Keeping Track of Lauren & Jack » January 2006 Journal Entries » AboutMyBaby - online baby scrapbooks, photo albums, videos, birth and pregnancy announcements

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Tue, Jan 31, 2006 9:57 PM
Big day at the mall today. I had buyers' remorse about an outfit I got from Janie&Jack, so I returned it and got some things on sale that I'm much happier about. This stuff Lauren will be wearing until the fall (or until she grows out of it). The only trouble was that naps pretty much went out the window. Later on we went to the playground with neighbors Allison and Taylor. I guess the idea was to tire them out and put them to bed early. By 7:30PM they were both asleep and I hardly know what to do with myself. Mike is teaching tonight. Thank goodness for Netflix and Tivo! Of course I'm also doing laundry. . .

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Mon, Jan 30, 2006 10:00 PM
Another day when Lauren insisted on wearing her ladybug shoes. It's a little tricky because we don't have a lot that mathches red and black polka dots! The best I could come up with was a white onsie underneath a dark denim pleated jumper dress. Oh, and frilly white socks! She actualy looked very cute. And having a pretty good hair day too. Her hair was falling into such beautiful ringlets.

We were a little stir crazy today since it was raining on and off all day. Her new favorite activity is opening and closing doors, sometimes slamming them, which gets old (for me, not her)around the hundredth time. And becomes intolerable when trying to get the baby to sleep!

Speaking of which, Jack fell asleep around 6PM, so I'm half expecting him to wake up any minute. Maybe he'll surprise us and make it through the night. But even 12 hours will be 6AM, so I better make it an early night. I just feel bad because I assumed it was a late afternon nap, so I hadn't changed him into his PJ's yet. Oh well, he's wearing a long sleeve onsie,jeans, and socks, so at least his body is covered!

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Sun, Jan 29, 2006 8:10 PM
So it seems that putting Jack down awake isn't a bad way to go. The other night our sitter Jennifer put him down so she could deal with Lauren and he cried a few minutes but then slept straight through the night until 7:45AM. I keep finding him flipped over on his belly and hanging on the bumper. I think he's trying to pull up, so today we lowerd his crib to the next level down. I was also reading my "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" book, and it basically suggests an earlier bedtime when you're having sleep problems during the day. Tonight I started the routine much earlier and he was out cold by 7:30PM. So we'll see how he fares through the night. He's really old enough to make it without that 4AM feeding.(And I'm certainly old enough, judging by the dark circles under my eyes!)

Lauren has been testing our limits lately, so we're beginning to use short time outs(1-2 mins). They've been pretty effective. I can see the wheels turning in her head. She's asking herself, "What will they do if I do this? Oh, they told me not to, but what if I do it anyway? OH NO! CONSEQUENCES!" I'm also trying to get her to clean up after herself a little , because she's like a little tornado, constantly scattering toys in her wake. We've got to do SOMETHING to keep on top of the mess.

Oh yeah, and we think maybe Jack's going through a growth spurt, because he ate like a champ this weekend. Sometimes it seems like he can't get the next spoonfull fast enough! Although he seems to be showing a pretty violent distaste for peas, which is surprising becuase Lauren always loved them. Oh well, maybe he'll like them when he can eat the real thing.

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Thu, Jan 26, 2006 7:27 PM
Today Jack wouldn't settle down for his morning nap, and I was at my wit's end because I needed to have breakfast and get dressed, and get Lauren dressed, so I put him in his crib fully awake. To my great surprise, he cried for about 5 minutes and then fell asleep for an hour and a half (unheard of these days!) So maybe that's just what we have to do, once he seems tired is just put him down. It would certainly be much easier than nursing him to sleep and then trying to tranfer him into the crib without waking him.

Lauren seemed to settle down for her nap better, but our babysitter Jennifer got her up and discovered she had reached into her poopy diaper and wiped it all over the sheets. Ew Yuck! We're wondering if this can possibly be one of the signs of readinesss for potty training. I'm hoping so, because it seems like non-stop diaper changes around here.

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Tue, Jan 24, 2006 8:00 PM
Jack's had a runny nose today, and he didn't really seem himself. He spat up quite a lot as well, so I called the doctor. We just started him on bananas, so I was worried about an allergic reaction. But he said that food allergies usually show with a rash. Still, we're going to play it safe and wait for a week and then introduce bananas again.

Lauren is getting harder and harder to put down for her nap. I usually put her down by 1 or 1:30 but she sometimes takes 30-45 minutes to calm down and actually sleep. She doesn't cry, or even seem especially unhappy, she just bounces around in her crib and chatters to herself. Sometimes I hear some very high pitched shrieks and I'm dismayed to discover that she's still awake an hour after she went down. The other problem is that sometimes she wakes up Jack, which is extremely frustrating as it takes AGES to get him asleep and into his crib. That's all I need, 2 cranky kids who won't nap!

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Sun, Jan 22, 2006 9:48 PM
OK, I hate to rub it in for those of you in colder climes, but it was in the 80's today and humid! Of course I'm a little dismayed that winter's over for us already. Secretly I'm hoping for another cold snap!

Mike had some yard work to do, to prepare for our house being painted soon, so I took the kids on a big shopping excursion to Pottery Barn Kids. The only one we have in the entire Tampa area is in Hyde Park, which is a cute shopping area that I adore near downtown.(About a 45 min drive away) So I returned the gingham curtains which didn't look right and got some plain green ones instead for Jack's room. Of course while there I discovered they have a chamois changing pad cover which is so soft! I bought FOUR of them, becuase they were on sale. Two for Lauren, two for Jack. Lauren hardly has any serious "blowouts" these days, so I plan to use hers right away. Jack is still prone to those poops that manage to go all the way up his back, so I'm planning on putting another pad down to save on laundry. PBK also has these plastic bibs sort of like the Baby Bjorn ones, so I had to get them each one of those too.

After all that retail therapy we had a yummy lunch at this natural food cafe, and we sat outside where Lauren continued to regale each passing car with "Ba-bye Beep Beep!" She also pointed out every baby and dog, in case they had somehow escaped my attention. Jack sat fairly peacefully in the stroller playing his favorite game, "I throw it on the floor, you pick it up!" Over and over and over and over. And over! He was also charming a nearby grandmotherly lady, with alternating smiles and bashful looking away. I'll admit it, I was proud that people around us thought my kids were so cute!

Then to top it all off we went to a nearby park where Jack had his first solo swing ride in an infant swing. He didn't seem so sure about it at first, but once he got going he started kicking his legs around with glee. At one point I had them both going and they kept screaming in delight at one another. It was pretty hilarious. Then Lauren proceeded to give me many heart-attacks with her gravity-defying climbing on the jungle gym. Luckily Jack very conveniently fell asleep then so I could finally put him down and corale Lauren as she ran around with some big kids (3 and 4 year olds). Ooh I just love that park, I wish we lived closer. It's shady,it has picnic tables and plenty of benches for the grown-ups. And the best part is the clean, large disabled bathroom that has a changing table and can fit the double stroller. Yeah! It's so funny the things that get me excited these days.

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Sat, Jan 21, 2006 9:49 PM
Jack slept all the way through the night!! He went to sleep about 8:15PM and didn't wake up until 7:45AM. That's almost 12 hours! I was just ecstatic until his lucnchtime nap, where he was impossible to put down. I decided to let him cry a little, but after quite a while I gave in and went to get him. Not only had he wet the bed, but had somehow managed to get halfway under his bumper pad, so of course I felt terrible. So now if we could just get the napping to go better, we'd all be better off. In fact, my dream is to have them BOTH napping at the same time for at least an hour of blissful silence to recharge my batteries in the middle of the day! Well, I can dream, can't I?

Today Lauren insisted on wearing her ladybug shoes from her Halloween costume. They are red ballet flats with black polka dots, and she was wearing lilac purple, so they didn't really match at all, but I thought, who cares? We're just staying home anyway. It made her so happy! She kept prancing around admiring them. It's actually nice to see her showing an opinion about her clothes. It'll be interesting to see the outfits she comes up with!

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Thu, Jan 19, 2006 7:37 PM
Today we went to International Plaza which is a nice mall about 30-45 min drive away. We met our neighbors Allison and Taylor there. They have a fun play area with squishy things for the kids to climb all over. They were very cute running around in there. My favorite moment was when they climbed into the giant clam and were bouncing on the pearl!

Lunch was a bit of a trial because now that Jack's eating solids, I had to feed him as well. Lauren wouldn't eat any of her pasta, but took a lot of Taylor's cheese and fruit, (both things that she's been refusing at home, by the way). I guess they always want what the other one has.

I will rue the day that Allison introduced me to the store called Janie&Jack! In case you've never heard of it, it's like a high end Gymboree. Now I already think Gymboree clothes are expensive, so you can imagine what this place is like! But their stuff is so cute! I returned few things I got online and got a few other things on sale, but I did buy a whole outfit for Lauren that I just couldn't resist. Oh well! What if she's the only daughter I have? If I don't spoil her now, when I'm still making her clothing choices, when will I? That's the rationale I've come up with.

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Tue, Jan 17, 2006 6:11 PM
Lauren looked out the window today and said, very clearly, "HOUSE!"!! I've never heard her say that before!! Sometimes these things seem to come out of no-where. I also recently discovered that she knows and can point to all the numbers 0-9, (but her favorites are still inexplicably 2, 8 and 9.) Her food pickiness continues, but at least she did eat today. I combed the aisles of the grocery store this afternoon looking for realtively healthy things to tempt her with. It's harder than you may think!

Trying to give Jack more belly time. He seemed to make some quasi-crawling motions yesterday, so I'm trying to encourage him a little more every day. . . He was so cute splashing around in his bath tonight. He's finally really enjoying bath time, so it's not so much of a trial for me!

Oh, and Lauren's diaper rash is still lingering, so we're trying another prescription creme. Hope this one works, because it really seems to be bothering her now.

And Happy Birthday to Great Auntie Reinhild in Lewiston!

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Mon, Jan 16, 2006 2:33 PM
We had date nite on Saturday, which was fine, but we allowed too much time for dinner so we killed time shopping at Linens and Things and then getting cofee at Starbucks. It's sort of sad that that's all there is to do around here! Then we saw ther movie The Producers which was very funny, way over the top.

Yesterday we weren't feeling good, maybe it was the Thai food. The kids were fine though, up to their usual hijinks. Jack went to sleep at 7:30PM so his bed-time is creeping earlier and earlier. It's kind of a pain having to get up to nurse him, but it's SOOO much better in his comfy rocker.

Lauren's appetite hasn't been great, so I called the doctor today. We have some blood work we ned to get done anyway, so we'll check if she has inadequate iron or anything. I finally uploaded some birthday photos, so go check them out!

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Fri, Jan 13, 2006 11:15 PM
Well, Jack slept until 5AM which is 8 hours! Of course it still feels like the middle of the night to me, but technically I guess you could call that sleeping through the night. He didn't want me to put him down after that and he cried intermittently for about 30 minutes. I sat outside his room quietly willing him back to sleep. This crying it out thing is so hard for ME. I don't feel like I can relax until he's calmed down. But we went through it with Lauren, and I suppose we'll survive it with Jack too.

Lauren's playgroup today was a birthday party and she seemed to enjoy herself, although she spent a lot of time exploring the house. I found her dancing around in the dining room a couple of times. She's got quite an independent spitit and never seems to want to hang out in the playroom with all the other kids. She actually seemed to say a sentence, which was exciting! She asked "Whereis yellow ball?" Whereis is like one word to her, but she puts her hands up in the air, so she know's what it means. It's so cool to see her putting things together!

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Thu, Jan 12, 2006 11:21 PM
It's official, Jack is sleeping in his own crib in his own room! The biggest surprise is how easy it was. The mattress is so much higher in the crib than the co-sleeper that it was SOOO much easier to put him down. But the fact that he's been sleeping since 9PM without a peep almost makes me nervous! Of course now I keep checking to see if he's still breathing! Now I'll be constantly paranoid that something's wrong. Thank goodness for baby monitors. I'm mildly addicted to the video monitor for Lauren(I'm worried she's going to climb/jump out of her crib), so we may have to get another one for Jack.

Lauren ate 1 1/2 small PB&J sandwiches for lunch,(hey, I was desperate to get her to eat SOMETHING) but the hunger strike was back at dinner. I think I'm going to call the doctor in the morning. She doesn't seem sick or that she has a fever or anything, but I'm still worried that it's somehow related to her ear infection. I guess that's just a mother's lot, to worry non-stop!

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Wed, Jan 11, 2006 9:52 PM
Today Mike put together the crib and we moved most of the furniture into Jack's room! Yeah! I think tomorrow we can put him to sleep in there. Of course there are no curtains yet, and I'm not entirely sure about the furniture arangement yet. But it's so exciting to see it all coming together!

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Tue, Jan 10, 2006 11:37 PM
Today was such a blur, someone was always screaming! Lauren seemed to be on hunger strike during dinner. Couldn't really get her to eat anything. Maybe she's teething too, getting her back molars. Oh well, her doctor said not to struggle with her, she won't starve herself. My new revelation about getting Jack to eat cereal is to mix it with some fruit. I don't know why it didn't occur to me sooner.

The question remains, what to do when both of them are screaming and want you to pick them up at the same time? Even with the babysitter here to help for a few hours, I was losing my mind today!

But the good news is that I was cast in the play I auditioned for! It will just be a few hours rehearsal a few times a week, so hopefully between Mike and our regular sitter it won't be too stressful for the babies. Not every day will be like today. . . I hope!

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Mon, Jan 9, 2006 11:29 PM
Jack had the booster for his flu shot today and he was such a trooper, he didn't even really cry! I guess he's got a lot of padding with those chunky little thighs. Oh yeah, and he's gained a pound since his last appointmet, now he's 21 1/12 lbs! Yikes! He's getting SOOO heavy to carry around.

Why is it that they always fall asleep just as you're pulling into the driveway? I never fails. . . And I have yet to perfect the technique of getting him out of the car seat without waking him up. Urgh. . .

Lauren continues to be obsessed with Play-dough, as well as the new clock in her room, whom she chatters with when she's in her crib!

Mike had daddy duty tonight as I went to audition for a local community theater production of the play "Noises Off". I came home to find Jack seemingly content but very awake at about an hour past his bed-time. But his face just lit up when he saw me, and after nursing a few minutes he drifted off in to such a peaceful sleep I was able to put him down on the first try,(A rarity)! I guess sometimes they just need their mama. It's sort of nice to be needed that way, but also makes me worry for the many potential evenings I may be away rehearsing. Oh well, cross that bridge when we come to it.

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Sun, Jan 8, 2006 9:58 PM
Today was a big day! First of all, Jack's first teeth have finally broken the surface! That explains a lot of recent fussiness. That also explains his tendency to gnaw on any available surface, faces included! They are the bottom two middle teeth, just like his sister.

If that wasn't enough, we went to see the Circus this afternoon. I was worried because the show started at 1PM, which meant that not only was lunch late because we were traveling during Lauren's usual mealtime, but the show itself was right through her nap time, which we know from the Nutcracker experience is a rather dangerous proposition. The hard thing was not having the umbrella stoller, but I'm glad we didn't take it because we had to go up and down a lot of stairs and we would have had to carry it the whole time. Mike carried Jack in the Snugli carrier and I held Lauren's hand. She did very well, and even seemed to enjoy most of the show. I thought there would be more animals. There were elephants and horses and dogs. But I kept thinking, where's the tigers jumping through rings of fire? Where are the monkeys? Oh well, I guess you only see those in Vegas. . .

AND this evening, we finally started painting Jack's room! Or rather, Mike did while I corralled the bunions (as I affectionately call them). I'm really pleased with the color, which is a sort of light Wedgwood blue. It's actually a Disney color called Bibbidi Bobbidi Blue. My friend Tatiana pointed out that Cinderella's Fairy Godmother says this as part of her magic, so I assume it's the color of her dress or cape or something. It's hard to tell from a small paint swatch if you're going to like the color, I mean, a whole room of it, so I'm very relieved. It's enough blue to not be too washed out, but not so saturated that it's overbearing. Anyway, it's not long now before we can make the big move. Hurray!

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Sat, Jan 7, 2006 11:11 PM
Tonight we actually had the babysitter come and went out for "Date Nite"! Just dinner and a movie, but it's amazing how adult it seems with no one howling or smearing thier peas onto the walls or other such excitement. It was surpisingly difficult to leave since both babies were crying. But we bit the bullet and escaped. We saw "Syriana" which I really wanted to like, but alas, I can't really recommend. I found it really hard to follow. This was bitterly disappointing to me since I get out to see movies actually in the theater so seldom. Oh well, you can't win them all! We came back to find that the babysitter had been holding Jack the whole evening. "I just can't put him down," she proclaimed. Hello, welcome to my world! Now you see why I needed a few hours away?

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Fri, Jan 6, 2006 5:58 PM
Today we celebrated Lauren's Birthday with her playgroup. I hired a room at a craft store nearby called Michaels and we did a simple painting project. About 10 kids were there and they all seemed to enjoy getting their hands all goopey and messy! Then we came back to our house for cupcakes and ice-cream. It was casual but still a lot of fun. Lauren grabbed her cupcake off the counter while I was still getting things ready, and then when we sang Happy Birthday to her, she wasn't all that interested! Unfortunately I was so busy I forgot to take pictures, which I'm very sorry about. Oh well, next time I'll appoint someone ELSE to camera duty!

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Thu, Jan 5, 2006 7:51 PM
Lauren had her two year check up today! She weighs 24 pounds and is 34 1/2 inches tall. Now she is 75th percentile for height, but still 25th percentile for weight, so I guess she's going to be sort of a string bean like her mamma was growing up, (and her daddy too, for that matter!) No immunizations, but she did get a flu shot. She was very brave. The only concern was that the doctor thought he heard a heart murmur. He's going to check her again in a few months. He also saw a little fluid in her ear left over from the ear infection. Apparently that can take months to clear up.

Jack has been fussy and doesn't seem to want to eat OR nurse much which makes me think that he's probably teething. I hope those little pearly whites erupt soon and give us all some relief!

So now I'm off to do some research on heart murmurs!

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Tue, Jan 3, 2006 11:00 PM
Lauren's Birthday was a great day. We stareted off with breakfast and presents, which was a bit better than X-mas, Mike actually got her to rip a few open herself! Again she got a nice assortment of things, clothes anda doll from Grsandma Irene, some puzzlesfrom Auntie Tati, but her favorite was the playdough activity center from Daddy!

We had our Lauren's little buddy Taylor and her mom Allison over for a small casual lunch of sandwiches and of course cake! I'll get the photos on here as soon as I get a chance. Then later we took a nice walk to the communty center where they have a fun jungle gym. The weather is just beautiful, 75 degrees and sunnny. Sorry to all you folks in colder climes : )

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Mon, Jan 2, 2006 12:46 AM
Today was all about moving the house around. We took down the Christmas decorations which was no mean feat with Lauren getting her little hands into everything. And we finally cleared enough space in what was my office to make room for things from Mike's office (yes, we're going to attemt to share) so that room can become Jack's room!

For those of you who don't already know about this ongoing saga, Yes, Jack has been sleeping in a bedside co-sleeper in our bedrom all this time. But we finally have everything we need, the crib, the bedding etc. Now all we have to do is paint and he can fianlly have his own space! I know, I know, it's far overdue!

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Sun, Jan 1, 2006 1:56 PM
Happy New Year Everyone!

We had a pretty quiet night at home. Fireworks are apparently legal in Florida, so there were many colorful explosions happening around us. I'm surprised that Sadie wasn't more bothered by them, and even more surprised that the kids didn't wake up!

Jack flipped over again during what was supposed to be nap time, and later on he did some serious "creeping", at least I think that's what it's called, either that or wandering. Anyhow, he sort of pushes himself around with his arms. He pivoted around like the hands of a clock from an eight o'clock position to about three o'clock! I was impressed. We may have a crawler after all. Now I've got to try to keep my floors extra clean, which is no mean task with all of Sadie's hair flying around.

Mike just took Lauren off to the new JCPenny that just opened up close-by for a little father-daughter shopping. I guess there's a sale on, I'm a little frightened to think what they may come homw with! But actually I'm grateful for a little quiet time with just Jack. Now if I can just get him to nap, I may be able to read a little bit - what bliss that would be!

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