another milestone

Rose's first taste of (Great) Gramma's Hot Dish!

She also got tooth #7 in, and is teething hardcore again. But none of that is as important in my extended family as the introduction of hot dish. :)

42 weeks

Rose is feeling MUCH better now than she was last weekend -  no more vomiting and she finally got her appetite back on Friday. Unfortunately she started running a low-grade fever again today, but I'm hopeful that it's just another cold and it won't morph into anything more serious. (This has been a terrible winter of one sickness after another!)

The only fiend that's still be hanging around for the past few weeks, despite Rose's generally improved health, is a return of poor sleep! We figured it was pretty normal that she had poor sleep when she simultaneously had the flu and ear infection, but then we must have segued right into the nine-month sleep regression. Ugh! Luckily she's now back to "only" waking about once per night, but Mike and I are both looking forward to having uninterrupted sleep again one day. It's been a long time.

In addition to a return of poor sleep, we've also been dealing with some MAJOR separation anxiety.  Rose is so attached to me at this point that she will scream bloody murder if I leave the room, even if she had been happily playing with her Daddy only moments earlier. Furthermore, she would prefer to be held by Mommy at all times, and if that's not possible she I had better be within arm's reach of me. This morning I made the mistake of setting her down for TWO SECONDS in order to take her weekly picture.

I know this is just a phase that she's going through, but it's been pretty tough . Of course there's part of me that's reveling in the proof that she actually does love me (yes, I still do feel insecure about that sometimes), but a larger part of me is exhausted from either carrying a 20-pound weight with me wherever I go, or carrying the equivalent poundage of guilt.

Surprisingly, I didn't actually feel that guilty when we hired a babysitter last night! One of the teachers at Rose's school had offered a few months ago to babysit, and we figured we should test it out. We tried to hire her back in early January, but we all got sick so we had to cancel at the last minute. Finally we got to try it out for real yesterday. Rose had only had family or friends watch her before, so this was a big deal for all of us. And we all had a great time! Rose and Miss Sammy played and had lots of fun, while Mike and I (and Trula Anne) went to Carleton's annual alumni trivia contest! At $10/hr we definitely will be thinking hard before we ever hire a babysitter again (most expensive Buffalo Wild Wings night EVER!), but it's good to know that Miss Sammy is a great option if we ever need her.

"I'm in  my carseat!"

The other news of the house is that Rose suddenly morphed into a tummy sleeper! Every morning for the past week or so she's been on her tummy when we go in to to get her. It's pretty funny since she hated tummy time for so long, but now she seems to love sleeping this way. I think it's because she can get into crawling position so much more easily this way, and she is loving to crawl!

Finally, we got some more snow today. We don't have a sled so we pulled her around in a laundry basket instead. She was a little weirded out by it, but I got a few smiles out of her.

Little Miss, however, was not impressed by the snowman I tried to build for her.

"Get me outta here!"

With that, I'm off to bed. Have a great week, everyone!

Alma mater

I'm back on campus at my alma mater this afternoon, providing mentorship for current students considering a career path in psychology. I did this once before a couple years ago, but today it seems particularly weird for a couple reasons. First, I have been feeling old ever since I realized that I was in their shoes fifteen years ago. 15! Second, I miss my college friends. It's still sad for me to be on campus and not to be able to stop by to visit Anna in Burton our Jane squatting in a townhouse or Rachel at our apartment or Mitra in the library etc. (At least I can go home to Mike tonight and not have to visit him in Mudd!) Third, I had a mini panic attack when I thought about paying for college for Rose. And I am almost closer to the start of her college career than I am to the start of my own. Yep, I'm old.

Addendum:
(Oops, I published this before I was finished writing! That's what I get for typing on my phone.) I also meant to add that, despite the drawbacks of feeling old, I'm also so much more content now. Even though I miss my college friends, I wouldn't want to actually go back to those days. I'm so happy with Rose, with Mike, with my job, with my house, with Lucy and Mac, and with my own (relatively greater) self-confidence. Yay for growing up after all!

the cats

Any guesses where our main heater vent is located?

Lucy made the mistake of jumping into my lap last night while I was already holding Rose. Rose, as you can see, was thrilled - she loves sucking on the ears of her stuffed animal toys, and here were some real live ears! Lucy will probably never make that mistake again.

Happy Friday, everyone!

random updates

1. Mike took Rose to the MD this morning and she has an upper respiratory infection (viral) and the stomach flu (also viral), so we just need to treat with rest, fluids, and probiotics (as we've been doing). Thankfully no pneumonia, bronchitis, intestinal blockage, etc. Mike said she was happy to get back to school, so hopefully she's on the mend! :)

2. We're getting a new hot water heater and a water softener on wednesday. I'm so excited! I'm sick of taking lukewarm showers, and I'm especially excited to take a bath for the first time since before I was pregnant. Bye bye to tepid water!

3. Back when I started pumping I bought an extra set of pump parts, plus an additional package of six extra "membranes" since I heard they were prone to breakage. Well, I never ripped one of the tiny white discs, but I accidentally ended up dropping plenty of them down the garbage disposal! Yesterday I had to pull out the last of my extra membranes - I refuse to buy any more, so if I lose/break any more it will be a sign that it's time to stop nursing. Along those lines (TMI alert!) now that I'm down to nursing "only" twice per day (this weekend we decided that I could ditch the 4pm nursing), I'm wearing a real bra today for the first time since mid-pregnancy! What a treat!

Have a great day, everyone!

41 weeks

Well, Rose has been struck by a new sort of illness. We've already gotten through numerous colds, influenza, ear infections, and occasional vomiting/diarrhea . . . now we have a terrible cough and recurrent vomiting. Yuck! Yesterday (Saturday) morning we woke to nuggets of undigested food strewn around Rose's bed, with Little Miss herself adorned in dried on chunks and a strong scent of "eau de vomitus." Ew. After an impromptu bath, Mike fed her a bottle of freshly pumped milk and she promptly puked again. Double ew. But after another bath, she quickly morphed into her happy-go-lucky self again, so we thought it was just an upset tummy and she was already recovered. Rose and I went to the MOA to walk with my friend Dotty and her kids, as we do every other Saturday, and I very nervously fed her another bottle of milk at the end. It stayed down! So of course I thought she was fine. She ate some cheerios for lunch when we got home, then we took off for Mike's mom's house for dinner. At first she still seemed fine, albeit with an ongoing cough and running nose, but as the afternoon progressed she became more grumpy. She even fell asleep on Mike's chest right before dinner, which is something she hasn't done for quite a few months.

After eating in shifts, we headed out so we could try to stick with Rose's usual night-time routine. After saying our goodbyes, just as I was about to buckle her into the car, she vomited all over me. Triple ew. We cleaned her (and me) up as best we could, then headed out again. After her third bath of the day, she was in bed only a little later than usual. We prayed she would sleep through the night and not vomit any more.

She slept straight through the night and we were relieved not to find any evidence of overnight vomit. But as she was enjoying her morning milk, she puked all over me once again. Quadruple ew. We got her (and me) cleaned up yet again, gave her a little time to let her stomach settle, and then she took a bottle of milk with no problems.

Clearly vomiting 4 times in 24-36 hours is not normal, but we still can't figure out what's causing it. There seems to be no pattern between time of day, food vs. no food, fresh milk vs. frozen milk, etc.. We've been giving her ibuprofen for a slight fever since last night, and needless to say we're calling the doctor first thing tomorrow morning (and will call sooner if she develops more emergent symptoms).

She's on her third nap of the day already (so not like her!) - the first two were on me, and now she's in her stroller. Poor Rose!

I managed to put her "weekly onesie" on under her sleeper this morning, but I didn't want to disturb her too much given how sick she's been. So here are her weekly photos - the best we could do under the circumstances!

(Please ignore the atrocious tilt in this photo!)

"So big!"

"Forget the tripod crawl - I can go full speed now!"

"Up?"

"Where's Daddy?"

"I've almost got him in my reach..."

In other news, a week or so ago we gave Rose her first Oreo.

"More, please!"

I'll keep you posted about what the doctor says tomorrow. We're sticking with bland foods and lots of naps today, so hopefully she'll be on the mend soon.

Enjoy the Superbowl, everyone!

Night on the town

Rose had her hair styled at school today, so we treated her to a night on the town! (my burger + yogurt lab = yum!)