Friday, March 30, 2012

I missed bed time

I think this was only the second time I have ever missed bed time. I was at school last night and as usual the seminar was running late. I did not get home till a little after 8pm. I really hate missing Kaitlyn's bed time. I only got to see her for about 20 min yesterday and that time was spent rushing to get her ready for day care Booo.   :(
I can only imagine how going to school full time at night is going to be. Class is suppose to end at 8pm when I start. I am not sure how I am going to be able to handle it four days a week for the summer session. After summer session it will only be two days a week. I have to keep reminding myself that it is only one year and after I am done I will have loads more time with her than I have now.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

DYI Training Undies

Thanks to my Baby Center birth board I have decided to upgrade Kaitlyn's training undies making them a little more absorbent and water proof for initial training then later for nights and naps.
I purchased Gerber training undies from Amazon.com and am following the instructions from the It's a Long Story blog. - Not the greatest before picture but it was a quick snap from my phone:

I purchased the PUL and Flannel from JoAnns. Both of which were on sale I might add. It was a little hard for me making the pattern and cutting the fabric since I only own fabric scissors, not a rotary and I was not about to spend money on something that I would only use a few times a year. But my pieces came out good enough. I am only making one right now to see how it turns out. After Kaitlyn does a test run wearing it I will decide if I am going to make more or just add a panel of PUL to the remaining undies.
I have my own sewing machine but no place to set it up so I am going to head over to my mother in laws house this weekend to sew the undies together. I will update you on how they turn out.

Monday, March 26, 2012

Great Saturday

Kaitlyn and I had a great Saturday. We started off our day at Kaitlyn's aunt Christina's house to play with her cousins and go to the park. It was drizzling when we got there so the park plans fizzled out. Everybody got along and played together so well. Grandma Pam and Great Grandma came over for a visit so Kaitlyn showed off her talking skills. Once I get her to say Rayray she keeps going  LOL. If she does not say Rayray she refused to speak a word. After the grandmas left we headed home for a nice nap.
The sun started coming out and I figured it would be a great day to play in the back yard. After Kaitlyn woke up we headed outside for a short ride in her car then went out back to play. We kicked a ball, ran around the yard like maniacs, rolled around in the grass, went swinging and sliding down the slide. Kaitlyn climbed up to the slide all by herself. I was wiping the bird poo off the slide to get ready to use it when all of a sudden Kaitlyn was standing at the top of the slide. Normally I help her up since she cannot climb the latter yet and the ramp in the back is rather steep with only rope as handrails. After helping her slide down the first time I watched her run to the back and climb up again. She is using the gaps between the slats of the ramp as a ladder of sorts.
We ate dinner and went back out side for another half hour or so to take advantage of the beautiful day. Good thing we played out side so much on Saturday... Sunday it rained all day long.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Meal planning

In an effort to budget better and have home made meals nightly for Kaitlyn, David and I have been toying with the idea of making a weekly meal plan. This will also be very helpful when I start school full time. The less I have to think and stress about the better! A member of my Baby Center birth board emailed me a template to use and I have been reading up on the best way to pull it together using our weekly store add. I think it is my lack of cooking experience and the fact that David would have to do most of the cooking that is holding me back. I sit down with the store add in hand and cannot for the life of me think of any meals that can be created with the items that are on sale. What is wrong with me? I am normally very creative but when it comes to food I loose all creativity and need to have written out directions. I have loads of cook books but all the recipes seem so complicated. I need some easy, healthy ideas that can either be cooked in advance or pulled together in under an hour - even better thrown in a crock pot.
Another thing I am trying to incorporate into this meal plan is the use of one portion of the meal in more than one meal. For instance, chicken parmigiana one night and then a few nights later chicken broccoli fettuccine Alfredo using extra chicken breast cooked the same night we make the parmigiana. It is hard for us because I am not a huge fan of chicken breast and a lot of these types of recipes revolve around chicken breast. I guess I need to suck it up and start getting use to eating it more often.
My issue with chicken breast: it is bland, chewy and the texture makes me want to gag. I have been known to chew one piece of chicken breast for over five minuets before swallowing. Any recommendations on how to properly prepare chicken breast so it is not described as above would be greatly appreciated. I have no problem with chicken thighs or any other dark meat. Do they sell that not on the bone?

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Dentist

I have been contemplating taking Kaitlyn for her first dental visit for a while now. Ever since the grey teeth incident... Long story short, one day I looked in her mouth and all her teeth looked light grey. I freaked out but did some Google research and found out that this has happened to others using the Oral B training toothpaste. That toothpaste was trashed right away and I took over her brushing (I use to let her brush her own teeth). They are no longer light grey but I still see some spots that are concerning me. There is a children's dentist office right down the street from our house that I think I am going to give a try. I will let you know how it goes.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

I Digress

How bottles saved my sanity ~ late 2010
All along I have been wanting to breastfeed my baby girl or at the very least pump and bottle feed.
From birth she has been a great latcher and breastfeeder and was a wonderful baby up until 1 week old. From that point forward my awesomely perfect little girl started screaming for hours at a time during the day until around 1am. She always showed signs that she was hungry no mater how many times I fed her. From 8pm to 1am the only thing that would make her happy was being attached to my boob. To top that off she would not sleep at all during the day anymore even though you could clearly see she was extremely tired. I felt like I was going crazy, I spent all day long in the baby's room feeding her. I did not have any time to brush my teeth or even eat. The only thing that remained awesome about my little girl was that she slept very well at night. So I lived my days waiting and yearning for 1am so that I could finally get a few moments to brush my teeth, cram a sandwich down my throat and get some sleep.
I reached my breaking point. It was no longer 8pm to 1am of screaming, it was all day long. Luckily we had a doctors appointment scheduled for that day. Kaitlyn was gaining weight like she should so I was doing everything correctly but going insane... So I asked the doctor about pumping and using the F word (formula). She said at this point it would benefit all of us. As soon as we got home David headed to Babies R Us to pick up some supplies.
The first bottle was all formula since I have had no free time to pump any breast milk. Kaitlyn wolfed the 2oz down in 7 minuets flat! The look of relief and content on her face when she finished was well worth the $80 we just spent on bottles and other supplies. She then slept for the first time during the day since she was 1 week old. An hour later she was ready for more. This time I gave her the 1oz of breast milk I was able to pump mixed with 1oz of formula. She gulped it down yet again and went for a 4 hour nap.
I know this is the first day and we have only done two bottles so far but I feel like I got my little angel back. Also she is a lot easier to burp when fed with a bottle so that leads to less gas and a happier baby!
I am so happy with our decision to do this. The only problem now is I am so happy she is happy that I cannot sleep when she is napping. I just want to watch her sleep.


Digression over.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Cold and Windy


This weekend the weather was horrible. It rained all day Saturday so we were stuck in side watching TV and finding other things to occupy our time. Sunday the rain had stopped but it was very windy and cold out side. I did not want to spend all day cooped up inside again so I made it my mission to get the both of us outside for a short walk. After Kaitlyn’s nap I bundled her up in her snow gear and braved the wind and cold. I wish I would have taken a picture of her in her get up with her sunglasses on. She looked like a little snow bunny in training. I have to admit that it was not actually cold enough for snow gear but I needed an excuse to get at least one use out of it before she out grew it. I purchased it for her first trip to the snow that has yet to happen…

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Teaching

Ever since I was in middle school I wanted to be a teacher. Not just any teacher, specifically a math teacher. I loved math and this love of math came about by a great teacher I had in middle school. When I started my college carrier I was on the path to becoming a teacher until my mother moved away. At that point in my life I had to provide for my self; apartment, food, transportation. All of these necessities required a full time job so I started going to school nights. At a certain moment I realized that there was no way I would be able to do the mandatory student teaching required to get certified. At the time I talked to a close family friend about what my options were. She suggested I become a CPA. I thought about it for a while and figured accounting and numbers go hand in hand. I quickly switched my major and ran with it. After I graduated with my bachelors degree I ran out of steam and was no longer interested in taking the CPA exam. I applied for a job as an accounts payable clerk and have been doing accounting ever since.
Fast forward to the year 2009 when my brother in law married my wonderful sister in law. At the time she was a middle school teacher. She would talk about her job with such joy and satisfaction; I was so envious. My accounting position was never joyful, just stressful and boring. She informed me that her school district was in desperate need of math and science teachers, so much so that they would hire a teacher before they had their credentials. I looked into this, contacted the program, and went to a meeting about it. It turns out I only needed to pass a couple of tests to be on the road to teaching. This is when I started my journey.
I passed two parts of the CBEST test right away, re-took the failed section and failed again. At that point I started loosing hope so I set it aside to focus on becoming a mother.
Kaitlyn arrived and renewed my drive to become a teacher so I took the last part of the CBEST again. I went into the test with the attitude that I would pass it. AND... I passed!!! woot woot. The next step was to take and pass at least the first two parts of the CSET. I contacted the school district to tell them I was still interested in the program (ya it was two years latter but hey I was still interested) only to be informed that they don't offer that program any more. BOOO
I was still determined that I was going to get my teaching credentials even if it meant that I had to do it the long way. So I set up an appointment to take the CSET. A few months before my test date my brother in law mentioned something about the same type of program I was looking into before being offered at a local university. I checked into it and sure enough it was the same program. I signed right up and received a conditional acceptance. The condition I need to satisfy to be fully accepted is to pass both parts of the CSET. I took the CSET last Saturday and am pretty sure I passed one of the sections. I have one more shot to pass in a couple months otherwise I will have to wait to start the program till winter.
This will be a huge new adventure for us; me being in school full time while working full time and trying to manage spending what little time I have left with my wonderful daughter. Kaitlyn having great new adventures with her grandma, dad and Gracie while I am in school. But if we can make it through the one year the program last then we will have a lot more time together.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

New to this Blog thing


I have been talking about starting a blog since my daughter, Kaitlyn, was born to chronicle our adventures together. It has been a year and a half since she was born… Better late than never, right?