Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Not Me Monday is back!!

I haven't really been into posting a great deal lately for some reason. I thought that I would get back into by doing a Not Me Monday post.

I certainly did not let my daughter have a cupcake before dinner tonight, no not me. I am the queen of healthy food and would never let her have a cupcake.

I definately didn't spend the time that I could be napping yesterday on Mother's day doing school work, no not me.

I most certainly didn't stop my husband from taking Celia out to eat so that I could sleep a little longer yesterday because I kept thinking about all the things that he would need and finally just ask him to do it on another day, no not me (he certainly didn't wake me up to tell me that he was taking her out instead of letting me sleep and just leaving a note).

I am certainly not counting down each day until I am done with school for the year. I am certainly not extremly bummed out about my possible transfer for the 2nd year in a row.

My husband definately didn't clean 2 bathrooms top to bottom for Mother's Day, therefore proving to me that he is very good at cleaning bathrooms. No he would never do that!

I hate coupons and prayers still needed

The blogging world is still praying for baby Stellan. He is still in SVT and holding his own but right now they are likely going to have to go in a different direction of treating him. He has had some tricky moments and he is still very critical.

The coupons: I absolutely hate coupons, if you can get something cheap, then why not put them on sale. I know, too easy, too easy. It all has to be a stupid game. Actualy, it is a game to me to try to get our grocery bill as low as we can go. Pete doesn't quite understand it but he tries. He doesn't understand when I say, I am trying to get our grocery bill to x amount this week. He reasonably questions why, because the truth is- we can afford more. Right now I would like to get our grocery bill down to less then $300 a month. I have been doing that however we have had a pretty good supply in our freezer. Actualy, I am purging of things in our freezer. Stocking up is great, I did that when our local Acme closed. They had frozen veggies at a deep discount and so I stocked up. I then found myself still buying more that were on sale when I questioned why on earth I was doing that, we have to eat the veggies in the freezer. So we are eating our way through the frozen veggies. When we are out, then I will restock.

Here was my thoughts on restocking, I will start early and search for coupons. So I started searching online. A few sites make you download their coupon reader/software, others make you sign up for them to send them you emails, others you have to register. Just give me the stinkin coupon and call it a day. I hate them.

I do meal plan 2 to 3 weeks in advance which really helps our budget. Pete doesn't fully understand that either. I think he wants things to be a little bit more spontaneous but that doesn't work for budgeting. I do freeze alot that I make which really helps with the budget and time. I love looking at my freezer and realizing that I had forgotten I made that, etc. Right now I need to get out my ground turkey recipes as I have a ton in the freezer. I couldn't pass up the 1 1b packages for 1.99 with 30% off when the Acme was closing.

Celia Update- My poor little girl is sick, yet again. This is what daycare does, I know. She doesn't seem to be able to kick ear infections lately. She started getting them in January. The pediatrician told me that he really only thinks she has had two. She got one with RSV in January, 2 days after stopping the antibiotic she had a fever and I took her back to the doctor. Her ears were infected. The doctor thought that the antibiotic never really worked because it was so close. The same thing happened this month. At her 18 month check up her ears were found to be infected and now her left ear is infected again. The doctor doesn't think that it was ever cleared up. So she just has stubborn ear infections. So we have April, May, and June to get through. Please prayer for no more ear infections. Oh and we think she has the stomach bug. After her doctor's appointment yesterday I took her to daycare and before I left she started to throw up! So I took her home and she started with diarrhea in the evening. Prior to the diarrhea she showed no signs of being sick. Her antibiotic has that as the number one side effect for children under age 2 because the antibiotic is not intended for children under age 2... But that is what was prescribed. In anycase though her appetite is decreased and she doesn't have quite as much energy so who knows... Antibiotic or stomach flu (it is going around her daycare).

The good news about daycare- she is less likely to get leukemia and asthma. Of course this question the positive effects of breastfeeding, does it really protect them so much?? Granted she really hasn't gotten all of the colds that have been spread around, but still. You would think that since she is the only one in the room who is still nursing, actualy that I think was breastfeed, she would be the most healthy.

On the bright side she is talking more then ever, even phrases. She has perfected mine, I am not appreciating that word at all.

Savoring Celia and Fears of Ahead

I know I had snow pictures before but I had to add this, I think this is a sweet picture of Miss. Celia. She has had a somewhat rough week, at least the evenings have been rough. It has had to do with naps missed or naps cut short, teething, and a diaper rash. However in between of the moody blues she has been really funning and talking even more. I look so forward to seeing her after work. Once my students leave, I can't wait to get to daycare and give her a hug. For the first time, she is very excited see me. She was always happy to see me but now she runs to me and gives me a big hug! Of course then the fit starts when I try to put her coat on. She wants to do it herself. She gets mad when she finds out she just can't do it herself- but she tries. Celia hasn't bonded yet with the new afternoon teachers/staff that in her room. Her teacher Miss. Jen leaves at 3, or it might be 2:30. In anycase someone different comes in. The regular afternoon girl started Student teaching in January, Celia really loved her. I think that she is actualy missing her and doesn't know how to express it.

We had an interesting day on Wednesday when I discovered that Celia's daycare was closed due to snow. The roads were fine but they follow the area shool district and they closed late. So there I was stuck, needing to go into work and no where for Celia to go. My great neighbor Maria volunteered to watch her. So I took a 1/4 day and Celia spent the afternoon with Maria and her daughter Amber. She didn't get an afternoon nap however she did sleep a bit longer then normal for her morning nap (of course she doesn't get morning naps at daycare).

Celia is saying short phrases now like "Where'd it go?", "Don't touch", "G'bye ____", "Good Girl", etc. It is really neat. I still have tough afternoons with her because she wants to be permanently attached to me and I have things that I need to do. Everyone says, savor it because she won't want to be held pretty soon. They told me that when she was 6 months old, they told me that once she starts walking she would not want to be held... Yeah right.

So what are the fears ahead??? The same that is what everyone is worrying about the stupid economy. It is scary. Pete and I are blessed, we both have jobs. At this point it is making me want to work longer then I thought I would. At least I have the summers with Celia. But I am trying to cut costs, especialy grocery costs. It is tough. I really don't believe the people out there who claim that with proper coupons, etc. that you can cut your grocery costs in 1/2 or more. It doesn't happen for me. One thing I am going to try is to unplug more things around the house. There are alot of things plugged in that we don't use on a regular basis. Of course it is hard when you aren't on the same page as your spouse! I understand it too, it isn't as important to Pete and there is no way to force someone to care about the same things as you. I wanted to try making my own laundry soap. I know some Moms who do and have great success. Pete threw a fit! It would be a cost of about 3 cents a load, that is quite a deal.

Poor, Poor, Celia

Dear Stupid Virus,

You are no longer welcome to stay in my body. Please leave your key in my mouth and make the bed before you leave. I want no traces of you left in my body. I see that you are thinking about leaving because my fever is down. It is about time, 6 days with a temp over 101 was not fun. You suck. You really do. So now that I am down to 100 degrees (Mommy is writing to correct this, you stupid bug, my temp is back up to 102), I should feel better, at least I thought I should. But no, you are still beating me up. Why? What did I ever do to you?? I want to be able to eat, it has been almost a week since I last ate anything more then a few bites of food. Thank goodness I am still nursing. So leave, you are not welcome back- EVER. Pick on someone bigger, someone not in my family, someone that I hate (okay, pick on someone that Mommy doesn't like, I like everyone except you), pick on them. Go on, go on. Leave! I want to feel like doing more then sleeping or just sitting and staring. I want to play. Do you know how many cool toys I have now??? You can't play with them though, don't you dare touch a single one- because you suck. Your mean and you drain me completely. So fairwell, leave quickly, by this afternoon.

One pissed of 16 month old,
Celia


That was a letter from Celia. She has been so sick and we have all been very worried about her. She started getting sick last Saturday, ran a fever on Monday and was just miserable. I took her to the Dr. on Wed and they put her on an antibiotic for a slight ear infection secondary to a virus that could be RSV (It doesn't look like that is what she has, they don't know what she has). The Dr. was clear that the antibiotic would do nothing to make her feel better, that it was a virus. But I expected improvement. My wonderful Father in law watched Celia Thursday and Friday and despite the attention from Grandpa, she was worse each day. Thursday evening her temp was 103. 5 (okay, not extremly high for a baby but that was her 5th day of this!). We brought her back to the pediatrician yesterday and it was our regular pediatrician, Dr. Meyer. We think he is the greatest, we were not as impressed with the one we saw on Wed. But that just might be a personality thing, I am sure he is a good doctor. In anycase Dr. Meyer's plan was that if her temp isn't down by Sunday then we will likely have to do an ER visit. He thought that it would just be 1 or 2 days more of what ever this thing is and she would start getting better. Celia had me worried, especialy when I checked her temp when we got home from the pediatrician and it was close to 104.. So last night was rough for Celia, coughing with gagging, just miserable. Her fever went way up around 10:30 and I was thinking that I really didn't want to put her through an ER visit on Sunday. Well she woke up again around 1:30 and I wanted to do a dance when I picked her up and noticed that for once she wasn't on fire. This morning the highest reading I got for her temp was 100.2. So send good thoughts her way that it won't go up this evening as it has been. She needs a break. Updated because it has gone up, hoping tylenol will bring it back down. She is miserable.
The picture above is what she does if she is put down, she might walk for a few seconds but then she just prefers to curl up on the floor. This is more concerning then her fever, she doesn't really want to play, just sleep and cuddle.

Poor Celia..

Oh and poor Pete is having a sinus attack, so send good thoughts for him. He doesn't handle feeling bad very well. Changes in the weather always do this to him and we certainly have a change with our frigid temps.

A Year in Review

January

We celebrated Granny's birthday and you started sitting in your big girl booster chair. We started cloth diapering this month, yeah!! No more red bum for little Celia!

February

We went to visit Emmett and Katie for their birthdays. We also cheered Mom Mom up after her knee replacement surgery.

March

We celebrated St. Patty's day with no heat! It was fixed fast enough but it was a chilly St. Patty's day. You started really loving our library storytime! Oh and guess who crawled and is crusing along the furniture??

April
You wore the sweetest pink velveteen dress and white knit stockings. Remember those stockings. You started getting very, very, silly this month and it was super cute. The baby monitor was your favorite thing.

May
Beautiful Mother's day pictures. We are having fun with our small playgroup and still enjoying our friends at the breastfeeding group.

June

We went on vacation and you saw the beach for the first time!! Oh.. and Mommy started a blog!! Your favorite thing in the world was your little green ball.

July

Brush, brush, brushes... We thought that we kept losing your brushes. However little Miss smarty pants pulled out three from a hiding space when Mommy was searching and searching for one of your brushes. Little Miss Celia has become very, very chatty. She has perfected apple, da da, and ma ma. She is signing away too. Guess who has two new teeth?? You and not a peep of complaining.

August

Guess whose walking??? That's right you are little girl. You would have been walking much earlier if you hadn't been a scaredy cat. Mommy and Daddy both caught you taking steps but you didn't want to show off until August. It only took you a few days and you were off. Mommy was so thankful for that as she returned to work at the end of this month, big sob. You got your first illness, from Mommy, on her second day of work- the stomach bug... Ugh, Mommy felt so sorry for you and all she wanted to do was cuddle all day long but she had to go to work. So Mom Mom took over. Oh 2 more teeth little one without a complaint again.

September

You started daycare and boy do you love it!! You were a Chatty Cathy prior to going daycare but your language just takes off. You have your own little friends- Olivia (Ahh!! is what you call her), Mae Mae, and Addy in your class. Mommy thinks that her students are going to kill her but she is happy that you enjoy school. The teeth keep coming and you are still an amazing teether.

October

Halloween. Boy did you like going house to house with your little trick or treat bag. Well daycare has been great for you but you have been sick. Not primarily from daycare, but from Mommy bringing germs home from work. No new teeth, you get a little break!

November

Mom Mom gave you a new (to you) coat and Mommy got you a new hat. You are so, so into shoes now. "Shoe shoes" is what you say when you see them and you insist upon wearing them all around the house. Your feet are still tiny (the size of a 9 month old) but growing slowly. You are 21 lbs and 29 inches- 15% for both.

December

Goodbye 2008. We had a great Christmas in Lancaster but we missed Granny. You especialy loved the stroller and cabbage patch doll that Grandpa and Grandma gave you. We then went down to Virginia to see Aunt Vickie, Uncle Jack, Katie, Emmett and your favorite- Mom Mom. There are not many people that you prefer over Mommy however the entire time it was not "Mommy" that you called, it was "Mom Mom" actualy you yelled "Ma Ma" for her. You were not too fond of her cat Thomas but when you saw him you said "Meow". Your language is so amazing, over 40 words. You dance and chant "Hey Celia" which cracks us up. You have said some sentences "I see Celia" and "I see a dog". Oh and also you are saying "Oh shit"... Really you are and we are not proud, perhaps that is another blog post. You know most animal sounds and are eager to show them off!! You love to give hugs and blow kisses. You love your books, especialy "No David". You are such a big girl that we gave up sippy cups this month, now we are moving on to straw cups. Oh and remember those stockings?? Remember them, the ones you wore when you were 4 and 6 months, they still fit... Your short little one! Oh well I love you tiny, I wish you would stay there forever. Mommy is back to thinking that her students might still do her in, but she thinks they are alot of fun too!!

So that is that, Celia's year in review.

Some Prayer/Thought requests

Sweet Granny

A Friend who lost her Mother

A family who is dealing with a 2nd child who has cancer- a 10% survival rate

Baby Stellan who is doing better but still needs some thoughts

My students' parents when I tell them that we have no school next week due to a massive water pipe bursting.

Pete who doesn't believe he is getting up tomorrow with Celia while I sleep in for the first time in months, changing her poopy diaper, and feeding her breakfast.

Thankful

My family has so many things to be thankful for, really. In this horrible economy, we both have jobs that pay the bills. We can afford a sweet daycare in which everyone genuinely loves our little girl. Our little girl loves that daycare so very much that she looks out the window and asks "school?". She doesn't want to go home on some days!! Not only that but I know that I can give some credit to daycare for her advanced vocabulary and social skills.

We are healthy, goodness I want to say knock on wood. But the truth is that besides catching little colds, stomach bugs, etc. we are healthy. We have a cozy home with heat and water. We are doing fine. As of next week we will also have someone who cleans our house once a month. I feel frivolous for this but it will give me a week (okay maybe 2 if I can stretch it) of relaxing about cleaning. Pete doesn't understand why we need one. Okay we don't need one, I want one. I want to have a week in which I can cuddle Celia and play with her in the afternoons and not have this nagging feeling that I really should be doing something around the house.

We have a wonderful extended family that we don't get to see enough but we at least get to spend the holidays with them. My Mom has been so amazing since Celia has been born, we literaly would not have survived without her. She has been helping with Thanksgiving prep this year and with Celia. Not only that but she is giving Celia her Christmas gifts now so that she can watch her play with them. That is so sweet. Celia loves the gifts but really she just wants "Mom Mom" and she is satisfied. Pete's family (sadly his sister has to work) will be joining us for the feast tomorrow.

Celia had her Thanksgiving holiday show today and my Mom was able to go and see it. Celia was a chef and had a little shirt on that said "Kiss the cook". She sat in one of the buggies but my Mom said that she really would have liked to have been able to dance and join the older kids.

Okay well Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Anyone up for Black Friday shopping? Mom and I are off for some shopping on Friday, Celia is staying with Pete this year. Last year she was comfy in my Moby wrap while we shopped. Last year I was getting up at least 3x a night to nurse her for an hour each time!! I watched so much Fresh Prince of Bel Air... It is on at any hour of the night.

MENSA

The MENSA logo is on because I know that my daughter could be a member, she really could. However I don't believe in those sort of things so we will not be testing her at this time. So why do I think Celia should be in MENSA.

Well the following things.

She has an expanding vocabulary that includes the words- school, daddy, mommy, car, snack, splash, good girl (the phrase), Milo (My oh is her lovey that she sleeps with), Shoes, Shit, baby, Mom Mom, awe, up, diaper (diappy).

There are probably somemore.

Oh wait you noticed the 4 letter word she says, that will be explained later.

Okay well the biggest clue to how smart she is came this evening while we were reading one of her books. Celia pointed to a frog and I said, "Oh you see the froggy". Then I said "I see the ducky" and Celia put her finger on the duck. I said "I see David" and Celia put her finger on David. I then said "I see the froggy" and she put her finger on the frog. My daughter is a genius. She has even stopped eating my hair (okay she has cut back, but my hair is tasty).

We also played again today with a small squirt bottle. She tried to stick it in my mouth like I was a baby. So I started to cry. Everytime I cried she put it in my mouth. Now she could have just wanted to shut me up but she followed it once with a hug and an "awe" so I am thinking she was playing along. Now granted after the hug she basically lost interest in feeding me and insisted upon "na" or nursing.

Okay back to the shit. Yes my daughter said shit today, it was clear and it was my fault. Celia smashed sweet potatoes and a quesadilla together then dropped multiple pieces on the floor. I said "shit" because it was quite the mess. She then dropped one more piece and said "shit", then smiled. Nice, real, nice. The word wasn't repeated the rest of the evening. Since my Mom has a habit of saying "oh shit", I am blaming the situation on her. I blame it on her simply because I heard it so much growing up because she primarily said it when we were lost and well if you know me, you can guess that we were always lost.. So "oh shit" is drilled in my head that shit comes out easily. And of course the mother is always blamed...

Celia did talk to Mom Mom on the phone today. She was quite a chatterbox today after school. She talked to daddy and said Da Da and she said "ma ma" for Mom Mom.

My classroom is still about the same. Things are likely getting better but between the dragging kids by their feet to the bathroom, learning puppetry to gain their attention, and being the entertainment of the cafeteria I am exhausted. But... I am having fun. I like the group despite their craziness. It is an adventure. I will survive the year, beyond that I am not sure. Celia loves daycare so I go through the day with a very good feeling because she would actualy prefer to be then anywhere else on somedays (honestly!!). If she would only nap longer for them situation would be perfect.

Sick Sick Sick

Okay so we knew that daycare would cause Celia to become sick more often and we knew that I would start to get sick more often but who knew it would happen at the same time. Oh and who know that I would be the one to get Celia sick and not daycare!! A student of mine started with this horrible cold at the end of last week, then another started getting a runny nose, then... You get the picture. So I wasn't suprised when Wednesday I had a little tickle in my throat that turned into a knife in my throat by the evening. I am glad though that it explained why on Tuesday even though I got a great night's sleep that I felt like a complete zombie.
In anycase Wednesday when Celia came home from daycare she fell asleep while nursing and couldn't be woken up. She just didn't want to and wasn't going to be disturbed. So she slept for about 45 min. and I figured it was because she didn't sleep well at daycare. That night she woke up with a very stuffy nose and by morning she had a slight fever and a very stuffy nose but was in a playful mood. So we did what great parents do, we pumped her with tylenol and sent her to daycare. Okay, okay... she was fine- dancing, playing, eating just had a 100.8 temp which is low for a baby. I had a temp of 101 and I went to work. We weren't totally awful, as I was not feeling perky at all I volunteered to be the one to take a half day. So I picked her up at noon and she was playing. She took almost a 3 hr. nap and seemed fine when she woke up except was totally pissed off at her nose (because it was so stuffy). By evening she had a 102 temp and was dragging, as was I. This cold totally sucks... no actualy it doesn't suck anything it totally does the opposite, clogs you up. I felt like someone had beat me up so I can't imagine how Celia felt. We both went to bed and woke up feeling much better except that we still have colds. Celia's fever returned this evening but just low grade for her. Pete took a half day and stayed home with Celia. So Celia got a good nap in at least.
We did decide to infect the neighbors this evening. We just thought, what would make a good birthday present for their 7 year old?? Okay, we didn't touch anyone and we tried to stay away. It is Celia's buddy Amber's birthday party so we took her gift over, visited for about 20 min. and then left Pete there. Pete had fun. Celia absolutely loves Amber. Amber came over one afternoon to deliver a package and Celia went up to her, I think gave her a hug if I remember correctly, then waved goodbye to me and was going to take off with Amber. Celia does frequently give and accept hugs from her buddy.
So what is Celia doing new?
Well her 1 year old check up stats are : 18 lbs (almost 19), 28 1/2 inches
She is making the fire engine sounds for her fire truck car
Her book of wisdom still remains a favorite toy
She loves, loves, loves clothes. No not to put on, to hold, lay on top of things, babble to, etc. I think they were her favorite birthday gift.
She has made friends at daycare, including her teacher. In fact in the morning she gets very excited when she is told it is time to go to school!


Oh and a side note. I have a friend at work that just found out today that she is not pregnant. Okay, that is sad, but in her case it is so sad. She had talked to me about her own infertility journey and it was certainly longer then my own. They have been trying for 4 years, exhausted finances, exhausted her physically, and exhausted her completely emotionally. She tried IVF a few weeks ago and was hopeful that it worked. She and I talked, I shared my symptoms of hyperstimulation and my short infertility journey. I was so hopeful for her. In anycase when she told me I started to cry, I stopped myself, but it surprised me because I am not an emotional person. She of course said that she didn't have anymore tears left and I don't know how she has gone on for 4 years. But looking on the upside, they are going to adopt. They have already gone through the process, classes, home visit etc.. Now they are on a new journey. No matter if you struggle for a month or many years, infertility is the most frustrating and emotional draining experience. In anycase, I am keeping her in my thoughts. It also really confirms my desires that we don't have to go through that the second time around whenever we decide that time is.