Success, Sickness, and Other Thoughs...

I am happy to say that we have broke Olivia's swaddling requirement for sleep! We started the process last week Thursday night because I knew I didn't have to go to work again until the following Wednesday. This would then give me lots of time to sleep during the day to make up for the lack of sleep at night. The first few nights were definitely difficult. Up every 2 hours and such but she slowly began to sleep longer and longer...We are now back to our normal sleep schedule before we took the swaddle away. Yeah!!! She was starting to outgrow the swaddle since she started eating so much and I really didn't want to buy the next size up.

Olivia had her first non-well child visit to the doctor yesterday. She has had a runny nose for the past week and then Monday she started this really icky cough. Imagine barking cough with gasps for air in between coughs. Turns out she has croup. She is handling it very well and honestly she doesn't have a terrible case. It seems to actually be getting better already. Last night she slept with the humidifier on and I only heard her wake up coughing twice. Today she coughed a little in the morning but I haven't heard anything since. The doctor was funny though because she said she is only contagious when she coughs so she would be OK to go to daycare. What??? How do you figure...there are kids there??? Do you expect me to tape her mouth shut so she doesn't cough??? So regardless of the doctor's advice we have stayed home from work this week. We'll see how tonight goes and maybe we'll try going in tomorrow. That's still up in the air though because I don't want any other child to get sick and I want to make sure she is completely better (especially since I have to go to work on Monday to do a new employee orientation for them).

On a Jessica note....I find myself getting very frustrated lately. What's frustrating is that I am making myself this way for no good reason! There is irony. Essentially my problem is that I want to do so much! I want to be the crafty girl who is getting those pictures painted for her daughter's room, getting that massive pile of mending done, starting and finishing my sewing projects, putting on a garage sale, going blueberry/strawberry picking, going for daily walks, taking my daughter to neat places like the zoo, reading books, visiting with people, home improvement projects started/finished. But as the days go on I am realizing that not all of of this stuff is getting done. I am staying on top of the everyday stuff like laundry and dishes. Olivia and I have fun everyday but there is just part of me that wants more out of the day. Things like cost of fuel, distance to everything, and honestly lack of motivation some days are some of these things that are preventing me from getting everything accomplished. I know that I am doing a good job at what I am getting done. I think that it is just part of who I am; always wanting to do more. I think that is why I always got frustrated at nearly every place I have worked. I would start out with just a few responsibilities but then I would see things that could be done so I would do them resulting in me being given more responsibilities. I guess it isn't always a bad thing but sometimes I would really like to be okay with being lazy (just for a while)!

Seriously!

Today started out a typical day, nothing out of the ordinary. During Olivia's 2nd nap I also laid down to catch some zzz's only to be woken up to an odd noise a mere 15 minutes later. Was is raining out? If so, it was pouring! No...I don't think it is raining, but what is that noise? Crap....it better not be....I ran down stairs only to have my worst fears confirmed. The washing machine was draining onto the floor instead of into the drain. I quickly walked through the 2+inches of water to turn off the washing machine (which was my last load of 7). Now what?? My mind raced with what I should do. I stopped the dryer and pulled out the towels that I had just washed and started throwing them all over the place while quickly realizing that even if I had another 50 towels there wouldn't be enough for all the water that was quickly soaking into the hallway carpet! :( I called Greg just so he could get me to think straight. I went to the garage to quickly convert the shop vac into a wet vac (which took some time because we had just used it last weekend to vacuum up the garage so it was full of nastiness!) I finally got it down stairs and started sucking. Things were going well, considering. I called my mother in law and asked her to come over with her floor cleaner to suck up the water from the carpet. Oh wait....what's that I hear? Oh it's Olivia she is up from her nap...oh and she is poopy and wanting to be fed. Ughh...Ok, mom in law shows up and we tag team the mess only to be stopped short because her vacuum's motor died only 10 minutes into the process, leaving a nice black mess on the carpet. Seriously...can things get better?? So I went to the local True Value....their rental is out and they have none I can buy...they suggest the local grocery store. Yeah....success! So the majority of the mess is now cleaned up. I am currently taking a break and will resume when Greg gets home. I told Greg this morning that I wasn't feeling very motivated. I guess God decided to give me a kick in the butt to get going! :)

But I have to give a big thank you to my mother in law for all the help she gave between letting her vacuum die and watching Olivia while I sucked up more water. Her help was VERY appreciated. I don't know how I would have handled the situation without her help. Also a thank you to Greg for helping me start to think straight again. Hopefully no more situations will arise and we can all enjoy the weekend that is upon us!

The Return of Sleep....

We have finally discovered the secret to sleeping the whole night through....food! We started feeding Olivia rice cereal about two weeks ago or so and quickly changed to Oatmeal. She LOVES her oatmeal, especially if it is thick! To give you an idea the doctor said to do 1-2 Tbs with 4-5 Oz of breast milk. Olivia, however, prefers 4 Tbs with 2 Oz of breast milk. Honestly, if I made her 8 Tbs she would love it even more. She eats so quickly and excitedly! It is quite entertaining to watch. Well, after introducing these foods to her diet it really didn't seem to effect her sleeping abilities as she was still just going 3-4 hours throughout the night between feedings. However, sleeping patterns changed with the introduction of veggies. Now her last meal before bed consists of 4 Tbs of Oatmeal, 1/2 a Veggie, and 15-30 minutes of nursing. She is a little piggy but it has resulted in 6 1/2 to 8 1/2 hours of straight sleep. Ahhh...sleep! :)


Of course after these "not so clean" first attempts at new food comes bath time. Her time in the water is her other love, food being the first! Her hair is finally getting long enough to start taking the lovely Mohawk pictures!

Protecting Her Blues

Loving It!

I have been at the 2-day a week work schedule for a few weeks now and I absolutely love it! It is so nice to be able to hang out with Olivia and see her change and develop her personality. On Mother's Day her gift to me was that she began to blow raspberries. She is so funny when she does it but she does make a huge mess of any outfit as she pushes out a lot of spit in the process. She is such an amazing gift and I thank God all the time for blessing Greg and I with her. Speaking of Greg....I couldn't ask for a better hubby! I love him so much and he does such a great job providing for us, loving us, and being there for us. This week has been pretty stressful as we are going through the process of buying a car, closing on our refinanced mortgage, and meeting with a company for windows (which for anyone who is wondering....they are VERY expensive!) Lots of things that involve lots of money. Ultimately we are spending money to save money but it's the having to spend the money that hurts right now. With me only working part time it is easy to get caught up in the stress of all this but God is watching out for us and I know that in the end it will all work out. Greg you have been great and thanks for all your patience and devotion! And on a cute note here is a picture of Olivia's first attempt at rice cereal!