I am so excited for Christmas for many many reasons. This is the first time Olivia is really going to understanding opening presents. She will be receiving a couple of gifts from Santa so I can't wait to see how she responds to that. We started a few family traditions that I think everyone has enjoyed overall. But most of all I am excited to see my family and spend some time relaxing.
I hope everyone has a fun and safe holiday.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Monday, December 20, 2010
Celebrating some sleeping success
3 weeks later and finally we have succeeded. Since last Thursday she has slept in her own bed the whole entire night without waking up. While it seems like such a small accomplishment, not getting interrupted in the middle of the night has helped my sleep quality significantly. Last week I was thinking to myself "Will we ever get Olivia to sleep all night." I guess I had been really sleep deprived for many many weeks or more like months.
I am really happy it. The Christmas holiday is coming up and vacations usually mess with the sleeping schedule but I am hoping if we are diligent it shouldn't be too back afterwards. I was super apprehensive about the sleep training because I felt guilty in some ways and too tired to stay determined but it paid off. Plus I was worried it was going to take more like 4-6 weeks to reach our goal.
I got to celebrate the little things.
I am really happy it. The Christmas holiday is coming up and vacations usually mess with the sleeping schedule but I am hoping if we are diligent it shouldn't be too back afterwards. I was super apprehensive about the sleep training because I felt guilty in some ways and too tired to stay determined but it paid off. Plus I was worried it was going to take more like 4-6 weeks to reach our goal.
I got to celebrate the little things.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Logan versus Boise
There are a lot of things I miss about Logan. I miss knowing where everything is since I grew up there. I miss being extremely close to the canyon and all those awesome outdoor activities. I miss my awesome parking pass I finally earned at USU. I was at USU for 11 years as a student and employee so I definitely miss knowing the campus and a ton of people there. I actually miss my married student ward where everyone was around the same age and stage of life. I miss my awesome Sports Academy pass where I could take Olivia swimming anytime. I miss not being able to find a baby sitter that I trust like my mom. I miss not being able to get anywhere in the valley in practically 15 minutes or less.
Things I don't miss. I don't miss the inversion. I don't miss my old job. I don't miss the crappy pay at USU. I don't miss my old boss. I don't miss main street traffic.
What I like about Boise. I like that it is a city but still has a small town feeling. They have all the stores and restaurants that big cities have. I like the greenbelt that follows the river throughout the whole city. I like how bike friendly it is. I like our place. I love my job and the people I work with. I don't like that I don't know that many people yet. I am looking forward to floating the river. I like that I found a birthing center an awesome midwives. I didn't have options like that in Logan but I did have a fantastic OB/GYN. I know people like the milder winters here but I actually do miss getting a ton of snow. I thought I would get stared at less here but I actually get stared at more than I did in Logan. I guess there must not be a big population of Asian people here.
Things I don't miss. I don't miss the inversion. I don't miss my old job. I don't miss the crappy pay at USU. I don't miss my old boss. I don't miss main street traffic.
What I like about Boise. I like that it is a city but still has a small town feeling. They have all the stores and restaurants that big cities have. I like the greenbelt that follows the river throughout the whole city. I like how bike friendly it is. I like our place. I love my job and the people I work with. I don't like that I don't know that many people yet. I am looking forward to floating the river. I like that I found a birthing center an awesome midwives. I didn't have options like that in Logan but I did have a fantastic OB/GYN. I know people like the milder winters here but I actually do miss getting a ton of snow. I thought I would get stared at less here but I actually get stared at more than I did in Logan. I guess there must not be a big population of Asian people here.
How this pregnancy is different
My morning sickness didn't include as much vomiting and it stopped a little bit earlier than before. But I was a lot gaggier and my bladder is a lot weaker. At first my hair was growing out of control and now nothing. I was hoping to grow my hair out but it seems to have come to a stand still. With Olivia I could have got it cut every 4 weeks instead of the standard 6-8 weeks. With Olivia I was the classic tired, could sleep anywhere pregnant women. This time I am exhausted but have been suffering from the worst case of insomnia. I can't seem to get into a deep sleep. I don't have a huge meat aversion this time. I don't pee as much as I did with Olivia during the night. But I am also a lot smarter and slow down my water consumption in the evenings. I am not nearly as warm as I was last time either. It might be because it is winter instead of spring time.
That's it so far. Second trimester hasn't been quite as enjoyable but I am hoping that will change really soon.
That's it so far. Second trimester hasn't been quite as enjoyable but I am hoping that will change really soon.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Pregnant Belly
It is hard to believe until it happens but a pregnant belly does grow a lot faster after the first pregnancy. I don't love to take pictures but a friend of mine wanted to see my belly. I am only 17 weeks but my belly is huge. I probably wasn't this big until I was 25-27 weeks with Olivia. I can't imagine what I will look like at 40 weeks.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Olivia and her quarkiness
Olivia plays this game on my iphone called peek-a-boo barn. It is like a flashcard game with barnyard animals. An animal is in the barn and you can hear the noise it is making and then you let it out and you can see its picture. Last night she was playing the game and she called the chicken a chicken nugget. I thought it was hilarious.
Olivia grab one of my sweater belts off my sweater and wrapped it around her neck and then she grabbed Mike's scripture case and start cramming stuff into it and proceeded to tell me "Work" and "See Ya" and "Love you" and headed off into the bedroom. I guess that is what I look like when I put my scarf on and grab my work bag and head out the door. She is so observant.
Olivia grab one of my sweater belts off my sweater and wrapped it around her neck and then she grabbed Mike's scripture case and start cramming stuff into it and proceeded to tell me "Work" and "See Ya" and "Love you" and headed off into the bedroom. I guess that is what I look like when I put my scarf on and grab my work bag and head out the door. She is so observant.
Monday, December 6, 2010
December happenings
Olivia loves Christmas lights and decorations. She was so excited to put the tree up and she is the official Christmas tree light girl. She plugs it in every morning and it has to be lit the whole day. Another lesson learned is the tree cannot have any decoration that is breakable so our tree is very bare. We started doing Christmas crafts everyday and we try to make everything into an ornament and let Olivia hang it up and that has worked very well. Atleast she leaves the gifts alone.
She really enjoys craft time too even though Mike and I end up doing a lot of the work. She is very proud of the end product. It is nice to expose her to cutting with scissors, using the whole punch, glueing, painting and such. On the plus side she really has a good attention span.
Olivia is growing so fast physically and intellectually. It amazes me how much she comprehends verbally and how observant she is so we have to start being careful what we say to her. She use to be able to walk under Mike's legs with plenty of clearance and that is no longer the case. I am pretty sure that Olivia is going to be a lot taller than me.
She really enjoys craft time too even though Mike and I end up doing a lot of the work. She is very proud of the end product. It is nice to expose her to cutting with scissors, using the whole punch, glueing, painting and such. On the plus side she really has a good attention span.
Olivia is growing so fast physically and intellectually. It amazes me how much she comprehends verbally and how observant she is so we have to start being careful what we say to her. She use to be able to walk under Mike's legs with plenty of clearance and that is no longer the case. I am pretty sure that Olivia is going to be a lot taller than me.
Olivia happenings
Mike and I have been working on a very special project for the last few weeks with Olivia. Mike taught Olivia this very bad habit. Always falling asleep in the car for her afternoon nap. At first it is so simple and easy but then problems arise. She doesn't fall asleep or she wakes up when we try to take her out of the car which makes for a very grumpy Olivia. Then it snowballs into she is overly tired and really hard to reason with. Which is frustrating for Mike because he doesn't get a break either. So my suggestion was we needed to reteach Olivia how to fall asleep in her room again which was going to take dedication on both of our parts.
There is always the easy parent and the strict parent. Mike is the easy parent and I am the strict parent. I hate to hear Olivia cry but I just don't cave in as easily as Mike and I seem to be able to stick to a schedule a lot easier. On the weekend I started out by leaving Olivia in her room and told her that it was nap time and she should take a nap because it would make her feel better but she could stay up and play in her room but she had to be quiet and she had to stay for 2 hours. It wasn't too bad. Really she only cried for one day. About 50% of the time she would eventually fall asleep. Thankfully Thanksgiving vacation came and I was home for awhile and I could consistently put Olivia in bed. Unfortunately I had to lay down with her because we were went out of town but it was really useful in the end.
We got back from Thanksgiving vacation and now Olivia just knows that when it is nap time she needs to lay down and go to sleep. What a relief! And the best part is she has been sleeping for 2-3 hours. Unfortunately that was the easy task.
The compromise for the past 2 months is she could sleep in our room in her sleeping bag. But eventually she started climbing into our bed. There just isn't room for her in our queen bed and even if we had a king I am pretty sure she would be right next to one of us kicking us in the head or ribs. Then we started making her go to sleep in her room but she would eventually came back to our room and I always had her sleeping bag laid out.
Ever since I have been pregnant, good sleep is something that has eluded me for many many months. Plus I am the type of person that needs a good 8 hours to function so I am really grumpy if I can't get enough sleep. Last week Olivia woke me up 4 times in the middle of the night in about 90 minutes. I was really fed up. So Mike and I made her go to sleep in her own bed every night which was easy. Then she would wake up around 11:30 PM but we kept her door closed past 11:30 so when she would wake up and check the door and realize it was closed she would go back to bed. We have a child proof doorknob on the inside of her door. Then we would open it. Then she would proceed to wake up at 2:30 and if I took her back she would wake up at 4:00. One night I woke up at 2:30, then 4:30 then she fell out of her bed at 5:30. That was a very exhausting night. But I remained persistent with taking her back to her room every time and had the talk with her that she would earn a sticker for staying in her room all night and if she came back into our room I would bring her back to her room. Well the weekend was hard but well worth the effort. Right now she will stay in her room until 4:00 but I am hoping she will eventually learn that it isn't worth the effort to even come into our room. Plus I hate closing her door. I want her to feel like she has the choice. And she loves earning her morning sticker. My goal is to have Olivia in her room before we have this baby.
My second goal would be to have her potty trained before May. We haven't started yet but we are going to put Olivia back in cloth diapers after the holiday and I have ordered her some potty books and she really does well with a sticker system. Her night diapers are becoming less and less wet each morning. She loves to be like her cousins so I am hoping when we go back to Utah and she sees that her cousin is potty trained that she will be motivated to use the toilet.
My third goal is her dang binky. It is a love hate relationship. But we finally have her on a routine where she only gets it when it is nap time and bed time. And that is going to be sufficient for me. I'll probably let her have it for awhile and tackle that after she gets use to the new baby.
There is always the easy parent and the strict parent. Mike is the easy parent and I am the strict parent. I hate to hear Olivia cry but I just don't cave in as easily as Mike and I seem to be able to stick to a schedule a lot easier. On the weekend I started out by leaving Olivia in her room and told her that it was nap time and she should take a nap because it would make her feel better but she could stay up and play in her room but she had to be quiet and she had to stay for 2 hours. It wasn't too bad. Really she only cried for one day. About 50% of the time she would eventually fall asleep. Thankfully Thanksgiving vacation came and I was home for awhile and I could consistently put Olivia in bed. Unfortunately I had to lay down with her because we were went out of town but it was really useful in the end.
We got back from Thanksgiving vacation and now Olivia just knows that when it is nap time she needs to lay down and go to sleep. What a relief! And the best part is she has been sleeping for 2-3 hours. Unfortunately that was the easy task.
The compromise for the past 2 months is she could sleep in our room in her sleeping bag. But eventually she started climbing into our bed. There just isn't room for her in our queen bed and even if we had a king I am pretty sure she would be right next to one of us kicking us in the head or ribs. Then we started making her go to sleep in her room but she would eventually came back to our room and I always had her sleeping bag laid out.
Ever since I have been pregnant, good sleep is something that has eluded me for many many months. Plus I am the type of person that needs a good 8 hours to function so I am really grumpy if I can't get enough sleep. Last week Olivia woke me up 4 times in the middle of the night in about 90 minutes. I was really fed up. So Mike and I made her go to sleep in her own bed every night which was easy. Then she would wake up around 11:30 PM but we kept her door closed past 11:30 so when she would wake up and check the door and realize it was closed she would go back to bed. We have a child proof doorknob on the inside of her door. Then we would open it. Then she would proceed to wake up at 2:30 and if I took her back she would wake up at 4:00. One night I woke up at 2:30, then 4:30 then she fell out of her bed at 5:30. That was a very exhausting night. But I remained persistent with taking her back to her room every time and had the talk with her that she would earn a sticker for staying in her room all night and if she came back into our room I would bring her back to her room. Well the weekend was hard but well worth the effort. Right now she will stay in her room until 4:00 but I am hoping she will eventually learn that it isn't worth the effort to even come into our room. Plus I hate closing her door. I want her to feel like she has the choice. And she loves earning her morning sticker. My goal is to have Olivia in her room before we have this baby.
My second goal would be to have her potty trained before May. We haven't started yet but we are going to put Olivia back in cloth diapers after the holiday and I have ordered her some potty books and she really does well with a sticker system. Her night diapers are becoming less and less wet each morning. She loves to be like her cousins so I am hoping when we go back to Utah and she sees that her cousin is potty trained that she will be motivated to use the toilet.
My third goal is her dang binky. It is a love hate relationship. But we finally have her on a routine where she only gets it when it is nap time and bed time. And that is going to be sufficient for me. I'll probably let her have it for awhile and tackle that after she gets use to the new baby.
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