeah. For those of you who are coming to my house in the next two months, don't expect much! I'll have the kitchen stocked, the house will be (relatively) clean - although there will likely be toys and baby gear everywhere - and you'll have a place to sleep. Beyond that, I make no promises. Kelly, Mike and Ella came to visit last week, just for an afternoon, and I failed her by not greeting her at the door with freshly baked cookies and flowers. #housewifefail (except the whole thing about me not actually being a housewife....). So yeah, don't expect fresh flowers or freshly baked cookies if you're showing up at my door!
A few pictures from last week:
Jayden took a BIG tumble on Tuesday or Wednesday. He ended up with a giant scrape on his knee, and scratches all over his face. His knee is finally healing (after Carmen convinced him to leave the band-aid off for a night, and after going in the pool this morning), but his face is still scratched. He's a tough kid, but this knee scrape was a bad one.
One of my favorite pictures/stories ever. He was playing with this yo-yo-like toy that has little soft rubber tentacles. It bounced up and one of the tentacles hit him in the eye. He was already tired, so it caused a bit of drama. I suggested he needed safety goggles and (jokingly) suggested he wear his swim goggles for eye protection. Well, he agreed. So he wore them to play with the toy, and then wore them to eat dinner too! It was awesome. Safety first with this kid.
Dakota making her concentrating face, reaching for the toy. She's not totally steady sitting up yet, but she's getting better and better.
Jayden teaching Ella how to play with his Shark Hot Wheels track. He had a little trouble, but really, overall, he was great about sharing his toys and "teaching" her how to do things.
And Ella is just darling. She is amazing.
We did survive week two of daycare for Dakota. I did pick her up early Wednesday to visit with Kelly, Mike and Ella, but other than that, she was there five days. I think I am going to try to give her one short day a week, if I can. This week she'll be out Wednesday, Thursday and Friday since my parents are here, so she wins this week. :) (or maybe I do - maybe we both do!) But I am also trying not to take her out too much, because I don't want to make the transition more difficult.
Dakota is doing fine. She is eating great - finishes all three of her bottles with no problem. I've even been putting a little extra in there - giving her 4-1/2 ounces or so - to see if it helps with her weight. She still isn't sleeping in her crib for naps. She'll give them 20-30 minutes usually, tops. She's had a couple naps of two hours, but those are few and far between. It's funny she can sleep so well at night in her crib and fail miserably at naptime. But today, as I was trying to put her in her crib for naptime, she startled and cried every. single. time. I put her down. Exhausting. I finally gave up and just kept her up. I don't want her to get used to sleeping in my arms (or anyone's arms), so if she can't sleep, then her naps are just going to be short, I guess. I feel like she'll have to figure it out eventually, because she'll need the sleep. Or so I'm hoping, I guess. Last week I cried the first three days and managed to not cry Thursday or Friday. It might be because I've cried SO much in the past two weeks that I just didn't have anything left in me, because both Thursday and Friday when I left she got fussy - so I had to sort of run out of there. It's both better and worse, I suppose.
Here's the November newsletter I received for Dakota's room (Room 8). Check out the baby on the left part way down the page! That picture was taken on her first day there. She doesn't even look miserable! If I'd been in the picture, my eyes would have been all kinds of red. Mondays are the hardest. I cried the most last Monday and kept crying even at work. My co-worker had to comfort me, even though she really didn't have time for it. She doesn't read the blog, but I appreciate her more than she knows. We share our mommy joys/frustrations/fears/etc. and it helps us both get through the worst times.
Carmen flew to San Jose/Santa Clara today for the 49ers/Falcons game tomorrow. It's a quick trip; he'll be back tomorrow night at about 10 pm. As is usual, when Carmen goes out of town, I try to find something to do with the kids. Since Halloween is over, it's clearly Christmas time, so we went to a tree lighting ceremony in Newport Beach!
Jayden took my phone and this was one of his shots. Not so bad, really! This is (hopefully clearly) before the tree was lit.
They played music before the ceremony began, and I wanted to show you what it looks like when Jayden is "jammin'" to some tunes:
They do a 25 minute Disney show before the tree is lit. I made a rookie mistake and staked out a spot on the back of the stage. We did get to see Daisy and some singers, but Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy were all on the other side. They came by our side twice, but only for a few seconds. It was hard to see anyway - I had Dakota in the carrier and was holding Jayden up, so even if all of the characters had been on our side we would have had a difficult time seeing them.
The (giant) tree just before it was lit.
The tree in all its glory!
A blurry shot of the three of us.
The best part is that the ceremony was from 5:30 to 6:00 and I had brought a picnic dinner to eat while we waited (we had to get there at least an hour early to get our not-so-good spot), so we didn't have to eat when we got home. We got home, played for a few minutes and then went upstairs for bed. Jayden really wanted Dakota to chew on this necklace I have that is specifically made for teething babies. Dakota really was not interested in chewing on said necklace. BUT. How cute are they cuddling in the chair together?!?
Jayden "helping" Dakota chew on the necklace.
My flash kicked in, unfortunately. Jayden wanted to do a "funny" face, and as he pointed out, Dakota looks surprised! Still cuteness though, especially since his arm is wrapped around her and she is holding on to his hand. She is going to be his shadow, and he is going to have a hard time shaking that shadow!
Tomorrow is a day of errands - mostly the grocery store to be ready for the week, and soccer class. We'll lay low in the afternoon.
One more piece of news: Jayden decided he is ready to sleep in underwear, not in pull-ups. So Carmen and I said okay and have crossed our fingers, and had a change of sheets at the ready. We told him if he made it seven days in a row, he could get his track. He made it five days before his first accident. So we started over, and he made it seven days! He actually made it ten days (until last night when he had his second accident). But, he did get is Hot Wheels track, and it is really awesome. It's all he has played with for the last two days. It's very cute, and he's very proud of himself. To keep the momentum going, I think I'm going to have to buy additional little pieces of track for him, and give them to him at slightly longer milestones. I think we're going to say if he can go two weeks without an accident, he'll get to pick another piece of track. We do get him up when we go to bed, usually 10:30 or 11:00, to go to the bathroom, and that seems to help quite a bit. We'll keep doing that as long as we need to, to avoid accidents. It's worth it. He is very proud of himself, so we have to be careful to not be disappointed when he has an accident, but also encourage him to do better. It's a fine line.
So, on that note, I'm off to get Jayden to the bathroom and get me to bed. I'll be up in a few hours to pump, and then a few hours after that to start all over again. Here's to holding on to every last bit of my patience tomorrow and going with the flow while still being productive!
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