I'm Working On It!

I know, I know ... it's been weeks since I last posted! And, yes, I'm talking more about Claire's blog than mine since hers is the one with pictures. I guess things have just been busy around here. My company's also being impacted by all the mess going on with the economy. When no one spends money, no one needs goods shipped. So there's that. We've had a couple of holiday parties, accidently missed a couple of parties (I swear, we've been busy), and been lucky enough to see some long-missed friends.

Then, Claire was sick a couple of weeks ago. When I took her into the doctor, he prescribed her breathing treatments which meant that we had to somehow get a fiesty 10 month old to sit still and breathe in Albuterol from a nebulizer three times a day. Needless to say, Claire got to watch a lot of TV that week. She's much better now and switched over to the liquid Albuterol.

*** I have a story here that I should probably insert, but I'll write about it another time. But you can ask me about it ... just use the keyword "nosebleed". [shudder] ***

As for Claire, she's growing more every day. She's babbling a ton, and I SWEAR that she said "duck" and used it correctly at least once. She knows commands like "up" - which is very useful when washing her hair! - and is taking baths is the grown-up tub now. She has fun activities like the blinking game where you can take turns blinking back and forth with her for minutes at a time. One of my favorite things is that she waves "Hi" and "Bye-bye" and will do it anytime she hears either even if on TV or from a toy!

I can see her imagination starting to blossom as I watch her playing by herself and talking to the objects around her. She likes to take two similar objects in each hand and knock them against each other, and one very useful interest right now is her liking to put things into containers ... helps with the picking up at night. :) She's starting to recognize the similarities between people. Not sure how to explain that, but an example is if I have something in my hair, she'll touch her own head to find an equivalent item. Or she'll touch my nose and then touch her own.

Her eating habits are crazy as usual. She somehow learned that when she's done or doesn't want something, she just tosses it over the side of her tray so that she no longer has to deal with it. This week, she's also decided that behind her ear is a good place for things she doesn't want (I have no idea why). Unfortunately, she's also become a pickier eater recently ... she knows what she likes, and she knows what she doesn't like. It has been fun, however, testing out her tastebuds with all sorts of foods. She's also pretty sure that she's going to feed herself instead of you feeding her most of the time, so we go through lots of bibs and usually head straight to the bathtub after a meal.

No, she's still not walking on her own yet, but I'm okay with that. I am in no need to have a show-off baby ... a happy, healthy one is good enough for me! Mostly she holds our fingers, furniture surfs, or pushes items around the room to get around. She definitely knows where she wants to go though, so there's no much question that she's the one driving you from place to place!

I figure there's no huge need to get Claire a lot of gifts for Christmas this year, but I am thinking about giving her some bags with tissue paper to open since she's enjoying that immensely right now. I'm hoping to institute a 2 gift rule for her ... one from us and one from Santa. We'll see how that goes.

James and I are staying in Dallas instead of going anywhere these next couple of weeks. I'm out of vacation days after using them up during my maternity leave, and we already went to Aspen this year for my parents' family vacation. My whole family is coming up over New Years and to celebrate my dad's birthday, so I'll get to see everyone then. I thought his parents would come up for Christmas since I'm sure they'll be busy once Baby James (George's baby) is due soon, but it looks like it's just us three for Christmas. We've decided that we're going to start a few Christmas traditions on our own, so it'll be hot pot, a holiday-themed movie, and gift opening on Christmas Eve, then a big country breakfast and Santa's gift on Christmas Day. Not a bad plan, if you ask me.

Okay, so there's the big update. And while I was typing this update, I was also working on sorting all the pictures and videos from this month, so look for those on Claire's site shortly!

Sleeping Problems Demystified

Well, apparently Claire's recent sleeping problems is supposed to happen. I had to google the heck out of "problems sleeping at nine months" and hundreds of variations to figure out what the heck is going on. The changes is sleeping patterns could be a couple of things (and I have a feeling we got a double-whammy): separation anxiety and pre-walking. Fabulous.

Separation anxiety happens after a child learns about object permanence (oh, you still exist even though I can't see you) and suddenly realizes that Mom and Dad are out there somewhere WITHOUT THE BABY! With Claire, oftentimes she's okay, but as soon as she realizes I've left the room, I'm stuck carrying her for the next hour or so after I come back in because she doesn't want to chance me leaving her again. It's weird though because she'll get distracted and then be fine if I'm not around she's fine until she sees me again and remembers that she was upset that I left. So there's that.

Then, apparently there's another milestone in which babies mess up their otherwise pretty good sleeping habits, and that's when they're getting ready to walk. What I've read says that they're so focused on putting together the new movement patterns they're learning that they're not able to turn off their excitement at night and will probably wake every 3 to 4 hours to practice (which usually includes standing in their cribs holding onto the side and wailing). Sums up Claire pretty well, except add "mamamamama babababababa mamamamama dadadadadada!!!!" to that wailing. Nothing like it, especially at 1 and 4 and 5 and 6 in the morning. So what's the timing of THAT being resolved? After she's taken her first steps per my research. Needless to say, I tried to get her to practice walking a lot this weekend after I read that ... but with the separation anxiety, it was hard to pry her off my hip long enough to even get her to try and stand!

This too shall pass. :) I know it sounds like I'm complaining, but I'm really not. I'm in awe and wonder of the amazing transformations and growth in my baby. I know what I'm going through just watching it all happen; for her, it must be overwhelming! A few sleepless nights and less personal time is worth it for a happy, healthy baby.

P.S. A random tidbit for you as long as we're talking about sleeping. I've reverted back to the early days of sleep deprivation where I'll semi-wake in the middle of the night to make sure the baby isn't in the bed with us. Seriously. This first happened the first month -- before Claire ever even got in our bed -- when I was so sleep-deprived, disoriented, and brain-dead that I woke just certain that I carried our newborn into bed with us. Well, apparently I'm doing it again where I'll wake up to make sure Claire's situated safely in the bed ... but she's not there. Weird, right? At least it's just a "is the baby okay?" and a gentle rustling rather than the crazy freak-out like it was that first time, and it's not coupled with a James-sized freak-out to match and intensify the moment anymore, either! :D I've also figured out that I don't remotely do this at all when I'm actually IN the bed with her. Maybe the baby monitor is too close to my ear or something to where I can hear her too well. I dunno. I'm sure James thinks I'm a total weirdo, but I know he's also getting used to it and handles the situation to get me coherent pretty quickly. Oh, and I also don't really remember it in the morning (it just blends in with my other dreams), but James is quick to remind me each and every morning what a looney I am. Thanks, honey.

P.P.S. For those of you offering to help watch the baby so that I can sleep, it's not all her; it's me, too. During the crazy work hours weeks, I was pushing myself too hard. Plus, apparently my body hasn't forgetten my old habits of wanting to stay up late, yet it somehow learned to auto-wake too early. So I appreciate your offers, but I'm okay. Feel free to come over and help Claire practice walking, though. ;)

Miss Independent

It's crazy how every day it seems like Claire does something new and grows up a little more right before my eyes. In an effort to assert herself, she has recently decided that she is tired of taking bottles and us feeding her; she prefers to feed herself and usually prefers whatever we're eating on the table instead of jar food (can't blame her, really). She also babbles to herself when she's eating; I think she picked that up from watching her dad and I. Luckily, we passed that 9-month milestone with the whole wheat thing, so the world is wide open for her except for the main allergens: shellfish, egg whites, milk, and nuts. I'm also grateful that she's not a picky eater and seems to love all new foods. I hope she keeps that up!

You can just tell no good will come of this

Oddly enough, the school still reports that she eats her food and drinks her bottles (she's finally up to 8oz), so it's just at home that she thinks she's Miss Independent. I'm considering having the school also feed her from their menu (save some money!), but I'm not convinced yet ... it seems like their fare is so sugary and full of sodium and nitrates. Not exactly what I want to be feeding my babydoll quite yet. At least the jar foods are organic and not full of preservatives even if I'm not Martha Stewart enough to make it myself.

She's so proud of herself, you can't help but laugh

Claire's also crawling like a madwoman and pulling up on everything. She'll actually stand on her own for a second or two when she forgets to hold on to something, but so far it's purely accidental. One of the most fun things is that she now dances whenever she hears music. Sometimes it's a little sway from side to side, sometimes we get a head bop, and other times it's an all out full-body wiggle-wiggle. She's waving bye-bye to things and people, and she shakes her head no when she doesn't want something. She's slowly learning the nod as well, and I'm trying to teach her gongxi-gongxi (hands together thanking).

Probably foraging for more food. She likes to harvest her dropped food after the meal.

The last few days, her sleeping has seemed to gone awry. Even as I type right now, I'm listening to her cry it out yet again. :( Not sure what's up, but the girl has been waking at 12:30am (but sometimes puts herself back down) and then again about 4:30am. The 4:30 is the killer because that's when she stands up in the crib, holds onto the side, and just bawls until you get her ... which she then proceeds to want to play (which I do NOT indulge or at least make her do it by herself in the dark) for an hour or two before falling back asleep (usually with me on the couch or in a bed). The last two days, the falling back asleep was until 8 or 9 in the morning! Luckily it was flexible enough at James' work this week that he could wait until she woke, but I have a feeling we need to get her back on track pretty soon. I blame it on teething (I try to blame everything on teething .. hehe).

The roll is almost bigger than her head!

James and I are staying in Dallas this year for Thanksgiving, and all of our families are staying in their respective cities as well. We just happened to all see each other during November somehow, so I guess the urgency isn't strotng enough to deal with the traffic. My parents plan on coming to Dallas over New Year's before they head to Taiwan for Chinese New Year, and we'll see his family in a few weeks in Austin when George's baby is born. Instead, James and I are hosting an "Orphans' Thanksgiving" for all the folks who can't be with their families this holiday weekend. Food, drinks, and football ... sounds like a great combination!

Just a slight drinking problem

Surfacing for Air

It's been a little insane lately, mostly with work. Between SOX testing, yearly audits, 3rd Party pressures, CSI, and the economy (and the inevitable organizational impacts), I've been totally swamped. It wasn't until today though that I realized it was a little out of control and it's time to take my life back.

For the last month or so, I've been working my normal 8.5 hours during the day, coming home to have dinner, play a little while, put Claire down, and then would hop back online for another 3 hours to get more done. Wash, rinse, repeat. Hence why I haven't been able to post on her blog. I used to do updates in the evenings while watching TV or relaxing, but that time no longer existed. Other things that went away was time to check everyone else's blogs, time with friends, time with James, and time for myself.

This week, though, I realized that I can't continue like that much longer. It hit me while I was on a business trip, away from home, and missing family. Even when I had the chance to go to bed early, sleep without interruption, and do whatever I wanted without having to worry about others, I found myself working long hours, staying up to deal with work, and getting up early to do even more. Not a good way of balancing my life!

It was even worse that James got sick early in the week while watching Claire. Luckily his parents were able to drive into town to help out, but it just killed me knowing that there was so much sacrifice going on just to bring in my paycheck. >:(

So, today, I took my life back ... or at least one sliver. I sorted through pictures, posted on Claire's blog, and didn't check my work email all the while. Woo-hoo for me!

Diaper Rash

I'll bet you thought I was going to write about Halloween and how incredibly cute Claire was (and I will ... and she was), but I first need to document Claire's first diaper rash.

It's awful. :( On Wednesday when she got home, I noticed that she made a poop so I went to change her. Her bum and surrounding area was all red, splotchy, and sensitive (based on her whimpers as I tried to change her). Heartbreaking!

I'm not sure what caused it (well, my guess is it's the runny poop ... which my guess is caused by the ill decision on our part to give her plums and oatmeal after a couple of days of pellety poop), so I'm not changing anything about her diet -- except no more plums. I also put the jar of spinach way back in the pantry so that we don't accidently pull that one out.

We've been slathering diaper cream all over the area after every changing - Desitin, Boudreaux's Butt Paste, and even Dr. Smith's (the stuff that they keep behind the pharmacist's counter for some reason -- does that make it truly OVER the counter?) - and have been trying to give her nekkid butt time. No accidents until today when she decided to straddle my foot and give it a nice wash. You can tell I've quite evolved as I just let her finish, as to not startle her, and get James to come clean it up. Having learned from that event, I decided to faux-cloth diaper her, though that may slow the flow, however it doesn't stop it altogether. I think I'm missing something in the cloth diapering step-by-step process.

It's getting better; it's just awful to experience. People at work are amazed that she's made it to 9 months without a rash until now. I would have been happy to make it 9 (or 19 or 9 million) more!

The fun stuff (ie Halloween with LOTS of pictures) will be posted on Claire's site shortly.

OBX Trip Report Card

Claire's grades for the trip:

• DFW to ORF/OBX trip: A-


• Sleeping at Corolla Beachhouse: C-


• Behavior: A (not counting the weird separation anxiety moments)


• Eating: A- (she really is a good eater even though it pains me how much formula we throw away)


• Sleeping at Nags Head Beachhouse: B (if you don't count the throw-up incident)


• ORF to DFW flight: C


• Cuteness: A+!

We had a fabulous time in North Carolina. It was wonderful to see all of the Pee family which we just don't do often enough, and going to bless a wedding between two awesome people made it even that much more special. Daphne's such an incredible person with a huge heart, strong convictions, and palpable loyalty ... oh, and killer calves ... hehe. She's totally someone I would want to be friends with even if I weren't related to her by marriage. And for her to find someone like Drew-(Pee) who is unmatchable in wit and random trivia and oozes love and affection for his new bride, I know there are many years of happiness and laughter ahead.

I may have said this before, but it's interesting that - since I've had Claire - when I see weddings, I think less of myself and more of what it will be to see my little girl all growed up and getting married off to someone else. Weird, right? So when I see a Daddy/Daughter dance, I may recollect my own with my Daddy, but tears will spring when I think about James dancing with Claire like that one day. Cheesey.

A special "Yay!" for people who do destination weddings (and invite us to attend!). Besides my own, we've gone to Syndee/Danny's (cruise/Mexico), Tim/Tenny's (California), Nina/Giang's (Costa Rica), and now Daphne/Drew's (Outer Banks) destination weddings together, and what I've discovered is that the weddings are even more enjoyable because you're relaxed on vacation and not worried about having to hurry back to anything immediately. It's just you, them, and tons of new memories. So, big time hint to you folks who have yet to tie the knot ... hint, hint, hint!

And I leave you with a little something that I provided to Daphne for her wedding. She had solicited words of wisdom from her guests on "what is love" and "what is marriage" to share during the ceremony. While mine may not be wisdom, per se, they're at least words (and some were even used!):

"Love is..." –

• undeniable


• taking each day to discover what more you can give rather than what else you can get … and being happy to do it


• willingly changing your last name to “Pee” because you want to share everything with the one you love :)


• a fire that must constantly be fed by supporting words, frequent hugs and kisses, and memories created together

"Marriage is..." –

• a commitment to actively show one another how much you love each other


• a union with your favorite travel companion, heat pump on cold nights, dinner date, partner in crime, and best friend


• entering the toughest and darkest of times arm-in-arm and emerging possibly charred, scarred, battered, and broken but clasping tightly hand-in-hand


• how you get your parents to stop worrying that you’re living in sin with a boy!

Snotty-nosed Mom!

It's official. Claire's cooties are way stronger than my antibodies. Whatever she had on Friday - that I'm glad I had her stay home for - decided to latch on to me. On Saturday, my throat hurt, I had a low-grade fever, and I was just generally miserable. Yesterday, I had the body aches, hot flashes, shivers, couldn't sleep, swollen glands, the works! I even felt like I was suffocating when I was lying down because my throat was so constricted.

On Sunday, since Claire sounded so badly and we weren't sure whether to take her to daycare (worried about contagious-ness; see? look how considerate we are!), we decided to take her to the Acute Kids Urgent Care -- after the Cowboys game, of course. The doctor put her on another round of antibiotics, the same as last time but stronger. Something about a wider spectrum. When the doctor asked whether there was anything else I wanted, I asked if he could take a look at my throat. He took a peek and said, "yours looks more red than Claire's! You should see a doctor."

So I did. And I have strep throat. Blech. I asked the doctor when I would be better, and he said that I should be better within the next couple of days. When I asked about the contagious-ness, he said that it's 24-hours (but I forgot to ask from when!?). Of course, I also asked about whether I was going to get Claire and James sick. He asked what antibiotics Claire was taking, I told him, and he said that it was actually the same one he just prescribed me, so she should be fine. I told him that James will probably be in tomorrow, and that was that!

I'm probably headed back to work tomorrow; too much to do. I haven't had a fever since about noon, so I think I should be okay to go to work ... I'll just try not to breathe on anyone.

Kind of funny ... my baby and I are taking the same meds. Unfortunately, I ended up with the horse pill; why couldn't I get the yummy liquid stuff?! Man, those baby germs.