Thursday, December 03, 2009
Weigh In
OK, I forgot to post last week when I achieved the 20 lb. mark. So, first let's establish that fact. Now here's this week's weigh in:

Lost this week: +.8
Lost so far: 19.2

See me being so honest. Blah. I deserved to gain because I went off program for four days. It was a choice I made and I'm back on track and moving forward. I suppose that's how you maintain a goal weight in real life. But I wouldn't know for sure because I've never managed to get to goal. This time though...
Written at 6:00 PM by Highlandgal.
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Is anyone else busy this month?
Ha ha. It must just be me, right? It's fun to have stuff to look forward to. Now my daughter is old enough that there are enough commitments that I have to actually write them down on the calendar to remember them. To be honest a lot of our December commitments are annual and predictable. But being in the school system adds to that. Plus I have work events. It keeps me on my toes.
Written at 5:56 PM by Highlandgal.
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I got my first Christmas card today!
Woo hoo! Although to be honest it was a Hanukkah card, which is every bit as good. DJ and her family get to be the first card on my Gallery of Honor this year. The gallery features everyone who sends me pics. Here it is from years past...



For the record I love Christmas cards and I love watching my gallery grow :D
Written at 5:37 PM by Highlandgal.
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Wednesday, December 02, 2009
The Best of Thanksgiving








Written at 7:53 PM by Highlandgal.
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Thursday, November 26, 2009
Queen and the Muppets
Two things I dearly love. Happy Thanksgiving!

Written at 7:34 AM by Highlandgal.
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Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Blowing raspberries
This is the sound I woke up to this morning. He blows them proudly :)

Raspberries from Alex High on Vimeo.

Written at 8:37 PM by Highlandgal.
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Monday, November 23, 2009
A born intellectual


M says Jack reminds him of one of the bugs on Miss Spider's Sunny Patch in these glasses. That show is in heavy rotation around here so he should know.
Written at 8:43 PM by Highlandgal.
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Sleep Training
Over the last five nights or so we've been sleep training Jack. We use the Ferber method, where you leave them in bed to go to sleep and then check on them again at increasing intervals of time. The first night I had to check twice. The second night once. And every night since then I haven't had to go back. What's made it so much easier this time is that he doesn't really cry, he more or less hollers. Then he's asleep. I can't tell you what a relief it is to all of us that he goes to bed at a "bedtime" now. A relief to me not having to sit up with him till 10:00 to 11:00 p.m. on some nights. And I think it's a relief to him to have a routine and a limit, as it were. It went this well when we did it with Emma too.
Written at 8:38 PM by Highlandgal.
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Sunday, November 15, 2009
Emma's shenanigans
Written at 8:30 PM by Highlandgal.
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Thanks, Noni!
Noni came over yesterday to tend to the kids while I attacked my clothes surplus. It had gotten so bad in my bedroom that I had a path through the boxes and stacks of clothes. I invited her over for several reasons. The first I already mentioned, to keep the kids occupied so I could concentrate on working. Secondly, if she's here I'm more likely to stay on task and not get distracted, thereby wasting valuable time. Thirdly, I wanted to send her back over the mountains with stuff for Goodwill.

I'm glad to say the day was a success. My room looks twice as big with all that open space. Noni dropped off the equivalent of eight boxes of clothes and two boxes of household goods. She also has some girls clothes to take to consignment. The work isn't completely done. I still need to clear more surfaces and do another round of purging. But I can do that gradually, now that the hardest part is done.

Thanks, Noni! You're a peach!
Written at 8:24 PM by Highlandgal.
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Miserable day for Jack
And for us also. Jack has had a runny nose all day. He's been miserable and adamant about it. Coincidentally he's discovered how to scream too. So between the crying and screaming all day our nerves are pretty frazzled. He was up twice last night, crying hard each time. It's actually rare for him to cry. Usually when he's unhappy he just bellows. Anyway, he was up after midnight and again at three something. When he finally went for a nap after breakfast I went down for one too. I attempted to put him to bed early tonight to put us all out of his misery. For a change it worked. He went to sleep before 7:30 p.m. Now I hope he's able to rest all night.
Written at 8:19 PM by Highlandgal.
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Thursday, November 12, 2009
Kids and big boxes
Some things never change.

Written at 10:26 PM by Highlandgal.
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Jack's 6 month check-up
We had a really nice appointment yesterday. Too bad it takes sitting there for over an hour to see the doctor. Especially with a baby; fun, fun! By the time the appointment is done we've been there two hours, every time.

Jack is now 18 lbs. 4 oz. and 27 inches long. That puts him in the 55th percentile for weight and 60th for height. So he's a medium sized guy so far, like his dad.

I found out I've been giving him too much milk. I've been giving him anywhere from 32-36 oz. a day and he's supposed to only have 24 oz. at this point. I was told that if I kept over-feeding milk, in the long run it can make Jack anemic. I can introduce water and highly diluted juice if I want. I tried some water last night and Jack wasn't having it. I guess it will be a "process." My ped is really down on juice because it's just basically sugar (fructose). He likened it to poison for your system. He said with fruit the poison, the sugar, is wrapped in the antidote, the fiber. So in every case it's better to give your child (and yourself) the whole fruit. Or in the case with babies, the puree. BTW, poison/antidote idea wasn't original to him, it came from a Pediatric's conference he'd just attended.

Another thing that came out of this conference it that they've changed their recommendations for how to introduce solid foods to babies. Now they want you to start with meat and vegetables. They now understand better that protein is important earlier on. It makes perfect sense because that's what we're being taught for children and adults too. Eat your meat and veggies. His recommendation was fruit and cereal for breakfast, meat and veggie for lunch, and meat and veggie for supper. So, now we'll adapt to this feeding schedule.

I had to run right out to the grocery store and buy more veggies and pick up our first meats. Let me tell you, Jack was all over that meat. I started with chicken and there was no resistance whatsoever. The only downside was having a dog at each elbow when I was feeding him. Once the meat smell wafted through the house I couldn't get rid of them. I'll be interested to hear from my many friends with new babies what their peds tell them when the time comes.

Finally, Jack didn't get any of his six month shots. The ped posponed them to nine months, when he wouldn't have had any scheduled at all. Instead Jack got the first dose of H1N1 flu vaccine, the regular flu vaccine, and the pneumonia vaccine. He also got a rotavirus oral dose. I have to go back in a month for the second round of flu shots. Let me tell you, having him old enough to be vaccinated against this flu stuff has really given me a lot more peace of mind. All the fearmongering has left me with a constant low hum of worry in my head. Now everyone in my family has had the H1N1, Jack and Emma will have the regular flu vaccines, and Jack will have the pneumonia one. Winter can come now.

If you're not Noni and you made it to the end of this bless you ;)
Written at 12:27 PM by Highlandgal.
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