Monday, December 14, 2009

December

(Warning: This is kind of a bummer post just so you know..)

I'm really getting that I hate December(s).

I've never been a huge fan of the "Christmas Holiday Season," as it's usually called. Just the thought of "December" each year gives me a lot of stress and additional stuff to do (too much to do in a small amount of time), but when things are added to the list, it's just that more stressful.

All of our Christmas "stuff" (cards, shopping, mailing) is done and was out earlier than normal (which is awesome seeing we have a new baby), but we had a snag regarding one of the additions to our December madness.

The new windows we are supposed to be getting were scheduled to be completed before Thanksgiving (or by the first week in December at the latest), but here we sit with the old ones still in tact. I'm fuming over this company we HAVE to use as they are contracted thru our condo association and we have no choice (the condo development literally owns the outside of the building so they get to say who we use). We were told they would be in (not installed) 4-6 weeks after we gave them the check.. came to find out out the owner and our contact didn't order them until a WEEK after we gave him the deposit (which was a large percentage of the cost) so depending how you look at it we are at 9-10 weeks when this is all said and done.

The owner called this morning (after I called on Friday when he said they'd be in) stating that they should be in Wednesday.. unfortunately, the weather is going to SUCK big time starting that day, with Friday being the most hellish (high of 30), so I have no idea when this is going to be done. We are in a bit of a bind as if we choose to cancel the order I'm sure there will be major issues that will go into 2010.. and the main reason we are doing this is to get the tax credit for 2009. We have shared/community heat so there's no real reason to do it other than are windows are old, ugly and drafty. Once again, we are doing this more for Jackie as her room is fairly drafty, but it would also increase the look of our place substantially and we hope will help us on resale.

Anyway, I'm dreading what will happen if they are not in Wednesday.. and we leave to go out of town the following Thursday. I may pessimistic when it comes to things like this, but I'm just concerned if, let's say, one window broke on shipment and has to be reordered or there's an issue installing or there's rain or snow storm.. all these things can delay. Anyway, all of this is just not something we expected and definitely something I didn't want to deal with mid-December.. and yeah, we have a baby so it makes it that more annoying. Luckily our neighbors said we could use their place to hang out (I just have to take Jackie out of the house for most of the day or possibly 2). It will be interesting to say the least.

I honestly just can't wait until December/the holidays are over.. Christmas is my least favorite holiday for a myriad of reasons, but at least we will be at my mother in-laws so I can get some peace there. She's really excited to see Jackie so we'll get a bit of rest while Grandma gets her fill of the little one.

My dream is that one day we'll have a large place where we can host Christmas and not have deal with planes, packing and people on the front end. I dream of that day when we'll have the excuse not to go anywhere.. I thought this year would be the case, but due to some personal things to take care of, we are traveling. I totally get why and thankfully we have a good baby.. but as you may have heard, good baby or not, something always happens on the plane you didn't expect! :) I'm just crossing my fingers that it will be non-eventful.

I guess it's time to turn things around and look for the good and be patient, but just let December be over.. please.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

4 Months and Counting


I may not be able to write daily, but seeing that I write another blog on Jackie's picture site, I thought I would just post that same one here with a few updates. Here's one I just wrote:

Jackie turned 4 months old November 29. When I was taking a walk with her the other day on a beautiful (and oddly warm) afternoon, I realized that a year ago I was pregnant. We had just found out and hadn't even told anyone yet! And now, here we are with a beautiful baby girl, who is growing, learning and exploring every day!


She received her 4 month shots this past Monday and it went better than expected. It seems that she knows what "the doctors" is as when her ped was doing the basic exam Jax was screaming. She actually screamed more during the exam than when she got the shots! Her ped even said, "she seems to be very aware of her surroundings." I totally agree with that, as with anything new, it looks like she is studying it and making mental notes.

I told Joe this evening, that although she may not remember small details, I do think she is remembering basic concepts and making connections.. such as when she has met one of our friends a number of times and recognizes her, or with this doctor example, when she lays down and sees a mirror to her left, she knows she's somewhere where unpleasant things may happen (such as shots, or being cold). It's pretty cool to watch although it does pain me when she is so upset.

On that note.. following up with her weight conundrum, it seems as though she has gained weight steadily since November 11 when I took her in for her weight check. We have been supplementing (either with expressed milk or formula) and she went from the 16th %tile to 21st %tile in a matter of a couple of weeks. Her ped was happy and acknowledged me for the result.

I also found out the possible reason for her weight stabilizing.. sleeping thru the night. It didn't even occur to me as she was gaining weight by exclusively breastfeeding from month 1 to 2, but right after that was when she started sleeping thru the night fairly regular. It would have been great for the first nurse that I spoke to at her peds office to tell me that she may be missing a feeding in there if she's sleeping thru and to make sure she's getting X ounces of milk during the day, but no one told me this until I met with her doc at the 4 month appointment. I happened to mention that she was sleeping thru the night and she said "already?" I said that she had been for the past month and a half or so and she said that maybe that was the issue.. if she was nursing the same amount of time and not being more efficient in her feeding, she was not getting enough ounces. Duh.

I then did some other research with a couple books I use often, and found the sleeping thru the night issue associated with slow weight gain. Joe reminded me that I had stopped reading books and getting advice around that time as it was all conflicting! I just wish I had gone back to my trusted 2 books that I have used since the beginning.. it would have saved me a lot of worry, heartache and upset over the past couple months. These are the things I hope to pass along to other moms and friends with new babies. I'd hate for someone to go thru the same things I have if it can be avoided. As an aside, it seems that most kids will wake 1-2 times per night until about 9 months. So why is it that everyone asks you if your kid is sleeping thru the night starting at about 2 months old???? I just don't get it.

But in the end, Jackie is thriving and doing well. She's laughing up a storm, is more involved with her playgym and just recently started sucking her toes! She's also rolling from back to front more now, although I think she has forgotten how to roll from front to back as she was doing just the other day! I think once she is able to put both of them together, we'll see her sitting up in no time.

Last, we are traveling to MN for the Christmas holiday and I'm trying not to stress about that as well. Right now, we're just trying to get everything in place on our end and also make sure we have an entire nursery set up at my in-laws place! It's so generous of her and for Joe's cousin to allow us to borrow so much stuff. It will be just like home :)

In other news, we just got our first real Christmas tree today and in all honesty we got it because of Jackie :) First real tree and first true snow fall today. I do have to say it was beautiful.