Worn Out

On weekday mornings, I get up and take a shower and get ready.  Then, Gary takes a shower and gets ready while I get Penelope up, nurse her, and pump before the kids wake up.  While I pump, I lay Penelope on the floor on a blanket with some toys to play.  It looks like I’m not the only one tired from all of these recent middle of the night nursing sessions.  Here is a photo I took of Penelope this past Friday after I finished pumping:

She did sleep through the night last night, but the night before we got up twice.  Now I think she’s in the middle of a growth spurt – she nursed twice more today than she normally does on weekend days.  I guess that time will tell.  Penelope is as happy as she can be, though, which is the most important thing! 

Rainy Garage Cleaning Weekend

One thing that I've learned since having kids is that things don't get done the way they did before we had kids. Not that our house was ever completely organized or anything, but it was usually somewhat in order. And, all in all, I think we do a pretty good job of keeping things straightened up now, all things considered. But, we have a few dumping grounds. For instance, we dump things in our bedroom. Every 2 weeks we clean up the bedroom for the housekeeper to clean. I really can't imagine how horrible it would look if we didn't have to clean it at least that often.

Another dumping ground is the garage. We used to both park in the garage, now we have the minivan for the nanny in there, and strollers on the other side. Gary and I park in the driveway. Anyway, since we have a little more room in there, we seem to dump a ton of things in there. It has been getting a little out of control. So, Gary and I decided that I would assume total kid patrol this weekend while he cleans out the garage. Unfortunately it was really rainy today, but Gary didn't let that stop him. It's done! And Gary even fixed the garage door opener on the wall of the garage that hasn't worked in years. Gary still has to make a trip to donate some things, a trip to the storage building, and put some things in the attic, but the garage looks SO much better. I took some before photos to post, but honestly it was so embarrassing that I'm not sure I can bring myself to post them.

We also made some room for another deepfreeze. We bought a small one not long after the kids were born to store frozen breastmilk. However, we'd gone through what I have frozen by the time the kids were 4 months old, and then used the deepfreeze for the kids' baby food that I had made, and after that used it for normal frozen food, etc. Now I'm still freezing breastmilk, and I've filled up our little deepfreeze. So, we're going to buy a larger deepfreeze for the breastmilk and go back to using the smaller deepfreeze for food (and especially Penelope's baby food). After we are through with the breastmilk and baby food stage, we are somewhat considering buying a "half a cow" and using the deepfreeze for that. If not that, then I can use it to freeze meat that I buy on sale to try to save a little money (and to keep some meat on hand). Regardless, I'm sure the new deepfreeze will not go to waste.

As a note on yesterday's blog post, Mom read it and called me first thing this morning. She had several things to say: (1) she is really and truly shocked that now you can just go down to the county health department and pick up a birth certificate (years ago the only option was to obtain a copy from Montgomery using snail mail); (2) she absolutely would have freaked out on me if I had turned the kids loose with their own birth certificates in front of her; and (3) she would not have been sleeping at night had she known that I didn't already have the kids' birth certificates.

I've made it five days of daily blog posting! I do have some photos to share soon. . . .

Birth Certificates

My oldest kids are 2 years and 8 months old, and until today I didn't have a birth certificate for any of my kids. Apparently at some hospitals the paperwork is done so that the birth certificate is automatically mailed sometime after the baby is born. I guess that doesn't happen at my hospital. I did go home with paperwork telling me how to get the birth certificates, but I just never did. I had put it off for so long that I was actually worried that I may have missed the window to get the birth certificate.

When we were growing up, my mother treated our birth certificates like they might spontaneously combust at any minute. I don't remember ever being allowed to actually touch mine. I think she whispered "birth certificate" when she referred to them. And she was constantly inferring that really bad things would happen if we ever lost our birth certificates. I'm sure that my mom still has my birth certificate put up in some place very safe and that, most likely, no one but my mom has actually touched them.

So, you can imagine my surprise when I learned that you can just go down to the county health department and get a birth certificate. I assumed that this must be some inferior copy of a birth certificate and perhaps not something that was accepted for schools and other important things where birth certificates were required. So, I called down to the state vital records department and made a few inquiries. After cross-examining the lady on the phone and determining that one may indeed get as many original certified copies of a birth certificate as one wants to pay for, which are not copies or inferior, I finally just asked her why my mom always acted like it would be the end of the world if we lost ours. She laughed and said she didn't know but her mom was the same way.

So this afternoon I made the trip to the county health department to pick up the kids' birth certificates. To my surprise, I was in and out in about 15 minutes. It was overall a really pleasant experience.

I was a little surprised at the wave of emotions that rolled over me as I stood there holding my four kids' birth certificates. It felt official. It was as if I can really say now that I have four kids and that they are actually mine, because now I am a mom with birth certificates. I still haven't decided whether I will let them touch them or not, or if I'll brainwash them into thinking that very bad things, whatever those things may be, will happen if they lose their birth certificates. Or maybe I can wait until one day when my mom comes over and let the kids loose with their birth certificates, which would inevitably end up destroyed. That may be too much for my mom to handle, but it'd be pretty funny to watch.

Six Month Appointment

Penelope had her six month appointment this morning, at 6 months and 3 weeks. Here are her stats:

Weight: 16 pounds 12.5 ounces (just over the 50th percentile)
Length: 26.5 inches (75th percentile)
Head Circumference: 16.5 inches (25th percentile)

The pediatrician said that she is doing great. Her ear infection is finally gone and everything else checked out great. We do think that Penelope has allergies. She has been congested now for about a month (which leads to ear infections), and after being outside for a good bit this past Saturday she woke up with red, swollen eyes on Sunday. Rosemary used to do the same thing until we started her on Claritin. The pediatrician said that we can get Penelope started on some Claritin and see if that helps. We finished up the appointment with 4 shots, and although they really upset her when she got them, she was okay in no time.

You can tell that Penelope doesn't feel that great today after her appointment -- but part of that could very well be due to the fact that her other bottom tooth has finally made an appearance. She did sleep all night last night, so maybe now that the tooth has popped through she'll sleep well tonight, too. When we put her down tonight I heard a little singing and squealing, but it's been pretty quiet up there since then.

Bedtime

It seems like funny things usually happen at bedtime. For instance, last night, Piper demanded that Gary get her a clean blanket (which, by the way, is pronounced "kwee wookie"). It wasn't so much that she was demanding the clean blanket, it was how she was demanding the clean blanket. The armoire in their bedroom is full of blankets. Gary was standing at the armoire trying to figure out which blanket she wanted, and Piper was getting really frustrated with him. She was looking at him like he was being intentionally difficult, and was holding her hands up toward him and repeatedly demanding the "kwee wookie" just as if she was instead saying, "Just give me a clean blanket. That's it! Just a clean blanket." At one point Gary said, "I'm trying! I'm trying! Just give me a chance. Geez." It was hilarious. I'm afraid that Gary is going to have a lot of women telling him what to do.

The latest change in our bedroom routine is that the kids climb into their cribs by themselves. Yes, they can climb into their cribs. Why they haven't figured out that they could climb out of the cribs I don't know, but I'm not questioning it too much right now. I don't think that we're ready for big boy and girl beds just because I think the kids would spend a lot of time playing instead of sleeping, but I think we are getting close. Maybe in a few more months, around their third birthday.

I think Penelope is still working on her other tooth. She got up around 1:30 this morning, but thankfully went back down pretty easily. I think that she's working on that other bottom tooth. I guess we'll find out soon enough. Tomorrow is Penelope's 6-month appointment (3 weeks late due to the snow) and so I'll have some stats for tomorrow night's post!

Good night, blogworld.  Let's see if I can make it three nights in a row tomorrow. . . .

31 Project, Fruit, and a Tooth!

So I have a couple of friends (Cathy and Brian) who are doing a 365 project, which means that they take and post at least one photo per day for an entire year. I think it's awesome -- but I know that I'm not ready to make that sort of a commitment! Maybe another year. . . . Anyway. I was thinking earlier today about how something blogworthy seems to happen each day, but I rarely actually write the blog post -- and then the moment is lost and likely eventually forgotten. I've decided that for March I'm going to do a blog post each day. Most of them won't have photos, and more than likely most of them won't have a coherent subject. But I'm going to give it a shot. I'm calling this my 31 Project. So here's my first one:

On the topic of notable conversations, as soon as the kids finish their dinner, they start telling us, "I need cake!" If we tell them we don't have cake, they suggest, "Cookie?" Last night the kids ate their pot roast and veggies so well that we let them have dessert, which was Goldfish S'mores. If you don't already know, Goldfish S'mores are a combination of chocolate goldfish, graham cracker goldfish, and little marshmallow fish. The girls were holding up the marshmallow fish and saying, "Candy!!" Henry said, "No.  Fruit!" I guess that's one way to justify dessert.

As far as notable events, Penelope has had two ear infections in the last 3 weeks. For each ear infection, she woke up once or twice each night for a week or so. The only way to get her to go back to sleep is to nurse her back to sleep, which I've been doing. I'm pretty tired. I did get two nights off, then last night it started back up again. I was immediately worried that it was the ear infection bothering her when it should be getting better. But this morning I found the reason for last night's wakings -- A TOOTH! Penelope's bottom left tooth is poking through, and it looks like the right tooth is not far behind. Gary said that she's ready for her first steak now. Now I'm hoping for a good night's sleep for everyone tonight. . . .