Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Stuff

1 - We went camping this weekend. Heather did really well - she loved the hikes, loved hanging out on the air mattress and sleeping bags, and loved sleeping next to me the first night when she was cold. Our site was very sunny in the afternoon, so we didn't have a lot of opportunity to put her down, except inside the tent, but we managed.

2 - On our way home we stopped at the ILs and Heather took her first dip in the pool. She was initially unimpressed by the water temperature, but as she got used to it her interest improved. In the last few minutes, she figured out how to splash and didn't seem to mind having the water up to her waist.

3 - Still lots to do, but for the moment I'm accepting the fact that I'm going to consistently feel behind. I'm willing to stay up a little later than I should to try to get a little more done and I hope that it doesn't come back to bite me by the end of the week. We've generally been able to convince Heather to go back to sleep (not always immediately) after her first feeding on weekend mornings, so I do get a little "extra" sleep then.

4 - I haven't even looked at Ravelry. I don't have time to get sucked into anything else on the internet right now, and I have enough trouble finding time to knit without spending some of that precious free time on knitting related websites. (I do still read most of the knit-blogs listed at the right, but that is a very limited time commitment)

5 - Secret baby-related knitting projects continue. I'd like to be making more progress, but I will eventually. I didn't even really knit in the car this weekend because I wanted to use the time to close my eyes.

6 - House tour planning seems to be going well. The list of homes in finalized. My co-chairs seem to be fulfilling their promises. I have our weekend in Michigan to fall back on if I haven't found the time to put together the tour program by then. The only thing I really need to do soon is design the poster.

7 - My milk supply is still not keeping up with the pumping. By my calculations, as long as it doesn't drop anymore, with a little extra weekend and evening pumping, we should be able to make it to August 9th (6 months) without any supplementing. After that, Heather will likely be getting about 1 bottle of formula a day at daycare. I will keep trying to pump extra and at least have enough of a freezer stash for the occasional evening away, but I am reconciling myself to the fact that formula isn't evil and I've done absolutely everything in my power to give Heather the best start possible. :-) I hope to keep nursing for quite a while longer, but it is hard to know what will happen with the introduction of a supplemental bottle and solids.

8 - Heather continues to be adorable. She's also full of energy and constantly on the move to the best of her ability. She's rolling almost effortlessly (usually), grabbing at anything within inches of her reach, kicking her legs and pushing off of anything nearby, standing and sitting with assistance every chance we give her and trying to sit and stand when we aren't helping. She literally does crunches trying to sit up from a lying position - making it very clear that she's tired of being on her back, thank-you-very-much! The changes have happened gradually, but kind of suddenly as I realize how much reaching and grabbing she is doing.

9 - I had a tragic purse accident last week. :-( A box of clothes that I had ordered online arrived at work, so I put my container from pumping into my purse. Sadly, I hadn't properly screwed on one of the lids. Not only did I lose 4 1/2 ounces of breast milk, but my purse and half its contents are stiff with dried milk and my iPod won't turn on. :-( It's not an immediate problem because I haven't been listening to it a ton lately...but now that I don't have it I am missing it. We will have to see if we can replace it in the next few months with a little bit of frugality or if it will be my one Christmas present. I may take the drenched one over to the Apple store to see if there is anything that they can do, but I don't know that repair will be that much less than replacement.

10 - I'm patiently waiting for one of my friends to finish HP7 so I can borrow it. I actually don't mind the waiting except that I'm completely paranoid that someone is going to spoil something for me...even though in 6 books I never had anything spoiled for me...but somehow this one seems like a much bigger deal!

11 - I'm going on a tour of our daycare on Thursday. :-) That may seem a bit backwards, but it isn't a tour about the program, it is about the building. They have completed a green renovation of the 100+ year old building and the tour is specifically to talk about its greenness. Considering that I'm currently working on a green renovation of a 40+ year old building, it seems like a timely tour and a nice chance to pick Heather up at the end of the day. Oh, and it's free because I'm a parent!

4 comments:

Katie said...

Amy - I'm done with HP7. If you're eager, I'd be happy to drop it in the mail to you.

Katie L

Amanda said...

I too am waiting on HP7 from Julie. She finished up grad school this week and has not had time to really sit and read it. No spoils from me! Plus, now you have extra secret baby knitting time :o) hehe.

Nadine said...

As you know, I went through the same somewhat agonizing process of deciding to supplement with a bottle (or, sometimes, 2) of formula as my supply dropped. I really struggled and felt bad about it, but you're absolutely right that you've given Heather the best start possible and have covered the most important period of time.

And I have found that once I got used to the idea, it's actually really nice because it takes so much pressure off of the pumping process. A couple ounces short one day? No biggie, you know you've got it covered. So I completely understand your mixed feelings, but hopefully you'll be truly okay with it in the end--I was, and I never would've predicted that!! (Though I STILL haven't gotten used to how nasty formula smells...I can't believe babies will touch the stuff.)

Anna said...

I too had to come to terms with the fact that formula is not evil at around the 10 month mark....and certainly one bottle a day is fine. You're doing a great job, and I bet you'll be able to keep on going, even after supplementing and solids.