Re-visiting our sleeping arrangements.

Sleeping with our precious baby has been one of the most rewarding parenting experiences, ever.  Especially since we are both working full-time, it has allowed us to be able to reconnect with our little snuggle each day after work.  In the early days, it really was a life-saver and I was able to get pretty decent nights of sleep, even waking 3, 4, or more times a night to breastfeed.  Although I would wake up, I wouldn't ever have to get up if Olivia was just an arms reach away, and many more times than not, Dave wouldn't wake up at all.   I also feel like I have been able to have such a smooth and successful breastfeeding relationship as a full-time working mom, because we co-sleep. 

So it has all been very nice for us, and happened out of trial and error, and realizing this was what worked best for our family. 
Well, last night for the first time ever, Olivia fell off of the bed in the middle of the night.  I still feel terrible about it, and I have no idea how it happened because usually she is pretty contained between the two of us, and pillows at the foot of the bed.  Thank goodness Olivia was not injured at all, and she just cried for a short time before nursing and then going back to sleep.  I was a nervous wreck though, and stayed up for a couple of hours after the fall, just to make sure she was okay, and was continuing to breath.

So now it's time to consider how to prevent this from happening again.  Although she has been mobile for many months now, she isn't particulary squirmy in the middle of the night.  It's usually quite the opposite, she will somehow link her little arms or legs around my arms or legs and stay latched and fastened pretty tightly.  I just don't want her to ever take a tumble from our bed in the middle of the night like that again. 

There are a couple of options for us.  We can take our bed off of the frame, and that would lower it closer to the ground, considerably.  Or we can attempt to make her crib, which is currently being used as a very beautiful and expensive laundry hamper in her room, into a co-sleeper to our bed.    I have seen this done here on this page, and I would love to try this first. 

Olivia is still nursing throughout the night, which I'm completely fine with, but I figured the co-sleeper crib thingy idea would be a great baby step sort of transition for when she is no longer nursing at night.   I'm anxious about this very little change as I usually am about most changes.  I'm just hoping it solves the rolling out of bed "problem", while continuing to allow us to have the benefits of our bed sharing relationship.  Wish me luck!

Cooking for Baby

Boy, oh boy, are we learning a lot as we go! My approach to feeding Olivia food has slowly changed overtime. Originally, I wanted to try the Baby Led weaning approach which is basically giving your baby table food to 100% feed themselves. Waiting till 6 months means you can skip the rice cereal and just start with foods. It also theorizes that if you allow babies to feed themself they will stop when they are full, versus possibly continuing to eat more if they were spoon-fed.


We started by offering Olivia avocados, banana, and sweet potato wedges. She loved playing with her food, but did very little eating, which was fine because she was just 6 months at the time. She was not sure about the texture or taste of most of the foods that we offered her. She usually made a face as though we were trying to poison her.

Slowly, she got better at feeding herself and figuring out that the food was meant to be eaten. That's when dinners started to get a little more stressful. Olivia still does not have any teeth so she would gum off way more than she could manage and gag; one of us was always on guard fearing she would choke.

So I decided to try some of the puree recipes from this book that my mother-in-law gave to us.

I have really enjoyed doing the puree food feedings.  I feel really good about making her food from fresh fruits and veggies, and dinners have become fun, again!

It's really easy, too. Wash and clean the fruit or vegetable. Then steam, broil or bake it, and throw it in the food processor. Let it cool and then you can serve if fresh or freeze in ice cube trays as pictured above!

In addition to being easy, it's also MUCH cheaper than the jarred variation. I was pricing some of the jarred food, and wow. Anywhere from 64 cents to upwards of a buck for one jar of food, which can be 2-4 ounces or so. One head of broccoli was 1.89 at HEB and it made about 16 ounces of puree. So making the food is definitely cost effective.


 

So far I have made broccoli, mango, bananas, butternut squash, cauliflower, and apple.  Surprisingly, Olivia loved broccoli.  She has yet to try the cauliflower, but I'm hoping she likes it, too.  Those are my two favorite vegetables, and Dave's least favorite. 

Oh, and Josie Wails is with us for the week while Annette and Reese go off to Santa Fe to celebrate their 38th Wedding Anniversary.  She is an awesome pup.



Body Transformation

The pregnancy weight is finally gone.  Hallelujah!!!  It is still sort of hard to be terribly happy because even though the scale may reflect those old numbers I used to love to see, the mirror does not reflect the body I used to love.  I don't hate my body now, by any means.  I am actually quite proud of it in ways I never imagined.  It's awesome.  It grew a beautiful little baby girl, and it continues to almost 100% nourish her to this day.  How is that not amazing?!

I'm squishy in places I no longer want to be squishy in anymore, primarily Olivia's old home.  But how to fix that?!  The bigger question is, when?!  We eat pretty healthy, but I know my diet can always improve.  Also, I started walking a bit this weekend with Olivia in the stroller and I hope to make it a regular habit in the evenings once it cools down a bit.  I would also love to start possibly training for a race; I'm looking into getting a jogging stroller.

I know in due time (likely in time to get pregnant, again) I will get back to where I was, but for some reason this past weekend I got impatient with the slow process it has taken for me to bounce back.  So although, I'm giving myself a little pat on the back for (finally) losing the pregnancy weight, all 55 pregnancy pounds, I'm also trying to give myself a kick in the booty to start getting back into shape.   

Birth Story Video

Dave has been creating a birth story video for the birth of Olivia for about 3 months or so now.  Simply because my labor was so prolonged, we have a ton of video snippets and pictures to be used. Additionally, we had just purchased Dave's iPhone 4 and he was in love with it.

The video that Dave is currently  making is over 30 minutes long, and it's wonderful so far.  I'm excited to sit down and watch the whole thing once it's completed.  I'm not sure how, and if we will be able to share it because it is so long, but Dave made this trailer to the video last night.



I love having these memories captured.  I re-live them every time I watch a video or see pictures.  I don't even mind that most of the images are less than flattering.  Olivia's birth was so special for us both and I look forward to sharing this with her one day.

Wordless Wednesday

Hardin Simmons Jimenez

It's really interesting how family pets really do become family members.


Jay Jimenez, the oldest child in the Jimenez family, was off to college in the summer of 2000 and set to attend Hardin Simmons University in Abilene, Texas. The other two children in the Jimenez family, Amanda and Sarah, were both a bit distraught about their older brother's big move to the United States from Belgium. What better way to "replace" a family member than buying a puppy?!

Hardin Simmons Jimenez was born in June 2000 on the Southside of San Antonio, Texas. He was picked from the litter and named by Sarah Jimenez, then 4 years old. Hardin flew half way across the world to live in Belgium with the Jimenez family for many years. In 2003, Texas "Tex" Bobcat Jimenez entered the family and was Sarah and Hardin's new brother.

Hardin and Tex resided in Obourg, Belgium until the summer of 2005 when the Jimenez family moved to Harker Heights, Texas. In 2006, Hardin moved to San Marcos, Texas to live with Amanda Jimenez and Kelly Garrott. From 2006 until 2009, Hardin bounced around to all sorts of apartments and new places in the Central Texas area and thoroughly enjoyed his college experiences. He was quite a hit at most house parties.

David Copeland and Hardin met in November 2007 and tolerated one another.  Thor Copeland entered the picture in June 2008, and Hardin was not very happy about his new brother.  The Jimenez-Copeland household tried to make their new blended family work.  However, in November 2009, Hardin went to stay with the Jimenez family in Harker Heights while Dave and Amanda traveled to New Orleans, and never returned back to live with the then Jimenez-Copeland family.

Hardin passed away on July 11, 2011.  Hardin was a happy old dog living in Harker Heights with Tex.  He was certainly spoiled and loved greatly by Javier, Cindy and Sarah Jimenez.  Hardin lived a very full life and will be missed by all who knew him.

Teething

Olivia has been showing signs of being a little under the weather. Dave and I have been keeping a close eye on any new and persisting symptoms. I think we are a little bit hypersensitive because the first and last time that Olivia was sick with the ear infection, we had no idea.

We've been taking her temperature obsessively, and she seemed fine. She has had a cough and congestion and we were afraid that would lead to another ear infection. Yesterday, I mentioned her symptoms to her two teachers and I made a note about them on her daily chart. When I went to visit at lunch, one of her teachers mentioned that Olivia seemed to be tugging at her right ear and was particularly fussy. So off to the doctor we went.

It was such a relief to be told that Olivia's ears looked great. The doctor said she thinks because Olivia is actively teething and slightly congested there may be pressure in her ears, which would be why she was tugging at one. I've been looking for signs of teething for months, and I guess that time is now upon us. She is only slightly droolier and slightly fussier. I felt like the fussiness has been from her somewhat clingy stage right now, but it may just be due to the teething.

In further Olivia news, she is now full-blown on her hands and knees crawling! She still scoots, and also does a strange pulling her legs forward in a sitting position sort of scoot, but she is also crawling at times. It's amazing to see. I can't get enough of it. Oh! And the pulling herself up has gotten crazy! She tries to pull herself up on anything and everything. 

Olivia is also selectively waving goodbye. I can tell she is mimicking the wave, but I don't believe she really knows what is going on. It is very cute nonetheless.

Another new development right now that I’m not particularly fond of is her crying when I leave her at daycare. It’s only happened a handful of times, but it can really send me off to work in a cruddy mood. I’m so torn up about it, but I know it’s a totally normal stage that can go on for months (I’ve heard years, but I refuse to believe that.) Right now, I’m just trying my best to hang out for a little bit, and then give a big hug, and kiss, place her with some buddies, and wave goodbye from the door. I’m trying not to prolong my departure, but also make it pleasant. All I really want to do when I see her crying when I leave is run back to her and squeeze her, and take her with me.

I know she knows that we love her, but it’s really hard to leave your baby when she is crying. I have considered swapping drop-offs with Dave, but I couldn’t imagine not dropping her off everyday. Plus, I’m still nursing her right before I drop her off, and I don’t want to give that up, yet. We will pull through this.