Sunday, March 04, 2007
Just hanging in there...
So far, we're doing okay considering John's down to one job. We finally got the taxes done and are getting quite a bit back which will help us out tremendously. John will use some of the money to get his substitute certification renewed so he can substitute around the various school districts again. It's not a certified teaching certificate so he's limited in which school districts he can substitute for but he's usually able to do all the small districts which are quite numerous around here. If that's not enough, he'll be looking for a steadier part-time position. We have a month before we really have to worry though and that takes a load off of my shoulder. Still, I'd feel better knowing that he had a job that's going to take care of the rent we need each month.Natalie turned 14 months old last Tuesday. She's definitely getting big and I think she is actually doing some growing now too. She seems to be fitting into her 12 month clothes better these days. She still has some nights where she's up early but it doesn't seem to be quite as bad or maybe it's not bothering me as much. This last week, she had a stomach bug and this has really been the sickest she's been since she was born. Monday, she wasn't really eating and she seemed "off". Her diapers were yucky too but we thought that maybe it was because of her molars coming in. The next day though, I was feeling sick and throwing up so I think she had the same thing and gave it to me. I'm not sure where these bugs are coming from but Natalie and I are sure getting quite a few of them while John just seems to shrug everything off. I am working very hard these days eating right and not eating junk food along with exercising but I guess I'm just not exposed to bugs as much so I'm suceptable to anything John brings home with him. We both got over it pretty quick though and Natalie's pretty much good as new although she's gotten a little bit pickier; now she won't eat the eggs and cheese she loved so much the weeks before.
She's become quite a little monkey. She's climbing EVERYWHERE. Anything she can get to and climb on, she does. She climbs on the bed, on end tables, coffee table, my dresser (which she could get to from the bed before I moved it), my linen chest, the couch and loveseat, ANYTHING pretty much. At least she hasn't figured out how to climb out of the crib. I'm figuring that's next.
She and her dad spend mornings watching their two favorite shows: Big, Big World and Wonder Pets. If you haven't seen Wonder Pets and you have cable, check it out; it's cute. It is unfortunately, VERY catchy and you will find yourself singing the songs either in your head or out loud all day long. Big, Big World is cool too but the songs aren't quite as catchy though the sloth on there is very laid back and cool; kind of reminds me of a surfer dude (or if you've seen Finding Nemo, the one turtle on there but without the Australian accent).
Natalie's still not doing much talking but she has her words here and there. Night night seems to be a big one and she's said that more than once. I say night-night to her as I'm putting her to bed and sometimes she'll say it back. She does know what we are saying to her and can follow commands both in English and German. Well, the only thing she really responds to as a command in German is when her dad tells her to give him a kiss. He says that in German and she responds by giving him a kiss. STILL, that's not too bad as I can't even tell you HOW to say "Give me a kiss" in German. lol I wouldn't be surprised though if that's why she's a little behind in speech because her dad does talk to her a bit in German, especially if it's just the two of them.
She is really big on giving kisses though she seems to like giving kisses more to her dad than to me. That's kind of a switch because there was a time where she didn't want to give any to her dad at all because of his scruffy face but she's past that and gives them out pretty freely to the two of us. Other people, forget it; she's pretty shy around people she barely knows/remembers. She loves, loves, LOVES stuff animals. That's her new thing and it's pretty big. Her dad got her a teddy bear for V-day (all I got was chocolate, the yutz lol) that she kind of picked out and she just totally loved that bear. She kind of had a thing prior to that with the baby big bird I started putting in the crib with her (not my original baby big bird but one I later got to replace the one I lost as a child--LONG STORY) but the bear just totally unleashed her love for stuffed animals and now ANY bears she sees lying around are fair game including ALL of MY bears! She loves the one I got just before John left for South Korea from my mom and sister (I'm sure that one smells a lot like me because I slept with it a lot) and carries that around quite a bit but she also LOVES my BIG teddy bear. I've had that one even longer; I got it for Christmas in 1997 and the bear is BIGGER than she is! But she can carry it all over the house. She looks pretty funny carrying it around too. She also lies on it like a big body pillow; it's SO CUTE! I swear, she just gets cuter everyday.
She's also getting more tempermental. She does NOT want to be fed anymore. She has to feed HERSELF. You can put the food in a bowl and give her the bowl and the spoon but that's it. Don't help her eat because she will get MAD. lol She also likes to brush her own hair and teeth though she doesn't quite have the hang of using the brush on her hair. She doesn't do too badly with her teeth. We still insist on brushing them for her and she's usually not thrilled by the idea but clean teeth are important. She doesn't like you to take things away from her; this has caused some MAJOR meltdowns for her and the other day I made a HUGE mistake of interrupting her nursing session to go to the bathroom. You'd have thought I was huring her! She cried and cried and even when I came back, she wouldn't nurse for several minutes. Admittedly, she was still sick with the stomach bug but WHOA she was pretty distraught. I have a feeling that the terrible twos are not too far away.
And yes, she is still nursing. John wants me to nurse her until at least two and then we can discuss weaning. I'm all for that I just hope that when the time comes she's not too difficult to wean.
Well, that's kind of the update for now. Hopefully I'll get some pictures of her up here one of these days. I've been getting them developed but my most recent pictures are still over a month old. I need to get to Madison sometime to develope the three/four rolls of film I have. The Wal-Mart there charges less to develope pictures than the Wal-Mart here does. It doesn't make sense to me but oh well. I am also hoping to get some pictures done of her this month since it's been about four months since the last set and now that I can put her hair in pigtails, I want pictures of her in pigtails. I have the prettiest dress for her to wear too although I think I'm going to see if she can still fit into her one dress that's 6-9 months. It might just still fit her. I had bought that dress with the intention of getting pictures of her in it and I never got them done due to the financial and transportation difficulties we were dealing with last summer.
The only thing left to decide on is where. Wal-Mart has cheaper rates but I really was not impressed with the photographer we had last time and it looks like they hire younger girls who don't really know what they are doing and therefore, don't do a whole lot. The person we had last time really missed out on some potentially good pictures. Another option is Sears but then I won't be able to get all the poses as Wal-Mart prints off two 3 1/2x5 of each pose and then offers them to you when you pick up the pictures. Knowing that then helps me plan but Sears I guess only does that with the pictures you actually order which means having to maybe spend more. It's definitely a toss up and it's also going to depend on Natalie's mood and the time we get there and all of that. I seriously should try to get a job at Wal-Mart as a photographer; I know I could do so much better than a lot of these people and it'd be a fun thing to do. Maybe one of these days I'll look into it. For now though, I've got my plate pretty full as it is.
| posted by Janeen at 10:56 PM
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Tami of BrooksGroth had this to say:
Wow, what a full update! Of course, there are always things happening with a toddler around! :-)
Just a quick note on nursing a toddler and weaning a toddler. In my experience, after the one year mark or so, weaning is almost entirely in the toddlers hands ... there are things you can do to encourage it but if they're not ready, the won't wean and life will be miserable if you force it. On the other hand if they want to wean, before the time you had set as wanting to nurse until, then forget it, they're done and I've yet to here of a mom convincing a toddler to go back to nursing after s/he decided they were done.
I can't wait to see pics of those pigtails!!!! :-)
