Dianthe’s Blog

i realize that it’s been almost a month since my last blog – and every single day i say to myself that i’m going to write a new blog – and then every single day, by the time i’ve finally gotten Sydney to sleep and finished my prep work for the next day, it’s about 12 or 1am – and since my alarm goes off at 3am – some things just don’t get done – i’ve actually attempted to write about 5 or 6 different blogs – but i usually doze off while i’m writing them – and then when i come back to start them again, a dozen other things have happened – so i’ve decided that i’m no longer going to feel guilty about not updating – i will try to blog more regularly – and hopefully i’ll be able to do that a couple of times this week because of vacation – but i will no longer feel guilty about it – especially since there are so many other things i could be feeling guilty about – like still not having a baby book – yep, i’m the slacker mom – but i am recording all the important things in a word document for the day that i finally find a baby book and have time to update it – do i get partial credit for that?

so basically, i’m just going to give a random run down of the things that have been going on – and they probably won’t be in any particular order (because it’s 2:55am and i should REALLY be asleep!) – so it’ll just however they pop into my head

so, we’re still co-sleeping – sort of – another one of those things that i’m no longer feeling guilty about – in fact, i’ve actually started to enjoy it – not to the point where i want to do it til she’s 2 – but it’s not the terrible thing that i thought it would be and Sydney is finally starting to sleep in her crib a little bit – about 2 months ago, i decided to say “the hell with it” to pretty much every standard, traditional by-the-book parenting practice out there – sure i’m still scouring the internet for information (because who has time to read the 3 foot stack of parenting books i’ve purchased) and of course i’m still asking for advice – but at the end of the day – i figure i know my baby better than anyone else – i mean she did spend 41 weeks in my womb – and in that time, we got to know each other pretty well – so i’m sticking with that and doing whatever i think is best for her – so back to the co-sleeping – since Vicky started (the new nanny which i’ll get to later), Sydney has been napping in her crib – only just in the morning and usually for about an hour max, but she’s in the crib – now we’ve been trying off and on to get her to go to bed in the crib at night for about 3 months, but she never stays there for more than about 30 minutes – and then i get tired and just put her back in the bed with us – but 2 weeks ago, she slept in her crib all night!! WOO HOO!!! now, i still had to go in there to calm her down a couple of times – and maybe once or twice i had to actually pick her up – but when she finally went down, she slept for about 6 hours – she’s been sleeping through the night for about 3 months (which is GREAT for Kelley and Vicky) so the 6 hours thing wasn’t a big deal – but the fact that she slept in her bed – well that was just amazing – and every since then, we’ve been putting her in the crib every night – most nights she makes it til about 5 or 6am – and then Kelley puts her in the bed bed with him until the nanny comes – and then some nights (like tonight) she just can’t get it together – so i give up and bring her back with us – oh well – i’m over it – i figure she’ll eventually figure it out and since i just can’t being myself to let her cry-it-out, we’ll just stick with this for now

the nanny!!! her name is Vicky and i LOVE her – i knew from the beginning, i wanted to hire a nanny – for several different reasons – the man reason being my schedule – i leave for work at 4am and Kelley leaves somewhere between 7 and 9am – i’m home most days by noon and it just didn’t make sense to put Sydney in daycare for a couple of hours a day – plus, most places won’t take babies part-time – and with Kelley traveling occasionally – i wouldn’t be able to drop Sydney off at 4am – but also, after being at home with her for 10 weeks, i really wanted to continue that one-on-one interaction for her – she is used to having undivided attention – and while that may turn her into an ultra demanding baby diva, i’m okay with it – ha-ha-ha!!! anyway, the last requirement was that i wanted someone who was Spanish speaking – most of you know that my mom is Mexican and i have a Spanish degree (that goes about 98% unused – thanks Daddy!!), so it’s really important to me that my kids grow up bilingual – so when i first went back to work , we found someone that we liked a lot – but after a few weeks, she was having some health issues that left her unable to continue with us – i was really bummed because we liked her a lot and she and Sydney really clicked but it just didn’t work out – so for about 2 weeks, i had Sydney in an in-home facility – and while it was nice, it just wasn’t my ideal situation – enter Vicky – she is EXACTLY what i was looking for – someone who was married, a little older with teenage kids – looking for part time work and speaks Spanish – YAY!!! Vicky is married and has a 15 year old son – she has 10 years of nanny experience and she’s Columbian (and a U.S citizen) – she and Sydney get along very well – she does light housekeeping – she does all of Sydney’s laundry (even the diapers!) she is just wonderful!! she only speaks Spanish to Sydney and reads to he rin Spanish – they go on walks every day and listen to music – they go outside and play – Vicky rarely turns on the TV (which is better than me!) – she’s just fantastic – so on the nanny front, we are set!

Sydney – talk about a hilarious child – she is her mother’s daughter – to the core – she is pretty much just as i predicted she would be – extremely active, stubborn, super social, a total night owl, a tad bit dramatic – i can’t imagine where she gets any of that from but she’s still a really good baby – she’s impatient like her mom, and grumpy when she’s tired or hungry (like her mom) – but i’ve finally gotten a pretty good grasp of what’s wrong when she’s fussy -now it’s just a matter of fixing it!!

so i’ve turned into one of those moms – the crazy, crunchy, go-with-the flow moms except i’m way more diva than granola!! after Sydney’s 2 months shots, i decided to go with the alternative vaccination schedule – not because i believe there is a link between vaccinations and autism (or anything else) – but after her 2 month shots, i swear she slept for almost 3 full days – it was very odd and she just wasn’t herself – it was more than just fussiness- she was groggy and lethargic – and i expected that, but not for 3 days – so when we went in for the 4 month shots, i took my handy Dr. Sears vaccine book along and told our pediatrician that we wanted to spread her shots apart – fortunately, he is extremely supportive of my diva crunchiness and said okay – 2 shots, less than a minute of crying and a 45 minute nap later – Sydney was back to her old self – we didn’t even have to do Tylenol – she was happy and in a good mood and i was a happy mom

cloth diapering – yeah, i’m officially addicted – while in the long run, my love for cloth diapers may not turn out to be quite as cost effective, i’m not filling land fills with diapers that aren’t biodegradable and Sydney’s cute little tail isn’t being exposed to yucky chemicals – plus, the cloth diapers are just so dang cute! we started off with Kissaluv Size 0s (KL0s) and used Prorap covers – those lasted us til abut the 2 month mark – then we moved into the pockets – right now we have a combination of Bum Genius (1.0s, 2.0s and 3.0s), Swaddlebees and Blueberrys – i have also fallen madly in love with Minky – and thanks to the great Kellie Rasberry, i will be trying Rump-A-Rooz minky in just a few days – i cannot wait until they get here!!

hmmm – what else? oh, we pierced Sydney’s ears – so freaking cute – Kelley had been on me about when we were going to pierce her ears and i knew i wanted to do it sooner than later, but with everything going on, it just got pushed by the wayside – but we finally got it together and pierced them weeks ago – we found a place that specializes in piercing babies and she does it with a needle, not a gun – i was a little weary at first – but Sydney took it like a champ – she barely even cried – it took about 10 minutes and she hasn’t touched her ears since then!

first ear

second ear

the finished product!!!

we’ve started solid foods – AAAARRGGHHHH!!! i was SO not prepared for that – at her 4 month appointment, the pedi said we could start solids – i told him that i wanted to wait until 6 months because she’s been doing so well just being breastfed and he said that was fine – so i was a little freaked out that a week and a half later, my child is reaching for my food and opening her mouth when she sees food – i decided to skip cereal altogether and we started with banana – that went well so we moved on to avocado – she liked that, so this week we tried sweet potato – i can see now that we have a champion eater on our hands – i’m still going back and forth on the solids because i still want breast milk to be her main source of nutrition- but there is no doubt that she was ready for solids – so i’m still trying to find a good balance – in the meantime, Sydney has quickly dwindled through my hefty stash of milk – she’s eating anywhere between 12-20 ounces in the morning with Vicky – so i’m trying to rebuild a stash this week while i’m on vacation -no bottles for her this week!

mmmm – bananas!!!

avocado!!!

i can do it myself mom!!!

guess what else – we have teeth! well, one tooth – she’s been doing that pre-teething drooling thing for about 2 months, so i knew it was coming – but Friday i stuck my pinky in her mouth when i couldn’t find a paci and i felt an actual tooth – i know that second one isn’t far behind – and i was shocked, but she was hardly fussy at all – i could tell she was a little uncomfortable – but she must have a high pain tolerance like her mom, because she just chews on her hand and she’s fine – and speaking of hand chewing, Sydney is trying to suck her thumb – UGH!!! is there anything more annoying – i don’t know what to do other than to replace her thumb with the paci – i can’t tell if it’s because she’s teething or what, but i do think it will be easier to take away her paci than her thumb – so paci it is!!!

let’s see – what else? oh, i think she’ll be crawling soon – i’m SO not prepared for that – she can already scooch pretty good and she can sit up by herself for a few minutes before she falls over – when they say it goes by – they aren’t kidding – i just keep thinking, didn’t i just have this kid?? it’s unbelievable – she’s just so wonderful and fantastic – and i want to eat her up cause she’s so dang yummy – everyone said it would be great, but i had no idea!!!

um, hello – who said you could sit up at 18 weeks??

Sydney and Cienna – cutest freaking cousins EVER!!!!